#was it mercenary? sure! but he kept on writing! I don't think you do that if you truly hate a character

[astudyinimagination]

That's... kind of the internet version of the story. And I think the real thing is so much better.

Sherlock Holmes was dead. For ten years. It was three months shy of an entire decade between the publishing of "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House."

It wasn't fan demand that brought him back.

It was his creator.

People really like to think that Arthur Conan Doyle hated Holmes from 1893 to the end of his life. And sure, I think that Doyle did hate Holmes, from about 1892 to some indeterminate time afterward. He did kill him off, very purposefully.

But Doyle kept coming back to Holmes. There was the play that he was trying to write, that William Gillette ended up rewriting and finishing and thus became the first major Sherlock Holmes actor. There was The Hound of the Baskervilles, when Doyle had a spooky story he wanted to write — and he'd already written plenty of spooky stories! — and he decided that this would work best (or at least sell best) with Sherlock Holmes in it.

And then he needed money. And he asked an ungodly amount from the Collier's magazine. They were willing to pay. And thus, Holmes returns from the dead in "The Empty House."

Sometimes Doyle still grumbled about it, but he knew that his detective was a cash cow, and he kept returning to him. Sometimes when he had an idea; sometimes when he needed the money. But he kept writing Holmes stories, on again and off again, up until 1927, just three years before his own death at the age of 71.

He'd been writing Holmes since he was twenty-seven, in 1886 (yes, he had to wait more than a year for A Study in Scarlet to be published once it was finally accepted). He stopped in 1927, just over forty years later.

No writer, no creator, no artist does that "for the fans."

He did that because, in the end, even he couldn't hate Holmes forever. Even he felt some measure of just how big his creation was.

Doyle kept coming back to Holmes, of his own free will.

And I think there's something so, so beautiful in the idea that you create this character when you're really young, and then you grow to hate him because he's so hard to write, and then you kill him off, and then he won't leave you alone, because he's still there in your head. And in the end, you don't hate him, because he's part of you.

Sometimes I remember he died, he was dead for real, but SO MANY people loved him SO MUCH that he was brought back to life and got to have so many more adventures and get old and eventually retire and yes it's a fictional character but sometimes I think about that and I have to lie down and have a cry about it. We love you Sherlock Holmes

[yandere-sins]

Monstober - Day 4: Harpy

I have a strange relationship with harpies. I really like them, especially since they are the mythical equivalent to my favorite animal—vultures—but also I guess they actually manage to horrify me for some reason... Ah, well, luckily I get a chance to write for them in this challenge :D

Prompt: Day 4: Harpy | Cliff // Flying // Illusion Warnings: Yandere, Fem!Reader, Implied Sexual Actions, Violence (Swearing, Implied Murder, Implied Death, Implied Animal Cruelty, Hunting, Animal/Monster Fighting), Monsters + Descriptions of Monsters, Long Post

"Be careful now, young'un. There's harpies roaming these fields."

Resting your head back, you let the hood of your cape free up some of your sight heavenwards. You watched the clamor of harpies flying high above the field you and the mercenary were crossing through. They were so far away they looked like little specks of feathers against the grey skies.

"Fuckin' breeding season. Every year it's the same shit. They just wait for some poor farmer's son to come out and whisk him away, fuck him till he's sucked dry, and eat him afterward."

Your lips curled into a small smile at the sound of the mercenary's foul choice of words. Although you didn't hire him for his raggedness or the threat of some usually easily slain harpies, you began to appreciate his no-shit attitude the longer you traveled together.

"By that logic, wouldn't you be more in danger?" you asked, referring to the difference in gender you two had. If the harpies were lusting after young men, then you, as a woman, had less to fear, you figured. But at the same time, with his grey hair and long beard, he probably wasn't on the dinner schedule either.

"Don't be so sure about that, young'un. I've seen beasts that were clearly lasses but had pricks closer to that of giants than any man has. Likewise, male monsters tend to prefer to hunt scarier prey than frail women like those from the villages where everyone is skin and bones except the workers. And they keep them as trophies and pets, doing unspeakable things to the men—and have the man do things to them. Monsters are not always what they seem."

"Why would they need a human then?" you questioned his words, but the mercenary only shrugged.

"Maybe they find their own as ugly as we think 'em to be."

You grimaced, unsure how to react to that information. You had always been sheltered by your family, not quite royalty, but wealthy enough that you'd be married off against your will unless you escaped far out of their reach. Luckily, your jewels and gold chains had managed to buy you a decent mercenary to help with your plans of running, finding a new home, and a new life far away from the expectancies.

"Why aren't they attacking us then? Surely, they see us."

"My, you have lotsa questions, young'un. You can't rationalize those monsters. Maybe they like other prey. Maybe they are just waiting for the right moment. Don't worry your pretty head off about why or why not, just enjoy not being eaten."

He clicked his tongue, spurning his horse forward, and you followed, worry tensing your back as you looked up again, noticing how the clamor now seemed much closer. You could even see individual feathers in the mass now. It was questionable whether drawing more attention with faster movement was a good idea. Still, you wanted to trust the mercenary and his years of experience.

"We're close now!" he yelled back to you. "Into the forest, and we'll be out of their sight!"

Pushing your heels into the side of your steed, you two fell into a speedy gallop. The hood of your coat kept falling over your eyes, but you tried your best to stay focused and keep up with your guide and protector. All you had to do to overcome this first hurdle was reach the forest, and you were so close to it, you could already smell the wood.

That was until the sudden sound of screams ahead of you made you push your hood off completely, just in time to see the silver of the mercenary's breastplate sparkling in the light as he wildly squirmed in the grasp of an enormous monster. He was yelling loudly, only drowned out by shrieking and cackling. Another feathery creature swooped down, and it was his horse next that was carried off, neighing and crying out helplessly, your breath hitching with panic as you rammed your heels into your own stead.

You were so close to the woods when a massive bird passed by just in front of your horse, the animal rearing upwards. You tried desperately to hold on, but when something gripped the horse by the neck, a sharp claw grazing your face, you lost your hold out of surprise, your body falling freely to the ground while your poor stead was carried off mercilessly.

Your head pounded with pain as it hit the dirty field, your bones aching as they tried to feather your fall. But luckily, you were pumped with adrenaline, sitting up before you even realized how much it hurt, blood dripping from your cheek.

"Hi."

The woman standing before you smiled, her eyes unblinking as her lips curled upwards. Your whole body halted in its tracks, your breath stopping. You felt yourself relax at the sight of her and then stiffen up completely, goosebumps pebbling your skin as you forced yourself to realize this couldn't be. Whatever she was, she wasn't human, appearing so suddenly. Instead, she must have been an illusion of the harpies—one of them.

She was, at best, a few steps away from you, at worse, too close to be able to escape. Her head cocked to the side just a little too far to be natural as she regarded you on the ground with unbreakable calm. The peace of a predator, someone who wasn't worried about getting hurt. Silently, you cursed your family for denying you to learn how to wield a sword or dagger. Any kind of self-defense, really. "It wouldn't be necessary," well, now it was. There were no signs of the chaos that had just unfolded, the sounds reduced to the wind softly swaying through the early sprigs of oats growing on the fields.

Don't answer, you cautioned yourself, knowing the best survival tactics when dealing with monsters was not dealing with monsters. You were already pretty vulnerable to the creature as it was; you didn't need to agitate her.

"Clever, are we?" she said, her lips splitting to reveal the teeth of the creatures you were most afraid of all of a sudden. Apparently, the harpies were not disinterested in you, something the mercenary probably hadn't thought about as he led you directly through their flock.

"And so pretty," the harpy chirped, her eyes raking over you as she cocked her head to the other side in a snap. "Want to go to the forest? You can."

Suspicion raised inside of you at her offer. Letting you go so easily? Even if she didn't want to take you away for mating, shouldn't her kind be interested in eating you?

"You'll let me go?" you asked, only realizing your mistake when it was too late, and you slammed your hand over your mouth. The harpies grin only widened, her mouth tearing open unnaturally wide.

"Yes, you can go. A darling girl like you shouldn't be around my sisters. They'd love to taste you."

Your chest was heaving heavily with panic as she spoke. You heard her coo sweetly as she watched you, her gaze dropping from your face all the way to your legs as if she were trying to rip you open and spill your guts with just her eyes. Delighted by the sight, hungry. And you felt so vulnerable under the scrutiny, her eyes on you beyond any look anyone had ever given you, dripping with her full attention and desire.

"Come back sometimes, okay? Let's play together? You're so pretty..."

You gulped. Never before had you heard the tale of a harpy letting someone go because they thought they were pretty. You dared to glance by her, looking at the woods that waited for you behind her form. It was so close, perhaps ten footsteps away, before you breached the edge of the forest.

With your breath escaping you, you staggered to your feet, trying to always keep your eyes on her. You stopped mid-movement as you heard the shuffling of her clothes. Clothes that you realized weren't from fabric at all. Just her convincingly placed feathers. It was scary how well she could imitate an ordinary woman if not for her sharp mannerisms and the way she fixated on you strangely. However, someone less aware and less familiar with the threat of harpies could have easily overlooked these features. Fallen for her illusion that only now started to dissolve as she began reacting to you.

Her wings appeared like a brown dress on her, with a mantle over her shoulders to cover up her lack of arms. Her legs were hidden well beneath the "skirt," and her brown locks perfectly framed what could pass as a pretty face in the city you were from. That was until she opened her mouth to shatter that facade.

"What?" she asked. "Do you think I'm pretty, too?"

It felt wrong to agree and give her more of your time than necessary. If she was well-disposed now, you didn't want to draw her ire. But at the same time, not answering seemed like it would cause her mood to sour, too. This time, instead of speaking, you nodded hesitantly, then firmly.

"Ah, I'm glad!" she hooted, and her "clothes" fluttered with excitement, feathers spreading outwards and destroying the illusion of her wings being garments. Something changed right before your eyes, but you couldn't pinpoint it. Even so, you were no longer fooled by her looks. She really was a monster before all else.

"Go," she cooed, leaning forward and hovering above you, her body now appearing much taller than before. "Before I keep you all to myself, you sweet, sweet thing."

Slowly, avoiding harsh movements, you finally came to a complete stand, realizing you were still at least three heads smaller than the harpy. You wouldn't let her out of your sight, and neither did she, you, as you began rounding her at a respectable distance. It wasn't enough distance to make you feel comfortable, as she could probably close it faster than anything else you knew. But it was your best bet.

She lets me go, just like that? you thought, still in disbelief. Feels like a trap.

But soon enough, your back was turned to the forest. A forest that, presumably, would keep you safe from the harpies if the words of the dead mercenary could still be trusted. He misjudged the situation once, but what were you supposed to do? Between the trees, you at least had the size advantage. Her wings fluttered again as she watched, cocking her head, hooting softly. Not moving from her spot.

Five more steps.

Four.

Three—

Your attention snapped away from her the second you heard the shriek of another monster approaching you from the side. You tumbled to the ground, feeling the force of the gust of wind its wings produced as you were thrown further away from the forest and onto the field, claws scratching you, ripping wounds into your sides. There was a match of voices as even more shrieking and hissing erupted, and you buried face down into the mud, shielding your head with your arms as movement and sounds accumulated right above you.

There must have been more than two harpies fighting above you, but you couldn't determine how many there were from your position. All you knew was that their claws sliced through the air just above your back, every one of them trying to get to you. Every one so close to hurting you—or worse.

"MINE!" one of them roared, and more shrieking occurred as a heavy, clawed foot landed on top of your back, pinning you to the dirty ground and pushing the air out of your lungs. "SHE'S MINE!"

The protest was apparent in the cacophony of sounds directed at the harpy above you, but the tumultuous movements slowly disappeared, only one body remaining. And suddenly, everything went dark, the foot on top of you slipping off until two feet were stomped into the ground on each of your sides.

You dared open your eyes again, trying to see what had happened and gauge how dead you were, but it was way too dark to see. A shudder went through what was blocking out the light, feathers fluttering aside just enough to let a spot of light in and show you were still on the dirty field. It made you realize that something was above you, shielding and enveloping you with its body.

"MINE!" the harpy shrieked again, the sound not directed at you, but it still shook your bones. "Mine," she repeated, this time calmer. You couldn't see, couldn't hear what was going on outside. But when her voice calmed, you could finally recognize it as that of the harpy you had spoken to. Even if her shrieks and caws were barely discernable to you, her voice remained the same.

She squawked a few more times into the direction of who knows where, your nerves completely blank as they couldn't get accustomed to the sounds, but now that the situation was calming down, the pain set in again, and you cursed it, willing it away only for it to blow up again inside of you.

Groaning, you braced yourself onto your arms, trying to lift from the ground, only to be met with the sharp sting of your sliced-up side. The wound was deeper than it had felt at first, and you let out a pitiful howl as you agitated it accidentally. You reckoned that your body was not okay after that attack, and you couldn't fathom how anyone could survive and mate these creatures when their claws did so much damage easily.

Turning onto your healthy side was the only thing you could think of to alleviate the pain temporarily, although the movement hurt so much more than if you had remained on your stomach.

"Oh no," the harpy cooed from above, and you spared her a glance from the one eye that was turned upwards. Her wings unfolded from each other, opening enough for her twisted neck to see through the gap, letting in some light and exposing her grotesque but real form. The legs of a bird, feathery and gnarly, the torso of a woman, and the face was a mix of both. No arms, just wings sprouting from her shoulders, and her hair a mess of feathers and twigs, nothing like the beautiful illusion she had shown you before.

"Poor, poor girl," she hooted, her expression ever so slightly drawing together in a meager display of unhappiness. "My sisters are so mean, aren't they? You were just trying to go to the forest."

You didn't acknowledge her with words as you bit your lip to stifle another sorrowful moan. Still, your body contorted, causing you to cry out in pain.

The harpy moved around you, circling you as she watched you restlessly, sweat and tears falling from your face as you couldn't even stop the bleeding with your hands full of grime and dirt. She danced around you awkwardly, keeping her wings up like a shield but letting in enough light to watch.

"You can't go like this now, can you? Can you? Poor, poor, pretty thing."

You heard her sigh, sounding oddly human, then she leaned down, poking you with the top of her wing where the bone spread to form the limb. Shockwaves of pain went through you as she agitated the wound by moving you, and you sobbed into the dirt, not knowing what to do. You couldn't communicate with her, couldn't tell her to fetch you a doctor. But if you stayed here like this, you'd probably be eaten sooner rather than later, and not unlikely by her.

Even as you cried, you used what little strength you had to sit up. The pain was unbearable, even as you clenched your jaws together tightly. But you were grateful when you felt one of her wings sweep beneath your back, helping you up even if it hurt.

"I need to stand up," you explained through sobs and cries of pain, and she hooted in understanding, lending you the firm part of her wings again to hold onto. She wasn't very deft in how much strength of hers you needed to be supported, but she tried to help—she, a monster. The situation was beyond strange and unimaginable, yet you almost felt some gratitude towards her.

"I need..." you gasped as you finally got to your legs. Pain was stealing your air, your mind twirling, and every thought getting more challenging to form. You stumbled backward, but her body caught you, steadied yours with hers. Dizziness raked at your conscience, the blood loss taking its toll. "A doctor. I need... a doctor..."

"Doctor?" she hooted questioningly. "What's a doctor?"

"A human who helps... injured humans. Medizin..."

"Huh?" With her elongated neck, she could easily look at your face even from behind you, but you didn't dare to look up to see how unnaturally she twisted her head back and forth, as she didn't understand. It wasn't that far off that harpies probably didn't help each other heal. They seemed more of the... cannibalistic type when one of them was weak.

"I need... help. I'm sick."

"Oh."

Finally, she seemed to understand, but unfortunately, instead of helping, she seemed deep in thought when the ground suddenly shook, and you had to grasp her wing tightly to keep your balance.

"Not fair!" another creature squawked, the sound almost shattering your eardrums coming from right in front of you. The ground shook even more as more of them landed, confronting their sister and you.

"Not fair! We want the human, too!"

"No!" the harpy at your back barked at them. "She's mine."

"She's not your mate!" they complained. "She's weak and bleeding! As good as dead!"

The harpies fell into a cacophony of chants, some saying "Dead Human!" in unison while the others shrieked, "Eat! Eat! Eat!"

"NO!" the harpy bellowed, shutting the others up fast. You were shocked by the vibrations of her body at your back, but it almost made you smile a little. What a stupid monster without a reason to be this protective. And yet she kept fighting for you.

"Then... she's a mate?" one of the harpies asked, sounding at her wit's end. The other hooted along to the statement, questioning your protector.

"Yes," she announced firmly, and this time, you did wrench your head upwards. She met your gaze with resolution, adding, "She's my mate. I have decided."

"Wha—?" you managed to wring out when one of her feet suddenly dug beneath your arms, clawed toes wrapping around your upper torso. You groaned in pain even though they didn't touch the wound directly as she placed them with intentions, but before you could complain, your feet lifted up from the ground, and you were just beneath the clouds faster than you could speak.

"Wait!" you screamed, struggling only to be hit with more pain.

"Where are you bringing me?" you asked, much quieter now that the situation finally dawned on you. The harpy tugged her legs in, supporting you with the free one beneath your thighs and giving you a place to sit on while also smushing you lightly against her feathery bottoms.

"To the nest. You said you are hurt, so I must clean your wounds, mate. Need to find herbs and food for you. Maybe there's some left from the hunt earlier. Flesh. You are too skinny."

"But... I'm not even your mate! We're both girls!" you complained heavenward, and she clucked, almost as if she was laughing.

"That makes no difference. You are my mate, I have decided."

"Do I get a chance to decide?" you whined, and for a moment, her wings stopped beating, the flight turning into a glide.

Her neck twisted, face turning back to look at you, and your wounds pounded angrily as her grip tightened.

"You are wounded. Do you want to be eaten?"

You gulped. That sounded much like your previous assumptions that harpies were not usually taken on duties to care for others.

"N-No?" you answered truthfully, but it sounded like a question anyway. Perhaps death was better than whatever "mate" was.

Seemingly satisfied with your answer, she turned forward again, resuming her flight.

"Then you are my mate now. You'll like the nest. We can soften it together, and then we can create young. You'll stay there and heal, and I'll bring you food and gather pretty things for my pretty mate."

She looked down again, and her lips split in an upside-down grin, so very similar to that of her human form. She seemed almost... happy. You swallowed hard as she revealed her plans, unable to come up with anything that would change her mind and not drop you from this height. What else was there but to comply with her—for now? Maybe once you were healed and back on steady ground, you could escape her and still make the run you had planned to make anyway. Just now, you had your own family and a monster gnawing at your heels. At least you'd be safe for now, you hoped.

Hearing no complaints from you, her grin widened even more, feathers puffing as if she was proud of her accomplishments.

"My mate," she cooed, and the clouds cleared up, revealing the sundown over the ocean, a couple hundred more harpies squealing and screeching beneath you as you two made your way towards the cliffside. It was too close to the city you used to live in. Back to point zero, now with an additional struggle to manage. But at least here, they'd have a hard time finding you and perhaps an even harder time retrieving you while you could plan your next moves.

It wasn't what you had imagined when you ran away, but you'd have to do with it for now.

Your new home.

[bvidzsoo]

An Imprisoned Nightingale

Author: bvidzsoo

Warnings: violence, a lot of manhandling, cursing, and mentions of human trafficking

Pairing: Choi San x female reader

Word count: 15,4k

Summary: Choi San was everything you needed him to be. A hunter? He’d hunt down anything for you. An assassin? You wanted someone dead, he’d do it. An inside man? That information you needed; he’d bring it to you. He was a mercenary. Ruthless, fearless, uncaring, unfeeling. All he dreamed of was money and power. Everyone who heard his name feared him, people stepped aside on a busy road for him, women never approached him out of fear of being captured and then sold by him. You loved singing, despite working as a waitress, you dreamed of performing on a stage one day. Your whole life you've worked hard, knowing that one day you'll be discovered and your life would change; you'd become a performer for the wealthy. And your life did change, but instead, you became a prisoner, soon to be sold off by nobody else than Choi San. (Reader is called Im Ara in the following oneshots.)

A/N: My God, writing this was a whole ass ride, I want to punch San personally lol. It's never explicitly said that it's human trafficking, but it's quite obvious that it's that. :// I don't go into much detail about it, so yeah...the third part of the series is up and I hope you'll enjoy it. Hongjoong's part will be up in around two to three weeks because I'm going on vacation. If you want to be added to the taglist, just comment on the post. And don't forget to let me know what you think about this part, enjoy now!

Taglist: @pingyu-in-wonderland @marievllr-abg @lelaleleb @loveforred @horanghae8 @jeonghanscarat7 @orshii @mundayoonimnida @m3tavita @silentcry329

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           The sun shone down on the little cottage sitting by the end of the cobblestone street, stationed somewhere on the outskirts of the bustling city. The neighborhood was quiet, most families living in the neighboring cottages being of working class, with three to four children. I liked this part of the city, because everyone was nice and it was clean. The further you ventured inside the city, the dirtier and louder it got. It was an industrial city and the markets reeked of fish and pigs; the smells combined disgusting. If I could, I stayed away from that side of the city, content with the serenity the outskirts offered. And perhaps living here felt like I was closer to achieving my dreams. If I walked down the path leading towards the forest and hiked for an hour, I would arrive to a huge clearing adorned by a house smaller than a castle, yet bigger than a mansion. The Royal Family loved coming here during the summer, it was their little hideout. Wealthy businessmen and gorgeous rich ladies would walk the streets, all headed towards the Royal Family’s place, invited for an afternoon tea or perhaps a midnight ball. I always peaked out the window when I heard horses pulling carriages by the house, knowing very well that all I could do for now was admire from afar. I was working towards to achieving my dream, but I was still a long way from it. The false sense of richness and wealth this little cottage offered was nothing but fake. I could barely afford it, sometimes not having money for weeks lead me to cultivating my own garden, which turned out to be a lot harder to do than I had initially expected it to be. The elderly family living next door wasn’t very keen of the idea, saying it lured foxes and other kinds of animals from the forest, threatening their chickens and other pets they kept around, acting as if their animals weren’t the ones drawing in the wild life from the forest. I learned to ignore the couple’s nagging, but continued keeping an eye on them, making sure they wouldn’t attempt sabotaging my little garden.

I had opened the windows, the warm breeze carrying inside as I dusted everything off with a wet cloth. It’s been a week since I’ve had a full day to myself, and so I took advantage of it, and cleaned up my house. It was quite easy and fast as it had only three chambers and a small bathroom, however, my thoughts stole me away from reality quickly and so, this simple task turned into an unnecessarily longer one. The modest pink dress I was wearing seemed to turn into a carefully designed, soft fabric, night gown, making me look like a princess. My short hair always seemed to be pulled into intricate braids, quite impossible in real life as I could barely tie it up into a low ponytail. And the wet cloth I was holding in my hands suddenly turned into a white tissue, or sometimes a small purse, occupying my hands, saving me from feeling too awkward. My humble living room turned into a huge ballroom decorated by expensive marble and low hanging golden chandeliers, paintings from other Kingdoms brought in, captivating everyone’s attention. The living room which only I was occupying was suddenly filled with hundreds of wealthy people, laughing and conversing, enjoying each other’s company. I stood to the sidelines, observing everyone, finding myself smiling at a little girl dancing by herself. She seemed to be lost in her own world, oblivious to everyone around her as she went closer to the band of musicians, the violin catching her attention. My legs started moving and I found myself walking over, approaching her.

