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writingsbychlo · 1 year ago

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SWEET LIKE SUGAR | (05)

summary; azriel is away on a mission, and you get an unexpected visitor. when he returns, you also get an unexpected surprise.

word count; 5988

notes; fun fact!! I got confused about which part I was on because I actually forgot all about the events of this part and started writing for part six before realising!! also the way this is months late... my bad, y’all.

Slumping a little further in the plush seat, your eyes scanned across the page before you for the fourth time. Finally, you’d settled on a book, after procrastinating it all morning. Then, you’d put it off with the excuse of cooking breakfast and eating, making a cup of tea… and then another.

The house felt too big, too quiet, too light without shadows crawling in every corner.

Azriel had been gone since yesterday morning, your first overnight alone without him as he did Cauldron knew what, Cauldron knows where, out in the world. He’d left early yesterday morning while you had still been asleep, waking you with a hand shaking your shoulder gently before the sun had even risen. Dressed in those same dark leathers, strapped head-to-toe with weapons, he’d mumbled about some sudden work from Rhys, and that explanation, along with a delicate kiss on your forehead, had been all you’d gotten.

It had half felt like some kind of odd dream, until you’d woken up, and the house had been far too still without his presence.

He was due back tonight, and you were holding onto that, attempting to focus back on your book. Three hours. Only forty pages in.

You’d hardly made it two more pages, before there were footsteps on the creaky porch, your heart rate shooting through the roof, and a knock. A knock. Azriel wouldn't knock on his own front door. Matter of fact, Azriel would have likely just winnowed right to the door, not walked up the porch.

On light steps, hoping whoever was on the other side couldn't hear you, you peeked up through the hole in the door, noting Elain standing on the other side. You barely knew her, recognising her only from the first dinner you’d shared with Azriel’s family, heart leaping into your throat at the sight of her.

Clicking the door open after only a second or two of hesitation, she offered a beaming smile when your eyes met.

“Hello, Elain.”

“You remember my name!” Her smile somehow only stretched wider, and it was like the sun itself seemed to get brighter as she did. You wanted to scoff. Did it just do that, or was Lucien out there somewhere, glowing every time she smiled?

“Uh… Azriel isn’t here.”

“I know.” She waved a hand, as though that was supposed to be obvious in some way, following it up with a giggle. You wracked your brain, stumbling over every piece of information Azriel had given you on them all over the last couple of weeks. Seer. Elain was a seer. Had she seen Azriel leave and chosen this moment to approach you? “I’m here to see you.”

Apparently so. “Why?”

“I was thinking we could go for a walk in the public gardens together.”

“Why?” The word spilt out again, and she laughed, cocking her head to the side. “I’m, sorry, I don’t— I don’t mean to sound so rude. This situation is just unexpected, that’s all.”

“I know. I would have come sooner, but I was waiting for Azriel to be gone because he’s been playing defence about who gets to see you and when. He growled at Rhysand last week for asking how things were going.” Your stomach flipped at that, flopping in on itself and you rubbed a hand over your ribs slowly, hoping to steady the beating of your heart. “I’m not here for Rhysand, just to be clear. I’m not here for anyone, not even Az. I’m here for me, because I’d like to get to know you.”

“You want to get to know me?”

“Of course. You’re going to be around for a while—”

“I am?” She merely hummed, brows raising a little as humour shone in those doe-eyes, and your cheeks heated. “Seer, right. Of course. Do you want to come in for lunch or something, then?”

“I was thinking we could go for a picnic.” Nudging one delicately slippered foot out from under the hem of her dress, she nudged a picnic basket at her feet with her toes, and you shifted nervously from foot to foot. “It’s a nice day, and the Velaris Gardens are just beautiful. I volunteer sometimes, and I must say, the flowers this year are breathtaking.”

“Alright,” She was like a puppy, someone you just couldn't say no to when she stared at you with those big brown eyes, only seeming to light up more when you finally agreed. Leaving her standing on the porch for no more than a few minutes, you marked the page in your book, swapped out your loungewear for a summer dress and some sandals, and grabbed your keys.

She had been right, the two of you were barely more than a few steps down the sidewalks before the golden rays of the sun truly began to soak into your skin, warming you. It was a lovely day. Hopefully, the sun was shining on Azriel too, wherever he was.

The streets of Velaris were crowded as the pair of you ventured closer to the busier parts of the city, your workplace was packed full, the tables outside almost overflowing, and one of the waitresses you’d come to know waved as you passed by, flustered and carrying a tray of drinks.

Children were playing in the streets, darting from one side to another. Adults were wandering, lovers arm in arms, and friends gossiping. Here you were, wandering alongside Elain, who was humming a tune gently to herself under her breath. Only once you had entered the gardens, the kind old man at the front gate greeting Elain with a smile and a hug, did she speak up once again.

Her tune came to an end as the two of you were walking down the main pathway, weeping willows curtaining on either side, birds chirping overhead and fluttering between branches in the trees.

“I'm happy Azriel has you, you know.”

“You might be the only one.” Your words were bitter, harsh, and you wanted to bite them back in, still not entirely sure where you stood with Elain or to what extent you could trust her, but she only laughed again. “Apologies, that was…”

“Don’t worry.” That casual hand wave again, the metal bracelets on her wrist clinking as she did. One held a sun, another with a moon, a third gold band with an orange gem, and a fourth with a metal tag on a leather band, an engraving too small to make out. “Although, it’s not true. Nesta talks very fondly of you, and while Feyre might not speak up as often, she does not approve of the way Rhysand treats you.”

“Nesta is great. I shouldn’t have said that. And of course, I was out of turn to imply anything at all about the High Lord and Lady. I do—”

“Please, none of those formalities.” She stopped suddenly at the end of the pathway, aiming to turn neither left nor right, but instead stepping out onto the large field before you both, wildflowers cropping up, wandering across the soft ground and leaving you to trail through the grass behind her. “Rhysand can be a stubborn arse when he chooses to be, and Cassian is merely being bull-headed. Mor could be a swaying hand if she chose to, but she’s actively staying out of it, to let things play out on their own. Amren is… well, Amren.”

She had managed to coax a laugh from you, despite your wary mood, and she seemed to stand a little taller at the triumph. Finally finding a spot she liked and placing the basket down, Elain opened it up to pull out a blanket, flapping it out into the light breeze and laying it on the ground slowly. She sat on it, patting the space beside her for you to sit on, and opening the basket only when you had.

“I brought several sandwiches, because I wasn’t sure which you’d enjoy.” She began to unstack each labelled and wrapped meal portion, laying them out around you both until the blanket was covered in food and treats, a wine glass in your hand as Elain filled it with bubbling grape juice. “I try not to drink as much these days.”

It seemed the two of you had moved on from whatever conversation you’d been having, and no matter how much you wanted to circle back around to it, it felt rude to do so when she was clearly leading the chat. She was rubbing a hand over her stomach with contemplation, and you swirled the bubbly drink in your glass. “Are you… are you trying for a baby?”

Her hair glinted in the sun as she tipped her head back, eyes closed and smiling at the sky. “We’re thinking about it. Nothing concrete yet, but, I know Lucien desires children. I do too. We aren’t putting any kind of timeframes on anything, but we’re getting into some good habits and lifestyle changes now.”

“I wish you both the best of luck,”

She only hummed, again, a contemplative sound that seemed so wrapped up in mysterious and knowledge that it made your skin itch. To distract yourself, you took a sip of your drink, eyes scanning over the food options before you as she sighed and pulled herself back from whatever thoughts she had lost herself in. “My happiness with my mate now is so much due to Azriel.”

It was like a ball, bouncing back and forth between the walls, getting faster and faster as she whipped from the topic of Azriel to anything else, like she couldn't decide between acknowledging the elephant in the room or ignoring it.

“I’m happy he has you.”

“So you’ve said.” You smirk, settling on a sandwich at last and unwrapping it.

“There was a while when I thought I might be his happy ending, and he might be mine.” Your chewing slowed, and your focus fixed on her. You weren’t sure why she was saying these things, revealing things about his past or her own, whether it was some kind of game or not. She seemed to read all of this on your face, sitting up more fully to face you, legs crossing before her. “He never fought for me the same way he fights for you, though. Like he can’t help himself. What we had was hidden away and sneaking around in the dark. It was wrong for us both, I see that in hindsight, but with you, he doesn’t hide you. It’s like he wants the whole world to know you’re at his side.”

The food was like trying to swallow a mouthful of cottonwool, choking it down dry and wincing. “I don’t think what we have is the same. What you had must’ve been… well, like a real relationship. You do understand what me and Az have is more like an agreement, right?”

“Are all relationships not just agreements to be together, monogamously?”

You sipped at your drink, buying time to find a reply as she tucked into her own food, surely knowing she’d won this round. “Relationships are different.”

“In what way?”

“In every way!” You said, and she still only managed to look mildly amused, waiting for you to go on. “Relationships shouldn’t start the way ours did, for the intent of mutual benefit and gain. They’re supposed to be about passion and feelings and connection.”

“And do you not have passion, or feelings, for Azriel? Is there no connection?”

“What we have is complicated.” You didn’t know how to define it at all, everything that was shifting and changing so thoroughly was enough to make your head spin, and her mumble only confirmed that she knew she had the upper hand here. “How did Azriel help you to find Lucien if you were… together?”

“Oh, no, we were never together. We snuck around at night and shared heated looks across the dining room table. I wanted to choose my own path for once, not the one everyone was telling me I should be on. The one that led to Lucien. And Azriel, well, he just wanted someone. I wasn’t the right someone, I was just there.” That didn’t answer your question, not at all, but it seemed that if you were going to get the reply you wanted, it was in return for listening to the whole story. “We had stolen moments in dark corners, and Rhysand warned us off one another, put a stop to what likely would have ended in tragedy.”

“Seems like the High Lord is fond of telling Azriel who he can and cannot be with.”

“He had a sister once, you know.” The words struck cold, and you stiffened. Of course, you knew. Everyone in Prythian knew. Had heard of the tragedy before the first war, when the Lord of Night had lost his wife and daughter, leaving only the Prince who would soon take the throne. “She fell in love with someone who she shouldn’t have, someone who betrayed her in the end,”

“Should you be telling me this?”

“—and it broke him for so long. I had no idea about any of this until Feyre told me. He watched his sister get her heart broken before she lost her life, and watched his mate fall for Tamlin and get hurt. He watched Mor hide such an important part of herself and get hurt for centuries. He even watched Lucien pine for me while I was too blind to see him. He has watched love break and harm over the years, watched people abuse those feelings and use them for their own gain. He knows that need for touch more than anyone, and knows the price companionship can cost.”

“Elain,” The food was beginning to taste like ash, this was becoming more of a petition than a chat. “I understand that. I know he’s suffered too, I know he’s felt pain, and I’m sorry for that. But that doesn’t excuse him for his cruelty. It doesn’t excuse him for stopping Azriel from finding happiness. He cannot control everyone around him, no matter whether his intentions are good or not. Other people’s happiness is not his responsibility, and not his right. What, only mates are allowed to be together? Do you know how rare it is to find your mate? Azriel has waited five hundred years, he may never find his mate, but does that mean he should never be allowed to know happiness because Rhysand decrees it?”

She stared at you, lips pursed for a long moment, considering all that you had said. And then, instead of getting angry, or yelling, or defending them further, she smiled. She nodded her head and something passed over her face that you couldn't possibly decipher. “I’m glad to hear you say that.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Azriel would have fought for me, if I had asked him to. I’m sure I could have put up a fuss about it, but when he was told to stop, he did. That rejection…”

“Led you to Lucien?”

“Gods, no. It made me so angry. Azriel just rolled over and showed his belly because Rhysand snarled. I was mad, beyond words!” Your laughter broke free, surprising you both, until you were laughing together amongst the flowers. “He would barely look at me, wouldn't talk to me at all if not for polite dinner conversation. I’d gone from someone he’d feel up in dark corners to acting like I had a disease!”

“That’s awful!”

“I know! So, I wanted out. I was so stifled. I managed to persuade Rhysand to send me to the Human Lands for a while, to track down some information. Except, of course, I couldn't go alone. I needed an escort, and who better than the Emissary to the Human Lands?”

“This was Lucien?”

“Mhm.” She rolled her eyes, slipping away into her memories, a smile forming on her face. “Gods, he drove me insane. He was there all the time when I’d just been pulled from the Cauldron, like a lost puppy. So full of adoration and love. I was expecting that, but that’s not the Lucien who showed up. The one who showed up was so… nonchalant. Like the bond between us didn’t exist, we were friends, more like mere partners on a task. I even made a drunken move on him one night in a gross tavern far from The Wall, and he turned me down! Put me to bed and left a glass of water on the nightstand for me. Acted like it never happened in the morning.”

“Oh, Gods…” Your snicker bought you a mock glare from the flowery female beside you.

“I was even angrier, then. It was like nobody wanted me! So, when I returned, I gave Azriel a piece of my mind. And he let me yell at him for twenty minutes. And then awkwardly held me while I cried for another twenty.”

“Does this story have a happy ending? Well, I guess I know it does,” You offered her stomach a pointed look, “But when do we get there?”

“Fine, fine,” She rolled her own eyes now, “To keep it short, Azriel then offered to help me with Lucien. Managed to trick Lucien into going on our first date, a blind-date set-up, and wouldn't let him leave when he tried to. He then continued to help me sneak around with Lucien behind everybody’s backs, until we were ready to come out with it.”

“When was that?”

“Two weeks before we got married.” You fell to your back, laughter like light spilling from you at that, and she continued to share the details of everyone’s reactions through giggles of her own. “I’d seen all their responses, and I wanted to avoid them as long as possible! That was the last time I ignored my visions to try and put them off. What I see will happen, it's only a matter of time. I can’t avoid it.”

“That must suck for surprise parties and gifts.”

“Maybe, but it was pretty good to see you coming.” She smiled, laying herself down beside you and staring up at the sky overhead. “We will be good friends, you and I. I’ve seen that too.”

You were preparing dinner when you finally heard Azriel arrive. The scuff of his boots on the porch, the rustle of his wings as he entered the house, and then—

Then the slam of the front door. So loud and violent that the house shook a little, trembling the trinkets in the hall that sat on the side unit. You tensed, hearing his loud huff of frustration. Shadows whipped and whirled through the house, a few even making it as far as you were in the kitchen, and you followed them, peeping around the threshold before they were all snapped back in a hurry to their owner.

You saw his retreating back, stomping up the stairs of the house, tense lines and rigid muscles, disappearing in a dark cloud from sight. Another slam made you jump, one of the upstairs doors closing with a bang.

Silence filled the house once again, far heavier and more tense than it previously had been, and you worried your lower lip between your teeth.

It didn't feel like you were welcome, like perhaps this was a moment you shouldn't intrude on. But, was this not part of the reason that Azriel had brought you here in the first place? To comfort him, and be his support?

Minutes ticked by as you contemplated the matter, before deciding that at least checking in on him couldn't hurt. If he wanted alone time, he’d say that, and you’d happily give it to him. The idea of leaving him alone in his suffering created a phantom pain in your chest, spurring you up the stairs and on a search for him.

He wasn’t hard to find, darkness flicking around the doorway of the office, idle shadows striking like dark lightning bolts in the air as you opened the door, only to find Azriel hunched over his desk, wings tense behind his body.

“Hi, Az. It’s good to have you home.”

He only murmured, a vague noise, not even lifting his head from his work as you stood in the doorway. You paced a little further inside, standing by his desk, hoping to catch a glance of those pretty caramel eyes, but he kept his head down. His pen never stopped moving across the paper, his shadows never stopped their stormy swirling.

“I’m going to start making dinner soon, if you want to come down?” He didn’t reply, just a grunt, and you gave up, despite the worry filling you from head to toe. “Alright, well, you know where to find me.”

With that, you left, a pulse of power following you from the room within as soon as you clicked the door shut, back pressed to the wood on the other side. With a couple of deep breaths, you steadied yourself. It was only a matter of time before something came up, everything had been going too smoothly, too perfectly to last. Azriel was bound to snap under all that pressure at some point, and if this was that snap, you could handle it.

Setting a chicken off to roast only took a couple of minutes, basted and seasoned and into the oven, enough of a distraction to pull your thoughts away from the warrior upstairs. It was as you were chopping vegetables that your mind wandered back, the mind-numbing task of slicing peppers and carrots made it easy for your thoughts to trail back to Azriel.

Still, he had not emerged. Not for food, or water, or even some space from that office.

Setting the table didn’t help to distract you either, laying down plates and cutlery and glasses, choosing a bottle of wine and setting it out to air, even going so far as to set down some candles, searching for matches to light them. The house was all but vibrating with power not, steady thumps that occasionally jostled the cutlery on the table with powerful bursts.

Whatever had happened today had Azriel so riled up that his power was all but leaking out, siphons doing little to control the feelings welling inside him now. You’d never known the true strength of his power. Of course, you’d heard of the High Lord’s brothers, the spymaster and the warlord, the three champions of a lethal death-match among young soldiers, who’d come out bonded stronger than ever, with power to match.

Never, though, did you expect to feel the power like this. Feel his emotions ricocheting off of every wall, bouncing through the foundations of the house. Suddenly, it dawned on you just how mighty the ranks of the Night Court truly were, a chill settling into your bones at the thought.

One bad mod, one temper tantrum, and the building could simply crumble to dust. Street lamps would flicker, and animals would scatter. Too many thoughts, too much and all of it became overwhelming as the house continued to tremble to the steady pattern of a heartbeat.

Blowing out the candles as the flames flickered precariously once again, you put them away, not daring to risk them tipping over and creating a far worse problem. You knew the scars on Azriel’s hands, he’d told you the story behind them on one of the many nights the two of you had lay in bed, wrapped in one another’s arms, seeking comfort.

Or perhaps, it had been during stolen moments in the café, when Azriel would come to visit you, sitting and doing his work at one of the tables in the back. He’d take a break only when you’d bring him a fresh pot of tea and a pastry, sit across his lap and talk in hushed whispers during the quieter parts of your shifts before you had to get back to work.

It could even have been one of your late-night walks, or early-morning strolls, while the streets of Velaris were quiet and mist-kissed. Your hands clasped together tightly, his wing shielding around you as you walked together, talking of everything and anything that came to mind.

He’d told you quiet stories of his past, of his present, of his hopes for the future. All about little baby Nyx, Nesta and her journey to finding the Valkyries, what it had been like growing up in the camps, or all the best little villages and towns he’d visited on his worldly travels.

Your heart had been doing crazy things, lately. Crazy, stupid things, like skipping a beat and speeding up and bursting with adoration for a man so new to your life. It did crazy things, like encourage you back up the stairs an hour later, to ignore the tremble in your hands or the wobble in your step, heart calling out to him.

You’d tried to ignore the urge. To sit and read your book, until you’d read the same line over and over while not absorbing a single word, and giving up with a frustrated huff. You re-basted the chicken, and added the vegetables to cook, and even set off some potatoes to boil but all the while, as your body worked, your mind and heart lay with him.

This time, you knocked as you entered, knuckles a soft rap on the door before you pushed it open. Magic thrummed through the air, calling you closer and pushing you away, and you found Azriel, still in the same uncomfortable position, working at his desk. His shoulders were locked and rigid, his head hung, hair messy from constant tangling, and you lifted a hand, brushing it slowly through his hair.

“Azriel…”

He barely even acknowledged you, nothing more than a grunt tossed in your direction as you stood by his side, and a sigh broke free from you. His lips were turned down in a frown, dragging all of his pretty features into misery too, and you hated to see this side of him. Hooking your fingers under his chin, his writing came to a stop as you forced his head to turn, to look up at you. His eyes were dull, a spark of irritation and anger bursting through them as recognition and consciousness flashed back into his lifeless form.

“Azriel.”

This time, a growl tore free, that frown becoming a snarl as he pulled back, gaze narrowing a little. “I’m fucking working. What do you want?”

You froze, staring at him, taking in the exhaustion under his eyes, the pain in his stance, the spinning thoughts you could practically see surrounding him, so much so it must be dizzying and painful. Dropping your hand back to your side, he only returned to work, not sparing you another thought as he chased to catch up with the ones already running him ragged in his head.

Silently walking away, you left his door open, hurrying away from the scene and back to the kitchen. Taking the kettle in trembling hands and filling it up, you set that to boil too, a mug from the cupboard clacking as you set it down on the counter, throwing open the doors to the tea cupboard soon after.

Your nervous fingers skimmed across the labels, searching the front of each one, and it was as you were holding two, undecided on which to choose— perhaps just brew them together?— that the air in the room shifted, and a pair of strong arms wrapped tightly around your waist, tugging you back into a solid chest.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled, face tucking into the crook of your neck, where he left a kiss to your skin. His hold tightened, squeezing you against his body as he slumped down into you. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Az.” You ran a hand along his forearm, banded around your body, feeling it loosen just a fraction as you squeezed. “I’m just so worried about you, I wanted to make you some tea to help, but I couldn't decide which one.”

At that, a whine slipped free from him, nuzzling deeper into your neck, another kiss, and another. Putting down the teas on the counter, you wiggled a little, managing to get him to loosen up just enough to turn in his arms. His forehead came to rest on your own, noses brushing, a sad frown on his lips as his eyes remained closed.

“Az…”

“No more work. If I’m stressed to the point of snapping at you, then it’s too much. I’m sorry. You were just trying to help, and clearly, I needed the help.”

Looping your arms around his neck, he sighed, a happier sound as you scratched at the nape of his neck soothingly. “Stop apologising, Azriel. I appreciate it, but it’s unnecessary. I’m not angry at you, just concerned.”

“I like that you worry about me.” He whispered, deep voice running like honey as he bent enough to pick you up behind the backs of your legs, spinning you to place you onto the kitchen counter, and step comfortably between your thighs. “But you don’t deserve that kind of treatment. You deserve better. I don’t deserve you, but I don’t want to let you go.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Az. I wouldn't be in this relationship if I was going to run. I can handle you, even when you’re not at your best.”

He only answered with a shaky laugh, hands smoothing up your thighs to sit on your hips, squeezing in a series of happy pulses. “We’re in a relationship?”

