#this up all night in severe agitation isn’t gonna be manageable after a point | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

goulets · 3 years ago

Text

Heartland

Chapter: 3/8 Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson Additional Characters: Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Colin Wilkes, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Duke Thomas Rating: T (for now) Case Fic / Kid Fic a03 link

The library has its benefits: no harassment from over-familiar family members, no Dick sexually frustrating him within an inch of his life, and, if he’s willing to be a little sentimental, he kind of does want to show it to the baby. She’s too young to appreciate it, probably, but it stirs something in him to share it with her all the same. He’s heard it’s never too early to get kids into reading - his parents sure as hell never tried, but Jason had read anything he could get his hands on, once he learned how. It had saved him, back then. Maybe it can do the same for her one day.

“Could’ve sworn Bruce had a Dr. Seuss anthology somewhere in here,” he says to her, combing over the shelves with his eyes. “Guess not. You up for something more sophisticated?”

She grunts, squeezing his shirt in her fist. “Alright,” he agrees, pulling Twelfth Night off the shelf. “Shakespeare it is. You’ve got taste, kid.”

***

(dick)

Venice is a nightclub that has gone by many names during its Gotham tenure, and just as many owners. Dick has been undercover here at least twice, back when the club was catering to the wealthier patrons of Little Italy. The current management clearly hasn’t bothered with maintaining that exclusivity - the building is now shabby and outdated, even for this neighborhood. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the real draw of Venice, which is the illegal casino in the back rooms beyond the VIP lounge. Through all the club’s owners, the casino has always been run by the Falcones, and always frequented by the city’s most morally flexible elected officials. In the past four nights that Dick’s been staking the place out, he’s seen five judges, two city council members, and even the new police commissioner slipping out the back door into the alley, stinking of gin and cigar smoke and patting their coat pockets with an air of satisfaction. It’s good intel to have, Barbara’s told him. Always helpful to keep the files updated on who’s being bought and by whom. None of that really makes him feel better about the fact that he’s been staking this place out for four nights and still hasn’t managed to pin down their actual target.

It’s embarrassing, is what it is. He’s Nightwing, for God’s sake. He’s taken down whole Russian mobs in Bludhaven, and now he’s being completely eluded by a third-string Falcone no one’s even heard of.

Oracle had ID’d the doer of the Torres/Howard murders in a matter of hours, true to her word, and the ballistics had predictably matched up with a few other murders that the police never bothered investigating. Susanna “Susie” Falcone, a second cousin once removed with a rap sheet that puts many of her relatives to shame. Her name must still have some pull in political circles, because she’s only done time once, in spite of being indicted almost a dozen times. Gotta love good old fashioned judicial corruption, Jason had said. No one had been able to argue, looking at the number of charges dismissed.

All in all, it was supposed to be a fairly simple tag-and-bag. Once they’d found her place of work - officially, the Venice nightclub, unofficially, the family casino - he’d been tasked to track her, question her, and then turn her in to the police. He’d chosen his stakeout perch well, on a hotel roof high above the alley, he’d followed her, unseen, and so far, she’s given him the slip every freaking time. The woman has vanished through every doorway from here to Robinson Park, as only the most enterprising criminal can. Were this a different kind of case, Dick might have been impressed.

Instead, he’s annoyed, and having to compromise - his vantage point is lower, closer but more exposed in the thin shadows of a third story construction platform right above the alley. He can see the door to the club without any difficulty, but the moment he moves, he’ll be open to attack.

He’ll just have to move fast. Fortunately, that’s what he’s best at.

There’s a soft motion behind him, almost quiet enough to escape his notice entirely. It’s Jason - Dick hadn’t expected him to actually turn up. No doubt he’s here to make sure they finally succeed in catching their mark tonight, but he’s been so adamant about not leaving Danielle with anyone except Dick that it’s still a surprise to see him. What’s equally surprising to Dick is that he was apparently hoping Jason would show, if the relief he feels at seeing him is anything to go by.

It’s a nice moment of solidarity, until Jason opens his mouth. “So, fourth night’s a charm, huh?”

Dick bristles. “What happened to not leaving the baby?” he retorts.

Jason bristles back, but doesn’t rise to the bait. It’s a little wrongfooting - a reminder that things are changing between them. Dick is used to the veneer of antagonism that hangs over his relationship with Jason, the unresolved tension they both pretend not to notice. They’d gotten into a pretty good groove when he was acting as Batman, staying out of each others’ way for the most part, and working together when necessary. Dick’s pretty sure Jason doesn’t actually harbor any murderous feelings towards him, just like he doesn’t actually hate Bruce, no matter what he says.

“The girls and Alfred ganged up on me,” Jason says, leaning back against the scaffolding. “Whatever. I needed to get the hell out of there anyways. I don’t know how you stand being around them all so much.”

Dick laughs. “They’re not as interested in me,” he admits. “I’m not the cool sibling.”

Jason doesn’t respond right away. It's hard for Dick to tell, when he’s wearing the helmet, but he thinks Jason is probably waiting to see if Dick is joking. It’s another way things have shifted between them - Jason’s holding back, not jumping straight to lashing out, like he used to. It should be a good thing - it is a good thing, but it’s throwing him off balance all the same. He feels like he's spent most of the past several days looking for Jason, even when Jason is right in front of him. He’s used to trying to find the Jason he knows - or knew - the Jason who was taken away from him. Now there’s a new Jason, a Jason he’s still getting to know. Dick can’t choose between them, can’t decide which one he wants to find every time he looks at him. Maybe that’s why he can’t seem to find his one lousy mafia shooter.

“Looks like the cops are covering up the ballistics report on Reynolds,” Jason says, after a moment. “Go figure.”

Dick frowns. “Just Reynolds?”

Jason grunts. “Hold on. What.”

Dick turns to look at him.

“Did you burp her?”

Oh, Dick realizes, he’s on the comm. Someone back at the Manor must have pinged him on a private line.

“Then get Alfred to do it.”

It’s curious that the ballistics on Cy Reynolds’ murder are the ones being suppressed, Dick thinks. He was the only one killed with a submachine gun - the bullets from most of the other crime scenes had come from a standard Beretta APX, and the object of his stakeout, Susie Falcone, had used a Glock on Danielle’s parents. The Glock matched a few other shootings, the Beretta matched none. None of that is particularly noteworthy - after all, Susie is a criminal, and Beretta shell casings are a dime a dozen at any mob shooting.

“Fine. I’ll check back in five. If you asswipes don’t pick up, I’m coming back there.” Jason makes an aggravated noise in the back of his throat, which Dick takes to mean he’s hung up.

“Everything OK?”

“Just peachy. By some cosmic fucking joke, I’m the only person in the family who can get the baby to take a damn bottle. I told her they just need to burp her, but I guess that’s too complicated a task for a family of genius detectives,” Jason grumbles. “I knew I shouldn’t have left her. Shit.”

“Jay, relax. She’s fine.” Dick can’t help but grin at him. It’s honestly sweet, the way Jason and the baby have gotten attached to each other. Dick likes to think he’s her second favorite, but it’s pretty hard to tell. No matter who’s holding her, she’s always looking at Jason, and Jason never stops looking at her.

“It’s fucking cold out here,” Jason says mulishly.

Dick raises an eyebrow. “I noticed. It’s April, not August. If you really want to go back, I’m not gonna stop you.”

“I don’t…” Jason sighs. “Look, I’m here, okay? You bungled this grade school op three nights in a row, so congrats, you triggered the bat buddy system. If I leave and you fuck it up again, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Dick supposes it’s his turn not to rise to the bait. ��Fair enough,” he says easily, turning around to face the alleyway again. “What were you saying about the ballistics on Reynolds?”

“Oh, Oracle ran the bullets through Interpol. Turns out our ill-fated gang boss was offed by one of Carmine Falcone’s personal weapons. The record’s been scrubbed from US databases, but Babs had a hunch.” Jason sounds impressed.

“Been scrubbed meaning...there was a record,” Dick follows, “and some people might still remember, if they saw the bullets. Hence the coverup.”

“Yup. Hence the coverup.”

“Could explain what the commissioner was doing here the other night,” Dick muses.

Jason snorts derisively. “See, this is what I hate about the mafia. They’re so goddamn predictable. Kill the competition, pay off the cops, around and around forever. It’s so pedestrian.”

Dick laughs. “You’d rather deal with Clayface?”

“Fuck yes I would. Clayface has flair, you know? Anybody can be a mobster, shit.”

Jason has started shifting with agitation, or maybe impatience. Either way, their vantage spot isn’t hidden enough for him to be moving around. “Get low if you’re gonna be twitchy,” Dick tells him. “Or if you’re gonna have a cigarette, but I’d really rather you didn’t.”

“Lucky for you I quit then,” Jason says, crouching down next to him. “I’m not jonesing, I’m just fucking cold.”

“We could huddle together for warmth,” Dick jokes, grinning unabashedly when Jason’s helmet fixes him with a death glare. “Wait, you quit smoking? When?”

“When I started taking care of a baby, obviously.” Jason goes still, suddenly. “Is that her?”

The door to the alleyway opens, and they both tense - but it’s just a man, a bodyguard, by the looks of him. Close-cropped blonde hair, early 40s, used to throwing his weight around. Feeling there’s something familiar about him, Dick nudges Jason and motions for him to take a photo. Jason starts almost imperceptibly at the contact, but follows suit. They both hold perfectly still in the shadows as the man looks around, glances in a cursory way along the rooftops, and then sets off down the alley towards the street.

“I know him,” Jason mutters. “From Tim’s case files - he was with Intergang.”

Dick doesn’t say anything about Jason calling Tim by name, but it’s a welcome development. “Looks like he switched sides, if he’s hanging out here.”

“Wonderful,” Jason says. “All right, I’m gonna check on the kid again.”

Dick represses the urge to give him a shoulder squeeze, or ruffle his hair. It’d probably result in him getting shoved off the platform, but Jason’s being so....not different, because Dick’s always known that this Jason was still in him, somewhere. Always hoped, anyways. When Jason had been younger and acted like this, surly with his words but tender with his actions, Dick had always thought of him as cute. It’s like that now, too, except it’s not just cute, because Jason has several inches and at least two weight classes on him. It’s cute in a different way, an adult way. It’s cute in a way that makes Dick want to push harder against Jason’s armor, to catch as many glimpses of that side of him as he can. If he thinks about it too long, it’s cute in a way that makes him want, recklessly.

“Red Hood to Batgirl,” Jason says. He’s calling on the family line this time. “Give me an update.”

“You’re seriously a helicopter parent, you know that, Hood?” Steph laughs in Dick’s ear. “We figured it out. Well...Black Bat figured it out.”

Jason’s shoulders sag a little in relief. Cute, Dick thinks, involuntarily. He needs to get a grip. “About fucking time.”

“She prefers being propped up,” Cass says. “It helps her swallow.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier. And she likes her back straight.”

“You said none of that, actually,” Steph says. “You just told us to support her head. Which we have been, thank you very much.”

“You have her now?”

“Robin has her.”

Dick and Jason look at each other. Jason says, “What the fuck?”

“Right?” Steph sounds amused. “I was surprised too....his friend is here, that ginger kid? He’s the one that took her from the orphanage, right?”

“Batgirl, I swear to god, if anything happens to her - ”

“Oh, calm down, jeez,” Steph groans. “They’re being supervised, okay? It’s honestly precious, you would agree with me if you could see it. I’ll text the pictures to N.”

“Please do,” Dick says. Speaking of cute, in a way that’s much safer to think about.

“Go do your job now,” Cass tells them. “We’re handling it.”

“Yeah, what she said. Batgirls out.”

“Feel better?” Dick asks, after a moment.

“Don’t ask me that,” Jason grouses. “And show me those pictures when you get them.”

Dick grins. “Sure, Jay.”

“Ugh.”

Dick decides to change the subject, before Jason gets too antsy and tries to bail. “So how do you want to play this, when Susie shows?”

Jason points to a dumpster halfway down the alley. “We wait until she’s there. I’ll get the club door, put a taser on it to stop her getting back in or anyone else from coming out. You cut her off before she gets to the street, and we question her on the backside of the dumpster. I’ll take line of sight, since I’m packing.”

Dick nods. “So is she.”

“So is every goon in those back rooms, sure. That’s why we lock their asses in.”

“And if they come out the front?”

Jason spins a gun in his hand. “Rubber bullets do the job just fine if you know how to aim. Let me worry about the backup.”

Another thing that’s changed about Jason - or that hasn’t changed, depending on how far back Dick looks. He uses rubber bullets now, whenever he’s working a case with one of them. Supposedly it’s a stipulation from Bruce, but Jason didn’t use lethal force on the couple cases he and Dick worked together, either, back when Dick was wearing the cowl. Dick thinks Bruce just gave him an excuse - whatever bloodlust Jason was fueled by when he first came back to Gotham has long since dried up. There are still things that set him off - Barbara had informed them about a dead rapist in the Narrows just last month - but Bruce hadn’t even commented on it, besides the barest acknowledgment. Dick thinks he might be the only one that actually cares when Jason kills someone, anymore. And what’s really disturbing is that he’s not actually sure how much he cares. For instance, he knows Jason has a third gun, holstered under his jacket, loaded with live ammo. He could call Jason out on it, insist he ditch it or at the very least unload it.

He says nothing. Let me worry about the backup. If this mission ends in a massacre, Dick will only have himself to blame.

The door opens again, and out steps Susie Falcone.

She immediately looks around, staying still in the doorway for a minute or more. Dick is pretty sure she hasn’t seen him following her, but he’s familiar with the sensation of being watched. He and Jason both shrink further into the shadows, waiting for her to make a move.

The whole process takes about six seconds. The moment she gets a few paces into the alley, they drop down. Jason electrifies the door handle, and Dick outmaneuvers her easily, slapping his police-issue cuffs on her and kicking her gun aside, then spinning her into the wall behind the dumpster. She hits it with a grunt. By the time she’s glaring at him, Jason is at his side again.

“Nightwing and Red Hood?” she says. “Damn. Didn’t expect to see you fellas out here.”

She doesn’t seem scared of them. Dick guesses they’ll have backup coming their way soon.

“Hey, what do you know,” Jason says conversationally, picking up the gun and emptying the clip in one swift motion. “Nightwing, I do believe this is our Glock.”

“Not mine,” Susie objects. “Picked it up off the club floor.”

“Come on, Susie, you’re smarter than that.” Jason crosses his arms. “Look, I can appreciate a sensible weapon. The Berettas the rest of your family favors? Too flashy for me. I loved Sopranos as much as the next guy, but come on.”

Dick suppresses a laugh. “Thought you were a Sig man,” he says in an undertone. He hadn’t expected Jason to take the lead, but it’s working. Susie looks agitated at the mention of her family.

“Wow, stalker. Remind me to move safe houses,” Jason quips back. “Aw, look, she slipped your cuffs.”

There’s a taser in Susie’s newly freed hand, and Dick quickly sidesteps it, twists it out of her wrist and sends it clattering down the cobblestones of the alley. Jason sweeps her legs out from under her and knocks her down flat, maybe a little harder than Dick would’ve. Thankfully, she goes down without a fight.

“Let’s try this again,” Dick says, kneeling next to her and zip-tying her wrists. If he wasn’t sure before, he is now - she was expecting them. They won’t be alone for long. He throws a couple smoke pellets down to the ends of the alley, and clips a nearly invisible wireless mic to the shoelaces of her boot under the guise of patting her down.

“You’re obviously not surprised to see us, so just tell us what we want to know,” Jason tells her, squatting down. “I’ll be honest, I don’t really give a shit that you shot Big Mouth, but what did Linda Torres ever do to you?”

“Let me up,” Susie snarls.

“No. Talk, or I’ll give you a taste of that taser you tried to pull on us.”

“Hood,” Dick hisses.

“See? He knows I’ll do it. Save yourself the grief, Susie.” Jason points the barrel of his gun lazily at her temple.

Susie narrows her eyes. “Fine. The two of them robbed me, last September. Dumb motherfuckers didn’t know who they were messing with. But I let them live because the bitch was pregnant.”

Jason makes a noise of disbelief. “Oh, sure. You’re a real bleeding heart, is that it?”

“Like you’re any better,” Susie fires back.

“You said you waited on Linda because she was pregnant,” Dick says. “Why’d you wait to kill Big Mouth?”

Susie’s mouth twists. “Guess I just felt like it.” Dick doesn’t need to see the tension in her shoulders to know she’s lying.

“Strike two.” Jason clicks the safety off. “Who put the hits out?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Susie answers. “I’m dead if I talk, so pistol whip me if you want to. Here’s the God’s honest truth: I really didn’t need a reason to kill those assholes. I was out for ‘em anyways. But I’m not crazy enough to kill a baby, all right? I don’t need shit like that on my conscience.”

“Keep talking,” Jason growls. Dick hears the whoop of a siren a few blocks off. “Where’s the baby now?”

“Somewhere safe, I swear. If anybody comes for her, it won’t be me.”

Susie still thinks Danielle’s at the orphanage, then. That’s good for them, but potentially bad for all the other kids, Colin included. These guys clearly have no problem killing children, even if Susie won’t do it.

The sirens are getting closer. Someone inside must’ve called the cops. Dick motions to Jason, indicating they need to wrap things up.

“Who is coming for her,” Jason barks, every line of his body a threat. “You’ve got five seconds.”

“You don’t.” Susie looks triumphant. They can hear the shouts of police from behind the smoke. “But don’t worry, boys. You’ll find out who really runs this town soon enough.”

“Hood,” Dick mutters. “We need to go, cops in this neighborhood aren’t cape-friendly.”

Jason stands, visibly enraged, and for a moment Dick thinks he’ll shoot Susie anyways. He’s prepared to move - but then Jason pulls out his grapple, fires, and flies up onto the roof.

“Talk about a bleeding heart,” Susie says to Dick. “He have kids or something?”

Dick doesn’t like her tone of voice at all. She’s too relaxed, too unconcerned about being under arrest. She won’t stay in long.

“It’s Nightwing! Get your hands up!”

Dick obliges, ready to pull his escrima sticks.

Three police officers come through the smoke, weapons drawn. “You better have a damn good reason for being this far out of Bludhaven,” one of them shouts at Dick.

“Sure do!” Dick calls back. “Arrested a murderer for you, no need to thank me!”

“Shut up,” a different officer retorts. “Keep your hands up, pretty boy.”

“Oh, fuck this,” Jason mutters over the comm. “I’m throwing you an escape, we’ll recon on the library roof. Stop being so goddamn chatty.”

One smoke pellet later, Dick is three rooftops away and flying. He gets to the library before Jason, exhilarated as ever from a good run.

Jason drops down next to him after a minute or so, laughing when he gets a look at Dick’s smile. “Running from the cops still does it for you, huh?”

Dick elbows him, momentarily forgetting to keep his distance. “Doesn’t it for you?”

Surprisingly, Jason doesn’t move away. “Usually they’re shooting at me, so.”

Dick leans closer, testing. “So…yes?”

“You’re so annoying,” Jason says, but he lets Dick nudge his shoulder, bump their arms together. He’s so solid, Dick thinks. So big. More like Bruce than any of them.

“So, how fast do you think she’ll get out?” he asks, when Jason stays quiet.

“Fucking tomorrow, probably,” Jason sighs. “Next week if we’re lucky.”

“Sounds like she didn’t know about Danielle, at least.”

“She’s not the problem,” Jason says, shrugging Dick off and standing back up. “Falcones will blow up the whole orphanage if they get wind of it. We need to put them down first.”

“We need to find out who’s in charge,” Dick agrees. “I planted a mic on her shoe. In the laces. Hopefully she won’t find it for a few days.”

“Good thinking,” Jason nods. “You gonna keep patrolling?”

“Might as well,” Dick says, standing up next to him and stretching his arms over his head. “I’m still stiff from that stakeout, I need to move.”

Jason’s gone quiet again. Dick thinks he hears his breath catch, but the helmet muffles it enough that it could be a yawn.

“You’re going back to the manor?”

Jason groans. “Fuck my life, yes.”

“You miss her, huh.” Cute, his brain chants.

Jason doesn’t answer, but Dick has a feeling he’s getting the stink-eye.

“I miss her too,” Dick offers. “It’s okay.”

Jason sighs. “Dick…”

“It’s a good thing, Jay. You care about her! We all do,” Dick adds, seeing the rigidity in Jason’s posture. “I mean, you’re practically her parent right now. Of course you miss her.”

“...Don’t say it like that.” Jason’s voice is low, almost pained, and Dick knows he pushed too far. “Like…like I have a right to, okay, just. Don’t.”

“Jason, wait,” Dick starts, but he doesn’t get to finish. Without a backward glance, Jason fires off a line to the neighboring building, and then he’s gone.

***

(tim)

The docks are quiet, unsettlingly so, as Tim prowls around the towers of shipping containers, keeping to the deep shadows they cast along the chipped pavement. It’s overcast, so there’s no moonlight to expose him, but it’s also too dark to see which of the trucks and campers parked all over are occupied, which ones might suddenly turn their headlights on him and catch him out.

One truck in particular - an innocuous looking Isuzu with a stunningly weaponized interior, is the object of his search. The driver, Felipe, is one of Tim’s best informants within Intergang - or had been, prior to the upheaval. Tim’s reasonably sure that Felipe is too lowly a grunt to make an example of, but still, he’s concerned that he hasn’t heard from him in a few days.

As it turns out, he needn’t have worried. He finds Felipe a hundred yard away from his truck, taking a piss off the wharf. He lets himself into the passenger side of the truck, and immediately notes that it is packed. There’s hardly a spare inch in the back, and Tim has a tough time even getting into the passenger seat with all the bags, clothes, and blankets stuffed into it. He pushes the majority of it to the floor, and waits.

Felipe comes back a few moments later. He opens the door and starts, eyes going wide when he sees Tim, but Tim puts his finger to his lips and motions for Felipe to get in so they can talk.

“Red Robin,” Felipe says, once the door is closed. He looks even more shaken than usual. “What the fuck, man?”

Tim crosses his arms. “You tell me, Felipe. You’ve been dodging my calls for days, and now I find out you’re skipping town?”

“I ditched that phone, man. Boss Reynolds had my number in there, you know? Ditched it as soon as I heard about him. I wasn’t trying to ghost you, honest.”

“Relax,” Tim tells him. “I’m not mad. I’d dodge me, too. Just tell me what happened, and I’ll shadow you out of town. Make sure you’re not followed.”

“Shit, man,” Felipe sighs. “Okay, look. There’s shit I can’t tell you, not if I ever want to hench again. You gotta figure that all out yourself, yeah?”

Tim shrugs. “Fine.”

Felipe swallows. “It started last week when Boss Reynolds met with somebody - I don’t know his name, God as my witness, but from what I heard, ‘cause I was unloading some of that funky alien tech, and you know Boss Reynolds wanted to supervise that personally - anyways, this guy in a suit took a meeting with him, and it sounded like he was offering Boss Reynolds a job. Said he had a new operation, bigger than Intergang, bigger than anything Gotham’s seen in a while.”

“Did Reynolds believe him?”

“Nah, he told him to get lost. They had some words, and then everybody started pulling guns, and I went back to the ship so I didn’t get fuckin’ shot, but I didn’t hear anything after that. Next thing I saw, Boss Reynolds was calling his son up and telling him to demo some building down by the old boardwalk - a hotel, maybe. Guess he wanted to expand that way, I don’t know.”

“That was the old Falcone hotel,” Tim says, mostly just to see Felipe’s reaction. He isn’t disappointed - Felipe goes pale, and his eyes flash to the rosary hanging off his rearview mirror. Tim likes Felipe as an informant because he’s nosy, shockingly competent for a henchman, and because he really likes to gossip. He’s never held back on Tim before this.

“Few days later, one of ours, this merc named Tiberius, comes down to the warehouse and says he’s got something to show us. Takes out a fat fuckin’ folder full of pictures…man, it was some sick shit. Boss Reynolds, his wife, Reynolds Jr, and every fuckin’ guy under him. Kids, man. He just passed it around, made everyone look at it. Then he says, we can either be in the folder, or we can come meet the new boss.”

Felipe takes a shaky breath. “Obviously I go with Tiberius, like everyone else. I heard a couple guys stayed on the ship that was docked, thinking they’d wait ‘em out, but the new boss blew it up. Says we’re not in the tech business anymore, and anyone caught trying to smuggle it is gonna get tied to it and tossed in the harbor. You can imagine my concerns,” he says, gesturing to his truck. Tim estimates half or more of the weapons in it are salvaged from alien junk. Roy Harper would have a field day with the setup this guy’s made for himself.

“So that’s why you’re bailing,” Tim says, understanding. He can hardly blame the guy. “Why not just hide the truck somewhere?”

“Well…I did think about that,” Felipe admits. “Tiberius made us a pretty sweet pitch, once we went along with him. Not gonna lie, I was tempted. Tech is my thing, you know, but I can make a gun out of pretty much anything. I could see the possibilities, is what I’m saying, but that was before we met the new boss.”

Tim nods encouragingly. This is what he’s been waiting to hear.

“Listen, Red Robin - I know we’ve had our differences, but I respect you, man, you know that. You’ve been good to me, so I’m gonna give you some advice here. Stay the hell away from the new boss. Like, don’t even get involved. I’ve been henching for a while, and I’ve seen some messed up shit, but they are crazy. Está loca, you feel me? I’ve seen the hit list, and you’re right at the top of it. You and all the other capes. Half of Arkham, too. And they’re connected, like you wouldn’t believe. Shit, I’m already saying too much, man. You see the position I’m in here?”

“I do, Felipe,” Tim tells him. He hands over a stack of hundred dollar bills, their agreed-upon rate for information. “Where are you going?”

“You’re crazy too, if you think I’m telling you that,” Felipe scoffs.

Tim wasn’t expecting a straight answer anyways. “Fair enough. You heading out now?”

“Soon as you get the hell outta my car, yeah. You said you’d shadow me out?”

“I will,” Tim says. “From a distance. If you don’t see me, it means you’re clear to cross the bridge.”

“All right,” Felipe nods. “In that case, I hope I never see your ass again.”

Tim laughs, and climbs out of the truck.

He finds his own way out of the shipyard, pulls a bike out of a safe house, and catches up with Felipe’s GPS signal halfway to the Fashion District. Once he’s sure there’s no immediate threat, he calls Barbara.

“Red Robin to Oracle. I’m uploading a recording to the server.”

Barbara is in his ear at once. “You met with your informant?”

“He wouldn’t give me a name, but he let a couple things slip.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense,” she says.

“First, he flinched hard when I brought up the Falcone name.”

“Confirms what we already know,” Barbara says. “Good. There’s more?”

“There’s more.” Tim tries not to gloat. This is, after all, a serious situation. “He was being cagey about mentioning the leader’s gender, so I was already suspicious, but then said ‘está loca’ when he was trying to warn me.”

Barbara whistles. “Well,” she says, sounding satisfied. “That’ll certainly narrow it down.”

“Yep,” Tim says grimly. “Looks like the new head of the Falcone family is a woman.”

***

(jason)

When Jason was Robin, the library had always been his favorite room in the Manor. It had spoken easily to his idea of what wealth was - rich people had fancy cars, sure, and maybe pools and expensive wardrobes, but wealthy people had art collections, and gardens, and libraries. Jason had spent hours upon hours browsing the shelves, reading anything he could wrap his brain around (and plenty of things he couldn’t), suggesting additions to Alfred, and avoiding his schoolwork in favor of learning about more interesting things, like string theory, or cryptology, or chemical warfare.

That was then.

Now, the library is the only place he can get a minute of peace from the constant barrage of his obnoxious, nosy, boundaryless family members. They’ve been characteristically persistent in their curiosity about him, and about Danielle, who is now Dani, courtesy of Stephanie. This is a nickname family, she’d said, and Jason hadn’t known how to disagree. So now she’s Dani, and Jason is family, and that apparently means he is no longer entitled to any privacy, or personal space for that matter. The only person who hasn’t barged in on him is Bruce, which is almost worse, in a way, because it’s one thing when nobody seeks him out, and it’s quite another when everyone does and then Bruce...doesn’t. Not that he wants Bruce to come up and bother him, God. But he’s in the man’s house, he’s hearing him on the comm constantly either on patrol or down in the cave, and all the other Bat brats and even Alfred are buzzing around him like flies. It’s too much - it feels like before, except for Bruce’s conspicuous absence reminding him that it’s not.

Sharing a bathroom with Dick is another before experience that Jason didn’t need a repeat of. In some ways, it was worse when he was Robin - stripping and showering after patrol in the cave with Dick a few feet away from him is a memory he really wouldn’t have minded leaving back in the Pit - and in other ways, it’s worse now, because Dick is always freaking around. There’s no reprieve, he’s not flitting off to the Titans every week like he used to be. Jason hasn’t gone half a day without Dick getting in his space, drawing up close to him and making that earnest eye contact he’s so annoyingly good at; sometimes wet, sometimes half-naked, sometimes both. And what can Jason do? He’s not going to leave Dani, and he needs Dick to be there so he can get some sleep every once in a while, or patrol, or shower. It’s actually been pretty helpful to have him around, in that regard, but if he has to see the guy walking around with bedhead and nothing but a pair of boxer briefs on one more time, he’s going to fucking explode.

So, the library has its benefits: no harassment from over-familiar family members, no Dick sexually frustrating him within an inch of his life, and, if he’s willing to be a little sentimental, he kind of does want to show it to Dani. She’s too young to appreciate it, probably, but it stirs something in him to share it with her all the same. He’s heard it’s never too early to get kids into reading - his parents sure as hell never tried, but Jason had read anything he could get his hands on, once he learned how. It had saved him, back then. Maybe it can do the same for Dani one day.

“Could’ve sworn Bruce had a Dr. Seuss anthology somewhere in here,” he says to her, combing over the shelves with his eyes. “Guess not. You up for something more sophisticated?”

She grunts, squeezing his shirt in her fist. “Alright,” he agrees, pulling Twelfth Night off the shelf. “Shakespeare it is. You’ve got taste, kid.”

He wonders, not for the first time, what exactly he thinks he’s doing, playing at this whole parenting thing. The rational part of his brain knows that this is a case, that Dani is a victim, that Jason is protecting her because it’s his job. The emotional part of his brain has gone completely off the goddamn rails. Case in point: he’s here with her in the library, prepping her for early literacy like some kind of Crest Hill soccer mom wannabe. Like he’ll even be in her life when she starts doing her ABCs - God willing, she’ll be as far away from him as possible by the time that happens.

It’s fucking hard to think about. He never thought he’d get this attached to a person who can’t even burp on their own. It’s been over a week, and he still struggles with putting her down, with stepping away from her, even when he knows he’s coming right back. Steph and Damian have been wanting to hold her all the time, and Jason knows that they’re capable, knows he has no claim over Dani, doesn’t even mind either of them all that much under normal circumstances, and still, he can’t help feeling like something has reached inside and gripped at his heart every time he passes her over. Which is ridiculous, because she’s not his, he has no more claim over her than any other schmuck off the street. She’s just a kid with unbelievably bad luck, and he’s the idiot who followed Dick up the stairs instead of booking it out the door like a sensible person.

He settles down with her on the couch, propping her up on a couple of pillows, giving her foot a little squeeze. She squeals, smiling at him, and stuffs her fingers in her mouth. God, Jason didn’t know he could feel the way he feels whenever she smiles at him. It’s gonna kill him when he has to give her up.

“If music be the food of love, play on,” he reads, walking his fingers up her leg. “Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Dani watches him, chewing happily on her fingers. “‘O, it came over my ear like the sweet sound that breathes upon a bank of violets.’ That’s you, you know.” He pokes her in the cheek, grinning. If music be the food of love…but hell, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get enough of this. Especially when she’s all calm and engaging, the precious few minutes that he’s learned to appreciate in between finishing eating and being tired and cranky, when all she wants to do is look around at things, and all Jason wants to do, ever, is look at her.

The door to the library opens, and Jason goes from content to murderous in a fraction of a second. “What the fuck is it now,” he hisses, expecting Damian or maybe Tim, coming to nag him some more, and instead sees Damian’s friend Colin, who looks horrified to have intruded on him. Jason immediately feels like the world’s biggest ass.

“Sorry,” Colin whispers, mortified, and Jason waves a hand apologetically.

“My bad, I didn’t know it was you. Come in, it’s fine. She’s awake, you don’t need to whisper.”

Colin looks unsure, but soon nods and steps into the library, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Once inside, he dawdles by the nearest bookshelf, clearly at a loss. Jason probably should’ve just let him back out, because this is awkward. Should he keep reading to Dani? Talk to Colin? Ask him why he looks like someone just kicked him and stole his dog?

“You good?” he ventures, figuring he ought to at least attempt to be the adult in the room.

Colin glances at him over his shoulder, smiling tentatively. “Yeah, just bored. Damian’s sleeping, we had a rough patrol last night.”

“We?” Jason repeats, stunned. Bruce isn’t an exemplar of child welfare practices, sure, but letting Damian take other kids on crime-busting playdates? What the hell?

“Oh, I guess you don’t know,” Colin frowns. “I’m….uh, it’s probably easier if I just show you.”

He slides his jacket off, threadbare t-shirt hanging off his skinny frame. Jason tenses, not sure what to expect. When Colin’s arm starts to expand, his eyes widen. By the time his fist is as big around as Jason’s thigh, he thinks his eyebrows have probably disappeared into his hairline.

“Oh.” Jason has no idea how he’s supposed to react to this. Is Colin a meta? He’s pretty sure he would know if Colin was a meta. “How…?”

“Scarecrow,” Colin explains. Jason’s heart sinks. “He experimented on me with synthetic Venom. Batman saved me.”

Dani fusses, twisting her body and scrunching her face up. Jason sympathizes - this conversation is giving him gas, too. “Shit,” he says. Not the most articulate way of expressing his condolences, but Colin’s friends with Damian, so tact can’t be of great importance to him. “I didn’t know.”

Dani starts to cry, and Colin takes a couple steps forward, putting Jason’s hackles up at once. Stop it, he tells himself sternly. He might have fallen down a few pegs, but he’s not pathetic enough to square up against an abused fifth grader. He picks her up, rubbing her back, and then glances over at Colin. The kid’s gone shy, looking down at a point somewhere between Jason’s legs and the floor. Jason feels all the hostility bleed out of him, and he sighs.

“You can sit down.” He gestures to the couch, trying to sound nonthreatening. Dani burps, mouths at his shirt, and then gurgles and kicks her legs again. She leans back against his hold to stare at Colin, and Colin’s face splits into a huge grin. He tucks himself down into the cushions, keeping plenty of space between them, but Jason can sense from the inclination of his body that he wants to be closer. Well, if anyone has a right to be close to Dani, it’s the kid who rescued her in the first place.

“Here,” he offers, turning Dani around in his arms. His heart clenches, and he clamps down on his desire to flee. “You can hold her for a minute, if you want to. She likes you.”

Colin looks at him, eyes shining. “Really?”

Jason nods. “Go ahead. Honestly, you probably know a lot more about this shit than I do.”

Colin takes Dani from him carefully, smiling at her and laughing when she reaches forward to grab at his jacket zipper. A few seconds later, it’s in her mouth, along with most of her fist.

“Should I…?” Colin looks at Jason hesitantly.

“I mean…she’s had worse things in her mouth,” Jason tells him. A ringing endorsement of his child-minding abilities right there. “It’s fine, right? That’s how they build an immune system, or whatever.”

“Well, Alfred washed this for me last night,” Colin admits, looking embarrassed. “So it shouldn’t be too gross.”

Jason leans back against the couch cushions, crossing his arms. “Getting all the perks, huh?”

Colin shrugs, casting his eyes down again. “I like it here.”

Considering where Colin grew up, Jason supposes he can’t blame the kid. Still, he’s not quite wrapping his head around this sweet, genuinely nice kid being buddies with Damian. The demon brat isn’t exactly known for his winning personality, and Jason only knows vaguely how the two of them met, but what he’s heard doesn’t strike him as being particularly conducive to forging the lasting bonds of friendship.

Curiosity gets the better of him, and he decides to just ask. “Why’d you call Damian, the night you found her?”

Colin looks surprised. “I...don’t know,” he says, slowly. “I didn’t know who else to call? Damian’s my best friend, and he always knows what to do.”

Jason can’t keep the skeptical look off his face.

“And if he doesn’t, Bat….Bruce, I mean, definitely always knows what to do.”

Jason scrubs a hand over his face. Time to change the fucking subject. “How’d you two get hooked up, anyways?”

Dani turns her head to look at him, still eating Colin’s zipper. Sometimes, Jason gets the bizarre feeling that she can somehow tell when he’s about to blow a gasket. It’s probably a coincidence - she moves around a lot, and Jason has anger issues that flare up every ten minutes, so there’s bound to be some crossover - but it works, because it takes the fight right out of him every time.

“We worked a case together,” Colin says, holding Dani a little more securely against him. “About a year ago, I guess. Kids were disappearing from my orphanage, and from the shelters. I don’t think you were around.”

“I wasn’t,” Jason shakes his head. He and Roy had been busting a trafficking ring in Ibiza, and it had taken Jason over a month to get all the major players. “I heard about it a little, from Dick.”

Dick hadn’t given him too many details at the time - Jason had chalked it up to him having a few other things on his mind, but as Colin fills in the gaps, he starts to suspect Dick just didn’t want him going on a rampage. Which he absolutely would have - he still wants to, God. God. All those poor kids, just a stone’s throw from his old neighborhood. And of course the police had done jack shit - Zsasz is practically Black Mask’s pet, he probably paid them off to look the other way, not that most of them need the excuse - and Bruce was gone, and Jason was gone, and Dick was in over his head, and - fuck, it should never have fallen to Damian and Colin.

He waits for the fury to subside a little, not trusting what will come out of his mouth. Dani hums around her fist, blinking at him, and it helps. “Jesus,” he says, finally. “This fucking town.”

Colin’s mouth twists a little. “Yeah. But you were Robin, right? You probably saw worse things.”

Did he? Jason doesn’t remember. He doubts it, though. He can’t imagine he would’ve been satisfied with Bruce’s way of dealing with it.

“I wouldn’t have pulled my stroke, when I was Robin,” he muses. “Probably why Bruce never gave me a sword.”

No, Jason would’ve bisected the fucker. It still has appeal, though he thinks he would lean towards his favorite Sig rifle if he was taking care of it today. Headshots for the henchmen - anyone who signs on to that kind of operation, even in the most menial capacity, doesn’t deserve to breathe. Kneecaps and crotch shots for the spectators, to make sure they couldn’t get away. Gut shots for the kid-wranglers. And Zsasz....it’s tempting to want to draw it out, but Jason can feel the desire leaving him the longer he thinks about it. His imaginative tortures fade into a simple headshot, and even that isn’t satisfying. Fuck. He just can’t seem to hold onto his rage lately, even when he wants to. It’s all being replaced by some kind of anxiety, some kind of tenderness that aches, burning deep into him every time Dani looks at him, or touches him. Every time he thinks of her. Every time he feels Dick watching him with her, all warmth and affection.

Colin bounces her a little, making her laugh. Jason feels his revenge fantasy slip away.

“What’re you reading her?” Colin nods to the book still laying open in Jason’s lap.

Jason looks at it. “Oh, Twelfth Night. Shakespeare,” he adds, recalling that Colin is eleven, and likely not perusing great literature in his free time. “Figure it’s never too early to start her on the classics.”

Colin grins. “That’s cool,” he says. “Does she like it?”

“Beats me,” Jason shrugs.

“Read some?”

Jason raises his eyebrows.

Colin flushes. “Um. I mean, if you want…”

He decides to humor him. What the hell. “Sure, why not. ‘O spirit of love! How quick and fresh art thou, that, notwithstanding in thy capacity, receiveth as the sea.’”

Dani yawns widely, relinquishing her fist in a long string of drool. Jason laughs, and so does Colin. “Maybe jumping the gun a little,” he admits. “I don’t really know what kids are into these days.”

“Me either,” Colin says. “I think she liked it, though. See, she’s just sleepy.”

Jason feels a lump forming in his throat, and swallows hard against it.

“What does it mean? The part you were reading,” Colin asks.

“Um.” Jason doesn’t really know, he’s not exactly a literary scholar, but he’s always liked to work Shakespeare out on his own, finding meaning in the wordplay and running the metaphors through his mind until they line up in a satisfactory way. He doesn’t know if his interpretation is correct, exactly, but: “So this Duke, a guy called Orsino, is saying that he doesn’t want to be in love anymore. He’s talking about love and how everyone thinks it’s this wonderful thing, but the truth is that it actually just makes people miserable.”

Jason pauses, feeling like he just showed way too much of his hand. “Basically, he’s just complaining,” he finishes, uneasy.

Glancing at Colin out of the corner of his eye, he’s relieved to see that he’s occupied with Dani, and not paying attention to Jason at all. Thank fuck. If it’d been anyone else in the house sitting there, he’d be in for some horrible armchair psychology session, and he’d have to book it out the window and not return for several months.

“I think she wants you,” Colin says, as Dani ramps up her fussing. Jason takes her gratefully, holds her to his chest as she rubs her eyes and grumbles her displeasure at being passed around.

“All right, I hear you,” Jason murmurs, gently tugging her fists away from her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic, come on. It’s not so bad.” Like he’s one to talk.

And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, ever since pursue me, he thinks, rocking her tiny body into a comfortable position. Colin was only holding her for ten, maybe fifteen minutes, and Jason was sitting less than five feet away, but he missed her. God, what is happening to him?

“Damian didn’t want to bring her here, at first,” Colin says quietly. “But I think he’s glad that we did. He really likes her, you know.”

Jason doesn’t quite know how to feel about that. It’s sweet, on some level. And he’s well aware that Damian likes her, going by the amount of time he spends hovering in the hallway outside Jason’s room, not to mention the increasingly expensive toys that keep showing up among her things.

