#tail burst open from exploding one too many times

[hourglass-meadow]

i want artificer to get even worse

[the-lavender-room]

Welcome to Earth-2004:

Lore:

Unknown to Peter, Norman had tricked him into helping him build a weapon.

Unknown to Peter, Norman had tricked him into helping him build a weapon.

Unknown to Peter, Norman had tricked him into helping him build a weapon.

When Norman had revealed himself to be the Green Goblin (he was goblining before Peter was spidering) he also revealed that the weapon was supposed to make him stronger and he wanted Peter to be a villain with him.

While Goblin was monologuing, Peter noticed that the weapon had become unstable and was going to explode. Before it did; Goblin throw Peter out the window while he stayed inside as it exploded.

Peter (having survived falling 30+ storys bc plot) managed to get back home Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s house. At first; everything was fine for a few weeks.

The infection started with insects; becoming bigger, more aggressive, more “not right”. Then, it jumped to bigger and bigger animals and became worse. Rats with sharp spines on its tail, cats with venomous fangs, horses with eight legs. They even started to resemble other animals.

Around this time, Peter had gotten sick from radiation and had isolated himself from others. Uncle Ben had dragged him to the car to take him to a hospital (it was a long, difficult drive with bread loaf sized cockroach with acidic spit every where) while Peter was in the ER, Ben had also gotten sick due to exposure to Peter and eventually dies from radiation.

While Peter’s in the hospital, the infection jumped to humans. It started small, with most people feeling very itchy and getting nasty rashes; hospitals became overcrowded and many people had to deal with severe body pains at home. The infection got worse and people began to mutate; peoples bodies would twist and burst open and became more animal like. What was left of society had fallen as many people had become more animal than man.

People in urban and suburban moved to large, interconnecting, underground cities or repurposed the tall abandoned ���buildings, strung together with bridges and paths. 

Peter(now NOT dying) gets his friends and aunt may underground and becomes a photographer(takes pics below and above ground for news reasons) he decides to become Wolf-Spider so he can protect people from the fugitive and literal monsters.

————————————————————————

Other info:

Peter’s not the only person with a spider mutation, but the radiation just gave him enhanced strength, speed, and healing.

Wolf-Spider’s not the only hero. There are other non-enhanced people, they usually deal with other people and not monsters.(I MIGHT add “street level” heros too)

There are three levels of infection:

Low infection: little to no visible changes and are more likely to be cured(if one is created)

Mild infection: partial changes, often have extra limbs and patches of fur, scales, or feathers. Not likely be able to be cured.

High infection: the big monsters. The animal part of them has taken over and are now unrecognizable.

Only people and animals(and sometimes fungus) can be infected naturally. Plants have to be infected by hand and has a different reaction to it.

Spidey has organic webs

The infection started in New York but fully spread all over the world in two years(bugs and animal migrations)

[sidhewrites]

20! I've lost the plot completely! It's fine! It's the first draft and things will be better in the rewrites! Who's ready for SKELETONS

Project Info

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By the time Josie and Lucy are at my front door, I barrel through them both, shaking off the feeling of dread that comes with walking through Lucy, tailing the quickly-fading trail of what I assume to be ectoplasm. Magnus has taken Renfield back out into the night, across the street, and right back to the graveyard, which has me feeling a little crazy for going back and forth so many times. He's gone right past the main walkway, past the old church, and into the oldest parts of the graveyard -- the ones that even I don't visit. 

Wild roses and scrub grow thick and thorny, choking the rotting fence of the churchyard. There's a grim buried here somewhere, and I can't help but flinch at the sudden shadow that leaps out at me from the darkness. A massive, shapeless thing that barks like a dog. I barrel past it, hoping it understands that I'm not here to disturb the dead but return one specific dead back to his eternal rest.

I hop the fence, hissing as splinters burrow into my hand, and follow Magnus through the overgrowth. Thorns and twigs pull at me, but I don't have time to care. I can't lose him. The footprints fade too quickly, and I trip over my own feet at the last minute, falling face-first into the dirt and bolting back upright with a curse.

But, at least, there's no need to run anymore. Magnus has come to a stop. He sits in the moonlight, a perfectly white cat now, eyes trained on a moss-worn hunk of stone.

"Your grave." Why come here? What's he trying to do?

He twitches, but doesn't turn to face me. "Do you know what is inscribed on this headstone?"

"R-I-P?" I guess.

He snorts -- then sneezes and coughs at the attempt at breathing through a nose like Renfield's. "Magnus Sunthorpe. Loving father and husband. May he rest in peace."

"Okay, so, yeah. RIP." I sit up slowly.

"Do you know why we bid the dead a peaceful rest, Miss Kaz?"

"Are you seriously gonna start monologuing again?"

"Not quite," he says. A deep laugh rumbles from Magnus's chest.

"What--" 

Before I can say any more, the ground beneath our feet start to rumble. Something whacks me in the back of my head and I yelp. By the time I recover and look up again, bits of debris and loose stone float around the ruined gravestone.

"As we get closer to Hallow's Eve, young Kaz, we ghosts grow more powerful. I'm sure your lady friend has felt things change, eh?"

The very air seems to come alive, pins and needles shooting along my limbs as the smoke starts up again, emanating from the long-settled grave dirt. Cracks begin to appear, and far below the ground, something begins to knock.

"What are you doing?"

"Means to an end, darling girl. Means to an end."

Josie and Lucy finally arrive behind me. Josie grabs hold of my shirt and drags me out of the way just as the ground explodes. We fall backwards, through Lucy, and in a pile on the ground. Stone and soul rains down on us, and I do my best to shield her from the worst. Once it ends, we look up, shaking off the heebie-jeebies, to see the grave standing open.

Beams of light shine out from the old coffin at the bottom of it. Something inside thumps, knocking on the ancient wood. It's weak at first, still gathering strength. And then, after a moment, it knocks again. A single skeletal fist bursts out, then the other. It rips at the wood, throwing planks aside, before it stands up, still wearing the half-rotted funeral suit it had been buried in.

Magnus-the-cat levitates in front of Magnus-the-Skeleton. [Fancy magic shit happens. Magic light.]

When the light fades, it's just Magnus-the-Skeleton, standing in his coffin.

Renfield's body lowers to the ground slowly, lifeless. I don't care about anything else -- no weird ghost magic, no potentially murderous walking corpse. Nothing but my poor, stark-white cat.

I scoop him up into my arms, holding him close, my own pulse hammering as I try desperately to feel for his. I can't breathe, can barely think -- until I find it. Faint and fluttering, but there.

He's okay.

My baby boy is okay.

I look up, seeing Magnus-the-Skeleton brush off his fancy old-timey pants and pick up a fancy old-timey top hat. He puts in on, almost dignified. And then he looks up at me, green pinpricks of light forming eyes in his empty sockets and filled with a venomous glee.

"Hello, dearest Kaz," he says, teeth chattering together. He takes a step forward, and I think for a second that he's going to scramble out of the grave clumsily. But there's no awkwardness or uncertainty here. Magnus simply flicks his wrist, and he begins to levitate, floating up and out of the grave. Some of the glowing dust around him coalesces, forming into something resembling skin to hold the skeleton together, though his bones remain all-too-visible underneath.

And as Magnus finally comes to land on solid ground before me, I feel myself lifted up in turn, pulled by unseen spectral hands until I'm on my feet as well. I hold Renfeld closer, jaw set as he looks me over with those uncanny eyes.

"You really are a curiosity, aren't you?" he says, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow.

I'm a bit at a loss at the moment, so I simply settle on, "God...you're, like, really ugly man."

This was, evidently, the wrong thing to say to a magical ghost-skeleton-man bent on silencing the town forever, because Magnus simply scoffs, and waves a hand. I'm thrown aside, turning to land on my shoulder and keep Renfield safe.

"Kaz!" Lucy shouts, running my way.

"Not a chance." Magnus waves another hand, and she's thrown in the opposite direction.

"Leave her alone!" I sit up with a snarl. "Josie, take Renfield and get somewhere safe."

"Like hell I am. I'm the only one who has half an idea of what to do here."

"And, pray, what would that idea be?" Magnus steps in between us, folding his hands in front of him. "Come now, girls. Don't leave me out of the fun."

[Something. Kaz tells Josie to go get the book.]

"I wouldn't try that if I were you." Magnus flicks his wrist again, and a bolt of ghostly energy flies her way. 

But rather than knocking Josie off course, it simply hits her in the back. She grunts, but shrugs it off with little more than an ow.

Magnus tries again. This time, Josie faces him and takes the attack in the chest. Something glows around her neck, and she smirks, gesturing to the [protective gem] pendant around her neck. "You'll have to do better than that," she says.

While she's distracted, I throw myself bodily at Magnus, giving Josie the chance to get the spell book.

Even as Magnus throws me off him, I can't help but watch her go in confused awe. "Crystals," I say. "Who knew?"

"Kaz--?" Lucy says, giving me just enough time for Magnus to throw a solid kick to my jaw, and mutter under his breath. The blow leaves me with a split lip, and I spit the blood his way, hoping if nothing else that it stains his gross old funeral pants.

"Enough," Magnus hisses. "I have work to do." He raises an arm, and this time, a wave of ectoplasm rises up from his grave, colorless light shining from within. 

At first, it seems like nothing happens, save for a bit of dirt falling into the empty hole.

And then more dirt. A bit of grass. A few loose rocks.

Soon enough, it becomes clear. The grave is sucking things into it, a black hole to swallow the town whole.

Tag List

@adaughterofathena

@ambreeskyewriting

@carnelianflames

@feather-dancer

@halfbloodlycan

@nadunacreates

@serenanymph

@vigilantdesert

[mrpenguinpants]

Diluc: Comfort HCs

Oh no worries anon! We’re getting through everything and I can just see the top. I’m not sure if people saw it - probably not - but my entire blog has devolved into “See this genshin character? Animal.” and I refuse to have another cat character so I’m making Diluc a hawk.  

Apparently (maybe) Diluc’s bird is a nightingale [voicelines]. But I don’t really see Diluc the kind of guy to serenade you at night in secret because your father doesn’t approve of your marriage.

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Today’s appreciation post goes to fulltimeventisimp. Tumblr throws a goddamn fit when I try to tag people (even though I literally have a tag list but that’s apparently not good enough) so I hope you see this^^ You’ve been so nice and caring to me I feel so soft 😭 and I hope you’re doing alright! I’m remembering to take breaks and rest  💕💕

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Semi Part 1: Relationship HCs [I would read this just for the last point]

Diluc Ver: Jealous HCs

[Masterlist]

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[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@hanniejji​  @mikeysbike​ @unionwitch​ @musekala​ @twistedsunnshiii​ @stanzastic​ @akaasea​ @xoneaboveallx​ @adoring-ghost​ @asheseiler​ @childelover​ @dilucsz​

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Diluc: Comfort HCs

Diluc has always had either an aloof or professional persona based on who he needed to talk to. In both cases, no matter the subject or how Diluc talked, there would always be some sort of forced distance so no one would mistaken it as familiarity or friendliness. There were only a two cases where he felt comfortable and those were with close friends and his staff. The third case being Kaeya but Diluc prefers to not acknowledge him and stashes that folder away. Even with friend’s such as Jean or Elzer, he could never really relax and let his true feelings slip until you burst into his life. Literally. “An unexpected outcome of an experiment,” is what Albedo had told him but regardless, since you entered his life he’s let himself regress into his younger days and let himself take for once.

Maybe that was why you had gotten so used to Diluc’s touched starved self that, when it was suddenly gone, you were feeling uneasy. Lately Diluc seemed to be spending longer hours at his desk or working at the tavern. You knew that he was just busy and there wasn’t any underhanded reasoning behind it, Diluc wasn’t that kind of guy. But did he seriously have to spend every waking moment, day or night, talking to the same people? When was the last time you saw him for more than two minutes? Diluc isn’t a big fan of idle talking but would it seriously hurt just to catch up? You didn’t even get together to have your weekly chess matches too.

You didn’t consider yourself a very clingy person and you knew what a relationship with Diluc was going to be like so why were you getting so bothered? You decided to take the situation in your hands and go visit him at the tavern only to see him so busy at work. It both made you a bit huffy, you wanted to storm in there and drag the man away from his work so he could stop trying to speed run life - not like that would ever happen because the second hand embarrassment would make you dissolve into the ground and you could never show your face to Diluc if you actually did that - but also making you more upset. Here he was, working and running his business, and you couldn’t go at least a couple weeks without seeing him. You ended up turning around and going home to scream into your pillow and sleep the heavy feeling away.

Your inner turmoil seemed to seep out into the open that Kaeya felt the need to bring it up. As much as Diluc dislikes Kaeya around you, he really does care about you and he still does owe you for the troubles he gave you when you first started going out with Diluc. He catches you while you’re off running errands and manages to coax you into getting some lunch with him. You’ve been bottling up your feelings so much that when Kaeya shows some concern you let it all pour out. At this point you don’t care if it’s Kaeya of all people you’re confessing your feelings to, you just want to get it off your chest because the man you’re in love with doesn’t seem to notice you’re actually there and it’s making you feel insecure about yourself. Kaeya gives you a sympathetic smile and tells you not to worry about it, he’ll personally knock some sense into Diluc.

Diluc’s been hard at work on another possible Fatui plan and business with the winery that he can’t help but feel that he was missing something. Was he overlooking something? He had planned this for a while so everything should be perfect. It wasn’t until Kaeya himself had to walk in, press his hand on the tavern counter, and call him an idiot that he realizes that he had been so wrapped up in his work and personal duties that he completely neglected you. He quickly passes his duties to Charles with a quick apology, throws his coat on, gives Kaeya a very strained thank you, and he’s out the door to find you. He’s already lost so much so he’ll be damned if he looses you. Not right now. 

You gave him the key to your home after a few months of being together, in case his he needed to temporarily hide should his night activities get the best of him. He’s already at your door in seconds as he quickly unlocks and steps in. 

“Beloved?” he softly calls out to not accidently scare you but he receives no reply. It’s dark inside but he can see your shoes at the door so he knows you’re inside somewhere. He softly closes and locks the door as he hangs his coat up. Carefully running a hand down the fabric and beside your coat as he looks around your small home. He’s always felt it was warm even when you weren’t here. The “home” he has will always be the place he grew up in but after everything that’s happened, he feels a bit alienated in there so he always appreciated that you lent him a key.

He catches the sound of some shuffling and follows the sound to see you under your blankets. He breathes a quick sigh of relief that you weren’t in any danger as he carefully circles around your bed before gently placing a hand on your back. He’s never been good at words or communicating his feelings so he’s at a bit of a standstill. Despite his reputation of being a nobleman of high esteem, you’re his first serious relationship. As far as he’s concerned you’re going to be his only relationship for that matter.

“I...apologize for my recent behaviour. It was never my intention to hurt you. I ended up letting myself get too blinded to see you were in pain and that was my fault. You don’t have to forgive me now but won’t you let me see your face my love?” he asked in all his awkward pose, put him in front of massive event and he’ll perform with flying colours but put him in front of his partner and he stumbles over his worlds like a new born fawn. But it seems to bring a small laugh from you as you peek from under the covers. 

He smiles softly as he sees your ears flush pink. No matter how many times he calls you that you always get so shy, he adores it. But he can feel the guilt rise up in his chest, you’ve always been there to support and reassure him that he was doing everything right. That things were going to be okay when he re-took his father’s business and you would be with him every step of the way. So in the best and awkward way that Diluc can manage, he tells you this. By the time he’s done he can feel his own face start to pink but it’s made you feel better so it was worth it. 

“Feeling better?” he smiles softly as you nod up at him as he lays down beside you, opening his arms in comfort, “Good, come here.” 

You shuffle closer to him as he holds you. It’s been awhile since he’s held you like this and even without realizing it, he’s missed this. Just you and him together, basking in each other’s presence. No work that needed to be attended to. No Fatui trying to cause him any more trouble. It was a safe place and one he didn’t want to let go.  

“What if we got married?”

There’s a beat of silence. 

Then a thud. 

You end up scrambling and falling off your bed face first. It’s a bit silent as you give off a pain groaned and climb back up and he can see your face has exploded red. He can almost see steam coming off as you try and nurse your nose. He blinks a bit at you taken aback as you stutter and scream into your hands as your brain seems to process what he just asked. You lift your face from your hands to look at him, somehow go even redder, and scream louder into your hands. He’s not sure if this is something he should be offended or concerned about but the weight he had been feeling earlier starts to fade away as a new and familiar feeling bubbles up. For the first time in half a month, Diluc let’s out a laugh as he tries to console you as you manage out a yes.

---

Gripping my writing hand why is no one stopping me? Diluc you’re literally acting like Childe rn. [if anyone is confused ahem Childe: Fiancé HCs (should be in my masterlist)]

Also, I continue to look away from the lore. Kaeya and Diluc are not on the best of terms but if they can have petty rich lady wine talk then Kaeya can walk in and call Diluc an idiot.

I was serious when I said that I researched hawk behaviours. I have learned the internet is horrible in telling me how hawks behave. But I did find this and I found this hilarious:

In the case of the red-tailed hawk, for example, the pair soar, screaming at each other; then the male dives at the female, who may roll in the air to present her claws to him in mock combat.

[capitainelevi]

5, for the drabble challenge

Thank you for your ask!! ❤️❤️

Drabble challenge: Followers send a number to your ask and you write a drabble using that sentence/prompt in your piece. “You haven’t even touched your food. What’s going on?”

TW: dark themes, violence.

Dream in red

Criminal Levi. Canon setting. Word count: 2112

She was oblivious to the sights her beauty drew to her, giving Levi the perfect opportunity to marvel at the nymph across from him. He took in every move she made, committing to memory the way she loosened her honey-colored hair, which fell to her shoulders, or the way the girl bit her bottom lip in concentration as she rang up the customers of the small vegetable stand. She looked up briefly, and Levi locked eyes with her big, amber-colored ones as she gave him a shy smile. Her fate was sealed at that moment: she was everything Levi had been looking for. The missing piece from his life. Levi closed his eyes, imagining the blood flowing from the blade on his wrist as he plunges his knife in her heart, the light leaving her eyes as the fear on her face shifted to agony.

The last girl barely saturated Levi`s thirst. He wondered if Erwin ever suspected the activities that filled up Levi`s nights and if he was turning a blind eye to keep his most valuable soldier. Sometimes, he imagined the scandal that would ensure if he ever got caught. Humanity`s strongest soldier and also the most notorious criminal Trost ever had. Levi did follow in his uncle`s footsteps, after all.

Killing in the Underground was natural. He couldn`t even remember how many lives his hand took. Even his uncle gave up on him after the first time he found eight-year-old Levi crouched over the body of a young woman, his hands stained with her blood. Levi tried to keep his urges at bay when Erwin brought him up to the surface, putting all his rage and needs in slicing up titan flesh, but it lacked the intimacy he felt when he was in the same room as his prey. Nothing could replace the moment when his victims realized there was no way out for them.

From that day, Levi kept a watchful eye on his prey, learning every detail of her routine, but still keeping a safe distance from the girl. His small fantasy kept replaying in his mind day after day, of her tied to a chair as he prepared his blades to slice up her soft skin.

Climbing up to her bedroom became a routine in Levi`s days and nights. He knew everything her room had to say about her. He knew which book was her favorite by how worn out it was and how her clothes smelled like. At times, he felt so drawn to her he would linger through the night, watching her sleeping form for hours. His hand would slip to the blade in his pocket, wondering if the devastation on his father`s face as he found the light of his life sliced up in her bed would be better than the uncertainty he put the families through, as Levi disposed of all the bodies behind the Wall.

One afternoon, she came out of her house alongside three tall men, laughing with them, jokingly hitting one of them in their shoulder. Levi felt himself burning up with jealousy, his stomach was in knots, and against his better judgment, he started following the small group to the nearest tavern. Levi sat down at the bar, pretending to busy himself with a newspaper, positioning himself so he could steal glances at his small ginger, caught up in a conversation with her friends. His heart almost jumped out of his chest when Petra approached him so she could order her drink, and it took everything Levi had not to touch her. When she took out her pouch, she realized she was short on money when Levi told the bartender he would be covering for her.

“Wait, are you sure?”

Levi didn`t look at her as he pulled a few coins out of his pocket- “Don`t worry about it, just enjoy your drink.”

She eventually gave Levi a big smile and thanked him for the drink. When Petra started making her way back to her friends, Levi got out of his place and stormed out of the tavern. He couldn`t wait any longer. The image of her dead eyes plagued Levi`s days and nights. He needed to make his way to the cabin and get everything ready for his guest.

When the night finally came, Levi posted himself across from her house, waiting for his oblivious victim to fall into his arms. He pulled the hood on his face when the door opened, and the conversation he overheard was both amusing and sorrowful.

“Petra, love, maybe you should have told Oluo to come to pick you up. Too many young girls have been disappearing lately.”

Petra waved her father off, confident nothing would ever happen to her- “I`ll be fine, daddy, don`t worry. It`s just a short walk.”

Her father wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek- “I would be dead if something happened to you.”

“Nothing of the sort is going to happen to me, dad.”

Oh, my dove, maybe you should have listened to your father`s warning.

Used to living in the shadows, it was easy for Levi to tail her without her even noticing his presence creeping up on her. Petra struggled in his hold as she felt a hand across her mouth, stopping the air from reaching her lungs. She tried to bite or scratch or hit him, anything to get out of his hold, but as everything started going black, she knew there was no chance for her. I was wrong, dad. I`m sorry.

Levi covered her unconscious form and put her on his horse as he sped up towards the small cabin he kept for entertaining his most special guests. He was bursting up with excitement over the prospect of spending his night in the presence of the most perfect woman he had ever laid his eyes upon. Levi was going to take his time with her so that her death would not be in vain. He was going to take every bit of pleasure he could out of their time together.

After he tied Petra to the blood-stained wooden chair, Levi took a moment to admire her beauty. He ran his fingers through the ginger locks before tracing her plump lips with his thumb, thinking how it was a shame such beauty would be wasted in a matter of hours. How her pretty face would fall victim to decay.

The images in his mind shifted to how their life together would look like, how her sleeping sun-soaked form would look like in his bed every morning, on how he would wake her up with a kiss on her cheek. Levi would prepare her a cup of tea and her favorite dish for breakfast, and she would tell him all about the clients she had to deal with daily. Levi was brought back to reality by a groaning coming from the unconscious ginger, and against everything his instincts urged him to do, Levi made up his decision. Petra was going to live. And she would be his.

Levi shook her awake, and Petra groaned as she started to regain consciousness. She felt like her head would explode, and she couldn`t comprehend why a strange man was urging her to wake up. As memories of her night came flooding back, Petra yelled, trying to get away from her kidnapper. Levi waited for her to calm down as he tried to assure her that she was safe. When Petra stopped yelling, he approached her again, as he took her hand in his and caressed it.

“I followed the bastard here, but he ran away when he heard me approaching. Did he hurt you?”

Petra`s mind went blank as she tried to comprehend how lucky she had been. She looked into Levi`s eyes and saw nothing but concern, and the gruff-looking man in front of her became her hero. Petra threw herself in his arms, and while it was the last thing he expected, Levi didn`t think twice before reciprocating her gesture.

“No. Oh, thank the Goddesses you were here!”

Petra thanked Levi over and over again, wrapping her arms so tight around his body he nearly fell out of breath. He took Petra up in his arms and carried her to his horse to return his woman to his father. For the moment. He was sure he was in Heaven. He could see the relief and appreciation in Petra`s eyes as she told him he saved her life over and over again, and her father threw his arms around Levi the first chance he got.

Levi ignored the older man staining his cape with his tears as he threw his arms around Levi once Petra made her way back to the house- “My son, I owe you my life. Please, come back for dinner tomorrow evening. It`s the least I could do for you.”

Levi accepted the invitation and promised Petra`s father he would brief the Military Police the first chance he got. He just happened to be in the area as he saw the petite ginger`s misfortune of being chosen as the next victim of the newest killer plaguing their city. While they didn`t find any evidence in the cabin, the one Levi made sure to clean before waking Petra up, the Military Police still promised they would not treat this lightly, and it took everything Levi had not to laugh at their empty words.

He bought Petra flowers before coming to her house, and he didn`t miss the slight blush painting her cheeks as he put them in her arms. Petra`s father thanked Levi over and over again throughout dinner, telling him he was a blessing in their lives, and if Levi had any decency in him, he would have left right then. But no. Levi stayed and talked to Petra for hours and didn’t hesitate to accept the dinner invitation for next week.

Levi brought her flowers every time, and after the fourth dinner at her place, Petra asked him if he would like to accompany her to a picnic in the woods. They spent most of the afternoons lying on the blanket, with Levi listening to Petra talk about her childhood and how much she missed her mother, who passed away when she was a teenager. Levi shared a bit about his past, letting Petra know he grew up in the Underground, but realizing it must have been hard for him, she switched the conversation to his time in the Survey Corps and how he became Humanity`s Strongest Soldier.

Throughout their conversations, Levi could notice Petra`s sight swift to his lips from time to time, and while she was in the middle of telling him about her favorite dessert, Levi captured her mouth in a hungry kiss. Despite being taken by surprise, Petra reciprocated, being convinced that Levi was the greatest man she could ever be with.

Being Levi`s lover was hard, as she had to say goodbye to him with every expedition that he risked his life in, but Petra was the luckiest woman alive. Her lover was spoiling her with his attention and love. Every moment Levi got away from the military, he spent in her arms. After six months of dating, Levi announced to her he had a surprise for her, and he blindfolded her as he took her to the small apartment they would be moving in together.

Petra loved Levi more than she had ever loved anyone before, but doubt started making its way into her heart as evidence kept piling up over the months spent together. Such as the bloodstains she kept finding on his clothes as she washed them, after being fairly certain titan blood should have evaporated. Or the nights she woke up to an empty bed, as her lover claimed to have taken a walk outside to help with his insomnia. But no. She was being paranoid. Her Levi was the sweetest man she had ever met. But she had to ask. She needed to be sure.

Petra was lost in her thoughts as she played around with the food on her plate. She had just discovered another bloodstain on her lover`s cravat. Levi`s voice pulled her out of her thoughts- “You haven’t even touched your food. What’s going on?”

She sighed, unsure if she should even word it to Levi, but she knew the answer already. There was no way the kind man she had been dating would hurt people.

“Levi… do you have something to tell me?”

Levi sighed as he listened to Petra voice out her worries, all while pulling his knife out of his pocket.

[yanderefer]

C-can you p-please do yandere onceler x reader oneshot but he is evil but still okay?? uwu

since you’re the first to ask whatever you say goes i guess. i’ve only ever seen the lorax movie and am not in that fandom so uh, hope his personality is alright. not a specific ask so i just did a scenario i thought of. i did my best. enjoy. there’s changing perspectives marked by the heart dividers. also i forgot he wears a hat so he is hatless.

Scenario: An Act of Kindness

Word Count: 3.5k

Despite being the town outcast, you were able to observe the daily events of the town square without being harassed. That was mostly because of the people who usually ended up in the square. Quite often would outside people come and try to pitch some crazy new idea; starry-eyed yet full of underlying greed. But, this guy was different.

