#this was above surface and i kept asking my sister to splash the water to get the bubbles LMAO

[micechicken]

Random photos of my pool's water

[sovietcatgirlsoldierprogram]

Gift for a friend.

Felix splashed in the water and tosses yet another fish into the bucket. He quickly swam down again, coursing though the water like lightning. He snatched another fish, right from its school and swam back up to the surface. It was nice, he finally had a break from all the stress of crime fighting. There hadn’t been much activity, seems he had finally put a dent in their operation. He smiled looking at the setting sun as he tossed the fish into the bucket. He always loved fishing this way, wasn’t the most efficient, but it was the most fun and exciting! He prepared to dive down again when he spotted someone watching him from the docks.

It was a human, in a hoodie with the hood pulled up over his head, he kept looking over his shoulders back towards the shore. He didn’t look to old either… kid must have been barely seventeen. He wondered what was up with him. Why was he so nervous? Was… was this a trap? Bait? Was he about to get captured again?? He prepared to dive down at the first sign of danger and approached the docks.

“Hello? Are you okay?” He said while looking to the shore himself, looking for danger.

“Y-You’re Felix, r-right?” The kid finally looked right at Felix, letting him see the nervous face underneath. He didn’t seem dangerous himself, but Felix stood ready for anything.

“Yes? Why do you ask? Are you okay?”

“I umm… y-you… you’re the one thats been… fighting to traffickers around here, right?”

At the mention of his more hidden activities, he swims a little further away from the kid, waiting for an ambush.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I umm… i need help.. please.. please I-I didn’t… I didn’t…”

The kid started to stutter, then sniffle, then cry. Crouching down on the docks and holding his head in his hands, sobbing into his arms. He wasn’t sure what to make of this, this didn’t seem like an ambush… he swam a bit closer to the docks.

“You didn’t what? What happened?”

“I-I-I turned him in!! I turned him in! I-I gave him up!! I-I-“

The kid stopped talking and just began to cry harder. Felix felt like he really should help the poor kid.. he swam up and climbed back on to the dock and sat next to the crying kid. He held his hand above the kids back before putting it down and gently patting him on the back.

“There there.. it’s gonna be okay… just.. tell me whats wrong..”

The kid looked up for a second, his face is a mess, covered in tears. He suddenly leans into Felix, pressing up against him. He was a little surprised, but let him lean on him, he seemed to need it. He gave him a few minutes to let it out before the kid began to speak again, more clearly now.

“My friend… I-I… He’s a hybrid.. i gave him up to one of the trafficking gangs.. my sister.. she’s a runner for them… she made me do it… she wants me to join her… I was so scared… and… I told them where my friend was… and they took him.. my sister wants me to oversee his sale… said I could tell the people about him.. advertise him… please… you’ve got to help… please… please…”

Felix sat stunned, he wasn’t sure what to make of it, was this a trap? But the kid sounded genuine.. well… he wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing. He made a choice.

“Where are they holding the sale?”

“A-A few miles out of town, middle of the old orchard.. the one no body goes in. I can help you get there.. just please.. i’m begging you, I’m sorry.. just please help me…”

“I will, don’t you worry, I’ll get them back, when is it being held?”

“Midnight tonight…”

“Okay, I can help. Whats your name kid?”

“Thomas..”

“Okay, Tom, I’m going to need you to just go along with the sale, just wait for me and I’ll get him out of there.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Okay.. thank you..”

Thomas walked back towards the shore, trying to stay calm. Felix stared at him before looking back to his bucket of fish. Today’s fun had very quickly become cold comfort..

—————————————————————————————————

Felix sat hidden in a pear tree, the plant was thick with branches and leaves, hiding him from any guards. He had been silent for hours by now, he glanced down at his watch, a minute to midnight.

The sudden rumbling of car engines approached, he squinted to make out who was approaching. Snaking through the trees a black van drove in, the windows tinted to prevent anyone from looking in. He felt his heart pound as the car came nearer and nearer..

As his watch ticked over to midnight, the van came to a stop right underneath the tree he was hidden in. He tried to steady his breath and remain calm. He had made it through worse, he could do this..

A young woman, the driver, emerged from the van and looked around. Her brow furled and she kicked the tree in anger, shaking the branches where Felix was hanging from.

“Those fucks should be here! They’re late!”

The kid from the docks, Thomas, timidly hopped out of the car and slowly walked up to her.

“W-Well what do we do?”

“Stop stuttering, we wait five minutes, any longer and the hybrid goes to someone else, they can get their fancy dinner somewhere else!”

“S-Sorry..”

The woman whipped around and looked Tom in he face. Felix slowly wrapped the tip of his tail around a sturdy branch and prepared to jump down, stretching and readying his claws, bracing for a fight.

“I said, don’t stutter. You’ll never make this sale or get into the business if you’re too busy stammering to talk. Just sit here for a few minutes and wait, if they don’t—“

Felix jumped down, quickly wrapping his arms around her and muffling her with a hand. He quickly yanked himself back into the tree dragging the thrashing crook up with himself. He held a claw above her neck before looking down towards Thomas. He was staring above at him, fear in his eyes.

He pulls his claw away from her neck and takes a breath, before pulling out a roll of duct tape from his pack. He quickly muffled her and bound her arms and legs, before dropping from the tree and placing his prisoner on the ground.

“T-Thank you…”

“You’re welcome. Where’s your friend?”

“I-In the back of the v-van..”

“Okay, get them out and put her in the back for me, can you do that?”

“I-I think…”

“Good, if you hear anyone approaching, dive in the back with them and hide, i’ll deal with them.”

“Okay..”

“You’re doing good kid, it’s gonna be okay.”

“Thank you..”

Thomas quickly ducked back to the truck of the Van and opened it up, he heard him talking to someone in the back, must be his friend. After a few moments he managed to unbind the hybrid and get him out. The hybrid went to run, but grabbing his shoulder, he stopped him. Felix climbed back up into the tree as he heard them whisper, and a few moments later, he heard the unmistakable thud of someone being thrown on to the metal floor of the back of the Van.

As he heard that, the sound of a second engine began to approach.

As he was told Thomas grabbed his friend and dived into the back before slamming the door. Peering through the leaves and fruit Felix could just about make out a single car approaching. It was a black car, tinted windows, though based on its design, it seemed like a bit of a pricier car. Must be the buyer..

The car came to a stop a dozen or so feet from the Van, after a few agonizing seconds, a single man stepped out, a young man in a suit, he had a tan brown briefcase in his right hand. Felix waited for a second, waiting for a guard to follow out of the car, but no one ever did. Was this man alone? Really? Maybe this was his first time buying…

The calm voice of the rich man pierced the silence.

“Hello? I have the money, apologies for being late, car wasn’t meant for dirt.. hello?”

The man approached the Van and tried to look through the windows, leaning against them and trying to peer in. And in his moment of distraction, Felix dove.

Propelling himself from the tree he grabbed the man and sent hem both tumbling on the ground, Felix didn’t wait a second to attack. He tried slashing at their throat and face, trying to get a quick kill. But before he could, the man pulled something out of his pocket, and before he knew it, he saw the barrel of a small pocket pistol in his face. He tried to dodge when a ear piercing…

BANG!

Rattled him to his core, and he felt a pain in his shoulder, looking to his left, he say a small hole, quickly growing wet with blood. The adrenaline and fear of having been shot mad time seem to slow, and such, he dove again and bit where it mattered.

——————————————————————————————————

A few minutes later, Thomas emerged from the Van and saw Felix sitting next to a corpse with a fresh ripped open throat, trying to keep pressure on his wound. Not missing a beat he ran over in a panic.

“O-O-Oh my god! W-What do I do?!”

Felix tried to take a deep breath and calm himself, but every breath hurt, moving his wound slightly. He tried to steady his thoughts and remember the first aid kit in his pack.

“O-Okay… in the satchel I-I’m wearing, t-theres a first aid kit. Get i-it.”

Thomas pulled out the small case and opened it, laying it on the ground.

“Wh-What now?”

“Take the t-tweezers, and pull the bullet out, it’s going to bleed a lot after that, so take some gauze and try and block it after.”

Tom timidly grabbed the needle and tried to hold it still, Felix removed his hand from his wound so Thomas could work. He winced as the cold metal touched his torn flesh, he tried not to scream as the tweezers dug into his wound, finding the bullet.

“I-I think I-I g-got it..”

“O-Okay.. p-pull it put.. r-remember the g-gauze..”

Thomas grabbed some gauze in his other hand and began to slowly pull out the bullet, both almost puked watching the metal be pulled out from under his skin.. and that feeling only grew worse as blood poured out from the wound after he tossed the bullet away. Tom quickly presses gauze into it to soak up the blood. Felix wanted to cry from the pain, but tried to keep steady.

“O-kay.. it’s out.. w-what n-n-now?”

“Grab the d-disinfectant s-stuff.. and pour i-it in.. dump the w-whole thing, I-I might scream, b-but do not stop. A-After t-that, i n-need you to stitch i-it shut. M-Make a crisscrossed p-pattern..”

“Okay.. I-I can d-do this..”

Thomas slowly grabbed the small bottle of the disinfectant, it’s chemical smell hitting them both, and slowly poured it under the gauze.

“AUGH! FUCK OW! CHRIST!”

Felix breathed through his teeth and tried to stay still as it burned his injury. After the bottle emptied Tom took out the needle and thread, looking sick knowing what he had to do. Felix nodded at him. Before he plunged the needle into his flesh. Felix couldn’t hold through the pain, and he began to cry, feeling the needle work through him, tearfully waiting for him to pull the thing tight. He would refit the stitches after he got home, this was a temporary fix. And a few moments later, Thomas pulled the stitches tight.

He gasped at the pain, and suddenly, the pain went down a bit with his now patched wound. He took a deep breath and steadied his mind. He was okay, he had made it. He turned to Tom.

“T-Thank you, you did good, it’s a good stitch you did..”

“Thank you too, thank you for getting my friend..”

Thomas stands back out and looks back towards the Van, seeing the hybrid standing next to it, watching them. He slowly steps towards the feathered hybrid, and they run towards Tom. Wrapping their wings around him, the hybrid hugs him tightly, kissing them on the forehead, before making a sign with their hands. Thomas looks back towards Felix.

“T-They say thank you..”

“Tell them they’re welcome. It’s always good to help someone, will you two be okay?”

“Yes, we’ll be okay, we’ll lay low for a while, everything’s going to be okay.”

“Im glad, about your sister… I’ll need to take the Van, see if she knows anything then figure out what to do with her.”

Thomas takes a deep breath.

“Deal with her how you must, I wont be too broken up about her.”

“I understand, thank you for coming to me.”

“Thank you for helping, maybe someday we can repay.”

“Theres no need, for now, we need to leave, someone could show up any moment. Maybe we’ll see each other again.”

Thomas nodded, before beginning to run off with his friend. Felix smiled as he watched the vanish behind the trees, no matter the pain, it was always worth it to save others. And with the night growing colder, and the silence slowly returning as the crunch them running disappeared, he closed the door to the back of the Van, and drove off with his prisoner. He had a long night of interrogating…

[lolita-lollipop]

Royal siren erasermic family? They like adopt you after you hatch from an egg bc they found you or something idk and take you back to the castle and make you their little princess or something cute and fluffy like that.

YANDERE SIREN ERASERMIC FAMILY X BABY PRINCESS READER

Shinso was just out and about, swimming through some forbidden areas he wasn’t supposed to be in, avoiding sharks, when he found an iridescent little ball under some rubble of a shipwreck, it made his gills tingle at the sweet aura that it emmited, he knew, that this creature, was something to protect. It was up until he saw something moving inside that he thought it was just some ancient treasure that would’ve died with this ship, he examined it closer, squinting his eyes, that’s when he realized, it was a Siren. A baby one at that, usually they hatched out of boring white eggs, the royal family’s were gold, but a shiny color changing white that combated the finest of jewels? Never, this little pip was special, he could feel it.

So he brought it back home, through his “balcony window”, debating wether or not he should tell his parents. As you know, he was somewhere where he was not supposed to be, and they would throw a fit. Then again, whatever this thing was, he couldn’t just keep it to himself, something was living inside it, and he wouldn’t know if something was wrong, so he has too. When he did, it came as a suprise that his parents weren’t mad, they jsut kindof stared at the orb, inhaling the addictive scent it gave off, the three huddled around it, aizawa carefully picking the Small thing up, it was only about the size of a pumpkin, extremely easy to pick up, yet he could still feel the heartbeat of a creature inside, it just had to be one of the sirenfolk , there isn’t any other explanation. He stared at it in confusion, noticing the small cracks staring to form.

Then a little hand popped through, and scared the shit out of all of them.

———

As it turned out, you were in fact a siren, a rare subtype of them, thought to have gone extinct long, long ago. The opal-looking scales that littered your arms and tail showed proof of it, this species were intensely more fragile, and weaker, that’s why they went extinct, as they couldn’t hear, and a small crabs pinch could cause major bone breaks, they were just too weak, yet so beautiful. That’s why they were coveted among the royal family. It only helped their growing obsession taht you were so cute.

It might’ve been an act of I’mpulse, but they just needed to have you as their own, of course, their word is law, so they could’ve just kept you, but they felt the need to make it official, they’d already had two pips, you’re just their third! It was simple, of course, you specific species could be born into sirenfolk families, it was just so rare that it had only happened once. You were just so cute, so fragile, just something so breakable, they just

H a d

To protect this tiny lil thing, it was instinctual to feel a protective pull over their little pups, and boy were they feeling that right now, you were special, not just any baby, but you were theirs. Their special little pup, nothing would ever lay a hand on you, ever. It had only be a few days, and word spreads through the underwater kingdom like a wave, from the servant maid who showed them how to take care of you, to the head maid, to a citizen, to the fisher, and eventually, by the end of the week, the whole kingdom was eagerly waiting to get a glimpse of their new princess.

And boy were they shocked to find out it was an opalite, the most rare of rare sirens in the world. Immediately after they had shown you to the world, sitting in a large clam as it was pulled by sharks, the citizens fell in love with you, maybe it was the fact that you were related to their beloved royals, maybe because the royal family would intensely glare at anyone who made negative comments, maybe it was the fact that a few of those people went missing, but who knows right?

You still hadn’t been able to open your eyes yet, and you won’t be able to hear them for a very long time, your hands were about the size of aizawas eye, and you looked closer to a fish than a human, as you hadn’t even developed your face yet, another plus to being the endangered species, note the sarcasm. And guess what? They found it so adorable, just their cute little baby, their little pup who can’t even protect themselves from the water around them. They just loved every part of your little body, from your tails, to your tiny little hands, to your shiny gills. It was all just so perfect- you were so perfect, and you were theirs, they were gonna protect you at all costs.

So of course they did, you were just so tiny right now, they knows practically anything could hurt you, so they opted to be around you all the time, only leaving to hunt for humans that would suffice for their tastes, drawling them in, determined because of that little smile of yours. You motivated them to do it, they were doing this for you. It have them all a sense of pride to have you feel safe with them, to rite them you. On their own terms.

Eri was constantly around you, being that she was a young one just like you, and you were her little sister! So she wanted to always be around while you made those echoing gurgling noises, or flapped your hands around in the water, she didn’t have responsibility in the kingdom yet, unless being cute is a job, so she can be with you jsut as much as she wants. Always sitting with you while you played with the floating pearls that they had arranged over your play area, watching you feel new things, holding you while you dozed off with adorable little bubbles, she always was with you.

Like now, she’s been with you all day, giving you little snacks, glaring at the guards at the door who always had their eyes on you… creeps. The sun was almost setting, and when you’re low down in the ocean it goes pitch black after a little while, and that’s when the jellyfish come out, tonight was one of the most special days out of the year in the northern oceans, the jellyfish festival, the one night a year when the rare white jellyfish would come out to say hi, leaving trails of shimmering sparkle behind them, painting the upper levels of the ocean a shiny silver. It just so happened that it occurred on your first birthday, a very small increment to sirens, as they live almost a billion years, but still a big accomplishment in their eyes. Look! Their little baby girl is turning one! How amazing!

“Do you see them hon? Look, they’re just starting to appear” Aizawa asked both you and eri calmly, swishing his hand through the salty water to pint at the new appearance of white and purple blobs, slowly flouncing their way overhead. Eri smiled up at it, her pointed teeth displayed in full view, her eyes shined at the view, not only of the huge jellyfish, but also at you, who was placed delicately in mics lap, sat up against his chest. Little bubbles escaped your mouth as you blew raspberries into the water, just making the family laugh.

“Mm-hmmm! Look! Look! How pretty! I wanna touch em! Can I touch em!” She yelled at her parents, excitedly pointing towards the jelly’s floating towards the surface, her hair floated behind her as she swished around, shinsho just chuckled, knowing that she eventually would try to touch them, and get zapped, again, like last year, and the year before, and the year before.

“No hon. Don’t do that to us again, you wanna wish your sister a happy birthday? She’s probably really exited!” Mic cheered, distracting his daughter from touching the jellyfish, yet again, meanwhile, you were happily bouncing up and down on his lap, enjoying the freedom of your arms, swishing them all over the place, grabbing the beads around your neck, jsut anything.

“But dad! Why not! It’s not like it’s hurt me or anything I’ll be fi-“ she begged, throwing her hands up in a small tempter tantrum, clearly forgetting her previous events of pain, and idiocy.

“No- nope no no, we aren’t doing this again, please honey, just please, remember last time, we had to clean up your wounds OUTSIDE-of water, you hate going to the surface remember? “

“Yeah but-“ she started speaking, but was soon cut off with a loud giggle, resonating through your lips, kindof rare for you, you hadn’t been very vocal outside of a few gurgles here and there, so it had each and every ones heads turning. That’s when they saw it, your beautiful eyes, shin sing in reflection to the jellyfish. Those beautiful little eyes of yours mesmerized all of them, a pitch black (for protection from the salt), with a shiny silver-like pupal, immediately after they opened, a burst of color filled your vision. You giggled and clapped your hands together with a small toothless smile, watching as the floaty creates went overhead, glittering with the light.

The absolutely gorgeous splash above was admired by the family form their own viewing post, the blues and whites combined to make a heavenly display. You could feel the cool sprinkles of light they emmited hitting your skin, smiling at the feeling, you splayed your hands out and flailed them against the water.

“Ohhhhhh- oh wow. Honey! Honey look! Her eyes opened! Look at taht! Aren’t you just so magical! Look at you, my little pup.” Mic smacked Aizawa over the chest multiple times, pointing at your clearly opened eyes, you just remained oblivious, staring up at all the new things around you, like.. everything! He turned you around to face him, letting you actually see his face for the first time, taking in the long yellow hair, the (also) black eyes, the ethereal face dotted with shiny yellow gills, him, you could see him!

“She’s developing smoothly, I’m glad. Awww, that’s pretty cute.” Aizawa replied to him, holding in his emotions, as soon as he met those new eyes of yours it’s like everything else disappeared, like the world itself didn’t exist, outside of him, and his fmaily. You took his breath away, or what you could call breath, so cute and innocent, such a small thing, that brings so much joy. Your little tail swished back and forth as you stared up at them happily, taking in the features of the people you’d learned to recognize by touch. Blowing raspberries out of your lips with a stream of bubbles.

“Awwwww! I’m gonna cry, she’s growing so fast! Soon she’ll be swimming in her own! In like 200 years! Too soon, way too soon. Comers baby- mm hmmm” mic spoke, knowing full well that even if he did cry, his tears would get sucked in by the ocean. He pulled you close, moving your head I’ve this shoulde is it would rest in the crook of his neck while he hugged you, eventually, the others joined in, eri practically flopping ontop (with careful regard for you of course).

They all stared at you, while you stared up at the “sky”, oblivious to their stares, to the ways they would growl at anyone who came close, to how they kept you from seeing anyone other than what they personally approve. After all, you are jsut their little pup, of course you wouldn’t notice! Their little pup… feels right to say that, it isn’t like you have any family waiting, they aren’t ever gonna come here.

And if they ever did?

Then, well, a few mermaids are going missing

———————————————————————————————————

Thanks for requesting, this was fun to write!

Have a great day today! Goodbye.

[imaginesforjohnnydepp]

Little Mermaid (Captain Jack Sparrow x fem reader)

for anon @kittenlittle24  @evelynrosestuff​

You charged at your elder sister with the skull of a swordfish while she blocked your jabs with the blade of her own; one of the defensive blocks knocked the fish skull out of your hand. Alana smiled in triumph as your blade landed on the sea floor. “Ha! Beat you again Y/N. Though I must admit, you put up a good fight, and you are getting a lot better,” she gloated. You only narrowed your eyes; typical Alana, so competitive, always has to be the best at everything, you thought. “One of these days I will beat you,” you warned.

You would make it your mission to beat Alana at fencing, which is going to be tough since she’s the best fencer in the family behind your father, but not impossible. Just then, an idea popped into your head; Alana might be the best fencer but you are the most daring, always taking risks, no matter how dangerous. “Wanna race to the surface? First one to break above the surface gets the best looking pirate,” you challenged, and your sister’s eyes grew wide in fear before she corrected herself. Father had absolutely forbidden the two of you going up to the human world after what happened to your mother years ago, but that never stopped you. The human world fascinated you, and you kept a secret collection of treasure from sunken ships.

Alana never knew you kept human keepsakes nor knew that you often traveled to the surface. She’d never go against Father’s wishes but now you could see the wheels turning over in her head considering it. She never turned down a chance at being the best at anything, but behind that tough exterior, you could see how much it scared her to go against Father’s orders. “Unless you’re too scared,” you teased. “Fine, you’re on.”

As you started the countdown, you braced yourself; this would be easy for you, you’d break through the water without thinking about it. Alana yelled go, and you took off, your tail beating behind you as if it had a mind of its own. You ducked and weaved in between rocks and plants and other sea creatures, the surface coming up fast. Pushing through, your head broke through the water, the sun beaming on your face.

It felt good to feel the sun on your face after what felt like a long time. There was a splash behind you, Alana at lasting catching up to you. “Alana look at this. Isn’t this the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?” you asked, the awe evident in your voice. “Okay, Y/N, we’ve seen the surface world, let’s go before someone notices us.” She yanked hard on your arm, trying to pull you back in the ocean.

“Not just yet, I want to see the pirates... look, over there, on the horizon!” There was a large ship in the distance, with white sails and flags with skulls on them. “Y/N, let’s go, let’s not push our luck---” Alana didn’t get a chance to finish because you took off toward the ship, your tail propelling water behind you and the sunlight glinting on your scales. “Y/N, get back here now!”

But it was no use, you were already half way to the ship. Meanwhile Captain Jack Sparrow head the splashes a few feet away; right on time, he thought. When your head popped out of the water, you couldn’t help but smile. “Jack! There’s someone I want you to meet. My sister, Alana.” You gestured broadly to your sister; yes there were similarities, he thought.

The same hair color, face shape, but different eye color. Jack still thought you to be the prettiest. “Y/N! How do you know this... this heathen?! Have you lost your bloody mind?! Why, when Father hears about this---” You slapped a hand over her mouth, instantly quieting. “Alana please! I will tell Father in my own time, but there’s something I have to tell you. Jack and I are to be married in a month’s time.” She said nothing for a long time, and you didn’t know what quite to make of her reaction.

When she didn’t say anything more, you explained to her how you met Jack and that you became infatuated with him. The pirate would bring you gifts from the human world, it was why you spent so much time away from the palace. “How... how is this union supposed to work?” she questioned in a small voice. “I made a deal with Aunt Ursula.” Aunt Ursula was Father’s sister who ruled the other part of the ocean.

Father never trusted her when he became king and urged you to stay away from her at all costs. But when have you ever been good at following orders? In exchange for a mortal life with Jack, you gave her grandmother’s diadem. Alana looked as if her head were about to explode, not that it didn’t seem like a possibility. “No, absolutely not, I forbid this union from happening. I will not be a part of this!”

With that, she turned around and dove back in the water leaving you with Jack. “She seemed as every bit as lovely as you promised,” added Jack. “This is all my fault. I should’ve prepared her, I shouldn’t have waited to tell. Alana is probably on her way to tell Father right this second.” You could picture her now on her way to Father’s throne room to tell him of the pending nuptials, the rage that would cross his face. A mermaid, a princess at that, marrying a human, a pirate.

The news would be enough to send him to an early grave. “My love, I promise this will work, all I have to do is explain to Father.” You gave Jack a quick kiss on the cheek; maybe if you left now, you would be able to catch up with Alana and explain the truth before she could. You had to try.

[inkandpen22]

Otherworldly Kings and Queens (1/?)

Pairing: Prince Caspian x Female!Reader / Peter Pevensie x Female!Reader  

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1.6k 

Part Summary: Y/N and Peter have been best friends since they were little. She knows all about their ‘supposed’ adventure to Narnia last year. She’s not quite convinced... that is until she sees it with her own eyes. 

Masterlist

“No Ed, I won’t do your English paper!" I nudge the boy on the side as we hurry to the train station.

“Oh come on, I’ll help you with your chemistry!” He rushes out.

“You’re haven’t even taken chemistry yet," I remind him. He's younger than me, what could his help possibly do for me?