“Pretty instrument, isn’t it?” I asked softly, making her look at me with big eyes.

“It sounds lovely.” She said shyly, looking away when I glanced at her. I nodded my head and clasped my hands behind myself, having to agree with the little girl.

“You’re quite lovely as well, little one.” I said with a smile and the girl chuckled, twirling around, showing off her pale blue dress. It complimented her similar colored eyes well, her tan skin glowing underneath the candle lights.

“I like the shade of pink your dress has.” She complimented me back, showing how well raised she was. I thanked her quietly and a woman rushed towards us, panting lightly.

“Here you were,” She muttered as she took her daughter’s hand into hers, slightly relaxing, “Stop walking away from me, Y/N, it’s not safe for a little girl like you to be alone.”

How peculiar, her name was the same as mine. The woman finally seemed to notice me and when she looked up, and made eye contact with me, she seemed to be in awe. She smiled brightly and extended her hand.

“It’s an honor meeting you, Miss Im,” She spoke up as I shook her hand, “My name is Im Nara.”

“Lovely meeting you, Mrs. Im.” I said pleasantly, listening to the woman’s rant about her wishing to meet me sooner but she wasn’t capable of attending balls due to her daughter being too young, and her wish was to bring her child to these exquisite gatherings with herself. I felt accomplished as I listened to the woman, her praises warming my heart, allowing me to take pride in myself. I have worked hard to get on this level, to be recognized and appreciated by men and women alike, even children. Anyone who had a mildly nice voice could become a recognized singer in their little town, but I stayed persistent, hard-working, and never allowed anyone to push me down, and that’s how I became so well known in the four seas and four kingdoms. Queens and Kings requested me to sing at their balls, weddings, and sometimes even invited me over for a quiet afternoon tea, making sure I had everything I needed. I was living the lavished life I always wanted and for once in my life, I felt accomplished.

I excused myself from the woman and her child as the lovely musicians stopped playing and announced that a special performer would entertain the guests for an hour now. I smiled and after taking a sip of water, soaking my throat for a little, I walked up to the middle of the stage and bowed my head, “Welcome, everyone, I hope your evening has been lovely so far. Allow me to entertain you for the following hour, I have been Im Y/N.”

And so I allowed my voice to grab everyone’s attention as I started singing a soft tune everyone knew. The song was about a pair in love whom had to go through hardships in life before they found each other and settled for a simple life. The man was a fisherman and the woman a princess, but she gave up everything for him. Her parents were strict and never allowed her to love someone freely, so she ran away from home and accidentally bumped into the love of her life on a pirate ship. Not many lived to tell the tale of such an encounter as pirates were known to be ruthless and scary, yet somehow, the princess seemed to charm the sailor. Everyone clapped when I finished the song and I cleared my throat, continuing with the next one, my powerful voice resounding in the expanse of the vast room, bouncing back off the walls. Once my little act of entertainment was over, everyone clapped loudly and I bowed deeply, thanking them for their attention and appreciation before I walked off the stage, headed to the little bar to ask for some water to freshen up my vocal chords.

A few minutes have barely passed since I had gotten off the stage and I was already surrounded by various people, each trying to grab my attention. I chatted with the lovely ladies, complimenting their outfits or jewelry, getting invited to their get togethers in return as a performer. The single wealthy men seemed to watch me from afar before reluctantly approaching me, remaining delicate as if they were scared I would run away. Some tried to win me over with tales of their doings, or by bragging about their money, something I wasn’t interested in. The one and only question they had to answer was that if we ever fell in love and married one day, would they want me to be a pretty trophy staying at home all day long and doing nothing or would they let me to continue my singing career. If the answer was that they’d prefer I stayed at home, I would excuse myself and find company from someone else, however if they said I was allowed to continue singing, I would entertain the conversation, wondering if we were a match made in Heaven. However, nobody ever seemed to be good enough. Their personalities just pushed me away as I didn’t feel appreciated enough, and I found peace in my solace, content with being able to fend for myself and live a happy life.

The King’s second cousin seemed to find me in the crowd of people and he invited me over to their table, asking me to sit with them. It was an honor, so I couldn’t refuse. I greeted everyone politely and the women were quick to ask where my gown was from and if they sent an invite to sing at their birthday parties, if I would come. I chuckled and told them that if I was free I would gladly do so, making them squeal in excitement before they whispered to each other excitedly. I accepted the glass of champaign from the King’s second cousin and he made a silly toast, the table erupting in laughter. As I took a sip from the champaign, I felt eyes watching me. I attempted to look around the room, but the culprit was sitting right across from me. He was a very handsome man. His jet-black hair was gelled back, a few stray strands falling into his sharp, slit like eyes, their color a deep brown. His lips were plump and glistened from having licked them after taking a sip of his own champaign, the bridge of his nose tall, complimenting his manly face well. His aura was rather intimidating, yet no malice radiated off of him. Catching myself staring at him, I blushed, and quickly looked away, making the man smile. His whole demeanor seemed to change once a charming smile was on his lips, he looked rather endearing. He was wearing a General’s uniform, making it quite clear that he was part of the Royal Guard. I have never seen such good-looking man, and I found myself wishing to talk to him, bewitched. He seemed to be quiet as he observed the people around the table, only speaking when spoken to and rarely laughing or smiling. My heartrate picked up when we made eye contact again, becoming shy as he flashed me a small smile, his adorable dimples showing. The King’s second cousin tapped my hand to gain my attention and I looked at him with a smile, trying to focus on the conversation at hand rather than at the handsome General.

“Tell us, Miss Im,” The King’s cousin started, with a cheeky smile, “Still haven’t found your other half?”

I chuckled, a little embarrassed that my love life was brought up in front of the General, but played it off, “I haven’t, Sir, it seems as though the perfect match for a hopeless romantic like myself doesn’t exist.”

The people at the table laughed at my words, apparently funnier than I thought they were as I was being honest, but it seemed to gain the General’s attention. He sat up straighter in his seat and raised his glass when he caught me peaking at him, lightly tilting it in my direction. I grabbed my own glass of champagne and nodded, the two of us drinking from our glasses at the same time, “Well, dear Miss Im, I feel it became my personal mission to find you an educated and well-mannered man.”

I truly wished the King’s second cousin stopped talking, but he was tipsy and his filters disappeared, “Everyone at this table, however, is already married—”

“I am not.” All eyes fell on the General, who’s voice demanded respect, not too deep yet not high pitched either. I couldn’t help but blush and avert my eyes when his gaze became too much, and the King’s second cousin let out a satisfied sound.

“How silly of me!” He exclaimed, and stood, taking my hand in his, “Let’s introduce you to General Choi.”

Despite wanting to act coy, I couldn’t help but feel excited as the King’s cousin walked us around the table, towards the General, who stood up. I couldn’t help but find myself mesmerized by his presence, his eyes drawing me in. Who was this man? Have I finally found my other half? And as the General extended a white glowed hand to shake, loud knocking caught my attention. I glanced around to see if anyone else heard it, but nobody moved, nobody reacted. I smiled, a little tense, and went to shake the General’s hand, when the knocking turned into banging. I jumped, frightened, watching as the image around me became washed out, fading away. I panicked and tried to hold onto the General’s hand, desperately wishing for him to be real, but instead, I found myself crashing against the front door.

“Im Y/N! Open the door!” The scratchy voice of the landlady made me groan, head resting against the door as my perfect fantasy faded away. I wasn’t the famous singer anymore attending balls of the wealthy, getting invited to get togethers and birthday parties, meeting the love of my life. I was just a poor girl living in a cottage I could barely afford, working at an Inn which didn’t pay well, and also, I have barely cleaned anything in the house.

I sighed, and opened the front door, “Were you trying to ignore me, cheeky girl?!”

“No, Mrs. Yoon, I was just—”

“Disturbing everyone with your loud screeching.” The woman interrupted me rudely, making my jaw clench. The one screeching here was her and not me.

“Where’s my money, anyway?” My eyebrows furrowed and I quickly glanced behind me, eyes falling on the calendar I designed myself placed on the wall. The end of the month would be in two weeks, why was she asking for rent right now?

“You’re a bit early on rent, Mrs. Yoon—”

“I’m not early, you’re the one late.” I sucked in a deep breath, telling myself that it was alright if she interrupted me, “You didn’t pay last month, and haven’t paid this month either.”

“Because it’s not the end of the month, yet.” I tried to reason with the old woman, but she just scoffed and gave me a glare.

“You have until the end of the week to pay me last month’s and this month’s rent, young lady.” My stomach churned at her words, realizing I didn’t have enough money for that. And I wouldn’t have by the end of the week either, “And stop screaming.”

That was the last straw as my patience evaporated and I snapped at the old hag, eyes narrowed at her, “I’m singing, not screaming!”

The old woman just scoffed and turned on her heels, stalking off as she kept throwing glares at my way, making me grimace at her before I slammed the door shut, doom seemingly looming over my head. I can’t lose the cottage, what am I supposed to do now?!

            My free day passed by quickly and I found myself almost oversleeping my shift, having to get ready in a frenzy. Usually the afternoon naps I took to be able to work all night long were short, however, after working all day in the garden beforehand left me tired and I didn’t wake up in time. I was lucky I had prepared my dress before going to sleep and all I had to do was put it on before running out the door, wishing I owned a horse as I would get to the Inn faster. It was a good twenty minutes’ walk away, on top of a hill to make my life even more torturing than it already was. The petite sandals I wore to match the dress weren’t made for running and my feet kept tangling together every second step, making me lose my cool quite quickly. I could usually control my temper, but sometimes the smallest things got to me. However, I managed to be on time and the Inn’s owner gave me a glance and a nod of approval before she told me to put on my apron and start waitering the tables. Thankfully, I managed to convince the owner to allow me to sing in the weekends, entertain the guests a little without her having to pay me for it, the tips of the people would do. At the beginning it was awkward as the people seemed to find it weird, but after getting used to it, more and more people started coming to the Inn, intrigued by the new form of fun. Sometimes drunk sailors who were passing through the city would ask me to sing them old tales, something I didn’t know even existed until now, making me become an expert at them in about just a month. Sometimes people wished for lullabies, some sad ones, and I would do as they asked despite the Inn not being a place for feeling nostalgic. My favorite ones were the catchy ones, to which everyone sang along and sometimes even danced if the atmosphere was right.

Tonight it seemed to be a busy night as all tables were occupied, somebody entering the Inn every fifteen minutes. My act of entertainment lasted less as I had to help out the other girls, but I promised to sing to the people more when I had a little free time, making them cheer loudly. Unfortunately, my singing career hasn’t taken off in the real world like in my fantasy world, I was not invited to wealthy outings. I hoped and prayed every night that it would happen sooner than later, trusting in it and allowing the Heaven’s to guide me. I couldn’t let my dream go to waste; I wouldn’t accept living a normal, regular life. Not when I was talented, not when I loved singing. I knew my worth, I knew I deserved more than working in a run-down Inn, the payment not even enough to live in a nice, small cottage.

“Hey, Y/N, bring us another jug!” I heard a regular calling out drunkenly and I sighed, running up to the bar and filling five jugs with beer. I placed them on my tray and walked up to their table, placing the jugs of beer on the table and taking the empty ones. As I was walking back to the bar to wash the used jugs, I felt someone tugging on my skirt, halting my steps. I turned around, eyebrows furrowed at who was grabbing me.

“Can you bring us more beer too?” It was a man, teeth crocked and clothes dirty, quite foul smelling. I tried to keep a straight face, having not recognized him as he wasn’t a local. I nodded wordlessly and yanked the skirt of my dress out of his grip, sighing to myself. The other girls were working hard, everyone busy with their own tables and I watched one as I filled three more jugs with beer. She was the youngest and quite pretty, but she allowed men to touch her too much. They were all over her, groping her, saying disgusting things to her. And she remained silent, she just took it, and even flirted back, making me feel sick to my stomach. No man has ever touched me, not here and not anywhere else. I wouldn’t allow a lowlife to taint me, when I knew there were good man out there too, the ones who were on my level, the ones who would treat me right. I walked with the jugs of beer back to the table of the unknown man, placing them down on the table. They looked at me and snickered at each other, but I ignored it. I was usually very nice to everyone, always smiling and soft-spoken, but I did not like their approach towards me, therefore I tried to convey the very obvious message without having to say something. However, they seemed to not catch onto it, as the same man who grabbed me before, suddenly held onto my skirt again.

“Listen, pretty lady,” He slurred, making me glare down at him, “We’re just passing through the city and decided to stop here tonight, heard there was a really good singer. And you weren’t just good, look at how beautiful you are too!”

“Thank you.” I managed to say and tried to pull my skirt out of his grip, but he was holding it rather firmly.

“Do you get paid enough?” I didn’t answer his intruding question, just tugged on the skirt again, “Well, there’s always more ways to make money, beautiful, and I could give you not just that, but a memorable night too—”

“Let go of my skirt, right now.” I snapped, my voice raising. The man looked taken aback by my demeanor, all softness and kindness having disappeared.

“That’s not how a lady should talk like—”

“I said, let go of my skirt.” I yanked rather harshly on it, finally getting it free from his grip. The man didn’t seem too happy and when I went to walk away, he grabbed my wrist, looking at me with a sneer.

“You should respect men more—” I chuckled, gripping his wrist back with my other hand, glaring at him as I cut his words off.

“A lowlife like you should respect women more—” Then I squeezed his wrist hard, making him hiss as he released my hand suddenly, “And don’t touch me.”

Well, I have angered the man now, and he stood up, trying to get all up in my face, but I pushed him hard enough to have him sit back down. He was being loud and a few people started glancing our way, “How dare a bitch like you talk to me like that?! As if you don’t sell your body—”

The slap which cut his words off resounded in the whole room, making people look at us wide eyed. The man was speechless for a few seconds, before his hands turned into fists and he jumped up, about to punch me, but a man stood in front of me, gripping the foreigner’s collar, “We don’t appreciate men who hurt women here, buddy.”

It was the regular who asked for beers before these hooligans, “My advice is you either settle down or get lost.”

The regular was a big man and despite his friendly aura and happy demeanor, he was scary whenever he got angry. You rarely saw him angry, so that’s why it was even scarier when he truly was. He was quite gentle with all the girls here and on busy nights we found him lingering around, looking out for us without a reason. Later we found out he was the owner’s nephew and felt like we were exposed to men like this foreigner, who did not know how to behave, quite frequently, so when he had nothing else to do he’d keep an eye out for us.

The owner of the Inn assessed the situation as she came out from the backroom, and quickly approached us, asking her nephew to release the foreigner, “Sir, please calm down and don’t cause a scene—”

“That bitch can’t behave!” The drunk sailor pointed at me as he screamed, making the owner’s nephew take a threatening step towards him. The sailor cowered a little bit and sat down as his comrades started telling him to stop it, realizing the man looking out for me could knock them out in a fight anytime. He was twice their sizes. The owner motioned for me to follow her and I turned at her nephew for a second, thanking him quietly, before walking towards the backroom.

“What happened out there?” She asked as she sat down in her chair, eyebrows furrowed. I sat opposite her, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

“He started touching me and implying disgusting things, so I asked him to stop and he didn’t listen…” I trailed off, looking away as the owner narrowed her eyes at me.

“Did you slap the man?” She knew me too well; I couldn’t even lie. This wouldn’t be the first incident; she has already warned me to behave. I could only hope she wouldn’t fire me; I really didn’t know what I would do next then.

“I did—”

“You should head home,” My eyes widened at the owner’s words, confused as to why, “Your shift would end in an hour either way, so it doesn’t matter much. I don’t have the money, so come back tomorrow for the payment.”

I nodded and got up from the chair, untying the apron from my waist and placing it on her desk, “I’ll see you tomorrow then, good night.” I bowed my head and she stopped me as I got to the door.

“Be careful on your way home, I heard Ateez docked down in the city a few days ago.” When I continued to look confused at my boss, her eyebrows furrowed, “Women have been disappearing, Y/N, I’m telling you to look out.”

“Oh,” I chuckled and brushed off her words, my route not taking me towards the center of the city, “Thank you for your concern, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” My boss muttered and I bowed my head before going outside, leaving through the back of the Inn, not wanting to see that foul foreigner again. I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t have slapped him again if I did see him. Men like him disgusted me. I hated these types of so-called men. They held no value in my eyes, they worth nothing.

I checked my surroundings, my boss’ words getting a little bit to me, but I knew there was nothing to be afraid of. The crime rate in this city was low and since I lived towards the outskirts of it, it was safer than walking towards the center, where the markets were. At night it was littered with drunk men, looking for one-night stands. Perhaps if I lived there, I would have been scared walking alone at night, but here it was fine. I was humming to myself, skipping from one cobalt stone to the other, imagining that I was walking towards my carriage to head back to my little mansion. I would take a bath there, have a ravishing dinner and perhaps gaze at the stars in my rose garden before going to sleep. My butler would be already asleep, and I’d try to remain quiet as to not wake him up, but he’d still wake up, and so I’d ask him to join me in the garden, point out the constellations I was unable to see. He loved astronomy and would talk about it a lot, passing his interest onto me as well. Footsteps behind me made me snap out of my daydream and I looked behind, but nobody was there. I rolled my eyes and continued walking, figuring it was a stray animal or something. But a few minutes later I heard it again, now faster and harder, and before I could panic and take off running, I felt a body collide against mine. I would’ve screamed if it weren’t for the cloth pressed harshly against my mouth and nose, smelling foul, the smell making my throat itch as I inhaled it. I wanted to push this person away, but my muscles went numb fast and my vision started blurring, until it became blacker than the night sky.

            My stomach was violently ill when I finally came to it, the stench of fish unbearable as it made me gag. I moved the back of my hand against my nose, trying to repress the smell, but it wasn’t doing much. My ears seemed to be ringing and I was thrown forward, as if something crushed into us. I didn’t understand the predicament I woke up to at first, confusedly looking around, until my eyes fell on the iron bars holding me captive in a small dice shaped cage. The weight around my wrists finally caught my attention and I looked at them flabbergasted, tugging on the chain, to no avail. I was chained against the wall, having little freedom to move around in the cage. My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to remember how and when I got here, but my last memory was of walking home after my boss sent me off. And then it clicked, the foul-smelling cloth pressed against my nose and mouth, I was drugged. I was drugged and brought onto this…ship? A lump formed in my throat as I frantically looked around, assessing the situation, trying to think of something. However, my heart beat faltered when I saw the other girls around me. There were three more cages besides the one I was in and two scared looking girls in each one of them. A quiet whimper caught my attention and I looked to my right, eyes falling on a younger looking girl, who was curled up in a ball, eyes teary. Her wide eyes looked at me, fright bouncing off of her. My heart started beating faster as things started sinking in, and I found it harder to breathe. My throat was closing in on me, restricting any air from getting to my lungs. I tried to divert my attention to anything else, even find comfort in one of my fantasy scenarios, but nothing seemed to work as I felt my face going red, starting to gasp for air.

“Hey, you!” I heard someone slightly raising their voice, making my head snap in their direction. Across from us, in the cage to the right, a middle-aged woman was looking my way, eyebrows furrowed, “What’s your name?”

I licked my lips and tried to suck in a deep breath, but it wasn’t working and I felt like I was about to choke, “No-no, keep breathing, copy me.”

The middle-aged woman started taking deep breaths, counting for me, and I tried to copy her, but nothing happening for a few minutes. Then suddenly, I could feel my throat loosening up and air finally flowing into my lungs, filling them to the brim. I started coughing as I desperately breathed in more air, looking at the woman with gratefulness written all over my face, “My name is Y/N.”

“I’m Hyolin.” She introduced herself and I bowed my head slightly, noticing that she was the only one not crying besides me. Her eyes were red and she kept sniffing, but no tears left her eyes, “We’re on a pirate ship, if you’ve been wondering.”

My heart started beating faster again as I looked around, pulling on the chains of my handcuffs, but they were too strong to break. The chamber was huge and it looked like some sort of basement, filled with supplies, barrels, and a big variety of guns and other weapons. I could see a fishnet filled with a bunch of dead fish and it made my stomach sicker, forcing me to gag as I averted my eyes, falling on my cellmate. She was crying quietly and I fought my own tears from rolling down my cheeks, trying to stop my brain from processing that I was a hostage on a pirate ship.

“For how long was I out?” I whispered to the young girl and she jumped, slowly looking at me. Her body was shaking and she looked at the floor before whispering back that I was out for a whole day. It felt like a punch to my gut and I looked away biting my lower lip, realizing that if I was out for a whole day, we have sailed out onto the sea already, taking me far away from my home. My head started thumping suddenly, all of my dreams slipping right through my fingers. I would never become a famous singer, I would never live a lavished life, I will never be remembered. Instead, I would be either sold off or killed, forever lost on the sea or in some creepy man’s basement. The first tear trickled down my cheek and I quickly wiped it off, the commotion behind the heavy wooden door making my body tremble. There were multiple male voices behind the door before it slowly opened, strong light flooding inside as they walked down the stairs, stalking towards our cages. All of us tried to make ourselves look smaller as the three pirates stopped in front of our cages, looking left and right before opening the cage across from ours.

“Stand up, all of you.” The man inside the respective cage demanded, his voice harsh and frightening, so we did as told. I could only see his backside, but he had jet-black hair and his shoulders were wide and concealed by a black leather jacket. The man seemed to be inspecting all of us, murmuring to himself about our looks. Normally, I wouldn’t have allowed him to make such comments, but right now I was not in a favorable position and my body was shaking from fear. I had no idea why he was doing this and I was scared that one wrong move would get me killed. On this ship I couldn’t do much but try and survive, however, once on land, I could try and run away, asking for help and making sure these monsters were behind bars, in a real prison. The tallest of the three seemed to notice my piercing gaze and I quickly looked down when he raised his eyebrows, lips pulling into an amused smile. There was nothing amusing about this situation.

“So, what do you think?” The other guy, who was the shortest out of them all and had a white cloth wrapped around his right forearm, signaling that he was the Captain, asked in a quite bored tone.

“They aren’t the brightest so far.” The man inspecting us dared to say with a sneer, checking the other girls. My blood boiled at his words, but I bit my lip and continued glaring at the floor.

“We can’t afford making a shitty deal, San.” The Captain snapped, arms crossed in front of his chest, “Not after Yuri almost destroyed our ship and Jongho released our Siren.”

The tallest scratched his nape, pouting, “Well, it wasn’t entirely Jongho’s fault, Captain…we should probably thank the Siren he’s still alive, to be honest—”

“Whatever, Mingi,” The Captain snapped, shooting him a glare, “If we don’t get high payment on these girls I’m afraid we’ll have to return to our old ways of survival for a while.”

San, the one checking all girls, opened our cage as he snickered, “I don’t mind at all. It’s been too long since I had bloodied my sword.”

