#they caught the guy immediately and i hope he rots in prison for the rest of his life

[vvitchy-succubus]

.

[daryldaddydixon]

Wooden Roses

Hi guysss! So second fic... I hope you guys like it 😅 it’s inspired by the end of the head canon I wrote just the other day and the necklace that I impulsively bought because of said head canon.. anyways enjoy!

Summary: After finding a rose bush on a hunting trip with Daryl he gets an idea and gives you something you’ll cherish forever.

Warnings: shy Daryl and teeth rotting fluff

This is the necklace I impulse bought that helped inspire this fic... shout out the beautiful soul who I bought it from on Etsy!

Daryl Dixon was never one for sentiment. Growing up with an abusive father and less than sensitive, jackass brother didn’t really make the best environment for one to express emotion. When you first met the redneck he had found you running from a walker as he was driving with Merle, trying to find a safe place from the dead. You saw their truck and followed it screaming and begging to be let on. Lucky for you, Daryl was behind the wheel. He slammed on the breaks and yelled at you to hurry so you immediately hopped in the truck and he drove off once again, leaving the lone walker behind.

He was the only one to really speak to you once you arrived at the quarry. When his brother wasn’t around he would always ask if you needed anything and if you did he’d find a way to get it for you. You were always surprised by how quickly Daryl could switch between the soft, caring man you came to know and the hardass redneck he was around his brother. As much as you hated Merle you were still there for Daryl when he, Rick and the others failed to find him in the city. He came to you that night and just let you hold him. At the time Daryl still wasn’t accustomed to physical touch and affection so he didn’t hug you back but you knew him well enough to know that he still didn’t want you to let go.

By the time you and the group reached the prison you and Daryl were inseparable. You considered the two of you to be best friends, even though you secretly wished for more. Little did you know he wished the same but he would never be able to admit it.

One day Daryl decided to go into the forest to see if he could hunt something for the group to eat and you offered to go with him. He was never able to say no to you so there you were. You followed him through the woods trying your best to mimic his quiet steps so you wouldn’t scare off any potential game. The idea of staying quiet quickly disappeared when you saw a single wild rose bush in a tiny clearing. It’s seemed like a miracle, a sign of hope, that you found such a beautiful specimen in the middle of trees and darkness. You gasped at the sight of it.

“Daryl,” you placed you hand on his shoulder, “look!”

He looked in the direction of your pointing finger and saw the bush, but his focus was on the way his shoulder tingled under your gentle touch.

“Isn’t beautiful?” You ask wandering towards the bush.

“Yeah,” he grunted out. But he wasn’t looking at the bush, as cliche as it was he couldn’t help but look at the happy expression on your face when agreeing with you.

You walked up to the bush and ran your fingers along the blood red petals before remembering why you out in the woods to begin with.

“Sorry, I just got distracted by them,” you laughed, “let’s back to finding that buck.”

“What makes ya so sure we’ll finda buck?” Daryl asked with a smirk in his voice.

“I have faith in you,” your response left him speechless yet again. He never heard that before.

You walked away from the roses, resuming the path you had been on before and Daryl followed. But not before taking one last look at the beautiful plant.

Later that day you arrived back at the prison with a buck in tow, just as you predicted. The group celebrated the big game knowing it would keep them going for a few more days. You had hoped you would see Daryl at diner to enjoy his catch but much to your dismay he was gone. You asked Carol if she knew where he was was and all she knew was that he had disappeared after helping to prep the buck to be cooked. After diner you wandered back to your bunk, sad that you weren’t able to say goodnight to the man you were in love with.

You didn’t see Daryl the next day either. Rick told you that he saw Daryl take off on his bike early in the morning. You began to worry. Why didn’t he tell you? Did he suddenly decide that he didn’t like your company on runs and hunting trips anymore? You spent the day wandering around the prison hoping to catch a glimpse of the redneck but he seemed to have disappeared completely and you began to worry for different reasons. What if walkers got him? Or another group? Those worries were quickly put to rest as you saw Daryl ride up to the gates. You ran out to meet him.

“Daryl! Hey, where have you been?” You asked.

“Out, I just needed some stuff.” He brushed past you and ran to his cell leaving you hurt. Had you done something wrong? You went to bed that night with an aching heart. Maybe Daryl had caught on to your feelings and started to distance himself because he didn’t feel the same. You mind raced at a million thoughts per minute as you slowly drifted into a restless sleep.

Little did you know, in the next cell over, Daryl was working away on a small present for you. After seeing your reaction to rose bush he had been aching to see that huge smile on your face again. But this time he wanted to be the reason behind your glowing smile and hope filled eyes. It took all night but after many hours, and small cuts on his fingers he was done. When the sun started to rise he snuck into your cell and left his present on your pillow next to your head with a note.

A little while later you woke up to a floral scent. Lifting you head from your pillow you saw the most beautiful carving you’d even seen. It was a small rose, the size of a penny, carved out of wood laced on a black leather string. The string had two slip knots to adjust the length. And next to the necklace was a single rose and a gum wrapper with a message.

(Y/N), sorry for not being around. I was making this. I hope you like it. There’s more. Meet me in the court yard.

-D

You practically leapt out of bed after securing the necklace around your neck and raced out of your cell, note and rose in hand. You ran out of the prison doors and saw Daryl sitting on top of one of the tables smoking a cigarette.

“Daryl?” You walked up to him. He turned around and quickly put out the cigarette knowing how you felt about them. He was always conscious not to smoke around you even though you promised you didn’t judge him. You smiled at the gesture.

“Did ya like it?” He asks, not able to look into your eyes. You walk up to the table and stand in front of him, between his legs. Gently grabbing his face, you push his hair away from his eyes and look directly in them.

“Daryl, I love it. It’s so beautiful, how in the world did you even make it?” You question in awe. The look on your face is enough to make Daryl’s heart melt.

“I’d work with wood every now and then back before all this.” He answered plainly. Almost as if anyone could manage to make something so small and intricate with knives and other odd tools around an abandoned prison.

“I love it,” you repeat, “thank you, Daryl. Thank you so much.” You leaned into him and gave him a hug. You smiled as his arms snaked around your smaller form. It took awhile but he was finally comfortable enough with you to hug and even cuddle with you sometimes.

You slightly pulled back so you could look at his face. “The note said there was more?” You asked wondering how there could possibly be more to the already amazing gift he had given you.

“There is,” he gently moved you aside and got up. Placing his hand on your back, he guided you to the grassy area of the yard and gestured at a small mound of exposed dirt. “I went back ta the rose bush ya found and took some trimmings from it so ya could have yer own rose bush right here.” He explained.

You felt tears build up in your eyes and once again you throw yourself at the archer hugging him tighter than ever before. He reciprocated your touch, holding you against him. Daryl could never get sick of your touch even if it sometimes startled him and he was shy to ask for it. You mumbled “thank you” into his ear a million times before pulling back.

When you pulled back you looked into his eyes and saw something you never saw before.

“Daryl?” You asked feeling an odd surge of confidence.

“Hm?”

“Can I kiss y-“ you weren’t able to finish your sentence as Daryl pressed his forehead against your own. He was going straight for the kiss, but he got nervous at the last minute. Just as he was about to run away from embarrassment you finished what he started and pressed your lips against his own. The minute your lips touched it was like a nuke went off in both your brains. What started as a soft, tender kiss became slightly heated and you both pulled away when you need to take a breath.

“I care about ya, (Y/N),” he whispered.

“I care about you too, so much,” you replied.

And there you guys stood in each other’s arms for the next few moments sharing tiny kisses and admiring the gifts he had given you.

Yeah. You were in love. And so was he.

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #18- Rung Psychologically Tortures a Man with Poor Snack Management

So, Swerve’s having a less than stellar day, and for once it isn’t linked to his deep-rooted sense of self-loathing.

Good thing he already emptied those stills, otherwise this would be just the hugest mess.

Thanks to some off-panel Whirl shenanigans that took place prior to this storyline, Swerve had Brainstorm put in a few security measures. Of course, Brainstorm being Brainstorm, never does weaponry in any half-measures.

Still, it isn’t quite enough. Looks like Swerve’s going to have to break out the big guns for this guy.

There’s a lot going on here, so let’s break it down.

On the character side of things, it would appear that Swerve is a merciful god of robot booze, as he’s not yet banned anyone from his small business, even when he probably ought to- Fort Max I get, and Whirl has the whole “is also an Autobot” thing going on, but Cyclonus has actively attempted to murder Swerve in the past, and also is the closest thing to a Decepticon they’ve got on the ship at any given time.

On the weaponry side of things, it would seem that Swerve having blown his face clean off his skull back in issue #12 got back to Brainstorm, who- because he’s married to his career and loves a project- immediately got to work on a gun that Swerve could actually handle with his funky little cartoon-man hands. Of course, that doesn’t mean Swerve’s going to get away with his dignity intact, oh heavens no! This thing has a literal smiley face slapped on the front of it. Well, you know what they say: it’s Nerf or Nothing.

Swerve blasts a hole in the Legislator with his silly, silly gun, and the bar is saved from further destruction.

I like to imagine that Brainstorm recorded that victory line himself, because he wants to support his friends, in his own, bizarre way.

Things are looking rough for the rest of the Lost Light, as the Legislators have completely flooded the ship with their forces, as the crew do their best to fight them off. Blaster’s had his titty compartment blasted open. Huffer is screaming. The medics have taken to violence. Skids has broken out the brass knuckles and is making god-awful math puns. The Legislators are still coming, without any end in sight. It’s a real shitshow.

Over on Luna 1, it would appear that Ratchet immediately passed out after seeing Pharma, which is a fair response to seeing someone who’s supposed to be very much dead, I think. Pharma calls Lockdown, they have a bit of banter, and then the scene moves on to whatever Cyclonus and Whirl are doing.

Because these two are the only ones on the away team who can actually fly, they’ve broken off from the rest. Whirl’s getting antsy, and decides he’s gonna fight something. Cyclonus, though he does mention that Rodimus told them not to do exactly what Whirl is suggesting, seems to agree with this line of thought.

Speaking of Rodimus, him and the rest of the gang are zipping around on those M.A.R.B.s, though it appears as if some of the passengers have switched drivers. Rung’s over with Chromedome now, holding on to him for dear life. Maybe they’re having an impromptu grief counseling session as they run from danger. Tailgate’s with Rodimus, and he’s just pointed out that Ratchet got left behind. Rodimus can’t deal with that right now, though, and decides that they need to get away from all these gotdang Decepticons and then figure out their next step.

Then he’s distracted by the literal lineup of dead Titans just hanging out on the moon.

Luna 1’s kinda fucked up.

Cutting back to our framing device- nope, still haven’t gotten caught up with the present yet- Ambus asks what Rodimus did next. Well, a lot happened. A lot. Chromedome jumped out of his therapy session with Rung and transforms into his alt, which I want to say is the only time he’ll do it in MTMTE. Whirl and Cyclonus are faffing about in the sky, more or less toying with the Decepticons following them. Rodimus wants to pull another Fantastic Voyage, much to Tailgate’s horror.

Rodimus zooms into the first crack he sees, but doesn’t manage to lose his attackers. Tailgate provides commentary, as Rodimus wraps the little guy around his neck like a cape, leaps from the M.A.R.B., and does some super sick gymnastics, hanging from a pipe jutting out of the ceiling as the guys who were chasing them run into… well, I assume each other, but it’s not terribly clear.

Crisis avoided, Rodimus drops down, transforming as he does. Tailgate goes with him, because gravity is still a thing on the moon, and we get a reminder that he’s only got a couple days left to live. Unfortunately, it would appear he’ll be spending his final days rotting in a prison cell, as Lockdown shows up with everyone else in handcuffs, forcing Rodimus to come quietly. Everyone seems very put out by this whole situation, especially Brainstorm. He’s downright furious, probably because he got captured by the guy with a fish butt on his head.

Oh, the indignity of it all!

Then again, maybe he’s just focused on working up the cajones to ask just what the hell is going on on this super weird moon. Lockdown obviously isn’t a bad enough dude to be running this operation- we saw what happened the last time he went against someone who actually had the time to plan something out- so our away team has deduced that there’s someone higher up on the food chain here. Also, there’s the whole issue of money clearly being a major factor in all this.

That sort of tech doesn’t just fall out of the sky.

As they’re being walked down this corridor of tension building, Chromedome spies Ultra Magnus in an adjoining hallway. He calls to him, but is very solidly ignored. But there’s no time to worry about Magnus being a rude shit, because it’s time for character reveals!

There’s an interesting little detail about Tyrest’s character, which is a little hard to see given the layout of the art for this page, but here it is, on the end of his staff:

Now, I know that the Autobot badge was appropriated from a symbol meant to represent Primus, but that was millions of years ago. So much for being a neutral party, huh Tyrest?

Rodimus is real peeved about being chased, shot at, arrested, and held against his will, and fully intends to give Tyrest a piece of his mind. Tyrest isn’t interested, however, telling him to shove a sock in it, or be “held in contempt.” While this is happening, Perceptor and Brainstorm have noticed the positively humongous and positively ancient space bridge that Tyrest just has lying around in this room.

Oh no, this is about the baby field from last issue, isn’t it? Brainstorm’s going to jail for infant arson.

Rodimus greatly dislikes this whole situation, and expresses himself through the art of verbal abuse. Smash cut to them back in the cell, Ambus not seeming terribly impressed with how Rodimus handled himself with Tyrest.

The tale is finished, we know where we were. Now how to move forward?

Chromedome asks for a bit more information on our new friend, because the whole “Ambus” thing is throwing him off, and with good reason: how do you tell your late husband’s ex that you had to blow up your mutual partner to keep him from being eaten by a lippy bastard? But this isn’t the illustrious Dominus Ambus- this is MINIMUS Ambus, the lesser known brother. Chromedome/Dominus isn’t completely taken off the table, however, as Minimus uses some awkward phrases that seems to tell me Dominus isn’t confirmed dead.

Rung wants to know what Minimus’ whole deal is, seeing as he’s also in prison with the lot of them. Minimus explains that he’d been moving a shipment of energon derivatives, when Tyrest had arrested him for having traces of space cocaine in his goods.

Was taking his eye really necessary, Tyrest?

Minimus was placed into custody years ago, and has been awaiting trial this whole time. Not exactly sure why, seeing as this moon isn’t exactly off the chain populated. Maybe Tyrest’s just been busy doing things that are absolutely NOT nefarious in any form or fashion whatsoever.

Minimus mentions that he’s lost his Autobot badge, and Rung offers to let him borrow his own- which we’ve never seen him wear because it’s apparently too big for him- but Minimus would rather he wear it himself.

Tailgate doesn’t take to this bit of information about the appeals system very well, seeing as he’s not got years to wait around. He’s beginning to panic, not trusting Cyclonus and Whirl to break them out, and starts needling the others to do something. Brainstorm reveals that his briefcase, which he’s had this entire time, as he always does, has an attention deflector built into it, making it effectively invisible to Tyrest and his goons. Rung feels a certain kinship with the briefcase in that moment.

Imagine walking up to a widower and saying “Hey there, honeybunches, how about submitting to that crippling addiction your late spouse begged you to quit so we can bust out of prison?”

Of course, Tailgate’s only told Cyclonus about his condition, so no one’s exactly raring to go busting out, since they’ve assumed everyone present is effectively immortal.

Over on another part of the moon, Ratchet’s finally waking up from his stress-induced nap to find Pharma channeling his inner Jigsaw. Ratchet gives him some constructive criticism on his new hands, but Pharma’s kind of over listening to whatever Ratchet thinks.

Oh, I hope it’s one of those gag gifts where you open it and get hit in the face with a pie. Those are always a laugh.

Back on the Lost Light, Swerve is looking for his very best friend in the whole wide world. I really hope the feeling is mutual, because there’s no way Swerve would survive that sort of rejection.

The doors to the oil reservoir open, looking like the elevator scene from The Shining, and we see what’s become of our dear, dear Skidsy.

Skids is pretty sure all this Legislator nonsense is because of him, and he’s not about to let people die for his sorry butt today, no siree. He’s gonna save the day.

Then again, this is about where Star Saber pops into existence behind him and stabs him through the spine, so maybe not.

Behold, a bastard!

Star Saber in the IDW run is well-known as being a witch-hunting zealot who can and will commit acts of violence over any perceived slight against Primus he identifies in any given living creature. This is a stark removal from his original character, who is so pure-hearted, kind, and generous, he literally adopted an orphan to raise as his own son. So, what exactly happened here?

TMUK happened.

Back in the days before Roberts was a professional scriptwriter, back before IDW had the license for Transformers, the members of the TMUK fan group decided that Victory’s Star Saber was going to be evil. Why isn’t exactly clear, only that it was a decision that was made not by Roberts on his lonesome, but more as a collaborative effort. Of course, this Star Saber isn’t a one-to-one copy of the TMUK Star Saber- that guy was much more conniving and, uh, Hitler-y, than what we have here.

Getting back to the story, Swerve tries to save/avenge Skids, firing with his custom gun, only to miss every single shot.

Looks like there’s going to need to be a rework on the My First Blaster.

Swerve gets beaned over the head with the butt of Star Saber’s sword for his troubles, his visor shattering in the process. Damn, sure hope he’s got a reading prescription, and not anything he’ll actually need to see.

Back over on the moon, Ratchet’s pretty uninterested in playing Pharma’s little game. It’s just as well though, because, as it turns out, Pharma’s an impatient guy. Must be an absolute nightmare during the holiday season and birthdays. He throws open the box, revealing what’s inside.

THAT IS NOT PIE.

But we saw Ratchet’s face over on the other side of the room. How can he be in two places at once? Well, here’s the thing about Transformers…

They’re pretty darn hard to kill.

Back in the cell, Rung’s doing his part as a member of the away team by passing out snacks. Tailgate reveals his awful garbage disposal mouth. We get the down-low on Tyrest.