He looks down at her, dozing off. “Well, she’s pretty easy to like.”

Colin nods, looking pleased.

“Damian, on the other hand....”

Colin grins. “He’s not so bad.”

He’s really not. Like hell Jason will ever tell him that, though. “You have bizarre taste, kid.”

Colin blushes, hard, and Jason blinks. Well. That’s interesting, isn’t it? Or it will be, in a few years. He makes a note to ask Dick about it, later.

“Are you gonna adopt her?” Colin asks, bringing Jason’s amused thoughts to a screeching halt.

Automatically, he says, “No way.”

Colin looks wounded. “Why not?”

“Because I can’t,” Jason replies. “I’m the last person who should be a parent, trust me.”

“Doesn’t look that way to me.”

Doesn’t feel that way either - the thought floats up, unbidden, uninvited. He can’t. “She deserves better,” Jason says, heavily. “Even if….even I could handle it. She deserves better than this family.”

“But your family is - ”

“A death sentence.” He’s being harsh, but if Colin’s gonna be hanging around, he’ll find out for himself soon enough. “It’s fucking cursed, look. I couldn’t do that to any kid, especially her. You should get out too, while you still can.”

Colin looks angry, which surprises him. His hands are balled into fists, and Jason sees a tremor in them, a bulging that immediately sets off alarm bells in his head.

“Kid,” he says sharply. “Colin. If you’re gonna hulk out, take it outside. Alfred will have an honest-to-God stroke if you do it in here.”

A few deep breaths later, Colin looks normal again. “Sorry.” His voice is hoarse. “You’re wrong, though.”

Jason’s temper flares. “No offense, but I think I would know better than you,” he snaps. Dani grumbles sleepily in his arms, and he sighs out in frustration. “Trust me, okay? She’s better off. It never ends well, not in this family. I’m proof of that.”

But Colin shakes his head. “You don’t know,” he says. “My mom said the same thing, when she dropped me off at the orphanage. She gave the nuns a letter - she said I’d be better off with them than with her.”

Jason stills.

“It didn’t matter,” Colin continues. “Scarecrow still got me. Victor Zsasz still got me. Maybe they would have gotten me with her, too. Maybe I wouldn’t have been that much better off with her, but at least I would’ve been with her.” He sniffles, and Jason holds Dani a little tighter.

“I know she loved me.” His voice cracks. “I just wish...I wish I could’ve stayed with her. I wish she would have known that I never would’ve been better off away from her.”

He looks absolutely miserable, pitched forward and rubbing hard at his eyes. Jason is reminded painfully of how young Colin is, closer to Dani’s age than his own. He remembers being Colin’s age and younger, thinking the same thoughts about his own mother. How fiercely he’d guarded her, chased away the cops and the social workers, doing everything in his power not to be separated from her. Not that it mattered, in the end.

“Fuck,” he mutters. “Colin, I’m sorry. For the record, I actually kind of get where you’re coming from.”

Colin looks up at him.

“Wish I didn’t, but. That’s life.”

“You should adopt her,” Colin says again, softly.

Jason shakes his head. “Colin…”

“You’ll think about it.”

He exhales. “Sure, I’ll think about it.” Like he’ll be able to think about anything else after this.

“She needs you,” Colin insists stubbornly.

Jason doesn’t reply. He knows on some level Colin is right - Dani does need him right now. She needs someone, at least, someone who can take care of her and protect her. Someone who isn’t afraid to shed blood to keep her safe. Jason doesn’t relish the thought, but he’s certain this won’t end tidily. Mob cases never do. It’ll be messy, and bloody, and Bruce will have a shit fit, and Dick probably will too, and Jason will go back to Crime Alley and Dani will get shipped off to Witness Protection or something, and damn, does that hurt to think about.

He looks over at Colin, still hunched over on himself, vulnerability written into every line of his posture. He’s desperately in need of a hug, or some kind of affection, validation, maybe. Or that’s just Jason projecting, who the fuck knows. If Dick was here, he would know exactly what to do for him. Jason’s at a loss, unable to separate his young self from the damaged kid sitting next to him.

He adjusts his hold on Dani carefully, laying her down flat along his arm, while he works out what to say. Finally, he settles on, “Damian’s lucky to have you.”

Colin sits up a little straighter. He looks like he’s waiting for more, but he’s shit out of luck, because Jason has no idea what else he needs to hear. No idea what he could say that wouldn’t be completely insincere, anyways. We can be your family, Colin. Like hell. Bruce has enough kids lined up waiting to die for him, he’s not about to encourage another one to be turned into cannon fodder for the man’s principles.

“Uh, yeah,” Jason says, after a moment. “That’s all I got.”

Colin smiles wanly. “Thanks, anyways.”

Jason snorts. “Sure.”

“Can I hug you?”

Jason stares. “Can you…what? Me?”

“I won’t if you don’t want me to,” Colin adds, averting his eyes.

Jason can’t even remember the last time someone hugged him. He thinks Roy might’ve, some eight or nine months ago, after they’d narrowly survived a warehouse explosion. Jason’s whole body had been ringing from the blast, so he doesn’t exactly remember the sensation of it. And before that…?

He imagines Dick’s reaction, if he was here. He’d be disappointed in Jason, that’s for sure. Really, Jay? You can’t hug a child? It’s a fair argument, he has to admit. Jason’s fucked up personal space issues don’t really apply to children, or babies, clearly. Colin’s obviously attention-starved, and Jason’s already holding one kid. What’s another, really.

“Okay,” he relents. “Hit me.”

There’s a shuffling motion next to him, and then Colin is hugging his free arm, leaning his head against Jason’s shoulder. Jason can’t quite contain his surprise - it’s weird, as expected, but it’s not dramatically increasing his desire to bolt through the nearest exit like he’d thought it would. It’s a little funny, actually. He’s pretty sure both Bruce and Damian would lose their shit if they could see him right now. Dick, too, most likely, but to his credit, it would be a happy kind of shit-losing. Damian would probably try to gut him.

Are there cameras in the library? Jason can’t remember. He kind of hopes there aren’t, because if anyone else sees this, he will absolutely never live it down.

***

(dick)

“Wait, I think that’s him.” Dick leans forward to peer at Tim’s screen. He points to the familiar looking figure. “That guy. Do you have a clearer shot?”

Tim skips a few photos ahead, and zooms in. “Him?”

“Yes. That’s the guy. Jason said he recognized him from your surveillance files. He was at the club the night we caught Susie Falcone.”

“The fourth night, was it?” Tim asks, innocently.

“Don’t be mean, Timmy.”

“Just clarifying,” Tim grins. Dick raises an eyebrow. “Okay, okay. I don’t have a ton of intel on this guy, he’s really slippery. According to my informant, he goes by Tiberius - some kind of mercenary, Greek or Albanian national. I doubt that’s his real name.”

Dick nods, studying the photographs. Tim continues, “He came over with Intergang as an enforcer, I think. Might’ve been Reynolds’ personal bodyguard.”

“Could explain how Reynolds got taken out,” Dick says thoughtfully. “He’s on the Falcones’ payroll now, but he’s not family. Might be an easy target.”

Tim opens his mouth, about to reply, when there’s a choked-off sound of fury from the Batcave below them.

“Was that Damian? He’s up already?” Dick asks, glancing down towards Bruce’s computer. He hops over the ramp to see what the fuss is about. Tim follows close behind.

“Everything okay?” Dick asks, approaching the wall of screens. There’s nothing that jumps out at him as being particularly alarming; Bruce is looking at DNA analyses, and Damian is looking at the Manor surveillance, tapping furiously at his ear.

“Todd!” he hisses. “What do you think you’re doing? Colin is my friend!”

“Robin,” Oracle’s voice comes through the speaker. “No names on the comms. And Hood isn’t wearing his earpiece, so you’ll have to tell him in person.” She sounds amused. “Oracle out.”

Damian swears.

“Holy shit,” Tim says faintly. “Look at them.”

The screen that all the Manor surveillance feeds run to is showing just one room - the library, of all places, but Dick vaguely recalls it being some kind of sanctuary to Jason, years and years ago. It makes sense that he’d end up back there, and it makes sense that he’d have Dani with him. What Dick doesn’t expect to see is little Colin Wilkes, all five feet and change of him, snuggled up to Jason’s side and hugging him, wrapped around his arm like a gangly koala. Dick can’t help but notice that Jason’s bicep is about as big around as Colin’s head, which is certainly...something. He’s not quite ready to classify how he feels about that, so he refocuses on the hug itself, which is nothing short of charming.

Damian grinds his teeth audibly. “It’s still going.”

“Oh, man.” Dick can’t help the grin he feels creeping up the sides of his face. “Bruce, are you seeing this?”

“I am,” Bruce says, stiffly. He looks like he’s in pain. Dick fights the urge to roll his eyes.

“What’s wrong with you? Look how sweet they are!” he exclaims, gesturing. It’s adorable.

“It is not sweet,” Damian snarls, whirling on him. “Todd is a corruptive influence, and Colin is young and impressionable! Where is your concern for him?”

Tim coughs, and it sounds a little bit like “jealous”. Surprisingly, this does not diffuse Damian’s indignation.

“I don’t get it,” Dick says, stepping between them quickly to block Damian’s spinning kick. “I thought you and Jason were fine, Damian. You’ve been spending enough time in our - in his room lately. Where’s this coming from?”

“Incredibly, I don’t feel as concerned about Todd recruiting an infant onto the path of lawlessness,” Damian retorts. “Colin lacks paternal guidance in his life, as you know. Todd clearly senses it.”

“Jason is very paternal these days,” Tim agrees.

“I’m pretty sure it’s just a hug,” Dick says in exasperation. “No one’s recruiting anyone, Damian. And look, it’s over. Your friend is just a hugger, that’s all.”

“I must agree with Master Richard,” Alfred says from behind them. “Having been the recipient of many such embraces from young Master Colin myself.”

“See? I’ve gotten hugs from him too,” Dick tells Damian. “And I know you have, so don’t bother denying it. He’s probably gearing up the courage to get one from Bruce one of these days.”

Bruce looks slightly alarmed by the prospect. “He is?”

Damian looks conflicted. “He is?”

Dick casts his eyes heavenward. “Colin, I’m so sorry.”

Before he can say anything else, the Cave door opens below them, and Duke’s bike comes shooting in, whipping around into its parking spot in a move that would send Dick flying over the handlebars. Bruce takes about half a second to look impressed, and then clears the main screen to pull up their intel on the Falcone case.

“What’s up, guys,” Duke calls, pulling off his helmet and jogging up the steps. “I’ve got news. Where’s Jason?”

“Being hugged, in the library,” Dick tells him. “You just missed it.”

Duke looks nonplussed. “Damn. Wait, that’s not some kind of weird euphemism, is it? If it is, I don’t want to know.”

“It most certainly is not,” Damian says venomously.

“Cool. I tried to get him on the comm, but he didn’t respond. Should I go get him? He’ll want to hear this.”

“Damian will get him,” Bruce says.

Damian is…already on the elevator. Dick spares a thought for Jason. At least he’s holding Dani, so Damian won’t attack him outright.

“Your news?” Bruce prompts.

“Right,” Duke nods. “I’ve been all over City Hall records, and spent yesterday afternoon getting intel in the East End. I’ve got names and faces of most of the major players in this. They’re trying hard to front some distant nephew of Carmine Falcone as the head of the whole operation, but it wasn’t quite adding up. You said the new Falcone boss is a woman, right?” he asks Tim.

Tim nods affirmatively.

Duke looks triumphant. “Then I know who she is.”

***

#jaydick #in which there is so much plot all to justify the existence of 1 baby #low key this fic is my maternal love letter to colin wilkes #i miss him dc bring him back #my fics #heartlandverse

7 notes · View notes

imlostinsantacarla · 4 years ago

Text

@beaming-ben: hey! i just wanted to say i’m enjoying your lost boys posts :) was wondering if i was able to make a request with Y/N (so others can enjoy it) x Marko? it would be where the reader is new to santa carla and they are at the boardwalk looking at the stores and stuff. Marko notices them who turns out to be his mate and he starts talking to them. the reader would be quite shy in this but eventually opens up and Marko would be really sweet to them. Thanks for your time :) x

(a/n: heya love, sorry that this took so long for me to get around to! i hope you enjoy what i’ve come up with, i really tried my best! thanks for your request as well. - admin kat 🌙❣)

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Title: You Don’t Talk Much Do You? (Marko x Reader)

Summary: Moving out to the Murder Capitol of the World and into the home of your eccentric grandfather after a divorce between your parents has you longing for a night of fun. When your two brothers accompany you onto the infamous Boardwalk for the night, their teasing ways get under your skin and you feel the need to break away and cool off. Doing this means that you run into a particular blonde-haired boy that isn’t just trying to chat you up to win you over for the night, but for eternity.

Word Count: 2,269 (lmaoo 69)

Warnings: mentions of parents divorcing, angsty teenager stuff?, nothing else really.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Being new to Santa Carla had an overwhelming pressure as nighttime rolled around and the Boardwalk was filled with the static buzz of teenagers having a blast of a time whilst the flashing lights of the fair rides busily illuminated the night air. There was a charge of excitement in the atmosphere which had you practically bouncing on your heels, a grin spread wide across your face. It seemed as though it had been an eternity since you had even stared fun straight in the face.

Currently you were situated between your two brothers, Michael and Sam, whom were bickering like school children over the topic of Sam needing and not needing babysitters to accompany him.

“I’m not a kid any more, Mikey! I can find my own way around here no problem.” Sam sassed with an exasperated tone, total offense clouding his countenance as he looked up at his older brother indignantly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Michael rolled his eyes, giving a hasty shake of his head, “tell that to mom after you get lost for the fifth time today.”

“Hey! The first time was my fault but the other four were your terrible sense of direction. Right, y/n?” Sam blabbered enthusiastically, though his face was heating up due to embarrassment.

“Huh?” You hummed, eyes averting from the roller coaster and landing on Sam who seemed even more offended that you hadn’t exactly been paying any mind to his side of the argument, never mind Michael’s point. “Sorry, what did you two losers say?” You inquired with a quick scratch to the back of your neck.

Michael grinned silly at you before staring down at Sam. “Jesus, and I thought mom was bad.” to which Sam laughed at, their brotherly bickering having become a thing of the past and your fleeting attention span now the main focus.

“You’ve seen plenty of rides before, I don’t see what the big deal is, y/n!” Sam stated matter-of-factly, his bright eyes illuminated with mischief.

“Yeah, I know. But when was the last time us three got to have fun instead of being stuck between mom and dad arguing?” You sassed, a tint spreading across your cheeks. Your statement was nothing more than sincere. Being in between two parents going through a divorce was messy and heartbreaking for everyone involved, but it seemed to have taken it’s toll on you the most. You’d assumed the role of keeping what was left of your family intact, like human glue, and it was the most exhausting job you’d slid into for awhile now.

“Jeez you make it sound like you’re the one going through the divorce yourself.” Michael scoffed mockingly, no doubt attempting to get under your skin as he usually did.

“YoU mAkE iT sOuNd LiKe YoU’rE tHe OnE GoInG ThRoUgH tHe DiVoRcE yOuRsElF.” you did a pretty bad imitation of his voice, throwing your hands up in the air as you did so. “You sound like you don’t give a shit.” you spat, pushing past your older brother.

“Great! Now she’s gonna go tell mom you were an ass to her and probably blame me too!” You heard Sam practically shriek behind you. You didn’t care, you just felt like you needed to get away from them, they were practically suffocating you.

___

Parting from your brothers had lead you to only dig yourself deeper into your own thoughts. You went from store to store that littered the Boardwalk and scanned the shelves of them absentmindedly with a lot weighing down the theme of your train of thought. Moving away from Phoenix had been challenging for you, especially parting from your friends, and your parents going through their divorce was hard, - even if your mother had managed to do it with little mess -. The change of moving to another state made you almost weak with nausea. When summer was over you’d be going to a new school with new people and the thought alone made you want to spew. Making friends back in Phoenix had been challenging enough as it was...

You missed your friends desperately, you knew you were gonna miss your old school even once summer was over here. Everything here was daunting and weird. I mean, your Gramps didn’t even own a TV! He had Taxidermy swarming around his whole house. The thought of that beaver he’d given Sam sent shivers down your spine as though The Angel of Death were tickling it. You were genuinely living with a crazy old man and your somewhat dysfunctional family. The odds of enjoying your time here didn’t look so hot. I mean, you were living in the Murder Capital of the World.

The exhaustion you felt seemed to morph into sore legs from having walked around the pier several times. You’d even walked past your brothers ten times, ignoring them whenever they’d called on you. They knew that when you were in a bad mood to just let you walk it off in order to cool down. Besides, they were the ones who’d agitated you in the first place. The least they could do was give you time.

The whole intention of coming to the Boardwalk was to have fun, engage in excitement: You’d wanted to go on every ride you saw, eat till you were so full you’d spew and watch the live bands play. You hadn’t bagged on miserably idling around a comic book store until the two kids behind the register eyed you all funny till you left.

Now you were at one set of stairs that lead down to the actual sand of Santa Carla’s beach. Your eyes scanning the scene before you with dull eyes of envy. The moon was strikingly pale against the velvety black night sky, tiny specs of stars dancing to the music of the local teenagers guffawing and fooling around on the sand beneath. The waves of the ocean were a velvety black, the moon casting an eerie silvery glow onto it, it’s reflection warbled as the salty water lapped onto the sand and retreated. There wasn’t just total darkness, on the sand, where there were teenagers, there were also oil drums glowing orange with dancing flames in the center of the group, providing warmth and light to their shenanigans. There were hundreds of oil drums littered all over the beach, like small beacons of light attempting to break through the darkness of night.

A sense of desperation to join them left your stomach jumping and twisting apprehensively, making you miss Phoenix all the more. You’d do almost anything to get out of the funk you’d sunk into, even if that meant doing something stupid and getting yourself grounded for all eternity by your mother. You weren’t astray to rebelling against her in the past. She knew that plain as day, which is probably why she had told your brothers to head out with you.

You climbed halfway down the stairs until you sunk down onto them, deciding you didn’t have enough courage to just throw yourself into any one of the orange circles that scattered the beach. Anyone of those groups could be filled with nutters and weirdos. You weren’t looking to get yourself into anything you couldn’t get yourself out of. But you observed the people your age, maybe even a little older than you, dancing and singing, - clearly both drunk and/or high on something -, with curiosity.

“You just gonna watch all the action go down from here?” You heard a voice clear as day in your ear, causing you to jump straight out of your skin, a yelp being pulled from your throat. You whipped around to find a boy your age with the dumbest grin plastered straight on his face, like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. “Whoa! Easy.” His voice came out husky as he placed his hands up by his head, partially gloved, palms facing you.

You were stunned for what felt like seconds but stretched on for well over a couple of minutes. The guy was stunning, blond and wore the most peculiar jacket of gold and red that possessed patterns, faces, pictures... You weren’t even aware that you’d been staring till he chuckled again. “You know, you might wanna close your mouth before you drool everywhere.” He teased, his nimble and icy fingertips coming under your chin and forcing your mouth closed with a soft tap. He had his head tilted to the side, blue orbs penetrating yours like he was staring straight through your soul.

“O-Oh, s-sorry.” You cleared your throat, tearing your face away from him and looking out over the beach once more. You were grateful that it was dark where you were, so the blush that consumed your face now was well hidden, - at least you thought it was -.

“Nah, it’s all good. I’m not complaining.” You heard the grin forming on his face as he spoke. Suddenly the space on the step beside you was occupied and you could feel his gaze on your face now. “You new here? I haven’t seen you around before.” He inquired, leaning closer to you in a non-intrusive way. There was curiosity in his eyes as you met them.

“Yeah.” You hummed, nipping your bottom lip between your teeth. This felt odd, no guy, - especially this attractive -, had ever really spoken to you. You always thought it was because you weren’t attractive, but you knew the biggest part of it was because your older brother Michael (by one year) wouldn’t let any guy get within twenty feet of you. So the fact that this guy was sat here chatting to you made you wonder where in the hell Michael was at.

“Cool. Where’re you from?”

“Ph-Phoenix.” You muttered softly, eyes dipping down as you spoke. The way that he was looking at you made you feel a little unsettled.

“Cool, cool.” He mumbled, pulling out a pack of cigarettes, plucking a smoke out and placing it between his lips before lighting it. The flame from his lighter made it possible for you to fully see his face, which almost made your jaw slack open once again. He was definitely attractive. He laughed again. “What? You want one?” He offered the opened carton to you, to which you declined and he chuckled once more. “Alright. You’re not much of a talker are you?” He quipped humorously to which you felt your ears redden and you shook your head.

“I’m Marko, by the way.” He mumbled around his cigarette, puffing smoke in your direction.

“y/n” you smiled softly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear as you watched him.

“Michael’s sister?” Marko inquired with a quirked brow.

“How’d you know that?” You were baffled and slightly terrified to say the least.

“Me and my buddies met your brother, we’re friends. He told us about you.” Marko clarified with a puff of smoke flowing from his lips as he spoke.

“That’s funny, he never mentioned you...” You hummed thoughtfully, “Oh God, what’d he tell you about me? That I’m a Monster Bitch from Hell?” You rolled your eyes indignantly.

“Somethin’ like that.” He simpered, eyes skimming up and down your body with interest as he spoke. “With the way he was describing you, I thought you’d look like a Demon of something.”

“I’m so gonna flatten him when I get home.” You muttered under your breath to which he laughed at. You turned to look at him once more with creased brows. “Then what do I look like to you?”

“Hot.” You laughed when he said that, shaking your head as you tipped it backwards. “I mean that in a non-demon kinda way.” He added.

“Well, that’s good I suppose.”

“You think so?” Boy he was a flirt, you could already tell. He was definitely funny also, which you liked. Funny guys were always more interesting to you. They were better than the hotheaded types, at least in your opinion they were.

“I dunno, would you prefer that I looked like one?”

“Nah, not really! I think you look great as you are.” He flashed his pearly whites at you with a confidence you’d never seen before and it spurred the pair of you into a conversation filled with flirtatious comments. You swore you’d never spoken to someone this much in your life - even with your very own family -.

Speaking with Marko seemed to flow naturally between the pair of you, which made your heart gallop a million miles per hour. However, even though he was nice to talk to, there was something about him that caused a spark of suspicion in you, like danger lurked around the corner if you continued to converse with him. But there was something else that was pulling you towards him, something you couldn’t quite put your finger on because you’d never felt this before. It was like a rope was tied across your midsection and Marko felt it too. The more either one of you resisted the tighter the pull felt, forcing you in his vicinity.

And sure, you’d talked to cute guys in the past before your brother intervened, and there was always a sense of giddiness in your gut as you did so. Yet it didn’t compare to the warmth that seemed to spread through your muscles as he inched closer and closer to you with each question and answer that flowed from both of your mouths. Something about this seemed natural and destined, like nothing could get in the way of or break it apart.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

please like, reblog and follow for more!

requests: open!

#marko #marko imagines #marko x reader #marko headcanons #the lost boys #the lost boys imagines #the lost boys x reader #the lost boys headcanons #the lost boys marko #the lost boys marko imagines #the lost boys marko headcanons #the lost boys marko x reader #hope you enjoyed it!#admin kat

138 notes · View notes

saiilorstars · 4 years ago

Text

Rise Up

Ch.10: A Jinx's Path

Previous Story: It Had To Be You || Current Masterlist

Pairings: Barry Allen x OFC

Chapter Summary: Team Flash and Arrow join together, along with time traveler Graciela Haynez to defeat Vandal Savage. It's only in the end that Graciela reveals the true nature of her status.

This chapter (and the previous) serve as a prequel to Graciela’s full story Redemption.

Pronunciation of OC: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @perfectlystiles [If you’d like to be part of this OC’s taglist, let me know!]

Visiting Star City when it was due to some strange, mystical man wasn't exactly on Barry's top five things to do. Yet there he was because an innocent woman was being hunted down by the mystical man. At least he could be surrounded by friends who would be able to help him in case something went wrong.

While everyone came up with a decent plan for Kendra Saunders, they gathered in Oliver's apartment for some drinks that night. Barry had listened to how much had changed for both Felicity and Oliver, and honestly couldn't hide his shock.

"So, you're the CEO of Palmer Technologies," Barry pointed to Felicity Smoak as he wrapped his mind around the idea of Felicity being big boss as a company, "And you're now living with Oliver Queen."

"There you go, you got it!" Felicity sarcastically hit him on the arm.

"It's insane how much life can change in six months, huh?"

"Which you would know better than anyone, considering that there's another Flash, another Dr. Wells, from another... earth. I mean…" but as much as Felicity tried wrapping her mind around a new Earth it just wouldn't. "I wonder what Oliver's doppelganger would look like. Bald, pot-bellied…" Barry laughed at the idea and sneaked a glance at Oliver in the kitchen. "Haven't asked, how are you and Belén doing?"

"Uuh...I mean, we're good," Barry meant to be honest in that in terms of being a couple they were indeed good, but there were some rough patches that didn't exactly pertain to their relationship.

"I sense there's a 'but' somewhere there…" Felicity narrowed her eyes on him, ready to scrutinize him on the spot.

"It's not about us, it's just we're dealing with...you know...other world and stuff."

"Oh…" that seemed to calm Felicity more or less.

"I love her and I hate seeing her so stressed... I want to help her but I don't know how." And Barry despised that fact. He had the answers to his speed because there were people to train him, even if some of those were evil, but the fact laid in that he garnered the skills because of guidance. Belén didn't have that. To find the answers, she was basically on her own.

~0~

While everyone mingled, Cisco took opportunity to have a word with Barry on the side. He hadn't been sure if he wanted to tell Barry what he saw but Cisco was sure it would inevitably help Kendra in the end.

"You 'vibed' Kendra?" Barry was surprised to hear.

"Unintentionally," Cisco left that clear before he went on. "But remember the man with wings? It wasn't a man. It was Kendra. She was, like, a bird. You think that she's a meta-human?"

Barry could not be sure, and neither was Cisco. "Mm... Wait. Why didn't you say anything about this sooner?"

Cisco gave a light shrug. "Well, I didn't think it was related, but I guess now it has to be. Look, I don't want her to know about my powers. I have this great thing going with her. She laughs at my jokes, and she loves movies, and... I just... I've never felt like this before, and I don't want to sabotage it."

"I get the feeling," Barry could honestly relate.

"Look!" Kendra had jumped from her seat to point at the glass wall overlooking the city.

Vandal Savage was swinging forwards and broke through the window. Everyone backed away as the man got up. He certainly seemed at home when he saw Kendra. " I will always find you, Chay-Ara."

Barry sped Oliver and Thea their arrows. Oliver quickly took aim on Savage. "Don't move."

"Then how will I kill you all?" Savage pulled out several pocket knives in a second and threw them strategically at them all. Barry sped down and managed to get the knives before they were able to hurt anyone.

Oliver then took his moment to shoot arrows towards Savage. The intended victim ducked and dodged like there was no tomorrow. At the same time, a familiar purple and black leathered figure swooped in through the hole Savage left on the wall. With one leg stretched on the floor and a hand keeping her from falling, Jinx shot her purple beams at the lights above and caused massive sparks to fly down on the group.

"You again?" Savage faced her, fairly curious with the persistent women.

"Me, again," Jinx smirked as she straightened up. "We weren't finished."

"We weren't," Savage didn't hesitate to start throwing more blades her way.

She backtracked while dodging them all with those bright purple beams that seemed to either change the blades' direction or crush them altogether. Oliver and Thea joined again, although neither was sure who that woman was, and shot more arrows towards Savage. Jinx dropped her hands and ran forwards to engage Savage in hand-to-hand combat. She proved to be skilled as she jumped and blocked Savage's punches while throwing one of her own. Finally, Savage became agitated it was all taking too long and surprised Jinx with a different, golden chopped knife. It would have came straight at her heart if Barry hadn't sped in and grabbed it three inches away from her. In her shock, Savage took his opportunity and escaped by jumping off Oliver's balcony.

"No!" Jinx cried as the man disappeared. She tried to chase after him but Barry grabbed her arm.

"He's not going to make it!" he said, but she yanked her arm from his grip.

"He's immortal you idiot!" she shouted angrily and hurried to the balcony. She looked down but, no surprise, Savage was gone again. "Dammit!" she grasped her hair and turned around to the shock-stricken group staring at her.

"Hey…" Barry meant to approach her calmly but she was too angry to stop and realize.

"I said to stay out of it! I only have a couple chances before they find me and you keep ruining it!" she gritted her teeth and scoured the group until she spotted Kendra. "I'm not messing up again."

Kendra felt this was a warning that encumbered her too and suddenly stepped back. Jinx lowered her arms and straightened up.

"You're the one he calls Chay-Arah...so you're it." Jinx smiled and thrust an arm in the group's way, or so it seemed. Her beams had hit the pillars that were part of the supporting pieces of the ceiling.

"Ah...what's happening…?" Felicity couldn't, and wouldn't, take her eyes off the ceiling.

Jinx was running towards Kendra but Oliver and Thea took aim up again on her. It made it a struggle for Jinx to keep going as she had to constantly battle the arrows threatening her. Barry decided to end it by simply taking Jinx over her victim and pinned her against the back wall.

"Kendra isn't going anywhere with you," he warned her.

"You don't get it, she's the key," Jinx kicked him in the stomach. "It's not like I'm going to hurt her. I just...need you…" she laid dark eyes on Kendra.

"Yo, not happening," Cisco barred the way to his girlfriend.

Jinx laughed mockingly at his defense. She raised a hand, making Felicity panic. She'd figured out Jinx's powers by now.

"Not the ceiling!" cried the blonde.

Jinx rolled her eyes but redirected her hands to the kitchen. Energy beams made fire erupt from the oven and another shot at the walls made pipes burst. Even if they wanted to stop Jinx, the natural disasters prevented them from saving Kendra. Jinx had taken her all too easy in their distress.

~0~

"All right, Lance is gonna call if he gets any information on... whoever they were…" Oliver said after hanging up the phone.

"And the ceiling…?" Felicity hadn't taken her eyes off the ceiling since the fight. It kept grumbling and groaning like it would collapse at any moment.

"Homegirl Jinx lives up to her name," Cisco bitterly kicked the couch from behind.

"New metahuman?" asked Diggle.

"Man, we don't know what she is except she's crazy with bad luck powers!"

Barry put a hand on Cisco's shoulder, understanding he was sick worried over Kendra. "Look, you can call me crazy too but I don't think Jinx is going to hurt Kendra." Cisco turned on Barry with an incredulous expression on his face. "I just meant-" Barry took a precautionary step backwards, "-she clearly wants to get this man as much as we want to and she's made the connection that wherever Kendra is that man will follow."

"You saying she's gonna use Kendra as bait?" Thea raised her eyebrows.

Barry shrugged, knowing that the possibility of Kendra being bait didn't exactly make Cisco feel much better. "It's just…"

"It's exactly what we would do," Oliver spoke up.

Cisco's eyes nearly popped from his head. "What!?"

"And if she's thinking like that then maybe we can reason with her," Oliver continued like Cisco hadn't spoken. "We could get her to help us instead."

"And maybe have her fix our ceiling…" Felicity mumbled.

"Felicity, you think we can find Kendra by pinging her phone?" Barry asked.

"Oh, watch me!"

~0~

Kendra found it was useless trying to pull on the ropes binding her wrists and ankles together. She leaned against the wall where Jinx had put her and frowned at the woman who had kidnapped her. Jinx was sitting on a table, literally, tinkering with the metal wristwatch (as it appeared to Kendra) on her.

'There's a 98% probability Vandal Savage will be around the area, Miss Haynez,' a computerized voice informed her.

"What is that?" Kendra couldn't help be curious of the device.

Jinx looked up with a smirk. "It's a miniature A.l device I knicked off a friend."

"You stole it?"

"Oh, I'm gonna give it back when I'm finished in this time," Jinx put both her hands on her lap. "My friend will probably shout at how irresponsible it was to go through time and blah, blah, blah-" she rolled her eyes, "He always likes to be dramatic."

Kendra's eyebrows knitted together. "Wait, time? You're a…"

"Man, I read all about these metahumans before coming - the Flash, the Azalea, the Arrow, Black Canary? I thought they were super smart enough to figure that out."

"Give them credit," Kendra frowned. "It's not everyday we come across time travelers and immortals."

Jinx laughed. "True."

Kendra studied the woman for real now and came, fairly quick, to the conclusion that whatever Jinx wanted it really had nothing to do with her. She wanted Savage. She was merely the bait.

Jinx hopped off the table and walked towards Kendra. "I need you to wake up or something."

"Wake up…?"

"C'mon, it would be a lot easier to fight Savage knowing you could defend yourself. I don't want liabilities."

"I have no idea what you mean," Kendra pulled her legs closer to her as Jinx neared her.

"I know you have powers, Kendra. And I know there's another of your kind-"

"My kind?" repeated Kendra, now truly confused.

"The male. I don't know where he us but that's okay since Savage seems to want only you right now. But c'mon, sprout the wings, pull the sword out or something."

"Okay I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Jinx looked mighty frustrated and disappointed with Kendra. "Tell me you're kidding?" Kendra's blank face said it all. "Woman!"

"I'm just a barista!"

"No, you're not! You're like a...I don't know, reincarnation? I honestly didn't read too much on that background. All I know is that you and some other guy die and reincarnate over and over because of Savage. And since you don't even have your powers activated it's gonna be a hell of a lot easier for Savage to get you!" Jinx growled and turned away from Kendra. "I don't have that much time here before they find me…" she rubbed her face and hoped to God something would pop in her mind to help her out.

Meanwhile, Kendra tried to internalize what she'd been told about herself apparently? None of it made sense but it would explain why Savage was so hellbent on killing her. There was a hell to pay that she didn't even know about.

About thirty minutes later, Jinx returned to Kendra and pulled the woman up without saying a word. She pushed Kendra towards the exit of the abandoned room.

"Wh-where are we going?" Kendra tried digging her heels into the ground to stop herself from going.

"Relax, I'm taking you out to the street. I figure maybe your powers will show up if you're under stressor, also known as me."

"Wait, what!?"

Jinx pushed Kendra out and forced the woman to go to the dark street. She left Kendra tried by the wrists and stepped back. "Ready?"

"NO!"

"Yes!" Jinx's excited voice went over Kendra. She swung an arm forwards and her energy beams hit the nearest street pole by Kendra.

"No! Stop!" Kendra cried and jumped backwards just as the pole groaned and fell over. From the force, Kendra fell back.

Jinx clapped a hand to her forehead. "This is seriously not how I imagined things going."

Kendra shot the woman a glare from the ground.

"We're going to need to 'up' the stakes," Jinx theorized, lowering her hand to her chin. "I suppose it's like a self preservation. The bigger the stressor…the more chances of getting those powers…"

"Please…" Kendra scuttled backwards, unable to get up on her own, "...whatever you want from me...it's not going to work…"

"Wouldn't say that," Jinx's eyes raised up to the electricity cables. "Perfect."

Kendra followed the woman's gaze up and felt her blood run cold. "Oh n-n-n-n-no…"

"Sprout those wings, woman!" Jinx raised her hands above her head and was about to shoot at the cables when an arrow struck her by the shoulder and pushed her to the ground. "OW!"

Before she knew it, Barry had sped in front of her and looked down. "If you don't want another arrow, I suggest you listen."

Behind him dropped Oliver who took a threatening aim at Jinx. Jinx's dark eyes flickered between the two and could see past them where Diggle and Thea were helping Kendra up. Suddenly, Barry lowered a hand for her to take, confusing her of course.

"First you shoot me-" Jinx pulled out the arrow embedded on her shoulder like it was nothing and threw it to the side, "-and then you offer help?"

"You haven't been all that straight forwards either," Barry retorted and motioned her again to just take his hand.

Jinx grasped his hand and let him pull her up. She cast a suspicious glance on Oliver who still didn't lower his arrows. "What now? You'll imprison me?" she challenged but scoffed in the end. "Because if I'm being honest, you're gonna have to get in line."

"We just want to talk," Barry reassured but Jinx cleared her throat and nodded her head at Oliver. "Dude…" Barry tried pushing away the arrow Oliver had until eventually Oliver lowered it completely. "Thank you. Look," Barry tried again with Jinx, "we don't understand anything-"

"-clearly," Jinx crossed her arms.

"-but it looks like you do and we have a common enemy so...why don't we help each other out?"

"She tried crushing me with a street pole!" Kendra shouted from across. Now that she was free she frantically motioned to the pole on the ground.

"Hey that was only to get you to sprout those wings!" Jinx snapped. "And it didn't even work!"

"I don't have any wings!" Kendra waved her hands in the air. "I don't have any powers! I keep telling you that!"

"I know you do! You just haven't activated them!"

Kendra stalked towards them but a male figure - flying - in a golden suit with wings suddenly swooped down and took her off the ground. "HELP!" Kendra screamed but no one could possibly do so.

And then, just like that, Oliver took aim against Jinx again. "You have some explaining to do!"

"Oh calm down," Jinx wasn't even looking at him anymore. She raised her wrist that had the watch-like device strapped to it and pulled up several holographic screens.

"What the hell was that?" Thea came running over with Diggle.

"Not a 'what' but a 'he'," a big smile, like the Chestshire cat, was spreading across Jinx's face. "It's the other one! I've hit the jackpot!"

"Explain!" demanded Oliver.

"Sure, just lower the arrows," Jinx ordered. Begrudgingly, Oliver did so but his hand was still wrapped around the bow pretty tightly. "Look, don't worry, she's not in danger, alright? That's probably her reincarnated soulmate."

Everyone winced because Cisco had given a mighty big 'oh hell no' in their ears through the comms.

"What are you talking about?" Barry asked Jinx but the woman kept working on the device. "And what the hell is that?"

"I read about them, alright? There's two of them and Savage will always kill them both! It's obvious the guy has figured his powers out," Jinx sighed. "I should have gone after him instead."

"Whoever he is we need to find him," Diggle said.

"He's not gonna get far once he sees Kendra hasn't activated her powers," Jinx turned her wristwatch off. "I need to go after them before Savage finds them."

"You are not going anywhere," Thea warned her. "We don't even know your name. We're not letting you go anywhere near Kendra."

"If anything, she should be back in the base explaining things," Barry offered, much to Jinx's dismay. "We'll find Kendra and that guy...and we'll bring them back. But you-" he pointed at Jinx, "-need to be committed to cooperate with us. And you're gonna start by telling us everything you know and who you are."

"Fine, but on the other side, I'd like you to guarantee me that Savage dies. It's crucial for me, do you understand?" and in truth there was something in Jinx's eyes indicating this was more than a simple hunt for her. There was something important she was fighting for.

Barry extended a hand forwards. "Deal."

Jinx nodded and shook hands on it.

~ 0 ~

And although the strange man gave quite the chase, Barry and Oliver had managed to bring him down with some tranquilizing arrows. That of course didn't sit well with Jinx when they expressed the idea of chaining the man up.

"He is a key to all this!"

"He kidnapped me!"

"He was just trying to protect you!"

"You know, I don't like you very much," Kendra crossed her arms and glared straight at Jinx.

"You know, liking you has nothing to do with this. You're just a way to get to my goal," Jinx responded and glanced back at the unconscious, chained up, man across them.

"Yo, we trusted you enough to bring you in here," Cisco gestured to the base. "So mind doing your thing about explaining all this? Start with your real name, please?"

Jinx drew in a deep breath as she resigned herself to disclosure. She hadn't planned on revealing anything about herself while in the past, but to be honest she hadn't expected on killing Savage to be such a difficult task in the past.

"Yo? Name?" called Cisco once he felt like they were losing her again.

"Fine," the woman spat. She folded her arms over her chest and sighed. "My name is Graciela Haynez, but I'm also known as Jinx."

"And how are you connected to all this?" Barry then asked since none of them could figure it out yet.

"I'm not connected," Graciela clarified first. "But my life, as well as my entire world, has been affected by that man. Vandal Savage, as you have guessed, is a murderer. And where I'm from, he's a dictator."

"And where are you from again?" Felicity asked from the platform. She was leaning against her desk, refusing to be too close to Jinx for the moment. Jinx looked to the side, apparently reluctant to answer.

"Hey, you promised you would tell us everything," Barry reminded her.

Graciela threw her head back and rubbed her face. "Fine! I'm from the future."

"Okay, can we lock her up now?" Thea sarcastically asked.

"I'm not kidding! I'm from the year 2166 and I came back here to stop Savage before he takes over my city and the whole frikin world!"

But everyone continued to stare at her like she was spilling nothing but lies.

"Fine, you want proof?" Graciela raised her wristwatch and activated it. There were various images displaying a destroyed city and the last one showed Vandal Savage at the head of an army. When Graciela shut the device off, she was subjected to various horrific stares. "There's your proof. That's home sweet home for me."

"Wait," Cisco shook his head as if that would erase everything image he just saw, "You mean to tell me you time traveled back in time to stop Savage from ever becoming dictator? Isn't that like...against rules or something?"

"Oh yeah, but the thing is I don't care," Graciela said like nothing. "I've been fighting a rebellion for as long as I can remember and even though I know people can fight him, that organization has refused to do it. So, I'm doing it. So can we get this moving?"

Barry looked at Oliver to see what he was thinking. As usual, there was nothing describable in Oliver's face except for pensiveness.

"Might I suggest something?" Barry finally asked.

~ 0 ~

It took a lot of explaining, but after things were clear - or at least decently clear - Star City's finest returned to Central City with Barry, along with Graciela, in hopes of coming up with a good, airtight, plan against Savage.

First thing in order was to relocate somewhere remote.

