#the actions that these people took are horrifying and “eerie” without you have to tell us

[erinwantstowrite]

the past couple of days i was doing a lot of stuff but mostly deep cleaning our house and something i noticed while listening to my mom's true crime videos was that you can rarely find a channel that doesn't add stupid fucking music to the background like it's a horror movie- or even more inappropriate cheerful music.

and that REALLY bothers me because these are people's REAL lives we're talking about here... when i watch true crime anything i have to go out of my way to find channels that don't sensationalize it or disrespect the victims in any way. recently, one of the channels i watch has started showing signs of leaning towards this kind of content, when previously they hadn't done so. and it's disappointing. i'm a big believer in music elevating a story but it just feels gross to put it here. or to keep doing moments like "but this horrifying secret will come to light later", etc etc

[hello-nichya-here]

Ok, so what in your opinion is the WORST mistake that the showrunners for Game of Thrones made in terms of content, either it's addition or redaction?

WARNING: Looooooong post ahead

Themes are for eighth-grade book reports

This absurd quote by one of the showrunners explains why exactly the show fell appart. They wanted to make a story... without themes. Anyone with a minimally functioning brain will tell that this is impossible because every story, even the simplest and least complicated story there ever, has a theme. Even a nihilistic story has a theme "Nothing matters". Every. Story. Has. A. Theme.

But Game Of Thrones didn't, at least not after the writers ran out of books to adapt and did their own thing. Everything every character did was no longer to build a narrative, but to essentially act as click-bait. The focus was to make people keep watching, not on making any content that was worth watching.

The first four seasons had it's problems, just like the books had it's problems, but Martin's writting was so brilliant that it managed to stay good even while being handled by absolute clowns. The moment season four ended was the moment the show stopped being an adaptation and became it's own thing - and like I explained before, said thing wasn't a story.

Shock

Both the show and the books had MANY shocking, heart-breaking and downright horrifying scenes: Daenerys being raped by Drogo; Bran being pushed out the window after accidentally seeing the queen fucking her brother; the whole deal with Craster and his daughters; the Dotrakhi destroying Mirri's village and her revenge against them and Daenerys; Ned's death; Melisandre giving birth to a shadow baby that killed Renly; The Red Wedding; Jeoffrey's death; Tyrion killing his father; Theon being tortured by Ramsay...

The difference is there were REASONS behind the shocking scenes Martin created. Even when you look at things like rape and torture scenes and threats of rape/torture - Martin used those scenes to remind us that the world he created is an EXTREMELY dangerous and downright vile place, and that the characters are never truly safe, and that there are WAY worse things than just being killed.

Dumb & Dumber on the other hand, gaves us scenes like an evil, former man of the night's watch evily making an evil speech to his fellow evil men, evily drinking whine from a human skull while nameless women were being raped in the background - but little does he know that Jon Snow, the hero, is about to wreck his shit. It takes something that could realistically happen (and that did happen in the books) and takes it up to eleven because the writers think shock is the same as quality and that the audience is SO STUPID that they need to practically make the actor jump out of the TV, grab us by the shoulders and scream "I'M EVIL! I'M THE BIG BAD! ROOT FOR THE HERO TO KILL ME!"

Pretty much every bad guy became a parody of Jeoffrey, ironically enough because the writers took Jeoffrey too seriously. He was a cruel, sadistic character, who had WAY too much power - but he was also a spoiled baby whose reply to Tyrion bitch-slapping him wasn't a threat, but "I'M TELLING MOM!" Jeoffrey worked because he was only allowed to do his thing whenever smarter, more competent characters like Tyrion and Tywin where not around, meaning his actions, while inhumane, never reached the point of no longer being believable.

The horrible things that happened to the characters no longer felt "right". For instance, Sansa had just been taken to the Eerie by Little Finger, who has a weird complex in which he sees her both as the daughter he never had with Catelyn AND as a replacement for Catelyn, and she was starting to truly be a player instead of a pawn... and then the writers realized "Oh shit, we should have not cut the Jeyne Pool/Fake Arya' plot, that was important" and forced it on Sansa, making Little Finger hand her on a silver plater to Ramsay and turning her into a victim AGAIN, this time to a man that dramatically fights his enemies without a shirt own, practically saying "come at me bro"

Compare this to Ned's beheading, or Catelyn and Rob being betrayed and killed by the Freys. These moments were shocking and downright depressing - but they were earned. The writting was on the wall for anyone to see: Ned was at the mercy of Jeoffrey, and the Starks had given the Freys, who are notoriously disloyal, a reason to resent them. These twists felt completely natural, were the only logical way for the situation the characters were in to play out, AND they had consequences to plot instead of just making the audience gasp and then being forgotten about.

Plot armor

It's kind of ironic and almost tragic that the show that became famous for killing characters later became the worst type of high-stakes series, putting the characters in situations they could NOT survive, not even if a goddamn miracle happened, and having them live anyway. What's even worse is that it happened repeatedly. If I had to see Jon Snow almost die and then survive anyway one more fucking time I was going to lose my mind.

There's no bigger proof that there were just no consequences for the "main" characters anymore than watching the second, third, and fourth episodes of season either. The first sets up that this battle against the night king and his army of undead is likely going to kill the majority of them, if they're lucky... and then in the third we see the plot armor in all of it's "glory", and then in the forth we find out that the Dotrakhi, who had ALL been killed, actually still have half the numbers they had the night before, somehow. Even red-shirts weren't dying anymore.

DORNE

This disaster needed it's own session because HOLY SHIT, it's a miracle/tragedy that everyone didn't go "Fuck it, I'm never watching another episode of this stupid show."

The Dorne plot in the books isn't perfect, but what the show did to it was so fucking bad that I'm pretty sure the writers didn't even read the Dorne chapters in the books, they just looked at a wiki, wrote down the names of a few characters and then did their own shitty thing.

In the books, Doran Martel is a clever, dangerous man, who pretends to be harmless so people will understimate him and step right into his trap. In the show, Doran Martel... died. That's it. I can't remember anything else that happened to him. Add him to the list of "Brilliant characters that became stupid due to shitty writing", I'm sure Tyrion, Varys and Little Finger will love making him company.

The sand-snakes, one of the main driving force of that plot, were all distinct characters in the books, with their personalities, goals, methods and motivations - basically they were created by a writer who knew what he is was doing. In the show they were all the same "character" who could be perfectly described by that horrible, cringy, PAINFUL line one of them (I can't even remember which) said to Bron "You want a good girl, but you need the bad pussy" (Seriously, if that actress ever kills the show-runners as revenge for having to say that, she'll be 100% justifyed in doing so)

And we cannot forget the driving force behind that unwatchable shit show: Ellaria Sand. In the books, the death of Oberyn made her believe that revenge only leads to more blood-shed. In the show, his death enraged to the point of wanting to avenge him and his family, and she did this... by killing his family. If that doesn't explain how insane and stupid this plot-line was, I don't know what will.

Hype = Character assassination

Many shows are based around the conflict between the bad guys and the good guys. Game Of Thrones is not one of these shows. Or at least it wasn't. As they ran out of ideas, the writers started mutilating every single character until they could be label as "Good" or "Bad", regardless of what felt right to the story and to the point that there was nothing left of said characters. Stannis's actor, Stephen Dillane, straight up said that the only thing he got from being on the show was money and that his character's motivations and decisions were nonsense - ironically enough, that kind of brutal honesty means that the writers had THE perfect actor play Stannis, and wasted his fucking time.

Here's a list of the characters that fell victims to this horrible fate: Catelyn Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Melisandre, Stannis, Jorah, Daenerys (bonus points for being mutilated into being both a generic, shitty "hero" and a generic, shitty "villain") Greyworm, Rhaegar Targaryen, Lyanna Stark...

Pretty much the only character who became more complex in the show than she was in the books was Cersei. While her book self was never just a "Generic Evil Queen", the show version of her was far more sympathetic, which made the stories she was part of interesting. Too bad the writers ran out of ideas of what to do with her after season six and just left her by the window drinking whine until Dany showed up to kill her. Which brings us to...

Why is this happening?

Cersei was seen as a threat in the last two seasons based on nothing but the things she HAD done. Her story just ended the very second season six did, but since she was still alive despite being one of the bad guys she had to die... I guess. She (and by extention Jaime) joined the list of characters that had nothing to do, but were still around: Davos, Theon, Yara, Melisandre, Bron, Sam, Gendry, Bran (the last one being SO unnecessary that he was cut from season five and no one noticed)

To combat that issue, the writers gave characters "motivations" that made no sense. For exemple: Sandor Clegane. His only reason to be in the show was so he could kill his brother. The problem was that Gregor was already dead. He was a walking corpse. There was nothing left of the abusive brother Sandor once knew, meaning he had no reason to fight him, and that, to keep Sandor around, the writers should have come up something new (like the redemption that book fans have been waiting for, and that has a lot of backing evidence). You might as well have had HIM be the one to randomly fly out of nowhere and kill the night king despite having no connection to him.

And since we're talking about the night king... Arya was the one to kill him. Why? Because the writers ruined Jaime's redemption arc, meaning that the only fitting ending for him was to die with Cersei, and so Arya could not kill Cersei despite wanting to, having the ability to do, AND having heard a prophecy that said she'd "Shutting brown eyes, blue eyes, and green eyes forever", the last one being the only one she had not done AND applying to Cersei. But Dumb & Dumber admitted they had no plan for this, so now that they were at the last season, they needed to do something with it, and they retconned it to mean Arya would kill the night king...

But Arya killing him meant Jon had nothing to do, so Dany had to go mad so he could kill her. To "hint" at that, they ignored all the not at all subtle foreshadowing the previous season had of Dany and Jon having a kid, and they even showed her getting jealous that he was technically the true heir... even though that made no sense since they were going to rule together anyway, and even after Dany went full "Mad Queen" she ASKED HIM TO RULE WITH HER. But anyways, he kills her and becomes king...

Except he doesn't actually become king and him being a secret Targaryen has no effect in the plot, because Bran needed to become king so there'd be a reason for him to be alive, because his magical powers turned into a plot-device. A plot-device that wasn't used at any goddamn point. Seriously, the only thing as bad as Bran becoming king was Euron's existence - dude was THE most useless villain ever AND the worst Jeoffrey parody.

A darker story (literally)

I could not end this rant without bitching about this. What is the point of spending an ungodly amount of money on sets, costumes, make-up, special effects... and then using such poor lighting that no one can see what the fucking is going on?

Anyway, this disaster of a series was so absurd it should be used as an exemple of what NOT to do.

[akizumy]

Guilt

Sooo- I hadn’t planned to write anything for Halloween, but then I got this idea and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I know I’m a day late (typical me), but since it is done I might as well post it, right ? This One Shot is part of the Varitas AU (basically an evil Varian ahah), and I fear I got inspired by the rp blogs : @royal-engineer-of-corona and @v-a-r-i-t-a-s TW !! Amber, knife, death (there is no graphic description except a mention of blood)- if there is anything else that you think I should tag, don’t hesitate to yell at me in the comments. Takes place between Be very Afraid and Cassandra's revenge !

If most people had to describe Varian, they would use the word 'dangerous' because of what the kid could do, and what he had already done. Although the alchemist had saved Corona and been forgiven by the royal family, everyone still saw him as the criminal who kidnapped their queen, who attacked the kingdom with automatons and a mutant raccoon. Everyone still saw him as the threat he used to be and could still be, even Varian himself : if the alchemist couldn't forgive himself, why would others act any differently ? But Eugene saw things differently. Unlike the rest of the Coronans, the former thief spend most of his days with the young alchemist ever since the latter got out of jail; he had of course been wary of him at first, the memory of Varian attacking Rapunzel and the kingdom still painfully fresh in his memory like in everyone else's. But day after day, he had soon come to accept that the kid was very different from this idea that everyone had of him. Everything about him, whether it was his actions or his words, illustrated his regrets about his past actions; and Eugene could see how hard the kid was trying to make amends. That was why the word he associated with Varian was not 'dangerous', but 'guilt'. It was both an observation of the alchemist's behavior, his doubts and culpability, and also a protection against others' judgment. Varian had regrets. Varian had changed. Varian was no longer dangerous. He wanted nothing more than for everyone, the kid included, to see that and to be able to move on; for people to realize all the good Varian could make, and for Varian to see that as well- that it wasn't too late for him to be who he wanted to be. That he could still be happy. Such a shame that he had to be proved wrong. It had all happened really fast : the automatons, attacking the island one morning. They were numerous, and more just kept coming in an endless flow; even though they had no idea what was happening or why, Rapunzel had focused on going and protecting the Coronans first, getting answers after that. That was the plan. Pretty easy, hard to mess up- or, it should have been. Because now as the cold, metal hand of the automaton was firmly holding Eugene prisoner, the latter having no choice but to face the woman he loved encased in amber and surrounded by two other automatons, the former thief was left wondering how could things have possibly gone this wrong. "Well, it looks like Corona no longer has her beloved leader- if she could even be called that in the first place." And of course, how could he possibly forget the one whose satisfied tone was awakening in Eugene a deep hatred, one like he had never felt before. Varian was standing in front of the statue, looking absolutely triumphant, and how could he not be after taking over Corona and defeating their princess, their Sundrop ? The broken wall of the throne room, the latter being only a remnant of what it used to be, only added to his glorious victory, offering an heartbreaking view on the completely destroyed kingdom. His eyes were shining with an eerie joy, and a wide grin appeared on his lips as he admired the consequences of his actions; encased in amber, Rapunzel's painful and horrified expression was a terrible contrast with the alchemist's ominous one. "Don't worry, Eugene," the alchemist said after some time, finally looking away from the amber to the former thief, trapped in an other kind of prison, "She's not dead. She doesn't deserve such a fate." The alchemist confidently walked up to him, leaning against the metal hand. "No, she deserves a sentence far worse than that." The alchemist's voice was dangerously low as he stared at Eugene, watching his every reaction. The former thief didn't look away in return, instead glaring at the kid who had taken so much from him and went as far as to laugh about it too. He just- Eugene simply couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing. Varian- Varian had made amends. He had apologized, and they'd forgiven him. He had been working ever since to help Corona, to fix his mistakes and stop Cassandra. Varian had changed- he had. Hadn't he ? But then, why would he go back on that ? Why did he all of a sudden attack Corona with these- these automatons, destroying the island, trapping Rapunzel in that same amber that destroyed his life once before ? Why would he do that to his friends, to Team Awesome ? Was it all just a wicked scheme to fool them ? Eugene stared at the kid in front of him. He was exactly like Varian- same outfit, same black hair with this odd blue stripe, same blue eyes. No, not the same. Varian's eyes weren't merciless, mocking and cold, so cold. Varian's eyes were warm, friendly and guilty. "Who..." Eugene hissed, glaring all the more. "Who are you ? What have you done to Varian ?" Varian wouldn't do something like that, Eugene was sure of it. The other half of Team Awesome, the kid who liked ham sandwiches and often forgot to take care of himself when working was not the same as the one who encased Rapunzel in amber. The alchemist who fought his fears in order to save Corona, that kid would never do something like that. Still, he didn't expect... him, to simply smirk, that same threatening smirk he thought -he hoped- he'd never see again on this face. "You know, I never thought you were right when you said that people don't give you enough credit. You are clever, aren't you ?" "What does that mean ?" He was just done talking when the door of the throne room opened with noise. Eugene tried to look behind him to see the source of the noise, in vain : the robot's grip was keeping him from making any movement. However, he had a really good view of Varian raising his head in surprise, before cautiously taking a few steps back, furious eyes staring at... whoever just came in, Eugene guessed. Said person walked closer, as Eugene could tell from the footsteps sounds, before stopping right beside him; turning his head to the side, Eugene saw... Varian. It took his mind a minute to process the information. "Wait wait wait," Eugene narrowed his eyes, "Am I seeing 2 Varians ? Is that- is that some sort of evil twin story, or...?" Varian number 2 didn't react, but Varian number 1's smirk only widened. "I guess you could say that." He did a mocking bow in front of the other two, "I am Varitas, 'the mean one'- because someone has to take the blame, and who's better to replace Varian at it than Varian himself ? You Coronians aren't really creative, you know : get yourself someone else to blame, or even better, an actual justice system." It took all of Eugene's might not to give in and harshly tell him that he was absolutely guilty for what he had done to everyone; he barely restrained himself from doing so, realization hitting him hard. That was what that Varitas guy wanted. He had been provoking him since the beginning, trying to push him to his limits; and although Eugene wasn't really one to give in to anger, what could that kind of behavior do to someone who would, someone whose guilt would make them an easy prey ? For example, someone who definitely would be the target of his own double... Oh no. "I'm so-sorry..." Varian whispered, his voice cracking. His glassy eyes were filled with tears that streamed down his cheeks, highlighting how unusually pale he was, or how dark and big the bags under his eyes were in contrast. "It's all my fault..." "Kid-no. This is not your fault, none of it is." Eugene insisted. Varian clearly seemed exhausted, on the verge of breaking down, and with all of that accumulated guilt ready to burst free, he was basically an emotional time bomb. A really, really unstable emotional time bomb that could possibly become a problem if nothing was done to calm him down before. When did that start ? Why hadn’t he noticed before, why hadn’t he done anything to protect Varian ? Varian didn’t react, clearly not believing him; it broke Eugene’s heart to see him in such a state. Of course, that's the moment Varitas chose to speak up. "You're right, Eugene : it's not his fault nor is it mine, but it is actually yours, it has always been. I know how talented you are all in the field of lies and deceit and breaking promises, but you have to be incredibly good to make him believe that you actually care about him and are his friends without him ever questioning it. Again." Varian shivered, looking down at the ground, and Eugene could only imagine the thoughts going through his head; anger and guilt and feeling of betrayal and self-loathing, all of them feeding a dangerous hatred that was definitely what Varitas was planning to use. Oh, how much Eugene hated that Varitas kid. He hated him for taking Rapunzel away, for torturing Varian; he hated how powerless he felt. "If you know us as well as you say you do, then you should also know these are not lies." Eugene growled, but Varian once again didn’t react. Varitas only rolled his eyes, fully aware that he was in control of the situation. "Oh, you are good- but thank you for proving my point." He then turned to Varian, and Eugene tensed up. Whatever he had planned, Eugene feared the kid wasn't in a good enough state to fight against. "I'm sorry I started without you," Varitas smiled, something almost warm, outstretching his hand towards Varian, "but you can still join me and serve justice, like we wanted to." Unlike his kind words, his tone was very clear : obey, or face the consequences. Varian stared at Varitas' hand for a moment, before his glassy eyes moved to the hole in the wall and the destruction beyond, then to the amber and finally, to Eugene. Eugene's heart ached as he met Varian's eyes. The raging storm of the kid's emotions was frightening, and Varian seemed completely lost. Eugene wanted to reassure him, to tell him that these were all lies, that none of it was true, that they did care about him- but he also wasn’t stupid. “Please, kid... Don’t...” Was all Eugene said, because he saw in these eyes that Varian... Varian would not believe him, or anything else he’d say. That Varitas's poisoned words, playing with Varian's deepest fears and guilt, had already had their effect on the kid. Where was he when Varian needed him ? Why was he stuck, unable to help when the kid needed him the most ? Varitas was right- just like before, he couldn't give Varian the help he so desperately needed. Varian stared at him for a while longer, before looking back at Varitas. Extending his hand, he took the other's in his own. Then, harshly pulling Varitas forward, he threw in the latter's face a green ball that exploded in a flash of blinding light. Varitas immediately shoved Varian away, rubbing his eyes with his hands; his hiss of pain morphed into a low chuckle. "Alright, looks like you've made your choice..." Eugene felt his heart drop as the two other automatons -the ones not currently holding Eugene- walked toward the alchemist, responding to Varitas's order. He knew his friend hardly stood a chance; above all, he knew Varian was fighting a losing battle, because he himself didn’t even know what he was fighting for, or if he wanted to. It was clear as day that Varian was fighting back like a wounded animal, with the energy of despair, and that this would end very badly. Eugene tried once again to free himself, even if he knew there was no way he could get out. Varian acted quickly, trapping the first automaton's feet in goo, effectively stopping him. Varitas threw at him a green ball that Varian barely managed to avoid; not fast enough to recover, the alchemist couldn't dodge a hit from the second automaton that made him fall to the ground. Not wasting any time, Varian sent a pink ball on the second automaton, trapping him the same way; he however didn't see the third ennemy attacking him from behind. "Watch out !!" Eugene stopped struggling a moment to yell in alarm. Varian startled and turned around just in time to catch Varitas's wrists, keeping him from using his knife- because yes, he had a knife, a real one. "Why are you fighting for them ?!" Varitas shouted, furious. "They are responsible for Dad being encased, for all of our woes- you should want to serve justice ! You used to want that, so why would you believe their lies again ?!" Varian didn't answer, simply staring at the knife held right between the two of them. "It was the price to pay to become their friend again, wasn't it ? Ha- you're pathetic. They will betray you just like they already did, and the worst of all is that they'll be right : you'll have no one to blame but yourself, for being stupid enough to trust them again." Varitas's eyes were filled with disgust, sadness. No answer. Varian's grip loosened a bit, his face reflecting some hesitation. “Varian, no- don’t listen to him ! He’s trying to get in your head !!” The alchemist no longer seemed to be able to hear him, his attention entirely focused on Varitas. Eugene’s voice was only a quiet noise, drowned out by Varitas’s own voice and Varian’s thoughts. "I hope you're happy. I hope you'll believe their lies that make you think that this is what's best for you, this is what you have always wanted. You won : enjoy your golden cage, Varian." "Kid !!" Eugene shouted, alarmed, and that finally snapped Varian out of it. Kicking his opponent, the alchemist made Varitas fall backwards; the latter harshly hit the ground, his grip loosening on the knife. Eugene watched with horror as the alchemist quickly took the knife from Varitas and held it at the other's throat. "Don’t do that Varian ! You are angry- we all are kid, but killing him isn't the solution !" "He's right," Varitas added, "You can go ahead and kill me, but that won't change anything. You know that I'm right, and getting rid of me won't change the truth." Varian gritted his teeth, his grip getting just the tiniest bit firmer on the knife, and Varitas let a vicious smile appear on his lips. "You and me, we're just good for destruction, hurting others, taking the blame. I know it, they know it : that's why they let you down, and will let you down again. There's no denying it anymore, Varian. If you don't kill me, I will just keep destroying everything, and you'll be to blame for not stopping me when you had the chance : but if you do stop me, that you dare kill me if you’re even able to, then you will become the villain, the murderer, the mean one, because neither of us are part of the people whose faults are all forgiven. No matter what you choose, you will lose, just like I kept telling you." Varian stared at Varitas as he was talking, unable to stop listening to him. He knew he shouldn't listen or even consider his words, but something in them struck a chord within him, reaching doubts he tried to muffle, thoughts he tried to get rid of and amplifying them to the point that he could no longer ignore them or bury them again; and even though he thought he could hear Eugene's voice, he couldn't actually hear his words. Varitas smirked, knowing that despite the appearances, he had the upper hand. Reaching in his pocket, he got out a purple ball. "It's over, Varian." The alchemist's eyes widened in realization as the ball hit the ground, exploding and covering the whole room in a cloud of purple smoke. Eugene felt his blood froze in his veins as he heard fighting noises, the sound of metal clashing against skin and a cry of pain, then a body hitting the ground; and after that, nothing. In the heavy silence that followed, the cloud slowly escaped the room through the hole in the wall, joining its peers in the sky. Eugene then saw with horror a body lying on the ground in a puddle of blood. Standing next to him, its double was panting, holding without trembling the knife stained with blood. At that single moment, a terrible truth dawned on Eugene who felt his heart come to a stop. Even if it was impossible to distinguish the twins, one thing remained certain : one of them was now dead, killed by the other. And therefore, it didn't matter which one came out a winner in this battle, because the result was the same either way. Varitas had won, and their Varian was gone.