Elation was clear on his face, no denying it, at your choice of words, and you gave a little chuckle of your own, nodding against him as your noses came back to brushing together, heads resting on one another. Your conversation with Elain flickered through your mind once again, and you wondered if she had seen this, seen you give into her whims and silently admit she was right. If she’d seen this, you hope she picked up on your mental scowl, too. “Well, what would you call what we have?”

“I like ‘relationship’. I like it a lot, actually.”

Throwing your arms over his shoulders, they looped around his neck, and you pushed your face up a little closer to him. “We may not be conventional, Az, but I like what we have. I like our relationship. I think we’re perfect as we are.”

He didn’t need words to respond, not this time, not as his mouth sealed over your own in a gentle, tender kiss. The first kiss you’d ever shared, a timid one, his lips working slowly and cautiously over yours, giving you plenty of time to pull away.

You didn’t want to, kissing him back with just as much tenderness and affection as he was showing you, pouring every feeling you had into it, to make sure he knew just how much you cared. Your heart was beating hard, fast, racing like a drum under your ribcage as you melted into his touch. One scarred hand came up to cup your cheek, thumb smoothing across your skin, in tandem with every stroke of his lips.

You pulled back for breath, just to find yourself tangled back up in him, his tongue stroking across your lower lip, teasing the roof of your mouth as you opened up for him. A groan skittered across your tongue from him, a pant for breath, his hand slipping up under your shirt to sit on your bare waist as you tugged on the slight curls of his hair.

When he pulled back, at last, your lips were swollen, your lungs burning in the best way possible, and your head was spinning so much you could barely focus. The world felt fuzzy at your touch, glowing and glittering as you stole a final kiss from his lips, his soft chuckle breaking it.

“Am I still invited for dinner with you?”

“Yes. I’m making chicken and potatoes.” Your smile lasted only a second, before you were sitting upright. Time had melted away around you, disappearing into dusk outside beyond the windows, “Oh, no, the potatoes!”

Pushing him back and hopping down from the counter, he watched with a dazed, kiss-drunk expression as you rushed to the stove, taking off the pan lid and prodding at the potatoes with a fork.

“I amend my earlier statement. We’re having chicken and mashed potatoes, because these have gone soft. Entirely your fault for distracting me.”

“I distracted you?” He mused, sneaking up behind you and wrapping his arms around your shoulders, tugging you back to kiss at your cheeks, trailing down toward your mouth.

“You know you did.” His only response was a smile. Draining the potatoes was a challenge, what with Azriel plastered to your back like a new limb that served no purpose, and you had to elbow him off in order to finish the food.

While he waited, he tinkered with the dining room table, pouring two glasses of wine and rearranging. When you turned, he’d dug out the candles you’d put away, lighting them with a match once again, and blushing as he laid them out. “I thought they’d be romantic.”

“I like them.” Your cheeks were equally as heated, smiling to yourself as you turned away to check the food.

His distance didn’t last long, as you searched for a knife with which to carve the chicken, he was once again backing you into a counter, his mouth hungrily descending upon your own. Mutters of ‘waiting long enough’ silenced on your mouth as he dove into you, hands on your body once again, trying to tempt you up onto the counter.

“Let me cook, you menace,”

“Just a few more,” Was his barter, and those few kisses passed more and more time, his lips like a high you had to chase, until only the desperate urge to breathe could pull you apart. “Gods, I love that. I love kissing you.”

“I can tell.”

He rolled his eyes, but his smirk stayed, unashamed of his newfound addiction.

“We need to eat, you need food.”

“I have everything I need, right here.” He leaned in again, lips puckered, and you tipped your head his mouth finding the edge of your jaw, and he grunted unhappily at the action, but mouthed at your skin nonetheless.

“How about after dinner, we can go upstairs and do some self-care. I’ll show you all the fancy new creams and skincare I got. We can relax, and cuddle, and read.”

“And there will be more kisses?”

“There will most definitely be more kisses.” You promised, cupping his face and bringing him back for a final peck.

“Then I think I can agree to those terms.” He stared, pulling back just enough to fully take you in. As the urgency in his expression died down with the promise that this affection was not a one-time deal, his face took on blissfulness instead. Running his knuckles across your cheek, his face softened even further as you leaned into his touch, cupping his hand and pressing kisses to his scarred fingers. “You… You are my moon, do you know that? You light up even the darkest parts of life for me.”

His words were like whispered oaths, something too heavy for you to fully comprehend but burned into your mind regardless, and you gave him a sweet smile back. “You are my stars, Azriel.”

“Really?”

“Every last one. Glittering and perfect in the night, full of mystery and hopes and stories. You are my favourite part of the night sky.”

Your heads rested together, dinner temporarily forgotten just for another moment or so, to bask in the revelations of the evening.

Today,

today changed everything for the better.

#SLS #sweet like sugar #azriel x reader #azriel/reader #azriel x you #azriel/you #acotar x reader #acotar/reader #acotar x you #acotar/you #azriel shadowsinger #azriel #a court of thorns and roses #acotar

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darylmydix · 3 months ago

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THE SCARS WE SHARE | daryl dixon [teaser]

summary: you were the only good thing daryl had in his life. bonded by similar trauma, you suffered abuse at the hands of your stepmother, just as daryl had suffered from his own father. when you finally decide to escape your abusive home life, you're forced to leave behind your best friend in the process. now with the world in an apocalyptic state, you're left wondering if daryl was even alive.

pairings: daryl dixon x f!reader.

warnings: smut, violence, blood and gore, unrequited love, best friends to lovers, mentions of s/a, mentions of abuse, mention of suicidal thoughts/attempts, mention of drug use, use of deadly weapons, fluff, angst, slow burn, strong language, kidnapping, coercion, seasons 5-11, 18+, minors dni.

word count: 1k.

The knock on your front door was gentle; almost as though the person on the other side of it was at odds on whether they should bother you or not. You sigh, figuring it was probably Aiden coming to apologize for the confrontation he had caused with Rick and his group earlier.

You sat the book you were reading down on your coffee table, getting up from the couch as you shuffled to the door. You freeze, not even needing to open it, the glass revealing that it wasn’t Aiden, but in fact Daryl. You pull your bottom lip between your teeth, feeling your heart pound against your chest. You close your eyes, letting out a heavy exhale.

You continue towards your door, opening it. The cool, crisp night air tickled your exposed skin. “It’s late, what’re you doing here?” you question. “Came to talk.” he replies simply in his gruff voice. You pause for a moment, contemplating on whether or not you should let him in. You really weren’t in the right headspace to talk, but at the same time you didn’t want to just turn him away. “Come in.” You pull the door open wider for the brunette to step inside before shutting it close.

“So…” you cross your arms, staring up at him. “What did you come to talk about?” Daryl’s picking at his fingernails; a coping mechanism that you always remembered him doing when he struggled to find the right words. Even after all these years he still had a hard time expressing himself. “Look, m’sorry ‘bout what went down with Aiden today.”

You sigh, shrugging your shoulders. You knew he really didn’t mean it. Anything Daryl did he did it with pride, standing on whatever decision he made. “Aiden can be an asshole sometimes, I know. But you and your group need to understand that things like that don’t happen in Alexandria. If you guys continue to disrupt the peace I don’t know what Deanna will do.” You inform him honestly. The people in Alexandria had lived in tranquility for so long, they weren’t used to sudden anarchy. Most of them hadn’t even dealt with walkers.

Daryl nods in response, still picking at his nails. An awkward silence had fallen between you two, neither knowing what to say next. It was crazy to think there could ever come a time where you didn’t find comfort in his silence. Daryl was never the most talkative person, you knew this. But regardless, back then it didn’t bother you. You just enjoyed being around him. He was home.

Used to be at least.

It was time to face the reality that you weren’t the same girl you were before the world ended. In fact, you stopped being that girl the moment you escaped your stepmother’s tyranny. You were happy to know Daryl survived so long in this fucked up dystopia, but all his presence has done since his group got to Alexandria was bring back memories you wanted to erase, and cause a rift between you and Aiden.

“He treat you good?” Daryl finally filled the silence. You knew he was talking about Aiden. “He does.” You nod, which Daryl does too. “You love him?” The question catches you off guard, and you’re not sure how to answer because the truth was, you weren’t sure if you loved Aiden. You knew you cared about him though. “Doesn’t matter.”

“To me it does.”

“Well, it shouldn’t. My love life, and life isn’t your concern anymore.” You snap, agitatedly. “You should just go before Aiden comes by. You can let yourself out.” You walk past him, heading back to your couch, mentally cursing yourself for not pretending to be asleep instead of answering the door.

Daryl could feel the disconnection between you and him; he couldn’t understand why, but it was truly starting to frustrate him how you had been writing him off lately. Like he wasn’t an important part of your life once. “Man, what happened to you? Ever since I got here you been distant, and actin’ like you barely know me. I don’t understand why.”

You shake your head. “You don’t need to understand. We’re not having this conversation right now. Just go.” You speak sternly, pointing to the door. Daryl scoffs. “Ain’t goin’ nowhere ‘til you tell me why,” he wasn’t letting up, and you could feel your nerves taking over the more he prodded. “All these years, all that searchin’ just for you to act like it meant nothing. Hell was it for?”

“I’m not doing this.” You turn once more to walk away, but his strong grip on your wrist prevents it, and you’re spun back around to face him.

“Tell me why!”

You snatch your wrist away. “Because you’re a constant reminder, and I hate it, okay?!” You spat. “I fucking hate it! It didn’t mean anything. You didn’t mean anything. We were trauma bonded. We shared the same scars, that’s it. Once I found my courage to run, I threw away the crutches that held me back. I buried my past and everything that came with it.” Hearing your own words fly out of your mouth breaks your heart in two.

Daryl stares at you. His eyes are a bit watery, but he doesn’t shed a tear. He fights it, the way he always has. “S’all I was, huh? A crutch that held you back?” You swallow the lump at the back of your throat, not responding out of fear of breaking down. He nods his head. “I get it.” Is all he says before he’s finally about to exit your home.

The brunette only opens the door halfway before halting. “Y’know… after you left, I regretted not going with you like you wanted me to. I regretted it everyday.” He finally leaves with those being his last words, slamming the door behind him.

You flinch at the slam, eyes squeezing shut. Your bottom lip quivered and chest tightened in pain. You wanted to run after him, but you couldn’t bring yourself to. Tears fall now that you were left alone in your own space. Your hand flies over your mouth to muffle the uncontrollable sobs that were starting to slip through.

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idontplaytrack · 7 months ago

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✧ “God, you’re crazy.”

In collaboration with: @livil589!

Janis 'Imi'ike x protective! fem reader

Warnings: MDNI, smut. Oral, fingering(Janis receiving), coarse language

In which, a typically reserved reader lets her protective side shine and Janis secretly loves it, becoming a cute, flustered mess.

The moment you got together with Janis, the whole school found out immediately. You see, after the whole shit show with Regina’s Burn Book got resolved, and the fact that Regina got the unbelievable punishment of getting hit by a bus, Janis and Regina who once couldn’t stand being in the company of the other, started being civil to each other so much so that they were now almost friends again. But you, well…you couldn’t stand it- the way she hurt Janis. Especially the fact that Regina had been getting people to make fun of her for months before she realized…the sissy lis incident. Every time you think of it, it makes your blood boil. Janis knew it made you angry, it still made you angry and she was honestly impressed. You were the good kid– but not the teacher’s pet. The student who just existed in the environment, under the radar. Regina didn’t even know you existed till you walked into the school with Janis’ arm around your waist. That was what caused the beloved queen bee of North Shore to notice your existence.

“Hey, Janis.” Regina shut her locker and approached Janis, “Who’s this?”

At first, you were pretty certain she meant no malice- because Janis greeted her without seeming like she wanted to punch the blonde in the face. “My girlfriend,” Janis answered simply as she went about her current task of picking out the necessary textbooks from her locker– which was surprisingly neater than your own (She makes fun of you for it sometimes, but she means no harm). The artist was a big softie and you knew it- only you knew it. Damian too, maybe, but it was never truly that obvious.

“I know.” Regina responded in her usual tone, “But who is she? Never seen her before.”

“Now you have.” Janis shrugged. But that tone made you want to claw at her- that condescending tone. Intentional or not, it was driving you nuts and fast.

“Strange…” You finally opened your mouth, and her eyes searched for your voice a little before her gaze lands on you, “I know who you are...and I know what you did. I’ve been in your classes since middle school and I cannot believe you.”

Your body was tense as you felt the warmth of Janis’ hands touch your shoulder, to calm you down. Regina tries to look unfazed, nonchalant…but there was a moment where you caught the shock in her eyes- they faltered.

“You’re right Janis, now I do know who she is. Impressive, like a secret weapon, hm? She looks so…sweet and innocent, but once that cute little mouth of hers opens up, it surprises you.” Regina continues. Seriously? Your nostrils flared as Janis shot her a disgusted look, “Are you done, Regina?” Janis was slowly but surely losing her patience, being nice. “What are you trying to do here? Tormenting me wasn’t enough? You want to intimidate my girlfriend too?” At this moment, Cady has arrived at school with Aaron and Damian.

“Lighten up, Janis. It’s a compliment.” Regina chuckles, “Pity, we would’ve made a pretty hot couple. But you two are cute as shit together.”

“Well- you snooze, you lose, Regina.” You snapped, “Maybe fumbling Janis was the worst punishment for you.”

“Baby.” Janis said into your ear, “Damn, it’s all good. She’s been trying to change, really. But this is her odd way of being nice and complimenting something.”

“Don’t you think she sounds so very condescending?” You looked at Janis directly now.

“This is a hell of a change from how she used to treat anyone. Don’t take it to heart.” Janis told you, right as Regina turned on her heel and left.

“Okay, spill. What’d we miss?” Damian hurried over.

“Oh. Nothing, just y/n being protective…”

“You?” Damian asked you with wide eyes.

“Yeah,” Janis confirms, shutting her locker and zipping up her bag.

“Damn, I did not expect this from you girl- always seems to be the other way around.”

“What’d Regina want?” Cady asks

“Uh…I think she wants my girl.” Janis told the redhead.

“Janis, I am begging you- I need context.” Damian squealed, Cady laughed. “Now I really gotta know what happened.”

“Me too. Now I just wished we were all here to see it.

You were still tense, even after Regina had disappeared from view. Janis could tell you were upset by Regina so she took your hand, squeezing it as she walked to class with you.

Classes dragged on, it felt like the day would never end. The interaction with the school's queen bee had stuck with you and you couldn't shake it and all you wanted to do was spend time with your girlfriend.

It was finally time for lunch, so you headed to the cafeteria to meet up with Cady and Damian since Janis had texted you saying she was gonna be late because she was finishing an art project. “Hey, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine Cady.” “I don’t buy it.” Damian disagrees. “If you don’t wanna say anything, I’ll just ask Janis when she gets here.” You sighed, and Cady told him that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. “Well, I’m worried, our friend looks like something’s after her.” You choked on your drink hearing that. “Mkay, who’s after you?” He pressed.

“Fine, Regina came up to me and Janis, and she was being…I dunno weird? Flirting with me, maybe?”

“Weird?”

“Well, that’s what the whole interaction felt like. First, she asked who I was, Janis told her. Then she proceeded to say that she and Janis would’ve made a hot couple, but me and Janis were really cute together?” You started to explain, “She never knew I existed until Janis and I started to date. And it’s been what, six months now almost? Janis always tries to play nice but Regina is just…something else. I finally had enough and just sorta lashed out, I said that maybe her fumbling Janis was her biggest punishment.” “Damn! And we missed that?” Damian had a hand clutching his chest, “You go girl.”

“That’s what happened? Oh, my God. Regina didn’t hurt you did she?” “No, it was more like I scared her.” You snorted, laughing, “She tried to play it cool but there was that split second of a ‘oh, shit. Okay’ in her eyes.”

“Looks like Janis has rubbed off on you, sweetie.” Damian shrugged, satisfied.

“We don’t need another Janis.” Cady says.

“Of course, that girl’s a handful.” Damian laughs, “That’s why this girl is extra important because she mellows Janis out a little bit. Only she has successfully stopped Janis from punching the heck outta a student. Remember that?”

As Cady and Damian continued yapping, you got a text from Janis- telling you to meet her in the janitor’s closet. “I have to go.”

“Where are you going?” Cady asks, confused.

“Uh…Janis texted?”

“Okay, spare us the details- just go.” Damian shooed you away.

You quickly gathered yourself, rushing out of the cafeteria as Damian burst into laughter, earning a light slap on the arm from Cady. As you made your way to the janitor’s closet, a pair of pink Louboutin heels stepped in front of you, effectively making you stop in your tracks. “Where are you headed in such a hurry?” Regina practically purrs, her voice dripping with false sweetness. The blonde's tone only made you roll your eyes, doing your best to hold your tongue.

“Piss off, Regina,” you bit out, shouldering past her as you continue on your way.

“Going to see your girlfriend?” she asks, her tone betraying her seemingly innocent words and you whirl around, furious.

“Leave Janis the fuck alone, you were awful to her and you didn’t fucking deserve her friendship,” you growled, spinning on your heel and stalking towards the closet.

There was only so much of Regina you could handle before you ran out of patience. You hated the Plastic for what she’d put Janis through but since she was attempting to make amends (or at least made it seem that way) with your girlfriend you usually held back when it came to showing your anger, not wanting to upset the new balance of their civility towards each other. Today, however, Regina had lit a fuse in you, causing your outbursts. All you could focus on now though was what Janis called you to the janitor’s closet for, but your bubbling anger caught up, slowly taking over your arousal and making you more sober. No fucking way you would let that happen completely. As you moved, the blonde moved with you, blocking your way at every move. You bit back a scowl, and your fists clenched, feeling your frustration skyrocket.

“Aw, someone’s getting a little frustrated, hm?” Regina teased. Without a second thought, your fist slams into a locker to get the anger and frustration out a tad. “Get out of the way, Regina.” You spat. She doesn’t, but instead tilts your chin up with her finger to get you to look her in the eye. How could she be so smug?

“Let go of my face.” You growled.

“Regina!” It was Gretchen, “What are you doing? Stop being so rude and mean to her.”

“Lucky you, sweet Gretchen saves the day.” Regina’s finger left your chin, “She’s just rushing off to see her girlfriend, no big deal.”

“But you didn’t hit her, right?” Gretchen looked at you worriedly before you scurried to your destination.

“Uh, no. Just talking…” Right, talking or threatening you for no damn reason?

Standing in front of the closet, you knocked. “Yeah?” It was Janis’ voice. Shrugging, you opened the door and stepped inside. “Hold on.” She started, “Something happened.”

“Yes, yes. Whatever.” You responded dismissively, looping your arms around her and placing your hands on her lower back. “Did Regina bother you again?” Asked Janis, backing away from your face so she could meet your gaze. “Of course she did. A leopard never changes its spots, Janis. She was born to terrorize the entire student body and staff population.”

“I swear, if she laid her hands on you, I’m gonna-”

You shook your head vigorously, “I don’t care what the fuck she does, but if she lays her hand on you, I won’t hesitate to beat her up. She made me so angry I nearly swung at her face. If it weren’t for Gretchen coming up to ask her to stop, trust me…I would’ve.”

“God, that’s so hot…” Janis chuckles lowly, her breath tickling your face as she leans closer to kiss you. Her lips meet yours and she lets out a moan - for a second there, you thought you were hearing things. That was…Janis? Already? No complaints though, hearing her like this made you happy, honestly. And as your tongue invaded her mouth, the action drew out another moan that you almost too quickly swallowed with a kiss.

Lucky for you, she was wearing a cropped t-shirt, so you easily slid your hand under there and started fondling her breasts. “Oh, fuck.” She mutters breathlessly, “God, you’re crazy.” “Am I, now?” You bit back a smirk, unbuckling her belt together with her and finally getting to pull that down. “You haven’t seen it all yet, babe.” With her breath heavy, her eyes stayed watching you to mentally prepare herself for your next move. When your fingers looped themselves through the hem of her boyshorts, your eyes searched for her approval. Janis takes a deep breath and nods, and so you pull them down and leave them by her ankles. Your hands roamed her ass, giving them a squeeze that drove her feral, whimpering right into your ears as your hands got closer to where she needed you the most.

“You wanna sit down or do you wanna stand?” You ask while your hands continue caressing her ass and squeezing. Janis chuckles, “I don’t care. Just- take me.” That look in her eyes…damn she really needed you, bad. Your hands trail downwards when you get down onto your knees, coming face to face with her apex. You grinned. “You’re so ready, aren’t you?” You tease, the back of your hand ghosts the mound. Janis squirms. “Tell me, baby, use your words.” You looked up. She wasn’t looking at you- or anywhere for that matter. She couldn’t go much longer without stimulation and that was her tell. When your hands squeezed her thighs, her head snapped downward and her eyes met yours. “Just tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.” You were thoroughly enjoying your rare moment of dominance over her- she was usually the one in control. But whenever you got protective over her, she got turned on and became a flustered mess. “Janis, honey…it doesn’t feel very nice, does it? The aching, hm?” Your breath was fanning against her most sensitive region now, and by the way that she was biting onto her lower lip, she wouldn’t be able to stay silent much longer.

She shakes her head, managing to say a ‘no’. You started by pressing a kiss to her inner thigh, on one side then the other. “y/n, I need you- please.” A whine follows her request. You gently kiss her clit and a yelp falls from her mouth. And as you rubbed circles with your thumb, you trailed a finger along her entrance slowly pushing it into her. “Oh, my God.” She cursed, “Fuck.”

“Mm-mm, no noise, baby. Not yet.”

The smirk on your face grew as you watched the girl squirm. You could feel her wetness drip onto your hand as you pumped your finger inside of her, curling it to hit her sweet spot driving Janis insane. Janis’s head fell back, her hips rolling in tandem with your movements. Her mind was emptied and filled with growing arousal as the seconds went by, biting down on her lip to keep herself from getting into trouble with you by making noise so soon. The more she squirmed under your touch, the harder it was for you to keep at your task- purely because she was already so wet, the friction just wasn’t there anymore. “Fuck, can I kiss you?” Janis asks, not garnering a response from you, “Please?”

