#ugh on one hand i wanna stay awhile. at least until the house is done and I know my parents are fine. i dont want to go

[ashorterurl]

I was in my bed trying to get up and make tomorrow's lunch and I completely involuntarily mumbled 'I wanna go home' and I think that was enough for me to understand my own current psyche

[dumdumsun]

The Loveliest Lies of All

A/N: Accidentally made this the longest chapter in the entire story. Oops ❤️

Warnings: slight violence

Word Count: 5282

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Chapter Three: Schooltown Follies

“I don’t know who she is or how she is, or when or why she is

But as for where she is, she is where we will go

To Adelaide, to Adelaide

Come on and join the Adelaide Parade-”

“No-”

“Adelaide, to Adelaide

Let’s go to Adelaide’s house…”

Greg’s joyful marching melted into a simple walk at the flat ending of his song, glancing up at Scout with raised brows. “I need to fix that last part, but that’s the idea.”

“Yeah, of course.” Scout chuckled.

“So,” He pointed to each person as he addressed them. “Beatrice, you sing the high part. Wirt, you sing the really high part.”

Wirt raised a brow. “What?”

“And Scout will direct us.”

Scout hummed with squinted eyes. “Conduct.”

“Scout will conduct us. And-”

Beatrice sighed irritably, causing Scout to frown in confusion. “No one is singing anything anymore. And Wirt, keep moving.”

The group turned to said teen, who had stopped a few paces away to kneel down, tying the laces of his mismatched shoes. “But I-I have to- ugh. Alright…” He stood to his feet defeatedly and joined them again.

“But we have to do something fun.” Greg insisted.

“You know, we really don’t,” Beatrice shrugged. “We can just keep walking silently, you know? And- ugh. Wirt, let’s go! Come on!”

Wirt stood to his feet again. “Sorry, sorry!”

Scout’s irritation towards their winged companion only seemed to grow the more she watched Beatrice push her friends around. Personally, she was not a fan of Debby Downers, and Beatrice happened to be the downest Debby she’d ever met in a short amount of time. Greg tried to insist on the group having fun on their journey yet again, but the bird cut him off. “Greg, don’t you wanna be more like your brother? Just always doing what you’re told-”

“Huh-”

“Just a pathetic pushover who relies on others to make all his decisions?”

“Hey! What?! I’m not a pushover.”

“Hold on, Wirt. Let me get to my point.”

Wirt scoffed, unsuspecting. “Fine.”

“See, Greg? No willpower whatsoever.”

Embarrassed to have been so gullible, Wirt turned forward with a huff. Scout sighed and moved closer to the boy’s side. “Greg, don’t listen to her. I think it’s important you have fun on this journey,” Her eyes then snapped up to Beatrice. “And you shouldn’t discourage a child like that.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “He needs to learn from a young age that he can’t be like… this forever.”

“Like what? Like a normal, sweet, loving kid? A-And what do you even know about kids, huh?”

“What do you know about kids?”

“I know enough.” Scout crossed her arms and turned her head forward.

Sighing, Beatrice flew to the boy’s other side. “The world is a miserable place, Greg. I know it doesn’t sound fun, but life isn’t fun.”

Exhaling deeply, Greg frowned sadly. “Then I’ll do what I need to do, I guess…”

As Beatrice continued on whatever negativities she had focused so intently on, Scout felt a tug at her jacket. Glancing down, she saw Greg standing still, holding the tea kettle on his head, his frog lounging on top. Slowing her pace to a stop, she quietly joined him. “Greg? What’s wrong, bud?”

He grinned and took one hand off his “hat”, slipping his fingers between hers and leading them through an opening within the woods. “We need to do our part to make the world a better place!”

“We couldn’t have at least told Wirt? He’ll be worried about you.” She glanced over her shoulder, Wirt’s figure growing smaller the farther they ran. Greg hummed before shrugging.

“Wirt trusts you, right? He knows we’re in the best hands in the whole world.”

“Oh? You mean these hands?!” Scout mischievously grinned and scooped him into her arms, huffing as she struggled to keep the giggling boy up. Perhaps she had underestimated his weight. It had been awhile since she’d carried him.

Greg cackled, holding his frog close to his chest before his eyes caught something in the distance. “Whoa! What’s that?” He pointed forward. Scout’s laughter quieted as they reached a clearing. Stepping out of the shadowed wood, she moved closer to the small red house, a giant bell hanging above it to alert those around of the time.

“Ah, this, Greg, is a schoolhouse. The oldest of these date back to-”

“School?!” He scoffed. “Not today!”

Scout chuckled and set him down on his feet. “Well, I think we should check it out. If you hate school that much, go find a log to sit on and wait for me.”

“Yes, sir!”

He saluted before scampering off. She watched him for just a second to make sure he hadn’t tripped and fallen before turning back to the schoolhouse. From where they had just come from, she could hear Wirt’s calls. “Greg! Scout! Greg?!”

“Over here!” She called back, smiling softly as he and Beatrice emerged from the darkness. She pointed off to the side as they approached her. “Hey, so Greg went that way to find a place to wait. He’ll be fine. But I do wanna check out this place. You know, maybe find someone else to help us sooner than some rando lady with supposed powers?”

Scout ignored the glare Beatrice sent her way. Wirt only blinked at her, so she continued. “Anyway, we only need one person to go in. Which one of us should go inside and who should stay with Greg?”

Yet again, she received no response, just a blank stare from her friend. Glancing between him and the bird, the latter only shrugging, Scout rapidly blinked. “What is this? Why are you staring at me like that? Is this a game?”

…..

“Okay, Greg will be fine. Let’s both go.” She threw her hands up in the air before spinning on her heel and leading them up to the schoolhouse. “But you’re gonna need to talk soon.”

As if that had flipped a switch, Wirt nodded and strode to her side. “Right. Okay.”

Scout widened her eyes at him as they stood in the opened doorway of the house. Tearing her gaze from him, she settled it on the room inside. Standing in front of a blackboard decorated with delicate and cursive calligraphy was presumably the teacher, her cheeks red and rosy and the nest of chocolate brown hair was put into a bun at the top of her head. She looked something straight out of a children’s book. Before her was the… class.

They were animals. Literal animals in school clothes. Cats, bunnies, pigs, dogs, the likes, all dressed as 1800’s school students. In fact, Scout observed, every stop they made felt as if they had travelled two hundred years back. The attire, the lack of technology, the use of language. It was all a dead giveaway.

“Excuse me?” The teacher softly called. “Please, take your seat, children. You’re late. You know the rules, ‘Once the bell has rung, class has begun’.” She gestured to the saying on the board.

Beatrice snickered. “Oh, sorry, everybody. Sorry. No, this boy doesn’t have a brain. He can’t learn anything. Let’s go, Wirt. Come on! Here, boy!” She called and whistled to Wirt as if he were a dog. Scout fumed at the nerve of this bird, opening her mouth to tell her off before Wirt spoke up for himself.

“What? Did you say something? I can’t hear you because I’m too busy doing what I’m told.” He shrugged before walking into the room, taking a seat at one of the desks.

“Atta boy, Wirt.” Scout chuckled and took the seat beside him.

Beatrice hurriedly flew over to him. “What? What are you- No, no. Let’s go.”

“Oh, no. See, I’m a pushover, remember? I have to do what she tells me to do.” He shrugged. Beatrice widened her eyes and turned to Scout.

“Hello?! Knock some sense into his conehead!”

Scout quietly shushed her, her amused smile directed forward at the blackboard. “I’m trying to focus on class.”

“Wirt, your brother could be… in trouble somewhere!”

Tapping on the window just beside Wirt gained the trio’s attention. Greg stood outside, as happy as can be, waving at them with a smile. Then, in a mocking manner, he pointed to each “student” in the room before giving a thumbs-down. Scout lovingly shook her head as he giddily ran after his croaking frog, cheering and whooping as he went. Beatrice let out a deep and long sigh. “Bluebirds have a short lifespan. You three are literally killing me every moment I’m forced to spend with you.”

Scout quietly laughed when Wirt simply let out an “oh”.

“Young man,” The teacher sternly started. “I will not stand for such nonsense in my class room,” A shadow casted over her face as her expression turned gloomy. “I got enough nonsense from that no good, two-timing, low-down handsome man of mine! Oh, Jimmy Brown, why did you have to leave me so-”

Wirt and Scout glanced at each other as if to ask if this were actually happening.

“-And now with my father threatening to close the school and that wild gorilla on the loose, why, Jimmy, I just have one thing to say…”

What they hadn’t expected was for her to turn around with a bright smile and begin singing,

“‘A’ is for the apple that he gave to me, but I found a worm inside.”

Beatrice didn’t bother lowering her voice, “Ouf, that lady’s got some baggage.”

“What’s that?” The woman abruptly stopped her singing and pointed to a slim and tall box with one small opening in the corner of the room. “Young man, go to the dunce box!”

“Oh,” Wirt glanced down before standing to his feet. “Sure, okay! Sure!”

Scout watched her friend hum to himself as he situated himself into the box, closing the door to seal himself in. She furrowed her brows as Beatrice facepalmed. “And you’re not gonna stop him?!”

“No, he can do what he wants,” Scout shrugged. “This lady’s no help, anyway, so I’ll wait until he’s done here.”

“Now, where were we? Oh, yes- ‘G’ is for the gentleman I thought he was, when he first said ‘hi’-”

The young girl stood from the desk. “I’ll just wait outside. Tell me when the dunce is released or whatever.”

“Wait!” The bluebird called out. “Don’t leave me here with him!”

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

Greg and his frog found themselves amongst a racoon, a possum and a deer, all dressed in tattered clothing. Some of them were missing buttons, they had badly stitched patches, and their clothing was either baggy or too tight on them. They looked the part of unschooled street rats -- street… animals, and Greg had befriended them almost immediately. Currently, they were all sitting on a log, just as Scout had asked of him, as the boy rambled on and on to the verbally unresponsive animals. “So, my theory is hot dogs are not actually dogs, regardless of what they teach you in school. But you guys don’t go to school, huh? I’m gonna stick with you guys.” He whispered, laughing when his racoon friend picked up a black turtle and chucked it into the nearby pond.

“Hey, you found a log!” The voice of Scout caused Greg to perk up and crane his neck. The two shared a grin as she joined the group on the log, hesitating slightly upon noticing the company. “Who… are these guys?”

“Scout! These are my new friends!” The boy turned to the animals and gestured to her. “Gentlemen, this is Scout. She’s probably the smartest person in the world. Who needs school when you have Scout, huh?”

She snorted and set a hand atop his hat. “What is this, the Anti-School Club?”

“Huh… Yeah! That’s a great club name! Good job, Scout! And as founder of the ASC, I elect you president.”

“What an honor.”

“So, Ms President, what is your first order of business?”

Scout hummed in thought as she kicked her feet back and forth, tilting her head up to the bright blue sky. “Well, Ms Langtree is still singing her sorrows away, and Wirt is still being a dunce… So, I guess we just kill some time until he’s done.”

Greg nodded in satisfaction and snapped his fingers. “Perfect. And I know just the way to spend our killing time,” He hopped off of the log with a smile. “We play ‘Two Old Cat’! Me and Scout came up with it last year. It’s the best game ever created! Do you guys know how to play ‘Two Old Cat’?”

When the raccoon only blinked in response, Greg pulled Scout with him to a bush. “It’s fun. We’ll show you.”

“Be careful.” She warned and crouched down to help him carefully pull out a scraggly brown cat, surely blind in one eye. It meowed as the boy gently petted its dirty fur. Standing straight, she walked over to a tree and leaned against it to rest her throbbing leg.

A weak meow had her turning her head in the direction of the deer that had just picked up another cat. This one wore reading glasses and clutched a small walking cane in one of its paws. Greg frowned at this. “Wait. No. I think that cat is too old. What do you think, Scout?”

“Hm… Yeah, he’s too old. But we should at least feed the poor thing-”

“Hey! I think there’s one behind you!”

Scout twisted her body to peer into a bush behind her. She spotted a heap of dark black fur that rose and fell with raspy breathing. A pit formed in her stomach as she cautiously reached her hand into the bush. Just as her fingertips brushed the fur, the figure shot up to reveal itself as a gorilla. A pathetic roar sounded past its sharp teeth, yellow eyes staring into hers. Scout frightfully screamed and scrambled to her feet.

“Gorilla!” Greg waved his arms before he was being pushed forward by his friend.

“Go! Run!” She ordered, quickly leading Greg and the animals away from the gorilla that now began to chase them. “Keep going this way! I’ll distract it!”

Greg gasped. “Scout, no-”

“Just go! Go!”

The small group ran towards the schoolhouse, Scout huffing out a breath before turning back to the incoming gorilla. “Hey, ya big dummy! Come and get me!” She waved her arms wildly, darting off in the opposite direction of the schoolhouse. The gorilla growled quizzically before rushing after her. Despite the hot pain in her thigh, spreading past her knee, Scout managed to reach a tree, wrapping her arms and legs around it. She used her feet to hoist herself up, grabbing onto branches to pull her body farther up the tree. She cried out in shock when she felt a tug at her shoe.

Whipping her head around, she saw the gorilla trying to pull her off. Using her free leg, the injured one, she brought her knee close and then kicked her foot out, slamming it into the gorilla’s head and causing him to stumble back.

The tolling of a bell rang from above. Scout sat upon one of the branches and tilted her chin up to see Greg and the animals in the bell tower, swaying back and forth on the bell they desperately clung to. Her heart dropped at the sight. “What the- Greg! Get down from there now! S-Safely! Get down safely right now!”

Noticing the bell tower gang, the gorilla roared again and charged its way in their direction.

“No!” Scout wailed, quietly cursing to herself as she attempted to climb down the tree. Her uninjured leg slipped off the branch, eliciting a yelp from her as she clung to the wood, since her life quite possibly depended on it. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”

“Scout!” She heard Greg call. Tilting her head back, her upside-down vision saw the gorilla chasing them towards the tree she dangled from. “We’re here! We’re here!”

“What the heck is even going on?!” She shouted as the gorilla rounded the tree over and over in the chase. Scout closed her eyes and inwardly wondered for a second if she were living in a cartoon at this point. Her body instinctively flinched when she felt scratching at her shin. It was the possum, holding a large, thick stick in his tiny hands. “Uh- hey. C-Can you help me?”

He blinked and stood on his hind legs, demonstrating a few swings with the stick before pointing down to the gorilla below them. Her eyes widened in realization. “O-Oh, you want me to knock him out?”

He nodded.

“Okay.” She let him slip the stick into one of her hands. Very quietly muttering to herself, she allowed her arm to leave the branch and dangle just above the gorilla’s head. Each time it ran near her, she would take a swing, but miserably miss just by an inch. Swing after swing, she let out little grunts and curses when she missed.

Sighing irritably, she moved her eyes up to the possum, who stared at her in exasperation. As if the solution were obvious, it used both its hands to demonstrate a very harsh swing, stumbling around to mock the gorilla. Inhaling deeply, she reared her arm towards her chest before bringing down the branch and connecting it with the gorilla’s head.

“Aah!” He groaned before falling to the ground, unmoving. Greg peeked from behind the tree and grinned up at her.

“Scout! You did it!”

She blinked. “I did… Hey! I did it! I did it- Aah!” She cried out when the branch broke from the tree, Scout letting go out of shock and barreling to the ground. When she landed on her back, the air was knocked out of her, forcing a choked gasp from her chest. She groaned in pain and rolled onto her side, her entire body pulsing in pain. She could hardly hear the hurried footsteps over the ringing in her head.

“Are you okay?! Scout?! Did you knock out all your memories and give yourself amnesia?!”

“Ugh… W-What…?” She rasped and let Greg help her stand. He watched carefully as she stumbled forward, holding onto the tree for support.

“Come on,” He put a hand on her back and handed the top hat to her. “We gotta go.”

After leading the group into the school and past Ms Langtree to the dining area, Greg slowly sat Scout at the picnic table beside Wirt. The teen frowned worriedly at his friend as she groaned. “Greg? What happened to Scout?”

The boy peered up at his brother. “She fell out of a tree after knocking out the gorilla.”

“She what?!”

“Are you okay?!” Beatrice widened her eyes.

“She’s like a superhero. But now she needs rest. I think she might have gotten amnesia. Oh! That means we need to remind her of all our good times, Wirt! Good times!”

Wirt gingerly touched the back of her head, flinching when she hissed in pain. “I-I-I-I’m sorry. D-Does it hurt? I mean- I mean… uh-”

“I’m okay,” She whispered, placing her top hat on her head. “I think I just need to rest…”

“Yeah! Get your energy! You’re gonna need a lot of it for the trip down memory lane!” Greg scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes and shoveled it into her mouth. Scout cringed at the bland tastelessness of it and took a sip of water. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s very bland. No taste.”

Greg hummed and assessed the room around him, watching the dismal and cheerless expressions of the animal students as they brooded over their plates of potatoes. He gasped when his eyes caught an object on the piano Ms Langtree currently played a melancholy tune on, no doubt feeding into the somber mood.

Wirt hardly noticed his brother shuffle away from the table as he picked up his spoon. “It can’t be that bland, can it?”

“Hey, nobody ordered you to eat yet.” Beatrice cut in.

“Yeah, but… Hm.”

Scout raised a brow at the pair. “Wirt, eat your bland potatoes.”

He sent a grateful smile her way. “Sure.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun…” She mumbled, scrunching up her beak at the forced smile Scout gave her. The trio jumped at the sound of wild, clashing, tuneless notes on the piano coming from Greg. Ms Langtree softly smiled and took over, playing a much more pleasant swing song. Greg’s face dropped his smile for a beat before giving a thumbs-up and climbing on a chair to grab the container of molasses. Bouncing to the beat of the song, he began to sing.

“Oh, potatoes and molasses

If you want some, oh just ask us

They’re warm and soft like puppies and socks

Filled with cream and candy rocks!”

As he sang, he pranced around the room, adding just a bit of molasses to each plate to add a bit more cheer to everyone’s hearts.

“Oh, potatoes and molasses

They’re so much sweeter than algebra class

If your stomach is grumblin’ and your mouth starts mumblin’

There’s only one thing to keep your brain from crumblin’!

Oh, potatoes and molasses

If you can’t see ‘em, put on your glasses

They’re shiny and large like a fisherman’s barge

You know you eat enough when you start seein’ stars!”

Absentmindedly, Scout tapped her spoon against her glass to the beat of the song. A wide smile spread across her face when she noticed Wirt doing the same. And as if on cue, the animals all joined in the song with their instruments. The sight and sound of this made Scout feel at home. Music was her life and band was a great part of it.

“Oh, potatoes and molasses

It’s the only thing left on your task list

They’re short and stout to make everyone shout

For potatoes and molasses!

For potatoes and-”

“That’s enough!”

The door to the dining area burst open along with the booming voice. In the doorway was a tall figure, decked out in a large black trench coat and top hat, much shinier than Scout’s. His pale skin complexion stood out against his all-black attire. His greying hair peeked from under his hat, his dark eyes were hidden behind his circular prescription glasses, and his thick lips were curled into an upset frown. “Is this what I’ve been paying for?!”

“Hey!” Greg defended from where he stood on the table. “We just wanted to have a little fun.”

“I didn’t invest in this school to have fun,” He then marched over to Ms Langtree, who cowered under his scorn. “I thought we were trying to do important work here, teaching animals to count and spell.”

“We are!” Ms Langtree whined. “Oh, please, Father, don’t close the school! It won’t happen again!”