My body shivered and my cellmate started crying loudly as San touched her hair, moving it out of her face, forcing her to look him in the eyes. I wished I could’ve punched the man and held the crying girl, but I was rooted to my place, just as frightened as her. I refused to show my true feelings, however, having no intention of showing weakness to these monsters. I tensed up once I saw a pair of glistening black shoes stop in front of me, the man’s presence powerful. I lowered my head even more, for once wishing I had longer hair so that it would cover my face, restrict the men from seeing it. San tsked as he harshly grabbed my chin and raised my head by it, our eyes finding each other. Perhaps in a different scenario I would’ve been easily charmed by the man standing in front of me, his beauty unmatched. His jet-black hair fell messily on his forehead, he had clearly run his fingers through it numerous times. His sharp, slit like eyes, their color a deep brown were intense, keeping you pinned to your place, and I found myself scared to even breathe as we stared each other down. His lips were plump and glistened from having licked them just seconds ago, the bridge of his nose tall, complimenting his manly face well. He was intimidating and I fought against my will of wanting to cover away from him, refusing to show him any fear despite the very obvious tears gathered up in my eyes. Suddenly, he chuckled and smirked, eyes running all over my face, then down my body before stopping on my hair again.

“I knew you’d bring us a lot of money when I spotted you last night,” My jaw clenched as his words made the Captain and the other man, called Mingi, look my way, “You’re drop dead gorgeous, angel, pity your hair isn’t longer, you would’ve made us even more money.”

My jaw clenched and I ripped my head out of his hold, looking off to the side, head turned away from him. I couldn’t believe such malice could hide behind such a beautiful face. I hated him as he chuckled, looking me over one more time before he walked out of our cage, locking the iron door behind him, smirking at the Captain.

“We’ll be filthy rich, Hongjoong.” San said with the evilest laughter I’ve ever heard and the other two men chuckled as the three of them took off, headed for the stairs. The silence was deafening as we waited for them to be gone, and I felt the tears finally streaming down my cheeks once they were out the door, locking it behind them. My knees gave out and I fell down, holding my head in my hands as I started sobbing loudly. I felt the pitiful gazes of the other girls and it made me cry even harder. I wished I was so ugly they would just feed me to the sharks, at least I could try and swim away then, have a chance at saving myself. I couldn’t lose my perfect life like this, I just couldn’t.

            We couldn’t tell whether it was day or night due to being locked down here, but when Mingi walked in with a few more lanterns and muttered that he’d bring us dinner soon, we realized it was probably around the evening. Everyone seemingly had calmed down a little bit since San examined us, the girls constantly giving me pitiful glances. I hated it, wanted to ask them to stop, but remained quiet. If they thought they were safe because San called just me beautiful, I wouldn’t want to destroy their small sense of security, because I knew how much it meant. I tried to distract myself multiple times, the rocking of the boat making me sleepy but I refused to sleep, scared that the pirates would do something to me. No matter how hard I tried to imagine that I was in a different place, finding a fitting scenario for my current reality, it never lasted for too long. The image became blurry until it disappeared altogether, making me sit on the floor with my back against the wall defeated, wondering where they were taking us. I was from the South Kingdom, living on the furthest island from the mainland. It would take around four to five days to travel between the two on a big ship, but I didn’t know how big and fast these pirates ship was, so I couldn’t judge how much it would take us to arrive. I assumed they were taking us to the Capital, but I wasn’t even sure why I was captured in the first place. Hyolin, who turned out to be the oldest amongst us girls, seemed to be the only one fully understanding the situation, but she refused to tell us. She asked us if we’ve heard about Ateez and Choi San, and remained silent after hearing our answers. I did know Ateez was a pirate crew, but I didn’t know who Choi San was…until today. I assumed he was some sort of trader, but his physique said otherwise. His muscular and well-defined body begged to differ, and the big sword secured around his hips also proved my theory to be true. He was probably something like a soldier, not a trader. I had no idea what ranks pirates had on their ships, but I imagined San to be at the front leading, fighting the enemy.

Not knowing what to do with myself anymore, I found myself quietly humming as three girls had fallen asleep, curled up on the cold floor into themselves, hugging their torsos. The young girl sharing the cage with me had calmed down hours ago, but she wouldn’t stop sniffing and rocking back and forth. She also wasn’t talking to us, so I figured I could try and distract her with a sailor song I knew. I found myself quietly singing, staring off into the distance, looking at nothing in particular as I lost myself in the story of the song. It was about a young woman who lived by the beach by herself and wished to meet her lover who got lost on the sea years ago. They would have been married already, but the mates of her lover said he got shoved into the sea by a big wave, forever lost to the water. The young woman never believed her lover was dead, her gut telling her that he’d return home to her and they’d live a happy life together. And she seemed to be right as one night someone knocked on her door, making her almost faint. It was her lover and he looked better than ever. She flung herself in his arms and they cried for hours, the man telling her everything that’s happened to him after he fell in the sea. Apparently, some mermaids saved him but kept him hostage, scared that he’d lead other sailors to their lair. After years of teaching them about humans and helping them whenever one of them was sick, they finally released the man, trusting him enough to keep the secret about their existence. The woman couldn’t care less about mermaids and finding them, her biggest treasure was sitting right in front of her, all she needed was him.

“Your voice is so beautiful.” The young girl spoke up for the first time willingly since we’ve been here, her voice high pitched and shaky. I looked at her surprised, and smiled at her softly.

“Thank you, dear.” I whispered, resting my chin on my knees, which were pulled up to my chest.

“Where did you learn to sing like that?” She asked, finally willing to converse with us. She had nothing to lose by doing so at this point.

“Nowhere,” I sighed, playing with the skirt of my dress, “My grandparents once took me to their good friends when I was little and they asked if I played any instrument. When I told them I didn’t they told me I could always try and sing, use my own voice as an instrument.”

The young girl listened closely, looking a little curious, “You’ve been singing for a long time, then. Are you famous?”

I chuckled and shook my head, “No, not even a little bit.”

A gloomy feeling seemed to loom over our heads as I sighed loudly, closing my eyes, “It was my dream…to become famous. To sing for the wealthy. To be invited to gatherings and the Royal family’s balls as a performer, but—now I’m a prisoner on a pirate ship. I’ll never become a well-known singer. All of my hard-work was in vain, I just—I wish I was rather dead, than on this ship.”

An amused deep chuckle made all the girls still awake tense. The young girl beside me hid her face again, turning into the wall, her whole body shaking again. I opened my eyes and looked up, startled to find San standing right outside my cage. When did he get here? And how did we not hear him or even notice him until now? His lips were pulled into a twisted smile, looking very amused as he unlocked the door. I watched as he took a step inside, placing a tray of food down on the floor, never breaking eye contact with me. The young girl started whimpering, irritating me to no end, but I didn’t show my feelings. I tried to remain neutral as San stared me down, challenging me with his gaze to look away, to succumb to him. But I would never do that, I refused to cover in front of a lowlife like him.

“You’re not just beautiful, you have a beautiful voice too.” He said sounding almost amazed, an excited glint in his eyes, “You’ll be worth more than I thought initially.”

His words made me gulp and my palms turn into fists, but I refrained myself from saying anything, refusing to feed his energy with mine by being weak. San smirked and slightly leaned down, tilting his head to the side as I glared at him, “And forget about dying, beautiful, because nothing harmful will happen to you as long as you’re under my watch.”

But he was the reason I was even placed in a harmful situation. It was his fault that once we’re on the mainland something horrible will happen to me, to the other women in these cages. It was his fault that I would never achieve my dreams, it being the very few reason I found living worth. I acted without thinking, without considering that the tray of food was both for myself and my cellmate, without considering how hungry she must’ve been, forgetting how hungry I was myself. I kicked the tray with my leg, food getting on the floor, glaring at San with full hatred as his eyes slightly widened, his smug expression slipping for a second. He was far away from me, but it felt like he was breathing down my neck as he stood up straight, wide shoulders pulled back, jaw clenching. His gaze made me shiver involuntarily and he was out of the cage, slamming the door shut before locking it. The young girl jumped and I remained staring at San until he was out of the room, Mingi being the one to bring the other women their dinners. I wanted nothing more but to escape this hell.

            One or two days have passed since we’ve been taken prisoners on the pirate ship, but I couldn’t really pin point how much time has passed since I was kidnapped. It was continuously dark down here, where they kept us, and if it weren’t for Mingi always announcing what type of meal he was bringing for us, I wouldn’t have even known what time of the day it was. The atmosphere was quite somber as everyone was scared for their own lives, covering away whenever San entered the room. He kept coming down, sometimes laughing at us and teasing us with vile words, words I tuned out once I realized how foul of a person he was. He did this for his own enjoyment, because he liked seeing us scared and helpless. If I wasn’t on a ship, behind bars, I would’ve stood up for myself, making sure he never disrespected a woman ever again. But I couldn’t do that here, not when my scared cellmate started crying as San told us to change our clothes in front of him. She was begging him to turn around, embarrassed and humiliated when he slapped her hard, shouting at her to shut up. My body was shaking from anger and I clenched my hands into fists, trying to keep my breathing even, not wanting him to see how easily he could get a reaction from me. He smirked the whole time, entertained by the whole ordeal as the girls sniffled and whimpered while changing, covering underneath his intense gaze.

I didn’t feel better than them, I felt violated as his gaze ran over my body hungrily once I was out of my second-hand dress, the silk nightgown I was wearing the only thing concealing my private parts from unwanted eyes. I felt humiliated when he muttered that my freckle covered body was exotic and men would kill each other to get their hands on me, but I didn’t let any emotion show on my face as I held eye contact with him, chin high, as I pulled on the simple white dress he brought for us, staring him down spitefully. San seemed to be enjoying it, eyebrows raising when I threw my dress in front of his feet, making him bend down and pick it up himself, unlike the other girls who handed him their own dresses themselves. I could play innocent and fragile, and I would do just that, but not when my privacy and decency were being violated. Not when I wasn’t treated like a human being, not when I wasn’t respected. San’s lips pulled up in a wide grin, dimples forming on his cheeks, but he didn’t seem happy as he eyed the dress in front of him, shaking his head as he sucked on his cheeks. He probably didn’t expect any type of disrespect or challenge from any of us, thinking we were too scared to stand up for ourselves. But what could happen to me other than dying, while I was on this ship? Nothing, nothing that could scare me into subordination. Despite thinking that San would throw a fit and make me grab my dress and hand it to him, he didn’t, he just leaned down and picked it up, feeling the fabric of it.

“For someone who regards themselves so highly, you look rather cheap, Y/N.” I chuckled, his words triggering me enough to finally show just how irritated I was, but I remained silent. His gaze pinned me to my spot, challenging me as he waited for a retort, but nothing happened. I didn’t speak, didn’t move. He didn’t speak, he didn’t move. It was so quiet in the chamber, that I thought the other girls stopped breathing. A ruckus upstairs seemed to get San’s attention, and finally someone called out to him, telling him to go help them. Our stare down finally came to an end and San walked away with a smirk, dangling the keys to our cages in his hands mockingly. If I could, I would’ve punched him unconscious right then and there, but the chains and iron bars were in my way, so I had to settle with the power of my imagination, where San wasn’t even breathing anymore.

Dinner time had approached once again, and us, the girls, had somewhat calmed down from the whole fiasco from earlier. It took a lot of coercing and encouragement from us for my cellmate to finally stop crying and I sung her whatever songs she wanted to hear, finally lightening her mood. Somehow I got her to smile as Hyolin and I told her funny happenings from our jobs, Hyolin being a baker. The young girl, who’s name we finally found out, was Eunchae. She was barely seventeen and it broke my heart that she was here with us, her whole youth stolen from her. It’s not like I was much older than her, but at least I got to live my life a little bit up until now. She told us her mother had only her and relied on her, so Eunchae was scared what would happen to her mother now that she’s disappeared from her life. We tried reassuring her that her mother would probably figure something out, but it only made Eunchae cry again. I felt bad, so bad for her. And promised myself, that if I could somehow save myself from this nightmare, I’d take her with me. Hyolin was a strong woman, I knew I didn’t have to worry much for her and the other women with us seemed to like her more than Eunchae or I, which was probably good. If Hyolin tried to break free as well, they’d follow her no doubt.

When the heavy door opened, everyone tensed and we watched as Mingi and San walked down with trays of food, each one of them handing them out to two cages. Of course, it came as no surprise, as San chose Eunchae and I’s cage, his eyes amused as I avoided his stare, preoccupied with my nails which had gotten a bit dirty. I didn’t want to see him after what he did earlier, anger cursing through my veins just at the memory of it. But I had to be smart. I was smart despite what everyone thought about me. I survived this long after my grandparents deaths thanks to it. I could be soft and persuasive, fragile looking, in the eyes of men. I knew I played my cards a little bit wrong until now in front of San, but damage control was still doable. I could still act dainty, and blame my previous behavior on the stress I was feeling, if he asked. Once he placed the tray of food on the floor for us, he didn’t leave the cage, just looked around, before leaning against the bars with a smug look, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Today he was wearing a casual fit, a white shirt which was barely buttoned, tucked inside his leather pants. He had two swords on each side of his hips and a long, dark blue, coat kept him warm from the harsh wind up on the deck. My body ached for some sunlight and a breeze, but I knew it wasn’t possible until I was on this ship.

“Well, I come bearing good news,” My heart shouldn’t have skipped a beat at his words, knowing not to hope for anything good since it was coming from this lowlife pirate, “we’re docking down tomorrow on the mainland, isn’t that exciting?”

Nobody answered his question, my body tense as my eyebrows furrowed. What would that mean? What would happen to us?

“Isn’t that exciting?” He repeated himself, his voice hard and it made Eunchae whimper as she quickly nodded her head, afraid he’d slap her again. My blood boiled, but I ignored it, having to play coy for once again.

“One small advice,” San dragged his words out, eyes falling on me, burning a hole in the side of my head, “When you’ll be no longer with me, behave, and your lives will be easier. Men don’t like stubborn and rude women, they like them weak and respectful, especially the men I do business with.”

I wanted to tell him to go jump off the ship, become the sharks dinner, but I bit my lower lip and gulped, still refusing to look at him, knowing very well he was directing his words mainly at me. But I still didn’t fully understand why I was here, and I wanted to know. Hyolin seemed to have accepted her fate long ago, but didn’t care to share it with us, seeing that we were quite literally in the same boat.

“What—” I stuttered, hoping it would look authentic as my voice was small, “What will happen to us once—once we’ll get to the mainland?”

I stared at the floor, playing my role, hopefully, well, “A couple of things, beautiful, but the most important one is that you’ll bring me tons of money.”

I gulped, “How?”

San chuckled as if my question was the funniest ever, crouching down, lowering his head as he was trying to make eye contact with me, but I didn’t look his way, “How, you ask? By selling your body for me.”

My blood ran cold when I heard his words, and my heart started beating like crazy, ears suddenly turning red. My hands started shaking and I clenched them into fists, hoping he wouldn’t notice as San stared at me with a crazed look in his eyes. No, this couldn’t be happening. I was pure, I was untouched, I couldn’t let men just…ruin my life like that. I had full autonomy over my body, nobody could take that away from me. Not San. Not anyone else. I let out a quiet breath, trying to think of a way of saving myself, of charming San into letting me off. I would be betraying the other women here with me, but I had to try. And if I succeeded, perhaps I could help them too later on.

“You—you said I have a beautiful voice—” I wasn’t faking my stutter anymore, my thoughts were so jumbled together that I didn’t know what I wanted to say first, “I can sing for you, entertain your men for you. My body—my body is not worth more than my voice, I—I can make you richer with my talent, I—”

“Angel,” San cut me off, slightly coming closer, voice almost softening, “If I wanted to make you a famous singer, you wouldn’t be here right now. And your voice isn’t worth more than your body.”

I gulped, feeling dread settling in my stomach. This really was the worst that could have ever happened to me. I shook my head slowly, feeling the tears in my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall. I couldn’t humiliate myself even more, not in front of this monster. San seemed to have lost interest in me as he stood up straight, smoothing out his coat, looking down at me with an amused expression.

“Did you think I kidnapped you to make you a princess, Y/N? This is the real world, not some sort of fantasy land. We all have to make money in some way—”

“But you’re selling women, to make money.” My voice was harsh as I snapped, raising my head, finally looking at him. I knew my face was red from anger, my cheeks burning as I pushed myself up, standing tall, yet shorter than San, “You’re using humans to make money, to live a lavished life, while you make others miserable. While you steal our lives away, you get to live a free life—”

“Not everything is fair in life, angel.” San said with a nonchalant shrug, seemingly amused by my outburst, only fueling my anger.

“Something not being fair in life means getting fired from your job, it means losing a loved one, it means working-hard yet never quite achieving your dreams not—not getting kidnapped off the streets by someone who’s playing God!” I couldn’t help it as I screamed at him by the end of my sentence, breathing hard and wishing my glare could kill him. San didn’t seem so amused anymore, his eyes narrowing at me, “A lowlife like you shouldn’t even look in our direction, San."

San tsked, letting out a loud laugh, startling the other women as they watched me with fearful eyes, Eunchae shaking her head, begging me to stop with her eyes, “Is that how you see me? What you think of me? A lowlife?”

“Have you never been insulted by a woman before?” I raised my eyebrows mockingly, watching San stalk towards me slowly, “Did you think just because you view us as some objects we wouldn’t have a brain to think with and to feel with? Can you even sell me off if I will not behave like a doll?”

“Yes,” San nodded, chuckling, stopping right in front of me, eyes piercing mine, “I can still sell you, because there’s some men who love it when their objects have a big mouth and more than two thoughts in their skulls, makes it more exciting, you know? More satisfying to see them succumb to them. More enticing when they fight back, only to be disciplined in mere minutes—”

It took me a great deal of self-control to not step back as San invaded my personal space, stopping just inches away from me as his voice dropped to a low whisper, “It makes it so fucking hot when you finally get to fuck them dumb into the mattress, making them a mess of cries and pleas, asking you to stop but they are never in charge, even if you let them think so for a moment.”

My lips parted in shock and I couldn’t help but gasp at his vulgar words, taking a step back, but San reacted fast as his hand was in my hair, yanking my head back, making me yelp. I had no time to react as something sharp and cold was pressed against my neck, making me freeze as I was afraid to even breathe, “I know the type of woman you are, angel. You act fragile and sweet as long as things are going your way, but once you realize you’re at disadvantage your true self starts showing. You can’t manipulate me and you can’t make me feel bad for you, because I don’t give a shit about you, angel. All I see is a bunch of coins in return for you body when I look at you, and that’s all I need. What happens to you after you’re free from my hands, I don’t give two shits about. You can go jump off a cliff or you can live the miserable life you were going to live either way in that small, foul and good for nothing city, Y/N. I made it worse, perhaps, or I made it better. I’ll never find out.”

“You have no idea what life I was living,” I breathed out, voice shaky as the knife pressed against my Adam’s apple, “But I can promise you that I will ruin you.”

San’s gaze melted into mine, his face lowering, our noses almost touching. My heartbeat faltered for a second and I shrunk back a little bit, his dominating aura finally getting to me. I hated him, so much, and I hoped he could see it in my eyes, in my expression. He should just kill me right now, making his own life easier. I always kept my promises, and this was my promise to him. I would make sure he’d be ruined once I was sold off. Suddenly, San started laughing loudly and he pushed me away, making me fall into the iron bars as I was thrown off balance, making the others stare at the ground as his wild eyes looked around, challenging the other women to say anything. Nobody seemed to be able to do so and he left us alone, not even bothering to lock my cell door, showing just how much power he held over us. How little good my outburst did.

            Our night was sleepless after my little fiasco and the other women were beyond frightened, whispering amongst each other, sometimes throwing glares my way. I couldn’t care less, I didn’t do anything wrong, I did no harm to them, I just ruined my chances of ever getting out of here unscratched. It was hilarious how my plan backfired on me, but it only showed how unlucky I have been lately. Nothing was going my way and nothing would ever go my way from now on. When the heavy door finally opened again, everyone knew it was the morning. Everyone knew we got to the mainland. Everyone knew our doom was closer than ever. It was Mingi again, with San walking after him. Mingi was holding a bunch of clothes, their color an ugly orange, and he opened all the cages, handing us the dresses as we stood ready. He was respectful enough to walk away once we had the dresses in our hands, knowing that we’d have to change now. San, just like last time, remained, watching us with a very pleased expression on his face.

“Well, ladies,” He said in a cheery voice, walking down between the cages, “We have finally arrived, I hope you enjoyed sailing with Ateez.”

I sneered at his words, but undressed myself, staring at the dress in my hands with disgust. It was heavy in my hands, and thick, the design tasteless the longer I looked at it. I couldn’t believe I was forced to dress into something so atrocious, but I just swallowed and pulled it on, instantly regretting it. It stuck to my skin and warmed me up, making my skin itchier. I haven’t washed up in days and it was only making me feel dirtier than I already was. San just smiled at me, not sincere nor happy, just mocking as his eyes ran over my body.

“What a fall from grace, angel, I suppose a dress like that wasn’t on your wish list, was it?” I scoffed and look at him as I have finished tying the front of the dress together.

“Orange is not my color, so thank you, for making me look uglier.” I bowed my head mockingly at him, his lean frame leaning against the doorway of the cage.

“I don’t mean to sadden you, but the men won’t be looking at your dress at all, angel, just at your pretty face.” Something wasn’t right about the dress though, it was sitting weirdly against my collarbones, I could feel it. I pulled on the sleeves of it, but it didn’t do much to fix the feeling, and San rolled his eyes before he walked up to me. I stepped back slightly, trying to maintain a normal distance between our bodies, but he just kept walking towards me until my back hit the wall, leaving no space for me to escape. My heart started thumping fast and I couldn’t help the sudden heat on my cheeks, so I just looked away, trying to conceal my face from him. He chuckled, but paid no mind as he raised his hand, about to touch the collar of my dress, right above my breast, but I slapped his hand away, whipping my head around to face him. San raised an eyebrow but tried to touch me again, and I just slapped his hand away again, but before I could lower my hand, he caught my wrist in his hand, holding me firmly.

“Don’t you think if I wanted to do anything to you I would’ve done it already?” He asked quietly, both eyebrows raised as he studied my face. I gulped but didn’t look away, just ripped my wrist out of his hand. He huffed and touched the collar of my dress again, not gentle at all, as he yanked on the fabric, making me gasp. Suddenly, a white collar, which I haven’t noticed was there before, came up from underneath my dress, going from my breasts up to my shoulders. I tensed when San’s finger lightly grazed against my skin, too close to my breast, but when I looked at him, he was already looking at me. I hissed and held his wrist the same way he held mine.

“You fixed the dress already,” I snapped, “No need to keep touching me.”

“I was just checking to make sure I did it right.” San answered smugly and I released his wrist, pushing him slightly back, hoping he’d get the message to disappear and leave me alone. He chuckled and batted his eye lashes at me mockingly before he turned around to walk away. I glared at the back of his head, wishing he would just disappear, never to be seen or heard of. I figured he wouldn’t be easy to take down in a fight due to his physique and sheer force he always seemed to use, but what if his attacker had the element of surprise? What if he didn’t see nor hear his attacker? What if he never even thought that person would attack him?

