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books-of-the-great-leviathan · 2 years ago

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Chapter 18- Luca

***

By daybreak Lapide was far gone, faded to a smear on the horizon, then to nothing at all. They'd long since passed Valeris's outlying islands, ancient watch-towers jutting from sea stacks, summits broken against the sky, and had entered the Inner Sea itself. Now the open ocean spread on all sides, waves cresting to glass in the Wasp's running lamps. The moons fell- first one, then the next, each in turn swallowed by the horizon.

Now the last moon lingered, a ghostly trace against a sky still spattered with faint stars. The winds were low, sails gusting and snapping above, the Wasp the only relief from the vast wave-carved expanse of blue. Nagi glided aloft, her feathers the same shade as the water, snaps of her sharp beak scattering the cloud gulls when they dived too close.

"Where are we going?" Cereza asked as Luca tied off the wheel and retracted the winglines, folding the side sails once more against the hull. She'd spent the night huddled under both their cloaks, her back pressed to the mast, the Belmont cup's box clutched to her chest and the harpoon over her knees. Now she unfolded, slinging off Luca's cloak as he strode past her. "Luca. Answer me."

"We need supplies," Luca muttered. He glanced at the bullet holes in the sails. Those would only grow bigger. "And repairs."

He closed his eyes, brow furrowed, tracing a course in his head. "We'll arc north to Vodyenai, maybe Buyan if there's not a storm. There won't have been time for word to travel to them from Valeris, not yet. We'll be safe there for a while. We can hire a crew, a bigger ship..."

"And then?"

Luca glanced at the witchborn. She stood at the bow, her silhouette sharp against the dawn sky. A slash of gray and pale rose showed at the horizon, drowning the stars and sending fragments of light skittering across the sea.

Cereza followed his gaze. Her expression hardened, eyes cold.

"Then we have her track us our whale," Luca said. "Make her, if we must."

"And if she won't, even then?"

"Then we'll do it ourselves, won't we?"

He'd tried to sound light, but it wasn't convincing, even to him. He knelt at the base of the mast, fit his fingers through a metal ring bolted to the deck, and pulled the hatch open with a crack. Inside were naval rations in waterproof paper, leather map tubes capped in brass, an astrolabe in its case, a sheathed sword. Canteens of water- not many, not nearly enough for long. A bottle of bilge rum, which was a profound relief; he'd forgotten that was there. At the bottom was a small chest containing pistol and shot.

Luca brushed his fingers over the gun box, glanced again at the witchborn, and left it where it was.

"Here," he said. Cereza took the touga jerky he passed her, but didn't eat. "Are you hungry?"

"I'm cold."

"Sit here, out of the wind."

She shook her head, setting the jerky down. "I don't think that'll help."

Luca let out his breath, then stood, taking up the harpoon. He hefted it, getting a feel for its length, its balance. He'd have to splice on a new lead for it; only a frayed twist of ancient rope remained of the one some long-dead whaler had used. The dawnlight struck its rusted barbs and they glimmered, hungry and harsh. It had been made for these lonely stretches of sea, made for salt wind and sweat, made for dawns like this, traveling toward the edge of the known world.

"Cereza," Luca said. "Hold this, would you?"

He approached the witchborn, Cereza behind him holding the harpoon in both hands like a spear. A gust of wind scudded across the sea; sails creaked and groaned, pulled taut as drumheads. The witchborn turned as Luca stopped behind her. She stared at him, unblinking.

"Cee," Luca said. "Point the harpoon at her, if you will."

She lowered the point, aiming for the witchborn's belly. The tip was steady; one thrust forward, and the witchborn would be food for the cloud gulls wheeling and arguing overhead.

"I'm going to chain you down," Luca told her. "Make one move, and she'll pin you to the gunwale. I suspect you don't want that, and neither do I. You're no good to us if you're dead."

She narrowed her eyes.

Luca stepped past Cereza, reaching under his shirt collar and hooking free the key to the shackles. Chain rasped against chain. The witchborn's eyes followed him, so dark he could not differentiate pupil from iris. This close he felt the faint heat of her skin, and when she turned her head to look at him, he saw the pale flash of a scar across her throat.

Luca's eyes flicked to it, then back to her face.

"Someone tried to slit your throat, didn't they, witchborn." He took one of her chains. "Is that why you can't speak?"

Disgust seeped into her expression. She didn't respond. Luca pulled the chain tight and looped it around the Wasp's railing.

"What's your name, anyway?" he asked. "I can't keep calling you 'witchborn.'"

She lifted her hands, fetters now bound to the railing by chains. I don't particularly care what you call me.

"Well, I do."

And I don't particularly care about what you want.

Luca fastened her chains with a twist of the key. She watched him tuck it into his shirt once more, her hands again by her sides. Perhaps it was the dawn light, but she looked more human here. Not so much a monster anymore.

No, he told himself. No mercy. Luca forced himself to remember the knife, Cereza's scream, the witchborn's bared teeth as she'd smashed her heel into his face. The Falcii she'd torn apart, wisps of shadow curling from their wounds. The curse twisting through Cereza's heart, crushing the life from her beat by beat.

How close they'd all been to peace.

"Only someone with real vengeance in her heart would do what you did," Luca said. He still held her chains, links cold against his skin. "Only someone who's been waiting years to strike against Lapide would be as brutal as you were."

Estara promised me wealth.

"And you're in this for gold, are you? King Daval's favor? A pat on the head from the Bloodmonger himself?" He jerked her closer, chains twanging taut. "Forgive me if I don't believe you."

Her hands sliced through the air. Estara promised me your head. All of your heads. The waves red with Lapidaean blood.

"And now here you are, with us. Keep jumping from side to side and you might find yourself with twice as many enemies as you bargained for."

A harsh grin cut across her face. Estara, Lapide. You're both the same. It doesn't matter who I kill for. Both of you will end the same way, with massacres, and burning seas, and cut throats-

"Luca," Cereza warned.

"Struck a nerve, have I?" Luca spat.

"Luca, stop it."

He rounded on her. She stood, hands in fists, face hard. "How can you defend her, Cee?" Luca cried. "You-"

Force slammed into his guts, so hard white splintered through his vision. The witchborn seized the front of his waistcoat and heaved him round, swinging him bodily into the air. Even with her abilities dormant, she was unnaturally strong. She slammed him hard onto the gunwale. Stars burst in Luca's vision as he hung, the small of his back pressed to the railing, his head and arms dangling over the side.

He grabbed at the railing. Gulls spun overhead; below rushed waves, deep green, spray spackling his face with cold. His stomach swooped as he slipped toward the water, but the witchborn's hand was twisted in his shirt, keeping him from going over.

She yanked him upward. His spine gave a throb of protest. She seized a hank of his hair and wrenched his face toward hers. Her teeth were bared, her pupils ringed in white. It was the same look as when he'd caught her on the Palace rooftops, when she'd smashed her heel into his face.

"Go on," Luca managed. Overhead, Nagi swooped and circled, her fluting calls agitated as she flickered from color to color. "Kill me. You'll never make it back to shore-"

Wood cracked against flesh. The witchborn let out a huff of pain as Cereza brought the harpoon's blunt end down on the back of her head. She released Luca; he scrambled onto the deck. Cereza backed off with him, the witchborn straining at her chains, raking deep, hungry breaths. She signed, her movements jagged, hands shaking. Tears shone in her eyes.

You will never understand, she said. Not until you see her die before you. Not until you watch your world burn.

"What?" Luca panted.

Wind blew, sails straining at their lines: a stronger gust than before. Maybe the winds were turning. Maybe the Triune wasn't done with them, yet.

Luca shifted forward, wincing as the movement jogged at the ache in his stomach. By the Three, she kicked hard.

I came here to see you die, Luca Valere, the witchborn signed. And I will see it. I swear it to you. I will see you bleed.

Another gust spiraled past. The Wasp creaked and shuddered around them, the surface of the sea turning choppy. Waves slapped at the hull. Cereza stood, tense, staring out toward the horizon. Luca couldn't tear his eyes from the witchborn.

"I don't understand," he pressed. "Why Lapide? Why-"

"Luca," Cereza said.

Something in her voice made him turn. She stared out, eyes wide, harpoon lowered. Another gust of wind ruffled Luca's hair back from his face as he followed her gaze. The sky was stained with day, the sun a white crescent. At the horizon came a flicker of light. For an instant, Luca's heart blazed-

-An aurora, the Leviathan-

-But it was no prismatic glimmer, no many-colored falls of light, but a silvery haze, flashing and shifting under the weak sun.

The wind came again, scented not of salt and clean water but of storms, metallic and heavy as blood in the back of the throat. Luca brushed past Cereza and leaned over the railing to get a better look.

"Luca," Cereza whispered. "What is that?"

He heard it, then. A whispering, a hishing, like a crowd of thousands, or like some distant waterfall. It grew louder as the flashing silvery light grew closer, closer. It spanned the horizon for leagues in either direction. The whispering sound strengthened- a whisper, yes, but a roar, too. Not a waterfall any longer. It put Luca in mind of a drawn sword, metal against metal, but multiplied by a hundred, a thousand.

"Cee, toss me the spyglass," he called.

Cereza did, and he snapped it open, setting it to his eye. Through the glass the light became a cloud, an advancing wall of scintillating silver taller than the Wasp. Flickers of blue lightning crackled, illuminating the cloud from the inside in arcs and bursts.

No.

Oh, no.

Cold swept through him as terror seized his nerves.

Triune save us.

He shoved back from the railing. Nagi arced upward, higher into the sky. Luca scrambled to the wheel, heart in his throat. His hands shook on the winglines; they wouldn't loose. Why wouldn't they loose?

"What is it?" Cereza demanded, taking his arm. "What's wrong?"

Luca met her wide eyes.

"Razor storm," he said.

A wet impact hit the deck. Luca looked down to see a fish wriggling on the planks. It was no more than a foot long, its body glimmering silver-blue. Gills gaped, flashing vivid red interiors. Twin pairs of long, triangular fins fluttered from its sides, spread like wings. They glinted the bright silver of a blade, glistening wet, their posterior edges fringed with metallic spines. Where it flopped, it left deep gouges and scars in the wood, like someone had taken a knife to the deck.

Razorfish.

"Get it off!" Luca cried. "Into the water! Fast!"

Cereza seized the harpoon and flipped the fish over the gunwale as a second struck the deck, then a third; the next went through the sails, fins slicing through the thick canvas like it was paper, leaving behind a gaping, ragged hole. Luca knew razorfish, had seen them dead and preserved in salt, or their fins mounted as trophies. He'd seen sailors with scars latticing their bodies, a second skin of them matching the pale scars covering the metal hulls of their fishing trawlers, evidence of a school of razorfish hitting them somewhere in the depths of the Inner Sea. He'd never heard of a storm like this, edge to edge, no end to the wall of fins like blades.

Pain slashed Luca's cheek. He tasted blood. The wind was a blast now, strong as a storm, the sound of the approaching razor storm loud as a warship's engine, a thicket of metal scraping metal, the high keening scream of countless razorfish's wings fluting through the air.

Luca wrenched the wheel hard port, muscles straining. The Wasp turned too slow; air whistled through the holes in its sails, dozens now, fish coming thicker. These were just the fringes. The main mass of razorfish was no more than a few hundred yards away. They'd never outrun the storm.

The upended dinghy on the Wasp's stern was already a ruin of splintered wood. The sky began to darken, the sheer numbers of razorfish drowning out the sun. Luca hazarded a look toward the razor storm; lightning crackled and burst, illuminating the water, the storm, the thousands upon thousands of deadly-finned razorfish. When the main mass of them hit, it would do more than cut. It would tear the Wasp's sails apart.

It would tear them apart.

Another streak of pain opened his side, and he fell, hard, against the wheel. White spun in his vision. He saw Cereza crouched behind the mast. Blood glistened on her hands as she tried to bat the razorfish away with the harpoon. Dying fish flopped around her on the deck, but more got through than she hit.

"No-" Luca cried. "Cee-"

Chain rattled, cutting through the storm's howl. He whipped his head up. The witchborn signed furiously, far faster than he'd seen her sign before.

Let me go.

"No!"

All of us will die if you do not let me go.

Wind tore past him; fish thudded against the deck, hammering thick as rain. Her eyes met his, through the storm, through the flashing, sparking, screaming wall of razorfish.

He heard Nagi's cries, riding higher than the storm.

He heard Cereza's voice as she shouted something lost to the wind.

Damn you, witchborn.

Luca pushed away from the wheel and flung himself across the deck, toward her. She caught him by the arm; her grip was solid. Luca scrabbled in his shirt for the key. She yanked it from his hands, nearly throttling him by its chain, and jabbed it into her fetters. They sprang open, and she lunged, dragging him along beside her, the two of them stumbling together through the thickening swarm.

They reached Cereza as the mainsail split, rent down the middle, halves fluttering like banners from useless lines. Luca threw himself down, over Cereza; he looked up at the witchborn, who stood, half-crouched, staring toward the storm.

"What are you doing?" Luca yelled. "Get down! You'll be ripped apart!"

She raised her hands. Darkness curled around her fingers, drawn from the air, from the flashing shadows of the razorfish around them. It twined around Luca, veining through his skin; it felt cold as night, cold as the black emptiness between the stars.

"How by the Triune are you doing that?" he breathed.

The witchborn spared him a glance. You'd best be glad it's not day yet, Valere.

Shadow streamed and pooled, solidifying into a spectral barrier between them and the storm. Luca braced; Cereza's eyes shone; he felt her racing pulse as her hand tightened around his. The cloud of razorfish grew closer, closer, the wind like a god's hand trying to fling them from the deck.

Luca couldn't look away, couldn't close his eyes. The witchborn curled to her knees, teeth grit, hands outthrust against the shadow barrier, an instant before the storm hit.

The world dissolved into a blur of flashing silver and lightning. The scream became a force, became bigger than Luca; he twisted away, Cereza's face buried in his chest, his hand cupping the back of her head.

He felt the witchborn shaking against him, felt the numbing cold of her shadows, knew she could kill him now with barely an effort. All she had to do was send her shadows into his heart, or retract them, leave him and Cereza to the mercy of the razor storm.

Luca was rigid, half-expecting her to, half-expecting the next thing he felt to be the agony of blades entering his flesh, but it never came.

Fish hammered against the barrier. There was no time to marvel or wonder. All he could do was close his eyes and wait and hold on, hoping beyond hope his luck had not yet run out.

***

Nagi wheeled overhead, scattering cloud gulls, a raucous flock of them turned to silhouettes by the sun.

Luca raised the canteen to his lips. A trace of water trickled onto cracked skin, then nothing. Luca shook the canteen. Empty, like the others. He let his arm fall to the deck and stared upward, where Nagi coasted on the still air, shifting colors. A bright, hard blue, like the sky, then yolk-yellow, then scarlet. The sun stared, an unrelenting eye.

A cloud, Luca thought. A breeze. Triune, I am begging you. I'll never blaspheme against you again, not if I live a hundred years.

He raised his head enough to stare over the railing. The ocean was a blue so vivid it hurt his aching eyes, the only disruption the occasional faint ripple as some trace of wind skittered over its surface.

Four days they'd been here, four days on this windless mirror sea. The Wasp drifted at the current's mercy. Even if wind came, there was no way to harness it, not anymore. The sails hung, useless, from their lines, so shredded they looked more like fine lacework than canvas. Great chunks and gouges had been taken from the Wasp, turning its once-sleek hull into a pocked wreck. Slashes showed paler wood beneath the black paint, the mast listing and chewed. Cut lines trailed behind the ship like the tentacles of some dying sea creature.

This was no fishing trawler, no armored warship sheathed in plates of metal to protect it from razor storms. It may as well have killed them. A razor fish's fin to the throat would have meant a quicker death than this, slowly succumbing to the gradual lull of dehydration.

"Luca," Cereza murmured.

He turned his head. Cereza leaned against the railing, her head to the gunwale. Her eyes were closed.

"What?" Luca said.

"Any more in yours?"

"No, Cee. I'm sorry."

"It's all right."

"No. I'm sorry for...this. For everything."

"Stop, Luca..."

"I mean it."

"This was my choice, too," Cereza said. She pressed her hand to her heart, brow creasing. "I want to see it. I want to see it as much as you do."

Her voice was pained, so full of hope. Luca pulled himself to her side. She still held the Belmont cup's box, a deep cut gouged from its lid. The cup inside was unhurt. The sunlight made it glitter like a prism, too bright to look at. Luca snagged his canteen and tipped the last spare drops of water into it, then set it to Cereza's lips. He saw the movement of her throat as she swallowed.

"Better," she said.

Luca leaned next to her, one shoulder against the railing, the cup still held in his palms. He turned it to and fro, watching the ripple of color through its depths. Closing his eyes, he tried to sense some pull from it, some pulse or echo of power.

Nothing but smooth, sun-warmed crystal. He was no witchborn, after all.

"I have a game," he said. He tipped his head toward Cereza. "To pass the time."

She didn't bother opening her eyes. "What sort of game?"

"A delightful one."

Her lips twitched into a faint smile. "Go on, then."

"When we reach land- a lush one, of course, with extremely accommodating people, exceptionally delectable cuisine, and suspiciously beautiful women- what's the first thing you're going to eat?"

"Mmm. Moon cakes."

"Moon cakes? Out of everything there is to eat in this world you'd choose moon cakes?"

One eye opened. "I thought this was supposed to be a delightful game, not a judgmental one."

"Fine, fine."

Nagi called overhead, swooping past once more, dipping her wings into a dive. She snatched something from the water's surface and spiraled into the sky once more, her feathers blooming pale pink as she alit on the mast to eat her catch. Rotting razorfish still covered the Wasp's deck, but she wasn't stupid enough to try feeding on those; their flesh contained barbs as sharp as the ones on their wings, and to eat them was like swallowing a mouthful of broken glass.

"And to think," Luca murmured. The sun beat down on him, sweat trickling into his hairline. "If none of this had happened, you'd be eating moon cakes off silver plates alongside Prince Alois Belmont right now."

"I thought we were so close, Luca."

"I know, Cee." He let out his breath. "I know."

"I dreamed again."

He looked at her. Her gray eyes were focused on some point in the sky, past the sun and wheeling gulls. "The Leviathan. I saw it."

"What did you see?"

"The same as before. Flying. It was bleeding. I could see it, beneath me, but it was in the air, too, in the sky, the stars all falling, all burning. Dying."

Her voice became a sing-song whisper. "It was like the end of the world. Maybe the beginning. I don't know."

"We will find it."

She said nothing, just closed her eyes, lashes golden in the sun.

Luca raised his head. The witchborn was where she'd been the last time he'd looked for her, perched on the Wasp's prow, one leg on either side of its bowsprit. They had barely spoken in the past four days. Luca climbed to his feet and approached, wincing as his cuts pulled. The razorfish had left him a mess of drying blood and shallow gashes. At this rate he'd have nearly as many scars as the witchborn.

She glanced at him as he stopped by her side, leaning once more against the railing. A breeze ruffled his hair, momentary respite from the heat.

"Anything?" he asked, after a pause.

She shook her head. They took turns looking out, scanning the horizon for a sail or the first sign of land. The stars told him they were leagues off course, their arc taking them not north, up trusted routes to the northern archipelago of Buyan, but south, deep into the Gulf of Storms, toward the edge of the Inner Sea. These were the doldrums, the windless desert deadlands of sailor's nightmares. At least a storm would push them toward something, even if that something was shipwreck.

He cut his eyes toward the witchborn. He thought she hadn't noticed, but she raised her hands and signed what do you want, Valere?

"To thank you. You saved our lives."

I saved my own life as much as yours.

"Yes, well. You didn't have to, and yet you did. I can't help but appreciate it." He sighed. "I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did."

Not very princely.

Luca laughed. "No, it wasn't. Though, the way things have been going, I'm afraid nothing about me is."

She smiled, a hard upturn of the corners of her mouth. Her profile was clean, the planes of her face bathed in sunlight. Where was she from? She didn't look like anyone Luca had seen before, no ambassador or tradesman from off-island. She'd spoken of feeling the pulse of the Leviathan's power through the whaleglass knife, had spoken of balance, sky and sea and star.

My name, she signed, and spelled out an unfamiliar word. Luca mouthed along with the letters she formed, one by one.

"Sirin?" Luca said when she got to the end.

She nodded.

"Sirin," Luca said again, savoring the unfamiliar taste of the sounds. "That's a name worth waiting for."

Don't attempt charm, Valere.

"I don't attempt charm. I am charm."

You are Lapidaean, she signed. You and I will never be friends.

Luca's grin faded. He nodded and faced the horizon again, forearms braced against the railing. Sirin's face was hard, all of her momentary glint of humor gone.

There is a tale of a place like this, Sirin signed after a pause. Where I come from the winds never cease. They might relent for an hour, but they always returned, and we welcomed them like friends when we once more heard their howl.

Her hands danced and fluttered as she spoke, signing her words in midair to weave the story. We believed souls were carried on the winds, released at the moment of death to ride in the skies forever. But a place without wind is an unnatural thing. Souls fall here. Souls drown. These seas are full of them, lost to the deeps, like children wandered far from home.

Luca thought of the Triune, their three faces carved from Valeris's pale stone: Sola, Ina, and Yuna, the past, the now, and the unknown. "Our gods fly, too."

How similar we must be. And you trust those gods? You believe in them, love them?

Luca didn't answer. The Triune were his mother's gods, his father's, Isabella's, their temples great and their priestesses many. He believed in them because he'd grown up with their statues, their shrines, their word. He believed in them, but he knew it was superstition, like sailor's charms or fishermen's rituals. It was rote, but not real.

His belief in the Leviathan was not superstition. It was a call, it was a storm, it was bigger than him, it was madness. It filled him up and ached. It was as much a part of him as his pulse, like the Great Leviathan was his heart, ranging some ocean far beyond his small shard of understanding.

"The Trifold Tongue says our dead are sent to a place without fear," Luca said after a moment. "Cut from this life by Yuna's sword."

Cut. How violent. As I might expect.

"Bold to preach to me of violence. You've killed more than I have."

She said nothing. Luca sensed a renewed tension from her, a tightening of her hands.

"Of course," he added, with a theatrical shrug, "some in Lapide also believe the oceans have an edge, and all the water goes pouring off into a starry abyss, swimming with monsters vaster than the sky. I don't suppose that's true."

Your folk fancy strange things.

"And your folk fancied nothing, I'm guessing?"

Nothing so ridiculous as that.

Luca felt the corner of his mouth curl up in a smile. Strange, this, to be trading stories with a monster. If she was, indeed, a monster.

"Where is it, then, you come from?" he asked.

Sirin cut him a look. A place long dead, she signed. A people long drowned.

She said no more. Luca stared across the sea, watching the ripple of the waves, the shimmer of sunlight on water.

"All things considered," he said, "this isn't such a bad place to die."

A dark spot swam in his vision. He blinked, rubbed his eyes. It persisted: a blot on the horizon. Was the heat addling his brain? Luca blinked again, straightening, as Sirin unfolded from her perch, crouching on the railing's edge.

Not a sunspot, not his mind playing tricks. He scrambled for his spyglass and set it to his nose, heart hammering.

Sails.

A ship, sailing straight for them.