But he only walked past her. “I should say it won’t,” As he passed the animals, he snatched their instruments from them, definitely not forgetting to send a glare towards the three human children. “This… this… and this are all coming with me. Now send them to bed!”

“You heard father,” Ms Langtree sadly motioned to another room. “Off to bed with you.”

In a single-file line, the children, human and animal, trudged into the room filled with well-made beds, one for three students maximum. On the way, they were each given a nightgown, Scout choosing to just throw hers on over her clothes along with her friends. “Wirt,” She whispered. “Are we seriously doing this?”

“Whatever you want, Scout. D-Don’t you need rest anyway? You look like you hit your head pretty hard.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” She climbed into bed with Greg, his frog nestling under the blanket between them. Scout took their hats off and set them off to the side, frowning at the boy’s pout. “What’s on your mind, Gregory?”

Said boy tore his eyes away from the saddened animal folk. “I just wanted to have fun, change the world, and make it a better place.”

“Who says you didn’t?” She hummed and began tucking him in.

“You probably forgot because of your amnesia. I just made everything worse, Scout. Look at them…”

Scout glanced over her shoulder at the animals who were now sniffling and sighing to themselves. Exhaling through her nose, she turned back to the boy. “You know, changing the world isn’t easy, Greg. And you won’t get it right the first time. But you know what?” She gently pressed her lips to his forehead. “You change my world for the better everyday.”

“Really?”

“Really, really.”

“So, you remembered our good times! You’re cured!”

From between them, the frog croaked, causing the two to giggle. From the bed beside them, Wirt softly smiled at the interaction, his heart warming as well as his cheeks. Beatrice watched him with narrowed eyes. “Okay, Wirt, I’ll admit it. You seem like a pushover, but you’re not.”

“Oh?” He shifted his gaze to her.

“Deep down in your heart… you’re a stubborn jerk! When are you gonna give this up?!”

Wirt stared forward with a determined look. “Maybe never. Maybe I’ll never give this up.”

Greg hummed before pushing the blanket off of he and Scout, the girl quietly groaning to herself. “Yeah! Wirt’s right! Never give up!” He cheered before grabbing his sheets and tying the ends together, throwing them out the window. “C’mon! Let’s go save the day!”

“Okay, if you say so,” Wirt left his bed, halting at his friend, who painfully sat up and turned to assist Greg. “W-Wait, w-what about Scout?”

Her head slowly turned to him. “What about me?”

“You’re hurt.”

“You know what? I order you to stop being such a Worry Wirt.” She playfully rolled her eyes. He sputtered for a second before giving in and following her out of the window.

After discarding their nightgowns, the gang wandered the blackened wood, the hooting of an owl being their only source of sound beside the three sets of feet shifting through the grass. Scout wrapped her arms around her sore body for warmth. From beside her, she felt Wirt fix her hat that had been leaning atop her head. She glanced at him with a thankful smile, sending heat to his cheeks and then to hers in turn. Clearing his throat, Wirt looked to his brother. “So, what’s the plan, Greg?”

“Plan?”

Scout tilted her head. “Yeah. You need to plan to change the world, bud.”

“Oh. I don’t know.” He shrugged.

Just then, a pitiful moan sounded from behind a bush. “Oh, who would’ve thought making a primer school for animals was a bad idea?”

Upon parting the bush, the three quietly gasped at the sight of Mr Langtree crouching on the ground, surrounded by the instruments he had confiscated, talking to himself. “My life savings, my home, everything I had went into that dear, dear school. And now I’m forced to sell these instruments just to keep it open,” As he continued, he removed his trench coat to reveal a quite scrawny man underneath the threatening facade, using his coat and a trumpet to act as a sorry tent. “All the while, that loathsome Jimmy Brown is off galavanting who knows where! Not to mention that wild gorilla on the loose. If only something would go right for a change…” He defeatedly sighed as he laid on the ground.

Soon, the sound of his snores filled the area. Scout hummed and shook her head. “Poor guy…”

“Yeah,” Greg nodded. “Okay, I think he’s asleep. Let’s go steal his stuff.”

Wirt, Scout and Beatrice widened their eyes. “What?”

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

As the sun emerged and the mildew leaked from the trees, Scout checked every last detail of the area before nodding to herself. Throughout the night, Greg, Wirt and Beatrice helped build a stage and notified anyone around of their benefit concert as Scout gathered the animal students to quickly learn a single song on their instruments. The work was tiring, but nothing she wasn’t used to. Rounding the front of the stage, she found Greg waiting for her, holding a baton for her. “There you are! It’s time to do what you were born to do! Do it for the world, Scout!”

“Alright, alright.” She chuckled and took the baton into her hand. Facing the band, she raised her arms in front of her, commencing the song. Her heart swelled with pride as the students played along perfectly. A joyful laugh bubbled in her throat as her arms waved and glided through the air to cue entrances and cut-offs. From the corner of her eye, she spotted people, apparently wealthy by their fine clothes and generous donations, trickling in from wherever they came from and dumping their purses and pockets clean into buckets provided. Her grin widened as they stopped beside the stage to stand and enjoy the beautiful music.

Her smile dropped when the students slowly halted their playing. “Guys, why’d you stop?” She raised her brows. Greg jumped onto the stage and pointed past her.

“Gorilla!”

That same pathetic roar from the previous day triggered the screaming of the audience. Scout spun around to find the gorilla she had knocked out was back and charging towards poor Ms Langtree. “Young man, do something!” Mr Langtree shouted at Wirt. The teen looked around uselessly before blindly running forward to do… something.

Before he could stop or hesitate, he tripped on his still untied laces and collided with the gorilla, sending them both to the ground. When they hit the ground, the head of the gorilla popped off and rolled to the side. Everyone gasped as Wirt scrambled to his feet. The headless gorilla sat up to reveal himself as a young man with silky, blonde hair and a handlebar mustache. “Finally.” His southern accent sighed out.

“Jimmy?” Ms Langtree gaped.

“That’s right, darlin’. I was the gorilla.”

“But… why did you do it…?”

“Got a job in the circus so’s I could finally buy ya that weddin’ ring,” He struggled to stand as Ms Langtree joined his side. “But when I got stuck in the dang suit, everybody was too doggone scared to help me out.”

Scout wringed her hands together in embarrassment. Ms Langtree cupped her cheeks in her hands as she swooned.

“Oh, Jimmy…”

“Darlin’...”

The two lovingly embraced, Greg shaking Scout as everyone cheered for them. Mr Langtree sniffled and wiped a tear from his eye. “I guess the world really is as sweet as potatoes and molasses…”

As if on cue, Greg plucked the baton from Scout’s grasp and turned to the band, starting his own song once again,

“Oh, potatoes and molasses.

If you want some, oh, just ask us!”

Sensing her work was done, Scout hopped off the stage and searched for her friend. He was leaning against a tree nearby with Beatrice perched on a branch above him. Giddily smiling, she shimmied her way over to them with a skip in her step. Wirt quietly chuckled as he watched her, raising a brow when she finally reached him.

“I did pretty good, huh?”

“You did great, Scout.”

She happily sighed and leaned beside him, their shoulders brushing at their closeness. Beatrice smirked at this. “Hey, Wirt.” She softly called.

“Yeah?” He glanced up at the branch.

“Tie your shoe.”

“Hm? Oh. Mm… okay.” He hummed and bent down to do as he was told.

Peeking over his cone hat, Scout spotted Beatrice glancing from Wirt, then to her, sending a wink her way. Scout widened her eyes and blushed furiously.

—————————————

Taglist: @kirishimas-manly-eyeliner

[ktheist]

coworker!taehyung + question ideas #11 + “why are you following me?” :)

“why are you following me?”

pairings. coworker! next door neighbor!taehyung x reader ft. yeontan

words. 1.6k

genre. slice of life

x

kim taehyung and you didn’t start off on the right foot.

for one, his dog pooped on your left foot just as you were standing in front of your door. the urgent call from your company and intern you’re supervising being the cause of you not being able to step into your apartment. somewhere in the middle, you heard a bark and a ‘tannie, no!’ before something mushy touched your foot and stayed there even after you lifted it up and away from the ball of black and streaks of golden.

“i’m so sorry- he’s still under potty training,” taehyung’s adamant nature in apologizing eased the red that spread across your vision.

he offered to wash it off your 400$ heels but you’d refused, “it’s fine, these are old pairs, i was about to throw them away anyway.”

at the time, the relief that overlapped the guilt in his eyes was a kind of beauty that made your heart leap, “did you just move in?”

the apartment next to yours had been empty for a good few months now.

“yeah, last week,” he’d quickly tore one hand away from his dog and patted his palm down his jeans before offering it to you, “i’m taehyung.”

“____,” you’d shook his hand just before he was about to retract it upon further pondering, “and who’s this cutie?” you’d bent over slightly, offering your hand for a shake.

the pupper placed a paw on the tip of your fingers and barked, as though trying to answer you.

“oh, this is yeontan - tannie for short,” a small smile finally appeared on his lips though the lines in his forehead was still there.

shaking the pupper’s paw once, you smile, “tannie-yah, can i call you that?” 

yeontan barked once, you’d like to think it was a delightful mark of a new formed friendship.

that was friday.

on saturday, you met him in the morning with the same pupper barking at you in greeting.

“you boys going on a morning walk?” you’d smiled.

“yeah,” taehyung nodded before his eyes went to the ground and up again, “how are your heels?”

“oh, those old things? they’re in the trash now,” you’d bent over to the pupper in taehyung’s hands, “tannie-yah, thanks for helping me get rid of them.”

the dog-poop heel sat next to your bathtub after you’d wiped it clean with a wet tissue before slaving over the work that needed your attention the most. your bathroom reeked of dog feces still.

yeeun called you crazy for not demanding a single cent out of taehyung, “handsomeness can only go so far!”

well, taehyung’s definitely went further than having to get you a pair of new christian louboutin’s.

on sunday, you’d left in the early morning to your company. you weren’t sure if the cute dog owner next door went for a walk that day.

but you knew he wasn’t on monday.

clad in a suit and tie, he’d appeared more mature than the oversized t shirt and wide pants. the time between waiting for the elevator and chatting as it went down was fleeting. you were glad you’d had the extra time to talk while waiting for the bus.

when it came, you’d hurriedly waved him goodbye and stepped in, not knowing that he would enter and waited a few feet away from you because it was packed and he couldn’t come any closer to continue your conversation. you were left with exchanging smiles with each other.

by the time the bus stopped at the juncture a few blocks away from your company, you’d narrowed your eyes at the man who got off with you. he was fixing his tie when your question made him look up with rounded eyes.

“why are you following me?”

perhaps it was the tugged in the corners of your lips that eased his shock - granted, no one would want to be misunderstood as a stalker.

“i’m going to work,” he announced.

you remembered yeeun mentioning something about a newbie - at that time, you were too preoccupied to inquire more about when this newbie was starting.

“don’t tell me it’s at luxean,” you quizzed.

“no way,” he’d looked at you like he was seeing a ghost.

and that was how you’d went from next door neighbors to coworkers hiding the fact that they were next door neighbors.

“they’ll make us work overtime together!” you’d sighed, “since it’s more ‘convenient’ for us to meet up and finish up work.”

taehyung only chuckled but agreed anyway.

and so it went, you’d become bus buddies and coworkers with secrets. then you’d become meal buddies, knocking on your door at 8 in the pm and offering spicy rice cakes because, “hey, i ordered an extra, did you have dinner yet?”

it was obvious that you didn’t. and it was obvious that he knew, “do you wanna come over and have dinner together? it’s been awhile since me and tan have visitors over.”

then one dinner became two and two became three, until it was almost as natural as breathing to ask the other what they want for dinner.

“ugh, i’ve been craving chicken lately,” you’d thrown your head back, vapor wafting on top of your coffee.

it was break time and taehyung found you munching on snacks at the resting area before he decided to join you.

“me too, i think the last time i had it was three weeks ago,” he sighed, patting his tummy.

“should we go get swicy chicken tonight?” you grinned.

taehyung looked at you with a tilt in his head and a playful smile.

then came a time when you couldn’t afford take-outs anymore, “if i opened my purse, i’m afraid a butterfly will fly out.”

“should we cook?” he suggested.

“oh hell no,” you’d shaken your head rapidly, as though trying to shake off the horrendous recollections of the last time you tried cooking, “unless you want me to burn the whole building down!”

“with your brain and my skills, what could go wrong?” was what he said.

the answer was a lot of things. from the pollocks catching on fire to the apartment smelling like a cremation place to the both of you giving up and settling with ramen.

“we tried,” you announced.

“we did,” taehyung echoed your sentiments, if not a tad bit dejected because he was the one that got you in on the idea when you’d initially proposed for having ramen every night until payday.

then it was back to slaving in front of your laptop for hours on end and taehyung knocking on your apartment door at 3 in the am because he texted you prior to that, asking if you had some coffee.

“how close are you to being done?” you’d asked, handing him three tins of mocha.

“not even half,” he huffed.

but then came an idea and your half-working brain blurted it out carelessly, “wanna come over and do it together? at least we can motivate each other out.”

there was no reason why you couldn’t do it separately in your own apartments and checked up on the other through text. but taehyung didn’t seem to think of that option, “sure.”

he’d found your dog-pooped heel when he went for the bathroom and you’d remembered only after he’d went in. neither of you said anything after he came back but when your workload got lighter and you’d got your paycheck, taehyung knocked on your door on a weekend while you were in your pj’s and bedhair pointing in every direction.

he was donned in his usual over sized shirt and wide pants with a beanie as an addition. you almost slammed the door in his face but he was smiling like he’d always smiled at you.

“happy paycheck day,” a bark echoed a second later from somewhere behind him.

“taehyung - you didn’t-” your jaw was on the floor and you’d looked at the paper bag with the initials of YSL overlapping each other like it was fire.

“i did, and i want to,” he looked over at the ball of jet black that was looking up at grinning up at you, “right, tannie?”

“tannie, you should’ve been the voice of reason!” you’d playfully chided but hugged the paper bag to your chest anyway, “thank you, taehyung.”

it was somewhere down the line that kim taehyung asked if you’d wanted to go for coffee - and you’d dumbly offered the ones stocked up in your fridge before he’d looked away hesitantly, hand scratching the back of his head.

by then, you’d recovered from your idiocy, “oh- you- mean, coffee, like that kind of coffee.”

“it’s okay if you-” he quickly says but you’re quicker, index finger on his lips, a smile tucked in the corners of your lips - till this very day, you wonder where you got that confidence.

“i would be delighted to grab some coffee with you.”

taehyung looked at you then like he looks at you now, like he can’t believe that you said yes to a coffee date with him. like he can’t believe you said yes to moving in with him to save up for your dream house. like he can’t believe you’re standing there, in a white dress, yeontan sitting as still as he can next to you after escorting you down the aisle.

you mouth ‘i love you’ to him before the pastor finishes off his question for you. and you turn to the aging man, grin turning into a schooled smile like you do when he sees you dealing with your clients.

but then you steal a glance at him and the smile falters into a grin for the briefest moment before you say, sincerely, madly, deeply.

“i do.”

x

note. hope yall enjoyed!

see drabble game! for how to request!

[tsumugisindulgence]

