#thinking about the flame chasers makes me want to bite things but these 3 in particular...

[evenings-at-the-seaofquanta]

Having a moment rn

Also on a more general note:

[aphrodisians]

◜     choi  yerim  ,  ciswoman  ,  twenty .     ◞     ┈     through     her     all     -     seeing     crystal     ball,     [     𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳     ]     has     her     winking     eye     trained     on     hestia     jones.     the     ever - enigmatic     fifth     year     is     infamous     for     her     righteous     ways,     but     something     new     seems     to     be     weighing     our     resident     au     courant     down.     a     rumor     is     spreading     through     these     ancient     halls     like     fiendfyre,     &     even     their     erudite     face     can't     save     them     from     the     flames.     she     can     try     to     drown     out     their     sorrows     to     the     tune     of     goddess,     but     xana     can't     fix     everything     ⏤     much     less     something     as     grim     as     [     𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳     ].     but     ten     points     to     ravenclaw     for     trying.

hey  besties <3  i’m  cc  &  i’m  super  excited  2  be  here!  i’m  writing  your  local  hater,  hestia  jones,  who  i’ve  actually  never  written  before  but  i’m  really  excited  for  her.  anywhomstdve,  i’d  love  to  plot  w  all  of  you  &  i’m  ecstatic  for  this!

⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬.⠀ ⠀

an  accidental  crack  of  a  book  spine  that  echoes  throughout  an  otherwise  silent  library,  never  letting  anything  pass  you  by  –  never  letting  yourself  be  unaware,  unwelcome  surprises  that  you  greet  with  flushed  cheeks  and  clenched  fists,  a  collection  of  skirts  stolen  from  a  mother  that  has  seemed  to  have  forgotten  you,  bruises  forming  next  to  the  scrapes  on  almost - broken  knees,  passing  tears  off  as  just  ‘my  eyes  are  sweating’  &  heavy,  heavy,  bags  underneath  eyes  that  just  never  seem  to  sleep.

⠀ ﹟𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲

birth  name.    jeong  hyun - ae nickname(s)  /  alias(es).    hestia  jones. preferred  name.    hestia  jones,  only  hyun - ae  to  family  +  very  close  friends age  +  dob.    twenty  +  dec.  23 hometown.    belfast,  ireland blood  status.    half  -  blood house.    ravenclaw activities.    fifth  year  prefect,  ravenclaw  chaser,  chess  +  duelling label.    au  courant  –    aware  of  what  is  going  on;  well  informed ethnicity.    korean nationality.    irish gender.    cis  woman pronouns.    she  +  her face  claim.    choi  yerim

⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝.⠀ ⠀

height.    five  feet,  seven  inches  /  170cm tattoos.    none piercings.    earlobes  only scars.    a  two  cm  line  that  lays  horizontally  above  her  left  eyebrow  from  falling  off  her  broomstick  during  her  third  year  at  hogwarts hair.    never  dyed,  meticulously  taken  care  of  but  rarely  styled.  naturally  falls  straight  and  is  often  left  down eyes.    round  and  dark,  accompanied  often  by  dark  bags  underneath  and  an  absence  of  makeup usual  expression.    stressed.  just  like,  if  you  look  at  her  you  can  tell  she’s  going  through  it  (  and  has  been  for  like  the  past  three  years  ),,,  she  needs a  break  but  she  will  not  be  getting  one  <3 distinguishing  features.    cheeks  that  always  seem  to  be  flushed  a  rosy  hue  of  pink,  bags  underneath  her  eyes  that  are  haphazardly  covered  with  fake  glasses or  makeup,  brown  -  hued  hair  that  just  always  falls  correctly

⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀

( + )  positive.    erudite,  bluestocking,  intuitive,  heedful ( - ) negative.    righteous,  hubristic,  zealous,  moralistic natal  chart.    triple  capricorn,  pour  one  out mbti.    istj  -  a,  investigator moral  alignment.    neutral  good godly  parent.    athena languages  spoken.    korean  +  english likes.    quiet  -  the  kind  of quiet  that  comes  only  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  +  in  restricted  access  zones  where  it’s  close  to  silence  (  but  not  quite  ),  victory  in  all  forms,  feeling  appreciated  tbh,  sleeping  but  genuinely  hasn’t  gotten  a  good  night  of  sleep  in  years,  the  color  yellow,  scarves  that  are  long  enough  to  wrap  her  entire  head  <3,  being  a  hater dislikes.    attention  (  though  she  is  overjoyed  /  obsessed  with  winning  ),  losing  -  a  notoriously  sore  loser,  being  out  of  control  in  any  situation  -  even  if  she  can  have  no  humanly  control  over  it,  nail  polish  (  because  she  bites  her  nails  :/  ),  actually  reading  i’ll  be  honest,  staircases quirks.    as  mentioned  above,  bites  her  nails  often,  doodles  when  stressed  (  which  is  all  the  time  )  -  is  halfway  decent  at  it  too  thanks  to  all  of  the  practice,  can  fall  asleep  in  two  seconds  if  given  the  opportunity,  taps  her  foot  a  lot hobbies.    being  a  hater,  being  obnoxious  enough  to  have  attention  (  aka  dramatic  )  n  then  having  the  audacity  to  complain  about  the  stress

⠀ ﹟𝐝𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫

when  he  meets  your  mother,  he  tells  you  it’s  like  the  world  stopped  turning.  she  was  enchanting,  he  says,  like  a  rose  blooming  in  the  dead  of  winter,  a  blossom  of  red  among  a  blanket  of  white  -  and  he  swears  that  he  has  never  loved  anyone  more.  their  romance  is  swift,  a  bouquet  of  flowers  traded  for  an  engagement  ring  and  a  passionate  kiss  exchanged  for  the  start  of  a  family.  your  father  never  says  anything  bad  about  your  mother,  raising  you  on  his  own  with  a  faint  line  on  his  ring  finger.  she  will  be  back  soon,  he  says  with  glazed  eyes  and  love-flushed  cheeks  that  you  seem  to  inherit.  she  will  come  back  soon,  he  tucks  you  in  with  a  faraway  look  on  his  features  and  you  realize  with  a  ceiling  full  of  glow-in-the-dark  stars  that  he  isn’t  okay.  but,  you  hold  his  hand  when  crossing  the  streets  with  you  leading  and  you  let  him  dawdle  about  your  mother  and  you  pat  the  top  of  his  head  when  he  falls  asleep  waiting  for  your  mother.  she’ll  be  back,  he  says,  unaware  that  she  only  visits  when  he’s  not  around.  she  will  come  back  soon,  he  waits  for  her,  a  stranger  in  his  own  body.

you  yearn  for  control  the  way  your  peers  yearn  for  freedom.  freedom,  you  have  enough  of,  but  everything  in  your  life  is  just  out  of  reach.  for  your  entire  childhood,  you  grasp  at  everything  and  nothing,  your  fingers  brushing  past  the  things  you  desire  most.  you  are  a  young  girl  with  magic  in  your  blood,  but  you  watch  from  the  end  of  your  driveway  as  life  seems  to  spin  so  wildly  out  of  control.  your  father  isn’t  okay,  but  you  don’t  understand  why.  your  mother  comes  around  wearing  guilt  like  one  wears  a  birthmark  and  you  can’t  fathom  why.  you  are  left  alone  on  playgrounds  and  with  scrapes  on  your  knees  and  people  whisper  about  you  but  you  don’t  understand  why.  life  goes  on  with  or  without  you,  and  you  think  it  unacceptable.  it’s  infuriating  being  in  the  backseat,  unable  to  control,  unable  to  know.  when  a letter  falls  into  your  hands,  you  swear  to  use  it  to  your  advantage.  you  refuse  to  ever  be  in  the  dark  again.

you  arrive  on  your  own,  a  year  older  than  your  peers,  a  sheltered  girl  from  a  muggle  world  and  you  look  around,  determined  to  change  your  life.  it’s  obvious  to  anyone  early  on  that  you’re  a  bright  girl,  ambition  tied  into  your  intelligence,  potential  pouring  over  every  single  one  of  your  edges.  for  a  while,  it  comes  easily.  you  know  things,  you  understand  things;  most  of  all,  you  learn  how  terribly  things  can  go  wrong.  you  swear  to  never  let  that  happen  to  you,  but  of  course,  life  has  bigger  plans  for  you.  the  first  few  years  fly  by  quick  and  your  hands  build  up  a  reputation  that  you’re  eager  to  upkeep.  you  wipe  the  sweat  off  of  your  palms  onto  your  skirts,  you  might  use  magic  to  make  sure  your  hair  always  looks  good,  you  always  know  the  latest  news,  you  always  pass  your  classes.  then,  you  go  home  during  your  third  year  to  an  empty  house  and  your  father  is gone.

when  you  return  after  the  winter  holidays,  it’s  obvious  that  something  is  -  wrong,  but  you  do  your  thing  and  you  pretend  everything  is  okay.  your  mother  in  all  of  her  magic  and  love  writes  you  a  letter,  telling  you  that  you’ll  be  in  her  care  and  that  only  stresses  you  out  more,  giving  you  gray  hair  and  bags  underneath  your  eyes  that  never  seem  to  away  from  that  point  on.  every  blink  is  heavier  now,  every  sliver  of  information  repeated  as  least  three  more  times,  everything  you  learn  adds  a  little  more  weight  to  your  shoulders.  but  you  soldier  on.  you  become  more  and  more  high  strung,  more  sharp,  more  wretched  with  stress  that  shouldn’t  be  yours  to  shoulder.  you  are  still  an  intelligent  girl,  still  a  bright  witch,  still  gleaming  with  potential;  but  you  almost  permanently  look  like  you’ve  been  handled  an  impossible  task  and  worse,  you  wear  your  flushed  cheeks  almost  as  your  father  did,  a  fact  that  you  dislike  whenever  you  see  yourself  in  the  mirror.

⠀ ﹟𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬

⠀ ⠀  ﹟𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀ has  a relatively  tough  exterior,  but  wow,  words  hurt  and  hestia  is  a  lot  more  sensitive  than  she  cares  to  admit.  say  one  off  thing  about  her  and  she’ll  be  all  “i  can’t  stand  it  here!”  and  storm  off  angrily,  but  she’s  really  just  gonna  go  cry  in  the  owlery  and  talk  to  the  owls  as  if  they  can  understand  her  through  her  snot  bubbles.

  ⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀ is  this  genius  of  a  witch,  right,  but  is  the  messiest  person  ever.  her  area  in  her  dorm  is  just  .  .  .  yeah,  it’s  messy.  she  comes  to  the  library,  throws  seven  books  down,  loses  ten  pages  of  notes;  is  disorganized  and  completely  messy,  but  at  least  she  always  looks  put  together.

  ⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀ coming  right  off  of  the  last  one,  because  she  cares  most  about  her  image  +  her  reputation  than  she  does  anything  else,  mostly  because  it’s  all  that  she  thinks  she  has.  so,  yeah,  she  may  be  consistently  stressed  out  and  on  the  brink  of  a  breakdown,  but  at  least  she  looks  GOOD.

  ⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀ her  style  is  a  little   .  .  .  amateur,  if  i’m  being  honest. very  season  one  rachel  berry.  always  looks  in  uniform  even  if  she’s  out  of  uniform  and  it’s  because  she  has  no  personality  than  being  a  ravenclaw  prefect  idk  what  you  want  me  to  tell  you.  she  has  never  been  normal  once.

  ⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀ i  laugh  and  kid,  but  she’s  genuinely  a  genius.  might  have  a  bit  of  dyslexia,  but  is  just,,,  a  smart  kid.  also  makes  it  her  entire  personality  though,  so  i’m  not  sure  what  to  do  about  that.

 ⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐡���𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀ also,  not  to  be  That  Girl  that’s  so  quirk  n  clumsy,  but  hestia  is  always  injured.  not  gravely,  but  a  scrape  on  her  knee,  a  cut  on  her  cheek,  tape  around  her  fingers,  etc.  etc.  she’s  a  problem,  to  say  the  least,  and  always  hastily  takes  care  of  herself  (  aka,  cleans  it,  leaves  it  ).

 ⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀ in  general,  is  a  hater,  but  is  so  STRESSED  from  having  a  #missing  father  that  she’s  just  like  :|  in  every  situation.  i  wouldn’t  call  her  awkward  per  se,  but  she  definitely  just  says  what  she  wants  when  she  wants  cause  there’s  “no  point  in  quieting  myself  for  someone’s  comfort”  idk?

⠀ ⠀ ﹟𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧.⠀ ⠀ in  MY  canon,  hestia  actually  conjures  up  a  fox  patronus,  but  it’s  non  corporeal  for  now  simply  because  she  literally  cannot  focus  long  enough  to  cast  the  charm  correctly  –  in  fact,  a  lot  of  her  magic  has  been  suffering  for  the  past  few  years  due  to  her  stress,  something  that  really  only  stresses  her  out  more  rip  in  pieces.