As he lowered the spyglass, Cereza and Sirin were at his sides, staring at him. "What flag?" Cereza asked. She leaned on the harpoon like a cane. "Lapidaean? Buyani?"

Estaran? Sirin signed.

Luca shook his head, licking his lips. They must have cracked; he tasted blood. If the Triune were listening, they must have a wicked sense of humor.

"No," he said. "Pirates."

#tales of the great leviathan #togl #fantasy fiction #original fiction #serial novel #chapter 18

4 notes · View notes

philliamwrites · 4 years ago

Text

sunkissed

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Pairing: Albedo / Aether

Tags: #kissing, #morning softness, #fluff

Words: 1.6k

Summary: “Don’t,” Aether laughed, rising his shoulders to hide his skin from Albedo’s hungry mouth. “I’m stinky after yesterday’s battle.”

“No.” The tip of Albedo’s nose grazed his sensitive skin. “You smell like the sun. Always warm. As if the sun loves you. As if it wants to cling to you as long as possible.”

Notes: A birthday present for my lovely friend. This pairing just butters my biscuits, fam.

Also I'm still taking commissions for anyone interested! Just write me a dm!

Masterlist

sunkissed

»’cause you’re so lovely, you’re so lovely, i can’t help but fall for you, love when you love me, it’s so lovely loving you

When Aether awoke, he was all alone.

He opened his eyes in a sleepy daze, and as his hand reached out to his left, he found the crumbled sleeping roll empty and cold. Immediately, he startled fully awake as if struck by lightning, his mind clearing from sleep and dreams that tasted like ashes on his tongue.

“Lumine?” he said out loud—the first name he remembered ever speaking, and the last he wanted to be his dying breath. But when usually his sister would come to his aid, trained to respond to the sound of his voice from childhood, to rise from bed when Aether cried, to run to help him when he fell down, now he was all alone inside the tiny tent.

No. Not quite alone.

It’s his first day in Teyvat all over again after he’d regained consciousness and called out for her, and had found Paimon in her stead, drifting in the ocean stretching before Starsnatch Cliff. Now, her little snores filled the suffocating quiet and coated his throbbing heart in a soothing balm labelled companionship.

Aether thought that with time, missing Lumine would become easier to bear. That he’d simply grow dull and time numbed his feelings. Clearly, he was wrong, and Father Time was not that kind.

He crawled outside the tent, quietly so he wouldn’t disturb Paimon, and emerged into the early sunlight winking through the tree crowns. Their little campfire from yesterday night had lost its battle and died hours ago, and Aether shuddered when a light breeze stirred its ashes into the air.

That was when he spotted Albedo sitting at the top of a slope. He hadn’t noticed Aether waking up, his eyes fixed on the horizon where clouds had gathered in the east, and the rising sun lit them in brilliant shades of reds and corals and violets. His hand, holding a fine brush, danced across a canvas, trying to capture that ephemeral beauty with lithe fingers Aether knew were capable of much more than painting. His chest tightened when he thought of yesterday night. Their quiet voices and hushed whispers as they tried not to wake up Paimon even though all Aether had wanted to do was scream Albedo’s name when he finally came as Albedo’s rough thumb had grazed the tip of his member. Thankfully, Albedo was kind enough to swallow all of Aether’s moans and gasps, leaving his mind completely fogged and drunk on his kisses.

Aether tried not to think too much of it as he went up the slope where Albedo sat, overlooking the vast valley stretching out under them.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Aether asked. He stretched in the morning’s light, delighted by the early warmth and slight breeze on his skin. “I wanted to see the sunrise with you.”

Albedo’s eyes drew lazily from his canvas to Aether’s waist, watching how his shirt rode up and revealed more of his skin without allowing his hand to stop once as the brush mixed reds and blues. “I tried. But you just drooled.”

“That’s a lie.”

A smile crept up Albedo’s face. “True. But you looked too lovely to wake up. Like you had a good dream,” he said so seriously, Aether felt heat rise to his cheeks. His arms dropped back to his side. He couldn’t handle Albedo’s honesty first thing in the morning.

Albedo rose an eyebrow. “Am I wrong?”

Aether did have a dream. A dream about Mondstadt’s Windblume Festival where all his friends had gathered around a table in Angel’s Share, and in the centre, like the sun holding its own universe, sat Lumine, beaming at him.

“Happy birthday, brother,” she’d said, intertwining their fingers just like on the day they were born.

“Happy birthday, sister,” he’d said, touching his forehead to hers just like during their days spent inside their mother’s womb.

How much he longed to be with her again.

Aether exhaled. He hadn’t realised he’d been holding his breath until that moment. Albedo must have heard him, for he raised his head and his gaze met Aether’s, and he wondered how much of the endless black hole that his grief cut into his heart Albedo could see.

The corner of his mouth pulled up into a rueful smile. “No, you’re right,” Aether said. “I had a dream. A good dream, indeed.”

Albedo stopped painting. His eyes were the colour of the ocean after a storm, clear and bright and deep enough for Aether to drown in them. He wanted it. Aether wanted to be swallowed whole. Become tiny, pocket-sized, perfectly fitting in Albedos’ palm and be devoured. Be completely consumed until nothing was left, and all of him belonged to Albedo only. What a wonderful mess that would be.

Quickly turning his eyes away before he dropped to his knees and begged Albedo to take him right here and now in the open, Aether tried to douse his desire by gazing out at the sublime scenery. A flock of birds took flight from a nearby tree, their song echoing through the valley. Clouds drifted over their heads on their lazy journey over fields and rivers, taking unrecognisable shapes as they told stories about every place they’d seen. Aether envied them.

“You know, in the world where I’m from, it’s always night,” he said. “Sure, it’s beautiful, we have so many more stars than you guys. And moons. But it’s the same. Wherever I looked, it was always the same. But this—” He waved his hand at the sky above them. “Your sky changes every day. It’s always different, the colours, the clouds. Dawn, dusk. I didn’t know words like that existed when I first came here. It’s beautiful.”

Albedo followed Aether’s gaze, considering the landscape in front of them. But his eyes—suddenly ablaze, a roaring fire—drew back on Aether as he said, “It truly is beautiful.”

Aether didn’t feel beautiful. He’s pretty sure his bed-hair was still sticking to all sides and his clothes were rumpled. But Albedo never failed in making him feel wanted, desired. Be that in the early morning hours without having his face washed or teeth brushed, or on the battle field with blood and grime spattered all over him.

Just like now, Albedo was able to make Aether come undone with a single gaze of those piercing, ocean eyes.

“Let’s go back before Paimon wakes up and throws a fit because she thinks we’ve left her,” he said and turned around before this would turn into an unholy, filthy ceremony out in the open not even the Archons should witness.

Aether didn’t come very far. Halfway down, Albedo caught up to him and in a flash, seized Aether’s wrist. He pulled him to a nearby tree, and a second later, Aether felt rough bark against his back. Albedo closed the distance between them in one step. His hands cupped the back of Aether’s head, his mouth slanting down over his, hot and sweet as tea with honey. Aether ran his teeth lightly across Albedo’s bottom lip, and he made a guttural sound that raised the hairs along Aether’s arms. He pressed his body hard against Aether’s, lowering his head to kiss his throat, to lick and suck at the pulse point where he could feel the beating of his heart.

“Don’t,” Aether laughed, rising his shoulders to hide his skin from Albedo’s hungry mouth. “I’m stinky after yesterday’s battle.”

“No.” The tip of Albedo’s nose grazed his sensitive skin. “You smell like the sun. Always warm. As if the sun loves you. As if it wants to cling to you as long as possible.”

Aether’s knees buckled. How could simple words like that make him forget his own name. In Albedo’s hands, he turned to clay, left at Albedo’s mercy for he was the potter and Aether would become anything to please him. Albedo’s fingers traced his curves, the dips and hollows of his body as if he were describing a painting in gilt and ivory with each rush of his hands. Aether raked his hands over Albedo’s body, trying to find purchase before he completely turned into a puddle and dissolved between Albedo’s fingers. His hands caught on the belt strung across Albedo’s chest, and they both halted for a second as they waited for a heartbeat that didn’t come.

Albedo exhaled softly as he lowered his forehead to Aether’s. “If I had a heart, it would hurt for your burden.”

“It’s fine,” Aether said. He took Albedo’s hand and put it over his own heart. “Mine is enough for both of us.”

Albedo smiled. He pressed Aether’s knuckles to his lips, and murmured against his skin, “And what a magnificent heart it is.”

Aether held onto Albedo so much, just a little more and they’d become one. It felt like they were the only two people on this earth, just the two of them off to see the world and all its wonders. Aether wouldn’t mind. He wouldn’t mind if tomorrow came and all of Teyvat’s people fell into an endless slumber, and eventually completely disappear. Until recently, Aether hadn’t know it was possible to love someone this much. That if the world were to end tomorrow—if Aether were to have just one wish before it would all end in darkness, it’d be to wake up to Albedo’s sunkissed face in a quiet place they called home, built with their own hands. If that wasn’t love in its truest form, then every fairy tale Lumine used to tell him was a lie, and it was up to Aether to write his own story in which he’d make sure to burn so bright by Albedo’s side that even stars envied them whenever they come together to create a whole new universe.

__________________________________________________

please drop by my ko-fi if you enjoyed my writing!

#genshin impact #albether #genshin impact albether #albedo #aether #genshin impact albedo #genshin impact aether #genshin impact albedo x aether #albedo x aether

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cassiecasyl · 3 years ago

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sometimes you just don’t know the answer (wait for me)

Anyone remember this fic? Well, I’ve finally finished it!!!!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

or read the whole fic on ao3!!!!

chapter 4: what died didn’t stay dead

Are we all lost stars trying to light up the dark?

- Lost Stars by Keira Knightley

It’s an old tale, and that’s not how it ends.

Long, shadowy fingers wrapped around Castiel’s wrists, pulling him back, slowly and deliberately leading him to be devoured by the Empty. Dean could almost hear the universe’s malicious laugh. He’d be stripped of his love once more.

No. Ancient, familiar rage boiled his blood and he narrowed his eyes, glaring at the shadows. It was bleeding love, protective and fierce. There was no fear, because everything was already on the line — Dean had nothing left to lose. “Don’t you dare,” he growled, at nothing and everything in particular. They couldn’t lose now. Not with him standing in the light as Cas succumbed back to the dark — it wasn’t fair.

Dean did what he couldn’t back then, what shock and fear and disbelief — and perhaps, above it all, cruel, cruel, capricious Gods — prevented; he reached forward, and where he touched, he brought light with him, breaking into tiny rainbows against the universe’s shards. He disentangled Cas’s hand and grabbed them himself, holding on and never letting go.

The fabric of stars was in their hands, being overwritten as they stood there. “You’re not leaving,” Dean promised, and Cas looked up at his sun that lit up the world. Finally, Dean pulled him close, holding him in the here and now, just tightly enough to make sure that no dust escaped his vessel. “Not on my watch,” he whispered defiantly, his voice breaking, and Cas almost chuckled.

I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition.

Dean breathed in his angel’s smell — home with a whiff of honey. How the sweet substance always clinged onto the vessel was a mystery, but Dean wouldn’t want it any other way. Cas nuzzled his face into the side of his neck in retaliation and Dean relaxed for the first time in years. They were safe. They made it. Cas was solid and alive and real and here. Nothing could ever bring them apart.

Golden light drowned out the retreating darkness behind Cas, and the angel looked up in admiration, that childlike adoration in his eyes that had Dean absolutely smitten. Fuck, he thought, I’m in love. Laughter bubbled up his throat, carefree like the amber sky, the beginning of a new morning.

Maybe, in this moment, they found a new destination that would always lead them back to each other's arms, or maybe it had been there all along. Their journey was the same as yours, the same as anyone’s, yet so uniquely different — they’ve defied the universe, won a challenge set up to fail. At last, they knew the way, knew where to place their feet — where they’ve always been going. Home. Turned from promise to reality, alive between their arms. Home. The long way round.

Dean loosened their hug to look the angel into his eyes — the drowning blue a sky he was falling into, or maybe, flying. He gulped, suddenly nervous like a schoolboy standing before their crush. “There’s something I need to tell you,” he said, fighting against the instinct of wanting to escape these piercing, knowing eyes, because his words held so much weight. “I—,” he started and stopped. This was stupid. He’d said it before. He just let Cas out of hell through a deal that required true love. Why couldn’t he just say it?

“I know,” Castiel intervened, always wanting to comfort him. Bless the angel.

“No,” Dean shook his head, “I need to say it. Because you deserve to hear it.” Cas’s eyes were impossibly patient, giving him all the time in the world. He was the calm ocean against his forest fire, waiting for him like he’d done for years — Dean couldn’t let him wait any longer.

“I love you,” he said, whispering the promise into the sky so it may let it be known to the whole world; Dean Winchester loves Castiel. It was a simple fact of life, and he was found.

“I know,” Cas repeated his answer, smiling. The happiness in his eyes made it all worth it.

“Can’t believe you just Han Solo-ed me,” Dean joked, and Cas bellowed out a laugh.

“I love you,” Cas said, lost and found in the moment. His heart could’ve contently jumped out of his chest right now and Dean found himself thankful Fred Jones wasn’t around.

His soul had been broken and shattered countless times, but now, every last particle constructed a wondrous mosaic with the ragged pieces of Cas’s grace, cosmic consequences pulling them together rather than apart. One could’ve called it celestial, heavenly, divine even; but it was fundamentally human, terrene.

As sunlight found them, they found each other. They were stars in the daylight, no longer dancing around each other but colliding into one. Dean almost expected an explosion as their lips met — it would’ve been fitting. But, alas, there were no fireworks, no big announcment. It was the softest touch he had ever experienced, true like nothing else. It was the sunlight warming up their bodies, the sunlight Dean flew right into. It was something he’d never thought possible — love.

They were two stars finally found, lighting up the dark, walking away from the night sky, from a graveyard. Walking home. Their light burned on, growing to a calming, graceful blue as it filled their own sky. It was filled with a love that had done everything — it had defied the universe, defied doubts and fear — and had survived. But then again, what isn’t alive can never truly die. They’d pulled it into life, away from the realm of uncertainties, of will they, won’t they.

Cas was here, alive and well, and they kissed under a rainbow. It was a fairytale, and for a moment, Dean blinked, trying to wake himself up. This could all be a dream. He could wake up any moment and still be in their bunker, sunken to the ground in sorrow. Dean drew in a shaky breath, hoping with all his might that this was real.

“I’m here,” the angel said in his heavenly voice, cupping his cheeks. Dean grabbed onto his hand, holding on for dear life. “We’re real.”

Behind them, the sun disappeared behind clouds, revealing the familiar surroundings of the map room. Home. Dean looked back at Cas and smiled. With the angel at his side, it truly was home. They made it. Dean laughed in realization, and drew Cas close again, reuniting their lips. They made it.

“I really didn’t need to see that,” Sam, ever the cockblock, interrupted. As Castiel turned away, Dean pulled him back for a quick peck, just for the hell of it. He was allowed to do that. Holy hell, he was allowed to do that. No cage in hell would ever be able to contain his grin, not ever again.

“It’s good to see you back,” Sam greeted them before Dean could think of a good retort to his earlier line. He welcomed Cas with a hug, and then embraced his brother too. The last time Dean didn’t mind everything being so lovey-dovey must’ve been when they were kids. Or maybe in the Empty. Not that he’d admit that. He briefly squeezed Cas’s hand, just to remind himself that he was still there. The angel looked at him, smiling softly, and laid his head on his shoulder, nuzzling closer.

“Castiel!” Jack stormed into the room and into his father’s arms, uncaring about Dean right next to them, who huffed in complaint. “You did it.” The kid was all smiles and laughter — one of those moments that showed his age. Dean smiled. His family was all there. For the first time in decades, he felt happy.

“Of course we did it,” Dean said, his cheeks starting to hurt with how much he was smiling. He never noticed how he could see them at the edge of his vision when he smiled wholeheartedly — something he knew was promised to happen a lot more now. “Who do you take us for?”

“The most epic love story ever written,” Jack answered and Dean blushed. Suddenly, everything was too warm and too much all at once. Realization was still sickering in, overwhelming the man. He retreated slightly, away from Castiel, even though the angel felt like safety, love, everything he’s missed for years and didn’t even realize he needed.

“Shut up,” Dean mumbled, looking down.

“It’s okay,” Cas assured him. As Dean glanced up at him, the angel’s face was lit up in admiration for his adoptive son. He had never seen something more beautiful, more serene than the love in his angel’s eyes. He was glowing with love, and Dean was basking in his light. He was the stars blinking hope into the night, the moon guiding the hunter home, the sun over a long lost planet. Otherwordly, yet wholly home.

Dean would never believe his luck. A part of him would never believe this story, scoff if told to him, memories already bathed in doubt. He couldn’t trust his own mind, could he? Soothing grace touched his mind, assuring him once more. I heard you. I’m here. We’re what’s real. I love you.

“Don’t worry, Dean,” Sam said, still chuckling. Dean’s head snapped up at his brother, being ripped so suddenly from Cas’s sweet nothings that hummed on quieter now. “I’ve known for years. It’s hardely something one can miss. Pretty much everybody knows.”

Dean opened his mouth. That’s what I’m worried about, he would’ve replied once before, and some shadows still wanted him to, but he found that he didn’t care. Something had changed, and that something was the angel at his side loving him unashamedly. Castiel, who was never afraid to love.

You changed me, Dean.

Yeah, you did too, bud.

Instead, he nodded at Sam in appreciation and wrapped an arm around his angel. They’d walked through hell and worse, and showed the universe their love, and the universe had bowed to it. There was nothing left to hide, and nothing they couldn’t beat together.

“Damn right we did it,” Dean whispered, making Cas laugh. Because if anyone could’ve done this, it was them.

#destiel #hadestown my beloved #quoth the raven; evermore #deancas #fluffy ending

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operation-619 · 4 years ago

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Siren’s lullaby

Geralt of Rivia x WOC/reader

Summary: (Y/N) seeks the Witcher to help her capture the woman that shed the blood of her family. She may have the voice of an angel but her intentions are far from heavenly.

Warnings: Blood, violence, murder, torture, language, nudity, discrimination, abuse/assault your media consumption is your own responsibility, you have been warned 18+

WC- 1.6K

Masterlist

I am hosting a little competition of sorts, I will pick five people to have their character be in my story just fill out this form- HERE.

The ocean flourished under the caress of the afternoon sun; waves lulled softly against the side of the ship as they foamed back into itself, the voices of the men drowned out the song of the birds as they ran about fixing sails and tying ropes. A man sat on the railing of the figure-head and watched carefully as the water rippled around them. His tanned skin glistened with sweat under the sun as he sharpened his knife, his eyes and mind were elsewhere.

A whisper of lust and flesh floated in the air, dancing around his head as he looked of into the distance, his hands worked independently – sharpening the knife on the flat stone he found in the hull of the ship, the motion came naturally to his body after years of repeating the same motion. The whispers grew quietly into a song of men floating to the treasure at the bottom of the sea, where gift beyond men were to be found. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought a ghoul was sat beside him, lips pressed against his ear and lulling him with unforeseen riches.

His eyes casted downwards, watching as the blues and greens mixed together creating an illusion of a fantasy that was always told in fairy tales. A lost city and civilisation of merepeople. He remembers the stories he use to hear from the elders, the upper-body that of a human, and the lower half was that of a fish with tails almost twice the size of their body, decorated in intricate scales and colours, with a fin at the end that helped them propel through the waters. Their hair a celadon-green and nipples of light-green. He remembered how many elders and others of his race were enamoured with their looks calling them nymphs of the sea, singing about their looks and the great power they hold.

But he was a child then, naïve, and simple-minded. Now he’s a man and the branding on his left forearm reminds those he crosses paths with that he is a dangerous man.

“You never think you are going to fall in sir?” his accent catches itself on the syllables, making it seem more pronounced and thicker. The man in question looked over his shoulder, throwing a hearty laugh to his crewman he put his knife back in it pocket and swung his body around before jumping back onto the deck.

“You insult me Mayarnde, all these year on this beauty and you still think I can’t balance myself right.” With a slap on the back, he moved towards the centre of the ship giving orders, joking with his men. The hour of peace brought clarity to his mind, something he needed from the past two moons. He thanked the stars for the peaceful journey, but deep down he really knew the reason, he would be foolish to deny it.

He made his way to back of the ship where the door to his quarters stood red wood splintering with age and the constant battle from the sea. It looked like it could do with a new glaze. The money he was getting paid after this trip would be enough to completely redo the entire ship and there would still be some left over.

“Maybe a visit to a brothel, the men could use the release.” He scratched his head as the thought occurred to him, he hadn’t laid with a woman for two moons. None of his men had, usually when they make a quick stop to grab some previsions, they have time to visit a whore or two. But their current guest was adamant on getting to their destination as quickly as possible. And god was he suffering.

He shut his door behind him and looked over his quarters, the desk was covered in parchments and writing utensils, the table in the middle of the room was completely covered by the map – markings plotting their course and other annotations that made little sense to him, his windows were open letting the warm breeze dance around. The parchments on the dark wooden walls fluttered as the wind gently swayed by, the sound of scribbling told him that someone had awaken.

Taking off his coat and throwing it onto the back of a chair, he wandered over to the map and observed the new markings, a thick circle marked out the city Cintra telling the man that was their final destination. It caused his eyebrows to raise, all this time and not once had he seen any city marked like this one.

“So, he is here then, the one you are looking for?” his violet eyes looked up to the woman hunched over the desk, reading new parchments that had only just arrived by raven. Her (H/C) hair was set free, coiling around her face and down to her navel, her deep-toned skin shone with a light sweat as she sat in the embrace of the sun. He watched her for a second noting the strange celadon-green highlights that would catch the sun every once in a while.

“Mhmm, Minoa told me that she heard talks of him in the area. Last, I know is that no one had seen him for weeks.” She shrugged her shoulders, not once looking up at the man in front of her. “But if Minoa said he was in the area that he is. It kind of her thing.” Her voice always brought a strange sensation over the man. He couldn’t exactly place it but, it felt relaxing almost peaceful.

“When do you want to dock because I saw land. So, we can reach there by the end of tomorrows light.” He rested his hip against the table, his sole focus on the woman. He only now notice that she was wearing his tunic with her trousers. It suited her, it suited her really well.

He really needed to visit a brothel soon.

“We can dock tomorrow, let the men rest, fuck a few whores and drink to get their shit back together. But I won’t leave the ship for a few days.” The language that came from her mouth never ceased to amaze him. When he first met her, he was taken aback by the way she dressed – tunic and trousers but the way she wore them made it seem perfectly fit for her. Her gaze was captivating and pierced his soul as she spoke to him. It trapped him in a trance. She had the air of a regal and noble lady, but the mouth of a sailor. It helped his men feel at ease.

The past two moons had been hard, the constant stopping and starting that only she knew the reason behind. But she helped his men through it, she had plenty of coin to keep their bellies happy throughout their trek across the great sea – meat and drinks that only the finest in life would eat. She was stronger than everyone thought too, she didn’t slink away into the quarter and stay there for the past two moons, she slaved away like the rest of the men. And her fighting skills were beyond anything he’d ever seen.

