#triw:self-para

[val-entino]

the de la cruz family has breakfast together the morning after ines vera goes missing → valentino flashback self-para

Valentino yawned and stretched as he climbed out of his bed, getting dressed lazily before he drifted it out of his room and headed through the halls and down the stairs to the  kitchen, taking a seat next to his mother, Regina.

She looked up from the newspaper she was reading, and smiled fondly at him, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. She ran her fingers through his messy hair before turning back to the news. All he could make out from a glimpse at the front page was  the word ‘MISSING’ in giant, black letters.

“Anything interesting?” He asked. One of their many elves placed a plate of huevos rancheros in front of him, and he started to eat, not sparing the creature a glance as he waited for his mother to reply.

She sighed, and shut the paper, looking immensely unimpressed. “Well your cousin Ines has gone missing.”

“I knew that girl would get herself in trouble one day, with that foolish bleeding heart of hers,” Valentino’s father said, as he stepped inside the kitchen, tightening his tie. He ruffled Valentino’s hair, and then took a seat across from them, an elf placing a plate in front of him along with a glass of cafe de olla. “Then again, raised by those parents, what else could she have amounted to?”

Valentino took a sip of his aqua frescas, not particularly interested in the direction of the conversation. “Are we going to have to go visit Aunt Emilia?” He asked, sourly.

Emilia Vera, née de la Cruz, couldn’t possibly be more different than her brother, Joaquin. There was a reason they were so estranged. The only reason Joaquin hadn’t gotten rid of her entirely was because he was a man who took his blood very seriously. Intolerable or not, Emillia was still family. So by virtue of having been a de la Cruz, Emilia got to live. Valentino just hoped that didn’t mean the situation warranted a trip. His aunt had this horrid tendency to look at him with the saddest eyes. It made him want to gouge hers out. He didn’t appreciate being looked at like he was living a tragedy, thank you very much.

“Of course not,” Regina said, sliding the paper across to her husband, and stirring some sugar into her tea. “I’ll have Maritza write up a letter, and once I’ve approved it, I’ll send it over to them. We will offer them our condolences, and extend a cordial offer of assistance which I expect she’ll refuse, and we will have given them more attention than they deserve.”

Valentino couldn’t help but slump a little in relief, before he straightened his back once again.  Slouching was sloppy and unbecoming. He took another bite of his eggs and sighed. “Papa, where are you going?” He asked, noting that his father was already dressed to leave the house.

“Hunting,” he said, smiling broadly. “It’s been too long and there are no urgent matters for me to attend to for once.”

“Person or creature?” Valentino asked, laughing quietly and dodging the soft smack his mother aimed at him. He’d heard her snort at his question, though, so he knew she wasn’t really upset with him.

“Creature unfortunately. No one’s displeased me this week,” Joaquin said, winking at his son. “There’s always next week, though. But we’re going back home to Mexico, hunting Re’ems mainly.”

Before he could say anything else, his owl fluttered in through the open window and dropped a stack of letters in his lap.

He reached up and gave him an affectionate stroke. “Thank you, Luci.”

He rifled through the stack and pulled out two letters, setting the others aside to read later. They weren’t important. He tucked the one from Ahren into his pocket to read when he was alone in his room, and carefully cut open the one from Celia, skimming over the words.

“Any plans for you, mijo?” Joaquin asked him, taking another bite of his breakfast.

He hummed in acknowledgement, frowning as he read what Celia had written about her dad, and shook his head. “Probably helping mama and replying to some of these letters,” he said. “I might go for a ride if I get bored.”

Regina laughed quietly. “We all know you do not go ride horses when you sneak out to go explore Rio.”

Valentino shot her a toothy grin. “Mama, how will I know what I like if I don’t try them all?”

She reached over and pinched his cheek, shaking his head.

Joaquin snorted, but didn’t react otherwise to his words. “Well your cousin is currently occupying the rumour mill. If there’s a time for you to run wild, this is as good as any.”

