#wingeds have some high up treasures that only they can reach. and they can get stuff intended for yellows

[reflect-force]

i was looking through pikipedia for something and i noticed one pikmin type was never required for anything in pikmin 4. so i checked the other pikmin type pages and

there are only 3 types that you actually need to use to 100% the game (4 types without using glitches). red, purple, and ice (and winged if glitchless)

i hate oatchi

[atierrorian]

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━𝑅𝑒𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓈𝒸𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉━

━⋇⊶⊰𝔐𝔞𝔶 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔖𝔩𝔢𝔢𝔭 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔈𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔱𝔶~⊱⊷⋇━

(Info) Chapter 1

Yandere Malleus Draconia x Diabablo! reader

tw: mentions of blood, thoughts of dying

Word count: 1.7k

Do not steal or copy any of my works!

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Now how does one fairytale usually start?

Well, it usually goes "Once upon a Time."

So let's try it, shall we?~

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Once upon a time, two kingdoms were the worst of neighbors, the two kingdoms had so many differences from each other and so vast and so was the discrete between them.

But it was said that only a great hero was a terrible villain might bring them together.

In one kingdom mortals lived there, and with a greedy king to rule over them, they were forever discontent and envious of the wealth and beauty of their neighbors. And yet, they are some kind ones, who are always willing to help others, even if it costs their life.

In the other kingdom, the Valley of Thorns, also known as Briar Valley, lived every manner of strange, wonderful creatures! But do not let them fool you. Because they can and will do you harm in the most brutal ways you can imagine if you are not careful.

In the land of the Valley of the Thorns, there lived a great tree on a great cliff. And on that tree, laid two kids, a boy on the thickest tree branch, and beside him, was another kid.

The boy had ebony hair cut mid-length, with slightly long bangs, and with long hair that almost reached his lower back, the bottom length of ends of his hair fades into a dark turquoise color, and his hair shined in the sun that was past the leaves of the shade. The boy also has pale skin. With bright green eyes with vertical-slit pupils, and wings.

The person beside them has h/c that also shined in the shade of the sun, they also had wings, but not as big as the boy's wings, theirs were smaller in comparison. They have their head laying on the boy's shoulder, and they have a peaceful and calm expression on their face as they continued laying on the boy's shoulder, who was using his magic to manipulate two wooden fairy doll-like and had them move around.

As the wooden dolls continued to move in the air and dance, the person beside him was slowly opening their eyes, trying to adjust to the light that hit their face and squinted. They slightly yawned and stretched as the boy beside them noticed them waking up.

"Ah, good morning [Name]!" He said excitedly to the h/c who had just woken up and looked like a mess, your hair disheveled, you rubbed your eyes and looked up and saw two wooden dolls up in the air above them.

"Good morning Malleus.." you said tiredly as you tried to fight off the yawn that was coming. you managed to suppress your yawn and started stretching your limbs and wings. Almost smacking the boy beside you. Well, you looked more relaxed and awake than before.

"It looks like you've been playing with those dolls again." [Name] said as you held both your arms behind your head and laid down, shuffling around a bit trying to get a little bit more comfortable as you looked at the dolls that were still high up in the air.

"Mhm, they are a lot of fun to play with! And, whenever you're asleep, I can always play with these dolls until you're awake." Malleus said and started dancing them in the air once again. You looked at the dolls with slight interest before nodding and smiling.

"Well, those are my gifts to you, right? I didn't actually think you would use or even play with them." You said as you felt joyful that Malleus liked your gift to him and even started playing with them to pass the time.

Malleus slightly chuckled and nodded his head at you, moving his index finger in the air to control and manipulate the doll's movements.

"Of course I would, these are part of my treasures now you know? Besides, I hold them forever close in my heart." Malleus said as you felt yourself getting slightly flustered at that comment and turned your head to the side and up on the clouds that were slightly gray and were flowing by.

"Well, I'm really glad you like them, I really appreciate it." You said and sighed before a soft smile slowly appeared on your face, days like these were always your favorites.

You shuffled around a bit again, a little closer to the boy who noticed but didn't say anything and focused on the wooden dolls in the air.

"Hm, do you still remember the first time we met?" You suddenly asked the boy who stopped moving the dolls and turned to look at you, but your eyes were still on the clouds passing by.

The boy closed his eyes and nodded before opening them again and looking at the clouds as well, reminiscing the first time they met.

A small raven was struggling against the net as they got caught, they struggled to get the net off of them, and they thrashed around, but to no avail, nothing worked.

The raven went still and had given up struggling and thrashing around, realizing it was hopeless, and left to think it would die. The raven thought, "Am I really going to die here? Now?.." the raven thought as its limbs began to relax and laid on the dirt, their hope diminishing. The sky was now beginning to dim, and the beautiful sunset looked like it was taunting them. "At least I get to see something beautiful right?" They thought as some of their blood was seeping from their injuries.

Suddenly, the raven heard a bush rustle in one of the forests, they slowly lift their head to the side of where the rustle was, expecting that death was about to come. There are so many dangerous creatures here after all, it was only a matter of time before one of them ate them. They saw horns through the bushes and began to gulp down their saliva, they lay on the ground again and just accepted their cruel fate.

They heard footsteps and began to shake, as they slowly felt themselves getting lifted off the ground, the creature that had picked them up was carefully removing the net from them. The creature touched their feathers carefully as if examining if they had any injuries. The raven slowly lifted their head and saw a pair of beautiful green eyes staring back at them.

This was no strange creature.

This was a boy, not exactly a human boy, for he had horns, and a pair of wings and didn't look that harmless, of course, looks can be deceiving, so they kept their guard up just in case.

The boy looked at them curiously before placing one of his hands on the raven's body and a glow began forming. The raven was surprised and tried moving, but the boy's strength was too much for them and held them still.

Suddenly, the raven felt calmer and felt all of its injuries slowly fading, the boy looked at the raven turning his head side to side as so did the raven whenever he did, and then a small and soft smile began to form on his face.

He then placed the raven on the ground as the raven looked at him. The raven began to wonder why the boy was helping them, the boy slowly bent down and went on to tickle the raven. The raven began to slightly thrash and used one of its wings to smack the boy's hand off while the boy nervously laughed. The boy stopped laughing and looked at the raven, who was still sulking at what had happened.

The boy smiled and patted the raven's head.

"You're an interesting one, aren't you?" He said while continuing to gently pat the raven's head, they enjoyed the pats and gently nodded its head, encouraging the boy to continue. The boy's voice was so entrancing and such serenity.

"Hm, you still look hurt though, don't worry, I'll bring you back and get you healed properly, the magic I used was just to heal those minor injuries." He said before holding out both his hands out for the raven, waiting for the raven to get on his hands. The raven to say the least was, hesitant... but decided to get on his hands and the boy smiled and stood up from his spot and hug the raven, not too tightly but not too loose as well.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of you." He said before walking to where he came from, each footstep he did were quiet. Although he stopped when almost entering the forest.

"My name is Malleus, Malleus Draconia."

"I'll never forget that day, the day you saved my life, I can't believe it's almost three or four years now." [Name] said as they got up from their position and decided to stand up and stretched their legs, then, they walked to the edge of a branch. their arms folded behind their back. they looked back at the boy and smiled, Malleus was staring at them intently, he looked at the dolls that stopped moving and decided to drop them.

Suddenly the both of them heard something break.

They looked over to where the source was and saw a smaller branch on one of the bigger branches, cracked and bent. Malleus quickly got up from his spot and went over to it and healed it back to its original form, as he clasped his hands around the branch. You watched him do his magic again and stared, not daring to move one bit. Malleus was now finished and decided to take a step back and smiled. "There you go." He said before walking to where you were, you blinked as your mouth gaped before closing them and smiled.

you held out your arm to him, and he gladly took it and continued to walk to where you were, once he was beside you, he carefully let go of your hand and jumped down and spread his wings as you let one of your feet off the edge of the branch you jumped down as well and transformed into a raven.

A bat was hanging upside down on a branch and looking over the figures that were flying and seemingly playing, had flown off as well somewhere else in a different direction.

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The first chapter is done! Whew! Although it isn't longer than I anticipated it to be, it should do the trick for now since I am busy with my assignments so updates are slow! So please be patient and hoped you enjoyed this!

Tags: @jwoaqnd, @unmetoeja, @itsooooreo, @rincommittedarsin, @vesyourlocalgay, @scarlettqueen190, @yuibiwa, @bre99,

[darkdemeter]

Child Reader hcs! If S/O was playable, I could imagine her being like some low HP and ATK but speedy rogue-like person due to Strife training her with a knife and stealing items from enemies. She could also be used to crawl small places and be lifted up by War or Strife to reach high spots. And she could even have her own little bag of collecting souls that she uses not for herself but to gain some discounts on amount of Souls the Horsemen would need on upgrades. Such a sweet cinnamon roll! 🥰

CHARACTER CINNAMON GUIDE HER WAY HOME ─ THE GAME HEADCANONS

◤✘DARKSIDERS REQUESTS | CATALOGUE (Platonic!) Strife and War x Female Child!Reader

NOTES ↳ ANON ANON ANOOOOOON! YESSSSSS! OMG I LOVE THIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSS! This is a concept I'm absolutely obsessed with -- that being the reader is a playable character in the Darksiders franchise. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks like this and I finally get to put these ideas into a post! I went a bit crazy with the hcs amount that I had to stop myself.... there is so many ideas I have with this concept alone...

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✘ Nicknamed Cinn/Cinnamon.

✘ Your size is used to your advantage. Being so small, you are able to sneak past enemies (unless their level is higher than yours or they're a boss).

✘ If you have enough skill points put into your stealth, you can also utilise your "Deft Mittens" ability - this ability will morph into "Deft Hands" and then "The Phantom Hand" the higher your level is and the more valuable loot you'll be able to pickpocket from higher level enemies.

✘ You're also quick and have a short but 2 charge evasion sprint ability much like Strife. A very rogue-like build that utilises stealth and the element of surprise. You're armed with a single dagger that can eventually be upgraded to dual wielding through Strife's training.

✘ When War and Strife near a small crawl space, they will beckon you over to have you travel through and reach whatever objective you must accomplish.

✘ If you find a spot you can fit through but it's higher up and out of reach, you can call over either War or Strife to lift you up, your character delivering the voice line, "Uppie!" and you'll be hoisted up.

✘ you have the cutest voice lines... hands down. FACTS.

✘ If your health gets down to 1 point, there is a chance that either War or Strife will use an ability called "Guardian Wings" that flies them to your immediate aid to either block an attack combo or to grant you a healing potion if they have any.

✘ If you lose all your health or are inflicted with a powerful debuff that compells you to be stunned or paralysed while very low on health, this can potentially trigger Chaos and Anarchy for several seconds. If the enemy is downed within a certain time frame, then you will be resurrected without needing to start from your last save point. If not, then you "pass out" and need to load from your last save.

✘ A cute little mid-combat cutscene will occur if you have a healing potion and give it to Strife or War. Yes, you will want to stack up on potions just to see it because it's so cute.

✘ Uhmmmm especially in the genesis type cutscenes -- you are the cutest ray of sunshine. Anything and everything you do is the fucking cutest thing.

✘ You have a very shallow health pool and a weaker attack rate compared to your Horsemen counterparts. This means you will need to be very careful about your strategy going into fights. The more you rest at camp and train your abilities, the stronger you will become.

✘ Eating food at camp grants you buffs.

✘ Tool tip! remember to always search for treasure. Relics found in these chests can be traded into Vulgrim for health upgrades.

✘ If you go to Dis, she can also upgrade your gear and potentially grant you buff if you complete little return quests for her.

✘ Being human has its advantages. You have a passive "tinker" ability that's very weak to begin with but can be upgraded further on with your levelling and your story. This ability allows you to craft useful tools and gadgets.

✘ Dialogue options with Strife and War when you're out and about on your adventures are worth the many playthroughs! You get choices (much like DS2) where you can ask them questions about your surroundings, battle advice and special banters can be triggered in certain places and areas and if you do the hidden misc questlines.

✘ SPOILER HC! You can use the snow sphere given to you by Samael to use as a light source in dark areas. Go to Samael to upgrade this sphere and it can grant you a clairvoyant ability that can either lead you to higher level loot or if you're stuck, show you onto your current objective's path.

✘ You have a little satchel/drawstring bag that has a default number of 5 inventory slots. These can be upgraded at higher levels by Dis OR you can partake in small misc quests by Strife who will teach you the passive ability to increase your inventory space.

✘ You can also collect souls into your little bag that can give discounts for Strife's and War's upgrades on their armor and their abilities.

✘ War can also teach you a few abilities the higher your level is and if you put skill points into your strength but by default, you're role is a close ranged rogue type.

✘ You can choose whichever Horsemen you want to ride with and this gives you control over the movement. There are chase sequences where you can only evade oncoming attacks, but you can learn horseback combat that will allow you to either throw your dagger or cast a spell/ranged gadget.

✘ You can pet and feed Ruin and Mayham. Cause if the developers didn't allow you to do that, then that's just cruel.

✘ When travelling through swampy areas or anywhere that is too dangerous for you to traverse by yourself, you can engage War or Strife and they will carry you across.