And he has seen some shit.

She finally looked up from the parchment and held his gaze, her plump lips spread into a soft smirk as she watched the man in front of her dumbly nod his head.

“Sorry Captain Saria, I forget you are not used to a woman using such language. I keep forgetting that, and I will most certainly need to fix my tongue once we land in Cintra.” She puffed out a laugh and bit her bottom lip. It had been some time since she’d been around people. Her life was normally quite and simple, in her term anyway.

She pressed the heel of her palms into her eyes, letting them rest for a moment. She didn’t even remember blinking in the last few hours.

“(Y/N), what exactly are you looking for?” his violet eyes bore into her figure, he waited with bated breath for her to answer. And when her eyes met his, it took everything in him to not falter. It always amazed him how magnificent her eyes were, they could be the most tantalising feature throughout her entire being. One eye a breath-taking colour of (E/C) and the other celadon-green. It did give him some comfort, knowing that there was another out there from an ancient race. Throughout most of his adventures around this world he hardly saw anyone who looked like him, his elven bredrin had become scarce on this harsh world.

He was lucky with the life he has now.

“This man, he.” She put the writing pointe down and stood up from the chair she had been in for the past hour. She came in font of the desk and swiftly pulled herself to sit on top of it. She watched as Captain Saria looked her over, his violet eyes gazed at the shoulders that became exposed when the tunic slipped down.

“We have a lot in common, we are two beings that aren’t accepted in this world, Saria, he is going to help me find the woman that killed my family, my blood.” She brought her left arm forward and used her right hand to slowly roll up the sleeve of the tunic. An angry, jagged scar set itself along the expanse of her forearm. she delicately traced it with her fingers, a light mummer of pain made itself known. She had ran from her past, detached herself from everything she knew and it had worked. She became something she never dreamed of, she doesn’t even recognise her own reflection. (Y/N) looked back up at Saria, his eyes were dull, the sympathy felt mocking to her.

“I am the only one left out of my colony, I had to flee my home and become something I hate because my own home is unsafe. She took everything from me, and I intend to make her suffer.” (Y/N) let her arm flop back down. Her eyes clouded with the memories of her past, the laughter and pain, the children, Her blood.

Her people.

“And the Witcher is going to help me find her.”

__________

Let me know what you think my darlings. if you wish to be tagged let me know in the comments.

#geralt of rivia x reader #the witcher #woc!reader #siren #mermaid #revenge #death #yennefer of vengerberg #fuck #masterlist

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ill-skillsgard · 4 years ago

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Bred For Blood - Part 19 - Promise-Promise

Title: Bred For Blood

Warning: 18+ - sex/mature language & themes/gun violence/substance abuse etc. *mentions of coma/unconsciousness, injuries, and sex in this part*

Characters: AU Axel Cluney, AU Ivar Lothbrok, AU Valter x OC

Description: A bright, young survivor meets an acid-gun slinging headhunter with a knack for melting faces and connections to a prodigal Utopia embedded in the heart of a deadly forest. Violence and passion incite a battle of fealty while betrayal nips at Zed’s heels.

Note: Sooo many feelings in this part, you guys. Next part will be the finale! My gosh, it’s actually coming. Stick around because it’s gonna be a doozy! Much love to all the readers who’ve waited patiently and shout out to any new readers who’ve taken the time to let me know their thoughts. I appreciate all the comments and reblogs forever! With that being said, please comment and reblog. It’d really make my day. XO

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

Zed waited for Vee next to the window overlooking the vast green ocean of vegetation. The sliver of sun painted the sky aflush, rolling west in shades of violet. Pinprick stars perforated the melting spectrum, and the phantom moon showed its impatient face fully before the horizon swallowed all light. It was a soothing array of scenery, and Zed rested her head on the glass until footsteps drew her attention to the door. She smiled as Vee came in carrying a plate of zucchini fritters and mashed chickpeas, returning the warm greeting silently.

"Hungry? Axel wasn't a fan. He wants a cheeseburger from McDonald's," said Vee, handing the platter to Zed.

She accepted the dish with a nod. "Did you tell him why that's not possible?"

Vee sighed. The dark beneath his eyes seemed permanent now. "I didn't get into detail. He wouldn't understand."

"Shouldn't we make him understand?"

"It's too soon. The big lug just woke up. It was a challenge just to get him to lie there. Soon he'll want to leave the lab, and I don't know how he'll fare around his adoring fans."

Zed bit into a greasy fritter and scooped a dollop of the paste with the leftover crescent. "He'll love the ego-boost, I'm sure."

"That's what I'm afraid of. All those people will confuse him. Who knows what that might do to his head. We're in a delicate situation."

"Axel seems to like me. Maybe I can convince him to stay put."

Vee grimaced from the thought of Axel working Zed over with his motoring mouth and crass sense of humour. The scientist had grown accustomed to nights alone with her, cooking together and discussing their future. The night they'd spent alone in the greenhouse rang in his heart; the night he admitted his feelings and begged her to squash them. The thought of her alone with Axel picked a scab he didn't know he had.

"You're worried about something," Zed said.

Vee snapped from his bittersweet reverie and sighed. "Am I ever not worrying?"

"True," Zed snorted. "Now, eat. I can't finish this all myself."

The pair finished the plate before Vee set the dish aside and motioned her to the sofa.

"We need to talk about what we found in Glott's notes. I know we can't test this theory, but we should treat it as the truth," said Vee.

"Okay, well, if that's how we're approaching this D negative blood sample... What's the next step? We have no medical supplies. I checked the med tent in the courtyard for the third time just for fun."

"Then we have to visit Glott and get some answers. And by we... I mean me."

"Valter—"

"I know you don't want me to leave, but what other option do we have? Every day we waste here is another step backward."

Zed shook her head until a thin braid dislodged from behind her ear and swung in her face. Vee resisted the urge to tuck it back. The girl's face swivelled toward the window, and she pondered and watched the premature stars twinkle across the bruised sky.

"We go together," Zed said firmly. "I won't budge on that."

"And what about Axel?"

"We wait until he's better. We'll need him to navigate the way."

"And if he never recovers?" Vee asked.

"Then we go anyway. All three of us. We get Axel better, and we go together."

Vee inhaled through his nose as Zed screwed her eyes into his. When he nodded, a smile unfurled across her face, shadowed by the last drops of brassy sunlight.

"I hate this plan, but I suppose it's all we have," said Vee.

"Promise we'll all stick together."

"Of course, Lea. I won't leave without you guys. Promise."

"Promise-promise?"

"I double promise with a cherry on top. Stick a needle in my eye and call it macaroni."

Zed stifled laughter beneath her palm. "I think you've been hanging out with Sam too much."

"That, or I'm just tired."

"I'll let you sleep now. You look beat."

Vee twisted his mouth in lopsided agreement. "Yeah, you're right. I'm gonna hit the shower first. Unless you want to?"

"No, you go ahead. I'll stay here a little longer," Zed said as she laid her temple against the cool glass and looked out over the forest floor, now drowning in the twilight.

~*~

In the morning, Zed left the apartment and padded down the hallway in her mismatched slippers. She slowed as she turned the corner and found the brothers talking. Axel's eyebrows were locked in a line, and Vee looked up at her with relief.

"Lea, can you help me explain to Axel why he can't leave the hospital room?"

Axel whipped the covers off his thighs. "This place is fuckin' weird, and I know you're lying to me. That doctor you had in here is a whack-job. Something isn't adding up."

"Stay put," Vee commanded.

Zed rubbed the sleep from her eyes and prepared to take both sides with a long breath. "Axel, your brother is right. You can't leave yet. Just stay a little longer and heal."

"Where the fuck am I, Vee? This isn't like any hospital I've ever been to. And why can't I use the phone to call mom and dad?"

Axel's question erased all the sleep Vee had gotten the night before. His fatigue was contagious. Zed approached the bed and brushed Axel's shoulder. The touch diffused the tension in his upper body and opened him up to a new explanation, one that hadn't come from his kid brother's mouth.

"There are no phones here, Axel. You're right... This place is different. We're missing a lot of things you’d consider normal."

"Look, darlin', I know you're just trying to make me feel better, but none of what you're saying makes any sense. What do you mean there's no phone? There's electricity, isn't there? So why can't I hobble my way to a pay phone or borrow someone's cell?"

Vee and Zed exchanged pained looks. The younger brother kneaded his brow and offered Axel the same explanation he had before, reworded. Axel refused to believe a word and scrambled off the gurney, throwing Vee's hands off him as he limped a few steps and realized his mistake.

"What the fuck is wrong with my foot? Did someone sliced my ankle in half? What is happening to me? I feel like I'm on an acid trip that never ends. I go to sleep and see crazy shit, only to wake up in an even crazier place where there're no phones and no fucking food! You're talking in goddamn riddles, Vee. The least you can do is get me a Baconator for my trouble! I can't walk—I can't even jerk off 'cause my good hand is fucked. You gotta help me out."

"How many times do I have to tell you, Axe? There are no restaurants!"

"Bullshit! Sweetheart, come on, you can help me, right? Can you please just grab me something greasy? I'll pay you back, I promise. I'm good for it."

"I wish I could help you, Axel, but Vee's right. There's nowhere to get stuff like that anymore."

"Anymore? What does that even mean? You guys are talking like I slept through the apocalypse or something!"

Zed turned to Vee, who blocked the way to the courtyard. "Come on, Axe. Just settle down, and get back into bed."

"Are you gonna find me some painkillers then?" Axel faltered toward the bed and hoisted himself onto the flat mattress with his right arm.

"I'll see what I can do, buddy, but will you promise to stay here for a little longer?"

"Whatever," Axel scoffed. "What else am I gonna do?"

Zed waited until Axel slid back under the covers and tilted his face away from them both to assess Vee's mood. She suspected Axel's recovery would be difficult. Still, when she pictured him with his eyes open again, she heard laughter and saw game nights, shared wine and inside jokes knitting them closer together—not disarray and a friend who'd forgotten her. And if Vee had left the day he championed himself, Axel wouldn't have any flagship of his past. The scientist's presence tranquillized her despite Axel's rotten mood fouling the atmosphere.

"You're hungry, Axel?" Zed asked.

"Starving."

"I'll try to track down something tasty to eat. It won't be a greasy burger, but maybe I can find you something close to fries. I'll make it myself if I have to."

Axel flipped his eyes to the girl standing with her arms knotted behind her back and smiled. "Oh, darlin'...You're a sweet thing. I'd hate to ask, so I'll just accept the offer. Or maybe Vee can go, and you and I can chat a little more?"

Zed chuckled at the man's slyness. "I have some other things to do. We’ll talk when I get back."

"Don't rush for me, honey, but if you do, I'll take it as a good sign," Axel said with a wink.

At the cost of one of her knit blankets, Zed found someone in Athena to chop and bake a sweet potato in peanut oil. She bartered for garlic and salt to sprinkle on the dish. The redheaded child spotted her making transactions and stopped her at the mouth of the Hives with a cloth of fermented cashew cheese and a large chunk of bread that sat out overnight but was still soft. She offered the foodstuffs to Axel on a thin wood slab, and he accepted with an obsequious grin. He relinquished his dissatisfaction and warmed next to Zed.

"Aw, darlin', look at you go. How can I thank you for your trouble?" Axel asked as he chomped a crispy strand of sweet potato.

Zed stepped back from his bed, blushing. "It's okay, Axel. You don't have to do anything but get better."

"Will you stay with me for a while? If I have to stay in bed, it'd really make my life easier if I have someone to talk to. That is if you don't mind my chattiness."

"Sure. Let me grab a chair from the apartment," said Zed.

Axel finished his meal quickly, and as if he hadn't eaten at all, felt the pang of hunger moments after the last bite of bread. His appetite woke up ravenous, and no amount of homegrown food could satiate the growl.

"I might need to eat again in an hour," Axel informed as Zed dragged the chair across the floor. “I’m a big boy, you know.”

"That's fine. I'll find you something in a little while ."

The injured man nodded and sighed, eyelashes fluttering over tired green eyes. A bloated silence proceeded, and Zed wondered how to initiate a conversation. Vee told her not to confuse Axel with present-day news, but all she wanted to do was ask about Richard Glott's underground bunker and with who he'd crossed paths that left him slashed and maimed.

After a couple of deep breaths, Axel murmured, "I see you in my dreams every time I fall asleep. Is that strange?"

Zed hid her shy smile behind her palm. "Oh, stop."

Axel shimmied his torso higher on the bed and frowned in pain. "No, seriously. Not trying to be slick, honey. I see the most fucked up things when I sleep. You know the kind of dreams so vivid, you wake up and your heart’s pounding, thinking it's all real for a minute? Then you're like... No way."

Zed shifted closer to Axel's bed. "What do you dream about?"

Axel smiled to himself. "You, mostly... Us. You and me doing crazy shit together. Sometimes I'm in the desert, and I see this airplane in the distance. It's on the ground, and I ride toward it, you know, you're not gonna ignore a crashed plane, right? Then I find you there, but these guys are hurting you, and you're going nuts trying to shake 'em, but there's too many, so I shoot 'em all, and they melt like popsicles. You stab one good, though."

"What else?" Zed asked.

"I dunno... Sometimes it's just me and you cruising through the desert, and I get the feeling you hate me, but I kinda like it. I'm happy you're there, even though we're in the middle of nowhere, and I have no idea what's gonna happen next."

"Sounds like some pretty weird dreams."

"They're so lucid. It's like a movie, and I'm the main character, and you're... Well, you. Like my cool sidekick."

"Sidekick, huh?" Zed scoffed.

"Yeah, you have this air about you that's like not to be fucked with. Then things always get real dark. I don't even want to tell you about it 'cause you'll think I'm fucked in the head."

Zed knew this part of the story and lowered her eyes to the floor. "It's okay. You can tell me if you want. It's just dreams, right?"

"Nah, I'll just leave it at that. It's not sex stuff or anything if you're wondering."

"Your dreams are more entertaining than anything I have going on today."

With Zed's green light, Axel inhaled deeply before launching into the story of their past. Before he uttered another syllable, a severed connection sparked in his head. His eyes grew large, and he looked around the makeshift hospital room, awestruck.

"In my dreams, we're trying to get to Vee. He needs us for some reason."

"What does he need?"

"Some science shit, which makes total sense because he's a scientist. He's actually a scientist, and not just in my dreams."

"Axel... These dreams you've had... Do you think they have significance?" Zed asked carefully.

"Totally. They have to. Right? Or am I fucking crazy?"

"You're not crazy, Axel. I promise."

"But what if I am? This place... I get such a bad feeling when I'm awake in this room by myself. Vee won't tell me where we are. It's like he's hiding something, and he never lies to me about anything. We don't do that."

"Vee just wants you to get better. He's under a lot of stress, and your recovery is a big part of that. We didn't think—he didn't think you'd make it through. Another complication is the last thing you guys need."

Axel went quiet again and fixated on the dust motes and bolts of lightning crackling up his leg. A storm grew behind his eyes, the same torrents Zed saw when she tried to stop him from leaving Kinderfeld and her behind. Sickened by the thought of Axel sneaking off, she touched his arm and offered a warm smile.

"Talk to me, Axel. Please. Don't keep anything inside."

Axel glanced at her small hand on his tattooed bicep and the lightning in his body faded.

"We were friends in a past life," Axel claimed.

"We're friends in this life."

"Can I tell you one other thing, then I promise I'll stop talking about my bonkers dreams?"

"Yes. I don't mind at all."

Axel curled his bicep and touched Zed's fingers, feeling the motion out until she grasped his hand.

"I think I have to take you somewhere."

"Oh, yeah?" Zed giggled. "And where's that?"

Axel blushed for the first time and brought her hand to hold next to him on the bed. "Not like on a date or anything. I just get this feeling that I'm supposed to protect you, even though you seem capable of looking after yourself just fine. This dream voice keeps reminding me to stay with you and Vee... Like I'm not allowed to let either of you out of my sight. Especially not you."

"Then don't," Zed said.

He squeezed her fingers gently. "I won't."

~*~

Word of Axel's consciousness seeped out of the lab and into the village. Nobody knew who had made the discovery—Vee blamed Samson while Zed suspected Nalani, who'd waltzed by the lab doors at a suspiciously slow pace several times each day—and leaked the information. They barred visitors and only allowed the doctor in to help change Axel's bandages until Ivar arrived.

Axel was alone, humming a tune from his teenage years when the king came through the doors and stopped to stare at his bed-ridden friend.

"Zee, you're awake? And no one thought to tell me?"

"Sorry, hombre, but I think you have the wrong room. Name's Axel."

Ivar flashed all his sharp teeth in a sly smile and wagged his finger. "Always a joker."

"No, really," Axel chuckled, then went deadpan. "Wait... Who are you?"

Before Ivar spoke, Vee walked into the lab and froze when he saw Ivar standing a few feet from Axel's bed.

"Ivar. I wasn't expecting you."

The king sneered and motioned toward Axel. "What's with this guy?"

"Hey, maybe we can talk for a second?" Vee invited Ivar down the hall, out of earshot.

Ivar glared at the scientist. "When exactly were you planning on telling me he woke up?"

"That's the thing, Ivar. You don't understand... Axel's suffering from amnesia. It's common for coma patients to lose parts of their memory. Right now, he's in a very touchy state. He has no idea where he is, who you are, or what any of this is. I've tried to keep people away from him to avoid confusion, but now everybody knows. It's not good for him. Subjecting him to all this new information can cause anxiety, panic... Who knows. We're trying to ease him back into life."

"What do you mean he doesn't know who I am? I'm his best friend."

"Trust me. Axel doesn't even remember serving in the army."

"That's crazy. We should tell him—"

"No. It's too big of a shock. Axel's already gone through hell. Imagine trying to explain our world to somebody who has virtually no idea what's happened in the last couple of years."

Ivar pondered and didn't respond to Vee's relief, then sighed as though he accepted the explanation.

"So what does this mean for you? I assume you're retracting your claim and staying in Kinderfeld?"

Vee twisted his mouth to the side. "How can I go now?"

"You volunteered."

"That was before Axel came home. He needs me. I'm the only person he recognizes. Give me some more time with him, get him back on his feet and see if he'll start remembering, then I'll go."

Ivar crossed his arms across his burly chest. "Who knows how long that might take?"

"Would you leave someone you loved in that state?"

"I'd do what's for the greater good."

"He's your best friend. He's my brother. Axel needs us right now, Ivar. Think of all he's done for us. We owe it to take care of him until he's fit to at least walk again. I need him to remember what happened so I can get a better idea of what's going on outside."

"I suppose you're right," Ivar conceded. "You can't go out blind by yourself."

"Yes, you're right," Vee said with great relief.

"So what now? I can't talk to him?"

"You can speak to him if you like, but try not to bring up things that might confuse him. Don't talk about the army or mention recent times."

Ivar looked over his shoulder at the apartment's open door and heard the muted humming of a girl filtering through the corridor.

"And how's Lea taking all of this?"

Vee stiffened. "She's helping out."

"Axel has no idea who she is? He really doesn't know what's happened?"

"Not that I can tell. He keeps asking for cheeseburgers and to call our parents."

"Wow," Ivar whispered.

"Yeah, it's hard."

Ivar went quiet, distant, and shook his head slowly before inhaling through his nose and squeezing Vee's shoulder. "I trust you, brother. Maybe we'll talk more about your expedition in a few days when things have a chance to settle with Axel."

"You got it."

Axel pretended he wasn't trying to listen to the conversation between his brother and the brown-haired man with the striking blue eyes when the pair returned. Ivar nodded at Axel, his eyes awash with sympathy for the indisposed man.

"How are you feeling, Axel?"

"A little on the shitty side, my man. Not gonna lie. Hands busted, foot's bum... Can't fuck my way to a decent meal in this place, and everyone's tiptoeing around like I'm a sleeping baby. Gotta say I've had better days."

"Well, I hope you heal up quick. There are a lot of people who want to see you."

A coy smirk unfurled over Axel's face. "Yeah, I kinda get that impression. Sometimes, I see people looking in through those doors. I feel like a panda at a zoo. Everyone wants a peek at little ol�� Axel, huh?"

"Is there anything I can get you?"

"Cheeseburger?" Axel asked hopefully.

"Would if I could, friend."

"Goddamn it," Axel lamented.

Vee widened his eyes when Ivar looked at him, confirming what they'd discussed in the hallway.

"Say, how do you stay so beefy if there's no meat in this place?" Axel asked Ivar.

"I get my protein where I can. Try to stay fit. I'll get someone to bring you something good to eat."

Axel snorted. "Yeah, that's what that sweet-lookin' one said, but everything tastes like tree bark. No offence to her. She tried her best, and I'd never insult a lady's cooking to her face."

Ivar sucked in his bottom lip and nodded. "Well, I'll see what I can do for you, Axel. Get better soon."

Vee held his breath until Ivar left the lab and shrunk once the doors closed.

"You sure have a way with words, don't you?"

"Everyone who walks in here acts like they know me."

"We might have to move you to the apartment. Put a cap on your visitors."

"Who was that?" Axel asked.

"That's Ivar Lothbrok. He kinda runs things, in a sense."

"Nice guy."

Vee scoffed. "Yeah. Nice."

An itch stuck in the back of Axel's head, and he grew quiet once again, trying to unravel the mystery he'd woken up inside. He was a figure in a snow globe, a permanent fixture in a landscape rife with faces he'd seen in dreams. Sitting up in his bed, Axel wondered what laid beyond the confines of his glasshouse. Never one to follow the rules, even under the firm guidance of his smart younger brother, Axel decided once everyone fell asleep, he'd find himself a walking post and go exploring.

~*~

Zed woke to the sound of Vee's soft snoring coming through the open door of his bedroom. The possibility of sleep retracted with every second she spent staring at the smooth, globular ceiling in the dark, trying to make shapes out of the dream residue behind her eyelids. The sofa stiffened her back, and she twisted her spine until air bubbles popped and her muscles strained from the motion. She pulled the blanket up to her chin and squeezed her eyes shut for a few minutes, but Axel's stories followed her from sleep, brushing up on her with sharp quills. Since Axel painted his dream world, she hadn't stopped thinking of him and mourning the loss of his memory for the both of them. Axel didn't know his missing pieces were dancing under his eyes each time he slumbered, and she longed to stitch them together to create the full picture.

She squinted into the darkness, fatigue long since faded, and left the apartment. Light on her bare feet, Zed padded down the hallway and turned the corner to find an empty bed. Her heart twinged from Axel's absence. She considered going back to the apartment to tell Vee his brother was missing but found herself propelled to seek Axel out herself. There was nowhere in the lab a man of Axel's stature could hide, so she went out to the courtyard to begin her search. The floodlights cast pyramids of light over the foothills but revealed nothing but stone paths and glittering grass ranks. She started left first, then changed her mind and shot right toward the warehouse. Zed minded her steps as she picked up a jog, extending her legs to clear the roiling yards until she reached the square entrance of the warehouse. A guard leaned against the steel wall next to the exit, blinking and wiping a hand over his face to rouse himself. He saw Zed across the cement expanse and stood up straight.

"What're you doing out here?" The guard's voice clattered through the chamber.

