#why oh why is one of my favorite ships of all time so armory

[awsydawnarts]

What could have been… 🍁🗡

Plus some sketchy Pyrrhas

[cyb-by-lang]

Cascade (part 2)

How about a bit more?

(Wherein Kei replaces Mineta's party slot again.)

You know, I feel almost like we should thank this League of Villains. 

Oh? Why is that? 

Because I’ve never fought someone careless enough to drop me in an armory before, and it’s kind of fun. 

UA’s budget was the next best thing to unlimited, resulting in a training pool for flood rescue a dozen times the volume of the best-maintained Olympic water feature. And Kei—and therefore Isobu—had just been dumped into it. Sure, Midoriya and Asui were stuck in the water with her, and maybe Midoriya didn’t have a water-adapted Quirk, but the surface was only three meters away. Even if that was too much, and the water-adapted villains in the pool with them tried to strike, it didn’t matter. 

Not compared to the power of a jinchūriki in her element. 

With Isobu’s chakra following its favorite pathways through her body, Kei clapped her hands together and reached out. 

Everything stopped. 

The water went thick and almost gelatinous, molecules seizing almost perfectly in place across the entire volume of the pool. Though Kei could hear the villains’ garbled voices even as they shrieked in confused rage, she wrapped her power around herself and the two other students as a shield. At least one villain slammed headfirst into water gone solid and broke his hand. 

And then Asui, swimming at top frog speed and making some of the sharkier villains look slow even with Kei’s watery speed debuff, wrapped Midoriya in her tongue and dragged him toward the surface. Perhaps because Kei shot her a thumbs-up, Asui did not feel the need to slow down in the slightest before Kei took control of the local water column and rocketed upward after her. 

Once they breached he surface, Asui hurled Midoriya upward onto the deck of the ship serving as the training area’s centerpiece. Kei, landing on the surface of the water, shook out her hair before offering Asui a hand up. 

“Water-walking, Gekkō-chan?” From about ankle-height, Asui grabbed Kei’s glove with a hand that dwarfed hers. Must have been a part of the frog mutation Quirk she had going on. 

“Yep.” Sure, Kei didn’t really consider it a part of her Water-aligned ninjutsu repertoire, but that was the kind of distinction no one here cared about. “Let’s go.”

They got onto the ship with no further trouble.

 Partly because water slowed down basically everyone, and partly because Kei was just barely holding back from crushing all of the villains still flailing around below the surface. She knew how water pressure worked. She didn’t care if they all died. 

But someone might, so Kei refrained from preemptively removing child-murdering thugs from the mortal coil. 

No one needed to know she considered it, anyway. 

“Thanks, Gekkō-san, Asui-san,” was how Midoriya greeted them on the ship’s bow. Despite being waterlogged, he was otherwise fine. 

“I told you to call me Tsuyu-chan, Midoriya-chan.” 

“R-right, Tsuyu-chan!” There was no need to go around sounding like Asui was threatening him about her given name at knifepoint, but two days of class had already established that Midoriya’s overthinking tendencies and burgeoning anxiety disorder were on the louder side. “Th-thanks!” 

Asui nodded, acknowledging her victory. She turned toward the railing, looking down toward the water, then said, “This isn’t looking good.”

“Yeah,” mumbled Midoriya, “and I just can’t get what that villain said out of my head.”

“You mean about All Might?” 

“Right.” Midoriya pressed a hand to his mouth, just above the heavy-duty mouthguard that had barely survived the training exercise earlier this week. “They knew our schedule. Looking at the big picture, those guys must have set up the break-in earlier to get information. Like Todoroki said, they were waiting to pounce.”

“That’s alarming,” Asui said. One of the villains maybe dared to swim closer, but notably not in range of her long tongue and perhaps a subsequent lashing.”

“If those guys really think they have a way to defeat All Might,” Midoriya said, squaring his shoulders and clenching his fists, “then we should do everything in our power to stop them. By fighting…and winning!” 

“I’m on board with it,” Asui said with a quiet ribbit. 

“Same,” Kei muttered, already gathering chakra again for another attack.

“And the fact that they knew where to warp us means they’ve researched the USJ before now…”

“I was thinking the same thing! But while the villains clearly knew about the USJ, I think there’s a big gap in their information. Especially for a group that otherwise operated so meticulously.” 

Kei hid a yawn behind her hand, then lifted the other to snap her fingers. All the water clinging to their costumes dispersed into the air as though shaken off by a dog. 

“Th-thanks for demonstrating, Gekkō-san,” Midoriya managed, shuddering at the sensation. “But it also goes for Tsuyu-chan. If the villains realized what our Quirks were, they would’ve never sent both of you to the water rescue zone.”  

Kei glared down at the water through her goggles. At least a dozen waterborne villains had surface, and her control of the pool indicated another half-dozen lurking underwater to ambush anyone who tried to swim for safety. 

Actually, some of them looked like they were equipped for the job. Shark-Face notwithstanding, there weren’t as many obvious aquatic mutant Quirks on display as there could’ve been. One or two of them had spearguns in hand, like their expected opposition was just going to sit there and get shot. Or, rather, go into the water and get shot. 

Not for the first time, Kei wanted a complete report of all the shit Catch-These-Hands down in the plaza must have gotten into when he disintegrated his way into the school. Obito hadn’t finished writing it. But since Kei’s chakra was as subtle as a sledgehammer, she could only assume he’d noticed the new problem from Nezu’s office and started to organize a response.

And if he wasn’t, Kei would find time in her schedule to yell at him. 

“Our advantage lies in the fact that the villains don’t know what our Quirks are. None of them are trying to climb into the boat, which supports my hypothesis.” Midoriya’s determined look faded for a split second. “Um, Asui-sa—Tsuyu-chan’s Quirk is a given, but I didn’t get to see yours in action, Gekkō-san.” 

Mainly because Midoriya’s match with Bakugō had been the first and only training exercise to send someone to Recovery Girl. He’d missed at least three after that. Kei distinctly remembered wondering where all of Midoriya’s compartmentalization ability had gone, given that he’d blown up his entire arm again. Thankfully, the school nurse was able to put this Humpty Dumpty back together after all. 

“I know it’s water-based, too…”

“It’s called Tsunami,” Kei replied. She pressed her hands together again into the Dog seal. As her chakra surged, so did Isobu’s. “Which means I can create, control, and destroy all water around me.” 

There was another brief pause. Midoriya looked like he couldn’t decide to laugh or cry. If Kei had just been told her job was to fight a bear and then informed her that the day’s allowed arsenal included a main battle tank, she figured she’d feel the same way. 

“That simplifies the plan a lot, Gekkō-chan,” said Asui, blunt and sincere at once. “Thank you for telling us.” 

“No problem.” 

About a second later, one of the villains finally lost patience and created a giant hand made out of water to go on the offensive. It rose tall as though to chop the ship in half and drag everyone to a watery grave. Some of the villains even started giggling in anticipation. 

Kei slid down the length of the bow until she was directly beneath the attack, raised one hand, and caught the blow with her fingertips as well as Isobu’s strength. The water construct felt solid enough as it made contact, but it bowed under their combined control and started to reshape itself into something blunter, scalier, and wonderfully familiar. 

Best high-five I’ve ever pulled off. 

The best so far.

Kei shook hands with her shoulder devil made manifest—hand to fingertip, at any rate—and sent their power wildly down through that point of contact like a dam collapse. Soon, more and more of Isobu’s hundred-meter body took shape in semitransparent form, dotted occasionally with screaming, terrified villains who suddenly realized they’d lost control of the plot. While there wasn’t enough water to manifest Isobu’s full size, what was there could fold the enemy’s aquatic fighters into its belly and keep them there for as long as needed. 

And all the while, the demo ship sank lower and lower in the pool, away from the possibility of drowning or reaching the plaza without some help. 

“How do you feel about surfing, Midoriya-chan?” Asui asked. 

“I-I-I think positively?!” Midoriya grabbed the railing of the tossing ship hard enough to leave fingerprints in steel. It didn’t seem like he noticed. 

“Then we’ll go with that. Hang on tight, please,” Kei said, and channeled still more energy into her grasp on the water.

[imonoyte]

Why NO PATHS ARE BOUNDS is the best fic ever, an essay

First of all, the author made everything so much more twisted and painful, of course my love for the original story, plot and characters remain unchanged it's just insanely satisfying to see it all exacerbated

×the amount of pain xie lian had to go through is astronomical and the consequences on his personality and punctual dissociating is really well depicted

×all the "perfect" sides of the characters are deconstrustructed like hua cheng's selfless behavior toward xl, his tendency to let him do what he wants all the times but in the fic he opposed him a few times over his own safety but still; lan chang is not the perfect mother that loves his son despite what he came out to be, she's resentfull and did harm,

×in contrary, all the hatefull sides of the bad characters who have few little chances to be appreciated have explaination arc if not redemption, for exemple shi wudu from my impression from the original tgcf is a family-first but piece of shit type with the water tyrant title and what happened to he xuan but there in npab it's clearly more complicated than that and oh my day i absolutly love the progress in relationship between he sheng and shi wudu excuse me i almost could've started shipping them both it bring so much comfort to witness them having each other's back and omg THE HUG !! THE PROTECRIVENESS !! THE TALKS !! please i love them;

the developement of bai wuxian story just fall right into the plot, what happened for jun wu to be that way

there's also qi rong's character who is despicable even more than he was and lovable, even more than he was, his humility toward mu qing brought tears to my eyes

Pursuing with Mu qing, the absolute love of my life that i would defend against all who is so so so sooo... I just love him and his progress and ouch his backstory was hard take but also it makes more sense in a way that he hadn't moved on after 800years, i'm not saying the original back story's lacking but it feels like some things were kept unsaid because i believe mu qing and his good heart must have been pushed in a corner way more painfully repeatedly for him to be so deeply wounded like we dont really know the extend of his past bullying

It's so well written and makes so much sense sometimes some elements could just fit right into the original story like why pei ming and hua cheng are the only one xie lian ever found attractive in the story, it just makes so much sense to me now like ?? pein ming being the zeus of tgcf and hua cheng being powerful fatherless makes it all possible plus that makes he xuan and hua cheng family by extend and that's just *intense screaming*

- he xuan coming back as the water master and the story FINALLY finally introduce us to a Thunder master

-hua cheng offering the armory to xl for him to profect himself and all of them being made by hc himself just feels right

(There's probably way more but i can't find them at the moment send help)

And the new original characters reng song the absolute perfection also i loved how lan qianqiu became a more central characters than he was in the original and their bickering was the epithom of cute, huz cheng's past and all the story around the forge i say it shortly but yk how much this weights in the story

Of course the additional nsfw scenes that we've all been craving for and everyone falling in love it's just too cute and ling wen and the rain master ? Absolute chef kiss

On a personal note i love depictions of body horror and monstruous behaviour and body changes and i was SPOILED on this side

%starting with the shackles, on the ankle, neck and eyes, constricting him, his breathing, his sight, his life. Plus blind are characters and stories from the point of view of blind characters are one of my favorite this days thanks to another kind white clothed cultivator; when they started thinking of a way to destroy the shackles it was horrible omg and just basically xie lian's level of pain tolerence and vision of normalcy and casually almost saying he got his eyed gouged out several times

%the animalistic/ bestial traits of the ghost kings like fangs, long nails, snarling, baring their teeth, please when he sheng brought shu wudu behind him to protest against to punishment almost turning feral i loved it.

That's it, that's the word, i love when they turn feral, when they embrace insanity and great amount of pain bring that out of them and this fic was perfect in this very aspect i think

And EXCUSE ME dragon hua cheng was the cherry on top of the cake it's one of my absolute favorite and it was beautifully described

Continuing on body horror and gory stuffs xie lian being hanged from his shackled, the pain, the screaming scenes, mu qing's qi deviation, yin yu's death... so well written

Let's not forget the perfect addition of the mdzs elements that fitted so naturally in the story, so fluid and logical in the telling, I love Zidian btw

On a more joyfull note, the growth of the characters, the humour, most of them were lovable, despite all the angst it's easy to just fall into it and enjoy the ride (then the angst is back and you just cry but oh well).

It's still followed the tram and order of the story and it's really pleasant to read your tgcf favorite scenes incorporated in a new not so divergent plot

In short y'all need to read no paths are bound on ao3 by CataclysmicEvent

[iwillsithereandtrytocontribute]

No Happy Ending

Masterlist Ao3

Pairings: Implied Lyfrassir Edda/Marius Von Raum

Warnings: Major character death, Mechanisms-typical threatened violence, Coughing blood, Thoughts of suicide, 

Don’t worry, I don’t describe the death in a ton of detail, but be warned. 

This is my first fic for the Mechanisms fandom. I was listening to The Bifrost Incident again and thought "Hey I've seen a bunch of content where Lyf survives and meets/joins the Mechanisms. What if they didn't survive?" And because I had to deal with that thought (it's a Mechanisms album let's be real) now you get an hour's worth of straight stream of consciousness. Enjoy! :)

“Log of Lyfrassir Edda Inspector- oh that doesn’t matter anymore I suppose. Just Lyf then if anyone actually listens to these when I’m gone.” Lyf coughed wetly into their hand and stared somewhat disinterestedly at the blood that splattered across it. They took a moment to catch their breath. “This will be my final entry I imagine. None of the ship’s functions have worked correctly in weeks.

“First it was the-” they were cut off by a sudden blur in their vision. It took a moment for Lyf to realize they were still holding the recorder. “The navigation systems went down first, then one by one various systems shut down or broke. I am nearly out of food and water and the oxygen pumps stopped almost an hour ago.”

Lyf stared at their hands, shaking and covered in their own blood. “I know I was touched by the outer gods. Even I wasn’t fast enough to escape their grasp completely. But I know they will not save me. I wouldn’t want them to if they could. Perhaps in a moment of weakness I would fall to them as Odin did, but here in the cold of space I don’t even have the option. It’s for the best.”

They gazed at the sputtering lights around them, the broken gauges and stuck knobs. They had been tempted just to end it many times, but something always stopped them. If Lyf had been more foolish or perhaps just slightly less stern they might have called it hope. Hope that they could flee and survive. That they could take advantage of the gift Loki and Sigyn had given the Yggdrasil System with their lives. But they were austere as ever and chalked up their perseverance to nothing but fear of dying.

And Lyf was afraid to die. Even here, even now, as they felt the end approaching as they had for weeks now. They were afraid. They realized the log was still running. They might as well spend their last hours leaving something to be remembered by.

“The recordings of my findings and the events of the Bifrost incident are all here. You may even have listened to them if you’re listening to this. I sincerely doubt there will be anything left of my home system, not after what Odin released there. They might even leave there one day, consume the rest of everything. It doesn’t matter. I’ll be long dead.” Lyf laughed. A short bitter laugh that turned into another wracking cough.

“I didn’t have much on Asgard to be perfectly honest. No family to speak of, few friends. The one constant I had were those blasted Mechanisms. I suppose they’re the reason I lasted long enough to make it all the way out here instead of being trapped in that psychedelic hellscape. They’re the reason I asked for a transfer from the prison to transport police. The amount of violins I confiscated from Marius,” Lyf said as an afterthought.

“They always disappeared not long after I left them. I guess Von Raum and the others could always have escaped. They must have wanted another story .” Lyf put more malice in their voice than they felt. It was hard to feel real anger towards the Mechanisms, other than maybe Jonny. He was a piece of work, Lyf thought with a grimace. Jonny had taken the longest to capture and the most work to contain and recapture. Everyone knew- had known someone who’d been killed or injured by Jonny d’Ville. Lyf couldn’t say they had any love for the man.

Ivy, they could respect. She was incredibly logical in a way they found endearing. Raphaella la Cognizi scared them. True, Lyf had a ton of respect for her, but she was the closest thing they had ever known to a mad scientist before Odin. Brian was nice, as was Marius when he wasn’t being an idiot. Lyf had only called him Von Raum to annoy him, so Marius had responded in kind. A smile tugged at the edges of Lyf’s lips even as they struggled with each breath they took. Ashes and Tim scared him the normal way. The “We will destroy everyone and everything you love with a smile if you wrong us” way. Stay on their good side, and they’re nice enough. And the Toy Soldier… Lyf didn’t like thinking about the Toy Soldier. It unsettled them.

Lyf wasn’t sure how much of that they’d said aloud, if they had said any of it. Oxygen deprivation was really getting to them. They gave a tired smirk at the monitor above them as if any of the cameras still worked. “If the Mechanisms ever get ahold of these my message to you is; fuck you ,” they said with feeling, before doubling over in another coughing fit.

“I don’t have much-any time left,” Lyf rasped. “I-I Lyfrassir Edda signing off for what is likely the last time.”

They clicked off the recorder and set it down on the table by the chair they were sitting in, next to a small pile of similar recorders. Lyf took the deepest breath their air-deprived lungs would allow and closed their eyes.

In the greatest mercy the universe would ever bestow upon Lyfrassir Edda, it allowed them to die in their sleep. One might even have been able to call it peaceful.

Drumbot Brian stood on the bridge trying to puzzle out where that beeping was coming from. Nastya had added a lot of systems to Aurora before she left and well… Brian hadn’t had nearly long enough to learn them all. Finally he managed to find it. Ah a radar… thingy. He wasn’t really a pilot. Why was he the pilot? He would be much better as the doctor seeing as resurrection was his thing. Brian made a note to bring it up with Jonny or maybe Ashes seeing as they were the quartermaster (not that they ever did any quartermaster-like duties). The increase in beeping brought Brian out of his thoughts. That looked like a ship. Floating in the middle of nowhere?

Brian shrugged and left to go find Jonny. He always threw a fuss if he wasn’t the first one notified of anything and Jonny throwing a fuss generally led to him quite literally shooting the messenger. Brian didn’t much feel like dying today.

He found Jonny in the library, which was strange. He typically avoided books like a plague and Ivy hated having Jonny in there. Jonny gestured Brian over as soon as he saw him.

“Come on. Come on ,” Jonny whispered furiously as Brian took his time walking to him.

“Who are you hiding from this time?” Brian asked loudly. Jonny glared daggers at him. Ah well, he was starting to think antagonizing Jonny today would be worth getting shot.  

“Ashes. I might have stolen their favorite hat.”

“So you’re hiding in the library.”

Jonny gave Brian a knowing look. A look that made Brian wish he had the eyebrows to express his disdain, because that look said that Jonny thought he was doing something really clever. 8 times out of 10 he was wrong and the other 2 times ended up with someone dying. “Exactly. Ashes is banned from the library, too much flammable materials or something or other.”

“That’s why you’re banned from the library too.”

“Exactly why it’s the best hiding spot.” Jonny peeked around the corner at the sound of footsteps outside, hand over the gun at his side. He caught a glimpse of Raphaella’s wings as she passed the open doorway.

In the split second Jonny was turned away, and therefore less distracting, Brain remembered he had for once actually been looking for Jonny. And that it might be somewhat urgent. Oops.

“Uh Jonny?”

“Uh-huh. What?” Jonny wasn’t paying attention to him.

“There’s a transport ship outside.”

That got Jonny’s attention. “Any idea who?” he asked with a grin that meant he was in the mood to shoot someone. Brian shrugged inwardly, as long as that person wasn’t him.

“No clue. Looks familiar, but I can’t place it.”

“Lovely.” Fight with Ashes forgotten, Jonny strode out of the library whistling Tales to Be Told and Brian walking just behind him.

They arrived at the bridge to find the ship had drifted even closer, or maybe the Aurora had gotten closer, it was hard to tell. Jonny studied it for a long time before snapping his fingers a couple times as he tried to remember where he remembered it from.

“That’s from As-as something.”

“Asgard?” Brian asked. Jonny nodded.

“That’s the one.” He put his foot up on Brian’s chair and rested his elbow on his knee. “Wonder what it’s doing he- Hey Brian, when are we in relation to the whole Yggdrasil system collapse thing. The Bifrost Incident? We were going to make a new album out of that story right?”

Brian checked one of the monitors, halfway surprised that Johnny remembered the Yggdrasil System. Although, to be fair, they’d been there for almost a century and even he couldn’t be drunk the entire time (events 300 or so years in the future ago were outliers and so could not be counted).

“We’re a couple months after. Why? You think someone escaped the train?”

Jonny shrugged. “No idea, but we might as well get the rest of the crew up here.” He turned and pressed a couple buttons until he found the comms. “Crew of the Aurora,” he exclaimed with his usual gusto, “this is your Captain speaking.”

“FIRST MATE!” They heard Tim scream at the top of his lungs from the armory. The armory wasn’t too far from the bridge and damn could Tim scream.

“ Captain. We’ve found something rather interesting, a transport vessel from the Yggdrasil System. If anyone would like to come with us to take a look get up to the bridge. You have five minutes.” Jonny poked a couple more buttons until it seemed like the comms had shut off.

It wasn’t long before they were joined by Tim, Marius, Ashes, and the Toy Soldier.

“We didn’t invite you,” Jonny sneered at the Toy Soldier.

“I’m just happy to be included!” the Toy Soldier said happily, oblivious as ever. Johnny rolled his eyes.

“Right. Can we dock it or something?” Ashes asked, leaning on the door-frame with their hands in the pockets.

“Aurora?” Brian asked tentatively. The Aurora was unreliable at the best of times and now that the only person she would always listen to was gone, she was testier than she’d ever been. Still, they heard the satisfying clunk and hiss of the airlocks attaching and sealing. The doors slid open to reveal a small ship.

Close as they were, it was clearly Asgardian design, all sleek edges and intricate grooves. For a transport vessel, it was decent quality although obviously not built for the kind of travel it had been doing. Jonny stepped in first. Well… his gun went in first while the rest of him followed. The Toy Soldier trotted in behind him and the rest followed in a sort of amorphous blob.

There was just enough space for the 6 of them to fit in the largest of the two rooms. Everywhere they looked was broken equipment, a frankly impressive array of destruction for this thing to have gotten as far as it had when it wasn’t built for out-of-system travel.