⠀ ﹟𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝  𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

academic  rival:   personally,  i’d  love  for  someone  who’s  just  naturally  good  at  academia  to  be  her  rival,  like  the  person  who  doesn’t  study  and  “doesn’t  care”  but  always  just  manages  to  beat  her  in  scores;  yeah,  i  think  that’d  be  fun  to  watch  her  spontaneously  combust.

significant  annoyance:  someone  who  really  just  is  the  person  to  tell  hestia  she’s  wound  up  too  tight  all  the  time  and  tries  to  get  her  to  live  her  life,  but  she  just  sees  them  as  someone  who’s  ANNOYING  HER  because  maybe  her  entire  life  is  being  uptight,  ever  think  of  that?  rabastan

quidditch  rival:  because  quidditch  is  really  the  only  time  she  lets  her  hair  down  per  se,  this  rivalry  is  more  friendly  than  it  is  serious like  the  academic  rival,  but  there’s  still  a  lot  of  trash  talk  involved  and  meet  ups  in  the  corridors  to  talk  shit  <3

best  friend:  the  one  person  who  she’s  like  .  .  .  super  grateful  for  because  they’re  always  there,  no  matter  what  she  goes  through  or  does  to  them  through  her  stress  induced  breakdowns.  you  know.  they’re  bffs  and  always  eat  together  and  spend  time  together  n  gossip  together.  eloise

tutee:  someone  that  either  hestia’s  offered  to  help  or  has  been  forced  to  help,  either  way,  she’s  as  strict  as  any  professor  and  takes  her  job  completely  seriously.  as  in,  will  approach  them  in  the  great  hall  and  ask  if  they’ve  done  the  work  they’re  supposed  to  do.

stress  reliever:  imagine  this  -  hestia  comes  up  to  your  muse  and  is  like  we  need  to  talk,  but  they  just  find  a  nice  seat  underneath  one  of  the  archways  and  talk  into  the  night,  they  make  hestia  laugh,  hestia  makes  them  laugh,  they  have  flushed  cheeks  by  the  end  of  it  and  she  doesn’t  speak  to  them  otherwise.  xenophilius 

their  biggest  anti:  ur  muse’s  #1  hater???  hestia  jones  <3  why?  probably  because  they’re  better  than  she  is  and  she’s  a  nightmare  of  a  person  so  it’s  just  her  being  their  biggest  anti,  probably  runs  a  hate  account  dedicated  toward  them  tbh  <3  rodolphus

The  Ex:  you  know.  the  ex.  didn’t  end  the  way  they  wanted  it  to  so  there’s  A  Lot  There.  longing  glances,  awkward  bumps,  lots  of  what-ifs  .  .  .  a  lot  of  sad  headcanons,  a  lot  of  wholesome  headcanons.  yeah

like  family:  just  someone  who  hestia  is  so  comfortable  with  that  it  feels  like  they’re  family.  and  by  family,  i  mean  like  the  kind  to  tackle  her  on  sight  just  for  fun,  the  sort  to  tease  her  and  make  everyone  believe  it’s  her  birthday.  you  know?

also  a  barely  filled  tag  here  n  anything  u  can  possibly  brainstorm  i’d  love  <3  thank  u  love  u 

[thecandywrites]

Jewel Of The North Part 4

Ok, so in writing this part, I imagined that while there is an art of reading actual tea leaves, I saw a picture of this plate on the left edge and thought ‘man wouldn’t reading tea leaves be easier if each squigly section was part of something? Like this section is the life section, this is the money section, this is the love life section, so on and so fourth’ you know, make it even more complicated than it probably is.Also I love and adore Indian jewelry, because that is a gold temple necklace. It’s just...gorgeous. And in my mind, a priestess of Aura (who I totally made up for this story) would be wearing a fabulous shawl, that heavy gold jewelry and a head band that would match and have something akin to an Asian tea ceremony and depending on which tea people chose- told the priestess about them, kind of like what your favorite color says about you. Also, LOOK AT THAT GOLD DRESS. Hot damn. Also as an LMT, Vahva Kun is NOT a thing. Again, something I made up. 

And of course a thousand THANK YOU’s to the fabulous and super fabulous and creative @monstersandmaw​ for sharing the concept of ice orcs with me. Me and my Alaskan born heart instantly fell in love with them. Enjoy!

Jewel of the North 

Part 4

In the morning, you pulled yourself from the bed and you felt like it was noon. Thank the gods for the time difference, because it was only 9 there. 

“Well good morning sleepy head, working miracles wear you out?” Taylor teased you as she handed you a cup of coffee. 

“Yeah,” you nodded as you took it and drank it gratefully. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Taylor asked. 

“Massages today, working with Noah tomorrow, after that…” You shrugged. 

“Happily ever after.” Taylor supplied. 

“Hush or you’ll jinx it.” You shushed her in a whisper but her scheming grin was infectious. 

It took all day but by 7pm, you had gotten everyone taken care of that you came to take care of and Taylor decided to get takeout for dinner and while at the takeout restaurant that was on the other side of town, the group of pilots came striding in. 

“That’s them. The other pilots.” Taylor breathed. 

“Who’s who?” You whispered back before she specified who was who before you had her shut up so you could overhear their conversation. They were going to get food here and then go for drinks at ‘the bar’ later. 

“What bar?” You whispered to Taylor. 

“Knowing them- it’s probably Goose’s, they have the cheapest booze around and it’s close to their apartment, like within walking distance.” Taylor answered.

“Goose’s is the seedy, underbelly place that I don’t want to go to the bathroom in? That has the awesome cheeseburgers?” You asked. 

“Yeah,” Taylor nodded as an idea bloomed in your head. 

“Are they attracted to women?” You nodded over to them. 

“Oh yeah,” Taylor confirmed before one of them wolf whistled to a group of women who came into the restaurant. Ah. Those kinds of guys. Almost too easy. 

“Could you take me there? I have an idea, it’s a dirty, underhanded idea though.” You whispered. 

“That means it’s a fantastic idea.” Taylor grinned. 

“What shoe size are you?” You asked. 

“9.” She answered. 

“Sweet, do you by any chance have any hooker heels?” You hinted. 

“Wait, wait, wait, you won’t have sex with Noah but you want to go to Goose’s in hooker heels? Every guy in that place is going to fighting for the chance to take you home if not fuck you senseless in the bar’s bathroom, if not the parking lot.” Taylor answered. 

“Oh trust me, the only one taking me home is you, I have a plan. How fast can you get dressed and dolled up?” You urged her. 

“Oh give me thirty minutes tops.” Taylor insisted. 

You got the food and barely ate two bites of it before you and Taylor quickly locked yourselves in her bathroom to get ready as you put on your most seductive makeup and a slimming undergarment under your sexiest dress that had the push up bra to end all push up bras as you brought and slipped into her hottest “hooker heels” while she wore the more sensible shoes you brought since you were the same shoe size as her. 

“How do I look? She-wolf enough?” You asked her. 

“Ah, I see, you’re going to eat them alive.” She realized. 

“Yup, my brother’s mother in law- Olga is a priestess for Aura and is Yamalian which is near Siberia and she nicknamed me Zahnochka Volchitsa which means ‘she wolf that rises again’ and just like Beyonce has Sasha Fierce, Zara Kingsley has Zahnochka Volchitsa, and Zahnochka is going to get them so wasted, they won’t be able to fly tomorrow which is good ol’ fashioned sabotage and when they can’t fly the loads, Noah will be there to pick them up and save the day.” You revealed. 

“Oooh, evil and diabolical but for the best cause ever- I love it.” Taylor nodded in approval. 

“Just don’t tell Noah, I don’t think he’d approve of my methods or like Zahnochka very much because I haven’t used “her” in a long time.” You urged her. 

“Lips are sealed.” She swore as she had you wear her fancy dress jacket to cover up so Greg wouldn’t see you or the kids. 

“Honey, Zara and I are going out for a drink, we’ll be back later.” Taylor told her husband as she quickly ushered the two of you out of the house and drove to Goose’s as you got in your wallet and slipped money into your cleavage on the way there so you wouldn’t really have to get your whole wallet out and chance any of them seeing your business card or your real... anything. Then you prayed to the gods for courage and hoped this gamble would be worth the risk to yourself and hoped this wouldn’t backfire and blow up in your face or bite you in the ass. 

Once in the bar you zeroed in the group of pilots sitting together at a table towards a wall, which was perfect and out of the way, just the way you liked it as a mischievous smirk danced on your lips.

 And then you locked your smoldering and seductive gaze with one of them who froze and stared back in awe like a deer caught in headlights as he watched as you strutted and sauntered into the place, your heels clicking on the tile and slowly slipped out of your light jacket to reveal your gold silk dress and made sure that every guy in the place with a pulse knew you were officially on the radar. You had an ability which you had perfected over your life, you called it the ‘Marylin Monroe effect’ because she had this gift that she could ‘turn on’ and she could transform from normal house wife to blonde bombshell right before anyone’s eyes and you had a similar gift and you were about to use it again. 

“What can I get you to drink Gorgeous?” The bartender John asked as he was grateful he was working tonight, and here he thought it was just going to be a normal week night with the same old regulars but low and behold, a brand new gem came walking in, you must have just come into town because you were a brand new face. Plus, you were clearly the hottest woman in the place, hell in the whole damn town and you were dressed to kill and obviously on the prowl and he was ready offer himself as your prey for the night. 

“What kind of whiskey do you have?” You asked as John began going through what he had, feeling a little embarrassed that they didn’t have a ton to choose from and what they did have, didn’t seem good enough for the goddess you were. 

“Give me some Jamie, that’s plenty good enough for me, on the rocks please.” You ordered.

“And you Sugar?” John asked Taylor. 

“Same.” Taylor agreed before John poured two very generous portions into glasses over ice and served them to you. 

“Thank you.” You thanked him.

“So I take it you’re a friend from out of town.” John hinted as he looked from Taylor to you. 

“That’s correct, I’m Zara Zahnochka Volchitsa Kingsley.” You introduced yourself, rolling your r’s and taking on a slightly Siberian accent with the roll of your own name off your tongue as you shook his hand. 

“John Wilks. Pleasure to meet you.” He shook it before it he took your hand and kissed it which got you to giggle bashfully before you pulled him towards you which caused him to lean as far over the bar as he could before you pulled a hundred dollar bill from your cleavage and slipped it into his hand. 

“Give me the lay of the land.” You purred as you twirled your finger subtly to gesture to the bar. 

“Uh, well, there’s…” He began as he listed off who was around the room, using the old ‘ 3 o’clock’ 6 o’clock’ method as you got the confirmation that all the guys at the table on the wall were the other pilots. 

“Could you do me a favor?” You requested. 

“Anything.” John offered.  

“Get me the darkest beer glass you have. Empty it so I can use it as a chaser cause I have a feeling every guy in this place is about to buy me a drink and I don’t want to get too drunk and when it gets full, get me a new one.” You proposed, your voice dropping to a low murmur so that only John and Taylor could hear you. 

“You got it.” John nodded in understanding as he got you the Milk of Dragon. Usually the beer is so dark and heavy it was black on it’s own but the glass was pitch black and you couldn’t tell except from picking it up if it had beer in it or not. 

“Are you ready to see a show?” You breathed to Taylor who nodded before you got the glass and pretended to take a long pull from it before you turned in your chair and Taylor watched as you seemed to turn something on inside you- up full blast like seeing a Hollywood star light up on the red carpet, it was like you were a beacon of light, but you were all fire and flames, burning so hot you could set the stool you sat on- on fire and every man in the place just became a moth and every man couldn’t help but be drawn to you and you were practically swarmed. 

"So what's your name Beautiful?" One guy asked. 

"Zara- Zahnochka Volchetsia- Kingsley." You introduced yourself, giving the same flourish to the name and putting extra emphasis on the middle portion of your “name” while quickly rolling through the real parts of it which they all ate up like candy. 

And instead of getting overwhelmed, you seemed pleased and basked in all the attention as you tried to give each guy in there just a few minutes of attention, remaining friendly and giving a little bit of your time to everyone so that no fights broke out for your attention, letting them spit game, each line greater than the last as your amused giggle filled the air and your smile lit up the dimly lit bar before the group of pilots came over and tried their luck and while their lines weren’t as clever as the others, you pretended to be the most affected before you offered your hand for them to lead you back to their table as you were sat down as the others grumped but watched on enviously as the group of pilots who weren’t all that handsome or all that impressive seemed to win your favor which didn’t make any sense to the rest of them maybe you just had a thing for younger guys. But you made your choice and they would respect it as Taylor sat next to you and just watched as the Zara she thought she knew was replaced by a full blown she-wolf. She didn’t know you had it in you but she knew why you were doing it and she had to respect the masterful way you were choosing to deal with the problem because no one else had the guts to do it this way. But it was genius.  

“So are all of you pilots?” You asked eagerly as you sat at the table, putting on your best doe eyes and making sure you sat in such a way that your cleavage was heaving with every breath as they all undressed you with their eyes. 

“Oh yeah, he flies…” Derek began to list off the different planes and you pretended to be impressed by it all as they ordered you drink after drink which was part of your plan, “chasing” it with your “beer” as you pretended to get tipsy, laughing at everything they said that was even slightly funny. 

“So what do you do? Other than look sexy as hell?” Evan asked. 

“Oh nothing much, just taking care of the estates and trust funds I’ve inherited when my grandparents died when I was younger, " You waived off and grinned when all their eyes practically got dollar signs in them and they were staring at you the way a hungry dog would look at a steak. Oh they would devour you the moment you let them. 

Perfect. 

“And I’m an LMT which stands for liscenced massage therapist, would you like a demonstration?” You purred. 

“Hell yeah, my body is yours to do as you wish.” Evan offered before you took his arm and started massaging it and giggled when he groaned and moaned in pleasure before you got a brilliant idea. 

“Well, as an LMT, I’m certified in using Vahva Kun, which all my body builder clients swear by and by using it, they build the biggest, most impressive muscles possible and it feels better than sex with the gods, would you like to try it?” You offered.

“Hell yeah,” they readily agreed as you went about using it on them as their moans and groans filled the small bar as you straddled their labs to get as close as possible to hit all these points in their bodies, leaving each of them feeling like a god themselves and the buzz they had already been feeling from the booze was amplified and they were feeling the most intense afterglow that did indeed surpass the afterglow after an orgasm as Taylor watched on curiously and only when you ordered another round of shots for the guys, this time of the 153, the strongest alcohol in the place, since you had massaged their necks and made sure to access their ‘sleeper mode’ muscles, then they took that last shot and promptly passed out and you used that to use their fingers tips to get into their phones and deleted the pictures they had taken of you in the compromising positions of their laps before you stood up and strode over to the bartender and slipped him another hundred dollar bill since by the time you were done, most of the other patrons had gone home for the night since it was past midnight and almost last call. 

