#there were barely any behind the scenes moments like most of the footage they used you could watch on yt for free

[hyunnie]

man the svt movie was fun and all but like...it was such an obvious cash grab like there really was no point in making this

[gesternchen]

7 Details You May Have Missed in Avatar (2009)

Avatar is undeniably one of the most beautiful, colorful, and immersive movies in cinematography, made with a lot of work put into details and backgrounds. In this short post I’d like to touch upon a couple of details that the audience and I myself may have missed when watching the movie for the first time or even rewatching it later on. If you noticed any of them before or could come up with some other, then let me know, it’d be entertaining to read what you guys think. Just a tiny disclamer: a couple of the details were found within the scenes from the extended cut, so make sure you’re familiar with it.

Number 1: Logo on Jake’s Shirt

The bar scene was initially edited out from the original cut, but was later added in the director’s one. Here we can spot Jake wearing a shirt with a logo, which anyone would barely notice. What this logo is about, is the Harley-Davidson Motor Company primarily renowned for manufacturing internationally worshiped motorbikes. Besides it supplied the U. S. Army during World War II. Marines used HD motorbikes with great pleasure back then. The company itself survived a long story of ups and downs, so it’s nice to see it still exists in 2148. The fact that Jake wears this shirt suggests that he may keep it as a piece of merch. It‘s also possible that he was keen on bikes when he was younger (God knows, maybe he still is), namely iconic Harley-Davidson‘s ones. Or he may have even ridden one.

Number 2: Sign of Jake’s Further Employment Behind the Agents’ Backs

Okay, I know it’s just a good timing, but believe me or not, it fits the moment really perfectly. The words 'work contract' emerging behind the agents’ backs almost forecast Jake being offered to sign a contract allowing him to join the Avatar Program.

Number 3: Omaticaya Are Actually Weaving

Over the years Omaticaya have been reproached with not having weaved enough. Partly, I agree, they don’t weave enough in the movie, since it’s a clan of WEAVERS producing one of a kind textiles (even 11 years after it feels like a joke that Grace Augustine portrayed by Sigourney Weaver formed the strongest bonds with the Omaticaya). Still, some footage of the clan members engaged in this activity was provided in the scene when Grace is back to the tribe after a while to meet her students. The scene also features the prominent giant loom of the clan!

Number 4: A Hexapede’s Skull?

Ever noticed a skull over Grace’s and Jake’s heads? Me too, but the question is, what animal does it belong to? The only closest one I can think of is hexapede — the skull’s shape is pretty similar. But guess what, hexapede doesn’t seem to have horns! Were the bones taken from another animal and then tied to the skull? Are these giant fangs? Claws? Pandorapedia doesn’t seem to have given us the answer yet.

Number 5: Grace is Picked Up by the Same Kids She Taught in School

One of the most heartwarming moments of the entire movie for me. Of course, it would be hard for you to come to such a conclusion by identifying the kids’ faces if you haven’t watched the extended cut, as the scene of Grace chatting with her students has been edited out from the original movie. What is also significant about this scene is the fact that five of them survived the fall of the Hometree except for only one, and it makes me sad. They must have found Grace right after the tragic event and suggested that she should stick to them and follow them on the way from the burning site.

Number 6: Golf Ball Display Case in Parker’s Office??

It seems like there are more trophies on the wall in Parker’s administration than we got to know before. Obviously, he’s got a bow, a necklace, and a couple of arrows, all taken from a certain clan. What they mean to him and RDA is a bit of a mystery: the items may symbolize the connection of the RDA Science Department to the indigenous people of Pandora or have been taken by force. If we checked other pieces on the shelves behind Parker’s back, we’d spot some interesting stuff there: plenty of awards, a certificate, and a weird ball-like model in a case next to it. What for the certificate, it’s clear that it marks the accomplishments of RDA as the pioneer space development company (I can guess by the letters in bold very much resembing the logo of the corporation). But the use of the model still remains unknown. Is it just a model of Earth? Or it is a model of Pandora moon? What if it’s a silver golf ball trophy in a display case? This could make a very nice assumption. It would tell us a bit more about Parker’s background before he became RDA’s official or about his achievements in golf on Earth in course of running his business. This would explain him being more passionate about the game, rather than serving as another cliche character.

Number 7: Jake Wearing Tsu’Tey’s Attire

Don’t you guys find this detail concerning? I mean, nothing is clearly wrong about that, we know Jake was meant to lead the clan. The thing is, how come he put on Tsu’Tey’s attire so fast? The clan’s former leader seems to have passed out just a couple of days ago, is it okay for Jake to claim himself Olo’eyktan this quickly? Would Neytiri approve such initiative? Too many questions, very few answers. Of course, I assume that Jake may wear this festive attire in honor of Tsu’Tey, who actually himself delegated leadership duties to Jake. Still, all of this happening way more rapidly than I’d prefer it to happen bothers me a bit.

[crowdedimagines]

Worse Days - Aaron Hotchner

The faint dripping of water pulls me back to reality. The same sploosh happening over and over. Minute after minute. I pull my eyes open blinking, forcing them to focus. The swaying back and forth, left to right, doesn’t help ease the dizziness I feel.

“Looks like your girl is finally up.”

I look around, searching for the source of the voice.

“Wake up, sunshine!” He finally sits in front of me, taking my head in his hand. His fingers are coarse and strong. He forces me to look him in the eyes, his grip tight on my cheeks. He tilts my head to the tripod over his shoulder. The red light on the camera blinks back at me.

“Smile for the camera.”

This is not at all how today was supposed to go…

Twenty-Two Hours Ago.

“Alright, we’re looking at four women, murdered and found on the beach in Miami. All from different classes and backgrounds, but similar age groups” JJ hands us each our files.

“He takes them for three days, before brutally dismembering them. The morning of the fourth day, the woman is always found.”

“He takes risks. Each of these women were taken from high traffic areas.” I comment.

“There’s more.” Garcia suddenly takes over.

“He also sends a live feed to the family of the victim.” She reluctantly pulls it up on the TV, a live feed of the women pleading for their lives. Saying their goodbyes.

“He’s definitely a sexual sadist. He finds pleasure in knowing that families are watching their loved ones last moments.” I clear my throat, pulling my eyes away from the screen.

“That’s what he gets off on.” Derek agrees. “He likes knowing that there’s people in distress on the other end of the camera.”

“Wheels up in thirty.” Hotchner simply says before excusing us all.

As soon as we land we start the process to find the unsub. It begins with all of us splitting up and going to the scenes where the bodies were found. All of them were ditched on the beach, early morning before anyone was out.

We get nothing from the populated beaches other than sand in our shoes.

We sit down and look at the profile and determine the man is bold and try to analyze the footage we have from the previous victims. Penelope is trying to find any identifying marks from the videos to see where they come from. Based on the way he treats the bodies, we’ve determined he’s likely a white male in his early thirties. 

“It looks like they’re on a boat.” I say, we’ve been watching the videos on an endless loop. Trying to catch any new details. 

“The camera is steady.” Morgan argues, looking at the TV now too.

“But look at her hair, it’s moving when she’s not. It’s like the rocking of a boat.”

“It’s possible considering he’s ditching them on the beach.” Reid comments. 

“That’s why no one sees him dragging a body all across the beach. He already had them on a boat.” Ross puzzles together. 

“The most recent body was found this morning, that means he’s going to take his next victim tonight.” Morgan says.

“We should visit where each of the women were taken. Try and get an understanding of how he was able to do so in such populated areas.” Hoctchner announces, “Prentiss and Morgan, go to the grocery store where Hannah Lane was taken, Y/n and Spencer, go to the parking garage where Amy Bryant was abducted and Rossi and I will go to the last two locations.”

We all nod and go off in our separate directions. Spencer and I get in the car and drive to the parking garage where Amy was taken. We drive around until we reach the second level and get out.

“Even for a parking garage, it’s bold. It’s packed with cars on this level. Anyone could show up at any time.” I look around.

“You’re right, they could.” A voice calls out behind me before everything goes dark.

Present time.

“Morgan, you owe me twenty bucks. I told you it was a boat.” I stretch out my neck that has a kink from hanging loosely while sitting up in the chair for so long. It feels heavy, like I’ve been in this position a long time.

The man in front of me rolls his eyes, huffing loudly.

“You picked the wrong girl if you were counting on me melting like puddy in your hands. You forget that I know exactly what you want. You want the tears and the begging.”

“Trust me. You’ll get to that point.” He smirks. “They all do.”

He leaves the room, loudly pulling the door shut behind him as he goes.

“I promise, it’s not as bad as it looks.” I plead with the camera, knowing that my team is on the other side of it. I can only imagine what they’re all feeling. We’ve had close calls with team members, it’s not any easier to be in their position right now. You feel helpless. 

“Definitely on a boat, but I think we’re just at a marina or a pier. I can hear seagulls, we aren’t rocking that much.”

I lean forward as best as I can while still being tied to a chair. There’s a small window along the ceiling allowing me to see blue skies.

“It might be a ship. I’m above sea level, I can see the sky.” I try to give the team as much information as I can possibly gather. Anything could help.

“Sorry that’s about all I have right now to help.” I look around the bare room for any other details that could help, “I think I have a concussion, and maybe a cracked rib. I can’t take a deep breath.”

Suddenly the man comes back in, just as quickly as he left, he takes the camera in his hands.

“That’s all of your Y/n time today. You should get to trying to find me, because I am going to have a lot of fun in the meantime.”

Back with the team at the Miami police department...

The feed cuts out leaving the team in silence and shock.

“There’s nothing we could’ve done. We couldn’t have known-”

“We could have waited.

Spencer looks down at the ice pack in his lap. As if the guilt wasn’t eating away at him enough before. He also received a concussion. Only he woke up on the ground, relatively nothing compared to the person he was sent out with.

“There was no way for us to know that the unsub was going to come back to visit the last scene of the crime.” Emily defends. She can see the pure anger in Aaron’s eyes. Completely unwavering, and only focused on getting Y/n back to the team.

“But that’s the thing. He wouldn’t, that’s not in his MO. He moves on to his next target. Once he kills these women he feels nothing, it’s all in the buildup, he feels nothing at the scene of the crime.” Rossi says, thinking out loud.

“Y/n helped JJ talk to the press. The unsub could have seen her then. It’s likely that he would follow the case, especially once it was announced that the FBI had joined the case.” Spencer rapidly explains.

“She’s the right age, she fits his type.” Rossi nods.

“So, he sees her as more of a challenge. He’s escalated. He knows that she is a higher risk person to take.” Emily comments. 

“Y/n, said she’s on a boat.” Morgan says, bringing up the clue that Y/n gave them before the feed cut out. 

“We’re in southern Florida, there’s thousands of boats within just a hundred miles of us.” JJ sighs, looking around to the group around her.

“Four thousand, seven hundred and fifty-two within 75 miles of here.” Spencer pipes up.

Hotchner cuts him a look. Still trying to find anyone to blame, but himself. He’s the one who sent her in to that parking garage. 

“Garcia, can you locate her based on the feed the unsub has sent us?” Aaron asks, looking at the plain black screen, hoping to see it come back on so he can see the girl behind the camera. 

“No sir, he’s using a different routing server, just like he did with all of his previous victims.”

“Y/n is not a victim.”

---

It takes some time while the team continues to try and work out locations and who the unsub could even be. He wasn’t afraid to show his face on camera, which makes things a little more difficult. He has no record, making Garcia’s life a little harder. 

The TV in the conference room lets out a crackle before the familiar room comes into their view. Everyone sets down what they had been working on and halts all conversation. It’s been several hours since we’ve seen anything from him. Y/n has been gone for eleven hours at this point.

“Welcome back to the show!” The unsub grins. 

He moves out of the way to finally put Y/n in the frame. She’s hunched over, she doesn’t look as good as she did before. It’s evident that things have changed off camera. 

“His name is Nick.” Y/n mutters, picking up her head as best as she can. “He’s five ten and approximately a hundred ninety pounds.” 

“Don’t you learn to shut up?” Nick pulls back on the hair at the back of her head. In doing so it reveals new bruises that have taken home on her. 

“Baby, we talked about this. No more sharing with them, or else you know what happens.” Nick brushes her hair out of her face now. 

“This is his dads boat.” Y/n looks at the man who has taken her with spite in her eyes. It seems in his hours spent with her, he hasn’t learned that Y/n doesn’t like to be told what to do. And that she’s tougher than she looks. 

He lands a sharp fist into the side of her head and takes a step back. He lets himself take a deep breath, trying to gain control. He doesn’t want to kill her yet, that would be over too soon. Now he can step closer again, he lets one hand wrap around her throat, halting any oxygen of reaching her lungs.

He waits for Y/n to start to struggle in her chair before he lets up. 

“You just don’t like to learn, that’s okay. I’ll fix you.” Nick takes her hand, which is still tied to the arms of the chair she’s sat in. He pulls her pointer finger with care, before sharply pushing it straight up, breaking it. 

“Garcia-” Y/n picks up her head struggling to fight against his hands, she’s coughing now still trying to gain her breath back, “You don’t need to see this. Please. Turn it off.”

“Of course, Y/n is the one being tortured and she’s worried about other people.” Morgan turns away, himself unable to watch this continue. Listening to Y/n’s screams and shouts are going to be enough to stick with him. Rossi forces himself to watch the girl he’s grown so close to since joining the team, brutally tortured in front of him. 

Everyone on this team has love for this girl. She’s managed to worm her way into everyone’s life in some way or another. Y/n always knows exactly what each person needs, and she meets it. She holds the team together when they’re all falling apart. If anything were to happen to her, it would destroy them all. 

Especially Aaron. As reluctant as he would be to admit it, this girl has wormed her way into his heart. Different to everyone else on the team, though. He saw her beauty and kindness. It was hard to him to imagine a woman ever entering his life like Haley did, but Y/n did it with such grace, and without even trying. Y/n helped him out with Jack when he needed it, and made them meals when Aaron just needed to catch a break. She didn’t even need a thank you, it was just part of her.

Without even trying, Y/n became his person and all he can think now is that he never got the chance to tell her, never even got the chance to thank her, and that he won’t let happen.  He wants to see Y/n’s face in person, not bruised and bloody through the screen on the wall. He needs to get out to save her.

“Garcia, does that help you narrow your search.” Hotchner asks their tech who is still on speaker. 

“We’ve got twenty-two Nicks with boats in the Miami area.” She explains. 

“What about Nicks who have wealthy fathers? Or boats that weren’t originally in their name.” Spencer asks. 

“That leaves me with one. Nick Hoffman.” Garcia cheers, “Sunset Harbour on 1928 Sunset Harbour Drive” 

The team takes off without a second thought, quickly trying to save their girl. They manage to get there in record time and find the boat with success. Y/n was right, it’s more like a ship with its size. 

“Morgan, Rossi, work your way around the main levels and then below. Emily and I will lead the upper level.” 

The team takes off to clear the boat. It took a few empty rooms until Emily finally opens the door to where they are. Nick holds a knife to Y/n’s throat. He’s essentially using her as a shield, ducking behind her. 

“If you take one more step in here, I will slit her throat.” Nick shouts. 

“We don’t want that to happen.” Emily negotiates, Hotch finally stepping into the room. 

“Hey! I told you guys not to move!” He presses the blade down tight against Y/n’s neck while she lets out a shudder. 

“Let her go.” Hotch declares. 

“I want a deal.” Nick grovels. 

“Men like you don’t get deals.” Emily says, her eyes trained on him and all of his movements. 

“Not even for your precious Y/n’s life?” He grins, looking down at the girl below him now. 

“Go to hell.” She mutters as best she can., 

“Maybe killing you would be worth it.” He smirks, “Then we could go out together.” 

“I’ve got better plans.” Y/n throws her head back into Nick’s disorienting him enough that Hotch has a clear shot, and he takes it. Nick’s body falls and Emily kicks his knife out of reach.

“Get me out of this chair.” Y/n shakes, squirming to get out of the spot she’s been constrained to. “Get me out of here, please.” 

Hotch and Emily both holster their weapons and rush to help her. They quickly untie her and when her legs fail her, Hotch scoops her up. He quickly walks her down the stairs and doesn’t stop once he reaches the dock, he takes her all the way up to the ambulance. 

Without hesitation, Hotch gets in with her. There isn’t anything that could keep him from leaving her now. 

“Wow, that was a dramatic ending, huh?” Y/n grins. 

“You can’t seriously be cracking jokes about this now.” He sighs. 

“I mean come on, aren’t you going to even ask how I figured out his name was Nick? I figured it out when he ow-” 

Y/n cuts herself off when the paramedic starts feeling her ribs to see which are cracked and if any are broken.

“Y/n, we can talk about this later.” Aaron smiles. 

“Am I hallucinating? Is it the lack of oxygen, because you’re smiling.” Y/n comments, finally turning to look at her boss who has a smile that she knows he saves for Jack. 

“You’re back. That’s reason to smile.” 

They make it to the hospital to find out that Y/n has a concussion, one broken rib and three cracked ribs, and one broken finger. Not to mention the trauma to the trachea. 

“The gangs all here.” Y/n smiles, noticing Garcia has flown down to join the group. Everyone has been gathered in the room since everything settled down, “What are you doing here?” 

“Y/n, you were kidnapped.” Garcia states, still in shock, “You could’ve died.” 

Tears fill Penelope’s eyes and Y/n opens her arms from her hospital bed for a hug, which she easily accepts. 

“Ehh, I knew you guys would find me.” Y/n grins. “I’m fine Pen, I’m getting discharged in the morning and we can all go home.” 

“Yes, speaking of, we should all get some rest. Especially Y/n.”

Slowly, the rest of the team clears out, giving hugs on their way. 

“Not taking your own orders?” Y/n asks, noticing her boss making himself comfortable on the small couch in her hospital room. 

“I don’t think I could leave if I tried.” Aaron admits. 

“And why’s that?” Y/n asks, carefully turning to lay on her side to face him. 

“Because I love you.” He confesses, “I have for a while now, and it’s alright if you don’t feel the same, or if my position with this team makes you uncomfortable. I just don’t think I can go any longer without you at least knowing.”

“You love me?” Y/n asks, her voice cracking. Aaron finally has the courage to look over and she has tears in her eyes. 

“Yes.” He clears his throat, “The way you have become a part of my life, and Jack’s for that matter. You bring so much light with you everywhere you go, even after a day like you’ve had today. You manage to still be the brightest person I have ever met.”

“Please don’t make me get out of bed to kiss you, because I think I would crack another rib.” Y/n sighs. 

Hotch lets out a soft chuckle before getting up from his spot. 

“Only if you promise to go to bed after this, you need rest.” 

“Promise.” 

He leans down to connect their lips, it’s soft. Y/n can tell that he’s being gentle with her. She reaches up a hand to thread them through Aaron’s short hair, using it to her advantage to hold him there and pull him a little closer. They pull away eventually, Y/n stealing one more peck before fully letting go of him.

“Ok, maybe I’ve had worse days.” 

---

AHHHHHH my first time writing for criminal minds! i hope you guys liked it! 🥺

[akookminsupporter]

Hello there, I want to add a thing to the whole "Jikookers are so delulu"-discourse or rather the kind of united front that seems to exist against them in the fandom and how it honestly changed my perspective on Jikook.

So I've been an ARMY since 2015-ish. I was really new to this whole stanning business since I never had any interest in keeping up with any celebrities or the charts before (and still pretty much don't lol). I didn't really have social media except for Tumblr and at the beginning I really just binged myself through their original content while staying blissfully ignorant to the fandom and popular narratives within it until like 2017/18 ish.

I had always liked Jikook's dynamic, cooing over how JM always loudly proclaimed his affections for JK and how JK in turn always seemed to follow him around everywhere and gradually I noticed bits and pieces about them over the years that made me raise my eyebrows (especially Kook's raw, unexpected reactions sometimes made me pause), but I eventually always waved them away every time.

As I like to say, with Jikook I always liked and tried to remain in my sphere of chaotic neutrality, I'm just here to enjoy the memes and coo over how cute they are lol. I also didn't want to pry more into the member's private lifes than they already have to expose to us; I didn't want to play detective. And when "clues" popped up my gut instict was to close my eyes and go "I didn't see anything!"

On top of that I'm always wary of being manipulated and soooo sceptical to believe anything that I see on screen, that sometimes I can't even say in good conscience that I think BTS are good people, even if in my mind I would say I believe that.

My paranoid brain: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?? What if everything you're seeing is fake??!! What if tomorrow it comes out they have murdered a million kittens and you invested time and emotions into and suffered through year-long ridicule and harassment for people who aren't even worth it??!!

Then the rational part of my brain argues that there are some things you can't consistently fake over the course of 7-10 years, in countless hours of footage, especially in unedited footage, especially at the very back of videos from where it can barely be picked up by the cameras, from recounts of people who actually met them and had pleasant experiences with them, from all the times they have gone above and beyond what is strictly necessary to say or do something good, something that doesn't always put them in a favourable position.

Parasocial relationship or not, it doesn't really matter. You might know friends or relatives for all your life and could still be betrayed by them; they could still be horrible people behind the scene. We shouldn't be shamed for something so human as forming empathetic connections with others, no matter how far away they seem from us.

But mild existential crisis aside, what I meant to say is just that it made it even harder for me to accept most things I saw play out on screen. And I also think this is a lot of where the insecure"If Jikook really was a couple they wouldn't act so close on camera"-people come from, so honestly I can't blame them all that much sometimes, as I feel sympathy for them.

Ok. Back on track. My first big "Oh" moments were all sometime around 2016 but I was still not really thinking anything of the two from that point onwards. But I guess it did kind of stick with me and then over the years the amount of 'sus' moments just kept piling on and on, but I always pushed it back into my mind because I didn't want to assume anything. I made it through the release of GCFT and several other meltdown-inducing milestones without thinking they might be 'real' trying to maintain that mindset of the neutral sceptic lol.

And after 2019, engaging more with the fandom and seeing other people see what I saw it just slowly pushed me to my breaking point.

But you know what really pushed me over the edge to believe they might be legit together? The antis.

I always tried to remain sceptical and think about at least one counter-argument as to not succumb to blind bias. Imagine my utter meltdown at the ARMY + JM tattoo because how tf can you possibly explain that away? The way the fandom just jumped at the flimsy OT7 explanation even if it is dictated on and would fall completely apart if it wasn't for that one missing line in the A, just boggles my mind! That was the first instance that made me think "Wow, people are really going above and beyond to dismiss them." And from that point onwards it just got more and more ridiculous.

"I do that with my brother all the time!!!"

(As someone who actually has an older brother big fat yikes).

"IT'S JUST FANSERVICE!!"

(I've already left a long rant about that bs lol)

"Pff nooo ofc he is not sucking on his ear, you're soo delusional omg! His chin just got stuck to his face."

(The most hilariously ridiculous of them all. The fact is: my dude just sucked on JM's ear in front of 60K people and yelled out I love you. You can interpret that however you like? Don't think they are romantically involved? That's more than fine. But why twist the facts?)

"STOP MAKING IT ABOUT SHIPS! OH MA GAHD THAT'S SO DISRESPECTFUL!"

(Ok then, next time I want to praise JK's artistry in a video where he exclusively filmed JM, or a performance by the INDIVIDUALS JM and JK who have nothing to do with each other at all, I'll be sure not to mention them or their teamwork, wouldn't want to be disrespectful after all 🤡)

At this point I have chronical backpain just from seeing the amount of ridiculous mental gymnastics people do to discredit every possible "Jikook moment". And that was finally the moment where I went:

"Oh my God, you don't want to be that person. Whatever the hell these people are doing is a lot more delulu than simply thinking Jikook might be together."

If it turns out I'm wrong tomorrow, then that's that, but at least I won't be so blinded by paranoia that I completely twist the facts to fit some agenda.

Thinking they couldn't possibly be together is not the inherently more logical or less delusional assumption.

Honestly there is a lot of internalized homophobia in that train of thought. What is it about two men who have gone through so much together over the course of several years falling in love and forming a commited, romantic relationship with e/o that is so absurd and ridiculous? Why does it seem to scare people that much?

At the end of the day for all the joy that they brought to my life I just wish them happiness in whatever form that may be.

So now I am finally at peace lol. Sorry this is so long, but I hope this can help other 'neutral sceptics' out there.

“You might know friends or relatives for all your life and could still be betrayed by them; they could still be horrible people behind the scene. We shouldn't be shamed for something so human as forming empathetic connections with others, no matter how far away they seem from us.”

“Whatever the hell these people are doing is a lot more delulu than simply thinking Jikook might be together."

Thanks for sharing your journey, anon. I guess one thing I will never understand is the desperate need of a part of this fandom to deny the mere possibility that Jikook is real. The absurd reasons why, according to them, it can't be real. And I can't believe the blatant hypocrisy regarding other ships, they find all the problems in the world with jikook and their shippers but that same energy doesn't seem to exist when it comes to other ships and their shippers.

[cherrybracelets]

as the world caves in

masterlist | request

spencer reid x bau agent!reader

song inspo: as the world caves in - matt maltese (i highly recommend listening to this before or during reading to fully understand the fic)

summary: you’ve worked in the bau for almost a year now, but this is your toughest case to date. when the unsub puts you and spencer in a near death situation, the complex feeling of mortality causes you to bear your souls to one another 

word count: 6k | warnings: no smut but it is typical criminal minds violence, plot centers around reader being held hostage by an unsub so there is tying up, reader getting hurt, etc. pls be cautious when reading if that makes you uncomfortable

Your head was pounding, the sound of phones ringing and private chatter ringing through your ears. You shakily poured a cup of coffee, closing your eyes momentarily as you tried to wake yourself up. You glanced at the clock, seeing that it was barely five in the morning. You yawned obnoxiously, assuming no one was around you. But when you heard a quiet snicker from behind, you knew immediately you were not alone. You spun around quickly to see Emily, waving as she set her bag down on her desk. 

“Pretty early to be called in. Must be important,” she concurred, pouring herself a cup of stale FBI coffee as well. 

“Do you ever get used to it?” You groaned, taking a long swig of the cheap coffee. You had doused it with milk and sugar to make it consumable, but it still left a nasty taste in your mouth with each sip. You knew you wouldn’t make it without caffeine, though, so you stomached it down. 

“I’ve been here… five years, now? I can assure you it doesn't get easier,” she laughed. You had missed her laugh, when she was gone. She had become a wonderful mentor to you, and when you thought you lost her, you were shattered. Having her back has been enough to get you through the tough cases, which seemed to be escalating with each one. 

“You know, next week is my one year anniversary with the BAU,” you smiled, excited of your first milestone with the team. The BAU was an exceptionally hard job, and many people didn’t make it as long as you had. It was something to be proud of. 

“You’re kidding! Congratulations, (Y/N).” 

“Thank you!”

You saw Hotch and Derek walk in out of the corner of your eye, deep in conversation. You were sure it was an important one, the look on Hotch’s face confirming your suspicions. They walked straight to the conference room, not even looking up to notice you and Emily. You gave Emily a look, and you were both thinking the same thing. ‘We better get our asses in there.’

You followed Emily into the room, Garcia getting the case ready to present. The rest of the team filtered in over the next few minutes, riddled with dark circles, cups of coffee and worry. There wasn’t much small talk made, everyone too out of it to pretend to talk about what they did last weekend. 

“Good morning everyone, thanks for coming in so early,” Hotch addressed, standing up as he welcomed everyone. “We’ve got a bit of a weird case, today. Garcia, why don’t you go ahead and present.” 

“Okay, my loves. This is a bit of a weird one, so strap in to keep up with me. A 21 year old female, Emily Davies, was abducted yesterday morning from the parking lot in her apartment complex. Now, the lot did have security cameras, but the unsub cut the internet cable and they can’t download the video until the can fix the wire.”’

“He’s smart, probably knew it would slow us down. And shows he has knowledge in wiring and electrics.” Derek added. 

“Exactly. The police believe we should have the footage by the time we land. Now here’s where it gets weird. Two hours after she was abducted, there was a shooting at a gas station about 30 miles outside of the city, off I75. Three dead, including the worker. No cameras there, unfortunately.”

“How do we know it’s the unsub?” You questioned, failing to see the connection between the two crimes. 

“Ah, my darling, if there wasn’t a connection we wouldn’t be called in. Our unsub left a note at this crime scene. It read, ‘They were going to take her. I couldn’t let them take her. She is mine, we are in love. Please, leave us be.’” Garcia then pulled up photos of the crime scene and the note on the monitor. 

“These are clean shots, straight to the head, execution style,” Reid said, studying the photos on the screen. 

“He knows how to use a gun, that’s for sure.” Rossi added.

“The 911 call was made by a customer who walked in to see the carnage about a half hour after the unsub left. They believe he is continuing to drive North, but we currently have no idea what him or his car look like.” 

“If he didn’t kill again, he most likely stopped somewhere. He may be lowing low in a roadside motel to keep us off his trail,” Reid said. 

“The gas station seemed unplanned. The abduction was thorough, leaving no evidence. But this scene is sloppy, and rushed. They must’ve seen Emily and panicked, and he shot em. This was never part of the plan, and now he’s freaking out.”

“That’s a good point, Emily’s face is all over the news now. He’d need a place to rest for a bit until he can come up with the rest of his plan. How exactly did people discover that Emily was missing?” You asked, curious about the rest of the unsubs plan. 

“Well, it was actually kind of a fluke, but very helpful for us. Her boyfriend, Michael Adams, discovered she was gone when he came home early from work. He wasn’t supposed to be home for another six hours, but something had happened and they sent him home. He called 911 when he realized her phone, keys, and bag were all at home but she was nowhere to be found. They aren’t sure exactly what time she went missing, but at that point Michael had only been gone for two hours.”

“This guy had to have been stalking her. He knew to take her on a day she’d be alone for hours, he knew to cut the wires for the security cameras… this was meticulously planned,” Derek responded. 