[enjoythesilentworld]

Wille's Month - Fairytale

day 30 @youngroyals-events oh how the days have flown by <3

The lonely prince finds a lamp with the power to fix all his problems.

read below or on ao3 (G, 1.7k)

The lonely prince spent a lot of time roaming the castle. He really couldn’t be bothered to do anything else, not when he wasn’t allowed outside the castle walls to roam the streets and meet the people of his city. It was confusing, really, because how was he meant to rule someday if he’d never talked to any of his subjects? If he only ever saw them from the back of a very tall horse, smiling and waving as if they weren’t reaching their hands out toward him, begging for food or money? Yet, he wandered the halls and saw the riches they held here. It didn’t seem right, but no one ever listened to him anyway.

One day, he found himself in a very long corridor, in some far-off wing he’d never been to before. He crept across the stone floor, shiny shoes making no sound. At the end of the hallway, he reached a door. Behind the door, he discovered a room of treasures. He’d never seen so many gems and coins and jewels before. He strolled between massive piles of valuables, stacked high as if there weren’t people starving on the streets outside.

As if he were drawn to it, he ended up at a simple table in the center of the room. In the center of the table in the center of the room, sat a lamp. Compared to everything else in the room, the lamp was rather ordinary. He picked it up. It was rather nice and would match the curtains in his room. Slowly, stealthily, the lonely prince snuck back to his room.

Inside his room, he inspected it more closely. There was a bit of writing on the side, but it was covered in grime. He used his thumb to wipe it away.

Before he could read it, the lamp began to heat up and shake. It clanked against the floor when it dropped from his hands, and he leapt away. A stream of purple smoke emerged spiraling around the room and fogging his vision. He shouted in fear and scrambled back onto his bed.

When the smoke cleared, he found a young boy, about his age, in the middle of the room. He wore simple clothing. His curly hair was a pretty brown, his skin a smooth tan, and— he had no legs! Where his torso ended, the rest of his body faded into that same curling, purple smoke. The boy looked annoyed, too, with his arms crossed over his chest.

The lonely prince stuttered in shock, “You’re—”

“A genie, yes,” said the half-smoke boy. “But my real name is Simon, if it matters to you.”

“Wow,” gasped the lonely prince. “Hi, Simon. I’m Wilhelm, but you can call me Wille.”

Simon raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. “Okay.”

“How did you end up in that lamp?”

“No,” Simon shook his head. “Here’s the deal. You get three wishes. After I grant your wishes, I go away, back in the lamp. No extensions, no complaints. Capisce?”

Wilhelm nodded. He didn’t want to make Simon angry.

“I have three rules.” The genie held up three fingers. “No wishing for more wishes. No wishing for me to bring someone back from the dead—”

Wille looked to the floor and frowned. That had been his first thought.

“—and no wishing for me to make someone fall in love with you.”

That made Wille look up again and blush. He nodded, and Simon looked pleased.

“So, what’s your first wish? Though, I can’t imagine as a prince you’d have anything to wish for. It seems you have everything already.”

The tone with which Simon spoke made Wille squirm uncomfortably. He knew what his life must look like from the outside.

“Can I think about it?” he asked sheepishly.

Simon rolled his eyes and nodded, then disappeared back into the lamp in a puff of smoke.

That night, the lonely prince tossed and turned for hours. He didn’t know what he could possibly wish for if not to bring his brother back to life. But then, what good was being in the castle and being a prince if he didn’t have his brother to share it with? He snuck out of bed and wandered the halls for a bit, pondering and thinking about what his life had been like since his brother went away. His life, locked behind the castle walls.

Before the sun rose, Wilhelm returned to his room and tapped lightly on the lamp.

“Simon?”

In a single blink, Simon was floating before him, looking rumpled and half-asleep. He looked at Wille expectantly.

“I have my first wish.”

“This couldn’t wait ‘til morning?” he grumbled, then rolled up his sleeves and brought his hands out wide. “Okay. Wish away, little prince.”

“I wish to not be prince anymore!” Wille announced, then squeezed his eyes shut. He heard a loud bang and saw a flash of light through his eyelids. Then, it felt as if the floor dropped out from under him. When he opened his eyes again, he stood in the middle of a small hovel. There was a bed and a small fire, nothing more. Simon floated before him. He was no longer a lonely prince, just a lonely boy.

“First wish complete,” he said, nodding once.

“Where am I?” Wille asked, rushing forward to look out the window. There were no other houses nearby. On the distant horizon, he saw the walls of the city, his city. He exclaimed, “What have you done?”

Before Simon could answer, he was bursting through the front door. Just outside, he found an old horse, which he hopped on the back of and flicked the rains, taking off in the direction of the city.

After miles of riding, he finally reached the city. Somehow, he managed to sneak past the guards and found the streets flooded with people. A lavish parade made its way down the main thoroughfare. Cheers rang out, the people chanting someone’s name. Wille soon realized what the celebration was for: a new King was to be crowned, and it was his cousin August. August grinned bravely, ignoring the boos and calls of the angry people.

He dodged through the crowds, looking for the float his parents rode on. As he moved along, he saw how sad things really were in the city. People wore rags and drank from dirty buckets. The produce was half-rotten and the bread half-burnt. This was not the beautiful city his parents told him about.

After searching for what felt like hours, he found them. They looked sad, waving weakly as they rode along. Wille shouted up to them, but they barely spared him a second glance. It seemed he got too close, because not a second later, the lonely boy was being seized by guards and tossed out the front gates of the city.

Slowly, with tears streaming down his face, he made his way back to his new hovel. This wasn’t what he’d really wanted. He still loved his parents, and his few friends on the staff. When he finally returned, he collapsed onto his bed and began to cry harder.

“What happened?”

He looked up to find Simon bent over him, eyebrows knitted together.

“My parents don’t remember me,” he sniffled. “I thought this was what I wanted, but it isn’t.”

Simon floated closer. “I’m sorry, Wille. You still have two more wishes.”

Wille shook his head and shrugged, burying his face into the scratchy blanket.

They sat there in silence for a long time. Wille tried to think of what to do but was mostly just tired. How could he fix all the problems in the city without messing something else up in the process? Wishes were fickle things, he’d learned, and he didn’t want to make anything else worse.

After a while, Simon spoke.

“I was trapped in the lamp by an evil man,” he said quietly.

Wille sat up and looked at him. “You were?”

Simon nodded. “I used to be a normal boy with a mother and sister. One day I went out looking for work and stumbled into the wrong den. I made a deal to keep them safe.”

“I’m sorry, Simon,” Wille said. And he was. “That isn’t fair.”

Wille asked Simon more about his family, and he seemed happy to talk about them. Then, Wille told Simon about his brother. The lonely boy who used to be a lonely prince and the genie who used to be a boy spoke for a long while, laughing and telling stories. The lonely boy felt a little less lonely. The genie felt a little less lonely, too.

Then, Wille got an idea. There was a way for him to fix all the problems.

“Simon,” he spoke up again, and his genie stared at him. “I wish that I was still prince.”

“You want to reverse your last wish?”

The lonely boy nodded, so the genie rolled up his sleeves and brought his hands together in a loud clap. There was another bright flash, and a breath later, Wille found himself back in his rooms.

The lonely boy, now a lonely prince again, ran out the door, calling for his parents. They were very happy to see him. He told them he was ready to be king, whenever they needed him. He wasn’t going to run from his problems any longer. As king, he himself could fix the issues in the city, without the help of magic. Although, he still had one wish left.

Back in his rooms, he found Simon again.

“Simon! Simon!” he shouted. “I have my final wish!”

Simon smiled sadly and began rolling up his sleeves. “Okay. What is it?”

“Why are you sad?” Wille asked.

The genie shook his head, but the lonely prince urged him on.

“After your last wish, I have to go back in the lamp.”

Wille grinned. “No, you won’t. Simon, for my final wish, I wish for you to be free!”

“What?” Simon gasped, freezing halfway to clapping his hands together. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

The genie, for the third time, brought his hands together in a loud boom, shaking floors and lighting up the walls in a bright flash. When Wille opened his eyes again, Simon stood before him.

Simon smiled brightly, kicking out his new legs. He ran forward and jumped into Wille’s arms.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you!”

Wille hugged him back.

The lonely prince was no longer lonely, just a prince, and the genie was no longer a genie, just a boy.

[koko-doodle]

Bounty Hunter Sun & Moon AU

Solunar Solstice: Chapter 1

Summary: Based off universes like Treasure Planet and Star Wars. You are a special kind of being, a trophy most creature would kill to get their hands on however you have currently been captured by two well known robot bounty hunters. They seek to keep you safe by locking you up on their ship as they travel around. Is this truly what being safe looks like or is this just a twisted way of keeping you prisoner. Will these bots grow on you or will you do everything you can to escape???

11 pages - 5784 word count.

Warnings: includes a small injury, contains blood

It was late, you knew if you were caught you would hear an earful from your captors. They hated when you were up too late or got up in the middle of the night to walk around but you could care less if they scolded you. If they were going to insist on controlling you to ‘protect’ you, you still had to have control over SOME aspects of your life. You sneak around below deck, seeing the light on in the captain's quarters gave you some hope that the two of them were preoccupied and wouldn’t notice you sneaking about in the dark of the night.

You quietly make your way to the top deck and through the automatic sliding door (hoping your captors wouldn’t hear it) as a gentle breeze of cool, fresh air brushes against your skin which was a welcome feeling compared to the air in the small stuffy closet at the back corner of the ship that was your ‘room’. You walk over to the edge of the railing, looking out into open space surrounding you. It was a calm night, no meteor showers or galactic storms were in sight, you wish more nights could be like this.

Calm.

Quiet.

And peaceful.

Although the vast emptiness of space was unnerving to many, it was all you had ever known. It was the closest thing you had to call home, you never stayed in one place for longer than a week so the only constant thing you had was the dark confines of the solar systems you traveled through. You reach your arms up and stretch, you let the small wings on your back unfurl and expand to their full size which was something you don’t often get to do. It was nice to feel a breeze run through your feathers, when your captors were around you liked to keep them shrunk and tucked in on the account that they were both too handsy with them than you feel comfortable with.

You sit on a storage container near the railing, placing your elbows up and resting your head in one hand. You take a deep breath in an attempt to relax but it comes out more like a sigh than a breath. As you exhale you relax your wings letting them lay limp at your sides, the air ruffling the stuffy smell out of them. It was such a pleasant feeling, calming in a way.

You found your other hand tracing the scratches and wear marks on the metal railing you were leaning on, monotonously going back and forth in a figure eight pattern. You notice a loose scrap piece of metal on the side of the railing and pick at it until it breaks off into your hand, it wasn’t hanging on by much to begin with so it didn’t take much effort. The metal was thin but durable, you spin it around and around in your hand observing every detail of the broken piece from its jagged edges to the sharp edge where it had been sliced through by something. For two beings who claim to run such a tight ship some areas were certainly falling apart more so than others. You figured that in their perspective, the railing that prevents things from falling overboard into the abyss was less important than the solar sails or the large turbines powering the jets at the back of the ship. In your opinion though, you feel like the railing should be just as high a priority as the other prime functions of the ship so you know, things aren’t falling off the deck in an ambush or something. Kind of important.

It had been a two weeks since you were ‘liberated’ by the bounty hunters who currently held you captive. While yes they did take you out of the hands of a pompous, disgusting, and old pirate lord, you had the situation handled just fine before they showed up. You were going to make an escape before these two hunters came bursting in and ruined everything, you had the locks picked and were just waiting to get to a space port so you could make your escape. You had done this several times before, it was nothing new but those greedy hunters took one look at you and snatched you before you could escape in all the commotion.

It was your wings that were an instant give away. They have a certain shine to them that only your planet’s inhabitants were known for which makes you a direct target should your wings be seen. With the special healing abilities and quick injury recovery that your species has, the universe decided one day it was more fun to hunt you like animals than take the offered help your people gave out freely.

Your planet was a peaceful place, beautiful, graceful, and full of life. It was a place open to everyone to come and receive healing for any ailment that our technology or abilities could heal. Or at least that is what your parents told you when you were little. The only visuals you have ever seen of your origin planet come from photos or star charts but from what you can tell, there isn’t much left of the planet after the attempted genocide. A crazy sociopathic scientist decided one day to eat the heart of one of your people and all the years of life they had lived were taken off his own and he grew younger in an instant with perfect health. When word of this got out, it was all over.

Your people were a source of immortality, living fountains of youth whose entire body could be used in multiple different ways to heal anything and everyone wanted a piece. A peaceful planet quickly became enslaved and turned into a harvesting planet for organs, remedies, and worst of all, immortality. Things only escalated from there and in a last battle between several military powers for control of the planet, it was practically destroyed. Your people were almost all wiped out and the planet was left in ruins. To put a long story short, toddlers had all fought over the same toy and that toy broke because one decided ‘if I can’t have it, no one can.’

So those that were out in the universe went into hiding, that was the only thing they could do to survive. If your people didn’t have the ability to shrink and grow your wings at will, staying hidden would have been a lot harder. This is how you grew up. Always on the run, never trusting anyone. You run so you can survive and you only survive if you run. A vicious cycle that will never end. You are on your own, no friends, no family, just you. That’s how it has been and that’s how it will stay. Life means more than companionship, you learned that at a very young age and if that’s what it takes to survive then that’s what you would do. It isn’t a great life but hey, it is still LIFE. You’ll take that over being eaten alive any day.