Once upon a time, Tyrest was an engineer. Then the war happened, shit got crazy, and suddenly he was organizing exoduses and peace talks with genocidal maniacs, and got appointed Chief Justice by the space pope himself.

Rodimus comes over to get in on the little snack party Rung and Tailgate are having, mentioning the Aequitas Trials- the very ones that were recorded onto Ironfist’s brain back in Last Stand of the Wreckers. Minimus comes over, warning Rodimus to keep hush-hush about those, since they’re top secret and all. Kind of a weird thing for you to do, Minimus. Hell, why do YOU know about these super secret trials, Mr. Nobody Trader Guy? Those were after Dominus disappeared, so it’s not like you had an in through your cool older brother.

Rodimus gives everyone the skinny on the trials, despite Minimus being weird about the whole thing.

Perceptor knows all this already, but I suppose it’s possible Rodimus is the only son of a gun who isn’t subscribed to Wreckers: Declassified and isn’t aware of Perceptor’s whole deal.

Minimus moves the topic over to the crew of the Lost Light, latching on to Skids specifically the moment he’s mentioned. Rung does his due diligence and offers Minimus a ride on the snack train. Minimus declines, Rung insists, and the box of space pocky is dropped on the floor.

Minimus goes to help Rung pick up the snacks, as Rung actively hinders the clean up effort.

Minimus is two seconds from snapping Rung’s scrawny little wrist like a toothpick if he doesn’t quit it. Luckily Rodimus is there to break up this positively bizarre situation. And then things get really weird.

Rung’s been watching Minimus since they got here, noticing things that were very familiar- speech patterns, mannerisms, tone, inflection, OCD behaviors, things like that. Once he developed enough of a hunch, Rung started intentionally antagonizing him by making a mess and putting his Autobot badge on in a way that isn’t up to standards. Why would he do this? Why would he want to cause an outburst in someone he just met?

Well, the thing is, he hasn’t just met Minimus Ambus. He’s actually been serving under him for the last year.

That’s a rather dark use of your doctorate, Rung, forcing a man to reveal his true identity by poking at his mental health until he was about to snap your neck over some candy. You did it so well, too.

Maybe you were on Kimia for more than just psych evals. What was your career officially called again? Psyops specialist is what they have listed on the Wiki. Truth be told, I don’t even know what that entails. Let’s look it up, shall we?

...I guess therapy is his side gig?

So either Roberts meant something else entirely, or Rung is actually super fucking scary.

[suupernovalight]

Addictive Drug

Ushijima W. x Reader

Masterlist || Previous || Next

19) Mission Complete

You and Ushijima looked at where the gunshot was coming from. When you guys looked at the entrance of the room, you both saw the boss with some swat men behind him. The boss held the gun and had a stern look.

“Boss!” You and Ushijima said at the same time.

The boss quickly ordered his swat men to restrain Hayashi while he would go talk to you and Ushijima. As the boss walked up to you two, you guys awkwardly stood still.

“How did you know we were here?” Ushijima asked the boss with a hint of confusion in his voice.

The boss smiled and pointed at Asami. “Asami here contacted me an hour earlier saying that you and her might need some backup.”

Suddenly, the sound of Hayashi calling out for you was heard in the room. You looked over at the person who abandoned you and waited for what he had to say.

“Y/n... you were like a daughter to me...” Hayashi cried. “I will never forget this moment...” Just like that, Hayashi was then dragged away along with Tadashi who was passed out.

When they left the room, you sighed to yourself. It felt like you were free again. More free than ever.

“Y/n...?” You heard Ushijima say.

You slowly turned your head to face him. “Yes Ushi?”

“Are you okay? You look very tired.” Ushijima said touching your forehead.

You slightly smiled. “Nah... nah i’m good” You said slightly leaning into his touch. “I may be a little exhausted that’s all”

After saying that, you felt a pair of arms pick you up. Your eyes widened with shock and confusion as you saw Ushijima’s face up close.

“You need to rest, go ahead and rest you’re head against me. We will be back at the agency soon” He said. His voice calmed you down.

“Thanks... Ushi” You said drifting off to sleep in his arms.

As you fell asleep, Ushijima, The Boss, and Asami headed back to the helicopters to return back to the Agency.

Back At The Agency

When the whole crew returned back, Asami, Ushijima, and You were taken in urgent care to get checked up for any major wounds from the fight. While Asami and Ushijima’s check ups were fast and easy, yours wasn’t. 

“Will she be fine?” Ushijima asked the doctors.

“Sir, she will be just fine. Her gun wound isn’t threatening and her blood lost isn't a lot. She just needs to rest.” One of the doctors informed.

Ushijima sighed in relieve and thanked the doctors. After that, he walked away from your hospital bedroom and walked to where Tendo was waiting for him.

“Well what did they say?” Tendo asked his now calmed down friend.

Ushijima leaned against a nearby wall. “They say she’s fine, she just needs to rest.” Ushijima then looked away. “I still haven’t told her that I love her” He mumbled.

Tendo’s eyes lit up as he heard his friend mumble. He quickly ran up to Ushijima and asked him a bunch of questions to which Ushijima avoided answering.

“I knew you love her!” Tendo cheered. “It was so obvious bro”

Ushijima slightly blushed but covered it by coughing. “So you noticed to. Asami said I was being obvious as well”

Tendo chuckled. “Well when y/n wakes up, you can tell her... in the meantime, how bout we go plan something for her when she does” He said grabbing his friends arm and dragging him to somewhere.

Ever since the capture of Tadashi and Hayashi, the news works have been talking about them and all the damage they made. Hayashi and Tadashi were both being held restrained in a prison cell. Lucky for them (or not) they landed themselves to be in the same prison where Ms. Everdeen works at. After knowing about what they did to you, she vowed to make their lives a living hell in the prison for them.

As for Hayashi’s drugs? They were escorted safely to a place where they can be studied. For Hayashi’s drug facilities, they are to be kept under surveillance 24/7 while detectives check the place out for any more unnoticed things.

2 Weeks Later

After giving your wounds to heal for 2 weeks, you were back to normal. Your arm was still in the process of healing but the doctors gave you the freedom to move around and be normal again.

“Geez y/n, you were reckless” Asami laughed while looking at your healed cuts.

“Oh pfft, I just really wanted revenge for what Hayashi and Tadashi did to me in the past” you awkwardly laughed. “Speaking of Hayashi, where is he?”

“Oh he’s at the prison, they say he’s going through healthcare while serving is life there” Asami smiled. “He sure deserves it.”

You sighed. “Yeah... yeah he does.” You then looked at your phone. “I’m going to see him actually. Please tell the boys if they ask about me” you said walking away.

Asami was calling out for you but you just ignored her and kept walking away.

~~~

When you arrived at the prison, you were met with the guard who tackled you the first time you came.

“Hello ma’am” he nodded. “Sorry about last time”

“Oh don’t worry” you laughed. “Is Ms.Everdeen here?”

“Actually yeah she is, just go to the front desk, you’ll see her” he said pointing at the entrance.

“Thank you sir” you said walking past him and walking to the entrance

When you got into the prison you saw the boss flirting with Ms. Everdeen. While they were messing around, you awkwardly stood there, waiting for them to be finished.

When they didn’t notice your presence, you coughed making them scramble to turn their attention on you.

“Oh wow y/n! What a surprise” Ms. Everdeen awkwardly laughed.

“Yes. Such a surprise. What do you need?” The boss asked you.

“Hayashi and Tadashi. Where are they?” You asked with a stoic face.

Ms Everdeen titled her head. “Are you sure you want to see them y/n? After all that?”

“Yes. Now where are they?” You asked again.

Ms Everdeen and the Boss looked at each other, then back at you.

“I’ll take you there.” Ms. Everdeen said walking away. “Follow me”

You did as you were told and followed her through the prison. Just like before, there were many people who were behind bars. You even saw Haruki.

After walking for what seemed like forever, Ms. Everdeen brought you to a seprate room, away from the others. It was more dark and eerie as well.

“He’s in that cell over there. I’ll stay here just in case anything goes wrong” Ms. Everdeen said.

You thanked her and walked towards the cell. Inside sat Hayashi. You guessed that Tadashi was somewhere else which was fine.

“Wake up you bastard” you said kicking the bars.

Immediately Hayashi opened his eyes and laid upwards. When he saw you, his lips curved up. “Oh? Cant forget about me huh?”

“Shut up. How’s prison for you?” You asked him.

Hayashi laughed. “It’s actually better than the real world.”

“Stop fucking lying.” You spat. “I know it’s a living hell for you Hayashi. I actually came here for some answers.”

“Answers for what?” Hayashi asked.

“Answers to why you abandon people. Remember Haruki? Don’t forget about me. Is Tadashi next?”

“Why do you care? You’ve already won. You are free aren’t you?” Hayashi said glaring at you.

He was right. You were free again. Tadashi and Hayashi are now behind bars and you have nothing else to do.

“You’re right.” You said turning away. “Hayashi, I hope you rot in this cell. Tell Haruki I said hi.” You then walked away from the cell not once thinking to look back.

When you exited the prison, you got a call from Ushijima.

“Hello?” You said over the phone.

“Y/n! Please come back to the agency and go to the bar, we are going to celebrate our Misson success”

“Alright, I’ll see you there” you said before hanging up the phone with a smile.

~~~

When you arrived back to the agency, you quickly parked your motorcycle and walked to the bar. When you got there, you saw Tendō and Asami already drinking. Ushijima was just silently sitting on a chair, he was probably waiting for you.

“Hello guys” you waved. You then walked up to Ushijima and sat on the chair next to him.

“Hello y/n! C’mon and have a drink with us!” Asami cheered pouring you a shot.

“Oh damn okay then” you laughed grabbing the shot and drinking it fast. “What was that?”

Asami looked at the bottle and squinted. “Uhh I don’t know” she laughed.

You sighed and poured yourself another. While pouring your drink up you caught Ushijima staring at you.

“Anything wrong Ushi?” You asked him.

He quickly looked away and tensed up a bit. “Nope.”

You grinned and gave him a shot. “C’mon, loosen up, let’s celebrate” you smiled.

Ushijima gulped. “Y’know I have a low tolerance with alcohol y/n”

You looked at the drink and frowned. “I forgot...” you then took the drink and drank it yourself. “Thank god I don’t” you shrugged.

Ushijima laughed as you poured yourself some more. Just before you could chug your drink however, he stopped you.

“Wait- before you get drunk... I gotta take you somewhere” he said standing up and putting out his hand for you to grab.

When Asami and Tendō heard Ushijima, they stopped drinking and looked at you. You blushed ever so slightly and slowly took his hand.

“I’m nervous now Ushi...” you said fully grabbing it.

Ushijima slightly chuckled and pulled you in close to his body.

“Don’t worry, this won’t be to nerve racking” he said leading you out of the bar and towards the elevator.

When you both got in, he pressed the button to go all the way to the top of the agency. Meaning he’s taking you to the roof of the whole building.

“Ushijima what’s going on?” You asked as he took you outside.

“Shh... enjoy the view for me won’t ya?” He laughed.

You nodded and looked at the buildings around. You also looked at how the sun was going down. As you watched the sunset, Ushijima slightly tugged on your arm.

When you turned your head, you were met with the feeling of something touching your lips. As you analyzed it more you noticed that Ushijima was kissing you.

When he pulled away, he covered his face to hide his blush. “About that time... when you asked if what I said was true. About my feelings you know?”

“Yeah...?” You said waiting for his answer.

Ushijima smiled and pulled you into a hug. “I love you y/n. I loved you ever since I first saw you at that modeling agency”

Your eyes widened. Out of happiness, you wrapped your arms around him and hugged him back. Everything felt complete. Your feelings for him were connected now.

As you guys pulled away, you both were met with the flashes of cameras. Out of embarrassment, both you and Ushijima covered each other’s faces.

Before you could relax however, you had to have one last thing answered.

“Wait... since the mission is completed, the agency doesnt need me anymore.” You frowned.

“What do you mean?” Ushijima asked you.

“Meaning that I won’t be needed anymore. I have to return back to my normal life with you and the crew” you said looking at the sunset.

“Actually no.” You heard the boss say from the distance.

Everyone flipped their heads to see the boss smirking. He held up a few papers to show you something.

“You have the option to join my agency and leave your past behind y/n.” He then walked towards you. “It’s obviously up to you though.”

Without hesitation, you agreed to join the Japanese Defense Force and leave your past behind. After officially joining by signing a few papers, you and the crew decided to finish up celebrating by getting drunk.

Taglist:

@toaster-stick @ashydoesdumbstuff

Side note: there will be an epilogue to this whole series so stay tuned!

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “Paper Man.”

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED:  GORE, VIOLENCE, MORAL AMBIGUITY 

Ok guys, I am giving this a rated R for violence specifically. I wanted to play around with some extreme moral issues, and I ended up doing just that. So if you didn’t read the horror chapter, then I suggest very much not reading this one.

It is the third and last installment to my little prison series, so you can imagine what might be in here. I leave it up to you to decide if you can handle it or not. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. :) 

I designed this specifically to expose Adam’s character to an extreme situation hes probably not emotionally equipped for. 

Commander Vir wiped a smear of excess inc from the man’s skin and sat back to view his handiwork. He had to admit that he was definitely getting better now that he had figured out how to use the damned machine. Not to mention that he spent most of his free time drawing for fear that he was going to screw up and get his ass kicked. 

In all honesty, he could have been a pretty talented artist if he had ever bothered to practice, but he hadn’t drawn, conventionally, since he was in middle school and, as a result, his drawing had suffered . However, now that he was in prison, he had a surprising amount of free time to work on extracurricular skills. If he wasn’t pumping iron with the others, he was working on a new tattoo design or applying the inc. 

While it sucked pretty hard core to be here, he had found a relatively safe middle ground. Being able to do inc gave him certain privileges among the other humans, not to mention his personal connection to krill, who was invaluable as the crew’s medic. Having worked at the biggest trauma center in the galaxy, the kind of wounds they generally received was a cakewalk to the little alien.

The problem…..well, that was the Drev, and the fact that every human and their dog had, at one point, boasted to the larger, scarier aliens about having a member of operation steel-eye in their ranks. They did pretty much everything but directly mention his name, but they may as well have been dancing a naked jig around him with signs directed at his chest saying “Here I am come shank me.” 

He wasn’t sure how well the goading would work with Drev. He had learned from Sunny, that a good Drev considered war to be impersonal, and those who beat you in battle were supposed to be treated with respect, but this was also coming from the Drev whose mother had gone off the deep end and plotted to destroy humanity, so he had a feeling he couldn’t rely on Drev honor to keep him from getting eviscerated. 

He cleaned his tools off in the best way he knew how and allowed the man to finally take a look. He held his breath.

The man examined the tattoo for a very long moment, and for this horrible second, Adam feared he was about to be pounded into the concrete, “Good work Steel!” Instead, he got a heavy slap on the back, which probably would have slammed him into the pavement anyway for his trouble, but it simply sent him into a stagger, and the other man walked away flexing his arm. Adam grimaced. He wasn’t entirely sure had to do proper, post-art care was going to work down here, and just had to hope that the man wouldn’t end up with some sort of nasty infection. 

His hopes were not particularly high.

At least Krill would be there to clean up the aftermath.

The rest of the humans were outside again today, but technically, all the facilities were open, still he preferred to go back upstairs to his cell for some privacy. He tucked the little case of tools into his single pocket and made his way into the building and towards the stairs. The Drev had taken the TV today and was watching some horrible remake of a classic 2000 movie. There were a lot of explosions and 0 practical effects. 

Seemed like a drev thing to do, and he tried to remain unseen as he moved up the stairs and towards his cell. He made it there safely enough, got some privacy and, stupidly, stepped out just in time to meet a group of drev walking down the catwalk.

He froze just outside his room  staring at them. They paused to look at him. No one moved for the longest time. Multiple arms flexed, and the large female at the front dropped her head aggressively over her throat. It didn’t take a genius to know what that meant, and before he knew it, his heart was hammering in his throat, his vision had tunneled, and his feet hammered against the catwalk as he bolted for the stairs.

A drev war cry rose behind him, and feet thundered against metal sending terrible vibrations up through his shins and knees. He made it to the stairs and nearly tripped. He caught himself with one hand watching as a life a paralysis flashed before his eyes. The thundering behind him grew stronger, so in a moment of panic, he flung himself over the side of the railing and dropped to the ground almost fifteen feet below. He took the entire impact through the inferior metal of his prosthetic leg collapsing onto the concrete with a sharp thud. Pain blossomed from that same same hip rocketing up his side and into his chest. 

Something in the prosthetic snapped and splintered, but he didn’t have time to think about that, dragging himself to his feet and limping pst the tables, shoving other prisoners aside, and ducking past confused drev now being galvanized into action by the war cries of their leaders. 

“RUN STEEL, RUN!” There was a thunderous roar, and a wave of humans came crashing into the tables stopping the Drev in their tracks as they tried to follow after Adam.

One prisoner wrenched a chair form the floor and clobbered a Drev in the head with it. Lights and sirens exploded around them as the guards came pouring onto the catwalks screaming for everyone to get down. The riot continued behind him as he scrambled on his busted prosthetic. He looked over his shoulder just in time to duck under the angry swing of an approaching Drev. 

He hit the floor on hands and toes for a moment scrambling under a table before racing forward into one of the auxiliary hallways. A table collapsed behind him as the Drev leaped atop it. Cells flashed by him and footsteps gained.

More lights flashed, and the cell doors began to close slowly.

Footsteps were gaining, and were almost upon him as a hand shot out form one of the cells and bodily dragged him through the door, just as it was shutting. He collapsed to the concrete floor just as the Drev slammed into the bars reaching through for him with all four limbs, which it immediately regretted as a metal pipe was rammed into it’s outstretched hands. It cursed in it’s guttural language and drew back angrily.