Without a second thought, my body flung into motion, acting on its own. I strained the chains of the handcuffs connected together and charged towards San as he was still close enough to attack from behind. I got on my tip toes and threw the chain around his neck, pulling it harshly towards me. The other girls exclaimed loudly as San gasped, his hands holding onto the chain barely, trying to pull it away from his throat, but I used all my force and power to choke him. Eunchae started crying loudly as San tried gasping for air, his body falling into mine almost as I applied even more force, panting as San was fighting back. My arms were straining and my wrists started aching from the handcuffs, but I didn’t stop pulling on the chain, determined to get the others and myself out of here before it was too late. But my initial thoughts about San turned out to be true, he was a lot stronger than he looked like, and with one harsh tug, I face planted into his wide and firm back, knowing that I messed up really bad now. The other girls suddenly went quiet and all was heard was San’s ragged breathing, his back moving up and down quickly. I shuddered and prepared myself for the repercussion of my actions, which came straight away. San turned around and his dark eyes fell on mine as he grabbed me by the hair harshly, a new glint in his eyes as he watched me enraged. My cuffed hands were behind his back now and I tried to break free, raise the chain over his head and push him away, but San didn’t allow me to do so. His flexed palm came flying towards my face and I tried to cover away, but to my surprise, he hit my Adam’s apple with such force that all air left my lungs instantly, making me fall forward, into him. Despite trying to breathe, my throat closed up and I could do nothing as I started choking in San’s arms, his hand still holding my hair harshly, looking down at me. As dark spots appeared in my vision I could swear San’s eyes softened just a bit, a sinister smirk appearing on his lips. And then everything went black.

            After getting knocked unconscious I woke up to being carried by San, the hot sun beaming down on my face. I gasped as I looked around, noticing that we were off the ship, even far away from the shore. Eunchae seemed to be walked by Mingi meanwhile another woman by a man I didn’t know, leading the group. I wasn’t chained up anymore and as I looked around, assessing the situation, San gave me one warning glare and muttered that if I tried running away or creating a scene he’d slit my throat before I could scream. That scared me enough to behave as we were led towards a run-down looking house, somewhere in the town. San placed me down minutes ago and I was able to walk on my own, his firm grip around my forearm keeping me close to his body. I took in our surroundings, trying to find a way of escape once San wasn’t by my side anymore, but we were quickly shoved inside the house, walked to a backroom, loud manly voices coming through the only other door in the room. My heart was in my throat, and I found myself sweating profoundly as San finally released me, giving me a glance before he disappeared through the door. I tried to take a peak while the door was open, and my heart sank when I saw tons of men in the other room. Was this really how our life would be from now on? Sold again and again, corrupted and used? I bit my lower lip and looked around the room, trying to find an exit, but there were no windows and the only door leading outside was blocked by Mingi, who seemed very focused in guarding the door. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked straight ahead, his hands clasped together in front of his body. He probably felt my gaze on him as he spared a glance my way, but when the other door opened, he quickly looked away. San stepped inside and dragged Hyolin away, slamming the door shut behind him. Eunchae started whimpering again as the other women gathered together, holding each other tightly. I found myself looking between the door and Mingi, begging with my eyes for him to let us go, but he wouldn’t look at me again. As Eunchae started crying, I found myself hugging her tightly, patting her head, telling her that everything would be alright. But nothing would be. She’ll be tainted, and I’ll be tainted too for life. I thought the Heavens wouldn’t do such thing to a human, but I realized my prayers were futile right now. No divine God would save me anymore. The door opened again and San took away another woman. Then another. And another. Two more went and when the door opened again, his eyes fell on Eunchae and I. I knew he’d come our way, so I pushed Eunchae behind myself and stood tall and fearless, staring him down. A smirk appeared on his lips as he stopped a few steps away from me, going to grab my cheek. I flinched and closed my eyes, but suddenly Eunchae’s wail snapped me back to reality, my eyes widening as San started pulling her after him.

“No—no—San—” But his glare instantly silenced me as he reached the door, eyes ablaze. Eunchae tried to wipe her tears away out of fear and tried to look somewhat composed, but one warning look from San made them fall again. I went to run up to them, but the other woman remaining in the room with me grabbed my wrist as San and Eunchae disappeared through the door, the young girl never to be seen again. My heart clenched and I wanted to cry out. I wanted to trash the room we were in. I wanted to rip the dress of myself and I wanted someone to punch me until my face was all bruised up, never to be called beautiful again. I hated everything about this. The tug on my wrist was harsh and I sniffed as I came face to face with the other woman, whose name was Dahyun.

“Pull it together,” She snapped, her own eyes teary, “You were the bravest out of all of us, if anyone can escape this, it’s you.”

I sniffed, a few tears falling from my eyes, “But he took Eunchae, I can’t run off like that—all of you will suffer, I can’t—”

“Stop thinking about us.” Dahyun’s voice raised but she glanced at Mingi and continued in a whisper, “We’re a lost cause, we don’t matter anymore. Save yourself while you can, Y/N, San seems to have taken a slight liking to you, use that to your advantage. You can charm anyone you want to.”

Her words gave me a little courage and I wiped my tears away, muttering a quiet ‘alright’ as the door opened and San looked inside. How did Eunchae get sold so fast? All of the other girls took around five to ten minutes, it’s been barely three. My heart clenched as I tried looking through the open door, the younger girl nowhere in sight. Dahyun seemed to have understood San as she sighed and released me, placing on a poker face as she walked towards him, brushing his hand off her forearm as she walked through the door by herself. San’s eyes met mine and his face was unreadable as he closed the door. I was next. I was the last one. After this, San would walk back to the pirate ship rich and I would walk away with a destroyed life. I had to stop this. I couldn’t just stand here and wait for my awful fate to happen.

“Do you enjoy this?” I found myself turning around, glaring at Mingi, “Watching women get sold off to some disgusting pigs?!”

Mingi didn’t react as he stared at the wall blankly, “Does it bring satisfaction to you seeing us in pain and despair? Are we really just some objects in your eyes?”

I was trying to make him feel any sort of emotion, but Mingi just sighed and slightly glanced at me.

“Please, I don’t deserve this—”

“I know, but it’s none of my business what happens here.” Mingi finally has had enough, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at me with pity, “Everyone on the ship makes money in their own ways and I won’t sabotage San’s way of working.”

I gulped, trying to convince him somehow to let me go, “This is not about San, Mingi. This is about you. Your morals and what you believe in. Your dignity and respect for others—for women.”

“Shut up, please,” The tall man looked at me defeated, his hands clenched into fists, “once San decides to do something, nobody can stop him. If you think me stepping aside and letting you run away will help, will save you, trust me…it won’t. You could hide anywhere in the four seas and four kingdoms, and San would still find you. And once he does, he won’t be nice to you, he won’t try and sell you off again, Y/N. He’ll torture you until you’re barely breathing and then he’ll kill you in the slowest way possible, making you regret that you dared run away. He’s scarier than you think and he’s certainly more dangerous than you could ever imagine.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but the door opened behind me again. Mingi tensed and quickly averted his eyes back onto the wall, San raising an eyebrow at him as he walked up to me, grabbing my forearm and whirling me around. My jaw clenched and I looked to the side, ignoring San’s burning gaze on my face. I knew he wanted me to look at him, but I wouldn’t. I had enough of his disgusting face. Not wasting any more seconds, he started walking, dragging me after him as my legs refused to move on their own. I really didn’t want to go through the door and when San’s hand gripped the knob, I panicked.

“Please,” I gasped out, hands flying up and holding his cheeks, San’s eyes going wide, “Please, don’t do this to me. I can make you rich in other ways. I can—I can work for you for the rest of my life, please, don’t sell me off. I’ve—I’ve never been touched—by a man before—”

It felt humiliating admitting this to him, but this was my last chance, I had to do my best. San’s dark colored eyes stared deeply into mine, seemingly lost in them as I cupped his cheeks firmly, standing on my tip toes to try and make this more intimate. All I could do was whisper, too scared that my voice would shake if I spoke any louder, “I can sing, I have a beautiful voice. I’m sure you have connections, if you place me amongst wealthy people I can perform for them and all the money will go to you. All you have to do is give me pretty dresses and I’ll handle the rest myself, please, San.”

I really thought my words got through to him as he relaxed in my hold, one hand gently holding my hand against his cheek. He sucked in a deep breath and then his eyes hardened, making me shake my head in a plea. San slowly peeled my hands off his cheeks, tugging me closer as our noses were just inches away from each other.

“Behave.” Was all he said before the door was opened and I was walked outside, the breath knocked from my lungs as I took in the sight before me. At least fifteen men were in the room, sitting helter-skelter and watching me with curious eyes, which slowly turned lustful. I felt my body shake as San still held onto me harshly, making sure I wouldn’t run away. My legs felt numb, even if I tried to, I wouldn’t have been able to move. All of my nightmares sat right in front of me and I bit my lower as San cleared his throat.

“Im Y/N.” His voice held authority as he looked down on everyone, eyes slits, “Quite the beauty, as you can see. She’s a little bit temperamental, but she’s got a rather calm and sweet nature. And I can assure you her voice is just as beautiful as her face and body.”

My jaw clenched and I side glanced San, feeling his grip tighten around me in warning. Everyone was quiet as they watched me and when San nudged me, I understood. He wanted me to sing. But I didn’t want to sing. I felt like a bird held in a cage, only used when needed, never to be free again. Like an imprisoned nightingale. I gulped once and closed my eyes, sighing loudly. If he wanted me to sing, I would sing. The first few octaves were quiet and frail as my voice wavered, but I quickly corrected my pitch and started singing the song about a poor girl taken hostage in a fire exchange between bandits and the constables, only to die an unfortunate death when her kidnapper accidentally killed her after promising to release her once the constables stopped chasing them. The song was short and sad, it usually made people cry, even I felt like crying right now, understanding the poor girl from the song very well. Claps erupted throughout the room, but I didn’t open my eyes, I didn’t want to see who would be my buyer. San had to say nothing as the men started shouting ridiculous sums of money, each one of them trying to be the highest bidding. The room went silent when a deep voice shouted that they were offering five gold bars and a sack full of coins. I heard San gasping quietly beside me and my eyes flew open, falling on a man in his mid-thirties, a black mustache on his face. His eyes were kind and his face friendly as he smiled at me, dressed better than anyone else in the room. Why did he want me? To make me his own captive bird? Despite being the most well dressed in the room, and the kindest and purest looking, there was something in his eyes which sent chills down my body and I knew that my life wouldn’t be long next to that man.

“Sold to the man with the white hat!” San suddenly exclaimed, beaming at the man and bowing his head as he started dragging me back to the room I was held in until now. I looked at him confused, but when he opened the door, Mingi already had a white dress in his hands, waiting for me. San said nothing as he pushed me inside and then slammed the door shut behind me, leaving me with Mingi. My heart was beating like crazy when Mingi walked up to me, carefully extending his arms for me to take the dress, but my legs gave out and I fell forward. Mingi went stiff as I held onto him, suddenly crying into his chest, too short to reach any higher. It took him a few seconds before he reacted, but he started patting my back awkwardly, trying to calm me down. I was bawling by now and I realized how vulnerable Mingi was being right now, perhaps the Heaven’s offered me one last chance. A chance I instantly took. I gripped his arms firmly and kneeled him in the crotch abruptly, making him cry out. I pushed him away and raced towards the door, finding it unlocked. I flung it open and cried out in happiness, not looking back as I took off sprinting, trying to find the center of the town we were in, needing to find the constable this instant. My dress was too long and too thick, but I didn’t care as I raised them above my knees and ran around like a mad woman, getting strange looks from the people walking down the streets, my cheeks still wet from my tears. I was panting by the time I made it to the busier part of the town and I allowed myself to stop for a minute to try and catch my breath. People walked around, all busy with their own things, merchants shouting whatever they had to offer at their stalls. The sun beamed down on me and I couldn’t have felt even more blessed as I allowed myself to chuckle in pure happiness. I was free.

I looked around again, and to utmost luck, my eyes fell on a man wearing a uniform, signaling he was from the night watch. It didn’t matter what his function was as long as he was a figure of authority, someone whom I could ask for help from. The officer was looking around too, watching the people, and when his eyes stopped on me, he slightly smiled. My heart somersaulted and I took off towards him, mouth already forming to cry out for him to help me, when an all too familiar hand around my waist gripped me and turned me around. I bumped into the body, starting to struggle against him, when suddenly a sharp knife was pressed against my liver. It cut through the dress I was wearing and my breath stuttered as I looked up in San’s angry eyes. He found me. I wanted to scream. I wanted to rip myself away from him. I wanted to punch and kick him until he wasn’t breathing anymore.

“If you scream, angel, I swear on the Heavens I will kill you right here.” I whimpered when I felt the knife pressing against my skin harder, gripping San’s biceps as if that would’ve stopped him from doing anything to me. San’s eyes darted to the side and I followed his sight, a lump forming in my throat as the officer was walking towards us, eyebrows furrowed. San looked back down at me, eyebrows slightly furrowing before he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. I started protesting, gripping his biceps even harder, hoping he’d release me from the pain, but he just pressed his lips harder against mine. I glanced at the officer with desperation written all over my face and San swiftly pulled back just enough to stare in my eyes threateningly, his lips touching mine as he hissed at me.

“If you don’t make it look like we’re a couple, I will torture you until you beg me to kill you.” I really, really wanted to cry, but as San’s lips pressed against mine again, I kissed him back. I made no effort to follow his lead or put any power in the kiss, just smacked my lips against his a few times, hoping it would be enough as I started feeling light headed from the heath and the terror San put me through. His lips were finally away from mine.

“You shouldn’t run away every time we have an argument, angel.” San spoke loudly enough for the officer to hear us as he was close enough, the knife from San’s hand magically having disappeared, “I’m always worried sick about you.”

I just stared into San’s eyes blankly, seeing the officer from the corner of my eyes walk off with a smile, shaking his head. No. I was back in the arms of my kidnapper. Why did I try so hard if it was in vain in the end? San let out a long breath, his forehead wrinkling as he scrunched up his nose, sweat glistening on his temples. He hung his head low, sucking his cheeks in as he held onto my waist with his other hand too, flushing me against his body.

“If I wouldn’t have sold you off already, I would really kill you right now, Y/N.” My jaw clenched at his words and I slightly pushed his biceps, making him look at me.

“I told you I could get you more money if you just allowed me to sing to the wealthy, San.” I tried to coerce him into finally giving in to me, “You get this large sum just once, it will go away eventually. But if you keep me around—if you let me sing—I can bring you weekly the same amount.” I was reaching, but it was worth the try. San didn’t seem to believe me either, and I could feel the resilience radiating off him, so I tried my last method. The method I hated the most, but if it would soften him enough to give in, I had to do it. I cupped his cheeks again and watched his eyes slightly widen as I closed mine, pressing my lips against his. San went stiff as our warm lips molded together, and despite me trying to move mine, his didn’t move. He wasn’t reciprocating it. He refused to fall for my last trick. And it truly was my last trick as I started pulling back defeated, eyes filling with tears, when San cupped my cheeks harshly and crashed his lips against mine. He wasn’t gentle at all, not that I expected him to be, as his lips moved hungrily against mine, devouring me. It was hard to keep up with him as I have never kissed anyone before, but I found my heart thumping loudly in my eardrums as our teeth clashed together, San dominating the kiss. His grip was crushing my cheeks and my lungs were screaming for air as my hands had fallen to his hips, gripping him, reminding myself that I couldn’t fall for his trick. My body was reacting weirdly to his actions, yearning for his lips as he pulled back, taking my lower lip in between his teeth, sucking on it. I felt my cheeks heat up at the action and I was embarrassed, slightly disgusted for making out with him, but fired up. San panted against my lips and he chuckled smugly as I refused to open my eyes, ashamed.

“This took an interesting turn of events, angel, don’t you think?” I didn’t answer him, afraid of what my voice would sound like, but when he nudged my nose with his, I wordlessly nodded, “What did you say? That you can bring me more money weekly than what that crazy rich man just offered me?”

My eyes flew open and the glint of mischief in San’s eyes brought a sense of hope into my system, truly so emotionally tired, that I believed he was genuine this time, “Yes, I can.”

San’s chuckle was high pitched and a crazy look appeared on his face as he bumped his nose against mine again, pushing my head back as he released my cheeks, “Very well, angel, very well.”

I didn’t fully understand what was happening, but I released his hips too as San’s arm went around my shoulders, pulling me into his side as he started walking, “Don’t think you’ll ever be free again, Y/N, because from today on…you’re mine.”

From getting sold off to getting owned by a pirate, neither sounded good nor like a pleasant life. I really didn’t want to cry anymore, but I still wasn’t free. No, I was just owned for life by a deranged and dangerous pirate, who would find me no matter where I went.

I was afraid not even my fantasy worlds were able to save me from the nightmare I found myself tangled up in.

Next part (divider)

[xviiperr]

Yandere Clone Commandos!!

General analysis and headcanons. Inspiration from: Republic Commandos, Star Wars film franchise and comics.

Is this requested? No, no it's not. :') I'm taking a short break from writing for yandere Sonic fics to write some self-indulgence, which is why the whole thing here is so long 😭

Also! I wanted an excuse to introduce my yandere Republic Commando squad, consisting of: Trickshot, Shaft, ZZ and Heyday. Headcanons, suggestions, ideas, (anything really) is welcome for these obsessive boys!

Thank you so much to @yanknowalready for the book suggestion, I started reading the first one and I absolutely love it! I'm so interested to see what happens to Etain and Darman next, (they have such good chemistry!!) and I can't wait to read more of the series as I go on. Never thought I'd get so invested but my lack of activity is a testament to how invested I am into this book 😂

Anyhoo, I suppose I should share my thoughts about the commandos being yandere, based on what I've read in the book, what I've watched and what I know so far about the commandos.

Romantic/platonic. More romantic leaning.

TW: Frank talk of death, killing and typical yandere shenanigans. Shenanigans include: stalking, possessiveness, obsessiveness, murder, forced affection (have to squint a lil) and delusions. This writing also has some suggestiveness at the bottom, for my yandere Republic Commando OC, you might have to squint at two of his quotes for that.

Analysis:

Republic Commandos from the book are treated like cattle for the most part. Well, cattle that act like dogs. Give them an order and they usually obey. Usually. They are also meant to be independent thinkers, working in squads of four. Republic Commandos are mainly used for infiltration, performing covert operations, as well as sabotage, demolition and assassination being the standard expectation.

They are kept in isolation, separate from their regular brothers and designated captains. This is so they can remain on task and focus on their rigorous training. As said before, they work in squads of four, so they do not get much time to socialize. While reading the first few interactions the commando characters had in the book with their Jedi superiors, I have noticed the amount of genuine intrigue and interest in picking apart who these lightsaber users of the Force are.

It's no surprise that a Republic Commando would feel a strong pull to learn more about who he works for. A life of loneliness, apart from your squad, tempts the human mind to want to seek more. He doesn't need to know why his Jedi General is, as they are mainly given missions to complete and an explanation is usually added to the equation, he wants to know whom. Identity. Republic Commandos do want to have some sort of connection with their Jedi, leaning more towards professionals. They are told stories of just how powerful Jedi are and look up to them.

In some cases, like the Republic Commando series, (I've delved into some spoilers because I really like Darman and Etain) this pressure can turn romantic.

The Republic Commandos trained so hard on Kamino just to get to this point, surviving multiple exercises off world—most commandos don't make it back—just so they can see a Jedi for one chance. Commandos are usually trained by hired mercenaries, just like their brothers but, often under more deadly circumstances. Commandos who don't have a firing and killshot above 95% are marked for dead by the Kaminoins, including their whole original squad batch, executed in favor of a better batch. The Republic Commandos don't all get the luck in the world, often dying before meeting the Jedi. Which is why I'd think they'd be real desperate sons of a gun. So, it's an honor to serve with one, to protect a Jedi.

Republic Commandos are well-disciplined to a fault. With their lives in constant threat, they want to make sure they survive long enough until they slow down and die on the battlefield, rather than die to their rapid aging, because they want to see as much as they can before it's their time to pass. Republic Commandos become observant, skilled, patient and most importantly, intelligent in their training and exercises. Combining all of these skills together with their strength, Commandos are a four team force to be reckoned with. Even when on their own, a Republic Commando is a dangerous foe to enemies.

Republic Commandos are rugged from their training, as said before, regularly facing death. Other clones look up to these individuals, just as they do their Jedi. The Republic Commandos are a symbol of pure, unadulterated power. No average clone nor Arc trooper picks a fight with a Commando because of this. In addition to being strict and tacticionary killing machines, Republic Commandos are known to have a bit of a temper when their patience is tested. Taunt them and you walk away with an ugly assortment of bruises, deece pointed at your head moments before, (threatening to fry your brain with a lazer) and perhaps a cut or two. You're lucky to walk away unscathed.

The reason why I believe that Commandos have a bit of a temper is because, when reading Hard Contact, in the first few pages of the book: one man questions why the commando waits so long, only to be threatened with concealed viroblade hidden within the commando's wrist guard, right under his chin and dangerously close to his throat and general lifeline. And even further down the line, one commando named Niner, is physically and mentally fighting with himself to not insult the Jedi padawan, Etain out loud. She tested his patience plenty of times and he has gotten mad at her, even though he never verbally expressed it as much.

Republic Commandos are also fiercely protective. If they can help it, they do not leave their brothers and general people in charge, behind. They are loyal and most thoughtful men, not cattle, men. Even if they don't believe they are men, they are constantly reminded by their gentle natured Jedi who now have to direct a war by using violence, the opposite of what an actual peace keeper would do. If push came to shove, just like any clone, a Republic Commando would gladly lay down his life as a final sacrifice. They care for their loved ones. And try as they might to not form personal connections, they still do and it heavily affects them.

So, bringing yandere into the forefront, I'd say that once a Republic Commando gets hooked on their Jedi/person, there's no going back. Their connection would be hard to break, even in death. Their obsession could even kill them and they wouldn't be too upset because, in the end, they were meant to be expendable, only living up to 20 years or so. With such little time that they have, if they can help it, Republic Commandos try to spend as much time as they can with their loved ones. I can see a common theme being that they work together to get to their connection.

Headcanons:

As said before in my "brief" analysis, regular clones don't pick fights with commandos. Which leads me to believe that if a squad of commandos or just a singular one was obsessed with you, you would have a powerful guarding force of smothering clones, scaring off most competition. Not all. The Republic Commandos face many a challenging foe, in the form of daunting tasks and assigned missions. Oftentimes, their enemy is much more powerful than they are. However, that won't stop them from trying to "protect" you. Regardless if it's just one commando obsessed, I like to imagine that the whole squad would work and support their brother.

A drawback, (to them and probably not to you, depending on your situation) is that they are in a constant threat of being killed on deployment, as well as training sessions on Kamino so often that they cannot spend as much time as they want with you. If given the chance, the Republic Commandos would stop at nothing just to be with you, securely watch over your hobbies and interests and memorize everything that you do. Unfortunately for these lovesick boys, they don't get in contact with their darling because the commandos are separated from the regs and the real world to fortify their integrity. So, the time they spend with you is precious.

Republic Commandos are meticulous with keeping their gear clean, compact, safe and functional. They pay very close attention and if there are any outliers, the commandos do what they can to perfect or improve the situation. I believe that the commandos would be obsessive, possessive, definitely stalkers and very desperate for attention and love once you give it to them. It's unwise to form a connection. They do NOT let go. Especially if you are Jedi. Maybe you met your forever squad as a padawan in training, leading the squad as commander. Or maybe a civvi who helped out one too many times to be forgotten. If you were a Jedi, the commandos would look up to you, supporting your decisions and challenging your wit all for the effort of making a smart plan.