“There’s no way anyone from that system could have survived this much system failure,” Brian whispered as if the likely dead person in the other room could hear them.

“They could have been, what was it? ‘Touched by the outer gods?’” Jonny asked.

“Who came up with that line?” Ashes snorted.

“Me,” Marius said distractedly as he moved towards the table by the door. There was a small mound of recorders on it. He pressed play on one of them. The sudden sound made everyone jump. Then they heard it.

“Log of Inspector Second Class Lyfrassir Edda New Midgard Transport Police. I was able to barter for a transport ship. I’ve spent most of my savings on this, food, water, and fuel. I have some left over that will hopefully last me until I can find work in another system. Already things have begun going wrong. I brought my recordings of the Bifrost incident with me, I don’t think anyone will believe if I didn’t, and attached to the last one are some messages we’ve been receiving on various frequencies from everywhere in the system.

I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving. I just left a copy of the recordings and got out of there as quickly as possible. I think I escaped the worst of it, though the nightmares I’ve been having are certainly nothing of this world.

If I don’t stop, I might survive this. I might survive this.

Log ends.”

The Mechs stared at each other for a moment before Marius shoved his way forward and thrust open the door. In the pilot’s seat sat Lyf, their eyes closed, blood spattered about the small room. Their uniform was long past wrinkled and blood-stained. Their dark skin was the palest Marius had ever seen from them.

Marius had seen war. He had been through horrors, and committed such atrocities in kind. He had thought that his many centuries of mechanization would have made him desensitized to death by now, and it had. But it was so much easier to come to terms with Lyf’s death when they weren’t laying in front of him, covered in their own blood. This touched him deeply, in a way he couldn’t remember feeling before.

He didn’t remember walking to the medical bay, but he must have because here he was. Lyf lay on the table that they usually put their dead crewmates on to wait for the resurrection process, but there would be no resurrection process.

Raphaella had come in sometime during the time Marius had been in there and given her verdict. Lyf could not be mechanized. They had been dead too long and even if they hadn’t been, the touch of the outer gods would not have allowed for mechanization.

And Marius was alone again.

Alone with a corpse that would never walk again. That would never tell him, and Marius smiled slightly at the memory, to shut the fuck up and put the goddamn violin away, again. Lyfrassir Edda was gone. For good.

They listened to the tapes. All of them. All of the Mechanisms had known Lyf and most of them had even liked them. Besides, they weren’t entirely cruel and oblivious. They knew this was something Marius needed. Not to mention it helped with the whole album-writing part of their gig.

Marius listened to those tapes. He listened to them over and over again until he had them memorized. Well, except for the final recording. It hurt too much to listen to it more than once.

Marius always had the one of them that approached immortality with the most skepticism of the Mechanisms. How disappointing that he had been right.

Let me know what you think! If you like to be tagged in other works in this fandom (or others) or have any questions my inbox is open. Stay safe! :)

[ipreferfiction]

More Sunstrike ‘verse: Obi-Wan and Cody this time, and a hint of what happened between stories.

———

Meditation has never failed Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it’s not going to fail him now, despite the best combined efforts of everyone else in this bloody compound besides Mace.

Leia shrieks as Luke floats a snake towards her, and Obi-Wan gives up on meditating in the common area. The greenery and water surrounding him helps connect him to the Living Force, but it is hardly a requirement. His quarters—bereft of screaming younglings and mischievous knights—will do just fine. He might even get more than an hour of quiet, if Ahsoka remembers she’s supposed to be watching the twins today and not running around planning missions with Rex.

Yes, that would be nice, he thinks as a flash of blue montrals turns the corner to the armory.

He is almost to his room when he remembers one other place he might go. On the edge of the compound, where it sits flush against the cliff behind it, run a series of caves and waterfalls. The twins and the other younglings are kept out; the caves are twisting and dangerous for such young beings, even Jedi, and Obi-Wan does not want to risk their injury or death. However, he is not a youngling, and he mapped the caves as soon as they made their camp here all those months ago. If he watches his footing, he should be safe enough to finally be at peace.

The climb is not difficult, merely five minutes of gentle hiking through dripping caverns. Most are either open to the air on one side or the top of the cliff up above, so Obi-Wan has gotten used to the feel of fresh air by the time he reaches his favorite spot. He breathes deeply and exhales with a sigh, letting the calm around him sink within his bones.

No twins, no younglings, and no Ahsoka. He sheds his outer tunic gladly.

“Sir? Should I leave?”

There are very, very few people who still call Obi-Wan sir. Apparently, he missed the fact that the calm atmosphere in this little cave includes a single, solitary clone sitting beside the waterfall. Honestly, he shouldn’t be that surprised that Cody managed to find this place; his commander was good at picking out spots of calm amidst the chaos of the war, even aboard the Negotiator. The fact that he has escaped his brothers’ antics to come here reminds Obi-Wan so very much of all the times during the war when Cody would manage to slip away for five minutes of quiet.

Obi-Wan turns to face Cody. He is sitting cross-legged on a mossy patch of flat stone, just far enough that the waterfall’s spray misses him. His beskar’gam—which he clings to even more tightly than most of the clones who’ve earned it—is piled next to him in a neat stack of black and orange. Clearly, he has been here for a while.

“No, no, don’t feel troubled on my account,” Obi-Wan says faintly. “As long as you don’t plan on screaming or blowing anything up.”

The corner of Cody’s mouth twitches.

“Why do you think I’m up here?”

“The lovely scenery, surely,” Obi-Wan says as he takes up a place near the base of the waterfall.

“Certainly not the chaos of the compound.”

“Of course not.”

Silence falls once more as Obi-Wan finally reaches out and feels the peace and quiet he so desperately desires. A few minutes pass, and he begins to speak again.

“Are you planning on staying for long, Cody? I thought you had a mission in the Core Worlds,” he asks.

“Just for a few days,” Cody replies. “The Akul needed refueling and a few repairs, and I wanted to see my brothers again. Forgot how much of a handful they could be when they’re all together, though.”

“So you came up here to meditate?”

A flicker of unease crosses Cody’s face.

“I needed to be alone. It’s different for most of them, what the Empire did. They were soldiers while I was stuck in ships with some of the highest-ranking people in the Empire. Protecting them. Serving them. Commanding their troops. I know my chip is gone, but I still have nightmares about what I did. What they made me do. Meditation is just about the only way I can keep them at bay.”

Cody hasn’t been an Imperial soldier (slave) for four years now. Obi-Wan knows very well that time doesn’t matter with things like these, though. Cody is lucky that he sleeps through the night now; in the first few months, when he barely believed that he was free and that he hadn’t killed his general, he’d spend hours unsleeping in a dark room in a frantic effort to keep his nightmares at bay. Obi-Wan used to find him curled into his bunk reciting training sayings, lines of the Jedi meditation mantra, anything repetitive to calm him down. Meditation—Obi-Wan’s suggestion—had helped enough for him to begin to heal, and his time on Mandalore had helped, too. Still, even now, a clouded shroud hangs over him. One day, Obi-Wan hopes to see his friend’s mind free of it.

“I’m glad something is helping,” Obi-Wan replies sincerely. “This is not a time of peace, but we do what we can.”

“We do what we can,” Cody echoes, closing his eyes. “And pray it’s enough.”

Quiet falls once more. Obi-Wan leans into the calm filling the room: the waterfall, the plants along its edges, the moss hanging from the ceiling, Cody only a few feet away, the sun shining down upon Obi-Wan’s skin. He isn’t entirely sure how long he remains, only that when he opens his again, the edges of his robes are damp with water, and Cody is piecing his armor back together.

“As much as I enjoy the quiet, my back doesn’t hold up as well as yours,” he says, grinning. “I’ll make your excuses to Ahsoka, make sure she hasn’t let the twins burn down the compound yet. Stay as long as you want.” He pats Obi-Wan’s shoulder and makes his way past and back into the tunnels that lead home, leaving Obi-Wan alone.

Maybe he will stay for a little while longer. If Cody can keep Ahsoka, Rex, and the rest out of trouble...

A very, very faint scream drifts out of the compound on the wind. That would be Leia, protesting something of her brother’s.

Oh, yes, Obi-Wan might just stay in this cave. Cody’s sacrifice shouldn’t be in vain.

Obi-Wan closes his eyes and returns to meditation.

[ohmightydevviepuu]

our little life (rounded with a sleep) / chapter 3

our little life (rounded with a sleep) chapter three

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful detective. She had blonde hair, green eyes, no family, and she was good at finding people; in fact, she proclaimed this on her office door. “Swan and Humbert,” it said. “Private investigations, missing persons, and bail bonds.”

Only lately, she's been thinking that maybe it should say "Emma Swan: Loner, Loser, Complicated wreck."

Her partner's been killed on a case after she made a deal with her landlord to find what had been taken from him. But when she tracks a possible perp to a bar on the outskirts of town, Emma will find out exactly how deep the rabbit hole goes.

--

always, always, always because of @thisonesatellite​​ and @profdanglaisstuff​ thank you AGAIN to the amazing team at @captainswanbigbang​

cw: canonical character death rating: T/M (implied violence, language) AO3 chapter one | chapter two | chapter three

chapter summary:   Emma’s tracked down her suspect but then he looks into her eyes like he can see her, like he recognizes her--

And it’s a big fucking problem. She doesn’t trust him.  They are not a team.  No matter what he says or how blue his eyes are when he reads her like an open book.

--

“I’m sorry if I’ve kept you waiting,” James Hook said. “A woman such as yourself deserves my full and prompt attention.”

His voice was familiar; exactly as she had heard it in her dream down to the cadence of his accent.

“Does that line ever work?” Emma asked.

His eyes twinkled with appreciation. “I,” he said seriously, “will let you know, yeah?”

He was wearing eyeliner, kohl smudged around his eyes. Blue button-up shirt--partially undone, matched his eyes, would look even better on the floor--buttoned waistcoat, jeans that showed off his--

Fuck.

Emma needed a drink before she ended up like one of the co-eds.

“MacCutcheon,” she said simply.

“How do you like it?”

“In a glass,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Tough lass,” he said with a laugh, pouring her a shot.

“Yeah, well,” she said, picking up the shot glass and downing it in one. The condensation left a ring on the cocktail napkin. “It’s been a long day, and I’m thirsty.” She looked around, taking in more of the place--anything to look at instead of staring at Hook and his partially-unbuttoned shirt. “What’s with all of the swords?” Emma asked, gesturing at a wall covered in weapons.

The Rabbit Hole fell on the upside of ‘dive’, but only just barely. Maybe it was the Edison bulbs. The soft yellow glow gave everything a patina of ‘vintage’ instead of ‘grimey’. 

“And what are those, boat hooks?”

“Aye,” he said.

“What are you, some kind of sailor?”

“In another life,” he said, the fake grin stretching across his face, “I served in the Royal Navy.”

“You’ve practically got an armory in here,” she said.

“That’s the idea,” he agreed.

“You don’t seem like the type of guy to collect old-fashioned weapons.”

“Aye,” he said again, the eyes twinkling--again. “I collect blondes from bottles, too.”

Emma was a natural blonde--probably another legacy from one of her parents. She returned his gaze and said only, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

There it was: the real smile. “Perhaps,” he said. “Perhaps I would. James Hook.” He held out his right hand to her, and Emma shook it, which was when she noticed that he only had the one.

“I know who you are,” she said.

“Ah,” he said. “So you’ve heard of me? Well, it’s always nice to leave an impression.”

“Oh,” Emma said. “You have. You’re handsome, and charming--”

“Do go on,” Hook said, shifting his weight against the back counter.

“The kind of guy who--now, stop me if I’ve got this wrong--steals a man’s wife and leaves a boy motherless, then keeps up the grudge by breaking into his home and stealing from him again.” Emma watched him during her recitation. This was her favorite part: skips always broke down when the hot piece of ass they’d been planning on nailing turned the tables and cuffed them.

Not in the fun way, either.

But Hook just looked at her, stepping forward again and bracing his elbow against the bar, his chin in his hand. His fingers curled against his upper lip, his eyes were wide and innocent, and the fake grin had returned; the change was so smoothly done it was--almost--imperceptible.

“Sounds like a lovely tale,” he said. “But I’m going to wager the truth is rather more gruesome.”

Emma was calm. She was focused. And he was not lying.

“Besides,” Hook said evenly, “I’m going to need you to be a mite more specific in your accusations; you see, I’ve had many a man’s wife.”

“And I need you,” Emma said, matching his tone, “to return what you’ve stolen.”

His smile--the fake smile--faltered. Just for a second. “Tell me something, love,” Hook said, leaning into her personal space, his eyes never leaving hers, “If a woman comes to you and begs you to take her away, is that theft?” He ran his tongue over his lower lip and winked at her.

“But--why would she leave him?” Emma asked before she could stop herself. The son, they had a son--

What were they even talking about?

“Because he was a coward,” Hook said easily. “Because she loved me.”

Emma pulled herself away from his gaze. Whatever was going on here--he wasn’t lying.

“So, lass,” he said, “you know who I am, but you won’t even tell me your name?”

“What fun would that be?” Emma said.

“If you’re helping Rump--Gold,” Hook said, with particular emphasis on the name, “I’m afraid you’re fighting for a lost cause.”

“I’m not fighting for anything,” Emma said, “except for my fee. Tell me what you know about Graham Humbert’s death.” She grabbed his wrist. “And I’m gonna let you in on a little secret--I’m pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me.”

“He came in here the other evening, on the hunt,” Hook said, biting down hard on the ‘t’. “He often did. It’s rather a target-rich environment, as you can see.” He gestured at the crowded room and leered. “That’s the last time I saw him.”

Emma smiled, the kind that showed no teeth, that was small and controlled, and tightened her grip on his wrist. With her other hand, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it and scrolled to David Nolan’s entry. “He came here looking for you the night he died,” she said. “A fact I think the sheriff--” Emma held up the phone to show him “--will find fascinating, don’t you?”

He started to pull away, but Emma twisted his wrist just enough to put pressure on it--enough that pulling away would make a scene and potentially force someone to call the sheriff anyway. The singer finished a song to a scattering of applause, and Emma kept her grip and her gaze on Hook.

“Well done, lass,” he said. Emma let go of him and his hand reached up to rub the back of his neck. He had rings on two of his fingers and his thumb, and a freaking earring, a black stud. “You’ll be Emma Swan, then.”

“There goes my air of mystery,” she deadpanned.

“On the contrary, love,” Hook said, licking his lips again. “You’ve bested me. I can count on one hand the number of times someone has done that.”

“Is that a joke?” Emma said drily. “Because you’re a terrible liar.”

“Ask me what you’ve really come here to ask, Swan,” he said, and something in his face had shifted, like he had dropped the act of whatever part he was trying to play. His eyes were serious and the tone of his voice had lowered.

“Did you kill him?”

“I did not,” Hook said.

Emma believed him. Shit.

--

“Now then,” Hook said. “Emma Swan. Bail bonds, private investigations. Twenty-eight years old?”

They weren’t in the bar anymore.

According to the paperwork Graham had pulled, Hook had owned The Rabbit Hole for more than twenty years--clearly a typo as the man appeared exactly as Gold had described him: mid-thirties, no more, no less. It was difficult to picture him running off with a woman Gold’s age.

He’s older than he looks, Gold smirked, and had looked at Emma in a way that made her want to shower. And rather partial, I’m afraid, to brunettes.

Emma had confirmation of this, at least, when Hook had called out to a beautiful brunette in a micromini, tights and an artfully ripped t-shirt. Lacey, my darling, cover for me here, will you?

She’d laughed and given him--and Emma--a wink, and it was obvious what she thought Hook and Emma were doing, and why they needed cover. I’ve got this, Jamie, she’d said.

And he’d taken Emma to a small but immaculate office, dimly lit, rimmed with books, and offered her a chair with a bow before taking a seat behind the desk. She’s new, Hook had said of Lacey, but she does the job like she’s been here for decades. Something about that had amused him; Hook seemed consistently to be amusing himself with jokes only he understood. Any man who kept a skull-and-crossbones on the wall was definitely a man with an unusual sense of humor--in fact, this room had a distinct nautical theme, with a red flag draped above the black one and an honest-to-goodness ship in a bottle on his desk, and it was all a far cry from the badly-curated murder-tinged whimsy that made up the decor of the main bar.

“That’s oddly specific,” Emma countered. “Do I, like, get a prize if you’re right?”

“An educated guess,” Hook answered, and said nothing else as his eyes settled over her. Emma felt like she was being evaluated; not the first time that had happened, and she had no idea what he thought he was looking for.

“So, then,” he said. “Your Graham Humbert came looking for me.”

“He wasn’t my anything,” Emma said quickly. Maybe too quickly.

“Aye,” Hook said. “Of that I’m well aware.” He twisted his thumb against the metal of one of his rings and broke eye contact, looking down and away from her. “We weren’t friends, you know. Barely even acquainted. But you might say that we had certain connections in common.” Hook looked at her quickly and looked away again. “I hadn’t seen him in as long as I can remember.”

There was something strange underlying the words. Not a lie, but not the truth. And something about the phrase tickled Emma’s memory, like she had heard it somewhere before.

“He was involved with Regina Mills,” Emma said, realizing it at the same moment she said it.

“Indeed he was.” Hook made a sound, almost like a bark, and it took Emma a moment to realize it was a laugh. There was no amusement in it. “You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but she rather held his heart in her hands.”

Emma winced.

“Apologies, love,” Hook said quickly, and with apparent sincerity. “That was in rather poor taste, I admit.”

“You were too, weren’t you?” Emma asked instead of acknowledging his half-assed apology. “Involved with her?”

Another harsh laugh escaped him. “Indeed I was,” he said, “though not in the way you’d think. I did some work for the family. A long time ago.”

Emma smirked. “A man who used to be a sailor and now owns a bar?”

“‘Used to be’ is right, Swan,” he said, “but one might consider the bar payment.” He did that thing again, where he over-emphasized the harsh consonants. “For services rendered.”

“You realize you are the only one in this entire neighborhood who owns their property outright instead of paying rent to Robert Gold?”

“Am I?” He examined his fingernails. “That’s fortuitous.” It was obscene, the way Hook made words sound, but Emma knew a distraction when she saw one. This man used words as deflections, armor not unlike her collection of leather jackets.

“She came to see me,” Emma said.

“Did she?” That got Hook’s attention. “And what did you think of Her Majesty the Queen?”

“Her what now?”

“Regina, love. Latin.”

“You speak Latin?” Emma’s eyebrows definitely went up.

“And Greek,” he pointed out, smirking.

“They teach you that in the Royal Navy?”

“Something like that,” he agreed.

Emma’s head was beginning to hurt. This was shaping up to be the world’s worst first draft of “Who’s on first”--she wasn’t getting anywhere, and she needed another drink.

“What did she want?” Hook asked, and for the first time, there was genuine curiosity in his tone. He twisted behind him, pulling out a bottle, then repeated the process and came up with two glasses pinched between his thumb and forefinger, placing one in front of her. He pulled the cork with his teeth, poured himself a shot, and then gestured at her with the bottle.

Emma gave him a look.

“You’re something of an open book, Swan,” Hook said, the picture of innocent hospitality, “or did you not want another drink?”

“Regina wanted to know,” Emma said, ignoring his outstretched hand, “what I was doing about Graham’s death.”

“Don’t make a man drink alone, love.”

“I don’t want a drink,” she lied. “Or a man.”

Hook pouted. “Now who’s not telling the truth?”

Emma took the bottle from his hand and poured herself three fingers’ worth.

“I do find that spirits can be an excellent solution to so many of life’s problems,” Hook said with false cheerfulness, “so I am glad to see that you are making progress.”

Emma left the glass on the desk and leveled a glare at him.

“Are you?” he said, raising his eyebrows, “making progress?”

There was a knock on the door at the same time as it opened, and a young man stepped in. Nearly as tall as Hook, he had long, dark blonde hair that he’d slicked back, leaving some fringe to fall messily at his temples.

“Alright, Liam?” Hook said.

The young man--Liam--coughed and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, only Lacey said you were back here--”

“And you wanted to interrupt?” Hook asked, a mix of exasperation, fondness and something sharper in his voice.

Liam shrugged.

“Swan,” Hook said, “allow me to present my lit--younger brother, Liam, who was just leaving.”

Emma nodded at him, with his slightly-less-blue eyes and the curious way they watched her.

There was a look in Hook’s eyes as his brother walked out that Emma was not prepared to acknowledge. She pushed her untouched tumbler of rum back toward him and snapped, “Enough. Why did Graham come here to see you?” Emma demanded.

Hook shrugged.

“He tracked you down through property records,” Emma said. “Because the Mills Organization paid you in real estate for work you did for them a long time ago?”

“So it would seem,” he said.

“You know it says on the deed that you’ve been the owner here for as long as I’ve been alive?”

“Does it?” he smirked. “And yet I’ve retained my youthful glow.”

There it was again--not a lie, but not the truth.

He’s older than he looks.

Emma sat, toying with the tumbler she had pulled back toward her seat, running her forefinger around the ring of the glass and saying nothing.

“What can I say, Swan,” he said. “‘I contain multitudes.’ Not unlike your Graham Humbert.” He looked at her as though he was expecting a reaction; Emma stared at him.

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“Ah,” he said, as though to himself. “Not a believer, then--well, surely that will stop you getting killed.”

Hook considered her for a moment before tossing back his shot, then said: “Walt Whitman, lass. American poet.”

“Didn’t study poetry at any of the high schools I got kicked out of,” Emma said. “What does my listening to you recite poetry and mutter to yourself have to do with Graham?”

Hook shook his head. “Absolutely nothing, love,” he said. “Merely pointing out that you might be surprised by what they teach you in the Royal Navy.”

“You don’t know anything about what I believe,” Emma said sharply.

His blue eyes blazed. “I know that everything you think you believe is wrong,” he said.

“A man is dead, Hook,” Emma said. “I need you to stop fucking around and give me back whatever it is you’ve taken.”