Stay for the Night

Since your first day in the Devildom you were disgusted by how often Mammon’s brothers picked on him. They are demons but to channel their hatred onto one person was not by nature, it was by choice and you were sick of it. “So shitty Mammon wouldn’t stay in his room when the newspaper came to interview me today. Ugh I mean how inconsiderate can you be? He is the absolute scum of all three realms. Like are you trying to purposely ruin my image? Not that he could, after all I am perfect but still how dare he!”  Asmo whines about Mammon’s presence in his own home. You knew you could use your pact to shut him up but the issue ran deeper. At that moment you decided to stand up to each brother the moment they dissed your first man. Asmo took a deep breath to blow his nails dry and you slapped him, leaving him surprised. “Oh dear I didn’t know you were into that. Do it again.” he winked. “Quit talking down about Mammon. I am sick of it.” he laughs. “It’s all in good fun dear, don’t worry he can’t even hear.” you stand up from the chair across from his. “Yeah well I can. And you should know something.” You enunciate each word carefully. “Talking trash about people that care about you makes you ugly.” You storm off leaving him flabbergasted. Only a few hours later you caught Levi doing the same thing while you were gaming with him. “And I was like you are more pathetic than a level one boss. Rotfl! He was upset but that newb was going through my limited edition directors cut TSL movie series. I don’t know how you can stand him. He’s worse than the antagonist in My brother is a piece of shit and I can’t wait to kick him out because he is the absolute worst.” For a moment you pondered if his anger was valid but it’s not wrong to look through people’s movies unless it’s Asmo’s sex tapes. “Levi I think it’s endearing that you’re an otaku but the one thing about you that absolutely disgusts me is how comfortably you insult Mammon without him doing anything actually bad.” You stomp out of his room and run into Mammon himself. “Whaha doin human?” For awhile now you’ve had feeling for Mammon that were developing past friendship. It was a challenge to portray this without him being a tsundere. “Hey Mammo chan. I had to leave Levi’s room he was pissing me off.” He squinted his eyes at the door a few meters behind you. “What did he do to ya?” you could tell he was getting aggravated thinking about Levi upsetting you. To calm him down you place your hand on his shoulder. “I’m okay now that you’re here. I wanna talk to you though.” he begins wringing his hands nervously. “Wha-what did I do this time?” You beckon him to follow you and he does reluctantly until you’re outside his room. “Don’t worry I’m not mad at you. Can we talk in your room though?” he places his hand on the knob and opens the door for you. “Phew. That was a close one. Not that I was scared!” you plop down on his couch and he sits across from you. “Levi said you were looking through his TSL movie series. What’s that about?” Once again he gets nervous and starts waving his hands. “It wasn’t like I was trynna take it! I was just looking I swear! I don’t care about that stuff or whatever.” His reluctancy to look you in the eyes made you suspicious. “I think you do. You know if you want to rewatch it with just me this time you could’ve just told me and saved yourself the trouble.” He huffs and crosses his arms. “As if I’d admit that!” His eyes widen at his statement, realizing he inavertantly admitted it. You snicker. “H-hey what are you laughin at human?” Now was a perfect opportunity to spend time together without his brothers. At least you thought. “MAAAAMMMOOOON!” Lucifers voice booms through the door and probably the rest of the house. Mammon jumps ups and hides before the for is kicked open. “If you know where Mammon is I suggest you tell me this instant.” You roll your eyes. “What did he do this time?” “If you must know I had a vintage roast in the cabinet worth thousands of grimm.” He crosses his arms and stares at you. You mimic his stance. “I used it.” He looks at you with fury waiting for an apology or explanation. “Asmo showed me a diy face scrub recipe that called for rough ground coffee beans. I figure it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.” He raises his eyebrows and gives you a look. “Bold. This better not happen again otherwise I won’t forgive you so easily.” He turns around to leave Mammons room and you grab his cape. “I’m not done with you.” He scoffs and takes his cape back. “If you with to discuss this further I’ll be in my room.” He walks out and lets the door shut behind him. Mammon stands up. “Woah you totally stood up to him and didn’t even get threatened to be strung up in the hall.” You walk closer to him and grab  his hand. “I want to finish my conversation with Lucifer. I’ll be back when I’m done. Wait for me?” he blushes and looks away. “Alright not because you asked or anything human. I just don’t have anything better to do.” You laugh at his response and walk out. Thinking about how poorly Mammon is treated by his brothers makes you clench your fists. You were no match for a demon but you would be damned before you let this continue. “I can’t believe you all. You’ve lived with him for years and still haven’t learned to accept his sin.” you mumble walking down the hall and you stop when you hear Satan call your name. He sensed your wrath and decided to check on you out of curiosity. “Is something wrong? It look like you’ve just left Mammons room. What did he do this time?” Your body reacted before you could use reason. Your hand struck his cheek, it didn’t hurt him much at all. You meet his surprised yet inquisitive gaze. “You are all so awful to him! Imagine if I treated you the way you all treat Mammon! He didn’t do anything! Lucifer pissed me off when he accused Mammon of stealing something.” He adjusts his stance. “I understand being upset with Lucifer, but why does it bother you that Mammon was accused. He probably stole it anyway, he’s the most plausible suspect.” You clench your fists even tighter. Through gritted teeth you hiss. “I took it. You bastards always blame him and I’m sick of it.” You walk past him and stomp down to the eldest brothers room. He look up from his desk as you walk in. “I have a bone to pick with you.” You sit in the chair across his desk. “I am sick of you always blaming Mammon. You guys do anything you possible can to beat him up. You degrade him because of his sin. That’s something he can’t completely control. I am aware he could handle his urges better but I doubt you have ever tried to help him in a manor that he would understand. Instead you freeze his card and call him a piece of shit whenever he gives into an urge. Ever stop to think you’re the shitty one for treating him that way. I know your sin is pride, therefore you have this massive ego. Nobody ever criticizes you for being a pompous ass at times. I haven’t even been here for an entire year and I see how you all go out of your way to make sure he feels like shit. I think Beel is the most respectful to Mammon and he still puts Mammon down occasionally.” you continue your rant for a few minutes and take a deep breath once you feel like you’ve gotten everything off your chest. He sits back in his chair slightly surprised about your perspective and how brave you were to scold him. “I see. That’s quite a new view. You haven’t had to deal with him as long as we have. I’m sure you would do the same if you spent a millennia putting up with him. It’s admirable that you have the courage to stand up to me like this. If it is that big of an issue I will possibly consider changing my actions. Doubtful but possible.” You storm out of his room furious that you couldn’t get through to him. On your way down the hall you see Mammon peeping at you from around the corner. When you lock eyes he looks away. Your heart hurts for him. He’s a good demon and you wish he was loved by his brothers. “Mammon what are you doing?” He sheepishly steps out from behind the corner. “You were in there awhile. I figured I should check on ya since I’m in charge of your safety n stuff.” You smile knowing that’s his way of saying he’s worried about you. An overwhelming desire to make him feel loved hits your chest. You’ve had a crush on him for awhile now but he was no resistant to reciprocating affection. Probably because his brothers made him feel like he’s undeserving. That night you sit on your bed flipping through one of the many magazines Asmo gave you with your earphones in.  A message on your phone interrupts the music. Mammo Chan- Where are ya?You- In my room. in under a minute he walks through your door in his pjs. A white tank top and black drawstring pants. You look up and take your earbuds out. He rarely shows this much of his body outside his demon form, which you also rarely see. He has such a nice figure and beautiful skin. To you everything about him was attractive but he was sculpted by god after all. He walks over to your bed and tells you to scooch. “What’re we watchin tonight?” you toss the magazine aside and pick up the remote, happy to spend time with him. “Do you guys have access to human television?” He thinks about it for a second before answering. “I think Levi knows how to connect it. Why ya askin?” “There are a few shows I think you would enjoy. I’ll text him and ask how to do it.” After figuring out how to connect to human television you pull up Pawn Stars. You could tell by his expression he was hooked instantly. He was sitting criss cross on your right leaning forward towards the tv. It’s beginning to drop in temperature as the nights in the Devildom were extremely cold to you. You leave the bed and head over to your dresser. Mammon looks up at you with puppy dog eyes. “Where are ya goin?” He was afraid you were going to leave even though it was your room. You pat his head to ease his worries. “I’m getting cold so I was gonna grab a hoodie.” He sits up straight. “No worries the great Mammon will warm you up. C’mere human.” He beckons you towards him. As you move he pulls back the blanket for your bed and lets you climb in then sits at the edge of your bed. You were hoping he meant cuddle but it was silly of you, he wouldn’t make the first move. So you would have to. You sit up and tug on his pant leg. “Can we cuddle?” His cheeks heat up and he looks anywhere but your eyes. “Yeah sure but only to warm ya up.” The way he stiffly laid next to you made you wonder if he has ever actually cuddled someone or if it was just you. “Can you move like this?” you position his body into the little spoon position and he goes quiet. After all his yeas alive he’s never been in a situation like this, he’s laid with succubi after sex but he was the big spoon and always woke up alone. It hurt to imagine falling asleep with you only to wake up alone. He didn’t want to think about it but he couldn’t seem to focus on anything but your body embracing his from behind, your breath on his neck and your fingers drawing random patterns on his arm. He really liked you and didn’t want to screw anything up like he usually does. He began to worry if this was a prank set up by his brothers. You noticed his body was still tense after a few minutes. “Are you okay? Am I making you uncomfortable?” He sits up and laughs nervously. “Alright which one of my brothers set you up to this? Asmo?” You frowned that he thought you didn’t genuinely care about him. You sit up and move closer to him and look him in the eyes. “Mammon, I  know I only met you a few months ago but I like you.” He puts on his bravado attitude. “Of course you would! Any human is amazed by the great Mammon” You wanted him to take this seriously but you also knew he built walls of false confidence in hopes of making himself feel like more than what his brothers call him. “No Mammon. I like you as in I want to kiss you, go on dates with you, cuddle with you, support your goals. I want to show you that you are so much more than what you think. You’re caring, thoughtful, hardworking, obedient, helpful and so much more.” His eyes tear up behind his glasses. “You don’t mean that. You’re just messing with me aren’t ya?” Frustrated that your words aren’t getting through you take action instead. You push him down on the bed, prop yourself up over him and kiss him. He freezes for a second before kissing back. You’d be embarrassed to admit how many times you’ve thought about doing this with him. His hand moves to your lower back and pulls you onto his body. Now that you aren’t using your hands to steady yourself you run your fingers through his hair. He is insanely good at kissing you. You pull away breathless. His face is no longer fearful but at peace. He’s the first to look away. “I didn’t know ya meant it. Heh why me. I’m the worst of all my brothers.” You cup his cheek and make him look at you again. “You’re my number one man. I wouldn’t want anyone but you. I like you, flaws and all.” His face melts as if this is the first time anyone has ever said that, and it might be. He pulls you into a hug so tight you couldn’t move. He placed his face in the crook of your neck. You feel something hot and wet fall onto your skin and it registers. He’s crying. You lay there on top of him only when he releases you do you notice he’s in his demon form. The awe in your eyes cued him. “Oh um I didn’t mean to. Gimme a sec.” Your arm shoots out to him. “NO!” He whips his head around. “I mean I never get to see you like this. Can you stay like this a bit longer?” “Y-yeah.” He sits there embarrassed as you eye him over. Once you’re satisfied you tell him. “Why’d you turn?”  His usual bravado is gone. “It’s not like you were making my sin act up. I just wanted to.” You interpreted what he was saying, ‘I got greedy kissing you and slipped into my demon form.’ You giggle “Cute.” he switches back. “Hey! I’m not cute! I’m a terrifying demon!” “My terrifying demon.” You smile  at him and he stares at you in awe before his bravado comes back. “Prof course! I’m your first and most powerful!” You remember that the tv is still on. “Oops looks like we missed the rest of the episode.” “NOOOO!” he dives over to the tv repeatedly pressing the backwards button but it does nothing since it’s on a channel. You stand up and walk over to him. He’s on his knees hugging the tv. You tussle his hair and turn to get a sweater now that you’re out of bed. While you’re at your dresser you decide to change into pjs. You figure Mammon is still preoccupied with the tv that he won’t see you. You were wrong. Just after you take off your jeans he turns and begins to ask you a question before letting out a yelp upon seeing your underwear. His hands quickly cover his eyes and he turns away. Now he certainly isn’t looking. After changing you pull his hands off his eyes. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know. Why didn’t you warn me you were changing?” You shrug. “I figured you were distracted. It’s not a big deal I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of ass in your life.” “Well I mean yeah but you’re my human not a succubus or angel. You’re different.” You smile at his unintended compliment. You crawl into bed under the covers and snuggle in. “Mammo-Chan will you turn off the tv and lights if you head back to your room.” “Whaddya mean if?” “You can stay here tonight.” “Where am I s’possed to sleep huh?” You pull the cover back a little and pat the bed space next to you. “Oh well I guess I should so I keep ya warm.” He starts to walk over. “Turn off everything before you come to bed.” “Oh yea.” He does as you say before climbing into bed with you. You fall asleep on his side with your arm over his chest. 

[vanchlo]

Under The Bed / Chapter One, “Josie”

ABOUT: Josie Stephens was having a hard enough time at her mere age of five, having to start Kindergarten and move to a new house. Little did she know that it all would get a lot worse that first night when a monster popped out from under her bed, changing her life forever. Inspired by the 1989 movie, Little Monsters, one of my childhood favorites, I began this story in 2016 and recently fell back in love with it.

->   SERIES MASTERLIST

->   MAIN MASTERLIST

-> READ ON WATTPAD

WARNINGS: None

WORD COUNT: 4k words

TAGLIST: IDK HOW TO DO THESE, BUT IF YOU WANNA BE ADDED SO YOU KNOW WHEN A NEW CHAPTER IS POSTED, JUST LET ME KNOW! :)

@berrynarrybanana​

@wotamelonsugar​

SNEAK PEEK OF COURSE -> 

“He remains quiet, and when his neon green irises dart away from me, I know that something is up. 

He may be a monster, but I can read him better than any human I know. His long pale fingers dotted with those blue freckles picks at a hole in my comforter, head bowed and two little mustard colored horns poking out from his mess of hair with one on the left, and one on the right.“

NOW

/

Leaves ranging every shade of red and orange blow around me and settle on the cracked sidewalk. They crunch under my scuffed and dirty high tops as I walk fast around the corner, waiting for my cream house to come into view. Cars and school buses whiz past me, and I hear a barking dog a few blocks away.

I take two steps at a time up the walkway and then on the stairs to the porch, the porch swing in front of the window swaying slightly in the wind. It suddenly stops as I approach, but I don't give it another thought as I pick up the heavy orange potted plant next to the door to find the plate it sits on. The plain silver key sits there catching the sun's light, where I left it yesterday, because my copy has been missing for months. I only wonder who could have done that. Grabbing it, I stick it into the door and give a twist before placing the key back under the pot, like any other day.

The house is silent and dark when I step inside. I flick on the light and the living room is awash in light as I toe off my shoes, warm sunlight pouring in from the open door until it slams shut suddenly. My head flies up and I look around quickly, taking a deep breath and after a minute, I decide it was just the wind. Dropping my heavy backpack at the end of the stairway around the corner, I walk through the living room and into the kitchen against the back of the house.

/

I push open my ajar bedroom door with my foot, leaving my backpack at the door. The sun peeks into my room from the left, coming in through the hastily pulled drapes above my desk. I choose my steps carefully amidst the mess of clothes flung haphazardly across the floor, and others falling out of the open duffle bag sitting by my desk. Falling onto my bed, I click on the TV and bring my crustless PB&J to my lips. Crumbs litter my lap and covers as I watch the rest of an episode of Bones, a rerun but a good one nonetheless.

After awhile with crumbs clinging to my shirt sleeves and sticky peanut butter fingers, I drag my feet over to my desk and get started on my homework. Music trickles from the bluetooth speaker sat at the corner of my desk. I scribble answers in the blanks on the worksheet, turning it over and groaning at all of the questions waiting for me on the back. Peeling my eyes away from the history worksheet, my eyes lift to the gently open blinds. There’s the sliver of outside visible through them, and what really catches my eye - the sun setting on the horizon. My heart does a jump at the sight of it, and I look over my shoulder before I can stop myself. I automatically look to my bed, and the emptiness and scuffed wooden floor underneath it.

With an impatient sigh, I back to my homework with a sullen face. Skipping the next song, I flip the page of my textbook and move on to the next question. I just want to get this shit done already. Who knew it could take so long to find the answers to questions about The Constitution. Yet, more than anything, I try to stay busy. After awhile and two Vampire Weekend albums later, I stuff every single textbook and mechanical pencil away in my backpack.

"Josie, did you hear me? Dinner's ready, come on!" Dad calls up the stairs to me, and I zip one last zipper before yelling 'coming!' and getting to my feet. Opening the door, I step a foot into the hallway and search for my bedroom light with a wandering hand. Something out of the corner of my eye moves, and I look around until I notice the comforter hanging over my bed flutters upwards again. I flick off the light and the room is sent into darkness, before I head downstairs.

/

Wiping the dot of fudge from my lip, I take my time walking up the stairs. The murmur of my parents voices melts together into a background noise as a soft darkness covers the staircase. When I look up to the top of the landing, something stands out from the dark, and my heart does a somersault. A bar of light peeks out from the bottom of my closed bedroom door, and I hear sounds trickling from my bedroom. When I set my foot down on the next stair, a long creeeeeak peels out and the noises cease. The light flickers off and it's silent once again. I lift my foot off the creaky step and walk up another stair, wanting to take them two at a time, but I don't. I try to slow down, no matter how fast I want to go right now, forgetting the fact that I want to run in there right now.

I push open the door slowly, hearing it's long creak before its little clunk when it hits the wall. My hand runs over the wall until I find the light switch and flip it upwards, bathing the room in light. My backpack still sits open by my desk. My laptop is open, but the screen is dark next to my dormant desk lamp. My bed is a mess of wrinkly covers, albeit a dip in my pillows where I sat earlier. Oddly enough, there's another dip at the head of my bed that pulls my eyebrows down into a question. It also yanks my lips up to pinch my cheeks with a smile.

A scuffle pricks my ears, and I look around, confused. First, to underneath my bed where it sounds like it had come from, but the sound is gone as quick as it had happened. My lips set into a frown as I turn and take another look, and when I'm facing my door a loud 'boo!' almost scares me off my feet. I jump back and feel myself start to fall, and luckily, my bed catches me.

"Ugh! You don't have to do that just because you're a monster!" I huff, sitting up and laying my eyes upon the giggling guy in front of me.

"Wha', why not? 's me favorite, it gets ya every time!" he squeals in excitement, and I have to hold myself back from rolling my eyes. That becomes the least of my worries when everything blurs and I'm pushed onto my back. "Hiiiiiiiya, goose! I thought it was you I heard on da stairs, but had t' make sure. Smelled ya when ya walked in, y’know. I knew it was you cuz ya smell like berries and cream," he says as he lies dead weight on top of me. I laugh and hear his silly one in return.

"You'd think you'd be lighter for being- you know, nonhuman, but you definitely aren't."

"Tha's no way t' greet me afta not seein’ eachuther for days. That was rude, goose. Think ya need t' be shown a lesson, you do,” he scoffs and I watch his lips fall into an exaggerrated pout.

"No no no, please don’t!"

"Oh, yes!" he laughs evilly, and I feel it start. It doesn't look like it, but he's strong. Dammit, is he. "Waitin' up here fer tha last half hour for you, thought I was two sweet seconds from gettin' caught fer tha first time in . . ever, and ya call me fat. Tsk tsk, think ya needa lesson taught t' ya," he says, clucking his tongue in the middle of my shrieks and laughs.

"NOOOOOO, WAIT! YOU’RE GONNA!" I shriek in between laughs and desperate pleas for him to stop. His long and quick fingers continue to poke and prod at my ribs, dancing along my stomach and wandering to my armpits, every now and then. Sweat builds on my brow as I flail and squirm, trying to kick him and hit him, but he's expecting that. He knows.

"Josie! What's going on up there?" the loud voice of my dad booms up the stairs, and his movements come to an abrupt stop. His crazy green irises framed by yellow tinged scleras grow wide and alert before darting around.

"Fuck, no. Not yer parents," he whispers fast, and in a blink, his weight from on top of me is gone. My lungs are spewing tiny thank you's, but when I look around, he's gone. There's that same scuffle again and my bed lifts to fall back down a second later.

The old bead necklaces around my door handle slide back and forth when the door opens. My dad's towering figure stands in the doorway and quickly, his hands fall onto his hips in a question while he looks around my room. "I heard yelling up here, what's going on? Are you okay?" the words fall from his thin lips fast, his brown eyes staring back at me while his frown is hard to see through his thick beard. I swing my legs over the bed and face him with a nervous gulp.

"I'm fine, Dad. I was just uh, watching something on TV and the volume was really loud.I'm sorry."

"Hmmm, I could've sworn . . . ," he begins but he waves his hand, his old gold watch falling down his hand along with his wedding ring catching the light. "You just um, try to keep it down up here, sound good?" he finishes with a little smile.

"Yeah, Dad, of course," I reply, and his gelled back ashy blonde hair moves as he nods. I feel a tug on the bottom of my jeans, and I reply with a kick of my foot.

"Okay, well . . ," my dad trails off with a shrug of his shoulders. He then forces an awkward smile before turning around to leave. There's a sharp pinch on my ankle and I wince before giving another kick, and hearing an 'ouch!' I cough quickly to cover it up, sighing when my dad doesn't turn around and walks down the stairs.

"You idiot!" I exclaim under my breath, jumping off my bed and hurrying across my room to close the door.

"How come 'm tha idiot here? I don' remember bein' tha one screamin' her bloody lungs out, now was I?" I scoff as the door meets the hinges and I turn to watch him sliding out from beneath my bed. His sickly pale hand the lightest shade of blue hangs onto the edge of my bed that’s propped up in the air.

He gets to his feet and it falls back to the floor slowly and without a sound, just like every other time. Only a scuffle. He just smirks, his yellow but perfect teeth showing behind his sly smile. My hair moves with my shaking head as I sit back down on the bed, his tall figure moving towards me out of the corner of my eye.

"I dunno why ya don' enjoy me tickles, they're fun. 'm good at it. Y’know 'm quite givin’, could be loads worse, Jose," he comments matter of factly. His  shoulder knocks against mine, and he pushes me over to make room to sit down next tome. I bump shoulders back, but he hardly moves. Figures. "Jus' be lucky ya don' have tha tickle monster under yer bed 'stead, love."

"Sureee," I say, falling back to lie on my bed. There's a little poof and the mattress bounces when he lands next to me.

"Rememba when ya first put up those stupid plastic stars. Thought ya were a bloody genius, you were," he smirks beside me, our elbows knocking against each others. I feel his right shoe nudge against my foot and I kick it off the bed. "Hell, babe! Wha's yer problemo t’night? Wha', ya not miss me, Jose?" My eyes remain on the ceiling, and on the chipped, peeling glow in the dark stars stuck there in an array of sizes and arrangement. Their opaque white color has turned a slight yellow during their age, but his hand pops right in front of my face to block my view of them. It goes back and forth, and finally, I catch it and push it away.

"C'mon, goose, talk t' me. Hate it when yer quiet, makes this no fun."

"That's just it, Harry!" I retort, sitting up and looking to my right to find him lying there on his side looking up at me, confused. His mussy brown curls are crazy once again and swept over his forehead. A few of his sky blue, oblong freckles that cover his body poke out from his fringe of dark hair.

"Wha's just it? 'm not one o’ them monsters who can read minds, Jose, not some jinn or those bloody bogus fortune tellers you lot put so much worth in," he mutters curtly, tsking quietly, thinking I can't hear it, but he's one of the loudest monsters I know. Possibly the only one, but still.

" . . You didn't come last night."

He remains quiet, and when his neon green irises dart away from me, I know that something is up. 