"Sorry," Zed said, casting a thorough glance around before retreating into the light and shadow of the courtyard again. She rushed to the Hives, taking quick strides to reach her abandoned apartment before anyone else noticed her. After a quick knock, Zed opened the door to find her former living quarters as deserted as ever. Nobody had claimed the space in her absence, nor was Axel's adjoining apartment occupied. Both rooms were empty.

Zed's search for Axel continued and grew in urgency with each lonely cove and space she found. As she made her way around the central dome where the courtyard bordered the largest hill, she stopped at the mouth of the Chrysalis and addressed the men standing guard.

"Have either of you seen someone limping through here?"

"Nobody's come 'round here, Zed. Who're you looking for?"

Zed cocked her head. "Who do you think?"

"You mean Zee?" The man on the right asked. "Thought he was paralyzed."

"So it's true? He's awake?"

"Please don't tell anyone. Not yet."

The bearded guard rose a dark eyebrow at Zed. He was one of Ivar's highest-ranking patrol. Zed recognized him from the night they'd brought in the Zeronaut captain, Monk. He often stood by wherever Ivar went and didn't talk much unless addressed. "Ivar know about this?"

"I don't know what Ivar knows. Vee communicates with him, but we're trying to keep this from the general public."

"What do you think, Fen? Should we tell Ivar?" The scrawny, clean-shaven guard asked.

Fen sneered and told his partner to close his mouth before angling his torso toward Zed. "We'll keep an eye out, petite fleur."

Zed nodded and continued on her way, but there were few more spots Axel could hide unless someone had intercepted him and invited him into their hovel. She thought of Nalani, who often wandered the courtyard at odd hours and Trinity, who adored Axel and might jump at the opportunity to lead him to a private alcove. The two of them shared living space in Athena. Zed wanted to keep the search party light, and asking around would only spread curiosity like wildfire.

She continued touring the courtyard, her naked soles sore from hurried walking. Finally, she stopped at the greenhouse gate, its series of coiling iron bars and metal flowers welded to the columns in intricate clusters. Zed lifted the latch and pushed the gate open, taking care to shut it quietly. The greenhouse where the citizens grew aloe and berries was the little-known getaway spot Axel and Vee coveted as their private paradise. Zed zigzagged through the raised beds, taking care not to trip over the irrigation hoses and climbed the wooden steps at the back of the third square house. Around another corner and through the thick blackberry bushes nestled in rectangles of sodden earth, Zed rushed to the spot under the sky where the light poured in but found nothing.

"Shit," she whispered, out of breath and reeling in the thick, tepid air.

Zed looked up to the cloudless velveteen sky, crushing disappointment wringing her heart. In a throng of shadow off to the right, a figure shifted and startled the woman backward.

A tired voice called her name.

The shady form lengthened, struggling to stand. Once it stood at its full height, the vice pressing Zed's chest disappeared. Axel hobbled into view, using the overhead pipes to help himself along.

"Axel! There you are. Oh my God, you had me so worried. Why did you leave the lab?"

"The lab? Is that where you've been keeping me?"

Zed clapped her palm over her mouth. Axel gave an elongated nod, eyes wide and accusatory.

"Is that what I am? Some kind of experiment?"

"No, Axel—"

"What are you and Vee doing? Tell me why he's keeping me locked up. Tell me where the fuck I am, Lea. Please. This place... Something about it seems wrong. It scares me."

Axel wilted against a plant bed as Zed approached and caught his elbow to keep him upright.

"Axel, don't be scared. Please, I promise you're safe. We're not trying to keep you captive. This is all difficult to explain, and you were asleep for so long parts of your memory are missing. Vee's only trying to make it easier for you to cope."

"Cope with what, Lea? Cope with the fact I'm a prisoner? That I can't sleep because my nightmares are so vivid, I feel like I'm dying? That people watch me like some sideshow freak?"

"Everything," Zed sighed. "The new world. How can we explain all this to someone who woke up in the past?"

Axel looked up through the skylights and whimpered. "Something terrible has happened, hasn't it?"

Zed, wounded from the dejection in her friend's voice, led Axel to sit on the floor, then sat next to him and draped her arms over his shoulders, resting her cheek on the thin cotton shoulder strap of his tank top.

"I wish I could say you're wrong, but I can't lie to you, Axe."

"My instincts were right. Something is very wrong. After that Ivar fella came through, I started getting this feeling you all weren't telling me something on purpose."

"Don't be angry with us, Axel. We didn't know how to tell you."

Axel leaned his head on Zed's and sought her hand to hold. She slid her fingers through his and gripped tightly. "It's okay. I get it now. I'm supposed to be here. You and me... We're meant to be together. Otherwise... Why would I see you every time I close my eyes?"

"Axel," Zed whispered. "I missed you so much when you left. I thought I'd never see you again. Now everything is different."

"I'm sorry. If I hurt you back then... I didn't mean it."

"Just don't leave me again. Please. I can't fool myself into happiness without you in my life."

"I won't leave. I can't."

"Promise?"

"I promise, Lea."

"Promise-promise?"

Axel chuckled and kissed the top of Zed's head before laying his cheek on the ruts of her braids. "Yeah. I promise-promise."

~*~

Axel and Zed laid on the floorboards and watched the stars twinkling above while the chamber filled with water vapour, obscuring the glass until the condensation evaporated. When the infinite black sky lightened to meteorite violet, Axel used Zed as a crutch to stand up. He stole a fistful of blackberries, stuffing the fruits in his mouth and mashing them until inky juice seeped from the corners of his lips. He complained about his ankle, which he'd suffered walking on during his solo excursion to the greenhouses. Zed berated him for wandering off and helped him down the steps and through the rows of potato plants, arms locked, their pace slow to accommodate Axel's injury.

A murmur greeted the pair as they approached the iron gate. A dozen villagers gathered around the entrance to witness Axel emerge with smiles on their faces. Frozen from the elated faces beaming at him, Axel pulled on Zed's arm, alerting her to the hoard of onlookers.

"Who are they?" Axel asked.

"Zee! Happy you're awake!"

"What happened to your arm, Zee? Are you okay?"

"He looks terrible."

Zed opened the gate, and the crowd dented but didn't part. "Make room, please!"

"We want to talk to Zee!"

Axel then realized the group addressed him, their wide eyes drinking in his bruised and broken state with smiles unfitting his poor condition. An overwhelming sense of worry touched his skin, and he grabbed for Zed to lead him, but they huddled around the gate until a tall head of blond hair sliced the crowd in half. Vee shouldered past, his eyes hooded and brow furrowed.

"Axel! Lea! What the hell are you doing out here? Lea, did you let him out?"

Zed frowned and drew her shoulders up. "Of course not! I'm the one who came looking for him."

"Let's go. Come on, now. Everyone make way. Go back home!" Vee barked.

"We want answers! What's happening outside the walls?"

"We'll answer your questions later," Vee said disdainfully. "Lea, help me get him back."

The trio staggered to the lab, breathless from the trek over the bowing foothills. Vee waited until they were behind closed doors to deliver a speech about how irresponsible and defiant Axel was, how his behaviour might cause unwanted ripples where the scientist required placidity. Axel hoisted himself into bed and accepted his lecture, sullen and quiet, occasionally glancing at Zed, who also wrung her wrists.

"I told you not to leave the room, Axe. Why? Why can't you listen to me for once in your goddamn life?" Vee asked.

"You're not my mommy, Valter. I can do what I want, and frankly, I don't appreciate you keeping secrets from me!"

"What are you on about?"

"Oh, don't play dumb. You've lied to me this whole time! About where we are, what's happened to me. I think you know much more than you lead on."

Vee scoffed and looked to Zed for reassurance. The girl stood still with her shoulders hunched.

"Lea, help me out here."

"Well, Vee... Maybe it's time we tell him everything. There's no use hiding the truth anymore. He already knows something's wrong."

"Yeah!" Axel cried. "I'm done sitting around twiddling my thumbs. You have to tell me what's up. How did I get like this? What the fuck happened to me, and why can't I remember anything? I don't know how I got here or who all those people are out there."

"That's the thing, Axe... We don't know what happened to you. You left, and when you came back, you were unconscious and hurt. We don't leave this place, so I can't tell you anything more than that. I didn't know if you'd wake up and certainly didn't know you'd have amnesia when you did."

Axel turned to Zed for verification, and she nodded her head regretfully.

"It's true, Axel. I wish we could tell you more."

"Then at least tell me where I am. Start there," Axel demanded.

Vee and Zed stood speechless for a moment until she sighed deeply. "Vee, maybe we should give him the postcards and his journals."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're right, Lea. Go get the box. Tonight's gonna be a long one."

Zed hauled the box of postcards and dog-eared journals into the lab and hefted it onto the foot of Axel's bed. Vee unpinned the postcards from the corkboard and offered them to Axel with a pinched smile. Zed sat in her chair while Vee laid on the floor, a long arm slung over his eyes as Axel began to read aloud from his workbooks. The three of them listened to the stories Axel had penned years before while he was in the infantry as if none of them had heard the tales. From time to time, Axel stopped narrating and glided over the lines, taking in details he should have known, but couldn't place. During these silences, Zed and Vee would look up at him to assess his emotions, whether or not the words shifted the pieces into place or made any difference at all.

Axel took in a strained breath. "Ivar and I aren't talking. He wants to be the leader on this ship, and if things don't go his way, he turns into a giant douche-nozzle," he broke into giggling at his insult. "I haven't eaten in three days, and the water supply is low. We're down to a cup a day each. It's not enough, but it's gotten us through so far. One of the guys got sick, and they've taken him below deck. He throws up constantly even though there's nothing in his gut and howls all night in agony. I swear to God I'll shoot him in the head tomorrow if he doesn't let us sleep tonight. Someone needs to put him out of his misery."

Zed grimaced, and Vee stared at the ceiling with dry eyes, unflinching from the story.

"Day six... I now know what rat meat tastes like."

"Oh, god. Ew," Zed mumbled.

Axel continued without pause. "It's not that bad when you haven't eaten in almost a week. I've set up more traps in the galley to catch the rest. If Ivar plays his cards right, I might share my rats with him, but he's still a stuck-up twat.

I'm not sure how the rats are surviving. Maybe there's food still hidden somewhere on the ship. Maybe they're eating each other."

"This must have been when you were on your way back to America...Or... Whatever you want to call this half of the world now," Vee said.

"What do you mean?" Asked Axel.

"The Unity... The government... They abolished the borders, erased the country names and burned the history books. The states became part of the North-Western Hemisphere. Same with Canada and all that. No countries. No names."

Axel seemed to accept his brother's explanation that nothing would ever be as before. The commune in which he now resided was the only tangible place left in existence. Outside the walls lay sites changed from war, stripped of home and heritage. A tightness in Axel's neck prevented him from speaking until the revelations grew too heavy for him to bear.

"What happened to everyone else?" Axel asked.

"It's hard to say," Vee whispered, then cleared his throat. "A lot of people died."

"How many?"

"Billions," Zed said.

"You mean... We're the only ones left?"

"No, we're not. There are other survivors out there, people who were meant to live through the storms."

"Storms?"

Vee sighed, the farfetched nature of their fates exhausting him before he began. "The Unity developed a way to return the planet back to its natural state. No more electronic communication, no more broadcasts or satellites or TV. After the extinctions reached an all-time high, they introduced these plants that could suck the pollution from the air quickly. They grow extremely fast and are lethal to anyone who wasn't vaccinated against the spores. One plant can release a spore cloud big enough to cover half a football field, and they breed and multiply like vermin. Even a small cluster can kill a stadium of unimmunized people in a few minutes."

"But why would they do this? Have I been vaccinated?"

Axel's questions ripped holes in Vee’s composure. Zed's stomach churned and flipped as the scientist fished for the least aggressive explanation. A gloss came over his eyes, and he avoided his brother's bewildered stare.

"No, Axe. You're not."

"Oh... Are you?" Axel whispered.

"Yeah, I am. So is Lea."

"Why? Why didn't I get vaccinated?"

"You were lost at sea with your platoon for weeks, and before that, you were overseas. They didn't immunize the troops."

"Are you telling me the government wants us all to die?"

"Most of this is widely debated. There are some theories that the Unity had a strategy in mind."

Zed lent the scientist a hand and cut the heavy topic with a smile. "Axel, you're much more special than you know. Those people out there all adore you because of what you've done for Kinderfeld. You were the only one brave enough to go out when they needed supplies. People know your name not only here but out in the world. I've seen you fight and shoot. You're a natural."

"Well, yeah. I've been shooting guns since I was a kid."

"You were a special ops sniper. More than just a good shot."

Axel warmed to the compliment. "And what about you? Are you the mercenary of my dreams?"

Zed blushed and failed to hide her pride. "Not a mercenary... But I've murked a few Scavs in my day."

"Man... I like you," Axel tittered. "Ain't she great, Vee? What a prize."

For the few seconds of silence that passed, Vee's expression darkened. He recognized the reverence pulling Axel's features, the heartfelt way Lea relaxed when they spoke. Even in the absence of memory, Axel and Zed forged a bond too strong to pry apart. He would never wish ill upon his brother, but he mourned the days past with the woman whose eyes shone like vats of golden syrup passing under the morning light. At the risk of sharing a likeness with Ivar, the king who could never quite capture the woman's love, Vee thought of what life might have been like had Axel never returned. Would Zed love him? Could she? Had he ever toed the waters of her unspoken affection? Vee cursed his stupidity the night he told her how he felt and quickly dismantled his chances before she had the opportunity to consider him more than a close friend.

As Zed stared at Axel upright in his bed with his journals splayed out around him, Vee knew it was too late to rescind his platonic claim. A victim of his own sabotage, the scientist turned from them and pushed out every last ounce of breath to make room for another stale intake.

"I think it's time I showed Axel the Crimson Yawn."

Zed nodded and left the brothers, sensing a gloomy air rising between them. Vee was much better at explaining the inexplicable. He delivered news with a needed bluntness, one Zed had never mastered. Once she left the lab searching for distractions, Vee helped his brother box up the journals and offered his elbow to guide Axel back on his feet. Amid the bleak news, Axel had almost forgotten the pain in his extremities.

They waddled to the locked chambers where the bulk of Vee's scientific discoveries came to light. Axel squinted against the bright white walls and polished floor as he followed his brother through a series of doors leading to a clear dome similar to the greenhouses he'd found, only this hollow contained a twisted swarm of redheaded plants, mouths bloody and agape. Each one stood over seven feet tall and lifted its black-spotted maw to the sky in a silent scream. Axel turned from them.

"I've seen these before, but never this many. In my dreams, there's always one growing in a container."

"You recognize them?"

"And you say these things can kill me? How is it possible?" Axel asked.

"They're a sophisticated hybrid plant. They release spores like mushrooms, and those spores become airborne. If you breathe them in, they attack your blood, soaking up the nutrients and essentially turning it into a highly acidic jelly. You burn from the inside out. Well...Dissolve is a better word."

"And you've brought me here why!?" Axel shouted, dodging backward and planting too much weight on his bad ankle.

"Don't worry! They can't hurt you from in here. The filtration system's design protects everything inside."

"I still have a hard time believing all this. You know how crazy it sounds, right?"

Vee clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Oh, I realize. Why do you think it took me so long to break the news? You try finding a delicate way to explain this to someone who just came out of a coma."

Axel became transfixed on the plants again after Vee's assurance. He shuffled to the glass and studied the roaring heads, each one slightly different than its neighbour. They resembled demons, bizarre red monsters with thick necks and broad leaves of wax. Their spiked roots toiled in the ground, gnarled and tangled in a hellish orgy above and beneath the soil. Beyond the ranks, Axel saw the roiling jungle and all its hues of green and black. The sun broke through parts in the towering trees. How he longed to feel the wind on his burnt skin and walk among the flora. Axel observed the plants for a few minutes as Vee stepped back and allowed him time to digest.

"Am I in a nightmare?" Axel met his brother's eyes and did not blink.

"Some might say that. And I'm sorry. I've dedicated my life to making things better for the survivors, but there's nothing left I can do. All we have now is the village and each other."

"And mom and dad?"

"They're gone, Axe. They've been gone a while."

The tattooed man swallowed bitterly and nodded as a wall of tears blinded him. Vee touched his brother's shoulder and shared his pain through the comforting gesture. Axel crossed his chest with his good hand and patted Vee's fingers.

"Do you mind if I spend some time alone? This is... It's just a lot."

"Of course. Take all the time you need, Axe. I'll leave the doors unlocked. You good to walk?"

Axel's voice floated below a whisper. "I’ll manage."

~*~

In the apartment, Zed held her arms out before her and swung them in half-circles, stretching her muscles in preparation for another stiff night spent on the sofa. Vee came in after dinner and found Zed flinging her limbs outward.

"Nightly aerobics?" He asked with a touch of humour, the most he could muster after a day of harsh truths.

"Just stretching out before bed. My back's been killing me."

"Oh," Vee's green eyes popped open wide. "Don't sleep on the couch, Lea. You can take the bed tonight."

"Nah, it's okay."

"No, really. I insist. You deserve a night without hanging off the edge of the cushions."

"Then where will you sleep?" She asked.

"The couch."

Zed laughed at the idea. "You're far too tall to fit comfortably."

"I've passed out there dozens of times. Don't worry about me, really. Take the bed."

"Why're you being so nice, huh?" Zed snorted.

"I've seen you in pain the last few days, and I feel bad. It's rude of me to have one of the biggest beds in this place when I don't do anything to deserve it."

"Oh, shush," Zed jested. "You've done more for this place than anyone."

"There's always the Chrysalis."

The good humour in the room vanished with Vee's maladroit suggestion. Zed shook her head and scoffed. "I'm not going to the Chrysalis. I want to stay here with you guys."

"Fine by me. You'll take the bed tonight then. Grab your blankets and go."

Zed and Vee swapped bedding and wished each other goodnight. Though she deemed herself undeserving of the luxury, when Zed crawled onto Vee's large bed and spread her limbs from corner to corner, her skin bristled with goosebumps. The scent of the sheets belonged to the man outside the room, sprawled on the sofa, long legs dangling over the arm—cotton and boyish musk, the redolence Zed had grown accustomed to except in this moment. Lying on the mattress reminded her of the hugs and closeness she'd received from Vee when Axel had fled.

She relived their days together in clips of happy memories and some not so joyful. Across the apartment, Vee recalled the same night playing in Zed's mind—their evening in the greenhouse when they'd held hands, so close together yet barred by the promises of friendship. Vee cursed himself repeatedly while Zed entertained the idea of getting together with the scientist.

Soon, Zed's thoughts slid over the night she'd spent with Ivar. If she concentrated, she could feel the fullness between her legs still. Ivar had made love to her the way couples did in films. He'd stroked her and kissed her skin, took her nipples gently between his lips and sucked until she giggled. What might have excited some left her shivering. Was one of the brothers more deserving of her love? Was she foolish to think herself so desirable her attention was a coveted badge of excellence?

What a prize!

Lea... I want you to tell me no, right now.

It's like you were made for me.

With her heart racing, Zed turned over in bed and clamped her eyes shut. Debating which of the three men in her life she wanted more made her stomach flip, yet she couldn't keep the lewd considerations from pouring into her head. In these fantasies, she replaced Ivar with Vee. Yes, he was smart and gentle and keen on her, but he'd told her not to let him cross the line, claimed he didn't want her that way despite his feelings. Vee's kind face took the place of Ivar's, coasting down her stomach, stamping her thighs with kisses from luscious lips. She squeezed her legs together and let the inevitable shift knock Vee from the picture to make room for his older brother.

The tattooed man with all his addictions and his looming depression positioned himself between her knees and grasped her ankles delicately. A murderer and womanizer leaned over her body, caging her with long limbs decorated with sparrows, weapons, chains and barbed wire.

We're meant to be together. I see you in my dreams every time I fall asleep.

Zed bit her lip when the phantom sensation invaded her. She knew not how Axel would moan or if he'd coo and sigh the way Ivar had when they had sex. She wanted very much to think Axel would treat her with respect and scorned the claims Trinity had made about his wild side. Then the obscene journal entries came to life, glowing, fanned by salacious visions. What if she didn't want to make love? What if she wanted to be taken hard and fast by a man who worshiped her? Guilt and arousal mixed in her chest and sat heavy, grinning evilly like a demon poised to possess her body.

Sleep wriggled through Zed's conjurations and pulled her under before she realized she was slipping into blackness. The cozy bed and Vee's sheets lulled her, and soon, she dreamed of ordinary things, forgetting her personal stash of pornographic thoughts. She slipped further as the moon made a lazy arc through the night sky until something touched her shoulder and jarred her from sleep with a sharp gasp.

Her scream ripped through the apartment, sending her waker toppling out of bed.

"Lea? Oh, fuck. Fuck!"

"Axel?"

In the dimness, neither of them saw each other but tasted each other's heavy breath. Soon the light snapped on, and Vee stood at the door, chest heaving.

"What the hell is going on?" Vee asked. "Axel? What're you doing?"

"Christ, I thought Zed was you. I just came to... Well, I couldn't sleep," Axel cringed. "Shit, my hand. Fuck, I landed like a sack of bricks."

Vee snickered, setting off a series of giggles. "You came to sleep in my bed?"

"I didn't mean to scare you, Lea."

"It's all right," said Zed. "Really. On any other night, it would have been Vee in here."

Axel pulled himself up by the elbows and sat on the edge of the bed, grimacing from the agony of his agitated wounds. "Sorry, guys. It's hard to sleep out there. People are watching me."

Zed scooted over and patted the part of the mattress warm from her body. "Come on. Lie down. I think we could all use a sleepover after the day we've had."

"You're not serious," Vee said with a scoff as his brother took up Zed's offer and laid down next to her.

Zed nodded with conviction. "Absolutely. You too, Valter. Turn off the light and get over here."

He rolled his eyes as he flipped the light switch. "This is hardly a three-person bed."

"Well, cuddle up, pal."

"Lea takes up a fraction of the bed, anyway," Axel pointed out.

"Is this not weird to you? Three adults sharing a bed?"

Zed moved to the center as Vee climbed into bed from the left. To her right, Axel had already sprawled and turned over to face her in the dark.

"It's no stranger than how half the people in this place sleep all piled on top of each other. Humans were meant to nest. In the wild, this is how we'd sleep."

"Yeah, but we're not in the wild," said Vee.

"Yes, we are, little brother. Have you seen it outside? We're literally in glass bubbles, in the middle of a rainforest. Now shut up, and go to sleep."

"You shut up."

"Guys?" Zed chimed.

"Yeah?" The brothers answered.

"I love you both.”

Robbed of their voices, Axel and Vee set aside their bickering to bask in the genial haze of Zed's words. Axel shifted an inch closer while Vee laid stiffly on his side, eyes wide in the dark. As though her claim was bathed in wine, they soaked in the meaning and slipped drunkenly into slumber.

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avasghost · 4 years ago

Text

When We Drown Update #1

wip intro here.

