#smoking about it. how dare you kill a little duck!

[sar3nka]

Played as beipi for once, carno let me live, omni let me live, I could screech and jump around all I wanted. But a fucking stego. -___-

[e-nonsense]

─── 𝘴𝘰 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺

pairing. littleprince!jason todd x witch!reader

summary. royal au. insane, you were crazy and jason loved you for it. so if you were willing to wage war on gotham he was more than ready to stand by you. (previous part)

warnings. pet names: little pet, darling. depictions of witchcraft, war/violence (medieval), death, declaration of war

a/n. picture above is what i imagine the described ‘castle’ to be. lmao the lore has expanded

wc. 1.4k not proofread.

The doors to the castle slammed open, creating a loud echoing noise that startled everyone in the vicinity. Knights were on guard, stepping in front of the royal family as maids scrambled away.

At the door stood a group of strangely dressed people, with pointy ears and purple eyes shining dangerously, and in the centre stood you. Fingers clenched around your blade, as you stepped forwards.

“How dare you,” your voice echoed dauntingly , cold and icy, eyes filled with venom as you stared straight at Bruce. “You killed a child, Wayne.”

Bruce merely scoffed, “that was no child. The one with scales and a tail? A monster.” Eyes flickering to the limp body carried in the arms of the tall beast behind you.

“I warned you, one foot out of line and that is it.” You reply, John’s eyes snap to you, a sense of dread settling in his stomach.

“Kid—” the older man whispered, cutting himself off at the sight of your eyes.

“Then mark today the end of peace,” you speak, hood falling off, your hair streaked with gold. “I’ve tried to keep peace, but ever since your father’s reign my people have not known peace.”

Jason stood to his father’s left, looking between you and Bruce.

“From this day forth, neither will yours.” Just as those words are spoken screams and the smell of smoke come from afar.

“No,” Bruce mutter, eyes widening as he rushes past people and you to look outside at the village of innocent people and a large blue dragon spitting black fire onto the village.

“Stop— stop this madness.” Bruce hisses, grabbing you by the collar, hissing as he feels his hand burn at the touch. “Impure, stop it.”

You only laugh at him, eyes filled with madness as your people stand behind you protecting you from the knights, “my madness has only just begun.”

—

“You’re sure about this?” Nicola, a young siren asked, her head peeping out of the water. “If you’re sure we’ll help,” she adds.

“I’m tired of standing by and letting our people die,” you murmur, eyes downcast, staring at the young mer-children swimming around the large lake that leads out to the ocean.

“Then we’re with you, I’ll tell my father of your decision. We’ll keep them off the water.” She reassures, placing a gentle hand on your knee. “Thank you for fighting for us.” She whispers before ducking under the water and swimming off, the younger merpeople swimming after her.

You stood up, boots making a satisfying click against the wooden pier as you walked towards the forest to warn the creatures that lived there of the oncoming war.

“You declared war?” The old centaur asked, he knew you weren’t one to resort to violence.

“I was fueled by my rage, Chiron.” You mutter, “you didn’t see it. They killed him because he looked different. His mother, you didn’t see it, the cries and screams. But i understand if you want to leave.”

Chiron nods in understanding, placing a hand on your shoulder, “its okay.”

“If any of the others want to leave be by the statue at sunrise tomorrow. We’ll be sending those who don’t want to fight away, but if you decide to stay go to the mountain tops, the council is being reforged.”

He nodded, looking past the trees to the beautiful large abandoned castle sitting atop the mountain, a bridge built around it that allowed the water to fall freely off the mountain.

“I’ll tell them, save me a seat at your council.” He smiles before heading back, deeper into the forest.

—

Your fingers quivered with unease, stepping onto the abandoned land, the castle preserved with your ancestors magic, the magical pushed back against your touch, the magic only sensed as if it were a sixth sense for you.

You placed your hands firmly against the invisible wall, fingers glowing gold as your magic illuminated the barrier in gold before the gold shattered against your palms, sparks of ashy magic, over a thousand years old falling to pieces. The preservation spell destroyed.

Other mythical creatures watched in awe as the stone dragon in the courtyard cracked, revealing the golden scales beneath it and a pair of beady gold eyes as its wing shot out and everyone stumbled back as the dragon growled. It’s eyes locking on you and it steps forward, leaning its head down to look at you curiously before nudging your body with its enormous head and growling again.

Chiron chuckled, recognising the dragon from a thousand years ago. “You waited for her,” he muttered curiously, watching as the dragon nudged you again.

Her. By her, the old centaur didn’t mean you. No he meant the warrior from a thousand lives ago. Reborn time and time again. Even death wouldn’t be able to seperate friends like them.

The dragon grumbled, acting more like a puppy than a beast as it pushed you forward to the castles grand gold doors.

“This way?” You raise a brow as the dragon leads you past the courtyard to the large doors, the dragon huffs , nudging the doors to open them for you.

The interior of the palace is dark, not a spec of dust fallen anywhere, floors marble floors cracked and filled in with gold. And the walls painted grey. The people gathered behind you, gaping at the infrastructure with wonder.

“Let’s get started.”

—

War plans. Planning for war. Murder. Bloodshed. Jason. Sleep escaped you, your friends all tucked away around the castle. Snoozing away as you continued to stare at the papers in front of you.

So far your search for a plan was coming back with nothing. Dragons, sure. What would the humans do? Shoot them down with their monstrous contraptions.

The sirens? Pirates have been hunting them for years, nets and fire would do to easily kill them. Fairies and pixies, squashed like bugs. Witches, hunted like animals.

“Thought you’d be asleep by now, but I should’ve known better than to assume you’d actually sleep.” A voice cuts out, causing you to snap your head up, the air leaving your lungs as you feel yourself fall apart finally.

“Jason,” I whisper softly. Standing up and barrelling into his arms, the bigger man barely moving as you do so.

“Hey sweetheart,” he mumbles, kissing the top of your head. His arms wind around your hips, holding you against him, “my pretty, crazy sweetheart.” He teases.

“You came, I thought—” he cuts you off almost immediately.

“That I’d stay with Bruce and let him try and kill you?” Jason finishes, “hell no, baby. I’m on your side.. no matter how psycho your side might get.”

You chuckle at that, still not moving an inch out of his arms. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he whispers gently, a stark contrast to his usual brazen self. “What the hell is that?”

You hum, tilting your head to look at the dragon. “Ignore her, she’s possessive.” You mutter and Jason raises a brow sceptically, “uh huh..”

“Let’s go inside.. away from the creepy dragon.” Jason suggests, holding you tighter and pulling you inside, away from the balcony.

—

The morning started with an argument. Your friends and allies voicing their distrust in your human companion, irritating you further. “I trust him, and you trust me, no?” You question those around you, Jason stood protectively at your side. Murmurs of agreement followed your question, a few of them nodding. “Then believe me when i tell you he won’t betray us.” More grumbled responses followed.

“Lovely, now. We have a war to prepare for, and if we’re not ready lord knows what’ll happen.”

And so the war plan began, arguments ensued about the strategy.

You started with the plans for training the people for war, who would train each segment of creatures and what they’d teach. Then it was decided, that training would be spilt into groups of each magical being and each of them would learn how to work with each other. Because one mistake could cost the war.

The people here looked to you, for safety, hope, they looked at you like they were ready to put their lives in your hands and it scared you. Having so many people believe in you when you can’t believe in yourself.

“Breathe,” Jason whispers in your ear, his hand finding its way to your thigh. “Breathe with me, you’re not alone. Look around, we all stand with you.”

Jason presses a kiss against your jaw, “I’ll never leave your side again.”

© e-nonsense. do no copy/steal/translate. do it and I’ll bite your toes off

[bigball-thefrog]

The Mighty Sand Dragon And The Maiden: Crocodile X Reader pt2

______________________________

Pt1

Just a short one for this week I'll post a longer one next week and the third part of this will be longer.

Warnings and Tags:

None

______________________________

Reader POV

It had been six months since I last spoke to the dragon and I finally think I'm ready to defeat him. Once again I made my journey through the desert fighting more monsters and more puzzles which seemed easier this time thanks to my training.

I eventually get the cave and set down my things and called out to the dragon and waited with a smug look. There was silence until the dragon let out a deep growl that caused the ground to shake, soon the large purple dragon emerged from his cave bringing more sand, "Who dares awaken the might Sand Drago-... Oh it's you again. The little maiden that wishes to change her fate and defeat me?~ I thought after the last fight you would have run home crying and given into your fate~" The dragon said tauntingly as he let out his deep laugh. "No, I would never accept that fate! I make my own decisions and iecide my own destiny!" The dragon chuckled again, "Well then fair maiden don't expect me to be easy on you this time.~" The dragon was surrounded by sand again, signaling he was transforming into his human form. When the sand disappeared and he, now in his human form walked towards me with a large grin on his face, "Well then maiden, show me what you've got~" he said tauntingly

I sighed as I raised my sword, ready to attack I ran at him and he raised his hand to keep me away again, this time I ducked and slashed my sword, cutting off his hand. I finally got close to him and smirked, finally one swift move and my fate will change and I'll no longer be the helpless maiden everyone says I'll be. I raised my sword and stabbed it right through his stomach, "Looks like the might Sand Dragon isn't so mighty now-... HUH!!??" I looked where I stabbed and there was no blood just.... Sand? He laughed at me as he grabbed the sword and pulled it out, still no blood and just sand. The wound quickly closed and the sand disappeared, "How? How on earth is that possible!" I yelled in frustration, the dragon chuckled again as he lit up a cigar, "Did you really think that I was called the Sand Dragon because I lived in a dessert? You silly girl, I am the Sand Dragon because I am the sand that makes up the dessert, all this land is an extension of me." I quickly became frustrated at his words and grabbed my sword again and just started swinging it around while mumbling my frustrations.

Crocodile POV

I watched as the maiden swung around her sword in the air frustrated, it was entertaining to watch. I let out one last puff of smoke before walking over to the maiden, I was about to speak when the maiden saw me and just yelled and started slashing me with their sword, I let them since it doesn't effect me anyway and let them take their frustration out, after a few minutes it became annoying so I grabbed them by the face and lifted them up to my eye level, " Listen, maiden I am going to give you one last chance to go train and learn how to defeat me, if you do not defeat me the next time we meet I will change your destiny by killing you before you can get rescued, got it?" I said as I squeezed their cheeks, they barely managed to nod their head yes and I felt myself relax a little. I took a deep inhale from the cigar between my lips and looked at the maiden, if it wasn't for them being so stubborn on trying to kill me, I might have found them cute. I blew a cloud of smoke in their face before dropping them. They quickly got up and grabbed their things, leaving in silence with their head low this time. I let out a sigh of frustration and went back inside my cave.

This maiden is something, frustrating? Yes. Attractive? Maybe... But I'll see if the maiden does come back again and will defeat me next time. Maybe I won't kill her next time, maybe I'll just keep her in my collection.......

______________________________

Sorry for the short one this week couldn't think of much to add for this chapter but the next chapter will be longer.

Kelly🐸

[spikybanana]

@sweetpeasandlilies I love and adore you, ty for the tag <3

It's the middle of the week night post a wip

(green haze teaser? except I've been teasing with the same thing for half a year now) (this is the weird time travel fic) (for context the first line of the fic is "Regulus Black is dead")

-

There were about a dozen figures diving in and out of the smoke, but Sirius found Bellatrix easily, guided by the whirling flames. 

Upon seeing her cousin, Bellatrix’ eyes widened mockingly, thin lips falling familiarly into a sneer. Without preamble, a lick of fire was hurled towards him. 

Sirius didn’t flinch or duck. He threw his arms forward, his instinct guided the magic outwards to form a shield that disintegrated the flame inches from his outstretched hand. He flashed a look at Bellatrix, and caught in her eyes a hint of surprise and perhaps even envy. But the venomous baring of teeth quickly returned. 

“Baby boy’s finally sucked it up and learnt magic, has he?” Bellatrix taunted with a twisted grin, “Is that why you still dare show your face here, hmm? After everything.” 

“You.” Sirius had to hold back from letting the vicious burn of magic lash out. He bit out through clenched teeth, “You let him die. You killed him.”

"Have you no shame?" Bellatrix screeched, "When do you plan to give up this standing around wheedling while all you do is whine—"

"He was my brother!”

"And you've been so proud of your family all along, have you?" Bellatrix was raising a hand, a spell gathering in her palm. Her shadow was terrifying against the firelight, a towering mass of wild cut into the scorched river bank that stretched wide beneath her flames. "How dare you stand here and accuse me when it was you who ruined him? You were the one who betrayed us. And be careful what you do now, you prissy little mongrel, or I might have to kill you next."

With that, Sirius took two swift steps forward, and his fist flew out towards her face. But her magic stopped him, simmering against his knuckles. Her dark eyes burned in a loud soundless sneer at the way Sirius hissed, and then, they were throwing themselves at each other in earnest. Their magic clashed, all the more violently while evenly-matched. Sirius had never duelled like this before, but the curses were hurled out of him in waves after waves. They spun around each other, blocking and striking, relentlessly pushing on and on, until Bellatrix was wide eyed and stunned and perceptibly slowing.

At that moment, the moon touched the horizon, and began to glow. It glowed through the fog that rose from the river, through the battle smoke, an overpowering orb that flooded the battle scene with its cold light. Its tip broke on the river, right at the barrier where the city ended and no one had ever crossed, as though tearing the unseen wall open. Sirius' mouth dropped open as he felt, from deep, deep within him, something calling him towards the moon. Then, rapid shadows were spilling out from it, into their battle. Sirius realised with a start— it wasn’t the moon, it was a portal. 

The shouting around them intensified tenfold, cascading from where the portal had formed. "Werewolves!" Sirius heard cried out from all sides. 

His heart pounding, Sirius snapped back to Bellatrix, who was, infuriatingly, grinning again. "How did you do it?" he spat, "You broke the barrier."

"Who told you it was me?" Bellatrix scoffed, narrowed her eyes in realising that they’d both let the other stand and watch, and instantly launched at him again.

Sirius let himself be pushed back, inching towards the portal. The call returned, intensifying with every moment, until Sirius could resist it no longer. It was as though someone on the other side of the portal was running for it as well. Sirius threw up a single shield against Bellatrix, the strongest he could manage, then turned on his heels and ran towards the portal. It shrank as they got closer and closer, and just as it was about to vanish Sirius flung himself bodily at it. As he fell through, he cried out at something in his mind ripping like torn cloth, then all blinked to black.

-

tagging @shipsgaysfordays @fonkeloog @heartofspells @whywcd @everythingbutcoldfire @fruity-individual & anyone who wants to!

[inky2556]

Magix Ultra

Chapter 10

"Why are these guys stronger then usual?" Zero mumbled after landing another punch. But not a second later the monster rose back up and lunged at him.

"But don't they look strange to you?" Ginga voiced as he and Orb combined their ultra beams to destroy a monster. He did have a point. The monsters were more ferocious and tougher to beat. And it didn't seem like the devil splinters had a part in it.

The aliens that escaped from prison, comprising of planet invaders and some of Belials former associates, were quiet. Too quiet. Normally, they would go on boasting about their next big plan. But this time, they just stayed silent and fought.

That alone should've been an indicator that something was wrong.

During the fight, Chiara caught sight of a monster about to attack Zero from behind while he was still busy dealing with the one infront of him.

"Zero! Duck!" She yelled. Said ultra didn't need to be told twice as he instinctively rolled away from between the two monsters. Just in time to see Chiara fire her ultra beam. It hit both monsters, effectively turning them to ash.

Then she went over to Zero and offered him a hand to help him up.

"Thanks. But I obviously had that covered." He said to which made her giggle.

"Your welcome."

...

...

...

"A little help here would be nice lovebirds!"

"We are not-" the words died out when they saw a monster,bigger than the rest, going crazy. That was the only way they could describe it.

Chiara drew out her saber from her brace while Zero already had his sluggers in hand. Together, Chiara landed a strong blow from the front while Zero's sluggers struck it from the back.

That semed to be the last of the monsters. As for the aliens however, they suddenly halted their attack and stood their like statues.

"What's going o-" suddenly they materialised into black smoke and shot towards the same direction. A high cliff not far away from them. The black smoke was then collectively sucked into a red stone attached to a silver sceptre.

On the cliff, a figure emerged from the fog holding said sceptre. It was an alien woman decked out in gold and red armour. She stared down at them with gleaming red eyes as her smile revealed a row of white and sharp teeth.

"Welcome!"

"Just who the heck are you?" Zero questioned, getting straight to the point.

"Me? Oh I'm just your average, every star empress of the dark galactic empire. Nera's my name and spreading darkness is my game." She proudly announced.

"Galactic emp- are you in cahoots with Belial?"

To her credit, she seemed genuinely offended by the question.

"How dare you affiliate me with that fallen ultra? He could never compare to my darling, my emperor."

"Oh yeah? Where's your darling now?" Chiara surprised herself with that line. She never really engaged in small talk with the enemy before. Zero must've rubbed off on her.

However,it made Nera smile even more.

"That is why you're here. Honestly, I just wanted Zero and I admit, I might've over done it with the monsters and helping these low lifes escape prison." She said while twirling her sceptre.

Chiara couldn't help but focus on the red stone on the sceptre. Her hands were slightly trembling from the uneasiness she felt and she didn't know why.

"Oh well, the rest of you will do fine as extra fuel." Nera added as she raised her sceptre. On cue, dozens of darkclopses appeared and surrounded around them.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Not in cahoots with Belial my foot."

And so another fight began. The battle was tough as more darkclopses showed up each time they took down one. One thing that Chiara noticed was that while the darkclopses were straight up about to kill them, they were more or less trying to subdue Zero.

"Gaaah!" She spun around and saw Geed with his fist inside a darkclop's chest. Looks like he tried punching it right in the color lamp. When he pulled his fist out, it was covered in black goo. It was burning his hand and the pain was evident by the painful grunting sound he made.

"Geed!" She rushed over to him to check his injuries.

"Chiara don't-" he tried to stop her when she cradled his hand but to his shock, the goo didn't burn her like it was doing to him.

Suddenly, a bright light shone from her hands. To both their surprise, the black goo evaporated and Geed's hand was completely healed with no burn marks. To him, it felt like a bucket of water was poured that made the pain go away. Not only that, he recovered all the energy he lost from fighting the darkclopses.

They didn't have time to dwell on it when more darkclopses were coming their way. But when they came within the vicinity of the light, the robots suddenly started short circuiting and fell flat on their back and faces near them. Oddly enough, black goo was bursting out of their color lamp.

When Chiara looked around and saw everyone heavily injured and still fighting off the darkclopses, she felt something spark in her.

'Please...whoever you are...please lend me your power to help them!'

...

...

...

'Dear child, there is no need for me to lend you anything, for you and I are one... That power lies within you, and to unleash it is entirely up to your heart...'

In the middle of the fight,the ultras and darkclopses didn't notice the huge wave of light until it swept across them.

For the ultras, the light restored the energy they lost from battling for so long. For the darkclopses however, they ended up being short circuited as black goo burst out of their color lamps.

"This is..." Geed, Zett and Orb recognised the light. It was the light that saved them in the dark killer zone a while back. Chiara's light.

Sure enough, when the light dimmed down, Chiara stood there as the source.

"Seriously, one of these days you've got to tell us how you do that." Rosso spoke while landing beside her.

"Wait, where's Zero?" Chiara asked when she noticed the blue and red ultra was nowhere in sight.

"I saw him get dragged some place else by the darkclopses" Ribut informed them.

"Then we need to-"

Unexpectedly, more darkclopses arose.

"Oh come on!"

There weren't as many as before, but still a lot to keep them busy. While the others were fully energised, Chiara felt fatigued setting in. She didn't think she could pull off another wave.

"We'll keep them busy. Chiara, you go with Ribut to find Zero." Blu said as he and the rest got ready for another fight. The two ultras nodded before flying off.

"And thanks for the power boost!"

"No problem!"

_________________________________________

When he came to, Zero found himself trapped inside a spherical pod. He tried banging on the glass only to feel his energy getting rapidly sucked out.

"Well look who's awake and kickin." It was Nera.

"Wha...what did you do to me?..." he panted.

"Oh this? Well, you put up quite the fight against about what, a dozen darkclops? This pod was specially designed to make the process easier. But, it also makes for a great way to bring you in without all the struggles. Not that you could now." She laughed.

"Process? What process?"

"The process...of bringing my love back!" Nera exclaimed.

"Ya see, my darling, he has a little...problem. He isn't all there." She started.