Adam looked up to find a man standing just to his side. He was an unassuming thin man with little circular glasses, and a slightly soft physique, but he was grinning and stuck out his tongue out at the Drev who then stepped back growling and walked away knowing that he could not make it through the bars. The man dropped the pipe on the bed and turned to look at Adam.

“Close call there, Commander.”

Adam blinked in confusion and shock, “You, you know who I am?”

The man smiled, “Know who you are, I’d have to be living under a rock not to know. I have been following your career for a very long time. A big fan actually.” He held out a hand and hauled Adam to his feet, “Surprised the other's haven't figured it out yet, your disappearance has been all over the news.”

Adam limped over to the bed and sat down pulling up his pant leg to examine the damaged prosthetic. The plastic casing had been completely cracked up one side, and a few of the shock-absorbent springs had been popped from their sockets. The inside of the casing rattled. He frowned.

“I…. thanks for saving my life.”

The man just grinned, “happy to help an intergalactic hero.”

Adam awkwardly waved a hand, but inside he was more than relieved to have found someone who actually believed him. The man seemed pretty trustworthy compared to the others, and he wondered what kind of crime the man could have commuted to get himself into this sort of mess. He didn’t exactly seem like the type to be involved in overtly violent crime. Perhaps he was here on accident, just like Adam himself.

“I had actually been meaning to approach you earlier, but you got snagged up by the guys in the yard so fast, I didn’t really have the time.”

“And you weren't?” he wondered 

The man shook his head, “No, I was a late night transfer. No one was here when I showed up, so I was able to fly under the radar. I don’t leave my cell all that much accept for meals, and they generally tend to ignore me.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It is, but it is also nice to have a little company every now and again. And the company of someone like you is even better. Someone who isn’t actually a violent criminal.”

“Than what are you here for if not violent crime.”

The man waved a hand, “Just something stupid. More of a misunderstanding really. Personally I think it was no big deal, but it really bothered some important people,and I ended up here. I Think they hope that I am going to rot here and be forgotten, but I don’t plan on that happening. I plan on serving my time, getting out and going back to my old life as it was.” 

“That sounds nice, I would give pretty much anything to be back to my ship.” he sighed and leaned back against the concrete wall, “if I am being honest, It is nice to be around someone who isn’t totally nuts.”

“Personally, I think we should make this a habit.”

“Alright, I can agree to that…. What’s your name by the way?”

“Ted, Ted Gacey.” The two men shook hands, a pleasure to meet you.

-

The days turned into weeks and the weeks were dangerously close to turning into months. He had narrowly dodged a few more conflicts with the Drev, and the Boss had taken to sending him around with bodyguards as a show of force. That made slipping away to have privacy kind of difficult, but he had managed it meeting with his new friend on occasion to play cards in the other man’s single-bed cramped cell. It seemed as if the two of them had a lot in common, or at least enough. They had the same idea with current intergalactic politics, they had some of the same hobbies, and tended to agree with each other on more social issues. 

It was a nice breath of fresh air.

Adam had even introduced krill to his new friend. Krill had been wary of the man from the beginning, but to be fair he was wary of pretty much everyone, and the Commander could hardly blame him. This was a prison after all, and most of the people who were here, were here for a reason, reasons they tended to make plainly obvious through their actions.

Despite being safeguarded from the Drev by other humans, he still wasn’t safe. On more than one occasion he had narrowly dodged some sort of altercation with one of the humans in the party. Generally it was over the asking price of a tattoo, which was based on yard currency in cigarettes and pills. Generally he ended up just handing them over to avoid an altercation. The issue with that is it meant some people knew they could squeeze him for his cash, and often came back to do so. He didn’t want to tell the boss for fear of being labeled a snitch, which was a pretty big insult in the yard, so he made sure to keep his earnings off his person at all times, and often lied to the guys when they came looking telling them that he had lost his currency to another guy with the same idea. 

He wasnt looking forward to the day when the lying would catch up with him, but so was his current life. Of course there was also the occasional issue regarding his issue in holding his tongue, and he had ended up accidentally insulting someone on more than one occasion. He had been punched at least twice in the intervening months, but he supposed it could have been worse. He hadn’t broken his nose and both eye sockets were still in tact, so it could have been worse.

His third Issue came from Krill himself. While the little alien was mostly to fearful to do anything other than what he was ordered to do, he had an unfortunate sarcastic streak, which got him into trouble on occasion. Adam was forced to either talk the guys down, or turn the wrath away from his friend often resulting in a drop in pay, some sort of bargain or taking a hit. He was getting pretty sick and tired of it.

If he was being totally honest with himself, he had a relatively low pain threshold. He didn’t like getting kicked around. He wanted out of this place so badly, but the longer the days dragged on, the less hope he had. It was only a matter of time until something truly horrible happened, and there would be no way for him to stop it. How much was he willing to deal with? 

-

He woke up as the hand clamped over his mouth. His eyes shot open, but his scream was muffled as the heavy, slick palm pressed into his face. He trashed against hands that held him down, but they were too strong. In groggy horror and fear he realized this was it, this was the end. 

The event he had been waiting for.

The hand tightened, “Stop struggling, and shut up for a minute.” The voice hissed.

He grew very still breathing heavy, ragged breaths through his nose heart hammering eyes prickling with moisture brought on by total fear.

“It’s just me Steel, the boss. Now, I am going to remove my hand, and you are going to be silent.” A hint of relief, and he nodded his head as the hand was removed. He took a clear cleansing air of the musty cell and sat up.

The boss knelt next to his bed with krill hovering nervously behind him.

He rubbed his eyes, “What’s going on?” Adam asked groggily 

The man held a finger to his lips “The boys and I just got word of someone on this block that has a less than stellar record.” Adam didn’t bother to point out the irony as the man continued, “This will be your chance to prove your loyalty to the yard kid. In the morning, we are going to fuck this son of a bitch up.”

Adam rubbed the back of his head nervously, “What…. What did he do.”

“Why don’t you take a look for yourself.” the man whispered, passing over a tiny screen showing the man’s incarceration records. As he read, Adam’s stomach twisted and hisirst reaction was one of visceral anger and an incomprehensible burning hatred. He tried to choke it back disgusted with his own feelings, but they kept coming back…. Images of his fists bloody with someone else’s blood.

The Boss chuckled darkly, “Thought you might have that reaction. You know how I feel about people who hurt kids.”

Adam wiped his mouth feeling nauseous pushing the screen back towards the boss 

“So when you say, fuck him up.”

“I mean, we’re gonna kill him.”

Adam was suddenly struck with the most uncomfortable sensation in his entire life, a horrible sinking twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach negated and confused by the ravenous anger and glee that he felt at the idea. The feeling was horrible wrenching him in two different directions. One spoke with the voice of his mother and urged him to take the high road. It wasn’t his job to take care of these sort of problems, it was never okay to hurt people that is what the law was for, but another part of him disagreed. This was a lawless planet, and the law was broken besides it didn’t matter after reading that report he knew for certain that the an deserved worse than death, so really killing him was a mercy.

The nausea grew worse the more he thought. He was stuck inside a living nightmare. He couldn’t make a decision like this. Either way he would never be able to live with himself. If he chose to go along with he prisoners, he would be partially responsible for a murder, but if he didn’t he would, in essence, be siding with a monster.

The boss glowered at him with his dark, beady eyes, “You aren't going to chicken out on us are you? You know what this guy did. Not going to side with him are you because if you don’t help us ...”

He let the threat hang on the dark air of the cell. Adam felt his heart sinking even further, and now if he didn’t help murder someone he would be taking the side of the monster, and everyone would blame him for it. Who knows what would happen to him after that. He glanced over at Krill who could only look on at him in pity. He probably had no idea the internal struggle he was having right now, but it hardly mattered. Krill knew that this wasn’t going to be good.

“Who is this guy….” Adam wondered, “Someone we know?”

The man scrolled down on the report, “The guy’s name is Ted, seems to have managed to fly under the radar since getting here.”

Adam felt his heart go cold.

No no no no please no.

The screen turned to face him, and his stomach dropped into the very void itself. He knew that face, he knew that face as a friend, someone he liked, someone he had confided in, someone he had respected, someone he assumed had been innocent. He had played cards with him bemoaned their current living situation. The man had told him his crime was ‘no big deal. He felt nauseous and angry all over again. How could he help kill someone he had liked. How could he even feel remorse for a lying sack of shit that DESERVED to die. Why did he feel bad for WANTING to choke the life out of that man.

The competing emotions made him sick for real. His stomach churned.

The boss patted him on the back, “I know as a matter of course that the guy comes out once a day to eat. Tomorrow at noon, we strike. Made a truce with the bats and the beetles to get in the way of the guards so we can finish the job.”

“But… you hate the Drev.” he whispered his voice choked.

“I do, but I hate this guy even more.” He stood stretching, “I will leave you to a good night’s rest, Steel. Make sure you have your strength for tomorrow.” He got up and left as silently as he had come. Krill remained floating at the side of the cell. Commander Vir remained paralyzed where he sat. Conversations flashed through his head, he remember the man’s face, and couldn’t help his imagination as he wondered how those kids felt. Then his imaginings grew violent. He felt tendons squeeze and pop below his hands as he choked the life out of that man.

He lurched violently from his bed bracing himself with one hand against the wall as he hovered over the toilet. Behind him, his cellmate shifted in his sleep. His mouth watered as it tends to right before one loses their lunch. He squeezed his eyes shut. His skin crawled as he remembered every time that man had touched him, thought about where those hands had been and what they had done.

Saliva dripped in silver strings from his mouth. His stomach clenched. He dry heaved once, but nothing came up, and it didn’t even give him the courtesy of happening fading enough so he stood back up wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Krill stood worriedly next to him as he sunk down to the floor next to the shiny silver bowl face in his hands

“What are you going to do?” krill whispered.

“I… I don’t know.” he gripped his hair in both fists still nauseous feeling sick and disgusting wishing that he could scrub off the first layer of his skin. Wishing that he had never ended up in this hell hole, “You only have one option….. You have to do it…”  Krill’s voice was regretful but clearly resigned.

He dragged his fingers down his face, “I ...I can’t. It wouldn’t be right.” His stomach churned.

Krill stared at him in confusion sensing a but.

“But…. I want to…. Krill he he LIED to me, and he…. The things he’s done.” he shook his head as a flash of inhuman or perhaps superhuman anger rushed through him, “he deserves to DIE!” Krill took a step back from him in surprise. The anger faded again to a dep profound sickness, “Krill I… I don’t know what to do. Killing people it isn’t right, hurting people isn’t right, no matter how much I want to do it…… and i want to do it Krill. I've never wanted anything so bad before. I it scares me.” His voice dropped to a whisper. 

Krill rested one of his appendages on the man’s shoulder face buried back in his hands, “I don’t entirely understand.”

He looked up agonized green eye caught in the dim light of the cell, “I…. he deserves to die Krill…. After reading that. I want nothing more than to kill him. That’s the most monstrous inhuman horrible thing that a person can do, and every…. Every fiber of my being want to hurt him, wants to make him suffer.” His voice hissed through his teeth with the strength of his anger before churning downwards, “But ... but I’m supposed to be better than that, Krill. Commander of the UNSC I am an upholder of the law, I i cant stoop to beating people to death. I can't do this. If I did this I would just prove I’m not worthy to hold the position, and I would disappoint everyone who has ever known me I’d disappoint myself. Id become one of them.” He glanced towards the door, “Thi issue is supposed to be something for the law.” He tugged at his hair in frustration, “But the law here is so twisted….. Krill I…. I don’t know what to do.”

Krlil Could only stand and watch helpless as the human struggled internally. Krill himself understood what was logical. The idea of a moral right and wrong was not something he could entirely comprehend. Things either made sense, or they didn’t and right now following rule of the gang was the only thing that made sense. The guy deserved it, the commander wanted too, and he would be punished if he didn’t, so there seemed to be only one logical course of action.

But then again, the man had always had a strong ‘moral compass’ and it could potentially cause some severe psychological damage if he did…. Something that other species would never have to deal with. Either way he would lose.

Krill tried to comfort his friend, but paranoia made him return to his cell for fear of retribution leaving Commander Vir alone in the dark curled in a ball head in hands wishing more than anything that he could be anywhere else than struggling with his own indecision. The gut most human part of him leading to violence while the higher part of him told him it was wrong. 

He didn’t sleep that night.

-

The star rose on an unsuspecting landscape. The prison doors opened with a buzz and prisoners staggered rubbing their eyes groggily as they moved out into the hall. Commander Vir stepped from his room like a zombie eyes red face pale, only to be greeted by the other members of the crew who shared wolfish, knowing looks.

He didn’t have the stomach for breakfast, and sat, staring down the hall with a hammering heart. The hours ticked on bringing him closer and closer to a decision. 

His heart ached.

Sitting out in the yard, head bowed face down, he still hadn’t come to a decision. He could hear the other humans muttering around him with anticipation for what was to come. He wished the guards would take notice of the strange behavior and act on it. They had to know something was up, with the prisoners sitting around doing nothing, looking hungrily towards the mess hall doors like a pack of ravening animals.

He didn’t want any part of this.

He had never thought in a million years that he would have to make this sort of decision, and what was worse, he hated how he felt. He wanted nothing more than to watch this guy get what was coming to him. 

If he really was a good person, if he really cared, wouldn’t he tell someone? 

There was a sharp whistle, and all the men on the yard stood eagerly from their seats and headed towards the doors. His heart sank into his chest, and he stood but had trouble making himself move. A hand clamped about hi shoulder from behind, and he was shoved towards the open doors, “Don’t chicken out on us now Steel.” Smiley whispered from behind.

He was pushed through the door sitting down at a table slightly away from the others. He had ordered Krill off to his cell for the duration of what was about to happen. He didn’t want the little alien to have to see what was about to happen. If he could have, he would have made it so that HE didn’t have to see what was going on. 

He didn’t see how the guards couldn’t sense what was about to happen. The tension in the air was palpable and could have been hacked through with a dull knife. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, hoping that the man would not come through those doors. Perhaps he would stay in his cell today, and no one would be the wiser. Perhaps someone would come and find him before this was all said and done, and he wouldn’t have to hear about it.

He tried to fight back those thoughts, the thoughts of a coward. Just because he wasn’t here didn’t mean that he should ignore it. He couldn't’ just wash his hands of the situation 

He SHOULD get up and tell the guards what was going to happen and consequences be damned.

But another part of him, a secret dark part of him….. Refused to bring himself to do it. That man knew what he did. He had made the decisions that brought him here, he had done something unforgivable and disgusting, and now he deserved to get what was coming to him, it was only fair after all the things he had done. It wasn’t Adam’s responsibility to go out of his way to help a man who deserved nothing better than death. In fact, death was to easy of a punishment in his opinion.

There were just some things that were unforgivable.

He felt, rather than saw when the man entered. He sensed it on the tensing of the air. Even the Drev had chosen to make themselves scarce retreating to their cells or the catwalks high above to watch what was about to happen. It seemed as if only the guards didn’t know. Or perhaps they did, and they didn’t care.

He sat hunched over his trey praying, and felt his heart tighten when a shadow darkened the seat across from him.

He couldn’t bare to look up.

“Good morning, Commander. I missed your company this morning.” The sound of the man’s voice made his skin crawl. His heart began to race and he felt a sudden overwhelming burst of white hot hatred. The feeling scared him, and he tried his best to choke it down, but it wouldn’t go. Sensing the man there, hearing his sniveling voice and thinking about the times they had made contact with each other. Handing over a card or even shaking hands.

It made him sick, and angry.

He made no noise.

“Is everything alright.” The man wondered.

Another shadow crossed over his back. He could feel them gathering behind him. The man before him went silent head tilted back to look upwards at the looming figures beginning to gather around the table.

A hand landed on the Commander’s shoulder, “Steel…. This…. A friend of yours.” the voice was cold and hard.

There was a long silence.

“I don’t want any trouble.”

The hand on his shoulder squeezed, “Steel.”

Commander Vir lifted his eyes from the table, making contact with the pleading expression of the man across the table. His watery grey eyes, his unassuming appearance, his receding mousy hairline. He looked like your average middle-aged man…. No, he was a monster wearing the skin of an average middle aged man.

Commander Vir felt as if he was watching himself in third person over his own shoulder. The boyish, wide eyed, honorable side of him was violently beaten down and dragged into a closet as something worse appeared materialized from the darkness in his head. The natural man took the controls cold and hard empty emotionless a creature of self satisfaction, the Id, the part of him that wanted nothing more than immediate reward, sadistic, hateful, envious, and carnal. 

It had no mercy.

And it was as if from the opposite side of the glass he heard himself say.

“No….. he’s no friend of mine.”

And like his words had been the damn that held back hell, the hounds were released, and a moment later the room was filled with the uproar of screaming voices and cries of horrific animalistic agony.

Adam was pushed to the side, and the table at which he sat was overturned as a riot of men threw themselves past him. He hit the floor and rolled to the side coming to land in a crouch just to the right of the overturned table. The room echoed and clattered. 

Screams of absolute agony cut through the air. Sirens blared red and bloody painting the walls in a hellish light.

Something cracked.

Screaming.

He crouches watching a writing mass of bodies, a horrific amalgamation of man’s worst instincts piled together in a many legged many armed creatures. Hands raised and plunged downwards violently, repeatedly. Blood painted the floor like a Jackson Pollock painting done in red. The screaming grew until it was no longer human, a guttural animalistic wale that rent the very air around them.

They were tearing him apart.

Adam felt the corner of his mouth twist in grim satisfaction, and then immediately snapped back to reality choked with disgust and horror. Rooted to the spot doing NOTHING watching a man being murdered before his eyes, and yet...

In the midst of it all, he couldn’t bring himself to intervene.

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder shoving him forward, “GET IN THERE.” The boss growled hand coming away covered in blood. A small part of himself, that animal from earlier snarled at the door to his cage.