You removed your fingers from her completely. And a whine fully just escapes from her lips, “Please, y/n. I need you, please.” God, her begging sounded like music to your ears. You gave in, starting to kiss her again, every noise she made swallowed by the movement of both your lips. Next, your hand returns to its previous position, plunging back inside her. She whimpers shakily, knees feeling like they might buckle. You kept a hand on her hip as your fingers carried on with their tasks. She’s made it so easy for you to go in and out that you didn’t even have to think about doing anything else to push her over the edge.

“You sure you want people to hear you, babe?” You caressed her cheek, looking right into her eyes. Janis swallowed thickly feeling the ache in between her legs worsen rapidly, she shook her head.

“Then what do you want, baby? Tell me.”

Her eyes started to avoid yours, but you held her chin and made her keep eye contact. Janis huffs frustratedly, licking her lips. “You gotta tell me, babe. Hm?”

“I need to come and I don’t care how you do it, just make me come.” Her usual attitude showed up briefly. You shot her a bewildered look in reply, shrugging then sucking your fingers clean as she watched painfully. “You know not to get like that with me, Janis.” You say, your hand massaging her thigh while you lower yourself to come face to face with the area where she needs you the most. You were on your knees, hands gripping onto her thighs as your eyes flicked upward to look at Janis.

“So you’re okay if I use my mouth?”

“What?” Janis exhales harshly, “Of course, I’m okay with that, baby. I fucking love it when you do. Holy shit, please.”

You trailed open-mouthed kisses along the inside of her thighs, smirking when she squirmed. Her hips bucked into the air when you got closer and closer to her heat. You were thoroughly enjoying her being so submissive- you wanted to make it harder for her, just for the heck of it. You pulled away from her thighs, staring into her eyes while you were face to face with the area where she needed you the most. She looked at you in sheer disbelief and scoffed, practically grabbing you by your head and putting you on back onto her- only this time, your mouth was met with her dripping cunt. You laughed, “So impatient.” You licked upwards, circling her clit with your tongue then pressing the flat of your tongue against it, “But ask and you shall receive, honey. We don’t have a whole lot of time right now.”

Her noises…they became so very frustrated, sounding like she was about to throw a full-blown tantrum if you denied her release any longer. But also, very needy and so high-pitched that it began to reflexively make you sound the same. “Baby, please- please y/n. Make me come. Now.” She asks.

You grinned, “Okay. You got it.” Speedily, you carry on lapping up her juices while your fingers fucked her rhythmically all while it begins to tighten around you. Janis gasps, tangling her hands in your hair for support as well as the wall behind her. You hoisted her legs up over your shoulders for more friction to aid her incoming climax. “Oh, God…” She panted, breathing ragged, “Fuck, y/n. Fuck, fuck, fuck!~”

She came undone into your mouth, soaking your fingers with herself. “Felt good, didn’t it, baby?”

“So fucking good.” Janis nodded with the biggest grin on her face, “Do that to me more often from now on. It’s so damn hot when you get all protective.”

You guffawed, wiping your mouth and chin off, “Oh, I will, Jan. Trust me. This is just the beginning. But you’re gonna have to wait till after school because we gotta go.”

“That’s fine.” She bit her lower lip, “I’m gonna need some time to recover from this anyway.” Janis pulls you in, pressing a passionate kiss to your lips, “Thank you, baby. You’re amazing.”

Caressing her cheek, you replied, “Aw, thank you- I try.”

#auli’i cravalho #mean girls 2024 #janis ‘imi’ike #janis 'imi'ke x fem reader #regina george #jealousy #collaboration #collab fic #x reader #reader insert #female reader #wlw #wlw smut #collab writing

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torukmaktoskxawng · 1 year ago

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tsamsiyu ta'em - nothing is lost

Masterlist - part twelve

Summary: The Sky People make their move. The Metkayina rise up against the threat of their home.

Pairing: Ronal/Tonowari/Original Female Character

Tag: #tsamsiyu ta'em fic

posted on ao3

Word Count: 14k+

Warnings: canon-compliant, mature language, slow burn, polyamory, found family, cool aunt agenda, rushed, time skips, fluff, angst, major character death, child endangerment, etc.

Taglist (bold indicates "could not tag"): @motheroffae @undeniableadrenaline @mooniequeen @shit-i-say-shit-i-think @heart-an0n @amiets2 @slutforsmut4ever @yeosxxx @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @sucker4angstt @inolaphoenix @ilovechickenwings @tojisleftarm @andyfromku @ivysully

A/N: Thank you for your patience! At the very least, I'm not George R.R. Martin, who is 12 years late on the new book 🤣

This... is a very long chapter. Strap in. You guys deserve a treat for waiting for me 💕

The village was eerily quiet. Yes, it was raining and gloomy again, but something smelled off in the air when Kayla took a deep breath, her avatar nose smelling more than her human one could even dream of. It was an odd hour of the day for the Metkayina to be completely absent as she walked down the slippery pathways, her dog tags cold from the weather and clicking softly from where they dangled around her neck, the safari jacket she had thrown on that morning soaking through to her skin as the rain pressed on. Kayla scoffed to herself and wanted nothing more than to peel the useless piece of clothing off since it was now uncomfortable, but the rifle in her arms kept her from doing so. She intended to walk to the Sully marui that morning to ask Jake to borrow his cleaning supplies for his weapons, wishing to run maintenance on her own AK, but upon walking into her brother's home, she is surprised and confused to find all her nieces and nephews keeping warm inside but neither Jake nor Neytiri was around.

Tuk got up to greet her aunt with a hug around her waist, and as Kayla pat her back, Neteyam helpfully took the gun out of Kayla's arms while the older woman looked around, squinting her eyes, "Neteyam, where's your parents?"

"The tulkun returned again and they were afraid of something," the teenage boy lowered his head, ears drooping and voice laced with concern, "Mom and Dad went out with the clan leaders and a party to see what was wrong."

Kayla's eyes widen while looking around, now easily seeing the concern on all of the children's faces. Instinctively, she didn't want to assume any danger and immediately sought out to comfort her nieces and nephews, "Alright, well, maybe we should get some food going for when they get back. I'm sure it's nothing."

No one spoke as they got to work strengthening the embers of the hearth and preparing a meal. Kayla sat down with the teenagers while gathering Tuk in her lap, watching Kiri prepare some fish over the fire. Something hung heavy in the air. Perhaps it was the moisture or the thunder off in the distance, but no one bothered to speak up and question it. The mood was sour as the Sullys patiently waited for the patriarch and matriarch of the family to return. Kayla noticed that Lo'ak was the only one unable to look his aunt in the eyes as they all sat around, worried about whatever might be waiting for the party of Na'vi warriors, but she decided not to ask about it. She had a feeling that since this situation was tulkun-related, her youngest nephew was likely glum about yesterday's events involving Payakan.

Unaware of how much time had passed, all Sullys perked their heads up at the sound of crows and yips, indicating the Na'vi conversing with one another from a distance. The village began to stir with life once more, and before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, Tsireya had run into the Sully marui, out of breath and hair drenched from the rain.

She looked frightened, appearing far younger than a thirteen-year-old girl, "The party has returned-- Your sa'sem are alright," she's quick to reassure Lo'ak and his siblings before her eyes darted back to Kayla, "But my father has just declared war on the Sky People!"

"What?" Kayla hastily stood up, dumping Tuk into Neteyam's lap when he wasn't as quick to stand. Kayla's heart had plummeted into her stomach, dread beginning to rise the little hairs running up and down her back, neck, and arms.

"They are gathering for a meeting right now!"

"Show me," Kayla ordered lowly, voice full of authority and determination setting in her gaze. Tsireya nods and runs back out of the pod. Kayla doesn't hesitate to follow.

Neteyam set his baby sister down in front of the fire as he and his other siblings stood to follow their aunt, "Tuk, stay here until someone comes back and gets you."

"But--"

"Stay here!"

Kayla could hear her older niece and nephews run out of the marui to join her, but her feet didn't slow as she walked with a destination in mind, unwilling to stop for anything. She followed Tsireya through the village. As they got closer to the communal canopy, more and more Metkayina emerged from their homes, and a growing crowd formed. It quickly became dense, the area full of Na'vi as Tsireya and Kayla drew closer, lightly scooting past other men and women to get to the center. Kayla spots something in the crowd and reaches out to grab Tsireya's shoulder, stopping both of them in their tracks. Kayla's eyes had narrowed in on the sight of Neytiri and Jake, standing at the front of the crowd and looking as though they had both seen ghosts. By the time Neteyam and his siblings joined Kayla, she already had a goal for them in mind.

"Get to your parents," she sternly told the teenagers, nodding in Jake and Neytiri's direction, "Tsireya, let's see if we can get closer. Break."

The small group scatters, going separate ways and weaving through the crowd. Tsireya and Kayla stick together until they find themselves standing at the very front of the gathering, apart from Rotxo and Ao'nung, who stand in front of them. The two young warriors didn't look very happy and while Kayla looked around, she finally spotted Tonowari and Ronal. They stood at the center of the crowd, standing over the rest. The tsahik appeared distraught and torn, streaks of rain and tears mixing while a hidden rage swam in her eyes. The olo'eyktan stood beside her, enraged, barely keeping in his anger while furiously gripping the spear in his hand. Jake has moved into Kayla's line of sight, right in front of Ronal. When the avatar woman looked around for the rest of her family, she spotted Kiri silently comforting Neytiri, the Na'vi woman looking distressed and welcoming her daughter's hand. Neteyam was off to the side of them, holding onto a device that drove Kayla's blood to freeze. She recognized the design of humans from anywhere, a long and large spear-like contraption with red, metal encasings to shield the mechanics inside from saltwater. A tracking device.

Ronal confirmed Kayla's suspicions while crying out in anger so that the entire village could hear, "My Spirit Sister and her baby have been murdered by the Sky People!"

A small sob can be heard off to the side of Kayla and when she looked down, she was quick to throw her arm around Tsireya while the girl wept for her mother's tulkun. Meanwhile, cries of anguish and rage emerged from the crowd, snarling and cursing the humans at the top of their lungs so they could be heard over the rain.

Tonowari exclaims angrily over their cries, "This war has come to us. We knew about this hunting of our tulkun people. But it was over the horizon, far away. Now it is here!"

They all respond to their chief with cries of war, snarling menacingly while baring their fangs and displaying their tongues as he did.

The crowd continues to rile themselves up for battle while Jake is desperate to calm them down, "No, you don't-- You gotta understand how the Sky People think! They don't care about the Great Balance!"

"We do not answer to Sky People!" One warrior shouted menacingly to Jake from the back of the crowd, and an encore of agreeing, snarling Metkayina responded in kind. Kayla flinched, ears lowering as the familiar whispers, snarls, and stares suddenly overwhelmed her. Jake's eyes flick drastically over the head of Na'vi and quickly lock onto hers, to which she silently says what she had been saying all along by gritting her teeth behind a closed mouth and narrowing her eyes at him.

'I told you so. Demon Siblings.'

Neteyam was desperate to control the crowd in his father's favor, waving the large, red tracking device in his hand while pleading, "Listen! Listen to him!"

"The Sky People are not gonna stop. This is only the beginning," Jake continues to try negotiating, directing his attention back to the clan leaders standing before him, "You gotta tell your tulkun to leave! You gotta tell them to go far away!"

"Leave?" Ronal echoed the word with a resounding scoff of sorrow and disbelief, "You live among us, and you learn nothing!"

"We will fight to protect our brothers and sisters!" Another warrior behind her exclaims and the Metkayina begin another wave of snarls and hisses.

"No, no, no, no... If you attack, if you fight, then they will destroy you!" Jake shouts over the crowd, "They will destroy everything that you love!" His voice cracks in desperation, angrily motioning to Ronal's baby bump while looking her dead in the eye. The tsahik instinctively placed a gentle hand on her stomach as all of her people began shouting angrily to Jake, all the while he kept trying to talk over them.

"We will fight!"

"No! You hear my words!"

"We will fight!"

"Hear my words!"

"Stay calm. Stay calm!" Neteyam pleads to those who stood closest to him. Meanwhile, over his shoulder, his mother remained eerily quiet. She glances around at all the angry Metkayina, all of them anxious for a fight, anxious to protect their home. It was all too familiar to Neytiri, overwhelmed with that familiar dread and grief for her Hometree. Her older son continues to try and negotiate alongside her husband, drowning out her thoughts as he shouts, "Listen to my father!"

"Damn it!" Jake was frantic when nothing he said appeared to slow the Na'vi down, desperate for leverage until his eyes zeroed in on the large tracking device in Neteyam's hands. Quickly, he dives forward.

"He speaks the truth!" Neteyam is unable to say more as his father snatches the device out of his hands, the fast movement driving Kayla to straighten in alarm as her brother races to the center of the crowd, stepping up over everyone and raising the device in the air, silencing the entire village with his act and grabbing their attention. The clambering died down and Kayla couldn't help but notice Ronal reach for Tonowari in the heavy silence, holding onto his arm out of fright until he opened his hand without looking back at his wife. Wordlessly, Ronal slips her hand in his, a perfect fit, their conjoined knuckles brushing against her baby bump as they stare at the device in Jake's hand with caution.

"You tell the tulkun that if they're hit by one of these, they're marked for death. And call for me or my sister, we'll silence it."

Eyes look between Jake and Kayla, and it took a lot of willpower for the sister not to curl in her shoulders and try to hide. It helped that Tsireya looked up at Kayla with hope in her eyes as if the avatar woman was capable of grabbing the stars. Kayla faintly smiles down at the girl but it disappears just as fast while Jake continues, "Saving their lives, that's all that matters. Right? Saving your family."

Tonowari peers around at all his people, cautious, his anger beginning to fade as he's left with begrudging acceptance. Looking down at Ronal last, his mate briefly flicks her eyes up to him before they close and she gives a brief nod, clutching his hand tightly for a moment to silently share her opinion.

Finally, the great olo'eyktan steps up to Jake, overlooking the crowd and raising his spear, speaking softer but with more weight in his words, "Tell the tulkun."

Ronal briefly lets go of his hand and turns to her people, "Go. Go!"

Shouts echo off one another as the chosen warriors leave the gathering and journey out into the reef, calling their respective ilu and tsurak. Tsireya turns to see where she had last seen Lo'ak in the crowd, only to find him already walking away. Neteyam also sees his brother exit and an all-knowing gaze washes over before he moves to stomp after Lo'ak. Tsireya had left Kayla's side amidst the chaos of people upon watching both Sully brothers disappear before she could get to them, sensing what was about to happen.

Kayla looks around as the crowd begins to disperse, and already her family has left her alone, moving in separate directions. Her head turns to each one, wondering which way to go first, and who to follow. Kiri had run off to get Tuk while Jake brought Neytiri away to talk privately. Her hesitance to choose where to go causes her to stall and she's suddenly aware of Tonowari and Ronal stepping down onto the pathway, beelining toward her.

Tonowari's solemn gaze keeps Kayla still in her tracks, unable to move. He stared down at her with purpose, voice low so that only they could hear, "Now it is our war."

Dread takes over Kayla once more, adding to the cold of the rain on her skin. Ears lowered under the chief's scrutiny, her eyes briefly turned to Ronal. The tsahik was still clearly devastated by the loss of her Spirit Sister, ears drooping and frown trembling. Kayla opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to find the right words to say, the only thing ever coming out in a hushed whisper, "I'm so sorry..."

She regrettably pulls away, knowing that she would not be good company while Ronal mourns. Kayla isn't able to look away from the clan leaders until she's forced to watch where she's going, turning to look ahead and find her brother. Jake and Neytiri were outside the communal canopy, off to the side to avoid any traffic going in and out. When Kayla approached them, Jake held out the tracking device to her.

"You can disarm these things, right?"

Kayla grabbed the tracker and inspected it, going back into marine mode, "Looks simple enough if we run into more. What happened out there?"

"Bad things. I'll tell you later," Jake shook his head, defeated, "RDA is definitely closing in. I need you to either break your link tonight or radio Norm. Let him know what's going on."

"You got it."

He looks around, "Where are the kids?"

Both Kayla and Neytiri look around while the former answers, "I saw them leave. I know at least one of them went to check on Tuk. We left her at home."

Neytiri didn't appear convinced when she turned her head back to Kayla, "They left without saying anything?"

"I assumed you knew where they were going. Tsireya seemed to know. She went after them."

All three adults fall into silence before they agree to go and find the children. They stick together while looking throughout the village, asking around. At first, no one seemed willing to help them, and the small glances at Jake and Kayla were the only indicator as to why, much to Jake's annoyance and Kayla's inner smugness toward proving her brother right. Neytiri hissed at those who were openly unhelpful and went her own way, down to the ilu pens. Jake and Kayla are quick to follow her, staying behind her so as to not get in her way as they search for the kids.

Eventually, they found a boy who occasionally hangs out with Ao'nung. Neytiri doesn't hesitate to question him, "Have you seen my children?"

The teenage boy looks up and his eyes widen at the sight that was Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at'ite. He's quick to answer her, stumbling over his words, "I saw Ao'nung and Rotxo with them just a minute ago. They took off."

"Dad, I-- I mean Devil Dog. Do you read me?"

Kayla and Jake quickly pick up the sound of Lo'ak's voice coming from their respective earpieces and quickly grow concerned as to why he would call them. Neytiri is unaware of their sudden alertness as she continues to interrogate Ao'nung's friend, "Did you see where they went?"

"-- It's Eagle Eye, do you copy?"

"They went outside the reef." The boy responds, only to be ignored by Neytiri when Jake taps her arm to get her attention, still focused on his son's voice while reaching up to his throat mic to respond.

"Yeah, Lo'ak?"

"Dad!" Neytiri is quick to understand what's happening and pulls her own listening device back in her ear to hear the conversation. Lo'ak's voice was frantic and scared, "We're with a tulkun that's under attack. Killer ship's inbound. It's about two klicks out."

"Shit," Kayla muttered while Neytiri grabs Jake's arms, eyes widening in terror.

Jake's voice is laced with that same terror, "Who's with you?"

"It's all of us! Ao'nung and Tsireya, too." Neytiri gasps silently, visibly wincing at the idea of all of her children in danger, "We're at Three Brothers Rocks."

Neytiri's hand covers her mouth while Jake spouts instructions, "You get to cover, and you do not engage. All right? You hear me? Do not engage, we're comin'."

"Yes, sir."

Jake sprints back into the center of the village, his wife and his sister hot on his heels. Other warriors run with them when they sense their fear and alarm, all racing to get to the olo'eyktan's marui. They yip and call out to Tonowari as they draw closer, the chief looking up from where he sat inspecting a fishing net at the lip of the pod. He's instantly alert to see Toruk Makto racing to him, Ronal soon appears at the entrance to see what the commotion is about.

"The kids are under attack!" The chief immediately rises to his feet as Jake explains, "The kids are under attack. They were defending a tulkun. It's your kids, too."

The weight of the news causes Ronal to spin back around and immediately grab her weapons from within the marui. Tonowari tilts his head to Jake for clarification, "The demon ship?"

"Yes! We gotta go!" Jake yells back as he, Neytiri, and Kayla race off toward their own home.

"Weapons. Sound the alarm!"

The Metkayina warriors yip and runoff, spreading the news as they went, drawing more and more Na'vi to start yipping in unison, growing louder and louder in number. As they draw closer to the Sully marui, Neytiri and Kayla mimic bird sounds to call their respective ikran, seeing the familiar distant sight of wings flying toward them from the forest. They then follow Jake into the pod, gathering as many weapons as they can carry. Jake hands Kayla's rifle to her before grabbing his tomahawk and slipping it into the sheath on his back. He then grabs his arsenal vest and flings it over his shoulder, kneeling down and helping Kayla divide all the ammunition they have on them.

Neytiri grabs her father's bow and holds it to her, breathing in deeply and willing for Eywa to protect her children through her. She then grabs her sheath of arrows and turns around, briefly pausing as Jake catches her eye. The parents share a knowing look and a nod before sprinting back outside with Kayla closely following them. The rest of the village is alive with alarm, dozens and dozens of Metkayina with spears diving into the water below, summoning their tsurak and following their clan leaders out beyond the reef. Jake follows them into the water to grab his own tsurak while two ikran land on the pathways for Neytiri and Kayla to mount. Gracefully, both women take to the air as the banshees squawk, holding onto their reins with one hand and clutching their weapons in the other. They quickly swoop down to fly just above the army of tsurak as the skimwing slowly rise out of the water and fan out their gliding wings, one by one. Neytiri raises her bow up and gives her best war cry to which Jake echos back from below. Ronal looks up and sees Neytiri and Kayla astride their banshees and ululates, adjusting the spear in her hand to which her whole village responds behind her as their army takes off, ready to defend their children and their home.

"Kayla, Neytiri," both women focus on the voice in the earpiece. Jake gives them instructions when he has their attention, "I need you up top, using the clouds for cover. Be my eyes from above and wait for my signal."

"Copy that," Kayla presses her throat mic and then pulls up on her handlebar, making a demand in her head while Thena simply follows it. The ikran squawks and further rises into the sky, breaking away from the army of tsurak and Metkayina. Neytiri yips and pulls her ikran to follow them, the two women disappearing into the clouds until Jake is unable to see them.

They flew through the clouds for a while until they made it to their destination. Neither of them could see Three Brothers Rocks from this height, but they knew their whereabouts. Kayla had Thena slowly descend, just ever so slightly beneath the clouds so she could get a visual, looking through the scope of her rifle to look down toward the ocean with a bird's eye view. She saw the three large peaks of rocks sprouting out of the ocean that Lo'ak had described and once she got her bearings, she proceeded to look for anything else in the surrounding area.