[bellemorte180]

Wanderlust Chapter Twelve

Caroline’s wrist was throbbing, which was handcuffed behind her back. She shifted uncomfortably in the old wooden chair she kept in the corner of her kitchen for no other purpose than to stand on it when she could not reach something. She bit back tears that were steaming from a mixture of pain and fear. She looked around the place she called her home and was trying to find some way out of it. Her eyes traveled to the kitchen floor where Rosza was still lying. She could see the rise and fall of his chest, telling her that he was still alive. She did not know exactly what had happened to him but something that would drop a man twice her size.

Caroline’s eyes traveled from Rosza to the man who was pacing back and forth in her dining room. He was running his fingers through his hair and was muttering to himself as though he was trying to find a way out of the house. It was clear that he couldn’t just take her and shove her in a car; that would be too obvious. People had been watching Caroline, both out of sympathy, worry and curiosity. If she all of a sudden was being shoved into a car, kicking and screaming, it would be noticed.

She whimpered again when the cuff on her left arm shifted the wrong way. When he had cuffed her to the chair, he had broken the cast that was on her arm, and subsequently rebreaking her wrist, in order for the cuff to fit. Not only that but the side of her face was pounding when he struck her across it when she tried to fight back. She gave a small hiss when she moved her arm the wrong way.

“Matt?” Caroline whispered, hoping to gage that boy she had known growing up. Matt had always been kind and funny. Always being that boy next door that everyone could rely on. When Elena, Caroline and Bonnie had too much to drink one night, it was Matt who came and picked them up. When Caroline had broken up with Damon, Matt had brought her flowers in the hospital. When Matt’s mother up and left him and Vicki for the thousandth time, finally never coming back, Caroline went and comforted them both. She never would have thought he would have turned into this. “Please. It hurts.”

“Does it?” Matt asked in a soft tone. It was eerie and made her skin crawl. As Matt stared back at her. His blue eyes that Caroline had once commented where so beautiful when she was thirteen stared back at her; now she found nothing redeeming about them. There was no beauty to be found, instead, only malice. “Perhaps you can consider that a punishment then.”

“Punishment? I didn’t do anything.”

“Stop lying!” Caroline winced as his voice grew louder. Matt continued to pace, clutching Caroline’s revolver in his hand. Her eyes followed the gun, terrified that Matt was going to turn it on her. Rosza ground again but Caroline could not bring herself to look at him. “I saw you! I watched you! You let him into your bed when you belonged to me! I took care of you! I kept you safe! I kept this town safe and all you want to do is leave. You all leave! He would have taken you away from here. From me. Just like everyone else! Vicki always left. April was going to leave and take our baby! Andi left me to go to that fancy school-”

“People leave, Matt. It’s a fact of life.” Rage appeared on Matt’s face and she thought he was going to strike her again, but he did not. “We were friends once. We went to homecoming together our sophomore year of high school. You came to see me when Damon put me in the hospital. When your mom left that final time, we had you over for dinner and you slept on our couch.”

“And? You still left me.”

“We grew apart. It happens.” Matt continued to stare at her, and Caroline had trouble reading him as he showed no emotion. “People change Matt. We grow up and sometimes people leave. Not everyone is going to stay in Mystic Falls forever.”

“No one can leave!” Matt hissed out with clenched teeth; waving the gun around and Caroline froze in terror that it would go off. This was not how she wanted to die; she had always imagined dying in her home, old and grey with a husband, children and grandchildren surrounding her. She always thought that she would travel the world, fall in love and be able to show her children every inch of the globe. She never thought she would die before she got the chance. This was the second time in mere weeks that she thought she was going to die; and if she did, she was not about to go down without a fight. “You’re mine and you want to leave me! You all want to leave me! Just like her!”

“I’m not a possession Matt. You don’t own me, just like you didn’t own them either.” Caroline told him but immediately regretted her words. Matt marched over to her, holding her pistol by the barrel and swung it towards her face; hitting her with the butt of the gun.

“Shut up!” Matt screamed again and immediately saw the damage he had done. As though he was horrified by what he had done, Matt knelt down beside her and touched her face. He caressed the placed where he had hit her as though he felt remorse for his actions. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m just stressed. I need to get us out of here before they come looking for you.”

“You don’t want to hurt me?” Caroline’s voice was small, and Matt shook his head. For a moment, she could see the old quarterback who won football games and was the town golden boy. Matt loved Mystic Falls and always said he never wanted to leave; Caroline wondered why she had not seen it sooner. She then remembered how he would hold her when he locked her in that cell; begging her not to leave him. She remembered the notes and his taunts; showing her that he was watching her. That was the man in front of her, completely derailing into his mania. “Is that what you told them? That you didn’t want to hurt them?”

“I never hurt them.”

“They are dead Matt. You killed them”

“I kept them safe!” Matt retorted through clenched teeth; his saliva spraying on Caroline’s face due to how close he was to her. Caroline felt her body freeze, scared that at any moment, Matt was going to reach out and end her life. “I gave them a home. Someplace where they would never leave me, and I kept them close.” A fresh new wave of anger washed over him and he stood from her; resuming the frantic pacing he was doing only moment before. “And then they took them from me! It was only fitting that I take something of his. I thought he would listen. I thought he would leave but no, he is going to take you too. You fucked the man who took my girls from me! But I won’t let him take you too.”

“You killed his best friend.”

“He was scum! He wanted to ruin our town.”

“No Matt. I think you’re doing that enough as it is.” Enraged at the thought of being accused of something, in his mind, was so heinous that Caroline thought this would be the final blow. She saw something evil pass through Matt and that young boy who once was every girls’, and some boys’, crush was gone. He stormed over to Caroline, tossed the gun on the kitchen counter and raised his hands; poisoned them to wrap around her neck. This was it; this was how Caroline was going to die, strangled by someone she once had considered a friend.

Until…

“Matthew Donovan.” A loud booming voice sounded from outside Caroline’s house. Matt snapped back from her as though he had been burned. His eyes darted around as though the owner of the voice would appear before him. “My name is Vincent Griffith. Let Ms. Forbes and Agent Rosza go, and then the two of us can talk.”

“I thought I had more time!” Matt ran his hands through his hair and began pacing again; pulling at his blonde hair as he went. Vincent’s voice sounded again, demanding Matt to let them go, and something stirred in Caroline. Hope. While she had never met Vincent before, Caroline knew that if he was there for her, then Klaus was not too far behind.

While Caroline had always been taught that there would be times that she would need to save herself, like down in that cellar where she had thought she would spend her final moments, she was happy to know that Klaus had come for her. To know that the night they shared was meant more than a few moments of fleeting pleasure.

Caroline moved her hands around, biting back a hiss as the broken wrist rubbed against the steel dug into her broken cast. She hoped that the cuffs were not fastened properly but seeing that Matt was a cop, she found it unlikely that he would risk not tightening them enough. She really did not want to have to break her other wrist in order to free herself, but she would; she would chop her own hand off in order to save her life if she had too.

“Mr. Donovan, I need you to let them go.” Vincent’s voice boomed again.

“Shut up!”

As though she was being gifted with the answer to all life’s questions, Caroline felt her fingertips grace something hard protruding from the wooden chair. It was a small upholstery tack that was crooked ever so slightly; enough for Caroline to grip it between her thumb and pointer finger in order to maneuver it out of the wood. Her eyes stayed focused on Matt, staying quiet in order to not draw his attention and focused on pulling the tack out of the chair.

After Damon had put Caroline in the hospital when they had dated, Liz took it upon herself to teach Caroline a few tricks if she ever found herself in harm’s way again. She bought Caroline that pistol that was discarded on the kitchen counter and taught her basic self-defense moves. Liz also taught her out to get out of binds such as rope ties, zip ties and handcuffs. While Caroline knew how to pick a lock on a pair of handcuffs, down in the cellar she had nothing available to do so, thus resorting to breaking her wrist. However, that tack that slowly was coming out of the chair would work well enough for one of the cuffs to come off; she just needed one hand free.

“Why, why, why can’t they just leave us alone!?” Matt screamed, causing Caroline to flinch at his words; his tone getting louder at the last on. Caroline got the tack free and after a few attempts, was able to insert the small point into the lock of the cuff. After a few twists, she felt the steel pop open from her cast and relief coursed through her; pain ebbing away only slightly on her broken wrist. Vincent spoke again through the loudspeaker, but Caroline tuned him out, her focus solely on the task at hand.

She dropped the tack gently; barley making a sound when it hit the ground. Caroline let out a small breath and watched Matt stalk around the room. Her eyes flickered to the back door and then to the gun that was still on the counter. Caroline was a runner and as long as Matt did not have the gun in his hand, she had a chance of making it. Matt was facing her, still pulling at his hair; staring at her but not really seeing her. He was muttering to himself and she could see that he was losing all composure that he had left.

Caroline gripped the back of her chair tightly, praying that Matt did not hear the jingle of the loose cuffs behind her; she could feel her skin rubbing against the one still closed against her right wrist. She waited for the right moment and when Matt was close enough; turning his back towards her, Caroline quickly shot out of her seat, gripped the chair and swung it at Matt; hitting him hard in the back. Matt toppled to the floor and Caroline bolted towards the back door.

But she wasn’t fast enough, Matt grabbed her ankle; sending to fall to the ground. She landed on her broken wrist but with the adrenaline pumping through her veins prevented her from crying out. Caroline brought her knee to her chest on the leg that Matt was not holding and forcefully brought it down hard; her foot connecting with Matt’s face. She heard something crack and Matt yelled out, letting go of her ankle and clutching his face.

Caroline pushed herself off the floor and headed towards the back door again; throwing it open and running through it. Someone grabbed her from behind, placing his hand over her lips. At first, she started to fight but when the arms loosened gently and cradled her head to him. Caroline looked up and saw Klaus’s fearful eyes staring down at her.

“Shh.” Slowly, Klaus removed his hand from mouth when he felt her relax against him; Vincent sounding from around the house again. Caroline looked around her and saw at least a dozen agents, all with their guns drawn; ready to storm the house. “It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re safe.” Caroline nodded against him; her heart pounding in her chest. She could feel the adrenaline leaving her and her body slowly going numb. “This agent will take you around the house to an ambulance that is out front. Your mother is waiting for you. You’re safe now. Okay?”

“Ms. Forbes?” Caroline turned to see agent Vanchure looking at her, his tone was no lighter than a whisper. “Agent Rosza?”

“I don’t know. I think he was drugged. He is on the kitchen floor. I wasn’t going to be able to get him in time.” Caroline rambled in a soft tone and Vanchure nodded in understanding. Klaus kissed the top of her head and slowly edged her towards an agent that would take her to safety. Klaus could see the fear creep back into her eyes. He gave her a soft smile, ensuring her that he would be fine. He watched as one of the agents guided her around the house and out of sight.

Klaus pulled his gun from its holster, where he had stashed it quickly when he saw Caroline running out the door. He stole a glance at Vanchure, who was peeking through the door and nodded. He held up his fingers and counted down until there were no fingers left. Quickly, the agents, Klaus included, burst into Caroline’s kitchen.

Matt, who was now holding a pistol that Klaus recognized as Caroline’s, fired; hitting Vanchure in the shoulder. Klaus quickly darted when he heard the gun go off; diving to the floor. He landed near Rosza’s unconscious body. Klaus took his pulse, alive and then stood quickly, eyes zeroing in on Vanchure, who was clutching his shoulder but was still alive. The rest of the agents had their weapons turned on Matt. Klaus kept his gun raised, pointed at Matt and slowly walked around the counter and towards him.

“Matt, put the gun down.” Klaus told him in a firm tone, noticing the crazed look in his eye. Klaus had been around serial murders before, and they all got to a certain point when the mania took ahold, and they lose control. It was something both Klaus and Marcel had feared was happening. Matt became fixated on Caroline when she escaped, and Klaus feared that he would lose complete control; Caroline getting caught in the crossfire. “It is not going to end well for you. Put the gun down and come quietly.”

“Why should I listen to you?” Matt hissed and Klaus could see spit spray across the room; his saliva mixed with blood from his nose that was bleeding. The hatred that Matt was sending him. Klaus remembered the terrified feeling he got when he realized that Matt had gone after her. The moment he saw Enzo running down the street towards Klaus, he knew something was wrong. Matt’s home was empty and when they got the call from Vanchure, Klaus began to fear for the worst. “You stole them from me!”

“What are you talking about? Explain it to me.”

“My girls!” Matt yelled. “I had them safe and protected. You came and took them from me. I don’t know what you did with them. They are not safe with you!” He waved the gun around and Klaus knew that if he stepped closer, Matt would fire again. Vanchure moaned from the floor, pressing his hand against his wound. He would need medical attention soon and Klaus was trying to think of the safest way to get Matt to put down the gun and take him in. “They all wanted to leave, but I convinced them! I convinced them to stay.”

“Do you want to see them?” Klaus asked, knowing full well that he was not going to let Matt anywhere near those bodies; especially after what he had done to them. “I can show you. Put the gun down and I will take you to them.”

“You will?”

“I promise.” For a moment, Klaus thought he had him; thought that Matt was going put the gun down, he saw the hope in his deranged eyes but as quickly as it came, it went.

“You’re lying!” Matt hissed again. “I saw you! I saw you with her! I watched as you touched her! You come here, you take my girls and then you think you can take her? I was close to convincing her. She would have stayed but you would have taken her away. She is mine!”

“Caroline is a person Matt. She belongs to no one.”

“You had no problem taking her! Tell me, did you enjoy it? You seemed like you enjoyed taking what was mine!”

“I will not discuss my relationship with Caroline with you. Put down the gun Matt or I will not take you to see the bodies.” Matt didn’t move. “One last chance!”

“Tell me!”

Matt moved his hand ever so slightly and as though on instinct, Klaus aimed and fired. The bullet from his Glock lodged into Matt’s shoulder; causing him to drop the gun to the ground. Klaus advanced on his quickly, as did another agent. An agent pulled Vanchure to his feet, helping him out of the house while a few others went to do the same with Rosza. Klaus reached down and pulled Matt from the ground. He grabbed his handcuffs, that were hooked onto the back of his jeans, and cuffed him.

“You’re hurting me.” Matt screamed out in pain as that blood leaked down his shoulder. Klaus all but slammed Matt onto the kitchen counter as he tightened the cuffs around his wrists tighter; not caring his there was a bullet in his shoulder. “It hurts! Please! It hurts.”

“I don’t care.” Klaus hissed through clenched teeth. “Do you not think it hurt when you strangled those women? Do you not think it hurt when Caroline had to break her own wrists in order to be free from you? I honestly do not care if you’re hurting or not. You’re never going to see her again and you’re never getting near those bodies.”

“You promised.”

“You murdered my best friend. I lied.” Klaus pulled him back from the counter and tightened the cuffs once more. “Matthew Donovan, you are under arrest for the murders of Victoria Donovan, April Young, Andi Star, Camille O’Connell and Special Agent Marcel Gerard, and for the kidnapping of Caroline Forbes. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer and have him present with you while you are being questioned. If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed to you.”

Klaus pulled Matt through the front door and down Caroline’s walkway. Flashing lights from the police cruisers surrounded him and Klaus could see both Vanchure and Rosza being loaded into an ambulance. He noticed that one ambulance had already left, and it did not take Klaus long to figure out why; it had taken Caroline to the hospital.

Vincent glared at Matt as Klaus was dragging him down the pathway; arms crossed, and a menacing look on his face. It was clear that Vincent held as much hatred for Matt as Klaus did. Vincent could be a hard ass when it came to his job, but he genuinely cared for the agents in his command.

“I read him his rights.” Klaus told Vincent, who simply nodded, not taking his eyes off of Matt. Vincent took a good look at him, eyeing him as though he was nothing more than the scum on the bottom of his shoe. Klaus knew that Vincent was going to monitor his trail closely as well as his time in prison.

“He shot me!” Matt hissed and Vincent’s eyes traveled to his obviously injured shoulder; not a single ounce of sympathy written on his face. “The bastard shot me!”

“And he will need a doctor.” Klaus replied lightly.

“Ride with him to the hospital. I’ll meet you there for a quick debrief.” Vincent replied and Klaus nodded, grabbing Matt and dragging him towards one of the ambulances. The EMT’s strapped him down and loaded him into the back. Klaus climbed in after them, refusing to let Matt out of his sight. Vincent climb into the back of an SUV, intending to follow the ambulance all the way to the hospital. He sat down on the side of the ambulance, watching as the EMT’s worked over Matt; sedating him due to his continued violent outbursts and refusing to allow them to wrap up his shoulder.

“My girls. I just want my girls.” Matt’s voice slurred and his eyes dropped; the sedatives taking root and drifting Matt off to sleep. Just moments before the drugs pulled Matt into a deep sleep, Klaus leaned down and whispered into his ear.

“How does it feel? How does it feel to have that control slip away from you? To know that everyone is now going to leave you?” Klaus wanted to press his thumb into the bullet wound and cause Matt as much pain as possible. This was the man who murdered four woman and mutilated their bodies. This was the man who murdered his best friend and hurt the woman he was starting to fall for. However, no amount of desire to cause him pain made him do it. There were witnesses and while Klaus is willing to bend the rules, there were some lines he was not willing to cross. “Does it hurt? I bet it hurts.”

Matt’s eyes closed and the rest of the ride passed in silence; not even EMT’s dared to speak. They knew who Matt was and what he had done. Their eyes flickered to Klaus, but he didn’t see them; he just continued to watch Matt as he drifted into nothing, the thought of him finding peace even for a short while felt bitter to Klaus. By the time the short ride to the hospital was over, Matt was completely unconscious. The EMT’s pulled Matt out of the ambulance and as Klaus followed, he saw Vincent walking towards him. Two agents that had ridden with Vincent followed the EMTs, who were rolling Matt into the hospital, while Vincent called Klaus over.

“The doctors will take it from here. Give me a brief breakdown.”

“After Caroline had freed herself and ran out the door, the agents and I went in. Matt fired, hitting Vanchure in the shoulder.” Vincent’s lips were pressed together in a thin line; displeased at the idea of two of his agents injured but said nothing on it. “I tried to talk him down; promised him access to the bodies. For a moment I had him, but he couldn’t get over my relationship with Caroline. He moved, I fired, here we are.”

“Okay. Okay. It was a good shot.” Vincent replied, ignoring the fact that Klaus and Caroline’s relationship was a key factor in why Matt was shot. “He’ll live. Once the bullet is out, we can have him transported back to the station for questions. After that, I want him shipped out to a federal prison. He’ll await trail there.”

“What about Vanchure and Rosza?” Klaus asked, knowing that Vincent would be on the phone with the ER once he got into his SUV.

“They will live. Vanchure will be on medical leave for a while, the bullet went straight through his shoulder, and Rosza will be fine once the drugs leave his system. By the sight of him, I think Mr. Donovan used the last bit of drugs on him.” Vincent replied and Klaus nodded, thinking that it was good news that his fellow agents had no long-lasting damage. “By the weeks end we will be heading back to DC. I assume that you will be driving to New Orleans?”

“Yes sir.”

“Very well.” Vincent nodded. “I’ll see you at the station in the morning to talk to Mr. Donovan. I have a feeling that come tomorrow, reporters will be hounding us. News got out that Andi Star has been murdered by a serial killer. Made national headlines an hour ago.” Klaus scowled at that. “Take the rest of the day. Get some rest.” Vincent paused and groaned as though he just remembered who he was talking to. “Please, do not tell me what you plan on doing tonight. Just…” Vincent shook his head and simply walked away.

If it wasn’t clear that Vincent was exhausted, given the stress and that this case had turned into a bureaucratic nightmare, Klaus may have laughed at his boss’s clear frustration. Instead, he just turned and walked into the hospital through the emergency room door. Klaus reflected on the last time he had walked through this very hospital. The floors were still sterile and the walls lifeless. It was freezing and the air held that chemical smell that Klaus associated with cleaning products. The emergency room was practically empty, with the exception of a few people milling about; mainly nurses and a few people filling out forms for some aliment or another. He knew the real chaos went on behind the scenes.

Klaus just wanted to see Caroline and find out if she was okay. She was strong and he knew that she would recover from this, but he hated to know that she was in pain. He just wanted her to be safe and happy; she was safe, with Matt in custody and no longer a threat but he knew she would not be happy.

Klaus reflected on how the first time in this hospital he was also seeking out Caroline; yet his intentions towards her now were vastly different. At the time, she had been nothing more than a victim that he was curious about. Those bright blue eyes from her picture would haunt him forever; just one more case. Now, Caroline was etched into his heart and it baffled him how someone could mean so much in such little time.

It wasn’t love.

Not yet.

It was far too soon for such declarations; but Klaus knew that he wanted Caroline in his life in some form. They were in different places; both having lives that needed sorted out, but he was not ready to let go of her and he could only hope that she felt the same.

“Liz!” Klaus called out and the police officer whom he had grown to admire. Liz turned her head and he could see the questions burning in her eyes. Bonnie was standing beside her looking frazzled and terrified, Klaus could blame neither of them. He looked around at could not see Caroline anywhere; his heart plummeted for a moment. “Where is Caroline?”

“In with Dr. Fell. They had to put a new cast on, but they said her wrist might have some long-lasting complications.” Liz stated as she pointed to one of the closed doors that Klaus knew led to the trauma rooms. “She is fine, but she kicked us out.”

“She said we were hoovering.” Bonnie muttered with an eye roll. Klaus resisted from smirking. Kicking her mother and Bonnie out of the hospital room does should like something Caroline would do. “We saw Matt being rolled in. What happened?”

“Tried to talk him down. Wouldn’t listen so he got shot in the shoulder.” Klaus summed up and he saw Liz scowl.