Regina nodded. “As long as you’re safe and keep the upper hand in all of your little rendezvous. It’s only natural for a growing boy to have urges. It’s not like we could stop you, even if we wanted to. You’ve always been good at getting what you want.”

“Let me know if any of them put a toe out of line. I’ll arrange to have them dealt with...I can always use more fresh meat for the griffins guarding our vaults,” his father said, dryly.

Valentino had the best parents in the world. He beamed at both of them and took another sip of his drink.

His father flipped to the next page of the paper and groaned after a moment. “This says the international wizarding community is concerned about these disappearances. They’re likely going to send all the students who are fifth year and higher to study together at Hogwarts this year.”

Valentino looked up, eyes wide, feeling aghast. He didn’t want to step foot in Europe. Especially not Hogwarts. If it had to be Europe, why couldn’t they have chosen Durmstrang? “What? No! I’m not going to some disgusting school in Britain of all places. The castle’s hideous, the weather’s dreary, the staff’s incompetent and I’m sure the students are intolerable.”

Regina looked equally disgusted by the proposition.

“He’s right, Joaquin, mi amor. We cannot possibly expect him to live in those dreadful conditions. Our boy is not a pauper. He deserves better than that filthy, cursed place.”

Joaquin rubbed at his forehead, frown lines marring his normally handsome face. “As much as it pains me, we haven’t got much of a choice. Pulling him out of school, even for a year, will raise more questions that I’d rather avoid. After the incident at Ilvermorny, we can’t draw more attention to Valentino’s academic career. Mijo, we’re going to do our best to make this awful year comfortable for you though, mark my words.” He set down the paper and flicked his wrist. An elf scuttered forward, grabbed the paper and then disappeared again.

The words did nothing to make him feel any better. But he knew deep down his father was right. That didn’t mean he liked it.

“Mama, may I invite Celia over later, por favor? If we’re both being forced to spend this year at Hogwarts, I’d like to at least enjoy the remainder of the summer with my best friend and a lot of tequila.” He groused, crossing his arms. He knew he was behaving rather childishly but the fact that he had no choice in the matter irked him. He always had choices. He always got what he wanted. And now he didn’t? All because some cult was stealing losers? It wasn’t fair. He wanted his fifth year to be the best yet and it hadn’t even started yet and he hated it.

His mother reached out to rub his hand comfortingly. “How about you invite Celia over tomorrow? Today I have some...business...that I’d like your help with.”

He brightened immediately, eyes lighting up. “Hexes? Curses?”

She laughed, her eyes sparkling, and twisted her wrist, wandlessly creating a brilliant fully-bloomed flower that she tucked behind his ear. “My brilliant boy. Yes, we’re going to need a few curses. Some of the help...has been less than helpful of late. Alas, they’ve seen too much, so they have to go. I only trust my men to help me with the affairs of this household. And since your father is out socializing, it’s just you and me today. Think you’re up to the task?”

Valentino was three steps ahead of her already, thinking about the curses he was going to test out. His mother had shown her some new Caxcan magic last week and  he wondered if she’d allow him to test it out on their victims today.

Joaquin drained the last of his drink. “He’s got that look on his face. The one he gets when he’s going to make us proud. I think that’s a good an answer as any,” he said, amused. He crossed around the table and pulled Regina in, giving her a deep kiss, and then turned to give Valentino a tight hug. “Listen to your mother, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and remember, no mercy. I love you, mijo.”

“See you tonight, papa.”

Joaquin clapped him on the shoulder and left, and with that Valentino turned back to his mother, an eager look on his face.

“Lead the way, mama.”

[championsasha]

task one, part two (aka Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day)

Alexander’s knuckles were white around his wand and he took cautious and limping steps forward, unsure if the animals surrounding him would attack if he disturbed their peace even if he wasn’t going for any of their captives. 

He glanced back at the centaurs, but their faces were unreadable and not much help either. Part of him wondered if they were enjoying watching him squirm. 

He took a deep breath and squared his jaw, turning back to the scene in front of him, his gaze moving from one captive to the next. He could do this. The pressure weighed on him, knowing that if he picked wrong he could be responsible for people possibly dying. 