“She’s dead, Swan,” he said sadly, the fire gone just as quickly as it had come, “and whatever that bloody crocodile has you looking for, I don’t have it.”

He had that look again.

Crocodile.

“Just like Milah, when the crocodile took her from me.”

“His wife?” Emma said. “Look, I’m sorry she died, but Graham--Graham was murdered.”

“Died,” Hook snorted. “Like it was some kind of accident--”

“That’s not what I said,” Emma protested, feeling suddenly on the defensive.

“--lass, it was no more of an accident than Humbert laid out in the alley.” Hook poured himself another shot and held it. “And you, Swan, helping him? I fear we’re working at cross purposes.”

“I’m just here to retrieve something on behalf of my client,” Emma said, exasperated and confused, “and to get paid Same as Graham, only he ended up dead and I would prefer to avoid that.”

“It’s a shame, really, Emma,” he said, apparently not listening. “I think we could make quite the team.”

“And what,” Emma wanted to know, “would our objective be?”

Hook paused and looked at her before he drank the second shot, and Emma still had no idea what he was looking for. He took a breath and said: “To avenge your partner,” he said, as if it would be that simple. “To exact revenge on the man who took my hand, Rumplestiltskin.”

--

“Swan!” Hook called, rushing after her. “Swan, wait up!”

Emma was ten or fifteen feet out the door of The Rabbit Hole when she doubled back quickly and pushed herself against him. “Whoa!” she cried. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.”

Hook smiled at her and pulled them closer together. “It’s about bloody time.”

Emma hit him. “I seem to have a shadow,” she said, gesturing at the figure running into the darkness--the one that had lunged itself at her and forced her up against Hook.

“I suppose,” Hook said, pretending to consider it, “that’s a plausible excuse for grabbing me, but next time don’t stand on ceremony.”

Was the man insane? “Do you have any idea what you sound like right now? Who the fuck is Rumplestiltskin?”

Hook’s face fell. “I sound like a crazy person,” he said. “Apologies, love, I realize Humbert didn’t--” He paused, took a breath. “Would you settle for ‘dashing rapscallion’?”

“Excuse me?” Emma stuttered.

“As opposed to ‘crazy person’, Swan,” Hook pushed, and then leaned in closer at her continued silence, angling his head so their eyes were level. “Scoundrel, perhaps?”

He was close enough to--

He was very close.

“I think, Swan,” he said, very softly, his eyes boring into hers, “that you are not the only one with a shadow. Don’t turn,” he warned, “just look at me.”

The full focus of this man’s attention was nearly unbearable. Emma desperately needed to break eye contact and maintain her wits, which was how she noticed the red streak on his shoulder.

Where she’d grabbed him.

Unfortunately, that drew his eyes to the spot as well, and he knew immediately what it was.

“Swan,” he said, and he sounded disappointed. “You’re bleeding.”

“It’s nothing,” Emma insisted. “Just, the jerk who came after me must have had a knife or something.”

“Give me your hand,” Hook said.

“What?” Emma said, trying to pull away.

He wouldn’t let her. “It’s cut,” he said, getting impatient. “Let me help you.”

“No,” Emma said, taking a definitive step back. Hook countered by stepping forward, back into her personal space. “It’s fine.”

“Swan,” he sighed. “It’s not.”

And he ran his hand down her arm, curling his fingers around her wrist and lifting it for closer inspection, balancing her hand on his left wrist against his prosthetic.

“I’m not taking medical advice from a man who has named himself after a character in a fairy tale and who thinks my client can spin straw into gold,” Emma muttered. “Not even when he suddenly decides to be a gentleman.”

Hook’s face twisted, that already-familiar smirk pulling at his mouth as he took something out of his pocket. “I,” he said, and his tone was serious in spite of his expression, “am always a gentleman.” He looked at Emma through eyelashes that were thicker than hers were after several rounds of lash primer as he repeated his bit with the cork and moved to pour the contents over the small slash in her palm.

“What is that?” Emma asked suspiciously, then swore as the liquid hit her skin.

“It’s rum,” Hook said. “And a bloody waste of it.” He handed the flask to her before she could refuse and pulled out a handkerchief from his coat pocket, pressing it into her hand before Emma could try to pull away again and tying it off with his teeth.

Just--his teeth . Why?

His eyes never left hers, not even as he stepped away from her.

“He’s gone,” Hook whispered.

Emma sighed and took a swig of the rum in resignation. “Scoundrel it is, then,” she said, taking a definitive step backward and crossing her arms across her body in the universal signal for back off. Because she knew what he was doing, she had seen this movie before, and it hadn’t ended well.

They were not a team.

They could not be a team.

“Why were you following me?”

“I wanted to continue our conversation,” he said. “Is that so hard to believe?”

Emma shook her head slowly.

He grinned, shrugged. “And," he said, "I would like to see Regina Mills. I was hoping you would be so kind as to facilitate transportation.”

“You don’t drive?”

“I don’t drive a car,” Hook said. “It’s not by choice that I live here in the city, love, it’s by necessity.”

Emma felt her resistance wavering. “What makes you think I’d be willing to help you?”

“You seem,” Hook paused, as if searching for the correct word, “motivated.”

“What happened to cross purposes?”

“I look at this very simply,” Hook said. “I help you get what you want, and it gets me what I want. No more, no less. Besides, I find that I quite fancy you--when you’re not yelling at me, that is.”

“I don’t understand you,” Emma said.

“The mystique is part of my charm, I assure you,” Hook said, raising his eyebrows.

But she had already given in to whatever scheme this was, had given in the minute she pushed herself against him.

The minute he had held her arm and pushed into her space.

Emma gestured for him to go ahead, and they started walking to her car. Hook took in the careworn yellow Beetle with a grin on his face. “Quite a vessel you captain here, Swan,” he said, pulling the door open on the passenger side.

“It seemed like the best choice at the time,” Emma said softly, meaning it, momentarily hating herself for how wrong she had been--and how much this felt like the same beginning all over again. She ran a quick address search on her phone and came up with nothing; it was odd, given the extent of the Mills Organization’s influence.

“I know where she lives, lass,” Hook said. “I’ll navigate.”

Emma pulled out of her spot, the silence growing between them, interspersed at odd intervals with his muttered directions until he spoke. “You know, Swan, most people would find your silence off-putting, but I should warn you that I love a challenge.”

“No challenge,” Emma said. “I’m not looking for someone who’s gonna give his heart to the world, or some true love riding to my rescue.”

“But?” Hook prompted.

“I mean,” Emma said, dripping with sarcasm, “somewhere in the universe, there's gotta be a guy who'll keep me warm when I'm cold, feed me when I'm hungry and maybe, on occasion, take me dancing.”

“No,” he said. “That’s not it. You’re afraid--to talk, to reveal yourself.”

“Am I?” Emma said flatly. “What are we doing now? What happened to ‘a bit of an open book’?” She finished with a horrible imitation of his accent.

“You’re afraid to trust me.”

“Afraid to trust the guy who believes in fairy tales, Captain Hook?” Emma snorted. “However did you guess?”

“Bartender’s a sympathetic ear, love,” Hook said, “but I don’t need you to share. You have that look in your eyes.”

Emma’s entire body went still.

“The one,” Hook said, as if she didn’t already know--didn’t own a freaking mirror--hadn’t seen the look on his face that very night, “you get when you’ve been left alone.”

“Now I’m some kind of lost girl?” Emma forced herself to laugh. “Nice try, Hook, but my world ain’t Neverland.”

He made a noise, halfway between the unamused bark-laugh and a sigh, and said: “My point, Swan, is that an orphan’s an orphan.”

Emma said nothing, but Hook pressed on. “And True Love--well, that’s the rarest magic of all, or so they say. Have you ever even been in love?”

Emma narrowed her eyes at him, took a deep breath, and lied. “No,” she said simply. “I have never been in love.” She pulled the car against the curb and turned off the ignition. “We’re here,” she said.

“Who’s the guy, Swan?” he said, and his voice was almost free of affect. She could--almost--believe he meant it.

“What guy?” Emma said, because fuck him and his open-book bullshit.

“The one,” Hook said as if it was obvious, “who left you with such a high opinion of me.”

Emma got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind her.

--

@kmomof4​ @shireness-says​ @spartanguard​ @optomisticgirl​ @eirabach​ @winterbaby89​ @stahlop​ @teamhook @iamlaxdris71 @snowbellewells​ @carpedzem​ @scientificapricot​ @ultraluckycatnd @therealstartraveller776 @wyntereyez @nikkiemms @searchingwardrobes​ @courtorderedcake​

[annes-andromeda]

Ragnarök: Asgard’s Twilight

Chapter 8: In The Arena

N/: Added a little reference to Planet Hulk this chapter in case anyone noticed it😉 Also, I changed Hela's color from green to red since I didn't like that Taika changed Loki's color to blue. Like, he really doesn't like Loki, huh🙄That and I like the idea of the Odin trio being the primary colors: Hela is red, Thor is blue, and Loki is green😁 Let me know what you guys think!👍

Thor’s body was thrown into a dirty cell forcefully as he grunted in pain. He ran to the door before it closed in his face. Thor yelled as he slammed his shoulder onto the door. A large dent was made, but it stayed shut.

He ran his fingers through his hair, exasperating as he realized just what he had gotten himself into. As he turned his head, his eyes fixed on an alien woman, with grey skin and long, dark hair. She donned some silver armor about her person. With high cheekbones and a slender yet muscular body, Thor could admit that she was quite the beauty.

“You there” Her voice broke the silence as Thor noticed that she was now looking at him with a stern expression “Come here”

He strode towards her, noting that she was much taller than he was. Where Thor stood at six feet and six inches, this woman appeared to be a whole foot taller than him.

Before Thor could say anything, however, the lady cut him off “It seems like you’re the Grandmaster’s new champion. Very well, then. We’ll make sure the audience gets their entertainment for tonight”

Thor furrowed a brow “I absolutely refuse to fight for that perverted, condescending slug” he sneered “There’s no time for any of this, I need to escape this place immediately”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible, Golden Lion” She said “No one leaves this place, and if they do, they’re hunted by the Grandmaster’s scrappers and flogged for attempting to leave. Sometimes the punishments are worse, if the one above is feeling excited”

The lady extended her hand and flashed a small smile on her black painted lips “My name is Caiera. I act as an almost trainer for some of the fighters here. But seeing as the Grandmaster has chosen you personally as a champion, it must mean you already have some skill”

Thor was about to introduce himself. For one, if he even said his first name, there’s no way no one would ever let him leave. And secondly, it’s because he noticed who Caiera was.

“You’re...” he began “You’re one of the Shadow People. They held a power native only to Sakaar”

Caiera’s mouth opened slightly “Yes...how did you know that?”

Thor shrugged his shoulders “I had quite the education back home”

The two walked to the armory, where there was colorful armor with painted markings and alien creatures preparing themselves for the ring “I suppose I should warn you;” Caiera began “Many of the contenders will fight with blood to win. There is one the Grandmaster favors above all. He keeps him in a special cell, away from all the other fighters, until he is ready”

“I won’t have a problem” Thor stated, grabbing one of the weapons hanging from the wall “I have fought many enemies in my lifetime, and one way or another, I’ve succeeded”

Caiera seemed to differ “Well, this fighter is a big one, and he doesn’t take kindly to failure” She took the mace Thor was holding and replaced it with a blue-bladed sword “Do not be fooled, Lion; I may take liking to you, but you are alone in this fight”

Thor was about to respond, but some alien bodyguards grabbed him by his shoulders, hard. He was dragged once again by the ankles and thrown into a vacant room. The guards tied him to yet another chair, leaving the man alone in his thoughts. Thor twisted his wrists, the leather tight around his arms.

He needed to get home. Hela was probably on Asgard by now, and here he was, light years away. Thor leaned his head back onto the chair, closing his eyes in frustration. Looking up at the ceiling, Thor tried thinking of a plan. Anything to help him. But instead, his mind went somewhere else.

“Odin, I bid you take your place in the halls of Valhalla...” Thor whispered in prayer. The rage he felt towards his father was ever present, but Thor couldn’t be cruel. Couldn’t tell his body to simply move on and forget “Where the brave shall live forever. Nor shall we mourn but rejoice-“

“-for those that have died the glorious death” That last part was said in unison alongside a familiar voice. Thor turned his head to see Loki, standing in the shadows with his hands clasped together. He moved forward to stand in front of his brother, looking at him solemnly.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Loki said “Being lied to. To have everything in your life be for naught and feel as if your actions never had meaning”

Thor could only turn his head away, with the sound of Loki’s exasperated breath “I’m only speaking the truth. Father lied to me as well, you know”

But Thor doesn’t say a word, unable to look at his brother in the eye. Either way, Loki only sighed “If it’s any consolation: from what I hear, most of the gladiators here are inexperienced, so you may have some leverage in the ring. Can’t say the same for the Grandmasters favorite contender, however. He’s supposed to be astonishingly savage and has never lost a fight. Apparently he’s quite the idol amongst the audience, even the slaves take liking to him”

Thor averted his eyes back to Loki “I suppose you won’t be aiding me this time, brother”

Loki shook his head “Never said that, but I cannot just throw away my position with the Grandmaster. You know me better. If I help you directly, then we’re both doomed. We’d only be making it more difficult to stop Hela. But indirectly, we may have a chance”

Thor cocked an eyebrow “Is the truth so unbelievable that not even you can face it?”

The sentence made his brother tense, his lips pursing tightly “What would you have me do? Call her mother and be done with it? Acknowledge Hela as my blood and in turn, Laufey? Should that be my most logical conclusion, brother?” Loki sneered “Oh no, forgive me, ‘uncle’” He made gestures with his fingers as he said that.

Alright, Thor thought, that was too far. They both were going through many emotions at the moment. Thor just got his brother back. He didn’t want their connections to go sour yet again.

He sighed deeply ”I’m sorry, Loki” Thor said “Truly. It’s just...so much has happened...I just...why would Father have a need to lie?”

Loki could shrug his shoulders “Neither of us know Father’s intentions, and I’m afraid now we never will. But what I do know is that the people of Asgard shouldn’t suffer for Father’s mistakes”

Thor remained silent, afraid to say the wrong thing or have his emotions control him again. Footsteps could then be heard coming towards the room, and Loki took that as his cue to leave “I’ll see if I can ensure that your fight runs... sufficient enough so as to buy time to conduct a plan. Between the two of us, all these lambent colors are making my eyes want to burst”

“Loki-“ Thor said, stopping his brother in his tracks. He could see that Loki wanted to say something else, but he held his silver tongue and remained silent, only looking at his older brother in desperation. Thor’s mouth hinged at the expression.

Like that, Loki’s projection was gone. The alien bodyguards returned, one of them holding a sharp blade in his hand “Need to get you nice and pretty for the crowd, little cub” he said in a low tone of voice.

Thor sat confused for a moment, but when the other bodyguard grabbed his hair, forcefully pulling his head back, his eyes widened in rage. He kicked the aliens knee and ripped at his restraints. Like paper they broke free. Thor threw the bodyguard into the wall, trying to go to the door, but the other alien grabbed his shoulders and pummeled Thor into the ground.

His assistant held the blade tightly and pulled at Thor’s hair so hard he winced in pain. It went as quickly as it came, as Thor could feel the strands releasing from his scalp. And he could’ve sworn he felt his head getting damp.

———————————————————————————————————–

Loki looked out the giant window of the so called ‘VIP lounge’, contemplating what to do. His eyes fixed on the Grandmaster, who was currently rallying up the crowd and getting them excited for the fight soon to occur.

Turning away from the window, Loki paced about in his thoughts, thinking of a plan to escape. As he went to go get a drink, his attention was averted to the open hallway. There in front of him, was none other than The Vixen.

Making sure the Grandmaster was distracted, Loki followed The Vixen as she walked away, unaware of his presence. Or so the man thought, as she stopped in her tracks and acknowledged him.

“Shouldn’t you be getting on the observatory ships, Luke?” Vixen said, speaking Loki’s false name

Loki could only smirk “I thought that as the Grandmasters closest colleague you would join him in watching the Contest, hmm?”

The Vixen scoffed “I’ve seen far too many fights in my years, and all have ended the same. This’ll be one I will gladly skip”

“Really? I do believe that the match might prove to be quite...exciting” Loki noticed Vixen getting tense, almost positioning her body in a fighting stance. He too prepared himself for any oncoming attacks. Seemed The Vixen didn’t care that they were currently in the middle of a vacant hallway from which anyone could appear. Frankly, neither did Loki.

She lunged towards him, trying to throw a punch. But Loki blocked it, twisting the Vixen within his grasp before she kneed him and moved her leg so as to throw off his balance. The Vixen landed atop Loki, once again trying to throw a punch, but Loki was quick. He pushed Vixen off him with an energy blast, running towards her before she could regain her composure.

A dagger was pointed at his neck as Loki held The Vixen in place. Before he could move, Vixen’s poncho moved aside to reveal her bare arm. Loki could see markings and brands on her skin, and his eyes widened as he realized what they were.

“These are Asgardian runes...” Loki breathed, astonished. The Vixen took advantage of his dumbfounded state and attempted to attack him with her dagger, but they both turned their heads once they felt the presence of the Grandmaster.

His brows were furrowed, and his hands on his hips “Now just what you think you’re doing, Luke?” He scolded

Loki was about to answer, but turned back to see The Vixen walking away angrily and muttering in a familiar language, sheathing her dagger back onto her person. His eyes reverted again to the Grandmaster “Nothing. Was just distracted”

A quick excuse, he thought.

The Grandmasters arm went around his shoulder, and Loki felt an uncomfortable slither upon his spin “Good” The Grandmaster smiled “I wouldn’t want you to miss this event. Many of my guests have already bid on who will win. The winner will get a very...special gift from yours truly. Care to join?”

Loki could’ve sword her saw the man wiggle his eyebrows, and the slither his spin felt worsened. How he wanted to just take the man and shove him off the roof. But Loki played along and flashed an awkward grin.

“No...no thank you”

———————————————————————————————————–

Back on Asgard, Hela and Skurge walked to the gates of the golden palace. They opened with a loud boom, several Einherjar guards pointing their spears at the Goddess of Death. They were about to charge, but Hela mockingly shushed them. Skurge had prepared himself for the supposed carnage. However, he was mistaken.

With a wave of her hand, glowing red with magic, Hela twiddled her fingers. The magical energy spread, and the guards put their spears down, their eyes lighting the same color. They moved out of the way for Hela to walk through, and they stood at attention. Skurge could only look on in a mix of confusion and astonishment.

Hela turned to him with a smirk on her face “Just a simple mentality spell to keep them in check. After all, what is a queen without her queensguard?”

She gazed upon the throne in front of her, walking up the steps and sitting atop it. Hela breathed satisfyingly, practically beaming. Skurge could’ve seen it as a beautiful sight, had the woman not been absolutely deranged.

“You know,” Her voice echoed through the halls, grabbing Skurge’s attention “The stars whispered many stories to me so I wouldn’t get bored. Had they not been in my company, perhaps I would’ve gone mad”

Skurge chuckled nervously “Yes...of course”

Hela held her chin up high “They told me of Loki’s escapades; how he managed to bend the mortals minds to his will and assert his dominance properly. I suppose he takes it from me, I have always enjoyed a more...mystical touch than just a furnished weapon”

“More than I can say for my brother” Hela rolled her eyes and sneered “That buffoon simply gave up his claim, and for what?! To keep peace within the realms? Had he truly been wise, he’d know that peace never lasts in these forsaken kingdoms”

She waved her hand yet again, and a projection of red energy rested on her palm. Skurge walked up a few steps to see, careful not to get too close. He could see Odin riding atop his horse Sleipnir, and next to him was a young Hela, dressed in a red cape and riding a dark steed.

“My father ruled the Nine Realms with an iron fist” Hela explained “By his side, I was his most valued soldier. His prized general. It never occurred to me, how he’d never acknowledge me as his daughter. I never even knew until years before he banished me into an eternal abyss”

Those last words were said with venom, yet Skurge could see a hint of sadness in Hela’s seemingly hollow eyes. He then saw the projection change. Young Hela was now standing next to a tall figure who seemed to pay no mind to her.

“Once I met Laufey,” Hela said, Skurge’s eyes widening “,noting else mattered. He made me understand that on Asgard, I was weakened. Nothing more than a weapon to Odin”

She stood from the throne and waved her arm, the magic spreading across the throne room to create an illusion. Skurge saw the walls turn from gold to stone. Mist covered the floor alongside skulls of the dead.

Hela still stood proudly as the sounds of tortured souls filled the room “With Laufey ruling Jotunheim, I ruled Niffleheim alongside my young brother, Fenris. I was an adored Queen. Every day, I had a new audience to bask in my radiance” She smiled, cheekily and deviously.

“But the All-Father,” her eyes grew dark “he didn’t like that. Oh no...he didn’t”

“...Such a mistake...”

Skurge looked to see a sight he never thought he’d see in his wildest dreams. Or his worst nightmares. In the dark ceiling, he saw winged horses, white as pure snow. It would’ve been a beautiful sight...had they not been plunging from the sky, blood spilling from their bodies like jewels off stone.

The legendary women riding these magnificent steeds all had fallen. Some were impaled by giant, black spikes, others were plummeting alongside their horses. Skurge could only look on in horror, as the faint sounds of battle filled his ears. Like feathers from a bird, the warriors descended from the heavens helplessly.

“You must understand, my Executioner” Hela said, Skurge turning back to her “The road to recognition always begins with the destruction of chains. To understand our place in the world, we must release ourselves from those who would imprison us. When our self fulfillment is complete, then the whole world will kneel to our feet”

Skurge listened to her words, thinking of how for most of his life, he had mostly been ignored by the people. It didn’t make him happy to serve Hela, but if this what was needed for him to be noticed....so be it.

