#went yesterday but it was empty save for the employees so my brain was screaming get out run etc.

[dearest-lady-disdain]

going to a bookstore will fix me

[rkchoutzuyu]

The fountain of youth (AU)

tw: horror AU, drowning (kind of)

The sound of the train running over the tracks, paired with the movement had lulled Tzuyu to sleep in her seat. She hadn’t realized how tired she was when she got on the train. The lead service attendant approaches her and calls out “Miss! Miss!” until Tzuyu opens her eyes and looks around disoriented before realizing what happened. The first thing she notices is that the train is empty save for the few people who were getting out. Before she could ask where she was, the attendant spoke. “Miss, this is the last stop of the train. You must get off here.” Hurriedly she follows instructions and steps out onto the station. She looks at her phone and realizes it’s 10 pm; way too late for her to be lost. She unlocks her phone and tries to call her mother, but her phone is unable to complete the call due to having no signal. Tzuyu follows the exit signs and steps outside the train station.

Still, there is no signal.

She becomes frustrated and turns around ready to head back into the train station to purchase a way back home. Just as she turns, however, and employee is putting up a sign that says closed. She was certain other people who got off the train with her were still in there and yet the doors were locked. Now, she was a bit scared. With a sigh, she steps out towards the side walk and follows, trying to remember where she came from. There are no street signs here. Not just location markers but street signs at all: no stop or yield signs. Nothing. In fact, after walking a block, she was certain she had not even seen a vehicle operate through the streets. Likewise, there were no people and all the building’s lights were off. It was starting to get scarier and no matter how many times she tried to use her phone, the signal never got any better.

In the distance, she starts to make out a light. There’s no promise of people or safety but there’s light in the darkness and she clings to it with all hope. Close to tears, she speeds up and heads towards the light. It’s a storefront. Mystic bookstore was written in stencil on the store’s windows and the sign hung on the front door read: open. Without hesitation, she pulls the door open and steps inside. The bell hung above the front door chimes and her heart starts to beat faster and faster with each second that passes. It wouldn’t have been more than 10 seconds, though, when an old woman walked out from a door and stood behind the front counter. “Hello, dear!” she says with a gummy smile, most of her teeth missing “come on in. How can I help you?”

“I’m just tryin’ to go home, I- I couldn’t find anyone else around.” She says, her voice is shaky with nerves.

“Oh, of course. Can I interest you in a book? Come closer” she replies, gesturing with her hand for Tzuyu to get closer. The girl complies quietly. “My, you are so beautiful!” the old woman exclaims and Tzuyu smiles and looks away, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. The old woman continued to speak “Wouldn’t you like to be young and beautiful forever?” she asks.

Tzuyu looks back at the woman’s face in slight interest. She’d like to get home and she was terrified at that moment, but she didn’t say so. She wondered if the woman would try to sell her a book or an old wise tale about how to keep youth. There’s no way the woman in front of her had the key to eternal beauty and glory, however. The number of wrinkles on her face were evidence that anything the woman said from that point on, was a lie. Yet, Tzuyu felt compelled to answer. “Yes”

The old woman opens the small entry way that separates the counter from the rest of the store and waves her in. “Come. Follow me.” She says and then walks away towards the doorway that Tzuyu had assumed would lead to the back room or employee’s area. She was right, she realized after she walked through the doorway. But she also saw the old lady, opening another door. The woman stands at the doorway and holds the door open. From inside, Tzuyu could see that the door lead to an outside area. It was very serene looking, and she was sure she could hear a stream of water coming from out there. When she reached the doorway, the old woman puts out her hand to stop her. “When you go out there, look at the light and ONLY the light in the pond. You must undress and jump in. Do not look around in the water, either. Jump in and swim towards the bottom of the pond. There is a glowing light there, follow it.”

Tzuyu’s eyebrows come together and she looks over at the woman, wondering if she’d gone insane. She was wondering why she was even following this woman in the first place. Almost as if sensing her hesitation, the woman steps outside. Tzuyu is following the movement of the woman but when she turns around to face Tzuyu again, there is no old woman. Standing before her was the most beautiful woman-the most beautiful human she’d ever seen in her life. There seemed to be a glow coming from the woman’s now flawless skin. Her beauty was ethereal. Tzuyu’s lips were agape in amazement. “You can also be young and beautiful forever, Tzuyu” the woman spoke. She took a step to the side and gestured towards the pond. “just do as I instructed.”