"But that won't be a problem soon. Once I give him enough life force to restore his soul and a new physical body, your body, everything will go back to how they were... We'll finally be together again after thousands of millennias of separation and rule over the multiverse!" She let out a maniacal laugh at the end of her speech.

"You...why me?"

"Why you? Well for starters, you're one of the strongest warriors in your land. And once I did my research, imagine my surprise when I found out that you, under Belial's possession, single handedly killed all your friends like it was a walk in the park. I mean seriously, so much potential wasted on something as trivial as protecting the universe. " She explained.

"Besides, you're quite easy on the eyes compared to other... candidates that I've seen. Your body will be perfect for my darling." Nera pointed the end of her sceptre towards the big black gem at the bottom of the pod. Zero didn't know what would happen if the sceptre touched the gem, but he knew it couldn't be good.

Out of the blue, a bright energy disk clashed with the sceptre, knocking it out of her hand.To Nera's dismay and Zero's relief, Chiara showed up with Ribut.

"Bu-but how?! My darkclopses should have killed you by now!" The alien spluttered.

"As you can see, we're perfectly alive."

Nera didn't want to take any chances. So long of careful planning and rebuilding her empire from scratch would not go to waste. Not on her watch. She summoned her sceptre and right as it flew into her hands, Chiara's saber clashed with it.

Ribut was off trying to find a way to open the pod.

"There's no use fighting back! Soon this dead planet will be plunged into darkness and there's nothing you and your friends can do about it. Nothing will happen to me since I'm a being of darkness. But you? You'll be trapped here until your light dies!" Nera exclaimed as she shot a beam with her sceptre, only to deflected by Chiara's saber.

The two ended up standing head to head, their weapons pushing against each other. That's when Nera sensed a familiar aura coming from the ultra.

"This light...It can't be!..."

While she was distracted , Chiara wasted no time in blasting her with her erium lamp since they were so close.

Nera flew back a couple feet and, to their luck, stayed down nursing her steaming face.

At the same time, Ribut succeeded in getting the pod open and freeing Zero. When Chiara rushed over, she noticed Zero couldn't properly stand without Ribut's help. Judging by his weakened state and the particles of light floating inside the pod, she guessed Zero may have had his energy drawn out.

Somewhere far from them, a black crystal cracked and shattered, releasing a wave of dark energy. It spread and covered everything from the ground up.

While she was thinking of a way to help Zero, Chiara spotted the oncoming darkness in the distance. Was this what Nera meant by the planet plunging into darkness?

"We need to get-" suddenly they heard Nera getting up using her sceptre.

"You think...you think I'd easily let you go?!" Nera yelled while she pointed her sceptre at them. Her other hand was covering the part of her face that got burned.

They had to alert the rest to escape the planet, fast. But it was hard to do so with an enraged Nera blocking their way. Not to mention in the state Zero was in, he needed someone to hold him up.

Realizing this, Chiara made a choice.

She drew out her saber and kept her eyes on the alien as she said,

"Ribut, you get Zero and the others and tell them to flee this place. I'll keep her distracted."

"But-"

"What are you talking about?! There's no way-" Zero argued but halted when he felt an intense pain shoot through his body and fell back on Ribut.

"Look, this place is gonna blackout soon so you all need to leave. Now."

"Chiara..."

"I'll join you when I'm done with her. So just GO!" She pleaded.

With a heavy heart, both ultras flew away. They didn't want to but they understood when they saw the darkness coming on the horizon. They just needed believe in her and hope that they'll see her again.

Before they disappeared from view, Nera shot up and tried to chase after them but was tackled to the ground by Chiara. Once again they ended up clashing weapons, saber and sceptre.

"What's so funny?" The ultra questioned when she heard Nera laugh.

"It's just so ridiculous. Your friends left you to die just like that. Goodie two shoes like you keep preaching about the importance of friendship and whatnot. Yet when push comes to shove you abandon each other to save yourselves." She marvelled.

"If you paid any attention, you'd know that I told them to leave." Chiara started.

"I won't needlessly throw my life away. But when push comes to shove, I'd gladly pay the price if it meant they had even the slightest chance to survive!" She declared.

Just then, darkness swept over them and covered the ground and sky. In her moment of distraction, Nera struck her across the head.

A million things were suddenly going through her mind as she laid on the ground holding her head in pain. Then, Nera shot her right in her color lamp with a red ray from her sceptre.

"How foolish. You're just an ultra with no memories. Going to such lengths for people who showed you kindness in your amnesiac state is just stupid." Nera said looking unimpressed. She stood over Chiara with her sceptre in hand. The red stone pointed directly at her blinking color lamp.

"You don't even know who you are."

Just as the stone was inches away from her, Chiara's colour lamp started glowing.

"You're wrong..."she muttered. Chiara grabbed the sceptre by the stone and stood up,not caring about the pain it was causing her.

"It's not stupid..." thoughts and memories of her friends flooded her mind... along with people she would rather forget.

"And I..." cracks with light seeping out formed on her body. But unlike last time, it didn't hurt. In fact, it felt relieving. Nera tried pulling her sceptre away, but felt herself get burned by the sudden light that engulfed them.

"I know who I am..." she was so close, she could feel it. She felt everything fit into place. Her mind and memories, both past and present, were clear.

In an instant, she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. The flow of magic coursing through her veins as she felt herself transform.

"I am..." would they still accept her once they knew and saw what she was?

"I am..." No, they never once doubted her. They believed in her so she should believe in them.

"...I'm Chiara! Fairy of the Dragon's light!"

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Wattpad & AO3

[electric--blanket]

a place where the heart rests

so, because @thekaiserroll drew fanart of my fanfiction i decided to return the favour by writing a long Wintersberg one-shot based off of her short comic! i hope you enjoy touch-starved Heisenberg.

warnings for death (not for main characters) and some angst.

read on ao3

--

Mama… I want mama. It hurts.

Where’s mama?

Karl Heisenberg always suffered from nightmares. Even before he was taken in by Mother Miranda — as a child, Heisenberg often experienced night terrors that had him screaming in his bed. There were distant memories in the back of his mind, where he’d wake from a terrible dream that had him screaming for his mother — and she’d always come to his side. In that terribly large, cold estate that Heisenberg once called home, it always felt so lonely. But, his mother always eased his fears; with her silk nightgown and the distinct smell of expensive soap. Her soft fingers would comb through Heisenberg’s locks of ashen brown hair, hushing him in a soft tone of voice — a voice he could no longer remember.

During the experiments, it was the only thing Heisenberg begged for when he felt the cadou infesting his body. It felt like a worm wriggling around in the wet soil during a storm, curling and writhing through his organs. He screamed for his mother, wishing she would save him from the pain and take him home again. A seventeen-year-old boy screaming for his mother to come and save him looked utterly pathetic from Mother Miranda’s perspective, and the feeling of fear only intensified when she stroked Heisenberg’s hair whilst he screamed. A soft whisper that uttered, “I’m your mother now, child.” It made Heisenberg nearly vomit.

That was the last time someone had ever touched him so tenderly. He’d not felt a loving touch since then and ducked away from Miranda’s so-called ‘motherly’ touches.

At first, Heisenberg coped with the intense trauma of his bodily changes by taking it in stride and calling his newfound power of magnetism a ‘gift’. He knew deep down it was the opposite: it stopped him from ageing, rendered him infertile and stripped away his dignity by becoming a slave to Miranda. It took a long time for Heisenberg to fully process what had happened to him. His father had left him in the clutches of a madwoman, and his life only got worse from there.

In a fit of rage — perhaps at the age of twenty-nine — he revisited his parent's estate to confront the man he could no longer call ‘father’. He had aged since Heisenberg last saw him, but those steel eyes he’d inherited were still as hard as ever. His mother lingered in a doorway just down the hall, but she didn’t dare come to greet her son as he snapped with a short, interrupted breath. Heisenberg had grabbed his father by the neck and pinned him to the nearest wall, knocking down a beautiful oil painting his mother adored. His fingers didn’t seem to stop, squeezing on the skin and bone until he felt a sickening crack vibrate beneath his fingers.

Heisenberg hadn’t meant it, not really. It was as if a demon had taken control of his body and sought revenge that barely mattered anymore. He didn’t realise what he’d done until he heard the sound of his mother screaming; distraught and fearful of her own son that she’d once coddled so long ago.

That was the last time Heisenberg saw his mother and father. The estate was quickly abandoned not long after, and from what he knew, his mother took her belongings and moved to Austria with some distant relatives. That large house teased Heisenberg every fucking day, with how it towered near the factory grounds and reminded him of what he’d done. Arson wasn’t exactly on his bucket list, but Heisenberg couldn’t resist taking a match to the place and watching it burn. Whatever childhood remained in that house was left in a pile of ashes, and he never looked upon it ever again. All of the silly dreams and hopes he’d had for his life were gone.

That was until Ethan Winters showed up. Nearly a hundred years later, Heisenberg felt something he’d sought after for so long — hope.

**

“Karl? Karl—!”

Mama. I want mama. Everything hurts.

Heisenberg forced his eyes open. It felt like his life was replaying in front of him whilst he was passed out; like watching an old film reel repeating itself and becoming more distorted each time. Up until that very night, Heisenberg’s life had been a series of traumatic events and unforgivable actions.

That night, he’d turned it all around just by laying his eyes on Ethan Winters. A man so incredible, resilient and insane… He’d do anything to get his little girl back. It was the man Heisenberg had oh-so wanted his father to be, and he admired that about Ethan. He’d never been so good at expressing his emotions honestly, or even laying out his ideas in a proper fashion to others… Oh, but Ethan was special. He’d shown Heisenberg patience that he’d not been offered before and decided to join him at his side to kill Miranda. Together.

“Karl… Fuck— Don’t die on me, asshole.”

Ethan… Ethan…

Above the metal remnants of what his mutated body had used as a shell, he could hear Ethan pushing the scrap aside to try and find Heisenberg buried beneath it. He could also hear the distinct cries of a distressed baby, something that brought him back to Earth. Heisenberg reached up through the metal until his bare, calloused fingers brushed up against Ethan’s soft knuckles. There was a moment of silence when their skin touched, but Ethan didn’t waste any time in grabbing Heisenberg’s hand and pulling him out.

The moment the pressure around his body ceased, Heisenberg felt the telltale feeling of sickening warmth seeping from many wounds across his body. The cadou inside him didn’t react too well to it, trying to cope with the trauma done by squirming and pulsating inside of him. Heisenberg drank in the expression of Ethan’s relieved face for just a moment, only until it warped into one of worry and horror. Heisenberg was weak, and his knees buckled beneath the weight of his torso before he fell back onto the ground.

The baby cupped carefully in one of Ethan’s arms began to cry again as Ethan jostled her accidentally in an attempt to help Heisenberg. A baby crying wasn’t really helping Heisenberg’s already distressed state, but it made him realise just how fucked he was. There was no way they would get away in time together, and Heisenberg was too injured to walk. The cadou might have helped to some degree, but it didn’t ease the burning pain in his body, and the loss of blood that was making him dizzy.

Ethan’s horrified expression was pinned on an appendage from the Megamycete, which rose up from the cave systems like a flower bud in spring, ready to bloom. The small, red flashing light alerted him to the fact that Chris Redfield had succeeded in planting the bomb. They had to leave.

“Go.”

A silence hung in the air for just a moment, and Heisenberg didn’t realise what he’d just said. For the first time in his miserable existence, he was being selfless and urging Ethan to leave him behind. It was the last thing Heisenberg wanted.

Don’t leave me here. I’m fucking scared. I don’t want to die yet.

“Fuck you,” Ethan’s voice trembled with venom, “I’m not leaving you here now. Not after everything we’ve been through.”

Heisenberg let out a bitter chuckle, tasting the blood seeping from his gums as he grinned, “I don’t think we have any time to be arguing about this, buttercup.”

“No. I— Mia’s dead, Karl. I need you.”

That’s right. Heisenberg briefly recalled Miranda’s kidnapping of the not-so-innocent woman and the experimentation that followed. Unfortunately, her body gave in due to her state after giving birth and she died on Miranda’s operating table. Ethan’s wife was dead, and Rose was now left without a mother’s loving touch.

“I said go. Rose needs her papa intact, not blown to pieces.” Heisenberg insisted, slumping back against the pile of scrap metal.

“Damn it—” Ethan looked hesitant to leave Heisenberg. It was a truly sweet sentiment: to see someone care about him after all this time. After all of the terrible things he’d done, and the love he’d been deprived of… Someone cared about him. Maybe that was enough. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to die like this.

“Fuck.” Ethan stammered again, licking his dry lips and swallowing, “Karl… I… Thank you.”

“... Yeah. I know, Ethan.”

That was all he needed. A trembling, watery smile shot his way before Ethan held Rose close with both arms and turned to run.

He’s going to be a great father.

Heisenberg looked up at the plant-like form the Megamycete had taken, looming down upon the ceremony courtyard with writhing mold creeping closer to Heisenberg. It was then that he decided that giving in like this wasn’t who he was: he was a fighter to his last breath.

In a last attempt to preserve his life, Heisenberg parted the pile of scrap metal and shuffled beneath it all. He rolled his wrist, the cocoon of metal surrounding him and tightening. The metal creaked, drowning out the sounds of the mold writhing around the metal to try and get inside. Heisenberg closed his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth. I won’t die. Not yet.

The explosion that followed shortly after was deafening, causing the entire ground to shake beneath him and the metal to shudder against his body. It felt painful, rippling off his injured skin like that… But, fortunately for Heisenberg, the explosion wasn’t nuclear — the blast was enough to do the job and wipe out the mold and the Megamycete.

A silence followed the explosion, brick and ash collapsing against Heisenberg’s metal cocoon. Each noise made him flinch, and his fingers twitched instinctively as some final line of defence. He didn’t know how long it was before he felt brave enough to let his guard down and release his telekinetic grip on the metal. The scraps suddenly slumped, collapsing around him as Heisenberg pushed the metal off of his body and emerged like a phoenix rising from the ashes of its former self.

The smoke and dust still remained, causing Heisenberg to cough heavily as he took a sharp inhale of the air. He squinted through the dust and remains of what was left of his home town and realised how much he’d lost. It hit him all at once; his childhood, his parents and his fucked up little family. Even though he hated Miranda and his makeshift siblings deeply, they were all he truly had left to call ‘family’. It was over in the blink of an eye, and Heisenberg suddenly felt like a child all over again. Like a child waking from a nightmare, scared and alone.

Heisenberg’s fingers twitched into tight fists, clamping his mouth shut as tears threatened to spill down his face. Even after all this, he tried to will himself not to cry, to never let down the walls he had so carefully built. But, at that moment there was nothing left to keep the foundations upright. Heisenberg’s fists loosened, and he brought his hands up to cover his face instinctively. A knot seemingly untied itself in his chest and throat, and a guttural sob left him. Maybe — just maybe — it was okay.

**

Navigating the woods was even worse during a snowstorm at night. It was bad enough that Heisenberg’s body was weak from his healing injuries, but it felt haggard from his intense emotional breakdown. In a strange sense, he felt relief from it but at the same time, it felt awfully inconvenient. Heisenberg was sure he looked like a terrible mess; his clothes were torn and his hair was damp with clumps of ash hanging from his silver locks. Not to mention the blood staining his clothes, and his valuable dog tags that hung low on his chest.

In his many idle chats with Ethan before they fought Miranda, he could recall the other man mentioning he didn’t live too far from the village. It was a fair distance away, but not too far that it would be impossible to reach if your car broke down on the road between them. Still, it wasn’t a pleasant or short walk.

By the time Heisenberg even managed to reach a place that looked like a livable home, he was close to collapsing in the snow… But, he held out. The lights were turned off inside, but a motion sensor light on the property turned on once Heisenberg got close enough. The bulb blinded him briefly, and he held a hand up to shield his eyes as he walked up the porch to the door. Heisenberg sluggishly lifted his hand, knocking on the door as hard as he could and leaning against the frame. It took a few moments before he could see a light turn on inside from the windows, and the sound of someone walking down a wooden staircase slowly.

The person on the other side of the door stopped before they reached for the doorknob, and they spoke out.

“Who is it?”

Ethan Winters. That voice Heisenberg had missed so dearly; in all of its glory and full of caution. It almost made him laugh.

“Let me in, Ethan. I’m freezing.”

“Karl?”

“As smart as ever, Ethan. Can you hurry up?”

Ethan was quick to unlock the door and remove the security chain, twisting the doorknob and pulling it open. There, Ethan was standing in a pristine white shirt and some boxers that hung low on his hips… Along with a pair of comical slippers that seemed to resemble a cartoon dog. Heisenberg’s lips twitched into a tired grin.

“Oh my, too much skin, Ethan. Back in my day—”

“Shut up and get in here!”

Ethan grabbed Heisenberg’s arm, tugging him inside to shield him from the snowstorm outside. He slammed the door shut and quickly locked it back up, and the two men finally stood face-to-face. There was a silence that hung in the air, with so many unanswered questions on the tip of Ethan’s tongue, but none came. Without any further hesitation, Ethan threw his arms around Heisenberg’s neck and tugged him close for an embrace.

It was the first time Ethan had touched him in such a way. So full of affection and genuinity, it made Heisenberg’s fingers tremble with uncertainty. He didn’t know what to do with his hands: so overcome with the touches that smothered him. His brows creased into an expression of relief, and Heisenberg’s steel eyes fluttered shut as he succumbed to the hug. He wrapped his arms around Ethan’s waist, squeezing him carefully and burying his face into Ethan’s shoulder. The smell of talcum powder and formula milk permeated his shirt, giving Heisenberg the comfort he craved. He never wanted Ethan to stop touching him, and he was content to stay like this for as long as he could — to make up for all the time he’d lost aching after affection.

“I thought…” Ethan mumbled slowly, “I thought you were dead.”

“Mm.” Heisenberg hummed lowly in response, curling his fingers into Ethan’s shirt. “So did I. Turns out I’m hard to kill.”

Ethan snorted softly.

**

As it turned out, Heisenberg wasn’t too bad with kids.

It was a tough adjustment for the two men at first; Ethan had to keep Heisenberg a well-guarded secret as he was moved to a new location with Rose (courtesy of the BSAA). Heisenberg followed their steps at a safe distance, but he was never too far from them. Understandably, Ethan was moved into a smaller home: a humble bungalow in a quiet German village. Once the BSAA had left Ethan in peace with Rose, it didn’t take long before Heisenberg settled into the bungalow with them.

Ethan had insisted that if Heisenberg was going to stay there with him and Rose, then he’d need to learn to help take care of the baby. At first, he was extremely hesitant to do something akin to a parental figure… But, Rose was a surprisingly sweet baby. She didn’t fuss too much and rarely threw a tantrum over the little things. Rose was the right amount of responsibility for Heisenberg, and that made him a patient parent.

He’d been taught how to properly hold her (after many lectures), how to prepare her formula and change her. Rose was understandably unhappy with Heisenberg’s presence at first, perhaps longing for her mother that was no longer around… But, after a few months, she took to Heisenberg very well.

Because of Karl’s lack of mortality and infertility, he never thought he’d take the figure of a father like this… But, it wasn’t exactly an unwelcome opportunity. He’d even upgraded from sleeping on the couch to Ethan’s bed.

The first night Ethan invited him to bed, Heisenberg could tell from the flustered look on Ethan’s face that it took a lot of courage to ask him to bed. A sexual joke lingered on the tip of Heisenberg’s tongue, but he bit it back in favour of keeping the proposal on the table. Instead, Heisenberg had nodded with a cheeky grin and followed Ethan to bed.

There had been some nights where the loss of Mia hit Ethan harder than he’d liked it to — even after Mia’s work with The Connections was revealed, he had still loved her to a degree. Those nights were the hardest. All Heisenberg could do was hold Ethan in his arms and comfort him with nothing more than his presence.

This invitation into Ethan’s bed was far more intimate than a comforting hug. At first, they stayed a polite distance apart on either side of the bed, with Ethan turned on his side whilst Heisenberg stared up at the dark ceiling. In the darkness, his eyes created shapes that danced across the ceiling and warped before him. Much like the mold that infested him, it was as if it continued to taunt him with its presence. After a moment, Heisenberg finally turned onto his side and glanced at the lump that was Ethan with his back to him. That urge to touch returned to the forefront of Heisenberg’s mind. It was that deep ache in his chest, like a lump of flour stuck in a smooth dough that needed to be coaxed inward.

He reached out but stopped himself before he could touch, trying to plan the best way to move forward with what he wanted. Heisenberg pursed his lips, shuffling his body closer to Ethan’s back until he finally slid his arm over Ethan’s waist. He could feel Ethan’s body freeze and tense up a little, which made Heisenberg’s heart feel like stopping altogether. Had he gone too far?