DISCLAIMER: this is my original work. please do not plagiarize in any way.

hello!! i’m back with the first when we drown update!

so. i’m around 8000 words into the draft. i started writing on february 15, and its currently march 20, so its already been over a month which is ... wild. time flies when ur having fun kids.

its flowed a lot smoother than crane anatomy so far. i’m really enjoying the process, since i’m not trying that hard to make it good?? i didn’t know i was capable of “not trying to make it good” but maybe i am 👀

the writing style is very different from crane anatomy. CA is very flowery, but the prose in WWD is a lot plainer. i really like both prose styles, which is why it’s nice to be able to alternate between them when i feel like writing in one and not the other.

i used to get these random line ideas when i was only writing crane anatomy, but they didn’t fit the prose of that book. i’ve realized that those lines fit perfectly into the style of this book so yay my children found a home <3

excerpts under the cut.

chapter 1: the lighthouse

the story opens on a lighthouse on new years eve, 1999. this was an image that popped in my head while i was brainstorming and i decided to jump in and start writing because i was Intrigued. it’s a snowy night, and a woman and her four-year-old son (elias) are on the run from other members of the cult she is part of. we see her finally picking up the courage to run away, because unfortunately in this cult leaving isn’t allowed and they want to kill her. this is why she’s so depressed all the time because :) cult trauma :) they escape from their pursuers by hiding in the lantern room of a lighthouse, and then the woman gives birth to a daughter, the protagonist. her brother, elias, is referred to as “you”, and even though she wasn’t born yet, april narrates this scene because she’s been told the story so many times that she thinks of it almost like a memory, sometimes she wonders if she actually does remember it slightly.

the first line:

The first time I met you was on the lighthouse. It was the midwinter of 1999, new years eve, five p.m., already dark. I wasn’t born yet.

i quite like this opening! every opening i’ve written for the last four books has been good so that’s good

anyway here’s some night ocean and moon imagery:

The black ocean dilated in a gauzy breeze far below, waves ruffling like crow’s feathers. The distant sloshing drowned out some of the noise of the men’s boots clattering on the stairs. A cloud slipped in front of the moon, puddling its glow.

then the woman and elias hide under some tarps in the lantern room and the men who are hunting them come and look for them and somehow don’t find them which is completely unrealistic but :) if they got found april would never be born so :) that wouldn’t work would it :)

and then the men leave and april is born in the lantern room which was the most aesthetic birth i could think of okay. i had to. also the new years fireworks start going off:

We slept in the lantern tower. The beam that guided sailors lanced over our heads, a pinprick you hardly noticed. The fireworks all burst at once – a blur of orange, green and blue lights popcorning in the dark. I was tiny, too skinny, I shouldn’t have survived the night, but I did. Mother told me years later that I was the last baby of the 20th century, and that made me lucky.

the irony <3

chapter 2: lacuna

this is a chapter that takes place years later (and covers the first nine years of april’s life) and talks about her awful childhood. her older brother, elias, is her only friend other than two other girls (Elena and Magnolia). lets just say her life is terrible and i’m v happy i’m not her!

Mother always said I looked like her, and you looked like our father. I never thought so, even though I’d never seen pictures of him. Mother never showed us any. I couldn’t bring myself to associate you with him. From what I’d heard of father, you and him were opposites, different entities, born in different worlds and buried in different graveyards.

and their mother tells the story of april’s birth so often that april thinks of it as a memory, which is why she was able to narrate it:

She retold the story of my birth so frequently that every detail was visceral in my mind: the snow sparkling in juts of moonlight, a lonely rowboat almost invisible in the dark sea, the footsteps thudding along the passage, fireworks sparking in the sky and lighting the night on fire.

chapter 3: found and lost

in chapter three, ten-year-old april and fourteen-year-old elias play hide and seek and april fails to find elias. he is unfortunately never seen again.

the first line of the chapter:

There was a stretch of time when life was at its fullest, even if, for me, that meant half-empty. Ten years old, you were fourteen. Still friends, we didn’t share the usual sibling rivalry. It was midwinter, four days before my birthday. Ice glossed the branches of the spindly elm trees that studded our quiet street, scabbed the pavement so it was hard to walk.

yes i know this is set in BC and it doesn’t snow that much here but the aesthetic was too perfect so this is apparently an alternate BC where it snows a lot <3

another brief lighthouse description:

The lighthouse was a pinnacle that made an incision in the sky, clouds spiralled around it. Close enough to walk, too far to see in detail. Its lonely beam jittered over the water, even in broad daylight.

april counts and then goes to look for elias

Snow crinkled in my mittens, numbed my fingers so I could hardly move them. Rice-paper clouds obscured most of the sun, so the light that dribbled through was watery and lukewarm.

but she can’t find him

I searched every corner of the forest, every backyard of every stranger, I searched the lighthouse where I was born, I searched the rim of the ocean, which churned like a flame, licking the sand, eating it, spitting it out. The world snowglobed around me, disorientating every thought and movement. No birds, no beasts, no you. In that frozen world I was alone. The sky melted into a deep Aegean blue, and the stars winked like exit wounds, every tear an ocean, every finger an ice cap. Tears shuddered down my cheeks. They shattered on the icy pavement as I walked home, hoping you would hop out from behind a tree, a house. Maybe you were already home, maybe this was all a joke.

and time passes and they still can’t find him

Everyone said you must have drowned, even though they searched the ocean floor for days and never found your body. Maybe it had already drifted beyond our reach, they said. Maybe you were eaten by something, and your remains coated the mouth of some sea monster long assumed to be extinct.

at the end of chapter three, there’s a scene break that flashes forward to when april is fourteen, walking along the beach in a mist, and she sees elias’s ghost for the first time, and is momentarily convinced that he’s still alive, just like she thought.

It was almost unnoticeable, the way you popped up. A face in my peripheral, probably just a memory in the corner of my mind. But when I looked, you were there: a pearly mist with a face, eyes, a mouth. You breathed daylight, basked in fog like a natural habitat. I stared, unsure of what you were, where you were. Was this it? Had I been right all along? You were here, drifting in front of me, disembodied but still very much alive.

chapter 4: gooseberries

short flashback chapter! i wrote this entire chapter in about half an hour. its only 700 words, but i’m a very slow writer and that’s a lot of words for me to write in such a short time. also this chapter helped me realize that i want to write this book non-linearly! i love non-linear books and i think its a perfect form for this book!

the flashback goes to when april is still a baby (i know she shouldn’t be able to remember this but? she just does okay) and their mother takes her and elias to the woods and they hide in the roots of this tree while she goes and gets stuff for them to eat: gooseberries and pine needles (had to look up an article about edible wilderness food). april chokes on a gooseberry and elias helps her, which creates trust, and distrust of the mother because she didn’t try to help at all. thats it thats the chapter. not entirely happy with this, it needs a lot of work, but i think its still necessary to keep in the book for now.

She left, and like a mother bird, found food and brought back heaps of veiny gooseberries, her pockets stuffed with red pine needles, which she knew were edible from a wilderness survival course she took in high school. I had no teeth back then, the craggy flesh of my gums wasn’t enough to chew berries or pine needles, my throat too frail to swallow.

that’s all i have for this update! i know i said in the wip intro that there wouldn’t be updates very often, but i think the next WWD update will be soon because i’m really in flow atm!

- Ava

Taglist (please ask to be added or removed!) : @shaelinwrites @august-iswriting @wildswrites @nodeadnarrators @annlillyjose @shaonharryandpannisim @letsgetsquiggly @strangerays @mel-writes-with-her-dragons @chloeswords @teaandtypewriters

#my writing #excerpts #am writing #writers on tumblr #writing update #when we drown #writeblr #when we drown update #boosts appreciated

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bottledemotion · 4 years ago

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Our Dance Beneath the Moonlight (Diluc X Fatui reader)

- Gender neutral reader

- 1.9k+ words

- warning/s: a tiny bit suggestive but only stated/seen through words not action

- spoiler from one of the quest which is from the “Darknight Hero”

Their first meeting started with the click of their weapons together.

It was in the dead of the night where it all began. It was peaceful, not a single citizen can be seen on the usually busy street of Mondstadt, even the guards who was supposed to be on patrol in the night cannot be seen nor find on the street, all busy and occupied from the sudden slime attack on the docks, leaving the city unprotected for the night. No cicadas and frogs are singing together to fill up the silence of the night, nor the usual muffled loud, boisterous noises from each tavern. All are asleep and oblivious of the danger they're under on, too preoccupied with their own little world behind closed doors.

So it was peaceful and quiet, too quiet in fact.

Perfect for the people on the night to strike.

Or so they thought, for they forget that there's a hero that roams around in the dead of night from Mondstadt, someone who others call them the "Darknight Hero".

Which is why there were no eyes to witness the fight between a Fatui member, face hidden to the hood from their black coat, and a certain hero of the night from Mondstadt.

The hero took a leap back after their weapons- claymore and sword -connected to one another, his untamed red locks tied up to a low ponytail followed his quite graceful movements, like he was very used to it. Once the distance between them widens, he prepared his stance. He lowered his body like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. His hold from his claymore tightened as he raised its weight above and placed it behind him, ready to swing it to their way at any given moment which he will do without hesitation.

He watched them. His narrowed red ruby eyes never left the figure in front of him. He watched the slight subtle movements they make, the breath they each take, the swing of their sword that managed to take the brute force of his claymore danced from their black-gloved fingertips and air with a nonchalant grace. From the way they smirk at his way, he can tell with full conviction that they're doing those on purpose, mocking him, teasing him.

He gritted his teeth.

His enemy's smirk widens.

And to that, both immediately move forward. Their distance lessened, and both parties met each other halfway. The click of their weapons clashed to the dead silence, creating a loud echo between them. Their silent steps from the tiled roof under them and the clash of their weapons together are in sync like they're dancing together, both reciprocating the raw passion to fight and dominate the other give back to every slash of their weapon that met the other.

One could say this is how rivals truly show their hate to the other. A fight in a form of a dance. Both started on different sides, making them wary to one another, making their distance between them widen, vast and bumpy like an ocean. Despite the distance, both are willing to cross the bumpy waves of the ocean to meet each other halfway with the clash of their weapons and eyes boring to the other, eyes full of loathe and hate they didn't bother to hide.

The full moon and stars above them watched the scene unfold, being the only witness of their dance. It's moonlight cast its light beneath them, making their weapon and half of their face facing the moon be lighten and clearly be seen at night.

As their distance lessened with the collision of their weapon once again, both finally saw the other's face clearly, or what they could see and identify to the other.

Both are wearing a masquerade mask that covers the upper part of their face. One holds the symbol of a Fatui member proudly holds while the other bore a plain black one with golden patterns whirled and curled around forming different patterns on both sides of his mask. His ruby red eyes can still be seen under his mask, while the other has been covered from the dark transparent silk that every Fatui member holds, hiding their eyes from prying eyes. The hero's stare changes its course. From the mask they wore, went to their (S/c) cheeks, then to their nose and slowly descended to their soft looking lips that looks oh so tempting to caress if only it has not been formed into a smirk that shockingly and annoyingly reminds him of a certain captain from the Knights that he didn't want to remember at all.

His thoughts interrupted when the person in front of him whistled.

"My my, checking me out in the middle of the fight? Are you like this to every person you fought with?" They asked. Their voice is soft, a whisper but full of teasing in it. Making his nose scrunched up, eyebrows creased, mouth twisted into a frown.

Even the way they talk reminds him of the annoying bastard.

The hero leaps away from them again, making his enemy laugh.

He gritted his teeth and prepared his stance again. "Time to end this." He sneered at them.

The enemy chuckled and readied their stance as well. "I'd like to see you try Darknight Hero~" they taunted.

His eyes immediately turned into a glare that's so cold yet hot at the same time. He can feel his elemental skill dance on the tip of his fingertips, brushing its way there until it wrapped itself to his weapon, covering it to flames. His eyes never left his target who remained unfazed to the deadly flames directed to their way.

He didn't give them a chance to catch up nor think. One moment they're far away from each other, the next he's standing in front of them with his claymore full of flames swinging in their way.

He can feel the caress of their breath from the soft gasp escaped from their lips before colliding his weapon to them.

Or so he thought.

Because as soon as he slung his claymore, he immediately stopped, almost colliding it to the tiled roof which he now realized they're stepping on all this time. He immediately stood up straight to look for his enemy, which he saw, distance immediately widens between them in a blink of an eye, literally.

His enemy clicked their tongue. "As much as I'd like to be beaten up by you in other ways rather than that." Their words cut off from a sudden laugh came out from their mouth when they noticed the scrunched up look of the Darknight Hero it made from their comment. "I have to go now."

They turn their back on him, making their cloak do a dramatic wind effect from their movements.

They turn their face to their side to face him, but not properly. "My work here is done, so long, pretty boy. Let our faith cross path again~."

And from that, they ran away from their dance like Cinderella who's wish starts to disappear now that it struck 12 am.

Like from Cinderella’s story, he chased after them but for different reasons, and none of it are good.

"Hey!" He shouted and reached his gloved hand on them. His gloved fingertips managed to caress the edges of their hood but didn't reach enough to pull it. Instead, the wind did the job for him as they jumped their way to another building, blowing the hood away to reveal their (H/l) (H/c) hair that dances with the wind from their movements.

His enemy didn't stop running though, nor tried to pull the hood back up. Instead, they kept running, fully intended to escape the scene.

The hero tried to catch up with them, but fatigue started to take its toll on his body after a busy day at work this morning and the lack of sleep on these past few days.

So with a huff, he gave up and watched the Fatui member slowly blurred in the distance until he can't see them anymore. A bitter feeling crawled up to his spine, making him shiver, and hand formed into a fist.

Is this what defeat taste like?

"Master Diluc!"

The hero clicked his tongue and turn his attention to the person who called him, only to see three new figures approaching him, worry written on their faces.

"We took down all of the monsters. Are you okay though? What happened?" One of them asked, a blond haired traveler whose purpose is to find their other kin.

"Yeah! You're about to beat the monsters up when you immediately run away!" Another one asked, a nosy, high pitched fairy who always float and stick around to the traveler.

"Did you see another enemy approaching the city? Or is it because the Knights of Favonius immediately came from that area to aid us?" Their last companion asked, a cheeky bastard bard who always asks if he can get a taste of his dandelion wine from his tavern which he sometimes always refused.

Diluc huffed. "Both." He simply answered.

"Really?! Where's the body though?" The fairy asked as she turned left and right to look around the scene.

"They manage to escape." Diluc gritted out and crossed his arms to his chest.

"The enemy managed to escape? No wonder you look so worn out as usual. Did the enemy manage to take your brute force? Or is it because of fatigue finally catching up to you?" The bard teased. He can feel his smirk present to his face as he said those.

"Someone managed to take his brute force? No offense Tone-Deaf Bard but Paimon thinks no one will ever manage to take the brute force of his flames." The fairy- Paimon -said.

"Seriously, what happened?" The traveler asked

Diluc remove his stare to them and brings it back to the road that the Fatui member ran off from. He remembered the (S/c) skin, the soft-looking lips and (H/l) (H/c) hair of his enemy. Printing those from his mind so when they meet again, he won't hesitate to attack them no matter the circumstances and area they are on.

"It's just fatigue catching up to me." He replied yet didn't turn his way nor attention to them. The world around him got blurred and drowned, so he didn't see and hear the bard sigh from his reply and the traveler's grow of concern and worry for him that they started talking about something that became static from his ears.

All of his focus turned to the enemy he fought moments ago. The person who manage to hold its stand on the entire fight despite wielding a sword on a fight whose enemy they faced holds a claymore. The person who manage to dodge his elemental skill in a blink of his eyes.

He wonder how they manage to do that. Questions start to whirl around his mind but he brings those thoughts on the back of it when he makes up a goal, a mission, a promise.

To defeat them in a fight. To make them submit to their dance.

He can't call himself strong when he didn't bring down an enemy who's blade is thinner than his.

"Calm down Traveler! Paimon sure he'll get them next time!" He heard the small fairy said.

"Right Master Diluc?"

Diluc turned his attention back to them. His usual stoic expression plastered to his face, the only difference to it is the sudden glow from his eyes, fire full of passion and determination. Making the witnesses of its expressions change, all hold curiosity and questions at the sudden change of it.

"Yeah, I definitely will."

So with that, he can't wait to see them again.

He can't wait to see their faith cross paths again with the collision of their weapons together beneath the moon and stars.

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

A.N: I just wanna write two individuals having a sword fight under the moonlight while trying not to get love at first sword fight, which in Diluc's case, failing but he's not aware of it cause......it's him sooooooo-.

Sorry if some of the characters came out OOC, still trying to grasp their characterization ^ ^"

Thank you for reading!

#genshin impact #genshin impact diluc #diluc x gender neutral reader #diluc ragnvindr #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact diluc x reader #diluc ragnvindr x reader #diluc x reader #mywritings

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writings-of-a-hufflepuff · 4 years ago

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Prompt List #7 - Song Lyrics

All Prompt Lists

Blood is thicker than water, but love is even stronger

Another day, another battle

I don’t really care where I go when I die, ‘cause I just found heaven

You can tell the devil that he’s wasting his time

You and I will be a tough act to follow

The warm embrace that no one knows

I want you by my side

I’ve been holding my breath all night, waiting for you

I’m diving into the deep end and i’m not scared

I am an island and you are an ocean

I’d follow you straight to the bottom, not afraid hell or high water

Keep pushing up the river, keep mining for the silver, till you strike gold

So you gotta show a little backbone

Where your love has always been enough for me

I love you as you are

When you built those walls to keep you safe, it’s like a, prison you can't escape

When the whole damn world don’t know what they got till it’s gone, I love you as you are

The fruit just seem to fall, never had to shave no tree, the door was always opening, didn't need a key

Take me back to the speed of you, doing things that Momma said don't do

The moment I surrender, bury me in the ground, I'd die before you see me take a bow

How can I hurt when i’m with you?

If a picture paints a thousand words then why can’t I paint you?

You broke me first...

I’ve been thinking about what to say or not to do

So you want to be a man about it

You’re moving faster than me, and I can’t keep up with the things that you need

Like you didn’t hear this melody that calls you home

Can anyone hear me calling out, i’m calling out

Where are you now? Been such a long time, i’ve tried to live without, i’m suffocating I need you to breathe

Even if I shouldn’t i’d lie for you

When I’m gone, when I fade away, is the air I breathe my only legacy

Love is like an energy, rushing in rushing inside of me

Sometimes I worry about the things I can’t control

I see neon lights whenever you walk by

You don’t know what he means to me

Only fools run back for more, being the fool I am I figured in all your plans

That man is like a flame, and oh that man plays me like a game

I’ll be anything you need

Take me in your arms and never let me go, whisper to me softly when the moon is low

Kiss me once again before we say goodnight, take me in your loving arms and squeeze me tight

Everything about you is so God darn sweet

If you can’t find love but you’re still not giving up (can I get a witness?)

And if the eight of the world is on you now, but you know you can turn it all around again

I turned on the lights, the TV and the radio, but still I can’t escape the ghost of you

Passion or coincidence once prompted you to say, “Pride will tear us both apart”, well, now pride’s gone out the window, cross the rooftops, run away.

But your jealousy is more blind than your luck, and you could be my enemy, and you could be my judge

You are a call to motion, There, all of you a verb in perfect view like Jonah on the ocean. When you move, I’m moved.

Your love is a painkiller

Can you imagine a love that is so proud? It never has to question why or how

There’s a hunger in my heart, it’s full of promise, promise. There’s an itch under my skin, under my skin. Cause I just want to feel something real.

You’re tall, dark and handsome, you’re charming and then some.

You do everything too fast, you move like a whiplash, you’re missing the romance and I see through it all.

When I’m on my own, I think of ways to tell you and when it comes out wrong I hope you’d understand.

He talks about you in his sleep, and there’s nothing I can do to keep from crying when he calls your name, Jolene.

Dear God, I hope you got the letter and I pray you can make it better down here.

Sorry to disturb you, but I feel I should be heard loud and clear. We all need a big reduction in the amount of tears.

Deep inside, my heart is breaking

Never gonna let you take my world from me

I’ve been waiting for so long, now i’ve finally found someone to stand by me

I really got the feeling that I’ll love you ‘til my dying day

You’re a gentle man and a gentle man is getting mighty hard to find these days and you’re a tender man and you’re man enough to show your love in tender ways.

And I can’t wait to see you again

I need you by side, to tell it’s alright, ‘cause I don’t think I can take anymore

If I fall short, if I break rank, it’s a bloodsport, but I understand. I am all yours, I am unmanned, I am on all fours willingly damned

You might kill me with desire, wind me tighter than a wire

Cause you taught me how to love. It's me who taught you how to stop.

Follow me wherever I go, we're crossing over

You feel like forever

I want to run but I want you most

It's been hard for me to breathe for such a long time, I only stayed so I could ease your mind

When the memories come to haunt you with a sad lie, no one loves you, they all leave you so why even try? Let truth hold you in loving arms tonight

I can't fly but I keep finding myself soaring high above it. I have nothing left, but I keep pouring out like I am endless

Always aiming paper airplanes at me when you’re around

Apples aren’t always an appropriate apology. Butterscotch and bubblegum drops are bittersweet to me.

I’m not ready to be just another of your mistakes, don’t wanna let the pieces fall out of place.

And I was making you a wish in every skyline. How big, how blue, how beautiful.

If you’ve lost your way, I will leave the light on

I know a little bit about a lot of things, but I don’t know enough about you. Just when I think you’re mine, you try a different line.

Baby, i’m confused about you. You get me in a spin, oh what a stew i’m in.

Stranded, reaching out, I call your name but you're not around, I say your name but you're not around. I need you right now

Told me to pick my battles and be pickin wise, but I wanna pick em all and I don't wanna decide

I don't mind being lonely, when my heart tells me you are lonely too

You could your way home, but you won't

What if I'm someone I don't want around?

You really, really know me, the future and the old me. All of the mazes and the madness in my mind, you really, really love me

Always thought I was hard to love, til you made it seem so easy

The stretch marks all around my thighs, kiss em til I change my mind

I'm gonna love, I'm gonna love you endlessly.I've never been on to yell surrender so long as you're standing next to me

It's a pity to say goodnight, cause I've never seen stars to bright. But if you've gotta go home, you gotta go home, give me a goodnight kiss

Prove to me that you still feel it before I go start something new. No one knows what comes after this but I've always hoped that it was you.

But we're drowning in the ocean and it's tearing my heart open. Baby we're high then we're low, first it's yes then it's no and were changing like the tides

I could write a book about the way you walk and whisper and look. I could write a prephase on how we met so the world would never forget

The simple secret of the plot is just to tell them that I love you a lot

Just let me adore you. Oh, honey, I'd walk through fire for you.

You sounded so damn worried. You've been tossing, turning, both ends burning, I wanna put your mind at ease again (make everything alright)

Hold me now, til the fear is leaving

My sanctuary, you're holy to me. If you were church, I'd get on my knees

I'm suffocating I need you to breathe, so reach down and pull me but, pull me up before I am buried beneath

How bout a dance, what do you say?

I'm sure the crowd will make room on the floor, when they see you look like you do

#prompt list #writing prompt list #prompt lists

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just2bubbly · 4 years ago

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The Brootp that accidentally became the OTP!

Masterlist

Rumors and Affairs: Chapter List

//This is the update of The Father She Never Had!

A/N: The title is ironical so don’t get confused!

Cinder’s POV-

Thanks to Torin she felt good again, she decided to act on his suggestion and hence she was here, trying to comm Thorne and Cress.