Hela smiled down at him “I have my throne. I have my queensguard. Now, I need only my army”

——��————————————————————————————————–

The arena was booming with thousand of people. Cheers and screams filled the place as their blood pumped for the oncoming fight. Above them, the observation ships flew, the biggest one holding the Grandmaster. Loki stood next to him cautiously, his hands clasped closely to his chest.

A projection of the Grandmaster addressed the audience with a welcoming smile “What a show this has been. Let’s give a round of applause for our opening acts who perished oh, so gruesomely!” The crowd cheered him on “But now, it’s time for the main event. As you can see, I have rounded up some of my best contenders to, heh, ‘unwillingly’ participant in this fight”

The cheers of the crowd grew louder with every word. Amongst the other observation ships, The Vixen was on one, holding a glass of dark wine and looking down at the scene. Loki noticed her suspiciously. Seemed like she didn’t want to skip this fight after all.

In the arena, ten different gladiators stood outside the gates, waiting eagerly for the fight to start.

“But before we begin, allow me to introduce our newest contender” The Grandmaster announced “Standing at six feet, he’s a real heart throb, ready to show us what he’s made of. Ladies and gentlemen...” He pauses for dramatic effect “...I am proud to present, the newest addition of our show...Give it up for the Golden Lion!”

A whoosh noise was heard as the gates opened. Once they were fully unlatched, Thor walked out with blue-bladed swords in hand. His long hair was fully shaved, his Asgardian gear was replaced with gladiator armor, and his face was painted red. In his hand was a helmet, which he placed upon his head. Thor walked towards the other gladiators, not paying mind to their dark looks and snarls at him.

“Now, audience!” The Grandmaster said “It’s time for our favorite brute to show himself!”

This time, the crowd was going wild with anticipation. The gates opened, the sound of loud banging startling Thor as he bracedd himself “You know him...” He heard the Grandmaster say “...You all love him...Put your hands together for-“

“-THE INCREDIBLE HULK!!!”

A familiar green beast emerged from the shadows, donned with armor and a Spartan helmet. Hulk roared as he pounded his chest like a gorilla, making the crowd scream his name.

Thor could see the other fighters tense up, but all he could do was look in shock. Above him, Loki had the same expression as his brother, and they also seemed to have the same thing in mind.

“Oh crud...”

[drkcnry67]

title:  Please Don’t Make Me Do This

kink square filled: Knife Play

dark square filled: Knife Play

Heaven & Hell square filled: Demon!Dean

ship: Demon!Dean x reader

rating: 14+

tags: major character death, forced knife play, 

summery (if applicable): its a surprise….

word count (if applicable):

created for @spnkinkbingo @spndarkbingo @heavenandhellbingo 

also this is for a request brought in by @hawaiianohana15 

A/N: please dont shoot me, but cas doesnt actually stay in heaven for what goes down in this story. im sorry for what im gonna put everyone through. i know for me ive put off writing about this particular thing cause it still gives me nightmares. 

tag: @sweetness47 @alexis-m-kruger​

this was possibly the hardest event of your entire life, the hardest day of your life. the day you witnessed the love of your life get murdered on the eve after your engagement. 

you hadnt the heart to send every single person you had invited a letter saying the wedding was cancelled, hell you didnt have the heart o do anything except sit in your old room and listen to all of Dean’s favorites on repeat. 

after about 4 hours Sam had gotten very very concerned, so he made you some coffee and made you up a plate of food and brought it into your room. the sight he saw when he walked inside was something that made him place the food and drink on your dresser and come engulf you in a huge hug. 

course Dean and Sam wanted to take down Metatron, but of course that didnt go as well as expected for it was then that Metatron stabbed Dean. long story short told to you personally through Sam’s sobs… 

Dean had gotten hold of the first blade again after being bruised and beaten badly in a mortal kombat fight type deal with Metatron.

Metatron stabbing Dean through the heart with an angel blade just as Sam came round the corner and Dean of course turned around. 

Sam helped Dean off the ground and tried to make it out of the warehouse but Dean coughed, said he was proud of them and then breathed his last.

Sam had called out for Cas in a loud scream of pain. about 5 minutes later Cas appeared and became terribly horrified at the sight before him. 

Cas: “what happened?”

Sam: “Metatron killed him, we have to get home.. back to the bunker, to YN she needs to know but no one else can… can you get us and the impala back in one shot or is it needed in 2 trips…”

Cas: “it can be done in 1 shot but how will you tell YN… wont she be crushed?”

that was when Cas realized that Sam was gonna tell you after they got back to the bunker… sam was gonna tell you what happened, tell you that Dean died like  hero… that he went down fighting and that his last thoughts werent of her but he knew he loved you.

Cas: “look Sam i know that YN and Dean were a thing but there is something i have to tell you… about their relationship… but she doesnt know, neither of them did… you can’t tell her…”

Sam now intrigued finds the strength to look away from his brothers corpse. Cas took a deep breath watching as Sam now sat looking at him.

Sam: “cant tell her what?”

Cas: “she and Dean fullfilled the prophecy that Heaven spoke over them, they conceived a child a week before the death of a winchester at the hands of Metatron.”

Sam: “YN’s pregnant?”

Cas: “yes, but there is nothing else that can be done here, lets take this show back to the bunker and see if there is anything that can be done about Dean… ill take us all straight to his room, then ill stay here while you go talk to YN before she finds out on her own about Dean…”

Cas teleports Dean and Sam plus himself back to Deans room in the bunker. you were in the library researching a way to get rid of Metatron that would actually be most effective. you didnt hear the boys talking in Deans room. however you only had this feeling like something wasn’t right. 

it stayed with you heavily as you sat there pouring through the books and every page seemed to make time go by alot slower than it actually was… it wasnt until you flipped the page again that you heard your name being called. this made your head snap up…

you went around the corner and Saw Sam walking towards you… 

Sam: “hey squirt!”

You looked around and didnt see Dean, didnt see your man. you turned your gaze back to Sam who walked closer to you…

YN: “where’s Dean?”

Sam: “YN he was hurt badly… there was an accident, it was a bad one… before i let you see him you need to know he might not come back from this one alive… or if alive he wont be himself… the first blade really did a number on him. but his last concious thoughts were of you… YN he wasnt breathing when Cas got to us… Cas is with him now trying to figure this out, but so far no luck…”

YN: “i have to see his body…”

Sam stepped immediately in front of you stopping your entry to the hallway.

YN: “get out of my way Sam… i have to see his body…”

Sam: “no cause if you go in there your not gonna be able to unsee that…”

YN: “there has to be something we can do…”

Sam: “we will find a way but for now lets leave him alone…”

you went back too the library and cracked a bottle of whiskey… Sam stood around the corner for a few minutes and watched you slowly crumble apart… 

Sam went back to talk to Cas…

Cas: “ive healed his major wounds and slowed the death process… how did she take it…”

Sam: “she has started to drink the whiskey… i dont think she will come back from this…”

Cas: “well lets go make sure she isnt gonna do something stupid…”

Sam & Cas take one more glance at Dean’s body before heading out to the library to find you on the phone just kinda out of their hearing patterns.. it was only but a while later that Crowley texted you that he was outside the bunker…

you went to the door and let him inside… you walked down the stairs with Crowley at your tail… both Sam and Cas stood taking defensive position…

Sam: “Squirt what is he doing here?”

You finished walking down the stairs before you answered…

YN: “he is here to help me save Dean… he says he can save him… ergo that is whats going to happen…”

Cas: “dont do this, we cant trust him…”

Crowley: “look ok i have a soft spot for YN and Dean they have become my new favorite couple… but when word got out downstairs about Metatron having killed Dean. i knew it would be only a matter of time before i got a call from YN, but i also knew i might or might not be able to help.. YN show me where the body is… then ill need a while alone with it… for the way this should go may or may not come with alot of side effects…”

you led Crowley to Dean’s room, opening the door this was your first glance at Deans body… this was the only time other than not but 6 years before when you had lost Dean… to your dismay this time looked much much worse.

YN: “crowley do what you have to… just make sure he comes back to me in one piece…”

Crowley: “ill do my best and let me be the first to say congratulatons!”

you left the room wondering what the hell he meant, but still made your way back to the library… you sat on the couch and waited, waited patiently…

—————————

Crowley stands beside Dean placing the first blade in Dean’s right hand and placing both on his chest. 

Crowley: “listen to me Dean Winchester, what you’re feeling right now, it’s not death. It’s life, a new kind of life. Open your eyes, Dean. See what I see. Feel what I feel. And by the way your going to be a father, now lets go take a howl at the moon.”

—————————-

something stirred, you felt it, you felt the house shake, the entire bunker shook with a violent power… it wasnt but a few moments later that the power went out in the entire bunker… no sound could be heard but something inside you stirred, something felt new, arisen if you would… 

YN: “Sam, Cas are you guys okay?”

Sam and Cas are at your sides immediately! 

Cas: “i dont know but i cant leave my power isnt working…”

Sam: “YN you looked a little stunned a few moments ago… what did you feel?”

You didnt know how to answer that, it was a very strange feeling but being bonded with Dean made things easier. during hunts and stake outs… but now it felt like something went horribly wrong… crowley did however say that there may be side effects… 

YN: “i think whatever Crowley did worked but i dont feel normal Dean i feel a much darker force… if that is why the power went out then we need to lock this place down… now and we need to prepare for the worst… lock it down nothing gets in and nothing gets out…”

you, Sam and Cas all armed yourselves, going down the halls till the tri-fork in the hall… each of you took a hall… Cas came across nothing he stayed near the armory for a few minutes to make sure Dean wouldnt be able to easily access it if he came that way… Sam made it down his hall way to the garage, but obviously with the security locked down and the power outage the garage wouldnt be a good escape route… 

you went down the bedroom hallway, the emergency red lights going down the hallway made it to your room, checked it once and cleared it of being offended… then sam’s room along with Cas’ room…. 

the room at the end of the hall, the one room where you didnt think anything was wrong… the one room where the closer you got the more anger and pain you felt… before you could fully encrouch on the room, the door flung off its hinges… you ducked into the darkened bathroom… 

Demon!Dean: “Sammy, YN, Castiel! where is everyone to greet the brother who has come back from the dead? YN baby come give daddy a kiss…”

Dean now walking towards the bathroom slowly, now sniffs the air… he suddenly becomes ravenous for the being who holds the smell of pumpkin pie. the closer he got to the bathroom, the stronger the smell got. 

Demon!Dean: “come on out Baby.. i dont want to hurt you, but i will if i have to… come on out baby… dont you want to celebrate with me about our child… oh yes i know all about that… you can thank Crowley for that… now im gonna count to 3 if you dont show yourself by the time i get to 3, im gonna hurt you baby, i dont want to but i will…1…”

you didnt know what to do, so you stood there behind the door and didnt realize that you were starting to sweat badly your gun was slipping… before you could even react your gun fell to the ground…

Demon!Dean: “ah so you want to have a bit of bathroom fun hmm… well daddy brought a fun little tool… now lets play…”

with that Demon!Dean stalked into the bathroom forcefully pulling the door shut as he now stood there with you in the creepy red lighting, he stood there with his pocket knife. 

YN: “please dont do this, you dont want to hurt me i know you dont… for the sake of our child… please… i didnt know about my being pregnant D… im just finding out about this… look ok it tore me up to see your body like that, so i called Crowley… i knew when the power went out that you had come back… but i didnt expec…”

before you could say another word, his hand covered your mouth… he gently yet firmly ran the knife over your skin, he pressed down in certain tender spots, like your forearms, your thighs, your chest, as well as your cheeks. before stopping at your neck to lean in to sniff your aroma.. 

Demon!Dean: “you know babe, i never pictured myself as a father… i just realized i never told you what i did in Hell the first time i died… i tortured people, i tortured souls… these people didnt deserve it, but i didnt care, i liked it… now i think i’ll torture you similar to them…”

at that moment with lightning speed he ran the knife through all your clothes till you were standing in your Bra and panties. this made you shiver since it wasnt the man you fell in love with standing before you doing this to you. 

at that moment you felt the knife he was holding go into your skin on your thigh, you buckled at the pain, yet Demon!Dean just laughed with amusement. he ran his hands over your body, feeling you tense and un-tense beneath his touch. 

Demon!Dean: “i still have enough sense to know not to fuck a pregnant woman… but that doesnt mean i cant make you bleed…”

before he could finish cutting you in a few more places, the sound of your name came ringing through the halls. 

Sam: “cas do you see that?”

Cas looks straight ahead at the door on the floor…

Cas: “does that mean he is back?”

Sam: “yes but he doesnt have the strength normally to kick in these door which are reinforced with iron… he would have to…”

thats when it hit Sam like a sack of bricks… the shocked look on his face now said everything he connected the dots and soon realized that whereever Dean was you would be too…

Sam: “Dean or whatever you call yourself.. show yourself now…”

then he turned to Cas and in a low whisper adressed him.

Sam: “ok Cas go down the hall and hide around the corner as soon as he shows himself ill keep his gaze fixed on me, use your teleportation to get directly behind him… go…”

Cas ran to where Sam said but heard the same not so distant voice Sam soon did…

Demon!Dean: “ill be out in a second brother, im just taking a leak… then ill come out and talk…”

Demon!Dean finished making you bleed some more watching your body slide down the wall, weak from blood loss as he opened the bathroom door and exited…

Demon!Dean: “hey Sammy… come give your big brother a hug…”

Sam started to slowly back up seeing the blood covering Dean’s hands and clothes… 

Sam: “where’s YN?”

Demon!Dean: “i wouldnt know your the first one ive seen…”

Sam: “then whose blood are you covered in?”

Demon!Dean: “i found a family of rats and slaughtered them… why do you look so scared bro?”

Sam: “thats not rats blood is it?”

Demon!Dean could only bring off a dark smile… as he followed Sam down the hall and away from the bathroom… Cas took his opportunity to come out from around the corner and go towards the bathroom… where he found you… he took off his trench coat and laid it over you…

Cas: “what did he do to you?”

YN: “he called it knifeplay… i have no idea why he did this but he needs something… he needs a good angelic exorcism…”

Cas: “what do you have in mind?”

you explained to Cas that first you needed to get into some clean clothes of some kind and clean up some of this blood… Cas went to your room and grabbed one of your satin gowns… 

Cas came back seeing you limping… he helped steady you while you got dressed… then he took your arm with his hand… he smiled lightly and dove deep into steadying you before helping you into the direction that he watched Demon!Dean & Sam go in… 

he made sure you were alright before he took off to get into his position… slowly but steadily you made your way down the hall… to the sound of running footsteps and the sound of something breaking…

Demon!Dean: “Sam come on lets not play these games… why do you hide from your older brother…”

you steadied yourself and held the colt up high…

YN: “Demonic force that resides within Dean Winchester… i address the entity within thee… please dont make me do this…”

Demon!Dean turns to face you slowly after stopping in his tracks…

Demon!Dean: “YN baby i see you have managed to get up off the floor and clean yourself up… darling you really should be more careful with that, since when did i give you permission to touch that gun…”

YN: “you didnt i took it from your hiding place when i got up off the floor… you need to make sure that you pick better hiding spots…”

Demon!Dean: “and you need to make sure not to snoop…”

YN: “dont make me do this…”

you stayed tall and strong keeping the Colt trained on Dean…

Demon!Dean: “now now babe put the gun down… put it down or take your shot…”

you started to slowly put the gun down but then he charged towards you, Cas came out behind Dean and wrapped his arms around him from behind… 

you took your shot, you shot Dean while he was in the arms of Cas, you watched between Cas’ angelic grace and the bullet from the colt the demonic energy that was within Dean now blinked away… now within the eyes of the man before you, blinked between the demonic force within and the Dean you fell in love with.

Cas: “ready YN im gonna keep holding onto him while you enact the final part of your plan… anytime now…”

that was your cue, you tossed the colt in the air running towards the man who stole your heart a thousand times over… you kissed him, he didnt react right away it was about 5 minutes into the kiss that he started to kiss you back…

thats when Cas let go, it made you feel normal to be back in Dean’s embrace… once the kiss broke you took him over to the security station you had set up and showed him all of what happened… 

Dean: “i know that i wasn’t myself but i hurt you, i hurt the one person who means the world to me… i’m so sorry YN… you don’t deserve a guy like me… i’m a worthless piece of shit… to top it all off, we are expecting a baby… we are expecting i don’t know if i’m ready to be a father…”

YN: “i know your gonna do wonderful as a father, and i also know that when i saw you basically dead, it tore me apart, i dipped so far into the whiskey that i almost blacked out, if the power hadnt gone out, i wouldn’t be awake right now…”

Cas and Sam come back into the room making sure that it was safe first… then Sam took it upon himself to hand Dean his jacket, to which made you look with confusion but you didnt make anything of it.

Sam: “good luck buddy…”

you grab 3 glasses & the whiskey, while the charade continues… but wasnt expecting what happened next…

Dean: “dont touch your glass of whiskey yet…. YN there is something i wish to discuss with you first…”

You stared at Dean curiousity swimming in your mind… Dean took a small swig of his whiskey before he continued to speak…

Dean: “YN in all my years together never have i ever been so amazed by anyone. you’re strong, brave, talented, one of the best with a machete ive ever seen, i never would have seen myself being with someone who is as lovely and smart as you… YN i know we have just been through hell and back and both need a really good shower, but will you do me the incredible honor of marrying me and making me the luckiest man alive…”

YN: “yes yes yes…”

thats when Dean opened the ring box out of his jacket and slid the expensive but not expensive ring on your finger… the toasting lasted for 30 minutes before the cuts on your body cloted, and the blood on Dean crusted, but it was about time when you spoke again…

YN: “Dean no offense but you need a shower…”

Dean: “funny darling i could say the exact same thing about you….”

[aurora-teez]

|Chapter 3 | Utopia~ An Ateez Fanfic Story~

Emerald’s POV

Waking up in the morning at Dawn is my favorite thing to do because I always go to the beach and feel the water on my skin. I don’t really know why I am so in love with the Sea. I mean...yes I am a sailor, captain, and daughter of a pirate but I feel like there is something else. After looking at water for a while, I go inside, shower, changed out of my sleeping gown into my pirate attire. It’s a good thing that Violet and I both have clothes on the ship. We always have had a wardrobe of clothes just in case of a emergency attack or if we want to take a trip. Now we do not know how long we will be at Sea, so after informing the King of our journey last night, he commanded my ship be stocked with food, wine, whiskey, and other  needed supplies. The King has actually expected that one day I would go and search for my father. He saw that while I was a Noble, my heart belonged at Sea for a while and when I needed to go on my long journey he understood.  I am surprised that he was OK with it. I mean... He took me in and treated me as his daughter. I have a second in command, Edward who assists the King and the army while I’m busy or away. I trained him well and know that he will be very valuable and trustworthy.

Now I walk upstairs to my room and make sure I have everything before closing the door. I knock on Violet’s door and I’m almost blind from her red jacket. Haha...I could spot her across the ocean hehe. 

“Morning!!!”, She says with a huge smile closing her door with all of her pirate things with her. 

“Morning!!! I am very excited. We haven’t sailed in a long time. Too bad we are with those maniacs”, I say as we walk towards the armory we locked.

 “At least we are on our ship so we are in charge”, She say raising her eyebrow. 

“Good Point”, I say.

I unlock the door and open it to find all 8 of them awake and stretching from sleeping on the floor. That is what they get for kidnapping us haha.

“Hello Sleepy Heads. Time to go. Do not ask any questions until we get on the ship!.And I had put all of your clothes put in bags by name as I saw your rooms on your ship is surprisingly neat. ”, I say and lead them under the secret armory exit that leads to the end of the port where my ship is. 

The King made this passageway for me. I always wondered why. We reach the port and i see my ship afloat. Ahh.. she is gorgeous. 

“Look at it Violet. Our ship... it’s been a while. Momma’s home”, I say walking up the bridge ramp to the desk of the ship. 

“ Come along now, misfits!!!”, Violet says walking behind me. 

Once everyone is on board, I tell one of the Guards to let go of the ropes and I wave goodbye to him and salute. Violet goes downstairs to make sure all of our components below deck near the steering wheel is on and working properly. She comes up and closes the hatch door. 

“We all good?”, I ask her. 

“Crystal, Captain”, She sits on her chair on deck. Yes, the King build chairs for us on the deck for us to sit and stare at the water. They actually fold down under the floor which is interesting- Locks in place so no water can get there. 

“Wonderful, all of you sit down, please”, I say to them kindly...emphasis on KINDLY. No one sits down. 

Fine...I take out my gun and point it at them. I loaded it with gun powder this morning just in case. 

“Whoa Whoa Whoa. OK calm down.”, Yeosang says as they put their hands up and sit down. 

I smile to myself and put the gun in my thigh holder and sit down next to Violet in my chair. 

“Ok listen, we need to ground some rules and show you around before we sail further”,I say crossing my legs.

 “OK rules? For what?”, Hongjoong says taking off his jacket. 

“Because...I am the Captain of this ship. Violet , my Co-Captain and Navigator. So you may think you are a king but not here.”

 “I AM A KING!!!”, He stands up and raises his voice at him. I smirk and pull my sword and point it at him. 

“Do not raise your voice at me!! You asked for my help so you get what you ask for! You are not a King. You want to be a King and a Pirate King at that, so badly but you corrupted yourselves. Now all you want is gold. A king does not allow his kingdom to be chaotic and a mess. You probably left them to do what they want. Pathetic!! So no, you are not a king and they are not princes. You are all wanting something that you cannot have. Like I said, you think you command the Sea but you know nothing of the power the Sea has. You can only fool it for so long. So while you are on my ship, you will be your regular selves. Are we clear?”, I say to him moving closer. 

“Crystal”,He says respectfully.

 “Good and please I do not like threatening people but if I have to then I will so I apologize”, I say putting my sword back in my sword scabbard holder on my belt. 

“Are you always this sexy when you are upset?”, San winks at me.

“I don’t know. Are you always so talkative?”, I say and laugh.