You turn the small scrap over and over in your hand when you get an idea, not your smartest idea but it was worth a shot. You were desperate enough at this point to try whatever you could think of. You bring the sharper edge of the scrap piece up to the collar around your neck, feeling for the seam where the join in the collar comes together. You begin wedging it between the plates of metal, trying your best to pry it open but without any luck. The stupid collar was made extremely well and with such small interlocking pieces you couldn’t even get a fingernail in between the seams. You had basically tried everything at this point but nothing worked, it was solid through and through but that didn’t stop you from attempting to free yourself.

You kept trying to push the scrap into the gap, your grip getting tighter around the collar and your movements getting more forceful. You felt a rush of adrenaline course through you when you felt the tip slide slightly into the crevice, you got anxious and began wiggling the piece in an attempt to slice your way through but your hand moved too sharply and the scrap slipped out of the slot and into your neck. You shivered at the sudden onset of pain and warm liquid coming from the location of the metal that had just been embedded into your neck.

You slowly and gently pulled out the shrapnel to inspect it. From the dark color on the top of the metal, it looked like it went about an inch into the side of your neck. You felt the wound, breathing in with a hiss between your teeth at the stinging sensation pulsing around the area so you covered it with your hand and applied a bit of pressure. From the location, it felt like it had missed all the major arteries and gone right into the neck muscle. Nothing serious, a small wound really. Part of you cursed at yourself, maybe if you cut yourself bad enough they would be forced to take the collar off to fix your neck… but not likely.

Your body jolted again as a loud clicking sound came from the collar and you felt it tighten slightly around your neck. Your body instinctively dropped the shard while you gasped and choked, bringing your other hand up and forcing your fingers under the collar in an attempt to loosen it. Even though you knew that wasn’t going to do anything you couldn’t fight off the natural instinct to remove something from tightening around your neck.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's what you get for being a naughty little birdie.” Says a deep voice above you. You whip your head around to its origin only to see a dark figure lower itself down from a chord onto the deck a few feet away from you. Red eyes locking onto yours. Your heart skips a beat briefly at the unnerving sight before you are overcome with annoyance and anger at the realization of who it is. Great…The figure makes its way over to you and snatches the piece of scrap metal you dropped off your lap and inspects it.

“You did that on purpose, jerk. Did you really have to tighten it?” You protest.

“A delicate creature like yourself really shouldn’t be playing with sharp objects, it's not safe” he says playfully, ignoring your comment.

“I am NOT delicate” you hissed in response. He tosses the piece off the side of the ship and turns to you, harshly lifting your chin to see your hand covering the cut you had given yourself on accident. You felt a couple small drops of blood run between your fingers, forcing your neck upwards sent pain jolting through the muscle and you flinched holding in a gasp.

“Now look what you’ve done, you’ve gone an cut yourself rather nastily too. You know if Sun sees this he’ll be awfully worried that our little pet got hurt.” He sneers.

“So what, I could care less what you and that pointy headed bucket of bolts think.” You growl smacking his hand away from your chin. “If you really cared that much then you’d let me go.” You snap, adjusting the grip over your wound to reapply pressure and ease the throbbing pain.

“You know, most creatures would show a little GRATITUDE for some safety, warm shelter, and food to eat. You hardly have it rough, brat.” He glares, leaning up against the railing.

“Most creatures don’t keep each other as prisoners for no reason” you retort.

“Tch” he scoffs. “Typical. We save your life, give you a home and yet you still think we are the cruel ones.” He tilts his head at an unnatural angle and his right eye fades to black. A wicked smile emerges from the corners of his mouth and slowly spreads across his faceplate.

“I can show you what real cruelty looks like, would you prefer that?” He places a clawed finger back under your chin to bring your gaze back up to meet with his. The bright red pupil of his left eye shines directly into yours and you pull your face away from his grasp, careful not to scratch your chin on his claw. You adjust your position on the storage container, turning your back to him to look out to the open space again. His low chuckle only made you seethe even more, you wish you could smack that smug look off his stupid faceplate. This jerk…

“That’s what I thought…” he mumbles happily. Folding his arms across his chest, pleased that he got a reaction out of you. “It’s late, you should be sleeping.”

“Oh don’t even start, you may think you ‘own’ me but I belong to no one. I do what I want.” You say, refusing to even look at him.

“Feisty, feisty. That’s no way to talk to your master now, is it?” He answers back playfully.

“You are NOT my master, you overgrown child’s toy!” You say raising your tone slightly and side eyeing him with a glare. He only laughs and gets up, walking around your backside.

“Such defiance doesn’t do you any good you know, if anything we could start taking away your privileges for being such a rule breaker. Most guests aboard this ship are not given the same free range as you have, remember we just ungrounded you from your room from trying to short circuit me.” He was standing directly behind you, he couldn’t see you give a sly smile for your handiwork last week. It brought you so much satisfaction watching his limbs spaz out for an hour or two and seeing him get so frustrated because his arms kept randomly throwing things while he was trying to work. It was glorious payback for dumping water all over you for a ‘bird bath’.

“If you insist on throwing a tantrum like a stubborn child then you can expect to be treated like one.” He leans in from behind you and pulls a tuft of hair away from your ear. “Pet.” He whispers inches away from you, taunting you.

“Go away jerk!” You swat but your hands miss him as he dances to the side and leans back onto the railing with one arm. He managed to weave around your flailing wings as well without getting smacked in the face, much to your disappointment however. “Can’t I just have one thing, one peaceful moment to myself without you ruining it?!” The movements sent a shock of pain into your neck and you flinched.

“Sure, only when you stop inflicting harm on yourself trying to escape. That necklace isn’t coming off doll, it’s here to stay and so are you.” He smiles cheekily at you.

“I have a name you know, if you had any decency you would actually use it instead of calling me by your stupid nicknames.” You grumble.

“Right, sorry ROGUE. The infamous thief! Wait, remind me what system you are so ‘notorious’ in again? I can’t remember.” He taps a finger on his temple as if he is thinking before dramatically gasping like he reached an epiphany. “Oh right! You're known in ZERO solar systems! Must be so hard staying away from all your adoring fans~”

“Oh and like you’re any better? Oh no, it’s Moon, the heartless shadow.” You dramatically put your non bloodied hand on your face to symbolize shock. “Someone save me from the clown robot bounty hunter. You’re so terrifying I think my socks just ran for cover.” You deadpan him while he glares daggers at you and the brightness of his eyes dim. If looks could kill, you’d probably be dead.

“Watch yourself, feathers.” He sneers. “Don’t forget your place.”

“Whatever, just leave me alone.” You growled, leaning over to rest both elbows on the railing again. You bring your wings up to cover your sides and take Moon out of your peripheral view.

Things fell silent again, only the low hum of the slow burning jets at the back of the ship could be heard. After a few moments of silence you hear feet shuffling and see Moon climb onto the railing and sit down with one leg up and the other dangling over the side of the ship. You looked away in the opposite direction to avoid his gaze and brought your right wing up closer to your face to block him further out of your sight. At this point they were almost enveloping you like a large blanket. Why couldn’t he just leave you alone? All you wanted was a moment to think, a moment to have on your own without anyone hovering over you like you were a lost child in need of protection. Why couldn’t they let you have one thing, just ONE moment to yourself…

“Look, you may not see it the same way but we are just trying to help you.” He says, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, right. Some help you guys are. Explain to me how exactly keeping me locked up is better than freedom?” You retort.

“You know why. I don’t know how to get it into that bird brain head of yours more clearly than I already have. The minute you leave this ship without either of us protecting you is the minute you’ll be captured again and I can guarantee your stay with whoever captures you won’t be as pleasant as your stay here.” He hissed in frustration. “We are saving you from being killed or hunted like some kind of trophy animal.”

“I didn’t ask to be ‘saved’. I am just fine on my own, I don’t need you or anyone else.” You say curling in on yourself.

“Right, because that worked out so well for you before. Remind me, how many times have you have been captured now? Six? Seven? Maybe eight times?”

“So… I’ve escaped every time without a problem. It’s not a big deal, why does it matter so much to you two, huh? You’re just going to sell me off to some rich, lowlife, snob of a pirate who gives you the highest bid anyway. My life means nothing to anyone except as a means for immortality, you and your brother are no different…” You state with no emotion to your tone at all. This was a fact you had come to terms with a long time ago, no matter how many times others try to ‘help’ you it always ends up the same way; with you in a prison cell and someone walking off with a big pocket full of cash. You were a solution for perfection, nothing more.

“Now you listen here, we are not so low as to sell a creature just for a big pay day. We have more morals and values than you give us credit for.” He quickly retorts, offended.

“You’re bounty hunters, you literally sell creatures to governments for profit. That's the job description is it not?” You accuse.

“Tch…. It’s not the same thing… Those monsters deserve to be put in jail or killed for their crimes. Anyone who takes advantage of the weak deserves to ROT in purgatory for the rest of their lives.” He growls, something behind his expression told you there was a story behind that statement. Like he had seen things that have made him lose trust in the universe, you wonder if you’ll ever learn the meaning behind that gaze. “We only capture and be rid of those who have committed crimes worthy of cruelty themselves. We don’t deal with any who don’t deserve what we give them… We are only returning the ‘kindness’ they so freely give to anyone who crosses their path.”

“So what is my crime then?” You ask nonchalantly. You see him turn and look at you out of the corner of your eye but you don’t return the favor. “If you are such ‘valiant heroes’ who only deal with life forms you deem lesser than the dirt on your boots then what have I done to deserve the same treatment?”

“What are you talking about?” He snaps back at you. “Ugh, you’re such a pain in the rotary joint. It’s not the same thing!” He grumbles, rolling his eye in annoyance.

“If it’s not the same thing then why does my ‘room’ have a prison bars on the inside?”

“It’s the only spare room we have alright, I’m sorry our ship is too small for your liking, your highness.” He argues back.

“Moon.”

“Should I be bringing you food on gold trays and platters, hm? I’m sorry I haven’t been bowing to your every beck and call dearie, we have been quite busy with our duties around the ship to offer more accommodations for you.”

“Moon” you say louder.

“Oh, excuse me! I didn’t realize we were housing royalty on our humble ship, how could we be so heartless to forget your satin sheet bedding and velvet tea attire for your afternoon tea time. Shall we stop at the next port and pick up some of the finest herbal tea for you? Or perhaps some pastries for the long travels ahead? How dare we-” He tried to continue but you cut him off.

“MOON!” You shout and he stops to look at you with a frustrated glare. His eyes shining bright red with irritation.

“What?!” He yells back.

“Why do I have a tagged collar on?”

No answer, although he seems surprised at your question like he is unsure what you are implying.

“If I’m not a prisoner or a slave then why do I have a tagged prison collar?”

He looks away immediately and his mannerisms shift. His posture drops as he brings his one leg closer into his chest. The question seemed to agitate him.

“I know what these are, they are a modified version of a slave collar. And this-“ You point to a little slot on the back of the collar next to a green light that indicates an ownership card. “-is an active tag, set to lock onto the wearer's DNA. A device used when a life form deemed as PROPERTY is needing to be contained and managed. Especially in slave transactions or prison transfers.”

“How do you know that isn’t our ownership tag? We have to be able to find you somehow, you little escape artist.” He attempts to give as his explanation but you weren’t buying it.

“Geez, I’m not an idiot… Give me one good reason to believe that this collar isn’t set to some scumbag’s personal seal so if I do manage to escape YOU still get a paycheck if I’m found.”

Nothing.

Not even a twitch from the bot.

You sigh, defeated.

It seemed Moon didn’t want to react to your comments which only solidified the idea that they had plans to sell you. Figures…

“That's what I thought… All these niceties are just because you both feel pity for me. You know I’m probably going to your buyer like a lamb to the slaughter so you’re just trying to find a way to keep your conscious clean, that way you don’t have my blood on your hands…” You let out a soft chuckle. “And you think I’m the pitiful one, why not go look in the mirror crater face.” He turns to give an answer but closes his mouth and looks away. You could tell he was trying to come up with something to say but it didn’t matter, he had said enough so you just let your wings droop back down to your sides in resignation.

“What is going on out here?” Says a lighthearted voice as another figure approaches. “Are you guys having a party without me?! How rude! I want to know all the dirty secrets too!”

The sun themed robot walks across the deck and leans against the railing to your left, nudging your elbow with his playfully.

“Out a bit late tonight aren’t we Chickadee? Do we need to start setting a curfew for you?” He jests, winking at you.

“No need, I was just headed back to my prison cell.” You say, clearly defeated. The last thing you wanted to do tonight was think about your impending death waiting for you at the next space port. Your captors refused to tell you how many days til you arrived so you have no idea what to expect each morning. It’s torture. Cruelty at its finest really.

“Woah, woah! I was just kidding.” He pats your shoulder, keeping you from attempting to get up and leave. “Lighten up a little sweets, no need to be so serious all the time.”

You give no reply, you just sit there trying to absorb the conversation you had just had with Moon. The silence was odd to Sun, usually he has to break up constant back and forth banter all day between the two of you. He could tell something was off.

“Ooookay, obviously you two were having a moment before I interrupted. Maybe I should just go back to the captain's quarters.” He says, waiting for a response. The silence continued so he tried again. “Really? No ones going to say anything?”

No reaction.

“Nothing? Not even a ‘go away’ or ‘get lost Sun!’”

…

“Wow… Tough crowd tonight.” He sits silently there with the two of you, the awkwardness clearly getting to him. He starts talking aloud, rambling off the first thoughts that come to his head like he usually does just to fill the quiet with something. “‘No Sun, we don’t care if you sit with us. No Sun, of course you can join us on our stargazing adventure. We would love to sit and talk to you about whatever dark secrets we are hiding.’”