He dismissed Ambrose immediately. What could the other champion possibly have to do with any of his teammates? Still, he looked in bad shape but Alexander was not in the mood to tangle with an acromantula for someone that wasn’t even going to get him anywhere.The girl next to him was unfamiliar to him, so he put her in the back of his mind as well, less conflicted about his choice as she seemed to be okay. The seer boy from Imperial gave him pause but he put him on the back-burner as well. He didn’t seem particularly hurt either. 

Sasha winced when he got a full glimpse of Min’s injury, his own leg giving what felt like a throb in sympathy and he looked from it, to the Nundu guarding it, and then back to the boy, and then groaned. He vaguely remembered reading somewhere that the beasts were deadly poisonous. Min was...probably someone he was going to have to get out of there, much to his dismay. Why couldn’t he have gotten stuck with one of the uninjured captives? Min and Jinsun had been almost disgustingly cutesy at the ball but Alexander remembered hearing about how he’d also openly been kissing Jaegyun in the great hall during one of their lockdowns. He rubbed at his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. (Then again that might’ve been the poison still trying to work its way out of his system.) Of course he’d be the one stuck with the polyamourous teammates. 

Jaegyun looked pretty bad too, blood steadily trickling down his leg. A nundu and a dragon. He grimaced. If he made it out of the forest with all three of them in more-or-less one piece, he will have pulled off a miracle. He let himself look away from Jaegyun and Min and took a cursory glance at the other three captives, but he couldn’t fathom why or how either of his teammates would know or care about James Potter. Femi, he vaguely remembered was Fred’s date, so he dismissed her also. And while the blond Durmstrang boy looked  to be  in awful shape, and Sasha felt for him, he really did, he turned away from him too. He only had two arms. Even in the best of circumstances he’d have no way of getting three people out of the forest and these circumstances were….not the best. So they were back to Jaegyun and Min. They both made sense for Sun, but only Jaegyun made any sense for Daehyun. They’d been dates after all. He figured that was the best way to go if he didn’t want his brain to explode from trying to parse through their convoluted relationships. “Yule ball dates,” he murmured aloud, feeling reasonably confident in his choices. Sun and Min, and Daehyun and Jaegyun. It was the only possibility that made a lick of sense.

He sucked in a deep breath. Time to face the beast. Or beasts, as it were.

He figured he would tackle the dragon first. He felt more confident about it than the nundu and if he at least succeeded there, he will have gotten one person out. Another wave of dizziness hit him, but he pushed it aside, his own wellbeing was secondary right now to the wellbeing of the captives. They’d never asked for this. He had. The dragon wasn’t much taller than him, and it didn’t look too aggressive, it’s pupilless, multicoloured eyes blinking slowly at him. He knew the chances of it actually stunning the dragon were low, but he figured he’d try a stunner and hope that it would at least slow the beast down.

The red jet of light did not, in fact, slow the beast down. It froze one of its legged which only served to aggravate it and before he could react, a jet of fire hit him square in the shoulder, licking down his side too. He gasped, choking out a whimper and bit down on his lip, the searing pain fading somewhat into a dull numbness that was somehow even worse. He was afraid to look at his shoulder but he knew he couldn’t just wait. He cast a quick water-summoning charm to douse the leftover flames, and squeezed his eyes shut.

When Sasha was 12, he’d accidentally sliced his palm open on some shears. The cut had been deep, but his Aunt Yelena had knelt next to him, taken him by his shoulders and told him to look into her eyes and remember that all pain was temporary. That what he was feeling in that moment, no matter how painful and raw, would subside. He just had to push through it.

All pain is temporary.

He gritted his teeth again and then looked back up, pushing through the searing pain of his shoulder, the scratchiness in his throat, and the ache in his ankle. He was going to get out of here and he was going to get Min and Jaegyun out of here too, and he was going to get back home to Sofiya and Nikita and Dmitry. He couldn’t let them down. They’d been let down too much already.