“Except what he didn’t plan for was the boyfriend getting home early, and Emily’s face plastered everywhere. He thought he’d have more time to get away,” JJ added. 

“If he truly doesn’t want to be separated from her, it’s only a matter of time before he kills again. Anybody that gets in their way will die, if we don’t stop him. Wheels up in thirty.” Hotch instructed, dismissing you all as you separated to prepare for another trip. 

You lingered in the conference room for a moment, staring at the photos on the monitor. An uncomfortable feeling floated through you, chills up your spine as you stared at the crime scene. It was far tamer than most things you’d seen during your time here, but something about it made you uneasy. Spencer had noticed you staying back, and he stayed in the room as well. Once everyone cleared out, he cleared his throat to let you know he was there. You turned to him, not sure if you should tell him how you felt or not. Was it weak to say you were nervous? 

“You okay?” He asked calmly, his eyes avoiding yours as he waited for your answer. 

“I… just have a bad feeling about this case. Does that ever happen to you?”

“Mmm, yes.” He chuckled slightly, running a hand through his hair. “And usually, I’m right.” 

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The plane landed in Cincinnati only a few hours later, cars awaiting to take you to the police station upon arrival. You were grateful to hear that they were able to pull the security footage from the lot Emily was abducted, and it was ready to be viewed when you arrived at the station. 

You got in a car with Derek and Spencer, a duo that you usually tried to avoid. Derek always joked with you and Spencer that the two of you had a crush on each other. Although it was slightly true on your part, and your heart did race every time Spencer walked into a room, it was embarrassing to see Spencer so confidently deny any feelings for you. 

But, Hotch sent the three of you to the station, instructing you to study the security tapes. The rest of them were going to talk to the boyfriend and visit the crime scene. You sat awkwardly in the back seat, trying to keep quiet, not wanting to say anything that would entice Derek. 

“Judging by the way he worded this note, our unsub is most definitely in love with Emily. Do you think she knew him?” Spencer turned to you, and then to Derek, waiting for someone to respond. 

“It’s impossible to say. There was no sign of forced entry in the apartment.” Derek responded.

“They think she was taking her trash out when she was abducted. Explains why she left all of her things inside, and the door was unlocked,” you added, wanting to be a part of the conversation. Although it had been almost a year, you still felt like you had to constantly prove yourself when you were with them. 

“Even if she knew him, you wouldn’t get in someone's car without your phone, or wallet. He had to have had a weapon,” Derek said. 

“The gun he used to kill everyone in the gas station, probably,” Spencer muttered. You all stayed silent for the rest of the drive, your brain taking a quiet moment to think through the details of the case. 

The police station wasn’t too far from the airport, and you got there pretty quickly. You always felt so small in the police stations, usually dealing with male detectives or sheriffs or cops. You felt like you’d drown in testosterone, and everyone would be so busy in a dick measuring contest that they couldn’t save you. As you walked into the station, you were greeted by yet again another male detective who reeked of desperation and Viagra. 

“Hi, I’m Detective Elijah Guthrie. Thank you so much for coming.” He shook all of your hands, welcoming you into his station. 

“Where do you have the security tapes set up?” Reid asked quickly, realizing the urgency of this case, and that we didn't have time for small talk. 

“Conference room. Everything you said you needed is set up there, as well.” 

“Awesome, we should go get started, then,” Derek smiled, leading the three of you into the room. 

You all sat down and watched the tapes, replaying them over and over to catch every detail that you could. Luckily, the unsub cut the wires after he took the girl. It seemed sloppy, on his end. He had to know eventually that we’d get the footage. But he was smart enough to make sure his face was nowhere in view. Although, his car was still in view, and you were able to pull a plate number. 

“Garcia, baby girl, can you hear me?” 

“Loud and clear. What can I do for you, my sweets?” 

“Run a plate for us. Ohio plates, number EUE 8561.” 

“Of course, give me uno momento....” You could hear the sound of Garcia typing away, finding the mysterious man. In all honesty, you weren’t sure if any of these cases would get solved without her. 

“Alright, I got your man. 24 year old Jacob Lane.” “Are we sure our unsub didn’t just steal this guy’s car?” 

“Good point, Garcia check to see if Jacob has any connection to Emily.” 

“Gotcha… oh, man. Looks like he grew up in the same town that she did.” 

“Well, that’s suspicious,” Derek responded, raising his eyebrows. “Alright, thanks baby. Try and dig up some more on this guy.” He hung up the phone, staring at the paused video in front of him. 

“(Y/N), you call Hotch and give him the update. There’s a good chance this guy’s our unsub. Reid, call JJ and have her ask the boyfriend if they knew this guy.” You and Reid both looked at each other and nodded, standing up and walking into the hallway to complete your tasks. You dialed Hotch’s number swiftly, listening to the ringing as you awaited him to answer. 

“Hotchner,” he answered, sternly. 

“Hey, it’s me. I think we got our guy- Jacob Lane. The car that Emily got into was registered to him, and he grew up in the same town as her. Garcia is digging up some more info, and Reid is on the phone with JJ, gonna see what we can get from the boyfriend.” 

“Alright, well we’ve just been informed there was another shooting. This time at a motel not too far from the gas station. We’re gonna head there, now.” 

“How many, this time?” You asked, dreading the answer. 

“Six. Doesn’t look like anybody made it out.” 

You stayed silent, your head spinning as you thought of six more dead bodies, six more grieving families. 

“Thanks, Hotch.” You hung up your phone, walking back towards Reid and Derek. 

“Detective Guthrie just told me there’s been another shooting,” Derek said to you, unaware if you had been informed. 

“Yeah, Hotch just told me. We have to get this guy before he does this again.” 

“Unfortunately, most cases with spree killers like this end in hostage situations, and eventually suicide by cop. Spree killers' motivations are usually very similar.” Reid stated, his voice emotionless as he rattled off his facts. He was obviously right, and you felt sick as you thought of standing face to face with this man, 

“I’m gonna go talk to Emily’s parents, see if they knew anything about Jacob. You guys stay in here and go over everything we have so far, see if we missed anything.” 

“Alright. Thanks, Derek.” 

He left the room quietly, walking out to find the family. You started looking over the video again, straining your eyes to see if you could make out any overlooked details. But it was the same every time, there was nothing new to report. You were angry, not feeling any closer to catching this guy. 

“What do you make of this?” You asked Spencer, hoping his genius brain would come up with an explanation yours couldn’t. 

“He loves a girl, tries to take her away with him, gets caught and panics, starts killing anybody that calls him out. It’s pretty straight forward. Although, the way he’s killing them is unique. The actual crime seems rushed and panicked, but the killings themselves and calm and exact. One shot, the same place. It’s too… perfect.” 

“He’s killed before,” you concluded, feeling your heart racing as you thought of more victims at the hand of Jacob. 

“Yes, but most likely in the military. These are execution style deaths. This M.O. is very specific to military personnel.” 

“And you would be correct, boy genius,” Garcia shouted through the speaker on the desk, her voice scaring you slightly. “Jacob Lane was in the Air Force. He was deployed once to Iraq, he got back about six months and was recently relocated to Cincinnati.” 

“So something must’ve happened between Emily and Jacob in the past, and when he moved back and saw her again, it must’ve been the trigger. Topped with PTSD, he could’ve easily snapped.” 

“What exactly did he do in Iraq?” 

“Ah, that is classified information, according to the US government. But no worries, nothing is too classified for me. Our buddy Jacob executed war criminals during his time overseas.” 

“Well, that explains the M.O.,” you chuckled, running a hand through your hair, shaking your head in disgust. 

“Other than that, he had a relatively normal life. Average in school, normal family. He bounced around colleges a bit before deciding to enlist, but there’s no red flags.” 

“Could you find any other link between him and Emily?”  

“Well, that’s the other thing. Jacob deleted all of his social media accounts when he got back from Iraq. Twitter, Instagram… everything, gone. But, just because he deleted it does not mean the record doesn’t exist somewhere. I am currently trying to unlock all of his accounts and see if I can find anything, but it’ll take a bit.” 

“Alright, Garcia, call us if you get anything. Thank you,” you replied, disconnecting the call. Spencer had stepped away for a moment, answering his phone. 

“If this guy had a perfectly normal life, why is he doing this?” You asked, your nails digging into your palms in frustration. 

“The military… doing what he did… it could mess a lot of normal people up. Plus, there may be more to the story than we know.” 

“Yeah, there is. Listen to this,” Spencer said, walking into the room and putting his phone on speaker. 

“Hey, it’s me,” JJ said, her voice flowing softly through the phone. “So we talked to the boyfriend, and there is a long history between Emily and Jacob. They met when she was 18, and they were both dating different people. They had apparently had an affair of sorts, though, leading Jacob to break up with his girlfriend for her. But apparently Emily decided to stay with her boyfriend and ditch Jacob. That’s when he joined the military. Before he left for training camp, Emily’s boyfriend committed suicide. Blamed Emily and Jacob for ruining his life.” 

“Jesus…” you muttered under her breath. 

“Well, it gets more interesting. Emily picked up and moved to Florida, after that, transferring to a college down there. She was apparently trying to start over. Her and Jacob didn’t talk for two years, but he was relocated to the same town she was in, and they met up again. They started dating, and that’s when he got deployed. About a month after he left, Emily claimed he started acting really weird, to the point where it was scaring her. She broke up with him and blocked him on all social media.” 

“The boyfriend knew all of this?” 

“She told him because apparently she was afraid of Jacob. She told her boyfriend that if something ever happened to her, she was sure it was Jacob.” 

“Why wouldn’t he have mentioned something sooner?” 

“He didn’t think it was a big deal. Plus, until two weeks ago, he was living in Florida.” 

“Exactly. And he got moved here, found out Emily was here and had a boyfriend, and that was probably the trigger.”

“What I don’t understand is how Emily just… dropped him? She was clearly terrified of him, what could he have possibly done to give her that reaction?”

“He could have told her what he was doing down there. That job is not for someone with a soft heart. She probably couldn’t stomach the thought of being with a man who…” You couldn’t finish your sentence, your mouth choking up your words as they tried to come up. 

“We need to make a statement to the press. The public needs to know who to look for.” 

“I’ll call the media and put together a press conference. I’ll see you guys soon.” JJ hung up, and Spencer put his phone away. The three of you stayed silent for a moment, staring at each other in awe as your minds wrapped around the information. Part of you felt bad for him. He joined the military to get away, and they stuck him in a job that ruined his humanity. And the girl you love turns away from you when you need her most… 

“The hardest part of the job is not to feel bad for the unsubs,” you laughed, your mouth dry and your forehead sweating as you felt more and more anxious about the future of this case. 

“It’s refreshing, actually. To see someone else with enough empathy to feel for someone who has done so many bad things. It’s a sign of a beautiful heart,” Spencer said, his eyes meeting yours as he spoke. You smiled at him, redness creeping up your cheeks as you felt your nerves tingling at his words. 

“Oh, I’m sure Spencer thinks about your beautiful heart all the time, (Y/N),” Derek teased, causing Spencer to blush as well, and quickly dart his eyes away from you. 

“No… c’mon Derek. Why do you have to turn everything into this? Can’t I just be nice to her!” Spencer groaned, pushing Derek slightly on the arm in frustration. 

“We’ve got a problem,” Det. Guthrie yelled, bursting through the door of the conference room and, thankfully, interrupting Derek. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Emily escaped. She just walked into the police station.” 

“How is that a problem?” 

“Because Jacob just shot up another place. A diner, this time. We just got the call a minute ago. We’re only a few minutes away. He must’ve come back to the city after Emily got away.” 

“(Y/N), you and Reid go to the crime scene. I’m going to stay here and talk to Emily.” 

“Alright, we’ll leave now, call us if you need anything.” 

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The drive was quick, helped greatly by the use of your sirens. You sped quickly to the diner, you and Reid the first to arrive on the scene. The witness who had called it in greeted you with sobs, not having time to console her as the two of you went quickly inside. The scene was similar to the previous ones, eight bodies, all shot directly in the center of the head. You noticed something wrong, pretty quickly. 

“Reid…” you whispered, staring quietly at a table next to you. 

“What’s up?” 

“Do you see that?” You pointed helplessly to a small plate accompanied with an ever smaller cup, stars and smiley faces printed onto it. 

“That’s a kids meal.” 

“There’s not a kid in here, Reid.” You looked at him nervously, your whole body burning as you imagined the child that Jacob took. 

“There’s a note here, (Y/N)...” Reid handed a crumpled napkin with a sloppy note written across it. 

“Is it an address?” 

“It’s definitely the unsubs handwriting. I studied the previous note, there’s no doubt he wrote this.” 

“This address is only a few minutes away…” 

“We need to leave, now. I’ll call Hotch and tell him to send backup.” Reid ran out of the diner and to the car, and you followed behind quickly. Other cops were now pulling in to the crime scene, and you let them know you were leaving but to stay with the bodies and take care of calling the families. You still weren’t sure who in there had a kid, and you wanted to notify the rest of the family if you could. 

You and Spencer called Hotch in the car, letting him know where you were headed. He told you him and Rossi would be there in twenty minutes or so. Spencer was swerving in and out of traffic, trying to get to the location the unsub left for you. When you finally arrived, you were surprised to find a secluded barn near a small patch of land. You pulled up and got out of the car, arming yourselves as you got near the building. 

“We should wait for backup, Reid… this could be a trap…” you said with caution, a wave of nerves flooding you as you stood in front of the building. 

“He could have a little kid in there, (Y/L/N)... we have to go in.” 

“Spencer, you know that’s not the right protocol.” 

“When has protocol ever done us any good?” 

Spencer starting walking towards the door, and you couldn’t bear to see him go in alone. You followed reluctantly, walking through the open door. As soon as you walked through the doors, you saw him. The face in the photos was finally right in front of you, holding a small item in his hands. You couldn’t make out what it was, you were too focused on the boy, who was tied to a chair next to him. 

“Hello, agents. Thank you for joining me,” Jacob said, smiling devilishly at the two of you. 

“You need to let the boy go, Jacob,” you instructed, your voice remain quiet and calm and your mind spun in circles. 

“That’s not how this is going to go. Do you know what this is?” He waved the device in his hands, smiling down proudly at it. You knew then exactly what he was holding in his hands. 

“It’s a bomb…” 

“Exactly. And if I don’t get exactly what I want, it’s going to detonate. Are we clear?” He looked at you specifically, as if he was nervous you would be the one to try and defy him. 

“Yes,” Spencer answered for you, looking upset as he realized you were right. This was a trap, one that the two of you walked so easily into. 

“Put your weapons down, first,” he instructed, pointing at your guns. The two of you placed them down on the ground slowly, avoiding eye contact with him. 

“Wonderful. Now, I want you to call your boss and tell him I would like to speak with him.” 

You nodded in agreeal, slowly pulling out your phone. You dialed Hotch’s number, your hands shaking as you pressed the buttons. Your heart felt as if it was going to explode, bringing the phone to your ear as you listened to it ring. 

“We’re almost there, what’s going on?” His voice made you feel safe, calm, knowing he would get you out of there safely. He had to get you out. You couldn’t die… not here… not now. 

“Hotch, we’re here with Jacob, and he’d like to talk to you,” you said shakily, your voice trembling as you got the words out. 

“(Y/N)? What’s going on?” 

You handed Jacob the phone, which he ripped out of your hand and placed to his own ear. 

“Listen carefully. I want her back. I want a plane out of here for both of us, or I blow the kid and your two agents up? Is that understood?” You strained hard to see if you could hear Hotch’s voice, but you couldn’t make anything out. You looked over to Spencer, who was staring helplessly at the ground. 

You didn’t bother listening to the rest of Jacob’s conversation with Hotch, not wanting to hear his voice anymore. It was you sick to think about him. When he finally finished, he threw the phone back at you. He walked up to you, grabbing a handful of your hair and pulling your face back to look at him. 

“It would be a shame to kill you… You’re so beautiful.” He whispered, smiling down at you. He pulled hard on your hair, knocking you to the ground with all of his force. You slammed onto the dirt hard, feeling your body jolt as you landed. You felt pain shoot through your body, screaming loudly. 

“Don’t touch her again!” Spencer yelled, running towards him violently. Jacob pulled a gun and pointed it at his head, which made him stop in his tracks. 

“Don’t take another step. Since you want to be her knight in shining armor so bad, why don’t you go ahead and tie her up,” Jacob instructed, pointing the gun at a pile of rope in the corner. Spencer walked slowly over to it, grabbing the rope and tying your hands behind your back. As he tightened the knot, he whispered to you quietly. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, the words bouncing back and forth in your head as Jacob pushed you to the ground and continued to tie up Spencer. After he finished, he sat Spencer next to you. He had put the two of you in the corner, out of sight and mind. You were aggravating Jacob, you could tell. If he could just tie you up and place you in the corner, he wouldn’t have anything to throw him off. 

“Are you okay?” Spencer whispered, looking concerned at your now bruising body. 

“A little sore, but I’ll be fine. What are we gonna do here, Spence?” 

“The team will get us out, okay. I promise.” 

You watched Jacob on the other side of the room, pacing slowly as he awaited another call that would give him his demands. You started to hear the sound of sirens pull up, feeling slightly relieved knowing they were right outside those walls. The sound of helicopters overhead was prominent, and you noticed Jacob wincing as it got louder. 

“Does the sound of helicopters bother you?” You shouted to him, trying to get his attention away from the boy. 

“Shut up! Do I need to tape your mouth shut, too?” He was aggravated, waving his gun around and placing a hand on his head. 

“My dad was in the Army… helicopters reminded him of his time overseas. He’d have a panic attack every time he heard one…” You said, trying to relate to him. If you couldn’t use force to bring him down, maybe you could sympathize with him. 

“It’s just so loud…” he winced, closing his eyes as if all of his senses were betraying him. 

“Let me talk to my boss, if he knew how much they hurt you I bet he’d call them off…” 

Jacob considered your proposal for a moment, the idea of the pain going away calling to him. But he was smart, and realized quickly what was going on. 

“Are you trying to trick me? Do you think you can outsmart me? I have been ahead of you this entire time.” 

“Except you didn’t plan on Emily’s boyfriend coming home early, and you didn’t plan on her escaping, did you? None of this was a part of the plan.” Spencer looked at him desperately, and you wanted nothing more than to curl up next to him and feel him holding you. If you were to die here, today, it would be nice to die in the arms of someone you cared about. You desperately craved his touch, especially now. Who knows if this would be your last chance to experience him? 

“All I want is for me and Emily to be together, okay? Don’t you get that? Have you ever been in love?” 

“I have… and I know how much you love Emily. But if you kill us, you’ll be killing yourself, too. And then Emily will never get to hear how you really feel. Because that’s what all of this is about, right? You just want her to know how you feel?” 

“I told her everything. I bore everything to her and she walked away. It… hurt.” Jacob was crying, tears crawling down his face as he shook the gun in his hand. 

“I don’t want to die without telling the girl I love how I feel. I know you don’t, either, Jacob. We can all walk out of here and you can see her again.” Spencer looked at you, his eyes pleading for your attention as he spoke.

“I don’t want to get locked up, I can’t live like that…” Jacob continued to cry, and you desperately wanted to give him a hug. He was evil, and you despised him, but he was broken and alone and needed a hug.

“No, no. I am not letting you talk me into this… you both shut up and leave me alone!” He yelled, running away from you and back to the young boy. You let out a long sigh, feeling your own tears starting to form. You really thought you might’ve had him this time. But he was too smart, and he wouldn’t fall for any of your tricks. 

“I’m so sorry, (Y/N). I should be able to save you, and I can’t…” Spencer was pale, his forehead sweating as he leaned against the wall. 

“Spencer, don’t apologize. It is nobody's job to take care of me, except myself.”

“I don’t want to die in here without telling you how I feel, (Y/N).” 

“What are you talking about, Spence?” 

“I am crazy about you. I have been in love with you for months. And every time I think I might want to say something, Derek makes some stupid joke and you get awkward and I realize if I say anything I’d risk our friendship but I’m sorry, I can’t die here with you and not tell you I’m in love with you.” 

“Spencer…” was the only thing you managed to get out. You opened your mouth to try to say more, but the sound of your cell phone ringing stopped you. Jacob ran quickly to the phone, picking it up and placing it on speaker. He looked at you to make sure you were listening. He wanted you to know your entire lives depended on whatever happened on this one phone call. 

“Jacob?” A small female voice came on the line, one that you had not recognized. “Jacob, it’s me, it’s Emily.” 

“Emily!” He cried, placing a hand over his heart as he heard her voice. 

“Jacob, I am right outside for you. I promise we can walk away together if you just leave your weapons inside and come out.” You could hear the pain in her voice and she said those words, knowing how hard it must’ve been for her to do this. But she was the only thing that could end this, that could save four lives. She didn’t have a choice. 

“How do I know you’re telling the truth? You ran away from me, Emily!” Jacob cried into the phone, his voice shaky and his face swollen from tears. 

“I have always loved you, Jacob. I have told you everything. You have to believe me. I’m right on the other side of the door. Put down the weapons and show them you’re unarmed, and we can walk away together.” 

You watched him closely, patiently waiting for his response. You had never been a religious person, but you prayed to whoever was listening that you could walk away from this. 

“Spencer… if we don’t make it out, I want you to know I love you, too. And if we do get out of here, please take me far away from here,” you cried, leaning your head on his shoulder and begging the universe for your life. He kissed the top your head, a small comfort that calmed you down. You watched Jacob slowly look over at the two of you, staying as close as you could, savoring love even in the last moments of your life. 

You think it was that moment, him seeing two people in love and remembering what it felt like, that caused him to walk out. He slowly set the gun down, and another small device that you believed was the detonator. He walked through the doors, the sound of a bullet crunching through the air immediately as he stepped outside. You heard the screams of a girl, who was probably dealing with love and loss and pain all in one second, watching the man she loved and feared dying in front of her own eyes. 

SWAT and the Bomb Squad came in shortly after, JJ and Derek running in to find the two of you. Emily and Rossi took care of the child as the other two untied you. They walked you outside, JJ pulling you far from Spencer and into an ambulance. 

“JJ, I promise I’m fine, but I really need to go see Spencer…” You tried to stand up and walk past her, but you were a little dizzy and she pushed you back down pretty quickly. You saw Spencer arguing with Derek as well, probably for the same reason you were trying to push through JJ. 

“Can I take your blood pressure, Agent?” The paramedic said, holding up an arm band and trying to wrap it around you. You angrily refused, finally getting on your feet and walking away from JJ. She realized it wasn’t worth chasing you down, that you would get checked out when you were good and ready. 

You ran towards Spencer, who was still being blocked by Derek. You pushed passed cops and paramedics and everything in between, your eyes only on the man you loved. The man who loved you. When you finally got to him, he wrapped his arms around you in relief. He held you for a moment, before letting go and kissing you. It was a kiss full of life, celebrating existence and love. 

“Hah, friendly my ass…” Derek whispered, rolling his eyes as he walked away from the two of you. 

“Take me away from here, Spencer Reid.” 

“Wherever you wanna go.”

[kj-1130]

HIRAETH

Chapter 1

Main Masterlist

Tensions were high in the conference room. Nothing had ever been the same since the fight that was dubbed as the ‘civil war’. It was petty and stupid, really. Plenty of things could’ve been done to avoid it and there were larger matters at hand that needed to be managed.

Evil never takes breaks. That was something the Avengers had to learn when missions went from monthly to weekly to almost daily. Breaks were rare and if they did occur, most were spent resting--or attempting to rest. The things they saw were literal nightmare fuel. It was a miracle they were still properly functioning.

It wasn’t a surprise when they were called into the conference room. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation that required any childish squabbles to be put to rest for a moment.

Shocking enough, Tony and Steve weren’t actively trying to bite each other’s heads off. The most that had occurred was a couple of dirty glances or cold shoulders. The fact that a major contribution to their ‘civil war’ was sitting at the table wasn’t particularly helping anyone either.

“You know, for someone who has died a lot you sure do look alive and well.”

Fury rolled his one good eye at the sly comment as he walked in with his long trench coat trailing behind him. It wasn’t unusual for the billionaire to make witty and sarcastic remarks, but they could tiring very, very quickly.

With quick hands, the former director grabbed a USB from his pocket and connected it to the laptop that was conveniently placed at the head of the table. Once fully loaded, a video popped up.

It was obviously bodycam footage. From whose perspective they didn’t know. As the person walked through dingy hallways in some sort of base, they reached a door that stood out against the decaying walls around it.

A gun was raised as the door was pushed open. Searching the area, the agent found a figure that was lingering in the shadows. The weapon was then cocked; ready to use.

“Come out.”

The redhead immediately rolled her eyes at the scene. Apparently, this was some rookie that didn’t know what the hell they were doing. She could count five mistakes that were made in just one second.

A heavy breath sounded throughout the four concrete walls. Suddenly the agent fell, causing the perspective of the camera to become one of an ant. Choked breaths were heard, the agent obviously struggling to get air into their lungs.

A barefoot timidly made its way in the view before a body followed. What they could only assume to be the prisoner crouched down and glared at the camera with chilling eyes. A flash of purple struck their vision before the screen turned to static.

“The agent was found dead in that cell,” the former director started. “I was told that the cause of death was cardiac arrest.”

Glances were passed throughout the room.

“There was no history of heart complications, no marks that would indicate drugs that could have possibly been injected during that time, nothing. Their heart just stopped.”

And they thought they had seen everything.

Moments of silence had passed; each hero being left to dwell on their thoughts.

“I thought that base was supposed to be abandoned.”

Steve was instantly intrigued, to say the least. The hero out of time had his fair share of Hydra and wanted it gone. Permanently.

But as they always say, “Cut off one head, and two will take its place.”

“It was. It was a simple recon mission; only one agent was really needed.”

“Until it wasn’t,” the billionaire muttered.

The captain looked at the man with a frown that seemed to be etched on his face 24/7 as of late.

“Is everything a joke to you?”

“Funny things are.”

Natasha rolled her eyes for the fifteenth time in the last five minutes. The two of those were constantly at each other’s throats. You’d think after the whole war between the team, they would have attempted to make amends or compromise.

God, this sexual tension is infuriating.

Wanda snickered, the sound muffled due to her hand hovering above her mouth.

“Is there something you’d like to add, Maximoff?”

The young woman frowned at the self-proclaimed leader of the bunch.

Steve had been so uptight lately, she thought his nipples were going to eventually tear through those tight shirts of his.

But alas, that hadn’t happened (yet).

It was just the thought; a silly little thought that kept her going through all of the stress from the past few months.

“No problem, captain.”

Wanda wasn’t very fond of this attitude--hell none of them were.

The fights between the playboy and the ‘man out of time’ were downright childish and unnecessary, annoying the team to no end.

Well, were they even a team anymore? Cause they sure didn’t act like it.

They were no longer each other’s family and deep, deep down they knew that it would be their downfall.

“Figure out what the hell happened.”

The swoosh of Fury’s long-ass coat seemed louder than it usually was. Maybe that’s because there was no sound other than the ticking of the clock and the air conditioner. Maybe it was the lack of arguing that typically occurred in this room.

Either way, not one of the eleven people, gods, synthezoids, whatever, could bring themselves to even open their mouths. They couldn’t speak because it was as if the tension that lingered sat on their chests, restricting their lungs from expanding. It was as if the compartmentalized and leftover emotions were in a box that was jammed in their throats, prohibiting so much as a squeak to escape. Perhaps that is why Tony stood and left the room because he knew that his family--if he could call them that--could read him best. And he didn’t want anyone to read every single emotion that swirled through his eyes.

It was like a game of following the leader began. One by one, everyone left, and soon, the room was empty except for the barely-filled files and the video repeatedly playing in the background.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Poison: Part Four

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Word Count: ~2.1k

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill, fluff and angst

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there is any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated.

Feedback is gold, and it’s the only currency I take

The hospital isn’t a good place for you to be in because of all the patients coming in and pretending to be sick, but it’s a lot better than the police station only because Spencer isn’t there. He’s here with you, so you’re able to focus on him instead of all the panic. You need to figure out which cases are real so you can determine just where they were poisoned and how to stop it from happening again.

“I really can't talk right now. We just got hammered,” the nurse sighs.

“Listen, most of these food poisonings are probably psychosomatic,” you reveal.

“What makes you think that?”

“A news broadcast just reported a local restaurant was poisoned. Now, it would be a huge coincidence if there was another poisoning right after that aired,” JJ explains for you.

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Help us find out which cases, if any, are real,” Spencer answers.

“People are coming in with all kinds of complaints. But, there's at least one case that isn't psychosomatic. Lynn Dempsey. She's barely breathing.”

“Can you take us to the doctor that's treating that patient?”

“I'll call Hotch,” JJ says and takes out her phone.

The doctor comes almost immediately just as soon as JJ is done updating your boss. The doctor escorts you to the woman who has a hard time breathing, and you can tell this is a real case based on what the doctor says as well as the vibes you’re getting from the woman.

“When the patient got here, she didn't remember anything about her day. Her speech was so slurred, I could barely understand her,” the doctor reveals.

“It sounds like Rohypnol. Did you test her?” Spencer wonders.

“She was positive for Rohypnol, negative for LSD. But we're running more tests because Rohypnol alone doesn't explain her symptoms. She presented with nausea, difficulty swallowing, and labored breathing. She was also having trouble moving her legs.”

“How long had she been sick?” you ask.

“She didn't know. I could barely understand her when she first got here. Now, she can't speak at all.”

“Do you know any biological agents that have similar symptoms: ricin or sarin gas?” Spencer asks.

“You think this is a biological attack?”

“We can't rule anything out.”

“I'll order a few more tests,” he sighs and leaves you three alone with the woman.

The poor woman is coughing and having a hard time breathing into her oxygen mask. She whimpers in pain, tosses and turns, and just looks like she isn’t having that much fun.

“I’ll take a look at her. Let me see if I can get anything out of her,” you offer.

“She can’t speak,” JJ says.