“Thanks for looking out for me tonight, you may need to call a taxi or an uber for them. They obviously won’t be able to drive home.” You nodded over to the table before you strutted out of there with Taylor and while you weren’t drunk on alcohol, you were definitely drunk on power and the thrill of what you just did because letting your inner she wolf out to breathe and feed for the first time in forever and it felt amazing. 

“So what’s Vahva Kun?” Taylor asked as she drove you to her house. 

“Vahva Kun is short for Vahva Kun Olen Hiekko. It means ‘strong when I’m weak’. Body builders pay me a grand each to do that to them a week and a half before competitions to make every muscle in their bodies’ bulge. In massage there’s only a few ways of doing things, and that is- pain now- pleasure later or pleasure now- pain later and Vahva Kun is as intense as pleasure now pain later gets. The reason it’s so pleasurable now is I use the body’s tendon organs to “turn off” muscles from the nervous system, this gives the effect to the brain that the muscle has become completely relaxed which feels amazing in the moment. But when you turn a muscle off, especially prime movers or major primes, the muscles that are responsible for your major movements, that means they can’t work anymore because you just told them, via their tendon organs to go the fuck to sleep and go on a little vacation and they become completely unresponsive and they feel lighter than air at first. So while they’re out in la la land, and can’t hear a thing from your nervous system who’s screaming at them to move. So that leaves only the synergists and the little assistant muscles to try to do the job of the major primes which they are ill equipped and too weak to do but they try their best. So they end up bulging by the end of it because they have no other choice because your body needs to move. However another thing happens when you do Vahva Kun, the nervous system freaks out. Now we all know how ecstasy works, it floods your brain with endorphins and other feel good chemicals to the point of overwhelming it right? Well Vahva Kun does the same thing initially. So what you’re left with is a brain who can’t feel most of the muscles in their body and is overwhelmed with pleasure and it freaks out and how it does that is it suddenly feels that the pleasure is actually pain and that you’re being attacked but it only does the switch once you succumb to the pleasure and pass out and the switch happens during your first sleep cycle.” 

“So when they wake up tomorrow, they’re going to feel like they got hit by a mac truck and moving will be agony.” Taylor realised. 

“Oh yeah, and when you do Vahva Kun you’re supposed to drink at least two liters of water or preferably an electrolyte drink before you take your initial sleep because in turning off the major primes, they release all their tension and everything that was trapped by that tension in particular all the “toxins” and acids and things stored in the muscles and when you drink a diuretic, like coffee or even worse- alcohol, the toxins can be released from one spot of the muscle but simply move and spread within the muscle belly instead of getting flushed out into your lymph system which then delivers it to your liver and kidneys to be removed from your body. And once the switch happens, the brain then sends fibroblasts into all the major primes which is a heavy duty messenger to make sure it’s still there period and the fibroblasts are like little explosions of protein and collagen and other substances into the major primes. Well imagine what an explosion looks like now imagine that inside a striated muscles, the fibroblasts usually go any manner of either outright perpendicular or just plain not in the directions of the striations in the muscles. Which again, make the muscles bulge. It looks awesome when you’re done, but it feels like you were in the worst bar fight ever. And for first time receivers of Vahva Kun it can take up to a month for your body to fully recover and your body aches the whole time and it can take several hours after just to get all the new knots out of the muscles and usually body builders, the first few to several days after- they can’t hardly move, they have all these huge bulging muscles that look incredibly strong but are jack shit for strength and that’s why it’s called Vahva Kun- strong when I’m weak. It means they look strong but they are in reality, very weak.” You explained. 

“Vahva Kun was discovered by a prostitute, Jasmine Vahva, who was tired of being beat up by her clients and she found she could make a killing if she “massaged” them first using this technique, get them to pass out and steal them blind but then be gone before they could wake up and confront her. And she taught other sex workers this technique. But they only could ever do it to a client once and quickly word spread about the real “effects” of the massage and once the clients got wise to it it lost it’s “appeal.”, then the clients noticed that once they recovered, they physically looked amazing and so a few of them got into body building and then word spread and so you had the legitameate professionals going to Jasmine to learn this technique so that they could practice it on body builders which is a very lucrative discipline and her original friends who had been sex workers then got into the legitamate side of massage teaching Vahva Kun.” You revealed. 

“So you fucked them over without dropping your panties an inch.” Taylor laughed. 

“Yup, because those fuckers had the audacity to undercut Noah and put Noah and Sakura’s livelihood into jeopardy. A she wolf takes no prisoners when her den and pups are in danger. Even if she has to infiltrate another pack to do it.” You mused. 

“Hot damn girl.” Taylor praised as she high fived you.

The next morning Noah came down the stairs to find his mother already there making breakfast. 

“Good morning Mom.” Noah greeted sleepily as he shuffled over to the coffee pot before there was a knock and suddenly he was a million times more alert as he happily forgot all about the coffee to rush over to the door to open it. 

“Good morning.” Noah greeted you happily. 

“Good morning.” You greeted happily, sure that your dark circles under your eyes would scare the shit out of him but he didn’t seem to notice as he ushered you inside. 

“Good morning Nana,” You greeted warmly. 

“Good morning Zara.” Nana returned just as warmly. 

“How do you like your eggs?” She asked. 

“Over easy please if there’s toast.” You answered gratefully. 

“Did Sakura take it easy on you guys yesterday?” You inquired hopefully. 

“Yes, she didn’t wake up till 10, it was wonderful and you did such a fantastic job on the house, it was a really wonderful blessing.” Nana praised.

“Thank you, I did my best.” You nodded as you ducked your head. Appreciating the recognition. 

“I know you did, and it’s really appreciated, you have no idea.” Noah added with a proud smile that was making wish you could ask him to try to show it but with his mother there, that wouldn’t have been appropriate. 

“Go get ready Dear while I get breakfast finished.” Summer urged him and you saw the reluctant disappointment in his demeanor like a child who is told to go to bed when there was still company at the house and you could see he was about to argue but one look from her had his argument dying on his tongue before he begrudgingly pulled away and went back upstairs to hurry up and get ready as you got yourself a cup of coffee. 

“So, I thought for sure that you would have slept in this morning from eating five men alive last night.” Nana noted once she heard the bathroom door shut upstairs and the shower turn on which made you choke on your coffee. 

“Uh, how…?” You nervously asked as you tried to clean yourself up. 

“The gods see all and only they could have revealed that to me. It takes a she-wolf with nerves of steel to do what you did, and to walk away without a scratch is a feat in itself. Don’t feel guilty about it, you ensured not just Noah and Sakura’s survival but the best chance for all of us to thrive too. But I need to tell you that you need to keep the she-wolf out today, embrace your Aura heritage, it won’t scare off Noah, it’ll surprise him but it won’t throw him off or intimidate him. Don’t lose your nerve or your courage. You’ll need it to make your mission complete. Use your bag and your magnificent mind and I’ll help you with your hair.” She advised you as she held your face in her aged but warm hands. 

“Ok,” you agreed, feeling relieved yet validated and empowered before she kissed your forehead before you left just as Noah got out of the bathroom as you raced upstairs since you would need the bathroom’s larger bathroom counter to get ready and Noah looking like a god with just a towel around his waist was a delight. 

“Everything ok?” Noah asked. 

“Yeah, just had a really good talk with your mom, I need to finish getting ready though. Do you mind?” You asked as you gestured to the bathroom. 

“Not at all, but we gotta get going in like an hour or so.” Noah answered, disappointed because here he thought he would have an hour or so with just staring at your beautiful face. Even without makeup you were gorgeous. You didn’t need makeup. 

“Plenty of time.” You reassured him before Sakura woke up to the sound of your voice. 

“Paradise?” She asked sleepily as she opened her door before she saw you and immediately went to you and hugged you tightly. 

“Good morning Sweetheart, did you sleep good?” You asked her. 

“The best, I had the coolest dreams!” She eagerly told you. 

“Well I have to get ready for the day, but I need your bathroom up here to do it, you want to tell me all about them while I get ready?” You proposed. 

“Yeah!” She agreed as she took your hand and led you into the bathroom before she shut the door, leaving Noah feeling a little jealous he couldn’t be in there too but he got dressed and let you have your time with Sakura as he went back downstairs. 

“What did you talk to Para-I mean, Zara about?” Noah asked his mom curiously. 

“I encouraged her to embrace all of herself with you, and not to be scared of showing you all of herself or fear it will intimidate you or put you off. Everyone always tries to put for their best faces and the best versions of themselves to people they like and are trying to impress.” Summer hinted with a scheming grin. 

“And for that she had to put on makeup?” Noah questioned as he cast a look in the direction of the bathroom when he heard Sakura and you laughing. 

“She’ll explain it to you better once she comes down. She has to show Sakura first and Sakura’s approval will give her heart and courage to show you and some reassurance that she has nothing to worry about will be all you need to give.” She insisted. 

“But for now, eat, be patient.” She urged him as she handed him a plate of food before she continued to cook breakfast as Noah begrudgingly ate and drank his coffee as his knee bounced impatiently as his mother joined him at the table as Noah racked his brain trying to think of what it could possibly be. 

“Stop, you’ll imagine it way worse than it is.” Nana lightly smacked his arm. 

“Look, the only thing I can think of is she’s used to be a stripper or something like that.” Noah blurted before he got another smack, this one much harder than the first.  

“I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, at this point it’s a bonus.” Noah conceded before he recoiled from the third smack, this one even harder than the last as he rubbed his arm. 

“You’re going to feel like an ass once she comes down the stairs.” Summer chastised before right on cue you came down the stairs looking like a proper goddess. A heavy shall was wrapped around your shoulders and you were wearing gold and purple highlighter on your cheeks as your complexion was made to look much more amethyst purple instead of peacock teal it usually looked and your eyeshadow was a brilliant gold and purple and your jewelry was authentic priestess of Aura jewelry. He was dumbstruck by how magnificent you looked. 

“May I introduce Zahnochka Volchitsa! A minor priestess of Aura!” Sakura proudly introduced you, her freshly brushed teeth gleaming as her fresh braids that you had put into her hair showed off her silken tresses. 

“And what a stunning one at that.” Summer praised as she had you sit down to breakfast next to Noah as she got up and took your hairbrush from your hand and your special headband and beads from your hands. 

“Wow,” Noah breathed. “So, what’s the special occasion?” Noah asked. 

“Well, your mother wisely advised me to embrace my “she-wolf” and “Aura heritage” today. When I was 15, my older brother Gavin started courting his wife Natasha who we call Tasha, she’s Siberian and her mother Olga, is a high priestess to Aura and serves at the Sinai Temple in the Great Lakes, and the moment she met me, she adopted me and gave me a new name. The name she gave me was ‘Zahnochka Volchitsa’ Volchitsa is Siberian for ‘she wolf’ and Zahnochka means ‘she will rise again’. And she has insisted I was her new daughter and forbade her own sons from dating me because that would be ‘incest’ even though at the time her 13 year old son Nicoli aka- Nikki- had the biggest crush on me, but he’s married with kids and we’re friends so now so it worked out. But anyway, she taught me how to have teeth and claws and how to take no bull-er-crap from anyone and how to be a strong independent woman with all the spice and sass of a viper and if any man dared cross me or even take advantage of me in any way- how to eat him alive like a proper shewolf, how protect ‘my den and pups’ and how to turn other people’s stupidity into my own benefit and she taught me how to give blessings, read palms and tea leaves and all that. But it’s an alter ego for me, like how Beyonce has Sasha Fierce, I have Zahnochka Volchitsa. I thought if your clients saw how you were flying around a minor priestess of Aura, the goddess of gold, luck and riches, they’d be willing to do just about anything, including renewing contracts with a pilot they tried to undercut for the chance to get a blessing.” You hinted with nervous grin.  

“You don’t have to…” Noah tried to argue even though he was incredibly touched and so impressed by it. This was ingenious. Although as much as he wanted a blessing, he also knew that priestesses could not bless family. And since he desperately wanted to be your family, he would be satisfied with your presence to be blessing enough. 

“Yes she does,” Summer immediately countered. “And we deeply appreciate it and Sakura and I will pray for your success.” She insisted as she continued to fix your hair appropriately, braiding the headband into your hair and securing it so that you looked like a proper priestess with the traditional hair arrangement and no sooner had you ate than Noah got the first call from a client as you got ready by putting the shawl on to complete the look.

“Be good for Nana ok?” You urged Sakura before you left, giving her a big hug.

“Will do.” Sakura reassured you before you kissed her all over her face which made her giggle with glee before she did the same to you before you let go and hugged Nana goodbye, giving her a kiss on the cheek before you left. 

“My new Mama is amazing.” Sakura fawned as she watched the two of you go from the window and get in Noah’s truck as she grinned to see her dad open your door for you like a proper gentleman. 

“Yes she is. Now, come on, we got some prayers to give.” She urged her granddaughter. 

Once in the plane, you settled into the copilot seat with your backpack securely between your legs. 

“How much does all that weigh anyway?” Noah asked curiously as he eyed the gaudy gold jewelry as he got settled in himself. 

“About a thousand pounds.” You laughed. “It’s all real and solid so it’s quite heavy.” You revealed. 

“Could you do me a favor though?” You asked hopefully. 

“Anything.” Noah immediately agreed. 

“Could you wear this gold charm at least for today?” You proposed as you pulled the large gold charm on a masculine chain out of your velvet blessing bag that had previously held all the jewelry wrapped in the shawl and a tea set for a proper priestess tea ceremony.  

“As long as you won’t give me a formal blessing with it,” Noah specified. “I know priestesses can’t formally bless family members but your presence is blessing enough for me.” He noted which melted your heart and made you want to kiss him. You were ready to offer him a proper place in your family. But perhaps he was referring to the way you were with Sakura and meant that endearment fairly innocently. 

“That’s correct, but they can give gifts, if you wear this, your clients will assume I’ve already blessed you and will want a blessing of their own, a first link in the chain.” You proposed. 