He held his wand out, pointing it at the dragon, and murmured the incantation for enchanted sleep, holding his breath and hoping for the best. The opaleye swayed, taking a step back and Sasha swore under his breath when its mass hit Jaegyun’s already injured leg. 

Merlin, this better do it or he’d have to start thinking about ways to kill the beast. “Flipendo duo,” he said, staggering forward towards the animal and holding his breath. His spell hit the dragon in the chest and it was flung backwards and away from both him and the still-unconscious boy. Alexander paused for a moment, but it seemed to be asleep so he limped over to the post and cast a gripping charm on it, before sticking his wand between his teeth, before jumping up, using the newfound grip to climb up the post. He’d just get the necklace on the other boy, cast a cushioning charm, and then undo his ropes and everything would be fine.

Once he’d reached Jaegyun, he looped Daehyun’s necklace around his neck, but before he could even think about casting a cushioning charm, the ropes around the boy snapped off and he plummeted to the ground. “дерьмо, дерьмо, дерьмо,” he said, horrified. He was going to die. Even if he made it out of here alive his teammates were going to kill him. He clambered back down, looking uneasily from Jaegyun to the dragon. He grabbed his wand from the ground next to him and cast a quick and messy ferula. It wouldn’t do much, but it would hopefully dull the boy’s pain a little. “I - am so sorry and if we get out of here I’ll get you a gift basket or something, and - and a lot of chocolate,” he muttered, scooping the boy up, and gripping his wand tightly in his other hand. He sucked in another breath, vision going black for a second from the pain before he managed to reel himself in. 

The dragon had managed to wake up and shake off most of the effects of his spells. Sasha really did not want to get eaten after all of this. He looked around, his heartbeat thudding loudly in his ears, and pointed his wand at two rocks near the dragon, muttering under his breath. He nearly sagged in relief when they turned into sheep like he’d hoped, and he started to hobble backwards, keeping his eyes on the dragon as he tried to get Jaegyun out of the clearing as quickly as he could. Luckily the opaleye seemed preoccupied, tearing into the sheep with fervour. A bought of nausea hit him and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the visual of what he could’ve been if the dragon had decided it wanted him instead of the sheep, or because of the poison and pain twisting together within him. Once he’d finally gotten Jaegyun into the safe zone, he gently deposited him onto the ground. He grimaced, giving him a once-over. At least he wasn’t responsible for the boy’s gnarly scar. Someone else got to have that on their conscience much to his relief. “Okay...wait here, please don’t die,” he muttered.

He took a quick breath of air, trying to gather his wits back, and then turned around, heading back into the clearing and towards Min and the nundu that was still guarding him, ever faithfully.

“Okay big guy....I know it’s not fair that you’re here...you probably want to be home just as much as I do....so let’s try not to kill each other, yeah?” He said, hesitantly approaching the beast. It blinked at him with intelligent eyes, but didn’t move either, and so Alexander sighed, limping forward and pointing his wand at it. “Flipendo duo,” he said, and before the animal could recover from being thrown back he yelled, “Immobulus,” the nundu froze where it was, trying to get back on it’s feet, and Sasha sighed in relief, casting another gripping charm on the post and started to climb. Remembering the horrifying feeling of watching Jaegyun plummet to the ground, he cast a cushioning charm preemptively this time, before looping Jinsun’s necklace around Min’s neck. 

He scaled back down the post, muttering frantic apologies under his breath at Min. He would’ve liked to have cast another ferula, like he had with Jaegyun, but the nundu had already managed to shake off his spells, stalking towards them and looking quite like he wanted to chomp on them both. “трахать это,” he practically whimpered, hoisting Min up and leaning him into him, unable to carry him because he needed his wand arm free. He cast a firestorm charm, directing the loop of fire towards the nundu. It couldn’t possibly want them dead badly enough to burn itself right? He bit down on his lip, hard enough to break the skin. Min’s hand was digging into his burned arm and the pain was like fire burning through him as they stumbled back towards the safe zone. His concentration went shaky for a moment, long enough for the firestorm to waver and give the nundu a chance to roar at both of them, it’s poisonous breath far away but still close enough to give them both a good breath of it. He shuddered. How many damn times was he going to get poisoned today? He was going to be radioactive at this rate. The sudden dizziness that hit him made his firestorm shake once more, and he managed to accidentally send a rope of it across him and Min, burning them both. He gasped, and let the spell drop dissipate entirely, dragging Min into the safe zone and rolling him over next to Jaegyun before collapsing down himself.