“You missed his head by a few inches.” Bonnie told him and Liz gave her an exasperated look. “What? Like you were not thinking it.” Liz didn’t reply and they all knew that Liz was on the same page. “I can’t believe it was Matt. I would have thought Tyler before him. God, even I would be more likely than Matt.”

“The thing about serial killers is that it is always those who we least expect.” Klaus told her and looked towards Liz. He could see the thousand questions circling her mind. Matt was her employee. A fellow cop. Someone she trusted and who was with her when she was searching for her daughter in those woods. He knew where she was. The hatred Liz felt for Matt could only rival what Caroline and Klaus felt for him. “He will be in the hospital and then transported back to the station tomorrow.”

“I’m staying here tonight.” Liz told them both finally. Bonnie whipped her head around, but Klaus was not surprised. “Caroline will be alright. One of you can take her back to my place. I am going to stay here and ensure nothing happens to Matt. I want to ensure he faces justice and the last thing I want is for him to find a way out of this hospital.”

“Liz-“ Bonnie was cut off by the door behind them opening and Dr. Fell strolling out. She looked tired, which did not surprise Klaus; between being a doctor and four patients coming into the hospital from the same incident would have to be exhausting.

“Caroline asked me to let you back now.” Dr. Fell gave them a kind smile. Her eyes flickered to Klaus, clearly not expecting to see him but said nothing; just nodding towards the open door. Liz was the first through the door with Bonnie and Klaus trailing behind. He never once doubted the love Liz held for her daughter but just seeing her race towards the room she was in the ER and given the fact that she wanted to watch over her daughter’s assailant spoke volumes to Klaus.

“Klaus.” He turned to see Bonnie looking at him as Liz went through the door that he assumed belonged to Caroline. The look on Bonnie’s face told was the one she wore the previous day when he lashed out at Caroline; apparently, she still had not forgiven him. “I’ll make this quick. I know Caroline forgave you and I know you spent the night with her. Caroline is a compassionate person and always sees the best in people. I get why you were upset yesterday but if you ever treat Caroline like that again, I’ll cut off your balls.”

“Did you just threaten a federal officer?”

“Yes, I did, and I don’t care.” Bonnie told him and Klaus did not know how to respond. He wanted Bonnie to like him because it would make his life easier. He wanted Caroline in his life and with Caroline came her best friend. It was one of the lessons he learned when he hated his college girlfriend’s best friend; or rather the best friend hated him. “That being said, thank you for saving her. I don’t know what I would have done if she died. I just needed to get that out. I just needed to say thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Caroline has a way of saving herself.” Bonnie nodded in agreement and neither of them said anything more; a silent agreement passing between them. The two of them walked into the hospital room where they saw Liz and Caroline sitting on the bed. Caroline’s head was resting on her mother’s shoulder and her eyes were closed. Liz was holding her daughter close to her as she possibly could.

Klaus thought on the first time he laid eyes on Caroline; not the time he saw her picture in the middle of the bullpen of the FBI or the time she stood in the middle of the station covered in bruises and torn clothing. He thought on the moment he stepped into her hospital room. He thought on that strength he knew was buried inside her. She was a fighter but seeing how deflated she seemed in front of him now, he had never been more thankful that this was over.

Caroline no longer needed to be strong; she could begin to heal.

“Sweetheart?” Klaus whispered and Caroline opened her eyes. She gave him a small smile and held out her good hand; Klaus noticing the brand-new cast on her wrist. He could see the fresh bruise on the side of her face and Klaus felt a wave of anger swell in his chest. Klaus laced his fingers through hers and could feel the fear he had been fighting since the moment he realized that Caroline was missing, leave him. The adrenaline that he had been running on evaporated and he had never felt so tired before. “Are you okay?”

“I’m perfect.”

Lie.

“Caroline. I’m going to stay here tonight.” Liz told her and Caroline shot her mother a confused look. “They brought Matt into the hospital; he was shot. He will be staying here until morning. I want to ensure that he does not go anywhere. Is that okay? I’ll come home if you want me to.”

“No. It’s okay.” She whispered. “But I can still sleep at your place? I don’t want to go back that house.” Caroline paused and panic took over here. “Enzo! Where is Enzo! My dog. Did he hurt my dog?!”

“Enzo is fine.” Klaus chimed in; in what he hoped was a soothing voice. He felt Caroline relax at the knowledge that her dog was going to be okay. “He is already at your mom’s house. Probably getting into everything he can find due to his impatience to see you.”

“Good. I miss him.” Caroline whispered and Klaus gave her a small smile. He knew that Caroline really loved that dog. Liz leaned down and kissed the top of her head; smoothing out her curls as she went. “Mom, if you want to go find out were Matt is, I’ll be okay. Really. I’m fine.”

Klaus did not like the easy tone Caroline used when saying Matt’s name. It was too easy; to normal. It was as though she was speaking of an old friend and not about the man who nearly just tried to kill her. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bonnie watching her carefully; clearly as concerned as he was.

“Okay.” Liz told her and kissed Caroline’s head one last time before climbing off the bed. Bonnie climbed into Liz’s spot; taking Caroline into her arms in a similar fashion that Liz was holding her. Klaus gave Caroline’s hand a quick squeeze, telling her that he would be right back and followed Liz out of the room.

“Liz.” Klaus called and Liz, who was halfway down the hall, paused. She turned back to face him, and it appeared as though she was shaking; Klaus could not tell if it was out of anger or something else. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Liz told him honestly, giving a humorless laugh. “He hurt her. He was going to kill her and do horrible things to her.” Klaus paused, giving her a look. “I know what he did to the bodies Klaus. I read the autopsy reports. Last night when I was at the station.” Liz shook her head. “That was all I could think about today when he had her. All I could imagine was how my daughter was going to die and what he was going to do to her.”

“Liz-“

“He was my deputy Klaus. I knew him. I let him sleep at my house when he was a kid.” Klaus could not imagine what Liz was feeling. He knew that when it came to small towns, everyone is connected in some way or another. He knew that when the truth was revealed, it would send a shockwave; no matter who it was. “I trusted him.”

“What are you going to do?” It was a simple question and while Klaus was only days away from hanging up his shield for good, he was still an agent; and no matter how many rules he had broken and lines he crossed, he didn’t want to see Liz do something that she would regret. “Why do you really want to stay here tonight?”

“I won’t kill him, if that is what you’re asking.” It was. They both knew that. “I just do not want someone to remember him as the football star who once won the home championship for the town. I don’t want them to think of him as the cop who only gave them a warning when they deserved a ticket. I want to ensure that they know exactly the monster he is, and no mercy is shown to him.”

“Okay.” Klaus reached out and touched her shoulder, squeezing it. From the moment he met Liz, he admired her. She was someone who earned the respect she was given; not only for the job she did but the woman she was. She loved her daughter fiercely and never once did she break; always standing as the backbone for Caroline to lean on. “You’re a good sheriff Liz. No one expected it to be him. Don’t doubt that.”

“I don’t. Take care of my baby. Okay Klaus? I trusted you to find her and you did. You kept her alive.” Liz looked as though she wanted to say more but didn’t. “Just care for her tonight. Please? I need to do this.”

“You have my word.” Liz nodded and turned away from him, heading out of the ER; off to search for where Matt was in surgery. Klaus watched her go before turning and heading back into the hospital room to see Bonnie and Caroline in the same position he had left them; but he could tell that the two women were having a whispered argument. “Everything okay?”

“Yup.” Caroline told him in a tone that was far too cheery. Bonnie and Klaus both shared another look; Bonnie was as equally concerned as he was. “Bonnie has a bunch of cupcake orders that need filled. Anna has taken a few days off and Bonnie is needed at the bakery.”

“Caroline-“

“Bonnie its fine.” Caroline turned to Klaus, ignored the worried look her friend was giving her. “Would you mind taking me to my mom’s? It’s not too far from the police station. If it is no trouble. I’m sure you’re tired too. Once you drop me off you can head back to the bed and breakfast to get some sleep. I bet you will have a busy day ahead of you.”

“I didn’t drive here. I rode in the ambulance.” Caroline seemed her deflate. “But if Ms. Bennett doesn’t mind taking us to the station, I can grab the SUV I’ve been driving.” Bonnie quickly agreed and Caroline seemed to relax. “And you should not be alone tonight, Love.”

Before Caroline refute, Dr. Fell knocked on the hospital door; making all three of its occupants jump.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Dr. Fell walked into the room with a clipboard in her hand and a gentle smile on her face. “I just have a few discharge papers that Caroline needs to sign. If you could give us a few minutes?”

Bonnie and Klaus nodded. Klaus leaned down and kissed the top of her head before leaving the hospital room with Bonnie; who was biting her nails and seemed on edge. The second they were alone in the hallway, she rounded on him with suspicious eyes.

“She won’t let me stay with her. I tried to tell her that the bakery can handle being closed for a few days, but she won’t listen. She kept insisting that I’ll see her tomorrow and that you will take her home. She also said she wants to be alone which is the last thing she needs right now.”

“If Caroline thinks that I’ll leave her alone then she has lost her mind.” Klaus told Bonnie, and that is exactly is what he was afraid was going to happen. Caroline was in shock and that shock was about to wear off at any moment. “If you want to stay as well, feel free because I’m not leaving her either.”

“She will get pissed off if I stay and honestly, I don’t care. This is what she does. When things are bad, she pushes everyone away and pretends that nothing is wrong.” Bonnie told him with a worried look. “But, if you take her to her moms and refuse to leave, she might listen to you.” Klaus gave her a confused look. Why would Caroline listen to him when she was holding her best friend at arm’s length? “She has feelings for you, dumbass.”

“Did you just call a federal agent a dumbass?”

“Yes. Arrest me.” Before Klaus could reply, Dr. Fell came out of the hospital room with a worried look on her face. At first, Klaus thought that something was wrong with her physically, but they would have heard something from out in the hallway. Dr. Fell looked between Bonnie and Klaus and pointed at both of them.

“Caroline is under the impression that she is spending the night alone.”

“She’s not.” Bonnie and Klaus chimed in at the same time.

“Good because she is in no position to be alone right now.” Dr. Fell pursed her lips. “Agent Mikaelson, I am telling you this because Caroline signed a release stating that I can discuss her case with you, remember?” Klaus nodded, understanding what she was saying. Dr. Fell was about to break her patient’s confidence and was doing it the only way she knew how; by using that release and the fact that Klaus was a federal agent. “I know how stubborn she can be, and she will fight you tooth and nail, but that woman in there is five second away from a complete breakdown. If I knew that she wouldn’t check herself out of the hospital, I would keep her overnight.”

“We are going to Liz’s house. Klaus and I are staying over and Caroline will deal with it.” The finality in Bonnie’s tone impressed Klaus and for a moment, he felt a stab in his stomach. The friendship that Caroline and Bonnie shared reminded him of Marcel. The memory of his friend’s death and how it had been less than forty-eight hours since he died hit him like a ton of bricks.

Klaus shook himself.

Now was not the time.

“Good.” Dr. Fell told them and handed Bonnie a script. “Here is a prescription for medication for the pain and honestly, they may help her sleep. She told me that she did not want to take any sleeping pills, but it might be good for her to take them at least tonight. If she gets a good night’s sleep, it may help her later.” Klaus nodded seriously listening to her every word. She gave a few more instructions before giving a small smile. “And I want to say thank you. You promised that you would find the man that did this and you did. So, thank you.”

“It wasn’t just me but you’re welcome.” Dr. Fell smiled before turning away and heading down the hallway. Bonnie and Klaus shared a look before heading into the hospital room again; silently agreeing that they would not tell Caroline that they both were staying with her that night. Caroline was up, dressed and running a brush through her hair. She saw them come into the room and flashed them a bright smile that did not do her beauty her justice. It felt false and wrong.

“Ready to go?” Caroline asked them cheerfully. Bonnie and Klaus exchanged a look, but Klaus just nodded. “Great! I figured that Bonnie can drop us off at the station to pick up you SUV and then you can take me my mom’s before you head to the bed and breakfast?”

“Sure. Sounds good.” Bonnie told her and picked up her bag that she left on the hospital floor. Caroline smiled at her and walked out of the room. Klaus turned to follow her, but Bonnie’s hand reached out and grabbed her arm. “I’ll drop you off at the police station, go to my apartment and pack a bag. I’ll get Caroline’s prescriptions on my way over. It might be better that way, so she won’t have a fit in the car or something.”

Klaus nodded in agreement and caught up with Caroline who was speed walking through the hospital, not having noticed that Klaus and Bonnie had lagged behind. Klaus watched her nervously as they climbed into the back of Bonnie’s light blue car. Caroline just seemed in a daze and couldn’t focus on anything particularly in front of her. She continued to fidget with her hands and talking non-stop.

“I left my phone at the house so I suppose I can grab that in the morning. I won’t need it. Mom still has a landline. I mean who has a landline anymore? Oh! Maybe we can do coffee in the morning Bonnie? Klaus you should come too. Yes. Before you leave for New Orleans, also you have to tell me when you get there. I’ll worry if you don’t.”

“I promise to call when I get there, Sweetheart.” Klaus promised and he saw Bonnie look at him through the review mirror. He wanted to tell Caroline that there was some work that still needed to be done before he left town. Matt needed to be interrogated and figuring out what would happen to Tyler and Jeremy. There was so much that needed to happen before he could say he was done in Mystic Falls.

Bonnie pulled up to the police station and Klaus pointed which SUV was his. She parked next to it and Caroline all but jumped out of the car as though it was on fire. She was antsy and pacing back and forth as Klaus climbed out of the car. If he had not known better, he thought she might have been on something; but Klaus could spot a panic attack from a mile away and Caroline was on the verge of a breakdown.

“I’ll see you soon.” Bonnie said in a low voice and Klaus nodded. By the time Klaus hit the unlock button on his key fob, Caroline was already crawling into the passenger seat. Klaus pulled out of the space and listened to Caroline ramble on; keeping a close eye on her in case she started to panic as he drove.

“You know, I’ve never been to New Orleans. I’ve traveled but I tend to aim for other countries. Last year, I went to France for work, but you already knew that. I think I told you that. Anyway, I would love to see New Orleans. Is it true that they have French influences? I loved France and I bet the food in New Orleans in amazing. All the creole!”

“I’ll have to take you. Maybe we can make a trip of it. You and me.” While he knew that he was just appeasing her, Klaus did mean what he said. He would love to show Caroline New Orleans or any other city. He wanted to be with her outside of this trauma she was enduring. The brightness of her smile in that moment hurt Klaus more than he could express because it was wrong. He would keep every promise he made to her but in this moment, it was not about the promises he made; it was about getting Caroline through the night intact. He pulled up next to Liz’s house and reached over to Caroline, taking her hand in his. “I promise that we will go to any city you want to see. I will be there with you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Thank you.” Caroline leaned across the car and kissed his quickly on the lips; tossing him that wide and false smile on her lips. Caroline crawled out of the car and Klaus followed suit. He grabbed his bag out of the back as he watched Caroline pull a small decorative frog from the lawn and grab the spare key from under it. He would have to speak to Liz about a better hiding place for her spare key. “Oh, you don’t have to walk me- why do you have your bag?”

“Sweetheart, I’m not leaving you. You may think that you want to be alone, but you shouldn’t be.” Caroline looked at him as though she wanted to argue; to push the point that she was fine and could take care of herself. He remembered how she said she felt suffocated by Bonnie and Liz’s constant hovering and while he could sympathize with her, he knew that tonight her desire to be alone should be ignored. Sometimes, people just need a friend to be there when they fall. “You can’t change my mind.”

“I’m not…I don’t think…that I’m in the mood for anything-“

“I’m not here for sex, Caroline.” Klaus took a step forward and kissed the top of her head. “Last night meant the world to me and I want more than anything to experience that with you again but not tonight. I’m here for you, not your body.” Caroline’s shoulders sagged in relief and for a moment, Klaus felt more irrational anger towards her ex’s than he had previously. It was clear what both Damon and Tyler wanted Caroline for during their relationship and he thought them fools to be so blind to someone with so much worth. “Now. Why don’t you unlock the door?”

“Right.” Caroline laughed and for a moment, it sounded genuine. He followed Caroline up the porch and through the front door. The house was small and organized. He could tell that Liz did not spend a whole lot of time there. Enzo came bustling towards Caroline with such energy that Klaus envied. Caroline sank down to the ground and pulled the dog to her in a tight hug. She buried her face into his fur and Klaus watched her slowly; thinking that this was the moment she would break but was proven wrong when she pulled away. “You scared me mister. Don’t ever run off again. Okay?”

“He was trying to protect you Love. He is very loyal to you.” Klaus told her and she could not take her eyes off the dog. The relief that was showing on her face told Klaus that everything was slowly becoming real to her. She stroked him a few more times and peppered kisses all over his face; Enzo responding with licking her affectionately and enthusiastically.

“Okay, I missed you too!” Caroline laughed, pulling herself from the ground. “Do you have to use the bathroom? Come on boy.” Caroline walked towards a room that Klaus assumed was the kitchen and he heard another door open. He gave Caroline some space but kept an ear out for her. He took the few moments he heads to look around Liz’s living room. It was small and neat. There was a fireplace toward the far wall and pictured lined up on the mantel.

Most of the pictures were of Caroline during different periods of her life. He saw one of Liz holding a newborn baby with a man Klaus assumed to be Caroline’s father who had passed on a few years back. Another of a little girl with blonde pigtails ridding a bright pink bike. A picture of Caroline in her cheerleading uniform and another with her wedged between Elena and Bonnie. One of Liz and Caroline together while another of Caroline playing with a puppy that looked like Enzo.

Then at the far end of the mantel was another picture of a young Caroline no older than sixteen. She had her hair done up in up do with a few curls framing her face. She wore a soft short green dress that told Klaus it was a photo of a school dance. While Caroline looked beautiful, it wasn’t her that drew is attention. It was her date. Matt Donovan stood beside her, their arms linked and a small smile on his face. A memory of something Caroline had said outside Fell Creamery a few days prior surfaced in his mind.

I was Matt’s homecoming date sophomore year because Elena dumped him. Klaus blanched at the connection. Everyone was connected in such a small town like this but to realize that Caroline had been close to him at one point almost disturbed him.

“I forgot about that photo.” Klaus turned to see Caroline gazing at the frame in his hand. She walked closer to him and took it from him; gazing down that face of her monster. “He asked me shortly after Elena dumped him. I had a crush on Stefan and we both knew we were going just as friends. Funny enough, he actually ran off with Andi Star later that night.”

“Andi? I thought she dated Damon?”

“Yeah, she did but that was years later. Matt and Andi dated for a hot minute at the end of sophomore year, but she was two years older and a senior. I was so wrapped up in Damon by then that I forgot that Matt had dated her. I think almost everyone did because it was just a blimp of a relationship. She got accepted into a school in Charleston and left. She would come back for breaks and stuff. It was around then that her and Damon started…. whatever it was they had. They were together and then they weren’t. Matt just got left behind I guess.”

“Are you okay?” Klaus asked her and Caroline nodded. She placed the photo back on the mantel but continued to look at it. Klaus made a mental note to burn that picture at a later time when Caroline was asleep. A protectiveness swelled up inside Klaus and he never wanted Caroline to gaze upon that photo again. He assumed that she had fun at that dance and now that memory would forever be tainted.

“Yeah.” Her voice was low, and Klaus didn’t believe her. He was studying her intently and he could see that memories were flowing through her mind like a movie projected on a screen. “I’m going to take a shower. Follow me and we can place your bag in my room. Mom hasn’t changed it so we can sleep in there tonight.”

Klaus nodded and followed her out of the living room. He picked up his black go bag and climbed the stairs after her. She went down the hallway and into a small room that clearly belonged to her at one point. There was a double bed that had a flowery comforter on it. A small dresser pushed against the one wall and a bookshelf that had a series of books on it that looked like they belonged to a teenager. The walls were a soft blue with sheer yellow curtains hanging on the windows. Klaus sat his bag down at the end of the bed and watched as Caroline pulled a few things from the dresser.

“Mom keeps some old clothes in here now. She won’t care if I borrow some for the night. I can always wash my clothes or swing by the house-“ Caroline froze and Klaus saw her breathing increase. Klaus took a step towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. The contact seemed to jar Caroline back to reality, and she shut the drawer roughly and held a shirt that she didn’t even look at in her hand. “I’m jumping into the shower.”

Before Klaus could say anything, Caroline bolted into a room that was adjacent to her bedroom. Klaus made sure to keep the bedroom door open and listened for the sound of the shower to start. When he was sure that she was in the shower, he pushed the bathroom door ajar in order to hear inside better before making his way back into the bedroom. He didn’t want to push her or invade her privacy, but he needed to ensure that he was safe and okay.

Klaus sat down upon her bed, picked up a stuffed cow that had seen better days and waited. Enzo jumped up onto the bed and he reached out to pet the dog. Enzo laid down but his eyes remained trained on the bedroom door, waiting for Caroline to come back through it. The silence was mundane and deafening; but Klaus waited because he knew it was coming.

Crash.

Klaus bolted from the bed and raced towards the bedroom; Enzo barking in the background. He pushed the bathroom door open and looked around. He opened the glass shower door to reveal Caroline on the ground and curled up in the corner. Bottles of shampoo and body washed littered the ground along with a few other shower related items. Not caring that he was fully dressed or that the water was still running, Klaus stepped into the shower; hot water burning his skin and pulled Caroline to his chest. He had trouble moving her, so he sunk down to the ground; holding her as he did.

“I’m here, Caroline. Let it out.” Caroline screamed and cried, her nails digging into his chest. He could not make out what she was saying only that she was in pure agony. The stress, terror and pure trauma from the past two weeks were creeping up on her and eating away at her. The relief of Matt’s arrest was fresh and welcoming, but also made room for the emotions that Caroline refused to let herself feel were bursting at the seams. “It’s okay. I got you.”

Enzo was barking just outside the shower and Klaus could hear footsteps racing up the stairs. Within seconds, Bonnie appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. She looked at the scene around her; the shower running, shampoo bottles on the ground, Caroline’s naked body and Klaus’s clothes’ soaking wet. It did not take long for Bonnie to understand what happened.

Bonnie dropped her bag to the ground and reached into the shower to turn off the water. She grabbed a towel that was hanging on a hook just outside the shower and wrapped it around Caroline’s shoulders. Caroline didn’t seem to notice, she just continued crying and clutching Klaus’s chest. Bonnie sank down on the other side of Caroline and gripped her hand, simply telling her that she was there; letting Caroline cry and just feel everything she had been bottling up.

Klaus and Bonnie shared a look over Caroline’s head. Neither of them was going anywhere and where prepared for a long night ahead.