“Ok,” Noah agreed before you turned in your seat and put it over his neck and being so close, you could smell the soap he used in his shower and his aftershave and just him in general and your brain got hazy with lust. But you feared it would be inappropriate and settled for simply kissing his forehead and offering him an adoring smile which he mirrored as he glanced from your eyes to your lips before a message came on his receiver which pulled his attention away. 

“Yeah,” Noah answered. 

“Hey could you swing by Corporal? I have a load for you this morning.” One of his clients radioed in. 

“Sure thing, see you soon.” Noah agreed before he hung up. 

“It’s working already,” Noah laughed. “That guy hasn’t had me fly a load for him all year, must be a big one.” Noah revealed. 

“Then let’s do his first.” You suggested. 

“Ok,” Noah nodded before he turned the plane on and began to taxi it out of the hanger and towards the runway before taking off and you bit your bottom lip to keep yourself from squealing. Flying was so fun!

Once up in the air you put on your blood red lipstick with gold glitter gloss over it as you had Noah tell you about this particular client. Cranky old man type.

Perfect. 

He landed the plane several long moments later and once taxied over to the loading area, you knew it was show time as you unbuckled your seatbelt and left the plane and grinned when an older gentleman practically came rushing up to you. 

“Noah! Why didn’t you tell me you were flying around a priestess of Aura today?” Mick chastised Noah. 

“Because most people are intimidated by priestesses. And since Noah has already lost so much already, I couldn’t chance him losing anymore, especially upon my account.” You easily answered for him. 

“Of course,” Mick ducked his head as his cheeks blushed. 

“This is Zara Zahnochka Volchitsa Kingsley. This is Mick Mullins.” Noah introduced. 

“Pleasure to meet you.” You extended your hand and smiled serenely when he kissed it and pressed his forehead to your knuckles as he bowed respectfully. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He greeted back. 

“Would you have time to take tea with me?” You asked Mick hopefully. 

“Of course, of course, right this way.” He ushered you to the control tower where there was a lounge with a coffee maker and an electric tea kettle which he quickly dumped bottled water into it to boil before he has you sit in his chair, in his office since it’s one of the most comfortable chairs in the place as you pull out your tea set and your trio of teas, each tin a work of art before you laid them out before him and ceremoniously took the top off of each one and sniffed each one before you offered for him to do the same before he sniffed each one. 

“Which one do you prefer?” You asked as he looked between them. 

“This one.” He specified as you nodded and smiled serenely at his choice before the kettle beeped and he immediately got up like a shot to retrieve it and brought it back just as you finished scooping the tea into the little teapot before he handed you the kettle before you poured in the right amount of water. 

“So, Mr. Mullins.” 

“Please call me Mick - Priestess.” He urged you.

“Thank you for having tea with me. And thank you many times over for doing business with Noah. That man has suffered so much loss recently. That loss has touched me very deeply. And to hear how his regular clients have taken their business elsewhere has disturbed me greatly and they will only reap disaster and misfortune for doing so, the gods told me through the leaves under no uncertain terms. Grabbing selfish hands today make it impossible to accept blessings, even if the gods are more than ready and willing to give an overabundance of them. Someone with closed fists cannot be handed anything. Even one closed fist can impede the other open one, since they cancel each other out. Even when what the gods will to give them is greater than what they already have in their hands. It doesn’t matter what their hands are physically if mentally, emotionally, figuratively and especially spiritually, since all of those are interwoven- if their figurative hands are closed, there is no blessing for them. Only a malediction. If that pattern persists, I feel I must intervene further, as I have contacts at the military bases and my more financially blessed clients may have a need for a private pilot for their jets and things and they will be more than happy to make sure Noah is paid handsomely, enough to make a move there worth his while many times over and they will be immeasurably blessed for doing so in Noah’s sake.” You proposed as you as you set up your tea ceremony as you glanced up at Mick who looked particularly embarrassed like you just pulled his pants down and exposed him. 

“But I don’t feel that will happen to you, because you are being generous and using the deserving and there is no one more deserving than Noah and you will be blessed for it. I can tell, it is written in the lines on your face and on the veins on the back of your hands.” You reassured him which had light returning to his eyes and a smile spread on his face before you poured the tea. 

“Well then let me reassure you that I would be more than happy to help Noah in any way I can.” Mick swore. 

“Please do not use pretty words in the face of a priestess just to gain momentary favor, do not say anything unless you mean the words with all truth and that you have cemented plans and will put those words into action.” You gently warned with a look of sorrow. 

“No I swear on my life and the lives of my family, what I say is in all truth and I will absolutely follow through, I will use no one but Noah for the rest of the season and for every season after this till the end of my days and I will pay him very well for it, so that he and his family may be kept in safety and security.” Mick swore solemnly. 

“Your words please me and the gods, may you feel peace and happiness and enjoy nothing but success with the fulfillment of this vow. May I give you a gift?” You proposed. 

“I will accept anything you wish to give me.” Mick answered earnestly. 

“I will read the tea leaves for you and wish to give you a charm.” You proposed. 

“I would be honored.” He agreed before you pulled out the reading plate and swished the remaining tea in the pot around before you poured the remains onto the center of the plate and watched as the tea leaves flowed out into the plate as the both of you watched to see where the tea leaves fell on the plate before you used your extensive training to read them to him. Usually people paid quite a bit of money to have this done by Olga and people used the information as if it was doctrinal truth, above questioning or reproach and Mick seemed perfectly pleased and excited about what the tea leaves told on the plate.  

No sooner had you finished before both of your phones chimed, messages that the plane was already filled with the shipment. 

You took a few moments to rinse your plate off in the sink after both Mick and yourself took a picture of it and as you rinsing it, Mick was making sure to cut Noah’s check. Mick usually paid half upon arrival and loading and then the other half upon successful delivery. This time Mick would be doubling both payments and made a note to always do this in the future as he fingered the gold charm you had given him that he immediately put onto a gold chain around his neck before his own phone went off, suddenly he was getting payments and offers from new vendors as he felt elated as he quickly prayed for forgiveness for slighting Noah in the past by undercutting him before he rejoined you as you finished packing up everything so he could walk you back and hand his payment to Noah. 

“Oh and Mick, I should warn you. If you ever break your vow, the charm will tarnish and you will lose what you gained and even would have gained will immediately go to your competition. And once it’s lost, it can not be regained.” You warmed him solemnly. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it Priestess.” Mick reassured you as he walked you back over to the plane. 

“May safety, security and blessings be with you Priestess,” Mick offered you graciously. 

“And with you.” You answered before you nodded and turned to get back on the plane, giving Noah a meaningful look with a pleased smile before Mick happily handed over the folded check to Noah and an apology for not using him sooner but quickly set up a deal to use him at least every week and a reassurance that if Noah ever needed anything at all, to let Mick know. 

“Of course, well, uh, I better get going, you have my number, just let me know what you need.” Noah returned before he got back into the plane and got ready to go before he peeked at the check before he put it into his payment bag. 

“Well that went well, I would say he’s your new model client.” You smiled proudly. 

“How?” Noah asked curiously. 

“Manta Olga charges anywhere from 3 to ten thousand dollars for the kind of tea ceremony I just had with him and to get a tea reading with her is booked up anywhere from three to 9 months in advance because she is the high priestess at her temple. Minor priestesses and newbies like me usually make a tiny fraction of that. And honestly if all I’m out is a few scoops of my favorite tea, it’s worth it to me- to help ensure that you and Sakura especially will be ok and taken care of, long after I leave and can’t ensure it with my own hands.” You confessed as you fiddled with the fringe of your shawl because you suddenly didn’t have the strength to look at him. 

Meanwhile the words were trying to eat their way out of Noah’s mouth to assure you and reassure you that you would be more than welcome to try. That he would follow you to the ends of the earth to give you as many chances as you wanted and needed to try. But then his radio went nuts trying to receive multiple messages all at once. All of these clients begging for his help to fly loads as you prepared yourself to repeat this process over and over and over today, as many times as it would take to make sure that Noah would be the most popular and sought after pilot the Frozen Tundra ever saw and prayed that your endeavors would bring Noah untold and unimaginable success.

Word spread quickly that a ‘priestess of Aura’ was with Noah and that she was giving free tea readings in exchange for business with Noah and Noah was getting money hand over fist as his payment envelope was close to bursting again, much like your bladder half the time because this tea, while beautiful and delicious, ran through you but you were getting better with every reading, like riding a bike and it was all coming back to you with ease. Like this is what you did all day every day and you had a lot of fun too and Noah made three loops around the state and flew from the morning till well into the night and every time you took tea with all these clients, they were more than happy to feed you a snack too. Mostly prepared by their wives to feed you and Noah and Noah counted himself lucky enough to sit in on a few of them while he ate lunch and dinner and gratefully drank some tea with you, enjoying the tea quite a bit. 

On the final flight home, you finally got to take off the jewelry, your ears practically tears of joy that they weren’t weighed down anymore as your chest was much lighter without the necklace on it as you gradually took the beads and headbands out of your hair before you stretched your neck before you put it all away back into the blessing bag. 

“There you are.” Noah murmured appreciatively, happy to see Zahnochka receed and his Zara come back to the forefront which made you giggle. 

“Yup, here I am.” You answered before you got a makeup cloth out of your backpack and wiped off all the makeup and false lashes which were itching your eyelids. 

“Did you really have to put all that makeup on?” Noah asked as he saw a ton of purple come off. 

“Most priestesses of Aura are of Siberian and Eastern Europa descent where the indigo violet orcs and dark elves which are just about the same color-originated from. The closer I look physically to them, the more people believe my authenticity as one. My first tea reading didn’t go well because I didn’t look purple enough and the client thought they weren’t getting an authentic reading. Thanks to the wonders of makeup, once I was able to get my complexion purple enough, people stopped questioning my authenticity despite Olga vouching for me. Even now I’m listed under the priestesses of Aura website as a chastnyy, or private priestess. Which means I don’t “officially” serve at any one temple even though I am in the same order that Olga is in. It just makes it eaiser for me. Same thing with the accent, it just helps me play the part. It doesn’t make it any less real but there are theatrics that come with it.” You explained. 

“Well maybe I’m weird but I’d rather have Zara with me in this cockpit than Zahnochka any day. She’s cool and all but I just like you better.” Noah confessed. 

“Awww, thank you. Zahnochka is...I’ll be honest, she’s exhausting. She’s fun but tiresome after a while. But thank you for not getting annoyed or intimaded by her.” You confessed. 

“Nope, not at all. So what are you doing tomorrow?” Noah asked. 

“I don’t have any plans.” You answered. 

“Well I actually ran all the loads today that I was supposed to run tomorrow. So technically I have tomorrow off and I would really like to take you fishing if you’d be up for it.” Noah offered, remembering his mother’s advice. 

“YES!” You immediately agreed with a bright, nearly blinding smile. “I would love to.” You answered. 

“We could even take Sakura too, I think with your encouragement, she might get over her squamishness with worms.” He added and grinned when your whole being practically lit up at the very idea.  

“Perfect.” You beamed, feeling super excited for tomorrow. 

[guardianofjunmyeon]

Finding Atlantis (part 5)

Pairing: Baekhyun x Reader

Genre: Action/Adventure, Enemies to Lovers, PirateAU

Description:  20 years ago the seas became angry. Unruly and unkind to any sailor, to  any ship that dared venture too far out in her waters. Many a man has  heard the tales of Atlantis, the lost city, the key the ocean. But fewer  men know the tale of it’s missing child. The key to the ocean, the key  to Atlantis but a lost little one. The power one would hold should they  find this child would be nearly that of Poseidon himself. Thus, the hunt  began.    

A/N: Here we are with an update a week later! :3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18

You both watch as Chanyeol runs off to collect the new additions to your crew. You furrow your brows. “You’re willing to just leave your ship and your men?” you ask.

He shrugs and starts walking in the direction of the dock. “It’s not my ship. I stole it and scouted a couple of men to help me man it. Jongin, Chanyeol, and Sehun are the only men I really consider my crew.”

“Oh,” you say quietly.

“They don't really need me, the other men. They can have the ship; they were bound to mutiny any day now. I wasn’t paying them shit,” he laughs loudly. You look at him a bit sadly and then conceal it.

What’s a captain without his ship?

In that case, you suppose you don’t have any reason not to take them on as your own. You grab him by the arm to stop him. “Alright, well let’s shake on it. On our temporary ally ship.” You jut out your hand and he takes it in his without hesitation. A solid handshake is all it takes to put the past aside.

“Let’s get this sea bitch home!” He chirps. You give him a tired look and he shrugs it off unapologetically. “What?”

You can see your ship clearly as you near the dock, and a happiness that you haven’t felt in weeks blossoms in your chest. You missed her. You missed her a fucking lot.

“Byun Baekhyun and the Storm Chaser at the same port yet again. I wouldn’t believe myself if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.” You stop in your tracks as a group of three men walk up blocking your path. The man on the left is short and stocky. His skin looks like poorly cared for leather and a tattoo of a water dragon stretches up his neck and covers half of his face. The man in the center, the man who spoke, has a beard so long and unkempt that you can image a family of lice living there unperturbed for generations. The last man is the tallest of the three, extremely skinny, with a creepy smile gleaming with fake gold teeth.

You clench your fists. You just can’t catch a break being around Baekhyun can you? “You must be its captain, going around and stealing other ships to keep your identity a secret, huh? You must think you’re hot shit, you one-eyed fuck,” the obvious leader of the group says, beard lice landlord.

Baekhyun gasps dramatically and places one hand over his heart and the other over his eye patch, “Hurtful.”

You want to drive your sword through the man’s stomach for assuming Baekhyun, of all people, captain of your beloved ship.

It’s been months since you’ve gotten a chance to really use a sword, and with the way things are shaping, it looks like your drought may soon be over. The men train their eyes solely on Baekhyun, and you want to laugh at the fact that they’re completely overlooking the actual Captain in lieu of having a pissing contest with Baekhyun.

Men make you sick.

You’d rather die than let Baekhyun take these kills and your title from you.