It wasn't hard to spot the hunting ship, large enough for even larger prey, like whales, floating not too far away from where Lo'ak had pinged his location. Several speed boats armed to the teeth with harpoons and sound cannons lined up around the front of the ship, likely as the first line of defense, and it was hard to miss the submersibles diving down into the water, forming large splashes and ripples around the ship. Kayla recognized the two gunships sitting silently on the hunting ship's platform, and she silently thanked God that for now, the rotors didn't appear to be moving. What actually worried her, however, was the half a dozen ikran idly flying around or sitting idle on the ship, sporting modern-looking saddles and pouches. In her experience knowing the behavior behind these animals, they don't appear alert or battle-hungry for the time being. They were more or less bored looking and basking in the sun while waiting for their riders.

She leaned away from her scope to press her fingers into her throat mic, "Devil Dog, do you read me?"

Jake's voice soon answered her, "Go ahead, Desert Fox."

"I got eyes on the target. One WIGE ship, and several boats lined up in front. They have idle subs and SeaWasps on board. Can't get a headcount of personnel. There's about five or six banshees decked out in military gear, riderless."

"Copy that. Stay hidden with Clever Arrow for the time being."

"Lima Charlie."

"We're just approaching Eagle Eye's last location. Stand by."

Kayla doesn't respond, taking a deep breath instead and using the strap on her rifle to prop the weapon behind her back, letting it dangle. She looked over to Neytiri as the Na'vi woman and her ikran glided close beside her, "We stay up here."

"And what about my children?" Neytiri snapped, though Kayla didn't take it to heart, knowing the anger wasn't directed at her. She could only imagine what her sister-in-law was going through, stressed and worried sick for her babies.

Before she could answer or provide Neytiri with a form of comfort, a strange voice, much different from any voice Kayla knew, came in through her earpiece, addressing her brother, "Jake, tell your friends to stand down."

Kayla quickly held up one hand to let Neytiri know she was getting something, then cupped her other hand over her earpiece, trying to pinpoint the strange southern drawl that had intercepted their radio chatter, "You want your kids back, you come out alone. You know better than to test my resolve."

Kayla's blood began to freeze, her heart hammering in her chest to keep it all pumping. The voice had to have been Quaritch to address Jake as if they knew each other, and even if it wasn't the colonel, whoever it was had Kayla's nieces and nephews. Whoever it was had Lo'ak captured at the very least, considering he was the only one out of the Sully children to have a mic and earpiece. The suspected Quaritch continued to speak, "I took you under my wing, Jake. You betrayed me. You killed your own. Good men. Good women. I will not hesitate to execute your kid."

"Just wait one!" Jake finally responded, his voice deeply disturbed and desperate.

Silence fell over the radio chatter, and Kayla could only wait with bated breath. Neytiri and her ikran were visibly growing distressed and irritated, flying in short, unpredictable turns from left to right as if trying to burn off their pent-up energy. Kayla gave the other woman a wider berth while trying not to appear anxious herself, her quiet pants and rapid heartbeat pounding in her ears, along with the wind.

"Offer's fixin' to expire. What's it gonna be?" Quaritch asked after a short minute.

"Check your fire. I'm comin' out."

"Fuck," Kayla muttered, turning to Neytiri, "We should drop lower. Jake is approaching alone."

Neytiri barely gives Kayla enough time to finish her sentence as she leans forward and internally orders her banshee to dive. Kayla orders Thena to do the same, and together they lower through the clouds, trying to remain hidden while moving in for a closer look.

They lower a significant amount, flying out from behind a small mountain peak sticking out of the water, soft gray clouds drifting apart to reveal the battlefield site below. From this distance, it appears everything is at a standstill, and there weren't any indicators to suggest otherwise. Neytiri quickly presses into her throat mic, "Ma Jake, what is happening? Ma Jake?"

Kayla shifts her feet in the footholds of her ikran, Thena jerking her head to share the tension she felt in their bond. Jake didn't answer Neytiri, which worried both women further, unsure of how to proceed. Both looked at one another, thinking the same thing. Do they stay or attack? Does Jake have a plan?

The wait felt like ages, but eventually, movement could be seen down below, and it was so large that Neytiri and Makayla could clearly see what was happening. A large form erupted from below the waters, rising up and leaping over the hull of the WIGE ship, slamming down with a large bellow and jostling the entire ship along with its passengers. A tulkun bull, young and smaller than ones Kayla has seen, but still large enough to give those idle gunships a run for their money. As the tulkun wiggled around on deck, flailing his fins and tail around to knock over or crush any Sky People or Recom, Kayla finally managed to spot a missing fin among the chaos. From listening to Lo'ak and Neteyam's stories, she was able to identify who this fearsome creature was. Payakan.

For a moment, the Sky People and Recom avatars were distracted by the whale-like animal that had quite literally flopped up on deck, making the mistake of disengaging from the Na'vi as they turned their boats and guns around on the tulkun outcast. Rapid gunshots could be heard from all the way up in the sky, and Kayla and Neytiri could only look on in amazement. Payakan bellows again, louder, echoing in Kayla's ears even from this distance, startling the Recoms' idle ikran as they all spread their wings and took flight out of fear.

As the humans were too busy trying to defend themselves and deal with Payakan, Jake was finally pinpointed in the chaos. Kayla had only managed to see him when he drove his tsurak forward and the skimwing took flight, spreading its wide, orange gliders, charging for battle by his lonesome across a dark blue ocean. Suddenly, several other tsuraks took flight, spreading their wings out one by one until the battlefield below Kayla and Neytiri looked like flying ants charging toward a toy boat in the bathtub. Amidst the charge, Payakan was seen diving back into the water, using his fins as leverage to push his weight off the ship. With the tulkun out of sight, the Sky People had turned back around and found themselves fumbling to meet up against the Na'vi as the Metkayina came up behind them using the element of surprise. Rapid gunfire sounded out, now aimed at the army of skimwings, who responded by folding their wings back up and diving down into the water to escape the bullets.

With both sides now engaged in battle, Kayla turned to Neytiri and gestured with her arm, "Let's go!"

Neytiri screeches out a war cry and together they dive down to join the fight, their ikran crowing in response. The banshees fold in their wings to dive faster, the wind whipping wildly in Kayla's face and ears while she held on tight to Thena with one hand and gripped her AK in the other, primed and ready.

Two primary targets took to the sky around the same time Neytiri and Kayla reached the battle. The Recoms had mounted their ikran and were flying up to greet the enemy, with the gunships now following their example. Neytiri broke off from Kayla and flew to the gunship as it was shooting down into the water to get to the Metkayina, approaching fast on her target from above. She raised her bow and aimed, expertly shooting an arrow into the cockpit, shattering the glass while the arrow lodged into the pilot's chest. The gunship crashed into nearby rocks and blew up in a cloud of fire and smoke, Neytiri celebrating her small victory with chants of ululating as she flew by.

By now, the Metkayina have finally begun their assault, their tsurak springing out of the water and leaping above the smaller boats, the Na'vi riders spearing any Sky People on board before dragging them down into the depths of the ocean below. The skimwings themselves have attacked alongside their riders, opening their rows of teeth to any unsuspecting humans when they lept out of the water. Jake flew around and opened fire, emptying rounds of ammunition into a patrol boat until it burst into flames before swiftly turning his tsurak away from the explosion.

It was like the Sky People had finally woken up and begun to wreak havoc themselves, emptying bullets into any nearby Metkayina or tsurak and letting their bodies sink back into the waters. Rocket projectiles, machine guns, grenades, harpoons, and depth charges were used against spears and arrows, proven effective by the growing body count of Na'vi. It began to become an obstacle course for the tsurak as large plums of water sprang up all around them like erupting geysers, forcing the Na'vi to dodge and weave to avoid injury or worse. Jake managed to dodge the grenade launcher that formed these waves of geysers and took aim, shooting the driver of the patrol boat that the launcher was stationed on. With the driver dead, the boat sped into rocks and sent the rest of its crew flying before exploding. Jake took a minute to breathe and reload, grunting tiredly in his old age.

He was caught in a moment of weakness as a Recom dived down with their ikran from above, aiming their sights on his head, before a screech could be heard and the Recom avatar only managed to turn his head just in time to see Thena with her armed jaws spread wide before everything turned to black. Kayla grunts when her ikran makes an impact with the Recom's beast, holding tight as both banshees struggle and flap their wings against each other in the air. Kayla only heard the resounding crunch of the Recom's skull before Thena finally pushed away from the enemy ikran and disengaged. Jake had looked up just in time to see the Recom's headless body slide off its ikran's back and Kayla flew away above hers, a small smirk taking form on the proud brother's face. He looked away and brought his focus back into the fight, taking his tsurak and diving back down into the water.

Another gunship was about to take off from the platform of the hunting ship before Neytiri spotted it, swiftly taking it down and causing it to explode using only a single arrow. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees an enemy ikran pursuing her and she quickly turns her own banshee away. The Recom rider that followed her was none other than Quaritch, and like he had a score to settle, he began to open fire. Neytiri learned from past experience to have her ikran dodge and weave the bullets, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't scared. She knew she couldn't serpentine forever, and flashbacks of the last time she was shot out of the sky haunted the back of her mind, so she called out in short bursts of yips, yelping for assistance.

The backup came in the form of her husband, answering her distressed calls. Jake and his tsurak leap out of the water, flying right behind Quaritch, and roared as he began to open fire on the colonel. Quaritch takes evasive maneuvers, Neytiri forgotten, while he tries to avoid getting shot. He was only given a window of opportunity when Jake ran out of ammo and quickly had to stop and reload. Jake threw his empty clip over his shoulder and pats around his vest for more, only to come up empty aside from the dread now looming in his chest, "Oh, shit."

Meanwhile, Neytiri had flown back to aid Kayla in taking down the other Recoms flying around, the Forest woman using her ikran to make a large loop upside down as she aimed and fired an arrow into an enemy avatar. Kayla responded in kind by shooting down another Recom that was ready to go after Neytiri for killing his friend. Kayla looked around for more targets and saw another Recom shooting down into the water, presumable at a Metkayina and their tsurak. Kayla flew down to their aid, raining a hellfire of bullets into both the Recom and their ikran. The bodies of both banshee and avatar crashed into the water, and the Metkayina briefly turned around to glance at her pursuer's corpse.

It was Ronal, her spear missing and her heart skipping in her chest to see the demon that was trying to shoot her while she was helpless was now dead. Peering up through the ocean's surface, the tsahik could make out an image of Kayla and her ikran flying away with the enemy dead, distorted by the movement of water and unaware of Ronal's gratitude.

Kayla now turned to a particularly large shape forming in the water, deciding to finish off any survivors from the damage Payakan left in his wake. With the flick of his tail, he had sent a whole patrol boat into the propellor of the hunting ship, killing everyone on board the smaller boat as it burst into flames. Weirdly enough, the propellor fans began to kick into high gear, the flames of the explosion getting pulled through until the whole fan exploded as a result. Suddenly, the very large WIGE ship is pushed forward, going at high speed toward a scattering of rocks peeking out of the water as if the ship had been sabotaged from the inside. The vessel crashes, being thrown into the air while the rocks scrape along the underbelly, causing irreparable damage. The ship momentarily flies in the air before slowly crashing back down into the sea, worse for wear as it slows to a stop. Kayla noticed a surface boat with a harpoon holder welded into the bow of the vessel quickly picking up speed to avoid getting crushed by the large ship and decided to set her sights on its crewmembers. She leans forward as Thena picks up speed, flying toward the vessel at the same time Payakan appears to have noticed the small boat as well.

Elsewhere, Jake had to dive back into the water to avoid getting shot by Quaritch now that the colonel had the upper hand. When The Recom leader managed to lose sight of his target, Jake took the moment of opportunity to leap his tsurak out of the water and have the skimwing latch its razor-sharp teeth into the neck of Quaritch's ikran. Quaritch yells out, surprised and enraged as both tsurak and ikran struggle together, entangled while their riders shout out grunts and war cries, pushing and pulling to gain the upper hand with all their stubborn might. Quaritch is flung from his banshee, crashing into the water while Jake's tsurak drags the ikran into the depths before finally unlatching its teeth and letting go. The ikran swims then fly away upon surfacing, abandoning its master as Quaritch swims to the surface, gasping for air with his rifle in hand.

The harpoon vessel had begun to follow Payakan upon sighting him, and the tulkun swam alongside it until the harpoon was let loose. Payakan dove and shifted in the water, narrowly avoiding the harpoon before using the tusk-like structure on the bow of his head to spin and tangle the strong cable attached to the harpoon around him before further clamping his jaws around the cable for extra measure. He swims fast, faster than normal until he's dragging the whole boat behind him like an excited dog dragging his owner by the leash. The tulkun pulls the boat along for the ride until they get to another cluster of rocks poking out of the water, then swims around it until the boat is helplessly skimming toward its doom. The boat crashes and briefly floats in the air along with any crew member on board who had quickly grabbed a hold of something, before diving back into the water. The boat is miraculously still afloat, bobbing up and down in waves as the chaos subsides for now. The vessel looked as though it was floating dead in the water, with no engine or noise coming from its hull. The harpoon launcher was reloaded as they waited, looking around for any sight of the tulkun.

Payakan repeated his maneuver and breached the water, cable still in his mouth, as he lept over the small boat. The cable now wrapped securely around the boat, Payakan gave a quick tug until the cable dug into the metal of the boat and then began to sink deeper and deeper. The crew scrambles to duck down just as the cable comes crashing through, cutting everything in its path until it catches onto the harpoon launcher, a crewmate's arm caught right in between them.