[justaghostingon]

A Chance Encounter

Cyrus encounters a stranger wandering in the woods of the dark kingdom, and finds himself sharing a meal. But this strange, fae like girl might have more to do with Hugo and his friends than he could possibly imagine.

Not that he’d notice.

Takes place directly after Cogs in a Steel Heart

Give thanks to @quoththecomic! For letting me use her character Emily.

Read on ao3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27154016

or below the cut

Cyrus hissed as his toe collided with yet another overgrown tree root. This was getting ridiculous. How many unseen tree roots did this dark and twisted forest have? He was almost beginning to miss the eerie black rocks.

No, Cyrus shook his head. He wasn’t that desperate. He’d leave those rocks to Hugo and his friends. He was going home to Mona, and he could brave any amount of horrible tree roots if it meant he’d see her again.

Feeling lighter, he took another step forward, and promptly felt the ground disappear beneath his feet. Cyrus had just enough time to think, Oh no, before a sharp force yanked him upward into the air. Vertigo clashed with blood flow as the world gradually spun back into focus, and Cyrus furrowed his brow as he tried to figure out why the world had turned upside down.

“Gotcha!” A high pitched voice cried, and Cyrus saw a cloaked figure hurrying across the ceiling of the world like a particularly energetic bat. “Wait,” the figure slowed, a frown in their voice. “What are you doing?”

Cyrus blinked. “I’m upside down,” he said. He’d thought it was obvious.

“You’re in my trap!” The figure pulled off their hood to reveal a very angry girl. “I spent all morning on that!”

Cyrus frowned. That was hardly his fault. How was he supposed to see the trap among all the leaves? The girl scowled right back, arms crossed arms crossed in a stance that looked vaguely familiar. Cyrus resisted the urge to ask if she had any relations in the iron kingdom.

A sharp growl came from her stomach, and she slapped a hand over it, a sharp blush flooding the skin not hidden beneath her long hair. The action was so childish it made Cyrus’ stomach twist, feeling like a jerk for making this kid’s life harder. He sighed.

“If you can get me down kid, I’ll give you some of my rations to make up for it,” he offered. The girl hesitated, so Cyrus took a leaf out of Hugo’s book and tried to sweeten the deal. “And I’ll cook.”

The girl waited a moment longer, long enough for Cyrus to feel a little offended. Did she think he couldn’t cook? Sure, Mona did most of the cooking, but he was perfectly capable of feeding himself before she arrived in his life! He opened his mouth, fully prepared to defend his skill, when the girl stepped forward.

In one swift motion she cut the rope and sent him tumbling to the ground. He caught himself with his arms and pushed backwards, flipping to his feet. There were certain advantages to working with alchemists, Cyrus thought as he straightened his shoulders, they had forced him to learn some fairly impressive stunts.

“Join the circus?” the girl asked dryly, one hand on her hip. But Cyrus, who had spent years with Hugo, ignored her quip in favor of rifling through his pockets for his food ration. It was, thankfully, not damaged from when he’d been attached to an exploding firework earlier today.

“I’ll get to cooking,” he grunted as he pulled it out. The girl swiped it out of his hands.

“Not so fast,” she said. “I’m not trusting my food to some stranger who doesn’t know how to tell leaves from a trap. I’ll make this meal.”

Cyrus raised an eyebrow. Last time he checked, cooking had nothing to do with outdoor survival skills. Otherwise people in the cities would have starved long ago. Sure, they were starving anyways, but that was because of corruption, and not from a lack of cooking skills. At least he was pretty sure it wasn’t.

The girl set up the fire, oblivious to Cyrus’ dilemma, and placed a small pan on top that she produced from underneath her cloak. She then pulled out a few vegetables and threw them in the pan with Cyrus’s rations. As she pulled out green herbs too, Cyrus began to wonder how exactly she was able to keep all of it underneath her cloak. Maybe it was magic.

Handling three different things at once didn’t appear to be easy though, and Cyrus saw one of the herb bottles slip precariously to her elbow. He leaned forward and caught it just as the girl did the same. Her hair slipped slightly away from her face, and Cyrus got a glimpse beneath it.

Course grey stone took the place of warm skin, creeping downward like a slow moving poison. Her left eye was an empty white, as unseeing as the marble statues he’d glimpsed in the noble’s district.

The girl reeled back, food falling forgotten between them as her hand automatically went to her hair, holding it back in place to hide the stone. Her body was tense, whether to run or to attack Cyrus wasn’t certain, but he knew he’d have to tread carefully.

He chose his next words with care, knowing they could mean the difference between life and death. What had his grandpa said? Be straightforward? “Are you a fae?” he asked, trying to sound polite.

“Wha…” the girl’s eye widened with surprise. “No!” She shook her head. “Wait, are you?” her single eye narrowed.

Huh. Cyrus had never thought about that before. Was he? He’d always been unusually strong, and keeping up with alchemists certainly wasn’t something ordinary people had much luck with. Still, he’s pretty sure his grandpa would have mentioned if he was a fae. Right?

“I don’t believe so.” He said, “I’ve never checked.” How did someone check these things anyways? Was there some kind of manual of symptoms? How would he explain this to Mona?

The girl let out a sharp laugh, and Cyrus looked up in just enough time to see her press a hand over her mouth. Good. He was glad at least someone was enjoying his dilemma.

“Don’t laugh,” Cyrus grunted with a false frown. “This is an important question! There could be allergies…” What was it that fae were allergic to? Why hadn’t he paid more attention? “...I’d never be able to eat garlic again.” Or was it Ginger?

“I’m pretty sure garlic wards away vampires,” the girl leaned forward, merth in her voice. Cyrus noted some of the tension in her shoulders had lessened.

“Does it?” Cyrus shrugged. “I should probably write that down. Can’t afford to offend my boss.” A cheap shot, but one he knew would have Hugo in stitches, and any other teen with a problem for authority.

Sure enough, the girl gave a snort, Cyrus straightened, pleased with himself as he saw her shoulders finally relax. It was nice to know he still had what it took when it came to dealing with kids.

“I’m Emily,” the girl extended a hand.

“Cyrus,” he said as he took it and gave a firm shake. The food in the pan hissed, and the girl jumped, attention snapping to it as she threw in a few more spices in and pulled it off the fire.

“Food’s ready!” She said as she stirred the pan. Cyrus held out his travel plate obligingly as she dished out half to him. He took a bite and held back a gag. The food tasted disgusting, spices clashing and overpowering each other over raw meat and charred edges. It took all of his self control to eat it without flinching. How had she messed this up so badly? She’d seemed so confident! He wished Mona were here, she’d know how to save it.

Emily devoured the food in front of her with the hunger of the young. Cyrus watched with some amusement as she seemed unable to taste her own cooking, finishing long before he was half way through. She sat back then, balancing her plate on her knee in a lazy fashion.

“You know,” she said, as the breeze ruffled the hair covering her stone eye, “I think you’re the first person to respond to my eye like that. Most people are so horrified they chase me off.”

Cyrus looked up sharply, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. “That’s awful,” he said, and felt a flash of anger at any adults this kid had met before.

“It’s not that bad!” Emily amends, waving a hand in front of her in an effort to seem casual. “I’m good on my own. I can handle anything the forest throws at me.” She nodded her head, as if proud, like this wasn’t the saddest thing he’d heard today.

An image flashed before his eyes, of Hugo waving his hand in disgust as he watched some boys his age running about in the street, a ball between them. “I’m too smart for those imbeciles,” he’d sniffed. “So why would I bother to get to know them?”

“Sound’s lonely,” Cyrus murmured, as he remembered how Hugo’s eyes had followed the ball as it had bounced around. Emily drew back as if he’d slapped her, and Cyrus’ attention snapped to the present.

“Sorry,” he grunted, Emily still looked hurt, and he wished for Mona to know what to say to explain. Yes. Explain. He could do that. “I just got lost in thought,” he said.

Emily raised an eyebrow and Cyrus knew he’d failed at human communication once again. “I used to look after this kid about your age,” he tried again, and Emily’s eyebrow rose higher. “We split company recently, so I guess I was just thinking about him.”

“Oh,” Some of the tension in Emily’s shoulders dissipated and Cyrus could have cried with relief. “What was he like?” Emily asked, glancing to the side as if feigning indifference. “Your traveling companion.”

How to sum Hugo up in a single sentence? Cyrus bit his lip. That wouldn’t be easy. “Proud,” he finally settled on. “And defensive.” Emily cocked her head to one side, hair moving to tickle her nose, and Cyrus knew she wanted him to elaborate.

“He was kinda the worst, to everyone.” He started, because really, there wasn’t any other way to put it. “Like really mean,” Emily blinked, and Cyrus realized he was doing a really bad job of this. He tried again. “He didn’t get along with kids his own age, but always acted like he couldn’t care less, I guess,” Cyrus sighed, “I never realized how miserable he was, until he actually got friends and decided to stay with them.”

“Yeah well,” Emily scowled as she pulled her knees closer to herself. “Sometimes the so-called friends are actually worse.”

“What do you mean?” Cyrus’ brow furrowed. Had he missed something? Was Hugo still in danger?

Emily stiffened at his tone, and Cyrus felt his heart clench. He probably shouldn’t have sounded so concerned. He didn’t want to alarm her.

“Look,” Emily glanced away, not meeting his eyes. “Sometimes people take lonely kids and they try to radicalize them by separating them from their families.” From the bitterness in her voice, Cyrus knew she was talking from experience. He wondered who it was she’d lost.

She glanced up, and apparently read his interest in his face because she continued. “You ever heard of the Saporians?”

Cyrus had to admit he had not. “I’m not the best with countries,” he offered. Which was true enough, as all of Donella’s maps only really focused on ones important to the quest.

Emily gave him a false smile. “That’s fine. Most haven’t. It was conquered by Corona years ago, culture oppressed, the whole deal.” Cyrus nodded, sounded like basic government behavior to him.

Emily twisted a bit of the fabric of her pant leg. “My brother,” she started then hesitated. “He got...radicalized, by a group of friends, way back when we were kids. He thought he was serving his country but people like that? They don’t really care, they just use people's passions to make them into useful tools.”

“You’re lucky you’re such a useful tool,” Donella scowled at Hugo as he glared back after one of their rare fights. “Or I’d have tossed you out years ago.”

Cyrus winced at the memory, remembering how Hugo’s eyes had briefly turned to glass before hiding under their usuall wall of stone. “You got it backwards.” He shook his head. “Anything would have been better for him than staying with us.”

“You shouldn’t sell yourself short like that,” Emily scolded. “You seem like a great dad.” Cyrus bit back a slight chuckle at how completely she’d misunderstood.

“I said I looked after him,” he grunted. “But I wasn’t his father or anything. His mother…” Donella probably cared, deep down. You don’t put up with Hugo that long without caring a little, no matter how useful he might be. He was too much to handle. And there were other moments...but still, he shook his head. “He’s better off with them.” Better off with people who could tell him they loved him, not hide it behind lies and a cold facade. “Besides,” he added as he saw Emily was still apprehensive, “I already made sure the friends were good people.”

“You did?” Emily frowned. “How?”

“I posed as a bounty hunter and tried to kill him,” Cyrus stated bluntly and Emily’s eyebrow disappeared into her hair.

“You did what?” she said.

“I posed as a bounty hunter and tried to kill him,” Cyrus repeated as patiently as possible, mindful that the true brilliance of his plan wasn’t inherently obvious to those outside the thug profession. “And promised not to harm them if they stepped aside.”

“That-,” Emily shook her head, no doubt impressed by Cyrus’ brilliance, “-is the absolute stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Or not. “What if they gave him up?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Cyrus shrugged, feeling that explaining his back up plan, run like hell, would likely only get him laughed at. “What matters is they stuck me to a firework and sent me flying into the sky.”

Emily choked. “They what?”

“They stuck me to a firework,” Cyrus repeated. At her incredulous expression he added, “It was a big firework.”

Emily’s brow furrowed. “And they just happened to have a big firework lying around?”

“Yes,” Cyrus nodded sagely, “the little one seems quite fond of them.” Emily’s shoulders stiffened, and she scrutinized Cyrus like she expected him to tell a bad joke. Cyrus briefly wondered if she knew who he was talking about. But no. That would be too much of a coincidence.

“So you trust them then,” she asked, voice causal. “Even after they blasted you into the sky? That doesn’t seem like the best recommendation.”

Cyrus sighed, looks like he wasn’t getting it across at all. “They know he’s the worst,” he stated. Had he left that part out? “And they still blasted me with a firework to defend him.” There. That got the point across right?

Emily’s brow furrowed as she stared morosely into the dying fire between them. Cyrus didn’t have to see inside her head to know she was deep in thought. It was the kind of expression Hugo would use when he was contemplating a particularly difficult heist he’d have to pull off. Finally she shook her head and pulled herself to her feet.

“It’s been nice to talk to you Cyrus,” she said as she began to kick soil on the fire. “But if I need to start moving if I want to make good use of the remaining daylight.”

A sudden image of Emily sitting all alone and eating her horrible cooking flashed across Cyrus’s mind. His heart gave a strange pang, and he heard himself say, “you could come with me if you’d like.” Emily stopped moving. “My wife would be happy to have you,” Cyrus continued, because he knew Mona would love her. Bad cooking and all. “And you wouldn’t have to wander around in the woods.”

Emily shot him a hollow smile. “Thank you,” she said. “But I can’t. I’ve got a mission to complete. Besides,” She rapped the stone on the side of her face. “I’ve no intention of staying like this forever.”

Cyrus wondered what it was about young folk that had them all running off on quests these days.

“Very well,” he sighed. “But if you ever come to the Iron Kingdom, go to the west district and ask for Mona or Cyrus, someone should point you in the right direction.” If by some strange twist of fate she got there before he did, Mona would make sure she wasn’t chased out of the city for the stone on her face.

“Sure,”  Emily nodded, then shot him a mischievous grin. “And if I see your kid, I’ll be sure to give him your best.”

“Thank you,” Cyrus grunted, but inside he felt his blood run cold. If Emily and Hugo met, he had a feeling whatever kingdom they met in wouldn’t survive the encounter. He hoped Hugo’s friends stayed far away from Emily.

Emily turned, and something slipped from the pouches beneath her cloak. She dove down to catch it, but not before Cyrus saw the smooth wooden carving land on the ground. If Gyrus didn’t know better, he’d have sworn it was a talisman. But that was impossible. Hugo would have told him if one had gone missing. Wouldn’t he?

Emily stuffed it back in her cloak with a look that was almost guilty. “You didn’t see that,” she said.

“Of course not,” Cyrus agreed, sure it wasn’t that important. Emily smiled.

[mischiefandspirits]

Colony of Gotham (7/7)

The Colony of Gotham is an urban legend that is whispered about in the dangerous city. It’s said the Colony is a family of demons and spirits that stalk the night, hunting for the souls of the guilty.

When Bruce became Batman, he’d never intended to be mistaken for a demon. He was happy to lean into it, though, and as he gained his partners – as his family grew – they all followed suit.

First Part ~ Previous Part

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Tigress had escorted Flash and Young Justice to the Watchtower and had calmed everyone down, she explained that the Colony was not, in fact, malevolent.

She told them that the family was simply territorial of the area they protected. Their actions had just been them making their point in their typical chaotic and playful way. She and Flash had encountered some of the Colony the night before and after assuring them they would continue to keep their business out of the city, the bats and birds had agreed to a truce. The Flash's kidnapping was just Flash wanting to get in on the joke. He was meant to show up that night with a figurative olive branch from the Colony, but then Young Justice had rushed in and the Colony reacted in kind by capturing them. They then informed Flash so he and Tigress could return them. The team was reprimanded for rushing in without backup and Flash was given extra monitor duty as punishment for his trick. He accepted it graciously, having expected it.

When they made it back to Gotham, Dick explained Damian’s past to Artemis and Wally. The latter was not pleased to discover the young boy he’d been teasing and calling cute for years was an assassin.

“He might be a former assassin, but he’s still adorable.”

“No, Dick, you don’t call people who can and will slit your throat if you upset them adorable. You could have warned me! I nearly died!”

“A lot,” Jason added from off to the side where the rest of Dick’s siblings were watching the show with popcorn.

“Damian wouldn't have actually killed you,” Dick argued.

“Maybe just maimed you a little. But hey, you heal fast.”

“Not helping Tiny Jay,” Dick hissed as Wally pointed at Tim and nodded.

“Maimed! I could have been maimed! Just because I heal fast doesn’t mean getting maimed doesn’t hurt!”

“Dami never meant to kill. Dami only meant to maim or seriously injure,” Carrie croaked from right behind the speedster, causing him to jump with a shriek.

“No voice filters in the manor,” Dick huffed at her before turning to his siblings as a whole. “Guys, please stop traumatizing my partners!”

Artemis, who until this point had been pinching the bridge of her nose, looked up with a murderous expression. “YOU STARTED IT!”

When Bruce and Selina returned from their honeymoon, the kids explained what had happened.

Bruce would never admit it, but he was proud of how the kids handled the situation. They ensured the other teams wouldn’t interfere in Gotham and limited the amount of information that got out about them to people who were already trusted. That said, he would have preferred they had taken the situation more seriously, which he made sure they knew.

No matter how amusing the recordings Barbara had shown him of the heroes’ reactions were.

He also would have preferred no information got out about them, but he knew it was only a matter of time for those who did find out. Young Justice was just a little too invested in Tim’s wellbeing, not that he was complaining, so they were sure to notice something eventually. As for Wally and Artemis, he’d been waiting for this since they’d found out the family’s other secret.

Selina had bet the engagement announcement would happen first, but he knew Dick wouldn’t have agreed without all secrets coming to light first.

He was a little less forgiving of the rest of the kids taking this as permission to tell their friends.

He wasn’t too annoyed with Damian as Jon had already suspected there was something different about the family (he was too much like his mother) and he mostly excused Stephanie and Bette seeing as Cassie already knew, which meant they were more likely to mess up in the group chat. He didn’t say anything to Barbara, partly because she wasn’t really his (no matter how much he cared for her) and partly because she’d somehow managed to convince Hank and Dawn she was still a demon.

He did have talks with Dick, Jason, and Carrie though. Kory might have been a friend of the family for longer than Jason had been a member (as Dick had been quick to point out in his defense), but they hadn’t been as close since the breakup. Artemis Grace tended to be a wild card in regards to her loyalties and her team had a looser grasp on the law then most others in their business (Jason took offense to this, of course, even if he didn’t object). As for Traci, they simply didn’t know her (No, Carrie, a two day round trip does not give you plenty of time to know a person. No, I don’t care if you managed to convince her you were a demon. Barbara’s situation is different!).

There was a bright side to this, though. The mix of information that the heroes had ended up causing a few amusing situations.

One such situation came up a few months later when Tim, Stephanie, and Bette were hanging out with their friends at Mount Justice. Bette offhandedly mentioned to Cissie that Damian’s mother was part of “the League” right before the three Gothamites got called away. This resulted in Cissie, who thought the Robins were human, gossiping with Roy, who thought Robin was a demon, about how “Batman totally knocked up someone in the JL and Robin’s the result.” This resulted in Oliver, who’d been eavesdropping, ending a League meeting by asking if anyone knew who’d spawned the Bloody Robin. The information reached anyone even remotely connected to the League within twenty-four hours.

The Colony just sat back and watched the accidental chaos, obviously.

The most common theory was Wonder Woman, though no one was willing to suggest it anywhere she might hear. One of Hawkgirl’s past lives was also a popular theory, and she was horrified when she realized she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t true.

It came to a head when the Titans decided to have a get together of current and former Titans and Teen Titans. Guests were allowed, so Kory and Roy invited Artemis Grace and Bizarro. Assuming the event would be boring and wanting to either have someone who would lighten it up or be bored with her, Artemis only agreed to come if Red Hood came too. To the horror of everyone not in the know, Kory not only agreed, but decided to extend the invite to all the younger members of the Colony.

Nightwing and Robin arrived first with Tigress and Flash, the older bird arm in arm with Tigress while the younger was sitting on Flash’s shoulders. Both gave too wide grins as they waved at the Titans and Teen Titans who were already gathered. Robin dropped limply off Flash’s shoulders and hit the ground in a roll before running off to drape herself over Thirteen.

Batgirl, Hawkfire, and Lark arrived next with Cassie and Donna, to the latter’s obvious discomfort. They were quickly joined by Cissie and Kara as Donna went off to greet her friends. Batgirl took great joy in disappearing and reappearing around the room, while Lark took great joy in selling her out every chance he got since he could always see where she was. Hawkfire was equally thrilled to use the voices of anyone who got near, having made sure to study up on as many people who’d be at the party as possible so she could mimic their voices.

The rest of Young Justice arrived shortly later with Superboy, Corvid, and Robin. The last surprised most of the people who’d already been there, until they realized Robin was no longer at Thirteen’s side despite many being sure she’d been there only a second before. Throughout the party Robin seemed to disappear from Thirteen’s side, only to reappear across the room at Superboy’s within a second. Some even swore they’d seen Robin in two places at once, but no one was ever sure. Meanwhile Corvid’s speech pattern had him sticking close to a member of the Colony or Kory so they could translate for him.

No one was exactly sure when Black Bat and Bluebird arrived. They were simply there, hovering around some of the others or hidden off in a corner. No one ever seemed to notice Black Bat come or go between groups either. She always seemed to just be there.

Pythia had been there from the beginning, but she mostly just kept to herself, watching and listening through the cameras, until Hawk and Dove arrived. Then she whispered at them through the nearest speaker. This meant the two mostly stayed off to the side on their own, but neither felt any need to complain.

Roy, Artemis, Bizarro, and Red Hood arrived after the party was already in full swing with no reason for being late other than a joke from Roy about being fashionable. Red Hood had a similar experience to Corvid, though Kory could not translate for him while Artemis and Bizarro could. Artemis had placed a comm into her ear for the occasion, but not even the Colony could explain how Bizarro managed to always know what Red Hood was saying.

Despite the Colony’s eccentricities, the party went smoothly.

Until someone brought up Robin’s heritage, at least.

The Robin with Thirteen snickered when she heard and disappeared into the shadows. Corvid, who had also been near, shook his head and let her slip under his cape as he headed towards where Kon and Lark were talking.

The debate began to spread until Beast Boy huffed and turned to Bluebird. “So who popped out the demon spawn?”

The room fell silent and a few people gave him terrified expressions before glancing at the Colony. The shapeshifter squirmed, not having meant for his voice to be as loud as it was.

The thing was, every Robin had been referred to as a demon spawn at multiple points in their lives, and Black Bat had had the title thrown at her a few times too. As such the group couldn’t help themselves.

With eerie synchrony, Dick, Stephanie, Bette, Duke, Damian, and Carrie all answered, “My mom.”