The leader takes a step forward and you reach for your blade. Baekhyun side-steps you and blocks you from their vision. Your cheeks flame in anger. “Hey now guys. Come on, why don’t we all just relax and go our separate ways? I need to get back to my ship. As you can see I’ve got company.” He jerks his thumb in your direction and you grumble low in your throat.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” you murmur murderously to Baekhyun’s back.

“Screw you and your whore Byun. There’s quite the reward for you, dead or alive. And another even larger one for that ship there’s captain.” Baekhyun’s mouth turns down in a frown while yours turns up in satisfaction. You’re worth more than he is? A win for you. “We could kill two birds with one gun,” the man continues. His fingers twitch towards the weapon at his side.

Looks like a fight, you think happily. You grab Baekhyun’s shirt to pull him back so that you don’t have to worry about killing him in the crosshairs. Then again, maybe you should slice your way through him first.

He takes a step backwards to your side. “Slap me,” he whispers. You look at him incredulously. “Slap me and follow my lead,” he says a bit louder.

Whatever.

You strike him with all the strength in your body. You aren’t sure why you needed to smack him but you aren’t going to turn down an invitation. The “Ow!” that falls loudly from his lips is genuinely angry. You almost think that the two of you are just going to fight to the death right here to save the idiots -trying to stop you from getting to your ship- the trouble. The sting in your hand feels, so, so good.

He cradles his cheek and his eye flashes angrily before he masks it. “Baby, what’s wrong now?”

You physically recoil in disgust. Baby?

His eye flickers to the side where the men are standing, seemingly amused by what Baekhyun is trying to paint as a couple’s spat. Oh. Realization hits and you jump into your role as the angry lover.

Honestly, you don’t have to try that hard.

“Baby? Don’t fucking call me baby. Why’s it that every time I find myself with you, someone is trying to kill us? Huh? I’m sick and tired of being dragged into your bullshit,” you exclaim. He scoffs, genuinely, or part of the role, you can’t tell. You poke him hard in his chest. “Don’t you think that I want to go out on a walk or go out to eat without…without,” you glance around and spot a woman pushing her child in a stroller. You take in a breath and place you hand over your abdomen. “Without fearing for me and my baby’s life?”

He blinks rapidly. “Baby?” You can hear equal parts repulsion and amusement in the tone of his voice.

“Yes, baby. I didn’t want to tell you like this, but of course this is how you ended up finding out. I’m fucking sick of this Baekhyun!”

“There’s no way that baby is mine. I’ve always used protection.” You raise your eyebrows in amazement. Now that was a flat out lie. His lip twitches upwards.

“Are you calling me a whore?” you hiss.

He holds out his hands in defense. “I’m just saying in your profession I’m sure that you have to entertain lots of men and-” You pull out your sword and point it at his chest.

“The women who sleep with people for money work hard for what they’ve earned, and should be respected for their profession.”

“Don’t act too rash…” he takes a step back and raises his eyebrow minutely. You hope that is some kind of signal, because you don’t know how much longer you can go around acting before you actually drive your sword through his shoulder. “Think of the-” he unsheathes his own sword “Baby!” and hits yours away.

Your arm veers to the right from the impact. Purely from the surprise of it all, you swing your sword back at Baekhyun by instinct. He manages to block the hit. He swings back and nearly nicks your arm; luckily you manage to shift enough for it to swipe at nothing but air. He’s getting too fucking close for this to be part of the act.

You aim for his knee and he jumps back just barely avoiding your attack. “Now!” he shouts to you. It takes you a full second to remember that you aren’t actually supposed to be fighting Baekhyun, but the men still watching you both, fully distracted. You turn your blade on the man closest to you, the man with golden teeth, and swing it across his face. He screams and drops to his knees while Baekhyun drives his sword through the stomach of the shorter man with the tattoo on his face. You quickly slide your blade through the neck of the man on the ground in front of you and turn to find Baekhyun trying to fight off the larger leader of the group.

You run passed the henchmen you each put down, dropping the larger sword you grabbed off Junmyeon to the ground. You snatch the shorter knife on lice beard’s hip while he’s distracted and jump on his back, pulling his head to the side and slicing his throat open with ease. He collapses backwards and you let yourself fall to the ground first and roll far enough way so his dead body won’t crush you.

Your chest rises and falls with adrenaline and you wipe the blood on the blade off onto the thigh of your pants. Baekhyun’s hand lands on your shoulder, “Nice-” your knife drives through his side. “FUCK- why’dyou-shit!” You turn to see him holding both his hands over the shallow gash in his side. You throw the bloodied knife to the ground and stand up, still breathing heavily.

“Sorry,” you say flatly. “Heat of the moment…baby.”

“Oh fuck you,” he spits.

“Come on.” You grab his right arm and throw it over your shoulder. You guide him over to your discarded sword and he hisses with each movement. You let him lean on you as you guide him back, limping, to your ship.

“You did that on purpose,” he accuses. You bite your lip to keep from smiling too wide. “You’re smiling about it? I fucking knew it. You’re a fucking liar, what happened to the truce?”

“It’s not that deep a cut. You aren’t going to die from it. We’ll get you stitched up; stop whining.”

Despite your words, he whines all the way onto your ship. Yixing looks at you with raised eyebrows and you shake your head. “Don’t ask right now. Make sure everyone is aboard and let’s put some distance between us and land.”

Yixing smirks and goes off to get the ship in motion. You decide to attend to the crybaby leaning against you yourself. The infirmary isn’t far from the forecastle, where most of the living quarters are. You stumble into the room and let him go so that he can sit down while you search for the supplies needed to fix him up.

He moans pitifully and you shush him. “Shut up, you aren’t that hurt.”

“You aren’t the one who got stabbed.”

“I stabbed you with a purpose. It stings worse than it actually is.” Supplies collected, you kneel down at his side and lift up his shirt. “Hold it up,” you command. He grumbles but follows your instruction. You wipe away the blood surrounding the cut and work on disinfecting the actual wound. Just as you’d said, it’s not large. About as thick as your pinky and as long as your thumb.

He hisses for a long time as you wordlessly clean the wound. When he flinches so hard that he almost kicks the needle from your hand, you sigh and look up at him.

“Hold still,” you admonish.

You return your focus back on stitching the wound so that it will close on its own. It’s not a pretty job, but it will keep. You feel just the smallest twinge of guilt for slicing open his side during your truce, but it fades quickly at the many memories of the times he’s stabbed or shot you.  

Truce be damned for a second. He had this coming. You sit up on your knees as you wrap a dressing around his waist to cover the fresh stitches. As a way to silently apologize for going back on your truce, you treat him with gentle fingers and careful touches. You secure the dressing and sit back on your heels satisfied. You exhale softly and feel strangely proud of your work. You feel a small smile etching itself on your lips before you look up and catch Baekhyun looking down at you. His expression unreadable.

Your smile slides off. He lets his shirt drop down to cover the bandages, stark white against his tanned skin, and you feel a bit uncomfortable with the seriousness in his gaze.

“When you’re ready you can come out and we’ll have a meeting with all of the crew.” He nods and then avoids your eyes. You frown and leave the room a bit aggravated with his behavior. What the fuck is his problem?

Jongin comes up to you as soon as you’re out of the infirmary. “Is he okay? What happened?” He sounds as distressed as he looks.

“He’s fine. It’s a little cut. Nothing he hasn’t dealt with before.” You try to smile reassuringly but it comes out as a grimace at best. Jongin’s eyes widen when he looks behind you and he jogs off with a worried, “Baekhyun!”

Yixing leans against the newly repaired mainmast with knowing eyes. He gives you a thumbs up, and you resist the urge to roll your eyes. “Attention everyone!” you call. A circle begins to form around you. You take note of faces, those you know well, those you know are new, and the ones you know are missing. You feel sadness deep in your heart.

But the ship must go on.

“Everyone, we have added a few new members to our crew as we head off on our new mission. I know that our original plans were to go on that bounty hunt, but circumstances…changed.” You glance towards Baekhyun and his men all standing together. “I know that we have lost a few men in the last weeks, and we will be sending them off in the way that we know how later on tonight.” You watch faces fall across your crew.

“For now, I want to inform you all of our next course of action. I previously discussed this with Junmyeon and Yeri, and they have decided to join me in asking for your support.” You look over and see Yeri nodding her head. Junmyeon looks on tiredly. “We are going after Atlantis…again.” You expect the disgruntled murmurs and hushed whispers among your men. You continue on, “I know that I said we were done trying to find it, but we’ve recently come across some new information.” You motion to Baekhyun. He waves happily to your crew.

You shake your head in annoyance. “If you have any disagreements with our plan, feel free to come talk to me or Junmyeon personally.” No one speaks up so you push on. “Junmyeon, you still have the compass and map I gave you right?” He nods. “I need you and Yeri to make sense of the map as best you can; I’ll be there to explain some things in a minute.”

“Are we not locking Byun up?” Minseok asks.

You sigh. “No, he’ll just pick his way out like a little roach. They'll be sleeping in the crew living quarters. They’re a part of this crew during the duration of this mission; treat them accordingly,” you tell your crew. “As for you all, the rules on this ship are simple. You do your job, you respect everyone on this ship as you would yourself, and you don’t lay a hand on anyone in any way deemed inappropriate. Break these rules and I will personally slice your penis off your body and force you to watch as it’s dropped into the sea,” you tell Baekhyun’s additions to the vessel.

“A-Ay,” Chanyeol stammers.

“That’s ‘Ay Captain’,” you correct.

“Ay, Captain!” all but one repeats. Baekhyun clenches his jaw, refuses to give in. You wait with both hands settled on your hips. Your crewmen look on in a mix of amusement and apprehension at the rising tension.

“I don’t think I heard you Byun.”

He laughs in incredulity. Arms cross over his chest. “Ay, Captain,” he acquiesces. You tilt your head proud of his compliance.

“Alright everyone, let’s get moving!” You crew disperses and you follow Junmyeon with your eyes as he heads into your quarters chatting animatedly with Yeri at his side.

You feel Baekhyun’s presence before you hear him. “It’s him isn’t it? Suho. Junmyeon.”

You nod slowly, staring at the door where your first mate has gone. “Yeah,” you murmur. You know that Baekhyun is still missing a lot of essential information about Junmyeon, about Suho, about his life and how he ended up here practically co-captain of your ship.

You’ll fill him in at some point.

All in due time.

You don’t want to think about all of this quite yet, not with him, so you deflect the conversation. “What can your men do, where can I put them?” You scan the four men standing a bit shyly behind their former captain.

“Jongin was in charge of medical. He’s good with medicine and rigging. Chanyeol was our best man in the artillery and also worked the kitchen with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo was our head cook, but is also well-trained with artillery and general sailing strategies. Sehun has good direction and ability to decipher maps,” Baekhyun rattles off.

That’s good. You needed these skills. From what you could tell, you lost your cook and doctor, Kun, two gunners, Jaehyun and Amber, and… Taemin. Each loss hurts a bit more when you think too long about their absence. You try your hardest not to let it show on your face. It feels sick to replace them with people that are responsible for their deaths.

“Kyungsoo, you can head to the kitchen. It’s under your control, we lost our cook when-” you suck in a breath to stop yourself. Chanyeol and Jongin wince. “The kitchen is all yours.” You finish lamely. “Jongin you’re in charge of our infirmary. Our cook was also our head doctor,” you say bitterly. He avoids your eyes and draws into himself. “I’ll tell Minseok to get Chanyeol and Kyungsoo acquainted with our artillery. You and Sehun meet me in my quarters in 10 minutes. We need to figure out our heading.” You turn on them before any questions can be asked and walk a bit dizzily to the forecastle and very front of your ship for a second to yourself.

You hadn’t gotten a chance to mourn the men you lost, and being hit so suddenly with their absence as you quickly filled positions they each held for years is painful enough to force tears from your eyes. You try not to cry in front of your crew for the sake of morale, but it’s tough to skip over the mourning process in order to get back to work. Everyone else at least had a month to properly mourn.

You get a few hours at most.

You wipe away the tears and try to gather your breathing before you have to face everyone in your quarters. You don’t want it to be too obvious that you were crying.

“Hey…” you sniff and rub at your face with the palms of your hands harshly. Yixing walks to your side and leans against the railing with you. He looks out at the expanse of water and gives you a few seconds of grateful silence before he speaks again. “You don't have to hide your crying like this. We all really miss them, you don’t have to pretend that you aren’t hurt.” He pauses. “You could at least choose a better location, you’re completely visible up here,” he jokes. You laugh a bit.

The wind blows and the ship’s sails flap.

“I’m just…it feels wrong to fill their spots like this. It was Baekhyun and his crew’s fault that they died. It’s his fault and now they’re just taking up their space as if nothing is wrong,” you wipe away another stray tear angrily. You understand that taking them on was the smartest decision given the circumstances, but it doesn’t lessen the feeling of betrayal.

Yixing hums. “You know…I don’t want you to think that I’m taking their side because I’m not. But…I don’t think they meant to kill any of our men in the attack.” You look at him in horror. How could he defend them when you all lost men because of them? He sets his lips in a line. “Their cannons were aimed at the mainmast to keep us immobile, and that’s where they hit. When it fell, it nearly hit Junmyeon but Taemin pushed him out of the way and it crushed his legs instead. He held on for a bit, but got sick on top of his injuries as we headed to Arae. He died in the infirmary. Kun got sick while he was trying to take care of Taemin. Pneumonia. We had to quarantine them both for days before they passed away. One of our cannons backfired when we tried to attack Baekhyun’s ship in return, and it took out Amber and Jaehyun. You and I both know how often that can happen in the artillery,” he explains.

You process his words and you know that, logically, all of these things were accidents, a series of unfortunate events and not malicious attempts at murder, but the irrational side of you wants to blame someone. To blame Baekhyun.