He’d been coming around pretty often now; the thneed guy. In the beginning, you had just rolled your eyes seeing him setting up in the gazebo. You’d hear him sing about his ridiculous invention, only to be harshly booed by a larger and larger crowd. Now there was almost anticipation from the heckling people, waiting to chuck more tomatoes at the poor, strangely stubborn guy.

Seriously, why hadn’t he given up? He was chased away and made fun of every day and would leave to go to who knows where. Yet he always came back, continuing to sing that stupid song about thneeds. 

So that leads to now. You doing something out of character.

The sun was setting as people left the square, bored after a day without tomatoes to throw. This was the first time you had seen him so upset. Although very obviously naïve, the black-haired man was overwhelmingly passionate about his…craft, so you felt sympathy. Looks like his guitar got smashed, which you supposed is why he looked so downtrodden.

You didn’t like seeing the stubbornly positive guy look so hopeless.

“Hey.” With your hands in your pockets you strolled toward the bench he was slouching on. The broken guitar was next to him. “Could I sit next to you?”

He didn’t respond. You frowned. It looks like he couldn’t even hear you. With a loud sigh, you kicked at the bench. “Dude. I’m talking to you. Your guitar is in my spot.” Finally, he looked up, eyes shooting open and staring for a moment too long before stuttering out an apology. You sighed and sat down once he moved the broken instrument. It was amusing how he was fidgeting, obviously nervous, and maybe not prepared for anyone to actually talk to him. “What’s your name?”

“Huh?” He rubbed his arm, still staring at you.

“I’m not just going to call you the thneed guy. What’s your name.”

“Oh! It’s Onceler.” He reached out his gloved hand, and you raised your brow. You gave your name in return and shook his hand, ignoring the dirty glove. After the handshake, he continued to fidget. Onceler would look around then look back at you, almost disbelieving. Were you intimidating or was he just not used to people?

“So, Onceler,” You resisted a chuckle at his name, “What’s got you down?” You rested your elbow on your leg and rest your head on your palm, watching him.

“Oh. Uh. Well, you see…” Onceler fidgeted his fingers, eyes looking anywhere but you. He seemed to still be confused as to why you were talking to him, cheeks flushing red. He kept mumbling out random filler words before letting out a large sigh, deflating. “A little girl broke my guitar.” You nodded, pursing your lips. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. “And, well, you know, this guitar kind of…meant a lot to me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Now it’s broken and, well, I’ve got nothing to show for it.” Onceler held up the pink piece of clothing that was beside him, frown deepening, “I think that maybe now is the time I should give up. Throw in the towel.”

“What?” You were alarmed. You honestly felt really sad for Onceler. He was just a naïve guy chasing his passions, courageous enough to put himself out there. You couldn’t in good conscience just watch such a positive person become hopeless. “Why?”

“What do you mean why?” Onceler laughed, gaze sad, “I’m a failure. Everyone hates my thneeds. Everyone hates me. I shouldn’t have moved out here in the first place.” He covered his face with his hands, mumbling under his breath, “My parents were right.”

“Knock it off,” You smacked Onceler upside the head, and he let out a squeak of alarm. He grabbed the back of his head and gave you the most confused look you’d ever seen. “Don’t be all pessimistic. Doesn’t suit you.” You clicked your tongue when he still kept staring at you blankly, looking to have zero thoughts in his head.

You reached over and somewhat aggressively took his thneed, messing around with it in your hands before holding it out in front of you. You first put it on your head as a hat but felt it was stupid. Then you tried wearing it as a scarf...Success! Somehow this is the most comfortable thing you’ve ever worn.

Onceler sat there staring stupidly, and you turned to him with a grin. “Hey, it’s actually pretty good. You made this yourself, right?” Onceler nodded, eyes wide. “It’s creative, but I’m just going to use it as a scarf. How much is it?” You reached into your pocket, ignoring the spluttering mess beside you.

“Wait wait wait–you…you want to buy it!?” Onceler turned to you in absolute disbelief, making you roll your eyes.

“Isn’t that why you kept coming here? The price. Spit it out.” You snuggled a bit into the thneed, smiling. It gave you warm comfort, like the material was made of clouds, or the sun was being absorbed by it. You saw his face turn completely red, and you raised a brow. “What, did you not think of a price?”

“O–Oh! No, no not that. Um, it’s, well,” He told you how much it cost and you dutifully handed him the bills. It wasn’t that expensive, surprisingly. This was a very good deal, and you were forever comfy now.

“Nice.” You happily lifted the thneed and rubbed it on your cheek, not realizing you were smiling sweetly. You noticed the sun was almost behind the horizon and it was getting dark. Distracted, you missed the strangely reverent gaze the man beside you held. “Well, looks like I’m out of here.”

“Huh?” Onceler jolted, and you laughed. He was kind of an airhead.

“It’s getting late. You should probably head back too.” You stood up and patted your pants, readjusting the thneed around your neck.

“Will you…” Onceler suddenly spoke up, and you turned to face him. He stuttered a bit more then went silent, blushing brightly in shame. You rolled your eyes, putting a hand on his head. You ruffled his black hair, before pulling back with a grin.

“Don’t act so unconfident. I think you have a real future with this thneed thing. I believe in you.” You hoped that gave him some confidence. “So, you better come back tomorrow. I’d be bored if you didn’t.” You gave a crooked grin, tilting your head. Onceler frantically nodded, jumping to his feet and leaning forward before abruptly backing away. He gave a very shaky “goodnight” as he turned tail and ran, lanky body unsteady.

He tripped and fell on his face.

You covered your mouth.

He got back up and shouted an, “I’m okay!” before running off.

Once he was out of sight, you burst out laughing. You laughed more than you had in years.

 »»————-———— ♡ ————————-«« 

 Onceler ran all the back to the forest, barely paying attention to the goldfish throwing cards at each other. The bears were mostly retreating since it was night, and he couldn’t see the Lorax anywhere. With a relieved sigh he ran to his–for once animal free–home.

He entered and slammed the door behind himself, before sliding to the floor with his gloved hands over his face. Onceler could still feel the heat from his face despite his thick gloves.

Was that a dream? No, that really happened. Onceler didn’t even imagine it! That really just happened!

You really talked to him!

Since he’d been going to the town he’d been getting harassed left and right. The number of tomatoes and insults was uncountable (today somebody had actually destroyed his guitar!) but he always noticed somebody who actually listened when he presented.

It was you! Onceler smiled, still covering his face. He was so flustered. You always stood to the side and never threw anything or yelled at him. You came by every day for varying amounts of time, but today you actually approached him! 

You were one of the reasons Onceler kept going to town because he knew if he went he could see you at least for a moment. He admired you so much. He was always so afraid to go up to you since you were so…unreachable. You were so perfect and confident and nice and flawless. And your name was just as wonderful as you were.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that you would really come and talk to him; comfort him. You pat him on the head and said such nice things. You said you believed in him.

Onceler suddenly jumped to his feet in excitement, dancing around the room with uncontained giddiness. It was his first-ever sale and that was amazing in itself but it was so much more because you bought it. His first ever thneed that he made was sold to you. He didn’t know what to do. He was filled with so many emotions that he thought he was going to explode. This was just the first step. Onceler already thought you were great before, and this just proved his theory. Now he needed to wait for you to feel the same thing for him–and he would start by cultivating a great friendship!

You looked so happy wearing the thneed that Onceler painstakingly made. It made everything worth it. You told him to come back tomorrow so that’s what he would do! He already had another thneed done to present with.

…

Onceler had been playing for a while, using the spare ukulele he found in his car trunk. He ignored the booing and noticed they were out of tomatoes still–like yesterday. He was relieved since now you would see him without all that gross red gunk.

After playing for a long time, looking everywhere, he grew antsy.

Where were you?

Since he’d been coming here you’d at least walk by even if just for a minute. Onceler continued to play but slowly became more disheartened. Did you…not mean what you said? Did you realize that he actually was a failure?

With all those harrowing thoughts he slowly stopped playing and walked off the stage. The smaller crowd was almost disappointed to have their daily harassment cut short, but decided to gossip loudly instead. Onceler sat on the bench from the night before, holding a thneed to his chest for comfort.  

“That’s pretty intense.”

“Gosh, I know, right? It’s not like they ever bothered to fit in with us, so I guess it’s almost comeuppance? Really harsh, though.”

Onceler perked up, hearing your name come up in their conversation. Worry washed away the disappointment from before. Did something happen to you?

“They probably won’t be leaving the house for a while, I reckon. I know I wouldn’t. Muggings never happen in this town.”

Onceler gripped the ukulele’s neck, and it creaked.

“What was even stolen? They don’t ever carry a bag or wallet. Not much money can fit in pockets.”

“That’s the funny thing–apparently the muggers tried to take their…what was it…it’s that thing that annoying guy's always selling.”

“The thneed thing?”

“Mhm. That. Anyways, they fought back against the muggers and ended up getting really roughed up. I mean, I heard those muggers also got pretty beat up too, but nobody knows where they are. It’s kind of funny that the muggers even took the thneed thing, especially when that person fought so hard to keep it. They went to a hospital, all for a piece of cloth.”

The ukulele creaked, then snapped. Onceler abruptly stood up, surprising the three older women behind him. “They were…hospitalized?” Onceler’s voice was even, no indication of being upset.

One woman gave him a weird look, before shrugging. “Mhm. But I heard they ran off right back home without being fully treated. They don’t like being around people. It’s why they never are around town.” The woman spoke with slight contempt, before scuttling off with her two friends.

Onceler kept holding the broken ukulele by the neck, mind spinning with the new overload of information. You got mugged. You didn’t comply because you didn’t want them to take your thneed. You got hurt. You got hurt.

And nobody cared. No, from what he could tell, those women were somehow happy about it. Onceler realized you never interacted with anyone when you stood close to the square. Everyone treated you like you were invisible.

An outcast.

Onceler ran through town, going up to random people and asking if they knew where you lived. Most gave him disdainful looks and ignored him, and some just yelled. Finally, a kid actually answered him by pointing in a direction.

“They live in that old house at the edge of town. I heard it’s haunted. You shouldn’t go, my mommy said the person living there is weird.” Onceler grit his teeth, forcing himself not to lash out. After running some more, he finally reached your house.

...A really run-down house.

It was worn down, the wooden walls old and unsafe looking, the grass around the house matted and uncared for. Onceler went to knock on the door before stopping himself. He went to the side and looked through the window instead, seeing you on the couch watching something on TV. You were wrapped in bandages in a bunch of places, with a large medicinal patch on your cheek and a swollen eye.

Onceler was relieved to know you were okay, before becoming enraged at how hurt you were. He saw a variety of medications on the table along with an opened first aid kit. You looked strangely serene in your situation, not upset in the slightest. Like you were used to it.

Onceler backed away from the window and furrowed his brows. He wanted to go in and confront you, ask why you did something so dangerous just to protect his useless work. But then he thought about it.

…This means you like him too, right? Why else would you fight to keep something he made?

Onceler rubbed the back of his head, happy but not fully. You really liked the thneed he made, so he didn’t want to give you a replacement. That one was important. It was the most meaningful since it was his first one. You were hurt and he needed a way to comfort you without being too overbearing. Plus, there was this leftover…anger?...in his chest that he needed to get rid of. Those muggers needed to suffer the consequences. Onceler thought about it a bit, then his eyes light up.

He knew what to do.

 »»————-———— ♡ ————————-«« 

 You were eating dinner when you heard a knock on the door.

That was new.

You dragged yourself to your feet. Only curiosity drove you to open the door, not really thinking if it could be dangerous. Nobody ever visited you. You opened the door, out of breath from walking.

“…Onceler?” You blinked a few times, wondering if you were seeing things.

“Ah–Yup! It’s me!” He smiled brightly, hands behind his back and rocking on his feet. You rose a brow.

“What are you doing here?”

“I heard rumors about what happened and got worried, so, well, I, uh, just asked around and, um, I also wanted to help so I decided to–”

“Just come in.” You left the door open and walked back to the couch, plopping down and breathing shakily. You closed your eyes briefly to steady yourself, still weak from the encounter last night. You opened one eye and stared at Onceler, seeing him standing in the middle of the room, staring. “What are you holding?”

Onceler jolted, before revealing the thneed behind his back.

“You got me another one? Thanks.” You appreciated that at least. Hopefully, it was free. You really liked those things and the muggers took your cash.

“O–Oh, no, I didn’t do that,” You frowned at him, “I thought that, um, wasn’t fair really.” You were confused. He saw your face and flushed red, “I got it back! For you. The first one. That those muggers took.” Onceler smiled proudly, walking over and presenting the thneed to you.

“Huh?” You hesitantly reached out a took it, “I–what? How?”

“I! Well, I just kind of,” Onceler twiddled his thumbs, looking away while still blushing, “I just got it back. I…found them. And took it back.” You studied him a bit, watching his jittery behavior. But then you looked at his face and saw two bright, innocent eyes. “Are you happy? Do you like it?” Onceler leaned forward, smiling hopefully.

���Yeah.” You nodded slowly, looking at the thneed closely. You move it around and hold it out in front of you. “Huh. It really is mine.” It had the marking you put on it after you bought it. A little initial in the corner of it. You shrug it around your neck, patting it back into place like it was yesterday.

“O–Of course! I thought you, well, I wanted you to keep my first one.” Onceler blushed and waved his hands. “Not in a weird way or anything! It’s my first sale so…it’s important you keep it.” You nod along, figuring it made sense.

“Thanks. I’m glad you got it back for me. Don’t know how you got it, but it makes me feel a lot better, so I don’t care.” You held it close and smiled, rubbing the soft material on your cheek again. “You can sit down next to me.” You gestured to the spot. Onceler brightened up and smiled before almost tripping as he rushed over. He sat down.

“I’m so glad you feel better.” Onceler rubbed his arm, head turned away shyly. “It really sucks that those horrible people did that.” You listened to him while looking at your thneed, nose twitching.

“Huh.” You tilted your head, “I think that’s a bloodstain.” Onceler tensed next to you, but you didn’t bother looking up. “I should probably wash it since it got dirty in the fight. It’s surprisingly sturdy.” Onceler let out a sigh and relaxed.

“Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. You should do that.” Onceler sounded strangely relieved. About what? You’ve got no clue.

“I’ll do it later. Want to watch a movie with me?” You rested your legs on the table, grabbing the remote. Onceler flushed with a bright smile.

“Of course!”

 »»————-———— ♡ ————————-«« 

 While you watched the movie, Onceler looked at the stained thneed around your neck, tempted to wash it right now. It was dirtied by the blood of those–Onceler shook his head. Thankfully you already came to your own conclusion as to how he got the thneed back.

“You’re not wearing your gloves today.”

“Huh?” Onceler blinked, snapping back to reality. He nervously looked down at his hands, “O-Oh. Well, I usually keep them on since I work with trees a lot…”

“Like chopping them down?”

“Once. I just harvest tufts now. I figure somebody would be mad if I cut down more trees, especially since I’m living in that forest for free.”

“That’s kind of you. But, since you aren’t wearing your gloves, why’d you bring an axe? I saw it on the ground by my door.”

“My axe?” Onceler twitched, looking away. He quickly recouped and smiled shakily. “I thought maybe I could help with your house a bit. Chop down some of the trees on the other side of the town away from where I live and repair the walls. That’s why I brought it.”

“Really? That’s sweet, I guess. You don’t have too. Plus, that axe was the rustiest axe I’ve ever seen so it could never cut down a tree anyways. Once I’m better we can work on the house together–only if you want to, though. I could buy us new axes too.” You smiled, making Onceler turn bright red again.

“That sounds super fun!” Onceler sat up straight and clasped his hands together in excitement. “Maybe I can sell more thneeds so we can keep buying materials.” Onceler’s foot kept tapping, body jittering with giddiness. You laughed into your palm, shaking your head slightly before nudging his shoulder.

“Sure. I’ll hold you to it.”

You went back to the movie, leaning back into the couch. Onceler followed suit but mostly watched you instead of the movie. He was amused at your questions from earlier, realizing you were a lot more unaware than you seemed.

Onceler hadn’t meant to bring his axe with him–he just got so excited to see you after he finally got your thneed back that he just threw it to the side and hoped for the best. At least he was smart enough to take his gloves off too. You bought what he told you, which meant you trusted him a lot. In regard to it being rusted, it was probably too dark for you to see how obviously red it was–the same for his discarded gloves.

It didn’t matter. You were happy you got your thneed back, and he was happy he got more opportunities to be around you. Now you didn’t have to worry about those muggers either, because you wouldn’t see them ever again.

Onceler covered his grin with his hand.

Nobody would.

[randomfandomimagine]

Love’s Worth Running To. Chapter 5: Hero Work

Pairing: Barry Allen x Stephanie Williams (OFC)

Fandom: Justice League / DCEU

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AO3

A/N: Another chapter! I think this one as very interesting stuff, and it’s finally starting to move on to my favorite part of the story, I can’t wait to post the few next chapters!

Also, and as always, remember to give this some love! Please reblog and leave feedback if you’re liking it, it would help me out a lot and it’d mean the world to me!! 🙏 Thank you so much to everyone that’s supporting this series 🥰💜

With the excuse that she needs to face it sooner or later, Stephanie starts trying out her powers. She promises herself that it means nothing, only a way to ensure they won’t become something dangerous because she can’t control them. It doesn’t mean she will recklessly go out trying to be Wonder Woman. But the improvised hero outfit still lays on the ground. She hasn’t put it away. Keeps glancing at it.

Meanwhile, as her eyes are fixed on the costume, a light crackle of electricity hovers over her palm. Stephanie sighs and focuses her attention on it, watching how the small force field slowly grows. The semi-transparent sphere, at first as small as marble, has reached the size of a football ball now.

Stephanie tells herself that big progress has been made, as at least she is now in control of it even if the force field isn’t big enough to really protect anyone. Its surface is also irregular and unstable. She grits her teeth, frowning in confusion, but the very best she can do is maintain the current state of the force field.

“Ah!” Stephanie suddenly yelps when her phone buzzes. The force field in her hand crackles, creating a mild disturbance in the air, before completely fading.

Promising to keep working on her newfound abilities after checking her phone, she picks the device up and looks at the screen. Her heart halts in anticipation as she reads the text. It’s from Ben.

While it isn’t the person she was expecting, it still warms her heart that Ben is reaching out and checking on her. For that reason, she proceeds to read the message and a small smile finds its way to her lips when she does.

Good morning, Stephanie! How are you feeling? I hope you’re well and recovered. There is no rush to return to work, but I must insist that you rest and properly look after yourself. I’m your boss, so you have to do as I say.

Best regards, Ben.

Stephanie chuckles, endeared by his thoughtful message and amused by the fact that he signed it like he would a written letter... despite the fact that the phone already showcases the sender. Grinning, she starts typing to reply to him.

You may be the man in charge for the project, but shall I remind you that you’re not my boss?

Best regards, Stephanie.

However, and despite the lighthearted interaction, a void settles in her chest.

For a moment, Stephanie had hoped it was Barry contacting her, only to remember that she had been ignoring his many calls and messages. He has probably given up on talking to her, figuring she will do so when she feels comfortable with it. And she misses him. For that reason, she dials his number while Ben types back.

Barry takes a few rings to answer, but when he does his warm and familiar voice is filled with excitement. It makes Stephanie smile as soon as she hears it.

“Steph?!” He answers. “Oh my gosh, hi! How are you feeling?”

“Hi, Barry” The girl can’t stop smiling now, while at the same time wondering how she had survived so many days without him. “I’m feeling better, thank you”

“That’s great, I’m so glad to hear it!” He sighed from the other end, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Um… did you need anything? Or did you just call to chat?”

“Well…” Stephanie awkwardly chuckles, feeling embarrassed for isolating herself. But now that she has her powers mostly under control after that long week, she feels like she can talk to him again. “Actually, I wanted to apologize… I know I’ve been very distant, but…”

“Hey, no” He gently interrupts her. “Steph, you don’t have to apologize, don’t say a word. I understand that you needed some time, anyone would after what you went through!”

Stephanie pauses for a moment while the nerves suddenly stir in her stomach. In the end, noticing his silence as well, she pipes up once more.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, Barry”

“I’m always gonna worry about you”

She smiles to herself, knowing that he means that in the best way possible. The nerves disappear, replaced with a wave of warmth that fills her. Suddenly, all those negative emotions she has been experiencing for days are gone. All thanks to his magic.

“Listen, I’m in a hurry. I’m so sorry, I really can’t talk more” Barry mumbles. “But, uh... how ‘bout we meet this evening? I’ll take it easy on you, I promise, I just want to hang out with you for a bit”

“Sure” Stephanie chuckles. “I’d love that”

“Cool!” She hears him happily chuckle as well. “Pick you up at 7?”

“Yeah, see you later” And Stephanie hangs up, unable to erase the smile from her face.

_

When Barry arrives to the place of reunion, he heaves a big sigh. The sky suddenly looks bluer, the birds are singing louder and the sun shines brighter. Everything is okay.

“There you are” Clark pats his shoulder, warning him of the team’s presence. They had been waiting for him. “How can a speedster like you be late?”

“Right, sorry about that” Barry grins instead of taking his words as a scolding.

“You look happy…” Diana tells Barry, kindly nudging him a little.

“Yeah, well” The boy suddenly feels slightly flustered by everyone’s gazes on him. “I talked to Steph”

“Your friend?” Bruce pipes up, the hint of a smile peeking in the corner of his lips. “We told you she just needed some time”

“She doing okay?” Arthur asked, frowning slightly in concern.

“Yeah, she’s fine… she’s fine” Barry sighs like that again, feeling lighter. “Phew, it was such a relief”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Barry” Victor gravely tells him. “But we have work to do”

“You’re right, I know” The boy nods to himself. “I’m ready, let’s go”

The silence settles for a moment. Overlooking the city from their high spot at the top of the skyscraper, the six pensively observe the atmosphere beneath their feet. There is the usual busy sound of traffic, of the crowd’s murmuring and the occasional ambulance or police cars sirens in the distance. Other than that, there are no signs of an imminent threat.

“What are we doing here again?” Arthur pipes up. “Everything seems calm”

“Too calm” Bruce grimly replies, glancing at the rest. “I know something’s wrong”

“I can feel it too” Victor adds. “The electric devices feel erratic, like a virus is slowly poisoning the city”

“What we can do about it?” Diana stares at the cyborg, whose eyes are fixed on the city underneath.

“Can you do something to stop that virus?” Barry suggests to him. “Get into their systems or something?”

“I can’t” Victor gravely says, locking eyes with the speedster. “That’s how I know something’s wrong”

“I can feel it too” Clark admits. There are no traces of his usual smile. “Maybe it’s just an intuition, but-”

Before he can even finish his sentence, a loud ruckus startles them all. Something has changed right under their field of vision. An automated train, moving on its own and filled with thousands of innocent passengers, is violently wavering and making the people inside it scream and panic. It moves at a vertiginous speed. More strange noises ensure that the train isn’t the only electronic device malfunctioning there.

“You wouldn’t be doing that, by any chance?” Barry asks Victor, who slowly shakes his head.

As on cue, everyone moves at his denial. The six seem synchronized as they throw themselves down the rooftop. Diana uses her lasso to soar through the air, Bruce glides with his cape and Barry speeds leaving behind a faint blue tail. Clark flies, followed by Victor with his propellers, and Arthur throws his trident and rides it like a surf board.

In the blink of an eye, the six have landed on top of the train. More panicked screams fill the interior with the loud thud of their landing. They struggle to maintain balance in the speeding train. Moving quickly, Clark tears the metallic top of the train open and so everyone drops to the inside.

“Please stay calm” He kindly says to the terrorized passengers.

“We’re here to help” Bruce assures them with his deep voice.

“We’re saved!” A blond woman exclaims. “It’s Superman!”

“And Wonder Woman!”

“And The Batman!”

Although a warm welcome, the Justice League focuses on the mission ahead: saving those people. They exchange quick glances between them and get to work. There is no time to lose.

“Barry” Bruce lowly tells him. “Get rid of all the electronic devices as soon as possible”

“Before they overheat and explode” Victor urges him, his red eye seeming to recognize the extent of the danger they present. “They’re malfunctioning just like the train”

“Copy that!” And with that, the speedster is gone in the blink of an eye. With shocked gasps, the people find that their phones, tablets and any other electronic devices are taken from them. Some explode as soon as they’re thrown out the window, causing an even further outrage.

“I’ll try to stop the train” Victor closes his eyes, focusing his mind on the electric system.

“I’ll do that too” Clark nods, helping the cyborg by flying to the front of the vehicle. As soon as he disappears, the train produces a strident creaking as it drags along the rails. Carefully. Very slowly, it starts losing speed. He can’t risk harming the people inside with a violent halt.

“We’ll get the people safely off” Diana taps Bruce, who doesn’t lose one second to go with her.

“And I’ll help you out” Arthur throws his trident to the doors, breaking through them to allow them an exit.

Soon after, Barry has returned and instantly goes with Diana, Bruce and Arthur to help them move the passengers out of the speeding train. Clark seems to continue his part of the rescue, because it loses speed by the second. Slow and safely.

While Arthur breaks open all the doors he can to create more exits, the rest gets ahold of as many people as possible. The train hasn’t quite stopped yet. Bruce carries three grown men, using his grappling hook to swing to safety. Diana has picked up a group of four children while Barry puts their parents to safety. Perhaps they can’t quite understand and solve what is happening in the city yet, but in the meantime they can always protect the people.

_

Seven o’clock can’t come soon enough. Time passes slowly, and Stephanie’s eyes keep landing on the discarded outfit on the ground. She bites her lip. Knowing she is meeting Barry later seems to fill her with courage. Hope. Maybe she can be like their heroes, like Wonder Woman and Superman. At the very least, she can try.

“Maybe I’ll just try it on…” She mumbles, trying to get rid of her impatient energy, and as though they outfit would have changed sizes during those few days she hasn’t touched it.

Telling herself that it’s only a way to stay distracted and busy while she waits for Barry to arrive, although that isn’t for two more hours, Stephanie gets changed. The tight leggings slip on easily, like a second skin, like they’re the right thing to wear. After she puts on the tank top as well, she stands before the mirror once more. The same sense of excitement and wonder settle in her stomach, taking the form of butterflies that take flight inside it.

The look is almost complete. Just when she is applying the eye shadow like the other day, a sound interrupts her. Several police cars pass by her apartment at top speed, illuminating the streets with their blue light. A test. A call to adventure. Will she answer?

“I can do it” She whispers to herself. “I want to help, I can do it”

Anxious as the police cars wail in the distance, Stephanie nods in resolution. After such a long time of inactivity, her muscles complain at the sudden energy bursts. Ignoring the light aching of her body, Stephanie runs. She leaves her apartment, leaves behind her building and runs in the direction the police cars took. After days if inactivity, she feels alive again. Her lungs urgently fill with air, her heart begins beating so fast that it throbs in her ears.

Stephanie doesn’t stop running, chasing the call to heroism and smiling widely.

_

She gasps for air as she watches the scene before her in confusion. The streets are total chaos. Even the few policemen that have stayed seem to have lost their minds. All the people, from ordinary bystanders, to service workers that have left their establishments, are running aimlessly and screaming in a panic.

“HEEEELP!!! He will kill us all!!” A shrieking voice gathers her attention upwards. A man is teetering at the very edge of a ledge, at the top of a building. He seems about to jump. Stephanie can’t get there in time to save him. Where is the Justice League when you need it?!