“Anyways first, welcome to the Daunting Jewel! She is the finest ship at least as I know of. Well, that is because I have an automatic navigation system. Our whirlwind engine moves at the movement of the wheel steering or automatic movement at about 20 knots per hour which is a good reasonable pace. Second, everyone will have dinner in the dining room. Yes, we have a kitchen and dining room. My ship is big and very comfortable but equipped with defenses such as the cannons below desk and those are automatic as well. Third, do not over drink my alcohol. I will share with you, only at dinner and when I feel like it or when you ask. We have a lot but we need to not drink it all. Fourth, do not come in our room at all. Well now i think it is good to give a tour now. Violet, go ahead”, I say smiling at them and Violet tells them to follow her.

 “OK now this is where you will be sleeping. There are 4 rooms here with 2 beds in each. The rooms are reasonably a good size for you all. Bathrooms with showers, tubs, sinks and toilets in each. Your clothes are in bags labeled by name right over there as Emerald told me”, She says pointing down the hallway as we walk upstairs across the deck to the right side.

 “This is our quarters and do not under any circumstance come in here. OK now the dining room”, I say walking into the dining room opening the door. 

“Whoa this is so amazing! How do you keep everything from falling while sailing?”, Jongho asks me. 

“Well I usually set the table just before dinner and I store all the glass plates, and cups and silver ware in separate cases that has padding around them to prevent shattering”, I say smiling at him and winking.

 “Ahhh very clever”, He says raising his eyebrow smirking at me. 

“Thank you. So we have tons of food as you can see from of the King so me and Violet cook enough for us to not have to cook for about a week. Our fridge uses a system from below the ship to filter the water and freeze it for us to keep meat and cooked food cold in the regular side. We enjoy sitting at the table- more time to talk”, I smile and walk to the right side where our large window right above the lower deck. 

“This is our Map and Navigation. Violet spends a lot of time in here. Are any of your skilled in Map reading, sketching or location?”, I ask all 8 of them and only one raises his hand, Seonghwa.

 “I am, Captain.”, He was very calm and respectful..hmmm..weird

“Wonderful. You two can work together. The rest of you will help with me with things I need help with regularly but I’ll see. Please call me Emerald or Em. Captain is not used a lot. Not really that strict hehe but if you want to, I’m OK with it. Anyways, so that’s it. You can choose your rooms and come back to the deck if you’d like”, I say leading them out the room leaving Violet to find our location and direction we need to go.

Violet’s POV 

I look at our map and notice that we are currently pointed West and we need to go North as Emerald told me. Seonghwa is here with me checking our compass build into the ship, trying to understand how it work since it is automatic. 

“So how long have you know her?’, He asks me. “Well... I met her 10 years ago after my mother and father both died. The King took us in since our mother’s were nobles in the castle. She’s my best friend and like my sister.”,I answer him and smile. “You know you really do look like your father well based on the pictures I've seen of him”,He says walking to me and leans on the table. “Oh thank you. My mother has always told me that I have fire in me like my father. A passion to finish what I start”, I reply and write some notes on our location for Emerald. “Well that’s for sure and you are very beautiful as well. Red suits you”, He says winking at me. My cheeks start to turn red as a tomato. “Umm...T-Thank you”, I stutter and blush touching my cheeks.

I need to get these to Emerald. Oh gosh, I probably look like a cherry! Dang it, why is so seductive and charming?! UGH!!! 

“I need to go tell her to change direction. You can go and pick your room with your friends. I’ll take you there”, I say and lead him out the room to the left side to the rooms. 

Emerald’s POV

I stand near the steering wheel watching all of them eat apples that I gave them from the kitchen talking but I notice that Jongho is by himself looking at the water. He really does look handsome especially from the side view. A very defined jawline, broad shoulders, not too muscular or skinny but perfect shape and very manly as I have seen from his fighting. Yet, he does look very cute at times. I decided to walk over to him. 

“Hi Jongho”, I say smiling at him. 

“Oh Hello Captain”, He salutes and laugh.

“Please call me Emerald”, I laugh at him and stand next to him. 

“OK then it fits you as your eyes are the greenest i’ve ever seen. Green eyes are rare”, He says. 

“Thank you so do you enjoy looking at the sea?”,I ask him. 

“Yes very much. The Sea calms me, watching thsun reflect and hear the movement of the wave and smelling the salt the air with the breeze”, He closes his yes and breathes in and out.

”Same for me. I always have felt that I belong at Sea sailing”, We look at each other and smile. 

General Narrative’s POV 

San looks over to Jongho and Emerald laughing and giggling. He is confused as he is always told he is handsome and all women fall at his feet all over him. He is shocked that she would go talk to Jongho and not him. I guess San doesn’t know when to take a hint but I mean they are friends so he can win her. She is special for some reason not like other women. He is upset but tries his best to not be. 

 Emerald’s POV

After talking with Jongho, Violet tells me to put North going 15 knots at a steady pace in autopilot. I steer North and put it in automatic as our path is clear as day. As the boys settle in, me and Violet prepare for dinner. I set up the table as Violet starts to peel and boil the potatoes and add butter, salt and chives. After setting the table, I cut the corn kernels off and steam adding some cream and butter. After making mashed potatoes and corn, we grill some chicken with lite seasoning and make a salad. I walk to each of their rooms to call them for dinner. All 8 of them sit at the table seeing all the food we made in only a hour. 

“Please eat”, I say signaling them to eat. I grab each of their glass and walk to the alcohol cabinet. 

“Who wants wine and who wants whiskey?”, I ask them and Hongjoong, Mingi, Yunho and Seonghwa want whiskey and the rest get wine except for me and Violet. We drink our special Rum. After pouring glass, I chug my rum in my glass down in one shot as does Violet.

 “The food is really good”, Wooyoung says. “Yes agreed. Thank you.”, Mingi says smiling wide. “Your Welcome”, Me and Violet say at the same time. 

After dinner, we all went up to the deck and looked at the moon as it shined. Night fall comes very fast. I did not realize the time but the more North you go the darker and faster night comes. Sitting and wathcing the moon, my head starts hurting with a bang. 

“Ow!”, I hold my hand and fall to the floor. 

“Emerald!!!!”, Violet yells running to me and hold my hands.

”What is going on?’, Yeosang asks.

” I don’t know!!!!”, Violet yells as I shake side to side on the floor with my head hurting. 

With my eyes closed suddenly, I stop moving and close my eyes. I see an island very foggy and I see a man very tall maybe 6 foot or more, with a white beard, in a white garment like the greeks and a long stick. 

“Who are you? Where am I?”, I ask the man. 

“First I am not a Man. I am a detity, well I’ll tell you soon. You are on Utopia”, He says. 

“Tell me who you are!!!”, I yell

“My child, please relax. But as you wish, I am Poseidon, God of the Seas”, He answers putting his trident in front of him. 

THE TRIDENT!??!! WAIT!!! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON???!?!!! AM I DEAD!!!!

 “Wait...are you serious? Why am I dreaming and what is with the headache come on now!!”, I yell confused.

 “You wondered why you love the Sea? Are attached to it? Know it inside and out? Yearn to sail on it? Because your father never told you, you are destined to release the power of the sea as you say. You are the only one to find Utopia and undo wrong and tragedy”, He says.

 “I do not understand. How do you know that?”

 “My darling, I am God of the Seas. I know what the Sea holds and what is destined to happen. I will visit you again once you see the Northern Sky Constellation”, He shows me the sky and the order of the stars and disappears. 

I wake up with a scream and gasp seeing all of them panicking over me and Violet crying. 

“Oh my God. I thought you were dead”, She says and hugs me tightly. I stand up and sit down in shock.

 “What happened?”, Yunho asks.

 “Well I had some sort of internal mental vision or visit from someone telling me that I was the only one who can find the island because I am destined to unleash power from the Sea”. I say to them

 “Who was it?”. Violet asks me. 

I look at them in the eyes and say it

“Poseidon, God of the Seas”, I say with my green emerald eyes staring at them.

Author’s Note: I hope you all love this Chapter. It was very enjoyable to write especially the vision with Poseidon. A new twist? Who really is Emerald? Why is she so special? Wait and read soon!!!

[the-chaos-katzlein]

Siege of Vesuvia pt2

[Minor Fluff]

“Welcome Generals” She and Lucio heaved the large door open grunting as they did so “To the Grand Armory of Vesuvia”

Ahoratos smiled as he looked upon armors gleeming with metals he had thought were folktales, cloaks and capes made from the finest materials all of them bearing a different animal, swords, spears, and shields made from the sturdiest materials around.

“Dibs on that plate armor!” Rhea shouts as she runs towards the armor mounted on the wall

The older general walks towards decorated leather armor, mumbling “These old bones can’t hold what they used to”

The younger general walks around for a minute before claiming the most extravagant, bright, not really protective armor

Ahoratos finds some discarded scale mail that looks as if it hadn’t been shown as much care as the rest of them.

“That there is of elvish nature, I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that you were drawn to it” The Older General said as he walked over

“And how did you come across this armor? I can already tell it wasn’t just laying there when you found it” Ahoratos said looking down at the mail

“It belonged to an Elvish woman, a mother of 5, of course at the time I never knew that she was protecting her infants...all we saw was the enemy...I threw a tomahawk at her head for a quick kill, but then I saw the 5 faces that looked out behind a pane of glass...I left that day, leaving those children motherless. If you choose the Scales, wear them with honor and pride, for all your ancestors look down upon you.”

Ahoratos then took the scale mail and thanked the man for his words as he walked around a bit longer, finding Tréstál. Ahoratos held the scale mail up to the Tréstál and smiled slightly

“You may all try them on to see if they’re to your liking” Nadia said

Ahoratos put the scale armor on, it still held the shape of the woman who wore it last, after flattening the chest the armor took the shape of Ahoratos’s body, hugging each curve and feeling like an extra layer of skin. Ahoratos then reached up and took the Tréstál bracers and tightened them around his wrists, he put on the breastplate and tied it around his sides, he attached the pauldrons to his shoulders, and the greaves around his legs, before finally putting the helm on

“It feels as if it was made for me” Ahoratos said looking himself over

The older general spoke “Well from what I hear most elves have the same height and body structure”

“Shhh, let me have this” He whispered

“Everyone finished?” Nadia asked

A collection of Yes’s and Yeahs came from the group

“Good, then follow Lucio, he’ll show you to the weapon stash”

The group of four followed the count to a large wall lined with weapons of many sizes and shapes

The older general grabs an Arming sword and a round shield

Rhea grabs two identical ruby rapiers along with a tomahawk

Ahoratos grabs an Ash bow, a hunting knife and a bullwhip. Ahoratos tests the whip out, cracking it against a sturdy looking blade, cracking it in half

“Ooh, Ahoratos likey” he said looking down at his new favorite weapon

The younger general grabs a golden battleaxe, and he shows it off like it won’t shatter trying to cut paper

“I give him 5 minutes to live” Ahoratos says

“I’d say 30 seconds” Rhea remarks

“He’s probably going to flee at the first sight of a weapon” The older general says “And I’ll bet 20 gold on that”

“Deal” Rhea and Ahoratos say in sync

The older general laughs “I’ve already won this bet, and you kids don’t even realize it yet”

“You guys done yet? It’s almost dinner time, and I’m not missing out on the cookies tonight”

The older general joins Lucio, shortly followed by Ahoratos and Rhea. Once Nadia rejoins them carrying two sets of armor do they all depart for the dining room. Everyone sat down in their assigned seats, all of them eating quietly, a certain level of anxiety making itself present at the table.

Nadia spoke up “Asra, Muriel, we have one last ship ready to take you both away to Nopal, you won’t get another chance...”

“Should we send our familiars away too?” Ahoratos asked

Nadia looked up towards Chandra and nodded, before turning her attention back to Asra “That would be best, if you wouldn’t mind of course”

This time it’s Muriel who speaks up “Yes, we’ll take them”

A few hours later

Asra and Muriel are putting the last of their supplies on the ship, Chandra and Camio perch on the ships masts, Mercedes and Melichor walk up the ramp alongside Fur and Queenie

Asra gave Everyone who came to see them off a long hug, before saying goodbye as the ship slowly drifted away

Nadia told Rhea, Lucio, and Ahoratos that it was getting late, and they all returned to the palace, where Nadia and Lucio went to their private bath and Rhea and Ahoratos took turns in another bath

As Ahoratos steps out of the bathroom still drying his hair He spots the Older General leaning against a wall who says “I’ve been told to escort you to your room, make sure you don’t get lost”

“Uhh, thanks? But shouldn’t the palace staff be doing that?” Ahoratos asked

“Probably, but they ain’t exactly here right now, let’s go” the Older General says as he places his hand on Ahoratos’s shoulder and began to walk him to the room that he would be staying in that night

After a minute or two of walking the Older General stopped in front of a door

“Here we are” he said smiling

“Thank you for the help” Ahoratos replied as he pushed the door open and stepped inside

As the door closed behind him he looked at the bed and saw Rhea laying there, book in one hand, wine in the other

“Ah” Ahoratos said “It appears as if I entered the wrong room” Ahoratos reached behind him and attempted to turn the door handle “My mista—and the door’s locked”

“Oh yes how unfortunate, it’s clear that someone has set us up” Rhea remarked

“Ugh, guess I’ll sleep on the floor”

“I think the bed is plenty large enough for two people, come on” Rhea said patting the spot beside her

Ahoratos sat down beside her a flustered mess, and the robes that the palace provided weren’t helping any. Eventually the pair of them closed their eyes and drifted to sleep, while they slept Rhea’s legs wrapped around Ahoratos’s as her arm fell off the side of the bed. First it was his head, and then the entire upper half of Ahoratos’s body hung off the side of the bed, with all four of their legs tangled inside of the blanket.

When dawn arrived that’s how they woke up, Rhea earlier than Ahoratos, so as Rhea tried to softly untangle the blanket from around His legs, Ahoratos fell to the ground with an “Oomph”

“Morning Sleepyhead” she said stifling a laugh

“Yeah” Ahoratos says with a grunt as he cracks his back “Mornin’” As Ahoratos yawns and stretches the robe falls down from his arms and hangs on around his waist showing various long scratches and burns

“What’s the story behind those?” Rhea asked pointing at the burns

“Well, when you’re an ‘exotic’ specimen you tend to get branded before they even try to buy you, there’s a reason why I try not to visit the South Side anymore” He said as he started putting on the Scale Mail

“Yeah, it’s a bit strange really” Rhea said with a sigh

“What is?” He Asked

“The fact that all of this, the palace, The southern end, our shops, it...we could all be gone tomorrow”

“Yeah, that’s why we’ve gotta make the most out of what time we have left”

Ahoratos finishes putting on his Scale Mail “Alright” He said stepping back and looking down at himself “What do you think?”

“Spin” she requested

Ahoratos slowly spun around for her

Rhea thought to herself “This is getting emotional, I might cry, I have to ruin it somehow”

She spoke aloud “Nice Ass”

“Uhh, thanks...you too?”

“At least try to be original”

“ Ahoratos thinks for a second, before saying “Nice hair, you have beautiful eyes, nice umm, boobs? What do you wanna hear?”

“I’ll take those, now let’s go, I need my coffee” Rhea said pushing Ahoratos out of the room which was now unlocked

As they entered the dining room now only three people, Lucio, Nadia and The Older General

“Let me guess...” Ahoratos started

“...He fled” The Older General replied

Ahoratos and Rhea sighed as they tossed The Older General the agreed upon bet

“What?!” Lucio shouted “I didn’t know we were placing bets! I should’ve placed a bet...” He whined

Ahoratos now sat beside Rhea offering her a blueberry muffin as she drank her coffee

1 day

[Again thank you @move-im-vesuvian-thirsty for allowing me to use Rhea]

[And hopefully the very little amount of fan service with hold all the people over who were asking those thirsty anon asks]

[bonenzone]

Kat and Michael on Bonenzo during season 7

“It’s very different from the other flash-forwards you’ll see. Oh, and this one has the huge reveal of who I end up with!” But it isn’t just Bonnie’s love life that’s going to throw you for a loop; Graham also says that Thursday’s episode contains a major Lily-centric twist. “We don’t find out everything that Lily has done, and all the ways she’s effed everybody over, until Episode 5,” she says. “There’s a huge reveal for Bonnie and Damon in that way.” - Kat

The actress also teased that while Bonnie and Damon might find themselves on the outs very soon, there could be something brewing between her character and Damon’s ex-cell mate, Enzo (Michael Malarkey). “[There’s] some really good relationship stuff— friendship and that evolving between her and Enzo,” teased Graham.

"You'll see a lot of stuff between Enzo and Bonnie, which is super exciting 'cause I love working with [Michael] Malarkey," Kat said. "There's a really cool dynamic there." But don't expect a rush into the relationship the two have in the flash forward. "I think that they're developing it very, very slowly," she said of the Bonnie/Enzo romance. "Over the next few episodes, you'll see a lot of their dynamic together, but it's still very much present day Bonnie and Enzo. So you see our kind of -- I don't know if it's like cat and mouse or this very sparring dynamic.

We still haven't seen Bonnie's flash-forward yet. What can we expect from that? Graham: It's really exciting, and you'll get to see a new love interest. It's in Episode 5. I'm really proud of that episode. It was directed by Kellie Cyrus. I can't give away too much. It's really cool. It's one of my favorite episodes of this season.

“There’s going to be worldwide trend, I think,” Graham says. “The fans are going to be really shocked and happy and will get all sorts of feels. I’m excited for people to see that because it’s a big moment for the fans. When I read it, even I was like, ‘Oh, really?!‘”

We talked to Kat Graham recently, and she said that she was so excited to film with you this season. We haven’t seen a whole lot of Bonnie and Enzo together, so what is that dynamic like? Malarkey: First of all, Kat’s a fantastic actress, and the stuff we’ve shot together has been really quick and sharp. We’ve really been having a good time working together — it’s some good stuff. When Kat and I started to work together, there was an immediate kind of energy, and when you work with another actor who spends a lot of time working on the scripts, and wants to run it a lot beforehand, it’s really rewarding. I remember, after the first scene we did together, driving home, thinking, “F–k yes. This is why I do this stuff.” They are fun, exciting scenes, and I look forward to everyone being able to see them.- Malarkey

We’ll also see Enzo searching for something else: love. That’s right, Michael told us we will be seeing his love interest in flash-forwards pretty soon — and it may or may not be a familiar face. “I think people will be pretty shocked by it,” he teased. “All I’ll tell you is that there was immediate chemistry. I know that those scenes that we already shot together will be f–king amazing.”- Malarkey

__________________________________________________________

So many of the antis were Bonnie and Enzo shippers, many of them were excited for Bonnie and Enzo, so many speculations on Bonenzo happening in season 7. The meta, gifsets, bts pictures of Kat and Michael, the hype was there, interview post in the tags, then the episode aired 7x05, people were happy for them.

Then I think 7x08 happened Enzo was still interested in Lily, and people were very annoyed by it. Bonnie and Damon were still having romantic (for BD fans) scenes so it's like what's the point of Bonnie & Enzo if he's with Lily and Bonnie's hanging out with Damon all the time. Of course by the 8x14 episode the armory happened, Bonnie chopping Enzo's arm off, killed a lot of fans joy and they just went back to their original ships (KlausxBon, BonxKai,BonDamon, BonKol, etc) and left Bonenzo alone. 

Caroline Dries pretty much killed a ship that was alive and well liked with her stupid storytelling.  Malarkey and Kat did a good job from S5 with the whole hate story, all she had to do was develop it not recreate it, in fact a Damon/Bonnie/Enzo arc would of made the Bonnie fandom super happy. Even if Bonenzo was endgame in the finale.

--- --- ---

Thank you!! This was such a good reminder and I agree with you re: a lot of the fanbase turning due to the slow storytelling/build up. It was so sweet to be reminded of how excited Kat and Michael were to both be working with each other and telling the BE story.

As we see from Julie's interview comments, she and Caroline both saw the BE banter in s6 as the catalyst for the ship in s7. They thought they could extend that energy across half a season and the fandom would wait patiently. They were wrong.

I will note though, I still have a lot of new followers coming to this blog, I also see a lot of newer fans who watched the show after it aired and in bulk. Considering so many positive and supportive Bonenzo shippers who exist outside of the fandom I do think that some of these ships poisoned the relationship for themselves. I remember how ruthlessly they judged every action Enzo made when they shipped people who actually violently drew blood from Bonnie but hey, end of the day, each to their own. It's nice to not have that noise around during this rewatch.

[jflashandclash]

Tales from Mount Othrys

Say “NO” to Cruise Ships

 Note: I know the brothers’ names are confusing for this section. Don’t worry. Nicknames are a’coming. Someone needs to point out that it’s stupid first (one of my favorite someones in this book <3)

 I

           Axel’s heartbeat thundered so loud, he feared it would deafen him to any movement down the narrow hallway and ruin his focus on the sting of ocean air. Tainted ocean air, he thought. There was an uncomfortable scent to this ship. He could almost taste the presence of an ill omen, and he had only snuck aboard fifteen minutes ago.

         The Glock 17 felt heavy in his hands. He kept the handgun pointed low, but ready. When he found his little brother’s note about running away, Axel didn’t have time to raid their father’s armory. He didn’t have access yet. Any requests would have inspired questions about why Axel wanted to be armed. He stole this one from a Miami-Dade county cop, near the port.

         Now, despite Axel’s dislike for guns, he wished he had taken the family “picnics” to the gun range more seriously. If he fired and missed in this confined corridor, a stray bullet would rip through these thin walls. According to the cruise ship’s map, these rooms housed potentially innocent passengers.

         They were empty.

         Axel had never been on a cruise ship before—just dinky riverboats from his hometown—but all the advertisements on the ship showed mass amounts of people smiling and looking happy, like join us, and we’ll give you a free discount on stapling your lips into a grin!

         There weren’t families talking about subpar buffet food or children fighting over who got the top bunk. The only sounds were the hysterical cries of a twelve-year-old boy and the laughter of his tormentors around a corner. From their shadows cast on the wall, he could tell Ajax, his little brother, was in trouble.