But after a moment, Ethan relaxed, pressing his chest back into Karl slowly. It was all the permission he needed to slot himself fully against Ethan and quietly seek out his hand. Once Heisenberg found it, he carefully laced their fingers together as he held Ethan like that, tugging him close with his elbow.

No words were spoken in the darkness, but a silent understanding of what they both wanted. Heisenberg finally felt complete like this, closing his eyes and exhaling tiredly. His body suddenly felt tired, releasing all the tension it had been holding trying to psyche himself up to do it.

A feeling of affection swelled in Heisenberg’s chest as he held Ethan, finally giving in to the darkness and drifting away with their bond now stronger than ever.

**

“Are you fucking insane, Ethan?!”

Chris Redfield. A thorn in Heisenberg’s side, but not as bad as Miranda. His voice filling their home put Heisenberg on edge, but it didn’t really matter too much to him. It was around ten in the morning, and the couple had just had breakfast. The television was on, playing some cartoons in the background as Rose was sitting on the soft carpet of the living area with her toys, and Heisenberg sat close to her.

When Chris made an unexpected visit, and he spotted Heisenberg in the living room, the yelling began. Ethan had kept Chris just outside of the room so that Rose didn’t see her father getting angry, and Heisenberg made sure to keep her attention on her toys. Heisenberg was wearing a pair of tartan boxers, along with a button-up pyjama shirt with a white tank top beneath it. It wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of bedtime fashion, but it made him comfortable enough at night.

When the yelling only got worse and Rose seemed irritated by the noise, Heisenberg carefully brought Rose into his lap and crossed his legs.

“Hmm,” He hummed in feigned thoughtfulness, “Does ol’ Karl need to perform for little Rose again?” Heisenberg sighed dramatically, “Oh, the things I do for you.”

He turned his body subtly to the kitchen area, holding his hand out and focusing on one of the drawers. It slid open, a few tablespoons floating out from a cutlery tray. Heisenberg pulled his hand back, the spoons floating across to the living area and bringing them to a stop in front of him and Rose. With a simple, slow roll of his wrist, the spoons began to twirl and move in a circular motion above Rose.

Her eyes widened with fascination, the corners of her mouth opening into a gleeful smile. Absently, she reached up with her soft, pink hands and tried to reach for the spoons half-heartedly as they continued their motions. A soft laugh bubbled from her, causing Karl to smile softly.

“He’s a dangerous bioweapon, Ethan. He could hurt Rose!”

Heisenberg managed to hone in on those words; a sharp pain digging into his chest when he realised the implications Chris was trying to make. That Heisenberg was a monster. A bioweapon without feeling. A creature that would kill a child.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ethan pointing wordlessly at the soft scene of Heisenberg with Rose in his lap, entertaining her with spoons. That was all he needed to say, really — without even saying it. Even Chris was at a loss for words, and he quietly relented. Ethan was surely in for an afternoon of lectures.

It made Heisenberg smile a little more, turning his head subtly towards Ethan and catching his gaze. It was his quiet way of saying thank you. It went beyond thanking Ethan for trusting him with Rose but thanking Ethan for listening to Heisenberg, taking him into his home and loving him. Even though they’d never spoken those three little words out loud, maybe they didn’t need to. Their actions, affections and closeness spoke those words loud enough.

Truly, after all this time, Heisenberg didn’t think he was capable of ever being loved or trusted. Now that he’d left that horrible life behind, he was now a father, a friend and possibly a lover. The trauma would always remain, yes, like the cadou and the mutations. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be happy like this, in this simple little life he’d started to build with Ethan.

Maybe it would be okay.

[quietlyimplode]

do you take fic requests bc if you do could you do something like how in bw nat flinches when dreykov goes to hit her the first time and maybe when clint first meets her or something all she does is flinch and super submissive??

Hey Anon. Not sure if this is exactly what you’re thinking; I think there’s a strong correlation between why Natasha flinched and Dreykov being the ultimate abuser; I think that she would be able to differentiate him and Clint. I’m not sure she would have as violent reaction to someone she didn’t know, because that reaction (I think) is one borne of repeat trauma. Sooo this is a 5+1 touching on that reaction.

Warnings for: child abuse, child death, red room musings, domestic violence, child trafficking, black widow spoilers, and ptsd. (3045 words)

Forged.

.

1/

Everything is so overwhelming. There are girls screaming, men with guns. She holds on tightly to Yelena and makes her stand behind her.

The guns have lights on them and she can’t follow them all.

There’s so many people, it’s loud, and confusing and Natasha just wants to cry.

Pain only makes you stronger.

But her chest hurts. It’s a ball of panic that hasn’t gone away since Mama Melina said she was sorry.

She tries to school her face so that it’s devoid of panic; but it’s hard. Yelena is holding her hand hard.

It happens quickly.

They grab Yelena and she yells and screams for her, tries to pull her back but they hit her in the face.

Disoriented, she loses track of her sister, the pain in her heart intensifies in panic and she catches sight of blonde hair. She rips the picture in her hand, and runs over to her.

She knew it was going to happen. She didn’t think it would be like this. She thought they could stay together.

“Take it.” She yells. “Take it.” And shoves it into Yelena’s hands. She’s pulled away and so is Yelena.

She can’t help the feral noises that break free from her body.

She doesn’t cry though.

Pain only makes you stronger and she is in so, so much pain.

She’s lined up with the others and is made to step forward.

She sees him; the man from Cuba. The one Papa Alexei embraced. He walks up to her.

He smells of cigars and strong cologne and it takes everything she has to hold his gaze and not turn up her nose.

The man grabs her head, and she flinches hard against his hands. He gets closer and there’s something in her that remembers this man.

“The Red Room is your home now,” he tells her and looks her up and down, gaze lingering.

He pushes her into a line with 3 older girls and she bites the inside of her mouth as hard as she can to stop herself hyperventilating and panicking.

Pain. She reminds herself.

Pain.

.

2/

There’s four girls with her. The biggest of the guards is closest to her and three more stand over the others. Of course, they think it’s her, that she’s the ringleader. They’re not wrong, but it does make her think that she should perhaps try and stay under the radar a little more.

They’re all standing in front of Dreykov who exudes anger. She can count the number of times on her hand that she’s had to stand in front of him, this is the first time in her nightdress. She’s self conscious all at once and she crosses her arms around her body.

“Stand front!” The guard yells, gun in her face. She startles, as she drops her arms down to her sides, fists clenching.

Svetlana glances tentatively at her and she bows her head.

Dreykov hasn’t said anything and they’re all awaiting punishment. She knew she shouldn’t have smuggled in the Nutella but she was so excited about the new taste, the deliciousness of the spread that she could share.

He turns to face her and her blood runs cold.

“Kill them.” He says looking directly at her, his face curled in a snarl.

Her eyes widen and she shakes her head hard.

He laughs.

“Fine.” He looks to the other four.

“Kill her.” He says and ducks his head towards Natasha.

Svetlana is closest, the guards step back as she steps forward, intentions clear and Natasha can see the smile that plays across his face.

Sadists.

She’s old enough now to know to use the environment to protect herself as well, knows this room and, has taken stock of all the things in the room that could be used as a weapon. She assumed, of course, that they would be used against her, not that she would have to use them against the others.

The first punch comes from Odette, a kick from Sevenya, and attempted restraint from Clara and Svetlana. Natasha protects her head, trying to find an opening where she can get one of the girls between her so the other three have to go through her first.

It’s Clara that she throws on the floor in the way of Odette and she narrowly avoids a letter opener thrown at her head. It clatters for the floor and she scrambled back to pick it up. Holding it in front of her, she looks at the others. It’s not malice on their faces but fear.

Dreykov looks on in amusement and then looks at his watch.

Natasha waits for Odette to attack again. She was always the most impulsive. She spins to the side and kneels and feels the letter opener slice across her femoral artery, she knows she’s hit it when the gush of blood accompanies it.

She has no time to ponder it as she tries to pull the weapon out, Clara is on her again. Natasha kicks up catching her under her chin, the sound of skin hitting skin, her bare foot tingling. She pushes Clara back, adrenaline fading and fatigue setting in for all of them. Sloppy punches end up in hair pulling as Natasha swings her legs up and around her neck. Maybe if she knocks her out, she won’t have to do it.

“Enough.” Dreykov’s voice is clear and she detects the anger on it.

He pulls his gun and shoots Clara and Odette.

She flinches at the sound and almost vomits as she sees Clara take her last breath.

“Leave now. You have no place in the world, as such you may take nothing and have nothing. You will be searched on entry and exit.” He says, enunciating every word.

Natasha attempts a glance at the other two girls but they won’t meet her gaze. They all know what being searched means.

The bodies of Clara and Odette are dragged out one door as they leave through another.

.

3/

Natasha stretches. The apartment on the west side is sunny and she lays on the floor basking in the heat like a cat. She should get up and get something to eat, her stomach letting her know that it’s time, but this position is so relaxing and soothing that she ignores it; just for now. Closing her eyes she listens to the lull of slow paced music she put on earlier.

She given herself two days to do nothing. She’s sure that she’s off the radar and knows that her body and her mind needs rest. If only it worked that way.

Being on the run isn’t new. Being a fugitive from the red room and staying low is fine. She just needs to decide what she wants out of life; these are the bigger decisions that she’s putting on the back burner. Just for now.

The sun sets low and the slow growl of her tummy, lets her know that it’s truly time to get up; tend to herself and find the Thai place that knows her order when she walks in the door. A fact that she’s not sure she should be worried about.

Pulling on a jacket, she turns to set her own locks, and then moves to the door to lock it with her keys.

A bang, the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a yell make her flinch hard, dropping her keys to the floor. A flash of a guard and her head whipping back from a punch is almost identical to the sound she just heard, and it takes her a second to get her breathing under control. Natasha feels the hair on the back of her neck stand up, knowing the likelihood of what she’s just heard.

She’s got a choice to make.

Help, and potentially expose herself.

Do nothing, and more red on her ledger.

Bucking courage, she walks inaudibly down the hall. Locates the sound where there’s the faint sound of crying and the low rumble of a mans voice.

She knocks, loudly and confidently.

There’s silence, before the door opens ajar, and she pushes it into his face and walks in.

“Bitch what do you think you’re doin?” Comes the drawl as he follows her.

“Did you hit her?” She asks voice low and dangerous.

“What?”

“Did you, hit her?” Natasha points to the crying woman, whose face is swollen and red.

“Who do you think you are?” The man stands over Natasha and stares down at her. She cocks her head and stares back. He goes to grab her and she turns her body, grabbing his hand and twisting, making him drop to his knees.

She twists again hard, and he grunts and cries out. There’s a strong smell of cologne, the same as Dreykov and she snaps. She breaks his hand and punches him in the face. Hears the crack of fist against cheek and shouts at him.

“How dare you?” She grunts at him, standing over him. She punches him again.

“You think it makes you more of a man?”

There’s blood on her knuckles.

The woman is asking her to stop; and she’s crying harder.

Natasha knows what she’s done, she’s not upset with herself.

She squats next to the man with the broken nose and bloodshot eyes; blood spattered making for a gruesome scene. She gets close to his face.

“Nod if you can hear me.” She says. He nods; a short dip of his head.

“I will kill you if you ever touch her again.” She promises.

“I know where you live.” She nods to the mechanic jacket hanging, “I know where you work.” She stands up.

“I will be watching.”

 

4/

Clint watches Natasha playing chess against herself and holds up the takeaway.

“Come play against me,” she invites and he laughs.

“You think you can take me?” He asks.

She finally looks up to him and grins.

“Always.”

He puts the paper bag down on the stove and laughs as she sets it up again.

“I haven’t won once, doesn’t it get boring playing against me?” His eyes twinkle at her as he looks at her, both of them smiling.

Natasha opens as she always does by moving her pawn. Clint copies her move.

She’s about to make her second move when they’re interrupted by the smoke alarm chirping and a small flame coming from the paper bag on the stove.

He laughs. Says something about not knowing the stove was still warm and waves the tea towel across the smoke alarm.

It takes him a moment, but he realises she’s not joking with him. In fact.

She’s frozen.

“Natasha?”

There’s a whine and a choked noise.

“No. Nononono.” She looks at him wide eyed.

“Make it stop. Make it stop.”

He’s scrambling now.

“Please?” He looks to where she’s looking, the smoking bag, a flame.

“Make it stop.” She repeats again.

His heart drops and he finally gets the tiny flame under control, dumping it in the sink. She’s staring where it was. Eyes blank, body tight.

He moves over to her and reaches over to her.

Natasha flinches at his touch; his hands retract quickly.

“It’s ok, Natasha.”

The haunted look doesn’t leave her face but she stands and moves away.

“Yeah, it’s ok.”she repeats back.

She leaves for the bedroom and he follows her tentatively,

“Just. Give me a minute.” She requests and shuts the bathroom door.

He sits on the bed waiting for her to emerge. He stays until he hears the tap run, and the door unlock.

When she emerges she looks the same as before, face relaxed, mask on.

“You ok?” He asks, tentatively.

“Fine.” She nods.

Clint nods with her.

“What do you wanna do now?” He asks tentatively, not really knowing what to do next. The fact that she’s freaked out on him and managed to pull herself back together in the space of ten minutes is suspicious, and he feels he needs to walk on eggshells around her.

She shrugs and melts into the couch, knees to her chest.

“Wanna tell me what that was?” He ventures, sitting next to her.

“No.”

It doesn’t leave any space for probing, so he stops talking. Let’s her figure it out herself.

She uncurls herself and stands.

“Actually. I’m just going to go home.” She nods to the chess set. “Thanks for the game.”

He stands alongside her.

“You sure?” He asks, it’s not right he knows. He should keep her here, make sure she’s ok. But. They’re not there. He’s not her confidant. He’s not the one she goes to.

Natasha nods.

“Thanks.” She grabs her coat and makes for the door, passing through the threshold, pausing slightly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

By the time he reaches the door frame, she’s gone.

 

5/

Natasha has done hard things in life. She knows she has. Her whole childhood was lucky survival, and she knows it. But this. This is intentional bravery and even if she dies she knows it’s the right thing.

Being in front of him, is possibly the hardest, most confronting and perhaps masochistic move she could have taken, but given the short time frame Melina gave her, she didn’t see another way.

As he talks to her.

As he goes to touch her face.

It takes all of her not to react.

To be still.

To remember to breathe.

She asks about her mother because she can’t help it, and he tears the knife through her soul.

She wasn’t unknown. She was Natasha and all the other mothers who fought for orphaned little girls. She buries it deep, masking her face, unable to stop her eyes watering.

He makes Antonia uncover herself, and she’s ripped apart again.

Natasha carries the scars of her death on the inside. Antonia carries them on the outside.

She can’t believe what she’s hearing, seeing and wants with every once of her being to say she’s sorry. Of all the deaths she’s being responsible for, Antonia’s is the one she needs to atone for the most.

She’s alive and it’s simultaneously the best and worst thing.

Dreykov taunts her as she knew he would and sends Antonia away. It’s enough to make her mind flip back to the plan.

Finally, the opportunity to shove a gun in his face. She knows it won’t work. But the little voice inside her head thought maybe, just maybe she would be stronger than the pheromone lock. She wasn’t strong enough as a child to fight back when they took her from her bed, or when she wanted with every once of her being to protect others; but she thought maybe being separated from him, being older, grown; she wouldn’t be subjected to the same weaknesses.

She was wrong.

She can’t pull the trigger.

She can’t stab him through the heart.

And as he touches her and peels the knife from her fingers, she can feel the panic welling inside her.

She’s traipsed into the lions den, full of confidence but she’s nothing compared to science and manipulation. Despair fills every inch of her as he’s close enough to smell. The old sickly cologne that haunts her nightmares, that makes her snap into rages when she gets a whiff of it on any other man, and as it’s paired with the smell of a cigar, she’s torn back to him grabbing her face and telling her the Red Room is her home.

She is home.

She tries to outrun it but he’s going to turn her back into a mindless automaton. Not with trigger words this time. Not with pain. Or fear, or even threats. It’s all chemical. She has no choice.

Her whole body shudders in visceral pain as he gets closer to her, talking to her, saying her name.

Her voice is low as she keeps up the charade.

Sever the nerve; and it will be ok.

Sever the nerve; and he will have no control.

But.

As he raises his hand to her, she can’t do it. She flinches away and she’s so disappointed in herself. Old habits, isn’t that what they say?

She’s 10 and her eyes are black.

She’s 11 and her body knows not to bruise so easily.

She’s 12 and can take a punch easily.

Natasha bites down heavily on her cheeks drawing blood. It’s grounding. He moves away from her and mumbles something about Melina.

Control.

Control the narrative. Make him say what she needs. This is not about her.

This is not about her trauma.

She breathes heavily as he reiterates the plan to her and she tapers the panic.

Bait him.

Make him cooperate.

She can do this.

She can do hard things.

+1

The television plays and the heater whirs as Natasha sits on the big chair reading her book. She sips the sweet drink she prepared for herself and pulls the blanket up. There’s a softness about the night, and it’s built on not having any competing priorities. Not having to be anywhere the next day.

She’s alone but it’s peaceful, and allows her to mull over the words she reads.

“Being kind to yourself is the greatest kindness.” Is the quote that sticks in her head, and, as she picks up the chocolate on her left, she’s knows it’s the truth.

For once, her brain is calm and she knows the safety of this place. Clint would call it a controlled environment but she prefers to think of it as safety.

In the life of a spy, there’s no place safe enough, no turning off the low level anxiety that always follows her around, but somehow; here, she can.

She looks out the window and admires the trees atop the mountain she can see, marvels in the low fog that gathers around and has a life of its own as it moves around outside in the darkness.

There’s no light pollution, except what’s coming from inside the house.

She glances at the time, glad she made the connection, the phone call she’s expecting not breaking the peace or make her flinch at the unexpected noise permeating peace.

Natasha sets down her book and picks up her phone. One minute.

Right on cue it rings.

She smiles.

“Hey.”

.

All my fic.

[skellebonez]

SO, remember that thing you wrote a while back, about Monkey King and Mk time traveling back to the JTTW time period?

Link to said thing: https://skellebonez.tumblr.com/post/647766968590581760/18-for-present-wukong-and-mk-to-accidentally-time

THIS? RIGHT WELL, I HAVE HAD IT OPEN IN MY TABS FOR A REALLY LONG TIME AND WOULD LIKE TO GIVE YOU AN OPENING TO CONTINUE WITH IT IF YOU'D LIKE: PROMPTS 34 and 41

So. Time travel is funky. This is set post-Special, immediately pre-season 2. But has spoilers for events up to S2E7. For reasons. Side bar: sometimes time travel comes with some fun side effects. Fun for the viewer. Less fun for the people experiencing them.

Truth be told, I forgot they were even here./Can you teach me how to do that?

"Won't this cause some kind of... I-I dunno, time paradox?" MK asked in a harsh whisper as they followed the traveling group at the back of the line. "Or is this gonna be some kind of 'you changed one thing and now two timelines exist' kind of deal?"

"I genuinely have no idea," Wukong said with a sigh, digging at the uncomfortable but familiar feeling in his ear and trying to keep his voice down as much as possible. He was honestly surprised that it had taken MK this long to ask this particular question, but then again... they had other things to worry about. "I don't remember this, but that may not even matter. I've around for centuries, Bud, but even I have no idea how thing works for us."

"That is not a comforting sentence."

It had been a little over two days since the mentor and student had found themselves thrown backwards in time a few centuries away from home. And Sun Wukong could tell that MK was starting to get more and more frustrated as time had gone on. To be fair, they had made little progress. And there was... another reason... multiple other reasons. But most importantly, there wasn't exactly a power source they could plug the machine into that would give them enough juice to send them home, at least not unless they chance by a demon with lightning powers that Wukong didn't remember. No, instead they had to wait until they hit a storm.

One that was more than another two days walk away.

The young man did his best to not let it show, however. Most likely because of who they were traveling with.

His younger self lead the group, pointedly not looking back at them and keeping a watchful eye for demons that the elder Wukong knew would not come. He dared not bring this knowledge up, though, not knowing if MK had a point about that paradox. He didn't seem to trust the completely, but there was someone else he trusted.

Behind him was his former Master. The monk Tripitaka, Tang Sanzang himself, on the back of the horse formed dragon Bai Long Ma. Bai Long Ma had said nothing, as they were wont to do, and seemed to mostly ignore the two of them unless they were loud. Mast- Sanzang. He had insisted that the elder Wukong and MK call him Sanzang. Probably to help differentiate who was speaking to him if he could not see the two immortal monkeys, and also because MK kept trying to figure out which title to use for the monk and he took pity on him. Sanzang, after a hour's long explanation and from proof via MK's phone and knowledge of past adventures none should know of (and one very interesting game of staff trading between the two monkeys for a moment where the younger Wukong realized it was indeed the same staff).

