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anghraine · 5 years

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“the jedi and the sith lord” - chapter three

Very belatedly, an update!

Last chapter:

“Why should I believe that?”

“Search your feelings,” said Vader, and through everything, the words fell into the same cadence as Obi-Wan’s, Yoda’s. Any Jedi’s, she guessed, and nearly shivered. Was he a Jedi, still? “The Force will tell you it is true.”

“The Force!” Lucy nearly screamed with laughter. “I don’t feel anything! You—you’ve cut me off from the Force, you’re—”

“You are a Skywalker,” Vader said sharply. “Nothing can block the Force from you.”

This chapter:

Tuvié’s hand returned to Lucy’s arm and she gently led her into the practice room, pointing out various raised platforms that could be remotely moved about the room, and a sealed equipment cabinet. Lucy paused in front of it, once again trying to reach out for the Force, sense anything that might be of use. But she felt not even the tiniest glimmer, and could nearly have screamed in fury.

Anger is a path to the Dark Side. Anger is a path to the Dark Side. Anger is a path to the Dark Side.

chapters: The Adventures of Lucy Skywalker– prologue, chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, chapter five, chapter six, chapter seven, chapter eight, chapter nine, chapter ten; The Imperial Menace–chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, chapter five, chapter six, chapter seven; The Jedi and the Sith Lord—chapter one, chapter two.

Lucy tried to meditate. She really did.

Everyone had told her that the Force would always be with her—Ben, Yoda, even Vader. But she couldn’t feel it. She couldn’t feel anything beyond a heavy miasma that pulsed in erratic, intense surges.

The Dark Side. She knew it. And she refused to touch that, no matter what Darth Vader said or did. She still remembered her failure in the cave, the future that awaited her on that path. She couldn’t ever allow herself to follow Vader’s footsteps.

Here, though, the Dark Side blotted out everything but its own power. No matter how much Lucy tried to clear her mind, and settle her racing thoughts into peace and passivity, the Force that she knew remained out of reach. It might as well have not existed, for all she felt of it.

She had no connection to the Force. She had no weapon. She couldn’t see.

She was afraid.

Her rational mind knew that for the danger it was. Fear must be suppressed, sealed away into some deep pocket of her mind where it could do no harm. Otherwise, it would consume her thoughts and decisions, drawing her inexorably towards the Dark Side, whatever her intentions. Fear existed only to be conquered. She knew that.

Yet when she woke the next day, a blinded, disarmed, cut-off prisoner in Darth Vader’s fortress, she lay frozen in place under the blankets. Every instinct urged her to scramble for a place to hide, like some hunted animal.

Her own voice haunted her. I’m not afraid!

You will be, Yoda had told her. Had he known this was coming? Surely not. Surely—

There was no place to hide, she reminded herself. And whatever she might have lost, she hadn’t died. She had to keep going, just like yesterday.

Lucy breathed deeply, as Yoda had taught her, letting that first burst of terror subside. She still felt frightened, her hands shaking until she forced them into stillness, but she could think. That was her only chance.

Sitting up, she strained to sense anything, even without the Force. The air felt cool on her skin, and a little stale. That made sense; it seemed doubtful that anyone had stayed here—been trapped here—at all recently. Unless Vader habitually kept prisoners in comfortable bedrooms, anyway. But she thought she caught a quiet sound now, something metallic, like a very low whirr.

“Tisix? Tuvié?” said Lucy, tossing the blankets aside. “Is that you?”

The whirr intensified. “Good morning, Miss Lucy! Are you prepared for activity?”

Lucy, immediately wary, said, “It depends on the activity.”

“Why, that is exactly what I think!” said Tuvié, moving a little further away. Something slid open on the opposite side of the room. “Hmm. Let’s not damage anything.”

Lucy wasn’t about to make promises on that front.

“Yes,” Tuvié went on, “I think this one will do nicely! If you’re careful, of course, but I’m sure you will be.”

What was she even going on about? Had Vader sent her to prepare Lucy for combat? Doomed combat, without a weapon or the Force—

Tuvié clattered back over.

“Miss Lucy, raise your arms.”

Lucy hesitated, then obeyed, bracing herself for whatever might follow. With no further warning, Tuvié pulled Lucy’s nightdress up over her head and tossed it aside.

Lucy jerked away. “What the—”

“Please keep your arms up,” said Tuvié. “It’s the best way.”

For a second, Lucy stayed still, arms wrapped about herself and every nerve on alert. But her flesh shivered in the air, and she couldn’t see—ha!—a way out.

“Miss Lucy—”

“All right,” Lucy said, and lifted her arms again.

Soft material fluttered over her skin as Tuvié lowered something over Lucy’s arms and let it drop down to her waist, then shook it out until the bottom rustled against the floor. Another dress?

Irrepressibly, Lucy thought of Leia helping her dress after she’d blown up the Death Star. They’d gone through Leia’s finery together, looked at their reflections together, talked at times and fallen into comfortable silence at others. She’d never known anyone who understood her the way that Leia did. Anyone who cared the way Leia did, for all her sharp edges. Even Han—that was different, and all tangled up with Leia, anyway. Or it had been, before Lucy left them—but she’d had to! And now Han was all but dead, and Leia might be anywhere at all, assuming that Vader hadn’t lied about her escape. If he really hadn’t, then … then Lucy was glad, more than glad, to be separated from her. Glad Leia was somewhere safe.

She just missed her.

“Here we go,” said Tuvié brightly, pulling one of Lucy’s arms down into a satiny sleeve, then following with the other.

“Umph—”

More material brushed the underside of Lucy’s chin. A high collar, tightening about her throat as Tuvié buttoned up the back of the dress. She took two gulping breaths of air that felt like they might be her last—but nothing happened, except that Tuvié made a satisfied click before pulling another article of clothing around Lucy’s shoulders and over her arms. A sort of pointed short robe. Lucy brushed a finger over the material of the robe, little beads jangling against her wrist with the motion of her hand.

“Very nice, if I do say so myself,” said Tuvié. She sounded immensely pleased with herself.

“I guess this was Senator Amidala’s, too?” Lucy asked. She felt less like the Jedi prisoner of a Sith Lord and more like some sort of doll for Vader’s droid.

She’d often seen droids treated as glorified dolls; now it seemed the tables had turned.

“Oh, yes,” Tuvié said happily. “It all is. We couldn’t find anything else here—not anything appropriate for your size and, hm, situation. The colours used to be more vibrant, I think, but they’re still quite pleasing. It does show when one uses quality materials, doesn’t it?”

“I suppose so,” said Lucy, laying her palms against the thick skirts. They were stiff and slightly pleated. What would Aunt Beru think?

She had no idea. She didn’t know what Beru would think of almost anything she’d done, or Owen either. There was so much she hadn’t known about them, that she’d never know, thanks to the Empire. Vader might not have personally killed them, as he had her father, but—

“—I was constructed too recently to have ever seen her with my own optics,” Tuvié was saying, “but it seems quite typical for the senator. From all I have observed, she had very refined tastes. And she was small, like you, so you’re quite lucky!”

“Lucky,” said Lucy blankly.

She thought of her uncle and aunt’s bones, and Obi-Wan, and her visions of Han’s and Leia’s suffering, and that terrible moment of choice when she’d turned over her father’s lightsaber. But she also thought of Biggs, and how little this imprisonment resembled Leia’s on the Death Star, and of Alderaan and the dead she’d left behind on her way to Dagobah.

“Imagine if you were tall for your species,” said Tuvié. “It would be a disaster! I’d wager my right arm that the Maker never thought of that.”

“I’m not going to take you up on that one,” Lucy told her. “What activity were you thinking about?”

“Oh! Well, you’re still recovering, of course, but I thought I might escort you around the castle. Even if you can’t see anything, I can describe it to you. Surely that would be more interesting than sitting here until Lord Vader returns?”

“He’s not here?” Lucy said, hardly daring to clutch at relief. “Really?”

“There was trouble with some foolish admirals,” said Tuvié. “He told us that he had to manage it personally. He was most displeased, if you ask me.”

“I bet he was,” said Lucy. “But wouldn’t he be even angrier if he found out you let me roam around his castle?”

Tuvié patted her shoulder with that oddly fleshy hand. “No indeed! I asked him myself, and he said you could go anywhere in the castle you liked, as long as I watch over you.”

This seemed extremely suspicious. “You’re sure?”

“Quite sure,” Tuvié said. “Most organics can be terribly duplicitous—no offense to you, Miss Lucy. But Lord Vader always means what he says. And there’s no danger here, I assure you.”

Lucy gave a strangled laugh.

“But if there were,” added Tuvié, “I am more than capable of handling it. So you’ll be quite safe! Unless you’d rather stay here?”

Lucy hesitated another moment, then shook her head. “No. Let’s go, Tuvié.”

Tuvié had somehow dredged up a pair of soft shoes that fit Lucy exactly. She helped Lucy put them on, and with that, they headed out of Lucy’s personal prison, into the wider one.

As Tuvié guided her about the castle, she described everything in a detail that Lucy might have appreciated, had she been able to listen more closely. But she was busy counting and memorizing steps from one room to another, trying to create a map in her mind. Tuvié didn’t seem to notice her distraction, even though Lucy’s preoccupation had her stumbling over her own feet more than once.

At one point, she even fell down, scraping her palms on the stone floor and blushing with a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. Tuvié had released her arm to turn towards a training room of some kind, explaining its many features while Lucy tried to remember if she’d gone forty-three or forty-seven steps from the last room, and without the Force to guide her steps, some unevenness in the floor tripped her up.

“Am dkadha!” she said.

“Oh! Miss Lucy, I’m so sorry!” cried Tuvié, helping her to her feet.

“It’s not your fault,” Lucy told her wearily. “Let’s keep going.”

“Well—if you’re sure—”

Anger is a path to the Dark Side. Anger is a path to the Dark Side. Anger is a path to the Dark Side.

“That word,” said Tuvié.

Lucy gave up. “What?”

“The one you said a few minutes ago, when you fell down.”

She wasn’t going to be embarrassed about swearing in front of Vader’s droid. Really, she shouldn’t even have been embarrassed about falling down in front of her. Tuvié just made it easy to forget that she was Vader’s droid. Still, Lucy felt her cheeks flush again.

“What about it?” Lucy said.

For several seconds, Tuvié fell uncharacteristically silent. Then she said,

“I’m not familiar with it.”

“You wouldn’t be,” said Lucy.

“I am familiar with over one hundred million forms of communication,” said Tuvié stiffly.

“I didn’t mean … of course you are,” Lucy hurried to say. “But I’ve never met a droid who knew my family’s language—”

It had struck her after the award ceremony at Massassi, when she wandered alone in the hills for a little while, that except out of her own mouth, she would never hear her ancestors’ language again. Shmi’s people had been slaughtered, and Shmi herself enslaved and tortured to death. She’d taught Alsaraic to Beru before she died, and Owen picked up some along the way, but the Empire had burned them both down to their bones. Beru faithfully taught it to Lucy in turn and Anakin knew it from the cradle he never had, but Darth Vader murdered him long ago.

Alsaraic was gone, and the Alsarai with it. At least, she thought so, until months later, when she muttered to herself in Alsaraic and Threepio responded in it, his accent better than hers. She’d nearly burst into tears. And now, Threepio was—he’d be all right. He had to be. Even Vader said he was.

“—except one,” she finished.

“They must have exceptional programming,” said Tuvié.

Lucy actually found herself smiling, and didn’t know whether she should regret it. “Yes, rather.”

“Still, no one could be better than the Maker,” Tuvié said. “I don’t see why he didn’t program me with it.”

Lucy replied, “Threepio—my droid friend—is pretty old, I think. He must have been programmed by someone who knew Alsaraic back then, or had records, but Vader wouldn’t.”

“Why not?” said Tuvié.

“My people are dead,” Lucy said shortly. “It’s just me. Vader wouldn’t have access to it.”

“Hmm,” Tuvié said, sounding doubtful. “Perhaps not. But that means my knowledge banks are incomplete.”

Lucy squinted around the room. Was some of the darkness a shade lighter than the rest? She couldn’t be sure.

“You will be here for some time, though!” Tuvié said more brightly. “Won’t you?”

Everything looked black again.

“I suppose so,” said Lucy.

“Then you could expand my knowledge!”

Lucy turned to stare in the direction of Tuvié’s voice. “Do you mean—you want me to teach you my family’s language?”

Absolutely not.

“It would be a great favour, I know,” said Tuvié. “But I would very much appreciate the addition to my banks.”

Lucy opened her mouth to say no. However much she feared the total eradication of Alsaraic, however much she’d miss being able to speak and hear it, it was not something to be shared with just anyone. Certainly not someone she could trust as little as a droid programmed by Darth Vader and loyal to him. Yet something kept her from absolute refusal.

“I’m not much of a teacher,” she said at last. “Well, which room is next?”

Normally, it would take more than a walk around a castle to tire Lucy out. Certainly, it would have on Dagobah. But her legs felt weak and rubbery by the time her stomach started growling.

“Are you ill?” Tuvié cried.

“Yes,” said Lucy, “but mostly, I’m hungry.”

“Oh! Of course! Organics require refuelling as well,” she said. “I don’t know how I always forget these things. But the kitchen droids will be so pleased.”

Without further explanation, she tugged Lucy into a new room, one that felt vaguely more spacious than most of those they’d explored so far. The air, too, seemed different—fresher, though even colder. She could hear a low murmur of machinery.

“There you are!” said Tuvié.

Something made a metallic scraping sound.

“I am,” Ellex replied. “What do you want? Is the girl causing problems?”

Lucy stiffened.

“Oh, no, no,” Tuvié rushed to say, “it’s only that she requires sustenance. Would you mind guarding her while I speak to the kitchen droids? I’m sure they’ll enjoy the chance to—”

“I have more important tasks than observing a small organic,” Ellex told her.

“I am quite sure that the Maker would disagree,” said Tuvié, as cheerfully as ever.

Apart from the quiet sounds of Ellex’s and Tuvié’s machinery, the room fell into total silence. Then Ellex said,

“Fine. Just be quick about it.”

Tuvié’s presence made Lucy feel absurdly weak and useless. Her absence was still worse. When her steps receded and a door slammed closed, Lucy felt her heart pound, her will alone keeping her legs and hands from trembling. Alone with a disgruntled super battle droid, she dared not move, just held herself as ready as she could for whatever might come.

For several minutes, Ellex neither did nor said anything. Lucy briefly considered trying to say something to her, but after a moment’s thought, gave up on it. Then the droid remarked,

“For some reason, Lord Vader values your life.”

Lucy scowled. “I know.”

“Therefore,” Ellex went on, “you needn’t concern yourself with my ending it. I will only kill you if Lord Vader changes his mind.”

“That’s very reassuring,” said Lucy.

“Yes, I thought it would be,” Ellex replied.

Despite herself, Lucy did relax a little. She knew she couldn’t take Ellex on in her current state, so she thought she might as well accept the droid’s word that she intended no harm (yet). It was hard not to wonder, though, if she stood next to her eventual executioner, or if Vader would do the job himself, as he had with her father. Or perhaps she’d survive somehow, as a perpetual prisoner, or, in some miraculous scenario, an escapee. She didn’t quite let herself hope for the latter, but if the opportunity came—she’d be ready.

After a few minutes of silence, Tuvié returned, immediately scolding Ellex for not helping Lucy to a chair. Lucy didn’t bother attending to Ellex’s prickly response, instead trying not to welcome Tuvié’s light grip on her arm as she led her several feet away and guided her into a chair. Lucy reached out, her fingers brushing a wide, flat surface. A table, made of some glossily smooth material. Not metal, Lucy didn’t think.

She stretched further, but she couldn’t reach any of the other edges of the table; it must be large.

“Lord Vader hosts guests here,” Tuvié said helpfully.

“I thought he didn’t have guests,” said Lucy.

“Well, not guests-guests—none of them stay for more than a few hours. Admirals and moffs and the like who have business with Lord Vader that he prefers to handle in private.”

Lucy paused, then asked, “Speaking of Vader, where is he? How long will he be away?”

“That’s no concern of yours,” said Ellex.

“It’s hardly a secret!” Tuvié returned. “You needn’t worry, Miss Lucy; he’s just dealing with some admirals who gave him trouble. Admiral Varti, I think, and … Jerrod? Something like that. He said it would only be a few hours, and that was three hours ago.”

Lucy took a deep breath. He’d be back any time now, then.

“Jerjerrod,” Ellex said. “An incompetent waste of space, if you ask me. Lord Vader should lop off his head and be done with it.”

“How uncivilized,” said Tuvié. “Anyway, he’s a cousin to some grand moff or another. It’d be a disaster.”

Ellex gave a dismissive clank. “If that’s quite all—”

“Yes, I can manage perfectly well,” Tuvié told her.

With that, Ellex marched away. Lucy waited until the door slammed shut behind her, then took a steadying breath. It was impossible not to feel the strain in her muscles easing out with just Tuvié.

I can’t trust her, Lucy reminded herself. I can’t trust any of them.

“Dreadful, isn’t she?” Tuvié remarked. “Very impressive, of course—but no manners at all!”

Lucy gave a short nod.

Tuvié chatted lightly for several more minutes. Then, the door slid open again, and what sounded like a veritable army of droids clattered in the room.

“F-2VA, you requested a luncheon for this human?” one of them said in a deep, resonant sort of voice. “We have prepared a feast!”

“A what?” said Lucy.

“She’s not human,” Tuvié said, “but—”

This drew even more of Lucy’s attention. “What? Of course I’m a human!”

“Your genetic code is hardly distinguishable, to be sure,” Tuvié said soothingly. “That looks most satisfactory, Arren.”

The droid, or another one, gave a loud whirr. A loud clamour of metallic footsteps drew nearer—Lucy instinctively braced herself for danger—and then something clinked on the table before her. The clink was joined by several others: four, five, six. Before Lucy could respond, someone reached past her, and suddenly, a combination of savoury smells wafted to her nose. She was, she realized, ravenous.

“I—”

“This should sustain you, humanoid,” boomed Arren. “We hope you enjoy it.”

“I’m sure I will,” Lucy said automatically. Her stomach gave a loud growl. “Uh, thank you?”

“It—was—our—pleasure. We do not often have the opportunity to exercise our abilities.”

“Right,” said Lucy.

She reached out cautiously, her fingers touching the edge of a plate. It was only then that she reached a horrifying realization: she didn’t know how to eat without her eyesight. Were there even utensils?

As she fumbled cautiously, Tuvié’s familiar grasp took hold of her wrist, and directed her slightly to the side, where Lucy could feel a fork. She awkwardly took it in hand.

She’d have rather figured it out alone, or at least with only Tuvié. The cooking droids seemed to be waiting for her judgment, however, so—guided by Tuvié—she managed to break off a small piece of whatever was on the plate in front of her and stab it. Cautiously, she lifted it to her lips and took a bite.

A rich, lightly spiced flavour filled her mouth. It was some sort of meat, but the most delicious meat she’d ever had, and so soft that it all but melted on her tongue. Lucy closed her eyes.

“Is it satisfactory?” Arren asked.

Lucy swallowed. “Uh—yeah. More than satisfactory.”

“Very well. We will now depart, having excelled at our function!”

“Goodbye,” said Lucy weakly.

Once the cooking droids left, Lucy scooted closer to the table, irrationally anxious about spoiling a dead woman’s dress, then abandoned nearly all restraint. She ate through three dishes of combined meat, vegetables, and bread, all cooked as perfectly as the first, slowing just enough to avoid indigestion, and stopping just short of making herself sick.

Lucy set down the fork.

“Do you feel better?” Tuvié asked, sounding more than usually solicitous. “There’s more if you need it.”

“I think I’ll explode if I eat anything more,” said Lucy.

“Oh! Lord Vader would be most displeased,” Tuvié replied. Lucy wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. “We’ll leave the rest to be preserved for dinner.”

Vader would certainly have returned by then. Lucy’s brief sense of well-being fled, though she did her best to avoid betraying it to Tuvié. As they walked out of the dining hall, she asked,

“Why did you say I’m not human?”

“Tisix analyzed your genetic code,” said Tuvié. “It falls slightly out of the parameters of variability among humans. Very slightly, to be sure.”

That’s impossible, Lucy almost said. But she supposed she really didn’t know anything about her mother. For all Lucy knew, she could have been a member of some compatible species rather than purely human. The idea had never crossed her mind, however, and unsettled her in some odd way.

“My mother was nonhuman?” she said, more to herself than the droid.

“I wouldn’t think so,” said Tuvié. “Well, where to next?”

“I’d like to rest,” Lucy said firmly. Maybe, despite all evidence to the contrary, she’d be able to touch the Force now.

Tuvié took her back to the bedchamber, and for a good hour, Lucy sat cross-legged on the bed, trying to meditate under Tuvié’s eye. If she had eyes. As soon as Lucy attempted to reach out to the Force, she felt the Dark Side’s suffocating embrace. She inhaled, tamping down her frustration and fears, but only the miasma rippled about her.

Until—something glimmered on the furthest edges of her awareness. Just for a moment, a flicker of peace touching her before slipping beyond her senses, but it was something. She hardly dared hope that it was the Light Side, and tried again. Now, she felt nothing. But when she finally managed to sink into a steady calm, she felt the flicker again before it slid entirely away.

Lucy opened her eyes, feeling as exhausted as she had after Yoda sent her racing through the swamp and all its obstacles.

“You’re perspiring,” said Tuvié, sounding puzzled. “But you didn’t do anything, and the temperature is normative. Is it the carbon-sickness?”

“No,” Lucy said, offering no further explanation. She doubted Tuvié would understand even if she did feel like betraying her efforts. “I just need some sleep. Will you be watching me?”

“Of course,” Tuvié replied. “Nothing will happen to you under my guard!”

Lucy sighed. But despite the creepiness of trying to sleep under the observation of one of Vader’s droids, she was tired enough, and Tuvié inoffensive enough, that she soon drifted off.

In her dreams, Lucy could see. She blinked, refusing to cry, and peered around. Nothing seemed familiar. She stood in a desert city, not on on Tatooine—at least, not one she recognized, and when she craned her head back, she saw only one sun. She seemed to be in a major market of some kind, people bustling all around, some of them jostling her as they moved from stall to stall, weighing fruit and examining glass ornaments. It struck her as cleaner than any of the towns she knew on Tatooine, in a way she couldn’t quite pin down. There was a power in this place, slippery but unmistakable; the Force was strong here.

Lucy shivered and glanced down. She was wearing a dress passed down from Beru, a thin brown one meant for Tatooine’s scalding daytime hours. But this place was cold.

Something, she couldn’t have said what, drove her onwards. As she walked, she reached out to the Force, letting herself drift with its eddies until it suffused her. She felt welcomed, and yet grieved—an odd sense of loss.

As she made her way through the crowds, they seemed to shift in and out of her sight. Not because of her eyesight itself, but because—because—

It’s not real, she thought.

Then her eyes fell on a man, dark-robed and slightly turned away. He seemed real. And he seemed to be looking around, looking for something, and yet—not.

She didn’t understand. Lucy repressed a burst of aggravation at it all, the Force drifting from her.

No. Don’t leave. Please, don’t leave me.

The man tilted his head. Lucy moved forward, just able to make out a bit of red among the layers of his robe, and—

Darkness fell.

Lucy opened her eyes, to nothing. The man was gone, the Force, every bit of colour and comfort. Then she felt hands on her shoulders, shaking her.

“Miss Lucy? Miss Lucy!”

“Tuvié?” she asked groggily. “What is it?”

“I’m so sorry to wake you,” said Tuvié. “But it’s Lord Vader. He wants to see you.” She paused. “Now.”

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ransomedrogue · 3 years

Text

Tales of Woe - Scenes from S1

kiss time! yesssss. well, except everything goes downhill from there

anyhow, this week’s scenes - aftermath of an eventful evening...

1.10

Weller ushered his nephew up to his apartment, his physical body now inside the building but his mind still stuck out on the stoop. Images and emotions swirled together, with most of his consciousness locked on the memory of kissing Jane, while the rest of his brain did its best to fend off Sawyer's seemingly endless questions about what he'd seen.

"Why were you kissing her?"

"Isn't kissing kind of gross?"

"Was that your friend from when you and mom were kids?"

"Is she your girlfriend?"

Shit. He had to get that under control before they got back to the apartment and Sawyer outed him to Sarah.

But it was nearly impossible to get his thoughts in any sort of order at the moment, and Weller didn't want to outright lie to his nephew. Yet he also didn't want to face Sarah's scrutiny when he hadn't even had time to process what had just happened.

"Um, yeah, that was uh… Taylor. But she's not my girlfriend. So that was kind of a surprise," Weller finally replied, doing his best to focus his attention on the present.

"Oh. So she wants to be your girlfriend," Sawyer concluded.

His nephew was only nine but he'd pretty much nailed the question in the centre of Kurt's mind.

"Er. I don't know. We're going to have to talk about that," he said.

"You think we could not tell your mom about this until I figure that out?"

Sawyer gave him a blank look and for a moment Weller thought he was going to have to bribe the kid to keep him quiet. But then his nephew nodded sagely, and made a confession of his own.

"A girl in my class kissed me last year. I didn't tell mom either."

"She would have made a big deal about it."

Kurt grinned and ruffled Sawyer's hair. He figured that was a fairly normal thing for a boy that age to keep secret from his mom. And it certainly helped him out in the whole scheme of things.

"Yeah. That's kind of what I was thinking," Weller replied, with a breath of relief.

They entered the apartment and, true to his word, Sawyer ran off back to his favourite game without any mention of what he'd seen. Sarah was in the kitchen prepping things for dinner and barely looked up when they came in so Kurt started putting groceries away, hoping to hide the fact that he was in complete turmoil.

Weller was halfway through unloading the bag when he jolted, realizing suddenly that he'd just let Jane go off without her detail after giving her shit for sneaking out. For a full minute he stood there staring at a can of beans, stuck between running after her futilely and calling her right then, even though she most likely hadn't brought her phone on her illicit mission.

"Kurt?"

Shit. Busted.

He had no idea what Sarah had just asked him so Weller looked up blankly, trying to push the sudden panic out of his throat. His instinct was to sprint out the door and drive all her possible routes home but he had enough sense to resist immediately giving into his anxious impulses. Though mostly because he'd have to explain his behaviour to his sister, which could then easily lead to Sawyer spilling his secret.

"I asked if you wanted white rice or brown rice?"

"Oh. Brown please."

Weller finally put the can of beans down and tried to shake himself out of the moment. He forced back his emotions by repeatedly telling himself that Jane could take care of herself. Anyone that tried to attack her would regret their decision immediately. Also, he was already too late to catch up with her, so it would likely be a wild Jane chase that would require ditching dinner and lying about everything.

It took a lot of effort to turn his attention to cooking, but with Sarah insisting on helping him, Weller did his best to not let his mind drift. Yet still he constantly found himself lost in the memory of Jane's mouth coming up to meet his; how it felt, finally kissing her after desiring it for so long.

A huge part of him wanted to drive over to her safe house after dinner and experience that feeling again. Despite where that was likely to lead, including all the complications it would create. It had felt so right with Jane, more so than it ever had with anyone else. Which really wasn't surprising considering the way they'd fit together perfectly, right from the start.

Dinner was a complete blur but thankfully Sarah was questioning Sawyer about a school presentation due the next day so Kurt got away with fixating on what had happened and what he should do next. Jane had said she'd see him tomorrow and that was definitely the wisest course of action. Yet he absolutely could not stop thinking about her and waiting until the next day to see her again seemed torturous.

"Kurt?"

Dammit. Caught again.

He looked up blankly at Sarah, who was giving him a suspicious look. Sawyer, on the other hand, was grinning at him slyly.

"Sorry, I've been thinking about a case," he said, figuring it wasn't entirely a lie.

His sister was still eyeing him strangely but in the end she just shook her head at his inattention.

"Must be some case," she commented.

He couldn't quite tell if she suspected what was going on in his head but forced himself to swallow his instant defensiveness. He didn't need to give Sarah any more indication of where his mind had been during the meal.

"Yeah, sorry," Kurt repeated. "My head's not here right now. Why don't you guys go work on that project and I'll clean up dinner."

Again, Sarah flashed him a funny look but was, thankfully, more concerned about helping Sawyer practice his presentation than quizzing Kurt on his odd behaviour. He breathed a sigh of relief when they headed off and left him to deal with the dishes.

As soon as he was alone, Weller pulled out his phone and stared at it for a moment. He knew he should call first, before making any rash moves. Yet he didn't feel ready to address what had happened between them. Telling her the truth about his feelings seemed risky to the extreme. Even though she'd been the one on his doorstep initiating the kiss, it still didn't seem prudent to tell her that she had completely blown his mind.

He finally dialled her number, his heart pounding in his ears. And when the call went through to her voicemail, Weller felt more deflated than he should have been.

He'd really wanted to talk to her – partly to make sure she'd gotten home okay but mostly just to hear her voice. It was hard not to think that she was avoiding his call and didn't want to talk to him. Which was stupidly crushing despite everything that had happened between them that night.

Weller hung up after leaving a message and stared blankly out the window. Resisting the urge to dial again, he put the phone down and clenched his hands into fists. Going over to her safe house now would certainly get her detail gossiping about his late night visit.

Forcing back both his worry and his desire, Kurt decided the best course of action was to pour himself a drink. Sitting down at the couch, he sipped at his whiskey and tried to drown out all of his impulses.

He shouldn't drive over there, no matter how much he wanted to see her. So Weller forced himself to stay planted on his sofa, trying not to stare at his phone. Instead, he slugged back the rest of his shot and let his mind drift back to where it had been all night. At the memory of Jane's body, tight against his, and the taste of her mouth on his lips.

###

Jane crawled in the window of the safe house and immediately collapsed to the ground, shaking.

It was as if all the physical and mental shock hit her at once, as soon as she made it back inside. Her lungs still burned with the pain of aspirated water and she was unnaturally cold even though she'd run most of the way back and was finally almost dry.

Shivering on the floor, Jane curled up into herself like she had the first night of her new existence. It seemed absurd that she now wanted to return to that state of innocence, without a single memory or revelation about her past. After all that time and so much effort, it had turned out to be better not knowing anything at all.

Who the hell had she been?

What kind of person would voluntarily choose to do this to herself?

While it was still possible that her former self had been forced to make that video and that none of it was true, Jane had an ominous sense that it was. Oscar's tattoo had gone a long way in making her believe his story and the video he'd shown her. They'd been engaged, presumably in love. She remembered feeling regretful when returning the ring, knowing that he would be upset with her decision.

Jane groaned, desperately wanting to believe that it was all a ruse. She'd already had so many doubts about her past, even before that night's mindblowing revelation. Now she hated the mere thought of who she had been. Especially as all the implications kept flooding through her.

She had done this, planned this all. Purposely involved Kurt in it for some reason, probably a nefarious one. Oscar had been short on details, yet had implied that her team was involved in something illegal. But the idea that Weller was anything but an honest FBI agent seemed completely insane.

God. Had it really only been hours since she'd kissed him?

It felt like a lifetime had passed, especially the time spent being waterboarded by Tom Carter. Jane shuddered again just at the memory of it; the terror of being unable to breathe, feeling like she was drowning. She noted again that she felt frozen despite finally being dry. Knowing that she needed to get warm, Jane tried to push her way off the floor. But it was as if all the trauma of being physically tortured then emotionally devastated had finally caught up to her and she was stuck in her position.

Images of the night kept flashing through her mind, like a frantic slideshow whirling out of control. Sitting on his doorstep, nervous but determined. Walking away from his place, lost in the memory of her lips against his. Being grabbed and thrown in a van before she even had a chance to react. Then the bag and the water and the drill. The gunshots. Oscar and the video.

Jane felt herself starting to hyperventilate as the cycle of images wouldn't stop; always culminating with that picture of herself, telling her that this was all her idea. Even the thought of betraying her team and being a mole was devastating. She owed them so much and trusted them completely. Especially Weller.

Weller.

A part of her still wanted to see him, even though the idea of telling him what had happened was unthinkable. Because, more than anything, Jane needed comfort at that moment and he was her only source for it. The thought of his warmth wrapped around her shaking body was almost inviting enough to push away the horror of the other thought, the one that had been plaguing her ever since she'd seen that video.

What if Weller found out that she was a terrible person, who'd plotted her way into his life? He would obviously despise her, even if she really was Taylor.

Jane moaned again, desperately wishing that it had all been a dream. There had certainly been an unreal quality to her night, yet her misery and self-hatred were entirely too real.