“I’m not telling you not to be angry, or upset,” Yixing continues. “I just want you to look at this objectively and realize that it isn’t completely their faults that we lost our men. Fate just…wasn’t on our sides.” He gazes at you with soft eyes. You can feel angry tears welling up again. He pats your shoulder. “Take a while to cool down, to mourn. I’ll tell Junmyeon that you’ll be a minute.”

Yixing leaves with a squeeze of your shoulder and you let yourself breakdown. The tears fall heavily and your chest tightens so much that it physically hurts to breathe. You could curse the sky, the moon, the ocean, but at the end of the day, it was just their time to go.

If Yixing truly believes that it wasn’t blatant murder then you have to take a second to separate your mind from your emotions as well. You can’t storm off and make their lives hell; you told your crewmen that these new additions are a part of your crew. You all have to respect that for the time being.

You could ask anyone on your crew and you’re sure that they would tell you the same things. How they died, the circumstances. They’re truthful people. They wouldn’t recount it blinded by rage and hatred.

They will all tell you what they saw, just as they saw it.

They would say that it was all just bad timing.

Maybe that’s what upsets you most.    

You take a few more minutes to wipe your face and gather your composure before you walk into the Captain’s Quarters where Yeri and Junmyeon are crouched over the map and compass speaking in hushed tones. You can see the confusion in Junmyeon’s furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips.

“Does anything look familiar?” You ask smoothly.

“Vaguely,” Junmyeon says before he looks up from the table. He quickly takes in your appearance, and opens his mouth to comment, confusion on his face switching to concern when the door opens and Baekhyun walks in with Sehun on his tail.

Yeri opens and closes the compass. “Your compass is broken,” she says.

“It’s not broken,” Baekhyun corrects. “It supposedly points to the thing you want most in the world.”

“No kidding,” Yeri exclaims in amazement.

You avoid Junmyeon’s eyes as you project composure to the rest of the people in the room. He knows you well enough to know when something is wrong, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else does. “Yeah, that’s what Baekhyun and I were told when it was given to us. Is your home the place you want most in the world?” You ask Junmyeon.

There is a deep sadness in his eyes that only slightly covers up his concern. “I don’t know,” he admits.

“Well we’re kind of fucked if you don’t want to go back,” Baekhyun observes bluntly. Sehun elbows him in the arm to shut him up.

“I know…it’s been a very long time since you’ve been home, and I know there were reasons that you left. But I need you to look deep within yourself and tell me that you don’t still ache to return.” His gaze wavers under yours; he breaks eye contact first. “It’s okay,” you assure him, walking over to rub his back as he tries not to show the battle he’s been waging with himself for years.

He tries to hide it.

You know him well enough to be able to see it anyway.

“This was always the end goal, right? You never have to feel bad for wanting to go home.” You try to smile. Yeri whimpers and throws her arms around him in a hug. Baekhyun and Sehun stand awkwardly to side while you all try to contain your emotions. This isn’t goodbye.

“Maybe you’d be able to come and visit again,” Sehun offers softly.

“Yeah, you guys are acting like he’s going to die if he goes back. People leave Atlantis all the time,” Baekhyun adds.

You grab the closed compass from the table and place it in your first mate’s palm. “Just think of home,” you comment softly.

He takes in a large breath and closes his eyes. You open the compass in his hand and watch it spin wildly from side to side before finally settling. Baekhyun peaks over your shoulder.

“Huh,” he remarks in amazement.

Junmyeon opens his eyes and looks down.

“Southeast,” you say in unison. Yeri motions Sehun to her side. They begin using the heading with the map you were given to chart.

“We’re going to finish this. I promise,” you tell the man at your side.

Baekhyun pushes between you both to grab the compass from Junmyeon’s hand. “Irene said that the sea wants you and that you should listen to her song to lead you home.” He plays with the device with deft fingers.

Junmyeon tilts his head to the side thoughtfully. “Song? I mean…sometimes I hear noises. Something like a melody. It happens randomly, at different times of the day and sometimes not for months at a time. It’s the same tune every time.” He laughs embarrassed. “I just thought it was sea madness or something.”

“We need you to figure out where it wants you to go. You’re the only one who can hear it and follow it. The song and a rhyme, they're the main things you need to get home,” you tell him. “I don’t remember what the rhyme was…fuck I should have written it down-”

“Follow the sound of your soul, she’ll call out to you to bring you back to your shoal. She’ll fight you to prove that your heart is true, to crush you and build you back stronger in her darkest shade of blue. Beautiful songs will call out to confuse the path, to distract you, but remembering your heart will get you through. She’ll finally take you in her arms again, cradled and safe where all life began,” Baekhyun repeats the rhyme with ease. You look at him amazed.

Junmyeon murmurs the rhyme under his breath. “I-I think that I’ve heard that rhyme before…when I was younger. I’d forgotten all about it,” he says in shock. He falls into the chair closest to him heavily and begins to repeat it over and over to himself softly.

“Southeast,” you murmur to yourself. Junmyeon is the only one who can piece together the missing parts of his memory. The longer he’s away, the less he’s able to recall about his relationship with the ocean. Little pieces of memory, little parts of himself, all lost with time. “Yeri, can you work with Sehun and Baekhyun to figure out what we should expect to encounter?” She nods determined. Sehun gives you a decided look and you know that they will work hard together to piece together whatever they can with what little information you all have.

You and Baekhyun share a look. An understanding finally settling between you after all that’s happened, after all that’s been revealed. He nods. You offer a small smile in return.

[imaginexmeintheuniverse]

Ceaseless Interruptions

Pairing: Cedric Diggory x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3, 459

A/N: i just really like doing 5 times fics and i love cedric sooooo here's five times we almost kissed + when we finally did

i. the world cup

You’re overjoyed to conclude your summer holidays with attending the Quidditch World cup. And who better than with your best friends, the Weasley twins? Fred and George had invited you to come along with their family and Ron’s best friends.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that you’re joined by the Diggory’s either. You and Cedric aren’t incredibly close, being in different houses as well as you being quite shy and all, but you did have the pleasure of encountering the Hufflepuff prefect on multiple occasions during your time at Hogwarts. He’s handsome, smart, and incredibly kind.

And yet you seem to become a complete flustered fool around him, usually keeping your interactions to a minimum to avoid making yourself out to be a total idiot. In retrospect, you mentally end up kicking yourself every time for rushing away so quickly when it seemed like he actually wanted to keep talking to you.

You’re quite proud of yourself for not doing the same today, although that might be because you’re all sticking together, but it’s still progress.

“Nowhere to run now, Y/N,” Fred had teased you earlier as your cheeks grew warm enough to boil water.

It’s now post game, and Fred and George are off celebrating their big win, the rest of the younger ones are in the tent, and the two fathers are out for drinks, leaving you and Cedric walking about. You finally have a real conversation with him and it turns out you have a lot in common.

You could stay up all night talking to him, but you also don’t want to worry the others by coming back at an ungodly hour— despite it already being just that. Being the gentleman that he is, Cedric insists on walking you back to the tent, stopping outside the entrance before wishing you a good night.

“I’m glad we finally got to have a proper conversation,” Cedric admits, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks to compliment his winning smile. “I’ve actually been wanting to talk to you for a while now.”

“Really?” A heat creeps its way onto your own cheeks as you avert your gaze from his bashfully.

“Yeah. You’re quiet, but the fastest chaser I’ve ever seen,” he chuckles, nervously running a hand through his hair. “And you’re certainly as kind and clever as Fred and George said you’d be.”

“So you’ve been asking about me?” You turn to him with a cheeky smile and an eyebrow raised as you arrive at the entrance of your tent. You’re not sure what it is, but you’ve taken a bit of confidence boost after getting to know him better.

“Uh, yeah,” he admits, biting back a bashful grin. You’re about to tease him a little, but then he does that thing where he averts his eyes to the ground and brings them back up to meet yours through his thick lashes and you’re left speechless.

It’s like you’ve completely forgotten how to use words and time slows down as he takes a step towards you and brings up a hand to tuck a loose strand to the side. His hand lingers on your jaw for a moment, and your heart rate starts to pick up. You think he might kiss you goodnight.

But then it starts: a riot. You jump back at the sound of breaking glass and you’re eyes go wide when you see flames rising in the horizon.

“Y/N—” His voice gets drowned out by your friends rushing out of the tent and you don’t get so much as a ‘goodbye’ as they pull you away to safety.

ii. the goblet

You’ve always been quite close to the golden trio, and they often come to you for help since you’re quite advanced in your magic and you know a lot about the castle. Kind of like a big sister to balance out the twins being mischievous older brothers. So when you bump into Harry after scene with his name emerging from the goblet of fire, your first instinct is to make sure you know his side of the story.

“I swear I didn’t put my name in—”

“It’s okay,” you reassure him, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze. “I believe you.”

“At least someone does,” He thanks you and you pull him into a quick hug.

Squeezing his shoulders before letting go, you then run off to find the other Hogwarts champion.

“Cedric!” You call out to him as soon as you spot him patrolling the halls. “Cedric, wait up!”

He whips around at the sound of your voice, his mouth curling into a warm smile as you approach, which then turns to an expression of concern. “Hey- what are you doing out- it’s almost curfew—”

“He didn’t do it!” you blurt out through panted breaths, and he barely understands you.

“What—”

“Harry- h-he didn’t put his name in the goblet—”

“Y/N, relax,” he says in a calming voice, urging you to take the time you need to catch your breath.

“You have to believe me—”

“I do,” It warms his heart that you care so much about people and your passion is one of the many things that attracts him to you. “I believe you- and Harry, of course.”

“Oh, well- good,” You give him a smile as a way to finally greet him since you led with your rushed defence.

“Although I am a little disappointed that this is the first time I get to speak to you since the World Cup,” A corner of his mouth quirks up to form a lopsided smile that makes your heart rate spike.

“Y-Yeah- sorry about that,” you chuckle nervously, trying to smooth your now dishevelled uniform out.

“It’s all right, everything has been quite busy with the other schools coming in for the tournament,” He takes a step closer to you and you think you might melt from the smile he gives you.

“O-Oh, r-right, congratulations on being chosen, by the way, the goblet couldn’t have chosen a better champion—” It’s then that the close proximity starts to make you nervous, and the rambling kicks in, “O-other than Harry of course- not to say that Harry is a better champion, of course, you’re both a great- I’m talking too much, aren’t I?”

“I love hearing you talk,” His voice is smooth, and so are his hands when you register how they feel on yours as he takes them into his larger ones. The small gesture is enough to make you go quiet and you’re taken back to the night of the World Cup when he starts to lean down and it’s like the English language has disappeared from your mind.

“Oi! Get to your room before I deduct points!” Another voice calls out from the other end of the hall. Letting out a light sigh of frustration, Cedric turns around to greet the Ravenclaw prefect with a smile. “Oh, Cedric, I didn’t know it was you—”

“Yeah, sorry about that, mate, I was just, ehm, escorting this lovely Gryffindor,” Waving the other prefect off, he turns back to you. You want nothing more than for him to resume what he was about to do before, but the moment’s passed. “Let’s get you back to your common room then, shall we?”

With a nod you walk by his side wordlessly all the way back to the fat lady.

iii. the badges

You let out an exasperated sigh as you rip off yet another one of those idiotic badges off of an underclassman’s robe and throw it across the hall. You’ve lost count of how many you’ve seen, and have gotten progressively angry the more you see, resorting to ripping them off passing students like you just did.

In fact, upon seeing Draco Malfoy, the supplier of the horrible 'Support Cedric Diggory/Potter Stinks’ badges, you snatch the one he wears and throw at him, hitting him in the forehead.

“Hey! My father will—”

“Yes, we all know the nasty pureblood brat’s father will hear about every trivial injustice your ungrateful spoiled arse encounters,” you snarl as you grab him by the collar. He lets out a small yelp and he’s silenced for a moment as your gaze pierces through him. “Does Cedric Diggory know you’re demeaning a fellow student and Triwizard champion like this?”

Returning back to his usual unpleasantries, he swipes your hand away and brushes of his shirt. “I’d suppose so,” he snickers, arrogantly crossing his arms over his chest and turning his nose upwards. “Everyone’s wearing them, and I recall seeing his friends in particular wearing them out of support,” He then shifts his gaze and nods over your shoulder. You follow the direction to see Cedric himself laughing about something with his friends across the courtyard. “Y/N Y/L/N, is it? I’d reckon Cedric Diggory’s mudblood girlfriend would be supporting him as well.”

Whipping back around to shoot him another dirty look, you turn and start to stomp your way to Cedric, but not before taking another badge off of one of Malfoy’s friends and throwing it at him with your perfect quidditch aim.

“You’re a right foul git, Malfoy!” you shout, not bothering to look back to see the badge hit him square in the chest.

When Cedric notices you approaching, he gives you one of his dazzling smiles, but it falls at the sight of your scowl and the fire that burns behind your glare. He opts on trying to diffuse whatever it is with a warm greeting, “Hey, Y/N, how’s my favourite—”

“Cut the shit, Diggory,” you cut him off effectively, and he flinches at your use of his last name that obviously indicates that you aren’t in a good mood. His friends who bear witness to the scene that’s brewing stare at you wide-eyed and start to murmur words you don’t care to make out. “What the fu—”

“Excuse us,” He stands abruptly, and he starts lead you to a less populated area with a gentle grasp on your forearm. You do manage to rip the badge off of one of his laughing friends before he drags you away.

Steam flows out of your ears with every step you take, until you can’t stay quiet any longer. “Is this really the kind of competitor you are?” you question him, shaking off his grip. You look at him expectantly and he blinks a few times, still startled by your sudden hostility.

“Y/N, I don’t understand- is this about the—”

“Of course it’s about the bloody badges!” You let out an angry breath and your eyes wander all around, trying to focus on anything else so you can calm your nerves.

“I’ve told them not to wear them—” he tries to explain and you let out another huff, crossing your arms over your chest as though to let him know he ought to come up with a much better excuse than that. “Please, Y/N, I swear—”

“Well, the whole school is still wearing them regardless, so that’s not good enough for me.”