“I don’t need that to communicate with her,” you say and walks over to the woman.

Lynn barely opens her eyes to look at you, and you give her the kindest eyes you can muster up.

“Hi, my name is Y/N Y/L/N. I am only here to help. May I take your hand?” you ask and hold out your own.

She seems too eager to do so, and she grabs your hand as if it will cure her. Almost immediately upon contact, you get visions of her past right before she was poisoned. Your eyes close as the images transmit to you. Lynn is at the bank. She’s in line waiting to get some money taken out of her account. She grabs some candy out of a bowl as she waits and decides to cut her wait time in half by grabbing an envelope and writing her information down on it. She takes a step forward when the man in front of her does, and that’s where the vision ends. There is nothing out of the ordinary that is going on, so you’re not sure why you got that specific scene.

You open your eyes and look at Spencer and JJ. They half-expected you to get a definitive clue or something to lead them down a path, but you just shake your head. Your hand slips from Lynn’s, but as soon as you lose contact, she reaches up and grips your hand tightly. You look back at her to see her eyes open wide. She stopped coughing long enough to want to tell you something.

“JJ, Spencer, I think she’s trying to say something,” you say.

“The end…” Lynn barely gets out before having a coughing fit.

“The end…?” JJ questions.

You close your eyes once more in hopes that whatever she’s trying to tell you will show up in the visions you get. All you’re getting, however, is her picking up an envelope from the bank so she can use it for her money purposes.

“She may be incoherent from the lack of oxygen,” Spencer states.

Lynn pulls away hastily and turns on her side to let out a coughing fit. You take one step back and look at Spencer with a sad look.

“Doctor!” JJ calls. Once he’s inside Lynn’s room, she continues. “So, what are the chances that she's not poisoned, that maybe she just got some bad food?”

“Highly improbable. Chances are basically nil.”

“What is the rate of survival?” you ask.

“With this dose and without anti-toxin... zero.”

Lynn suddenly goes into V-Fib, and Spencer grips your shoulders to gently move you out of the way. You step back into his body to let the doctor and nurses through,  but you don’t move once they do pass. You’re basically watching Lynn slowly die right in front of your eyes, and there is nothing you can do to help her. All you got is her at the bank, touching some candy, and writing on an envelope. How the hell is that going to help anyone?

“Doctor, her BP is dropping rapidly,” the nurse states.

Lynn’s heart can't hold out any longer, and you turn away so you don’t have to watch her die. You shrug out of Spencer’s arms and leave the hospital room. Him and JJ aren’t that far behind you. If you have even one more soul on your consciousness, there’s no telling what kind of nightmares you’ll have or if you can even handle another soul.

While you were with Lynn and experiencing her last few moments on Earth, Elle and Derek were at the bank looking through the security footage to see if they could spot a common denominator with all the victims. Every single person that was infected came into this bank, so it has to be the key to figuring out where this substance came from and who put it there—most importantly, who is the targeted audience. It’s why experts are testing the candy to see if what she touched is actually poisoned or not.

“Lynn Dempsey was an executive assistant. She has no expertise with chemicals. She doesn't fit the profile of the unsub,” Gideon notes.

“But the CDC found both LSD and Rohypnol in the candy she was replacing at the bank,” Derek says.

“She must have been an accomplice, and when the unsub finished using her to further his attack, he killed her with Botulism.”

“So, what does that tell us about the unsub?” Gideon asks the group.

“He's far more sophisticated than we realized,” you answer.

“Why is that?”

“The Botulism toxin is the deadliest substance known to man. It blocks Acetylcholine receptors, paralyzing its victims until, basically, choking you to death. Without an antitoxin, a lethal dose will kill you in thirty-six hours,” you try to explain, knowing only Spencer will truly understand what you’re saying.

“How many people have access to this stuff?” Elle wonders.

“In New Jersey, quite a few. It's actually the pharmaceutical and chemical capital of the US. So, that the toxin can be ordered in the form of Botox through any chemical or biological lab or Botox clinic. It has to be purified, but any chemist or lab assistant has that capability,” Spencer answers.

“So, we're looking for chemists and sophisticated lab assistants?”

“Basically,” you and Spencer say at the same time.

“Okay, wait a minute. If the unsub is a chemist with access to the toxin, what'd he need Dempsey for?” Derek wonders.

“Well, we don't know yet. But she worked for a company, called, uh... Hichcock Pharmaceuticals. I think there's a good chance the unsub worked there, too,” Gideon reads off his notes.

“Let's start with people who fit the profile who've had a recent stressor.”

“Like, anybody fired from Hichcock in the past six months.”

“Yeah, or demoted. Not recognized for their hard work. Anyone who seems under appreciated. Let me call Penelope,” you state and take out your phone.

You call her, and once you get her over the line, you quickly explain what is going on and what you need her raw talent. You place her on speakerphone for all to hear so you don’t have to repeat what she says.

“Hichcock's a giant company, Sugar Shack, and there were over a hundred people fired just this past year.”

“And so far, none of them fit the profile?”

“No. But, I do have thirty names of people who were downsized and shunted off to other lame companies with a cut in pay and benefits.”

“That’ll work,” you nod.

“Alright, send us the names. We'll cross-reference them with civil and criminal complaints filed with local PD. But I want you to keep digging, and while you're at it, look for any connection to the First New Jersey Federal Bank,” Derek asks ever so nicely.

“I'm on it, Angel,” she says, and you hang up.

“Our guys acting like a workplace mass murderer. He'd stay close—seething—and he'd plan his revenge,” Hotch points out.

“Well, if he is a workplace killer, what else does that tell us about him?”

“For one, they don't give themselves up. He's lost his empathy and his moral compass. He's capable of anything.”

“All those innocent people at the bank,” you mutter regretfully.

“They meant nothing to him. He'll take out anybody to forward his cause,” Gideon says.

“Like Dempsey.”

“Correct, and eventually, even himself. Not until he finishes taking out his primary targets.”

“We have no idea where he's going to strike next. For all we know, he could poison the local reservoir,” Derek groans.

“Well, the local cops haven't gotten any leads out of Dempsey. Why don't you go to Hichcock and see if you have any luck,” Hotch says to Elle who is already out of her chair.

“You got it,” she states and leaves.

Elle didn’t really get anything out of Lynn’s desk. Her assistant told her that Lynn wasn’t the best at holding high self-esteem and was a very quiet person in general. Most assistants and their bosses talk about what goes on in their personal life and are basically friends, but not Lynn and her assistant. She barely knew one thing about Lynn. It came up as a dead end, so you, Derek, and Gideon are researching who got laid off at Hichcock and if it was brutal enough to warrant deadly actions to get revenge.

Derek is sitting at the computer with you looming over his shoulder so you can read what he has up. Gideon is looking at the town’s map to see if he can come up with a geological profile. There haven't been a lot of people who were brutally laid off, but there are some that make you so sad to think that after all the time they spent in the company, it’s wasted.

“Gideon, some of these lay-offs were brutal. This one chemical engineer, he'd been at Hichcock for nineteen years when he was downsized,” Derek notes.

“Damn, that’s harsh,” you mutter.

“Yeah, that could certainly inspire homicidal rage, huh?”

“The guy was in his late forties and the head of his department. He definitely had a generous severance package,” you read.

“A lot of these guys don't have enough pension. They may not be happy about it, but I don't see them killing anyone,” Gideon states.

Derek’s phone rings, and you see that it’s Penelope calling with hopefully some good news. He answers it and puts it on speakerphone.

“Talk to me, Hot Stuff.”

“Get this, Cochise. I found a chemist who works at a company that was bought by Hichcock called Palmay Cosmetics. Now, here's the thing. Lynn Dempsey applied for a loan at New Jersey Federal Bank around the same time this chemist applied for a patent on this anti-aging, breakthrough technology thing called PCO-99.”

“So, you’re saying he applied for a loan in her name to make his product?” you ask.

“That's what I thought, but both the loan and the patent were rejected because Hichcock had already applied for the patent and the patent deal had gone through, drumroll please, at New Jersey Federal Bank. I'm tracking his cell phone and it won't be long before I have his location.”

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[youvebeenlivingfictional]

Don’t Treat My Love Like A Habit Part Eight

Previous Part | Next Part | Masterlist Pairing: Santiago Garcia x Reader Rating: Mature (this may change) Warnings: Cursing; a pinch of fluff followed by a smidge of angst Notes: Set before the movie. Not beta-read. Reina is Spanish for Queen. Also there’s a song that comes up later and it doesn’t like come up but the song that I imagined for said scene is this one. Take it or leave it, I trust you. Summary: Pope had come back in such an odd mood - but then he always got a little like that when anyone tried to answer for you or tell you what to do. He didn’t take well to anyone else thinking or acting like they were your boss. 

He wasn’t usually here when you did this, is the thing. Typically, Pope sent you footage and went back to his place to crash while you combed through whatever it was, dug up anything valuable, if there was anything valuable. By the time all of that was done, Pope was usually conscious again, breezed into the office with coffee from the good place around the corner, and the two talked over the footage. But he was there this time, pacing behind your chair, leaning over you every few seconds, breath ruffling your hair. The first few times, it was kinda cute. You’d missed him, the scent of his cologne, his grumbling. But after the tenth time, you hadn’t been able to discern any pattern. It was like trying to predict a jump-scare in a horror film, and it was starting to wear on you. So before he could even lean over you again, you raised a hand to stop him. “Santi, seriously, you’re making me jumpy.”

“Sorry, sorry,” He mumbled. You felt him rest his hands on the back of your chair, steadying himself. Okay. Better. At least he wasn’t thudding behind you... And then his nail was tapping at the side of your chair, and you groaned, tipping your head back. It rested against his chest as you peered up at him. “Go home, get some rest,” You urged, “This is gonna take a while, okay?” Santiago’s mouth twisted in displeasure before he ducked down, dropping a kiss to the tip of your nose. “Be back later,” He mumbled, stepping away from your chair so fast that your head fell back the rest of the way. You blinked up at the ceiling a few times as you heard him call back, “Text me if something comes up!” And then the door closed. You lifted your head, glancing over at the door. You didn’t know why you were looking at it - he wasn’t going to come back, right? After waiting for a few beats, you shook your head. No, definitely not coming right back. You raised your finger to the tip of your nose, poking it. Where the hell had that come from? No matter where, you sure as hell weren’t telling Frankie. -- When the door opened again, you found yourself perking up. And then you found yourself leaning back when you saw Alex stroll in. “Well don’t everyone rush me at once,” He teased. You rolled your eyes, turning back to your screen. “Whaddaya want, ‘Brano?” “Diego says your boss has some intel,” He said, rounding to lean against your desk, “I’m trying to get in on that action.” “Yeah, well, get in line, because this thing is buffering like a motherfucker.” “Maybe it’s because you’re staring at it. A watched file...Always buffers.” “That sounded better in your head, didn’t it.” “Way better,” Alex conceded, turning and leaning over your shoulder like Pope had a few hours before. Unlike Pope, however, he was able to hold still for more than a few seconds. He even managed to keep quiet for a few minutes before he turned his head, murmuring in your ear, “What are you doing for dinner?” “Something else.” “Something else than what?” “Than whatever you were about to suggest,” You retorted, glancing back at him and finding his face very, very close to yours. He smiled. “Well, it just so happens that I was going to suggest that you stay here and eat alone, so it’s nice to hear that you’re planning on switching it up.” You laughed, unable to help it. “You were going to suggest that I eat alone?” You repeated. Alex didn’t answer; instead, he just let his gaze drift down. “... ‘Brano,” You warned quietly. “Mm?” “What are you doing?” Before he could answer, your attention was drawn by the sound of the door closing. Pope was lingering in the doorway, frowning. “Hey,” You greeted, turning back to the screen. “...Anything?” Pope asked, coming deeper into office. “Not a thing,” Alex answered. “Not sure I was asking you, Zambrano.” Your brows shot up at the tightness in Pope’s tone. Where the hell had that come from? You gave him a look, and he just arched a brow and asked, “Well?” “Just what Alex said. Not a thing.” “You know what?” Alex cleared his throat, “This one,” He lightly pushed at the back of your head, “Has probably been here all day-- That program gonna run without you?” “Yeah, but--” You started. Alex shook his head. “Let’s go get something to eat. All of us,” He added, smiling at Pope, “Come on, I’ve barely been out since I got down here. And if we play our cards right, Garcia, we might find another hitman for you to punch.” -- The meal had started off as the most awkward, stilted experience, but by its end, ‘Brano and Pope had fallen into a more steady rapport. You just leaned back and let it happen. It was preferable to whatever bickering had been going on back at the office. Pope had come back in such an odd mood - but then he always got a little like that when anyone tried to answer for you or tell you what to do. He didn’t take well to anyone else thinking or acting like they were your boss. “Tequila shot, Q?” Alex asked as he flagged the waiter down. “Nu-uh, she hates tequila,” Santiago shook the idea off. Alex turned back to you, surprised. “Really? You had tequila shots when we were back home.” You felt Santi’s eyes on you and you waved off the fact. “I took it ‘cause they were given to us for free. If you’re gonna order me anything, get me a vodka shot-- but also don’t, because one of us is going back to the office after this and it’s clearly not gonna be either one of you.” “Jesus,” Alex muttered as Santiago snorted a laugh. “So what do you think, would Reina have been as good in Fugitive Recovery as she is down here?” Pope asked, eyes fixed on you. “Well what you two are doing down here is kinda like fugitive recovery,” Alex pointed out, “Little more involved, though, my job is very tracking based, what you all do-- this one comparing lab reports and all.” He reached up, yanking a piece of your hair as he said ‘this one’, and your hand came up, smacking him in the shoulder on instinct. He chuckled. “She would’ve been fine,” He added, turning back to Pope. “I would’ve been fine?” You repeated, turning back to Alex, “Jeez, what a ringing endorsement-- Dear diary!” “I’m never paying you a compliment again--” “My ears are burning.” You and Alex stared each other down for a few seconds before Alex turned away to reach for his beer. You felt the weight of Santiago’s gaze on you and you turned to meet his eye to find that he had turned away. You frowned a little. You must’ve been mistaken. “I should be getting back,” You sighed, rolling your neck, “The footage has gotta be done by now.” “Come on, you promised me a dance,” Alex whined, nudging your arm with his. You glanced back at the small, semi-crowded dance floor in the restaurant. “I was kidding,” You shrugged. “Reina doesn’t dance,” Pope mumbled. “She has before.” “You’re a shithead, ‘Brano,” You said, pulling out your wallet. “I’ve got it,” Pope said, shaking his head. “Come on,” You groaned. “Nope. Besides, I pay you, so that’s technically my money anyway, put your wallet away.” “You know I hate that argument.” “Which is why I only use it when I absolutely have to. Put your wallet away, Reina.” “One dance,” Alex pressed. “‘Brano--” “We’ll flip a coin.” You looked at him for a long moment before sighing, “Fine.” Alex fished into his pocket, pulling out a coin. “Heads or tails?” “Heads.” He flipped; you watched the light glint off of the coin before he caught it and flipped it over onto the back of his other hand. He lifted his palm from it, then grinned. Tails. Motherfucker. “Come on-- Come on, deal’s a deal,” He added, standing. You rolled your eyes, taking Alex’s hand as it was offering you and mouthing, ‘Be right back,’ to Pope before Alex pulled you onto the dance floor. Alex wasn’t expecting any fancy footwork, which was smart - you didn’t do this often. The song that was playing was a slower tempo, too, and didn’t require anything more than for you to sway in Alex’s arms as he guided you among the other couples. “Why are you like this?” You asked as the two of you moved. He arched a brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “We were having a good time, the three of us.” “We’re still having a good time.” “Alex.” “I wanted to kiss you, you know? If he hadn’t come in. I was thinking about it. I’m still thinking about it.” This maybe shouldn’t have been the shock it was; you’d seen the way Alex had been looking at your mouth, you knew how straightforward he could be. “I could kinda tell,” You said after a few moments. “What would happen if I did it now?” “I’d taste like vodka and cholula.” “Sexy.” “Jesus, ‘Brano,” You laughed, shaking your head and looking down at your feet. You felt him turn his head, nuzzling into your hair as he murmured,  “...Tell me what you want.” You considered. It had been a while. You knew Alex. You were comfortable with Alex, you liked him; you just weren’t sure you liked him the same way he liked you. So you lifted your head, met his eye, and said, “I want to go back to work.” He didn’t frown or push you away; he didn’t stomp off. Alex just nodded. “Can we at least wait for the song to finish?” You nodded before resting your head on his shoulder. You swayed on in silence. “I’m sorry,” You said as it ended. “Don’t be, Q,” He gave you a light squeeze before steering back to the table. The check had been paid, and Pope was gone. Tag list: @justanotherblonde23​ ; @revolution-starter​ ; @emurlemur​​ ; @badbitxhbuckybarnes​

[ironmandeficiency]

who’s my commander

pairing: no pairing

word count: 3352

summary: you’re introducing anakin to your battalion and it turns into a nightmare of epic proportions (for him). everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves.

a/n: based on the finest pieces of comedy in history, abbot and costello’s “who’s on first”. the clones are all original & will soon give more information about them, don’t worry.

jones lands the laat/i on the surface of felucia and you’re already dreading the idea of leaving your men here. it has nothing to do with the man you’re entrusting them to and everything to do with the cursed reputation this planet has for its hostility. if you weren’t leaving your men behind you’d be glad to leave.

the doors opened unceremoniously and you were barely adjusted to the light when you saw members of the five-oh-first approaching you behind their general. “anakin, it’s been too long! how are you?”

he smiles and takes your hand in one of his. “i’ve been worse, my friend. now i’d like you to introduce me to your command team, since none of us have worked together before.”

rex, who was standing at anakin’s right, knew what was about to happen. many of the lavender-clad men of the 25th battalion were known for being jokers back in their cadet days and had a reputation for such all around the gar. nearly a third were banned from 79’s for their well-meaning antics and when they were around, everyone was guaranteed to have a good time (if they had a sense of humor, that is).

the names of their higher-ranking officers, however, were the best and longest-running prank any clone had ever seen. it started out as a way to piss off the longnecks but it soon evolved to a new, unforeseen method to screw with the seppies.

and now, it was going to mind fuck one of the best generals in the republic army.

“absolutely, but i will warn you, sometimes our men give themselves funny names.” it’s hard work to keep your voice from betraying the joke. you’ve done this song and dance often and it never stops being funny. this time, you hope one of your men are close enough to record this one. “names like crappemm, jort-“

“jort?”

“yes, and his batchmate ba.”

“i see.”

 how was “jort” the one that stuck out?

anakin nods and you smile. He probably doesn’t believe the names you rattled off are actual men in your battalion but he’ll learn soon enough when your men begin to make sheep noises that you weren’t joking.

“anyway, who’s my commander, what’s my captain, and i don’t know is my sergeant.”

the dumbfounded look you’re given by your fellow general almost sends you into the force right then and there. “that’s... what i want to find out.”

“so listen then. who’s my commander, what’s my captain, and i don’t know is my sergeant.” you don’t need the force to see that anakin’s men are enjoying the confusion radiating from him, his second in command stepping out of anakin’s line of vision so he can bring a hand to his head in amused exasperation.

“are you their general?”

“yes.”

“have you been their general since the start of the war?”

“yes.”

“yet you don’t know their names?!”

“well i should.”

more men from both the twenty-fifth and the five-oh-first have gathered to witness the mind boggling conversation between their generals. over rex’s shoulder you see two five-oh-first troopers enthusiastically eating from a bag of air-combusted kernels popular on coruscant. now that you think about it, it’s been too long since you enjoyed the snack. you’d have to find some next time your men are on leave.

“so then who’s your commander?”

“yes.” he’s right but he just didn’t realize it yet. ‘this is going to be fun… if he doesn’t fight me before i leave.’

“i mean the man’s name.”

“who.”

“your commander?”

“who.”

“the trooper that is your second in command!”

“who.”

rex turns to the commander in question. he had found his way to rex’s side where the latter now stood slightly behind anakin, discretely staying out of his general’s peripherals. “does this ever get old?” rex had never seen the well-known introductions of jedi to the twenty-fifth in person and quickly decided that the holos he had seen didn’t do it justice. 

“not really, since you never know what to expect from each general.” who pulls a holodisc from a pouch kept around his waist and turns it on, presenting it to the man beside him. it’s a picture of general windu, his face frozen in a stupefied daze of perplexion. “here’s our first moments with the 91st several months back. it was my favorite, but skywalker’s becoming a high contender for the best reaction in my book.”

rex removed his helmet and lightly thwacked who with it. “general skywalker’s a smart man, he’ll figure it out soon.”

general skywalker did not, in fact, figure it out soon.

“who is my commander!”

“i’m asking you who your commander is!” anakin was dumbfounded as to why you were asking him, a man who has never seen your troopers a day in his life, the name of your commander. he’d have to get kix to check you for a concussion before you left because this wasn’t normal.

you let out a good-natured sigh before continuing your explanation. at this point you could tell it was going to take anakin a little while to understand the concept of your men’s names and hoped that kit would be okay with you running a bit late for your rendezvous. “that’s the man’s name!”

“that’s who’s name?”

“yes.”

“well go ahead and tell me!”

“that’s it!”

“your commander’s who?”

“yes.”

lavender hurriedly shushed cornflower blue in mixed efforts to contain the laughter. if anakin noticed the commotion around him it wasn’t acknowledged, much to the relief of everyone privy to the scene playing out.

fives was most definitely recording his general making a fool of himself and intended to spread it like wildfire across the arc trooper communication channels. to fives’s distant left, a fellow arc trooper from your battalion was doing the same but in slightly better quality. see, because has been through this scenario plenty of times to know how to keep his footage from getting shaky. the five-oh-first arc trooper, however, had no such advantage, his hud shaking periodically from his chortling.

“look, all i’m trying to figure out is who responds when you’re calling for your commander!”

“yes!”

anakin fixes a glare on you and you returned it with more mirth than was probably warranted. the last time a fellow jedi had been so cross at this situation was back when you were working with master windu. the man had so little patience these days that if he still had hair, it’d have probably fallen out during your last encounter with him.

when because sends you the footage of this latest introduction, you’d have the perfect reason for your tardiness. you’d also be equipped with a way to make your former master smile and a bribe to convince kit to take you for a swim.

“look, general, all i’m trying to find out is what’s the name of your commander!”

“no, what’s the name of my captain!”

“i’m not asking who your captain is, i’m-“

“who’s my commander!”

“one trooper at a time!”

behind his helmet, fives is crying from holding his laughter, and it’d be a correct assumption that most of the five-oh-first is doing the same as well as some of the shinies of the twenty-fifth.

“don’t change my men around!”

“i’m not changing anyone!”

“take it easy there, anakin.”

anakin wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but he has no karking idea what kind of banthashit is going on here. “what’s the name of your commander?”

“no, what is my captain! i’ve said this already.”

“i’m not asking you who’s your captain!”

“who is my commander!”

“i don’t know!”

“he’s my sergeant, but we’re not talking about him right now.”

the sound of a helmet clattering to the ground draws your attention to where ba and jort are doing their best to silence a member of the five-oh-first with blue stripes on his face. the man in blue seems to be having a difficult time holding it together, judging by how he’s clutching his side and hunched, trying to fix his breathing.

anakin also turns toward the choking trooper and is worried when he sees hardcase almost on the ground. from what, anakin doesn’t know, but it doesn’t look good.

“he’s fine, generals! popping kernel just went down the wrong hole!” clever one, that jort was. always knew what to say at the right moment.

anakin, once he accepted that his man was okay, turned back toward you. if you weren’t so close to him you could fool yourself into thinking that his eye wasn’t twitching (it was).

“how did i bring up your sergeant?!”

“you mentioned his name, general.”

“if i mentioned your sergeant’s name, who did i say was your sergeant?”

you have to draw from the force to keep your expression neutral. maker, if you knew anakin would be this easily duped by your men, you would have requested to work with him much earlier into the war.

“he’s my commander.”

“what’s your commander?”

“what’s my captain.”

“i don’t know!”

“he’s my sergeant.”

“there i go, back to your sergeant!”

jesse’s hand snakes it’s way back into the bag of popping kernels kix held, the medic swatting at it blindly before moving the bag into the hand furthest from the cog-tatted man beside him. his eyes were glued to the scene in front of him, the general’s confusion making for wonderful entertainment. it made him forget for a moment that they were on felucia, also known as one of the worst hellholes a clone could be assigned to.

“all i’m trying to find out is who’s your sergeant?”

“why are you so insistent on making who my sergeant?” you can feel the force signatures of your men and at this moment, they’re so bright and happy it’s almost staggering.

“what am i making your sergeant?!”

“no, what is my captain, and who is my commander!”

“i don’t know!”

you remind skywalker the rank i don’t know holds with a quick shout of “sergeant!” and leave it there.

until anakin takes a deep breath to center himself, asking if you’ve got arc troopers.

“sure do.”

“give me their names.”

“why,-“ you try to give him the name of your arcs but he interrupts you before you can finish.

“i just thought i’d ask you!”

“well i just thought i’d answer you!”

anakin is losing his cool again and wonders to himself when you got so snarky. “then tell me who is your arc trooper-“

“who is my commander.”

“stop talking about your commander!”

if you weren’t such good friends with the jedi in front of you, it’d be safe to bet that you’d be sporting at least one black eye (if not a broken rib or two alongside it).

“give me an arc trooper’s name!” ‘now we’re getting somewhere!’ you think to yourself.

you answer him honestly, the same way you have been since you stepped off the laat/i. “why.”

“because!”

“oh, he’s an arc trooper too. how did you know?”

anakin sputters for a moment before quieting. he was trying to understand… whatever was going on. but so far, you weren’t giving him anything but a headache.

crappemm is approached by a member of the five-oh-first in arc gear. the man was surprisingly indistinct for a member of his battalion, no tattoos or facial hair to set him apart from the others. from what crappemm had seen and heard of the battalion he was set to work with on this hellhole, skywalker’s men were known for their out-of-this-box methods of setting themselves apart.

this one, however, seemed to keep things simple. 

crappemm loves his crazy brothers, there was no doubt, but sometimes he can’t handle the constant noise and hubbub that chased his vod’e like flies chased honey. being around this one was refreshing, to say the least.

the arc trooper was amused by what was going on, but the difference between this one and the others was that he wasn’t letting his emotions take over. he kept his composure and was quiet, the only thing breaking the stoicism was a smirk and the occasional light shaking of his shoulders. crappemm was gonna stick around this one.

“please tell me this is really happening and i’m not hallucinating.” the lavender man was so caught up in enjoying the lack of cackling from beside him that he almost missed the words directed to him from the man in blue.

“well vod,” crappemm set a hand on the arc’s shoulder with a grin, “i’m happy to report that this is actually happening in real time.”

the arc sighed in relief. “thank you. i didn’t think i was capable of thinking of something this bloody crazy but it’s nice to be sure. the name’s echo.” echo extended a hand toward him and the other happily accepted it.

“crappemm.” they fall into an easy, comfortable silence as they enjoy the generals that were still going at it.

“look! you got a lieutenant?”

“sure.”

“the lieutenant’s name?”

“tomorrow.”

anakin was flabbergasted. he might as well ask one of your men for his name if you weren’t going to tell him. then again, what reason did you have to not tell him right then? “you’re not going to tell me today?”

“i’m telling you today.”

“then go ahead, tell me.”

“tomorrow.”

“what time?”

“what time what?” anakin was beginning to talk you into circles, which is something no one has ever been able to do the entire time you’ve played this game with your men. you weren’t supposed to be the one asking questions, that was his part in this!

“what time tomorrow are you going to tell me who your lieutenant is?”

ah, that’s what he meant. “now listen, who is not the lieutenant.”

your fellow general threw his arms up in frustration barely contained. “i’ll break your arm if you say who’s your commander one more time! i wanna know, what’s the lieutenant’s name?”

“what’s my captain’s name!”

“i don’t know!”

“sergeant!”

you can tell it’s getting harder for some of the men to not give in to the urge to shriek and guffaw and cackle and roll on the ground holding their sides. sithspit, it’s getting hard for you to keep a straight face through all of this.

nearby, commander who shakes his head at the captain of the five-oh-first. “i thought you said your general would get it, rex.” the tease was evident in his voice and it wouldn’t have taken a genius to know just how much he was taking pride in his jetti’s ability to fuck with “the hero with no fear” so profoundly.

rex shrugged noncommittally. “i thought he would’ve understood by now too, but i guess not.”

who chortled and patted rex’s shoulder almost in sympathy (a vod that didn’t know who as well as he did would have thought so, but not rex). he playfully pushed the hand away and refocused his attention to his general.

“so if i were going down the chain of command, the first one i’d give orders to would be who?”

“now that’s the first thing you’ve said right since i got here!” you don’t even acknowledge the fact he said this as a question because he was right! finally!

anakin didn’t seem to like your reply. that was made clear when he shouted, almost at the top of his lungs, “i don’t even know what i’m talking about!”

there were a few snorts of laughter from all sides and some of yours were smart enough to make some sort of noise to cover them up. if anakin caught on now, the whole thing would be screwed.

“all you gotta do is give the orders to the commander!”

“and who’s going to act on the orders?”

“naturally.” you think he’s starting to get it but you aren’t sure. he’s getting closer though, which is a relief as much as it is bringing an end to the prank.

“look! when i have to give a command, somebody’s gonna have to act on it! who carries out the order?!” wait a minute, never mind. he was still oblivious. if kit didn’t like this video he was going to have your ass for being late. you’ve gotta at least try to help the poor guy now that your ass is on the line (you’ve never had to do this before, usually whatever general gets too exasperated to keep it going as long as anakin has).

“naturally.”

“naturally?” he asks once again.

“naturally.” you confirm.

he ponders this for a moment before continuing, “so i should expect my order to be carried out by naturally.”

“no, you don’t! it gets done by who!”

“naturally.”