There was still some doubt in Tzuyu’s mind, but she still stepped out, eyes straight forward until she caught a glimpse of the light at the bottom of the pond. From that moment on, her gaze did not stray away from it. As she walked towards the pond, she undressed, littering the way towards the pond with her sweater, shirt and skirt. Feeling that, she’d done enough, she keeps her underwear for modesty-it feels no different than wearing a bathing suit at that point. She steps out of her flats as she reaches the edge of the pond and without thought, jumps right in. Once her whole body is in the water, she opens her eyes and tries to orient herself. The body of water that she jumped in seemed shallow when looked at from the outside, but now that she was in the water and swimming towards the light at the bottom, it seemed to stretch out for miles. After a few minutes under water, she starts to panic as she needs to breathe. She still focused on the light when her body reacts as it should when it’s oxygen supply is low and tries to find a way for her to live. She knows she can’t look around and she has a feeling that coming up for air was not an option. She tries to take a breath and only water fills her lungs. She starts to panic. The survival instincts of the human body want her to swim upwards and find air.

The light at the bottom of the pond is the last thing she remembers seeing before everything went black.

________________________________________________________________

There is a point, once a body has gotten enough rest, where the human brain recognizes that it is asleep and in recognizing its state, it regains consciousness. Though, some people could remain in their dreams after this point, most people wake up. Once Tzuyu regained consciousness, she sat straight up taking a huge breath of air and panickily reaching up towards her throat. She realizes once she is awake that she’s sitting on her own bed, in her own room. Maybe it was all a dream- but it couldn’t have been. She was still wearing her under garments, and they were soaking wet. Hurriedly, she stood up and ran out her door and towards the kitchen. There was her mother making breakfast like always. “mom” she almost screams happily. “Mom. Oh god! I am so sorry I was late last night. I don’t know what happened, mom!” she was so scared, she rushes over and wraps her arms around her bewildered mother.

“Honey, what are you talking about? You came home right after dance class yesterday” her mom responds and pulls away from the embrace before putting the palm of her hand against Tzuyu’s forehead to feel her temperature. “Are you feeling well?”

Feeling a bit confused, Tzuyu nods at her mom and bites her lip, wondering what actually happened and what didn’t “Yea, mom. I just had a bad dream.” She says “I’ll go get ready for school”

She heads back to her room, feeling defeated and more confused than ever before. She enthusiastically gather’s her clothes and starts getting ready. After a nice warm shower and some freshening up, she’s starting to feel more like herself. She sprays some perfume on herself and heads for the full-length mirror in her room, to look at herself before heading out. Once in front of the mirror, she squints at her own reflection, taking it all in. She was absolutely gorgeous. Every flaw that she had ever seen on herself was now gone. Tzuyu inspected her reflection closely in the mirror trying to find one thing to complain about but there was none. She was perfection in human form. That fact was so exciting, that she completely forgot the debacle that had led to it. She wasn’t sure what happened after she started to drown but it didn’t truly matter if it worked to make her beautiful and young forever.

Tzuyu leaves her room and her mom asks if she’s ready to head out. They leave the house and her mom starts to drive her to school. While in the car, Tzuyu cannot stop looking at herself in the mirror. Even her mom noted that she looked beautiful. Nothing had ever made her this happy. And now, she would be happy forever. Before getting out of the car, Tzuyu looked at her mom and frowned. There were wrinkles on her mother’s skin. She hadn’t noticed before, but her mother was getting old. When had this happen and how come she was only now noticing?

At school, everyone tells her how pretty she looks. Guys and girls stop to stare in the hallways, no one seems to focus in any class. Everyone was focused on her beauty. As the day went by, she also noticed that everyone around her looked…older. No one looked their age and even the teachers were starting to seem much older than she remembered them. It was strange but not enough to worry her. She could hardly concentrate on anything but herself, especially since not five minutes passed before someone was giving her another compliment.