The mix of snow and dirt under him felt soothing under his burning and exhausted body, and he felt his eyes flutter. He’d done it. Badly maybe. But they were all breathing. He couldn’t have expected more. He could finally rest. With that thought on his mind, the pain and poison finally overcame him and his vision went black.

[val-entino]

in all chaos, there is calculation → valentino flashback self-para

Valentino had grown tired of playing with his toys. His babysitter, Margarita, had fallen asleep in one corner of his room and even though Valentino knew he was supposed to stay with her, he wanted to go find his parents. Besides, he’d been in Margarita’s care for days. He didn’t know what his parents were doing that had them so busy elsewhere in their home but he figured, this way Margarita could get some sleep and he could go say hello to them. There was no use in waking her, after all. He pushed her dark curls out of her face and pulled a blanket off his bed and onto her before inching towards the exit of his room, careful not to make any noise.

He pushed the door open and wandered out, slowly making his way through the endlessly long, empty hallways of their mansion, trying to pinpoint where his mother and father were. He heard a loud, pained groan and froze, tilting his head. It sounded like it was coming from downstairs. He leaned over the bannister and looked down but he couldn’t see anything so he went to the stairs and made his way down carefully, listening for more.

“I told you not to try and mess with me, Carlos.” That was his father’s voice. Valentino heard a crack, and winced, wondering what it was. Part of him told him to turn back but...he was curious now. He stopped in front of the imposing door of his father’s study, and listened, pressing his ear against the door. All he could really hear were the muffled noise of what sounded like crying and begging. Frustrated with his lack of information, he turned the door knob and stepped in.

He froze suddenly at the scene in front of him. There were three men on their knees in front of his father and two of his associates, all of them shirtless and steadily bleeding. A woman and two children were huddled in the corner of the room, crying. His mother was sitting on his father’s desk, a glass of wine in her hand, watching. But like everyone else in the room, her sharp eyes were now on Valentino.

“Mijo, what are you doing here?” His father asked.

“I -- Margarita fell asleep and I was bored. I missed you, papi,” he said, trying not to look at the men on their knees. The thick, iron scent of blood was heavy in the air and it was starting to make him feel nauseous. 

“I always knew that girl was lazy,” his mother commented dryly, setting her glass down. “No matter, we will find another babysitter for you, mi amor.”

He stole another glance at the men. One of their faces was so mangled Valentino struggled to imagine what it had looked like before.

“What’s going on? Who are these people?” He asked, quietly.

“They are people that break deals, chiquito. People that took a deal made in trust and good faith and spit on it. People who fail us. They are people that we do not give second chances to,” his father said smoothly.

“Joaquin,” his mother cut in. “He’s five.”

“No, Regina, he’s old enough to know. He’s seen it now. There is no turning back,” his father said firmly. “Valentino, come here.”

Valentino came.

“Look at them. Their tears? Their begging? Meaningless. Do you hear me? They are ants under your boot. Vermin to be squashed. When you deal with your lessers and they squander that opportunity, do not give them the chance to do it again,” he said, tilting Valentino’s chin up so he was staring straight at the man in the middle. “You understand?”

He was close enough now to see him well. His eyes were hazel and tearful and he was muttering ‘lo siento’ over and over under his breath as if that would somehow change his father’s mind. But Valentino nodded. He understood.

“What...are you going to do to them, papa?”

“Well I have been teaching them a lesson. But when I’m done, I will kill them. Always tie up loose ends, mijo. Otherwise they’ll come back to bite you.”

