#this sure scared the heck out of me I thought he was a goner | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mcyt-imagines · 4 years ago

Note

halu ^_^ i randomly stumbled across your blog at like 3 am and i couldn't stop reading all of your posts ;-; honestly they're so hecking good !!! tysm for giving us these hq fics <33 anywayy, can i request for another tommy or tubbo fic wherein reader is like this badass chick and everyone is intimated by them but then get soft when it comes to tommy or tubbo :00 you can use any pronouns !! also feel free to make it platonic or romantic :>> thank you <3333

I’ve decided to put both Tommy and Tubbo in bc they’re really a one package deal. Also this can be read as either platonic or romantic I tried to leave it ambiguous for you guys! And it’s set in the DreamSMP universe bc both Tommy and Tubbo need protecting on that damn server. And thank you so much for the kind words! I hope you enjoy it :)

At Face Value

“Tubbo come with me and see the egg, it’s so big now! I’m sure you’d love to see it.” Bad’s bright eyes blink widely at the young boy, “Uh, I don’t know Bad. I’m kinda busy working on rebuilding my bee farm, maybe later?” He tries to excuse himself from the conversation but Bad merely follows him, continuing to try and convince the brunette. Tubbo stumbles with the wooden planks as Bad explains how The Egg works, “If you join our Eggpire, the egg will grant you any wish you desire! Surely you have goals you wish to meet Tubbo? Perhaps to bring L’manberg back to its former glory? The Egg can do that!” Tubbo grounds himself but Bad notices too quickly, Tubbo is considering his offer.

Bad picks up his tone advancing so that Tubbo back up until his back hits the wall of his bee farm, the boy cowering. “Tubbo, you know how important the egg is-“ Tommy suddenly exits from the remnants of the bee farm head in the clouds, oblivious for a few moments until he spots Bad and Tubbo. “Hey! You’re not supposed to be anywhere near us Bad.” Tommy bounds over with unbridled energy, eyes wandering the expanse of land around them searching for Sam. He stands a little in front of Tubbo, trying to shield him from Bad in case things got violent. Which knowing this guy and his Eggpire bullshit, it was likely to.

Bad laughs cruelly in Tommy’s face, moving closer to pinch one of his cheeks with a clawed hand. “Oh, you poor sweet thing. You don’t intimidate me or scare me, and-” Bad cackles only to be cut off as an arrow pierces the ground between them.

“But I do.” Your voice echoes off the walls of the ruined bee farm, your silhouette cast in the afternoon shadow tightly clutching your bow. Bad’s expression sours immediately, “I told you to leave us alone Bad.” You glare as you advance towards them, jumping down from the structure your lips upturned in a snarl.

You confidently place yourself between the two boys and Bad, the tall demon across from you only sighs deeply. “I’m disappointed in you. I thought you would understand what the Eggpire is trying to do. The Egg could make sure the three of you would always be safe if that’s what you wish.” He pauses for a few moments, “However, if you refuse my request who knows what kind of danger you could fall into!”

A gleeful smile crosses his face, his tail flicking out from behind his back. “Are you threatening us?” Your scowl deepens with each word, “Of course not!” He defends voice dripping with sarcasm, “I am going to take such joy in setting that weed alight.” You finally growl chest puffed futilely as if you could size up this 9ft demon. His demeanour shifts almost immediately, his posture straightening as he reaches his full height. Towering over the three of you, refusing to look weak you all stand your ground.

“Do not threaten The Egg again, or I will have to start taking some pages out of Dream’s book of tricks.” Bad snarls lowly, jagged teeth barred at you in particular. But his words sting Tubbo and Tommy the deepest, their gazes drop. No one speaks to them like that. “Yeah, taking notes from a guy who is going to spend the rest of his life rotting in jail. Sounds like a great plan to me, dumbass.” Tommy speaks before you can even open your mouth, you hope your expression conveys your barely contained fury, eyes glaring holes through the pitch-black skin of his face.

Bad’s grin widens sickeningly, the ends reaching too far along his cheeks to appear normal. “Watch your tongue before you lose it. The Egg enjoys such a muscle, finds it a delicacy actually.” Bad’s arm moves quicker than you can swing your blade, his hand clutching Tommy’s face roughly.

You raise your blade high to slash it down on the demon’s arm when a trident beats you to it. Bad lets out a cry of pain as the trident is recalled back to its owner, and out of his arm. “Sam!” Tubbo cries, the young man stands triumphantly just over the hill. “Care to pick on someone your own size Bad?” His voice booms, advancing steadily towards you all as Bad stumbles back clutching his punctured arm. He growls in the back of his throat, “I’ll be back!” And he pearls away, like a coward.

Sam eventually reaches the three of you and he implores you all to recount what happened with Bad before he had arrived. Afterwards, Sam decides to cut his visit short to keep an eye on Bad and make sure he doesn’t come back with any backup. You all bid him a thankful farewell before moving into Tubbo’s nearby house and starting a blistering fire. You all sit around it, trying to warm up as conversation flows comfortably between the three of you.

“You were really cool out there y’know.” Tommy suddenly pipes up, “I wish I was that brave.” Tubbo adds with admiration. Your cheeks flush a light pink, “I-It was nothing, really! That Bad guy is all bark and no bite.” You stammer before chuckling awkwardly, sweat gathering in your palms as the two boys watch you with amusement. “How can you be so cool with Sam, and then act like this with us?” Tubbo muses smirk evident on Tommy’s face. “I, uh, I don’t know!” You gesture wildly with your hands, trying to distract yourself and the two ahead of you with anything. “I reckon it’s cause they’ve got a soft spot for us.” Tommy teases, tone light and airy as he eyes you. “Ohhhhh.” Tubbo nods affirmatively, “I see, that makes a lot of sense.”

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Tommy and Tubbo look at each other for a few seconds, then look back and you, then back at each other. Their smiles widen and your stomach sinks. The two pounce on you, arms wrapping tightly around you in suffocating hugs from both sides. “Hey!” You cry as you topple over, the two following you helplessly as they too lose balance. The three of you end up in a pile of tangled limbs, laughter roaring along with the bright fire across from you.

“Seriously though, without you, Tommy and I would’ve been goners.” Tubbo admits from your side, smile bright on his cute face. “I would’ve been fine! But I didn’t mind the backup.” Tommy blurts blush bright on his cheeks, you find yourself giggling in response. “I’m happy to be back up anytime the two of you need it. I don’t plan on going anywhere.” You grin at the two, “Good! Because we weren’t gonna even give you the choice.”

Tommy smirks, “He’s right. You’re stuck with us for good.” Tubbo nods solemnly, “Oh, how tragic!” You gasp dramatically hand meeting your forehead as you pretend to swoon. The two only burst into laughter at your reaction, “Hey we aren’t that bad!!” The two cry from your sides as finally, you join the two in their laughter. Grins bright on all of your faces as the fire continues to roar and lick at the logs adjacent to your still intertwined legs.

~Requests are always open!~

#tommy x reader #tubbo x reader #mcyt #mcyt x reader #x reader

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jkbabiey · 4 years ago

Text

𝚂𝚎𝚕𝚏𝚒𝚜𝚑 ⤇ 𝙹𝙹𝙺

Words: 4.7K

Genre: angst; fluff; it's a sad ending y'all

Synopsis: “I'm in love with you and it scares me to death."

Song Rec: 2 kids - Taemin ; to die for - Sam Smith ; r u ok - Tate McRae ; Emotional bruises - Madison Beer ; Selfish - Madison Beer ; i love you - Billie Eilish ; when the party's over - Billie Eilish

Oh, he was so perfect! So freaking flawless you couldn’t take your eyes off him for a second!

You had just got to Hoseok’s party with Yuta, but it seemed, to Jungkook, like he had been staring at you for hours. You hadn’t spared him a look yet, and if he hadn’t stood up from his seat on the couch to greet you, you probably wouldn’t have even known he was there too. You were too busy looking at your boyfriend, all wide-eyed and agape lips, to notice his presence behind you. But then Yuta’s eyes hardened as he crossed eyes with your best friend, and you, of course, noticed his change of behaviour and looked over your shoulder.

“Oh! Hi Kook!” you squealed and immediately threw your arms around his neck. Jungkook quickly enveloped your waist in his muscular arms, lifting you from the floor. “God, I missed you so much these last days! Where have you been?” you asked against the skin of his neck. And Jungkook smiled, discretely taking a sniff from your hair.

“I’ve been where I always am. You’re the one who disappeared,” he said, humorously - but not so much, because he actually meant to throw that in your face, but he wouldn’t stand the idea of making you feel bad over anything, ever.

“Oh God, blame Yuta here!” you said, raising your eyebrows and chuckling softly as he let you back on the floor. “Yuta, this is Jungkook, my best friend.” You presented him, and he held out his hand in Yuta’s direction, out of pure courtesy.

“Hey man,” Yuta muttered and shook his hand, a bit too boldly for Jungkook’s liking. Jungkook smiled at the guy - a very small and not-genuine smile. Any other time, you would have noticed how fake his smile was, but right now, your eyes were on Yuta. None of your attention was aimed at Jungkook.

Before Jungkook noticed, you two were already too immersed in how amazing these last days - without him - had been, he turned around and walked out of the toxic, smoke-ish and noisy environment that had taken over Hoseok’s whole place, betting his ass that you wouldn't notice his absence until the end of the night.

His hands were buried in his pockets and his head hung low. He was praying not to bump into Jin, Taehyung or any other of his closest friends that had also attended the party. His lips were currently being intensely wounded by his front teeth. His eyes stung and he didn’t know why. Then he got to his car, sitting down and letting go a deep breath that he didn’t know he was holding in. Then the tears he also hadn’t noticed to be sheltering in his eyes started to run down his cheeks.

He didn't quite know why he was crying. The only thing he knew was that you were taken. You were completely smitten to some other guy, that wasn’t him and that bothered him in measures he couldn’t have imagined. You were absolutely smitten to someone, who wasn't him.

He had lost his chance. That's why he was crying.

He was a goner.

You were standing there, messy hair, deep dark circles, bare face, large grey sweatpants- that seemed oddly familiar to him, but he decided to ignore that - and a black sweatshirt, in front of him, asking to come in. He stepped away and you came in. Not wasting any time after he closed the door, you grabbed his neck and buried your face on it. He felt the wet patches you were leaving in his thin dark green t-shirt. He held you tight against his body and you sobbed fully. Your cries only intensified when he placed one of his big hands on your head and took his soft lips to your forehead, pecking it.

Then he picked you up, your legs around his waist and your face, still buried in his neck. He took you to his living room, taking a chair and placing it in front of his warm fireplace. He sat on it, you on his lap, holding onto his shoulders. There was nothing better than this spot to calm you down on a cold day. He knew it but he doubted Yuta made any idea of it.

“Have you ever been afraid of losing the love of your life?”

His heart shattered. He could hear it shatter, like a very fragile glass piece. Yuta was the love of your life. What had he to do with that, why were you even here, if your problem was with Yuta?

“You and Yuta argued?”

You hummed, a bit hesitant - the reason unknown to him. He didn’t say anything else. He couldn’t. It was not his place. You just needed a friendly lap to seat on, a couple of warm arms to hold you and a gentle voice to tell you it was alright.

“It’s alright... It’s alright baby...”

That’s exactly what he did.

“This is Soojin, my girlfriend.”

Your eyes widened and a small, surprised smile played on your lips. He hesitated for your answer.

“Hi!” after greeting the beautiful girl that stood next to him holding his hand tight, you moved forward to briefly hug her. “Jungkook, never mentioned you before!”.

Snarky.

Soojin looked at Jungkook, her shy eyes now displayed a small discreet amount of anger.

“Oh... This is pretty recent. That’s why,” Soojin blurted, a nervous laugh erupting right away.

Soojin was a girl he had met about a month ago and she was amazing. Incredibly breathtaking and Jungkook couldn’t adore her more. His crush on you had been long forgotten - or at least he thought it had.

Jungkook thought the dinner was delicious, but still, when you asked what he thought of the dinner he answered ‘it’s good, but yesterday Soojin made some amazing bibimbap, I should have asked her to do it for tonight instead’. And you smiled bitterly and him. No one else noticed the bitterness in your smile, but he did.

Why was he acting this way? Because since he and his new girlfriend got in your apartment, you had established this dumb discreet competition between you and Soojin, making passive-aggressive comments and the poor girl beside him was so notoriously uncomfortable, he felt sorry for bringing her here.

“Soojin, maybe you should visit my hairdresser”

“I know you probably don’t understand since you’ve never been to college, but I’ve been so happy with my grades recently”

“How have you managed to attract someone like Jungkook, I mean... You know what I mean, right?”

So when the dinner was over, he pulled you away by the arm, bringing you to the kitchen and leaving Yuta and Soojin on the balcony, enjoying the view and hopefully sparing Soojin some minutes of your annoyingly mean comments.

“Why are you being such a bitch to Soojin?” he asked, hands on his hips and his eyes raging.

“I’m not,” you furrowed your eyebrows and he laughed ironically.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Y/N.”

“You had never mentioned her before. Who do you think I am, for you to present me some temporary fling you’re having. I’m more important than that! If you want to present me to someone, I want her to be at least stable. Not someone you’ve been dating for 2 weeks!”

“What has time to do with it? I like her, I think she’s worthy enough for you to meet her!”

“C’mon, look at her. She sports the slutty look.” you deadpanned and Jungkook’s eyes widened.

“You’re going too far! Look at Yuta! He’s the typical high school fuckboy!” he whisper-screamed. “You have no moral to talk about Soojin like that!”

“Oh, now he’s defending her!” you ironized and he rubbed his forehead, trying to look for just a little bit more patience. “You didn’t even tell me she was coming! And plus, I don’t have to mandatorily like her!”

“I don’t like Yuta and you don’t hear me talking to him like he's trash, right?”

“Yeah, that’s because he’s not trash, but we can’t say the same for Soojin, can we?”

That was enough. He turned his back on you, going to the balcony in quick steps and grabbing Soojin’s hand in his. He dragged her across your apartment as you stared at him piercingly.

“Babe, what’s going on?” Soojin asked, completely adrift.

“We’re leaving.”

“I haven’t said goodbye yet, kook”

“You don’t need to, we’re not coming back anyway,” he stated as his eyes locked on yours.

Jungkook really didn’t plan on coming back but Soojin broke up with him about a month later, claiming that he was in love with someone else and not bothering to explain further. Needless to say, Jungkook had never been as bewildered and nauseated in his life. He had argued with you, his best friend, to protect Soojin’s dignity, and she dared to say he didn’t love her?!

The only one he could think of to help him figure out what the heck Soojin was referring to with such barbarities, was you. You were the most intelligent and astute person Jungkook had ever met. He was sure you were the only one who could possible help him.

When he showed up at your door, you opened it. No sign of shock or surprise evident on your face in seeing him after your huge argument, because you both knew you two would never be able to stay mad a each other for too long. A month of not talking was a new record.

When he blurted out the reason Soojin had used to break up with him, after sitting down next to you on your couch, your mouth fell agape and your eyes widened.

“What?” you exclaimed as Jungkook shook his head, showing his bewilderment.

“That’s what I said!” he exclaimed back and you looked at the floor, completely confused by what your best friend was telling you. The boy had almost finished his 7-year friendship to defend his new girlfriend. How could she even question his feelings?!

“She’s probably just overthinking something... Maybe she saw you hugging another girl... Or maybe a text on your phone...”

“I didn’t text anyone other than her! Not even you!” he screeched and you scratched your ear, trying to think of some logical reason behind the sudden breakup.

“... Probably, it’s really her overthinking something... Girls do that! I do that, all the time!” you looked at him doubtfully, as he stared back in the same way. “SHE’S INSECURE!” you shouted as the sudden realization, that seemed to be the most logical out of every single theory you had already come up with, came to your mind.

Jungkook widened his eyes, straightening his back as your speculation didn’t seem as automatically disposable as all the others that had come to his mind.

“That’s it!” you continued. “Probably, she’s in one of those times where she doubts every single thing in her body, and she thinks she’s not enough for you! I feel that way too often!”