"A bunch of superheroes in a farmhouse?" Thea gave a weird look at the grassy field they arrived at. "I feel like I've seen that in a movie before."

"We need a secure location," Oliver moved around their black van without so much of a glance to their surroundings. All he knew was that there was a decent home and it was far away from the city.

"And what's wrong with STAR Labs?" asked Belén just as she got off the STAR Labs van.

"Well, I mean, absolutely nothing if you forget about the revolving door you guys installed so the bad guys can come and go as they please."

Belén exchanged a look with Caitlin beside her, both offended on behalf of their beloved STAR Labs.

"And remind us again what happened to your old lair?" Caitlin was the one to respond first, but of course Belén had something else to add.

"Or the one before that?"

Oliver glared at both women.

"Well, lair number one was compromised by the police, and…" Felicity trailed off when Olivier's glance switched to her. She cleared her throat and looked down. "I will stop helping."

Oliver decided to stop paying them attention before he would lose it. Instead, he led the group towards the safe house. "Savage only let Barry and I live because he felt Kendra start to emerge as Hawkgirl and went after her. He can sense her and Carter's presence. We don't need to make it easier on him by staying in the city limits."

"Bet you wish you were staying at your mother's place now," Belén mumbled to Laurel since the latter had been staying in Central City anyways.

"Ha!" Laurel practically snorted.

It had been half an hour since the group settled into the house, and only then did Cisco, Barry and Graciela appear.

"Barry, you're late!" Oliver's sharpness had no effect on Barry anymore. He'd come to get used to Oliver's way of being a long time ago. Instead, he learned how to make comebacks.

"Sorry. It turns out, it's not easy finding the ass end of nowhere!"

"Yeah, for real," Cisco pulled out his cellphone and immediately checked for his internet status. "The roaming charges alone are going to bankrupt me."

"...are those my clothes?" Belén raised an eyebrow the moment she spotted Graciela wearing her pink cardigan.

Graciela, in turn, uncomfortably shifted on her feet while flailing her arms. "Yeah, and I hate pink."

"Be a little grateful, won't yah?" snapped Cisco. "We borrowed-"

"-my clothes?" Belén's voice started getting that same sharpness Oliver owned so well, and that was something Barry still had no comeback to.

"Uuuh…" Barry drew it out while he pulled Belén to the side in the meantime the others started gathering with Cisco's cart of inventions.

"Barry, she's wearing my clothes," Belén said quietly though in growing irritation. Her eyes flickered to Graciela who was indeed wearing everything that belonged to her. "I'm all for sharing but I'm not comfortable doing it with someone I don't know and who also attacked my friends multiple times."

"I know that, and I understand, but it's okay now. Graciela's okay. She's on our side," Barry tried to explain quick before she got actually angry. "She's from the future and she didn't have anything and you always have spares at STAR Labs, sooo…."

"Fine," Belén crossed her arms. "But can I at least meet her now? I mean, the only reason I know her name is Graciela is because you just said it right now. Last time we saw each other, she attacked us."

"It's been a busy day," Barry said in his defense.

"Mhm," Belén's hum was almost like a red flag.

It was a good thing Barry wasn't naive to believe it was all due to borrowed clothes. As soon as he'd returned to Central City yesterday, Belén filled him in on what had happened in his absence. She'd been forced to tell her mother that she the Azalea, they had Harry stabilizing back at STAR Labs (under the care of Nina), and of course no one could forget she was going crazy trying to figure more things out about Datura, and the lack of success was getting to her. Her training, while good, still felt like it was mediocre against Datura's and Poison Ivy's.

Borrowed clothes were merely the tip of the iceberg for Belén.

"We need to get rid of Savage's magic stick thing," Oliver couldn't believe he was actually saying those words.

"Yeah, Staff of Horus," Carter corrected but it really didn't matter.

"Well, it's protected by some kind of energy field," Graciela said bitterly. "It's impossible to get to. Believe me, I've tried."

"What about some mittens, then?" Felicity joked for a second until she got the actual idea. "Ooooooh, maybe some insulated gauntlets…"

Caitlin seemed to catch the idea as well since she chimed in, "Oh, yeah, yeah, the magnetic shielding could disrupt the-"

"-the staff's magnetic polarity!" Cisco even had a go and started leading the two women into the hallway.

"Well, while the geek squad works-"

"-heard that, honey!" Felicity called to Oliver, actually making him wince.

"While they work to get the staff away from Savage, we need to know everything there is to know about him." Oliver's eyes landed on Graciela and Kendra, but the latter seemed pretty uncomfortable to say anything.

"What's to know about him is that he's evil, manipulative, and powerful," Graciela listed off her fingers before shrugging. "That's about it, really."

"He's been around for 4,000 years - he should have a trail or something."

"You're from the future, right?" Belén moved closer to the group. "You obviously know more about him than we will ever know right now."

"I mean…" Graciela seemed like there was a lot she wanted to say but failed to come up with a way to say it. She dragged a hand through her short curls and sighed. "You have to understand that where I come from, he's already won. He's the dictator. He's all powerful and there's no way of stopping him because those two-" she jerked a thumb at Kendra and Carter, "-are dead. I don't know everything about Savage. I just know that in the 21st century he comes across metahumans that almost stop him."

"So what was your plan, then? When you first thought of coming here?" Barry wondered since her first appearance seemed a hellbent on killing.

"To be honest, I don't know," Graciela crossed her arms, looking rather guilty about her confession. "I'm impulsive and I…" she once again paused to gather her words, "...I read in the history files that when Savage goes up against the Arrow, the Flash, the Azalea, Black Canary...his weapons are his downfall. I thought maybe if I showed up and take the weapons I might have a chance of fixing my future."

"Okay, how about I check with A.R.G.U.S., see if they have anything on him?" Diggle offered since it was clear they had nothing.

"That sounds great," Laurel nodded her head. "And Thea and I can check police reports and stuff like that."

"It's not gonna matter," Graciela called to the trio who were moving to start on their tasks.

"We're going to do our best," Thea offered one sour smile before following Laurel.

"And Kendra," Oliver turned his attention to Kendra, the sudden gaze making the woman stiffen. "We need to find a way to utilize your new ability."

She blinked until it hit her of what he meant. "My ability?" Of course he meant her 'ability', because she now had abilities. Because she wasn't normal. She was...she was some...

"It might give us an advantage," Oliver's voice pulled Kendra out from her thoughts.

Barry cleared his throat as he moved on around the group. "Yeah, whatever you do, don't let him train you." At that, Oliver gave him a look, but Barry was full on straightforward with his words. "I'm sorry, but when it rains, I can still feel where you shot me with those arrows."

"He's not that bad," Belén spoke up on Oliver's behalf, though it earned her an offended glance from Barry. "What? You were being smug and you got shot with arrows. What did you say to me before running?" She pretended to think about it before mocking him, 'And give Bells a show'."

Barry nearly glared at her for bringing that one up. Okay, so he might have been a little over the top then but he didn't deserve to be shot with arrows.

"It's okay," Carter stepped forwards, hands held up, "I'll handle her training, then."

Kendra kept her mouth shut because the moment someone asked her directly whether or not she wanted to 'train' she'd say an automatic 'no'. Instead, she watched Carter leave the house for something in the van, no doubt that big chest box he'd carried with them.

~ 0 ~

"Where are you going?" Belén's question stopped Barry just as he was about to take off from the front porch.

"Well…" Barry prepared himself for what he knew would be a difficult explanation, "...I got a call...from, um...one of Oliver's…" he paused for a significant long time, making Belén rather impatient for she thought this would be him coming up with an excuse, "...frenemies."

"Which one?"

"Don't know...Merlyn?"

"You got a call from Merlyn?" Belén's tone of voice indicated she knew exactly who that was. Barry then remembered she and Laurel were completely close. "What the hell does he want!?"

"To talk to me and Oliver, I guess." Barry admitted to himself he didn't like the idea of meeting up with that type of man, but since Oliver was on his way too he had no choice but to go as well.

"Just you two? That's a bit rude," Belén folded her arms and deeply frowned. "And I'm sugarcoating it. You do realize this whole Savage thing involves a lot of people. Whatever he's going to say to you and Oliver, make sure you repeat it to us later, got it?"

"Got it," Barry dutifully said, even saluting for show. Once he saw a small smile trying to creep across her face, he knew she wasn't that upset.

"Just be careful, alright? I'll hold down the fort here," she said and looked to the side. She could see Kendra and Carter on the field, presumably training. "Though to be honest I think we might end up killing each other before Savage gets to us. Reincarnation, immortality and time travelers?"

Barry snorted with a laugh. "Yeah. This one's out of our terrain. But listen, Graciela? She knows a lot more than she's giving on. Maybe you can get her to talk more."

"Me?" Belén pointed at herself, relatively confused since she'd barely crossed a word with the time traveler. "But I haven't even met her. It's not like she's a big talker."

"Try to look at it from her perspective," Barry attempted to go through a different tactic. He stepped closer to Belén and lowered his voice in case anyone was nearby. "To her, this is a lost battle. It's like she said, she's already lost so this is technically one of her last options. And who knows what she left behind in the future. She could be fighting for something we don't know about. Someone maybe."

"I hate when you make sense," Belén sighed and ignored his smirk.

"Just try it. If there's anyone with a sweet voice it's you!" he swooped down and kissed her cheek.

"I'm gonna do it, you don't need to keep kissing up," she playfully rolled her eyes and pushed him away.

"K, gotta go!" Barry waved before rushing off.

Belén drew in a deep breath and prepared herself to go find that...unique...time traveler.

She moved back into the house in search of Graciela, but only found the three scientists working hard on those gauntlets-to-be, and then saw the other trio looking for traces of Savage. It led her to go back to the fields where Carter and Kendra were still going hard on that training, which looked rather frustrating for Kendra judging by those growls. Eventually, Belén spotted Graciela sitting on a rock just outside the shed. The closer Belén got, the better she could see Graciela was talking to something around her wrist.

"Show me London again," Graciela was instructing and suddenly a baby blue hologram flickered to life above the watch on her wrist.

It was not a pretty sight.

"Time hasn't changed," Graciela said with full disappointment. However, as soon as she saw Belén coming towards her, she pushed that disappointment to the back of her mind and turned the hologram off. She awkwardly cleared her throat and crossed her arms, effectively covering the watch.

"Hi," Belén was in the same awkward boat. "Um...I'm Belén, just in case you didn't get it before." Graciela gave a slight nod, but nothing more. Belén cleared her throat and came a little closer. "Were you talking to someone? Did I interrupt a conversation?"

Graciela shook her head. "Nah. People I talk to are a little bit busy right now...fighting…or dead..."

Belén raised her eyebrows, unsure of what to say to that. It looked like Graciela understood and decided to be nice and further explain the situation.

"I'm part of a rebellious group against Savage in my time….and even if I wanted to talk with any of my partners...they don't have this," Graciela revealed the futuristic watch on her wrist and gave it a gentle tap on its silver surface. "It's not even mine, to be honest."

"What do you mean by that?" Belén eyed the watch with a little more focus than before and saw it had some writing on the surface, but she couldn't make it out.

"It's my friend's - well, don't know if he qualifies me as a friend anymore. Either way, once he realizes I stole the watch from him he'll end up hating me even more, if that's possible. Unlike me, he's...proper," Graciela rolled her eyes. "He's part of this elite Time group and, to be frank, it's stupid. They know exactly what's happening to our world and they're not doing anything about it. And since my friend is too tied up in their rules to break anything...I did it." And even as Graciela retold the story, she didn't sound one bit regretful. "I have two friends in that stupid organization so I just waited for my moment to steal one of their watches. I needed to stop Savage."

Belén could see the struggle in Graciela's eyes to truly accept the consequences of her action. Graciela didn't regret it, but it didn't mean she was ready for what came next. "So it was worth it, then?"

Graciela's shrug was so little it barely looked like one. "I mean, I'm checking the future and everything is still the same, so...maybe it wasn't. I don't know." She shook her head and took a moment to calm herself by staring hard at the ground. She couldn't afford to feel doubtful, and much less to be ridiculous and cry. It was the journey she decided she would make for the sake of the world, despite what was coming for her.

"Are you-" Belén was just about to reach for Graciela's shoulder when the latter raised her head.

"Anyways," Graciela sniffed and rose from the ground with a whole new expression she was trying to make casual, "Sorry about your cardigan." She once again folded her arms and grazed the soft pink fabric of the cardigan. "Barry just offered them and I…"

"It's fine," Belén raised a hand to stop the woman. "I'm not that type of girl, trust me. Besides, you look good in pink."

"I don't like pink," Graciela bluntly reiterated.

"Right…" Belén looked away for a moment, and just in time to see Kendra falling flat on her back after a failed attempt to punch Carter. She scrunched her face, feeling the ghost of that pain from her own training. "That had to hurt."

Graciela followed Belén's gaze to Kendra and sighed. She walked a few steps towards the scene and watched it go on again. "If she keeps that up, we'll never take Savage down."

"She just discovered she's not really who she thought she was," reminded Belén. "That can't be easy to manage."

"We all have baggage," Graciela said too matter-of-factly to be genuine. "And we have to get over it in order to succeed. In order to live. Savage will use any weakness to kill. He's done it before."

"What do you know about him? For real?"

Graciela turned sideways to see Belén expectantly waiting for an answer. "That he's been here for a good while. He's helped build empires and he's watched them fall. All these centuries he's been calculating and he's struck whenever it was most convenient for him. He has an immense power that...only they-" she pointed back to Kendra and Carter, "-can take down."

"But why?" Belén wanted to know so badly.

"Because they're locked in a never ending cycle of life and death. I know you guys aren't big believers on magic, but it does exist. I would know," Graciela's eyes flickered a purple that made Belén take a step back. "I'm part of their world."

"You're definitely not a metahuman…"

"No. I'm something else, but…" Graciela shook her head, deciding it wasn't worth it. "It doesn't matter what I am. What matters is how we take Savage down. I don't exactly have all the time in the world. And to be honest, with every passing second I'm a little less faithful in those two over there."

"We just gotta give them some time," Belén's optimism wasn't met with much agreement.

"As much as it pains me to admit out loud, I'm going to need all of you," Graciela made a move to leave. Where she was going, exactly, she didn't know.

Belén turned after her, choosing to follow her. "Well I don't know how much help I'll be to be honest. I'm sort of struggling to hone in on my powers." That admission made Graciela abruptly stop. She turned sideways to give Belén a strange look.

"What? You don't have powers?"

"No - I…" Belén sighed, bringing a hand to her head, "I do have powers and I use them fairly well I should say."

"Then what's the problem?"

"That I'm weak. I've been dealing with a metahuman who's like me but not me. She's a siphoner and no matter how much I train, she still kicks my ass."

Graciela seemed to be confused judging by the scrunch of her face. "You're the Azalea. You're a botanical metahuman. Why don't you just go to the Green for help?"

Now it was Belén's turn to be confused. "The what?"

"The Green," Graciela shrugged. "That one place where botanical metahumans gather?"

Belén drew a blank on her words. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"This is why time traveling isn't allowed I guess," Graciela mumbled. "But screw it. The Green is famous for being the place where all botanical metahumans can meet and train, and converse."

Belén tilted her head while she thought about this place. "It's...it's kind of like the Speedforce with Barry. Like the place where your powers originate from. But how do you know about this place?"

"I read about it in the files," shrugged Graciela. "There's an article that, um..." she blinked then gave Belén a certain kind of look, "...you wrote, actually. It talked all about the Green."

"I wrote it?" Belén tried to wrap her mind around that one and considered it very unlikely due to the fact she didn't even know what that place was.

"Yeah, in the future."

"Well how do I get there?"

Graciela looked at Belén as if she were crazy. "I don't know. I'm not a botanical metahuman but you are so...figure it out." She have another shrug and turned to walk away like nothing, never seeing Belén's face.

~ 0 ~

It honestly was not that surprising that Merlyn had arranged a meeting with Savage to figure out what he wanted.

"What do you want?" Merlyn led the meet and hoped to God that Oliver and Barry would keep their idiotic mouths shut for once.

"What all living things want- not to die," Savage answered in well-mannered tone. For now, this was merely a conversation.

"I thought that wasn't a problem for you," Oliver said.

"Only if I take the lifeforce from Prince Khufu and Priestess Chay-Ara. The three of us are locked in a vicious circle played out over thousands of years. None of your concern."

"We've made it our concern," Oliver all but snapped and shot one of his arrows directly at Savage.

Savage, however, took the arrow to the chest like a scratch and pulled out the arrow like nothing. "Robin of Locksley. I taught him how to use a bow. He taught me how to not feel pain. I'm the enemy you can't defeat. The only way for you and yours to live through this is to render onto me what is mine. Turn over Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ara within 24 hours, or I will lay waste to this city, killing everyone that you hold dear. And after that, I will travel to your home-" he directed a finger to Oliver, "-and do the same thing there."

"All right, I'm just curious- did you rehearse that speech in a mirror this morning, or this all just off the cuff?" Barry was slightly afraid, but it wasn't something he would say out loud.

"Why would you risk the lives of your friends and family for two strangers? 206 times I have killed them. What hubris possesses you that makes you think that you can prevent me from doing so again?" Savage paused his streak of questions to mock them with a laugh. "Oh, let me guess, the little time traveler? I certainly hope she's not your weapon because she will fail. I came to this meeting out of curiosity. It is now sated. Bring Khufu and Chay-Ara to Jurgens Industrial in 24 hours or I will see you dead and buried under the bodies of your loved ones."

He didn't even bother giving them a chance to respond. He was certain of himself and their choice anyways.

~0~

"We have 24 hours," Oliver started off exactly like that, without a readable expression. Everyone in the living room seemed lost.

"Until what exactly?" Kendra asked after a couple minutes of silence.

"Until we are supposed to hand you and Carter over to Savage, or-"

Carter all but rolled his eyes. He'd heard this so many times already. "Savage lays waste to Central City. Yeah. We've been through this before. 1887, the Huang He floods, Savage killed nearly two million people to get to us. And he did."

Though the revelation was huge, Plover didn't let it stop them. "We weren't helping you then. We are now. We have 24 hours to come up with a workable plan."

And no matter how much they discussed, it didn't make sense to Kendra. Eventually, she snapped. "No, this is insane! My life isn't worth millions of people's lives! You can all just stop!"

"Kendra!" Carter called as the woman stormed off.

"I'll talk to her," Cisco volunteered but Carter shooed him off. "Hey, I got this-"

Carter once again stopped him but this time with a mere look. "I said, I'll talk to her."

Cisco glared after the man then sourly said, "Hey, here's an idea- why don't we just toss him over to Vandal Savage?"

"Cisco," Caitlin disapprovingly said.

"Fine!"

~ 0~

"Hey," Belén called to Barry - who was inside the shed - but unintentionally startled him. He paused in what seemed to be a back and forth pace. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering where you were since-"

But before she could finish, Cisco pushed past her in a dramatic manner. "-you basically missed the whole, save the city or turn my girlfriend over to an immortal psychopath briefing!"

Belén glared at Cisco's back but rolled her eyes in the end. She'd let it pass since what he said was indeed true.

"Um...sorry…?" Barry said in a questionable manner that forced Cisco to stop his complaining, and even the screwdriver he was about to throw in anger.

"Okay, what's wrong with you?" Cisco put the screwdriver down on the table.

"Seriously," Belén took full notice of Barry's nervous demeanor. He had his twitching fingers fiddling with each other when he wasn't putting his arms behind his neck...or his hands in his hair. "Can you stay still for a second?"

Barry dropped his arms when he realized what she meant. He'd been doing his best to keep it at bay, but the more he thought about it the more difficult it was to keep it a secret. "I...I don't really know how to say it…"

"Just say it, maybe?" suggested Cisco, earning himself a momentary look of sarcasm from Barry.

"Fine. Um...earlier when I was on my way to meet with Merlyn and Oliver...I ghosted."

"No…" Cisco immediately went, while Belén tried to understand on the first go.

"Yeah, I think I'm going-"

"-don't say it," Cisco wagged a finger at Barry, not that it mattered since Barry went ahead and said it out loud.

"I think I'm going to time jump."

"I just told you not to say it!"

"Cisco!" Belén exclaimed at the man in out rage while Barry apologized.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what else I'm supposed to do!"

"Barry, you're fine, trust me," Belén said first, hoping to ease his guilt but Cisco had something else to say.

"The first rule of time travel is you don't talk about time travel!"

"Cisco!" Belén covered her face in frustration.

"Because by having this conversation, we're screwing history!"

"Cisco! What was he supposed to do? Keep it bottled up?" Belén gestured to Barry's already nervous state. "One more day and he might fall apart."

Barry wanted to argue in his defense, but it'd really only been a few hours and it was already killing him. "Look, I know that time travel has consequences. I mean, the last time you vibed-"

"-well, I'm not vibing anything right now," Cisco said, calmer than before. "Okay, um, all right, look, don't panic. A: you don't know that you time jumped for a bad reason. It could have been a good one, right?" Barry dutifully nodded, really hoping Cisco was right. "B: now that you know you time jumped, you might not do it, right? So knowing the future might change the present, which might change the future."

"My head hurts," Belén rubbed the side of her head, eyes flickering between Cisco and Barry. "How could anyone be attracted to either of you?"

Barry's and Cisco's looks of pure offence were rather amusing for Belén...not that she'd tell them.

"I'm gonna remember that one," Barry decided to warn, but Belén smirked in return.

"What are you going to do? Stop kissing me? Go ahead, we'll see who suffers more," she winked and turned to leave.

She purposely moved away from shed and even the house altogether. Once she felt like she was truly alone, she pulled out her phone and dialed.

"Belén, hello?" Iris' voice soon answered the call.

"Iris, hey! How are things at STAR Labs?"

"Don't worry, Nina and I are holding down the fort," Iris proudly said. Belén could even picture her friend smiling from ear to ear. "How are you guys doing with Savage and that time traveler?"

"Uuh...things could be better," Belén admitted. She brought a finger to scratch behind her ear. "Listen...I wanted to ask a favor."

"Sure thing! What do you guys need?"

"Well, it's not so much of a group necessity as it is...a necessity for me," Belén hated to admit right now when it was such a time for teamwork.

"Oh, okay, what is it?"

"I...I...I just recently learned that I can maybe meet with other metas who are like me...in another world."

"Really? How so?"

"I see it like Barry and the Speedforce. It's called the Green, and if I can access that world then I can maybe get a further understanding of my powers."

"That sounds cool! How do you access it!?"

"That's the thing. On my own, I'm not sure. I thought maybe if I found another botanical metahuman they could help me. And that's why I'm calling you."

"Okay, what do you need from me?"

Belén looked around as if someone was watching her. She didn't mean for it to be a secret, but right now it wasn't the right time to tell the others. They needed to focus on Savage. "Can you maybe start a research on any other botanical metahumans nearby? Other than Datura and Poison Ivy, of course."

"Of course," Iris repeated, both sharing a laugh afterwards. "I can definitely look into it. Just because we haven't heard about another botanical metahuman doesn't mean they're not out there."

"That's what I'm counting on," Belén sighed. "Because right now I need all the help I can get and this might be huge"

"I'll do my best, don't worry!" Iris promised.

Belén hoped there would be some light down that dark path Datura was leading her. Hopefully, it started with this...with another botanical metahuman.

~ 0 ~

"What do you guys have?" Graciela expectantly asked of Laurel, Thea and Diggle as soon as the trio returned from their unannounced trip.

"Has a simple 'hello' died in the future?" Thea joked, but Graciela looked unamused.

"Yes, that tends to happen when there's a dictator massacring people."

"Could've just said yes," Thea mumbled and moved away.

"We have something that might help us," Laurel pointed to Diggle who raised an old VCR tape.

Graciela looked lost. "What the hell is that?"

"Aw, I didn't know those still existed," Belén remarked as soon as she came in and saw said tape.

"Lyla hooked us up," Diggle explained. Of course ARGUS would hold onto something like that.

"Where's Felicity?" Laurel looked around for the missing blonde.

"Don't know," shrugged Belén. "Just like I don't know where Barry and Oliver are. You know when those two get together, their secret outings get annoying."

"Sounds more like Oliver's doing than Barry," Laurel said. "And you're right, it does get annoying."

"Well we don't need Felicity to play a tape," Thea motioned Diggle to come over to Felicity's laptop. "We'll just hook it up."

"I'll go get the others," Belén said and hurried to go find them. By the time she returned with the whole group, sans the three missing, Thea had successfully gotten the tape to display on the TV.

"The tape came from a conspiracy theory group that's interested in Savage," Diggle explained just before the tape would play. "Pentagon had a file on Savage back in '86, but it's all been heavily redacted."

Thea pressed the play option and soon a dark-skinned man appeared on the screen.

'My name is Dr. Aldus Boardman. I'm a professor at St. Roch University. The date is April 8th, 1975. I don't think anyone else knows this, and those that do, don't believe. He's a myth. An urban legend. He has been compared to Machiavelli and Nostradamus. He's gone by many names, but I know him as Vandal Savage, and he will be the death of the world. But I believe there is a way to stop him. Savage is an immortal, Egyptian priest. His long life is a result of an unearthly calamity. I believe that any object associated with this calamity should be able to undo its effects and kill him. And I suspect that our precious, fragile world may one day depend upon us doing so.'

Thea promptly turned the screen off and looked directly at Kendra and Carter. "Do you have any idea what he meant by these objects? This calamity?"

The two in question exchanged mutual confused looks.

"No, I-I don't recall a calamity," Carter answered first. "And the staff…"

"Staff of Horus?" Graciela chimed in. "That staff belonged to Savage back in ancient Egypt."

"How are you sure?" Diggle asked.

"Because I'm from the future and I read a lot?"

Kendra looked down at her feet when a couple images started playing in her mind. Though they were fast, and partly incoherent, she saw that golden staff in Savage's possession. Graciela was right. But she didn't want to admit she was remembering.

Luckily, Graciela always had good self confidence. She knew exactly what she was talking about. "That staff is key to killing Savage. We need to get it."

"Great, let's get it, then," Carter nodded and led the way.

It was dark when Barry, Felicity and Oliver returned to the safe house, though each at a different time. Oliver was the last and the moment he set foot in the field, Felicity caught him. Barry spotted them through a window and wondered what the hell was going on with those two, because one moment Oliver had him doing secret DNA tests and the next thing he knew Felicity was on his case for helping Oliver.

"What are you doing?" a voice startled Barry, making him knock his forehead against the glass. He quickly pulled away before Felicity or Oliver saw and turned around to see Belén standing there.

"What?" he rubbed his forehead.

"You have been secretive today and I feel like a babysitter," Belén stated plainly, thinking it was enough to make him cautious with his response.

"I...I honestly couldn't tell you what was going on because I don't know what's going on," Barry went with the honest truth. He was not going to get in trouble over something he had no part in.

Belén could more or less deduced he was being honest because he did look rather weary. She moved around him and peered out the window to see Felicity and Oliver presumably arguing. "Oh no. That's not good. Especially when we're about to fight an immortal man. What are they fighting about?"

"I don't know. Should we go out there-"

"-oh no," Belén whirled around, as if to catch him before he got the idea to go. "We are not getting anywhere near that fight. Our mission right now is to make sure Kendra and Carter are ready. Besides, it's a couple fight and...they're not really asking for opinions, are they?"

Barry gave a shrug. She was right. Oliver had been really secretive with that DNA test, making him swear to keep it from Felicity (which he failed but that's not the point). "Fine."

A couple minutes later, Oliver and Felicity came into the house but made beelines away from each other. One could only deduce that the argument did not end in good terms.

"We're coming up on Savage's deadline," Oliver took control of the group the moment he could. "Are the gauntlets working?"

"They have to be, we're out of time," Caitlin said after checking the clock in the living room.

"But I think they'll work," Cisco said in hopes of adding positivity to the mission. "That staff's going to go from "can't touch this" to "invisible touch."

"Savage doesn't know Kendra has access to her full abilities, which makes you our ace in the hole," Oliver's intense gaze on her made Kendra feel even worse. She felt nowhere near ready to fight, but there wasn't much of an option now was there?

"Okay," she nodded quietly.

"We're going to put you up against Savage; you attack with the element of surprise. I will lay down the cover fire. Barry, you speed in, and-"

"-snatch the staff, I got it," Barry said.

"So where do you need us?" asked Diggle.

"This is me, Barry, Kendra and Carter. We've got it."

There were various reactions from the group, but all seem to fall in a mutual disagreement.

"You can't sit us out," Belén frowned.

"No, we're not risking any more lives tonight than we have to," Oliver's tone hardened even more.

"I don't know how you run in the past, but I'm not following it," Graciela stepped forwards. "You can sit the rest out but I'm not doing it."

"It's not up for debate-"

Graciela's eyes flashed an angry purple, making the pipes of the house creak. Everyone around her, more so Felicity and Cisco, looked up in fear. "-you're right, it's not, cos I'm going."

Oliver stared her down but he had come to his match because she was not wavering. She knew exactly how these things went and she had enough practice as a crook to have her own strength.

"Let's go!" Graciela shouted to the others, choosing not to waste any more time.

However, even though she was on board the others were still more cautious.

"I think we can stay as backup," Belén was the one to say to Barry in the end. "I mean, I'd love to be there up front but...Savage might not realize it."

"Just don't tell that to Oliver," Barry muttered, watching Oliver head out the house. "He's out of it."

"Yeah, I really wish I knew what they fought about," Belén crossed her arms. "But look, right now we just gotta focus on Savage. Be careful, alright?"

Barry nodded. "You too."

"I've got the Black Canary on my side. I'll be good," Belén smiled cheerily. She leaned up and kissed his cheek, sending him on his way.

~ 0 ~

Savage was waiting in the warehouse just like he said he would. A sinister grin spread across his face when he spotted Oliver and Barry bringing in Kendra and Carter, the two wearing their suits as well.

"You brought them. And dressed for the occasion, I see," Savage moved forwards.

"We're only doing this because two lives aren't worth two cities," Oliver said.

"Well, in that case, you are wiser than I gave you credit for." Savage took a moment to look Kendra and Carter over, scoffing a minute later. "It's been a lifetime. Still wearing those ridiculous outfits, I see." He raised a finger to Oliver and Barry. "You don't need to be here for this. The culling has a tendency to be…" He paused as he drew a sharpened knife from his coat's inside pocket, "...unsightly." He turned the knife over for show, making sure both Kendra and Carter got a good look at what was coming. "Your new friends betrayed you."

"Just do what you're going to do," Carter snapped.

Savage smiled at Kendra, practically ignoring Carter. "It's wonderful to see you again, my love."

Kendra felt true disgust at the man. "I will never be your love."

"I know. That always makes this...easier. Chay-Ara, parting is such sweet sorrow." Savage raised the knife and offered Kendra one last smile before drawing it down.

"Now, Kendra!" Oliver screamed.

Kendra delivered a hard kick to Savage's stomach, knocking the man to the ground. She opened her arms, ready to become that weird warrior she was destined to be...but nothing came out. Graciela dropped in from the ceiling and shot a beam of purple energy to keep Savage down while Oliver prepared the gauntlets.

"LET'S GO!" she shouted.

Carter swiped the staff from Savage and tossed it over to Barry who, in turn, handed it to Oliver so that the gauntlets could make contact. A powerful blast erupted from the gauntlets immediately. It made Oliver stumble back but he kept his balance in the end. However, with all the energy hitting him, Savage was still able to get on his feet.

"Crap!" Graciela said just before Savage knocked her to the side with his own magic. Her body tumbled across the warehouse, only picking her head up in time to see him grab Carter's neck and stab him on the back.

Barry started speeding in a circle to create quick thunder, but Savage caught him midway with another blast. The speedster crashed into a set of metal machinery. Like Graciela, he looked up in time to watch Savage stab Kendra on the chest in one swift move.

"No! It's not working!" Graciela scrambled to get on her feet. Her eyes were a dark, almost demonic purple, as she made a run at Savage. The metal around her groaned as its properties were being forced to change at her will.

"Graciela!" Barry called, but at the same time the metal behind him pushed forwards. He barely escaped as it took Savage's body for a ride until Savage destroyed it with a hand movement. "What the hell…" Barry was truly tired of this magic business because he had no idea how to combat it.

He heard Oliver's groans and turned to see him still holding onto the staff and the gauntlets. "Oh God." His eyes widened because Oliver was starting to resemble an old man. The gauntlets and the staff combined seemed to be drawing Oliver's life source. "Oliver, let go!" he panicked when he was able to see bone.

"Barry? What's going on?" Belén's voice came through the ear pods.

"Oliver?" Laurel came in next. "We're coming in!"

"No! Don't!" Barry sped up beside Oliver. "Kendra and Carter are dead!"

"We're coming in!" Belén and Laurel said in unison.

"Please don't-" Barry couldn't finish on account of Graciela crashing into him.

Savage stretched an arm out for Oliver, but only attained his staff again. At the same time, both Belén and Laurel came running in to help.

"This isn't going to end well!" Graciela picked herself off Barry and looked back at Savage. "I know about this - Barry you have to time travel!" she said in quick whir, almost making Barry miss it.

"I have to what-"

"-A DO OVER! GO!" Graciela's scream came just as Savage plunged his staff into the ground, causing an eruption of bright blue energy. It wiped out everything around it, and before Barry knew what he was doing, he ran.

He didn't know what the hell was going on except that everything around him was being burned to death. His first thought went to Belén and the others. They'redeadthey'redeadthey'read.

But Graciela's last words came to mind: a do over. Time travel.

And that's when he remembered the 'ghosting'. All his previous fears of time traveling and causing a disturbance in the time lines went to hell. He needed to push himself or everything would be dead.

Runrunrunrunrunrunrunrun. Barry went as fast as he could. The blue eradication behind him nearly caught him a few times but he was going to do it. Everything around him became a blue, but only for a few seconds did he see the 'ghost' of his past self running beside him. It disappeared within seconds...and as did the blurry world.

Barry came to a skidded stop in the same place Malcolm Merlyn wanted to meet.

"Thank you for coming…" he heard Oliver's voice, though it still sounded a bit garbled after all the running Barry did.

But once Barry saw the day was still early...he released a heavy breath.

A do over.

~ 0 ~

"What the hell is the Green?" Belén called out to Graciela after their odd conversation. She should've known talking to a future girl was not going to end well, but here she was doing what she could to help out. She turned in the opposite direction Graciela walked off to and started making her own way. She only stopped when she saw Oliver and Barry returning to the safe house after their meet up with Merlyn. "They're back!" she called to Kendra and Carter, forcing the two to stop their training (which, by the sounds of it, was not going well). She sprinted to get there first, and perhaps it was a good thing because Barry was not intending on keeping his time travel a secret. "Hey! What did Merlyn say?"

"Belén!" Barry forgot for a moment what he'd told Oliver and rushed to Belén. She was not expecting such a tight, needy hug but she would always accept one.

"Okay, what's wrong?" she patted his back and looked over his shoulder to Oliver. He had a face as well, like he was processing something.

"He time traveled," Oliver was the one to answer.

Belén's eyes widened in alarm, but even if she wanted to pull away from Barry to look at him...Barry wasn't budging. He pressed a kiss to her hair and held her tight. "Barry, you did what?" she pressed her hands against his chest to pull away. "Barry!"

With a groan, he finally let her go the amount she needed to see him face to face. "Yeah…"

"You're not supposed to do that…"

"Well, Graciela did it-"

"-yeah, and she's probably going to get into trouble. Believe me, I just learned she stole the time travelling watch on her wrist. Why'd you time travel?"

Barry lowered his arms to his sides and turned sideways so that he could talk to both her and Oliver. "We were fighting Savage but things didn't go so well. Everyone died...including you two."

"Oh…" Belén now understood his needy hug and felt the urge to hug him again.

"Graciela was the one to tell me to time travel and...I did," Barry rubbed the back of his neck. "She said she knew what was coming."

"She's from the future, of course she knew that," Oliver sighed.

"Look, what we were doing to fight Savage wasn't working. The gauntlets didn't work and Kendra couldn't access her powers. Savage killed them both and used his staff to create the explosion that killed everything."

"Okay, okay, we can work with this," Belén nodded, choosing to forget the death part right away. It technically didn't happen and she was just going think about that. "It's like when you discovered you went back in time to your mom. We use this as a study guide. We fix our mistakes."

"Right," Barry agreed and turned specifically to Oliver. "That means you, for starters."

"Me?" frowned the man in question.

"When we go up against Savage, your head's not in the game. You're not yourself. And I'm sorry to say this in front of Belén because I don't know if you were planning on telling anyone about it, but...I know you're going to ask me run a DNA test."

Oliver stiffened, ignoring Belén's strange look.

"That said test is going to cause you and Felicity to get into a huge fight. That fight sounded like it was over between you two."

"So when we go up against Savage, I'm not focused," Oliver concluded on his own. "I don't use everything we've got."

"What are we going to about the Kendra not being able to use her powers?" Belén quietly asked. "And the gauntlets?"

"I'll work on that," Oliver muttered, quietly thanking Barry for his knowledge of the future and walking off.

"Someone should tell Graciela," Belén said once they were alone. "She's already time traveled once, who knows what this might mean."

"That we failed?" Barry started for the house, rather glum now that he had time to settle. "She knew exactly what was going to happen when Savage took his staff, so this must have happened before."

"Which is exactly why we need to discuss with her. Maybe she has some pointers too," Belén picked up her pace and beat him to the front door, blocking his way in. "Let's make sure we don't make the same mistakes again."

"I won't," Barry promised her. A warm smile came to her face knowing what he meant. "I had to run and when I did...you were already dead…"

"Not happening again," she leaned forwards and gently kissed his lips. "Now let's do this...again…"

~ 0 ~

With the knowledge of their failed attempt to win Savage, the group worked harder than the first time. Cisco and Caitlin triple checked those gauntlets, and would have gone for a fourth had Oliver not convinced Cisco to try his hand at helping Kendra access her powers. The only one who seemed to be having trouble with the news, more than the others anyways, was Graciela.

"I mean, we'll get him this time," Barry attempted to ease her doubts before they gathered for another brief. Well, it was really more of a group effort with him, Oliver and Belén.

Graciela shook her head, looking far more concerned but it was pertaining to the fight against Savage. "You don't get it. You time traveled in the same period I did. That means they felt it."

"They? Who's they?" Oliver asked.

Graciela seemed reluctant to speak freely, but then again her options weren't so good anyways. She drew in a breath and leaned against the dining table. "The people I stole the watch from. They're Time Masters and...they have eyes all over the timeline. I knew that time travelling here would get me into some trouble, but I figured I'd have more time to finish things...but Barry time travelling in the same period I did, so close to the date I first arrived...they're coming for me, quicker now."

"Then we'll stop them," Belén said matter-of-factly, but Graciela shook her head.

"No, we're focusing on Savage. I want him dead by tonight."

"But if you're head's not in the right place, we won't be able to do that," Barry said, knowing exactly where he spoke from.

"I know," Graciela agreed. She took in a deep breath and used it to relax herself as much as she could. "I read about Savage's staff in the future. There were rumors that the timeline had been rewritten several times because he did the same trick. The Time Masters...they're very good when they want to be. They've restored the timeline, but...we can't let Savage do that again. For the sake of my home, and yours, he needs to die tonight."

"And I think I know how to make that happen," Kendra strode into the house with a new sense of confidence. Cisco seemed pretty happy as well, indicating his talk with her had gone well.

"I'm all ears," Graciela leaned off the table.

Kendra made sure the rest of the group were in the room so that she could explain herself. "I remembered how Savage killed us the first time back in Egypt. These sky rocks-meteors- they fell and they completely destroyed the royal palace."

"During the Middle Kingdom, Egypt experienced a high level of meteorite activity," Felicity recalled from her vast knowledge.

"That can be the calamity Professor Boardman was referencing in the tape," Caitlin realized quick.

"It makes sense," Kendra agreed. "The meteors, they had a glow about them. And Savage's staff had two gemstones with the exact same glow."

"So the gemstones might be made up of the same element as the meteorite," Barry made the connection as well. "That could be why the gauntlets didn't work the first time."

"Yeah, the gemstones might be made up of the same element as the meteorite. The Egyptians would use meteorite in their craftsmanship. And the minerals glow in proximity to each other," Cisco suddenly grinned when he got to add, "Like Sankara Stones."

"Oh, wait, the Indiana Jones reference is the only thing I understood," Thea looked to someone for help.

"Two pieces of the same meteorite, that is the key to counteracting the staff," Belén was proud to say that she understood.

Laurel got on her laptop fast when she remembered something about meteorites from their previous research on Egypt and Savage. "Look, there's there's a sample of the meteorite from the Middle Kingdom at the Keystone City Museum of Natural…"

But Barry took off without another word, leaving a wind trail behind him. He returned two seconds later with the meteorite in hand. "Got it!"

Cisco snatched it from his hand, gingerly holding it while he examined it. "I could synthesize the compatible isotope out of this and coat the gauntlets with it."

"That I did not understand," Belén mumbled to Thea who agreed with a hum.

"This can work," Graciela said with a newfound confidence. It was good because she knew by this time she was reaching high on the Time Master's priority list.

"It will," Oliver agreed. "Everyone else: suit up."

~ 0 ~

Like before, Savage was waiting for the group to arrive at the agreed place. However this time, everyone was ready for the 'trade off'.

"It's wonderful to see you again, my love," he said for Kendra, who shivered in disgust.

"I will never be your love."

"I know. That always makes this easier. Chay-Ara...parting is such sweet sorrow-"

But Kendra could not wait for him to finish. Oliver drew an arrow and shot the knife right out of Savage's hand.

Kendra immediately followed with her wings, and perhaps a hawk scream. She took Savage into her arms and pulled him into the air before dumping him on the ground. A black van screeched as it made its entrance into the building, making a quick swerve so that it's trunk faced the fight.