He may be a monster, but I can read him better than any human I know. His long pale fingers dotted with those blue freckles picks at a hole in my comforter, head bowed and two little mustard colored horns poking out from his mess of hair with one on the left, and one on the right. "I didn't think ya'd be home from yer gram's 'till like, this mornin', like ya said," he reveals with a heavy huff holding a hint of an animal-like sound to it, catching me off guard and tearing away any kind of response I had ready. "But, I popped in 'round quarter afta four, afta gettin' done at Ronny Snooker's house, and found ya all curled up like a toasty lil' burrito. Wanted t’ wake ya, trust me I did, but I knew I shouldn't cuz ya'd get all angry at me fer wakin' you an' I hate it when yer mad at me. Can' handle it."

". . I shouldn't even be talking then," I speak up, and his head of curls lifts, letting me find those magical eyes past those long-ass eyelashes. If every monster has eyelashes those long, I fricken swear.

"No, 's not yer fault, Jose. Jus' a teenie tiny misunderstandin’, 's all."

"I did miss you, though. I mean, I guess."

"Ha! I knew it, just had tha feelin’," Harry smirks, his ghostly lips spreading high and wide, and almost up to his eyes. Dark dimples fall into his chiseled cheeks as he whispers an 'aha!' and then, all of a sudden, his wiry stony arms are around me. "Ya miss me, ya miss me, now ya gotta kiss me!"

"I don't think that's how it goes," I get out in between the middle of tight hugs enclosed in his stiff arms, as his familiar musty smell comes over me. It’s like an old basement.

My favorite smell.

"Sure, it does. I know what 'm talkin' 'bout, gotta respect yer elder, goose," he insists, and when I look up at him, he's still grinning. Soon, it falls into a pensive line, and the nostrils of his big pointy nose flare. And sure enough, he sniffs me. "Wha's that I smell on ya?"

"What the hell, Harry?"

"Ya smell like . . Smell like peanut butter, love. Thought you lot ran out last week, like ya said," he says quickly, the words leaving his devilish lips at light speed.

Oh no.

His thick eyebrows hike up his forehead as he sniffs around me fervently, only making me giggle and giving me a tickle. "Oh, ya think 's so funny, do ya? Don' like it when ya tell me lies, goose, an' you know jus’ how much peanut butta 's me favorite. You silly goose, you." He raises a finger and wiggles it at me, giving me a glimpse of his short dirty nails.

"Okay, Okay, I'm sorry! Mom brought home some the other night, like a big tub from Costco. But, Harry, you can't eat it all this time!"

"An' why bloody not?" he replies, annoyed. His dark unruly eyebrows come together and down in a furrow.

"Because! I got blamed for it the last time, like you always seem to do!" 

"Dunno wha' yer talkin' 'bout. 'd never be such a big meanie an' blame sumthin' on ya like that," he smirks, and I push him off of me, getting up and walking over to the black dresser sat against the wall by my door. "What, 'm I s'posed t' do, Josie? Y’know I got this love for peanut butta I can' control."

"You can say that again," I mutter, opening one of the drawers of my dresser and rifling through my clothes

I hear him tsk tsk from behind me, and a squeak from the mattress follows in suit. When I glance over my shoulder at him, he's lying on the left side with his hands behind his head, getting all comfy. Rolling my eyes, I grab a t-shirt and pajama bottoms at random to change into for the night.

"But, I don't know, Harry. Don't they have peanut butter down there?"

"No, I’ve already told you this how many bloody times?! Ni's allergic or summat, tha bloody weirdo, so he neva let's me within like, a mile radius of it. He’s afraid 'm gonn' kill him or summat, even though tha's impossible. Dunno how he can be allergic t' sumthin' so bleedin' delicious. 's rubbish, 's what it 's," Harry says, shaking his head which I laugh at. His eyes drag over to me and he leers at me before shaking it again with his lips pressed into a disapproving line. "Talk it up, Jose. You try bein' a monster for a day."

"I would, if you'd let me," I say quietly. Walking across the room, I slip into my closet,shutting the door behind me.

"Don' even ge'mme started, you li’l shit. Ya think I dunno what yer gettin' at, d’ya?"

"Hey! Be nice to me, and what ever happened to trying not swearing around me? I thought you said it was 'unbecomin’ o’ me t’ swear ‘round you’ and all that," I yell through the door, turning my back as I slip off my clothes to change into the others sitting at my feet.

"Ya, that lasted 'til you were 'bout I dunno, ten, goosie. 's like me vocabulary, I can' help it. I mean, God, ya should hear Ly’ swear - he curses like a friggin' fairy. But, don't tell him that cuz he'd kick me in tha jewels if he heard me compare him t’ a fairy. I mean, ya wouldn' think they're capable o' cursin' - those fairies with that teeny tiny body o' theirs, but boy, oh boy. do they. ‘m quite envious of his swearin’, tho’, if I do say meself."

"I know, I remember. You taught me my first swear words, my parents were horrified when I said 'shit' for the first time. When was it again? Oh yeah, that day in fourth grade when I fell learning how to roller blade," I giggle in return, sliding on the pair of plaid pajama pants, tying the strings at the waist. "And, how would I tell Ly’ anyways when you won't let me meet him?"

"They should be lucky I didn' start ya sooner, but ya, one o' tha proudest moments o’ me damned life," he sighs happily as I walk out of the closet splaying my caramel blonde hair over my shoulders. I try to ignore that he dodged the second part of my sentence. Now, I'm rolling my eyes as I walk to the door and flick off the light, soon joining him and his fake crying on my bed.

Curling up under the covers, my bedside lamp lights his features as he stares up at the ceiling, thinking. Thinking about what, I don't know, but I'm curious. "What do monsters think about, Harry?"

"Y’know . . I rememba tha first time ya asked me that when ya were- what, five? Jus' came home from yer second or third week o’ school an' asked me it. Suddenly, yer in Kindiegarten and ya think yer such a hoot."

"Well, I don't remember what you said then, considering it was almost thirteen years ago, so please, do enlighten me," I joke, and the single dimple in the middle of each of his cheeks falls down when a smile bends his lips upwards. Who knew a monster could have dimples, or be so cute.

"Okie dokie, smartass, well 's not real different from you humans. Y’know, think 'bout food and things we wanna do," he answers me, turning his head and looking me in the eyes. Yellow smile falling and dimples slowly disappearing. He raises his eyebrows at me, only to wiggle them a second later, making me giggle.

He almost scoffs, biting his tongue as his head of curls goes from side to side. I murmur a dumbfounded 'what,’ earning me a shrug of his bony shoulders in return. "Dunno, missed yer laugh, I guess. Don' hear 'em often when yer not 'round. Well, not happy ones, that is," he tells me, giving me a cheesy smile showing no teeth. I sigh and move closer to him, my forehead just missing his shoulder by a centimeter. His calming musty smell walks up my nose, and I close my eyes with a happy smile.

"What did you do while I was gone?" 

"A whole lotta nothin'," Harry hums in reply, and I feel the hard tips of his fingers on my scalp stroking at my hair. "Jus' went 'round me business scarin' tha other kiddies in town. Ronny, Daisy, the redhead, and the new little tot on Willow Street. They're pretty easy, 'cept Ronny, he's such a li’l shit, ugh. Did I tell ya I took all tha air outta his bike tires, and drank his chocolate milk that was s'posed t' be for lunch tha next day?"

"No," I giggle, moving closer to him and finding his shoulder and the soft holey fabric of his pitch black t-shirt.

"Ah damn, it was a hoot. Wish I coulda been there tha next mornin' t' see his face. Tha li’l devil deserved it, he gave me a right bruise on me shin kickin' me when I popped in tha other night," he huffs, making a funny sound with his lips. “That kid can't grow up soon enough. Hell, 'm almost tempted t; make it seem like 'm a ghost hauntin’ their house, so they'd move tha fook out an' I don' hafta deal with him anymo'."

A chuckle falls from my lips as my eyes remain closed and I breathe in his smell. Oh, how I missed you. "Ya fallin' 'sleep on me already, Jose? 's hardly nine o'clock, 'm disappointed in you."

"I'm tired, and I have school tomorrow," I whine, hiking the covers up my shoulders with a groan when they don't come easily. The bed moves and the comforter goes up smoothly, making me open my eyes to find his nimble, pale hands draping it over me. He gives me a smile before lying back down and replacing his hand in my hair, going back to lulling me to sleep playing with it.

"Oh ya, yer a big ol' senior now, hmph," he clucks, ending it with a final sigh. "Fine, I guess ya can go t' bed. But, we gotta catch up one o' these nights 'bout yer trip t’ yer gram's. Ya betta have saved me some o' her butterscotch cookies, or 'm not gonna be too happy with you, goosie. And, I was searchin' real hard for where I hid yer house key, almost thought 'd found it, but I dunno." I hum a sleepy 'okay' as I close my eyes again, grunting in frustration as I try to find his shoulder again. His lovely giggle touches my ears and I find him not long after with a huff.

"Funny li’l thing, you are. Now go t' bed, ya sleepy bones. An' try not t' snore, will ya? I mean, 's awfully cute, but it interrupts me readin'. Gotta see what you lot are readin' this year an' catch up t' ya," he jests, and I shove him with a small groan.

His squeaky laugh leaves his devilish lips, hanging there for a small second. "Alrighty then, go t’ sleep, you. Have tha sweetest o' dreams, goose. Oh, and don' let tha beddy bugs bite."

[bolbianddolanhouse]

BNHA self insert AU [Book 3]

New? Read here! Then here!

Chapter 11: Don’t Rain on Me By Joji

Things weren’t as tense as I thought they were gonna be. I really did hurt my own feelings! As for the group punishment, Aunty Mimi didn’t fuck around and worked us until we cried. My body hurt so much that the showers I took stung.

-5 days before returning to the dorms-

I finished my shower and saw that it was just mom and I at home. She was in her office, laying on the day bed. I’ve always wondered why there was a day bed in here and why it was facing the window. But the scene was nostalgic to me, so I floated over to lay next to my mom. Just like I did when I was little. When I put my weight on the bed, she sensed me and put her arms around me.

“How was your training mijo?” she asked softly.

“It was rough, she had us pull a semi-truck up a hill without quirks” I groaned “luckily it was just the truck part and not with the cargo part.”

“She’s going soft on you guys” she chuckled, pulling me in closer “at least it’s not wilderness training.”

“Heh yea” I looked up to see her calm face, eyes closed but awake and gently running her hand through my curly hair. It made me wonder if I really do share an image with her, am I going to look like this when I get older? If I grew out my hair, will I look more like her? The only way to tell us part are the tattoos on her torso... hmmm, that makes me wonder about her what her high school file said about her. “Hey mom.”

“Yes mijo?”

“Can you tell me about your tattoos?” I asked as I poked her shoulder blades “The two skulls on your shoulder?”

“Oh these ones?” she asked as she pulled down her wide neck long sleeve from the top, exposing the two tattoos “I got them before I came to Japan.”

“Why? What do they mean?”

She pointed to the one on her left “I got this one before I left home, it represents my culture. So I never forget where I came from.” She pointed to the one on the right shoulder “This one I got in Austria, where I did my basic training before going to my final destination. It represents the death of my old life, to remind myself that things will never be the same and that I have to mourn and move on at some point. To move forward with my new life but never forget those memories.”

I traced the one on the left with my finger, it was a sugar skull “Was it hard leaving home and everyone behind?”

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I did it because I loved my family and I didn’t want them to get hurt over my doing. My life was going well for me before, I even had a long term boyfriend” she chuckled and blushed “I planned to marry him when we turned 18 and live the rest of my short life with him, start a family after I finished college and see where things go from there. But I guess his dreams were shattered too.”

“Wow you had a plan and everything!” I paused to think of my next question “When why did you fall in love with dad? If you planned to marry the other guy?”

“To be honest, I thought I was never returning home. Life was overwhelming me here and I thought I was just going to be alone for the rest of my life” her face shifted into sadness “I cried everyday as I prayed for someone to make my days less lonely, someone who’d make me feel complete. It took a while to see that it was your dad but he did make me very happy, even if we were just friends.” Her eyes got dewy “Then I got the family I yearned for, and at that point, I didn’t mind if I never returned home. Because I made a home here with all of you! And that was enough for me.”

Her words moved me to tears “Even if we’re little shits?”

She laughed “YES! Attitude and all! I love all of you because you’re the little pieces of me that I love the most about myself. I could never hate my children, no matter how bad.”

“Then, what will happen if you get word you can return home?”

“Well, the plan was, that I go back and live with my parents. If my boyfriend was still alive, then I’d reunite with him too and pick up where I left off in my life plan.” She listed “But that was before I started the company, got married and had children! Now it’s more that I’d go for an extended vacation back home. Because the new ordeal is that I was going to retire at both my jobs, hand over the company to a replacement, go visit my childhood home and visit all of my family members to show that I’m alive.”

“Will you take us with you?” I asked, scared of what she might say.

“If you guys want too” she looked at me “I know your dad wants to, he said before we got married that he wanted to accompany me because he wanted to see all the places I talked about in my little childhood stories. But I don’t know if you or your siblings would, I guess it would depend if you’re in your careers or not by then.”

“What if you want to stay there?”

“We’ll see, I haven’t thought that far ahead” she put her chin on my head “one day at a time Iwata.”

“Hmmm, okay one more question” I declared as I felt that I was maybe annoying my mom “Why are we protected citizen status? So many people don’t know about your children and act all surprised that I exist.”

She shifted her arms and had more of my weight rested onto her “Remember the night of the incident? And how we hid in Mr Hitoshi’s house for a few days?” she started off “I was waiting until you were a bit older to tell you the full story, but here it goes. The home invaders hacked into the protected housing database to get my personal cell number, they called me as a distraction so they could break into the house. I knew right away that I had to protect you guys but I wasn’t at my best because I was still healing from giving birth. I alerted Jin and Mimi to take you and the others to safety because I was ready to lay my life on the line.”

“Why did you do it?” I choked up, now understanding what I saw that night.

“I said I was going to protect my family and that if it costed my life, then so be it. I kissed your father goodbye and he understood that I had to do what I needed to do. So while he gathered you guys in the nursery to await uncle Jin’s portal, I fought this intruder but he made the mistake to tell me his motive.” She choked up a bit, trying to keep her composure “He said that he wanted to take my children and I away for quirk experiments. That they were going through the quirk registry of the country of double quirked citizens, us first, then the Todoroki family. That didn’t sit with me, I fought even harder but I pushed myself too hard and ended up face down and backed into my doom. I closed my eyes coming into to terms that this was it but at least my family is safe. But then I heard your little voice shout for the intruder to get away from me, and I shot up to use the last of my energy to protect you. But it didn’t matter what I did, you defeated them with your awakened quirk, I just finished the job with a shot to the spine to cripple them.” She took a deep breath “I saw that you were going into catatonic state, so I picked you up and held you, staggering my way to the nursery with everyone else for the portal.”

“You’re alive because of me?” I realized.

“Yes mijo, and I’m so thankful that you did. I couldn’t imagine a life where my children lived without their mother and only with a father that knows nothing about raising four very rowdy kids.” Her body curled around me “I informed the commission of the breach and everything got tighter security. I took an extra step and put the protected status on all of my children. Everyone on the Japan data base with a double quirk was advised to do the same or choose one quirk to have on the registry. But you’re just like me in a way.”

“How?” 

“You rose to the occasion and fought to protect the ones you loved, even if the chances of losing were high. And at the end, you won but life will never be the same and you live with the trauma of that day everyday.” She answered “Now you’re stronger, smarter and still have your loved ones around you...history repeated itself.”

“Damn, it do be like that huh?” That part blew my mind.

“Yea, but now all I wanna do is continue this nap” she closed her eyes again “Stay awhile longer Iwata, if we pretend to be asleep when dad comes home, he has to cook dinner.”

“Okay” I chuckled and closed my eyes “I’ll stay.”

I was no longer conflicted about my thoughts on my mom. She’s incredible and loves her family so immensely! She isn’t an empress, she’s divinity, love reincarnate. My wish is to feel that much love someday, maybe I will when I have a family of my own.

-3 days before returning to the dorms-

“How are you holding up chief?” asked Hoshi as he came outside to where I was “Last day of punishment training eh?”

I was face down on my trampoline that I jumped onto because there was a layer of snow on it and my body felt like it was on fire “Yea, and I want to die.”

“Bet” He chuckled as they sat on the rim of the trampoline “I brought berry tart for some cafecito with the fam.”

“Ooh that sounds lit” I lifted my head up, savoring that cup of hot coffee with dessert “Are you staying over today then? Lili won’t be back until dinner time.”

“Oh I know, Lili doesn’t know I’m here” he gave me a look “I don’t plan on sticking around too long, I just came to drop off the invite to my dad’s wedding and some...other news.”

I squinted my eyes in suspicion “What other news Hoshi?”

“You’ll see over some cafecito” He kept tight lipped.

“Ugh fine!” I put my head back down. I hate it when I get those responses!

Mom finally came home and Hoshi set the table for a cafecito. He even made the coffee so we could all sit down at the same time.

“Okay now that I have everyone I wanted to talk to here” spoke up Hoshi as we were eating our slice of tart “You’re probably wondering why I gathered everyone here.”

“No” blurted Hanaka.

“Because you fucked up” blurted Tensei.

“You got a job?” blurted Mom.

“You’re getting top surgery?” I blurted.

“Oh! It’s because you’re graduating early in the spring?” Dad blurted with an arm chop.

“What? NO!” He said to disarm us “I don’t know what I was expecting from such an outspoken family! But I gathered everyone here because” he took a deep breath and just broke out in a deep blush and grin “Wow this is harder than I thought it was gonna be! Heh, I was hoping to ummm” He looked at our awaiting faces “Hoping if I’d get your blessing to marry Lili, because you’re all so good to me that I want to take the family name. Do you accept this trans-boy as your future-son/brother-in-law?”

The whole table was in silent shock...until Tensei spoke up.

“Imma say it” he forewarned “It’s about fuckin’ finally Hoshi, the family name is unexpected tho.”

“Oh Hoshi! Of course you have our blessing!” Mom said as she hopped up to give Hoshi a hug “But I have to agree with Tensei, it’s been long awaited, huh Tenya?”

Everyone looked over to dad, tears pouring down like waterfalls “Oh my baby is gonna get married! She’s growing up too fast” he blew his nose on his table napkin “I approve and just so happy for you two! It feels like last year she was still screaming to welcome me home from work, and last week like she just entered high school.”

“Oh babe, don’t cry” Mom comforted “you’re embarrassing the kids.”

“Seriously daddy, put the water works away!” huffed Hanaka “Every time we do anything new you start crying!”

“I can’t help it! I didn’t think I’d get to see the day my children get married!” Dad wipes his tears “Someday you’ll understand when you have kids of your own.”

And so we spent the rest of our time together prying details from Hoshi on when and where will be the proposal. He said he’ll wait until they both finish school because he recently got in touch with his mother’s estranged family and found out that there was some inheritance waiting for him and his brothers. So no matter if they get jobs out of college right away or not, they can live off the inheritance comfortably for a good 3 or so years. Good on them! Maybe thats what I’ll do with my money...what’s with this family and inheritance?

-Day of returning to the dorms-

I pack my bag and savor the last of moments of home comforts. I really didn’t want to go back to the dorms but I still need to take my hero final.

“OwO r u decent?” chirped Hanaka from the door “Hewwo? Mr. Obama? May I come in?”

I sigh tiredly “No, pewish.”

“Too bad we’re coming in anyways” Lili said before busting in like Big Bird in that one meme video.