His father made a circular motion with his wrist and the man on the left let out a pained cry, twin slashes appearing on his already marred torso. Valentino cringed. His father, sharp as a fox, noticed.

“Do not feel bad for them, Valentino. They are nothing. The people you will meet in your life from this moment on are insignificant. They are like flies. Do you pity a mosquito when you swat it? No? Then do not pity them either. They get what is coming to them for their insolence, for their failure, for their disrespect.”

His mother slid off his father’s desk and came over, the sound of her heels clicking on the floor felt deadly. She kneeled in front of him.

“We’ve talked about the circle of life, Val, mi amor. The strong devour the weak. That is how the world has always been and how it will always be. We are the apex predators of this life cycle, mi hijo. To be at the top, you must fight for it. That means no second-guessing yourself.”

One of his father’s associates coughed in the corner. “I don’t mean to interrupt, sir. But we must hurry if we want to deal with the clean up tonight. The sun will start to rise soon.”

His father sent the man a sharp look, but relented nonetheless. “Very well. This nonsense has gone on long enough.”

His mother stood up again, moving behind him and resting a comforting hand on Valentino’s shoulder. He leaned into it, needing her there to ground him. Instead she gently nudged him forward, towards his father.

His father kneeled next to him, wand out, and wrapped Valentino’s small hand around it.

“You know about the Unforgiveables, yes? Your tutors have told you?” His father questioned.

“Yes, but...don’t those send you to prison?” He whispered.

“People like us do not go to prison, querido,” his mother said. He couldn’t see her but he could practically hear the smirk on her face and the amused lilt in her voice, as if the mere suggestion was funny to her.

“I don’t expect you to get it so young, mijo. But I want you to try. Feel the desire in every corner of your body, and focus. Repeat after me, avada kedavra,” his father said.

Valentino could feel his hand shaking. He hated it. He hated the fear. He didn’t want to disappoint his parents. More than anything he wanted to be as great as they believed him to be.

He concentrated, furrowing his brow and looking at the man in front of him. He was shaking pathetically, still trying to beg his way out of his death. Valentino closed his eyes and pictured him dead on the floor, no more whimpering, no more bleeding, just achingly still and silent.

“Avada kedavra.”

Nothing happened, but his father didn’t seem disappointed. If anything, he seemed proud that Valentino had even tried.

“You’ll get it one day. No need to fret. We can do it together.”

His father slid his hand up to wrap around Valentino’s. He directed his wand to the centre of the middle man’s chest. There was no shaking in his father’s hand and no hesitation in his voice when he spoke again.

“Avada kedavra.”

The ensuing jet of green light was so bright, it hurt Valentino’s eyes, but he couldn’t look away, watching in horrified fascination as the man in front of them went still and toppled, slumping forward. He’d been so alive only moments earlier, and now, with a few powerful words from his father, it was like he’d never been alive at all. Val wondered what it felt like, having done that.

His father made quick work of the other two men, and then redirected his wand to the woman and two children in the corner. The youngest girl looked around his age, her face blotchy and red from all her crying. One of her braids had come loose, going frizzy around her shoulders.

“Papa...they’re...they’re just kids,” he said, weakly.

It was his mother who answered him. “They’re not kids anymore, Valentino. They’re evidence. De la Cruzes do not leave behind evidence. It is sloppy and foolish. We are not foolish. Always clean up after yourself.”

“Yes, mama.”

His father smiled, and pressed a kiss to his head, before turning back to the crying family in the corner. Three more quick curses and they felt silent as well.

Valentino couldn’t look away from the little girl. Her eyes were so wide and empty.

His father’s associates broke his line of sight when they stepped in. Valentino wasn’t sure what they were going to do with all six bodies but...he heard them say the words “accident” a few times, and decided he was better off not knowing.

“Come, mi amor. Let us go get some ice cream and clean up. There’s blood on your beautiful new shoes, and we can’t have that,” his mother said, taking his hand and directing him out of the room. He didn’t look back.

He never did see Margarita again after that either.