Sanzang had not mentioned his crying when they met. Neither had his younger self. Or MK.

Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing took up the rear. Wujing had not said much to the two of them, but he was nice enough. Suspicious of them, but nice. He put more faith in Sanzang and younger Wukong (perhaps he should call him something else in his head) than his companion.

Bajie didn't trust them as far as he could throw them, that was clear from the way he kept glancing back at the duo with daggers in his eyes. He was immediately unhappy with their new travel companions and... Wukong realized with a sad jolt that he actually missed that. At the time he only found Bajie's contrary nature to his own to be frustrating but now... now he hadn't heard that in 500 years and he could see that while it may have been misguided at times (many times) it was born of a sense of self preservation and a want to protest Sanzang.

Even if he contradicted himself at times as well.

"You two doing ok back there, older me and Kid?" Younger Wukong called back suddenly.

"Yup, just. Hanging." MK yelled back, tone as terse and done as it had been for the last day. "Not like I can do anything else." The second bit was muttered under his breathe, most likely in the hopes even his mentor couldn't hear him. He was wrong.

Wukong felt... bad. Because he was the primary source of this rotten mood.

The staff digging into his ear for the first time in centuries was a reminder of that. An agreement between himself and his student to not bring up any undue suspicion and questions that would take time they may not have to get back home. They'd agreed that the group would also call him Kid, since MK wasn't as fond of the others calling him Bud for some reason, and the name was just... a smidgen to close to Monkey King to not raise similar questions. It was also a reminder that Wukong had let slip in a follow up conversation, away from prying ears, about why this may or may not be really necessary that he had planned to leave the next day in present time.

MK hadn't been happy since. Not with him at least.

"Bajie, remember to ask them how they are doing from time to time. Please?" Sanzang insisted in front of them.

"Truth be told, I forgot they were even here," Bajie lied.

~

Bajie glowered down at Wukong, throwing the fruit and wrapped rice packages in his general direction and not caring whether he caught it or not. There was a soft and disappointed cry of his name from Sanzang from the other side of the camp.

"Master and the stupid Monkey may trust you," he snorted, ignoring the call and looking between Wukong and MK. "But I don't. If you even so much as set one little toe out of like I will re-"

"Rend our souls asunder with your mighty 9 Toothed Rake, yeah," MK sighed as he used some of the water from his cup to wash the berries thrown at him. "You're Zhu Ganglie, Zhu Bajie, Tiānpéng Yuánshuài, commander-in-chief of 80,000 Heavenly Navy Soldiers. You will kick our asses. We know."

For a whole second Zhu Bajie looked genuinely surprised and... kind of impressed.

Then he scoffed again and made his way back to the group of five and watched them from the edges of his vision with less suspicion and more curiosity than before.

"Mei was right when she said he was kind of like Pigsy," MK noted, popping a berry into his mouth.

"When was that?" Wukong asked, doing much the same.

His student froze, looking down at his hands for a moment as if trying to remember something. "... not important. Let's just eat and get some rest, like Sanzang told us to."

It didn't take a Great Sage to realize something was wrong.

Wukong said nothing.

~

"Kid, we told you to stay back with Master!" Wujing shouted as MK peaked his head around the rock he and the monk were taking shelter behind.

"I know!" MK snapped, growling as he ducked back down and presumably curled in on himself. "ARGH I feel useless!"

Wukong winced at his tone, feeling bad. MK wasn't useless, to be fair, but without his staff and no backup weapons he was fighting up a creek without a paddle as it were.

"You're not useless, and you're protecting Tripitaka!" He shouted, letting out a yelp as he narrowly avoided a hit from a demon that should not even be here. Or, some kind of time anomaly mockery of a large demon. An enormous smoke or shadow creature that was far too familiar for his own liking. Not the same, something possibly cobbled together from time itself.

"Wow, uh, future me you're not doing so hot!" Younger Wukong said with a raise of his eyebrow as he blocked a strike with much more ease. "Aren't I supposed to get better with age? Like a handsome fine wine?"

"I'm a bit RUSTY ok!?" He snapped, slicing off one of the shadow creature's cloth tassels to watch it flicker away. "Haven't been many demons to fight!"

He heard a scoff from behind the rock before he felt the giant fist punch him into it. And through it. A Wukong sized hole between student and old master. He realized too late that he had lost his grip on his staff as it flew into the air above them.

"Alright, that's enough!"MK shouted, and before Wukong could even move to stop him the Monkie Kid had jumped into the rock and reached up.

"KID DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!?" Bajie shouted in horror as he made to rush back and tackle him out of the way. He hadn't moved fast enough either.

None of them had, before MK caught the staff as if it was as light as a feather and twirled it around himself before extending it and launching himself at the shadow creature with a scream of rage and frustration and landing what would have been the killing blow had it not clearly been something not living in the first place.

It dissipated much as the piece cut off before it did, leaving MK to... give a confused yelp and fall into a heap on the ground. The staff fell to his side as he clutched his head and yelled in pain from a source Wukong could not see.

"Kid!" Wukong screamed, moving faster than he had during the entire fight to his student's side. "Kid, shit, MK! What happened?"

"MK?" Sanzang and his younger self asked softly in tandem as Wujing and Bajie watched on, all moving closer. But not too close, giving the two room to move.

MK didn't answer. He sat up, holding his head in his hands as he breathed deeply and tried to keep from screaming again before everything just... stopped.

His sat on his knees, hand hanging limply at his sides as his true sight shone in his eyes and he looked on forward blankly.

"What's... who is he?" Younger Wukong asked slowly as he turned to his older self. "What is he?"

"The Hero and the Warrior were like the Sun and the Moon..." MK muttered softly all of a sudden, just loud enough for the group surrounding him. His voice was slurred, almost like he was in a trance. "Their light a protective glow shining upon the world..."

"MK, where did you-" Wukong tried to ask instead of answering his younger self as he slowly stepped forward, cautiously, but MK continued on as if he had not heard him at all.

"Together there was nothing that could stop the two of them. Either in the Celestial Realms... or on Earth. As time went on, the Hero attained power beyond comprehension. As the Hero's light grew so too did his shadow and soon the Warrior was cast in that shadow. In the darkness, the Warrior was forgotten by the Hero..."

MK immediately slumped forward as he fell unconscious.

"MK!"

~

"His name is MK... and he's the Monkie Kid... My successor," Wukong finished as he laid a fresh cold wet cloth over his student's forehead. After he had collapsed it became obvious something was seriously wrong with MK, high fever burning him up quickly. They were only just close enough to a town for him to grab him and the staff and rush off with barely a shouted back explanation of "find us at the inn" to the rest of their group. "We thought that... keeping that a secret might prevent any kind of... weird time travel... stuff."

Wukong sighed. His explanation was weak even to his own ears. Excuses. Ways to make things easier for him.

He felt worse than he had just the day before.

His student laid unconscious still, fever burning even after the medicine from the town doctor had been given to him with water carefully. The only thing Wukong could think of was the staff. MK wasn't invincible like he was, maybe contact with it had caused a reaction from the time travel that couldn't affect the immortal.

"Why would you need a successor, Wukong?" Sanzang asked after they sat in silence for a moment.

Bajie handed Wukong the mortar and pestle he had been working with to prepare more medicine, something to add to tea when MK woke up. The pig demon had not questioned him once since they arrived, only grabbed what Wukong was trying to mix poorly himself and listened.

Bai Long Ma had changed into a human form, one he had rarely seen, and sat beside Wujing. They both also listened.

His younger self looked at MK in a mix of wonder and confusion and horror and Wukong could not blame him. The idea of a successor... he must have known himself what that meant even if no one else did.

"I hope I don't have to tell you," he said softly. He didn't look away from MK, even as Sanzang laid a comforting hand on his back. "And I don't want to risk what telling you might do..."

No one questioned him after that.

When Bajie prepared the next bowl of medicine for MK, Wukong took a chance he never had with the demon he once considered like his brother.

"Can you teach me how to do that? Properly?"

Bajie did.

~

"Monkey King?" Came the hoarse rasp of MK's voice ringing through the room, and Wukong shot up from where he was watching the stars in an instant.

"I'm here, MK," He said softly, still soft, not wanting to hurt his student in case hie head ached. "How do you feel?"

"Dead, but only from the neck up," MK groaned out, and Wukong let out a relieved sigh. He wasn't sick enough to not joke around at least. "Where are we?"

"The town we need to be in," Wukong answered, quickly working on adding the medicine into some now (sadly) cold tea. He had hoped MK would wake much sooner. "Storm is tonight... you've been asleep for a whole day. Hopefully getting you home with this medicine in you will make you feel better, you uh... you weren't doing so great before-"

"What happened to Macaque?" MK asked suddenly, looking for all the world like he had no idea why he would even ask that question to begin with. "Not the battle your younger you had. Before that. In the story. Sun and Moon. Please, I... I want to know. Just... just tell me something, for once."

Wukong froze, fur bristling and stiff and this was not the conversation he wanted to have with his student right now. This is not the conversation he should be able to physically have with his student right now because MK should have no way of knowing anything like this at all. But he had. He'd recited the story he'd heard before word for word from... Macaque.

This was not the time for easy outs. Not anymore.

"I've made a lot of mistake, MK," He started, lifting his student's head onto his lap to help him sit up for the drink. "And a lot of them are ones I didn't think you would have to know about. But Macaque... it's complicated, I know that now. I didn't back then."

MK sipped the tea but said nothing, only made a face at the taste of the medicine.

"We were friends, once. Back on Mount Huaguo before I went to the Celestial Realm, he became immortal in... other ways to my own. I was trapped for 500 years under a mountain without him, no one came to see me so... I guess he was never able to find me. Or he waited thinking I would eventually come back," Wukong tried not to think about how that meant he could have had trust in his friend and not for other reasons he had assumed for so long. "You know the story of the White Bone Spirit from our journey? How Bajie got me banished?"

Wukong couldn't help but chuckle. Oh, he'd been so mad at Bajie for so long for that. He still was, in many ways. But given what happened to him later on in the journey Wukong couldn't hold a grudge.

"Yeah you-" MK coughed a little, probably from not talking for a whole day and a sore throat. "You went back to Mount Huaguo."

"And to Macaque," Wukong continued. "For the first time in 500 years."

"I bet he was angry."

"No..." Wukong disagreed, shaking his head and thinking back. "No, he... wasn't. Not at first. He was ecstatic I came back. The Hero and Warrior of Mount Huaguo back together again, just like old times. But it wasn't like old times. I was already different, I knew how I treated others including the monkeys on my mountain hadn't been the best. And when Bajie came to bring me back... I couldn't help but wanting to leave back to the journey. Part of it was to get the fillet off, but part of it was because... I realized I cared for the others. I wanted to see the journey through with them."

"Macaque thought you were abandoning him," MK said after a moment, eyes widening. "That's why he took on your identity. He wanted... revenge? For you to have no reason to leave again?"

"I think he just wanted what we used to have," Wukong said with a frown. "I've been running from him for so long... over another 500 years. I've made so many mistakes in my life MK, but I think not trying to get him to come with us or trying to properly explain what I was doing... may have been the worst."

"... The warrior was never forgotten by the Hero after all," MK said softly before drifting back to sleep.

"No," Wukong agreed, though he knew he was not heard. "No, the Hero never forgot. The Hero never will, not completely. Even if it hurts."

~

The storm came on schedule. The machine was charged.

Over the day they came back their memories of the trip back in time faded into a distant thought, one that both mentor and student soon forgot to fear the loss of.

By the next day they had forgotten. Time had fixed itself.

But not completely.

The Hero never forgot completely, after all. There was something telling him in the back of his mind to check more on his student. He remembered a hand on his back that should not have been there. He knew how to mix something he never had before.

Neither did the Warrior, uninvolved in this adventure as he may be. He had plans.

And the one between them, with no title to himself, didn't completely forget either. He recalled feeling warm and safe. His head was on someone's lap. There were berries and someone not unlike one of his father figures.

The memories of what happened lingered, quiet, uncalled but emotions still there.

A short time later the one between felt that a play he went to was strangely familiar to him and needed to rush out before his head began to ache in memories he didn't recall.

"So um... what happened to him? The Warrior?"

The answer was somewhere in the back of his mind. If only he could remember.

[acourtofsnakes]

Gaa’tayl - Rogue Chapter 4| The Mandalorian x Force Sensitive! Reader

Summary: After making your decision, the race is on to try and save Mando’s life. But when things start to go south, a part of you breaks open that you hadn’t let yourself feel for a long time. How will it change you? And how will it shape whats to come?

Warnings: Injury detail/blood, first aid, little bit of swearing, hint of angst? some very faint fluff, pining thoughts because who wouldn’t, it’s Mando

Trigger warnings: beginnings of a panic attack, vicious thoughts, flashback to attempted suicide, personification of depression/negative thoughts using triggering - please be careful, my inbox is always open if you need to talk♥︎

Word count: 5394

AN: This chapters easter egg hint: Can you find the quote originally said by a purple grape with an affinity for shiny stones?👀

Also, gif isn’t necessarily relevant to the main plot of this chapter but... you’ll see why we have hands as a gif. 

As always, credit to whoever owns the gif. I usually find them on Google or Pinterest, so message me if it’s yours ♥︎

Rogue Taglist: @snipskixandbeskar   @weirdowithnobeardo 

Rogue Masterlist | Introduction| 1: Solus| 2: Arir | 3: Tor | 4: Gaa'tayl 

Mando’a Translation: Gaa'tayl  - Help

Blood.

There was blood everywhere. 

In your hair, over your clothes.

It was coating your neck and your face. You could taste it. Coppery, hot. 

~Screaming was still echoing around the street, heart-wrenching cries of those who had just seen their loved ones forced into the air and torn apart by the explosion. The smell of metal and smoke mixed with the stench of blood and burning flesh. 

Blood. 

You could taste it. 

Your parent’s blood, maybe your own. The taste of it was in your mouth.~

Your heart thundered in your chest as you stared down at the Mandalorian.

You’d been watching him, knowing you needed to decide and then he’d gasped. And just… went still. You felt his blood pulse out under your hands and then he was just quiet. 

You couldn’t hear his ragged breathing anymore. 

Was he…

~You pushed your hands against your mothers neck, desperate to feel for the pulse that you’d felt for the last 12 years of your life.

Nothing. There was nothing there. She was dead. Your mother. Your sweet, strong mother who sung you lullabies and taught you how to dance… was dead.~

He couldn’t be. 

You dared to risk lifting a hand from the jagged hole in his side and pressed your fingertips against his neck. You knew there was a small slither of skin here, you’d seen it yesterday as he leant forward to look at something. You pushed your fingers deeper into the rapidly cooling skin of his neck, waiting. Hoping. 

There was nothing. 

No, no, there had to be. There had to be something. 

You swallowed, calming yourself enough to concentrate. You ducked your head down, like it could help you focus on the skin beneath your fingers. 

There. 

Some kind of choked noise escaped your lips as you felt his pulse, weak and fluttering, but there. Undiluted fear ran through your veins. This was on you now. 

And so, the clock was reset.

You wasted no time, ripping off your cloak and using the length of it wrap around his waist. It was nowhere enough, not enough pressure for a tourniquet or anything even remotely close because of the armour lining his body. However, it would serve to try and soak up some of the blood. 

You wrapped your arms around him, pulling the Mandalorian to sit up. Then rose into a crouch and hauled him up so you were both standing. 

Only to immediately collapse as your knees buckled with the lightning bolts of agony that speared across your ribs. Fuck. Right. Broken ribs. Stars exploded across your vision but you sucked in a deep, painful breath. We’ve dealt with worse. This isn’t about you know. Get up.

You dragged your feet back under you, pulling the Mandalorian up again, holding his weight against your good side. 

Prey helping hunter. 

In, out. A shallow, slow breath that didn’t hurt quite so much, and then you began to walk, half dragging the Mandalorian along with you. You couldn’t manage any more than a slow walk, your own injuries and pull of his amour and dead weight threatening to drag you down again. 

No, no. Not dead. Unconscious. He’s unconscious. Get him to the ship, clean it, spray it with bacta-spray, cauterise it, bind it. That’s all you need to do. 

You repeated this like a mantra as you walked back through the street, through those puddles of light. 

Get him to the ship, clean it, spray it with bacta-spray, cauterise it, bind it.

You repeated it again and again, even when the skies opened and rain lashed down, loosening your grip on the shiny metal and dragging you both down. 

Get him to the ship. 

There it was, such a welcome sight you might have cried. You fumbled on the arm that you’d slung around your shoulder, pressing buttons on his vambrace until the ramp opened and soft light and warmth called you inside. 

Hunter and prey stumbled up the ramp, and you just got him inside, managed to lay him down in front of a big heavy crate. 

You took a moment, darkness threatening to overcome you and a ringing in your ears. You shook your head sharply, pushing it off and then dropped to your knees, looking over his body. The wound was on his side, in between where the front and back plates of his armour were attached. 

Thank the Maker. You didn’t know what you would have done if it was closer to his armour. You unsheathed your knife, frantically cleaning it on your damp tunic and then quickly cut away a patch of fabric that was over and around the wound, gritting your teeth when you had to coax the torn threads from the hole. 

Which had been acting like a dam. Scarlet blood immediately began to flood from the jagged flesh, soaking the floor below him, your hands. 

You blinked, unable to stop staring for a second. How did so much blood come out of someone?

Memories hounded at your shoulders, threatening to drag you under, toward a market square, a dusty floor. 

Clean it. 

You nodded to yourself, the order in your mind and then scrambled to your feet. A quick search revealed some clean rags and a half full canteen of water. You grabbed the cauteriser and the med-kit on your way back to him, resting it beside you like it was sacred and then you turned to the wound. You wiped your hands on your knees, then dipped the cloth in water, beginning to gently, but quickly dab away the blood. 

Bloody water pooled beneath the Mandalorian, so you hurriedly shoved your cloak under him to soak it up so he wouldn’t be lying in water. 

Spray it. 

Your hands shook as you turned to the little metal box beside you, so much so that it took you 3 attempts to open the latch. Despite the situation, you couldn’t help the exasperated sigh at the rubbish of scraps of bandage that were mere threads, empty wrappers, all littering the top. Really, Mando?

You pawed though the med-kit, turning out empty wrappers and.. nothing else. 

What? 

There was no bacta-spray. No bandages. Hell, there wasn’t even a needle and thread for you to stitch the damn skin together. All you had was a bunch of wadded up fabric from a rag and some water. Why didn’t this man have any medical supplies? He was a Mandalorian for Maker’s sake. He probably had an injury list to rival yours, yet he didn’t even have so much as a needle?

You groaned, lifting a shaking hand to your face for a moment, breathing shallowly through your nose as another wave of agony seared through your ribs and the old injury in your shoulder. 

Your shoulder.

The one that was clean. Bound. 

That’s where the last of the medical supplies had gone, used on your own injury when he brought you away from Sorgan. 

You looked up at his unconscious form, horror in your expression, in your heart. The wound was weeping still, deep, surely missing vital organs because he would have been dead instantly in that alleyway. 

You didn’t know what to do. You couldn’t risk getting a medic from the town, one because he didn’t have the time, and two because… well, they’d sell you out. Know who you were, the bounty. 

Your heart began to beat faster, it usual rhythmic thumps turning frantic, uneven. 

It was your fault that there was nothing to save him. 

You couldn’t breathe. 

Just like it was your fault he had been hurt in the first place. 

You couldn’t save him. 

Darkness swirled inside you, recognising what was happening to your body. 

He was going to die… because of you. 

Just like your parents. And everyone else after. 

With no warning, you chest constricted, steel bands wrapping around your lungs, crushing them from the inside out with a pain deeper than your cracked ribs. A roaring surged through your ears and suddenly the ship was spinning in circles. 

The beast, that poisonous beast that slumbered within you lifted its head, scenting your anxiety and fear and it purred with sick delight. Your spiralling was like a siren call and it crawled up, up, up and that seductive velvety voice that hounded you, began to whisper to you inside your head, “Hello, darling. It’s been a while.”

No. No not again. Not another dead body, not another tally against your name. 

“Murderer. Murderer. You killed your parents. You killed your friends. You killed everything even remotely good that’s ever been in your life.”

A sob began to build in your throat, an extra pressure that had you gasping for air, hunching over the floor-

“Look at you, crying. So weak. So pitiful. You deserve every single person that’s ever come after you, deserve every ounce of pain that you’ve been dealt. You call yourself a wolf, but you are a monster.”