A part of him wanted more than anything to join in.

Watched in satisfaction as he got what was coming to him. He relished the poetic justice of it all, while at the same time feeling disgust at himself. The world around him seemed to flow in slow motion. Small droplets of blood leaped into the air where they caught the light before falling back to earth. Something else cracked.

He felt his heart jumped with a sick excitement.

“No.” he whispered 

The world lost all sound. The screaming faded and died. The boss cut around to look down at him, “What.”

“I said, no.” he whispered again.

A body skidded past them on the floor ragged, torn.

Eyes narrowed, anger flared in the depth of two black pupils. He rose in Adam’s vision, “You would side with the FREAK!” “I side with NO ONE .” Adam spat.

The man stared at him, a once, predatory friendliness turned to ice, “You will wish you had never been born.” but he had more immediate matters to attend to, turning and joining the climax of the fight. Adam remained rooted to the spot sick horrified as bone snapped, and the body went silent and limp.

They didn’t stop there….. They kept going on and on and on as Commander Vir stood on and watched. The tables had all been overturned, blood painted the floor in wide arcs. And there he stood doing nothing, neither joining or helping. Holding back like a coward, like some kind of sadistic animal looking on like an unfeeling king watches an execution, watches men women and children hang from a rope. The men pulled away from the bloody husk twisted and broken on the ground, and at that moment Adam Vir was hit with a sense of horror and self loathing he couldn’t have comprehended even ten minutes before. The bloodied corpse grew up in his vision until it filled his head, dead staring eyes boring into his soul, a snapshot that would remain with him forever.

A man he had condemned to death with his actions and his words. 

He was a sick twisted bastard.

And he had allowed a man to die…. Had encouraged it with his innaction, had wanted it. And deep down, he had relished it in a deep sick part of his mind he felt no remorse. 

He was glad the sick fuck was gone.

Perhaps that’s why he stayed, he could have run knowing what was coming, but he didn’t deserve to run. He didn’t deserve to fight back. He didn’t even close his eyes as the circle closed in around him, men covered in blood like a pack of hyenas feeding on carrion returning to finish off a wounded prey animal.

The boss stopped a few feet in front of him, body painted with the world’s most horrific body paint, “Now that we’ve gotten rid of one sick fuck, we now have to get rid of the sympathizers.” 

He saw the first coming, could have dodged…. But he didn’t.

HE was hauled to his feet by smiley jerked off his feet by the front of his jumpsuit. Hoisted into the air so that his toes were dangling inches from the ground. Lights grew up in his eyes as he stared upwards watching the balconies and the surrounding Drev staring down at him like the council at his trial their expressions uncaring…. Even pleased.

“You had your orders.” The man spat. “And you stood there like a coward.”

Adam locked eyes with the man, “You;re right.” He said simply

The first punch was a kidney shot and had him on the ground writhing in agony within the first few seconds. It was hard to remember what happened next. The boot to the face, kicked in the side, the chest ribs. He was punched in the head, it was all a blur of faces all anger and malice. People who had once considered him a friend now drove their bodies against him in a frenzy that painted his blood across the floor with that of a deadman.

The latch to his prosthetic snapped. Metal was ripped away from his body. 

He screamed once, was kicked in the stomach and choked on his own missing air. But he didn’t fight them, he didn’t deserve to fight them. 

He curled up into a ball forearms covering his face and despite the pain and the agony, he refused to pass out. He didn't deserve that. Inside his head visions of that bloody…. Thing repeated over and over and over again

Voices swelled up around him, yelling and barking. Men cried out in pain, and with one last kick to his thigh, he was left lying in a pool of his own blood face resting against the cold concrete/ Voices rose above him, grabbing him about the arms and dragging him away. He heard the voices of the guards, watched the lights overhead pass over him in sharp streaks. Something warm trickled down the side of his face. Spilled onto the floor to be smeared into the concrete.

A door opened, and he was thrown inside.

A concrete room with no windows, a steel door, no bed and a hole in the far corner.

In tremendous pain, the man pulled himself sitting back on his knees and stared down at his hands covered in congealing blood once steady. As he watched they began to shake uncontrollably. He hunched forward hands to his chest face contorted into an expression of pain, and agony, not from the wounds, ot from the pain, but from the realization of what he had done.

A sob escaped him, and he didn’t try to fight it. His body ached with horrific pain with every racking sob. Tears tracked pathways through the blood on his face and fell to the ground a delicate pink. 

What had he done?

He had sat there, and he had watched a man brutally murdered. And he had done nothing about it….. A part of him had even enjoyed it. 

He watched in turmoil as the picture he had crafted of himself shattered into a million pieces and cascaded around him to the floor. The upstanding, moral man who always did what he knew was right, who was taught by loving parents to take the high road, who modeled himself after superheroes, action heroes, and his own idols. Someone who protected the innocent, upheld the weak and righted the unjust…. Was nothing more than a paper man.

A sham.

A fake.

A lie.

He sobbed into his hands which morphed into screams with the sobs were no longer enough to express his self loathing. What kind of man was he, couldn't even stand by his actions once they were made weeping like a pathetic child.

He lay, cold on the floor for hours and hours staring at the far wall listening to the distant echoes of the prison. As he calmed he took stock of himself swept up the pieces so that he was all together despite being broken.

Though he wished it had never happened, he could change nothing now. He had done what he had done. The ends didn’t justify the means, and just because he hadn’t done anything didn’t mean blood wasn’t on his hands. How could he know what was right do you save a monster because it's morally right, or stand by and watch a monster die because that’s what it really deserves. What gave him the right to make that decision.

-

He lay there for what must have been hours but could have been days his skin growing sticky and then crusted with drying blood. The door to his cell opened, “Get up.” When he couldn’t do it on his own, he was hauled to his feet by one of the guards. Together they walked, and hopped, back down the halls and onto the yard. The entire room was quiet as they stared at him.

He couldn't have cared less that they could see him in such a sorry state, what did it matter now. The paper man had crumbled, they might as well see it. He was left sagging on one leg in the center of the room, and he didn’t bother to move. The men got to their feet glowering down at him with a mixture of expressions. Time moved around him as if at double speed 

A figure scuttled towards him from the darkness, and to his surprise, krill took his hand. 

He had never done anything like that before.

He looked down.

And the alien looked up at him, though he said nothing.

The room grew tighter, men approached from all sides, “Krill, you should go.” His slurred through swollen, painful lips.

“No Commander.” krill responded 

The guard withdrew, and the room shifted forward. This time he did close his eyes. It was one thing to see another man die, but to watch Krill caught up in this was to much. He tried to urge the little alien away once more, but he refused, wrapping his spidery arms around his human friend all too sure that he was going to die here.

But if that was the case, he would not let his human die alone and suffering.

Adam leaned his head against Krill eyes tight shut.

“It’s going to be ok.” The alien muttered 

Adam felt a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.How very human….

Empty platitudes.

The little alien had learned a lot.

A shadow cut past them. He lowered his head.

And the room was split in half by a Drev battle cry so powerful that it rattled the walls and the floors. The man above them staggered back hands over his ears. The catwalks clattered, and the ground shook. Adam opened his eyes lifting them towards the sky, not expecting to find an angel, but getting one in bright blue.

Sunny stood on the catwalk above face contorted with a livid anger that cowed guards, drev and humans alike, “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE.” She snarled at the human standing next to her, turning and shoving Drev two to three feet taller than her out of the way with the ease a bowling ball goes through pins.

The human scampered after her, “We… we had no idea.”

Sunny rounded on here, “DID YOU EVEN BOTHER TO FIND OUT.” Behind her, a member of the UN and the chairwoman of the GA stepped through the doors faces shocked and appalled as they looked about the room and the conditions in which the prisoners were being kept.

Sunny came to to toe with the leader of the Drev yard. At first the large female didn’t move, but a single look from sunny cowed her into groveling submission as sunny shoved past and marched down the stairs. She nearly body checked one of the prisoners over the railing and onto the floor fifteen feet beneath when he did not move fast enough.

Leaving the Chairwoman and the representative above, Sunny raced across the floor and skidding to kneel at Adam’s side. He lifted his head to look at her dried blood cracking against the movement.

A look of pain crossed her face, and a single hand gently cupped the side of his face tilting it this way and that, “Oh Adam, what have they done.” She whispered 

The light above him grew very very bright filling his vision with light, “I’m a paper man,” He whispered, but that was all he could say body slumping into her arms. A murmur grew up around the room.

Sunny hugged the human against her chest.

“Commander!.” Two voices from above, and two marines came leaping down the stairs heedless of their uniforms.. Ramirez and the short, blond hair female marine ‘Maverick’. 

“The hell did they do to you.” The Maverick snarled glowering at the other prisoners standing quietly back in a wide circle.

Their discussion was interrupted as the warden stepped onto the catwalk, ‘I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHO YOU ARE; YOU HAVE NO JURISDICTION HERE!” “THE HELL WE DON’T.” The UN rep snapped, “By GA law, any HUMAN allowed off earth or mars remains  under the jurisdiction of the UNSC in accordance with the first intercelestial peace accord put forth by the GA in 4018. Furthermore all Tesraki Drev and Rundi subjects are bound by GA bylaw, so YES we have jurisdiction, and we have allowed this to continue long enough. FURTHERMORE.” he said speaking up over the protests of the warden, “You have violated at LEAST 50 intergalactic bylaws, and amendments. What is this 2001, we know what humanity is by now AT LEAST. Not to mention that we show up here and find one of our Commanding officers kneeling in a pool of his own blood, only to learn that you didn’t even bother to verify his identity.”

“He had no prints in the system.” The man snarled 

“ONE PHONE CALL. JUST ONE PHONE CALL. And that is not even TOUCHING on his right to counsel, or a fair trial. We don’t just THROW people in prison based on circumstantial evidence. He was sent here to get down to the problem of intergalactic hormone trade only to be beaten half to death by men no better than animals in a prison, the likes of which we haven't seen since the late 2000s. You sir are a DISGRACE to the ENTIRE HUMAN RACE.” Commander Vir was only half listening idly staring at the lights as someone wiped blood from his face.

“Get him up.”

Someone ducked under one of his arms and he was hauled to his feet. He tried his best to keep one leg under him, but was finding he wasn’t a great amount of help. Maverick supported his one side, while sunny took the other. Ramirez, based on a look, made it very clear what would happen if any of them tried anything grabbing krill by the hand and pulling him along.

It all felt like a dream as the steel catwalk passed below him, and the doors slid open. The prison faded behind him into a maze of hallways.

He was out, he was free.

…. He was finally……

Free.

[sinsiriuslyemo]

Happy new year, dearest readers! Let’s start off the new year with a little Rabastian!

10. 2014

DECEMBER 30,  2013

“That was hilarious,” Sebastian said with a grin as he and Rafael walked out of the Walter Kerr theater. 

After he’d gotten out of yet another pretrial motion filed by William Lewis’ lawyer, Rafael had been anxious to go see a show with the pianist that had been on his mind the entire day. He’d gone home to change and walked to Sebastian’s apartment. Upon seeing the musician, Rafael instantly felt the day’s tension leave his shoulders. 

“Jefferson Mays has never disappointed me,” he said as Sebastian’s hand naturally found his and laced their fingers together.

“I know, he is so amazing, I’d watch him in just about anything,” the pianist replied. “And the fact that he played all those roles--”

“--Oh, I know, he was brilliant,” Rafael said, holding up a hand to hail a cab. 

“Thanks again for bringing me,” Sebastian replied, gently squeezing the other man’s hand and dropping a kiss on his lips. 

“It was my pleasure,” Rafael said with a smile as they got into a cab.

“You hungry?”

“Yes, actually,” Rafael answered.

"What do you think, Italian?" Sebastian looked over at Rafael, who had slightly curled his top lip as he tilted his head to one side. "Okay, sushi?" The musician laughed at the grin of approval that graced the prosecutor's lips before he turned to the driver and gave him an address. He looked back to Rafael. "You're adorable when you speak with your expressions, you know that?" 

"You're adorable, period," Rafael answered, sliding his gloved fingers between Sebastian's.

Ever since their first sexual experience together Christmas Day-night, he'd found himself thinking more and more about he and Sebastian planning a future together. He would often picture coming home to the musician working at his piano while a roast cooked in the oven. Or waking up to the feel of the other man's lips against his neck. He was well into a fantasy of he and Sebastian taking a trip around the world together when the pianist spoke again.

"Hey, listen, I was wondering...you spending New Years Eve with your family?" the musician asked, pulling him from his fantasies.

"No, I usually just spend it at home," Rafael answered. "Why?"

"Well, Casper and I usually spend it at his place and since Katie's living there now, I was hoping that maybe you would want to come too." The pianists eyes shifted nervously to their joined hands before coming back up to meet his own.

A slow smile came to Rafael's face as he shifted slightly to look at Sebastian. "You want me to spend New Years Eve with you?"

"Yeah, I-I know it's kinda last minute...I wasn't even sure if I should ask you, I mean...we've only been seeing each other a short--"

"--Stop," Rafael said softly, his easy smile stretching his lips. "I'd love to ring in the new year with you, Sebastian."

The pianist mirrored his grin and leaned forward to press a chaste kiss to his lips as the cab stopped at their destination. Paying for the cab, Sebastian tugged on Rafael's hand and they walked into the sushi bar together.

"You really spend New Years Eve by yourself?" he asked Rafael in a gentle voice after they'd been seated by the hostess. 

The prosecutor bobbed his shoulders, opening the menu. "I usually have work to keep me busy. My mom has always said I could come with her to my aunt's house but...crime never sleeps, apparently. And my aunt lives in Kew Gardens, my mom usually spends the night. I have to work the following day, so…"

"Well, this year, you'll only be a few blocks away from home. No excuse. And no work either. We can leave early if need be, if you really need to get some work done, but while we're at Casper and Katie's, I want you to relax and have fun, deal?"

Rafael's lips stretched into a closed-mouth smile as he nodded. "Deal."

"Good."

"So Casper and Katie live together? How long have they been dating?"

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "Ugh, don't get me started on that. According to Casper, they're 'roommates'." He brought his fingers up to make air quotes as he again rolled his eyes. "And yet they've been sleeping in the same room and fucking for the last seven months. Oh and Katie definitely wants more. Casper's the neanderthal."

"Ugh," Rafael answered in a grimace.

"I know."

"Why hasn't he--"

"--I don't know," Sebastian replied with a chuckle, shaking his head as he looked down at the menu. "I told him he's a commitment-phobe. It's a shame, too, Katie's a good woman."

"Well, to be patient with that arrangement, I'd say she's a downright saint."

"Tell me about it," Sebastian said. "I told him last week he needs to shit or get off the pot. It's time, and the girl's earned the girlfriend title by now."

"I agree with that," Rafael replied. "Speaking of friends, I finally talked to Liv about the dinner party thing."

Sebastian looked up, setting his menu down. "And?"

"She said she didn't think I would go with all the other detectives there, and she apologized for making the assumption."

"See? I bet you feel better after talking to her," Sebastian said.

"I do actually. You were right," Rafael answered, smirking at the pianist.

"I'm glad. She seems nice. She doing any better after the...thing you were talking about?"

"She is...but the trial's coming up next week, I'm not sure she's ready to face him."

"Trial? What happened to her?" Sebastian asked. "Was she…"

Rafael sighed as he shook his head, brows raised on his forehead. "She says no, but I...I honestly don't know. I think she would've told me if he had. But even if he didn't, he still abducted her for three days...tortured her…he would've killed if she hadn't--" 

His jaw clenched as he thought about the photos of Liv from the hospital, sleep-deprived, beaten and traumatized. He shook his head, trying to keep those images from tainting his evening with Sebastian. As if on cue, the musician reached across the table and placed a hand over his. 

"Sounds to me like the guy deserves to fry," Sebastian said. "And I don't even believe in the death penalty."

"You don't?" Rafael replied indignantly, looking up at the pianist with his brows in waves.

Sebastian was a little taken back by his response, inching away from him slightly. "No...does that bother you?"

"For animals like William Lewis, I wish a firing squad were still an option," Rafael answered. "Some people deserve to die."

"That may be true, but who the hell are we to decide who lives and dies? The death penalty makes us just as bad as they are. Worse, actually...we bring in people to watch it go down."

"Your own mother was murdered, you wouldn't want to see the guy responsible pay for what he did?" Rafael asked, biting down on his tongue after the words had escaped his lips. The musician pulled his hand away and leaned back against his chair as Rafael shook his head and lowered his eyes, mouth hanging open. "I'm sorry, that was...outta line, I'm sor--"

"--You're right, it was outta line," the pianist replied.

Rafael could see a mixture of hurt and anger swirling in the blue of the other man's eyes and he lowered his own gaze, silently cursing his big mouth. He supposed it was only a matter of time before his words would work against him. It certainly hadn't been the first time he'd said something he immediately regretted thereafter. His tongue, however sharp and effective in a courtroom, may very well have just ruined the one good thing in his life. 

Swallowing the lump that had begun to form in his throat, he inhaled silently and deeply, pursing his lips before he again reached across the table and looked up Sebastian, who now appeared to either be holding back tears or trying to keep himself from throttling the prosecutor. Maybe both.

"Sebastian, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking, I..." The lawyer shook his head and bit down on his bottom lip, a small form of punishment, which paled in comparison to the offense. "I never should've said that."

The musician simply continued to stare at him as their server came to take their orders. It was then that Sebastian broke eye contact and looked up at her with a small smile before he gave her his order. Rafael followed suit, though instead of a polite smile he looked more like a child who'd been caught misbehaving. Only after she'd left did Sebastian speak again, this time directing his words to Rafael.

"I need to know you're not gonna use that against me every time we disagree," he said.

"No," Rafael answered immediately, shaking his head for good measure. "I promise you, it'll never happen again. I'm so sorry, Sebastian."