Jungkook’s expression got serious as he heard the last portion of your speech. “You do?”

It took you a moment to understand what he was asking, but as you saw the worry behind his eyes you quickly figured the context of the question. “Oh... Yeah, I guess it’s pretty normal...”

“You shouldn’t feel that way, you’re pretty amazing...”

You smiled shyly and sent him a sweet gaze, as he quickly returned it. “With Yuta, it’s pretty hard not to doubt me at times. Have you seen the guy? Seems like he came straight out a freaking novel...” you chuckled playfully and Jungkook pushed your shoulder with his.

“And so do you.” And there was Jungkook in his natural element.

“Jungkook! Stop flirting!” you screeched, shyly as your cheeks turned into a dark shade of pink. Jungkook laughed, cringing internally at how cute he found you in that exact moment. He embraced your shoulders in his muscular arms, and you finally looked into his eyes. His face was awfully close and you could feel his breath on your face as a soft smile lingered on his lips.

“Missed you,” he whispered so that only the two of you could hear it, even though no one else was around.

“Missed you,” you whispered back, leaning your forehead to his.

Soojin had taken him back.

She had her reasons to break up with him in the first place, but she couldn’t deny the guy a second chance as he stood by her door, a bouquet of red roses, that you had recommended, in his hand, puppy eyes and pouted lips.

You had found out in the worst of ways.

Crying your heart out, you stood in the elevator, waiting for it to finally come to your destination, your best friend’s apartment floor. When it did, you got out of it, your face smudged with your -supposedly, waterproof - mascara. You knocked and were received by Soojin, in all her beauty, messy hair and no make-up features, wearing Jungkook’s shirt. She was probably busy with something else. She still managed to look extremely gorgeous, and there were you, looking like you had just been run over by a bus.

“Y/N! Are you alright! That’s dumb, of course not! Do you want to come in? Wait a second, I’ll go call Jungkook,” she stated with a genuine expression of worry on her face and a hand on your shoulder.

“No! No, leave it. I’m fine!” you said, grabbing her hand before she could go and call Jungkook. “I’ll just go home. Sorry for interrupting you two!” you smiled, even with your smudged make-up face. “Don’t worry, I’ll just call him later!”

And so you turned your back on her, as you felt her worried look on your back.

“Oh! And I’m sorry about how I treated you last time...” You turned back to her, sending an apologetic smile her way.

“Don’t worry about that...” she muttered and smiled back.

It was obvious why Jungkook liked her so much.

“What happened yesterday?!” Jungkook shouted as soon as you opened the door, exactly 7:54 AM and the guy was already standing by your door.

“You didn’t tell me you and Soojin were back together...”

“Not what I asked,” he said back, impatient.

“I wasn’t answering you either,” you mocked and he sent you an annoyed look. “Don’t worry about last night. I’m fine now.”

“I just want to know what happened. Not even worried...” he said and you laughed at how sarcastic he could be at times.

“Yuta and I broke up,” you said and Jungkook’s eyes widened. “He cheated. A drunk night out.”

“Son of a bitch...” he muttered and you quickly enveloped his face with your hands, bringing his eyes to yours.

“I’m fine, really. No need to get mad” you chuckled a bit. Jungkook stared at you for a while, before holding your hands and kissing both of them.

“You deserve so much better. Please don’t settle for someone like him.”

“I won’t,” you smiled and he smiled back.

He spent the rest of the day with you. Both laying on the sofa, holding onto each other, and watching movies, with a huge bowl of the sweetest popcorn you could have managed.

“I’m 25...” you muttered out of nowhere and Jungkook hummed back, his face snuggled by the side of your neck, his arms around your waist and his chest against your back.

“And?”

“I want to get married someday and now I don't have a boyfriend,” you muttered once again.

“Were you really planning on marrying that piece of shit?”

“I didn’t know he was a piece of shit.”

“You don’t need to get married now. You’re still young. You’ll find a great guy, who knows how to truly value you as the woman you are,” he said, before softly kissing the skin of your neck, where his cheek was previously resting on.

"Soojin’s a lucky girl,” you said, smiling, after few silent moments.

She really was a lucky girl.

A few years later

“Would you marry me?”

Your eyes widened, quickly averting to your best friend, kneeled down in front of his 3-year girlfriend. He was glowing. A wide perfectly white smile played on his lips as he stared up at Soojin with eyes that shone brighter than ever. She was speechless - very much like you. Her hands covered her mouth and her eyes were starting to get wet with tears. The answer that followed was obvious.

“Yes!”

There it was. She threw her arms around Jungkook’s neck, as he stood up and enveloped her slim waist in his embrace. She was crying already and he chuckled lightly at the emotional mess his girlfriend was.

You weren't expecting this. But you should have. Jungkook hadn't talked to you about this or left you any clue about it, but still, he was 28 years old. You could see the shine of his eyes getting brighter each time he looked at her, every passing day. They were in love and their relationship was stronger each day.

Your whole group of friends manifested their happiness. Jimin had tears in his eyes from how happy he was seeing that the youngest of the group was finally settling down for life. Namjoon clapped his hands, smirking proudly at the youngest. You could swear you’d seen Jin, that stood next to Namjoon also clapping his hands, winking to his friend when their eyes crossed. Yeri whistled loudly along with Taehyung, while Irene laughed at her friends’ foolishness.

Mingyu, quite unaware of the mess the living room held, kept his eyes secured on you, smiling. When you caught his gaze, you sent him a tiny smile back - the first since the heartfelt proposal. You averted your eyes back to the couple holding each other in the middle of the room and when they parted their embrace, Jungkook’s eyes locked on yours. You weren’t smiling as he expected you to be. You didn’t even seem to be happy for him. He smiled anyway, and you, in all your effort, winked playfully at him, as you turned your back on him. You grabbed a cup of champagne and walked towards the balcony, being interrupted by the male hand that suddenly grabbed your waist.

“We’re next,” you heard Mingyu whisper in your ear. You looked back, grabbing his hand and lightly squeezing it.

“You bet,” you answered playfully and smiled brightly at him.

Mingyu was your boyfriend. You had been dating him for 2 years now and he was great. Jungkook had presented him to you at a home party. You still remember complaining to him about having to watch him and Soojin being all couply while you still spent the night laying in bed and watching romances. The week after your complaints he took you to a party and introduced you to this really nice and good-looking guy, which happened to be his friend, named Mingyu. Mingyu was a few months older than you and he had just started to work as a lawyer. He was already introduced to your family and they all loved him, dismissing your sister's daily comments that claimed her disappointment because she thought you 'would end u with your Jungkook'.

When Mingyu let go of you to go hang out with the rest of your friends, you reached the balcony, closing the door behind you, leaning on the glass balcony and gazing at the amazing view your friend Irene had got when she bought this new apartment with Jin, her boyfriend. Your hair, being wildly swept by the wind, was a mess, but you could care less. Your eyes were teary, you didn't really know why though. Something about Jungkook getting married left a huge ball of emotions sitting on your chest. What bothered you is that even knowing Soojin was an amazing girl and Jungkook would be happy with her, you weren't particularly happy with the news. You knew this could as well turn you into a very shitty best friend, and that's why you thought you wouldn't really be able to talk to Jungkook without catching a breath of fresh air first. Without noticing the tears you had been previously sheltering in your eyes, were now running down your cheeks.

You sobbed and quickly wiped the tears away when you heard the balcony doors opening and closing again. It was Jungkook, you knew it when you felt the warm presence you'd gotten used to after 9 years.

"Hey," he muttered.

You didn't answer, afraid your voice would fail you and just kept staring forwards, feeling Jungkook's gaze on you. You knew he knew you had been crying. He was a master when it came to figuring it out.

"So... you're getting married now hum?" you commented, once your vocal cords seemed stable enough.

"Right," he answered, and you looked at your side, not bothering to hide your puffy eyes. "What do you think of that?" he asked you and you looked down at your hands.

"You know... If you're happy, I'm happy," you said and he chuckled.

"Of course," Jungkook mimicked your actions, looking down as well. You two stayed quiet for some time, as the starry night sky shined down on you.

"You look amazing tonight, by the way," he remarked. "Didn't get the chance to te-"

"You didn't tell me you were going to propose," you interrupted him, looking back at him. There wasn't a shy smile on your lips or a polite gaze on your eyes. All Jungkook could see in your expression was hurt.

"I don't have to tell you every little thing going on in my life," he answered, putting up his defensive side.

"This is not little! This is marriage," you exclaimed and stared at him. He stared down and stayed quiet.

"Mingyu told me he's going to propose too," he announced and you widened your eyes. Not that you hadn't thought about it. Mingyu had commented a lot of times he wanted to make you his wife and build a family with you. But still, it was big news for you.

"I'm sure you weren't supposed to tell me that."

"Are you going to say yes?" he asked and stared at you.

You stared back at him and for once in that night, your eyes met for more than a minute. There was a silent plead present in his eyes that you couldn't really figure out. He sighed and got closer to you, your arms rubbing against each other. You lay your head down on his shoulder and he shortly kissed your forehead.

"Y/n..." he whispered, and you hummed back, still not answering his previous question. "I can... go back. If you... want me to."

"If you love her, then you should marry her," you answered right away, not wanting to hold your best friend back from marrying the girl he loves.

He kept quiet and so did you.

"Are you going to say yes?" he repeated his previous question and you shot your head up, looking straight in his eyes.

"You know... I've always thought of you as the love of my life."

Jungkook's eyes widened as you chuckled. That's when it came to him. That night, you were afraid of losing him, not Yuta.

"I've always been told I should marry the love of my life. But I don't think I can marry you now that you're already married," you stated playfully, but Jungkook's stare was serious. "Mingyu is amazing, really. I worship him. But how do I know if I love him enough to marry him?" you asked, looking up to find Jungkook already staring at you, a mix of different emotions present in his eyes. "How did you know you loved Soojin enough to marry her?" you asked again and Jungkook looked down.

"Well... I like her almost as much as I love you," he whispered loud enough for only you to listen. "And I think that's a whole lot."

"Do you love her, though?" you asked, absolutely perplexed at his answer.

He smiled lightly and sighted.

"You just don't get it, do you?" he whispered.

He stood up straight, turning his back on you and walking back towards the door.

"Why don't you just tell me then?" you said a bit louder than you had talked the whole night.

He looked back at you, over his shoulder, his hand already on the door handle. He chuckled lowly, what sounded like a sarcastic chuckle, before turning back to you and taking two steps forward. Somehow, his expression had changed and you weren't sure how to read it now. He was bitter.

"You want me to tell you? I just proposed and you have the guts to get sad because I'm marrying Soojin??

"I'm not s-"

"Shut up! Just... Shut up." he begged ironically and you stood quiet, he sighed angrily and looked to his left, avoiding looking at you.

"Maybe you should step away... At least for a while."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Jungkook you're getting married. I can't miss that. I won't miss that!"

"Exactly!" he screamed suddenly and walked quickly towards you. He had never been this angry in front of you and it scared you that you were the reason for his anger. His face was inches away from yours and you could feel his quick breath fanning over your lips. "I'm getting married to Soojin but all I can think about is if I should have proposed to you!" he whispered in your face and you could see his eyes watering, very much like you could feel yours do the same. “You know why I proposed so suddenly? Because Mingyu told me he was going to propose to you and I didn’t want to be the only one feeling miserable!”

"J-Jungkook..." you sighed and Jungkook let his tears fall, furrowing his eyebrows in pure anguish, as he nestled his face on your neck, crying silently. He enveloped your body in his arms and you quickly did the same.

"I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I-I'm in love with you and it scares me to death," he sobbed and your grip on him tightened.

"It's alright... I'm right here..."

You two stayed in that same position for a while, until he calmed down and his sobs stopped.

"What do I do now?" he asked, still laying his head on your chest.

"You do whatever makes you happy," you answered and he kissed your neck, and action that, from him, was already usual.

"Hubby! Can we go home?" Soojin opened the balcony's door, chuckling at the new nickname. Jungkook quickly stepped back and wiped the stray tears on his cheeks away. Sensing your stare on him, he sent you a tiny smile.

Soojin caught your gaze from behind Jungkook's shoulder and sent you a smile, which you retributed.

"Yes babe, let's go..." Jungkook answered after a while. He looked at you, the deepest look in his eyes that you had ever seen. He cupped your cheek as you two heard Soojin walking back inside, to say her goodbyes. “I’ll go now.”

“Please, don’t do this. If you don’t want to marry her, you don’t have to.”

“What do you want?”

You didn’t answer, opting to roll your arms tightly around his neck, as he held your waist, bringing your body impossibly closer to his.

“I love you, Jungkook,” you whispered. “, but this is a decision you have to make.”

And he wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to break all the promises he had made to Soojin this past three years. He wasn’t ready to admit that all she was was a way to get to you. He wasn’t ready to admit that at some point in his life he had become a worthless and selfish jerk and that his life had been diminished to you. He wasn’t ready to break every single ethical moral and principle that he had been trying to live by all his life. This decision didn’t come to him, and only him. It came to you, to Soojin, to Mingyu and to everyone surrounding the four of you. It wasn’t his right to break his friends’ hearts and he wouldn’t do it. He couldn’t do it.

“I’m sorry.”

And he walked away.

#jungkook #jeon jungkook #jungkook scenarios #scenario #best friends #best friends to lovers #au #best friend!jungkook #they don't get to be overs #lovers #i means #jungkook au #jungkook imagine #jungkook one-shot

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ey8508 · 5 years ago

Text

5 minutes encounter with …… (…… X MC)

Chapter 2

[Breaking News]

Loveland police arrested suspect in an armed bank robbery on the west of Lake Rd. Suspect has been confirmed and charged with first-degree murder in the Friday shooting.

------------------------------------------------------------------

6: 30: 00 p.m.

I was typing on my laptop. Focus mode.

Just one more page. One more.

Almost ther-

“Who could’ve thought a dummy could be this busy…”

There. What?!

I almost throw my laptop from my lap.

I snapped my head towards the sudden voice while spontaneously standing up from the couch. Laptop was now on the mini table.

No. One. Was. Freaking. At. Home. Except. Me.

I looked at him. Eyes widen.

The fact that I live here alone.

He was seated on the couch just next to where I just sat seconds ago.

How come I didn’t notice him there?

How long has he been there?

“Clumsy as ever…”

He was casually talking with me. It was as if he knows everything about me.

6: 31: 00 p.m.

He sighed.

I blinked, unsure of what action should I take?

I instantly looked at my phone but it was placed right where I don’t need it to be.

It was placed right on top of the pillow and the pillow was right next to this man.

I’m. a. goner.

Should I run outside? Scream for help?

The fact that I’m thinking right now….

We were actually staring at each other this whole time. well after I averted my gaze from my phone

He was seated on the couch while I was still standing. I was actually almost in a fight mode position.

His eyes were calm.

Me? I’m just trembling right now.

“Are you…”

He paused.

“Did you…”

He sighed again.

“What am I even talking about…”

He muttered to himself, slightly looking to his side. Perhaps disappointed about it.

I don’t even know what was he trying to say??

Heck if I want to know….

6: 31: 40 p.m.

“Are you scared?”

He asked worriedly. His expression shows it all. He wasn’t lying.

I blinked.

Is that what he wanted to ask?

Should I tell the truth or should I play brave? I didn’t know what was the right respond to this simple question from a total stranger whom I just met before.

Once.

Yes. I know I wasn’t dreaming weeks ago.

This is the same ‘Dust guy’ who literally disappear. I decided to label him that because I have no idea who he is.

“What do you want?”

I asked him the same question as before. In a slightly irritated tone.

6: 32: 00 p.m.

“I won’t answer that. Why do you keep repeating yourself like a parrot.”

His tone was blank this time.

I realized that it was a statement not a question.

Not only he’s a stranger but a total jerk.

He sighed, seems disappointed again.

Does he have an emotional problem?

“Listen, even if I tell you what I want… You can’t give me that. All I can ask for is your time”

He carefully said it out. In fact, he was slightly frowning. Was he perhaps trying so hard to say it out or perhaps wants me to understand him more?