They are loyal to the end, ready to lay down their lives. The Jedi are like a deity to these troubled men, cursed with accelerated growth, giving them so little time to live. However, not all seek that life of religion as a Jedi or are gifted with the ability. Let's say you're what they call a "civvi," a civilian for clarification. It's gonna be damn near impossible to see you again then. A commando, (or a group of commandos) would have to do a grand old break the rules policy just so they can get to you. The commandos would stand as close as they physically can, without directly violating your personal space but, still staying in close contact. They will likely ask to hold your hand, or to be kissed by you because, well, they don't know if they're going to die the next day. Just give it to them once, please? Very repetitive in asking you because they're that touch starved.

In addition to their want for physical touch, (or some commandos who don't like physical touch OR the ones who sorta listen to you when you say you don't want to hold their hand or any of that) when in close proximity to the commandos, rarely do their eyes ever leave you. You're just too important to them and so, you have to stay in their eyesight to ensure your safety. For the commandos that are denied physical affection and the privilege of watching you up close, they resort to watching from afar, hiding where you cannot see them, staring at you through their DC-17's scope. If you don't want to be watched all the time...why don't you try asking to wear their helmets? I believe the commandos would be absolutely ecstatic that you asked to wear their calling card. It would be very difficult to get them to shut up after that.

Due to the nature of the Clone Wars, even if the commandos wanted to, they cannot take you back to their barracks or anywhere locked up. The best that a commando or group of commandos can do is take a photo of you to display on their holocron each time before they go on a covert mission. They might be dead the next time they try to come home, leaving you to be stuck in an uncomfortable situation where another squad might try to take you in as their darling or the worse, being stuck in a building deep on an unknown planet, with no means of escape. For some commandos, you dying isolated rather than in their living arms is a better option of seeing you again in the after life.

Speaking of death, not all commandos die on deployment. Many are left behind. In that case, if the commando is desperate enough and willing, he will desert the Grand Army of the Republic, (commonly referred to as the GAR) and devise a plan to take you with him. If his brothers are alive, you bet that the commando would find a way to convince his brothers to join him, leave behind that awful life they had known before in favor of a bright new future with you in it. They wouldn't have to wear such heavy gear anymore, be in constant threat of a battlefield death, (though the rapid aging would steal their chance of a full life) and best of all, you are there to enjoy every single day. Maybe the commandos might go and search Kamino for a cure to try and reverse their rapid aging before they get to you? Sure sounds like an interesting fic!

OCS!

But wait, there's more! I wanted to share with you guys some of my yandere Republic Commando OCS that I came up with in the process of writing this self-indulgence blurb. Still figuring out who will be what but, I can give you their squad name and personal names. Only one guy has actual stuff written about him in the image below.

May I introduce you folks to the Champ Squad, led by RC-1237, known as Trickshot. He works with his brothers Shaft, ZZ and Heyday, being a very successful yet, controversial squad. Wherever they go, there are rarely any survivors. They might like killing a little too much. I still need to draw the other three, as well as give them their RC numbers.

Trickshot

Meet Trickshot, my lovelies! Everything on that paper is gonna be written down from top to bottom so you can make sense of my goofy writing. I said I was only going to write a little bit about a yandere oc. A little.... WELP

Trickshot, RC-1237— The “Boss” of Champ Squad.

• He has a grim sense of humor, being the squad's designated demolitions man. Trickshot's name is deceiving because many expect him to be the sniper, (which he is a very good shot at that) but he is a phenomenal explosion's master.

• Trickshot's serious, keen, cunning and silent for the most part. He has the highest kill count out of his squad, taking genuine pleasure in killing Separatist scum. He especially takes joy in killing anyone he deems getting too close/hurting/potentially hurting his cyar'ika (sweetheart).

• The “Boss” is brutal, straightforward and overall, a hard man to be around. The Champ Squad has its high success rate thanks to Trickshot's harsh methods.

(author's note: next bullet point might change but I wanna know y'all's opinion!!)

• Trickshot's DNA was mixed with another diner, (alongside his bros) giving him sharper features. Unfortunately, he's aggressive.

ARMOUR:

• Bears distinctive purple painted armor. Symbolizes the dark feelings and bad dreams he has, though others assume it must be ego talking.

• You compliment him on it? He wants you to add something to it. Can't paint or any of that? Here, let him take your hand and help you.

• Promise you'd hold his hand? Just once? He might die on his next mission, please. Trickshot loves you.

FUN FACTS:

• Trickshot “accidently” killed a Jedi padawan, (shame the kid got on his nerves). His brothers covered for him, saying the child died to battle droids. Yeah, they (meaning Shaft, ZZ and Heyday) were also fed up with the padawan.

• Claimed the lightsaber fell down the heavy waterfall rapids, (Trickshot lied) keeping the sacred weapon for personal use.

QUOTES:

• “ Look, cyar'ika, (or sweetheart) I ain't itchin' to make you blaze up just yet. ” (He laughs).

• “ Relaaax, I'm not gon' hurt ya. I'm gon' hurt 'em. ” (Guns and bombs ready).

• “ Just 'lax up, will ya? I don't bite! Unless you want or I really wanna. ” (You're sitting on his lap).

And that's everything! Lemme know whatcha guys think! Yes, Trickshot's quotes were suggestive but, I feel like that would blend in with his personality? Idk, maybe it's just my opinion.

Fanart, ideas, suggestions, (anything really lol!?) is appreciated for Trickshot and his brothers in the Champ Squad! Thanks for reading!

[6rookie-writer0110]

I don't want to walk alone anymore

Tara Carpenter x Male Reader

Request- Tara Carpenter x male!reader where y/n was stranded on an island for 4 years when he was 12 years old. He had to survive by himself and his parents died. On the island there were mercenaries and y/n had to kill to survive. He came home when he was 16 years old, he came home with scars on his body caused when he was tortured. As well as a bow he used during the island. In the beginning, Tara always kept quiet and never spoke to y/n unless it was necessary.

•

In the third week of college their professor asked them to do a project in pairs and because they sat next to each other they were paired.

You couldn't sleep last night and you barely sleep. You sat up on your bed and sighed, then you look at the time.

“It will be a long day” You mumbled.

You have to get ready for class and you take a shower first. After a while of getting ready, you noticed that you have time to get breakfast. You head to a small cafe shop and you are standing in line, thinking about what to buy.

“You are three dollars short,” the worker said.

“Crap, I thought I had enough” She sighed.

You recognized the vote and it's Tara from your class.

“I will pay for it,” You said.

She turns around and she recognized you.

“Oh, hey Y/n. You don't have to pay for it” Tara said.

“I don't mind and you don't have to pay me back,” You said.

“Thank you,” Tara said.

You ordered your coffee and muffin, you paid for everything. You walk out of the cafe shop and you walk to class while drinking your coffee. You sit in class and start to read the chapter and wait for the professor to arrive. Ten minutes later, Tara arrived to class. She sits next to you and you don't say a word. You don't talk to anyone in class and she always sits next to you.

“Hello everyone. I'm going to pair everyone into groups and the grade will be fifty percent toward your final grade. And everyone has to write five pages on the topic. There are no expectations of working alone and the due is three weeks. Tara Carpenter and Y/n will be working together...” The professor said.

Tara looks at you and you don't say a word to her. Class is over and everyone starts to leave and you start to put your books away. Then Tara stands in front of you and you stare at her.

“We should get lunch so we can go over what to do,” Tara said.

“You pick the place,” You said.

You and Tara leave the classroom together. She takes you to a small Italian place and you paid for the food.

“So... I was thinking we write half then we get together and compare notes,” Tara said.

“We should pick the part we would write first,” You said.

“I noticed you don't talk a lot and I never saw you at parties,” Tara said.

“I don't do well at parties,” You said.

You and Tara share food, you mostly listen to her talk. You walk her back to her dorm room and you meet her friends. She noticed you didn't say much, you said bye then walked away.

“Y/n, wait,” Tara said.

“Yes?” You asked.

“Let me get your phone number so we can stay in touch,” Tara said.

“Sure,” You said.

Tara saved your phone number and you did the same. You walk away and head to your dorm room, you changed clothes and start to study. Unexpectedly you get a text from Tara...

Tara- Y/n?

You- yes?

Tara- just making sure you didn't give me a fake phone number

You- I have no reason to lie

Tara- you are something.

You- ok

She didn't text back because she was busy and you didn't text back either. You got tired of studying for long hours and you barely ate, you start to get ready for bed. But it wasn't a peaceful sleep, you have another nightmare. You jumped out of your sleep and you are breathing hard.

----

During class, you and Tara don't talk to each other. Even outside of class, you and Tara barely text each other. But today, you met Tara at the library and start to work on the project.

“Y/n, I'm having a game night at a friend’s place... Maybe you want to come?” Tara said.

“No, thank you. Look, you can write this part but change a few words,” You said.

You give her the book and show her.

“What other part you would write?” Tara asked.

“Why the Roman Empire Collapsed, but I would go into further details,” You said.

“Okay,” Tara said.

You and Tara continued to work together and help each other. You don't talk about yourself and she noticed. After a while, you walk her back to the dorm room. Her dorm room is across campus and it's nighttime.

“Y/n, you don't have to walk me to my dorm room if you don't want to,” Tara said.

“I don't mind. Plus, I heard on the news ghost face is back and I like to walk” You said.

“Thank you,” Tara said.

She is hoping that Ghostface won't hurt you. She goes into her dorm room and you walk to your dorm room.

---

Tara went to meet a friend Mindy.

“I noticed you talking to Y/n,” Mindy said.

“So?” Tara said.

“You don't know, who he is? Tara come on” Mindy said.

“What are you talking about?” Tara asked.

Mindy went on her phone and googled your family. Mindy starts to show Tara, what happened to you many years ago.

“He was on a boat with his parents, but his parents died and nobody knows how exactly they passed away. He was stranded on an Island when he was twelve but he was found until he was sixteen years old. He did interviews but he wouldn't talk about it so much” Mindy said.

“I had no idea, this happened to him,” Tara said.

“Last year, I had a class with him and he didn't speak to anyone. And he doesn't speak about his past or show off. He just goes to class and back to his dorm room. Once I asked him for a pen and gave it to me and that's it” Mindy said.

“He is my partner and we have to write five pages and other stuff. He is nice to me and he only texts me if I have questions on the project” Tara said.

“I'm not surprised. I have never seen another side of him” Mindy said.

“Me too,” Tara said.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

You are at Tara’s dorm room studying together.

“Y/n are you free tonight?” Tara asked.

“Yes,” You said.

“Maybe, you would like to come to a party with me?” Tara asked.

“I’m not much of a people person,” You said.

“I know. But maybe, change your routine for a night and you won't be alone, I will be there” Tara said.

“But, other people will be there,” You said.

“Maybe, think about it? I will send you a text later and let me if you will come” Tara smiled.

“Sure,” You said.

You go to know Tara more. You listen to her talk about her favorite movies, but you didn't know any of the movies she was talking about.

“Next time, we will watch the movies together,” Tara said.

“I guess,” You said unsure.

“I know you will like it” Tara smiled.

Later, you leave and Tara is getting ready for the party. She sent you a text and you start to think about what to write back...

Tara- do you want to come to the party with me?

You- ok...? I will go?

Tara - lol. I will take that. I will pick you up in ten minutes.

What I have done, you thought to yourself. You took a quick shower and started to get dressed. Twenty minutes later, you hear a knock at the door and she is smiling at you.

“Ready to go, Y/n?” Tara asked.

“I guess,” You said.

You leave with Tara. She can sense that you are feeling nervous about the party. You and Tara take the train and is packed, and some people have costumes on. Tara noticed Ghostface and she starts to breathe hard and she doesn't want Ghostface to hurt you.

“Tara? Are you okay?” You asked.

She takes out her inhaler and used it.

“I’m... I'm fine, Y/n” Tara said.

She looks around but doesn't see Ghostface anymore.

Once at the party, Tara introduced you to her friends and you don't say anything. You are starting to feel awkward, you walked away and went to get something to drink. You sit on the couch and watch everyone have fun and talk to each other. You don't try to make a friend and you just drink your soda.

Tara noticed you not talking to anyone. She was going to walk toward you but a friend started to speak with her. You get up and head to the door and Tara goes after you.

“Not having fun?” Tara asked.

“No. I feel out of place, but I will wait for you so I can walk you back to your dorm room” You said.

“Y/n, that's so sweet. I don't want to make you wait for me” Tara said.

“I don’t mind. Have fun and I will come later also I saw a pizza shop open” You said.

“You know what, I'm going with you then we can do something else,” Tara said.

“Are you sure? I'm not a fun person” You said.

“Stop doubting yourself and yes I'm sure,” Tara said.

You and Tara left together and walked toward the pizza shop

----

You and Tara have been working hard on the project. You went to her dorm room to study together but you and Tara started to get tired. You end up falling asleep on her bed and she fell asleep next to you. You are having a nightmare, it feels real to you and you're breathing hard. In the dream, you are being chased and you just killed someone.

Tara starts to wake up and she sees that you are having a nightmare. You are mumbling something that she couldn't understand. She starts to shake your arm to wake you up.

“Y/n, wake up. It's only a dream, wake up” Tara said.

You wake up but grabbed her neck, thinking she is the enemy. You feel her fingernails dig deep into your forearm

“Y/n!” Tara yelled.

You snapped out and you noticed what you did. You let go of her and you start to apologize.

“Tara, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, I am so sorry” You repeated over and over.

You get out of bed, you rushed to put your books away.

“Y/n, wait,” Tara said.

You run out of her dorm room before she got a chance to say something. You are still breathing hard and you went straight to your bedroom. You grabbed the water bottle from the mini fridge, you drink it fast. Your shirt got wet and you are breathing hard.

The next day, you sent a text saying sorry. Everyone on campus is feeling scared because Ghostface killed two people. Ghost face, threaten to kill you and she didn't want that to happen. She starts to keep her distance from you.

Today in class, Tara doesn't sit next to you. For the project, she doesn't answer your texts, and you already finished your part of the project. After class, you follow her

“Tara... Tara we can talk?” You asked.

“Leave me alone!” Tara yelled.

You didn't say anything back and you watched her walk away. Tara is hoping that you don't hate her for yelling at you. You are starting to feel bad for what you did to her.

Tara did keep avoiding you. You are keeping your distance from her and you don't say anything to her when you are in class or in the hallway. But Ghostface has killed more people again and Tara is feeling scared but doesn't show it around her friends.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

Tara is walking back to her dorm room from Mindy’s dorm room. She noticed Ghostface walk by fast then she stopped. The lights down the hall went out and Tara is feeling scared. Tara ran towards the exit but Ghostface jumped out of the shadow and grabbed her from behind. Tara screamed then she headbutts Ghostface in the face.

Now Ghostface starts to chase Tara. Ghost Face tackled her to the ground, almost being stabbed in the face. She managed to stop the attack with all her force, she screams for help.

“Fuck you!” Tara yelled.

You left a place where you can practice archery. While walking back to your dorm room, you see Ghostface trying to kill Tara. You rapidly get your bow out and then grabbed the arrow. You hit Ghostface in the shoulder then he falls off Tara. Then Ghostface struggled to get up, you start to walk closer to them.

“Y/n,” Tara said.

The second arrow hit Ghostface in the leg and Ghostface is screaming in pain. Tara is breathing hard and she is having an asthma attack. You had to make a choice go after Ghostface or save Tara. You run towards Tara, then you search through her jacket and take out the inhaler. You put it in her mouth and pressed down then you move it away.

“Ghostface is gone,” You said and you keep looking around.

You help her stand up

“Thank you, Y/n,” Tara said.

“I’m taking you to the hospital,” You said.

“No!” Tara yelled.

“I’m not going to leave you alone,” You said.

“Fine. I will stay with you” Tara said.

“Fine,” You said.

Tara follows you to your dorm room then you locked the door. You and Tara sit together on the bed.

“Why are you out late?” Tara asked.

“I was at a place where I can do archery. Why are you out late?” You said.

“I was with a friend until Ghostface attacked me. I had to keep my distance from you because I didn't want Ghostface to hurt you. I'm sorry, Y/n I didn't want to drag you into my problem” Tara said.

“I understand, what you had to do to survive. What happened that night, I had a nightmare I didn't mean to hurt you. It felt real to me” You said.

“I believe you, Y/n. We both did things we are not proud of, I killed before” Tara said.

“You had to do it to survive, Tara. Same way, when I was on the island, I had to kill so I can live for the next day. We have both been through traumatic moments but we are still here” You said.

“Yeah, but my mine won't leave me alone,” Tara said.

“Are we comparing?” You asked.

“I guess. Our lives will never be the same” Tara said.

“It won't,” You said.

She stares into your eyes, then you felt her lips on yours. You start to kiss her back and she gently put her hand on your neck and she doesn't stop kissing you back.

----

Months later... You and Tara have been dating in secret. Tara doesn't want her sister to find out. You and Tara have been opening up to each other, you told her what really happen on the island and you had to kill people. But Tara didn't judge you or made you feel about your past, and Tara told you everything about Ghostface. You still don't show a lot of emotions and you are somewhat affectionate with your girlfriend.

“Y/n, you shouldn't be ashamed of your scars,” Tara said.

You took off your shirt and you have scars all over your body.

“I feel insecure,” You said.

She put her hand on your chest.

“Babe, don't feel insecure. We both have scars that we wish would go away. But like what you said, we had to survive. I still find you attractive with the scars” Tara said.

You were about to kiss her but someone knocked on the door.

“Tara, open it's me, Sam,” Sam said.

Tara starts to panic.

“Hide!” Tara whispered.

“Where?” You asked.

You were about to go to the bathroom but she said no. But she made you hide under the bed but you forgot your shirt on the bed. Tara opened the door and Sam walked in.

“What’s up?” Tara said.

“I came to check up on you. Is this your shirt?” Sam said.

Sam grabbed the shirt off the bed.

“Yeah, it's my new shirt,” Tara said.

“Well, it's an ugly shirt. Let's go out and eat” Sam said.

“Oh okay, yeah” Tara stuttered.

Sam goes to the bathroom and Tara looks under the bed.

“Sorry, babe. But I will make it up to you, I promise” Tara whispered.

“It’s okay. I will hold that against you and my shirt isn't ugly, my girlfriend bought me that shirt” You whispered

“I have a cute boyfriend. I will text you later” Tara whispered

Sam comes out of the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked.

“I-I dropped my phone under the bed, but I got it. Let's go out to eat” Tara said.

“Yeah. But I'm not in the mood for pizza” Sam said.

They leave the room and you heard the door close. You wait a few minutes then get out of under the bed. You put your shirt on and you head back to your dorm room.

[ponett]

I have now finally seen the Mario movie. It was Pretty Good. Here are my wordy thoughts on it. (I am going to spoil the entire movie. Duh.)

In many ways, the Mario movie does what I wish the first Sonic movie had done. They just took the characters and the premise and the world from the games, and made it a straightforward animated adventure movie. It's bright and colorful and remixes things JUST enough to include fun elements from multiple games, and it doesn't make Mario get adopted by James Marsden or whatever. It even has the music!

That's all you really need, right? Right...?

I'll get this out of the way up front. Chris Pratt was fine. He's fine

If anything, it really feels like they did the movie a disservice by letting us hear so little of the Mario voice in the previews. It took one scene for Pratt to disappear into the role for me. It was totally fine. If anything, I found Charlie Day's normal voice coming out of Luigi WAY more distracting, even if I did like him in the role.

Everyone else was pretty good, for the most part. Jack Black was obviously very good as Bowser, but I'm biased. Seth Rogen does the Seth Rogen laughs as Donkey Kong, but I thought DK was fun, too. (I liked his little rivalry with Mario where he was just constantly giving him shit.) The only casting choice I truly hated was Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong. I hated every line that came out of his mouth. He sounds atrocious. Just the worst. I swear to fucking god if they do a DKC movie and we have to hear him for 90 minutes

I did think Peach was lacking, but that was on the script, not Anya Taylor-Joy's performance. It's cool to see Peach fight, but it's one of those all too common instances where the writers put so much effort into making the main girl kick ass and be an effortlessly confident girlboss that they forgot to give her an actual personality. Not that I'd point to Super Princess Peach and its mood swing superpowers as positive representation or anything, but there's a happy middle ground, surely. Shrek was 22 years ago, just having the princess do flying kung fu kicks isn't enough.

Okay. With the voices out of the way, let's talk about the big picture:

It's way better than the words "Illumination Mario movie" implied, and I mostly enjoyed my time with it. The spirit of Mario is there 100%. But I'd also describe it as "ruthlessly efficient."

This was perhaps the main complaint critics had, and they were absolutely right. People have responded to these totally average reviews with "Well, what did you expect? Shakespeare?! It's MARIO!!" Like, yes, I would prefer it if the movie I paid to see had writing that was good instead of bad. What a shocker. My issue isn't that it's not "high-brow" enough. The problem is that it feels mercenary. It feels like an editor went through and deleted almost every line of dialogue that isn't some form of exposition, at the expense of the pacing. Any scene that's not a montage or some sort of action is kept as short as they could make it, with barely any room for embellishment, character interaction, or anything other than the bare minimum word count to hit all the typical Save the Cat Hollywood screenwriting 101 story beats to the letter. There aren't even as many jokes as you might think (and the ones that are there are extremely hit or miss, including a lot of the slapstick with Mario himself).

Mario and Peach's little arc together in the front half of the film is probably the worst example of this pacing. Even having read reviews that complained about how fast Peach goes from meeting Mario (by her admission the first other human she's ever met) to deciding to train him as the new savior of the Mushroom Kingdom, I was SHOCKED at how fast it was. They don't even lampshade it.

Peach takes Mario straight into the big training sequence where he learns how to use mushrooms and jump over platforming obstacles. Peach is apparently already a hypercompetent platforming pro and a great fighter, so there's no clear reason why she's taking the time to train this random guy to be half as good as her when the world is in danger. Then they set off on their adventure, Toad joins them, and we get a VERY brief travel montage. It's about thirty seconds total - just long enough to give Peach a line about how she wants to protect this beautiful world of hers to try and give her some stakes. We get the genre-mandated nighttime campfire heart to heart, which is exactly long enough to have Mario say he misses Luigi and to have Peach give the two sentence summary of her origin story and not a second longer. Then they reach the Kongs, and their big journey is complete. (They barely interact for the rest of the movie.) So much of the movie is like this - always ready to get on to the next scene as soon as a new one starts.

I'm not criticizing the script because I expect The Super Mario Bros. Movie to be a prestige drama - although there are certainly halfhearted attempts at a dramatic arc. The stuff with Mario's family was a fun enough idea, but again, ruthless efficiency. We get one quick scene with them at the start to give Mario some pathos, because I guess Save the Cat said he's gotta have some pathos. And then Mario gets his dad's approval amidst the action of the final battle in Brooklyn to resolve his arc, just so the movie can end as quickly as possible once Bowser is defeated. (Despite now having the approval of their family and their community back in Brooklyn, Mario and Luigi move to the Mushroom Kingdom off-screen without a single word dedicated to this decision, because that's where they live in the games.)