Sebastian nodded. "Okay," he whispered. "And just for the record, I never said that I wouldn't want my mother's killer to pay. It's just that my idea of vengeance is a lot darker than just a needle in the arm."

"It's justice, not vengeance," Rafael said with a frown. 

Sebastian shook his head. "It's a quick fix for us and giving them the easy way out. I'd want to know that every morning I get to wake up, free as a bird, while he rots in a cell for the rest of his life. I'd want the option to be able to go to whatever prison he's in and watch him rot. Watch him suffer knowing he'll never see daylight again. The man who killed my mom doesn't get to rest in peace. I'd want him to live a long, miserable life in a four by four cell with nothing but time to think about everyone he ever hurt."

Rafael regarded the pianist with soft eyes as he picked up his water and took a sip while his eyes roamed their surroundings.

"They changed the lighting in here, I think," he said as his eyes once again settled on Rafael. 

Smiling softly, the ADA reached across the table and laid a hand over the musician's forearm until he met Rafael's gaze.

"You're such a good man," he said.

Sebastian snorted softly. "I'm a good man because I want some piece of shit to suffer?"

"A piece of shit who would deserve to suffer. A piece of shit who took something from you that can never be replaced...but still you would spare his life. That's what makes you a good man. Most people would let him die. Want him to die."

Smirk tugging at his lips, Sebastian shrugged. "I'm not most people."

"I know," Rafael replied, using his thumb to stroke over the musician's hair-covered forearm.

"I think we just had our first fight," Sebastian said after a moment.

"Yeah, thanks to my big mouth," Rafael answered, lowering his eyes again.

"I love your mouth," the pianist said, turning his palm to face the ceiling, waiting for the lawyer's hand to slide over it. "Most of the time," he added with a teasing smirk.

Grinning back, Rafael brought the pianist hand up to place a firm kiss on his knuckles as in his mind he answered, I think I love you.

DECEMBER 31, 2013

Sebastian checked himself over in the mirror one last time after he heard the short rapping on the door, which he assumed was Rafael. They'd decided to meet up at Sebastian's and then go to Casper and Katie's together. Taking a deep breath, he tried to slow his racing heart by focusing on his breathing. Why was he so nervous? He and Rafael had been seeing each other for almost five months, they'd been on countless dates together, but never had they hung out with other people for an evening, least of all another couple and close friends of Sebastian's to boot. 

It'll be fine, you idiot. Just open the door so he doesn't think you ditched him.

Clearing his throat, he took long strides to his front door and opened it to find Rafael in a pink polo shirt under a tan jacket and jeans, carrying a bottle of expensive-looking champagne. The musician couldn't help the grin that formed on his face as his eyes drank in the sight of the ADA over and over again. 

"Wow. You look so good," he finally said, stepping aside to let the other man in as he gestured to the bottle. "You didn't have to bring anything."

"My mother taught me to never show up at someone's home without something in your hand," Rafael answered, closing the space between them to plant a kiss on the pianist's lips. "You look handsome, too."

Looking down at his fitted white thermal and dark stained jeans, Sebastian smoothed a hand over his shirt before his eyes came back up to meet Rafael's. "I may just say fuck it and keep you all to myself tonight."

"Well, you'll have me all to yourself later," the prosecutor replied, smirking suggestively as he laid another kiss on Sebastian's pout. 

"Oh, no work this year?" the pianist teased.

"I had a reason to get it all done this afternoon," Rafael said.

There was no stopping the warmth that crept up Sebastian's neck at the thought of Rafael making sure to clear his evening just for him. As if he hadn't already had thoughts of Rafael coming home to him after a hard day in court, now he was fighting the urge to mentally plan their wedding. 

"Should we go?" Sebastian asked, grabbing his jacket and putting it on. 

"Yes," Rafael replied. "So is this the first holiday Katie and Casper are spending together, too?"

"They were...whatever they are for this past 4th of July, so, not exactly. But it is coming up on nine months they've been fucking." Sebastian locked the door behind him and followed Rafael downstairs and onto the sidewalk.

"You should just call it what it is," Rafael replied with a smirk. "They're dating. Who knows, maybe if you say it enough times, Casper will finally start referring to her as his girlfriend."

The pianist laughed as his fingers naturally laced with those of Rafael's while they walked up the street towards Casper and Katie's apartment building. The streets were relatively clear, the large majority of the city either at a New Years Eve party or in the restaurants that were scattered around The Village. No true New Yorker ever went near Times Square when they could have a far more comfortable view of the Rockin Eve festivities from their couch or on a rooftop.

"That's not a bad idea," Sebastian said. "Who knows, he may not even notice."

"How long have you known him?"

"Since we were, like, twelve. He lived in the building across the street from mine," Sebastian replied. "How about you and Olivia? How long have you guys known each other?"

"A little over a year now. Basically from the time I started working with Manhattan SVU. She's probably the closest thing I have to a friend left. The only other person that I would still consider a friend is...going through some things. I'm not sure if things will ever be the same between us," Rafael replied.

"What happened?"

Rafael sighed heavily, forcing a smile on his face as he looked over at Sebastian. "Alex Muñoz happened."

"That whole thing that went down a couple months back?"

Rafael nodded as they both came to a stop at the corner of the block. "We were all friends as kids. Alex had the looks, Eddie was the muscle and I was the mouth, of course."

"Course you were," Sebastian answered with a smirk, gently bumping the ADA's hip with his own. 

Snorting softly, Rafael rolled his eyes just as the white figure appeared on the light across the street, indicating they could safely cross. "Eddie and I always had a special bond. A kind of unspoken connection...and we both always followed Alex. Until I went off to Harvard, Eddie stayed with Alex in the South Bronx, even became his bodyguard when he got into politics."

"So he was probably privy to a lot of the not so kosher shit Alex was doing."

Rafael nodded. "He was. He almost went to prison because of Alex."

"Why didn't he?"

"Because I convinced him to make a deal," Rafael answered in a barely audible voice. "He has a son, a mother to look after. Single dad, he's their only income. And I have no idea what he's gonna do now that Alex has been indicted. That whole ordeal just...it made me feel like a bad friend for leaving him."

Sebastian's thumb idly stroked over the glove covered skin between Rafael's knuckles. "You helped him stay outta prison, Raf. That sounds like a pretty great friend to me."

The corner of Rafael's lips curled upward slightly, his eyes lowered towards the sidewalk. He had never seen the prosecutor look so sad as when he talked about his childhood friends, and all Sebastian wanted to do at that moment was kiss every bad memory away.

"You should invite him to the club some night," he suggested, giving Rafael's hand a squeeze. 

"I don't know," the ADA answered in a sigh.

"If he took your advice, that means he values your opinion...and with Alex gone, I'm sure he could use a friend he knows he can count on," Sebastian said as he streered them towards the entrance of a six story building. "Think about it."

Nodding gently, Rafael smiled at Sebastian as they walked to the elevator and waited for the doors to open. "I will."

"Good," the pianist answered, pulling his hand out of Rafael's to wind the arm around his waist. "Because I can't tell you just how badly I wanna hear all about what you were like as a kid."

Rafael laughed, letting his head fall back as he leaned into the other man's frame. "I can tell you. I was a nerd. Older kids in the neighborhood used to beat me up, take my lunch money. Eddie put a stop to that."

"Well then he sounds like a pretty great friend, too."

"He is," Rafael replied.

They stepped into the elevator  and Sebastian hit the button for the fourth floor. "We're supposed to be getting a lot of snow in the next couple days."

"Yeah, I am not looking forward to that," Rafael replied in a sigh. "The commute to work is gonna be a nightmare."

"I can't say I envy you," Sebastian answered with a smirk. "That's probably the easiest part about my job, short commute."

"Your job must be nice. You get to play music all night, relaxed setting."

"It's got its difficulties like any other job. Mostly just people who drink a little too much and make asses of themselves. Doesn't happen too often, but still. Plus, it can get a little difficult to keep the sets fresh every night. There are only so many songs that are compatible with a piano arrangement."

"I, for one, wouldn't care if you played the same song on a loop every night. Your voice is so beautiful," Rafael answered, leaning his forehead against Sebastian's temple.

Turning his head to stare into the prosecutor's emerald eyes, Sebastian grinned and closed the space between them just as the elevator dinged softly and the doors began to slide open again.

"THEY'RE HERE!" he heard Katie yell. 

Breaking their kiss, Sebastian turned his head to see the petite brunette standing in the hallway with a beer.

"Jesus Christ, woman. What the hell are you doing?" he asked. "You started without us?" He gestured to the bottle in her hand as he and Rafael got out of the elevator and walked towards her.

"Casper didn't think you guys would make it. I knew you would," she answered, leading them both inside.

"Shit," Casper muttered when he saw the two men walk in behind Katie. 

"What a way to greet your guests, you animal," Sebastian mused as he took off his winter gear.

"I thought for sure you guys were gonna end up staying at your place so you could bang, if I'm being honest," Casper said with a bob of his shoulders. "I mean, you know, New Years Eve, fireworks and shit."

"Whoa, fancy," Katie said, her eyes on the bottle in Rafael's hand.

"Oh, yes, here. I brought this for us to toast to a new year," the prosecutor said, handing the bottle to Katie.

"Wow! Champagne," Katie replied with a grin. "Thank you, that's so nice. I'll go put it in the kitchen."

"Champagne, huh?" Casper chimed, nodding as the corners of his mouth turned down in appreciation. He looked up at Sebastian. "I like him."

Rafael chuckled as he, too, took off his winter coat, gloves and scarf.

"So what have you two lovebirds been doing?" Sebastian teased.

Casper rolled his eyes as Katie answered, "Oh just hanging around. By the way," she turned her gaze to Casper as she came back into the living room, "you owe me ten bucks."

"Yeah, yeah," Casper replied, reaching into his pocket and digging a ten dollar bill out of his wallet.

"He bet you guys would end up cancelling and staying at your place to bone," she explained to Rafael and Sebastian.

The pianist turned to look at the prosecutor. "See? What'd I tell you? Animal."

Rafael laughed softly before he looked back at Katie. "He means thank you for inviting us over."

"Aw, you're doing that thing where these two act like total idiots," she gestured to Sebastian and Casper, "but you and I are totally on the same page." 

"We're standing right here," Casper said with furrowed brows.

Katoe paid him no mind. "Do you guys want some snacks? We've got some cheese I can cut up and crackers."

"Sure," Sebastian answered.

"Do you want some help?" Rafael asked.

Katie's eyes lit up. "I would love some help, thank you, Rafael."

Sebastian watched Katie and the ADA walk into the kitchen as he and Casper sat down on the couch, the latter reaching into a small cooler for a bottle of beer to hand off to Sebastian. The pianist couldn’t help but chuckle as he took the offering. “Something wrong with your fridge?”

“No, this is just easier, I don’t have to get up. So, this is getting pretty serious between you two, huh?” the scrawny man asked, leaning back against the cushions.

“I don’t know if I would say that just yet, but things are going really well,” Sebastian answered. “How about you and your girlfriend?” he asked with a smirk, remembering the conversation with Rafael on the way over to their apartment.

“Oh, I mean, same ole. She really liked the bathrobe, you were right,” Casper replied. “Think I’m gonna--wait a sec, did you call her my girlfriend? She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Right,” Sebastian mumbled, taking a sip of his beer. “So she liked the bathrobe?”

“Yeah.”

“I told you she would,” Sebastian said, grinning. “Hey, I’ve been thinking...I think I wanna take Raf to meet Edna. What do you think?”

“Five months in?”

“No, not right away, but I was thinking maybe for Valentine’s Day we could stop Uptown to see her and he could meet her then,” Sebastian replied.

“And you say it’s not getting serious.” Casper smirked, rolling his eyes and taking a sip from his beer. “Have you met anyone from his world yet?”

“Yeah, I met one of his coworkers one night while we were out.”

“Did you meet her there or did you just happen to run into her?” Casper asked.

“We just ran into her, but Raf still introduced me.”

“I don’t know, man,” Casper mumbled.

“What? He just happened to meet you guys down at the piano bar. That wasn’t planned.”

Casper tilted his head to one side. “That’s true.” 

Katie and Rafael came back into the living room with a platter of cheese and crackers, laughing at one thing or another as they set the platter and small plates on the coffee table. For a moment, Sebastian could imagine that the four of them had been together for years and that this was their tradition every New Years. It was a nice thought, especially when accompanied by the image of him and Rafael going home together, falling asleep together.

“So how was the show last night, guys?” Katie asked as she sat down next to Casper, who instinctively put an arm around her shoulders.

“Oh God, it was amazing,” Rafael answered, looking to Sebastian as he too sat down.

“Yeah, Jefferson Mays knocked it out of the park, as usual. You guys should go see it if you get a chance to, it was so good,” the pianist agreed.

“Well, I wanna go see it, but you know Mr. I-Don’t-Watch-Theatre over here,” she answered, as she pointed to Casper with her thumb.

“I just don’t like the crowds,” Casper said, shoulders bobbing.

“This is a really small theatre, so it’s actually perfect for someone who prefers smaller crowds,” Rafael offered, leaning against Sebastian when the musician draped an arm over the back of the sofa behind him.

Casper seemed to consider it for a moment before he idly nodded. “Yeah, okay. Maybe we’ll go then.”

Katie looked pleasantly surprised. “We gotta keep you around Rafael. I never thought it would be that easy to convince him to go see a show.”

“Happy to help,” the ADA answered. 

“Hey, let’s play a game!” Katie suggested, handing Rafael a beer from the cooler. “I got Cards Against Humanity from my grandma and I think we might have Jenga somewhere.”

“That sounds great,” Rafael chimed.

“I’ll go get them!” Katie replied, shooting up from her seat excitedly and disappearing down the hall.

For the next couple of hours, they played games while waiting for the time to tick closer to midnight, and Sebastian couldn’t shake the feeling of it all being so...normal. As if they’d been doing this for years with Casper and Katie. Every so often they would meet eyes and share a smile at one another and Sebastian couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so happy. He hoped it would last for the rest of their lives.

Eleven fifty-five came in no time at all it seemed, and Casper suggested they all go to the rooftop to watch the ball drop, just as he and the pianist had done every year. Opening the bottle of champagne that Rafael had brought, they poured four glasses out and began to make their way to the top of the building.

“I can’t believe you can actually see the ball from here,” Katie mused as Casper propped open the emergency exit that led to the roof.

“I mean, it’s not a perfect view, but you can see it as it reaches five seconds left,” Casper answered, leading them to the perfect spot for the best vantage point. Looking down at his watch, he started off the countdown. “Ten, nine, eight…”

“Thank you for inviting me,” Rafael mumbled into Sebastian’s ear before he planted a gentle kiss on the skin beneath the lobe.

“Thanks for coming,” Sebastian mumbled back with a warm smile.

“Three, two, one...HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

With his heart filled to brim with joy, Sebastian closed the space between them and pressed his lips against those of the ADA’s, keeping their foreheads pressed together when, after a few moments of bliss, their lip lock broke. From the corner of his eye, he could see a bright flash and turned to look at Katie, who was holding up her cellphone, pointed at the two of them.

"Sorry, you guys are just so cute together, I literally want to put you both in a frame and keep you always," Katie said.

"When would they pee?" Casper asked, earning a chuckle from Sebastian and Rafael.

“Katie, would you send that to me, please?” Rafael asked.

“Yeah, of course!” Katie answered.

Sebastian couldn’t have helped it if he wanted to, and he definitely didn’t want to stop himself from falling, long and hard for the ADA at that very moment. And he didn’t even care that it might’ve been too soon to feel that way.

[blueplanettrash]

[1/2] Fic where lance has to be left behind for sake of the rest of the team's lives so he gets caught by galra and is tortured for information. Later Shiro sneaks in to get him out but boi has been so messed up already he can't sit up let alone walk and get out. On top of that he needs immediate medical attention. But the galra find out that shiro is here and are trying to catch them.

Here it is! I hope you enjoy! ❤️ I’m actually going to get to sleep at a somewhat decent time today YEET!

“Run!” Lance yelled at the rest of the team. He hissed at the arms that squeezed around him, dragging him away from the lions and his friends. They looked at him in shock and Shiro stepped forward slightly as if to go after him.

“GO!” He screamed, tears rolling down his cheeks. Shiro flinched back and glanced back and forth between him and the lions behind them. With a small choke, they ran to the lions and took off leaving him in the hands of the Galra.

“After them!” One of the Galra commanded, there were several nods before they deployed chasing after the lions but were quickly thwarted when the Castle jumped into a wormhole instead.

“Commander Thrak, we lost them,” a voice said into the coms. Thrak clenched his jaw with a growl and shook Lance in frustration.

“Where are they going?” He hissed. Lance laughed slightly and gave him a tiny smirk.

“You actually believe that I’m going to tell you anything?” It was kind of the truth, it wasn’t like Allura told them in the briefings where they would be teleporting after the mission was complete. Even if he did, he wouldn’t tell them of course.

“Very well paladin,” he chuckled throwing him to the sentries. He yelped as the metal arms wrapped around him tightly, bruising his skin through the armour.

“Take him to a cell,” he commanded, the sentries nodded and started dragging him out of the room, despite his struggles against them.

“We will speak later paladin,” he stated ominously.

“Looking forward to it,” he smirked locking eyes with the galra. He grunted as the sentries carried him out of the room.

“Before we start, I’ll give you the chance to give me the information that I want,” Thrak announced pacing around the table that Lance was strapped to. Lance’s eyes followed him as he walked around his body. He was stripped from his armour and put in a pair of plain black trousers instead.

“I already told you that I’m not telling you anything,” Lance rolled his eyes and tested his bonds. Thrak let out a sign and walked up beside Lance.

“Maybe some persuasion would help you,” he said waving his hand. Lance looked at it in confusion and looked in the direction he was gesturing to. A figure with a cloak glided in, didn’t Shiro or Allura call them druids? He wasn’t exactly sure but it wasn’t important right now anyway.