It was right. That chasm of fear and darkness that always stayed with you was right. Of course it was. It had been right all those years ago, and the words it was whispering into you like silken poison were true. 

“Exactly, my darling. I am born of that savage beast in you, remember? You created me, you formed me from the truth and knowledge that everyone you touch dies. You have tried to deny this part of yourself for so long, darling, so, so long. But you will never escape it. This is your destiny. To kill those that come near you. ” 

You shook your head, tears flooding down your cheeks now as you wrapped your arms around your middle. The movement jolted your ribs, but it’s lick of fiery pain barely made it through the agony in your chest. I can run from it. I can escape it, you’re wrong, you’re wrong!! That’s not my destiny. I can make up for it, I can be good, I AM good-

A silken laugh and then a soft sigh, like it almost felt sorry for you, “Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here. You have let the Mandalorian get hurt for you, and now he will die.”

No… no. No, not him. He can’t. He saved me, he’s good, I can see it. He has a son. I deserve the death sentence, but not him. Please, someone, anyone. Save him, please save him-

“No one is coming to help you, darling. You have finally done it. You have killed a father whilst his son sleeps just down the hallway.” It purred, caressing the inside of your head with claws, “Give in, darling. It’s time to give in. You eluded my call once before, but that won’t happen this time. Your pretty power won’t save you now, not now you pushed it away. Come to me.. escape the pain, finish what you should have gone through with years ago…”

An irresistible darkness reached out a hand, dropping the memory down onto you before you could stop it.

~~A glass vial, a shimmering poison you stole from the market. 

Rain, pounding down around you as you looked up at the moon. 

Water, crashing below the rocky outcrop you stood on.

Burning, a feeling like liquid fire inside you as that sweet, shimmering poison slipped down your throat.

I’m sorry. 

A final look at the moon, so big and beautiful as you turned around, your heels hanging off the end.

Goodbye.

Wind, rushing past your ears.

The icy crush of water as it devoured your body, pulling you into it’s shadowy depths. 

The fire turning molten, slipping through your blood, devouring you as the water has, coaxing you to close your eyes as your body melts from the inside out.

Quiet, a heady quiet as you succumbed to the beast in your chest that was purring with glee.

Nothing.”~~

And then… something echoed within you. Caught the attention of the beast. 

“No. Not again.” It’s snarl was predatory, dangerous. 

The flashback came easier this time, 

~~A hum began to fill the cottony silence in your head, waking you. 

This wasn’t right You weren’t supposed to wake up, you were supposed to be free from the pain and the destruction you caused. 

Easy, it seemed to whisper, relax. It is not your time yet, you still have much to experience. 

Protest flooded your body as you started to feel your limbs again. You didn’t want this, you didn’t want to come back. You didn’t deserve to. 

“Yes, you do.”, it whispered. “It will be tough, there will be more pain and running, I’m afraid, but it will start a fire within you, that will only grow to serve you. You will triumph over this fear, you will become the warrior that you have always been. There will come a time, when things will change. You will do something you wouldn’t normally do, you will save one that deserves to be saved. Rules will be broken, and something new will be forged. Two lives will be forever entwined. Awaken now, and begin again.”~~

Heat began to envelop you, coaxing your stiff limbs to relax, drawing focus in your mind and making you come back to yourself. The rain beating against the outside of the ship, the smell of blood, two pairs of floppy ears at your side as they looked up at you. 

You turned your head, blinking through your tears at the Mandalorian, who’s life was hanging by a single thread. 

Your body shuddered as you leant over his unconscious form. A tight feeling curled in your chest, whispering to you. 

Let me out. I can save him.

You shook your head, you couldn’t. You’d hidden it away for so long, such a long time. You didn’t even know what to do  

Let me out. Let me save him.

You sobbed, a soft noise of defeat, a noise of relief, and you moved your hands to on his side. You whispered out loud, “Save him.” and then… let go

A deep, primal surge took over your body, shaking it, making goosebumps rise to your skin, a feeling lance through your spine. It wasn’t a pain… more a like a release of tension as ever cell in your body thrummed.  

You shuddered from head to toe, feeling the cage that you had spent 20 years building shatter like nothing. Just like that. Not forcing its way out, no clawing to be let loose. 

It was gentle. It overrode the malignant beast of darkness and despair, smothering it in light. 

Powerful, of course, for being shut away for so long but… gentle. It was the energy that roamed through the galaxy, flowed in every single living thing, connected them all together. 

It slipped from the cage you had bound it in, humming in delight as it was allowed to join with you again. 

Free. 

It rolled out of you in waves, rattling the walls, the boxes on the floor. 

It made the lights flicker on and off as it bumped up against the walls and the floor. 

That power healed your ribs as it poured out of you, and then honed itself, as if knowing you didn’t possess the control that was needed. 

It swept down your arms, caressing you like a comforting sweep of a hand, soothing you. You felt it glide over your knuckles, slip along and over the Mandalorian’s body like silk and then…

His wound healed. The ragged flesh knitted back together and the blood seeped back into the Mandalorian’s body where it belonged. It replenished him, saved him, leaving only a red line behind, a scar. 

That power, now having done its job, slipped from your body and left you spent. Shattered. With its final act, it whispered a sweet song of sleep and safety to you. 

With a soft noise, your eyes fluttered shut and you collapsed forward over the Mandalorian’s now relaxed form.

~

A caress of your hair began to coax you from your slumber. 

Long fingers, pushing into your hair at the crown of your head, and trailing through slowly all the way over to the back of your neck. 

You hummed softly, shifting your head because the pillow beneath you was hard and cold. 

The hand stopped and the next drag of fingers through your hair was slower, hesitant in a way. When the fingers brushed over your neck, you melted, a sigh drawing from your lips. 

You didn’t want this to end, especially when those same fingers caressed your face, brushing the strands away and you felt them tug slightly, as if lifting a piece of your hair, memorising the colour and the softness of it. 

It was safe here. You could relax. It was warm and cosy, even if the pillow beneath you was hard. And smelt faintly of metal. Weird. Oh well. You nuzzled against the coolness, humming again. 

Somewhere above you, there was what sounded like a soft chuckle. A caress of your forehead that trailed down the bridge of your nose. It traced over the swoop of your lips and then along your jaw, like they were mapping your features. The touch was so tender, so sweet that it almost bought tears to your eyes. You had been alone for so long, so very long and almost every encounter you had was violent. 

People didn’t touch you to be kind. They touched you to kill you. 

A thudding impact of knuckles instead of a warm arm around your shoulders. 

The sting of a knife edge at your throat instead of soft lips trailing over your skin. 

Ropes and cuffs digging into your wrists instead of familiar fingers linking through your own. 

It wasn’t even a sexual or heated touch that you missed, it was anything. You craved it, the tender familiarity of someone using touch to tell you how much you meant to them, that they cared about you. 

And this… this phantom tracing of your features spoke of a touch that was almost a little unsure. A touch that was mapping something for the first time, drawing attention to the tiny little features you didn’t even know you had, but someone was admiring and drinking in. It was a little hesitant, a little shy but… achingly sweet.

Outside of this haze, something started to call to you, coaxing you to open your eyes. Your eyelids fluttered, your head clearing as you moved and the hand was then gone. 

No, you wanted to whisper. Don’t stop.

~

It might have been hours later, but you became aware of the noises of the Razor Crest. The familiar hum of engines and instruments.  You could distantly hear Grogu’s happy cooing as he played with Duru. Right beneath your head, you could hear steady breathing, muffled slightly by a helmet. 

By a helmet.

Your head snapped up, eyes widening as you stared down at the floor. 

Mando was breathing. Deep, even and steady intakes of air that lifted his chest, filtering through his lungs. 

You made a soft noise, looking down at his side. You picked up the blanket and peered at the ragged tear in his underclothes. 

Nothing. 

The stab wound in his side was gone. Healed. 

You’d done it… You saved him. 

You slumped back, rubbing your hands over your face with a soft sigh of relief. You were shaking all over though and you felt… unhinged in some way. Almost painfully exposed. You had broken something, something inside you that had taken years to build. 

The only way you were able to survive was by shutting away that part of you, that pure, natural power that you could still feel echoing in your bones. 

And the constant pain that you had was gone, no more tightly wound tension now that it had been freed. 

It had to go back in, had to be built into a cage that was stronger, more impenetrable. You didn’t know why it had taken a man who you don’t really know, bleeding out in front of you to rise from the ashes. 

A man who you killed for without second thought. You always through yourself into a fight with no hesitation, but last night, or earlier or whenever it was, you had fought differently.

That wasn’t a frantic dance of survival, where your life was the crescendo and Death was the orchestra. No, that had been precision. Cunning. 

You had shed the claws and snarl, grown fangs and poison. Wolf to Viper. 

The bounty had been your prey. You struck, and you killed. 

For a man you didn’t even really know. 

You swallowed, scratching at the itchiness of your face. Stop. Do not even go there. Don’t. At least not yet. 

Red flakes fell from your face, reminding you of the layer of grime and blood that was dried onto your skin. 

Right. You needed a shower. 

You checked back on Mando, satisfied that he was okay and then you went off for a shower and to potentially drown yourself. 

-

You returned a short while later, carrying a bowl of warm water, a small towel over your arm and a canteen of water tucked into the crook of your elbow. The dark creature in you was silent, oddly silent and you wondered if it would remain that way. 

Best not dwell on it and encourage it to wake back up. 

You picked your way across the floor around storage boxes and tubs of things to where you’d left Mando.

To find him sitting up, grunting a little at the apparent stiffness in his lips. His head snapped up when he heard you, his body relaxing, “You weren’t there when I woke up, I didn’t know if something had happened to you.” 

You couldn’t help the slight chuckle as you reached his side, sitting down next to him against the crate and setting out all the things you’d brought with you. “Easy… I had to have a shower, I couldn’t even recognise my own face with all the blood and dirt on it.” 

He leant back against the crate behind you, watching you, “I know.. I stirred a couple hours ago and nearly had a heart attack. I thought… You were passed out next to me and I couldn’t reach you to see if you were breathing, I was too stiff. I thought..” He seemed to swallow back his next words, his hands tightening into fists on the blanket now on his lap. 

Your heart stuttered in your chest, that raw honesty in his rasp. He’d thought you had died. 

Just like you thought he had. 

A certain atmosphere settled around you, getting tighter and feeling… different. You could feel the heat rolling off of him through your chilled bones, even with the layer of beskar over his body. 

You cleared your throat and held out the canteen. “Here. I bought you some water.”

Mando reached out to take the water from you, gloved fingers brushing yours and you noticed the blood that had soaked into them was dry now. “I never pegged you for the healing type.”

Honey, you have no idea. 

You laughed, shrugging, “You live a life like mine, you end up getting battered more times than you can remember. I’ve had to fix myself up so many times, you were a walk in the park.” You grinned, teasing him but your expression was strained. You could still taste his blood. 

You cleared your throat again and reached beside you for the bowl of water before placing it between you “I found some gloves upstairs when I was looking for a towel… I didn’t know if you’d want to change them.” You bit your lip, eyes flicking over the helmet, that tension still there, lingering. Then you remembered. “Oh, shit. Sorry.” You turned around, facing your back to him to give him privacy. 

There was nothing for a few moments, and then you heard the bowl drag closer to him. There was a soft tug of friction, leather sliding over skin and dropping to the floor. 

Your spine tightened slightly, knowing that his bare skin wasn’t far off. You could never turn around though, you wouldn’t do that to him. It didn’t stop your breathing from turning shallow, and you just prayed he couldn’t hear it. 

Water splashed, and suddenly, an unbidden image burst in your head. Mando’s bare hands, dipping into the warm water, rubbing the washcloth over his palms and knuckles. Beads of water sliding down his fingers and the bare, smooth skin of his wrist. Was his skin tan? Smooth or scarred? You wondered if he had any freckles on his hands. Perhaps not, if they were in gloves all the time. Did he take them off when he was truly aloe? Let the golden light of the sun kiss over his knuckles…

What. 

The fuck. 

Was that.

Your eyes widened as you looked into the corner of the room, heat flushing your neck and chest. Why, in all the stars had that popped into your head? This man had been on death’s door, you had saved him, turned yourself inside out and now you were mooning over the sound of him cleaning his hands? Get a grip, girl.

“Done. You can turn around..” His voice floated over to you, soft and you waited a few moments before you turned back to face him, praying the dimness of the cargo hold was enough to hide your flush. “Thank you.” 

You shook your head, taking the dirty gloves now that the other clean ones were on his hands. “Oh, no, you don’t need to thank me. They were just gloves.” You couldn’t look at him, instead laying the gloves down, resting them both on top of each other so that the fingers and thumbs matched up. 

Mando shook his head, “No… not for the gloves. I mean – yes, for the gloves too but… For saving me. You didn’t need to, but you did. You could have walked right past, but you fought that asshole, you killed him, for me. And then you saved me..” His voice was still rough, and that atmosphere flickered again, encouraging you to raise your eyes to him. 

He titled his head, a hand drifting to his side, “Speaking of which… How?”

You blinked, fought to keep your expression even, “How what?”

Mando’s head remained tilted, “How did you save me? I looked earlier when I woke up but… there was only a scar there. Like it was weeks old, not hours.”

You’d already thought this moment in the refresher, “Oh, that. Uh, I had some bacta-spray left over in my bag. I kept it for emergencies…” You kept your voice casual, pausing now and then as if thinking it over. Expect this part, you didn’t need to feign the quieter tone, “My mother taught me which leaves and flowers could be used for healing, to speed up healing times. My… father worked a rough job and sometimes he would come home with deep cuts and bruises and mumma would always fix them…” You cleared your throat, “I had some left over too.” Your skin felt hot, uncomfortable. You hadn’t intended to share past the point of, “to speed up healing times,” but something about his silence had felt encouraging. 

He was still watching you, and you had no idea if he believed you or not. However, his voice was softer as he simply said, “Thank you. I didn’t deserve it, for what I’ve done. I’m forever.”

“Ooh.. You would have done the same for me, I’m sure...” You laughed a little but it was uneasy, unsure where this was going, that tone in his voice and the intensity of his words. You remained focused on your task of playing with the gloves, that courage that sung through your blood everyday had vanished, leaving you unable to look at him, even if you could feel the visor of the helmet boring into you. 

He leant forward and seconds later, freshly gloved fingers tilted your chin up so you had to look at him, “Exactly. I would have. I did, that’s why he hurt me… so...” He reached behind him, for one of those many pockets and pouches on his body, fumbling for something. 

You frowned, tilting your head, “What are you doing? You’ll pull at your wound-“

Mando pulled something out from his back, holding them out to you and presenting them like a fucking prize. 

Your bounty puck. And the tracking fob. 

What the fuck was he doing?

You jerked back out of his touch, the wolf snarling in you as your eyes flicked up to him, “Seriously? You’re bringing that up? We just went through all of that, and you’re coming back to a fucking bounty puck? I knew I was just a bounty, but you could have waited until you could walk at least.” Your voice was a snarl, but benath that… a hurt. 

He made a soft noise, shaking his head as he once again read what you were thinking, that you had misunderstood. “No, no, I don’t mean that…” He took a breath, and then he gently pulled your hand so it was palm up. And placed the tracking fob and the puck in them. He closed your fingers over them, his voice so soft that the modulator almost didn’t filter it through “Destroy them.”

You jerked in surprise, your breathing catching in shock, anger fizzling out of your body as quick as it had crashed into you, “What? Mando, this… the money it would get you... I can’t.” You tried to push it back to him, to get him to take it. It meant a lot to you, of course it did but he was being ridiculous. “I’m just your bounty.” You hadn’t meant to repeat it, it just slipped out. It wasn’t like it was a lie though. You were. Even though you doubted he had ever had his bounty save his life before. 

You were surprised to hear a soft growl rumble in his throat, “Stop it.” He kept his gloved hand wrapped around yours, heat leeching through the leather and into your skin. “You were, in the beginning. But as soon as I heard that asshole talking like that about you…” He shook his head, swallowing his words yet again though they reminded honest, “You saved my life. That means something to me, especially in my culture. A lot of people would have left me there to die. But you didn’t… And I apologise for everything I’ve done. If you’ll forgive me and let me, I’d like to help you.”

Well. Fuck. That was the last thing you expected. He… wanted to help you? What did that mean? What could he do for you? You bit your lip, toying with the idea, staring down at the devices in your hand. 

You’d been alone for so long. Maybe… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe you could… let him. But the way everyone seemed to die around you… you only had to look at tonight as proof enough. 

He shouldn’t do this, it was a mistake.

You looked up, lips parting to form the words that would push him away, make him realise you were saving him from making a mistake.

Only for him to read you like a damn book again. He plucked the bounty puck and tracking fob from your hand, grasping them in his fist and then with a soft grunt, slammed them into the solid floor beneath you both. They instantly cracked, sputtering a little almost like shock and then completely shattered when he slammed his fist down on them again. 

Mando made sure they were destroyed, then looked back at you and you could have sworn you could almost see the cocky eyebrow raise under the bucket on his head. 

You surveyed him, looked down at the remains on the floor. 

The symbol of hunter and prey destroyed. 

You took in a deep breath, lifting your chin and meeting the beskar gaze of the man ahead of you, your threads of your lives somehow more entwined. “Okay. I accept your apology… and your help.”

Would he be the first person that didn’t succumb to your curse? 

Previous chapter| Next chapter

[jeyramarie]

Parcel 9- Pogues x OC (part 2)

summary: the pogues adventure turn crazy, scary and happy, all in one second. 

wc: 2.6k

warnings: blood, injury, cursing

a/n: enjoy everyone!! happy reading 🦋

prologue~ pilot~ the lucky compass~ the forbidden zone~ spy games~ midsummers~ parcel 9~ 

Previously on Good Life: 

“What’s going on with you and Pope?”

“Pope?”

“Yeah, he clearly likes you.” The kook chuckled as she placed a curl behind her ear.

“There’s absolutely nothing going on, trust me.” Kie answered as she leaned back onto her hands.

“How ‘bout you?”

“What about me?”

“Like, do you have your eye on someone?” The pogue grinned as Lani blushed, looking away. 

“Maybe.” She smirked and smiled at Kie who smiled back. The kook stood up and held out her hand for the pogue to grab. They walked back to the girls to find Sarah almost asleep and Fallon chopping up the manual.

Lani suggested to play truth or dare trying to put the actual plan in motion, which was to bring the girls together. The game only lasted a few minutes due to Sarah saying stupid things when she chose truth. They felt tired which made them move to the wall of the boat to lean against it. Lani placed her head on Kie’s lap, for her to play with the kook’s curls while Sarah and Fallon sat next to them. 

“Hey, guess what? Would you rather... have… I was imagining you like this just now.” Sarah said messily as she took hair out of her face. 

“It was pretty funny. Would you ima... would you rather… have nipples for eyes or eyes for nipples? Imagine if you get really old and your nipples…” She continued as the girls looked at her all confused, having no idea what she was talking about.

“Your boobs get saggy, and your nipples, if they were your eyes, you could see if your shoes were untied.” The blonde chuckled, making Fallon roll her eyes. 

“Is this your first time smoking or something?” Kie asked, feeling annoyed by her presence. 

“Yeah, you’re acting really pathetic.” Fallon huffed as she stood up, walking to the cabin. 

“No.” Sarah muttered and fidgeted with her fingers as Lani sat up from the pogue’s lap to sit in front of her, facing the girls. Fallon came back and sat next to Kie as they stayed in silence for a while. 

“Girls?”

“Oh my god!” Fallon groaned, feeling annoyed. 

“Enough of the ‘hey girls’ bullshit. Why’d you do it?” Kie said quickly getting upset which caused Lani to place her hand on her leg, letting her know she was there. 

“Why did I do what?” 

“We were best friends, the three of us.” The caramel haired pogue said as she leaned forward to look at Sarah while she talked. 

“We stole beers from your dad’s fridge, we watched movies together, we cried over boys-”

“And the next thing we know, we’re watching you have your little princess birthday party on Instagram.” The pogue said after cutting Kie off, feeling a mixture of anger and annoyance. 

“It was one party.” Sarah muttered as if the conversation wasn’t important. 

“You invited everyone but us!” 

“And then you told everyone that we were the reason the party got busted.” Kie said softly as she shook her head in disappointment. 

“Well, who else would call the cops?” Sarah asked, raising her voice as she looked at the pogues. 

“You never ask, you just let the rumor go… that we were rats.” The curly haired pogues said, beginning to feel sad as she remembered how she felt in that moment. Lani scooted closer to her and held her hand tightly, trying to comfort her. 