Most noticed that Jason, Tim, and Cass had all answered as well in growls, trills, and sign language respectively, which only added to the confusion or horror everyone in the room was feeling.

Those who knew the group to be the Wayne family and associates were confused about why they had all answered, and why answer like that as they had thought their friends had separate mothers. Didn’t they? Those who knew they were not actually demons were also thrown by how the group had managed to speak as one.

Meanwhile those who knew nothing were terrified as they came to the incorrect conclusion that a member of the Justice League had somehow managed to spawn most of the Colony without anyone finding out.

The Colony refused to say any names, but otherwise most of them were happy to answer questions about their mother. This really only managed to confuse people more, however. Especially when people would get conflicting answers. That was near always, really, as Nightwing was describing his mother; Red Hood was describing Catherine Todd; Corvid was switching between his mother and Selina; Batgirl was switching between her mother, Kate, Selina, and Talia (the middle two purely for the amusement and the last for the looks she’d get from Robin whenever he caught her at it); Hawkfire was describing her mother; Black Bat was just gesturing for Bluebird to describe her own mother; Lark was describing his mother; and both Robins were describing Selina (though Damian would later state it was purely for the consistency with his fellow Robin).

It was only after the party when the Colony, Young Justice, Tigress, Flash, Starfire, Artemis, Arrowette, Supergirl, Superboy, and Thirteen retreated to the cave that anyone got a real answer.

“Oh, Dami’s mother is from the League of Assassins, not the Justice League. There must have been a mix up somewhere.”

Surprisingly, this did not bring relief to anyone. Especially when they found out his mother was none other than Talia al Ghul.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One calm day, Artemis dragged her partners down to the cave’s sparring mats so she could see what Dick could do firsthand. He did not disappoint as he quickly pinned Wally.

“Well, this explains why Jade seems to like him so much,” the speedster muttered from his place facedown on the mat.

Artemis frowned as Dick sat next to their boyfriend, patting his back. “Wait… Oh my God, Dick! You sa-Is tea code for getting your butt kicked by my sister?”

Dick looked up with a sheepish grin. “No, tea is code for kicking your sister's butt.”

“You…”

He shrugged. “In her defense, she wasn’t expecting someone with my level of training. The fight would have been much closer if she had been.”

Wally looked up with wide eyes. “Hold on, she actually tried to kill you then?”

Dick gave Artemis a look. “You probably should have told her we were together. She thought Wally had cheated on or dumped you. I thought it was actually kind of sweet, really, but Bruce was ticked when he found out and I think Jason was considering hunting her down.”

Artemis threw her hands in the air and marched off. She dug her phone out of her pocket.

“‘Ello?” Jade’s sleepy voice answered.

“You tried to kill my boyfriend!”

“Oh, you found out about that?”

“Why didn't you tell me he could fight? And well enough to defeat you.”

“You didn’t know? Why did you think I approved? I don’t approve of the speedster and he has powers. He really needs to learn how to fight without relying on them.”

Artemis could admit she had a point on both fronts, but wouldn’t admit it. “Dick’s sweet and charming. I swear if he had a superpower it would be making friends. I just thought he’d made you like him.”

“Yes. By being a competent fighter. Although if he’s going around bragging about defeating me I might need to teach him a lesson, being brothers with an al Ghul or not.”

“Wait, you knew about his brother being Ra’s al Ghul’s grandson too?” Artemis choked.

“You really need to pay more attention to who you’re dating.”

“Who’s dating the brother of an al Ghul?”

Artemis blushed. “Is that Roy? Are you two still together?”

“It’s complicated. And before you freak out, we were just sleeping when you called. Actually sleeping.” Quieter, likely from holding the phone away, she heard Jade say, “Artemis is. Her little Gotham squeeze has league connections.”

“Jade,” Artemis hissed.

“League. You mean Damian? Of course he’s… Hold on!” There was some static and then Roy was talking directly into the phone. “I’m coming to Gotham.”

“No.”

He came to Gotham. He showed up right on the porch of Wayne Manor hours later looking more excited than she’d seen him in years.

“Please tell me Damian Wayne is who I think he is,” he said as soon as she marched up to where he was waiting outside. “Please tell me he is because I need to know if everyone has been freaking out thinking Robin’s the kid of Wonder Woman when he’s actually Talia al Ghul’s spawn.”

“Please tell me you didn’t ditch my sister to come here,” she shot back, glancing around to be sure her sister wasn’t hiding in any shadows.

“She took off after we had morn-”

“Nope. Shut up.”

“So is he?”

Artemis glanced over her shoulder to see Wally and Dick watching. Dick shrugged and she sighed. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t. This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’m not ruining it. So Jason is Hood.”

“Yes.”

“And Dick is -”

“Yes.”

“This is amazing.”

“If you get yourself shot don’t come crying to me.”

“I’d die happy. You haven’t heard the things Ollie and Dinah have been saying. This is the best inside joke I’ve ever heard and I hate you for keeping it from me.”

“I only found out after the Titan party last week.”

“That’s an entire week where you kept me out of the loop.”

“You want to come in for food or are you going to go track down my brother?” Dick called.

Roy shrugged and they started for the door before his eyes widened and he glanced between the three. “So that stuff about Flamebird?”

“He was just messing around to tease Wally and freak out the League. Just like everything he and his family have done since Zatanna dragged them into the spotlight. That’s how I realized he was Nightwing. They are exactly the same level of troll.”

“I love everything about this.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure?” Dick asked.

“Absolutely not,” Wally said, but grabbed the blood bar Dick was holding out anyway.

“If you don-

“We’re fine,” Artemis said, grabbing her own bar. “Wally’s just whining like usual.”

“I’m just saying, we have no idea how this will affect me.”

“Duke’s a meta and he was fine.”

“He’s not connected to the Speed Force.”

Dick reached forward to grab Wally’s bar. “You don’t have to -

“I want to,” Wally said, jerking the bar away, grabbing Dick’s hand with his free one. “I do. I’m just nervous.”

“As per usual,” Artemis teased and kissed the speedster's cheek. Dick stepped closer and she kissed him as well before pulling the wrapper off her bar. She met their eyes, then took a bite.

She began to sway as she finished it so Dick helped her over to the bed. All the while Wally tossed his bar between his hands. He pulled it open and frowned down at it.

Dick pulled him to the bed once Artemis was settled. “It’s alright if you want to back out. Neither of us would blame you.”

Wally shook his head and sat down. “I want this, I do. I just can’t stop thinking about what could go wrong. Like, what if my body already burned through whatever it is that’s supposed to turn me.”

Dick cocked his head and slipped into his lap. He leaned down to nuzzle Wally’s neck, earning a sharp intake. “I can bite you while you eat it. Then your body won’t have time.”

The speedster shivered and swallowed. His free hand came up to card through Dick’s hair as he gave a quick nod.

Smiling, Dick peppered a few teasing kisses across his jugular before biting down.

Wally shivered again and melted into Dick for a moment before bringing the bar up and taking a bite. He finished it off quickly as Dick pulled away.

“It doesn’t taste like blood,” he said with a frown, tossing aside the wrapper as he licked his lips. “I don’t know what it tastes like, but it isn’t blood.”

“That means it’s working,” Dick said.

“Really?”

“You think Stephanie would have downed an entire bottle of blood by accident if she could taste it the same way a human does?” Dick pressed a kiss to the corner of Wally’s mouth. “Blood has a special flavor to us unlike anything else.”

Wally hummed and kissed Dick until his mind started to fog up. Dick helped him lay back then covered him up when the fever took him.

The bird took a moment to just stare down at the two, his thumb brushing the band on his left ring finger.

It was made from strips of black and gold titanium twisted together with rubies peaking through the cracks. It matched the one on Artemis’s hand, gifts from their wonderful fiancé.

Dick gave both a quick peck then left them to rest.

Things were sure to get crazy soon enough, especially once the announcements went out, but for now, Dick would revel in the calm and the feeling of family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vampires’ animal forms:

Artemis: North American cougar

Wally: Vizsla dog

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader - “Incubus”

Incubus is a special type of metahuman that can enter people’s mind and the only one known to possess such abilities is Y/N. Captured by an underground agency and forced to obey orders, she has a new task today: to get inside The Joker’s head and find out where he stashed half a billion dollars after he pulled what everybody calls “the heist of the century”.

“Regression will begin shortly,” one of the doctors announces on the intercom. “Prepare for countdown.”

You lay on the cold metal table next to the Joker’s body: he’s medicated into a dreamless sleep, ready to have you purge his mind for the answer to the burning question: where did he stash half a billion dollars?

After being arrested two weeks ago, The King of Gotham refused to speak and disclose any information to the authorities; they tried everything: drugs, blackmail, best intimidation tactics and psychologists without success.

J didn’t crack.

Fed up with the puzzling mystery, CIA decided to use the top secret research facility operating under the grid where the infamous Incubus is held prisoner.

“A few reminders,” the flat voice echoes in the sealed laboratory. “Do not attempt to elude us, we have your little girl! If you aim to play us we’ll revoke visiting time.”

You blankly stare at the ceiling, upset they repeat the same rules when you’re forced to use your powers; the 15 minutes you’re allowed to spend with Mia on Saturdays is all you live for since they incarcerated both of you six months ago.

How you wish you could kill them but they found a solution to prevent you from rebelling.

“Please note that in case you plan to get inside our brains and compel us to stop breathing, your daughter will die. Confirm acknowledgement.”

“Confirm,” you bitterly reply because it hurts to have your child endangered; you could end them right this moment if it wasn’t for her.

Unfortunately, they found a way to subdue your terrific ability: the crew assigned to project Incubus carries portable heart monitoring devices 24/7; they resemble wrist watches and if just one individual’s pulse deactivates, it will set of the explosive in Mia’s collar. The 5 years old has no clue that what she believes to be a cute necklace is actually a device meant to eradicate her.

“Countdown to regression,” the clinician reports and the speakers carry his words around the room. “Five, four, three, two, one. Initiate!”

**************

You walk in the darkness, surprised you didn’t bump into memories yet: usually that’s the first thing you stumble upon when invading a person’s subconscious. He’s been under your spell for 10 minutes now and the void proves his twisted mind is probably worse than anyone thinks: The Clown is lost in the maze of his own insanity.

A couple more steps and you finally distinguish four doors ahead which means you’ll be able to analyze The Joker’s recollections.  

First Door

The little boy cries in the middle of the room and you slowly approach, wondering if you should interfere or just observe. But tears fall from those innocent blue eyes and the fact that he’s maybe your daughter’s age makes you decide.

“Why are you crying?” you kneel by the young Joker and he wipes his face with the sleeves of his raggedy shirt:

“My mommy died.”

“Did she? I’m sorry… Do you miss her?” you manipulate the conversation since warping his thoughts might lead to your quest: discovering where the money is.

“U-hum,” he nods and asks. “I don’t like it at the orphanage, I want to go home…”

“Perhaps I can help,” you pull him in your arms and he whispers:

“Who are you?”

“Your worst nightmare,” Y/N sadly concludes because it doesn’t bring her joy to distort an already broken mind, nevertheless she‘s here bearing a clear purpose. “It’s ok,” you hold the child and soothe him. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

The little boy whimpers, clinging to the stranger showing him kindness then vanishes in thin air: you got rid of a painful memory and replaced it with a nicer one.

Now The Joker will remember that someone comforted him when in reality it never happened.

Second Door

The young man is standing in front of the burning cottage while the firefighters are struggling to put out the blaze. He’s covered in ashes and his lips are barely moving; you can hardly discern what he keeps on repeating:

“They’re still inside… they’re still inside…”

The 24 years old Joker is numb and all you can conclude he seemed so different back in the day.

“Who’s inside?” you inquire and he glimpses your way without realizes he’s in shock.

“My wife and son. I couldn’t save them… I didn’t make it to the second level, the flames were too strong…”

You bend over and grab the blanket resting at his feet, placing it around his shoulders.

“I’m sorry they’re gone, you did everything you could.”

He glares at the Incubus for a split moment before disappearing: you just lift the burden of a horrifying experience and now The Joker will remember that someone offered consolation when in reality it never happened.

Third Door

The man is sitting on the floor with his back against the padded wall, tightly confined inside his straight jacket. He keeps screaming, then maniacally laughing and sobbing in the same time while straining to escape the garment.

“Calm down,” you slide near him. “You’ll hurt yourself if you continue.”

The 27 years old tries to articulate a couple of coherent sounds before reprising his yelling.

“Stop squirming,” you cup his face and make him pay attention. “Look at me. Relax,” you caress his cheeks. “Deep breaths, ok?” you plead with the madman. “Sssttt, it’s fine…” Y/N stares in his eyes and the shouting gradually dies out. “There you go,” you brush your forehead on J’s prior to him fading away: you switched a terrible incident into better conclusion by mimicking sympathy when in reality it never happened.  

Fourth Door

You’re surprised to notice The Joker talking to shadows: a woman and a little girl judging by their silhouettes; he resembles the most wanted criminal lying 10 inches apart from you in the secured establishment pushing you to accomplish their instructions.

A recent memory? Does it mean he has another family?...

You want to come closer and the sight of the contours disappearing is intriguing; The Clown rubs his temples and you can tell he’s distressed.

“What’s going on?” you dig in his brain for responses.

“They took my Queen and my Princess!” he grinds his teeth with resentment.

“Do you know where they are?”

“Yes,” J grumbles and evaporates saying a baffling phrase: ”I have to find the perfect plan in order to reclaim what’s mine!”

So weird the memory dispersed before you misled the truth in your favor … What the heck is going on?!...

The Cell

No rooms left and you stroll in the murkiness again, angry your scheme didn’t lead towards a better result: oddly enough The King of Gotham failed to unveil extra hints that could have aid you in discovering where the fortune he snatched is.

“Hello sugar,” the raspy intonation halts you in your tracks.

Y/N detects the heavy bars forming this square shaped cell containing what she suspects to be a version of The Joker; it’s difficult to restrain her astonishment since she’s witnessing a rare phenomenon: nothing less than a mind prison.

Jackpot! If he buried something deep inside and locked it even from himself it could mean you reached your destination.

“It’s nice to have visitors,” the eerie apparition chuckles. “It gets lonely.”

“I bet,” you pout. “Why don’t you break free?”

He kicks the bars, enraged he has to explain:

“I’m sure a superior creature such as the lady joining me knows a mind prison can only be opened from the outside!”

He’s self-aware! This is absolutely unbelievable: humans are never conscious within the deepest layers of their psyche.

“You are correct: you can only open it from the outside,” you agree. “What’s your name?”

“Joker. What’s yours?”

“Y/N.”

“Duh, I know,” he snickers and lets his tattooed arms hang loose outside the bars. “You have a kid, right?”

He sees your doubt and his gratification builds up to new highs.

“Yes.”

“What’s her name?”

“How do you know it’s a she?!” you counterattack with a quiz.

Damn, this whole charade is getting more and more fascinating by the second!

“I know soooooo many things,” the entity yawns. “For example I’m sure you wonder how I ended up in here.”

No sign you would deny his rambling thus he enlightens the riddle:

“Some are born with certain “gifts”, some develop them after a traumatic experience. I’m the lucky recipient of the latest, although I was locked in here from day one. If I had someone shatter the seal and by someone I mean you,” he points his finger at the smirking Y/N, “I could help you run from the place you hate. Tell me I’m wrong, but aren’t you trapped also?”

“You’re sneaky, I’ll give you that,” you laugh at his attempts to influence your actions.

“And you’re too powerful not to realize what’s going on! Snap out of it!!!” he hisses. “Are you single sugar?” the anger building up makes Y/N frown.

“None of your business!”

“Humor me, I beg,” he emphasizes the words.

“Yes,” you scoff and his demeanor doesn’t lower your guard.

“Are you 100% certain you’re not married?”

“What’s this nonsense?!” you sneer at the stupid conversation.

“Maybe you don’t remember because you created your own mind prison where you chained crucial data in order to protect the ones you love after you were captured. What’s your daughter’s name?” he sulks and you grumble.

“Mia.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I am; do you think I don’t know my child’s name?”

“And you think I don’t recognize my own wife standing in front of me??!!!!” he snaps at your hesitation. “Set me free! Set me free and I’ll show you! I can get inside your mind and unlock your cage: you’ll remember everything!”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?!” you growl at the absurd sentences: like his devious tactic would work on you!

“I’m talking to the Incubus, am I not?”

Your mouth opens in amazement since there is no way in hell he could know that.

“Do I have your attention now?” the beast reprimands. “Good! Here’s what you deliberately forgot: nobody knows that we’re married, it’s better that way; yet a woman with your capabilities is bound to attract unwanted attention anyway. When we got together, we had a deal: you’ll never get inside my head and you consented. No? Doesn’t ring a bell?...” he cracks his joints. “After they took you and Emma from me…”

“Who’s Emma?” you interrupt, more and more convinced there’s something fishy happening inside The Joker’s subconscious.

“Our daughter, her name is not Mia, you just replaced it after you were both kidnapped in order to sever all connections with the past. Can’t blame you: it’s a great strategy given the circumstances: create a mind prison, hide everything connected to protect me and her. Last thing you needed was for them to find out we are actually acquainted in the most intimate way. That would have been a disaster! Do you know why I stole half a billion dollars and let them catch me? I knew that if I do that they’ll use everything possible under the sun to make me spill the beans. When all fails, won’t they flaunt the last ace in their sleeve? That’s how I got here sugar, it was the ultimate goal. I can’t function without my girls so I came to get them!”

“Listen here,” your menacing attitude takes over. “Who do you take me for?! Your fictional tale is starting to piss me off so I advise you to quit before I make your neurons crumble to pieces!”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it,” the feral beast sniffs the air. “You always kept your end of the bargain and never got in here before to poke the past. I respect that, sugar. Now I had no choice besides letting you in.”

“Stop it! Stop your lies!! You’re nothing more than a projection of The Joker’s mind!”

“Ahhhh,” the evil grin flourishes behind the silver teeth. “I am so much more than that. Do you want to get out of this facility? I suggest you set me free and I will prove I’m telling the truth!”

“Bullshit! What can you do anyway?! I can kill everyone and run, but my daughter will die!”

“Not if I help: you can make them stop breathing and I could keep the hearts beating until we get the key that unlocks Emma’s collar! It’s a dual team mission.”

“Her name is Mia! How do you know about the collar?!” the dumbfounded Y/N mumbles.

“Weren’t you listening? I know a lot of things!”

“Even if we assume you aren’t lying, how will you keep their hearts beating?!”

“Set me free and I’ll show you! SET. ME. FREE!!!!!! Or we are fucking doomed! Set me free!” he punches the bars. “Set me free and I’ll open your mind prison! You’ll realize each word I uttered is genuine! You’ll remember all of it! SET! ME! FREE!!! What do you have to lose, huh? Nothing! Do it!! Do it!!!!”

“How could you get inside my mind?! I’m a metahuman!”

“Goddamnit! SET ME FREE AND I’ll SHOW YOU!!!!! Do you want your daughter to perish in this place?! Do you???!!!”

You definitely are beyond skeptical; still… at least he’s correct about this: you have nothing to lose; you approach with caution and part the bars enough for the trapped entity to squeeze outside.

“Thank you honey,” he clumsily bows and before you can react he snatches in his arms and kisses you.

Y/N feels this electrifying sensation taking over, stupefied to understand what it means: she just unleashed another Incubus. And she always thought she was the only one!

You gasp for air and open your eyes, processing all the recovered memories rushing through your brain: your own mind prison was opened as promised.

You tilt your head to look at The Clown and he grabs your hand, panting:

“Are you ready sugar?”

**************

People keep falling to the ground, each step bringing you closer to your freedom. Emma’s face is buried in your neck as you jump over corpses on the way out of the underground laboratory:

“No peeking!” The Joker scolds and her little hands hold you tighter while obeying.

“Ok daddy.”

“Don’t be scared,” you kiss her cheek and continue the rampage towards the exit.

Screams intensify around the three detainees escaping their faith: the adults can’t afford any weakness or grant mercy to the ones that showed them none.

In the end, what is more terrifying than one Incubus that could plunge the world into complete darkness?

The answer is simple: two of them.

 Also read: MASTERLIST

You can also follow me on Wattpad and AO3 under the same blog name: DiYunho.

[mell-bell]

nothing takes the past away (like the future) - Part 5

Lucy Preston x Garcia Flynn

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

AO3

Words: 2644                       

Series Summary: There are no guidelines for being handed your future child. Especially one who’s being hunted through time by an evil organization. Lucy and Flynn, who haven’t even admitted their feelings for each other, are in for one hell of a surprise. Battling Rittenhouse in the past had been their only mission for so long, but now they have to face their future, and even worse, their feelings. Being faced with your future child kind of puts things into perspective.

Chapter: 5/20

Author’s notes: Cue me apologizing for taking so long but like....LIFE. Anyways I hope you enjoy this drama and angst with some fluff at the end of course I don’t wanna kill you guys I love you too much. Hope you enjoy!!

The alarm cut off abruptly, the bunker falling into an eerie silence.

Lucy’s heart was pounding, her whole body screaming to race toward her little girl. But Garcia had a tight grip on her arm, stopping her from running into the unknown.

The silence grew. After the one scream, there hadn’t been a sound from Grace, and Lucy didn’t know how to take that. If something happened to her...she wasn’t sure she would be able to come back from that. After losing her sister. Her mother. So many people. Losing Grace would tip her over the edge.

A loud crash sounded from down the hall, startling both Garcia and Lucy into action.

Garcia pressed something into Lucy’s hands. Looking down, she gripped onto the gun with a fierce determination, trying to steady her shaking hands. Looking back at Garcia, she watched as he slid his sling off, grimacing in pain as he reached down and pulled another gun out from his waistband.

Her brows furrowed as she looked between the two guns, but Garcia just shrugged as if to say that even though this was their safe house, they were never really safe. He had learned that when his family had been murdered in their own home.

Walking side by side, the couple stalked down the hall, their guns aimed low. Garcia waved back at her, silently telling her to wait as he quickly turned the corner, lifting his gun up. After a moment, he waved her forward and Lucy followed quickly.

Her heart caught in her throat as she caught sight of a body lying motionless on the ground.

Wyatt.

Garcia bent down pressing his fingers against the man’s neck, nodding when he felt the heartbeat. Lucy let out a sigh, but before she could relax even minutely, faint cries flowed from around the corner.

With a nod, the couple stepped fully into the next room. And Lucy’s heart dropped.

Emma and Jessica stood at the far end of the room. Guns drawn. And in front of Jessica, stood Grace. The older woman’s hand holding tight to the girl’s shoulder. Grace’s eyes were wet, but she struggled to hold back her cries. And when her eyes met Lucy’s, her lip quivered once before her body straightened. Her attempt at being brave. The fact that her daughter had a life such as this, broke her a little inside.