As soon as its doors flung open, the Black Canary's sonic scream filled the room. It forced Savage to stop fighting against Kendra and Carter for a second and fight off the sound waves.

It was then that Belén flung a vine and forced the staff out of Savage's hand. He growled and turned to retrieve it but Graciela delivered a consecutive wave of energy beams. Despite Savage's attempts to fight off the energy, he couldn't break free of the others' combats. It gave Barry the perfect shot to retrieve the staff from where it landed.

"Get clear!" he ordered. The group jumped out of the way just as he ignored the staff with the gauntlets. Savage was hit with the force of power, but it wasn't enough yet to take him down. He fought it with his bare hands.

Oliver joined Barry and together held the staff, hoping that between them it would be enough to stand against Savage. The others encircled the procession in case anything went wrong...but to their fortune...it didn't. The staff erupted with a new force of energy and burned Savage to ash.

Before Barry and Oliver knew it, the staff was no longer in their hands. It had disappeared.

"Did we do it? Is he gone?" Thea stared at the ash as if Savage was reform any second.

"Grace?" Belén nicknamed the woman without even noticing.

"I don't know, it's never happened…" Graciela admitted and turned her attention to Kendra and Carter for some additional help.

But like her, they were at a loss of words.

~0~

It was a beautiful day at Central City, especially when it was rid of villainous immortal beings.

"One Java chip and caramel macchiato for Belén!" a Jitters barista called as she pushed two coffee cups down the counter.

Belén was there to pick them up and return to the group waiting by the doors with their own drinks.

"Thanks," Graciela took her Java chip and took a moment to smell the sweet chocolatey scent. "Mmm, we don't have that smell at home anymore."

"Hopefully now you do," Kendra smiled, knowing Graciela was getting ready to return to the future.

"We'll see," Graciela raised her cup in the air before taking a sip. She moaned as she tasted the delicious drink. "Oh my God this is good!"

"So how do you feel now that Savage is pushing daisies?" Cisco asked Kendra and Carter once they were outside. "Does this mean you guys are the immortal ones now and he's the one who gets reincarnated? 'Cause that would suck."

"I just sprouted wings a few days ago, and I'm just trying to wrap my head around that," Kendra said, really just taking step by step.

"He does raise a good point, though," Barry admitted. It'd been the question they couldn't answer since last night. "Savage is gone for good now, right?"

"I don't know. We never defeated him before," Carter paused to think about something else they hadn't yet. "But we're free." Kendra agreed and hugged him.

"Ugh, get a room," Cisco muttered. Belén partes his back comfortingly, knowing he was doing his best to keep his feelings out of this.

"You finally have the rest of your lives in front of you. Have you thought about what you're going to do?" asked Oliver.

"Carter says in our past lives, we used to help people. And after everything you guys have done for me, I think I should give that a try," Kendra said with a sense of determination.

"You make it sound like this try is happening somewhere else," Belén noted, feeling worse for Cisco.

"In our prior incarnation, we used to live in St. Roch, and we really liked it there," Carter looked at Kendra, but she was already gazing at Cisco.

"Could Cisco and I have a moment?" she asked softly.

"Of course," Carter was the one to say and led the way away.

Graciela ominously checked her time watch and saw a red dot blinking on the screen. She quietly cleared her throat and took another sip of her coffee.

"Hey Grace - sorry," Belén has caught herself before and she hated that she kept doing it.

"It's fine," Graciela smiled. "I kinda like it."

"I was just going to ask...about that place you talked about before?" Belén awkwardly smiled. "The Green?"

"Right," Graciela released a breath, giving the wrong indication that she didn't want to go further on that subject.

"I mean I totally understand if you're trying to keep the timeline in tact and all...we don't have to-"

"-no, we can," Graciela looked at the whole group with a smirk. "It's not like I was one for keeping it intact, right?"

"Still…"

"Look, Belén, I'm not an expert on the Green. I just read about it, from your article I'll remind, and there's always rumors about it. Every botanical metahuman has a connection to that place."

"How do you get there, though?"

"You command it with the mind but you physically go in," Graciela shrugged. "I think it's just up to you to access it."

"Oh, well, that should be easy," Belén sighed.

Barry placed a hand on her shoulder. "And she'll get it. Because she always does."

"Thanks for the support," Belén languidly said and drank dejectedly from her coffee.

"So what are you going to do now?" Oliver inquired from Graciela. "Go back home? Or…"

Graciela didn't tell them she heard the alert on her watch getting louder, they'd soon see for themselves. "Home. I don't belong in this time and...I knew what was going to happen when I stole the time watch."

"About that..." Barry was cautious in how he spoke about the matter, "...the people you stole it from...are they going to be okay with that? I mean, you said your friend, right?"

"I don't regret it," Graciela reiterated, though now she was looking past the two metas. They, along with Oliver, followed her gaze to see a portal opening and letting in a group of uniformed men and women.

"Who are they?" Oliver narrowed his eyes on what he perceived as the threat.

"The Time Masters, coming to collect their prisoner," Graciela drank the last of her coffee and dumped it into the trash bin behind her.

"Graciela Haynez," a man from the group called as he led the way. "You are under arrest for theft and illegal time traveling." Just as Graciela was raising her hands, the man yanked her arms harshly and turned her around to cuff her from behind.

"What are you doing to her?" demanded Barry, ready to step forwards when Graciela called for them to stay still.

"It's okay! Don't do anything!" she faced the man that shot her with a glower. "It was worth it. The Time Masters' organization is a sham. It's full of convenience."

"And yet you fraternize with two of ours," the man behind her made sure to say loudly, as if it would shame her into silence. "You calling them fake as well?"

Graciela rolled her eyes. "They're my friends, and they're genuine, but they don't have the power to change the entire system. So I took it into my own hands. And now I'm ready to face the consequences."

"Graciela Haynez, ," the man pushed her to turn for the portal, but she fought to turn around and face him. "You have changed the timelines without consent-"

"-I don't care!" she snapped and smacked his chest with her shoulder.

"You also have murder on your tracklist, according to London's authorities-"

"-and!?"

"Barry, they're hurting her!" Belén attempted to move but Barry and even Oliver held onto each of her arms.

"She said not to," Oliver reminded, but it was hard to watch knowing how it was going to end.

The group had moved in on Graciela, each attempting to subdue her. Despite being cuffed, Graciela did put up a fight.

"I'm not resisting! I just want to say goodbye!" she yelled frantically. "That's my legal right, isn't it? Or has your corrupted system taken that out as well?"

The Time Masters seemed unsure and looked to their leader for a command. The leader, in turn, noticed the people around them starting to stare. He gave a nod for them to pick Graciela up and give her what she wanted. Once she was back on her feet, two of them held her arms and walked her up to the trio.

"What's going to happen to you?" Belén asked, her eyes flickering to the dangerous-looking people behind Graciela.

Graciela shrugged, returning to normal within the second as if things weren't going down like this. "I'm going to jail."

"And you say it just like that?"

"Because that's what she was always going to do," Oliver realized,

Belén whipped her head in his direction. "What?"

"He's right," Graciela nodded. "It was the plan. I said it."

"But why?" Belén found herself asking. And to be fair, it was a good question. Graciela had the means to run and hide after all. "That watch can take you anywhere."

"I also said I stole it from a friend that I...deeply care about," Graciela's eyes lowered for a minute. It gave enough indication of just how much she cared for this friend. "If I know this... organization enough, then I know they're probably dragging him through the mud thinking he gave me the watch in secret."

"You're clearing his name by putting yourself in jail," Barry nodded.

"I love him. I can't do that to him," Graciela nodded to herself. She would never openly admit that but she wasn't ever going to see any of these people again. "He's one of the two who are honestly trying to help people, unlike this lot."

"Will we ever see you again?" Belén assumed she knew the answer, but she had to try.

Graciela shook her head. "Probably not. But it was really cool meeting you guys." A big grin came to her face. "I always read about the metas from the 21st century. I think you guys are the most famous, honestly. The Azalea, the Flash and the Arrow - not to mention Supergirl and Solar? You guys are awesome. And for a crook like me to actually get to fight alongside you guys...it gives hope that maybe one day a new Jinx might take up the mantle and do some good."

"Let's go," called the leader.

"Bye guys," Graciela offered a smile before she was forced to turn around.

"No, wait!" Belén called but it was too late.

Graciela was forced through the portal with all the Time Masters around her as if she would escape. In two seconds she was gone with no trace after her. It was as if things never happened.

~0~

After saying goodbye to everyone else, and boy was it a decent amount of people, Belén was ready to return home. Home sweet home. But after such an intense two days, it was a bit difficult to unwind and just...be normal again.

"Not hungry?" Barry asked two times before Belén finally heard him. They were at her apartment, attempting to have a normal dinner that night. Things weren't going that well.

Belén stopped picking at her plate and put her fork down. "Sorry. I'm tired...and I just can't stop thinking about…"

"Grace?" Barry finished for her and got a nod from her.

"It's too bad her nickname caught on after she got sent to jail," Belén sighed and pushed her plate away. "I'm sorry. Thanks for dinner but I'm not very hungry."

"Yeah, I see that," Barry got up from his seat and moved to Belén's chair. He held his hand out for her and pulled her up from her seat. "And I'm sorry I can't do anything to help you."

"I'm not the one that needs help," Belén pointed out. "It's Graciela. I mean, she helped us take down Vandal Savage and what's her prize? Jail."

"Belén, she stole a time watch and she time traveled illegally. Those are crimes in her time," Barry sighed. "I mean I know I should look at who's talking, but…"

"I know," Belén nodded, but it didn't make it easy to deal with. "I just think it's not fair."

Barry took her to the living room and sat down on the couch. He gently pulled her body onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her.

"Kind of puts our morals into question, doesn't it?" Belén rested her head over his shoulder. Her light breathing tickled Barry's neck. "She did a bad thing to do a good thing. And from what I got, she used to do bad things but she turned a new leaf. I hope she's being treated decently."

"Mhm," Barry pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Belén let a few minutes pass in silence. Her body was tired, as was her mind in general. She felt so comfortable with Barry right now, she didn't want it to end. "Hey Barry, can you stay tonight?" she picked her head up and brought a hand to his shoulder.

Barry didn't want to say it out loud but staying overnight was something they both needed. She died in an alternate timeline, after all. The burning blue behind him wasn't something he could forget so easily.

"Just...to sleep, just sleeping," Belén said after a minute passed without Barry's response. They hadn't really stayed in the same bedroom since they fought the Reverse Flash, but even then it'd only been to sleep, nothing more.

Barry felt his face warm up but he quickly nodded in an attempt to hide it. "Yeah, of course. Just to sleep. Sleeping is good. Good, good, good…"

A smile came to Belén's face, as well as a light chuckle. "Thanks. I love you."

"I love you too," Barry smiled with her. He tucked some of her hair behind her ear and kissed her.

~0~

Graciela was pushed down into a rusty, metal chair of an interrogation room. Her wrists were forced down on the table and kept there like magnets.

"Do we really have to go through this when I am pleading guilty?" she raised an eyebrow at the Time Master in front of her. "I just needed a chance to clear up any mistakes in your file."

"We already know what happened," the man said matter-of-factly. "The Time watch in your possession belonged to our fellow Time Master, Rip Hunter. Question is, how'd you convince him to hand it to you?"

Graciela didn't know whether to laugh at how ridiculous that was, or cry out of frustration that she had to once again repeat her entire guilty plead. "You're kidding right? I thought of a plan and I executed it on my own. Rip didn't have anything to do with this and the idea that he willingly gave up his watch is laughable." The Time Master stared long and hard at her while he deduced whether or not she was being honest. Graciela just smirked in the end because no matter much trouble she was in, it was damn worth it. "I did what you all wouldn't. A Jinx might have saved the world. Vandal Savage is dead."

The man across her did not seemed fazed. "Is he, though?"

Graciela's smirk faltered. "What?"

"Vandal Savage is crucial to our timeline, to our world. You cannot kill him."

By now, Graciela's smirk was gone. "What - what are you talking about?"

"He will live, because he is meant to." The Time Master snapped his fingers and the interrogation room door opened. "Because this is only the beginning of things. You did exactly what you were supposed to do, what we saw you doing."

"You don't - you can't say that! He's dead!" Graciela started pulling at her wrist binds, essentially pulling at the table. "He's dead!"

"He lives," the man reiterated with such confidence it rocked Graciela to the core.

"NO!" she started screaming when two men entered the room to unbind her from the table to take her away. "STOP! HE CAN'T LIVE! Not after what we did! STOOOP!"

Her echoes carried out even as she was dragged away.

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #the flash #legends of tomorrow #the flash fics #the flash imagines #fd: the flash #lot #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Graciela Haynez #oc: the azalea #oc: the Jinx #fic: rise up #fic: redemption

10 notes · View notes

imjeralee · 4 years ago

Text

Comfort in Despair: Chapter 25 - The Exorcist

Leon x F!Reader

Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon

Summary:

Galar is rich in folklore and tales of the supernatural.

As a Pokemon Researcher who specialises in ghost types, this is a great opportunity for you to investigate and learn more about the paranormal.

Along the way, you meet Leon (in the most awkward way possible) who becomes embroiled in your adventures.

^ Basically this story is about ghosts :/

NOTE: ok so Genshin Impact has consumed my soul and I updated this on Tumblr a bit late sorry!!! There’s several warnings here to be shared with you all:

WARNING 1 - this chapter contains a real exorcism prayer and you should not read this prayer out loud unless you are a catholic priest.

WARNING 2 - I've never used an ouija board and I don’t plan to. You’re welcome to share with me your ouija board stories if you have tried one before but I myself don't know if they're just board games or really a gateway to let things in. Anyway people say exercise with caution so please do so should you ever decide to use one for whatever reason.

WARNING 3 - there is mention of blood, I toned down the exorcism here

Rating: General/Teen

@marydragneell here is the latest update

The Exorcist

…

[Legend of the Void:

(Ezra's version, which introduces concepts such as the merging of two universes to explain the origins of man + pokemon subservience to humans)

Before the concept of time existed, before anything existed, there was Something, and you may as well say this 'something' was a god, a divine being or interdimensional entity, and this entity created a Universe under the right circumstances and conditions, and he would proceed to create humans.

And for a while, the Creator of Man was happy until he saw the evil ways of humanity and he saw this evil run rampant in his world. Regretful and upset, he decided to destroy the very thing he created with a flood.

However, the Creator of Man didn't choose to restore this world. After he destroyed it, he left and found another Universe - a Universe that was similar to his own, except it was inhabited by strange creatures which we know as pokemon. Now they already had a creator, and their creator was called Arceus, who emerged from a void after our Creator did. And our Creator saw that this Universe was just as peaceful and beautiful as his previous one.

He decided to give his creations a second chance so he made humans all over again and placed them in this world. But mankind are a destructive species, the human heart is filled with evil intention and it always will be, and the humans began creating devices to enslave the pokemon race in order to utilise them as tools.

My notes: According to the Church of Circhester, this 'version' is completely unorthodox. It is 'baseless fabrication and blasphemy' and Ezra was condemned as a misanthrope.

Sometimes I wonder where Ezra gets his theories from because this is highly controversial. It's fascinating that to this day and age, scientists are actually still trying to figure who caught the first pokemon, what was the first pokemon caught, and why (ie, how did early humans gain this knowledge, who told them and/or did anyone tell them, what prompted them to capture a pokemon?), and how did they manage to do so in the first place.

Could the discovery of catching pokemon be similar to coincidences that happened throughout history, such as how cavemen discovered fire, how Newton discovered gravity?

(edit: there is a myth that Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. For his transgression, he was to undergo eternal torment as punishment - ie, bound to a rock and have his liver eaten out everyday, only for it to re-grow hence an ongoing cycle. He was freed by the hero, Heracles).

Interestingly enough, flood myth also exists in many cultures albeit with different variations (pls refer to: The Epic of Gilgamesh).

Also, I'm pretty sure Team Plasma advocated that pokemon were oppressed and should be liberated from their trainers but then again they were also being led by a psychopath with his own selfish motives.]

…

A few years ago.

The weather is thunder and lightning, coupled with intense spitting rain.

And he was sure he locked the cemetery gates before he left but now they were hanging loosely from the chain.

Ezra grumbles to himself, eyes narrowing.

It can only mean one thing: an intruder.

The rickety gates squeal on their old hinges as he pushes them open and steps inside. His heavy footsteps plod through the old, withered path of Greyson’s cemetery as he heads for the mausoleum. That’s usually where they are.

Absol trots beside him, her jaws clamped over the tarnished iron handle of an old lantern; she keeps it dangling in front of her, lighting up the path though it’s not much use to him. He lives in a world of darkness, and he's used to it.

It should have been a normal night, which would have been nice because he wanted some peace and quiet for a change considering how busy he had been for the past few weeks. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts and he wanted to enjoy a pack of beer and cigarettes.

Not tonight, it seems.

He will tell those pesky young lads to go play elsewhere.

But wait, it’s something else.

Absol has been somewhat agitated the moment they approach the cemetery, but now she cannot stop growling.

“What is it?” he asks, but it doesn’t take too long to figure out what it is. “Goddamnit.”

This is just what he needed.

He delves a hand into his pocket and whips out a thin strip of paper covered in sprawling red symbols. Bringing it to his lips, he murmurs a quick enchantment under his breath before it bursts into flames and a smoky smell permeates the air. A bright, glowing light illuminates the symbols and he promptly tosses it high into the air.

Despite the wind, it flutters limply in the breeze for a second and then the impossible happens; the glowing symbols daintily lift themselves off the surface and float in the sky. They thoroughly increase in size, the symbols imprinting the air before they vanish into wisps of smoke.

The talisman proceeds to burn up and all that is left is a crinkly ball of fire which bursts into long and thin lines of flames that zips effortlessly through the air and stretches all the way past the graveyard’s borders.

“That should do it,” Ezra murmurs before he rubs at his aching hip. “C'mon, let’s go.”

He wanders further into the graveyard with his pokemon, pondering to himself what he might find though he is aware the answer to that is essentially nothing remotely good and along the way, a few ghost pokemon emerge from the tombstones and watch them worriedly.

They’re aware of the disturbance tonight but can do little to stop it, unfortunately as it requires human intervention, and is literally out of this world.

A few Haunters point him to the right direction but he doesn’t need their help because he can sense where this unwanted and hauntingly powerful presence is. He may have lived in darkness for a long time but he can see it as clear as day: a twisting, coiling mass filled with nothing but malice.

It is also not alone for Ezra can also sense another human being; a warm and kind but very tired and exasperated soul, about to be devoured.

He hopes they’re not too late and Absol leaves his side and he can hear her padded paws bounding away from him against the pebbly path; she leaps off the ground and snaps her jaws at this person.

There is a brief howl and something weighty slams over the ground.

Absol has subdued the culprit.

Ezra arrives and his hip is still acting up but nevertheless, he limps over and he sees this little warm and pure soul squirming helplessly on the ground as it is slowly being enveloped by the dark presence.

Whoever it is, they cannot even speak, reduced to a gurgling, rasping mess.

He uses his foot to nudge at this poor, unfortunate individual that is writhing helplessly on the floor of his cemetery though he knocks over this thick, wooden plate of some sorts at the same time and there is the sound of a glass rolling.

An Ouija board.

“Help!” a girl screams. “Oh god! Help- aaaghh!”

Morbid wailing follows as she’s forced to contort under the demon’s influence and a few bones snap and she begins crying but the sound lodges in her mouth and she emits a guttural rasp, her throat rattling violently.

The old ex-priest grabs a talisman from his pocket and smacks it over her forehead which ceases her violent fits for temporary.

“Hey, kid. Sit tight, I’m gonna get it out, you hear me?”

“O-okay!” she squeaks, and though he’s surprised she can even respond, she returns to the incoherent snarling and growling. As he tries to grab her, she makes several routine attempts to bite him.

Avoiding her as much as possible, Ezra bends down and lifts her into his arms with the help of his pokemon who helps nudge her into his arms.

“Steady now,” he says as he carries her into the mausoleum, which isn’t too far ahead.

He hears her croaking and choking, fighting the entity within as he settles her into the huge stone chair inside. Absol closes the door behind them and then trots over with a thick coil of rope which she collects from one corner.

He thanks her and begins strapping the girl carefully and securely into the chair with rope, keeping her wrists and ankles bound as she kicks and flails, hurling curses and obscenities at him, screaming and roaring and shrieking in a feral manner.

His pokemon stands watch as the girl starts slamming the back of her head against the stone, growling raucously.

But Ezra remains calm and lights various rows of candles that line the walls, pulls his silver cross out and clutches it tightly in his old hands and kneels in front of the altar, his weak knees hitting the dirt. Since his vision failed him, he hasn’t moved the statue or the water trough anywhere else.

He chants a prayer under his breath and dips his fingers into the water. God bless him. God save her soul. He does the sign of the cross and then heads over to the duo and blesses his pokemon as well, which she appreciates by purring affectionately.

Grabbing an old brush, he dips it into a bucket of old red paint in the corner and begins painting a sigil on the ground as quickly as he can around the chair.

Once he’s finished, he dumps the brush to the side. He moved to stand in front of the girl who has ceased her wild shrieking in favour of hissing spitefully at him.

“Be silent,” Ezra commands in a loud, booming voice, before he tosses some of the water over her.

And so it begins.

“In nómine Pátris, et Fílii, et Spirítus Sancti. Amen,” Ezra chants with his silver cross in hand which he proceeds to thrust in front of her face, “Exsúrgat Deus et dissipéntur inimíci ejus: et fúgiant qui odérunt eum a fácie ejus. Sicut déficit fumus defíciant; sicut fluit cera a fácie ígnis.”

Outside, the muffled clap of overhead thunder can be heard, the wind howling.

He continues, “Sic péreant peccatóres a fácie Dei-“

“If you think that will stop me, you’re wrong," says a deep voice.

Dabbing his entire hand into the trough of holy water, Ezra steps forward and smears it all over her forehead before he presses the rest of his palm firmly into her face. The demon shrieks and withdraws.

That’s what you get for interrupting me, Ezra thinks to himself but ultimately cannot say aloud: he must continue the exorcism prayer regardless of how long it could take.

“Júdica Dómine nocéntes me; expúgna impugnántes me. Confundántur et revereántur quaeréntes ánimam meam,” he murmurs, “Avertántur retrórsum et confundántur, cogitántes míhi mála. Fíant táamquam púlvis ante fáciem vénti: et Ángelus Dómini coárctans eos.”

The door suddenly flies open and the brutal, icy wind swirls inside, wiping out all the flames of the candles in a split second. Absol glances around in high alert but Ezra remains still. Raindrops batter his back as the door slams in its frame repeatedly.

The walls tremble from several wicked blows as though an unseen assailant is rampaging outside, circling the mausoleum whilst repeatedly slamming a hammer against the stone, yet Ezra remains calm.

“Fiat via illórum ténebrae, et lúbricum: et Ángelus Dómini pérsequens eos. Quóniam grátis abscondérunt míhi intéritum láquei sui: supervácue exprobravérunt ánimam meam.”

Realising the priest is undeterred, the monster unleashes an unearthly howl and a glass shatters somewhere. It’s bellows and roars reverberate throughout the walls and resonates thoroughly in Ezra’s ears.

Since he lost his sight, his hearing amplified; the shrill sounds of nails scraping against the stone and the chaotic tugging of the rope rises to inescapable volumes as the demon furiously struggles against its bonds.

Ezra continues his prayer, “Véniat illi láqueus quem ignórat; et cáptio quam abscóndit, aprehéndat eum: et in láqueum cádat in ipsum-”

He briefly picks up the coppery stench of blood and very soon, a wet substance splatters over his lips and cheeks and eyelids. It laughs, and another splodge hits the side of his ear.

Raising a hand, Ezra wordlessly smothers the blood away with the back of his hand. “Ánima áutem mea exsultábit in Dómino: et delectábitur super salutári suo. Glória Pátri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.”

Then he presses his cross over the demon’s head, forcing it to shriek uncontrollably. It kicks and screams, quaking fiercely against the restraints. He applies more pressure, the cross is warm under his grip and steadily growing hotter.

To his utmost surprise, the little warm light he had seen earlier is beginning to return and it is fighting back, growing larger and larger as the seconds pass.

“Come on, kid, I know you’re still in there. You can do it!” he yells.

She keeps growling and snarling, foaming at the mouth. Gnashing her teeth repeatedly, she emits a deranged howl, struggling viciously to reach him.

“Come on! Fight it!”

The walls of the mausoleum quake violently, the ground underneath his very feet trembles. Absol starts growling, leaping around in alarm.

Ezra listens to the excruciating sound of cords straining and eventually coming undone; her fist shoots out and her fingers, sharp as claws, stabs into his gut, and twists.

He grunts with pain, but does not let go.

Easing his other hand into his pockets, he pulls out another talisman; it glows faintly from the enchantment which he promptly slaps over her forehead and with a powerful bark of “Relinquo!", a dark shadow shoots out from her body and into the air with a bloodcurdling shriek.

Freed at last, the girl keels over, her head dipped low, blood gushing from her mouth.

And Ezra stumbles backwards, lifting a bleeding hand off his stomach. He sighs heavily before he feels his head growing light, his body weightless, and he promptly collapses over the floor.

…

When he wakes up, he can feel warmth all around.

He is lying on something soft.

A bed.

He has not slept in a bed for a long time.

It smells like lavender and jasmine.

He despises it.

"You're awake!" exclaims a voice.

It's the girl from the cemetery.

Purring sounds can be heard near his bed and he reaches over; a fluffy head affectionately plops itself under his palm and rubs itself against his callused skin. Ezra grunts under his breath, groaning as he shuffles around under the blanket and attempts to reach for her, though his limbs are weary.

“Cassie,” he utters, and Absol climbs onto the bed, sprawling over him. He gently pats her head and strokes her snowy white fur.

The room is silent until he hears the legs of a chair screeching against the floor and the girl does her best to quietly leave the room. She returns in roughly half an hour however, after he’s had a check-up.

By then, he’s exhausted and wants to rest.

He hears the door squeaking open and she pokes her head in, then steps inside the room and closes the door behind her.

“What are you doing here?" he asks tiredly.

"I needed to see that you'd be okay," she says, "I thought you were dead. I'm…I’m really sorry."

"It'll take more than that to kill me."

"Thank you for saving my life."

"As long as I'm around, nothing's gonna happen to you, kid."

"Thank you, sir. Um...Can I ask you a question?"

"About what?"

"About the...demon.”

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything. I want to know if it was the one who took my sister and my father. And if it was, I want to know why it did it and I want to get them back."

“Listen, kid. Don't dabble in stuff you don't understand, especially this."

"I know and I'm so, so sorry. But…can you teach me?"

His unfazed expression doesn't change.

"Please teach me.”

He hears the chair legs squeaking again coupled with a lot of fumbling; she’s flat on the ground before him on her hands and knees. How troublesome, he thinks to himself with a sigh.

"You want to learn how to exorcise demons?" he grunts.

"Yes."

“You?”

“Yeah.”

Utterly astounded, he takes a while to reply and rubs the back of his neck. "Do you hear the kind of stuff that is coming out of your mouth right now?" he growls and she looks up, confused. "You're saying something along the lines of 'I want to destroy a creation of the universe'. Do you know how impossible and crazy that sounds? Do you?"

"A creation of the universe? Are you talking about Arceus? Why would Arceus create something like that…do you mean it’s an undiscovered pokemon of undiscovered type???”

“Hell no. Goddamnit, kid, I mean it came before Arceus.”

“What do you mean, ‘before Arceus’? Arceus came from an egg and before the egg, it was a void of nothingness-“

He sighs heavily. “There was something before Arceus, before the void. You always explain one event as being created by some earlier event, right? So before Arceus, there was some kind of infinite period where time did not exist but during this period, there was something there…do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

“…Not really.”

“Exactly. You’re obviously still in shock and speaking nonsense. Go home, kid. Go back to your family.”

Yawning loudly, he pulls the blanket closer over his body and turns round in his warm and cosy bed, his back to her. He’s careful not to lie on his stomach though.

"But I'm serious," she says.

"So am I," he replies.

...

After he’s fully healed and discharged, he returns to the cemetery; the Corviknight taxi drops him off a few metres away and he taps his way across the Wild Area with Absol and his cane.

When he arrives, he realises the girl is also here.

At first, he ignored her and let her be. He did his daily caretaker duties, watering the plants, pulling weeds and sweeping the tombs.

He didn't know what she was doing here - she probably observed his daily regime - and one day she brought some cleaning supplies with her and began assisting him with the upkeep of the cemetery, especially with some of the heavy lifting.

Today, he’s forcibly awoken when he hears her sweeping the area around the mausoleum and shoving dust everywhere and he grumbles sourly under his breath. He had already told her a few times to go home but she keeps coming back. She keeps coming back to clean, to lurk around the graveyard, to help him.

“Stop that,” he snaps at her, “you’re disturbing them, and I already swept it yesterday.”

She stops dusting at some tombstones. “Sorry, I thought-”

Ezra grumbles, scrubbing at his mangy face with a dirty palm. Reaching for a beer by his calf, he grasps blindly for the can and lifts it to his mouth, downing a sip. “Get over here, kid.”

He hears her stepping towards him and he glances up, looking at this annoyingly bright light before him.

“You really wanna learn that badly, huh?”

“Yes, sir.”

“No need to be so formal, my name is Ezra.” With a heavy sigh, he dusts himself down and stands up, using his cane to support himself. “And I am…or was, the pastor of the Church of Circhester. I was also a member of the International Association of Exorcists. Do you understand who and what you’re dealing with?”

“Yes, sir – I mean, Ezra.”

“Now, tell me who you are and why I should teach you.”

He hears this little gasp of awe before she tells him her predicament. She tells him her name, who she is, where she came from, how old she is.

She rambles at some point and he has to occasionally steer her towards the focal details and periodically, she’ll become flustered, especially when speaking about the night when she saw her father and sister devoured by a Dusknoir. Once she’s finished recounting her tale, he nods.

“It was a demon, right?” she says, though she sounds unsure.

“Probably. Didn't your family have any pokemon?"

"...Sableye and Haunter went missing, and Cutiefly and Sinistea were in PC boxes," she says, "Please teach me. I want to learn."

He studies her quietly, then holds his index finger up in the air. “Fine, but I must warn you: my teachings are difficult and I’ve had several idiots coming up to me just like how you did and they’ve all failed-”

“I'm not an idiot and I won’t fail you.”

“-Yeah, let’s see about that, kid.” Holding up two fingers now, “Second, if I’m to teach you, I want you to swear to me you will take no retribution against Dusknoir. I don’t mind if you want to research one or whatever, but do not take your grudge with the pokemon. It’s nothing to do with it.”

“I understand.”

He moves on to hold up three fingers. “Third, that being said, you cannot use what you learned to harm humans or pokemon in any way. You must use it for good. I can tell you have a gift and under my guidance and training, I believe you will reach your full potential.”

“Okay.”

“Four, I will teach you with the utmost effort and I also expect to receive full commitment from yourself. I will not make do with time-wasters or mediocrity. Do you understand?”

“Yeah.”

“And lastly, promise me you will not in either way, attempt to summon entities for any reason. Do not use Ouija boards, do not dabble in sacrifice, do not try to open any portals. Hell, do not attempt any of those things.”

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.”

“Now, some of my teachings are limited. I can teach you how to protect yourself and protect others. Are you happy with this, knowing that there are limitations as to what I can teach you?”

“Yes, I am.”

Ezra studies her again before he nods to himself.

He’s said quite a lot but he knows she understands. “Good,” he murmurs.

“So…when do we start?”

“We start now.”

He disappears inside the mausoleum and re-emerges with a dirty rucksack; he pulls out a tattered old journal along with an old, portable cassette player which he hands to her.

“Your first task is to read this and listen to the tapes. Learn the symbols, learn the prayers. Come back whenever you’re ready and show me what you got.”

“Got it.”

She comes back in five days, which was a lot earlier than he had expected considering his previous ‘disciples’ either came back in a week or two, and some barely returned in person, opting to hand his book and tape back by leaving it at the gates.

He hears her approaching and sits up whilst Absol sleeps in a corner, and she says, “I finished it.”

“What did you think?”

“It was interesting.“

“...You didn’t think it was disturbing?”

“No.”

There is a brief silence.

“Hm…not sure if that’s a good or bad thing,” he murmurs under his breath.

The tapes were full of recorded exorcisms, consisting of unearthly screaming, howling and shrieking courtesy of the victims.

He says, “Recite Saint Michael’s prayer to me.”

She does so, with almost near-perfect pronunciation.

Ezra listens intently and nods when she’s finished. “Not bad. Now let’s hear Signum Crucis.”

“In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancta-“

“Sancti,” he corrects her.

“Sancti,” she repeats.

“Not bad. Again.”

She recites the short prayer once more, this time with no errors.

“Gloria Patri,” he grunts out next, grabbing his beer and flipping the lid off.

And they continue going through some prayers until it’s almost sunset and she’s a little exhausted and he’s finished his pack of beer.

“You did well, kid. Come back tomorrow.”

“Really???”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you!!”

“Don’t thank me yet. I’ll be testing you on the symbols and their meanings. Then there’s a final test.”

“Okay!” she exclaims excitedly, and after exchanging some short words, she bids him farewell and he hears her leaving, her footsteps echoing loudly in the quiet graveyard.

The next day, she returns and passes the symbols assessment with flying colours as he had expected considering how quickly she’d picked up the Latin prayers.

And the next day after that, he teaches her how to use talismans.

As the weeks roll by, he continuously subjects her to tests on latin prayers and symbology. Then he teaches her some blood magic.

Soon, weeks turns to months, and she’s picked up a lot of his teachings in a short period of time, which impresses him greatly.

She begins to accompany him on exorcisms which undoubtedly at the beginning, does disturb her a little but the more she sat in and watched (and sometimes assisted with), the more she began to see such things as a normality and he also allows her to work on her own cases albeit under some guidance.

Before he knows it, he has transformed this little girl into an exorcist.

“Well done, kid. You’ve exceeded all my expectations. I’m proud of you," he says with a nod of his head.

She cheers, but then remembering her tutelage, she bows deeply with gratitude, eyes closed. “Thank you, Ezra. I wouldn’t be where I am now if it weren’t for you,” she replies, “what’s the final test?”

“Final test?”

“Yeah, you mentioned it a while ago.”

“….Hm, so I did,” he says, before he gets off the steps, dusting at his palms and weak knees. “Let me show you something. Come on, Absol.”

He motions her to follow him and he heads to two marked graves near a statue of a weeping angel which is covered in a sparse layer of moss.

She joins his side and she scans the names etched on the stone. One name in particular stands out. “Cassie??” she murmurs, before she casts a glance to the pokemon that stands by his side.

Absol looks up, and regards her with its steely blue eyes.

“My wife and daughter,” Ezra murmurs, his white gaze staring emptily into space. “This is a dark path. There will always be death. This is my final warning to you: if you choose to walk this path, be prepared to lose everything. Is this something you can do?”

There is a brief silence until she says, “Yes.”

Ezra hesitates; she observes him for any noticeable reaction but he is immobile, standing stiffly with his hands clasped together in front of him.

“...Very well," he utters. "Come with me.”

“Where to?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

He hasn’t left the cemetery other for reasons than to go to the soup kitchen or to buy his beer and cigarettes, so he asks her to call for a Corviknight taxi since he doesn’t have a Rotom phone.

When the taxi arrives, he asks the driver to take them to the Dusty Bowl and they’re dropped off at the outskirts.

“Why are we here?” she asks, but he ignores her and begins to head for the desolate path.

She trails after him and despite being blind, she’s stunned to see that he seems to be aware a great deal of where he’s going. A sandstorm begins to rage but Ezra is unaffected and continues to wander down the plains, using his cane to avoid any obstacles such as rocks, trees or tall grass. Whilst she tries to cover her eyes, blinking through sand and grit, she helps him along the way of course, but he doesn’t seem to require her assistance at all.

Occasionally, wild pokemon will peek at them from behind the dry and crusty grass but they don’t dare to approach.

She glances around with much wariness as he leads her further and further away from the winding path, the barren wastelands, the dead trees and soon, he has led her into oblivion.

The sandstorm worsens and as she looks left, right and up, she cannot see a single damn thing in front of her; if she did not keep her gaze pinned on the ghostly silhouette of her mentor tottering in front of her a short feet away, she was certain she would have lost her way.

“Ezra, be careful!” she yells above the loud winds and the whirling sands.

“I’ll be fine,” he says, though his voice is hard to hear.

Her nerves begins to eat at her and they’ve been walking for seems like an eternity and she isn’t even sure if they’re still in the Dusty Bowl or the gym challenger’s path anymore, perhaps they’ve moved onto the Giant’s Mirror or the Stony Wilderness, but the sandstorm is endless and she calls after him once more.

“Ezra, where are you taking me?”

“Keep moving, we’re almost there,” he grunts at her in response.

Her question is finally answered when he stops in his path and grows still, holding out his arm.

“Wait.”

She watches him, listening, but nothing happens.

“Okay, come over here.”

There is a bad feeling in her gut as she sidles up to him and to her utmost surprise, the sandstorm begins to subside, revealing a large cenote before them.

Her eyes widen.

He’s standing at the very edge, his foot shoving some rocks and dust into the large pit before them; if he had taken one step further, he would’ve fallen inside. She looks around in shock. The sandstorm had disappeared in a blink of an eye, instead it had been replaced with a lingering misty fog that surrounded them. She knew the Wild Area was erratic but this weather was abnormal to the extreme.

Her shocked gaze strays to the blind man. His glazed eyes are focused in front of him, oblivious to the deep.

“I want you to go in there,” he says.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” he mutters. “You can take the stairs.”

He nudges his head to the right where a spiralling ‘staircase’ consisting of huge, mismatched slabs of rocks sticking out from the walls of the pit appear to offer a way down inside.

“Do you wish to turn back?” he asks, sensing her hesitation.

“No.”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

She nods and steps towards the first rock, which is dusty and covered with yellowing grass, and she uses one foot to test out the footing, giving it a few stern prods with her toes. The rock seems stubborn enough and once she deems it safe, she makes her way down.

It’s steep and she carefully tackles each step one by one, having to hold onto some dry vines that dangle and stick out of the edges of the wall until she arrives at the bottom of the pit.

Looking up and around, the sky is painted a strange and ethereal purplish, blue glow… perhaps from the aurora borealis, though she’s never seen it warp into this sort of shade before. Usually it is a streak of colours in the night sky…neither a star can be seen in sight either.

She also realises the pit isn’t as deep as she thought. She’s fairly certain gym challengers would never find this place nor would anyone in the right mind would even want to go in here.

She steps closer towards the middle of the pit, her feet crunching under gravel and stones, and stares at the walls of the pit.

There is an entrance, resembling a zigzagged slit in the wall. It’s big enough for a lone individual to slip inside but that’s just about it. She cannot see what’s inside; it is far too dark.

“Is this a pokemon den?” she asks, gesturing to the entrance.

“No.”

Her mentor’s voice sounded very close; she promptly turns to see Ezra hobbling behind her. “That was quick.”

“Give me a second,” he mutters as he brushes past her and steps towards the large and gaping hole in the wall, stopping just a foot or so away. “Stay there and don’t move, don’t make a sound.”

She goes silent, and she did not dare to peel her eyes away from the cave entrance where a figure is emerging from within.

A withered-looking Lucario with a greying muzzle and dirty golden fur steps outside and into the pit, wielding a wooden staff that is as tall as itself. It's what trainers coin as a 'shiny' pokemon, and these pokemon are extremely rare, especially in the wild. Puzzled, she watches as the pokemon greets her mentor.

Ezra's mouth moves but she cannot hear what he’s saying.

Then he stops and Lucario nods, and the man and pokemon turn to glance at her direction.

She strains to hear what they could possibly be conversing yet there is nothing, not even a pokemon cry, not the slightest rustle of the wind. Nothing.

It is silent.

The silence is suffocating to say the least and eventually, Lucario nods his head after the prolonged period of stillness. The pokemon turns and returns into the cave, disappearing into the darkness.

Placing his cane on the ground in front of him, he balances his palms over the handle. “Lucario has granted you entry.”

“…What?” she asks, a little anxiously.

Inhaling silently, Ezra replies, “There are greater things in our universe, greater than you and me. Even greater than pokemon.”

“What’s going on? What is a Lucario doing all the way out here? Where’s his trainer?”

“He doesn’t have one. This is his home,” Ezra mutters. “Now listen carefully. This is Gossamer Cave. A relic can be found here. A long time ago, I used it to destroy a demon that terrorised my wife and child. However, it is a highly dangerous weapon and you have to be ready to wield it, to understand its power and origins. If this is something you want, then you must go inside and fetch it.”

There are questions buzzing aplenty in her mind. “What does it look like?”

“You’ll know when you see it. My question for you is, do you wish to wield such a weapon? You might not like what you find out.” He mutters, before stepping aside, allowing her entry regardless of her response, regardless if she goes in or not.

She bites down on her lip anxiously but he does not offer any further words, no further advice or warning. She ponders to herself briefly, thinking about her parents, her sister and how they are all depending on her. Although she is nervous, she must cast aside these sinking feelings and surpass. She must be brave when no-one else is, when no-one else can. She must do it for them.

"I'm going in," she declares, and she passes him and enters the cave without further ado.

It’s dark.

She's greeted with the hypnotic splash of water dripping from the ceiling onto the floor and the marauding howl of the wind from outside that echoes and slips through the cave.

Lucario sits on a large rock to the left with the wooden staff balanced over its paws. It’s eyes are closed, deep in meditation. As she passes by, it does not acknowledge her presence.

Expecting Zubats or some other types of cave-dwelling pokemon, she’s stunned to see it is devoid of any other critter except from the aura pokemon.