Trying to make herself audible among the shouting of the panicked people around her, she focuses on the man whose life is in immediate danger.

“Stay where you are!” She shouts at him, but he only dedicates her an absent glance.

Stephanie frantically looks around, searching for something that can help her. Nothing of use is in sight. What can she do? An idea suddenly pops up in her brain. Wiggling her fingers, she tries to create a force field around herself. If it’s stable enough, maybe it can lift her off the ground and transport her to him.

But it’s all for naught. It’s too late. Her heart skips a beat.

The man has walked off the ledge.

“NO!” Stephanie screams, so violently that she hurts her throat.

On an instinct, she reaches out in his direction despite the big distance that separates them. Her head fills with uneasy thoughts, all of which are focused on helping him. Saving him! Her first attempt can’t end like that, she needs to do something!

Just as the man is about to step into the air and commence a free fall of several stories high, a bubble creates around him. The man gasps, suspended in the air by a wavering force field.

Realizing it is her doing, Stephanie clenches her jaw and focuses all her might on it. Although it quakes with her effort, the bubble carefully glides downwards until it touches the pavement. As soon as it does, the man looks around in a daze and begins to walk away.

Stephanie finds that such small deed was too great for her. All her energies abandon her and she suddenly falls to the ground. She sits there helplessly. Her heart has recovered that unforgiving pace and she breathes heavily again, even worse than after her dash.

In a daze, feeling how her brain slowly fills with fog, Stephanie watches the scene. Two men are fighting close to her, shouting as they’re convinced the other is a threat. A woman and her baby run aimlessly, wailing as each make more noise than the previous. All around her reigns absolute chaos. Panic. Terror. The reason? She doesn’t know. She doesn’t understand.

A man runs for his life, anxiously looking over his shoulder as though something or someone is chasing him. Stephanie can’t see anything behind the man. Just as he passes her by, she weakly holds on to the leg of his pants.

“Sir, sir!!” She calls out, trying to get through to him. Fighting his panic, he nervously turns to her. “What is happening?!”

“T-The scarecrow!” The man gulps. “We’re all going to die!”

And with that her breaks free from her grasp with one simple jerking motion and continues on his escape from an invisible foe.

Stephanie frowns under her eye mask. There are no signs of any scarecrow, and even if it was… what would a scarecrow be doing in a city? Why would an inanimate object be a threat? These people seem to be frightened of an imaginary foe. The only thing different aside from the panicked people is a strange ambiance. Although slightly similar to the way her force fields change the air, this once it feels heavy. There is a mild odor of something burning, like popcorn that has been on the microwave for too long.

But… there is no fire. Stephanie suddenly gets an urge to leave. She makes to stand up, but she remains too weak to move. Anguish overcomes her. Something is happening in that place, something that she cannot comprehend but that is starting to take over her too.

She doesn’t know what, but something is wrong. Something is about to happen. Something bad. Something terrible. She can’t stop thinking about it. A feeling of dread overpowers any other rational thoughts. Now Stephanie understands how all those people feel. Panicked She does too.

Her eyes frantically travel all around her, expecting hidden enemies in every corner. Her powers are useless, even if she could use them. She can’t protect herself, or anyone else.

Static-like void fills her brain, causing her to push her hands against her ears when it feels like her head is about to explode. Her temples throb. Her heart thumps. Her breathing quickens.

Just as she feels herself about to completely lose control, a figure appears in front of her as though it has fallen from the heavens. Stephanie yelps and whimpers, shielding her face with her hands and leaning backwards to get away.

“Hey” A deep dark voice approaches her. “You okay?”

Stephanie dares to peek through her fingers, only becoming more frightened when she actually sees the person… the… creature? It looks like a man, but her panicked mind can only see an enormous bat standing on two legs with its wings wide open.

“Ah!” She screams, so the figure folds the wings and cautiously approaches her. She still doesn’t trust him. “Please don’t hurt me!”

He can hurt her. He will. Anyone can. Anyone will.

“I’m not going to hurt you” He slowly crouches down to be at eye level with her. She can see his worried brown eyes through the mask that covers his features. “Look at me”

“You’re… you’re…” The world seems to spin around her, and Stephanie is out of breath. “You’re The Batman”

“That’s right, I’m here to help” He reminds her, offering her his hand. “What’s going on?”

Stephanie gulps as he pulls her to her feet. It comes to her attention that he looks her up and down, reminding her of the outfit she’s wearing. A hero… she failed. The reason why she went there on the first place was because she wanted to help those people, but… reality becomes a little more stable as she realizes… not even the police stuck around.

“Can you hear me?” The Batman tries again. “What is happening?”

“I don’t know… I don’t know” All her thoughts are scrambled, too fast to stop as they slip through her lips. “Something… is wrong… I can’t explain it...”

A sudden urge to cry causes her to stare at him, begging for help. Maybe he knows what strange occurrence takes place in that street, or how to stop it, or how to end it. He doesn’t seem to, but his eyes are filled with compassion.

“I assume you wanted to help, but you can go” He tells her, supporting her as she feels herself swaying. “Don’t worry, everything will be alright”

Stephanie slowly nods, taking a deep breath and making an effort to fight through that strange trance of terror. No one has attacked her yet, despite her irrational conviction that they would.

“Go, get to safety” The Batman insists, gently letting go of her. “I’ll take care of this”

She opens her mouth. To warn him. He doesn’t know. Since he has just arrived, he has no idea what he will soon experience. But Stephanie can’t speak up. She barely has the strength to stand.

Stumbling and in a daze, she takes a step. She needs to get away from there, breathe a different air. Clean air, not contaminated with whatever is hurting her so. For that reason, she takes another step. And then another. Little by little, she gets away from there. The safety of her home has never felt so distant.

_

When she wakes up, Stephanie can barely remember how she clumsily plopped on the bed and fell asleep. She had nightmares that are impossible to remember. The fact that she is still wearing her hero outfit is proof that it really happened. She still feels feverish and exhausted from her attempt. Something out of the ordinary was happening there. She can only hope The Batman helped those people, and that he himself was safe after all of that.

Remembering she is supposed to meet Barry when he texts her a quick ‘omw’ that lets her know he will arrive soon, Stephanie gets up. She gets changed and stumbles through her own house as though the ground is shaking under her feet.

Her mind seems to clear up as the minutes pass. When she is done getting ready, she goes to the door where she is supposed to meet Barry. He isn’t there yet. At least, her thoughts feel more coherent and ordered now.

Even after that strange effect has passed, adark feeling stays with Stephanie, like a black cloud that stays with her. At first she assumed it was the rare burst of adrenaline traveling through her veins. Now she’s not so sure. Her heart hasn’t stopped beating erratically ever since then, and although there is no more danger she feels on edge. Frightened. She wonders if she really wasn’t as brave as she though she was, or that she abused her still recovering body too much, or if the experience was too harrowing to easily leave behind. Whatever the case, a sudden presence forces her away from those thoughts.

“Hi!” Barry jumps into place in front of her, bearing a wide grin that seems to brighten up the subtle darkness that has clouded her heart. “I’m here”

“You’re late again” The girl only says, even if she’s already smiling. Barry’s feeling has a healing effect that cures her lingering restlessness.

“I know, I’m so sorry” He dramatically sighs, although he does look a little tired. “Busy day”

“What did you do today?” Stephanie asks, trying to start a conversation while at the same time distract herself from her unease.

“Uh….. you know...” Barry shrugs. “Run around, do some errands, save the world…”

Stephanie laughs out loud at his joke, and he grins widely in return. However, the gesture vanishes from his face immediately after. He is staring at her with his brow knitted in concern.

“Steph, you look pale…” He whispers, rubbing her arm. “You okay?”

“Y-Yeah” She chuckles, internally panicking at the mere thought of him finding out about her powers and her little adventure. “I just… went for a walk to kill time… Guess I’m a little tired”

Barry pauses. She can almost see the wheels turning in his head. He is about to tell her that she should rest and take it easy, but he doesn’t. Instead, he dedicates her his best encouraging smile.

“I’m gonna spoil you today” His hand lingers on her arm. “You’re still recovering and you deserve to be spoiled”

“So it was a trap” Stephanie smirks, playfully rolling her eyes at him. “I should have known”

“There’s no escaping now” Barry offers her his arm, which she links with his. He then playfully arches his eyebrows. “Shall we?”

The pair smile at each other as they begin to walk. Barry immediately goes on about what they can do. They can get some snacks and take a little walk. Since she’s been locked inside for so long he wants her to get some air, but he’s stern on letting her rest, so maybe they should sit at a terrace. She doesn’t care what the plan is, she’s just happy to be with him. His presence is reassuring, silently reminding Stephanie that there is nothing to fear.

_

It has returned. That feeling of dread, of imminent danger. It isn’t nearly as strong as before, it merely feels like a shadow of its former self. Nonetheless, it is barely enough to make even breathing exhausting. Stephanie can’t focus.

Night is slowly falling as the sky turns a slightly darker shade of blue. It has orange and purple tinges as the last traces of the sunset erase from the horizon. The early night breeze envelops them, gentle like a caress.

Barry has been talking almost all evening, but Stephanie is no longer answering him. She is absently playing with the paper that the hot dogs they ate came in.

“What do you say?” Barry is saying then, but she’s not listening. “Steph?”

Stephanie is so out of it that she can’t answer. She grits her teeth, trying not to wince, when her temples begin throbbing. Her entire body is giving her signals. All she wants to do is rest. Sleep. Sleep for a really long time.

“Steph” He sternly calls her, taking her free hand when she feebly leans on him. “W-What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” She gulps, avoiding his gaze as she lowers her head in the hopes that the stillness can level her dizziness. “Just got a bit light-headed”

“You sure you’re okay?” When she doesn’t answer, he continues. His voice carries a hint of panic. “You’re still recovering, maybe you should have stayed-”

“I’m okay” She rushes to say, trying her best to smile at him. “Just a bit tired”

“Steph, you almost died not that long ago” Barry gravely says, subtly sinking his fingers into her arm. “And you don’t look so good”

“Barry” She begins to say, tiredly tilting her head as she peers at him. Her vision blurs, but she tries to fight through her unwell. “I’m just… a bit weak…”

He doesn’t reply, only furrowing his brow and feeling a pang of concern in his chest. He had been scared enough to find her after the accident, it only makes it worse to see her in that state still. He doesn’t think he could take the idea of her not being alright.

“And…” Stephanie gulps, wobbling slightly. “V-Very dizzy…”

Barry wraps an arm around her. His heart is racing in unease. Just as he supports her, Stephanie falters. The breath hitches in his throat as he tightens his hold on her and presses her against his side.

“Steph?!” His voice breaks as the concern completely takes over him.

For a few seconds she doesn’t reply, only limply lying against him. Memories of finding her after the accident return to Barry, and he grimaces at the mental image. Luckily, she reacts in time to pull him out of those dark thoughts.

“I’m… okay…” She tells him in a daze, voice weak.

Still firmly holding on to her, he presses his free hand against her forehead. Stephanie’s skin feels warm, confirming his suspicions that she was still sick.

“I’m taking you home” Barry states. “No buts, you need to rest”

Stephanie babbles, opening and closing her mouth. If only he knew the true reason behind her state. But he can never know. In any case, she doesn’t feel lucid enough to speak. The mere idea that she has a secret identity feels far too surreal at the moment, even to herself.

“Can you walk?” Barry tenderly moves the hair away from her face, trying to take a good look at her. She only shakes her head, frowning as she tiredly puts her head on his shoulder. “Okay, up you go”

Straining a little, he grunts as he sweeps her off the floor and into his arms. Stephanie suddenly feels incredibly safe and comfortable in his embrace, and the deep unwell lessen slightly.

“You’re strong…” She chuckles, and she briefly wonders why she’s tilted to the side even though her head is still resting against his shoulder.

“See? You’re clearly delirious” They peer at each other for a moment.

The slight motion of picking her head off his shoulder sends a wave of vertigo through her. She whimpers, closing her eyes tight and gingerly resting her head on his shoulder again. Then, a sudden change of position startles her. When she opens her eyes, they are already at her place. Baffled, she feebly glances around. A moment ago they were… and now… she must be really delirious...

“We’re here��� Barry carries her inside. “Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

“No, I just…” She starts to say, but her voice then becomes urgent. “Put me down”

Confused, Barry does as she says. When she is on her feet again, Stephanie presses her hands over her mouth. The wave of nausea soon passes, much to her relief. However, everything else does too.

Barry exclaims as he throw himself forward to catch her. Stephanie drops down, falling limply to the ground. His arms break her fall and he nervously scoops her into them again.

“Oh my gosh…” He mumbles as he rushes her to the bed. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh…”

He shakily sighs to himself as he carefully lies her down. The girl’s arms stay locked around his neck even when he lets go of her. Barry stops to intently watch her. She now looks peaceful, as though she badly needed that rest. She’s resting, he tells himself. Yeah, just resting. Her chest softly moves up and down with her calm breathing.

“She’s okay” Barry assures himself, although he begins pacing up and down her room.

Thousands of terrible thoughts battle in his brain. She’s sick again. She hasn’t recovered. She’s dying. The accident was too much for her, she will never fully recover.

“Okay, calm down, Barry” He takes a deep breath, even if he still paces. “She’s fine, she’s gonna be alright”

He tells himself that all those thoughts are lies. They are just fears, not reality. Interrupting himself, Barry stops and looks at her again. Stephanie lies motionlessly in the bed. She is still pale, but she doesn’t look terribly sick. He sighs and resumes his pacing.

“She’s not as bad as she was in the hospital” Barry whispers, trying not to wake her. “She looked much worse then. Besides, Steph’s strong, she’ll be fine, she’ll be-”

Barry’s phone rings, startling him so much that he yelps and jumps in place.

“H-Hello?”

“Barry?”

The boy finally quits his pacing for good. His hand flies to his forehead. He had totally forgotten he was supposed to return to the Batcave after being with Steph. Things had seemed to gotten worse. After their rescue on the train, panic had seemed to reign on the streets for several hours. There was no explanation, but they knew it had something to do with the rest of strange events. And maybe a villain was behind it all.

But now… Stephanie needs him. She is sick. Now he can’t leave her.

“Bruce! I’m so sorry” Barry rapidly says. “I know I should be there, but Steph got really sick and…”

“Is she alright?”

“Y-Yeah, yeah… I think so…”

“And you?”

“I’m fine, I just got scared…” He sighs, settling his nerves. “Really freaking scared”

“So you can’t make it?” Bruce asks him, but at least Barry is relieved that there is no anger or annoyance in his voice.

“I’m afraid not… I’m really sorry, I just…”

“I understand” The man replies. “But we have to check that out”

“Sure, yeah!” Barry nervously ruffles his own hair. “You guys be careful out there, okay?”

“We will” Bruce gently says. “Take care of your friend”

“Yeah” The boy absently hangs up, turning to her once more. She is now lying over her side, having turned slightly in her sleep.

Barry watches her, wondering how he can contain such an immense amount of fondness for her. Just the sight of her pale face was enough to break his heart. If he could, he would hold her tight and never let go, protect her from everything.

When he slowly walks closer to her, a board of the wooden floor creaks. Barry freezes, but it’s too late. Stephanie groggily turns around, opening her eyes moving her head to look around her.

“Barry?” She mumbles, looking around, disoriented. “What…?”

What is Barry doing there with her? However, she quickly forgets about him when her eyes fall on the window. It’s almost dawn. An alarm blasts in her head as her usual routine occupies all her thoughts. She needs to get ready!

"I gotta go to work!" Stephanie makes to stand from the bed, but Barry is faster. He pushes her by the shoulders and forces her to lie down again.

"What?” He exclaims, feeling that anguish that he had just gotten rid of creeping up again. “Are you… are you serious?"

"Barry, I’m gonna be late! Our investigation is very important, it will help so many-"

“Oh my gosh, Steph!” He exclaims, in a surprisingly loud and exasperated voice that instantly silences her in astonishment. “Can you stop thinking about everyone else and take care of yourself for one minute?! Don’t you remember what happened to you?!”

And suddenly, with his words, Stephanie does remember. The accident, the hospital, the heroic attempt, the inexplicable dread in the air… Everything. She relaxes, forgetting about work. She now remembers she hasn’t gone to the lab in a week. But it’s too late for Barry.

Stephanie gawks at him, having no words to retaliate. His sudden outburst is so unexpected that she is utterly speechless. A second after he finishes his sentence, however, his eyes widen in surprise as well. They silently stare at each other.

“I’m so sorry” He utters, averting his gaze in shame. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I just…”

“You’re right… I just got a little disoriented” Stephanie reaches out to delicately take his hand, which he reluctantly allows. “I’m going to lie down, okay?”

The boy nods his head, and he doesn’t move at first even as she insists. When Stephanie tugs at his fingers, he starts to move slowly. Barry turns, hesitantly facing her. Stephanie only pulls a little harder, inviting to sit with her as she returns to her previous spot. Exhaling all the anguish in a shaky breath, Barry joins her in the bed.

No more words are spoken for several seconds. Stephanie doesn’t let go of Barry’s hand. His eyes are watery. Even as he looks away again, she knows, and that is why she tugs at him until they’re both lying down. Resting on their sides, they’re now facing each other. They just rest there for a moment, letting all the tension in the air to vanish and lingering on their positions until Stephanie’s soft voice breaks the silence.

“Are you okay, Barry?”

“Yeah...” He takes a deep breath in. “Just a little shaky”

“I’m sorry…” She mutters, and her hand is delicately pressing against his cheek before she can stop herself. “I really hate to worry you”

“You can’t scare me like that again, okay? Ever” Barry replies, taking her hand off his face and clutching it between both his palms. “Just when I thought you were out of danger you faint on me like that and…”

“I’m okay, Barry” Stephanie assures, chuckling a little when his eyes fall upon hers in a skeptical manner. “I’m better now, really, I just need some rest”

“I can assure you, you’re getting some rest” Remnants of that exasperated tone linger in his voice. “I’m making sure you get some sleep even if I have to lie all day here with you!”

“Is that a threat?” She tenderly smiles, and the callback causes Barry to chuckle.

He pauses, taking a moment to sigh and calm himself.

“Are you really feeling okay?” He lovingly presses her hand against his chest. His heart is drumming underneath it. “Don’t lie to me, Steph, I’ll know”

“I am, I promise” Stephanie snuggles closer to him, embracing his warmth and comforting presence. “Just a little tired”

“What happened to you?” He whispers in concern, even if his arm automatically falls over her frame. “I thought you had rested a lot, that you were recovered. Did I overdo it today? I really tried to…”

“No, no, it’s not that” The girl locks eyes with him, biting her lip as she wonders if she should tell him. In the end she partially does, thinking that he doesn’t need to know the true reason behind her little adventure. “When I went for that walk earlier I… I don’t know… Something affected me… It was like the air was contaminated… It made me feel scared and horrible”

“What was it?”

“I have no idea… I just know there’s something strange going on in this city”

“Yeah, I know…” Barry somberly mutters. After a brief pause, he feels his shoulders relaxing the closer she is. “Try to get some sleep, okay? I’ll watch over you”

Stephanie breathes in, just at the same time that Barry does, and peacefully exhales with him. She hasn’t been feeling safe ever since that awful experience from before. Now, next to Barry and enveloped by his arms, she feels the safest she’s ever been.

Tag list: @scared-to-be-lonely345​​ / @ocfairygodmother​ // Ask to be added to be notified when I post for this series!!

[solalunar-eclipse]

45.06°N, 1.656°E

Summary: Rouge deserves more cool.

Word count: about 4200 words

Author’s Note: Hopefully my writing abilities haven’t deteriorated too much over the hiatus- but either way, please enjoy! (Side note: this is technically set after Scars You Can’t See, but it isn’t vital to read that if you haven’t already)

...

It was truly a beautiful day outside in Empire City. Puffy clouds drifted across a rich blue sky, a light breeze pushing them along as the sun shone down brightly- just enough to bring the temperature up to a comfortable range. Its rays shimmered upon one of the many tall, silvery buildings that this city was known for, threatening to leave a temporary mark on the vision of anyone who looked at it for too long. This particular building advertised itself as an insurance company’s headquarters, and it looked perfectly in place amongst all the other skyscrapers in the city.

The activities going on inside, however, were anything but ‘in place’.

Near the very top of the towering structure, a bat sat in front of a wall-sized computer screen, her black-gloved fingers flying across the keyboard. Firewalls and security systems fell like sandcastles swept out by the tide- no corner of this building was safe when she was in control. Identity checks meant nothing to her, passwords were a breeze, and two-factor authentication? A joke.

Rouge smiled in satisfaction, taking a break to stretch out her fingers now that she was successfully through the various measures designed to keep hackers like her out of these computers. With a click of the mouse and a few keys tapped, the various sums of money the people who worked here had stolen began to make their way back to their rightful owners’ bank accounts.

After all, this building didn’t actually house an insurance company. That was just a cover story for the real business here- draining the cash out of innocent people’s funds. Rouge had been determined to stop this as soon as she’d learned about it before any more people got hurt (when she stole it was usually from rich people who could afford to have one of many diamonds go missing- this was just cruel!), and now she’d successfully completed about half the job. Just returning the money wasn’t quite enough, of course- this scheme had been running for over a year now, and it was about time someone put a stop to it for good. 

That was where her friends came in.

While she manned the cameras, Shadow and Omega were grabbing plenty of physical evidence from the various offices throughout the building- more than enough to incriminate everyone who worked here. Rouge’s job was mostly to ensure that they could get what they needed without any serious trouble. It might be a difficult task, considering that Omega was set on blowing up most of the tech stored here...but she was prepared to deal with that.

The bat leaned back in her chair, catching a quick glimpse of herself in the window as she did so. Ever since they’d left G.U.N., a great perk (in addition to the lack of association with a corrupt military organization, obviously) was that they could wear whatever they wanted on the job. Before, Rouge had really been pushing it on ‘formality’ with her jumpsuit alone, and even then she hadn’t been allowed to wear anything else while on the job for the sake of ‘consistency’.

Now, in a drastic change from her usual style, she wore a tight black leather jumpsuit over a purple shirt, complete with white gloves and high-heeled boots. The latter two had neon blue accents, too, providing a burst of color as well as an actual light source to see by- perfect for dark missions.

Shadow and Omega hadn’t been allowed any personal effects re: clothing before due to the fact that a few too many supervisors saw them as weapons and not people. Rouge had of course argued against this, but there was only so much one person could do.

Now, though, the bat had insisted that both of her friends get more clothing- ‘if nothing else then to stick it to them’ were her exact words- and they had both taken to it quite well after an initial period of hesitancy. Omega in particular had been quite devastated (and then promptly offended) upon discovering that no leather jackets were currently produced in his specific size. Eventually, however, he was placated with the offer of a fedora, claiming it made him look ‘VERY MYSTERIOUS’. He had now taken to collecting hats as well as weaponry.

Shadow could fit into a leather jacket, on the other hand, and consequently owned about five of them, three of which he’d bought within the same week. Today he wore one with red stitching, and while he hadn’t had anything to say about it, Rouge had caught him admiring it in the mirror before the mission (at which point he scowled, blushed green to his ears, and teleported away).

Right now, though, he and Omega were quietly discussing which documents to take and which ones to leave behind. It would raise suspicions far too quickly if the criminals inhabiting this building came back to discover a completely bare office, after all, so they only took several receipts of major transactions as well as a list of the bank account numbers that had been hacked- and some future targets as well.

(Was this whole thing illegal? Kind of. Did anyone really mind so long as they were helping others? Not really. After all, Tails was totally not old enough to fly a plane, but at this point the government had basically thrown up their hands and said ‘whatever I guess’, so it was fine.)

“ROUGE.” Omega said suddenly, making the bat stop her musing and drop her feet from the desk. “THIS IS IMPORTANT.”

“Yeah, hon? What is it?” she asked, ready to deal with any problems that might arise.

“MY HAT KEEPS FALLING OFF. I REQUIRE SOME SORT OF METHOD TO KEEP IT ON.”

The bat sighed and gave a relieved laugh as Shadow hissed, “Omega! This is a serious mission!”

“It’s alright, Shadow. Omega, we’ll find some double-sided tape or something when we get home, alright?”

The robot paused for a moment, thinking. “THIS IS ACCEPTABLE.”

As Rouge watched, they gathered up the rest of the items and began to move towards the lobby. Today was an off day for the ‘business’, so most of the hallways would be empty. The secretary out front would take his usual break to go get lunch in two minutes as well, giving them a clear chance to escape.

And of course that was when everything went wrong.

It turned out that leaving G.U.N. (while the right idea) wasn’t without its occasional disadvantages. If they’d still been part of the military organization, then they would’ve had the resources to figure out that these criminals were more than a little paranoid, so their security system ran diagnostics every hour on the dot. When it discovered the hacking, it locked Rouge’s access to any other computer terminal and then restricted every single application on that one computer.

These people weren’t exactly beginners when it came to computers, after all.

The bat jumped out of her chair the second her computer glitched and froze, panicked. “Guys. Guys, get out of here right now.” she said urgently into her microphone. “I can bust out a window but you two have to go right now-”

She froze as, on the screen, multiple armed guards and two gigantic mechs dropped down onto the ground level and pointed their guns at Shadow and Omega. The robot moved to cover the hybrid’s back as Shadow pulled his favorite katana sword out of its scabbard.

Rouge refused to sit and watch another minute, kicking the door off its hinges hard enough to slam it against the opposite wall and tearing down the hallway to save her teammates.

Shadow and Omega fought well in the meantime, managing to take out one of the mechs and several guards too. Occasionally, Shadow even curled up and was promptly fired out of his friend’s cannon at top speed, turning into a deadly projectile all by himself.

Eventually, though, one of the guards got too smart and pulled out a stun gun, shocking Omega long enough to put the robot temporarily out of commission. Shadow spun around to defend his friend, using the Chaos Emerald he’d brought along to deliver a devastating blow- but he had nobody to watch his back now, and it barely took a minute before the mech found an opening to slam him into the wall as he dealt with the guards.

Shadow dropped to the ground weakly, temporarily unconscious. Omega was still struggling to get his systems back online.

Rouge, meanwhile, was furious.

The bat rushed to the balcony overlooking the lobby from the third floor, her teeth bared as she watched the mech move into position, prepared to bring its giant fist down on Shadow’s unmoving body. Flipping over the railing, she free-fell the three stories to the ground, slamming both heels into the marble and leaving a long crack across the floor. She snatched up the Emerald from the tile where it had fallen out of Shadow’s quills, holding it tightly in her hand. 

“Leave him alone. Now.” she snarled.

When the mech pilot gave her nothing more than a cursory glance, raising the steel fist higher, Rouge charged.

An ultrasonic shriek exploded from her lungs, making every other human in the room double over and clutch their ears. At the exact same time, the glass in the extra-tall windows of the lobby vibrated, cracked, and then shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Rouge didn’t see any of that. Rouge didn’t care about any of that. All she could see was the hedgehog she’d come to care about so much about to be crushed by someone who barely even knew his name.

She jumped up and whirled around in the air, the power of her wings suddenly (strangely) strong enough to send the mech swaying backwards slightly, before lashing out with a kick that dented the chestplate of the thing and hit it hard enough to-

-and Rouge’s eyes widened-

-to send it flying through the shattered windows and down the street that the building faced, so far that it became nothing more than a speck in the horizon.