Sun freezes at a sudden realization and stands up so abruptly it almost looked like he had jumped back to a full standing position. He brings his hands up to his cheeks and gasps in the most overly exaggerated way it immediately draws the attention of you and Moon. You both stare at him, waiting for his next sentence.

“What? Spit it out.” Moon encourages with an angry tone. He didn’t know what his brother was about to say but clearly it wasn’t going to be good.

“Were you- awww! Moonie, were you expressing your undying love to Rogue?!?!” He squeals, excited.

“What?! No!” Both you and Moon respond at the same time with the same amount of disgust in your tones.

“What makes you think I would have feelings for this unbearable creature?!” Moon shouts defensively.

“Unbearable creature?! EXCUSE me?! I’m not the one who kidnaps and enslaves innocent life forms!” You protest. “Plus I’m not the one who comes BARGING in on others when they are clearly just trying to take a breather from YOUR suffocating, overprotective, metal butt!!!”

“Innocent?! Ha! You are no gold star citizen, sweet cheeks. You may have unique wings and the looks to match but you are HARDLY an angel. You are the furthest thing from it!” Moon lashes back at you.

You open your mouth to shout a snarky comment in response but you were too distracted to think of something because Sun just stood there giggling like a little child, sneering at Moon. You couldn’t help but chuckle softly to yourself, their personalities were such polar opposites it really showed whenever they were in the same room together.

“What are you laughing at over there?!” Moon barks. Sun just smiled wider, it was almost on the verge of looking sinister.

“Oh nothing~” He chuckles. “But you do realize you just called them sexy, right?”

Both you and Moon stare blankly at each other then back to Sun as he smiles widely. It wasn’t until you caught on to what Sun was referencing that you began to laugh. The moment Moon realized what he had said in his last sentence was the moment his foot slipped and he almost fell off the railing.

“Sun! That is not what I meant and you know it! Don’t put words in my mouth!” He shouts, scrambling back over the railing flustered.

“Riiiight because what you said totally didn’t mean that you thought they were attractive.” Sun places an arm around your lower back and lifts you up off the container, twirling you around and pulling you close. “‘Oh Rogue, your wings are so unique and beautiful they match you perfectly.~’”

“Sun!!!” Moon yells irritatedly while Sun only continues the personification of his brother. He suddenly pulls you into a dip, stroking your arm gently.

“‘I’m too stubborn and thick plated to tell you the truth but I find you incredibly intriguing and I want to spend more time with you away from my annoying brother Sun.’”

“You better shut your mouth before I throw something at you!” Clearly getting more flustered by the second Moon grabs the closest object and preps it to be thrown.

“‘I want you all to myself, lets run away together!’”

“SUN!” Moon throws his projectile and a dirty towel lands smack in the center of Sun’s face and tangles itself around his sun rays.

“I think I’ll PASS Moonie ‘dear’, I don’t do relationships. Besides-“ you say taking a peek over your shoulder to make eye contact with Moon. “You’re not my type anyway.” You tease, spitting your tongue out at him.

“Oooooh! Buuuurrrnnn!” Sun laughs, standing you back up and unraveling the towel from his face.

“Will both of you just shut up already!” He hisses and leans back against the railing with his arms folded, trying to hide his face like a flustered pouting child by looking the other way. “Geez you’re so unbearable…”

“Ah c’mon Moonie, you just said that to me the other day.” Sun throws the towel on a neighboring storage container.

“I did not!” Moon argues.

“Yes you did~ You used those exact words.”

“Not in that order!!!”

“So? It still means the same thing.”

“NO, it absolutely does NOT.”

“Well then what did you mean then?” Sun nudges you with his elbow lightly. “Enlighten us~” He smirks.

“JUST STOP TALKING!!!” Moon yells, his eyes glowing bright red with what could only be furious anger or extreme embarrassment.

You and Sun both laugh, it wasn’t easy to get Moon flustered you had learned but when he was flustered, he was flustered. Sun lifts a fist up to you for a victory fist bump and you gladly oblige him. Sun may be high energy and very physical but he was at least more kind hearted than Moon was. You could spend hours with Sun with little problems but you can’t last 5 minutes with Moon without arguing. Tonight was solid proof of that. You don’t mind Sun, he was okay company to have though you do prefer solitude over any social interaction.

Sun winks at you after your celebratory fist bump and smiles, you made a good team when ganging up against Moon’s verbal attacks. It was then that he notices you holding the side of your neck with your other hand.

“Hm? You okay Chickadee? Did you strain your neck?” He asks.

“No, not strain. Just a sore muscle is all.” You lie, avoiding letting him see it completely. “No big deal.”

“They stabbed themselves with some scrap metal trying to pry the collar off.” Moon interjects. You shoot a glare at him and he gives you a snarky smile in return.

“You did what?!” Sun immediately grabs your shoulder and turns you around to see your wound. You try to wiggle out of his grasp and hide the area by squeezing your shoulder close to your chin but Sun’s grip on your shoulder prevents you from making any escape.

“It’s not a big deal really, MOON is just being dramatic.” You squirm.

“I think I’ll be the judge of that. Let me see.” Sun demands.

You weigh the options for your next move. You could try and argue, with enough confrontation Sun might relent and drop the subject or you could just show him. It was late though and you were tired from arguing with Moon. You didn’t have the energy to banter back and forth with Sun so you just lift your hand away from your neck to reveal the cut. It had mostly stopped bleeding, the first bits of blood had already started to dry. It looked worse than it actually was but only because blood covered the inside of your hand. You prepared yourself for a lecture on safety but were surprised when he just nods and lets you put your hand back over it.

“It doesn’t look too bad, though you should still go take care of it. You don’t want a nasty infection from not cleaning it properly. Or tetanus from that dirty scrap metal.” He brushes the sides of your wings like he is ‘dusting’ them off but you know that was just his excuse to touch them. “Go get yourself cleaned up in the bathroom then off to bed with you, understood little one?”

“Mhm…” You sigh. It seemed he was finally listening to you for once instead of making a big deal out of one small injury. It would be gone by morning anyway, your accelerated healing would fix it completely in the next few hours without even so much as a scar. You fluff your wings out with a few quick flaps to feel the breeze ruffle them one last time then you shrink them back down so they fit nicely on your back. Both brothers always watch you intensely whenever you move your wings, they were fascinated by them and how they functioned so their eyes were both glued to you as you walked away.

“Goodnight.” Sun calls to you to which you just nod your head with a mumble in acknowledgment.

“Don’t let the space bugs bite. There are literally thousands of them around the ship~” Moon shouts with a chuckle as his farewell for the night. You simply roll your eyes and go to retire for the rest of the night.

While you walk away you hear Sun get after Moon for letting you injure yourself again to which he of course argues back defending himself. If there was one good thing that came from tonight, it was the sweet sound of Moon getting his butt chewed by his brother.

Karma sweet karma.

(Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, let me know if you are interested in a chapter 2) 💕

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

Hello dearest bestie Elm <3

There's this writing ask meme floating around, and I was wondering if you'd indulge me.

(Dragon) Wing: share a snippet that you daydreamed about before writing it (or a snippet that you were really looking forward to writing.)

Thank you so much for this ask, Winter! ✨

So anyone who knows me knows I love Tolkien and The Silmarillion. For "I Didn't Know You Were Keeping Count", I'm actually planning this big Silmarillion reference that will come up in a few chapters! In The Silmarillion, there's this character named Maglor. He's like the minstrel, right? Maglor, a harpist, wrote a song called the Noldolantë, the Song of the Noldor (the Noldor being the High Elves).

In Keeping Count, I'm planning to do my rewrite of the Grand Crystal Ball from the SRM in chapter 10. At some point in the chapter, we all know Bishop and Casavir are going to get heated. Mentally, Leara cannot take it at that point in the evening. She slips away from the testosterone-slinging mud fight toward the dias with the musicians. It's later in the evening and not every instrument has a performer. There's a harp, abandoned on a stool. Leara's heart flutters. She picked up the rudiments of the harp as a child and later came close to mastery while in Alinor. (The harp is a good, strong symbol of Altmer nobility.) Leara taught lessons while in hiding as a governess at High Rock, at one point, but it's been so long since she picked up the harp. Over a decade, at least. Do her fingers still remember?

Leara asks the musician nearby if she can play it, and gets his ascent. He's from the Bards College. He isn't about to say no to the Dragonborn of all people, but he honestly doesn't expect much. Maybe a few warbled chords and a sheepish smile. But she's pretty so he lets her have a go.

And then Leara begins to play. Leara is playing the Noldolantë, but this is Tamriel, right? So actually it's the Lantë'aldmeris (which may or may not be the incorrect rendering of the Noldolantë into Aldmeris, but that doesn't matter right now; I'm waxing poetic) that she plays. And oh my stars, but the melody is enchanting, haunting, painful and beautiful as if every hope one ever felt was suddenly just within their reach before shattering into unattainable stardust. And people are staring and listening because this is a masterwork of Aldmer society, isn't it? Nothing like it has ever been played in Solitude before. And it shouldn't. This is a treasured lament of the Altmer people. It's not to be shared with outsiders and those who are less. But it is.

But it is.

Leara is lost in the music. Casavir is subdued. Bishop won't stop staring at Leara's hands. And the Thalmor officers in attendance are getting really antsy. Then Leara strikes a discordant chord after a minor trill and stops. Because that's the end. The song was never completed. The composer never finished it. He died, millennia ago, standing alone on the seashore as he stared toward lost Aldmeris. Leara is quiet as she returns the harp to its owner. He can only stare at her in awe.

Then Leara's hands are clasped in Bishop's and he's tugging her toward the exit. The Thalmor are moving and they need to go. Now.

Leara and Bishop leave the party.

. . . or, at least that's what might happen. I dunno yet. We'll see how chips fall! I'm just in love with the idea of Leara the harpist and making a reference to one of my favorite Silm characters!

[longhollywood]

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If you have information or covers that would complete this entry, please feel free to contribute them by clicking the CONTRIBUTE link in the menu on the left. When more accurate information or covers are obtained, the entry will be updated adding the missing information. We couldn't find some of the information and covers for this game. Hold R1 and Press Select, Right, Left, Down, X, O, Start You must Press Start again once the loading screen goes by. Hold R1+L1+Select+Square and Press Left, Down, Right, Up, Up, Right, Down, LeftĮxtra Weapons on New Game - Start a new game and enter during the loading screen. Testing other emulators/plugins is up to you.Īlternate Hair Colour - Enter at the Options Menu. We provide you with one working set-up so that you may get the game up and running, hassle-free. There are others that will work (better or worse) for your particular hardware. NOTE: This is not the only possible combination of plugins.

#TOMBA PS1 DWARFS FULL#

( internal X & Internal Y= Very High, Stretching mode: Stretch to full window size, render Mode: 2 (Use framebuffer object) text filt = 2 FPS limit= 63, Compatibility=1,3,2 Shader effects= 1 (Fullscreen smoothin)) Tomba has all the smooth moves: swing, grapple, throw, climb, slide, bite, swim, dirve, hang, run, laugh, cry. Moving obstacles.Ĭan you believe what Tomba has to go through to conquer the menacing wine?!Ī wild actoin game with sone RPG and adventure mixed in, too.ġ30 events to clear deliver non-stop action. ".one of the best 32-Bit platformers out there, if not THE best." -EGMĮvil pigs. There are over 130 different events in all - some of which can be completed at random or in any fashion you'd like. Every time you collect an item that someone or something needs, it is referred to as an event. As you journey along, you will come across people who need something or a town that requires your help. He'll come across a wide variety of items along the way ranging from charity wings (teleportation to already visited places) to the 1,000 year-old key (opens 1,000 year-old treasure chests).īreaking the mold of the traditional platformer, Tomba! is more non-linear rather than it is a level-to-level game. Each weapon has a specific purpose and certain ones should be used at different times a grapple for high-up places and the boomerang for distance attacks. Among his weapons is the default blackjack (a spiked ball with a rope attached), a grapple and various boomerangs. Tomba also makes use of weapons and items. Once all three experience meters reach level ten (in order to do this, Tomba must do certain things), he will unlock and learn an ability. He has seven abilities that can be learned throughout the duration of the game. Little do you know that the quest for your bracelet will turn into so much more.īecause of its role-playing elements, in Tomba!, your character will gain experience points, develop new skills and learn new things. You assume the role of Tomba and begin your adventure. The game starts out simple enough with the evil Koma Pigs stealing Tomba's bracelet, which was given to him by his grandfather. Aside from sporting a wacky pink hairdo, Tomba! offers a long and brain twisting experience that mixes the traditional 2D side scrolling action/platformer with the elements of a role-playing game.

[rpgsandbox]

25 Seafaring Adventure Seeds

by Robb at readytorole.com

Miles from land, out in the sea ahead appears to be a town built upon high stilts. The flag that flies above it belong to pirates, but ships with all flags friend and foe alike are docked there.

Rumors abound about “Runaground Island” or “Ghost Island”- an island that apparently materializes in the ocean and destroys or damages ships that suddenly find themselves inside of the island.

For the past month a patch of sea has turned a deeper blue than the rest, and it seems to be actively pushing ships out with gigantic waves out of nowhere when they enter the patch.