A linear path lies ahead but she hits a dead-end.

Confused, she pats the wall in front of her, looking up and around. She checks for any cracks, any hidden passages. She checks every nook and cranny and leaves no stone upturned. She raps her knuckles over the walls, hoping for a hollow thud, a secret trap door perhaps?

There is nothing.

Disappointed and perplexed, she returns to the entrance.

“There’s nothing there," she says.

“I see. Then it’s not time yet. You still need more training, kid. You have a long way to go.” Ezra replies, unsurprised.

“I really don’t understand.”

“When you hear it, you will.”

“Hear what?”

“Tell me when you do, okay?”

Frustrated, she says, “Stop being so cryptic! What’s in the cave? What’s this relic?”

“You’ll find out when you’re ready. For now, forget what you saw and focus on your training. Focus on getting better, then you can come back.”

“Fine.”

Slipping his hands into the pockets of his withered coat, he begins to leave. She follows him with a sigh, mostly out of exasperation. Before she leaves however, she tosses a quick glance over her shoulder towards the abyss.

She was expecting to see something, maybe a shadow or a little flicker of light, maybe Lucario would come out again.

However, there is nothing.

...

Present.

You’ve grown quiet.

Leon watches as your brows scrunch with confusion, your expression souring. “What’s wrong?”

“Gossamer Cave,” you utter, before you grab his arm and exclaim loudly, “Gossamer Cave! That's it, Leon!"

Releasing him, you stand up, rush up the stairs and towards the bookshelves; he follows, watching you stop at a random shelf before you speedily skim through the books on the shelf, inspecting the titles quickly.

“Aha,” you murmur under your breath, pulling out a thick and burly red book from its place; it is an atlas of the Wild Area.

You beckon him over as you open the book, unfolding it to its full proportion over the floor. It’s not the most updated map but it’ll do for now.

Leon squats down beside you as you flip through the pages.

“Ezra took me to a place called Gossamer Cave ages ago. I can’t believe I forgot all about it. We took a Corviknight taxi, got off at the Dusty Bowl and we walked for a long time and there was a sandstorm, and then all of a sudden he stopped at a large pit. I’m supposed to tell Ezra when I start hearing things. He was so cryptic I didn’t understand what he meant back then but now I do. I can understand Gengar; I can hear what he says. That’s what Ezra meant. Leon, I’m ready.”

“Ready?” he murmurs, as you finally pinpoint the location on the map and begin scouring the page.

You nod. “I’m ready to face it -- whatever it was that took my family away. I can fight it now. I just need to find Gossamer Cave.”

Leon’s expression is a conflicted one. “When the officials mapped out the Wild Area for the gym challenge, they never found any place called Gossamer Cave.”

“It must be there, I saw it with my own eyes. It was a cenote, but there was this entrance that led to a cave and I went in. It was guarded by a Lucario, and a shiny one too,” you reply, “I need to find it. There’s something there, and it will help me.”

…

Meanwhile, in Greyson’s cemetery, Absol has been biting and tugging at his coat all night, in a vain effort to force him to get up and leave. She has sensed something. However, Ezra merely chills on the steps, drinking his beer and she gives up, having grown rather weary, and has settled to curl up next to him. It’s then his ears pick up the sounds of footsteps a distance away.

The footsteps stop; a lone individual stands a foot away from him.

“Hello, you must be the exorcist of Greyson’s cemetery,” says a distorted, muffled voice. "Remember me?"

The voice is unrecognisable. Ezra inhales deeply, scrunching the beer can under his fist. “…Something I can help you with?”

“Yes,” the voice leers. “You can die right here and now!”

A massive unseen force promptly smashes the steps of the mausoleum in half, sending stone and debris flying into the air; it stands, retracting its claws with a grin as the dust clears away, before peeking left and right.

Ezra has disappeared.

“Where are you,” it hisses with a chuckle as it lifts up rocks and debris, flinging them to the side and digging its claws into the earth, cackling with mirth, “Where are you, exorcist?? Come out, come out, wherever you are. I won't hurt you - much.”

A growl emits from behind and captures its attention; as it turns, it is swiftly knocked off its feet as a white and black blur slams into its body and sends it flying into a cluster of tombstones. Absol lands on her paws with a growl as Ezra appears from behind the fountain, unharmed.

“Good job, Absol,” he murmurs, his eyes narrowing at the entity that struggles to get up. “Percutiet.”

Sending a talisman at its direction, the little paper automatically attaches itself to the entity’s head and administers a painful shock. The entity roars with pain briefly before erupting into a fit of hoarse, mocking laughter.

“I know it’s you, Spiritomb,” Ezra says. "Use Slash.”

Absol’s attack connects with a loud thump and all goes still. Shortly, a harrowing shriek of pain shatters the silence. Ezra recalls the talisman; it disappears into thin air in little wisps and the man sprawled over the tombstones grunts and groans as he sits up, rubbing his injured chest in agony.

“Huh? What…? Where am I? What happened…? Um, what am I doing here…?” he mutters, disoriented.

...

#jeralee #fic #fanfic #reader #reader insert #leon x reader #thank you!#leon x you #leon #dande #pkmn #pokemon #pokemonsword #pokemonshield #pokemonswordandshield #pokemonshieldsword #pokemonshieldandsword #Comfort in Despair #archive of our own

8 notes · View notes

kanamesharisenwrites · 4 years ago

Text

kh’s story snippet celebration sendoff, entry #3

Oh, I had so much fun with this twisted plunnie! And even though only the opening scene is complete, I did finish a first draft for the entire fic (which I’ve included). It’s rough and vague, but the whole plot concept is there!

Inspired by the story, The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas, by Ursula K Le Guin.

Fandom: Naruto Pairing: Kakashi Hatake/Sakura Haruno Word Count: 2217 Genre: canon-divergence!AU, drama, angst Rating: M Warnings: brief profanity, abduction, manipulation, brainwashing, dark fic

... [ kingdom come ]

"Where's Sakura?"

"Gone, obviously." Sasuke laughs, bloody spittle coating his lips. He groans as he pulls his body off the ground. Swelling from a large contusion over his left eye mars his fair face; there is a matching one at the base of his skull. His right arm, severed and cauterized, lies in the dust a few feet away. "If he didn't kill her, Tobi probably took her. He likes shiny new toys."

Kakashi bristles and widens his stance as Sasuke walks towards him. "I want to know what happened. Now."

"Relax, old man, I'm not looking for a fight." Sasuke picks up his arm and throws it over his shoulder. "Sakura told me to get my head out of my ass and go home. That's what I intend to do."

Kakashi eyes Sasuke with suspicion, searching his demeanor for tells of dishonesty. "After all these years, you’ll forgive me if I doubt your word. It's all a little too easy, don't you think?"

"Easy?" Sasuke scoffs and levels Kakashi with a hard stare. "I knew she only wanted to join me so she could capture or kill me. I decided to kill her first – chidori through the heart." A smirk twists Sasuke's mouth, sharp and cruel, as he watches Kakashi flinch. "One stab and I'd permanently slice through those bonds Naruto rants about. Only it didn't work. Her chakra neutralized my chidori when she grabbed my arm." Sasuke shakes his head, and his smirk softens. "What the hell have you guys been feeding her, anyway? She's as strong as a fucking ox."

Kakashi shrugs. "Ask Lady Tsunade."

"Figures. Sakura managed this," Sasuke gestures to his missing arm, "with nothing but a chakra scalpel. Pulled the rest of it through her body like she was unsheathing a sword. Then she beat me unconscious with my own severed appendage. Last thing I saw was the hole in her chest close up like it'd never been there."

"You were a fool to underestimate her."

"So were you."

[ .oOo. ]

Shikamaru gives Kakashi his weekly “state of the village” report.

Kakashi asks about Sakura sightings; there’s been none.

Shikamaru turns to leave, but stops. Tells Kakashi he thinks it’s time to give up the hunt.

After Shikamaru leaves, Kakashi stares out the office window and wonders aloud why he’s still there when everyone important to him is gone.

[ .oOo. ]

Sakura comes to him in a dream. She’s older - ethereal yet weary-looking. She reminds him why he needs to stay, about the good he brings to the village, to the world. When she goes to leave, he chases her, promises to find her. She looks puzzled.

“Why, sensei? I was never lost in the first place.”

Kakashi wakes up in tears.

[ .oOo. ]

When Kakashi makes his weekly trip to the memorial, Karin is there. He’s tired and his memory is fuzzy; he doesn’t remember her at first. When he does, he’s surprised. He didn’t think she’d stay in the village without Sasuke.

“Visiting Konoha, huh?”

“Hardly.” She huffs. “I never left.”

“Strange. I never see you around.”

“I keep a low profile. The village isn’t especially kind to Orochimaru’s castoffs.”

“Why do you stay, then?”

Karin pauses, her fingers hovering over Sasuke’s name. When she speaks, it’s slow, deliberate.

“Because that’s what he would’ve wanted. For me to carry on in his stead.”

[ .oOo. ]

Kakashi dreams of Sakura again. She seems disconcerted that he acknowledges her - you weren’t supposed to know that I’m here, sensei - but speaks with him anyway. It’s a soft, gentle conversation, and it lulls him into a deeper, dreamless sleep.

He wakes up more rested than he has in a long time, but his mind anxious.

Sakura seemed too sentient for a figment of his subconscious.

[ .oOo. ]

Shizune comes to see him, asks how life as Hokage is going.

Kakashi admits it’s boring - too much paperwork, too little action. Village life has become too idyllic since the end of the war, to the point that it feels unnatural.

Shizune says she feels it too.

[ .oOo. ]

Kakashi starts dreaming of Sakura every night.

He tells her silly stories about the new batch of genin trying to unmask him. She shares some of Tsunade’s most “creative” teaching techniques.

She asks him how the village is doing. He tries to explain how it’s so perfect it feels wrong, but can’t quite find the words. Her coy smile suggests she understands anyway.

He asks her to stop calling him “sensei.” She laughs and calls him “Lord Hokage.”

He thanks her for keeping his nightmares at bay. She asks him what his nightmares are, but he doesn’t answer.

After a few nights where he dreams they walk through the forest without talking, he finally opens up.

Before her, he dreamed about lightning and blood: his chidori through Rin’s chest; Obito crushed and plucking out his own eye in offering; Naruto and Sasuke’s lifeless bodies on the battlefield still holding hands; searching for Sakura in an endless maw of darkness.

Sakura holds his hand and cries. Her hand feels so real, so warm and solid, that it wakes him up.

In his next dream, he confronts her. Begs her to tell him where she went, what happened to her. Sakura goes pale. When she tries to speak, she writhes in pain as if the words she meant to say were choking her. She falls to her knees and looks up at him, still no words falling from her open mouth. But he sees it - the Root seal on her tongue.

He wakes up angry.

[ .oOo. ]

Kakashi calls Sai to his office and asks questions about Root. Even though it’s been years since Danzo’s execution, Sai can’t answer and it leaves Kakashi frustrated as well as angry.

That night, Kakashi doesn’t dream of Sakura. He dreams of the absence of her.

He dreams about capturing Sasuke and bringing him back. Of entrusting Sakura's rescue to Naruto and Sai. Of their return, empty-handed.

He dreams of Naruto’s grief and anger and disbelief - that Root (Danzo) captured Karin, but found no trace of Sakura. Of Sai's silent lips and clenched fists.

The memories fall away and Kakashi calls for Sakura in the dark void of his dream until his throat is raw.

She doesn’t come.

[ .oOo. ]

Kakashi sees Karin at the memorial again.

She seems agitated, on edge, but she extends a gruff invite to her place for tea.

He declines.

She tells him she lives in a small house painted yellow at the foot of Hokage Mountain, if he changes his mind.

That night he dreams of Obito, of the Tobi mask falling away revealing his old teammate. Of cruel taunts - so, poor, tragic, Kakashi lost another kunoichi - and cryptic denials - come on, Kakashi, I’d need more than one Sharingan to capture that sweet little cherry - and unfounded accusations - sounds like an inside job, if you ask me.

Kakashi wakes in a cold sweat.

Then he goes in search of Karin’s house.

[ .oOo. ]

Karin seems almost relieved to see him. She opens the door and he steps inside. Immediately, he can feel it; Sakura’s chakra signature rolls over him like a wave.

Karin leads him to the basement.

Sakura sits in a dingy, old recliner in nothing but a bra and training shorts. A crown of wires connects her to a wall of softly whirring machinery. She opens her brilliant green eyes and smiles.

“Kakashi!”

He turns to Karin. “Unhook her. Now.”

“It’s not as simple as that. If we--”

“If you don’t do it, I will.”

“No, you can’t!” Sakura screams. “If you do, the village will be destroyed!”

[ .oOo. ]

Kakashi sits silently fuming in a meeting with the village council and the daimyo. They throw a lot of facts around: higher birth rates, reduced healing times for injuries, near elimination of sickness, increased shinobi numbers and quality, improved financial stability, etc. It doesn’t take long for him to realize.

“You authorized this project of Danzo’s.”

“Of course. How else do you think he got the technology to accomplish such a feat?”

“I suppose it’s pointless to petition for this project’s end.”

“We truly are sorry, Kakashi. We didn’t know your kunoichi was the one chosen for the experiment. But it has turned out so well for the village. I hope you understand.”

“I do,” Kakashi says.

He walks out.

[ .oOo. ]

Kakashi visits Karin and Sakura again, asks them to tell him everything they know about Sakura’s situation: unhooking Sakura will reverse all the good her chakra network has accomplished.

Absolute, utter destruction, they say.

Kakashi seethes. “Danzo was a fucking liar.”

“Maybe.” Sakura shakes her head. “But I can’t take that chance.”

Kakashi storms off.

[ .oOo. ]

Kakashi summons Shikamaru.

“The safety of our civilians has been weighing on me.”

“You know something I don’t?”

“Just… been thinking. How many times has a significant threat infiltrated our security in your lifetime, Shikamaru?”

“Point taken. What do you want to do?”

“I want you to develop a village-wide evacuation plan. Be sure to include provisions for temporary shelter and two week’s worth of rations for every family. I expect a working model ready for drills by the end of the month.”

“Yes, Lord Hokage.”

[ .oOo. ]

Kakashi arrives at Karin’s house with Sai. He tells her to leave, to follow the rest of her neighbors to their designated rendezvous point.

“She’s gonna hate you.”

“I know.”

When Kakashi enters the basement, Sakura is waiting for him, ready to strike.

“Don’t make me fight you.”

“It’s time to let go, Sakura.”

“I can’t. The village will collapse and people will die. I can’t have that on my conscience. I can’t be why Konoha disappears!”

“Konoha isn’t a place. It’s the people who live with the will of fire in their hearts. And those people have been evacuated. They are safe. Konoha will survive.”

Sakura squares her shoulders and chin, digging in her heels. “I’m a kunoichi. My purpose is to be of use to my village, no matter the sacrifice.”

“You are of more use to your village free than you will ever be wasting away in this damned basement!”

“But the village--”

“Fuck the village. It can burn to the ground as long as I know you’re safe. You’re it, Sakura. You’re all I have left.” Kakashi's voice cracks. “I can’t lose you to this.”

Sakura lowers her fists. “I’m scared.”

“I know. But it will be okay, I promise.” Kakashi presses the button on his earpiece. “Shikamaru, are we good to go?” After the affirmative answer crackles in his ear, Kakashi turns back to Sakura. “Do you trust me?”

Sakura nods.

“Sai is waiting for us upstairs. He’s ready to fly us out of here if needed.” Kakashi takes her hand. “Tell me what to do.”

“You’re sure everyone is safe?”

“I’m sure.”

“Flip that lever.”

The rumbling begins almost immediately. Kakashi scoops her up, pulling the crown from her head and smashing it to the ground. Sai spies them from his perch on his ink bird and if he’s surprised by Sakura’s presence, he doesn’t show it. They fly away, watching as a crater of rubble forms where Konoha once stood.

Sakura weeps as Kakashi holds her to his chest.

[ .oOo. ]

There are a lot of questions. He answers them as honestly and as vaguely as he can, leaving Sakura out of the story altogether. Some people are scared. Some are angry. Most are just thankful for their tents, their food, and their lives. This isn’t the first time they’ve had to rebuild.

After the village settles down for the night, Kakashi patrols the perimeter of the wreckage. The only thing left intact is the memorial stone. He stands there for a long time reading the names carved on its surface. The moon rises and the first chill of autumn settles in his bones.

Someone takes his hand… Sakura.

“Do you regret it?” she asks.

“No,” he answers. She shivers, so he pulls her into his arms. “Do you?”

"Yes."

The word leaves her on an exhale, as quiet and forceful as the wind. A tear escapes her, splatters against the chilled skin of his forearm.

"It's gut-wrenching, knowing what my freedom cost. I think a part of me will always feel that way." She runs her fingers over their teammates' names, slow and reverent. "But one day, maybe..."

"Then I'll hold onto it for you."

She glances at him over her shoulder, confused. "Hold onto what?"

He breathes in deep, squeezing her tight. With a kiss to her temple, he answers, "The hope for that one day."

#kakasaku #ksscs #kh writes fanfiction #you can also read it on ao3 if you click the title

16 notes · View notes

lovelyrocker · 4 years ago

Text

Love Is Blind Ch.53

~ RPF

~ Characters: Jensen Ackles, Lexi Ackles(OFC), Jared Padalecki, Chris Jefferson, Danneel Ackles, Genevieve Padalecki,

~ Pairing: Jared x Lexi(OFC)

~ Warning: Talk of Abuse, Talk of Sexual Assault, Language, Violence, Age Gap, Angst, Talk of Miscarriage, Angst, Drinking

~ Word Count: 3173

~ Un Beta’d - All Mistakes Are My Own

~ *FEEDBACK IS GOLD*

Jared turned over in the huge bed he shared with Lexi. The room was still dark and the sun had not yet risen. He saw the faint outline of Lexi’s body on the opposite side of the bed, the bathroom light beaming through the crack in the door showing her back rising and falling as she breathed.

He wanted to move closer, to wrap his arms around her and hold her. Instead he just slipped out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He splashed cold water in his face, not bothering to look at his own reflection in the mirror. Pulling on some sweats he quietly left the house and began running up the familiar path behind their home.

He didn’t even time his run or pace himself really. He just ran. The sun was fully risen by the time he got back. He showered downstairs so he wouldn’t wake Lexi.

Pouring a cup of the freshly brewed coffee Jared walked to the back sliding door letting Jensen in.

“Coffee’s fresh.” Jared told him.

“Thanks.” Jensen grabbed his own cup. “How is she this morning?”

“Sleeping still. The meds the doctor gave her keeps her in a fog.” Jared explained, sitting at the breakfast nook.

“Not such a bad thing right now.” Jensen commented following him. “Going to court today?”

“I am. After a week of just Cooper filling me in, it’s time to go back. I doubt Lexi will, though.”

“She’ll be okay.” Jensen watched Jared as he sipped his coffee. “How about you?”

“What about me?”

“How are you dealing with everything?” Jensen watched as Jared simply shrugged. “I know you feel you have to be strong for Lex. But this is just you and me right now. No bullshit.”

Jared met Jensen’s eyes and Jensen saw the tears he was trying to prevent from falling. “It- uh...it hurts man.” A few drops managed to escape his demand. “I know the baby was unplanned and crap but still. We wanted it.” Jared sniffles. “You know we got a letter in the mail yesterday,” Jared placed his cup down, his voice starting to show his emotion. “We’d done a blood test to see what we were having.” His jaw tensed before speaking again. ”It- it, uh, it was gonna be a little boy.” The tears just started pouring from his eyes. “We lost our little boy.” Jared sobbed.

Jensen pulled Jared into a hug and just held him. It was the first time in the weeks since they’d lost the baby that Jared let his emotions out. “It’s alright man, I got ya.” Jensen told him as tears fell from his own eyes.

After Jared had finally let himself break he began to calm himself and sat back up. He ran two hands over his face, taking a deep breath.

“Jared?” Lexi’s concerned voice came from across the room.

“Hey, baby.” Jared sat up straighter.

“Are you okay?” She asked, walking to him, gently carding her fingers through his hair stopping to let her hand rest on his cheek.

“Yeah, I just-” He cleared his throat as if nothing was wrong.

“Jared stop.” She exhaled. “You can be sad too, you know?” She ran a hand through his hair again. “If you need to go to Jensen to be able to do that, then that's fine.” Jared put an arm around her waist and she sat on his lap. “As long as you get it out.”

“How are you feeling, Punk?” Jensen placed a hand on Lexi’s leg.

“Better. I think last night was the last time I’m gonna take the meds from the doctor. Makes me sleep too much.” She leaned her head on Jared’s. “I feel like its clouding my thoughts and I need to be able to feel my emotions.”

“Just don’t push yourself too much.” Jensen told her. “It’s only been a little over a week.”

“I know. But if I stay going like this, I'll just put myself into a depression.” She lifted her head from Jared’s shoulder to look at her brother,

“I’m gonna go to the trial today, did you wanna come?” Jared asked.

“Not today. Maybe tomorrow.” She pressed a kiss to his head. “I’m gonna shower.” She stood from his lap and walked away.

“She seems okay.” Jensen looked at Jared.

“She is for the most part.” Jared looked at where she walked out. “She has her moments but she is dealing with it.”

“You know what?” Lexi walked into the kitchen making both men jump. “I think I will go today.” She poured a cup of coffee. “If I don’t I’ll just sit here and cry all day. At least this way I can not focus on it.” She sipped looking at Jared. “Because if I do, I’ll get down and I don’t want to get like that again.”

“It’s okay to take that time if you need it.” Jensen told her.

“I know. And I do. But, I need to get back to normal. It’s been almost weeks. I can’t stay in my bedroom anymore.”

Meanwhile downtown Cooper sat across from Chris and Durning with papers scattered in front of them. They’d been in a small room for four hours going over details of who leaked the information to the press. Court was postponed so all details could be reviewed and an end could be put to the constant information going to the media.

“Anything else?” Cooper asked, rubbing his head. “You know for a person always pointing fingers, your partner was quick to run his mouth.“ Cooper eyed Durning.

“We can not apologize to you or Miss. Ackles and Mr. Padalecki enough. Know that my partner was fired and legal actions are being pursued against him.” Durning explained gathering papers.

“Good it will save us from having to do it.” Cooper said, gathering his own papers.

“It was not my intention to have any of this in the media.” Chris told Cooper. “If I would have know he would do this-”

“I believe you.” Cooper held up a hand. “It’s your ass getting torn apart in this. I’m sure you wouldn’t want the world knowing your dirty little secrets.”

Chris nodded, watching Cooper finishing up. “Um- Can I ask you something?” Cooper looked at him. “O-Off the record or whatever.” Chris gained a curious look from both Durning and Cooper.

“What do you want?” Cooper asked leaning back in his chair.

“Is Lexi okay?”

“That’s none of your business.” Cooper sat back up, continuing to collect his papers.

“I know but, I heard she was sick and in the hospital and-”

“You know you have got a lot of nerve, kid.” Cooper pointed to Chris. “How did you even find that out?” Chris looked down. “Are you in cahoots with your now ex attorney?”

“No!” Chris said quickly. “I- I- at court I overheard my brother and some chick talking about it. I stole his phone and I read she was in the ER.”

“You’re a thief too. That’s good to know.” Cooper stood, grading to the door.

“Did she really have another miscarriage?” Chris blurted out.

Cooper stopped and looked at Chris. “Your actions have consequences Mr. Jefferson.” Cooper took a breath. “You don’t get to ask about or act concerned about the woman you raped and sexually abuse.” He turned and walked out the room leaving Chris there with his thoughts.

Cooper walked to his car pulling his phone from his pocket. Holding it to his ear he unlocked his car and got in. “Hello?”

“Hey, Jared. Listen buddy, are you home right now?”

“Yeah, Why was court cancelled?”

“I’ll explain all of that when I get there.” It was only twenty minutes later when Cooper pulle up into Jared and Lexi’s driveway. “Jared, hey, is Lexi here?” Cooper greeted Jared with a hug as they walked into the house.

“Yeah, she is in the living room.”

“How is she?”

“Better.” Jared told him as they entered the room.

“Hey Cooper.” Lexi greeted as Cooper leaned down, giving her a hug.

“Hey sweetie. How are you feeling?” Cooper asked sitting next to Lexi, Jared sitting on the opposite side.

“I’m okay.”

“I know it’s been a rough few weeks.” He placed his hand on Lexi’s and looked to Jared as well. “I can’t tell you two how sorry I am that this happened.”

“Thanks.” Lexi said. “Things happened.” She gave Cooper’s hand a squeeze. “So what’s going on?”

“Court was cancelled this morning because before I could even fully wake up I was called into the judges chambers. We found out who leaked all the information to the media.”

“Who?” Lexi and Jared asked in unison.

“It was Durning’s partner.”

“What?!” Jared looked between Cooper and Lexi.

“He was busted by Durning and he actually had the good sense to report it to Judge Browning.” Cooper pulled out a few papers. “This is stating that he was let go from the firm, and action from the court will be taken to see fit the punishment for his crimes against the court.” Lexi and Jared looked over the papers. “There is something else.” The two looked at Cooper. “Before Chris joined our meeting this morning, Durning mentioned a few things.”

“Like?” Jared asked.

“Like, there were several times during the trial so far when Chris told him not to cross examine the witness. Mostly when Lexi was on the stand.”

“Why would he do that?” Lexi looked at Cooper expecting an answer.

“I have no idea. Especially considering Durning was gonna attack you and make you look like a gold digger.” Cooper explained. “He had a plan to turn the tables and make you look like you went for older guys who were “of power” and well off financially. It was pretty convincing to be honest. But Chris wouldn’t let him.”

“That makes no sense.” Jared added with confusion.

“I know. And Chris also asked about you today.” Cooper looked at Lexi. “He found out about what happened.” Lexi looked down at her hand in Jared’s. “Lex,” Cooper grabbed her attention. “He asked to see you.”

“No.” Jared said as soon as the words left Coopers mouth. “Tell him no, she isn’t going anywhere near him.” Jared stood in agitation.

“I’ll go.” Lexi said looking up at Jared.

“I’m gonna let you two talk.” Cooper rose to his feet.

“No need. You aren’t going.” Jared looked back at Lexi. “Come on, Coop. I’ll walk you out.”

When Jared returned he didn’t see Lexi in the living room or kitchen. He heard a sound of pillows rustling in the bedroom as he walked down the hallway upstairs. Lexi was making the bed, tossing the pillows and pulling the blankets all with a little more force than needed. It was obvious she was agitated.

“Babe-”

“Don’t.” She snapped not looking up from the bed, throwing one of the king pillows back onto the bed.

“Lexi, I know you’re mad-”

“No. Not mad. I’m pissed off!” She placed the second pillow in its spot. “”Where the hell do you get off making decisions for me like that?”

“Well, considering the situation I think I have the right to.”

“How? How do you get the right to tell me what I can and can’t do?”

“I don’t, I just mean-”

“Exactly!” Lexi snapped walking around the bed to stand in front of Jared. “You don’t! So what makes you think you can say if I go talk to him or not?”

“Because right now you are in any state to deal with this kind of crap!” Jared snapped back.

“I can handle seeing that asshat! You just don’t want me to!”

“You’re right, I don’t! You have no reason to! And mentally you’re still fragile right now! You’re still hurting!”

“No, I’m not! The problem is you want me to be!” She shoved her index finger into his chest. “You want me to still be a crying mess curled up in a ball in bed!”

“No, I don’t!”

“Bullshit! You want me to be a poor defenseless little thing so you can swoop in and make the decisions because as always, you think you know better! I may not be able to do a damn thing right but I can still make my own decisions!” She shoved passed him.

Jared followed her into the hall. “ That’s not true. What makes you think you can’t do anything right?! Why would you say that?!”

Lexi let out an unhumorous laugh. “Like you haven’t thought about it!” She kept going till she reached down the hall, down the stairs till she was halfway through the house. “I’ve messed up most of my life doing dumb thing after dumb thing and now its just coming to ahead! I mean, I can’t even have a baby right! I can’t even have a baby at all!”

“Lexi, stop!” Jared kept following her till she was in the kitchen. She grabbed a wine glass and a bottle of wine. “Lex, what are you doing?” His voice calmer.

“You’re right.” She put the wine glass back and grabbed a glass whiskey tumbler then walked out of the kitchen and into Jared’s office. “This seems like a situation for something harder.” Lexi grabbed his bottle of Scotch from the liquor table in his office.

She took the bottle out to the back sunroom and poured herself a glass. The sky was a dark gray color despite it being only mid afternoon, as a storm inched its way closer. The sky would light up when the lighting from the approaching storm would strike through the sky. Jared watched her from behind the glass of the door as she sipped her drink.

Jared walked back to the kitchen grabbing himself a whiskey tumbler and walked out to the sun room. He sat in the chair next to Lexi and poured himself a glass.

They sat in silence for a long while just looking out at the yard. When the rain finally started to pour from the sky Jared spoke. “Rainstorms were always calming to me. Chaotic and pure at the same time.” Lexi didn’t say anything, she simply looked out at the rainfall bringing her glass to her lips for a small sip of whiskey. “Kinda like you.” Jared told her, his eyes fixated on her. Lexi didn’t say anything still, she just stared at the amber liquid in her glass. Jared took another sip of his drink and leaned forward, placing his elbow on his knees. “Baby, why did you say you couldn’t even have a baby right? You know this wasn’t anything you did, right?”

Lexi had her legs pulled up on the chair, curling the rim of the glass with a finger. “Jared, I’ve had two miscarriages-”

“And neither was your fault.” Jared told her, interrupting. “The first was Chris and this time the doctor said it could have been stress or something was wrong with the baby.”

“Ever think maybe i’m just not meant to have a baby?” Lexi’s voice was sullen as she kept her eyes on her drink.

“Do you really think that?” Lexi shrugged, still not moving her eyes from her glass. “Lex,”

“Jared,” She finally looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. “Can we not do this right now?” Jared saw her chin quiver, her emotions getting the better of her. “If you don’t want me to go, fine, I won’t go. Just leave me alone right now.” Silently her tears began to trace down her cheeks.

“If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine.” Jared leaned back in his chair. ‘But you’re not gonna be alone.” He grabbed his glass and took a sip of his whiskey.

He poured himself a little more and reached over pouring another glass for Lexi. They sat in silence for a long time. Long enough for them to sip through three glasses of Scotch. The weather was still dark, the rain still pouring like a waterfall. She didn’t move much or really look at Jared. Jared stayed quiet, observing the sky as the dark clouds rolled over even darker skies.

Keeping her eyes casted down Lexi took a small breath. “What if I can’t have kids?” Her voice was defeated. “What if I have something wrong with me and I can’t stay pregnant?”

“What makes you say that?”

Lexi shrugged. “I don’t know, the fact I lost two babies.”

Jared sat up a little in his seat. “We can see a specialist and have them see if anything is wrong. If you want to.”

“And if there is?” Her eyes flickered to his.

“Then, If it’s what you want we can explore options of fertility and IVF, if that’s the road you want to take.” She looked back at her glass then took another long sip.

“And if I don’t want to go that road?” She still kept her eyes on her drink like she would find something special in it.

“You mean if you don’t want to have a baby at all or if you don’t want to carry a baby?” Jared gave a curious head tilt. “Like if you’d rather adopt?”

“What if I don’t want a baby at all?” Her voice held almost a bitter sting to it.

“But, you-”

“I know what I said, Jared.” Lexi exhaled in frustration gulping the rest of her fourth glass of Scotch. She reached for the bottle but Jared grabbed it first and moved it away. “Jared, stop. I’m done talking about this.”

“Well, i’m not.” He set his glass down. “What are you saying right now, Lexi?”

“I’m saying I don’t want to have kids, okay?!” She all but snapped at Jared. “I love your kids like my own and that’s just gonna have to be enough for you!”

“Don’t you even want to try or- or at least talk about it?” Jared protested with a mix of annoyance and dejection.

“No, I don’t! I’m tired of talking about it!” She sat up planting her feet on the ground. “Everyone wants to talk about it! My therapist, you, Jensen! I can’t talk about it any more! I can’t-” Her voice wavered. Jared saw the anger in her face meltaway to desperation and fear. “I can’t go through losing another child, Jared! I just can’t!” She yelled out at him.

Jared’s heart shattered into a million pieces when he saw Lexi break. He got out of his chair and onto his knees in front of her, pulling her into his arms. “Okay, okay.” He soothed and she wrapped her arms around him, her face buried in his chest. “We don’t have to. It’s okay.”

Next Chapter>

TAGS: @onethirstyunicorn @dreaminemz @xostephanie @thevelvetseries @squirrelnotsam @saxxxyjared @marvelouslysherlockedhunter @vicmc624

#SPN #SPNFamily #spn fanfic #SPNRPF #RPF #Jared Padalecki #jared padalecki x ofc #OFC #OMC #courtroomdrama #Jensen Ackles #Lexi Ackles #angst #language #mentions of miscarriage #drinking #age gape #supernatural

14 notes · View notes

cross-poison · 4 years ago

Text

CLARITAS. The Mandalorian/OC (PART 8)

WORDS: 3.4k || WARNINGS: spirituality/talk of (made up) religion

a/n: FINALLY finished this part. I hope the fact that it’s almost double my usual chapter length makes up for how overdue it is.

As the Mandalorian stepped across the central aisle of the marketplace, he locked away in his mind the appearance of the nobleman Elliotte had pointed out to him. Lord Miryus. He’d not only been responsible for spraining Elliotte’s wrist, but also, apparently, a number of ongoing problems here on Listronus. Mando temporarily filed that information away for later, and he instead turned his attention to the fisherman behind the merchant’s stall as he approached.

The fisherman caught his eye and immediately poked at some of his fresh-caught fish, chattering excitedly about the quality and size of each one.

Elliotte came to a halt beside the Mandalorian at the stall and occupied herself with admiring the variety of fish, giving him the amount of space and time he needed to lock in a trade with his merchant of choice. He held the spool of string in-hand, turning it over in his gloved palm. The merchant stole a look at it before shifting his gaze back up to the intimidating visor of the Mandalorian’s helmet. “A trade?” he said, “Are you looking for a trade?”

“Yes. We are,” Mando replied, turning his helmet in Elliotte’s direction. She simply offered him a reassuring smile. He could do this… it’s not like he’d never negotiated before. “This is… a very fine, sturdy material here. Perfect for stringing fishing poles.”

“Right. May I see it for myself?” asked the merchant, humming thoughtfully as Mando passed him the spool. He held it up, unrolling a little segment of it and pinching it between his fingers. “It is a bit stretchy---quite perfect, if you ask me. I wouldn’t mind making a trade for it. Has anything here caught your eye…? Or your lady’s?”

“She isn’t my--”

“How about five of these little zemmoks?” Elliotte chimed in, extending a finger to gesture to a long and thin fish, rather average in color, but distinguished by a needle-like protrusion from its lower jaw.

The fisherman chuckled. “You drive a hard bargain, dear. Four and it’s a deal.”

“Alright then. Four.”

The merchant tucked the spool away into his pocket and turned to package up the small fish. He passed them across the row of fish to her and she tucked the wrap against her arm, thanked him, and nodded to Mando.

Once again, the two returned to the open marketplace. “Very well done! He didn’t doubt you’re a local for a second! I mean… perhaps other than appearance-wise. In that regard, you do sort of stand out,” Ell began, “I apologize for butting in there at the end… I just know we’ll need zemmoks for our next barter.”

“How many more of these are there?” Mando said, perhaps growing a bit agitated at the grueling process. As far as he could tell, they’d made no progress toward anything more valuable. A toxic fruit to beads, to a spool of string, to a handful of too-small fish… this hardly felt like a successful endeavor.

“This is the last one, I promise,” she assured, picking up on his annoyance, “I know these don’t look like much, but pitch them to the right merchant…” Ell shifted her gaze to a stall toward the front portion of the marketplace, and Mando followed her gaze. A plump and older merchant woman was receiving a handful of silver coins from a customer before passing him a basket of brightly-colored berries. That was their next target?

“That there is Misa. She’s an old friend of mine… has a real taste for zemmoks, you see. She has some old family recipe that requires a bunch of them, so she’ll snatch them up whenever anyone offers. In return, she offers useme nuts by the dozen… they’re these fist-sized nuts that grow in her personal orchard on the other side of town... crisp and incredibly tasty, especially when they’re salted the way Misa prepares them! Pretty great deal if you ask me,” Elliotte explained as she weaved through the crowd and in the direction of their target merchant.

Mando followed her, offering nothing but a grunt in response. He’d be rather happy to be finished in this marketplace. The heat of the day was unpleasant in the stuffy crowd, and although he was used to drawing curious gazes toward the sleek shine of his beskar, the continuous feeling of eyes watching his every move was beginning to grow taxing.

“Misa!” Elliotte’s voice drew him once again from his thoughts as the two of them came to a halt in front of the merchant’s stall. Unlike most of the other vendors in the marketplace, it seemed Misa specialized in more than one thing---berries, nuts, fruits, and even a few various animal products from creatures he’d never even heard of.

“Good afternoon, Elliotte!” said the friendly-looking merchant, “What can I interest you in today?”

“The usual,” Ell replied, passing over the wrap of fish she’d obtained from the previous merchant.

“You know me so well. A dozen per zemmok---that’ll give you forty-eight. Agreeable?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Misa grinned, turning away from her to set the fish down and began packing useme nuts away in a large basket. “So, are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Mando managed to catch her eye for a moment before she offered a faint smile and turned her gaze back to the vendor. “This is Mando. I’m showing him around the market this morning… and the proper bargaining techniques.”

“That’s a handy skill to have,” Misa said, sitting back to blow a strand of hair out of her face. She reached over her table of goods in order to extend her hand, and Mando did the same, firmly shaking her hand. “Welcome to Listronus, Mando.”

“Thank you,” he answered.

“Well, here you are, Ms. Cantossan! Forty-eight useme nuts,” Misa added, lifting the basket off of the table and passing it to her.

“Thanks again, Misa. See you later,” Elliotte said, looping her arm under the basket’s handle and carrying it off. Finally, they were able to leave the intense environment of the marketplace. As they drew further away from the noise, Mando was able to visibly relax, at least just a hair. “Okay, now I’m intrigued. What’s the purpose of so many of… those?”

“These are a great local food source here on Listronus. I figured you could take as many of these as you’d like back for you and your kid… and if it isn’t too much to ask, I’d like to ask if I could have the remaining ones instead of a monetary payment for this first day of guiding!”

“You can have them all,” answered Mando, tilting his helmet in her direction, “I have enough to get by on my ship. And the kid’s a carnivore anyway.”

Elliotte blinked, positively bewildered by such a thing. “We’re talking about the same kid, right? Th-the little green one? He’s a carnivore?”

There was a muffled almost-chuckle from beneath the helmet. “Yes. It took me by surprise too when I saw him eat a frog whole the night I found him.” There was a certain underlying fondness in his heavily-modulated voice that Elliotte didn’t miss whenever he spoke about the child. Spending so much time around politicians and noblemen, Ell was able to differentiate between fake smiles and genuine ones, and although the Mandalorian’s face could give her no true indication she could almost hear the smile through his voice. This child was important to him.

“I didn’t mean to assume. We can trade these useme nuts for some larger fish, if--”

“No, please… I can tell they have more value to you. I have enough food on my ship to get through several more weeks. Besides… I’d rather not go back into that marketplace again for a while.”

“Crowds aren’t your thing, huh?”

“Not really.”

Ell hummed thoughtfully, switching the basket of useme nuts to her other arm. “Well… I know a few places we can visit that are much less crowded. You up for a history lesson?”

“I don’t see why not?”

“It’s a good thing we bought these after all. We’re gonna need some for the trip.”

It turns out, “trip” was a bit of an overstatement. To the east of the city, the landscape gave way to hills and valleys. Most of the flat area had been developed into farmland while the hills were relatively untouched and wild. As Cietovus 8 climbed higher into the sky, the two cut through rows of knee-high crops, watching each step to make sure no plants were crushed in the process. Mando spent much of the walk admiring the change of scenery and enjoying the time away from the bustling city streets, but even he grew curious as to what exactly the destination was supposed to be.

Ell, on the other hand, seemed to have the path memorized… which, he supposed, made sense in the grand scheme of things. She had lived here for all her life, after all. At first glance, the Mandalorian believed she was simply another haughty aristocrat. She certainly dressed like one and knew their mannerisms well, but upon getting to speak with her beyond more than a few passing words, he came to realize that she was kind, but without being naive and considerate without being a pushover. It was almost endearing in a way, the gentle balance she maintained.

Mando must have been gradually slowing his pace, because once he’d finally drawn out of his thoughts, they were no longer walking side-by-side. Ell was a few steps ahead of him, still chattering on about the details and history of the landscape and pointing out specific structures in the nearby fields. By now, he’d come to realize that they were nearing the edge of the crop fields and approaching the base of a large hill. The incline was gradual, but scattered with trees and various rock formations that would make for some simple obstacles. Overall, it appeared to be a relatively easy climb.

“Where are we?”

“This is Listrona Hill. As the name implies, it has… incredible significance to the people of this planet. It’s also why the capital city is located so nearby,” Elliotte answered, already drawing closer to a narrow trail winding up the hillside, “But it’s not the hill itself that’s so important. It’s what’s at the top.”

Mando followed her, watching every step up the incline. “What is at the top?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” Ell said, “Back in the early days of this planet, Listronians were known for their unique spirituality. We believed every creature and object had a spirit and essence that it offered to the universe in a way only it could. Our deity was Artres, goddess of flowers and abundance. According to ancient myths, this hillside was her home… to this day, we still hold many funerals and weddings at the peak, and many of the older generations still believe it honors Artres. I’m not very religious myself, but the sentiment is nice.”