         Axel had been expecting his little brother to be on the top deck, making friends, not dangling from one of his feet, held by someone much larger than him. Then again, Axel hadn’t been expecting to steal a speedboat or sneak aboard the Princess Andromeda. He had hoped, by “running away,” his little brother really meant, “sneak down the street to hide at the local arcade.”

         “You ssssmell good enough to eat!” said a voice that should have belonged to cheesy cartoon snake. Axel had hoped he’d turn the corner to find a Disney actor dressed up like Kaa from The Jungle Book. When he beat them up, he’d just have to apologize to any observers that loved reptiles.

         Another laughed alongside the first. “Chocolaty. Perfect for dessert.” There was a long sniff. “What kind of half-blood are you? How do we know you’re not a Greek spy?”

         “M-M-My m-m-mom—she s-said that I should come here—it’d be safe—” his little brother babbled.

         Axel clenched his jaw. As far as he was concerned, nothing good came from that woman except the little half-brother in that hall. And even then, Axel was going to personally whip Ajax when they got home and then ground him from eating Reese’s Sticks for a week.

         “Safe!”

         The two voices hissed out laughter, though the first one had a more difficult time with the word. Axel wondered if the person had some kind of speech impediment with s’s and if he was allowed to mock them by saying, “here to the ressscue” or if that would be rude.

         “You—d-don’t want to eat m-me! I’m stringy! And I just had a full bowl of jalapeño peppers! I’ll be too spicy!”

         In the shadow, Axel could see the person holding Ajax move his little brother’s body away in alarm.

         This was his chance.

         Axel stepped around the outer edges of the corner, coming into their line of sight. He aimed the gun directly at the person hefting Ajax.

         “Drop—” Axel choked on “him.”

         He expected the man to be tall from the shadow. Not eight feet tall with a furry chest so barreled, you could lay three of Axel’s siblings across and maybe have room for a fourth. Axel had only seen one other person with a snout, animalistic canines, claws, and paws; he knew now wasn’t the time to ask this man where he got the accessories.

         “Axel!” Ajax cried in teary-eyed joy.

         “Oh! A sssecond ssstowaway!” the other speaker hissed. It was a woman—well, half a woman. Her lower half sprouted a reptilian tail.

         Both of them had deep bronze tans, close to Axel’s, though they looked more like they were from the southern Mediterranean or Northern Africa.

         Axel had seen some weird stuff in his fourteen years. In the forests outside of their run-down, cramped shack, he’d seen monsters roaming the dense undergrowth and slurping about the rivers and cenotes. But nothing like these two: humanoid and capable of speech.

         In punishment for letting Ajax get away, Axel wondered if his father had slipped him hallucinatory drugs and hired actors to show up in monstrous costumes to send him into a panic. Axel gritted his teeth. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

         Neither seemed concerned by Axel’s weapon.

Actors would have been.

         “Remember what Luke said, Agriussss.” The woman frowned. “We’re not supposed to eat them if they want to join. Remember Jack’sss morning meditation.”

         Both closed their eyes, inhaled, and exhaled. “Our demigods are our friends,” they said in unison, “Not food. Unless they become Ol’Sissies. Then food.”

         Hearing the snake-woman try the world ol’sissies was worthy of an Oscar. She was still “sssss”ing long after Agrius had reopened his eyes.

         “I mean it,” Axel said, not liking how little attention the two paid him, like he wasn’t a threat. “Drop him, or I will shoot.”

         “Did you just eat a bunch of jalapeño peppers?” the bear man asked.

         Axel swallowed. That felt a little offensive, even if Ajax had said it first. The idea of eating jalapeno peppers grossed Axel out, but, with the straightest face he could manage, he said, “Yes. Now drop him.” Axel did not like the way this woman examined him or how Agrius licked his lips. It was more than creepy.

         A nagging horror lurked along the edges of Axel’s conscious thought, whispering, It’s about to happen again. You’ll lose someone else you love. And you’ll be as useful as a jammed gun while you scream at them to stop.

         The slit V that marked the sight on Axel’s gun trembled.

         Axel wouldn’t be worthless this time.

         His trigger finger shook too much.

         The first bullet was an accident. Once Axel heard the sound, he discharged another three rounds into the bear man’s chest. That was too many wasted bullets on one opponent when there might be a whole cruise ship of aggressors.

         Agrius had been holding Ajax off to one side, far enough that Axel could fire with confidence.

         At the barrage of bullets, Ajax curled up, folding his body to he could reach Agrius’ arm and jam his fingers into the man’s tendons.

         Agrius howled and dropped Axel’s little brother.

         To Axel’s alarm, the scream had nothing to do with the bullets, just the tendons. Normally, someone might take a step back when shot, or react in some way. There were no bullet holes. No blood. Agrius didn’t even look at Axel; he glared at where Ajax had flipped to his feet.

         From the line of bullet holes in the wall behind Agrius, the ballistics appeared to have gone through him.

         Axel wondered if his father had drugged him after all.

         Agrius grabbed at his sore arm. He scowled, rubbing the skin. “That hurt!” he roared.

         The snake woman laughed uncontrollably.

         Ajax sprinted towards Axel.

Agrius made a grab for Ajax’s raven hair. Seeming to sense the capture, Ajax ducked. He dodged under Axel’s elbow skidded to a halt behind Axel’s back.

         Before the younger boy could press his face between Axel’s shoulder blades—as he often hid when bullies at their primary school realized the nuns weren’t paying attention and chose it as a prime time to attack—Axel shoved his little brother to run down the way Axel had come.

         Axel could beat up school bullies for his little brother. Anthropomorphic bulletproof humanoids whose only apparent weakness was jalapeños and pressure points? Axel could take a rain check on that one.

         Agrius released a second, enraged roar, sounding more like the snarl of a rabid animal. One thing was for sure: this guy needed some breath mints.

         Axel pivoted to sprint down the other corridor, hoping Agrius wasn’t as fast as he was big. The mental map Axel had constructed of this ship said they’d have to make it down the full—

         When Ajax stopped short, Axel almost impaled his diaphragm on the back of his brother’s head. Axel wanted to scream at him for stopping and, really, for running off in the first place, but the words choked on his lips.

         There was a man standing in the hallway—not a man. Axel knew, from his sense of mounting dread, this was no mortal. As Axel tried to focus on the person’s features, they seemed to dematerialize, the ends of his long, black cloak vaporizing into smoke. The ground he stood upon appeared to shift, or was he vanishing and shifting locations?

         The man’s eyes, the one thing that bore into Axel’s mind, were a piercing blue. Although Axel couldn’t describe the sharpness of his jaw or the color of his skin, he could tell the smile along those lips was endearing.

         Like Ajax and I are his new playthings.

         Agrius froze in his pursuit upon seeing this creature. His breath raged so heavily, Axel might ask if Agrius wanted an inhaler if Axel was in a position to tease.

         “What’s this then?” the man asked.

         Axel grabbed Ajax’s arm and dragged the younger boy behind him. Rapidly, he moved as far as he could from either party—into the corner.

         Axel felt Ajax pressed his face between Axel’s shoulder blades. “I—I’m sorry. M-m-mom said it would be safe here—” His little brother sobbed, clutching at Axel’s shirt.

         When Axel raised his fists into a defensive stance, they shook so violently, it was laughable. It was happening again. Not only did he feel small and helpless. He was. The bear man towered over him. The other one—that—that was a god.

         His heartbeat thundered so loud again that he couldn’t hear his thoughts to calculate a plan out of this.

         The unknown man took a slow step closer to them. When his foot contacted the floor, the rug seemed to ripple. Axel felt his heart rate decrease. He stumbled and his fists drooped down. Everything felt heavy. He shook his head to stay focused, terrified that he was losing what little control he had.

         Ajax slumped into his back.

         “Come now, we’re missing the main performance. Did you get the goods?” the god in the black jacket asked.

         The snake-woman pulled a backpack off to reveal a variety of soda cans inside. Axel wondered if this was a drug running operation. He’d seen his father’s associates tuck contraband into the most unassuming of places.

         “Ah, orange cream soda,” the man mused. He held a hand out, and one of the bottles flew straight to it.

         The woman frowned. “Now, if you could jussssst do that, why did we have to get it for you?”

         “So we could have enough to share. I mean, everyone on the whole ship might have passed out if I released that kind of power,” he said. His voice was warm and comforting, as was his wink. However, one of Axel’s father’s associates winked and smiled like that at Axel and his brothers. That associate liked to lock boys in his basement, according to rumors.

         “They’re almost out of fodder to throw at the stage,” the god said. He shrugged. “Incompetent performers, but it looks like we might have two new ones, ready to prove themselves.”

         Ajax jerked alert at those words, bumping his nose hard into Axel’s shoulder blade. He sniffled. “You want us to perform? We’re—we’re really good performers!”

         The desperation in his voice made Axel want to slap him. Though, really, Axel wanted to ask prove ourselves to what or whom?

         The man motioned for Axel and Ajax to follow him. Without checking to see if they did, he turned to walk down the corridor. “I’ll escort you to the techies.”

         Axel wasn’t sure what was more daunting: following a god to an unknown stage or fighting off Bear Face.

         Without questioning, Ajax darted after the god and scurried at his heels.

         Axel glanced at the seething Agrius.  “We’ll settle this later,” he told the bear man and raced after his brother.

         Agrius snarled something under his breath.

         “Thank you for getting us away from Winny the Pooh’s angry relative,” Ajax said. His sniffles decreased in correlation to the increased skip in his step. When Axel caught up, Ajax reached for Axel’s hand.

Axel swatted him away. “No soy Hiro,” he growled.[1]

         With their littlest brother, Ajax could pretend he was holding Hiro’s hand because Hiro was scared. He couldn’t fake that with Axel. Axel needed both his hands in case they had a chance to escape the way he’d come. And, although Ajax looked way younger than twelve, barely reaching four feet and five inches when he stood at perfect posture, Axel knew his little brother was too old for that coddling.

         “Oh, don’t thank me. I saved you from one losing battle and will be pitting you into a far worse one,” the god told them. His expression softened into pity. “Though, if you survive, you’re sure to find the safe home that your mother promised you.”

         Ajax’s mouth dropped open. His hazel and brown eyes widened.

         Axel could tell his little brother wanted to ask if this god knew his mother. Instead, he said, “B—but, you said it was just a performance.”

         From the way the man gently set a hand on Ajax’s shoulder—roughly the size of Ajax’s shoulder—and the melancholy to those eyes, Axel understood this wasn’t the kind of performance they were originally thinking. And they weren’t going to make it off this boat by running.

***

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed :D Ah, tiny Axel that thinks he needs to prove himself to Agrius. I’m sure the thought of fighting Axel was unbearable to him. <3 Stay tuned next week to see the Pax brothers’ performance!

Oh! real question guys: Do you want me to label when we shift from book to book? I have context clues burred into the stories, but would you prefer something less subtle? I can invest in neon signposts. With glitter. And those fluttery, streamer dudes.anyway, let me know!

Footnote:

[1] “I’m not Hiro.”

[legion1993]

Please Don’t Make Me Do This

title:  Please Don’t Make Me Do This

kink square filled: Knife Play

dark square filled: Knife Play

Heaven & Hell square filled: Demon!Dean

ship: Demon!Dean x reader

rating: 14+

tags: major character death, forced knife play, 

summery (if applicable): its a surprise….

word count (if applicable):

created for @spnkinkbingo @spndarkbingo @heavenandhellbingo 

also this is for a request brought in by @hawaiianohana15 

A/N: please dont shoot me, but cas doesnt actually stay in heaven for what goes down in this story. im sorry for what im gonna put everyone through. i know for me ive put off writing about this particular thing cause it still gives me nightmares. 

tag: @sweetness47 @alexis-m-kruger

spn kink bingo masterlist  Dark bingo masterlist  heaven and hell masterlist

this was possibly the hardest event of your entire life, the hardest day of your life. the day you witnessed the love of your life get murdered on the eve after your engagement. 

you hadnt the heart to send every single person you had invited a letter saying the wedding was cancelled, hell you didnt have the heart o do anything except sit in your old room and listen to all of Dean’s favorites on repeat. 

after about 4 hours Sam had gotten very very concerned, so he made you some coffee and made you up a plate of food and brought it into your room. the sight he saw when he walked inside was something that made him place the food and drink on your dresser and come engulf you in a huge hug. 

course Dean and Sam wanted to take down Metatron, but of course that didnt go as well as expected for it was then that Metatron stabbed Dean. long story short told to you personally through Sam’s sobs... 

Dean had gotten hold of the first blade again after being bruised and beaten badly in a mortal kombat fight type deal with Metatron.

Metatron stabbing Dean through the heart with an angel blade just as Sam came round the corner and Dean of course turned around. 

Sam helped Dean off the ground and tried to make it out of the warehouse but Dean coughed, said he was proud of them and then breathed his last.

Sam had called out for Cas in a loud scream of pain. about 5 minutes later Cas appeared and became terribly horrified at the sight before him. 

Cas: “what happened?”

Sam: “Metatron killed him, we have to get home.. back to the bunker, to YN she needs to know but no one else can... can you get us and the impala back in one shot or is it needed in 2 trips...”

Cas: “it can be done in 1 shot but how will you tell YN... wont she be crushed?”

that was when Cas realized that Sam was gonna tell you after they got back to the bunker... sam was gonna tell you what happened, tell you that Dean died like  hero... that he went down fighting and that his last thoughts werent of her but he knew he loved you.

Cas: “look Sam i know that YN and Dean were a thing but there is something i have to tell you... about their relationship... but she doesnt know, neither of them did... you can’t tell her...”

Sam now intrigued finds the strength to look away from his brothers corpse. Cas took a deep breath watching as Sam now sat looking at him.

Sam: “cant tell her what?”

Cas: “she and Dean fullfilled the prophecy that Heaven spoke over them, they conceived a child a week before the death of a winchester at the hands of Metatron.”

Sam: “YN’s pregnant?”

Cas: “yes, but there is nothing else that can be done here, lets take this show back to the bunker and see if there is anything that can be done about Dean... ill take us all straight to his room, then ill stay here while you go talk to YN before she finds out on her own about Dean...”

Cas teleports Dean and Sam plus himself back to Deans room in the bunker. you were in the library researching a way to get rid of Metatron that would actually be most effective. you didnt hear the boys talking in Deans room. however you only had this feeling like something wasn’t right. 

it stayed with you heavily as you sat there pouring through the books and every page seemed to make time go by alot slower than it actually was... it wasnt until you flipped the page again that you heard your name being called. this made your head snap up...

you went around the corner and Saw Sam walking towards you... 

Sam: “hey squirt!”

You looked around and didnt see Dean, didnt see your man. you turned your gaze back to Sam who walked closer to you...

YN: “where’s Dean?”

Sam: “YN he was hurt badly... there was an accident, it was a bad one... before i let you see him you need to know he might not come back from this one alive... or if alive he wont be himself... the first blade really did a number on him. but his last concious thoughts were of you... YN he wasnt breathing when Cas got to us... Cas is with him now trying to figure this out, but so far no luck...”

YN: “i have to see his body...”

Sam stepped immediately in front of you stopping your entry to the hallway.

YN: “get out of my way Sam... i have to see his body...”

Sam: “no cause if you go in there your not gonna be able to unsee that...”

YN: “there has to be something we can do...”

Sam: “we will find a way but for now lets leave him alone...”

you went back too the library and cracked a bottle of whiskey... Sam stood around the corner for a few minutes and watched you slowly crumble apart... 

Sam went back to talk to Cas...

Cas: “ive healed his major wounds and slowed the death process... how did she take it...”

Sam: “she has started to drink the whiskey... i dont think she will come back from this...”

Cas: “well lets go make sure she isnt gonna do something stupid...”

Sam & Cas take one more glance at Dean’s body before heading out to the library to find you on the phone just kinda out of their hearing patterns.. it was only but a while later that Crowley texted you that he was outside the bunker...

you went to the door and let him inside... you walked down the stairs with Crowley at your tail... both Sam and Cas stood taking defensive position...

Sam: “Squirt what is he doing here?”

You finished walking down the stairs before you answered...

YN: “he is here to help me save Dean... he says he can save him... ergo that is whats going to happen...”

Cas: “dont do this, we cant trust him...”

Crowley: “look ok i have a soft spot for YN and Dean they have become my new favorite couple... but when word got out downstairs about Metatron having killed Dean. i knew it would be only a matter of time before i got a call from YN, but i also knew i might or might not be able to help.. YN show me where the body is... then ill need a while alone with it... for the way this should go may or may not come with alot of side effects...”

you led Crowley to Dean’s room, opening the door this was your first glance at Deans body... this was the only time other than not but 6 years before when you had lost Dean... to your dismay this time looked much much worse.

YN: “crowley do what you have to... just make sure he comes back to me in one piece...”

Crowley: “ill do my best and let me be the first to say congratulatons!”

you left the room wondering what the hell he meant, but still made your way back to the library... you sat on the couch and waited, waited patiently...

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

Crowley stands beside Dean placing the first blade in Dean’s right hand and placing both on his chest. 

Crowley: “listen to me Dean Winchester, what you're feeling right now, it's not death. It's life, a new kind of life. Open your eyes, Dean. See what I see. Feel what I feel. And by the way your going to be a father, now lets go take a howl at the moon.”

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

something stirred, you felt it, you felt the house shake, the entire bunker shook with a violent power... it wasnt but a few moments later that the power went out in the entire bunker... no sound could be heard but something inside you stirred, something felt new, arisen if you would... 

YN: “Sam, Cas are you guys okay?”

Sam and Cas are at your sides immediately! 

Cas: “i dont know but i cant leave my power isnt working...”

Sam: “YN you looked a little stunned a few moments ago... what did you feel?”

You didnt know how to answer that, it was a very strange feeling but being bonded with Dean made things easier. during hunts and stake outs... but now it felt like something went horribly wrong... crowley did however say that there may be side effects... 

YN: “i think whatever Crowley did worked but i dont feel normal Dean i feel a much darker force... if that is why the power went out then we need to lock this place down... now and we need to prepare for the worst... lock it down nothing gets in and nothing gets out...”

you, Sam and Cas all armed yourselves, going down the halls till the tri-fork in the hall... each of you took a hall... Cas came across nothing he stayed near the armory for a few minutes to make sure Dean wouldnt be able to easily access it if he came that way... Sam made it down his hall way to the garage, but obviously with the security locked down and the power outage the garage wouldnt be a good escape route... 

you went down the bedroom hallway, the emergency red lights going down the hallway made it to your room, checked it once and cleared it of being offended... then sam’s room along with Cas’ room.... 

the room at the end of the hall, the one room where you didnt think anything was wrong... the one room where the closer you got the more anger and pain you felt... before you could fully encrouch on the room, the door flung off its hinges... you ducked into the darkened bathroom... 

Demon!Dean: “Sammy, YN, Castiel! where is everyone to greet the brother who has come back from the dead? YN baby come give daddy a kiss...”

Dean now walking towards the bathroom slowly, now sniffs the air... he suddenly becomes ravenous for the being who holds the smell of pumpkin pie. the closer he got to the bathroom, the stronger the smell got. 

Demon!Dean: “come on out Baby.. i dont want to hurt you, but i will if i have to... come on out baby... dont you want to celebrate with me about our child... oh yes i know all about that... you can thank Crowley for that... now im gonna count to 3 if you dont show yourself by the time i get to 3, im gonna hurt you baby, i dont want to but i will...1...”

you didnt know what to do, so you stood there behind the door and didnt realize that you were starting to sweat badly your gun was slipping... before you could even react your gun fell to the ground...

Demon!Dean: “ah so you want to have a bit of bathroom fun hmm... well daddy brought a fun little tool... now lets play...”

with that Demon!Dean stalked into the bathroom forcefully pulling the door shut as he now stood there with you in the creepy red lighting, he stood there with his pocket knife. 

YN: “please dont do this, you dont want to hurt me i know you dont... for the sake of our child... please... i didnt know about my being pregnant D... im just finding out about this... look ok it tore me up to see your body like that, so i called Crowley... i knew when the power went out that you had come back... but i didnt expec...”

before you could say another word, his hand covered your mouth... he gently yet firmly ran the knife over your skin, he pressed down in certain tender spots, like your forearms, your thighs, your chest, as well as your cheeks. before stopping at your neck to lean in to sniff your aroma.. 

Demon!Dean: “you know babe, i never pictured myself as a father... i just realized i never told you what i did in Hell the first time i died... i tortured people, i tortured souls... these people didnt deserve it, but i didnt care, i liked it... now i think i’ll torture you similar to them...”

at that moment with lightning speed he ran the knife through all your clothes till you were standing in your Bra and panties. this made you shiver since it wasnt the man you fell in love with standing before you doing this to you. 

at that moment you felt the knife he was holding go into your skin on your thigh, you buckled at the pain, yet Demon!Dean just laughed with amusement. he ran his hands over your body, feeling you tense and un-tense beneath his touch. 

Demon!Dean: “i still have enough sense to know not to fuck a pregnant woman... but that doesnt mean i cant make you bleed...”

before he could finish cutting you in a few more places, the sound of your name came ringing through the halls. 

Sam: “cas do you see that?”

Cas looks straight ahead at the door on the floor...

Cas: “does that mean he is back?”

Sam: “yes but he doesnt have the strength normally to kick in these door which are reinforced with iron... he would have to...”

thats when it hit Sam like a sack of bricks... the shocked look on his face now said everything he connected the dots and soon realized that whereever Dean was you would be too...

Sam: “Dean or whatever you call yourself.. show yourself now...”

then he turned to Cas and in a low whisper adressed him.

Sam: “ok Cas go down the hall and hide around the corner as soon as he shows himself ill keep his gaze fixed on me, use your teleportation to get directly behind him... go...”

Cas ran to where Sam said but heard the same not so distant voice Sam soon did...

Demon!Dean: “ill be out in a second brother, im just taking a leak... then ill come out and talk...”