I didn’t understand why…

I nodded. Indicating that I understood at least what was he saying.

Once again, we stayed silent.

I should’ve already run out from my own house but that seems impossible…

I’m/we’re on level 2 and the door to exit this room is all by means the need to run only a meter apart from him for me to reach the door.

He could definitely either catch/drag me towards him… or perhaps use that freaky power of his.

Believe me this man is powerful. He won’t admit that himself

I just know it.

With that body and height, I’d be powerless against him.

6: 33: 00 p.m.

“Why don’t you just continue with your work?”

He said nonchalantly.

How. Can. I. ?!

I can’t even control my heartbeat.

It won’t stop beating like crazy ever since the second he made a sudden appearance.

“I don’t trust you.”

I admitted bluntly. I couldn’t think of anything else but my safety.

He was a man. Whom I didn’t know anything about and yet he seems to know me more than I know myself.

He reacted naturally towards my statement. He was deep in thoughts, trying to grasp something out.

6: 33: 30 p.m.

“You see… Trust cannot be gain within seconds. I cannot give you that at this moment. It needs time and it can be naturally built through certain action between an individual”

Indeed, he was an intellectual person. That at least something I can be certain of.

“Now. Quit staring and do your work.”

He suddenly insisted.

I was taken aback on behalf of his absurd demand. Was that even a demand?

Wait, he’s ordering me to do my own work?!

That didn’t make sense…. At. All.

I blinked. Realizing that I was indeed still confused.

He sighed and looked to his side.

Suddenly reaching out a hand towards the pillow and picked up my phone.

Damn. What is he going to do with my phone?!

Just please don’t throw it away…

I was slightly worried about my phone

6: 33: 50 p.m.

Seconds later, he was casually fidgeting with it. Scrolling, sliding or just clicking on the screen with his index fingers, expertly.

Wait. He knows my phone’s password?!

How can he know? I have never told anyone about my phone’s password.

However, I didn’t want to know about that right now. He seems preoccupied at the moment.

I could probably….

“Hmmm… Not bad.”

He suddenly remarked. At some point, he probably wasn’t smiling but I’m sure he did.

I have no idea what he’s looking at.

I quietly picked up the flower vase (the fresh flowers were still in there) that was placed on the mini table. It was made of glass quite small but it’s almost at a regular size.

My laptop was next to it.

6: 34: 00 p.m.

“Don’t throw that at me.”

He said without even looking at me. Eyes still fixed on my phone’s screen.

“You love that flower vase more than your phone. So, just don’t.”

He suddenly added.

Right. He sure damn well know everything about me.

I sighed. Obediently carefully placing the flower vase back to where it belongs.

I looked down at my feet. Feeling a little bit disappointed.

I don’t know why…

This flower vase was indeed special to me. It was given by someone dear to me.

My best friend.

WAIT.

I frowned.

I couldn’t process the idea inside my head.

The realization that’s clashing within my train of thoughts.

I- I wanted to ask him something. Should I?

He might know something.

Something that I have been missing or perhaps an answer…

I was in such dilemma. I wasn’t sure about what I was gonna ask and I’m not sure if he…

6: 35: 00 p.m.

“A….”

I was about to ask while quickly lifting my head up to look at him but…

He was gone.

Disappeared.

I blinked.

Swallowed back the question that I could’ve asked.

I quickly walked to where he was seated seconds ago.

Everything was normal.

My phone was now placed right where I placed it before.

It was now ringing an alarm, that I previously set to remind myself that it was time for me to cook for dinner.

“Hmmm…”

I quickly picked up my phone and clicked off the alarm.

Within my hands, I noticed that the phone was slightly giving out heat.

Indicating that surely someone had been using it.

A perfect prove that…

He. Was. real.

The wind breeze blew softly through the open window that I was supposed to close at exactly 6. 35 p.m.

At this exact time, I was supposed to finish typing my work.

And I just realized something.

#love and producer #mr love queen's choice #love and producer short stories #mr love li zeyan #love and producer victor #love and producer li zeyan #li zeyan #mlqc fanfic

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out-of-this-dimension · 5 years ago

Note

Dream for Slippy Toad?? :D

0 ALW -- SOMEWHERE IN THE DESERT, TITANIA --

Everyone had a dream. Everyone but Slippy Toad.

When Slippy had been in the first grade, he had been given the task of presenting to the rest of the class what he wanted to be when he grew up. A lot of the other kids wanted to be doctors, firefighters, or policemen. Lucy wanted to be a fighter pilot like her father. Bill wanted to be a space explorer. But Slippy? Slippy didn’t know. He had never really known where his path would lead. So he had presented that he was not sure what he wanted to be in front of his class. And his teacher had given him a big fat “F” over it. Even much later, Slippy would never understand why it was not okay to not have a plan at such a young age… but he tried to not let it discourage him. Much, at least.

When he turned ten years old, it became obvious he was proficient with computers, robotics, mechanic work, and had a pretty good grasp on engineering -- even more so than his other siblings. Beltino took Slippy to his office as much as he could, marveling at the lad’s childish wonder as he looked over blueprints for the upcoming Space Dynamics projects.

And then Fox came into Slippy’s life. They were fast friends, of course. Fox and his father had recently moved from Papetoon to Corneria because of better job prospects. And Beltino already knew James. Same with Peppy.

Fox, Lucy, Bill, and Slippy were an inseparable group. But as they grew older, Slippy began to realize that each of them was walking down their own path. He supposed such a thing was natural. People had their callings… sometimes those callings took them into different directions. Lucy had a knack for astrophysics. Bill’s parents had basically forced him down the path to being in the military. Fox was going to be an ace cadet for the Cornerian Defense Force… and then he was going to be the next James McCloud of the Star Fox team.

Slippy interned at Space Dynamics for a summer-- the summer before the Lylat Wars broke out. His knack for building things made him think maybe he’d find clarity there. But all he found were people telling him what to build and how to build it. The lack of innovation stifled his enjoyment. So he stayed in the military academy, something he had just kind of done because everyone else had done it.

And after the death of James McCloud, when Fox had told Slippy of his dream to see through what his father had begun, Slippy began to wonder what his own wants and desires were. Did he really want to join a mercenary group? Did he want to drop out of the academy all together and join his father at Space Dynamics? Or did he want to do something else? Something… that he just hadn’t figured out yet?

Fast forward a few years and Slippy didn’t feel any closer to his answers. What he did feel closer to was death’s doorstep.

He opened his eyes and the blinding light of Lylat filled his vision. How a single star could be so bright he was sure was in a textbook or an encyclopedia. He was sure he knew the answer, but his head hurt too much for thinking.

“Ugh,” he groaned, rubbing his head. He looked down, surprised to find blood. What had happened? He tried to remember…. But everything felt so hazy.

Slippy began to get his bearings. He was in his Arwing’s cockpit. Outside of him, he saw nothing but the yellow of desert sands. They gathered together in dunes that felt as tall as mountains, slowly moved by wind. There was something partially obscuring his view from his front windshield but he could not figure out what it was. It seemed like a branch? But what was a tree doing out here in the desert?

“Oh yeah. Spyborg,” Slippy said after a moment, blinking away some of the haze. He leaned forward, accidentally pressing forward on the Arwing’s controls. Thankfully the engines were dead-- the Arwing stayed in place.

The thing his ship had crashed into seemed… organic. And that did not inspire confidence. The toad narrowed his eyes for a moment. Whatever it was had a solid grasp on his ship’s nose… but luckily, it seemed within range of his blasters. He tried to turn on the engine. It sputtered. A small diagnostics report told him that both of his wings were lost and there was damage to the hull’s integrity. A fall from Sector X would do that, though, and Slippy tried the engine again before swapping to the emergency engine. He aimed for the protruding branch that had clamped over his Arwing’s nose… and he fired.

Everything moved and in a way he did not like. He screamed a high-pitched note, grabbing back onto the controls as if gripping them tightly would somehow save his life. The moving eventually stopped and the toad breathlessly looked at the branch. There were some searing marks on it… but it didn’t seem like wood. He gulped, finger over the button to fire.

When he fired again, the moving came but more aggressive. It confirmed his suspicions and he screamed again. This wasn’t a random desert tree. This was a claw. A claw that belonged to a monster.

“Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Slippy yelped, thrusting forward on the Arwing controls and trying to kick forth the accelerate. It sputtered… and then died out. Panicked, he looked around. There was something shifting underneath his ship-- he could feel it.

The thrashing flung him forward and his head hit the dashboard. He gasped, blinding tears of pain in his eyes. Was this how he would meet his end? Strapped down in his chair, his body probably soon lost to the desert sands? Would anyone know where to even look for him? Would he die before he even figured out what he wanted to do with himself? Would he die before he realized what his own dreams even were?

Dreams. That word again. Everyone had their dreams. Slippy felt like he had gone his whole life looking for his own. But they were never there. When he closed his eyes? He saw his team. He saw Fox, smiling that dashing smile. He saw Falco, leaning cockily against the doorframe with his arms folded-- a cheeky smirk on his beak. He saw Peppy with his kind old eyes that had known too much heartache…

He saw Lucy. She was already done with her Master’s degree and was working on a Ph.D in astrophysics now. She had already built the prototype for her own ship. He saw Bill-- strong and calm Bill, who was getting awarded a medal of honor for his service. They all were pursuing their interests… why did it feel like his whole life was chasing after Fox’s?

“AHHHHH!” he screamed, clinging onto the arm rests of his chair.

His entire life flashed by his eyes. A life that was full of… laughter. Of joy. Of friends. Slippy stopped screaming. Huh. He had never really thought about it that way. Sure. It did seem like everyone was moving in their own direction. And sure, it seemed like sometimes he was just chasing after them. But maybe? Maybe they were his dream. His friends. Those good times.

When the war had come, he had been terrified. There had not been a full-scale war in decades. He was scared of how this would change everyone. Maybe he had the right to be scared. James’s death changed Fox. Falco came into the group. They were waging war in their own way against the Venomians. A war that didn’t need the General’s permission. Fox had always told them, when the time was right, they would strike Andross. And so as the war waged, they… they lived. They took their missions where they could.

He gasped softly, realization dawning on him.

Maybe his dream had been in front of him all this time. All those laughs and good times. Hugging each other. Crying with each other. Fighting alongside each other. Maybe he didn’t need to have something decided on. Maybe he just needed his friends. Maybe his dream was a simple night with pizza, video games, and the people he cared about the most...

“Oh the heck with it!” Slippy yelled, grabbing a hold of the aiming interface. He pointed the Arwing’s left gun at the claw that had a hold of his ship. “STOP THAT RIGHT NOOOOOOW!”

He charged up a shot and fired. The limb flailed for a moment then stopped. Everything stopped. Slippy paused. Had that… worked? Outside, the Titanian desert was as still as death. The toad’s hands were wrapped around the control stick of his Arwing-- fingers locked in place out of sheer fear. He realized for a moment that he was holding his breath. Slippy let himself exhale, letting his shoulders sag as he did so. Was it safe?

Three dots on the horizon caught his attention. Leaning forward in his seat, he squinted to try to get a better look at what was coming towards him. Gleefully, he realized it was two Arwings and the Landmaster-- his friends! The toad let out a cheer. Saved! He was saved!

As he rocked back into his seat, he bumped into his controls. The engines suddenly revved but the ship didn’t move. The Arwing fired off a blast into the sand. Slippy paused, fearfully looking out the windshield. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no...

The Arwing began to move but not of its own will. The creature that had his ship in its grasp churned in the sands below. The Arwing jolted forward and then flung backwards-- like a radical rocking horse with poor Slippy trapped inside. He gave a yelp, grabbing onto the controls. Not again!

“Slippy!” Fox’s voice broke over the intercom suddenly.

“AHHHHH DO SOMETHING!” Slippy screamed over the intercom. “HEEEEELP!”

“Hang on, Slip! We’ll get you out of there!” Fox yelled.

When the monster had been felled and Slippy freed from its claws, the team reconvened at the Great Fox. Slippy ran up to Fox immediately, throwing his arms around his friend in the biggest hug he had ever given. Fox laughed, hugging him back.

“I was scared,” Fox admitted, tears glistening over his eyes. “But I’m glad you’re safe, pal.”

“I’m glad you were able to find me!” Slippy said with a smile. “I thought I was a goner for sure.”

“We wouldn’t dream of lettin’ that happen,” Fox replied and the two wandered off to get a well-deserved dinner.

#slippy toad #fox mccloud #star fox fanfiction #starfox fanfiction #fanfiction #writing #starry-galaxy64

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nataliedanovelist · 5 years ago

Text

GF - Beauty Within the Fallen ch.II

Summary: Two misfit twins come across an enchanted castle, home of a mysterious beast, and slowly begin to form a strong bond that just might survive through anything. Even evil demons.

AU and artwork belong to the beautiful and very talented @artsycrapfromsai. Go give her some love, guys!!!