Commotion in the stairwell of the train station interrupts our chatter. Edmund and I push through the crowd, afraid of the worst. Sure enough, I was right with my prediction as I watch Peter being tossed around like a rag doll. Edmund shoves me as he leaps past to join in the fight.

“Ed, no!” I yelp, reaching for his wrist.

He slips out of my grip with a yank. Susan and Lucy appear at my side, visibly as frustrated as me. Why must they always be getting into fights? After last year, when the four of them came back from the country, they were different. Peter was different. My life-long friend that was always levelheaded and determined had become impatient and spoke of fairytale lands. His ego has never faltered in over the decade that I’ve known him, but to believe himself a king is a bit much.

The familiar sound of the Military Polices’ whistles causes everyone to scatter. I, however, linger to wait for Peter.

“Y/N, come on!” Lucy tugs at my shirt.

“No, you go on,” I tell her and Susan.

“You’re going to get in trouble!” The eldest warns.

“What else is new? Your brother is always getting me in trouble,” I laugh.

Susan and Lucy run off to avoid getting written up for instigating. I'm always waiting for Peter after these things. Leaning against the wall, I watch as the MP grabs Peter by the collar and yank him up. He tells him off and shouts at Peter to grow up. Lord knows he needs to hear it from time to time. Solemnly, he goes and picks up his satchel. His eyes finally find me, having not realized I was even here until now. His eyes are wide at first like he’s been caught. Then, his features fall as guilt replaces surprise.

“I’m sorry,” he mutters. I know he genuinely means it, but this attitude is getting old.

I try to knock some sense into him. “Be sorry to yourself. You’re better than this Peter!” I'm sure I sound nagy, but someone has to do it.

“I know, but he bumped me." Peter drapes his arm over my shoulder and begins to escort me to the train platform.

“So you punched him?” I grumble, having heard this story a million times.

“No," he remarks In a sassy tone. "He bumped me, was going to make me apologize, so then I hit him!”

I halt, making Peter stop a few steps ahead. He sighs dramatically, already knowing what's coming as he scans the station. His brother and sister sit on the bench just yards away. Lucy and Ed can't help but look, despite Susan's pestering.

“This isn’t a boxing ring! We’re just kids!” I shout to my best friend.

His head snaps in my direction. Oh great, here we go.

“I wasn’t always a kid, Y/N! You try growing up to be thirty and a full-fledged king only to be sent back as a kid and useless!” He yells in return.

Solemnly, I interlock our hands. He avoids my gaze until I place a hand on his cheek and make him look at me.

"You’re not useless," I tell him simply, calmer than before.

“I sure feel like it,” he grumbles.

“If you were I wouldn’t be so fond of you,” I smile.

His sea-blue eyes aren't as bright as they could be, but they're not gloomy at least. I need to remind myself to bring a comb with me to school for when Peter decides to get all raggedy. I brush some of his now disheveled hair back from his face. He reacts with a weak smile and brings his hand up to mine to interlock them. Calmly, he guides me over to the bench with the other Pevensies.

“Must you always be fighting?” Susan nags.

“Must you always be a know-it-all,” Peter fires back as we sit down beside each other.

“Takes one to know one,” Edmund adds to the mix.

“Enough you three,” I declare as Peter rests our hands on his lap. I turn my attention to the eldest sister beside me. “Who was that boy I saw you were speaking with?”

“Someone from school. I don’t want to talk about it,” She shifts uncomfortably.

“Ow!” Lucy suddenly yelps, flying up from the bench.

“Quiet Lu,” Susan grumbles.

“Something pinched me!” Lu points to the bench.

“Stop pulling!” Peter yells at Ed next to him.

“I'm not touching you!” His brother shouts defensively.

A sudden pinch to my bum makes me leap up from the bench like Lucy. “Honestly Peter!” I scold, brushing down my skirt.

He hurries to stand, wide-eyed. “It wasn’t me!”

"It feels like magic!" Lucy expresses enthusiastically.

“Everyone stop!” Susan barks, appearing at my side. “Quick hold hands.”

Peter immediately takes my hand. I do as Susan asked and slip mine into her's as well. Soon, we're all holding hands in a line facing the platform. I train zooms through the station at such a fast rate that it creates a gust of wind. People around us don't react to tiles flying off the walls or the metal beams being ripped from the ceiling. Panicked, I move my arm back to let go of Peter's hand. When he notices, his head snaps in my direction and he grips my hand tighter.

"Never let go!" He instructs sternly, almost sounding like a warning.  

“Peter, what’s happening?! What is this?!”

A glimmer of light flashing into my eyes from across the station captures our attention. I watch as what appears to be a sea coast begins to appear through the windows of the train. What was once the subway tiled wall is now stone. I glance down at our feet and there's no longer cement, but sand. Eventually, all remnants of the station are gone and we're standing in a cave beside a crystal blue sea. I turn my attention to the bright light of the sun pouring in from the entrance of the cave and the train disappears into it.

Susan lets go of my hand, but Peter remains squeezing mine. Anxiously, I slip my free hand around his arm. The Pevensies don't appear quite as awestruck as me, merely in a daze in fact. I follow their lead, walking toward the entrance of the cave. Lucy steps ahead, turning back to us with a bright smile. Then, she and Susan run off ahead giggling. Peter lets go of my hand and shoves Ed in the chest playfully before running off after the girls. Soon, the four of them are playing in the ocean, as glad as can be.

Still, in a bit of shock, I walk along to join them. Where are we?! How did that happen?! How are they so bloody calm?!

"We did it!" Lucy squeals as she splashes Peter.

“We’re back!” Ed gleams.

“I can’t believe we’re here!” Susan adds.

I kick off my shoes as they've done, but remain just ankle-deep in the water. “Where is here exactly?” I ask softly, internally debating whether I'm just dreaming.

“Narnia!” Peter laughs, visibly overjoyed.

My head shifts forward as I stare at my friend in disbelief. “Narnia?! The place you kept telling me about last year?! It’s real?!”

“You didn’t believe us?” Lucy questions.

“Didn't believe me?” Peter adds, peering at me with a hurt expression.

"Oh don't give me that. If I came up to you and told you I was a mermaid, would you believe me?" I ask as he approaches me.

The rest of the Pevensies continue their celebrating as Peter and I are evidently going to have it out again. Forgive me for not being quick to believe in fairytales. The blonde boy towers over me by nearly a foot and appears rather pleased about it at this moment.

"Perhaps... should we test and see if you really are one?" He snickers mischievously, his hard face fading away.

"What?"

He ignores my question, instead, Peter picks me up over his shoulder and carries me out into deep water. I squeal playfully swatting at his back to be let down.

"Peter! Peter no!" I laugh nervously which only encourages him.

In a second, he flings me into the deep water with a splash. The crystal blue waves encompass my body as the cold temperature electrified my skin. I push off the sandy clay-like floor and rise above the surface. The water comes up to just above my waist. Hands appear on my face and start to wipe the water away from my eyes. I recognize the laughter to be Peter's. My eyes flicker open and sure enough, my best friend stands in front of me soaking wet. I smirk and flick my hand across the water to splash him in the face.

I laugh, "paybacks!"

"Oh, you're going to get it!" He grins, already wrapping his arms around my waist.

It's true, all of it is true! I remember everything Peter told me, even if I didn't necessarily believe it, I listened.  I've known them practically my whole life, how could they possibly be existing in two worlds? I look at Peter and his siblings right now and all I see are kids. I can't envision them as monarchs! If all of it's true, Peter was once a man, a grown man! He's lived through so much and has far more life experience than I could ever imagine. I have so many questions!

___________________________

Tags:  @blackbirddaredevil23​ @rangergranger11​ @hyperactiveravenclaw 

Masterlist

[sserpente]

As a deposit | Part (2/2)

Synopsis: “Come now, don’t be like that. There must be something else I can appease you with. How about an alternative? A deposit? Be a guest in my house. You’ll get your own room, your own bed and as much beer and ale as you like. Beef, chicken, pork… I can get you everything. You must have appetites like any other man.” Geralt remained silent, making your father clench his fists. “What about a woman?”

With a start, he looked up. You frowned. He would never invite a whore to his home, now would he? He cared too much about his reputation. But to your utter shock and surprise, he suddenly glanced at you. “My daughter is still untouched.”

A/N: At long last, here’s Part II. Thank you all so much for your lovely feedback on this story! Enjoy!

Read Part I here!

Words: 2531 Warnings: injury, mentions of prostitution, bad parenting

Focusing on your daily chores, it had never been this hard before. You were distracted, at unease. This morning, before dawn, Geralt of Rivia had left for the mines. The Gods knew when he would return and what stories he would have to tell.

The beast your father had described to the village was savage, vicious and cruel. Its people were in dire need for help, this wasn’t just about you. If Geralt…

There he was again, sneaking into your thoughts, consuming your mind. What if something had happened to him? You gasped, realising with a start what it was you were feeling. It was worry. You were worried for him.

It wasn’t just your moral compass spinning wildly, knowing you had practically begged him to help you… if he died now, it would be your fault. He might have been a stranger and yet… you cared. Last night, when he had put his arms around you, making you feel so safe and secure… your heart had never felt so warm and at peace.

The sun was setting already. What if something had happened to him? You kept repeating the question over and over. What if the monster… or whatever it was Geralt claimed, had killed him too?

Your father seemed not concerned at all. He knew he had put the Witcher’s life at stake by hiring him for his mines but if he was ready to sell his former wife’s daughter to the local brothel, how would he possibly care for a stranger with a sword?

You flinched when somebody knocked on the door—loud and empathically, as if their life depended on it. It was late. Who could want something from your father… or you or your sister, for that matter, at this hour? Your sister had already gone to bed, as had your father. You were still in the kitchen, cleaning the cutlery and plates from supper, the Witcher still on your mind.

“Father… did you hear that?”

“Ignore it.” His voice came from the nearest bedroom, his door open just a smidge.

“What?”

“Some beggars, probably. Ignore them. I don’t have any money to spare, not right now.”

Beggars? Beggars were quiet, devoted. They did not bang on people’s doors as if they meant to initiate the exorcism of a house.

“What if they are burglars?”

Your father rolled his eyes in an annoyed manner. “Do burglars knock? No. Now shut up, extinguish the lights and let me sleep, useless wench.” He muttered under his breath already half asleep, earning him a mute sigh from you.

His harsh words for you had long ceased to sting. It was now, however, your growing fear made your stomach churn, cushioning his insult.

Pressing your lips together to a thin line, you risked a glance through the rough curtains outside—and gasped for air.

Geralt. He was limping, his expression distorted and full of anger and spite and pain. Blood poured from a wound just above his hips and through his fingers as he pressed his palm against it tightly. Repeatedly, he gathered bits of his remaining strength to bring his fist to the door.

Alarmed, you hurried to open him. He almost landed on the ground, struggling to keep his balance.

“What happened? Geralt…”

“Where’s your father?” He growled, teeth gritted. He hissed in pain when he stood up straight, his yellow eyes locking with yours in the most scrutinising manner.

“In bed, he… went to sleep not long ago. Geralt, you’re hurt.” The slight raise of his eyebrow was all you received in response—as if the blood dropping on the makeshift carpet and ruining it wasn’t obvious enough already. Swallowing thickly, you focused on his face, gently leading him to your bedroom instead.

Whatever it was he wanted to speak about with your father… whatever horrors he had experienced in that mine… you needed to tend to his injuries first.

“Let me… I’ll clean your wounds.” You offered sheepishly, your hands shaking when you had him sit down on the chair in the corner.

His yellow eyes never left yours when you reached for his sword to take it off him and put it in the corner of your room, hesitating for a moment to let him stop you if he so wished. He did not utter a word.

“I’m so sorry… this is all my fault.” You mumbled, your voice trembling.

Geralt gave you a puzzled look in response. It was much softer than his usual expressions you were already familiar with—always calculated and serious, letting no one in on his deepest thoughts and feelings.

“I… I mean I was the one who brought you here. Now you’re hurt.” You meant it—you felt terrible. You could have never forgiven yourself if the Witcher had died because of your fear of ending up a prostitute by the doings of your own father.

“I accepted your father’s offer. It wasn’t your fault. And I’ve had worse injuries, (Y/N).” Your heart skipped a beat when he spoke your name, making you swallow thickly.

“You should… would you like to take a bath?”

“That would be great, actually.” His voice, as deep as you remembered it, sent shivers up and down your spine. Nodding bravely, you stood, disappearing in the bathroom to prepare everything. It would take you a while to heat up enough water, in the meantime you could hear the Witcher following you almost entirely mutely and peeling off his clothes.

You refrained from peeking behind you, already knowing what to expect. A broad and muscly chest with countless scars, well-defined and that fascinating Witcher’s medallion around his neck. It would be immodest to look down any further and find out how well he was equipped down there.

Geralt waited patiently until the tub was ready—only when you had filled it up with hot and steaming water and provided him with a fresh towel did he move and climbed right into it, the water’s splashing noises as he drowned his body in it echoing through the otherwise quiet room.

“Let me properly disinfect your wounds. My father keeps expensive alcohol in the kitchen, it will—“

“No need,” he interrupted you gently but also firmly. “I heal quickly. The water will suffice.”

“Are you sure?”

Geralt nodded, relaxing in the tub. He leaned back so his long hair disgorging over the edge like a white river and closed his eyes, giving you the opportunity to admire his body. Even smeared with blood he looked breath-taking, like the heroes you read about in novels in the local library.

“At least let me wash the blood and dirt off of you, on your back.”

His initial response was a low grunt, barely audible to anyone standing a few feet away from him. “Thank you.”

“So…” you began timidly as you carefully ran a wash cloth you wetted in the tub over the mangled skin on his back, “what happened? In the mine?”

Geralt sighed. “Your father,” he spat the word with disdain in his voice, “is not as innocent as he claimed. He knew about the faun in the mine.”

“A faun?”

“Yes. A creature half human, half goat.” Geralt explained.

His skin was soft when you ran your digits over it to make sure you had not missed a spot. There were scars on his back too. You longed to trace them all with your fingertips. Did he… did he just shiver upon your light touch?

“He blew up the mine deliberately—not just for the coal to harvest. I was right—Mindor is not a monster.”

“Mindor? Is that his name? So why did he injure you?” You replied almost hysterically.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I entered the mine. He knew what I am.”

You frowned, pushing yourself along the outside of the tub to look him in the eye. “That is no excuse. He could have killed you!”

It was the first time Geralt smiled—barely visible, it spread on his lips, revealing the amusement you could not see sparkling in his yellow eyes.

“It takes a lot more to kill me.”

“What happens now? Will… will Mindor stay in the mine?”

“No,” he replied. “I convinced him to take shelter in the forest, in a cave still close enough to the village to benefit from its resources. The humans, especially your father, wouldn’t have stopped hunting him down like a beast.”

“Is he not?” You murmured quietly.

“No. He killed out of rage and self-defence. Your father’s men attacked him with pickaxes and swords.”

“He never told me that.”

Geralt snorted. “Of course not. They never do.”

Silence spread in the small bathroom, the water he was still lying in slowly cooling down. Lone drops meeting the surface were the only, reassuring sounds you were able to hear for a while. Only now did you give proper thought to why he had returned here of all places.

Your father wouldn’t let him in, assuming he was a beggar asking for food, money or shelter. Had you not been home, would he have nursed Geralt back to health? You sincerely doubted it. If the Witcher failed to do the task he had been paid for, he would have chased him away cruelly, if anything for not actually killing the creature. Now Geralt did not strike you as the type of person your father could simply chase away, yet you feared…

“Perhaps… perhaps you should still tell my father that you killed Mindor.” The Witcher frowned and turned to face you, his medallion shining in the dim candlelight.

“I don’t lie, (Y/N).” He stated seriously. “I only kill monsters. Mindor wasn’t one.”

“I… I know, I just… you don’t know my father like I know him.”

“How old are you?”

“I… (Y/A).”

“So you are of age.” He continued, followed by a thoughtful pause. “You could leave him.”

“As a woman, alone? I am not married, Geralt. Where would I go, all on my own?”

“Away from him,” he growled, heaving himself from the bathtub. You bit your lower lip when you caught sight of his well-defined backside, modestly handing him the towel.

You smiled weakly as he dried himself off, still kneeling at the edge of the bathtub. “I could come with you then. Travel the whole world and help you fight vampires and furies and werewolves…”

Geralt turned around, the soft towel now covering his lower half to not reveal anything. There it was again—that disarming smile you had the feeling not many people got to see on him.

“My life is dangerous, (Y/N).”

“More dangerous than my life here, with my father?” You responded. He sighed. “Honestly? Probably not.” Your father is an atrocity, he added silently. And humans are sometimes the scariest beasts you’ll encounter in this world. They are capable of terrible things they will gladly accuse creatures of to live with their choices. But he did not speak these thoughts out loud. You were terrified as is. 

Geralt spent another night in your bedroom, your petite form, compared to his anyway, cuddled up next to him to keep you warm. You were more careful this time, to not come in contact with the fresh wounds you had bandaged for him before going to sleep.

Today, he had claimed, they had almost healed completely already.

Needless to say, your father was shook when he found Geralt walking out of your bedroom the following morning.

“Geralt!” He exclaimed, failing miserably at hiding the nervousness in his voice. “You’re back! The mines… what happened?”

“The creature is gone.” He growled in response. “I expect my payment by dusk. That should be enough time to sort out your business.”

“Geralt… I thought we had an agreement, that’s so very soon. Have my daughter for another night, did she not satisfy you? I’ll get you your money tomorrow morning. The blacksmith has already ordered—“

“By dusk.” Geralt repeated darkly, shutting him up in an instant. “You can consider yourself lucky I didn’t tell Mindor where you live for him to take revenge on you himself because I care about your daughter.” He added under his breath, so quietly only he himself was able to hear it. Only when he turned his fully dressed form, including that intimidating sword on his back, to the door to greet Roach outside, your father spoke up again.

“Hey, how do I know the monster is really dead?”

Geralt didn’t turn around. He stopped dead in his tracks, barely moving his head to glare at him threateningly. “If you don’t believe me, go up to the mines and see for yourself.”

You were already outside, drying the towel Geralt had used last night and admiring his horse from afar.

“Your horse… is it a she?” You asked curiously when he approached, blushing as his yellow eyes were entirely fixed on you.

“Yes,” he said. “Roach.”

“Hello, Roach.” Smiling, you came closer and petted her nose, gently, to not startle her. Geralt observed you for a long moment—as if he’d forget what you looked like if he did not pay attention. His expression was, just like yesterday when you had offered him a bath and apologised for his wounds, so soft you pressed your lips together to a thin line to not take a step back, confused about how his demeanour shifted when he was with. The tenderness he had wrapped your body in his arms with… you blinked.

“I can’t take you with me right now, (Y/N).” He suddenly said calmly. “I can’t protect you.”

You should have expected this. After all, you had suggested it to him jokingly, last night. Still, the painful sting piercing your heart like a sharp dagger upon hearing his words felt painful, antagonising even. You sighed.

“I know… I know, Geralt.”

“Listen…” He began. Darkly and a little… insecure? No, ineptly. “I will be back. Not any time soon but I will. I will be back collecting my payment tonight, then leave town for good.” You nodded. This was not a promise, not directly and yet… butterflies spread in your stomach, stealing any rational thoughts from your mind.

Your eyes met—you were going to miss that bright and menacing yellow, bearing so many, countless secrets. Bravely, you stepped forward, stood on your toes and supported yourself by gently pressing your palms against his strong chest.

Your lips met his before he could utter a word, a feather light kiss serving not only as a thank you but also a promise of affection and even desire. Your eyes fluttered shut when he wrapped his arms around you, one of his hands buried in your neck to pull you closer. Geralt was the one to intensify the kiss, almost desperate for your touch as his tongue darted out to taste your lips.

When you broke apart, your breathing was heavy—so was his. He nodded slowly, one last time flashing you that rare and sincere smile before mounting his horse, your fingertips caressing your now swollen mouth. You did not return inside before he was out of sight.

A/N: Check out my blog to find more Imagines and take a glimpse at my first (to be) published novel! If you enjoyed this story, I would appreciate so much if you supported me on Kofi! ko-fi.com/sserpente ♥ Also I am really sorry if you asked to be tagged in Part II! I'm really flattered you all want to be the first people to read my stories as soon as I post them, I really am but I don't have taglists, never had any, never will... especially now with 17k+ followers, that be would be way too time-consuming. :( And I really just hate tagging! *giggles*

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Destiny

Ch 4- Get Busy Living, Or Get Busy Dying

Chapter Summary: We check back in with Steve and the Kids, before Katie is taken back to a time a few weeks post the Battle of New York, where she desperately tries to get through to a despondent Steve.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.

Chapter Pairings:  Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So these chapters contain flashbacks of sorts- but they’re not flashbacks as Katie is watching the events unfold in front of her-a “Time heist” of sorts. However, to keep it clear and hopefully not confusing, the events she is watching are depicted in itallics instead of me trying to keep calling her 2010 v 2030 Katie…

This was originally finished and posted on the day that we all learned of Chadwick Bosman’s passing.  I sure can read the emotion I was feeling when I wrote it, and therefore I still dedicate this to him.

 Rest in power, King. Wakanda Forever.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Stark Spangled Destiny Masterlist // Main Masterlist

When Steve arrived home, Emmy’s car was already in the driveway. Rori gave a little squeal at the fact her sister was home and shot off to the front door of the house, bouncing on the step.

“Hurry up, Daddy!” she turned to look at him.

“Alright, alright.” He chuckled, reaching her with a few strides and pressing his palm to the access pad. The door clicked open and Rori shot inside, running down the hallway shouting Emmy’s name, Harry toddling behind her as fast as he could followed by Stark, his nails causing him to slip on the wooden floor as he ran, sliding ass first into the small table which thankfully didn’t fall over.

“Rori, hush!” Steve hastily tried to quiet her for fear Katie was asleep, but to no avail. With a sigh he pushed Flossie’s stroller in and then once Jamie had followed him inside he closed the door, the security system clicking back into place.

“Am I banished to my room now?” Jamie looked at him.

Steve took a deep breath, before he shook his head. “Not yet no, but you’re going up after dinner.”

“Okay.” Jamie nodded as he kicked off his sneakers and picked them up, placing them in the rack by the door. “I think I’m gonna go up anyway.”

Steve looked at him, and nodded, watching as he headed off to the stairs, his shoulders slumped a little. He hated it when any of his kids were upset but this was Jamie’s own doing. With a sigh he gently picked Flossie out of her stroller, bent to retrieve the flowers that they’d all chosen from the little meadow and headed into the kitchen where he could hear Rori gabbling on excitedly.

“Hey Dad.” Emmy looked up at him, a little sheepishly given their earlier exchanged and he smiled at her as she came towards him, arms outstretched. He passed Flossie over and then placed the flowers on the side before retrieving the empty vase from the windowsill, giving a small groan of frustration. This vase was never empty, he usually made sure of that by always bringing Katie some flowers home once a week or so, but as he filled it up with water for the flowers the kids had picked, Steve realised he’d been as guilty of neglecting her and taking her foregranted a little as anyone else in the house had been.

“I take it Mom’s still sleeping?” Emmy asked and Steve turned to look at her.

“Yeah, she must be.” He nodded. “I’ll go wake her in a little while once we’ve ordered dinner.”

“I really am sorry.” Emmy began and Steve held his hand up.

“I know, it’s done okay?” He shook his head. “We just need to make sure in future we help out a little more, an I include myself in that.”

“Daddy?” Rori tugged on his jeans and he looked down “Can you try and fix my doll now?”

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded, looking at the offended broken Barbie doll on the side. Whatever had happened between Jamie and Rori, Jamie had managed to snap the head off from the neck. He took it in his hands, had a quick look before he disappeared into the laundry room for the superglue. After a little careful application he’d managed to reattach it reasonably well.

“All fixed.” he walked back in, holding the damned doll upright as Rori gave an excited squeal “But you need to leave it to set for a while.”

“Daddy you’re the best!” She hugged him tight and he chuckled as he passed it to her.

“Be careful.”

Rori nodded as she looked at the doll and then her face fell. “But I can still see the break.” She whispered.

“I can’t do anything about that, Princess.” Steve sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“I can…” Emmy said suddenly. “Rori, go grab your craft kit.”

Rori looked at her, then to Steve who shrugged, before she thrust the doll back at him and disappeared into the den. Steve gave Emmy a questioning look and she simply winked as she placed Flossie down in the pack and play in the corner of the room, where the baby let out a loud shriek and wiggled her legs and arms excitedly at the activity station above her, grabbing at one of the rattles.

Rori came back in, carrying the little plastic box that she kept all of her stuff for colouring and sticking in the Crap Book, and set it down on the table as she scrambled into a seat. Emmy dropped next to her and opened the lid.

“Okay, so…” she began sifting through the stuff in the box and then pulled out 4 little squares of material that Rori had in there. “Which one is best?”

“Erm…” Rori looked at them before she pointed to a bright pink piece. “That one.” “Good choice.” Emmy nodded. She reached into the box once more and pulled out the crimping scissors that were in there because Rori liked the shape it left on the edge of things. Steve watched as his eldest carefully cut a thin sliver of the material off. “Dad, can you pass me headless Barbie?”