This was, incidentally, a mech that weighed over two tons. 

Omega, near the other end of the room, silently thanked every inventor that had ever lived (aside from Eggman) that he had powered back on in time to see this.

Rouge, however, didn’t spare more than a second to think about it, instead dropping to her knees to check on Shadow. The moment she pressed the Chaos Emerald back into his hand, the hybrid’s eyes began to open slowly.

“Ugh….what happened…?”

“That moron of a pilot smacked you into a wall, hon. Are you gonna be okay?” Rouge asked, scanning his face for any sign of a concussion.

Shadow blinked twice, then suddenly sat bolt upright, his eyes wide. “...Rouge? Are you sure you’re alright?” 

The bat frowned, confused, looking over herself. “Yeah, hon, I’m….”

She froze.

While Rouge had seen many strange things in her time, the sight of her lower legs and feet glowing bright purple was certainly a first.

As she jumped back from Shadow in surprise, she let go of the Chaos Emerald in his hand, making the aura surrounding her fade. “What...what was that?”

“YOU WERE SO COOL. THAT IS WHAT THAT WAS.” Omega declared, hauling himself to his feet and walking over. “YOU BEGAN TO GLOW AND KICKED THAT INFERIOR CREATION SEVERAL MILES AWAY. THE ONLY REGRET IN THIS SCENARIO IS THAT YOU WERE UNABLE TO CONTINUE DESTROYING YOUR ENEMIES, AS THERE WAS ONLY ONE OF THEM.”

Shadow looked up at her in surprise and- was that a little bit of awe? “I should have known you’d be able to use Chaos powers!” he said, shaking his head as he got to his feet. “Incredible...it’s no wonder you’re so resilient in battle.”

Rouge pointedly ignored the light flush on her face from all of this praise. “Well, we’ve got what we came for, so there. We’ll leave all of this evidence-” and clearly she wasn’t just talking about the papers- “for that new organization the government’s setting up. What’s it called again?”

Omega shrugged- an odd motion with his bulky shoulders. “THEY’RE STILL DECIDING. HOPEFULLY IT TURNS OUT TO BE SOMETHING COOL.”

“Well, whatever their name is, it’s their job now to deal with all this.” Rouge said, gesturing around at the general mess.

At that moment, the secretary returned with his food, only to stop dead in his tracks and stare at the three members of Team Dark amongst the wreckage of two gigantic robots and a lot of broken glass.

The bat ‘s face split into a wide, wicked grin, pointing directly at him. “And you’ll be the one to explain it to them!”

(It took one extremely short chase to retrieve the man- who foolishly thought he could lose Shadow and Rouge in the alleyways- before he was tied to one of the disgustingly ostentatious pillars by Omega. The team then went home and spent the next two hours watching Rouge glow and then break things…mostly things she meant to hit.)

…

Several days later, her team and Sonic's crew (plus Amy Rose) were in a different city, dealing with the usual biweekly Eggman attack. This one seemed, unfortunately, to not have most of the weak spots that usually came into play when fighting one of his giant robots, as both the power source and the mad scientist in question were heavily guarded.

However, after a particularly well-timed attack from Omega, Amy, and Knuckles all at once, Rouge spotted a panel that was currently rather dented and bent open with some wiring spilling out, and knew exactly what to do.

“Shadow! Omega! Cover me!” she shouted, leaping into the air and soaring towards the robot.

Immediately, she saw several smaller robots explode in her periphery, having fallen victim to the deadly lasers and Chaos Spears that her friends used. Her focus was on one thing and one thing only, though- making it up to that panel.

The moment Rouge latched on, she pulled open the panel the rest of the way and began to rewire the machine at an impressive pace. While she might not be the same kind of tech expert as Tails, who built devices and wrote code most people with a PhD couldn’t understand if they tried, one thing she certainly knew was how to make computers do what she wanted.

Eventually, though, Eggman caught on to what she was doing and tried to swat her off his mech with its two giant metal fists. “What do you think you’re doing down there with my robot?” he shouted, swinging at her wildly.

Suddenly, one of the fists in question promptly vanished, replaced by a smoking hole and a bunch of wires where a functioning steel hand was supposed to be. Rouge, startled, looked around for what could possibly have caused this- and promptly relaxed upon seeing Omega retracting his biggest laser cannon (which was glowing red-hot) back into his chassis with a glare up at his creator.

Thankfully, he’d also provided just the distraction she needed to rewire the last few parts, at which point she jumped off just as the robot began to spin wildly...and then its entire midsection exploded, launching the command center with Eggman still inside a good fifty feet into the air.

The bat landed on the ground to cheers from her friends and took a dramatic bow. Omega clapped a hand on her shoulder in a friendly way (which meant he only knocked the wind out of her and didn’t shove her several feet deep into the asphalt) as Shadow looked on with his arms folded, but still clearly proud.

“Wow, Rouge!” Tails exclaimed, his eyes wide and smile wider. “I didn’t realize you knew your way around that kind of tech that well- you should totally stop by my lab sometime!”

The bat shrugged. “It comes with the job, that’s all.” she insisted, but internally she was more than a little surprised- it still didn’t quite come naturally to her to consider that people would be impressed by what she did. All G.U.N. had ever told her was that she’d done ‘as well as was expected’, which made it seem like her skills were just average. Seeing someone who she’d mostly considered an acquaintance telling her how incredible her skills were when to her it was just ‘something I can do’ was...pretty nice, actually.

Rouge offered him a quick grin as the other three heroes came rushing up to her in varying states of surprise and excitement. “I just might take you up on that offer sometime.”

…

A week after that, Team Dark was spending time at the Station Square mall together- a common occurrence for them. It had good clothes, tolerable food, and most importantly lots of jewelry stores. They were here today because Rouge’s favorite was having a sale, and she refused to miss out on any opportunity to shop for gems.

After about an hour of looking around in the store (most of which was spent attempting to prevent Rouge from emptying said store and/or sneaking things out from inside locked cases), the three finally left with about four tiny bags of jewelry, which Omega wore hooked over his fingers. “THIS SEEMS WASTEFUL, BUT ALSO AMUSING.” he’d commented, at which point the bat riding on his shoulder gasped in mock outrage and began to vehemently defend the store’s choices.

They hadn’t gone more than a few steps, though, before she heard some gasps and squeals somewhere off to the left. She sighed. Some people seemed to have this odd hero-worship thing around Shadow, but the attention only made him feel awkward, so it looked like she’d have to play guard as usual here. Drifting down from her perch as the three young women approached, she said, “Alright, ladies, what are you here for?”

The bravest of the three moved forward, clutching something in her hands. “Uh…”

Rouge prepared herself to say no on behalf of her friend, to hear complaints like ‘why can’t we talk to Shadow?? You suck”, but then-

“...can you sign this poster, please?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t— wait, what?”

The bat stared at the poster, her eyes wide. A picture of herself looked right back at her, a smirk spread across her printed self’s face as jewels dripped from the hand not resting on her hip.

The photo was rather outdated now, having been taken not long after the ARK disaster. Post-crisis, Sonic had insisted that everyone (except for Eggman, since he’d caused that whole mess in the first place) get recognition for trying to save the planet together...and that included her. 

Rouge and Sonic had both been wearing Shadow’s inhibitor rings during that photo shoot. It was their way of making sure that even though he wasn’t with them any longer, even though nobody would really remember who he was, he’d still live on in some little way without a big announcement.

She took the poster quickly, shaking off old memories, and gave them a genuine smile- rare for strangers. “Of course, hon!” she said, taking the offered pen and signing her name with a flourish and a little heart.

The one who’d asked promptly squealed and clutched at the poster, a big grin on her face. “Oh wow, thank you sooo much!” she gushed. “You know, you’re, like, my hero, right? Everyone always just, like, says that you can’t look good and be a real hero at the same time, you’re either a sell-out or too serious...but, you’re, like, both?? And that’s just so, y’know, empowering? To see someone looking fabulous and being a hero, but like not taking any nasty comments about it?”

Both her friends agreed eagerly, and Rouge found herself blushing just a little at all this praise. “If either of you have anything else, I could write something on those too,” she offered, still feeling a little bit bewildered at the moment.

This earned her two simultaneous squeals of “Really?!” followed by a lot of frantic searching for paper. Rouge was more than happy to sign her name there too, even adding a little message to each of them- and to the poster for good measure. As the three fans cheered, snapped a quick selfie with her (which was something she so wasn’t used to either), and then rushed off with a “thank you so much!!” Rouge found herself still smiling as she turned to walk back to her friends.

Shadow and Omega had moved a little ways away during all of the fuss, and now they were sporting similarly pleased expressions with more than a little bit of smugness mixed in. “SEE?” Omega asked, and Rouge could tell he’d be smirking if he were able to do so. “WE HAVE TOLD YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT YOU ARE EXCEPTIONALLY COOL. YOU DIDN’T BELIEVE US THEN, THOUGH….DO YOU NOW?” He stopped there and somehow promptly assumed an even stronger I-told-you-so air than before.

“Maybe you’ll even get your own fanclub before long...oh, wait. Look what I just found.” Shadow added, tossing his phone over to her. Only the faintest of smirks was visible on his face (they were in public, after all) as Rouge stared at the screen proclaiming the current website to be “The Official Rouge Fansite (anyone feel free to join!!)”.

The bat found herself blushing to her ears, flattered and surprised by all of the support she hadn’t known existed until now.

Omega picked her up and set her on his shoulder, turning his head to look up at his friend. “COOL PEOPLE LIKE YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO WALK PLACES.”

“And-” Shadow added, slinging the bags she’d acquired at the store over her shoulder. “-cool people like you shouldn’t have to carry anything either.”

Rouge wondered briefly if her grin might strain her face if it grew much wider. Leaping down for a moment, she hovered in the air just long enough to ruffle the quills on top of Shadow’s head before perching back on Omega’s shoulder and patting the robot fondly. “You two dorks are the best.” she said warmly.

Shadow huffed and began to walk on ahead, clearly embarrassed. “DORK.” Omega called after the hedgehog, his eyes brightening by about fifteen percent in good humor. 

“She called you one too, you know.” Shadow replied without looking back.

“YES, BUT YOUR DORKINESS IS MORE OBVIOUS.” Omega declared, by now shouting across several stores as Rouge tried to stifle a laugh.

“If you don’t catch up and stop talking I’ll hide all the hats in your favorite store and you’ll never find them.” the hybrid growled.

Rouge promptly discovered that Omega, despite weighing a thousand pounds, could in fact move quite quickly when threatened with the loss of a chance to add to his new clothing collection. The robot fired all of his boosters at once, sending them flying down that particular wing of the mall and nearly slamming into a wall in the process.

After a spirited chase that lasted over five minutes (along with lots of shouts of “get him, Omega!” and jumping off balconies and general taunting), the group was promptly escorted out of the mall without a chance to enjoy the store they’d started the ‘fight’ over in the first place.

Rouge watched her two friends sulk for a minute before smirking suddenly. 

“Guess what?” she asked, stepping back to look at both of them.

When she had their attention, she pulled out a nice new summer outfit with a laugh…from that same place.

“You didn’t.” Shadow said, staring at the clothing.

“OH, SHE DID.” 

Rouge then proceeded to pull both a cool hat in all gold and a nice blue bomber jacket out from behind her back as well, her smile widening even more. “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you two at all. Or forgotten to pay, either.” she added quickly with a sigh. She soon shifted to watching with delight, though, as Shadow’s eyes widened considerably and Omega’s head whirled to fixate on her hand. 

“HAND IT OVER.” he ordered, holding out his clawed, metallic fingers insistently.

“Well...since you asked so rudely...no.” Rouge replied, before leaping into the sky with a grin.

“What?” Shadow gasped.

The robot’s eyes narrowed. “DON’T YOU DARE.”

Rouge flew higher at that. “Oh, but I do dare.” She wheeled around and began to fly off at top speed, snickering at the sound of indignant shouts behind her. Soon enough, she heard the swish-swish of Shadow’s skates and the clanking of Omega not far behind.

They might be able to catch her eventually, she mused, soaring through a gap between buildings- she wasn’t that fast, really. It wouldn’t be easy for them at all, though. 

After all, Rouge was just as powerful as they were, in her own way.

[stufftippywrote]

snowball fight

for @hellokyochan

In this mountainous country the snow falls readily, and the hardy pines withstand the winter storms. Shang Qinghua was delighted to come across this patch of land, dotted with trees that wear white shawls along their many arms. His boots crunch as he makes his way through the snow, his breath coming out in visible gray puffs.

Mobei-jun follows behind him at a short distance. He does this sometimes, just follows Shang Qinghua like a particularly loyal pup. Some dog, Shang Qinghua thinks, looking over. Huge and imposing, looking as though you could break a tree trunk over his head and he wouldn’t be the slightest bit dazed. But he still tails Shang Qinghua silently, unsmiling. His eyes have a kind of spark in them, though, and Shang Qinghua knows well by now that it’s not a spark anyone else has the privilege to see.

Shang Qinghua crouches in the snow and rolls a snowball slowly in his hands. Does he dare? It's not as if his king isn't aware of every movement he makes. He can feel those cold eyes on him. But when he glances over to where Mobei-jun stands in the snow, dark cloak a monolith against the whiteness everywhere, the temptation is just irresistible. "My king!" he calls out. "Look alive!"

And he lets the snowball fly.

It hits Mobei-jun squarely on the chest. Mobei-jun looks down, briefly, at the spot of impact, and then back up at Shang Qinghua's face. Confusion hovers in his eyes.

Shang Qinghua slaps his hands on his hips, elbows bending. "Well?" he says. "Now you get to hit me back!"

Mobei-jun looks even more confused.

"With a snowball," Shang Qinghua coaches. "Just reach down and roll one up. Then try to catch me!"

Pensive, Mobei-jun stares at him for a moment. Then, carefully, he kneels down and takes a clump of snow in one broad hand.

Shang Qinghua shrieks and runs.

He hides behind the skinny trunk of a nearby tree, but Mobei-jun is there before he can blink. The snowball plonks against his ribs. It stings, and the "ow" is out of Shang Qinghua's mouth before he can stop it.

Mobei-jun pulls back, horror in his eyes.

Shang Qinghua laughs. "Don't try to kill me with it," he lectures. "Just try to get me covered with snow."

"Why?" Mobei-jun asks.

"Because it's fun! But my king, you'll have to give me a handicap because you're much quicker then--" and Shang Qinghua lets fly the snowball he's been hiding in his left hand the whole time. It explodes with a satisfying thud against Mobei-jun's shoulder, caking his right side with snow. Shang Qinghua erupts with a shriek, as if he were the one hit, and dashes across the snowy landscape to hide behind a different tree.

This time, Mobei-jun doesn't immediately follow him. Instead he walks slowly, boots crunching in the snow, toward Shang Qinghua's hiding place.

Assuming his king has got the gist of the game now, Shang Qinghua squats and rolls up another snowball. He tosses it at the approaching Mobei-jun. It misses. Shang Qinghua makes another.

Mobei-jun is getting closer. This time Shang Qinghua hits him low in the belly. Mobei-jun actually staggers back a step, which seems odd. He's been hit by far more powerful things than snowballs before and stood his ground. Shang Qinghua hurls again, hits again, and again Mobei-jun takes a step back before resuming his approach.

Okay, so he's definitely doing this for Shang Qinghua's benefit. Shang Qinghua can't help but find this more than a little endearing. He tosses a few loose bits of snow and retreats to yet another tree. Mobei-jun follows. But about twenty feet from the tree, he halts and just stands there, like a massive black statue, and waits.

Shang Qinghua pauses mid-rolling of a snowball. “My king?” he ventures, peeking out from behind the tree.

Mobei-jun is quiet, but his eyes catch Shang Qinghua’s as if to say, go on.

“All right,” Shang Qinghua says with a laugh, “but you’re asking for it.”

He rolls up a neat row of snowballs, half a dozen altogether, and takes two in his hands, letting them go one after the other. They both hit their target. Mobei-jun takes two steps back, one for each hit, and his huge frame seems to waver, as though he might be blown over by a breeze. Either this snow has magical properties or … Shang Qinghua catches his breath. ...or he’s playing with me. He’s not sure which option is more impossible.

He tests his theory. The third snowball is lobbed gently, and lands with no sting on Mobei-jun’s hip. Mobei-jun looks down at it, then wavers again. Then he turns his gaze to Shang Qinghua, and the message in that gaze is unmistakable. Do it again.

Shang Qinghua is delighted. Mobei-jun doesn’t have a sense of humor as a rule, and yet there can be no doubt of what he’s doing. Laughing aloud, Shang Qinghua pelts him with the remaining snowballs, one-two-three, and claps his hands in joy when Mobei-jun feigns injury and falls to one knee, then flat onto his back in the snow.

“My king,” Shang Qinghua calls out. “I had no idea you could be this much fun.”

He expects Mobei-jun to sit up and give him a death glare. After all, a demon king admitting to such pedestrian pleasures would be embarrassing in the extreme. But Mobei-jun lies motionless, his cloak splayed out against the snowy field, edges flapping in the wind.

Maybe there’s magic in the snowballs after all, Shang Qinghua thinks with some distress. He clambers out from behind his tree and hurries toward the felled figure. “My king?” he cries, falling to his knees beside Mobei-jun’s still form. “Are you all right?”

Mobei-jun is still. His eyes are closed. His vestments are covered in crumbling white.

“My… king?” His skin is still its usual icy pale -- can’t tell a thing with his complexion normally like that. Shang Qinghua leans down further, straining to sense whether he’s breathing. Carefully, he shifts a rare unfettered strand of hair to the side so he can better access Mobei-jun’s nose and mouth. Yes, he seems to be still breathing…

...and his eyes are open.

And he’s got one hand on the top of Shang Qinghua’s head.

“My--” is all that can get out of Shang Qinghua’s throat before the demon king pulls him down into a kiss.

Mobei-jun’s other hand clamps onto Shang Qinghua’s lower back, holding him there. His lips are warm despite the freezing temperatures. He kisses Shang Qinghua for a long moment. Somewhere above, a bird cries out in a crude caw. The winter breeze touches Shang Qinghua’s cheeks.

Shang Qinghua can barely draw in breath when Mobei-jun finally lets him go. He stares, trying to put together what has just happened. Mobei-jun did all of that -- to get a kiss? “My king--” starts to issue from his lips, but his thoughts get tangled up and what ends up coming out is an undignified “No magic snowballs?”

Still just a breath away, Mobei-jun tilts his head just so, confused.

“I mean -- I thought --” Shang Qinghua straightens up. “You couldn’t be -- so the only other possibility was --” He tries to pull his thoughts together. “My king, were you -- teasing me?”

Mobei-jun doesn’t answer. Instead, he pulls himself up off the ground and pulls Shang Qinghua up to his feet alongside him. “There’s snow on you,” he says, looking displeased, and bends to brush off the snow that’s caked at Shang Qinghua’s knees.

Shang Qinghua’s face goes hot. “There’s -- on you too,” he says haplessly, and tries to pat off some of the snow on Mobei-jun’s shoulders and chest. He can’t reach very well, and it’s in vain anyway: When Mobei-jun straightens up, he shakes the remainder of the snow off of himself in a single movement.

“You fought well,” he says, serious as the grave. “You felled me.”

His expression is too somber. Shang Qinghua bursts out laughing. “I suppose I did!” He puts his hands on his hips and preens like a rooster.

Mobei-jun watches him with a wary eye. “Don’t think too much of it,” he warns.

Shang Qinghua ponders a Mobei-jun who is the laughingstock of the demon world for purposefully losing a snowball fight. It’s hilarious. “Haha, don’t worry, my king, I’ll keep this just between us.” He pats Mobei-jun on the shoulder.

Those icy eyes shift, darting down toward the place of contact. He grimaces. Shang Qinghua pulls back with a rueful chuckle and pulls his hand behind his back meekly.

Mobei-jun clears his throat. “I suppose this entitles you to a favor,” he says.

A favor. Shang Qinghua hadn’t even thought of it. Now, his brain starts prickling with ideas. He should make Mobei-jun give him a foot massage. Bathe with him. Make him more handmade noodles. He should make Shang Qinghua king for a day.

But no. He’s already created an entire world. And although the noodles were good, it was clear Mobei-jun hadn’t ever cooked before. His king’s hands are too cold for a foot massage, and Shang Qinghua is afraid he’d melt in the bath. He shakes his head clear of the ideas and smiles brightly up at Mobei-jun’s stern face. “I suppose I’ll be satisfied,” he says, “with just another kiss or two.”

“You have earned the spoils of war,” Mobei-jun intones, and draws him close again.

[heliosthegriffin]

Jaune’s Big Breakout Pt 2

Part One

------

“Ack!” Jaune yelped as he halfway fell off his cot.

He had failed another attempt.

“So much for breakout number 30...”

He sighs and slides to the floor.

“This is getting depressing, I wondering how everyone else is doing?”

He frowns. “Nah, no use worrying about them, they’re probably better than ever without me there.”

“Why are you talking to yourself?”

“Ah!” Jaune jumps up and looks at the door, which had been cracked open, where a scraggly looking man leaned against the wall. Jaune could smell the booze on him from across the room.

“Ha, you gave me a heart-attack, who the heck are you?”

“You didn’t answer me question,”

“And neither did you, why are you in my cell?”

“You call this a cell? If it is, it’s much nicer than any other cell I’ve been in.” The scraggly alcoholic pulled up the only chair in the room, the one that was for the desk.

“Ok, my containment room I guess.”

“Well, anyway I’m the guy that dropped your butt in here, so lets see if that can turn the gears in that blonde box you call a head.”

Jaune frowns. “You’re trying to figure out why I’m trying to escape, aren’t you?”

The drunk smiles. “See, you didn’t need to be a genius to figure that out.”

Jaune climbs back on his padded cot, it was actually really comfy. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Why’s that?”

Jaune leans back on his bed looking at the ceiling, where the only window was, and the skylight, watching the blue sky. “You’d just think I’m crazy,”

The guy just sighs. “Fricken teens, man. You’re all so damn self-important, you know what? Whatever, you do you, kid. I’ve seen the feeds, you don’t have what it takes to escape Beacon.”

Jaune frowns. “Is that why you haven’t taken Crocea Mors? You think I’m too pathetic to be a threat?”

“Your words not mind kid, but, I’d also say that we couldn’t take the sword from you.”

“Huh?”

“Anyway, try to be a little less destructive in your attempt to leave, Goodwitch is getting prissy about having to do reconstruction.”

Jaune gave the man a smile. “Oh, it makes her mad, does it?”

“I don’t like that look on your face, way too sinister for a kid.” The drunk gave a smile in return. “But, yes. It does make a her day harder. Go buckwild, kid.”

The man turned to leave, opening the door.

“It gets lonely in here, talking to myself helps.”

The man paused. “I guess it would, names Qrow by the way.”

“Jaune Arc, you’re pretty alright for a guy who imprisoned me.”

“Don’t take it too hard, kid. I’m just trying to do right by me and mine. It’s not forever either, we just got to keep you out of the spotlight till after Vytal, after that we’re shipping you out, maybe home, maybe Atlas, maybe something different. You’re just a kid, so we’re going easy on you, so don’t worry about real prison or anything.... But, anyway here’s some advice from a veteran though, don’t make waves, the attention is not worth it.” 

Jaune let out a sad laugh. “I think it’s a little late for that, the whole school, Haven, Shade, and Atlas all know. Everybody knows team JNPR’s leader is a fraud, and they’re laughing at me, and they’ll keeping laughing at me as long as I’m around.” He rest’s his head in his hands. “Ah man, I hope their doing alright, my team I mean, well my former team. I doubt they want anything to do with me, now.”

Qrow looked at Jaune from the hallway, gripping the door in a reverse grip, and shrugged. “That’s for them to decide, not you. I can’t imagine many people are allowed to visit you. Even I’m a special case.”

Jaune sad nothing and looked at the ground. “Why would they even consider wanting to see me?”

“Why not find them and ask if they want to?”

Jaune looked at Qrow. “I thought you said I’d never breakout of Beacon?”

The older man smirked at him. “I said out, I never said anything about this little tower or getting into the campus.”

A slight smile breaks across Jaune’s face. “I’m not trying to breakout of Beacon anyway, I’ve got somewhere I want to get to on Beacon soil.”

“Hmm, maybe.” Then the man closed the door.

Jaune got up and stretched, loosening up his body for his next escape attempt once his aura recovered in a couple minutes. Then focused his semblance, rapidly regenerating from any exhaustion and damage he’s taken.

His aura full, he sighed contently as a feeling like a warm, fuzzy blanket settled over him. “Lets do this, try 31.”

--------

Attempt Third-One, The third floor in front of the stairs.

Jaune had once again cleared out the first two floors of the drones and was sitting comfortably at the seventy-five percent mark, it was getting easier.

Hopefully it would be enough to defeat the tank on legs.

Jaune opened his shield and stared at the metal giant in the center of the room.

“Lets do this,”

< TARGET SIGHTED, SURRENDER OR BE EXPOSED TO MAXIMUM ALLOWED FORCE > 

Jaune took a determined look at it and assumed a combat stance.

It’s singular eye glowed a blue-white and fired a lance of burning light at Jaune, who hastily raised his aura charged shield, which absorbed the light with burst of aura, the shield’s glow diminishing by at most half.

The two rocket launchers on the robots shoulders then pointed at Jaune and he got the message and started to run away as rocket exploded behind him, heat burning his calves and shrapnel cut at his aura on his back and legs, still it was better than enduring rockets to his arm and getting pinned.

He kept running till he heard a click as the last of the rocket were fired, or at least he assumed so.

Jaune made a sharp turn in his run to the robot, he wasn’t going to escape and let it be on his tail while he fought whatever dangers blocked the next floor, and held his shield high as another laser hit him.

The energy hit the shield and broke the aura coating on it, Jaune tsked and kept running forward, recharging the aura into the shield to give it extra oomph.

The robot seemed stunned at Jaune ran into it’s legs shield first and unleash a shock wave into it’s pillar like legs, only briefly though, before bringing an enormous fist down on Jaune, who was too jarred from the impact he delievered to dodge the blow.

The fist the size of a bucket hit him on the shoulders and knocked him to his knees hard enough to feel a buzz in his teeth and chest.

He snorted and tried to rise, pooling aura into his legs and arms, to push up against the mechanical menace. But the robot threw it’s other arm down on him, pushing him to the ground on his knees.

Then he gulps as he heard a mechanical whirring, and buzz coming from it’s head.

< INITIATING RELOAD >

It’s cyclopean eye then begin to glow as it’s shoulder rockets turned towards him.

His world became a explosion of light and fire for the second time today.

Attempt 31 failed.

Defeated by Mark IV Sentinel  

[notchesandbullets]

Saving Her (Ojiro Mashirao x Wolf!Reader)

Part 12: The day for the Provisional Licensing Exam has arrived!! You attend to spectate along with your dad, when he runs into an old colleague of his. Aizawa gets reassured that he’s not a terrible father. Then, an unknown threat turns into an unexpected surprise (feat Todoroki) when a tuff of grey fur shows up. Class 1-A is chaotic and it’s even worse when you’re in the mix.