She was about to spin back into the same cycle of remorse and despair when a familiar noise finally broke through her consciousness. It was her cell phone, which she'd left at the safe house so her movements wouldn't be traceable.

A part of her registered that it was the middle of the night by now, so any call would likely be important. Yet still it seemed impossible to get up and answer the phone.

Eventually Jane waited long enough and the ringing stopped, but now that question was occupying a piece of her mind as well. Who was calling her so late? A part of her worried that it was Oscar, or someone else involved in the conspiracy she was tied to.

Trying to get her limbs back under control, Jane growled at her own weakness. The events of the evening had finally caught up to her, especially the stress her body had been put under. But she didn't have time to cry about it, or tremor alone on the floor. Especially if her phone was ringing at that hour.

As if in a trance, Jane found herself pushing herself onto her elbows first then onto her knees. After that, she somehow managed to get to her feet and stumbled towards the phone, feeling as if she wasn't inhabiting her own body. Everything seemed so unreal still; her entire world had collapsed to reveal something she'd never expected.

Jane finally got to her cell and saw that she had missed a number of calls from Weller. Just seeing his name on the screen made her heart clench with dismay. She couldn't talk to him; he would immediately know that something was wrong.

As she listened to her voicemails, Jane's roiling mind went into overdrive, trying to come up with a solution. If she didn't answer at all Weller was liable to show up at her door, despite the time - he certainly sounded concerned enough. Which would then lead to all sorts of complications she couldn't face at the moment.

It seemed to take forever before the obvious answer finally made its way through her anxiety. She could send him a text to let him know she was safe and put off talking to him until she'd had more time to recover.

Somehow Jane forced her fingers to operate the phone and managed to cobble together an excuse for not answering for so long. Even though she was still shaking, unable to get warm despite being dry and safe.

Sorry, out thinking, no phone. Home now. Talk to you tomorrow.

Goodnight. See you in the morning, Weller replied immediately.

Jane pictured him at home, up late worrying about her. The image, along with the text would normally have made her feel warm, though a little guilty too. Now, she could only think what he would say if he knew who she really was.

He'd hate me, she thought once more.

As much as I hate myself.

Goodnight, Jane texted back, even though it was clear she wasn't going to be doing any sleeping. She could only hope that Weller would be able to get some rest, after keeping him up so late. As for herself, she had hours left to spend ruminating on what had happened and what she was going to do.

The images still wouldn't stop pouring through her mind, forcing her to relive her terror at being repeatedly drowned, then threatened with a drill, then shown that video. And yet there was that other memory too, that brought on a different sort of panic. Reaching up towards Kurt; seeking comfort in the warm sensation of his lips on her mouth, the feeling of his body right up against hers.

She wanted that, wanted him. But not if it was part of a plot. And definitely not if he was going to get hurt.

Jane realized that tears had started to slip down her cheeks and she didn't have the energy to push them back. Soon they were pouring out and and she didn't bother to try controlling them or even wiping them away. Curling up on the couch, Jane just kept sobbing until her lungs ached and daylight was peering through the blinds.

Opening her eyes and groaning at the light, Jane peeled herself off the sofa and stood in a burning hot shower, trying to wash the dirty feeling from her skin. Yet she didn't feel any more cleansed when she emerged from the water, nor had it lifted any of the heaviness in her soul.

Whatever had happened to her, it was obviously all her own fault. Now all she could do was protect everyone from the fallout of what she'd done. No matter what it took, she wasn't going to let any of them get hurt.

Whoever she'd been before the memory wipe, that wasn't who she was anymore. And this version of her wasn't going to let anyone hurt the people that she loved. Not even herself.

#blindspot #blindspot fanfic #blindspot rewatch #s1fic #i wrote this

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utterlyinevitable · 4 years

Note

Hey hi! Can you do a hc about what happened in the time jump for the li routes to fix this mess? Make the lack of progression make sense! please and thank you

I shall try!

Though I’m only going to do Ethan, Bryce and Rafael (TBC in another post). I have never played Jackie’s route and don’t feel comfortable speculating.

Ethan x MC During the Time Jump

After the gala, things seemed to be going well. Ethan dismantled the Diagnostics Team and wasn’t MC’s direct superior anymore.

They thought everything would be fine.

But no, Ethan was still an attending and MC a resident in the same department.

And that kiss looked too familiar to be the first time anything happened between them.

So people started to talk.

Rumors started to fly about MC sleeping her way onto the best cases and Ramsey giving her preferential treatment. “Have you seen the way he looks at Dr. Lao? Actual hearts in his eyes.” “She’s the only person he wouldn’t fire for talking back to him.” “I saw them leave Donahue’s together once last year. You think it’s been going on since then?”

Ethan and MC did their best to ignore the incessant gossip, they were much too busy helping as many patients as possible to pay attention.

Two weeks after the gala the gang celebrated Thanksgiving.

Ethan was invited and joined without pushback.

He sat at the island talking with Sienna and Rafael as they waited for MC to arrive from her errand that was taking longer than expected.

It wasn’t as awkward as he would have thought, getting to know MC’s group was rather enjoyable.

Well, that was until Keiki and Bryce arrived.

Keiki was very standoffish with Ethan, giving him the full inquisition.

He took it in stride, brushing off every time Bryce apologized for his sister’s behavior.

MC and Ethan spent Christmas with Alan at Ethan’s place after a long shift. They hadn’t explicitly confirmed their coupling with his father, using the cover of “having nowhere else to go” to explain why they’re spending the day together.

Ethan had only spoken about MC and barely even touched on the depth of his feelings for her in the odd conversation with Alan about his personal life.

Alan knew better. He sees the way his son looks at MC and how attentive he is to her needs; whether it be a new napkin or a top up without batting an eye. No to mention, this wasn’t the first time he caught them cozying up in Ethan’s kitchen.

Word still spread around the hospital, even quicker now that Ethan and MC were confirmed to have spent the holiday together. So much, to the point that they could not ignore it any longer.

Ethan and MC and her friends tried to squash as many rumors as possible. Telling everyone that they’ve only started dating. It was part of the truth. “They hooked up the moment she was cleared of the toxin. One of the nurses heard them. MC is loud!” “That’s ridiculous. MC went right to sleep the second I wheeled her out of there,” Bryce informed. “And seriously, the kiss at the gala was the first time they got frisky.”

They were able to buy some more time. The amount of patients coming through Edenbrook’s doors tripling and keeping everyone busy.

MC spent New Years with her friends while Ethan worked.

He made it to her apartment just in time to kiss her at midnight.

Eventually the most salacious of rumors made their way to the board.

Edenbrook still had ~7 months of life left and accusations like this could not be brushed under the rug.

Ethan was called into a meeting to assess the claims not long after.

He blew a gasket - face and ears red with rage at the laundry list of claims brought against them.

The board threw around the notion of a sexual harassment case.

Ethan assured them that would not be necessary. Their current relationship was more than consensual.

The board would have loved to believe them but in the current climate they could not afford another lawsuit and are proceeding with extreme caution.

Ethan was advised to keep distant from MC until the investigation was concluded.

MC was called in a few days later.

She said the same as Ethan.

Things were awkward that entire week they had to stay away from one another to prove their point of not interfering with their professional relationship.

The case was cleared quicker than both thought possible. Luckily, all their friends and close colleagues vouched for them.

Ethan and MC received the email of no wrongdoing just before their shifts ended one night.

The night they got the news wasn’t the happy reunion they were expecting.

She met Ethan at his place - ready with a set of lingerie she was saving for February.

MC was so excited. But that all ended over takeaway when Ethan spoke of the thoughts that had plaguing him since his meeting with the board.

Needless to say, Ethan never got to see the outfit.

The evening ended in them arguing about where she should apply to residency and how he doesn’t want to hinder her career.

MC stormed out and gave him the cold shoulder for a while.

Their fight lasted well past Valentine’s Day.

MC did send him a text to thank him for the flowers and food basket he sent. Other than that it was professional business as usual between them.

Both Ethan and MC threw themselves into their work, letting the days turn into weeks and neither of them acknowledging their issues.

They let the fight simmer down and let themselves down along with it.

They didn’t fight for their relationship, they didn’t talk anymore about what it all means for them.

MC loves Ethan and would choose him and staying in Boston for him over a better opportunity elsewhere. But after everything, she’s dejected. She’s put so much effort into their relationship over the last two years that there’s no point to fight for something he’s not willing to meet halfway on.

Ethan knows MC leads with their heart.

That’s why he wouldn’t tell her. That’s why he couldn’t tell her he’s madly in love with her.

He doesn’t want to ruin her career anymore than he has already, doesn’t want the rumors festering within Edenbrook to follow her wherever she ends up. Doesn’t want her to give up a very promising career for whatever this is.

He’s also not going to admit he’s a little scared of what it means if she did stay. It’s easier for him to push her away in the name of her career than admit he’s absolutely hopeless without her.

MC’s night on the town with her friends ended up at the helipad on top of Edenbrook. Ethan heard the commotion of their dancing and loud music and went to investigate.

The gang invited him to join and he looked at MC for permission.

She smiled and shrugged, the fight forgotten and the nostalgia washing over her tipsy state.

He grabbed and beer and sat next to her. He lamented on the view and when MC told him she was glad he was here Ethan grabbed her hand. They relished the feeling of their skin on each others after what’s felt like years.

They welcomed the silence and just being in each others company.

Slowly the group trickled out, leaving Ethan and MC alone. “What did you get up to tonight? Besides trespassing.” “We did some applications then said ‘fuck it’ and went out” He didn’t comment on application although he was itching to know where she hopes to end up. So, Ethan changed the subject, “You look beautiful. That dress really suits you.” “Thank you.”

They sat still in unsettled silence. The nightly breeze picking up and Ethan mindlessly rubbing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.

They went to speak at the same time, MC letting Ethan continue:

“Will you come home with me?” “Is that a good idea?” “I’d like to make the most of the time we have left.”

MC looked at him, their eyes locking.

She knew it wasn’t a good idea - she’d fallen into him one too many times. Every time she was scorned.

But maybe tonight she’s diluted her inhibitions enough to indulge in one last goodbye.

They went back to his place and they didn’t talk at all.

Very few words were exchanged in the seconds their lips parted.

Small pleasantries were exchanged in the morning along with light kisses everywhere but on the mouth.

Ethan drove her back to her place the next morning to keep prying eyes from catching them coming to work together.

MC wished she regretted sleeping with him again.

The moment she got out of bed she missed his heat and the way he wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled into her neck as they slept.

It was heaven. And MC didn’t ever want to come back down.

MC was still applying to programs all over the country, hoping she’ll find a new match somewhere. Ethan’s recommendation letter could only carry so far.

Ever since that last evening Ethan and MC refused to acknowledge the fault staring them in the face.

Instead, they took things one day at a time.

They kept their friendship alive after months of ignoring one another.

They’ve texted, they’ve almost sexted. They’ve gone out for coffee.

But they never had another sleepover.

Whenever they got close, their internal siren would wail “they’re leaving they’re leaving they’re leaving” and immediately someone would make an excuse to stop much to both their disappointment.

It was for the best. They knew that. They convinced themselves to be true.

Edenbrook’s last day came and Ethan was understandably shaken. His career he had devoted his entire life to ended. This creature of habit has to rebuild and it’s terrifying.

He had a number of hospitals and research centers send him offers but none of them felt right. None of them were Edenbrook and none of them were the team he and his mentor built, and none of them had his favorite person.

So Ethan was set to take a few months sabbatical; spend more time with his dad and at the opera and just enjoying the life he has been too distracted to live.

Later that day while waiting for labs for the Bloom Case, he wanted to strangle his father for inviting MC on the quick trip to Providence.

He also never expected her to agree.

Ethan had never taken a woman home - and they weren’t really in that close of a place for her to nosey around his guarded past.

It was disconcerting and strangely familiar to have MC by his side in his childhood home. His past and present meshing beautifully.

And that scared Ethan.

Standing in his childhood home watching Alan and MC coo over baby photos, Ethan never wanted a domestic life more. He wanted to show her everything and have her do the same. He wanted to do all this in twenty years with his own family.

He was coveting things he had thrown away.

And then she kissed him and for a split second no hope was lost.

When the lights of Edenbrook finally went off that fateful day, MC grabbed his hand.

It felt like the only thing to do.

He was the most important part of Edenbrook - for MC Ethan was Edenbrook.

Their romantic past aside, they became friends here. He was the reason she was here in the first place - at Edenbrook and practicing medicine. It was only fitting that he’d be at her side when this chapter closed.

“I’m going to miss you,” she said so sincerely his heart didn’t know whether to shatter or swell. “For what it’s worth, I feel exactly the same way about you.”

The silence hung for a while as they watched the last of the lights switch off.

She broke it with the most visceral question: “So. This is really it.” “For some things.” “And what about... other things? Am I going to see you again now that we don’t work together?”

It was the question they’d been volleying and avoiding for months. The time came to finally put a decision to it.

MC was still unsure where she was going. Ethan will be spending more time with his family. Things were still so complicated.

“It’s impossible to say what the future will bring...” Ethan opted for one last life lesson to close their mentor/mentee relationship.

Her features, mood and hopes simultaneously fell. This was really the end.

A part of her hoped they could compromise. They only had one another a few times, there was so much more to explore between them.

She kept her eyes glued down at their shoes, “Oh...” “But I can see as far as tomorrow. I’ll see you then?”

He had the ghost of a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

After what felt like ages, their eyes locked. Both clear as could be.

“I’d like that.”

MC left to meet her friends while Ethan stayed to say the emotional goodbye to his home of the last 11 years, to the place that made him who he is.

Ethan and MC went their separate ways with a promise of tomorrow.

#i'm personally pretending the gala kiss didn't happen and we've been in a secret relationship since #but still fucked in his office #open heart hc #open heart #open heart headcanons #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #ethan ramsey x mc #Anonymous #asked

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triptuckers · 4 years

Text

Knight in shining armour - Derek Morgan

Request: nope Pairing: Derek Morgan x reader Summary: For months you’ve been secretly seeing Derek Morgan. The two of you agreed to keep it quiet, to prevent the team from finding out. One the rare occasion of having a weekend off, Derek takes you to a fancy restaurant. However, you’re called in and you have to go to the office as soon as possible, all dressed up. Warnings: none Word count: 1.9K A/N: this has been in my head since forever. no spoilers in the comments / reblogs please! enjoy reading :) also my inbox is currently empty, so feel free to send me requests!

‘I’m glad we found time for this.’ you say. You reach your hand out to the man sitting in front of you. Derek smiles at you and takes your hand in his. ‘Me too.’ he says. ‘These days it’s almost impossible to get a weekend off.’ ‘And luckily I get to spend it with you. It’s been a while since I had you all to myself.’ you say.

The two of you are sitting in one of the finer restaurants in town. With the job you have, it is almost impossible to go on proper dates. You’re always called in, or in some other city. Which is why you seized the opportunity whenever you got one.

Well, technically, Derek’s the one who seized the opportunity this time. You had two glorious days off, an entire weekend. While you were sitting in the living room of your place, Derek walked in, wearing one of his best suits.

After taking your time to get a good look at him, and a proper hello kiss, Derek told you to put on something nice, and that he would take you out for dinner. He didn’t have to say it a second time. You quickly got changed and the two of you headed to the restaurant.

You’re enjoying every minute you get to spend with Derek. Not that you never see him, quite the opposite. You are both part of the BAU, and see each other on a daily basis. However, you did everything you could to make sure the team didn’t find out about your relationship.

It seemed like you were doing a good job. You’ve been seeing Derek for months and no one had figured it out. You made sure to keep your work life and your private life separated. So far, so good.

You’re laughing and enjoying a glass of wine, waiting for someone to take your order when Derek’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He looks at you before taking it out of his pocket. As he looks at the screen he sighs.

‘It’s Hotch.’ he says, and he answers the phone. You’re finishing your glass of wine in one gulp. The chances you’d get a call as well are high. And indeed, when Derek hangs up, he has a few seconds to say “heads up” before your phone starts buzzing as well.

Hotch tells you there’s an urgent case, that he knows the team got the weekend off but this can’t wait. He needs you at the bureau as soon as possible. He knows nobody likes it, but they’ve got no choice. Part of the job. When you put your phone away and look at Derek, he’s giving you an apologetic look.

‘Sorry Hotch screwed up our date night.’ he says. ‘Yeah, well, good thing I love this job.’ you say and you smile at him. Derek calls someone over and pays for the drinks while you put on your coat.

When you’re in the car, you notice Derek’s taking a different route. ‘Derek, I need to change.’ you say, motioning to your outfit. You simply couldn’t show up to work looking all dressed up.

‘I know, so do I. We’ve got bags at the bureau, we’ll have to change when we get there.’ says Derek. ‘Don’t you think it’s a little obvious when we arrive at the same time, and you’re wearing a gorgeous suit and I’m wearing a dress like this one?’ you say. ‘You’ll arrive first, I’ll wait in the car a few minutes before going up as well. We can say we were on a date, just not mention we were together. Maybe they won’t think much of it.’ says Derek.

‘I don’t know, Derek. It could go wrong and they could find out. I do not want to see the look on Hotch’ face when he does.’ you say, still unsure of his plan. Derek reaches out and lays his hand on top of yours. ‘It’ll be fine. Think about it; how much do we know about the team’s private life? Not much. We can both have a date on the same evening, there’s a chance they won’t question it. And also, this is the first weekend off in months, it’ll make sense we went on dates. I’m sure they won’t notice.’ says Derek.

‘All right fine.’ you say. ‘But we have to play it cool, they can’t find out.’ ‘Baby, they won’t find out. Trust me.’ says Derek as he pulls into the parking lot of the bureau. When he parked the car, he turns off the engine and looks at you.

‘I still owe you dinner.’ he says and he smiles. ‘And also, you look really beautiful in that dress. Makes me feel like the luckiest man in the world.’ A bright smile appears on your face and you lean in to kiss him. ‘Well, you look very handsome in that suit. Makes me feel like the luckiest woman in the world.’ you say when you pull away.

‘I’ll see you in a minute.’ you say and you get out of the car. You can’t deny you’re a bit nervous when you get into the elevator, even after Derek’s encouraging words. After all, each and every single one of them studies people’s behaviour for a living. You just hope they’ll drop the subject when you start working on the case.

When the elevator doors open, you’re crossing your fingers, hoping that you’re the first one to arrive. Through the glass doors you see you’re one of the last to arrive. You sigh as you open the doors and begin walking toward your desk.

You desk is next to Reid’s, who is sitting at his desk. Prentiss is also sitting at her desk, and JJ and Garcia are also there. Prentiss is the first to notice you. She looks at your dress and whistles at you.

‘Well looks like someone has plans for the weekend.’ she says and she smirks as you reach your desk. The others had noticed you arrived, and of course they’d seen the dress.

‘Who is the lucky one?’ says JJ and you don’t look at her as you grab one of the bags that sits on the floor under your desk. ‘None of your business.’ you say with a smile.

‘Oh, come on, Y/L/N, you come in looking like that and you’re not going to tell us why?’ says Garcia. You nod. ‘That’s right.’ you say. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I need to change into a more appropriate outfit.’

As soon as you start to walk away from them to go and change, you hear them whisper about you. You shake your head and continue to walk toward the dressing rooms.

After you’ve changed, you head back towards them, and catch a few of their words.

‘What makes you think she was on a date?’ says Reid’s voice. ‘The dress, honey.’ answers Garcia’s voice. ‘I don’t get it.’ says Reid, causing Garcia, JJ and Prentiss to laugh. ‘Reid, a woman only dresses like that for one reason.’ says Prentiss. ‘Our very own Y/F/N Y/L/N has a date.’ says JJ.

‘Had.’ you say as you walk up to them. I had a date with the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen. That is, ‘til I got called in.’

‘Tell us his name.’ says Garcia. ‘Nope.’ you say as you put your bag back under your desk. ‘Then just describe what he looks like.’ says JJ. ‘Nope.’ you say again and you turn to face Reid. ‘That fresh?’ you say and you point to the cup of coffee he’s holding. He shakes his head and you head toward the little kitchen a few feet away from the desks. You can hear them start to speculate again.

You can’t help but to smile to yourself as you’re making coffee. There’s no way they’d figure out. And there’s nothing they could do to make you give in. As you’re listening to their conversation, you hear how they stop it to say hi to the next team member arriving.

When you look over your shoulder, you see it’s Derek. He’s heading toward the dressing rooms, his bag over his shoulder. He’s still wearing the suit, and you have to force yourself not to let your eyes roam over his body. Your eyes stay locked on his and he winks at you as he disappears through a door.

When your coffee is finished, you pour yourself a cup. Just as you turn around to get back to the others, you hear Garcia gasp loudly.

‘Someone stole my knight in shining armour!’ she says. You take a sip of your coffee as you look at her from afar. Her eyes are widened and she’s frantically waving her hands as she’s looking for the words.

‘Morgan!’ she says. ‘And Y/L/N!’

This time, it’s not Garcia’s eyes which widen, but yours. You take another sip of your coffee as you try to remain calm. And you curse Derek in your mind, he had assured you they wouldn’t find out.

Reid, JJ, and Prentiss all look at Garcia as she’s still trying to explain. ‘She came in looking like that, in that dress, right?’ she says. ‘We already concluded she must have been on a date. Morgan came in only five minutes after she did, wearing one of his best suits. They were on a date together! It makes sense, she called him “the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen” it all makes sense!’

All four of them now turn to you, and they start to talk at the same time, making it impossible for you to make out what they’re saying. Luckily for you, that’s when Hotch opens the door of his office.

‘Is everyone here? Good, let’s go. This is a big one.’ he says and you gladly walk up the stairs and follow him into the briefing room. The rest of the team follows you into the briefing room. You sit down next to Rossi, who was already there. Derek’s the last one to arrive, and takes place at the last empty seat, on the other side of Rossi.

Reid, JJ, Garcia and Prentiss are all looking over at you from time to time, though you pretend you don’t notice it. Hotch does notice it, though. He sighs deeply and looks at his team.

‘I need everyone’s full attention for this case. So if there’s something unspoken that needs to be settled first, please take care of it now so we can solve this case.’ he says.

You decide to take matters into your own hands. You turn to Hotch. ‘I came in wearing a dress and Morgan came in wearing a suit. Reid, JJ, Garcia and Prentiss now think Morgan and I are dating.’ you say.

‘Say what now?’ says Derek and he raises his eyebrows at you. You gesture with one of your hands to him. ‘Exactly.’ you say and you turn back to Hotch. ‘Can we please get on with this case?’

Hotch nods, looking relieved it’s settled, and he finishes briefing the team. When everyone splits up to go and get their bags, Derek manages to pull you away from the rest of the team without making it look suspicious.

‘See? They didn’t figure it out.’ he says. ‘Are you serious? They did figure it out, we just managed to make the thought leave their minds for a while. But I guarantee you they didn’t forget it. We’ve got to be careful.’ you say.

‘All right, all right.’ says Derek. ‘Just remember that I still owe you dinner. And I plan to take you out the minute we get back after we solve this case.’ You can’t help but to smile. ‘I’ll keep you to that.’ you say. ‘Oh, I’m betting on it, baby.’ he says and the two of you head toward the jet.

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Jo

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hold-my-hand-kuroo · 4 years

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A Bouquet For You || 02 - Carnation

A Bouquet For You Masterlist

taglist: @disgruntled-gay @moonchild-kun94 @skyguy-peach @error707-thememelord @o51oc @nanacee @prettysetter @sugawsites @shareyourfandomfaves

The next morning is exactly what you feared. You wake up late, missing the three alarms that you had set for yourself, and after some deliberation, you decide to go without breakfast. Not your best idea, but between being late on your first day or a hearty meal, you’d choose the former any day. First impressions were important.

“Are you sure you’re not going to eat?” Kenma asks, watching you fumble around with your shoes at the doorway. “Or actually, where are you even going this early?”

“Work. First day,” you say hurriedly. Turning the doorknob, you turn back to give him a quick wave or something similar to it. “See you. I’ll be back later tonight.”

“B-bye?” he responds like a question. After all, Kenma still doesn’t understand why you’re conversing with him like a real person. The feeling of living with someone after so long feels foreign, and he’s continuously caught by surprise with your behavior. Even a rush, you still poured a glass of milk for him, forgetting that spirits don’t need calcium for strong bones. He drank it nonetheless, being very confused.

Work is exactly what you had imagined it to be. Hell. Within your very first hour, you’re bombarded with new tasks and papers. “Experience is key,” your supervisor had said, but between the directions being fired at you and more coworkers just giving you endless stacks of files, you quickly are at a loss for what to do. Between flipping through the manual and managing your work properly, you find yourself already utterly exhausted by lunch break.

Lunch break. That was your next problem. Nobody wanted to involve themselves with the new, troublesome rookie, leaving you to eat on your own, albeit quickly, because you wanted to get things done.

“D-do you mind if I sit here with you?” a small, shaky voice stammers. You look up from scrolling through your phone to see a short, blonde woman. She grips tightly at her lunch bag, eyes quivering. “You don’t have to let me, though! I don’t want to be too pushy!”

“I don’t mind!” you answer kindly, offering the chair next to you. You watch as the woman of nerves shakily takes the spot. “Actually, thanks for offering. I was worried that I was going to have a hard time getting along with other people.”

“It’s always hard on the first day. I’ve been here for a few months, and it’s still really difficult for me!” she agrees. She seems more relaxed, shoulders going down slightly. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, the woman opens her lunch before jolting upright. “I’m sorry! I never introduced myself. I’m Yachi Hitoka!”

You vaguely remember her name, and you realize that it’s the person whose desk is right next to you. You’re embarrassed, to say the least, realizing that you barely made sufficient introductions to the people around you. Offering your own name in turn and apologizing profusely, the two of you get along better than expected. As it turns out, Yachi, though having only been at the company for less than half a year, was a designer genius. Often tasked to be the leader of poster projects, your coworker who seemed only to be made out of nerves was a master at what she did. You hoped to be like her one day.

“It’s a little rough at first,” she admits, wiping stray crumbs off the table, “but you’ll be fine. To be honest, I saw some of the samples you sent in with your resume. Just a peek though! Your pattern-designing is really interesting and pretty, so I think they’ll be useful in the future. If you need any help…you know…feel free to ask me.”

After lunch, you feel like a new person. You’re not sure if it’s just getting food in your system, or Yachi’s genuine optimism and show of support, but you’re determined to work harder. After getting chewed out by your supervisor for making multitudes of errors in the files, you’re back at rock bottom again. Expected.

Walking out of the office building, you trudge your way back home, squeezing your way through the mob of people all rushing to get back home at the station. Taking the train was economical on your part, but a massive hellish experience. You always took notice to stay near the doors, but eventually, people would just push you toward the middle, and you’d be stuck there. Pushing your way back out was a million times worse, as you never felt good about shoving other passengers, even if their actions warranted it.

From there, you carefully follow your GPS back to your apartment complex on foot. You didn’t exactly know yet the area that well, so you were careful to not get lost. As you’re walking, you stop and notice the little florist shop and its display of pink and red flowers. They’re small, and the way the setting sun hits the freshly watered petals, reflecting glimmers of light, fascinates you. Walking closer toward the shop, you lean down and admire the delicate beauty in awe.

“Sorry, but that’s just display. We’re currently out of carnations,” a familiar deep voice informs, followed by the closing and locking of the door. You look up to the source and let out an audible gasp. “Oh, hey. It’s you.”

“So that’s what you meant last night by cutting and dying,” you muse, looking at your neighbor and the daffodils he has in hand. “And here I thought you were some kind of gang leader.”

“I suppose what I said taken out of context sounds pretty bad,” he chuckles, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. He looks down at his bouquet and motions them toward you. “I was gonna give you this when I got back, but I guess it doesn’t matter now. Here. Congratulations on moving in, Neighbor.”

“Thanks,” you laugh, graciously accepting the house-warming gift. “Although, it’d be better if I could get a name to thank. I’m Y/N by the way.”

“Shit, did I never mention a name?” he murmurs, tsking. You almost laugh again. Poor introductions seemed to be a pattern, and you were one of the worst offenders. “I’m Kuroo Tetsurou. I’m, as you can see, the owner of this shop. Some people call me a florist, but I’m really a plant magician.”

“I’m sure you are,” you reply with a roll of your eyes. “Did you just get off from work?”

“Yup. This shop closes every day at 7 PM. Won’t be catching me doing overtime.”

“What about last night?”

“Except when I forget things, which usually doesn’t happen,” Kuroo clarifies with a smirk. He glances at your offense attire and raises a brow. “First day not so good, huh? Are you going home? I’d be willing to lend an ear if you’d like.”

“How kind of you,” you sigh, then nod tiredly. “It’s my second day here, and I already have a therapist. Lovely.”

“It’s good to complain a little from time to time.”

Following the florist, you hum a little in contemplation. Then, taking a deep breath, you being to talk about how terrible your day was and how you’ve been yelled at more times today than ever in your life and that reading the manual over and over again actually didn’t help, but none of the senior workers were very approachable. To be honest, you felt a little bit silly, opening up so quickly to a stranger, but once you started, you couldn’t stop. In fact, you don’t even notice when you’re right in front of the door to your apartment room until you hear the jingling of Kuroo’s own keys.

“Sorry, I got a little carried away,” you murmur, embarrassed for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. “I didn’t mean to rant-“

“But you look so much better after letting a little bit of steam off,” Kuroo interrupts, flashing you an insanely bright smile. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Since we’re neighbors that share the same route home, let’s just be friends, yeah?”

“Y-yeah?” you say like a question. “I mean, yeah. Sounds good.”

“Then, see you around, or maybe tomorrow, Y/N,” the florist concludes, unlocking the door to his room, already halfway in. “Hope tomorrow goes better for you.”

“Thanks,” you reply, giving him a wave before stepping into your own home. Setting your shoes aside, you quickly wonder what to do with the flowers. It’s not like you had a vase ready, so you take an empty water bottle out from the recycling instead. Carefully setting the yellow buds into the container, you leave it at the center of the table, deciding that the centerpiece brought a little life into your apartment.

“Hey,” you hear Kenma murmur, walking out of your room with console in hand. You then remember that you really did more life in your apartment. “Nice flowers.”

“You’re not even looking at them,” you chuckle and roll your eyes. “The neighbor gave them to me. Do you like them?”

“They’re fine.”

You laugh again at his aloof attitude and try to throw away the parchment paper that was used to wrap the bouquet. It’s until then that you notice a small note flutter down onto the floor. You bend over and pick it up, wondering if it’s a price tag or something of the sort.

“Hey, it’s Kuroo. You probably already knew that lol. Anyways, I hope u like daffodils. Keep them away from direct heat, and they should live for a while. Since we both seem to be like night owls, feel free to cure my of my boredom. XXX-XXX-XXXX”

“Why are you smiling in the middle of the kitchen?” Kenma asks, brow raised, and in hindsight, you must have looked dumb. If a ghost thought you were creepy, the look you had on must have been just terrible.

“Nothing,” you say quickly and scramble to set the note aside. You know he doesn’t buy it, but you don’t care or want to elaborate on how the florist next door’s kindness made you feel unusually warm. Surprisingly, finding your first friend in a new area was much more relieving that you had expected it to be, especially when your new friend seemed so open and lived close by. “It’s just a note on how to take care of the daffodils.”

“Oh.” There’s a brief silence, and you brush it off as him going back to his game. “I guess that’s fitting since they mean new beginnings or something like that.”

Now that was odd coming from a ghost who couldn’t even remember why he was still here.

“How do you know that?” You watch as he comes to a realization too, eyes widening ever so slightly out of sheer surprise. HIs reaction reassures you that he isn’t lying to you about the amnesia, and you let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m not sure.” He’s frowning, seeming to rack his mind for any clue, anything at all to remind him of where his knowledge came from and why he couldn’t move on. It’s all fruitless in the end. “I…really don’t know.”

“It’s okay,” you reassure, giving him a small smile. “It doesn’t matter that much anyway. I don’t mind cooking another portion, especially when you eat so little. Or maybe I eat a lot- Well, whatever.”

From the couch, Kenma nods and sinks into the cushions. Still, he wants to know why out of everything he could have remembered, why were they the flowers. In his current state, he can’t imagine himself as a flower buff in the past; hell, he doesn’t remember being the sun, but every morning when it rises, he feels like he’d hate to be in it, so if he can’t stand the outdoors now, he probably couldn’t either in the past. He thinks hard and long, but when you call him and tell him that’s dinner’s ready, all he can do is give up and go listen about your day.