ch. I - ch.III

~~~~~~~~~~

Fiddleford finished his cup of sweet tea and smiled proudly at his… his friend’s kids. Oh, what the heck. They were as good as his kids. He smiled proudly at his kids as they worked together to help prepare for their journey. Normally, when Fiddleford had to go to Paris to sell his music boxes and clocks, he had Lazy Susan stay with them for a weekend, but the children had begged for a chance to see Paris, a chance to be grown-ups for a bit and help with the work, and Fiddleford decided that the twelve-year-olds could handle the travel and he was actually looking forward to having their company. Mabel was packing plenty of food and Dipper had just finished checking his pack to make sure he was set for the journey. When the time came, Fiddleford put on his old soldier's hat and said, “Alright, youngins, let’s hitch up Gompers.”

Dipper and Mabel, grinning excitedly, helped pack up the wagon full of clocks and music boxes, all safely snug inside wooden boxes. Fiddleford hitched the goat, Gompers, to the wagon and fed him a carrot before hopping up and picking up the kids and letting them sit on either side of him, with the boy at his left hand and the girl at his right. “Everybody say ‘bye, house’.” Fiddleford chuckled. “Bye house!” Mabel cheered and waved the little shack away. Dipper wiggled his fingers with a shrug, playing along. “Onward, Gompers.” Fiddleford commanded gently and flicked the reins. Gompers pulled them forward and their journey began. Dipper and Mabel had never left the village before, so every tree and bush and squirrel and bird was exciting to them. They pulled out pieces of parchment and began to draw what they saw while Fiddleford drove. About mid-day, however, Mabel was surprised when a drop of water fell on her drawing of a blue bird. She looked up at the clouds to find dark ones pushing the white ones away. She sat up on her knees, having been on her stomach, and held a hand out, catching a raindrop. “Aw, donkey spittle.” Fiddleford swore. “It’s okay.” Mabel said optimistically, then she stuck out her tongue and caught a raindrop. “Look! Free water! Ahh!” Dipper pocketed the parchment in his vest and asked Fiddleford, “Should we stop and make shelter?” The old man toyed with his options and slowly said, “Naw, let’s press on n’ see if it’s only a drizzle.” Fiddleford squinted through the soft autumn rain. Now it was no longer cool but chilly. Fiddleford rubbed his hands together as the rain came down. Mabel curled up against his side to help him get warm and Dipper did the same. Fiddleford smiled; what on God’s green Earth did he do to deserve these kids? A flash of lightning and a roll of thunder disturbed his thoughts. He pressed forward and began to hum a tune. Mabel smiled and sang when she recognized the song. “Come along with me, with the butterflies and bees. We can wander through these woods free, and do so when we please.” She stopped and called, “C’mon, Dip-Dip!” “I don’t sing.” He insisted. “Don’t be a party-pooper! Sing! Sing! Sing!” She chanted. Dipper rolled his eyes and sang off-key, “Come along with me, to a bank under a tree, We can gaze upon the water with our everlasting dreams.” Fiddleford jumped in and together the three sang through the rain. “All of my dear dreams, I'll share them all with you. Maybe by next summer…” “Dipper will be in tune!” Mabel sang loudly. “HEY!” Fiddleford laughed and led on the song, everyone in harmony. “Come along with me, where we’ll be a family. And we’ll always be together, together and merrily.” A low growl disturbed them. Fiddleford stopped, pulling on the reins and making Gompers halt. Their senses heightened like frightened animals. Mabel clung to Fiddleford’s arm and Dipper stood in the wagon to get a better look around them. Maybe it was the rain or a fallen branch. The old man resumed their journey in a hurry, now having Gompers pick up speed. “C’mon, Gompers, let’s get where we’re goin.” “Fidds, was that a…” “I dunno, sweetie.” Fiddleford said. “Let's not jump to any conclusions.” He looked to his left and right to see flashes of a dangerous animal. He broke Gompers into a run. The wolves were planning to surround the wagon. Dipper fell into the back of the wagon and crawled to be behind Mabel, holding her shoulders to protect her. Fiddleford’s heart was hammering so hard it ached in his chest, but he tried to stay calm for the children. Some wolves were directly behind them and snapped their teeth at the wagon. Dipper yelled with fear and Fiddleford pushed Gompers to go as fast as he could, but one little goat could only do so much. A sudden drop in the ground caused the wagon to fall and scatter the little family. Dipper held on tightly to his sister as they yelled and tumbled in the woods, rolling down a hill of some sort. He ignored the scratches he was getting and focused on keeping Mabel safe. Finally, they fell still and staggeringly got up, holding their spinning heads and groaning. “Ugh, Mabel, you okay?” “Yeah, I’m… Fiddleford? Fiddleford!” Mabel called out. The kids looked around to find themselves alone in the cold rain, sticks and wet leaves in their hair and on their skin. Mabel looked at her brother and gasped. “Dipper! You’re hurt!” Dipper looked down at his exposed arms and found them to be covered in scratches from sticks and rocks. His limbs burned in pain, but Dipper did his best to ignore it. “Forget it, I’m fine.” Mabel gently took his hands and kissed each arm gently to try to help with the pain. “Don’t worry, Fiddleford has that smart hurt-kit, remember? We just have to find him and everything will be okay.” The growling came again. The twins held each other protectively, keeping an eye out. Yellow eyes caught their attention and a long howl rang through. They broke into a run in the opposite direction and prayed that they wouldn’t become dinner. Mabel was slightly ahead and tried to find somewhere to run to. Her eyes caught sight of a stone wall when lightning struck and she led the way to it. The brave girl threw the gate open and let her brother through before slamming it shut. The kids were inches away from sharp teeth and glowing yellow eyes. They backed away from the gate and turned to the building protected by the walls as the wolves gave up and left. A massive manor, a glorious castle stood before the children. With statues of devils and angels sprinkled through the land and dead-looking plants everywhere, the castle had a haunting look to it. Dipper was hesitant, but Mabel took his hand and walked them to the huge doors decorated with rusted gold. The girl knocked and almost at once, it opened. They entered and looked for whomever had let them in, but they were both surprised to be alone. “Hello? Anyone?” Dipper called, rubbing his soaked, hurt arms gently to try to get warm. The castle, though old and dusty and dark, didn’t feel quite abandoned. Lamps were lit. Perhaps only one person lived in this humongous home. “Why…?” “They need help.” “Shh!” The kids looked around. They saw the main stairwell before him and the two rooms on either side of him, but no humans were to be found. “Is someone there?” Mabel called timidly, pulling on her wet hair to try to get it dry. “I’m sorry, but please. My brother’s hurt and we’re lost. Can you help us?” “Wendy, please…” “SHH!” Dipper and Mabel decided the voices were coming from the left room, and so they entered. They smiled to find a large fireplace and comfy chairs and couches, no doubt for hosting, and hurried to the fire to dry from the rain. Mabel saw something under the couch and got on her knees. She grinned and pulled it out. “Look, Dipper! Bandages! Sit down, I’ll fix you up.” “Thanks, Mabel.” And Dipper sat on his knees in front of the fire. Mabel took one of his hands and used a piece of cloth and the rain water to wipe his arm clean before wrapping it up. Faint whispers could be heard from outside the room, sending goosebumps to the children’s skins. “Mabel, I don’t think this place is safe.” Dipper hissed. “Where else can we go?” Mabel asked. “We can’t stay long, anyway, we need to find Fiddleford.” A shiver ran down her spine and she looked up at her brother with wide brown eyes. “Dipper, he’s okay, isn’t he?” The truth was that he didn’t know for sure. Dipper didn’t think it was likely, but he wasn’t going to tell his sister that. He tried to be more like Mabel, more optimistic and quick to look at the bright side, so he said, “The wagon’s probably a goner and Fiddleford’s still out there. Still, he’s super smart and traveled in the woods before, remember? He probably climbed a tree and when the wolves are gone he’ll look for us. Or maybe somehow the wagon survived and he got away with Gompers.” “Yeah!” Mabel agreed and moved onto the next arm. A low growl froze them both. They looked to the creaked open door they came through, scared beyond measure. Did a wolf somehow get into the castle? Or something worse than a wolf? Dipper stood in front of his sister and held his arms out on either side of him to shield Mabel. She stood and peered ahead. The growling got louder and closer. A claw then touched the side of the door and pushed it open. The kids stared with round, trembling brown eyes. It was a terrifying beast, with fangs and horns and claws. Gray fur covered it’s face and big ears. The beast was huge, much bigger than the two children, possibly ten feet tall and very strong. It wore a torn white shirt, dark pants, and a red cloak clipped with gold by it’s beefy neck. The eyes were brown, matching the horns, and narrowed at the guests coldly. Dipper scowled, choosing to push his fear aside to focus on protecting Mabel. He tried to be brave and stand strong, like a man. Mabel, on the other hand, smiled timidly. She loved animals and immediately saw his brown eyes and thought that his beast was good; Fiddleford said that she was insightful. Mabel stepped out from behind her brother, despite his frightened look that told her not to do so, and she waved and said cheerfully, ��Hi! I’m Mabel! This is Dipper! I’m twelve and own a pig! What’s your favorite color? Do you have a sweet tooth?” “Mabel,” Dipper hissed warningly. The beast peered down at the children and growled, “What are you two gremlins doing here?” “Oh, right, I'm sorry. See, we got lost in the rain and separated from our friend. We’re lost and my brother got hurt and we didn’t wanna be eaten by wolves, so we came here. Thanks for letting us in earlier! Why didn’t you say hello before? Do you like sweet or sour things? Do you have a favorite song?” “Enough!” The beast snarled and shook his head; the girl had asked all this in rapid speed. “Geez, kid, you ever slow down?” Mabel grinned proudly. “Nope!” The beast crossed his arms over his chest. He seemed to be doing some quick thinking, deciding if the children were worth keeping in his castle. “You said you lost your friend?” Mabel nodded. “He’s been taking care of us.” There was a short pause. “Hey, runt, your arms still hurt?” Dipper braced himself and continued to stand strong. “I’m fine.” The beast snorted. Mabel took her brother’s hand and smiled kindly at the master of the castle. He approached them and Dipper gripped his sister’s hand, ready to be thrown out, but the beast sat in an armchair and grunted, “Listen, you knuckleheads. If you’re gonna stay here, you’re gonna have to work for me.” Dipper was even more surprised now than when he first saw the creature. “Stay…” “You can’t go out there by yourselves.” The beast said dryly. “You’ll get eaten alive. You’ll just have to stay until your friend finds you, but until then you’re gonna have to work for me. Unless you can pay up.” “We don’t have any money.” Mabel informed. “Then you’ll have to do some chores around here.” The beast jabbed a thumb to the door and said, “Go upstairs and ask for Soos. He’s the groundskeeper and handyman and he’ll give you a room.” “A room?” Mabel repeated. “In a castle?” “And don’t expect…” “THANK YOU!” Mabel cheered and punched the air joyfully. “Thank you very much! You’re so nice!” The beast only growled and pointed to the door. “Just go! And don’t break anything!” Dipper pulled her sister towards the door. Get thrown out into the woods to be eaten by wolves or work for a beast? As much as Dipper hated it, he had to do what he was told. Mabel, however, was excited, confident that Fiddleford would find them soon and that she could make a new friend out of this unluckiness. She stopped them at the doorway and said, “Wait! You never told us your name.” The beast did not look back at the children, facing the fire. But a low voice rumbled through the air. “Just call me Stan, kids.” Mabel smiled. “Okay, Monsieur Stan. Thanks again for letting us stay.” And the children were gone. Stan watched the fire dance on the logs, lost in thought. So lost he nearly missed the fact that his top maid and woodsman had entered the lounge, hopping towards the pile of logs by the fire. She stabbed one and tossed it onto the fire. “Stan?” The axe spoke. “Beat it, Wendy.” “Fine.” The axe snapped and hopped towards the door, but she did not miss the order the boss had for her. “Keep an eye on those two.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note: In this world, Mabel invented sweet tea and Fiddleford LOVES it. It’s her Mabel Juice.

Also, yes yes, this is different than the original storyline, bear with me for a sec. I ALMOST went with Fiddleford going alone, getting lost, and being imprisoned in the castle; it’s perfectly lined with Stan’s character to lock someone away that trespasses (still can’t believe we all just glossed over what he did in Little Gift Shop of Horrors). BUT, this story I feel better parallels the GF canon story.

Hear me out, Dipper and Mabel are sent to live with their Grunkle Stan for a summer for some “fresh air”; we don’t know exactly the nature of their relationship before the show, but considering how little the kids knew about him and how Dipper talks about him in the first episode, I suspect they had little to nothing to do with Stan before that summer. So, by having the kids lost and find the castle, BOTH stories tell of two kids getting to know a grumpy old man, AND the kids are safe; in neither situation, the kids were only forced to stay where they were for their safety. That’s my personal reason for having the story go this way, and if this bothers you, i apologize halfheartedly.

Moving on, some fun Disney references is when Dipper and Mabel say goodbye to the house, that’s a nod to Toy Story and when Andy and his mom say goodbye to the house they’re moving out of. Dipper’s refusal to sing, while realistic and in-character, is a reference to Flynn Rider. And finally, this isn’t a Disney reference, but the song Fiddleford and the kids sing is a clear homage to Adventure Time’s Come Along With Me. Can’t give a good reason why except it gives a lot of good foreshadowing.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope y’all enjoy it!

#GF #gravity falls #beauty within the fallen #batb au #stan pines #dipper pines #mabel pines #fiddleford mcgucket #wolves #woods #oh boy #here we go

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jyvaswriting · 5 years ago

Text

The Lake

On his fifty-fourth exploration outside, Riley found a stranger sitting on a plateau above a lake. It could have been one of the looters. But from the way he sat, from the way he was gazing at the water, from the way he was letting the rain soak through to his skin, it was clear that he wasn’t a threat. So Riley approached him.

“Hey,” Riley said.

The stranger shifted in his spot and turned around. It was another boy, his face worn and tired as every other survivor Riley had met. “Hey,” said the stranger. “Who are you?”

“I’m Riley,” he said, coming to sit down next to him. “You?”

“Me? I’m… well, I’m dead.”

“Is that why you’re here?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that why you have no suit on?”

“Yup. Had a hole in it that I didn’t see. Wandered through a risky spot a few weeks ago, and now… Yeah.” The stranger looked aside at Riley, and smiled a bit. “Don’t have to wear all that shit now, though. Yours looks silly.”

Riley looked down at his chest, where he had an oversized raincoat, over a jumper, over a jacket, over two shirts. “It is a bit big for me. Our bunker didn’t have any proper hazmat suits.”

“Perhaps that’s for the best. Harder to get poisoned with… is that four layers? Four layers, over two.”

“It’s five,” Riley said. “I’ve got two shirts on.”

“Geez. Doesn’t it get hot, Riley?”

“I got used to it.”

“No thanks. Look at me,” the stranger said. “I’m dead, but I’m freer than you and everyone else now. Free as anyone can get nowadays.”

“Free because you can wear whatever you want now?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t think so,” Riley said. “If you went naked you would be free as anyone could get.”

“I’m dead, not crazy. I still have some modesty.”

The two chuckled for a bit, then it died away, and they both looked down at the lake together. The only sounds were of the rain and wind and trees and Riley’s respirator.

“I came here ‘cause I wanted to see something nice, for once, before I died,” the stranger said. “I went to a lot of places, y’know. After giving all my stuff away. I asked around to see if people knew any pretty areas. Walked down this big empty road. Went through this forest. Saw some cool old street art. And I thought this lake would be good, but, well…” he held up his hand to indicate the rain. “World said ‘nope’.”

“You should’ve checked your suit for holes,” Riley said.

“Yeah. Should’ve. Should’ve worn more layers as well. Should’ve not gone to a radioactive abandoned supermarket that was already cleaned out. Should’ve not said rude things to my mum. Should’ve.” The stranger’s voice broke, and he covered his face, and Riley saw his thin hands. Piano-wire tendons stuck out underneath his eroding skin. Riley rummaged inside his bag.

“Here,” he said, holding out a muesli bar.

The stranger looked up, and he gave Riley a weird half-smile. “Dude, I’m a goner. There’s no point. You need it more than me. Put it back, silly.”

Riley only held it closer to his face, and after a moment, the stranger sighed and accepted it.

“How long has it been since you ate?” Riley asked, as the stranger took apart the wrapping.

“Few days. A bit after I found out.”

“You need water too?”

The stranger’s eyes flickered over to Riley, and Riley took that as a yes. He brought out his bottle and watched as half of it was gulped down in two seconds.

“Don’t blame me if you get thirsty on the way home,” the stranger said, licking his lips and handing it back.

Riley took it without a word, and there was a pause.