Demon!Dean finished making you bleed some more watching your body slide down the wall, weak from blood loss as he opened the bathroom door and exited...

Demon!Dean: “hey Sammy... come give your big brother a hug...”

Sam started to slowly back up seeing the blood covering Dean’s hands and clothes... 

Sam: “where’s YN?”

Demon!Dean: “i wouldnt know your the first one ive seen...”

Sam: “then whose blood are you covered in?”

Demon!Dean: “i found a family of rats and slaughtered them... why do you look so scared bro?”

Sam: “thats not rats blood is it?”

Demon!Dean could only bring off a dark smile... as he followed Sam down the hall and away from the bathroom... Cas took his opportunity to come out from around the corner and go towards the bathroom... where he found you... he took off his trench coat and laid it over you...

Cas: “what did he do to you?”

YN: “he called it knifeplay... i have no idea why he did this but he needs something... he needs a good angelic exorcism...”

Cas: “what do you have in mind?”

you explained to Cas that first you needed to get into some clean clothes of some kind and clean up some of this blood... Cas went to your room and grabbed one of your satin gowns... 

Cas came back seeing you limping... he helped steady you while you got dressed... then he took your arm with his hand... he smiled lightly and doove deep into steadying you before helping you into the direction that he watched Demon!Dean & Sam go in... 

he made sure you were alright before he took off to get into his position... slowly but steadily you made your way down the hall... to the sound of running footsteps and the sound of something breaking...

Demon!Dean: “Sam come on lets not play these games... why do you hide from your older brother...”

you steadied yourself and held the colt up high...

YN: “Demonic force that resides within Dean Winchester... i address the entity within thee... please dont make me do this...”

Demon!Dean turns to face you slowly after stopping in his tracks...

Demon!Dean: “YN baby i see you have managed to get up off the floor and clean yourself up... darling you really should be more careful with that, since when did i give you permission to touch that gun...”

YN: “you didnt i took it from your hiding place when i got up off the floor... you need to make sure that you pick better hiding spots...”

Demon!Dean: “and you need to make sure not to snoop...”

YN: “dont make me do this...”

you stayed tall and strong keeping the Colt trained on Dean...

Demon!Dean: “now now babe put the gun down... put it down or take your shot...”

you started to slowly put the gun down but then he charged towards you, Cas came out behind Dean and wrapped his arms around him from behind... 

you took your shot, you shot Dean while he was in the arms of Cas, you watched between Cas’ angelic grace and the bullet from the colt the demonic energy that was within Dean now blinked away... now within the eyes of the man before you, blinked between the demonic force within and the Dean you fell in love with.

Cas: “ready YN im gonna keep holding onto him while you enact the final part of your plan... anytime now...”

that was your cue, you tossed the colt in the air running towards the man who stole your heart a thousand times over... you kissed him, he didnt react right away it was about 5 minutes into the kiss that he started to kiss you back...

thats when Cas let go, it made you feel normal to be back in Dean’s embrace... once the kiss broke you took him over to the security station you had set up and showed him all of what happened... 

Dean: “i know that i wasn’t myself but i hurt you, i hurt the one person who means the world to me... i’m so sorry YN... you don’t deserve a guy like me... i’m a worthless piece of shit... to top it all off, we are expecting a baby... we are expecting i don’t know if i’m ready to be a father...”

YN: “i know your gonna do wonderful as a father, and i also know that when i saw you basically dead, it tore me apart, i dipped so far into the whiskey that i almost blacked out, if the power hadnt gone out, i wouldn’t be awake right now...”

Cas and Sam come back into the room making sure that it was safe first... then Sam took it upon himself to hand Dean his jacket, to which made you look with confusion but you didnt make anything of it.

Sam: “good luck buddy...”

you grab 3 glasses & the whiskey, while the charade continues... but wasnt expecting what happened next...

Dean: “dont touch your glass of whiskey yet.... YN there is something i wish to discuss with you first...”

You stared at Dean curiousity swimming in your mind... Dean took a small swig of his whiskey before he continued to speak...

Dean: “YN in all my years together never have i ever been so amazed by anyone. you’re strong, brave, talented, one of the best with a machete ive ever seen, i never would have seen myself being with someone who is as lovely and smart as you... YN i know we have just been through hell and back and both need a really good shower, but will you do me the incredible honor of marrying me and making me the luckiest man alive...”

YN: “yes yes yes...”

thats when Dean opened the ring box out of his jacket and slid the expensive but not expensive ring on your finger... the toasting lasted for 30 minutes before the cuts on your body cloted, and the blood on Dean crusted, but it was about time when you spoke again...

YN: “Dean no offense but you need a shower...”

Dean: “funny darling i could say the exact same thing about you....”

[twodaysintojune]

Rahab

Supernatural, Debriel, Warnings-Fluff

Created for Round 4 of the @debrielcc Debriel Creations Challenge Prompt: Mythology, Theme: Chaos and Order

One Shots Masterlist, Long Stories Masterlist

Find me at AO3

Dean groaned after he almost missed the steps into the kitchen, he went forward to the cupboard to get a sippy cup and fill it with lukewarm tea. Hopefully Sam and Cas would be back soon with the medicine now that their hunt was over, it had been two days already and he was unable to leave the bunker just like that.

“How’s the runt doing?”

Dean glared at Gabriel who was drinking a milkshake while browsing mindlessly his phone. He didn’t have to say a thing for the archangel to catch his train of thought.

“I’m sorry Dean-o, we’ve talked about this, natural defenses. She has to get over it by herself. Besides it’s just the flu.”

Gabriel also wanted to say something about the fact that Dean had forbidden him from getting anywhere near his child last time they had met but he didn’t want to start a discussion again.

“Well you could still help a little, seeing that you don’t need sleep like I do!”

Gabriel looked at Dean surprised and stood, moving towards Dean he grabbed the sippy cup from his hand and began his way towards the bedroom. There was no way he was going to let this chance slip away. Walls that once had held armory and lore books now covered in stars and plushies and coloring books. A currently empty toddler crib resting aside Dean’s bed. He knocked softly to interrupt the toddler’s half dozed attention over the tv. Immediately the child slightly improved her position in the middle of the oversized bed over the pillows and motioned her arms towards the archangel with a shine in her eyes that had not been there before.

“Gabriel!”

“Hey there Marie! How’s my favorite Winchester doing?”

The girl giggled when the archangel threw himself at her and blew a raspberry on her cheek and playfully pushed him aside. Despite being upset at Gabriel, Dean smirked at the display of affection.

“I’m sick.”

Gabriel magicked a couple of pillows and moved into the bed with her. He passed another pillow to Dean who literally dumped himself over it, laying down and most likely falling asleep almost immediately at the other side of the bed.

“I know, your dad told me. How are you feeling?”

“I hate being sick!”

“Really?”

“I’m hot but I can’t take out the sheet. Dad told me it was bad. And I want Bunny but it’s too hot!”

“So that’s why Bunny is at your bed?”

The girl nodded seriously while Gabriel helped her straight up to drink her tea.

“What are you looking at?”

The girl shrugged. She was starting to get upset once more, now that the novelty of Gabriel visiting was gone and her body was reminding her of the awful uncomfortability of general sickness.

“You don’t like that show?”

“I wanna sleep but I can’t.”

Oh, so that’s why Dean had been in such a bad mood. Gabriel turned off the tv and lowered the light.

“How about I tell you a story?”

“Is it a princess story? I know all princess stories. I want another kind of story.”

“Oh? Well then how about a Sea Monster story?”

The toddler’s eyes sparkled.

“Are Sea Monsters Real?”

“They are in this story. You want to hear it?”

Marie thought for a second and then nodded at Gabriel. The archangel beamed at her and moved her carefully to lay over his chest.

“Long, long ago, there were huge monsters lurking in the sea...”

“What is lurking?”

“Lurking is like when you try to jump scare your dad in the middle of the night.” The child giggled. “So, these monsters were not really good or bad but they were big, way too big to be able to live with humans and so to keep the order of the world, it was commanded that they lived in the depths of the ocean.”

Gabriel moved his hand away from Marie’s line of sight for a moment and produced a plushie sea snake, similar to the Chinese traditional image of a dragon, he began to move it in a swimming fashion towards her. Marie squealed in delight watching the plush in front of her.

“One of them, unhappy with having to stay in the depths of the ocean tried to get away from the law that kept it down there and summoned a terrible being of Chaos to help it, a Leviathan. And the Leviathan told the monster: ‘If you let me in your body, I’ll take you to the world of the humans.’ And the monster said yes and the Leviathan went in but it was a terrible mistake.”

“Why?”

“Because Leviathans are evil. They like to eat and destroy everything and respect nothing. And this Leviathan was no different. Once it was inside the monster, the Leviathan took over its body and raised to the upper levels of the sea.”

Magically, the plushie snake turned so dark in the dimmed light of the room that you could only see it’s white teeth in the middle of its head. Marie gasped in horror.

“The Leviathan ate everything it found on it’s path and when there was no fish dumb enough to get close to it, the Leviathan moved to the shore and found a city filled with humans and began to destroy their ships and eat the people in it!” Gabriel made the plushie ‘eat’ some of Marie’s toys scattered over the bed “And when the ships were not enough, the Leviathan tried to destroy the city itself!”

Gabriel grabbed a pillow that apparently represented the city and tried to attack it with the plushie when Marie placed her hands between both.

“No!”

“This is wrong, isn’t it?”

“We have to help the city!”

“What can we do to help the city?”

Marie thought for a moment, she liked the plushie but it was bad to let it destroy an entire city. The problem was that the monster was not supposed to be in the city at all. Her frown impressively reminded Gabriel of the man sleeping by their side. He smiled fondly and caressed her hair full of love.

“We have to send the monster back.”

“How?”

This time Marie was unable to come up with a way. Gabriel realized this and took over the story once more.

“Back in the day, when monsters showed up, people who fought the monsters showed up too.”

Gabriel appeared a plushie Gabriel in the hand opposite to the sea monster. Marie gasped, she snatched it from his hands and looked at the tiny version of the archangel in awe.

“It’s you!”

“Haha, yeah, it’s me.”

Marie stared at it for a second.

“This is wrong.”

Gabriel looked at her puzzled.

“This one doesn’t have wings.”

Gabriel looked at her stunned. She was able to see his wings? Adding to his surprise, Dean grunted a laugh.

“I knew she could see your wings.”

“You’re awake?”

“Not really.”

Gabriel snorted but still felt his chest clutching for a moment. Naturally Dean was not gonna be able to sleep much knowing that the trickster was taking care of his child. To put wings on the plushie, he made Marie cover her eyes and when she opened them, voilá! There were golden wings on plushie Gabriel’s back. She was delighted with it.

“So, it’s time to fight the sea monster. Are you ready?”

Marie gave him a grave nod and the battle began. Gabriel attacked her with sea monster tickles, until she was laughing so hard he had to give her a rest. Moment that she took advantage of to attack with her plush version of Gabriel. After a heady confrontation between the plushies of chaos and order, Marie won and brought down Gabriel’s sea monster.

“Now the Leviathan is defeated, Gabriel has to send him back to the depths of the ocean.”

Gabriel motioned at the plushie Marie was holding. She took the hint and pushed the sea monster off the bed while Gabriel made the noises of a defeated monster falling into the depths of the abyss. Both Gabriel and Marie cheered.

“That was awesome.” snored Dean, by their side.

Gabriel and Marie shared glances and giggled at Dean’s half asleep state. Footsteps shuffled outside the door and a knock came before Sam stepped in the room. He was surprised to see Gabriel in there but had enough tact to not comment a thing about it.

“Hey Marie, I brought the medicine, you should be able to sleep well with this.”

The girl drank the overly syrupy and sweet concoction from the plastic spoon and drowned it with more tea making odd faces. Minutes later, when the medicine was starting to kick in and Gabriel tried to move away from the bed, Marie held his sleeve yawning.

“Sleep here.”

“I’m sorry little runt, I don’t think your dad’s gonna be too happy about it.”

“He will be, he likes you. I like you.”

Gabriel blushed with the earnest comment of the child and moved back into the blanket. Maybe he was being silly taking the child’s invitation but sharing a bed with Dean at least once and see him wake up the next day had always been in his bucket list and hell if he was not gonna take the chance now that he could.

“Are you sure he’s not gonna kick me out later?” He asked the girl in a conspiratorial hush.

“Won’t. Now shut up and sleep. Both of you.” Grumbled Dean, getting into the sheets himself and pulling the little girl into his arms.

Marie giggled, she finally had her dads together. Maybe for adults things were always more complicated but surely sleeping like this made them a family. Right? She yawned once more but there was something still bothering her.

“Gabriel?”

The archangel switched off the lamps.

“Yeah runt?”

“What was the name of the monster?”

“Rahab”

Dean grunted in that final ‘goddamnit please just let me sleep’ tone all parents eventually learn while dealing with their children. Gabriel turned to look at him surprised. Dean immediately felt Gabriel’s gaze on him.

“How do you know?”

“I remember an angel telling me that same story once.”

Gabriel’s chest clenched, he also remembered telling that story once to a six year old feverish child whose father had been out on a hunt when the fever had hit him along with his little brother.

Looking at these two humans finally drifting to dreamland, Gabriel leaned over and kissed Dean and Marie’s foreheads, careful enough not to wake them up and tucking them neatly into the blankets wondering if this time he could actually be a decent guardian angel and look after their dreams.

[khaosgaming22]

Blackout - A Destiny Story

“Eyes up Guardian!”

Chase flashed and hovered over his guardians bunk, attempting to wake up a half asleep Kenton. Or Ken, as he was called by his friends, a titan exo named CHAO-5 and awoken warlock named Draeko. However like Ken, he gave them nicknames because they felt they worked better in combat. Respectively, Chao and Drake.

“Wake up!”

Ken tossed a pillow at his ghost, but Chase was able to avoid the fluffy projectile. Defeated, Chase sighed and went to get Chao and Drake to have them try.

“Won’t get up eh?”, said Chao oiling his upper section of his arm. Last time he went into the crucible, he fell and hit it, ever since it’s locked up in missions. He found oiling it has helped but has refused to ask for a new arm. Usually these three stay in their ships but they were all tired and decided to crash in the bunks room at the tower. They were out running a strike on Io and it took them a while to get back to earth.

“No, I’ve been trying for 10 minutes, he’s determined.”, Chase blinked.

“Or Hungover”, lamented Chao.

“Sigh... he was drinking again?”

“Yes, I know we got some great loot last night but he needs to lay off.”, Chao replied.”

At this, Drake walked into the breakfast room, he grabbed a bagel and looked puzzled at it. “Curious, it appears to be a donut without a dough or glaze? What’s the point of eating an inferior version?”

“Good point, why would you eat it?”, Chao agreed.

“Because we wanted to eat healthily pre-traveler era.”, said Ken stumbling out.

“Look who’s up, sleeping beauty!”, Chase chided. “You need to stop drinking alcoholic beverages after every mission!”

“Shut up Alexa”

“That’s.. not my name... I don’t understand?”

“Never mind, I’m getting a waffle.”, Ken said trodding off toward the iron.

“So, what are we doing today?”, Drake said sitting down, uncomfortably on the bench attached to the table. Drake, as an awoken had been away from earths people for a while and was still adjusting to things.

“Well, i still have yet to do that quest Ada gave me, Servo, what’s my average LL?”

“You’re sitting around 597, she recommended 610”, Servo answered.

“But, we’re all at 590-600. If we all go we might be able to do it. I got the same task.”, interrupted Ken drowning his waffle in maple syrup.

Drake contemplated this, munching on his discount donut. He had the highest Light Level out of the three and though he still had to do the quest as well, he was worried at how tough it could be. Eventually he got up, stuffed the rest of the bagel in his mouth then started toward the elevator to the armory. Not that Ken or Chao noticed, they were too busy arguing about which exotic of theirs was better, Ace of Spades or Sleeper Simulant.

Drake pressed the button and the elevator door closed and whirred as it ascended. Eventually the elevator stopped and arrived at the armory, Drake stepped out and noticed someone moving crates of weapons around.

“Good morning.”, called the warlock.

“Ah, good morning, you’re here early. Pardon the dust just organizing some boxes of rifles!”

It was Shaxx, overseer of the crucible, awoken can get pretty tall, but even standing several feet apart, Drake seemed tiny compared to the boisterous titan.

“Just checking out my weapons.”, Drake explained.

“Going on another mission?”, Shaxx said putting down a crate.

“Depends, I want to check my gear to make sure I can carry my team if I need to.”, Drake replied. “My Well of Radiance can only do so much, I want to see what my new weapons have in the way of perks. Eve?”

“Yes?”, the ghost said blinking into existence.

“Can you check what the stats on these weapons are?”

“Certainly.”, the ghost replied.

“You have the primary Assault rifle, Breakneck, the Shotgun, Retold Tale and the Sniper Rifle,Whisper of the Worm. All in the 590-605 range.”, Eve counted.

“As for my Gear, I have some good stuff, it seems and the Sunbracers for gloves.”

“Seems like I should get ready and tell them.”, said Drake returning his ghost.

<========================>

“All right, ready to go?, said Chao getting in his ship. Drake and Ken replied with a thumbs up from their cockpits and the sound of their engines filled the hangar.

After a while the three of them are on there way to the EDZ and start up a conversation about their favorite weapons. The three may be very different in origin and history but the one thing they have in common is their love of rare weapons and other personal items. Ken asks what Drake’s is “being a warlock”.

“What’s that supposed to mean Cowboy?”, says Drake alluding to the hunters choice of subclass Gunslinger.

“Nothin’ but we both agree that we have very different styles when it comes to fighting.”, the hunter replied with a smirk.

“I probably would go with Prometheus Lens, it goes well with my solar subclass and it’s great for add clearing.”

“Yeah”, interjected Ken, “It used to be even better, but it was such a problem the Vanguard had to tell Banshee to mod them so people couldn’t take advantage of it!”

“Oh yeah, Banshee had a lot of work to do that week!”

“What about you, Chao?, what’s your favorite exotic?”, asked Ken slowly moving his hand toward the throttle.

“That’s a tough one, I think if I had to pick one it would we my...”

“Yeah whatever, RACE YOU TO THE EDZ!!!”, Ken yelled into his com, shut it off then pulled on the throttle sending his ship into a nosedive.

“YOU SON OF A!”-

“That little...”

The three ships raced toward the landing zone north of Trostland and the warlock, titan and hunter appeared on the surface transmatting from thin air.

“I totally beat all of you!”

No you didn’t, I clearly won that!”

“WOULD YOU TWO STOP ARGUING!”, Drake shouted.

“Let’s just get to the location on the map.”

“Fine”

“Okay”

<========================>

“Well, here’s the spot.”

“A cave...at the edge of the EDZ...what’s the point here cause I’m sure missing it?”, Ken said shouldering his rocket launcher.

“What’s that in the center?”

“I think that’s what we’re here for, hey Ada?”

“HOW DID YOU GET ACCESS TO...oh it’s you 3..sorry, reflex. Ahem, that is a forge, your job now that you have that frame, is to forge the Machine Gun.”

“You need to collect charges and put them into the forge before time runs out, otherwise the forge won’t complete.”

“Sounds simple enough, just chuck some balls at the thing in the center and BAM! free loot!”, said an excited Ken racing toward the forge.

“WAIT!”, Ada shouted.

It was too late, the forge turned on and Cabal came charging through the caves for the 3 of them.

“YOU IDIOT!”, shouted the angry Awoken, “She was about to mention the danger!”

“You guys we’re taking too long we’ll be fi-

SMACK!, a gladiator Cabal smashed the frail hunter into an adjacent cave wall.

“Ugh what did he do now?”, lamented Chase reviving his dead guardian.

“He poked a hornets nest, he rushed in without a plan what do you think he did?!”

“-ne, what happened? Did we win?

“NO, you rushed in without a plan and died to a Space Turtle. Stop doing that!”

“You guys worry too much, I’m fine as long as I have Chase!”

“AND WHAT IF IM NOT?!”, yelled Chase at his guardian shotgunning a Cabal.

“What?”

“What if I’m not able to revive you? What if im not there to? What then?!”

“I’ll be fine.”, Ken replied reloading his Handcannon.

“I always think of a way out of things-

“No...your friends do...I do.”, Chase said sulking away.

“I’ll be fine without him...”

————————————————

“Good thing you have that Well of Radiance D! This is getting rough!”

“Im also 5 levels above you!”, the warlock responded taking a shot at the centurion.

“Hey, is...where’s Chase going?”, asked Drake.

“Huh?”

“Chase! Wait!”

“Leave me alone...”, Chase called turning away.

“What’s wrong?”, Chao pryed shooting a psion.

“What’s wrong is my guardian is an incompetent buffoon who insists on getting himself killed and never thanking the person that revives him over and-“

“Guardian down!”, said Servo announcing his Titan’s death.

“Anyway, he clearly doesn’t need me, so I’m just gonna watch you two.”, Chase declared, if he had arms, they would be crossed.

“Jeez, that hurt, hey, my super’s almost ready!”, said Chao.

“I’ve got a while before mines ready, what about yours Ken?”, Drake asked over comms.

Ken was busy lining up shots with his hand cannon as its bullets made contact with the hard skulls of Cabal. Then he was struck with a blast from a Cabal gun and fell to the ground losing his grip on his revolver.

“Ken!”, said Chao rushing over to help.

Chao slammed the Centurion with a shoulder charge and rushed over to put up his barrier.

“Servo! Can you help him?”

“I just revived you, it’ll be a while before I can.”, replied his ghost.

“and Drake just got revived by Eve...”

The titan looked at the angry ghost in the corner of the cave.

“What?...No, NO! N-O, NO!”

“Come on Chase he’s your guardian!”

“Not until he apologizes, oh wait he can’t..HE’S DEAD!”

“Sigh...we need him for this man! You’re the only one who can do it!”