It’s all so strange, he thinks.

#haikyuu #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #kuroo tetsurou #tetsurou kuroo #kuroo #tetsurou kuroo x reader #kuroo tetsurou x reader #kuroo x reader #kenma kozume

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wolf-555-writer · 5 years

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Target On My Back Part 8

Sad to say, but this it the last part of the series. Hope you like this one and hope you’ve enjoyed the other parts as well! Thanks for all the comments and reads, really appreciate hearing from you guys :)

And special thanks to @kaddistar . You’re amazing! Thanks for taking the time to read it beforehand and give me feedback to get all the facts straight. And obviously the fucking amazing backstory. Couldn’t have done it without you! :)

Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow x Reader

Summary: Having found her true match, Natasha starts to think that even though her dark past, she does deserve happiness. But then you get shot and she blames herself for it. For the mistake she made and she starts to doubt all over again. Will Natasha be able to defeat the demons in her mind and finally get that happiness she deserves?

Word Count: 5,162

Seated on the roof of the SHIELD facility, the place she goes when she wants to be alone and think. It’s been a couple of months now since the incident. The missions are not the same without you. Natasha leans back, resting on her elbows. She closes her eyes and sighs, letting out a long breath. There was no time to drive to Headquarters. You wouldn’t have made it. Badly wounded, Clint and Natasha carried you into an emergency unit twenty minutes away from the grim warehouse instead. They made it in thirteen. Hanging on by a thread. Immediately put down on a gurney. Rushed towards an operating room by a fair amount of doctors, all dressed in white. Flatline en route... She still recalls what her shaking hands had looked like. Red. Covered in your blood. The round had pierced the vest, and didn’t leave an innocent flesh wound behind. But if you hadn’t jumped in front of her, she wouldn’t be sitting here right now. She has gone over the mistake countless times. It wasn’t supposed to go that way. Why didn’t she anticipate what was coming? Had she been off her game? Did she underestimate him? Being distracted? Distracted by emotions? It doesn’t matter anymore. It was stupid. Stupid of you to jump in front of her. It should’ve been her.

Natasha pushes the thought away. It’s not a good memory. She closes her eyes again and shakes her head as if to clear away the image, making room for a better one. It’s not a special memory, but it’s at least a tiny spark of happiness hidden in all the bad.

“(Y/N), you just missed the turn”. “No I didn’t”, you say, voice full of certainty, driving in a crappy old car with Natalia riding shotgun. Actually, it’s a stolen, crappy old car, driving away from a successful assasination attempt that won’t ever be traced back to the two of you. Not driving too fast, or too slow, calm and relaxed, not drawing any attention at all. As you’ve been trained to do. Flashes of blue lights fly by, going in the other direction fast, accompanied by a wailing sound of sirens. “Where are we going?”, Natalia asks once again. The answer she has to settle for is a mysterious grin on your face, keeping your eyes focused on the road that’s being illuminated by the poorly working headlights. The breaks screech and the vehicle comes to a lingering halt. Leaving the headlights on in the dark of night, you get out of the piece of scrap-iron, but pop your head back in and say, “You coming or what?”. Natalia opens the door on the passenger side, not knowing what you’re up too, yet liking the mystery of it. And being here in the middle of nowhere with none other than you. She walks to the front, leaning against the hood of the car, hearing the calming sound of the gentle waves in the sea. She glances at you when you appear, holding an item in your hand. A glass bottle. Unscrewing the cap, you place yourself next to her, close of course, and smile. “Want some?”. “I thought you’d never ask”, she teases and grabs the vodka bottle, taking a sip, not breaking eye contact with you. “Beautiful view, isn’t it?”, you hint at her, staring into her fiery green eyes for a moment, then averting your gaze to the numerous stars in the sky above.

It was indeed a beautiful view, as well as the stars... she calls to mind when another Agent steps on the roof. Natasha speaks, “I can't. I just… I can't keep doing this”. “I know, it’s been months. Just give it some time”, the person replies. “I don’t know if I can do that…”. “You just have to hold on a little longer, okay? Can you do that?”. A hand squeezes her shoulder softly, trying to give the redhead some comfort.

“And don’t be so dramatic, Nat”, the Agent says, sitting down next to her. “I’m the one that actually took a bullet”. “Just let me have this moment okay”, she jokes, nudging her shoulder lightly against yours. “Some days I can't stand the Agent assigned with me”, she complains. “I'm constantly busy holding their hand or telling them what to do”.

“Ah, I see. That explains the drama”, you say using a sympathetic tone. “I just miss working with you”, Natasha reveals. “Don't go too hard on them, okay. I don't know if you've heard, but it's nearly impossible to keep up with the Agent Romanoff. She's just that good”. Natasha’s eyes glint and she grins at your last remark when a peaceful silence lays over the place for a minute.

“Were you thinking about that memory again?”, you ask her, referring to the moment you entered the rooftop earlier. The redhead stays silent and keeps staring at the clouded, grey horizon. “It’s a miracle I’m still an Agent you know”, she mentions after a couple of seconds, ignoring your question still. Borrowing a SHIELD helicopter - as Natasha phrased it - wasn’t taken up that well by the Director. However, he couldn’t argue with the end result, because she brought one of his best Agents back - like Fury expected she would. “Guess you are irreplaceable after all”, you react with a smile and cup her face with your left hand. “Especially to me”. You stroke her cheek with your thumb softly and stare into her eyes. She grins. “Wow, did you just make that up or was it rehearsed?”. “As a matter of fact, it came to me this very moment. I’m just that smooth”. Natasha rolls her eyes which is roughly translated to ‘how do I put up with this person’ and says, “Only ‘cause you took a bullet for me, otherwise…”. She doesn’t finish her sentence, instead leaned closer, and gives a sweet kiss on your lips which is more than happily accepted by you - not needing to know how that sentence ended anyway.

After your lips parted your expression hardens. “I’m sorry Nat”, you apologize. “Sorry? For what?”. You take her hand in yours and tilt your head down as a sign of failure. It takes a moment for you to speak again. “That… that I don’t remember. That I can’t remember all those memories from our past”. She lifts your chin up and locks eyes, that mesmerizing grin present, knowing exactly what to say. “Well, let’s make some unforgettable ones then”.

Your face gradually lights up and you shuffle to the right with the use of both arms. Closely settling beside Natasha and she rests her head on your shoulder quietly. Mind unwittingly wandering to the event that happened 3 months, 2 weeks and 6 days ago - you know, approximately. How your heart had stopped, and fortunately began beating again - or so you’ve been told. It's all a blurry mess in your mind between Natasha firing her Glock and you waking up, more or less in one piece, in a hospital bed. There’s however one thing you do recall crystal clear. While Natasha took the kill shot, you had jumped in front of her, just in time, due to the other not-succeeded kill shot that would've otherwise torn through your lover's tactical vest. And, even worse, through her heart. She says it was stupid of you, only you would do it again, and again, and again if it means saving her. But seriously, sometimes it feels as if there’s a real angel guarding over the high-risk life you’re living, preventing you from leaving this messed up world.

“How did they find us anyway?”, you wonder out loud, breaking the silence. Natasha looks up and takes a few seconds to gather an answer. “I doubt the KGB was searching for a presumed dead person, so I guess they found me. But, as you know, got you instead”. “Hmm catchy, ‘presumed dead person’”, you repeat ironically. “But I don't know how. Fury suspected that it was one of our own who talked” - the reason why he didn't officiate your retrieval, as to prevent a rescue team from walking into a possible ambush. Besides, the Director knows perfectly well how competent the former spy/assassin is on her own - “But there's still no proof to confirm that. So, or they're covering their tracks pretty damn good, or we just don't know. Doesn't really matter now”, Natasha concludes.

“What do you think would have happened if that KGB officer took me back? To Russia?”. Calling him your ‘dad’ hasn’t even crossed your mind. The bastard didn’t deserve it. He deserved to be shot. A retribution for what he had done to your loving mother who gave her life for you. Natasha responds firmly, “I wouldn't have let that happen”. “I know, but what if?”. “Brainwash you. Use you as their weapon. Again. He might not have been able to kill you, but it sure as hell wouldn't have been a happy family ending”. “Understatement of the year. I got all the family I need here anyways”. You glance at Natasha. She grins again. “You're really on a roll today huh”. With a silly smile you shrug your shoulders and lean closer again, just like Natasha, and receive a warm kiss once more.

“Are you sure you ready?”, Natasha caringly asks, giving her watch a quick peek. “Never been more ready”, you confidently state, waiting for this moment for what seems to be forever. Sitting still is not one of your qualities and you’ve been training day in and day out since you gained permission to get out of that uncomfortable infirmary bed. Preparing yourself for what you do best. Natasha studies you with narrowed eyes for a solid ten seconds first, “Good. That said, we should go. Can't be late for the briefing”, and jumps up. You slowly follow as if having all the time in the world. “Relax, it's fine. Coulson has a soft spot for us”. Your colleague raises her eyebrows at that statement and corrects, “For you, you mean”. “No, not only for me”, you reply defensively. “Yes he does, it's very obvious. You're his favorite”. You scoff and place your hands on your hips. “No I am not. Take it back”. Natasha marches towards the rooftop entrance and sticks with her point of view. “No, why would I? It's true”. “Okay, then I guess Director Fury has a soft spot for you, considering you still have your job”, you counter after having reached the entrance too by taking a sprint. “True, but I just call him Nick”. With a surprising smile you close the door behind you. “You're joking”. “Do I look like I'm joking?”. Natasha has raised one eyebrow with a dead-serious expression present. You wave your hand in a nonchalant way. “Pff, I'll just ask Maria”. “It's Agent Hill”. “You're so gonna regret that”. She laughs and bites her lip after saying, “Oh I can't wait”.

Natasha scans the crowded pavement across the street. A group of tourists following their guide closely while taking pictures of the same-looking shop-windows and of dull, concrete buildings. She doesn’t really see the point, taking a bunch of photos that will be stored away on some drive and never be looked at again. Her eyes move to a person who’s wearing headphones, a black hoodie, same colour backpack and ripped, faded jeans. Nope, too young. An expensive sports car pulls to the curb, and someone in a just-as-expensive suit, glossy golden watch showing off on his wrist, is shouting curse words into his phone while climbing out. Too rich. The SHIELD Agent is waiting patiently and leans back while speaking into her earpiece, “How’s it going?”.

A scope glides over ordinary people who are unaware that they’re being watched and fixes on the image of a woman, seated at a table outside of a cosy café. A cup of coffee in front of her, already empty, and wearing sunglasses to shield her eyes from the bright sun rays. She sits cross legged, a calm appearance, yet properly concealed from the public carrying a firearm and her hair is colored stunningly red. It’s Agent Romanoff.

A voice returns in Natasha’s ear. “Watching your every move”. “I don’t think you’re supposed to be looking at me”, she implies to the other SHIELD Agent present on this operation, who is located in a five-story building across the street, scanning the block from this ideal vantage point. Natasha lowers her sunglasses a bit and peers over the metal brim at an apartment window, precisely in your direction and raises her eyebrows. “Fine, but it’s not my fault that you’re the most beautiful view”, you suggest and move the scope to a group of people who are crossing the street because the walk signal just turned green.

“Focus (Y/N)”, Romanoff says with a professional tone, though a small smile present on her features, and lays eyes on someone exiting an alleyway. Brawny looking, rough beard and ragged coat, two sizes too large, meaning it’s easy to stow a weapon underneath. No, too short. “I can't seem to spot this guy”. “Me neither”, you reply, while Natasha’s eyesight already hit her next possible target. A man who has his hands tucked away deeply in his rain-coat pockets, a hat on, possibly to hide his face, and accidently bumped into a couple holding hands. He seems jumpy and is sweating nervously, not mentally stable at all. Too paranoid. Then onto a blond, short-haired guy, eating an unhealthy burger, watching his surroundings intently - sort of - from inside a dark law-enforcement SUV. Natasha rolls her eyes and sighs. Too obvious.

“And not to mention the guy’s kinda huge”, Barton adds, taking another bite of his cheeseburger as he stares out the half-tinted car window. “Always bringing useful information to the table, Barton”. Natasha knows she shouldn’t take it out on her close friend. But she’s currently well past the point of slight frustration. The intel is correct. It has to be, because she is the one who acquired it. Her sources never disappoint- she makes sure of that. After all, she is still Black Widow. So why hasn’t the guy shown up? The man entered the country two days ago and he’s here for one reason, and one reason only. To kill. So she shouldn’t have to explain why it is of great importance to locate and capture him.

“Wait, hold on”, you return. “Found him”. See, I knew I was right, Natasha thinks, constraining herself from gloating too much. Leave that for, well, never. She doesn’t care about bragging rights or taking the self-centered glory for herself. She only cares about getting the job done. Natasha has her heart rate, breathing and mind under complete control. She’s ready. This is where the actual operation is about to start. She patiently waits for you to disclose the location. But it stays awfully quiet.

You feel a cold, metal barrel pressed against the back of your neck. The comm in your ear is snatched out and crushed inside a beefy fist. Patted-down and disarmed too. Shit. Well at least I have the target… Taking the information you have on the man into heavy consideration, then making a run for it doesn't seem the most thoughtful action right now. Especially if you want to avoid another shot wound to showcase itself on your body. And if the bullet doesn’t kill me then Nat will definitely kill me for getting shot again…

“I still remember you”, a guy with a thick Russian accent speaks. “Yeah, seems to be going around a lot these days”. Word got out a certain KGB-snitch is still alive. And apparently you’ve pissed some people off - made even more enemies - during your previous employment.

With the butt of his gun he hits you in the head and grapples you by the collar of your jacket to brutally spin you around. Knocking you off balance, limiting a powerful counter-attack from your fist, or elbow, or knee, or- well, you get the point. Now away from the window, you face him, finally revealing himself. How in the world did this guy sneak up on you without you noticing? You didn’t hear a single sound. Not a light creak from the wooden floorboards. Or a squeaky hinge from the door. Not even a pair of footsteps. Guess he is a lot smarter than his appearance gives credit for. In addition to his covert approach, he also bypassed three- no, two-and-a-half SHIELD Agents surveilling the block and found your hiding spot too. You have to admit, the guy has some impressive skills, doesn’t mean it hurts less though. Big-guy shoves the SHIELD Agent against the red-brick wall next to the window you were previously monitoring out of and pushes the stiff barrel of the gun in the skin on your jawline. Well, he’s angry all right. You obviously did something to him that you can’t recall anymore. But it might be related to that nasty scar on the left side of his head that was recently covered by a blue baseball cap, and had just fallen off. “Some other friends of yours also gonna drop by?”, you challenge, which he answers with another hurtful strike of his handgun. You spit out some blood and mock, “Maybe they’ll hit harder”.

Big-guy’s expression doesn’t budge and your challenging remark earns you a steel fist to the stomach - Ouch - driving the much-needed air out of your lungs too. “You stupid if you think this ‘funny’ distracting will work. I still kill you for doing this”. With his free hand he points to the left side of his buzz-cut head. “And I work alone, is better that way”. Showing off your teeth that have become red with blood, you start to smile widely. “Well, that's a shame. Cause I don't”.

“Drop the gun”, a familiar voice orders. The man spins around and grabs you in a tight headlock, barking back at the SHIELD Agent, “No, you drop gun!”. Natasha hesitates but holds her aim. “I said drop it!”. His finger is now pressing on the trigger dangerously. “Do it, or I pull!”. She has a clear shot, but knows that if she takes it, he will too. And she is not looking to decorate these apartment walls with the insides of your skull. So, there’s only one option. “Alright, easy, easy”. She throws her palms up as a sign of surrender. “I'll drop it”. Is this her weakness? Would she have done this in any other situation? - meaning before you happened. Would she?

Natasha slowly lowers the gun to place it on the paneled floor and says to the guy, “Guess I forgot to look over my shoulder. It’s very important”. “Kick it away”, he grumbles. With her foot she slides the Glock towards Big-guy, also taking a small step in the process.

“Stay back! Keep hands up”, he shouts, prodding the muzzle of the gun against your temple aggressively. “Easy, easy”, Natasha says with her hands up again, now interlocked behind her head. “And this idiot forgot to look over shoulder”, he mocks with a hateful grimace and yanks on his arm, temporarily closing off your windpipe. “Jeez, thanks, I know I'm not perfect”, you cough-speak with a hoarse voice. Though, you do feel like an idiot. Too easily you got caught in this guy’s intense strong grip where it’s impossible to free yourself from. And even if you could pull it off, then there’s still the high, unavoidable chance of getting shot. Nice odds. Would this have happened if you hadn’t gone into the field today? Is it too fast? Maybe you should’ve taken more time to recover. The almost-fatal shot wound (the second one to be precise) has taken its toll on your body as you haven't reached your old physical level yet, lacking a weighted 10 percent still. The price to pay. Uncertain if you'll ever be able to reach that full 100 some day in the future. One thing is certain however, if this particular situation would’ve happened either way, then Natasha wouldn't have wanted anyone else other than you here. Somebody who thinks like her and understands her without telling or showing what to do. Somebody who can read her mind.

“But it's never too late to look over your shoulder, am I right?”, you state loudly. The humorless Russian has more strength, you’ve experienced that all too well. But what you lack in that department compared to him, you make up for in speed. “Huh?”. Before he can even comprehend what it is that you mean, you rotated your head to the side, as if looking- well, it’s not that hard to fill this in- and lowered your body just about enough to rule out an unfavourable outcome. A razor-sharp blade grazes your neck and thrusts into Big-guy, now sticking out of his chest below his collarbone. When putting her Glock down on the floor, Natasha had cleverly grabbed her knife from the sheath hidden at her ankle and threw it from behind her head, perfectly timed with your movement.

The tough guy screams in pain - remarkably in a high pitch for a dude his size - and tries to grasp the knife handle with his armed-hand, relaxing his other arm slightly. Which is more than enough for you. You grip his wrist and duck down, weaving under his bulky arm and stretch it behind his back in an unnatural position. Another cry of pain comes out and his knees buckle due to a firm kick in the back of them. The skilled knife-thrower, aka your colleague, has also jumped in, closing the distance first, and snapped the weapon that was about to be aimed at her out of his hand with a precise swing of her leg. “Impressive”, you say to the redhead, motioning to the sharp blade with your eyes, because currently you have your hands full.

At last an angry groan escapes Scar-face’s mouth when you safely detain him by cuffing his wrists together, nice and tight. Then your eyes shift to the doorpost, same as Natasha’s, when someone else arrives, severly out of breath. “What? Did I... miss all... the fun?”, Clint huffs, slightly bent over and leaning against the white-painted door frame with his arm. “We'll give you a little credit, okay Barton”, Natasha teases with a wink. “But you need to lay off the cheeseburgers. Probably better”, you advise your friend.

He looks up at you with an angry scowl which changes into concern promptly. “Hold up, you’re bleeding (Y/N)”. “Yeah, that seems to happen when I’m with the two of you”, you answer Barton, handing him the new detainee. “Wait- what exactly went down here?”, Clint asks suspiciously, pointing at the knife handle flaunting on the man’s chest. Natasha and you both shrug your shoulders in innocence. "Ugh, never mind", forcefully encouraging the massive, cuffed Russian towards the exit with an aggravated push, Agent Barton shakes his head as a reaction to his fellow Agents, “Why do I even ask”.

“First day back and you almost manage to get yourself shot again”, Natasha says, bumping your shoulder playfully while walking out of the apartment room side by side. “Yeah and it wasn’t even by you”, you joke. But when you glance at Natasha, you notice that she gives off an agitated impression. “Too soon?”

Holding up a small, squared mirror with a troubled expression, you hiss, “That’s definitely gonna be a scar”. Sorry, Natasha mouths, disinfecting the small wound on your neck that she caused after having cleaned up the dried, dark blood first. “Still, good thing you didn’t throw a Widow’s Bite. That wouldn’t have left a cut, but it would’ve hurted like hell”. “See, I do care about you”, she admits, tilting her head slightly, and putting down the medical supplies, “All done by the way”. “Yeah, love you too”, you say with an ironic tone and stand up from the exam table positioned against the back wall of the small infirmary. Mirror still in hand, you move it closer to your jawline once more and note, “Matching scars it is. Don’t even remember how that other one got there”. I do, Natasha thinks, but doesn’t consider it of great importance to tell. Could be because she was the cause of that one as well. So instead she says, with a quick wink, “Don’t worry, you’re still cute”, which makes your busted lips curve into a smile.

“Hey, you free the rest of the day?”, you ask the redhead, putting on a clean shirt - without a blood stain - and grab your leather jacket. “What are you up to?”, she replies with narrowed eyes. “Come on. It’s a surprise”. She is not a big fan of surprises, yet your mysterious look makes her very curious. So Natasha motions with an open hand to the door and says, “Lead the way”.

Having crossed half of SHIELD HQ by now, you encounter some other agents who are staring at Romanoff and you just a little too long with their judgy eyes. But you don’t care what they think of you or Natasha. Let them judge. About your shared past- which is actually unknown to them, because it's highly classified, strictly known by only a handful of people-, about your work as an agent, about your failures, not having a perfect record anymore. Nah, you don’t care. There are other, more important things to care about. And a special person in particular. Going inside an elevator that only goes to the basement levels of the building, you reach into your pocket. “I know it's probably not the same as that crappy car you told me about-”. Holding up two sets of keys, you look away and try to swallow a big lump that has formed in your throat, but feel a warm hand touching yours. “It's perfect”, Natasha says softly. “They are property of SHIELD, but I figured we could borrow them, all they do there is collecting dust anyway”, you continue. “I won't tell if you won't”, your now co-conspirator offers while you meet her fiery green eyes. You smile. “Deal”.

Entering the huge garage filled with a variety of exclusive vehicles as the excitement is radiating from your bruised face, you propose, “So, you wanna go for a ride then?”, throwing one set of keys her way. Catching them midair, Natasha gives the item in her palm a quick look. “You asked Coulson, didn’t you?”. You glare at her. “...No”. Natasha laughs. “I know when you’re lying”. “Okay, maybe”, you admit and proceed to your prefered means of transportation. The redhead eyes you and voices, “Told you. Totally his favorite”.

Before putting the matte black helmet on Natasha challenges, “It’s about time we finally see who is the fastest”. Also sitting on another motorcycle as you chuckle. “No cheating Romanoff”. “As long as you don’t put a hole in my back tire then we’re okay”, she counters sharply. Key in the ignition, ready to turn but you freeze at her reaction and look at her with narrowed eyes. “Too soon?”, she teases and closes the visor while speeding away with screeching tires. “You’re so gonna regret that”, you whisper and set the chase for Black Widow once more. This time with an entirely different intention. You tighten the grip on the handlebars with both hands and accelerate, leaving a trail of white-grey smoke behind.

Feeling the chilly sea breeze on your skin, you slowly open your eyes and meet an orange-yellow painted sky. After an interesting run both stopped at the side of some remote mountain road to take a break and enjoy the beautiful view - you know which one. Your fellow Agent’s bike is standing next to yours, who might have reached this destination a fraction of a second earlier, but you would deny that of course. Still seated, your arms wrapped around the waist of the woman who’s currently sharing the leather bike-seat with you, not ever thinking about letting her go. She’s leaning back, cuddled up to you closely as she’s in need of some warmth to counter the cooling air around her. Both staring at the horizon where the sun is gradually setting, your chin gently resting on her right shoulder. Natasha rotates her head a bit in your direction. “Was it my fault?”. “Nat- just drop it”. “Please?”. You sigh. “Okay, I was mad at Barton”. “Yes, I noticed. Everyone noticed. My question is, why?”. “I didn’t like him knowing my past”. “So it was my fault?”. “Well… and also that you and him were so close”. You pause and Natasha glances at you, waiting for your next words. “Maybe I was jealous”. She laughs. “Maybe?”. “I was dealing with a lot of emotions at the time, okay. Give me some slack”, you counter and quickly add, “But I have it under control now”. Natasha looks at you, proud, and buries herself into your safe embrace again, resting her head against the side of yours. “Yeah, me too”.

“Told Barton the same after we had some beers. All he did was laugh, like non-stop for ten minutes”, you say with a light grumpy tone. “I totally understand why he laughed his ass off. I mean come on, ‘jealous’?”, Natasha says with a chuckle. “Clint and I are just good friends. You and I are-”. “Complicated?”, you finish with a half-smile. “Much more and will always be, is what I was about to say”, she mentions with a corrective voice. Shit, I almost forgot… You move one arm away from Natasha’s waist and still feel the item in your jacket pocket.

“I know we shouldn’t… but I brought something”. The redhead glances over her shoulder to look at your hand. Natasha’s eyes sparkle and she wants to speak, but is at a loss of words, and quietly takes one. “Cheers”, you whisper in her ear, holding up the bottle filled with vodka next to hers, “To making new memories”. She clings the glass with yours and repeats, “To making new memories”. And both take a chug of the strong alcoholic liquid. You wince a little. Oof, strong stuff. Yet Natasha seems unaffected by the Russian booze and gazes at the horizon again. Staring into the wide, unknown world, where nothing is certain. Except for one thing.

The target on your back will never go away, is what Coulson had said the moment you woke up from the almost fatal shot wound - the second one. It's a part of you. Of your past. Of your current job. You'll have to carry it with you until the end. What the end may ever be. You turn your head slightly to the left, and know it will be alright. No, not till the next time.

But till the end.

Tags: @5aftermidnight, @ohfuckno

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ashxketchum · 4 years

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30 Days of Pokeshipping - Day 5

“A scene you’d love to see”

𝙽𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚜: 𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚂𝙼 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝙸’𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝙰𝚜𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚑𝚘𝚠, 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝. 𝚂𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚎 𝙸’𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎, 𝙰𝚜𝚑 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗.

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊 𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎, 𝚜𝚘 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.

𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘨𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘈𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵: 1563

It was on a whim that right after they finished breakfast, he took her hand and led her out of the house, humming a happy tune and not bothering to say anything.

Misty had known Ash for long enough to know what was on his mind without him having to put it in words, but today she drew a blank. They had stayed up all night playing charades with Pikachu, whose impersonation skills could give most Dittos a run for their money. All the laughing and cheering and teasing had energised Ash to the point where he would not let Misty say no to a battle, and reluctantly the redhead had engaged him in a friendly match with Psyduck going up against Pikachu. She had tried very hard to keep her voice down and tried even harder to make him keep his voice down but things rarely ever went according to plan when it came to Ash Ketchum, and eventually the battle concluded with Delia dragging the two by their ears into bed even as Misty feebly protested that it had all been Ash’s idea.

So naturally, after an hour of just walking and humming and occasionally stopping to interact with the wild Pokemon, Misty began to worry about Ash’s strange behaviour. The raven haired trainer had boisterously claimed on multiple occasions that he needed at least ten hours of sleep to function normally, and last night had definitely not given him that. Misty however, shamefully admitted to herself that if being sleep deprived resulted in Ash being quiet, she wouldn’t mind it at all once in a while. As she continued to contemplate and debate her best friend’s peculiar behaviour, she failed to notice that they were already deep into the forest right outside of Pallet, even though they had only been out and about for an hour.

“Let’s rest for a while,” Ash’s raspy voice tore her from her thoughts and she looked at him quizzically. Ash responded with a casual shrug, sitting himself down on the ground without a care about getting his clothes dirty. Pikachu leapt from his shoulder and sniffed around for a while before returning to snuggle comfortably in his trainer’s lap.

The scene in front of her sent a jolt of nostalgia through her body, and she strangely found comfort in the fact that Ash was still as carefree as when she had first met him.

“Aren’t you going to sit, you must be tired?” Ash asked her, brows furrowing in confusion as het met her gaze.

“I am, but there’s mud and dirt-“ but before she could finish, or even begin to lecture him, he burst out laughing.

“Mist, we used to sleep in this dirt and mud.” He managed to speak, in between the laughter.

“Used to, being the key word. And I haven’t done that in a long time so I’m feeling uncomfortable.” Misty replied, although what she found even more uncomfortable was not knowing where he was taking her but she was yet to find an opening to phrase her concerns.

“I know.” He smiled up at her, not a goofy grin or a smirk, a small smile which she hadn’t been at the receiving end of for so long, that it instantly made her heart skip a beat. He didn’t add anything more to his reply, just picked up Pikachu from his lap and stood up. Once he had dusted his clothes off and Pikachu was once again settled on his shoulder, he started ahead once again, “Let’s keep moving then.” He finally said, not looking back at her.

Misty once again followed him quietly, not questioning where exactly they were moving to. The route seemed a bit familiar to her and she recalled that eventually the path would join with the route leading to Cerulean and Pewter city. But all her visits to Pallet in the recent times had been through a bus or the train and it annoyed her slightly that Ash was now better at remembering forest paths and Routes than her. Earlier they had been walking side by side, but now she was a few steps behind him and the more she surveyed his back, the more she noticed how wide it had grown. He was no longer the scruffy child that she had fished out of a lake. She had grown fond of the scruffiness however, and the confidence that always laced his eyes. But looking at his back she realised that the confidence now emanated from every inch of his being and there was no doubt, that her fondness of it had blossomed into love.

Love, Misty admitted, was the reason why she was still blindly following him deeper into the forest, even though it was almost time for lunch and Delia would probably have their heads when they got back, for venturing out without informing anyone.

Love was also the reason Misty felt that her heart would beat right out of her chest the minute Ash came to a halt in front of her and turned to face her with a grin as bright as thousand suns.

Love was the reason, tears welled up in her eyes as she realised where they were.

The clearing.

The lake with its strong, rushing current.

“I found it hard to believe when Tracey told me that he and Daisy had decided to move in together at the Cerulean Gym,” Ash started, grin still intact and eyes glittering mischievously, “I mean I fear for his well-being, but hey another door opens when one closes right?”

Misty opened her mouth to answer but there was a lump stuck in her throat. Things had gotten increasingly confusing from the moment Ash had grabbed her hand in the morning and she was yet to grasp what he was trying to convey to her.

“I guess it’ll be a bit difficult to convince you without a wrecked bike.” Ash laughed at her dumbstruck expression and under normal circumstances Misty would have smacked him for that, but they were very far from normal right now and Ash was making sure of that with each word that he uttered.

“I don’t understand…” Misty began with the truth, she thought he would interrupt her again but he was watching her quietly, giving her time to collect her thoughts, “Are you sure you want it to be me?” She knew how far Ash had travelled, how many strong trainers he had met and befriended, how strong he himself had become, which is why she couldn’t fathom the thought of him picking her.

“Someone reminded me recently, that I need to start from the beginning.” Ash smiled that strange smile again, making her heart flutter. She was surprised to see a tinge of red creep up into his cheeks as he scratched his head and averted his gaze before continuing, his face telling her that he was trying to find the right words but seemed a bit embarrassed by the options available to him.

So they stood there silently for a while as Misty tried to tame the butterfrees in her stomach and Ash fidgeted and struggled to put his feelings into words.

Finally, Pikachu sighed, tired of the humans and their dawdling, and nudged his trainer’s cheek with his nose, jumping down from Ash’s shoulder the rodent positioned itself between the two nervous trainers and passed them each an expectant look. Motivated a little by his partner’s actions, Ash cleared his throat loudly, meeting Misty’s cerulean eyes with whatever confidence he could muster up and finish what he had started.

“And well, you are my beginning.”

She covered the distance between them within a second, enveloping Ash in the tightest hug possible. He resisted it in the beginning with claims of not being able to breathe, but she wasn’t planning to let go, because that would mean showing him the tears she couldn’t hold back any longer. And as soon he felt the wetness on his shirt, he stopped struggling under her hold and returned the hug by wrapping his arms around her slowly.

In the past few years Misty hadn’t even dared to dream about setting off on a journey again, she missed it dearly, but she also wanted to keep her sense of responsibility in place, as that is what set her apart from her sisters. She always joked with her Pokemon about it, how the only way she would go back to travelling was if Ash personally invited her.

And now here they were. Standing at the place where they had first locked eyes with each other.

And Ash had told her she was his beginning.

And it wasn’t a dream.

And as much as she wanted to tell him that how grateful she was for him, she realised that there was no need for any words between them anymore.

Because Ash had said everything they would ever need to say to each other.

Later as they made their way back, quietly dreading the punishment Delia would unleash upon them, Misty’s curiosity got the better of her and she posed the question that had been dancing around her mind since noon.

“Ash, you didn’t tell me where you’re planning to take me.”