“Look, I’ve already spoken to Harry about it—”

“Then I suppose he’s already told you a secret that would help you out a great deal in the first task! And what have you done? You’ve simply 'told your friends’ not to wear those humiliating badges?!” Your patience is running short, and when his mouth opens without any words coming out, you spin on your heel and start to distance yourself from him.

But then he catches you by the elbow, halting you in your steps. “Yes, Harry has told me about the- the dragons,” he speaks in a hushed voice to make sure no one else hears, but also in hopes of it calming you a little. You won’t admit it now, because you’re still angry, but his voice does have a certain way of soothing you. “I am really grateful for that, and I have asked people not to wear them, but it’s out of my hands now—”

“I know, that Malfoy boy has a way of bringing Harry down every chance he gets,” you soften your tone once you see how genuinely bad Cedric feels.

“Never works though,” he smiles encouragingly. “Harry is strong.”

“Yeah, he is.”

“And he’s fortunate to have strong friends like you watching out for him,” Your crossed arms loosen as his thumb starts to rub slow circles where his hand still holds your elbow.

“Thanks,” you hum looking down as you once again realize exactly how close you’re standing.

His other hand comes up to hook a finger under your chin and pushes upwards gently so your eyes can meet his bright orbs.

Finally, a moment where you can let yourself become immersed in his entrancing eyes without any—

“Potter stinks!” Someone shouts loud enough to reach your ears. You break apart from him and locate the source, spotting a group of boys laughing as Harry walks by them.

And they’re Gryffindor— how fucking dare they?!

“Sorry, Ced, I’ll catch up with you later, I’ve got some nasty little gits who need to be taught a lesson.”

Although he is disappointed by yet another interruption, he can’t help but smile as he watches you storm off, leaving him to replay the way his nickname sounds coming your lips.

iv. the first task

“Cedric,” you call his name just above a whisper, hoping he can hear you. “Ced, are you there?” After a moment of silence, you consider walking away, thinking he must not be within hearing range and you wouldn’t want to disturb the other champions.

But then an arm reaches out and your pulled through the back of the tent by your bicep. You let out a yelp of surprise that becomes muffled by your face coming in contact with the fabric covering a muscular chest. It’s not hard for you to tell by the familiar scent of honey and sandalwood as well as the comforting arms that surround you, that Cedric did in fact hear you.

“I’m so happy to see you,” you murmur, circling your hand around his torso as you let yourself collapse into his hug. You’d be the biggest liar on the face of the Earth if you said you weren’t worried to death for him.

“Me too,” he pulls back slightly whilst still having you in his arms, and gives you a smile that reveals his perfect teeth.

“How are you doing- with the dragons and all?”

“I’m great,” His smile falters, telling you otherwise.

“Ced,” Your eyebrows knit together in concern.

“I-I’m- honestly, I’m scared,” he admits, his hands subconsciously clutching onto your shoulder.

“It’s okay to be scared,” you reassure him, bringing a hand up to caress the side of his face. He melts into your touch, letting his eyes flutter closed for a moment. “But you’re also brave, and I know you can pull this off.”

When his eyes open again, there’s a particular calmed sheen to them, along with something else you can’t quite put your finger on. You let your hand slide down to his chest where you can feel his heartbeat slow down with his steadying breaths. His eyes dart down to your lips, and then back up as though to ask permission, which you give by starting to lean in.

Just when you’re close enough to feel his breath fan over your lips, a blinding flash of light, accompanied with the distinct sound of an obnoxiously loud camera shutter goes off, and you both tear away from each other immediately. Your head whips around in every direction, and your speeding heart rate slows when you see that the camera wasn’t pointing at you, but Harry and Hermione instead.

“I-I should probably go now,” you stumble backwards, feeling your anxiety levels increase upon seeing Rita Skeeter once again poking her nose where it doesn’t belong.

“Uh- y-yeah—” he stutters out, a little shaken by the sudden intrusion.

Before you make your escape from the way you came in you lurch forward and wrap your arms around him tightly, whispering “good luck, Ced,” and ghost your lips hastily over his cheek.

You would have gone for a full kiss on the lips, but with all the previous failed attempts, and the prying journalist, you don’t want your first kiss with Cedric to be like this.

v. the ball

“Will you be attending the Yule Ball?” Cedric asks as coolly as he can muster as he strides up next to you.

You turn head to be met with the most adorably blushed cheeks, a lopsided grin, and an overall very good-looking Cedric as he walks next you with his hands shoved casually in his pockets.

“With how well I’ve been performing in the dance lessons, I think Professor McGonagall might hex me if I don’t,” you chuckle, slowing your pace down so you can speak to him properly.

“Well, if you don’t have a date yet, I was wondering if you’d like to go with me?”

“Oh, Ced, I-I’m so sorry,” Sympathy takes over your features as you apologize. “I-It’s just that George already asked me and he was mighty desperate,” you laugh, thinking about your best friend practically begging you so that he didn’t end up going alone. At least it was better than Fred who threw a paper ball at Angelina.

“Oh, that’s okay,” His eyes shift downwards and he definitely doesn’t sound like he’s okay.

“I’m really sorry, Ced,” You reach forward to give his arm gentle squeeze. He tilts his head back up to look into your eyes and perk up as a thought comes to mind, “Maybe I could make it up to you?”

He tries his best to bite back a smile at the suggestion, catching his bottom lip between his perfect teeth. And then, as if he were trying to make up for all the other missed opportunities, he steps forward and cups the side of your face as quickly as your playful grin appears and—

“Oi, Cedric Diggory!” A voice interrupts your moment for the umpteenth time. You almost roll your eyes at how all too familiar this scenario has become. Breaking away from Cedric you see an easily recognizable head of red hair approaching. “Trying to steal my date, are ya?” George waltzes in, casually slinging an arm around your shoulders. Crossing your arms casually, you look between a rosy-cheeked Cedric and your smirking best friend. “S'all right ya know— we’re not dating, but I’ve got this cheeky one under reserve for the ball,” He pinches your cheek as speaks, like the goofball he is.

“Yeah, and I accepted out of pity,” you tease him, letting loose a chortle as he pretends to be hurt.

“Speaking of which, we’ve got a lot of practicing to do,” he says, ushering you away and completely oblivious to your situation.

You look back to see Cedric rubbing the back of his neck out of light frustration and you mouth an “I’m sorry,” to him as George whisks you away.

+i. the lake

You wake with a jolt, sputtering water out of your lungs, and desperately trying to view your surrounding through blurred vision. The first thing you can register is the undeniable anxiety spreading through your chest. The second is being enveloped in warmth and your erratic heart rate starting to slow to the tune of a soothing voice whispering in your ear.

It’s all very hectic and you’re overwhelmed with panic and external stimuli as you continue to cough whilst attempting to stabilize your eyesight.

Finally being somewhat calibrated in your senses, you start to take in your environment; the hard wood beneath you, the deafening cheers of the crowd, the Black Lake surrounding you, and Cedric Diggory holding you close to him. He doesn’t seem to care one bit that you’re essentially throwing up water all over his shoulder.

After processing all this, a gust of wind blows through, rippling the water, and it sends an unforgiving shiver up your spine. Cedric feels this and tightens his arms around you, and you, in return, cling to him like a life line— which you’re assuming he just has been, judging by the champion uniform he wears and the fact that he’s also soaking wet.

Were you trapped in the lake?

“Yes,” he answers, speaking softly as to not worsen the immense panic you must be feeling. You hadn’t even realized you spoke those words aloud through your chattering teeth. “But it’s okay- you’re okay, you’re safe now,” he continues to whisper soothing words to you as you try to breathe normally again. “I’ve got you.”

He pulls back with his arms still circled around you, checking you over for any injuries. You take him in; wet hair flopping every which way, cheeks and nose tinted a bright pink, and the smile of relief when he sees that you show no signs of being seriously hurt. Greeting him with a smile of your own, you let it reach your eyes as you pull him back to you, nearly knocking the both of you off the pier.

You’re perfectly content ignoring anyone else who tries to help as you bask in his warmth, but then another thought occurs to you, “Where’s Harry?”

Cedric opens his mouth to answer, and then on cue, Harry comes flying out of the water and lands hard on the deck.

“Harry!” You cry out, rushing over to him as someone else wraps a towel around his shivering form.

“Y-Y/N! I-I tried t-to save you too b-but Cedric—”

“It’s all right, Harry, I’m okay,” you reassure him with a small smile. “And I’m glad to see you are too.”

The crowd cheers upon seeing all of the champions and saved hostages. Cedric steps forward, clapping a congratulatory hand on Harry’s shoulder before curling an arm around you. As you lean into him, he takes it upon himself to loop his other arm around you and pull your body flush to his, sending a heat that travels through your veins as he does so.

“You know, the mermaids said they took something each of us would sorely miss,” he tells you, holding your face in his hands delicately as though you could break if he doesn’t handle you with enough care. “Well, th-they did, a-and I don’t know what I would’ve done if I weren’t able to find you in time,” His eyes hold nothing but concern and the pain felt at the prospect of losing you.

“Ced,” you say his name breathlessly, all other words becoming foreign to you, yet again.

He leans his forehead onto yours and lets his eyelids flutter closed as your uneven breaths eventually sync up. His hands feel warm on your face, and his lips are so close to yours. That’s when he decides that he’s not letting anything get in the way this time.

The cheers only grow in volume when Cedric closes the gap and presses his lips to yours. Not knowing what else to do with your hands, they grab onto the first part of him they can find, which happens to be his jersey. Your fingers curl into the wet fabric that’s stuck to his abdomen as you kiss him back like your life depends on it.

The crowd’s noises fade away as you both become engrossed in the taste of each other. The wind chill and the gross lake water soon become after thoughts. This moment has been put off for far too long, in both your opinions, and there’s a lot of lost time to make up for.

[wandrlustrr]

I Am Become

Summary: It's been three years. Zeref is gone, all of his books burned. Natsu is alive, and free to marry the girl of his dreams. But fate is cruel, and Natsu cannot escape what he really is, no matter how hard he tries. If he wants to save everybody from himself, he'll have to go back to the beginning. "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds."

Pairings: Typical pairings

FF.net chapt. 2 chapt. 4

Chapter 3: Home Again, Home Again

His breathing was coming so fast and hard, a small whine was forced out with each puff. It was taking almost all of Natsu's concentration to stay rooted to the spot, to keep himself from becoming the burning, howling rage demon that he feared. The black char on his hands cracked apart when his fingers twitched, the jagged gaps glowing orange from the fire raging beneath his skin. Small tongues of black flame rose up from his skin before flickering out into dark smoke, shrouding his form in ethereal darkness. The evil in his mind was mirrored by his appearance, it seemed.

Lucy gulped, unsure of what to do. Happy's paws still rested against her back, and she could feel him trembling. Or maybe it was her that was trembling. Either way, it was killing them both to see Natsu in such a state. They could see his muscles seizing violently on his bare torso, arms, and legs. Mavis help her, he looked like he was in so much pain. It was breaking her heart.

"I told you… to run!" A small roar was threaded within Natsu's voice. His clawed hands shot up to grab fistfuls of his pink hair as he keeled over, screaming through his teeth with his eyes shut tight.

Lucy and Happy could feel the heat radiating off of him through the air and the water, but there were goosebumps dotting her skin. It felt like she couldn't breathe, her throat sore and tight with sorrow. She couldn't leave him, Lucy realized, not like this. Not when he needed her most. Lucy took one step forward, and then another, moving out from under Happy's paws and slowly wading through the steamy atmosphere. The small cat started at her actions and gently but urgently called her name. Lucy approached Natsu slowly, pausing every time he tossed himself from one side to the other. With each step that drew her nearer, the scar on her hip began to tingle, as if remembering.

White scarf grasped in one hand, Lucy stopped just inside of Natsu's arm reach and extend the other shaking hand. Her fingers had just barely parted his hair, small pinpricks of heat biting her skin, when Natsu shot up to his full height. A growl rumbled from low in his chest, his lips curled back over his teeth in a feral frown. But he didn't attack, didn't move, and didn't hurt her. He simply glared down at her with eyes that were not his own. If Natsu wasn't already lost, he would be soon.

"Zeref." His voice was low.

Lucy, encompassed in a heat that was just a touch above uncomfortable, held still as well, gazing back at him. Happy watched from where he hovered above the ocean water, not sure what else he could do but watch. This was something only Lucy could do, he knew that. Happy and Natsu loved each other, there was no doubt. But Lucy was on a whole different level with him, and their love could be classified as a magic in its own. However, Happy couldn't help but think that if something were to happen to Lucy in this moment, Natsu would never forgive himself.

Hesitant at first, Lucy reached up with her free hand. "Natsu." He growled louder at the word. "It's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Her fingers touched the line of his jaw.

In a flash of dark fire, Natsu's hands combusted into flames and swung up at Lucy's head from both sides. Happy cried out, reaching out both paws, but stopped and stared in amazement. Fingers spread out and curved like deadly hooks, the etherious fire engulfing his hands flared brightly as they hovered next to Lucy's ears, singeing any stray hairs. Natsu had managed to stop himself from killing her, if only just so. His trembling had stepped up to full-blown shaking, small choking sounds replacing growls as Natsu fought with every fiber of his being to overcome himself once again.

Lucy, seemingly unfazed by the near-fatal attack, simply continued to look deep into his eyes, refusing to break gazes until his were the familiar dark shade of green once more. The one hand that was touching his jaw slide back behind his head. The hand holding his beloved scarf rose from her side, and Happy watched in awe as Lucy threaded the scarf around both of their necks. It was only long enough to loop once, and Lucy had to step closer to her fiancé to make it work. So close, that when she leaned forward to touch her forehead to his, she was almost pressed up against him. The same dark fire that spat from his hands now kissed her skin, but she wasn't worried. Natsu's flames would never hurt her.

"Come back to me, my love," Lucy said softly, her voice steady as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You promised you would."