Once the school day was over, she left school and started walking towards the dance studio where she had lessons every day. It seemed like old people were everywhere. Tzuyu even took the long way towards the studio once she realized that she was distracting drivers and causing accidents on the main road. It was strange and suddenly, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to live this way forever. Maybe after dance class, she would be able to find her way back to that bookstore and ask the woman to reverse the effects. She unlocks her phone and opens the search engine. “Mystic bookstore” she types into the search bar and clicks ‘search’. There were a couple of places in her area called that but none of the pictures looked like the place she had visited the night before. She wasn’t even sure if she was in the same city.

Before she could worry too much about the location of the store, she arrives at the dance studio. She goes into her room and it all seems natural until she notices that her teacher and ever other student in the class are all old women. Things get stranger when the women all turn to look at her. Their eye sockets were sunken in and their lips were turned inwards towards the mouth due to missing teeth. At the sight of her, they all opened their mouths and let out a strange guttering sound. Tzuyu screamed in fear and the second she did, the hoard of elderly women all stand in unison and head her way.

Tzuyu runs away before any of the old women can reach her. This couldn’t wait any longer. She heads towards the train station, planning to take the same train and go all the way to its last stop as she had the day before. She was scared and she wanted this to end. The only problem was, that every person she passed on the way to the train station looked older and older. In addition, they had all started to follow her. Even as she reached the train station, she didn’t know what to do because everyone there was also old. After thirty minutes of walking tirelessly and gathering a massive crowd behind her, she starts to realize that no one even looks alive anymore. They don’t sound alive, either. One glance back towards the crowd and it looks straight out of a zombie film. This scares her further and she starts to walk faster and faster until she is fully sprinting and every creature behind her is trying to catch up, stumbling and tripping on each other, causing an avalanche effect. The creatures who manage to run around the accident do not let up, however and it seems like there will be no end to the chase.

She runs as fast and far as she can, thinking about where to go. After what seemed like forever, she hears something. It’s a young girl standing in a doorway and yelling at her to come. She sees it as her safe zone and runs quickly towards the door. The young girl tells her to go in quickly and they walk through the door together. Tzuyu turns around and closes the door behind herself. “Thank you so much.” She says between pants as she catches her breath. By the time she turns around, there is no little girl. The room she finds herself in is littered with stacks of old, dusty books that line the walls until the stacks are taller than Tzuyu herself. “hello?” She says, fear setting in once again. She walks further into the room and finds another door way. When she steps in, she sees a young woman standing there. The young woman is the first thing she notices because she was hyper aware of other people, given the events of her day. However, upon further inspection, she realizes she is behind the counter of the bookstore she visited the night before. She looks around frantically, trying to find the old woman from the night before. Facing her on the counter was a mirror in which she caught a glimpse of her reflection. No longer a beautiful woman, she was now an old decaying woman. Even older than the one she’d talked to the night before.

The panic is about to set in full force because the young woman on the other side of the counter speaks “Can you help me? I can’t find my way back home and there’s no one around”

Tzuyu looks up at the girl and before she can think of a proper response, she says “My, you are so beautiful!”

[shinichirosbabymama]

(Donald Pierce x Reader)

A/N: SO I went to see Logan yesterday and it was sick so I thought I’d write a little Donald Pierce x Reader thang. I can see some serious potential for a part 2 so let me know what y’all think. This contains some major spoilers for Logan and mentions of violence. Enjoy!

Your feet clicked against the stone floor as you entered your kitchen. You'd done this every day for the last four years but today something was different. The plates inside of the cupboard began to rattle as soon as you entered and you gripped the kitchen surface to steady yourself. 

They escaped. They're free. 

You breathed rapidly trying to still the surge of emotion building inside you. You'd never felt so conflicted - you couldn't deny that you were glad the children were finally free but by doing so you had betrayed the person that you loved. 

But how could you ever love him? He was a monster. 

The tempestuous feelings inside you built to such a level that the lights around the room began to flicker. The sounds of kettle rapidly switching on and off filled your ears as the currents surged from your body into the kitchen around you. 

You felt as thought you were about to explode when you suddenly heard the front door slam. You stopped instantly - only at the result of decades of schooling yourself to react automatically to company - and the cutlery draw crashed loudly onto the floor.  

'Baby?' You heard a thick southern accent drawl from nearby as you released the kitchen counter from your grip and stood stock still. 