“You were our best friend, Sarah and you ghosted us… we don't even know why? Like, seriously, what did we do wrong?” Fallon asked, feeling upset as she pulled her knees up to her chest. After more emotional talking, the girls finally came to an understanding. Everything that went down in the beginning of high school was behind them and Lani was happy to have seen that. 

The next morning the girls woke up pretty early to wait for the boys. They had a small breakfast while they talked about their revenge plan. Lani gathered her stuff, placing it inside her bag when she saw Kie doing the same thing. The pogue looked up and stared at the kook for a while before being interrupted by the boys, causing Lani to walk to the edge of the boat. 

“You forgot your keys or something?” John B asked looking over his sunglasses. 

“Need a tow?” Pope laughed as he stopped the boat next to Heyward’s. 

“Please don't give them the satisfaction that this worked.” Lani muttered with her back turned to the boys as the girls walked towards her. 

“Absolutely not.” Fallon whispered smirking as she leaned over to see JJ. 

“Did you… reconcile your differences?” 

“No.” Kie spat as she crossed her arms, watching as Lani climbed off the boat into the HMS. 

“Obviously not.” 

“But we’re willing to work together.” Sarah sighed as she looked at John B who smiled and high-fived Pope. 

That night they were going to put the plan in motion. They were finally going to go to the Crain house and fetch out the gold. Before they left, they all met up at the Chateau, making sure they had everything ready. Lani went over the list one last time before they left: flashlights, dark clothes, rope, pulley and a grappling hook (according to JJ). They all piled the Twinkie and drove to the Crain house, parking across the road from it. Before they climbed out, John B turned and looked at his friends, stopping them from leaving.

“I just wanted to thank you, guys. Seriously. It means a lot to me that you’re here tonight.” 

“Aww, you went soft John.” Lani said, tilting her head to the side as she smiled. 

“Always.” Kie smiled.

“Of course, man.” JJ muttered tapping the pogue’s shoulder in support. They all climbed out of the Twinkie and walked into the house’s yard. The flashlights were on, guiding them to the basement when the porch light turned on. They all ducked and hid behind some old structure that was covered in plants. 

“Great, she has motion sensor lights.” Lani muttered looking over at the door and getting back down. 

“We could, uh… move very slowly, maybe?” JJ asked dumbfounded. 

“That’s not how it works, J.” Fallon tapped his shoulder with a light chuckle. 

“Let’s throw a rock at it.” He suggested again making everyone look at him. 

“A rock?” The curly haired kook asked, thinking she had heard wrong. 

“Of course, let the axe murderer know we’re here.” Kie whispered.

“Do you have a better idea?” 

“Literally anything but that.” Pope said and turned back to the porch, thinking about what they could do. The bright light turned off, making the teens let out a breath of relief. 

“Oh my god, the breaker. In the circuit box on the porch.” Fallon said looking at JJ who smiled and high-fived her. 

“We used to play hide-and-seek here as kids. And if we were brave enough, we'd go all the way up to the porch.” He grinned as he remembered 9 y/o caramel and blonde haired kids. 

“I’ve seen it.” Sarah smiled. 

“No, no. You’re not going in the house alone.” John B started objecting, causing the blonde kook to laugh. 

“Watch me.” 

“Crain chops people into pieces.” 

“If you believe that but she’s like what, 85?” Sarah asked, looking around at the teens. 

“Yeah, something like that.” Kie shrugged. 

“She’s probably barely still kicking.” Fallon said and turned to make her way to the porch when JJ held her wrist. 

“Hey, be careful. Please… don’t do anything crazy.” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.” She pecked his cheek and made her way to the porch. Sarah walked behind her some time later while JJ went back to see Lani and Kie making fun of John B.

“Be safe.”

“I’ll be so safe… I’ll be safe for you.” Lani whispered as Pope and Kie laughed. 

“Come on, stop it. I’m gonna kill you.” 

“How will that keep us safe?”Lani asked with a straight face as everyone chuckled. 

Fallon and Sarah slowly stepped onto the porch pointing their flashlights at the wall. The floorboards creaked as they walked closer to the door, not putting too much thought into it. 

“Where are the breakers?” The blonde whispered pointing her flashlight all over the wall and quickly stopped once she saw the cable. Fallon moved her flashlight along the cable, until she noticed it went into the house. 

“Shit… it goes inside the house.” She whispered and looked at Sarah who stared at her with scared eyes. They walked into the house, slowly, following the cable with their flashlights until they stumbled upon the breaker. Fallon opened the box almost immediately and turned the switch, making the bright light from outside shut off.

“Oh my god, they did it.” Lani whispered, staring at the porch and back at the pogues. 

“They did it. Go time.” John B turned and walked quickly towards the basement followed by everyone else. They all piled around the well and moved away to get everything ready. 

“Pope, look. This is C.H.U.D, full C.H.U.D.” JJ said filled with excitement as he moved her arm, signalling at the whole place. 

“JJ, what the fuck are you talking about?” Lani asked, stopping what she was doing to look at the blonde. 

“Cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers? Have you guys not seen that film?” 

“No.”

“Can’t say that I have.” Kie said walking towards Pope to give him a few more stuff. JJ then moved to explain what the film was about which caused Lani to just look at him in confusion. She never thought that things like that would be going through his head. John B told him to shut up and moved to Pope as he began to ask some things about the depth of the well. They got the rope ready as the pogue sat at the edge waiting for his friends to give him the ok. 

“Guys, I have one request.” 

“Yeah?” The teens asked, looking at him.

“Don’t drop me.” John B descended into the well as Lani nodded. 

“Cool… no pressure…” She walked and stood next to JJ, holding a piece of rope as they moved it slowly. They kept lowering him until he got to the bottom, surrounded by sewer looking water. JJ and Pope kept calling out for him, making sure he was okay. Upstairs, Fallon and Sarah ran from Mrs. Crain was chasing them with a shotgun, even though she was blind. Suddenly, the girls stumbled into the basement, out of breath making everyone turn to them.

“Woah, you guys okay?” Lani asked with worried eyes. 

“Mrs. Crain! She’s up there.” Fallon shouted, placing her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. 

“She tried to kill us with a fire poker.” Sarah held her stomach as she breathed heavily. 

“We gotta go.” Kie said and ran to the bags, getting the flashlights and everything gathered. 

“We locked her in the parlor but we really need to leave.” The caramel haired pogue said, walking to the exit as Kie trailed behind. JJ and Pope alerted John B but when he began to shout the teens went crazy, thinking he was drowning. Everything grabbed a piece of rope and began to pull quickly, noticing that the boy wasn't attached to it. After a few minutes of trying to him out, Mrs. Crain had followed the ruckus and made it down to the basement. She heard voices and pulled the trigger causing a loud bang to echo around the room. 

The teens ran in different locations, trying to cover themselves. JJ tied the rope as Pope shouted down the well, telling John B what to do. They all ran out of the basement and climbed into the Twinkie. Pope and JJ were in front while the girls were in the back, holding the door open for John B. The blonde began to drive as a figure appeared to jump over the stone wall. He ran down the street and threw himself into the van as Lani slid the door close. 

“Oh my god. That was fucking crazy.” The kook said, leaning against the door, feeling tired. 

“Are you shot?” Pope asked, turning his body to the very dirty pogue.

“No.”

“I think I’d know if I was shot right?” Kie questioned, touching her chest but quickly looking down at the boy in disgust.

“Ugh, John B you smell like ass.” Everyone chuckled and began to talk about Mrs. Crain and how she was like Yoda. Lani drifted from the conversation and stared at the pogue who was taking something out of his jacket, it was shiny. 

“What is that?” She asked, grabbing everyone’s attention. Sarah looked down at her boyfriend and gasped, quickly smiling.

“No, you didn’t.” 

“We did it, baby!” John B shouted with a huge smile on his face. The van erupted in celebration and screams until Kie held her hands out.

“Wait, wait, Guys, we’re gonna be rich.” 

“Like full kook rich.” Fallon smiled looking at JJ through the rear view mirror. 

“Full kook, full kook, full kook!” They chanted on the way back to the Chateau. Once it was over they started laughing,feeling nothing but joy. It was quickly replaced with worry once Fallon sat back and winced when her arm touched the cushion. Lani’s head turned to her immediately, watching the pogue holding her arm. When she parted her hand it was covered in fresh red blood. 

“Fallon’s hurt!” The kook said as she moved towards the pogue, quickly helping. JJ’s eyes went wide and looked through the mirror in fear. 

“What do you mean she’s hurt?”

“She’s bleeding from her arm… It’s too deep, she needs stitches.” Lani said loudly for the blonde to hear her as the girls piled around her. Kie looked for the emergency kit and gave it to the kook, making her automatically start working. 

“JJ, how far are we?” She shouted as she opened the kit, making sure everything was there. 

“5 minutes!” 

“I can’t wait 5 minutes, she’s bleeding a lot.” Lani muttered and turned, grabbing two flashlights and handed them to Sarah and Kie. 

“Hold these up.” She put on her gloves and opened the alcohol bottle, pouring a bit on Fallon’s arm. The pogue winced in pain, making Lani look at her with eyes of pity. 

“I’m sorry, I know it hurts but… I-I need to make you better, okay?” Fallon nodded and Lani quickly pressed a gauze on it as the pogue whimpered in pain. JJ sped down the road, getting to the Chateau almost immediately. They got out of the van and the blonde sprinted to Fallon, feeling scared when she saw all the blood. 

“Hold the gauze hard on her arm, okay? I’m gonna get the stuff ready.” Lani said and ran inside the hut, gathering her supplies. JJ sat the pogue down in the dining room, holding her hand the whole time. The kook ran back and moved a chair, closer to Fallon as she tapped J’s hand to let it go. 

“You know how to stitch? H-How are you gonna do that? You’re not even a real doctor.” JJ rambled as he stared at Fallon losing more blood. Kie and Sarah pulled him outside as Pope stayed to help. 

“How do you know how to stitch?” Fallon muttered weakly, clearly feeling scared as Lani cleaned the area. 

“My mom is a surgeon, she has taught me a few things… and I took a few medical classes since I skipped a few grades.” The kook said placing the bloody gauze down and picking up the gloves to put them on. Fallon’s eyes watered as she knew what was happening next. 

“Hey… you’re gonna be okay, I promise. This is gonna be quick.” Lani smiled as she picked up the needle, getting ready to stitch. 

“Pope, get her some pain killers.”

“I’ll be right back.” He muttered and ran off to the bathroom as the kook pushed the sharp end through the skin. Pope came back and gave Fallon the painkillers as Lani stitched up her arm while the brunette pogue assisted. After a few minutes, the stitches were done and the kook placed gauze over it. Then wrapped it with a bandage. 

“All done.” She whispered and stood up, gathering everything that had to be thrown away. 

“Thank you, Lani.” Fallon said with watery eyes as she grazed the bandage with her fingertips. 

“Anytime.” JJ walked in and immediately ran to the pogue, examining every part of her to make sure she wasn't more hurt. Fallon fell asleep on JJ’s bed while everyone else sat around a bonfire with beers, celebrating the Royal Merchant gold. 

good life: @ilovefandoms102​ @agardenofbooks​ @cloverrover​ @lynlovesouterbanks​

[e-nonsense]

Little prince!jason part 2 when???

sorry for the long reply wait but here a drabble of what I’m working on

first part

The doors to the castle slammed open, creating a loud echoing noise that startled everyone in the vicinity. Knights were on guard, stepping in front of the royal family as maids scrambled away.

At the door stood a group of strangely dressed people, with pointy ears and purple eyes shining dangerously, and in the centre stood you. Fingers clenched around your blade, as you stepped forwards.

“How dare you,” your voice echoed dauntingly , cold and icy, eyes filled with venom as you stared straight at Bruce. “You killed a child, Wayne.”

Bruce merely scoffed, “that was no child. The one with scales and a tail? A monster.” Eyes flickering to the limp body carried in the arms of the tall beast behind you.

“I warned you, one foot out of line and that is it.” You reply, John’s eyes snap to you, a sense of dread settling in his stomach.

“Kid—” the older man whispered, cutting himself off at the sight of your eyes.

“Then mark today the end of peace,” you speak, hood falling off, your hair streaked with gold. “I’ve tried to keep peace, but ever since your father’s reign my people have not known peace.”

Jason stood to his father’s left, looking between you and Bruce.

“From this day forth, neither will yours.” Just as those words are spoken screams and the smell of smoke come from afar.

“No,” Bruce mutter, eyes widening as he rushes past people and you to look outside at the village of innocent people and a large blue dragon spitting black fire onto the village.

“Stop— stop this madness.” Bruce hisses, grabbing you by the collar, hissing as he feels his hand burn at the touch. “Impure, stop it.”

You only laugh at him, eyes filled with madness as your people stand behind you protecting you from the knights, “my madness has only just begun.”

—

“You’re sure about this?” Nicola, a young siren asked, her head peeping out of the water. “If you’re sure we’ll help,” she adds.

“I’m tired of standing by and letting our people die,” you murmur, eyes downcast, staring at the young mer-children swimming around the large lake that leads out to the ocean.

“Then we’re with you, I’ll tell my father of your decision. We’ll keep them off the water.” She reassures, placing a gentle hand on your knee. “Thank you for fighting for us.” She whispers before ducking under the water and swimming off, the younger merpeople swimming after her.

[hearts4yang]

bad boy!wayv and how they’d treat their s/o (♥︎+☀︎︎)

fluff/requested + bad boy!wayv x genderneutral!reader

warnings: mentions of smoking and underage drinking

kun🧸

not many people are scared of him, unless he’s pissed off in which no one dares to step near the teddy bear.

besides you, you’re only person able to calm him down.

anyways personality switch once he sees you. oh you’re in front of him he’s a sweet heart

very kind, will make you lunch and studies with you after school. he kinda walks around with everything you need as well. people who dare to fuck with him about it have a death wish.

you once gave him a cute keychain then he just walked around with it on his bag. if anyone makes fun of it, he’ll make sure they’re dead.

joking, but not really<3

(black backpack and just a small pink bunny keychain. cute.)

are you getting bullied or anyone hurting you? tell him their name and bOp unless they’re a girl in which he’ll just charm them or scare them to stop

no one hurts his baby >:/

if you do well on a test, he always goes over your house and cooks with what you have at home at 2am

ten 🐈

a bitch, a big BITCH

he loves you, but dare walk towards him and he’ll be bitch to you. of course he makes sure you know that he loves you. he just doesn’t want to ruin his reputation nor does he want to show his weak spots.

mainly his weakness which is you. man isn’t a simp, but he treats you like porcelain doll that will shatter if you touch anything in private

he is his best when he’s just with you. no cigarettes, no alcohol, and no drugs )well cigarettes and drugs are- nvm)

it was a struggle for him to drop what he liked to do, but he did it the day he found you crying your eyes out when he was at the hospital.

also to insure that he’ll have a future with you.

in public like i said he’s a bitch. he’ll tease you even though his heart breaks each time he sees you somewhat hurt.

even though he pretends like he hates you, if he hears anyone talking shit about you he’ll wreck their car or get xuxi to beat them up.

anyone planning to ask you out? he immediately down talks them to make sure no one even tries to get with his angel.

he’s very good at manipulating people ngl

yet in the end, he’ll always end up in your arms after sneaking out at 2am until you both end up asleep.

winwin🐥

silent but deadly, too be honest not many people expected him to be a bad boy until people realized he wasn’t going to classes, when they found him behind the school building with a pack of cigarettes and getting into fights.

everyone was afraid of him except for you. you weren’t really able to get him to be. some good student that revert from his ways, only able to convince him to attend class and to stop fighting with anyone who picked at him first.

(he only agreed if you helped him pass and if you sat next to him)

he was the oversized intimidating boy who walked with a small bunny bandage on his left cheek.

everyone lowkey confused on why dong sicheng, the guy known for skipping classes and beating the shit out of anyone who glared at him was in the back of the class with a stupid smile and cat stickers on his folders.

man still cold as hell and quiet, but he’s less of an asshole

unless he finds out someone had hurt you in which bOp, winwin is going to kill a bitch

even though he’s a bit mean and cold there’s days where he takes you on late night drives pass curfew.

lucas 🐶

this intimating giant is a big softie for you. he’s kind of like a giant puppy that protects you from “danger”

(i can’t see him as a bad guy he’s too soft-)

like he’d try to act like your personal body guard. he made sure to protect you and made sure that no one got near you.

he’d try not to break character, but fails miserably

he’s only considered a bad boy because he’s the school’s player. you were the new kid and his next victim and his last as he slowly began to fall in love with you. it was an unexpected plot twist.

now yukhei would baby you a lot and show you off a lot because he doesn’t want to lose you. xuxi is scared of losing the only person he loves romantically.

of course the name of him being a bad boy didn’t go away. he went to parties, he smoked and he drank even though he was underage. he also got into detention a lot for not being quiet.

he also never wore his uniform correctly so you had to fix it each time you saw him.

he’ll also beat up anyone that messes with you. i’m overexaggerating but the day someone lays a hand on you he’d throw hands

but there’s days where you and yukhei are in your room with soft music playing in the background as you sleep against his chest.

xiaojun 🦖

just like kun and sicheng, kind and quiet until he loses his temper then he’s cold as shit and will beat a bitch

also skips class to duck around in the music room

a small ball of angry but you still love him

when he’s with you he’s less aggressive, of course he’d throw shit at you like paper and pillows to get your attention.

he’ll also play the guitar for you when you’re alone in the music room during lunch break and steal your food

xiao also hates when you walk home alone so everyday he walks your home even if his house is in the opposite direction.

anyone that dares to mess with you he’ll beat them with something blunt like his guitar. therefore every year or month he ends up suspended with a new guitar

but that’s okay because he’ll do anything for you

(again i can’t see him as a bad boi because he gives me the silent kid who eats lunch alone with sicheng in the music room)

hendery👑

the kid who skateboards to school, hair is always in his face, skips classes and probably does weed.

you got together because he was nice and you worked together for a project. very wholesome

he teaches you how to skateboards and he also likes to hug you when he spots you.

hendery is very sweet with you even though he looked a bit cold, he’ll also make you laugh with random photos of him acting stupid

he also carries around hello kitty bandaids incase you fall off the skateboard.

he treats you like royalty because he’s a prince and a prince needs someone to accompany him ;))

if i see y’all in the hallways after school dancing i do not see(yes self insert but not really ya know lmao)

he’s just one hell of a sweetheart even though he’s really fucking annoying when he blows smoke in your face.

you’re getting picked on? sorry man he doesn’t care he’ll probably just throw something at them

lastly he just lays on your lap in your room with a cigarette in between his lips as music begins to slowly drown out in the background (honestly just read my skater boy hendery shit)

yangyang🐑

oh aha ha this little boy spray paints everything. the school walls, desk, cafeteria tables, cars and anything that he claims needs color.

the school gotta start putting cameras up because they never caught him so he ended up breaking the cameras and getting suspended.

normally hangs out with hendery and ten because he’s cool like that anyways he ended up with you because it’s liu yangyang. who wouldn’t love him

he takes you on random late night trips in his parents car that he stole.

he always carries around spray paint because he normally makes you come with him at like 4 in the morning so he has someone to accompany him and so that he knows he won’t get caught.

mainly because he wants company and wants you around constantly

he’s clingy and make sure you know he loves you even though he makes fun of you a lot in the hallways

you always talked back to him whenever he made rude comments towards you before y’all even dated.

pretty much only made fun of you because he liked you but expressed that awfully

he treats you like a flower. scared to put you down and gentle with you, almost like if you fell a petal would fall off.

yangyang would sneak through your window with takeout at latest hours of the day, making sure to be never seen. (p.s: your parents don’t like him)

[blitheringmcgonagall]

My Gallant Lad - Part IV

So I got a wonderful anon telling me that this is their favourite Lily Rescues James fic, it’s part of my finished canon marauders fic We Can Be Heroes. But, because it works as a stand alone story, I posted it here in four parts. I hope you enjoy it! Set during the first wizarding war, Lily is very BAMF (but tbh so is James)

TW: angsty and violence

Part I here: After their worst row ever, Lily and James get captured by Voldemort...

Part II here: James tries to save Lily

Part III here: Lily tries to save James

PART IV

(PS this is not pro- Snape at all, quite the opposite, for this to make sense you’ll have to read the other parts, lol!)

Mulciber swallowed.

“Now help me lift Potter, and for fuck’s sake be careful, he’s perilously close to death as it is!” Snape said.

He was so angry his body was shaking in agitation.

Mulciber lifted James’ body as though it were made of glass.

                                       ***

“I’ll take it from here,” Snape ordered.