Small sounds reached her ears, and at first Lucy thought that Natsu was hissing. But when she opened her eyes, she saw that the man was actually crying, and there were small tears in his eyes. He was on the verge, Lucy realized, and all he needed was one more push.

"I will never leave you." Lucy gulped as her throat suddenly tightened again. "I love you, Natsu."

The flames flickered out. Natsu gasped suddenly, as if some great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. With the glow quickly fading, the black char on his hands cracked apart and fell away, restoring the secure and calloused hands of the dragon slayer. Though his shaking had stopped, the entire ordeal left Natsu more exhausted than he had ever been, save for one other time in his life. Arms dropping onto Lucy's shoulders, the woman just barely managed to catch him in time to keep him from falling face first into the sea. Sinking down with him, Lucy and Natsu knelt in the knee-deep water. Happy fluttered over, watching over Lucy's shoulder as Natsu took multiple lungfuls of air. When he finally managed to look up at her, his eyes were half-lidded, and tears still sat trapped on his eyelashes.

"I could have killed you." The self-loathing on his face and in his voice was so strong, Lucy felt like she had gotten punched in the gut. But she was so glad to hear his voice, see his eyes, feel his hands.

Lunging forward, Lucy closed the gap between their faces in a desperate kiss. The tears on his cheeks coerced Lucy's own to once again resurface – but this time they were tears of joy. Natsu pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. Happy huffed a sigh of relief as he rested himself upon Natsu's shoulder, nuzzling his face into the scarf around his and Lucy's necks. Natsu pulled away from Lucy, his hands cradling both sides of her face as he took her in. His eyebrows were arched up in sadness, dark thoughts swimming behind his eyes.

"If anything ever happened to you… because of me." He shook his head slightly. "Please, Lucy, I beg you. Don't ever do that again."

"Only if you swear to me," Lucy breathed. "That this will never happen again."

Natsu gazed down at her, not sure of what to say. She and Happy were the two most important things in his life. He would move mountains and dry up seas to keep them safe, and hunt down anyone or anything that caused them harm to the ends of the earth. But what was he supposed to do when it had been him who had done the damage? Both of them were looking at him, mixed feeling of relief, joy, and fear playing on their faces. Realizing that no words could every convey how sorry he was for making them worry so much, Natsu simply embraced them both, planting a kiss to Lucy's hair.

The truth of the matter was that Natsu was scared too, because he couldn't do what Lucy wanted. He couldn't guarantee that this would never happen again. The etherious within him had been completely undetectable before encountering the Leviathan, making Natsu think that it was gone – but now…

Natsu could still feel it. Incredibly weak, and almost non-existent, but definitely there, waiting behind his heart.

Natsu didn't say anything. He released a shuddering sigh as his arms closed tighter over Lucy and Happy. For a long while, the three of them sat in the waters of the sea, the steam dissipating and revealing the sun once more. No one spoke as their tears dried, thoughts filled with the events of the past hour, and a silent pondering as to what it all meant.

After meeting with Captain Kobe on shore, the four of them walked along the beach back to Gladrindale. Apart from Kobe thanking them profusely for slaying the Leviathan, it was a silent journey. The trek took up the better part of the day, and when they finally entered the small fishing village, the sun was an hour or so from setting. Lucy, Natsu, and Happy apologized for the destruction of the Light Chaser, knowing full well that it meant that the fisherman was semi-permanently out of work. Kobe was good-natured about it, though, and insisted that it wasn't their fault and that he had considered something like that happening when he had volunteered to help with the job. This did little to dissuade the guilt that they all felt, however. They all reached the same silent decision as they parted ways with the boatless captain, no doubt eager to return home to his worried wife.

They changed back into their civilian clothes before meeting with the Mayor of Gladrindale at the brink of dusk. The tall fat man was beside himself with gratitude, congratulating them on such a difficult accomplishment and even offering to double their reward money. Lucy smiled and thanked him in return for the generous offer, but insisted that the mayor give the money to Kobe, so that he may buy materials to build a new boat. The man had been unspeakably brave after all, and he deserved to continue his life unhindered now that things would be returning to normal. It wasn't like Lucy payed rent anymore, she had said with a smile towards Natsu. The Mayor grinned and accepted her terms, completely agreeing that the fisherman fully deserved it.

They decided not to stay in Gladrindale, and instead took the night train back to Magnolia. Natsu's usual reluctance towards transportation was completely over powered by the urge to return home and sleep in his own bed. He spent the majority of the five-hour train ride sprawled out on the seat bench, pressing his face into the cushion. Lucy and Happy dozed as well, but mostly they sat in silence and watched Natsu.

"I'm taking him to see Porlyusica tomorrow." Lucy finally murmured.

Happy sighed and nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

There was a lull of silence before Lucy spoke again.

"What happened, Happy?" Her voice was low, though the train was nearly empty and Natsu didn't seem to be listening. "I thought E.N.D.'s book was burned?"

Happy considered her words, thinking something along the same lines. "It was. We were all there. We saw Zeref go down, and the book crumbled to ashes. And then…" The exceed shuddered at the unpleasant memory. "I don't know, Lucy. Maybe the book wasn't the only thing making him an etherious?"

Lucy shook her head. "It doesn't seem likely. Mavis told us that the books Zeref created were the physical manifestation of the etherious' power. Since all the demons he created are pure ethernano, except for Natsu, destroying the book destroys the demon." Lucy bit her lip. "And as far as I know there are only two ways to destroy Zeref's books; defeating the demon, or defeating Zeref."

Lucy and Happy absorbed her words in a span of silence. A frown curved out of Happy's mouth as a horrible thought entered his head.

"Lucy…" He was almost afraid to say his mind out loud, as if that might somehow make it true. "You don't think that Zeref could still be… alive, somehow, do you?"

Lucy didn't say anything. She didn't want to consider that option, but the truth was that she already had. If the black wizard was still alive after all these years, then he would have made himself known, right? The Leviathan had appeared around four months ago out of nowhere. Demons from the Books of Zeref don't just pop up, especially after their maker was presumed dead. So what had happened? Why now? And what did it mean for Natsu? These questions and countless more swirled in Lucy's head as she stared at the man on the bench across from her. She had a bad feeling that whatever had happened today on the ocean wasn't over yet.

The train pulled into Magnolia Station about a quarter to midnight. The streets were quiet as the group made their way through the city and out to the rural path that lead straight up to their house, Natsu and Lucy walking hand in hand, his thumb gently stroking circles on top of her knuckles. When they finally walked through the front door, everyone was tired and hungry, but it felt extremely good to be home.

Lucy had officially moved in with Natsu and Happy about a year ago, combining his house with her furniture. They had expanded it slightly, adding another compartment to the back side of the house that would become their bedroom so they wouldn't have to sleep in the living room. They had built it together, and was their proudest accomplishment thus far. A small yellow wooden star with her name on it was added to the sign hanging in front of the house. Living together had started off rather rocky, what with Lucy having a lot of stuff for a small house and Natsu having a loose understanding of the word 'tidy'.

Fortunately, both of them had similar methods of conflict resolution. Unfortunately, those methods involved throwing things and loud voices, which devolved into wrestling on the floor.

Which then turned into make-up sex, and resulted in compromise. They made it work.

Lucy had given up a few things to make room, and Natsu began to pick up after himself more. The house became a home, and they grew up together. The final step of the plan was to grow old together.

As hungry as they were, nobody was willing to cook, so everybody went to bed with empty stomachs. Natsu and Lucy shuffled through the kitchen to their bedroom while Happy fluttered up to his roost on one of the branches of the tree that grew through the house. The small blue cat was out before he could completely curl up in his nest.

As they entered their room, Lucy sighed heavily as she sat down on the bed and stretched her arms over her head. Her bones were weary from the abnormally long and unexpected day. Exhausted – as well as emotionally drained – all Lucy wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep for half a day. She was starting to pull the covers back from the bed when she realized that Natsu hadn't joined her on the bed. Looking up, Lucy saw that he was still standing in the doorway, eyes cast to the floor. His forlorn expression was dimly lit by the fist-sized lacrima sitting on the bedside table. Lucy put the blankets back down and turned to sit so she was facing Natsu, waiting for him to speak first. It took several moments of silence before he did.

"I wouldn't blame you if you preferred I sleep on the couch tonight," he mumbled, not meeting her gaze.

Lucy wasn't sure what to say at first. "I guess that's up to you, but… I kinda don't want to be alone right now. I don't want you to be alone either."

Natsu seemed relieved, which surprised Lucy. Did he really think she wouldn't want to be with him after what had happened? Natsu walked over to the other side of the bed and sat, drawing his legs up to sit cross-legged on the blankets. One hand ran through his hair as he huffed a laugh through his nose.

"Nice to know I haven't scared you away." He looked up into Lucy's eyes. She smiled back at him, though her eyes didn't match it.

"Do you really think you can scare me of so easily?" Lucy joked. "You know I'm not going anywhere. Not till after we get married."

That made Natsu smirk. But the happy moment quickly dissipated from his face.

"It's all I've been thinking about," Natsu spoke softly. "Today, I mean. Why it happened, what it means… None of the answers I could think of point to anything good."

Lucy put her hand on top of his. Her skin was soft and cool against his.

"I think it would be best if we wait to think about those things till morning. Besides, you seem okay now." Lucy just barely felt him tense beneath her. "Right?"

Natsu hesitated just the slightest, which immediately sent up a red flag in Lucy's head. But before she could speak on it, Natsu was beaming at her and clasping her hand in his.

"I'll be okay for now, I promise." With that, he yawned widely, showing his pointed teeth. "Are you going to be okay?"

Lucy grinned back at him, raising a hand to his face and touching the bandage covering the cut on his jaw. "I hope that doesn't scar. You don't need a matching one." She was implying the scar on the other side of his face that he had gotten three years ago.

Natsu stuck his tongue in his cheek, pressing against Lucy's finger. Laughing at her irked expression, Natsu flopped over and nuzzled his head against his pillow. "I'll have Wendy make it like new when we stop by the guild tomorrow. Let's go to bed." He patted the spot on the mattress next to him invitingly.

Lucy grinned and nodded. When they were both settled under the blankets, Lucy reached over and tapped a finger against the lacrima, putting out the light. Darkness enveloped the room, save for the dim starlight shining through the window. Though they couldn't see each other, Natsu and Lucy easily shifted to fit next to each other like a practiced habit. He looped one arm around her as she curled up against his side, her head and fingers resting on his chest. It wasn't long before their breathing was in sync and their hearts beat in tandem.

"Hey, Luce?" Natsu's gruff voice cut through the silence. "Did I ever tell you that Igneel used to sing me to sleep?"

He felt Lucy nod against his chest. "On the nights that you couldn't sleep. You taught me the lullaby. What made you think of that?"

Natsu gave a small shrug. "I don't know." He turned his head and planted a kiss into her hair. "Just popped into my head all of a sudden."

They all slept in well past dawn the next morning. When Lucy woke up, it felt like her head was packed full of cotton. It almost hurt. When she slipped out of bed, Natsu was still sawing logs. One shower and beauty routine later, Lucy was feeling much better, though still a little rundown. If she wasn't careful, she was going to get a head cold. Natsu had gotten up and was already cooking breakfast. His specialty – spicy breakfast omelets – infused the air with a peppery taste that made Lucy's mouth water. Happy had climbed down from his perch and was pouring out three glasses of orange juice on the small table in the corner of the kitchen. Apparently the cat had felt the need for some extra vitamins as well.

Lucy stepped up behind Natsu, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her chin on his shoulder. One of his hands came up to hold hers while the other carefully manipulated the spatula to flip the eggs over the stuffings of peppers, herbs, and seasoned meat. Craning his head around, Natsu pecked a quick kiss to Lucy's cheek, muttering a "good morning" to her. Lucy hummed in response, then disentangled herself to prepare their usual bowl of fruit.

After they had eaten, the three mages prepared for the day and headed out the door. It was a sunny day in Magnolia, the spring air just a touch above cool at the perfect temperature for light clothing. While walking to the guild, Lucy informed Natsu that they were going to see Porlyusica. She had been expecting retaliation, since her fiancé and the old witch got along about as well as oil on water. But Natsu simply groaned and nodded in agreement. After all, he wanted to know what had happened more than anyone.

When they entered through the front door of the guild, Lucy and Natsu cast large smiles around the hall at the chorus of greetings that welcomed them. After the war three years ago, the Fairy Tail guild building had needed some refurbishing. But mostly it was the same as it ever was, only with a few upgrades made here and there.

"Welcome back!" Mirajane called from behind the bar. The Take-Over mage also hadn't changed much in the past three years, but now she wore her white hair in a braid over her shoulder. She smiled brightly at the three. "How was Gladrindale?"

Natsu and Lucy shared a look. They could see in each other's eyes that they both thought that it would be best to only tell what had happened to the people that needed to know. Lucy stepped up to Mira, lowering her voice.

"Actually Mira, we were hoping to speak to the master. Is he in?" She leaned over the bar, practically whispering. "It's kind of urgent."

Mira seemed confused at that. "Yes, he's here. He's in his office. Freed? Can you watch the bar for me?"

Freed, who was already placed behind the bar and was busy polishing glasses, raised his chin at the woman. Mira lead them through the guild toward the far left corner, where the Master's office resided. It was the quietest location in the guild, but things still got a little loud. Mirajane knocked on the door, opening it at the gruff response from the other side.

"Master?" She poked her head in. "Natsu, Lucy, and Happy are back."

Mira opened the door fully and allowed them all to step inside. Lucy looked across the desk cluttered with paperwork to the high-backed chair that was facing away from them. It was only when the door was closed again and Mira had gone to stand to one side of the desk that the master finally spoke.

"So, Natsu, I guess you managed not to destroy half a town this time, due to the lack of complaints I've received." Laxus spun around in his chair, grinning at the other dragon slayer. "I gotta say, I'm almost disappointed."