He met her inquisitive look with his trademark grin, chocolate eyes sparkling with excitement as he answered her.

“The Pasio.”

#pokeshipping #ash ketchum #misty #pikachu #ash x misty #anipoke #pokemon #30 days of pokeshipping #pokemon fanfiction #writealot #it's quite badly written but it is what it is #pokeship

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ikevampeventarchive · 5 years

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[ERS] Tonight, Upon Love’s Stage - Comte & Leonardo

Route Preview:

Guided by his hand, the heroine of a tragedy finds true love… —

Shakespeare: The prince that the Little Mermaid falls in love with will be Leonardo, while the magician who confers upon her legs will be le Comte. And the Little Mermaid herself — MC, will be you.

In accordance with Shakespeare’s request, we play the roles of “The Little Mermaid”.

[This is an unofficial work based on fan-translation. Copyright belongs to Cybird.]

Warning: Spoilers Underneath.

Route Summary:

Common Route

One afternoon, Shakespeare requests MC to appear in one of his plays. She agrees, and when she visits Will to meet the rest of the cast, she’s surprised to find Leo and the Count being roped in as well. Count informs her that Shakespeare rarely asked anything from him, so he and Leo agreed to be part of the production. Will gets around announcing that they’ll be adapting ‘The Little Mermaid,’ and he reveals that Leo was to play the part of the Prince while Count was to play the part of the Witch. When he gets to MC, he tells her she was going to be the Little Mermaid.

MC is surprised and tries to talk her way out of it since she wasn’t confident in being able to play the lead role, but Shakespeare tells her that the actress that was supposed to play the part wouldn’t be able to make it and he really had no other choice. MC yields, and both the Count and Leo encourage her, saying she shouldn’t worry since they’re all amateurs. She feels a bit better knowing that, and Shakespeare’s pleased to see everyone on board, saying it would’ve been pointless if the lead wasn’t MC in the first place.

Shakespeare: The story of ‘The Little Mermaid’ that tells the tale of love between a mermaid and a human, don’t you think it’s similar to that of love between a vampire and a human?

Shakespeare: That is… This is a story depicting ‘unrequited love.’

Both the Count and Leo tense up, and Leo goes on to recount how, in the story, the Little Mermaid’ love wasn’t returned and she disappeared into bubbles, all the while fixing MC a meaningful look that made her heart skip a beat. The Count then cuts in, saying that if it were up to him, he wouldn’t let the Little Mermaid’ love go unrequited. MC notices the Count was looking at her like she was the only one in the world, and she gets embarrassed. Leo tells the Count he’s the Witch so he can’t do that, and the Count tells him he’ll just use magic to keep the Little Mermaid locked in his arms.

Shakespeare’s pleased that everything’s settled, but MC wonders if they’re really going to be okay.

The next day during rehearsals, Leo and Count are naturals at acting, even with making ad-libs, but MC’s struggling with her lines. MC gets frustrated, especially when her character was supposed to be able to express herself even without using words, but she picks herself back up and asks to start from the beginning of the scene. Shakespeare, Leo and the Count are supportive and agree to another run through.

On the day of the performance, MC swallows her nerves and performs as best as she could to make sure the show is a success. However, during the scene where the Little Mermaid was supposed to leave the unconscious Prince at the beach after saving him from the storm, Leo grabs her hand and asks for a kiss, making sure the audience doesn’t notice.

MC’s startled by the sudden ad-lib, but Leo goes back to acting unconscious, and she presses on with acting out the rest of the scene. She notices Shakespeare watching by the curtains, but since he didn’t do anything to intervene, she assumes he was fine with it. Back stage though, the Count sees the stunt Leo pulled, and realizes he and Leo were thinking the same thing.

The show goes on and MC’s relieved that aside from Leo going off-script, everything was going along smoothly. The next scene has her acting with the Count, where she’s supposed to lose her voice in exchange for human legs, but instead of just handing her the bottle, the Count hesitates and asks her is it’s really what she wants. MC confirms that it is, and the Count asks for her voice in exchange, tracing his finger down her throat. MC is surprised by the gesture, since it wasn’t what they practiced, but Count tells her he’s just joking and lets her have the bottle.

Once she’s off stage, MC mulls over the fact that Count and Leo have managed to ad-lib and she’s struggling to keep up with them. Shakespeare drops by, saying that everything is going well, and she takes the opportunity to ask if it would be alright to not do ad-libs like the other two. Shakespeare says she has to, otherwise it would be unfair to everyone else who had brought a part of themselves onto the stage. He then tells her that she doesn’t need to act perfectly for the play to be a success. MC thinks over what he says, but before she could come up with something, she’s needed back on stage again.

The next scene focuses on the Prince taking back the Little Mermaid to his castle after finding her unconscious on the beach. Leo lays her down on a bed, but when he doesn’t leave like he’s supposed to, MC opens her eyes to find his face close to hers. Leo starts going off-script, talking about how the Little Mermaid looked like she was lonely. MC is captivated by the kindness she sees in his eyes, and she strengthens her resolve and hopes to be able to reach out to the audience, much like how Leo and everyone else does.

The play continues, and the scene changes to when the Little Mermaid heartbroken over the Prince being engaged to the princess of a neighboring kingdom and the Witch offers her a way to go back to being a mermaid. The Count offers MC a dagger and tells her to stab the Prince in the heart, in order to return to being a mermaid. He then takes hold of MC’s hand and discreetly breaks character to assure her she’s doing fine. Count goes back into character and tells her that he’ll always be thinking about the Little Mermaid. MC isn’t sure if that was part of the script, but she can’t help but notice that his hand felt warmer than usual as the Count walks off stage.

At the climax of the play, the Little Mermaid decides not to kill the Prince and accepts her fate to turn into bubbles in the sea. As part of the script, MC goes up some stairs on stage, but when she reaches the top, the panels beneath her feet give way. She starts falling, but a hand grabs onto her and saves her from the drop.

—

Comte End:

The moment you touch hearts, a new love story begins...

“...I’ve lost. Now that I have you in my arms, I don’t want to let go.”

—

The Comte reaches out and catches MC, preventing her from falling. He pulled her into his arms and MC almost speaks out of shock, but he shushes her, saying that the Little Mermaid has lost her voice and that they need to bring the play to its full completion. He takes a deep breath and speaks, calling the Little Mermaid a cruel princess in that she has stolen his heart.

The lights shine only on the two of them as his voice echoes through the theatre, and MC feels like his golden eyes are piercing right through her as he says this.

Comte: … I have always been by your side and kept you in my heart. When you said that you desired to go to where the Prince was, I wanted to stop you, from the bottom of my heart.

Comte: However, if I value your happiness, then there was nothing I could do but to let you go.

MC wonders why her heart tightens so, even when the Little Mermaid must reject the Witch’s love for the scene to continue. She thinks that these are no longer the feelings of “the Little Mermaid”, but rather her own. As the Comte continues, MC thinks that suddenly, there is a mysterious pain that appears in his eyes.

Comte: … However, if there comes a day where you return to my side — a day where I am able to hold you in my arms comes….

The Comte hugs the MC again and MC thinks that she’s forgotten how to breathe from his proximity. He concludes the line with saying that he has lost and no longer wants to let her go. Even though they are like their scripts, these words themselves do not seem to be fake at all, and MC feels like she can no longer move from the Comte’s warm embrace.

He whispers to the MC again, this time urging her to bring the play to a climax. Pulling away, the Comte continues his lines, saying that there is something he needs to apologize to the MC for. This time, he speaks with a different voice, eyes gently narrowing into the familiar look that he wears everyday. MC thinks to herself that he now looks exactly like how he normally is.

There is another way for the Little Mermaid to reclaim her voice, and the Comte mentions that it’s not particularly common, so he did not believe it to work. The entire time, starting from when he had rescued MC from her fall till now, has been ad-lidding, and MC has no idea what the Comte is planning.

Comte: And furthermore, I had thought it was a magic forever unreachable for me. However, I will stop running away.

The way he speaks is like weaving a tale, and MC feels like even one second stretches into a brief eternity — as if the Comte is saying that he does not want this moment to end.

Comte: This magic, Little Mermaid, is true love’s kiss.

MC is shocked and the Comte comes closer, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. The warmth of the kiss lingers on her cheek and unconsciously, the MC parts her lips. However, the Comte merely presses his pointer finger against them as if to shush her once again. As the curtain goes down, the Comte gazes at the “Little Mermaid” with a horribly gentle expression.

Backstage, the Comte and MC head over to where Shakespeare and Leonardo stand waiting, and Shakespeare teases the MC, asking her if true love’s kiss really did restore her voice, to which a flustered MC quickly denies.

Shakespeare continues to laugh for a few moments, and then abruptly stops. Instead, he bows his head deeply to the MC, apologizing for putting her in danger with the collapsing stage and thanking both MC and the Comte for continuing forward with the play until the end. MC is touched, and thinks again that Shakespeare is truly devoted to his work.

MC thanks Shakespeare as well for letting her have the chance to act on stage, and the Comte also gives his thanks. Leonardo teases the Comte, saying that he ended things on quite the dramatic note. The Comte deflects, saying that he had intended on ending things in a way that was easy to understand, since the theme of the play was “star-crossed love” in the first place, anyways. The Comte looks over to MC when he says this, though MC does not understand why he does so.

Comte: … If I could, it would’ve been nice to cast an eternally unbreakable spell on MC, though.

Though it seemed like a joke, MC felt like she could hear a note of truth in his voice when he said this. They gaze at each other for a moment before the Comte smiles again, beckoning the MC upon the stage once again for the curtain call.

As MC looks up to the shining stage where light overflows, somehow, she felt like her heart was beating faster than usual.

—

Leonardo End:

Something outside the norm — his new expression sends your heart into disarray...

“Do you understand? I’m not letting you run off anywhere.”

—

As MC starts falling, someone grabs her hand and pulls her close into an embrace, and she looks up to find it’s Leo who saved her. After making sure she’s alright, Leo points out Shakespeare didn’t have any plans on stopping the play over a little accident and even encouraged them to improvise. Leo starts ad-libbing, saying that the news about the Prince getting engaged were only rumors and that he was in love with someone else. He then turns to MC and tells her that he recalls someone saving him from the storm that day, but it was only until he saw her on the beach again that he remembered everything from that day.

Leonardo: I have always been looking for you...

MC wants to respond, but since she’s supposed to stay in character, she can’t speak. Leo realizes her dilemma and points out that she’s gotten involved with a troublesome man. The Count then shows up, to MC’s surprise, and he and Leo talk about how the Little Mermaid could regain her voice. Count tells him that all he needs to do is to prove that he truly loves the Little Mermaid, and Leo kisses MC without hesitation.

Leo deepens the kiss, and MC can vaguely hear the Count laugh as he walks off stage. By the time Leo pulls away, MC’s already hot and bothered and calls out to him. He tells her she has a cute voice, and that he wants it all to himself. He then picks her up and exits the stage with her. MC can see the curtains close after them and she wonders if it was really alright to leave like that, but Leo frankly just doesn’t care anymore.

The two head back to the mansion, and after Shakespeare and his crew dropped by to apologize for the accident, MC and Leo head to his room. MC’s still a bit concerned over abruptly leaving, but Leo insists that they put it behind them since it all worked out in the end. He then pushes her onto the bed and starts kissing her and undoing the buttons on her blouse. MC gets riled up, but notices it’s almost as if he’s in a hurry, and she points it out to Leo.

Leo stops and looks away, and MC could see a blush creeping up his face. After a bit of prodding, Leo admits that he didn’t like seeing another man touch her, even if it was just acting, and MC recalls how the Count had touched her neck. MC is surprised, but starts laughing, saying that it’s nice to know that Leo would feel like that over her. Leo tells her it was only natural for him to feel that way, before kissing her again and pinning her wrists to the bed, and the two share a night of intimacy together.

Note: This is where the paid Epilogue starts.

—

Event Info Post | Shakespeare & Vincent Route | Dazai & Arthur Route

#ikemen vampire #ikevamp #story event #comte #leonardo #event route summary #jp ikevamp #tonight upon love's stage #sorry for the delay!#you know how old men like comte and leo can be -- very slow

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sondepoch · 5 years

Text

IX: Neutral Route (Y/N)

Where Futures Begin

Life used to be simple for you. Peaceful. But the Savior had other plans for you, and in moments, she ruined what you thought was your one shot at happiness. Blinded by anger, you escaped the Mint Eye, but that triggered a series of events that would bring you further into the world of brothers Saeran and Saeyoung. And further into the twisted world of your love for them.

Neutral Route: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | ✔

Saeyoung’s Route: 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | ✔

Saeran’s Route: 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | ✔

MASTERLIST

The only person who knew the whole truth was V.

Saeran, the dense boy too blind to see that he was the cause of your pain, doubtlessly had no idea why you'd chosen to leave the Mint Eye.

The Savior, for once in your whole life, had no way of knowing how you had escaped and why you'd helped Luciel and Vanderwood (though, you assumed she knew precisely why you'd escaped).

Even MC, who probably knew more of your situation than most, seemed confused as to why you were readily helping what V had called the 'RFA.'

Luciel had respected you too much during your questions game to ask anything that you might not have wanted to answer.

And Vanderwood had left as soon as you began telling V your story, utterly uninterested your past.

It was nice to tell everything to someone, to have a secondary input. V consoled you as you told him about your parents, the orphanage, being homeless. And he had sighed helplessly as you expressed the utter bliss you felt during the first years of yours and Saeran's friendship in the Mint Eye. He tried to pat your head awkwardly when you told him about your primary commitment, but even he withdrew as you explained how your secondary commitment had further scarred you.

He was perhaps the only person in the entire world to know just how heartbroken you had felt when Saeran began ignoring you for MC.

The words hurt, as they left your lips, but saying them aloud was like a reminder to yourself, that this was the life you had lived and the fate you'd resigned yourself to.

"I'm sorry, (Y/N)," V murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The Mint Eye has truly scarred you. I can't believe Rika would go this far..."

"You mean the Savior?" You asked, intrigued. "You knew her?"

V nodded his head, leaning back into the chair he was sitting on, "Rika...yes. I loved her. The same way you must have loved Ray."

Oh.

Well, that was one thing V didn't know.

His real name.

You refused to call him Saeran, the name too charged with emotion and pain for you to bring it past your lips anymore; and so you called him what everyone else at the Mint Eye did.

Ray.

The blue-haired man in front of you, though, seemed to raise his eyebrows every time you called your former best friend by that name.

It was almost as if he knew the truth.

Almost.

Before you could ponder the issue further, Vanderwood walked in, his mug of coffee refilled.

You raised your eyebrows. How much coffee does this guy drink?

"Is backstory time over?" He looked from you to V, self-concluding that it was. "Good. I have Luciel working in his room. He's trying to hack into the Mint Eye and access their camera feeds. Can you help him with that, (Y/N)?"

You nodded your head. "If I have a computer."

"Use one of Luciel's laptops. He always carries extra. And," Vanderwood grabbed your wrist before you were quite able to exit the room. "Be careful. I mean it."

You stared at Vanderwood, not quite sure what he meant, but the man was ushering you out of the room before you could ask any further questions.

You sighed, heading into what you hoped was Luciel's room, knocking softly at the door. "Can I come in?"

You heard a lock click, and the door opened, Luciel's confused form appearing instantly. "What are you doing here?"

"Vanderwood told me to see if I could help you. He said that you were trying to hack into the Mint Eye?" You glanced around the room, noting three different laptops open. "I worked with their software every day. My user might still be active."

Luciel laughed. "You really think they wouldn't have disabled your privileges?"

"There's only one other person who worked with me in that room and..." You let your voice trail off. "He might not have."

Luciel shot you a questioning look, curious to know more details but not pressing. "Ray," You murmured breathlessly, the single syllable answering all his questions.

You got to work quickly, managing to engross yourself in the world of code despite the uncomfortableness of your surroundings, the overly soft bed providing no support whatsoever for your back.

You glanced up at Luciel, momentarily shook as you saw not his features, but Saeran's. They really do look similar, you thought, disturbed by the uncanny resemblance. Objectively speaking, they were quite different. Luciel's hair was red whilst Saeran's was white; Luciel's eyes flecked with gold, whereas Saeran projected a mint green glare.

But, you mused, you had only met Saeran after his secondary commitment, when his hair had been bleached white and his eye color altered. Who knows how similar he and Luciel may have looked before Saeran was changed? You remembered, with surprise, that a long time ago, the edges of Saeran's hair were reddish, a physical memory of what he had told you was a happier time for him.

Maybe that was his natural hair color?

You shook your head, pushing the thoughts from your mind and got back to work. No good would come from forming conspiracy theories in your mind.

Alright, Saeran hasn't deleted my user yet, You thought to yourself, smiling. Had the boy consciously left this end open for you? No...he made it clear that he doesn't care about me anymore. So why....?

You hesitated, before inputting your password. This is too easy.

Your finger hovered over the 'Enter' key before you powered through and pressed it.

You bit your lip, noting how the system was taking longer than usual to process your ID. "Luciel, I think I'm in," You whispered to the redhead, who immediately ceased his typing and came over to you, observing the 'Loading' screen with calculating eyes.

Those seconds where you didn't know what would follow were blissful ignorance, you realized later.

Gradually, you felt the laptop you were using become hot in your lap. Before long, the internal fans were whirring at what you could only assume was their maximum speed, the laptop making ungodly sounds.

You glanced at Luciel and then back at the laptop. It looked new enough; what kind of program was running in the background to cause this kind of response?

Saeran!

You realized with a start that, of course, it was his doing.

"Shit, shit, shit!" You mumbled, frantically trying to close the program, stop Saeran from hacking into your laptop. Your former friend must have been on standby, waiting for what he knew would be your first attempt in.

You slammed your finger on the power button, but the keyboard controls were locked—no matter how hard you pressed, it was rendered useless. The screen blanked, temporarily, then glitched into an audio file. No...this isn't a prerecorded audio clip. It's a live connection!

"Ah~" A voice cooed from inside your laptop, the sound distorted with a voice changer placed over it. Even with the filter, though, you'd recognize that inflection anywhere. "There you are, my sweet princess."

You winced at the nickname.

Saeran had only ever used it lovingly, as he'd gaze down at you with a soft smile on his lips while preparing to kiss your cheek.

The mocking tone in his voice made you cringe, a piece of your already broken heart further shattering.

"Sae-" You began, trying to reason with the person you once knew so well.

"Don't call me that!" The voice shrieked, stopping you. "I've...I've come to give you a warning, (Y/N). I know you're working with that...that liar."

"Who?" You asked, fingers no longer flying across the keyboard as you halted all motion to talk to Saeran for the first time in weeks.

"Don't interrupt me!" Saeran shrieked, evidently unstable. "I know how you stole MC from me, how that liar is sitting with you right now."

Only then did you notice the red blinking light beside the camera on the laptop, but Luciel responded before you did, his arm darting around your body to cover the laptop camera with his thumb. "Who are you?" He demanded, voice hard.

"You should know that, shouldn't you?"

You bit your lip. Saeran wasn't acting normal. Hell, he hadn't been normal for almost a month, but this was too much. He was acting psychotic. Crazy, even.

He wasn't him anymore.

"Anyway," Saeran began again, "I've come to give you a warning, (Y/N). If you ever set foot in the Mint Eye again, we will ruin you. Did you think taking the Elixirs was bad? That what happened to your eyes could even begin to compare to true pain? Don't return, (Y/N)." Saeran threatened, "But if you keep working with that traitor, we'll have no choice but to hunt you down and bring the Mint Eye to you."

For a moment, the room was quiet, the only audible sound being your shaky breath.

"May we never see each other again, princess," Saeran cooed, before the laptop let out a burst of electricity and shut down. You shrieked at the pulsation of heat, pushing the device from your lap and onto the bed where you cradled your stinging things.

"Who...was that?" Luciel whispered, his arm no longer around you as he turned to meet your eyes.

"Ray," You whispered, trying not to cry.

But the tears had already begun flowing.

MASTERLIST

Neutral Route: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | ✔

Saeyoung’s Route: 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | ✔

Saeran’s Route: 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | ✔

Word count: 1.7k

Notes: This story takes a couple turns over the next few chapters (I'm excited to see what you guys think of the developments in chapter 10! :D) and I'll be honest - things may get dark here and there. I want to know what you guys think of that, since I, personally, love the deranged interpretations of Saeyoung and Saeran. I feel like both characters are so multi-dimensional, and that Cheritz really only showed us the insane side of Saeran, rather than Saeyoung - but what if the circumstances were even more fucked up? I'm currently drafting out another Saeran x reader x Saeyoung and it's 10x darker than what's in here...but the plot moves faster, and reader-chan will be with both brothers, at the same time, from the very beginning. (But it will be have mature/explicit themes) Are you interested in reading something like that? Drop me a message and tell me what you think :)

Comment & Like

Next Update: 1/30/20

I do not own the rights to Mystic Messenger or any of the characters within it.

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mishaandthebrits · 5 years

Text

Your Guardian Angel

Rushing out of work you sighed. You hated it. Well not the job itself, but your boss and coworkers as they all were judgmental and fake friends. As it was Friday you decided to ditch your usual after work Tradition of going home and treating yourself by for once going shopping. Feeling rather self confident, which was quite unusual for you, you decided to try on one of the little black dresses your favorite store had in stock.

"Well damn girl, the guy you come home to is fucking lucky.", you heard a voice beside you speak when you stepped out of the dressing room to look at yourself in the mirror. Surprised you turned around and stood opposite of a brunette woman in jeans and a T-shirt. "Uhm thank you?", you mumbled and she smirked. "Made friends already?", a blonde asked the one opposite of you. "Only complimented the outfit.", she answered stepping aside. "Daaaaaaaamn.", the blonde you now saw gasped. "Thank you...", you blushed biting your lip.

"Hey, so you live in Paris right?", the first asked again and you nodded confused due to the sudden change of topic. "Do you have anything planned tonight? You seem cool and we're not from here.", she smiled and you thought for a second. You wanted to get more spontaneous and these two didn't seem like kidnappers, so you decided to give it a shot. "Sure, I could show you around a little?", you smiled at them. "I'm Y/N by the way." "Briana and that's Kim, not sure where the others are.", the blonde shrugged. "How many are you exactly?", you asked surprised and she seemed to count in her head. "Tonight we're 6, the other 4 stayed at the hotel because they're either sick or party poopers.", she finished and you nodded. "And you're all Americans?", you then asked before turning around to head back to the dressing room. "You better leave that one on, it's fabulous! And yes, well no, one is half French, but besides that all born and raised in the land of opportunities.", Kim laughed. "I'm not American though.", a red head grinned as she walked up to the three of you. "Oh damn right! That's Ruth. Ruth, Y/N.", Briana introduced and you waved at her smiling softly. Once all of the three and you had paid for your new possessions and you had changed back into the dress as they had requested the three girls lead you to a small restaurant across the street. "Guys! We found a new friend.", Ruth exclaimed excited pulling you towards the table. "These are Rob and Rich, secretly gay for each other and Sebastian, our half French guy. This is Y/N, Kim found her trying on the dress and she actually considered not buying it!", she introduced you to the others and the others to you and soon another chair has been added to the table and the seven of you sat around it with a cocktail in hand each. "So what did they catch you with?", Richard asked from beside you after taking a sip. "Kim surprised me kind of and then they just asked me and well, I really need to work on being spontaneous, so here we are.", you shrugged smiling at him softly. "Well spontaneous is my second name.", Sebastian spoke from your other side and for some reason the whole table laughed. "Thought that was charmer?", Rob shot back and you grinned. "Don't worry Y/N, Seb is all talk and no action.", Kim reassured you before they all got back to the topic they had been talking to before, which was the absence of a person younger than them. In a moment of confusion and laughing Sebastian all of a sudden leaned over towards you and smirked. "You know, I can show you what a man of action I am later...", he whispered right beside your ear and stroked your cheek with his finger before sitting back up and joining the conversation the others had leaving you with a flushed face. Not joining their conversation you were still thinking about his words when Richard rapped your shoulder. "All okay? Are we boring you?", he asked genuinely worried and you smiled at him. "Not at all, the stories you're telling sound like fun, well some are also pretty creative.", you told him noticing that the others were all caught up in the conversation. "I'll kidnap Y/N quickly so she can translate okay? I don't trust Seb anymore.", he then grinned at the group and pulled you up after they had nodded. While you quickly followed him Sebastian watched you smirking. "What do you need translated?", you asked once he stopped in a quiet corner and he laughed softly. "Nothing, just wanted to get you away from Mr. Charming. Look, we all know he can be quite overwhelming and he always is like that around us, but usually not towards strangers, unless he is on stage. I don't know what exactly he told you earlier, but he seems to enjoy your company, so I just wanted to make sure you're not thinking too bad about him after whatever he said to you, because judging by your expression it was either really embarrassing or clearly not for the public's ear.", the blonde in front of you spoke smiling and you nodded. "Clearly not for the public ear.", you agreed with a small nod. "But thank you Richard, he really seems like a nice guy under the surface.", you added and Richard smiled even wider now. "Oh he is, he is a puppy and as supportive and loyal as one can be, believe me.", he told you before looking to the table over your shoulder. "Guess we got to head back, just to make sure, you'd be fine if we disappear one after the other?", he asked and you though for a second before nodding. "Good... oh and you had to translate the newspaper article for me, in case they ask.", he spoke over his shoulder before heading back to the table with you in tow.

Richard did just as he had warned you. First the three girl disappeared claiming they were tired and were going to take a taxi to the hotel leaving the three guys and you. While Rob and you talked about the TV show they were all starring in Rich and Seb went to talk outside before coming back inside only to have Rich pronounce he was call it a night as well because apparently he was still jet lagged. Rob was quick to join making you smile. The introduction clearly had been right, they were best friends, almost like a gay couple. "So that leaves the two of us.", Sebastian announced looking at the now almost empty table. "Indeed... Rich asked me earlier if that's okay because he noticed your comment towards me.", you admitted and he frowned before a smile spread on his lips. "And you said yes, i mean you're still here so...", he concluded before you could nod again. "So you do want to take me up on the promise hm?", the male smirked and you lightly hit his shoulder while shaking your head. "What about you actually buy me a coffee first?", you suggested and he grinned happily. "If you intend, I would prefer a nice dinner though, if you haven't had one yet?", he asked you. "Nope, headed shopping and then here directly after work.", you agreed so he got up immediately before helping you up. He held your jacket open and then smiled with his outstretched arm so you could link yours in. Apparently the others had already paid when they left, so he guided you outside onto the busy streets of Paris. Walking close beside you he made sure you would get bumped into while tell you about his youth in Paris. Smiling you explained your history to him about how your parents were French and American and you had just recently moved from New York to Paris for your job. "Oh? So that's the reason such a beautiful lady is spending her Friday evening with strangers?", he asked frowning slightly and you nodded. "I'm having a hard time finding friends here, my coworkers aren't at all like yours.", you sighed and he surprised you with his next move. "Well my coworkers are your friends now as well, after the messages I got they clearly are.", he grinned and handed you his phone with text messages on the lock screen.

"You better not mess this up." - Bri "Go get her tiger. BUT. Keep her." - Kim fucking Rhodes "Bonne Chance Seb. Please don't hurt her." - Witchy "I agree with Rich!" - Rob "If you leave without the intention to see her again I'll end you. Gabriel will end you. And God will join." - Richy "Oh and give her our numbers! Forgot that :)" - Richy

You read the texts before handing him his phone back. "So they all think im gonna let you get it tonight hm?", you frowned and he shrugged. "Apparently they believe I'm really charming.", he shrugged smirking and you smiled. "We'll see hm?", you replied before looking around noticing where you were. "Isn't that like way too expensive?", you frowned when he stopped in front of one of the more expensive restaurants in Paris. "Not really, you deserve to be treated, plus I want to impress you.", he admitted and you giggled. "Oh that's working.", you smiled at him when he took your jacket off of your shoulders only to place it on the rack then pulled your chair out. "Merci.", you smiled with a little nod seconds before a waiter arrived. You ordered your drinks and soon after your food and Sebastian skillfully chose a wine to go with it. "That's your French routs hm?", you teased and he nodded laughing softly. "Either that or its still me wanting to impress you, now hand me your phone, I'll type in the numbers hm?", he offered and you nodded doing just that. A few moments later he handed it back to you and watched you smiling. "I took the opportunity and saved me as well.", he sheepishly admitted and you grinned. "Had hoped you'd do that.", you replied when the waiter delivered your food. The dinner was filled with stories from the both of you and you didn't miss the glances he gave you. The glances or admiration and interest as well as kindness. After dinner you excused yourself to head to the toilet where you got your phone out and looked through your contacts. Quickly you pressed on one of the newly saved contacts. "Hello?", you heard Richard answer and exhaled. "Hey... it's Uhm me, Y/N.", you spoke unsure whether calling was a good idea. "Oh hey, is everything okay? He didn't mess up did he? I'll hurt him if he did!", the male spoke and you chuckled quietly. "No no Richard... it's the opposite and I... I felt like I needed to talk to someone. Is that okay? That's weird right?", you rambled and paced the bathroom. "What? No! Wait I'll get out of the room and back to mine.... okay now, what's going on?", he asked after a moment and you heard he had closed the door to separate himself from the noises. "He... Sebastian is such an angel... I'm scared I'll mess up Richard. I always mess up, that's what he said...", you quietly spoke and heard Richards gasp. "Seb said that?", he grumbled and you realized you had confused him. "Oh no! My ex, my father, all of them. I don't want to hurt Sebastian, but that's all I do.", you sighed sadly and heard Richard breathe in deeply. "Okay, listen. You tell him you don't feel well and when he's back here I'll talk to him if you want, Okay?", the man suggested and you nodded with tear filled eyes. "That would be... You're the best Richard. Heck I don't deserve to know you.", you mumbled then ended the call to get ready to face the disappointed look of Sebastian.

Sebastian had been super understanding making you feel even worse. He had offered to take you home to make sure you arrived safely and when you declined he had ordered a taxi for you and pre payed for it. The whole time in the taxi you texted with Richard explaining why you had reacted the way you did, about your nightmares, the doubts and how sorry you felt that you put that all on him when all of his fan already told him all of those personal stories, but he just told you not worry and accept it because he was your as he said best gay friend now. With a sigh you stepped into your little flat. A few minutes before Richard had written you that Sebastian had arrived in the hotel and he was going to talk to him, so you now anxiously waited for a text message. Quickly you made yourself a cup of tea and sat on your favorite window. You saw the Eiffel Tower from it and simply adored it because of that.

"Are you in bed already? Can you come over?" - Richy

You sighed when your phone showed the notification and quickly got up and put your coat back on.

"Which hotel?"