Word Count: 8.4k

Before you knew it, the day arrived for Class 1-A to take the provisional licensing exam.

“Stop shoving me!!” You shouted loudly, catching the attention of everyone else who was in the vicinity.

“Hah?! I’m not fucking touching you!!!” Bakugou yelled, his palms lighting up in aggravation and you glowered at him.

“There’s nowhere for me to sit!!” You protested, huffing and crossing your arms over your chest. 

“Fucking deal with it, dumbass!!” He screamed at you and you covered your ears.

Aizawa glared at him, eyes flashing red once in warning and reprimanded for his language and crude behavior towards you, Bakugou grumbled as he sank back in his seat. 

Your eyes scanned for another place to sit aboard the cramped bus. Almost every inch of space left no room for you and shrugging your shoulders, you were about to tough it out on the floor near Kirishima’s feet when a throat cleared softly.

“Y/N,” Ojiro called, his voice almost lost as the rest of the class chattered in a mixture of nervousness and excitement. “Here.”

Your ears perked up as he scooted to the side, making room for you even though now he was pressed flat against the window of the bus. Tail flicking, you paused upon approach, hesitating. 

“What’s wrong?” Ojiro asked, concern seeping into his tone as you halted in front of him. The railing blocked most from seeing the two of you interact clearly, since Ashido was currently engaging the other girls in a game to take their minds off of the pressure of the exam and your tail fluffed up.

He frowned, wondering if he did something that made you uncomfortable. 

Your brow furrowed and your nose wrinkled as your lips formed into a small pout. “There’s not enough room…”

Despite your dejected tone, Ojiro’s shoulders slumped in relief and he smiled reassuringly, patting the spot beside him. Tokoyami had moved to sit next to Shoji in order to free up the space. It would be a squeeze but he didn’t want you to sit on the floor where you could get hit by Kaminari’s unpredictable feet that flew up when he got startled by something or shocked by Jirou’s earphone jack. 

Padding forward, you jolted, eyes shooting open and a squeak tumbling from your lips as the bus went over a pothole in the road, losing your balance. 

You floundered for a second before a muscular tail slammed into your stomach to prevent you from hitting your head in time, lifting you up and carrying you the rest of the way over to him. 

Ojiro was quick to examine you, double-checking to make sure you were really okay after your ears warmed and your heart skipped a beat at his proximity. Just like you thought, his leg was pressed right up against yours in the corner of the back of the bus where the two of you sat in a chair that was only meant to hold one. 

“You’re too clumsy, Y/N.” Ojiro breathed endearingly, patting your head and you pushed against his hand, pouting up at him when he pulled away. 

You took no offense to his words, simply begging for more pets and his chest shook with laughter before he obliged you.

The two of you were locked in your own little world, the knowing look Shoji and Tokoyami exchanging passing by unnoticed as you enticed Ojiro in a spontaneous game of seeing how many times you could get Bakugou to explode before you reached the exam arena. 

It shouldn’t have been as easy as it was the whole ride there. You lost count around fifty times in half an hour because you were laughing so hard you couldn't breathe and Kirishima held Bakugou back as he raged at you. 

Aizawa rolled his eyes at the racket caused by his rowdy students. He was wrong to think you had a calming presence. If anything, it was the exact opposite. 

But you had potential, he was not denying that fact. And you had gotten strong. You were going to be a great hero one day, he was sure of it. 

You were the first one off the bus when it pulled up to where the test would be administered. Since you were still behind, you couldn't take it this time around but Aizawa had gotten special permission for you to watch.

You had a feeling that Principal Nezu also had a hand in that. The chimera had made sure you had everything you needed in order to succeed at his school and he probably thought that this would be an enlightening experience for you.

You liked to think of him as the uncle you've never had. 

The licensing exam changed every time it came around so you weren't cheating by any means. By the time you were going to take yours, hopefully six months later, you would be in the same ring and on the same level as the other students taking it.

Before you could sprint off to who knows where to explore, a hand gripped your arm and hauled you backwards. You pouted as you faced your dad, who was shaking his head at you.

"Y/N..." He warned and your ears drooped, eyes watering.

Aizawa sighed, looking away. No one was a match for your puppy dog eyes.

"Don't run off." He scolded lightly, resting a hand on top of your head to block his view of those impossibly cute eyes but it did no good.

You just tilted your head innocently and stared up at him hopefully, tail wagging behind you.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he corrected himself as he caved into you. "Just don't go too far, alright?"

You nodded eagerly before racing off and he turned to his students who filed out of the bus, giving them last-minute instructions on what to expect once they got in there. They were all panicking.

Mineta thought he didn't have what it takes to obtain his license, Ashido was clinging to Yaoyorozu, Asui was hanging onto Kaminari who was playing with Ojiro's tail and the rest of the class remained indifferent except for unique ticks that gave away their stress.

Iida's vibrating in place, Tokoyami twitching every so often, Koda and Shoji hiding in the back, Aoyama's smile not as bright as usual, he could tell that they were all nervous.

Only Todoroki appeared to be completely unaffected. 

Aizawa tried to keep an eye on you but you disappeared from his sight in a flash and he glowered, wanting to find you but he had a responsibility right now.

Continuing with his brief answers to Iida's endless questions as the class rep fired them one after another, he waved a hand at his students to prevent any more and was going to leave them to get changed into their costumes when he heard his name being called.

"Eraser!! Eraser, is that you?!"

He flinched. He knew that voice.

A woman with mint-green hair in her hero costume waved at him enthusiastically. "It's been so long!!"

Shakily, Aizawa turned around and saw the pro-hero known for making villains laugh with her Outburst Quirk, Ms. Joke. An old friend, if he could call her that. No, a colleague seemed more accurate.

Almost as annoying as Yamada.

He buried his face further into his capture weapon as she approached him. Maybe she would go away if he ignored her long enough.

Fukukado flicked a finger back and forth between them and Class 1-A watched in confusion at the stranger’s sudden appearance. "Let's get married."

"No thanks." Aizawa retorted dryly.

Ashido was already hooked on this love story, her eyes turning into hearts at such a blatant rejection from her homeroom teacher, already forgetting the impending licensing exam. 

Fukukado laughed heartily, doubling over and clutching her stomach. "No thanks?! Good one!!"

Shaking his head, Aizawa stared at her impassively, done with this conversation before it even started. "As always, you've got an unamusing sense of humor, Joke."

"If you married me, we could start a family filled with unbearable laughter and joy." She said with a cheeky smile.

"A family like that can't possibly be happy." Aizawa deadpanned.

She burst out laughing again and Asui smiled, letting go of Kaminari as her nerves calmed down with the ease that her teacher interacted with this woman even though appearing like he was irritated. 

"You guys seem pretty close..." The frog girl commented nonchalantly.

"Huh?" You tilted your head, gazing up at the adults curiously as you came wandering back to their ranks, finding your way to your dad's side. "Dad, I didn't know you were dating someone."

"I'm not!!" He shouted at you, bonking you on the head.

You cried out, rubbing the sore spot forming and pouted. "That hurt!!"

He sighed, then ruffled your hair somewhat apologetically.

"Sorry, kid." He grumbled out shortly and you beamed.

"It's okay!!" You cheered, good mood restored.

"Aww, Eraser!!" Fukukado cooed at you. "She's so cute!!!

You squeaked in surprise when she pinched your cheeks, blinking up at her, puzzled and a little intimidated by her outgoing personality. When she released your face, you darted behind your dad’s back, poking your head out to inspect the strange woman. 

"Emi, knock it off." Aizawa glowered, glaring at her.

Everyone else was just watching, jaws dropped in shock at such a ridiculous and chaotic exchange. They didn't know what to make of it.

The spunky pro-hero wasn't deterred in the slightest, going as far as to drag you out from behind him and hug you. "But Eraser!! She's adorable!!"

Aizawa practically hissed, but he backed off when you didn't seem to mind it. You didn't look uncomfortable, just mildly curious and very interested.

"How do you know Aizawa-sensei?" You asked, echoing the unspoken question that was going through every single person in 1-A's head.

It felt weird calling him that now since he had taken you in for good but hey, it was the most respectful way to address him in front of his potential partner. You still weren't fully convinced that this woman wasn't secretly dating him. 

"We had hero agencies near each other!!" Fukukado laughed brightly, placing her hands on her hips and grinning brightly at the other students. "We'd help each other out, coming to each other's rescues. Eventually, our mutual love turned into—"

"That never happened." Aizawa interrupted, narrowing his eyes at her as if looks alone could shut her up and get her to stop spinning this tale.

It never changed no matter how much time had passed. His glare had never worked on her. Of course he knew it wasn't going to do anything now but it didn't hurt to try.

You were practically preening at all the attention Fukukado was giving you now as you warmed up to her endless amounts of energy, eagerly hanging onto her every word as she told you of the adventures the two of them used to go on when they were younger.

Eventually, she called her class over and they introduced themselves to your friends while you drew back to Aizawa’s side. 

You waved goodbye to Ojiro as you found him in the crowd and wished him good luck as he left to go ready, the two of you heading in opposite directions once Ms. Joke sent off her own students.

Ojiro sent you a smile and promised that he would do his best before Ashido came to drag him away.

But not before teasing him how he couldn't stand to be apart from you.

He ignored her for the most part, looking the other way before she could catch a glimpse of his smile. If he had to deal with her for the entirety of the test, he was going to be screwed. It was already going to be distracting enough knowing that you were watching him in the stands. 

Ojiro pushed it in the back of his mind for now. Test first. He had to get past this first. 

Down the corridor leading into where the exam would be taking place, you skipped ahead of Aizawa despite his best attempt to stop you from going too far, dashing into the rows and rows of seats overlooking the huge arena.

Eyes rounding in awe, your lips parted in astonishment at the setting, filled with all sorts of different terrain and a box in the middle of it that looked kind of awkward amongst the mountains, factories, and made-made rivers.

"This is so cool!!!!" You cheered, jumping up and down as Aizawa and Fukukado caught up to you.

Other than a handful of other teachers and chaperones, there didn't seem to be anyone else here. You assumed that was due to being only the homeroom teachers needed to attend for the first and second years, since the third years could probably handle the transportation all on their own. 

Aizawa let you pick out where you wanted to sit, following you as you finally settled down somewhere in the mid-range that would give you a good view of all the arenas.

You bounced in your seat eagerly as you waited for the test to start.

"Aw Eraser, look!! She's so excited!!" Fukukado exclaimed, pinching your cheek as she took the other seat next to you. 

You whined as she tugged on your cheek again, batting her hand away as you curled up on Aizawa's side for comfort.

His eyes went wide as you snuggled into him but he didn't push you off. He rolled his eyes when Ms. Joke continued to pester him with questions. Where you came from, how old you were, what your quirk allowed you to do.

She was way too curious about all of it and he didn't find it nearly as endearing as he did with you.

Your eyes lit up when the center box in the building finally opened up and Fukukado ceased her relentless questions, revealing all of the heroes-in-training and you were on the edge of your seat as the licensing exam began.

After watching your classmates for a while as they scattered in different directions, you gathered the rules. They had to knock people out with the targets they had put on their body while avoiding getting knocked out by others.

You were stunned as Class 1-A outmaneuvered and managed to outsmart the other candidates at every twist and turn.

How Midoriya rallied the group to stand against everyone when they came after them first and how he managed to come up with a plan to counter so quickly.

You weren't surprised that Todoroki went off on his own but you really wished that he would one day come to realize that he could depend on them too. You didn't know what he had been through, but you knew it had been bad.

You wouldn't push him. He needed to take his own time.

Besides, he had shown that he was more than capable of handling things himself when he was the first one from your class to finish. 

But once you spotted Ojiro amongst the crowd, you found that you couldn't take your eyes off of him. His physical prowess was something to be feared on the battlefield.

You didn't get much of a chance to ever see him in action, Aizawa preferring to separate the two of you so that you weren't distracted by each other while you were training and in the classroom, hence why your desk was all the way in the back where Ojiro couldn't see you.

It didn't matter. It wasn't like you looked away from him at all during class but you weren't going to tell your dad that his seating arrangement ended up having the best view to daydream about your crush. 

Eyes sparkling as you watched Ojiro take down one after another, you were struck with how strong he was and how he managed to use his tail to the best of his ability. All while not moving quite like how you expected him, too.

"Dad..." You trailed off without taking your eyes off of Ojiro. "The way he's fighting..."

"Hmm?" Aizawa hummed, in the middle of looking at something else but strayed from them to align his sight with yours. "Who is it?"

"Mashirao— Ojiro-kun." You corrected yourself hastily when his gaze snapped to you at such an informal use of his name. "He's kind of fighting like you."

The corner of his mouth quirked up in a lopsided grin. "He's been working on his style for a while now, it's come a long way since Ectoplasm helped him with it."

You tucked your hands under your legs, tail swishing behind you as you raised an eyebrow. "You gave him some pointers, huh?"

Aizawa turned his attention back to the several battles taking place. "He's my student, of course I did."

He spared you a glance and rolled his eyes when your knowing grin didn't fade.

"Pay attention." He instructed with an underlying warning to his tone and you conceded for now.

You would get him to admit it one day, that he was the dad of the class. It was inevitable. Fate called for him in the form of twenty-two troublesome kids. 

You watched as your classmates fought and cheered when they finally won, springing up from your seat when you saw that Ojiro passed.

Aizawa, on the other hand, glared at the group of ten students who just barely managed to pass as the limit was called. "So... there were that many of you left."

Fukukado leaned back, grinning at Aizawa from behind your back as you shouted your ecstatic congratulations down to them. "You're happy aren't you?!"

He scowled slightly. "No, I'm not."

"You are!!" She shouted with a loud laugh, slapping her thigh. "Your leg is bouncing happily!!"

Forcing it to still, he schooled his expression into one of indifference when your attention panned to him.

You leaned forward and bent your head, the tip of your fluffy ear poking his cheek cutely before you straightened up to beam at him. "It's okay to be proud of them, Dad. They worked really hard, right?"

Aizawa smiled faintly, resting a hand on your head and ruffled your hair.

"Doesn't matter." He huffed, suppressing the pride swelling in his chest as all twenty of his students passed thanks to their dedication and hard work. "They'll have to train even harder when we get back."

Your grin matched Ms. Joke's and she winked at you as the first test of two was called.

Aizawa didn't have to say it but you both knew. And you were definitely going to tease him later when he put up pictures of you all in his office tomorrow, hanging them proudly for the rest of the teachers to see when they walked in the lounge.

His kids had made it.

For all twenty of them to finish as part of the 100 that were allowed to pass out of thousands and thousands of students, that was already an accomplishment in it of itself. 

There was a short, twenty minute break for the people who passed as they filtered out the ones who didn't, the examiners asking for them to leave so that they could continue promptly after the break was over. 

"Dad, I'm hungry..." You said with a slight whine at the end, unable to help yourself, your stomach growling as if on cue.

Your stomach had been rumbling since the start and it only increased with your apprehension as the numbers were called. The first hundred to pass and the majority of Class 1-A had been in the last ten.

It was a close call, that much was for sure.

Still, they had all managed to pass. You were stoked. Ojiro even flashed you a thumbs up when he succeeded, finding you in the stands so effortlessly you were kind of hoping that it was because he was looking for you too.

Fukukado threw an arm around your shoulders energetically, causing you to squeak and almost lose your balance as she declared that she could take you. Your stomach rumbled again, louder this time and your cheeks tinted in embarrassment.

Removing his colleague's arm from you, Aizawa gestured for you to stand up. No way was he going to let you go off with his crazy colleague. "Come on then, kid."

Bounding up, you raced him to the concessions stand. Well, you raced. He kind of lumbered behind you, finding great amusement in the way your tail would twitch behind you in annoyance once you realized he wasn't racing you.

You pouted as he ambled over to you. "You're so slowwwwwwww."

He flicked your forehead and pinched your cheek in retaliation and you batted him away, growling but there was no bite to it.

Hopping in place, you whirled around and he had to actively jump back to avoid crashing into you.

Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention, Aizawa quickly paid for your armful of snacks that you collected when he wasn’t looking. Nobody needed to see your canines when you ate.

He was wary of your surroundings as you sprinted over to a bench positioned under a large tree, plopping down and tearing ravenously into the food. Settling down beside you, he leaned back against the tree and crossed his arms. 

“How did your internship with Hound Dog go?” Aizawa asked, unable to mask all of his curiosity from you. He hadn’t gotten a chance to ask you yet, he had been too busy training Shinsou for his transfer. 

Cheeks stuffed with food, you attempted to talk around it but all that came out was gibberish and you winced as your dad reprimanded you for talking with food in your mouth. Once you finished chewing, you were able to respond, albeit cheekily since it was so fun to see him like this.

“Why do you ask?” You asked, pretending to be clueless about the fact that you and Hound Dog both picked up on his scent when he lingered near the two of you the first day of your internship. “It went alright.”

At the sight of his irritated scowl, you did a double-take. You didn’t expect him to actually care this much about it, it must’ve really been bothering him.

Your eyes widened. “Did I do something wrong?” 

Aizawa was quick to hush you, pulling you in for an awkward hug as you maintained your hold on your snack, cheeks bulging with food.

“No, kid.” He sighed. “Just wanted to make sure.”

You didn’t push him, knowing that if he wanted to say something he would. He wasn’t the type exactly comfortable with confrontation and you couldn’t say that you blamed him. But you couldn’t deny that you were curious as to why he asked. You couldn’t figure it out. 

“... Why do you ask?” You repeated slowly.

Aizawa’s shoulders stiffened before he forced himself to relax. 

You leaned forward, but your eyes widened as he vocalized his feelings at the time, admitting that he had felt a tad bit jealous that you didn’t ask him to train you. 

He knew that Hound Dog was the best choice for you to train under, you hadn’t had much of an opportunity to hone your quirk for combat and the pro-hero who practically ran security for UA along with Snipe was the topic choice. 

You lowered your crackers, losing your appetite as his words sunk in. 

“I didn’t want to bother you.” You confessed softly, your ears pinned back on top of your head at how difficult it was to express your thoughts into a sentence that made sense. “I know you were busy with Toshi, not that I mind it!! I’m really glad you’re training him and I can’t wait until he joins our class—”

“If he chooses my class.” Aizawa interjected pointedly.

“Oh hush.” You snapped playfully at his negativity. “There’s no way he’s not going to choose us.”

Transfers had the option of choosing which hero class they wanted to be enrolled in. Principal Nezu liked to think of it like a gift for those that worked extra hard to follow their dreams, a reward as their efforts paid off and were recognized. 

There was no way Shinsou was going to choose Class B over Class A when the latter had both you and your dad. 

The corner of Aizawa’s mouth crooked up in a smile. He’d seen a lot of himself in the teenager with the brainwashing quirk. The likeness was uncanny. 

The love for cats and coffee, the sleepless nights, the fact that their quirks didn’t enhance their physical combat abilities. He connected with Shinsou on a level he honestly never thought possible. 

But he was worried that he might’ve been lacking in the attention and love he was supposed to give you while he was occupied with Shinsou’s training.

“You have that look on your face.” You told him, going back to eating your snacks, finishing one in record time before opening another one.

Aizawa scoffed. “What look?”

“The brooding look.” You grinned.

This time, he really did glare at you and you collapsed into a fit of laughter. His eyes softened at the sound. 

“What are you so worried about, Dad?” You said, your fluffy ears poking his cheek as you snuggled up to him. 

“Nothing, kid.” He muttered. He could figure this out on your own.

You shrugged your shoulders, willing to let it go if he was so stubborn to hold onto it. “I think you’re too worried, Toshi’s gonna do great when it comes time for his evaluation.”

Aizawa blinked. That wasn’t what he was worried about at all. Okay, maybe a little bit. But not much. He was more worried about whether or not you felt less loved ever since Shinsou had come into your lives. 

“What?”

He froze as he realized he had said that last part out loud, mind racing to cover up his mistake when you suddenly threw your arms around him and hugged him tight.

“Of course not.” You whispered in disbelief that he was worrying about you all this time. “That’s what you thought?”

Your internship with Hound Dog must’ve made him insecure about his parenting abilities now that he was officially your dad. You were surprised, you didn’t think anything had the capability of rocking this man’s boat. He seemed so stoic, unshakable. 

It was good to know that even the people you idolized the most were human too. 

“I’m not offended, Dad. Toshi’s family too, right?” You questioned though you weren’t really asking. “You’ve never made me feel unimportant.”

Aizawa had hesitantly hugged you back. It felt wrong to hug you after he just voiced that he was having second thoughts about being the right kind of dad for you and here you were, comforting him. It felt weird.

But it was nice.

“You’re lucky I love you, kid.” Was all he said, a hint of a smile creeping up on his face.

You nodded, smiling softly against his shoulder. “I love you too, Dad.”

After somehow convincing him that you had to have ice cream as you headed back, Aizawa stopped short when you nearly devoured it in a heartbeat. There was nothing left by the time you got back to the stands.

He shook his head fondly as you raced ahead. And by the time he had found his way over to his seat, you were eagerly talking to Fukukado about something. 

By the time the next test started and your attention had been stolen away once more, he waved to catch her attention.

Raising an eyebrow, Fukukado’s tease died on her lips as she noticed the serious expression on his face. She would recognize that look anywhere. Shooting him a questioning look, his gaze flitted to indicate something behind him and she followed it discreetly, with the experience of a pro. 

What she saw had her eyes widening in shock. 

Aizawa’s eyes narrowed a fraction as he gauged her reaction. His heart stopped as she shook her head, slight enough not to catch your attention and his jaw clenched, fists balling at his sides. 

He would take care of them later. 

This time, when the pro-heroes turned their attention back to the arena where the second test was in full swing, there was something a lot more ominous in the air. 

A threat that promised Aizawa he hadn’t seen the last of them. 

“So Eraser,” Fukukado grinned, leaning forward as she caught your attention. “I didn’t know you liked playing dad.”

“Enough, Emi.” Aizawa sighed exasperatedly, masking his distress from you. 

You, however, didn’t pick up on the social cue and scampered behind him before he could stop you.

His voice raised as you left his vision field but before he could twist around to see you, you plopped your chin on his head. “Kid, what are you doing?” 

Your tail was thumping so hard against the back of his chair that he could feel the vibrations through the cheap plastic. 

“Scary…” You whimpered and his head immediately swiveled to the person he had spotted before, narrowing his eyes when he didn’t see them or the thing that they were torturing earlier. 

But before he could instigate emergency protocols and whisk you out of there, you were shakily pointing towards the area where Gang Orca and a mini army had just crashed through the wall and was terrorizing your friends.

Aizawa couldn’t help but relax. You weren’t scared at anything other than the test.

You winced as one of the cement bullets came close to hitting Ojiro and Ashido. “Dad, are they going to hurt them?”

“No,” He said, settling back in his chair now that he knew there wasn’t any threat. “This is a test, remember?”

“I know that, but—” You winced again as Todoroki got hit, immobilizing him instantly, and covered your face with your hands. You couldn’t look. 

Aizawa sighed, reaching up to awkwardly pat your head. It was harder to do when he couldn't see you.

“They’ll be fine.” He muttered, more to himself than to you. “They have to face this if they want to become heroes.”

You nodded, more of a reaction than an agreement with what he was saying. Peeking through your fingers, you shot up with a cheer as a paralyzed Yoarashi from another school worked together with an immobilized Todorki to trap Gang Orca in a spiral of flame. 

“They did it!!” You burst out, a wide smile on your face as the end of the second exam was called. “Way to go you guys!!!!”

Aizawa sighed heavily, slumping back in his seat. Having to see his class go through a test more rigorous than usual was bad for his heart. 

But a proud smile made its way onto his face as his students raced towards each other, congregating around a stage so that they could get their results.

He had said before that they needed to succeed, but that was to push them. The truth was, the fact that they all tried and ended up with results like this even though they had to overcome their personal differences and mistakes just proved that they all had what it took to be just like the heroes that they all admired. 

Annoyed at the warmth that bloomed in his chest, he hid his face in his scarf so no one would see he’d gone soft. 

You smirked, nudging his shoulder. “You’re proud of them~”

Aizawa rolled his eyes and snorted. “You’re just as bad as Mic, kid.”

“Eh?! That’s not fair!!”

“Life’s not fair.”

Pouting, you crossed your arms petulantly over your chest. “I’m telling Uncle Hizashi!!”

At Aizawa’s snort of indifference and nonchalance, you revoked your threat and gave him your very best watery puppy eyes. 

But he didn’t cave like normal. In fact, his attention wasn’t even on you. He was staring off into the distance but you had no idea what he was looking at. 

You were confused when Aizawa hurried to walk you to meet up with his students, but not before whispering something to Ms. Joke that you couldn’t make out, even with your enhanced hearing. 

Then, as soon as Ojiro was within sight, Aizawa motioned to you in some sort of code and left you with him before disappearing from sight. 

You blinked and Ojiro held out his hand for you to take.

“What was that all about?” He inquired curiously and you shrugged helplessly. 

“I have no idea.” You said honestly. 

But the energy buzzing in the air took your mind off of it as Ojiro led you to where the others were at. 

Class 1-A were granted their provisional licenses, with the exception of Bakugou and Todoroki. Both were vastly disappointed but while Todoroki understood his shortcomings in the second test, Bakugou was having a bit of a tougher time coming to terms with it. 

“Bakugou, calm down!!” Kirishima shouted, blocking a rogue explosion from hitting anyone else passing by. “C’mon man, they said you’ll get it once you attend that class!!”

“I don’t need a fucking class with those shitty extras!!” Bakugou exploded, storming off a little ways away to brood and process everything that had just happened.

With the sun setting, the other examinees had trickled out and gone home for the day with the exception of their class while they waited for their homeroom teacher to come back from whatever he was sorting out.

Yaoyorozu, Koda and Aoyama left to go get food from the same concessions stand that you and Aizawa were at earlier. Everyone was starving and Iida figured that some food couldn’t hurt while you all waited. 

Midoriya bounded over to you eagerly, capturing your attention and you congratulated him enthusiastically on his success. While he talked to you about all the interesting quirks he came across, you couldn’t help but stray from him every so often to glance up at Ojiro. 

He was scanning the premises every so often but would mask his concern and shoot you a reassuring smile every time you glanced at him out of the corner of your eyes. 

After the three of them returned, Midoriya flocking to Koda to get some food to replenish his energy as Kirishima dragged a protesting Bakugou the entire way over, you tugged on Ojiro’s hand.

You were worried. Your dad hadn’t returned yet and come to think of it, you hadn’t seen Ms. Joke either. Her students had passed by awhile, saying that they were getting on a train to make it back to their academy but they didn’t say a thing about her, so either they weren’t worried and this was a normal occurrence, or she was in trouble.

Your heart started to beat faster as your mind raced with possibilities of what could have happened and you couldn’t keep up, panic constricting in your chest and your breathing getting heavier until you couldn’t take it anymore.

You couldn’t sit here and wait, you had to help them!!

But your joined hand with Ojiro’s didn’t slip out as you tried to run off in the direction you had seen your dad go in last.

Ojiro’s tail wound around your waist and he hugged you tightly, suppressing his own conflicted feelings as you trembled in his arms. He was worried too, but he had to trust his teacher. Aizawa was more capable than any of them when it came to villains and if one had snuck in, he’d be the best qualified for dealing with it. 