Ship wreckage floats out in the ocean, very likely a merchant vessel based on some of the goods floating about. A small group of lifeboats float among the wreckage, filled with not people but treasure, and the word “choices” carved into the side of one.

An avian humanoid is spotted on the distance and lands on ships offering their services as a messenger. But even with wings how did they fly a few days travel out here?!

A castaway was found on a piece of driftwood and when brought aboard, warns the ship to turn around. According to them, a huge human hand came up from under the water and crushed their ship with ease before pulling most of the ship under.

At first the colorful algae that is common in these waters were fun to look at, but now it is obvious that they are eating through the ship’s hull due to their acidity, and the ship is taking on water!

An entrepreneurial gnome has started a gnomish diving company, salvaging wreckage from ships at the bottom of the ocean. Their latest employer has them investigating the wreckage of a pirate vessel that sunk around a century ago.

A glowing maelstrom appears in the ocean, but repels ships away rather than pulls them in. A ship was witnessed being ejected from the whirlpool intact and the crew is alive, though very confused.

For about a month dim, glowing lights under the water have been making their toward the closest port. However, now under a full moon their true nature is revealed- iridescent skeletons marching on the seafloor, and only a few days from port!

A large island that has been known to float around due to actually being a giant turtle has seen volcanic activity for the first time. The turtle has been approaching ships for help, but none seem to want to step foot onto the living island.

A ship bearing a flag of a parrot skull draws nearer, and from the telescope can be seen parrots turning into large, rideable mounts and pirates riding them towards the ship!

A message in a bottle was pulled up, and included a map to an uncharted island with promises of riches. The next day, en route to said island, a second bottle was found warning whoever found it to avoid the island at all costs.

Lately, whenever ships get into trouble on the open sea, a giant cephalopod has been grabbing them and safely placing them down in front of them before asking a riddle. If the crew of the ship gets it right, they get a random sunken chest from the bottom of the ocean. Answer wrong, and they are simply sent on their way with the aid of the cephalopod.

Merfolk have become uncharacteristically vicious as of late, attacking the bottom of ships so that they fill with water, and dragging anyone who goes down to fix the leaks through the holes they made, never to be seen again.

After reaching their last port of call, the crew has begun feeling ill one by one. Slowly, once the illness sets in they have been turning slimy and jelly-like over the course of a week, but seem to still live as jelly.

An ogre ship- if the pile of driftwood and scavenged wood can be called that- has been the ire of many sailors lately, accidentally ramming into them and causing damage due to the poor construction and control of their own vessel. However, the number of incidents seems a little high to just be an accident.

Apparently, whenever a map is opened up on deck, the edge of the map becomes the edge of the world in a certain spot of ocean. If a map is opened with only 200 feet to spare, either a new map needs to be opened, or all hands on deck to turn around!

A body was picked up out of the water and was still alive! They thanked the crew for saving them, but after 2 days jumped overboard in the middle of the night. Now one of the crew have been following suit every few nights since, leaving a shortage of hands and a bad feeling for those who remain without answers.

Everytime the ship tries to dock, it is turned away due to a strong presence of evil on board. None of the on board priests can sense anything wrong and the ship itself is starting to run out of supplies and options.

Rumor has it that if you find leaves out on the open ocean who just missed The Seagarden; a ship made from living wood than can change shape and grow, crewed entirely by nymphs who live inside the wood itself.

An otherwise reputable merchant vessel approaches offering goods at extremely low prices, likely due to the fact that they are either illegal substances in most lands or appear to be stolen goods. The merchant denies any wrongdoing, but insists no one says they bought anything from him.

After discarding meat that was not properly prepared and has rotten, a slew of giant sharks have begun following the ship. Unless more food is dumped into the ocean, that bite at and ram the ship itself. Between what the crew needs and how much is needed to keep the sharks at bay, there is not enough to find any port of call.

A crew member has fished up a small sea serpent, at first thinking it was an eel. Now they claim they can see a large shadow following the boat, but no one else can see it.

While seemingly friendly at first, a ship full of turtlefolk fire themselves out of cannons, breaching into the lower hulls of ships, grabbing treasure, and then swimming back to their own!

[fawnandshadows]

25 Days of Elriel — Day 3

Solstice (Baby Please Come Home)

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 1.4k

Azriel sat in front of the fireplace, slouched in one of the leather wing-appropriate chairs in the House of Wind, and watched as the flames tumbled and turned; Every once in a while the orange would look like the burnished gold in Elains eyes, and that was the highlight of the Solstice so far —the brief imitation of what he longed for. One hand was bent on the arm of the chair and propped to keep his head up, and the glass of whiskey he was nursing clasped between the fingertips of his other hand. It was his Solstice present to himself, he had grabbed it right out of Rhysands secret stash. The one that Cassian didn’t know about. Azriel figured it was only fair; Rhys was keeping him away from Elain, and his family, so Azriel stole the oldest, most expensive whiskey the High Lord had.

It tasted like shit.

That was the only reason Azriel hadn’t drunk the entire bottle yet, it tasted like complete and utter shit. Briefly he entertained the idea that Rhysand had the forethought to somehow sabotage the bottle, or just swap it out with sewer water, but it was impossible. Azriel had done it one a whim. It was either grab the whiskey, or grab Elain and kiss her until her brilliant smile melted onto his lips and their souls fused together. So, Azriel tucked his wants away, yet again, and placed them close to his heart.

After a year of Azriel giving her the cold-shoulder, at the behest of his High Lord, Elain had still gone out of her way to get him a gift. An incredibly thoughtful, perfect gift like she had the two solstices before.

She stood in front of him — cheeks flushed from the fire or her drink or some other reason that was too painful to think of — and held up a shiny, leather holster for Truth-teller. Her fingers worked over the buckles as she said, “You can adjust the size like this, so it can fit perfectly on your thigh,” Azriel’s brain shutdown completely. Thigh — Elain had mentioned his thigh. Her tongue poked through in a flash of pink on the “th” sound which held all of his attention. It was such a common word, one he tossed around all the time during training, yet he never realize how stupidly seductive it was. She had looked at his thigh long enough to notice his holster was hanging on by a few threads. He hadn’t cared enough to get a new one himself. “Emerie said that this was the best one at the shop.”

She presented the holster to him with open hands, the leather placed delicately on her palms, and he knew that she saw how his fingers trembled as he reached for it. Elain, of course, was kind enough not to mention it.

“Thank you,” Azriel rasped out, and swallowed loudly, the ball of emotion in his throat growing to the point of pain. His fingers trailed over the sturdy leather, and he noticed his initial monogrammed into the fabric and a small rose next to it. “I needed this.” I need you were the words Azriel didn’t say. The words he tied against his heart with the last of his self-control.

His eyes couldn’t look away from the quiet joy that radiated from her smile and lit up the entire room. Her happiness was suffocating. To be so close to her, and not be able to touch her or be with her in any meaningful way. He couldn’t even have the conversation he wanted to have with her. He wanted to tell her that she was the best gift-giver, that she had the unique ability to see everybody’s needs and fulfill them, that he treasured everything she had ever given him, but he didn’t. He let the words die and settle in his chest. 

Before the tether of self-control completely snapped, Azriel made some bullshit excuse that Elain was too smart to believe. He ran from her. He, Azriel: Shadowsinger and Spymaster, ran from Elain Archeron, Kingslayer, gardener, and owner of his heart.

He fled from her. He fled like a coward in battle.

The only stop he made was to go to the cabinet locked in the basement of the River House before winnowing back to the House Of Wind — he and the twins were the only ones who could winnow in, so he could disappear before anyone even knew he was there. He sat for hours, alternating between lounging in the chair and occasionally taking a sip of swill and setting his glass down to look at the holster Elain had given him.

It was beautiful. Dark leather with fine stitching, and his eyes kept going to the monogram that glowed in the light of the fire. His name and rose. She had given him a gift with herself on it, so clearly next to his first initial. His heart clawed at his insides just looking at it.

Azriel moved to swap his glass for the holster when shadows started swarming in the corner of the room, and soon a flash of pink and gold tumbled elegantly out of them. He watched as Elain smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress and looked around the darkened room before her brown eyes settled on him.

“Was it Nuala or Cerridwen?” Azriel asked as the shadow behind her disappeared.

“Cerridwen,” Elain stated and stepped closer to him. Her arms crossed over her chest. “I have to ask. How could this,” She motioned to the whiskey in his hand. “Be better than spending a night with your family?”

“It’s not better,” Azriel said, leaning forward so that his elbows were perched on his knees. “It’s just less painful.”

Her soft steps echoed through the room, and from the corner of his eye Azriel saw her kneeling next to him. Her silky pink dress gathered under her legs. Her warm, rich chocolate eyes looking up at him. Her cheeks flushed and kissable. His breathing shattered and sputtered as she laid her hands on his exposed forearm.

“It’s the Solstice. Azriel, please come home,” Her fingers dug into his skin and Azriel thought he was going to combust. Her swallow and shaky breath rattled his thoughts. “I would like it if you came home. I know I made it awkward last year, and I’m sorry I ruined our friendship, but I miss you. You shouldn’t be alone tonight. You should be with me, with your family.”

The clank of glass on wood filled the air as the sweaty glass fell from his hand.

“Elain,” Azriel said, his voice and expression pained. “You didn’t ruin anything,” His hand moved on it’s own accord to cup her cheek — his chilled fingers settled upon the warm, plump flesh of her cheek. “I’m the one that ruins everything. It’s all my fault, I never should have allowed myself to have feelings for you, what kind of idiot do I have to be—”

He was cut off by the words shortest, sweetest kiss.

Her lips pressed against his, and then they were gone. It was nothing more than a peck, but it irrevocably changed him forever. His soul was different — lighter.

Azriel sat there, blinking at her face, as he tried to process the fact that he had somehow missed his first kiss with Elain.

“You’re not an idiot,” Elain said gently, her voice soft and affectionate. “And you don’t ruin anything. In fact, I find my life much better whenever you’re around — The world always seems better, brighter, like there’s more sunshine.”

Maybe he shouldn’t have drunk the incredibly old and aged whiskey, Azriel thought, apparently it had some hallucinogenic effects.

He just stared at her, unable to comprehend her words.

“If you don’t want to be around everyone else, then I understand,” Elain said, and she shifted her legs to a more comfortable position. His hand never dropped from her cheek, even though the angle became uncomfortable and awkward, he wasn’t able to break contact. “But you’re not going to spend the Solstice alone. I’m going to be right here the entire time.”

Her eye-lids drifted shut and she leaned her head back to rest against his thigh. His fingers curled under her jaw bone, gently tracing her delicate skin and feeling the energetic pulse pounding wildly beneath her skin, and his thumb softly ran back and forth across her cheek.

“Did you like your gift?” Elain asked dreamily.

Azriel wondered if she was talking about the holster, the kiss, or their time together.

“It was the best gift I’ve ever gotten.”

--

tagging: @thefangirlofhp @tswaney17 @impossiblescissorspeachpaper @jujugirlfrombookstore @courtofjurdan​ @offtorivendell​

[nyashykyunnie]

Might as well hope on the bandwagon. May I please request a Father Xiao scenarios? Maybe his child can be a half-adeptus like ganyu (Child auto-corrected to Childe when I was typing this xD)

A/N: took me awhile to think of a Xiao hc cuz I was tryna choose between some scenarios AHWHEGW Also SAME, MY PHONE AUTCORRECTS INTO CHILDE ALL THE TIME AHAHAGAGSG AND YES XIAO HAVING A HALF-BLOOD CHILD EEE NGL HE GONNA BE EXTRA PROTECTIVE AHADHJADGS I’m so excited for this ehehh. Also tyvm for the req!!! I hope you enjoy this anon!! Btw this was supposed to be for three charas but I got carried away with xiao so ahah,.... Woops =w=;;

𝙵𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛! 𝕏𝕚𝕒𝕠 x 𝙶𝙽! 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍! ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

.     　﹢　˖    　✦      ¸ .　﹢　 ° 　¸.    ° ˖ ･ ·̩　　 ｡　☆　　　ﾟ ＊ 　 ｡　☆ ✦˖

Having a child, with his own blood running through your veins, you being the spitting image of him- Was the last thing Xiao could ever imagine ever happening to him.

It’s understandable that he was really shocked to know you are his. Xiao is, after all, the Conqueror Of Demons. He is more than used to being in battle, always being on high alert and ready to slash any enemy down since it isone of his duties as the Vigilant Yaksha who protects Liyue.

Xiao was very cautious around you. With your small and fragile body, he feared that even touching you was enough to kill you. The Wangshu Inn keeper had to teach him ‘how’ to hold you because Xiao’s fear of holding you might just make him stay ten feet away from you at all costs.

He watches over you from afar, always ready to strike at whatever dares to bring you harm.

Though, most of the time, the yaksha is always leaving you to Verr Goldet’s care so he can fulfill his duties. It was fine at first- Until Verr had to talk to Xiao about it. He told him that he shouldn’t be too focused  on that job. 

She told him the possibilities of his constant negligence of you, she told him you might grow “Deprived From Fatherly Affection”. Xiao was shocked of course, he didn’t really know that. 

He felt guilty, he was so blinded by not wanting to inflict any form of harm on you, he didnt expect that it’ll inevitably lead you to growing some unwanted mindsets and habits.

Xiao isn’t really one for affection, there’s no need to explain that. Majority of his skills are more on the ‘slaughter’ and ‘exorcise’ expertise.