It was Cress who picked up the call and enabled the netlink connection. The Rampion was in the view behind her and from her stay in the satellite it seemed like she was in the galley.

“Hi Cinder!” she said excitedly. She would not seem so excited after she hears what Cinder had done.

“Hey!” she replied rather uninterestedly.

“How are you and Kai?”

“We are doing well. What about you and Thorne?”

“We are absolutely fine. How’s the baby?”

“The baby is healthy as well.”

Thorne poked his head inside the net-screen and with a smug face said,” Oh! What’s my favorite royalty doing?”

She looked numbly at him. She was far from fine even though she just told Cress that she’s fine.

Sensing that everyone has gone silent, Cress started talking trying to establish a conversation.

“Thorne and I have been coming up with baby names. Do you want to hear them?”

She had asked each of her friends to suggest baby names. Kai and she were already thinking about naming their child Peony or Rikan after their loved ones. However both of them were quite against the notion of naming their child after dead people even though they were dear to them. Winter was quite enthusiastic about this activity. She had already suggested the name-‘Aruna’ for a girl which means ‘moon love’ in Japanese. Kai liked it. Wolf had suggested ‘Astra’ for a girl who means ‘star’ and Cinder liked this one.

“If it’s a boy then Kale otherwise Nysa for a girl.” Cress suggested.

“Do you know the gender of the baby?” Thorne asked.

“No, Kai wants it to be a surprise.”

“Can you tell the gender of the baby because of your cybernetics like you had realized that you were pregnant before doing a test?”

“Dunno, are you curious?” She asked teasingly.

“NO! I am just saying that if the gender was known then finding the name would have been easy.”

Cress and Cinder snickered. Not knowing the gender was driving Thorne mad in a way.

“Why did you comm, Cinder? Tell me it’s because you just can’t resist my charms.”

“Captain” Cress scolded. Cinder smiled at the pair. She was waiting for Thorne to propose and see Cress’s elated face. Needless to say, Cress was in love with Thorne before she had even met him.

“Sorry to burst your bubble but Kai is more handsome than you so I would have commed him instead if I wanted to see a handsome face.”

“That hurts.” He said faking the hurt look.

“Serves you right.” Cress and Cinder muttered at the same time. He grinned at them, devilishly.

“Besides I had commed for another reason. I wanted to inform and have some advice over something that I messed up maybe.” She said tensing up.

“You are asking me for advice?” Thorne asked, his brows rising.

“I am asking not saying that I will follow your advice. Didn’t I just say the word ‘inform’ or did you not hear it?”

“What’s wrong with you Cinder?” Cress asked worriedly.

“Yeah, What’s got you in a black mood?” he added.

She should not take out her anger on Thorne. She should be calm and collected. Damn herself and her hormones.

“I am sorry. I should not take my anger on you.”

“It’s okay. That’s what friends are for.” Thorne assured her.

“What did you want to tell, Cinder?” Cress asked.

How could she tell them that she had with her nonsense zoning out confirmed rumors of an affair?

“I did something.”

Seeing that Cinder was going to take a long pause, he asked, “And what’s this something?”

Ah! Why can’t Thorne just keep quiet for a while?! Stars above, telling Kai was so easy as compared to Thorne and Cress.

“I zoned out in a meeting and accidentally confirmed the ongoing rumors about you and me.” She stuttered.

“Uh! Which rumors?” Thorne asked.

“Really Thorne for the person who travels around the world, don't you keep yourself updated with some news.” It appeared that Cress knew about what she was referring too. Cinder had already guessed this because IT WAS CRESS- she knew the internet rumors like the back of her hand.

She glanced at Cress. She was trying her best to maintain a neutral face and not make it more awkward for Cinder, as if it could change anything else.

“Captain I think Cinder means the rumors which mention that you and her are dating without Kai knowing about it.” Thorne’s expression changed from confusion to horror and revulsion.

“Are they the one Cinder?” he cried.

Ashamedly, she nodded my head.

“Shit! No wonder you are acting so bizarre.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be shouting at me?” she whispered.

“Well I am supposed to but what the hell did you actually do?”

She explained both of them her situation and saying that Thorne was a bit angry would have been the understatement of the century. Cress casted some pitying glances along her way but both of them were truly disappointed in her.

“Well you are really in trouble, have a good time convincing people that we are not dating.”

“I am really sorry.”

“It’s not just your problem Cinder; do not blame everything upon yourself.” Cress said reassuringly.

“Besides, didn't Kai already come with damage control plans?”

She could not really look in both of their eyes and speak with them. Hence, she kept her eyes low and murmured something unintelligible. She felt like a disappointing coward, was she really the same person who had killed Levana, a tyrant?!

A headline popped up in her newsfeed stating how “The Emperor will himself address the rumours about the Empress’s courting tomorrow.”

“-He looked miserable and heartbroken upon hearing the news and well it was supposed to happen but he appeared truly devastated on the comm and I am worried.. ” she mumbled.

“Cress can Cinder and I talk alone for a few minutes?” Thorne asked. Hearing this, her head shot up rapidly, Thorne had made some unspoken conversation with Cress already. Something that was clearly not meant for her to see.

Cress left the room only to make Thorne and Cinder avoid each other's eyes for an eternity.

“You screwed up really bad Cinder, huh?”

“If you are going to make me feel worse in any way then let me tell you that internally I am drowning in an ocean of misery so don’t do it.”

“This is not a big joke Cinder, Kai is obviously feeling sad and so am I. Didn’t I tell you that I was supposed to propose to Cress? I can’t do it, Now that you have made this mess.” He spoke glaring daggers at her.

“I am sorry Thorne.”

Thorne berated, “You better be.” She had dragged so many others along with her.

“I am supposed to take a pre-paternity test tomorrow to give an official statement regarding true parentage of the heir.”

“I really feel sorry for you Cinder.”

“You won’t believe how calm everyone is reacting then what I had expected?!” she said honestly.

“Did you want Kai to shout at you or what?” he jokingly asked.

“Not like that Thorne but why can’t you just be like Cress- all assuring and caring?”

“I hope you solve this problem soon- wait! I had this brilliant idea.”

“Hmm.. Not sure if I want to hear this one” preparing herself to hear whatever he had to suggest.

He glared at me and continued,” How about I declare my unconditional love to Cres so that the people would have something else to talk about and they would probably believe that we are not dating”

“The idea is not what I expected but don’t you think that would look like a forced political move? Furthermore won’t it sadden Cress?”

“Yeah” he said with a crestfallen face “what a foolish idea!”

She had wanted him to suggest glamour-ing the journalists into declaring their reposts as void. She personally had liked this idea for a few moments before realizing that ‘It’s such a Levana thing’ to do. Cinder did not want to be a dictator or a tyrant anytime soon.

“Did you tell Iko about this?” he questioned.

“Why would I do that? I have not lost my mind yet. Besides she would kill me upon knowing this. Don’t you know her?” she bawled at his absurdity to ask something like this.

“Okay, no need to shout it.”

“I am afraid,” she admitted.

“Why?”

“Kai is coming today and I don’t know what to expect.”

“He would understand and you know I should not say this.. But I would” he mumbled but then continued with some sort of renewed vigor “I think ‘you both can and will work it out!’” he exclaimed with some new found profoundness

“Really Thorne? Work it out, what kind of garbage advice is that?”

“You should become polite like royalty is supposed to be. Learn from Winter!”

“How about you start giving advice like Jacin then huh?” she retorted.

“Believe me Cinder you would not like me then.” He said making a face at the idea of him acting like Jacin.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” she yelped after seeing the numerous messages on her retina scanner.

“What happened?”

She saw Torin’s message on the portscreen. Kai’s plane had landed and how long had she been talking with Thorne that it was afternoon already?!

“Kai is here.”

“Logically you should be happy but you don’t look like that-” she glared daggers at him. If looks could kill, Cinder would be a serial killer.

“Look who’s talking about logistics” she whispered under her breath.

“Don’t you have to go and greet/welcome him probably?” he said making her remember about her Empress duties.

She should already be present to greet Kai but here she was talking with Thorne. She had convinced herself in believing yesterday that she was an irresponsible Empress and wife. Now that she made such daft mistakes she was questioning why she had not convinced herself before.

”Yeah, why am I forgetting stuff and being an idiot? I am really sorry for the mess I made but I have to go Thorne, Bye!”

“Tell Kai that I said-” Before he could complete, she had ended the comm.

There was no time to waste. She hurriedly left the chambers only to bump into the person she most wanted to see and avoid right now.

A/N: I did not give my best, so this is bad. Bear with me!

#tlc #lunar chronicles #just2bubbly fics #marissa meyer #rumors #what was she thinking #the brootp that became otp #carswell thorne #linh cinder #cresswell #kaider #kaito #cress #cinder #cress darnel #konn torin #telling thorne #brootp #thinder

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junie-bugg · 4 years ago

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The Heartrender - Chapter One: Ashes

Hey everyone! Here’s my latest Enemies to Lovers Everlark fic. It’s a fantasy AU inspired by Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology, more specifically Nina Zenik and Matthias Helvar. You don’t need to have read Six of Crows to understand this story since I took ideas from Bardugo’s world and then made it my own. It doesn’t take place in the Grishaverse but is heavily influenced by it. I came up with countries, parts of a new language, and backstories for my witch!Katniss and witch-hunter!Peeta.

All four chapters have been written and I plan on uploading every Friday:)

You can read here on Tumblr or here on AO3.

Rating: Explicit

Warning: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Sexual Content

Relationship: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark

Tags: Enemies to Lovers, witch!Katniss, witch-hunter!Peeta, AU - Shipwrecked, AU - Fantasy, Sexual Tension, Explicit Sexual Content, Furs and Fires, Angst and Fluff and Smut, sexually experienced Katniss, virgin Peeta, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Loss of Virginity, Laughter During Sex, Blood and Injury, Imprisonment, Peeta has some prejudices to work out, Peeta also has an accent, Inspired by Six of Crows

Summary:

He hated her. He hated her for what she was: an abomination, a demon sent to tear at the fabric of the natural world. He hated her for making him want to laugh. He hated her for being so brazen and sensuous and everything the women of his country were never allowed to be. But mostly he hated her because he realized he didn’t hate her. Not even a little bit.

After a shipwreck has left an abducted witch and a member of the ominous Order bent on wiping out her kind stranded on the icy shores of an uninhabited land, the two must work together to survive or face tearing each other apart in the process.

Chapters: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04

Chapter One: Ashes

Peeta had imagined his death many times. A slit throat or an ax in the chest. Perhaps run through with a sword and thrown from a cliff. A warrior’s death, a man’s death, as was expected of him in his service to Sjorkden. Never did he think he’d pass bloodlessly and without a foe to fight. Yet here he was.

Drowning.

The frigid water wrapped around his body like a salt casing, water-logging his shoes and pulling at the cloth of his uniform. He imagined clammy hands latching onto his limbs, dragging him down, down, down. In the harrowing moments before he ran out of air, he watched dreamy streams of moonlight filter towards the black bottoming out of oblivion that was the ocean floor. Below him gaped miles and miles of seawater, and he would be lost to it.

He prepared himself for what was to come, slowly counting down the seconds to when he would snort salt water into his lungs and end it. No use in prolonging the inevitable, though his dreams lay like air pockets in his stomach, lifting him to hope there was still time for him to change things. To achieve something with the life he would have had if not for this stroke of bad luck.

Water pressed at his lips like an unwelcome guest. He was truly out of air now and the suffocating vacuum in his chest was enough to burst him apart from the inside out. The tips of his fingers began to tingle painfully, oxygen deprivation or the effects of cold, he couldn’t tell.

His last thoughts before he lost consciousness were of the countdown to drowning himself.

Three… two…

And then nothing.

Peeta awoke to an embrace. Thin arms twined about his ribcage, hoisting him above the frothy crests of waves.

His people believed in Gratka, the valley of heaven, the holy place of worshippers, warriors, and the most pious of women. A divine world spun from light and cloud, flowing with rivers of honey wine and heavy with the scent of eternal orchards. Peeta was not sure if he had been worthy of Gratka, but surely the chasms of hell would have been hotter than this.

He jerked his head about, trying to get his bearings back. His lips dripped with saltwater and his lungs burned with every ragged inhale.

He and his companion were bobbing on the frigid waves. The sky wheeling above was full of black, ominous storm clouds and the ship, The Bloody Rose, was on fire.

He hadn’t meant to, but he must have let out a cry because suddenly the arms tightened around him and a pair of lips pressed against his ear.

“You can’t save them. Just help me swim.” Then a strangled grunt and a: “Gods, you’re heavy. What do they feed you? Horses?” The words were choked, spoken in the voice of someone who had swallowed too much seawater and was struggling against the current. She spoke in Krellian, a sharp language of hissing consonants and hard breaks, only punctuated by the occasional swooping vowel. He twisted to face her, his lip curling in disgust when he saw those flashing silver eyes.

The witch.

How had she gotten out of her cell?

Her eyes bulged in panic as he kicked away, ripping himself from the circle of her arms.

“No!” she screamed as she grabbed at him, but without her there to buoy him, his head quickly slipped beneath the waves once more. His arms felt sluggish and he realized with a paralyzing rush of cold that she had been keeping his blood warm with her magic.

He struggled to break the surface, coughing up a mouthful of seawater and thrashing about as he tried to find her once more in the dark. “Witch?” he sputtered, ashamed of the sharp edge of fear in his voice. They reached out for one another, barely holding on by their fingertips as a wave crashed overhead, but then it passed and they were righted once more. He didn’t try to get away this time, afraid of his dipping heart rate and the hazy rush of dizziness that quickly abated with her touch. He didn’t feel warm, but the numb ache in his limbs lessened. He pulled her to his chest, locking her body within his arms like a vice.

“We can make it to shore, but I need you to kick. I can’t swim and keep both our hearts beating.”

He blinked the water from his stinging eyes, already exhausted.

She pressed the back of her head into his shoulder in frustration. “Jųlaik, ” she begged.

Please.

He grunted in reply and then started swimming. In return, she kept their hearts beating despite the cold. They weren’t sure which way the shore was. For all they knew, Peeta could be bringing them further out to sea, but with every passing minute the blazing ship they’d escaped from grew smaller and smaller until it collapsed in on itself, a charred heap dipping below the waves.

Not only had Peeta’s brothers in arms been on that ship, but Peeta’s future had been on that ship. Seventeen witches, four of which he had captured and that he could claim, all dead, except for one.

In his service as a witcher, he had brought forty-six witches to court and he had witnessed them all, his bounties, burn at the stake. The sweet stink of smoke and the way that charred flesh falls away from bone were all too familiar. This was his country’s way. This was justice. Four more would have won him his freedom, his manhood, his honor. Four more witches and he would have held the world in his palm like a flowering bud ready for plucking. All the blood and sweat and sleepless nights spent scouring the wastelands of countries far from home would have been worth it.

Hours passed. The storm clouds released their last torrents of icy rain and then cleared to reveal a bright purple smattering of stars above, carving their ancient celestial paths across the sky. The only sounds were his labored breathing and the sloshing of waves. Peeta’s legs felt as if they were going to fall off, both burning from the physical exertion and freezing in the arctic water. His nerves didn’t know what sensation to succumb to, retreating into numbness. He felt as if he were kicking around two logs.

The witch hadn’t spoken since the ship disappeared, but Peeta could tell by the way she was gritting her teeth that it was taking everything in her to keep them from freezing to death. He almost laughed at the irony of the situation. The witch and the witch hunter. Not a pair destined for groundbreaking teamwork.

So why had she saved him?

Dawn peeked over the horizon, pulling it’s smoldering pinks and oranges upwards until the stars faded and the moon was just a paling ghost of its nighttime brilliance.

“There,” the witch whispered through chattering teeth, her voice weak with exhaustion. Peeta turned his head to see what she had gestured to.

A coastline with tall cliffs crusted in ice and snow, and there at the shore, a black stretch of beach. Peeta swam on against the surf, the waves pushing them back out as if the ocean wasn’t quite ready to let them go. Finally, Peeta touched bottom and they crawled to land, collapsing on the sand with water lapping at their ankles. The two were heaving and freezing and giddy with the fact that they were alive, against all odds they had survived, though the silent celebration didn’t last long. The air was bitter and their wet skin puckered beneath its needle-sharp caress. They needed to find shelter, and fast, or the witch’s magic wouldn’t be enough to keep them alive.

Movement was hard. Peeta’s body felt as stiff as a piece of plywood and each attempt to stand left him trembling under his own weight. He looked back at the witch lying prone in the sand. Her hair was a tangled mess and clung to her face in dark, wet clumps. He almost thought she wouldn’t make it, that she’d just stay collapsed and never get up again. But she managed to rise onto her hands and knees, and then slowly to her feet.

They didn’t talk as they climbed a narrow pass up the cliffside. The rock was black and smooth, flowing magma that had cooled, dotted here and there with the greenish-brown blooms of lichen. Perhaps the land had once been volcanic, but that must have been a very long time ago.

As they reached the top of the cliffside, they found themselves marooned in a land of winter. Sharp white mountains jutted up in the misty distance and the foothills that spread out before them were dotted with boulders and stretches of snow and the shrubby, paling vegetation that hinted at a short growing season. It was a harsh land where only the most adaptable species could survive, and Peeta knew if they didn’t find a cave or some sort of outcropping to huddle in soon, they’d be done for.

Luckily, they stumbled across a cluster of circular lodges at the top of the cliff. The witch, shuddering so violently Peeta almost thought she could be seizing, disappeared past the thick curtain that acted as a door, shuddered one final time, and then collapsed onto a pile of discarded furs.

Peeta limped inside and scanned the den. It had been constructed and then abandoned by a whaling expedition, which were common this far north, though whaling was only done in the spring. The walls were layers of tanned animal skin and were held up by thin ashwood beams running from floor to curved ceiling. They looked like the bones of a rib cage bleached chalk-white in the sun. A thick column stood sentinel at the structure’s center so the roof wouldn’t sag and beneath it lay a small fire pit with a few half charred logs. The lodge was designed to house upwards of fifteen people, whalers with thick cloaks and packs full of food and supplies, but now just sheltered two shivering, salt-crusted water rats with nothing. The whole place smelled of wet fur and welcomed Peeta with open, shadowy arms.

“We should start a fire,” Peeta croaked, his throat ravaged by salt and exertion. He nudged the witch with the toe of his boot when she didn’t respond. “Are you dead?” A part of him wanted her to be. He hated owing her for his life, a debt he knew he would have to repay before this horrible nightmare was over. But if the swim had killed her, he wouldn’t have felt a shred of guilt.

As he circled around he saw that she was in fact very alive. Her eyes were propped open, wide and glassy, as if she didn’t have eyelids, shot through with red where there should have been white. She was chanting he realized. Praying perhaps.

It scared him.

“Hey!” He kicked her shoulder and the witch’s eyes cleared as if they were rising above a cloud line. “Stop that, it’s freaking me out.”

She glared up at him. “Never disrupt me again.”

“Why?" he sneered. "So you can curse me? Blind me or make me impotent? Cast a horrible death upon me and all my descendants?” Witches were known for curses. Pregnant women whose unborn babes had offered strong kicks days before, born bright blue and as limp as dead worms. Men cursed to wander the forests until they clawed out their own eyes and died of blood loss. Children swallowed up by thick mountain mists, never to be seen again. Death. Woe. Suffering. All at the hands of a wretched few.

“I have not cursed you. Your allegiance to a false god has done that.”

“And yet, we’re in the same predicament. Seems your gods have doomed you as well.”

This struck a nerve. Perhaps the same thought had been pressing on her mind. She narrowed her eyes, bunching her fists in the fur she lay atop of. “If I had the strength I would burn that blackened heart of yours right out of your chest.”

“Should I be worried about tomorrow then?”

“Very.” She rose to face him, hatred pouring forth from her eyes and twining about her head like a poisonous snake baring its fangs. He met it with a hardened look of his own.

“I’m still waiting on a ‘thank you’ for dragging you out of the ocean,” he said.

“And I’m waiting on a ‘thank you’ for keeping your tiny heart from shriveling up. Trust me, it was no easy task.”

He smiled coldly. “My, you have a big mouth for someone so small.”

“And you have a big head for someone with such little brains.”

He almost laughed, but they had been through a lot and Peeta was tired of arguing. He crossed to the fire pit and ignored the eyes boring into the back of his head.

“What? No response?” she goaded bitterly, but Peeta didn’t rise to her bait, focusing instead on starting a fire. After scraping two jagged rocks together, there was a spark. Thankfully the kindling was dry and after a few harsh blows and a prayer, Peeta was successful. The fire was delicious, like a tiny heart slowly beating life back into his frozen fingers.

He realized that this was the first time in weeks that he and the witch hadn’t been separated by iron bars.

As if in response to the shameful flush of heat that had radiated through his body at the thought, he heard a muffled sound, like a bird’s wings rubbing together, and turned his head.

The witch’s dress was off, her body bared to him. Her small, rounded breasts and jutting hips shone like caramel in the soft light.

Peeta’s cheeks flamed, afraid that he had been caught staring. “What are you doing?” he sputtered as he moved to shield his eyes.

She turned to pick her dress up off the floor and shot a look over her shoulder. Her very bare shoulder. “You don’t seriously think I’m going to spend the night in a wet dress, do you?”

“But you’re naked!” He winced at how petulant he sounded, how very much like a child he still was in some ways.

She rolled her eyes at him, but he was too focused on avoiding the very sight of her that he didn’t notice. “You’ll get naked too if you have any sense. No use in wearing wet clothes when you can let them dry.”

“You’re perverted.”

“I’m being practical.” She twisted the seawater out of her dress and then snapped the damp fabric at his back. “Now strip.”

He had to admit, shucking off his wet uniform and wrapping his body in a pelt had made him feel much better, though he was careful to cover the flesh between his legs when he did.

“Aw, you’re blushing,” she laughed. The sound set Peeta’s nerves on edge. The witch lounged near the fire pit on a nest of pelts she had constructed, wrapped in a glossy black fur that reflected threads of reddish-gold in the firelight. As she sat, the weak glow of the flames cast her features into warm relief, deepening the shadows under her cheekbones and darkening her lashes. Her salt tangled hair was as ebony black as a night sky with no stars and her skin was flawless, the color of water beaten clay beds.

“Come here,” she beckoned.

Instead, Peeta took a step back. “I do not take orders from witches. Even naked ones.”

“It’s like you don’t want to survive the night,” she scoffed. “See this?” Her furs shifted as she reached out a hand, allowing a dark sliver of her inner thigh to catch the light.

Peeta tried not to stare.

She pointed a finger towards the dwindling fire. “We barely have any wood left, and when the fire dies while we’re sleeping, the only thing keeping us warm will be each other. Now get over here. I don’t plan on freezing to death when I have a big lump of muscle to keep me toasty.”

She made a good point, but still, Peeta hesitated. What if this was just a trick? A lure to get him close enough so she could pounce and gouge his eyes out. Or maybe she’d wait to finish him off when he fell asleep, his beating heart ripped from his chest while he cradled her against him.

In the end, he decided there was little chance of them surviving out here with no food and only three measly logs to keep a fire going. If he was going to die, he’d rather die warm. Besides, having his heart ripped from his chest would be over faster than starvation.