“You’re allowed to do anything to make him talk, without seriously injuring him, we need him alive,” he growled at the druid, pointing a clawed finger at them.

“Understood,” they hissed skulking forward to run cold fingers along Lance’s chest. Lance flinched and struggled to push away from the creature. A deep sense of unease bloomed in his chest as he looked at the glaring mask.

“Good,” Thrak said turning and moving to the door. He turned as he was leaving the room and smirked at Lance.

“Good luck paladin,” Lance glared at him as the door slid shut and he was left in the quiet of the room. What could this thing do that Thrak couldn’t. They didn’t look like they’d be able to fo much to him, considering the lack of weapons in the room, he wasn’t too worried about himself. However, the feeling of unease didn’t leave him and he usually trusted his instincts, so he wasn’t able to completely let his guard down yet.

“So what? We going to have a nice chat? A little heart to heart?” Lance said playfully with a grin.

“I don’t think so,” they replied. Even though he couldn’t see any part of their face, he could practically feel the smirk on their face. Lance quirked a brow at the comment when they didn’t offer up any more explanation.

“We’ll start off small,” they said laying their hand on Lance’s chest. He looked at it in confusion before he arched in the hand as pain took over his body. His mind went a million miles an hour as he tried to comprehend what his body was experiencing.

Every single jolt of agony that ran through his body was followed by a question from the druid. He never gave them anything though, too confident in the fact that his team would be able to rescue him. They would never leave him here to rot.

He didn’t know how long it would take though. He was confident that he would be able to last at least a few weeks without giving them any information. Hopefully, they would come sooner rather than later.

Shiro snuck through the galra ship’s hallway only a few days later. The rest of the team were successfully distracting the main forces as he searched for their missing paladin. He tried not to think of his own experiences at the hands of the galra during his missing year. It was why they came to Lance’s rescue as quickly as they were able, he couldn’t be subjected for long, it would destroy him. He ducked around a corner as he spotted a druid leaving a room ahead of him. He froze in fear, remembering them from his brief flashes of memories from their experiments.

He waited until it was completely out of his sight before running to the room it left. He both hoped that Lance was and wasn’t in this room. He would be able to get him out sooner, but on the other hand, he didn’t want Lance to be a subject like he was. He pressed his galra hand to the reader and let out a sigh of relief when it slid open without a problem.

“Lance,” he breathed out walking quickly to the paladin strapped to the table. Lance blearily looked up at him, his whole body was shaking. He wasn’t sure what it was from, fear? Pain? Maybe even both.

“Shiro,” Lance sobbed out in relief, eyes squinting as tears rolled down over his ears onto the table. Shiro quickly cut through the restraints and turned to the door to watch for any guards that could come in.

“Let’s go, we don’t have much time,” Shiro said moving quickly towards the door. He waited by the door expecting Lance to touch his back to keep moving when he was ready.

“Shiro,” a meek voice called out. He turned and saw Lance still laying on the table, barely having moved from his original spot. He raced back over and saw his body violently trembling, even more so from when he first came in.

“I can’t get up,” he admitted with a shaking voice, staring up at the ceiling. Shiro sucked in a breath and wrapped an arm around his back and lifted him into a sitting position, but even in this position, he was lying limply over the arm. He helped him put his feet on the ground and stood him up, hoping that he just needed to get his blood flowing. He took his hands off of him when he stood steady and backed away. Lance took only one step before he collapsed to the ground. Shiro immediately swooped down and scooped him up into his arms.

“I’m going to have to carry you,” Shiro said urgently as they moved to the door again.

“Sorry,” Lance said quietly from where his cheek was pressed into Shiro’s chest armour. Shiro held him tighter as he began running in the direction of where the black lion was waiting for them.  

“Don’t apologize, Lance, I’m the one that left you behind in the first place,” he whispered. The ashamed feeling returned two-fold as he looked at the shape that Lance was in.

“What did they do to you?” He asked hesitantly, not sure if he was alright to breach the topic yet.

“I don’t know, the druid just touched me and I felt pain everywhere,” Lance answered, trying to tilt his head up to look up at Shiro but failing. Shiro gulped at the news, he remembered one of the other prisoners that had that happen to them. After a few days they weren’t able to move again and they were killed by the guards. He didn’t have much time before it was too late for Lance. They needed to be in the Castle now. He picked his pace up, closer to a full sprint now.

“Why are you going faster?” Lance asked quietly. Shiro couldn’t bring himself to answer and hoped that Lance would forgive him for ignoring him.

“Shiro, you’re scaring me,”

“I’m sorry Lance, I just want you to get taken care of as soon as possible,” he said looking down at him. It wasn’t exactly a lie, he did want to get Lance to safety. Lance seemed to take the truth as a whole though and didn’t question him again. He got into the hallway of the hanger he highjacked when blaring alarms sounded through the ship.

“Attention all on board personnel, the blue paladin has escaped confinement, all units to sector 7 to search for the paladin,” Shiro gasped and ducked into one of the supply rooms along the hallway. They were in the most populated hallway of the ship and they wouldn’t be able to leave for a while if there were as many soldiers on board as Pidge had said. He sat crouched on the floor near the door, listening as boots marched past the door every few seconds. His stomach clenched in sympathy when he looked down at Lance again and saw he trying to lift his head up. With a trembling hand, he lifted Lance’s chin up to lessen the strain on his neck.

“Thanks, Shiro,” he said earnestly with a smile on his face.

“No problem,” he choked out after a moment. He never felt this helpless in his life, he had brought a portable med kit with him in case Lance was in bad shape when he got to him, but it was useless just like he was right now.

“I’m so sorry Lance,” he whimpered pressing his forehead against the side of Lance’s head. “We shouldn’t have left you here,”

“I wanted you to go, it was either one of us or all of us,” he replied trying to sound reassuring but his voice cracked in the middle.

“I knew that you guys were going to come for me though,” he said in a much more reassuring voice. Shiro didn’t say anything, just closed his eyes and focused on the noise outside of the door.

“Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t feel my hands or feet,”

Shiro’s world was shattering around him. He started praying that the guards would go faster, or he was going to jump out risks be damned. His devastated eyes caught on Lance’s terrified ones. He had never seen the teen exude anything but pure strength and hope, but it looked like that hope was running out quickly. He couldn’t take this anymore. He shot to his feet, Lance’s head once again rolling to rest on his chest and sprinted towards the hanger. It was almost like someone was finally taking pity on them and let them get to Black without seeing a single galra.

“We’re heading out,” Shiro said shakily into the coms, not even taking the time to lay Lance on the floor of the cockpit before they were taking off out of the ship.

“Is he okay?” Hunk asked worriedly. Shiro looked at Lance’s face and gulped.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. They started rapid firing questions at him and he almost turned his com at the overwhelmingness of it all.

“Can we please wait until we get Lance in a pod?” he asked meekly. They weren’t used to Shiro sounding so drained and quieted down without a second thought. Relief flooded through Shiro as the Castle quickly came into view. He didn’t dock Black as well as he usually would but he was also almost out of his seat by the time her paws touched the hanger floor. He didn’t even greet the other paladins before he was sprinting down the halls to the med bay and starting up a pod. He was thankful that Coran taught them all how to use the pods in case he wasn’t there. By the time Hunk, Keith, and Pidge arrived at the bay, Lance was already in the pod and on his way to healing.

“Get work getting him here so quickly,” Hunk said clapping him on the back.

“Yeah and getting him out of there,” Keith added coming to his other side and placing his hand on his shoulder. They waited for any type of encouraging speech from their leader but he didn’t look away from Lance’s pod.

“Shiro? Are you okay?” Pidge asked coming around in front of him.

“I feel so terrible,” he admitted with a sob cradling his face in his palms. His shoulders shook as tears leaked between his fingers and soaked his gloves.

“Why?” Hunk asked in confusion. They had gotten Lance back in record time and it didn’t look like he was very damaged.

“We shouldn’t have left him, now I don’t even know if he is going to be okay,” Shiro cried looking over at Hunk.

“He looks pretty okay to me,” Pidge said, her face pushed close to the glass of the pod.

“You didn’t see him, he couldn’t move, he could barely talk, I never thought I would see Lance that weak,” he sniffed miserably.

“Shiro, everything worked out fine, Lance is going to be okay,” Keith said. Shiro only nodded his head and wiped his face before sitting in front of the pod, clearly intent on waiting until Lance got out.

They sighed before leaving the med bay, coming back soon with blankets, snacks, and water for the wait ahead of them.

Shiro didn’t leave his spot for anything other than a few bathroom breaks until Lance was released from the pod and assured Shiro himself, that he was fine. I was no surprise that Lance told him to shut up after he apologized for the eighth time. He wasn’t being malicious, he knew that Shiro just cared about him.

Stories Masterlist

[writing-yj]

Robin x Reader: The Bird Tattoo~Part Eleven (Soulmate AU)

A/n: Damn, some shit is going to go down this chapter. You have been warned! But it’s really spotty with fillers, I think. I just really want to get a post out for you guys! Like, this is probably the worst part of the series.

Thank you guys for all of the support and love for this series!

Robin managed to sneak out of your room before anyone got suspicious. He came back again the first full day of your grounding, and he kept you sane as you kept searching for The Doctor. He insisted that you take a break from searching, but you convinced him to let you continue for just a little while longer.

     You discovered that Batman did some research on the mindless people The Doctor experimented on, and you were right. They were too far gone to save; the mix of chemicals altered the brain, especially the frontal lobe, beyond repair. There was no hope in saving them, only eliminating them with electricity, crushing them, and a shot to the head. Quite like you would kill a zombie in a movie.

     Robin made visits as often as he could, but you were slowly getting more agitated and paranoid overtime. Especially when the team started going on missions. You had a set schedule for eating and going to school and back. If the team was present, you spoke to them. If they weren’t, you ate alone before returning to your prison.

     The door locked from the outside, and only opened for you when it was time to eat or go to school. Otherwise, you were literally locked in. If it weren’t for Robin’s visits, you would have been acting up far worse and sooner. You woke up from nightmares regularly, but fell back asleep just to wake up from another one. 

     Until you and Robin had an argument.

“I need to get out! Why can’t you let me out!?” You snapped. Some of that anger was coming back.

Robin groaned. “You know why I can’t let you out! You’ll get kicked off the team; we both would!” Even though he said he’d leave the team for you, he wouldn’t want to be kicked off.

“Didn’t you say you’d leave for me?!”

“Didn’t you say you’d not let me!?”

Your bloodshot right eye twitched. Of course he pulled that card.

Robin’s feathers were getting ruffled (no pun intended) the wrong way. “You should be happy I’m even coming to see you! I’ve been sneaking around and lying to keep this a secret!” He had to admit, it was getting difficult to avoid everyone in order to see you. “I could just stop coming, is that what you want!?”

“Yes!” You barked. Your conscience was yelling at you to take it back, but you were too driven to do so.

He didn’t come back. The next day, no one visited you. No sign of your soulmate didn’t calm you down at all. The insanity caused by the increasingly and strangely overactive Mockingbird DNA, as well as the PTSD, made you completely overlook that you completely learned Romanian, and you actually found The Doctor’s hideout in the most abandoned and dirty areas of Gotham. Buildings rotting where they stood, deserted of people, and the only signs of life were the sick rats scattered throughout the area.

     Your team thought it to be odd when you didn’t say a word when you came across them when you ate. Usually, you would jump at the chance so see them when you “got free”. You didn’t talk to Artemis or Dick at school; all you did was focus on your schoolwork. It was like you were mindless, too. Mindless while being dead-set on a few goals.

     But back in your room? It was like hell on Earth for you. To you, the walls looked the the bars of a cage; just like the one The Doctor kept you in. Luckily, no one dared to come in. If they did, you’d most likely attack them in an attempt to get out. Trances happened often, and many things in your room were broken. A full night’s sleep, if any, was something you could no longer obtain.

     Batman’s decision to lock you up like this was one of his worst ones.

On the next to last day, Oliver came to visit you to see how you were holding up. Due to Justice League business, he had previously been unable to. Dinah would have, but she was too hurt by your words to see you. She thought it would make her and you even more upset.

     He unlocked the door, cautiously holding a syringe of sedative just in case. It would calm you down and put you to sleep, so you could get some rest (he knew you weren’t getting any) and to keep the paranoia at bay (he knew that, too). No one thought Oliver would need it and discouraged it, but he was the one who caught you and was in charge of you when you were first grounded as a young protege.

     Oliver did not expect the sight before him. Things were strewn all over the floor, the bed was a mess, the lights were dim, and the next thing he saw was your crazed and tired eyes from across the room.

     In that moment, you’d never moved so fast. You lunged at Oliver and screeched, “Let me out!” You clawed at his back when he caught you and he was barely able to contain you. He almost fell from your violent struggling and your shrieks didn’t help.

     “(Y/n), stop!” Oliver exclaimed and pulled you back in your room. He closed and locked the door, making you wail in defeat. He firmly but not painfully pinned you to the ground. Your struggling went down a couple notches, but didn’t stop. 

     “Let me go! Don’t take them from me!” You cried and thrashed on the floor. “They’re my family!” Those were some of the same words you used when under The Doctor’s hold. “They’re all I have!” 

     The scene felt like needles on Oliver’s heart. Staying in the room was ripping you apart, and it was hard to see you this way. Mockingbird was gone, replaced by a terrified and a borderline psychotic child. It angered him that Batman and Black Canary wouldn’t listen to his protests on grounding you. He wasn’t playing favorites or being a big ol’ softie; he was warning them and trying to keep you safe.

     You shoved upwards and you pushed him off you. But the moment you got up to run, Oliver grabbed your ankle and yanked you back down. He winced when you hit the ground with a loud thump, but it was for the best. Although the door was locked, you would end up hurting yourself trying to get out.

     You flipped onto your back and kicked Oliver square in the face, almost breaking his nose, but you still gave him a nasty nose bleed. He cried out in pain and put a hand over his nose as he dragged you back to him. You gave him more screams of protest that hurt him to the core.

     He was glad he brought the sedative as he plunged the needle into you and injected it into your bloodstream. In a matter of seconds, you passed out in his arms and went completely limp. You were still in there, fighting off the PTSD with everything you had, but the walls were too strong. Luckily, the sedative was slowly weakening them by the minute.

     You were put on the bed and Oliver wrapped you up in you blankets, tucking you in like Dinah used to. As a favor, he tidied up your room a little, putting certain objects into certain small piles. This episode confirmed his concerns and arguments against this punishment. He desperately wanted to take you out of that room immediately, but he couldn’t. So he was going to aggressively prove his point to them the moment they returned from their own mission.

When you woke up wrapped in your comfy blankets, and with your floor cleaner than you left it, you felt much calmer than before. Your vaguely remember almost taking Green Arrow out to try escaping, but that’s it.

     “He must have used a sedative. The only time I’m grateful for it.” You sighed and you stood from your bed. As you gingerly searched through your memories, you remembered catching wind of the team going on a mission; hacking into the cameras was a handy skill. You looked at the time and saw that they must have left not too long ago.

     You also remembered having a bad feeling about it. The details of the mission made you feel off, and Batman’s low voice worried you when he was giving the mission to your teammates.

     You bounced over into your swivel chair in front of your computer. By no means were you completely okay and cured. You still buzzed with paranoia and anxiety. You pulled up the map with their trackers’ locations. Then, you secretly and stealthily hacked into their comm systems.

“I’d say we’re almost done here,” Kid Flash observed. “How’s it going for you guys?”

Robin interrupted him and everyone else. “I’m tailing someone on the highway; they fit Batman’s description.”

“Right behind you.” Artemis told him. Their tracker locations merged, and they chased the mysterious figure with vigor. “Did Batman say who this guy is?” She didn’t remember if he tossed a name in the debriefing or not.

“No, just the description. He is not sure who it is, either.” Kaldur stated, moving in the direction of Artemis and Robin’s coordinates. He didn’t know if the 

Robin threw a batarang at them, but his heart stopped when they caught it. “What the-”

“Hello, Robin. It’s so nice to see you again, Artemis.” 

     The greeting was only heard by you, Robin, and Artemis. That voice haunted your nightmares, and your blood ran cold.

Artemis yelled into her comm, but she was cut off in the middle. “It’s The Doct-”

     Both of their trackers and communicators were turned off, and they went off the grid. The team yelled and tried to get them to answer, but it was no use. Even when they got to their previous location, they were gone without a trace.

     You immediately went to research for his location again, but you were shocked to see that you already found where The Doctor was hiding. “Way to go, utterly insane me.” You muttered and you analyzed the data rapidly, then downloading it onto a tablet. One of them, anyway; you built three out of stress. Not even you knew where you got all the parts from.

     For the first time in a very long time, you opened a safe in your large closet and revealed two glocks and plenty of ammo. Like Batman’s research said, the mindless beings were too far gone to save and could only stop if killed. You learned how and practiced shooting early on, but since killing is unacceptable, you didn’t use them. On missions, your only weapon was your voice.

     You strapped the two guns to your hips, loading them and placing ammo in your spare pockets. You didn’t intend on shooting The Doctor, but if push comes to shove… You’d do it. A bullet would go right between his eyes without a second thought if he pulled something.

     But you already had an obstacle. The locked metal door. You weren’t going to let it stop you, though. You slammed against it again and again, denting it more and more. The motivation and desperation to save your friend and soulmate gave you a new strength, and you kicked the door with all the power you had.

     But it still wouldn’t open. You looked up in exasperation, but you went stone-faced when you saw the air vent. “I’m so fucking stupid, I could have done this the entire time?” You angrily muttered to yourself, jumping sky-high to latch onto the vent cover. You broke it open, dropping it to the ground, and you pulled yourself up. Then you went on your trek to escape, wiggling the entire way. The abundance of dust made you sneeze, but it was worth saving them.