They were standing underneath the main door of the castle, which led into the courtyard.

“I thought we were bringing Potter and his vile mudblood to the Dark Lord?” Mulciber said, frowning suspiciously.

“Change of plan, Mulciber,” Snape said matter-of-factly. “I want to try and get Evans to talk, that way if Potter snuffs it, we won’t risk being beheaded by him.”

“What do you mean?” Mulciber looked at him in bewilderment. “If you attack Evans and manage to injure her also, we’re doubly fucked!”

“I won’t fuck it up, unlike you dithering idiots I actually know what I’m doing!” Snape says angrily.

Mulciber stared hard at him.

“Are you sure you’re Snape?” he said, narrowing his eyes and reaching for his wand. “You’re acting strangely and I-“

“He’s Snape all right, but under the Imperius Curse,” Lily interjected. “Expelliarmus!”

Mulciber’s wand flew into Lily’s outstretched hand.

“You?” Mulciber seethed. “How in Morgana’s hell did you manage to Imperio him? Last I heard you were wailing painfully awful songs from your cell, giving us all a headache! I thought you’d given up!”

“The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad, for all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad,” Lily shrugged. “You just hadn’t experienced the merry part yet!”

“You’re not a man,” Mulciber sneered.

“Ha!” Lily’s face broke into a harsh smile. “What Chesterton didn’t say about Irish women is that when they’re angry, all their wars are won!”

Mulciber stared at her sullenly.

“Not my fault that you consistently underestimate me, Mulciber!” Lily shot back. “You think you’d have learnt by now!”

Mulciber’s face looked like curdled milk.

“Too late,” Lily said. “Obliviate!”

Mulciber’s expression changed slowly to one of utter confusion as he looked between Lily, James and Snape. He hadn’t even seen the spell hit him.

“What happened to him?” he said, scratching behind his ear and staring at James’ body. “Where’s your Head Girl badge? Your uniform?”

“Quidditch injury,” Lily said flatly. “Vicious Slytherin tactics. One hundred points from your House, now back to your common room before I have you expelled!”

“Whaat?” Mulciber said, looking utterly bewildered.

“I’m counting till ten. Ten… nine… eight…” Lily said.

Mulciber stumbled and turned immediately, muttering incoherent protests.

“Not bad, Lily Evans,” Snape whispered with a vicious grin. “Not bad at all.”

                                                  ***

“Outside! Now!” Snape ordered.

Lily Evans remained silent as she walked outside at a steady pace, Snape following her and dragging James Potter’s body along the ancient flagstones.

“Now, it seems that nothing will persuade Dumbledore’s man to reveal what has happened to the Dark Lord’s precious treasure, a book Dumbledore’s men stole! Potter nearly died refusing to tell us. I’m ordering you to tell me, or I’ll make you kill your own husband!” he called out.

“No, I won’t tell you anything,” Lily said with effort.

“Wow! That’s dope!” Villiers whispered loudly to Wilkes.

The two men were sitting on the battlements having a smoke and peering down with interest at the scene unfolding below them.

“Look what Snape is up to! I never thought he was into that shit!” Wilkes replied. “He usually lets us handle that kind of stuff, says it’s boring!”

They looked at each other and grinned.

“Massive!” Villiers giggled, bumping fists with Wilkes.

Snape picked up his wand.

“Last chance, Miss. Evans,” he said, dragging James closer to the middle of the courtyard.

He was holding two other wands in his hand.

“What is going on here?”

Snape whirled around.

Voldemort was standing at the castle gate, and with him Evan Rosier. Voldemort’s wand was pointed at him.

“I am quite simply trying to establish the whereabouts of your missing book, my Lord,” Snape said. “I thought this might work.”

“Rosier here tells me you have been acting exceedingly strange,” Voldemort’s voice was icy. “He thinks you may be under the Imperius Curse.”

“Rosier is neither observant nor intelligent, my Lord,” Snape said stiffly.

“Be that as it may, Severus, you are not yourself, you would not usually dare speak to me with this much courage,” Voldemort replied, stepping forwards.

“My Lord?” Severus replied.

“Let us see what happens, shall we?” Voldemort said, whirling around at the last minute and pointing his wand at Lily.

“Stupefy!” Voldemort said with a lazy swish of his wand.

Lily Evans crumpled to the ground. Snape stood motionless, as though unsure what to do.

“Ah, the spell fades, I see. I had hoped you would not be so easily overcome by it. You disappoint me, Severus, I thought you were stronger than that. I thought you knew the mudblood well enough to watch out for any tricks she might play? Or were you too enticed by her beauty to focus on doing your job properly?” Voldemort spat out. “You shall pay for this mistake! And the object of your affections will most definitely pay.”

“I’m afraid I underestimated the mudblood,” Snape said, with a condescending smirk at the Dark Lord. “I don’t know her as well as I thought I did. She should perhaps have been sorted into Slytherin. It appears that Lily Evans is a devious little bitch!”

Startling emerald eyes glared at Voldemort from Snape’s face. As the wheels in Voldemort’s mind whirled, Snape removed a leather bracelet from his wrist and tapped it, revealing a large glittering brass key.

“Póg mo thóin, Riddle!” he said, flicking the V at Voldemort (who looked momentarily stunned) as he grabbed hold of James’ arm and apparated into thin air.

“I don’t get it,” Rosier said, looking at Voldemort and rubbing his forehead as though in pain. “Was that Snape? No, hang on.. what was..?”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” roared Voldemort, raising his head as his blood-curdling screams carried over the courtyard and into the surrounding forest.

He kicked out viciously at Rosier’s leg sending him hopping around in circles howling with pain. A family of carrion crows, disturbed by the commotion, flapped and squawked upwards from the turrets and battlements.

“Which one of you is the imbecile who allowed Lily Evans to escape?” he screamed at Rosier. “Why did none of you stop her?”

Villiers and Wilkes ducked down behind the walls of the battlements, grimacing.

A splash of white bird dropping landed on Voldemort’s nose. Rosier stared at him.

“You have some…” he said, pointing to Voldemort’s face. “Just there?”

Voldemort looked ready to kill him.

“If you don’t permanently dispose of this group of crows by Salazar’s soul, I will feed you to them myself!” he shouted wildly, waving his wand at Rosier, and rubbing his face furiously with the back of his sleeve.

“A murder of crows, not a group, but whatever,” Rosier muttered to himself, looking peeved, as he aimed Avada Kedavras at the screeching birds.

Voldemort walked over to the body of Lily Evans and stared at the darkening hair and sallower skin, Snape’s eyes looking up at him.

“Legilimens!” he intoned.

The memory was tampered with, powerfully, so that he was unable to see some of the earlier incidents, but he could see the conversation between “Snape” and Avery, Fuck Voldemort, I hate that bastard! Avery running off to hide from him. Seething with rage, he grabbed Rosier’s arm and touched his dark mark.

He watched as all his followers apparated around him, all except Snape who lay half-stunned on the ground, and Hugo Avery.

“Find Avery, bring him to me, now, or you all die!” he hissed, the red veins in his sclera protruding menacingly. “Nooooowwwww!!!!”

                                                  ***

 “I don’t know what happened,” Frank said, his croaky voice difficult to understand in between coughing fits.

“He needs to come with me to the Infirmatory,” Poppy interrupted, looking at Dumbledore and pointing towards the door.

Frank continued coughing and shook his head forcefully.

“We were ambushed… they were waiting for us… they wanted to get Black and Lupin,” he wheezed. “They got Lily and James… I wanted to create a diversion but before I could move, one of them released noxious fumes, no doubt to catch any other Order members, I was knocked out cold… I fell backwards and the thicket hid me from sight… woke up freezing cold a short while ago… I couldn’t find any trace of them whatsoever. I only got back just as Lily apparated here with James, he looks bad.”

The ancient double door burst open as he spoke, and Sirius Black stormed inside, his black jeans soaking wet, his leather jacket still in his hands, closely followed by a haggard-looking Remus Lupin.

“We came as soon as we got your owl. Where are they?” he roared, going straight up to Frank and grabbing hold of his collar urgently. “Where the fuck are they? Tell me!”

Remus found himself unable to utter a single word.

                                                     ***

The door of the Infirmary flew open, Sirius breathless as though he had just sprinted up five flights of stairs (which he had). He looked at Lily and seeing the pain and fear in her eyes, he forced himself to look at James lying unconscious in the bed behind her - it didn’t look like his brother, the bruised and battered body covered in what he immediately recognised as myriad curses, his usually tanned skin a deathly pale colour. He looked already dead. He looked back at Lily, the darkness under her eyes, her quivering lips.

“Lily,” he tried to say her name but no words came out, caught in his throat.

“I know, sweetie,” Lily’s voice a hoarse whisper.

Then they flung their arms around each other, gripping on for dear life. Sirius felt her chest heave and held her even closer as her quiet sobs filled the silent room, shattering his heart.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered back, his breath still caught inside his chest, trapped.

What could he say, hearing her heartbroken sounds?

“We won’t... we shan’t let him die,” he managed to say eventually, shutting his eyes tightly to stop himself breaking down. He moved to take both her hands in his own, looking down at her with tears in his eyes.

He didn’t even know was he trying to comfort her or was he trying to comfort himself.

“I… I used an Unforgivable, Sirius,” Lily said eventually, keeping her head down.

“I would have sprained my wrist throwing Unforgivables at the bastards!” Sirius said. “I wish I could have done it for you.”

He had badness in him already, let him hold it for all of them.

It should have been him. He should have been there instead of James, instead of Lily.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Lily’s voice shook. “I did it to save James… it felt wrong, Sirius, it is wrong and disgusting, but I know I’d do it again to save him. Am I a bad person, Sirius? I.. I saw what they did to him, I wanted them all dead… I thought about it... I wanted to. I don’t want to become like them, Sirius, but I wanted to kill them, so badly!”

“Lily, you didn’t kill them. You could have tried to, but you didn’t. You saved James. Merlin, you saved my brother, the only brother I have left, I can never thank you enough,” Sirius’ voice broke.

He wondered what he would have done in her place.

“It was Snape, he wanted to save me, but I had to find James, I couldn’t… he hurt James, I hate him for it,” Lily said desperately, squeezing Sirius’ arms.

“Fuck that creepy bastard!” Sirius said.

“What if Voldemort kills him? What if he dies? It will be my fault!” Lily whispered. “I hate him so much, but I don’t want to get him killed. I wouldn’t care if he died in battle, not now, not after everything he’s done to James! But being tortured and killed for trying to save me? I don’t want that, am I mad?”

“You had to,“ Sirius said, gripping her tightly. “You had to try to save James. You couldn’t leave with Snape, you know that would have been wrong! You are not to blame for anything Voldemort does!”

“I need James too, Sirius, he doesn’t see that, he thought I could manage without him, he’s so stupid, such a stupid, darling, beautiful man,” Lily stopped, her hand over her mouth.

“He can’t die, Poppy won’t let him die,” Sirius whispered back.

Lily nodded, still crying. He saw her sway and grabbed hold of her shoulders.

“Merlin Lily,” he said anxiously. “Sit down immediately! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do you need Poppy? Will I get-“

“ No, please, Sirius, I didn’t get hurt, James-“ she stopped, unable to continue, and bringing her hand up to her mouth again.

He didn’t think he could handle hearing what had happened.

“Hush, Lily, you’re both safe now,” he heard himself say.

“He... I couldn’t... I tried...” she said. She closed her eyes and swayed again, sitting down suddenly and placing her head between her knees.

“I need some water, and something to eat,” she said, sounding suddenly anxious as her almond shaped clear eyes searched Sirius’ for reassurance.

“I... Merlin, yes of course, Darling, let me get that for you!” Sirius said, relief blossoming at some small task he could do to help. “Do you want a firewhisky instead?”

“No! I can’t drink now I’m ... I’m a bit dehydrated Sirius, I better stick to the water,” Lily said, placing her hand over her lower abdomen in a protective gesture.

“Yes of course,” Sirius said feverishly, throwing his leather jacket on.

“I’ll get it,” Dearborn was standing in the doorway looking at Lily uncomfortably.

“Lily, I know you already had a debriefing with Professor Dumbledore, but he was wondering if you wouldn’t mind answering a few more-“ he continued.

“No!”

Both Lily and Sirius spoke at once.

“Not now, my husband needs me here, Dumbledore can wait,” Lily said, staring at Dearborn with a hostile expression as she swiped at her red eyes furiously.

“Tell him to go fuck himself,” Sirius growled.

Dearborn nodded, recognising defeat.

“You get some food and water for Lily, Caradoc, I’ll tell Dumbledore,” Remus said. Remus stood quietly behind Dearborn, a grim look, no obvious emotions displayed on his tired face.

“Righto,” Dearborn nodded reluctantly.

“Hurry up,” Remus ordered. “We don’t want Poppy to end up with another patient.”

“Righto,” Dearborn said, looking relieved to have an excuse to leave.

                                                      *** “You wanted to speak with me, Mr. Lupin?” Dumbledore said, gesturing vaguely towards the chair in front of him.

Remus sat down. The silence made him nervous.

“You feel guilty for swapping your week on call with the Potters. You want to make sure that your friends are protected from danger as much as possible from now on?”

Remus felt his cheeks flush. He nodded, feeling even worse.

“Good,” Dumbledore said. “I can see why you’d think that way.”

Remus swallowed. Dumbledore blamed him too? He wanted to crawl under the floorboards never to re-emerge.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, looking down, unable to meet the Professor’s gaze. “I should have stayed…”

“That’s quite alright, Remus, these things happen, and we have to learn from them,” Dumbledore said.

Remus felt himself slide further down the chair. He wanted to cry. It reminded him of The Prank at the end of Fifth Year. It should have been him. He should have insisted Sirius go with someone else. He felt personally responsible for what had happened, and if James died because of him… if James died…

“What can I do, Sir?” Remus whispered hoarsely. “Tell me there is something I can do to help!”

He looked up and caught Dumbledore looking at him keenly, with an astute gaze.

“Of course there is something you can do to help, Remus,” Dumbledore said, steepling his hands together. “It will be dangerous though, the most dangerous mission I have ever given any member of the Order.”

Remus nodded dumbly.

“It is also top secret. You must not discuss this information with a single soul,” Dumbledore said, his blue eyes assessing Remus coolly. “Not the Marauders, not Lily Potter, especially not Sirius Black. Understood?”

“Yes, Sir,” Remus said, sitting up straighter. “You can trust me.”

“I hope so, Remus,” Dumbledore said. “Most people wouldn’t.”

Remus froze, taken aback.

“I…” he stuttered.

“Luckily for you, I am not most people, Mr. Lupin,” Dumbledore smiled pleasantly. “Lemon sherbet?”

Somewhere in the back of Remus’ mind the words you bastard and what the fuck presented themselves as appropriate responses.

He declined politely.

“I have a singularly important and quite unusual mission, and it seems to me that you are the perfect candidate to volunteer for it,” Dumbledore said, sucking loudly on the muggle sweet and leaning back into his chair.

Somehow the wizard’s eyes seemed beadier in this light. Remus waited.

“I will of course understand if you turn down this opportunity, Remus, that you may be too frightened to go,” Dumbledore said. “Other Order members may be more-“

Remus’ jaw tightened. The words you bastard and what the fuck once more presented themselves as appropriate responses.

“Other Order members have no idea how little I fear most things,” Remus said, his eyes narrowing.

“Yes, of course, Remus, I am well aware that compared to most-“ Dumbledore said, with a placating raise of his palms.

“What mission?” Remus asked.

“A mission to infiltrate Fenrir Greyback’s werewolf pack. I am aware you have already made his acquaintance,” Dumbledore said. “To see if they can be persuaded to abandon their leader and join our side in the war. And to spy on them, at any rate.”

Remus felt a cold shiver of dread run down his spine. His old Headmaster couldn’t be serious, surely. That was a hopeless mission, a pointless waste of life, a …

Greyback…

An ear-splitting scream of terror, his own. Rabid eyes. Massive yellow canines lunging towards him, saliva dripping off them. Laughter and howling.

“Tell your Daddy I said hello!”

A tearing sensation as huge teeth sank into his hip. Another ear-splitting scream, this time of pain…

He felt his hands tremble and gripped the edges of the armchair in agitation.

“If you’d rather not, I am sure I can persuade another member of the Order to pretend to be a werewolf. With some clever Transfiguration spells, which many of our members are particularly gifted at, especially your own friends-“ Dumbledore said.

“No!” Remus said, standing up suddenly and staring hard at the other man, his breathing erratic. “Merlin no! You have no idea…”

His voice trailed off again, his heart hammering wildly against his ribcage.

“So, Mr. Lupin, you don’t feel you can bring yourself to-“ Dumbledore said.

“No!” Remus practically shouted. “I’ll do it! Don’t even think about asking anyone else… I’ll do it, alright?”

“I see,” Dumbledore smiled kindly again. “My deepest apologies Remus, how very brave of you. I should never have doubted you.”

Remus bit the side of his lip. This was akin to agreeing to a suicide mission. Any sane individual would have refused to accept the offer. But surely Dumbledore had guessed he would never allow any of his friends or colleagues to go instead of him, to risk being turned? The bastard must have known all along. Yet he owed so much to this old man, this powerful wizard, the one they were all relying on to beat Voldemort and to win this war. The one who had given him a chance. Who had risked his reputation by allowing him into Hogwarts. Who had not expelled him after the disastrous Prank in Fifth Year. Maybe he was being unkind and unfair to the man. Perhaps this mission was genuinely important?

“No need to apologise, Sir,” Remus said with a small smile, extending his hand out.

“Thank you, Remus,” Dumbledore said, shaking his hand warmly. “I do appreciate your help in this war. I shall contact you shortly with more information about this entire affair. Please remember to keep this top secret.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Remus.

                                           ***

He opened the door quietly. The room was dimly lit by the fire and the large candles on either side of the infirmary bed. James looked the same, somewhere between life and death. Lily was sitting on a chair, her head lying on the bed beside him, still fully clothed, the dark shadows under her eyes more pronounced in this light. She was holding James’ hand. Sirius was nowhere to be seen, but at the foot of the bed, on top of the carefully folded blankets lay Padfoot. He was whimpering in his sleep. The shaggy dog opened his eyes briefly, fixing Remus with his mournful grey eyes.

“Sleep, Padfoot,” Remus said quietly. “I’ll stay up. I’ll call Poppy if there’s any change. There’s nothing more we can do.”

Padfoot yelped quietly, turning to look at Lily and James and then looked back at Remus and whined. He was looking at Remus accusingly. Where had he disappeared off to, why hadn’t he comforted Lily? Did he not care?

“I’m sorry,” Remus said.

It sounded curt. Inadequate.

What more could he say?

Padfoot whined once again, dropping his head into his paws, looking dejected. Remus sat on the ground, his head in his hands. He could go over, talk to Sirius, but his boyfriend always knew if he was hiding anything from him, and he was too tired to make up an excuse for what had just happened. Too tired, too traumatised, too selfish…

He stayed where he was.

Padfoot slept fitfully, beset by nightmares. Remus did not sleep a wink. He did not allow himself to sleep. The fear of nightmares kept him awake, as though he were four years old again. Besides, he did not deserve to sleep.

                                          ***

PS Póg mo thóin - kiss my ass in Irish

PS To find out if James is okay, and if Lily is in fact pregnant and if yes, what happens next etc, I’m afraid you’ll have to keep reading  We Can Be Heroes. If you just want to read on, it’s from Chapter 45.

 If you want, I can post more stand alones (Harry’s birth? the Jily engagement? Jily Wedding? Wolfstar first kiss etc??or the next part but it just leads into more stuff!)

[deiliamedlini]

Whumptober 2021- The Darkness I Know

Chapter 5

I’ve Got Red In My Ledger

betrayal | misunderstanding | broken nose

Fic Summary: After the world as she knew it was destroyed by the corruption of Malice, Zelda allies herself with her saviors from captivity: a disgruntled former governor, an alert paramedic, a cocky pilot, an excessively overt optimist, and a blind strategist. While the corrupted, malice-filled Yiga Clan looks for revenge on them, Zelda has to learn how important it is to find family in others... and how much more dangerous the stakes become if she fails to protect them.

Previous/ Chapter Index/ Next

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Yiga complex was… well… complex.

All of the halls looked the same, and Zelda backed up against her destroyed door and tried to remember which way she’d come in days ago.

But she was drawing a blank.

“Which way did you come in?” Zelda asked.

Link shook his head and fiddled with his staff weapon, his blue eyes trained on the ground by the tip of the staff where there was a sharp point tied onto the end. It wasn’t even a staff. It was a makeshift spear.