But the security for the licensing exam was flawless so he highly doubted that was the case. Still, he understood your distress. 

Your knees knocked together but you stayed put due to the lock around your middle and you gritted your teeth. 

The apprehension didn’t fade, it only seemed to get worse as the seconds ticked by but when the rugged appearance and bright costume of your dad and Ms. Joke stepped out of the shadows, you were wrestling out of Ojiro’s hold as the breath you had been holding in rushed out of your lungs. 

“Dad!!” You cried out, bursting into tears when you reached him. 

Any other time you would’ve scolded yourself for being so emotional in front of others but you couldn’t help it. He had just left and you didn’t know where he went. It felt just like the first time Ojiro met you and treated your injury before disappearing from your line of sight. 

Aizawa caught you with one hand as you tunneled into his chest, stumbling back a few steps at your force. 

“Geez, kid, what’s the—”

His eyes widened at the sight of the drops of water streaking down your cheeks and he cursed himself for not telling you where he was going to be. He had been so focused that it narrowed his field of vision.

“Sorry,” He murmured apologetically, resting his free hand on your head. 

You closed your eyes as his reassurance and guilt washed over you, batting your head against his hand again just like earlier to show that you were okay. 

You weren’t exactly sure why you got so nervous when people left without any explanation. Maybe because it reminded you of your birth parents but you honestly couldn’t say because you didn’t remember them all that well. 

A soft ‘meow’ snapped you out of your trance and your eyes trailed down to where you heard the sound coming from, a loud squeal erupting from your lungs before you could stop it, startling everyone within a ten foot radius of you. 

Which included Aizawa, Fukukado, and all the students of Class 1-A. 

“A kitty!!” You squealed, catching sight of your dad holding it in his other hand. “Where did you find it?!”

You stretched out a hand to pet it but Aizawa lifted it far out of your reach. Your protest died when Fukukado ushered you a little bit away, still within Aizawa’s earshot but far away enough so that you couldn’t touch it. 

“Why can’t I—”

“It could be a spy.” Fukukado whispered to you seriously and your tail fluffed up. 

“What?”

“The Quirk Traffickers.” Aizawa glowered, glaring at the small cat as he held it up by its scruff. “Some people were messing with it earlier, tossing it around and holding it up, making a show before kicking it to the side.”

The troublesome kids had scattered before he got a chance to capture and question them so he couldn’t say for certain but he was pretty sure they were involved.

Your fur bristled at those people doing something so cruel to an innocent animal. But that still didn’t explain why they thought it was a spy, let along a spy for the Quirk Traffickers. 

“Eraser thinks it might be a lure.” Fukukado explained, all amusement gone from her eyes as she folded her arms over her chest. “A kid who’s got a shapeshifting quirk that’s being forced to spy on you.”

You couldn’t say you were completely astonished that he had filled her in on your rough past but you were a bit surprised that he seemed to implicitly trust her despite saying that he wanted nothing to do with her earlier. 

How interesting. You would have to question him later.

Ms. Joke jabbed a thumb over to where Aizawa was having a staring contest with the grey kitten who was battered and bruised from the treatment earlier. Your blood was boiling just thinking about it. 

“Eraser’s trying to see if he can get it to change.” Fukukado told you.

Everyone, the students who had crowded closer to see what the commotion was all about and the two pro-heroes, stopped short when you burst out laughing.

“Dad, put him down.” You wheezed, still trying to catch your breath from your laughing fit.

Now everyone was really confused. 

Ojiro, who had overheard the tailend of Ms. Joke’s information, was wary when she mentioned that Aizawa thought the Quirk Traffickers might be involved. He caught your arm but faltered when he saw the twinkle in your eye. You wouldn’t look like that if you were in danger.

Reluctantly, he let you go. 

Aizawa still hadn’t let go of the cat, despite what you had said. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust you, he just didn’t exactly trust that there was nothing going on and—

“It’s just a kitten, Dad.” You reassured, giggling slightly when the sharpness in his glare dulled just a bit. “I promise it’s completely harmless.”

Aizawa stared at it suspiciously as the creature weakly batted at his hand but set it down in his hands so that he was gripping it gently to not add to its injuries but firmly just in case you were wrong and it tried to escape. 

He hummed lowly, not completely convinced. “And you know this how?”

Tapping the side of your nose, you smiled as you nonverbally reminded him of your enhanced senses. 

“Humans have a different scent than animals do.” You said softly. “If he was someone who had a shapeshifting quirk, he would still smell like a human even in animal form.”

You could pick up on the kitten’s distress at being handled so roughly by so many strangers but you couldn’t say you blamed him. Plucking him from your now shell-shocked dad’s hands, you petted it soothingly, careful to keep your canines tucked away so that you didn’t scare it.

“There, there…” You comforted, hugging it close to your chest. “It’s alright.”

Aizawa couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He had been so convinced after seeing such irregular behavior from people. And while he still couldn’t explain why they had been beating up an innocent animal who hadn’t caused any harm, he supposed it wasn’t important anymore. What mattered was that you were safe.

“I didn’t know you could do all that…” Aizawa trailed off, underlying wonder following his voice. He had no time to feel flustered or embarrassed by his mistake, seeing as how if he ended up being right, you would’ve been in grave danger. 

He was glad that wasn’t the case. Better to be safe than sorry.

You grinned cheekily as the kitten purred contentedly in your hold. “Maybe you should take me with you next time then!!”

“No.” He rejected bluntly and you exclaimed indignantly. 

“Eh?! Why not?!”

“No.”

“That’s not an answer!!”

Ms. Joke laughed at your quick retorts, planting her hands on her hips now that the threat had been cleared. She was glad you weren’t in any danger and that the situation had been contained with cuddles. 

You stopped petting the kitten as you noticed the longing expression on someone’s face and stared down at the dirty, grey little cat. It could use love. Someone who would care for it and love it to the max. 

You knew just who that was going to be. 

“Todoroki.” You called out, gesturing for him to come over. 

Ojiro hid a smile. He knew exactly what you were thinking. Your kind heart knew no bounds. 

Once the half-and-half boy was closer, you thrusted the kitten out to him so that he had no choice but to take it. “Want to care for it?”

Todoroki blinked at you blankly, an unusual flicker of warmth shooting through his heart as he cupped his hands to delicately cradle the tiny bundle of fur. “I’m sorry?”

You sighed dramatically, a hand over your heart as you pulled out your very best theatrical performance. “It’s just that Dad’s already got a cat—”

“Y/N!!” Aizawa burst out. His students weren’t supposed to know about that!! You were exposing all of his secrets!!

You didn’t miss a beat. “And Coffee doesn’t take too well to other animals, just like Dad with people!!”

“Y/N!!!” Aizawa yelled, trying to scold you but it came out exasperated. He was already defeated. 

By now, Fukukado had doubled over with laughter, clutching her stomach as she lacked the strength to remain standing and collapsed to the ground, rolling from side to side as she laughed hysterically. 

Lowering your hands, you got serious for a second so that Todoroki could see you weren’t messing with him. 

“He needs a home.” You murmured softly, stroking the kitten’s head and your eyes softened as it mewled happily. “Do you want him?”

You knew he had never had a pet before. The two of you had talked before when you caught him staring longingly after the strays that roamed the campus. Those were off limits. The students were allowed to leave food out and pet them, they were domesticated, but because they were enjoyed by everyone, no one got to take them into the dorms. 

He had told you his dad didn’t really ever let him play with his siblings, let alone entertain the idea of getting a pet since all his time was spent training every since a young age. 

Todoroki’s heterochromic eyes grew misty. Out of everyone you could’ve chosen, you picked him. It was true he wanted a cat so badly but to just accept this out of the blue seemed a bit too fast. He didn’t even know if this kitten liked him—

A throaty purr erupted from the soft ball of fluff as it snuggled into his left hand, finding the warmth too heavenly to leave.

You barked out a laugh, a grin so wide that it hurt your face and you clapped your hands gleefully. “I guess that settles it then!!”

“Dad, he can stay right?!” You tossed over your shoulder, already knowing his answer.

Aizawa sighed heavily. “I assume you’re referring to the cat.”

You beamed brightly, bounding over to him without a second thought. “Pleaseeeeeeeee?”

He glanced over the top of your head. “Todoroki, are you willing to take care of it and be responsible for it?”

The hot and cold teen looked down at the kitten in his hands, cuddling up on his left hand. The side that he thought only had the ability to bring about harm to the people he cared about. It had only been a total of five minutes and now he couldn’t bear to part with it. 

“Yes.” He said quietly and Aizawa nodded decisively.

“Alright then.”

The whole class cheered, ecstatic that they now had a dorm cat, even if it was going to be Todoroki’s. Koda was practically bouncing in place with excitement, a sight that had never been seen before. Jirou tried to hide it but even she was enchanted by the kitten.

Midoriya and Uraraka high-fived each other, celebrating the fact that there was going to be a tiny cat roaming around the halls of their dormitory. So cute!!

Animals made everything better. 

Ojiro drew to your side like a magnet. “So that’s what you had up your sleeve.”

You smiled widely. “Do you think I went overboard?”

You knew the kitten would like him. Todoroki was quiet and wasn’t overbearing. He wouldn’t feel the dire need to pet it every single second of the day, but would take comfort in its presence, just like you believed the kitten would come to reflect it all the same. 

Ojiro pointedly glanced at your friends who were surrounding Todoroki, Ashido and Hagkure begging for a turn to hold it and the former giving in even though he clearly didn’t want to let go of it yet. 

“No, I don’t.” He said anyways, laughing along with you when Bakugou demanded to hold it next, only for Todoroki to make him promise not to launch the kitten halfway across the street if he let him.

It was clear that Todoroki was touched by your decision to give it to him. You didn’t know how much he treasured it already. 

“What are you going to name it?” Asui piped up thoughtfully as Midoriya got a turn after the explosive boy.

Todoroki’s brow furrowed and he was silent for a long time as he mulled it over before coming to a conclusion.

“... Soba.”

Uraraka’s jaw dropped open. “Eh?! You’re going to name it that?!”

“Is it not appropriate?” Todoroki asked cluelessly. He thought because of the color it would be a good fit. Plus, you did say Aizawa’s cat was named Coffee. Were all cats supposed to be named after drinks?

Maybe he should change it.

“Just don’t eat it.” Sero said, eyeing him oddly. 

“Ignore him.” Tokoyami said and Shoji nodded in agreement.

Todoroki cocked his head to the side. “Why would I eat it?”

“I dunno man!!” Kaminari exclaimed, throwing his hands up. “You named it Soba!!”

“Ignore them.” Tokoyami corrected calmly and the two of them shifted their attack to him instead for his poor choice of names to approve for the unofficial dorm cat.

“Y/N, what do you think?” Sato interjected, quelling the argument before it could get out of control. He knew you would approve no matter what Todoroki decided to name it, that was just the type of person you were. 

You tapped a finger to your chin in thought. “Well… considering I was just going to call it Dusty, I think Soba is better.”

Your claim sparked outrage at your unoriginality of names, effectively taking all the pressure and uncomfortable attention off of Todoroki and dumping it onto you. 

“Dusty?!” Kaminari shouted, waving his hands wildly.

“What?! I thought it fit!!” You objected stubbornly, hiding a smile. 

“That’s the worst name ever!!”

“Hey, don’t judge me!! I’m uncreative, okay!!”

Kaminari scoffed. “That’s no excuse!! It’s clearly a Cloud!!”

“That’s even worse!!” You shrieked in horror. “The bar was so low, Kaminari, and you buried a hole just to avoid it!!”

Ojiro’s shoulders shook with laughter at your sharp comeback and Kaminari pouted, betrayed, as Jirou, Sero and Sato burst out laughing. 

“All of you, be quiet. You’re giving me a headache.” Aizawa groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as his students slowly but steadily started to file onto the bus to get back to UA. 

You winked at Todoroki, who continued to softly pet Soba still purring in his hands as his failure to obtain his license faded into the background with every happy noise the kitten made. Today wasn’t what you expected it to be. 

It was even better.

Taglist: @katsukis-sad-angel​

[chaoticevilbean]

Inspired by Redemption and Far From Home, Close To Heart

Luke stumbles into the shuttle, heaving as he carries his father’s body the final few steps. The ground shudders beneath, a sign of the impending destruction. His mind is numb, not letting anything slip into his head. He has no thoughts but one, as though he’s on autopilot. He has to get into the air. Now.

Somehow, he manages to get into space and out of range just moments before the Death Star explodes. The shuttle rocks a little from the waves of energy, but settles quickly enough. Luke can’t tell if he’s about to pass out or throw up, or maybe both, but he still manages to turn his head to the controls, prepping to return to the Rebellion.

He stills as he does a double-take of the view outside the transparisteel.

A void. Absolutely devoid of stars, planets, and ships. Where are the Rebels? Where is Endor? Where is everyone?

A light catches his attention. A star pops into existence, shining brightly. As he watches, another pops up on the other side of his view. Another at the top. Another by the first. Suddenly, the pinpricks that are stars are materializing from nowhere, filling his vision with a brilliant white. He feels the need to look away, but doesn’t. The Force is screaming at him to look, to keep his eyes forward. He obeys, despite his eyes trying desperately to blink away the overload, despite his mind pressing him to call for the Rebels, for Leia and Han, despite the part of him that is numb with pain and grief and exhaustion.

The last speck of black disappears, and suddenly, Luke is constricted. He feels something compressing him, and he can barely breathe, but he trusts the Force.

Just as it all grows to just below too much, it stops. The light is gone, the constriction is gone, and Luke feels like he’s floating in the center of space.

It only takes a single second between his eyes closing at the sudden darkness and them opening for Luke to know something has changed drastically.

For starters, his head feels a little clearer, and he can actually form thoughts now. He passes that off as the Force’s help. His body is still pumped full of adrenaline, leaving his pain as null as it can be.

The larger difference is the shuttle… which is no longer a shuttle. Instead he sits in some sort of starfighter, equipped with technology that looks at least two decades old. Luke’s sitting in it as though he’s been flying for hours, the security belts wrapped snugly across his chest. A quick glance back shows him that his father’s body isn’t there. Granted, the ship would be too small, but Luke is still disappointed when he sees nothing but more outdated tech.

He’s still in his singed clothes, and he can see the faint lines from being shot full of electricity. Instinctually, he wraps a hand around his lightsaber, startling at the feel of another weight. He looks down, and takes a deep breath as he tries to remain calm.

Five lightsabers. Five. Kriffin’. Lightsabers. One is his own green blade, and he recognizes the one next to it as his father’s, the one that’d made him check his belt. Two more radiate darkness, and he guesses them to be the Emperor’s own blades. The last saber is one he has no clue who it belongs to, but it’s light is brilliant in comparison to the three shadows between it and Luke’s own weapon.

A large boom draws his focus to the open space in front of him. He swiftly takes the controls, letting the Force and his own knowledge of engineering and ships take over as he adjusts to the old machinery. He sees a planet nearby, he himself having been facing enough away to not notice initially. Outside the planet’s atmosphere, Luke’s breath is taken away.

Two Venator-class Star Destroyers battling three Munificent-class frigates, a flurry of fighters surrounding them and causing small explosions that left small bursts in Luke’s vision. He can see vulture droids mixed in, and it seems that most of the fighters belong with the destroyers and the droids with the frigates.

He startles at the beeping of a comm from his controls. He’s cautious, uncertain of where he is and what just happened, so instead of simply accepting the call, he makes sure it’s only audio first. Then, with a deep breath to steady himself, he presses the answer button.

“Trooper, state your designation.” Oh. They think he’s a stormtrooper.

Don’t answer, the Force whispers to him. He doesn’t, instead starting towards the battle.

“Trooper, state your designation or you will be targeted.” Luke notices the voice is nervous, hidden under a professional steadiness. The Force whispers more. Good. Not Imperial. Fight. Fight with them. Luke has never been one to ignore the Force. With a renewed determination and energy funneling into him, he revs the engine, shooting off like a bolt towards the battle.

Instantly, there are droids seeking him out, targeting the fighter as an enemy. Luke doesn’t hesitate to blast them, quick and clean shots. They collide with each other, blowing up as the vacuum of space pulls them apart. Other fighters unthinkingly attack anyone tailing him, and he responds in kind. He ignores the voice that calls for his designation again, only noticing when the call clicks off. Perhaps the officer believes his ship is unable to connect properly, and took his joining the battle as him trying to prove himself not an enemy without comms.

The battle’s tide is slowly turning to the side of the troopers, who apparently aren’t Imperial, which is strange. But the frigates are still firing, and it’s not a guarantee of victory yet. Luke decides to change this.

Remembering his flight against the first Death Star, he passes right next to the main frigate, close enough to draw the attention of a large group of vulture droids. The other fighters do their best to shoot the enemies down, realizing that one of their own has some sort of plan. With little hesitation, Luke fires directly at a small weapons port. He remembers the main layouts of these sorts of frigates, having studied them with Han because “Ya gotta know the basics first, kid, and these are what I grew up with.” The plasma hits, and it’s just like he planned.

A chain reaction, like the Death Stars. The port blows up. Being so small, there’s no shielding, and nothing stopping it from blowing up the port next to it. There’s a series of explosions along the frigate, followed quickly by the shields going down as their generators are hit. In truth, it’s a clever blueprint, only expending power on the bigger weapons, which are more likely to be targeted. But the smaller ones are made closer together, and they make a path straight past the protection of the generators.

With nothing between the walls and the oncoming attacks, the main frigate fails quickly, and Luke barely makes it away before it explodes, splitting in half and taking out another of the enormous ships with a collision. The last ship is swiftly decimated, all droids going lifeless without their command centers. Fighters rush to destroy them fully, before the one-person ships return to their destroyers.

Luke’s comm lights up again, and this time he doesn’t hesitate to answer it- just audio again, because he’s sure he’ll be blasted into oblivion if he reveals his true face.

“Trooper, good work out there. Return to the Resolute and we’ll see if we can fix that receiver of yours.” He responds by ending the call, a signal he was listening, hopefully. He moves his fighter to obey, about to follow the starfighter that looks most like his own, at least from his limited angle, but halts at the humming negative from the Force. A nudge directs him towards the planet, so he turns right around and launches off towards the surface. The comm lights up again, but he ignores it once more.

Upon breaching the atmosphere, it’s clear what the Force wants. A large amount of outdated droids, ones that look straight out of the Clone Wars era, face off against a legion of- wait. As Luke flies closer, his mind reels. He’s in a ship at least two decades from the past, and fought droids with troopers who aren’t Imperial. Not to mention that many of the ships had some sort of personalization to them. Even the legion below looks more varied in color than stormtroopers would be. And more droids, more Clone Wars era droids, are fighting against them.

A flash of blue catches his attention, and seals the conclusion. He’s in the Clone Wars. The Force somehow brought him back in time to when the clones haven’t been brainwashed and turned against the Jedi. Luke knows it’s true, not just from the humming energy around him, but also from the fact that a Jedi is among the clone troopers, currently slicing apart B1’s like they’re flimsi.

Deciding that flying will make him too much of a target, Luke drops down at a high speed, pulling up just enough to not crash and barreling through the droids far enough away from the troopers that he won’t hurt any. They’re in a city, one with earthen buildings and green roofs. The transparisteel pops up and he jumps out, using his green blade to destroy the machines around him. The Force leaps to his aid, and he directs it to push back at his enemies, clearing the area swiftly as the poorly made droids crumple. He doesn’t feel bad about their demises, knowing they’re only partially sapient. Nothing like Artoo or Threepio.

With a small pause in fighting, he closes his eyes, raising a hand up to help concentrate on the Force around him. He senses the droids for a good chunk of distance, and manages to stretch himself to the troopers and the Jedi without overexerting his already low reserves. He’s still rather numb from his battle on the Death Star, but wounds have never stopped him before. Gently but quickly nudging the Force away from the living beings, Luke closes his fist slowly. He can hear as well as feel the metal being crushed as the Force wraps tightly around each piece, pressing inwards with a strength that can’t be fought.

The droids for roughly a square mile around him are destroyed, pummeled into nothing by his will. He doesn’t rest, instead rushing towards the Jedi, even as he feels their presence rush towards him. They’re bright, radiating peace and serenity.

Luke rounds the last corner just as they do, coming face-to-face with the troopers and their leader.

The Jedi wears brown robes of varying shades, covered in dust. A Human male, with auburn hair and a beard. He seems taken aback at the sight of Luke, although who can blame him. The young man probably looks a few inches from death.

The Force doesn’t wait for the Jedi or his troopers to recover, instead pressing Luke in a new direction. He turns his head towards it, letting his senses enhance with the urges of his ever-present companion. There’s more droids. He guesses that the Force wants all of the destructive machines gone, so he doesn’t waste a second to rush off, ignoring the exclamations behind him as he dashes to obey.

His feet are numb as he runs, but he feels every impact jarring his body, and knows he can’t keep up the adrenaline much longer. He exits an alleyway straight into another group of troopers battling B1’s, and hurries to slice the enemies to scrap. He sees another Jedi, his heart soaring as much as it can at the thought of more of his new people being alive. The purple blade doesn’t halt in its attack, even though Luke can feel the scrutiny of the wielder on him.

Once more, the moment there’s a big enough break, Luke’s eyes close and his hand raises, and he crushes as many enemies as he can from his position. He feels the Force pressing on him again as he opens his eyes, and he distantly hears the sound of something clunky and metal heading towards their area. He follows the directions, saber aloft as he goes to meet the fast-paced enemy in the middle. Whatever is there moves fast and without worry.

A strange sight greets him, his mind struggling to comprehend for a moment before finally clicking the pieces of history into place. General Grievous, a mostly cybernetic Kaleesh.

He is more droid than organic. The thought attempts to slip through, only to be grasped by the Force, energy pulsing in agreement. Grievous sees him, lightsabers drawing in a menacing action.

“Ah, a Jedi,” his raspy but deep voice calls. “Your sabers will be a fine addition to my collection. And you have so many.”

Luke bows his head in concentration, disengaging his saber and putting it on his belt so he can raise both hands. He hears the movement of the CIS general, but trusts in the energy that swirls around him. He wraps it around Grievous, much like he did the droids, but this time only uses it to take hold of his limbs. Said limbs move without the commands of their attached brain, instead twisting around each other. Grievous roars, perhaps in pain, but definitely in rage, as he loses control so quickly, watches his own body warp into a cage for him. The lightsabers he holds fly from his cloak and hands, straight onto the belt of his victorious opponent, one who did so little and yet so much.

Luke opens his eyes, waiting for the next command of the Force, hoping that it will lead him a step closer to whatever reason the energy of the galaxy has for bringing him here. He receives only a nudge to wait a moment. He does, hands gripping his singed shirt tightly. A voice that sounds like Leia tells him to get medical attention as soon as possible. A voice that sounds like Han tells him to demand a reward. He brushes both away with a small smile.

Both Jedi he encountered barrel into the open area, lightsabers out and ready, only to pull up short at the sight before them. Luke gives them a small wave, still smiling a little.

He knows that it truly is a sight to behold. Grievous was always portrayed as a sort of monster-under-the-cot in his history lessons, and the cyborg truly did look it. To find said monster twisted into a Tatooian knot is surprising, to say the least. Then Luke himself is singed and sweaty and has five lightsabers on his belt, along with whatever ones Grievous had been carrying with him.

But just as they observe him, Luke himself attempts to memorize the features of the Jedi.

The one with the purple blade is also a Human male, dark-skinned and tall. His head is smooth-shaven, and his clothes match his peer’s. He gives off an aura of control, of a determination born of practice. His eyes are distrusting but curious, but what else can be expected in a literal war zone?

The blue-sabered one hasn’t changed in the time between Luke first seeing him and now, but now Luke can make out some of the details. The man has bags under his eyes, and a gash on his cheek that is sluggishly bleeding. Both Jedi’s clothes show marks where blaster bolts barely missed their targets.

“Hello there,” the first Jedi calls over, eyes darting between Luke and Grievous with partially concealed shock.

“Hello.” Luke winces at the word, raspy and painful. He attempts to clear his throat, only to find himself coughing horribly at the rough feeling. The Jedi look concerned, the dark-skinned one a bit more mildly, at the small fit. Once he’s recovered, Luke tries again. “Hello.”

“Well, it seems you’ve done us a great favor. That is, if you were the one who crushed the droids and did that,” he waves his hand in a vague gesture at the still growling and twisted Grievous, “then we have much to thank you for.” Luke nods in affirmative, already feeling the adrenaline starting to fade a little. His head is getting a little more fuzzy, and his body is feeling more unbalanced. To counteract this, at least temporarily, Luke calls on the Force for support, clearing his head and grounding himself in the moment.

“Who are you?” The purple-sabered Jedi speaks up now, eyes narrowed in suspicion. Luke sees him glance down at his belt, where so many weapons are clasped.

“Luke Starkiller.” Rebellion protocol has been drilled into him, that he has to give a fake name until he can figure out if he’s safe.

“Mace, as much as I know you wish to question him, and goodness knows I would love answers as well, I think it best we get him some medical attention. It’s amazing that he hasn’t gotten psychic shock yet.”

“Psychic shock? What’s that?” Luke receives two extremely worried looks in response, signs that perhaps Yoda and Ben missed something important in his training. It’s practically confirmed when the two men turn back to each other, instantly engaging into what Han loves calling “let’s not die” mode.

“I’ll get Grievous and him to the transports, along with all the other wounded. You move forward in the campaign.”

“Master Koon should be down soon to help us.”

“Well, that’s good then. We no longer need three generals down here, so I’ll simply trade off positions with him.”

“Make sure Skywalker’s cleaned up everything before you lift off.”

The two of them clasped arms, probably switching to communicating through a Force bond. Then, with a quick nod to each other, the two launch into action. The dark-skinned Jedi, Mace, the other called him, disappears further into the city, gone in an instant. Luke watches the movement with tired but keen eyes, then starts as their words finish registering. Did Mace say Skywalker?

But he had said his name was Starkiller. Even if they saw through the lie, it didn’t make sense for them to instantly know he’s a Skywalker. Unless… if this really was the Clone Wars, then his father is still a Republic general. Alive, fighting against the Sith, having not Fallen yet.

It’s a bit too late when Luke realizes the remaining Jedi is now standing next to him. Behind the man, Grievous levitates a few feet off the ground, silent as though having given up on making noise.

“Are you alright?”

“Fine. Just a little tired,” Luke reassures the elder being, trying to sound as little croaky as possible.

“I would think so,” he responds, clearly not convinced. Without asking, he loops an arm around Luke’s shoulders, directing the two of them back the direction they’d come. The young man lets him, keeping a determined gaze on their surroundings and letting the Force fill him. Grievous is pulled after them by the other Jedi, who seems perfectly at ease despite the famous CIS general being close enough to murder him- if he had use of his limbs, that is. Even though Luke didn’t learn much about him in his lessons, he knows the Kaleesh is dangerous, always managing to escape and often taking many lives with him.

They walk quickly, towards the presence of a large group of troopers, but Luke still manages to notice there’s no one else around.

“Where’re the locals?” he asks hoarsely, swiveling his head to peer through windows and into alleys.

“We got them out just before the assault picked up. They should be waiting a little ways away from the city, but far enough away they won’t get caught in the crossfire.”

“How large are the CIS forces?”

“The what?”