Kayla was flying around Payakan's whereabouts and winced just as the cable cut through the man's arm and harpoon launcher, sending both flying and then crashing into the ocean below along with the severed arm. Kayla then dives down to finish off the survivors, aiming then firing at any humans that pose a threat. She spares one man among the wreckage, however, as he clearly appears to be a scientist, not a soldier. She could afford to spare one man to go crawling back to Ardmore and relay his horrific stories... but she wouldn't feel the loss if another Na'vi decided to finish him off instead.

~~~~~~~~~

The sky slowly turned dark as eclipse rolled around, the fires from prior explosives the only thing lighting up the war zone that transpired, turning everything red and orange in its wake. It was like a waking nightmare, a sky full of smoke and pollution, taken out of a dystopian novel. The eery silence was only filled by flickering fire, with no signs of Na'vi or man in sight. Both had mysteriously disappeared.

Kayla had looped around the battlefield several times already, trying to pinpoint any danger or sign of a familiar face. There were a lot of floating bodies and debris, empty boats with blood dripping down. It looked unnerving as they began to float away, with no sign of life on board.

There's a distance splash and Kayla reflectively turned in the direction she heard it. There's an outline of a Na'vi jumping off the back of his tsurak and walking along a face of rocks, soft waves of water lapping over the surface and giving off the illusion that he was walking on water. Thena lowered from the sky until Kayla managed to depict certain characteristics and instantly recognized the Na'vi man, "Jake!"

Jake looked up at the sound of his name and noticed an ikran land on the rocks, huffing from exhaustion as its rider disengaged, running toward him. A small wave of relief encompasses Toruk Makto at the sight of his sister, "Kayla! Hey--"

"'You alright?" She immediately asked upon reaching him, her eyes briefly looking for any injuries.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

There's a distant splash resembling a breach in the water, causing the older Sully siblings to turn at the noise. Immediately, Kayla's stomach falls at the sight. It was like a waking nightmare for Jake, watching a small group of teenagers come rolling onto the shore of the rock face he and Kayla had landed on. Quickly, he noticed something was wrong, running over as Lo'ak waved him down.

"Dad! Dad, help! It's Neteyam!"

Tsireya briefly closes her eyes as a harsh wave smacks her in the face, ears drooping when listening to the sounds of Neteyam's rugged coughs. He was weak, and short of breath even though he had been an excellent student in her lessons on how to take large gulps of air for deep diving. It scared her, "Hurry!"

Lo'ak peers back at his brother before sinking into the water, dismounting his ilu and handing his brother to Tsireya, "Here, take him!"

Jake and Kayla proceed to rush over, eyes widening at the sight of the teens holding Neteyam above water as he sputters and coughs, one of which was not like the others and was the very same teenage boy Kayla had spent a long time searching for. The gasp she let out at the sight of a human boy among the Na'vi teens was from pure shock, "Spider?"

"Oh, no," Jake gasped as he took in the horrific sight of the half-drowned kids trying to pull his wounded firstborn to shore, blood pouring from his chest like the water he was floating in.

Lo'ak keeps repeating the same words through his fear, "It's Neteyam! He's hurt!"

Spider reaches out for Toruk Makto's arm as he grasps Neteyam's body, "Jake, come on! Come on!"

"Hurry, please!" Lo'ak begs.

Jake finally snaps out of his daze and grabs Spider's arm, trying to help drag all the connected teenagers to shore, "Pull!"

Kayla shakes herself from her shock and steps up to help, also grabbing onto Spider's arm and assisting her brother in pulling them all up out of the water.

"Bro, watch his head, watch his head!" Lo'ak instructs Spider, panic beginning to set in as he watches Neteyam's eyes begin to roll back, the older boy still coughing and otherwise unaware of his surroundings.

"Pull! Come on!" Jake grunts, finally getting all the kids out of the water. He grabs Neteyam's torso, lifting him in the air while Lo'ak and Spider have his sides and Tsireya has his legs, Kayla's hands hovering around the wounded boy's neck in case it rolls. Jake has them bring Neteyam to more solid ground before lowering him, "Just watch his head. Okay--"

Neteyam shallowly breathes as he feels the cold and wet rock surface underneath him, unable to suck in more air as Lo'ak grasps one of his hands, squeezing hard in comfort, "It's okay, bro. We got you."

Jake pushes Neteyam onto his side, immediately clocking the exit wound bleeding profusely with the help of Spider's flashlight, "Oh, no," looking around, frantic, he instead grabs Lo'ak's hands and presses it harshly against Neteyam's bleeding chest, "Put pressure-- put pressure on it!"

Neteyam stifles a grunt at the pressure against his chest, trying to get a word out, "Dad, I--"

"It's okay, I'm here!"

Kayla thinks quickly and rationally, stripping off her jacket, "Jake, the exit--"

"I know, I know!"

Without another word, Kayla has Lo'ak help her lift Neteyam until she has her rolled-up jacket pressed up against the exit wound behind him then lays him back down, helping Lo'ak continue putting pressure on the profusely bleeding hole in the older boy's chest. But she couldn't know how long Neteyam had been bleeding out. It was impossible to determine and her attempt to save him might be in vain. Kayla remains hovering over him, trying her best to conjure up a smile, "Hey, kiddo... it's alright, just take it easy. Remember to breathe..."

Neytiri lands her ikran when she spotted a few members of her family, barely pulling her braid from her mount before running over to the scene, muttering in fear and denial, "No, no, no, no, no!"

Kayla moves out of the way the moment Neteyam's mother arrives, surrendering her spot next to Lo'ak for Neytiri, and backs up, hovering over her brother's family and unable to look away.

"It's okay. It's okay, son, I gotcha." Jake comforted.

Lo'ak tries the same, "It's okay..."

Neteyam's eyes wildly looked around, unfocused and frightened, even when directed at Jake. It was like his son couldn't hear him, the shock setting Neteyam into panic mode as Jake tried to firmly reassure him.

Neteyam briefly looked relieved before tears started to gather in his eyes. Just this once, he allows himself to be a little boy again, tearful and sad, "I want to go home..." he grunts out his small plea before gasping rapidly, the words exhausting him.

Jake's voice quivers, holding his son's shoulder, "I know. I know. It's okay, we're goin' home. We're goin' home."

He softens his voice, pushing the desperation away to try and calm his son, as if he was still an infant he was soothing to sleep, "We're going home. It's okay, it's okay."

Neteyam gulps and tries to force the words out of his mouth, "Dad, I..."

His words are abruptly cut off, fading into the wind. The boy's eyes begin to unfocus and his body goes unnaturally stiff, rid of all muscle movement and heartbeat. Silence lingers over the Sully family as they wait for their son and brother to catch his breath, Neytiri gripping his hand tighter to get him to focus, "Neteyam..."

But there was no response. No breath, no words... nothing. Complete silence while Neteyam's eyes are permanently stuck watching the sky, unblinking and unfocused. Jake's heart plummets to his stomach, his breath escaping his lungs as he bows his head in distress. Neytiri's eyes flicker over her firstborn's face, over and over, frantic as she begins to rant, "No. No, no, no, Neteyam!"

She begins to scream in anguish and denial, her voice shattering everyone's ears and hearts. Tsireya couldn't bear to look at her friend's body anymore and had to look away to cry, flinching at the sound of Neytiri's screams. Jake shushes his wife softly, reaching out to her but his touch goes unnoticed, as the mother desperately clings to any part of her dead son's body, trying to shake him awake. A single tear slips down Spider's face, collecting at the bottom of his mask, while Lo'ak begins to quietly sob, staring down at his hands, covered in his brother's blood.

"Neteyam!" Neytiri sobs while leaning over her boy, holding his head close to hers as she wails, "Oh, Great Mother. No, Great Mother! Please! Oh, my son! My son... No!"

Jake had gone completely numb, leaning back with his hands in his lap, eyes drifting off to somewhere distant while unable to comprehend the sight in front of him. Neytiri continues to sob and plead to anyone who will listen, her voice growing hoarse over time, "My son! No! No!"

Kayla silently stood over the Sully family, tears running down her face, but otherwise quiet to the world. Initially, she wanted to clench her hands into fists but immediately unfurled them again when she felt the squish and stick of her nephew's blood, to which she refused to look down and see for herself. She didn't want to see the color, nor what it represented... a young life taken from his family far too soon.

"Can you hear me, Corporal?" Kayla's ears perk up to the southern drawl in her earpiece, and when her eyes flick to Jake, she notices his ears move to attention as well. Both Sully siblings felt cold as the voice dragged on, "Yeah, yeah, I think you can. I got your daughters. Same deal as before. You for them."

At the mention of the girls, Jake appears to wake out of his trance, turning his head to the direction of the hunting ship, then realization begins to creep in. His head slowly turns back to Lo'ak, his voice quiet as terror begins to settle in his chest, "Where are your sisters?"

His remaining son slowly peers up at him, eyes rimmed pink from crying, and his silence only angered Jake as he snapped his demands, "Your sisters. Where are they?"

"I don't know," Lo'ak whispered.

"Where are they?!" Jake shouts.

"They're on the ship," Tsireya sobs quietly, her bottom lip quivering as Toruk Makto turns to her, "They are tied up on the ship."

"They're-- They're at the moon pool," whether it was out of grief, shock, or fear of Jake, Spider continued to stutter while the older man turned to him, holding onto the boy's arm as he spoke, "At-- A-At the well deck. Midships."

"What?" Jake asked, unable to make sense of the human boy's rambling.

Spider sighs in defeat and then rises to his feet, grabbing onto Jake's arm and helping him stand up, "Come on. I'll show you. Come on. I'll show you."

Jake stumbled initially, the shock and adrenaline still coursing through him as Quaritch continued to speak through the radio, "Talk to me, Corporal. I need somethin', Jake or there's gonna be consequences."

"Yeah, I hear you," Jake responded as he pressed into the throat, sounding a little out of breath. He stumbles over to Kayla, ignoring the blood on her hands and gripping both of her arms as he speaks to her, his voice like gravel scrapping together, "Fly up ahead. Don't engage until I get into position. Lure the hostiles away while I grab the girls. Wait for my signal."

Kayla forced herself to nod, swallowing whatever broken cry threatened to come out as she whispered, "All right."

She forces herself to break out of Jake's hold, forcing herself to turn and walk away from the others, Neytiri's cries following her as she went. There's a small pool of water that collects on the rock surface and Kayla briefly kneels down to clean herself up, tears beginning to well up in her eyes again when she finally sees all the blood. She quickly stands back up, forming tsaheylu with Thena while hopping up onto her back, barely glancing back at what she assumes is the top of Neteyam's head of braids before rising into the sky and flying away.

Even though she could no longer hear Neytiri's cries from this distance, Kayla could still hear the horrific sounds in her head, following her as she rose higher into the sky. She uses the clouds and smoke for cover as she silently looms over what she knows is the location of the WIGE ship, using the scope of her rifle again to look down below to see what she is dealing with. The ship was slowly but surely beginning to sink, slightly tilted in the water, but the remaining Recoms and human soldiers on board were trying to balance out the weight but positioning themselves on one end, gathering their weapons and anxiously waiting for Jake's arrival.

As she's waiting above, alone in her grieving silence, she's suddenly startled out of her daze when the earpiece kicks on again, and Quaritch's voice seeps through, "Talk to me, Corporal. This ship's going down and your girls with it... Your boy didn't have to die. You brought that on yourself. You thought you could keep your family safe, but you can't. Only one way to keep them safe. So let's get this over with before you lose another kid."

Thena mewls quietly when feeling the blood-boiling rage through her bond with Kayla, the avatar's grip tightening on the reins of her ikran. Flashes of the many ways she could kill Quaritch play in Kayla's head like a movie, deep and dark thoughts she would never voice out loud unless she'd risk scaring the people she loved around her. Back on Earth, she would've immediately been sent to a shrink or a psychiatric hospital for voicing her murderous thoughts and she didn't want to risk finding out what would happen if she did so here on Pandora.

Her thoughts are abruptly cut off, however, by the loud sound of an explosion going off on the upper decks of the WIGE ship. While Kayla was waiting in her dark mind, Jake was below, sneaking onto the ship along with Spider. As Quaritch was monologuing, Jake had taken a grenade and lodged it into a gunship that Neytiri had shot down earlier, the wreckage now resting on the top of the WIGE ship. Jake quickly ran back to Spider and shouted for him to take cover, right before the gunship exploded into fire and debris.

Kayla watched the explosion bloom into smoke before she finally flew down, knowing that was the signal. She uses that smoke as cover, flying down through it to remain unseen to the RDA goons. The fires were blinding the humans, scrambling away from the flames or diving in to save anyone who survived the initial explosion. At the moment, everyone was distracted, and it was this perfect distraction that the Sully adults used to their advantage, striking the Sky People while they were down. Jake leaped in and immediately took out a human and a Recom by impaling them with a Metkayina spear. He wasn't able to take the weapon with him as it lodged completely through the body of the Recom, so Jake quickly took his AK out and began firing at nearby soldiers once they began to notice his presence.

At the sound of gunfire, Kayla and Neytiri swoop into action, flying down from opposite ends of the ship, and surrounding the Sky People. Neytiri lands in a front-ward roll before skilfully aiming and firing her bow and arrow, immediately lodging said arrow into the leg of a female Recom. While the enemy avatar is distracted, Neytiri picks off the two humans who were covering the Recom's six. Neytiri raises the last human male up and shoots an arrow through his body and into the female Recom's skull before she can further react. Neytiri scrambles to retrieve her arrows once all immediate enemies are dead just as Jake approaches with his gun in his arms, keeping an eye out while his wife collects her ammunition.

"Clear," he announces to her, expertly looking around to spot more enemies.

Meanwhile, Kayla has landed on a different end of the ship, and Thena flies away. One Recom, bald and sporting tattoos with a patch on his vest that read L. WAINFLEET, immediately noticed her and shouted to the top of his lungs while aiming his gun in her direction, "We got another avatar!"

He and other humans begin to open fire, while Kayla immediately ducks for cover. Jake had climbed up onto the upper levels of the ship as this began to transpire and used the distraction to attack the RDA soldiers who were firing down at his sister from their high ground. He killed and flung their bodies down from the catwalk, the height surely killing their small and frail bodies. Wainfleet noticed the sky was raining bodies and briefly stopped firing to look up before his eyes widened and he immediately moved his gun sights onto Jake, "Eyes up!"

The human soldiers follow his order and begin to raise and fire up at Jake. Kayla uses this distraction to come back out of hiding and, with their backs turned, she immediately begins to open fire on the Sky People, expertly shooting most of them in the back of the head or top of the spine.

Neytiri throws herself into the fray, leaping down the flight of stairs leading down to the lower deck of the ship. She dives for cover as Quaritch and other Sky People take notice of her and open fire. Wainfleet and any Sky People that managed to escape Kayla's cascade of bullets try to surround Neytiri, moving up slowly to her hiding place as she continues through her murder spree. She manages to get above and behind the humans trying to get around and corner her, jumping down behind Wainfleet before disarming him and knocking him out when she swings her bow into his face. Out of arrows, Neytiri readies her bow to swing again and hides, waiting for the remaining soldiers to come find her.

Jake continued to be her eyes from above, shooting down at the soldiers below once they got too close to Neytiri's hiding spot. She comes out of hiding once her husband kills her remaining pursuers and rushes to grab any nearby stray arrows. Meanwhile, Kayla is pushing the remaining soldiers forward, shooting her AK into the fray and drawing them back. Little did the humans realize that Kayla had pushed them toward Jake and Neytiri in their rush to fall back away from Kayla's barrage of attacks. Jake jumps down once Kayla has their prey clustered close together and begins picking them off one by one. He lifts humans into the air and throws them into Recoms. He chucks empty rifles into RDA masks, causing the masks to shatter and the humans to suffocate while he moves forward with his tomahawk in hand. Kayla appears on the other side of the surrounded Sky People, completely cornering them into the blood bath. Once her section was cleared of hostiles, she moved further up to the highest point of the ship to provide support for Jake and Neytiri from above.

Neytiri shoots arrows at those who manage to break off and run away from Jake. Once out of arrows once more, she dives for one that was lodged into a dead body nearby, struggling with it as it got stuck. Meanwhile, Wainfleet had woken up behind her, face bleeding as he scrambled to reload his rifle. Neytiri had managed to get her arrow loose of the body and was about to aim and finish the Recom off before Jake appeared out of nowhere, attacking Wainfleet head-on and obstructing a clear shot for Neytiri to take.

"Ma Jake!"

While the two male avatars fight in close combat, more soldiers try to get around them. With her husband preoccupied, Neytiri covers him and fires her already-loaded arrow into one of the soldiers, killing him instantly. Behind the body was a clear view of Kiri and Tuk, cuffed to the center railing of the ship, just like what Spider had said.

With their daughters close at hand, Jake and Neytiri move in, now acting like a frantic couple of animals as the threat of their young is further imminent. Kayla provides backup support, knowing better to stay out of the parents' way, and empties her AK onto anyone below who is trying to subdue Jake and Neytiri, but through the smoke and flashes of gunfire, Kayla quickly loses sight of Na'vi pair, and the ground level grows eerily silent once there are no more soldiers to kill. Deciding to get closer to Kiri and Tuk's position, Kayla slowly and quietly makes her way back down, not wanting to make her presence known. She climbs down onto some gunship wreckage, not yet on the ground level once she spots the back of Jake's head. Getting a closer look, she realized Jake was weaponless, hands open in defeat.

Little Tuk was standing behind her father, shivering in fear, while in front of them stood Quaritch, his knife pressed tightly against Kiri's throat. At least, Kayla could only assume it was Quaritch, faintly seeing his name on the patch of his vest. They were all at a standstill, and when Kayla immediately jumped down to help, Jake threw his arm out for her to stay back, "Don't move!" He begged.

Quaritch keeps Kiri in front of him, using the teenager as a shield as he bares his fangs at Kayla upon her arrival, "Weapons down, now!"

"Do what he says." Jake sternly tells his sister. Kayla hesitates, eyes flicking between him and Kiri, then at Quaritch's knife that had already made small red cuts into her older niece's neck. Slowly, the female avatar sets down her gun and kicks it away, tossing her remaining ammunition over her shoulder before raising her arms up where the colonel can see them.

Satisfied, Quaritch quickly digs into his vest pocket and pulls out orange slap cuffs, tossing them onto the ground at Jake's feet as he snarls, "Cuff yourself."

"No!" A voice from behind Quaritch begged just as Jake was kneeling down to grab the cuffs. Everyone looked up to notice that the voice belonged to Spider, the human teen running around to get into Quaritch's line of sight, "No, don't hurt her, okay? Don't--"

"Stand there!" Quaritch roared, pointing a threatening finger at the boy while he kept Kiri in place with the knife against her neck.

"Spider, stay back!" Kayla yells out of fear, surprising even herself when her voice sounds stern.

Tuk softly cried while leaning back into her aunt's legs when Kayla drew close to the child, Jake firmly keeping his sister and his youngest child behind him, "Don't..."

"Don't. Move. Not a step," Quaritch threatens Spider before turning back to Jake, "Cuffs. On. Now!"

"You son of a bitch." Jake forces out through his anger and fear, slapping one side of the cuffs onto his wrist.

"Please, don't hurt her." Spider continues to beg.

Out of nowhere, Neytiri creeps up behind the human boy and retrieves her knife, grabbing hold of Spider and pressing her knife against his own neck with a snarl. Quaritch is startled at the sight, proceeding to hold Kiri tighter while looking between the boy and Neytiri.

The Na'vi woman's voice sounded so unlike her, hoarse and breathless, "Release. Or I cut."

Quaritch paused before trying to play off the threat, shaking his head, "What, you think I care about some kid? He's not mine. We're not even the same species."

"Just please don't-- don't hurt her," Spider continues to beg, ignoring his own life in exchange for Kiri's as he continues to plead to the man who holds the memories of his father, "Just please let her go."

"Don't!" Tuk continues to cry quietly, while Kayla holds the little girl's head against her. Both hers and Jake's ears and eyes flicked to whoever talked during the whole hostage situation, unable to move and feeling helpless.

"Please!"

"Don't kill him--" Kiri had begun to beg as well.

"Listen to me! Let her go. Don't hurt her."

"Mom, don't kill him."

"A son for a son." Neytiri shakily growls, tilting her head in Quaritch's direction as if studying him. She looked completely unhinged, sweat and human blood scattered all around her face and body, shrunken yellow eyes staring only at Quaritch.

"Neytiri, don't!" Kayla begs, holding Tuk close for protection and comfort, "Please!"

"Please don't hurt her," Spider continues to ramble until Neytiri takes her knife and slices the blade tightly over his chest, drawing small beads of blood, "Ah!"

"I cut," Neytiri hissed, flashing the blood on her knife to let Quaritch know she meant business.

Spider huffs in pain and grits his teeth, but he goes right back to begging, "Please just let her go, okay? Just let her go."

Quaritch and Neytiri stare down at one another, unblinking until Neytiri screams in rage and raises her knife up to cut down Spider. Barely anyone had time to react, apart from Quaritch, as he quickly pulled his knife away from Kiri, "NO!"

Kiri gasped only to realize that she wasn't in any more danger, calming her heartbeat as the relieved tears began to well up. A scream that threatened to climb out of Kayla's throat suddenly subsided, and she held her breath while waiting for Neytiri's reaction. The air is thick and tense, both knives raised in the air either to destroy or spare. Neytiri slowly looks back at Quaritch, breathing heavily as she waits, keeping her knife posed and her grip on Spider. Quaritch grunts in defeat, pushing Kiri away and stepping back. Kiri immediately gets to her feet as Jake, Kayla, and Tuk inch closer to her, the younger girl whispering reassurances for herself and her sister, "Kiri... Kiri. Kiri."

Neytiri watches her family reunite with one another before slowly lowering the knife back down, then pointedly shoves Spider behind her, away from Quaritch.

"Spider!" Kiri exclaims as she, Tuk, and Kayla run to him.

Jake slowly approaches Neytiri while they're occupied, taking the knife out of his wife's hand and keeping an eye on Quaritch, "Spider, get 'em outta here."

Without hesitation, Spider began to tug on Kiri's arm, pulling her toward the ocean that was slowly creeping onto the tilting ship, "Come on. Guys-- Tuk."

"I owe you a death," Quaritch points directly at Neytiri, who snarls ferociously back at him with pure hatred in her eyes.

"Mom," Kiri calls out, while Tuk begins to tug on her mother's arm.

"Mama."

"Come."

"Come on. Please, Mama."

Neytiri finally relents with her daughters' pleading, slowly backing up, inching toward the water. Jake keeps himself between Quaritch and his family, Kayla standing dutifully at his side while the children and Neytiri sink into the water. Quaritch keeps his knife in front of him, at the ready, acting like a cornered tiger while trying to bait Jake into staying, "You're not leaving, are you, Jake?"

"It's okay--" Kiri reassures Tuk as she and Neytiri draw closer.

"Knowin' I'm out there?" Quaritch continues.

"Kayla, back up," Jake muttered warningly, and his sister slowly sank into the water to join the others behind him.

"Knowin' that I'll never stop?" Quaritch seethed, his voice lowering now that it was only him and Jake still standing on the sinking deck of the ship, "I'm comin' for you. And when I do, I'll kill your whole family."

The water laps at Kiri's face as she sinks into the water, worry in her eyes while watching Jake stand still, no longer moving to join them, "Dad..."

Jake's body stiffens as if his mind had been made up about something, eyes focused only on Quaritch as he stands up straighter, "Then let's get it done."

"Jake, no!" Kayla yells just as Jake leaps for a nearby medkit at the same time Quaritch dives toward him. Jake swings the medkit and hits the Recom with it, momentarily stunning the colonel as he goes in for another attack, this time with the knife he took from Neytiri. He swings at Quaritch several times, closely missing his neck before finally getting a slice at his vest. As the ship continues to tilt and sink, crates and other debris slide down toward the fighting pair and both Jake and Quaritch have to move out of the way to avoid getting hit before moving back in for the kill. They grapple and wrestle for each other's knives, trying to shove the sharp tip into each other's skulls.

"Jake!" Neytiri calls out to her mate just as a burst of flame begins to spread over the water where coolant and oil had spilled into the ocean. The wall of flame grows and begins to inch closer toward the Na'vi and the human boy floating just above the water's surface.

"It's coming!" Tuk cries.

"Back. Back!" Spider orders to the girls, beginning to tread water back the way they came, "Get back to the ship! Go!"

"Tuk, swim. Swim!" Kiri instructs hurriedly.

Kayla, who was the last to get into the water, was now the first one out, grabbing onto the others one by one and pulling them back up onto the deck, starting with Tuk and ending with Spider as he made sure the others made it on first. Kayla continued to push the whole group ahead of her, occasionally looking around to see if Jake and Quaritch were still nearby, but she had lost sight of them.

And she wasn't the only one. Neytiri was also frantically looking around, fear in her eyes while clinging on tightly to Tuk's hand, "Jake--"

"I'll get him, go!" Kayla exclaims in a last-second decision, backing away from the group and breaking off while shouting at Neytiri from over her shoulder, "Get the kids outta here, we'll come find ya!"