Steve smiled and headed the doll back over and Emmy wound the material round the doll’s neck, tying it in place at the front with a knot.

“There.” She said as Rori gave a huge gasp and a smile. “Line gone and Barbie now has an on point kerchief.”

“That’s awesome!” Rori grinned, giving her sister a hug. “Thank you, Emmy.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Now, Aurora,” Steve looked at her and she glanced at him, her face falling at the use of her full name, because she knew full well what it meant, “if I find out you’ve hit Jamie with it again, it��s going straight in the garbage, you understand me?” “Yes Daddy.” She said, her eyes falling down to the table.

“Good.” He nodded before he looked at Emmy. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I could use a beer.”

Emmy smiled “Sure. Sounds good.”

“Can I-“

“No.” Steve cut Rori off. “You can have a juice box. What flavour do you want?”

“Can I have apple please?”

“Sure.” He turned to Harry who was sat at the table, pushing a small car across the surface. “Hey Buddy, you want a juice box too?”

“Owange pwease.” He looked at Steve who nodded and moved to the fridge. He passed the kids each a drink, piercing Harry’s with the straw for him before he moved to the wine cooler and pulled two beers out of the beer section at the bottom. He flipped the lids on the opener set into the unit and slid one over to Emmy as Rori hopped down from the table and announced the was going to the Den.

“Any luck on the apartment hunting?” He asked and she wrinkled her nose.

“Not really.” She shrugged. “We can’t agree on anywhere. I like a place, Pete isn’t so keen, he likes somewhere, I’m not sure.” She looked at Steve “How did you and Mom agree on this place?”

“We just walked in and knew it was right.” He shrugged. “We were in a slightly different position though. We’d been living in our apartment and the compound for so long, I think this place just ticked everything we wanted. Plus, your Mom was pregnant with Jamie so we saw past the tiny little niggles we had and focussed on the good bits and there were far many more points we liked. We changed the bits we didn’t eventually.” He looked around the kitchen “And it’s nice. It’s home.”

“Pete’s not really comfortable with you and Mom saying you’d buy us somewhere.” Emmy said gently and Steve smiled, chuckling.

“I wasn’t comfortable with your Mom basically buying this place either.” He shrugged. “But, well as she pointed out, we were married by then, it was a moot point.” He took a pull from his bottle. “Did she ever tell you about the house we viewed before we got married?” Emmy grinned and nodded “Danni with an I, remember?” Steve snorted and then shrugged. “Yeah, so I had a hard time with that because I had nowhere near as much money as your Mom to put down but, it’s just money Em. Easy to say when you have it but if you and Pete are ready to settle down and be together then it shouldn’t be an issue. You want me to talk to him?” “No.” Emmy hastily spoke. “Absolutely not. You already scare the sh…” she stopped herself swearing and Steve arched a brow. “You scare the life out of him.”

“Good.” Steve grinned “I’m your Dad. That’s my job.”

Emmy rolled her eyes and Steve bit back a chuckle, checking his watch. It was almost seven. So much for an early night for the kids.

“Right, I’m going to order dinner. Fancy doing me a favour?”

“Sure.” Emmy shrugged

“Can you get Harry a bath and into his pyjamas? I’ll round the other two up once you’re done.”

“No bath from Emmy.” Harry mumbled “Momma gives me my bath.”

“Momma’s sleeping buddy, but she’ll come down in a little while for dinner ok?”

Harry looked at him and then grinned “Emmy…daddy got momma wet yesterday.”

Steve spluttered on his beer as Emmy looked at him, arching an eyebrow.

“He means at bath time.” Steve hastily explained “Harry was splashing and it ended up in a slight water fight…”

“Well of course, what else could he mean?” Emmy rolled her eyes before she groaned “God that’s a disgusting image…”

Steve blushed a little before he shook his head, pulling out his phone. “Pizza?”

Emmy nodded before she frowned “Actually, whilst I’m okay with whatever, surely mom would prefer her favourite if she’s feeling down?”

Steve pondered. “Good point. I can order from both. You want a burger or…”

Em nodded. “I’ll have the same as mom, double cheese with a side of chilli fries…oh, and can we get some mac and cheese to share?”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t share food, I’ll get two.”

Emmy smiled and then stood up grinning at her younger brother. “Okay Squirt, let’s go get you bathed.”

Harry looked at her, before he shook his head, “nope,” and in a flash he was off his chair, sprinting out of the room, cackling to himself. Emmy shook her head and with a snort took off after him. Steve watched them go, smiling to himself for a second before he set about ordering their dinner. ***** “Hey…” Katie looked at Steve as he emerged into her tower penthouse. “You okay?”

“Yeah, no, actually I dunno.” He sighed, “I’m sorry to barge in and bother you but…”

“It’s okay, I’m not busy.” She looked at him frowning, “what’s up, Soldier?”

“I had a meeting with Fury before.” Steve bit his lip, “he was going on about the academy and stuff he has planned for me and…” he trailed off

“Say what’s on your mind.” Katie encouraged, gently as she took him in. It had only been two weeks since the battle of New York, and Steve looked absolutely exhausted. She could tell he wasn’t sleeping. She’d seen him a handful of times over the past fortnight and he’d started to look more and more drawn with each visit.

“It’s overwhelming.” Steve replied eventually, shaking his head “Everything. God, it’s so noisy and…” he swallowed, “look, sorry, I’m just, I don’t know what I’m doing here, Katie. The world is so different. This isn’t me.” Katie pondered something for a minute, before she had a sudden wave of inspiration.

“Ever seen Niagara falls?”

“What?” Steve frowned, utterly perplexed at her change of subject. “No, but what’s…”

“I think you need a little head space.” She mused, before she spoke. “JARVIS?”

“Yes, Miss Stark.” The AI responded and Steve jumped a little. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the voice belonging to a man that didn’t actually exist.

“Can you patch through and get one of the jets ready. Set a course for Niagara, I want to take a trip.”

“Of course Miss Stark.” Jarvis replied. “Give me a moment.”

“We can’t just fly to Niagara.” Steve looked at Katie horrified, “I mean…”

“The beauty of having a personal, private Jet is just that, Steve,” she grinned, “I can go where I want, when I want, with anyone I want. Well, most of the time anyway.”

“Isn’t that a little...”

“Self-indulgent? Eccentric? Arrogant?” She looked at him, arching an eyebrow and he sighed, shaking his head.

“I didn’t mean that. I wasn’t…”

“Well if you did mean that, you’d be correct, of course it is.” She shrugged. “But I don’t much care. It comes in handy, and as part and parcel of being friends with a Stark, you get the privilege too. Oh, and if you’re worried about the environment, don’t be. They run on self-sufficient energy sources, like this place.” She waved her hand around the apartment and Steve gave her a small smile.

“Sorry,” he looked at her a little sheepisly, “I didn’t mean to sound rude.”

Katie shrugged, “no offence taken, it’s okay.”

“Miss Stark?” JARVIS spoke again. “The Jet will be ready to leave in half an hour. Would you like me to organise a car?”

“No need, I’ll take mine. Can you have Happy sort the clearances for myself and Captain Rogers, and a car at the other side?”

“Of course”

“Thanks J.” She said, then she looked at Steve. “How about it Cap? A little spontaneous fun might be just what you need.”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh come on!” She pleaded. “You need to learn to let go, live in the moment. Not everything has to be so serious and daunting.”

Steve looked at her as she raised her eyebrows before he rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

She gave him a grin and nodded, “okay, wait here, gonna grab my jacket.”

“Do I need anything?” He asked “Like to fly or…”

“No, you’re good.” She tossed over her shoulder as she headed into her room. Shoving on a pair of sneakers and grabbing her leather jacket she walked back out to find Steve stood in exactly the same place he had been, his hands twisting together almost nervously. She took him in for a moment, he was wearing a pair of light grey slacks, a blue and white plaid with a white t-shirt just visible where the top three buttons where undone and a brown leather jacket. “What’s your schedule like next week?”

“I err, I don’t have a….what?” He frowned, utterly perplexed. .

“Never mind, I’ll sort it. We’re going clothes shopping.”

“No, absolutely not.” He shook his head.

“Steve, you can’t walk around dressed like that forever.” She scoffed “You want a quiet life? You’re gonna have to blend in a little.” As she watched his face fell and she cursed herself, hastily adding, “it’s not that you look bad. You don’t, at all. But trust me, the more you can embrace the changes in your life the happier you’re gonna feel.”

“Who says I want to embrace it?” He mumbled.

“Don’t you?” She challenged, looking at him. He gave a sigh and shrugged. “Well, that’s up to you. I can’t make your mind up for you.” “No? You’ve done a pretty good job of that today so far.” He quipped and she looked at him.

“If you really don’t want to go then we don’t have to.” She replied, not a shred of annoyance or anger in her voice. “I just thought it might be nice to get away from the noise. Both out there and in here…” She reached up and gently tapped his temple. There was a moment’s pause before Steve took a deep breath and smiled.

“No, I know. You’re right.” He nodded. “Lead the way.”

“God, I never realised how forceful I was.” Katie mused, watching as her past self and Steve headed into the elevator. She turned to Tony. “I was worse than you!”

“Hmmmm,” Tony rotated his hand in front of him on a so-so motion, “maybe not quite.”

“He needed it though.” Katie let out a breath from her nose. “God, he was so down for those few weeks after New York. I hated seeing him like that, so sad and lost.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Natasha muttered and Katie turned to her, frowning.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” Natasha said, airily as she too headed to the elevator “Come on.”

They made their way down through to the parking lot in time to see Katie unlocking the white range Rover that had ended up buried under the Triskellion. Steve hopped into the passenger side, and Katie said something to him. He turned, reached for his belt, clicked it in and then looked at her, arching his brows. She nodded and then pulled the car out of the spot.

“He hated seatbelts.” Katie smiled fondly before she imitated his deep baritone. “They didn’t have these in my day…”

“Seatbelts, toasters, microwaves, headless and faceless voices,” Tony ticked them off on his hands, “mobile phones, TVs…” “Flashy billionaires in red and gold metal suits.” Katie nudged him, and he turned to look at her, his trademark smirk on his face. She sighed “He didn’t take long to come round, all things considered.”

They hopped into Tony’s car and emerged into sunny Manhattan from the underground lot. Katie smiled, taking it all in fondly. It had changed, dramatically following the events of the Snap and was still a very different place to the one she had once loved and called home. And then sure enough, the scenery was changing once more and they were pulling into the parking lot at Nigara Falls State Park. They all climbed out, and Katie followed Tony and Natasha through the throng of sight seers, taking the route she could remember with Steve. She could recall this trip like it was yesterday. They’d spent a few hours walking around, down to the Cave of Winds…which seemed to be where they were heading now. And, sure enough, after a little time walking Tony stopped and nodded to where her past self and Steve were stood on the Hurricane Deck, both in bright yellow ponchos. Katie knew what was coming and her face split into a grin as she watched.

Suddenly a sheet of water blew right over them, drenching them both. Steve’s face arranged itself into utter shock and Katie burst into laughter as she glanced up at him, his hair flattened to his head, water dripping down his face.

“I told you to put the hood up!” She howled, tipping her head back as she laughed. He glanced at her, wiping his face, before another wave blew over them.

“What the hell!” He spluttered, before a grin split his face in two and he gave a chuckle as well, shaking his head. He turned to look at the waterfall, taking a huge breath, closing his eyes. After another few rounds of being drenched, Katie tapped his arm and jerked her head, the pair of them heading a little further down the trail. Steve reached up and brushed his soaking hair back from his face, looking at Katie who grinned back at him.

“Everyone who comes to Niagara has to feel the spray on their face.”

“That wasn’t spray!” Steve scoffed. “We might as well have jumped into the damned fall itself.”

“Now there’s an idea.” Katie mused “I reckon they’d let you if we asked.”

“Yeah, I mean I already did one plunge to my supposed death into icy water.” Steve looked at her “What’s another?”

“Ooh was that sarcasm?” Katie arched her eyebrow and Steve rolled his eyes.

“Maybe.” He shrugged and she laughed, shaking her head.

“Come on, we can head back up and grab a coffee. Take in the view where we’re safe and dry.”

Together they weaved their way back through the visitors, and Katie’s eyes were taken by a gang of people who were all pointing at Steve and nudging one another. “Don’t bother.” She said loudly, and they looked at her, frowning.“It’s not him. He just looks very similar. Makes a killing as tribute act.”

“What are you talking about?” Steve looked at her.

“Tell you in a bit.” She grabbed his elbow and steered him up a narrow, step-lined path towards a small outdoors coffee stall. “What’s your poison?”

“Erm. Just normal, I guess?”

“Can I get a large Latte and an Americano.” Katie turned back to the barista before she looked at Steve. “You want cream or…”

“Please.” He nodded. He’d drunk it black mostly when on tour in the army, but that was because there wasn’t much of an option for any other way. Katie nodded to the barista, thanked him and reached for her purse.

“Oh, I’ll get it.” Steve said quickly, fishing his wallet out and handing over a note. Katie looked at him, smiled and thanked him and they moved further down to wait for their coffee. “So who makes a killing as a tribute act?”

“You.” She shrugged. “Well, so I told them. They’d recognised you, I think.”

“Oh.” Steve looked around “Right.”

“It’s okay, I threw them off.” She smiled, taking her drink. She moved over to the table at the side, adding a sugar to hers and stirring. Steve did the same, another thing that had never been possible in the war and once they were sorted the two of them headed over to the little viewing area, which gave a safe look out over the expanse of the waterfalls.

“You’re right, it really is beautiful” Steve looked around, taking a sip of his coffee, his aviators placed on his face.

“Yeah, I like it.” She smiled.

“You come here often or…”

“Not been for years. In fact, the last time was just after my 21st. Me and Tony came for a day out, well, I say day, we actually stayed over. Made a weekend of it. It was fun.”

“Fun.” Steve repeated. “Yeah, I remember that.”

Katie sighed. “You know, I get that you’re pissed and confused, I would be as well, Steve but you’re being your own worst enemy now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, a little defensively. She turned to him, completely nonplussed by his tone and eyed him shrewdly.

“You know, there’s a quote from one of my favourite films that sums up you and your ‘situation’,” she framed the words with quotation marks using her fingers, “perfectly.” She looked at him. “’You can either get busy living, or get busy dying’.”

Steve took a deep breath, his face still trained on hers and she saw him swallowing a little.

“The world has changed Steve, there’s no escaping that,” Katie reached out to take his hand, giving it a little squeeze, “but that doesn’t make it any less beautiful.”

She watched as he took a deep breath and turned away from her, his hand still linked in hers as he looked back over the waterfall. He didn’t reply.

Katie wiped at her eyes as Tony dropped an arm round her shoulder, totally swept up in the emotion. “Fuck,” she swallowed, “I…”

“I know.” Tony said gently as she leaned into him, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“He just looks so,” Katie glanced at Steve, “defeated. That’s exactly how he looked in Wakanda when…” She trailed off. “I hate seeing him like this.”

“I know but remember this didn’t last long.” Tony soothed her. “You got through to him.”

“Big time.” Natasha added, gently. “Nova, this was a pivotal moment in Steve’s life. He always told me that ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ was a personal favourite of his, and this is why.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s told me.” Katie sniffed. “In fact, he told me not long after we started dating that this moment was what made him kick himself up the ass, realise that he had to try and move forward. It’s why we came back here a few times. But it didn’t make it any easier for him you know? He still struggled.”

“No, but you did.” Natasha looked at her. “You made it a hell of a lot easier for him. You know this.”

Katie nodded. “Yeah, like I say, he’s told me plenty of times. Still, guess he had no option. Not like he could go back was it?”

“Well, he could have.” Tony shrugged. “When I cracked Time Travel.”

“I mean at the time.” Katie shot Tony a glare. “Stop being facetious.”

“Yeah, about that, that isn’t strictly true either. Well, maybe not the Time Travel thing but…” Natasha trailed off as Katie looked at her, frowning.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” Nat smiled. “Come on.”

Katie looked at Tony who simply shrugged before she tossed a glance back over to her past self who was now stood with Steve, both engaged in a conversation. She fondly recalled how it had taken a lighter turn, Katie telling Steve about her experiences in London, and he his, both of them sharing a laugh about how the two were very different. She made a mental note to tell him they needed to come back to Niagara soon, with the kids this time. With a final, fond look at the back of her soldier, she turned and followed her friend and brother towards the car.

*****

“Now this takes me back.” Katie smiled, fondly looking around the inside of Steve’s New York apartment that SHIELD had put him up in. It was clean and tidy, nothing out of place. Not unlike his home in DC had been, well, that is until she had descended upon it and caused chaos. She used to take great delight in moving things around and seeing how long it took him to notice and especially wearing odd socks which she would flash when she kicked off her sneakers and either dropped her feet onto the coffee table or up on the sofa besides him. He had hated that, so much so that for her birthday the first year he’d known her, he’d jokingly bought her a bumper pack of the items which were labelled with the days of the weeks on. More fool him though, as she’d simply mixed them all up and started wearing them on the wrong days. Rori now wore odd socks too, copying her, and Steve simply rolled his eyes every time he saw it, chuckling to himself.

Just another way he had come so far from the uptight man he had been all those years ago.

She wheeled round as she saw Steve walk into the apartment, in the same outfit as she had been in at Niagara. She glanced at the calendar on the wall and realised it was the same day, this must have been the night they had gotten home.

Curiously, she followed him into the kitchen where he pulled out a beer and popped the lid with his hand.

“Show off.” Tony mumbled and Katie snorted.

“He still does that you know, not all the time but, when he’s feeling like wants to be particularly macho.” Katie smiled fondly.

The three of them watched as Steve sat down at the small table, both his large hands cradling his drink as he sat still, his eyes fixated on a spot on the wall, his face deep in concentration. Katie felt her chest contract a little, he looked so damned lost.

He reached for his phone, pulling it out, looking at it. It was a Samsung, Katie had shown him how to use it, she remembered and she also remembered showing him how to take photos with it, which she knew he’d done at Niagara, testing it out.

This was strange for her to watch, as she hadn’t been here for this moment previously. So she couldn’t know for sure what he was thinking as he looked at his phone. She took a step towards him, peering over his shoulder as she glanced down at what he was looking at. It was a picture of the water fall he’d taken as they stood with a coffee, and then he swiped to the next one which was the first ‘selfie’ of the pair of them ever taken, one which still sat in a frame on the side in their hallway. Steve had crouched down to get into the frame, as Katie couldn’t quite reach far enough otherwise and he’d smiled, a little awkwardly, but it made for a good shot all things considered. She’d teased him relentlessly about being the Poster Boy of the damned War, but being so shit at actually taking a photo. So much so at one point he’d threatened to throw her over the railing. She’d laughed than and slapped his arm, drawing a chuckle from him in response.

Steve gave a little sigh as he looked at the photo, before he turned the screen off, drained his beer and pushed his chair back from the table. Picking up his jacket he left, locking the door behind him.

“What…” Katie looked at Natasha who nodded to the door.

Katie frowned, opened it and stepped through…and found herself in an office. Only this wasn’t at the Triskellion, it was at their base in New York. Steve was stood in front of Fury, who was lounging in a chair.

“I take it from the demand to see me immediately you’ve come to a decision?” Fury eyed Steve and the soldier took a deep breath.

“Yes, I have Sir.”

“And?”

“I don’t want to go back into stasis.” Steve spoke clearly. “I was tempted but, well, I’ve been given a second shot at my life. I owe it to those men, all my friends who didn’t, not to throw it away.”

Fury took a deep breath and nodded. “Good, I’m glad. Like I said a few months back, the world could still use a man like you, Cap.”

Steve nodded. “I’ll take the position in SHIELD it it’s still open. Just tell me where I need to be and when.”

Fury smiled. “Consider it done.”

“Thank you.” Steve said, before he nodded to the door. “I’ll see myself out.”

As he turned to go, Fury stopped him. “I’m curious, what changed your mind, other than owing it to the dead?”

Steve hesitated and turned to the Director, a small smile on his face. “Let’s just say I had my eyes opened. The world has changed, but it’s still a beautiful place.”

Katie’s breathing was deep as she watched Steve leave the office, “He…he was going…” the words caught in her throat as she looked at Natasha, completely in shock at the scene she had just watched.

Natasha nodded. “Fury offered him the chance to go into stasis, to be frozen again, and brought back out if we ever needed him. Just like HYDRA did with Barnes.”

“He never told me that.” Katie sniffed, her eyes stinging with tears. “He never mentioned any of this to me, I can’t…”

At that point she began to cry and she turned to Tony who wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest. The thought that Steve had felt so lost he had even considered this broke her damned heart and she couldn’t stop the tears as they continued to fall. And more so, she couldn’t understand why he had never told her.

“‘I’m only strong because you’re by my side.’ Remember those words?” Tony spoke gently.

“Of course I do.” Katie sniffed and wiped her eyes, stepping back a little to look at her brother. “It was in his wedding speech…”

“Exactly.” Tony smiled, reaching up to brush her tears away with his thumbs. “You gave him the strength to keep going when everything and everyone he knew was lost.”

“Without you being there, Rogers would have ended up as nothing more than a Soldier, wheeled out by SHIELD when they needed him.” Natasha sighed gently. “It’s twisted, I know, given Barnes’ history, but that’s the way it is. Captain America would have been SHIELD’s version of the Winter Soldier. But you showed him there was a life to live, and he made that decision to damned well live it.”

Katie took a deep, shaky breath. “I wanna go home.” She whispered, gently. “I wanna wake up, I’ve seen enough. I want my kids, I want Steve.”

“Just give us one more stop.” Tony soothed, softly “One more, please Kiddo, there’s something else I want you to see.”

Katie looked away as more tears brimmed in her eyes before she glanced back at her brother then to Natasha.

“I can’t.” “Do you trust me?” Tony looked at her and she sighed.

“Of course I do.”

“Then let me show you one last memory. And then, well, then we can say goodbye.”

“Jesus Christ, Tone.” Katie cried, her voice cracking. “Don’t say it like that.”

“Hey, look at me.” Her brother instructed, and she turned to face him, swallowing as tears poured down her face, her chest aching with raw emotion. “You know this was never permanent. We’re gonna have to go at some point.”

“I know, I just…” Katie shook her head. She glanced back over at Fury who was furiously talking into his phone, most likely to Coulson from the snippets she caught as he discussed Steve, and she took a deep breath, steeling herself and turning back to Tony.

“Okay, let’s get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit.” Tony smiled, dropping an arm round her shoulder.

As they headed into the corridor, Tony looked around, taking the surroundings in as they walked to the elevator.

“Do you remember my speech?” He asked as he hit the ground floor button. “At your wedding, I mean.”

“Of course I do.” Katie smiled “I remember yours, Steve’s Sam’s…Steve nearly died at Sam’s comment about being friends with Captain America doubling your chances of getting laid”

“Yeah, it was pretty funny, but mine was better.” Tony shrugged flippantly, and Katie rolled her eyes, snorting a little as the elevator doors closed.

 **Original Posting**

[what-is-your-plan-today]

Stark Spangled Destiny

Ch 4- Get Busy Living, Or Get Busy Dying

Chapter Summary: We check back in with Steve and the Kids, before Katie is taken back to a time a few weeks post the Battle of New York, where she desperately tries to get through to a despondent Steve.

Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words.

Chapter Pairings:  Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: So these chapters contain flashbacks of sorts- but they’re not flashbacks as Katie is watching the events unfold in front of her-a “Time heist” of sorts. However, to keep it clear and hopefully not confusing, the events she is watching are depicted in itallics instead of me trying to keep calling her 2010 v 2030 Katie…

Huge thanks to @icanfeelastormbrewing​ and @southerngracela​ for beta reading this before. You girls are awesome.

I thought long and hard about posting this today, but it was finished this morning and I sure can read the emotion I was feeling when I wrote it, and I wanted to share it. This was my outlay.

Rest in power, King. Wakanda Forever.

When Steve arrived home, Emmy’s car was already in the driveway. Rori gave a little squeal at the fact her sister was home and shot off to the front door of the house, bouncing on the step.

“Hurry Daddy!” she turned to look at him.

“Alright, alright…” he chuckled, reaching her with a few strides and pressing his palm to the access pad. The door clicked open and Rori shot inside, running down the hallway shouting Emmy’s name, Harry toddling behind her as fast as he could followed by Stark, his nails causing him to slip on the wooden floor as he ran, sliding ass first into the small table which thankfully didn’t fall over.

“Rori, hush!” Steve hastily tried to quiet her for fear Katie was asleep, but to no avail. With a sigh he pushed Flossie’s stroller in and then once Jamie had followed him inside he closed the door, the security system clicking back into place.

“Am I banished to my room now?” Jamie looked at him.

Steve took a deep breath, before he shook his head. “Not yet no, but you’re going up after dinner.”

“Okay.” Jamie nodded as he kicked off his sneakers and picked them up, placing them in the rack by the door. “I think I’m gonna go up anyway.”

Steve looked at him, and nodded, watching as he headed off to the stairs, his shoulders slumped a little. He hated it when any of his kids were upset but this was Jamie’s own doing. With a sigh he gently picked Flossie out of her stroller, bent to retrieve the flowers that they’d all chosen from the little meadow and headed into the kitchen where he could hear Rori gabbling on excitedly.