“We have to get her out of there, Dinah!” Oliver yelled, holding a now bloody tissue to his nose. Their entire house shook with his angry voice. Usually, it would be Dinah yelling about you, not the other way around. “She is terrified! I told you and Batman this was going to happen, but you didn’t listen. I’m lucky I brought a sedative or else she would have tried to kill me to get out.

“She’s just being a teenager who doesn’t want to be grounded, Oliver!” Dinah was blind to the reality of the situation. 

     "No, she isn’t!“ He shouted back. “I was the one to catch her and keep an eye on her when she was grounded. What’s happening now is not just a teenager not wanting to be grounded!” This was stressing Oliver out horribly. “Dinah, she was kept in a cage! For four years! (Y/n) has wild mockingbird DNA! Doesn’t that tell you something?!”

     The certainly caught her attention. And also made her angry face and attitude crumble. Dinah had been so caught up in her own work and being upset about your choices, she didn’t take your past into account. She didn’t consider any other reason other than you just being a teenager. “Damn it…” Dinah muttered and ran a hand through her hair. The thought of your PTSD being the cause wasn’t visible until now. No one, not even you, thought that the mockingbird DNA would change your behavior, too. “How could I have been so stupid…?” She said so quietly that he didn’t hear her.

     The two elite heroes stood silently. Oliver was hoping for her to join him in convincing Batman to change his mind, and Dinah was putting herself down for missing all of the signs. It was her fault that you were panicking in your room, not being yourself, and for claiming she was never a mother to you. She felt like a complete idiot.

     “You’re right,” Dinah said after a few minutes. “Let’s go get her. She can’t be in there anymore.”

     Oliver expected you to either be sleeping on the bed or curled up in a ball in front of your computer. Dinah expected the latter, but on the carpet and crying. The dented door was concerning, so they prepared for a hostile and injured Mockingbird.

     Neither of them anticipated to see a room. empty of people, with a broken vent cover in the middle of the floor. They had no idea how you managed to climb or jump high enough to get to the vent, but you’ve gotten to the top of the Mission Room before. Not really a surprise, but not expected.

     “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…” Dinah muttered. Of course you escaped. You always found a way to escape eventually. But this time, no one knew where you were going or were you were likely to be. “She could be anywhere by now.” Dinah walked around your room, and she growled in frustration. “Suit’s missing, gun’s are gone, tracker’s still here, ammunition taken, what the hell is she going to do?!”

     Oliver walked over to your computer, clicking on different links and going through your file history that you neglected to clean up before you left. He opened the window that pulled up the map of Gotham that showed the locations of your teammates, and he saw that you hacked into their communications as well.

     He used the hacked system to speak to the team.

“I know this is short notice, but what’s your situation?” Oliver asked them.

“Is that Green Arrow?” Wally asked, skidding to a stop. Why was Green Arrow in their comm links?

Wally was completely ignored. “Artemis and Robin were following someone and Artemis said it was The Doctor before they were taken.” M’gann blurted out.

Oliver sighed and rubbed his temples. “That explains it…” He muttered.

“Explains what?” Kaldur inquired. “Did you know they went missing?”

Dinah took Oliver’s place. “We came to get Mockingbird, but she escaped through the vents. Green Arrow and I looked through her computer and it appears that she was monitoring your mission by looking at your trackers and hacking into your comm links.”

“How’d she know about-”

“Hacked into the camera system as well.” Oliver interrupted Wally, making him grumble. “So keep an eye out for Mockingbird; she’s bound to show up in Gotham. I guess kidnapping her best friend and her soulmate was the last straw.”

“Soulmate!?” The entire team cried out simultaneously. 

Dinah harshly whacked Oliver on the back of his head. “Hey! I thought they knew already!” He rubbed where she hit him. “Contact us when you see her.”

Wally butted in before he could get interrupted. “Not trying to be a jerk, but couldn’t you guys come get her since you know her better than we do?”

“We’ll be busy with convincing Batman to not get angry.” Dinah chirped, and bid them farewell before disconnecting.

The team looked at each other blankly. They were a little stunned.

     “Am I the only one who isn’t surprised that Robin’s her soulmate? We have literal love birds!” Excitement radiated off of Wally

     “I, for one, am very surprised they are soulmates,” Kaldur stated with a small smile. “But I am not surprised Mockingbird got out. She always does.”

     Conner shrugged. “I thought it would have happened sooner, but I’m not complaining.”

There you stood in front of the broken-down abandoned school, one gun in each hand. You hair moved with the wind under the dark clouds in the gloomy sky. It was like the world was as dark and dangerous as you were. The gravel crunched under your feet as you stalked up to the main doors, and you held you your guns in preparation.

     With a loud bang, you kicked the double doors open and cocked the two handguns… But there was no one there. Not a “zombie”, not Robin, not Artemis, not The Doctor. The main hall was completely empty, save for a few cockroaches and rats. The interior hardly looked like a school anymore; dead leaves here and there, broken lockers, rotting doors, severely cracked floor tiles, everything was out of shape.

     You crept inside, looking left and right and into the old classrooms. So of them still had desks, even. You wanted to go through them to see if anything was left behind, but you had to find Robin and Artemis. Before it was too late.

     You reached the end of the hallway that led to two different hallways; one to the right, the other to the left. You didn’t have time to choose before the mindless experiments burst out of the shadows, their white eyes staring and bodies unbalanced.

     “Well, shit.”

Robin and Artemis were strapped to two metal tables with their arms clamped down by solid metal cuffs. They gave up trying to get free an hour ago. Robin had all of his gadgets taken away and Artemis’ bow was confiscated. The weapons lay in the corner in a pile, taunting them with every glance. So close yet so far.

     The Doctor sat in the middle of them with a sinister grin. “I know that look,” He snickered. “Mockingbird had that look on her face whenever she made plans to escape. You two might as well give up.” Ever since he brought them down into the basement, he made nonstop references to how you acted when he held you captive. Some were small, others were heartbreaking.

     “You won’t get away with this.” Artemis growled, helplessly puling at her restraints. 

     The Doctor scoffed. “What makes you think that? Not even the Justice League has found out about this place. This little corner of Gotham has been long forgotten.” It was true; the area wasn’t on the most recent maps of Gotham. When The Doctor arrived, there were some homeless people milling about, but they were gone now. Well, taken.

     All three of them jumped when they heard repetitive gunshots echoing around the school. Robin instantly perked up and felt a surge of hope. Someone was finally here to rescue them. He wasn’t entirely sure who it would be, though. He didn’t personally know any heroes who used guns.

     The kickback from the handguns didn’t take long to get used to; you’d practiced before and you were a damn good shot, no doubt about it. But it was hard to shoot through all of the his victims. You even recognized some of them; they were people you occasionally saw when you observed on the streets. Specifically when you sulked next to gargoyles. The amount of them was next to nothing by the time you found one of the many entrances to the basement. You used it immediately, climbing down to where Artemis and Robin were sure to be.

     The loud sounds of guns going off got closer, and closer, and closer until they stopped completely. The Doctor cocked his head in confusion, but then grinned. “Oh Mockingbird, you gave your friends false hope. Making gunshot noises isn’t going to change anything.”

     Robin felt happy but sad at the same time. Overjoyed that you, his soulmate, was here to save him and Artemis. Upset that you were going to face the man of your nightmares, the man who defeated you and almost killed you twice.

     “Have you forgotten how our last encounter went?”

     Artemis was just happy you were here to take him down. Unhappy that you were having to see The Doctor with her and Robin trapped by him; it was sure to set you off. Either way, she was finally able to see her best friend freely without you being under a tight schedule or ignoring everything around you.

     The fright they had from the first sound of gunshots with nothing compared to the heart attacks they had when they heard you cock one of your guns in the darkness, completely hidden. “Are you sure they’re just noises?” Your voice was dark and angry as you stepped into the dim light. Your gun was aimed straight at The Doctor’s head, and your finger itched to pull the trigger. 

     “I’m glad you made it, my little bird!” He clapped excitedly. 

     “I’m not your fucking bird.” You said through gritted teeth. “Let them go.”

     He ignored you, dismissing your words with a wave of his hand. “Honestly, I’m surprised you came. I thought the Justice League put you on a tight leash.”

     “Take my best friend, I’m already leaving to kick your ass. But take my soulmate?” Your stance became even more threatening. “You’ve got a gun pointed at your head by a girl who’s just dying to pull the trigger.” 

     “Ah,” He sighed. “I had a feeling he was your soulmate. They way you protected each other and the looks he’s been giving me every time I talk about you confirmed it, my dear.”

     “So that’s why my ears were burning,” you said sarcastically. “Take me in their place. Let them go, and I’ll stay here.”

     Robin jerked his body to sit up, but he was shoved back down by The Doctor. “A tempting offer, you have there.” He seemed to ponder. “But I don’t know what all I would do with you. The look on your face when they die would be worth it, so I’ll have to pass.”

     Your lips curled back from your teeth as your knuckles turned white from your death grip on the gun. “I didn’t think I’d have to resort to this.” It was a secret weapon you forgot you had back in the shipment yard.

     The Doctor was puzzled, but Robin knew what you were talking about; you told him a few days ago. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for it, and persuaded Artemis to do the same.

     You forced out a pained scream, but not in your voice.

     In Benjamin Henze’s. The son of Cassius Henze, The Doctor, who was killed in a horrid lab accident caused by a jealous and ignorant intern. His screams and cries were the sounds that poisoned The Doctor’s mind.

     “…Benjamin-?!” The Doctor almost choked on his words. He took a step back when you screamed again, and covered his ears with the third.

     You looked sharply at Robin and Artemis and hissed, “When you guys get out, you need to get out of here as if your asses are on fire, okay?” The Doctor was too busy reliving his own past to notice you speaking to them.

     “But what about you?!” Artemis exclaimed, and she prayed that you weren’t going to sacrifice yourself.

     “I’ll be right behind you!” You said quietly and you looked over at Robin wish sad eyes. You vaguely remembered the fight you had, but you remembered majorly messing up. It would easily be mended, but that didn’t stop your guilt.

     You moved to help them get out, but The Doctor barked, “I don’t think so!” In his hand was a bomb, different from the one you made, set to go off in five minutes.

‘Oh Christ…’

     You never shot so fast in your life. Two shots for freeing Artemis, the other two for Robin to free him. They never knew you could use guns, let alone to this extent, but questions were for later. “Go!” You yelled. They didn’t want to leave you, especially Robin. They barely grabbed their gear and snatched up their comm links.

     You turned back to The Doctor and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Empty. No bullets. Your pockets? No ammunition left. Your other gun was out as well, much to your chagrin. “For fuck’s sake!” You snarled in frustration. This was already shitty day and it was getting worse and worse.

     You felt Robin’s hand on your arm and you turned to yell at him to leave, but the words die in your throat when he kisses you. On the lips. Not on the cheek. In reality, you didn’t have time for this. But you had a right to indulge in one last passionate kiss from your soulmate before you go. A bright fire lit inside you, and your heart pounded with the kind of love you forgot how to feel. “I love you, okay?” He whispered desperately. “Come back to me.”

     “I promise.” You said before you pushed him in the direction of the exit. You never liked making promises, because of how easily they could be broken. But you needed to survive for your soulmate. You heard that losing your soulmate is worse than any pain you could ever feel. You didn’t want to put Robin through that. “My comm is on, connect when you guys get out.” You told him and he nodded before racing after Artemis, who turned on her tracker as soon as she made it out.

     The clock on the bomb was ticking and The Doctor took his chance to run. ‘It’s empty anyway… Might as well.’ You thought and you chucked the gun at him. Your throwing had been on point for years, and tonight was no exception. It clocked him right in the head, and he went straight to the floor.

     You jumped at him, pinning him down. But he managed to shove you off and whipped out a large scalpel from who knows where, you didn’t even know he had it on him, and sliced at your neck. You were fast enough to avoid being killed from blood loss, but he wasn’t giving up so easily.

     But you weren’t, either. You used Benjamin’s voice again, and you sounded as sad and broken as possible. “Why are you doing this, Daddy?” The Doctor froze and looked at you in horror. “Why are you hurting people? Why are you hurting people like he hurt me?”

     He dropped his scalpel and the blood drained from his face. “Benjamin, I-”

     “Why!?” You yelled, sounding exactly like his late son. “Why!?”

     The Doctor was so lost and distraught that he barely registered you throwing him down on a different lab table. He started struggling, but only after you strapped him to it. Just like he did to you.

     “Goodbye, Cassius Henze!”

     It was your turn to go pale when you looked at the bomb. Forty seconds left. The time flew by so fast, that couldn’t be right! No. No, no, no. You thought your mind was playing tricks on you.

 “(Y/n), where are you?!” Artemis yelled into her comm link.

You took a deep, shaky breath. “Artemis, get you and Robin as far away from this building as possible.” 

“But-”

“Do it!” You roared. You didn’t mean to sound angry, but you weren’t going to make it. There was no way you could get out and away from the building in forty seconds or less. You felt like your heart was ripped from your chest as a cold sense of dread settled on your shoulder.

Robin tried to break out of Artemis’ grip, especially when he felt one of her tears land on his cheek. “You said you be right behind us!” He cried into his comm link. “You promised, please! Just try!” Artemis used all of her strength to carry/drag him away while running.

You had your doubts and you were very skeptical when you found a large drain in the floor with a loose cover. “Robin, I’m sorry.” You started to cry. “I thought I was going to, I really did, but I can’t get out in time!”

“(Y/n)!”

“I hate to sound sappy, but it was an honor to be on the team, and to work alongside everyone.” You threw the metal covering off the drain. “You guys are my family, the friends I never had growing up.”

“(Y/n), no! Ple-” Robin was almost screaming.

You jumped into the drain, not looking back. 

The school’s explosion knocked Robin and Artemis back, even though they were far away from it. Robin didn’t care about his injuries. He couldn’t give a shit about anything else in the world. He didn’t care that anyone could hear his screams of anguish. The cries and wails of your name. He didn’t stop the flood of his tears. His soulmate was…

     The team had finally gotten a signal from Artemis’ tracker and they were relieved. They were on the way to their location, but their stomach’s dropped when they saw the explosion. That wasn’t right. Nothing had ever felt more wrong.

     They eventually heard Robin. He was crying, sobbing even, into his hands as he fell to his knees. No one judged him, or pointed out how he never showed this much emotion. 

     Because he lost his soulmate.

Wouldn’t it be funny if I said “The End”? Not really, this entire chapter is awful to be honest; too rushed. So rest assured, this is not the end!

[jaeminlore]

werewolf!sicheng

here we go w the next monster in the monct house

the way sicheng appeared is a bit of a sad tail tale tbh

so as a werewolf, sicheng was a part of a pack deep in the woods behind monct’s house

he didn’t even know it was there tbh

in case this isn’t obvious,,, sicheng is the runt of his pack

and he basically gets picked on all the time especially by the alfa and the beta of the pack

like they make everything extra hard on him and basically scold him when he can’t do the impossible

and one day sicheng has just had enough like he’s terrified that his own pack members are going to go too far with their punishments and actually kill him

he used to be afraid of running away bc he knew that he would be officially classified as a rogue and his scent wouldn’t belong to any pack

he’d be on his own,,,, and treading back into any kind of pack territory would be an immediate death sentence

and he’s scared and alone,, but he knows this is what he has to do

a pack is supposed to be a family,,, and sicheng only feels like a prisoner

so one night he darts off

he’s the quickest werewolf in his pack, so this works in his favor

OH wait let’s describe the wv: werewolf visuals for a moment shall we

okay you know during johnny’s communication center when winwin looks super duper soft and his hair is that pretty shade of copper brown i know y'all sleep on his visuals but you have to remember look

bc when sicheng transforms into his wolf version, his fur is that same soft copper and his eyes are still big and curious to the world

and he’s limber, both as a wolf and as a human

but he isn’t the slyest,,,, and within ten minutes of running he can already hear his alfa howling from the pack headquarters

it’s threatening and scary and maybe ten minutes is a good head start in human speed but as a werewolf sicheng is doomed if he doesn’t find a hiding place quick

he darts to the left until he sees a light,,,,,, which he realizes is a human house

and…….. tbh………. he’s never seen a human before like he’s heard a bunch of legends about how they’re scary creatures who poke monsters w pitchforks and light werewolf homes on fire

so he’s highkey terrified to go anywhere near the house

but he needs to hide, so he squeezes through the doggy door in the back door of the house

and he panics once he’s in the house bc he can sniff humans and he’s terrified of them finding him so he runs up the stairs,,, into the first room he can find,,,, and he crawls under the bed

and he’s just hoping all the werewolves in his pack won’t come into the house,,, but he knows they can smell him,,,,,

so hesitantly he creeps out from under the bed and looks around for any kind of cologne or perfume

his eyes finally catch on an entire perfume shelf lol like whoever owns this room must collect them for the aesthetic or smth

sicheng just thinks he’s lucky

he transforms back into his human form and like grabs the vials,,,,, and just pours them all over his body,,,,,, and then he pours the rest into the carpet, transforms back into his wolf form,,,,, and rolls around in it to mask his natural scent

this is how you find him LOL

you had just gotten back from your classes and you can smell the absolute floral and fruity storm wafting from your room

and you walk in to see a wolf rolling around in spilled perfume

and tbh you’re a bit startled at first, but you’re even more startled when the wolf notices you and retreats to the corner of your room, its tail between its legs

“hey,,, doggo,,,, idk how you got in here but would you like some food? my moms got a whole t-bone steak in the freezer that i kinda don’t want to cook up so,,,, you can have it if you want”

and the wolf kind of cocks his head to the side as if it’s confused,,,,,,, and before your eyes the wolf forms into a boy,,, a rlly cute boy that is

and he pulls his knees up to his chest like “aren’t you going to poke me w a pitchfork for stealing your perfume?”

you kind of shrug like “look my grandma gets me new perfume every year for my birthday and christmas so i’m just glad they’re finally getting some use.”