“Thanks,” said the stranger.

“So you really do still have some modesty.”

“Ha!” the stranger grinned, and Riley grinned back.

The two boys gazed back at the still lake again, one with only a stained white shirt and shorts, the other with an oversized raincoat and a jumper and a jacket and two shirts and gloves and two pairs of long pants and his bag.

The stranger’s eyes went to it.

“What? Riley said. “Want more?”

“No,” said the stranger. “I was just thinking about something.”

“What were you thinking about?”

“Well, you’ve got a gun, right?”

“Yeah. A pistol.”

“I’ve got one of my own. Was gonna use it on myself, but… I’ve been scared. Even though I know I’m already dead. And I think it’s broken by now, anyway. Can I ask you something, Riley?”

“Yes.”

“Can you shoot me? It’s starting to hurt now. The radiation. I was planning to go to other places, but this isn’t so bad. Even though it’s raining. And…. And it’d be nice to have a friend do it, even if that sounds a bit morbid.”

“All I did was give you a muesli bar and some water,” Riley said.

“More than anyone’s given me for a long time.”

“Can’t be friends if I don’t know your name.”

“Oh. Sorry.” The stranger hesitated for a moment, swallowed a lump in his throat. “Will you remember it?”

“I will.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “It’s Jay.”

“Hi, Jay. I’m Riley.”

“Nice to meet you, Riley…” Jay turned his head away, and when he came back he had an exasperated scowl. “This is dumb.”

“Huh?”

“I’m about to let myself get shot by someone I met like ten minutes ago, who’s gonna be the only friend I have left, and I can’t even see your face properly.”

There was one more long, quiet moment, and then Riley’s hands went up to his head. His fingers slid over to the clasps on his respirator, and then Jay grabbed his arm.

“What the heck are you doing?”

“I’m taking my respirator off—”

“What? Are you kidding me? Just for a dumb nice moment? Take your hands off it, man.”

“I don’t think there’s any radiation here anyway.”

“Not worth it,” Jay said. “Listen, I’ll accept that I’m maybe still worth a muesli bar and some water, but not your damn life. Alright? Not worth the risk. Keep the thing on, you idiot.” Riley dropped his arms, and Jay relaxed, slumping back on his elbows. “Jesus Christ, you are dumb.”

“I just wanted to be nice.”

“You already gave me food and water. And I can still see your eyes, Riley.”

“Oh.”

“…They’re pretty nice eyes. Dumb as hell, though.”

“Thanks?”

“I think we could’ve been good friends, Riley.”

“I think so too,” Riley said.

It had stopped raining. They looked into the lake as the raindrops slowly stopped dripping down Riley’s raincoat and the clouds parted and sunlight began to shine weakly down onto the water, reflecting off the blue ripples.

Jay looked up. “Whoa. Sky’s decided to be nice. I think that’s my cue.”

Riley looked sideways. “You’re… ready to go?”

“Yeah. Just make sure you do it in one shot or I’ll start screaming and the noise will be really annoying. Actually, shoot me several times just to make sure, okay?”

“Okay. What about your body?”

Jay squinted. “Want the view to yourself, do you?” Riley opened his mouth, and Jay stopped him in his tracks. “No. Don’t talk. I can already tell you were gonna say something dumb. It was a joke. I’m not gonna ask you to dig a grave so… you can, uh… toss me in the lake, I guess?”

“But then you’d ruin the view,” Riley said, straight-faced, and Jay burst out laughing, and his glee was cut short by pained coughs.

“Oh, man. Ow. Okay. Yeah. I’m ready.” Jay got into a kneeling position, then frowned and sat with his legs straight, then went cross-legged, then went back to kneeling. “Okay.”

Riley reached into his bag and found his gun. Checked it. “Okay?”

“Okay. No, wait—” Jay held his hand up just as Riley cocked the pistol, and went searching inside his back pockets. He pulled out a banged-up old pistol, some Tic-Tacs, and a small camera. “Here,” he said. “Save you the trouble of looting my corpse.” Riley accepted them, and put them in his bag.

“Thank you,” he said.

“No, thank you.” Jay held up his fist. “BFFs?” he asked, with a small, wry smile.

Riley bumped it. “Yeah. BFFs.”

Jay took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m ready. For real, this time.”

Riley held up his pistol and found his hand was trembling. “It… It was nice knowing you, Jay,” he said.

“It was nice knowing you too, Riley,” Jay said. “See you later.”

Riley held the gun to Jay’s temple.

“See you.”

Jay closed his eyes, and Riley pulled the trigger.

#writing #writeblr #prose #post apocalypse #sad #literature

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marshmallow-phd · 6 years ago

Text

Fighting Instinct

Part of The Untamed - EXO Wolf Universe

Genre: Supernatural, Wolf Au

Pairing: Jongdae x Reader

Summary: He went out of his way to ignore you. You saw his kindness towards everyone else, but he showed you only irritation. And you couldn’t blame him, considering your first meeting. However, little do you know that he’s hiding a dark world, one that you’re pulled into against your will….

Warning: none

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 I 15 I Final

Your head hurt when you woke up again. The last thing you remembered clearly was hitting your head on a particularly sharp rock. Fuzzier images were surfacing: Jongdae in wolf form coming to your rescue. Him showing actual concern for your safety.

What a cruel thing for your brain to conjure up.

Groaning, you pushed yourself up to get back to the house. But your hands didn’t make contact with leaves and twigs. Fully opening your eyes, you realized you were already back. Someone had changed you out of your rain-soaked clothes and into a large t-shirt and a pair of your comfortable shorts. From the design and cut of the shirt, it certainly wasn’t one of yours.

“No, don’t get up yet.” A strong hand pushed you back down onto the mattress. Jongdae’s face appeared in front of you, a small smile on his lips.

“You found me?” You blinked. Were those images real?

He nodded. “You scared me. I thought something really bad had happened to you.”

With a hesitant hand, he reached out to you, pushing strands of hair out of your face. The action confused you. Where was this coming from?

You tried to sit up again and this time Jongdae helped you with a sigh, shifting you so you could lean back against the headboard. He got up on the bed next you, leaving no space in between. Still not processing what was going on, you stared at Jongdae, unable to think of any words to communicate your current state of mind.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” he whispered. Without warning, he intertwined his fingers with yours, rubbing his thumb across your knuckles. It set your skin on fire. Your heart was racing from the contact, unable to believe that this was actually happening. Was this some sort of delusional dream you were having?

You couldn’t bring yourself to remove your hand from his, but you did turn to face him, furrowing your eyebrows. “What are you doing?”

Jongdae sighed. With his free hand he cupped your jaw, bringing your forehead to his with a slight tock.

“(y/n), I’m so sorry. I was so wrapped up in fighting this I didn’t stop to think about you. I knew it was useless, fighting the bond, but I’m too stubborn for my own good.” Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before look at you again. “When Junmyeon told me you were asking about breaking the bond, I panicked. Then you screamed. I didn’t think, just ran. I couldn’t lose you. Never to see you smile again or hear your laugh. I couldn’t let that happen. I realized that I had the best thing in front of me and I was so close to losing it.”

His words shocked you. Only in your daydreams did he ever say anything along those lines. Did he really mean it?

“Jongdae, I-”

“Shhh, let me finish.” He caressed your cheek. “Please stay. Please, give me another chance. You said that I wouldn’t ever love you back, but that’s not true. I’ve already fallen in love with you, (y/n). I’ve been in love with you.”

“Why?” you asked suddenly.

Jongdae looked taken back, surprised by your still lingering hostility. “Why what?”

Pulling your hand from his grip, you stood up, getting off on the other side of the bed so it was between the two of you. “Why the sudden change heart?”

Jongdae crawled closer to you, but you took a step back. That action made his face fall.

“It’s not a sudden change of heart. I’ve been falling in love with since the day you moved in here.”

“Well, you have a funny way of showing it,” you snapped. “You know how confused I’ve been the last month? Watching where I stepped, trying to make sure that I didn’t upset you and then getting confused when you did nice things for me or talked to me without being mean? This entire time I’ve been convinced that you hate me.”

Sitting on the side of the bed, Jongdae dropped his head in his hands. “(y/n). I’m so sorry. I-I don’t hate you. I really am in love with you. I just… I was scared.”

You pulled your eyebrows together, confused. “Scared? How am I scary?”

Jongdae stood up and when he walked towards you, you didn’t move away. He gently grabbed your upper arms, looking at you. His brown eyes were glassy, a small pool of water gathering on the bottom lid.

“I told you about being dropped off when I was two?” You nodded. With a heavy sigh, he continued, “Being abandoned like that, it’s stayed with me. I’m scared of being left again. It took me a long time to trust the guys. And a pack stays together, no matter what. So, when you came along, I thought you would take one look at me and walk away, wanting nothing to do with me.” His hand slid down until it was gripping yours. “I know it was stupid, but I couldn’t help it. And the more I fell for you, the more scared I became. But when you said that you had fallen for me, too… I realized that I was wrong and I never should have tried to push you away in the first place.”

Your own eyes were starting to tear up. You hated the fact that you couldn’t exactly argue with that. It still wasn’t right for him to do what he did, but you understood.

“Please, (y/n), can you forgive me?”

Your brain was having a difficult time piecing together the fact that any of this was happening at all. Stunned into silence, all you could do was nod your head.

Releasing your hand, he cupped your face with both of his palms.

“I can’t wait to stare at those eyes for the rest of my life,” he whispered, a smile growing on his lips.

You rolled said eyes, scoffing at his sentimentalism.

Slowly, he leaned in forward, his breath warm against your face. With just the minutest space between your lips and his, you wrestled with yourself on wanting to close that gap. Jongdae was being affectionate with you now, but you didn’t want to push him, even though you wanted more. You were right, the feeling of fire was getting addicting. Turns out, you didn’t have to hold yourself back as Jongdae took that last step.

The moment his lips touched yours, you were a goner. One hand was in your hair while he free arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to his chest until there was no room to even fill up your lungs with air. He backed up until he hit the bed. He sat down and lifted you so your legs were now strewn over his lap.

Kissing Jongdae was something that you had always pushed out of your mind whenever the daydreams curved that direction. It didn’t matter much since your wildest imagination could never have met this. His lips were soft against yours, cradling your bottom lip between his own. The tip of his tongue tickled the sensitive skin of your lip just before it could enter your mouth, access you weren’t quite granting yet.

Releasing his vise around your torso, Jongdae slid his hand down your waist before coming to a stop on your thigh. His grip was hot against your skin. Sliding his fingers up and under your shorts, he repositioned you so you were now straddling his lap as a possessive growl ripped from his chest. The unexpected sound made you gasp, simultaneously giving you the breath of air you were desperately needing and allowing Jongdae’s tongue to gain access to the place it had been battling to enter.

Your bodies were pressed so close together and Jongdae ran much hotter than the average male, you were sure you would start sweating through your T-shirt. The slightly unromantic thought made a giggle tickle your throat that you couldn’t hold back. At your outburst, Jongdae stopped and pulled away. Frowning, he tilted his head to the side.

“What’s so funny?”

Now you were embarrassed. Heat rose in your face and you avoided his gaze.

Jongdae scoffed playfully. “(y/n)…,” he pushed a lock of hair back out of your face. “I’m not a mind reader.”

Scratching behind your ear, you mumbled, “You’re just really hot.”

Most certainly hearing you, a cheeky grin spread across his face. Without warning, he flipped you over so you were now lying on your back with Jongdae hovering above you, a hand placed on either side of your head.

“Thank you,” he smirked. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

You slapped his chest. “I meant temperature wise. You’re practically a living heater. I thought I was going to break out into a sweat.”

Bending his head down, he nuzzled his nose into your neck. A satisfying rumble vibrated his chest against your shoulder. “I know another way to get us sweating.”

In a panic, you pushed him off of you and sitting up right.

Clearing your throat, you stuttered, “W-why don’t we take things slow?”

Sighing, Jongdae pulled you into his lap, resting his head in the crook of your neck. “That’s going to be extremely difficult, you know.”

You frowned. “You’ve done pretty well the past month or so.”

Jongdae growled, tightening his arms around your waist. He raised his head to look at you. “Are you going to hang that over me for the rest of our lives?”

Irritated, you shoved yourself off his legs and headed for the door. Before you even made it halfway, the wolf was blocking your path.

“What did I do?” he whined.

You stared at him, unable to believe that he honestly didn’t seem to understand why you would be upset.

“Seriously, Jongdae?” You crossed your arms over your chest. “I’m happy – I really am, that we can finally give this a shot, and I do forgive you, but… this last month – heck, the last several months – still really hurt. I’ve felt so unwanted and you hadn’t even given me a chance. I’ve been hurting every day and the memories of that hurt aren’t going to just wash away to create a perfectly clean slate. I’m going to need time. Not space – because I don’t want you to go away. Just some time.”

Jongdae nodded, the look on his face so full of shame. He knew what he had done and he understood that you couldn’t just forget it. Taking a step forward, you reached out to him, laying your palm against his cheek.

“But,” you gave him a small smile, “I think I’m the happiest I’ve been in a very long time.”

The shameful look melted away from his face and your favorite blinding smile made an appearance. He wrapped his arms around your waist, bringing you in close to him. His nose rested against the space where your jaw met your ear. That seemed to be his favorite place.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he promised. “I will spend the rest of forever making it up to you. I’ll scrub that slate so clean, you’ll be able to see your face in it.”

You couldn’t help but giggle, standing there in his arms. A small, pessimistic part of you panicked, wondering when he would switch up on you again and decide that in fact he wasn’t in love with you and he still didn’t actually want you. With great effort, you pushed the thoughts away, deciding that if that was to happen, then you would deal with it then.

“Jongdae, is she awa– oops, sorry!”

Ji Yeon’s head disappeared from the doorway so quickly you almost didn’t realize it was her. You hadn’t heard the door open and were embarrassed to be caught. Granted, the two of you were just embracing, but it still felt so intimate.

Jongdae chuckled as he lift his head, still keeping a grip on your waist. “That’s probably going to happen a lot around here.”

“Is that why the other mates live by themselves?” you murmured to yourself.

For some reason that caused Jongdae to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” you asked innocently.

“Nothing.” He kissed your lips, probably to distract you from the joke you’d missed.

Then it hit you. You almost slapped yourself with how naive you’d been. Now you got the joke, but you’d keep the revelation to yourself. You were too embarrassed to say anything to Jongdae. Maybe later you could talk to the girls about it. You weren’t completely inexperienced, but you were still shy and it’d been… a while.

“Come on,” Jongdae grabbed your hand and tugged you out of the room. “I can hear your stomach growling and I’ll be damned if I let my mate starve.”

Your cheeks heated up at the sound of him calling you his mate. They were probably still red as you entered the kitchen behind Jongdae, still clinging to him.

All the other wolves as well as their mates were gathered around the rarely used dinner table. Junmyeon shot you a smile when he noticed the two of you holding hands. But it disappeared quickly as you joined the group.

“This isn’t good, Junmyeon,” Minseok groaned. “They really want us dead now.”

“What’s going on?” Jongdae asked.

Picking up an envelope made of old, yellow parchment, Junmyeon sighed. “This was left on the porch sometime while we were sleeping last night. It’s addressed to (y/n).”

You shrank into Jongdae’s side as he squeezed your hand. “W-what is it?”

Ji Yeon was the one who answered you in a hushed tone that was truly frightening. “It’s a witch’s curse.”

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charis-chan · 7 years ago

Text

Day Four: Hogwarts AU

I know the prompt was Hogwarts AU, but I wanted to explore what happens after Hogwarts.

Enjoy!!

Read on AO3

This was supposed to be easy.

This was supposed to be the easiest job of your career.

And here you are.

Running for your life.

Running for her life.

Heck, maybe even running for everyone’s lives.

Okay, no, that’s an exaggeration.

“Merlin’s socks!” Maggie yells ahead of you. “This will be the last time I follow you!”

“No one asked you to follow me!!!!”

And, really, no one was supposed to be here with you other than Kara.

And you haven’t heard from Kara for maybe three hours.

But, your sister is resilient and basically immortal, so you don’t really worry about her.

(You totally worry about her.)

“You haven’t picked my calls, you asshole!”