Chase looked at the cloak being stomped on by Cabal. Then his guardians cloak moved just enough to reveal his handcannon. He could see the engravings of crashing waves making up the texture of the grip on the weapon. He stopped and looked around then finally replied with, “You cover me while I bring him back.”

Soon the hunter was back, he looked at his ghost and started to apologize.

“Listen, I’m sorry for acting like an idiot... Sometimes I just get distracted or pissed off, but...thank you for bringing me back..”

“Alright, I’m sorry too... I know you can’t help it it’s in your nature to rush into things, always has been-

“Always will be, but I’ll try to not get myself killed as much from now on okay?”

“Thank you”

“Now let’s kick some Cabal a**!”

————————————————

The three were on the final part of the forge and were having trouble killing the Warden, putting as many shells and rounds into it as they could but to no avail.

“I think this is why Ada told us to be at 610!”, Chao said putting up his barrier.

“Hey! Let’s pool our supers together and take this guy down, we got this!”, Ken replied.

“Sounds good to me, any objections?...no...okay!”

The Warlock summoned his Dawnblade engulfed in solar light hot as Sol itself as the Titan rushed over and put up his Ward of Dawn. The blade slammed into the cave floor, creating a spiraling Well of light as the purple tint of the Titans shield encased the two blocking shots from the Centurion. Finally the Hunter slid in front of the bubble and called his Golden Gun. After firing 6 shots from the Revolver encased in light empowered by the Well, the Warden was almost down. The three took out their power weapons and blasted what was left of the armor off the Cabal as it fell to the cavern floor.

[musicprincess655]

Sawamura’s bright gold eyes lit up when Kazuya walked into the room, and every single time, it made Kazuya’s heart stutter. Both because of Sawamura’s beauty, and because he was so visibly happy to see Kazuya.

“How’s house arrest?” Kazuya asked, lightly deflecting his feelings with sarcasm.

“Boring,” Sawamura groaned. He leaned easily into Kazuya’s space like it was his right, and Kazuya let him because it was now. “It’s not fair that I have to stay in while you get to go out.”

“One of us has caused millions of dollars worth of damage to city structures,” Kazuya pointed out, trying to keep the smirk off his face just to rile Sawamura up more.

“Come on, that was two times,” Sawamura complained. Kazuya just stared at him. “Maybe three. I’m not that bad. Tetsu-san and Furuya are worse!”

“You’ve got me there,” Kazuya said. He set his hands on Sawamura’s waist, trying to ground himself through touch. “Hey. I need your help with something, and I need you to not ask any questions.”

“Okay.” Sawamura’s expression didn’t change. He just put his hands on Kazuya’s shoulders, the moment close and almost intimate.

“I also need you to not tell Ryou about it,” Kazuya continued. Sawamura, to his credit, didn’t lean back or try to argue.

“Why?”

“That’s a question.” Kazuya wasn’t being fair, and he knew it. He also knew this probably wasn’t a good idea, but he couldn’t leave it alone.

“I didn’t say no,” Sawamura said. “I just want to know why I can’t tell Oniisan.”

“He...okay, here’s what’s happening,” Kazuya said quickly. “I haven’t heard back from Mei or any of his friends since we dropped them off at S.T.A.R. labs. I know they’re definitely still there, because Mei would’ve called if he’d gotten out. He wouldn’t just leave me hanging after asking for help. And I’m worried they don’t want to still be there.”

“You want to break them out,” Sawamura guessed. Kazuya shook his head.

“They might not need to break out,” Kazuya said. “Maybe they’re fine. But Nori and I can’t find anything about them, and that worries me. What if they made it out of one prison just to fall into another?”

“So we have to go check on your friends,” Sawamura said, nodding emphatically. “Of course I’ll help!”

“Keep it down, idiot,” Kazuya hissed, looking over his shoulder. “We’re trying to keep this a secret, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Sawamura dropped his voice to a comical stage whisper that just about matched a regular speaking voice. “So why can’t we tell Oniisan?”

“He has to believe in S.T.A.R. labs,” Kazuya said. “They’re the ones trying to fix Kuramochi.”

Sawamura actually went quiet at that.

“He hasn’t heard from Kuramochi?” Sawamura asked. “At all? It’s been two months since he left.”

“I know, and I’m trying not to stir it up,” Kazuya said. “Ryou has enough to worry about without dealing with us breaking into S.T.A.R. labs. I’ll ask for forgiveness later.”

Hopefully there would be nothing to forgive. Hopefully all four runaways were fine and perfectly happy to still be at S.T.A.R. labs.

“I never asked, but how do you know Mei?” Sawamura asked. “Or Narumiya, I guess.”

“We went to high school together,” Kazuya said. “Nori did too, that’s why he’s helping me try to find them. We’re not still close or anything, but we talk every so often.”

“I’ll help,” Sawamura said.

“You’ll have to follow my lead,” Kazuya warned. “This has to be complete stealth. I don’t want anyone finding out about this that doesn’t have to.”

“I can be stealth!” Kazuya just raised his eyebrows at the volume. “I can! If it’s important.”

“It’s important,” Kazuya said. “Come on. Let’s go see Nori.”

Before they left, Kazuya shoved one of his sweatshirts over Sawamura’s head. They weren’t that different in size, but Sawamura was definitely a little taller and more muscular now, and the fabric pulled across his shoulders. Kazuya tried not to focus too much on that, because really? Was he this lovesick?

Without Wonder Woman’s logo splashed across his chest, Sawamura could almost pass for a normal guy if no one looked too closely. He just had to keep his hood up and his head down so no one could see his eyes.

Kazuya took them on the train system, not wanting to tip anyone off to their intentions by taking a zeta tube. Sawamura had never really lost that childlike wonder about everything to do with Japan, and Kazuya was almost disgusted that he found it endearing rather than annoying.

Nori was already at Kazuya’s dad’s house, firmly tucked into the computer room.

“Any chance you happened to find them and they’re perfectly happy where they are?” Kazuya asked. Nori didn’t even dignify that with a response other than an eye roll. “Cool. So what’s the plan, oh almighty Guardian?”

“Ha ha,” Nori snarked. “I’m still working on an entry route for you two, but the plan is pretty straightforward. Go in, see what you see, and we’ll assess from there.”

“We’re improvising?” Sawamura asked.

“Basically, yeah,” Nori said. “Because I wasn’t stressed enough, apparently.”

He gave a significant look over his shoulder that Kazuya could interpret but knew Sawamura wouldn’t.

“Hey, Sawamura, why don’t you go into my dad’s armory and borrow something other than my sweatshirt?” Kazuya suggested. “We don’t want to broadcast Wonder Boy breaking into S.T.A.R. labs.”

“Okay,” Sawamura agreed easily. Kazuya felt worse for lying to him because it was so easy. “Which way?”

“Door through the kitchen, head down for the basement,” Kazuya said. “Pick anything that works, but plan for stealth, so maybe nothing bright red.”

“I’m not an idiot!” Sawamura snapped, but there was very little fire behind it. He’d learned to take Kazuya’s teasing in stride. Kazuya had yet to decide how he felt about it. On the one hand, it made him feel something soft, but on the other hand, one of Sawamura’s charm points had always been how easy it was to rile him up.

As soon as Kazuya heard him enter the kitchen, he turned back to Nori. Sawamura had good ears, but not good enough to hear all the way up from the basement.

“I finally heard from Katsuko and Seto,” Nori said, quickly and under his breath like Sawamura might return any second. “Haruno and Sanada tried to break in to kill Seto for killing Katsuko, and neither of them are permanently injured, but their cover almost got blown.”

“So they’re getting out now, right?” Kazuya asked. He’d love to not have to pretend anymore.

“Of course not, that would be easy,” Nori muttered. “Haruno brought the message. She’s hanging around to help, but the other three are still in Black Manta’s ship.”

“Help with what?” Kazuya asked. He had a terrible feeling about this.

“Apparently they’ve got some plan to break up the Light and the Reach,” Nori said. “Something about Haruno and Sanada presenting an opportunity Seto and Katsuko couldn’t follow through on with just the two of them.”

“I hate to ask, but what’s their plan?” Kazuya asked. Knowing how Sanada and Katsuko worked, though, he could pretty easily guess it was something reckless, audacious, and just barely this side of insane.

“They didn’t say,” Nori said. “And if you want my head in the game on Mei, I need to not know.”

“That’s fair,” Kazuya said. At least no one was dead. He’d have to live with that.

“Is this good enough for you?” Sawamura was back. Kazuya tried not to stare.

The gear he’d chosen looked a lot like Kazuya’s, but Sawamura had sleeves, and they only went to show off all the muscle in his arms. The shades of black and grey made him look more serious, set his golden eyes to glowing.

“God, quit drooling,” Nori complained. “Anyway, I think I have an entry route through the roof. Sawamura, if you’re flying, don’t touch down until you get to this point, you’ll set off the sensors.”

Great. So Kazuya would be flying with Sawamura. It was one of his least favorite things, which unfortunately meant he had to do it a lot.

“Air ducts?” Kazuya asked.

“None big enough or safe enough for you two,” Nori said, shaking his head. “Your point of entry is a skylight. You’ll have to dodge around people once you get in.”

“Without punching people,” Kazuya added in Sawamura’s direction. “Because we can’t punch scientists and not look like the bad guys.”

“I know that!”

“And maybe keep the flirting to the minimum while you’re in there?” Nori suggested. “You do it really loud.”

That had been aimed at Kazuya, which he found patently unfair, because he wasn’t the loud one. He didn’t think Nori would appreciate him pointing that out, though.

“Anyway, we drop in the skylight, we ninja around the scientists, what else?” Sawamura asked.

“That’s about all I can tell you from here,” Nori said. “You’re there to find information I can’t get to here. You’re going in the skylight because your best bet is one of the top floors, but I really can’t give you anything else.”

“It’s already a lot,” Kazuya said. “Thanks, Nori. I don’t know why Mei would come to me for help when you exist.”

“Because you two are weird about each other,” Nori dismissed.

“We are not!”

“You shoved your tongues down each other’s throats in third year and neither of you wants to admit you liked it,” Nori sighed. “Just say you were attracted to each other but didn’t want to date and move on like adults.”

“Nori!” Kazuya protested with a sideways look at Sawamura. That wouldn’t make him jealous, right? But Sawamura didn’t look bothered.

“Just get going,” Nori said. “If we have to bust them out, we might as well do it while we still have the night.”

Since they weren’t in a situation where Sawamura had to grab Kazuya by his collar and physically fly him away from danger, Kazuya could hop up on his back, and this was definitely better than dangling and hoping Sawamura’s grip strength held out. Kazuya would never like flying, but being able to hide his face in Sawamura’s shoulder helped.

“Ready?” Sawamura asked as they hovered over the building, and his voice had finally dropped down to a reasonable level.

“Let’s do this,” Kazuya said.

Sawamura switched his grip so Kazuya could do the delicate work of opening the skylight without making any sound, and then lowered Kazuya in as far as he could before letting go.

Kazuya landed lightly on his feet, soles of his boots cushioning the sound. Sawamura flew carefully down into the room, gently touching down to stand by Kazuya. Kazuya motioned for the door. Neither of them was the best at covert missions like this, both of them best suited to covering from a long range, but Kazuya could handle it. Probably.

Luckily, the corridor outside their room was empty, and they both moved as silently and quickly as they could, looking in doors and trying to see anywhere that might have information.

What they got instead was the sound of Shirakawa shouting. Kazuya was surprised he could still recognize the voice so many years after high school, doubly because he’d never heard Shirakawa raise his voice.

He and Sawamura were out in the open, in plain view of anyone that might happen upon them, but they had to stay here and listen. Kazuya motioned to his eyes, then pointed Sawamura out at the hallway.

Keep watch.

“We’re sick of all these tests!” Shirakawa’s voice came through the door easily now that Kazuya was listening. “I want a cure, not an explanation!”

“You have to calm down,” an older male voice answered him. “You’re the first humans with a newly awakened Meta-Gene we’ve ever been able to study. The things we could understand-”

“I don’t care!” Shirakawa cut him off. “None of us care! We just want to leave!”

“You can’t do that,” the older man said. “All of you are dangerous.”

“Yeah, thanks Otousan.” Shirakawa’s voice sounded more subdued now. Sawamura tapped at Kazuya’s shoulder, but Kazuya waved him off. He wanted to know more about what was happening.

Sawamura didn’t give him a chance. Before Kazuya realized what was happening, Sawamura had picked him up and run them both around a corner, hand over Kazuya’s mouth to cover his surprised yelp. Kazuya could feel Sawamura’s heart beating against his back, pulled close to Sawamura’s chest, as voices came down the hallway and turned off before they reached him.

Sawamura let off a barely audible sigh of relief. Kazuya patted his wrist.

Sorry for ignoring you.

They stayed put, though, because now Kazuya could hear both Shirakawa and Mei’s voices coming closer. He should step out now, offer to help them escape, but Mei didn’t know him under the mask, and there was no guarantee any of them would trust him.

“I can’t take this place anymore,” Shirakawa ranted. “It’s worse than the Reach.”

“It can’t be that bad,” a voice Kazuya didn’t recognize countered.

“It’s pretty bad,” someone Kazuya recognized as Carlos said. “At least the Reach never pretended they were helping us.”

“Maybe S.T.A.R. is helping us,” the same unrecognizable voice said. “I almost blew up Central City, and I still don’t know why my power is gone. What if it comes back? What if any of yours get worse? Any of you could destroy everything.”

Kazuya’s eyes widened. Neutron was here? And it sounded like it would make things more complicated.

“Maybe, but I still don’t want to be stuck here.” By simple process of elimination, that voice had to belong to Itsuki. “Shirakawa-san is right. This place is worse than the Reach.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’re busting out of here tonight, then, isn’t it?” Oh, Mei. Easily the leader, and always with crazy ideas that shouldn’t work. He hadn’t changed at all since high school.

“You have a plan, Mei-san?” Kazuya and Sawamura held perfectly still as the group passed their hiding place. Everyone looked healthy enough, if a little pale from lack of sunlight.

“Of course,” Mei nodded. “We could leave right now, if everyone’s ready.”

“Can’t be too soon for me,” Shirakawa muttered. “I’m in.”

“So am I,” Carlos agreed. “I need more space to stretch my legs.”

“I’m coming too,” Itsuki added.

“What if we’re not here to protect us?” Neutron asked. He looked just as young as the others when he wasn’t in an explosive death cycle. “What if we’re in here to protect the rest of the world from us?”

Mei shrugged.

“I’d still rather be out there than in here,” he said. “Let anyone try and take us.”

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring, and Kazuya closed his eyes for a brief second to wonder how everything went wrong so quickly. He leaned around the corner to see that Neutron had pressed the alarm button.

“What the hell?” Shirakawa demanded.

“I can’t let you guys do this,” Neutron said.

“Then stay here on your own!” And the other four took off running. Kazuya grabbed for Sawamura once before both of them were running too. Even if none of the runaways would trust them, they’d probably need help.

They caught up just as the four had reached a door, Mei throwing himself against it.

“The building’s on lockdown,” Carlos pointed out. “The door won’t open.”

“I can see that, thanks,” Mei snarled. “Okay, so Shirakawa can teleport us out!”

“No I can’t,” Shirakawa snapped. “I can only teleport myself, and only in my line of sight, and in case you didn’t notice, this is a windowless locked hallway.”

“Okay, okay, fine,” Mei said, holding up his hands. “So Itsuki can do his thing.”

“You know I can’t control it,” Itsuki protested. “I can’t even do my thing.”

“The scientists said you just had to calm down and focus.”

“I am not calm right now!”

“Hey!” Kazuya already had an arrow ready to fly at the new voice. S.T.A.R.’s security had caught up with them. “You kids get back here!”

Even from here, Kazuya could see Shirakawa’s eyes narrow.

“Fuck that,” he spat, and then he disappeared.

He reappeared on the other side of the guards, raising his hands.

“Catch me if you can, fuckers,” he snapped.

“But don’t look away too long,” Carlos added. By the time the guards tried to turn back to him, Carlos had already launched himself at them with superhuman speed. He didn’t seem like a speedster, though. It was more like he had somehow launched himself forward.

“This is for your own good!” one of the guards cried.

“Heard that one before,” Mei said, static electricity crackling at his fingertips as he levitated a fire extinguisher. “Didn’t like it back then, either.”

Kazuya was ready to step in, but it looked like Mei and his friends had it pretty well under control. Which meant they just had to find a way out.

“Nori, you getting all this?” he muttered.

“Loud and clear,” Nori answered. “The cameras in your glasses were a good call.”

“Any chance you can get us out of lockdown?” Kazuya asked. “Now that the alarm is going?”

“I still can’t hack my way around their systems, at least not without getting caught,” Nori said. “I might have an idea for the lockdown, though. Give me fifteen.”

“I don’t think we have fifteen,” Sawamura whispered. It was true. More guards had showed up, and even with their new superpowers, Mei and his friends couldn’t hold them off forever.

“Ugh, fine, let’s move,” Kazuya groaned. This was the very definition of what he’d been trying to avoid, but it was all they could do. “Hey, ugly!”

He shot a taser arrow at a guard before said guard could even react. Kazuya had another two at the ready before all the guards had turned their attention to him.

“Get them!”

Sawamura was good at fighting at a disadvantage, though, and he and Kazuya had had years to get used to fighting around each other. Kazuya could aim around Sawamura’s strike pattern, and Sawamura could keep the guards from getting to Kazuya.

“Mei-san!”

Kazuya paused in his firing to see that a guard had grabbed Mei, twisting him back by the hair. Itsuki had retreated to a corner when the fighting started, obviously panicked, but Kazuya could see something in his eyes clear as he stared at Mei.

Itsuki closed his eyes, and started to grow.

Or rather, a form grew around him. Itsuki stayed the same size, eyes closed at the center of a giant glowing avatar. The roof lifted over him, and the lights shut off. Kazuya’s glasses switched to night vision as he tried to track everyone’s movements.

“You should be able to get out now,” Nori’s voice chimed in over the comm. “I cut the power.”

“We have bigger problems, but thanks,” Kazuya said. He knew Nori could see what he saw.

Itsuki’s large glowing form picked up his friends, and Kazuya felt Sawamura grab him under the arms. Kazuya grimaced, but it was for the best.

They were leaving.

They got all the way outside of the city before Itsuki finally let them down. By the time Sawamura and Kazuya landed, Mei already had Itsuki cradled in his arms. All four looked at Sawamura and Kazuya in distrust.

“Why are you two here?” Mei demanded. “Why did you help us?”

Kazuya sighed, and reached up to pull his hat off and push his glasses into his hair. There was really no getting around this one.

“Hey, Mei,” he said with a fake calm.

“Kazuya?” Mei asked. “You’re Arsenal?”

“That’s me,” Kazuya said. “I got worried when you didn’t answer my texts, so we came to bust you out.”

“And you brought Wonder Boy with you,” Carlos added, looking at Sawamura’s face with interest. Even in a different costume, Sawamura was recognizable.

“What now?” Shirakawa demanded. “We can’t go home. Half of us don’t even have homes to go back to.”

“Well…” Mei trailed off. Shirakawa pinched his nose.

“You were planning on going home, weren’t you,” he sighed. Mei had the grace to look sheepish.

“My family misses me,” he said. “It’s not my fault the Reach thought I was a runaway.”

“You know, you could probably come with us,” Kazuya said, already trying to figure out how he’d explain this one to the team. “People with superpowers are kind of our specialty.”

“Join the same team that’s associated with S.T.A.R. labs?” Shirakawa asked. “Pass.”

“We’re not going back in a cage, Kazuya,” Mei said. “Not after everything.”

“So where will you go?” Kazuya asked. The four looked at each other helplessly, and Kazuya felt something give in his chest. Maybe he was going soft. “Okay, here, give me your phone.”

Mei was the only one to hand one out to Kazuya, and Kazuya tapped an address into the maps app.

“This is an armory of my dad’s in Star City,” Kazuya said. He reached into his pocket for a key. “And this will get you in. You can lay low there for a few hours before anyone realizes you’re there, and there are probably some supplies you can use.”

“Why help us?” Shirakawa asked suspiciously.

“Doesn’t really make sense to come bust you out of S.T.A.R. and then let you get caught again,” Kazuya pointed out.

“No, why help at all?” Shirakawa pressed. “Why even come when Mei asked for help?”

“Because I’m a hero, and I answer when a friend asks me for help.” For Kazuya, it was just that simple. He couldn’t have ignored Mei’s call any more than he could’ve ignored a similar one from Nori. “Get going. You don’t want to get caught.”

“Kazuya…” There was a complicated emotion on Mei’s face. He was bad at saying thank you, worse at accepting he wasn’t good enough on his own, and Kazuya could understand it. “Thanks.”

The four of them took off, and Kazuya and Sawamura watched in silence.

“How many people do you think have Meta-Genes?” Sawamura asked.

“Probably a lot, if the Reach came here just for that,” Kazuya said. “More than we realize.”

“Would you ever want, you know…” Sawamura trailed off. “I know it comes out because of trauma, and the Reach tortured them to give them their powers, but do you ever wish you had superpowers too?”

“No.” Kazuya didn’t even have to think about it. “I can do enough like I am. I don’t need superpowers, and I don’t think I want them, either.”

“You wouldn’t need me to protect you if you had something to protect yourself,” Sawamura pointed out.

“In case you haven’t noticed, the reason we work is because sometimes you need me to protect you too, and I can do that as I am,” Kazuya said. He jumped when he felt Sawamura’s lips press to his cheek.

“Good,” Sawamura said. “I like you the way you are. I don’t want you to try and change yourself like that.”

Kazuya could hear the unspoken fear behind Sawamura’s words, that Kazuya might have an idea that could get him killed.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the straightforward one?” Kazuya scoffed. “If you’re worried about something, say so. Brat.”

“Miyuki Kazuya!”

Kazuya snickered, and then he laughed, and then he couldn’t stop until he was nearly crying. His sides hurt, the laughter half from relief and half from something like hysteria tearing through him until it was done.

“Come on,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Let’s go home.”