Mando listened to her explanation quietly as they navigated the tricky hillside, and Elliotte continued to recite old myths and stories about the creation of the planet, the supposed death of the goddess, and her rebirth in the form of a meadow of flowers, but her organized storytelling quickly dropped off in favor of enthusiasm as they neared the peak. She increased her pace until she was jogging the final stretch and turned around to wave him on and beckon him to hurry up.

Eventually Mando was standing beside her at the summit of the hill, looking out over a vast meadow of flowers that varied in color from blues and purples to reds and yellows and whites. The thick trees didn’t seem to grow into the meadow; Instead, they outlined the hilltop from the edges. The only thing around to interrupt the expanse of flowers was a small lake filled with crystalline water so pure one could see to the very bottom. In front of the lake was what appeared to be a small shrine.

The shrine itself was made of old, deep brown wood that had obviously been replaced and refurbished multiple times over the years. Semi-fresh flowers, wilted beneath the heat of the sun, had been weaved into the lattice pattern. Perhaps the features that stood out most was the pair of large antlers against the back of the shrine and the two sets of silver claws that dangled from them. While the antlers looked natural, the “claws” were clearly manmade--composed of the same carved silver that wrapped Elliotte’s forearm.

Ell seemed to pick up on his curiosity quickly. “The antlers are from the Warhara. They’re a large canid species native to Listronus. Their antlers are strong and sturdy, and are worn by our Kings so that they may embody the same traits.”

“And these?” Mando said, cupping his hand beneath the silver claws.

“These are similarly modeled after the Warhara. To represent the spirit of a warrior. Before modern times, they were worn by footsoldiers and guardsmen, but obviously this sort of weaponry is outdated. These days, they’re worn exclusively for ritual combat… Look.” Elliotte carefully took the silver pieces off of the antlers and turned them over so that her companion was able to see the thin loop made on the underside of each claw. She slid her fingers into each loop and flexed them to show off the new extension of her hand. “They’re pretty cool, right? Personally, I think we should bring them back as part of our everyday wardrobe,” she took the claws back off and draped them back over the Warhara’s antlers before turning to him.

“Princes of Listronus can lawfully challenge the Kings for the throne, but the only weapons they are allowed are those. It’s a dangerous event. Those claws are excellent for speed, but they definitely don’t provide the same kind of protection as your um… ‘beskar’, it is called, right?” She asked, stepping away from the small shrine and crossing the meadow to the edge of the small lake. There, she knelt in the grass beside the basket of useme nuts and patted the space beside her to encourage him to join her. He did so, and not soon afterward, Elliotte reached up and began to pluck the day-old flower buds from her hair. She unraveled them one at a time and set them aside in a neat pile beside her as she stole a glance in the Mandalorian’s direction.

“Anyway, I’ve chattered on about history lessons long enough. I’m curious to learn more about you, if you would be willing to share. You mentioned earlier that you were a bounty hunter at one point… surely you have some interesting stories to tell?”

“Plenty,” Mando responded, the chuckle that followed catching on the modulator of his helmet, “... I don’t suppose you’ve heard of a ‘Mudhorn’ before, have you?”

Ell hummed thoughtfully, then offered a small shrug. “I’ve read briefly about them in books and on datapads through the years, but they’ve never been something I’ve heavily studied… why?”

The Mandalorian leaned back in the grass, placing his hands behind him as his helmet tipped skyward. “It wasn’t too long ago, actually… I was on assignment when a group of Jawas in their sandcrawler stole all the valuable parts they could scavenge from my ship. In order to get them to agree to return the pieces, they had me bring an egg of a Mudhorn as a trade. These things are… huge and incredibly territorial, and it wasn’t too happy to see me near its egg. I was outmatched immediately; It nearly shredded my armor and my weapons couldn’t even touch it --- in all honesty, I really thought I was done for. But then the kid, he--” he reached out to mimic the gesture the child seemed to make with his hands, but hesitated before finishing his sentence.

Perhaps it wasn’t wise to share this information publicly. But Elliotte was enthralled by the story, fingers paused over the stem of a flower in her curled strand of hair and eyes wide with wonder and fascination, and the Mandalorian couldn’t find it in him to withhold the rest of the story from her. “All of a sudden, it stopped. The Mudhorn, mid-charge. I thought I must have died, because I sure didn’t believe what I was seeing. The whole creature was just… floating in front of me in the air. When I looked over at the kid, he had his hand out like this--” he mimicked the motion, “Keeping it suspended. I’ve never seen anything like it. With him keeping it occupied, I was able to finish it off but if he hadn’t… there’s no doubt I wouldn’t be sitting here now.”

To his surprise, when he’d finished his retelling, Ell snickered softly and set the last flower aside. “That’s an interesting story, Mando.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Sure I do. The universe is so vast and unique, there’s no way we can possibly understand all of its inner workings. Just because something isn’t common doesn’t mean it’s impossible,” now that she’d finished removing the petals and buds from her hair, she turned away and began to pluck new ones from the colorful meadow nearby. “Priestesses in Listronian history have exhibited similar abilities. It was thought to be a given gift by Artres herself, you know. Not that I believe too heavily in old religion, but perhaps your child has just inherited something similar. It sounds quite extraordinary.”

The Mandalorian cast her a glance from the side of his visor. Not only had Elliotte responded unexpectedly well to such a story, but she believed it wholeheartedly. He was hesitant to call it naivety, as she really was knowledgeable about her planet and people, but trust was a difficult thing to come by in his line of work. “You’re unpredictably nonchalant about this.”

To that, Ell laughed softly. “In my experience, closed mindedness is dangerous. It lures one into a false sense of security, content in the idea they have all the answers, whereas open mindedness allows room to learn and grow… to fluctuate and move, like flowers in an afternoon breeze.”

This sentiment only served to further cast a ripple in the Mandalorian’s original judgement of Elliotte Cantossan. Despite himself being the one wrapped head to toe in protective metal, the one meant to be a mystery, he found himself more at a loss with her -- the harpist whose only armor was the band of silver on her forearm and the woman who willingly sought him for nothing but his company?

She had trusted him enough to allow him into her house and enough to agree to visit his, and even enough to bring him to the holiest space on her homeworld… and yet, as he’d come to realize, he still knew hardly anything about her. She knew hardly anything about him. And yet he felt drawn to her -- comfortable around her -- as if parts of him could seep through the gaps in his armor without worry in her presence.

By the way Ell’s smile brightened just a little when she saw the t-shape of his visor faced in her direction, he could almost believe she felt the same. As he watched her begin to tie fresh flowers into her hair, he could no longer keep himself from asking the question: “The flowers… they’re incorporated everywhere on this planet. What is the significance? Why do you put them into your hair like that?”

“Spiritually speaking, flowers are symbolic to Artres--”

“No, why do you do it?”

Ell seemed taken aback by his question, normally steady fingers faltering and causing the strand of hair to unwrap from the stem of a pink flower. She quietly cleared her throat and began the process again. “We call it artresmour. “Godlike love”. To put them on yourself is to express vitality and youth and self love -- to put it on anyone else is to express devotion and trust… it’s like saying… ‘you are important to me in a way words cannot describe.’ It’s not necessarily romantic; It’s romantic and platonic and familial. Some villages even use it as a greeting to strangers and newcomers. It unites us. Godlike love,” she paused briefly before continuing, “To me, it’s a way to deepen bonds; My best friend and I take turns every time we meet… it’s the way we acknowledge each other’s struggles and our fights to overcome them, and our way of assuring each other we aren’t going it alone.”

There was a brief pause between the two of them before the Mandalorian chose to break the silence. “How do you feel about… doing it blindfolded?”

TAGS: Message me/send me an ask to be added.

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23677540/chapters/60781519

#star wars #the mandalorian #mando #mando x oc #star wars x oc #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fic #the mandalorian fic #mando fic #oc #my writing #din djarin #baby yoda #din djarin x oc #din djarin/oc

5 notes · View notes

gemraldkid · 4 years ago

Text

Analysis and speculation on Bête Noire

Spoilers for Undertale and Glitchtale. Undertale by Toby Fox and Glitchtale by @camilaart

You thought I was joking? Nope. Here it is: a mix of canon, headcanon, and speculation.

Of all the characters that people are obsessing over right now (Ronan, Jessica, Gaster, Rave, the prequel wizards), I choose to put all of my energy into making some sense of the one character that continuously reminds us that we should hate them. I could be thinking about the struggles of anyone else. I could be worried for Chara or Asriel or Asgore (he’s not dead until he starts turning to dust), but nooooo. This is what occupies my thoughts about this series.

This is basically most of my headcanon relating to Betty. I wanted to put these thoughts out there before the new episode since... well, anything could happen.

Betty’s probably gonna mostly die from hate and stuff.

Imagine if we were actually supposed to end up feeling bad for this character? Right...

You shouldn’t take everything I say here as facts.’m pretty sure I made it clear enough which parts are speculation with the amazing power of verb tenses.

I’m open to corrections about currently available facts that I got wrong.

Glitchtale is a series that I’ve greatly enjoyed watching. I believe that it is one of the finest things to come out of the Undertale fandom. It is a testament to how good a fanfiction can be.

One thing that I find particularly praiseworthy is the way OCs are handled. They manage expand on the world without hogging the spotlight for too long. There’s a good balance between introducing new elements without ever forgetting about the old ones.

Of course, among many of the new characters, one in particular stands out: the current antagonist of Season 2, Bête Noire or “Betty”.

Betty is the character I have been the most fascinated with so far. She’s been a mystery to many ever since the punch to the gut that was the ending of “Dust”.

What follows is a look into the way that I perceive Bête Noire. I am not necessarily dead-set on a single possibility. While my views are backed up by certain facts, I acknowledge that they are also based on and influenced by my personal wishes for this character. Therefore, my words should be taken with a healthy amount of salt.

Betty was first introduced to us as an innocent 13 year-old girl, barely a year older than Frisk, physically. She was a shy, happy-go-lucky kid who became friends with Frisk after the latter saved her life from a fast-moving car.

Unfortunately, things were not as they seemed. The girl never was in any real danger as the car was an illusion created by powers. The scenario was merely a set-up to get her closer to Frisk and their family of monsters.

Illusions are likely a power granted to her by her trait: fear. With it, she is able to see the memories of others simply by looking them in the eyes. This grants her knowledge of their personality and, most importantly, their emotional weaknesses. Using that knowledge, she can create illusions to throw off her enemies. These illusions can serve a variety purposes even if they don’t directly involve fear. Examples include the aforementioned car and the illusion that caused Undyne to kill Alphys.

Bête Noire originally woke up when the barrier was broken, a month before the events of “My Sunshine”. This means that she spent a month doing “something” before starting her plan. She likely spent days and nights observing the humans and monsters. Through her observations and memory-reading abilities, she judged whether the monsters were truly as dangerous for human kind as she believed. This wasn’t all she observed, however. Betty also learned the ways and customs of this new time period. After all, the only memories in her possession belonged to someone who lived over 800 years ago...

Agate Lightvale was best known as the wizard of bravery who helped seal the monsters underground. She lived in a medieval time. While she was born into a common family , she didn’t live a common life. Her twin brother, Copper, was lucky enough to be born with a soul of determination, a trait so rare that only one person can possess it at a time. It elevated the Lightvale family to a noble status.

Growing up, Agate acted like a big sister to Copper even though they were the same age. However, this changed as they grew older and trained to become wizards. Copper became more independent while his sister started to develop a few insecurities.

Agate spent most of her time training in combat. She was always looking to improve, to get stronger, to surpass her limits. Unfortunately for her, being the twin of the soul of determination meant she was often overshadowed.

Her brother was essentially a “chosen one” of sorts. As a result, he got most of the attention. Agate would execute a spell flawlessly while Copper stumbled at the same task. Yet, he would be the only one to receive praise.

In addition to being the rarest trait, determination is also the strongest. Agate was confronted with the reality that, no matter how hard she trained, she could never surpass her brother.

Still, it didn’t stop Agate from being a kind and respected individual. True to her trait, she was know for her bravery in the face of danger and resistance to physical pain. In addition, she and Copper both stayed strong for their younger sister, Amber, who’s birth resulted in the death of their mother. Agate and her siblings were extremely close.

After the war between humans and monsters ended, she, her brother, and five other wizards created the barrier, trapping the monsters underground.

After a certain amount of time, Copper proposed the idea of releasing the monsters from captivity. He believed that humans and monsters could still live together. Agate opted against this. She believed it would be better for both races if they lived separately. The discussion got extremely agitated to the point where Agate spontaneously challenged Copper to a duel that would decide the future.

If I may break the flow of information a little, this part seems a tad off to me. I find it notable, at the very least. In the official depiction of this moment, Agate looks smug, as if she knows she is going to win. Isn’t that odd considering what we know? I believe there was more riding on this duel than the fate of two races.

Recall that Agate had a bit of an inferiority complex with her brother. Isn’t it possible that she also challenged him to prove she was stronger, to finally break out of his shadow by defeating him in front of the entire kingdom? If this is the case, I believe that the “confidence” she showed might not have been entirely sincere. Surely, a part of her knew that she couldn’t win. Yet, she still instigated a fight.

I think it’s possible that challenging Copper was not an act of hubris on Agate’s part; it was an act of desperation made in the heat of the moment.

Ultimately, she lost. Her brother was victorious. Agate was overwhelmed by her loss. While she had an abundance of physical bravery, she lacked it emotionally. Due to these factors, she lost her trait then and there. Completely humiliated, she fled to parts unknown. Still under the intensity of the battle, Copper didn’t think to go after her.

During this period of her life, Agate made many poor life choices. She searched for a way to break her limits more than ever before. She came across at least two forbidden spells. She used one of them to reverse her souls trait from the orange of bravery to the dark orange of fear. The process completely eradicated the last shred of sanity she had. After being absent for an unknown amount of time, Agate rejoined her family, who welcomed her back in spite of the changes she had gone through.

Driven by her obsession for victory, Agate furiously demanded a rematch from Copper. He refused, knowing it wouldn’t bring about anything good. Seeing that he wouldn’t move on the issue, Agate threatened the life of Amber, her own sister. Copper attempted to protect her, but was ultimately forced to watch as Agate stabbed her through the chest. This horrible sight caused him to lose his trait, allowing Agate to easily finish him in the same manner. She relished the victory as all life left his eyes.

Unfortunately, she would soon be forced to join her siblings. Inverting one’s trait is immensely stressful on the soul. With her time running out, Agate performed another forbidden spell to ensure that her will lived on: the Bête Noire spell.

The Bête Noire spell consists of creating a powerful, nearly lifelike golem called a “bête noire”. While the golem itself is powerful, a bête noire’s true strength lies in its longevity and ability to form complex thoughts.

Most spells typically act in very basic ways. For example, a simple fire spell will simply follow a chosen path or pattern before disappearing regardless of whether it hit its target or not.

Bêtes noires, on the other hand, can not only accomplish much more complicated tasks, but also think about how they will go about doing so. They are even be able to improvise if things don’t go their way. In addition, they can exist for several weeks before fading. However, if they have a way to replenish their magic (such as harvesting it from souls), they become virtually immortal. A bête noire is essentially a living spell.

Of course, to craft such a being, the cost is extremely high. It requires the caster to use their own soul for the conjuring. Then, they must also have a vessel other than their own body that can be merged with the soul to create the golem.

Agate was willing to sacrifice the life she wouldn’t have for much longer and she had two perfectly good vessels. Still spiteful towards her brother, the wizard chose Amber’s body over Copper’s. Her soul turned pink as it absorbed Amber’s body. With the deed done, Agate lifeless body fell to the floor.

The soul remained sealed and hidden for over 800 years until the barrier was broken. At that moment, it awoke, transformed into the being that would be know as Bête Noire.

Bête Noire knew her purpose from the very start as she possessed some of Agate’s memories as she possessed some of Agate’s memories. Unfortunately, the goal her “mother” left her with was no longer as good-natured as it once was. In Agate’s twisted mental state, it had gone from “Keep humans and monsters separate for both their safeties.” to something akin to “Kill all monsters so that they will never live in peace with humans. Do so by any means necessary, even if it means killing humans who oppose you or using the power of hate.”

Gathering hate is stated to be the universal purpose of a bête noire. It’s fitting when considering the name. “Bête noire” is a french term that literally translates to “black beast”. Black is the color (or lack there of) of hate. In addition, the term “bête noire” is used to indicate a person or object that someone particularly dislikes.

I originally found it ironic that Bête struggled to keep her hate under control, but the solution is simple. She likely only struggled to keep it under control because she wasn’t in her complete form at the time.

Nonetheless, I can’t help thinking that maybe bêtes noires are supposed to succumb to the hate they collect. Perhaps they are meant to serve as vessels for the stuff. After all, Betty still requires a large surplus of magic to keep it at bay. One would think a creature made to collect hate would do more than just resist it a little better than others.

Yet, if bêtes noires are supposed to succumb to hate, why has this one been shown fear it? Perhaps because, as a creature made purely of magic, it would be akin to death, something that she fears because fear is built into her nature.

In order to accomplish her mission, Bête had to gather information on both her enemies and the era she was in. She separated herself into two beings in order to hide her monstrous appearance and blend in with the humans. She dubbed the part she separated from herself “Akumu”, the Japanese word for “Nightmare”. Under the nickname “Betty”, she spent a month observing and planning.

It should be noted that she must have done so 24/7. Bêtes noires don’t need to sleep. It could also be for this reason that she is so unfamiliar with the concept. Agate’s knowledge about sleep was mostly omitted because it had little relevance to the mission.

As previously stated, Betty used her power of fear to look into the memories of the monsters. From the information she gathered, she judged that monsters were in fact deserving of death. This may seem strange to many since, as seen in Undertale, most monsters are innocent and kind-hearted people. How could she possibly think so poorly of them even after seeing their past? Is she blind?

I believe so. Betty may, in fact, be blind to certain degree.

Any normal person would most likely have seen that monsters didn’t deserve what was coming to them. Why didn’t Betty? Because she isn’t a normal person. Highly advanced or not, Bête Noire remains a spell, and spells exist to carry out the will of their caster. They are tools.

If magic bullets could miss because they took pity on the opponent, few people would use them.

Keep in mind that Betty isn’t just a bullet that uses up 0.001% of the caster’s magic. She’s a bête noire. People had to die for her creation. If a person poured all of their life force into a spell that would carry on their will, they would be pretty upset to learn that they failed because the spell didn’t want to do the one thing it was created for.

All this to say that I believe that Betty is unable to go rogue either physically or mentally. She has no choice but to believe she is in the right. After all, if she realized that her only purpose for existing was objectively wrong, it could make her a less effective weapon.

When she looked into the souls of the monsters, it is likely that she was never going to come to any other conclusion than “They are dangerous.”

She did see some of the good in them, but most of what she retained were parts that would prove her right. These included Asgore killing the 6 humans (even though it was the only way to save his kingdom), the horrors Asriel committed as Flowey (even though he was soulless at the time), and Frisk’s many resets (even though they aren’t even a monster). These actions were obviously horrible, but there were nuances that made them more understandable. Context was important.

Betty, who I believe was unable to pick up on such nuances, may have simply taken the most basic message from this. “These monsters did bad things, therefore they are evil and the same must apply to all of monsterkind.” She is blind to anything that doesn’t fit into the way she is supposed to see the world.

(Of course, this doesn’t mean she is unaware of Papyrus or Undyne’s heroic and selfless acts. It just means that can’t see them as proof that monsters are good people.)

As such, Bête may not be wholly responsible for her actions. Some of her malicious acts can be blamed on her creator. After all, her contradictory objective of killing humans to protect humanity was given to her by Agate, who’s mind was far from clear at the time.

However, other aspects are harder to justify. The pleasure she seems to take in her victims’ emotional suffering could have come from Agate as the wizard displayed something similar shortly before casting the spell.

The fact that Bête wouldn’t care if the world ended as long as it was by her hand definitely makes her seem incredibly hypocritical (which she is) and entitled, not to mention evil. I suppose that by annihilating everything she would technically accomplish her goal of killing all monsters. With her one purpose in life fulfilled, she would have no more reason to live. The idea of ruling humanity afterward is likely more of a bonus. Assuming this is the case, it’s a testament to how much important the mission is to her.

Finally, I would like to bring up the debate of whether Betty and Agate are the same person or not because, if they are, most of what has been written here will be completely pointless. There are two ways to look at this.

This post tells us that Agate is technically Betty, but it may only refer to them in the physical sense. Betty’s body is physically Agate’s soul. The debate is about whether they are mentally the same.

This comic is likely the largest piece of evidence to support this. To my knowledge, it is still canon. In it, Bête finds the remains of Agate’s body. Her reaction is quite interesting because she acts and talks as if the body was once hers. She also has to reassure herself that she “can’t die now”, implying that she was once mortal. She also mentions ensuring “our race’s survival” in reference to humanity. For that sentence, she includes herself with the human race. This implies that she was at least human at one point.

This evidence certainly appears conclusive, and it very well might be. However, it directly contradicts this conversation which, to my knowledge, is also still canon. Here, she refers to Agate as “mom”, indicating that she thinks her as a separate being. Why is this? Is one of these sources outdated? Possibly, but I have another proposal.

Betty’s mind appears to be all over the place. One moment, she laments the fact that she is meant to be hated and, at another, she takes joy in torturing her victims. She doesn’t want to die, yet she wouldn’t mind if the world ended at her own hand. She is hypocrite. Sometimes, she believes she is Agate’s creation; at other times, she acts like she is Agate herself.

Bête Noire’s first memories came from Agate. Surely, It isn’t too far-fetched to say that her mind was likely derived from her creator’s. If that is indeed the case, the solution is clear; Betty might be insane just like Agate was before casting the spell. Agate’s insanity could have rubbed off on her creation. Thus, it’s possible that Bête’s thoughts are meant to be hypocritical and contradictory.

In the end, is Betty Agate? She may not even know herself. I believe she is more of an imperfect copy or a “simulacrum”. The things that make her “Agate” are the incomplete memories of the wizard’s life and the similar way of thinking. In my opinion, these don’t make an entirely different person, but they also aren’t enough for her to be considered Agate. She is merely a being in possession of her creator’s memories.

Also, these hints might still be relevant today.

“Steven Universe logic”? You mean the show where almost every problem is solved by talking and all the villains end up becoming good? Sure, that could just be referencing Sans and Asriel getting talked out their states, but you never know. Maybe Betty’ll regret her actions too before dying. Eh? EH?!

“Never assume things”? No kidding. Words to watch by.

#bête noire #glitchtale #agate lightvale #Speculation #undertale #glitchtale betty

3 notes · View notes

mobius-prime · 5 years ago

Text

121. Knuckles the Echidna #22

Dark Alliance (Part One of Three): You Say You Want a Revolution…

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Jim Valentino Colors: Barry Grossman

So fair warning - this arc is very politics-heavy. I've already criticized the inclusion of politidrama plotlines in the comic before, despite my own personal interest in them, so I won't go over it again. What I will go over is that this arc also includes quite a few tasteless references to the Nazi regime of World War II, starting with the intro page. See, every issue in this arc begins with, rather than the traditional intro page that recaps past events and introduces plot points to come, instead a speech or quote relevant to the current story. This one is a parody, if you will (though played completely straight) of the "First They Came" poem by the German pastor Martin Niemöller, referring to how many people stayed silent while the Nazis oppressed and enacted genocide upon groups that those in silence didn't belong to. In this altered version, "Anonymous" claims that Robotnik came for hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits, and foxes first, during which the speaker stayed silent as they were an echidna and didn't want to get involved, and so by the time he came for the echidnas there was no one left to speak up for them. Of course, quite aside from the fact that this is completely disrespectful to the real-world situation that the actual poem describes, that's not even how the Robotnik coup went down. Robotnik, upon dethroning King Acorn, pretty clearly just started roboticizing all Mobians indiscriminately without regard to their individual species. Not only that, but he didn't even get a chance to start on the echidnas, as all of them were either contained in their pocket universe on the Floating Island, or hanging out in Albion, which it appears Robotnik never even knew existed. I don't know, the whole thing is clearly an attempt to seem really intellectual and deep on Penders' part, but it just comes off as insensitive instead.

Anyway, onto the actual story. We open in the house of High Councilor Pravda, who appears to be the main political leader of the city. In the dead of night, Pravda is awakened by a window smashing downstairs, and angrily stomps down to confront the intruder, believing it to be "dingo trash up to no good." Instead, he is dragged out of his house roughly by several Dark Legionnaires, while the leader, called Kommissar (her title, not her name), admonishes him for his apparent hypocrisy regarding his anti-technology stance.

Well, she seems lovely! As she has her people drag him away, we pan to Haven, where Knuckles is demanding answers from his grandfathers on his father's whereabouts. To his credit, Sabre is genuinely apologetic to Knuckles, believing that they should have been a lot more forthcoming with him a lot sooner, but Knuckles really isn't having it, and can you blame him?

As a side note, this is about the point in the comic where the eyes of characters such as Knuckles and Tails, formerly depicted as black pupils as in the classic games, start to gain some color. We already saw it with Tails a little while back during the Sand-Blasters two-parter, and it's very inconsistent between issues (for example, you'll notice his eyes are blue instead of purple up there), but you'll start to notice it in screenshots from here out before their designs finally stabilize to their modern forms, similar to their designs from the games.

While Knuckles continues to demand to see his father, we ourselves see Locke, who is dropping off Remington, Julie-Su, Lara-Le and Wynmacher back in Echidnaopolis. Remington asks him how things went with Lara-Le again, and Locke acts like he's all regretful that he couldn't woo Lara-Le back to him or something, which like, really man? You're divorced and haven't spoken properly in years, and she has a new fiancé now, did you really expect to just manage to sweep her off her feet again and get remarried? Julie-Su tries to approach Locke to thank him for saving the whole group, and finds herself recognizing his appearance somewhat. Upon asking, she's shocked to find out that he's Knuckles' father, and asks him about Knuckles' whereabouts. Remington ushers her away before they get a chance to speak further, probably to protect Locke's privacy, and as he jokes with her that it seems like she actually cares about Knuckles, Locke muses to himself that his son is likely furious with him, which, yeah, not far off there buddy. He has an idea of where his son might have gone, and as he speeds off in his air vehicle, we jump over to the Kommissar, who has by now dragged her captive all the way back to the Dark Legion's current hideout… and oh boy, inside we get to see a familiar f- …uhh… okay, well, I won't call him a familiar face, because we've never seen him looking quite this messed up before, but it's Dimitri, okay? It's Dimitri back on his BS.

Guess he had to have some, uh, extensive reconstructive surgery after his rather literal fall from grace. And unfortunately for everybody who doesn't want to be ruled over by a cyborg'd up monstrosity of a dictator, he's got a new takeover plan in mind for the city!

Back in the more civilized areas of Echidnaopolis, Remington is having his driver take Wynmacher and Lara-Le back to their apartment when they find the streets blocked by a protest from dingoes, agitating about their lack of housing and accommodations within the city. Remington tries to resolve the situation peacefully by requesting that if they must protest, to at least let traffic pass while they do, but at that moment a giant flaming fireball comes out of nowhere and starts wrecking the place, and the whole thing devolves into a big brawl between the protesting dingoes and the watching echidnas.

Remington calls Haven for backup, and while I'm not sure who exactly in that nest of grandpas he expected to go rushing out of there for something as simple as a protest gone wrong, luckily for him he mentions Lara-Le over the comm, and Knuckles immediately enlists Archimedes' help to poof him out there to help his mom. Meanwhile, we get to see that Locke has completely, thoroughly misjudged where Knuckles would be hanging out at this moment, having thought for whatever reason that he would be brooding inside the Chaos Chamber next to Mammoth Mogul's ugly frozen mug.

Now this is some well-appreciated character development from Locke. I've been heavily criticizing him this entire time for how he's handled his interaction, or lack thereof, with his son, and I'm glad to see that Lara-Le's admonishments seem to have gotten through to him. While he won't get a chance to catch up with his son right at the moment, at least we know the big talk isn't that far off in the future.

Knuckles and Archimedes poof into the fray on the streets, and Knuckles begins throwing punches at whoever gets close enough, which as everyone knows is the single best way to end a violent brawl - by participating! Despite being an echidna himself, he doesn't hesitate to throw punches at other echidnas in the bunch, with Archy adding some of his own fire breath into the mix. If anything, I'd say he accurately judged the situation, which is that the dingoes were peacefully demonstrating and it appears to have been an angry, racist echidna who threw the first molotov. General Von Stryker makes his entrance, and despite him predictably acting aggressive and blaming echidnakind in general for the dingoes' treatment, Knuckles actually agrees with him that the echidnas are being really crappy, and offers a truce so they can discuss what went wrong and how to resolve it. Meanwhile, back in hell - I mean, the Legion's hideout…

This is probably the single most disturbing page in the comic so far, if you ask me. This guy is begging, screaming, for mercy and they put him under like nothing's wrong and start doing surgery without his consent (obviously) on his brain. Dimitri, watching the proceedings, starts mwahaha'ing to himself about the whole affair, as apparently Pravda is the direct descendant of Menthor, the councilman who denied his and Edmund's proposal to use the Chaos Syphon all those centuries ago. He's determined not to get careless with his power again in the future, and now that he's defeated death by old age through the sheer power of adding more and more cybernetics to his failing frame every time something goes wrong, he's ready to get his long-due revenge.

In another part of the city, Knuckles and Archimedes poof right into the middle of the Chaotix, who are pleased to finally see him and hopefully get a chance to catch up. As he explains what was going on with the protest, Julie-Su arrives and gives him the "why" he was looking for, which is that, naturally, Pravda was kind of a racist ass and wasn't working very hard to ensure the dingoes would have housing built for them in a timely manner. However, elections for the position of High Councilor are coming up in a few days, and Pravda has ever-so-mysteriously been missing since the previous night, with his traumatized wife too messed up to be able to talk about what she saw. She slyly mentions when questioned that "a little birdie" gave her all this information, leading Vector to rather rudely blame her for "having friends in low places" and generally acting as distrustful of her as ever. Seriously, Vector's been kind of a jerk to her ever since she left the Legion, and you just know that situation is gonna come to a head sooner or later. But enough of them - let's head back to the Kommissar, who's having her people reenact Kristallnacht in the streets of Echidnaopolis! (Told you this arc is full of tasteless references to WWII…)

She reports in to Dimitri, who is pleased to hear about her progress on the senseless property damage and random citizens she's beating up for no reason. Like, the regime seems cacklingly evil enough to want to do this kind of stuff, sure, until you hear Dimitri's actual plan for takeover this time - he's implanted control chips into Pravda's brain, and is going to use him as a mouthpiece for the Legion's ideals in the upcoming election!

So, wait. You want to get your new mind-slave to cast your organization in a positive light, and at the same time you're having one of your main commanders go around smashing windows and beating people up in alleys? How is this master plan of yours supposed to work, exactly? That entire Kristallnacht page could be removed from the comic and not only would it not impact the story, it would make it make more sense than it currently does. I seriously think that it was only included to draw more parallels to the Nazi regime, because there's just no way it makes any real sense otherwise. Sigh, Penders. Why do you have to be like this?

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #kte 22 #writer: ken penders #pencils: jim valentino #colors: barry grossman

4 notes · View notes

garrou · 5 years ago

Text

garou arc timeline because i was having trouble parsing exactly how many days it lasted

all off the top of my head so i may have some points mixed up

day 1:

garou is introduced to the story. he beats up all of the criminals gathered by the hero association as well as the three heroes that were supposed to be acting as guards for the meeting

garou defeats tank top vegetarian

garou defeats tank top master and some of his underlings (did this happen on a different night ??)

day 2:

garou defeats several lower-class heroes he happens upon in the street

garou meets tareo for the first time

garou defeats golden ball and spring mustachio

garou meets saitama for the first time unknowingly, but is of course immediately dispatched with a chop to the shoulder and passes out for the night in the middle of the street

day 3:

garou wakes up in a pile of trash bags that he was apparently moved to in the night

garou meets tareo a second time

garou fights metal bat, ending in a draw

garou is first confronted by the monster association but declines their offer to join

garou seeks out watchdog man but has to withdraw from the fight

day 4 (and probably eventually late enough at night to technically leak into a fifth day):

garou wakes with a fever and plans to lie low for a few days, but tareo happens to be forced into the shed he’s staying at by his mean “friends” and they talk for a bit

garou is ambushed by several heroes but defeats them all despite being ill. tareo gets scared of him and runs away

genos fights garou but is interrupted by bang and bomb, who beat the shit out of garou. to his credit he keeps trucking the entire time

but regardless before either side can be victorious the bird costume guy just. picks him up by the arms. and flies away. garou screams at him and complains the entire time but eventually he passes out while they’re in the air

garou wakes up at some point mid-day in the monster association. they tell him to go outside and kill a hero. sword hands guy and bug guy are sent to tail him

garou eats an inhuman amount of food at a restaurant without paying and is followed by saitama (who forgot his wallet and used chasing after garou as an excuse to get out of it)

garou comes across tareo again and saves him from some bullies

saitama finds garou and garou tries to pick a fight with him but is knocked out immediately. tareo manages to wake him up shortly after, however

sword hands guy and bug guy show up and fight garou. garou tells tareo to run and holds his ground fairly well until a third monster shows up having captured tareo, which distracts him just long enough that sword hands guy lands a hit, which in turn is enough to put an end to whatever fumes garou is running on. garou gets cut to shit and is presumed dead by all present

tareo is taken back to the monster association hq

garou wakes up sometime in the late evening or night, completely vital again. at this point he’s not entirely human anymore, though he still looks it his regen abilities have skyrocketed and his clothing is fused to/a part of his body.

garou enters the monster association hq to look for tareo (though he wouldn’t admit that’s why)

garou begins eating monster corpses as he kills those he comes across, presumably because his transformation is using up so much energy that he’s starving All The Time

garou breaks into the cell that sword hands guy has taken tareo into and kills him and starts to lead tareo out

they come across rover but he gets them away by backing away slowly which surprisingly works

three other monsters attack them and garou takes care of them but not before they agitate rover

garou and tareo split up, tareo runs away while garou fights rover

rovers attacks end up landing garou in the room with gyorogyoro and orochi where he confronts them

garou fights orochi

??? (orochi wasn’t in the webcomic and this is as far as the manga has gotten so it’s unclear what’ll happen here to make up for the discrepancies)

garou resurfaces outside of the monster assoc hq to confront the remaining heroes, having begun to show physical signs of transformation into a monster

various s-class heroes try to confront him but all fail. saitama cant manage to catch him at this point and garou ignores saitama in favor of the s-classes

garou threatens to kill tareo if they don’t stop him. no one really makes any moves to stop him but eventually saitama intercepts

garou is still like “i’m gonna kill the kid over here if you don’t stop me!” and saitama points out that tareo isn’t even where he is headed, that he knows tareo isn’t in that direction, and that he is bluffing

garou and saitama fight sorta; garou can take saitamas punches pretty easy at this point. saitama calls him soft and points out that he’s holding back/going easy, i.e. that he isn’t fighting to kill

as they fight some s-class heroes gain vitality and garou acts surprised and saitamas like “dude. You Were Fighting Them Non Lethally. You Left Them Alive On Purpose.” which garou refuses to admit

garou gives his longass speech about his actual reasoning for doing what he’s doing—it’s not just that he wants to be a monster, his ultimate goal is to be a unifying factor for all mankind by being something everyone universally hates and fears; he naïvely believes that prejudice, war, crime, bullying, etc. will all be cast aside in favor of trying to defeat the God-Level Monster Garou. he demands to know why saitama is a hero, to which he of course replies it’s a hobby

garou gets pissed off at the fact saitamas motivation is so menial and that he can’t land any real hits on saitama and transforms further and then further again but he still can’t really do shit and he starts to lose steam and get to be more small and humanoid again

saitama really starts to dig into him at this point like he points out that what garou really wanted was to be a hero, but he thought it wasn’t going to work out so he settled on being a monster instead because “a monsters job is easier”

saitama punches away his monster form. literally punches it away and it crumbles and he’s like, inside there. what’s up with that

garou, seeing his purpose as being null, loses the will to go on

bang beats him up a little bit and he doesn’t bother to fight back, but he notes bang isn’t really trying to hurt him that hard

other heroes insist garou has to die, but tareo cries and insists he’s not a bad person because he’s saved him multiple times in just a few days

tareo’s support makes him realize he doesn’t really want to die here

garou escapes, with only saitama being able to actually process what direction he even went in bc he was moving so fast, and isn’t seen again in the webcomic for literally half a decade!

some unspecified time later idk a few days

king, while visiting an old abandoned dojo with a mummy, starts to go to a waterfall out back to get a drink but gets scared and runs away upon seeing garou is there

garou notices him somehow despite the fact that he’s sitting under a fuuuucking waterfall like hello? well that’s fine sweetie glad to see u again

#webcomic spoilers #opm spoilers #just wanted to write a timeline and posted early my bad #long post #edit: refined again MY APOLOGIES for no readmore ... im on mobile so its finnicky

61 notes · View notes

ve1vetyoongi · 6 years ago

Text

no need for dreaming | pjm

pairing: jimin x reader

rated: T

genre: enemies to lovers, fluff, semi crack/humour if you squint, clumsy!jimin

summary: in which Jimin, your annoyingly clumsy roommate convinces you to let him sleep in your bed for a week.

word count: 7.3k

warnings: strong language

a/n: so this is silly but i was feeling soft for jimin and decided to write some sleepy goodness. this was intended to be around 1.5k but ended up being a little longer so i hope you enjoy!! also, yes, it is possible to break a bed, take it from me lmao.

playlist: x

Crash!

The sound of your roommate's antics drew your attention away from the novel in your palms. Pulling an earbud from your ear, you strain against the music blasting through the other to listen for any signs he was seriously injured and needed immediate attention.

Since you had started living with Jimin, regular accidents due to his sheer stupidity had become daily routine. In fact, you almost expected them now.

Just as you considered pressing your earbud back into place, a guttural groan sounded from somewhere behind the thin wall of plaster that separated your respective bedrooms. With an agitated sigh, you kick back the covers, placing your now abandoned music player at the foot of the bed.

Jimin's low grumbling became louder when you threw the door to his room open, uncaring when the knob bounced against the wall forcefully. You were surprised it's hinges were still intact considering how regularly you abused it. It seemed you were always angry at him for something these days.

Glancing around, everything seemed in order at first; the floor was littered with unwashed clothing, the stupid girl band posters he pasted above his desk still staring at you with perfect smiles. However, all rational thoughts were quickly forgotten when you finally adjusted to the low lighting as the sight you were met with was truly unlike any other.

The far side of the room was in disarray, even more than usual. His bed was broken, that was for sure - you could tell from the way it sat slightly askew, barely standing. And then there was Jimin; legs sticking out at an angle from the hole that inhabited the center of his bed frame. His pajama clad body was practically collapsed in the middle of the explosion of wooden panels, the entire structure caving under his weight. His expression was one of shock - due to his current predicament or your sudden entrance you couldn't tell - dazed eyes as wide as his open mouth.

Idiot. You let out a tut, shaking your head.

"There's a hole in your bed." You pointed childishly at the obvious. Your words were laced with a venomous sarcasm and you glared at him with disappointed eyes.

"Congrats! You want a gold sticker?" He sneered back, eyes rolling as he let his head fall back against what was formerly a headboard.

"I want a roommate who doesn't break everything in a five mile radius." You hoped he could tell you were furious from the way you crossed your arms tightly across your chest, tired of being interrupted yet again by his clumsiness. If he did he didn't show it, simply shaking his head in disbelief as he attempted to untangle himself from the flurry of blankets that held his limbs captive.

"You're not gonna ask how it happened?"

"Do I look like I care?" Your foot tapped impatiently against the floor.

"Well, you were the one who came in here."

You blink at his expectant face for a few seconds before finally surrendering with a huff. "Fine. What did you do this time, Jimin?"

"I was trying to get something from the top shelf," he pointed at the tall bookcase behind him. The structure still swayed a little from whatever assault Jimin bestowed upon it. It was usually inhabited by collectible figures and books, though it was empty now. You took in the upside down crate near your feet, half empty of textbooks that had scattered across the expanse of the carpet. "And the entire thing nearly fell on me!"

"Doesn't explain the crater in your bed."

"I jumped out of the way and bumped into my bed," he drawled, pronouncing every syllable carefully as if to make his point clearer. "Duh."

"Bumped?" You couldn't help but snicker at his underwhelming choice of words. "Looks like you fucking catapulted."

"Shut up!" Jimin narrowed his eyes at you, desperately trying to swing his body out of what was left of the skeleton of his bed. After several attempts he slumped back into the pit, seemingly giving up on removing himself from the wreckage and instead extending his hands towards you with grabby motions. "Can I get some help?"

You weren't quite ready for the show to be over yet, silently watching his repeated failures with an air of amusement. "I'm good over here."

"You can't just stand there and leave me like this!" He whined, pushing his bottom lip outwards into a pout and punching the air childishly.

"Fine!" You said with an eye roll, deciding he had been punished for long enough as you stomped over to where his limp body lay. "You owe me for this."

With your hands pulling under his elbows you managed to free him from his bed slat prison on the third try. His broad frame practically crashed into yours as he flew forward, catching himself on your shoulders as an abundance of whatever panels remained clattered to the ground.

Surprised by your closeness, you remove his palms and push away from him with a gasp of bewilderment at his use of your body as a human safety net. You practically bounded back to the safety of the door frame, overwhelmed with the boyish scent of sweat and sandalwood that made you wrinkle your nose. Gross.

His feelings mirrored your own as he hastily distanced himself, wiping his hands on his shorts as if he had touched a dirty sidewalk. There were a few beats of silence before he bent to his knees, collecting the broken pieces of his busted bed into a pile.