“WHY CAN’T YOU TWO JUST OPEN THE DOOR LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE?!” yelled Tensei from his side of the room, arm chopping “THE DOOR WAS UNLOCKED!”

“Ugh shut up DAD!” said the girls in unison, mocking the arm chop.

“Why tho?” I asked, hand on my hip “I need to finish packing.”

“We just wanted to do one last thing before you go!” Hanaka said bouncing up and down.

“I’m not dying guys! We’ll see each other in like 2 weeks for the Welcome Estate Ball” I turned back to my packing “What’s so important that can’t wait until-”

“Iwa look out!” warned Tensei.

I looked back to see the girls mid pounce, giving me just enough time to zip toward the door “Thanks Tensei!”

“Don’t try to escape the dog pile Iwa!” taunted the girls, eyes locked back onto me “It is futile!”

“Save yourself!” Tensei stood in the way of the girls with arms out.

“No! Don’t sacrifice yourself foo!”

“I have already excepted my fate as bottom of the pile” said the little brother as the girls picked themselves up “GO!”

I nod and dash out of our room to escape the dreaded dog pile. Since we were kids, we did these really full contact contests to see who ends up on the bottom of the dog pile. It was fun at first but now we run in fear at the sight of a pounce! Anything goes in this game! We use quirks, fists, throw objects, use distractions...but the moment mom stops everything, it’s game over. I just gotta run outside and get mom to insure game over!

Lili does a front rocket flip to stop me from running to the front yard “You’re not going anywhere Iwee!”

“When the hell did you learn that move?!” I was semi-impressed but still in fear for my life “that was clean as fuck!”

“OOOOOOO! You cursed!” Hanaka called out from the stairs “I’m telling daddy!”

“You little snitch! You wouldn’t dare!” I gasped.

“Watch me! Here, catch Tensei real quick” she said before tossing her twin over the railing, then parkour’d down the stairs to the backyard.

I couldn’t let Tensei just fall like that, so I caught him with my telekinesis before he could hit the ground. But I made the mistake of turning my back on Lili.

“Got cha- oof!” Lili got sight teleported by Tensei.

“Go get mom!” said Tensei before slumping over “I’m done for, they gave me a mad ass wedgie.”

“I’ll avenge you brother!” I did my dramatics before running toward the front door again.

The front door opened “Sopresa puto! It’s me!” Hanaka said as she ran full speed “fell right into my trap!”

I didn’t have time to stop, both of us were going top speed! So we crashed into each other, followed by Tensei that got in the way to soften the fall, then Lili that was in the right place at the wrong time.

“I heard a thud and some Spanish cursing! What’s going on-” said dad as he opened the sliding door from the back yard, poor timing as he got bodied by the four body mass going a full speed. We all slammed onto the just defrosted grass that dad finished doing.

“Oh shit dad are you okay?!” asked Lili.

“This takes me back” groaned Dad with a smile “you kids would always dog pile onto me every time I was laying down in the living room when you were little kids.” he chuckled “No so little now! That knocked the wind out of me.”

“Tenya, is everything okay back there?” asked Mom as she came though the side gate “I heard some- phfffff!” she started laughing “Look at you guys! Piled onto dad like that!” She levitated us off one by one “One last house mischief huh?”

“Yea, we haven’t done all of the winter break antics” grunted Hanaka as she got peeled off me “And I really wanted to spend more time with everyone! Tensei doesn’t wanna always play with me, even if I ask nicely.”

“I’m busy with my band and debate competition cases! We can’t play arson all the time” Tensei defended himself “Are you forgetting that we start middle school in a few days?! It’s time we get a little more serious with our education.”

“Oh wow it’s like listening to a recording” giggled Mom, setting us down on our feet “Your dad would say that last line all the time when we were in high school! It sent me back to those days” she sighed lovingly and turned to face Dad “Remember those times when everyone teased you for calling me up to explain strategy homework?”

Dad turned red and fixed his glasses “It was a difficult subject! I was just doing everyone a favor by asking you to come over to tutor us.”

Lili caught on to his body language “Oh I get it~ You say it’s for ‘tutoring’ but you did it as an excuse to spend more time with Mom” she did her little smug face with arms crossed “You had a big dumb crush on her, didn’t you dad?”

“I- well- I didn’t know how else to spend the maximized amount of time with her” He turned even brighter red and cleared his throat “She was intelligent, charming and super talented. How could I not develop feelings? If only I wasn’t such a coward and confessed when I wanted too, things could’ve been so much different.”

“It’s true, but those what if’s don’t matter anymore” Mom smiled “because we’ve exceeded our wishes and daydreams.” She turned to us “Now, lets get back to what we were doing! Iwata has to leave soon and I don’t want to keep the staff waiting on him all day.”

I go back to finishing up my packing, now with all my siblings in the room on their crackhead shit. When I took my bags down to the driveway, they didn’t want me to leave. And of course Mom had to pry them off me so I can get in the car in peace. The drive with my dad was calm.

“Hey dad” I asked as we stopped at the first light “Did you really pick a fight with Mr Hitoshi over mom?”

“I did” Dad said with a hint of regret “I wasn’t proud of what I did, but I didn’t know how else to express my hurt feelings. Your mom hailed me as her chosen family and I wanted to always be by her side, through whatever life had in store.” We move again “Imagine my hurt when she hid her relationship and shared living situation from me, only finding out by chance. And it was a stupid thing to do, I pushed her away even though I very much still loved her. But we all made up before the wedding and I’m close friends with Mr Hitoshi and Nieto. We go on double dates and other couple things with them, it’s so much fun.”

I thought about my next question carefully “If mom did have a child when you reunited with her, what would you do?”

“Funny enough, I thought about it before I reunited with her” Dad smiled “I was willing to help her raise a child. I’d babysit, teach them things, tuck them into bed... everything a parent would do. I wanted to show your mom I’m capable of providing and nurture, I really wanted to be as much as a man as I could be for her.”

“Did you show her all that?”

Dad chuckled “I didn’t have to try very hard! She had forgiven me way before we reunited and revealed to me that she had always had feelings for me” We turn into the final stretch of street before the dorms “But it felt so lovely to finally say it and have them reciprocate the feeling. I knew from then on, I’d never let her go and be outward with my feelings. Everyday I wake up next to her and think about how much I don’t deserve such an incredible woman nor the family that we made” he looked at me “But I guess I’m worth it.”

“Even if we’re disobedient, rowdy, weird pieces of shit?!”

“Yes, because life would be boring with out all those traits to balance my traits out!” Dad turns into the dorm parking lot “Well Iwata, you really threw us in a loop this winter break. Do your best on your make ups.”

I look at the dorms and take a deep breath “I’ll do my best, thanks dad.”

I waved him off until he was out of sight, then I took my bags into my dorm. Nobody was back yet in my class, mainly because our winter training was canceled due to the villain attacks back in September. I put all my things away and see the empty bed in my dorm. It made me miss Beizu, we’ve never been separated like this before. It’s about 2:45pm and I couldn’t delay my test any longer, to the hero dorms I go!

“Iwata! So nice to see you back in one piece!” beamed Mineta sensei.

I cringed “Don’t tell me my mom told you what happened.”

“No your dad did” Sensei corrected me “I have to say, never did I think it would be you to push it too far. But your dad did the same thing when we were in high school” He hands me the written exam “Alright, take your time on this.”

The written exam wasn’t too bad and I got it done in under an hour. I was excused for the day because the physical part of the exam was going to take place in one of the practice gyms at school in 2 days. Before I could leave to my dorms, the usual clowns saw me.

“Yo Iida-kun!” greeted Gon “You’re back so soon?!”

“Yup, had to take my exams that I missed”

“I heard what happened to your relative” Kage said worried “Are you alright? Sorry about your loss.”

“We’re good, I just had to help with the arrangements” I said relieved that they didn’t know about the other shit “I learned a lot about family this break.”

We went in Gon’s room to chat “...so are you going to take the hero licensing this year?”

“I guess so? But it’s not like I’m going to see you guys there” I responded “Everyone has their license right?”

“No, three people didn’t pass” said Kage “So they’ll be joining you on that.”

“Does that mean you’ll be in the sports festival too?!” Gon jumped excitedly.

���I’m still not sure” I gestured to have him calm down “I don’t want to do an internship for hero work and I don’t want to be on the scope for these villains. And don’t act like that’s not the reason why y’all get attacked on the regular!”

“I guess you have some reasoning there” Gon pondered my words “But imagine you kicking ass out there?! You’d easily get in the top 3!”

“Yeah Iida-kun! You’re one of the strongest ones in the class!” Kage joined in on the hype “At least think about it.”

I looked at the two and slumped in my bean bag chair “Ugh fine I’ll think about it!” I groaned “Still gotta figure myself out though.”

“Like what?” asked the two in sync.

“I’m thinking about getting a support item for my legs” I pointed at my shins “Even after all this training, I still can’t get my legs to keep up with the kick of my arm engines!”

“That would be helpful” Kage looked over my arms “Still can’t believe you haven’t figured it out.”

-Fast forward, afternoon of the Welcome Estate Ball-

“...Your tuxedo Iwata-chan.” said a butler as he draped the formal wear on the bed “Anything else you might need before I go?”

“Thank you, that’ll be all!” I said carefully, not to sound too aggressive.

To tell the truth I’m freaking out about all this! It feels like I’m a prince or something and I’m about to get coronated. Thankfully Beizu agreed to come with me to the estate to take the edge off and be moral support.

“That bath is no joke! Like damn bitch you can live like this?!” Beizu said as he got out of the joint bathroom in a robe in my estate quarters “Ooh! The champagne and snacks are here!”

“Bei I’m freaking out!” I slam myself onto the bed “I’m no rich boy, I’m on this ironic lucky streak that’s becoming my literal nightmare!”

Beizu walks over to me with two glasses in his hand “Iwa, it’s not like you’re pretending that you own everything! Nobody hates you and you just gotta be yourself, as corny as that sounds, it’s true” he hovers the glass of champagne over my face “Lets get a little loose before we have to go socialize with your family.”

All my worries took backseat “Okay a few drinks, I don’t want to puke and embarrass my uncle.”

“To inheritance!” Beizu toasted as I sat up “May you live comfortably the rest of your life!”

I toasted and really thought about those words. Yeah I am going to live comfortably but I also want Beizu to be part of that lifestyle too. In between getting whisked into conversations and having to order servants, I try to get some quality time in with Beizu. Yeah we dorm together but school is kicking our butts and we hardly have time for the usual hanging out. Finally there was a moment where we slipped away into the Lineage Hall for some peace and quiet.

“Wow, look at all the portraits” gasped Beizu “Fucked up eyebrows do run in the family!”

“Right?! Glad my mom has stronger, pretty genes” I chuckled as I led Beizu by the hand “This way! I want to show you something.” All the way at the end was four plaques “Here’s were my portrait will someday hang, alongside my siblings!”

“That’s so cool! When are you going to get yours done?” asked Beizu, taking a closer look at my plaque.

“I want to get mine done when I get married, ya know, so I can have couples portrait” I get a little choked up on my words and blurted “Hey Bei, would you be down to get married at 25 with me, if we’re both still single by then?”

Beizu froze and slowly turned to me, face flushed beet red “Wha?! You want to marry me?!”

“Why not? I trust you and I don’t care what others will say about it” I bring our hands together “Maybe it’s all the alcohol in me, but I want you to take part in these riches with me. You said you’d marry me when I told you how much I inherited, you might’ve been joking around but I mean it! Won’t you be part of my family and riches?”

Beizu pursed his lips to give it a thought “I’ll do it BUT I’M GOING TO HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE IWATA EL ROCA IIDA!” he posed and pointed at my nose “If by the time of the stroke of midnight on your 25th birthday and theres no ring on my finger, I’m going to propose in the most extra way that you’ll have to say yes.”

“Deal, I trust you’ll keep me accountable” I pulled them in for a hug “I don’t ever want to go through life without you.”

He brought his hands around my waist “That’s my line, silly” Beizu laughed as he rest his head on my shoulder “I don’t want to go through life without you too.”

We walk down the hall after our little moment to see my little brother having what looks like a mental breakdown. And just outside the window of the hall, in plain view, my parents were really going at it with the making out. It was just so weird looking at them making out like that when Beizu and I spent most of our first year of high school peeking into young mom’s romps with other boys. As for little bro Tensei, I’m sure it’s fine and he’s not on the brink of anything! He’s just a boy after all. Shiet, I’d breakdown if Hanaka was my twin sister too. Beizu and I just minded our business and re-joined the others in the main hall to drink a little more. I hope for more moments like these, then maybe life wouldn’t suck so bad.

-Chapter 11, End-

<Previous - Next>

[kyouxa]

Diabolik lovers Chaos Lineage: Ayato Sakamaki (Story 13)

In terms of the gameplay: The black choices lead up to a bad ending, the white choices lead up to a good ending. Please no reposting onto other sites, ask me before translating this into another language too! I’m an amateur translator, but I hope you do enjoy it anyway!♡

Monologue

When I was resting in an abandoned house, I heard footsteps chasing us from outside.

According to Reiji-san’s guess, if we could destroy the core part of this world ...

But before discussing more about it, the enemy was approaching us.

It was considered as dangerous to stay in the abandoned house, that’s why we decided to intercept them in the woods.

Place: Outside — Forest

Ayato: There’s no sign of anyone yet

Yui: True

(We’re hiding in the bushes and we’re waiting for the enemies to approach)

(I’m very nervous because I don’t know when the other vampires will appear)

*Ayato hugs Yui*

Ayato: Don’t tell me you’re getting worried again? Everything will be okay as long as you stay with me.

Yui: ... Yes, that’s right. Thank you for holding me like that again.

Ayato: Yes. I’ll hold you more firmly so you can’t leave me anymore.

Yui: Ah, uhm, but stop whispering in my ear... ! It’s kind of embarrassing...

Ayato: Why should this be embarrassing? We’ve been doing this for awhile now, don’t tell me you’re getting aroused by it?

You never said anything when I do it in bed, so I thought you got used to it.

Yui: Huh! Why are you bringing this up now!?

Ayato: I’m highly sorry. Next time I’ll make any noise and say any word you want me to do.

Laito: Wait a second. Did you forget we can hear you?

Ayato: I didn’t. So stop interrupting us Laito.

Laito: This only seems to be fun for the two of you. Ayato stop making me jealous.

Kanato: Why can’t you just shut up for a second. If we’re going to be found by the enemy it’s your fault.

Ayato: I understand. I’ll try and keep my voice down from now on.

Yui: We all have to be quiet... !

*footsteps approach*

??: — There’s no point in hiding anymore. I already heard you talking with each other

Ayato: ...Ngh

Yui: (That voice... !)

Yui: (Ruki-kun!)

Ruki: What are you thinking about? There’s no need in hiding anymore so come out

Ayato: He really found us. After all this plan got weird.

Yui: Yes, but that’s okay! We did use the strategy Reiji-san considered... !

*flashback*

Laito: So after all we’re going to run away? I don’t know the number of opponents, but we may can’t get away and get caught.

Reiji: Yes, that’s true. You probably wouldn’t get away anymore.

So I considered a possible strategy. Please listen carefully.

Ayato: Hm, strategy? What’s it about?

Reiji: Even if we’re challenged against multiple opponents from the front and the winning rate is low.

Please check the number of people when you see the enemy.

If the number seems to be higher than you, keep hiding as long as possible and leave the place.

Make sure to not leave any member of our family alone.

If there are probably more opponents, I and Shu will distract the opponents first, and everyone could escape from multiple directions.

Ayato: Why are we going to fighting in such small numbers?

Shu: It’s simple, if it’s an advantageous number, it’s better to disable them first from and let everyone else escape while it.

Reiji: Yes, that’s correct. But I’m sure the enemy won’t give up easily either.

If it seems to be a trick, we might get caught up early, and our plan would fall apart before we reached anything.

If everyone survives, we’ll meet at the church. Do you know where it is?

Laito: Okay so we all will meet at the church again

Kanato: Don’t tell me we need to run there. I don’t wanna be fully exhausted.

Subaru: I’m sure we’re all getting through it. I’ll lend you my hand if they need help.

Kanato: Thank you but, I don’t want to touch your filthy hand.

Reiji: There’s one more thing. We know the enemies goal is to get you, Eve.

Yui: You’re talking about me?

Reiji: If the other guys memories haven’t changed, they should still aim for you to become the king.

So while we‘re fighting, Ayato will take you and you two will head as first people to the church.

Ayato: What? You’re just telling me to run away with her? Stop fooling around, I’ll fight too.

I need to pay my revenge back to them. I can’t miss this chance, I’ll never get that close again.

Reiji: Stop that now. This is our strategy...

Shu: Fine. Seems like we don’t have time anymore either.

Yui: Shu-san...

Shu: Do whatever you want. Your greed is the first priority over what you have to do now.

Ayato: ...

Shu: As a result, you might even lose the most precious thing to you. Can you still do that?

Ayato: ... That is...

Shu: Ayato. Think about it. Is this the best time to beat your opponent?

Ayato: I don’t understand you. Isn’t it only natural that I want to defeat them?

Shu: It is. Whatever you do, you should think if it works out correctly. Or, you might regret it later.

Ayato: Head to the church, protect her, defeat them...

Shu: That’s right.

Think about what you want to do and this woman, who is the most important for you.

Ayato: ...

Reiji: ... Are you done discussing? We got no time. We’ll leave this abandoned house soon.

Ayato, there shouldn’t be a complaint according to my strategy.

Ayato: ...Yes

Yui: Ayato-kun...

*end flashback*

Yui: (After that, Ayato-kun was acting like nothing happened)

(What did he really think?)

Ruki: You’re still not coming out? If that’s so, I’ll come closer

Yui: (T-That’s bad! We’re getting discovered like that... !)

Shu: Hey, look here.

Reiji: Seems like we discovered something.

Yui: (Shu-san! Reiji-san! Good. From here, it works according to the strategy ...)

Ruki: — You guys... scarlet members. What are you doing here?

Reiji: We could ask you the same about what you’re doing here. I assume you‘re looking for Eve, aren’t you?

Ruki: ...Oh? How did you know I’m looking for Eve?

Reiji: It’s only natural that this would be on the enemies mind. We all aren’t thinking different at this point at least .

Ruki: Certainly, Eve who was at my house seemed to be brought out by Ayato. That’s what I noticed earlier.

That’s why I’m searching this way...

Reiji: ...

Ruki: What did you say before? It’s kinda strange that you knew about what happened earlier.

Because Eve was living in my mansion until now, how did you know i‘m searching for her? What are you hiding?

Reiji: ...Ngh...

Ayato: Hey, what are you doing Reiji!? Is he okay?

Yui: Ah Ruki-kun... ! He’s way too sharp!

Ruki: That was nasty, scarlets eldest son. You really made such a mistake, so you really got Eve in your hands?

Shu: Reiji, it doesn’t matter even if we continue lying. He’s alone and we’re two.

Reiji: Yes, that’s true. Other than Ruki...

Shin: Hey brother. Can I finally come out?

Yui: (That's Shin from the Orange mansion. And there’s one more and another —)

Kanato: How long are you going to keep me waiting?

Reiji: ...Ngh—!

Ayato: What!?

Yui: Huh... !

Shu: What is that supposed to mean?

Yui: Why, Why... don’t tell me you’re with them!?

Because Kanato-kun was...

Kanato: ...Hehe...

Yui: (Wow, he’s laughing... that creepy and mysterious laugh)

Ayato: Don’t fuck with me. Why are you with those two... you aren’t the real Kanato are you?