“that’s different.”

he was using naturally as a name instead of a state of being, a description, which is what you were trying to get through his head. however, it was having the opposite effect.

jort has never heard this particular turn of events and he was thinking that after today, there would be a shiny named naturally that would make his way into the affections of question company. he honestly couldn’t wait for the day and told ba and hardcase the same. they nodded and ba had thrown out the number designation of a shiny that had been weaseling his way into his good side as a good candidate for the name before returning their attention to the fiasco that was their generals.

“that’s what i said!”

“you’re not saying that!”

“i give the command to naturally!”

“you give the command to who!”

“naturally.”

“that’s it.”

“that’s what i said!”

how much longer was this going to last? kit said he needed you for something time-sensitive and you had to set time aside for the mishaps that you knew would always happen when you went to do important stuff. you were a magnet for weird shit happening and this conversation is a symbol of said weird shit.

with a deep breath, you continue. “listen. you ask me.”

anakin’s reply was quick and certain. where did he get the confidence to talk like he knew what he was talking about? probably an obi-wan thing. “i give the order to naturally.”

‘ugh, not this again!’ “no you don’t, you give it to who!”

“i give the order to who?”

“naturally.”

“same as you!” it’s not the same context but it seems that anakin is too busy trying to wrap his mind around this insanity to put the pieces together.

“okay,” anakin continues, “i give the order to who and whoever goes and passes the order to what! what sends it down to i don’t know, and i don’t know passed the information to tomorrow!! perfect flow of command!”

you nod, encouraging him to keep going.

“now let’s say i need some recon done before we make a plan of attack.” anakin’s trying to analyze the shitshow you threw in front of him as logically as he can with the budding headache. “i give an order to because! why? i don’t know, and i don’t kriffing care!”

that last bit was unexpected. “what’d you say?”

“i said, ‘i don’t kriffing care!’”

“oh, he’s our best sniper.”

anakin let out a yell of anger and bafflement you’d never heard from him before. you turned toward the laat/i waiting patiently for you to board and climbed in, sending a trickster’s smile to the men you were leaving behind.

your friend had clearly given up, his head almost dropping from his inability to comprehend whatever it was you were going on about. he’d figure out their names on his own since you weren’t going to be of any help.

while en route to where kit had wanted you to meet him, you received a holocomm from a mirthful general kenobi who could barely contain his laughter. he must have seen the holo of his former padawan you reasoned. he promised to not share it with other generals as long as you found another way to bring anakin down a couple pegs next time you saw him.

[thecandywrites]

Blood For Gold Chapter 20

Ah, now the truth shall be revealed! Time to show our cards and see where they will lay. So I actually wrote this chapter and the chapter to follow BEFORE I wrote the Kamoba battle chapter because I was overwhelmed trying to pack all of that information and detail into a chapter that read that way and not like the notes of a deranged lunatic from the inside of a padded cell. And writing this chapter and the one to follow flowed so nicely and it helped me keep the focus on the characters and their story lines and their arcs within a battle sequence and not get lost in the battle itself. Which was a struggle for me. Not going to lie. 

@punkhorse96​ and everyone else- enjoy.  

Blood For Gold 

Chapter 20

The moment all of you came down to breakfast and just before Gregori could announce the news of the case being dismissed from court, a messenger from Buckingham Palace arrived with a proclamation as all of you stood respectfully to receive it. 

“It is ordered by her Majesty Queen Dowager Anastasia Raymond, that all occupants of the Palace of Windsor are hereby requested to go to Buckingham Palace for an audience with the Queen Dowager, His Royal Highness, His Majesty the King, as well as Her Royal Highness Queen Alexandria as soon as possible.” He read aloud before you all immediately disbursed and practically ran back to your rooms to dress in your best attire that you had before you came back down. 

“Countess Audravienne Morrigan, you are requested to ride in the head carriage alone.” The messenger informed you as you looked anxiously at your family and Demsey who looked particularly anxious to have you leave his sight as you were only allowed to give him one last squeeze of his hand before the attendant escorted you away and into the royal coach of a carriage as you sat there, alone before you finally found you had the opportunity to read that damn journal as you opened it up and immediately started crying when you saw it was from Demsey two days prior. 

You barely noticed everyone else get loaded up into the various carriages behind you as once everyone was loaded up, the whole caravan travelled towards the palace as your heart reached out to Demsey as you resolved in yourself that no matter what would happen at Buckingham Palace, if you did not make Demsey yours by the end of the day, you felt like you would die. Finally, after all this time and pain and hurt, you found what you were looking for, a gentle man who would love you without reserve, be faithful and loyal to you without question or waiver. Who didn’t care if you were penniless, poor and destitute or had nobility or not. All he wanted was you and you would be giving everything you had to him, no matter how much or how little that was as you read through it before pressing it to your chest and wiping happy, grateful tears from your eyes as the knowledge of his love gave you so much peace and comfort and was exactly what you needed as you regained your composure as you only had time to write a single line in it- in answer to the pages upon pages of declaration of love. 

‘I love you too.’ 

Once at the palace you were taken out of the carriage and escorted into the audience room where the Queen Dowager and the King and Queen were seated on their thrones as the Queen Dowager’s Mage was seated nearby and on the other side of her was seated a second mage, a male one this time, as you handed the journal off and requested that it be put into Duke Demsey Voyambi’s hands and no one else’s before you entered the room and approached them. 

“Your Majesties,” you greeted respectfully as you bowed low. 

“It is a pleasure to see you again so soon, again, congratulations on your victory in the Kamoba battle yesterday Countess Morrigan or do you prefer the title of Sultana Saharazat?” The Queen Dowager greeted you formally. 

“Whichever you prefer to use your Majesty.” You answered. 

“Sultana Saharazat it is. Now, it has come to my attention that your correspondence has gone missing within the Royal Mail Service?” Dowager Queen Anastasia asked from her spot on the thrown that flanked her son’s, mirroring her daughter in law’s throne on the other side of the King. 

“Yes.” You confirmed. 

“If you will come forward and approach this table, I think you will find it has all been found and is hereby given back to you.” She offered as you obeyed and came forward as you noticed stacks of mail, organized by who sent what. So many letters from your parents, from your family, from your friends, especially Leumeni, he seemed to have written the most to you before you noticed your own letters that were meant to reach them, and none of them had been opened and they all looked as if they had been written only yesterday before you noticed more than just your mail was on the table, but letters from members of your own household to the Morrigans and Richard’s mistress, Myra as you noticed even more letters from Dr. Rickets to Gregori which was the most surprising to see along with letters from Richard to various members and masters at the Royal Mail Service there as well. 

“Unfortunately, all those letters that you see on the table, they are all duplicates of the originals, since the originals were all destroyed by fire. These are just humble recreations of what was lost. We have proof and solid evidence as you can see from the letters on the table, that there are some directed from Count Richard Morrigan to the members of the Royal Mail Service. That is the proof that it was his direction that all of your mail coming in or out to you personally was to be destroyed the moment it touched the hands of the mail sorters and messengers.” She explained as you picked up the letters in question and read them yourself. 

“Mage Bellfast, who is seated over there,” She continued as she gestured over to him as you looked over and nodded respectfully at him as he did the same to you. 

“He was ordered by my son Gregori, to recreate all of them and I asked him to come to me and deliver it all to me as evidence and proof. Your own personal correspondence to and from you personally was never opened but all other correspondence was to gather evidence. And the proof of such sabotage is as you can see, very sizable. I wanted to tell you personally that because this involved my family and the Royal Mail Service and because it exposed it’s corruption, I am the one who dismissed your case in the public and even the private court systems and I hope you can, one day, forgive me. But I insist on giving you justice myself and dealing with this matter personally because a grave sin has been made against you and I insist on doing everything in my power to set it right. And I will serve as judge and jury, for surely you know that even I, was once a moura bride just like you. And such a slight will never be tolerated again and such a case of corruption can never be allowed to happen again. And may I also offer my deepest and most sincere apologies to you for such grievances and I hope that you will allow me to make amends.” She offered as tears flooded your vision, while a mixture of emotions seemed to wage war within you, part of you was relieved, at least for Jane’s sake, another part of you wanted to expose Richard and Agnes Morrigan for the monsters that they were for all of England to see. But you were not going to refuse this help by any means. 

“Of course, thank you, your Majesty.” You thanked her as you did your best to wipe the grateful tears from your eyes as you saw that Demsey had even tried to write you a letter a few days before the ball, to warn you about who might be there and who would mean you harm. 

“Now, Mage Bellfast as well as my own Mage, Mage Altissia have found your scene catcher spell and if you will forgive them, but they found your passwords, but let me assure you that I, nor any of the royal family have seen what was behind those passwords, only that they were there and only with your explicit permission will such footage be shown or it can be destroyed upon your decree, but, for now, if you would hold off from making such a decision before this entire case is heard out, I have all parties coming to assemble to so that everything can be sorted out with everyone and once the air is clear and all the sins against you have been exposed, then justice will be dealt out accordingly. Now, as far as I can tell, this involves Gregori, Yalin and their family and the entire Morrigan family as well, along with Dr. Rickets and the post men who Richard has contacted. I also have Dr. Chu and his wife, who is practically a doctor herself here along with five other physicians to serve as their own jurors along with stable masters from Dorierra to change your classification. And with your permission, I would like to call them some of them in now.” Anastasia offered. 

“Yes of course,” you agreed. 

“Call in, the physician-, Dr. Rickets and the post men, the entire Morrigan family as well as my son Gregori and his family along with Sultana Saharazat’s family in, at this time.” Queen Dowager Anastasia commanded before they came in, all at once from different doors around the room since they all had been waiting in different rooms attached to the main audience room so as not to cause a stir outside of it.

“You bitch!” Agnes screamed as the moment the side door was open and she saw you, she ran towards you before guards came and stood between her and you. 

“Countess Morrigan! You will conduct yourself with the dignity of your station or I will strip you of it, have you whipped and then drawn and quartered in the town square!” Anastasia boomed as she stood from her throne as she glared down hatefully at Agnes. 

“Sultana Saharazat is under my protection and any threat against her is a threat against the crown and comes with a death sentence and you and your family will be branded as traitors to the crown and everything you have will be awarded to her in retaliation, do I make myself clear?!” Anastasia snarled as Agnes realized the royal family was there immediately slinked back. 

“I apologize, your Majesty, I did not think you would be in here but this woman is a...” Agnes did her best to try to excuse.  

“You didn’t think that I would be in my own palace? Much less in my own audience room? Are you mad or a simpleton?” Anastasia demanded. 

“Neither, just...careless your Majesty.” Agnes tried to defer but her face was as red as beet as Richard looked angry and ashamed as his mistress, Myra stood a decent distance behind them and looked particularly annoyed as well. 

“Now guards, keep a line between the whole Morrigan family, the Sultana’s family and the Raymonds, just for good measure.” Anastasia commanded before more guards were called in as your family joined you as you reassured them that you were ok and that the Dowager Queen, was going to be acting as judge and jury in your case as your family was relieved. 

“Many many thanks to you- your Majesty for dealing with this matter personally.” Your mother and Grandmother offered as they knelt down respectfully as was their custom. 

“Do not thank me yet, we are just getting started, please, get up, also someone get everyone chairs so that they may be seated comfortably.” Anastasia commanded as she had you sit down at the table where all your letters were. 

“Now, let’s start at the beginning shall we? Ramsey, what exactly did you say to your father at Sultana Saharazat’s wedding to Count Edward Morrigan?” Anastasia demanded as Ramsey’s eyes got as wide as saucers as everyone except for Axal seemed to be surprised at the news that all of this would start with him and not the Morrigans. 

“I uh...well, you see at the time…” Ramsey fumbled over his words as he stood on his feet and fidgeted with his cuff links as Anastasia looked irritated as did the rest of his family especially his parents. 

“Ramsey, for the sake of time, please just tell this audience chamber- you said to your parents that day?” Anastasia tried to gently coach him. 

“That Sultana Saharazat was the perfect bride and that no one could match her.” Ramsey finally admitted. 

“But I don’t see…” Ramsey began before his grandmother raised her hand to silence him. 

“Now, Gregori, Ramsey is nearly forty, you have been on him to wed for the last two decades and in the last eight to ten years you have become harder and harder on him to find a bride, to get married and give your family line the legitimate heir it so desperately needs but you were stopped since Ramsey up until that point, has been a roguish rake clinging onto boyish foolishness as if it was his lifeline instead of realizing that it was his downfall and was going to be leading to his ruination, I believe the current lengths you had gone to up until that point was that if Ramsey had not found a bride that season you were going to cut him off financially completely and send him into the army to get the rakish ways beaten out of him one way or another.” Anastasia said with a hard look to her grandson who seemed to wilt under her intense gaze. 

“But since then, I have found a bride, and I am leaving behind my rakish past and she is the one true bride for me.” Ramsey offered. 

“And was it Sultana Saharazat?” Anastasia demanded. 

“Well...no,” Ramsey winced. 

“Right, so what I want to know was why you chose Sultana Saharazat on her wedding day to another as your bride?” Anastasia demanded. 

“I chose her out of panic, because since she was getting married that day, she was no longer available and it would give me more time and I figured that when Edward would eventually die, I would have had enough time to grow up by then.” Ramsey confessed shamefully. 

“So you deliberately chose a bride who was unavailable to put yourself and your parents at an impasse, thinking that they would stop hounding you and threatening you with the army if you chose one who conveniently was already married, by mere minutes.” Anastasia concluded. 

“Yes.” Ramsey confirmed as his cheeks were also beet red as he looked at you apologetically as everyone in your family as well as his own actually groaned, along with the Queen Dowager, the King and the Queen herself as the King looked ready to strangle his nephew with his own hands. 

“So you had no real feeling or attachment to Sultana Audravienne Saharazat, she was just a moura bride in a white dress at the end of the season and it was either chose an impossible option or lose everything?” Anastasia pressed further. 

“Yes.” Ramsey nodded guiltily. 

“And do you realize because you panicked and did that, that you are the reason Sultana Saharazat’s life was destroyed?!” Anastasia seethed as Ramsey’s eyes flooded with tears as he looked particularly mortified. 

“Please! No! I had no idea!” Ramsey wailed as he shook his head no. 

“How could Ramsey have known that the Morrigans would try to poison her with mourkatili! No one could have predicted that they would be so cruel and abuse her, thinking that because Edward Senior would have her that no one else could?!” Yalin insisted, coming to her son’s defense. 

“No, nor could you foresee that your own husband, my own son, which after today, that may be up for debate and put into question, but that is a battle for another time. In an effort to give your son the impossible would go so far as to poison his own countrymen to death.” Anastasia revealed in a snarling growl as everyone gasped as all eyes turned towards Gregori who was unusually silent as he kept his gaze on his mother defiantly. 

“Dr. Rickets, I believe it is your turn to tell the truth, the whole truth or you will be sent to the tower, drawn and quartered, your house burned after it is turned into a public toilet and your family turned out into the street.” Anastasia leveled at him as Dr. Rickets gulped. 

“The day after Edward came home from his honeymoon, he had gone to town on business and had run into Dauphin Gregori Raymond and when the Dauphin questioned Edward Senior about his new wife and he had confirmed that she was the perfect bride, he sent for me. He told me of the encounter and gave me a sum of a thousand pounds if I would poison Edward Sr. with Wolf’s Eye to be mixed in with his regular medicine, Wolf’s Eye is known for causing delirium before it causes a stroke and with his old age, going senile and dying of heart failure would not raise suspicion.” Dr. Rickets answered. 

“You took a bribe to kill my father?! To poison him?!” Richard roared as he stood up and pointed his finger at Dr. Rickets and had Richard been armed, you were sure Dr. Rickets would be run through from the rage in his voice alone.  

“Yes,” Dr. Rickets confirmed as he could not raise his eyes to Richard out of shame. 

“And when you discovered that he had been poisoned, I lied to you to protect myself and my family and put the blame on someone who would know poisons,” Dr. Rickets confessed. 

“Which in that household only left me to be suspect.” You volunteered. 

“So you asked for mourkatili but at the time the Dauphin was in Dorierra, trying to find Ramsey another wife, and the letter couldn’t reach him in time for me to find an answer and you said that if I did not supply you with mourkatili, that you would find another source so I obtained some, but I added Jade’s Crown to it, to help neutralize it’s lethality until the Dauphin could be reached.” Dr. Rickets tried to excuse as the whole royal family practically groaned and rolled their eyes in annoyance. 

“Except that Jade’s Crown when mixed with mourkatili while it does lesson it’s lethality when first ingested, it does not neutralize it, instead it makes it lethally addictive so that the moura who drinks it is instantly addicted and will drink themselves to death trying to drink more and more of it which in turn can lead to madness in a moura with 77% of the cases studied to date it leads to the moura being completely deranged beyond repair, if you really wanted to neutralize it, you would have added Dragon Heart Flower which turns mourkatili from sweet to putrid, salty and bitter so that even the smell of it makes everyone want to vomit, if you were so intent on offering up Sultana Saharazat to the Raymonds, why didn’t you do that or go to the police at the very least to report that Sultana Saharazat was about to be poisoned?” Mage Altissia snapped angrily at Dr. Rickets. 

“Because I was afraid, that if Dauphin Ramsey had found his bride once he visited the stables, that I would be found out, and I couldn’t risk the Morrigans knowing I tampered with the mourkatili, they knew what it smelled like and what it was supposed to look like, I could not use Dragon Heart Flower, because they would know that I knew too much about poisons instead of medicine and they would be suspicious of me and I would lose my medical license and my living as a doctor.” Dr. Rickets blubbered as he did his best not to cry and failed miserably. 

“Do you think after this moment anyone is going to trust you with their health? If I went to the papers and even hinted to the editor to tell the gossip columns about this, you would be run out of England and all of Europa based on rumor alone.” Yalin seethed. 

“And it’s not like Count and Countess Morrigan didn’t know that Audra was innocent. Jane informed me that when it was Audra who discovered that his medicine had been tampered with and tried to talk to you all about it, that she was dismissed and then accused of the very thing she was trying to bring to light and you repaid her by poisoning her in turn and how Jane, through her own snooping found the Wolf’s Eye and the Jade’s Crown in his own medical bag but yet you still did not believe her.” Charlotte offered with a pointed look to Agnes and Richard as Jane stayed by Rian’s side with your family because she didn’t want to be with the rest of her family for fear they would hurt her. 

“And the fact that your daughter even now, shrinks back from you proves your own guilt of abuse.” Anastasia pointed out as she noticed Jane’s reaction to all of this. 

“And the fact that you then accused her of being brainwashed by Audra and then disciplined her for just using her own mind and powers of deduction because Jane had investigated Audra herself and found that Audra brought no such things with her, says a lot more too.” Charlotte smirked smugly at the Morrigans as well as her grandmother. 

“So, what happened after that Dr. Rickets?” Anastasia asked. 

“The Dauphin sent a transmission via messengerari, and when I found out that Ramsey did not find another bride, I told him about what the Morrigans had done and what I had done to try to diminish it and then he told me to up the dose to Count Edward Senior and that he wanted to see Edward Morrigan’s obituary in the paper when he got back so that Ramsey would only have to wait another year before he could marry Countess Audravienne Morrigan. But I did not expect Edward’s body to be so strong. And I did not think he would hold on so long, nor abuse Countess Audravienne Morrigan to the extent that he did and I did not think that the Morrigans would be so determined to bury her with Edward.” Dr. Rickets confessed. 

“So, your own doctor was bribed to poison your father and yet you blame the innocents in the situation and break the contract by trying to murder the very one who knew something was amiss. Why didn’t you go to the police? Why didn’t you have her arrested and investigated, why go through all the trouble of poisoning her and trying to kill her?” Anastasia asked RIchard and Agnes. 

“We didn’t want to ruin our good name and reputation. Mouras are known to die of broken hearts, we thought it would be less suspicious if she died with him and we could pass the blame onto that.” Richard confessed. 

“And bury your own guilt with her, brilliant.” Anastasia sarcastically praised as she glared down at them. 

“But that wasn’t all your Majesty, the Morrigans have more sins that should be known.” Charlotte insisted. 

“Well, no one in this court room can trust either of you to ever tell us the truth, I would like ask the only trustworthy Morrigan left. Jane. Before you speak, know that when and if you decide to do so. You have my word to be protected from those monsters over there that you are unfortunately related to. And if you are worried about your own name and reputation being called into question, know that I personally will guarantee your safety and integrity of your own reputation and if I have to invite you to stay at Buckingham Palace as my honored guest and ward, then I’m ready and willing to make that offer.” Queen Alexandria finally spoke up. 

“And I second that.” Anastasia insisted. 

“The first time my parents had the mourkatili served to Audra, it was in a tea, disguised as hibiscus tea with sugar and honey to hide the mourkatili. Audra took one sip and immediately knew she had been poisoned and called out for help but they bound her and gagged her and forced it down her throat. She spent the better part of a week being drunk off of it and then almost another week being hungover and refused any drink other than water and nothing even remotely purple in her food. The second time my parents tried to poison her, they had my oldest half brother Dale, who is my father’s mistress, Miss Myra’s son she has born to my father out of wedlock, who was only 20, come and serve it to her and my mother insisted to prove that it was not poisonous, insisted that he taste test it first and Audra could tell from the smell that it was mourkatili and tried to stop him but he obeyed my mother and the moment it touched his lips, he fell down dead. My mother tried to pin the blame for his death on Audra, saying it was her insistance that all of her food and drink be tested first to Myra who came to Audra and demanded to know what Dale had ever done to her for her to poison him. And when Audra tried to tell her the truth, she didn’t believe her. Then my father returned home from business and when he heard about it and saw Dale’s dead body being carted off, he had Audra bound and gagged and then he whipped her himself, even though I was just in the other room and saw and heard it all, And I had a messengerari in the room and captured the moment and it wasn’t until I made Myra and my father both watch it when they learned the truth. Myra apologized to Audra, by my father never did. Instead he then did the same abuse he did to Audra, he did to my mother only twice as worse. My mother couldn’t leave her room for two months after and could barely walk without the help of a cane because he had beaten her so badly, he nearly killed her.” Jane confessed as Ramsey was actually sobbing, feeling so much guilt and remorse as Axal wanted nothing more than to comfort him but the line of guards kept him from doing so as you watched as your own family stopped looking at Jane like the enemy, instead, looked at her with kindness and sympathy instead. 

“So then, a month later, my mother tried to have my youngest half brother- George, who was only six, to come and serve Audra that mourkatili tea and tried to do it again only that time Audra, in an effort to protect little George, drank all of it down as quickly as she could so that he would not be harmed at all.” Jane revealed with a broken sob. 

“Jane, show them.” You pleaded with her before she nodded and together you went up to the large mirror on the wall that was itself, a grand messengerari  and put in your code to bring in the feed from your scene catchers for it to play out on the it before you put in your first password into the messengerari and then Jane put in the second as everyone watched as it all played out as you and Jane held each other and cried as you watched it all as you noticed that someone had gone through this and strung all the “best parts”, or “worst parts” depending on your point of view-  together so that it really showcased just how horrible and vicious the Morrigan’s- besides Jane- were. 

“This is an outrage! To have our privacy invaded as such!” Agnes screeched. 

“Guards, will you bind and gag that wretch to her chair and handcuff that beast next to her...” The King, Leopold snarled angrily before they came and bound and gagged Agnes so that she was tied to the chair and couldn’t move as the rest of it played out as Richard looked fully ashamed and like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole and didn’t fight when irons were put on his, neck, wrists and ankles so that he was bound just like all the postmen who had also been brought in were. 

“But your majesties, there is something missing from the record, where is the moment of Edward’s death?” Dr. Ricket’s volunteered. 

“He had either a stroke or heart attack by your diagnosis and that happened while he was in the act of raping Audra, I helped her strike it from the record to at least preserve what little bit of dignity she had left.” Jane defended evenly. 

“And that will be allowed and of course accepted.” Anastasia insisted. 

“Absolutely.” King Leopold agreed. 

“Indeed.” Queen Anastasia readily agreed as well. 

“So, since it is clear that Sultana Saharazat is the innocent party and since she has paid for every bit of gold and wealth she has with her own blood, it is unthinkable that she should have to pay any more for anything else. However, in order to protect the Crown, the Dauphin’s involvement in this case can not be made public, so, Sultana Saharazat, what can Gregori, Yalin and Ramsey offer you in recompense for their involvement? Besides their deepest apologies and regrets?” King Leopold asked you. 

“There are a few things I want from them. The first, I want Charlotte to be free to marry whoever she deems worthy, whether he be of high status or low. It is clear her parents enjoy a loving and wonderful marriage and I want her to enjoy the same with someone who she wants. The second is I want Ramsey to be free to marry Octavia Lafronze and I want her own fee to the stables for her and her companion, Katardrina to be paid as well. I want my brother Axal to marry Katardrina but stay close to Ramsey and Octavia since the four of them are very close and I do not wish to pull them apart. It is clear to me that Ramsey did not intend for any of this to happen and he made a mistake and neither he nor anyone else could foresee how desperate his father was to see him married. And the fact that he has shed so many tears of guilt and remourse, I know he does not take this lightly and I believe he has learned his lesson and will never make this mistake ever again. Gregori and Yalin have been nothing but kind and compassionate and generous with me while I have stayed with them. But now I feel that they only did so out of guilt, at least on Gregori’s part, because they knew they provided the figurative spark that ignited the forest fire that happened at Broadcove. Third, my griffin Heavencrest has mated and paired with their own griffin Charlico. I would like him to be mine so that Heavencrest and Charlico may stay together and fourth, at the ball at Havenfield, Ramsey, in friendship offered that I and the other mouras who came from Dorierra would be elevated to Dowager status, and I want those promises and guarantees to be fulfilled, So I want everyone who has come from Dorierra up until this point in my case, either male or female, to be given Dowager status and any who wish to stay in English society, I would like for them to receive titles of Nobility, they do not have to be high, but I would like them to be high enough that they all can move about in high society with ease, if they wish to.” You answered. 

“Audra, please know that at least my children and I had no idea of Gregori’s involvement and I want you to know that all kindness and consideration from them and myself, was always genuine, of course you can have Charlico, I will give you his papers the moment we get home, please is there anything else we can do?” Yalin offered and you could tell she was being genuine. 

“I will let you know when I think of something else.” You offered. 

“Thank you.” Yalin thanked you graciously. 

“Now for the Morrigans, let’s revisit your case, because it does not stop here. You actually bribed four members of the Royal Postal Service to destroy every piece of mail Sultana Saharazat sent out and every piece she would receive and you hired a mage to cast a spell on your own lightning rods so that it would disrupt the signal from every messengerari not only on at Broadcove and Mirador but it was so strong that it made all your neighbor’s messengerari’s cut in and out for the last two years. The fact that you put into question the integrity of the Royal Mail Service was the reason I dismissed your case from court. But as you can see Mage Bellfast was more than happy to duplicate every piece of mail that you ordered to be burned and Mage Altissia provided the rest. But if that wasn’t enough, you had your mistress, send her own children, your own bastards as servants in the Sultana’s household to work for you as spies as you continued to pay them their wages that you had been paying them at your home while they collected wages from Sultana Saharazat as well. Your wife is one to talk about an invasion of privacy, when you yourself have been invading hers all along.” Anastasia insisted as you began opening the letters and read them for yourself, only to find about three months into your widowhood, how all of them told their father in their own way how they would spy on you no more, because you had treated them with kindness, respect and dignity and how he could keep his money, they didn’t need it or want it. But instead, that your own wages to them were plenty generous enough for them to have comforts enough to suit “the likes of them”. 

“Except she turned my own children against me, they haven’t reported to me in over half a year! Practically nine months! And they keep sending back any money I try to send them, which is hurtful and deceitful in itself.  She has deceived you all and she has clearly conspired with the Raymonds!” Richard tried to accuse.

“Did your nanny drop you on your head? Are you mad to make such an accusation?” King Leopold asked Richard who shut his mouth to keep from saying anything else. 

“Nevermind answering that, I have come to my decision. Because of your shameless exploits and treachery. You will be stripped of your nobility. Since you both are guilty of murder as in the case of that wretch who goes by Agnes or attempted murder in both of your cases. Everything you have, all wealth, all connections, all property, business enterprises, investments, land ownership, everything, will be handed over to Sultana Audravienne Saharazat to do with as she pleases and she can turn your precious Broadcove into a public latrine for all I care. Both of you will be sent to the asylum for clear insanity, where both of you will not only be treated with Wolf’s Eye but Wolf’s Mane as well and both of you will rot in a prison cell going insane and because Jane has been with the Raymond’s she was not exposed to the sickness that caused both of you to go mad in attempts to bribe Dr. Rickets into giving you mourkatili to poison and kill the Sultana Audravienne Saharazat.” King Leopold decreed. 

“Except for little Edward. He is only a boy, and is completely innocent in all of this too.” You offered. 

“Very well, since Sultana Saharazat has spoken for him, he will be brought to be with Jane. 

“Actually, your majesty, if I have a suggestion, if you like it, you can use it, if not, let things happen how you have directed them to.” You intervened again. 

“Very well, what are your thoughts on this matter?” He asked. 

“I have read these letters that all of Richard’s eldest children have written to him, rejecting him because if their father loved them so much, why would he put up with Agnes mistreating them so cruelly so that with just a little bit of kindness, respect and dignity from me- they happily switched their loyalties to me. Richard’s mistress, Miss Myra Bellafont, I wish for Broadcove may go to her. For she too has spent most of her life having to put up with Agnes, and was powerless to protect her own children from her partner’s wife, to the point that her own eldest son lost his life because of Agnes’ hate towards them. They were blameless in that they did not ask to have the father they do and they did not ask to be brought into the world or had any control over their circumstances and as much as Richard and Agnes made my life a living hell, I can’t imagine what they have made her go through. If at all possible, if she could be given a title, it doesn’t have to be a high one, but I wish for her and her children to inherit Broadcove and even though Agnes has treated Myra and her children with animosity, I know Myra doesn’t hold any towards Jane or little Edward and even Edward Senior was kind and partial to them while he lived. Even now the children of hers that remain at Broadcove are little Edward’s playmates and if Myra can swear and promise me as well as their Majesties that she will care for Edward and Jane well, I trust she will care for little Edward as well as she does her own little Geroge and I do not wish for Jane or little Edward to partake in their parent’s disgrace and I want the same freedoms that I have requested for Charlotte to be Jane’s as well, so that she can accept any offer of marraige from anyone she deems worthy as well, who will love her and treat her with kindness, respect, reverence and dignity, all of which she is just as deserving as I am.” You offered hopefully. 