He moved towards the nest, and only after he had discarded his pelt and shimmied under hers did she speak.

“Closer, lieutenant,” she urged in a singsong voice.

He growled in response.

“Seriously, you’re acting like a blushing schoolboy.”

“I do not wish to lay with a witch.”

“This is not laying. This is surviving. If you had any experience pleasuring a woman you’d know the difference.”

Peeta’s body stiffened behind her.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re embarrassed by it,” she chuckled meanly. “I thought the whole point of your pious Order was that you prided yourselves on being virgins. That and murderers.”

He ignored the word murderers. Only a witch would consider what the Order did murder. Everyone else considered it justice. Shearing the rot riddled branches off the tree that was the human race. Magic was a disease, nobody should have that kind of power over another. It was unnatural and the world was better off absent of her kind, but he didn’t expect her to understand.

Monsters were always blind to their own evils.

So instead he addressed her derisive use of virgin. “We marry only when we’ve proven ourselves worthy to the Order.”

“Shouldn’t you only have to prove yourself to your wife?”

What a silly notion, Peeta thought. “A man does not have to prove himself to a woman. He has responsibility over her. Nothing more.”

“How romantic.”

“Do not mock me, slum scum.”

“I think I like ‘witch’ better,” she quipped. She was infuriatingly quick-witted and Peeta seethed in silence, unsure that he could contend with such a sharp tongue.

“Whatever,” she said after the silence grew too long. “Just know that there’s nothing to worry about. Even if I wanted to, I would never defile my body with the likes of you.”

“That’s reassuring,” he muttered.

Despite her declaration, the witch drew nearer. The goose flesh of her back felt clammy against his chest, but soon their body heat melded and all he felt was radiating warmth prickling against the chill that had settled into his bones.

“Why did you save me?” he asked lowly, unable to quiet his racing thoughts. A part of him wanted to keep her talking so he wouldn’t have to close his eyes and picture Yasser’s bloated body lost at sea.

“Because you’re a human being,” she murmured, her voice saturated with drowsiness. “And because I knew if you survived I’d have someone to cuddle with at night.” Suddenly, and with a rustle of fur, she turned to face him. He scooted back. “Relax, lieutenant. This isn’t where I have my way with you. I just prefer to sleep with my back to the fire.”

“Are you always so lewd?” he asked, the disapproval in his voice as clear as a church bell ringing across a courtyard.

“If you knew me you’d know the answer to that is yes.”

“I do not wish to know you, witch.”

“Good. You don’t deserve to.”

With these terse versions of “good night” exchanged, they settled against one another, though Peeta was careful to avoid the brush of her breasts. She smelled of sea and sweat and the musk of fur, but something sweet lay underneath all that. Lavender milk. A chamomile bath. Medicinal salves. Jasmine blossoms suspended in freshwater. Long tumbles downhill.

The smells soothed him, until he remembered she’d been locked in the brig for a month and shouldn’t smell anything but horrible. A spell then. He was surprised. He thought all Krellian magic was blood rituals and sacrifices, not a spell in place of perfume.

Despite himself, his eyelids grew heavy. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was of slinging an arm around her waist.

#everlark fanfiction #everlark fanfic #everlark smut #witch!Katniss #witch-hunter!Peeta #Fantasy AU #I finally got around to editing #posted on AO3 #enemies to lovers #The Heartrender

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lightsonparkave · 4 years ago

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LIGHTS ON PARK AVE! WE’RE OFFICIALLY A ONE-YEAR-OLD BABY (our birthday was on the 22nd). Join the celebrations by submitting a work! There’s one week left until Round 12 closes on August 31, and you have 80 prompts to choose from. There are no minimum work requirements or limit to how many works you can submit.

Not sure you can finish your work in time? Little messages are great presents too. What has the past year of Lights on Park Ave been like for you? Do you have a favorite prompt or round? A favorite LoPA work? Want to make a rec list of your favorites or wax poetic and show some love for a specific work and/or creator? Go for it. Let the Steve/Tony community know! The LoPA askbox is open or if you want to make your own Tumblr post or tweet, you can mention @lightsonparkave or tag #lightsonparkave. Whatever method you choose, I’ll make sure to share your message/post on here and Twitter.

Or maybe you’re not up to making anything this time. In that case, let’s take a walk down memory lane. Here are all 46 Lights on Park Ave works for previous rounds.

ART

3490 & 616

A comparison between 616 Civil War and universe 3490 where the war was averted by the marriage of Steve Rogers and Natasha Stark - @jarvisuanddumetoo

ANY UNIVERSE

A framed portrait of a smiling Tony, drawn and signed by Steve - @hundredthousands

Steve steals his husband’s helmet and gives his king a springtime crown - @starksnack

Tin soldier Steve and ballerina Tony dancing - @jarvisuanddumetoo

BATTLEWORLD

Steve watching Tony flying in on the battlefield - @thingexplainer

MCU

Old Steve holding flowers and seeing a blue butterfly after Tony’s death - @hundredthousands

So much of life feels like drowning... but when I’m with you my troubles recede like waves on the shore - @jarvisuanddumetoo

Stranger Things AU where Steve is the one who was experimented on in a lab and doesn’t understand pop culture and Tony is the guy with no powers who is still doing his best to fight these weird new aliens - @jarvisuanddumetoo

Steve and a dandelion that represents him weathering all his hardships over the years - @jarvisuanddumetoo

Tony on fire and Steve’s reaction - @jarvisuanddumetoo

Steve crying while holding Tony’s helmet after Tony’s funeral - @noririna

I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. You’re a hero. - @starksnack

ULTIMATES

Steve and Tony leaving marks on each other’s bodies that are only visible in the dark - @sirsapling Ults Steve and Tony are tragically bound to one another. They can always feel the trace of each others hands, it leaves an invisible mark they will cary with them till there is nothing left. Only a ghost of something lost in the chaos of the past.

FIC

1872

Say My Name - @citsiurtlanu Steve reminds Tony that there's more to him than the war his weapons were used in.

616

Snow Day - @captainneverever The Avengers think that Steve and Tony got engaged at the annual holiday party. It’s news to Steve and Tony.

Kiss me rough before you go - erde Tony is dying. His life is slipping away and Steve wants to be better than this, but he can't quite manage the feat. Tony's war has made a bitter man out of him, a lesser man.

Boys, boys, boys - Missy_dee811 (@viudanegraaa) (AU) Steve keeps putting off his oil change. Finally deciding to see the mechanic in town.

Without the rusty music of my machine - Missy_dee811 (@viudanegraaa) Tony was lying on the hood of his car. He had taken off his leather jacket, gently folded it in half, and draped it across the windshield so he could rest his arms on the supple leather.

Muddy Waters - RossKL (@but-damn-is-he-lovable) (also on Tumblr) Tony bleeds. It's not real.

ANY

(A Dream is) A Wish Your Heart Makes - @helovedyou Cool evenings together and laughing free and all the nice things Tony never thought he’d get

Afternoon Off - Neverever (@captainneverever) Freedom is just another word for getting with your boyfriend on the downlow during a mission.

BULLET POINTS

Those We Were (For A While) - sadisticsparkle The blueprints hadn’t prepared Tony for the light bouncing off the battered metal, for the empty stare of its empty eye sockets or the dim circle in the middle of the chest. He traced its lines with his gaze, remembering every day he had spent hunched over the schematics picking its inner workings and every night he had spent sprawled under its pilot letting him take Tony apart.

MCU

border state - @areiton (also on Tumblr) They exist in the in between.

star crossed - @areiton (also on Tumblr) "The gods made the stars,” you whisper, a lifetime ago, a heartbeat ago, now, “and they were so bright, so beautiful and strong, that they ripped them in two. And half of ‘em fell to earth, and woke from the dust and walked as men.”

this is how - @areiton (also on Tumblr) This is how the world ends: Gaps in the code.

kiss me hard before you go - duckmoles & starxreactor (AU) “I love you, you know that?” Tony says just after popping another grape into Steve’s mouth. He watches as Steve’s jaw works, chewing and then swallowing. Steve smiles up at Tony with a bright, toothy grin. “I love you, too.” “I’m going to miss you,” Tony continues. “I’m going to call you everyday, okay? And—and, during the holidays I’ll show up at your house and we can—we can—sit together on the balcony, and—” The last day of summer, and it's time to hold on to what you might lose.

No Winter Lasts Forever - Fluffypanda (@ayapandagirl) Steve stopped, white breath clouding the air around him, to look at the little shoots of green and purple peeking out from the scant layer of snow left on the ground.

snippet of a post-apocalyptic A/B/O AU WIP - Fluffypanda (@ayapandagirl) Steve’s fingers traced the bite, a half-moon of red marks, from in front of the largest mirror he’d ever seen.

the first blush of morning - Fluffypanda (@ayapandagirl) (AU) The sun rises on the Atlantic ocean and Steve isn't alone - or is he?

Santa Paws - @heartsandmuses [I]f there were two things the public couldn’t get enough of, it was cute puppies and shirtless Captain America — and Tony, ever the philanthropist, decided to give the people exactly what they wanted, right on Christmas morning.

Philautia - @helovedyou Tony dies and Steve keeps on living. Well. He doesn’t die. Living might be a bit of a generous term

To the Victor - @helovedyou There are rainbows flying and people hugging and others ranting and raving, spittle flying, he thinks this. We have won this, this tiny victory.

Snippet of a WIP set post-IW - @ishipallthings The numbers keep climbing, for hours, in the aftermath.

Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil - jellybeanforest (@jellybeanforest-a-go-go) (also a Cap-IM Bingo 2020 round 1 fic) Tony hadn’t been a cruel man, but he had been a practical one. Or: In his twilight years, concerned about how his slow-aging possibly-immortal husband will adjust to his death, Tony builds an AI version of himself that he updates nightly, intending for it to keep Steve company after he’s gone. When the inevitable comes to pass, Steve doesn’t know what to make of the AI or whether its presence lessens his grief or makes it significantly worse. He’s leaning towards the latter.

Five Bells - @lazywriter7 (also on Tumblr) After returning the Stones, Steve takes a detour through time.

if we’re gonna heal, let it be glorious - @littlemissstark forgiveness. The salty air was intense enough to wake Steve up completely, snapping any left over drowsiness away. He was alert despite the sky still being a shade of navy that tapered into a purple at the sea’s horizon. The world was still dormant, but Steve couldn’t stay asleep – not when he woke to coldness on the right side of the bed and empty arms.

In My Hands and Gone Again - @nostalgicatsea (also on Tumblr) Memories were like fish, Tony had explained, or the tease of one. A flash of silver, and his hands would plunge down. Sometimes he would catch one; other times, it would dart out of reach. He wouldn’t be sure whether it had been real or just a trick of the light, after.

Leaving You Forward - @nostalgicatsea (AU) It would be easy, staying here like this with Tony. But Steve knew he couldn't—because he had never taken the easy way out and because he loved Tony.

i choose: me, you, us - @onlymorelove (also a Cap-IM Remix Madness 2020 fic) “We, uh. We’ve been together five years, and you’ve never— I’ve never let you see it. I told you I’d let you see it on our wedding night.” In which Tony and Steve marry, but Tony hasn't let Steve see the arc reactor—and the scars around it. Yet.

best of summers gone - rosycheeked (@lovelyisthedawn) Tony's favorite month has always been August.

when we all fall asleep - rosycheeked (@lovelyisthedawn) Tony wakes up and questions why Steve loves him. It's a surprisingly complex question for such a simple answer.

you anchor me (back down) - rosycheeked (@lovelyisthedawn) Steve still loves Tony, no matter what mask he’s wearing. He’ll never tell Tony that, though. He’s read enough books and watched enough movies to know that it only ends well when it’s just a story. Or, everyone needs an anchor sometimes, and Steve and Tony just happen to be each others’.

take me to the feeling - smalltonystark (@theotherwasdeath) Steve looks gorgeous in the lights. He always looks stunning, but here, late at night, in the faint glow from the streetlamps underneath them and underneath the stars, he looks magnificent.

POETRY

A Toast to Cold, Hard Facts - @onlymorelove (also on Tumblr) The world is brutal and coarse, but...

Love was fading stars - @onlymorelove (also on AO3) Blackout poetry based on “Failing and Flying” by Jack Gilbert on top of an original print.

not married - @onlymorelove (also on Tumblr) Grief works in mysterious ways.

#lightsonparkave #announcement #stevetony #stony #superhusbands #if anything looks wonky or is missing Tumblr has been acting up #every time I fix something it erases something else #so please know that I didn't intentionally leave you off if your work is missing or miscategorize you #if your universe disappears! :(

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tae-cup · 4 years ago

Text

When The Earth Met The Sea | Of Eternity and Euphoria (2)

Pairing: Kim Taehyung x Reader

Summary: You had been playing this game with the god of the sea for far too long. He decided to finally put an end to it.

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 4.7k Words

A/N: Ideas are just-flowing. Let me know your thoughts, they help motivate me a lot!

Other:

Series Masterlist

Normal Masterlist

The god of the sea, with dark eyes like the depths of the ocean and luminescent skin like the fish below, met her when she was just a new god. A goddess meant to manage Earth long after the original god had worn himself out.

You were the newest addition to the collection of gods and goddesses. Everyday seemed to have a newcomer. It was bad enough that they need a welcome booth for where they all seemed to pop out of nowhere. The Earth was changing and so were the gods. When the god who brought the continents of the Earth together discovered that his apprentice, you, had accidentally triggered fault lines to break them apart, he was rightfully angry.

“I can’t believe this. A million years of work to be broken like this.” He had hissed at you. You smiled, still young and hopeful, open to change. That’s what the new gods held against the old gods. They were more open and adaptable. They broke tradition.

You met while you were busy arranging Iceland. You sat puzzled at your desk. It was glass with a large Earth in the middle. You could rotate it with a wave of your hand. For a long time most gods called you the insane ruler of Earth. The goddess that was always in her head. You spent most of your days alone, but you had your thoughts distracting you anyway.

There was a soft knock on your office doors. You looked up quickly, hesitating to open the door. Maybe you could pretend you weren’t here? You shoved Iceland towards the top of the globe hastily, telling yourself you’d move it soon enough.

“I know you’re in there.” A low voice announced. You knew that voice, everyone did. The god of the sea often complained to the other gods if they encroached on his territory. You had simply been waiting until he got around to you. After all, you were the reason for so much distress in the oceans with continents sliding everywhere.

“Come in.” You sighed, not wanting to deal with the annoyed god. Taehyung always looked calm on the surface, but he had a swirling vortex of emotions below. You just didn’t feel like being dragged under right now.

“Pardon my intrusion,” He started off, to which you held back rolling your eyes. “But there are important matters we need to discuss.”

“Ever the polite gentlemen.” You drawled. “Well, I suppose I have some time. Please, sit.” You gestured to the chairs at the other side of the desk. You then waved your hand, shooing away the globe.

“First of all,” He sat carefully, making sure not to wrinkle his suit. “I would like to request you slow down your innovations to the modern world. The continents are stirring up the sea floor and causing thousands of species to become endangered or extinct.” A muscle twitched in his jaw, giving away his frustration.

You simply smiled, clasping your fingers together at the other end of the desk. “Of course, I understand your anger. However, Mr. Kim, there will always be change. Perhaps you just need to adapt?” Your words held a fire that so contrasted your innocent look.

You may be considered innocent, lost in your own world, and fragile, but in reality you were anything but. You held a fire in your soul, a down to Earth nature, and you quipped back impeccably well. Taehyung had never met a goddess like you, much less a god. Usually gods and goddesses alike would bow to the whims of one of the oldest gods. He may have let the power get to him. He was taken aback.

“While that, uh,” He swallowed thickly, not sure how to string together the right words. “While that is true, water adapts easily, I can as well. The issue here is the rate at which change is happening. It’s too fast to adapt. I’m asking for your compassion in this to understand my concerns.”

“I’ll think on it.” You said vaguely. “I want to get the continents settled. After all, I have my own people to take care of.”

He dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement before standing. The tension in the air thickened.

“Well, then, I must be going. Thank you for your...consideration.” His voice was steel, but there was a hint of warmth. You couldn’t deny that you had enjoyed the snappy conversation.

“Good day.” You smiled as you watched him leave in a hurry. It would take more than good looks or witty dialogue to change your mind on things.

“Ah, Ms. Y/N.” A familiar voice reached your ears. Oh no. You slowly turned around, a forced smile on your face.

“Taehyung, how lovely to see you again.” You greeted, looking past him to view the other gods he had arrived with. “I didn’t expect you to actually come.” Your face didn’t give away any emotion, staying on a stagnant smile.

“Of course I would come, it’s your 1000th birthday.” His lips twitched into a smile.

“And I will have many more.” You shot back.

“The first millennia is always special. Soon enough you’ll be considered a proper goddess yourself.”

“I’m not considered a proper goddess already?” You quirked an eyebrow. He let out a loud laugh that would seem natural if you didn’t know him. He casually ruffled your hair.

“You’re new yet, don’t be in such a rush to grow old.” His voice had a touch of affection and you weren’t quite sure what to do with that information. He walked away to grab a drink and socialize with the other gods and goddesses at your party.

It wasn’t a grand party, in god terms. You had a large ballroom in your home, though you rarely held any parties. Humans were tiresome and always needed something from you. That reminded you of another encounter you had with the old sea god.

“What’s got you so agitated?” Taehyung leaned casually against the wall in your office. You didn’t need to look up to know it was him. That voice was iconic enough.

“These humans.” You muttered, running a hand through your hair. “They always want more. It seems Jin has created a very greedy species.”

“But Jin loves them nonetheless. He admires there tenacity.”

“They’re like weeds.”

The dark eyed god laughed genuinely. “You are correct, my darling goddess.”

You rolled your eyes. “First they thought the world was flat and now they’re begging for a better harvest as if I have nothing better to do.” You massaged your forehead, holding your head in your hands. You sunk miserably into your chair. “What makes it worse is that I don’t.” You practically threw your hands up in frustration. “Why couldn’t I have gotten assigned to the stars or moon?”

Taehyung’s gaze softened seeing you struggle so hard. He carefully approached you, looking around uncomfortably. What could he do? He lifted his hand and slowly patted your back. It was a mixture of being comforting and annoying.

“Hey, it’ll be okay. You’ll learn soon enough that you don’t have to do everything they want. Yes, they’ll worship you, but they love you even more if they experience what’s it’s like without your guidance. They’ll appreciate you more.” He said, his voice deep and soothing. You sighed, back moving up and down under his touch.

“You’re right, I guess.” When you looked up, you met his eyes. And it was like you were drowning. The orbs of his eyes weren’t obsidian at all, they were a deep, glittering blue. You felt like you were losing your grip, so you quickly pulled away. “Thank you, but I’m very busy.”

He simply nodded and made his way toward the door. “Try not to be so hard on yourself.”

Even now, your eyes trailed him around the room. You shook your head and decided to distract yourself with greeting the endless sea of new guests. The temperature of the room rose with the amount of bodies piling in. You hadn’t expected so many to show up. You weren’t much of a crowds person, again, you were known as the looney goddess up in her head all day.

“I hope we can get along well.” Seokjin smiled, placing a kiss on your hand. You smiled gently.

“I, too, hope we can work together. Though, your humans are troublesome creatures.”

He chuckled and moved to the side, making way for the last god you expected to see. The god of the underworld stood there, his presence seemingly dropping the room’s temperature in itself. He frowned, looking awfully out of place next to the bright colors of the night.

“Mr. Min, lovely to see you.” You smiled pleasantly. He waved you off, eyes lazily surveying the room.

“I just came to wish you well. I believe we’ll be in touch very shortly.” He whispered so only you could hear him. You froze. No god or goddess who was in charge of living things wanted to hear that they would be meeting the god of the dead any time soon.

“What do you mean? What do you know?” You murmured back, fighting the urge to run to your office and check on the troublesome humans. Jin had left them in your care after he was done perfecting them. He claimed they were the perfect inhabitants for your lonely continents.

“You’ll have to talk to Jungkook about it.” He shook his head, moving to the side. You realized you had been talking far too long and people were throwing you suspicious stares, especially Taehyung. You excused yourself from the long line and made your way to the bar. You practically stumbled into a seat, like you were already drunk. You must have looked physically paler than ever before because the bartender poured you a glass of something strong without question.

Jungkook was a new god, like you. He had been made when humans were made. A very select few gods knew his reason for being here. That included the big three (Yoongi, Taehyung, and Seokjin), Jungkook, and Namjoon. The five of them didn’t seem very happy about him being there and they refused to tell you his reason for inhabiting this world. Taehyung would just shake his head, a soft look on his face, and say that he prayed you never found out.

“What happened?” Taehyung slid into a seat next to you.

“Tell me, Tae.” You turned to him, hand tightly gripping the glass. “What is Jungkook’s purpose here?” Your jaw clenched.

“Why do you need to know?” He looked bewildered.

“It pertains to the safety of my inhabitants.” You hissed.

“You really shouldn’t worry about it.”

“Why did Yoongi claim I would be meeting with not only him, but also Jungkook, very soon?”

Taehyung’s gaze searched your face. He had a distant look on his face. Then he brushed his hands through his hair. He forced a kind smile onto his face, but his eyes were cold.

“War. Y/N. War. He’s the god of war.”

You rushed out of your room to empty the contents of your stomach out once more. You truly were the most human of all the gods and goddesses. You took on a certain amount of pain your little humans possessed, but this was getting ridiculous. How many times can a god throw up on an empty stomach?

You were not well, everyone knew this. When you could stand, other gods sent you sympathetic looks. Your little humans. Your dreaded companions that plagued themselves with hatred for each other for centuries.

You gasped for air, flushing the toilet. Your eyes closed, trying to hold onto your stomach. You couldn’t eat, you couldn’t sleep. You had to constantly survey the Earth to make sure they didn’t completely destroy it with any of their fancy new weapons. You fell to the floor, feeling like you’d just been punched in the gut. Gods, what had they done to your beautiful creation this time?

You stumbled down the halls and towards your office, feeling more dizzy by the minute. Then you saw it, the news reports that flashed onto your screen, the carnage.

“No.” Your voice was so quiet in disbelief. Then it rose. “No! No! No!” You banged your fist against the table, your other hand clutching your stomach. You felt sick, sicker than before, like you’d been poisoned. All you could see were the words atomic bomb and Japan. You wanted to scream in pain and frustration. You had no lively energy, no color in your cheeks. Your eyes were hollow. Your hands shakily grabbed the table as you pulled yourself to a standing position. Quiet tears streaked down your cheeks.

“Jungkook.” You yelled hoarsely. “Jungkook!”

Finally, the young god appeared in a shimmering light, an astral projection to your office. Unlike you, he seemed to be glowing, basking in the violence. Now he radiated energy and pure rage.

“Please.” You choked, squeezing your eyes shut. “Please, stop this.” You cried out, voice breaking. He just tilted his head, seemingly reveling in your tears.

“Why? I’m thriving, Y/N.” He chuckled darkly.

“You’re killing me.” Your voice was flat, stating a simple truth. If the reason for a god’s existence disappeared, then the god would be forgotten as well. He smiled a little.

“Fine, but you can’t expect me to hold back next time.” He disappeared and you collapsed on the floor, unable to stand any longer.