You huff. Really, Maggie? Are you scolding me while we run from a small litter of Nundus? Really?

“I was busy, you hot shit Hufflepuff!”

“Don’t you dare bring my house affiliation into this, you slippery Slytherin!”

“And so damn proud of it!”

You make a sharp left turn when a tree suddenly appears in your path.

When you chose to become a Curse Breaker, you were thinking on busting pyramids and hunting down lost treasures, pretty much like that woman in the games Maggie used to play when you were still in school.

“Fucking Slytherin!” Maggie’s voice is a little far away, but you know that the Nundus won’t let you get too separated.

The five cubs and angry mama are sheep-herding you somewhere and you are sure you will meet Maggie there if you do get separated.

“Your fucking Slytherin!” you shout back to her.

“If we die, I’m killing you!”

Her voice is farther away and you contemplate trying to look for her when a slight nip at your ankles make you simply run faster, prompting a little mreowl of excitement from your chaser.

Yeah.

You didn’t think you’d be doing this when you went to the goblins and sign into their Curse Breaker program.

Maybe you’d be better off training to be an Auror like Maggie… her training was shorter, less intense and loads more fun.

(Really, being six months underground, surrounded by short, grumpy, scratch-happy goblins ready to slap the back of your head for breathing wrong… Yeah, Maggie had it better studying under the formidable Harry Potter, who, legend has it, is not an easy teacher.)

But, then again, even if you were an Auror instead of a Curse Breaker, you’d be here, lost in the African jungle, being chased by five Nundu cubs and one angry mama.

You’re here for Kara, after all, for Kara and Lena.

When Kara pouted at you, it was hard to say no.

But when Kara and Lena pouted and started whining like sad puppies… well, you were a goner.

When little Lena Luthor was sorted into Slytherin the same year your baby sister was sorted into Hufflepuff you never thought she’d grow to be another little sister to you.

(The fact that Kara and Lena grew to be fast friends since their first Welcome Feast and that they both were put under Maggie’s and your wings was the only reason you and Maggie ended up together.)

Right now, though, you want to kill them both… little sisters or not.

“Alex!”

Kara’s sudden voice makes you jump and almost trip. No, no, no, that’s not something that you can do right now.

Tripping means falling and falling means little cubs onto you and that means mama Nundu breathing down your neck… literally.

“What the hell, Kara?!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so, so, so, sorry!”

You look up at her. Oh, wonder that. Your little sister is racing a flying carpet alongside you.

“Are you helping me up, or what?” You glare up to her. “This is the last time I fall for your pout!”

You feel a sudden pull upwards and you bite back a yelp at being lifted. You hate it when Kara uses any magic on you silently. You hate it that she can do magic without a wand and that she’s so goddam good at it… you also hate it when she’s all sunshine and rainbows about it.

“Merlin’s balls, Kara!” you yell the moment you’re put gently on the carpet. “Really, what the hell?!”

Your sister looks down and starts playing with a loose thread on the carpet. “I’m really sorry…” she mumbles.

Your chest is rising and falling with the effort of having sprint for over an hour. “We need to find Maggie,” you tell her harshly.

Kara sniffs and nods. “Lee’s looking for her,” she says softly.

The carpet is slowing down as it goes up, up, up. Up in the air, the silence is almost crushing. You can’t hear the birds anymore, nor the wind rushing in your ears, nor the little feet chasing you…

… only Kara’s pitiful sniffs and, somehow, her crushing guilt.

“Oh, for Morgana’s tits,” you huff. You open your arms. “Come here, you.”

Your sister waste no time in slamming into your chest, practically climbing on your lap and clinging to you, hard. Not only a second after, you can feel her tears soaking your neck, where she’s hiding.

“I-I’m sorry,” she mumbles.

“I know, Kar, I know,” you sigh. You had planned on being angry for at least a day… but of course, Kara has to feel guilty and pitiful and… argh.

The worst thing is that she’s really feeling it, not faking it like she sometimes does when she wants to get her way.

When your little sister said she was going to be a Beast Handler the heart attack you gave your mom with you choosing a breaking curse career was like a little chest pain… and that Lena, little, quiet, passive, Lena was joining her…

“Easy, baby, easy,” you hush her. “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay.”

Kara shakes in your arms, sniffling. “I’m sorry, I-I really am.”

“I know, love, I know. Hey,” you detach her from your neck, making her look at you. Her eyes are leaking and her nose is running. “Hey, hey, baby. Nothing happened… shh, I’m okay, see? Nothing happened.”

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this… that I-I brought Maggie into this too…”

“I forgive you, baby,” you pull her in again, dropping a kiss on her temple. “And Maggie’s a little shit that chose to drop by uninvited… if we’re realistic, it’s her fault the mission went wrong.”

Kara shakes her head. “I-It was Winn’s fault,” she says. “The traps h-he built weren’t strong enough.”

“It was Maggie the one that Apparated in the middle of the operation.” You kiss her temple again, knowing that the carpet will guide you to safety. If Lena is on Maggie retrieval, then you won’t worry at all.

You trust Lee with your life and with Maggie’s too.

“… I’m still sorry…”

You roll your eyes at that. Kara will be beating herself up for days if you don’t make her pay a price or punish her in some way. No matter how many times you tell her she’s forgiven or even that something’s not her fault, she feels guilty and sad when something she does backfires or simply doesn’t work out.

Survivor’s guilt Maggie calls it.

“Okay, baby,” you say into her hair. “Okay… once we are back in Cairo, you are buying Maggie and I a never-ending round of Firewhiskey and, once we are back home, you’re on Tobby duty for a month.”

Kara startles in your arms, going so far as to push you away. “What? No! No Tobby!”

You glare at her. “Yes. Yes, Tobby.”

“Aaaaalex…” she whines. “No Tobby!”

Your glare intensifies. Tobby is the old house elf your mom gave you the day you started living on your own. Tobby is amazing, he’s been there since you can remember and he’s the one that helped raise you. That your mom, in all her pure-blood glory, decided to part with the elf that also saw her grow up was met with tears of happiness and gratitude…

… until you realized the old elf has a knack of cock-blocking you all. The. Damn. Time.

You love him. He was your best friend, your only friend, through most of your childhood, but sometimes, just sometimes, you want to have your little cottage for yourself and Maggie.

Tobby will, and has, spend time at Luthor Manor helping Trinky and Hoppy with the enormous place, but even so, you get why Kara doesn’t like having Tobby around… he is indeed a master cock-blocker.

“Mags and I are trying for a baby, Kar… we really need him out the house.”

Kara’s eyes widen and she’s suddenly climbing on your lap again, hugging the magic out of you. “Oh, my Rao! Oh, my Rao! I’m going to be an aunt!”

You laugh.

It was a secret. Both you and Maggie are not sure if the potion you bought is going to work, but well, you can’t really keep this kind of huge news from your beloved baby sister.

“Tobby can come stay with Lee and I, if that’s what you need,” she tells you earnestly.

“Oh, hell, no! He’s not!”

You both jump at Lena’s sudden indignant yell. While you two were having your heart to heart the carpet delivered you to the small camp you’ve set at Mount Mabu’s base. Maggie, in all her messy, muddy and grumpy glory, narrows her eyes at you while Lena’s pouty lips press into a thin line.

Kara is off the carpet in an instant, going to hug Maggie and managing to almost tackle her to the ground. “I’m sorry, bigger sis!” she half yells half whimpers as she crushes your wife. “I promise not to steal Alex like this again!”

You roll your eyes as you climb down the levitating piece of cloth. You’re not at all surprised to have Lena suddenly attached to you, clinging the same way Kara did not too long ago.

You sigh as you embrace her. You never really thought you will see the baby Luthor as your sister too. “I’m okay, Lee,” you whisper against her temple. “I’m okay.”

It had been a close call, but thankfully, the calming draughts, the sleeping charms and the traps you used made it for an easy to control mama Nundu… that’s it, until Maggie apparated at your side, breaking your concentration and waking up the small litter of cubs you needed to relocate.

“I was so scared…” she mumbles into your breastbone.

You kiss her forehead, knowing that, while Kara feels guilty and she’ll come around until her ‘punishment’ is over, Lena will only feel fear and distress at almost losing both her role models.

After losing Lex to the Veil of Death, his father to Dragonpox and her mother to Azkaban… you’re all that Lena has left.

“We’re okay, little Lee, we’re okay.”

She nods, but her hold on you tightens. “Please, no more scares like that… my heart wouldn’t survive.”

You snort at that. “Says the little Beast Handler… Lena, you give me a heart attack weekly.”

Lena sniffs and you’re not surprised when she looks to fit her head under your chin. You miss the days when she was a little thing and she could fit there comfortably. Now, she’s almost too tall for it, but she still seeks your warmth whenever possible this way. “You know I mostly stay at the lab, healing the animals…”

“… and yet you still manage to almost die twice a month.”

You look over at your wife and sister and you smile at the familiar sight of Kara clinging onto Maggie’s back like a backpack, arms, and legs all around the petite Auror.

She used to do that when things got too much in Hogwarts, when the noises were too much, and the pressure of her own prophesy too heavy on her shoulders… the last kid of a death world, sent to Earth to bring balance… and, just like back then, Maggie simply bears her weight and let her shut off for a little while.

“I’m sleeping next to you tonight,” Lena’s small, yet determinate, voice reaches your ears.

Your eyes find Maggie’s.

You know she’s still upset you went missing for two days, leaving just a rushed note and no way to contact you. Maggie may have made you get used to your cellphone, but the Mozambique jungle is not a place for it and sending a hawk all the way home was too hard on the poor bird.

You know she’ll forgive you in a heartbeat… as soon as you get the chance to actually talk to her. Her Apparating and prompting you both to run for your lives for the sole fact that performing ‘active’ magic near a Nundu is exactly what you can’t do (and what got you into that mess in the first place) didn’t really allow you to talk.

You also know that right now, though, what you need is to make sure your little sisters are taken care of and that, come morning, you actually move those Nundus. The villages that are near their burrow have already lost too many lives to them and the sanctuary Kara and Lena work for refuses to put down six healthy specimens. Dangerous, but healthy.

“Fine by me,” you finally answer Lena. “C’mon. Now that Maggie’s here, we may actually eat something decent.”

Lena bristles at that. “Hey! I can cook!”

You smile, cupping her cheeks and leaving another kiss to her forehead. “Heating cans of beans is not cooking, little Lee.”

Lena pouts at that and Maggie laughs and Kara chuckles and you beam.

This is your family.

A little bit crazy.

A little too tight-knit.

Sometimes all over the place.

Sometimes too reckless.

And always full of love.

“Hey, guys… has anyone seen my wand?”

Yeah… this is your family

#sanversweek #day4 #Hogwarts AU #alex danvers #maggie sawyer #kara danvers #lena luthor #sanvers #supercorp #found families

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pingo1387 · 7 years ago

Text

Robin’s Adventure in Oz

hey what’s up no one appreciates how fast i can write and i wrote this instead of studying let’s fucking go also i know everyone has franky as the tin man but this story already had so many cliches not including the whole story itself being a cliche so just let me have this okay

Robin was . . . confused, to say the least.

“Clean that up immediately!”

She was in her aunt’s old house, and her aunt was there, ordering her around as she’d always done. She looked down and saw Chopper in her lap, squirming at the awful aunt’s voice.

“Chopper?” she whispered. “What’s going on?”

Chopper looked up. “Well, your auntie’s being mean,” he whispered back.

“Did you hear me, child?!”

Robin frowned and stood, holding Chopper. “I’m not a child,” she said. “And I think I’ll be leaving now. You can clean the house yourself. Goodbye.”

Ignoring her aunt’s shrieks, she left the house and began walking with Chopper. The landscape was not that of Ohara, but a winding lane stretching out for miles over dry farmland.

“Where’re we going?” Chopper asked, climbing up to sit on her shoulder.

“Away from here.”

They had hardly walked for a minute when the sky darkened and a horrible roaring filled their ears. They turned to see a tornado in the distance, bearing down on them.

“What’s that?!” Chopper shrieked.

“A tornado,” Robin said, surprisingly calm. “It’s a huge twisting storm that occurs in very dry lands where hot and cold fronts collide, a little like a land cyclone. It can bring up people, animals, and even large objects, throwing them high into the air.”

“Then can we run?!”

“Oh! Yes, of course.”

Robin turned and sprinted away, Chopper clinging to her shoulder, but of course the storm was faster. It caught up to them in no time, wind whirling at their ankles, and soon Robin’s legs were spinning wildly as she tried to run in midair.

“Hold on tight!” she yelled over Chopper screaming in her ear. “Stay with me!”

She shut her eyes tight . . .

. . . And when she opened them again, she found herself hovering over an unrecognizable landscape, colors popping even from that height. Chopper was unconscious but she held him tightly.

“Oh, dear,” she murmured as she began to fall. Thinking fast, thousands of arms sprouted from the ground below and formed an enormous hand, which caught her and Chopper and slowly set them down.

Chopper woke up and Robin checked him before dusting herself off. She looked around and started when she saw a colorful village, and their inhabitants—strangers who came up to her hips—staring at her in awe.

“Hello,” she said politely. Chopper tugged her sleeve. “Sorry for intruding.”

“The witch is dead,” one whispered.

“What did you call me?”

Chopper tugged on her sleeve again, and she looked over to see an upturned bucket next to soaked clothes.

“The wicked witch of the east is dead!” another one cried, and the village erupted into cheers.

“Miss, miss,” one exclaimed, pushing through the celebrations to seize her hand, “you killed the wicked witch! She has terrorized our village for years, and now she is gone!”

“But . . . how?” Robin said.

“It must have been that water,” the person said, pointing to the bucket. “Your magical hands upturned it, and melted her!”

“What an awful weakness,” Robin remarked. “To not only be able to not swim, but to melt at the very touch of water . . . I’m very glad you’re all free now, but I must be going.”

“Ah, so soon?” another small person exclaimed in disappointment. “If you must, miss!” He pointed to a golden road. “Follow the yellow-brick road, miss, and you will soon reach the Emerald City!”

“Emerald City?”

“Oh, yes,” yet another one said, nodding so hard Robin feared her head might fall off. “There is a wonderful wizard there who is said to perform miracles!”

“Miracles . . .” Robin smiled. “Interesting. Thank you all very much. Goodbye!”

“Goodbye! Goodbye!” they called after her as she began her walk down the road.

“Those were nice people,” Chopper remarked. The village was out of sight.

“This all feels familiar,” Robin said, staring into the distance. “Just a little bit . . .”

She looked at her feet and frowned. “I could’ve sworn I’m supposed to be wearing silver shoes.”

“Silver? What for?”

“I don’t know. Never mind.”

They passed by a field, and paused when they heard a shout.

“Go away, dumb crows! Where are you?!”

They turned and saw a man dressed as a scarecrow, grass-green hair poking out from under a patchy hat. He was facing an empty field, and the crows were behind him, cawing as if laughing at him.

“Stupid birds!” The man finally turned and noticed them. “Hey. Who’re you?”

“Robin,” Robin said. “And this is Chopper.”

“Robin? You look like a Dorothy to me, but . . . whatever.”

“Zoro, what are you doing here?” Robin said in exasperation.

“Zoro who? I don’t have a name.” Zoro scratched his cheek. “I’m a scarecrow, that’s it.”

“Well, everyone needs a name.”

“If you insist. Zoro it is. Pleasure. Think you can help me get these crows?”

Chopper turned big and yelled, and the crows flew away in fright.

“There,” he said, turning small again.

“Thanks.” Zoro seemed unperturbed by the changes in size. “I was put in this field to scare away the crows from the crops, but . . . I can never find them.”

One landed on his head as he spoke and cawed. He looked around, checked the ground, and peered between his legs.

“Say,” Robin said, shooing the crow away, “Chopper and I are on our way to see a wizard. It’s said he can perform miracles. Would you like to join us?”

“Whatever for?”

“Perhaps he can give you a sense of direction.”

“Sense of—? That’s not necessary,” Zoro said, waving as if pushing away the suggestion. “There’s nothing wrong with my internal compass. I dunno what you mean.”

Robin and Chopper glanced at each other and turned pitying looks to Zoro.

“In any case . . .” Robin said slowly, “it might be good for you to get out of this field for a spell. Would you come with us anyway? Stretch your legs?”

Zoro hesitated.

“Got nothing better to do,” he admitted, wading out of the field. He brushed grains from his pants. “Which way?”

“This way,” Robin said, gently taking his hand and guiding him.

They traveled down the yellow-brick road, Chopper keeping an eye on Zoro, who occasionally began to walk backwards or wander from the path. They soon entered the woods, where sunlight streamed from the trees.

“Ah!” Chopper cried, and Robin and Zoro turned to see what he was looking at—well, Zoro turned the opposite way until Robin spun him around.