“Hey Dad.” Emmy looked up at him, a little sheepishly given their earlier exchanged and he smiled at her as she came towards him, arms outstretched. He passed Flossie over and then placed the flowers on the side before retrieving an empty vase from the windowsill. He let out a little sigh, this vase was never empty, he usually made sure of that by always bringing Katie some flowers home once a week or so, but as he filled it up with water he realised he’d been as guilty of neglecting her and taking her foregranted a little as anyone else in the house had been.

“I take it Mom’s still sleeping?” Emmy asked and Steve turned to look at her.

“Yeah, she must be.” He nodded “I’ll go wake her in a little while once we’ve ordered dinner.”

“I really am sorry.” Emmy began and Steve held his hand up.

“I know, it’s done ok.” He shook his head “We just need to make sure in future we help out a little more.”

“Daddy…” Rori tugged on his jeans and he looked down “Can you try and fix my doll now?”

“Yeah, sure.” He nodded, looking at the offended broken Barbie doll on the side. Whatever had happened between Jamie and Rori, Jamie had managed to snap the head off from the neck. He took it in his hands, had a quick look before he disappeared into the laundry room for the superglue. After a little careful application he’d managed to reattach it reasonably well.

“All fixed.” he walked back in, holding the damned doll upright as Rori gave an excited squeal “But you need to leave it to set ok?”

“Daddy you’re the best!” she hugged him tight and he chuckled as he passed it to her.

“Be careful.”

Rori nodded as she looked at the doll and then her face fell. “But I can still see the break.” She whispered.

“I can’t do anything about that princess.” Steve sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“I can…” Emmy said suddenly “Rori, go grab your craft kit.”

Rori looked at her, then to Steve who shrugged, before she thrust the doll back at him and disappeared into the den. Steve gave Emmy a questioning look and she simply winked as she placed Flossie down on the play-mat in the corner of the room, where the baby let out a loud shriek and wiggled her legs and arms excitedly at the activity station above her, grabbing at one of the rattles.

Rori came back in, carrying the little plastic box that she kept all of her stuff for colouring and sticking in the Crap Book, and set it down on the table as she scrambled into a seat. Emmy dropped next to her and opened the lid.

“Ok, so…” she began sifting through the stuff in the box and then pulled out 4 little squares of material that Rori had in there. “Which one is best?”

“Erm…” Rori looked at them before she pointed to a bright pink piece “That one.” “Good choice.” Emmy nodded. She reached into the box once more and pulled out the crimping scissors that were in there because Rori liked the shape it left on the edge of things. Steve watched as his eldest carefully cut a thin sliver of the material off. “Dad, can you pass me headless Barbie?”

Steve smiled and headed the doll back over and Emmy wound the material round the doll’s neck, tying it in place at the front with a knot.

“There.” She said as Rori gave a huge gasp and a smile “Line gone and Barbie now has a kerchief.”

“That’s awesome!” Rori grinned, giving her sister a hug “Thank you Emmy.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Now, Aurora…” Steve looked at her and she glanced at him, her face falling at the use of her full name, because she knew full well what it meant “If I find out you’ve hit Jamie with it again, it’s going straight in the garbage, you understand me?” “Yes Daddy.” She said, her eyes falling down to the table.

“Ok.” He nodded before he looked at Emmy “I don’t know about you, but I could use a beer.”

Emmy smiled “Sure. Sounds good.”

“Can I-“

“No.” Steve cut Rori off “You can have a juice box. What flavour do you want?”

“Can I have apple please?”

“Sure.” He turned to Harry who was sat at the table, pushing a small car across the surface “Hey Buddy, you want a juice box too?”

“Owange pwease.” He looked at Steve who nodded and moved to the fridge. He passed the kids each a drink, piercing Harry’s with the straw for him before he moved to the wine cooler and pulled two beers out of the beer section at the bottom. He flipped the lids on the opener set into the unit and slid one over to Emmy as Rori hopped down from the table and announced the was going to the Den.

“Any luck on the apartment hunting?” he asked and she wrinkled her nose.

“Not really.” She shrugged. “We can’t agree on anywhere. I like a place, Pete isn’t so keen…he likes somewhere, I’m not sure.” She looked at Steve “How did you and mom agree on this place?”

“We just walked in and knew it was right.” He shrugged “We were in a slightly different position though. We’d been living in our apartment and the compound for so long, I think this place just ticked everything we wanted. Plus, your mom was pregnant with Jamie so…we saw past the tiny little niggles we had and focussed on the good bits and there were far many more points we liked. We changed the bits we didn’t eventually.” He looked around the kitchen “And it’s nice. It’s home.”

“Pete’s not really comfortable with you and mom saying you’d buy us somewhere.” Emmy said gently and Steve smiled, chuckling.

“I wasn’t comfortable with your mom basically buying this place either.” He shrugged “But, well as she pointed out we were married by then, it was a moot point.” He took a pull from his bottle “Did she ever tell you about the house we viewed before we got married?” Emmy grinned and nodded “Danni with an I, remember?” Steve snorted and then shrugged “Yeah, so I had a hard time with that because I had nowhere near as much money as your mom to put down but, it’s just money Em. Easy to say when you have it but if you and Pete are ready to settle down and be together then it shouldn’t be an issue. You want me to talk to him?” “No.” Emmy said quickly “Absolutely not. You already scare the sh…” she stopped herself swearing and Steve arched a brow “You scare the life out of him.”

“Good.” Steve grinned “I’m your dad. That’s my job.”

Emmy rolled her eyes and Steve bit back a chuckle, checking his watch. It was almost 7pm. So much for an early night for this lot.

“Right, I’m going to order dinner.” He said, “Fancy doing me a favour?”

“Sure.” Emmy shrugged

“Can you get Harry a bath and into his pyjamas? I’ll round the other two up once you’re done.”

“No bath from Emmy.” Harry mumbled “Momma gives me my bath.”

“Momma’s sleeping buddy, but she’ll come down in a little while for dinner ok?”

Harry looked at him and then grinned “Emmy…daddy got momma wet yesterday.”

Steve spluttered on his beer as Emmy looked at him, arching an eyebrow.

“He means at bath time.” Steve hastily explained “Harry was splashing and it ended up in a slight water fight…”

“Well of course, what else could he mean?” Emmy rolled her eyes before she groaned “God that’s a disgusting image…”

Steve blushed a little before he shook his head, pulling out his phone. “Pizza?”

Emmy nodded before she frowned “Actually, whilst I’m ok with whatever, surely mom would prefer her favourite if she’s feeling down?”

Steve pondered “Good point. I can order from both. You want a burger or…”

Em nodded “I’ll have the same as mom, double cheese with a side of chilli fries…oh, and can we get some mac and cheese to share?”

Steve nodded “Consider it done.”

Emmy smiled and then stood up. “Ok Harry, let’s go get you bathed.”

Harry looked at her, before he grinned “Nope.” And in a flash he was off his chair, sprinting out of the room, cackling to himself. Emmy shook her head and with a snort took off after him. Steve watched them go, smiling to himself for a second before he set about ordering their dinner. ***** “Hey…” Katie looked at Steve as he emerged into her tower penthouse “You ok?”

“Yeah, no…I dunno.” He sighed, “I’m sorry to barge in and bother you but…”

“It’s ok, I’m not busy.” She looked at him frowning, “What’s up Steve?”

“I had a meeting with Fury before.” He said, “He was going on about the academy and stuff he has planned and…” he trailed off

“Say what’s on your mind.” Katie said gently, taking him in. It had only been 2 weeks since the battle of New York, and Steve looked absolutely exhausted. She could tell he wasn’t sleeping. She’d seen him a handful of times over the past fortnight and he’d started to look more and more drawn with each visit.

“It’s overwhelming” Steve said, shaking his head “Everything…it’s so noisy and…” he swallowed “Look, sorry, I’m just…I don’t know what I’m doing here. The world is so different. This isn’t me.” Katie pondered something for a minute, before she had a sudden wave of inspiration.

“Ever seen Niagara falls?”

“What?” Steve frowned, utterly perplexed at her change of subject “No, but what’s…”

“I think you need a little head space.” She mused, before she spoke “JARVIS?”

“Yes Miss Stark.” The AI responded and Steve jumped a little. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to the voice belonging to a man that didn’t actually exist.

“Can you patch through and get one of the jets ready. Set a course for Niagara, I want to take a trip.”

“Of course Miss Stark.” Jarvis said “Give me a moment.”

“We can’t just fly to Niagara.” Steve looked at Katie horrified “I mean…”

“The beauty of having a personal, private Jet is just that Steve.” She grinned “I can go where I want, when I want most of the time anyway.”

“Isn’t that a little...”

“Self-indulgent? Eccentric? Arrogant?” she looked at him, arching an eyebrow and he sighed, shaking his head.

“I didn’t mean that…I wasn’t…”

“Well if you did you’d be correct, of course it is.” She shrugged “But it comes in handy, and part and parcel of being friends with a Stark is you get the privilege too. And if you’re worried about the environment, don’t be. They run on self-sufficient energy sources, like this place.”

“Sorry.” Steve sighed, “I didn’t mean to sound rude.”

Katie shrugged, “It’s ok.”

“Miss Stark?” JARVIS spoke again “The Jet will be ready to leave in half an hour. Would you like me to organise a car?”

“No need, I’ll take mine. Can you have Happy sort the clearances for myself and Captain Rogers, and a car at the other side?”

“Of course”

“Thanks J.” she said, then she looked at Steve “How about it Cap? A little spontaneous fun might be just what you need?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh come on!” She pleaded “You need to learn to let go, live in the moment. Not everything has to be so serious Steve.”

Steve looked at her as she raised her eyebrows before he rolled his eyes “Fine.”

She gave him a grin and nodded “Ok, wait here, gonna grab my jacket.”

“Do I need anything?” he asked “Like to fly or…”

“No, you’re good.” She tossed over her shoulder as she headed into her room. Shoving on a pair of sneakers and grabbing her leather jacket she walked back out to find Steve stood in exactly the same place he had been, his hands twisting together almost nervously. She took him in for a moment, he was wearing a pair of light grey slacks, a blue and white plaid with a white t-shirt just visible where the top 3 buttons where undone and a brown leather jacket. “Ok, so what’s your schedule like next week?”

“I err, I don’t have a….what?” he looked at her, frowning.

“Never mind, I’ll sort it. We’re going clothes shopping.”

“No, absolutely not.” He shook his head.

“Steve you can’t walk around dressed like that forever.” She scoffed “You want a quiet life? You’re gonna have to blend in a little.”

As she watched his face fell and she cursed herself. “It’s not that you look bad. You don’t, at all. But trust me, the more you can embrace the changes in your life the happier you’re gonna feel.”

“Who says I want to embrace it?” He mumbled.

“Don’t you?” she challenged, looking at him. He gave a sigh and shrugged. “Well, that’s up to you. I can’t make your mind up for you.” “No? You’ve done a pretty good job of that today so far.” He quipped and she looked at him.

“If you really don’t want to go then we don’t have to.” She replied, not a shred of annoyance or anger in her voice “I just thought it might be nice to get away from the noise. Both out there and in here…” she reached up and gently tapped his temple. There was a moment’s pause before Steve took a deep breath and smiled.

“No, I know. You’re right.” He nodded “Lead the way.”

“God I never realised how forceful I was.” Katie mused, watching as her past self and Steve headed into the elevator. She turned to Tony “I was worse than you!”

“Hmmmm” Tony rotated his hand in front of him on a so-so motion “Not quite…”

“He needed it though.” Katie mused “God he was so down for those few weeks after New York. I hated seeing him like that, so sad and lost.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Natasha said and Katie turned to her, frowning.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” Natasha said, airily as she too headed to the elevator “Come on.”

They made their way down through to the parking lot in time to see Katie unlocking the white range Rover that had ended up buried under the Triskellion. Steve hopped into the passenger side, and Katie said something to him. He turned, reached for his belt, clicked it in and then looked at her, arching his brows. She nodded and then pulled the car out of the spot.

“He hated seatbelts.” Katie said fondly before she imitated his deep baritone “They didn’t have these in my day…”

“Seatbelts, toasters, microwaves, headless and faceless voices…” Tony said, ticking them off on his hands “Mobile phones, TVs…” “Flashy billionaires in red and gold metal suits.” Katie nudged him, and he turned to look at her, his trademark smirk on his face. She sighed “He didn’t take long to come round, all things considered.”

They hopped into Tony’s car and emerged into sunny Manhattan from the underground lot. Katie smiled, taking it all in fondly. It had changed, dramatically following the events of the Snap and was still a very different place to the one she had once loved and called home. And then sure enough, the scenery was changing once more and they were pulling into the parking lot at Nigara Falls State Park. They all climbed out, and Katie followed Tony and Natasha through the throng of sight seers, taking the route she could remember with Steve. She could recall this trip like it was yesterday. They’d spent a few hours walking around, down to the Cave of Winds…which seemed to be where they were heading now. And, sure enough, after a little time walking Tony stopped and nodded to where her past self and Steve were stood on the Hurricane Deck, both in bright yellow ponchos. Katie knew what was coming and her face split into a grin…

Suddenly a sheet of water blew right over them, drenching them both. Steve’s face arranged itself into utter shock and Katie burst into laughter as she glanced up at him, his hair flattened to his head, water dripping down his face.

“I told you to put the hood up!” she howled, tipping her head back as she laughed. He glanced at her, wiping his face, before another wave blew over them.

“What, the hell!” he spluttered, before a grin split his face in two and he gave a chuckle as well, shaking his head. He turned to look at the waterfall, taking a huge breath, closing his eyes. After another few rounds of being drenched, Katie tapped his arm and jerked her head, the pair of them heading a little further down the trail. Steve reached up and brushed his soaking hair back from his face, looking at Katie who grinned back at him.

“Everyone who comes to Niagara has to feel the spray on their face.” She said.

“That wasn’t spray!” he spluttered “We might as well have jumped into the damned fall itself.”

“Now there’s an idea.” Katie mused “I reckon they’d let you if we asked.”

“Yeah, I mean I already did one plunge to my supposed death into icy water.” Steve looked at her “What’s another?”

“Ooh was that sarcasm?” Katie looked at him and he rolled his eyes.

“Maybe.” He shrugged and she laughed, shaking her head.

“Come on, we can head back up and grab a coffee. Take in the view where we’re safe and dry.”

Together they weaved their way back through the visitors, and Katie’s eyes were taken by a gang of people who were all pointing at Steve and nudging one another. “Don’t bother.” She said loudly, and they looked at her, frowning “It’s not him. He just looks very similar. Makes a killing as tribute act.”

“What are you talking about?” Steve looked at her.

“Tell you in a bit.” She said, grabbing his elbow and steering him up a small path towards a small outdoors coffee stall. “What’s your poison?”

“Erm..” he frowned “Just normal…I…”

“Can I get a large Latte and an Americano.” Katie turned back to the barista “You want cream or…”

“Please.” He nodded. He’d drunk it black mostly when on tour in the army, but that was because there wasn’t much of an option for any other way. She nodded to the barista, thanked him and reached for her purse.

“Oh, I’ll get it.” Steve said quickly, fishing his wallet out and handing over a note. Katie looked at him, smiled and thanked him and they moved further down to wait for their coffee. “So who makes a killing as a tribute act?”

“You.” She shrugged “Well, so I told them. They’d recognised you, I think.”

“Oh.” Steve looked around “Right…”

“It’s ok, I threw them off.” She said, smiling and taking the drink. She moved over to the table at the side, adding a sugar to hers and stirring. Steve did the same, another thing that had never been possible in the war and once they were sorted the two of them headed over to the little viewing area, which gave a safe look out over the expanse of the waterfalls.

“You’re right, it really is beautiful” Steve said, taking a sip of his coffee, his aviators placed on his face.

“Yeah, I like it.” Katie smiled.

“You come here often or…”

“Not been for years. “ She said “In fact, the last time was just after my 21st. Me and Tony came for a day out…well, I say day, we actually stayed over. Made a weekend of it. It was fun.”

“Fun.” Steve repeated. “Yeah, I remember that…”

Katie sighed “You know, I get that you’re pissed and confused, I would be as well Steve but you’re being your own worst enemy now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, a little defensively. She turned to him, completely nonplussed by his tone and eyed him shrewdly

“You know, there’s a quote from one of my favourite films that sums up you and your ‘situation’” she framed the words with quotation marks using her fingers “…perfectly.” She looked at him, “You can either get busy living, or get busy dying.”

Steve took a deep breath, his face still trained on hers and she saw him swallowing a little.

“The world has changed Steve, there’s no escaping that.” She said gently, reaching out to take his hand, giving it a little squeeze “But that doesn’t make it any less beautiful.”

She watched as he took a deep breath and turned away from her, his hand still linked in hers as he looked back over the waterfall. He didn’t reply.

Katie wiped at her eyes as Tony dropped an arm round her shoulder, totally swept up in the emotion. “Fuck…” she swallowed, “I…”

“I know.” Tony said gently as she leaned into him, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“He just looks so…” Katie glanced at Steve “Defeated. That’s exactly how he looked in Wakanda when…” She trailed off “I hate seeing him like this.”

“I know but remember this didn’t last long.” Tony said gently “You got through to him.”

“Big time.” Natasha said, gently “This was a pivotal moment. He always told me that The Shawshank Redemption was a personal favourite of his, and this is why.”

“Yeah, I know. He’s told me.” Katie sniffed “In fact, he told me not long after we started dating that this moment was what made him kick himself up the ass, realise that he had to try and move forward. It’s why we came back here a few times….but it didn’t make it any easier for him you know? He still struggled…”

“No, but you did.” Natasha looked at her “You made it a hell of a lot easier for him. You know this.”

Katie nodded “Yeah, like I say, he’s told me plenty of times. Still, guess he had no option. Not like he could go back was it?”

“Well, he could have.” Tony shrugged “When I cracked Time Travel…”

“No I mean at the time.” Katie shot Tony a glare. “Stop being facetious…”

“Yeah, about that…that isn’t strictly true either. Well, maybe not the Time Travel thing but…” Natasha trailed off as Katie looked at her, frowning.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” Nat smiled “Come on.”

Katie looked at Tony who simply shrugged before she tossed a glance back over to her past self who was now stood with Steve, both engaged in a conversation. She fondly recalled how it had taken a lighter turn, Katie telling Steve about her experiences in London, and he his, both of them sharing a laugh about how the two were very different. She made a mental note to tell him they needed to come back to Niagara soon, with the kids this time. Jamie, Rori and Harry would love it. With a final, fond look at the back of her soldier, she turned and followed her friend and brother towards the car.

*****

“Now this takes me back.” Katie smiled, fondly looking around the inside of Steve’s New York apartment that SHIELD had put him up in. It was clean and tidy, nothing out of place. Not unlike his home in DC had been, well, that is until she had descended upon it and caused chaos. She used to take great delight in moving things around and seeing how long it took him to notice and especially wearing odd socks which she would flash when she kicked off her sneakers and either dropped her feet onto the coffee table or up on the sofa besides him. He had hated that, so much so that for her birthday the first year he’d known her, he’d jokingly bought her a bumper pack of the items which were labelled with the days of the weeks on. More fool him though, as she’d simply mixed them all up and started wearing them on the wrong days. Rori now wore odd socks too, copying her, and Steve simply rolled his eyes every time he saw it, chuckling to himself. Just another way he had come so far from the uptight man he had been all those years ago.

She wheeled round as she saw Steve walk into the apartment, in the same outfit as she had been in at Niagara. She glanced at the calendar on the wall and realised it was the same day, this must have been the night they had gotten home.

Curiously, she followed him into the kitchen where he pulled out a beer and popped the lid with his hand.

“Show off.” Tony mumbled and Katie snorted.

“He still does that you know, not all the time but…when he’s feeling like wants to be particularly macho…” Katie smiled fondly.

The three of them watched as Steve sat down at the small table, both his large hands cradling his drink as he sat still, his eyes fixated on a spot on the wall, his face deep in concentration. Katie felt her chest contract a little, he looked so damned lost.

He reached for his phone, pulling it out, looking at it. It was a Samsung, Katie had shown him how to use it, she remembered and she also remembered showing him how to take photos with it, which she knew he’d done at Niagara, testing it out.

This was strange for her to watch, as she hadn’t been here for this moment previously. So she couldn’t know for sure what he was thinking as he looked at his phone. She took a step towards him, peering over his shoulder as she peered down at what he was looking at. It was a picture of the water fall he’d taken as they stood with a coffee, and then he swiped to the next one which was the first ‘selfie’ of the pair of them ever taken, one which still sat in a frame on the side in their hallway. Steve had crouched down to get into the frame, as Katie couldn’t quite reach far enough otherwise and he’d smiled, a little awkwardly, but it made for a good shot all things considered. She’d teased him relentlessly about being the Poster Boy of the damned War, but being so shit at actually taking a photo. So much so at one point he’d threatened to throw her over the railing. She’d laughed than and slapped his arm, drawing a chuckle from him in response.

Steve gave a little sigh as he looked at the photo, before he turned the screen off, drained his beer and pushed his chair back from the table. Picking up his jacket he left, locking the door behind him.

“What…” Katie looked at Natasha who nodded to the door.

Katie frowned, opened it and stepped through…and found herself in an office. Only this wasn’t at the Triskellion, it was at their base in New York. Steve was stood in front of Fury, who was lounging in a chair.

“I take it from the demand to see me immediately you’ve come to a decision?” Fury eyed Steve and the soldier took a deep breath.

“Yes, I have Sir.”

“And?”

“I don’t want to go back into stasis.” Steve spoke clearly “I was tempted but, well, I’ve been given a second shot at my life. I owe it to those men who didn’t not to throw it away.”

Fury took a deep breath and nodded “Good, I’m glad. Like I said a few months back, the world could still use a man like you Captain Rogers.”

Steve nodded “I’ll take the position in SHIELD it it’s still open. Just tell me where I need to be and when.”

Fury smiled “Consider it done.”

“Thank you.” Steve said, before he nodded to the door “I’ll see myself out.”

As he turned to go, Fury stopped him “I’m curious…what changed your mind, other than owing it to the dead?”

Steve hesitated and turned to the Director, a small smile on his face “Let’s just say I had my eyes opened. The world has changed, but it’s still a beautiful place.”

Katie’s breathing was deep as she watched Steve leave the office, “He…he was going…” the words caught in her throat as she looked at Natasha, completely in shock at the scene she had just watched.

Natasha nodded “Fury offered him the chance to go into stasis, to be frozen again, and brought back out if we ever needed him.”

“Like Hydra did with Barnes.” Tony said gently.

“He never told me that.” Katie sniffed, her eyes stinging with tears “He never mentioned any of this to me, I can’t…”

At that point she began to cry and she turned to Tony who wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed into his chest. The thought that he had felt so lost he had even considered this broke her damned heart and she couldn’t stop the tears as they continued to fall. And more so, she couldn’t understand why he had never told her.

“ ‘I’m only strong because you’re by my side’…remember those words?” Tony said gently.

“Of course I do.” Katie sniffed and wiped her eyes “It was in his wedding speech…”

“Exactly.” Tony smiled, reaching up to brush her tears away with his thumbs. “You gave him the strength to keep going when everything he knew, everyone he knew was lost.”

“Without you being there Steve would have ended up as nothing more than a Soldier, wheeled out by SHIELD when they needed him.” Natasha said gently “It’s twisted, I know, given Barnes’ history but that’s the way it is. Captain America would have been SHIELD’s version of the Winter Soldier. By showing him there was a life to live, he made that decision to damned well live it.”

Katie took a deep, shaky breath “I wanna go home.” She said gently “I wanna wake up, I’ve seen enough. I want my kids, I want Steve…”

“Just give us one more stop.” Tony said, softly “One more…please Kiddo, there’s something else I want you to see.”

Katie looked away as more tears brimmed in her eyes before she glanced back at her brother then to Natasha.

“I can’t…” “Do you trust me?” Tony looked at her and she sighed.

“Of course I do.”

“Then let me show you one last memory. And then…well, then we can say goodbye.”

“Jesus Christ Tony.” Katie cried, her voice cracking “Don’t say it like that.”

“Hey, look at me.” Her brother instructed, and she turned to face him, swallowing as tears poured down her face, her chest aching with raw emotion “You know this was never permanent. We’re gonna have to go at some point.”

“I know…I just…” Katie shook her head, stepping back a bit and wiping her eyes. She glanced back over at Fury who was furiously talking into his phone, most likely to Coulson from the snippets she caught as he discussed Steve and she took a deep breath, steeling herself and turning to Tony.

“Ok, let’s get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit.” Tony smiled, dropping an arm round her shoulder.

As they headed into the corridor, Tony looked around, taking the surroundings in as they walked to the elevator.

“Do you remember my speech?” he asked as he hit the ground floor button. “At your wedding, I mean.”

“Of course I do.” Katie said “I remember yours, Steve’s Sam’s…Steve nearly died at Sam’s comment about being friends with Captain America doubling your chances of getting laid”

“Yeah, it was pretty funny, but mine was better.” Tony said flippantly, and Katie rolled her eyes, snorting a little as the elevator doors closed.