Lucy’s eyes flitted to the corner of the room, Rufus was kneeling on the ground, his body in front of both Jiya and Connor, the latter seemingly unconscious on the ground. Rufus nodded to her. Looking up she finally met Emma’s eyes, the woman twirling her gun comically in her fingers.

“Emma.”

“Lucy.” The woman smirked. She knew she had the upper hand. She was in their territory but she was the one in control. Because she had Grace.

Grace was shaking as Jessica held her tight against her. The grin on Emma’s face twisted as her eyes jumped from Lucy’s horrified gaze to the little girl.

“Seems like you’re not the princess anymore. I’d recognize that face anywhere. A daughter. I didn’t know you had it in you.” She said throwing a glance between her and Garcia. “What I want to know is how you hid it from us. From your mother. But in any term, this changes things.”

“This changes nothing.” Lucy gritted, her grip tightening on the gun.

“Au contraire. She’s Rittenhouse. She’s ours.”

Lucy raised the gun aiming at Emma.

The woman scoffed, putting her own gun in her waistband, “Oh, stop embarrassing yourself. Put the gun down.”

Lucy shook her head, her finger itching around the trigger.

“Lucy.” Garcia whispered. Lucy threw him a glance, her heart stopping at the sight of a gun aimed at his head.

Garcia swallowed hard as the man pressed the gun against his temple. And with a grave expression, dropped his gun, reluctantly handing it over to the man.

“I thought you didn’t believe in the blood.” Distraction. That was her only tactic.

Emma walked over brushing a hand over Grace’s head, “No. Your mother was all too concerned about bloodlines. It’s an old-fashioned belief. I may not believe in that but I do believe in corrupting a young child. How do you think we got Jessica here on our side? Persuading a young girl isn’t that hard.”

Lucy watched as Jessica threw Emma a startled glance, her gaze traveling down to the small girl in front of her.

“Jessica.”

The woman looked at Lucy, “Jessica, please.” Lucy begged, her gaze dropping to the woman’s stomach. She wasn’t sure if she was even pregnant but maybe just maybe she would feel for her.

Emma rolled her eyes as she waved her hand, the man next to Garcia shoving at his back with his gun. Garcia stumbled, throwing a glare at the man as he walked stiffly over toward Emma.

When he reached the woman, she reached out her hand, a sly grin growing on her face as she brushed a hand over his cheek, her smile widening as he flinched back.

“And we could have been so good together, Flynn.” She glanced down at Grace, “It’s a pity.”

With a shrug, she pulled out a knife that glistened under the fluorescent lights of the bunker.

Lucy took a step forward, but without missing a beat, Emma placed the knife against Garcia’s throat.

“If that knife moves an inch closer, you’re dead.” Lucy swore, the gun shaking in her hand.

Emma smiled, her finger tapping against the knife handle, “Then let’s make a trade. You can keep your daughter for now. In return for something.”

Lucy blinked, realization dawning on her face, “You’re not here to kill us. You need us alive.”

“Need is such a strong word. I don’t have to kill you now so why waste a perfectly good battle later on?” Emma mused.

“Daddy?” Grace cried as she tried to reach out for her father who was so close yet so far. The man tried to reach out, but the knife dug deeper into his neck, a line of blood slipping down his neck, and he groaned.

“Not now princess, the grownups are talking. Give me the journal, Flynn and I’ll be out of your hair for the time being.”

The journal? She had come all this way just for her journal. The things they could do with the knowledge in that journal could change the course of history.

“We don’t have it.” Garcia gritted.

“Now I think we all know that’s not true.” She said running the knife along his cheek, “I mean, I could just take your daughter here instead. I think that would be an even trade.”

“No.” Lucy said. She placed the gun down on the ground, holding her hands up, “I’ll give you the journal, just let Grace go.”

Emma feigned a coo, “Little Princess Grace.” She pulled the knife away from Garcia’s neck, shoving the man over toward his daughter. Garcia quickly pulled Grace away from Jessica, hoisting the girl into his arms.

Emma motioned toward Lucy, “Lead the way, Princess.” Lucy nodded, catching Garcia’s eye before slipping out of the room, followed by Emma.

Garcia started after them but stopped short when he heard someone cock their gun. Turning around, the goon Emma had brought, had his gun aimed at the man and shook his head. Garcia swallowed turning back toward the empty doorway, praying Lucy would be alright.

Just a few minutes later, Emma and Lucy returned. Emma, the journal in hand and smirk on her face. Lucy, however, was stiff. A vacant expression adorning her usually expressive face.

Garcia hurried over toward Lucy, taking care to keep Grace turned away from the intruders, “Lucy? Lucy, what happened?”

The woman didn’t seem to even notice his presence, instead, her eyes unfocused as they stared into nothing.

“Well, it’s been fun. Remember what I said, princess.” Emma said before snapping her fingers and stalking out of the room, Jessica and their goon following quickly after.

Not long after Emma, Jessica, and their goon had left, Denise returned, finding the place and the travelers a mess.

“What the hell happened?” She said putting down the gun she had pulled out when she saw the door to the bunker blown open.

Rufus and Jiya were leaning over Connor’s motionless body. Wyatt was sitting against the wall, holding onto his pounding head. And Garcia and Lucy were holding on tight to Grace, silent tears streaming down the little girl’s face.

“Emma.” Lucy stated.

Denise tensed looking around.

Garcia sighed, “She’s gone.” He paused, throwing a worried glance at Lucy before turning back to Denise, “She took the journal.”

Denise nodded solemnly, “We need to leave. Now.”

Even though they had just talked about switching safe houses yesterday, Denise moved fast. She had been scouting out potential bunkers casually for the past few months. And last night she had managed to find one that would accommodate the lifeboat and their seemingly ever-growing group of travelers. Even though it wasn’t stocked and they would have to leave most of their belongings behind, they would at least be safe for the time being.

Rufus and Jiya remained behind to move the lifeboat, while everybody else climbed into an old mini-van.

To say the car ride was tense would be an understatement. Wyatt hadn’t spoken a word since Jessica had left. Connor was messing with the radio trying to distract himself. And Denise drove the car tensely, throwing glances over her shoulder every few seconds looking for potential tails.

Lucy, Garcia, and Grace had the whole backseat to themselves. The family wrapped around each other, the little girl was still shaking slightly, not releasing her tight grip on her parents.

Garcia watched concerned as Lucy stared off into space, looking out the black tinted windows of the car. She hadn’t spoken the whole ride except a few words to Grace here and there. He couldn’t talk to her now. He would have to wait until they got to the new safe house.

It wasn’t until hours later that they finally arrived. To their new home.

Introducing Grace to a new bunker was surprisingly easy. Even after such a hectic day, the little girl was relaxed as she explored the new space and began talking about how she would decorate the walls with new pictures.

Lucy, on the other hand, wasn’t doing as well. After pressing a kiss to Grace’s head, she tried to leave the room, brushing past Garcia on her way out. However, the man reached out grabbing onto her arm. After a moment of hesitation, Lucy pulled out of his reach and took off down the hall, ignoring Garcia as he called out behind her.

Lucy just ran and ran. Not really knowing where she was going. When she reached the end of the hall, she opened the nearest door, slipped inside and slammed the door shut.

Breathing heavily she sunk down, burying her head between her knees.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been hiding, but she knew hiding away from the world wouldn’t solve anything. Running away from her problems had never been successful.

“Lucy?”

Lucy could feel the man next to her and saw him kneel down out of the corner of her eye. As much as she wanted to push him away, she knew it would only cause her more pain.

“Lucy, what did she say to you?”

Lucy just shook her head silently as she looked down picking at the pills on her shirt. With a sigh, Garcia settled down beside her.

After a few moments of silence, she looked up. Refusing to meet his eyes, she reached out and ran a finger next to the bandage across his neck where Emma had held the knife.

“She was going to kill you.” She whispered.

“What?”

Lucy rubbed a hand over her face, “That’s why she came. She knew I hadn’t read the journal. She was going to steal it and kill you. I would have lost you before- before we were even together. I would have lost Grace because she wouldn’t have been born. I- I could’ve lost everything.”

“But you didn’t.” He whispered.

“Because she changed her mind. Because for one second she decided not to be a raging sociopath. But that could change. She could kill you. Kill Grace. Kill our future. She has the journal, Garcia. What are we going to do?”

Garcia reached out, lifting up her chin so their eyes could finally meet, “We’re going to fight. And we’re going to stop her.”

Lucy’s eyes watered as Garcia brushed a hand across her cheek, “Garcia.”

The man reached out, pulling the woman close to him. She rested against him, feeling his heartbeat under her ear. Matching her breaths with his, she felt her body begin to calm and she let out a sigh.

“Everything’s fine. It’s going to be fine. I promise.”

He pressed a kiss against her head and she grabbed on tight to his shirt as if she was afraid he was going to vanish.

“I’ve got you.

Even though she was exhausted, Lucy wasn’t able to sleep. She was comfortable just staying up to watch over Grace.

The room Denise had given them was actually two adjoining rooms. One for Grace, which she had been thrilled about, and one Garcia and Lucy would share. Overall, it was much larger than the closet they had slept in before.

Lucy sat on the couch in the room across from Grace’s, the little girl’s breathing echoing across the silent room.

Soft music played throughout the room, from an old radio Garcia had found in the closet.

The soft melody having lulled their daughter into a quick sleep.

Lucy rubbed at her face, fighting off the urge to sleep.

“Lucy.”

Lucy looked up meeting Garcia’s eyes, his gaze gentle as he reached out toward her. Placing her hand in his, she let him pull her up.

She furrowed her brows as he pulled her close and began to sway them slightly back and forth.

After a few seconds, Lucy leaned into Garcia, her head tucking against his neck, his arm wrapping tighter around her back.

“We are not dancing, just swaying.” She mumbled.

“Is this not dancing? How about this?” Garcia pulled back and spun Lucy around once, a laugh sneaking out of her mouth, his lips quirking up at the happy expression on her face.

“That’s better.” She said pulling back slightly to look into his eyes.

His hand reached up to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing gently against her lower lip. He leaned in slowly, stopping just a breath away from her lips, waiting for her. She lifted up onto her toes and pulled him down to her.

His lips touched hers gently. And without a moment’s hesitation, Lucy pressed back. Her lips were soft but unyielding against his. A soft sigh tore from her mouth as he deepened the kiss, his arms coming up to wrap tightly around her. One hand snaked around her back while the other rose to weave into her hair, pulling her even closer to him.

She knew they were moving too fast. But she couldn’t deny that feeling of his body solid and strong against her made her feel safe.

Her hands run through his hair, as his slipped under the back of her shirt, the hand burning like fire against her skin.

Lucy pulled away with a gasp, “Thank you.” She whispered, pressing one more quick kiss against his lips.

He smoothed his hand over her hair before leaned down pressing a gentle kiss against her forehead.

“Anything to make you smile” He whispered before pulling her close to him once more as they continued to dance, the music flowing around them.

Author’s notes: Sorry I had some issues with this chapter like it wouldn’t flow properly so I hope it worked out well. Lots of planning in this chapter for later chapters so it’ll all play out. Legit thanks for being the best fans ever like I love y’all <3

Next up: Rittenhouse jumps and Lucy has to figure out how to stop Emma meanwhile Garcia is stuck with Grace and things don’t go exactly as planned

[dia-sana]

Painkiller (So I can smile a little)

Pairing: Saeran/Unknown/Ray x Reader/MC. Disclaimer: None. Plot: Takes place with Unknown, a few days after Another Story 4th day Bad Ending. A/N: I need chill pills ( ╯°□°)╯ ┻━━┻

This headache would not go away. He pulled his jacket tighter around him. This cold would not get better. Two pills, three pills swallowed without water and he coughed again. He was sick and all he did was thinking about her. Maybe she truly was his medicine. That thought flustered him and he grimaced while rubbing his wet forehead against his exhausted pale palm. For a few more minutes, he kept on growling, frustrated for he was aware of what he wanted… Needed. This stupid attraction was good for the marshmallow. He, the strong one, should not have to rely on useless emotions. If Ray loved something, Unknown had to either break it or own it better. But this was not a simple attraction. This was Love. Ray… Unknown… Saeran. Saeran was in love. Maybe paying her a visit would not hurt as much as this headache.

He got up, tripping on his chair and cursed between his teeth before using that same furniture to keep his balance as his blood pressure dropped for a few seconds. Once more, his rusty throat tickled him with devilish intentions and he coughed until he could no longer breathe. Damn this weak body. Unstable steps were taken to reach the door of his office and he opened it, avoiding crashing on the floor in the corridor. If she really was the solution, she better had to give her best because he was wasting time for this ridiculous affection. When he arrived at her floor, where Ray locked her up, he stumbled again and used the wall to prevent his fall. Why was he coughing again? Two believers rushed but neither helped him, way too afraid of what he would do if they dared touching him when it was evident he was in his aggressive state.

- Mr. Ray, are you okay? Should we tell the Savior that you are sick?

Their voice trembled, went out as a quiet lamentation of both fear and disgust. Nobody liked Ray. Everybody hated Unknown. Wherever he went, no one would see the true him. No one would hear the silent cry of his soul, praying for the tiniest consideration. Everyone used him the way they wanted and threw him away the second they realized how useless he was. An only exception… She was all he had. He knew he had to force his existence into her mind but for the time being, he was confident that he was more or less special in her eyes. She could hear his pain, right? She said so many nice things to him, it could not all be fake. Moreover, Unknown was aware that she liked him; unlike Ray who kept on whining for his unrequited love. How pathetic this pink gummy was. The darker of them had knowledge of the way she looked at him. With those celestial irises. Ones that gazed only at him and longed for his love. Finally, there was something that made him better than the redhead. Luciel -as he called himself- did not have her. He lacked her. This was Saeran’s biggest pride.

Therefore, he had to see her. He craved her and each second was morphing into horrifying torture as she was so close yet still unreachable. He saw her door behind one of the believers and frowned as he coughed again. This pain was pulling him to death. At this rate, this would kill him.

- Out of my way! He barked to the people in front of him as he almost pushed one to make his order clear.

Could they not tell he could hear them whispering profanities against him just as he passed them? Nobody liked Saeran. But it was fine as long as he had her. He only needed her. Without forewarning, he entered her room, closing the door violently behind him as he choked again.

- Ray…?

What a soft sound it was. And what a cure he felt as her voice reached his ears. He opened his eyes again and they were greeted by her ethereal vision. She looked like a painting, her body embraced by the window frame that filtered flowers’ colors, stars and moonlight. But all this contemplation was good for his mind mate. What Unknown needed was action. He smiled as he realized he could finally do anything he wished for and the eerie chuckle he made could have sent her shivers if she was not so attracted to him.

- I am not going to be as gentle as him. But do not worry… I will please you like a princess.

He made his way towards her, leaving his jacket on the floor before gripping her waist and pressing hot lips on hers. An unexpected growl escaped from him and he kissed her harder. No matter if this was his first kiss, he was so eager it seemed he knew exactly what he was doing. An instant later, he felt her small hands touching his torso and he cracked a mischievous smile, thinking she was giving in to him and his fantasies. But she gently pushed him and gave him a concerned look.

- Ray, you do not look so good. You are sweating and your heat is burning. How long have you been in this state?

Ray, Ray, Ray. That was the only name she had on her tongue. It was the marshmallow who decided of it and he wanted to hear something else. As she guided him so he would seat at the edge of her bed, he took her wrist in his hand and dragged her between his thighs.

- Do not call me by this name, he ordered sorely.

She did not seem to understand but it was logical since he never took the opportunity of telling her about him. It even was the first time she was meeting Unknown.

- What should I call you then?

Her words were only a whisper as he glanced into her eyes. She had such beautiful ones. He could get lost in them and if this happened he would make the wish to never find his way out. His fingers brushed against her nape and he pulled her closer to leave wet kisses on her neck. Almost solemnly, for he was telling her one of his deepest secrets, he murmured against her skin.

- Saeran.

After a moment of silence, as she was only panting because of his touch, she finally released his real name, moaning it oh-so softly. Immediately, he snarled as he went to her parted lips again. How he hated this name. But it felt so right coming from her. His free hand went underneath her dress. But just as he was commending her to sit on him, she slowly shoved him off making him inadequately angry. He could not place a word, however, since he started coughing insanely just as he opened his mouth to speak. While he did, she placed her arms around his head and invited him to rest against her. He would have retorted. He wanted to. But he felt so sick. He felt so tired. And he suddenly realized this hug was far better than anything else. Because it was real, with the kindest purpose.

- Help me take my pain away…

The almost silent plead of a tormented grown up child. He looked so fragile. Maybe he truly was. Like this, he felt like a porcelain doll. Who could hold any bad thoughts towards him? Who could dare making him suffer? He deserved to find his own salvation. She cuddled his hair for a few minutes as he progressively relaxed in her embrace. Would she really stay by his side? Why was he so afraid of her farewell when it seemed she wanted to be with him? Ray, that idiot who failed their plan against RFA for an unfounded fear. But even Unknown was anxious. Because if Ray loved her, it meant he did too and this love was invading his mind to a point where it became his reason to live. She was his Paradise.

With the delicateness of a feather, she invited him to lay with the pillows before taking him in her arms once again.

- Rest up Saeran… No matter what, I am not leaving you.

Drifting slowly into a blissful sleep, the headache long gone, he smiled with the simplest sincerity. For she was the one who could help him heal his sick and pained heart.

[blakelywintersfield]

Honestly, all of these really break down why this original take is... shallow, at best.

I'd like to add on what @vomara said:

"the episode could not be much more explicit that the destruction is bad -- it's horrifying when they finally show that the mechanist was working with the fire nation all along, and that they had desecrated even the innermost sanctuaries of the air temple. they clearly emphasize, through visuals and dialogue, that what the settlers have done to the temple is disgusting -- they've destroyed murals and statues, they've polluted the water."

It was even more explicit than this -- the lighting was solemn and slightly eerie (darkened, less bright colors) and the background music was in a minor key. When they showed the pipes going through the mural walls, there were cracks over the portraits of airbenders, and even a a pipe running straight through the head if one. When they walk into the mural room and show the statue on the fountain looks like its covered in blood -- that isn't a positive visual. They make it clear that these changes have fundamentally shifted this place into something man-made, something synthetic, something that doesn't mould with nature -- the opposite of the airbenders' way of life.

Whenever Aang expresses his upset, he's not reprimanded. There's no hint to him being "wrong" or "mean". Katara tries to comfort him, and others reassure him okay, but none of the Gaang or the refugees totally get why Aang is upset. And its implied that this is an issue, because Aang doesn't just shrug it off and go "okay!" -- you can still see he's visibly upset. They never get mad at him for being upset. They never show Aang treating the refugees badly either. They don't even show him insulting them. He doesn't tell them they should leave, or that they don't belong at the temple, because he understands they're refugees. Nothing in this episode hints at him being in the wrong, or being "mean".

The only big issue with this episode is the end -- I don't think it should've ended with Aang saying "I'm glad you live here now!" and pretend that he's okay with the destruction of the temple. And I don't think he should've gone without an apology from the refugees for disrespecting his culture and history. The ending definitely felt off, and I'm pretty sure the writers regretted leaving it like that, which is why in Legend of Korra, the temple is restored. The ending was definitely short sighted.

But the writers being white has nothing to do with this. No show is perfect, and all have their flaws. DiMartino, Konietzko, and Ehasz all took a lot of time to study the different cultures these groups were based off of, and even consulted masters in different fighting styles to make sure the benders were moving accurately. They aren't just a couple of dumb white guys who saw Kung Fu Hustle and decided to make a fantasy Asian-blend faux-anime -- they did exactly what they were supposed to as white people and studied the cultures heavily. That doesn't mean it's going to be perfect or void of mistakes -- hell, white people misrepresent their own heritages all the time (as a Scotch-Irish descendant I can tell you that firsthand). They did have some problematic things (such as doing the "native with white hair and bright blue eyes trope). But the creators never said they were free of any criticism, and they took all of it very seriously -- going as far as to demand no white people be cast for the live-action series (though now that's uncertain, thanks to Netflix being, well. Netflix). They are completely willing to learn and fix their mistakes, so tagging on that "racism" and "white" just comes off as useless virtue signaling. You're not a descent of any of the Asian cultures referenced in the show (the middle east doesn't cover any of the countries whose cultures are referenced), so you don't really have a say in whether or not its racist. If people whose cultures were used to help build this show find it racist, then it can be called such, but I've heard nothing but people from those cultures say that its respectful. Maybe not completely accurate. But respectful.

atla really did have a whole episode about how the desecration of the air nomads’ sacred temples was actually good and cool and aang was being mean by not wanting people to destroy the remnants of his people’s culture after a genocide. like they wrote that and thought it was a good idea

[the-master-cylinder]

SUMMARY Max Dire is a Los Angeles detective who is feeling the strain that his profession entails when his wife of two years, Liza, accuses him of bringing his work home and leaves him to ponder her future, while his partner, Jim Sheldon, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. Realizing that Max is experiencing problems, Adam Garou, a high-ranking officer distinguished by his success in reducing crime in other big cities, invites Max to join him at his apartment for a weekly meeting with other police officers who are experiencing difficulties. Adam advises Max that since he is a good detective and he should try to solve his problems rather than quitting the force.

Although Max is skeptical as to whether he will derive any benefit from the meeting, as he and his wife had already attended counselling sessions without success, he reluctantly attends the meeting where he meets other police officers such as Casey Spencer and Ramon Perez. Everyone who Max meets at the meeting praises the impact that Garou’s influence has had on their fortunes. Max soon realizes that the activities of the group also entail embarking on vigilante missions to clean the streets of criminals.

Max initially tells Garou that he is not interested in joining the group, but agrees to accompany them to a party where criminals are exchanging weapons. Before gate crashing the party, Max notices that each of the group members injects themselves with a strange chemical, which he learns has been produced by Garou. After they have injected this chemical, Garou and his team become more powerful and seemingly impervious to injury. The next day Max attempts to advise his incredulous boss of the strange goings on, but to no avail.

He visits Casey Spencer who tries to persuade him to inject himself with the chemical. When he refuses, she shoots him. As Max lies dying on the floor, she injects him with the chemical and he is instantly healed. They sleep with each other and, afterwards, injecting themselves and raid a criminal lair after. As Max and Casey easy dispatch the criminals, they sprout long claws from their knuckles, and grow sharp teeth. One of the criminals escapes and informs his crime boss what he saw. He is given instructions to deal with Garou.

Garou learns of Casey’s sexual encounter with Max and angrily advises her that he is ‘top dog’ before raping her. Afterwards, Garou and his group, including Max, gather together for another night of attacking the criminals. After injecting themselves with Garou’s chemical, the officers enter a vehicle to depart. The vehicle explodes as the key is turned in the ignition. As the remnants of the vehicle burn, the criminal who had been instructed to kill Garou is horrified to see that all of the officers have survived and that they are in their monster-like state. The dead bodies of the criminal and his associates are dropped from a helicopter through the glass ceiling of the crime boss’ home.