Kayla then turns to look ahead of her as she runs, determination setting in as she goes over to where she last saw her brother. She hears grunts and growls in the distance and doesn't hesitate to sprint over just in time to see Quaritch kick Jake in the gut to disengage from their knife wrestle. Jake doesn't have time to react as a motor or a generator of some sort comes sliding down toward him and shoves him into the water.

Quaritch stalks over to the place Jake disappeared, knife glinting off of the flames of destruction around him. The Recom's muscles flex as he pants heavily with adrenaline, and with his back turned to Kayla, she makes a split and reckless decision. Unarmed, she leaps over sliding debris and then uses that momentum to jump up onto Quaritch's back with a small war cry, the both of them grunting at the impact while Kayla doesn't waste time to reach for and grapple for the knife in the colonel's hand. Quaritch growls and pitches Kayla forward off of his back, only for his grip to loosen around his knife and fall right into her hand. The female avatar stands up straight, quickly repositioning the blade more securely in her grip before charging forward, swinging in the air in front of Quaritch as he continuously dodges and leans away from the knife.

Eventually, he sidesteps and grabs her swinging arm, stopping the blade in its tracks before twisting her arm into an uncomfortable position. She cries out, forced to drop the blade before taking her other arm and elbowing Quaritch in the face. He staggers back with a pained grunt, then reaches for her arm again. He slams her against the rigging, driving her to take a gasp of air and regain her footing. A feat that was proven useless when Quaritch quickly grabbed the knife on the ground and reached forward, grabbing Kayla's kuru braid at the very base, connected to her skull. He yanked, hard, driving Kayla to scream in pain, the action rendering her immobile. He keeps her braid tight in one hand while the other retrieves his knife and is sure to let her know he means business when he presses the sharp blade to her throat. Kayla reduced her struggle to a minimum as she felt a small trickle of blood run down her long neck along with her sweat.

Quaritch grits his teeth and through the struggle, manages a small, gritted smile, "You're a newer model. You must be the little missing guinea pig the General was talking about."

She hissed, baring her fangs to the best of her ability, making the intimidating sound from the back of her throat, only cutting the sound off when Quaritch tugged painfully against her braid. Kayla gulped back air and frantically reached back for her queue at the base, trying to relieve his grip on such a sensitive part, following the motion to be sure the kuru wasn't torn from her skull. The movement brings Quaritch's attention to a certain item dangling from her neck.

Her RDA military tags, clinked softly together, proudly bearing her rank and station. Quaritch sees the name, so familiar that causes both dread and rage to eat him up from the inside out. He snarls, the fangs forming a cold, threatening smile, "Well I'll be damned... betrayal must run in the family."

Kayla nearly lunged at him before she felt a twitch in the knife and her body immediately stiffened, the cold blade digging further into her skin. She could see the male avatar's whole form tightening, preparing to use his strength to give the killing the blow. Quaritch's grip on her braid and his knife tighten and he's ready to just end her with the flick of his wrist.

"NO!" Is the only gutwrenching warning Jake gives either of them before he tackles Quaritch, shoving his whole body into the colonel's torso like a football player. The impact drives the older man to grunt in pain and also let go of Kayla, but the force of the tackle sends her falling backward, stumbling over the railing. Kayla is thrown overboard and sent falling into the ocean, where her screams forming her brother's name are drowned out by the water consuming her.

Unable to take a breath in before she hit the water, Kayla struggled to get air. She quickly swims up to the surface and manages to gulp out a breath or two when she breaches, but the moment is cut short when she realizes that the tipping ship was throwing debris off the side of the hull down into the ocean and onto her. Kayla instinctively holds her breath, properly this time, and dives back down into the water in an attempt to avoid the collision. Heavy machinery and other objects from the ship are falling quickly through the water around her like a knife through butter, too heavy to stay afloat. She narrowly misses as much debris as possible, trying to swim away as fast as she can, but she gets caught but a large piece of shipwreck that had broken off from the initial boat. It's heavy enough to drag her down, deep into the dark depths until the bioluminescent lights of the coral reef below light her surroundings, the glow of the fire and eclipse above the ocean's surface faintly disappearing the deeper she got dragged down. Her arms burned in exhaustion as she tried her best to pull and swim herself out from under the debris, but it was too heavy and sinking too fast, and her foot and gotten caught in a shredded hole wedged inside the metal.

Against all that she had learned, Kayla began to panic, her heart racing while she frantically looked around to the best of her ability. Because of this, the need for air came quicker, and her lungs began to burn and try to constrict. Pressure began to build in her skull and chest, and dark spots started to form in the corners of her vision. The creaking of metal fills her ears as Kayla's arms finally stop fighting, too tired and weak to continue to try. With her mind now foggy and devoid of logic due to lack of oxygen, Kayla opened her mouth and took in a breath.

Just as the water rushed through her mouth and entered her lungs, a sharp tug on her foot had wrenched her free. Whatever was wrapped around her ankle now rose to wrap around her waist, and distantly, Kayla felt herself being pulled against a solid form as they swam through the water. Barely gaining the strength to look up, she faintly realized she was quickly rising to the surface.

The moment her face is free from the water, she takes big gulps of air, coughing seaspray from her lungs as she's pulled up onto a tsurak without much of a struggle, laying across its strong back and part of its head as she catches her breath. The strong arm secure around her torso was heavily tattooed and clearly Metkayina, the limb letting her go once she remembered to hold herself up out of the water. Between breaths, she takes a moment to glance up and lets her body relax at the sight of Tonowari, sitting calmly on the saddle of the skimwing.

The olo'eyktan appeared grim at the sight of her, silently urging her to cough up the water with a hand gently placed on the back of her neck. Kayla winced when the initial touch was sore from where her queue braid had been tugged, and so Tonowari drew his hand away, instead tilting her chin up to inspect the cut on her neck, small trickles of blood flowing down her skin.

"Are you injured?"

"I'm fine." Kayla managed to spit out as she pulled her chin from his grasp, ignoring the sharp pain in her foot. She began wildly looking around and immediately spotted Ronal and her tsurak floating beside them. Closely watching Kayla, the tsahik's big eyes briefly glanced down at the neck wound her mate was inspecting on the avatar.

Satisfied by the answer, Tonowari instructs Kayla to lean against him so he can reach the handlebar of his tsurak, adjusting her until she's properly straddling the back of the powerful lungfish. Still a little dazed and recovering, Kayla doesn't fight being puppeteered as the tsurak begins to move in the direction its rider wanted to go. Kayla tiredly looked around, freezing in fear when she noticed the WIGE ship was barely peeking out of the water now, and she could do nothing but watch as it slowly disappeared, into the ocean, leaving nothing behind but large bubbles and ripples along with the groaning of metal.

It was only when Kayla realized that she was being led away from the location of the sunken ship did she begin to struggle, startling the skimwing and irritating the chieftain. Tonowari grips the handle of the tsurak with one hand but makes a point to restrain Kayla with the other, wrapping his whole arm around her torso again as she starts to protest loudly, "No! NO! My family's still in there! They're still down there, stop!"

"You will do them no good if you drown before you can get to them!" Tonowari snapped.

Ronal blocked the path of her husband's tsurak with her own, looking dead in Kayla's eyes with ferocious determination and fear, not willing to look away, "My daughter-- where is she?!"

Briefly stunned with the adrenaline slowly wearing off, Kayla sputtered for a moment, catching her breath while stuttering out, "On... On that rock face over there."

She points in the general direction where the dreading idea of Neteyam's body now lay, but neither Ronal nor Tonowari notice the look of defeat and grief on her face. Looking back at the ship, she couldn't help the tears falling down her face as she quietly whispered, "I'll take you to her."

They idly swam in silence, and it felt as though the world was ending. They swam past floating bodies and debris, empty boats, and life jackets. The sky was still red along with the scattering ocean of flames and smoke. The smell was almost unbearable. It was the longest silence in Kayla's life, her only thoughts on the whereabouts of her brother and his family. Had they gotten off the ship? Are they safe? Where was Quaritch?

Tsireya had spotted them in the water before the three Na'vi adults spotted her, crying and waving them over to the stranded rock fixture she stood on, her knees covered in blood, but not her own, "Sa'nok! Sempul!"

Kayla was immediately forgotten as both Ronal and Tonowari hopped off their skimwings and scrambled up onto the rock fixture, rushing toward their daughter. Ronal instantly gathered the crying girl in her arms, a little difficult with her rounded belly, but she had managed while whispering into her hair with relief in her voice, "Tsireya... Thank you, Great Mother, thank you."

Tonowari joins the embrace, wrapping his long arms around his wife and child. A soft yip in the wind draws the olo'eyktan's attention away, and upon looking around, he catches sight of two reef boys astride ilu. The boys call out again before jumping up onto the rock face. It was Ao'nung and Rotxo, both unharmed and a little frazzled. Ao'nung raced to his family and his father pulled him into their group embrace, relief now fully flooding the family's veins.

Rotxo stood just outside of the family, his eyes only set on one thing lying on the ground, dread seeping into his skin as his breath was taken from him, "Neteyam...?"

Tsireya only cried harder at the sound of his name, and when her parents and brother turned to what Rotxo was looking at, they came across a horrific sight. Their joy and relief were shortly outlived and exchanged for sorrow as they observed Neteyam's corpse, unmoving and now cradled in Kayla's arms. She was kneeling before her nephew's body, holding his torso up on her lap with her arms wrapped protectively around his head. She was crying silently to herself, sobbing so softly that none of the Metkayina standing before her could hear it over the wind and waves. Kayla was short of breath for an entirely different reason, her body shaking as the shock wore off and the realization sunk in.

Her nephew was dead, and for all she knew, so was the rest of her family.

The sunlight finally reemerged beyond the eclipse, the fires no longer setting a dreadful horizon. Kayla didn't care for the sunlight, her stomach turning when Neteyam's blood only became more noticeable. She was cold, wet, and exhausted, the adrenaline turned to full-body shakes up and down her spine. She didn't want to move, keeping her eyes shut so she could pretend that she was simply hugging Neteyam, but it was hard to do so when Neteyam felt so cold and stiff.

A large bellow is heard from the water as something big swims up to the rock fixture. Kayla remembers Payakan and looks up, tear tracks marking down both of her cheeks. Another wave of emotions took over her when she noticed that the rest of the Sullys were all hanging onto Payakan's fin, climbing tiredly up the rock fixture once they got close enough.

"Auntie!" Tuk cried when she first spotted Kayla, rushing over to her aunt. Kayla immediately set Neteyam down and tried her best to shield the girl from such a sight as she gathered the child up in her arms.

Kayla cried loudly, out of relief, holding onto Tuk tightly as if there was no tomorrow. Taking deep breaths through her sobs, she quickly looks around to take a headcount, quickly finding the remaining of the Sullys standing around her. Jake, Neytiri, Kiri, Lo'ak, and Tuk. All safe, all unharmed. Kiri runs up to join the group hug while Tsireya breaks away from her family to run into Lo'ak's arms. Jake and Neytiri pay no mind to anyone else, tired and distant both physically and emotionally. Neytiri simply walked back over to Neteyam, kneeling down and pulling her child into her arms as fresh tears began to cut down her face. Kayla finally lets her nieces go and gently leads them over to Neteyam, stepping away so the girls have their own time to grieve. After a while, Jake takes out a knife and goes around cutting away any remnants of orange slap cuffs still hanging off of anyone's arms and wrists. He cuts them off of himself, then Lo'ak, then Tsireya, and begins to cut the cuffs off both of Kiri's wrists. He doesn't want to take Tuk away from her big brother just yet, as the little girl cries into Neteyam's hand, holding the limb to her chest for just a little bit of comfort.

Another figure approaches, seemingly out of thin air, but only because he had just swam up to them. Kiri is the first to spot him, a relieved smile spreading over her face, "Monkey Boy!"

For the most part, everyone looks up to notice Spider, walking up to them unharmed apart from the long, thin cut across his chest. Jake stands up and puts his knife away, while Kayla watches the boy closely, looking for any signs of distress. But Spider was breathing perfectly through the mask, tired but otherwise intact.

Lo'ak gently breaks away from Tsireya to further observe his friend, likely also trying to see if he was injured, "Spider."

Ronal and Tonowari catch the name and glance at one another. So this was the sky demon boy affiliated with the Sullys. Kiri reached up to him from where she was sitting once he got close enough, placing her hand over Spider's heart. He looked down at her, equally solemn and relieved, reaching up to gently hold her hand. They smile faintly at one another before Jake interrupts to inspect the boy himself, placing his hands on Spider's shoulders.

"You all right?"

"Yeah."

Jake believes him and brings the human boy close in an embrace, looking around and then over to Lo'ak, seeing his son standing alone and looking ashamed. Immediately, Jake reaches an arm out and pulls Lo'ak into their group embrace, "Come here."

For the most part, Jake looked the worst out of all of them, bruised and slowly bleeding through small cuts and scrapes. They all stand or sit around, quietly taking in each other's presence and everything that just happened. Kayla finally felt as though she could sit down, slowly sinking to the ground until she was leaning back on her hands, properly regaining her breath, and trying to elevate her injured foot. Sighing now that pressure had been taken off her ankle, she looked around at everyone, the threat of danger still in the back of her mind, all the horror they had dealt with today now fully being comprehended in her mind. Looking over at Spider, she knows that she and Jake will have to question the boy and have him tell them everything that happened to him and how RDA had managed to find the Sullys. At the same time, they'll have to explain why they never went looking for him and offer their sincerest apologies. But for now, it'll have to wait. For now...

A son for a son.

A/N: Kinda not sorry. I love angst... no matter how much it hurts to write it. I definitely cried while writing this, but I really needed it cuz I haven't had a good cry in a while.

THERE'S GONNA BE MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE FIC. I have future chapters already written out so keep an eye out for an update! I intend to stretch this fic out until the next film, but let's see how it goes lol. Lemme know if you want a request or want to be added to the taglist!

Rip Matthew Perry

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waywardxrhea · 2 months ago

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Tuna-Tober Day 4 - Bucky Barnes

pairing: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier x fem!Reader

prompt: "This isn't you."

word count: 1,127

content: dead dove, angst, gun use, main character death. There is no happy ending. Hurt, no comfort. Read at your own risk. You are responsible for your own media consumption.

You stood in front of the lab hood that held a new piece of espionage tech that you had started working on a few months ago. It was in the final stages and just needed a few more adjustments before it was ready to be tested by Peggy. She was the only one you would trust to test the quality of your invention. Since you were recruited to work at SHIELD at its inception, you had worked on many projects alongside Howard Stark, but this one was one of the first that you worked on completely by yourself, and it was arguably your finest invention.

Heading to grab your notebook off of your desk to jot down some more notes for Peggy to use once she was testing it, you heard a ruckus down the hall and what sounded like gunshots. Furrowing your eyebrows together, you started creeping toward the wall, but just as you did, a hand reached out and pulled your heel out from under you!

You tumbled to the ground and grabbed for the small weapon hidden in your skirt’s pocket before realizing that the person who had pulled you down was Howard. “What did you do that for?!” you whisper-shouted at him as he held a finger to his mouth to hush you.

“Whoever that is, is after you!” Howard told you in a hushed tone with wide eyes.

“What do you mean after me? For what?” you asked, feeling your heart begin to pound in your chest.

“I don’t know! Someone called my desk and all I could hear was the background of the call. Whoever it is was asking about where to find you!” he told you. Scrambling up onto unsteady feet, Howard started ushering you toward the back of the lab, saying, “We need to get you out of here! If we go out here and into the-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the main door to the lab burst open and revealed a man with overgrown hair and a black mask covering the lower half of his face. He wore what looked like old military tactical gear that had one sleeve ripped off to reveal a silver metal arm with a red star on it. And held in the hand of that silver arm was a gun that was pointed right at you. “Get outta the way!” Howard shouted while roughly pulling you out of the bullet’s path as the man pulled the trigger. “What do you want with her?” he asked sharply as he stood with an arm in front of you protectively.

The man didn’t say anything, only made his way directly to your desk and grabbed your notebook off of the wooden surface. While he surveyed the desk’s contents though, a framed picture caught his eye and he hesitated as he brought the book closer to himself. You noticed this slight hesitation and furrowed your eyebrows, thinking to yourself, That was odd…

As the man in the mask looked up and made eye contact with you though, you realized why he hesitated. You knew those blue eyes anywhere. “Bucky?” you whispered, a tremor in your voice as you were forced to come to the realization that the man in front of you who shot at you only moments before was the man you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with. The man who you were told was dead. The man who was featured in that framed picture on your desk. It was taken at the Stark Expo before he was shipped off to fight in the war. You were both beaming at the camera and had your whole lives ahead of you. But everything changed when he went to fight for the country.

“My name’s not Bucky,” the man responded instantly, a coldness in his tone that you only ever heard him speak about Steve’s father in.

“That…that’s the Winter Soldier…” Howard whispered as he pulled on the fabric of your blazer to try and get you to move away from the threat in front of you. You had heard of the assassin before, of course. He was credited with the killings of some of the best minds in the intelligence community. And now he was after you… Your blazer was tugged at harder as Howard said in a firmer tone, “We gotta go! Now!”

You stood frozen to the ground though as you held eye contact with the assassin in front of you. “Howard… It’s him. It’s Bucky…” you said breathlessly.

There was another sharp tug as Howard snapped, “That is not Bucky! He is here to kill you!”

Ignoring your friend’s pleas, you slowly put your hands in the air before taking a cautious step toward the masked man. “This isn’t you,” you told him. Nodding your head toward the picture, you said, “That is you. James Buchanan Barnes.” A sad smile made its way onto your face and a tear escaped your eye as you continued. “The real you is the man who was gonna marry me, remember? We had a venue picked out and everything. You were gonna get Steve to officiate. We were gonna move to the suburbs and have a white picket fence once the war was over. Three kids and a couple of pets. We were gonna have a long and happy life together, Sugar.”

A quiet sob left your mouth as you grappled once more with the fact that your life turned out nothing like you expected. Howard whispered your name in warning, but you ignored him again and held your gaze with the man in front of you as you finished with, “That man is still in that handsome head of yours. I saw your hesitation when you looked at that photo. Now please, put down the gun. We can try to help you. Please. You’re the love of my life, Bucky. I can’t lose you again.”

As you finished your plea, something was spoken into a piece of technology he had in his ear and his eyes shifted from the comforting blue that felt like home to something as cold as ice before he said, “You’re my mission.”

A single gunshot rang out and you dropped to the floor in a lifeless heap, blood pooling under your body in an instant. Howard let out a scream in horror as he rushed to your side. Without an ounce of remorse in his body language, the Winter Soldier sauntered over to your lab hood and grabbed what he came for. To the soldier, you were simply another target he was assigned by HYDRA. But deep in his mind, to Bucky, you were his world. And you were dead because of him.

#bucky barnes x reader #the winter soldier #bucky barnes #bucky barnes angst #bucky barnes hurt/no comfort #tuna tober 2024 #tuna tober prompt challenge 2024

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amomentsescape · 1 year ago

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Hello 👋

I was wondering if a Jason Voorhees x Reader, Beauty and the Beast AU would be possible?

Have a nice day, love ya writing!

The Beast of the Woods

Jason Voorhees x Reader (Beauty & the Beast AU)

Summary: A love story retelling where true love can really turn a beast to a man.

Warnings: Some minor bad words, a cheesy fairytale-like ending

Word Count: 2,031

A/N: Thank you so much! Glad you enjoy my fics :) I didn't follow the original Beauty and the Beast storyline perfectly, but I tried to include some of those main parts as best as I could.

You were the first and only person that had ever caught lonely Jason's eye.

After all of this time trying to hide away in the darkness, riddled with insecurity and feelings of despair, you gave him that first taste of bliss.

That had to have meant something.

But years of hardship had stripped him of most of his humanity. He was selfish and callous, unable to recognize just how cold his anger truly was to others.

So when he saw you running up to him from the darkness of the woods, he didn't know how to react.

His grip around your father's throat only tightened as you pleaded to let him go.

How foolish were you? Didn't you know how quickly he could dispose of both you and your father?

But maybe that's part of what drew him into you- that fierceness in your eyes against all odds. It was admirable, but he would never admit it.

Your father let out a pained gasp under Jason's grip, and it only filled your heart with panic.

"Goddammit, he's sick! Can't you see?! Please, let him go!"

Begging was going to get you nowhere.

His grip tightened once more.

"No! Please, please! How about me?" you eyes frantically searched the masked man towering over you. "Take me instead! Just please, let my father go..."

That fierceness had melted into pure desperation.

How ridiculous, Jason thought. Love makes you do stupid things.

He slowly turned his head back to the man dangling in his grasp, tears and sweat already freezing to his skin from the cold winter air.

But when he looked back at you, there it was again- the feeling of bliss.

Jason dropped your father to the ground, and you immediately ran over and held his frame in your hands.

"No," he croaked, looking at you with teary eyes. "Not you. Please, take me!" he turned to look at Jason.

But it was too late. The masked beast was already grabbing your hand, pulling you towards the dilapidated cabin.

"(Y/N)!" your father called.

"I'll be okay!" you cried back. "Don't worry, please."

And with that, you were shut out from the rest of the world.

***

It took you a very long time to get to this point.

Jason was not a likable man by any means. All he did was pull you around and become aggressive whenever you refused to do what he asked. But surprisingly, he never once harmed you. It left you utterly confused and intrigued.

He had been ready to kill your father that night, you were sure of it. So what had made you different?

The first few days, you locked yourself in the room he had given you. You didn't want to do anything that involved being around that man.

But it didn't take long for nature to kick in. You could only go so long without food, and even though you wanted nothing to do with Jason, you knew you had to see your father again. Had he even made it out of these woods? The worry ate away at you.

You finally broke down one night, leaving your room and meeting him in the small kitchen.

He turned to you, body stiff at the sudden presence. But it didn't take long for him to turn back to his task: sharpening up the largest machete you had ever seen.

You gulped and felt the feeling of fear wash over you.

Jason must have noticed however, since he quickly set the weapon down, his head shaking back and forth ever so slightly.

The rest of that night was awkward, both of you eating in silence.

And things continued on like this for a while until one day, there was a knock on your bedroom door.

Jason was standing before you, holding a small book in his hand.

Despite trying so hard to keep up the stone cold facade, you couldn't help the small smile that broke out on your face. God, it was the first source of entertainment you have had in weeks. You didn't even notice the way Jason shyly looked to the ground as you grabbed the novel, his breathing speeding up.

He had never seen you smile before. But now that he had, he was certain that it would be the only thing he'd want to see for the rest of his life.

After that day, things became easier. He would gift you with a new book every week, relishing in the way your smile became a little bit bigger each time.

It eventually got to the point that you would read on the couch, Jason sitting beside you cleaning his machete.

You quickly learned that he was pretty partial to these books as well, seeming to relax whenever you decided to read aloud a couple chapters here and there.

To your surprise, and slight refusal, Jason didn't seem so bad anymore. Of course, he was still a bit brazen, but there was some amount of humanity left in him. You were sure of it. Why else had he spared your father and taken care of you like this?

You began to ask him questions, just simple small talk for the most part.

He always answered with a nod or a shake of the head. It wasn't too hard for you to pick up on how he communicated. He was a simple man at that, and he honestly seemed to appreciate the conversation.

Whether you were ready to admit it or not, Jason was becoming almost like a... friend?