“The Confederacy.” Luke is pleased to hear the rasp in his voice beginning to die a little.

“Ah. Well, we were pretty much at a stand-off until you came along. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or so to finish off the rest of the droids, and I still don’t know how you managed to best Grievous.”

“I was already manipulating the droids, so I just went for his metal. It’s rather terrifying that he’s more cyborg than Vader.” Luke internally winces at the name as it slips out, but makes sure he remains as neutral as possible in demeanor. He does receive a very curious and confused expression, but it swiftly disappears as the clone troopers come into view. He barely keeps himself from recoiling away at the sight on pure instinct.

“General!” A trooper rushes over, his armor painted yellow in several places and scuffed and dented from many battles. He comes to a halt right in front of the two Humans and the Kaleesh.

“Commander.”

Sensing the tension from the commander’s gaze, Luke steps away from the Jedi, moving back a little and coming to stand a few feet closer to Grievous. His actions are acknowledged by a glance over, before the Force-user continues speaking.

“Has Anakin checked in yet?” So his father was alive. A version of Anakin Skywalker that hadn’t yet been Darth Vader, one that was still loyal to the Jedi Order.

“Yes sir. It appears that the enemy frigates have been destroyed and General Koon is on his way down as we speak.”

“Good. And the men?”

“A few major injuries, but the rest we can treat on the go. We’ve prepped the ones that need bacta to join you on the transport.”

“Excellent. Then I want to make sure the troops are ready to move out soon. Send word to the civilians that the city is almost taken. They should be good to return by sunrise tomorrow. Help Windu with the clean-up and I’ll contact you once we’re aboard the Resolute. I’ll need to contact the Council as well.” At his last words, the auburn-haired man sends another glance towards Luke, who only just catches it. Most of his attention is on the gold-eyed glare coming from his left.

“Sir, if I may, who is that?”

“Luke Starkiller. He’s the one that took down both the droids and Grievous. I’ll be bringing him back to the Resolute with me, seeing as he needs, at the very least,” a pointed look is thrown Luke’s way, “a check-up with Kix.” Luke bristles at first, before remembering how many of the Rebels avoided medical attention unless forced to or in major need. He himself only received timely care due to Leia’s authority.

“Copy that, sir. I’ll get the troops moving.” The commander nods once, before swiftly turning on his heel and barking off orders. The clones, in yellow or purple themed armor, begin moving instantly, obviously trained well.

“Well, come along, Mister Starkiller. We’d best get moving.” The Jedi’s arm is suddenly back around his shoulders, pressing him forward. Luke is willing to let this happen, as the older man seems trustworthy, his presence filled with light. But the Force is still swirling around him, whispering directions into his mind.

The ship. The fighter. Return. Follow.

“Actually, I have my own ship. I just need to know where to go.”

“Ah, yes. The starfighter, I presume?”

“Yeah. I don’t think it’d be good to leave it in the middle of the streets, especially if the locals are coming back soon.” The duo stops, Grievous still behind them, and the Jedi regards Luke with a neutral expression. He worries for a moment that he might have to make a run for the fighter, but the anxiety fades quickly as the other being smiles warmly at him.

“If you wait to take off just yet, then I can comm you when Master Koon arrives and you can escort the transport back to the Resolute. That way you’ll know which ship it is, and-”

“-you can keep an eye on me, seeing as I’m not exactly trustworthy just yet.” He receives a small chuckle as an answer, and, surprisingly, the Jedi turns to continue heading to the landing zone. He waves once over his shoulder, a flick of his wrist in the air. Luke grins, forcing himself into motion once more and relying on the nudges of energy to find his way. He really hopes they get to the Resolute soon, seeing as he’s relatively certain that not being able to feel one’s lower half is considered bad. He assumes that the (probably) Star Destroyer is equipped with a medbay.

The starfighter is right where he left it, transparisteel raised. He leaps inside and settles down, securing himself and preparing to take off as soon as he gets the all-clear. It comes sooner than he expected, the comm blinking as the call is picked up. Luke answers without changing the settings, leaving his audio on and his feed off.

“Starkiller.”

“This is CT-5852, Stump, clearing you for escort.”

“Thanks, Stump. Liftin’ off.”

“Copy that, sir.”

Luke starts the engine up as the call drops, checking his systems before lifting the ship off the ground, retracting the landing equipment as he does so. His nav-system picks up the Republic transport’s signal, and he sidles over to it. Through the transparisteel, he can see the pilot, Stump, sitting there. The moment the trooper looks over, Luke gives him a thumbs-up, receiving one in kind. Just like flying with the other Rogues.

The Rogues. That could be fun.

Luke latches onto the transport’s comm number, punching it in and waiting for it to pick up. It does, and he can see the look he gets through the clear material. He grins with mischief, and enjoys Stump’s double-take.

“This is Stump to Starkiller.”

“Rogue Leader, reporting. Rogue One still in action. Fly high and may the Force be with you.” Laughing at the waves of confusion and amusement he can feel from the other, Luke tilts the fighter, pulling closer and performing a barrel roll around the bigger ship. He rises back to level to see the trooper holding tight to his controls. Stump looks over at him as he smirks back, and he does the maneuver again, this time staying underneath the transport and waiting. He’s a little surprised but not at all disappointed by the reaction he gets.

“Rogue Leader, bogey check,” Stump practically crows through the comm. Luke responds with an actual crow, remembering his first time being taught the phrase among the Rebellion. Hopefully it’s the same among the clones.

The fighter zips out from under the ship, rising fast right in front of it but without colliding. He spins as he rockets skyward, then diving back down, making sure to get a full view of all angles around Stump. Finally, he rushes over the top, narrowly avoiding the durasteel, and loops around to resume escort position.

“Bogey free, you are clear, Stump.”

“You are absolutely insane, Rogue Leader.”

“Aren’t we all?”

A laugh escapes over the mic, before the call is ended again. Luke’s smile shrinks to something softer, reminiscing about training flights with the Rogues. He misses those, having not had time in quite a while. But right now isn’t the time to spend remembering them. The Force clearly wants him to fix the past. Why else would he be brought back in time to when his father isn’t evil and the Jedi and the Republic are still alive? If he plays his cards right, perhaps he can save the galaxy from the Empire. Maybe even establish something similar to the Rebellion’s forces, only this time for fun or to protect planets with the aid of Core Worlds.

The transport and its impromptu escort make their way outside the atmosphere of the planet with ease. Luke pulls back a little, allowing Stump to lead him to one of the Star Destroyers. Belatedly, he realizes that the officer that commed him earlier said to ‘return’ to the Resolute, the very place where he’s now moving his fighter to dock. The landing gear descends as proper gravity once more takes hold, and Luke puts out the engines the moment the fighter settles.

Before opening the ship, he takes a moment to look around at the inside of the Destroyer. He sees a plethora of blue troopers, mixed with several yellow and red troopers. Grievous is being dragged off by several of them. Starfighters and transports and small frigates are docked all around, along with piles upon piles of crates. He sees the auburn-haired Jedi standing beside a young Togruta, the elder listening as she speaks animatedly to him. She, too, has the lightsabers and bright presence that mark her a Jedi. However, every ounce of Luke’s attention is drawn by the man that enters the hangar from the nearest entrance.

Dressed in dark robes, with dark blonde hair and a scar that travels down from his hairline to just past his eye in a straight line. His presence is bright, as bright as the two suns of Tatooine at midday. Another Jedi, but one that seems to ripple with energy, the Force swirling like a whirlpool around him. Luke recognizes him from holos Han showed him, ones saved from a Corellian childhood in the midst of the Clone Wars. The Hero Without Fear was the only thing Luke could get his friend to call the Jedi. Han had lied when he said he didn’t know the man’s real name, but Luke hadn’t pushed.

Transparisteel lifts as the unwitting time traveler finally manages to overcome his hesitation, sliding down the side of the fighter to the ground.

Almost instantly, a screeching astromech nearly barrels into him, circling him before finally hiding behind his legs and nudging them a bit harshly. Following close is a pair of yellow troopers, eyes angry but turning to shock at the sight of the singed stranger. Glancing back, Luke’s heart momentarily aches at the sight of Artoo, which he pushes aside. This version of his partner doesn’t know him yet.

“Is something wrong?” he asks innocently, moving slightly to the right to hide Artoo more. The action is noticed, as well as the clearly exaggerated expression on his face.

“That little osik zapped us!”

“What’s an oh-sik?” The troopers freeze, clearly not expecting that to be the part questioned. Slowly, as though scared Luke is going to press for an answer, the two back away, turning around after a few steps and hurrying off. Artoo trills happily at their retreat, circling around to face Luke.

[Thanks for the save. They deserved it.] Luke laughs at the familiar bluntness.

“I’m sure they did. But be careful next time.”

[I’m always careful.]

“Is that why you were hiding behind me?”

[Strategic retreat.] Luke laughs again, even though his head is once more feeling lighter than it should.

“And who’re you?” The voice draws his attention, and he turns to see the Hero Without Fear looking over at him in curiosity, as well as concern.

“Luke Starkiller.”

“So you were the mystery pilot!” the Togruta exclaims. Her voice cuts through the hangar’s overall noise, yet is ignored entirely. It likely only seems so brash to Luke because of the slight ache growing at the back of his skull.

“Mystery pilot?” Luke’s voice has suddenly returned to the hoarse rasp from before, the first Jedi’s worry seeping out at the sound. The young Togruta looks at him with a surprised expression, but returns to her previous energetic words.

“Yeah, no one recognized your fighter, but it shows up as Republic so the bridge tried to contact you. According to them, your comm wasn’t working, but you joined the battle so you definitely weren’t an enemy. And then you blew up the central command frigate, and you took down so many droids, and when the bridge tried to call you back you looked like you were heading over. But then you went down to the surface and you weren’t picking up any calls and we got word from Cody that a fighter had landed in the middle of the city. And then-”

“Breathe, Snips,” the Hero Without Fear reminds his companion. She does pause, smiling sheepishly upon realizing she’d been rapidly speeding up her speech. He chuckles at her good-naturedly, turning to face Luke with a smile not at all affected by his scar.

“Sorry about my Padawan, she gets rather excited sometimes.” Padawan. That’s what Jedi call their students.

“It’s alright,” Luke rasps back, then tries to clear his throat, forgetting his earlier attempt. He doubles over as a large coughing fit wracks his body. Someone grabs onto his arm, supporting him from the left, but he can’t tell who. There’s a faint ringing that’s growing fast, the ache from his head moving to between his eyes as well.

Suddenly, the energy that has been keeping him up drains quickly. It feels as though something is wedging itself between him and the Force, cutting off the support he’d been using since planet-side. Pain courses through him, piercing every organ and straight through his skull. He’s coughing too much to do more than gasp at the agony. Waves of numbness intersperse with the stinging, and he’s vaguely aware that he’s dropped to his knees. Whoever’s on his left grabs his shoulders, and there’s so much noise, so much light, so much-

The world goes black and silent.

[alexandenigtscreations]

Chapters: 1/2 Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Poisoning, cough, lung trauma, Peter Nureyev has ADHD, Heist gone wrong Summary:

After Juno Steel and Peter Nureyev return from a salvaged heist, Juno proves to have a little cough that's more than what it seems.

Chapter 1:

“God damn it Ransom, would you hurry up?” Juno hissed, anxiously pacing back and forth through the garden path.  

He cast his eye about the place, the snaking paths, the exotic plants and flowers crammed into every corner; thriving under the environmentally controlled conditions of the dome.  Had to admit, as far as giant waists of creds went, an arboretum wasn’t bad... or whatever…

That is if said arboretum wasn’t a cover for a shady cybernetics firm Mercury Wear.  

The mission had been on shaky ground from the get go.  May have thought that a multi-billion cred company like Mercury Wear could afford some halfway decent security- but no.  

The place was a mess from the shoddy placement of it’s security cameras to the guard's off schedule patrols.  Juno for the life of him couldn’t figure out why they even bothered with them.  Five minutes into the heist and they nearly plowed into a patrol at least an hour late for that sector.  

There was something to be said for the unpredictability of their movements, lot harder to navigate a place when you didn’t know what or who was around the corner.  But it lost a lot of it’s edge with how haphazard it all seemed to be.  

He turned on his heel, pacing up the way he came.  Cursing the decorative hedge rows and bursts of color from the flowers, making him see shadowy figures around every turn.

Damn it Nureyev- Where are you?  Juno did his best to quash the worry niggling away rising up within, but didn’t have to do so for long.  

There was a cracking sound, Juno stiffened, head whipping around for the source-  

Nothing-

He was just jumping at ghosts- great.

Juno turned back to his vigil, trying to keep the place clear for when Nureyev made an appearance.  Casually shifting his grip on his blaster when wham!

Something plowed into his side, a youthful voice shouting out “Intruder!”

His blaster was sent flying, making him swear.  They were bigger than he was and it was hard to stay on his feet with a blow like that.  He balled up his fist, and planted it into his attacker’s gut.  They coughed, doubled over, and Juno prepared for another blow but this time hit only air as they twirled away.

The opponent may be green, but was no stranger to a fight- that could be a problem….

“Hey!  Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Juno barked at their retreating back.  Their arm was wrapped firmly around their middle and they seemed- scared.  Juno didn’t have time to think about that as he lunged forward and just managed to catch hold of their uniform before they disappeared between another oasis hedge row.

They hissed and twisted in his grasp, scrabbling for purchase on the raised flower beds.  Squeaking “Let me go!  Let me go or else!”  The fear was plain in their voice, catching and tearing at the edges.  And god- Juno hated that, wishing more than ever he could have just stunned this stupid kid rather than dealing with all of this.

“Can’t- Do that-” Juno grunted, and it was true.

The fact was that Juno couldn’t afford to let them go- couldn’t afford to give them the chance to trigger the alarm.  Couldn’t afford to bring any unnecessary attention to Nureyev while he still had a job to do.

“Damn it, would ya- hold- still- Ahh!”

They’d taken a fist full of dirt, red as the Martian sands and blown it into his face.  A cheap trick, an old trick, but... it worked.  Juno reeled back scrubbing at his eye and gagging on the bitter taste.  He’d eaten plenty of dirt in his time.  Unintentionally, of course, but this was particularly foul.  

Soon as his hold loosened, the guard sent a kick to his chest that would make a sewer rabbit proud.  

Galaxies exploded in front of his watering vision as he was sent sprawling.  The kid was gloating and somewhere he was aware of Nureyev calling out to him.  

Nureyev- that thought stuck in his mind.  

A shuddering gasp later and Juno recovered enough to realize that the guard made a mistake-  There his weapon was, somehow, laying right next to him.  He took up the blaster, aimed and made the shot.

The guard crumpled.

“Detective!” Nureyev appeared “Are you alright?” he offered a hand pulling Juno upright.

“Yeah.  Fine, just one second-” he crossed to the guard, they were quite still, almost too still.  Not something he’d normally worry about if it weren’t for how young they looked, maybe the same age as he was when he joined the HCPD.  The hell were they doing in a job like this?  “Ohh thank god-” he exclaimed, the kid’s pulse beat a strong tattoo under his fingers.  Captain Khan would be proud.

“Juno?”

“Can’t leave an unconscious guard out in the open now can I?” He hoisted them up under the armpits and dragged them behind the hedge.  Their sleeve hiked up over their wrist and Juno’s gut twisted.

A debtor's tag.

Damn-

He really hated rich people.  

“Love, are you-” Nureyev paused mid sentence, looking down at the glittering bit of tech on the kid’s wrist.  “Ah, an…. employee of the Board of Fresh Starts then.  That would explain something about discipline of the place.”

“Yeah, I think it does.”

Just then, their radio crackled to life.  Though Juno couldn’t understand what was being said, the way the message repeated it was clear that they were expecting a response.

Before he could so much as share a look with Nureyev, the doors banged open and guards started to pour in.

“I believe that that is our cue, Detective.”

“No kidding.” he quipped.  But Nureyev was already making his way out of the greenhouse.  “Hey!  N-Ransom!” Juno took off running after, clearing a path for them to get through with well placed shots.  

“Thank you Love!” Nureyev turned briefly to flash him the signature fox’s grin, blown all the wider from adrenaline.

“Yeah, yeah.  Eyes front Babe-” he wheezed “you can thank me later.  Whoa! Hey!” a bolt of plasma whizzed past his ear, sparking dead against the wall.  Juno was about to pivot and return the favor when Nureyev yanked him around the corner, commanding the door shut.  

“Juno, the lock-”

Juno saw what he meant.  It was a cheap thing made of poor quality metals.  “On it.” Not the safest thing in the world, but at this range, he couldn't afford to miss.  One shot was all it took to fuse the mechanism.  

Though he really ought to have expected the fumes.  As soon as he took a whiff of the stuff his lungs seemed to launch a full scale revolt.  Probably would have keeled over if it weren’t for Nureyev’s steading arm about his waist.  

“Are you quite alright Love?”

His lungs still felt unpleasantly tight, but he was no longer coughing which was a plus.  “Yeah, jus’ fine- Forgot how much I missed the smell of burning epoxy in the morning-”

“I’ll make a note not to add it to my cologne collection then.”

Juno rolled his eyes, picking up his pace to match Nureyev’s easy strides.  Taking a moment to both appreciate and curse those long legs.  They could hear the pounding footsteps come up from behind.  Whatever time they’d bought with the door trick was coming to an end.

Damn.

“How do we get out of this damned place?”  Juno demanded.  He’d gotten hopelessly lost several turns back.

“Like this.”  Nureyev flung open a door with a flourish.  Several faces stared up at them from the stairwell, “Or not.” He shut it just as quick; moving aside for Juno to fuse that lock as well.  

“Just how many escape routes you have left in there?” he wheezed against the pressure in his chest.  

“Seven.” He shot over his shoulder.  The pounding of boots issued from the corridor to the right, drawing Nureyev’s attention, “Make that five.”

“Five?  Oh, Great.” he skidded to a halt at the mouth of the hall, grounding his feet and lining up the shots.  Three guards, he could take out three guards.  

“A simple process of elimination Detective.” He grinned, pulling Juno out of the way of an erratic burst of blaster fire.  At the same time, he extracted a smoke bomb from one of his overstuffed pockets, lobbing it back the way they came.  

To their credit, the guards weren’t idiots.  They knew a threat when they saw one and high tailed it back the way they came as the corridor filled with a brilliant purple smoke.  

Nureyev turned, leading him down the corridor bearing the stunned guards, flinging open another door.  

“Another Stairwell?” Juno asked bewildered.  

“Of Course love, unless-” he paused long enough to give Juno a cheeky grin “you’d rather we take a window or the vents.”

“You know, been meaning to take more stairs.”

Even skipping two at a time Juno was outpaced.  Nureyev could vault over the edges of the banister, his feet barely touching the ground before he was once more air born.  Juno plowed on, his lungs burning, itching with the effort of catching up.  He suddenly regretted missing all those physical therapy appointments.  

There was a loud bang and a shout, sounds of a scuffle.  Juno readied his blaster, heart in his throat.  He relaxed a little when he heard Nureyev’s voice, slightly strained.  He was saying something in a language Juno didn’t understand, and someone was shouting back.  

“Juno, Dear, if I might have some- assistance.”

It took less than a second to eye up the situation.  Nureyev’s arm wrapped around the neck of a struggling guard, using them as a shield while another had their blaster trained on him.  They plainly weren’t ready to shoot their companion, which was good for Nureyev.  

“Yeah babe.”

The guard only had a second to lock eyes with Juno before she took a stunner to the chest.  

“Thank you Love.” Nureyev tightened his grip on the person’s pulse point.  Their mouth opened wide, gasping, desperately scrabbling with his arm until they went limp.  He held on for a moment longer to ensure they were truly out before letting their weight slide to the floor.  Juno stooped, exposing the guard’s wrist.  “I assure you love, they’ll be quite alright.”

Juno gave a soft laugh “Yeah, I know-  Just looking to see if they have any accessories.”  They did.  He stepped aside showing the debtor’s tag to his partner.  “Been in this mess for three years by the looks of it.”

“Indeed.”  

Nureyev crossed to examine the other guard “Six years.”

“Damn, she looks young.”

“Never too early to acquire debt.” There was a bitterness to his tone that Juno longed to ask about, but wasn’t sure if he was allowed to yet.  

Just like he wasn’t sure if he could ask about the subtle change in Nureyev’s fighting style when they were paired on missions.  

It hadn’t escaped his notice that Nureyev had allowed more people to survive their encounter with the nameless thief.  Juno knew this was less about his own sensibilities and more about- trust.  That belief that someone had your back as much as you had theirs.  The sight of his boyfriend knocking someone out cold with a choke hold probably shouldn’t make his stomach do flips, but there they were.  God, they were both saps.

Juno coughed roughly into his elbow, earning him a look from his knight in stolen armor.  

“Not much further Love.  Jet has been notified of our change in exits.”

“Wow, don’t waste any time, do you?”

“No such thing as wasting time with such delightful company.”

Juno groaned affectionally, coughing again into his sleeve.  

He was right, they were practically right next to the exit.  Nureyev dashed ahead, drawn to the green of the Ruby.  He opened the door wide, allowing Juno to pile wheezing into the back seat before joining him.  

The Ruby whistled cheerily and Nureyev returned “It’s wonderful to see you as well Ruby, Jet.”  He gave nods to each in turn.  

“I appreciate the notice in the change of pick up locations.” Jet acknowledged.  

“Thank you for making the- adjustments,” Nureyev searched for his seat buckle, “to the plan.  It can’t have been easy on such short notice.” and offered a smile that Jet did not return.  

“It is important to be flexible in our line of work.”

“Quite.”

“Nice to see you too Big Guy, but could we get out of here?” Juno coughed, “Surveillance in this place is kind of lax, but I guarantee you that at least a few guards will notice a bright green car.”

“I imagine so, the Ruby 7 is many things but is not inconspicuous.”  

The Ruby made a sound that if Juno didn’t know any better would say was disapproval.  

Once they were off, Nureyev turned to look at Juno, laughing softly “Love, what in heaven have you got on your face.” He reached up, brushing a thumb under his good eye.  

“Wha? Oh! Yeah!  The kid fought dirty.”  he explained, scrubbing at his face with a sleeve, only for Nureyev to place a handkerchief into his hand.  

“Perhaps you’ll have better luck with this.”

Juno smiled fondly, leave it to Nureyev to bring a handkerchief to a heist.  

“I suppose I should not be surprised.  Out of all the people on the Carte Blanche, the one that would pick a fight with a child would be you.” Jet commented.

Juno’s head snapped up, “Hold on Big Guy,” he objected “first off, they were much taller and secondly I think you and I both know that I-” and he caught it.  The crinkle around Jet’s eyes and the faint up turn in his lips that he’d of missed a year ago, he coughed “Oh very funny.”

“I should think this a serious matter.”

“Okay, hey, you know what I meant!”

He spent the rest of the flight back to the Carte Blanche idly bickering with Nureyev and Jet.  There was an odd tightness to his chest he couldn't place.  His hand kept drifting up to massage his sternum, as if he could magically reach through tissue and bone to ease the pressure.

_____________________________

Once back, he headed to the shower to clean off the remaining sandy residue and, hopefully, open his lungs back up.  Juno Steel was many things but lucky was not one of them.  The spray washed over his skin, the steam warming his insides as he lathered and scrubbed in his usual fashion.  He turned to reach for his towel.  He could have sworn he’d stilled- but the shower kept on spinning.  

The steam that had felt so good a moment before now felt oppressive, suffocating.  

He tried to draw in breath, but he just couldn’t. Couldn’t hold anything down.  Fear spiked as dark spots bloomed in front of his vision, threatening to swallow him whole.  He launched himself out of the shower, slamming into the opposite wall.  Feet only just gaining purchase on the smooth-grip flooring.  

By some miracle, his airway cleared on impact.  Juno’s chest crackled with each forced gulp of air.  But he was breathing, and that was….good.  

He coughed again, spitting pink into the sink.  

A knock came at the door making him jump "Juno, love.  The Family Meeting is about to start."

"Jus-" his voice came out harsh and broken.  He rinsed and repeated, "Just-a minute."

“Alright.  I’ll see you there.”

“Yeah-”

Once it became apparent that he wasn’t going to keel over any time soon, Juno straightened, dressed.  The itch was still there but whatever freak thing that had him choking on nothing seemed to have resolved itself.  

"Juno-"  Buddy admonished, "how kind of you to join us."

"Yeah-" he coughed "had a lot to consider, like why you didn't tell us Enterprise Labs had dealings with the Board of Fresh Starts.  You said you'd-"

"There were people from the Board of Fresh Starts there?"  Buddy queried.  

"Yes Captain.  The security team seemed to have been compromised entirely of the unfortunates indebted to the organization."  Nureyev’s hands flourished through the air.  

"We knew they had ties darlings, but had no idea the connection ran that deep."

Rita’s eyes went overly large, “I didn’t see nothin’ about that in our intel Captain A, I swear-  Unless-” she gasped “Wait- let me check somethin’.” and she dove nose first into her comms, hot pink nails clacking against the screen.  

Juno opened his mouth wanting to argue further but Vespa cut in.  "If you think you are the only one that cares, Steel, think again-" she flicked back her sleeve revealing her debtors tag.  

The anger from a moment ago dissipated in an instant.  Hell, he felt so tired, drained.  Juno kneaded his chest trying again to ease the prickling.

"Yeah, right.  So what are we going to do about it?" Another cough, the harshness of it taking him by surprise.

"As loath as I am to admit it.  For now there is nothing we can do darling, save plot and scheme our way to the cure mother prime.  A collapse of their business model ought to put quite the dent in their debtor’s practice.” she frowned, “Are you quite alright?"

"What?  Yeah-"he coughed all the harder "Just forgot how to breathe and swallow at the same time-" and dissolved into a fit.  He was making a scene and worst of all he didn’t even know what was causing it.  All he wanted was to shut the hell up and get out of there.

Buddy gave a disbelieving humm as she watched while Nureyev massaged circles into his back with clever fingers.  Stars burst in front of his eyes and his head was set to pounding in no time.  

“Damnit” he rasped at last, panting.

“Quite.  Well if you have similar issues in the future darling, might I suggest you pay a visit to our resident physician?”

Juno pulled a face, Vespa took offence and the rest of the meeting passed in much the same fashion.  Juno didn’t really need to talk, so didn’t.  After all, he'd just been playing lookout while Nureyev stole some data and installed some spyware.  Mercury Wear’s security seemed to be something of a joke to Rita.  She kept bouncing up and down in her seat with each new discovery on her comms.  Juno very much doubted anyone else would be able to get that far in such a short space of time.  He may not know much about computers, but he did know Rita was one of a kind.  

___________________________________

“Are you sure you want to stay Nureyev?  I think I’m comin’ down with somethin.  Wouldn’t want you to catch-”

“Nonsense love,” Nureyev waved him off, “Besides,” he sidled up closer and delicately laid a kiss on Juno’s forehead, much to the Detective's chagrin “how could I possibly leave a lady in distress?”

“‘Reyev~” Juno groaned, despite himself sinking into the man’s chest.

“And- I'm certain to have caught whatever it is you have by now love.  We do spend a lot of quality time together."

Juno scoffed "If you call a shoot out, 'quality time' then we may need to reevaluate our leisure activities."