Choices

1) — Weird from the beginning (white) ♡ ♡ ♡

2) — Think he was weird for awhile (black)

— Weird from the beginning ♡

Yui: That’s right, you aren’t the real Kanato-kun right? The atmosphere didn’t feel like the usual Kanato-kun from the very beginning.

(Is Ayato-kun also feeling this? As his third brother, they’ve been through so much together)

Ayato: Yes, that’s true. I’m thinking the same way, you’re not the original.

It would’ve better if you acted less like that to make it feel like you're Kanato.

— Think he was weird for awhile

Yui: I think he wasn‘t the one who was with me. Because I was with them for a long time, this Kanato-kun is a forgery...

(If that‘s true, it’s scary)

Ayato: ...No, I think it’s different. It's no wonder, the guy who just came is probably the real one.

Yui: (If that’s so. It may be something special because he’s the third brother of him)

end Choices

Kanato: Hehe. It seems like my playtime is already over.

Well, first of all, let's give them what they deserve.

Yui: Ah!

Ruki: ...Ugh... what’s that sudden...Ngh

Shin: ...Ngh... suddenly, sleepy... Agh

Kanato: What? What exactly are you two doing? Get on your feet now, we’re not sleeping here.

Reiji: What the hell...

Ayato: Shit! What’s going on? You, follow me! We’re getting away from here!

Yui: Ngh... !

Ayato: Hey Kanato! What are you doing? Why are you working with those two!?

Kanato: Stop calling me like that. It’s really unpleasant if you continue.

Yui: Are you sure this is the real Kanato-kun?

Kanato: What? How dare you questioning who I am.

It’s so rude to call me a fake. Can’t you see how cute I am?! Aren’t there any similarities at all!?

Seems like there’s no need to hide anymore.

*bright light*

Yui: (S-Such a bright light... ! What is— Ngh!)

Karl-Heinz: ... We finally meet again

Ayato: Father... !?

Reiji: Father... !

Shu: ... Father

Karl-Heinz: I’m glad I was allowed to see those very interesting things.

Ayato: So this is really all your doing!

Karl-Heinz: You realized that you were locked in this separate world and that’s when I got really worried.

So, I decided while he was sleeping to posses Kanato with my power.

Apparently, as I see the look on your face, it seems that you’ve never noticed it.

Yui: (So, he was replaced... ! If you look at it from that view, his behavior really got strange...)

(He was also able to watch all our movements like that—)

(I can’t believe... something like that really happened—)

Hey, everyone...

Subaru: Ngh—!

*Subaru faints*

Laito: ...Agh!

*Laito faints*

Kanato: ...Ugh

*Kanato faints*

Yui: (What’s wrong? Everyone looks so pained... They all look so pained!)

Ayato: Ngh... what’s wrong?

Hey! What are you doing! What have you done to them all!

Karl-Heinz: Calm down, Ayato. I didn’t do anything to them.

Apparently, just seeing me triggers their memories to return to normal

Yui: Everyone’s memories... ?

Karl-Heinz: This is at least what I think is happening to them. This is way too interesting

But is this more of an obstacle to experimentation. Let's say I’ll be leaving now.

Ayato: Wait! What kind of experiment!?

Was it really you who trapped us here!? Tell me already!

Karl-Heinz: Show me that you deserve to get out. Take Eve and be the one who deserves to be the king.

I’ll tell you everything one by one than. The magic of this world is gathered in the church.

If you go there, you’ll be able to escape from this world—

*Karl-Heinz disappears*

Yui: ...Ngh!

(Karl Heinz-sama disappeared—)

Karl-Heinz: I wonder if you’ll really escape... I’m looking forward to our next meeting.

Ayato: Hey! Don’t just disappear without persmission!!

Fuck! He’s doing what he wants... I can’t just trust what this guy said!

Yui: Ayato-kun...

Ayato: I won’t forgive him for what he did. All right, we’re going out of here!!

I won’t let him take away the one I love again!

Yui: That’s right! We are not someone's experimental tool. Let's escape!

Shu: Hey, what are you planing to do?

Ayato: What?

Shu: Apparently Ruki and Shin seem to be sleeping by magic.

This will also be the work of our father at that time.

Ayato: Ruki-kun...

I hope he’s going to remember, so they can continue their life at the Mukami household...

I remember that I thought he was my big brother, it still feels very strange.

Yui: (Yes, that’s right. Although they are temporary, they live as brothers, eat together, and met each other)

(It may not be possible to meet them again like this)

Ayato: Ruki and Shin, we should put them in the abandoned house we came from.

Let’s go over there, we shouldn’t get attacked by someone for a while.

Yui: Yeah. I think that's good! We can‘t just leave them here anyway.

Ayato: Well. Besides, there’s probably nothing what could surprise us anymore.

The place where the magical powers that our fucking father said is gather— we’re going to the church!

← Story 12

→ Story 14

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Worth it

pairing: lapidot

words: 2.4k

summary: in the aftermath of the diamond’s battle Lapis and Peridot do a sort of dance around each other, trying to make sense of each other again. Gems don’t get sick, but they can get heartsick

they try to figure it out

i. Peridot didn’t know what to think.

It wasn’t like I haven’t seen Lapis before she reasons with herself. They had encountered each other at the barn, in the fields, at Steven’s beach, in her barn again, on the tractor.

She lists all the places she had seen Lapis- it had been a lot. So it wasn’t like she wasn’t familiar with the blue gem. She even checked her faculties and even confirmed her gem wasn’t malfunctioning, even if was still an era two version.

But her gem was fine, which didn’t explain the tightening in her chest, the pulsing ache in her throat, her head going dizzy like her head was about to roll off her shoulder tops.

Peridot was sure she hadn’t reformed correctly, but there was no data to support that either.

Peridot was exiting her bathroom, a casual morning stroll. Lapis was staying on Steven’s ‘couch’ until they figured out what to do with everyone, the gem Bismuth was on the ‘chair.’

Lapis was standing on the other side of the door when Peridot came out.

Her eyes go wide, Lapis takes an unsure step forward, their eyes meet and Peridot has The Feeling, that feeling. The one where her chest clenched and her whole gem vibrated, painfully.

“Peridot-” Lapis says quickly, hesitantly, her mouth floundering open and closed.

Peridot takes a step backward, “ah!”

Maybe yelling was a little bit much, she side-steps her.

“Wait, wait.”

“I have to go,” she speed walks to the other side of the room and past a confused looking Bismuth, she doesn’t have time to explain. She doesn’t really understand it.

Lapis flaps her wings and darts across the room, “I just wanna-” “Good to see you Lazuli,” Lazuli, “a good talk. I have uh, look at my wrist, my oven is late.”

She throws her hands over her head and takes the porch steps down to the beach two at a time, she hears a few snippets of the two other gems murmuring behind her. “What’s up with her?” She heard Lapis just sight back, “me.” ii. Peridot was sitting with her knees hugged to her chest and body curled up into a small ball- great, like she needed to be any smaller. When she was reforming she concentrated as hard as she could, straining with one thought. Trying to willpower herself: taller, taller, able to process 15 gigabytes of data instead of 12.

An era one.

But maybe you hope for a lot of things and it never happens, she knows she shouldn’t preoccupy herself with things like this. She had more important things to deal with, like counting every single grain of sand on this beach.

Even if being an era one might have stopped herself from being poofed, even if maybe it could have stopped a lot of things.

She sighs heavily and squints her eyes up at the focal star of this quadrant, it seems like every other star she had come across. But it wasn’t, it was earth’s star.

She’s groaning internally when she senses a shift in the sand next to her.

“Hey,” it was a soft ‘hey,’ like the one Percy gave to Stephan on the night of the big relay race. Peridot doesn’t look up.

“Are you not spending the morning with the other diamonds?” She didn’t really know how to form the word ‘diamond’ here, it felt wrong, oblong and unfitting in her mouth. It wasn’t like they were friends now. Or were they? It was hard to keep track of.

Steven takes a seat next to her, “I was talking to Bismuth.” “A very strong gem.” Peridot nods, “you should use her on counsel for relocating the geo-weapon and approaching the diam-” “No.” Steven put a hand on her shoulder, “She was saying…” Steven takes a deep breath in, “how are you doing Peridot?” She glances over to her friend and sniffs loudly, “I’m great,” she says roughly and looks up, “and you have things to do.” Steven shakes his head, “I always have time for Peridot.” He laughs and takes a seat next to her, “besides,” he looks back up at the focal star as well, “it feels like we haven’t talked in awhile.” Peridot looked down at her feet and hugged her knees closer to her chest, “we talked just three days ago, you commented that you liked my new star and proceeded to say we were all a family now and coul-” “Peridot,” Steven’s face strains, “She said you ran away from Lapis?” Peridot’s eyebrows lift and she frowns, loudly, “I didn’t run.” She says sharply, “I had business to do.” Steven raises his eyebrows, “business?” He snorts and covers his mouth with a laugh, she scowls at him, “sorry, sorry, I was just thinking about you in little business suits and yelling about stocks.” Peridot shrugs, “I could wear ‘suits’ and yell about ‘stocks,’” She says in quotes, “I could yell about stocks all day!” Steven sighs heavily and leans toward her, “what kind of business did you have down here?”

“Stocks.” Steven laughs, “Don’t be cute with me.”

She shakes her head and shrugs, “I have business counting the sand grains on the beach,” she says loudly, “I was at 1,235.” Steven clears his throat and makes a slight face at her, “that’s a lot.” “Yeah,” she says roughly, “but obviously I’ve barely started. There’s a lot to get through before it’s all been accounted for. More to do, more to do.” She murmurs to herself at the end. Steven pats her shoulder, “well… maybe you’ve done enough? It’s a lot for any gem.” Peridot narrows her eyes down at the wet sand edging up to her feet, “I could always do more.” She says hotly, “Someone has to do it and I was obviously doing it before.” Steven tilts his head to the side, “maybe, uh, things are changed? You don’t have to count sand anymore?” “Of course I don’t!” Peridot throws her hands into the air, “but she’s here again and I can’t even look her in the eye, what if she, I mean,” Peridot makes a frustrated sound in the back of her throat, “I shouldn’t feel this way.” “No, no,” Steven pats her on the shoulder, “what you’re feeling is perfectly normal. She left, you were hurt, it makes sense.” Peridot makes a gurgling noise and tears at the sand around her, “it’s not going back to the way it was.” “Isn’t that a good thing?” Steven offers softly.

“I don’t know,” Peridot’s mouth pinches, “I don’t want to see her. I think? It’s all… mixed up.” Steven puts his head on her shoulder, “and that’s okay. Give it time, I’m sure you’ll both come around when the time is right.” Peridot scoffs softly, “Gems don’t get sick Steven.” Steven shrugs, “they do get heartsick.” “Ugh,” Peridot puts her head in her hands, “just shatter me already.” Steven laughs dryly, “you’ll see. It’ll work out.” They stay on the beach for a couple more hours.

iii. Peridot was sitting on the porch, she hadn’t been into the house again yet, but she had spent the last 42 hours dipping and diving behind light posts and trees. Lapis was making some strange tour of earth again.

Just flying around, forests, boardwalks, fields.

But what if she got hurt? What if she freaked herself out?

Peridot at least had to check on her, but Lapis was also looking for something too. Peridot still feels her teeth rattle when she sees her.

Things couldn’t go back to the way they were.

She’s sitting on the porch looking at nothing. “Hey,” Peridot freezes and considers jumping off the edge of the porch. She tenses and looks over her shoulder, she poises her forward, “Wait!” Lapis puts her hand up, “I just have something to say.”

Peridot’s entire body yells at her, telling her to run, she doesn’t look back at her, “I’m a very busy gem. I have... stocks.” Lapis sighs loudly, “Stars,” she says heavily, “I know. I’ve been looking for you.” Peridot shakes her head, you weren’t even looking behind you. It felt like no dance with no fusion at the end.

“Don’t say anything,” Lapis says quickly, “I just need to say it.” Peridot makes a face and forces herself not to scramble away, she glances up, “if this is about living accommodations, I can clear out or start up an arrangement with the Greg human. He has a ‘van.’” “Peridot, listen,” Lapis kneels next to her, “I’m sorry.” She says heavily, “I’m so sorry.” Peridot lifts her chin up, “sorry? You shouldn’t be, I’m a curious about these van housing.” Lapis shakes her head, “you shouldn’t have felt uncomfortable. You did all that for me and all I did was…” Lapis takes a deep breath, “take.” Peridot frowns, she really frowns, her whole face felt it was going to contort from frowning and then fall off. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She says with her chest puffed out, “I was fine.” Lapis shakes her head, “you were trying so hard for me and I barely noticed.” “I,” Peridot opens her mouth, then she closes it. “I feel weird.” “It’s okay,” Lapis says softly, “I’m trying to be different,” a steely look was in her eye, “I’m not going to have people carry all this,” she snorts, “baggage.”

Peridot lifts her chin up and tries to meet her eye, “it’s not like that.”

“Like what?” Peridot crosses her arms over her chest, “I wanted to do it.” Lapis gives an unsteady grin, “Oh Peridot,” she leans forward and they are a breath away, for just a second. “You always were the sweet one.” She jerks her head back, “I’m not sweet.” She clears her throat, “Did you not see me throw the cans at the diamonds? I called Yellow Diamond a clod. AGAIN.” She smiles at the memory.

Lapis laughs, “you really were something else.” She leans over her, “I saw.” Their eyes meet again and Peridot wilts a little bit, “you didn’t have to leave.” Lapis looks down, “I’m going to be different now.” “No,” Peridot looks up, “you didn’t make me do those things. I wanted to help you, you’re, you’re, worth it Lapis! You don’t have to,” she takes a deep breath, “be sorry.” Lapis’s eyes were wide and her mouth was open, “I still am? Sorry that is.” She finally says, “I don’t want you to,” Lapis pauses and struggles with something, “I want you to feel good too? Not like you’re bending over… backward…” Peridot cocks her head to the side, “how’re you doing?” Lapis sighs and leans her forehead on Peridot’s shoulder, “well, I’m trying to make things right with a very stubborn gem.”

“Correction,” she grins, “a very handsome great powerful gem.” Lapis laughs, “Who is very stubborn!”

Peridot hums and looks over her shoulder at her, “I wish I didn’t feel this way.” Lapis blinks a couple times, “like what?” “Like this,” Peridot gulps dryly and her hands release, her grasp falling open and shoulders slumping forward helplessly. Her voice gets small, “you left.” Lapis softens, “I’m sorry.” “You just… took everything.” “I’m sorry.” “You,” she looks up and swallows again, “you didn’t send anything?” Lapis reaches out and they both search each other’s eyes, “I’m so sorry,” she says breathlessly, “you deserve so much Peridot. I’ll make it up to you, I don’t care how long it takes.”

Peridot shakes her head, “It’s no problem, you don’t have to,” she says stiffly, “once I figure out what ‘heart sick’ is I’m going to smash it and be fine again.” Lapis sits down next to her and kicks her feet off the edge of the porch, “I don’t have to… be here either if that would be better for you. I know I’ve been,” she gives a sad laugh, “a little difficult.” “No!” Peridot says a little more loudly then she meant to, “Please,” Peridot lowers her head, “I thought I’d never feel good again.” Lapis’s eyes go wide, “Peridot?” She says softly and Peridot waits to pick her head up again.

“Yeah?” Lapis takes a deep breath in that she doesn’t need, “Could we start over?” She asks in a small voice, “if you’ll still have me.” A smile starts on her face, slow, uncontrolled, a small and terrible thing on her features. She smiles, “I don’t know.” She says slowly, “I’m not exactly Sapphire.” Lapis puts her hands down and studies her, “I’m definitely not Ruby.”

Peridot shrugs, “It really freaking sucked you know.” Lapis gives a slow smile, “Tell me about it.” She blows a piece of hair out of her face, “the moon is literally the worst.” “Did you miss me?” She winks like a CPH episode during the ‘flirty’ era season two.

Lapis’s whole face lightens up, “stars yes.” Peridot’s mouth twists down again, “really?” Lapis leans over and whispers, “Sometimes I used to make sock puppets that make your voice.” Peridot’s brow furrowed, “seriously?” Lapis puts her hand up, “Lapis,” she says in a shrill voice, “I’ve discovered the secrets of insects. They roll up! You poke them, and they roll up! Mar mar, I’m the best gem.” Peridot snorts and crosses her arms over her chest, “I don’t sound like that.” “I know,” Lapis takes a deep breath in, “it was a poor substitute.” Peridot examines her and puts her head on her shoulder, “I still feel weird.” “Take your time,” Lapis says softly and they both look out onto the sun as it kisses the edge of the horizon, dipping into the ocean in a brilliance of orange and yellow. “I have time.” Peridot hums, “you can go anywhere you like.” “No,” Lapis says steadily, “I’m staying, as long as you’ll let me.” Peridot isn’t sure why her voice cracks, it shouldn’t crack, “really?” “Well,” Lapis clears her throat, “to quote one of my favorite gems,” Lapis puts her palm and offers it up, “you’re worth it.”

Peridot feels something wet in her eyes, “okay.” She accepts the hand and her voice cracks again, they weave their fingers again. “But you can’t leave again.” “I promise!”

“And you have to rewatch season five with me, I think I’ve realized that it’s not as terrible as we first concluded.” “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” They both take a deep breath in together. Peridot glances over at her, “I missed you.” Lapis leans toward and taps their foreheads together, “Bet I missed you more.” Peridot raises her eyebrows, “Is that a challenge?” Lapis squeezes her hand, “a promise.”

They sit with the setting sun and she feels the soft press of lips against her cheek. It was warm, it was a start.