Look. I am not comparing it to The Godfather. Don't give me that shit. I am not asking for an extra half hour to explore Mario and Luigi's childhood trauma. I am not asking for the complex inner workings of the Mushroom Kingdom monarchy. I know this is gonna be a basic Hero's Journey adventure for kids. It just feels like it's turning down so many opportunities to have a little fun with the characters, to let them interact and play off of each other, to let there be some adventure on this adventure. This is the first time we've gotten to see these characters interact with fully voiced dialogue in a very, very long time! "Yeah, it's not High Art, but it's FUN!" Stories are fun! Character interactions are fun! The script could be having so much more fun!! It is adamantly against making the Story parts of this story-driven movie any more Fun than they functionally need to be!!!

Mario, Peach, and Toad's journey to find the Kongs is shorter than the training montage that precedes it. After the opening, Bowser mostly just sits in his castle and waits for the third act to start. Luigi's there, too, but he only gets one scene with Bowser and then the movie mostly forgets he exists until the climax. He doesn't even get to try and sneak out of Bowser's castle and get up to hijinx. He's just there to be a motivation for Mario, so he sits in a cage for half the movie. It's the bare outline of a script with action scenes added in.

Aside from the fact that it's Jack Black singing as Bowser, I feel like this overly-efficient script might be part of the reason why the "Peaches" scene stands out so much. It's a moment that didn't strictly need to be there to keep the plot moving or to provide an action setpiece. It's not even a reference to another Mario thing. It's just a fun and memorable little character moment that's there for its own sake. That's what the movie needed more of. To stop and smell the roses more often. To play in the space.

To be clear, this isn't a unique problem with this movie. Critics have been noting for years that second acts are disappearing from big Hollywood movies in favor of the Act I plot setup and the Act III action, even though Act II is supposed to be where you get to explore your actual premise. And lots of animated movies give me this exact same vibe of being too "screenwriterly," or feeling like they had an executive breathing down their necks and demanding changes based on focus testing. But these common issues are why I come away mostly feeling like the movie is on the better end of "average," rather than totally blowing my mind. You have seen this movie many times before, just not with Mario in it.

And, of course, there's the music. The score by Brian Tyler based on various classic Mario and Donkey Kong tunes (frustratingly all attributed to Koji Kondo) is absolutely beautiful, but it's unfortunately frequently overshadowed by the licensed music. Everyone already complained about things like the use of Take On Me in place of a lovingly arranged DKC medley, but it feels illustrative of the tug of war the movie is caught in the middle of, between wanting to be a lavishly faithful Mario movie and wanting to be a generic tentpole animated adventure movie. Every single licensed song used is the most obvious, overused song they could have picked for the scene. It reeks of cynical executive meddling and it took me out of the movie every time.

But there really was a lot of care and love put into this movie - more than probably any other video game movie ever made, not that that's a high bar. I don't want to underplay that too much amidst all my complaints spurred by the absolutely insane response to the reviews.

Aside from the countless background references that people will be picking apart for years, touches like the Captain Toad tune playing in the background of Toad's introduction or the Mario Kart 8 menu music playing in the kart garage really help bring it to another level of authenticity. I also enjoyed seeing some more obscure Mario enemies that felt like they were picked more for being fun to animate than for being nostalgic and marketable. No matter how many times I sarcastically pointed to the screen and deadpanned "reference. reference." I am not immune to noticing these things and smiling. I am not immune to the DK Rap. These alone don't make the movie good, but it's nice to have a video game movie that feels like it was made by people who like video games.

Most importantly, the animation is great throughout. It's leaps and bounds ahead of other Illumination work, and it's the best the Mario cast has ever looked. They even made Donkey Kong handsome, somehow. They're all so squishy and expressive, and they move so fluidly - especially in the action scenes. I particularly liked the more kinetic ones like the aerial Banzai Bill chase and the Mario Kart sequence. Truly, the Mad Max-inspired car battle on Rainbow Road where Mario literally does the speedrun shortcut is this movie firing on all cylinders.

Other, more hand-to-hand fights nail the Popeye-esque vibe Mario should be going for. He's an underdog who gets the shit kicked out of him by bigger, stronger opponents until he gets his signature powerup and turns the tables on them. My favorite animation of all probably came from the use of Cat Mario to turn the tide in the DK fight. They had so much fun making Mario move like a cat. Again, it feels like a choice made because it'd be fun to animate rather than just a nostalgia move.

It's that animation and that attention to detail that carry the film, really. They elevate it from mediocrity into being a fun watch for a fan like me, albeit one I couldn't help but pick apart with Anthony as we watched it at home. I'm glad I saw it, but there's a lot of room to improve with the inevitable sequel. I hope they do. I can't deny that I had fun with the movie, but I hope next time that fun is partially because of the script instead of in spite of it.

Stray thoughts:

Overall, I would say I enjoyed the movie a lot more than Sonic 1, but probably not as much as Sonic 2. Not that these movies need to be pitted against each other.

I hated the Luma. I hated how hilarious they clearly thought the Luma was. They have the fucking Luma break the fourth wall to end the movie and start the credits. This is going to be a deep cut for fans of bad animated films, but the whole time I was just thinking of the little fish from Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss who's just the director's kid saying random nonsense. You know I'm right

I rolled my eyes at the "our princess is in another castle" joke and several other jokes that would have been dated in a gamer webcomic 20 years ago but I guess they had to be there

How much of Brooklyn did Bowser's giant floating castle take out? We know 9/11 happened in this universe because the Freedom Tower is there, hasn't New York been through enough

I can't believe there's a Diskun easter egg

The dog is the most Illumination character design in the movie. It felt like it wandered on set from The Secret Life of Pets

Mario being a gamer and playing Kid Icarus of all things just made me remember this tweet:

Yes Anthony did get mad at me for being thirsty for Bowser

[deathbringerdragon]

Still dealing with the "post Christmas crash" that I'm sure any of you who also celebrate are feeling. Especially if you were hosting a Christmas dinner.

So I do apologize for the lack of any updates on any MW projects I have currently.

As compensation, how about I write out what little tiny bits of my weird ass fucked up dream I had that was about Monkey Wrench.

Which isn't very much now since it's been 8-9 hours since I woke up. But I remember enough for me to just look at it and be like: "what the FUCK was that dream??... .. . . Also I might be able to nab bits of it for future story ideas?.. if not for me at least other people. Maybe?.."

So anyways. Without further adeu. Gonna introduce yall to the weird ass dreams that my friends are very used to hearing about, lmao.

It'll be under the cut. As stated before. Judt bits and pieces. It's just what parts I remember. Its not a story.

To start off with. In my dream any context related to the cataclysm didn't exist. Nothing. Nor any of the current events in MW.

Shrike and Beebs were still mercenaries I guess? Though it wasn't important. I don't think anything about their lore was changed.

Anyways, first bits I remember was that they were on a planet in a city that more or less looked like a bright and sunny beach town.

And shrike kept wanting to wander off and do his own thing, to which Beebs kept trying to keep him from doing that for a specific reason I can't remember.

Eventually shrike manages to sneak off anyways though. Pisses someone off. I can't remember. Or they just already after him. Either way, thus begins Shrike getting captured, some people threatening to kill him. And him escaping somehow with those people now chasing him.

Meanwhile Beebs is just. Shopping. Completely unaware that there's chaos going on.

Some lady was chasing down shrike (who ironically, had nothing to do with Kara, and in the context of the dream was like, trying to catch him for completely different reasons. Can't remember what though. I think it had something to do with What Shrike is?)

That of which was a high speed chase in some sci-fi hovering cars. Cuz shrike hijacked one. And was causing havoc in traffic.

There was like. Two different "groups" after shrike.

That lady. And the people he pissed off.

At one point shrike was in a forest and. Got caught. Something with like.. folklore-esc monsters happens. Said creatures try to eat everyone there. Shrike escapes.

I think the high speed chase happened after that??

Idk some of it was kinda stupid/cringy to the point that even my asleep brain was like "bro wtf is this. This is weird even for your dreams" and altered. Something. In the dream. I have no clue what.

Alls I know is what's next in my memory is that Shrike and Beebs more or less kidnapped a child?? Uuhh. I think a manifested stand in for an "oc"

That of which Doesn't even exist.

My brain just apparently decided to Make That Up on the spot for my dream??? Tbh not unusual, but these normally aren't the kinds of dreams that happens in

Anyways so kid is kidnapped.

Reason?

Either shitty home life, orrr deal gone wrong. Or like... something to do with a saloon full of cowboy-esc characters who apparently had previous beef with Shrike and wanted him dead and tricked him into going and meeting with some people who were gonna kill him and somehow in the confusion as he escaped the kid just randomly was being dragged along for whatever reason.

But yea I didn't even remember the cowboy saloon part until I was writing about the kid.

I'm pretty certain that'd what led to the "group of people getting pissed off at shrike and chasing him to try and kill him"

Anywas at some point shrike meets back up with Beebs, who's just bewildered but not surprised about all the chaos. And somehow is so chill about it he just keeps shopping while shrike is shrieking (lmao) as random people keep trying to kill him.

Shrike apparently was also complaining about something related to the kid. NO fucking clue what. I think it was like.. related to Why he decided to nab the kid??? Something about how the peopel were treating the kid/what they were planning??? Alls I know is that it was so out of character that I think That's when my brain was like "wtf. Bro that's so put of character it's cringy"

Also shrike had. A normal "white american boy" English accent during that part and I could feel my brain just cringing so bad.

Either way Beebs eventually decided they got everything they need and it's time to go.

So the three of them pile into a. Fucking Mini version of the Bucket.

And thus starts another fucking high speed chase.

Except this time Beebs just. Flies the.. car... bucket.. spaceship... thing away since the things the people were using couldn't fly.

And then they're in the actual bucket while shrike is complaining about the crazy lady who was trying to capture him, and originally almost had because she seduced him.

And beebs just called him an idiot for falling for that-

To which my dream switched over to earlier in the dream where Shrike was for some reason eating dinner with the lady and, as he said, getting tricked by seduction. Before she literally just tied him up and started hauling his ass to some lab to be experimented on.

There was... SO much more random shit and chaos that happened in my dream that I wish I remembered cuz it made the dream atheist somewhat a cohesive "story". But also so much fucking weirder at the same time

(Like legit I think at one point the dream judt forgot about MW entirely and was focusing on this plot about several groups of women/girls who had to like, work together in teams of two or three to fuse together into these literal Giants, that were also soooorta robots to be piloted?? To fight these weird fucking poisonous creatures that were trying to kill them?? Ironically it was Nothing like power rangers despite how I described it. It was its own fucking thing entirely and it was Weird and uncomfortable)

But uh. Yea. Uhm.

Welcome to the world of "Death's weird ass fucking 'acid trip' dreams despite the fact no drugs that cause weird dreams are taken whatsoever". I hope you enjoyed your stay. Maybe I'll pick through what weird ass fucking bits and crumbs I remember and make some actual interesting story prompts for yall since these kinds of dreams for me often can be used to create interesting story arcs for my various stuff.

[asherloki]

The prompt is "You never asked me anything in return, you just showered love on me, and all I gave you was doubt, unfaithfulness and mistreatment." :)

Just honesty

Marc Spector x reader

Word count:- 1288

Warnings:- quite angsty actually!

A/n:- I didn't actually thought I could use this prompt for a moon boy, it was fun writing honestly, hope you like it.

Dialogue prompt list here!

You were shocked when after a year of dating marc Spector you found out he has DID. All you ever ask for is honesty, you rather preferred him telling you right away than finding it out after a year out of nowhere.

"you could tell me marc, I would've understood" you said almost crying out of dishonesty, disappointment and sadness.

"I thought it'd freak you out, I thought you'd leave me" marc had his own reasoning too, you couldn't deny whatever his reason was to hide such thing from you was acceptable, you may have still stayed after hearing his mental illness but anyone else would've left him then and there, and anyway how was he to know. You forgave him, because why not, this man would do anything for you, anything to keep you happy. You knew one thing for sure, Marc Spector was the man who'd risk his life for you. Everything between you two went back to normal, until one day you found out another thing about him. Something that's unbelievable, Your boyfriend is an ex mercenary, yes ex but still, mercenary, he never said that. You being someone who'd prefer honesty had to deal with someone like Marc, who hid two very important things of his life from you. The one thing he never hid was him being moon knight, a superhero.

But this time it was enough for you, when you recieved the phone of his, the call from Bushman and heard all the things about his past you froze,

"I'm living with a... a.. freaking mercenary? no no no... it can't be... he's so sweet to me, nice to me he can't just..." your train of thoughts went on until a voice from behind interrupted.

"everything alright?" Marc, it was marc.

'the one I should confront' a voice in your head said. you slowly turned to face the liar, the one that was actually a liar in your eyes, your eyes were red out of crying, yet you didn't exactly cried. After the phone call you froze and tears streamed down your cheeks.

"baby, you're crying is everything..." he trailed off as he saw his phone in your hand " my phone". His heart gave a tug, that was enough for him to understand, the one secret that was left to discover was no longer a secret.

"Bushman " you said in your shakey voice, crying or rather shedding tears nonstop.

"he called? so I guess you know that..." before he could finish you said,

"mercenary". your face, the expression terrified the man thaf stood infront of you, it reminded him of his mother, when she blamed him for his dead brother.

"it's..." he couldn't say anything, what could he? what was there to say? everything is infront of you now.

"freaking mercenary" hurt, fear and disappointment was clear in your voice. Marc just stood there watching you, years of being blamed prepared him to not to cry, he didn't cry he just stood there.

"such a LIAR" you yelled at the word 'liar'.

"I didn't lie" Marc muttered under his breath.

"no, but you kept it hidden from me, and about your DID, what else now? what are you?"

he knew there wasn't anything left to discover but he still just stood there watching you. You stood there looking at the man you love, the image you had of him changing. Marc noticed the window behind you, the sky was cloudy, you always feared the thurders so he silently went passed you and closed the window so you don't be scared. You watched everything and laughed mocking his actions,

"oh my dear! oh Mr Marc Spector thinks he'd win me over again".

"I'm doing what I've always done, you fear the lightning so I... I'm sorry but I'm not a mercenary now" he said, ofcourse he wasn't anymore. but you could hardly let go off it, even though a voice in your head kept telling you 'please, you know he's the nicest guy to you, he's never hurt you, for a whole year as long as you've been together all he did is give you love and support, did you do the same?' the memories of him showering unconditional love on you played infront of you but then the scene infront of you was true too. You just wanted to run away, not caring about the weather,

"you know what?" you said looking at Marc "it's enough now, I'm... I'm going" that's all and you run. Marc could barely say anything but run after you, you ran down the stairs and landed on the road. The clouds, it terrified you, but better to run under it than being caught by Marc. So you thought and so you did. Following you marc landed on the road too, he didn't has it in him to utter a simple 'stop' to you. He knew how much his secrets hurted you and all he wanted was to hold in his arms and apologize.

You on the other hand ran, aimlessly, making all the few people outside stare until the Bright, flashing lightning lit up the sky like fireworks; banging, crashing thunder roaring furiously, sizzling, electrifying lightning zipping across the sky. It was a nightmare for you, all of these are nightmare for you anyway. but that was alot too handle, you fell on your knees, covering both your ears with your hands. Marc was terrified for you, he knew he'd freak you out but he had to, he held you in his arms as he too sat on the pavement. The sounds were terrifying, the flashing light reminded you of your life without these arms wrapped around you. Lonely, sad, scared. How can you smile without the man who did his best to keep you smiling? You let yourself fall into his arms and Marc tightened his grip around you. that's it, that's good, that's home. You allowed yourself to cry now, in his arms. After a minute or two you both stood up, that's when you saw Marc crying too, silently, like he always did when you doubted him, when you flirted with other men, when you took him for granted. Yet his hands reached to wipe your tears with a sad smile on his lips,

"I won't force you to stay, but I'd like if you forgive me, don't go like that please". he said with such pain that you could feel his heart was heavy,

"why do yoh care so much about me?" you enquired,

"because you know, I love you, you don't have to believe it but I do", he answered your question. You watched him, rather observed him. He lied or hid alot from you but one truth is that he genuinely loved you.

"You never asked me anything in return, you just showered love on me, and all I gave you was doubt, unfaithfulness and mistreatment." you said, tears still flowing down your eyes.

Marc's hand cupped your face as he said, " what can I do? one truth of my life is I love you" he then let go off you and turned around. He walked to his house knowing you'd sure leave him at this point. Until he heard footsteps and then saw your figure walking beside him to his house, he was confused ofcourse,

" you ... do you wanna come inside."

you looked at him with the expression of an annoyed girlfriend, the one he enjoyed extremely, " ofcourse, I need to get to my home, and these walls and rooms aren't my home, you are Marc, you are."

[anawrites3]

I don't know if you're still doing the WIP asks! If you are!! My curiosity would appreciate some assistance:

Monster Hunting

Identity porn

Dimension travel

(Your writing is awesome ❤️)

Hello, love! Sorry for answering so late and thank you for taking interest <3 Also I love the sentence “My curiosity would appreciate some assistance” that’s so cute!!

Alright so – Monster hunting is a story where Batfam are hunters and I say monster because in Gotham there are many kinds of monsters so they have to deal with all of them. They help people every night and usually they patrol in groups of at least two but one day Dick sneaks out on his own. It doesn’t end well because as soon as monsters understand that Nightwing is alone they swarm him. They want to make him pay for hunting their kind and just show him that compared to them he’s just a little fragile human, he’s nothing.

When Dick thinks there’s no more hope for him and he’s sure that he’ll die another monster joins them. Everything goes quiet and when Dick looks up Slade is standing right in front of him.

They are lovers in this world :3 they’re still enemies but they meet sometime to fuck in secret and Dick knows it doesn’t change anything but he still can’t help but hope that Slade won’t let them kill him.

And Slade-

Slade stopped just a few steps before him and Dick had to crane his neck to look at him from his place on the floor. His hands twitched nervously at the sight of the mercenary, making the chain rattle loudly.

Slade wasn’t wearing his mask but he might’ve as well had for his face didn’t betray any emotions, not even as he slowly looked Dick over. “Slade-” Dick choked out, knowing how stupid it was to hope. Slade was a monster too, he was one of those creatures that were taking pleasure in making him bleed, showing that he was a dirt under their shoes as human. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Please… Slade, please-” No one dared to make a sound as Slade walked over to where Dick was kneeling. Dick twitched when Slade lowered to a crouch before him – he hoped, he stupidly, naively, humanly hoped but he was just so scared – and the chain holding him in place rattled loudly. “Broken bird.” Slade reached out to cup Dick’s cheek in his hand. His touch was so gentle and for a moment Dick allowed himself to close his eyes as his chest heaved with silent sobs. “Look at you.” He gently forced Dick’s head higher and Dick blinked open his eyes to look into Slade’s one. Dick always admired the colors mixing in the iris – the gray and blue crashing into each other like ocean’s wave to create something so beautiful. A thumb stroked along Dick’s cheek, wiping off the blood. Dick couldn’t even feel it anymore, the sensation of the fluid disappearing under the overwhelming pain he was in, even if the blood seemed to cover every inch of his body. There was so much of it and all of it was his and he was still bleeding- “Please…” He cried again. “Slade…” “Which one of you got him first?” Slade asked calmly, standing up. Dick wanted to cry as his hands pulled away. “It was me!” One of the vampires bragged, stepping closer. He was visibly proud, bloody fangs on display as he puffed out his chest. “I saw him alone and cornered him. Once he started bleeding it didn’t take long before my brothers joined us and then-” One of the shadows tore away from the floor and before anyone managed to blink, the vampire’s head rolled on the dirty floor.

Slade makes sure no monster walks alive of there :D

Identity porn is also of course a sladick fic but I’m considering whether to actually write it or not because it’s about not-quite-cheating. I thought it would be fun to play and practice writing emotions and guilt and it would be probably kept more in a crack/comedy setting but anyway-

It’s a story where Slade doesn’t know Dick is Nightwing and Dick doesn’t know Slade is Deathstroke. They’re dating as Dick and Slade and often fight as Nightwing and Deathstroke – and the often banter/flirt during their fights. And so one day during a fight they fuck in a heat of moment but later they both feel like absolute shits. Then one of them finally confess to cheating – probably Dick – and first of all imagine how fucking absurd it is to say that you cheated on your boyfriend with Deathstroke fucking Terminator. And at first Slade is like No the fuck you didn’t fuck Deathstroke. And Dick goes from crying to being annoyed and angry because I know how I fucked, alright!! And Slade finally says I am Deathstroke! I think I’d remember fucking you as Deathstroke! And Dick is like ...what. What the fuck

Slade realizes what he said and tries to take it back but then Dick says something like Oh my God then I was feeling guilty for nothing… Wait, you fucking shit you slept with Nightwing!

And then it comes out that Dick is Nightwing so they didn’t really cheat.

Let me know if you think I should write it? No snippet for this time because I only really have outline for it so far.

And last but not least, dimension travel! It’s slajaydick story where Dick doesn’t have a very good time but what’s new? Ahaha

So Dick accidentally gets send into another dimension, one where everything is the same save for the fact that Dick never was Slade’s apprentice – instead Slade got Jason into his hands. I like to say that Dick falls there in a trap that wasn’t even set because he just tries to find a way home and instead stumbles into Jay. He then follows Jay to Slade’s base where Slade is waiting and when Slade finds out that Dick’s from another dimension, therefore no one in this world will look for him, he decides to keep him.

I posted a snippet the last time I was doing the wip ask game, you can find it right here!

But have another one <3

"I don't think you quite understand the situation you're in right now." Slade drawled, voice just as deep as Dick remembered from his nightmares and so pleased it was almost dripping off of his words. "No one knows you're here, little bird. No one will even think to look for you - not Batman, not Robin because in their world everything is as it should always be." "You're wrong." Dick spat out, fists clenching against the chain. "As soon as they'll find out that I'm in this dimension they'll-" "And that's the thing, isn't it?" Slade interrupted with a mean smile. "They have to find out about it first. They have to notice that you're gone and then start looking for you. Then they'll actually have to find you." He stroked the back of his fingers along Dick's cheek. "And I can promise you, they won't find us easily." "It doesn't matter." Dick moved away from the touch, as far away as he was able. "They'll find me and then you'll finally pay for everything you did-" "So sure of yourself. It's pretty admirable." Slade hummed. "Isn't it, apprentice?" Jason who all this time just stood by the wall without a word, hands clasped together behind his straight back, dipped his head in a quick nod. "Yes, Master." He said, not taking his green eyes off Dick for a second. "But it's also stupid and naive." "That's right." Slade grinned. "The sooner you understand it the better, Richard. I have all the time in the world to do what I want with you. And what I want is to break you and then rebuild you, piece by piece until you’re exactly what I want you to be, boy." "You can try, you sick fuck." Dick growled. Like hell he was going to let Slade do whatever he wanted. He already went through it once and knew that he could resist Slade getting into his head, no matter how difficult it was. He was going to fight Slade every step on the way. “I know your tricks, Slade. You won't break me that easily.” "Don't worry, I have my ways for unruly boys." Slade said, glancing briefly towards Jason. “And the fight is what I'm hoping for, actually." He grabbed Dick's jaw to raise his head, forcing Dick to look him in the eye. "I have big hopes for you, kid. Would be a shame if you disappointed me right away.”