"Hyatt. Room 759"- Richy

Immediately you were on your way. It had to be bad or too long and complicated if he didn't want to tell you what was going on on the phone or in a text. Stepping into the Hyatt you looked around surprised, you had never been here and probably would never be in such an expensive hotel again. Heading up with the elevator you looked for the room then quietly knocked afraid to disturb other guest who might already be sleeping. While waiting you nervously played with your fingers and looked at the ground. "Y/N... Please come in.", Sebastian's voice greeted you and you looked up surprised. "I... This is your room isn't it?", you sighed before moving to turn around. "It is, but I asked Richard to do that, please come in?", he spoke now incredibly gentle making it impossible for you to turn your back to him. With a quiet sigh you walked inside and once the door fell close he had his arms around you in a protective hug. "Oh Y/N... why didn't you tell me... okay no, I get why, I'm glad you told Richard and allowed him to tell me.", he mumbled into your hair and stroked your back. Right away the tears in your eyes were back and you soon became a crying mess. "Shhh, it's okay... you didn't mess up... and you won't, you can't... there's nothing you could do that would make me think you messed up.", he spoke calmly while he kept holding you. "Nothing okay? Because you are freaking amazing and beautiful and kind and I can't even find the words to describe you although I'm never out of words.", he finished and you closed your eyes trying to calm down. Your arms were on his torso while his were one wrapped around your waist and the other in your hair. After a few more moments you had calmed down enough to breath normal again. He slowly let go of you and looked at you smiling. "I'm a mess...", you whispered referring to both, your physical and emotional state and Sebastian quickly cupped your cheeks. "Okay, you're not a mess, I mean physically you kind of are at the moment, but I think you're adorable and in that cute head of yours everything makes perfect sense, so I am never going to judge you for anything you feel. You have your reasons for thinking this way and chuck help me if I ever meet the person who's done that to you...", he quietly cooed before kissing your forehead. "So now we're gonna go knock on Briana's door and ask if she can borrow you some sweatpants and a shirt and then head to bed, what do you think?", he suggested making you nod with a sniffle. He gently grabbed your hand before leading you back into the hallway after helping you out of your coat. Two doors down the corridor he knocked on a door and a smiling Briana opened the door. "Y/N...? What happened? What did you do?!", she asked you first then turned to Sebastian. "He did nothing! Don't worry, it's me... I messed up...", you quickly defended him only to feel him squeeze your hand. "Bri, could we borrow a pair of sweatpants and a shirt?", he asked her smiling gently and turned to you once she headed back into her room to grab the things. "You didn't mess up okay? I promise you, I understand it. Please don't think that you're messing up when you open up about how you feel and what's going on in that beautiful head of yours. Remember, nothing you could do to mess up, nothing okay?", he mumbled cupping your cheeks again. Closing your eyes with a nod you heard Briana cough quietly and both Sebastian and you turned to look at her. "I've also gotten you a spare hairbrush I had around.", she gently smiled and you went to grab the things only to have the man beside you grab them first. "Got it, thank you Briana, I owe you.", he nodded with a thankful smile then turned to you. "Let's head to bed hm?", he suggested and guided you back to his room. If you had paid attention you would've noticed how Briana's door didn't close until you were back in the room you had previously come from. "You can use the bathroom first, I'll go after you, is that okay?", he asked quietly and you nodded taking the clothes from him then headed for the bathroom. Quickly you changed then went back so he could get changed. Once the both of you were finished he looked at you smiling gently. "I'll take the couch of course.", he explained but you shook your head. "Don't be silly, we're gonna share, it's big enough.", you pointed to the bed and he thought for a second then nodded. Once the both of you laid under the shared blanket but not touching he switched off the light and you sighed. "I'm sorry... I'm sure that's not how you had planned your night to end.", you whispered and heard him turn around probably to face you. "You're right, it's better, after all I'm laying in bed with an amazing woman and am hopefully going to wake up beside her as well.", he spoke the smile audible in his voice leaving you with a smile as well. "Good Night Sebastian.", you mumbled. "Good Night Y/N. Sleep well.", he replied and with a smile you fell asleep beside him.

Slowly opening your eyes you blinked a few times until your eyes adjusted to the light that shone in through the windows. Moving slightly you intended to get up only to be stopped by an arm on your waist. Frowning slightly you turned to the body of the arm that kept you in bed and a slight smile spread across your lips. The way he was holding you, it seemed like he wanted to keep you from getting up, but not in a creepy way, more as if he was being protective. "Sebastian?", you mumbled and tapped his cheek gently in order to wake him. "Hm?", he hummed retrieving his arm from your waist to run his eyes. "We should get up... you have to be at the meeting thing soon, don't you?", you quietly spoke while sitting up and he did the same. "Oh right... yeah... what are you doing today?", he asked looking at you with a soft smile. "Nothing planned, why?", you replied and his smile got wider. "Do you want to join? It's gonna be the others and me and I promise it'll be fun.", he suggested and after a moment of thinking you agreed with a nod. Once the both of you had gotten up you went to shower first then dried your hair and got dressed in your work clothes from the previous day before checking your phone while Sebastian got ready.

"How did you sleep?" - Richard "Briana told me you're at Sebs :)" - Richard

"Surprisingly well, no nightmare tonight.", you quickly typed back before asking how he slept. "Good! Amazing actually. Glad him cuddling kept them away! I know he's a cuddler... we once shared a room at a convention...." - Richard You chuckled and locked your phone just when Sebastian walked back in freshly showered and dressed in a button up and jeans. "What's funny?", he smiled at you while walking over. "Richard said you're a cuddler and that you shared a room once.", you explained while he sat down beside you on the bed. "Did I cuddle you?", he asked turning to face you and you nodded. "I'm sorry... i mean if you did mind...", he started but you interrupted him quickly. "I didn't... it kept the nightmares away.", you whispered before smiling at him gently. "So thank you." "Glad I could help.", he grinned then grabbed your hand carefully to pull you up. "Breakfast and then we leave for the convention, what do you say?", he smiled walking towards the door you in tow and before you could reply you and him ran into Rich and Rob out in the hallway. "Good Morning!", Rob smiled making you wonder whether everyone of them knew you had spent the night there because they didn't really seem surprised. "Morning Robby!", Sebastian grinned and you smiled politely to the both men before heading to breakfast along with them. While the three males talked you mainly listened and chuckled here and there when they said funny things. "So did you two talk?", Richard asked suddenly as he stepped beside you at the buffet. "Not exactly, he still doesn't know more than you told him, but he told me that there's nothing I could do to mess it up with him.", you softly spoke with a tiny smile on your lips and saw Rich smile as well when you looked up. "I'm glad Y/N, because you two are such cuties together. So, do you wanna spend the day with us today then?", he asked while putting some more Madeleines on his dish so he luckily didn't see you blush. "He's asked that already... and if you others don't mind...?", you began only to be interrupted by him with a "We don't at all! So yay!". "What are you two talking about?", Kim asked stepping up beside you and immediately Rich told him about you joining them for the day. "Oh I'm glad! I had hoped so!", the brunette smiled just when she finished getting food, so the three of you went back to the table to finally eat breakfast. After all we're finished the shuttle to the convention hotel was already waiting and you all got inside to head there. You sat in between Richard and Rob because they immediately had stated that that was the plan. "Soooooo, you and Seb hm? I mean you two are so cute!", Rob squealed quietly with a huge grin on his face. "We're not a thing Rob...", you mumbled back and he shrugged. "Not yet, but soon.", he noted before going on to talk about the convention and what was planned for the day so you knew about it. When you arrived you knew the basics about the fans and what was going to happen. Going into the green room with the actors you looked around curiously. "Come here Y/N?", Sebastian asked from a comfortable looking chair from the window. "There's not enough chairs, so you might wanna share with me?", he suggested while patting his lap lightly. It wasn't one of those sexual and weird ones, it was more a friend offering a seat when all chairs were taken. Smiling you sat down and he wrapped his arms around your waist and placed his head on your shoulders. Talking to the other actors they discussed what they were going to talk about at the first panel while you just listened in and giggled when they told you the funny stories the fans would soon know as well. "Rob, Rich and Matt are the first that have to leave, so you want to watch their panel? We could either watch from behind the stage or the back of the room?", Sebastian quietly suggested and you nodded excited. "Behind the stage sounds like a plan.", you smiled at him wanting to avoid being seen and causing rumors. He nodded pulling you a little closer and hummed a French lullaby quietly which made you smile. "I like that song... my mum used to sing it for me when I was little.", you explained so only he heard it. "I'm sure she's a great singer.", he replied only to hear you sigh. "She was yes... a wonderful one, i hardly remember it though."

When the convention finished in the evening it was already way past 9 and you honestly were quite exhausted. Intending to head home and right into bed you grabbed your belongings and headed towards the exit of the empty green room. "Hey, where are you going?", Richard asked as he stepped in and nearly ran you over. "Home, why?", you frowned and he tilted his head. "You don't want to stay with him tonight as well? I mean, you slept good last night didn't you?", he reasoned and you nodded sadly. "I did, but I don't want to bother him any further. I mean I already did cause a lot of trouble didn't I?", you sighed and Richard shook his head wanting to start an answer just when the door opened. "Y/N? Where are you going?", Sebastian asked smiling and you sighed but before you could, Richard replied. "She thinks she's causing you trouble so she wanted to head home.", he told the other only to receive a death glare from you. "Hey hey, I told you. No trouble, no bother and no mess, okay?", Sebastian asked as he stepped in front of you and held your head up so you would have to look at him. "Okay...", you sighed before feeling him wrap his arms around you. "I had hoped your stay another night... is that too optimistic?", he whispered in your ear and you shook your head. "N-no... I just... i thought maybe you'd want to stay at my apartment tonight?", you suggested before feeling him pull away and look at you. "Are you sure?", he frowned and smiled when you nodded. "What? Sure about what?", Richard frowned not having heard your silent conversation. "That he is invited to stay at my place tonight.", you quietly admitted and Richard widely smiled like a boy in a toy store. After saying your goodbyes to the whole cast and promising that you'd come back the next day you and Sebastian grabbed an Uber to head to your apartment. Once inside you showed it to Sebastian and were surprised when he loved and pointed out the details in it. He also fell in love with your favorite window and immediately sat on the bench in front of it, surprisingly opposite of your usual seat. Smiling you joined him and your feet intertwined leaving you touching each other, but not so much it was uncomfortable. "I want to tell you something.", you spoke after a while of pure silence and enjoying the scenery. Curiously the man opposite of you looked over at you smiling. You took a deep breath before looking out of the window and starting. "When I was 4 my mother died... she died in a car crash and I was on the backseat, I hardly made it, but god knows how I survived. My dad didn't really like this though and that's what he made sure I knew. He didn't treat me well, insulted and physically abused me. A night in tears and covered in bruises wasn't unusual. That was until I met Simon, my ex. He first treat me like a queen, he showered me in love and attention but after a while he hung around with my father, he started to show his real side which was similar to my fathers if not even worse. I've been with him for 3 years afraid to leave him until he broke my rib about a year ago. It punctuated my lung and I had to be rushed into hospital where I finally found the courage to tell the nurse and leave him. I've changed my name, my habits, where I live and where I work in order to avoid being found...", you mumbled not daring to look at him after you just came clear about your whole life being a lie. "Those are the reasons for the nightmares, right?", Sebastian asked and you looked up surprised. You had expected something like rage or confusion, but what you saw was care and admiration. Carefully you nodded and he pulled you in between his now slightly spread legs so he could hold you close to his chest. "Oh Y/N, you're such a strong woman... I wish I could've kept you from that, but now that I'm here I will keep you from ever being treated like that again...", he mumbled against your hair and you chuckled in the end making him frown. "So you're gonna be my guardian angel?", you asked softly and he nodded before joining your chuckle. "And that while you actually are the angel.", he shook his head with the same smile still plastered on his face. That same smile was on his lips when he nervously asked you to be his girlfriend four weeks later in front of his friends and the Eiffel Tower. It was the same smile that appeared on his face when you told him you were going to move to the other side of the ocean for him and it was the same expression that graced his lips when he called Richard to tell him the news of your unexpected pregnancy first. When your little son was born he held him with that amazing smile you loved seeing on him and not even a year later he had it when he fell down on one knee in front of you.

All Taglist:

@lokilvrr @luciferstempest

Supernatural Taglist:

@mersuperwholocked-lowlife

#sebastian #sebastian roche #roche #cute #fluff #adorable #supernatural #spn #spn x reader #supernatural x reader #Sebastian roche x reader #Sebastian x reader #x reader #reader

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nemossubmarine · 4 years

Text

Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory RP #42

Gimlet asks Vivek if he would like his brother told about all this, and Vivek says it’s probably not a wise move, considering he made him servitor in the first place. Vivek would like to talk with his brother at some point, provided there’s someone else standing between the two. Gimlet says two Space Wolves should do the trick. Gorm says he still needs stuff from the tech-priest, and Vivek agrees now’s probably not the time. Vivek mentions that his brother has all his stuff and he may want them back at some point, but also can wait. Vivek loans Uffe’s phone, so our heroes can contact him if needed.

With that said, our heroes begin their long journey downwards back to where they started, and in fact, down one floor more, where rest of the clean-up crew is, or should be. There’s lots more burnmarks around as well as some rot growing in the corners of the ceiling. Gimlet burns some, but it pretty quickly grows back, and indeed it looks like the rot is only growing. Our heroes hear some AdMech-y footsteps and find a Skitarius with a servitor. The Skitarius informs our heroes that the Sable Swords and the tech-priest have already gone downstairs, as they’re closing in on the seat of the infection and can’t contain it anymore. Noticeably the servitors no longer work downstairs either. Our heroes thank for the information (and Gorm tells the Skitarius may Omnissiah bless her, and she makes a happy beeping sound) and head downstairs.

The floor below is full of tight corridors, maintenance tunnels mostly. Our heroes walk forward, in the maze-like corridors. They spot some marks that someone has passed there not long before. They find several corpses, killed with an axe. Gimlet burns them. They find a small shrine for Omnissiah, which appears to be the only place untouched by the the rot. Going down a tight corridor, a creature suddenly hops onto Gimlet’s flamer, and begins to pull it apart. Gimlet attempts to shake it off, and Gorm attempts to grab it, but it only turns Gorm’s power sword off and disappears with a laugh. There is more bodies ahead, and one of them grabs Gorm by the ankle. Gorm slices the hand off, and a giant fly crawls out of its mouth.

They begin to hear static sound and come upon Z47r, the tech-priest, in prayer. He motions them to stop, and after finishing with the prayer gets up and informs them that the ship’s geller field generator is the start of the rot. He needs our heroes help in getting his hands on it, the Sable Swords are going to act as distraction. Having located both the room with the geller-field generator and the Sable Swords, they hatch a battle plan. Gorm makes a speech, which is very inspiring and stuff and hands out protective runes to the Sable Swords (and Z47r) as well. Then it’s off to get the tech-priest to a machine.

The Sable Swords get into the room first, attacking few big Nurgle boys. Saef, Gimlet and Uffe make their way to the room via a walkway above the room to distract more of the creatures, while Gorm (with the tech-priest dangling from him) jump-packs into the room and to the front of the machine. The tech-priest begins a communion with the machine, while the rest of the people battle. The Sable Swords and Gorm manage to bring one of the huge creatures down, only to have it stand up a moment later. Same happens with others, and people realize it’s because of the goop all around them. Gimlet’s flamer is really useful for clearing that stuff out, and Uffe helps as well with his plasma. It’s hard to bring Nurgle’s army down for good, but for the most part, our heroes have them locked in place. There’s a problem of one Sable Sword (Aaron) being brought down and the Nurgle’s people being toxic as all Hell.

One of the strange little creatures suddenly jumps the tech-priest and begins to pull his breather off his face. Gorm manages to kill it but the breather is gone. The tech-priest doesn’t notice as he is too busy communing. Also the machine is turning on and there are definitely flames starting in the grating beneath. The Sable Swords clear off the grating, but not before trapping one of the big boys into them. Gorm takes off his helmet and slams it onto the tech-priest and shouts at Uffe to shoot at a water pipe which he does, just as the flames start. The pipe douses both Gorm and Z47r, but the big Nurgle fellow is most crisped.

Thus mostly concludes this battle. Uffe rushes to check in on Gorm, who hacks up something fierce (toxic air). Uffe calls for Gimlet to loan Gorm his flask, which he does, and surprisingly there’s alcohol there and not water. Gorm asks if the tech-priest is okay and he speaks some weird gibberish and then straightens up, saying he’s fine. He lets Gorm know that he can leave in three hours and start on Gorm’s thing. Gorm asks if he should help, before coughing up something green and weird, and Z47r says he got this. Gorm asks if he and Uffe could talk with him as soon as possible and Z47r tells them to come by his ship when he’s done. And that is the end of this Nurgle infestation!

And now for something completely different...

While waiting for the AdMechs to finish on New Dawn, Gorm has time to chat with Carl. The Sable Swords are returning to Obsidia, and since it’s in the way of Santa Maria’s route, they’re hitching a ride. Gorm and Carl make their way to the bar, both having changed out of their armor. Carl wears monk robes which Gorm comments makes him stand out, and Carl shrugs saying he’s been away from home a while, and haven’t had time to do laundry. Carl asks to take a drink of Gorm’s mead (though not enough for him to get completely shitfaced). They talk about the medical properties of alcohol for a while.

Gorm asks where Carl is heading next, and Carl says that they’re going home first, and then pretty much immediately are going to be deployed to fight orks. Carl’s happy for the change, as fighting people turned monsters (such as genestealers and chaos cultists) gets a bit tiring. Gorm agrees, orks are always itching for a fight, so it feels fair to bring them down.

Gorm tells Carl about his visit on Terra and about meeting the Primarch, and getting his hands on Codex Astartes, telling him that Terra was quite of a change in him. Gorm talks about remembering his past on Fenris, and of the harsh conditions the people. (Carl says he doesn’t remember his own past, but supposes it’s pretty much the same story as everyone else’s on Obsidia) The Space Wolves very much keep out of the way of the people, but Gorm wonders if there is more they could do. Carl says that for the most part Astartes homeworlds are among the safest in the galaxy (though not lately, Gorm points out about the attack of the Thousand Sons on Fenris), but it is the duty of the Astartes to look beyond their own worlds’ and protect the people of the galaxy.

Gorm also mentions his recent medical endeavors, how he has tried to heal in addition to all the killing. He mentions the couple of successes he has and how good they have felt. Carl thinks it’s a fine endeavor, though there is a certain roughness in that as well, very low lows when one fails to save a life.

Carl asks what the new Gorm would like to do with his life, once all this is over, especially with all these changes coming around and Gorm says he hasn’t much thought about it. One thing’s for sure, he isn’t made for working alone, but he is unsure what the Space Wolves have in store for him and Uffe if they come back, whether they get a new pack or what. Carl asks if he had thought life as an apothecary, and Gorm tells him that it’s a bit different with the Wolves having rolled a chaplain and an apothecary into one, but yeah he got this necklace from a Rune Priest and is still quite unsure what it means. Carl comments on his speech back at New Dawn, saying it was quite inspiring. Gorm says he got it from Codex Astartes and there’s some more angry speeches in there as well, Carl says sometimes anger is necessary as well.

Gorm asks Carl where he came from, referring to his earlier comment about being the same as everyone else. Carl tells him that Obsidia is a harsh planet, not quite as harsh as Fenris, but harsh nonetheless. A mining planet, mostly. The Sable Swords’ headquarters resides within the mountain on Obsidia, and sometimes little kids wander far from the known tunnels, and if they’re brave and clever enough, they might reach the headquarters in the center and become Sable Swords. Obviously there’s nobles and such on Obsidia, but the Sable Swords think it best to stay close to the people of the earth, as their weapons are made from Obsidian minerals. (At some point Gorm talks derisively of noble humans and their desperation to not die by any means necessary, Carl seems to agree)

Gorm asks Carl about the swords of the Sable Swords, whether they make them themselves or what, seeing that he got a new Power Sword himself, which had a lot of trouble during the combat back on New Dawn. Carl mentions that not everyone does, but a lot of people do. Revan made swords for all his squad-members, apparently a common occurrence. Carl says that since he has received Revan’s sword on promotion, he has an extra sword, and he’d be quite happy to give it to Gorm. Gorm is obviously quite touched by this display of affection. (he gives Carl a “I <3 Terra” shirt in turn, which Carl puts on immediately over his monk robes) He tells Carl that he’d be more than happy to join his squad whenever, and Carl replies that he’d be more than happy to have him.

Gorm says that as he has now seen how the Sable Swords greet each other (back on New Dawn) (bumping chest with handle of their blade), and he would like to show Carl how Space Wolves greet. Carl is more than happy to learn, so Gorm tells that Wolves bump heads, and sometimes when people are really close, they touch noses. Gorm bumps his head against Carl’s and touches his nose against Carl’s. Carl returns the gesture with fondness.

Next time, our heroes start to head to Triplex Phall! And seeing that it takes few days and they’ve last been on the ship in session (checks notes) 27, there’s going to be a lot of conversations with NPCs next few sessions. A lot. So many.

#nemo roleplays #long post #wag rp #wag rp writeup #lots of interesting stuff coming up #gotta prep for all the conversations #(well not all)#(sometimes prepping for convo for me is just like idk this character rly wants nothing so see what pc has to say)#(and sometimes it's me writing 500 words about what's up)#looking forward to next couple of sesh #even tho im super excited to get to triplex phall #9 to go until ep 50!#campaign tag: some nurgle but mostly soap opera

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armour-of-fafnir · 5 years

Text

Brothers Conflict - Passion Pink Prologue part 3 + more

PLEASE TELL ME WHICH ROUTE I SHOULD FOLLOW FIRST

Is Fuuto alright? Because I surprisingly lowkey like him, even though many seem to hate him (I can definitely see where this is coming from). So would you please be kind enough and let me know which route I should follow first?

*Notes*

I have finally, and I cannot stress this enough, finally been able to translate. Though I read somewhere that there is a translation of BroCon already and I got a bit disheartened. Anyways, let me know if I should keep translating like this. So, in this part a lot of things happened. First and foremost, WE GOT OUT OF THE PROLOGUE. We also got to make choices, and I chose Tsubaki ( I tried all the options but Tsubaki’s reaction was the most rewarding, so I went along with that). There was also the schedule mode, so if you have any activities to suggest please do so. I’m not sure how this will work but I imagine that it will be more or less similar to the Dandelion activity system? Let’s hope for the best. Now, proceed!

Kaname

[ Well, it’s whatever about Yuu-chan. More importantly, won’t you just once call me “Big Brother” ? ] Ayame

[ Eh? Uhm… B-Big brother…? ]

Kaname

[ Ah, that truly was somewhat nice. ]

Tsubaki

[ Eh, wait a sec, do you think that’s fair Kana!? Me too! I also want to call me “Big Brother”-! ]

Azusa

[ Aah, Tsubaki finds little sister characters moe, so… ]

Ayame

[ …He finds little sister characters moe… WHAT!? ]

Tsubaki

[ Why don’t you call Azusa too? “Big Brother”, like that-♪ Come on★ ]

Kaname

[ No, lil’ sis will only call me like that! ]

Ayame

[ Eh…? Eh…?? ]

Juri

[ What’s wrong with these brothers… Well then, Chii. What are you going to do? ]

Juri

[ I’m sure they’ll keep begging you till you say it. ]

Ayame

[ I… ]

/Choice being made here/ (1) Say it to Kaname (2) Say it to Tsubaki < -- (3) Say it to Azusa

Ayame

[ B-Big Brother!]

Tsubaki

[ …Wha! So cute-!! That’s bad ★Now, I can feel the tension rising up! Hey- Hey-, would you say it again? ]

Ayame

[ I- I can’t…! ]

Tsubaki

[ Eeh, why not-!? ]

Ukyo

[ *sigh* Problematic from the very first day, these children are. I’m sorry. ]

Ayame

[ No, being able to meet my brothers, it makes me absolutely delighted. ]

Tsubaki

[ Is that true? Then say “Big brother” for me once more★ Please! ]

Kaname

[ It’s just as Tsuba-chan said! Come on! ]

Ayame

[ ( Uhm, did I just say something unnecessary, I wonder…? ) ]

Ayame

[ ( After this, I’ll end up having to say “Big Brother” a lot more but… ) ]

Ayame

[ ( the warmth of my new family reached my heart ) ]

Ayame

[ May 22nd… ]

Ayame

[ ( Meeting my new brothers for the very first time was a day I’d never forget. ) ]

//May 23rd//

Juri

[ *yawn* Is it alright to go to the living room this early in the morning? ]

Ayame

[ I guess. The key is hidden under the flower pot next to the entrance so that I can enter freely. ]

Juri

[ Under the flower pot… Really!? Hey, wait. ]

Juri

[ Is it okay to have security this poor nowadays!? Does this family have no knowledge of crime prevention!? ]

Ayame

[ I was also surprised by that. ]

Juri

[ Impossible. Supposing that something happens to you Chii, what are you going to do? We absolutely have to get Kenko Security… ]

Ayame

[ Now now, the elevator requires a special key and so do the auto-locks, so it’s okay. ]

Ayame

[ …And, huh? It seems to be unlocked. ]

Juri

[ It must be that one of these brothers gets up really early. ]

Juri

[ By the way, Chii. What do you need to do there? ]

Ayame

[ I was thinking of preparing the breakfast. I can at least do this much… ]

Kaname

[ Huh? Lil’ sis, good morning ]

Subaru

[ …Mornin’.]

Ayame

[ Good morning. Both of you are up early. ]

Kaname

[ Yeah, we went for a run. Suba-chan never loses his morning run. I, on the other hand, just went along for some company. ]

Ayame

[ ( I wouldn’t say that Kaname seems like the healthy type, but surprisingly he keeps fit. ) ]

Kaname

[ Ah, just now, you thought that this was surprising, didn’t you? ]

Ayame

[ Eh…!? T-that’s not…! ]

Kaname

[ Haha! You’re so easy to read lil’ sis~. By the way, why are you up this early? ]

Ayame

[ I… Thought I’d make some breakfast but… ]

Kaname

[ Eeh. A woman in an apron, that would be quite the sight~! ]

Ayame

[ W-wait Kaname, that’s… ]

Ayame

[ ( Huh? ) ]

Subaru

[ … ]

Ayame

[ ( Just now, Subaru’s eyes met mine, but… It seems like he, looked away? Indeed, Subaru’s the silent type... ) ]

Kaname

[ I’m looking forward to your breakfast. ]

Ayame

[ Yes. Well then, I’m off to the kitchen... ]

Ayame

[ Huh? There seems to be someone in the kitchen…? ]

Ukyo

[ Good morning, Ayame-chan. ]

Ayame

[ Good morning. Ukyo, you’re up early. ]

Ukyo

[ I am the one preparing the meals. Would you mind helping a bit today? ]

Ayame

[ You do? I’d like to help but I hope I won’t cause any trouble. ]

Ukyo

[ With so many people to feed, your assistance would be of great help. ]

Ukyo

[ Well then…, is it okay if I leave the miso soup to you? ]

Ayame

[ Miso soup? Got it. ]

Ayame

[ ( I started chopping the miso soup ingredients... ) ]

Ayame

[ ( Then for the soup stock ) ]

Ukyo

[ Just now, what did you use for the soup stock? ]

Ayame

[ Eh? The soup stock? I used a pack from there, but… ]

Ukyo

[ Does it contain dried bonito flakes and such…? ]

Ayame

[ Dried bonito flakes…? ]

Ukyo

[ Ah… Pay me no mind. ]

Ayame

[ Eh…? ]

Ayame

[ ( Perhaps, Ukyo likes to add dried bonito flakes in his soup? I, have never done this before… ) ]

Ayame

[ Kya…!? ]

Ayame

[ ( Just now, it felt as if something brushed my hair…? ) ]

???

[ Orange… Very good. ]

Ayame

[ …!? U-uhm… And you are…? ]

Ukyo

[ Ah, I haven’t introduced you yet, have I. ]

Ukyo

[ He’s Subaru’s older brother, Louis. He got home late yesterday and thus he was not able to meet you with the others... ]

Ayame

[ Nice to meet you. I’m Ayame. ]

Louis

[ Yes. ]

Ayame [ ( Is he going to keep touching my hair…? ) ]

Ayame

[ U-uhm…? ]

Louis

[ Beautiful hair. It seems like it may frizz easily though. Let me tell you a good treatment another time. ]

Ayame

[ W-Wha…? ]

Louis

[ Ukyo, I’m hungry. ]

Ukyo

[ It will be ready in a while, so please wait in the living room. ]

Louis

[ Yeah, I’ll do that. ]

Ayame

[ Uhm… Louis is…? ]

Ukyo

[ Ah, pardon me. Louis is a hair stylist. Even outside of work, he’s always interested in people’s hair. ]

Ayame

[ Ah, I see. That makes sense. ]

Ayame

[ ( How should I put it, he seems like a “my pace” mysterious guy… ]

Ukyo

[ Ayame, it’s about time for everyone to wake up. Let’s bring out the food to the table now. ]

Ayame

[ Yes. ]

Tsubaki

[ Let’s dig in! Ah, today’s miso soup is delicious! ]

Azusa

[ Indeed, it’s delicious. Kyo, did you make the miso soup differently? ]

Ukyo

[ …!! ]

Ayame

[ …!! ]

Tsubaki

[ Kyo, for some reason your face’s all frowned. Is something the matter? ]

Ukyo

[ …No. ]

Ayame

[ ( Stone me… Ukyo’s face! It’s grim!! What could be coming next… ) ]

Ayame

[ U-uhm, why don’t we turn on the TV. Ahaha! ]

Azusa

[ …? ]

Ayame

[ …Ah, it’s Asakura Fuuto. ]

Ayame

[ ( On the screen was the popular idol Asakura Fuuto. ) ]

Ayame

[ ( Lately, the young idol has appeared in dramas, and many of my friends were his fans. ) ]

Tsubaki

[ … That sure is a smile full of lies-. ]

Azusa

[ As always, his song is not that good. ]

Ayame

[ …? ]

Ayame

[ Considering the fact that you two share a similar line of work, that was rather harsh. ]

Tsubaki

[ Was it. ]

Wataru

[ But, his dancing is cool! ]

Ayame

[ Isn’t it? I also like Asakura’s dancing. ]

Wataru

[ Right, right? ]

Ayame

[ ( Wataru seems kinda happy. I wonder if he’s a fan of Asakura? ) ]

Iori

[ Now that I think about it, I think I haven’t seen him around in a while. ]

Iori

[ He’s on tour, if I’m not mistaken… ]

Kaname

[ Where is he now? In Hokkaido?? ]

Azusa

[ Perhaps he’ll bring me crab? Though sea urchins would be nice too… ]

Louis

[ Both. … Then, melon too. ]

Ayame

[ ( Eh…? Why did the suddenly start making such comments upon seeing Asakura Fuuto? ) ]

Ayame

[ Maybe… Everyone in this family is a fan of Asakura? ]

Kaname

[ Haha! Not in the slightest. ]

Iori

[ Huh? Could it be that no one has told her? ]

Ayame

[ Eh? About what? ]

Iori

[ Listen. Fuuto is the second youngest of us brothers… What I’m trying to say is that he’s your younger brother. ]

Ayame

[ Eh, EEEEH!? ]

Iori

[ Asakura is just a stage name. ]

Ayame

[ Ha, haha… Seriously, you guys. ]

Ayame

[ ( A celebrity being my brother… ) ]

Ayame

[ ( Now that I think about it, this is truly an incredible family I have joined in. ) ]

Ayame

[ ( Will I manage to fit in, I wonder…) ]

Ukyo

[ What is the matter? You haven’t eaten anything yet. ]

Ayame

[ N-no! That’s not the case, uhm… ]

Ukyo

[ …? ]

Ayame

[ I thought I had done a good job with the miso soup. …But... ]

Ayame

[ Ukyo. I had never known of a method using the dried bonito flakes. ]

Ayame

[ I hope you’ll be able to teach me again in the future, would that be alright? ]

Ukyo

[ Yeah, of course. That’s fine. …Though, know that my teaching is strict. ]

Ayame

[ I’ll do my best!]