***

You only grew closer after this. He began to trust you more, letting you help out with some of the chores and cooking around the cabin. He even began to take you out on short strolls around the forest. He secretly loved the way your eyes lit up at seeing the different critters running around the woods. It made him think that maybe you were starting to like living out here- living with him.

But his dreams came crashing down one night when he walked by your bedroom.

He could hear your poor attempts at silencing your sobs, crying quietly into your pillow.

He became worried and just slammed open the door, not even thinking about being polite in this situation. He had to protect you at all costs.

But as he sat on your bed, listening to you explain why you were so upset, he felt his heart break.

"I just miss my father so much. He was sick, and I don't know if he's doing okay without me. I wish I could see him."

Your eyes began to tear up once more, and you couldn't hold back the sobs that forced their way out.

The way you made him feel, the happiness you had brought him over this span of time, made him realize that he truly did care deeply for you. And because of that, he couldn't be selfish with you. Your happiness had suddenly become more important than his own.

So he let you go.

You hugged him so tightly before you left, his body fitting against yours like a puzzle piece. It felt right.

"Thank you, thank you!" you spoke hurriedly.

He had led you to the edge of the woods, allowing you to find your way home.

***

You father couldn't believe his eyes when you burst through the door. The fact that his child was back in his arms made him truly believe in miracles. He didn't think he'd ever see you again.

But what was even more shocking to him was what you had to say about the beast in the woods. He had actually been nice to you and took care of you? And you had come to like him as well? Truly, you must have gone mad.

"Don't you know the story of how the Beast came to be?" he asked softly.

"Don't call him that, Father. He's a human just like us."

He simply shook his head.

"The Be- Jason," he corrected himself. "Jason is a killer, (Y/N). Long ago, his own mother was filled with such rage that she committed the evilest of crimes as her own sick revenge. But even when she died, her spirit never rested. She passed on this twisted curse to her own son. And so for many years, he stalked the area and took dozens of innocent lives. It was only when all the villagers banded together that they were able to chase Jason away from their families. He has been living in those very woods ever since, only ever killing when lost souls found themselves deep within the wood. I would have never even stepped foot there if I hadn't thought you were lost. I just can't believe he didn't hurt you."

You felt frozen to your seat. There was no way that this man you grew to care for could have been a killer. He never once made you think he would do anything bad to you. In fact, you never saw him hurt anybody or anything that whole time you had been living with him. It didn't make sense.

"I can't believe this, I-" your voice caught in your throat.

You father looked back at you sadly. "I'm sorry."

Suddenly, screams and yells tore through the quiet sound of the night, ripping you both from the conversation.

You peered outside the window only to see a large mob of people heading towards the woods.

Jason.

You sprang up and ran out the door, ignoring the calls of your father to stop.

"He was just standing there at the edge of the forest. Must have finally wanted to end his suffering," you overheard someone say.

You kept running until you were with the crowd, shoving and pushing your way to the front.

And there before you, on the ground, laid the body of the man you had grown to care deeply for. Blood was beginning to pool around him.

"NO!" you screamed, taking him into your arms.

"Stay back! He will kill you!" one of the crowd members yelled.

Your gaze pierced back at all of them surrounding you.

"Jason would never hurt me! I've been staying with him for months and never once saw him hurt a fly. How dare you all punish him for something that was done against his will?!"

You turned back to Jason, his eyes looking back at you sadly.

"It's gonna be okay. I promise. J-just stay with me-"

Jason reached his hand out and placed it on your cheek, quieting your words. He simply shook his head and took your own hand in his free one, placing it gently over his heart.

He took his last breath like this, your tears dripping onto his mask as you cried painfully.

The crowd had slowly begun to thin out afterwards, only leaving your father who was kneeling beside you.

You could still feel more tears sliding down your cheeks as you bent closer to Jason's frame.

"I love you," you whispered to him.

And with a gentle touch of your hand, a miracle suddenly occurred.

His eyelids began to flutter as his head rocked around a bit, his whole body coming to its senses.

You could hear the gasp of your father beside you, your own breath getting caught in your throat.

How was this possible?

"J-Jason...?" you finally spoke, suddenly finding your voice again.

He turned to you at this, his arms quickly wrapping around you, pulling your body against his.

You began to laugh happily, your once sad tears being flooded out by joyous ones.

"How is this even possible?!" you asked once you finally pulled back from the hug.

Your father shook his head. "His mother's love was what kept him alive after all these years. But this time, it wasn't his mother's love that brought him back. It was yours."

"What does this mean?"

"His mother's spirit is finally put to rest."

You turned back to Jason at this, his eyes still on you.

"You're free, Jason!" you yelled excitedly.

He simply replied with a grab of your hand, placing it above his now beating heart.

#jason voorhees x reader #jason voorhees #friday the 13th #slasher fandom #slashers preference #slashers x reader #slashers #beauty and the beast #au

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sundeathh · 10 months ago

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Could you do demon!aizawa x fem!reader where the reader inherited a house and while just looking through she found a spell book and didn’t realise it but what she read actually magicked the demon and maybe the he “flirts” with the reader since the readers gets flustered easily? (U can add or takeaway whatever u want) thank youuu ❤️❤️

Demon!Aizawa

Fem!Reader | Words: 2,2k

Masterlist | CW: Suggestive but still SFW.

In the dimly lit room of the old house you inherited, dust danced in the air as you sifted through the forgotten relics of the past.

Amongst the aged books and trinkets, you stumbled upon an ancient and ornamented tome, its pages worn with time.

You held it delicately, the cover gleaming in the moonlight and the gold lettering shining with a soft radiance, almost ethereal. You ran your thumb across the delicate script, admiring the intricate craftsmanship of the workmanship. It was beautiful.

Its yellowish hue seemed to glow even in the dark of the room. It had been left behind by some old former owner that you now held within your hand.

Curiosity getting the best of you, you flipped through the pages randomly, stopping at one where a drawing caught your attention. It depicted a man, standing tall in what could only be described as a throne, surrounded by creatures whose appearance contrasted with his own.

His skin was pale, his hair dark. His features were slender and elegant, and it was appealing. On the other hand, the creatures at his feet looked disfigured, looking impassively as he stared down at them all.

You glanced at the small text written on the page next to the drawing, reading it aloud in a soft voice.

Unbeknownst to you, the words you began to read sparked a dormant magic, summoning a mischievous demon into existence.

As the incantations left your lips, a mysterious energy enveloped the room, and a chill breeze blew your hair softly.

Suddenly, you felt a presence behind you, which watched as you read the journal from a distance. The feeling of being watched made you turn around, only to meet a pair of red eyes staring intently back at you.

The figure wore nothing but black robes, his crimson eyes glued on yours, and a sly smirk graced his lips. Unfazed, he spoke, "Well, well, what do we have here? A summoning, and by accident, no less."

His voice was deep and smooth, resonating in the room. Your heart pounded against your chest as you tried to maintain your composure. You weren't exactly sure who or what this stranger was, but he certainly intimidated you.

He looked exactly like the drawing in the book, except instead of appearing malevolent and demonic, he just looked… odd. And very handsome, actually. With his long ebony locks that flowed down over his shoulders, and his intense gaze that appeared to see right through you…

You felt your cheeks heating up.

He smirked, seemingly amused by your lack of hostility towards him. He sauntered closer to you, taking advantage of the fact that you didn't have any weapons at your disposal, making you feel vulnerable.

"You must be quite skilled to summon a demon without even trying," he remarked, his tone suggestive.

You swallowed nervously, "What do you mean? Who are you?"

He hummed, taking another step closer and running a finger along your cheekbone, "You don't look like you've done much studying of demons before…" he trailed off, "but let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? I would have expected nothing less of a young woman such as yourself."

You gasped, pushing him away. "Back off" you growled, clenching your fists.

He chuckled, "Oh ho, so feisty aren't we? I like feisty women. I'll have to keep you around, then."

"No! What business is it of yours? How did you even get here?!" You demanded, your voice quivering. You had no idea why this strange, gorgeous creature was stalking you around.

The demon's smirk widened, and he continued to circle you as if assessing a precious gem. "You, my dear summoner, have quite the talent. Not everyone stumbles upon my services unintentionally."

You glared at him, a mixture of fear and annoyance. "I didn't summon you for any services. I was just reading this old book I found."

The demon scoffed, "I doubt that, my lady, but it seems fate has decided otherwise." The demon's gaze intensified, and he leaned in, his lips dangerously close to your ear. "Fate can be a fickle thing, my dear. It brought you to me, and I intend to make the most of it."

You could feel his warm breath against your skin, and an involuntary shiver ran down your spine. This was unreal; you were in your own home, yet a supernatural being was making you feel both nervous and strangely intrigued.

"I must say, I'm impressed," he continued, his tone teasing. "Not every human can summon a demon, especially an inexperienced one like yourself."

"Hey!" You yelped, stepping back, glaring at the demon. "You're just trying to scare me."

"My darling little Summoner," he cooed, moving slowly toward you, his eyes flicked down to your lips, then up again. "I have no intention to resort to intimidation tactics with you…"

The atmosphere grew thicker as his eyes held a mischievous glint. "But, if you insist on keeping things interesting, I'm more than willing to adapt to your preferences."

Your cheeks burned at his suggestive words, and you took another step back, creating more space between you. "I don't have any preferences, especially not involving demons."

He chuckled, low and throaty, enjoying the effect he had on you. "You say that now, my dear, but you summoned me. There must be something you desire deep down."

Your eyes narrowed, and you crossed your arms defensively. "I'm not playing your games. Just leave."

The demon tilted his head, studying you with a thoughtful expression. "Playing games? Oh no, this is just the beginning. As for leaving, why would I when I'm having such a delightful conversation with you?"

You huffed in frustration. "This isn't a conversation. This is you invading my personal space and making inappropriate remarks."

He grinned, unapologetic. "Personal space is overrated, and as for the remarks, I'm just stating the obvious. You summoned a demon, after all."

Your agitation grew, but you couldn't deny the strange allure of the situation. "I didn't mean to summon anyone. This is a mistake."

The demon's eyes softened for a moment, a hint of genuine curiosity breaking through his playful facade. "A mistake, you say? Well, mistakes can be quite fascinating, dear. They lead to unexpected discoveries."

You sighed, feeling a strange mixture of irritation and intrigue. "What do you want from me?"

He stepped back, giving you some breathing room. "For now, just a little bit of your time. I promise to make it worth your while."

You started flipping through the book again, searching for anything that might help you solve the problem you'd encountered.

The demon smirked once more. "You know what, I think I'll sit down." He said, sitting at a chair by a desk and crossing his legs, resting his elbow on the armchair, his hand suspending his head.

He observed you, watching every move you made to try and figure out whether you could send him away with one more spell. His ruby orbs roamed around your surroundings, taking in the old furniture around you. "You seem like a smart girl," he told you, "but that's not good enough to send me on my way."

You frowned in confusion, and he smiled knowingly, "you will need more than simple spells to get rid of me."

"Why should I believe you?" You inquired. "How do I know that I won't die because you're going to drain me dry before I even know what happened?"

The demon chuckled, shaking his head. He stood up, walking toward you again. Your eyes followed his movement, refusing to let your guard down. The demon stopped before you, gazing at you from head to toe. "You may trust me or not. But either way, you are stuck with me for a while longer, my dear."

The tension in the room seemed to ebb and flow with the demon's every movement. His confident demeanor, combined with the uncertainty of the situation, left you feeling both uneasy and strangely captivated.

As he circled you, you couldn't help but feel the weight of his gaze, as if he was unraveling the secrets hidden in the depths of your soul. The book you clutched in your hands felt like both a shield and a potential weapon, though you doubted its effectiveness against a being like him.

The demon's eyes sparkled with a playful gleam, and he couldn't resist turning the conversation into a teasing game. "My dear summoner, you hold the secrets of this ancient place in your hands, yet here we are, bound by fate's curious whims. Don't you find it amusing?"

His tone took on a more lighthearted cadence, and he eyed you with a certain flair. "You see, summoning a demon is quite the bold move. A testament to your adventurous spirit, perhaps?" He paused, letting the words linger in the air.

You met his gaze, a mix of confusion and curiosity in your eyes. "Adventurous? I didn't summon you on purpose, and I certainly didn't expect this."

He grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Ah, but that's the beauty of it, dear. The unexpected can be thrilling. Now, let's not dwell on the details. Instead, allow me to appreciate the one who unintentionally brought me into this intriguing situation."

The demon leaned in slightly, his words a gentle caress. "Your courage, even in the face of the unknown, is truly captivating. I must say, it's an irresistible quality."

You felt a warmth spreading through your cheeks, caught off guard by the unexpected turn of his words. The demon seemed to take delight in unraveling the layers of your composure.

The demon's eyes gleamed with amusement, a pleased smile spreading on his lips as he noticed the subtle blush that adorned your cheeks. "Ah, there it is – a delightful shade of rose to decorate your cheeks. How charming," he mused, reveling in the small victory.

He continued to circle you, his presence exuding a magnetic charm. "It seems I've uncovered a hidden facet of your spirit, my dear. Who knew that the summoner of demons could be so enchantingly bashful?"

Your heart rate accelerated, and the warmth from earlier quickly spread throughout your entire body. You weren't sure whether your cheeks were flushed with embarrassment at being complimented by a stranger, or the sudden rush of attraction the demon stirred within you.

The demon chuckled, clearly aware of the effect he was having on you. "Tell me, my dear, what is it that you desire? A kiss, perhaps? Perhaps a caress on those pink lips…?" His voice trailed off suggestively.

"Stop!" You exclaimed, your voice sounding louder than intended, much to the demon's enjoyment. The blush on your face intensified, and you dropped the book you were holding, hoping to put distance between yourself and the demon as quickly as possible.

The demon quirked a brow, amused by your reaction. "Don't you want a little fun, Summoner?" he asked playfully, a smirk tugging at his lips again, "If we continue this way, I fear you might actually enjoy my company."

"I highly doubt that…" You retorted, trying to ignore the fact that your whole body felt warmer than usual.

The demon laughed, enjoying the blush that covered your cheekbones. "Come now, my dear," he purred, approaching you again and placing a delicate hand on your cheek, lingering longer than necessary. "I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to indulge in this once or twice. After all, this is merely an innocent exchange of words. No harm in that, right?"

You swallowed thickly, unable to stop the shiver that ran down your spine at his touch. You tried pulling away, but the demon placed a finger on your lip, making you freeze. "No, no, let's not run away." He shook his head in disapproval. "Let us finish this business before we start avoiding each other, hmm?"

Your eyes widened at his unexpected change of behavior, and you pulled away with a gasp, glaring at the demon in anger. "What are you talking about?"

He shrugged his shoulders indifferently, his lips curling up in a playful manner, "you're just so adorable when you're flustered, and you're getting more beautiful by the minute. You're a very desirable female." His tone was smooth, and his stare never wavered.

A slight pout formed on your reddish features, your eyes narrowing dangerously. "And you're a big jerk, so keep away from me."

The demon raised a brow at your hostile attitude. "Oh really?" He mocked, tilting his head as he studied your expression with interest. "Then again, you did summon me to your home. There might be a reason, don't you think?"

His expression softened considerably as he moved closer to you, cupping your jaw tenderly in his hands. He tilted your chin upward slowly, forcing you to look directly at his crimson eyes, which held a sort of mischief that you'd only seen before.

You averted your gaze to avoid any kind of prolonged eye contact. "I don't know what you're talking about…" You mumbled.

He chuckled softly, brushing his thumb over your lips. "Don't go spoiling our little deal, now" he said quietly, turning your head to look at him. "After all," he continued with another seductive grin, "there's still more to come." The demon cooed.

With that, he leaned forward, pressing his lips against yours.

Likes, reblogs, and comments are appreciated!

#my hero academia aizawa #aizawa shota x reader #aizawa x reader #aizawa x y/n #aizawa x you #bnha aizawa #mha aizawa #bnha fanfiction #aizawa shōta #aizawa shouta

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scummy-writes · 10 months ago

Text

"Find The Chev!"

Inspired by @minsharkie due to her super cute papercrafts, and a discussion in my ikepri/ikevamp server where @solomons-poison brought up a cute idea of the Clavis papercraft sitting on top of Sariel's paperwork.

You didn't have much free time on your hands, not really, but you felt inspired one day after watching Clavis make some of his... creations... With some inks and stiff paper you found around the palace, you set to work with a dastardly deed of your own: capturing Chevalier's likeness in a cute, mini version of him. And after Clavis laid his eyes upon it, a mixture of mischief and jealousy flashed in his eyes.

From that moment on, he came up with a new game to play around the palace in hopes of annoying his brother, lovingly dubbed 'Find The Chev!'

It starts off, well... Chaotically.

At first, the little Chev would be found in places accompanied by Clavis' traps: near nets that were ready to drop, right in front of a pitfall, and the worst was in the (unlit) fireplace.

That was when you huffed, dusting the soot from your cute creation. After a few touch ups and a new paper cape for the mini beast, you told Clavis you put too much work into this just to have it sullied in such a way.

From that point on, little Chev traveled to much safer places, and the game restarted in a trap-free style. Each of the princes had gathered wind of this game by now, and it became a daily habit for whoever to find him to share where he found them with the others (and perhaps with a hint of where to find him next)

───※ ·♡· ※───

Leon found him at the training grounds, fit with a crudely made paper sword of his own by the rest of the weapons. He brought the news with a chuckle, joking that it was the first time he saw Chevalier with a sword drawn and no bloodshed.

Jin found him in Leon's fraction's office, balancing at the very tip of the messiest pile in the room. He seemed oddly relieved that he wasn't hiding elsewhere in the room, rather than ashamed at the mess.

Chevalier found him in his favorite reading spot in the gardens, returning him to you with his normal frown. Yet the mini version of him returned with a petal on his head, unharmed and in pristine condition, faintly smelling of roses.

Nokto found little Chev near his favorite 'reading' spot in the library, late at night. He didn't deliver this news until the morning after, but reported that the mini King Highness was reading a book of his own, with a little heart drawn on it.

Licht found him next in the stables, balancing carefully on the divider separating the other horses with his. He found it odd that it was there, but mumbled that little Chev was safe ontop a crude wooden horse of his own.

Yves brought word of little Chev's next adventure as he gave you some sweets to 'sample', saying he found him next to his baking supplies. He did not confirm or deny if the little Chev helped him bake the sweets he presented, bristling with a blush instead.

Luke yawned as he patted your head, asking if you knew why little Chev was hidden away in his favorite sleeping spot. When you had no answer, he simply shrugged and grinned, letting you know he found him with a little blanket of his own to join in on Luke's nap.

Sariel mentioned it at the end of a lesson, cleaning up the papers you two had used. This time, little Chev was found next to a secret bottle of Sariel's, leaning up against it as though he had sipped from it's contents. ... You sweated during the interaction, having to convince him you truly had no idea who hid it that time around.

Keith brought news of the surprise tea time guest, nestled between various sweets that Yves had made. Little Chev smelled faintly of tea, he reported, and seemed to be in good spirits.

Gilbert found him on top of the chess board him and Chevalier play on. He presented him to you with a grin, making note that the little Chev had taken place of the king, and was toppled over. You weren't too happy with the implications, but found relief that he only came accompanied with a white piece from that set.

Silvio had his hands on his hips when we informed you of finding your 'weird toy' in the spare room he had been holding meetings with merchants in. His frown got worse when he said the gaudy paper necklace he wore wasn't funny in the slightest.

And Rio found him on your breakfast tray, serving him to you with a wink. There, little Chev accompanied your morning tea and pastry, ready for you to take him on his next adventure.

Clavis putting him in the fireplace was meant to be a joke about how he feels about chev's actions, but it was unlit and he never wanted to bring actual harm to it (why would he do that to smth you made!!)

Anyway this was fun! I thought this was a cute idea, and I had fun imagining the little trips lil Chev could have gone on. I thought any trips into town would be risky, so I kept it limited to just around the castle(palace?) grounds.

I am imagining that lil Chev has a resting place that is easy for anyone to nab without spoiling the fun of Who Did It This Time, complete with a note beside it to Please keep him safe on his travels. Each time he is returned to you, you debate on leaving him there or taking a turn at hiding him again.

Taglist (let me know if you'd like to be added or removed!): @yarnnerdally @katriniac @kissmetwicekissmedeadly @bakaneko-chan @skoetiepoetie @bestbryn @nightghoul381 @xbalayage @lokis-laugh @queengiuliettafirstlady @candied-boys @drachonia @fang-and-feather @keithsandwich @bubblexly @ridiculouslly-ridiculous @drewadoodle

Ikepri Masterlist | Ikevamp Masterlist | Ikevamp/Ikepri Server

#ikemen prince #ikepri #clavis doesnt get a special spot since he tortures the thing enough

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justagalwhowrites · 1 year ago

Text

Lavender - Ch. 31

The trio makes it to Kansas City and finds more than they bargained for. A continuation of Lavender Ch. 1-30 found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Canon typical violence. No use of Y/N. Minors DNI, 18+ only

Length: 5.8K

“I don’t know what fucking freeway it is, Joel!” You were trying not to yell. It wasn’t working. “There are like a dozen freeways on this map and I can’t tell which one we’re on because it’s not like FEDRA’s kept up the signage and I can’t tell which way is up because we’re so fucking turned around!”

“And you said you didn’t like strong language,” Ellie smirked a little, looking back at you.

“Not the time,” you said, managing to not snap at her.

You were leaning between the two front seats, the map of Kansas City in your hands and you had no clue where the fuck you were. On the east side of it, you thought, but Joel had cut across and changed direction so many times you weren’t sure

“Maybe give the kid the map if you’re not going to fucking navigate,” Joel snapped, looking for a way through the wall of abandoned cars, the space getting tighter and tighter.

“I don’t wanna do it!” Ellie yelped. “It’s my first time in a fucking car, I can’t read a map…”

“I should have driven,” you snapped. “I’m the better driver, you’re the navigator…”

“You’re better in city traffic, where’s the fucking traffic?” He bit back.

“Guys!” Ellie yelled. You both looked at her and she nodded to a plywood sign leaning against an overpass near the next exit. Just an arrow and two big letters: QZ.

“If we skirt around the edges, probably fewer raiders and infected,” Joel said, voice calmer now. “Just have to try to stay the right distance away, not like the QZ’s on the fuckin’ map.”

“Not that anyone here can read the fucking map,” Ellie muttered.

Being this close to Kansas City had made the three of you tense, far tenser than you’d been since leaving Bill and Frank’s. Your unexpected little trio had struck an odd balance as you started the journey west.

Joel walked back to the house with you from the pharmacy, your bag loaded with the medications you thought would be helpful on the trip - both for you to use and trade or bribe with in case you ran into people.

“Haven’t been around a kid since…” he trailed off, staring straight ahead.

“You’ll get used to it,” you half smiled at him. “You were kind of a natural at it.”

“Long time ago,” he said. He ground his teeth.

“She’s a good kid, Joel,” you said. “It’ll be OK.”

And it mostly was.

Bill, being Bill, had a very well supplied home. You went through the kitchen - your heart clenching a bit when you saw a bottle of soy sauce next to the vanilla extract - and collected anything that would keep and put together something you could eat before getting on the road that wouldn’t. There was a jar of dried lavender and you took that, too. You took Ellie to the boutique in town and found new, clean clothes while Joel figured out how to get the truck working. You took a shower - a HOT shower, your first in years - and your mind wandered to the time Joel first made you cum in a shower and you had to resist the urge to put your hand between your legs.

The two of you left Ellie to look for some books in the library while Joel took you out back, giving you a pistol.