Donald appeared before you a moment later. His sunglasses hung loosely in his hand as he squinted at you in the dim light of the kitchen. The fuse must have blown again. 

'Darlin' are you okay?'

Donald pressed his flesh hand to your cheek, face automatically tightening in concern when he felt how cold and clammy the skin felt underneath. Your little episode had weakened you significantly and constantly suppressing your abilities only allowed you to use them in short bursts anyway. 

'What happened in here?' Donald gestured towards the floor and for the first time you noticed  cutlery was scattered everywhere from where the draw had fallen. 

'I-I stumbled and pulled it out.' You murmured avoiding his gaze as he studied your face. Seemingly satisfied with your explanation, Donald led you to front room where he help you sit down on the sofa. You instantly flopped down onto your back as he briefly left the room before reappearing with a damp flannel which you were secretly grateful for as a headache began to blossom over your brow. 

'I-I think I'm sick.' You mumbled again as you scrunched your eyes shut trying to block out the pain. 

'Shh just lie back. I got you.' Donald spoke softly as he dabbed your brow with the cloth. His metal hand rested on your wrist and you tried to resist springing away from him. You were too uncontrolled right now and you didn't trust yourself. One wrong move and you could kill him. 

'I'll take you to get checked out. No offence baby but you look like hell.' You knew that Donald's faux-teasing voice was laced with worry underneath. 

'No! No - really. I'll be fine. I just need rest.' You steadied your voice as you lay back, keeping your gaze fixed on the ceiling above you. 

'That's my girl. Always stubborn.' Donald chided gently, his hand still resting on your wrist - probably as a subtle way to measure your pulse. Slowly you could feel yourself starting to regain your strength as you focused on emptying your mind of all the feelings that had crowded you earlier. 

'I hate to leave you doll, really - but something's happened.' 

You knew damn well what had happened but Donald didn't know that. So you schooled your voice into one of concern as you as you attempted to pry the truth from him. 

'What is it?' 

'Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about. I'll have some of the boys set up outside to listen out in case you need me.' 

Great. You thought, knowing full well that it would be highly suspect of you to refuse his protection. 

'Okay love.' You heard yourself saying, offering him a smile that you silently prayed would appear convincing. Donald seemed satisfied (or distracted) as he leaned forward and kissed you. 

After he left you finally allowed your muscles to relax. You could still feel tiny shocks and static in your fingertips but the worst of it was over. You had never been proud of your so-called powers. In fact they were little more than a curse. You'd been born with the ability to control different energies around you. On the surface it appeared like an incredible gift but it had in fact brought you nothing but anguish. 

You remembered the first time your power had resulted in a death. You glanced down and stared at your hands, the same hands that had tightly gripped at the limp kitten in your arms when you were five years old. You could recall the static sensation of its singed hair on your skin. You didn't mean to kill it you just didn't know how to control yourself yet. 

Your parents were not like you -they said you were evil. You father had shook you so violently when he saw that you'd killed the kitten that you panicked and shocked him. As his limp body fell to the floor your mother began to scream, so loudly that it hurt your ears so you silenced her with a single jolt from your fingertips. 

After that you were alone. You were smart enough to know that your home wasn't home anymore. You spent years traversing the country - trying to stay out of trouble and avoiding the authorities who were desperately searching for a missing child, presumed dead. 

You fled to Mexico when you were 17, a place where there were far less questions about where you'd come from. But you were still lost, drifting from one job to the next one that didn't require a form of ID as you tried to keep the food in your belly. 

Your ability to control the energy around you was very much a two-way relationship. You naturally found yourself drawn to the cities buzzing with lights and people. You spent three years making your way around Mexico before finally settling in the capital. 

Transigen had captured your attention immediately. The amount of energy spilling from the walls of that place piqued your curiosity and you attempted to investigate what was happening inside, but to no avail. Security was far too tight. The only possible in for you was through employment. And for that you needed a verifiable background. 

So you bided your time. You worked night and day until you'd saved enough money to pay a man to create you a birth certificate and passport. You were now Y/N Y/L/N. You spent hours schooling yourself into the perfect Transigen employee - hardworking, intelligent but also obedient and loyal. You practiced suppressing your powers, reacting to every possible surprise or eventuality. You vowed never to kill anyone again. 