Ayame

[ ( It’s only the first day, but I hope we can all get along as a family... ]

Ayame

[ ( …By the way, when he said “my teaching is strict”, it gave off a feeling I cannot identify... It might be a bit scary… ) ]

Ayame

[ *yawn* Well then, I guess that’s about it then? ]

Juri

[ I guess. The large furniture has all been moved. Now it’d be good to get the smaller things in order. ]

Ayame

[ In the end, this weekend concluded the acquaintanceships and tidying up. ]

Juri

[ That’s moving in for ya. ]

Ayame

[ You’re right. ]

Juri

[ Chii, don’t tell me, you’re still nervous? ]

Ayame

[ No, I’m fine now. Every acquaintance has been a real heart-throb. But I’m glad everyone is so kind. ]

Juri

[ Even on stage one, everyone seems to have a strong personality. ]

Ayame

[ Ahaha… You’ve got a point. To have so different kinds of brothers, I was really surprised. Eleven people, it’s really incredible. ]

Juri

[ What do you think? Are things going smoothly with them? ]

Ayame

[ I wonder… ]

//Choice being made here// (1) I believe things are going smoothly < -- (2) Honestly, I’m uneasy

Ayame

[ It’s fine. I think everything’s going smoothly. ]

Juri

[ I see. Well that’s reassuring. ]

Ayame

[ I know it’s just the start, but I hope I can get along with all of them. ]

Juri

[ That’s good. You still have school tomorrow, right Chii? ]

Ayame

[ Yeah. ]

Juri

[ If that’s the case, you’d better prepare a schedule for tomorrow. ]

Ayame

[ Schedule? ]

Juri

[ That’s right. You can decide your weekday schedule for each week. ]

//Schedule mode opens//

Juri

[ Every week on Sunday night you make your schedule. From the next day on, you’ll follow that schedule. ]

Juri

[ To set up the schedule, select a week day first. ]

Juri

[ Then, you’ll choose what activity you want to do with whom. ]

Juri

[ You can either select an Asahina brother or family. For the family option, click on me. ]

Juri

[ You can also do things on your own if you select yourself, Chii. ]

Juri

[ First you decide “with whom” you want to hang out and then “what to do”. ]

Juri

[ Apart from the days off and when it’s an item you don’t possess, or if things are incomplete, so be cautious! ]

Juri

[ Also, once you have decided on a schedule, it’s not possible to re-enter, so I want you to be careful. ]

Juri

[ You can see the schedule you’ve decided on by checking out the calendar screen. ]

Juri

[ Whatever the status of the schedule, once you hit the “Set” button, the selection will be complete. ]

Juri

[ Again, you have your parameters too. First, “Family Love Meter”. ]

Juri

[ This is an indication of your relationship level with the Asahina brothers as your family. It will increase each time you choose something to do as a family. ]

Juri

[ …By the way, you can also see your relationship with a particular brother on the “Likeability Screen”. ]

Juri

[ Chii, I believe you know this already, but YOU’RE BECOMING WAY TOO CLOSE WITH THEM!!! ]

Juri

[ Let’s talk about something else. Next is, “Fatigue”. ]

Juri

[ This indicates when you, Chi, are tired. If it accumulates, you can’t do regular activities. At times like this, you can play a game alone as to relieve your stress. ]

Juri

[ Another thing is “Money”. ]

Juri

[ This is how much you have. ]

Juri

[ It will increase by working part-time. ]

Juri

[ If you’re short on money, you can’t buy presents like DVDs and other items, so be sure to remember it! ]

Juri

[ What do you think? Do you understand? ]

Ayame

[ You bet! Thank you, Juri! ]

Juri

[ Great, well then for tomorrow, will you wake up early or rest? Also for tomorrow, will you help Ukyo prepare breakfast again? ]

Ayame

[ Yeah, that was my intention. ]

Juri

[ Chii. Tomorrow morning I want to eat rice and natto. ]

Ayame

[ ( A squirrel that asks for rice and natto… ) ]

Ayame

[ Yeah, I can do that. Well then, good night, Juri. ]

Juri

[ Yeah, good night. ]

//Chose schedule//

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lillaxtrigger · 4 years

Text

Young Hope: Chapter 29

Strolling along the brighter streets of Townsville, several police officers keep watch during their nightly patrol through the calmer parts of city; some of them letting out tiring yawns from their late night shifts. While driving through their designated patrol route, two cops in a car notice a faint pink glow drifting over them; both glancing up to witness a bright pink light fly overhead. The driver almost immediately hits the breaks the moment she spots the passing glow, skidding across the road as their cop car turns; the passenger holding onto the dashboard as they drift. Once the car comes to a halt, both police officer rush out to gauge a better look at the night sky above; the two watching a bright pink figure gliding across the night sky above like a shooting star.

With her enchanted grip still possessing a tight hold of the red heads mind, Circe keeps Chloe going towards the east; the witch can’t help but ponder to herself on what to do with the girl she possesses with: “Hmm, I dare wonder what to do with this young rose once I pry the Amazon crystal off her neck. If her mother is anything to go off of, then I can predict that she would blossom and grow into such a beautiful woman. That’s not even taking into account how much of an asset she would be in helping me dethrone Hera from her position as the goddess of all mystic beings. Just to imagine the gaze of horrible despair upon her face when she meets her demise by the hands of her own-” Right on the cusp of concluding her vengefully spiteful thoughts, a site ahead makes the bewitched teenager stop right in her tracks; her shocked glare locked to a familiar opponent who dares stand in her way once more. Standing right in the self proclaimed goddess’s way be the purple angel that she had beaten before; Roy’s determined glare locked to the red heads own neon pink eyes. The possessed redhead’s own eye fail to glare back, her site instead drawn to a bright glow glimmering to the violet merc’s side; the self proclaimed goddess beholding upon his side a lone arm of neon pink blasted where is old arm was, taking a jarring feminine build compared to the rest of Roy’s body. Gazing upon her foe’s newly acquired limb, a loud, cackling laughter bursts out from the red heads mouth; Circe’s cackle echoing throughout the streets below. Once her overplayed cackling dies down, the witch gazes back towards the merc with a smug grin; claiming how: “I simply cannot believe that you would lower yourself to something like this, Hera. Projecting yourself out from the perverted violet bastard, really? A worthless male peon like him can’t even begin to dream of wielding power such as yours.” From the witch’s mocking declaration, the bright pink limb points out towards the red head floating before them; the true goddess countering on how: “Then I shall gladly make up for that handicap, so long as it means stopping your magical madness.” “So how bout you just hand over the rock before we have to serve some divine wrath on your magical child preying ass.” the merc adds. “Hmph, a humorous warning at best.”

Circe proclaiming as such to her foe’s, she makes her red headed puppet fire out a powerful wave of neon pink towards the merc; a small smile cracking between the purple angel’s cheeks as the wave draws near. The palm of the pink limb opens out to the approaching wave before them, stopping the intense wave mere inches from the bright glowing hand; the energy launched at them gathering in the goddesses grasp. Having witnessed her beam absorbed by her adversary’s newfound arm, the bewitch young girl lunges forth as both of her hands let out a bright pink glow; clasping her hands together to construct a deadly drill aimed right at the angel’s head. Moments before drills tip could dig into his skull, a barrier of pink blocks the purple boy’s head from the red heads spinning assault; Roy’s newfound limb conjuring a shield to block the witch’s drill. Though the merc’s pink shield stands against the possessed teenagers spinning charge, it isn’t long before the barrier begins to crack underneath the spinning constructs pressure. Just moments before the pink shield could shatter to pieces, the violet angel slips over the charging bewitched girl; grasping her flowing red locks as he passes over. Clasping the red head’s hair as tight as he can, Roy flings the possessed teenager out as hard as he can; Chloe sent careening across the stretching streets ahead. “Might I remind you on how we’re not supposed to hurt her? The poor girl has next to no control over what she does.” the goddess reminds. “You know you’re not exactly giving me a lotta options to work with here, right? New arm’s pretty neat, but what’s it worth if I can’t control it?” the merc questions. “We just need to get close enough so I can grab the Amazon crystal and break the seal. Once we pry it off, Chloe will be rendered completely harmless.” The goddess claiming such, her messenger rockets off in the direction he had flung her red headed granddaughter; the glow of his new arm trailing behind him as he glides to the north.

Soon enough, the purple merc discovers the bewitched young teen dashing back towards him at breakneck speeds; the red head twirling through the air as swings around a chain holding a heavyweight wrecking ball of pink. Upon this site does the violet angel prepare to catch the ball with the palms of his hands; holding out both of his arms towards the approaching self proclaimed goddess. Closing in on her purple angel, Circe swings her massive wrecking ball down towards the angels head; Roy holding his arms over his head as he braces for the slamming assault. When the possessed red head slams her massive ball of pink down upon her violet foe, Roy stops the descending ball with both hands; fighting against the heavy impact that threatens to crash him into the roads below. Stopping his crashing descent only a couple feet from the hard pavement, the merc’s pink arm starts to absorb the huge ball in the palm of its hands; his other normal arm clutching the chains linked to the witch’s weapon. Having turned the tables on the possessive witch, Roy starts to spin the chain that the bewitched teenager holds; twirling the red head through the air and soon tossing her towards the side of a nearby building.

Flung towards the hard brick of a neighboring building, the possessed red head cleanly lands right on her feet; rising from the brick side as she lets out a devious giggle. From the brick wall, the bewitched young teenager takes off towards the merc as her entire body illuminates a neon pink glow; Chloe flashing a bright light right in front of the purple angel and forcing Roy to shield his eyes. The intense flash eventually dimming, the violet merc uncovers his site to find himself surrounded by pink projections of the possessed teen; the countless clones snickering and laughing as they revolve around him. The merc’s eyes constantly dart around the display of pink Chloe’s swirling around him; none of his natural or supernatural sense able to help him suss out where their foe is, the constant mocking laughter doing him no favors. “Nrr. I can’t focus with this shit show going around me! Damn witch knows how to piss people off, don’t she?” he exclaims. “Please, allow me to clear the air.” Hera offers. The goddess in his head saying such, her arm rises up towards the cloudy night sky, letting out a bright pink glow from the palm of her hand; the dozens of projections unable to maintain their forms as they’re drawn near the arm. Once all of the clones lose their shape, their energy is drawn to the palm of the merc’s pink hand; the crowd that once surrounding him reduced to nothing. Despite the horde of pink projections having been dispelled, the purple angel fails to find their caster anywhere among them; the merc questioning the goddess in his head: “Where the hell she go?” “Behind you!”

Hera’s urgent warning ringing in his head, Roy glances back to discover their possessed teenager floating right behind him; ready to swing a giant pink axe at his back. Just as the mystic witch swings the massive blade, the merc swiftly turns out towards the redhead; his newfound pink arm blocking the lethal edge of the oncoming weapon. Though the weapon does little to harm the merc, the force that Circe had put behind it proves more than enough to send the purple angel careening across the block; Hera’s arm coating her messenger’s arm in a bright pink aura. Roy’s unplanned flight sends him crashing straight through building after building behind him; the pink aura guarding his body as he smashes through constant brick and glass. The violet angel comes crashing out the last buildings in a mess of rubble and shards, descending down towards the nightly streets below; those out on the side walk scramble as the mess falls in their directions. Once the last of the citizens flees from the descending shambles, the stone and glass shower upon the hard side walk; Roy falling alongside the mess as it rains down from the sky. When the downpour of rock and glass comes to an end, the violet angel rises from the resulting litter of rubble; the merc rubbing his side as a small hiss escapes from between his teeth. “Are you feeling okay?” Hera asks. “Yeah, just some mild side pain. Could’ve been worse if you hadn’t done something. Thanks for that.” the merc explains. “Don’t thank me yet. We still have to catch Chloe and get the crystal off her before she escapes.” “Right.”

From the goddess’s words does the purple angel ascend back to the city skyline, keeping his eyes peeled for a glint of bright pink around the streets below; Roy letting out a lowkey growl and claiming how: “Dammit, can’t figure out where she went. Hera?” “She’s attempting to throw us off by heading north.” “Gotcha.” Heeding Hera’s wisdom, the purple merc glides straight north; gazing down the streets underneath for a single glimmer of neon pink. As soon as Roy spots a pink light streaking across the streets ahead, the merc begins his descent towards the receding glow; putting his arms out the more of the teenage girl he sees. The bewitch Chloe turns around just as the merc was right behind her, the purple angel grasping both of the young girls arms as he tackles her out of the air; both of them slamming straight to the bottom side of an opposing structure. Keeping the young teenager in his clutches, Roy pins the possessed Chloe to the brick building behind her; the witch struggling to free her puppet from her foe’s hold. “You ain’t getting away this time.” the merc tells his captive, the self proclaimed goddess frantically darting her eyes around for any form of escape. When the witch takes a swift glance to her side, her eyes lock to the left as a wicked grin forms between her puppets cheeks. Curious of her sudden smile, the violet merc takes a gaze out in the same direction; his determined stare shaken when finding a familiar face glaring at the entire scene.

Standing a couple feet away from both the purple angel and the red headed puppet be Chloe’s very own boy toy; Melvin left looking on in a mixture of shock and disbelief. “Fuck! I was so busy catching the witch bitch, didn’t even notice Melvin was right there.” The merc watch as the young boys uncertainty slowly begins to turn into unkempt fury, further claiming to the goddess on how: “This also doesn’t look that very promising from the outside, does it?” “Oh absolutely not.” Hera’s confirmation proves to be right on the mark when they watch as Melvin charges forth with fists at the ready; dashing towards them at speeds Roy fails to expect from him The unexpected young man threatening to intrude on his mission, the merc attempts to reach for the red heads crystal with his pink arm; Melvin unfortunately proving to be faster to the punch and tackling the purple angel off the red head. “I’m gonna beat yo sorry ass for touchin my girl!” the young boy screams out.

Stirred in a furious rage, Melvin throws out a flurry of punches and kicks against the violet angel; Roy blocking and evading the rage driven assault as he attempts to quell his anger by attempting to explain that: “Mel, come on, pal. This definitely ain’t what you think...if it were, it probably look way, way worse. Point is, you don’t know what you walked into, buddy. I-” “I know exactly what I walked into, you purple piece of shit!” Melvin exclaims, continuing to throw out constant chops and kicks. “It ain’t like that, dammit! You really think I’d betray Mally’s trust like that by doin that to one of her friends! I’m her brother for Hera’s sake! You know better than anybody I wouldn’t do that to her!” Hearing Mally’s violet brother claim such, Melvin ceases his constant assault for the moment; standing back as he gives the merc: “20 seconds. Make it good. Make it count.” The impatient young boy giving him such a strict amount of time flusters the purple angel, Roy left silent as he consoles the goddess in his head on how: “How the hell does he expect me to explain this shit that fast!? Even if I blurted out that his bitch is being mind fucked, he’d probably not even buy it!” “Mind if I do the explaining, then?” Hera offers. “Wait, what the fuck you gonna-” Before the merc could finish questioning what she means, Roy soon feels his newfound arm of neon pink dragging him out towards the young boy; Melvin preparing to counter as his pink limb reaches out for his head. Just when Melvin was on the cusp of evading the lunging limb, Hera’s arm quickly grasp the boys eyes; a bright glow of neon pink shining out from the palm of her hand Once the light starts to dim, the goddess’s limb lets go of the young boys face; leaving Melvin to rub his eyes as he backs away from the violet angel. “What?...What did you-” “Give it a moment.” Hera advises.

Once Melvin’s site begins to come back to him, the boy turns his gaze back towards his red headed girl; her deceptively seductive smile causing his fist to ball up and tighten. Almost immediately does he lunge towards the possessed red head; Circe’s smile swiftly draining as she hears the young man demand that she: “Get the fuck outta my girls bod, you magic ass hoe!” His attempted retaliation upon the bewitch young girl unfortunately fails to bod well; the self proclaimed goddess firing out a neon pink beam and sends him flying back. “Pity. Even the love struck fool proved to be of no help.” Watching as Melvin is sent careening across the street, the merc’s pink arm stretches out towards the descending young man; Hera’s limb catching him before he could fall onto the cold hard concrete. “Poor boy.” the goddess pities. “Hera!” Roy exclaims. As his pink limb gently puts the young boy down, the purple angel keeps his eyes on the possessed red head as she fleeing from the scene. “We gotta move!” When Hera’s limb returns to the merc’s side, Roy takes off towards the escaping red head; leaving the bewitched Spicer’s boy resting upon the pavement. While the violet angel takes off after the possessed teenage girl, Melvin starts to slowly rises from the hard pavement; letting out a small painful groan as his eyes drift out towards his departing girl.

Among the decrepit and ruined halls of the dilapidated tower, the dust stuck along the walls is shaken down when something on the other side begins to hit the air vent grate; the steel of the grate denting further out with each kick. With about the seventh hit or so, the grate finally pops out of the wall and crashes down upon the hard tile floor with a loud clang; an orange haired skater slinking out from the vents following after. Once dragging herself out of the steel vents, Mally tumbles onto the cold, dirt ridden hall floor; coughing while swiping off the copious amounts of dust and cobwebs off herself. Holy hell. Its worse than the bad end of an abandoned factory up there. Almost thought for a minute there that the lungs wouldn’t hold out

Having swiped off the last of the dust off herself, the orange skater rises from the stained tile and gazes down the halls; the flickering lights overhead being the only thing helping her see what’s ahead. That glow leaking out from the top of this tower definitely shined brighter than these lights; meaning that whatever that glimmering rainbow was, it had to be freshly installed. Doubt people with a single shred of common sense or dignity would stage a rave party this high in some run down tower; more likely cause the whole place to come crashing down dancing to their deaths. So those lights must’ve been from the witch bitch herself. Don’t think she’d let it be as easy as just walkin up and busting the party up; that self bragging bitch’s probably got a couple traps waiting around here. A good thing to keep in mind while climb up to the top. After having thought of such precautions, the orange girl swiftly dons her roller blades and helmet and soon takes off down the dilapidated halls before her; a creeping shadow stalking towards the girl from behind.

In her gilding skate through the towers run down corridors, the lone skater’s ears happen to catch a rather odd sound echoing off the walls; beyond the rolling wheels of her skates could she hear the faint noise of constant sharp tapping from behind. Its too loud to be just some rat scuttling through; maybe a dog that got lost, but this far high up? Maybe just the place falling apart? Sure as hell can’t be Alex either, he split off to go and look for Circe. Ain’t too far fetched to figure that she’s probably got something prowling around here to ward of any teenagers or hobo’s wanting to fuck around in here. With these cautious predictions in mind does Mally continue through the ruined corridors, passing by a couple cracked and broken wooden doors; all but one showing to be closed. One of these door slowly cracks open, letting out a limp figure drop out from inside; bloody claw mark running across the figures chest that leaks crimson liquid out onto the tile.

After her short skate through the towers hallways, Mally comes to a skidding halt once coming upon a split in the halls; glancing to the side to finally find the stairwell. To anybody else, it’d seem like a no brainier to take your skates off before climbing up stair; unless you like to have your spine pierce through yer brains. Kind of an awful image to leave for the cops. But this girl here ain’t just anybody dammit, and she as sure as hell don’t need something like stairs. Like Vivi is always shouting: “Fuck the stairs! They’re for regular basic bitches who don’t wanna live life to the fullest and would rather be at home eating that cheap ass pizza they picked up at the gas station while heading home from work. We want more than that, motherfuckers! We wanna take the hand of life and toss its chaotic asshole across the parking lot; spit in its face while it tries to figure out who the fuck we are! So instead of just climbing up each step, we gonna jump up; case by case.” A motivating speech for sure, if not hampered by the constant failed attempts Vivi had made trying to jump up it all in one go; who knows what other bones she would’ve wound up breaking if Ryan didn’t get her to quit. Rest well Vivi, yo girls gonna fill out your analogy.

Preparing to race up the stairwell, Mally starts backing away from the steps; her eyes locked to the stairs as she distances herself. Once the orange skater makes her stop across the hall, she readies to blast off towards the steps with a gleeful grin; the familiar sound of sharp tapping breaking her smile causing her to hesitate. The quiet tapping sounding extremely close, her eyes dart through her surroundings to try and find what could be coming from; her eyes drifting behind her and discovering a sizable shadow encroaching from around the corner behind her. Mally slowly takes out her hockey stick to prepare for the encounter, watching closely as the shadow slowly closes in. Once the shadow suddenly vanishes, the skater swiftly turns back with her weapon at the ready; finding a long lanky leopard lunging right at her with its sharp teeth and claws bared. Moment before the beast could pounce on the young girl, Mally smacks the massive feline away with the blunt end of her hockey stick; sending it slamming into the opposing wall. “Just a fair warning. This ain’t my first fight with a giant feline.”

Despite giving the beast her warning, the leopard quickly picks itself off the cracked tiled floor and rushes back out towards the skater; Mally watching closely as the beast charges at her side. The feline leaping out with its sharp claws, the orange skater blocks its clawing thrust with the neck of her hockey stick; the predators weight knocking the girl to the ground. Before the beast could sink its teeth through her, Mally knocks the giant leopard off her with but a single kick; the skater rushing out towards the stairwell the moment she gets the predator off her. Landing on its feet, the feline chases after its fleeing pursuit; its predatory eyes locked to the young girl as it watches the skater slow down at the steps. Closing in on its orange pursuit, the large leopard pounces out towards the skater as she reaches the descending steps; the skater taking out her grapple yo and casting her gadget to the ascending steps. Moments before it could dig its claws into her back, the beasts prey is jerked away from its pouncing reach; the leopard left to tumble down the stairs. Jerked away from the fangs of her beastly pursuer, Mally’s gadget zips her out towards the ascending steps; the skater uses her momentum to glide up the wall and up the staircase. Through staircase after staircase, the orange skater tosses her grapple yo up the stairs to fly over them; all without having to put her wheels on a single step. In her accelerated ascent up the steps, the skaters ears catch the echoing roar of her pursuer sounding out from the underneath her; Mally glancing back to discover the leopard still feverishly giving chase by leaping over set of stairs much like her. Oh shit! Need a way to loose this oversized excuse for a house cat. Come on, Mal. Think.

Searching for a way to elude the feline coming after her, the orange skater gazes ahead for whatever could help her evade the beasts fangs; witnessing a pair of open doors above that cause an idea to pop in her head. With the gears in her head turning, Mally dashes through the doorway and into the halls ahead; the starving leopard racing at her tail. The orange skater speeds through the decrepit hallway while taking turn after turn, attempting to gauge as much distance from her fuzzy feline pursuer as she can. In her race through the halls, her eyes catch the steel of an exposed pipe poking out from tiled floor; the skater casting out her yoyo towards the pipe and wrapping its string around its steel. Speeding past the pipe, the skater pulls its steel as far back as she can; the metal pipe bending back the harder she tugs it. Once reaching the far end of the hall, Mally takes a stop around the next corner; keeping a tight grip on her gadget as she witnesses the beasts shadow approaching. The pursing leopard swiftly emerges out from the corner, lunging out towards its prey awaiting on the other side; the orange skater standing her ground as the beast draws nears. Just a bit closer. Once the leopard reaches the pipe, the orange skater lets go of her grapple yo; the steel pipe jerking itself back up and smacking the predator straight in the face. The blow from the steel pipe sends the feline hurling towards the opposite side of the hallway, slamming straight into the wall and falling on the floor; the pipe dislodging from the floor and clanging on the tile. “Yeah, take that bitch! How a face full of rusty pipe taste for ya?” Mally gloats; pulling the steel pipe back to her hands. Upon watching the leopard slowly start to rise from the cracked tile, the orange skater silence her boasting and speeds off further through the halls.

In her race through the halls of the tower, the skater keeps in mind where the way she came in is as she turns through corner after corner; glancing back to find the shadow of her feline pursuer closing in. Like this, she finds her way back to the doorway leading to the stairwell; the site making her race to the steps as fast as she can. Once to the doorway, Mally reaches for the pair of doors and slams both of them shut; the orange girl looking out through their glass to witness her feline pursuer swiftly approaching. With the steel pipe in her grasp, the girl slides the piece of rusty steel between the handles of the door; the pipe holding fine as the beast slams straight into the hardwood face. As the leopard constantly attempts to claw its way through the door, the steel pipe starts to shake off from the pounding; Mally grasping the rusty pipe and twisting the metal around the handles and shutting the feline in. Having barred the beast inside, Mally gazes through the doors windows and watches as the monster that pursued her struggles to breach through; the young girl sticking her tongue out and flipping the beast the bird. The orange teen girl immediately stops berating once the narrow glass of the door shatters; the leopards claw nearly swiping her face clean off. This fright makes the young skater jump back from the sudden claws, Mally catching herself on the rusty railing before nearly falling down the steps. All this proves to me more than enough to urge the skater to continue her ascent, tossing her grapple yo up the stairwell and zipping further up.

Set a little further down the tower, a pair of red eyes peek out from the dark recesses of another air vent; the pupils sliding across the grate as they scan through the hall beyond. Once finding the coast to be clear, the eyes retreat back into the vent; a small black limb stretches out from between the grate and up to its upper edge. Guilding its fingers under the top of the grate, the hand starts prying the grate off the wall; the rust and dust gathered fluttering off its face. Soon enough, the hand manages to force the grate right off the stained dry wall; its steel falling into the tile with a loud clang. Landing beside the fallen grate, Alex turns his hand back to normal as he brushes off the cobwebs and dust off his body; the orange demon letting a small shiver. Good hell on earth, the horrendous condition the people of this city let this tower fall to. Absolutely sickening. They don’t even have the decency to remove the rat corpses littering its vents; the smell of their decay stretched for miles.

Once getting himself cleaned of dust and webs, the demon’s eyes glance in both directions of the hall he stands in; a curious hum sounding out from his mouth as he ponders to himself. Let’s see...Given the nature on how that mystic reaper may be mind controlling Kingsley unfortunately weak willed little sister, it would be more than suffice to figure how she would be too busy maintaining her grip on the girl to reliably defend herself. Ergo, it would be wise of her to conceal herself somewhere in the case of anyone searching for her; the middle floor likely being the best place to hide from those coming from the top or bottom. Still, its doubtful to claim that the witch wouldn’t be expecting others to figure this out; that soul stealing scoundrel probably has trap set around here to ward off and oppose any prying eyes. A cleaver idea she may think it is, it proves to be nothing more than her downfall in the end of it all; the presence of death traps being more than a clear sign of where she cowers. Keeping all of this in mind, the demon proceeds through the mold ridden halls of the tower; keeping close to the cracked drywall as he walks towards the corner ahead.

Stopping at the next corner, the orange demon peeks out on the other side; a small smile cracking between his cheeks as he discovers an obvious trap. Marked along the floor ahead be faint black markings, taking the form of a large circle with odd signs held within it. Obviously not the kind of markings that conjure from the congregation of the vermin swarming through these halls, not to mention be far too detailed to be just some street urchins gang tag; clearly it be the work of that soul harvesting witch. Still, best to play it safe and be certain; it would be quiet an embarrassment to be driven so paranoid over something nonexistent. This in mind, the young demon paces back towards the hall he had just ventured through; hoping to find some vermin swarming through these disgusting halls to serve as a test subject.

Alex’s search has him come to a large piece of rubble resting along the side of the hall; the edge of the stone sporting small tails and feet digging their way further inside. The orange demon grasp both sides of the rubble and starts lifting the piece from the tile; an entire pack of mice pouring out from underneath the rock as he lifts the stone. The very site of the escaping swarm causes the demon to transform into a girl as she retreats from the piece of rock; shuttering from the display as she watches them all spread out. Powering past her squeamishness, Alex reaches for one of the scattering vermin just when it was on the verge of escaping into a crack in the wall; clutching the live rats in the palm of her pitch black hand. With the rat in her grasp, the orange demon rushes back out towards the corner as the vermin squirms in her hand; tossing the mouse out as soon as she reaches the next hall. Flung towards the faint mystic sign, the rat tumbles across the dirt ridden tile until sliding right to the edge of the trap; the signs markings glowing a rainbow bright light. The glow draws the unlucky vermin straight into the center of the sign: Alex watching as the luminescence disintegrates the rat before her eyes. Having uncovered the witch’s trap, a creeping smile forms between the demon’s cheeks; Alex turning back into a boy as he floats towards the magical sign. Fully aware of the trap in front of him, Alex glides right around the mystic sign drawn on the floor; squeezing himself along the dry wall as she passes by. Once the orange demon passes by the witch’s trap, he glides out towards the next intersection with a prideful smirk. A far too easy endeavor.

Alex’s inflated ego swiftly backfires on him when the demon’s foot brushes on a small tripware; the sound of the snap making his entire body instantly stiffen. Once the wire is set off, it triggers a powerful bright light that shines out from behind; the demon glances to the wall behind him to discover a set of glowing mystic ruins. These magical letters soon expel out a nasty flood of buzzing locusts and all swarm out towards Alex, the site of the approaching flock of bugs draining whatever confidence he has before the demon disappears in puff of black smoke. The overwhelming swarm dispel the demons cloud as the fly right past; all of them flocking past several doors as they race around the corner. Once the entirety of the swarm disappears around the corner, one of the doors on the left slowly cracks open; a female Alex left shaken and whimpering as she slowly floats ahead.

Back outside the tower, the spice queen speeds through the streets as she pursues a fleeting pack of predators; flying past the horde of deadly beasts towards a set of parked cars. Coming to the row of parked vehicles, Cayenne punches each and every one of them towards the road ahead; all of them crashing to the street ahead one after another to make a makeshift barricade. The herd of beast stop in their tracks when coming upon the blockade; several of them ramming and clawing the cars in an effort to escape. The site of their entrapment makes the spice queen let out a satisfied laugh. Like to see these motherfuckers try and get through all that shit.

Its in solving one problem does Cayenne witness another quickly develop, the aggressive predators she manages to close in starting to turn on one another; all of them keeping their eyes on one another as they prowl around the streets. With tensions among the transformed citizens climbing fast, the Spice queen delves down towards the streets below; aiming herself for the lion and hippo ready to tear each other to shreds. As both beast encircle one another, the lion lets out a low growl to attempt and show dominance; the hippo exhaling a powerful breath from its nostrials as a challenge. Upon feeling its foe’s breath, the lion pounces straight towards the hippo with its claws bared; the feline feeling the spice queens hard fist on its face. Having punched the lion back, Cayenne turns to the hippo behind her to find the aquatic mammal opening its wide maw; the Spice queen holding back its gaping mouth. Glancing back, she soon finds another pair of predators ready to duke it out; a wolf and hyena staring eachother down as they slowly approach one another. “No you fucking don’t!” she shouts, keeping a tight grip on the hippo’s Acting fast, Cayenne lobs the giant mammal out towards the two wild dogs; the hippo slamming down between both the predators and scaring both of them away. The pack of predators reaching the intersection, the Spice queen watches all of them scramble in different directions; the beast spreading out as such causing Cayenne to let out a frustrated growl. “Aaagh! This is a god damn animal controls nightmare! I’m up to my ass in a zoo’s worth of runaway beasts! When in the fucking hell are those three gonna get here!?”

Glaring out towards the intersection where the pack of predators had escaped, the Spice queen witnesses a bright red glow shine out from around the corner; watching as the horde of deadly animals scurry back in her direction. As the animals stampede her way, Cayenne soon comes to discover what exactly could make them retreat back towards her; glancing over the mob to find one of her little cousins herding them with his red hot eye lasers. “Yeah, bitches! Yo dirty ass sharp teeth and claws don’t got nothing on the shit I got packin! Dirty ass mofo’s!” Once the horde of beasts passes right by her, the spice queen soon witnesses a set of cars crashing themselves right before her; all of them forming a barricade of wrecked vehicles across the street. Tying the blockade together, a lime green woosh lodges several signs and street lamps into the cracks of the countless cars; Lequan landing with a bench in his arms to top off his makeshift barricade. Turning her attention back towards the contained pack of predators, Cayenne finds them all ready to pounce one one another like before; a rhino and bear seemingly on the verge of clashing with one another. Just before either of them could charge forth, the asphalt road between them cracks in fissures; separating both beasts from one another. Her gaze venturing to the rest of the animal filled streets, the Spice queen watches the cracks form all across the concrete; parting the deadly beasts from each other. Out from between the fissures does another green figure swiftly emerge from the cracks, the minty green gal landing before Cayenne and greeting her with: “Hola, prima Cayenne! Mucho sorry all of us are so late.” While Biance gives her older cousin her sincerest apologies, Ty lands right behind the young girl as he cheers how: “Yeah, motherfucka! These beasts be little bitches with all of us on the scene! They can’t do shit while we wrangle them all!” Just as the last of the trio’s floats before the Spice queen, she questions all of them on: “I texted all of you like thirty minutes ago saying it was urgent. Where the hell have you three been?” “I was hungry. Needed food.” she hears Lequan simply answer with. “Bullshit! I watch you eat like 9/10th’s of a pizza an hour and a half ago!” “It wasn’t enough.”

Hearing her cousins shitty excuse of explanation, Cayenne can’t help but let out a frustrated sigh; deciding to move past all of it with: “Just fuck it. Need to get back to business. We still got a shit ton of transformed people on our hands to wrangle up. The whole district’s practically turned into what the boss thinks it be a fun idea to turn all of the zoo into a god damn petting farm. Oh yes sir, I’m sure all the little tikes will love feeling the leopards fuzzy pelt as they’re being ripped apart by its deadly claws! Why don’t we just hand out steak and hamburger as feed to tie it all together!” All three of her little cousins give the spice queen confused glares as she rants on, their gazes making her get back on track with: “Right. I need all three of you to help me sort this zootopia shitshow out before they wind up rampaging through to the other parts of Townsville. Think I can count on you all to help us out?” “Can do.” Lequan answers. “Hell yeah, bitch! We beaten some animal ass tonight!” Ty exclaims as he flies off into the night sky. With Lequan taking off after, Bianca readies to join her cousins as they speed off into the night skyline; urging the two of them to: “Dios Mio! Wait for me!” Just when she readies to fly, she feels a sudden hand grasp hold of her own; glancing back to find her bigger cousin holding onto her as she explains how: “Hang on there, habanero pepper. I got somethin special in mind I need ya to do.”