Regardless, he is not just a protector of Liyue now, he is a ‘father’ now. Specifically your father. This new responsibility isn’t something he will run away from.

Don’t expect much from him though. Xiao is still hesitant to some extent, he’s trying to figure out how he will interact with you.

 Unlike him, you’re fragile. More fragile than glass. He’s afraid of exerting accidental force that will lead him to hurting you. You’re just too small- so small can’t even reach pass his knees(Please this yaksha is just overthinking too much)

Baby steps, that’s what he’ll do. Slow and steady so he wont be too overwhelmed.

He starts off by simply talking to you, maybe even playing with you for a bit with enough begging. Xiao slowly got used to handling you as time went by. Verr was even suprised at one point when she saw Xiao handling you during your tantrums. 

Xiao made good progress with you. He didnt even know that he was unconciously getting attached to you, he didnt know that he adored your presence. He didn’t realize that he gets a little frustrated when he needs to leave you behind. Xiao developed his ‘father instincts’ to such a level to the point that he sometimes wished his Yaksha responsibilties were less demanding.

When you are trouled with nightmares- Xiao will put some stuff to wardoff evil. Though, he also heard that child mortals are more effectively comfoted if they are sung a lullaby, so he’ll do that. Just... Don’t tell anyone else or that will be your last (maybe)

The immortal sometimes even comes home with new clothes since he knew that children grow and he wouldn’t want to see you struggling with the small fit ofyour clothing. He also makes sure to put some spells on them too to ward off evil.

 Xiao unconciously spoils you, his mind always drifting; ‘Maybe they’ll like something like that. Mortal children I’ve seen are fond of those stuff’.  Naturally, he’ll make a way to afford that small gift for you. If he cant, then he’ll just learn how to make it himself.

He loves you, he just doesnt know how to convey that. Being an adepti, being raised as a machine for war- Love wasn’t something he is great at. But even if it’s that, he’ll still strive for you secretly. Xiao will no doubt make the most descreet efforts to adore you. He still doubts himself even after all the progress he’s made in becoming close to you.

“Silk Flowers!” You squeel in delight as you spotted a bouquet of it from afar. You dash off from Xiao’s side, making the adepti startled and call out your name.

But still you were a child, of course you just kept running and running until the ground beneath you rumbled at what seems like caused from footsteps. Your feet wobbled and almost knocked you off of your feeting. Then it stopped, a huge shadow looming over your small figure. You look up only to have the color of your face drained.

“D-Daddy!” You cried out in absolute horror, falling down to the ground. You were terrified, how could you not? Monsters were real, and one of those monsters was about to murder you in cold blood. “Daddy! Help!”

Just at the beast was about to swing it’s flaming axe towards you- The  wind shifted, as if slicing through the air and knocking back the mitachurl.

“How dare such filthy demon dare to even make their presence in front of my child, let alone even dare to strike!” Xiao growled, his eyes flaming gold from raw fury as he walked with the air dancing violently around him. “ I’ll make you pay”

Xiao’s voice was flooded with resentment, his primodial jade radiated as it felt it’s master’s sudden abundance in power. He spun it as his Yaksha mask formed in his face. At the roar of the enemy, Xiao leapt forward, striking the demon in overwhelming speed. He moved so fast it’s too the point the mitachurl wasn’t given any chance to react. But was it done? No, not even a little bit. That demon frightened you to the point your voice faltered in calling him. He has seen you in tears but never to this extent. Xiao was fuming as he plunged down, his anemo spears stabbing the enemy with no hint of sympathy. 

When he finally finished the kill, Xiao’s mask disintegrated and immediately walked to your crying state. He clicked his tounge, feeling a huge pang in his heart as he saw you this disheveled.

“Da-daddy!” You wailed, reaching your arms out for him desperately as your tears clouded your eyes. “Waah!”

He wanted to scold you, he really did. But the sight of you crying like this made the words stuck in his throat. Xiao instead lifted you in his arms, letting you bury your face on the crook of his neck and sob freely. You soaked his shoulder and Xiao didn’t complain, he just rubbed your back to let you know he is there.

“Does anywhere hurt?” His nonlachant voice rung in your ears softly, stealing your attention. “If there is, better tell me now or those wounds will cause  further damage in you.”

“[Y-y/n] is bad.” You hicupped. “[Y/N] is so bad daddy is now ou-ouchie. Daddy now hates [Y-Y/N]”

“Hate? You mortals have odd ways of thinking” Xiao sounded a little rough, making you flinch. “Don’t be ridiculous, I would never bear such hostility towards you. Moreover, I’m not hurt. I’ve lived for thousands of years, pain is something minimal for an adepti such as myself.”

He scoffed.

“On the other hand, your life is counted by only one hand. You have yet to experience what life will truly bring you.” Xiao’s voice started to soften bit by bit as he softly squeezes your small body towards him more “However, I am your father. If darkness decides to crawl at your feet and even when you are frigthened of what’s ahead- Call out my name. I’ll always be there.”

“Da-daddy promises?” You look up to stare at his amber orb. “Daddy will make monsters go bye-bye?”

“Yes” He simply answered. “Now stop your noisy crying, we’re going back to eat.”

He appears cold, his way of talking always straight to the point, but still he loves you. Adeptus Xiao, the guardian yaksha, his power will not simply be used in order to slaughter the darkness creeping around Liyue. With his Vision and might as Alatus, the Golden-Winged King,... He will protect you at all costs and raise you no matter how he is troubled regarding his difficulty in making much of emotions.

You are one his greatest gifts, a treasure he will sincerely hold in his heart forevermore. It doesn’t matter if his karmic binds attack him, he will venture out of it for you. 

A/N: AIGHHTT AAAA ITS MY FIRST TIME WRITTING FOR XIAO HNNN, Did I do good??? AAAA I DUNNO AHDKSGF. I hope you all liked it hngghhhh ;___; Also I’m sorry for being inactive a lot AAAAA, school is starting to get mre and more demanding. I have more hcs upcoming so dw! I wont end up completely turning into a dead ghost!

[fluffywings13]

Chance Meetings

Six year old Izuku watches the two other kids yell and push a purple haired boy around at the top of the jungle gym, and something boils inside him, dad always says that sometimes being a hero means doing the right thing, without hesitation, even if it seems everything else is stacked against you.

Gritting his teeth, he jumps down onto the slide, landing in a stumble, he runs across the playground, and pushes the purple haired boy behind him, throwing an arm out protectively. “Leave him alone! He didn’t do anything wrong!”

The two other boys scoff, kick rocks at them, and turn away, stomping across the playground to do whatever else bullies do when they’re separated from their victim.

Izuku waits until they’re far out of ear shot, and turn, looking at the other boy in concern. “Are you okay?”

“Huh….” His new companion seems shocked. “Y—Yeah..?”

He doesn’t believe him and points down the street with his thumb. “You’re bleeding, do you wanna come down to my place? It’s right down the street. My dad could help you.”

The purple haired boy rubs the back of his neck lightly. “You’re….Sure it’s okay?”

Izuku nods firmly. “Absolutely.”

“O—Okay.” The other boy nods. “I’ll come.”

“Cool, follow me.” The greenette turns and gestures for the other boy to follow. “My names Izuku, what’s your name?”

“H—Hitoshi…” Hitoshi spares him a shy glance. “Y—Your dad won’t mind?”

“Nope.” Izuku shakes his head. “My dad hates bullies and it’s not easy to make him hate anything.”

The purple haired six year old looks up at the large nice apartment building they approach, it’s so tall, and a man standing outside opens the door for them with a smile. “This is so cool!”

“It’s home.” Izuku presses the button for the elevator. “Me and dad live all the way at the top, dad likes being up high, he likes being in the sky.”

The elevator doors open with a ding, and Hitoshi follows Izuku inside, watching him push the very last button on the list. They ride up in companionable silence, it takes a couple minutes to go from the ground floor all the way to the top, and Hitoshi’s eyes widen at the apartment they step into, directly from the elevator, stumbling when Izuku pulls him forward.

“Dad!” He turns to the other boy when he calls out. “Are you home!”

“In here, nestling!” A voice calls from a room to the right.

“Come on, Hitoshi.” Izuku gestures for him to follow him as he steps forward. “Dad can help you.”

“Uh….okay.” The purple haired boy follows him, crossing his arms nervously, and looks around in slight awe at the large bedroom they step into. “It’s so big.”

“Yea,” the green haired boy nods. “It’s big, but it’s not bad. Dad?”

“In the bathroom.” They follow the sound of a man’s voice into the bathroom, Hitoshi pauses in his tracks at the large red wings on the man’s bare back, feathers darkened from being wet, giving away to the notion that the man just got out of the shower. “What’s up?” The man turns, and he swallows when gold eyes meet his, and the man frowns. “Who’s this, Zu?”

“This is Hitoshi.” Izuku grabs his hand and it helps ground him in his shock. “He’s my new friend, he was being bullied and got hurt.”

“I see—”

Hitoshi can’t hold it back anymore. “You’re Hawks!”

The blonde man, Hawks, smiles at him. “Sure am, kiddo, you can call me Keigo.” He gestures him forward. “Come on, let’s clean you up.” He steps forward shakily and raises his arms slightly when the hero curls his fingers under his arms and lifts him up to sit on the bathroom counter. The six year old watches the hero open the cupboard above the sink and pulls out a few things, disinfectant, cotton balls, bandages. “This might sting a little, but it’ll only be a minute.” Hitoshi nods, squeaking softly when the hero dabs at the gash on his cheek with a cotton ball of disinfectant, it only takes a minute, at the most, and the man secures the bandage over it. “There, good to go.”

Hitoshi smiles at him shyly. “Thanks, Keigo.”

“Hey, no problem.” Keigo lifts the boy off the counter and sets him down on his feet. “Bullies suck, they’re worse then villains, you ever see’em again, you tell’em you sic Hawks on them.”

The boy giggles softly and nods, stumbling slightly when Izuku catches his hand and tugs him forward. “Come on, Hito, I wanna show you my room!”

…

They explore Izuku’s collection and play for a while until they grow bored. “Hito,” he looks up at his new friend questioningly and Izuku grins. “Wanna play heroes and villains?”

He smiles slightly. “Sure…How do you play?”

“Come on,” Izuku jumps up from his spot on the floor, Hawks and Present Mic dolls completely forgotten. “Let’s go get my dad, he’ll play with us too!”

“Uh, okay.”

Hitoshi climbs to his feet and runs after the other boy when he darts out of the room. Keigo smiles at them when they appear in the kitchen, eating a banana, and looks between them inquisitively. “What’s up, lil birds?”

“Dad,” Izuku bounces slightly. “Will you play heroes and villains with us?”

“Yea, sure,” the hero tosses the banana peel in the waste basket. “Want me to be the hero or the supervillain?”

Hitoshi looks at his new friend questioningly, because he doesn’t know which one to choose, which one does someone decide Hawks to play, the hero or the villain, Izuku grins and leans in closer. “It’s a lot more fun to be the villain when you play with dad.”

He doesn’t really want to be the villain, but he does want to have fun, and if anyone would know which one is more fun to be when playing this game with Keigo, it would be Izuku, so he nods. “Okay.”

Izuku turns back. “Hero!”

“Okie dokie.” Hitoshi watches the man turn around and open the cupboard behind him, reaching in for something, and his eyes widen when he pulls out a package of Oreos and holds them out. “Here’s your stolen treasure, go hide it villains, you got two minutes before this hero comes searching.”

The greenette snatches the full package of Oreos up. “Come on, Hito!”

He grins slightly when the hero winks at him and turns away, not watching the two boys dart off to wherever they were going to hide their stolen treasure, and he chases after Izuku to catch up. The other boy leads him into a back closet he didn’t know was there, and crawls behind boxes with him, where there sits an open air vent duct built into the wall. “We’ll hide’em here.” Izuku sets the Oreos down in the duct. “Okay, my dad plays dirty when he’s the hero, our best bet at keeping the secret location of our treasure is to avoid him at all costs, so you have to be really sneaky.”

“How do we know he doesn’t know where we are already?” Hitoshi whispers softly. “What if he’s following us with his feathers?”

“Nope, he’s not.” Izuku shakes his head. “He sheds his feathers when we play heroes and villains so he can’t cheat, he puts them in his closet until we’re done playing, so we’re safe unless he catches us.”

“That’s so cool!” Hitoshi curls a hand around his mouth and giggles softly. “Oops, sorry.”

The green haired boy giggles. “It’s okay. So, no matter what tricks my dad pulls, don’t tell him where we hid our treasure, because if he can’t get the location out of us when we stop playing, we get the whole pack for ourselves.”

“Really!” This time the purplette is mindful not to shout. “That’s awesome!”

“I know!” Izuku cheers softly. “Oreos are the best cookies!”

“I think so too.” Hitoshi spares the package a glance. “Now what?”

“Now we go follow my dad around and see just how great of an actual hero he is.” Izuku giggles softly. “You know that dog from Up?”

The other boy nods slightly. “Uhuh?”

“Well, that’s my dad,” Izuku giggles softly. “Especially when he sees something shiny.”

Hitoshi giggles. “Really?”

“Uhuh,” The greenette nods. “He one time flew into a billboard because there was sparkling glitter on it.”

Hitoshi giggles again. “That’s so funny!”