[yourdeepestfathoms]

Medusa’s Child (part one)

eyyyy, here’s the first part of Medusa being a mom!! sorry if it’s not very accurate to the myths, i am trying my best. feedback and comments are greatly appreciated! i hope you all enjoy!

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She was first alerted of a presence by an uneven splashing against the nearby shore.

It was the early evening, and the sun was at its best point in the sky, raining down on Sarpedon in just the right way to make her scales light with painless flames. She stretched out on her branch, pressing her bare belly up to the warm rays. Her tail flicked lazily while her mane of snakes hissed and tugged in the direction of the noises. She swatted a clawed hand at them.

  “Let him come,” Medusa murmured in a husky, languid voice, not bothering to open her eyes. “You know he won’t stand a chance anyway.” She ran her black talons down her exposed breasts and stomach, chuckling deeply. “He may as well die with the image of a beautiful woman in his mind. We can give him that, at least.”

There were mixed reactions from her snakes, some spats of disapproval, some hisses of agreement, but they all coiled back down into quietness. Or, as quiet as a head full of serpents could be.

Compared to other creatures across the land, Medusa had a remarkably good childhood if she did say so herself. Her parents were the ferocious Ceto and Phorcys, ancient sea gods that kept the ocean seething with their monstrous children. 

Phorcys was a grey-haired, fish-tailed mountain of a man, with rough red, spiky crustacean skin and huge crab claws that were strong enough to snap off the head of any mortal man that approached his territory. He was faster than any sea creature and stronger than any current in the existing waters. He could create a tsunami big enough to drown Greece with one splash of his mighty tail.

Ceto was quite possibly more terrifying than her father, however. She was a fair maiden with shiny, unblemished skin she never covered up and long, wavy black hair that floated like Kraken tentacles in the water around her. Her eyes were green and sharp enough to cut through obsidian, and her voice was booming enough to crack the earth and drain the entire ocean. She was as venomous as her animal creations, but she taught Medusa discipline and respect at a very young age.

Together, the two of them brought forth a myriad of devilish children. Ekhidna, a dangerous she-dragon with the head and breasts of a beautiful woman and the body of a coiling serpent; Scylla, a giant crab that ate sailors; Ladon, a dragon with one hundred head; the Graiai, three grey hags that shared one tooth and one eye; and the Gorgons, a trio of sisters with the bodies of serpents and hair made of living, venomous snakes.

Medusa was a part of the final group. 

Medusa and her two sisters were born on a dark day, where the sky seethed with storm and the sea seemed to wrath against its gods. Through crashing waves and spitting sea foam, Ceto dragged her soaked, swollen body from the hissing water and into a cave where it was dry. The tide tried to catch her, nipping at her heels like desperate piranhas, but could not chase her all the way up the sand.

Within the cave, the pelting rain and howling gales were muffled by thick stone. Droplets of water dripped from stalactites that hung from the ceiling like dozens of monster fangs. Small tidepools were laid across the ground like traps, seemingly existing to trip Ceto and make her crash down onto her thick belly. But she managed to avoid them, hissing strings of curses to the starfish and crabs and tiny fish that thrived within the wet sinkholes before collapsing to the ground, powerful cramps rippling through her body.

There, Ceto gave birth in the eye of a raging hurricane, her monstrous children writhing out of her womb, clawing and scratching for the world outside of her body.

Stheno was first, born thrashing and hissing and brimming with rage the moment she came out. She was a thin little thing, but her blood red tail whipped around with enough power to crumble mountains. Her red mane of snakes sprung to life instantly, fangs flashing, hissing so loud they challenged the whirlwind outside the cave. The scales upon her head and face made it look like she was permanently stained in mortal blood, and the boar tusks curling out from her mouth looked wickedly sharp. Mere moments after being born, she had lunged at a tidepool and ripped apart a small crab with bronze claws, devouring it in just a few snaps of her powerful jaws.

Euryale came next, sliding out in a slick of fluids and screaming so loud she threatened to bring the whole cave down on top of them. Her white and yellow tail lashed as she cried, sending clumps of wet sand flinging through the air. The mane of snakes upon her skull, which had red snouts that looked like they had been dipped in blood, wailed with her, strange, raspy sounds that vibrated through the air like static electricity. There were small horn nubs protruding from her forehead, which had explained the pain when she was coming out. Stheno tackled her, whacking their tails together, and began wrestling with her.

Finally, out came Medusa, green scales shiny and new-looking. The first thing she remembered was seeing her eldest sister chewing on her second eldest sister’s tail. She had blinked her golden yellow eyes at them, flicking her own emerald green tail like she was expecting something to be attached to it. And then, she was lifted up and saw a beautiful woman gazing down at her. Her mane of snakes snapped at the long black hair cascading down onto her belly.

  “What peculiar little beast you all are,” She remembered her mother rumbling. Ceto scooped up Stheno and Euryale and held all three sisters in front of her. “And what slayers you will all be, indeed.”

And she was right.

Medusa’s childhood passed by in a blur of mortal blood and seawater. Her mother taught her how to strike fear into mortal men. Her father taught her how to swim and fly when all of their wings eventually grew in. And her sisters taught her to hide her prey or else it would get stolen.

She was raised in the darkest reaches of the ocean depths, where granite tunnels formed interlocking caves and caverns below the rolling waves. While most children grew up raising family goats and playing with dolls made of straw, Medusa and her sisters grew up taming sea monsters and playing hide-and-seek venomous lionfish. They created crags of coral along the seafloor with their eyes alone and swept through the ocean currents on scaled wings. When they would go up to the surface, they watched the mortals in their wooden vessels, laughing at the way they attempted to overpower the waves that rocked them mercilessly.

That was when they discovered their deadly eye power.

Medusa was a monstrous teenager, floating along the ocean’s surface, when Stheno presented the idea to her.

  “Swim into their nets and pretend to be dead,” Her older sister had said. Sunlight glinted off her blood red scales. When she smiled, her teeth were like a shark’s. “When they pull you up, give them a scare.”

Medusa gave a laugh. The only thing better than observing a mortal’s stupidity was causing the mortal’s stupidity by interacting with them. Of course, she agreed.

She swam into one of the large nets drifting beneath the boat, startling off a cloud of slippery grey-blue fish. She let herself get tangled up in its loops, tugging on the ropes enough to alert the sailors. After a few moments, the net began to rise, and she faintly heard the giggling of her sister’s vibrating through the water.

Cool sea air hit her bare skin; a series of gasps exploded throughout the vessel. The rough feeling of wood chafed against the scales on her exposed back as the net was dropped into the boat. She struggled to keep in the giggles and play dead as loud murmurs whisked around her. 

The men were wondering what she was, asking themselves how they managed to wrangle up a thing. One of them poked her tail with something pointy and she almost flinched, but managed to tighten her muscles and stay still.

And then, there was a hand grabbing her breast.

The man above her purred out something about her being beautiful and warm and the others should “give it a try.” 

Her eyes snapped open wide. She ogled the man above her in shock and fear and disgust; he was a scruffy and flabby creature with hungry eyes and crooked yellow teeth. His hand remained on her breast as they locked gazes, and then his face did something strange.

It twitched. And his eyes went weirdly blank. And he sucked in a harsh breath.

The man’s entire body jerked like his soul was trying to claw its way out of his back. His brown eyes bulge and roll wildly in their skull, and Medusa could see grey spreading rapidly over the eye balls.

Stone began to march across the man’s flesh like a swarm of fire ants. He tried to scratch it off, but his nails bounced right off. His movements quickly began to stiffen as whatever came over him took hold.

His chest froze solid first, then his hands and feet, his ears, his arms and legs, all the way to his throat. His eyes were no longer brown, rather blank grey. His greasy blonde hair did not sway in the cool breeze. His mouth was open, teeth blunted by rock, and twisted in an agonized expression. One hand was extended outward to his crewmates in a final gesture of desperation.

The man had been turned to stone.

The other mortals on the boat began to frenzy. Some ran away in fear, others brandished their weapons, but they, too, met the same ill fate of their crewmate. One stare and they hardened into a statue against their will.

Stheno and Euryale had been alerted by the noise and they flew up to the ship. Both of them looked shocked at what was going on.

  “What is happening?” Euryale asked. 

  “I-- I don’t know.” Medusa replied, slowly sitting up. She was absurdly confused at what was going on. “I turned them to stone.”

  “How?” Stheno demanded.

  “I looked at them.”

  “Hm.” Stheno lashed out at a fleeing young man and flared her giant red wings open, essentially trapping him. Medusa heard a short scream, and then silence. When her sister pulled back, the man was frozen in an encasing of stone.

The discovery of their power sparked great fear across the land, but amazement inside Medusa and her sisters. Stheno used it the most, killing more men than both Medusa and Euryale combined. She kept her favorite statues in her lair as trophies, adorning them with her jewels and other treasures. 

Euryale rarely ever killed, not because she didn’t like it, but because she never went out of her way to go around mortals. She rather watch them from afar, observing their strange hive mind mentality. 

Medusa was a mix between the two. Sometimes she would simply stay away, other times she liked to see how dumb mortal men were when she came across them.

When they eventually came of age, the three sisters ventured off from the darkness of their homeland sea. Medusa went to an island called Sarpedon, claiming it as her own domain. Mortal men saw it as an arena, however, and often sailed to her home to challenge her. It wasn’t long before her island was filled with the statues of foolish men, decorating her gardens with the trophies of her success.

And another was about to be added to the collection.

There were crashes through her jungle; the stupid man was romping through her home and disturbing her nap!

Sighing, Medusa uncoiled her elegantly long body from the tree branch and carefully climbed down the trunk. Her emerald green scales shimmered in the sunlight filtering down from the canopy of leaves up above, dewdrops from the condensation of her garden sliding like melted diamonds down her tail. She slithered through the weeds, passing by ruined pillars and petrified statues, all of which were swathed with moss and vines. She admired them as she went by, as she always did, as she always would. It was quite lonely on her island, but she rather be alone than have the company of a man.

Emerging from the lush underbrush, Medusa set her eyes on a fleeting boat in the crystal clear water. Strange, she thought. There was still a living person on the vessel. Did they think against their decision to challenge her? No, there were footsteps in the sand… Someone was here.

Medusa flicked her pointy ears and slithered out onto the beach. A bright red crab saw her coming and darted into the splashing waves to hide. A mere crustacean was the least of her concern right now, though. She could eat later.

There was blood in the sand. Small, red droplets clumping the white grains together. A trail led across the bay in spatters that looked like the man had been in a hurry, disappearing into the thriving overgrowth of Sarpedon.

Medusa turned and followed the trail. The man seemed rather smart; there were many hiding spots in the jungle, but she knew this island like the back of her hand. He would not stand a chance.

A spray of bright yellow birds exploded from the trees when she came slithering by. Long-limbed creatures of fur leapt from branch-to-branch, poised and waiting to flee while they watched her. The monkeys always liked to test her. Perhaps that was what made them so delicious. The looks on their faces when she managed to snatch one and scarf them down was priceless.

There was rustling to her left. Medusa pricked one of her pointed ears while her mane of venomous snakes hissed in alertness. She smacked the nose of one of them to quiet them down and then went after her prey.

  “Hello?” She called out in a purr. “Come out, come out wherever you are…”

There was no reply, though there had been before. That particular man had really thought he could swoon her. How could anyone fall for the grating voice of a male?

The rustling sounded again. Medusa whipped around, smacking a tree with her tail and sending a macaw flying off with an alarmed screech. 

  “You are a quick little rabbit, aren’t you?” She chuckled. Fine then. She’ll play with her prey before killing him.

Fleeting footsteps squelched through moist jungle mud. He was quick, but she was quicker. Legs were so hindering, while her tail could get her around with graceful ease. It also made a perfect entrapment tool. Nothing was better than constricting her victim and getting to look at them face-to-face while their life drained away from them.

A squeal caught Medusa’s attention. A smirk came to her lips, fangs flashing in the sun. Finally.

Peering through the leaves, Medusa could partially see the body of the man on the ground, sprawled between two trees. His right ankle was caught in some gnarled roots, trapping him.

It was perfect.

Medusa sprang out of underbrush, claws raised and brandished, fangs bared, wings flared out to their full size. Her snakes swelled up and hissed loudly, mouths loaded with potent venom. Her bright yellow eyes were flashing, ready to strike this man into stone, and--

And she froze.

This wasn’t a man.

It was a child.

[cocos-cocoapuffsarenotforsale]

What You’ll Sorely Miss

MASTERLIST

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy this story. I was re-reading Goblet of Fire like a week ago when I got the idea for this story. This is one of the first Harry Potter Fanfics I’ve written so I’m pretty nervous to post it. I really hope you all enjoy it! Love you guys! Xoxo

Summary: When Harry’s sister disappears the night before the second Triwizard task, Harry’s not the only one who’s worried about her.

Warnings: Swearing, AU where Harry has a twin sister (Y/n), AU where Sirius never went to Azkaban and raised Harry and his sister, Fluff, Worried!Harry, Worried!Draco, Happy ending, Harry accepts their relationship (pretty quick), Nice!Draco, Sweet!Draco

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“Harry, what exactly did the egg say again?” You ask your twin, after putting away what must have been the tenth book you had read so far that night. You, Ron and Hermione, were attempting to help Harry figure out how to stay underwater for an hour for the second task of the Triwizard Tournament.

You were gonna have to find a way to tell Draco there was no way you could meet up with him tonight. While Draco and Harry may not have gotten along well you and Draco were an entirely different story. Of course with you being a Gryffindor and not to mention being Harry Potter’s sister and Draco being a Slytherin, the two of you had kept your relationship a secret for the past year.

Harry repeated the egg’s song for what must have been the 20th time that night. You were still just as stumped about what to do as you were the first time.

“Maybe we could ask Sirius?” You suggest half-heartedly, knowing your brother would refuse. Sirius was both your and Harry’s godfather and had raised the two of you after your parents’ murder. Harry and you were both extremely close to him. Harry, however, was constantly worried about disappointing him. And considering how quickly he had shot you down earlier about asking for Sirius’s help, you doubted he would agree to it now. 

“Y/n, I can’t. I swore to him that I had figured it out weeks ago. He’ll kill me.” Harry sighs, dropping his head onto the book he was currently reading.

“Hard at work, eh?” You heard a familiar voice chuckled, looking up you saw George Weasley smirking down at you. Accompanied of course by his twin, Fred.

“As a matter of fact yes. So if that’s all then-” Hermione starts before Fred cuts her off.

“Actually, we came to get you and Y/n,” Fred says with a wink.

“Why?” You ask, raising an eyebrow at them. The last time the Weasley twins needed you it was to test out their nosebleed candies. Needless to say, you weren’t too keen on helping them anymore.

“McGonagall wants to see you and ‘Mione in her office,” George responds cheekily. 

“Alright. Let’s go Y/n. Don’t worry we’ll be back in a bit to help you guys. But keep looking in the meantime.” Hermione says seeing the look of fear on Harry and Ron’s faces. Those two were practically hopeless without you and Hermione. Hermione loops her arm with yours and the two of you follow Fred and George to McGonagall’s office.

You knock on McGonagall’s door once the two of you reach her office. 

“Come in.” You hear her reply. You open the door and enter to find not only Professor McGonagall but Professor Dumbledor, Ludo Bagman, Cho Chang, and a small blonde-haired girl.

“Miss Granger, Miss Potter, please take a seat.” Professor Dumbledore says gesturing to two chairs next to Cho.

“You needed to see us, Professor?” Hermione asks McGonagall looking around nervously.

“As I’m sure you all know the second task is tomorrow. Each of the champions will have something taken from them that they must retrieve. You are those things. Gabrielle, Miss Delacour’s little sister, Miss Chang for Mr. Diggory, Miss Granger for Mr. Krum and of course Miss Potter for Mr. Potter.” McGonagall explains gesturing to each of you.

“We ask that each of you take this potion. It will put you to sleep and as soon as you are above the water you will wake.” Dumbledore explains handing each of you a small vial of bluish liquid.

“What if they don’t reach us in time?” You ask nervously.

“My dear do you think I would ever allow anything to happen to students. You will all be fine even if your champion doesn’t reach you in time.” Dumbledore promises, looking at you with a twinkle in his eyes. You nod before locking eyes with Hermione and the two of you take the potion at the same time. God, I really hope Harry figures something out. You think to yourself before falling asleep.

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Draco’s POV

I’ve been looking around for Y/n all morning. Where the hell is she? She never showed up last night which hadn’t surprised me considering that the second task was today. But I didn’t see her at breakfast and she’s not with Saint Potter, so where the fuck is she? I couldn’t very well go asking about her whereabouts seeing as we had agreed to keep our relationship a secret. But now I’m really starting to regret it. 

“Draky poo are you alright?” Pansy asks me with a look of concern on her face.

“I’m fine Parkinson. Get off.” I hiss as she tries to fix my hair. Only Y/n gets to do that.

“What’s wrong baby?” Pansy asks in her sickly sweet voice.

“Nothing and I’m not your baby! Just stay the hell away from me!” I say storming away from her. Crabbe and Goyle follow me looking very confused. They knew I hated Pansy and how she was always hanging around me. But normally I was very patient with her. Little did they know a big reason why was that seeing Pansy around me got Y/n all riled up. Y/n is so adorable when she’s jealous.

“Malfoy, are you ok?” Goyle asks.

“Fine. Let’s go watch the stupid task.” I growl as I climb in the boat. Hopefully, I’ll see Y/n out on the lake. I need to see Y/n. That’s all I could think about.

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Harry’s POV

“Where are they?” I ask Ron as we make our way down to the boats. Luckily we ran into Neville last night and he told me about Gillyweed. He gave it to me this morning at breakfast. So thankfully that part of the task was handled. 

But we hadn’t seen Y/n or Hermione since they left the library for McGonagall’s office. And I was worried, Y/n would never miss this. She had never missed a Quidditch match, even when she was sick and miserable she came to cheer me on.

“I don’t know. It’s not like them to disappear. Maybe it’s a girl thing or something. I’m sure they’ll be out there waiting to watch.” Ron says patting my shoulder trying to reassure me. It doesn’t work.

Once we are all lined up about to dive into the lake I take one final look around and still don’t see them. The next thing I know Moody pushes me into the lake and I force myself to focus on the task.

Swimming towards the center of the lake I finally figured out where Y/n and Hermione were. Of course, I think to myself, “We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss”, Y/n.

After Cedric and Krum came I tried to wait to make sure Fleur got her sister. But after a while of waiting, I figured she wasn’t coming and I decided I would save both Y/n and Gabrielle. The merpeople were not happy about this but I won. Once we reach the surface they both wake up and gasp for air. 

“Oh, Harry! I’m so sorry for not helping more!” Y/n exclaims wrapping her arms around me while we are still in the water.

“It’s ok Y/n/n. Can we get out of the water though I’m freezing?” I ask, making her laugh at me. We swim back towards the docks and all of a sudden there’s a splash and someone swimming towards us. Malfoy?

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Your POV

“Draco, what the hell are you doing?” I ask as he swims towards Harry and me.

“Y/n, oh thank god!” He exclaims wrapping his arms around me and pulling me back to the dock. Harry’s in shock and just treading water looking at us with his jaw open. 

“Harry!” Hermione shouts, shaking him out of his stupor. His look of shock turns to rage and he swims as fast as he can to the dock.

Draco reaches the dock and pulls me out with him before grabbing as many towels as possible and wrapping them around me. 

“Are you alright love?” He asks cupping your face with his hand.

“Yes, Draco, I’m fine. But you might not be for much longer.” You giggle watching Harry storm over to the two of you, Ron and Hermione following him.

“Get your slimy hands off my sister Malfoy!” Harry shouts shoving Draco away from you.

“Harry it’s ok-” You try to say before he cuts you off.

“No, it’s not Y/n/n. What the bloody hell do you think you are doing Malfoy?!” Harry shouts.

“Potter calm down. Y/n/n and I have been seeing each other for the past year-” Draco tries to explain but Harry’s look of rage makes him stop.

“WHAT? You’ve been seeing that git for a year?! Did he put some fucking enchantment on you?” Harry yells making people turn and look, including all the teachers and the Headmaster.

“Harry, calm down. We’ll talk about this later. Let’s hear the scores.” Hermione whispers to him and forces him to turn towards the judges.

“This isn’t over Malfoy,” Harry growled before he walked away.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Draco asks you after Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave.

“I’m fine Draco. I’m just worried about Harry. He hates me now.” You feel tears well in your eyes. Harry was your best friend and your brother all wrapped in one and you can’t stand the idea of him hating you.

“He doesn’t hate you.” 

“How do you know?” You ask, turning away to hide the tears that were now streaming down your face from Draco. 

“Hey, don’t cry Pretty Girl. He loves you more than he hates me. Besides just think about it, the task was that the person they would miss most would be taken from them. Harry’s person was you. He loves you,” Draco says wrapping his arms around you and placing a soft kiss on your temple. “And so do I.” He whispers the last part so quietly you weren’t sure you heard him right.

“What?” You ask breathlessly, as you turn in his arms to face him.

“I love you Y/n Potter,” Draco whispers, nervously.

“I love you too Draco!” You exclaim pressing a hard kiss to his lips.

“Y/n, Draco,” you hear your brother murmur. Draco and you break apart and you look down at your feet to scared to look at Harry.

“Y/n/n, look at me,” Harry pleads, the desperation in Harry’s voice making you look up.

“Y/n, I’m sorry about how I reacted before. Does he treat you right?” Harry inquires, seriously.

“Yes, he does. I love him, Harry. But I love you too and I can’t lose you.” You reply.

“You will never lose me Y/n/n. I love you too sis,” Harry says pulling you into a hug.

“Do you love her?” He asks Draco after he and you break apart.

“With all my heart,” Draco replies, giving you his signature smirk.

“If you hurt her in any way-” Harry starts but Draco cuts him off.

“Yeah, yeah, Potter, you’ll kill me. Don’t worry Potter, if I hurt her I’ll gladly let you.” Draco gives Harry his signature smirk before Draco wraps an arm around your shoulders.

“Nice job today Potter, thanks for saving our girl.” Draco congratulates Harry.

“Yeah me and my stupid moral fiber. I could’ve gotten first if I wasn’t such a moron.” Harry replies with a chuckle.

“I can’t argue with you there.” Draco teases and it warms your heart to see your boyfriend and brother getting along. Even if they were still giving each other shit at least they weren’t hexing each other.

“I think you did splendidly,” you say giving your brother a high five.

“Thanks, Y/n/n. I gotta go party in the common room, can’t be late.” He explains before rushing off to join Ron and Hermione on the way back to the castle.

“Wanna go to the party with me?” You ask Draco.

“I don’t know, even if your brother doesn’t hate me I’m still a Slytherin. And we both know how Gryffindors feel about Slytherins.” Draco replies hesitantly.

“Maybe it’s time we start to change that.” You suggest giving him a small smile.

“Anything for my girl.” Draco agrees walking back towards the castle with you.

[19umbrellas]

Crimson Field || Bill Cipher x Reader || Chapter 3

Summary

You were born with the gift of the oracles much like your own father, however, after the strange disappearance of your parents when you were just a teenager, you have been seeing strange things in your dreams. You and your brother believe that your visions could lead you to your parent’s whereabouts. For years, you and your brother had been traveling the country, searching for your parents until your dreams lead you towards a really strange town in Oregon called, Gravity Falls.

“Shh brx lq wkh fulpvrq ilhog”

Pairing

Bill Cipher x Reader

Chapter: 3

<Previous || Next>

I kept my head down as I followed the twins down the street. I put some distance between us in order to avoid suspicion but also not too far to lose them. I slowed down when I saw them stop in front of a building. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I was sure that the girl was convincing the boy to go in. He chuckled and nodded, letting the girl pull him in with his arm.  

A quick glance at the building made me realize that it was an arcade and, by the looks of it, It was flourishing. And here I thought PC's killed businesses like these. I pulled my hood down and pushed the glass doors open. As soon as I walked in the scent of sweat and cheese dug deep into my nostrils. I gave a soft smile as I examined the area. Children were running around, holding tickets as they raced each other to the prize booth, Others were arguing about who was going to play next. It reminded me of my own childhood back in [home town]. 

I let my fingers trace through the dirty wallpaper as I walked. I lightly tapped each vacant game I passed and an odd feeling, kind of like a small jolt of lighting, tickled my fingertips. I glanced at the screen and realized it was an old fighting game. I read its title above, "Fight Fighters.", it said. I remember this. My dad and my brother used to play this game a lot when we were still kids. My smile quickly turned as I pulled my hand back and shoved it into my pocket again. 

When we do get them back... What am I supposed to say to them?

Will they... Will they even forgive me for what I've done?

Tears began to form from my eyes but before they could drop I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turn around to see the boy smiling at me. "Um, hi, excuse me, do you happen to have some change for 10 bucks? Preferably coins." He laughed. "My sister and I kinda ran out of coins for the machine." he said while pointing to the girl waiting on the 'Dance Dance Revolution' pad. She waved at me with a smile. "Hi!"

"Uh- sure thing." I fish through my pocket and pulled out some coins. I counted them before putting the extras back into my pocket. I reached my hand out to give him the change but I accidentally hit the back of his hand with my own and a jolt of electricity suddenly went through my body. I dropped the coins out of shock at the odd sensation. 