Near the other side of the run down district, several woman and children frantically flee from the beastly wrath of their transformed neighbors and loved ones; their cries for aid echoing alongside the growls and roars of the animals behind them. “Somebody help us!” “Daddy, please stop!” “Snap out of it, honey!” “This can’t be happening!” Despite running as fast as they can, the horde behind the fleeing mob inches ever closer to their tails; the monsters claws barred as they approach. Just before the pack of predators lash out to the running crowd, a streak of white delves down and sweeps the people before them off the streets; the beasts slowing to a halt as they check their surrounding to where their pursuits may have fled. Ascending in the skies above, the blue angel holds the small crowd over his back; the boy balancing them all as he glides across the neighborhood skyline. “Just hang on folks. We’ll be landing real soon. Keep all your arms, legs, valuables and children on you until we land.” Tore advises while mimicking a plane intercom. As the crowd under him do their best not to fall off, they see their savor glide towards one of the blocks taller buildings; the people dismounting from the boy once over the rooftop.

Seeing each of the people he had rescued standing safely on the rooftop, the blue angel turns back to face the streets below; a stressful worry befalling the boy when witnessing several fleeting crowds below. One of these panicking mobs attempt to flee from the stamping wrath of a runaway elephant, while another races away from a horde of wild boars. Another crowd dashes from the fury of a lone tiger, while some scurry from a whole pack of laughing hyena. Hearing each of these mobs cry out for aid makes the angel let out a panicked moan, clasping both sides of his head as his eyes dart between the four fleeting mobs. “I haven’t even gotten through half the neighborhood yet and there’s still alot more people that need saved! It’s too much! I’m just one guy! How can I save them all in time!”

Asking himself such does Tore witness a miracle play out before him, a mint green streak speeding across the streets and sweeping the crowds away from danger; one after another carrying them to the safety of the roof’s. Once rescuing the last mob, the green streak dashes out towards the blue angel; the figure halting right in front of him to reveal herself to be a girl in mint green. “Hola mi gracioso ángel.” she politely greets. “Oh you! You’re one of Cayenne’s cousins, aren’t ya? Unn...Lequan, right?” “Bianca, actually. That’s one of my hermono’s. Mi querida prima Cayenne had sent me to your side to help aid you in rescuing these poor citizens from being chased and mauled by the uncontrollable wrath of their transformed neighbors.” “Glad to hear that, kid. I was seriously beginning to get overwhelmed.” “De nada.”

Its then that more cries for help reach both of their ears; both glancing over to the source of the calls to discover a stampeding pack of bulls rapidly pursuing another crowd. “Guess you came just in time, Kid. Let’s move!” “Wait!” the angel hears his newly arrived partner cry out moments before he could take off. “What!?” Holding the blue angels attention, the young girl in green directs his gaze to the opposite end of the stretching street; pointing out towards a horde of charging wildebeests leading another crowd towards the other. “Oh man, um! You go for the people! I’ll stop the herds!”

Upon Tore’s demands do both Bianca and him delve down towards the pair of racing stampedes below; the young girl in green diving towards one of the fleeing crowds. Moments before the people pursued by the bulls could feel the sting of their pursers horns, Bianca whisks all of them away from the wrath of the herd from behind; the young girl then speeding towards the mob being chased by the wildebeests. Snatching both of the crowds from the concrete roads, the girl in green carries the two crowds in both her arms; flying them all to the skies above. Despite their pursuits having been rescued, neither pack refuses to stop their stampede; the bulls and wildebeests racing towards one another in a maddening rush. Landing between the two charging packs, the blue angel digs both of his arms through the asphalt road; starting to pull both sides apart as both herds draw near. Moments before the packs could collide, Tore tears apart the concrete road they stand on with but his hands, both herds stopping dead in their tracks as their path ahead is walled off from one another. Descending down from the night sky, Bianca hovers down to the roof of a nearby building with all the people she swept out of danger in her grasp; setting all of them safely down upon the rooftop. Just as the last of the rescued citizens jumps off her, the young girl in green’s hears catch more cries of distress; their pleads for help sounding alongside the harsh inhuman screams.

Along the side of a building not too far off, several civilians frantically climb up the iron of the fire escapes while ear piercing screeches echo from below; one of them glancing back down to witness a dozen chimps scaling the brick wall after them. As the people clamber their way up the escape, all of them come to discover a little girl dressed in green staring at them from above; the girl raising her fist and slamming it into the brick wall. Bianca’s powerful punch proves strong enough to cause the entire brick building to furiously tremble; the tremor making the ascending apes loose grip of the brick wall. As the chimps fall onto the ground however, the iron fire escape also struggle to stay on the wall; their rustic screws dislodging from the brick of the buildings. Just when the building finally stops trembling, it proves to be far too late; the fire escape and the people on it break off from the wall and start to fall to the hard concrete below. When the people scream out in terror as they plummet to their potential demise, a white streak weaves through the iron grates; whisking the descending people out from the escape. With the escape continuing to plummet down to the unconscious simians, the mint green girl dives down from the roof of the apartment complex and to the chimps below; sweeping them away before the fire escape crashes onto the hard pavement. With the pack of live apes in her arms, the young girl dashes out towards the nearest dumpster; throwing the screaming horde right inside and shutting the lid. While the maddening chimps feverishly pound and beat on the inside to try and escape, Bianca seals the lid shut with her red hot rays; the iron dumpster muffling the apes constant shrieks.

Gliding above the streets with citizens in hand, Tore descend upon a nearby building away from the chimps; gently setting all of them down onto the rooftop. After the last of the people climb off him, the blue angel’s gaze venture out to the horizon beyond the neighborhood. Wonder how Roy is doing with his part?...Sure hope he’s okay. It with these thoughts does the blue boy witness a sizable pink explosion go off along the far end of the horizon; a trail of pink smoke careening across the skyline.

Gliding across the city sky in a trail of pink smoke, the purple angel crashes straight through the stone faces of several towering buildings behind him; blasting through them all in a mess of rubble and glass. Crashing through the last of the towers, the violet merc starts to tumble down to the city streets below; tearing through the hard asphalt roads as he skids across the entire block. Once he finally comes to a skidding halt, Roy lets out a painful groan as he lies on the torn concrete; coughing up blood as he pulls himself back up from the crater. When he manages to stand back up on his own two feet, the merc discover the possessed red head on the rapid approach; the controlled teen conjuring a pink lance in the palm of her hand as she charges forth. As Circe’s red headed puppet lunges at her purple pest, Roy manages to sidestep out of her charging assault; the violet angel grasping the back of the young girls dress as he evades her lance. While the bewitched young teen is being pulled back, she transforms the lance in her grasp into a small dagger; the mind controlled Chloe swiftly turning back towards her purple foe while thrusting her weapon towards the merc’s eye. Just as the knife’s pink point was on the verge of piercing through the angel’s violet retina, Roy glowing arm catches the weapon between its fingers; the goddess’s limb absorbing the dagger from the girls grasp. After disarming their possessed young foe, Hera’s arm reaches out for the amazon crystal around Chloe’s neck; Circe making her puppet fire at the violet angels chest to make him lose his grip. As the bewitched pink teen retreats from the purple merc, she creates a huge spiked ball in the palm of her hands; the red head swinging the ball out towards the angel. Swiftly recovering from the red heads pink blast, Roy witnesses the girls spiked weapon careening towards him; his glowing pink limb conjures a sharp blade in the palm of its hand. Hera’s neon pink sword in his grasp, the violet angel takes off towards the nearing wrecking ball; Roy slicing through the witch’s spiked ball with a single swing.

Her heavy weapon split right in half, the possessed Chloe retreats from the purple angel in an attempt to escape; the merc’s other arm shooting out a ray of darkness out towards the girl. Circe’s puppet glances back just in time to witness the black blast incoming, narrowly evading the beam by the skin of her teeth; the beam crashing underneath a billboard behind her. “What in my own name do you think you’re doing!? Do you not remember what I said about hurting her!?” Hera chastises. “Wasn’t aiming at her.” With one of its legs having been shot off, the massive board starts to lean down from the perch of the building it stands; the possessed teen gazing back to witness the billboard plummet down upon her. With little time to glide out from its descent, Circe’s pink puppet erects a shield over her head as the metal board falls upon her; both her and the massive piece of advertisement crashing onto the streets below.

Once the dust flying around the billboard settles, Roy descends down to the resulting wreckage; the goddess in his head ringing on: “What is the absolute matter with you!? You could’ve killed her!?” “Relax, Hera. I doubt that the witch bitch would let her little puppet get done in that easily; especially with the trinket she’s pining after still around the red head’s neck. She need Chloe’s alive just as much as we do.” Declaring such does the purple angel start to dig through the destroyed remains of the billboard; his statement showing some ground when he soon sees an intense pink glow growing brighter underneath the cracks. The purple angel quickly scampers off the pile of destroyed metal as the neon pink light reaches its brightest; a powerful pink shockwave blasting apart the remains of the board off the bewitched young teen. The red heads pulsing waves proving strong enough to send the pieces of the billboard flying across the sky; the merc struggling to stay in the storm of neon pink as the shockwave pushes him away. In hopes of keeping himself from being sent flying through the night sky, the violet angel digs his fist straight into the hard asphalt road beneath him; the cold concrete keeping him from careening away from the mind controlled young lass. His eyes venturing towards the red head herself, Roy finds finds her entire body enveloped in a strong aura of neon pink; the merc hearing a small giggle escape from the girls mouth. “I must admit, Hera. You’re worthless excuse for a servant almost scarred me for a minute there. I wasn’t sure if that purple messenger of yours would actually follow your commands. But now do I see that it twas a simple ploy on his part to catch me off guard; an amusing effort, if not a futile one. But...I grow tired of this time consuming charade. I’d say its time for us to move on from the third act, and head straight into the finale.”

With the bewitched red head declaring such, Circe’s puppet crosses her arms as the neon glow surrounding her starts to grow brighter; the young girl raising her arms up high to cast her aura into the night sky. The bright pink glow soon begins to rain down towards the street where the purple angel stands; Roy uprooting his fist from the asphalt as his other pink limb holds itself up. Before the storm of pink could pour down upon the concrete roads, Hera’s limb conjures a bright pink shield over her violet messengers head; blocking the raining pink beams from crash upon the merc. Witnessing her purple pest distracted by her neon pink downpour, Circe commands her puppet to charge while the violet angel is trapped underneath her storm. Underneath the goddess’s pink shield, Roy watches as his red headed foe dashes out towards him; the merc holding his arm out in attempts to counter her charge. A sinister grin forms between the girls cheeks, this being exactly what the witch had anticipated. Once getting close enough to the merc, Circe swerves her puppet around Hera’s messenger as she constructs a rapier of pink in the palm of the young girls hand; the bewitched teen thrusting the tip of her weapon straight into the angel’s back. Feeling the tip his pink adversary’s blade digging straight through his back, the piercing pain causes the purple angel to let out a painful scream as he kneels to the pavement. The glowing pink girls weapon deep within her foe’s backside, the witch lifts the purple angel overhead like an umbrella; Roy forced to take in what’s left of the bombarding pink storm from head to toe. After the neon pink shower finally comes to an end, Circe’s fleshy cover hangs mostly limp over her; the witch flinging the injured angel off her weapon and onto the cold unforgiving pavement.

Staring down upon the violet merc with her cold pink glare, the witch watches as Roy slowly picks himself off the ground; her grin dissolving as an irritated groan passes through her teeth. “Agh...I simply just can’t stand how...uneven your body looks. It’s just the arms; simply just don’t match at all. Even without your new holy limb glowing at your side, you’d remains so hideously asymmetrical… Why don’t I offer to even you out.” the self proclaimed goddess offers, pointing her puppets finger towards the grounded angel. A bright twinkling light shines out the tip of the young red heads finger, the pink glow growing bigger and brighter as the sadistic smile creeps out.

Just moments before the witch could finish the purple merc once and for all, she feels something hug her puppets midsection. “Agh! What in heavens!” The bewitched young girl feeling herself being lifted from the ground against her will, the witch glances back to find a familiar figure grappling her waist; Melvin grasping Chloe’s waistline as he holds the girl up. “Get the fuck outta my girls body, you witch bitch!” “Gah! You barbaric interloper! Unhand me this instant!” With her demands does the young bewitched girl attempt fire beams of pink to the ruffian underneath her back; the witch failing to aim where the young man stands as she struggles in his grip. As Melvin keeps the possessed red head at bay, the purple angel continues to rise from the asphalt; standing on his own two feet as he holds the bloody stab wound at his back shut. “Enough of these games!” Circe cries out, erecting a cluster of needles across her back. A few of the neon pink girls spikes dig themselves into the young mans body, forcing Melvin to free his possessed girlfriend from his hold. The young man backs away from Chloe as he places his hands over the spots the needles pierced through, able to do little as he watches the possessed teen turn back with her palm glowing bright pink. “Well, I hope you had your fun while it lasted. You’re horrid barbarism just cost you your life.”

Moments before the witch could end the boy right then and there, a limb of glowing pink slips out from behind her; taking a tight grasp of the amazon crystal around her neck. “Gotcha, bitch!” the self proclaimed goddess hears from behind, glancing back to discover the purple angel right at her backside. “What! No!” As Hera’s arm begins to pull the source of the possessed red heads power off, powerful streams of power surge throughout the entire block; the nightly streets lighting up in flashes of bright pink. “No! No! I refuse to let this happen again!” the witch screams, charging a powerful pink glow in her hand. Before Circe could command her puppet to attack, the self proclaimed goddess discover the glow in the palm of her hand swiftly fading away; the red head’s pink aura growing more and more dim. “No! My power!” While Chloe’s weapon continues to emit sparking stream of pink power, the goddess’s limb envelopes the crystal in her own glow; the pink storm ravaging the streets slowly dying down.

At long last, the seal that has been placed on Chloe’s Amazon crystal had come undone; the merc pulling the mystic pink stone away from the young girls neck. The amazon crystal in his pink hand, Roy backs away from the tumbling young girl; the powerless possessed red head falling to the cold hard concrete. As the violet angel balances himself back on the ground, he can’t help but let out a loud and mocking laughter; pointing his regular finger to the girl as he further berates her on how: “Look at that, the great and magical Circe fallen to her knees! Let your guard down once and your whole world just comes crumbling down!” Hera’s arm spinning the freshly pilfered crystal on her finger, the goddess’s messenger questions the girl on the ground: “How’s it feel to be on top of the world only to crash down in an instant, twice!? Can’t imagine you feeling anything else but shitty! I mean, no wonder you try to prop yourself up all the goddamn time; I probably be pretty fuckin depressed if I lost to a bunch of stupid kids twice now.” Hearing the purple mercs scathing mockery, the bewitched young girl slowly arises from the cold pavement with her fists furiously trembling; questioning him if: “Do you honestly think I’d let you triumph over me that easily? As you dare to mock me, my victory is yet at hand.” Declaring such does Circe’s puppet pull out a small knife from the back of her dress pocket; the site of the weapon catching Melvin off guard and making him check his pocket. “My-my pocket knife!?” Its then that he remembers when he first tackles the violet angel off his girl, Chloe having snatches his knife from the depths of his pocket. “Oh please, like I’m so fuckin scared. Really Circe, this is just embarrassing. The hell you expect to take us on with some dinky ass pocket knife?” the purple merc further taunts. Turning herself towards her violet foe with a devious grin, she gleefully gives him the answer he asks for; the possessed girl dressed in pink holding the knife to the jugular of her own neck.

As she watches the site cause both of the boys between her to freeze in place, the self proclaimed goddess lets out a sinister cackle from her puppets lips; claiming to them on how: “The both of you had actually done me a tremendous favor; undoing the seal on this young girl so eagerly for me. I don’t even need all the souls I had gathered anymore. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to bring them all along to use in some powerful spells I have in mind.” Keeping his eyes on the knife the bewitched young girl has close to her neck, nervous sweat starts to run down Roy’s forehead; both Hera and him hearing Circe further boast on how: “I know how much you don’t wish to see your precious little girl hurt, Hera. Why else hold so much back during our fight. Though it would pain me to cut the life of this blooming young rose such as this one, we can’t make a bouquet without snipping a few beautiful flowers. So unless you’d bear witness to your precious rose bleeding before you, hand over what is rightfully mine.” From the red heads unwilling suicide threat, Roy’s eyes dart through the streets around him; his mind on overdrive on how to stop the witch’s threat. And yet, he proves to be at a loss; knowing any sudden moves will make her go for the throat. “Hera...any plans?” he questions the goddess in his head. When consoling the goddess for his next move, Roy hears nothing but silence echoing in his head; the purple angel asking Hera if: “You still with me Hera? Need something here.” “Give her the stone.” the goddess finally orders. “What!? Hera...you sure?” “Unless we get a miracle, we don’t have any other choice. Just give it to her.”

Inside the darkened confines of the dilapidated tower, an ultra thin slit of black creeps between the crack of a locked door; the limb sliding itself through the gap and slicing the lock right off. With nothing else to keep it shut tight, the door slowly creaks open; the orange demon on the other side letting himself in. Beyond the broken door, Alex ventures through the remains of abandoned library; carefully walking along the sides of the empty bookshelves as his gaze drifts around the surrounding darkness. Venturing deep within the black recesses of the disowned archives, the demon discovers a small glint of light shining from behind one of the bookcases; the rainbow light shining upon the dust and cobweb littered roof.

Peeking out from the other side of the shelves, Alex finally lays his eyes upon the witch that had rob his precious Kingsley of his soul; the magical woman floating a foot off the dirt ridden floor in what seemed to be a meditative trance. Upon the site of the witch bitch does the demon rush forth as he transforms his arm into a deadly blade, aiming the swing of his sword hand towards the self proclaimed goddess’s neck. The demon deadly assault is thwarted on the spot however when an invisible barrier deflects his swing, the denying force causing Alex to tumble onto the floor.

Picking himself back off the dirt and dust littered ground, the orange demon gazes back to the meditating witch; the barrier that had block him quickly turning invisible once more. Hmph. Guess this should have been predicted. She’d be a fool to leave her defenseless body unguarded like this other wise. Still, given how much power she would have to expend to maintain her mental hold on the younger of the Spicers, its doubtful that she had enough to give her barrier much strength. A strong enough blow may likely shatter her defenses.

In thinking such, the orange demon looks to his pitch black limb as he turns it back from a lethal blade; Alex’s letting out a slight growl as he stares upon the palm of his hand. The orange demons eyes drift through the room in hopes of finding something that could shatter that harlots barrier; gazing up to the top of the empty bookshelves. A devious smile stretching across Alex’s face, he races out towards the end of the abandoned library; stopping at the very last bookshelf. Flattening his arms out as thin as paper, the orange demon slides his limbs under the bottom of the heavy shelf; Alex prying the bookcase off the floor with all the much strength as he can muster. As he struggles to lift the bookcase off the ground, the words of his purple masters sibling echo through his head; hearing Mally claim that: “He saw somebody who wanted to be as amazing as they say.” The skaters words ringing in his head, it isn’t long before the demon starts to make the entire bookcase tilt back; Alex pushing the shelf further with his entire body. “Roy harnessed your spite, anger, and hatred to try and turn you from just another bragging and whining brat, into the demon that proves to be everything they say they are.” “I...am… who I say...I am…I...am...a demon!” Proudly declaring such, the orange demon finally pries the massive shelf off the floor; the entire case tumbling onto the one neighboring it and causing the others to follow suit. All the shelves set along the small library tumble on one another like collapsing domino’s; the bookcase’s falling out towards the meditating witch.

Back in the city streets, the purple angel slowly approaches the possessed red head whilst presenting the powerful pink stone in hand; an evil grin stretching across the bewitched young teens face while she keeps the sharp end of the pocket knife close to her puppets neck. Roy’s own sour demeanor worsen the closer he nears the bewitches Chloe; Circe’s possessed puppet reaching out for her the Amazon crystal in the angels glowing pink palm. Just mere moments before the witch could grasp her coveted prize, an unexpected pain jolts Circe out of the young girls body; the red head briefly convulsing as the self proclaimed goddess loses her hold on her mind. As the red head shakes uncontrollably, the weapon she wields falls from her grasp and plummets to the hard concrete road; Chloe beginning to do the same once she stops trembling. Witnessing his girl plummeting down towards the cold pavement, Melvin lunges out towards the fainting red head; the young man catching the red head in his arms before she could hit the ground.

Having watched the entire scene play out mere feet before him, the merc proves to be ever so confused; wondering aloud: “The...the fuck did I just see?” “It’s Circe. I don’t know how, but she’s been cut off from Chloe’s mind. She’s finally out of my granddaughters body.” “Oh...Glad its finally over...Can’t exactly feel my insides. Now that we stopped that witch bitch from abusing your granddaughter’s body, think I might take me a little nap...Night Hera.” “Goodnight Roy!” The goddess echoing her wishes in his head, the violet angel falls to the cold hard asphalt road right next to Melvin and Chloe; the conscious young man hearing the merc’s snoring as he approaches. Taking a glance at the violet angel’s glowing side, the young man watches Roy’s neon pink arm starts to dissolve into bright glittering dust; the remains of the arm drifting away into the night sky. Puzzled by what he had just witnessed, all that Melvin could utter out in response is: “The...the fuck happened?”

Back inside the tower, Alex runs back to the other end of the library; beholding the witch having been buried under the remains of the fallen bookcase. The mere site of the demons defeated foe makes a boasting laughter slowly escape from his lunges; pointing out to the downed mystical witch and bragging on how: “That’s right, you pathetic magical worm! Your nightmare incarnate has arrived, here to deliver you suffering and torment the likes of which no damned urchin would dare wish upon their most despised adversary! I plan to drag you down into the deepest pit of hell for pilfering the soul of my precious beloved! That is why your end is at hand!” All of the demon’s bravado instantly vanishes when the bookcase Circe was trapped under explodes in a magical explosion; the remains of the shelf raining through the library as the self proclaimed goddess slowly rises from the dirt ridden floor. A rainbow aura begins to flare throughout the witch’s entire body as she stands, Circe mumbling aloud on how: “I was so close...It was almost in my grasp.” Hoping to sneak away from the brightly lit witch, Alex starts to back away towards the door he came in from; the sound of his single footstep making Circe instantly glance his direction. With the mystic woman’s eyes illuminating a multitude of colors, the witch’s glare causes the demon before her to transform into a girl; Alex hearing Circe accuse her on how: “It’s all your fault.” Continuing to back away to the door, the orange demon watches the magical witch float near with a menacing rainbow aura surrounding her; Circe further stating how: “The sweet taste of victory was only inches away from my grasp. Then you barge in and take it all away. I swear to you, lowly interloping imp, with every bit of my divine wrath to tear your pathetic body to bloody pieces!”

Further up the ruined skyscraper, the orange skater continues her rapid climb up to the towers top; using her grapple yo to pull herself up through the rustic stairwell. Her ascent eventually has her land upon the very end of the staircase; Mally skidding through a pried open doorway and into a small, poorly kept lobby. Once she finally comes to a stop in the middle of the room, the young skater comes face to face with her final roadblock standing between her and the collection of souls that the witch had amassed. Standing tall before Mally be a pair of twin steel doors inscribed with an arcane ruin, their markings pulsating a bright rainbow glow that travels through the entire wall; a bright glow escaping from underneath the door. In hopes of blasting straight through the doors, Mally begins to skate around the ruins of the lobby; picking up more and more speed the more she skates. After gaining enough momentum, the orange girl races out towards the opposing doors; wielding her hockey stick as tight as she can as she prepares to swing. When the young girl tackles her weapon into the steel doors, a powerful shockwave sends her careening back through the lobby. The pulse causes Mally to slam straight into the opposite wall, soon falling onto the cracked tile floor after impact.

Despite taking such a violent knock back, the orange skater gets right back up; her eyes fixated on the pair of doors that had just sent her flying. The skater approaches the doorway once more in order to gauge a better look, she runs her fingers through the markings to find them inerasable; left completely intact no matter how hard she attempts to wipe them away. Giving the wall beside the doorway a light tap with her hockey stick pushes her back a little bit; the force almost causing her to loose her balance. Right, so the brute force option is obviously out of the question. There has to be some other way of getting through. Questioning such does she feel another cold breeze pass through her; Mally shivering from the wind as she glances out in the direction it came from. The skaters eyes widen when discovering a broken window along the side of the lobby; giving her a glimpse of the rest of Townsville’s cityscape. Keeping in mind the glowing light she managed to spot outside the towers top, the gears in her head start to turn; the skater rolling up to the window and taking a peek outside. Gazing down from the top of the tower, Mally comes to discover the streets below over run with countless wild animals; their echoing cries and roars reaching the skaters ears. Well, guess we know what Tore and Cayenne were busy with. They’d be all over an insane zoo escape like this. No doubt a ploy by that witch bitch to distract the two of them. Still, that ain’t gonna stop this spunky as fuck skater from busting her sorry ass souls snatching scheme. Bitch be goin apeshit when she sees her collection going up in smoke.

All this in mind, Mally takes a daring leap out through the broken window; casting her grapple yo back up to the crown of the tower as she plummets down. Her gadget sticking to one of the planks boarding up one of the outside windows, the skater zips herself back towards the top; the skater pulling out her hockey stick as she ascends. Once reaching the planks, the orange skater drives her weapon straight between the gaps in the boards; the young girl pushing her hockey stick against the wood in hopes of prying her way in. It isn’t long before Mally manages to pull some of the wooden boards out from the frame of the shattered window; the planks plummeting down towards the base of the tower. After prying a couple of the planks off, the skater creates a way leading inside that’s big enough for her to squeeze through; Mally forcing herself through the hole like a rat climbing through the tight shaft of a forgotten pipeline. Squeezing between the planks of wood, the young orange girl flops down on the cracked gray stone on the other side; noticing the floor reflect a multitude of glowing colors as she picks herself up off the cold floor. Gazing through the chamber she had broken into, Mally comes to discover a massive transparent veil filled with bright balls of light swirling within; hearing a muffled moaning out from the other side as she slowly approaches the illuminating case. So many of them...Could this really be all be the souls she had taken this past week? All of them sound like they’re crying. Like they’re begging to return to the sides of their loved ones. Such a desperate and sad site presented before her stirs within the skater a powerful feeling deep inside her; a tear trickling down her face as the weapon with in her hand trembles. Too focused on the veil of trapped souls before, Mally fails to notice the boarded window she came through losing more of its planks; the lose pieces of wood falling off the top of the crown windows and towards the streets below. As the piece of wood rapidly descends towards the ground; small trickles of color glow across its splintered surface; the light slowly forming into mystic symbols and letters on every side of the plank.

Racing through the middle of the decrepit skyscraper, Alex rockets through its crumbling halls as fast as he could float; a worrying panic coursing throughout her entire body as she takes turn after turn from every intersection. Taking a quick glance back to the last hall she had flown from, the orange demon finds a bright rainbow light creeping out from behind the corner; the self proclaimed goddess comes around the intersection and fires out a barrage of bright mutlicolored beam towards her fleeting foe. Witnessing the salvo of rainbow rays incoming, Alex swiftly weaves between the passing storm as she continues through the hall; feeling the overwhelming magical power from the beams irradiating all around her. Coming to another four way hall ahead of her, the orange demon swiftly turns to the right before Circe could send out another magical volley; the wrathful witch pursuing her swearing to Alex that: “You can’t flee from my divine fury forever, you pitiable darkling. So long as power flows through my being, I swear to reduce you to nothing but a worthless stain left to rot within this dilapidated tower. A rightful punishment for robbing me of my glorious triumph!”

Though she proves frightened of the furious goddess hot on her tail, Alex nevertheless remains focused on navigating the ruined halls ahead of her; the layout of the halls he had previously ventured through kept in mind. With the witch hellbent on ending her quickly closing in from behind, the demon transforms her arm into a sledge hammer and drives it into the frail drywall beside her; the flakes and dust that burst from the old wall flying straight into the self proclaimed goddess’s eyes. The pissed witch can only wretch in pain when the flakes land in her eyes, letting out an irritated growl as she covers her face; Circe firing out yet another wave of rainbow light out towards her demonic pursuit. As the blind bright shot streaks through the hallway, Alex vanishes in a puff of smoke before the beam could reach her; the mystic witch’s ray collides with the far end of the hall, reducing the opposing wall to nothing but rubble. After whipping away the last of the drywall out of her eyes, the self proclaimed goddess gazes out to the hallway ahead; a seething growl escaping between her teeth before she demands that Alex: “Show yourself, you worthless imp! Come out and take the divine punishment you rightful deserve!” Her demanding cry echoing throughout the ruined hall, the witch lets out a furious roar before vanishing in a flash of rainbow light.

Reappearing in another part of the same floor, the angered witch checks through her immediate surroundings for any sign of that wretched imp; finding little but rubble and cobwebs littering the hall. “Hiding from me will do you no good, you pathetic gremlin. I can hear you trembling in fear.” Remarking on such does the magical goddess manages to spot a lone shadow slipping behind one of the corners, a sinister grin stretching across her face as she approaches the turn ahead. Her smile instantly shatters when a wayward piece of rubble flies past her, the rock streaking mere inches from her face. Once the stone shatters on the wall beside her, the witch glances in the opposite direction to discover the demon she so feverishly pursues on the other side; Alex standing with his arm taking the form of a mallet as she tosses another piece of rubble in the air. With but a single swing, the orange demon bats the rock straight to her mystical pursuer; the witch continuing to approach with the stone careening right towards her. The hard piece of concrete manages to only reach a few paces away from her before spontaneously shattering into pieces; a rainbow shell reverberating from the impact before turning invisible once more. “Really...can you not do better than this?” Not even leaving her foe amused from her efforts to strike back, Alex attempts to flee from the ever nearing goddess; the demon slamming face first into a rainbow wall erected beside her. Forced to face the witch’s enraged glare, Alex backs against the wall behind her as Circe slowly floats closer; the goddess pointing her finger at the orange demon as a small flare starts to ignite from her finger tip. “Shame...you do look rather cute in that form too.”

Moments before she could burn the demon before her to ash, something beneath her feet begins to glow a rainbow of colors; Circe glancing down to find herself floating above the magical markings that she had left. Shining out from the mystic runes, the luminescence starts to engulf the goddess’s entire body; the witch left trapped under a spell of her own device as she wails out in excruciating pain. Watching her pursuer suffer under the ironic circumstances makes the orange demon let out a small snicker; her chuckle growing louder and louder until transforming into pure maniacal laughter. “Did you really think that I would just blindly run away from you without any sort of plan? You thought I was so defenseless as you pursued me through these halls. Little did you realize that my fleeting cowardice was merely a ploy; to lower your guard as you feverishly followed me straight into one of your own trap. I had spent so long toiling through your magical death dungeon filled with locust, rats, and the occasional homeless urchin; all while memorizing where each trap was placed in these halls! It was my incredible wits and planning mixed alongside your recklessly bloodthirsty focus that led me to pull the coop de grace on your magical hide, meeting your end by one of your own deadly spells...Ha ha ha ha ha! I cannot think of a more fitting end for soul stealing cunt like yourself.”

Even after Alex’s victorious boasting, the demon continues to mockingly laugh at the self proclaimed goddess as she suffers under the glow of her own trap. The demons mockery and laughter almost immediately ceases when the witch breaks the luminescence surrounding her like fragile glass; the pieces scattering into dust as they break upon the drywall. The runes beneath her feet having been broken into pieces, Circe gazes back towards her demonic prey with piteous contempt; the witch questioning her if: “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t know how to dispel one of my own traps?” Alex’s confidence slowly drains before the approaching witch as he returns his back against the wall; Circe admit to the demon: “That’s simply adorable.”

Meanwhile back outside the tower, the planks that had been pried from the crown of the skyscraper finally crash onto the concrete parking lot; the runes decorating the splintered wood dispersing into flashes of rainbow light.

As soon as the piece of wood shatters, Circe stops dead in her tracks before the frightened demon; her hairs standing on absolute end as her smirk suddenly shatters. Mere feet away from her, Alex witnesses the witch before him vanish in a flash; her rapid breathing starting to slow down as the rainbow sparkles flutter down onto the cracked tile.