“This one shouldn’t fuckin’ jam on you,” he said, a thread of pain in his voice. You looked up at him. His face was hard. You reached out to touch him but he stepped back from you. “Let me see how you shoot it.”

It felt oddly exposing, setting up to shoot a target with Joel’s eyes on you, examining everything you were doing. It was harder to think straight this way, the feeling of his gaze seeping into your stance.

You swallowed, hard, and shot. The bullet went wide, landing on the hay bale that Bill had set up at one point in time to practice.

“Here,” Joel came up behind you. “Both hands.”

He guided your grip on the weapon and adjusted your arms.

“Open your stance up a bit.”

He nudged your feet apart, putting his leg between your own. You could feel him there behind you. He smelled good, freshly showered, his hair slicked back. Your first instinct was to bury your nose in his neck and breathe him in, fill your lungs and blood with him until there was nowhere else left for him to go.

“Keep both eyes open, don’t squint.”

He kept his hands below your biceps. You took a shaky breath.

“Don’t be nervous,” he said. “Just a target.”

“Not nervous,” you muttered.

“Feel nervous.”

“You just don’t know how I feel anymore,” you said before thinking better of it.

He laughed once.

“Guess not. When you’re ready.”

He stepped slightly back from you but kept his body close, like he was waiting to catch you in case the recoil was too much. But it wasn’t and you hit the target this time. Not dead on, but better.

“Good,” he said, stepping back further. “Do that with the rest of the clip.”

You nodded and obeyed, firing the remaining rounds one right after the other. When you were down to the last few, he cautioned you.

“Two left,” he said. “Don’t dry fire it, bad for the gun.”

You shot the last two. All of them made it into the target, one even getting pretty close to the bullseye. You smiled, a bit proud.

“Good,” he said, coming and standing beside you. “Try to keep count of how many bullets you got when shootin’. It can save you in shit situations if you can remember to change the clip when you got a second and you know you’re low.”

“Why does she get a gun and I don’t?”

Neither of you had noticed Ellie, who’d come outside and sat down on the back stoop.

“Because you’re 14 and don’t need to be killing anybody,” you replied, heading back toward the house. “And you have us to be your bodyguards so you won’t need to worry about it.”

She crinkled her nose.

“I should have just one gun.”

“No.”

You and Joel said it together. Ellie sighed dramatically, getting to her feet.

“Just have to politely ask the infected to go bother someone else I guess…”

“There you go,” you patted her on the shoulder. She glared at you. “Never underestimate the power of a few nice words.”

She sighed and trudged into the house.

Ellie looked so in awe of the truck, you let her climb in front when you all packed up to leave. You sat in back, leaning between the two front seats as Joel started the thing up and Ellie pushed every button she could reach.

“What, have you never been in a car before?” Joel asked dryly.

“No,” she said, nudging an air conditioning vent. She looked over her shoulder at you. “It’s like a spaceship…”

“It’s like an old piece of shit,” Joel muttered. “But Bill took care of it so hopefully it’ll get us where we need to go.”

“You’ve always had a thing against old cars,” you said, remembering your old car from college as you reached around to tug on Ellie’s seatbelt and hand it to her. She took it, confused. Joel reached over and buckled her in.

“I have a thing against cars that aren’t gonna make it where they need to go,” he replied, looking over his shoulder at you. You rolled your eyes.

“That car was great…”

“That car was about 20 miles away from fallin’ apart,” he replied. “This one’s better than that at least.”

Joel started it up and you couldn’t help but be relieved to hear the engine turn over. All this fuss over a battery and you had one that worked.

“Got us some tunes,” Ellie whipped out a cassette tape and put it in the tape deck before you had a chance to even see what it was.

“Oh, this is good,” Joel turned it up a bit. “Linda Ronstadt…”

You watched Lincoln fade into the background as the song played over the stereo.

The trip had been pretty good, considering it was the apocalypse. You hadn’t run into raiders, which you were counting as a win. No infected, either, another win.

It was relatively slow going. Not that you had to obey speed limits or worry about keeping pace with traffic but gas was hard to come by. You could only go for a few hours before you had to start looking for clusters of abandoned cars in the hopes that you could siphon enough for a fill tank.

“How’s that work, anyway?” Ellie asked on the second stop, leaning against the trunk of the car as you kept watch.

“It’s a siphon,” he replied.

“So?”

He sighed.

“It’s when pressure makes liquid…” he paused, narrowing his eyes. Ellie smirked.

“You don’t know.”

“You have a science teacher right there, ask her,” he muttered. “Millions of fuckin’ questions…”

“A siphon works by liquid naturally following the flow of other liquid once it’s working with gravity, Joel,” you smirked at him. He glared back. You turned to Ellie. “Once you can get the liquid over the bend in the tube there and down to where it’s below the liquid line in the tank, gravity takes care of the rest. You have to use suction to get it going which can be dangerous with gasoline.”

“Interesting,” she said, nodding seriously. “Glad someone around here knows something.” You resisted the urge to laugh as you watched the horizon for signs of people or infected. Joel glared.

“Not that interesting,” he muttered.

“You’re right,” Ellie said, taking her backpack off. “Not nearly as interesting as…. THIS.”

She pulled out a small book.

“No Pun Intended, Volume Too, by Will Livingston,” she smiled proudly. “See, too? Get it?”

You bit back a laugh as Joel sighed. Ellie yanked the book open.

“What did the mermaid wear to her math class?” She looked between you.

“Why?” Joel asked, shaking his head.

“What did she wear?” You said, nudging Joel with your knee.

“An algae-bra!”

You snorted. Joel sighed. Ellie looked immensely pleased.

“Hey Ellie,” you said. “Did you know I’m reading a book about anti-gravity?”

She frowned.

“It’s impossible to put down.”

“Yeah!” She high fived you. Joel looked like he was questioning every decision that had led him to this point in his life.

“You two better not do this the whole damn way,” he muttered. You patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Miller,” you said. “You’ll live.”

You had to stop overnight twice on the way to Kansas City, Joel not wanting to sleep while you drove.

“What if somethin’ happens?” He asked as he pulled off into the woods. “Get cut off in the dark by raiders and I’m half asleep not able to fuckin’ handle it…”

You just sighed and let him find a place to camp.

It was cold enough and it had been long enough since you’d seen another person that Joel felt safe building a fire and the three of you sat around it, warming your hands. You’d always loved the smell of a campfire. It reminded you of being a girl living in the country with your grandmother, the farms around you having bonfires of some kind almost every night in the summer. Sometimes you’d get to join them, roasting marshmallows and drinking iced tea, the older kids telling scary stories that would make you jump and scoot closer to your grandmother. They reminded you, too, of the handful of camping trips you’d taken with Joel and Sarah. The second time Sarah made a smore, she set her marshmallow on fire in spite of the warnings Joel had given her and then insisted that she’d done it on purpose.

“I LIKE them burned,” she said defiantly, smushing the charred glob onto a graham cracker. “They’re better that way.”

She always set her marshmallows on fire after that if Joel was around the campfire, too. But if he got up to go find more wood or use the bathroom, she’d whip a marshmallow onto her stick and lightly toast it.

“You cannot tell my dad,” she said, looking over her shoulder as she assembled her golden brown smore.

“Your secret is safe with me,” you said solemnly.

Ellie passed out first, curled up in her sleeping bag and snoring softly.

“See?” You elbowed Joel lightly. “Not that bad.”

He nodded a bit, staring off into the dark of the woods.

“Are you doing OK?” You asked after a moment. He shrugged.

“Still hard to think Tess is gone,” he said. “Keep thinkin’ about what I could’ve done differently…”

“That’s not a good way to live,” you said softly.

He nodded again.

“I know.”

You looked at him, the lines of his face cast in shadow from the flames. You had to fight the urge to trace them, to relearn the planes of his skin and commit him to memory all over again.

“You’ve lost a lot, Joel,” you said. “Too much. But that doesn’t mean it’s your job to live in it. You don’t have to dedicate yourself to it.”

He didn’t say anything, just clenched his jaw.

“The picture,” he said after he was silent for a moment. “Why’d you have it?”

You tucked your fingers into the folds of your knees, hoping holding onto them would keep you from reaching out and touching him.

“I wanted one of what you looked like now,” you said. “So I wouldn’t forget. That’s the only one I had so I took it… I didn’t want to forget.”

He looked at you for a moment, so close that your elbows touched.

“Should rest,” he said. “We’ve got driving to do in the morning.”

You nodded and got to your feet, stretching your back as you did.

“Goodnight, Joel,” you said quietly.

“Goodnight.”

The next day was much in the same. Ellie got excited when you drove past what looked to be a fair that was set up for the day of the outbreak, the rides still standing after 20 years.

“So people would really sit in those baskets and go around in a circle to look at nothing,” she sounded incredulous.

“Wait in line for it, too,” Joel said. “Course that fair’s kind of shitty. Texas State Fair was way better. Definitely had a better ferris wheel, too.”

“Oh my God, remember Big Tex?” You asked as you drove, looking at the rusting rides as you passed. “He’d talk every 30 minutes or whatever?”

“He always said the same stuff and everyone’d want to come listen,” Joel shook his head. “Never understood the obsession.”

You set up camp that night but it didn’t last for long. Ellie had just fallen asleep when you heard a sizzle from the campfire. You frowned for a moment before a fat raindrop landed square on your forehead.

“Shit,” you swore.

“Go get Sar…Ellie,” Joel said, grabbing the sleeping bags and heading for the truck. You looked at him for a second before rushing to rouse Ellie. The rain moved in quickly, you barely had time to ball up her sleeping bag before it was pouring and the three of you piled into the cab of the truck, wet and irritable. Ellie was shivering.

“Here,” you went into your bag as the rain hammered the roof of the car. You got out your alumni sweatshirt. “Put this on, we won’t look.”

She handed you her damp clothes and you spread them out on the dash, hoping that would give them the space to dry.

“Being outside sucks,” she muttered, lying down across the back seat with a huff.

She fell asleep quickly as you watched the rain smear down the windows. You fought not to shiver. It wasn’t like you could spare the gas to run the heater. You glanced at Joel.

“Would you mind if I took my shirt off?” You said quietly, hoping it didn’t wake up Ellie. “I’m just very tired of being damp.”

“Don’t mind,” he said, voice rough.

You peeled the wet flannel from your body, your skin covered in goosebumps and pulled the sleeping bag over yourself. Inside, at least, had stayed pretty dry.

“That your UT Alumni sweatshirt?” He asked after you’d settled into the passenger seat, curled up on the leaned back chair.

“Yeah,” you said softly, glancing back at Ellie. She was out. “Didn’t want to leave it.”

“Didn’t think you’d still have it,” he was quiet but gruff.

“It’s getting a bit threadbare but,” you shrugged. “I wear it when I’m lonely. It helps. Figured I’d be lonely a lot out west.”

You more felt his eyes on you than saw them, the clouds blocking out the moon and the stars. You looked back, finding what little you could of him in the dark.

“Outside,” you whispered. “You almost called her…”

“I know.”

You were quiet for a moment.

“It’s OK to let yourself love things, Joel,” you said. “I know it’s hard and that you’re hurting but… what’s the point of surviving if you’re not going to love people through it?”

He was silent but his eyes were still on you.

“Goodnight, Joel.”

“Night.”

For a moment, before you opened your eyes in the morning, you felt the gentle weight of his hand on your face. He took it back before you moved. You didn’t say anything.

Things had gotten tenser as you closed in on Kansas City. The abandon cars were dense, there was a feeling on the air that something wasn’t right. Finding a path through anything was almost impossible.

Joel sighed and maneuvered for the exit.

“Better not be a fuckin’ trap,” he muttered.

It was.

It didn’t take long before the wall of the QZ was in sight. Your stomach twisted and you went into the side pouch of your pack and pulled out your gun, tucking it into your waistband at your back, and your knife, clipping it to your pocket. Ellie looked over her shoulder at you, an uneasy expression on her face. You just patted her shoulder.

“Holy shit,” Ellie said, leaning forward in her seat. You frowned and leaned forward too. The main gate was open, no person in sight. Your eyes went wide. “What happened? Where’s FEDRA?”

“I heard some stuff when I saw Abe last,” you said, glancing at Joel. “Some concerns about unrest in Kansas…”

“Help me!” A man stumbled forward in the street ahead of you. You frowned and went to get out. Joel grabbed you.

“Buckle up,” he ordered, grabbing his seatbelt himself.

“But Joel,” you protested as you obeyed.

“No,” he snapped, flooring it for the man.

“Joel!” You yelped. The man dove out of the way at the last second before a cinderblock crashed onto the windshield.

“Fuck!” Ellie yelled, her hand flying out to hold onto the door. Someone started shooting and you shot forward as far as your seatbelt would let you, trying to force Ellie to duck down. The tires blew and Joel fought to keep control of the truck before crashing through a building and coming to a stuttering halt.

“Out,” he said quickly, nodding to the doors on your side, the ones going in toward the building. A bullet pinged against the door of the truck. You flinched. “Move!”

You and Ellie both scrambled to obey, staying low. Her backpack was in her grasp, yours on the floor of the back of the truck. You just hoped you’d get a chance to retrieve it. Assuming you lived. A bullet hit the side of the truck and you gulped.

“There,” Joel nodded to a hole in the wall, past the bed of the truck. It was small, it looked like you could just fit through it. “Go there, both of you, I’ll cover you.”

“No,” Ellie shook her head. “No, I’ll get fucking shot…”

“Not going to let them shoot you,” he said. She was still shaking her head. “Hey. Look at me.” She listened. His eyes went between you both. “I’ve got you. I’ll keep you safe. Stay low, move quick. Won’t let anyone shoot you, OK? When I say go, you go. Ellie first. Ready?”

She nodded, shaky.

“Go!” He stood up and fired out toward the street and you watched as she scrambled through the hole. Joel dropped back down, looking at you.

“Be safe,” you said. He nodded once. Bullets pinged off the truck.

“Go!”

He stood up again and you crouched low, going as fast as you could for the hole before squeezing through. Ellie was pressed against the wall next to the hole and you looped your arm through hers, pulling her away from the wall while staying low, just in case.

You closed your eyes and tried to not think about the fact that Joel was in a shoot out a few feet away and you were in here, cowering. The shooting stopped and Ellie cautiously crept back toward the hole.

“Ellie!” You hissed, but she ignored you, peering out before pressing herself back into the wall.

A door you hadn’t noticed before - painted the same color as the walls - flew open and a man charged you.

He was on you before you had a chance to really process it and you couldn’t get to your gun, his heavy weight on top of your body, fingers wrapped around your throat. He was quiet, probably not wanting to risk alerting Joel to his presence but you couldn’t get a sound past your strangled throat.

Your first instinct was to squirm and strain, try to loosen his grip. Your eyes found Ellie, her back against the wall next to the hole, her eyes wide, as she fumbled with her backpack. You clawed at the man over you, digging your nails into his face. He just dug his fingers in harder.

Your vision was starting to go fuzzy, terror lashing up your spine. You couldn’t breathe. This man was going to kill you. You just hoped Ellie would have enough sense to climb through the hole and get to Joel.

As you tried to shift him, your gun digging into your back from its place in your waistband, where you couldn’t reach it to help yourself, you felt the handle of your knife press into your hip. Before he had a chance to realize what you were doing your hands flew to the knife and you thrust it into his chest.

He gasped, his eyes going wide and his fingers instinctively loosened as he went to clutch the wound. You ripped the knife free and thrust it into him again, feeling the heat of his blood rush over your hands. He slumped on top of you but he wasn’t going to kill you.

Instead, you’d killed him.

Your stomach turned.

Ellie’s eyes were on you for a moment and then she looked to the hole, taking a deep breath before climbing through.

“Ellie!” You tried to whisper and stop her but your voice sounded wrong. Your throat hurt. The man on top of you was large, probably 100 pounds heavier than you and literal dead weight. Because you killed him. A person, not infected.

You shifted, trying to shove him off you and crawl out from below him. You were hardly clear of his body when you heard a gunshot.

You scrambled to your feet and coughed and choked, straining to get a full breath of air down your damaged throat as you ran for the hole. You clambered through it in time to see Ellie, holding a gun as Joel got to his feet, gasping for breath. His eyes raked over you, a little wide, as he held out his hand to Ellie. She put the pistol in his palm.

“You OK?” He asked. You looked down for a second. Your once light gray shirt was dark red with blood. It stuck to your skin. You just looked back up and nodded, afraid to try and talk until you had a chance to look at your throat.

“Oh fuck, I can’t feel my legs,” the man - or was he a boy? He reminded you of Andrew when you’d found him in the woods, young and skinny and scared - sobbed. “Fuck, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it I swear I didn’t mean it, I’m sure we can work something out, my mom…”

You stepped forward to examine him but Joel put out an arm to stop you.

“No.”

“Joel,” you tried to say before you remembered your throat, your voice not even making the full sound. He frowned, his eyes narrowing at you. He took your chin gently and tilted it up to get a better look at your throat. He swallowed, hard. “The one who did that dead?”

You nodded, tears stinging the corners of your eyes.

“Get her behind the wall,” he ordered. “She shouldn’t see this.

You tried to shake your head.

“I can help him,” only every other syllable came out but Joel seemed to understand.

“He don’t deserve it,” he said. “Get her behind the wall. Help her. She deserves that.”

You held his gaze for a moment before you obeyed, guiding Ellie back through the wall before climbing after her yourself.

You went to the door the man who’d attacked you had come through and closed it, holding your body against it in case anyone else was coming, but you doubted they were. Ellie put her forehead against your shoulder and you wrapped your arms around her. There was the crack of a gunshot and you winced. It was quiet for a moment before Joel’s voice appeared at the hole.

“How do I get through?” He asked.

“Outside,” you tried to say, but your voice still wasn’t working. You rubbed your throat.

“Out and around,” Ellie pointed.

He was only gone for a second before he reappeared. Joel dropped your pack at your feet and you helped him move a desk in front of the door he’d just come through. He went and looked at the body of the man you killed. Your hands shook. He turned the body over and pulled the knife free, wiping it on the man’s clothes before coming over to you and handing it to you.

“Did good,” he said gruffly. You just nodded. He turned to Ellie.

“The hell were you doing with a fuckin’ gun,” he demanded.

“You’re welcome for saving your life,” she snapped. “You know, I should have had a gun this whole time, I went to a military school, it’s not like I don’t know how to shoot one.”

“Ellie,” you managed, holding your throat, your eyebrows drawn together.

“I’m OK,” she said. “I’m good.”

Joel nodded once before his eyes drifted over your throat.

“We need to move.”

***

He should have been able to hear that fucking guy.

That man - fucking kid really - got the drop on him because he couldn’t fucking hear him and he should have been able to fucking hear him.

And the kid had saved him.

He led the three of you into the street and to a nearby building, one with windows covered that would be defensible. You slipped inside seconds before former FEDRA trucks rolled through.

“What the fuck,” Ellie breathed, peering out through the small gaps between the paper on the windows.

“Whoever took down the QZ isn’t going to be happy with us after that shit,” Joel muttered. “As soon as we have a window and those trucks roll out, we need to move.”

“There’s a tall building…” Ellie began but Joel cut her off.

“About four blocks out,” he said. “That’s where we’ll be goin’ as soon as it’s safe.”

He looked over at you. There was a small mirror on the back wall. You’d cleaned it off and were examining your throat, testing areas with your fingers, opening and closing your mouth.

Joel was perversely proud of you for killing the man who’d tried to kill you. He wished you hadn’t had to do it but it wasn’t something that he thought you could do. He wasn’t sure if you’d have done it if it had just been you in that room and not Ellie, too. But part of him wished the man had still been clinging to life when Joel got in the room. Just so he could make him hurt. Just so he could be the one to end him for laying a hand on you.

He left you to deal with your own injury and went to sit next to the girl.

For a change, he didn’t want to leave this conversation to you. You were closer with her, she certainly trusted you more. But Joel knew what it was to hurt someone like that. You were going through it for the first time. You couldn’t help her, not the way he could.

She glared at him as he sat beside her.

“Where’d you get the gun,” he asked.

“It was in Bill and Frank’s living room,” she said, picking at a spot on her jeans at her knee. “Didn’t think they’d miss it…”

“You shouldn’t have needed to do that,” he said after a moment. She looked up at him. “And I’m sorry you did.”

“But you’re happy I did,” she said.

He sighed.

“You’re a kid,” he said. “There’s shit… Look, no one should have to do some shit and it’s worse when you’re a kid, OK? I should have had that under control and I didn’t.”

Ellie went back to picking at her jeans.

“If you want to talk…” he looked away for a moment. “Look, I know you have her. But I know more about this shit than she does and you can talk to me. You didn’t kill him but the… the first time…”

“Wasn’t my first time,” she said, more to her knees than to Joel. He nodded slowly.

“Still hard,” he said after a minute. “And I know… I know what it’s like. So you can talk to me, too. If you want.”

She looked up at him for a moment before smiling a little.

“You’re really bad at this.”

“Yeah,” he smiled a little back. “I know.”

He pulled the gun she’d taken back out and emptied it, putting it in her hands.

“Show me your grip.”

She obeyed and he shook his head.

“The hell is FEDRA teachin’ people,” he muttered, correcting her hold. She obeyed, smile growing. He took the gun back, reloaded it, flicked the safety on and handed it back.

“That stays in your pack so you don’t shoot your ass off,” he said.

When the streets had cleared, you’d changed out of your bloody shirt and into the alumni sweatshirt Joel had given you all those years ago. You were starting to say more than just one or two words, rubbing your throat as you did.

Joel led the way through the streets, managing to dodge the patrols by whoever the fuck had taken over Kansas City, before reaching the tall building and ushering you all inside.

“We go up,” he said, the sun setting. “We’ll be safer up there for the night and we’ll have a good vantage point in the morning.”

You just nodded and the three of you started up. Joel needed a break half way up, his knees threatening to give out from below him. You bent over, your hands on your knees, breathing heavily. That made him feel a bit better, anyway.

“Gonna lose to some stairs old man?” Ellie asked after a minute.

“You try doin’ this at 56 years old,” he muttered. She just shook her head and offered him her hand.

Once he was satisfied with your spot in the building, the three of you dropped everything and set out the sleeping bags. You wandered to the window, looking out into the city.

“It’s weird,” your voice was still raspy. “Being so high up with no lights.”

Joel looked outside, too, and realized you were right. There was something disconcerting being so far off the ground with no indication of what was around you.

Ellie fell asleep quick and Joel was relieved. He wanted a chance to talk to you.

“How’re you doing?” He asked quietly.

“Throat will be fine soon,” you said. “Wasn’t too bad…”

“I mean with…” he began, but you cut him off.

“I tried not to,” you said softly. “I tried to push him off but…”

“You did what you had to do,” he said. You just nodded. “Remember what I said to you the night I called? That it would come down to you or them and you needed to make sure it was you?” You nodded again. “That’s still true. You did what you had to.”

“Yeah,” you sniffed.

He didn’t say what he wanted to say. That the rest of what he’d said that night was true, too. That all that mattered is that you’re safe. That he loved you, he loved you so much it hurt. That he couldn’t bear it if someone took you from him.

“Sleep near me,” he said, watching you. “If you want. Might be good to have someone close.”

You looked at him for a moment before you nodded.

The two of you set out the sleeping bags. Joel put some glass in the doorway so he’d hear someone come in. You lay down near him, close enough that he could pull you against his body if he wanted but far enough away that you weren’t touching him.

He put his arm cautiously around you, draping it around your waist. He waited for you to remove it or tell him no. Instead, your fingers traced the back of his hand. He pulled you gently to him and you pressed back against him. You drifted off there, in his arms. He could smell your hair. His lips brushed against the crown of your head and he fell asleep with you against him for the first time in years.

It was only appropriate that it was your voice that woke him up.

“Joel,” you still sounded gravely. But you also sounded afraid. He sat up quickly. There was a gun against you and another one leveled at the girl. “We have company.”

A/N: The Kansas City arc begins! I've been looking forward to this and what immediately follows for a while. I hope everyone's ready for more action and drama and all kinds of fun stuff!

I do have a taglist! If you'd like to be added, please comment below.

As always, thank you for reading. It's really such an honor to have people keeping up with this story and getting invested and I so appreciate you all. Thank you and love you!

Taglist: @paleidiot @ayamenimthiriel @ginger-swag-rapunzel @drewharrisonwriter @flugazi @pedropascalsbbg @taoyuji @starstruckmusiciansartghost @splendsay @bigboiseason123 @jpbplvr @ashleyandring @mrsyixingunicorn10 @sloanexx @ninaminaromina @lady-bellyn @hufflepuffriver @sarap-77 @storyarcscribe @mellymbee @jasminedragoon @lemonmeli @reds-ramblings @arizonadaydreamer @mumma-moonchild @blackroseguzzi @candypeaches16 @kittenlittle24 @wrappedinfiction @oatmeaiboy @pedritosdarling @winchestergypsy90 @imnotdatboii @lalalalemonade11 @maknimuk1 @mrsdarcyinlovewithbuckybarnes @pedrosaidsheispunk @commanderawkward @n7cje @elliesgirlll @tsunamistorm123

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you

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