The same night, Max meets a deformed ex-police officer in a holding cell. He tells Max that he knows Garou and they used to work together. Garou has worked in numerous cities, and after the streets are cleaned of crime, all of the officers who work with him were killed (though he had escaped). He also explained that his deformity was caused by overuse of the chemical. Garou kills the officer to silence him and Max covers for him, but his suspicions are aroused and he begins to conduct some research into Garou.

After making a startling discovery, he sneaks into Garou’s apartment and finds Garou extracting the chemical from his own brain with a syringe. Max advises Garou that he realizes that he is a werewolf. Conflict ensues and although Max and Casey escape from Garou’s apartment, the latter is fatally injured. The next day Garou prepares to complete his final operation and Max resolves to stop him. After Garou has killed all of the criminals, including the aforementioned crime boss, Max shoots him with a silver bullet and Garou falls to the ground. Thinking that Garou is dead, Max turns away. However, Garou, who informed Max previously that a full eclipse protects him from everything (including silver), reappears behind him. A full eclipse had passed overhead as these events took place. He then turns into an extremely large werewolf, losing his human form entirely.

Max flees as the other members of Garou’s group are killed. Garou tries to kill Max, but the latter injects Garou with a solution of silver nitrate. As the eclipse is over, this kills Garou. Before he dies Garou returns to his human form and tells Max that if he lies in his blood he can take his power. In the finale, Max is shown to have moved to Denver with his wife Anna and their relationship seems to have improved. She is shown cutting her finger with a knife as she is chopping up food. Max licks her finger and then leaves to undertake some paperwork. She notices that her cut heals immediately and stares after Max bewildered. Meanwhile, Max is shown looking up on a computer the dates of coming eclipses in different American cities.

DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION The project was initially titled The Pack, after the name of a special unit of the LAPD that utilizes a secret new drug to help them combat crime. On the LA street location, director Anthony Hickox calls quickly for another take before the smoke disappears and the sun rises to ruin the shot. The FX crew relights the flames around the van and fans blow smoke across the scene. swirling it around the six actors who make up the Pack. “Action! One. two, three, monsters!” Hickox calls in his polite English accent. Slowly. the half-dozen transformed werewolves rise from the ground, move through the smoke and stand together. united in power.

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The story was born when writer Richard Christian Matheson was approached by a friend. Michael Reaves, to co-script a werewolf/cop movie. Matheson, who has written for over 30 TV shows including Amazing Stories and Tales from the

Crypt, wasn’t sure he was interested in working in this subgenre. As he explains further. “I’ve never been a fan of werewolf movies. As soon as they transform, they seem kind of benign to me. They don’t seem so eerie. and they lose all the facial detail that can be most frightening in a monster. I wanted to make sure that when they transformed. they did not look like wolves. I felt that would diminish the effect.

“If the script was going to be about werewolves. I also wanted it to be about addiction and overcoming the controlling influence of the lunar cycles,” he continues. “With that in mind, we set about putting the story together.

You know what, I love horror more than anything, but after making five of them, it was like, I wanna blow some shit up. Full Eclipse came along, which was a Richard Matheson script, who’s a horror writer generally and it was just such a great, for me, it had everything I wanted to do.HBO put six million dollars on that budget, which is why I could do all that shit. I love Full Eclipse because I got to do horror and these great action scenes, John Woo action scenes. Also, I was watching all these action movies thinking it must be so much fun to get to do that. – Anthony Hickox (Director)

Matheson is vehement when he describes how he visualized the creatures. “They weren’t going to be covered with hair and they weren’t going to be fully transformed.” he says, “They were going to be, in essence. stuck at the halfway point. because that’s the most frightening thing to me.

“Full Eclipse is not really a werewolf movie,” he insists. “It’s almost about the id coming under a sort of preternatural influence. It’s about addiction, and the ghastly transformational tendency of drugs. Like those guys who take STP and lift a car up, or can take a couple of rounds from a police revolver and keep coming at you.”

It didn’t take Matheson long to place the screenplay with Home Box Office. The writer has an uncanny ability to sell spec scripts, and to date has sold nine to various studios. The next step was finding the right director, and the production soon chose Hickox. He had his own opinions as to the important elements of the script and how the Pack should look, right down to their futuristic outfits and weapons. Luckily, the director and writers shared the same vision.

“I’m a huge comics fan: I read a lot of Marvel Comics, so I had a look I wanted.” Hickox explains. “Superheroes gone wrong. the whole Marvel mutant thing. I’ve always liked that concept; people with superpowers were a heavy influence. I’m quite sure I can’t buy the rights to the X-Men, so this allowed me to do my own version.”

Classic movies also played a part in Hickox’s conception. “I wanted the wolves to look like the first actor Henry Hulll who played one in Werewolf of London (1935),” he says. “We were going for a cross between him and Oliver Reed in Curse of the Werewolf. There’s a great moment where he turns from the jail cell window, and that’s kind of how I hope our werewolves are going to look. But I also wanted this to be different, especially with the two stages. There’s a first stage the Pack goes through, where they become superhuman and look like the true werewolves as the legends describe them-half man and hall wolf. Then there’s the stage where they become full wolves at the end.

“We really tried to let the actor shine through.” says the director of this approach. “It’s funny how each

face takes on a different character. We didn’t want them to just be covered in makeup. We really built on their foreheads, cheeks and necks. I also love their weapon claws, and the fact that they actually bleed when the claws come out of their fingers, which I think would happen if you were transforming.”

Bringing these ideas to screen life was a big jump, which is why veteran Tony Gardner, head of Alterian Studios was hired to create Full Eclipse’s special FX makeup. Gardner, in his quiet, professional way is a problem solver and a master artist. Not only did Alterian design the transformation makeup, as well as a terrifying 12-foot wolf for the final fight scene, but they developed the futuristic combat gear, helmets and even the insignias and logos for the Pack members.

We have a stage one look, which is just additive makeup and dentures. Gardner explains. “Stage two is where we get into appliances that go down from the forehead almost to the outer corners of the eyes. We’ve got this weird, funky appliance that goes from the tip of the nose to the lip line, just to connect the two in a more animalistic way. We’ve also got upper and lower teeth. Bruce Payne is the only person who enters stage three. That’s a big appliance makeup which goes from his collarbone over his head and covers him entirely, with big fake ears and hair and stuff like that. It’s a much larger cranium, and you see a lot more skull structure.

“We change them gradually to reveal them more and more as werewolves.” Gardner continues. “Different people are taken to different degrees. The only one you’ll see transform completely is Bruce’s character, who turns into an 11- or 12-foot wolf with fur over his entire body. It’s a big monster.”

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Yet even great makeup concepts wouldn’t mean much without the right actors in the parts. For the role of daredevil Pack officer Casey, Hickox brought in his old friend, British actress Patsy Kensit. Well known for her starring turn as Mel Gibson’s stunning South African girlfriend in Lethal Weapon 2, Kensit is also a major horror movie fan. The concept of becoming a werewolf appealed to her, despite the four hour-plus makeup process.

“I loved that,” she says. “I’ve I never done anything like it before. Garrett Immel, who works with Tony, was kind of my key person. They were fantastic. They’re so into it: they’re really great people and so talented. What they can do with just a bit of shading and some prosthetics is incredible.

Kensit not only enjoyed the special FX side of the shoot, but was enthusiastic about everything she was required to do, from a sexy love scene with Van Peebles to a midnight swim in the Pacific ocean. The love scene, naturally, was a great deal easier and more fun. “Anthony originally wanted something that involved a lot of nudity, and I wasn’t prepared to do that,” she explains. “Now it’s very erotic, but it leaves a lot to the imagination. Anthony’s got a great mind. So he shot it beautifully, and it’s pretty steamy.”

The venture into the Pacific ocean was anything but steamy, as Kensit recalls. “When Mario and I went into the water, it was freezing cold. I had kind of a half wetsuit under my dress. so it wasn’t as bad, but Mario had nothing. We were both covered in sand burns afterwards, and it was a really mucky part of the ocean. It was the most horrific. freezing cold night of my life, with the waves crashing over me. Apparently it looks great, and that’s always worth it. That was really the hardest part of the movie, but it was a great experience. It’s something I’m glad I explored as an actress.”

Kensit wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the opportunity to play a werewolf. Van Peebles also found the concept attractive, and is eager to discuss what he calls “man’s fascination with his animal nature, or his animal side. We’ve always been curious about our evolution from beasts, and our connection to them. I always wanted to play a werewolf or a vampire, or something of that nature. It’s very cathartic to be these different people. see what they feel and let that part of you go. It’s healthy to do this.”

Van Peebles didn’t mind the heavy makeup either, and in fact was intrigued by the whole process. Hickox saw a preview for Posse, which Van Peebles both directed and starred in. and immediately decided he was the right man for the part. The actor gives Hickox points for his progressive views on casting. “It was very forward-thinking on Anthony’s part.” he states. “Because it wasn’t written for someone black, or green or blue. And Patsy as the leading lady-it’s very avant-garde in that it doesn’t pander to typical views.”

If Full Eclipse’s hero is atypical. then its villain breaks just as many molds and stereotypes. Captain Garou is one of the most compelling bad guys since Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both Matheson and Hickox were concerned that without the right performance, Garou could turn into just another melodramatic villain. And, as Matheson explains, that wasn’t what either of them had in mind. “Garou didn’t want to be a monster.” the writer says. “He wanted to join the human community and make it better-to evolve and protect it. He was also learning to master his lycanthropic curse. Most monsters have a sort of grudge against humanity, but I don’t think Garou does: he simply dislikes crime. That makes him interesting. and Bruce really brings all of those nuances out. He’s a wonderful actor and a very bright man.”

Those levels of the character were exactly what interested Payne. While he worked to prepare for the action sequences speaking to friends in Delta Force and members of the Los Angeles SWAT team who were working with the film company-it was the psychological factors that Payne was more concerned with.

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“We’re all looking for something quicker, faster and easier that gives us a shorter feeling of contentment.” he says. “I found a lot of undercurrent issues within this character of a police officer who really feels he’s a shining knight. He’s developed this serum which is really part of his own body. This bad guy thinks he’s the good guy: he believes he’s on a good quest.”

To give the character of Garou even more depth and poignancy. Hickox decided to make some slight changes to the final transformation scene. The sequence involves Max and Garou having a terrible fight, in which Garou changes completely into the huge, towering wolf and almost tears the young cop apart. But in the end, when good naturally triumphs. Garou reverts to his true form: a very old man. The full makeup change wasn’t decided upon until the last moment, and therefore presented the film’s biggest challenge for both the special FX team and Payne.

“When you have a two-day warning, it’s impossible to create that prosthetic stuff.” the actor elaborates. “Fortunately, Tony is a very clever and energetic young man with a lot of good ideas. The man who actually did the hands-on application and coloring of the makeup was an old friend of mine named Mike Smithson. whom I had the great pleasure of working with on Switch. He’s a true talent, and he basically pulled together some of his own pieces, from his own face. They tried to match them and enhance a very old, elegant face as best they could. We put on a small. old forehead piece, but it wasn’t built for me, so he had to cut it and shape it, which is incredibly difficult. Actually, it’s a taboo thing. You don’t cut a prosthetic. because as soon as you do. the thin edge suddenly isn’t there and you have a ledge. In prosthetic terms, that ledge is the equivalent of missing a floor in a parking structure as you’re building it, so hiding it requires incredible tenacity.

Anthony Hickox was finishing Full Eclipse. This is another project where I focused writing around a rhythm section – hammond, guitar, bass and drums. For the action cues, many of Billy Ward’s performances were on midi pads, so that I could take his recordings and associate the information with other sounds – such as pitched slate tiles and other found sounds.  All in all, we had a lot of fun on this one, and I heard that Jim Kerr, who was married to Patsy Kensit at the time, liked my end credit theme when he heard it at the cast screening! – Gary Chang (Score Composer)

CAST/CREW Directed Anthony Hickox

Written Richard Christian Matheson Michael Reaves

Mario Van Peebles as Max Dire Patsy Kensit as Casey Spencer Bruce Payne as Adam Garou Anthony John Denison as Jim Sheldon Jason Beghe as Doug Crane Paula Marshall as Liza John Verea as Ramon Perez Dean Norris as Fleming Willie C. Carpenter as Ron Edmunds Victoria Rowell as Anna Dire Scott Paulin as Teague Mel Winkler as Stratton Joseph Culp as Detective Tom Davies

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY my-blog-of-interviews halloweenlove Fangoria#129

Full Eclipse (1993) Retrospective SUMMARY Max Dire is a Los Angeles detective who is feeling the strain that his profession entails when his wife of two years, Liza, accuses him of bringing his work home and leaves him to ponder her future, while his partner, Jim Sheldon, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head.

[shan282-ao3]

Joseph and His Judge

Originally posted on Archive of Our Own [x]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Far Cry 5, Far Cry: New Dawn Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Female Deputy | Judge & Joseph Seed Characters: Joseph Seed, John Seed, Jacob Seed, Faith Seed, Female Deputy (Far Cry), Deputy (Far Cry) Additional Tags: joseph/deputy hinted at, a touch of my thirst for john, minor spoilers for new dawn, i rewrote their deaths, my timeline is way off, i havent actually played new dawn yet, Oops, Slight mentions of torture, joseph is a dick, barely joseph/deputy, its there if you squint past the torture and manipulation, oof

Summary: Nora was the new junior deputy when she met Joseph Seed and all chaos broke free. The Judge wasn't a person anymore. They were a shadow, a puppet, a plaything, and completely devoted to the Father.

Aka my take on how the deputy became the judge.

I actually submitted this for an English assignment and my professor actually liked it.

The Judge hadn’t always been a mute figure who flinched at silence and thrived on violence. Years ago, before the world was lost and reborn, she’d been full of life and happiness, dancing through blissful fields, exploring the mountains and singing as she walked through empty vineyards and orchards. Before the bombs fell and the life in her chest was smothered, her name had been Nora. She was beautiful with eyes that reflected the sea and red hair that burned hotter than any fire.

She’d met Joseph on her third night as the new junior deputy. Joseph Seed was the charismatic leader of Eden’s Gate, the cult of Hope County that promised salvation when the Great Collapse occurred. What she knew of them was only from a video she’d seen on the internet, she had only just moved to the county and hadn’t even heard of them until a US Marshal arrived that morning to arrest him.

When Nora had stepped through his church doors alongside her colleagues to arrest him, he’d held out his hands and beckoned her to him with his violent ideas and apocalyptic premonitions. He’d unnerved her, his eyes masked by yellow glass showed no ill intent, yet still she could tell he was hiding something behind that facade. Intrigued and terrified of the pull she felt towards him, she’d cuffed him and escorted him to the helicopter. Her eyes, now darkened with worry, stayed fixed ahead and she did her best not to pay attention to the members of Eden’s Gate who screamed threats.

The helicopter crash had been something none of them had seen coming but should have all expected. Nora groaned and opened her eyes, awakened by the frantic sounds of their dispatch and eerie singing. When she’d reached for the headset to radio for help she was grabbed by Joseph, bloodied but seemingly unharmed, and froze in his gaze as he quietly sang before exiting the wreck. The next weeks were a blur, Nora had been rescued by a man named Dutch who’d pulled her from the river after she’d narrowly avoided capture by Joseph’s followers. She was introduced to the Resistance, people from all over the county who were fighting to keep the cult from destroying them all. She soon found herself fighting alongside them, liberating farms and family homes, rescuing kidnapped citizens, and causing mayhem for Joseph and his followers.

She’d just finished freeing a farm from Eden’s Gate when her radio buzzed alive and a voice she’d heard only a handful of times before in cult propaganda spoke directly to her. John Seed, Joseph’s youngest brother who was regarded by the county’s citizen’s as the most sadistic of the three brothers.

“My dear deputy,” John called to her, his voice, smooth like honey, would have made her melt if things were different. “You’ve been causing quite a commotion. I think it’s time we officially met. I’m coming for you.”

And like that her radio fell back into silence and she felt a shiver of fear run up her spine. She’d been marked and soon his chosen had found her and shot her full of tranquilizer and waking up being held up in a river. John smiled at her as she came too and clicked his tongue.

“This one’s not clean.” He’d said to the man holding Nora up and took her weight from him. His eyes were soft for a second before growing cold and his fingers closed around her neck as she shoved her backward into the ice-cold water. Drowning, she thrashed around until his grip loosened enough for her to reach the surface and get air. She’d managed to escape and the two played a game of cat and mouse for weeks until she finally caught him. Mimicking his actions when they first met, her hands closed around his throat and she choked him until he stopped struggling, the tears streaming down her face hot with disgust and rage.

Not long after, she’d met Faith Seed, Joseph’s adored sister and the woman happily drugging up members of the cult who fought back. She was the overseer of manufacturing the bliss they supplied members of the cult, a drug that left most in a euphoric and easily suggestible state. She’d caught Nora easily and the two had spent almost three weeks walking in and out of the bliss together before Nora and finally managed to break free. With pain stabbing at her heart, she’d drowned Faith in her own supply of bliss and retreated to the mountains, as far away from Joseph and his anguish and rage at the loss of his brother and sister as she could get.

Yet still, she wasn’t safe, after weeks of helping liberate the people in the mountains Joseph’s last surviving brother, Jacob, caught her. Nora was with him for nearly four months, he tortured, manipulated, and brainwashed her as he ran her through trial after trial training her to be one of his soldiers. She became his most effective killing machine, the song that tortured her and his gentle words of encouragement as she unknowingly gunned down people she’d once thought of as friends were something that she now craved. The morning he died, he’d played her song and she’d reverted into his killing machine and fought through a bunker of the Resistance. Once she’d come to, snapped out of her trance by the only two survivors, she was horrified and had spilled his entrails on the mountain peak.

It was finally over, she had thought. Nora had gone to the Eden’s Gate compound and confronted Joseph. Without his brothers and Faith’s bliss to protect him, she was able to take him down easy. She finally arrested him and drove towards civilization and safety. She’d had won, Hope County was finally safe. Then the bombs fell, the apocalypse Joseph had been preaching had finally come true and according to him, it was her fault. They’d both ended up in Dutch’s bunker after the blast flipped the car. He’d dragged Nora inside, swiftly killed Dutch and handcuffed her to a metal pipe. When Nora finally came to, he was sat in front of her, his eyes haunted as they both listened to the sounds of death above them.

“I finally understand.” Joseph had said after what seemed like hours of silence. “I prepared my family for the prophecy that God whispered in my ear, but you took them from me. I should kill you, but I won’t. You’re all I have left now, you’re my family.”

Nora shuddered and tried to move back but found herself trapped, he leaned closer until their faces were inches apart and continued speaking. “When the world is ready for us, we will step into the light. I am yours and you are mine and together we will march through Eden’s Gate just as God planned.”

He never stopped speaking after that, it wasn’t always directed at her but she could always hear him. Even when he slept, Nora still heard his voice in her head. It took him 7 years to break her will and another 3 to mold her into the perfect object for his affections. It wasn’t until he had plucked her tongue from her mouth to stop the constant blasphemies that streamed from her lips that she finally gave up the last of her fight and accept that she truly was meant to be his. The last 7 years of their confinement was spent in each other’s company, every now and then a spark of resistance would flicker in her eyes, but each time Joseph was quick to drown it.

By the time the world was ready for them, Nora was dead and the Judge had been born. When they stepped out into the sun just as he had prophesied 17 years ago, him in all his glory and her as his shadow, they were met with a new world. She could finally shed the remnants of her old self and embrace the Judge: a cross painted across her face in the blood of a sinner, a wolf’s skull hiding her own face, and a halo of bliss to mask her tracks. Joseph had been satisfied as she quickly took to this new world, judging the unworthy, showing them the path to safety, helping them atone for their sins just as his brothers and sister had. She was all the best of them now, a judge like a Jacob, a guide like Faith, and an inquisitor like John. He had tried to transform her into his shadow and it had worked, she was never far from his side, his ever-faithful shadow, puppet, companion, and personal executioner should the need arise.

The universe had finally been returned to its balance and the Judge came to realize that Joseph had been her savior all along.

[what-is-sibling-test]

from 'RittenhouseTL' for all things Timeless https://ift.tt/2LtEnrA via Istudy world

nothing takes the past away (like the future) - Part 5

Lucy Preston x Garcia Flynn

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

AO3

Words: 2644                       

Series Summary: There are no guidelines for being handed your future child. Especially one who’s being hunted through time by an evil organization. Lucy and Flynn, who haven’t even admitted their feelings for each other, are in for one hell of a surprise. Battling Rittenhouse in the past had been their only mission for so long, but now they have to face their future, and even worse, their feelings. Being faced with your future child kind of puts things into perspective.

Chapter: 5/20

Author’s notes: Cue me apologizing for taking so long but like….LIFE. Anyways I hope you enjoy this drama and angst with some fluff at the end of course I don’t wanna kill you guys I love you too much. Hope you enjoy!!

The alarm cut off abruptly, the bunker falling into an eerie silence.

Lucy’s heart was pounding, her whole body screaming to race toward her little girl. But Garcia had a tight grip on her arm, stopping her from running into the unknown.

The silence grew. After the one scream, there hadn’t been a sound from Grace, and Lucy didn’t know how to take that. If something happened to her…she wasn’t sure she would be able to come back from that. After losing her sister. Her mother. So many people. Losing Grace would tip her over the edge.

A loud crash sounded from down the hall, startling both Garcia and Lucy into action.

Garcia pressed something into Lucy’s hands. Looking down, she gripped onto the gun with a fierce determination, trying to steady her shaking hands. Looking back at Garcia, she watched as he slid his sling off, grimacing in pain as he reached down and pulled another gun out from his waistband.

Her brows furrowed as she looked between the two guns, but Garcia just shrugged as if to say that even though this was their safe house, they were never really safe. He had learned that when his family had been murdered in their own home.

Walking side by side, the couple stalked down the hall, their guns aimed low. Garcia waved back at her, silently telling her to wait as he quickly turned the corner, lifting his gun up. After a moment, he waved her forward and Lucy followed quickly.

Her heart caught in her throat as she caught sight of a body lying motionless on the ground.

Wyatt.

Garcia bent down pressing his fingers against the man’s neck, nodding when he felt the heartbeat. Lucy let out a sigh, but before she could relax even minutely, faint cries flowed from around the corner.

With a nod, the couple stepped fully into the next room. And Lucy’s heart dropped.