“oh” and his voice is so soft and low like he geuinely looks scared of you,,,,, he keeps discreetly checking you out through his eyelashes, only to duck down when you make eye contact w him

“why’d you put it all on anyway?”

nd v v quietly and slowly, sicheng explains how he is a werewolf running away from an abusive pack,,,, and he’s afraid of being caught

and youre like dude!! don’t worry abt it let’s get you cleaned up and fed before i call some friends

so while sicheng takes a bath and gets all the dirt, grime, and fragrance off of him,,,, you call up human!doyoung,, who you know from university

“yo don’t you live at that monster house? can you take one more?”

doyoung agrees to set up a sleeping place for yet another monster

so when sicheng comes out of the bath, freshly clothed in an oversized sweater and some sweatpants you found, you grab his hand like “i found you a place to live!”

and he’s lowkey not rlly excited like he’s already met enough new people for one day thank you very much

but you’re persistent that these people will help him a lot more than you ever could

and you lowkey can’t have a boy at your house when your parents come home it just won’t end well

so sicheng agrees and you drop him off at the monct house

and the first to welcome him is zombie!yuta, who smells like a mix of rotting flesh and honey, and witch!mark, who is excited to meet his new roommate

and sicheng is pretty closed off for the first few days like he accepts the food doyoung slides under his door and then he sleeps the rest of the time

now listen,,,,, around the full moon,,,,, werewolves are forced to transform to like their top physical wolf form

and it isn’t like the soft wolves in the forest,,,, it’s like those creepy walking wolf creatures with elongated spines and long nails

and it hurts a lot,,,, but it can also make sicheng rlly horrible for the night like every wolf gets bloodthirsty and violent and just wants to kill

sicheng warns the rest of the boys abt this and they agree to lock him in a spare bedroom for the night

and none of them can sleep during the night bc sicheng is howling and whimpering and he sounds like he’s in so much pain

mark leaves in the middle of the night to his room to “work on something”

and shapeshifter!jaemin,, after nearly biting off his lower lip in worry, finally transforms into a puppy and toddles over to the bedroom to peak under the crack in the door

he barks for a bit,,,,,,, and it’s like the wolf in sicheng felt a bit of comfort

like wolves are pack creatures and can get super lonely, alright,,,, and sicheng’s been lonely his entire life like he’s never ever been comforted by anything or anyone before

and the rest of nct take after jaemin’s lead,,, like forest fairy!jeno does what he can to try and make passion flowers (which have been proven to calm a dog’s seperation anxiety) grow under the door

witch!mark comes out of his bedroom w a few potion vials under his arm and soot in his hair “i made some healing and sleeping potions for as soon as he’s out of there”

and doyoung calls you bc well,,, you knew sicheng first and he feels it’s important you know what’s happening

but when you get there they seem to have it under control

ghost!jaehyun slides through the walls every hour to update everyone on sicheng’s condition,,, and the worn out werewolf has fallen asleep to the sounds of jaemin speaking puppy talk to him and the sweet scent of the calming plants jeno keeps growing out of nervousness

the next day when sicheng comes out everyone is babying him hardcore

like vampire!taeil wraps a wool blanket around his shoulders and imp!chenle and imp!jisung decided to refrain from unscrewing the salt jar, just so sicheng could have a peaceful morning, and witch!mark is shoving potions down sicheng’s throat

even swamp monster!taeyong becomes motherly w his water bottles reminding sicheng to stay hydrated after his long night!!!!

and sicheng just starts crying???

invisible man!ten is like what did we do what did we do taeiL YOU MADE HIM CRY

but sicheng can only shake his head like “i’m not upset,,, i’m happy”

you dump an entire steak meal in front of him like eat this while you talk you need strength

but all of nct are waiting for an explanation

so sicheng just opens up abt his previous pack and how mean they were for no reason,,,, and he lifts his shirt to show everyone all the scars he has from their cruel punishments

and he looks at you, who nods for him to keep talking,,,,,, and sicheng finally looks at the rest of monct like

“you guys have shown me what a true pack is,,,, i’ve never felt this loved and safe,,,, thank you,,,”

and now it’s an entire monster crying fest like you write your number down on a note and leave it for sicheng before getting the heck out of there

bc when taeyong cries it’s like a mini flood and no one wants to be ankle-deep in that swamp water if they can help it

but everyone is so touched they can’t help it???

IT’S A GROUP HUG

and after that sicheng is a lot less quiet around the boys and you

he helps cook and clean and sometimes gets caught chasing his tail when he’s bored

jaemin still transforms into a puppy whenever he wants just so wolf!sicheng has someone to run around with

and sicheng doesn’t call you bc he has no idea how to use a phone

taeil helps him w a lot of stuff like that

yuta tried to teach sicheng how to flirt but that rlly didn’t turn out great

turns out sicheng can’t flirt at all and has no idea how to act on a date like your first date consists of food cooked by taeil and then a nap on the couch

10 outta 10 really you thought it was great

so yeah sicheng is still learning some stuff

but he learns rlly fast and his savagery skills even outdid the dreamies after he practiced a bit

he’s a great edition to the house

except when he transforms into a wolf and sits on the couch,,, he sheds everywhere and doyoung will not hesitate to chase him w a vacuum cleaner

yeah,,, and also,,,, after a few months sicheng stopped being able to smell his old pack,,,, so they must’ve left the woods to find a warmer home for winter

sicheng is so releaved and happy

he finally has a home and friends who love him and a person he highkey already has his heart he just doesn’t quite know what that means yet

so yeah,,, that’s werewolf!sicheng !!

this was fun to write! sorry there wasn’t much sicheng x reader! anyway, part of the collab w @trickortaeil ♥️

[girls-scenarios]

Cardiff Rose (Pt. 4) The End

Idol: Moonbyul (Mamamoo)

Prompt: Pirates!AU. You, the reader, had been taken prisoner by pirate hunters, but the ship you were on was captured by Captain Moonbyul, who freed you and welcomed you to her crew. As you become more accustomed to the life of a pirate, you begin to learn more about the crew, the captain, and a quest for revenge. A revenge that soon becomes your own.

Writer: Admin Kiwi

A/N: I’m so sorry I’ve taken so long to finish this series up, the summer got crazy for me. But I hope you all enjoy this last installment! I know this wasn’t the most popular series but I really enjoyed writing it, so thank you all for being patient with me. Also, forgive me for using the same gif twice but it fits and I really like it. Also I parodied the ending phrases from the Tintin movie, don’t sue me. At the bottom of the story, there’s a glossary to explain some of the historical people/places and slang used in the story. It’s useful.

Warnings: Cursing, sword fighting, mentions and use of witchcraft, major character death, a whole lot of blood (seriously, a lot), guns, mentions of kidnapping, rape, and murder, it all gets better at the end though I swear guys.

Pt. 1 Pt. 2 Pt. 3

Moonbyul stood over you, staring Maynard* down as the wind blew her coat and long black ponytail out behind her, making her look almost otherworldly. He sneered at her, stepping back, and you sat up, pushing yourself back and away, frantically searching for your own sword. Blood still covered the grass and stained your pants and hands and the hilt of your sword as you grabbed it and stumbled to your feet, taking a step away from Moonbyul.

“Well, if it isn’t miss Byulyi herself. I thought you would’ve joined Yongsun by now.” Moonbyul stayed steady, eyes unwavering. A hand touched your shoulder, and when you spun around, you saw it was Seokjin, his eyes fixed on the pearls fastened around your neck.

“You thought I’d kill myself out of grief? Never. I lived on with the sole purpose of cutting out your heart and holding it in my hands as revenge,” Moonbyul said, voice low and cold. “You’ve killed too many people, Maynard. Your time is up.” You looked frantically between Seokjin and Moonbyul, then shifted your gaze to where Youngjae was pulling Mark away from where he’d fallen, his hand over the deep wound in his side. Wheein still laid where she’d fallen, Hwasa’s head resting on her chest and hands over her still-bleeding wound.

“Seokjin, we have to get Wheein out of here,” you rasped, grabbing at his hand. “She was shot.”

“I can see that.” As he spoke, the clashing of two swords echoed through the valley, and you turned back to see Maynard looking with disdain at Moonbyul’s sword as he quickly moved away from her attack. As Seokjin stepped forward, Maynard’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Seokjin. So this is what you’ve come to? A pirate who practices witchcraft? And to think I respected you back in London.” Seokjin smiled and drew his own sword as he stepped closer to where Wheein was laying.

“Oh Robert, I was practicing witchcraft long before I met the captain. Haven’t you noticed the spell on that sword? Isn’t it recognizable?” He stepped forward again, and Moonbyul kept her eyes on Maynard, moving in slowly as he focused on the other man. “The sword shall kill its old master.”

“You’ll be damned and rot in hell for using witchcraft,” Maynard hissed, glaring at Seokjin.

“We shall meet you there, then, murderer.” You moved as he was distracted, tearing the cloth from the sleeves of your shirt and dropping to your knees beside Wheein, quickly trying to bind up the wound. You’d had to do this many times after men hurt themselves in drunken brawls, but never had you seen so much blood. It almost made you dizzy.

Suddenly Moonbyul lunged, plunging her sword deep into Maynard’s hip. He screamed and she pulled it out and jumped away as his hand swung his sword at her blindly, other hand going to press against his wound.

“You! You distracted me on purpose, you-.” Seokjin smiled again before turning his back on the man, allowing Moonbyul to lunge again as he bent down to pick Wheein up, carefully pulling Hwasa off the body of her friend. From somewhere down the valley, you heard a familiar voice calling, and a figure appeared from around a grove of trees, waving his hands.

“Captain, Seokjin, we ‘ave the boat ready! The island is under attack, we ‘ave to leave,” Jihoon’s voice carried from where he stood, and you wrapped an arm around Hwasa, pulling her up and getting her onto her feet. Youngjae stood with Mark in his arms, and Seokjin pulled a small vial of something from his pockets just as Moonbyul knocked the sword from Maynard’s hand.

“You bloody, filthy pirate, you’ll pay for this. You damned harlot,” he spat, stepping away from Moonbyul as she advanced, eyes dark. You watched her until Seokjin smashed the vial and you could no longer see her through the thick fog. You heard a scream and shuddered, reaching out in front of you with the arm not helping Hwasa walk and blindly searched for Seokjin until you caught the tail of his shirt. Shaking, you followed behind him, the fog so thick it almost hurt to keep your eyes open against it. 

You could hear the ocean, somewhere not too far off, and you could hear the faint sounds of battle, of cannons. Then you could hear footsteps behind you. As you turned your head to try and squint through the fog to see who was behind you, a hand grabbed onto your arm. A familiar hand. Through the fog, you could just make out a figure with long black hair, and you knew instinctively that it was her.

“Captain,” Seokjin’s voice rang clear. “Stay close.”

“Of course.” It was her. You felt your heart almost drop in relief, and blinked away the sudden tears that threatened to spill over. You hadn’t cried in years, since your parents died. Why should you cry now? Just as you thought you might not be able to hold them back anymore, the fog disappeared and you were left blinking, confused, in a place you’d never seen before, a small cove where the rest of the crew stood waiting.

“Smartly*, captain. Before they realize we’ve brought the ship over here.” You again turned your head, and behind you stood Moonbyul, her face pale, her eyes slightly wild, and her fingertips stained red, sword still clutched in her hand. Without thinking, you dropped your hand from Seokjin’s shirt and reached out for her instead.

“Captain, are you okay?” She swallowed, nodding her head and shoving her sword down into the sheath before grabbing your hand and squeezing it tightly.

“He’s gone. I’ve done it. I’ve finally done it.” The sounds of canons echoed louder in the still air, and Joy ran up the hill to grab Moonbyul’s hand and urge the three of you forward.

“We have to go. Now!” Moonbyul seemed to shake from whatever daze she had been in when Joy shook her, and she moved forward, tugging you along and throwing a worried look at Hwasa, who was still shaking and stumbling, covered in her best friends blood.

At the cove, the rest of the crew was already beginning to row out to the ship. Seokjin stepped into one of the small boats with Wheein in his arms and nodded for you to get in with him. Once Joy was in the boat as well, Jihoon checked to make sure nobody else had been left behind and began rowing. You looked back at the path you’d come from as the boat left the cove and could see the fog beginning to spill over, only the color was slightly redder than you’d remembered it. Shuddering, you wrapped your arm tighter around Hwasa and felt Moonbyul’s hand tighten around your own, only just realizing that she’d never dropped your hand.

It seemed like the ship was forever away, and the closer you got, the more you could see of the island. Flames reached over the trees and licked at the skies, and you could see the tips of white sails spotting the distance. You could only hope that the entire crew had made it back alive.

“Get ready to board, get the wounded on first.” In the back of your head, you wanted to ask which wounded, as all of you had marks of some sort, but you kept quiet, knowing it wasn’t the time. As the ship grew nearer, someone from the deck let down what looked like a huge basket on ropes. Carefully, Seokjin laid Wheein in the basket, and they pulled it back up before letting down the ropes to raise and fasten the boat to the side of the ship.

Youngjae was at the side of the ship waiting for them as they climbed on.

“Seokjin, we’re losing them.” His voice sounded strained, and he immediately turned around to lead Seokjin over to where Wheein and Mark and been lain. You led Hwasa over to Wheein, and she dropped to her knees and grabbed her limp hand, but gave Seokjin enough space to look over her wounds. The ship jerked and began to move as he peeled away her soaked top and your makeshift bandage to get a look at her wound. 

“I need my box. Now.” Immediately, Jihoon was on his feet and running down into the barracks, only to return only moments later carrying a box that he sat beside Seokjin before rushing off again. When Seokjin flipped open the box, you could see a variety of doctor’s tools and vials of things you didn’t recognize. As he began to get to work, your stomach churned and, after making sure Hwasa was okay, you got up and walked away.

Moonbyul stood at the back of the ship, carefully watching as the British ships got smaller in the distance. You approached her slowly and leaned on railing beside her, squinting against the reflection of the sun on the water.

“You figure we’ll outrun ‘em?” She nodded, turning to look at you.

“We’ve got a good head start on ‘em. They don’t even know we’re here. Maynard wont be going back to tell ‘em either.” She let out a long breath, and long strands of her black hair blew around her face, let loose during the fight. “It’s finally over. I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”

“It’s over.” You looked down at the slightly worn railing. “Are you ready to tell me about the person dear to you that he killed?” Her gaze returned to the shrinking ships on the horizon, and she was silent for a long moment.

“Her name was Yongsun. We were orphans. We’d grown up in a rather bad part of the Caribbean and we used to pretend to be boys so we could find work and eat.” She again paused, as if reliving it all over again. “Then pirates attacked the town. For Yongsun and me, it was an escape route. We convinced them we were orphaned boys and they took us with ‘em. It wasn’t easy work and we definitely didn’t have the best jobs on the ship, but we had food every day and a decent place to sleep and we were relatively safe, so it was much better than what we had been doing.”

The land was beginning to fade away as well as the ship headed out to sea, and you finally got the courage to look up at her. She wore a pained expression similar to that you’d seen when you first heard her speak of Maynard, and her chest felt tight.

“Then our ship was captured. Maynard came onto the ship and killed half the crew, then took the rest of us captive. Along the way, he found out that Yongsun and I were girls. We ended up the worst out of ‘em all, I think. Treated like goddamn toys. And Yongsun was too fragile for that. She’d always been a bit sickly and underweight, and she just couldn’t take being thrown around like that. Being... used.” You felt sick to your stomach at her words, anger boiling up in your stomach at what the man had done. “Honestly, I think I was a mite in love with Yongsun. It’s not what people think of when they think of a girl falling in love, but I fell in love with her. And to see her treated like that. To see the bruises all over her body and the way she’d shake from the cold and terror.

“I never should have done it, I should have waited until we could escape together but. I don’t know if she could have lasted that long. I ended up defending her from him, making a big ruckus and punching him right in the face.” She stopped, and looked close to crying before settling her face into a blank expression. “And he didn’t take it out on me. He took it out on her. Tied me up and made me watch ‘em beat her. She died that night, and I swore I wouldn’t die until I killed Maynard. I thought I wouldn’t have anything to live for after killing him, but....” She trailed off, and turned to look at you again. You felt your breath stop in your throat.

“But?”

“But I’ve met so many people. I met you. I want to live on with you. I want to know you better. I promised myself that I’d never fall in love again after loving Yongsun, but I.... I was wrong. Given some more time with you, I think I could truly fall in love with you.”

“You think?” You asked, breathlessly, unable to look away from her dark eyes. Her lips tilted up at the side, and she looked back the the deck of the ship. Seokjin was now tending to Mark, who was awake enough to wince at whatever the other man was doing. Wheein was wrapped in bandages and looked pale, but you could see her chest moving up and down, so at least she was breathing. Maybe everything would be okay.

“I couldn’t ask you to spend the rest of your life being a pirate with me. It’s dangerous. You used to live a good life in England.” The wind made it’s way through you hair, blowing it away from your face, and you locked eyes with her again.

“I’m not that person anymore, Captain. I don’t believe I could go back to being a normal English citizen if I tried.”

“Just call me Moonbyul, really.” You smiled and held up your hand, wiggling the finger with the ring glimmering in the sun.

“Forever my heart stay bound.” She laughed, and suddenly the clouds that had been behind her eyes gave way to sunshine, for the first time since you’d met her.

“I’d be glad to have you by my side, then, (Y/N). For as long as we may live.” She took your hand in hers, and it felt like home. “How’s your thirst for adventure, (Y/N)?” You squeezed her hand tight, and let her lean in as you whispered.

“Unquenchable.”

*Robert Maynard - A famous pirate hunter who killed Blackbeard and cut off his head before throwing his body into the sea and tying the head to his ship. Learn more about him here. Please note that everything about him in here is completely made up. He might have been a pretty nice dude for all I know. Probably not, but you never know.

*Smartly - Quickly