Izuku giggles and nods. “It is! Auntie Rumi recorded it! I have the video saved on my iPod. I can show you when we’re done playing.” He crawls out from behind the boxes. “Come on, Hito, remember, don’t let my dad catch you, he plays dirty.”

Hitoshi crawls out after him. “Okay, Zu.”

…

Hitoshi was good at being sneaky, he was naturally really quite, like a cat, he loves cats, he wants a cat, but Ms. Matsuda won’t allow it, he doesn’t like Ms. Matsuda, anyway, he’s being really sneaky, peering around the empty living room as he creeps from cupboard under the sink to the bathroom.

And shrieks with laughter when he’s scooped up suddenly from behind. “Okay villain,” Keigo curls an arm around his waist and whispers in his ear. “I’ll only ask you once, where did you hide the cookies?”

“I’ll never tell!” He cries, kicking in an attempt to free himself, shrieking when he’s flipped over, dangling upside down in the hero’s grasp, his lavender t-shirt sliding down slightly. “Hey!”

“I can see this interrogation requires some measures to loosen your lips, villain.” The six year old squeals with laughter when fingers claw into his belly. “I’ll torture the information outta you, villain, I’m not above doing so.” Zu was right, Keigo does play dirty, and he’s even sneakier then he himself is, he didn’t even know he was behind him until he was picked up. “You ready to talk yet, villain, you know what you have to do to stop this.” The purple haired boy shrieks with laughter, struggling between deciding about pushing his shirt back down or trying to pull the hero’s fingers away from his belly, he settles on the latter. “Still not ready to talk yet, huh, that’s fine, we can change tactics.”

Hitoshi breaks after two raspberries are blown into his belly and screams the location of the cookies, he gets two more just because Keigo’s a dirty hero, and shrieks when he’s tossed over the man’s shoulder, watching his wings grow as he calls his feathers back, and they make their way to the far back closet.

“Hito! You got caught!”

He pushes himself up against the hero’s back, giggling, and nods at his new friend. “Keigo’s a mean hero!”

Izuku giggles and nods, shrieking when he’s scooped up off his feet by a few dozen feathers, they both hear the crackling of the package of Oreos and Hitoshi shrieks when the hero spins around quickly. “Come on villains, let’s go get some milk for our cookies.”

They got to have the whole pack of Oreos anyway.

[the-last-kenobi]

Hi, how are you? Hope all is well) Can you please write "Where have you been" with Anakin and a very very depressed and sad Obi?

Of course!

From this various prompts list.

I admit I wasn’t sure exactly which angle you were hoping for, but this is the one my brain liked, so here we are.

_

Anakin’s hand shook slightly as he ran the cloth over the glass mug, turning it in his hands. Water beaded up in the wake of his first attempt, so he went back again a little slower, making sure he left no smudges behind. Then he carefully placed it in the cabinet where it belonged, each shelf lined with different mugs, most of them glass, a few of them seemingly random — porcelain, wood, something that looked like clay, a deep red crystalline substance.

Anakin knew that the ones that weren’t glass had all, once, belonged to Qui-Gon.

They were used rarely. Carefully. Cherished like treasures.

The rest, the glass, those were Obi-Wan’s.

He liked the perfection of glass, its transparency, the way he could watch the teas he brewed and steeped changing, colors swirling and fading beneath his fingers.

Anakin found them difficult to maintain and hard to clean.

His hand shook again, and he quickly put down the towel and set aside the next mug, turning away from the still untidy kitchen.

His gloved metal hand raked through his hair.

It was late.

It was very late.

He walked to the window and brushed aside the curtain with one hand, confronted first with his own ghostly reflection, and then focusing on the view outside. It was pouring down rain. A rare enough occurrence here on Coruscant, and tonight, of all nights, when Obi-Wan could be out there.

He could be anywhere.

Anakin didn’t know.

Obi-Wan had been missing for twenty-nine hours.

He had walked out of their shared quarters while Anakin was visiting Padmé, sometime in the early evening yesterday, leaving his cloak behind, leaving his lightsaber behind.

And then he was gone.

Anakin had searched all the usual places. He’d reached out to Dex, and alerted Mace Windu and Healer Che, and sent Ahsoka to check with the crèche and Initiates dorm in case he was there playing with and teaching the little ones. He’d contacted Bail and Padmé, and gained permission after the twelve hour mark to examine the security holos.

There was nothing.

It was as if Obi-Wan Kenobi had stepped over the threshold of their door and just fallen out of existence.

Anakin watched rain lash against the window, scattering his pale reflection into twisted fragments, and tried to remind himself that he had already been searching for twenty-five hours straight. That he hadn’t slept or eaten. That Master Koon had forbidden him from going out into the storm to search, when they already had rested and armored troopers doing a steady sweep of the Temple perimeter, even when they didn’t know if Obi-Wan had actually left the grounds.

The Temple was massive.

He could be hiding in an unused wing, or in the depths of the dustiest levels, or in the back of the Archives, or the towers.

No, not the Archives. Master Nu had already searched there and that woman would never miss so much as a hair out of place in her domain, much less a High Councilor.

Anakin had heard Master Mundi making noises about a possible trap or an abduction.

And while that was bad — nightmarish — to contemplate, Anakin had his own fears, and they felt much more realistic, much too close for comfort.

Anakin flung himself down on the sofa with his head in his hands and tried not to admit that he was frightened.

He had seen Obi-Wan like this before. Back when they were a new partnership and Qui-Gon was dead but there was still so much of him living in the Temple, like the mugs, one still the on the countertop with a faint imprint of his lips staining the rim, or his spare cloaks and boots, and the trinkets and potted plants that filled every available space. And Obi-Wan had...

Well. Whenever he thought Anakin wasn’t paying attention, he was so quiet. He barely slept for days and then slept too much. He hardly ate and then ate random things at random times. He hardly smiled.

He wandered off.

Alone.

The worst time had been when Anakin was six months in to his apprenticeship. He had woken up with a terribly bad feeling to find his Master missing from his bed, and with the unerring instinct of a worried child, he had shot off in search of Master Yoda, who had quietly raised the alarm amongst the older Masters. It was Master Windu who had found Obi-Wan, quiet and shrunken and apathetic, concealed in one of the many gardens, letting the life of the garden conceal his dimming force signature from view.

Anakin had clung to him like he was about to disappear, and Obi-Wan hadn’t seemed to really process that he was there...

Eventually he had pulled out of it. Anakin didn’t know how.

But this...

Anakin had been worried since Geonosis that he would lose his Master to death on the battlefield. Then there had been Ventress and Jabiim and Grievous and Dooku and Maul — Maul — and suddenly it felt like Obi-Wan was never safe. The war and his enemies chased him everywhere.

But Obi-Wan had lost friends and peers and younglings he had once taught or cradled in his arms when they were so very small, and his Master’s murderer had come back like a resurrected demon to plague him, to threaten his life and sanity and everyone he loved — and Satine had already paid with her life.

Others might.

And when Anakin had come racing back home from 500 Republica when he’d heard the news, it was already too late, and Obi-Wan had gone off all alone stars knew where.

That was enough.

Anakin leapt to his feet, his body trembling with fear and nausea, determined to ignore orders.

Damn their kindness and responsibility, damn the fact that he’d probably only get soaked and miserable, he was going out searching again.

Anakin strode towards the door on shaking legs.

It swung open before he neared it, and there was Obi-Wan.

Anakin gaped at him.

Obi-Wan stared blankly back. “...Anakin?”

“Obi-Wan,” Anakin breathed, staring at him, taking him in. He was without his cloak and lightsaber, as he had known he would be, and was soaking wet — completely sopping, as if he had swum in a lake rather than wandered about in a rainstorm.

“Obi-Wan,” he said again, his voice strained. “Where have you been?”

His Master continued to look blank. “I went out.”

“You went out? You’ve been gone for well over a day!” Anakin cried out. “Where have you been?”

Obi-Wan shrank away from the shouting. His blue eyes flickered around the room as if looking for an answer, or perhaps an escape, and still his expression was utterly detached. “I... I don’t know, really. Here and there.”

A pause.

“Was I really gone for so long?” he asked. He sounded distantly, disinterestedly bewildered, and Anakin broke.

“Yes!” he shouted, his face screwed up in anger, in an attempt to hold back childish tears. “Yes you have! You disappeared! There are people looking for you, and the Council was worried you’d been taken, and I was so— I was — so — I— you can’t do that to me, Obi-Wan, please, I was losing my mind!”

Obi-Wan’s blank expression finally shifted.

A look of confusion and worry built behind the vague blue eyes, and Anakin launched himself at his friend like he had all those years ago, locking his limbs around him in a fierce hug.

For a long moment it was like hugging a statue. A very cold, very wet statue that shivered ever so slightly.

But Anakin held on, determined to keep Obi-Wan right here, to keep him safe and warm, to make him understand that he was needed, that he could also rest, that it would all be okay if he just stayed. Stayed like he had before. His tunics began to absorb some of the icy moisture coming off his Master but he kept holding on, his face buried in Obi-Wan’s shoulder.

And slowly, Obi-Wan came to life.

His hands inched upwards to rest against his Padawan’s back, and he tilted his head so that he was leaning against Anakin’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice muffled. “I had no idea you’d be so concerned.”

“I wasn’t concerned, you absolute idiot, I was scared,” Anakin hissed, the confession both bitter and relieving on his lips. “How would you feel if I vanished with no word? For thirty hours?”

A long silence.

“Well,” Obi-Wan said thoughtfully, “I would be impressed with Padmé for not getting bored of you long before that.”

There was a dead silence.

Then a spluttered, incredulous laugh, and it took Anakin a moment to realize it was he who was laughing. His shoulders shook with it, with shock at the revelation of what Obi-Wan knew, that he wasn’t angry about it, that he was cracking stupid, mean, dumb jokes about it when Anakin was trying to be mad at him.

Obi-Wan chuckled quietly, and Anakin laughed harder, delighted that his friend was smiling, if only a little.

“You’re not off the hook you know,” he mumbled, guiding Obi-Wan to his rooms, planning on forcing him to take a hot shower and drink warm tea and maybe pull out one of Qui-Gon’s old cloaks, because that always helped.

“Neither are you,” Obi-Wan mumbled back, and squeezed his hand every so briefly.

~

When Plo Koon dropped by to check on Anakin, very early the next morning, he found him sleeping soundly on a chair, snoring quietly, his feet propped on the arm of the sofa, where Obi-Wan was fast asleep with an old cloak that was far too large for him draped over his body.

It was easy to forgive them to forgetting to inform the Guard to call off the search.

Mace could pretend to yell at them during their next Council meeting, during which, he was sure, the two friends would stand side by side, mischief in their eyes.

~

[theultimateultimateweapon]

Kirby: Meta Knight and the Knight of Hades (Chapter 10)

Morpho Knight swung his sword down the slope, releasing a powerful shock wave. The crescent-shaped waves hit Meta Knight in quick succession.

Meta Knight flew left and right, but his arm was hurt and he groaned in pain. Morpho Knight didn’t even look tired.

Meta Knight remembered what happened in the underworld. In that world, he couldn’t feel tired, hungry, or pain at all. The red knight might not feel any of those feelings no matter how much he fights because of the power of the butterfly of Hades.

If so, does Meta Knight have no chance of winning…?

(No, it can’t be...) Meta Knight gripped his sword and thought. (Those who do not feel tired do not understand the breath of battle. Those who do not feel pain cannot read the movement of their enemy.)

Behind Meta Knight were King Dedede, Kirby, and Blade Knight. Both the great king and Kirby fought desperately, but they had finally lost their strength.

Only Meta Knight was standing. He didn’t know if he could get through this mess. Already, just breathing was painful and his whole body hurt.

(Good. I feel tired and painful because I am alive!)

Meta Knight gathered his strength and jumped up, slashing at Morpho Knight.

However, he repelled it easily.

Morpho Knight slashed violently at Meta Knight’s landing.

Due to his tiredness, Meta Knight, who had been struck before, couldn’t move. He held his sword over his body and guarded desperately, but the damage was great.

His head was fluttering. His eyes were hazy, and his feet were swaying.

(Will I… will I go to the underworld again? This time, forever?) When such an ominous idea came to him, something happened.

“Meta Kniiiiight!”

He heard a loud voice. Waddle Dee’s voice.

Meta Knight raised his face.

Waddle Dee overcame a broken pillar holding something.

“Don’t come any closer!” Meta Knight shouted out.

Waddle Dee turned around, gained momentum, and threw what he was holding in his hand.

“Meta Knight! Here…!”

Something flew through the air. Meta Knight quickly reached out and took it.

Immediately, Meta Knight’s whole body shook. His fatigue and pain disappeared as they were swept away. He felt the power in his hand.

“My treasured sword… the Galaxia!”

It’s unmistakable and genuine. Meta Knight held the Galaxia high. A bright light spilled from the tip of the sword.

Morpho Knight attacked. Meta Knight lightly dodged, shook up and jumped high.

“Spinning Knight!”

While spinning in the air, he slashed at Morpho Knight.

Morpho Knight flinched and was struck down.

Then, immediately, he held his sword horizontally and drill slashed!

Morpho Knight was blown off and struck against a collapsing wall.

Meta Knight had completely regained his power. The Galaxia gave him strength. And the Galaxia was also strengthened by returning to the hands of its true owner. The sword fighter and the sword, united for increased power!

However, Morpho Knight wasn’t finished.