“Very well, Myra Bellafont, you are now awarded the title of Marquise, you have come from somewhere foreign, you are a wealthy widow and have bought up Broadcove once you learned that Count and Countess Morrigan had gone on holiday and contracted a disease that made them go mad and your own sympathy towards their innocent children have moved you to take them on as your wards and you are now their loving and caring guardian. The house is to be cleaned thoroughly and Sultana Saharazat will award you any businesses that the Morrigans have so that you may upkeep Broadcove and that income may provide for your needs and the needs of your children.” King Leopold proclaimed. 

“Yes your majesty.” Yourself and Myra happily accepted as she curtsied deeply as Anges wriggled and screamed around her gag in her spot.

“Take Mr. and Mrs. Morrigan and Dr. Rickets to the asylum at once and turn these four traitorous men over to the tower.” Dr. Leopold insisted as he gestured to them since they had come in already in chains. 

“But it was Audra who dealt Edward his death blow!” Dr. Rickets hollered as the hair on the back of your neck rose as your anger blazed as you gripped the dagger at your waist so hard your knuckles turned white as you wanted to stab him. 

“You yourself proclaimed he had died of heart failure in your autopsy report before his body was buried.” King Leopold frowned as Jane and yourself looked at each other worriedly before your own desperation to never be afraid of this secret that you had given almost everything to keep hidden. But no more. If you were going to expose everything, you would not hold back.  

“Your Majesties, I do not wish to live any kind of lie. I do not wish for anyone to ever hold anything over me or blackmail me ever again. So, I will show you the moment of Count Edward’s death and you can judge for yourselves, whether I was guilty or not of his death, but I ask all of you watch and really see all of it, do not look away, do not close your eyes and do not turn a blind eye to it.” You insisted as you held Jane’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze as you gave her a reassuring smile as you both put in the third and final password that showed the truth as all of the Royal Family as well as yours watched in horror as Edward tried to rape you then once his flesh touched yours, he turned into a statue of platinum and fell to the bed and broke it, the crash echoing through the audience room as gasps were given by everyone except by Myra, Jane and yourself as it showed you in a panic, touching Edward and turning him to flesh again and then calling for Jane for help as you told her what had happened and how confused you were about it and wanted to know what to do as both of you called in Dr. Rickets to make a diagnosis and then to Myra and the servants to keep quiet about the crash as Myra herself brokered for you to take her own children with you when you would leave Broadcove as a widow and pleaded with you to be good to them. 

“Audra, I would like to apologize, had I known that that was the reason for the crash I heard, that  I never would have made that deal with you and I’m so sorry if my own children following you to Mirador caused you any distress, I never asked them to spy on you.” Myra offered as she wiped her tears from her eyes. 

“I know, but Richard did.” You answered. 

“So you did kill him!” Richard practically crooned, feeling vindicated and validated.

“Oh enough! Guard, gag him as well so that nothing else of a poisonous nature leaves his mouth, only enters it.” King Leopold ordered before Richard too was gagged with a handkerchief. 

“No, she is innocent of murder because she didn’t purposefully do so because if she did know she had had that ability prior to that instant, don’t you think you yourself would have turned to platinum the moment you landed your first slap? It was self defense, surely you know enough of moura history and heard the tales that any one who dare force a moura to bed, would be turned into a pillar of gold by morning?” Anastasia defended you evenly. 

“That was our protection for millenia. Audra did not intend for Edward Senior to die and had Edward Senior had his wits, he never would have done so to begin with. And now that you are officially branded as insane, you can scream such things at the top of your lungs and no one will believe you.” The Queen Consort- Alexandria replied to the Morrigans.  

“I judge you innocent in all things, do not let this moment define you and do not let this moment stop you from living your life to the fullest.” Alexandria urged you warmly and comfortingly. 

“I too judge you completely innocent. And hereby decree, that because you suffered at the hands of Richard Morrigan, Edward Morrigan Senior and by extension, Dauphin Gregori Raymond, all previous rulings will stand, and this doesn’t change anything except for one thing. I hereby promote you and all mouras who choose to stay in England- the noble rank and title of Marquess as well and award you personally, a living of twenty five thousand pounds a year from the crown for the rest of your life, whether you choose to remarry or not. And all others who wish to stay in the country, a living of ten thousand pounds a year.” He decreed. 

“Thank you, Your Majesties, might we invite all the other Mouras in to tell them the news directly?” You requested before King Leopold nodded and ordered for Calla and her brothers as well as Benny and her brothers to come in along with Octavia and Katardrian as the messengerari was cleared to just show a mirror’s reflection yet again. 

“So, the reason I have brought you all here today was to discuss Sultana Audravienne’s Saharazat’s case in the courts. Because of certain components of the case and sensitive nature of it, I myself put a stop to it going into the court system to keep reproach from coming to the crown. And with such concessions to protect the privacy of all involved, the Sultana has been reimbursed accordingly and hopefully to her satisfaction.” Dowager Queen Anastasia began. 

“Yes, it has been settled to my satisfaction, thank you Your Majesty.” You happily replied as you and Jane smiled happily and with relief to each other as you sat side by side and still held onto each other because now, you both were safe, and more importantly, free. 

“So part of the concessions and reimbursement that the Sultana asked for was that all of you from Dorierra, male and female alike, are now all considered Dowagers and are invited to stay in England as Maquess and a living will be awarded each of you for ten thousand pounds a year.” The King ordered as they all smiled brightly and happily. 

“Thank you, your Majesty.” They all happily and excitedly thanked him. 

“Now, call in the stable masters from Dorierra so that their masters may be updated to Dowager status.” King Leopold instructed before the stable masters came and took two at a time, starting with the adults just as Agnes and Richard were being led out along with Dr. Rickets as he too was gagged and bound. 

“Marquess Saharazat.” Mage Bellfast approached you as you sat down at the desk and continued to go through all the letters there. 

“Yes?” You asked. 

“Again, I am Mage Bellfast, I was hired by the Dauphin to recreate your mail that was burned.” He reintroduced himself. 

“Oh, yes, thank you so much. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have it all back.” You smiled happily as he offered his hand as you graciously gave it to him for him to kiss your knuckles in a very gentlemanly like manner. 

“But I was hoping to get just the smallest of tokens from you in thanks.” Belfast began. 

“Of course, what would you like?” You asked. 

“For you to turn this bar of moura gold into platinum for me.” Belfast said as he produced the bar and put it onto the table in front of you as Mage Altissia practically ran towards you. 

“Do not do that!” Mage Altissia demanded. 

“Why not?” Belfast asked. 

“Do you think she would give me moura platinum and not you? Surely you have something made from moura gold that she can turn for you.” Belfast replied calmly as you picked up the bar but nothing happened. 

“No, because she only got the power once the mourkatili was in her system and since the Dragon Grevu healed her, thus her indigo violet hair, she has lost such capabilities.” Altissia offered as you blew out a breath of relief as you squeezed the bar with all your might but nothing was happening. 

“Well that won’t do, will it.” Belfast before in a flash he hit you with a spell that knocked you backwards off your chair and your feet flying over your head and onto the floor which caused everyone to stop and stare and rush over to you. 

“What did you do to me?!” You yelled as everyone watched as the indigo violet drained from your hair back into your scalp just as you found your feet, drew your dagger and aimed it at Bellfast’s throat before he used magic to stop your fist.

“Temper, temper.” Belfast tsked and smiled wolfishly as the golden dagger turned platinum white in your grips as indigo violet blood dripped from your nose as your eyes changed color from gold- to a glowing indigo violet as well as once again the mourkatili entered your body as you felt weak and fell to the floor coughing and sputtering, your blood splattering and staining the wood you stood on as your blade clattering to the floor with you. 

“Mage Bellfast, what is the meaning of this?!” Queen Dowager Anastasia demanded as she and the Queen and the King came over to see for themselves. 

“Well you saw it for yourself, she is a platinum moura now and I wanted my payment for all that mail and correspondence I had to conjure up.” Belfast explained. 

“And since your Majesties have ordered for her and every other moura who came to England to have nobility and a very generous yearly income, wouldn’t it be fair for her to help mitigate that cost by turning any number of moura gold bricks you have in the place to platinum for you?” Belfast offered as King Leopold hesitated for a beat. 

“Guards, have ten moura gold bricks be brought in.” King Leopold ordered as Alexandria and Anastasia both gasped in outrage. 

“Leo that is uncalled for, hasn’t the poor girl suffered and given enough?!” Anastasia demanded. 

“You said yourself that she shouldn’t have to pay anything to anyone ever again, this is going back on your word!” Alexandria insisted as she stared in horror at her husband. 

“I’m just asking her to change ten small bricks of gold into platinum, then I’m sure Bellfast can cure her again and all will be well.” Leopold insisted. 

“Now, if you’ll please.” Belfast insisted as he handed you the small gold bar as you touched it and watched with regret as it turned from gold to platinum before you hatefully gave it back to him before you turned and walked over to where your grandmother’s dagger had clattered away as you picked it up but when you touched it again, it turned back to gold, before turning to black ash in your hands and disintegrated in your hands as all the jewels fell through your fingers and fell to the ground as everyone else screamed to see your hands now stained black just as Bellfast took the platinum bar in his gloved hands and made the fatal mistake of kissing it, the moment the bar touched his lips, his whole face began to be eaten away and turned into black ash which caused everyone to give Bellfast room as they watched helplessly as Bellfast completely disintergrated into a pile of black ash and clothes, the platinum bar now landing in a heap. 

“The plague! You have unleashed the golden plague again!” The Dowager Queen screamed in horror at Leopold as she struck at him. 

“Your Majesties, I can explain this phenomenon. Because Audravienne unlocked her platinum abilities once the mourkatili was in her body, that means that only when she has mourkatili still in her system can she turn moura gold into platinum, but that also means that all platinum she turns has the same properties as mourkatili. So, I would not advise for her to turn anything else into platinum, and for her to return to where Grevu is and become healed again, then all will be well, besides, the “cure” that Mage Bellfast gave to Gregori was not infact a cure, but it would make everything Audra touch turn into deadly platinum and she would surely die of starvation.” Mage Alitssia insisted before you went over and picked up the platinum brick and watched as it turned from platinum white- to gold but then black ash almost instantaniously once again. 

“Guards, disregard that order about the gold bricks. As soon as they have all been classified as dowagers, they are free to go. My apologies Marquees Saharazat.” King Leopold offered as he looked both fearful yet apologetic before he ordered for that mess to be cleaned up immediately before the Voyambi’s finally came into the audience room to see the King, the Queen and the Queen Mother leave quickly through one door as the Morrigans had already been carted off in chains which was a relief to see before they came in to see you standing there with blackened hands but with golden hair again with a pile of black ash at your feet and on your dress. 

“What happened?” Demsey asked as he approached you before the masters returned with your parents and your grandmothers and your hier father and his wife and his mother in tow as they all had their masters rolled up in their hands with big bright smiles as the smiles immediately fell when they saw the scene. 

“Addie? What happened?” Your mother asked. 

“I unleashed the gold plague.” You whispered before you were called back by the masters of the stables to be reexamined by them and the group of doctors with them as you explained to them what had just happened in the audience room with Mage Altissia’s help.  

“Unfortuantely Sultana Saharazat, because of the mourkatili and because of your affect on moura gold, we can not give you the status of Dowager, the best we can offer you is Tavnit and until you are healed, you can not set foot back into Dorierra.” Master Ophelia offered apologetically as you closed your eyes and let your tears of disappointment fall. 

“That’s fine, I accept.” You nodded as it was put into your master and stamped in as your hands were washed clean from the ashes as you walked away and went over to Dr. Chu and his wife to get reexamined by them as Dr. Chu took your blood pressure and his eyes went wide. 

“Mei, take her blood pressure and pulse.” Wen insisted in Mandarin to his wife before she did as he asked as her eyes went wide. 

“What is it?” You asked them softly in Mandarin to keep your conversation private in the corner. 

“My Lady, you have the happy heartbeat.” Mei informed you with big wide eyes and a serious face. 

“I what?” You asked. 

“You are pregnant, about three and a half weeks to a month along.” Dr. Chu diagnosed as Mei nodded in agreement to that diagnosis as you searched your thoughts back before you remembered- that last night with Demsey Draft, at the Masquerade ball, you were so heartbroken, that you forgot to order the pregnancy warding tea. You did not drink it that last time and apparently that was all it took. 

“Can I get rid of it? Surely it’s too early…” You tried to ask. 

“No, this is why Grevu healed you. I can tell by your chi, aura and energy readings. His magic is protecting this babe from all harm, even now, the mourkatili is not harming it at all, it’s being shielded and protected.” Mei explained as she waived her hands over your abdomen to feel the variations in energy as tears flooded your vision. To be so close to finally being with Duke Demsey Voyambi and Demsey Draft planted an obstacle right into your belly and you loved Demsey too much to try to pass this on as his, even if you married him today, the baby would come a month too soon. And while Mr. Draft and Duke Voyambi shared a lot of the same features, surely you couldn’t live with yourself if you passed this baby off as his. You needed to get out of here. And fast. 

“Say nothing, to anyone.” You pleaded with them. 

“Of course.” They readily agreed. 

“Thank you.” You thanked them as you hugged them tight before you bowed in respect to both of them to honor them. 

“I have to go.” You excused yourself as you left the room and the moment you saw Demsey, as much as you wanted to run into his arms, you couldn’t and it felt worse than a thousand stabs to the heart as you came out into the audience room with your master rolled up in your hands as you went over to your family and revealed what had happened with the stable masters as they too started crying. 

“Leumeni? Why are there so many letters between you and Audra?” Kiera asked as she picked a small stack of them up and looked them over. 

“We are just close friends, that is all.” You tried to excuse as you grabbed the letters out of her hand as you readily got a bag and hurriedly dumped all of your mail into it to keep anyone else from looking through it.  

“Yup, just close friends,” Leumeni did his best to deflect just as you heard Benny scream out a ‘What?!’ in horror and outrage. 

“What the hell?” You asked as Benny came storming out of that room. 

“Leumeni! Coravien! Come we need to go home! Now!” Benny demanded angrily in Marinai as she stormed out of the examination room before you went over to Dr. Chu and his wife. 

“What was that?” You asked them in Mandarin.

“She has the happy heartbeat too. Grevu’s snot made the seed from the sex she had the night before the Kamoba take root. His magic is protecting her babe just like yours, but until he lifts his magic, she has no choice but to bear the babe. Even now she is going to plead with him to lift it so she can kill it.” Mei answered as you gasped and covered your mouth with both hands as Sierge came over to you. 

“What is wrong with Benny? What are they saying?” Sierge asked you. 

“Uh, Sierge, you need to go back to the Palace of Windsor and stay with Benny and do not let Benny approach Grevu until she tells you exactly why she wants anything to do with him.” You advised him with a gesture to your belly as if you were stroking a very pregnant belly as Sierge’s eyes went wide when you made that gesture before he fled Buckingham Palace to chase after Benny.

[doorsclosingslowly]

Your death is a number but I cannot count that high (11/16)

In which Death Watch enter the enemy ship, and Asajj gets her shot at freedom.

Zombie Savage AU | 2.5k | warning for body horror

For the first time in weeks, Asajj feels light. It’s almost offensive, how quickly she slipped from world-devouring grief and heartburn and eternal nightmares into mission planning and execution mode, but then again: she enjoys bounty hunting. Pursuit and infiltration are basically her comfort zone, and even the present company cannot spoil her thrill.

She finally has solid ground under her feet again. The swamp that broils and laps at her with every dream and with every wriggling fleshworm that fucking Savage Opress sends her way is receding, and soon enough, when she gets her chance, she’ll kill it off—kill him—for good.

Asajj’s sisters and Mother Talzin may have accidentally landed her in a malignant trap when they tried to help her fight Dooku, but Asajj will chew her way free.

That’s why she volunteered to be ground troop today. She needs to rescue herself. She needs to cut off this bond, cut off the mate, cut off the drowning boulder. She’d been prepared to argue and fight for the opportunity, since it’s not like anybody trusts her here, but it was surprisingly easy. Not even a doubtful look—no, the only response she’d received was appreciation for her fearlessness in the face of certain death. Well, maybe it is. Maul keeps insisting that Savage’s torture is a trap laid by Sidious, his past shadowy Sith Master, and that setting a foot on Entralla means getting fried and disappeared and tortured. He himself is going down still, obviously—by now it doesn’t even appear to be bravado or tending to his image before his following but genuine mushy affection for that dumb creature, and if Asajj wasn’t busy she might almost be curious—Maul is coming down with her, as are Kast and Saxon and three dozen other supercommandos. That’s what they’d settled on, once their advance droid surveillance footage yesterday had revealed their target to be a small spaceship surrounded by a hundred medium-sized tents.

Maul, Kast and Saxon at once, who as far as she’s observed are the three highest-ranking members of Death Watch, and on what all of them believe is a suicide mission—Asajj would call them brain-dead, but actually, she doesn’t care. Either Maul is every inch the scared wretch of a cast-off Sith plaything he appears and is making mountains out of skrant-hills, or she’ll, most likely, be dead too. Looks like that gamorrean sow Kast likes to suck face with will soon inherit the whole sorry rest of their terrorist crew.

Most of Death Watch, though, is inside three hundred small Kom’rk-class fighters or the two stolen Separatist dreadnaughts, standing by to intercept any fleeing ship with gravity wells or sheer violence. Well. That’s one of the reasons. Every ground Mando is in periodic radio contact with one of their motherships, and should they go silent when Sidious gets them… if the mission goes sour, dead man’s switch. Asajj doesn’t know about the exact logistics of how many have to miss check-in before the omnicidal aerial bombardment begins… but she’s starting to understand Maul’s paranoia regarding this ‘Sidious’ well enough to know they’re going to risk killing their Mand’alor sooner rather than later. It’s reassuring, almost. They’ll kill Sidious no matter what.

Well. And her, too.

But Asajj knew when she allowed that Mando to think she’d captured her that this wasn’t going to be easy. Up until know she’s always found a way to make it out alive. She’ll manage. And Sidious killed her sisters. Killed Talzin. Killed Dathomir.

Sidious will die, and so will Opress. Anything else is secondary.

She’s wearing a set of scavenged armor over her clothes and a jetpack and a gas mask, nothing more. Most of the ground team have massive tanks mounted on their back, too, full of some quick heavyweight airborne soporific Death Watch managed to procure on short notice.

(“If it’s taking this long to cook something up, we could just use poison,” Asajj had suggested, entirely not for selfless reasons. “We’re using the weedkiller tanks you Mandos use for farming, after all. We could just keep the weedkiller.”

“This is still a rescue mission,” Kast had replied severely. Unfortunately, despite being a fanatic terrorist and obeying Maul of all people and a habit of throwing tantrums about the horrible plight of Savage Opress, she wasn’t entirely braindead. “Damage is acceptable, but we won’t kill our brother.”

Maul had looked on, silent.)

Maul and Asajj are going to enter the ship first. That makes sense—both of them are assassins more than soldiers, they’re better than the Mandos at keeping quiet—and even if Maul will be a hindrance when they find Savage, she can use him as a distraction before that.

It feels weird, somehow, touching ground in front of the enemy’s ship. The unconscious guards on the ground are wearing clone trooper armor, which means that—yes, it means Death Watch got the drop on them and it means the soporific gas is effective, which is great, but Asajj didn’t expect this mission against Sidious to include a Grand Army of the Republic protection detail, and neither did Maul, though he appears far less perturbed by this information than Asajj is. Nothing before has linked Sidious to the Republic. She trusts the magicks she used to find this location, though. This is where the bondmate is being held.

Maul opens a control panel next to the ship’s door and plays around with a couple of screwdrivers, while Mando supercommandos direct their sedative gas into the ship’s pried-open air vents.

And… they’re in.

Too easy.

This was far too easy for a secret prison of the illusive Sith Lord, and Maul, apparently, thinks so too. He keeps glancing sideways at her while the supercommandos tie up the sedated soldiers outside and while they enter the ship’s galley, and he insists they shouldn’t split up.

“This location does not appear my Master’s—my former Master’s style,” he whispers in his clipped accent. “It’s neither desolate, nor are there plush red carpets. It’s not a torture dungeon.” Maul looks at Asajj, and his eyes gleam with suspicion. “If you have lied to me, you are dead. If this hurts my brother, you’ll wish you were.”

“This is the place. My sisters’ magicks are never wrong,” Asajj replies haughtily. It won’t do any good if both of them admit to their unease.

(Maul’s been vibrating faintly ever since Asajj broke into his brain to find Opress. It’s probably fear and anticipation, and most of all the superfluous awareness of him that she’s gained ever since exploiting both their bonds. Maybe he was always this high-strung.

“Someone’s attacking him,” he’d whispered to her just minutes before they reached Entralla, as if by joining their minds she had proven she cared. His eyes had been dark, agonized. In a movement that appeared entirely involuntary, he’d gripped at his neck as if looking for a pendant, and then he’d hugged himself, holding onto his torso and stomach as if his slippery entrails were ready to leak out.

Asajj had looked down and realized she was mirroring him.

When she slid her eyes half-shut, she could see the shadows of undulating metal cables.)

The ship, on the inside, just appears a standard Republic cruiser. It has a single long hallway that Asajj is pulled down by the worms in her gut, and Maul, frowning and broadcasting dread, follows.

They pass unconscious Republic clones at uneven intervals.

It’s so—ordinary. Asajj knows these ships. And there are no traps at all, just that pulsing connection drawing her forwards, shading and twisting, the memory of desolation and grief and that orange boy getting chocked (Kast’s eyes were so hard when she said, “He tried to give me his lightsaber, too, so I would have an easy time of killing him, if—when, he said, when he was used again to hurt his little brother,” that Asajj almost felt guilty) and everyone on Dathomir is dead and—

There.

She stops, and Maul comes to a halt behind her, ‘saber raised.

An open doorway, half-blocked by an armored redhead that seems vaguely familiar, and the beckoning hand of her sisters, and if Sidious doesn’t have the heart to provide a distraction for Maul then Asajj will just improvise.

“Back there, I think,” Asajj whispers, pointing at a random closed door to her left. “I can feel your brother in there.”

Maul’s eyes are wide. “I do not feel—are you sure?” he whispers, and he looks so young and hopeful bathed in the green glow he doesn’t understand and never had a right to wear that Asajj almost dares to believe her plan will work.

“I know these magicks,” Asajj drawls. “I don’t mind double-checking, but I thought you wanted him as alive as possible. He’s not doing well. Might get deep-fried at any moment, that’s not healthy for such a weak brain.”

It works. Maul bites back whatever kind of response he might have had, and he starts frantically working on slicing the door that was—her sisters are smiling upon Asajj—thankfully locked.

Asajj, meanwhile, tiptoes hurriedly forward and past the redhead—almost a decent glimpse of his head, why does she feel she knows him and—and inside the room she looks at a monster. The scene is arranged as if to mock her, a single bare cot in the middle of the room approximating a stone slab and the dimmed red electric lights a stand-in for the fire on the day she was tied to the boulder that tries to drown her. On the cot, as he was supine on the slab back then, lies unconscious Savage Opress.

Well. The used dog toy formerly known as Opress.

He’s always made her uncomfortable, even when they met. First, it was his silent bruised obsequiousness and the glances he’d shoot her after that arena fight, like he expected her to ravish him then and there just because she’d beaten him up. The sense that she’d stumbled into a world she didn’t understand drawn in silent rules and violence and sex—and Asajj has never liked that anxiety born of ignorance though she can and will tough it out and persevere, and only with the bond strangling her did she realize her stupid mistake—the sense that there was something hiding below her feet ready to devour her. He only got more obsequious and annoying after the ritual that tied Asajj to him, with his empty brainless eyes that somehow simultaneously said do whatever you want with me and I’ll kill you. She was happy to use him, if it got her traitorous ex-Master Dooku off her back, but she was at least as happy that the plan included Opress staying at Dooku’s side, not hers. Well, in the end, he was as useless as he was stupid and creepy, and Asajj had to fight Dooku on her own while Opress escaped his leash and used the power gifted to him by Talzin to harass innocent villagers and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He doesn’t have the body that Mother Talzin gave him anymore. Not that he ever deserved it.

Savage Opress, who is bound by ancient magicks to Asajj, looks like someone took his corpse and stuffed it full of a crashed spaceship debris in a desperately poor attempt at covering up an accident. The body Mother Talzin’s Dathomiri magicks gave him was stout, forceful, architected and executed with a keen eye and deep control, while whoever did this was a careless butcher. Asajj has seen carnage and pain, she’s fought and killed and maimed, and yet she has never seen anything as bestial as the body before her.

Savage Opress, who is making her share his torture through a telepathic bond, looks like a gutted carcass. This is what became of one of the three last survivors of Dathomir: worms writhe in and out of him, the things she’s been feeling like phantom maggots burrowing into her heart made real and she can see them feasting and seaming up his raw mottled shoulders and lap at the empty spots where someone tore out his hearts. He’s still conscious, though, just asleep. She can feel him feeling the worms. She can see him breathing, though he doesn’t need to, not without an intact torso. Not without hearts. She feels sick. So this is what has been calling out to her. What has been sliding into her mind, unstoppable and unwanted. This has violated her dreams.

Savage Opress, the bondmate Asajj came here to covertly murder, looks like death would be a mercy.

“Ventress, what are you playing at? The room was empty and Kenobi is here,” Maul hisses from somewhere behind her. “I told you. You’ll die for your betrayal—Savage…”

Asajj turns, expecting a fight, but Maul looks like the air was punched out of him, and he’s rooted to the doorway. The air around him tastes of abhorrence and dawning dread. He could have reached Savage before her, in her stupor—he could have jammed his ‘saber into her back—but now she’s jolted loose and ready to take her one chance at freedom.

To take mercy on Savage, for once in her life.

She drives her lightsaber into his right eye socket.

Maul’s scream behind her is vile, deeply inhuman and guttural and echoing over and over and over in the small room. It’s so loud her eye starts to hurt. His howl is the storm and the cave and the first drink in a lifetime. It’s green. It’s gentleness and sympathy he thought his Master had long driven out of the apprentice, but in teaching Savage he can’t help but refrain from using the techniques he once had endured himself. He doesn’t understand the reason—he is Sith and if he does not teach his apprentice to draw power from pain, he will have failed him. He doesn’t understand, but he feels something quake when he is called brother and when he notices he turned his back to Savage and never even expected to get hurt—he doesn’t understand, but somehow, he does. He loves Savage. Savage loves him. Maul was never meant for love, was made a weapon to be used and abused and discarded by a Master wielding power he’ll never attain, but somehow, Maul found this one person who loves him. Maul lost the person who loves him. Maul just lost him again. Maul won’t lose the person who loves him. He won’t. He can’t. He refuses. He loves—

And desperate love paints the room acid green. Greedy love tears the cot to tiny metal shreds. Unconditional love presses hot and painful into Asajj’s right eye, and she’s taking tiny measured steps toward Savage, in rhythmic unison with Maul and unstoppable no matter how hard she tries to take back her body.

Love, no matter what it takes, and both their green-bathed hands touch Savage.

All goes black.

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #22- If You Don’t Love Thunderclash, Get Better Soon I Guess

One last issue before we reach Comic Event Hell.

Time to use a dead man to set up the rest of the nonsense that’s got to happen, because apparently 14 issues of setup, including six issues of literal prelude, wasn’t enough.

The first bit of information we’re presented with is the fact that Chromedome and Swerve are on the opposite sides of the camera-shy scale. I guess that’s bound to happen when your spouse has had his video-cam literally connected to his brain for at least several thousand years.

The art may look really gritty and hardcore here, but this is actually due to a filter Rewind has over all his footage that he’s neglected to take off, because it made all the wartime propaganda he would stuff into people’s heads all the more brutal-looking.

No, this is the style of our artist for this issue, James Raiz, who we’ll be seeing a fair bit of over the next several issues. Raiz has worked on the Transformers franchise over the course of multiple license-holders, as well as contributed to both Marvel and DC comics. He also works in special effects, including matte painting and VFX. That’s just neat.

Anyway, the reason Swerve’s completely frozen in place isn’t because Rewind  switched out his head-mounted camera for a gun that goes off if it hears you make a self-deprecating joke, but rather because he’s conducting interviews with everyone in the main cast. We get all their introductions, Cyclonus makes a statement about his political stances, Drift sounds like he’s high as a kite, First Aid strikes a sassy pose while not being bitter in the slightest, and Ultra Magnus makes a move that would get him murdered on any given film set in the universe.

You do NOT use your bare fucking hand to clean a camera lens, mister. Go get a microfiber cloth and try the fuck again, you complete and utter duffel bag of a creature.

We get a quick cut of the speech Rodimus made back in issue #1, with an angle that implies that Rewind was in the front row of the front row, then cut over to Rodimus asking Rewind to document their Capital-Q Quest. This is where we establish that this film doesn’t only contain footage from Rewind’s personal camera, but also that of the Lost Light’s security system.

Which feels like the sort of access you maybe wouldn’t want to give some nosy little film buff, especially when you have a secret giant serial killing sadist living in your basement like a disappointing adult child.

See? He was given the job to record the adventures of the Lost Light not five minutes ago, and he’s already using his powers for evil. Eavesdropping evil. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, Rodimus, and you just handed it to the guy with a massive Dominus Ambus-shaped chip on his shoulder.