Atop the crown of the ruined skyscraper, the orange skater stands before the giant veil filled with the swirling glows of countless souls; their constant moaning, wailing driving Mally to her limit. Hoping to heal the severed bonds between these souls and their bodies, the skater holds her hockey stick back as she readies to swing at the glass case; the skater halting her weapon a foot away from the transparent glass before she hears: “I wouldn’t be that hasty if I were you.” Mally’s ears picking up such a familiar voice warning her from behind, the young skater slowly takes a glance out towards her backside; discovering to her horror the self proclaimed goddess herself standing before her. “You’d make quite the disastrous mess for both of us.” Despite overwhelming chill running through her spine, Mally turns back to stand her ground against the witch; the skater taking her stance leaving Circe amused enough to let out a small chuckle. “I must admit, I’m always rather surprised of how easily you rats manage to slip through my defenses. I suppose being such lowly worms has its advantages.” Witnessing her magical foe slowly floating closer, the orange skater backs away as she tightens her grip on her weapon; the witch further explaining how: “I hate to say such, but I made a rather hefty mistake on my end the last time I faced you brats; letting my ever brimming confidence obscure the better of me. I decided to take my time toying with all of you while I was so far ahead, when I thought that my victory was an absolute certain; a key point which unfortunately led to my humiliating fall from grace...But I know better now.” Elaborating on such, the self proclaimed goddess points her finger out towards the young girl before her; a bright flame sparking out from her fingertip. “And I tend for it to be a mistake I never make again.”

The first out of the two to break from their stand off, Mally dashes out towards the awaiting witch; Circe expelling a barrage of burning flames from the tip of her finger. The orange rollerblader skates around the salvo of searing fires; swerving through the intense heat as she closes in on her mystical foe. Taking a daring leap over the witch’s blazing storm, Mally jumps out to the magical goddess; ready to bash the bitch brains in with all she’s got. Swing her hockey stick out to the witch, her weapon along with her entire body freeze right in the middle of the air; the blunt end of her stick only a few inches from Circe’s smug grin. Having caught her orange nuisance in her magical grasp, the self proclaimed goddess swiftly tosses the skater aside like garbage; Mally sent careening into one of the boarded windows. The skater girl slamming back upon the mess of planks, pieces of their wood and screws are knocked lose; a couple of the boards crumbling onto the floor with the skater and letting more of the chambers glow to leak outside. As the splinters and screws scatter around her, Mally starts picking herself back off the cold hard concrete; the orange skater gazing back up to discover her mystical foe on the approach. As the witch readies to casts another one of her spells, the young blader gets back up on her two skates as she watches sparks fly in the palm of the goddess’s hands. From the tips of her fingers, Circe fires out a stream of intense rainbow lightning out towards her young interloper; Mally takes off and evades the multicolored bolts by the skin of her teeth. Once dodging the witch’s lightning, the orange rollerblader locks her site onto her magical adversary as she encircles the glowing chamber; the goddess doing the same to Mally with an amused smirk thrown in. This bitch has to have some kind of weak spot on her somewhere. She might have magic up her ass for days, but she’s still physical. Just need to get close enough to deal a lethal blow.

Watching the young orange peon dart around her, Circe lets a small chuckle slip from her smile as she crosses her arms; the witch chopping the very air and casting forth a pair of whirling sharp winds in the skaters direction. Seeing the lethal gales dashing her way, Mally sees the attack as her moment to strike; the orange skater leaps out towards the approaching pair of storms and dives right between the winds. Once she lands back on the hard stone floor, the roller blades flings her trusty grapple yo out towords her mystic foe; aiming at her side in hopes of pulling the witch bitch close. Moments before the yoyo could stick to her side, Circe catches the skaters tool right in the palm of her hand; the goddess turning the tables on the young mortal and instead jerking the orange lass her way. Being flung in the magical woman's direction, Mally comes to witness the witch charging a spell in the other palm; the skater brandishes her hockey stick in an attempt to counter back, swinging out towards the goddess fiery head. The witch unfortunatly sees this assault coming and evades the skaters swing; Mally’s weapon brushing through the goddess’s fiery locks, giving Circe the moment she needs to sends her wrath upon the young girl.

Once having dodged her foes strike, the witch jams her palm straight into the rollerbladers stomach; clutching tight upon the skater as a bright light shines out from her grasp. A gleeful grin stretching across her face, the goddess delivers an intense magic blast upon the girls midsection at point blank; the light bright enough to glow through the girls backside. The flash of multicolored lights prove forceful enough to send the orange skater careening across the chamber; Mally sent tumbling across the cold stone floor as the aura from the spell drifts above her stomach like smoke. Mally soon smacks right onto the bottom of the chambers wall; the planks along the windows loosening upon her body’s hard impact. Her vision blurry from the painful blast, the skater slowly attempts to stand herself back up; propping herself up on her hockey stick as she rises from the cold concrete floor. It isn’t long before she realizes something missing from her other hand, glancing to her fingers to find her yoyo’s string severed; Mally gazing back towards the witch to find her trusty tool trapped in the witch’s grasp. The young injured girl can do little but watch as the self indulgent goddess clutches her grapple yo tight enough for cracks to form; the overwhelming pressure soon shattering the yoyo into tiny pieces. The snapping echoing through the entire chamber, the witch opens her palms to let fragments and splinters scatter upon the floor beneath her feet; Mally watching in dismay as the remains of Hanks gift to her spread along the concrete. “Well, it seems you rather upset that I broke your toy. Almost like how you and your friends broke my hopes and dreams. But don’t fret, it won’t be the only I’ll be breaking very soon.”

Though she attempts to lunge out towards the witch, Mally collapses to her knees before she could even charge forth; still feeling the painful blast from earlier. Beholding the pathetic site before her, the goddess can’t help but let out cackle upon seeing the skater bowing before her; claiming that: “Oh please. Kneeling before me now won’t save you from my divine fury. It’s far too late. Still, it be nonetheless a fitting end for a heretic such as yourself; bowing before your righteous execution.” Glowing from the tip of her finger, Circe points towards the kneeling young girl a light as chilling as ice; Mally left unable to move as the witch finishes with: “I only hope that finishing the rest of your friends and family will be just as cathartic.”

Right in the verge of invoking her divine judgment upon the mortal kneeling before her, the goddess flinches from an intensely sharp pain surging through her knee; the witch gazing down to discover a pitch black blade piercing the side of her leg Quickly turning back, she hastily fires her icy spell upon who would dare stab her from behind; witnessing the demon the goddess was pursuing before evading her chilling blast. “Nrr...again with this act; you vile imp!?” Left enraged by Alex’s backstabbing assault, the witch casts forth a barrage of lights out towards the scampering demon; all the while healing the freshly bleeding wound inflicted upon her. As she runs through the chamber evading the witches spells, the orange demon glances to her human partner lying on the ground; the very site of her kneeling in such a dire situation urging Alex to shout at her with: “Will you get up off the floor for satans sake!? This display is just pathetic of you!” The demon’s demanding words make the kneeling skater gaze up in Alex’s direction, hearing her go on with how: “This smug, over boasting, cuntish pretender of godhood has our loved one’s souls trapped within a glass cage and you find it best to lie on the floor and quit like we’ve already lost!? Don’t give that bullshit, you brash, reckless, smartass! Do you think you brother would be proud of seeing you writhing on the floor like some kind of lowly worm.” These words reaching through to the orange skater, Mally attempts to rise from the cold hard ground once again; propping herself up with her hockey stick as she climbs up. “So long as everyone’s souls are in this witch bitch’s cold clutches, I won’t allow you to rest in peace. You’re going to get back up and keep fighting until they are all free, even if I must drag you back down from the gates of heaven until you do; do I make my self clear!?” Despite the harsh, abrasive delivery, the demons speech motivates the rollerblader enough to get back up on her own ttwo skates; Mally tightly clutching the neck of her weapon as she confirms that her demonic partner is: “Crystal!”

Far from the dilapidated skyscraper, three green streaks zip through the neighborhood streets; racing out towards a stampeding pack of predators rushing out towards the end of the district. As two of them split off towards the sides of the street, the middle one with a hint of salmon pink speeds further out towards the herd of beasts ahead; flying over the runaway drove of deadly animals and landing before the approaching horde. With the zoo of predators charging right at her, the Spice queen takes as big of a breath as her lunges could take; Cayenne soon expelling from her mouth a stream of burning flames in front of the pack. The blazing fires burning bright before them all, the whole herd of deadly beasts come to a skidding halt; the horde backing away from the fiery storm as it spreads across the street. The beast blocked off by their cousins sick flames, both Ty and Lequan speed through the sides of the streets behind them; uprooting dozens of signs, bus stops, parked cars, and benches spread across the neighborhood. After having freshly picked whatever miscellaneous signs, seats and vehicles litter the streets; the two of them carry what they’ve gather over both the horde of deadly animals and the pyre that their cuz had spread. As the flames holding the horde back start to die down, Ty and Lequan drop the mess of cars and benches down onto the road behind Cayenne; the duo quickly arranging the dumps worth of scrap metal into a makeshift blockade.

Having assembled the barrier cutting the way out to the rest of the city, Ty and Lequan joined their cousins side to face the beasts before them. Realizing their path ahead having been blocked, the pack of predators break away from one another; barring their fangs and claws as they turn their vicious glares to one another. Witnessing the dozens of feral beasts attempting to turn on one another, the trio waste no time in racing out to the feuding zoo in an attempt to break them off.

Along the far end of the street, a bear and crocodile share a stare down as they encircle one another; both seemingly on the verge of lunging for the other. Almost on a dime do two break from their glares and charge towards each other, the crocodile opening its maw as the ursa raises its claws. Moments before either of them could meet, Ty comes between them and strikes the earth; causing the road between them to break in a splitting fissure. The ground breaking between them, the two vicious animals back away from the forming fissure; Ty floating above them and boasting on how: “Yeah bitch’s! Yo scaly and fuzzy hides can’t do shit! Keep ya from beaten each others cracker asses!”

To the side of the street, a snake slithers itself around the limbs of a vicious lion, the feral feline flopping and flailing about to break from the entangling grasp of its scaly foe. While the lion struggles to free itself from the slithering serpents scaly grip, the snake readies to bite through the beast with its large sharp fangs; a loud hiss escaping from its opening maw as it prepares to strike. Just when the serpent was on the verge of plunging its fangs through its neck, an unexpected hand catches the deadly snake moments before it could bit down; the scaly fiend glancing back to witness a small boy in lime green holding its head back. With just a single tug, Lequan untangles the serpent from around the lions legs; tossing the snake aside while keeping the furious feline from getting back up.

After she pries a maddening monkey off the face of a buffalo, the spice queen tosses the simian away as she keeps the beast it was attacking down. While keeping the wild buffulo grounded, Cayenne takes a glances towards the primate she had tossed aside; the monkey scrambling up the blockade of scrap that her cousins had hastily assembled. Alongside the simian, the Spice queen witnesses a lone tiger climbing up the wall of broken vehicles; quickly reaching the top and eagerly leaping out to the other side. Beside the escaping tiger, she also discovers a massive elephant repeatedly ramming itself into the metallic blockade over and over again; soon breaching through the barricade entirely and charging towards the streets ahead. “Shit!” Having watched the three wild animals breach through the wall of scrap and steal, Cayenne releases the buffalo in her clutches and takes off beyond her cousins barricade. Gliding through the streets ahead, Cayenne rockets out towards the fleeting trio of wild, uncontrollable animals ahead; watching them as they close in to the pack streets before them as the Spice queen repeatedly utters: “No! No! No! No! No! No!”

Right as the loose beasts were on the verge of reaching the populated streets ahead, Cayenne comes to witness a sparkling gale of pink bellow out from around the corner; the escaping animals instantly stopping the moment the breeze blows past them. Once the pink wind passes through, the spice queen watches the pack of beast flail about as a bright light engulfs their bodies; their very bodies morphing before her eyes. Her eyes glued to the glowing beasts as she descends down to the street, Cayenne witnesses the light transform the ravage beasts back to their original, human selves; the people passing out as soon as they turn back to normal. Taking a glance back towards the rest of the herd, she watches the gale of pink streak past the dozens of other animals that her cousin attempt to hold back; the wind blowing by each one of them to ail them all of their beastly forms. Both of Cayenne’s cousins step back as the predators they had held shed their feral transformations and return to their normal selves; Ty watching the glittering breeze flutter by, can’t help but wonder aloud: “The fuck is this cracker ass fairy tail shit!?” “Magic?” Lequan sarcastically answers. Strolling past the makeshift barricade of crushed benches and cars, the Spice queen is left in awe by the seemingly random display of mysticism; the site of the glistening pink gales making her utter: “Chloe?”

Out on the other side of the run down neighborhood, a small family of four flee from the pursuit of a pack of deadly predators; the herd inching closer to their tail as each of them cry out for aid. “Stop, please!” “I don’t want Daddy to eat me!” Someone help us!” “I don’t wanna die!” As the horde of monstrous beast close in on the family, all of them ready to sink their teeth into their flesh; slowly opening their mouths the closer they reach. Moments before they could bite down upon them all, something comes between them and stops the pack right in their tracks; the family hearing the beasts behind them cry out and glance back to discover a blue haired angel holding the herd back. “Back you beasts, your domestic squabbles with your neighbors over who slept with whom have gone past the point of reason...Or whatever you guys do in your commute, I don’t know. Monopoly? Basketball?” Before any of the family could approach, a young girl in green sweeps them all out of the streets and towards the roof above; Bianca suggesting all of them: “Hold on tight, la persona’s.”

As Tore holds the maddening herd of deadly predators in place, he soon feels a great wind bellow past him from behind; the blue boy glancing back to find not a soul behind him. Gazing to the streets behind him, the blue angel then witnesses a pink glow shining from the back of his head; Tore looking back to witness the wild animals he was holding back soon morph back to normal before his eyes. Backing away from the civilians as they pass out on the streets, the blue angel gazes out to the streets ahead; watching as the pink breeze races around the corner ahead. Could...that have been...

In pondering the gales origin, Tore finally notices something vibrating in his pants; quickly digging through his pockets to pull out his phone. Once the screen comes on, the blue boy finds a text left by his sister; the time the message sent being about 45 minutes ago. Unlocking his phone, he starts to read the message aloud; stating how: “With Alex. Found where Circe’s at. Cayenne and tore, come to top of tower.” “T-tower? What tower?” Taking his eyes off this phone, the blue angel ascends up past the neighborhood skyline; scanning out in the distance for whatever tower his sister could be referring to: Why would a neighborhood like this have a tower just sitting around somewhere? The budget for this part of town seems like it went more into keeping this part of the city outta sight rather than the actually- In thinking such does his eyes manage to spot the tower in question out in the distance, a rainbow glow leaking out from its windows grabbing his attention. Oh... Having found the skyscraper the witch is said to reside in, Tore waits not another moment to take off towards her lair; the angel’s fists clenching the closer he nears.

Back within the towers very crown, the orange demon continues her attempted assault upon the self proclaimed goddess; transforming her arms into various weapons each time she swings out. Despite Alex’s constant battering, not a single one of the demons attacks could break through the wicked witch’s mystical shield; every swing she throws simply bouncing off her barrier. “Adorable how you keep persisting. But...” With the last of her demonic foe’s strikes, Circe disperses her shield with shockwave to throw the demons guard back; the witch coating her palm with an icy glow as she finishes her statement with: “It’s fruitless to keep banging your head against a wall.” Thrusting her hand onto the young demon’s chest, the magical goddess inflicts her ice cold spell upon her demonic foe; her magic quickly coating Alex in a thin sheet of ice. Falling onto the hard floor, the stiff frozen demon slides across the hard concrete ground; soon softly hitting the very edge of the chamber. Left helplessly frozen stiff, Alex can do little but glance out to the witch that trapped the demon within her icy prison; the ice spread across her body reflecting the light glowing from the goddess’s fingertip. “Did you honestly believe a lowly imp such as yourself could trump the divine power of the very gods? A laughable notion at best. No matter, this goddess shall send you back to very pit of hell you spawned from.”

Just as the self proclaimed goddess could send her divine judgment down upon the frozen darkling, she once again feels an intensely sharp pain inflicted on her side; glancing back to discover the orange rollerblader firmly planting her hockey stick right in her kidney. The skaters kidney shot proves to be strong enough to send the witch careening across the glowing chamber; Circe flying straight towards the boarded windows. Right before she’s finishes her collision course towards the splintery planks of wood, the witch bitch suddenly stops in the middle of the air; Circe slowly twisting her body back towards the young skater as she trembles from the blow inflicted upon her. Aim her vengeful glare towards the orange skater who dare strike her, the goddess lets out a growling warning on how: “You should have stayed on your knee’s and accepted your judgment.”

Ignoring her magical foe’s warning entirely, Mally races towards the goddess as fast as her skates could take her; leaping in the air when close enough in attempting to deliver a hammering strike down upon her foe’s head. Circe counters her dive bombing assault by casting forth a web of silky rainbow string from the tips of her fingers; enveloping the orange skater in her string and suspending her right in the air. A maniacal cackle escapes from the witch’s lungs, the goddess’s aura flaring as she goes on to promise her that: “For your crimes against the divine will of the gods, you shall be struck down from the glorious light of heaven and plunged into the deepest pit of oblivion. May you rot in the mind numbing emptiness for all eternity!” Her rainbow aura coursing through her fingers, Circe unloads an intense stream of multiclored lighting upon the bound heretic; Mally letting out an agonizing scream that echoes beyond the recesses of the crowns chamber. The force of the goddess’s cruel punishment blasts the young skater out from her binds and straight towards the boarded windows; Mally busting straight through the planks of wood and plummeting down to the streets below. Despite sending the orange pest to her certain doom, an upset groan leaves the witch’s lips. “Even with executing others, the moment has passed. Even bothered to give one my my bombastic speeches and still doesn’t feel the least bit satisfying. This day has just been one disappointment after another….Oh well.” Her glare turning back towards the frozen demon, the goddess points her finger as a bright glow shines from its tip. “I can at least do one thing to satiate my fury.”

Before the goddess could finally do away with the demonic menace that had so tragically unraveled her scheme, the roof over her head suddenly collapses with a booming explosion; the remains of the towers ceiling shattering when falling to the floor. The magical witch turns her attention up towards the open ceiling, gazing upon the blue angel fluttering down from the night sky; the young girl that she had thoroughly punished resting in his arms. Once landing within the crowns chamber, the blue boy gently sits his sister down to the side and out of harms way; Tore finally turns towards the witch herself with a furious, but focused glare. To the silent angel staring her down, the self proclaimed goddess exhales a tiring breath; questioning her newly arrived guest: “Well...are you happy yet, Kybr? Is your little revenge boner about to spurt? You and your merry band of rag tag, teenage interlopers have once again foiled by plans...I thought stealing your friends and family’s souls would actually get the message through your thick, feeble mortal minds...And yet, here we are. As stubbornly stupid as ever. Still, if I can hope to take away anything from all of this, it’s that I will take absolute satisfaction in tearing such a worthless glint of magical history piece by bloody piece.”

Breaking from his stare down, the blue angel finally charges towards the mystic witch at breakneck speeds; ready to slug his foe square in the jaw. Her angelic foe lunging forth, the goddess slaps the palm of her hand upon the cold hard stone beneath her feet; using her magic to erect a stone pillar right underneath her approaching foe. Despite the pillar of rock punching him from below, Tore drops down from the ascending stone to divebomb towards his godly foe, Circe conjuring a magic shield overhead to block the boys diving assault. Her mystic shield takes the brunt of the angel’s hammering stomp; the goddess left taken aback when seeing the blue boy leaving a few sizable cracks across its surface. Leaping from the witch’s shield, Tore flips out to the magical witch’s backside; tossing out a ball of white light towards her as soon as he lands. Swiftly turning back to the angel behind her, Circe shatters her blue foes blast with but the back of her hand; scattering its remains back towards its sender. As the indigo angel blocks the scattered remains of his own blast, the self proclaimed goddess casts forth a torrent of scalding hot water; the steaming liquid hot enough to emanate heat waves. Witnessing the wave of boiling water incoming, the blue boy pushes past the remains of his ball of light and towards the approaching liquid; flying past the blast of water close enough to feel the heat. Racing past the steamy stream, Tore rockets towards the self indulgent goddess and delivers a powerful blow right on her cheekbone; the strike strong enough to send the witch careening across the chamber and towards the glass cage full of souls.

The transparent veil trembles when Circe slams right onto its surface; the witch sliding across the clear case and plummeting right onto the cold hard concrete. As she slowly picks herself back up, the mystical witch glares at her angelic foe; her attention then drawn to the open window behind him. Blowing outside the ruined tower, Circe could witness a glittering gale of pink drift across the night sky; the self titled goddess hissing under her breath: “Damn you Hera.” Knowing the window for her escape dwindling, the magical woman mind races for a form of distraction; anything that could lend her a chance to slip away. Its then that she gazes to the massive collection of colorful souls that she had harvested, a sinister grin stretching across her face as she decides to cut her losses.

Charging an intense light from the palms of his hands, the indigo angel takes aim towards the witch standing before him; the blue boy watching the self proclaimed goddess raise her hands up high as she informs him on how: “A fair game. I give up.” The magical witch’s admittance of defeat takes Tore back a little bit, raising a suspicious eye to his yielding foe while keeping his growing blast aimed at her. “Oh no. You heard right. I surrender. Clearly, you blasphemous brats have unraveled my beautifully crafted and ingenious scheme once again; leaving with what little prizes I could retreat with unable to be claimed. Congratulations, all of you win. Now all that’s left for you is to cement your victory and free all of the lives I’ve claimed.” Left unsure of the witch’s terms of surrender, the blue angel repeatedly shifts his aim between her and her transparent cage; Circe’s calm grin leaving him little to go off of. “Go on then. I doubt a fraction of them have that much time left. It’s now or never.” Ultimately doubting the sly witch’s suspicious surrender, Tore locks his site upon the magical goddess and finally fires his intense ray of light out towards her; Circe’s smile growing sinister when witnessing the beams approach. Her angelic foe’s blast closing in, the mystic goddess swiftly lowers her surrendering arms and smacks the ray away; sending the speeding beam straight towards the glass surface of her veil of souls. A shroud of smoke blankets the entire chamber upon the ray’s impact; the sounds of cracking glass echoing after the initial explosion.

Dispersing the cloudy shroud in but an instant, a booming shriek echo’s from within the glass case rings through the entire chamber; the witch’s veil showing significant cracks along its transparent surface. The countless souls held within the dome spiral and pulsate, restlessly and repeatedly slamming themselves onto the glass that holds them in. “Oh, silly me; seems I’ve forgotten to mention a crucial little detail attaining to souls. Quick lesson on them, such a mass collection of uncontained spirits tend to be extremely volatile when outside their bodies; the souls of which desperately wishing to return to their homes. If not handled with the proper precautions and procedure, the results could be...how do I put it- Explosive!” The magical witch’s late warning makes the blue angel jump, the boy’s fists trembling as his eyes rapidly shift between the self proclaimed goddess and the glass veil; the cracks across its surface slowly growing as Circe continues to explain how: “Even something as tiny as a simple souls sphere has enough power within to potentially level an entire neighborhood. I’d simply hate to picture what the massive horde of souls I’ve painstakingly harvested would do this entire city. I’d doubt that any of them would even have bodies to return to once the dust settles.” Listening to the witch explain such, Tore watch’s as the goddess slowly backs away towards one of the open windows; offering the indigo angel her ultimatum. “So it’s your move, you pesky Kybr. Either continue to feverishly pursue me to avenge your fallen friends lives, or risk yours to save the rest of this miserable urban jungle. Choose wisely.”

After witnessing the witch bitch flip out through the open window, Tore turns his attention back towards the transparent case containing all the restless souls; the cracks littered across the surface spreading further the more they beat the inside. The blue angel’s gaze then turns back to both the orange haired girls lying on the cold concrete, finding both Mally and Alex constantly twitching and moaning despite their conditions. Having realized the two still left alive, the blue boy glances back towards the quaking case of souls with a determined glare; Tore dashing towards the volatile vile and taking a tight hold of its base. With every ounce of strength he has, the indigo angel starts to uproot the glass container from the glowing chambers floor; the countless wires attached to the case underneath snapping and sparking the further he pulls the vile out. Just one more tug is all the young angel needs to finally uproot the transparent cage full of souls out from the concrete ground; the cracks decorating the glass slowly spreading out further. Knowing that time is of a dwindling essence, Tore wastes next to no time in ascending out from the hole in the towers roof to rocket into the night sky; the light from the glass of souls he carries slowly leaving the chamber behind to leave both the young skater and demon in darkness.

Back on the streets of the run down neighborhood below, the people that once took the form of beasts reunite with their loved ones; families of all kinds coming together to embrace each other. Watching the heartwarming scene before them, Cayenne lets out a satisfied sigh as her two cousins keeping an eye out through the night sky; Ty claiming that: “I ain’t seeing her anywhere. You?” “Found her.” Lequan utters. Glancing out in the direction his little brother points to, he soon witness his older sister descend down from the roof of the buildings; Bianca waving to her siblings as she joins them. “Yo sis, you be seein this trippy ass pink wind just blowin around doin some kinda deax ex machina bullshit here? Swear to god, days been just been one hellva zootopian shitshow.” After her little cousin’s question, Cayenne turns her attention over to the girl in mint green and joins in to ask: “The hell did that blue dumbass flew off to?” “Ninguna idea. The moment I flew off to save another crowd from being mauled to pieces, the angel was gone; all without a single word.” Bianca explains. “God dammit! We still got a job on our hands. The fuck does he think he’s doing?” “In the sky...Look.” they all hear Lequan simply states. From their lime green family members word, the rest direct their attention to the night sky above; their eye’s locked to a glowing light rapidly ascending up to the heavens. Squinting her eyes from the bright light, the Spice queen can’t help but wonder aloud: “The fuck?...Is that...”

Their attention kept to the night sky, all of them fail to catch the self proclaimed goddess strolling right by; not a single one of them batting an eye towards her as she walks past. A small chuckle escapes from her calm smile as she passes by a small shop window; the windows reflection failing to show the witch’s true form; instead showing Circe as a seemingly random woman waltzing through the run down streets.

Soaring high over the city, the indigo angel carries the quaking glass further past the cloudy skies; the numerous cracks lining the veil starting to connect with one another. The higher from Townsville he ascends, the colder the air around him becomes; his visible breath trailing down from his clenched teeth as he passes through the clouds. Just a little higher. Just few more thousand feet. The volatile veil of souls in his arms, the indigo angel finally reaches past the cloudy sky; the stars and moon reflecting off the crumbling glass. The transparent surface of the glass finally gives way, the souls within bursting out in a rainbow of colors; the intense explosion parting the cloudy skies cast over the entire city.

Raining down from the freshly clear city skies, a multitude of colorful wisps flutter down from the very heavens; scattering themselves throughout the entire city. A good number of them descend down towards the various hospitals set throughout the city, all of them phasing through the walls and windows to return to their homes. One of the souls penetrates into the hospital room of a man set bed ridden, surrounded by a woman and two children who sleep at his side. The glow emanating from the soul lights up the entire room for a brief moment, long enough to wake everyone within as the spirit returns to his body. The woman and children awaken, the first site they bare witness to is the man rising from the sheets of his bed; smiles growing upon their faces as the man stares back to them all. As the man starts to stand out of his bed, the woman and children all rush to embrace the newly awakened father; a stream of tears rolling down each of their faces.

A few more souls drift off towards the nicer parts of town; three of which continue to glide off towards the hills. The trio of spirits start to descend down towards the Spicer abode, phasing through its walls as they continue to speed towards their bodies. While one of them head further through the manor, two of them dive down upon both of the Spicer parents lying on the couch; the mother and father slowly waking from their soulless coma’s. Once the two of them open their eyes, they stand up from the grooves their bodies had made in the couch; both left confused as they glance around the living room. Their gazes are swiftly met by the site of their son standing in the doorway; streams of tears rolling down Kingsley face as he stares upon his newly awakened parents. Not even a moment passes between them before each of them race to one another, meeting in the middle to give each other a heartwarming embrace.

One spirit descends far from the inner dwellings of the bright urban jungle of Townsville, floating down towards a suburban neighborhood and into a lone home without a door. From within the abode, the wisp drops straight into the body of Tore and Mally’s own mother; the blue haired woman soon opening her eyes and rising out of bed. Venturing out from beyond her bedroom, the woman steps into the living room to discover her front door having been smashed into splintery pieces; a “What the fuck happened here?” swirling through her head. Putting her curiosity on hold, the blue haired woman steps over the remains of her front door and walks out into the cold suburban streets; yelling out into the dim urban jungle ahead; “Tore!? Roy!? Mally!?”

Back at the crown of the tower, one of her kids starts to awaken from her magically inflicted blow; clutching her stomach as she pulls herself off the cold hard concrete. As she attempts to get back on her own two skates, the orange skater finds a familiar set of boots standing before her; gazing up to discover the Spice queen offering her a hand up. “What...what happened?” Mally wonders, grasping hold of her friends arm. “We kicked that fuckin witch bitch back is what happened.” Cayenne answers while pulling the young rollerblader off the floor. “Huh?” “All the souls that fiery strawberry cunt had stolen are returning to their bodies. Just got a text from Kingsley saying that his parents are up and atom.” “Re-Really...So that must mean...Wh-what about Chloe, is she fine.” “Yep. Just texted that she’s finally free from that magical rainbow bitch’s control. Even sent a pic to prove it.” Stating such does the Spice queen present the picture in question, showing Mally one that Chloe took with Melvin at his side; the skater noticing her purple brother passed out beside the two of them. “A good th-thank you might b-be in order for m-me here.” both hear the orange demon sass. Hearing this does Mally turn back to discover her demonic partner standing to the side, Alex donning an entitled glare as her shivering body drips wet on the stone floor. “Even for demon of my caliber, stopping that witch bitch wasn’t easy.” Cayenne three cousins stand afraid of the trembling demon; Bianca taking out a cross and holding it up in Alex’s direction while her two brother hide behind her. Turning away from the scene, the orange skater glances back to Cayenne and questions her: “What about Tore? You seen him anywhere?” To the skaters question, all that Cayenne could really respond with was a look up towards the sky; Mally soon doing the same and peering through the hole in the roof to gaze up into the starry night sky. “Where’s my brother?”

Careening across the cloudless night sky, a ball of smoke trails across the broad city skyline; the wad of smoke soon beginning to descend down towards the streets below. Diving through the empty city streets, the puff of smoke soon delves straight into a darkened alleyway and straight into a dumpster inside; the alley bellowing out a thick cloud upon impact. As the cloud of smoke starts to disperse from the open alleyway, a pair of hands grasp the lip of the dumpster from within; both of them pulling out a smoke and soot covered Tore out. After he flops out of the oversized hobo home, the blue boy starts to pick himself off the ground as he wipes the soot and garbage out of his hair and white blazer. Taking a quick glance at himself, the blue boys hand slide across his body; surprise forming on his face as he inspects his body. “I-I’m alive? I’m alive! Yeah, baby! Whoo! And all in one piece!” he exclaims while dancing. Celebrating as such eventually causes a part of his back to let out a loud crack; the blue angel reeling in pain as he reaches around his backside and correcting how: “Okay, maybe not in as many pieces as I thought. Hoo...”

Once healing the sharp pain in his back, Tore digs through his pockets and pulls out his phone; scrolling through his contacts as he states how he: “Better call Mally to make sure she’s alright.” Just moments before his thumb could touch his sisters name, the blue boy then notices a shadowy figure staring right at him from the end of the alleyway; taking a fighting stances as he declares to them that: “Hey, hey. I see you there, pal. Friad I got nothin on me to mug. Though I’d be more than happy to give a fresh serving of crushed colon cake and black and blueberry pie. Only available in the blue boy’s battering buffet. We beat the savings onto you.” After warning the mysterious figure of such, the indigo angel hears the figure let out a satisfied chuckle; their laugh echoing out from the alleyway. “A boy ready to take a stance straight against the unknown. You really are a true Kybr” “Quit being cryptic. Just tell me what you want.”. Demanding such out from his mysterious encounter, Tore witnesses a pair of wings flap out from the figures backside; their feathers glittering and shimmering like the very cosmos. “Hey, I know you! You’re that winged guy that tried beat me and my friends up!” “Indeed, I’m terribly sorry for that. I just needed to test and see if your wings were true...Allow me to introduce myself...” Strolling out from the darkness of the alleyway, the figure approaches to unveil his burgundy red locks; the ends of his black roman toga flapping in the wind. “You may referee to me as Mall. And I’ve been waiting a very long time to meet you, young Kybr. To show you what you truly are.”

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This season has really taken more time to finish then I had anticipated; the Chapter with the nightmare triplets especially. Thankfully I got all this finally finished, and its been a blast writing for these characters; working with their personalities and coming up with little arcs for them. I want to again, thank you all so much for sticking by me with all this. The next season will be somewhat different compared to the last two with a big arc to go through, and uncover long forgotten mysteries. Until then, might take a break from Young hope to finish up some other series's of mine. I hopefully see you all next month.

#Young Hope #lillaxtrigger

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