"Ah, shit-" he cursed. "Sorry!".

Both of us crouched down and started to pick up the scattered coins across the dusty floor. One by one we picked up a penny from the floor and when there was only one left, we both reached for it at the same time. As soon as our hands intertwined, multiple visions began to flash before my eyes. 

Gnomes.

A silver-haired fraud. 

A  sweet Trickster.

An undead handyman.

A portal.

A perfect bubble.

The one-eyed beast

I gasped as I quickly pulled my hand back. The boy gave me a concerned look and asked, "H-hey are you okay?". 

"Oh my god,  Your eye!" he exclaimed. He raised his hand up to reach my face but I quickly stood up and rushed outside, all the while blocking my face from the eyes of everyone that was staring. I quickly made my way to the back of the building and leaned against the wall of velvety bricks. I fished my phone out from my pocket before I opened the camera to selfie mode and then I gasped.

My right eye was completely red and blood began to drip from its socket. I tried to wipe off the red liquid with my fingers but I just smeared it across my cheeks. My hands were trembling. What the fuck is happening? 

I quickly went to my contact lists and looked for my brother's phone number. I scrolled through the different contacts I had saved on my phone until I read his name. I was about to click on it but then a hand grasped my shoulder and turned me around.

Now I was face to face with the girl. She gasped when she saw my face and backed up a bit. "Oh shit, That looks really bad. You need to see a doctor right away!". I saw that she was about to grab my arm but I quickly flinched back and ran. "Wait!" she called out for me to come back but I didn't want to. 

I shimmied my way inside the bathroom window as I tried to push the other half of my body inside. My brother had the only key to our room and this idea was less expensive than me breaking the front window. When my hips finally came through the rest of my legs followed easily and I dropped to the floor. 

I hit my head on the toilet pretty hards and I let out a groan as I clutched my aching skull in my hands. When the pain subsided a bit, I shakily stood up, grabbing onto the toilet for support. I stumbled towards the mirror above the sink to take another look at myself and I almost cried at what I saw. 

I honestly looked like a ghost in a horror movie. I tried to touch my eye but when my fingers got close to it, a strange numbing feeling suddenly shot up and down my hand and arm and I stopped. I turned on the faucet and splashed my face with water. I grabbed the towel I used earlier and rubbed it on my face but when my hand went over my eye again the strange numbness came back. I quickly shoved the towel down into the sink and the blood from the fabric seeping into the puddle of water that had accumulated. 

I stared as the water slowly became polluted. First, it was a light pink hue then a dark cherry-like color. Its surface reflected my face and I watched as my watery face contorted into a grin. 

<Previous || Next>

AN:

Hi guys!

I just wanna ask if anyone would like to be on the tag-list for this story? 

uwu

[marvelhead17]

The Tale of Eossimar (Original Female Character x Bofur Fic)

Chapter 4

Word Count: 7k

Warnings to cover the whole fic: Fake relationships, half-blood children, mild violence, fight scenes, male/male relationships, Dwarf gender concepts, battle of five armies fix-it, pre-battle of five armies, near death incidents, talking to dead people, mentions of paradise/heaven.

Callon’s clothing was piled in a corner of the room, long forgotten during Bombur’s rescue. He had already asked Fíli to remove Kíli’s clothing along with the bind, so that it wouldn’t need to be removed in the water, and they complied. He jumped into the spring below, raising his hands above his head, as Fíli lowered his brother down slowly to him, he held the dwarf under his arms and kept a firm hold on him.

“Now grab his legs so we don’t strain them, I’ll step back and he can be lowered in on his own terms,” Callon instructed, Fíli followed his orders without argument, “Easy now, good.” Kíli huffed and puffed anxiously during the process, “Relax,”

“You expect me to relax when a strange man holds me from behind while I’m naked, and he’s almost naked as well?” Kíli quipped.

“Kee, he’s trying to help,” Fíli looked at his brother with a serious face.

Kíli relaxed a bit and gradually went from floating on his backside to standing upright, the water taking any pressure on his leg off of him and providing some relief.

“Besides, we’re all the same here, there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Callon added.

“Right,” Fíli nodded, resting his hands on his hips.

“So come on Fee, the water’s lovely,” Kíli smirked.

A young lady villager made her way to the group with a determined step, catching the eyes of the company, one of the dwarves reckoned she had passed by earlier worriedly compared to the relief she seemed to express now.

“Lady Nari!” she exhaled, “I’ve been looking for you all over-”

“Please Elva, I’ve told ye not to call me by that,” Nari rested her hands on her shoulders and leaned in, speaking quietly, “What is it?”

Both Thorin and Bofur were intrigued to hear the conversation, especially in the way that Nari had been addressed, and tried to listen in without appearing to be, which was proving difficult given the distance between them and the softness in which they spoke.

The rest of the group was engaged in conversation with their other members, and some had not even noticed the dwarrow passing through them.

“You may not wish to hear this, but it’s Cáleb,”

“Really? I thought I told him time and time again that I’m not having it-”

“You did,” she glanced at the dwarves and back to Nari, “{But he wishes to see you tomorrow at noon, the usual place},” Elva informed her.

“Alright, tell him I’ll meet him,” Nari said, she glanced over the elf’s shoulder and saw the two watching and quickly averting their gazes, she spoke in Elven to her, “{But tell him that it will be the last time that he can see me, the very last,}”

“Yes Nari,” Elva agreed and quickly ran off, leaving Thorin and Bofur in a complete state of confusion.

“May I ask what that was concerning?” Thorin inquired.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Nari responded with a shrug, “Nothing concerning the company anyway,”

“I see,” Thorin looked at her as if he wanted to say something more, but then dropped the matter.

“Pardon?” Fíli’s eyes widened.

“If you agree that there’s nothing to be ashamed of, then come on in,” Kíli grinned wickedly, not that Callon could see.

“Ye are here to bathe, are ye not?” Callon asked, frowning.

“Join us brother,” Kíli waved his hand.

“I can leave, if that’s what’s bothering ye-” he made to move out the spring.

“No don’t leave, of course it won’t bother us,” Kíli raised his hand and blew the idea away, “Besides Fíli will need help in getting me out again, won’t he?” he gave his brother another devilish grin.

“Alright Kíli, you’ve made your point,” Fíli sighed at his brother.

Fíli removed his boots, followed in succession by the rest of his clothing; Kíli tried and failed to hold back his chuckles as he watched his brother stumble nervously as he did so, all the while Callon decided to have a bath himself and was paying no attention to either of them. He went so far as to dunk his whole head under the water and had popped back to the surface just as Fíli leaped into the water, making an enormous splash that hit the pair as he did so.

They all bathed separately and made no conversation throughout their time, and then they proceeded to help Kíli from the water in the same manner in which they had got him in. The brothers pat themselves dry and changed into fresh clothes they hadn’t seen being placed down, while Callon simply put on his clothes in the corner of the room.

Fíli gave his best attempts to avoid staring at Callon while they waited for him, even going as far as staring at the ceiling for a brief moment, however, something about the dwarf was drawing his attention.

His body appeared lithe, yet muscular, being as tall as the Elf Prince Legolas they had encountered, but his overall appearance was more dwarvish. His ears were large and round and he had much more hair on just his torso than the elves had on their heads he had thought.

Callon looked up and caught Fíli’s warm gaze, but said nothing as he finished the last of the buttons on the coat he pulled on, “Kíli, do ye think ye can walk?”

“Aye, that much I can do, thank you,” he nodded, Callon returned the gesture and walked out of the building, Kíli glanced at his brother who was now pink in his face. “I think the steam from the springs is getting to you brother,”

“Aye, let’s go,” Fíli agreed, a little too quickly much to Kíli’s amusement, and they walked out.

“Took ye long enough in there,” Nari commented, “Right, the last of ye should get going.” She looked to the others who wordlessly made their way into the building, “Did ye take a bath as well?” she looked at her brother in confusion.

“Aye, I was in the water so I took the opportunity,” Callon shrugged.

She narrowed her eyes at the sight of his hair, “Sit,”

“Why?”

“Yer braiding’s come loose, I want to fix it, now sit.” She instructed, and he sat on a nearby rock, she quickly loosened his braids from his head, combing through his wet hair tenderly with her fingers.

Bofur looked on at the unexpected affectionate moment, and found that he was being shoved from behind, he turned in surprise and quickly started walking as his eyes met Thorin’s intense gaze.

“I take it that ye enjoyed the view?” she asked absentmindedly, untangling a small knot that had formed in his hair, and carefully placing any beads that came free next to him on the rock.

“Nari, mind what ye say,” Callon turned to meet her eyes with a scowl, though his cheeks had flushed slightly.

“Fine,” she sighed, “{But I think the golden haired dwarf has eyes for you},”

“{I have my doubts, he stared at me while I put on my clothes; he must think little of me},”

“{Don’t speak to soon brother, here he comes},”

Fíli approached the pair and cleared his throat nervously, “I just wanted to thank you for your help with my brother,”

“It wasn’t any trouble,” Callon gave him a smile, “I’d help ye out anytime,”

“Right,” he rocked on his heels and nodded, “Well, I’ll be getting back to my brother then,” Fíli bit his lip and quickly turned on his heel, walking back to his brother hurriedly.

“{I may not have known him long, but he doesn’t seem one to get shy fast, I do believe he’s smitten with you brother},” she grinned as she finished forming one of the braids. “This is looking better already,” she grabbed another part of his hair and started plaiting it together.

“Are ye braiding my hair up?” he asked in alarm.

“Aye, ye have such a handsome face; ye need to stop hiding it with this wild hair,” she hummed happily as she managed to quickly finish off the braid, “And don’t dare argue with me, {any man of any creed, or race, would be lucky to have you as a husband},”

“Alright,” he sighed, “I do appreciate ye braiding my hair in the meanwhile,”

She finished off the braids and clipped in all the beads, “Perfect.” She patted his face, “Smile brother.” He gave her a small smile as he stood up, “We’ll work on that,” she grinned and gave him a quick hug which he returned.

The last of them returned from their bath and Nari and Callon led the group on towards the mess hall, not far off from where they were.

“Where are you taking us now?” Thorin queried, he glanced back at the company to make sure everyone was accounted for, and found that Bofur had jogged up behind them, and he shook his head at the dwarf receiving a sheepish rub of the neck in return.

“To the mess hall, for supper,” Nari answered.

“I think it’ll be a feast tonight, {among other things that is},” Callon looked to his sister, “I heard Elanor shot down a large stag today,”

“A mess hall, I’m surprised you have a guard here,” Dwalin sounded surprised.

“I fail to see why, even the most peaceful of creatures have enemies that they must defend themselves from,” she said, “Why else would a rabbit have such large ears and feet, if not to hear and run from the fox?” she quipped with a cheeky smile.

“We only patrol twice a day, just to ensure no enemies are settling nearby, and a lot of the guards tend to eat at home with their families if they prefer to,” Callon added.

They walked up to the hall, with the siblings opening the doors and stepping in without another word, expecting the company to follow them inside. They didn’t know where to look first, the hall was decorated along some of the walls with taxidermied animal heads and was well lit with chandeliers and candles. A fireplace and piano located to the right gave the place a homier feel like a tavern.

To their left was a set up much like a bar, with a long table and stools to sit, while large barrels with taps sat on the other side. Further along was what appeared to be a buffet with meats, vegetables and fresh breads were set up in trays of two each and were piled high, underneath a metal pipe connected from underneath the tray to the fireplace, presumably this is how the food was retaining its heat; next to them lay crockery and cutlery, just itching to be used.

They spotted Nari talking to some of the guards, a mix of men and women by the looks of it, and they all seemed to be in agreement of sorts before she returned to the group.

“I’m sure the lot of ye are starving, so help yerselves to whatever ye fancy, we can take the table nearest to the fireplace,” she gestured, and they glanced at the long empty table and then to the buffet that awaited them. “Callon and I will bring drinks,” they signalled their agreements and made no hesitation in making their way to the food.

“Mind if I give ye a hand?” Nari turned, smiling when she saw the familiar hat on Bofur’s head, and saw the dwarf standing behind her eagerly.

“Aye if ye wish, although yer meant to be the guests here,” she looked at him and he shrugged. “Alright, come along,” the three of them walked together and she walked behind the counter to the barrels.

She bent down and collected the glass mugs together on the table, her brother and Bofur waiting as she filled them up carefully, not wanting them to spill over. She set them on the table and her brother took four in his hands, before making his way over to the table that was slowly being filled up by the company with their plates heaped with food.

“Bofur?” Nari asked to get the dwarf’s attention that had drifted off; he quickly turned to her apologetically. “Won’t ye ask Bilbo if he’d prefer something else? I’m not sure if hobbits like the same drink as dwarves,”

“Aye will do,” he nodded, taking the four mugs in front of him and heading towards the table, he set them down by his companions who were already scoffing down their meals hungrily. He walked over to where Bilbo had settled himself, “Bilbo, lad,”

“Yes Bofur?” he looked up with a warm smile.

“Nari would like to know if ye’d want something other than the ale,”

“Oh,” he sat up in surprise, “Oh, my. Well I wouldn’t mind a red wine if they have,” he said, “And pass on my thanks!” he added as Bofur began walking back.

He leaned against the table with crossed arms and spoke to her, “Nari, Bilbo said he’d like a red wine if ye have?”

“That I can do indeed,” she poured the deep red liquid into a fancier glass from a different barrel, and passed the glass over to Bofur, he took the glass along with two more ales and turned around.

“Oh, wait,” Bofur caught himself and turned around, “I mustn’t forget he extends his thanks!” Bofur raised the red wine in a salute making her smile.

“Alright, thank ye Bofur, now go on, my brother is already beating ye to dinner!” she encouraged him to move on and he did so quickly.

The spaces available were limited now as Bofur and Nari dished up some food before heading to the group, Nari chose her seat by Thorin, the young dwarf princes, Dwalin and Balin, along with her brother; leaving Bofur with no choice but to find seating opposite his little companion Bilbo on the other end of the table.

The company, with Nari and Callon, simply ate their meals and drank for some time, letting the discussion flow, and allowing them to settle in without fear of being attacked by a pack of Orcs. The guard gave no heed to the ruckus caused by them; in fact there were moments that the guard were louder than the group, which made it easier for the dwarves to feel at home.

The dwarf next to Dwalin looked to Nari, “So those children are they related to you?”

“Aye,” Nari said after swallowing another bite of food, “The little rascal that accidentally ambushed Bilbo is my niece Maethríen, the taller lad was my oldest nephew Lumlin and the smaller is my other nephew Lorin, they’re our sister’s bairns,”

Kíli whispered to his brother, “So he is unmarried,” and Fíli quickly stomped on his brother’s foot, making him hold back a yelp.

Dwalin growled, “Behave yourselves you two,”

Fíli immediately lowered his head, “Sorry Dwalin,”

“You better be,” he scolded. “We are guests, so don’t play your childish games here,”

“Yes, Dwalin,” they said rather deflated.

“What do ye think they’re talking about over there?” Bofur asked Bilbo, the hobbit peered over as best as he could at the other side and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m not sure, could be anything really,” he looked to Bofur and frowned, “Did you fix your braids?”

“Aye I did, do they look alright?”

“Yes, they look fine,” he assured him, “But I’m curious as to why, we’ve travelled for months and I haven’t seen you groom yourself so carefully before,”

“No reason.” Bofur shrugged the subject off, he banged his fist lightly on the table as he watched the group continue their discussions, alarming Bilbo; but he didn’t press the subject further.

“So Nari, you said you’d tell us about your ear?” Kíli asked, taking another swig of his ale while waiting for her answer, the dwarves suddenly quietened down and looked to her.

“Oh that’s right, I’d promised to tell ye,” she sat up a little, “I was practically a pebble when it happened… I lived with my father at the time, in Erebor. A lot of the dwarflings used to stare at me because I was clearly different to them,” she flicked her ears as an example.

“I wish I could’ve been there to stop them,” Callon muttered.

“Well ye couldn’t Cal, ye weren’t even conceived yet.” She shook her head, “Anyway, there were two older dwarves that decided that they had had enough of seeing me around, I was walking by myself just outside in the fields when they came up from nowhere,” she glanced at the eyes all watching her as she spoke and swallowed slightly.

“I hadn’t seen them at first, but then one of them grabbed me by my hair, it was a lot longer at the time, and he threw me on the ground. They started cursing at me in Khuzdul, and then one of them kneeled on my shoulder to pin me down, and I wasn’t strong enough to fight back then. His friend brought out a small dagger and started cutting my left ear,”

There was a moment of silence before Dwalin’s companion spoke up, “That’s truly awful, I’m very sorry to hear our kin had treated you so poorly,”

“Thank ye,” she nodded, “Thankfully my father had been searching for me, he heard my screams, and he chased them away before they could do away with my whole ear,” she took a gulp from her ale and set the drink down. “Ever since then, I’ve been keeping my hair short, and that’s when my father decided to train me to defend myself,”

“That explains how ye know yer way around a weapon,” Dwalin inclined his head in agreement, she nodded as well.

“But I know where that hatred was coming from; King Thrór wasn’t particularly trusting of the elves when they had come to seek gems from the mountain, almost as if he thought the Elves would have stooped to thievery,”

Thorin tensed up next to Nari and glared at her, “What say you of my grandfather?”

“I met him not long after I was attacked, and he was different from what I’d been told about him, he was incredibly tense, and quite terrifying if I’m honest,”

“Of course he was, he was strained from his duties as King,” Thorin defended.

“Ye don’t understand… the moment he laid eyes on me, it was as if dragon-fire erupted from him. He knew my blood wasn’t pure, wasn’t all dwarf,” she glanced at her brother briefly, “He lashed out at my father while I stood next to him, called me an abomination in front of hundreds of dwarves and he banished my father and me. And then, he threatened to behead us, and anyone like us, if we ever dared to enter Erebor again.” The company remained silent.

“That was the first time I truly understood fear. It was the kind that makes yer heart thump out of yer chest and a lump form in yer throat, leaving ye unable to breathe, that deadly look he gave was enough to shake my soul from my body.” She stared into the distance at nothing in particular.

Thorin almost whispered as he spoke, “I had no idea that such things were happening under his rule.”

“Ye couldn’t know everything that goes on,” Nari cocked her head to the side.

“As the new King I apologise on behalf of the heirs of Erebor for what he said to you, you have been nothing but kind and welcoming to us thus far,”

She shrugged, “After a few years I learned not to take his words to heart, I came to realise that gold-sickness was slowing consuming him, and was likely the reason for his anger,”

“There was no gold sickness-”

“Everyone knows of it, even the Elves and Men,” she gave him a look that made him hold back his tongue. “Look, I know ye bear yer own hatred to Elves because of Thranduil’s decision not to aid Erebor during Smaug’s Desolation, but ye don’t even know of those who did-”

“There were none.” Thorin stated.

Nari laughed, “Really? Because we have plenty of Elves living here that will tell ye otherwise, they’ve never returned to their woodland realm because of their ever so wonderful King Thranduil.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking at his advisor, but the dwarf shrugged and shook his head.

“King Thranduil warned the Elves that if they dared to help the Dwarves that they’d be banished from Mirkwood,” she looked at them and they all seemed confused, “Believe me or don’t, but ye can ask anyone here, most of the villagers are half-dwarf and half-elf. The elves who were banished settled here and, well they fell in love,” she took another sip of ale.

“A few years passed by and they had children of their own, more outcasts came from far to settle with us, and the village went from a handful to hundreds, and now we have generations growing and learning mixed cultures together. That’s why Thranduil was so displeased seeing me, knowing that we are real must’ve sickened him,”

“Ye were face to face with Thranduil?” Callon asked in astonishment. “I’m surprised he didn’t try to smite ye on the spot,”

“I do believe he was tempted,” Thorin spoke up, “Though, Nari did not aid her chances by speaking back to him,” Nari chuckled at that.

Kíli piped in, “So what’s it like, growing up with both Dwarven and Elvish cultures?”

“Oh, it’s interesting to say the least. At first I lived mostly with my father in Erebor, so I knew Khuzdul and picked up his thick accent before I learned Sindarin from my mother. Though when I had to learn how to fight I was better with Elven weapons, mostly because they were lighter than the Dwarven for my age,”

“I’ve been curious,” Fíli looked between her and Callon with a slight frown, “Why does your sister seem completely different from both of you?”

They looked between each other and Callon decided to answer, “Our sister took a greater liking to Elven culture-”

“In other words she decided she was somehow better than us,” Nari scoffed and Callon looked at her, “It’s true Callon, ye saw how she acted today,”

“And how does it work with your names?” Fíli asked, still clearly confused.

“It’s actually quite simple,” Nari raised her finger, “Daughters tend to be given Elven names, while sons are given Dwarven names, but I’m not sure when that started happening... I suppose it makes it easier to distinguish between the sexes?” she shrugged. “And before ye ask, my full name makes me sound like a fairy so I prefer not to use it,”

“Even though its meaning is perfectly suited,” Callon smirked, making Nari stick out her tongue. “Translated, it means ‘a narrator of stories’, mine means ‘a hero’,”

“And ironically, Lúthrien’s means ‘to enchant’,” Nari rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Ye shouldn’t talk so little of yer older siblings; sometimes they mean the best for ye,” Dwalin’s companion spoke up and looked to his left, “Right, Dwalin?”

“Aye, Balin, this is true,” Dwalin agreed.

“Older?” Nari’s brows furrowed, “I’m the eldest.”

“Oh, well, uh…” they both faltered.

“Whatever, I won’t argue, everyone always thinks she’s the oldest anyways,” she shook her head, “She likes to appear level-headed when she knows people are watching, but she can have a temper worse than me when she’s angry. And she just happens to have my mother’s height on her side,”

“Don’t worry about it,” Callon assured her with a small smile.

“Ye know, talking of families… I’d like to tell you what I want in return for this favour of ours,” she turned to Thorin.

“Go on,” he said, readying himself for the worst.

“Most of the dwarves who reside here came from Erebor and a lot of their children, such as myself, grew up on tales of the Kingdom. Only, I was lucky enough to have experienced life there for a short while, and well… since yer on yer way to reclaim the Kingdom as a descendant of the line of Durin, and they are also children of Durin, they were hoping to return to their home.” She paused to let the information sink in, he opened his mouth to speak but she continued.

“There’s great heartache among some of the villagers, to a lot of them this doesn’t feel like home, it was meant to serve as a temporary settlement until they could be welcomed back. The worst part of it being that Erebor is so close, but yet it feels worlds away, but I’m sure ye understand what that feels like, that’s why ye’re on this journey. To return home.”

“It is,” Thorin said slowly. “Though I’d perhaps need some time to process how it would all work,”

“It is a lot, but I’d like ye to at least consider it,” she looked up at him and searched his gaze, but could not make anything of it.

“I will,” he nodded shortly.

At the other end of the table Bofur and Bilbo noticed a guard had taken to the piano and was beginning to play the keys in a melancholic tune; Bilbo looked at Bofur, he shrugged and looked at the other end of the table, the group was still talking and had not noticed anything, the guard was then joined by another who stood and began to sing in a low deep voice.

“I saw the sun begin to dim, and felt that winter wind blow cold. A dwarf learns who is there for him, when the glitter fades and the walls won’t hold.”

The pianist began to sing with him, “’Cause from then, rubble one remains, can only be what’s true. If all was lost, there’s more I gained. ‘Cause it led me back… to you.”

At this point Nari and the group near the head of the table had stopped conversing; her brother moved from his seat and approached the men, leaning against the fireplace to watch them.

“From now on, these eyes will not be hidden from the lights, from now on. What’s waited ‘til tomorrow starts tonight, tonight.” The tune slowly picked up, “Let this promise in me start, like an anthem in my heart, from now on, from now on.” The piano started playing more light-heartedly.

Suddenly Callon joined in, his voice was warm in comparison to the others, “We drank champagne as King and Queen, the village people praised our name!” he looked up to the guard and company, “But those were someone else’s dreams, the pitfalls of the dwarf I became… For years and years, I chased their cheers, the crazy speed of always needing more-”

Nari joined her brother’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder and faced the guard that was now gathering around them. “But when I stop, and see you here- I remember who all this was for!”

She wrapped an arm around Callon’s shoulder and he did the same to her waist, they leaned into each other and continued with their song. “And from now on, these eyes will not be hidden from the lights.”

Some of the guards had gathered by the bar, filling mugs with ale, some had gone as far as climbing and sitting on each other’s shoulders, passing the drinks along to the rest. “From now on, what’s waited ‘til tomorrow starts tonight, it starts tonight!”

“Hey!” The guard cheered loudly, clinking their ales together, while the company stepped back to give them room.

Bilbo pressed himself firmly against the wall in alarm, having already experienced the wildness upon meeting the company and not wanting it again. The company was not familiar with the song, but they watched on; Bofur’s gaze was fixed to Nari, and Fíli’s fell onto her brother.

“And let this promise in me start, like an anthem in my heart; from now on… from now on!”

“Hey!” The guard cheers once more.

Callon belted out, “From now on…!”

Suddenly the guard joined in, “And we will come back home, and we will come back home… home, again!” they stomped their feet, some linked arms and swung each other around enthusiastically, others simply enjoyed jumping around and stepped onto the tables.