Emma and Jessica stood at the far end of the room. Guns drawn. And in front of Jessica, stood Grace. The older woman’s hand holding tight to the girl’s shoulder. Grace’s eyes were wet, but she struggled to hold back her cries. And when her eyes met Lucy’s, her lip quivered once before her body straightened. Her attempt at being brave. The fact that her daughter had a life such as this, broke her a little inside.

Lucy’s eyes flitted to the corner of the room, Rufus was kneeling on the ground, his body in front of both Jiya and Connor, the latter seemingly unconscious on the ground. Rufus nodded to her. Looking up she finally met Emma’s eyes, the woman twirling her gun comically in her fingers.

“Emma.”

“Lucy.” The woman smirked. She knew she had the upper hand. She was in their territory but she was the one in control. Because she had Grace.

Grace was shaking as Jessica held her tight against her. The grin on Emma’s face twisted as her eyes jumped from Lucy’s horrified gaze to the little girl.

“Seems like you’re not the princess anymore. I’d recognize that face anywhere. A daughter. I didn’t know you had it in you.” She said throwing a glance between her and Garcia. “What I want to know is how you hid it from us. From your mother. But in any term, this changes things.”

“This changes nothing.” Lucy gritted, her grip tightening on the gun.

“Au contraire. She’s Rittenhouse. She’s ours.”

Lucy raised the gun aiming at Emma.

The woman scoffed, putting her own gun in her waistband, “Oh, stop embarrassing yourself. Put the gun down.”

Lucy shook her head, her finger itching around the trigger.

“Lucy.” Garcia whispered. Lucy threw him a glance, her heart stopping at the sight of a gun aimed at his head.

Garcia swallowed hard as the man pressed the gun against his temple. And with a grave expression, dropped his gun, reluctantly handing it over to the man.

“I thought you didn’t believe in the blood.” Distraction. That was her only tactic.

Emma walked over brushing a hand over Grace’s head, “No. Your mother was all too concerned about bloodlines. It’s an old-fashioned belief. I may not believe in that but I do believe in corrupting a young child. How do you think we got Jessica here on our side? Persuading a young girl isn’t that hard.”

Lucy watched as Jessica threw Emma a startled glance, her gaze traveling down to the small girl in front of her.

“Jessica.”

The woman looked at Lucy, “Jessica, please.” Lucy begged, her gaze dropping to the woman’s stomach. She wasn’t sure if she was even pregnant but maybe just maybe she would feel for her.

Emma rolled her eyes as she waved her hand, the man next to Garcia shoving at his back with his gun. Garcia stumbled, throwing a glare at the man as he walked stiffly over toward Emma.

When he reached the woman, she reached out her hand, a sly grin growing on her face as she brushed a hand over his cheek, her smile widening as he flinched back.

“And we could have been so good together, Flynn.” She glanced down at Grace, “It’s a pity.”

With a shrug, she pulled out a knife that glistened under the fluorescent lights of the bunker.

Lucy took a step forward, but without missing a beat, Emma placed the knife against Garcia’s throat.

“If that knife moves an inch closer, you’re dead.” Lucy swore, the gun shaking in her hand.

Emma smiled, her finger tapping against the knife handle, “Then let’s make a trade. You can keep your daughter for now. In return for something.”

Lucy blinked, realization dawning on her face, “You’re not here to kill us. You need us alive.”

“Need is such a strong word. I don’t have to kill you now so why waste a perfectly good battle later on?” Emma mused.

“Daddy?” Grace cried as she tried to reach out for her father who was so close yet so far. The man tried to reach out, but the knife dug deeper into his neck, a line of blood slipping down his neck, and he groaned.

“Not now princess, the grownups are talking. Give me the journal, Flynn and I’ll be out of your hair for the time being.”

The journal? She had come all this way just for her journal. The things they could do with the knowledge in that journal could change the course of history.

“We don’t have it.” Garcia gritted.

“Now I think we all know that’s not true.” She said running the knife along his cheek, “I mean, I could just take your daughter here instead. I think that would be an even trade.”

“No.” Lucy said. She placed the gun down on the ground, holding her hands up, “I’ll give you the journal, just let Grace go.”

Emma feigned a coo, “Little Princess Grace.” She pulled the knife away from Garcia’s neck, shoving the man over toward his daughter. Garcia quickly pulled Grace away from Jessica, hoisting the girl into his arms.

Emma motioned toward Lucy, “Lead the way, Princess.” Lucy nodded, catching Garcia’s eye before slipping out of the room, followed by Emma.

Garcia started after them but stopped short when he heard someone cock their gun. Turning around, the goon Emma had brought, had his gun aimed at the man and shook his head. Garcia swallowed turning back toward the empty doorway, praying Lucy would be alright.

Just a few minutes later, Emma and Lucy returned. Emma, the journal in hand and smirk on her face. Lucy, however, was stiff. A vacant expression adorning her usually expressive face.

Garcia hurried over toward Lucy, taking care to keep Grace turned away from the intruders, “Lucy? Lucy, what happened?”

The woman didn’t seem to even notice his presence, instead, her eyes unfocused as they stared into nothing.

“Well, it’s been fun. Remember what I said, princess.” Emma said before snapping her fingers and stalking out of the room, Jessica and their goon following quickly after.

Not long after Emma, Jessica, and their goon had left, Denise returned, finding the place and the travelers a mess.

“What the hell happened?” She said putting down the gun she had pulled out when she saw the door to the bunker blown open.

Rufus and Jiya were leaning over Connor’s motionless body. Wyatt was sitting against the wall, holding onto his pounding head. And Garcia and Lucy were holding on tight to Grace, silent tears streaming down the little girl’s face.

“Emma.” Lucy stated.

Denise tensed looking around.

Garcia sighed, “She’s gone.” He paused, throwing a worried glance at Lucy before turning back to Denise, “She took the journal.”

Denise nodded solemnly, “We need to leave. Now.”

Even though they had just talked about switching safe houses yesterday, Denise moved fast. She had been scouting out potential bunkers casually for the past few months. And last night she had managed to find one that would accommodate the lifeboat and their seemingly ever-growing group of travelers. Even though it wasn’t stocked and they would have to leave most of their belongings behind, they would at least be safe for the time being.

Rufus and Jiya remained behind to move the lifeboat, while everybody else climbed into an old mini-van.

To say the car ride was tense would be an understatement. Wyatt hadn’t spoken a word since Jessica had left. Connor was messing with the radio trying to distract himself. And Denise drove the car tensely, throwing glances over her shoulder every few seconds looking for potential tails.

Lucy, Garcia, and Grace had the whole backseat to themselves. The family wrapped around each other, the little girl was still shaking slightly, not releasing her tight grip on her parents.

Garcia watched concerned as Lucy stared off into space, looking out the black tinted windows of the car. She hadn’t spoken the whole ride except a few words to Grace here and there. He couldn’t talk to her now. He would have to wait until they got to the new safe house.

It wasn’t until hours later that they finally arrived. To their new home.

Introducing Grace to a new bunker was surprisingly easy. Even after such a hectic day, the little girl was relaxed as she explored the new space and began talking about how she would decorate the walls with new pictures.

Lucy, on the other hand, wasn’t doing as well. After pressing a kiss to Grace’s head, she tried to leave the room, brushing past Garcia on her way out. However, the man reached out grabbing onto her arm. After a moment of hesitation, Lucy pulled out of his reach and took off down the hall, ignoring Garcia as he called out behind her.

Lucy just ran and ran. Not really knowing where she was going. When she reached the end of the hall, she opened the nearest door, slipped inside and slammed the door shut.

Breathing heavily she sunk down, burying her head between her knees.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been hiding, but she knew hiding away from the world wouldn’t solve anything. Running away from her problems had never been successful.

“Lucy?”

Lucy could feel the man next to her and saw him kneel down out of the corner of her eye. As much as she wanted to push him away, she knew it would only cause her more pain.

“Lucy, what did she say to you?”

Lucy just shook her head silently as she looked down picking at the pills on her shirt. With a sigh, Garcia settled down beside her.

After a few moments of silence, she looked up. Refusing to meet his eyes, she reached out and ran a finger next to the bandage across his neck where Emma had held the knife.

“She was going to kill you.” She whispered.

“What?”

Lucy rubbed a hand over her face, “That’s why she came. She knew I hadn’t read the journal. She was going to steal it and kill you. I would have lost you before- before we were even together. I would have lost Grace because she wouldn’t have been born. I- I could’ve lost everything.”

“But you didn’t.” He whispered.

“Because she changed her mind. Because for one second she decided not to be a raging sociopath. But that could change. She could kill you. Kill Grace. Kill our future. She has the journal, Garcia. What are we going to do?”

Garcia reached out, lifting up her chin so their eyes could finally meet, “We’re going to fight. And we’re going to stop her.”

Lucy’s eyes watered as Garcia brushed a hand across her cheek, “Garcia.”

The man reached out, pulling the woman close to him. She rested against him, feeling his heartbeat under her ear. Matching her breaths with his, she felt her body begin to calm and she let out a sigh.

“Everything’s fine. It’s going to be fine. I promise.”

He pressed a kiss against her head and she grabbed on tight to his shirt as if she was afraid he was going to vanish.

“I’ve got you.

Even though she was exhausted, Lucy wasn’t able to sleep. She was comfortable just staying up to watch over Grace.

The room Denise had given them was actually two adjoining rooms. One for Grace, which she had been thrilled about, and one Garcia and Lucy would share. Overall, it was much larger than the closet they had slept in before.

Lucy sat on the couch in the room across from Grace’s, the little girl’s breathing echoing across the silent room.

Soft music played throughout the room, from an old radio Garcia had found in the closet.

The soft melody having lulled their daughter into a quick sleep.

Lucy rubbed at her face, fighting off the urge to sleep.

“Lucy.”

Lucy looked up meeting Garcia’s eyes, his gaze gentle as he reached out toward her. Placing her hand in his, she let him pull her up.

She furrowed her brows as he pulled her close and began to sway them slightly back and forth.

After a few seconds, Lucy leaned into Garcia, her head tucking against his neck, his arm wrapping tighter around her back.

“We are not dancing, just swaying.” She mumbled.

“Is this not dancing? How about this?” Garcia pulled back and spun Lucy around once, a laugh sneaking out of her mouth, his lips quirking up at the happy expression on her face.

“That’s better.” She said pulling back slightly to look into his eyes.

His hand reached up to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing gently against her lower lip. He leaned in slowly, stopping just a breath away from her lips, waiting for her. She lifted up onto her toes and pulled him down to her.

His lips touched hers gently. And without a moment’s hesitation, Lucy pressed back. Her lips were soft but unyielding against his. A soft sigh tore from her mouth as he deepened the kiss, his arms coming up to wrap tightly around her. One hand snaked around her back while the other rose to weave into her hair, pulling her even closer to him.

She knew they were moving too fast. But she couldn’t deny that feeling of his body solid and strong against her made her feel safe.

Her hands run through his hair, as his slipped under the back of her shirt, the hand burning like fire against her skin.

Lucy pulled away with a gasp, “Thank you.” She whispered, pressing one more quick kiss against his lips.

He smoothed his hand over her hair before leaned down pressing a gentle kiss against her forehead.

“Anything to make you smile” He whispered before pulling her close to him once more as they continued to dance, the music flowing around them.

Author’s notes: Sorry I had some issues with this chapter like it wouldn’t flow properly so I hope it worked out well. Lots of planning in this chapter for later chapters so it’ll all play out. Legit thanks for being the best fans ever like I love y’all <3

Next up: Rittenhouse jumps and Lucy has to figure out how to stop Emma meanwhile Garcia is stuck with Grace and things don’t go exactly as planned

[the-wolf-within-blog]

[notlibatiusborage‌:]

If anything was proof of Lupin"s guilt, this was. He had been surprised by the truth of his actions being spoken to him and now he was trying to play it all off. Severus wouldn’t let him. He stepped closer, determined to join Lupin for the rest of the day if that was what it took to get him to leave Toots alone.

“you’ll listen all the same,” he spat. “Very unwise of you to come back here. Tilden Toots is far too capable for the likes of you.” Seven plus years of bitterness were injected into that one word, though whether it was plural or singular was hard to tell.

“They say the victim was mauled. What kind of beastly creature do you suppose did it, Lupin?” He had called Lupin ‘Remus’ at one time to try and get back at him for the way Lupin continued to call him Severus, but it had felt strange on his tongue and too soft for Marauder Scum. Lupin sounded much colder and in some distant part of Severus’s head, made this new period of his life attach to the old one at Hogwarts. That meant that when he had bbested Black in Knockturn and taken his cigarettes, he had clawed back a little Slytherin respect. It meant Lupin murdering that wizard was further proof that the man had never been suited to be a prefect. If he couldn’t control his own lycanthropic nature there was no chance he could have controlled the far more savage and animalistic Marauders. Severus bared his crooked teeth slightly.

“You’ve no need to speak to Toots. He was never one of Potter’s cronies and he certainly can’t be interested in your personality. ” Ironic though it was, coming from Severus, it was all the more ironic because Severus had at one time considered Lupin interesting and sensible and probably good friend material. That had been a very brief consideration but it had been there.

.He inhaled deeply through his nostrils, closing his eyes for a moment as if he pretended to summon patience from everything around them. It was a common gesture from his part whenever Severus Snape was concerned, which fortunately was not often. Unfortunately, it was not impossible either. And now whatever insane idea had the man obsessed this time, he had decided to project it on Remus. He knew, without doubt, the day was going to be long if it meant starting it by trying to get rid of Snape’s poisonous company.

“I don’t doubt Tilden’s capacities, Severus. He’s a brilliant man. And your point is?” he raised his eyebrows tiredly, glaring at him in such manner that it was a clear indication for the other man to cut the crap and go straight for whatever reason he had for speaking to him now.

The next words that came out of Severus’s mouth, however, were not what he had expected. He thought this might have been some attempt to mess with Remus’s friendship with Tilden; if anything could be bored enough to focus on other people’s friendships, that was Snape. But apparently, this was not quite the matter. He stopped and looked at the other man with a clear frown of confusion.

“Victim? What victim? Someone died?” he asked, frankly lost to the whole conversation. But then it made sense, the eerie feeling he had captured upon arriving at Hogsmade, the heavy atmosphere charged with tension, with that acid stench that he know could identify as fear. The whole village holding its breath in horror.

And what was more, he finally caught on what strange idea was rounding Severus Snape’s head now. And he was mildly horrified, mildly exasperated. A mauled victim, the full moon last night, him showing up, of course someone like Snape would immediately jump to conclusions. He had a simple excuse: he loathed Remus. Now that he knew someone had died so gruesomely, yes, there was a brief second in which Remus feared he might be guilty of murder without knowing, but then he told himself it was physically impossible. He had spent last night in an abandoned, isolated hut half-hidden by fog in the Welsh mountains, and that was where he had woken up the next day. Not even a werewolf could cover all the distance between there all the way up to Hogsmade, had time to freshly murder someone, and then come home for sunrise. 

There was no real fear or guilt in him this time. Just the uncomfortable annoyance of knowing this man knew his darkest secret, even though he (fortunately) had no idea what to do with it apart from coming at him with insane accusations.

“A mauled victim...You think I did it. And that now I want what? To add Tilden to the murder list? You might be not be as familiarized with the notion, but unlike others, I don’t like to hurt my friends” he rolled his eyes “An insightful theory as usual, Severus. But also as usual, you are completely wrong. I was nowhere close to Hogsmade until about half an hour ago. Sorry for disappointing you”

Until Proven Innocent || Remus & Severus || Whodunnit || May 15th, 1980.

[shan282-ao3]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Far Cry 5, Far Cry: New Dawn Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Female Deputy | Judge & Joseph Seed Characters: Joseph Seed, John Seed, Jacob Seed, Faith Seed, Female Deputy (Far Cry), Deputy (Far Cry) Additional Tags: joseph/deputy hinted at, a touch of my thirst for john, minor spoilers for new dawn, i rewrote their deaths, my timeline is way off, i havent actually played new dawn yet, Oops, Slight mentions of torture, joseph is a dick, barely joseph/deputy, its there if you squint past the torture and manipulation, oof

Summary: Nora was the new junior deputy when she met Joseph Seed and all chaos broke free. The Judge wasn't a person anymore. They were a shadow, a puppet, a plaything, and completely devoted to the Father.

Aka my take on how the deputy became the judge.

I actually submitted this for an English assignment and my professor actually liked it.

Read Below:

The Judge hadn’t always been a mute figure who flinched at silence and thrived on violence. Years ago, before the world was lost and reborn, she’d been full of life and happiness, dancing through blissful fields, exploring the mountains and singing as she walked through empty vineyards and orchards. Before the bombs fell and the life in her chest was smothered, her name had been Nora. She was beautiful with eyes that reflected the sea and red hair that burned hotter than any fire.

She’d met Joseph on her third night as the new junior deputy. Joseph Seed was the charismatic leader of Eden’s Gate, the cult of Hope County that promised salvation when the Great Collapse occurred. What she knew of them was only from a video she’d seen on the internet, she had only just moved to the county and hadn’t even heard of them until a US Marshal arrived that morning to arrest him.

When Nora had stepped through his church doors alongside her colleagues to arrest him, he’d held out his hands and beckoned her to him with his violent ideas and apocalyptic premonitions. He’d unnerved her, his eyes masked by yellow glass showed no ill intent, yet still she could tell he was hiding something behind that facade. Intrigued and terrified of the pull she felt towards him, she’d cuffed him and escorted him to the helicopter. Her eyes, now darkened with worry, stayed fixed ahead and she did her best not to pay attention to the members of Eden’s Gate who screamed threats.

The helicopter crash had been something none of them had seen coming but should have all expected. Nora groaned and opened her eyes, awakened by the frantic sounds of their dispatch and eerie singing. When she’d reached for the headset to radio for help she was grabbed by Joseph, bloodied but seemingly unharmed, and froze in his gaze as he quietly sang before exiting the wreck. The next weeks were a blur, Nora had been rescued by a man named Dutch who’d pulled her from the river after she’d narrowly avoided capture by Joseph’s followers. She was introduced to the Resistance, people from all over the county who were fighting to keep the cult from destroying them all. She soon found herself fighting alongside them, liberating farms and family homes, rescuing kidnapped citizens, and causing mayhem for Joseph and his followers.

She’d just finished freeing a farm from Eden’s Gate when her radio buzzed alive and a voice she’d heard only a handful of times before in cult propaganda spoke directly to her. John Seed, Joseph’s youngest brother who was regarded by the county’s citizen’s as the most sadistic of the three brothers.

“My dear deputy,” John called to her, his voice, smooth like honey, would have made her melt if things were different. “You’ve been causing quite a commotion. I think it’s time we officially met. I’m coming for you.”

And like that her radio fell back into silence and she felt a shiver of fear run up her spine. She’d been marked and soon his chosen had found her and shot her full of tranquilizer and waking up being held up in a river. John smiled at her as she came too and clicked his tongue.

“This one’s not clean.” He’d said to the man holding Nora up and took her weight from him. His eyes were soft for a second before growing cold and his fingers closed around her neck as she shoved her backward into the ice-cold water. Drowning, she thrashed around until his grip loosened enough for her to reach the surface and get air. She’d managed to escape and the two played a game of cat and mouse for weeks until she finally caught him. Mimicking his actions when they first met, her hands closed around his throat and she choked him until he stopped struggling, the tears streaming down her face hot with disgust and rage.

Not long after, she’d met Faith Seed, Joseph’s adored sister and the woman happily drugging up members of the cult who fought back. She was the overseer of manufacturing the bliss they supplied members of the cult, a drug that left most in a euphoric and easily suggestible state. She’d caught Nora easily and the two had spent almost three weeks walking in and out of the bliss together before Nora and finally managed to break free. With pain stabbing at her heart, she’d drowned Faith in her own supply of bliss and retreated to the mountains, as far away from Joseph and his anguish and rage at the loss of his brother and sister as she could get.

Yet still, she wasn’t safe, after weeks of helping liberate the people in the mountains Joseph’s last surviving brother, Jacob, caught her. Nora was with him for nearly four months, he tortured, manipulated, and brainwashed her as he ran her through trial after trial training her to be one of his soldiers. She became his most effective killing machine, the song that tortured her and his gentle words of encouragement as she unknowingly gunned down people she’d once thought of as friends were something that she now craved. The morning he died, he’d played her song and she’d reverted into his killing machine and fought through a bunker of the Resistance. Once she’d come to, snapped out of her trance by the only two survivors, she was horrified and had spilled his entrails on the mountain peak.

It was finally over, she had thought. Nora had gone to the Eden’s Gate compound and confronted Joseph. Without his brothers and Faith’s bliss to protect him, she was able to take him down easy. She finally arrested him and drove towards civilization and safety. She’d had won, Hope County was finally safe. Then the bombs fell, the apocalypse Joseph had been preaching had finally come true and according to him, it was her fault. They’d both ended up in Dutch’s bunker after the blast flipped the car. He’d dragged Nora inside, swiftly killed Dutch and handcuffed her to a metal pipe. When Nora finally came to, he was sat in front of her, his eyes haunted as they both listened to the sounds of death above them.

“I finally understand.” Joseph had said after what seemed like hours of silence. “I prepared my family for the prophecy that God whispered in my ear, but you took them from me. I should kill you, but I won’t. You’re all I have left now, you’re my family.”

Nora shuddered and tried to move back but found herself trapped, he leaned closer until their faces were inches apart and continued speaking. “When the world is ready for us, we will step into the light. I am yours and you are mine and together we will march through Eden’s Gate just as God planned.”

He never stopped speaking after that, it wasn’t always directed at her but she could always hear him. Even when he slept, Nora still heard his voice in her head. It took him 7 years to break her will and another 3 to mold her into the perfect object for his affections. It wasn’t until he had plucked her tongue from her mouth to stop the constant blasphemies that streamed from her lips that she finally gave up the last of her fight and accept that she truly was meant to be his. The last 7 years of their confinement was spent in each other’s company, every now and then a spark of resistance would flicker in her eyes, but each time Joseph was quick to drown it.

By the time the world was ready for them, Nora was dead and the Judge had been born. When they stepped out into the sun just as he had prophesied 17 years ago, him in all his glory and her as his shadow, they were met with a new world. She could finally shed the remnants of her old self and embrace the Judge: a cross painted across her face in the blood of a sinner, a wolf’s skull hiding her own face, and a halo of bliss to mask her tracks. Joseph had been satisfied as she quickly took to this new world, judging the unworthy, showing them the path to safety, helping them atone for their sins just as his brothers and sister had. She was all the best of them now, a judge like a Jacob, a guide like Faith, and an inquisitor like John. He had tried to transform her into his shadow and it had worked, she was never far from his side, his ever-faithful shadow, puppet, companion, and personal executioner should the need arise.

The universe had finally been returned to its balance and the Judge came to realize that Joseph had been her savior all along.