So Rewind’s got permission to film just about whatever he wants, and Rodimus figures it’ll be nonstop action from here to the finish line! Fights! Intrigue! Mild hijinks and peril! Explosions aplomb! Oh man, I can’t wait to see what kinds of crazy shit will happen on this absolute roller coaster of a Quest!

Smashcut to Swerve literally falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. Yeah, as it turns out, no quest, capital Q or not, is nonstop action. Which is good, honestly, because that kind of seems like it would be exhausting after the first week or so.

Swerve, Tailgate, and Rewind are discussing cool alt-modes, which seems like an odd topic, seeing as Tailgate and Swerve have basically the same situation going on there, leaving Rewind alone in the camp of “does not have wheels”.

I worry about you sometimes, Rewind. Internalized Functionism is a very real problem. Uh, well, in your universe anyway. Us humans have to deal with regular ol’ classism and racism.

Rung gets brought up, and it’s revealed that the wheel on his back is almost purely cosmetic; it doesn’t even actually attach to his body. The lads decide that they’ve got nothing better to do, and set up a gentlemen’s wager- first one to figure out Rung’s whole deal gets 100 space-dollars.

Throwing shit at people’s heads will be a major plot point in the climax of this comic series.

Swerve’s go at trying to win the bet involved tossing a grenade at Rung to hit him in the neural cluster, which is rumored to be able to force an involuntary mode change if done correctly. Obviously, it didn’t work this go around. Then our narrative focus switches over to the crew’s hobbies.

You were listening to Prince, weren’t you, Magnus? Not even deep space is safe from the Cease and Desist.

Skids’ hobby is meeting new people, because he suffers from the terrible curse of being so fucking good at everything he tries, he always ends up dropping whatever he picked up, because what’s the point? This acts as a segue into another flashback, to even MORE bullshit that the fellas got roped into on Hedonia.

These are the Stentarians. They’re like the Cybertronians, if they were better in every way.

And by “better”, I, of course, mean “more bloodthirsty, warmongering, and driven enough to make their civil war last about as long as the Jurassic Period”. Also, they’re all combiners by default, and Whirl seems a little TOO into their whole situation. So much so, in fact, that when the Imperial Guard of their race show up to kill them, he decides to do them a solid by single-handedly ending their entire war.

You know, in most cases you’re supposed to show and not tell for visual media. This is way funnier, though, so it can be excused.

We jump back into the interviews, and Rewind’s just asked everyone if they’re happy. This might seem like an odd question, until you remember that everyone on-board this ship has crippling depression and PTSD, and Rewind’s married to one of the saddest motherfuckers to ever exist, so he probably has this question loaded into the proverbial chamber at any given moment. We won’t cover all of the answers here, because they’ll be more poignant to reflect back on later in the comic run, but let’s take a gander at the characters who’ve completed the first leg of their character arcs this season.

Drift, is that perhaps… an honest expression of your inner thought processes happening right there? Has Rewind broken through your carefully crafted persona, if even for just a moment, with his question? Perish the thought!

Because Tailgate outed himself as being baby in issue #21, I have zero doubt he’s not exaggerating here. He was a janitor, then he fell in a hole and became Dirt-Nap Supreme for six million years; even the most boring day on the Lost Light’s got to be better than that.

And it’s nice to see Chromedome on a good day for once. Hopefully he reveled in it while he had the chance, because this interview takes place maybe a couple weeks before he fucks everything up big time and has to blow up his husband with a missile strike.

Getting back to the Mystery of the Rungian Alt-Mode plotline, we see Rung using his backpack as a wheelbarrow- no idea what he’s actually pushing in the damned thing- and wearing the most disgruntled face I’ve seen him pull in a hot minute. Someone yells for him to come down the eerily unlit and sinister-looking hallway, which he does. Rung would not do well in a horror film.

He winds up at Swerve’s, where Tailgate, Swerve, Brainstorm, and someone who is most likely Trailcutter, given the colors, are hanging out in their alt-modes. Tailgate’s ploy to find out Rung’s deal is to do what he does best- lie! They’re having an alt-mode party, and wouldn’t Rung like to join in? There are, of course, logistical issues with being a car in a bar, especially when your drink is on the table and your head is tucked up somewhere in your torso, but never mind all that! Let’s get crazy!

This doesn’t work either. Maybe we should cut out the middle man here and just get Rung drunk enough to agree to a wet alt-mode contest.

No, I don’t have any idea how that would work.

In our next vignette, Rodimus comes into the comms room, Rewind trailing behind him like a grim shadow of death, to see what the hell Blaster wants, other than just the hugest glass of water.

Raiz’s work is very detailed, and you really feel the weight of these giant metal space robots, but everyone looks like they’ve been put through a food dehydrator.

We get a lot of build up to the character who’s about to be introduced, with a common opinion being shared amongst everyone- even Tailgate, who hates successful people like his life depends on it.

Lovely readers, put your hands together for the ideal male partner for Autobots, Decepticons, and Neutrals alike:

A man with so much charisma and charm that only Rodimus could hate him, Thuderclash brings to IDW what everyone wishes Optimus Prime would, making our disappointing space dad even more mediocre by comparison. He fights for justice, and freedom, and the good of the universe- and he does it all while having a chronic medical condition that forces him to stay within a certain distance of his ship that is also a life-support machine, otherwise he will die. Despite his handicaps, Thunderclash seemingly brings to others what they need most, even if they don’t even realize that they needed it in the first place.

He also, in this one scene, appeals to Drift’s religious sensibilities, does a secret best-friend dance with Ratchet (who he helped to pass his medical exams- yes, Ratchet), and congratulates Rodimus on his questing so far.

Thunderclash is one of those characters that everyone in-universe is supposed to love, and I completely buy it- because he’s completely genuine and humble about all of this the entire time.

Compare this to the last time Roberts wrote Thunderclash, in Eugenesis.

Where he was an ex-Decepticon.

And kind of an abrasive asshole.

And then he died.

Y’know, now that I think of it, Eugenesis Thunderclash and MTMTE Ambulon being basically the same character makes a whole lot of sense, even without the horrors of Roberts’ Twitter getting involved.

Thunderclash reveals that he, too, is on a quest to find the Knights of Cybertron, much to Rodimus’ chagrin. But first he needs the Lost Light to break out the jumper cables, and then for his second in command to stop threatening his life.

Turns out, not everyone is as obvious as the Cybertronians with their naming conventions. Whirl assassinated the wrong folks; I’m sure the Galactic Council is utterly thrilled. Paddox wants to steal the quantum engine technology for the good of his people, so they can kick the ass of the up-and-coming Terradore leader.

Completely unaware of the situation unfolding here in the lab, Swerve is directing Rung towards the warm, loving aura of Thunderclash for another go at winning the gentlemen’s wager- through the power of lying about having friends, Swerve’s “agreed” to get Rung Thunderclash’s autograph, in exchange for getting to check that Rung’s transformation cog is still working. Then they bump into the nightmare currently unfolding. My, whoever will save us from this dreaded menace, who holds a gun to the head of the Autobots’ greatest warrior, confidant, friend, and perhaps even lover?

How about a bartender and a giant vape pen?

Okay, so Rung doesn’t actually turn into a vape. It turns out that the Mystery of the Rungian Alt-Mode is also a mystery to the man himself. Because Rung is old as shit, the Functionists got to see this bullshit for themselves, and ended up testing him over and over and over trying to figure it out, lest he prove to be a flaw in their fascist ideologies. Fun fact: fascists HATE it when people they’re trying to oppress don’t play to their expectations.

The Functionists were the ones who gave Rung his little wheelie backpack, to make him at least appear useful. This sort of treatment tends to warp one’s head a bit, which would explain why he’s bothered to keep it for so long- internalized functionism’s a real bitch.

At least he’s not giving teenagers nicotine addictions under the guise of being somewhat better than cigarettes.

Back with Rodimus and Cybertron’s Autobot of the Year for 40,000 consecutive years, we get the unfortunate news that jump-starting Thunderclash’s ship is going to make the Quest go a bit slower for the Lost Light, much to Rodimus’ horror, though he does his best to put on a brave face; after all, that’s what heroes do, isn’t it?

It’s at this point that it’s revealed that “Little Victories” was being screened to all the Circle of Light members who didn’t get murdered or turned into Legislators on Luna 1, and man are these guys pissy. What was meant to be a recruitment video turned out to do just the opposite, because none of these guys want anything to do with what the Lost Light’s got going on.

Too bad Rewind didn’t have time for a cleaner cut for showing. Maybe they could have at least snagged a couple of these guys to tag along.

As all of the Circle of Light leave the theatre to go call everyone’s favorite Autobot to see if he needs a more crew members, the film plays on behind Skids, back to the interviews, as everyone promises more adventures just waiting on the horizon.

You’re not even on this trip anymore, you dork.

Chromedome gives us the title drop for the movie and issue, and we cut to Rewind organizing a group photo of all the interviewees.

And then Rewind died horribly like a week later. Thus ends season one of More Than Meets the Eye!

While I’m here, I’d like to take the time to cover a little bit of cut content from this issue, a scene between Drift and Ratchet.

Drift, during his interview, recalls the time that Ratchet called him into his office for a very serious discussion about his/Pharma’s hands.

Yeah, turns out they’re haunted.

Well, no, not really, because this is a prank. But Drift doesn’t know that yet.

Ratchet demonstrates this hand-haunting by punching Drift in the face, as he screams damnation at Pharma’s ghost. Drift, because he is a spiritual man, knows exactly what to do to deal with this possession; he draws his sword and chops Ratchet’s hands off, then throws them out the airlock.

This, too, is a prank, not that Ratchet knows it right away, yelling at Drift that he’s crippled him.

Clearly, these two belong together.

This bit of cut script was lucky enough to have gotten drawn by the colorist for MTMTE Season 1, Josh Burcham. Burcham’s line art is iconic- you won’t mistake him for anyone else. It’s rough and angular, and honestly just very charming. I’m a sucker for this sort of style. If you want to see his adaptation of this chunk of script- and trust me, you do- the link’s right here:

https://dcjosh.tumblr.com/post/107665292031/its-done-the-mtmte-22-deleted-scene-in-all-its

[huihuiheart]

Hongjoong’s Angels - Hongjoong w/ f! Yeosang + f! San

-req by @pirate-hongjoong

Pairing: Platonic Hongjoong (Speaking in italics) + f! Yeosang + f! San + Female Reader (ft. the rest of Ateez)

Summary: The angels are about as elite as they come, but all of them are at risk now. For a mission that they would have assigned a dozen angels to, it comes down to just three. Would that be enough to prevent their whole world from falling apart though?

Warnings: Spies, violent themes, espionage, guns, suggestive themes, seduction, kidnapping, breaking and entering, fight scenes, tasers, explosions, lies, missiles, betrayal, some member x member themes (the couple is a secret to prevent spoilers), death.

Word Count: 8,086

Note: I still have not watched the most recent movie and this is an original piece, so please don’t give me backlash for it. I was very excited to do this though, because the original Charlie’s Angels movies were my childhood, so this seemed very fun. 

“Once upon a time there were three very different little girls....”

“I’m sorry the only spot we have open is for a mascot.” The head cheerleader mocked, but Yeosang simply smiled, her braces on full display.

“Oh my god, that’s great though! It’ll be so much fun! And I still get to dance!” Yeosang practically bounded out of the hall, tripping over her own feet at the entrance and falling flat on the ground.

---

“Ladies and Gentleman, that does it. Your winning rider is Choi San on her prized horse Blue Ballad. The youngest yet to win this competition.” The announcer called over the sound system. Choi San standing proudly on the podium for photos with her horse standing behind her, taking in the applause.

---

“Y/L/N Y/N! You get in here right now young lady!” The principle called from her office, you smirking as you walked in and plopped down opposite her, “ Would you explain to me why we have you on camera spray painting the school wall?”

You snickered as she showed you the film they had, “Oh look that’s my favorite part.” You muse as you watch the clip of you giving the camera the bird before spray painting over it.

---

“Who grew up to be three very different women...”

Yeosang held the little hairless kitten in her arms, giggling at it as people gave her strange looks in passing.

“Maybe you should put that one down Yeosang, no one’s gonna adopt...it....”

“Awe, but there’s nothing wrong with her. Besides she’s so cute...and she doesn’t do that...”Yeosang counters gesturing to one of the hairballs from the other cats in the shop.

---

“Prep OR3 and tell them I’m on my way. We have to move people, this is life or death! Now scrub me in!” San huffs, washing her hands, as one of the assistants puts the gloves and scrubs on for her. San opening the door to the operating room with her back to not contaminate anything.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

---

“Hi, welcome to Good Burger. What can I get for you today?” Y/N droned over the drive-thru headset in the same monotone voice you did everyday, with a huff. 

The car pulling up moments later, a rambunctious group of young men in the car, “Hey sweetheart, why don’t you give us a show with that meal?”

You gave them a deadpan look, before holding up the paper bag with their order in it and shaking it, throwing it into the window of their car before closing your drive-thru window with a fake smile and walking away.

“What they have in common is that they’re brilliant, they’re beautiful, and they work for me. My name is Hongjoong.”

“Good morning, angels.”

“Good morning Hongjoong!” You three replied in unison, sitting on the couch across from the little speaker. The device is your only connection to the mystery man that was your boss.

“So Hongjoong, what do you have for us today?” San questions, hugging your arm slightly as she sits to your right, eager to get a new assignment.

“Well, angels, we’ve recently been hired by Jeong Yunho, CEO of Jeong Technologies. They’re currently the largest private technology and information firm around. Their lead engineer Song Mingi was kidnapped, there’s footage of three assailants taking him from the front of Jeong Technologies science building the other night and there has been no sign of him since.”

 “There any leads so far? Anyone who wants to see Jeong Technologies fall?” You ask, looking over the tape on the screen one last time, watching the poor engineer get shoved into the van by some masked men.

“Bosley hasn’t given you the files yet, has he?” Hongjoong chuckles over the speaker, “Where has my good friend gone off to now?”

“Bosley? I thought you told me your name was Wooyoung?” Yunho’s brows furrow as he walks in with the man in question.

“It is my name is Wooyoung. I’m simply in the Bosley family....it’s a term of endearment at this point.” Wooyoung shrugs, gesturing for Yunho to sit on the couch opposite of you, “I was just greeting our guest Hongjoong, no need to rush anyone.”

“Well, angels, it looks like you’re in capable hands. If you need anything, Wooyoung will provide you with it. I’ll be in touch.” With that, the speaker was off, and Wooyoung was handing you each of your respective files on the case. Almost identical, but each with slightly unique details based on your unique skill sets.

“So, you’re Jeong Yunho then?” Yeosang looks at him while offering her hand, each of you following suit and flustering the young, shy CEO who shakes your hands.

“I-I am. I-I just want to say that whatever you girls need to get him back, I’m happy to help. Mingi is more than an employee, he’s also a friend.” Yunho is flustered at first, but slowly it changes to concern for his missing friend.

“If you don’t mind me asking then, is that why he is so special? I mean, a kidnapping is usually handled by the police, so what about this makes it a better fit for us?” San inquires, barely looking up from the file finding bits of information that might prove useful.

 “Not exactly. You see, we’re a private firm, but we recently landed a government project, and that’s what Mingi was working on. The intelligence involved in this project cannot get out, but Mingi’s the only one who currently knows how to access it or lock it down. Which is why we need to get him back before they can get it out of him.” Yunho explains, catching the attention of all the angels.

“What kind of information are we talking about here?” You finally dare to ask, not sure you’d like any answer that he would give you. 

“Potentially limitless information. The program is designed to screen through all sources public and private without interfering with people’s privacy. What I mean is no person is scouring through people’s information. It uses facial recognition and voice recognition software to track people internationally based on the specs you give it. That person’s trail. With hopes of finding the most wanted criminals who have fallen off the face of the earth. When it pings with that, all the computer saves is the clip with their voice or face. Then it shares that with those who need to find that person. Without sharing private information about the person whose device it was with said investigators. Like an anonymous tip phone call of sorts, but it also provides a location. However, in theory, those safeties can be removed and you could potentially access any information on anyone from anywhere in the world.” Yunho worries his lip between his teeth as he explains the purpose of their latest program.

“And Mingi is the only one who knows the system well enough to do anything with it? To allow or prevent that from happening?” Yeosang sucks in a breath at the sorrowful nod that Yunho answers her with.

“Who would have the most to gain from kidnapping Mingi? People who knew of this program? Of its potential? Or, just have something to gain by taking him?” You look for the page you know you saw when skimming the file, the one that listed off Yunho and Mingi’s enemies.

“Honestly, we kept a tight lid on the information flow only those working on the project and myself knew. Everyone was very adamant about not discussing it outside of the work area for safety reasons, so unless someone got that information elsewhere, I don’t know. However, there is one person I have in mind...Park Seonghwa. My leading competitor, he’s been known to send spies into our staff to steal ideas and information. I wouldn’t put it past him to kidnap our lead engineer in hopes of getting ideas to put out before us.” Yunho shakes his head, “That man never gives up, I’m telling you.”

The angels nod in unison, turning to Wooyoung and handing back the files.

“Yunho we’re going to need access to your building. We’re gonna see if they left anything behind where they took Wooyoung.” San explains, to which Yunho immediately agrees.

“Also, we’ll need to check your systems to see if anyone did get in and access confidential information,” Yeosang added before the two looked at you.

“Then we’ll check Park Industries too, just in case. Though before that, we should probably make sure your home is secure, for all we know they could be after you too.” You try not to worry Yunho too much while still telling him the reality of the situation.

“Alright, angels, let’s move.” Yeosang jumps up, catching the keys that Wooyoung tosses to her so that the four of you can head out to Jeong Technologies to start unraveling this mystery.

“Find anything in here?” Yeosang asks, joining you and San from checking out the scene where Mingi was finally grabbed.

“Good luck, angels! I’ll be checking in!” Wooyoung calls after you before sighing as he sits down again, left all alone now.

“I’m not seeing any immediate signs of someone snooping around, but not that we’re in. I'll have the computer at the base run a more thorough analysis and let us know,” San responds, looking to you and Yunho.

“I haven’t found any bugs or signs of forced entry if there was something here, it would have to be moving in and out on an employee. I say we check them out, just to be safe.” Your suggestion is met with nods from the other two, “What about out front?”

“Ah, I found a few things...our van had some specialty tires on it based on the treads it left behind. We could look for suppliers and cross-reference based on that to find who’s van it is. Also, there was some debris left I’m assuming when the kidnappers jumped out of the van. We’ll see if these little plants can tell us anything about where they were before being here.” Yeosang proudly beams, holding up her prize.

“Okay, why don’t you two get those back to the base and Wooyoung. I’ll go check out Yunho’s house and make sure it’s safe for him there.” You insist, causing the two to roll their eyes slightly at you.

“Please, you just want to go with him because you think he’s hot,” Yeosang mumbles, making San chuckle while you fluster and throw a glare at her.

“Not my fault, the yummy CEO hired us! Now get out of here.” You hiss quietly at the two before shooing them as they laugh. Before turning to Yunho, who was flustered and blushing after watching that exchange.

“C-Come on, I’ll drive us.” He offers leading the way out of the building and to his car so that he can drive you to his home. Of course, solely for professional reasons. Pulling up to a large modern home after not too long, it somewhat secluded in the woods. Yunho welcomes you in and helps you with your jacket, offering you something to drink while you immediately set to work and stumbling across an interesting photo.

“Isn’t this Park Seonghwa with you?” You question holding the photo up to Yunho, who nods in response, only further intriguing you, “I thought you two were rivals?”

“We are now, but things weren’t always that way. In fact, I’d prefer if they still weren’t.” Yunho sighs softly, holding out a glass to you, “We went to school together growing up, even picked the same university to attend. Honestly, he was more like a brother to me than anything. Until he tried to steal my final during our last year...he was found out and kicked out of the school, but money spared him most of the consequences. He blamed me for what happened, though, and now it seems he wants to get me back in any way at all.”

You nod, placing the picture back down, feeling worse for the Yunho now, “So you lost one close friend already, and now the other is missing...that must be tough.” When Yunho nods, you reach out to gently squeeze his arm in reassurance, “Don’t worry, we’ll get Mingi back, and we won’t let anything happen to you. The house is clean, and I’m leaving you this panic button. If anything is wrong, you just press it, and the closest one of us will come right away.”

“So if I pressed it right now, that would mean you would come, right?” Yunho asks, stepping closer as you start to step away, flustering you some.

“Well, yes, but I just checked the whole house Yunho and nothing wrong.” You chuckle despite being shy, thanks to him.

“Yes, there is.” Yunho blurts, a little too quickly, making you raise a brow in question, “W-What if I don’t feel safe being here all alone? I-I think you should stay for a bit...y-you know just in case.”

He was so impossibly close right now, standing right before you. Not even letting you respond, though, before the two of you were kissing. Your coat slipping out of your arms again as you slipped them around his neck, not letting him go again.

Yunho pouts, hearing your phone ring, and you chuckle, answering it.

“Y/N, we need you back here, we’re going to regroup and talk to Hongjoong. How far out are you?” San asks over the phone, and she and Yeosang finish up in the lab, looking over their results again.

“Not too far, I’m just at Yunho’s.” You answer before cursing internally at giving that away, while the CEO besides you blushes.

“Still? Why? Was something wrong?” San’s voice is teasing, but you know she genuinely wanted to know in case there was an issue, and you just hadn’t gotten the chance to ask for their help yet.

“N-No, nothing’s wrong...I-I’m heading over now.” You quickly hang up before she can question you anymore, giving Yunho an apologetic look, “Well, duty calls. If anything happens, though, hit the panic button, alright?” 

Yunho nods, slipping his arm around your waist and pulling you in for another kiss, “ Be careful out there, okay? If you have to leave me, then at least come back in one piece.”

“I will.” You give him one last kiss before slipping out of his grasp to leave, knowing there was still plenty to do before Yunho would be safe and have his friend back. 

San and Yeosang, smirking at you as you walked back into the base, their looks suggestive, now armed with the knowledge that you had spent the night at Yunho’s place. You sighed with a soft blush and brushed them off, taking your seat with them for yet another morning. Wooyoung, laughing, and accepting the incoming call.

“Good morning, angels.”

“Good morning, Hongjoong!”

“Do you girls have an update on the situation?” 

“We looked into the tires, and it leads back to Park Industries. They have an arrangement with one of the shops they like this specific brand on all their trucks and vans. They also have vans matching the make and model of the van that was used in the kidnapping.” San closes her file on the track report, having nailed Park Seonghwa or at least his company to taking Mingi the question now was just where.

“The plant material was interesting, it allowed me to narrow down to a fifty-mile area where they had been before, the only problem was that any way we cross-referenced things, in that area we found no connection to Park Industries at all, whether directly or otherwise.” Yeosang added with a shrug, “Unless they’ve managed to keep that hidden very well from us.”

“The computer didn’t come up with anything either. It looks as though Park Industries never got into Jeong Technologies computer.” Wooyoung continues before looking at you, now that they had pretty much covered all the leads before speaking up for you, “Oh, and Yunho’s house has been cleared.”

“It seems like whoever is hiding those details from us is doing a very good job of it. Get into Park Industries and see if you can find the last few things that you need to find Mingi, we might not have a lot of time left before they get that information.”

“We’re on it, Hongjoong!”

“So what’s the play then, angels?” Wooyoung inquires, leaning across the desk and smiling at you, “And what do you need for it?”

“You know...we could actually use your help on this one, Wooyoung.” You smiled at him, “How would you like to play a young, up and coming CEO? Willing to give Park Industries exclusive access to specialty supplies?”

“I’ll be your assistant, there to help you if anything happens and seduce Seonghwa enough to get the key for San to get in with.” You reassured Wooyoung as you three pull up the building specs.

“I’ll distract the others around, so San will just have to worry about security making their rounds and cameras on the outside. Once inside the room, though, there is a laser grid, moving, very high end. The code to disable them changes every five minutes. so it’s not likely we’ll be able to get that unless Y/N can manage it in Seonghwa’s office somehow.” Yeosang added before looking to San.

“I’ll be in and out with what we need before you even know it.” San nods looking at Wooyoung, “So what do you say Woo, you in?”

“Well...whatever the angels need, the angels get.” Wooyoung shrugs before chuckling softly, “I’m in.”

Sitting in your van outside of Park Industries and doing final preparations, San spotted something watching the building for any last-minute security changes. She couldn’t be sure, though, until she pulled up a still from the kidnapping video.

“Guys, I just realized something we’ve been missing.” San turns to the rest of you, showing the clip where a snake tattoo is visible on the kidnapper’s ankle, “We should have run with this from the start.”

“Well, what good does that do us now? We can’t call this mission off.” Yeosang frowns softly and San tsks, shaking her head.

“We won’t, we just would have gotten here sooner.” San zooms in on the building security guard from the camera hidden in the side of the van, “Considering this is the tattooed man.”

You look at the screen before initiating the facial recognition software and grabbing molar mics for you and Wooyoung, “When you figure it out, let me know. I’m meeting Wooyoung now.” 

You slipped out of the side of the van that faced away from the building, sneaking a few blocks away to where Wooyoung was waiting in the driver’s seat of a black Lamborgini Huracan. Smoothing over your dress one last time, you get into the passenger seat, handing him his mic and earpiece before putting on your own.

“Ready, Mr. Jung?” You smirked softly at Wooyoung, who chuckles in response, starting up the car.

“Honestly, if it means getting to do stuff like this and driving nice cars all the time, I might just have to tag along more.” He drives off to head towards the main entrance of Park Industries, you two needed to be the first to go in. 

“Y/N, we got a match over facial recognition. His name is Choi Jongho, he hasn’t been working for Seonghwa long, but they have a history. We better keep an eye on him though, he has a pretty remarkable rep. Numerous fighting styles mastered, history in dealing with arms. Keep an eye on him, don’t let him catch you off guard.” You hear San over the mic, knowing Wooyoung does too as you notice him tense while driving.

“Relax Wooyoung, just act natural, and nothing will go wrong. Besides, even if it did, you have the three of us there to protect you.” You assured him, leading him to take a breath and relax slightly, as he pulled up. Parking the car and the both of you got out. Showing Jongho your identification in passing, him eyeing you both up for a moment before opening the door to let you through.

“We’re in, work your magic girls.” You whisper, before taking over at the front desk, “Hello, we’re here for the meeting with Mr. Park. His 2 o’clock.”

The lady raised a brow at you, clearly not impressed until Wooyoung spoke up, “Is there a problem here? I’m a busy man, but I made the time to meet with CEO Park out of professional courtesy, I’d appreciate it if you made it happen, doll.”

She flusters, stuttering a bit behind her desk, “O-Of course CEO Jung, my apologies. It won’t happen again.” 

“Good work Wooyoung!” Yeosang cheered over the mic as the lady led the way for you both through the building. That being her cue as she slipped out of the van next. Heading up to the building with a blinding smile as she stopped in front of Jongho.

“Hi, I think I’m supposed to go in here, yes?” Yeosang fumbles through her bag for show, before finding her company id for him, “It’s my first day, so I’m just a little lost.”

Her helpless giggle and clueless innocent nature must have done the trick, Jongho scanning her id and even giving a small smile back before getting the door for her. San drove the van around to the back, preparing to make her entrance. 

“Let me know when we’re good, Yeosang.” She says, grabbing her ‘delivery’ and going in through the service entrance, before slipping into a bathroom to change into professional clothes, hiding her face from cameras the entire time.

“Give me five minutes,” Yeosang responds, stumbling into the room where the various cubicles were by the mainframe, blushing and giggling as people start to stare. Yeosang works her charms, pouting softly and twirling her hair, “I’m new, and I think I managed to get lost. Do any of you think you could help me?” 

Yeosang played further into the act as they scrambled over each other to get to her, and show her the various areas of the building. More than eager to be around a beautiful woman after being cooped up at their desk for hours without end. Giving her verbal cue to San who slipped out after the group had passed and headed in the opposite direction as them, just waiting for the key to be dropped off.

“You make a very appealing deal, Jung Wooyoung. Draw it up and send it to me, I’m more than interested in it.” Seonghwa smiles from his spot across from Wooyoung.

“That won’t be necessary, my assistance already drew it up. I hope it meets your liking?” Wooyoung gestures you forward. You round the desk and lean forward to place and open the drawn up papers on the desk, letting Seonghwa see your form in the process. It is a good distraction as your free hand slipped the key card off his desk, before taking your spot besides Wooyoung again. Slipping the card into his hand as Seonghwa reads and signs the document, Wooyoung signs afterward before collecting up the document, as his phone rings.

“If you’ll excuse me, I forgot I have another appointment. However, my assistant can stay to discuss anything else about the contract with you.” Wooyoung shakes Seonghwa’s hand before answering the fake call and stepping out of the room to hand the card off to San and get out of the building. The exchange, going successfully.

“Just keep him occupied for me Y/N.” San moves towards the room, hiding her face from view as she slips in to look for access. The easy part passed now just came the harder part of slipping through the lasers.

You trailed your fingertips over Seonghwa’s desk as you moved back to the same side as him, “Is there anything I can help you with, anything at all?”

Your hands, moving to massage his shoulders, noticing something sitting proudly on his desk that you hadn’t the first time. The same picture you had seen at Yunho’s house, of the two of them together.

“Oh, angel, as enticing as that sounds coming from such a beauty, I’ll have to pass. After all, I’ve got so much to do you know...with kidnapping people and all.” Seonghwa grabs your wrist-twisting you around and pinning your front to the desk beneath him. The others heard what happened clear as day.

“I’ll get Wooyoung out, you just finish up getting what we came for San and then help Y/N if necessary.” Yeosang is already in the ladies' room, slipping up and into a vent to make her way out without being swarmed again, dropping out and finding Wooyoung, but too late as Jongho pulls him through a door and shoves him into a van, while a man blocks Yeosang. 