[achanceforus-x-blog]

My story so far

I am writing this to hopefully raise awareness and shed some light on situations people ignore or dismiss. I want to help people no matter what their going through with my words , my wisdom and inspire and give my strength to anyone who feels they have none left. My story so far .. A few major things had happened in the years before hand (Ill save these stories for another time) causing my mental health to deteriorate (such a big problem in our generation, thats just kept so secretive) Feeling lost and deflated keeping quiet about all my problems , our problems keeping shit to myself. Feeling to breathless and anxious to even leave the house for work. Falling out with friends because I was weak they thought I was stupid for all Ive put up with, a toxic relationship. Me and my long term partner would just argue and fuss and fight for hours to the point of ultimate distress on both halves. Neither of us really knew what we wanted when you've been romantic with one person for so long it can get really crazy I believe noones a bad person though I believe people only do bad things and thats the stage we were at doing bad things. The physical altercations got to much for us both it seemed as though we were killing each other slowly. Who bruises someone they love? Who try's to hurt them with wicked words? Im so done been a wicked person but we both had a bad mental state and combined it was not pretty. I lived with him and his family in not the most comfortable environment this could also spark our disagreements. Working full time jobs, missing each other , no trust in each other , assumptions , we even thought it was acceptable to lay our hands on one another at some points which is never ok on either part male or female. So with all this been said what the hell was a girl to do I felt I couldn't go home to my mother as it had been to long I was kind of brainwashed id fantasise about the days I didn't have to stay at my partners family's house anymore. One day I just became exhausted the fighting became to much and I finally stopped provoking and reacting then we remembered we can talk to each other. So after about a week of exhaustion and finally getting along again I started not to feel myself even more we got drunk at a christmas party ( I had some time of work and got drunk every day since the 16th December until just after christmas to numb my issues ) but this time we both got drunk at the party and we started loving on each other again like we had before he made a silly comment about my belly and said I had a little him in there. Which we both just laughed off drunkly as I thought yeah impossible. This comment didnt leave my mind all night then when a still slightly drunk but a more sober me woke up that comment was the first thing on my mind. I asked him what the fuck he meant?! He said he was just drunk and playing with me. Then I started to think wait I havent been feeling right for awhile I put it down to just been sad. But something kind of clicked in me I felt sick and I turned to my partner and said omg you've gotta get me a test he looked puzzled but when I explained he went to the corner shop and came back with three tests. I was terrified not to lie , id been pregnant before when I was younger and that didn't end well as they couldn't find a heartbeat .. Pure dread came into my heart and pure fear I started to feel more sick and panicked than ever. What if I lost a baby again I already accepted the fact I couldn't carry nor could I get pregnant again after the damage left and the blood transfusions and all the struggles of the time before. I didn't even want to be a mother at all , or did I ? No not Atleast until I was like 30 or something id pushed all thoughts of ever been someones mother out of my head for a while as it was to painful. Ugh why me , why didn't we glove up why did it have to feel so good why why why and then to think I had been drinking and smoking. Shit. I stopped all these thoughts and quickly manned up and took all the tests to the bathroom. All positive. Shit. Id not long started a great new job though , I was really excelling and I dont wanna be a mother and surely history would repeat itself? Were the tests right? I cant even get pregnant can I? Ive been drinking so much and smoking, ive been so sad ive been getting into scraps with my partner how far gone was I? Had we scrapped when I was pregnant? Im trapped. So many thoughts I sat in the bathroom and just let out a deep breath. Im the strongest person I know lol or am I or do I just suppress shit and abuse substances to get over the way i felt ? Either way I felt strong I know im strong after everything id been through before in the past year let alone the past few years. Okay It is what it is man. Walked out the bathroom and handed my partner all the tests we looked at each other he widened his eyes then he smiled real hard probably the most he'd smiled at me in a long time, he was happy but he was worried because he to lost his baby when I did before. We both lost the baby. It was ours and now we were faced with that feeling once again omg were pregnant wtf to do?! Not to mention We found out on new years eve!! So all of our plans cancelled. Man if this wasnt the time for me to get drunk and high I dont know what was. So we left it for a few days. We agreed to rebuild ourselves and rebuild our friendship and then out relationship. We obviously still loved and cared for each other but we had to make a pact no more toxic mess not around my baby no way no how. No More drinking for me I told myself I also stopped smoking cigarettes I was the moodiest id been in a month or so withdrawal symptoms really aint the one. I found it extremely hard to stop getting high though truthfully that had been my addiction and coping mechanism for years I felt even more lost wondering what the fuck I was gonna do without getting high everyday after work after a busy day after just having to wake up. Truly exhausting. Still only me and my partner knew our secret whilst I struggled to come to terms with it. At work I had the worst morning sickness ever I wont post to much about this but my job included me having to be really hands on and alert at all times It was getting real tough. I needed to tell someone. I told my manager their reaction wasn't really what I needed I guess they felt I was deliberately(damn it took spell check along time to figure out wtf I was just tryna spell) deliberately ruining their business. Great. And more exhaustion and more morning sickness. I need my mom Yo. The next day I went to my moms house and just came right out with everything she was shocked , happy , scared because of last time of course. My darling mom man I missed her she reacted just how Id wanted her to by getting my shits together telling me I had to make decisions from now and ultimately booking me a private paid scan for the next evening to check everything was ok. Work on this day was the worst all I could think about was whether I was gonna see that little heartbeat or whether it would have stopped like last time, like last time like last time all i kept thinking was like last time. Jesus get me the fuck out of here It was going slow though because I was clock watching. Finally it was time to leave i was outta there in no time I felt so sick driving to the scan place we picked up my partner It was just us three I could tell my mom and him were terrified to but they were just tryna be happy and make me laugh but i literally couldn't even speak I just felt so weird , silence please until we get this over with. So we arrive at the place and I swear my feet stopped working and my legs like I couldn't even get out of the car, mom helped me. Okay this is it. There was like a ten minute wait for the sonographer it felt more like ten fucking hours. Id zoned anyway I didnt know what anyone was saying and if they were talking to me I wasnt listening, finally they called me. We got into the scan room and oh my life Ive never experienced fear like it I personally thought I was fearless nothing scared me but this did. My mom literally had to lift me onto the bed and pull up my top for the scan and then explain to the sonographer Id had a bad experience in the past. My partner looked at me and smiled but I could see past his smile I could tell he was fucking shit scared just like me so he came and held my hand she rubbed the cold jelly on my stomach and began to look around Id covered my eyes by this point cos in my head I thought well at least this time if theres no heartbeat I wouldn't have to see it. I heard people talking my mom , the sonographer , some other woman in the back supervising I just wasnt listening to what they were saying my mom stood up and took my hands from my eyes and said its okay look! I looked and there was my beautiful little bean with the strongest heartbeat ive ever saw the sonographer turned to me and said your only eight weeks so not far gone at all but they have a real strong heartbeat and so far everything looks fine. I just froze and started sobbing. My little bean I couldn't believe it they printed us some scan pictures and I prized myself up of their bed and we went back to my moms house on the way back I was sick all over myself in the car in my new tracksuit that was really something. A part of me just couldn't believe I had a living thing inside of me. Wow got to my moms house cleaned up and ate some food and we talked and we made decisions and I told her I didn't wanna be a mother and she told me really it was tough and I should of thought about it before I didnt use protection. Lol typical thanks mom though I needed that. So I should have been relaxed cos there was a heartbeat but all I kept thinking about was would they even make it another week inside me I really didnt believe I was capable of bringing another life into this world. She dropped us back to my partners families house were we lived and my partner told his family they were happy for us his mother especially. We sat in our bedroom and I just cried on him for abit then he made a spliff and I had a few drags ( I know its bad but try not to judge me ) id read marijuana could help with sickness . Yeah anything to make it sound better. Fast forward a little bit to a week or so and I had a couple of appointments at the hospital due to what had happened before they wanted to double check me and see if I was okay. My manager was not at all happy about how many appointments I was having constantly making sly remarks and comments giving me the silent treatment telling me I was causing them to have to find cover. My initial thoughts whatever trevor I'm still here still working still trying my best your the least of my worries and just ignored them and looked forward to going to bed as the exhaustion was unreal Id never felt a tiredness like it honestly. Fatigue. Back at my partners house him and his mother had had a few disagreements lately and then one night it got really bad and a lot of harsh things were said and eventually she told him he had till the end of the week to get out. What ! I was shocked where was I gonna go ? All pregnant and shit clearly I had to go with him I hadnt left his side at the best of times never mind staying somewhere he'd been kicked out of. Weird shit I made the split second decision and told him lets leave now we grabbed a few bits we needed for the next couple days and left right there and then. Where we gonna go !? My partner asked I didnt even know I just knew I didnt wanna stay there any longer. I called my mom and briefly explained she didnt have a clue what I was talking about it was half eleven at night and everyone had work early in the morning she just said yes then we turned up at her house at midnight , a couple of lost puppies like hey. She just made sure we were okay we'd ate and we had somewhere to sleep with all her blankets and pillows. Fast forward a little bit I really wanted to move into our own place so I started saving over half my wages for the next two months and just stacking up buying things for the place we found , he was saving to , we'd saved more money then than in our whole lives , I mean it seemed real easy I wasnt buying bottles of alcohol all the time I wasnt buying cigarettes I wasnt buying weed no clothes cos I figured id just grow out of them soon anyway so my money was literally untouched so saving and buying household goods was all me for the next few weeks. I wasnt happy but I was at peace. We viewed a flat and I knew it was the one man I just didnt think we stood a chance as it was in a posh area and quite expensive and we were not posh and you know how landlords would stereotype a young black couple so I really began to give up hope of finding somewhere. But then they called and told us the place was all ours and we could come and collect the keys in two weeks I was so happy we were happy, it felt like things were finally gonna go right. The day before I was due to move in my manager dismissed me unfairly due to pregnancy discrimination. It didn't come as much of a shock because of all the shit id put up with them since telling them I was pregnant, but I couldnt believe people could actually do this stuff to people. It was disgusting I was so mad and now breaking down because I didnt even know if id be able to afford to live in our beautiful new home. All the stuff we'd brought and I didnt wanna be a young mom living in at my mothers house it was all just to much once again I manned up and realised I had alot of savings and still had another wage to come my way and some unpaid holiday so I was going to be okay until that ran out. Of course my partner works hard and he could pay everything but that is not something I wanted either so I made sure to even out my savings to last until the summer by then id be receiving maternity pay anyway. I was terrified for the 12 week scan as alot of pregnancies dont make it to the 2nd trimester all I could think about was what I had lost before I just couldn't accept anything good would happen for me so once again sick and nervous I went to my next scan and there it was again a beautiful little heartbeat , so strong and the way they were wiggling about in me on the scan I still just could not believe it more scan photos were given and I left feeling abit happier once again still filled with terror and worry. I began to wonder whether or not id ever be able to enjoy been pregnant and if it was even worth it worth putting on the fake smiles every day worth looking at my changing body going from been super underweight hardly , controlled eating basically not eating at all - when I was sad cos It was the only thing I felt I had control over , to having no choice but to eat constantly all the time even through all the horrible morning sickness that FYI doesnt just fucking occur in the mornings. Ugh. Whatever. I have no choice for me pregnancy felt horrible its a really weird experience I didn't understand how women skipped about with their big bellies all happy and excited cos I was not happy or excited I loved my baby of course but It filled me with dread to think I could be growing them but never get to meet them again I just was not prepared for this at all and Im twenty years old. Isnt that old enough? Hell no. But theres nothing I can do. Fast forward 16 weeks pregnant and received news you can pay for a private scan to reveal the gender. So basically to put it blunt I thought everytime I had another scan I wouldnt see the babies heartbeat sounds paranoid and ridiculous and surely after three scans id calm down . Nope it got worse for me. So of course I wanted to find out the gender but for me it was just another way to see if the baby was still alive in me. The day of my gender scan I actually had an appointment with the midwife to listen to the heartbeat. So i went into that terrified as well my midwife knew how scared I was and dealt with me really nicely she eased me into it and then I heard my beautiful baby's heartbeat for the first time. Oh my God it was shocking I felt breathless I was listening to my baby's heartbeat. (Ive just noticed excuse my poor grammar throughout I never liked school lol) but that heartbeat the most special thing to me its all I could think about. Then in the evening when it came to my private scan I was still terrified at finding their heartbeat even though id heard it literally a few hours before! It was then that I realised I actually had a real problem. But whatever suppressed that again and readied myself for what they were saying in the scan. So I brought along my sister my dad my mom my partner and my bestfriend as you were paying you could have five people in the room lol. This if your highly nervous I wouldnt recommend they were all so excited and happy I just couldnt figure out how they were so excited and happy whilst I was miserable and terrified. So on the scan table the cold jelly again and then the sonographer started to feel around I covered my eyes again of course like I did every scan then got the all clear that there was a heartbeat then started to watch it was beautiful I couldnt get over the fact a little human was inside my belly so weird so magical wow. The sonographer asked so do you want to know the sex my family were all like wooo yeahh I didnt say anything just half heartedly smiled all of a sudden then sonographer told me its a girl!!! Oh my God. I had a little girl growing inside me a mini me. I sobbed abit again. Unreal my very own little daughter. So overwhelming that I actually started to feel really upset thats another thing about been pregnant these raging hormones noone warns you about this stuff I swear. So we were having a little girl (something my partner had said all along) and I was still not happy. I started to feel really selfish and bad. I explained I felt lonely I dont know how when I wasn't alone but it was just not a great feeling at all I really needed help I started to act irrationally and like an emotional wreck I definitely needed to accept some help so a week or so later I spoke up and was referred to a mental health midwife. Which to me sounded dramatic as fuck. But cos id struggled with mental health before it was something they had recommended anyway but stubborn old me didn't take the help. But now it was official I was dealing with antenatal depression like a constant feeling of impending doom I just couldn't be happy ever again could I? At Least not until my daughter was in my arms. I dont do talking or taking sad pills I couldn't drink I couldn't get high or control my eating like before not to mention I couldnt just have the maddest sex session either as I was scared that would harm my baby to. Ugh. I couldn't do nothing man because I was pregnant so my stress went straight to my head all everyone kept saying was dont stress you'll stress out the baby. Like really thank fuck you just said that never thought of that before. I literally couldnt listen to people and their stupid comments I just tried to accept they were trying to help and whatever they were saying was in my best interest. Okay Now this is were my story so far gets real fucked up. Ive been trying to think how to word this since before even starting to write this. Writing it in my head over and over but this is were it gets really personal to me. We're almost up to the current point in my story so far to. So 19 weeks pregnant I am terrified (surprise) for my next scan next week, its the 20 week scan it looks at your baby and your inside properly in abit more detail and sees if things are forming the way they should with the baby and with the umbilical cord, the placenta, the sack of fluid baby is in just all sorts of things. So of course im fearing the worst noone gets why I always fear the worst but I did it before been pregnant anyway so now im pregnant it just made it that bit worse for me. Im showing now by the way got a right little belly going on lol my moms started with a baby box , little socks her first teddy , a couple outfits she even managed to convince me to buy my little girl something I brought her some girly dinosaur baby grows as Id never saw dinosaurs for girls before and I loved it. So this beautiful little baby girl box. I looked through now and again and I wouldnt say I got used to been pregnant but I started to feel her little movements her little swimming and butterfly movements in my tummy so as much as Id tried to stay detached incase of any loss I was attatched whether I liked it or not. My baby girl. I pictured what shed look like , where id take her , what me and my partner would be like with a baby and what a daddy he would be. Holidays with her and just the rest of my life with her. My saviour she'd even made me able to forgive my partner and to care a lot less about the silly little things in life when I think about it she's the only reason Id found a way to want to live again, like she'd given me a purpose like I didnt need to have my eating disorders anymore or get high or get drunk all I needed was to feel her move. I dreamed about kissing and feeling her skin for the first time, I just couldnt believe id been given the opportunity from God to bring one of his angels onto the earth. Had me really in my feelings and thats not me at all. Crazy shit. Anyway back to the scan. Im 21 weeks and 3 days now and its the day of my scan to see if everything's okay me and my partner are nervous of course but im with my mom and him again and there telling me everything's gonna be fine and I just need to chill out. So we get into the scan I cover my eyes once again and then the doctor tells me theres a heartbeat , a strong heartbeat. so I open my eyes and start to look his scanning all over explaining what he can see so far then he goes quiet and starts to scan the same place over and over again, her heart. So I just get a feeling somethings wrong. A single tear comes out my eye and I just lye on the bed waiting for him to say something to give me some information , finally he says im just going to get a second opinion. Thanks for all that info Dr fucking who. My mom and my partners faces they look so sad , so sad for me for them for us all man we dont understand whats going on were just waiting for them to say something more. Two doctors come in the room and scan her heart again shes wriggling all over the place at this point sucking her thumb , waving her arms. I just cant look at the screen anymore I cant bring myself to look at her. The doctor says im so sorry but we suspect she has hypo plastic left heart syndrome, well fuck me. From when he said im so sorry I just couldnt breathe again I didnt even know what the fuck he meant but im scared and im upset and im desperate. My partner looks so sad to. I just feel so bad I just want to apoligize to everyone I just dont understand why I cant do this one thing a women's supposed to do. So the doctor gives us some notes and refers us to a fetal medicine scanner to confirm the diagnosis. Basically the left side of her heart hadn't formed properly he told us what to look at online and what to read etc. I just couldnt believe it. I felt like a fool for ever believing something good could happen for me for us. So we left thinking we had nothing left. I had already started grieving and she wasnt even gone! I was grieving like she was though I just lost all hope. Reading up on the syndrome it means she will need open heart surgery at just a few hours old, then another open heart surgery at around 7 months if she was even to make it through the first op. Then another open heart surgery at 2/3 years old. Then eventually a heart transplant as her heart will never work like a normal heart and it can never be fixed. Well ill be damned. I spent the next few days until the fetal medicine scan breaking down in the shower and staying in bed anything I was doing included bed I didnt wanna leave bed I didnt wanna talk to anyone I was defeated. I couldn't bring myself to go into the room with that damn baby box. Fetal medicine scan day. Which are more skilled doctors sonographers that specify in looking at problems and confirming them. By this point id given up been scared before the scan as I was scared everyday. Waking up was like hearing the diagnosis all over again because as soon as I opened my eyes I would remember. So the doctors scanned and it was confirmed hypoplastic left heart syndrome my poor baby girl thinking of everything shes gonna have to deal with. How long would I know her? If I got to know her at all would she even survive the first op? Second? Third? What the fuck. Why me? Why me and my baby Im a good person Ive done a few bad things but ive dealt with more bad Jesus why me ? Did I really not deserve a break I just couldnt believe my luck. They offered me three options. Termination. Which I considered for a little while as I believed it would hurt less if I lost her now than loosing her when Id met her. Is it better to have loved and lost or to have lost and never loved? What kind of shitty statement is that I dont even know what to think anymore. I decide if shes still fighting then I have to fight with her I cant just give up hope for my baby girl. So cancel out that option. Next. They offer the three stages of the operations but thats not including any complications and operations to fix anything else that goes wrong oh and also my baby has to weigh over 5 pounds to be able to have these operations anyway and cant have any chromosomal issues such as down syndrome or Edwards syndrome then they really cant operate at all and nature just has to take its way. And the last option was compassionate care so when my baby's born they help us plan the funeral and give us extra support. To me all these options were fucked the fuck up and I just didnt want to have to choose any of them. We had like a week to make a decision until we met with the cardiologist who would explain my little girls problems in more depth as every baby is different of course and look in depth at her little heart. See if it was even possible to operate how much damage was actually done. Well fuck me. I seriously didnt even know this condition existed and neither did my family and friends. I couldn't help but just feel grief and defeat. But as long as my daughter kept fighting I knew that I was going to so we picked the second option deciding to go through with the operations if that was a possibility for her. Appointment over. I couldnt even bring myself to look at my stomach that night truth be told i couldn't even look at myself at all. I just felt like a failure If i couldn't do this what could I do? I thought about how my life will never be the same ever again as most babies take up to three months to leave the hospital if they even get to at all how much we'd have to be in the hospital for the rest of her life. Weve been dealt some real shit cards. Cant I just give her some of my heart? Cant my partner give some of his heart? We would give her anything she needed. Not possible. Ive tried to think of how to explain the next week to you guys but its impossible to put into words for me it felt like been in a box in the deepest point of the sea and seeing a random submarine in the distance but if you try to scream to get its attention you'd drown. Although that comparison is shitty because nothing could compare to the way I was feeling. Grief pure grief and heart break, I didnt know why God kept testing me but I also didnt want to question him. Cardiologist appointment arrived and in we went again to check over our baby. So her little heart is underdeveloped and the right side is doing everything for the left side. Everything else looks fine her growth is normal and her movements. The biggest problem though her heart. Now there are four severe things that could be wrong with her heart adding to her syndrome meaning she is unable to have the operation and she only had one of them. Her areola a small vaule to the heart was only 1mm big which will make it harder for the surgeons performing her operation. So it makes a high risk operation even more high risk. Then the cardiologist started coming at us with statistics and they sounded real shit , any hope I'd had left she knocked it the fuck out of me. Information overload I just couldnt believe what I was hearing still all I kept thinking about was how long we're going to know her for I mean we still dont know what were dealing with properly until shes here anyway all we know is she has a 25/75 chance of survival with the op . And a even lower chance without the op. So much to take in. We were told a charity named little hearts matter would get in touch with us and that we could go and visit parents or surviving babies after the op and then we would go and have a look at the children's hospital where our baby will be transported to straight after birth ( I wont even get to hold her until after the op ) blah blah blah just more words that hurt and I just wanted to get into bed. Left that appointment feeling worse than when we went in. I cried a hell of alot that night to in the shower were I felt I could just sit with the freezing cold water hitting me trying to wake me up out of this emotional daze I had dropped into. I went a walk and contemplated just jumping into the moving traffic so me and her could just be free together in a better place. No I refuse to sink. After that I realised most people my age could not put up with half the stuff I've been through hell people twice my age couldn't. I remembered I was super strong (more so than ever before) and that my daughter was just as strong as her mommy. The next day we spoke with the charity and now theres a lovely lady who calls me to see if were okay and how baby's doing. And I have more hope than ever I believe everything is going to be okay in the end and God only tests his strongest people. My baby girl is my will to live and she keeps me strong and she now kicks me real hard every single day her daddy feels and sees her kicks and so do my family and friends. She's so beautiful and strong im now 25 weeks and waiting on more scans I have to have one every two weeks and endless appointments monitoring her. Im a high risk pregnancy but I'm okay for the first time in a while and whenever I have a down day and cry a little my baby makes sure to kick me so I know she doesnt want her mommy to be sad. Dont get me wrong nothing is cured certainly my despair and broken heart for her broken heart, some days I feel like I can take on the world and anything it throws my way and other days I cant imagine loosing my little darling , it really hurts not knowing how long I may know her for. But I just have to accept life is an amazing gift no matter how short or long. And although I'm to young to be dealing with all this shit I'm making it my mission to deal with all of this shit just for my girl. And I hope to raise awareness on alot of issues raised in my post. Ill be writing more when the times right and thankyou for listening x https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1700345300267324&id=1696783053956882 https://www.betterhelp.com/start/?utm_source=AdWords&utm_medium=Search_PPC_m&utm_term=mental+health+helpline_p&utm_content=41730113956&network=g&placement=&target=&matchtype=p&utm_campaign=384715930_mobile&ad_type=text&adposition=1t1&gclid=CK7R9-e03tMCFcy37QodO20LaA&gor=start-go&fv=d http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/mental-health-helplines.aspx https://www.nct.org.uk/pregnancy/antenatal-depression http://mensadviceline.org.uk https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/helpline/ My story so far ! .. Stay tuned. #mentalhealth #awareness #littleheartsmatter #speak #useyourvoice #love #follow #strong #pleaseread #story