“And we will come back home, and we will come back home, home, again! And we will come back home, and we will come back home… home, again!

Callon sang out, “From now on…!”

“And we will come back home and we will come back home, home, again! And we will come back home, and we will come back home, home, again! And we will come back home, and we will come back home-”

“Yes!” Nari cheered happily.

“- Home, again! And we will come back home, and we will come back home, home, again! From now on…”

The siblings sang together, “These eyes will not be hidden from the lights!” The crowd started stomping on the wooden floors and tables together.

“From now on!”

“What’s waited ‘til tomorrow starts tonight! It starts tonight! Let this promise in me start, like an anthem in my heart. From now on… from now on… from now on…!”

Everyone sang out together, “And we will come back home, and we will come back home, home, again! And we will come back home and we will come back home, home, again! And we will come back home, and we will come back home, home again!”

The song began to slow down now, with some of the softer voices singing the final chorus, “From now on… from now on… home, again! Ooooh. From now on… From now on… home, again.”

The dwarves remained where they stood as the guard disbanded from their sudden outburst of song, most leaving the mess hall with their companions and hanging onto each other, chattering away eagerly while making their way back to their homes. The company felt a sudden emptiness in their chest that could only be described as longing and homesickness; it was weighing heavy on them now that soon they would set foot once again in the place that they could call home.

Thorin watched on but was in deep thought, assessing his options in the situation; his men needed to get whatever supplies they could get hold of to reach the mountain and reclaim it, however, there was still an uncertainty pressing in the back of his mind. His father and grandfather would certainly not have wanted half-elves living in Erebor, no matter if they were half-dwarf; though… Nari’s efforts in helping them were not something he could ignore.

He had not noticed Nari standing next to him until she spoke up and waved her hand in front of his face, “Thorin?”

He cleared his throat, “Apologies,”

“I was just saying that ye can settle in one of the old bunkers for the night, it might be slightly cramped but I reckon it’s a lot better than sleeping on the ground.”

“Thank you,” he glanced at Balin and gave him a sure nod, “And I’d like to offer our home to your people, however many there may be, it’s about time we start filling the halls of Erebor with life once again.”

The company was stunned by the sudden revelation, even Nari and Callon were surprised, and she caught sight of Bofur who was grinning cheerfully.

“If that’s yer final decision, I can certainly live with it,” Nari smiled, as if the news had given her the sudden relief she had needed, she extended her hand to Thorin and they shook in agreement; the company cheered.

“Now let’s end the night on an even better note, sleep,” Callon said, “It’ll be dawn before ye know it,” he cocked his head and Nari nodded, leading the way out, followed by the company.

Callon kept his eye on the group as they walked on and he noticed that Fíli and Kíli had started falling behind, he turned around and made his way to them, while Nari continued to lead the way to the bunkers.

“Is he alright?” he nodded to Fíli.

“I’m fine; I can still walk by myself!” Kíli argued irritably, “I wish everyone would stop making a fuss- Ah!” he stumbled slightly and grabbed for his injured leg, Fíli immediately tucked himself under his arm to support him.

“He told me his leg had been feeling a bit numb during supper,” Fíli admitted, making Kíli glare at him. “Brother, you need help. Don’t look at me with those eyes.”

Bofur had finally caught up with Nari, her eyes crinkled slightly as she smiled at him, and she looked him over once more. “Ye clean up nicely Bofur, yer braiding is very nice,” she noted.

“I try,” he shrugged with a cheeky grin, “I have to tone it down otherwise I’ll outshine the others ye know,”

“Oh I bet the ladies can’t keep their hands from ye.” She laughed, just ahead there were several bunker buildings. “We’re almost there now,”

Kíli grimaced and stopped in his tracks, the pain was becoming unbearable, “Okay, I’ll admit- I’m not in peak condition,”

“Is there something we can do for him?” Fíli looked up to Callon worriedly, the dwarf nodded.

“Nari!” he yelled out, making her stop and turn her attention to the call, “We need help,” he informed, gesturing to Kíli.

“Alright, I’ll be right there!” she looked to the rest of the company, “It’s just this building here,” she pointed in front of her, “Rest well, all of ye, the days to come will surely be a lot more challenging than the rest has been.”

They walked on without complaint to the bunkers, some waited for the others to enter first as Nari began walking to Callon, Fíli and Kíli who had remained behind.

“Nari, thank ye lass,” Bofur called out with a wave, she turned to look at him. “Ye have a good night.”

“Aye, ye too Bofur, thank ye,” she waved and gave him a smile, and continued walking with Thorin striding up to her side.

“Will he be alright?” he asked with a straight face.

“I’ll try my best to make sure he’ll heal. He will be safe.” She assured him; she placed a hand on his shoulder, “Thorin, rest. Tomorrow ye’ll be travelling again and ye need all the strength ye can get,”

“Take care of him,” he gave her a serious look. “Lads, take care of each other,” he instructed the brothers.

“Of course Uncle,” Fíli nodded, as did Kíli, he inclined his head and turned back around, heading into the bunker.

“Right, let’s have a look at ye,” Nari said as she approached them, she bent down to examine the wound quickly, “Let’s get him into the bunker next door,” she suggested, the boys didn’t hesitate in carrying Kíli in as he had begun to pale slightly.

They rested him onto one of the beds and Nari rested her palm on his forehead, she frowned and shook her head, “Cal, get my healer’s kit from my house, quickly,” she didn’t even look up at him as she spoke; her attention was focused on Kíli’s leg, her fingers tracing the outer areas where the skin had blackened terribly.

“How is it looking?” Fíli asked nervously, he paced for a bit before sitting at the end of the bed, holding Kíli’s lower leg gently.

“Well he’s got a fever, which means he’s battling the poison, but he’s also paling which isn’t good,” she looked over his face, checking his eyes, “Kíli, how clearly can ye see me?”

“Very clearly,” he swallowed almost nervously, “Did you know you have turquoise and honeycomb eyes?” he asked, looking dreamily at her.

She stared at him for a moment with raised brows, before looking down at his leg, “Wait, what happened to his bindings?” she asked, forgetting his delirious question.

“We took it off so he could bathe,” Fíli explained.

“Why didn’t ye replace it?” she asked with a frown, her brother returned with a small bag in hand and handed it to her, she didn’t wait for Fíli’s response. “Callon, why didn’t ye replace the bind on him?”

“It wasn’t a bleeding wound, I assumed it wasn’t necessary,” he shrugged, “Why?”

“He was shot with an orc arrow, that’s why,” she huffed, digging into her bag for something; she pulled out a small box and set it down on the table. “Hold him down, he’s not going to like this,” she ordered, opening it and scooping a vibrant pink ointment with her fingers, they did as she told, with Callon holding his legs and Fíli moving up to hold his shoulders as he sat next to him.

She rubbed the ointment into the wound and Kíli hissed in pain, she ignored his complaints and scooped more of the ointment and rubbed it all in, Kíli started writhing and wriggling trying to loosen their grasp.

“It burns!” he yelled out, balling his hands into fists, his eyes closing as he struggled to take on the pain.

“Aye, it’s an open wound, and that’s the worst of it done with, so stop whining,” she packed the box away and looked at Callon, “I need hot water,” he nodded and left quickly.

“What did you put on him?” Fíli asked, rubbing his brother’s shoulder to soothe him, Kíli settled back down again.

“It’s for wounds that don’t heal well; it should stop the numbness and encourage the skin to regrow… if it can that is,” she sat on the bed and touched Kíli’s forehead again, “The fever is settling slightly, but I have a feeling that he won’t be able to rest comfortably tonight,”

Callon returned with a bucket steaming with hot water, and a small bowl, he set them down next to Nari. “Are ye planning to brew tea?” he asked her.

“Aye, one that will help him sleep,”

“I’ll get to work on brewing it,” he said without second thought, opening another box and plucking out dried leaves, placing them into a small clothed bag. Fíli watched as he then put the small clothed bag into the bowl and poured the hot water over it.

Nari leaned over and placed her right ear against Kíli’s chest and listened carefully to the thumping heart, for a few moments it sounded very slow, but eventually it started picking up a steady rhythm again and she moved back.

“His heart sounds better than I thought it would,” she told Fíli, “Now I’m no expert, so I do suggest that in the morning we have a healer examine him properly-”

“I’m fine,” Kíli spoke up, “There’s no need,” he waved her suggestion off. Callon handed Nari the brewed tea and she leaned over to Kíli to let him drink, but he shook his head. “I said I’m fine, really,”

“Give it to me,” Fíli lifted his hands, she placed the small bowl in his hand and stood up and he held it to his brother’s mouth. “Drink Kíli, it’s for your own health,”

“But Fee-”

“Please,” he pleaded, staring at his younger brother.

“Alright, alright, but I can do it myself,” Kíli resolved and took the bowl from his hands, he took a sip and scrunched his nose up, “This tastes awful,”

“It’s medicine, and it’s said that the worst tasting medicine will heal ye the best, so drink up,” Nari suggested, “Besides, it’ll take away yer fever and pain, and help ye sleep better tonight,”

“Fine,” Kíli looked at the bowl uncertainly, but then he decided to take it down in one big gulp, and another, until it was empty. “Retched stuff,” he coughed and sniffled.

Fíli stood up and walked around to the other two and whispered, “Thank you, both of you.” He glanced at Kíli and spoke quietly, “Kee can be a bit of a stubborn dwarf sometimes, I think he learned that from Uncle,” he admitted in embarrassment.

“It’s no trouble, I’ve dealt with far worse,” Nari glanced at her brother with a cheeky grin and he rolled his eyes but returned the smile. “I couldn’t stand seeing another dwarf die because of an orc arrow,” she looked at Kíli.

“Another dwarf?” he asked, he glanced at his brother who was beginning to dose off and frowned at her.

“I suggest ye keep an eye on him, if he’s as stubborn as ye say he’s going to play down his pain. But the most important thing for him is plenty of rest, keep his leg elevated as much as ye can,” she informed him.

“I will keep an eye on him,” he agreed.

“We should get some rest,” she looked to her brother, “It’ll be easier if we stay here for the night; once they wake we can make further arrangements,”

“Aye, sounds good,” Callon agreed.

They spread out onto some of the other beds not too far away, Fíli decidedly taking the bed nearest to his brother, while the other siblings settled a little further away. Nari stared at the ceiling, her eyes moving around to look at nothing in particular as if she was going through her thoughts, and Callon frowned softly at her, wondering what was troubling her.

He whispered, “Nari?”

“Mm?”

“What’s on yer mind?”

She spoke quietly, “{Tomorrow I duel with Cáleb},”

“{That’s nothing new},”

“{I informed him that this is the last fight, for good},” she turned her head slightly to look at him, “{I’ll go mad if I lose tomorrow of all days},”

“{But you will not, we both know this},” he assured her, “{Tomorrow, you will finally be rid of him. And we will be able make a start to our resettlement into Erebor, once we send the company on their way},”

“{I hope so},” she breathed out and stared up at the ceiling once more.

He chuckled lightly, “A million dreams are keeping me awake,”

“A million dreams is all it’s gonna take,” she gave him a soft smile before turning over in her bed, “Goodnight Callon.”

“Goodnight Nari,” he closed his eyes with a grin still on his face.

____________________________________________________________

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[fairyqueenofthedragons]

Key to Knowledge

Fablekingdom chapter 3

Glad you all seem to like the story :D I'm having fun writing it. Sorry for the slight delay, life happens. Finals are coming up and I have a bunch of projects so I might be a bit slow on updates for the next few weeks.

(Find Chapter One with a server of “Fk ch 1″)

Come chat with me on discord: https://discord.gg/nwwcSQSUjh

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Breakfast the next morning was good. Lena had called it “cream of wheat”, mixed with berries and homemade raspberry preserves. There was also toast and butter, and orange juice.

Seth had his tongue poking out as he angled his butter knife to bounce sun rays in Kendra’s eyes. She was not close enough to the window to retaliate, so she settled for kicking his foot.

“Don’t blind your sister, Seth,” Grandpa said.

Seth put his butter knife down with a sigh, turning to Grandpa, “Where’s Dale?”

Kendra wondered the same thing, she hadn’t seen him today, was he still asleep? It was almost nine.

“Dale and I got up a few hours ago, finished most of the morning chores. He’s still out working, I’m just here to keep you company since it’s your first morning.”

“Will you guys be back for lunch?” Kendra asked.

“No, today I’m going to the North fields, I’ll be bringing lunch with me.” He studied the wall above them, looking uncomfortable. “I’ll likely be back for dinner.”

“Oh...” Kendra murmured, nibbling on some toast. She supposed he hadn’t particularly wanted them here anyways. He wasn’t required to spend all his time with them.

“You kids remember my rules?” Grandpa asked.

Seth nodded, shoving some cream of wheat in his mouth, “This is good.”

“Stay out of the woods and the barn,” Kendra answered her Grandpa. “And keep things neat and try not to break anything.”

“Good girl,” Grandpa said with a small smile. “There’s a swimming pool out back, it’s all set up so feel free to swim in it. If you don’t feel like swimming there are gardens as well, plus the yard as a whole to run around in. You might even find some surprises if you look around.”

He stood, folding his napkin.

“You’re also welcome to play in your room. Any questions?”

Kendra nodded, “When is Grandma coming back?”

Grandpa faltered, gaze darting to the clock.

“That depends on your Aunt Edna. If she recovers quickly than Ruth could be back next week, or it could be a couple of months.”

“Good thing Grandma’s not sick anymore,” Seth said, putting some jam on his toast.

“Sick?” Grandpa asked.

“You know,” Kendra said with a frown. “The illness that kept her from the funeral.”

“Oh yes,” He nodded. “That one. Well, she was still a little under the weather when she left but was feeling much better.”

“I’m sad we missed her,” Kendra said.

“Yeah, we haven’t seen her in years,” Seth added.

“She was sorry to miss you too,” Grandpa assured them as he pushed his chair in. “I’d best be off. Don’t forget sunblock if you swim and keep your video games inside.”

“Yes Grandpa,” Seth said.

“We’ll be good,” Kendra promised.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Kendra was dressed in her blue swimsuit, a towel over one shoulder, as she stepped onto the back porch. She had a water bottle under one arm and a very pretty handheld mirror she’d found in the nightstand by her bed in her hand.

She paused to admire the gardens that covered a good portion of the backyard. There were paths of white stones meandering through the flower beds and hedgerows. She could see the edge of a vegetable patch peeking out behind some hedges to the right of her, and some dry fountains over there too.

Just in front of the porch seemed to be an herb garden and around the pool were more flower beds and a ring of fruit trees. She didn’t recognize all the fruit there, only the two apple trees and cherry tree. Maybe that one was a peach tree?

She wondered if it was okay for them to eat any of them.

The flowers were really beautiful though, Kendra had never seen such brilliant blossoms.

Seth was already swimming, throwing some sinking toys and diving after them.

The pool looked really cool, with a black bottom and rocks surrounding it you could almost mistake it for a pond.

Kendra grinned and headed down the steps, following the short path to the pool side.

The garden around her was filled with birds and insects.

There were quick moving hummingbirds, wings nearly invisible as they moved from flower to flower.

Huge bumblebees buzzed around, two coming very close to her. She stilled for a moment, remembering the rule her dad taught her. As long as you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. They drifted past.

Kendra paused again as two butterflies alighted on some flowers by her, wings brilliant hues of blue and red. She’d never seen such brilliant butterflies. Then again, she’d never visited a garden this incredible either, it’s no wonder Grandpa Sorenson had so many chores.

“Beautiful,” she murmured.

The butterflies fluttered back up, flying around her for a moment before drifting away.

“Wow,” she whispered as she arrived at the pool. This really was an amazing backyard.

The poolside was paved, with some recliners and a circular glass table with a big umbrella in the center.

Seth climbed out of the pool as she arrived, waving as he leapt from a stone outcropping with a whoop. He hit the water with a big splash.

Kendra set her towel and mirror on the table and grabbed a bottle of sunblock. She took a few minutes to smear it on her skin, rubbing it in until it disappeared.

While Seth dove under water for another one of the sinking toys, Kendra picked up the mirror, carefully angling it so it reflected the sunlight. When Seth came up she aimed a big splotch of sunlight right in his eyes.

“Hey!”

Seth ducked back under water, coming back up in another spot. Kendra pointed the light right back at him.

“Cut it out!” Seth called.

“But I thought you liked playing with sunlight,” Kendra said.

Seth turned to glare but had to look away with the light in his eyes.

“I only did it a little! And Grandpa already told me to stop.”

Because that always stops him from doing something, but Kendra put the mirror down anyways.

“Don’t try to blind me again,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled, swimming over to the side of the pool.

“How’s the water?” Kendra asked, walking over to the edge.

Seth grinned, and shoved the water forward to splash her.

She shrieked, surprised by the cold, before her eyes narrowed and she leapt over him into the water.

It took a moment to adjust to the temperature but then she quickly swam away from Seth, ducking under the water to avoid his splashing.

It ended in a splash fight, Seth swinging his arms in wide arcs and doing big but weak splashes. Kendra pushed to water in focused waves, hitting Seth head on more, though he dodged more than she did.

She ducked under water after a few minutes, when the fight was slowing, yanking Seth under water.

The fight began anew, Seth and her wrestling in the water until they were both tired.

“I definitely won,” Seth said.

Kendra rolled her eyes.

The two of them played some games with the sinking toys, racing for them and seeing who could get the most. Then they tried different dives into the deep end.

Kendra was the best at the clean dives, making only a small splash. Seth was great at doing big splashes though.

Kendra grew bored after a bit, getting out of the pool to rest on the edge.

Seth had her judge his dives.

“Watch this can opener!” He yelled as he jumped with one leg straight and the other bent.

“Eight and a half,” Kendra called back when he surfaced.

“That was definitely a nine,” he said as he swam back to the edge to jump again.

“You bent your leg when you hit the water,” she countered.

“Oh, come on!”

Kendra grinned, standing to grab her towel, but stopped when she saw the mirror.

Hummingbirds, bumblebees, and butterflies swirled in the air around the mirror. Several more butterflies and a couple of large dragonflies were actually sitting on the mirror face.

“Seth,” Kendra called quietly. “Come look at this.”

“What?”

“Come here.”

Seth sighed, walking around to reach Kendra and doing a double take at the insects and birds around the mirror.

“What’s up with them? They’re acting like the fairies from Grandpa’s stories.”

“I’m not sure,” Kendra said. “Do insects like mirrors?”

“Ones that are secretly fairies do,” Seth joked.

Kendra rolled her eyes, “This isn’t Grandpa’s fairytales, Seth, what are they doing?”

“Admiring their lovely wings?”

“Well they are pretty wings.”

They stared for a moment.

“I dare you to grab the mirror,” Kendra said.

“Sure.”

He moved forward carefully, before snatching up the mirror and bolting to the pool, diving in.

Some of the insects and birds scattered, but most drifted after him for a moment.

“How strange,” Kendra muttered before shaking her head. “Seth, get the mirror out of the pool, the chemicals will ruin it!”

“Chill, it’s fine,” he said, stroking over to the side.

“Here, let me see it,” Kendra took the mirror from him and wiped it dry with her towel. It didn’t seem damaged.

She paused, eyeing the assorted insects around the pool.

“Want to try something?” Kendra said as she placed the mirror face up on a lounge chair and backed away.

“Do you think they’ll come back?” Seth asked.

“We’ll see.”

Kendra and Seth sat down at the table, not too far away from the lounge chair. Kendra sipped her water as they watched a hummingbird glide over to the mirror. Soon it was joined by a few butterflies, and then some bumblebees, and then some dragonflies.

“Go turn the mirror face down,” Kendra suggested. “I wanna see if they like their reflections or the mirror itself.”

Seth crept forward slowly, the animals taking no notice of his approach. He reached forward carefully, then quickly flipped the mirror and bolted back to the table.

The ones that had landed on the mirror took flight when it was overturned, but only a few of the creatures flew away. A pair of butterflies and a dragonfly landed on the lounge chair at the edge of the mirror.

Kendra gasped as they took flight and flipped the mirror over, nearly sliding it off the chair in the process.

“Is that even possible?” Kendra muttered.

“That was so weird,” Seth agreed as the swarm pressed close to the mirror again.

“How are they strong enough to lift it?”

“There were a few of them,” Seth pointed out. “Want me to flip it again?”

“No, it might break… I don’t think butterflies are strong enough to flip that, it’s too heavy.”

“I dunno,” Seth said, draping his towel over his shoulder. “I’m gonna go change.”

“Take the mirror with you?”

“Sure, but if I get stung I’m telling Grandpa it was your fault.”

Seth moved to towards the mirror slowly, then snatched it up and rushed to the path back to the house. Part of the swarm drifted after him but didn’t follow far before scattering.

Kendra stared after them for a moment, frowning as she tried to figure out what was up with them. Seth was right, it really did remind her of the stories Grandpa told them about fairies.

How strange.

Kendra sighed and wrapped her towel around her waist, grabbing the sunblock and her water. She headed back to the house.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Kendra found Seth dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved camo shirt. He was checking through the cereal box that served as his emergency kit.

“What are you doing?”

“Just checking if I need anything else,” he said innocently.

“How about some water?” Kendra said, eyes narrowed.

Seth brightened, “Good idea! I’ll grab some on my way out.”

He scooped up the kit and headed to the door.

“Where are you going?”

Seth paused, sending her a sly smile, “Promise you won’t tell?”

She huffed, “You’re going into the woods.”

He shrugged, “Wanna come?”

“You heard Grandpa, there are ticks in there, you’ll get Lyme disease.”

“Ticks are everywhere, so’s poison ivy. If people let possible dangers stop them then no one would ever go anywhere.”

“Grandpa will be mad, you’ll get in trouble.”

“Grandpa isn’t here. As long as you don’t tell, nobody will know.”

Kendra frowned, “Grandpa has been really nice. He didn’t want to have us here, but he opened his home to us. We should follow his rules, he only gave us like three of them.”

Seth rolled his eyes, “There’s no adventure in the garden.”

“Have you explored the whole yard yet?”

“How about this. If I don’t find anything interesting or weird or anything like that in the woods today, I’ll spend the next week only in the yard.”

Kendra considered, that sounded fair. What were the chances the forest had much in it?

“Grandpa’s livestock or whatever he has here doesn’t count.”

“Sure, but if I find a satyr or evil witch in the woods-“

“If you find an evil witch in the woods I’m not letting you back in the woods or you’ll get cursed.”

“But then how is Kendra the fairy princess gonna save me?” He asked, batting his eyelashes.

“Fight me.”

He laughed, “It’ll be fine, are you coming?”

Kendra hesitated, it did sound interesting but…

“No, not this time.”

“Will you tell on me?”

“If they ask I won’t lie.”

“I won’t be long,” Seth promised, hurrying out of the room.

Kendra sighed and stared around the room for a moment, what was there to do?

Oh yeah, she’d almost forgotten.

Kendra hurried to the nightstand, the mirror was resting on it. Beside the mirror was the key ring Grandpa had given her.

She’d already figured out what the biggest key opened, a jewelry box on the dresser that was full of costume jewelry, and a few pieces that looked real.

There were some fake necklaces and earrings and pendants and rings and bracelets, but also some that looked real. She was pretty sure the hair clip was real silver, and the bracelet looked like real rubies. She’d put them all back in the jewelry box, not sure if they were allowed to use it despite what Grandpa had said.

Did he mean for her to keep them in giving her the keys? Or was there a different purpose?

She wasn’t sure.

There had also been gold wrapped chocolates, only three of them, she’d had one and it was undoubtably the best chocolate she’d ever had.

She decided to check out the rest of the room for more key holes. She had two more keys, both smaller than the first. The smallest was no longer than a thumbtack. Where would she find such tiny keyholes?

The night before she’d tried all the drawers and toy chest, but none were small enough, and most unlocked anyways.

Her eyes scanned the room, trying to figure out what might have a small enough keyhole. They landed on the Victorian dollhouse.

Of course, if anything would have tiny keyholes, it would be a tiny house.

She unlatched the clasps of the house and opened it, revealing three stories and many rooms full of miniature furniture. Five doll people lived in the house—a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, and a baby.

The detail was incredible, the dolls had individual hairs on their heads and the clothing had patterns. The rooms themselves had just as much detail, with the beds having quilts, blankets, sheets, and pillows, and the couches having removable cushions. The bathtub even had movable knobs and the sinks had tiny cosmetic supplies on them.

The dollhouse’s master bedroom had an intricate armoire, with a large keyhole in the center, or well, large for the size of it.

Kendra inserted the tiniest key and turned it, smiling when the doors sprung open.

Inside were more of the gold wrapped chocolates, along with a small golden key. It was larger than the one that opened the armoire, but smaller than the one that opened the jewelry box.

Kendra carefully tucked the two wrapped chocolates away, they were two good to eat all at once.

She checked the rest of the tiny house, under every couch, bed, and carpet, behind every painting and dresser, in every closet and cabinet, but there were no more keyholes.

She closed up the dollhouse once more, determined to play with it later, this really was the dream dollhouse, she wished she’d had one at home.

Looking around the room, Kendra debated what to check next. There was one key left of the originals, plus the new one… was there a key in the jewelry box too?