Pain was all you felt, saw, heard, smelled. His sadistic smile forever burned in your vision.

“Y/N?” A concerned voice came through. You heard a tray drop and the hurried footsteps of someone. “Oh my gods, what happened?”

You didn’t have the energy to respond.

“See, this is why I told you not to get so invested in your little humans.” He murmured, the low voice giving you a sense of peace. Inside, Taehyung was furious. Seeing you laying there helpless broke something in him. And when he picked you up, you were so frail, all bones. Your immortality would not allow you to starve to death, but you could feel that pain.

“You idiot.” His voice didn’t wobble, though he felt like breaking down seeing you like this. Maybe he cared more about you than he should. Maybe he was the idiot for falling in love with you.

“I just-I just wanted to help.” You murmured softly against his shirt. He just clutched you tighter, laying you down onto the large bed.

“I know, love, I know.” He whispered, brushing a few strands of hair from your forehead. He couldn’t handle seeing you in this feverish state. This is not what a god should look like.

Your ethereal light was faded significantly, now a dim glow.

“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to take care of me. You have the sea to handle.”

“I’d choose you over the sea any day.” He murmured, hoping you hadn’t heard, but you had. You just didn’t react, knowing he would feel awkward if you acknowledged it. Your heart beat quickly, and not because of the fever.

You tugged on his hand. “Stay.”

And he did.

“What’s the prophecy?” Taehyung tilted his head, looking at the pale god before him. Yoongi sighed and took a deep breath, ready to repeat the entire thing again. “No, no,” Taehyung held up a hand. “I’ve already heard that version. Just sum up the important points.”

“Alright.” The older god grumbled. It wasn’t unusual for Taehyung to talk brashly. “Basically, I’ll meet my soulmate and they will lead me down a path that will end in my demise.”

“Anything else that could lead to your demise?” Hoseok raised an eyebrow.

The seven men all sat rather uncomfortably around a table in the throne room. They all looked around, trying to avoid the topic. Finally, Jungkook banged his fist on the table.

“Can we all stop acting like idiots, we’re gods! Why can’t we utter his name? It’s pathetic!” He shouted. Namjoon shot him a glare and Taehyung eyed him warily. He still hadn’t forgiven the younger god for putting you through so much pain.

“Kronos is not a titan to be trifled with.” Namjoon muttered, barely making out the name.

“We all know he’s coming back, hell, even Y/N can feel the growing tension.” Jungkook continued his rant, though a little more subdued. It was true, you had been complaining of this tension in your chest for ages now.

“Don’t talk about her.” Taehyung crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat.

“What? You worried for your girlfriend?” Jungkook sneered. “You’ve grown soft for that insane goddess.”

His fists clenched under the table and Namjoon eyed him carefully.

“Alright, alright, settle down.” Namjoon glared harshly at the two gods. “Jin?”

“Yes?” The sky god straightened.

“Keep an eye on Kronos and Taehyung, please stay behind. I need to speak to you about something.”

Taehyung simply nodded as the others filed out of the room. Now alone, he sagged in his seat. “What do you want, Joon?”

Namjoon raised his eyebrows. “Is that any way to speak to me? Now, I need you to watch Yoongi. I don’t...I don’t want his love to be the downfall of us.”

The sea god scoffed at the other. “You really think Yoongi would fall in love with anyone?”

Namjoon’s eyes softened, looking Taehyung over. “I mean you fell in love, it’s not impossible.”

Taehyung gaped at Namjoon. “What-what? No!” He sputtered. The elder god gave him a knowing smile. “And what are you suggesting! I’m not that hard to love.” He mumbled the last part.

“Listen, you just need to take care of whoever it is.”

Taehyung’s face fell. “Take...care of?”

“Make it look like an accident.”

“I thought you didn’t believe that stuff?” Taehyung argued. The thought of destroying someone’s soulmate made his heart ache.

“Of course I believe the fates. I just didn’t want to worry Yoongi too much. Now, Tae, you’ve found your soulmate, yes?”

The dark haired god tilted his head. “Really?”

“Oh come on, Tae. You can’t be that stupid. It’s obviously Y/N.” Namjoon rolled his eyes. Taehyung swallowed.

“Why does this matter?”

“Well, I love you like a brother, but if you can’t follow through on this...” Namjoon looked into Taehyung’s eyes, a dangerous smile reaching his lips. “...I won’t hold off Jungkook next time.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened. “But, hyung, this is too cruel.” Argued the restless god.

“I have no issue with being cruel. I have an issue with Olympus falling to Kronos once more.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“Yes, a mortal.”

Taehyung froze, swallowing thickly. “A...mortal? Hyung this is too easy.”

“Mortals are easily curious and attracted to evil, you know this better than anyone...Y/N knows this better than anyone.”

“And yet she stays good on her word to Jin. She still defends them and helps them tirelessly.” Taehyung had even grown a soft spot, seeing how much you cared about those pitiful creatures.

“She’s a bit odd,” Namjoon watched a muscle in Taehyung’s jaw twitch at that. “But she will understand, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“She’ll hate me, hyung.”

“Thousands are lost to the sea every year.”

“But never on purpose!”

“She won’t hate you. Y/N is your soulmate, she’ll understand it’s for the better of all gods.”

Though the sea god doubted this, he still nodded. “Fine. I’ll do it. But if I get kicked out of the house, I’m staying with you.”

You did not understand.

“Tae! You can’t just do this to an innocent person!” Once she had overheard the plan, she ran straight to Yoongi to warn him. “She’s eight. EIGHT!” You felt distraught, feeling sympathy for this poor child who was almost killed for no fault of her own.

“I can’t believe you went and told Yoongi.” Taehyung cried, slamming his hands on the desk. You flinched slightly, but that didn’t deter him. “I did what I had to! Don’t you understand that? Do you want to die? You’re part of the original gods who put Kronos down there. He won’t be kind to you.”

“That was the original god, not me.” You defended yourself. “I’m sorry I went to Yoongi, but I can’t do that to him. I know I would feel absolutely heartbroken if my soulmate died.”

Taehyung frowned, ignoring your statement. “Did you know?”

“Know? That you wanted to kill a child?”

“No,” He stepped around the desk and took your hands in his. “That we’re soulmates.”

Your face got visibly pale and you instantly dropped his hands. You tried to ignore the hurt that flashed across his face. “You’re mistaken.”

“Namjoon told me.”

“He could be wrong.”

“Would it really be so bad, to be soulmates with me? To live together, forever?” He peered into your eyes. You softened your facial features.

“I mean, no, I don’t know.” You sighed, tugging at your hair. “I just didn’t expect this.”

“I wouldn’t mind.”

You stopped your worrying, glancing over his features. You searched for a sign of sarcasm, but you found none.

“I think I love you.” You suddenly said, your voice quiet. He resisted the urge to kiss you right there, the look on your face was so pure.

“You think?” He teased. He took a step forward and this time you didn’t move away. “I think I love you too.”

He leaned forward, lips brushing yours, teasing you almost. You leaned up, planting a soft kiss on his lips timidly. It was all over then. He grasped your waist, pulling you impossibly closer. You ran your hands through his hair. His tongue begged for entrance to your mouth and you gladly let him in. Taehyung’s breath fanned over your face as he pulled away, leaning down to pepper kisses down your jawline and neck. You gasped, surprised at the neediness he displayed. His hands ran up and down your waist.

“You know I’ll protect you no matter what, right?” He said breathlessly. You nodded, shifting under him. “You drive me crazy, Y/N. You make me want to ruin you.”

You felt your cheeks heat up. You buried your face in the crook of his neck, the centuries of being alone slowly fading away. It had been so long since you’d touched anyone intimately. You were sure you were that last virgin goddess in this town. You nudged him away softly.

“Not yet.” Your voice was firm but rang sweet.

He whined ever so slightly when he pulled away, taking in your flushed face.

“Gods, I’m so in love with you.” He declared.

You were speechless. You were so madly in love with him too. But how could you say it? It almost embarrassed you to be so open in your affections. So you simply nodded, pulling him into your lips once more.

You had long forgotten the little eight year old you and Yoongi had saved. Then she stumbled into the underworld, every god could feel the disturbance, no longer a little girl. She held herself with a lovely confidence. You couldn’t help watching her. After all, she was under your jurisdiction. You left your bed early in the morning, wiggling out from under Taehyung.

You watched him slowly shift, not noticing the lack of warmth. You smiled at his sleeping figure. He looked so peaceful, no sign of the whirlpool underneath. You had long been swept under, but you didn’t mind. He never overwhelmed you.

“Little human, what are you doing here?” You murmured to yourself, watching her wander through the halls. Then you remembered the meeting the gods had in a bit. You carefully flicked through the latest news, though you, of course, knew all of it first. You enjoyed the simple views of these papers, just trying to grab the attention of consumers.

“You’re up early.” Taehyung stood in the doorway, watching you with such love in his eyes, you just wanted to melt. You were still emotionally unstable since World War II, unable to think about war without wanting to break down again. Taehyung hated that he never stepped in. He hated that Jungkook allowed you to go through that. You felt like a ghost, often drifting off during conversation, but Taehyung was always gentle and patient with you. It seemed you were the only one he had patience for.

“Oh, yeah.” You scratched your head awkwardly. “Don’t you have a meeting to get to?”

“Yeah. Yoongi said it was important.”

“You didn’t kill the girl.”

“I know.”

“What will happen to you?”

I’m more worried about you. He thought to himself. “Nothing, love.” He opened his arms and you didn’t hesitate to hug him. “You don’t need to worry about me.” He murmured into your hair.

“Just don’t do anything stupid.” You mumbled.

“Of course.”

You patted his arm lovingly. “And try to give her a chance, okay? You intimidate most gods, what can you expect from a mortal?”

Taehyung chuckled, but he didn’t respond. You sighed and gave him a chaste kiss. “Be safe, love.”

Your face blanched, watching Taehyung get dressed. His hands shook.

“Where are you going?” You asked, voice small. He jumped, looking back to see you standing in the doorway. Taehyung fastened his necktie, swallowing.

“Namjoon wants me to finish the job.”

You froze, eyes widening. “What?”

“I know.” He groaned, hurriedly putting on his shoes. “but it should be easy since she’s traveling to the surface to pack up.” He went to move past you, but you planted yourself in the doorway.

“No.” You said firmly, crossing your arms. He looked at you, bewildered.

“I know you don’t like this, but at this point I have no choice. It’s you or her.”

“I’m a goddess, Taehyung. I’m not a fragile flower. I can handle pain. A mortal cannot!” You cried out. “If it’s me versus her, choose her.”

His gaze hardened and he stepped forward. He place his hands on your shoulders. “No.” Then he moved you aside like you were nothing.

“Kim Taehyung.” You were shaking, hatred pouring through you. “If you do not turn back around right now, I can promise you I will leave. I will leave and you won’t see me again.”

“I can’t believe this.” He whispered menacingly. He turned on his heel, facing you, pain in his eyes. But he knew the terror and pain you were displaying on your face would be engraved in his mind forever. “A human over yourself? You truly are the most selfless goddess I know.”

“They are my fish.” You gestured grandly. “If they die, I die. If the Earth dies because of them, then that’s my fault for loving them too much.”

“You always love people too much. Including me.” He took your hands in his, giving them a soft squeeze, all anger from before was gone. “But you’re lucky I’m absolutely, madly, in love with you.”

Then he turned around, leaving you frozen in place, heart beating wildly. “Taehyung!” You cried, dress flowing behind you as you chased after him. Too late. He was gone. “No, no, no.” You sank to the ground, holding your head in your hands. The pain you felt for that poor girl.

“Lift your head, Y/N.” His gentle voice called to you. And when you looked up, there stood Taehyung in all his glory. Not a hair out of place. You scrambled up, immediately backing away.

“That was fast.” You said bitterly.

“How long have you been sitting there?” His eyes met yours. You glanced away.

“Since you left.”

“That was hours ago.”

“So you did it?” You answered harshly, already feeling the tears ready to spill over.

“No.”

You looked up at him, eyes blinking back the tears in surprise. “No?”

“I couldn’t. Not to you. Not to her.”

A grin broke out onto your face.

“So you do have a heart after all, Mr. Kim Taehyung.”

He grimaced, “I didn’t like you using my name like that. I prefer you calling me Tae.”

You chuckled at his forlorn expression. You walked forward and embraced him. His arms enveloped you in warmth and you felt completely safe. Completely normal. Now you understood why humans went to war for such trivial things. Before you couldn’t understand why they hated each other, why they hurt each other, and by default, you. It’s because they love something else that’s worth fighting for. And as you sank into his embrace, you knew you would go to war for him, even if Kronos ate you like your ancestors, you wouldn’t regret it one bit.

#bts #bts x reader #tatawrites #taehyung #kim taehyung #taehyung x reader #of eternity and euphoria #fluff #angst #God!Taehyung #God!BTS #proof reading is not a thing here lol

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cupsofsuga · 5 years ago

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HEART TO HEART ━ YANDERE BTS REACTION*:･。.

{⚠️} WARNING - This is a yandere au, meaning the following may be triggering to some viewers. I am not trying to discriminate the boys in any way, this is for entertainment purposes. Viewer discretion is advised!!!

{💐} ANON ASKED - “How would the Yandere boys react to Y/N be accepting to their Yandere self. Like she wouldn’t be mad at them and just be okay with it.”

KIM SEOKJIN

━━━ You imagine yourself as a ballet dancer, twirling for thousands to watch in awe. You imagine yourself at a ball, waiting for your prince/princess to swoop in and turn the night into a starlit memory. On this late September evening, you dance under dead stars, resembling a cherubic swan with a curse running through its veins. Bare feet against cold grass was blissful dancing under the spotlight of the moon, adding on to the purity of this evening. There’s glitter on your eyelids and a locket draped over your neck, cursive poetry that runs along your skin and cherry wine that stains your lips. And just for this night, Jin can feel gardens bloom within his chest. You are in every means an angel.

“This ring is stunning! I couldn’t imagine a better promise”. Laughter tumbles from your lips and if Jin could record the sound and keep the tape nestled in his heart, he would. This epiphany overjoyed him for what feels like the first time in existence. You continue dancing to whatever song played in the stereo inside your head as Jin watches and marvels for. For so, so long, his heart was only fragments of dust buried deep in his chest, but now that the moon can shine on the embers of your love, Jin can feel every ounce of pain dissolve into the dirt underneath him, only to rot 6 feet under, just like it deserves. From now until he dies, he can be purified by your illuminated presence.

“Y/N, please promise me you’ll never take this ring off until we replace them with wedding rings… Promise me, love. Please…”

MIN YOONGI

━━━ Tossed and turned within sheets, you ponder over yesterday’s events as the September sun rises. The faint scatterings of tears are still stained on your shoulder and the scent of apple orchards still sticks to your form. You are alone currently, no Yoongi to awake you wearing that adoring smile, but, then again, the loneliness of the bedroom is tranquil. Why must isolation feel so euphoric? That must stay as a question for another day as you crawl out of bed, beginning your search for your lover.

The echo of the clattering of pots and pans fill your ears as you enter the kitchen through the archway. You find Yoongi, surrounded by multiple batches of sweets wearing oven mitts stitched with flowers. He hears your footsteps, looking up to you with the deep-rooted, intimate smile which you’ve grown quite used to. It was reserved for your eyes only, after all. You’ve turned the boy soft, which he learned to embrace in the early stages of his infatuation. You see, as much as Yoongi hardened his heart so much it reminisces a brick, you enter his tunnel of vision turning all of his progress to sweet strawberry jam. You turn the bitterness of dusk into the luminescence of dawn, all with a simple smile you give him. You have now turned days holy for Yoongi.

“My Y/N! You’re awake! I made you all sorts of treats! Cherry pies to brownies, whatever you’d like, my love! I wanted to say thank you for accepting me for who I am... I love you... B-But, if you’d like, I-I can scrap everything and start new! R-Really, I can start baking whatever you want, Aether/Aphrodite…”

JUNG HOSEOK

━━━ The room seems to curl in on itself to where you can only inhale the bitterness of broken sobs and tears. It’s quiet, so, so quiet your brain can barely even fathom the horrid meaning behind the silence. You let Hoseok cling onto your form, letting him cry and beg, letting him simply embrace the unholy feelings within his chest. Tears echo liquid sunsets as they fall down his face. So melancholically beautiful, you think to yourself. He pours out his insecurities and sorrows like whiskey into a glass as you’re there to sit and listen, watch as the boy crumbles right before you. You give him unconditional support and reassurance which clears the smoky air into rays of sunbeams.

Checking in on Hoseok the next day, you find the inquisitively cheerful boy setting up to what appears to be a fort. Fairy lights and fluffy blankets (which are his favorite) coat the living room, the silent chitter-chatter of Cartoon Network characters echoing from within the fort. You watch him as he lives in his own moment for a minute before declaring your presence, cooing at the way Hoseok squeaks and jumps, right before smiling with the light of a million suns and racing to embrace your form. He keeps you at arm's length after the long lasting hug, taking the sweet moment to admire the human before him in all of their glory. Hoseok looks into your eyes like you had gifted him the stars and he has eternity to go stargazing. Hoseok looks at you like you're a human incarnation of heaven itself, and nothing feels purer than seeing the love of his life right before his very eyes

“I-I wasn’t quite finished, but, d-d-do you like it? I spent all night on it! I went to the store and picked out some snacks and… h-horror films, because I know you like those. Yes, they scare me, but I-I’ll be alright! As long as you’re right beside me… Oh! I also found some whiskey in the basement! Not sure if it’s any good, but, I can always go get some more! Anything for you, my light…”

KIM NAMJOON

━━━ Lying in the window seat, enfolded by blankets and Donna Tartt in your hands, you let your mind walk away from the words of The Goldfinch and to wander over the events from earlier that morning. The words of self-doubt were poisoned and the embrace shared afterward was bittersweet. Namjoon's eyes were tainted with fear and his hands begged for your touch. Skin to skin, heart to heart, you hear words turn to cries in a matter of minutes. You let the vulnerable man shake in your arms and hours later, you’re now alone.

Movement from the archway sparks your attention, finding your lover there with a questionable glimmer of ecstasy within his eyes. Namjoon’s cheeks are still rosy and stained with tears from moments before, but his eyes read otherwise. He’s wearing a smile of sheer infatuation as he steps closer, sitting close enough for your hands to touch. Now, you have a clear vision of his eyes. They’re submerged in sunlight, stained with sunbeams as they stare at you. Two sheets of paper are in his hands, right before he whispers with the delicacy of a fawn, “we’re going to Paris”. Your heart picks up speed, reading the tickets word-for-word to receive some sort of confirmation this wasn’t some sort of sick joke. You cheer with excitement, throwing the man into your arms as you squeal. You thank him over and over again, watching as Namjoon marvels over your happiness. God, does he love you…

“I-I wanted to say thank you… For everything, you’ve done for me. I cannot find words to thank you enough, Y/N, so… Take this… What better place would there be for us to visit other than the city of love? Only for you, my angel..."

PARK JIMIN

━━━ Insecurities tumble from Jimin’s mouth as he sits in dusk. The man was worried if he was the sun chasing the moon, waves chasing the tide only to be pulled back, but you reassured him in that sugary sweet voice that sounds like grass rustling under the sun that those were only ugly thoughts, that they are only false. And the way you speak sounds like lullabies as you shush him and tell him you love him. His eyes have dried and his heart is no longer heavy. Dusk turns to dawn and the rainstorms have cleared. Jimin is finally the calm ocean he prayed to be. Jimin is finally himself with no judgment.

Dawn awakens, you are embraced by expensive sheets. The sunbeams kiss your skin as you’re left to wonder, where is Jimin? Every single morning he is cuddled right by your side, desperate for another inch of your skin on his. Waking up alone was more than peculiar, hence why you’ve walked out of the bedroom when you normally sleep in for much, much longer. You find the petite man in the kitchen, seemingly deep in thought as he crowds a plethora of shopping bags, all with Gucci and Chanel logos plastered on their front. You speak his name, watching him nearly snap his neck once he hears your voice. Before another second passes, you’re engulfed into an embrace, one that doesn’t need words to say “I love you more than you’ll ever know."

“Oh, Y/N… God, I love you so much… You’re so lovely and warm and completely and utterly perfect!!! My heart can’t function with you around! I love you so, so, so, so much!! Please never stop loving me…”

KIM TAEHYUNG

━━━ With perfect harmony, perfection, and precision, Taehyung has nearly covered the once white canvas with an assortment of colors. Your cherubic face is drowned with shades of black, blue and red which all blend in one harmonious manner. The illusions and manipulations of specific colors bring out the luminescence of your eyes and the delicacy of your skin. He steps back to admire his work of art and sighs, hopefully, this will be enough to express his utter infatuation and make you accept his confession. You’ve written a letter back to him, expressing your admiration for his devotion and artwork, so you must accept him now, right?

You wait on the bench next to the Art Gallery, shown in the polaroid inside the envelope you received, waiting for his arrival. Your mind seems to reel back to previous events, fingertips tracing over the tears fallen on the written letter in your hands and the vibrant red ink which emphasizes the emotion taken place in Taehyung’s constant state of pain without you at his side. You don’t know the face of the man, only the emotions. You hear the quiet pace of footsteps and feel your heart quicken. The man who held an undying infatuation with you stands just behind you. Eventually, you turn, letting his features drown in your eyes. And, God, you’ve never seen a man that happy.

“Hello, my love... I-I had a plan for what I was going to say to you, but, it seems as if words have failed me as of now. Because of that matter, I decided to give you something. A-And I know this must be new to you and all well frightening, but I can assure you, my intentions are only pure… I love you with my whole heart, darling… Now, please join me...”

JEON JUNGKOOK

━━━ In the parking lot of the school, the kids' chatter has simmered down and the bells have quit ringing. Class was in session, but you and Jungkook have chosen to spend the hour on the hood of your car. September winds and the last few sunbeams of Summer embrace the boy as tears fall down his cheeks. Jungkook cries and alas you can see the bruises and cracks that stain his soul. He expresses his anger, guilt, confusion, self-blame and lies them on a silver platter for you to digest, which you respond with unconditional support all whilst Jungkook is left to wonder in an infatuating harmony. God, where have you been all this time?

The scent of baked goods and lavender fill your nose, calming you from your high heart rate. Walking into Jungkook’s house in the suburbs after seeing what secrets lie under the floorboards was frightening, but, you quickly shake yourself out of the state of fearful unconsciousness and remind yourself that your friend is vulnerable and needs you at this moment. With shaky hands and hushed sniffles, Jungkook leads you up the staircase and through his bedroom door, which was coated with rusted paint. His bedroom is like no other teenage boys. Piles of laundry scattered here and there, messy bedsheets, and what’s this? In the corner lies a few scented candles surrounded by what appears to be your face. Your picture is accompanied by a plethora of items you can’t find the meaning for. Pencils, rings, gum wrappers. What was the meaning behind this?

“I-I know this might be a lot to take in, but, these are all lost items of yours! There’s a bobby pin here, chewed pencil there and, my personal favorite, a flannel of yours that you left here…! I wish I could’ve shown you this sooner, but, I just love you so much and I-I-I get so nervous and-… I just love you, Y/N… So, so much…”

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