Some rescue party he was a part of.

She stared at him for a long moment. Was he even real? He didn’t know where they were, or where to go. He had a sword on his belt, but he was favoring a giant stick.

Goddess. She was going to die on her way out of here.

“Okay,” she muttered, looking around again. She had to remember something.

The cells were in a long hall. She’d gone through several other small hallways. She’d come out into a large room. She’d been thrown in here.

“Were you in a series of hallways to come in here?” Zelda tried again.

“No. We came from a large, open room.”

Helpful. Finally.

“Okay, which direction? That way, I can rule out one of these paths.”

Link sighed and ran his hand along the wall until he reached the door, and then slid his palm around until he touched the handle. Jerking his head to the left, he turned. “We came from that way.”

Skeptically, she looked between him and the door. Did it just tell him that? He didn’t even look at the room. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Okay, come on. Your guy should be this way.”

Zelda took a few steps that echoed through the large room, steps that were alone, and unfollowed. She turned to see Link, unmoving.

He sighed. “Urbosa and Daruk. We need them.”

“Who?” Zelda asked.

“The woman who was with me, and a man we’re with. We can’t leave without them, because once we get Revali, we have to move quickly.”

“Are you saying we should just stand here and wait for them? We could get killed.”

“Can you fight?”

Zelda crosse her arms indignantly. “If I have to.”

Link reached for his sword and held it out by the hilt. “You’ll have to. Take it.”

Zelda made her way back towards him. “I fight with a bow, so I don’t know… besides, isn’t this yours?”

“It’s for emergencies.”

“You trust a stranger with your weapon?”

He smiled, soft and gentle before calmly shaking his head. “Not much other choice though. I’m going to have to.”

“You can keep it, you know? Just use it on me if I’m evil.”

He kept his arm out. “You’re making me trust you more and more, Zelda. Take it.”

She reached out and took it from him, the heavy metal dropping her arm quickly before she adjusted to the weight. “Do you fight with that stick or something?”

“If I have to.”

“I don’t understand. Are you a pacifist? Do you only attack doors?”

Link chuckled and spun his staff around in his hands before tapping the point on the ground, the point with the makeshift spearhead tied on. “Doors are terribly dangerous. You should always be ready to attack them.”

“Goddess, you don’t give straight answers, do you?”

Walking ahead of her, he simply grinned. “You’ll get it eventually.”

She was going to follow him before remembering that she was the one leading the way, so she hopped in front. “Get what?”

“Hey!” a new voice called. It was familiar, and Zelda turned to see the tall woman from before returning with an older man in tow. “Where are you two going?”

“Urbosa, she knows where Revali is.”

The tall woman, Urbosa, turned to Zelda. “Is this true? Where?”

“He’s this way,” she said, gesturing back to the hall.

“Nice! Let’s go get ‘em!” the older man said, a bit more excited than Zelda imagined he’d be. He had a white beard that tipped up, wrinkled brows scrunched in excitement, and a toothy grin. He halted when he saw Zelda, and pointed at her. “Hello?”

“Hi.”

Link scoffed. “This is Zelda. She’s a prisoner here, and we’re getting her out too. Zelda, this is Urbosa and Daruk.”

Urbosa gestured to the path. “Pleasantries can wait. Lead on, Little Bird. Show us the way.”

Slowly, carefully, Zelda took the lead and began traversing the winding corridors, trying to remember her last trip through with Ganondorf. The problem was that everything looked the same here! Every hall, every corridor, everything looked the same, even the people in their silly costumes and indistinguishable masks.

“Why did you give her your sword?” she could hear the man asking Link in a hushed voice meant for a private conversation. “She could be one of them.”

“My instincts are better than yours, Daruk. She’s not. Does she look like one of them?”

Daruk sighed. “No. But it doesn’t matter. Under the masks, they’re anyone.”

“So are we.”

Zelda didn’t dare turn around, lest she give herself away. They spoke soft enough that she was straining her ears, and there was an annoying, rhythmic tapping that she couldn’t figure out that kept throwing her off her eavesdropping game.

“Here,” Zelda said, pushing open a door. She peered inside, breathing a sigh of relief to see it empty, and then stood aside to let everyone else through. “Straight down. You’ll see him.”

It was the right room for sure. Even being in here gave Zelda the creeps, and her throat hurt with phantom pain from days before.

She followed the group as they glanced inside each cell before stopping.

“Well, it’s about damn time!” the man said, standing up. “I’d think you almost forgot about me but… that’s just not possible.”

“No matter how hard we try,” Link muttered.

“You brought him?”

“I can leave,” Link offered, gesturing to the door.

But in doing so, he gestured to Zelda, and the blue haired man stuck his head through the bars while Daruk worked on the lock with Urbosa over his shoulder.

“You? You didn’t die. Good for you.”

“Yeah, you too,” Zelda murmured, rolling her eyes, earning a snort from Link.

There was a loud clack, and the lock sprung open.

The man burst out and hurried down the hall past everyone. “Come on!”

“Wait, Revali!” Daruk called, struggling to catch up.

“Ass,” Link breathed, and Urbosa hummed in agreement. “He has no respect. Let’s go.” She grabbed his arm and they ran down the hall, leaving Zelda to catch up with all of them.

Revali seemed to have a better sense of the Yiga hideout than Zelda did. He brought them through a few rooms, ducked around patrols, and ended up in a room with several crates.

“I stashed it all here.”

Daruk, Urbosa, and Link all opened up backpacks that were flat against them, and pried the crates open, reveling packets of rations and emergency on-the-go medicine. They stuffed their pockets full with as much as they could carry before Revali led them back out.

Literally.

Out.

Standing in the middle of a rocky plain, Zelda breathed in the fresh air she’d so desperately been missing.

“Where did you park?” Revali asked.

“Down the road a ways. We’ll have a little hike.”

“Good. I have a little surprise for these assholes.”

Zelda watched on, curious. Revali took something out of his pocket and flashed it to the group.

“What is that?” Urbosa asked.

“A detonator. Before I got caught, I set everything up, and hid it with our things. Let’s clean this place out.”

“No!” Link called, stepping forward, his hand out. He wasn’t quite near Revali, but the man got the message regardless and stopped. “If you do that, we become targets. They know who we are. They’ll find us, and they will kill us.”

“They can’t do that if they’re dead, can they? Ganondorf is in there. Astor. Kogha. All of them. We have to take it down.”

“And what if they’re not? What if they aren’t here? Then we’re the targets. They’ll target home, Revali. Don’t. Don’t hit that button.”

“It’s a switch. And killing hundreds of Yiga in one fell swoop? That’s a win, no matter how you want to swing it.”

“No!”

But Link’s final protest went unheard, because the only sound in the entire valley was the deathly ringing of a chain of explosions, leaving smoke to rise into the air.

Zelda covered her mouth. Dorian was in there. As much as she hated him, he had been her friend for years. And years worth of respect and friendship and history didn’t disappear completely in a matter of days.

“Oh Goddess, Revali,” Urbosa whispered. “What have you done?”

[marmosa]

oi, is it hot in here?

Fred x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.4k

Warnings: none

A/N: my best friend came over yesterday and showed me a snippet of one of her george fics and then immediately hyped me up to write this one. girls and gays i present the aquamenti spell, enjoy ;) (this is so out of pocket, could you tell i was going thru it). also if anyone wants more george content please let me know, i’m a fred girl through and through, but i have no shame in showing some love to george <3

***

“Fred, just because we’re allowed to legally use magic now, doesn’t mean we’re legally obliged to,” [y/n] mumbled, flat out glaring at him as he pouted at her from across the library table, trying once again to convince her to duel with him.

“Just because we’re not required to, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be tons of fun. Come on [y/n], you know just as well as I do that you’re dying to try out some new spells,” Fred pleaded, reaching across the table and pushing the book she was using to shield her face from his relentless puppy dog eyes down.

“Even so Weasley, you’re going to get yourself in a spot of trouble you’re not going to know how to get out of. Just because I play coy doesn’t mean I wouldn’t absolutely smoke your arse if we did duel,” she hummed surely, straightening her posture to emphasize her sudden breath of confidence.

“Win? I doubt that,” Fred shrugged, leaning back in his chair, a mischievous idea bubbling to the surface of his mind, “No, you’re not bold enough to win.”

“I- me? Not bold enough?” [y/n] sputtered, incredibly offended at his insinuation but still trying her best to stand her ground, “I know what you’re trying to do y’know and I know you’re also full of shit. You wouldn’t last a second against me.”  

Fred glanced over at her, a smartass look on his face, “I think I could last at least two seconds, maybe five, maybe six, maybe a million, but you’re too much of a stick in the mud to find out.”

“I’m not a stick in the mud, I’m just smart enough to not let myself get dragged into your chaos- as fun as it is sometimes,” [y/n] mumbled the last bit, trying not to inflate his ego anymore than he needed, despite feeling no shame in admitting that his antics were usually paired with an inescapable rush of adrenaline.

“Yeah, whatever you say sweetheart,” Fred rolled his eyes, missing the quick crack in [y/n]’s composure at the pet name that practically rolled off his tongue with ease, “just don’t come crying to me when you get bored one afternoon and need someone to duel.”

[y/n] furrowed her brows and felt her competitive need finally snap, “Listen here you dim-wit, if you want a duel so bad you’ll get a duel, but don't you come crying to me when I hand you your arse on a silver-lined platter.”

Fred sat up excitedly, tapping his fingers against the table, “See, there’s that competitive [y/n] I was hoping for. I appreciate the threat, but you might want to save that fire for the duel, you’re gonna need it.”

“You’re a twat, you know that?” [y/n] grumbled, crossing her arms and sinking back into her chair.

“Only for you,” Fred winked, a shit-eating grin plaster on his face, “see you at the dueling grounds.”

“Yeah, yeah, get out of here,” [y/n] waved him off, biting back a smile.

***

“Aha! So you showed up in the end,” Fred cheered, dashing over and scooping [y/n] up in his arms, swinging her from side to side as she hung on for dear life.

As soon as he set her down she glared up at him like he’d just forced her to ride the worlds most dangerous roller coaster, “just because I was reluctant, doesn’t mean I’m a downer. I’m always true to my word Freddie.”

“Ahh,” He hummed low, crossing his arms and shrugging, tapping his chin inquisitively, “I suppose so. But what about that one time when you promised me that we’d go up to the tower and then you bailed-,”

“I had a potions exam to study for and my brain felt like it was melting, don’t you dare turn one on me. Last time I checked you were the one who bailed on me when we planned to go rob Filch of his-,” [y/n] started but was cut off when Fred pressed one of his hands against her mouth, shushing her with the other.

“You don’t want anyone to hear do you? That could get us in an enormous amount of trOUBLE- EW!” Fred hacked and jumped backwards, wiping his hand furiously against his jeans, “you’re a sick, sick woman.”

[y/n] grinned triumphantly, wiggling her eyebrows at his disgusted expression, “don’t lie, you loved it. Now come on, we came to duel, didn’t we?”

“You’re really testing my patience, [y/l/n],” Fred chuckled lowly, “but you’re right, get into position so I can completely ruin you.”

“I’d like to see you try,” [y/n] hummed, winking at Fred as she shuffled into her spot, drawing her wand and bobbing it in her hand.

The duel began and the two made no waste of time jumping at each other, throwing charm after hex at one another, testing out every single spell in their arsenal (well the one’s that wouldn’t painfully injure or kill either of them anyway). It was electric, the wild passion for their craft buzzing excitedly behind their eyes, present in the way they danced around each other, avoiding spells and quickly returning them.

[y/n] felt a laugh bubble out of her chest when Fred disarmed her, dashing off to retrieve her tool, ducking as he fired another spell right over the top of her head. Fred couldn’t help but follow suit in laughter as she turned around and flung a disarming spell of her own, managing to hit him and send his wand flying farther away than he probably would’ve liked.

“Come on now, [y/n], you wouldn’t harm a totally helpless boy,” Fred pleaded teasingly, inching to the side while trying to maintain eye-contact with her, mostly for his own safety than showmanship.

“I told you when we started this Weasley, I wasn’t going to go easy on you,” [y/n] called out, jerking out her arm, “Aquamenti!”

Water sprung forth from her wand, shooting directly at Fred and knocking him clean to the floor, positively soaking him from head to toe. He sat up immediately, his mouth hanging open in shock, still processing what entirely had just happened.

“I won,” [y/n] muttered, cheer surging through her in unexpected waves, “I won!”

“Shut up!” Fred groaned from his spot on the floor, pushing himself up off the floor, the cold slowly but surely seeping into his bones, “I don’t wanna hear it.”

[y/n] bit back a smug grin, crossing her arms across her chest and tipping her head back as if she had just won a crown far too heavy for her head, “Sorry, what was that about me losing?”

Fred glared back at her, his narrowed eyes nearly on the brink of being completely shut, “Shut. Up,” he repeated, enunciating his pauses.

“Aww, is someone sad with the outcome,” [y/n] cooed, spinning around to face him as soon as she had retrieved his wand, her triumphant spirit being shoved aside as a more uncomfortable emotion took hold.

“Shut up and hand me my wand ya git,” Fred mumbled, snatching his wand back from her, “we get it, you won.”

[y/n] couldn’t help the heat that was crawling up her neck, suddenly hyperaware of the situation she was currently in. Why’d she chose that spell? Why’d she chose that spell in this random room, away from others, when he was wearing a crisp white dress shirt that was now clinging to him like a second skin- god she could see so much.

Fred glanced over at her with creased brows, confused at the sudden spot of silence, wondering what had gotten little miss triumphant to go so quiet. When he saw her shuffling through her book bag, an amused little smile wormed its way onto his face- oh he was going to have fun with this.

“Why so quiet all of a sudden, sweetheart?” Fred drawled, biting back a grin at the way she tensed her shoulders.

“No particular reason, just felt bad about rubbing in my victory s’all,” [y/n] replied, still shuffling through her bag for a, uh, pack of gum she could have sworn she had had earlier.

“You? Feel bad? About a dueling victory against me? Sounds like a lot of rubbish to me,” He shook his head, grabbing her shoulder and tugging her to her feet, “There’s something else.”

[y/n]’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, straining to avoid glancing down at his toned chest, “There is absolutely nothing else. Scout’s honor.”

Fred sported a smug grin as he leaned down to be eye level with her, his eyes raking over her face, noting her balled up fists shaking at her sides and her abnormally wide eyes, “Are you sure, you look awfully tense.”  

“I’m not tense,” she waved him off, feeling near the verge of combustion trying to control herself. It didn’t particularly help that he was staring at her like that while her mind raced through the hundreds of ways this interaction could go, her heart hammering in her chest at the suggestiveness of her thoughts.

“Come on, you can tell me, I won’t say anything out of line,” he bargained, trying his best to coax her out of whatever dumb act she was playing at.

“Again, I am completely fine,” she reassured him, rocking on the balls of her feet, trying to subtly put some space between them.

“I’m not so sure that’s true,” Fred lilted, titling his head to the side slightly, “what, is something about me bothering you?”

[y/n] felt her stomach drop, so he did know, of course he knew, she wasn’t particularly inconspicuous about her dilemma, but she refused to let up now, “There is nothing about you that’s bothering me, Freddie.”

“Oh, so what I’m hearing is that you like what you see?” he teased, darting his tongue out to wet his lips.

“I-wait, now hold a minute-,” she began only to lose her voice as he backed her into one of the many pillars in that room, her palms pressing flat against the cool stone.

“See, I still don’t quite believe you,” he whispered, pressing his forearm over her head, placing the other on his hip as the water he’d been drenched in had practically sealed his pockets shut.

“And why not?” [y/n] struggled to maintain her composure, her resolve diminishing by the second.

“Because someone who’d didn’t like the view wouldn’t be staring at it so plainly,” He concluded, shamelessly eyeing her up and down.

[y/n] didn’t know if she wanted to curl up into a ball and die or yank him down by his collar and let him absolutely ravish her then and there, her mind was too clouded to pick one. Luckily, Fred seemed to be significantly more level-headed than she currently, which meant he made no waste of time taking the reigns of the situation.

“So, what if I did agree with you what then,” [y/n] muttered, looking down at her shoes, trying her best to avoid his piercing gaze.

“I’d say that you’re in luck because,” he placed his hand under her chin and tipped it back upwards, forcing her to look at him, “I’m enjoying my view just as much.”

“Well then, what’re you gonna do about it?” she quipped, shamelessly darting her eyes between his eyes and lips.

“I’d say kiss you, but only if you want it,” he replied, moving his hand up to cup her cheek.

“I do. I do want it, please Fred,” she pleaded, not even caring if she sounded desperate anymore, throwing her pride to the wind.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Fred leaned down and captured her lips in a heated kiss, his hand finding its way to the small of her back, pressing her off the pillar and into him. It quickly became something desperate, longing, all their pent up tension finally spilling out of their overfilled cup. [y/n] felt up his chest, smiling to herself as she concluded that it did feel as nice as it looked.

He made quick work of hoisting her up, linking his arms under her thighs and pressing her back against the wall, relishing in finally being able to touch her the way he so desperately wanted to for all those years. She did the same, tangling her fingers into the wet hairs at the nape of his neck, basking in the warmth coming from him despite his soaking wet clothing.

“Do you want to stop?” Fred asked softly, pressing a few soft kisses to her jaw and neck, “we don’t have to go any further.”

“As lovely as continuing sounds,” she breathed, smoothing his hair out of his face, “I don’t think we’re geared for that right now. And you need to get changed of those clothes before you catch a cold.”

“Good lord you sound like my mother,” Fred groaned, knocking his forehead on her shoulder.

“Did you really just bring up your mother right now,” [y/n] asked incredulously, wiggling her way out of his grip and back onto her own two feet, “that’s weird man.”

“I wouldn’t have if you didn’t bring up my need of a change of clothes!” Fred exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air to emphasize his point, “Besides, who’s fault is that?”

“Someone stupid probably,” [y/n] shrugged, picking up her robes and tossing them square at him, “wear those so you don’t get colder, if someone asks, you took a dip in the lake.”

“That’s even more unbelievable than just telling someone straight up what we were doing,” Fred replied, flat out, pulling on the robes that we’re obviously too short for him.

“Well too bad, loser of the duel has to follow the winner’s rules,” [y/n] shrugged, offering him a smug smile.

“Can we go back to a couple minutes ago when I’d managed to shut you up?” Fred quipped, crossing his arms as he pouted at her.

“Nope, no can do, you kissed me Weasley which means I have nothing more to be embarrassed about,” [y/n] sang, taking his hands and swinging them along with hers.

“Well I take it back!”

“Please no,” she frowned, sinking her shoulders.

Fred sighed and pulled her into a hug, his words muffled against her hair as he mumbled softly, “I could never say no to that face.”  

[drabbles-of-writing]

Question in you Beta Au can you share like any little stupid things that the gang has gotten there selves into !

some of these are/are based on stupid shit I’ve also done. I will not elaborate which ones they are

they hung out in the tennis blacktop once and Willow jokingly dared Luz to see if she could jump over the net. Luz did so and proceeded to fall and was limping for a while after that. she then did it again bc she wanted to do it correctly. she didnt make it the second time either

they grabbed a bunch of random potion ingredients and slapped it together into some weird concoction bc they were bored. Luz stashed it away and later gave it to Gus who drank it & Willow proceeded to almost kill her

Amity set fire to a tray of cafeteria food and chucked it into a trashcan, which proceeded to become a barrel bonfire. she ducked out HELLA fast and nobody but the gang knows she did it

the gang got lost in a cornfield once and Amity was bullying everyone about being on edge until Eda found them and scared her half to death. everyone else went “WOOOOO” bc Karma (and also they could finally get out) and Eda was So confused

they explored a large sewer drain once and Luz did a stupid Pennywise impression but then something at the end of the tunnel repeated it. tunnel was dark as hell so Gus and Amity BOOKED it out but Luz and Willow chucked a bunch of rocks down there and turns out it was just Matt being a little shit

Luz has stolen. a lot of illegal plants that Willow owns. sometimes ones used for drugs. mostly weed really but she’ll grab any plants Willow has, crush it up, and then smoke it to see what happens. Amity has found her high out of her mind on multiple occasions and once she was stuck in the rafters and Amity pretended she didn’t know. 

Luz: you get euphoria from cocaine so theoretically if we want to see Willow have genuine emotions we just need to get her to accidentally snort it Amity: how the fuck do you accidentally snort cocaine? 

you know that vine of the guy on the mattress they floated out into the lake and he woke up? they did that to Gus once when Willow wasn’t there to supervise. she would’ve killed them but it was lowkey pretty funny so instead she just videotaped it