[scenesstories247-blog]

The Girl Who Cuts: Serenity Williams’s story

Chapter one: Abuse

I groan at the sound of my annoying alarm clock, I reach over and switch it off. I sit up in my medium sized bed and rub the sleep from my eyes, I yawn and kick the pink covers into the messy carpet floor. 'Time for another day in hell...' I thought as I got out of my semi decent bed. I walk over to my closet and grab a black t-shirt, grey jeans, and a red jacket. I open my drawer and grab a black bra and a pair of green panties, I grab a pair of black socks and close the drawer. I walk into the bathroom and flick on the lights, which was a big mistake. My black curly hair was a mess, and my pale face was littered with bruises. I sighed heavily and muttered quietly, "I'll need a lot of foundation for this." I stripped off my pajamas and began to clean myself up for the day, I got dressed and brushed my teeth. "Ugh...now for this disaster I call hair." I said as I grabbed my hair brush off the sink. I dragged the brush through my knotted hair, I grimaced in pain as I kept brushing my hair. Once I was done, I grabbed my makeup and began to apply some to my face and neck. Dad really did a number on me last night, I didn't even do anything. I sighed heavily as I was putting on my black eye shadow, "Not to mention Trina plans on giving me hell today." I muttered as I finished applying my make up. I walked out of the bathroom and slipped on my red jacket. Last time I forgot this, I was made fun of for my scars. I cut to distract myself from the mental abuse, but at home I get both mental and physical abuse. My dad wasn't always like this, he used to be nice and sober. That is until my mother was killed last April, he blamed me for her death. He would always say "If it wasn't for your ignorance she'd be alive!" After awhile I started to believe him, my father began drinking last month, and let me just say he's not a nice drunk. Last night, he was drunk and angry at me. I tried to hide in my room, but he found me; he just kept hitting me and yelling about how useless I was. I shook my head trying to forget about that incident, I grabbed my book bag and made my way downstairs. My father was sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee, he seemed sober at least I thought he did. "Serenity sweetie...I-I'm sorry about last night...I-I wasn't myself." He spoke with a sincere tone, he seemed legit but I had my doubts. "I-It's fine daddy...I-I know you were angry. I understand really." I muttered as I slipped on my worn converses, he chuckled lowly as he said "I usually don't beat you that bad, but the scene of your mother being dead kept playing in my head." I looked down as tears welled up in my eyes, I knew he didn't mean it."If anyone notices the bruises what do you tell them?" He asked while sipping his coffee, "I-I fell down the stairs..." I muttered. He grinned at me and said, "Good girl! Now get the fuck out of my house." I whimpered quietly and walked out of the house. Why did he get so sadistic after mom died, I thought he loved me, but I guess not. I shut the door behind me, and walk down the sidewalk to the bus stop; my face really hurts. I sat down on the bench and waited silently. "Excuse me, but may I sit nest to you?" A soft voice had asked from my left side, I looked up to see a blonde girl with brown eyes standing there. She had tan skin and she was wearing a pale pink sun dress. "O-Oh um s-sure." I stammered slightly as I scooted over. She smiled at me and sat down, "Thanks my name's Jenny. What's yours?" She asked politely. I smiled back and replied, "M-My name is Serenity. It's nice to meet you Jenny." Jenny and I talked a little more until the bus pulled up. I gripped the ends of my jacket sleeves and walked onto the bus. I glanced at Trina and saw an evil smirk on her face, I looked down and walked down the isle. I tripped and fell to the floor, "Oops maybe you should watch where you're going freak." Sneered Trina as she and the others on the bus laughed at me. I used my black curls to cover my face; hoping they wouldn't notice my tears, "Why the hell did you do that!?" Jenny yelled as she helped me out of the bus floor. "I didn't do anything, clumsy bitch needs to watch where she steps." Said Trina as she flipped her straight brown hair. "Um no you need to learn to get your feet out of the isle!" Jenny replied as she led me to a seat near the back, I wiped my eyes and quickly say down near the window. Jenny sat beside me and huffed, "The nerve of some people I swear." She muttered while picking at her nails. I looked down and played with the ends of my sleeves, the bus ride to school was painfully silent; I hope Jenny isn't mad at me. When the bus pulled up to the school everyone rushed off, even Jenny; she didn't wait for me. I sighed heavily and began to walk off the bus. "Excuse me Miss Williams?" Asked Ray the bus driver, I looked back at him and raised my left eyebrow questioningly. "How'd you get those bruises on your neck?" All color drained from my face, my dad's hand markings were starting to show. "I-I um fell down the stairs...I-I'm okay though!" I replied with fake reassurance as I ran into the school. He's not going to believe that, pretty sure you can't get finger shaped bruises from falling. As I walked down the hall, I heard people snickering and whispering. "Nice hickey's slut, did your pimp give them to you?" Mocked Trina as she and her friends laughed, "T-They're not hickey's...j-just bruises." I muttered while gripping my sleeves. "Oh you mean like how your scars are cat scratches? Fucking emo freak." She spoke harshly as she walked away. I whimpered slightly and rubbed my arms, she doesn't know what I go through. I walked into my first period and took a seat in the back, Mrs.Stein walked back to me and bent down so she could whisper in my ear. "Dear please stay after class, I need to speak with you." I blinked my wide blue eyes and nodded, the class period went by slowly; every now and then I'd be hit with paper balls. When the bell sounded everyone bolted out except for me, "Miss Williams...I've been noticing bruises on your face and neck. Is everything alright at home?" Mrs.Stein asked as she took a seat in front of me. I looked down playing with my sleeves nervously, I should tell her but what if my dad gets mad? "Everything is fine at home, these bruises were caused by my accident prone tendencies." I lied to the one teacher who actually noticed the bruises, "Well...if you ever need to talk Miss Williams you know where my room is." Mrs.Stein replied calmly as she stood up, I faked a smile and nodded while leaving the classroom. The day went by pretty fast, until gym class rolled around that is. Coach Stevens allowed everyone to shower, all of the girls kept complaining about how disgusting they felt. "So clumsy bitch, are you going to shower or reek of sweat for the rest of the day?" Trina crudely asked while drying her hair with a towel. I sighed heavily and said "I can't shower...my makeup will wash off." Trina scoffed and smirked, "You need to shower to wash off your skank smell." I looked down and rubbed my neck, "Come on Jen let's give her a little push." Said Trina as she walked over to me, I looked up to see Jenny beside her grinning. They both grabbed my arms and dragged me to the nearest shower, "S-Stop it! L-Let me g-go!!" I screamed as I struggled against them. They both just laughed and pushed me against the shower wall. "You really do smell like sex Serenity, why not was yourself off you dirty whore." Sneered Jenny as she turned on the cold water, the freezing water began to soak me all over. I could feel my makeup begin to wash away, I can't let them see the bruises. I ran out of the shower before I could get out the door someone tripped me. I fell and hit my face on the damp tile floor, my nose really hurt. I could hear Trina and Jenny's laughter echo around me, I began to whimper as I sat up; there was blood on the floor. "Seems like you can bleed somewhere's else besides your arms!" Trina exclaimed as she continued to laugh. I stood up and stumbled slight, I walked out of the locker room. "Oh my god Miss Williams what happened!?" Coach Stevens yelled as he ran over to me. "I-I slipped and fell...i-it's no big deal," I muttered as I wiped the blood from my nose. "Trina! Jennifer! Please escort Serenity to the nurses office!" The color drained from my face as I watched the two girls walk over to me; they were both grinning sadistically at me. They both grabbed my arms and made me walk forward, "Tell me Serenity, where'd you get those pretty little bruises?" Trina asked while gripping my left arm tight. I growled lightly and replied, "N-None of y-your damn business." I winced as I felt Jenny dig her nails into my arm, "Bet her pimp gave them to her." Jenny sneered while looking at Trina. "Awe you didn't give him his money did you?" Asked Trina as she laughed, I looked down and bit my lip. They're making fun of me even when they don't know the truth, "Y-You really wanna know where I got the bruises?" I asked quietly. "Oh yeah tell us all about it freak," replied Jenny rudely. I growled lowly and said "M-My dad fucking beats me at home! He hits me, then when I come here I deal with you two!" The two of them gave me a dumbfounded look, "Oh bull shit you're lying! Your dad is the nicest man I know!" Trina exclaimed while pushing me back. "You're so pathetic Serenity! Lying about your dad like that, you're just wanting attention!" Jenny yelled while stomping her foot, "You're so disgusting! Just go kill yourself already!" Yelled Trina as she and Jenny walked away. I looked down and wrapped my arms around myself, I wasn't lying my dad does beat me. I walked down the hall trying my best to hide my tears, I stopped in front of an empty classroom. "Kill myself huh...sure...the world will be better without me." I muttered as I walked into the room. I shut the door and began to look thought the drawers of the desk for a pair of scissors. I found a pair of purple ones in the top drawer, I grab them and sit down in the chair behind the desk. I open the scissors wide and drag the cold blade across my left wrist, "I-It's not bleeding enough...I-I can fix that." I muttered as I dug the blade of the scissors in deeper. "Oh my god Miss Williams, what are you doing!?" I looked up to see Mrs.Stein standing there in the doorway, I ignored her and continued to dig the scissors in deeper. "Miss Williams stop it!" Mrs.Stein yelled as she took the scissors from me, I looked up at her as my vision began to blur. She grabbed some gauze from her desk and began to wrap my wrist, "N-No...s-stop p-please...I-I want t-to die." I muttered weakly while looking at her. I couldn't hear after that, fore everything had went dark. I could hear the faint sound of beeping, I tried to open my eyes but I couldn't. "Where did she get the bruises David!?" I heard a familiar female voice scream, "I told you Robin she fell down the stairs!" That was my father's voice, where am I? I could have sworn I died. "I know you're lying David! I am going to call the police, I will not stand for this!" Robin yelled and then a door slammed shut. "If I got to jail because of you, I will make your life a living hell." My dad whispered in my ear harshly, that's the last thing I heard before falling back to sleep. "Mrs. Blake your niece has deep lacerations on her left wrist, it also appears that she has some old ones as well." A deep male voice spoke, I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. "Serenity sweetie, oh my god are you okay?" I blinked and looked over to my aunt, "W-What's going on? W-Where am I?" I rasped out while staring at my aunt. "You're at Mercy Grace hospital Miss Williams. You was rushed here after your attempt at suicide." I turned to look at the man in the white coat and scrubs, he appeared to be young, he has brown hair, and grey eyes. "Serenity...why'd you try to kill yourself?" My aunt asked while holding my hand, I looked down at the blue covers in shame. "I always get bullied, no body helps me...t-then at home daddy calls me names and hits me...I-I couldn't take it anymore." I muttered as I allow my tears to fall freely, my aunt tilted my head up so I could look at her pale face. My aunts dark brown hair was a mess and her pale green eyes held worry in them. "How long has he been doing this sweet heart," my aunt asked calmly. I rubbed my arms and replied softly, "T-Two months...t-the verbal abuse started after mom died...the physical abuse started when he began drinking." She pulled me into a tight hug, "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked quietly while holding me tight. I began to whimper and visibly shake, she's mad at me too. "Miss Williams you're going to have to try and calm down." The doctor instructed as he pulled my aunt away, I began to hyperventilate as the panic feeling in my chest grow. Why can't I do anything right? I always fuck everything up, "She's having a severe anxiety attack! I need to sedate her." The doctor exclaimed as he took a syringe from the medical cabinet, it was getting so hard to breathe; I couldn't control myself. I flinched when I felt a small prick on my arm, suddenly I began to feel warm. "Sweet dreams Miss Williams," said the doctor as I fell into peaceful darkness. A few hours later I felt my blue eyes flutter open, my aunt was sitting at the foot of my hospital bed. "R-Robin?" I rasped out the question, she smiled at me and replied "I'm here sweetie...doctor Stone had to sedate you last night." Okay so I was out for the rest of the night, "I-I'm sorry for freaking out on you." I muttered as I sat up, "It's alright honey...the doctor started you on anti-depressants and nerve medication to help with the anxiety." She replied while stroking my hair, she was wearing her grey pantsuit. "Y-You're not late for work are you?" I asked hoping she wasn't, "Oh no sweetie I left early so I could come see you. It's noon Serenity." I gave her an 'oh' face as I nodded my head. "Now the dilemma with your father...I called child services this morning, they're going to set up paper work so I can be your legal guardian." She spoke with happiness." Did...Did they put daddy in jail?" I asked quietly, she looked at me with sympathy and replied, "Yes, he is...he can't lie his way out of this." I could feel the panic feeling rising once more, "Serenity calm down! It's going to be okay I promise!" Robin exclaimed as she hugged me tightly. I closed my eyes and took in a slow breath, "It's going to be okay...I don't know if your father will be going to court or not...from what I heard he's thinking about taking a plea bargain." She spoke softly while holding me tight, it won't be okay nothing is ever okay with me. The door opened slightly to reveal doctor Stone's young face, "Good afternoon Miss Williams, how are you feeling?" He asked while smiling. "I'm feeling okay...a little nervous but okay." I replied softly while playing with the edge of my blue blanket. "The nerve medicine I prescribed should help with that, I do believe you're ready to leave, but I recommend two days off from school." Stone replied while handing my aunt a clip board, my aunt signed her name and returned the board to him. "Also Mrs.Blake CPS called saying they needed to talk to you." Said Stone as he left the room, Robin pulled out her flip phone and turned it on. "Oh my they've tried calling me a few times, I'm going to step out and call them back." My aunt spoke as she walked out into the hall. I sat in the room quietly and looked around with a bored expression. Maybe living with my aunt will make me feel better, "Tch...yeah right...I'll just fuck up my life with her too." I muttered as I leaned my head back. My aunt walked back in with a wide grin on her face, "I have good news! CPS has given me temporary custody over you!" She exclaimed happily, "What's the bad news...don't say there isn't any cause that's a lie." I replied calmly while looking into her green orbs. She lost her smile and sighed, "Your father took the plea bargain...he's on one year probation and he must attend AA meetings every Wednesday." So he's not going to jail, at least I won't be living with him. "The CPS worker...gave him supervised visits once a month, he'll be coming to our house." My aunt added quickly, oh so I'm just screwed all around with this. "He will not get you back, I promise sweetie. If he tries anything he will go to jail." Robin spoke with reassurance, I don't believe her. Knowing my dad he will find away to hurt me. The door to my room opened, there stood a a young African American woman; she was wearing pink scrubs and her hair was tied into a tight bun. "I'm just here to remove her IV, once I'm finished you'll be able to take her home." The nurse spoke happily as she walked over to my bed side. She removed the needle from my hand and put a bandage over the needle mark. She then disposed of the needle into the dirty needle box on the wall, she walked out of the room soon after. "I stopped by your house on my way here, I brought you some clean clothes to put on." Robin explained as she sat a bag of clothes on the bed. I took the bag and made my way into the bathroom, the content in the bag consisted of a black t-shirt, blue jeans, a grey bra, and pair of blue panties. I took off the hospital gown and flinched, in the mirror I saw the many bruises and scars that I had on my body. The bruises from my dad, and the scars from myself. I felt tears well up in my baby blues, I really regret all the times I took that cold blade across my skin. The bruises are fading away, but the scars might not ever go away. I sighed heavily and got dressed, "Are you dressed honey?" Robin asked from outside the door. I opened the door and faked a smile, "I'm all ready to go...just gotta put my shoes on." I muttered as I walked past her, I looked under my bed to find my worn out shoes. I grabbed the worn out converses and slipped them onto my feet. "Serenity...I know you're scared, but I need you to trust me when I say I'll protect you." Robin spoke softly as she rubbed my arms. I sighed heavily. and looked into her pale green orbs. "I'm trying to believe you, but it's hard." I muttered as I wrapped my arms around myself. Robin sighed as she guided me out of the room, and down the hallway. "Um ma'm patients must use wheelchairs, hospital policy." Said a male nurse as he rushed over to us with a wheelchair. My aunt apologized as she took the chair from him, I sighed and sat down. "The doctor said your could go back to school on Tuesday, he said your medicine should kick in over the weekend." Said Robin as she wheeled me out of the hospital. She wheeled me over to her sleek, black Sedan, and helped me stand from the chair. "Your uncle is very excited to see you," she said with a smile on her face as she got into the driver's seat. I nodded my head and got into the passenger seat. "When's the first visit from dad?" I asked flatly while looking out the window. My aunt sighed heavily and replied, "This coming Thursday...I tried to change it, but they wouldn't have it." I laid my head on the window and muttered a soft sarcastic "great." Most people my age would be lounging around doing nothing on a Saturday afternoon, but me I'm here in my new bedroom pacing nervously. 'Some how some way, I'm going to mess everything up with my new life.' I thought nervously as I began to play with my hair shakily. There was a soft knock on the door, I jumped out of panic and asked, "Y-Yes?" The door opened slowly and my uncle's head popped in, my uncle John had a slim face, his complexion is tan, and his hair was brown with a little grey. "Dinner is ready, we decided to fix your favorite." He spoke with a soft smile, I smiled back and rubbed my head. "I-I'll be down in a minute," I replied softly while tugging down the sleeves to my gray cardigan. He nodded and shut the door, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. "Let's start this new life."