Thank you for asking, dear! <3

You can ask me about my wips right here

[harukamitsuki]

hey, its me again, another thing I implemented into my rewrite idea that I curious for your feedback on is the corruption of hpsc. The president in my au is sir nighteye, who went into politics after breaking uo with all might, which was after all might killed afo and was crippled from the fight(but thatsba story for another). He makes the perfect candidate in my opinion because his control freal nature fits that role to a T. Also the hpsc have changed tactics from after lady nagant. Now instead of kilking corrupt heroes, they simply prevent the public from knowing about the herpes misdeeds.

This comes into conflict with herpeton, who plans to expose corrupt heroes to the public, and show that they aren't the deities they make themselves out to be.

The commision get more desperate with trying to get rid of him after he exposes endeavor at the sports festival. From hiring mercenaries, creating the nomu(I made a post detailing my aus version of the nomu, so go check that out for some clarification), sending hawks to do him in multple times, and even partnering with the maestro(which backfires horribly as he turns on them and mind controls every hero and hero student into becoming his villain minions, which is my version of the my villain academia arc)

Speaking of hawks, my versiin of him is more corrupt than canon, instead of having him be brainwashed into thinking he's doing the right thing, he really is just doing this because he wants to live life on the top(after he had an awful childhood), no matter if people below him have to suffer for it.

So, any thoughts or questions?

The HPSC 100% needed to be more included in the story, considering they manage hero society as a whole, which was displayed to be toxic several times throughout, though never truly addressed.

Making them included in this way is great.

In canon, Nighteye was controlling from the start, believing his opinion truly mattered about All Might's successor, despite not being close to him at that point. He thought he was always right, and never admitted when he was wrong, even to himself.

Hiding the corruption from the public rather than killing corrupt heroes honestly makes more sense. Because the HPSC are obsessed with presenting hero society as perfect, and are unwilling to admit where they're faulty. It works especially since the maestro is a main antagonist and an example of a corrupt hero.

With Hawks, either way is fine. I enjoy the canon portrayal, but yours can be equally impactful to show how corruption runs in hero society, yet most are blind to it.

I'm of the mind that being selfish is perfectly fine, but not if it hurts innocent people. To Hawks, he would feel justified in his actions and ignore any guilt, or even excusing it with something like, 'There was no other choice,' despite having a variety. Which, again, can be impactful, as the audience are left to consider when looking out for yourself turns into selfishness.

All in all, I like your ideas. I read the post about the noumus, and it was... pretty cool. Especially if, as you implied, All Might really did kill All for One, meaning he wouldn't be able to create them. Plus, as you mentioned in that post, noumus don't feel important at all after a while, considering they were easily made and weren't treated with the horror they deserve, and having only two makes them feel like actual threats and significant.

The herpeton exposing all of this would make him a hero to us.

But, people hate the truth. Exposing corruption will make a lot of people like him, but it wouldn't just make the HPSC hate him - many others would too. We see this IRL a lot, with people becoming defensive or angry whenever someone exposes a shitbag, because they don't want to admit that they fell for it.

I'm sure you've already kept this in mind - I doubt you wouldn't have thought of it considering how much you've already thought about it.

Good luck with your writing endeavours, and thanks for the ask!

[thotsforvillainrights]

Heya! I'm usually a lurker, but your writing is good! Please rest and take your time! I've been on a Geten kick as of late, and this idea has been stewing in my head for awhile now, and I love it. May I request headcanons for Geten that has an S/O that is like cowboy mercenary, who really only goes after people who are like just awful. One night, they don't come at all. Hours, late it is because they got badly hurt by a rival merc. They get home, patched up, and then angst into fluff ensues!

(Anon, I know how you feel. I've actually been on a quiet Geten kick lately since the weather in my area has been a bit chilly. My little brain has hatched a few ideas for him that haven't seen the light of day from beyond my drafts. Perhaps this'll help me get the lead out and start everything up)

~Geten's Mercenary S/O~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up|drabble

-He admired you and your strength. Sure at first he was weary of your presence within the upper ranks of the MLA. He wasn't alone so it wasn't like he was delusional in his ideas. Skeptic kept a very close eye on you for a few months when ReDestro announced your joining. Geten wasn't alone in doubting you or your goals here. However, you managed to gain his respect by showing your raw ability both on and off of the battlefield. You weren't tough by one way, but more along when it came to smarts. You had skill/technique that allowed you a success rate of 98.9% when it came to what you did. As a mercenary, you always aimed for much higher than that.

-After a while Redestro started to notice the way Geten was acting with you. He was keeping an eye out this time not as a leader but as someone who sees himself as a guardian over Geten. He'd taken him in at a young age and watched him grow in many different ways. Now the young adult seems to be venturing out into love territory, Rikiya thinks. Why else would Geten always be staring at you cleaning your guns the way that you did? It wasn't just this, but you preferred to keep a singular steed taken care of well throughout your life and used when riding up into the mountains. Geten had taken over most of your chores as he tended to the horse, maybe to gain your favor? Rikiya was left speculating for a while until he finally decided to team you two up specifically.

-It all became clear the more time you spent together that you two had developed feelings for each other. Perhaps the only one more excited about Geten becoming your S/O would be the old man himself. Sure he wasn't a kid anymore, but Rikiya couldn't help but to feel pride for Geten either way.

-Now that you two were together, Geten was able to show more of his emotions towards you while remaining more or less the same in his behavior. He knew you were strong/smart enough to handle yourself when you went off to take care of business but he still felt protective over you. It was more and more lately that he was complaining about you heading out late at night to kill some low-life. You kept reminding him that the cover of the night served you well when it came to stealth. He always folded for you and watched you go off without him. You made sure he didn't regret it by handling up your task fast and returning to him. That's why tonight he wasn't feeling so very well as he watched to clock tick on the wall. This deep sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach became worse and worse the longer you were gone for. By the time he went out to find you, it was too late. He opened the door and there you were, crawling up the steps covered in blood and scars. How long had you been crawling like this!?

-He wasn't sure what to do in the moment. Panic was overtaking his train of thought. He wanted to call an ambulance, to take you to the hospital, to call ReDestro. What the hell could he do?! Your coughing and feeble speaking his name was enough to shock him into action. He carefully grabbed hold on you and dragged you to the bathroom so he could patch you up. He tried extremely hard to convince you to go to the hospital when he was done but you just wanted to rest. He knew you wouldn't have the energy to argue with him but he respected you enough to care for your wishes. The next morning might have been the first time you two argued as a couple.

-You just remember the exchange in words. The way the conversation had taken a bad turn and the rude words you two ended up letting slip. Both of you had said some things that shouldn't have been said. There were names exchanged and the threaten to break up had been more than enough to weigh heavily on the both of you. Spending some time (about an hour) apart in separate rooms was enough for the two of you to calm down and come back to your senses. Geten wasn't one to apologize for things he deemed unnecessary. However, he found himself on his knees at your bedside...apologizing to you. Showing you his vulnerability all at once. When you'd forgiven him, his heart twisted up into a knot and he felt the familiar uncomfy sensation of tears welling up in his eyes. There wasn't a word spoken more between the two of you as he carefully crawled into bed with you and held you closely. There wasn't a word that needed to be said in all honesty. Your actions spoke more loudly than words.

[ramyeonguksu]

8, 9, and 13 please!

Refer to Questions for people with FE3H oc's, in no particular order:

Gonna answer for both Hillevi and Callahan since it wasn't specific which one!

8) If at the monastery at the time, would they take part in the fishing tournament, and how well would they do?

Answered here for Hillevi!

As for Callahan, I think he would rather watch in the beginning so he could take the opportunity to write and sketch how a person approaches fishing but eventually he'll want to try it on his own because first-hand experience is always valuable! Would he do well though? No LMAO

9) Do they have any sentimental keepsakes they carry with them?

If you read my Hillevi fic so far then you would know that Hillevi has a wyvern tooth necklace! It was a secret keepsake she's kept from a mercenary that escorted her and her father from a past. It kindled her interest in wanting to visit other nations and experience other cultures (said mercenary got it from Almyra). She wears it under her shirt so you wouldn't really see it. (It's also one of her lost items)

As for Callahan, he has a bookmark that his older brother Liam Alicio Deschamps crafted just for him! Despite Callahan's parents neglecting him in favor of his older brother, Liam made sure to look after him and care for him. Knowing that Callahan was an avid reader, Liam handmade a bookmark for Callahan to use and remember him by whenever he was out doing his duties. (This is also a lost item)

13) If they're a mounted unit what would they name their mount?

Hillevi names her mount Altena! It wouldn't really be mentioned in game like how Marianne's horse is Dorte (unless I somehow find a way to weave in wyverns into a support conversation) but I took inspiration from how the wyverns in Awakening and Fates were named after previous wyvern riders. For those who don't know Altena is a wyvern rider from FE4!

Callahan isn't a mounted unit, he's a warlock!

[takenbyheartstrings]

FORCED TO SHARE.

summary: person a and person b are forced to share a bed, person a is a bed hog and person b gets cold...

pairing: marc spector x fem!reader

warnings: FLUFF & a tad bit of angst. that's it. bestfriends! to lovers also :) a little bit of a sexual reference too SNFKJSDNF

word count: 2.1k

authors note: more fluff because im still thinkin' about episode 5 :'( so this is to cheer everyone up!! there's not a lot of marc fluff as there is smut so that's why i keep writing for him :( i need to write for steven too tho, i need my boy :(

I HAD TO REPOST THIS BC TUMBLR IS SO FKN ANNOYING W/ THE TAGS NOW.

"Marc, I'm seriously not mad at you anymore." you huff, okay, so you were still a little annoyed that he ran off to Cairo without you. You helped him every single time. You were his informant, his partner in crime.

He pouts, "'M still sorry, okay? I shouldn't have done it... I dunno why I'm even here. I just needed to get away."

You and Marc were driving in the Jeep, on the way to Marc's hotel. You'd be staying with him, he called you to come to Cairo and you came running. He's your best friend, of course you'd come running. He told you he couldn't say much over the phone, but it's not like there was much to talk about.

"...Marc." You say stern, keeping your hand on the wheel. You eye him for a moment as his head is pressed against the window, staring into the mirror.

He sighs, "The guy got away... everyday I think I'm closer and closer to finding this fucking scarab, get to it before Harrow can," He turns to face you, "and every time I feel like I take two steps back in the opposite direction."

You kept your eyes on the road but Marc could sense how sorry you were as you turned down the radio. By the time you'd done this, you'd reached Marc's hotel.

"You really splurged on this place." you said quietly, noticing how nice it was.

Marc shrugs, "I slept in a motel last night and booked a proper room for us... I just wanted to feel normal for the night." He widens his eyes, "Two beds, by the way." He feels the need to clarify.

You nod, "We can do normal," You try to stifle a laugh.

"What?" He questions you, a toying smile.

"It's just hard to imagine normal when you have a pigeon skull over your shoulder at all times."

"HEy!" He laughs, "Don't let Khonsu hear you."

*

The two of you make it into the room, you drop your duffle bag onto the floor and immediately, the two of you see the problem, you turn to Marc, eyebrows raised, "Thought you said two."

"They must've misheard me." He groans, "Fuck!" He hits the wall next to him and anger and you jump a little, but place a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Marc... Marc... it's okay. It's not like we haven't shared a fuckin' bed before." You roll your eyes.

Except, now it's different. The two of you are here by choice. The two of you have nothing to stop the tension that'll build.

You'd always had a crush on Marc. From the day you met him you thought he was too attractive. He was a mercenary and you were a girl who knew a lot of people - you grew up around those sorts of things. You helped Marc out a couple times and soon became his main informant.

You were also an archeologist, so you knew a lot about Egyptology, and all sorts of ancient histories that were beyond Marc's knowledge. Soon, you started to help him on his missions and the two of you were getting closer and closer. Meetings weren't meetings anymore and most times he'd just come into your house with the spare key you'd given him. You'd do the same.

Marc started having feelings for you when you began to get closer to him. At first, he treated it as it was. Business.

But one day, you hugged him. That was the day he fell for you. When you were holding him in your arms after getting excited about a mission that'd take place in Cairo, where the two of you would be able to enter an actual tomb. The smile on your face was so big it beamed like the sun.

"Are you sure?" He questions you softly.

"Yes." You laugh, "I'm sure. Now, we're both tired so, let's just get some rest, we've got like three days here."

He nods, "That's good, yeah... sleep, rest."

"...and a shower." You bite your lip.

"That bad?" He questions you and you nod a little. Marc rolls his eyes, "I'll be a few minutes."

He opens his bag and takes out his boxers.

Guess that's how he sleeps, practically half-naked... it didn't bother you. It just made you nervous. I mean, you were the same. Your pyjamas were nothing more than a pair of booty shorts and a tiny tank top.

You sit in bed reading a book, waiting for Marc to walk out of his shower. You took one before you got on the plane a few hours ago, so you opted to take one the next morning instead. You were kinda nervous to sleep in the same bed. This bed was big too, and you were a mover, a bed hog, most would say. Every time you and Marc had slept in the same bed, you had at least kicked him once during the night, for which he'd tease you about the next day. Otherwise, the two of you had seperate beds every time.

It pained both of you to sleep so far apart from each other, not only because you harboured feelings, but because it just felt nice to have someone to sleep next to. To know that someone lays beside you with every intention of loving you, platonically or romantically. You knew you weren't alone.

Your bedroom is probably the loneliest place you can be. All alone, sitting in there for hours on end. Sometimes the house can be even lonelier, filled with people or not. A person next to you would just be... nice.

Marc comes out of the bathroom, the steam pours from the door as he dries his wet hair with the towel. He's only wearing his boxers as predicted. Your eyes gloss over his body, you're a bit shocked honestly. Now he's not got abs or anything like that, in reality, who gives a flying fuck about those things? His body is so utterly perfect, his pecks are defined on his chest, lines shaping them, and his collarbones are deeply engraved, his bones show a little when he dries his hair, and his chest is clean shaven, so perfectly shown off. Smooth and glossy underneath the lamp's light. He turns around quickly to throw the towel back into the bathroom, and the way his back is just as beautiful, his shoulder blades just as defined as his collar bones, and his arms are strong and they have muscle to them.

Marc's turned around and he's caught you ogling at him, but he doesn't think that's it at all, "Shit," He sighs, "Do you want me to put a shirt on or something?... I just, it was a reflex, I usually sleep like this." He speaks a perfectly rational explanation for why he's shirtless in front of you.

"No." You shake your head, "It's fine. As long as you're not naked... then we might have a slight problem." You chuckle.

oh but I wish you were. Was the only thought that went through your head.

Marc laughs at your joke, but speaks again, "You sure?" He questions.

You can only nod this time, giving him more reassurance, "I'm sure, Marc. Now let's get some rest. You need it... I need it."

He nods, joining you underneath the covers, you've untucked it from the bed and thrown that weird uncomfortable sheet that slithers its way into every hotel, onto the floor.

You turn off the lamp that resides next to you on the bedside table, setting down your book and plugging in your phone. Marc's doing the same on the other side until both of you are in the complete darkness of the bedroom.

The silence isn't uncomfortable, nor is it comfortable. It's that middle ground where you're unsure of what to say, but at the same time it's better not to say anything at all... so neither of you do.

Your backs are turned to each other and you fall asleep like that. Both of you sharing the blanket, sleeping softly on the pillows underneath your head. As you drift off, you think about the comfort of the pillows and the mattress. How nice the room is with the royal blue curtains and the white walls. The TV that sits across from the bed, that you're one hundred percent sure will not be turned on the rest of the time you're here.

But you finally fall asleep thinking about how Marc's next to you. How you're not actually alone tonight.

*

Marc huffs as he wakes up, he's fucking freezing. God, he went to bed so warm. The buzz of the air-con isn't existent and the windows are closed. So when he wakes up to find the blanket ripped off of his body he realises why. You've taken it.

Sure, you'd kicked him before, but you never got too close or stole a blanket. There was almost never enough room for that to happen. But now there was. You had stolen the blanket... and as Marc tries to sit up apparently ninety-six percent of the space as well.

He debates letting you sleep and just dealing with it. You look so peaceful, and all he wants to do is cuddle up next to you. Your face is squished a little against the pillow, and the blanket is pulled up to your neck. But Marc also knows that he won't be able to fall asleep on the edge of the bed without even a sliver of blanket to keep him somewhat warm.

"Y/n..." He whispers carefully, shaking you softly. You stir a little bit, but don't seem to wake, you were usually a light sleeper, "Y/n..." He shakes you a little more intensly.

This time you wake up, sitting up carefully, looking around the room, a soft moan escaping your closed mouth, "What's wrong, Marc?" You question as you rub your eyes.

As the room finally comes to focus, with the soft light of the moon glowing into the room, you can finally see the predicament you've put the both of you in.

"Ohmygod," You mutter softly, still a bit frazzled from being woken up, "I'm so sorry, Marc."

"No, no, no," He shakes his head, "It's okay. I just didn't want to push you or steal anything back and wake you up like that."

You chuckle, "It would've been fine."

Marc goes through his next few words in his head, trying to wrack for something, but he can't seem to find the words, and when he does say it. You've probably never heard his voice more earnest and soft. So careful and scared. It makes you want to melt and you can't refuse his offer because every instinct in your body is telling you to accept it. You've never seen him like this before. So soft.

"Maybe we could..." He struggles to spit it out, "Cuddle?" His voice is the carefullest in this moment, when he says that final word, but he returns back to his regular demeanour in an instant, "Or some shit like that I dunno, would probably help us share the blanket."

You try to bite back a smile, but you can't help it. Marc's looking up at you as you do so. He doesn't know why you sat up, but the rays of the moonlight shine behind you and make you look like an absolute angel.

"I would like that..." you smile, "a lot." you add in haste, before lying down just as quick. Not wanting to waste anymore time.

Marc's arm finds its way around you as he pulls you closer, your back touching his chest and both of your breaths hitch against the air at the contact. Yours at Marcs particularly cold skin. Marc's cheeks start to flush. He's never felt this vulnerable around you. He's never really acted this way before... shy and timid. But you make his heart do back flips. You make his stomach swirl with happiness and warmth.

That's why his next words are just as soft as before, "I'm in love with you." He whispers, he's not sure if you're asleep or not. He doesn't really care if you heard it or not. He just needed to tell you.

Your eyes go wide for a quick moment before giving yourself a second to actually breathe, all you can do is smile tho and press a soft kiss to his arm, "I'm in love with you too, Marc."

Marc pulls you closer, if that's even possible. He wants to flip you over. Kiss you. Kiss your neck. Love you.

"We can talk about it more tomorrow," you sigh content against his body, "But right now, I'm very tired."

He does the best he can and kisses the top of your head. The blanket covering you both in a layer of warmth that matches the flush of both your bodies pressed together.

"Goodnight, Princess." He whispers, and you're out like a light.

-

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[avaritia-cognitionis]

Christmas Headcanons - Tf2

Don't worry, there's more to come. I just want to post this before Christmas. This list will be updated soon, Don't worry (:

Most mercenaries will either give a genuinely thoughtful gift, one to show that no matter how many tough times there are, they still care about them... Or it's the most traumatizing shit ever, intentionally or not. Some land in the middle, sure, but they probably swing one way over the other.

Scout and Engineer will secretly get up early in December to put up the tree and decorate it. Scout was invited once during his first years as a mercenary, and now helps do it every year. He always helped do it with his mom, and it gives him a sense of that childlike innocence he 'lost' a long time ago.

The Elf on the shelf they had was kept in storage until the first of December, and then it was let free to do as it pleases...For you see, Merasmus had cursed it and now it has a conscience until Christmas day. Honestly no one knows how it gets out every year. ( It was Pyro's doing.) But Medic's the one to always lock it back up. Eventually, they just made Sniper throw it in a river and calld it a day. Hasn't come back since, so they assume the issue has been dealt with.

Spy tries and stays locked up in his room for the duration of the holidays, but the rest of the team always breaks down the door to get him out. Spy hates having to pay for new doors.

Demoman, Sniper, and Engineer always try and play a few Christmas jingles every year. If they already did all the good songs last year, Demo will just get drunk, make up new songs on the spot, write them down, and use them next year. The problem is they don't write down any of the notes, only lyrics, some words are smudged due to booze, and it's barely legible. But they try and come up with something, and no matter how bad the results are from the last year they enjoy themselves.

Mistletoe, no matter where it is, will always be burned down by Pyro. Someone could be holding it and Pyro would just take out a match, light it and just set it ablaze.

Christmas movies are played constantly, as Pyro sits as close to the TV as possible, and Scout just tries to get even a slight glimpse of what's playing. Some of the things that play are 'Somewhere in Dreamland', 'The night before Christmas', and 'Christmas comes but Once a Year'. Before Scout could rebel and push him out of the way, Heavy not so subtly reminds him of Pyro's abilities. Besides, it keeps him from burning down the tree to watch a shiny object get even shinier.

Scout watches these with him not only to make sure Pyro doesn't get bored, but he also finds animation pretty cool. It makes him see 'how much cooler his art style is'....But no, he isn't crying, you're stupid.

Spy is the one who does all the Christmas shopping. They all just hand him a list and he supplies. Nobody knows where he gets any of it. But each and every request (within reason) is met. Meaning that soldier never gets anything off of his list. Instead, they just get him an American flag and other such patriotic frivolous items.

Heavy's tolerance for the others antics surprisingly increases, as it reminds him of how his younger siblings were around this time of year. Spy...It cannot be said the same for, the Christmas spirit has not affected him, and he grows more pissed each minute. He just sort of tries to manage through the year, but all he thinks about are less christmas-y and more gorey.

[imagines-by-cleo]

Cat got your tongue?

Revolver Ocelot X Fem!Reader NSFW

CW: SMUT, alcohol, teasing, hair pulling, blowjobs, edging, begging, overstimulation, dumbification, unprotected sex, tooth rotting fluff

Back at it again with more mgs fics! This one actually turned out better than I expected and I think it might be one of my favorite reader inserts I've written so far. I'm not expecting this to get a lot of attention but if you do happen to like it I am willing to write more and I'm always taking requests!

"So, why did you choose Ocelot for your codename? Cause I don't think they're native to Russia." You asked, speech slurring slightly as you swirled the half drunk glass of vodka that he insisted was the best.

The night was getting away from you as you entered one meaningless conversation after another, the alcohol and small talk served as mere distractions from the reason you were meeting in the first place.

"No you're right, they're native to Texas, I believe." Answered the man being questioned, before finishing his own glass.

"Ah! So that must have something to do with the whole cowboy aesthetic." You exclaimed, extremely proud of your detective work.

"Are you trying to figure me out?" He teased while leaning back against the couch you both were sitting on without losing the amused look in his eye.

"I could ask you the same question." You replied, doing your best to best to stay collected as the alcohol took effect. "I know why you brought me here."

"You know a lot of things. Things that can be very useful to the Diamond Dogs." He noted before taking the bottle from the nearby coffee table and refilling your drink.

Your surroundings couldn't have made it more obvious, dim lights, comfortable furniture, booze that was most definitely laced with truth serum. This was a sugar coated interrogation.

"Is that your plan? To talk me into working with your gang of mercenaries?" You laughed though that did nothing to deter his attempt to coerce you.

"We prefer the term 'private military organization', and we're hoping that with your connections you can help build us into more than a just bunch of thugs with a little firepower." He continued, sliding closer to emphasize his last point. "Put the diamond in diamond dogs, if you will."