She went back over to it, shifting through the real and fake jewelry to see. On a charm bracelet she found another little golden key, about the size of the one she’d found in the armoire. She took it off the bracelet and slipped it onto the keyring.

So that’s two new keys, and one of the originals.

She looked around again. Kendra had already checked all the dressers and toy chests and wardrobes (they were filled with fascinating stuff, the wardrobes had some of the softest fur coats and scarves and gloves she was jealous) but she could always double check. It was possible a key hole could be behind something, or under something, but she didn’t think it would be that crazy, the first two weren’t.

She decided to check the telescope, it seemed reasonable enough with all the knobs and different sections.

A thorough check later led her to be sure that there were no key holes.

Maybe she could see Seth through it though.

She opened the window, noticing Dale walking along the lawn at the outskirts of the woods. Kendra thought that he was out doing chores, why was he at the yard?

He stooped, putting something that he’d been carrying behind a low hedge, making her unable to see it. He set off at a brisk pace, glancing around as if worried someone would see.

Kendra considered for a moment, that seemed strange, but not bad. Her curiosity got the best of her though and she headed down the stairs.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Reaching outside, Dale was nowhere in sight. She headed over to the low hedge beneath the attic window, weaving through the beautiful gardens and past a few lovely fountains.

The hedge was about six feet before the edge of the forest and laying on the ground just behind it was a large pie tin full of milk.

Kendra crouched down, staring in fascination at the assorted animals hovering around it and drinking the milk.

An iridescent hummingbird hung suspended over the pie tin, along with several butterflies. One swooped down and splashed in the milk, before fluttering back up.

The hummingbird flew away after a moment and a dragonfly approached.

All the animals were very pretty. The butterflies wings the brightest colors and the dragonflies large and almost sparkling in the light.

“You’re all so pretty,” she murmured to the winged animals. “But why are you all drinking the milk?”

She gasped as a butterfly landed on her hand, wings fluttering delicately.

“Hello,” she whispered, staying still so as not to scare it away.

It’s wings fluttered, and after a moment it drifted back into the air.

She glanced back at the pie tin, surprised by how much the milk level had fallen.

Who knew that butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds, and bees liked milk?

She carefully straightened, grinning at the winged animals that drifted around her.

“I’ve got to go, enjoy your milk.”

She walked back towards the house, then paused partway. She studied the attic window for a moment. The house was pretty big, but the attic was fairly long.

Studying the window, she visualized the room. It only took up half the space that should be there.

She walked around to the opposite side of the house, distracted slightly by the many beautiful flowers, and the assorted fruit trees that dotted the lawn.

Arriving on the far side, she studied the top of the house. There were another set of attic windows, window that the room Seth and she were staying in couldn’t see. So, there was another side to the attic.

Maybe there was a secret passage to it in the playroom! Maybe that’s what the keys were for.

She was just about to head back to the attic to check when she noticed Dale coming from the barn with another pie tin.

She could always check the attic later.

She hurried over to Dale, frowning when he suddenly looked uncomfortable.

He pasted a smile on his face as she reached him, “Hey Kendra.”

“Hi, what are you doing?”

“Just taking some milk to the house,” he said, changing direction to head towards the house. He had been heading towards the woods.

“Why’s it in a pie tin? And why’d you leave the other tin behind the hedge?”

“Hedge?” he said innocently, looking incredibly guilty.

“There were a lot of butterflies there, drinking it.”

Dale stopped, studying Kendra intently. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.”

He glanced around as if there were spies nearby. “We have a few milking cows, and they make a lot of milk. We sell some of it, and use some, but there’s a bit excess. I put it out for the insects, seems to make them happy.”

“Why’s it a secret?” Kendra asked.

“Well, I never really asked if it was alright. Your grandfather might not be happy about me doing it when I could be trying to sell it.”

“It seems nice,” Kendra offered. “The animals seemed to like it.”

He nodded, “Yeah, they seem happy with it.”

“So you weren’t taking that tin to the house.”

He coughed, “No, no. This milk hasn’t been pasteurized. It’s full of bacteria, you could catch all sorts of diseases. People should not drink it, but the insects seem to like it best like this. You’ll keep my secret?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks,” he winked at her.

“Where are you putting that one?”

“Over there,” he jerked his chin towards the woods. “I set a few on the border of the yard every day.”

“Does it go bad? Or attract anything dangerous?”

“I don’t leave it out long. And some days they’re empty when I collect the pans, haha, they’re thirsty little critters.”

Kendra nodded, “Cool.”

“I’d best get back to work, I’ll see you around Kendra.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

She turned to head back inside.

“Oh yeah, you seen your brother around?” Dale asked.

“I think he’s in the house,” Kendra said. “He wanted some water last I checked.”

“Kay, just checking.”

Kendra waved, heading back in the house.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

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[crystalninjaphoenix]

MerMay Day Thirty-One We End as We Began

The dock is old, the wood rotten, so the woman sits on the shoreline where the land drops off into the sea, her feet dangling in the water. The beach is empty this time of night, with the full moon high above, so there is no one to see her, or the gathering taking place in the water. Even twelve years later, this rocky part of the beach, supposedly closed to the public, is still not well-patrolled.

“Mom! Mom! Look at this!” Sereia ducks underwater and pokes her tail into the air, spinning around and sending drops of water flying everywhere. Eventually she toppled over, surfacing and spitting out water.

“Woohoo! Great job!” The woman applauded. “You’re really getting better!” She looked around the water, seeing if any of the others gathered had noticed her daughter’s stunt. Most of the merms weren’t watching, gathered around and talking in their strange chirping language. Muirin was watching, of course, and clapping to show his sister support. And so was a familiar figure with a clownfish tail.

One of the merms popped up from the water near her legs, startling her. But he smiled, baring shark’s teeth, and started chattering. “Oh...hello,” she said, smiling.

“Heh-lllloh,” the merm repeated, tripping over the word. He bounced in the water, excited. “Hhoh—hhhow errr ooo? Yuh. Yuh-ooo?”

“I’m doing good,” she said, giggling when the merm’s expression lit up. “Sorry, which one are you? You’re a lemon shark...is it Jackie?”

“Ahkee.” Jackie pointed at himself, then around at the various other merms in the water. “Neep. Mereen. Aimisehn. Ai Kase. Kase!” Jackie waved at the clownfish merm, who was resting half out of the water on the dock. He said something in the other language, chattering and clicking rapidly. The other one swam on over.

“Hi Chase,” the woman said, waving.

Chase sank deeper in the water, cheeks turning red enough to be seen clearly even in the moonlight. “Hi Stacy,” he said quietly. Jackie smiled, and disappeared below water. Chase started, and called after him in the clicking merm language.

“Hey, Chase?” Stacy asked. “Do you...want to talk?”

“Um…” Chase sank lower still, so only his head was poking out. “About...what?”

“Well, you know, things.” Stacy shrugged. “Like why you can speak English perfectly but your friends have trouble with it.”

“Oh. Well.” Chase pulled himself out of the water, folding his arms and resting on the shore. “That’s some magic bullshit, I think. Marvin’s spell to temporarily turn me human, like imbued with the knowledge I needed to be human.”

“But it didn’t include pop culture, did it?” Stacy asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

Chase grinned as well. “No, it didn’t. But like, it skipped all the learning process for new languages. I think Schneep actually knows how to speak a bit of a human language, but not English.”

“I see.” Stacy reached over and picked up the small flashlight she’d brought. She flicked it on and cast the circle of light over the waves. It landed on a pair of merms circling one of the dock supports, holding round stones. The one with the silver tail pulled on a mask, turned the stone over in his hands, and suddenly the stone and the bits of glass in the mask lit up, glowing green. Water spouted into the air. The other mimicked the gesture, and a smaller spout flew into the air. The two of them seemed to giggle, then looked over in the direction the light was coming from. They grinned in unison, and two jets of water spurted over to where Stacy was sitting. She shrieked as they hit her.

Chase laughed. “Nice. Very nice.”

“It’s like a super soaker, but without the plastic gun,” she spluttered.

“Fun!” Chase exclaimed. Then his expression suddenly dropped, becoming more serious. “Hey, uh...how’s Jack doing?”

“Roxy says he’s stable. Not much change.” Stacy shrugged. “Of course, my sister is a fish scientist and not a merm doctor, but I think we’d notice if something went wrong.”

“She’s a lot more...nice than the stick-in-the-mud I remember,” Chase remarked.

“Well, she mellowed out a lot after college.” Stacy shone her flashlight out across the water again, this time landing on Muirin, talking to the octopus merm in the chirping language. She figured that the language must’ve been magically transferred to the twins’ brains the moment they were fully submerged for the first time in their life. That was weird, but not as weird as them being half-merm in the first place. She’d always sort of wondered if they’d have some sort of fish qualities, but those qualities never showed up when they were younger. Guess it had to be underwater for that to happen. “Well, at least your friend isn’t hanging out at the Institute anymore.”

“Schneep? Yeah.” Chase glanced over at him. “I think he still kind of wants to, just to make sure Jack is alright, but that place kind of upsets him.” He lowered his voice. “I think he...had a thing with humans in the past. A not-so-nice thing.”

“Hmm? Have you asked him?”

“Well, no. I don’t want to upset him.”

“That’s fair.” Stacy fell silent for a moment, scanning the water with her flashlight a bit more. Sereia was swimming with Jackie, him teaching her some tricks. The two merms by the dock—who she now remembered were Marvin and Jameson—were still practicing their magic tricks, and Muirin and Schneep had gone on to watching Jackie and Sereia race around. “Chase…I do have a question.”

Chase paled, suddenly looking very nervous.

“Why...why haven’t we talked?”

“Um…” Chase slipped back into the water. “What do you mean? Of course we’ve talked.”

“I mean, yeah, you talked to me when you needed help with your friend Jack. But we haven’t really talked.”

“About...about what?”

Stacy laughed. “How about ‘holy shit I still can’t believe I dated a merman’? How about ‘holy shit I had kids with a merman’? Y’know I half-convinced myself that the whole ‘merman’ thing was some sort of grief-stricken hallucination I had after you disappeared. I mean, I still thought about you. I got really into the ocean because of you. And like...now it turns out my kids can become merpeople—merms. And you have all these merm friends and a merm enemy who kidnapped our kids—holy shit to that too, by the way!” Stacy paused. “And in all this, you...you haven’t talked to me. It’s a little...I dunno. You know?”

Chase stared at her, eyes wide. “I...I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I-I didn’t want to make it...weird. You know? Because like, fuck, I mean it’s been twelve years. I don’t know what your life is like now. Maybe you didn’t want to see me! Maybe you even married someone else! And maybe, I dunno...I-I just didn’t want to impose myself, you know? Like, just because I still remember you doesn’t mean you still remember me.” He was slowly sinking into the water with every statement. “I-I mean, it’s a little weird, still coming to the place every year and still holding onto this cap, and I didn’t want—”

“Chase, it’s not weird,” Stacy interrupted. “People still go to the places that were special for them and a partner they really liked. People still hold on to things from that time.”

“But I mean…” He was almost entirely in the water at this point. “Twelve years—”

“C’mon. You fall in love with someone of a different species, you’re gonna keep thinking about them. I’ve kept thinking about…” Stacy trailed off. “If anything, it’s my fault. I never showed up. I left you hanging.”

“Didn’t you move, though?” Chase asked.

“Yeah, my parents found out I got pregnant at seventeen and flipped their shit. But we agreed four years later. By then, I was finishing college. I totally could’ve found a way to meet you, but I didn’t.” Stacy rubbed at her eyes. “And I am so sorry that I never even tried, even if I sort of started to doubt—”

“Look, neither of us expected the move,” Chase said. “That changed everything. And none of it is your fault.”

Stacy smiled sadly. “How about this. I’ll say it’s not my fault, if you say that you’re not weird or imposing.”

“Deal.” Chase offered his hand. Stacy laughed, and shook it. “Do you want to...give it a try again? I mean, it’s okay if you don’t.”

Stacy grinned. “Another try sounds alright. I mean, I’m moving back here anyway so the kids can be close to the ocean. The city has a great aquarium, y’know. But...let’s agree that we’ll be understanding if it doesn’t work out for one of us.”

“That sounds good.” Chase nodded, and looked back out over the water. “We better get started before Sereia and Jackie somehow manage to knock the whole dock down.”

“Hmm, my money’s on your magic friends doing that first.”

“At least we can agree that those guys aren’t the problem,” Chase chuckled, waving over to where Muirin and Schneep were still chatting. “Anyway. Are we going now?”

“Yep.” Stacy stood up, reaching over and grabbing the duffel bag she’d brought. With some light from the flashlight, she unzipped the bag and took a white, a miniature DVD player, and a projector.

“What’d you bring?” Chase asked.

“The Little Mermaid. Figured it was a good place to start. And your friends can have fun yelling about how wrong it is.”

“Oh, they’d like that.” He looked over at the others and yelled something in the merm language, catching everyone’s attention. The whole group swam over to the shore, with Sereia and Muirin climbing out of the water and onto the pebbles.

“Aaa look at me! I’m a fish out of water!” Sereia rolled onto her back and flopped her tail while Muirin giggled.

“Oh no!” Stacy looked mock-shocked. “Well I guess we better rrroll you back in, then!” She started rolling Sereia back towards the water.

“Mom, no, I’m fine!” Sereia protested. Muirin started to laugh harder.

In the water, the merms were jostling for space, chattering to each other. Jackie slapped Marvin with his tail only for Marvin to splash him with a magically-enhanced wave. Jameson was signing at Schneep, nudging him to scoot over. When Schneep refused to move, Jameson ducked underwater and popped up in between Schneep’s arm, ignoring his screeches. Chase just smiled, settling into his spot.

They got the movie rolling easily. Though it was late, the kids were allowed to stay up, since this was a special occasion. Chase explained to the other merms about the movie while they chirped about how different it was than reality, though none of them seemed too bothered by that. The moon rose in the sky, and eventually the movie ended, and all had to part ways. But they all went home feeling content and tired after a long, fun night. 

[theravencawsatmidnight]

Can I request pirate or bounty hunter Bakugou, going after a siren reader that keeps getting away?

Bounty.

Bakugo first found the listing for you in the local tavern with a 10 thousand gold reward on your head. He could set himself up nicely with a pay that high. So he got a ship, nothing too over the top or too big , he did not need a fancy boat anyway , this would be easy.

The first time he found you was a early tuesday morning. You had climbed up his boat to stare at him with your cheek on your arm, asking him what he was doing. “Hunting you’ he replied. And with that answer you shook the boat catching him off giard and fell back into yhe ocean smiling. As soon as Bakugo got his footing back he ran to the edge of the ship looking over to see you swimming away . “Dammit!!!” He stomped his foot and hit the ship with his fist.

The second time you were just having fun with him; he had sailed to a island to rest and relax and you kept swimming by and splashing him everytime he was about to fall asleep. He would jump up yelling at you threatening to kill you himself .

You always laughed it off saying he was no match for you. By the third attempt he was over it . You were wasting his time and he had turned down other bounties to put all his attention into catching you. So he came up with a plan..

You were resting on a nearby rock enjoying the sun with your siren sisters . Talking about that loser bounty hunter and how fun it was to watch him get all pissed off. The fact that he couldint catch you was a huge ego boost for you, this pathetic man would never-

You and your sisters pushed yourselves up when you heard it. A siren song, a new one, it sounded.. like they needed help. You and your sisters jumped off the rock swimming in the direction of the song. You swam close to the surface to see fog surrounding the area so you stopped to surface fully and look around. It was too quiet.. what happened to the song?

A noise you had never heard before caused one of your sisters to shriek, you looked to your left to see them dead, sinking. You jumped diving back down to grab your sister . She had a crossbow in her chest, another shirek, and another , another. Your sisters sinking all around you one by one. The blood tainting the water, the song traveled to you again too.

Your tail turned and you swam up yelling as loud as you could at whoever was killing your sisters. “Stop it! Whoever you are! .”

A small boat sailed over with the bounty hunter standing in it, his foot on the top of the bench with a crossbow in hand . “Well..well..well..”

“Stop killing my sisters! You monster!”

“Monster? Youve killed so many humans, you and your stupid sisters. “

You hissed at the man and charged forward only to stop right after . The song was back , but where? While you were busy looking around a heavy net fell on you. You hissed again to see the man crouching down above you smirking.

“Never heard of a siren whistle? Sounds like the real thing huh? Lets go collect that bounty hm?”

[razieltwelve]

The Queen of Winter (RWBY AU Snippet)

Note: This goes with Dragon.

X     X     X

For ten thousand years, or so it was said, Atlas stood unbroken, hidden behind its walls of ice and a storm that never ended. Safe in the eye of the storm, its people prospered, and any Grimm that ventured too close fell prey to the ice, the wind, and the snow.

But the storm weakened, for it was born from the blood of ancient dragons, and the dragons were all gone. Little by little, year by year, it weakened. And the walls of ice that never melted began to thaw one by one. Atlas had stood unbroken for ten thousand years, but nothing lasts forever.

X     X     X

Weiss dreamed of stormy skies and endless drifts snow. She dreamed of a land where it was always winter, and the sun gleamed off glaciers that had no end. She dreamed of wings that brought blizzards and of breath that froze oceans. She dreamed of fangs and claws and scales as white as freshly fallen snow.

Sometimes, when she closed her eyes, she could hear something beyond the howl of the wind. It sounded almost like a dragon’s roar.

X     X     X

When Weiss was four, she awakened her magic. Her father looked at the ice creeping across the floor and the frost on the windowpanes, and he shook his head.

“Not strong enough.”

And Weiss looked beyond him to the towering walls that had stood unchallenged for as long as anyone could remember, walls of ice as sure and certain as the dawn. The walls were melting, and what use was one child’s magic when the kingdom needed a dragon?

Not strong enough. The words echoed in her heart, and something burned in her chest, something cold and almost cruel. It felt like winter clawing through her veins.

X     X     X

Weiss became a prodigy. By the time she was twelve, she was the finest ice mage the kingdom had known in centuries. Day and night she laboured, searching for a way to strengthen the walls and the storm that protected her kingdom. Many were the nights she slept surrounded by open books and tattered scrolls, and always the answer was the same.

Not strong enough.

And yet, was her father any better?

She had delved deep into the history of her people, she had learned the stories of their greatest kings and queens. Her father was no great king, though he liked to style himself as one. He was quick to assign blame, but even quicker to take credit, and his magic was weak.

He was no caller of storms, no bringer of winter, no weaver of ice and snow and glacier. 

And the stronger she grew, the angrier he became.

“Not strong enough,” he would growl. “Never strong enough.”

And for all that he was right - Weiss still wasn’t strong enough - he was hardly any better. 

X     X     X

When Weiss was fifteen, her father sent her from the palace. The great walls of ice were still melting, and the storm was growing ever weaker. More and more Grimm dared to approach Atlas, and the people grew afraid. There were whispers of his weakness, of how his magic had not slowed the failing of the walls or the fading of the storm.

There were whispers too of Weiss, of how perhaps she might succeed where her father had failed. And so he sent her away, but he would soon regret it. For Weiss distinguished herself in battle against the Grimm. 

Assigned to one of the kingdom’s outposts, Weiss and those she commanded won a great battle. The Grimm assailed them in great numbers, but Weiss called tearing winds and bitter cold, and the Grimm were driven back with heavy losses.

Queen of Winter they called her.

“No,” she replied. “I am only a princess.”

But still those she led merely smiled and shook their heads.

“Queen of Winter,” they insisted.

And the title spread throughout the land.

X     X     X

When Weiss was seventeen, she died.

Her father sent more men to the outpost, a blessing she’d thought at first, an acknowledgement of her good work. She should have known better. On a scouting trip that passed a lake, they planted a knife between her ribs and flung her into the icy waters.

She sank quickly, embraced by the cold and the long, lingering dark. Her last sight was of the black depths of the lake below her, and the trails of red spiralling up toward the surface and the cloud-strewn skies above.

An old prayer filled her mind even as water and blood filled her lungs.

X     X     X

My scales are white And my blood is ice My teeth are swords And my claws are spears My wings are the winter wind And my heart is the soul of the frozen north I was a dragon once And I will be a dragon again

X     X     X

Weiss died, and winter had its queen again.

X     X     X

“What have you done, father?” Winter hissed. 

The king looked back at her, and she realised for the first time that the man she had called father had died long ago, slain by pride and jealousy. “What I had to.”

“To have Weiss - your own daughter - assassinated! Have you lost your mind?” Winter reached for the sword at her side, and the royal guard seemed torn between stopping her and merely standing aside.

“I am the king!” her father bellowed. “Your sister was going to usurp me! I know what they called her! Queen of Winter,” he sneered. “Queen of nothing! I am the king, and there will be no other ruler while I still -”

He stopped there, for throughout all of Atlas, bells had begun to ring. The Grimm had come.

“We will speak of this again,” Winter growled as she turned on her heel. “Someone has to defend this kingdom.” She snarled and tossed her last words over her shoulder. “Though I wonder if it is even worth defending if its king is so craven as to murder his own daughter and then huddle inside his palace while others, braver by far, fight and die.”

X     X     X

“The outer walls have fallen!” Winter cried as she rallied what soldiers she had left. “Retreat to the inner walls! Only death awaits us here.” Beneath them, the great wall of ice shuddered, and the chunks of it ripped loose and tumbled to the ground. The howl of the storm was little more than a whimper, and Winter blinked back tears as she looked upon the end of Atlas.

A black tide of Grimm marred the snow, and vivid splashes of red marked where the kingdom’s brave defenders had fallen. Like a verminous wave, they clambered over the cracked and breaking walls, and their cries of rage and hate filled the air with a symphony of malice. In the skies, winged Grimm shrieked and bayed, no longer kept back by the tearing winds of the storm. Now and then, they dove, tearing brave soldiers from the walls or spewing vile poison upon those unlucky enough to be caught out in the open.

For ten thousand years, Atlas had stood unbroken. No longer. 

“Your Highness,” one of the soldiers said, all but dragging her clear as the wall began to collapse. “You must retreat to the palace. We cannot hold the outer walls, and the inner walls will not last much longer either. At least at the palace -”

“No!” She shook herself free of his grasp. “I am no coward. If I die, it will be on these walls defending my people. Let my father huddle in the palace. Once the walls fall, the palace will be little better than a tomb. A thousand years from now, if our people still endure, I will not have it said that I ran while my people died!”

But despite her brave words, Winter trembled. Death was close at hand now, and she could feel its icy touch upon her heart.

And then, when all seemed lost, a cry went up. A soldier on the southernmost section of the wall saw it first and then another and another, and their shouts spread over the din of battle and the wails of the dying.

“Dragon! A dragon has come!”

Winter turned her eyes to the south and saw they had spoken truly. A dragon had come, a dragon straight from the Old Days when a dragon in mortal form had founded Atlas and built the walls and birthed the storm.

Scales as white as fresh snow shone in the winter sun, and eyes like blue fire blazed with murderous intent. The dragon bellowed, and the sound of it tore the air. The dwindling storm roared in reply, and the weakening winds became a howl that threatened to wrench soldiers off the walls and tear buildings from the ground.

A wave of cold washed over them, so intense that it all but stole Winter’s breath away. Above them, the dragon opened its maw and let loose a blast of ice that would have shamed even the deepest of winters. The skies froze and the Grimm with them, and Grimm fell to shatter upon ground. With a sound like a hurricane, the dragon dove, and frost followed in its wake. The Grimm upon the walls and those pouring into the city were frozen where they stood, and the dragon rose once more.

Beneath them, the walls shook. Fresh ice restored them. Around them, the storm raged. The Grimm were slaughtered in droves as ice and hail rained down and snow swept them aside.

And then the dragon descended, and where a dragon had been, a princess now stood. 

“Weiss!” Winter cried with joy in her heart.

Weiss turned to look at her, and for a moment there was something so ancient, so unspeakably old, in her gaze that Winter could barely move. But the moment passed, and Weiss’s gaze shifted to the palace at the centre of the city.

X     X     X

Jacques trembled as he looked upon the dragon that had once been his daughter. 

“Seize her!” he ordered his royal guard.

Not one of them moved.

With each step Weiss took, the ground beneath her froze. Hoarfrost clung to the trees and the sculptures that dotted the courtyard. Gone were the mage’s robes she favoured. In their place was a mantle of frost and robes of woven snow. And upon her brow, gleaming like a star, was a crown of ice.

Weiss stopped not far from him and cast her gaze around the courtyard. One by one the royal guards knelt, not to him but to her.

“I am a dragon, father,” Weiss said, and her lips curled. “Perhaps I should thank you. A life for a life, father, isn’t that what the gods teach us? A princess died, so a dragon could be born.”

“I…”

“You know what this means, don’t you?” Weiss asked, and her smile was so cold it burned. 

He did. Atlas had been founded by a dragon, and only a dragon could truly rule it. But all the dragons were gone… until now.

“I do.”

Weiss did not move, but her shadow stirred, and the vast, presence of a dragon filled the courtyard. “Then kneel.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Weiss’s situation is somewhat different from Yang’s, which is fine. It lets her be an absolute badass.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.

You can find my original fiction on Amazon here. In fact, I’ve just released a new story, Attempted Adventuring. If you like humour, action, and adventure, be sure to check it out.