“Jongho got Wooyoung.” She announces, flipping a switch in all the angels. None of them were happy that their Wooyoung had been taken.

“San get that stuff back to base, we’ll clean up here.” You say before twisting enough to elbow him in the face. Still, missing something, though, as Seonghwa tased you in the side. The world, going black and leaving the mission up to the other two for the time being.

Slowly you come too, eyes shifting around for any sign of Wooyoung or Mingi as you do. Instead, you hear someone tsking, followed by footsteps, drawing your attention forward and away from the dirtied surroundings. Yunho before you, as he leans down towards your face, pinching your jaw between his thumb and forefinger to make you look at him instead of at Seonghwa behind him. 

“I may have underestimated you, girls...I thought it would be easier to snatch all of you at once. The others got away, though, with something that belongs to us, and you’re going to help us get it back, angel.” Yunho’s glare only hardens further when you smirk at him, feeling the molar mic still in your mouth, even if they took your earpiece, knowing it’d help Yeosang and San even more.

“See that was your problem, you underestimated us. Besides, there are more than just three angels, a lot more.” You shrug, leaning back in your chair, knowing it was only a matter of time before help showed. Not that you couldn’t break out of the chair if you wanted to, but it was more fun letting them think they’d won and spilling everything to you while you learned everything about their security from the inside.

Seonghwa stepped over and joined Yunho, slipping his arms around Yunho’s waist and resting his chin on Yunho’s shoulder, “Oh, we know Y/N. After all, once an angel always an angel, right? And there are quite a few from what we can tell.” 

Seonghwa tilts Yunho’s body away from you, letting you see the monitors working on trying to break into Hongjoong and the angel’s database, not able to get much more than the number of angels at this point. You knew security was the best there was.

“If only there were a way to get access to their personal information, though? You know...so anyone who wishes could get revenge on the angels...oh wait, we have this.” Seonghwa tauntingly waves Wooyoung’s phone in front of your face, “Almost like when Hongjoong calls, we can use his voice to gain access to the system or something of the sort.”

Your heart races, knowing that was the one way to gain access to everything there, even to information on angels who retired, “Why would you want to do that to the angels? Just money? There’s plenty of easier to access information you could sell than this.”

Yunho scoffs, rolling his eyes, “No angel, this one is personal. Seonghwa’s sister was an angel, on a team much like yours...only her team didn’t bring her home. So we’re gonna teach the rest of you a lesson.”

“Once I find the two that left my sister, though...I’ll handle them myself.” Seonghwa hisses before letting Yunho go, gripping on your chair as his gaze darkens, “Now let me guess, they took what they got from me back to your little base and are going to try and find us?”

“Try?” It’s your turn to scoff now, “Don’t tell me you’re already underestimating us again, they won’t try...they will find us. And then breaking into the database would be the easiest challenge you’d have to overcome today.”

Yunho clicks his tongue, pulling a gun out of the back of his pants before putting it up to your temple, the click of the safety echoing in the room, “Just answer the question, or we won’t let you see any more of what we have planned. Which would be a real shame considering things are just now starting to get interesting.” 

You sigh softly, gaze shifting to Yunho for a moment, before back at Seonghwa, “Yeah, that’s what they would do.” 

Seonghwa smirking as he leans back, “See angel, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” His eyes flick over to Yunho now, “Come on, babe, put the gun away. The little angel is cooperating now, and we want her to see just what’s happening, don’t we love?”

Yunho rolls his eyes, putting the gun away again, pulling out the duck tape and toying with it some, “ I hope you know, you won’t be able to depend on Yeosang and San much longer...they’ve got their own problems to deal with.”

He nods to Seonghwa, who pulls up the coordinates of your base, turning to you again, “I’ll give you a moment to look and say goodbye, they’re about to get quite the bang.” 

“Wha-” Your statement is cut off by Yunho putting the duck tape over your mouth and putting a finger over where your lips would be, shushing you.

“Shh, isn’t that much better?” Yunho chuckles as Seonghwa clicks enter on the keyboard, launching a missile straight at the coordinates of your home base. Leaving, you to hope that Yeosang and San heard enough to know to get out by now, but not quite sure if they did.

“We gotta move fast San, who knows what that could mean,” Yeosang calls, snatching one of the bags of supplies from the base and slinging it over her shoulder so they could have something while they rushed out.

“I know, I’m shutting this down now. I’ll be right behind you.” San responds, finishing up, before grabbing her bag and rushing out behind Yeosang. The two almost at the car by the time the missile hits the base, the force of the blast throwing them tumbling to the ground. Thankfully, though, with little more to worry about than a few scratches.

“Yep, they definitely want us dead.” Yeosang grunts, picking herself up off the ground with a groan and dusting off.

“Well, unlucky for them, I know where they are now...Seonghwa didn’t have any buildings in that radius, but Yunho does...that’s where we’re going.” San pulls herself off the ground too, before getting in the car and putting the location in. Letting Yeosang drive as they head towards the location, and parking a safe distance away from where they wouldn’t be seen.

“Security looks pretty tight, we won’t be able to just storm our way in without help...”Yeosang sighs, shaking her head as she lowers the binoculars she was using to get a better view of the front entrance.

“So, we’ll just have to make our own way in then.” San shrugs, “Come on, I have an idea.”

Seonghwa spotted the tear that rolled down your face before you could spot it and chuckled, “Aw, who knew angels could cry~”

He mocked you before having Jongho bring Mingi in and shove him into the chair in front of the monitors before going back to guard Wooyoung until he was needed, “It’s almost time, Mingi. I’m going to need you to get us set up. Or there’s gonna be consequences.” 

Yunho smirks playfully, brushing a finger over your cheek and collecting the tear, “You know you were rather pretty that night...but I think I prefer you this kind of broken.”

You glared at him, pulling away from his touch, which only made him chuckle. Until Jongho brought Wooyoung in. Seonghwa handed him the phone that was hardwired to the headset he handed Yunho, and the computer.

“You’re going to call Hongjoong for us.” Yunho demands of Wooyoung, pointing the gun at him. Wooyoung looks at you, with big frightened eyes. You nodded as you spotted a flash of Yeosang’s blonde hair in the security camera for the attic of the building. Seonghwa noticed the same thing and sent Jongho to deal with it. Wooyoung dials Hongjoong’s number, but when there’s no answer his hands shake, going to call again until Seonghwa stops him.

“Let Hongjoong call back, it’ll work better for our plan.” Seonghwa insists watching and waiting until the phone rings again, gesturing for Yunho to answer and Wooyoung to keep his mouth shut.

“H-Hello? This is Yunho.” He puts the front on again, despite grinning wickedly at you, “Wooyoung can’t come to the phone this second.”

“Oh, hi Yunho, this is Hongjoong. Are you with the angels again?” 

“Yeah, they had a lead, and since they weren’t sure where it was secure, they just had me go back to the base and hang out with Wooyoung. I think he went to the kitchen or something though, he shouldn’t take too long, hopefully, that’s okay.” Yunho watches Seonghwa and Mingi for the signal saying they got enough to use, to get into the system.

“That’s perfectly fine, Yunho. I’m glad you can be someplace safe right now. I don’t mind waiting for a few moments. Have the angels been doing alright?”

“Oh, the angels are perfect. Thank you so much for all the help, I honestly don’t know what I would do without you guys.” Yunho answers, and you here Hongjoong give an intrigued hum.

“Wonderful...you said you were at the base with Wooyoung, right?” 

“That’s right, I think I hear him coming back right now if you want to wait. Or I can take a message for you?” Yunho licks his lips as Mingi tells Seonghwa that they need just a little bit more.

“That’s interesting cause I thought I heard that the base just blew up.”

Your eyes widen, Wooyoung prepares to yell for Hongjoong to get help, but not quick enough as Yunho hangs up, “You’re gonna have to make that work Mingi, and fast. I don’t think we have a lot of time.”

“I-I don’t know if I can...”Mingi’s hands shake with fear as he works at the computer, Yunho huffing, impatiently as he puts the gun to Mingi’s head now.

“I don’t believe that was a question, Mingi. Now do it.” Yunho insists, taking over and making Seonghwa chuckle with a smirk.

“You’re so hot when you’re pissed.” Seonghwa winks at the other man, the pair cocky until Yeosang drops down from the roof, behind Seonghwa, cocking a gun at his head.

“Put it down, Yunho.” She glares at him, Yunho grumbling, but doing as she asks, only because it’s for Seonghwa, “Now kick it over to Wooyoung...Wooyoung I want you to take the bullets out.”

Wooyoung is obviously scared out of his mind. He does as he’s told, though, knowing that right now Yeosang has the upper hand. The girl chuckling afterward, the three of you from the agency, knowing something that the others didn’t...angels don’t use guns. Wooyoung quickly moved to undo your ties before they had a chance to get the upper hand again, so at least the odds would be a bit more even.

“How did you get past Jongho, though?” Yunho asked, only further infuriated by the current situation. Yeosang’s brows furrowing at the question.

“What do you mean, I never saw...”Her words fade out, glancing at the security cameras to see Jongho making it up to where Yeosang had come in. Her eyes, widening knowing that San was up there right now. Seonghwa, taking the opportunity to grab her wrist that held the gun and twisting it around until she dropped it, picking it up and pointing it at Yeosang.

“That was a mistake. You should have just run away, little angel.” Seonghwa hisses before pulling the trigger, thrown off by the click sound that it gave instead of going off. 

“Wow, for having a sister as an angel, you don’t know much hm?....angels don’t use guns.” You smirk, expecting a fight, but you don’t get one. Seonghwa simply snatched the drive with the locations from the angel’s database on it and clicked enter again.

“That one’s special......that one’s Hongjoong’s.” He growls before running off, with Yunho rushing behind him.

“Wooyoung, get Mingi out of here and call Hongjoong to try and warn him in time. Y/N and I are going after them since San is trying to get to the angels and warn them if she can...plus she has her hands full with the henchman.” Yeosang tells him before you and Yeosang are racing after the two men who hold the key to all the angels’ past and present, confidential information.

San was linked into the satellite they had been using to access the angels’ database, not there in time to stop them, but able to copy and document everything they had gotten. That way, they could get to or warn the angels at risk before the information got out if they weren’t able to stop Yunho and Seonghwa. Seemingly clueless to the fact that Jongho was coming up behind her. Only noticing something when he pulls out a knife, the metal reflecting sunlight flooding in from the window in front of her, sending a glare over her laptop screen. 

San noticed and spun to sweep Jongho’s leg, knocking him over in surprise and dropping the knife over the edge of the floor, dropping floors below. She’s quick to close the laptop and secure it in the case, slipping the strap around her form, where it could safely sit on her back. Jongho flips back onto his feet, to find her tying a knot into a rope hanging from one of the beams in the roof. Stopping her from going anywhere, by grabbing her hair and pulling her back so harshly she stumbles back and out of his hold with a yelp. It is a miracle she didn’t crush the laptop, but obvious that Jongho wasn’t going to let her get away without a fight.

San slipping on her gloves, getting an idea. When Jongho surges forward to get her again, she slips between his legs, sliding across the ground and grabbing the rope. It was supposed to be her way down, as the other end was secured to a sandbag. If Jongho didn’t want to let her slip away so easily, though, maybe he’d rather take that trip instead. 

“You really can’t stay still, can you? You’re a real pain.” Jongho frowns, that turning to agitation when San smirks at him.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so slow.” She taunts back, hoping to get the response she wants of him. Knowing she’d need an opening to be able to get the rope in place. Jongho gives her just that when he turns and kicks, aiming for her face. Only San ducks, the hand with the rope slipping around his foot, before pulling the knot tight as she rolls out of his way. Moving quickly to get on her feet again, jumping up and grabbing onto one of the beams before swinging and kicking full force at Jongho’s chest with both legs. 

Jongho spills over the edge, plummeting stories down. San, bouncing off the edge after him and grabbing the bag as it reaches the top, now having to use Jongho as a counterweight. 

Wooyoung and Mingi, stopping abruptly and shrieking when Jongho is suddenly hanging upside down in front of them before suddenly heading back up where he came from, soon replaced by San. The pair have paled in shock and fear, trembling as they look at San with shaky eyes.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to join you, girls, on missions anymore.” Wooyoung’s voice is soft as he blinks at San. The whole experience, proving to be far more than he was used to or expecting.

San giggles and kisses his cheek, handing him the laptop bag, “You’re doing amazing, Woo. Take this and warn the other angels, I’m going to help Y/N and Yeosang. I’ll see you soon.”

With that, she runs off, leaving Wooyoung and Mingi to take the laptop and bolt for one of the cars while security was preoccupied with helping Yunho and Seonghwa out. Easily snatching one of their cars, Wooyoung hands Mingi the laptop bag.

“Hold on to that! We have some angels to save.”

Wooyoung pulls up to the carnage remaining at Hongjoong’s house, the whole place gone. He chews on his lip, uncertain where to go now. Until he gets a phone call, answering with furrowed brows.

“I’m sending you an address Wooyoung, meet me there...we’ll have everything we need to help our girls.”

Seonghwa and Yunho closed a door behind them and secured it so that Yeosang and Y/N couldn’t get through. Even as they tried to bust it down, the pair cursed as they can’t get it open, even together.

“Hold on! I’m coming.” San yells, watching the struggle from where she races to meet them, the trio trying again together now. It finally being enough to breach the barrier. The guards, turning along with Yunho and Seonghwa.

Yunho pushed Seonghwa towards the car that had been started right before the angels got through, “I’ll take care of them, just go get your revenge.”

“Yunho’s mine.” You tell the girls, eager to finally be able to pay back the man for the way he’d played you since the beginning of this entire involvement. 

“I’ve got the guards, Yeo you go get Seonghwa,” San tells the other, who quickly snatches a motorcycle from one of the guards, slipping on a helmet and chasing after Seonghwa before anyone can stop her from doing so. Leaving San to handle roughly five guards unless you could finish Yunho quickly and get there to help her.

“Awe, is the little angel angry? That’s too bad.” Yunho jabs, evidently not at all fearful of you or the threat you pose to him, “After I kill you, I’m going to join Seonghwa in taking out each and every angel...painfully.”

“Show me your worst then, tough guy, cause I’m not going down without a fight.” You taunt right back, waiting for him to come closer. Though thrown off as his foot tosses a board up, kicking it in your direction, instead of coming straight for you. It's something you can easily deflect, but it hides Yunho’s form long enough that you aren’t prepared for him to be at you, metal chain in hand, and quickly wrapped around your throat. Leaving you gasping and squirming, barely able to turn around before he presses you against the wall, your hands gripping the metal tightly, trying to pull it off your neck enough to get a breath. 

You’re lucky to get a foot on the wall, using the leverage and walking up the wall to flip over Yunho. The chains now in your hand instead of around your throat. You twist, pulling the chain, and Yunho along with and onto the ground. Hovering over him before landing a hard punch to knock him out, while he was still stunned.

“You okay, San?” You question hearing the sounds stop from the other group, the girl huffing as she flips her hair out of her face with a soft chuckle, before approaching footsteps.

“Yeah, just a normal day on the job. You good too?” She asks, watching you secure Yunho with the chains with a nod. Doing it on the off chance, he regained consciousness before someone came to get him. She laughs at his state, “Was it really necessary to leave a mark like that?”

“Yeah...it was.” You shrug, backing away from him to head towards another motorcycle sitting there and grabbing a helmet, “Come on, let’s go help, Yeo.”

Seonghwa spotted Yeosang in his rearview mirror as he drove away, the latter quickly working to close the gap between the two of them. Seonghwa moving to take a more public road now, weaving in and out of cars hoping Yeosang wouldn't spot one before it could hit her. It didn't matter, though, as she reached his Jeep, jumping off the bike, to grab onto the back of it. Yeosang holds on tightly as Seonghwa made a sudden turn trying to throw her off. Yeosang hanging on long enough to be able to pull herself up and into the back, though. 

Just because Yeosang no longer had to worry about the risk of being flung off the car immediately, didn't mean she had time to catch her breath. She was quick to climb up, punching Seonghwa and trying to gain control over the wheel, though he was not thrown off for long, before shoving her back off him. Yeosang slamming back into the car door on the opposite side. It popped open just as she grabbed the frame of the car to pull herself back in. Shutting the door behind herself, but getting an idea from what had happened. 

Yeosang grabbed the frame of the car, kicking across the center console to throw Seonghwa against the door on his side. It popped open like the other one had his grip on the wheel the only thing keeping him inside until she did it again at least. Seonghwa rolled out of the car as Yeosang hopped into the driver's seat and safely pulled it over and to a stop. You and San, reaching them as Seonghwa pulled himself back up.

"Hongjoong is gone and your base is gone. What can the three of you do to stop me at this point? You're alone and don't have anything." Seonghwa continues to refuse the fact that he didn't stand a chance. Rejecting defeat until the very end. 

The three of you standing, side-by-side in front of him, in the signature angels ass-kicking pose. You shake your head, "You're wrong, Seonghwa. You're the only one here who's alone." 

"Besides, once an angel, always an angel." A voice calls from behind Seonghwa. More angels, currently, and returned surrounding him down, "You picked the wrong fight." 

The three of you looking at each other and smirking, before knocking Seonghwa out while he was distracted. Wooyoung and Mingi driving up, the former immediately jumping out, still frantic.

 "I see you girls got reinforcements. Did I do alright? You're all fine, right?" Wooyoung questions looking over you girls, making you chuckle and nod, to which he breathes a soft sigh of relief.

"What about Hongjoong, is he okay?" Yeosang asks, voicing your worries. Wooyoung smiles, pulling out his phone and clicking the button. 

"Hello, angels. Good work on another successful mission. I think you girls have earned yourselves a vacation... don't get too comfortable though, it's only until you get a new base."

 "Thank you, Hongjoong! We're glad you're okay." 

Wooyoung hangs up, turning back to the car as Mingi flusters and opens the door shyly for Yeosang. His cheeks tinted a bright pink, smiling softly at her as his eyes sparkle.

 "T-Thank you for saving me." Mingi looks her right in the eyes, "M-Maybe I could make it up to you...o-over dinner sometime? U-Unless you're seeing someone?" 

"Yeah." Yeosang smiles, before seeing his face fall and realizing how that sounded, "I-I mean, yeah, I'd love to do dinner or something... I-I'm not seeing anyone."

You and San roll your eyes, laughing softly. Before you finally speak up, "Come on you two, get in the car."

"Yeah, Hongjoong's giving us a vacation, and I want to soak in as much beach time as I can get before we're off again," San adds, Wooyoung rolling his eyes at your antics and getting in the driver's seat once more to drive the whole group of you off. 

The vacation on Hongjoong this time, it being the least he could do to take care of his angels.

[bonesaldente]

Ferocious I Darth Maul x Reader

Chapter 5: Revenge

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ao3

words: ~3700

____

“Lord Maul, there’s been a security breach in the prison.”

You exchange looks with Maul.

“Is it Satine?” You ask, already knowing the answer.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Maul has a smug expression on his face, one that typically wouldn’t be appropriate in this situation.

“Stop her, but do not hurry too much. Just don’t let her leave the planet.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The Mandalorian doesn’t question his orders, instead rushing out of the throne room while comming the other units.

“You are using her as bait for Kenobi,” you remark, seeing through his plan.

A timid voice behind you speaks up. “How do we know they won’t send Republic forces?”

Surprised you turn around to look at your sister, who until now has not been very outspoken during strategic discussions.

You wave off her worries. “We are a neutral system, they would know better than to come here. Kenobi on the other hand…”

“Noble as always, the Jedi will come to rescue his damsel in distress,” Maul finishes your sentence.

Loa nods in understanding.

“You will have your revenge, brother.” Savage muses.

“Are you going to kill him immediately?” It would be out of character of him to not at least think of a different way of hurting Kenobi.

“I am going to take from him what he kept from me… I will kill Satine, then kill him after, so that he dies knowing his duchess died… all because of him.”

And you’ll finally have one person less to worry about, one less reappearing figure of your nightmares.

Your comlink vibrates and you open the transmission, the blue silhouette of Mandalorian armor appearing.

“The duchess has been arrested, but her accomplices are still at large.”

“Did she make the transmission?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Bring her back to her cell and keep looking for her accomplices.”

You sever the connection and give Maul an expectant look.

“Now we wait.”

*

You did wait. One and a half days, to be more precise.

“An unregistered ship is closing in on the landing pad,” the voice crackles through the comlink. “How should we proceed?”

“Let’s see how this would play out without our interference, shall we?” Maul looks positively entertained.

“Standard procedure,” you order and cut the transmission.

“Don’t get too carried away,” you tease him. “He might actually make it off this planet if we keep letting him pass.”

Of course you know he won’t, but the thought is too amusing to not voice.

“Oh, I will make sure he will not ever set foot off this planet again, that I can assure you, my lady.”

There are perks to having the throne room to yourself, you think. One of them is the ability to be as lighthearted and flirty as you want to. The other … has been explored once or twice as a form of stress relief after a nerve-frying meeting already, though you doubt there is time for that right now.

“I’m sure you will.”

Absentmindedly, you tug at your braid. It’s a little lower than usual, just barely enough for you to notice the difference, but it’s that way for good reason: Maul did it for you this morning, after having watched you do it countless times with such skill and routine that he couldn’t help his curious nature. The final product was the result of the fourth try, after the first three failed for various reasons; not pulling hard enough, letting go of strands, getting distracted by your exposed neck. The last one, however, was surprisingly good, good enough for you to leave it in for the rest of the day while at the same time being a reminder of the pleasant memory.

“Let’s check on our friend Kenobi,” he suggests, the excitement glinting in his eyes.

You shake your head in amusement, tapping away on your wristcom to recall the security holo footage from the prison, zapping through various levels and angles until you find Satine’s cell - now empty.

“It appears the Jedi is faster than anticipated,” you remark, raising your arm to show him the abandoned place.

“So it does,” he muses, not worried in the least.

The emergency line crackles to life.

“It’s the duchess. She’s getting away!”

“Which way is she headed?”

“The landing pad!”

You look at Maul who nods calmly.

“Stop them from taking off,” you command. “We will be there.”

 The spaceship most likely wouldn’t have been able to take off on its own, let alone after several missiles were fired at its engines. Now it is spinning in the air, seconds from blowing up.

Better get out now, Kenobi.

You still have to squint, though the pain is bearable as long as you allow your eyes to get used to the changed light conditions gradually. The fire set to the ship however makes it all the more challenging for you to look at, and when the Jedi and his friend finally jump out and the ship goes up in a ball of flames, you have to shield your eyes so as to not go temporarily blind again, as it happens when the lighting changes suddenly.

Your hood is blown back with the intensity of the explosion and small pieces of metal rain down on your group. You’re lucky you have your mask that at least keeps you from breathing in the smoke and dust.

Slowly, you all approach the crash site where a blond man in Mandalorian armor - red Mandalorian armor, that of your warriors - weakly crawls over the ground, moving a piece of metal away from… away from the former duchess.

It seems his affection for the woman runs deeper than expected.

It is only now that he appears to notice you or more precisely, Maul.

“No, it can’t be.”

He ignites his lightsaber, though his stance is that of a man who has already pushed past his limits and Maul holds his neck in his outstretched hand in no time.

“We meet again, Kenobi. Welcome to my world.”

You can hear how positively euphoric the zabrak is to finally have his revenge in such close proximity and you yourself can’t help the elated feeling that washes over you. This is it.

“Take them back to the palace.”

The Jedi is unable to walk anymore and it truly would be a pitiful display had you not lived the past ten years in fear of him and the rest of those knights somehow tracking you down and … bringing you to justice for the numerous crimes on your record. But no longer do you need to fear him, or any Jedi at that.

 *

“Your noble flaw is a weakness shared by you… and your duchess.”

Nothing but Maul’s words of victory and Satine’s desperate gasps as he holds her up in the air by the neck can be heard, with the exception of Kenobi drawing in a sharp breath upon seeing the woman in such a predicament.

“You should have chosen the dark side, Master Jedi. Your emotions betray you. Your fear, and yes, your anger. Let your anger deepen your hatred.”

The last time you saw Kenobi - in person, seeing as he is one of the more prominent faces of the army of the Republic - he was a mere padawan, young and inexperienced but marked by deep sorrow. Today, he is almost unrecognizable, but it is this moment that you can see the same kind of raw emotion on the face of the man that is usually so collected. Today, he is a padawan all over again, watching helplessly as somebody he cares for dies at the hands of the Sith.

“Don’t listen to him, Obi-”

“Quiet.”

Kenobi takes a deep breath, and you just have to admire that pure self-control in a situation so dire.

“You can kill me, but you will never destroy me. It takes strength to resist the dark side. Only the weak embrace it.”

“It is more powerful than you know.” There is something more than intimidation that resounds in Maul’s voice; he sounds almost regretful for a second, more sincere than you expected him to be in the presence of the man he hates with such a passion.

“And those who oppose it are more powerful than you’ll ever be. I know where you’re from. I’ve been to your village. I know the decision to join the dark side wasn’t yours. The nightsisters made it for you.”

He’s been to the village? What else don’t you know?

“Silence!” Maul’s until now calm demeanor crumbles and out comes the fury that has been lingering in his hearts for over a decade.

“You think you know me? It was I who languished for years, thinking of nothing but this moment. And now the perfect tool for my vengeance is in front of us. I never planned on killing you. But I will make you share my pain, Kenobi.”

You know the moment has come, the moment where he will break him.

Kenobi is pushed to his knees as Maul ignites the darksaber; It is borderline poetical how the former ruler of Mandalore will lose her life through the weapon she banned alongside its culture.

It happens in mere seconds: Satine’s body is pulled forward with the force, Maul turns and the darksaber goes straight through her middle. Fast, clean; almost merciful.

The Jedi scrambles to catch her falling body, brushing her hair out of her face so tenderly that despite your detestation of the man, you almost feel sorry for him. He, just like Maul, was a victim of his circumstances. And now, he is suffering just like Maul did.

The gloomy mood is overwritten by Maul’s silent ecstasy that he is feeling so intensely, he is - subconsciously or not - projecting it onto you.

“Remember, my dear Obi Wan… I’ve loved you always. I always will.”

Her words are spoken hoarsely, quietly with her dying breath and you feel like an intruder to watch this tragic scene unfold, but you can’t take your eyes off the two. Kenobi’s chest shakes with sorrow when her body goes limp in his arms. “Do we kill him now, brother?”

You love Savage like a brother, but there are times that his approach to things is a little primitive.

“No,” It seems his crimson brother has thought of a new way to destroy Kenobi - even further.

“Imprison him below. Let him drown in his misery. Take him to his cell to rot.”

Your head whips around to face Maul, your surprise clear in your eyes.

This is not what you had agreed on. He was supposed to kill him now and end this once and for all.

“The prison is not suited to hold a Jedi,” you argue.

“We will find an appropriate cell for our guest, I’m sure.”

You have to bite your tongue to keep yourself from talking back to him. This is his revenge, not yours. And if keeping Kenobi alive for now is what will make him feel better after having lived abandoned and alone on Lotho Minor for years, then so be it. But you have one condition.

“I’m coming along to make sure the appropriate measures are taken.” It’s not a question, it’s a plain statement that is not to be argued with.

If he is to be kept on Mandalore then you need to make sure he will not ever leave the prison complex, for the sake of your own sanity - you’ve lived long enough worried about this man bursting through the door after he saw your face on Naboo, you don’t need to have this fear for the rest of your life.

You try to tell him as much with one look, unwilling to let down your mental walls around the Jedi.

Maul understands.

“Very well.”

He looks so regal, sitting in that throne with his crown of horns atop his head and the sword of the ruler in his right hand. You try to etch the picture into your memory, your eyes traveling from the clean lines on his face over his toned shoulders to the cybernetics that you are still in the process of getting used to, though the sound of metal on the stone floor has quickly become one you associate with Maul.

Spinning on your heel, you wave for the guards to follow you.

“Let’s take him away.”

 It’s almost disappointing how little Kenobi does to fight back, but at the same time it makes you extremely anxious. It shouldn’t go so smoothly, it never goes this smoothly. Did he bring reinforcement after all? The next thing you’ll know is the Jedi are invading Mandalore and destroying everything you have.

No, you wish he had fought against the guards dragging him over the ground instead of just hanging there with his head dropped in utter defeat, as well as how he is currently kneeling on the transport pad without even glancing at his surroundings.

“Speed it up if you can,” you order the armored man in charge of the controls, voice cold and commanding as always through the modulator.

You have just made it onto the platform of the prison when you hear the first shot.

“Take cover!” you yell at the same time that someone else cries out: “It’s the rebels!”

Somebody’s jetpack explodes behind you, sending you flying over the edge of the platform. You just barely manage to hold onto the ledge with one hand, watching as one of the guards, the one you had told to hurry, falls hundreds of feet until you can’t even him anymore.

Grunting from the exertion, you pull yourself back up, immediately rolling under a swing from -

“You!” You hiss, shooting at the blasted woman that is the cause for your still impaired vision. The shots just bounce off of her beskar armor, though one singes the red hair enough to distract her momentarily, giving you a chance to draw your vibroblades, your actual vibroblades, not the laughable replacement you had on your first encounter.

“I was hoping I’d see you again.” You snarl, lounging at Bo-Katan, the constant throbbing behind your temples only fueling your strength by reminding you of what she’d done.

This time, you get the upper hand quickly, pushing her closer and closer to the abysm lurking beyond the ledge of the platform. Other rebels are approaching from behind you but you don’t care; you almost have their leader at your mercy - the moment she has to evade by using her jetpack, you’ll get the second you need to have a clear shot at her unprotected head. You know this, and so does she.

“You are a traitor!”

“Pre Vizsla was meant to be Mandalore’s ruler, not this outsider!” She counters, venom dripping from her voice.

“You’ll pay for your betrayal, I will see to that,” you snap in return, inching closer to the edge.