"What're you gonna do now?" Your question rang out through the quiet, breaking the awkwardness that had threatened to settle and re-igniting the atmosphere of irritation.

"What do you mean?" He responded, not bothering to look up from his ministrations.

"Well, I doubt you're planning on sleeping in that thing tonight."

"I haven't had time to think about it yet to be honest," he leans back on his heels to face you, "Been a little busy if you couldn't tell."

His sarcasm didn't entertain you. In fact, it made your next revelation all the more satisfactory.

"Looks like you are on the couch then!" Your hand came to grip the handle of his door, closing it slowly enough to catch Jimin's baffled expression as you retreat into the hallway of your apartment. "Sweet dreams, Jimin!"

You heard the patter of Jimin's slipper covered foot steps following you hastily, his voice preceding his arrival. "You can't expect me to sleep on that thing!" A mop of messy blonde hair hurtled around the corner, sweeping into the living space you shared. "It's barely standing!"

The legs of the leather couch you had bought when you moved into this place were duct taped together haphazardly, the entire structure sitting a little lopsided despite your efforts at fixing it.

"And whose fault is that?" His face paled at your reminder of his drunken attempt at a back flip that sent him flying into the cushions with enough force to quite literally knock the poor piece of furniture off it's feet.

"It was an accident!" He exclaimed, running an embarrassed hand through his hair. "You know I don't hold my drink well!"

"Any how, you have no choice but to sleep on it tonight."

"Please don't make me, y/n!"

You let out an exasperated puff of air, becoming frustrated with his perseverance. "What do you want me to do about it, Jimin?"

"Let me sleep with you!"

His words echoed with enough volume to stop you in your tracks, abandoning your escape to the safety of your bedroom to face him Your nose wrinkled in distaste, eyes narrowed into slits. "If this is your way of getting laid, think again Park."

"Obviously not like that, y/n." He tutted, flicking lint from his old bed shirt. "Don't flatter yourself."

Jimin hoisted his body over the back of the couch, raising his eyebrows disapprovingly when it groaned under his weight. The structure wobbled a little in its fragile state and you had to admit it did not seem like it could handle a whole night of Jimin's mass.

"I'll just take one side of the bed and you take the other." He prodded the spring that peeked out of the fabric of the sofa cushion. "Easy peasy."

Your mind began ticking into overdrive, desperately searching for a viable excuse or something - anything - to put this to idea to rest.

It seemed to be an unspoken agreement that avoiding one another was easier than the incessant bickering that ensued when you were in each others company. It was usually pretty easy; separate shelves in the fridge so he couldn't accuse you of eating the last of his groceries, him showering at night so you could use the bathroom in the morning and always using headphones to prevent any irritated noise complaints.

It was difficult to remember the last time you so much as shared the same oxygen for more than seven minutes. You would do anything to avoid sharing a bed with him for seven hours.

"There isn't enough room." You mumbled stupidly, scolding yourself for your less than sufficient attempt at rationalizing with him.

"You need a whole king size to yourself?" Jimin propped himself on his elbow, squaring an ankle over one knee.

You puffed. "I move a lot in my sleep."

"We can put a pillow between us." He pleaded now, noticing your resolve beginning to crumble. "You won't even know I'm there!"

He pressed his hands into a prayer, blinking through his lashes and enticing a hot blush to rise in your cheeks as you fumbled to defend your reasons.

"Fine!" Defeated, you stood back and gestured for him to enter your room, pretending to inspect your nails attentively. "Only because I can't afford a new couch!"

At your surrender he pushed past eagerly, practically bounding through the door with an expression of pure triumph plastered across his face. "Like I said, you won't even know I'm here!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." You breathed, shoulders slumped as you watched him throw himself on top of your previously perfect bed sheets.

Jimin had barely set foot in your room before this moment. The last time he came in was to tell you he put a fork in the microwave and needed your help to get rid of the smoke from the kitchen before the entire building had to be evacuated. Apart from that, he had never really ventured into your personal sanctuary so the sight of his body sprawled on your mattress was unusal.

He clearly felt similarly, not hiding his curiosity as he unabashedly took in the expanse of your room. Jimin's eyes grazed the papers strewn across your desk and the piles of fresh laundry you hadn't had time to hang up yet. You snorted when he rolled onto his stomach into a starfish position to admire the glowing fairy lights strung along your headboard.

He sighed deeply into a pillow. "Mmmf, it's comfy." .

"Don't get too cozy, Park." You pull a too big varsity hoodie over your head. "This is a one time thing."

Jimin's neck snapped up at your warning, a lazy smile tugging at his lips. "Worried you won't be able to get rid of me, darling?"

"Don't call me that when I'm about to get into bed with you." You groan to his amusement.

"It sounds nice when you say it like that." His eyebrows wiggled sensually and you threw a throw cushion at his forehead, drawing abrupt giggles from his throat. "I'm just kidding, Jesus!"

"It's only funny if both people laugh." You perch on the edge of your bed, apprehensive in comparison to the way he confidently lay spread eagle. "Now budge up, this is my bed remember."

He shuffles to the far side of the comforter, causing the space between you to grow to a more comfortable distance. He kicks his slippers across the room and dives under your crisp sheets so that only the top of his fluffy hair poked out of the top.

For some reason you find yourself feeling nervous. It had been months since you shared a bed with anyone, especially a boy. Jimin was irritating, sure, but you couldn't deny that he was pleasing on the eye. It was hard to ignore the stares he got from girls around campus and his name often came up in conversation. Of course, they had never tried living with him so you figured they couldn't be blamed for their ignorance. To be fair, if it weren't for his bothersome personality even you might consider him attractive. Even so, you rubbed your bare legs together and silently wished you had picked something slightly more conservative than the gym shorts you donned beneath your pullover.

Pulling back the corner of the duvet, you slip into the bed that suddenly feels unfamiliar to you. The sheets tucked tightly beneath your under arms and you busied yourself by smoothing out any crinkles in the fabric.

The atmosphere was quiet except for Jimin's heavy breathing. An uneasy glance in his direction revealed his lids were closed and you wondered if he was already asleep.

You flicked the switch on your lamp, sending the room into pitch darkness apart from the dim glow from the string lights that were littered around the room. Sliding as close to the edge of the bed as you could, you lay on your back with eyes trained to the ceiling.

Jimin shifted next to you, pushing an arm beneath the pillow he apparently claimed for himself. You could practically hear your heartbeat and you prayed Jimin couldn't feel it pulsating through the mattress.

Why were you so nervous about sleeping with Park Jimin of all people?

"Goodnight, y/n." His voice pierced the deafening silence, encouraging you to twist so you were facing him. His lids were still screwed tightly shut, light breaths fanning his arm and you were sure you imagined it until he added a sickly, "Sweet dreams."

"Jesus, just go to sleep already." You breathe, startled. He let out a muffled laugh, clearly satisfied with how uncomfortable he was making you.

You shook your head to rid yourself of any jitters. It was time to get a grip.

This is Park Jimin, you remind yourself, the irritating man child that is only useful for rent money.

Your bid to relax seemed to work, helping you over the momentary wobble. You shuffled around to find a comfortable position on your side, back facing Jimin's form. As you did so, the comforter you were not used to sharing shifted slightly to uncover Jimin's feet.

"Stooop," He let out a drowsy groan, words laced with fatigue. "Whaddaya doin'? Mmf cold."

Jimin kicked his bare feet around, searching for the blanket that covered them moments ago. Frustrated when he couldn't find it, he freed his arms from the constraints of the sheets, grabbing aimlessly at the duvet until it bunched up into a plush cocoon around him, exposing you entirely. The flash of cold night air made you gasp, jumping into a stark sitting position to watch in disbelief as he snuggled down with a light smile, content in his swaddle of blankets

Irritation swept over you and suddenly any remnants of anxiety regarding his presence was lost under the hot annoyance that reminded you exactly why you disliked him.

"What the fuck?" You murmured, tugging at your hair. "This is not happening."

Before you could think better of it, your arms shot out to unwrap the silken lump beside you, revealing Jimin to the harsh cold and reveling in the body heat that lingered on the blankets when you wrapped them around your own shivering limbs.

His eyes flashed open, landing on you instantly. They narrowed, confusion boring into you as he took in your face, peeking only partially from inside the burrito you fashioned for yourself out of spite. "Didn't anyone ever teach you how to share?"

You sneered, spitting "I could ask you the same question."

Reluctantly, you let him take hold of the corner of the sheet so that it could be pulled back to its earlier position of covering the both of you.

"Thank God this is only for one night." Jimin said under his breath, though you still managed to pick up the gist of his words.

"Tell me about it, Park."

"What?!" You exclaim, rushing over to where Jimin stood in your doorway with a laptop balanced on his forearm. "You mean to tell me it's going to take a week for your new bed to get here?"

You pushed your face in front of the screen. Sure enough, the text displayed the estimated arrival date to be a week from then.

"Yeah, it's gotta be shipped so I guess - "

"No!" You cut him off, brushing past him into the living room, uncaring when his laptop nearly clattered to the ground. "Call them! Email them! Whatever. Just tell them you need it by this afternoon!"

Jimin scoffed, striding into the open kitchen space. He dropped his laptop on the island, biting his lip as he mindlessly scrolled down the page of mattress options. "You think that's gonna make a difference?"

You slumped onto the couch with crossed arms, wincing when a spring poked into your lower back painfully. The kitchen and living space were interconnected, allowing you to prop your body on the back of the chair to glare at him angrily. "I don't know, surely worth a shot?"

"It's just a week, y/n." He let out a deep sigh, eyes still trained to his keyboard. "Besides, last night wasn't so bad."

"For you!" You exclaimed. "You hogged half the bed and the entire duvet!"

"Don't be dramatic." His eyes rolled skywards, a signature move telling you he was becoming frustrated with you.

"Plus, you snore loud enough to keep the entire city awake."

"For fucks sake, I do not snore!" Jimin slammed the lid of his laptop closed, startling you. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can you just make this easier for the both of us by dealing with it?"

It was your turn to roll your eyes now, muttering "Fine! But you can bring your own duvet tonight."

"Deal."

Sure enough, you found yourself laying next to Jimin once again for the second night in a row - though this time under respective blankets, thankfully. Though that problem was solved, he did, in fact, snore - loudly enough to keep you awake until the early hours of the morning until you finally had enough and almost smothered him to death with a throw cushion.

Night three was not much better, Jimin chastising you for playing Eight Hours of Whale Song meditation videos on a loop to aid your sleep.

"If I wanted to listen to animal noises I'd sleep in the yard."

"Good idea!" You had responded, clapping with mock enthusiasm. "Why didn't you think of that before?"

"In your dreams, y/n." He said, turning away with a huff.

"There will be no need for dreaming if you don't shut up and let me listen to my damn mediation video."

By night five, your patience was wearing thin. Jimin had a habit of moving in his sleep. You were a still sleeper in comparison, curling up into one position and waking up the same way the next morning. As a result of Jimin's constant twisting and turning, the bed would shake and rattle endlessly, waking you up peridodically throughout the night when he would thrash his legs wildly. That was until you couldn't stand it any more, threatening to bestow your icy feet on his back if he didn't stay still.

It had been a long, sleepless week until that point, leaving you both moody with sleep deprivation.

You silently prayed that Jimin's new bed would be delivered early by some miracle.

Everyone who knew you was aware that you were an early night kind of person. There was nothing you loved more than curling up in bed at 9PM with a good book and a face mask if you were feeling particularly fancy, before drifting off into an easy slumber much too early for Jimin's liking.

Jimin was the opposite. Very much a night owl, in his prime at night apparently. He made this information about his character clear, opting to read comics on his phone until ass o' clock or tap feverishly at the screen in a desperate attempt to level up on Candy Crush until dawn shone through the curtains.

It was annoying. He was annoying. Especially when he lay next to you, laptop brightness at full while watching Toy Story at two in the morning.

"Fucks sake, can you turn that off?" You whisper blearily, eyes still coated with sleep. He didn't seem to hear you over the voices blasting through his headphones loud enough for you to pick up every word.

What is the point in using them if I can still hear everything? You wonder. Idiot.

"Dammit," You grumble, feeling the elastic of your patience finally snap. Turning over to face him, your hand jerks out to rip the nearest earbud out, Jimin's expression a mixture of shocked and pissed when the toys on his screen were cut off mid sentence.

You pressed your mouth to his ear in a bid to ensure he would hear you clearly this time. "Go to fucking sleep!" You enunciated every syllable carefully, causing the hairs on the back of Jimin's neck to raise to attention.

"What's your problem?" His palm shot out to cover your entire face, pushing you roughly backwards until you fell back to your side of the comforter. "It's not even that late?"

"It's two in the morning! I have class tomorrow, couldn't you at least be a little considerate?"

"Considerate?" He let out a breathy laugh. "You aren't being considerate! I'm trying to watch a movie here you know."

"Finish it tomorrow." You countered.

"How did I end up living with such a Grandma?" He puffed, searching for his lost earbud between the cushions.

Grandma? This boy has the audacity to call me a Grandma?

Air pushed through your nose and you half expected hot fury to accompany it. The smart thing to do would be to grab a sleep mask and try to drown him out.

Unfortunately you were not feeling smart.

You were restless with lack of sleep, yes, but you were not one to give up easily. Persistence was both a blessing and a curse, the latter in this situation you decided as you abandoned any further attempts of reaching dream land to pull his laptop onto your own knees.

"I'm not a Grandma!" You insisted, ripping the earbuds out of their slot in the laptop, animated voices filling the room as a result. "I just choose to go to sleep."

He huffed, attempting to grab the device from you to no avail. "What are you doing?"

"Watching the movie."

Jimin let out a throaty chuckle, dry after not using his voice for a few hours. "You won't even be able to stay awake until the end."

"You want a bet?"

"I don't need a bet to know I'm right."

With a dark glare, you train your eyes to the screen, trying to remember the context of this movie from your memory.

You felt Jimin shuffle next to you before his arm came into contact with your own. The touch was light - barely there - brushing your skin every so slightly before you ripped away from the contact. The place where his skin touched your own tingled and you cradled it against your chest, trying to ignore the heat that crept up your neck.

He noticed, glancing over your surprise. "What? I just need to see the movie."

"Tch, I knew that."

The touch meant nothing. You knew that. What's the big deal?

Reluctantly, you moved back to your earlier position in an attempt to prove you were unaffected by him. It was chilly, winter sweeping in quickly and you tried your hardest to ignore the way your body naturally curled into the heat emanating from Jimin's spot next to you. Why was this kid a human heater?

You always run cold, you remind yourself.

After a short while, Jimin raised a hand to rub the knots that had formed in the back of his neck. He let his head fall just above your shoulder to relieve the soreness. This was the closest you had ever been to him - his hair was tickling your cheek and you were pretty sure your lips would brush his if you moved forward a little. Strangely, you didn't jump away this time. He made no indication of the action being anything other than platonic - he did hate your guts as far as you were concerned after all. It was just for convenience, allowing you both to see the screen easily.

The movie was quickly reaching its climax, the soundtrack sad and harrowing as you both watched with child like awe when Buzz Lightyear attempted and failed to fly, crashing to the ground in a heap of broken toy parts.

Maybe it was fatigue or maybe you were overwhelmed by Jimin's closeness - either way, your emotions quickly got the better of you. Hot tears pricked the corners of your eyes. Embarrassed, you brought the back of your hand to your face in an attempt to wipe them away before Jimin noticed your slip up.

Crying at a kids movie? This is a new low.

A sniff came from where Jimin lay huddled in his blanket. His face was covered but you could tell he was crying by the way his body shook.

"Jimin?" You elbowed his side, earning a yelp. A tear escaped, cool against the heat of your cheeks. "Are you crying?"

"N-no, m'not." He sniffled. "Are you crying?" His head popped out, face streaked with tears, to observe you.

"No! Of course not." If the redness around your eyes didn't make it obvious the shake in your voice would have given away your feeble lie.

He scrambled into a sitting position, a watery smile appearing on his cheeks as he wiped his face quickly on the hem of his pajama shirt. "This is so weird."

"Tell me about it," A giggle escaped in between a small sob, your own lips curving to mirror his. "We are crying at Toy Story at three in the morning."

"Oh god," he rolled onto his back, hands dragging down his face. "This is so weird."

You simply hiccuped in response, resulting in a sudden bout of light hearted laughter from him, his chest heaving heavily as he tried to steady his breathing.

You couldn't remember the last time you laughed like this with Jimin. When the pair of you met through mutual friends you instantly had it out for one another. Back then it was easy to avoid him, though that became much harder once you moved in. The only reason you agreed to living into the apartment you shared was because it had stupidly low rent - nothing to do with him living there whatsoever. So, sharing a moment of mutual amusement was out of the blue - put it this way, if your friends could see you they would think you had seriously gone crazy.

Jimin looked completely relaxed, hair fanning across the pillow beneath his head, eyes crinkled in an unabashed grin. It looked good on him, you noted. You didn't think as you instinctively reached over him to wipe the tear drop travelling past the corner of his mouth.

His breaths finally slowed and he simply stared at you for a moment, the same content smirk plastered to his mouth. Jimin was just as confused as you were, though not unpleasantly. He had noticed the change too - feeling more comfortable around you even when you were being irritating beyond belief.

Suddenly feeling awkward beneath his gaze, you tugged your hair out of the ponytail you currently donned, allowing you to hide behind the dark sheet as it fell across your face.

"Lets just finish this so I can finally sleep." You fanned your eyes, drying any remaining tears before slipping back down beneath the blanket.

Without thinking, Jimin let his arm shoot out just before your head hit the pillow, breaking your descent. He didn't react, as though it was normal for his arm to rest around your shoulders.

Is he trying to make a move?

Of course not - it was an accident, obviously. He would notice in a few seconds and push you away in disgust.

You were surprised that you weren't completely repulsed by the intimacy - if you could even call it that. To be honest, it felt kind of nice.

You are just sleep deprived.

If you weren't so tired you would have pulled away, you tell yourself. Call him out for being a creep. Made him go and sleep on the couch for real.

You didn't do any of those things though. Instead, you pulled the blanket to rest below your chin and let your face bury into the crook of his elbow.

Jimin's breath hitched when he felt your soft breaths on his skin but he glossed over it quickly by un-pausing the movie. He smelled like fresh laundry and coconut shampoo and you let the scent lull your drowsy eyes closed sweetly. Jimin felt soft and comforting beside you and his presence was enough to quickly escort you into a deep sleep.

Jimin became aware of the way you fell silent and slack beside him. A quick glance revealed your closed eyes and steady breaths. He was surprised at how peaceful and unguarded you looked. To be honest, he had never really had a chance to study your face properly - usually busy quarreling with you to notice the mole at the tip of your nose or the curve of your cupids bow. The frown lines usually present in your forehead had disappeared, sleep ridding you of any wrinkles and exposing the smooth canvas of your face.

He debated waking you, ordering you to retreat back to your side. Or pulling his arm from beneath your neck and rolling over into a dream himself. For some reason, though, he couldn't bare to rouse you.

Jimin closed the lid of his laptop, effectively shutting off the end of the movie. He wiggled around until he lay on his side. If he were to lean forward a little more he could bury his face in your silky hair. It took all his self restraint to stop himself from giving in to his desire.

Sure, he was sleeping in your bed. Sure, he was practically spooning you in your bed. Even so, he didn't want to overstep a boundary.

You were barely even friends after all.

"Pfft, I knew you couldn't get to the end of the movie." He whispered, despite knowing he would get no response. "Grandma."

Before he knew it he was out like a light, convinced the entire situation was a dream.

Waking up tangled in Jimin's limbs was not supposed to be on the agenda.

The familiar alarm on your nightstand was unreasonably loud, pulling you from the best sleep you had had for a while before you were ready. It was when you tried to hit the snooze button that you realised your arm was trapped beneath something heavy and warm.

Someone.

You felt your eyes widen to saucers, taking in Jimin's sleeping face just inches from yours. His eyelashes cast shadows across his face, practically tickling your forehead due to the sheer closeness of your bodies.

You swallowed a scream of surprise, tugging your lip between your teeth.

What the fuck?

It wasn't just the physical situation you found yourself in that was making your thoughts do somersaults. It was the fact that you didn't hate it.

Y/n, you are still half asleep. Pinch yourself!

Carefully, as not to disturb a peaceful looking Jimin, you retrieved your arm from underneath him and shook out the pins and needles that had settled into your shoulder. He shifted a little, burying his face into your side, and you froze, only deciding he remained asleep once the rise and fall of his chest returned to a leisurely pace.

You were extra cautious when untangling your legs from his and once you were free you slipped away from the bed, laying the blanket gently over his sleeping form.

You stood there like that for a moment, staring over him. Watching the way his nose scrunched at the loss of your body heat, snuggling deeper into the sheets as a replacement.

Before you could change your mind and get back into bed with him - a sentence you never thought you would say about Jimin - you tiptoed to the bathroom to get ready for class, taking a deep breath to rid you of the feeling of Jimin's arm draped across your torso.

Once the shower was running and Jimin was sure you wouldn't return for a few minutes, he flipped onto his back and let out a sigh.

The alarm had woken him.

He didn't have the courage to face you, though, allowing you to slip away thinking he was asleep the entire time.

Jimin couldn't face the fact that he was going to miss sleeping next to you.

Things were positively awkward between the two of you when you got home from class that afternoon.

When you unlocked the door to your apartment, you were greeted by a disgruntled Jimin surrounded by nuts and bolts and instructions on how to assemble his new bed.

"O-oh, your bed is here?" You stammer dumbly, stating the obvious. A blush rose in your cheeks.

Since when did you care about embarrassing yourself in front of Jimin?

"Yeah." Jimin scratched the back of his head, setting the indecipherable instructions next to the pile of bed slats at his feet. "It's harder to build than I thought."

You started drawing circles on the hardwood with the toe of your converse to avoid his gaze. "I told you you were bad at building furniture when you tried to assemble the shoe cabinet."

Jimin smirked at your teasing, throwing his hands up in surrender. "You were right, I guess."

This is new.

"No smart remark?" Curiosity got the better of you and you dropped down next to Jimin, cocking your head at him.

"I only talk shit if I can back it up," He pushed the instructions towards you with his foot and you grazed through the mundane steps with a quirk of the brow. "I can't deny that I have no clue what I'm doing here." He glanced sheepishly at the various panels that were scattered across the rug.

"Thank god you have me," You clapped your hands together. "Right. Hand me bolt number five."

The assembly of Jimin's bed served as an ample distraction from the elephant in the room. Each time your hand brushed his you felt your cheeks blush hotly, reminding you of how much closer you were to him this morning. Jimin clearly felt similarly, tapping his fingers nervously to stop himself from blurting out apologies for the night before- whatever the night before was - mostly because he wasn't sorry. He just worried that you might be.

After several hours of Jimin groaning, searching for missing pieces under the couch and disassembling the entire thing twice, you managed to somehow put the bed together.

His old one sat disassembled in the corner - not that it was very assembled after Jimin plummeted through it - so the new one slipped into place perfectly as though it had always been there.

Jimin helped you lift the mattress onto the frame before you both collapsed on top of it, exhausted after hours of squinting at tiny print and screwing panels together.

"I should thank you," Jimin said, lifting himself up on an elbow to look down at you. "I would have had to call Yoongi if you hadn't stepped up to the job."

"Yoongi would have left you to suffer." You snort. Jimin's friend enjoyed seeing him squirm almost as much as you, though you were sure he would have helped eventually. His gratitude didn't pass on you though, encouraging a small smile to unconsciously play on your lips. "Besides, getting my bed back is repayment enough."

His own cheerful demeanor faltered at your words, face crumpling in what appeared to be hurt. Sensing the change in atmosphere, you straightened up and pulled your cardigan around your torso to hide the regret beginning to pool in your stomach at your own words.

"Uh huh," He stood up and walked away from the bed, pretending to busy himself with folding the now empty boxes it arrived in. "The worst week of your life is finally over." Despite not seeing his face the soreness that laced his voice was enough to tell you he was disappointed.

You bit your lip. "It wasn't the worst week of my life." He perked up at this, sneaking a peek at you as he threw the cardboard in the trash. "The worst week of my life was when I got food poisoning from Seokjin's cooking."

"That was pretty bad." He agreed, pausing before adding, "I'm glad you didn't make me sleep on the couch."

"Me too." Before the silence became uneasy again you added "You would have whined for seven days straight."

He simply let out a breathy laugh, crossing his arms over his chest as he pressed his back to the wall across from you.

You dared to look up at him through your lashes, surprised to see Jimin avoiding your gaze by staring straight ahead, expression as stony as his stance suggested he felt. He seemed small in comparison to his usually confident and cocky self.

"Well uhh," He coughed. "I have class in the morning, so.."

Taking the hint, you jumped to your feet, brushing non existent lint from your skirt.

"O-oh, I'll leave you to it." You moved quickly towards the door, pausing half way into the hall. "Sleep well?" It came out more of a question, testament to the fact that you were not used to sharing such formalities with Jimin.

"Sleep well, y/n."

You practically slumped back to your own room, feeling somehow rejected.

You should be happy! You finally have your bed back!

You tugged off your clothes and slipped into something comfier before falling into bed. It felt empty, the lonely expanse of sheets still disheveled from where Jimin formerly lay beside you. The pillows smelled like his detergent and you breathed it in shakily. It seemed colder and darker without his warm touch brushing you every now and again and his goddamn phone screen.

The light was out in a matter of minutes and you screwed your eyes shut and willed yourself to fall asleep.

It was no good.

Less than 24 hours ago you slept in his arms in this very spot, yet it felt like so long ago as you rolled around restlessly, a feeling settling in the pit of your stomach that you couldn't put your finger on.

Regret? Or did you miss him?

You were pulled from your thoughts by a curt rap of knuckles against your door.

Surprised, you fixed your pajama shirt and tucked a few loose strands of bed hair behind your ear in an attempt at appearing somewhat presentable.

You cleared your throat. "Jimin?"

The door creaked open slowly as the boy poked his head cautiously into the room. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as to adjust to the dim lighting.

You couldn't help the way your heart somersaulted at the sight of him, sleepy and all.

"Uh..hey." He said dumbly, pressing against the door and revealing the pillow he clutched to his chest.

"Can't sleep?" You reached to switch on the lamp, though you still caught the shake of his head. "Me neither."

Jimin seemed to hold a debate in his head. He looked stricken as he scratched at his neck anxiously, lips trying to form a sentence. Patiently, you fold your hands in your lap and stare at him expectantly.

He coughed nervously. "Feel free to tell me if I'm overstepping a boundary and I'll leave -"

"What is it?"

"Do you mind if I sleep with you?" You cock your eyebrows at his choice of words, causing him to splutter, "N-not like that I just - I don't want to sleep by myself."

Jimin's face reddened at his admission, his feet shuffling on the carpet uncomfortably as he tried to gauge your reaction.

You blinked at him for a few seconds before pulling the corner of the blanket back, gesturing for him to get in with a dramatic sigh, the curve of your lips giving away it's sarcastic nature. "Fine!"

He grinned, racing over gleefully before bouncing onto the mattress. To your surprise, you were just as delighted, not the slightest bit annoyed when the bed dipped under his weight or when he tugged the blankets away.

You were both positioned at opposing edges of the bed. It was your turn to be shy now when you said slowly, "You can come a little closer, you know."

He shuffled towards you slightly, barely closing the gap. You took it upon yourself to move so that your shoulders were pressed together. The warmth of his bare skin made you shiver. Jimin was glad you felt comfortable, letting his own hesitance fall away when you showed him it was okay to be this close.

It still felt foreign though, so you tried to ease the tension a little."My bed is comfier than the new one?"

"Much." Jimin stretched an arm out so that it rested around your shoulders, the same move he used the night before making you snicker. You snuggled down into the blanket, enjoying his mewl of surprise when you buried your face in his chest. A bold move but one that, deep down, you had wanted to make since last night. Jimin's pulse hitched into overdrive and he couldn't stop his next confession. "Probably because you weren't in it."

"Ew," The groan of disgust came out before you could stop it. "That was - "

"Gross." He cut you off, finishing your sentence perfectly and earning an amused nod from you against his chin. "Sorry. This is new to me."

"Me too," You reminded him. His words secretly made your head spin - or maybe that was the richness of his scent filling your senses - still, you added an afterthought. "I'm sure I can get used to you being cheesy."

"I'm warning you, this doesn't mean I'm gonna stop teasing you."

"Back at you, Park."

You erupt into sleepy giggles, his chest vibrating beneath your cheek. Eventually, your breathing steadied and the euphoric bliss of slumber started washing over you.

"Grandma." Jimin snorted.

"What?"

"I called you a Grandma. It's 9PM and you're already falling asleep."

You lift your head to stare at him. "Way to ruin the moment!"

"Sorry!" Jimin's arms wrapped around you in order to pull you back to him. He let out a loud yawn and you arched an eyebrow at him. "Looks like I'm a Grandpa, too." He shrugged.

Before you knew it, you were both asleep, wrapped up in the embrace of the other.

Looks like you were not getting your bed back after all.

#thebtstown #kwordsmiths #bts fanfiction #jimin fanfiction #jimin fluff #bts fluff #jimin crack #bts crack #bts scenario #jimin scenario #lmao this is dumb and the plot is questionable but i had fun writing it!!#psa i love jimin

687 notes · View notes

spinebreak3r · 6 years ago

Text

Ten

Ten moments that represent your relationship with Yoongi, based off of One Hundred Ways to Say I Love You x

Pairing: Min Yoongi x Reader

Warnings: ridiculous amounts of fluff and pining, friends to lovers, perspective changes, drunk BTS in 1., a mention and portrayal of anxiety (it’s briefly mentioned in 2. and detailed in 7. please stay safe)

Word count: 2,122

Going out with the Bangtan Boys was always a mission. You had immense amounts of fun and they were considered some of your closest friends, but there was always that one point in the night where Jimin would get a tad too giggly and Joon would say something a little too questionable, and you would have to call it a night.

This was one of those times, as a tipsy Jin, Yoongi, and Hoseok lead a sober you back to your car after a karaoke night that had gotten a slight competitive and had ended up with Jungkook and Jimin doing push-ups to settle a winner.

They were arguing about it now, Jin pulling out his fist to settle it rock, paper, scissors, style and none of them barely noticed you get into your car and wind down your window.

“The rules of rock, paper, scissors are clear, Jin! It’s best two out of three!” Hoseok yells out into the night.

“You cheated!”

“You can’t cheat in rock, paper, scissors!”

“That’s exactly what a cheater would say!”

You honk your horn to get their attention.

“Night, guys. I’ll see you tomorrow?” You ask.

They all nod and chorus a goodbye. Hoseok leans over to give you an awkward hug through the car window. You smile back and out in your keys.

Yoongi’s eyes are trained on you as you buckle your seat belt.

“Drive safely,” He calls out to you as you pull out of your space.

You wave back and smile.

He was sweating.

Anxiety wasn’t something new to him, he had come to know how to deal with it after many years. But this was different. This was new. This was exciting.

This was almost a date.

He says almost because he never explicitly asked you out, and he knows very well that you probably think he sees you as just a friend. But you’re both sitting in a cafe, alone, without the boys, just the two of you.

So Yoongi has decided to call it an almost date.

You’re laughing so hard too, your eyes glinting in the soft lights, and Yoongi’s heart feels like it’s going to pop out of his chest. Were you always this beautiful? Probably. He doesn’t want this to end.

But of course, it does. You both have lives and jobs and other people to talk to. He takes a moment to be selfish though, a moment of bravery combined with high adrenaline, and he asks if you want to go to this new record store he found, on Saturday, just the two of you. You say yes. He smiles so hard his cheeks hurt.

The grin falls when you pull out your wallet, though. “No.” He says. “No, it’s my treat.”

You protest, as expected, but he’s quick to swipe his card before you can actually pay.

“Fine. But next time is on me.” You exclaim, full of certainty.

Yeah, he thinks, like I’m letting that happen.

The call wakes you up.

You grumble repeatedly, tossing up between turning over and ignoring it or answering the person with several threats.

His name flashes on the screen and all the anger disappears from your body.

“Yoongi?” You answer.

“Did I wake you?” He replies. “I’m sorry.”

You look at the clock and see it’s two in the morning. You have to get up early too, but the way his voice cracks in the middle of his question makes your words easy to say.

“It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep anyway.”

He’s quiet.

“Talk to me.”

He does.

“You’re warm.”

His hand hovers over your forehead, and you have to agree, you do feel hot. Though you suspect most of it is from being in such close proximity to your longtime crush.

“I’m fine.” You whisper.

He tuts before pulling out his phone from his pocket.

“What are you doing?”

“Telling Hobi I can’t make practice.”

You sit up quickly, making your head spin but you push it away. “I told you I was fine!”

“And I call bullshit!” He replies, looking you straight in the eye. “There. It’s done. Now you’re stuck with me.”

You look at him in annoyance only to spot an acne scar on his forehead you’ve never seen before. Your hand reaches out to touch it gently.

He pushes your hand away. “Now are you gonna be good and let me take care of you?”

Cheeks flushed and arms crossed, you pout. “Depends.” You reply. “Are you gonna make me tea?”

“All the tea in the world, your grace.”

“Then I guess I’ll behave.”

He grins, gums and all, and pats your head. “Get some rest. I’ll be back with your tea in a second.”

You watch him leave the room. You immediately miss him.

Your best friend is gonna be so proud of you. You could hear their voice right now, all giggly and gushy. Even you were hyped.

You were on a date.

Not just any date, a date with Min Yoongi.

You weren’t fully convinced this was real life.

It had been a good night so far. You had hung out at his studio and listened to him rant about pitches and notes and beats. He was under the pretense of “teaching” you but you had gotten lost. Mostly because when he talked about music, he talked really fast, and also partly because he had a new perfume on and he smelled like vanilla and lavender.

Not that you would ever admit that to anyone.

After that, you went out to eat and instead ended up walking for two hours, too caught up in talking to notice you had long since passed the restaurant and ended up getting horribly lost.

Now you were back in the comfort of your home, arguing about how long to cook popcorn and scrolling through movies to watch.

It was definitely up there as one of your favorite nights ever.

“No horror movies.” He immediately states, reaching over to pull your legs onto his lap.

You pause on a classic, Star Wars, feeling in that kind of mood, only to see him grimace in the corner of your eye. You start to scroll again.

“What do you wanna watch?” You ask.

He looks at you, long and hard, and you wonder if he heard you properly. He opens his mouth before you can ask again though.

“Star Wars?”

Your surprise and excitement is not easy to hide. “Really?!”

He smiles. “Yeah.”

He falls asleep twenty minutes in but he does so with his fingers laced in yours, so you don’t mind.

He has a hard time believing you’re real.

He’s always been a cautious person, always on his guard. Not trusting people is one of his flaws and he didn’t really care enough to put any effort into changing that. Then you came along, all kindness and beauty and hope, and he couldn’t help become immediately accepting of you.

Yeah. Sometimes he didn’t quite think you were real, that you were his.

Times like now, when you walk into his studio without him asking you, coffee and food in hand. You wanted to see him, you said. You liked to make sure he was healthy, you said. It’s no big deal, you said.

“It’s two sugars, right?” You say.

He kisses you before he fully realizes what he is doing.

Your lips are stupidly soft, he thinks, and you taste better than he had ever dreamed of. He can feel your breath against his cheek and you hair beneath his fingers and wow he thinks you are quite possibly the greatest thing in the universe.

You pull away and he winces.

“Sorry.” He feels the need to make sure you’re okay, to backtrack because you didn’t give him the clearest green light and he might have just messed up everything. “I just…”

There’s a pause and he’s a little startled by it.

“I just really like you.”

Your smile is small but your eyes are bright. “I really like you too, Yoongi.”

He kisses you again, just because he can.

There’s something so strange about silence, how it’s never truly there. There’s always something, a car driving past, birds in the trees, water dripping onto the pavement, your heart beating…

Right now it’s only your breaths and Yoongi’s sobs.

You know anxiety well, well enough to understand it looks different on every person, which always makes it so hard to comfort someone because your methods are different to theirs and the last thing you want to do is make it worse.

So the both of you just sit there. Not touching but close enough that as soon as you get the signal you’re going to smother him in cuddles and kisses until he gives you one of his gummy smiles.

You love his smile so much.

You love him, even when he’s scared to feel the same.

“I’ll still be here when you’re ready.” Your voice is quiet but his back still tenses in surprise, in trepidation. “And if you’re never ready, that’s okay too. I’m gonna stay until you ask me to leave.”

A tear rolls down his cheek and lands on his hand.

“I don’t want you to leave.” He states.

“Then I won’t.”

He gives you the signal and you spend the rest of the night wrapped in his warmth.

He loves his job. He truly, honestly does. Loves it so much, he could never even picture himself doing anything else.

There are parts of it he hates, though.

Like now, when the guilt and pain sits heavily in his chest because your face on his phone screen just isn’t enough and he misses you so so so much.

He can tell your only laughing like this to make him feel better, but it only serves to make him worse.

He cuts you off without fully realizing. “I miss you.”

You sigh, slightly agitated, more saddened. “I miss you too.”

“Come visit me. You’ll love this city.”

“I can’t, Yoon. It’s too much money.”

“There’s a botanical garden, and an old record shop, and one of those escape rooms we can do together…”

“That sounds lovely, Yoongi, and I really want to see you. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll buy you a ticket.”

You freeze, and Yoongi almost thinks the call cut off.

Then you move and you’re yelling. “Yoongi! No! You can't do that! It’s too much money and I won’t be able to pay you back and -”

“Too late. I texted my manager. He’s organizing it right now.”

“Yoongi!”

“I miss you.”

You smile again. For the first time since he left, he does too.

“Thank you.” You whisper.

Deep down he knows he would buy you an entire plane if he felt it necessary.

The jacket is leather and black and it fits him perfectly. He’s a little confused, to be honest, doesn’t know why or how it was sitting on his bed, neatly folded with a note saying “I was thinking of you.”

Namjoon has a habit of buying ill-fitting clothes and donating them to Yoongi, but the leader doesn’t like leather so it couldn’t be him.

Jimin is a generous sweetheart but his notes are always signed with his name and a heart, ensuring that he would get full credit and praise, and this note had no such signature.

The jacket doesn’t feel expensive, nice and comfortable and sturdy, sure, but not high-end-tear-jerking-wallet-breaking expensive. So that rules out both Taehyung and Hoseok.

And then Yoongi’s mind drifts to you.

Sweet, beautiful, kind you. Who gives more than you receive, who kisses him on the cheek everytime he walks through your door, who makes his heart feel like it’s going to launch out his chest like a high-speed rocket. You.

He texts you with a message that reads: “is leather in style now?”

You reply with a simple wink emoji.

If anyone says he squealed, he will kill them.

10.

It’s midnight and you’re so exhausted. You had finally wrangled your boyfriend into bed. Tearing him away from his computer was a hard task, near impossible, but you managed it. You always did when his health was concerned.

He feels warm against your body and you can hear his heartbeat when you press your head harder into his chest. His arms are wrapped tightly around your waist, his breathing is ticking your neck, and everything just feels overwhelmingly right.

“Goodnight.” You tell him.

“Goodnight.” He replies.

You hold your breath and take the plunge.

“I love you.” You say for the first time.

“I love you.” He mumbles with ease.

You both fall asleep easily.

144 notes · View notes

iwriteficsnottragediesladies · 7 years ago

Text

Search and Seizure pt 3

A/N: It’s here. I hope you like it! I put an extra character in there you might relate to if you find it weird/difficult to connect with an epileptic reader. This is part of the scavenger hunt, so see if you can spot the reference!

If you would like to be added or taken off the tag list, just let me know!

Pre-read Epilepsy Disclaimer

You were deep into the tour and it was time to restock the bus with food, so you found a small grocery store. Grocery stores always made Brendon anxious, so you would go later at night when it was nearly empty.

You were feeling kind of nauseous and being surrounded by food wasn’t really helping. You take a deep breath and it subsides. You continue to walk absentmindedly, the boys loading up on what they wanted while chatting back and forth. They were further down the aisle and you were walking alongside Brendon.

Your nausea comes back, and it’s no longer just a normal “sick to your stomach” feeling. You felt your arm getting heavy and you start to panic. Not here. Not here. Please god, not here.

For some reason, you’re always so hesitant to tell people that you aren’t okay. You feel bad--it interrupts what they’re doing and everything grinds to a halt, just to take care of you, all while simultaneously scaring the shit out of everyone.

Of course, it doesn’t really matter--a girl’s gotta seize when a girl’s gotta seize. You decide you should probably speak up before it’s too late.

A new wave of intensity passes through you and it’s tell him now or never. You stop walking and suddenly clutch Brendon’s wrist. He quickly swings around. He sees your eyes appearing unfocused as they stray from him, your breathing becoming uneven while a dazed expression paints your face.

“Oh--” The sound escapes his mouth as he realized the situation. Brendon’s demeanor flipped into little kid mode. “Y/n?” He called to you in a low tone, placing his hands on your upper arms. You look to him and he feels a little relieved that you were responsive. “Feel like you’re gonna have a seizure, baby?” He asks in a sweet voice.

You nod your head as you reach out to him weakly, feeling unsteady. Brendon quickly pulls you close and you whimper into his shoulder. No matter how many times you have had a seizure, it has never gotten any less scary.

“Okay, It’s alright Y/n,” Brendon comforted you. You become uncoordinated and he knows he needs to get you to the floor safely. He barely takes his eyes off of you as he looks over his shoulder and calls out, “Hey Zack?”

Brendon’s voice was calm, but his tone was still a dead give away. Zack looks back to confirm what he already guessed was unfolding. All of them start to run back over.

“Let’s lay down baby,” Brendon directs quickly.