You paid the man extra just to throw in a few relevant medical qualifications, confident that you'd be able to learn as you worked, and before you knew it you'd landed the job. 

You kept a low profile for the first few months of your employment. You were mostly constrained to admin work and knew for the fact that not a single person in there trusted you yet. Slowly you gained the trust of your superiors and were gradually allowed into the lab. 

For a long time you couldn't understand why the children were being kept like this. A cancer study seemed unlikely and your suspicions continued to grow. It wasn't until one day when they attempted to restrain one boy who then decapitated the nurse stood next to you did you realise that these were not normal children.  

That day did not stick in your memory for that reason alone - it was also the day you met Donald Pierce. 

The moment he entered the room you had to suppress your abilities harder than you'd ever tried in your life. It didn't help that he walked right up to, feet splashing in the blood that covered the hospital floor and brought his face right up to yours. 

'Ya hurt?' 

His blue eyes bored into yours as he spoke, his thick southern accent clouding any emotion that might have once been present in his voice like smoke. 

'No.' Was all you managed in a tight voice, unable to tear your gaze away from his. Donald had stared at you a few seconds longer and for a moment you were sure he knew your secret. But after what felt like a millennium he stepped back. 

'Good. Don't tell anyone about this.' He murmured roughly before leaving the room. 

You didn't know it at the time but that was the beginning of the two of you. Everyone at Transigen thought Donald was the devil incarnate but you could almost see a warped logic to his thinking. You didn't want more to die because of people like you. But you never, ever, condoned the abuse and neglect that the children received. 

Every day that you worked there was another day where Donald cemented himself in your brain. You loathed yourself for being so hypnotised by his eyes and the way that the sound of his voice made your head swim. These feelings were completely alien to you and yet that didn't stop you welcoming Donald's invasion into your personal space, lips twisting into a half smile and revealing that ridiculous gold tooth when he studied you. 

'You're a smart girl - in fact, I think you're dangerous.' Donald drawled one night as you were cleaning up the lab at the end of the day. The words made your blood run cold as your mind began to conjure the idea that he knew. But he simply laughed in the end and brushed your shoulder lightly as he left.  

It was difficult to piece together exactly how you'd arrived at your current destination. You and Donald had now been living together for four years. Four years. The fact was unbelievable even to your own ears but despite everything he showed you love that no one else had. You'd never been welcomed into a home to call your own before, never been held or never even been considered by anyone else until you met him. The last four years had been a conflict for you - how do you convince the man you love to give up his lifelong mission?  

The sound of the front door clicking shut startled you out of your reverie. Several hours had passed since Donald had last left and you found yourself buried under the sheets of your bed now, not realising you'd been lost in thought for so long. All was good, for now, and the energy both in you and around you felt relatively lax. 

You feigned sleep as you listened to Donald climb the stairs and enter the bedroom. He groaned in exhaustion as he undressed, his coat and jeans landing on the floor heavily as he stripped carelessly. 

He climbed into bed next to you and you tensed at the sensation of his cold arms as they wrapped around you. The sensation of his facial hair rough against your neck relaxed you a little - despite everything, you felt at home here when it was quiet. Donald relaxed next to you but you knew he was wide awake. 

'Everything okay?' You whispered into the darkness as you intertwined your fingers with his. 

'The kids are gone. I don't know how but they fuckin' are.' 

His metal hand tightened around yours to the point of pain and you stroked his arm in response, hoping to calm him. 

'You'll get them back.' 

'How do you know?' Donald hissed and you tensed your jaw in response as you resisted the urge to snap back. Maybe you shouldn't have been fucking holding them there in the first place. He didn't scare you in the slightest but he could be difficult. 

Instead you tried a different tactic. You rolled over and pulled his nude body close to yours, your lips moving over his neck as he hummed in response. 'Because you're better than they are.' 

Donald's breath caught in his throat as his metal hand moved up to grip your hair as he kissed you. 

'Damn right.' 

You moved away briefly to take in the sight of him before surging forward and kissing him hungrily. Like your life depended on it. Donald made a noise of surprise but responded in kind. For all you knew this could be the last time. You could no longer sit idly by knowing what was happening.

It was time to act.