“Oh, will you? Speaking of seeing,” her obnoxious tone makes you grit your teeth, “how are your ey-”

You slash at her without warning, but she lets herself fall backwards. Your eyes track her movement, blaster pointed and ready but right before you can pull the trigger, she does something unexpected.

“Aah, you bi-”, the blinding light shining from her gauntlet makes you stagger backwards while you desperately try to cover your eyes. You don’t get to finish the curse as someone jams something, a needle, into your neck.

“Why you blasted son of … ssson of… what did… “

You fall, the world going black when your back meets the floor with a dull thud.

*

“I still don’t quite understand why you took her with you. If anything, it’s going to infuriate Maul even more.”

“I am well aware of that, Anakin,” Obi-Wan sighs, running a tired hand through his hair. He has hardly gotten any sleep in the past 48 hours and it’s starting to catch up to him. “But she could have valuable information that, unlike Maul, she may be more inclined to share with us.”

“Sir,” Cody steps into his field of vision, holding a datapad in his hand. “Our scans have brought some first results concerning her identity.”

“Excellent, put them up.”

The holotable lights up when the datapad is connected to it, and a second later he is faced with a headshot of the masked woman who goes by the name Spectress.

“The first time that name popped up was around eight years ago, there is no mention of her before that. There are several outstanding arrest warrants for assassinations and kidnappings, some of which concerned galactic senators.”

“Thank you, Cody.”

The commander gives him a respectful nod and takes a step back to stand next to Captain Rex who has been silent until now.

“So basically… We know nothing about her?” Anakin’s incredulous look only adds to Obi-Wan’s weariness and he is about to retort something when Rex suddenly speaks up.

“Uh, Sir? I think I have seen that person before.”

Anakin looks at his captain with furrowed eyebrows.

“She has been on several ‘Wanted’ posters, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“No, Sir, I mean something else.” The clone clears his throat. “I’ve seen her… on Kamino.”

Immediately, his interest is piqued. “Kamino? What could she possibly have wanted on Kamino?”

“I don’t know, Sir. She was with Jango Fett. They seemed to know each other.”

“Jango Fett… so that was before the war broke out.” Obi-Wan thinks loudly. “Anakin, are you thinking what I’m thinking?

“She could know something about the creation of the army and Syfo Dias.”

“Exactly.” He strokes his beard in thought. “Also, if she truly is as close to Maul as we think, she might have information on the unknown Sith Lord.”

“The only question is how we’re going to make her talk,” Anakin throws in. “I doubt someone like this is going to be very cooperative.”

The blast doors slide open and an officer hurries into the room.

“General Kenobi, we have found something else that you may want to see.”

The man opens a projection of what appears to have once been information stored on a bounty puck.

“We ran some face scans and this picture was a 90 percent match. The information adds up.”

The woman in the picture is young, her face serious yet clearly youthful. But what strikes him most is the fact he instantly recognizes her. How could he not? It was her he ran into right after the most drastic turning point in his life, the death of his master. Back then her face was streaked with tears and painted in the same shock he felt when he saw her. He didn’t realize then that she was crying for the dead, supposedly dead Sith lord.

Obi-Wan tears his gaze away from the photo, instead skimming the brief information. The woman appeared to be from Kessel, but the bounty on her head was too considerable for a low-level criminal in the Outer Rim. Then something else catches his eye.

“Tattoos on abdomen, ankle and back… Did you-”

“Yes, the information matches the prisoner.” That leaves little room for doubt.

“This is supposed to be Spectress? The mercenary?”

Anakin’s disbelief is understandable. The name Spectress is well-known enough to have reached the ears of the Republic Commando on multiple occasions, and the face staring back at him from the projection is hardly one that would fit the reputation.

“You must remember, Anakin, this was over a decade ago. You were just a child when this was taken and look where you are today: Much can change in that time.”

“Of course, Master.” His tone has changed, it is more distant now. His padawan, former padawan, dislikes any mention of his young age, but Obi-Wan is too worn out to address this issue at the moment.

“Has she woken up yet?” He instead asks the officer.

“No, Sir, though the sedative should wear off soon. We are unfamiliar with the exact effects of the particular mixture seeing as it does not correspond to Republic standards, but-”

He waves the clone off.

“Notify me when she awakes.”

The man salutes and leaves the room, giving him a chance to look over the other data their scans have provided.

“Bruising on arms and legs, remnants of stab wounds in several places, light sensitivity, tattooed insignia on back… What is the meaning of this?”

“It appears there is some kind of an emblem she is marked with. It is not an entirely uncommon practice in more exclusive guilds, especially in the outer rim…” Cody frowns while he studies his own datapad.

“Do we have an image of this insignia?”

“That’s what’s strange, sir. A scar runs right through the middle, so our algorithms have trouble searching the database. Look,” Cody holds out his datapad for Obi-Wan to take.

The image is indeed striking, but not because of the scar.

“I am familiar with this emblem,” Obi-Wan mumbles, staring at the two overlapping gearwheels and the distinct lines running through them. “I’ve seen it during my time undercover as Rako Hardeen, though I never knew Spectress had anything to do with them.”

“Who are they?” Anakin inquires, tired of being left in the dark.

“It is a guild of contract killers, they call themselves the Concinnity.” Obi-Wan swallows, remembering the stories he heard from other bounty hunters. “They start training when they are still children and they are… ruthless.”

“Well, that would at least explain what somebody like Maul sees in her… and vice-versa, I guess.”

“Do you think she’s still a member, sir? I doubt she would have worked with Jango Fett while in that kind of guild.”

Rex brings up a valid point.

“I suppose we will have to wait until we can ask her ourselves,” Obi-Wan sighs. “But the more I find out about this person, the less i feel like she is going to cooperate with us, to be completely honest.”

“She’ll talk, one way or another.”

Anakin’s willingness to use the force to break mental barriers has been worrying the Jedi master for a longer time now, though he hasn’t brought it up with him yet. It seems like more and more things are starting to be left unsaid between them.

His comlink beeps.

“General Kenobi, the prisoner is conscious. You can start the interrogation whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you, I will be right there.”

“Also, sir, she is not… happy.”

He exhales deeply.

“I expected no less.”

____

notes: Could it be... a POV change? Impossible! I've been wanting to write from Obi-Wan's point of view for a while, I feel like it gives another dimension to the conflict between our favorites.

I know I originally said I was going to post this to tumblr yesterday but I Straight Up forgot. My bad. 

@princessayveke @spaghetti-666 @noiralei @larawl @secretnerd00 @bagpipes606 @zabrak-show @brilliantbutbatty @eleine-t1d

[jiminieloved]

Lol, welp, since your submission page does say you’re accepting people venting their opinion about something, and other anons you’re getting today have made this topical, I’m going to submit a bit of a frustrated opinion piece to you here- though I totally understand if you don’t want to post it if you think others might take it the wrong way and feel like it’s inciting drama or something. 

So bit of a hot take here, but I hold the opinion that Jikookers who insist that the post SY Final emails from TKers/hetshippers about stopping Jikook’s ‘gay performances’ worked, and that Jikook has ‘barely breathed’ and stopped interacting in public since then specifically because Big Hit won’t ‘let’ them because of those complaints, because they’re now trying to suppress their relationship and please Taekookers, are almost as frustrating as the crowd that starts weeping about how Jikook broke up every single time we go a week without a new moment at this point- it’s just two different forms of baseless hysteria grounded in insecurity. There’s a reason TKers have been widely mocked for coming up with conspiracy theories about how BH has turned TK into a tragic, forbidden love that is forced to stay apart, and I just hate seeing so many of us turn around and do the exact same thing the second we miss the boys for a minute. Now, allow to me explain WHY I think this idea is so silly, if I may

I guarantee that Big Hit gets complaints and demands about EVERYTHING related to the boys, that’s just the nature of overseeing literally the biggest band in the world- and yet people truly believe that of all the things they hear about, they caved to the emailed demands of what was most likely not even actually a full 100 people among BTS’s 1mil+ person fan base? You’re giving what was most likely a double digit amount of TKers (whenever anyone tries to bust out a tweet of people complaining about all the Jikook interactions that night that has triple digit likes, as if that’s proof that hundreds upon HUNDREDS of people were emailing Big Hit, I have to roll my eyes; one, a lot of that those likes probably come from people who have multiple accounts, and two, there’s way less energy involved with hitting like on a tweet than composing and sending an email-I would bet you anything that the vast majority of people who did the former never actually followed through with the latter. Not to mention that even if it actually had been a few hundred, which it almost definitely wasn’t, that’s STILL a completely insignificant portion of BTS’s fanbase) entirely too much credit if you think BH started suddenly declaring how and when JM and JK are allowed to interact just because of them; frankly, BH likely gets WAY more nutso emails from people about dumb things like wanting Tae publicly flogged for vaping or wanting JK kicked out of the group for having tattoos than they ever have about shipping matters- I’d be shocked if this particular issue was even a blip on the radar, or ever went beyond the administrative assistant in charge of sorting through fan emails laughing to themself as they deleted the nonsense.

But hey, let’s say the emails DID make it to the higher-ups at Big Hit and they WERE aware of them- thinking they started keeping Jikook apart because of them requires assuming BH places more weight into a few pressed emails than they do the entire sold out stadium being filled with the sound of hysterical, supportive, happy screaming every time Jikook were acting boo’d up that night, and, uh… WHY would you assume that, lol? Even IF BigHit is hypersensitive to how Army responds to specific ships, which I honestly doubt, I promise you any company would care more about the real-time reaction of a 60000 person true random sampling of the band’s fan base than a comparatively TINY amount of emails or tweets that, for all they know, are just being spammed by the same five people with an agenda across different accounts, and that real-time reaction to Jikook from 60000 random fans was extremely positive. Not to mention how Jikook is more popular than Taekook with both K-Army and J-Army, and it’s only I-Army that Taekook has the edge with; why does anyone think Big Hit cares more about a shipping subset of their third biggest market than a shipping subset of their first two biggest markets, if they’re going to care about shipping at all?

Then there’s the issue where I also think it’s kind of insulting to Jimin and Jungkook to suggest they would have even stood for being forcibly distanced to please some pissy Taekook fans, TBH. I’m not saying they get to live their lives as openly as they want 100% of the time, obviously as Idols there are things they make big concessions about, but Jungkook is a man who has been acknowledging since 2014 that a lot of their fans would be very upset with him if he ever got a tattoo, and who then still proceeded to get 20+ of them because that’s what HE wanted, Jimin is a man who saw fans complaining his shirt was too revealing and he should stop wearing it and proceeded to wear that shirt as often as possible throughout the next few weeks to make a point- you think they’d put up a fight like that for tattoos and clothes, but not for the person that we as Jikookers are assuming is their beloved partner? That’s not even getting into Jungkook being so vocal and so brave with gestures like GCF Tokyo and Rose Bowl; I would bet you anything that same man would not sit there quietly and nod along if an executive tried to order him to stop being seen with Jimin and start playing up his friendship with Taehyung for the camera more often, all just so they could please some obnoxious American teenagers. 

And finally, and what might be the biggest point to me- the ‘Jikook has been dead since then!’ and ‘Something is clearly off between them since then!’ narratives are SO exaggerated by Jikookers anyway, ones who have lost all perspective about how they haven’t been in public much since November, and they both barely use social media anymore, so ALL content from them drops off dramatically when there’s no tour, no promotions, and no appearances happening. Shippers keep complaining that we’ve had barely any new content in 2020, it’s all been stuff that was filmed in 2019 and just released now, waaah, and I’m just like ‘…uh, yeah, and that’s the case for literally every ship involving Jimin or Jungkook, because the three weeks of album promotion we got are basically all either of them have been seen for this year.’ If they were both constantly around and acting affectionate with other members while visibly icing only each other out, then maybe I could get the conspiracy theories, but I genuinely can’t recall any significant interactions either of them have had with other members outside of the clearly planned and scheduled V-Lives- not that this means the interactions in said V-lives weren’t genuine and cute, for the record! But it’s not like Jungkook was just hanging out at Tae’s apartment and they spontaneously decided to go live- Big Hit clearly had these particular lives mapped out and they’ve essentially been part of the boys’ current work schedule. They’ve both made themselves scarce, period, you can’t get ‘fed’ by people who just straight up aren’t making public appearances or using their social media accounts- and when we HAVE seen them, like in the last two OT7 lives, they’ve very much seemed like their normal selves and have been right by each other’s side, per usual. Also, when you look back on years in your mind as a compilation of significant moments, it makes you forget that even in 2018 and 2019, it wasn’t uncommon to go weeks or months between content; your brain just selectively filters out the time in-between that you spent waiting to remember only the good stuff we got those years, and it makes it feel like it was a constant flood of moments happening all at once; you remember ALL of 2018 and 2019 as their respective best dozen moments, forgetting that there was plenty of time in between even then, and that Jikookers frequently threw embarrassing fits about how they had clearly broken up any time their ‘feeding schedule’ was off for a few weeks even then.

And I mean, the face smushing pictures that have already become a Jikook fandom all time favorite moment were post SYF, the chest groping performance of Home was post SYF, them lovingly smiling while singing The Earth Traveler directly to each other and the behind the scenes clip of them looking just as smitten during the recording was post SYF, the extremely flirty and domestic New Year’s VLive that had Jikook fandom dying was post SYF, the video of them flirting about how long they’ve been a unit was post SYF (not to mention how Big Hit deciding to give them a photobook subunit in the first place, or deciding to include that flirty footage in the album release event stream, were both choices made post SYF), the big Jikook feast that was Winter Package was post SYF (and again, BH didn’t HAVE to include all that Jikook footage, and they DEFINITELY didn’t have to write the very shippy captions that one had- they chose to), Jimin holding Jungkook’s arm in the airport was post SYF, them holding hands while walking off stage at the Japan muster was post SYF, Jungkook calling Jimin cute and sexy during the album release and all of their flirting across the table and hugging and touchiness that same night was post SYF, the V-Live where Jimin was being very affectionate with Jungkook and there was that adorable minute long sequence where you could tell how badly they were fighting the instinct to hold hands was post SYF, Jungkook publicly and proudly losing his mind over Jimin the Black Swan reaction video was post SYF, them choosing to let us see them happily riding home together was post SYF, Jungkook stopping dead in his tracks and abandoning the routine to just lovingly stare at Jimin for two minutes straight during Carpool Karaoke was post SYF, the cuddling and spooning during recent Run BTS episodes was filmed prior to then, but BH’s decision to include the footage and post the photo was post SYF, same with all the season’s greeting Jikook footage, same with BH deciding to make the 5th Muster DVD an all out Jikook holy grail, same with BH having the Speak Yourself Japan behind-the-scenes footage be more Jikook than anything else. If that’s Jikook after supposedly being ordered to stay away from each other or to at least ‘tone down the gay’, and if Big Hit’s idea of pulling back on Jikook means still having the behind the scenes footage on the next 4 paid content DVD releases be LOADED with Jikook and basically revolve around their interactions, then call me crazy, but I think things are gonna be okay

[kerikaaria]

If I Never Met You: Chapter 36

(??? X Reader) Idol!AU, Manager!Reader

Genre: (PG13) Angst and fluff

WC: 3.4k

Warnings: None

Series Masterlist

Chapter 35 | Chapter 36 | Chapter 37

MANAGER OF K-POP GROUP RESCUES IDOL, SEVERELY INJURRED ON MV SET

K-pop group BTS is currently celebrating their first ever music show win tonight with their captivating performance of ‘I Need U.’ But while the idols are basking in the joy of their first win, one of their managers who has been with them since the beginning is not in quite so good of shape.

An anonymous source has provided us with an exclusive behind the scenes look at some of the chaos which occurred during the shooting for the music video for the track ‘I Need U.’ We have photo proof of the incident, captured from a video which our anonymous source provided for us.

In the music video, each member has their own stories to portray. One such story is portrayed by the member V, whose character appears to live in an abusive household. The video shows him having a scuffle with who we assume to be the character’s father. This is where things didn’t go exactly according to plan during filming, according to the source.

“The scene was originally supposed to have some back and forth between V and the actor,” our source explained. “In the music video, you can see that next to where the fight happens there is a piece of furniture, like a shelving unit. During the first filming attempts when the actor pushed V away from him, he had accidentally pushed him into the furniture a few times.

[Picture of the set described above]

“I honestly have no idea how she even saw it. It happened so quickly that no one else could react, but she reacted so fast. The last time V had bumped into the furniture, it had rocked it enough that it started to tip over. Before anyone even knew what was happening, the manager had pulled V out of the way, but the furniture ended up falling on her instead.”

[Picture of the scene, furniture mid-fall]

“It was so shocking and happened so suddenly. After I was able to process what had happened, I couldn’t help but feel amazed that she was able to act so quickly.”

The manager in question is L/n Y/n, who has been working with the group since 2012. She was taken to the hospital, where she was treated for two broken legs. She left the facility a few days later in a wheelchair and we assume she will be unable to work until she can walk on her own again.

To long-time fans of BTS, her name may sound familiar. Not too long after the group debuted in 2013, pictures of her with the idols had been leaked online.

[Picture of Y/n with Seokjin and Namjoon in 2013]

Fans’ immediate reactions to the pictures were very critical, wondering who this mystery woman was and why she seemed so close to the group. It didn’t take long for their company, BigHit Entertainment, to post an official statement saying another employee of the company had gotten into her phone and released the pictures. That employee was promptly fired, and after a post on the group’s twitter introducing her, fans relented on their criticisms.

[Namjoon’s tweet from that day]

“It is really obvious, seeing her interactions with the group that they are rather close,” our anonymous source confirmed. “They seem to be as close as family.”

Not much is known about where she is right now, but we expect she’s probably resting at home, recovering from the injury. Depending on how bad the injury was, she could take anywhere from two to six months to recover…

Bang PD was sitting in your living room, making you feel incredibly anxious. He didn’t want you to come down to the company since there was not really any discreet way for you to enter the building. After the article from yesterday, there were reporters waiting outside, hoping to run into someone they could squeeze information out of.

You really appreciated his thoughtfulness, but at the same time him being in your house was somewhat intimidating.

“I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with that article, PD-nim,” you said.

“Don’t worry, Y/n,” he responded. “I know it wasn’t you. You couldn’t have had access to the video footage they were supplied with. You’re not in trouble. I’m merely here to discuss with you how we are going to proceed from here.”

You nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“So far, there’s a very positive reaction to the article,” Bang said. “Fans are praising you for being so quick and attentive, and for keeping Taehyung from getting hurt. I really don’t see this article causing us any trouble so I don’t think we’ll need to do damage control.”

You felt a lot of the nervous tension you had building up leave you at that. You had seen a lot of comments left on the article yourself and it did appear to be positive, but you were scared to check Twitter or anywhere else so you weren’t sure if the response was similar elsewhere.

“As for what we are going to do, we have a few options,” PD-nim continued. “Now, you are not one of our celebrities. You didn’t sign up to be in the spotlight at all. So I can’t force you to do this, but I think it would be good if you would be willing to provide some kind of statement for the fans. We could do it internally, just have some basic questions written up which you can respond to and then we could then publish in an official statement from us, or send it to different news outlets to write articles about. What do you think, Y/n?”

You took a moment to think about it, but felt really unsure of yourself. “What would you want me to say?” you asked.

“Basically just whatever you want about the incident, as long as PR and I approve it. We’d come up with a list of questions to guide it, and see if there’s anything the fans are curious about that you could answer as well.”

That didn’t sound too bad, to be honest. Especially if it would just be done internally, rather than having to speak to some random reporter or interviewer. “I think I could do that,” you decided. “So you’re doing this to help promote the album even more I’m assuming? Since it’s something getting good PR.”

Bang spluttered for a moment before clearing his throat. “Well, when you put it bluntly like that…”

You laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it as something bad. I just clarified more so that I just understood why you were hoping for me to do this. And if you need me to talk about the album or anything like that.”

“Oh, that you don’t need to do. It’ll be a little too straightforward that way. Just mentioning the music video, which will be easy to do when you’re talking about the fact that it happened on the set, and saying the name of the track is good enough. Only what you’d need to in order to tell the story. Any more than that and it’ll be a bit too much.”

You nodded in understanding. “Okay. Can I just write my answers to the questions though? I think that will be easier for me than talking to someone.”

“No problem. I’ll have PR come up with questions to cover all of our bases, and then if there would be anything else you want to add outside of those answers, feel free. I’ll try to get those sent to you either today or tomorrow, and if you could answer and send them back as quickly as you can, but without rushing it?”

“Sounds like a plan,” you smiled.

It was a lot easier than you expected to talk about the accident, and once your statement was finalized and sent out to the various news outlets, the articles were written surprisingly fast.

It had even gone viral to an extent. Even though BTS was still working their way up, stories like this in the K-pop world weren’t very common. The one thing that you weren’t prepared for was how supportive Army suddenly was of you.

You weren’t unknown to them—of course you were frequently seen with the boys, plus the pictures of you that had been leaked two years ago still circulated every now and then. And there were those who would say nice things about you here and there. But this was a whole new level you had never seen before, at least not for yourself.

They were sending so much support to BTS' Twitter, saying how thankful they were that the boys had you with them and praising you for protecting Taehyung. You felt that some things that they said were a little over the top, though. Some of them were idolizing you, making it sound like you were some kind of hero and that other managers needed to strive to be you. Those things were maybe just a little too much.

No, they were definitely way too much. And it was a surprise to you that the positive reactions weren’t really helping you feel better at all. In fact, they only did when you were actively reading comments. Otherwise, the realization of being further in the spotlight than ever weighed on you so much more than you could have ever expected.

And of course, the promotions for BTS’ album continued to go well, their fanbase seeming to increase faster than ever before. Needless to say, with the increase of promotional activities the boys were busier than ever.

It felt silly that being separate from them so often lately bothered you as much as it did. It was selfish, really, wanting to always be around them. You knew that was unrealistic, not even because of your current situation, but because they had their own lives. You couldn’t expect them to always spend time with you, and probably sooner rather than later they would find friends who they’d rather spend their free time with.

Which wouldn’t be a bad thing, not at all. It was natural. Being stuck here while they were off working and too busy to see you most days now made you realize that you’d gotten unhealthily attached to BTS. You should really have been thinking of a way to fix that, but all it did right now was make you feel worse.

They were currently in Malaysia, and even for a few days before that only one of them was barely able to trudge into your apartment at night to help you into bed. You wished you could just spend all day in bed and not get up, but the nurse would never allow you to. You remembered one morning when you told her you just wanted to stay in bed, but she gave you a mini lecture on why that was really unhealthy and that she highly encouraged you to get into your chair.

You spent too long just staring at your phone screen, which was currently showing the group chat. You had gotten a few texts from one or two of them when they first arrived in Malaysia, a few pretty pictures and a “Wish you were here with us.” But they’d been too busy since to text.

So many times you hovered your fingers over the keyboard, itching to talk to them. But you couldn’t. You knew they were busy. And when they weren’t busy, they were tired and needed to rest. And these were things that you constantly reminded yourself of, things that you repeatedly told yourself to get these stupid incessant thoughts in your head to just shut up.

But logic didn’t work with anxiety. It didn’t matter that you knew that. This thing in your head would still whisper in your ear.

‘But they could find time to text you if they wanted. It only takes a moment to send it. If they really wanted to talk to you, they’d be trying. But they’re not. They don’t care about you as much as they say they do.’

Anxiety was pure evil.

And unfortunately for you right now, you were falling deep into its grimy clutches. Trying to think about Army’s support just made you feel so much pressure and added weight onto your shoulders you didn’t need. Thinking about the boys made your anxiety’s claws dig in even further into your skin.  But maybe, if you just focused on just him that would be okay, right? It had helped you many times before.

As you felt your breath starting to become shallower, you closed your eyes and tried to fill your mind with just thoughts of him. But images of memories that usually warmed your heart were soon overpowered by that voice in your head.

‘You know he doesn’t feel the same. You’re just plain old Y/n. His manager, his friend. He’s an artist, a celebrity. He has both girls and boys falling at his feet every day. Why would he ever want you?’

You shook your head as the tears started to fall from your eyes. You couldn’t even begin to try to reason with it on this one. It was right. You should have figured out a way to put a stop to the way you were feeling when you first realized it. But instead you let it grow and fester and now you were in way too deep to just push it aside. You were such an idiot.

With nothing to stop it, you let the dam break. All the emotions you’d been trying so hard to keep under control just flowed out through your tears. At least when you stopped fighting it, the anxiety seemed to shut up and let you just feel everything in peace.

Your mind gone blank, you lost track of time while you sat there, glad you were at home and alone so no one could see you looking like an emotional wreck. As your tears were slowing down, your phone began to ring.

It was the ringtone you had set for him.

And he was requesting a video call. You cleared your throat and warmed your voice up for a moment, hoping it was enough to hide the fact that you had just been crying for who knows how long and answered with voice only.

Yoongi and Taehyung must have been sharing a room since both of them were on the screen, sitting on a hotel bed.

“Noona!” Tae greeted excitedly, but his expression quickly mellowed almost into a frown. “Why do you have your video off?”

“Ah, sorry,” you replied, clearing your throat again when your voice came out a little too nasally, and to buy you a moment to think up a lie. “I haven’t gotten to shower today so I look gross.”

“We’ve seen it before,” Yoongi said. “Nothing new there.”

“But, you can’t look gross, noona,” Tae said, throwing his hyung a look. “We don’t care, we just want to see you! We miss you.”

“Sorry,” you repeated, sniffling a little. “Maybe next time.”

Yoongi’s brows furrowed, and he exchanged a glance with Taehyung who was beginning to look concerned as well.

“Are you okay?” Yoongi asked. “You sound…”

“Like you’ve been crying,” Taehyung finished.

Darn, you were hoping they wouldn’t have noticed. “I’m fine,” you tried, smiling in hopes that would make your tone sound lighter. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Would you turn on your camera then?” Yoongi asked. “So we can see that you’re fine?”

Curse Yoongi and his deceivingly high EQ. You sighed, not able to come up with a response quickly enough to cover yourself. When they didn’t say anything more and just continued to look concerned, you caved in and turned on the camera.

“I actually do probably look really gross right now, sorry,” you said.

“Oh my-. Noona, what happened?” Taehyung asked.

“Fans weren’t being jerks again were they?” Yoongi checked. “Last I saw, they were saying nice thing about you.”

“No, it’s not that,” you said. “I just… my anxiety has been getting to me a lot lately and I guess it just got to be too much today.”

The two on the phone exchanged another look. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Taehyung gently asked. “You were doing well, weren’t you? At least last you mentioned it to us, you were.”

“I was,” you confirmed. “I don’t really quite understand what’s causing it sometimes lately. Sometimes I do, but… it’s something I need to handle on my own.”

“What do you mean you need to handle it on your own?” Yoongi asked. “We promised to be here for you whenever you need us, and we stick by that. We want to help. If it’s this bad then, not to sound rude but maybe it’s something too tough for you to handle on your own right now. And that’s okay, that’s what we’re here for.”

You really had no idea how you could possibly tell them the root of the problem without making them feel bad. It wasn’t their fault they were busy and you were hurt. Not to mention, if you told Taehyung of all people, he would only feel infinitely worse since he never stopped blaming himself for you being hurt.

You must have taken too long to reply since Taehyung offered in a quiet voice, “Is it because you’re alone? That you’re sitting at home by yourself most of the time with no one there to keep you company?”

You were so shocked he hit the nail straight on the head that you just stared at the screen with your mouth open, not able to reply.

“That’s what it is, isn’t it?” Taehyung looked at you through the phone, gaze imploring.

“I-,” you really needed to work on your lying capabilities. With that earnest look in his eyes, how could you dare lie to him? You nodded carefully. “But, I don’t blame you guys,” you quickly clarified. “You guys are busy, it’s your job. I absolutely do not think you guys are ignoring me or that you don’t care. I know that you just don’t have the time, and my only other friends are singers too. I don’t or can’t expect any of you to just drop your jobs for me.”

“No, we can’t,” Yoongi said. “But we could definitely put more effort into contacting you.”

Taehyung vigorously nodded. “Yes! Would that help? If we texted and called more often? Remind you that you’re important to us no matter what? And make sure you know we are always missing you and thinking about you? Because I do. I miss you like crazy without you with us. Even when we’re still in Seoul.”

Taehyung spoke really fast, making you take a second to absorb everything that he said before you could reply. “I think that would help, yes,” you admitted. “If I’m honest, I’m always wanting to text the group chat. But I don’t want to bother you when you’re so busy, and-”

“You could never be a bother to us, noona,” Yoongi firmly responded. “If you want to text the group chat, do it. It doesn’t matter if it’s just one text, or if the next time we have time to look you’ve written us an entire novel. We’ve been curious why you’ve seemed so quiet recently, actually.”

Taehyung nodded. “Yeah, we’d love to get texts from you whenever. Even if we can’t read them right when you send them, I’m sure everyone would feel happy to see them. We all really miss you, especially right now while we’re so far away. Getting done with work just to see you’ve texted us? It’ll be like a birthday present.” His smile was so sweet, you could feel his honesty through the screen.

And it made you smile in return. It was amazing how easily these boys were able to dispel your worries and make you feel worlds better.

“Okay,” you said. “I’ll start texting you guys whenever I feel like it.”

“Promise?” Yoongi asked.

“Promise.”

“You know all of us love you, right?” Taehyung asked.

“Of course I do,” you said.

“Good,” Yoongi replied. “Wasn’t there something you wanted to tell her about, Tae?”

“Oh yeah!” Taehyung bounced a little in excitement.

It wasn’t lost on you how Yoongi had suddenly changed the topic to make sure your mind was no longer on what was bothering you. As you listened to Taehyung animatedly tell a story about something that happened today, the smile sitting on your face was genuine.

You’ve wondered before, but you didn’t know if you’d ever get an answer as to how you were so lucky to get such amazing friends in your life.

Series Masterlist

Chapter 35 | Chapter 36 | Chapter 37

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