A skeleton in a fine suit and afro lay against a tree, unmoving, of course.

“Brook?” Robin said.

“Poor guy,” Zoro said.

All three clasped their hands together (Chopper holding his hooves against each other) and bowed their heads in prayer.

And when they looked up, the skeleton was standing, his own fingers intertwined and head bowed.

Chopper screamed, and the skeleton screamed too.

“What are we screaming about?!” he cried. “I saw you all praying, and I thought I should join in!”

“We were praying for you,” Zoro snapped. “Aren’t you dead?”

“Yes,” Brook admitted. “I was travelling, looking for my heart, and I decided to take a nap against this tree . . . pardon me, may I have your names?”

“Zoro.”

“Chopper.”

“Robin.”

Brook stared at Robin. “Are you sure that’s your name? I could have sworn it was Dorothy . . . regardless, you’re very beautiful. May I see your—?”

“You said something about a heart?” Chopper said, no longer scared but curious.

“Yes,” Brook said. He opened his suit, revealing a circular section of his ribcage missing on the left side. “This is how I died, you see. I believe I was attacked in my sleep, and I woke up without a heart to my name. My skin fell off later,” he added conversationally.

“Do you need your own heart back?” Robin asked. “Surely it’s rotted away by now, if you’ve skeletonized since then.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Brook said, a bit wistfully. “Any heart will do, so long as I have something to put here. I just don’t feel whole without it.”

“We’re on our way to see a wizard,” Chopper piped up. “They say he can perform miracles! Maybe he could help you get your heart back!”

“Do you really think so?” Brook said, interested. “Why are you on your way to see this wizard?”

“Curiosity,” Robin said with a shrug.

“Just wanted to go on a walk,” Zoro said, talking to a tree. Robin gestured to him, indicating his problem to Brook, who nodded.

“Then, if it’s not too much trouble,” he said, stepping forward, “may I accompany you on your journey?”

“Of course,” Robin said, smiling as she and the others stepped aside to make room for him. Chopper grabbed Zoro, turning him the right way around, and all four went on their way.

The woods soon grew dark around them. Chopper clung to Robin and Zoro was able to keep an eye on their surroundings by how much he got turned around.

“Do you think there are dangerous animals here?” Robin said.

“Don’t say that!” Brook cried, clutching the place where his heart once was.

“What kinds of creatures?” Zoro asked.

“Oh . . . lions, tigers, maybe bears . . .”

Chopper whimpered, hiding his face.

“Lions, tigers, and bears?” Brook whispered, mishearing her, as he had no ears. “Oh, my . . .”

“What do you have to worry about?” Zoro said, nudging him. “They’re after meat, aren’t they? You’re too skinny. Heck, I’m made of straw, I’ll be fine, too.”

“What about us?!” Chopper yelled.

“Well, you’re probably goners,” Zoro agreed, starting to walk off the path. Brook grabbed him and straightened him out.

“He’s right,” Robin said solemnly. “We should be careful. Though, Brook, you should be careful as well. I hear wolves enjoy chewing on bones.”

Brook gave a great shudder.

“Hear me and tremble, travelers!”

The party stopped, listening.

“Where’s it coming from?” Chopper whimpered.

“I am the mighty lion! Hear me roar!”

Something like a forced yell sounded through the trees before cracking and going high-pitched, abruptly ceasing.

“Leave this place at once!” came the trembling voice again.

“It’s coming from there,” Zoro said, pointing to the right side of the road. Everyone else promptly went the other direction into the trees.

“Leave, or I shall . . .”

Chopper pushed aside some bushes.

“I . . . I shall . . .”

A man, dressed in a ridiculous lion’s suit and mane, cowered at the sight of them. The tip of his long nose was painted black.

“I shall . . . leave you . . . alone,” he finished meekly. “So don’t hurt me. Please.”

“Hello, Usopp,” Robin said in amusement.

“Who? I’m a lion!” Usopp stood. “A brave one!”

“Hello,” Brook said, waving. Usopp screamed and jumped back.

“You sure don’t seem brave,” Chopper said. Zoro joined them at last.

“May I call you Usopp?” Robin added. “It suits you.”

“Sure, go ahead,” Usopp said, kicking the dirt. “It’s better than ‘coward,’ or ‘liar,’ or ‘wimp.’”

“But you are all of those things.”

“It’s true!” Usopp said with a sob, covering his face. “I wish it wasn’t, but I can only pretend to be brave! Damn this lack of courage!”

“You wish to be brave?” Brook said.

“Y—Yeah,” Usopp said defensively, edging away and holding his tail.

“Come with us,” Robin offered. “We’re on our way to see a wizard who can perform miracles. Brook’s looking for a heart, and Zoro’s . . .”

“Just along for the trip,” Zoro said, talking to Robin rather than Usopp. Usopp squinted at him.

“Then . . . this wizard, could he grant me courage?” he said slowly.

“Perhaps,” Brook said cheerfully.

“Very well!” Usopp exclaimed, drawing himself up. “Then I will join you! But please protect me.”

“You’re the lion here,” Zoro muttered. “I’m Zoro, by the way.”

The others gave their names, and Usopp stared at Robin. “You sure you’re not Dorothy?”

“I’m pretty sure.”

The party, now five, climbed out of the trees and back onto the yellow-brick road, heading on their way. Brook sang them a song and Usopp entertained them with lies and tall tales.

“Oh,” Chopper gasped. They had come to the crest of a hill, and at the bottom rested the glimmering green city. “This is it!”

“The Emerald City,” Robin said in wonder.

“Ah, my eyes have never seen such a sight!” Brook exclaimed. “But then again—”

“Where?” Zoro said, facing the way they’d come. Usopp turned him around. “Oh. Neat.”

“It’s gorgeous,” Usopp said. “No one’s gonna hurt us, right?”

“I hope not,” Robin said.

They hurried down the hill, cautiously entering the city. Everything, even the clothing of the citizens, was a glimmering green, sometimes making them squint.

After asking around, they found the palace of the wizard, and knocked upon the grand doors. A mechanical eyeball came down on a tube from the eaves, making Usopp shriek and hide behind Brook as it stared at them.

“State your purpose,” a voice said over a loudspeaker.

“We wish to see the wizard,” Robin said clearly.

“Very well. Enter.”

The doors swung open and they stepped inside, footsteps echoing in the corridor.

They reached the main room, wherein a man dressed in a very fine suit with no pants sat with his back to them, muttering over a workbench.

“So if I . . . but then . . .” He turned around. “Oh, hey! You’re new to this place, aren’t you?” A metal nose came to light as he strode forward, spreading his arms wide in greeting. “I’m the wizard you’ve come to see. You’ve come to see me, right? Call me Franky.”

“We’ve heard you can perform miracles,” Brook said politely. “Is this true?”

“Combination of magic and mechanics can do anything,” Franky said with a nod. “But, uh, there’s a problem.”

“A problem?” Chopper repeated.

“Yeah. See, I use this magic wand to enchant my works, right? It can do more complicated stuff, but I’m not too good at that. Not that I’m incompetent! I’m getting off-topic.”

“The wand,” Usopp prompted. Zoro stared at a wall, wondering where the voice was coming from.

“Right. The wand. It was, uh, stolen.”

“Stolen?” the party said together.

“By who?” Robin asked.

“The wicked b—er, witch, that is, of the west.” Franky frowned, crossing his arms. “I dunno what she wants with my wand, but it can’t be anything good.”

“Then, if we get that wand back for you,” Robin said slowly, “you’d grant our wishes?”

“If I can,” Franky said, lighting up. “But no one can get near her fortress without her permission, that’s why I haven’t gotten it back already.”

“We’ll find a way,” Usopp said, standing up straight and puffing out his chest. “I—I’m sure of it!”

“That’d be great,” Franky said, tears coming to his eyes in happiness. “You guys are the best!”

He took out a handkerchief and blew his metal nose. “Don’t die!”

The party saluted, turned, and left.

“Hey, wait!” Usopp exclaimed. “Don’t die?! We could die?! I changed my mind! Help!”

“You can do it!” Chopper cried, pushing him along. “I believe in you!”

They stepped outside the palace and left the city.

“So . . . where’s her fortress?” Zoro asked, staring at the city. Robin held Chopper. “And how’re we gonna get inside if there’s a barrier, or whatever?”

“Yeah,” Usopp sighed as he was lifted into the air with Robin and Chopper. “Maybe it’s hopeless . . .”

“Really, let’s have some hope,” Brook said encouragingly as he and Zoro were likewise lifted into the air. “We haven’t even begun to search yet! By the way, why is the city getting farther away?”

“Weird,” Zoro agreed, staring pensively at the buildings. “Is it shrinking?”

“That is odd,” Robin said with a nod, still holding Chopper.

Though it took them a moment, everyone screamed, finally noticing they were airborne.

“We’re flying!” Usopp screeched, wiggling his legs about.

“Why?!” Brook cried, frozen in fear.

“You guys are slow, aren’t you?” said a voice above them. Everyone looked up to see two odd creatures carrying them through the air. Both had the bodies of monkeys, but their faces were oddly human-like, and wings sprouted from their back.

“I mean, we’ve been carrying you for, like, a minute,” continued the one with messy black hair and a scar under one eye.

“Stop wiggling or we’ll drop you,” threatened the other one, a blonde with an odd eyebrow.

“Luffy? Sanji?” Robin said in surprise. “Where are you taking us?”

“We’ve been ordered to take you to the witch,” Luffy explained.

“She has a name!” Sanji hissed. “And a lovely one at that!”

“I’m not calling her anything else until she changes us back to normal!”

“Well, I don’t mind being in this form as long as I can be with her!”

“You’re . . . taking us to the witch?” Usopp whimpered. “The wicked witch of the west?”

“That’s her,” Luffy said with a nod.

“How dare you call her wicked!” Sanji snapped.

“Sanji, she has done some pretty bad things! And I don’t like being stuck like this, or forced to do what she says!”

“I don’t mind in the least!”

“Will you two shut up?” Zoro snapped. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“Really?” Sanji said with interest, staring down at him. “Doesn’t look like you even have a brain to get one of those. I’m impressed.”

Zoro sneered and turned away. Usopp murmured prayers under his breath the whole way, Robin held Chopper comfortingly, Brook thought of an old song, and Zoro tried to figure out what direction they were headed in, not quite understanding the connection between the witch’s epitaph and a compass.

They came upon a dark castle on a hill, storm clouds surrounding the top. Luffy and Sanji flew them inside a window.

“My lady!” Sanji called. “We’ve brought them!”

“I wanna go back to sleep!” Luffy called. “Hurry up, witch!”

Usopp eyed the window, wondering if it was too high to leap from safely as heels clacked on the stone floor, approaching them.

“My queen!” Sanji cried when the witch appeared at last, a bob of red hair framing a freckled face under a pointed hat. “My luminous, radiant, beautiful—”

“That’s enough out of you,” the witch snapped, and Sanji fell silent. “You may both go.”

They flew away, and she turned to the party.

“I saw you in my crystal ball,” she said, “traveling on the yellow-brick road.”

Usopp tried to growl at her, but it came out as a squeak, and she ignored him.

“I need lives,” she said. “Lives for my experiments.”

“Experiments for what?” Zoro said.

“If you need lives, can I go?” Brook asked politely.

“Nami, it’s nice to see you, but we do need to find something,” Robin said impatiently.

“You may not,” Nami snapped at Brook, who hung his head in despair. “Experiments for . . . personal reasons, scarecrow.”

“Does it have to do with why you took the wizard’s wand?” Chopper asked bravely, only to cower when she turned an evil look to him.

“Perhaps,” Robin said slowly. “Nami, do you have . . . a dream?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“An ambition, I mean.”

Nami’s shoulders sagged. “I—what—” she sputtered.

Robin whispered something to Usopp, who nodded and ran off.

“Hey!” Nami said indignantly. She made to go after him, but froze at Zoro’s hand on her shoulder.

“You’re in a conversation,” he said sternly. “Don’t be rude.”

Nami glowered and turned back to Robin. “So what if I have a dream?”

“Maybe . . . we could help you.”

“Why should we?” Brook asked incredulously. “I would love to see her panties, of course—”

“What does that have to do with anything?!” Chopper said in confusion.

“—but she clearly means to harm us!”

“Yes!” Nami snapped. “I do!” She raised her hands threateningly. “I could blast you all off this tower if I pleased!”

Usopp returned, panting, with a bucket. He handed it to Robin, who thanked him as he hid behind Brook.

“Do you know what this is?” she said sweetly to Nami. Nami paled and stepped back.

“I thought so. Witches die from water,” she explained to the others, and held up the bucket. “You make one suspicious move and this is going in your face. Now tell us why you need the wand.”

“I want to sail!” Nami blurted out, staring fearfully at the water. “I want to sail the seas, and make maps! But I can’t do that as a witch, not with this weakness! Not being able to swim is one thing, but—!”

“So you were looking for a way to become human?” Robin said, still holding the bucket close.

“Yes! I haven’t been successful so far, but I thought by experimenting on someone, and by using the wizard’s wand, I could . . . I could . . . !”

“Then come with us,” Robin said. She lowered the bucket, setting it down cautiously. “Perhaps the wizard could help you, if you return his wand.”

Nami peeked at her. “He . . . could turn me into a human?”

“He could try, if you ask nicely.”

Nami steeled herself, clutching her robes. “Very well,” she said at last. “I will join you. Your names? I already know you’re Dorothy . . .”

“Robin, actually.”

The others introduced themselves.

“Then . . . let’s go,” Nami said. “Luffy! Sanji! Come here at once!”

The winged monkeys arrived, Luffy annoyed and Sanji pleased.

“We’re going to see the wizard,” she announced. She drew the wand from her robes, an object shaped a little like a wrench. “Carry these five again.”

Luffy and Sanji lifted up two each (not counting Chopper, who Robin held again) and carried them out the window. Nami followed soon on a broomstick.

They landed in the Emerald City, entered the wizard’s palace again, and found him at his workbench, pacing.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, spotting Nami and drawing back.

“It’s okay,” Robin said. Nami stepped forward and handed him his wand.

“I’m . . . very sorry,” she said, the apology dragged out like knives.

He stared at her. “Alright, then.”

Robin explained her situation and he raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so?” he said. “And the rest of you, what were your wishes?”

“Don’t have one,” Zoro said.

“I should like a heart,” Brook said, patting his ribcage.

“C—Courage,” Usopp whispered.

“Okay,” Franky said. “Let’s get going!”

It was only a matter of minutes before he brought two items to the group.

“A heart,” he said, presenting Brook with a metal contraption shaped just like a human heart. Brook placed it inside his chest, and Franky made quick work patching up his ribcage.

“Oh! Glorious day,” Brook sighed, tears spilling from his eye sockets. “I feel wonderful!”

“And for you,” Franky said to Usopp, “have this.” He presented him with a yellow-and-blue mask. “It’s imbued with courage, so whenever you feel cowardly, put it on and you’ll become stronger.”

Usopp took it in wonder and placed it upon his face. “You’re right!” he cried. “I could take on an army! Come at me, enemies of the world! I am the great lion Usopp!”

Franky winked at the others. “As for you,” he said to Nami, “yours will require a little more magic than mechanics. Come with me.”

He brought her behind a curtain. Sanji watched impatiently and Luffy fidgeted. Brook kept opening his suit to look at his new heart, and Usopp took off the mask, vowing to save it just in case the courage within ever ran out.

Several minutes passed, and then something miraculous happened: A shimmering cloud fell over Luffy and Sanji, and when it faded, they were human.

“We’re back!” Luffy exclaimed, jumping about. He was still rather monkey-like. “Hooray!”

“Does this mean . . . ?” Sanji said, staring. And sure enough, when Nami and Franky emerged from behind the curtain, Nami’s robes had been replaced with a fine white shirt and blue shorts.

“It did work,” she said in wonder, staring at Sanji and Luffy. She approached them and bowed her head. “I apologize for what I did.”

“Well, it’s fine, Nami!” Luffy said, laughing.

Robin sidled up to Franky. “Do you think you could give him a sense of direction?” she whispered, gesturing to Zoro, who was greeting Nami while facing the wall.

Franky stared at him and shook his head sorrowfully. “Some things are impossible,” he murmured, “even for wizards.”

“I understand,” Robin said, mournfully bowing her head.

“I’ll set sail as soon as possible,” Nami was saying in excitement.

“I will come with you!” Sanji cried.

“I wanna come,” Luffy said. “I like the sea!”

“Ah, may I join you?” Brook asked. “I have nothing better to do.”

“Same here,” Zoro said. “Screw scaring away crows, this sounds way more fun.”

“Why not?” Nami said, shrugging, all signs of a bad temper gone for the time being.

“What’ll you do?” Franky asked Robin and Chopper. “Do you guys have a wish?”

“Well, I don’t want to go back to my aunt’s house,” Robin said thoughtfully. “Nami? May we come with you?”

“Of course,” Nami said, smiling. Chopper grinned in delight.

“I’m coming, too!” Usopp said. “I can test my bravery on the open seas!”

“Then . . . I’ll come along,” Franky said. “I can build a ship!”

“That sounds wonderful,” Robin sighed.

“Okay!” Nami exclaimed. “Let’s all set sail as soon as possible!”

The time passed in a blur, and the sail of a ship looking suspiciously like the Thousand Sunny unfurled, sending them out to the sea.

Among the laughter of the new crew, Robin woke up.

“Robin!” Chopper cried, tears in his eyes. Robin blinked in confusion, staring around at the infirmary. “How do you feel? Are you okay?”

“I . . . I’m fine,” she said, getting her bearings. “What happened . . . ?”

“Tripped and hit your head,” Zoro said, leaning against the open doorframe. “You were only out for ten minutes.” Despite this, he seemed very relieved to see her awake.