"But oh my Detective" Nureyev coyly walked his fingers along Juno's collar bone, sliding into some silly character "I do love a lady who knows their way around a blaster-"

"Reyev-"

"Why, the smell of the plasma-" he made the words as breathy as possible.

"Come onnnn-" Juno mock groaned, hiding his smile in a cough.

"The smell of the plasma-" Nureyev plowed on as if Juno hadn't said a thing "just makes me all funny inside."

Juno burst out laughing "funny inside?"

"I assure you love," Nureyev broke character "this is a serious matter.  Now where were we-"

Juno laughed all the harder, until his breath caught and he dissolved into a fresh fit.

"Oh Juno-" Nureyev wrapped an arm around him bracing him through it.  "Sorry love, I shouldn't have pushed so hard."

"It's- fine-" he managed between coughs.

"I dare say it isn't.  We should have Vespa take a look at you."

"Nn-no."  Juno panted, swallowing against the soreness. "no way- in hell- am I bothering her at this hour.  And certainty not for a cold or whatever."

"It's the 'whatever' that concerns me Juno-"

He wasn't going to let it go.  It was easy to see that, so Juno decided on a compromise.  "I'll see her tomorrow if it makes you feel better." messaging his sternum again.  

Nureyev made a resigned sort of sound.  "It will have to do."

"Good."  Exhaustion pulled him down into the bed "you coming?"

Nureyev looked as though he had something to say, but thought better of it "Of course." and climbed in.  With a practiced ease he cuddled close, worming an arm under Juno's neck so that the lady could curl into his side, a gentile hand running lazily down his spine.  Juno shivered at the touch.  The persistent itch in his lungs continued, but that nagging pressure seemed to ease up.

He nuzzled in, ear to Nureyev’s chest and allowed the beat of his partner's heart to lull him to sleep.

[Reblogs are greatly appreciated] 

[official-weasley]

The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley: Pt. 8, Ch. 6

PART 8: WHERE IT ALL ENDS Chapter 6 - The Dragon Disaster

Warnings: Mentions and scenes of death. Torture. Creature cruelty.

Charlie

We were awakened by a roar in the middle of the night. Both Nova and I lifted our heads at once and were fully awake and getting dressed before we heard another roar.

“That was Arto.” Nova said, buttoning her jeans. We both knew that wasn't a good sign. Not all Dragons were as nice as Eero and Norbert, even though the latter was getting quite vicious as well.

Arto was a Ukrainian Ironbelly and was the oldest Dragon in the Sanctuary. He was brought here after being saved from Dragon smugglers and he was hurt pretty badly. The Healing Team needed weeks to sort him out and he doesn't trust anyone.

He was also the only Dragon Nova feared and didn't dare to get close to. I tried to take her to his habitat a few times, to help her get over her fear but no matter how much she tried and wanted to be less terrified of him, she couldn't do it and I didn't blame her. I loved Dragons but even I dreaded spending time with him.

Another roar. We hurried downstairs and looked outside. It looked and sounded like a battlefield. I knew that roar as well. It was our Swedish Short-Snout, Thor. Before we could open the door, Andrei burst inside.

“We need you outside, now!” He shouted. “The Death Eaters are here!” He closed the door and I heard him casting a spell on someone on the left side of our house.

“Death Eaters?” Nova asked shocked.

“They're going to attempt to steal a Dragon!” I couldn't be sure but why else would they attack the Sanctuary?

Dumbledore warned us that Voldemort might try getting his army numbers up by other means than Wizards. There was already word of Giants being persuaded and them having a Dragon, even though it was ridiculous if they thought it would listen to them, it could still do some damage.

We grabbed our wands and hurried to the door. Nova was ready to open it but I stopped her.

“Please, be careful and stay by my side.” I cupped her face and kissed her as hard as I could.

“I will try.” She whispered in my mouth. “I love you, Charles.” She looked deep into my eyes and I wished she didn't say that. It sounded like a goodbye.

“I love you too.” I pressed my forehead to hers for a second and opened the door.

It was a war outside. Dragon roars were echoing all through the valley, some cottages on our right were on fire. There were flashes of red, blue, orange, and green all around us from people casting spells.

I tried holding on to Nova's hand but I knew she couldn't use her wand with her left hand and once two Death Eaters started blasting us with spells we didn't have a choice but to get separated.

They were everywhere and the sounds of them laughing as if we were at a party filled my ears.

“Reducto!” I tried casting my spells without saying them out loud but sometimes I just didn't have the time. The adrenaline in my veins was only growing and my mind was filled with both defensive and offensive spells.

I was trying to get as close to the Dragons as I possibly could. I had to prevent the Death Eaters from harming them.

“Charlie!” I turned my head to the right, after blasting one of the Death Eaters into the air. “Don't go to the Dragons!” Felix shouted.

“Aren't they trying to capture them?” I yelled back.

“They are but the Dragons are too strong for them.” We both lifted our heads as we heard another roar.

“That doesn't sound like Arto winning!” I looked at him again and he was already following the sound of the roar. I ran after him.

We got rid of three Death Eaters on our way up to Arto and I felt like falling to my knees when we reached him. The Dragon was chained up from his neck to tail and they tried closing his mouth so that he would stop breathing fire at them. There were at least 12 of them all around him and when Felix and I exchanged looks, we knew we had to try and save him. I knew he wasn't as convinced they wouldn't succeed anymore.

I went to the right and Felix went to the left and once I stunned one of them, two came closer, trying to attack me. I defended myself and was able to hit one against a boulder, making him unconscious. The other one was not giving in and I had to duck twice, he was casting spells so quickly.

“Crucio!” Was the last word I heard from the man as agonizing pain filled my body. I fell to my knees trying to resist it but couldn't as the pain kept getting stronger. I wished I was dead at that moment as every muscle along with my brain felt like exploding and then it suddenly stopped.

I gasped for air and felt someone helping me stand up.

“Andrei.” I said weakly, looking in front of me and seeing the Death Eater using the Torture Curse on me, immobilized on the ground. “Thank you.”

“No time for that. Are you okay to fight?” He asked and as soon as I nodded, we were fighting again.

The sudden wind hit us and we looked at Arto. They were making him fly. I couldn't imagine the pain those spells caused him. Andrei and I took the opportunity to get rid of a couple of more Death Eaters as they were all too preoccupied with the Dragon to look at us.

Arto was now even higher in the air and even though Andrei, I, and two others from our Team managed to defeat most of the Death Eaters, while others started running down the hill, we couldn't stop the Dragon. We ducked as Arto almost slammed us to the ground, barely able to fly. We looked after him and automatically put our arms over our heads as he, too chained to fly properly, hit the ground right below us. He let out a roar that shook the ground beneath my feet and broke the chains around his mouth. The Death Eaters below us started stepping away from him as he started breathing fire in every direction.

“Where's Felix?” I asked, looking around as most of the team already went down and we were the only ones left up here.

“I thought he was with you.” Andrei started looking around. I remembered him going to the left and I started running in that direction. I was sure he wouldn't go back down without us.

“Oh, no.” I spotted him, lying motionless on the ground. I rushed to him, Andrei right behind me.

“Is he...?” Andrei couldn't say the words, looking at me while I was searching for any sign of life. I shook my head. Damn it!

“C'mon, Charlie.” Andrei placed a hand on my shoulder. “There's nothing we can do for him and the fight isn't over.” I didn't want to leave him but I knew he was right.

We rushed down the hill. It was pure chaos. It seemed like a new group of Death Eaters came in.

“Someone had to tell them that Arto is the most dangerous one!” Andrei shouted at me, casting a spell at one of the Death Eaters who approached us. “Someone was spying for them!”

I didn't want to believe it but I think he was right. Our Ukranian Ironbelly was not only the most dangerous Dragon we had in the Sanctuary he was also the most protected one. They could've easily gotten any other Dragon out if they wanted. This was planned.

“Petrificus Totalus!” I shouted, hitting a woman straight in the chest before she had the time to cast a Curse on me. I hid behind a boulder just in time as Arto scorched everything around him again. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to steady my breath. I was good with defending myself and casting spells but they have never prepared us for anything like this.

Before I could think of the next move I was fighting another Death Eater, our spells colliding. I focused hard and pushed forward, making him stumble over a rock and my spell immobilized him.

I hurried back to see if Andrei was anywhere in sight but I couldn't see him.

“Reducto!” I turned my head immediately, hearing Nova's voice. I ran to her, just in time to save her from the Death Eater on her right as she probably didn't see it due to fighting two of them already.

“Charlie!” She shouted, casting another spell at one of the Death Eaters she was duelling.

“We have to get Arto out of his chains, he will burn the Sanctuary to the ground!” She said as she made him fly through the air and he hit the ground hard.

“Andrei and I tried, there's too many of them to help the Dragon.” I replied.

“Behind you!” She yelled and before I could turn around she already stunned the woman who tried attacking me.

“Oh, no! He's going to blow again!” I turned around, seeing smoke coming from Arto's nostrils.

“There's nowhere to hide!” Nova started to look around. We were right in front of him and no matter where we would run, we would be too late. Two new Death Eaters appeared and facing back to back, we managed to get rid of them. Before we could turn back to Arto, we were attacked again.

“There's no use! Let's get out of here!” I heard a man shout out to three of the Death Eaters, standing on our far left. They were running towards the Sanctuary gate and apparated from there. Somehow they knew they can't apparate inside the Sanctuary grounds.

It was still enough of them for us not to let our guard down. I was now afraid of Arto more than ever before. He was holding in the fire for too long to know it's not going to end in disaster.

I felt pain on my right forearm and turned around to see a man trying to cast a spell at me. I defended myself from the second one he threw at me and stunned him, making him fall to the ground. Nova's eyes locked with mine and we knew it was time to run away from the Dragon.

Before we could get too far, we were fighting again, Andrei joined us, trying to push us further away from Arto.

“You have to move!” He shouted at both of us. I turned around, looking for the safest way to get away. There wasn't any. The fire was spreading, closing half of our paths and it was too close to the big boulders for us to hide behind. On the other side, people were still fighting and there were too many Death Eaters to get through in time.

Andrei took a chance and started running anyway and I took a deep breath, grabbed Nova's hand, and hurried after him. We didn't have another choice. We collided with the Death Eaters casting spells in every direction, trying to help those few who could still fight.

I was getting my hopes up, we were winning and we were able to avoid Arto's blow by a millimeter, hiding in the trees. We couldn't stay there as everything started to burn down, filling my lungs with smoke and ashes.

I ran through the village, which was now in flames, holding Nova's hand tight.

“No!” We heard someone shout in front of us and people started running back in the other direction.

“What are you doing?” Andrei shouted at one of them.

“They got the Swedish Short-Snout!” William shouted and ran past us. We were in the middle of the flames, between a Ukranian Ironbelly and a Swedish Short-Snout.

Before we could even think about an escape plan, Andrei was hit with what seemed like the Torture Curse as he started spasming on the ground. I looked for the caster and blasted him into the air. Nova and I helped Andrei up and we started running towards Thor. He was smaller than Arto so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The second we got there we saw the Death Eaters trying to immobilize him. We spread out, trying to stop them but something disturbed Thor as he let out the loudest roar I have ever heard. I didn't have the time to look at him or at what was going on, my back to him, fighting two Death Eaters.

“Nova!” I took a few steps back, hoping she was somewhere close. The two men fighting me suddenly looked up, horror in their eyes. They stumbled backward before turning around and starting to run.

I turned to see what was going on and saw Nova fighting with a woman too close to Thor. I looked up at him, his nostrils were smoking.

“Nova! Get out of there!” She hit the woman with a spell, making her fall to the ground and she looked up at the Dragon. I started running towards her.

Thor leaned his head to the ground preparing to breathe fire. Nova turned to me, her eyes glowing and it looked like she was taking a deep breath. I wanted to reach her, I knew it was too late for either of us to get away from the fire.

“Charlie, no!” She lifted her wand, me being a few meters away from her. “Protego Maxima!”

Her spell hit me in the chest, creating a barrier between her and myself. She closed her eyes and her scream penetrated my ears as she got lost in the flames. I closed my eyes, prepared for the flames to hit me but nothing happened. I blinked when I saw that the fire was scorching everything but me. Before Thor could make another blow, the Death Eaters immobilized him but in vain as we finally overpowered them.

The spell Nova cast on me finally wore off and at that moment I didn't care if I get attacked. I ran to her as fast as my legs allowed me and let out a shriek when I saw the damage Thor's flames did on her. I fell to my knees next to her, unable to control my tears as I didn't know what to do, unable to touch her burned body.

[mihidecet]

Sbi&co d&d AU: Cxlvxn

AKA Tibi’s MCYT WritingTober, day 25!

This chapter was prompted by @awebo ‘s lovely ask! They were wondering where Calvin would fit in the Au, and it spawned this! I do hope you’ll like it!

This is also a fill for @the-only-gamer-gost ‘s list of prompts :3

"So this is the infamous Technoblade."

If anyone had told Tommy that he'd one day see Techno pale, recoil and stand up straight immediately just by hearing some random dude call out his name, he would have called them fools. 

And yet. 

Here they were, all sitting at a tavern, having lunch after they'd finally arrived in a town with actual living people in it - ones that didn't want to kill them, hurray! - just talking amongst themselves, hanging out. 

And then a random dude dressed like a random forest scout just appeared behind Techno, thinly insulted him and that was enough to make the rogue seemingly scared for his own life. 

What the hell was happening.

Techno had been worried. 

Ever since they'd entered the town. 

He knew that village, he'd spent a lot of time there, training, with one of the most relentless fighters he knows. 

Techno had hoped, hell, he'd prayed that he wouldn't be found, but … there was little he could do to hide, despite the fact that his identity was usually mostly unknown. 

And he knows that voice. He knows it because he can still remember it yelling at him to get back up, you dumbass, it's not sleeping time yet! 

Techno squeezes into his own shoulders and turns on his chair, ignoring the worried looks of his teammates. 

He stands up, eyes trained to the floor, and then gives a bow so deep he's afraid he's going to fall over. 

"Master Calvin." 

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Wilbur and Fundy's voice yelp out from his right, as if Techno wasn't already regretting everything that had ever led him to that moment. 

And then Tommy bursts out laughing, because Techno's life is an endless array of increasingly unsurprising nightmares. 

As expected, there's a quick pat on his head - followed instantly by Tommy's chocked out wheeze - and by now Techno is starting to consider the benefits of bailing out on them all. 

The only reason he won't is because he knows who's standing in front of him, and he knows very well that he's either not going to make it out of the door, or he's going to be found later. Either way, he's going to have a bad time if he tries to leave. Techno bites his tongue and stands back up. 

As soon as he meets Calvin's eyes, the elf bursts out laughing: first a snort, then a hand flies to his mouth to keep in hiccupping giggles, then the utter traitor lets go and soon after his loud guffaws are resounding in the mostly empty tavern. 

"Oh, oh by the gods, Techno, you look like you swallowed a lemon whole. Cheer up, man, you're not my student anymore!" He exclaims between one chuckle and the other, punching his arm lightly - not that lightly though, he's not able to not be strong and it is honestly so unfair - before moving a chair from another table and joining them. 

"You guys mind? I'd love a chance to catch up with little old T." He asks as he sits down, Niki currently the only one able to answer with a silent nod as the others are all red faced, looking at Techno who's not so subtly rubbing at the newly sore spot on his arm. 

Wilbur has actual tears on his face. 

Techno is so not ready for this.

"And that's how I found him the next morning, hanging by a foot, tied to the pole, swinging lightly- actually sleeping!" 

Techno has stopped regretting his existence two stories ago, and is currently just trying not to see the expressions on his friend's faces as Calvin mercilessly destroys the image of a powerful and skilled combatant that Techno has spent so much time creating. 

At least it's just them in the tavern. 

That, and Calvin still hasn't proposed a sparring session "for old times' sake".

He counts his wins on the fingers of a single hand. 

Techno had figured that after the first story of how they'd met - he'd stumbled into a guard while trying to steal some food, and therefore gotten himself thrown in jail for a week while Calvin was working for the town's guard - he'd be satisfied with the embarrassment caused but no. He should have known the elf would have thrived off of this. 

An elbow hits him lightly as he's hiding his face in his crossed arms, half lying on the table, having given up on groaning his way out of the situation. When he turns his face, there's a slightly pinched look on Niki's face, her brow furrowed as her eyes move from him to a spot behind him - right where Calvin is. 

Techno gives a quick, tight lipped smile. 

Yes, he's suffering, but no, he doesn't need Niki to kill him. 

Her eyes soften and Techno sees her hand move towards the side - to tap on Phil's arm, who shoots the both of them a reassuring smile. 

"But still- Alright, I'm done torturing him-" Calvin starts a moment later, prompting Techno's shoulders to relax an inch and several protesting groans from people that will perish by his swords before the next morning. 

"Nah, nah. Storytime over. I have to go in a while too. Are you guys stopping in town or do you have somewhere else to be?"

"We're not working on anything at the moment." Phil answers shrugging lightly, then taking a sip from his by now rather warm ale.

"Why? Do you have a super difficult task to give us?" Tommy asks immediately after, leaning over the table - his face is still red and he still has watery eyes from laughing too much, he will be the first to go. 

But Calvin on the other side of the table shakes his head and looks down at Techno. 

"Not a task per se. But a friend is holding a tournament, and I already sent one of my students there to compete, so …" 

Techno's back snaps straight immediately, almost flipping his chair backwards. 

"How big of a tournament are we talking." 

Calvin bursts out laughing immediately - one time, what seems like ages ago, Calvin had taken him aside and explained him that he'd broken his "no favourites" rule for him, only because nobody had ever been able to match his enthusiasm and sheer need to be good. 

"Very big. There will be many people, and many important ones. It's organized by this friend of mine and Noxite-" 

A sudden shrill sound interrupts Calvin as Fundy seems to explode and implode at the same time, jumping in his chair as his tail starts thumping loudly against the floor; he's clutching Wil's arm too, in what seems to be a rather painful way. 

"You mean the best magic users in this whole plane?!" Fundy asks, tone a couple of octaves higher than usual and loud enough to cover Wil's tentative plea of "can I please have my arm back". 

Calvin's got a Cheshire smile on his face as he nods - once is enough for Fundy to turn, dead serious, towards the rest of the group. 

"We gotta go. You guys don't even understand, we're going. We are so going."

About ten minutes later, after getting all the informations they need for this fabled tournament, Calvin stands up - and by force of habit Techno does too, he doesn't want to talk about it - and says goodbye to all. 

"It was lovely to meet all of you, and I'm glad you're taking care of him. The gods know he won't do it himself." He quips, giving him a light nudge which awakens Techno from his awkwardly stunned state - he's still reeling from the fact that he stood up when Calvin did. 

"Accompany this old man outside, will you?" With a small nod towards him and one towards his team, Techno follows his former teacher outside. 

It's almost midday, so the streets are now much more full of people than they were the previous night when they arrived. 

Still, since it's chilly outside, not many stop or care about the two of them. The fresh air is also a good thing. 

When Calvin turns to him, it's with an earnest expression on his face that makes a small part of Techno ache with nostalgia. 

"I'm glad to see you're doing well. When you disappeared, I knew you'd be onto great things, but it's nice to see you got yourself some great friends too." 

I missed you too seems both too little and too personal. 

They're my family now feels like too much to admit. 

Unable to answer in a way that seems appropriate, Techno simply nods.

"You know, if the embarassement didn't murder you, Fruit opened a monastery that is conveniently on the way to the tournament." 

Techno rubs a hand over his face, feeling extremely tired but also knowing that he is surely going to stop by. Still, he gives a small smile. 

"I'm glad to hear. Sensei did always talk about wanting to do that. I assume TapL is with him." 

Calvin answers with a small chuckle and a nod:

"Of course, of course. So, am I going to see you at least once before tbe next century?" Techno scoffs, aware that the quip is perfectly reasonable and mostly deserved. He did bail on him without even saying goodbye.

"You'll see me in a couple of months after I've won the tournament." This prompts Calvin to burst out laughing, despite Techno's unimpressed stare. 

"You say this now, but I do have another student fighting there." 

"Do they know about me? Or have you got yourself a new favourite?" Techno asks, crossing his arms over his chest with a daring tone - which is mostly pretend, but still. 

"Well, it depends on who wins. But he does know about you." Calvin answers, starting to move away, walking backwards.

"I see, I see. How do I recognise him, so that I know who to crush instantly?" Techno asks, having to raise his voice a bit in order to be heard. Once again, Calvin is laughing as he answers. 

"Just look for the cockiest half orc with an axe! Good luck, Techno!" 

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV: A Riot of Blooms

#FebHyurary Day 3: Flower

A/N: Hey now, the prompt list includes writing, and I’ve had a pretty powerful idea for this prompt for a couple days now! This story also contains references to “Resolution” from FFXIV Write 2018.

RATING: G WORD COUNT: 1356 WARNINGS: Mild hints towards PTSD; baby carbuncles being disgustingly adorable.

---

Mommy?

“Yes, Amandina?”

Why do you love flowers so much? The tiny black carbunclet reached up, whole body stretched out, to gently paw at the enormous yellow dahlia woven into Synnove’s crown braid, practically glowing against the rich brown and dyed blues of her hair.

“I wouldn’t say I love them…” Synnove said absently, gently pushing morning glory seeds an ilm and a half down into the soil of the new trellis base.

Amandina plopped back down and blinked huge, dark eyes, then glanced around the yard.

The vegetable patch and kitchen herb garden were rigidly laid out in razor sharp rows smarter than any Maelstrom formation, the type of perfection possible only with a geometric genius of an arcanist as the gardener. The mint and strawberries were properly cowed for the moment in their respective boxes, and the asparagus and spinach were already peeking above the soil. It was green with growth and brown from freshly-tilled earth…

…and it was a shock of order among the riot of chaotic color that was the rest of Synnove’s personal domain.

Spring had come early to La Noscea and the yard was already blooming. Purple-red pansies and pink azaleas huddled beneath the shade of the huge old oak that ruled most of the yard; yellow daffodils and fringe-petaled tulips in white and pink and orange shoved at one another in the open spots of sunshine; bluebells and crocuses shyly peeked out from whatever stray corner they had found when they had gone to seed last year, while the rose bushes were dotted with buds and the morning glories in the older trellises against the sides of the house were twining new vines up the lattices, ready to explode into bloom at a moment’s notice. Save for the paths from the gate to the front and kitchen doors, the deck, the birdbath, and a large picnicking spot beneath the oak, every square ilm of land was covered in plant life that if not in flower now, would be come summer or autumn, so that the yard was full of color from the last frost of winter to the first.

Amandina looked back up at Synnove and yipped. Sure, Mommy.

Synnove glanced down at the black pearl carbuncle and then flicked her gaze out over the yard before she grinned ruefully. “Obsession is likely the better choice of word,” she said dryly. But she leaned back on her heels and settled to sit on the ground cross-legged.

The carbunclet peeped excitedly and hooked her paws over her mama’s thigh to haul herself onto her leg and then tumble into her lap: that pose meant a story!

Roksana poked her head down from the platform built among the oak tree’s branches to see what had caught her twin’s attention, ears pricked upright, and peeped herself, scrambling down the ladder in a blur of blue-white fur. The white pearl carbunclet dashed through the flowers, white tails waving in delight, and burst into the open spot next to the trellises to crawl into Synnove’s lap next to Amandina. The pair craned their necks to peer at their mama, and they cheeped in unison, Story story story!

Synnove laughed at them and bundled them up in her arms, raising them to kiss the patches of red fur between their ears; Amandina first, then Roksana. The pearl carbunclets purred, high and squeaky, and nuzzled against her cheeks before Synnove set them back in her lap.

The Highlander took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh, petting her youngest girls as she stared off into the distance. “I don’t remember very much about our home in Ala Mhigo,” she said at last, voice soft, “but I remember the flowers.

“My grandmother loved flowers, and she was the only one allowed to tend to her garden; Auntie says that the groundskeeper’s job was primarily to keep the toolshed tidy and well-stocked with mulches and fertilizers, and do whatever Grandmother couldn’t because of age at her direction. I could see her most mornings from my window, with her big straw hat, puttering around the beds with a watering can in hand. There were so many colors in that garden: blues and reds and pinks and oranges and all the rest of the rainbow. And the smell… The smell was indescribable, especially in the morning during the first bloom. The morning glories covered the entire front wall of the manor, and every room—mine included—smelled of morning glories from sunup until almost noon before the scent finally dissipated.”

Synnove’s voice wavered on the last word and she swallowed heavily, reaching up to swipe at her eyes. “There was a bench beneath the old oak—”

An oak tree like ours? Roksana interrupted excitedly.

Her mama laughed, the sound just a little watery. “Bigger! It was as old as the manor, and the manor was old, very old. It cast all the front rooms of the manor in shade, I remember that, too, and it was perfect for climbing; the only ones who used the bench anymore where Grandmother and Grandfather. Even Uncle Tyr would climb with us, though he couldn’t go as high as me or Eydis. I bought this piece of land because of that oak: it’s wonderful for climbing now, but give it another decade and it will be almost as perfect as the manor oak was.”

She stared off into the distance again, lips pressed together into a thin line. Amandina and Roksana exchanged looks, nodded, and burrowed into their mama’s stomach, purring so furiously they vibrated with the sound.

As planned, their actions startled a laugh out of Synnove and she bent over cackling as she reached for them and tried to pull them away. “Girls! Girls, stop it, that’s mean! You know how much that tickles!”

The twins purred harder in response, and Synnove ended up toppling backwards, shrieking with laughter. The girls crawled up her torso to tuck themselves between the curves of her necks and shoulders, slowing their purrs to something softer and soothing, and Synnove eventually calmed, reaching up to wipe tears of laughter off her face and then rest her hands on the pearl carbunclets.

But her melancholy had vanished before it could transform into something darker, and that was what counted.

Eventually, she continued: “Other than the kitchen garden, most of the yard for the longest time was just clover; I had a flowerbed and the rose bushes, and one morning glory trellis, but that was it. And then Ala Mhigo was liberated, and I went back to what had once been our home, and.” She paused, swallowing again, and Amandina headbutted her cheek. Synnove smoothed her hand down the carbunclet’s purple-black ears and back and sighed gustily.

In a stronger voice, she said, “And I saw what had been done to Grandmother’s garden. It wasn’t until I got back here that I just…I just became so furious. It had been my grandmother’s, it had been mine, and it had been beautiful, and I was so angry it was gone. So, I went to the Botanists’ Guild and asked for a list of flowers they thought would grow well in La Noscea, and I went mad for a fortnight just planting. I couldn’t remember how Grandmother had laid out her garden, even if I had had the same flowers as her, but I knew enough that I should try to space things so when the spring blooms faded, the summer and autumn ones could fill the void.

“So that’s why I love flowers so much, my Amandina. They’re a bit of my childhood, and a bit of my grandmother, and a bit of reclaiming them both for the better.”

Amandina reached up and put her paw on Synnove’s nose, chirruping. That’s a sad story, Mommy. Her aetheric harmonic was matter of fact: observing, rather than accusatory or upset.

“Sometimes stories are sad, sparkler,” Synnove said, continuing to pet her, and petting her sister with the same motion now. Both baby carbuncles snuggled closer. “But it doesn’t mean they can’t have a little bit of hope in them, too.”