The playful tone of his voice made your heart drop, here you were discussing politics and secrets that could very well lead to a third world war, but it was all just a game to him. Though the idea of running off to join a rogue military group wasn't appealing at first, his attitude was showing you the more romantic element of it and if it's all a game you might as well play along. Besides, you didn't get this dolled up for just a job interview.

"I hope you don't think you can just win me over with a few drinks." You cooed, taking another sip from your glass.

"Don't you worry, we'll be sure to make this decision worthwhile." He answered while taking the drink right from your hand and setting it aside.

Determined to maintain the upper hand, you kept your eyes locked with his, even as the unmistakable feeling of a gloved hand traveled up your leg.

"What about my reputation?" You asked, batting your half lidded eyes. "No one will trust me with intel if word gets out that I'm working with mercs."

Backing away as he moved closer you gently fell on your back with his body caging yours as he whispered. "It'll be our little secret."

With his face mere inches away from yours the standoff began, his breath hot and sweet mixing with yours, your mouth parted gently and begging for attention. You thought had won the second his lips met yours but were cruelly tricked when he quickly pulled away, his smirk spreading wider when you longingly raised your head to chase the contact. Deciding to up the ante you grabbed the bright red scarf around his neck, other hand tangling in locks of silver and gold as you passionately forced your mouths together, once he groaned into the kiss you took that as your queue to push him away.

His face when you parted was nothing short of a treasure, his cheeks red as the lipstick that had transferred from your face to his, hair tossed and eyes unfocused while he tried to make sense of the situation. You might have been the first person in a decade to see him so perplexed and you were loving every bit of it until he shot you a daring look before dipping down to taste your neck.

The tangy taste of leather touching your parted lips prompted you to bite down, helping Ocelot pull off his glove. Now freed, his hand lifted your dress and traveled up your bare leg, stopping to stroke at the sensitive skin at the top of your thigh. With the help of previously consumed alcohol you felt weightless, perfectly pliable in his grasp, aching for the next caress. Fingertips ghosted over the fabric of your panties while his teeth grazed your jugular.

"Fuck..." The glove fell from your mouth as you sighed.

His lips curved into a smile as his teeth sunk into your neck, slow and deliberate touches burned every nerve and talented mouth stole the breath right out of your lungs. A single finger teased your clit as it hooked under your panties before sliding them down, excited to receive the attention you lifted your dress and raised your leg to assist their removal, only to be left spread out and wanting.

Rolling your hips forward into the expected touch you found nothing, above you Ocelot sat back against the couch twirling your lingerie around his trigger finger. Biting back the urge to protest, your frustration couldn't have been more obvious.

While tilting his head, he had the nerve to ask. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

Pouting like a petulant child you sat up and dropped to the ground by his feet. With a forceful push you parted his knees and slid between, making quick work of unbuttoning his pants, ignoring the belted holster around his hips.

"If it's my tongue you're after..." You replied, words punctuated with the swish of a zipper.

His cock barely needed your assistance in being pulled out, springing erect on it's own at the earliest opportunity. Leaning back with his arms spread he tried to play it cool, but the way his leg jerked as you traced a single digit along his throbbing shaft told a different story. Wrapping your lips gently around the tip you felt his muscles tense as he braced for the rest of your mouth, it shouldn't have come as a surprise at this point when you left him with nothing but a teasing peck.

Hearing him snort you looked up eager to witness his reaction, with a roll of his eyes he turned his head to the side, doing his best to look unamused. Using only the tip of your tongue you licked up and down his stiff length, grazing every vein along the way, occasionally stopping to gently suck the head for a quick moment before continuing to torment him. After letting your mouth water over the top, cool beads of saliva ran down his shaft, making him shut his baby blue eyes tight at sensation.

Ocelot was about to break, you could feel it, though he was putting up quite the fight. You weren't sure how long you had been giving him tiny kitten licks and rubbing little circles over his balls with your thumb, but his ragged breathing signaled his impending surrender. The heat growing between your own legs was getting harder to ignore, not to mention your knees were getting sore from kneeling on the hard floor. While planting firm slow kisses along his cock you ran your hands up and down his clothed thighs, trying to coax some kind of response from him.

"пожалуйста...пожалуйста..." He panted over and over.

The words made you stop, you never expected him to outright beg, much less in his native language. Warmth and the rush of newfound intimacy filled your heart where you expected a sense of triumph. The mask was off, the game was over, all that was left were two bodies that couldn't last another second without the other.

Rising as fast as your tired legs would allow, you straddled his lap, lifting your skirt as you positioned your body. The way his already slick cock dragged across your dripping slit made you hiss, his hands urging you to drop as they grasped your hips, nails digging into your skin as his grip tightened. With your forehead pressed to his, looking into his eyes, pupils dilated with lust, you shared a sigh as you finally sank down. it was all too easy to start moving given how wet you had become, rhythm was hard to find as you rose and fell, relying on his hands lifting and pulling your hips in time.

Throwing his head back against the couch, the slow pace making him revel in every inch of his length disappearing deep inside of you. Yanking off his red scarf to expose his neck you tossed it aside and tore his shirt open, running your fingers over any bit of skin you weren't sucking or biting at. One of his hands slid up your back, unzipping your dress and letting your breasts bounce free, while the other hand stayed methodically guiding your movements.

Even with just one hand, his grip wouldn't allow you to go any faster. The burn was unlike anything you had felt before, like being overstimulated yet still deprived. Anticipating an increase in speed your pussy drooled endlessly as your sensitivity grew, ruining the front of his pants as wetness flowed down your thighs.

"Ugh, you make me so wet."

He brushed the hair away from your face before pulling you in for a messy kiss, your bare chest rubbing against his clothed as your bodies drew closer. Forcing your tongue past his lips with little resistance you tasted more of the vodka you had previously shared as his fingers twisted your hair tighter.

Pulling away briefly, Ocelot moaned your name. Your real name, that you never told him. Disregarding the urge to wonder how he came to know it you were overcome with the desire to hear it again. Finding a way to resist his restrictive grasp by pulsing your tight hole as he moved you up and down at the torturous place, the act taunting and provoking him to take more of you.

"Say my name again." You breathed out

An arm snaked around your back, the other lifted your knee as he twisted your position, making you lie on the couch. He whispered your name once, then again between placing a kiss on your cheek, your neck, your chin, behind your ear. To every call you responded with a new sweet sound spilling over your parted lips.

Every thrust was reaching a new depth now, any other man this pussy drunk would be having their way with you like an animal, but not him. The same exquisitely agonizing speed continued, his cock dragging across your sweet spot while your whole body begged for just the slightest rise in pace. Any confidence you displayed earlier was long gone, whimpering in a pitiful fashion as your body writhed. He wasn't even overpowering you in anyway yet you still felt so helpless beneath him.

"You want it bad, don't ya?" His voice dripped with the faux southern accent that you couldn't get enough of.

"So bad..." You whined, hips rising into his thrusts, telling him more than your words ever could.

That answer seemed to be good enough for Ocelot, an accomplished grin spreading on his face as he gave you the speed you had been craving. His momentum rough, wild, passionate. Cinching your legs around his waist, the unremoved gunbelt dug into your flesh, you found it easy to ignore now that your needs were finally being indulged.

Driving into you with such a deliberate force sparked embers in your lower stomach that gradually spread through your whole body, the flames fanned by the gloved hand slipping between your legs. Your climax approached slowly, every time you thought you reached the peak the feeling increased, tremors spreading through your limbs while your moans turned to whimpers.

"That's it, that's it." He softly cooed, guiding you through the orgasm.

Determined to feel your core continue to flutter around him while he spilled out he rubbed in slow gentle circles around your clit, prolonging the waves of pleasure that continued to rush over you. You heard him mumble a few more words that you didn't have the clarity to translate while the warmth of him finally bursting in you spread through your insides.

Hands wantonly explored each others bodies, desperate to not part from the intimacy you two had created for as long as possible. It was a rarity in your lifestyles, being held this tenderly. At this point when 'negotiations' were over you'd be pulling your clothes back on, sparking a cigarette and getting ready to leave. Not here, you were already planning your next return and had no doubt Ocelot was doing the same.

Carfully lifting off of you and lying back on the other end of the couch he spread his arms inviting you to happily crawl between. Resting your head on his chest, feeling it rise and fall while his panting slowed to soft deep breaths you heard his heart beating, prompting you to take his hand and place it on your chest so he could feel the same while you sat quietly and enjoyed each others existence.

"Gonna be a good girl and come work for diamond dogs?." He asked, voice rough and tired.

So quickly after experiencing that kind of mindless pleasure he gained the capacity to focus on business. Whether it was out of avarice or loyalty to his organization you couldn't tell, at least not in this state. Nonetheless you had nothing but admiration for that kind of dedication.

"When do I start?" You teased, nuzzling into his chest, feeling the deep soft laugh that followed.

After a long while the clock on the other side of the room caught your eye, drawing attention to not only your state of undress but how long you had been that way.

"I should probably leave soon." You stated, though you made no effort get up.

There was no rush for you to go, you had no where in particular to be and it wasn't as if you weren't currently laying on your new employer. However if you were going to work with these people you weren't about to tolerate jeers and rumors about you and the length of your little meetings with Ocelot that were definitely true but nobody else's business.

Sitting up and pulling the thin straps of your dress back over your shoulders, you were surprised to receive some assistance in zipping up the back. His fingers trailed up your back and around to the mark he had previously left on your neck, letting out a sentimental sigh while tracing over it.

"Here." He called, picking up the long since discarded scarf off the floor then tying it around your neck. "It's cold out tonight."

Taken aback by the gesture you couldn't think of anything to say, a simple thanks wouldn't be enough after receiving the accessory he was never seen without.

"What's the matter?" He asked, noticing your confusion. "Cat got your tongue?"

You laughed before kissing him one more time, as that was the only way you could think to appropriately express gratitude. Wishing you could stay in his arms a little longer you reluctantly parted, smoothing out your dress, wiping away the smeared makeup, working out the tangles in your hair and trying to look as decent as possible.

The glaring issue of not having anything underneath made itself known when you stood up and felt a cool wetness dripping from between your legs. Squeezing your sticky thighs together you looked around the floor, on the couch, anywhere you might have left your panties.

"Have you seen my..." You asked, gesturing vaguely around thr room.

"I have no idea where they could have run off to." He told you.

He was a good liar, but he wasn't fooling you. It was only fair he kept something of yours anyway. Deciding to drop the issue with a prayer that your thighs would dry off on their own you walked toward the door, soon to be escorted by Ocelot once he sorted his own clothes out. He opened the door for you, noticing the guards coming down the hall his attitude changed drastically.

"When you find the information about the troop movements in Kabul be sure to..." He trailed off as the guards passed none the wiser, grabbing you by the scarf and pressing his lips to yours a final time.

"Anyway." The blush on your face dismantled your femme fatal attitude as you stumbled through the goodbye. "I'll be in touch."

Giving you one last smile and a nod Ocelot leaned on the doorframe while he watched you disappear down the hall. Knowing eyes stared at you while you made your way outside, more accurately at the bright red scarf you wore. Holding your head high you meet their gazes with dignity, unashamed at the implications of being marked as you were. Stepping out into the night you nuzzled the fabric around your neck, inhaling the scent of musk and gunpowder that it carried, hoping that it would never fade as long as you kept it.

[lazarettta]

Misthios

Characters (Reader x Mother Miranda...?) 👀

Rating (T)

Word Count (2.8k)

Warnings (none, first half is has no dialogue, writing while high,)

Once her little warrior, always her little warrior.

I'm sorry if it's hot 🗑💀

The fire was finally the way you wanted it and you could finally fucking rest. You'd been hiking all goddamn day through the rain and snow, and you just wanted a minute to rest and to eat. The sun was starting to set and you still needed to set up your tent, but for the moment you were content to just sit on the log and get warm.

“Who'd ever think a Spartan would be in Rome looking for answers, hm?” it was ironic, how you would've been accused of being a traitor or something like that back then. Ha...back then?

Truthfully you weren't sure anymore where your life really started it's been so long, centuries really if you were being honest. Sometimes even your own secrets were too overwhelming for you to admit, and as the years continued to pass you by it was getting harder and harder for you to hold onto the same principles you once believed in. The wars you've participated in, two of them by choice...and as a favor for the third.

It shouldn't have been possible but it was for you, it was both a blessing and a curse because you were nothing special...you grew up with Spartan blood running through your veins, pushed at a young age to hunt and to protect, it was a common tradition for families then, especially for the oldest or only children. Your didn't ever recall your father, he died in battle before you were born but your mother was there, always. Even if her face was blurry after all of the time that has passed you by—you still remember her teachings and her technique. Your mother was the best hunter in Sparta, proudly.

But after...after her passing, the streets taught you how to be a mercenary at a young age...and then an assassin, not by choice but by necessity because you weren't a good person then, not really, and you still weren't now...but you still had the will do what was right, and so you did.

And maybe that is why the Gods did not let you die in the battlefield when you'd been caught off guard, for what is no longer relevant as it is now long gone, but the scar left through your heart would forever stain you inside and out by some random Greek bastard. You don't remember much of the dying part as much as you remembered how badly it hurt and how livid you were watching him stand over you with his bloody sword raised to the heavens. But just like your pain, that emotion was ebbed away as you laid there dying.

And die you did. And your body laid there for who knows how long but when you woke up, oh you sprung up ready to fight but there wasn't a fight left to be had...the war was over...but you didn't know that until you woke up the second time. Not realizing that your body was next to be burned in the ditch as the battlefield was being cleared of all the corpses from both sides. A gruesome chore performed by the prisoners taken by Sparta.

You had no idea why the Gods healed you and brought you back from the dead, you didn't deserve a second chance (at the time you didn't realize that it was a power). You were blessed by the Gods and that's all that it was, people looked at you with both awe and envy. Some gave all of their iron and dearest family possessions as a gift to the Gods in hopes that their wishes were granted. They hated you and you did not care. You were unstoppable, everyone wanted your attention and your skills—it made you arrogant and stupid for years. And when you caught a pretty nasty gash across your back from a werewolf that ambushed you and your horse, your leathers had been torn and bloody by the time you speared your way through four of those beasts. But while there was blood, there was no wound...the only evidence were the scars it left behind.

Snap!

You turned your head slightly, a few strands of your hair falling in front of your ever sharp (y/e/c) eyes. You stayed perfectly still, eyes scanning the forest surrounding you but there was nothing after several moments. Just as well...with a loud sigh, you finally got up to put up your tent for the night and probably for the next few nights too. You slipped your hunting knife back into your boot but kept it unhooked just in case.

You lived in a time where guns existed but you were always better with a blade. You may not be an active misthios now (mercenary in today's world) but old habits were hard to kick. You were too old and too wise now, even if you didn't look a day over twenty-eight.

The next morning...

You woke with a start your grip around your obsidian hunting knife so tight your knuckles your skin strained against bone. You didn't have a dream but something woke you up, and it wasn't those damn birds chirping literally above your tint. With the help of the morning sun you could even see the spot where one of them pooped. Great. You laid there for a few more minutes, finally relaxed enough to move. You checked your surroundings again, walking around your camp but that feeling of unease didn't go away but it wasn't as strong.

Today was clearer than it was the day before though you still had to deal with the snow and the cold, not that either really bothered you too much. Leaving your camp behind, marking the trees so that you had a way to find your way back through these unfamiliar woods, you set off to find breakfast. You came to an edge, a cliff's peak and you went to stand on the edge of it—to maybe see the rest of the mountain you were exploring but something caught your immediate attention.

When was the last time you ever saw a castle? Not...not those tourist marks they have all over Europe but a castle. The place was eerie but most castles always felt that way to you...but this was different? It was as if the castle was looking right back at you, mocking you. From your vantage point you could make out the edges of a lake through the thick trees, you couldn't see it very well but you could tell it wasn't small nor was it man-made.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover this as you assumed that your trip would mostly be you exploring this cold ass mountain without a proper guide but you didn't need anyone to know why you were really up here, your reasons concerned no one but yourself. That and you knew you'd end up leading your guide. You were better off alone. Or at least that's what you kept telling yourself that but those words stopped being comforting a very long time ago. Not like fate was giving you much of a fucking choice though.

Your stomach growled, reminding you of your hunt...you glanced down at the village below the castle curiously before turning away from the ledge, the heavy aura of the castle still on your back.

~~

Fat and full, that's exactly how you'd describe yourself at the moment. There were more predators in the area than there were prey it seemed but the rabbit you caught seemed plentiful enough. With winter kicking in, the most worrisome predator in the woods would be hibernating leaving nothing but the wolves and maybe a mountain lion for you to deal with if you're lucky. You hefted your smaller backpack onto your back and left your camp, deciding to check out the village to see if you could learn more about the castle.

You were both excited and curious, you'd spent a majority of your modern life exploring the wonders of the Earth and using the currency you've collected throughout your lifetimes to fund whatever myth caught your eye. In other words, you were bored but the thought of war and fighting no longer made your blood sing or your heart race. You've done so much of that already, and lost so much because of it.

“Get back! Get back! Agh—GET THE FUCK BACK!”

Your legs stopped moving immediately and your gloved hand was already wrapped around the hilt of your hunting knife, ears trained. You heard growling and barking not too far from where you stood, maybe two or three hundred feet to your right just through those bushes and that fallen tree. It sounded as if someone was having a bit of trouble with a pack of wolves. Which struck you as odd, you were still pretty high up on the mountains and you hadn't seen anyone else up here in a week, so it couldn't have been a local...could it?

The growling grew more intense and there were sounds of a scuffle and grunts but the man still sounded alive.

And it wasn't your problem. Your days of coming to the rescue were over. You allowed your hand to fall from your knife. You got maybe seven steps away before the man spotted you, he caught a glimpse of your fur lined hood and started screaming for you to help him just as one of the wolves snapped the branch he was holding in half, forcing his back against a tree. His time was counting down now.

He was yelling so loud, you were sure even the villagers could hear him now. There was no way you could walk away now.

“Fucking hell.” with a heavy sigh, you dropped your backpack and stalked in the direction of the soon to be crime scene. You didn't feel the need to mask your presence, you wanted the wolves to know that you were there and that ultimately saved that man's life. The wolves were honed in on you the moment you stepped through the bush but three shots echoed through the small clearing before any of them could pounce in your direction. The echoes faded away quickly, and you sighed again watching the white snow stain red beneath the furry corpses.

The only other sound heard was the man's heavy breathing as he leaned against a tree. You looked down at your gun before putting it back in it's holster on your lower back, you may prefer blades but it was always better to have something and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

“Thank...thank you,”

You looked at the man with furrowed brows...just by looking at him, you knew that he wasn't a native but the moment he opened his mouth only confirmed it. He was American...you spotted all of his gear nearby, torn to shreds and you scoffed.

“I don't think camping is for you.”

“I don't think so either,” He tried for a smile but it was only a grimace, the blonde man pushed himself from the tree and approached you, carefully stepping around the wolves bodies, “I'm uh a bit lost, I guess.”

“And I'm leaving.”

“Wait!” he rushed around you, stopping you and you could've gone through the man if you wanted to...you were taller than him by an inch or two, and you definitely had more mass than he probably knew what to do with, “Listen, I'm obviously not from here, but I'm trying to find my daughter okay, she's—”

“I'm not from around here,” you held your hand to make him stop while simultaneously telling yourself that you're not about to get involved in someone else's mess and derail your own mission, “I'm sorry about your kid, but I can't help you.”

He frowned at you obviously not happy with your answer but he was quickly reaching into his pocket and any normal person, especially someone who is armed, would've taken a step back but you weren't some ordinary person. You simply raised an eyebrow, because you knew that he wasn't going to attack you even though he was probably fully capable of doing so. You assumed that he was about to dig out a baby picture or something but it was just a sheet of paper with writing on it. You took it before he could shove the damn thing in your face and you looked down at it carefully, keeping your face neutral.

“I can't read whatever language that is.”

You glared up at him from beneath your lashes, “And you think that I can?”

“Can you?” he shot back, and you rolled your eyes...your attention back to the paper before shoving it back in his hands, “Well?”

You nearly scowled at his impatience, “It's a mix of Romanian, Serbian and Tatar. Whoever sent that clearly doesn't want anyone else to know what's on it.”

“So you can read it then?”

“Bits and pieces,” You said with a shrug, “I'm not expert but someone named Beneviento is demanding a shorter route for wine delivery from that giant castle.”

He stared at you then down to the paper, which was full from top to bottom, then back to you, “What...that's all? Are you sure?? No, that can't be all...there has to be something about my daughter here! Here, please, just try again slower—”

“That's all I could read.” you shouldered past him, throwing your hood back up and ignoring his calls after you. Your backpack was exactly where you dropped it, you shook off the snow and threw it back on your back not caring about the cool wetness on your back now—you just wanted to get away from this area as quickly as possible. You should've used your knife as those gunshots gave away your position.

“Amateur hour everyone,” you grumbled under your breath...you veered off the path slightly, just in case he tried to follow you (wouldn't be the first time someone tried to force you to help them).

You'd maybe walked for a mile or two down the mountain before you noticed the hairs on the back of your neck standing, you chanced a casual glance over your shoulder but there was no one there, no man nor animal. Licking your dry lips you turned back around but as you were doing so, you caught something in your peripheral. A dark figure, twenty feet away and that's when you noticed how fucking quiet everything was around you...you forced yourself to keep walking even as a feeling of dread began crawling up your back, like two sharp fingers walking along the ridges of your spine.

Pushing the hood from your head, you whirled around with your knife drawn at your side gripping it with the intentions to kill but there was nothing there except two large obsidian feathers fluttering gently down onto the snow at your boots. Feathers?

Cool breath touched the base of your neck when you heard soft chuckling directly behind you. You turned around sharply, easily flipping your knife around but the mass of darkness in front of you disoriented you for a split second and that was all this creature needed. Before you could plunge your knife into it's feathery belly, a pale hand shot out and caught your wrist in a bruising grip as another hand curled itself around your throat, sharp nails oh so slightly pricking your skin.

You were about to kick away when the creature leaned forward, and it's face came from beneath the hood...only it wasn't an it, it was a she, though her entire face was hidden by the gold headgear you could see her lips and...and her eyes.

A pair of eyes you'd never forget in any of your lifetimes. It felt like a millennia ago when those eyes alone had you on your knees covered in fresh warm blood and exhausted from tearing through small armies.

Despite yourself, you were trembling in her ironclad grip, your hand that wasn't still trapped fruitlessly came up to wrap around her wrist as if that was going to help you. You both knew that it wouldn't. She brought you closer until your feet were no longer on the ground and you could feel the tip of your blade pressing against something...no, her...and your nose was nearly touching her helmet.

“ο μικρός μου πολεμιστής...” (my little warrior...) her cool breath washed over your face, her eyes still boring down into yours so intensely you swore you felt the heat, even as her hand tightened around your throat making you choke, but you were fighting against her... “επιτέλους ήρθες σπίτι μου...” her chuckle fell on deaf ears. (you've finally come home to me...)

~~

You were supposed to run into Alcina first 😭, but Miranda works too...(save the best for last obvi) I don't know I am playing Odyssey while waiting for this game to drop and I went The Old Guard route too so then I just ended up writing some shit, and I wanted to try something that's not so maiden-esque lol so I hope it's enjoyable at least...I honestly might make this a WIP...