“Scarecrow . . .”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Robin rubbed her head, already bandaged.

“Robin!” Luffy exclaimed, poking his head through. “I was telling you to go take a nap, and then you said okay and left, but I guess you were really tired because you fell and hit your head and didn’t stop yourself in time, and you took a nap just now so I guess that works?”

“Luffy, she was hurt!” Chopper exclaimed, still crying in relief.

“Does Brook have a heart?” Robin asked, still confused.

“Metaphorically or literally?” Brook asked, poking his head through above Luffy.

Sanji entered with a bowl of soup. “Oh, Robin-chan!” he cried, seeing her awake. “My dear, how do you feel? Are you well now?”

“I . . . I’m fine,” Robin said. “I had a very weird dream is all . . . it was simultaneously the most coherent and least coherent dream I’ve ever had.”

“What’s this about coherence?” Usopp asked, coming in after Sanji. “Robin! You’re awake!”

“A lion . . . never mind,” Robin said, shaking her head. “Franky’s not a wizard, is he?”

“Only with mechanics,” Nami said.

“But not literally?”

“No.”

“And you’re not a witch?”

“What did you call me?”

“No, you stopped being a witch.”

The others stared at her in concern.

“I think I’ll sleep a little longer.” Robin rolled over and shut her eyes. “I’m fine, really . . . just tired.”

“When did Nami stop being a witch?” Zoro murmured. Nami turned a glare to him and he flinched.

“Did I miss something?” Franky asked, coming in.

#one piece #opfanfic #wizard of oz #robin #chopper #zoro #brook #usopp #franky #luffy #sanji #nami #writing adventures

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hey-i-wrote-a-story · 7 years ago

Text

Chapter 36 A Moment’s Respite

With the crisis past, at least for the time being, Scott took the moment’s respite to approach his fellow werewolf. The lanky young man was busying himself seeing to the welfare of others; helping some people to their feet, seeing to it that those who couldn’t rise were tended to. He stopped what he was doing when he saw Scott approaching, and walked over to greet him.

“You did some pretty nice work there”, the tall boy smiled.

“Right back at ya.”

The young man extended a hand. “Jolman Shanty.”

Scott took his hand and shook it. He had a firm grip. It was clear to Scott that it was due to a combination of his oversized hand and having wolf strength behind it. He wasn’t squeezing hard to show off. Scott offered him a smile, then an introduction.

“I’m—“

“Scott McCall”, Jolman finished for him. “Yeah, I know.”

Scott’s brow furrowed. Did he know this kid? He had no recollection of them meeting before. But then, Beacon Hills High played every team in the league throughout the season. “Have we…played against each other before? Because I don’t remem—“

“Nope. New to the district and to the sport. I used to be all about basketball, but everybody here is gaga for lacrosse, so I figured if I wanted to get my sports fix in, I’d better grab a stick and join ‘em. I’m trying out next season.”

Scott managed a weak smile, but went on with his question. “Then how do you know who I am?”

Jolman gave a quick laugh, which was oddly high pitched for his appearance. “Seriously? You’re Scott McCall, for God’s sake.” He looked around to see that no one was within earshot. No one was. “You’re an Alpha. You’re like, the Alpha. Trust me, word gets around.” Scott was taken aback. He was not comfortable with this level of notoriety. It was bad enough with a small out-of-town fan club led by a clairvoyant, but having another local know his business was, literally, too close to home. Jolman picked up on Scott’s unease and said, “Don’t worry, it’s not like I’m gonna say anything to anyone who isn’t, y’know, like us. I’m not eager to get outed, so I’m guessing you feel the same way.”

“More lately than ever”, Scott agreed. “Thanks.”

Jolman gave a polite nod and turned away to go back to helping his injured classmates and the other recovering victims. As far as he was concerned, the meeting was over. They had exchanged introductions and quick reassurances, and that was that. He’d taken only a few steps when he turned around to face Scott, even while walking backwards, continuing on his way. “So you and your pack gonna take care of all this?”

“All of what? These people? I think we should probably leave that to the paramedics and the sheriff. We’re not trained to—“

“No, no”, Jolman interrupted. “All this”, and he gestured broadly with his arms, indicating the chaos around him, and also glancing up at the sky, from where the monster had descended. “You gonna do your hero thing? Go after this killer beastie and kick its ass for the safety of your hometown and its defenseless inhabitants?”

Jolman was doing his best to sound glib, trying to make light of a terrifying situation. Scott’s enhanced senses picked up on the tall boy’s quickening heartbeat and somewhat shallow breathing. He was still frightened, no matter how much his brave front worked to conceal it.

“What makes you think that we--?”

“Please. Like I said, word gets around. You’re sort of becoming a legend around here, from what I understand. All o’ you guys are. So you gonna stop it? That…thing, whatever it was?”

“We’re going to try.”

That satisfied Jolman for the moment. He turned away from Scott again to focus on how he could help those around him. “Whatever you’re gonna do”, he said over his shoulder, “Do it quick.”

High above, concealed within a blanket of clouds, the monster watched the scene down below. It had seen how quickly and completely it had taken control of the crowd of human prey and how, just as quickly, the High Alpha had undone its work. The monster snorted, exhaling a thick puff or orange smoke, then arched it back as it soared higher into the night sky, deeper into the thick clouds. It was not happy.

Scott surveyed the scene around him to check if anyone was not yet being tended to. There was a lot of crying and confusion. Plenty of “What the hell happened?”s and “How did I get over here?”s and a whole lot of “Are you okay?”s. But by now paramedics were seeing to everyone in turn, the firefighters were dousing the patches of fires around the grounds, and putting out the bonfire, just in case. Stiles’ dad and Deputy Parrish were assessing injuries and main sure that those in the worst shape were treated first. A few more deputies were now on the scene, taking statements and generally making themselves useful as best they could. Scott looked across the field and spotted Stiles standing by the volunteer brigade truck. He was holding a small boy in his arms. Scott made his way over to him.

Stiles was speaking quiet assurances to the little boy who did not want to let go of him. Scott saw the state of the frightened boy and began to reach out to him.

“Is he alright? Does he need--?”

Stiles gently brushed Scott’s hand away, knowing that his friend was prepared to use his powers to take away any of the boy’s pain. “No, he’s okay”, Stiles told him. “He’s just pretty shaken, that’s all.” Then to the kid, “You were pretty brave during all that, weren’t you, buddy?”

“Heck no!”, the boy said. “I was scared!”

“Well, you can be scared and still be brave”, Scott told him.

The boy looked astonished. “No way. You can??” “Sure you can.”

The boy considered it. “Then maybe I was brave. But I don’t know ‘cause I was too busy being scared!”

“What do you say we go find your mom, huh little guy?”, Stiles suggested. The boy nodded vigorously. Yes, please.

It didn’t take long to locate a frantic woman racing around asking about her son. When she came into view, the junior mascot jumped down from Stiles’ arms as if he suddenly realized he was 9 whole years old and despite his small size would look wimpy if his mom saw him being carted around by a high schooler. He called her over and she practically flew to him, throwing her arms around him.

“Oh thank God! Thank God! I was looking everywhere for you. I was trying to find the Bartholomew costume, but I couldn’t see it and I thought I’d lost you!”

“Um, Bartholomew’s pretty much a goner”, Stiles said. She looked at him curiously. “His junior mascot suit caught fire.”

“Oh no!”, She gasped. “Are you okay??”

“This guy totally saved my life!”, the boy said, pointing at Stiles. “I guess something happened with the bonfire, ‘cause I can barely see out of it anyway and all of a sudden I’m like on fire!” His fear was fading rapidly as he recounted his adventure. “Then this guy gets the head off me and pulls me out. The thing went up like FWOOSH!”

“Polyester burns pretty easily”, Stiles commented.

The grateful mother looked at Stiles, and as she caught her breath, asked, “What happened here tonight?”

Stiles found himself answering very professionally. “We’re not sure yet. But the sheriff’s department is looking into it. I suspect we’ll have answers soon.” The woman was impressed by his answer. He added, “My pop’s the sheriff.” She nodded, understanding where he got it from.

“Thank-you so much”, she said.

Stiles saw in her eyes how heartfelt her thank-you was, and he nodded graciously. “Sure. Just look after the little guy. And you might want to get yourselves checked out just in case. For possible smoke inhalation, for shock.”

She smiled and left with her son, refusing to let go of his hand. This he didn’t mind so much. Moms freaking out about their kids nearly catching on fire was a situation that permitted public hand-holding. “It’s like the sparks were trying to eat me!”, the boy explained. They were both more collected now, but they kept a quick pace making their exit.

“Look at you, all authoritative”, Scott said, smiling.

“Shut up.”

Nearby, a radio crackled a communication between medical teams and firefighters. The two young men who had been feeling pretty good about their actions during the crisis listened intently as a report came listing five casualties. Two died from smoke inhalation, two more from severe burns, the last by heart attack. Then the list of injuries began, starting with an elderly woman who had been trampled. Stiles was about to suggest they get out of the way of the emergency workers, if only to put distance between them and the radio. Then Scott tilted his head.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yeah. Dude, I’m standing right next to you.”

“Not that”, Scott said, gesturing toward the radio. He took a step forward, paused for moment, listening for something, then pointed toward the parking lot. “That.”

Sheriff Stilinski stood on the edge of the parking lot, gesturing for Scott to join him. “Scott, I need your help”, the sheriff repeated. He spoke in his normal tone of voice, which he knew Scott would be able to hear if he caught his attention.

Stiles looked at his friend askance. “Oh sure. I heard that. How could I miss it?”

“Sorry.”

Once at the sheriff’s side, the boys saw what he called for. “He’s beyond medical help, as far as I can see. But I thought maybe you…”

Sprawled on the blacktop was a homeless man, dressed in several layers of worn clothing. He was no one special. Quiet and often amiable, he kept to himself and regularly made his rounds around the outskirts of Beacon Hills, keeping out of trouble and occasionally accepting the kindness of strangers. From time to time, he would venture into town when lured by festivities and celebrations; small touring carnivals, county fairs, 4th of July parades and the like. He’d watch from the sidelines and enjoy the spectacle vicariously through those in attendance. He had been drawn in by the warmth of the bonfire and the jubilation of its participants. This was one time when he should have stuck to the outskirts of town. His tattered coats were being consumed by the few remaining energy spores. To most people he was no one, but to Scott McCall, he was a person in need of help.

“Maybe I can”, Scott told the sheriff. Scott knelt down and took the man’s hand. It was rough and dirty, with ragged nails. Scott didn’t care. He held tight and tried to draw out the man’s pain. “If you can hear me, hang on. I’m trying to help you.”

The man looked up at Scott, although it was clear that the movement caused him considerable pain.

“What’s your name, sir? I’m Scott.”

The man’s mouth almost formed a smile. It had been a very long time since anyone had called him “sir”. His mouth moved a bit more, but his voice was gone.

“Well, you can tell me when you have your strength back.” Scott gripped the man’s hand tighter, taking care not to apply too much pressure. Why wasn’t it working?

Stiles and his father could already see what Scott could not. The man was too far gone. Now that the last of the spores had fizzled out and faded away, it was clear that his injuries were too severe. The sheriff immediately regretted having called Scott over. The clothing was being disintegrated off his back and his flesh was starting to crack and flay. Had he been younger, or healthier, he might have pulled through. But he was too old and too ill to put up any fight against what was happening to him.

“Come on, sir”, Scott pleaded. “You can do this! Just hold on a little bit longer. I promise you, I’ll—there. There it is!”

Scott looked down to see the black tendrils spreading up his forearm like fingers of ebony frost. His healing power was working. But as soon as it had started, it stopped. The black lines on his skin faded to gray, then to nothing. The man was dying. And he was not dying peacefully.

The homeless man was dying from the inside out. The eldritch orange fire had already penetrated his skin and was ravaging his body, devouring organs one by one. Scott saw the man’s body begin to collapse.

“No! Stay with me! I can do this!”

Scott called upon all his healing power and another trace of veiny black shot up his arm. But it then turned orange and began to glow, emanating a terrible heat. Scott had to let go. It was too painful to maintain contact. That was when the homeless man was consumed. His clothing, flesh, and bones were dissolving into a hideous orange mass right before their eyes. Scott reached out for the man’s hand again, but it dissolved in his grasp.

“No…!”, Scott cried.

And the man was gone. As his skull turned orange, liquefied, and collapsed in on itself, his gaze was still on Scott. The last thing to go was his eyes. In them was an expression not of anguish but of gratitude. Scott had rushed to his rescue and treated him as if he were a real person. His last thought was that someone sought to give him aid. The last sight he saw was a young man who clearly cared trying to comfort him. The rescue had not come in time. The man was not saved. But he died knowing that at least someone had tried.

The three teenagers sat in Freddie’s truck outside the McCall house. They sat in silence, listening to the radio. It did not have the best reception in the world, but the broadcast they were hearing came in clear enough. It was a news report covering the disaster at the lacrosse field. The voice of a well-spoken woman detailed what they knew so far, providing an account of the panic, the fire, the injuries, and the unfortunate deaths. In the middle of the usual canned prattle about thoughts and prayers for the victims’ families, the reporter spied the sheriff and asked for his take on the events. Normally one to eschew any public comments or sound bites, this time he had one prepared. After a quick consult with Parrish earlier, they had arrived at a plausible explanation.

“I want to stress first and foremost that as yet nothing has been proven conclusively”, the sheriff’s voice came over the old radio. “But as near as we can tell, some type of homemade accelerant was added to the bonfire, possibly to either extend the duration of the fire or for some kind of visual effect such as giving the flames different colors. We suspect that the chemical used mixed with the kerosene already present to create a highly toxic gas. The results were seizures, heightened anxiety, and intense hallucinations. In an excited crowd, it didn’t take long for that to go very wrong.”

The reporter pressed him. “How do you explain that so many victims claim to have seen the same hallucination? There was talk of a dragon, of all things.”

The sheriff didn’t miss a beat. “Again, we don’t know anything for certain yet. But one theory is that the toxins released from the fire could affect perception and suggestibility. If one person screamed loud enough about seeing a monster, many others would pick up on it.” He then added quickly, “We also have reason to believe there was no malice aforethought. It’s most likely that it was just a well-intentioned kid full of school spirit and lacking in knowledge of chemistry. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to see to getting these people cared for.”

“An evening of celebration turned into a night of horrors—“, the reporter continued.

“Turn it off”, Kaitlyn said.

Freddie twisted the knob and the cab was silent again. They couldn’t bear to hear anymore.

“It does sound like a believable explanation”, Aadesh offered after a bit.

“But we know what really happened”, Freddie said. “And we know why.”

Kaitlyn buried her face in her hands. “I’m not sure how much longer I can do this.”

“Do you think they’ll find a way to stop it?”, Freddie pondered. “Besides, I mean, you know. That other option.”

“And do they really need us here for that?”, Aadesh asked.

It was the question they’d all been waiting to hear. It had simply been a matter of who was going to say it. All three friends were stunned by the terror that they’d unleashed. They sat wracked with grief and incredible guilt. Did they really need to stick around and potentially make things worse?

“Highway’s only fifteen minutes that way”, Freddie said, pointing out the darkened window.

That sounded so good. Making a run for it. Leaving behind what they’d done, knowing that the problem was in the best hands possible to solve it. But in doing so, they’d be abandoning the heroes they wanted so desperately to be.

Kaitlyn spoke up. “No. We can’t.” the boys turned to look at her. “This whole thing is our fault. The least we can do is see it through to the end.” The boys looked at each other then back to Kaitlyn. They nodded, and she nodded back. They weren’t the juvenile delinquents they once were. They’d already decided that. As Aadesh and Kaitlyn ventured back up the walk to the McCall’s house and Freddie drove back to the Stilinski’s, they told themselves that it was time to grow up and face the consequences of their actions. They would even do their best to help, despite that not having gone so well in the past.

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