Your body complies with his suggestion. Brendon supports you under your arms to help you lower down onto your knees.

Zack was immediately behind you to guide you to the ground.

There’s too many hands touching you and now you’re too confused to understand why. You scream and thrash in their hold.

“It’s alright, Y/n,” Zack calmed you as they manage to lay you gently onto your side. They give you some space.

Kenny had pulled off his sweatshirt and handed it down to Brendon. Brendon gently slides it under your head, hoping not to scare you. You didn’t even react and were becoming less responsive.

“Timer?” Brendon glanced at the boys.

“I got it,” Dallon displayed his phone.

“I’m right here, Y/n,” Brendon said softly to you.

You start to seize and Dallon starts the timer.

“C’mon guys, step back,” Zack says. Brendon looks up to see who he is talking to. A small crowd has gathered. Y/n is not going to be happy about this, he thought to himself. Obviously the supermarket wasn’t heavily populated this time of night, but it was a small crowd nonetheless.

Dallon, Kenny, and Dan stand to create a sort of barrier. Dallon passes his timer off to Brendon, who remains sitting with you. Blood starts to come out of your mouth. Brendon pulls the sleeve of his sweatshirt down over his hand and wipes it away.

“It’s okay, Y/n,” He said quietly, “You’re alright.” Bloody spit continued to drip down, and Brendon just continued to wipe it away every so often. He uses his other hand to brush your hair away.

The crowd watches, some concerned, some panicked, some morbidly curious. They whisper back and forth to each other.

Oh shit, I hope she’s okay! Oh my god! Poor thing.

A few people start to recognize the band.

Wait, isn’t that Brendon Urie? Holy shit, yeah! Do you think she overdosed or something?! This is some TMZ worthy shit right here.

Zack hears the last comment and turns to look for the voice. He sees a guy holding up his phone, recording a video of you.

Zack took a step forward and shoved his hand over the camera.

“No, fucking put that away,” Zack snapped.

The guy just moved his arms to continue to film, pretty much ignoring Zack. Zack was infuriated. You were a sister to him and he was now going full blown mama bear for you. He wound up and smacked the phone out of the guy’s hands and it flung through the air before crashing down onto the ground.

“What the fuck, man?!” The guy looked at Zack.

“I said to put that the FUCK. AWAY.” Zack shouted.

The guy backed down and shut up.

Someone dressed in the grocery store uniform quickly approached Zack.

“Should I call 911?” The young woman asked. Zack then read her name tag, ‘Emma’, noting it was the store manager.

“No,” Zack shook his head.

“What can I do to help?” She asked kindly and professionally, truly wanting to be of assistance.

“Um, do you have a place we can bring her after?” Zack asked, “Somewhere private?”

“Yes, of course,” She nodded, “the break room.”

At this point, Brendon was too focused on you to care about anything going on around him. He trusts that the boys would keep the situation under control.

“It’s okay baby,” He continued soothing you, “I’m right here, you’re okay.” The end of his sleeve was covered in blood. The cut on your tongue was bleeding so heavily it had also dripped with dead skin on the linoleum floor. Brendon knew this was worse than usual and he kept a very close eye on you.

You were slowing down.

“There you go baby, you’re okay,” He said relieved. He looked down at the stopwatch and read 1:15.

“Zack?” Brendon called up to him. Zack turned around quickly and squatted down.

“How’s she doing?” He asked.

“I think she’s done,” Brendon replied before adding, “Bleeding a lot though.” Zack nodded in agreement.

“The manager said we can take her into the break room, get her outta here,” Zack told him.

“Alright that sounds good,” Brendon said quietly as he wiped away some more spit coming from your mouth.

Zack looked to Emma who gestured to follow her to the break room. You are completely out of it, unresponsive with your eyes open and body still a bit tense. Brendon scoops you up in his arms, keeping you just the way you are, on your side.

“Got’er?” Zack asked quickly.

“Yep,” Brendon replied with effort in his voice, ready to move forward. Zack stepped ahead to follow the manager.

“Alright guys, step back,” Zack asserted to the onlookers, “Move.”

The boys walked on all sides of you, shielding you from the crowd. The manager unlocked the door and led them in. Brendon places you down on a couch before sitting himself on the floor beside you. Zack knelt down next to you as well while the boys all seat themselves on the floor or nearby chairs

“That’s more than usual, huh?” Kenny murmured, referencing the bleeding.

“Yeah, looks like she got herself pretty good,” Zack nodded sadly.

A faucet runs briefly and Emma walked over to Brendon, handing him a damp paper towel. Brendon caught a glimpse of tattoos on her wrist: four different exclamation points. He smirked internally. He decided not to mention it.

“Thank you,” He said quietly instead, before taking the towel and cleaning away the blood on your mouth and cheek. She gave the whole roll to Zack, who ripped off another piece to place under your cheek to catch any extra spit. Blood had already dripped onto the couch, but it was better than nothing. Brendon ran his fingers through your hair.

“How long was this one?” Zack asked.

“1:15,” Brendon replied without looking away from you.

“Average,” Dallon concluded, relieved that it wasn’t any more severe than usual.

You began to stir a bit, your eyes moving more purposefully.

“Hey Y/n, you’re okay,” Brendon says softly, “We’re at the grocery store. Me and the boys are right here.”

Dallon leaned over to Emma who had taken a seat next to him. She seemed pretty freaked out and things were only about to get crazier, so Dallon took it upon himself to fill her in.

“She gets confused when she wakes up, so she’ll be pretty agitated,” Dallon explained. “That’s normal for her,” he said kindly with a soft smile. That’s Dad-Dallon, always wanting to make sure everyone is comfortable and prepared.

“Okay, thanks Dallon,” She replied with a respectful and understanding nod. She realized by the look on Dallon’s face that she had just called him by his first name--but he had never introduced himself. She pinked up and Dallon knew she obviously had recognized the band. He smiled again, trying to let her know it was fine.

You’re becoming more conscious so Brendon and Zack move back a bit to give you space. You shift nervously onto your back and gaze up, trying to make sense of the harsh fluorescent lights and textured ceiling tiles. You don’t recognize them. You start to sit up and you don’t recognize anything at all. You see a figure by your knees.

Zack notices that you are looking at him and he tries to speak to you, but you can’t hear him. You whimper and pull away from him. The more you look around, the more you realize how foreign your surroundings are. Nothing was making any sense.

You try to sit up fully but your coordination is off. Something is burning, stinging in your mouth. You cry out in confusion and feel tears threatening to flow. Your fear grew and you couldn’t find any reassurance.

“Br--” You try, barely even coherent, searching for the one person who always made you feel safe. “Bren?!” you panic.

“It’s okay,” Brendon tried to get your attention. You can hardly hear, especially over your hectic breathing. Brendon shifts into your line of sight and it takes you a moment to realize.

“Y/n,” he sang to you. You immediately look to him and silence yourself. “It’s me baby, I’m here,” he said gently with a reassuring nod. Your eyes searched his for a moment, waiting for everything to click.

“Bren,” You breathe, still kind of unsure.

“I’m right here, Y/n,” he cooed. You nod slowly glancing around and back to him. “We were shopping and you had a little seizure, so we’re hanging out in the store’s break room for a minute until you feel better,” he broke the situation down so it could be easily understood. He moved close enough for you to touch him for when you were ready.

You look around again and recognize the boys. Your eyes fall upon a strange face and you withdraw a bit. Zack sees where you are looking and jumped in to reassure you.

“That’s Emma,” Zack explained, “She’s the store manager so she came to hang out with us too.”

You look at Zack and back to the girl. She smiles at you gently.

“Hi Y/n,” She said softly. You acknowledged her greeting wordlessly as your body relaxed. Her feminine voice was very comforting. You go back to thinking.

“Grocery store,” You said quietly to yourself, putting the pieces together.

“Mhm,” Brendon affirmed. Your face falls and you look to Brendon.

“Oh no, you’re anxious!” You whisper with great concern as you realize you were in Brendon’s least favorite place. Brendon smiled at you.

“Don’t worry about me baby, I’m fine,” He told you with a small chuckle. Brendon found it adorable that he was your first priority, even when seizure drunk. This was typical for you: caring so much about other people, always acutely aware of how everyone around you felt. It was one of the things Brendon loved about you.

All of the sudden, you’re about to vomit. The uneasy feeling comes over you and it immediately shows.

“Bren, I’m gonna throw up,” You panicked, sitting up more and moving frantically.

“Okay,” He quickly calmed you as he placed his hand on your arm and pivoted back to look for something you could puke in. Emma had already sprang up, grabbing the trash can in the corner. In one smooth motion she was there to place it under your chin just in time. You throw up a couple of times, with bloody swirls running through it.

“It’s alright, sweetheart,” Emma soothed quietly, purely out of reflex, while Brendon held your hair.

The cut on your tongue reopened and started to bleed again.

When you’re done, Emma removes the trash bin from your lap and Zack hands off some paper towels to Brendon. You start to cry, the feeling of acid on your cut burns so badly. You grip onto Brendon’s sweatshirt with one hand while the other flies up to cover your mouth. You are trying to prevent cries from escaping.

“Ow,” you still managed to squeak through your tears.

“Do you have water or anything?” Zack asked Emma.

“Yeah, of course,” Emma nodded, walking to the fridge.

“It’s okay baby, I know it hurts,” Brendon said gently. Emma quickly returned with a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap, giving it to Brendon.

“Here baby, this will help,” Brendon held the bottle to you. The palm of your hand was bloody as you pull it off of your mouth. Brendon raises the bottle to your lips and helped you take a sip and Zack held up the trash can again for you to spit into.

Emma had the roll of paper towels now and gave some to Brendon before retreating back to her chair. You took it from him and wiped your chin and mouth, your tears slowing. You took another and pressed it to the side of your tongue, finding the source of the bleeding.

“Let me see, baby,” Brendon inquired. You removed the paper towel and stuck out your tongue a bit. He gently held your chin as he inspected the damage. “My little piranha,” He sighed, “You got a good bite this time, huh?”

You put the paper towel back onto it and nod. You realized Brendon had blood all over him--your blood. The end of his sleeve was the worst of it, but then there was some down his front and his hands. You looked down and saw some had gotten on the couch too.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!” You apologize, looking to Brendon, then Emma. You were so seizure drunk, you didn’t even notice how the paper towel in your mouth was jumbling your speech.

“It’s okay,” Brendon replied, suppressing a giggle.

“Yeah, now we can get a new couch!” Emma joked.

“Oh...” You pause to think. “Then you’re welcome!” You reply weakly with a smirk. This earns a laugh from everyone. You reach out for Brendon and he remembers what you like. He gets up, sitting behind you on the couch and pulling you close to his chest. You snuggle in like usual.

“Is the bleeding slowing down?” He asks. You pull the paper towel off the cut and see a minimal amount of blood on the white napkin. You nod and cover it again. You sigh, clearly exhausted.

“Just take your time, Y/n,” Brendon stroked your arm, “Rest, okay?” You nod against his light gray sweatshirt. You follow his advice.

Brendon thinks back to the tattoos he saw on Emma’s wrist. One exclamation point made of circus lights, one made of flowers, one of cogs and gears, and one out of colorful smoke. He decides to pick on her a little.

“So,” Brendon looked to Emma, “Are you going to add Death of a Bachelor?”

Emma looked at him, completely flustered.

“To your tattoos?” he clarified, pointing to her arm.

“Wha--I uh,” She glances down at her wrist, her face turning bright red. When did he notice? Emma thought to herself.

Everyone is looking to her curiously and she glanced around with question in her eyes.

“Go ahead, show them!” Brendon encourages, “It’s really cool!”

She pulls her sleeve up and Dallon tilts his head to examine it.

“Oh that’s awesome!” Dallon agrees, “One for each album.”

“Can I see?” Zack asks.

She leans forward, extending her arm. You, Zack and Brendon all look before she turns to show Kenny and Dan who have lined up beside her. Everyone oohed and aahed, nodding in appreciation.

“Yeah, are you going to added Death of a Bachelor?” Kenny asked again enthusiastically.

“Yeah, I um, I w-was thinking,” She stammered, still so incredibly shocked. She nervously laughed to herself, deciding to restart her thought all together. “I was thinking of maybe an, uh, octopus arm, or...” She seemed unsure, hoping they didn’t find the idea lame.

“That’s awesome!” Brendon replied. She smiled, relieved to have their approval.

“Not gonna lie, I’ve been listening to you guys since I was 14,” she bit at her lip with an embarrassed kind of expression.

“Hey, that’s so cool that you’ve been with us so long,” Brendon said sincerely.

You suddenly chime in.

“I like you.”

You sound like a toddler as you make your declaration, the seizure drunk clearly not worn off quite yet. They all laugh quietly.

“Well I like you too,” Emma chuckled. You smiled approvingly. “I knew you guys were going to be in Portland for your show tomorrow, but I wasn’t really expecting you guys to show up at my store,” She giggled nervously.

“Are you coming?” Brendon asked.

“No, it wasn’t really...” She pauses, embarrassed to admit, “it wasn’t really in the budget for me this year.”

“We can fix that,” Zack responded. Emma turned to look at him. “Pretty sure we have some tickets and a VIP pass with your name on it.” Emma looked shocked.

“Oh my god--” Emma said, shaking her head.

“It’s the least we can do,” Brendon added.

“I didn’t... Wow,” She stuttered, unsure of what to say, “Oh my god, thank you!”

“You’re so welcome!” Brendon flashed that big smile you love. It made you giggle a little. Brendon looked down at you. “How are you feeling, baby?”

“Tired,” You list off, “nauseous.”

“You feel like you’re going to throw up again?” Brendon asked calm but rushed.

“No,” You shake your head, “Just gross.”

“Okay,” he stroked your arm.

“I wanna go home,” you said drowsily. Brendon knew what you meant.

“Yeah? You ready to go home?” He asked gently.

“I think I’m ready to goooooo,” You sing quietly, painfully off key on purpose, “Oh ohohoh oh ohohoh.”

“You’re too much,” Brendon chuckles, your seizure drunkness never loses its charm. Everyone starts to mobilize.

“Here, I can take your number,” Zack said aside to Emma and they exchanged information.

“Come here baby,” Brendon bent down and you wrapped your arms around him as he lifts you up. You cling on and sigh contently.

You all made your way out of the break room. You turned a couple heads, seeing as it was kind of weird to be carried through the store, but people left you alone.

Emma escorted you to the exit.

“Thank you so much, Emma,” Brendon said in earnest.

“Of course!” She responded happily.

“Really, we can’t thank you enough,” he replied.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” She directed to you.

“Thank you,” You smiled drowsily and impulsively added, “You’re pretty.”

“Aw thank you!” She laughed.

“Oh my god you need a nap,” Brendon chuckles to you.

Everyone else said thank you to her.

“See you tomorrow!” Brendon called. Emma was beaming with excitement.

“See you tomorrow!” She waved and squealed a little.

Brendon climbed on the bus and took you to your bed. He places you down and you wince a little.

“Ow,” you strain.

“What hurts baby?” Brendon asked with quiet concern.

“Just sore,” you reply simply. He nods.

“How about your mouth?” He inquired.

“Hurts,” you respond.

“Think you can still sleep?” he asked.

“Mhm,” you nod, eyes fluttering shut. He slips into bed next to you and you place your arm across his chest.

“Okay, I’ll be right here baby,” He soothed you, running his fingers through your hair.

You fall fast asleep.

A/N: There you have it. Hope you liked Emma :) Let me know what you thought! Will the internet find out about the reader’s secret? How would she deal with it getting out? Stay tuned :) Like and reblog if you’re feelin’ it!

Scavenger hunt key: https://iwriteficsnottragediesladies.tumblr.com/hunt

#brendon urie x reader #brendon urie #fanfiction #imagine #scavenger hunt #dallon weekes #fanfic #ficlet #series #bandom #epilepsy #seizures suck #search and seizure #searchandseizure

137 notes · View notes

fortheloveofpearlet · 7 years ago

Text

Straightjacket Feeling - Pearlet [Chapter 13 - Final]

A/N - The final chapter is here! This was originally meant to be a chapter and a short epilogue but honestly I’ve lost the will to live with this fic so I just want it to be over now! Hope you’ve enjoyed! The rest of Wilting Flowers will be being posted soon :)

Chapter 13

Crawling Back to you.

Matt was getting dressed when Jason woke up the next morning. He looked like a man that was imminently going to be led to his death, not a man getting married today. Jason took a second to just watch him. He wanted to take him all in, the way he looked, the way he moved, every inch of him. He sighed lightly, this was so fucking hard knowing he wasn’t going to see Matt again but he knew it would be for the best in the long run.

‘Planning on running out on me again?’ Jason croaked and Matt spun around to look at him a little guilty.

'I thought it might be easier that way you know? I don’t know if I can do the whole long drawn out goodbye thing. Not with you.’ Matt shrugged sadly. Jason slipped out of the bed and put his boxers on.

'But I haven’t even given you your wedding present.’ He went to his wardrobe and rummaged in the back.

'Jay you should not have gotten me a wedding present.’ Matt sighed. Jason pulled out a tattily wrapped gift and blew dust off of it.

'Well it’s more of a belated graduation present actually. I’ve had this wrapped up for five years, we were on such bad terms when you graduated I didn’t want to give it to you. But here.’ Jason’s hands were shaking as he handed it over to Matt. Matt’s hands were shaking too as he gently tore the paper away. A smile sprang to his lips and tears to his eyes as he looked at the item in his hands. He looked back at Jason.

'You got me the Pearl Liaison tank top I asked you for.’ A small tear rolled down his cheek.

'Not exactly. That’s mine. I couldn’t afford to buy you one back then.’ Jason laughed a little but it was a sad laugh. Matt held the garment close to his chest.

'Thank you.’ He sniffed.

'Never forget me yeah?’ Jason stepped closer and wiped Matt’s tears from his cheeks.

'I couldn’t even if I tried.'

'Be happy Matt, that’s all I ask for. Always be fucking happy ok?'

'I’ll try Jay, I’ll really try.’ Matt pressed his lips to Jason’s in a magical yet sad kiss.

'Goodbye Matthew.’ Jason sniffed feeling his tears brimming. Matt nodded sadly and stroked Jason’s cheek one last time.

'Goodbye Jason.’

'Matt?’ Jason sniffed.

'Yes Jason?'

'Do you think there’s an alternate universe somewhere where an alternate Jason and Matt made things work?’ His lip quivered. Matt smiled through his tears.

'God I hope so pumpkin, and I hope they are deliriously happy together.'

'I’m sure they are.’ Jason croaked. Matt made his way to the door and opened it but before he stepped out he turned back to Jason.

'Oh and by the way, a Violet Kiss is just equal parts amaretto and cherry liquor, topped up with coke and tiny dash of lime. You know, in case you’re ever missing me.’ Matt smiled sadly.

'That’s it?’ Jason chuckled a little. 'All these years that’s been driving me crazy and that’s all that’s in it?’

'I never said it was special.’ Matt shrugged. Jason bit his lip.

'It was to me.’ He whispered.

'Then my work here is complete.’ Matt sniffed. Clutching his present in his arm he blew Jason a kiss and closed the door on them forever, both physically and metaphorically. Jason collapsed and cried in a ball on the floor. Pain consumed his entire body and it didn’t take long for his eyes to flutter closed as the world closed in on him.

——————————–

Matt managed to sneak into the grand old building without anyone noticing. He’d found the suite where his tux was waiting for him. He’d showered and changed and was working on his tie when the door flung open.

'Oh my fucking god where the hell have you been?’ Jake yelled, slapping him on the back. 'I’ve been calling, I’ve been calling everyone you fucking know! Where the fuck did you disappear to last night? I’ve been having to lie to Court, I had to tell her that yes we had a great night last night and yes Matt’s feeling fine and no he’s not nervous at all. I almost didn’t think you were going to show!’ Jake fumed. Matt rolled his eyes and continued to work on his tie in the mirror.

'I almost didn’t.’ He shrugged.

'That’s cold feet. You’ll be fine. Are you gonna tell me where you were?'

'It’s not cold feet Jake.’ Matt turned to face his friend. 'I don’t love her.'

Jake pulled a face, shaking his head.

'Nerves dude, that’s all. Don’t be crazy. And stop ignoring my ques-’

'I’m not being crazy! I don’t fucking love her! I don’t think I ever have.’ Matt sighed, getting agitated with his tie he tugged it off and threw it to the floor.

'What the hell is going on? Where were you last night?’

'I was with someone else!’ Matt blurted out even though he wasn’t sure he’d meant to say that.

'What the fuck?’ Jake gasped. 'No way man you’re lying.'

'Why would I lie about that?’ Matt raised his eyebrow at him. 'I was with someone else, I’m in love with someone else! Fuck I don’t know what I was thinking proposing to Court! I’ve always loved him, I’m such an idiot! I can’t go through with this, I need to speak-’

'Him?’ Jake cut him off when he realised what he’d said. Matt froze. Had he just come out? He hadn’t meant to let that slip.

'Uhm…well the thing is…’

'Oh my god.’ Jake stopped him again. 'It’s Jason isn’t it?’

'What?’ Matt scoffed. 'No, why would you think that?’

'It all makes so much fucking sense now.’ Jake mused. 'I’ve always seen the way he looks at you but I thought it was just some crush. That night you hit him, he was said something about you not seeming straight and something about your dick! He vanished last night but we assumed he’d gone home. And he was the only person I called last night that didn’t answer. You were with Jason!’

'Fuck.’ Matt shook his head. 'Yeah, yeah I was.'

'You and Jason?’ Jake looked dumbfounded. 'How long?'

Matt fell to one of the chairs in his suite and ran his fingers through his hair.

'It feels like forever.’ And then he told Jake the whole story from the beginning right up until their painful goodbye this morning.

'Holy shit.’ Jake exhaled when Matt was done. 'I had no fucking idea.’

'That was kind of the point. But he doesn’t want me anymore Jake, I told him to just say the word and I would leave Courtney but he said he couldn’t forgive me after I hit him and I don’t blame him. So now I’m never going to see him again, and it’s fucking killing me.’

'This is a lot to take in.’ Jake exhaled heavily again and stared at Matt. 'You know you can’t marry Court right? It’s not fair on either of you.’

'I know.’ Matt bit his lip. 'I need to find her and talk to her.'

'I’ll be here when you come back.’ Jake patted his friend on the shoulder as he got up.

'Thanks Jake.'

'What are friends for?'

——————————–

Matt felt like he had the weight of the entire world on his shoulders as he went in search of Courtney. He felt fucking horrible, he was going to break her heart on their wedding day. But he knew if he didn’t do it now, he would regret it the rest of his life. Jason had been right, just because he didn’t want him, didn’t mean he had to marry Courtney. He wished he realised that before today, anything would have been better than being the guy that left his fiancé on their wedding day. But he couldn’t live a lie anymore. He came to a stop outside the door to Courtney’s suite. He took a few really deep breaths. His hands were shaking. He just hoped when he came face to face with her he didn’t lose his nerve. He knocked on the old oak door.

'Court, it’s me. We really need to talk. I know its bad luck and all that bullshit for me to see you but this can’t wait.’ He opened the door. His heart stopped beating. Matt felt a white hot rage burning inside of him in an instant. His vision blurred a little; sounds around him became distant. The walls felt like they were closing in on him.

'Matt, oh my god!’ Courtney exclaimed although Matt couldn’t really hear her. Her cheeks turned red as she pulled her panties up and her beautiful off-white vintage wedding dress down. The other man in the room turned his back Matt, presumably tucking away his dick that had just been inside Matt’s fiancé. 'Matt, say something.’ Courtney spoke again but Matt still didn’t hear her. He felt nauseous all of a sudden and he bolted from the room towards the nearest exit. He threw himself outside, a wave of fresh air hitting him. He doubled over and vomited in the grass several times. Courtney was having an affair. Courtney was fucking some guy on their wedding day. And Matt knew he had no right to be mad, he was just as bad as she was. Once he’d emptied his stomach of its contents he fell back to the steps he’d just run down and lit a cigarette. He felt oddly numb. He heard the door open behind him and he felt her sit down next to him. He said nothing. He didn’t even look at her.

'I’m so sorry Matt.’ She was crying. Matt couldn’t bring himself to.

'Who is he?’ Matt’s voice sounded devoid of any emotion, creepily robotic.

'My yoga instructor.’ She sniffed.

'How long?’

'Does it matter?’

'How long?’ He repeated as though he hadn’t heard her. He heard her blow her nose before she spoke.

'I don’t know, a few months I guess. After you proposed you became so weird and distant. I thought any day you were going to tell me you’d changed your mind. You didn’t take an interest in the wedding plans, you were always out at the bar with the guys and even when you were home you weren't really there. I needed someone and that’s when I met Diego.'

Matt continued dragging on his cigarette, staring straight ahead. Courtney had no idea what he was thinking.

'I guess that makes us even then.’ He croaked, he sounded like he’d swallowed sand paper.

'What do you mean?’ She put her hand on his leg and finally turned to look at her.

'I’ve been cheating on you too.’ He told her in such a dead pan fashion. He hadn’t been planning on telling her why he was leaving her because he didn’t think it was fair to tell her the gory details. But it didn’t matter now. 'With a man.'

Courtney gasped and put her hands to her face.

'What?’ She was staring at him wide eyed in shock. Matt took another drag.

'Jason.’ He told her again in such a robotic way. Courtney gasped again and shook her head.

'No, this is a joke right?’ Her mascara was running down her cheeks and her false eyelash looked as though it was going to come loose. Matt simply shrugged.

'Nope, no joke.’ He tossed the cigarette but lit another one immediately after.

'Oh my god.’ Courtney muttered. 'Well that’s ok, so we’ve both done some bad things. Like you said we’re even now, so it doesn’t mean we can’t get still get married right?’ She forced a smile and took hold of Matt’s free hand.

'I don’t love you.’ Matt said with another shrug and pulled his hand free. 'I’m in love with Jason. Always have been.’ He turned away from her and looked out into the distance again. 'I was coming to tell you that it was over.’

'You were going to end things on our wedding day?’ She sounded outraged, Matt just scoffed.

'That’s worse than you fucking another guy on our wedding day?'

'We can work this out Matt, I love you.'

'You’re not listening to me!’ Suddenly Matt found himself raising his voice. 'I love Jason! I need Jason! Jason is the only person I’ve ever felt this way about and I actually feel as though I am dying inside not being able to be with him. I was so concerned about you finding out about us that I punched him just so he wouldn’t confess anything. And because of that he never wants to see me again. I pushed him too far! I’m nothing without him. He means the whole fucking world to me and I messed everything up.’ He tried to stand up but he felt too weak and he collapsed to the grass in tears. Courtney came over to his side, lifted her dress a little and knelt next to him.

'I had no idea.’ She cautiously rubbed his back as he sobbed.

'You weren’t supposed to. It’s too fucking late, I ruined everything. I can’t even put into words what that man means to me, he is literally my everything. He is my ray of light of a cloudy day, he’s the anchor that helps steady me when things get rough. He’s my sun and my moon and all the fucking stars in the sky and I fucked it all up because that’s just what I do isn’t it?’ He was yelling a little but the anger was directed at himself. 'You don’t want to hear all this, I’m sorry.’ He shook his head. Courtney continued to rub his back.

'It’s not great hearing the man you were about to marry talking about the person he loves no, but I care about you Matt, I only want you to be happy.’ She cupped his face and wiped his tears away. 'Maybe I should have known. There’s always been something between you and Jason, and I always had a slight suspicion that you were never fully in this. Is it because of Jason you were so upset when we first met?’

Matt bit his lip and nodded.

'Look Matt, maybe we were destined to fail from the beginning. I guess we were never meant to be together. And that hurts because I do love you, but I think you need to tell Jason how you feel about him.’

'He knows.’ Matt wailed. 'And he doesn’t care.'

Courtney half-smiled at him and pointed at something over his shoulder.

'I wouldn’t be so sure.’ She whispered. Matt swallowed and turned to look over his shoulder. Jason was stood awkwardly scuffing his shoe in the grass. Matt turned to look at Courtney who gave him an encouraging nod.

'I’m not going to stand in your way anymore Matt.’ She stood up and helped him up and kissed his cheek. 'Don’t make all this for nothing.’ She whispered in his ear and then although it hurt like hell, she left them alone. Matt wiped his tears on the sleeve of his suit jacket before turning back to look at Jason.

'You’re wearing a suit.’ Matt croaked.

'Yeah well I thought jeans and a tank were too casual for a wedding.’ Jason shrugged.

'I thought you weren’t coming?'

'I wasn’t but I couldn’t stop feeling guilty. We’ve been friends a long time now and it didn’t seem fair for me not to be here. I had to put all my feelings aside and tell myself that no matter what I knew you wanted me here. Even if it killed me to do so.�� Jason sighed.

'How did you know I was here?’ Matt raised an eyebrow at him.

'The alters like right there.’ He pointed behind the building. 'We could hear crying and stuff but I think everyone was too polite to say anything about it. And then Jake comes down in a panic looking for you. He told me you were going to leave Courtney. And that’s when I realised it was you I could hear crying.’ Jason shrugged. 'You left her?’

'Yeah. Well I mean I was going to leave her but then I walked in on her fucking Diego the yoga instructor and it all kind of fell apart. I told her about you, I told her everything.’

'I know I heard.’ Jason scuffed his shoe in the grass again. 'Did you mean all those things you said about me?’ He asked shyly.

'Of course I fucking did! That stuff I said doesn’t even scratch the surface of how I feel about you! Since the day I first laid eyes on you Jason, I was captivated. I had no idea what it was about you, but I always knew there was something. It was like magic, this spark ignited inside of me every time I looked at you. It still does.’ Matt stepped closer to Jason and took hold of his hands. He felt them shaking as held them. 'Jason, I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness. What I did to you, there is no excuse for that. But do you think that maybe, in time you could grow to forgive me?’ Matt was staring intently at Jason and Jason felt a tremble down his spine.

'No.’ Jason sighed. 'Because the truth is, I’d already forgiven you.'

'What? But…you said-’

'I know.’ Jason cut him off. 'I know what I said but it was a lie. When you told me you’d leave Courtney for me, I didn’t believe you. I didn’t want to say yes, leave her and be with me because I didn’t think you ever would. I didn’t want to set myself up for a fall again.’ Jason shrugged, his bottom lip quivering a little.

'I would have done it. I have done it.’ Matt squeezed his hands. 'Be with me. I love you Jason and I can’t bear to be apart from you for another minute. I’ve got a lot of making up to do, all those years of lost time to account for. But I want to spend the rest of my life showing you just what you mean to me.’ Matt let go of Jason’s hands and cupped his face gently. A tear escaped Jason’s eyes.

'I’ve waited to hear you say that for so long.’ He sniffed as Matt’s thumb wiped away the tears. 'No more games? No more fucking bullshit drama? If we’re doing this, I’m in it for keeps Matt. If you want me, you better never fucking let me go.'

'Never ever.’ Matt smiled and threw his arms around Jason’s neck pulling him in to the most passionate kiss either of them have ever had.

'I love you pumpkin.’ Matt stroked Jason’s cheek when the kiss broke.

'I love you too Matty.’

Crawling back to you.

——————————–

'I still don’t think this is fair.’ Jason sighed sipping his fruity cocktail as he stretched out on his sun lounger. 'This was supposed to be Courtney’s honeymoon too.’

Matt sat up and dug his toes in the warm sand.

'You’ve been going on about this for almost two weeks Jay.’ He chuckled reaching over to stroke his boyfriends arm. 'She gave up the right to a honeymoon when I caught her fucking Diego the day of our wedding.’

'Oh 'cos you’re so innocent?’ Jason teased sitting up also. 'May I remind you that you were fucking me the night before your wedding?’

'Yeah well I paid for the honeymoon so I think I should get to take who I want.’ Matt leaned forward and kissed Jason.

'Hmm ok.’ Jason gave in. 'What do you want to do today? It’s our last full day, I thought maybe we could go on a boat trip or go scuba diving or something?’ Jason put his hands on Matt’s thighs. 'Or…we could spend all day fucking in as many places as possible?’ His eyes went dark with lust. Matt bit his lip, God he would like that a lot. But he had things to do.

'As much as I would love to fuck you all over this island, I have some things I need to take care of.’ Matt kissed him softly before standing up and putting his t-shirt on.

'Things? What things? We’re on vacation!’

'I know, I know. It’s kind of a surprise though so if I told you, it would ruin it.'

'You’re leaving me alone on our last day?’ Jason pouted.

'It’ll be worth it I promise.’ Matt stroked his hair and kissed his head. 'Meet me back here at sunset.'

'Vague.’ Jason rolled his eyes. 'Ok, I guess I’ll just work on my tan.'

'We’ve been here two weeks and you’re still as pale as the day we left babe. I think you could sunbathe on the actual sun and not get a tan.’ Matt laughed and Jason slapped his ass.

'Not all of us can be beautiful sun kissed gods like you.'

'It’s true.’ Matt beamed. 'I’ll see you this evening ok? Behave.’ He bowed his head and kissed Jason again. Jason grumbled and fell back to the lounger as Matt walked away. He didn’t like secrets, god knows they’d kept enough of them over the years. He felt a little uneasy. He sipped his cocktail and tried to ignore it.

——————————–

After a day of sitting on the beach and catching absolutely no sun on his pale skin Jason went back to their beach bungalow. Over the last two weeks they had christened every inch of this bungalow; it would probably have to be sterilised once they left. When he reached the room there was a clothes bag hanging on the door. Jason frowned and took it inside. He laid it on the bed and saw the handwritten note pinned to it.

Put this on and meet me down by the shore. Tonight will be a night you never forget pumpkin.

Jason blushed, he always did when Matt called him pumpkin. He unzipped the clothes back and inside was a pair of white linen trousers and a matching white linen jacket. Jason frowned a little, he certainly wouldn’t have picked this out for himself. But Matt wasn’t here for him to argue about it. He showered and tried on the trousers, they didn’t look as bad as he thought they would if he were honest. He scrutinised the jacket.

'What am I supposed to wear under it Matt?’ He muttered under his breath, shaking his head. He decided on his Violet Chachki tank top as it was black and not overly gaudy and worked well with the rest of the outfit. He tied his hair back in a bun and decided to go barefoot, he was going to miss the feeling of the sand beneath his feet when they went home and he wanted to make the most of it.

——————————–

As the sun began to set Jason nervously left the bungalow. He had no idea what to expect and it made his stomach churn in anticipation. He made his way back down to their secluded spot on the beach they had spent most of their time on for the past two weeks. He stopped frozen to the spot for a second when he got there. There was an illuminated path of candles down the beach coming to a stop a wooden archway by the shore. The archway was covered in violets and underneath it stood a few faces he recognised and one he didn’t. Jason’s whole body was shaking as he walked between the two rows of candles towards Matt. Matt had a large smile on his face and he wore matching linens to Jason and under the jacket he wore the Pearl tank Jason had given him. Jason’s eyes were already welling up as he took in the other people gathered around the archway. On one side Kurtis, Jake and the Brian’s all had similar darker linens on and smiles on their faces. Matt’s parents were on the other side, his mother in a long flowing violet coloured dress and matching bouquet of flowers in her hands and his father had on the same coloured linens as their friends. Next to Matt’s mom was the biggest surprise: Jason’s own mother. She had a matching dress and flowers to Mrs Lent and she had the biggest smile on her face and tears behind her eyes. There was a man Jason didn’t know stood under the arch. He turned to Matt as his tears started to fall.

'No.’ Jason sniffed. 'No this isn’t happening.'

Matt beamed and stepped closer, taking hold of Jason’s hands.

'Some people might think this is too soon and it’s crazy but I don’t care. We’ve been going round and round in circles for almost six years now Jason and honestly, I can’t wait another second to start the rest of my life with you.’ Matt got down on one knee in the sand and Jason’s tears fell heavier. He pulled the ring box from his pocket and opened it. 'Jason Dardo, you are the love of my life, I still don’t know what I did to deserve you. But would you make me the happiest man alive and marry me? Like right now?’ Matt’s own tears had started to fall. The ring was simple yet elegant and it made Jason’s breath catch in his throat.

'You are absolutely insane.’ Jason laughed through his tears. 'But that’s just one of the many things I love about you. Of course I’ll marry you, you dork!’ He screeched. Matt slid he ring on Jason’s finger and Jason pulled him up for a kiss. 'I can’t believe you did all this.’ Jason wiped his tears away before wiping Matt’s. He looked over at his friends who were still smiling at him and then at his mom who was crying now.

'Only the best for you.’ Matt took hold of Jason’s hand and led him towards the archway where the pastor was stood. 'Hang on, I just need to do one thing.’ Matt reached up and gently pulled Jason’s hair from its bun. Jason shook his hair out and Matt was beaming. 'Much better.’ He whispered.

'Ladies and gentlemen we are gathered here today to witness the joining together of Matthew James Lent and Jason Dardo.’ He spoke. Matt squeezed Jason’s hand when he felt the younger boy shaking. 'Do you have your vows?’

'Oh god I knew I’d forget something.’ Matt chuckled. 'I’ll give this a go. I’m not great at thinking on my feet but here we go.’ He took a deep breath and turned to face Jason holding both his hands. 'Jason, I’ve told you this before but from the moment I first laid eyes on you I knew there was something magical about you. It took me a while to figure out that thing I was feeling, was love. But we all know I can be a little slow at times.’ He chuckled so did the others. 'I love you because you make me feel like I have a purpose. You give me a reason to get up in the morning, and that reason is to protect you. I love you because you make me feel alive, you make me feel as though I can conquer anything as long as I’m by your side. I love the way you cling so tightly to me when you’re sad and the way you smile so brightly that you light up entire rooms when you’re happy. Most of all, I love that you are finally mine. We had a lot of ups and down getting here, more downs than ups, but I honestly wouldn’t change a single thing. I think sometimes we have to weather the storm to really appreciate the sun. And you Jason Dardo, are my sun. I love you with every little piece of my being, always have and always will.'

Jason’s tears had come back full throttle as he listened to Matt’s speech. He even heard Kurtis sniff behind him. Jason shook his head and squeezed Matt’s hand.

'You fucking asshole.’ Jason chuckled. 'Sorry mom.’ He added, giving her a soft smile. 'This is never going to sound as good, I’m rubbish with words, we’re not even married and you’re already showing me up.’ Jason wiped his tears and took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself. 'I love you for so many reasons that if I were to say them all we would all die of old age so I’ll try and keep this short and sweet. I love you because you make me feel safe. No matter what happened between us, you’ve always made me feel so, so safe. I always felt like when I’m with you, I’m a better Jason. I’m happier, I’m more confident, I’m just an all-around better version of myself because of you. If I’m being honest, a few weeks ago I had finally lost all hope in us. All these years I’ve clung to this tiny shimmer of hope that one day we’d work this out and we’d be able to be together. But the morning you left me to go to her, I thought that was finally it, that was finally the end of our story. But my mom always used to tell me, it’s not over unless there’s a happy ending. I guess she was right after all. This is the happy ending I’ve always dreamt of, but really, this is just the beginning for us. I love you Matt, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of our story has in store for us.’ Jason was amazed he managed to keep his tears at bay. Matt hadn’t, he was crying now so Jason wiped his tears for him.

'Who has the rings?’ The pastor asked the line of men. Jake and Kurtis stepped forward. Jake handed Matt one of the rings.

'Repeat after me.’ The pastor told Matt what to say. Matt bit his lip and swallowed before repeating his words.

'I call upon these people here present to witness that I Matthew James Lent take you Jason Dardo to be my lawfully wedded husband. I give you this ring as a token of our love and friendship, as a symbol of all that we share and in recognition of our life together.’ Matt slid the ring onto Jason’s finger. 'You’re stuck with me now.’ Matt added and chuckled a little. Jason rolled his eyes but he was smiling.

'Now your turn Jason.’ The pastor motioned for Kurtis to hand Jason Matt’s ring which he did. Jason took a deep breath.

'I call upon these people here present to witness that I Jason Dardo take you Matthew James Lent to be my lawfully wedded husband. I give you this ring as a token of our love and friendship, as a symbol of all that we share and in recognition of our life together. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ Jason slid the ring on Matt’s finger.

'In the presence of your friends, family and witnesses it gives me great pleasure to pronounce you husbands. You may now seal your vows with a kiss.'

Jason grinned and grabbed Matt by the collar of his jacket and kissed him hard. Matt wrapped his arms around Jason tightly.

'Alright guys get a room!’ Jake told them as the kiss got a little heated.

'I now present to you Mr and Mr…uhm did you decide on a last name?’ The pastor asked them. Matt and Jason looked at each other for a few moments, communicating with their minds. When they spoke, they spoke in unison.

'Lent-Dardo.’ They chucked as they both spoke.

'Ladies and gentlemen, I now present, Mr and Mr Lent-Dardo.’ Their audience cheered and confetti started raining down on them. Matt squeezed Jason’s hand again and started leading him down the candle lit path.

'Is this really happening? Did we actually just get married?’ Jason sniffed, shaking his head.

'We most certainly did Mr Lent-Dardo.’ Matt let go of his hand and wrapped his arm around his husband’s shoulders.

'I wonder if alternate universe us are this happy?’ Jason mused. Matt pulled him to a stop and cupped Jason’s face.

'Not a chance.’ He kissed him softly. 'There is no one in the universe that is happier than I am right now.’ He played with a strand of Jason’s hair. 'And you want to know the best part?’ Matt lowered his voice.

'What’s that?’ Jason asked him in equally hushed tones. Matt beamed that smile that would never fail to turn Jason’s legs to jelly and he kissed Jason’s cheek before placing his lips really close to the younger boys ear.

'This is only the beginning.'

Crawling back to you.

#pearlet #pearl liaison #violet chachki #pearlet fic #straightjacket feeling

21 notes · View notes