When he stood up, he swung his sword down and sent crescent shock waves one after another. They flew with tremendous speed, but Meta Knight didn’t give up, dodging one after another, getting closer to him.

“Take this-!” Meta Knight swung after Morpho Knight. 

Morpho Knight disappeared suddenly. He escaped with teleportation in an instant. Morpho Knight materialized above and behind Meta Knight.

Meta Knight looked back, feeling sick.

Morpho Knight slid in and rushed through the air.

It was tremendous speed. Meta Knight couldn’t dodge it.

“Kah…!” He was moving before he realized.

He grabbed the Galaxia, held it in front of him, and took a strong stance.

At the moment of attack…

“Galactic Counter!”

A deadly mystery that uses the enemy’s attack power against them!

There was no delay, the timing was perfect.

“...ts!” Morpho Knight stiffened his whole body and his attacks were slow.

The game was on. Meta Knight quietly stared at the enemy.

A streak of light spilled out of Morpho Knight. The lights gradually increased, two, three, and the brightness increased. His mask, his sword, and his wings on his back were swallowed by the white light. The knight turned into a ball of light and disappeared with a burst.

After the knight disappeared, countless red butterflies were dancing. The butterflies flew turbulently, fading little by little, and eventually disappeared as if melting away.

“Meta Knight…”

Meta Knight, staring at the disappeared butterflies, was called and turned around.

It was Kirby. He had been injured in the fight, but seemed to regain some energy.

“Did you win?”

“...Yes.”

“Meta Knight really is strong! I couldn’t do it at all.” Kirby looked a little sick.

Behind him, King Dedede stood up slowly. “Uh… Uugh…!”

The king, leaning on his hammer, managed to support his body and said with envy. “I was supposed to do it… I could’ve mustered the strength…!”

“Didn’t you turn and run?”

“I didn’t run off! I was getting a better vantage point!”

Blade Knight also stood up, in tears. “Meta Knight, sir, wow, you’re safe!”

“Yes. No need to worry about me.”

“But what happened? I could have sworn you were on the battleship Halberd…”

Waddle Dee rushed in before Meta Knight answered. “Meta Knight! You won!”

“Waddle Dee.” Meta Knight turned to Waddle Dee.

“I’m grateful you returned my strength with the Galaxia. Thank you.”

“I just carried it. It was the Galaxia that strengthened you…”

Waddle Dee jumped up. “Wait, we still need your help! Your knights are in a hole!”

“A hole?”

“This way!”

Meta Knight followed Waddle Dee to the knights.

The rescued knights were quiet, even surrounding Meta Knight. Everyone’s hearts were so full that no words came out.

Meta Knight opened his mouth. “It was foolish of me to worry, everyone fought so well.”

“Meta Knight, sir…!”

The Meta Knights wept as if the thread of tension had broken.

Sword Knight said. “You’re the real Meta Knight, aren’t you”

“Do I look like a fake?”

“No! You’re definitely real! There’s a big difference!”

Sword Knight saw Beryl crouching down.

Mace Knight snuck behind and grabbed Beryl’s head.

Axe Knight asked, “Let’s punish him for what he’s done. What do you think?”

“Hm…” Meta Knight thought about it.

Beryl was shaking, rattling. 

Javelin Knight spoke. “Let’s tie him to the bow of the battleship and let him enjoy space travel.”

Trident Knight replied, “Why don’t we send him to Castle Dedede? Let the Waddle Dees take a break and let him do all the castle work alone!”

Axe Knight added, “No, let’s send him to all the towns he destroyed and make him fix them back up again! First, Dreamland!”

Meta Knight spoke. “That’s still too kind. Let’s tie him up so he can’t move and have Kirby perform a song for him.”

“Eh!?” Kirby was surprised. “Why do I have to sing for this guy!? What a waste…!”

“...No, trust me.” Meta Knight told Kirby. “Persuade him with your wonderful singing that he should never do anything wrong again.”

“...Eh? Persuade him?”

“Listening to a wonderful song can change someone’s mind.”

“Oh yeah… songs have the power to move hearts. I see!” Kirby was determined and nodded. “I will sing! It’ll be a moving song that will gentle the heart of any villain!”

“While you’re at it, would you like to serve your home cooking as well? You should make a special dish that will make him cry with excitement.”

“Okay! Looks like Meta Knight is kind to his enemies.”

“Waddle Dee.”

Waddle Dee, who was swaying and listening to the story, jumped up when Meta Knight called out. 

“Ye...yes!”

“I’ll leave it to you. Hold Kirby a concert and set up a special seat for Beryl. Don’t forget to serve Kirby’s special dishes. Have Beryl eat until he is full.”

“Uh… uh… uh, yes…!” Waddle Dee imagined it and nodded in tears of fear.

(Me, Meta Knight…! What a terrifying thing! Kirby’s song is so terrible it could crack the walls of Castle Dedede, and Kirby’s food is so bad he could lose his appetite for the rest of his life…!)

Kirby said with a smile. “Heh, I’ll do my best! Let’s work together, Waddle Dee!”

“Ah… okay…”

“What should I sing? I have to sing with all my heart so Beryl doesn’t do bad things again… of course, I’ll do my best to cook too… Wow, I’m excited! Hey Beryl, I hope you’re looking forward to it!”

“Oh, oh. I’m sure I’ll change my mind.” Beryl was relieved and grinned.

The Meta Knights and King Dedede whispered in the shadow.

“Beryl’s acting like he’s saved.”

“How stupid, he doesn’t know the horror of Kirby.”

“Meta Knight is too cruel. No matter what he did, I’m sorry for Beryl.”

“How could sir make such a proposal…”

“Wow, he’s not kidding around! Good luck, Beryl!”

Meta Knight turned over his cloak and started walking. “Well then, let’s go back to the battleship Halberd.”

“Yes sir!” His subordinates saluted in unison and lined up.

Captain Vul and the Meta Knights were enjoying tea time leisurely for the first time in a long while.

Meta Knight wasn’t there. It seems he had something to do, so he went out without telling them where he was going.

Captain Vul was talking about, of course, Meta Knight.

Axe Knight said. “Even so, it’s strange. Why did Meta Knight, who had been unconscious on the Halberd, appear in the ancient temple?”

Captain Vul replied. “I have an idea, but I can’t quite explain it. I think…”

Captain Vul took a sip of his tea and continued.

“At that time, Meta Knight’s body and mind were disjointed. His body was in a bed in the Halberd here, but his mind was wandering somewhere else.”

“...Huh.”

“Usually, the wandering heart returns to the body. However, Meta Knight is a very strong person, so I think this time his body was called to his heart.”

“...Hmm.”

Blade Knight said. “Meta Knight has a strong body, though.”

“...Well, that is correct. However, if anything, his heart is stronger!”

“Persuasive, if not…” Sword Knight muttered.

“At that time, Galacta Knight took a big hit. Moreover, he was combined with the red butterfly to become even more powerful.”

“Yeah, but what about it?”

“I think I’ve got it. Meta Knight’s desire to fight a strong opponent called to his body.”

“I see, then I understand.”

The Meta Knights nodded.

“Meta Knight’s enthusiasm to fight can be a bit overkill.”

“Hold your tongue. Meta Knight doesn’t like fighting. He likes to make himself stronger.

“Regardless, his desire to fight a strong enemy caused a miracle.”

“As expected from our master!”

Around the time when the peaceful tea party was held on the Halberd, Kirby’s special dinner concert was being held in the basement of the Castle Dedede.

Meta Knight was standing alone in a flower garden of Dreamland.

A pleasant breeze blew and the colorful flowers swayed.

Meta Knight picked up a yellow flower and took a deep breath. It had a refreshing smell.

“It has a nice scent. Pink was… too sweet, wasn’t it?”

Meta Knight couldn’t forget Papi’s happy voice. The whole time he was trying to stop Meta Knight from returning to the original world… At the very end, he was desperate to save Meta Knight. Without Papi, Meta Knight wouldn’t have been able to return to this world.

He wondered, what was Papi doing now? Was he fluttering around looking for someone to talk to?

At that moment, a white butterfly flew by and perched on a yellow flower. It was slowly drinking from the flowers.

Meta Knight muttered in a small voice. “If one day you go to that world, let me know.”

The butterfly stopped moving, as if it had heard Meta Knight’s words.

“I’d like to thank that talkative butterfly with light blue wings. Papi was a good guide… no, a good friend.”

The butterfly fluttered away, and began to fly from flower to flower.

Meta Knight quietly watched until the butterfly disappeared.

(Chapter 9 - Table of Contents)

(The end, thank you so much for reading and all of your support!)

[onlydreamofmysoul]

Speak Now

This.... was supposed to be short. But then it spiralled. I hope you guys like it! Characters and their world by @lumosinlove

Julian

“Re?”

Julian’s voice was quiet, but his brother heard him anyway. Remus always heard him. Sitting out on the porch under the starlight, just like they used to do when Julian was very small and Remus would let him sneak out of his room after their parents put him to bed. They would sit on the porch swing under a pile of blankets, usually with a mug of hot chocolate and just hang out. Sometimes they were quiet. Sometimes they laughed at jokes, but no matter what they were doing, Jules treasured every memory. 

It was fitting this was how he was spending the night before his wedding. 

“Yeah?” Remus half hummed, tilting his head, tearing his eyes away from the stars to his brother. 

“Were you scared? The night before your wedding?”

Remus smiled softly, cupping his mug. “I was a hell of a lot of things before my wedding. Nervous? Sure. But not scared.”

Julian nodded, the heavy knot in his chest twisting. Maybe he really was making a mistake. 

Then 

“Hi, I’m Katie.”

Julian grinned and shook her hand. “I’m Julian, but you can call me Jules if you want.”

Katie nodded, a funny little business -like movement as she stood in her fairy costume, wings poking over her shoulders. “We’re all playing downstairs, wanna come?”

Julian nodded eagerly, pulling away from Remus and his parents and rushing down to the basement. His feet halted when he reached the bottom, his eyes wider than dinner plates.

“Woah,” He breathed. “You have a rink in your house!”

Katie nodded, giggling. “Oui. Jouez-vous au hockey?”

Jules blinked, looking at her in confusion. “Oh, I uh, I don’t speak French, sorry.” He said as his face flushed a little but Katie just grabbed his hand and pulled him over to a wall of skates.

“That’s okay. Do you play hockey?”

Now this, Jules understood. 

“Yes!” He said, bouncing on his toes in anticipation, noticing all the other kids playing on the ice and realising that he might get to as well. 

Katie looked pleased as she pulled a small pair of white skates and took off her shoes. “My brothers have lots of skates, you should look and see if there’s some in your size.”

Julian went to them immediately, looking at them in awe, all of them far more elegant and expensive than any he had ever owned. He found a pair in his size and pulled them out gingerly, even though they looked well worn. 

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to borrow them?” He confirmed with Katie, even as he pulled off his shoes. Katie just nodded impatiently, having already laced up. 

“Oui, it’s okay I promise. Now come on! I wanna go skate!”

“You can go,” Jules said, rushing to tie them up, “I’ll catch up.”

Katie looked at him like he was crazy. “Don’t be silly.” She said, reaching a hand out to take his. “We can go together. Come on.”

Julian finished tying his skates, stood up and took Katie’s hand. Together, they stepped onto the ice. 

Now

“Are you scared?” Remus asked, his concerned voice cutting through Julian’s thoughts. “Because it’s not too late you know.”

“No, no it’s fine.” Julian said, hoping it sounded reassuring to Remus. It didn’t to his own ears. “Just nervous I suppose, but you said that’s normal.”

Remus tilted his head the way he did when Julian would pretend he hadn’t eaten the last chocolate bar, even with the evidence all over his face. 

“You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Julian sighed, resting his head on his brother's shoulder, hearing the heartbeat that used to rock him to sleep. 

“Yeah, yeah I know.”

Then

“Hey Katie.” Jules said, still a little shy but glad to see a friendly face in the locker room. 

“Jules!” She beamed, bouncing over in her ‘Dumais’ jersey. “Whose number did you wear today?”

Jules flushed as he lifted up his number six shirt to reveal the number twelve underneath. “Both.”

Katie nodded, impressed. “Cool. Hey wanna go get some snacks?”

Jules didn’t even respond, just told his mom where he was going and raced her down the corridor to the kitchen, running past the rows and rows of framed photographs and dodging photographers and reporters. 

“Ha! I win!” He yelled as they burst through the door to the kitchen, racing through the doorway at the same time. If they had been a little bigger, they might have gotten stuck in the frame.

“Nah ah!” Katie protested, “It was a tie.”

“My foot went in first”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Yes I do.”

“No you don’t.”

“Wanna bet?”

“Whoever wins the race back to the locker room is the actual winner.” Katie proposed and Jules nodded, satisfied. 

He climbed onto the counter to reach the high cupboards, only to discover the cabinet stocked with mugs and glasses. 

“Over here,” Katie said, giggling as she opened the fridge, scanning for something good. “Ooh, chocolate!”

Jules jumped down and went to her side. “Can we just take it?”

Katie nodded. “Oui. Plus, they’re not supposed to eat chocolate, so we’re doing them a favour by taking it away.”

Julian donned a matching smirk. “Katie, I like the way you think.”

Now

“Oh here you are!” Sirius half-whispered as he poked his head out the front door. “I’ve been looking for you two everywhere.”

Remus pulled back a corner of the blanket and patted the bench beside him. “Wanna join us?”

Sirius looked to check with Jules first, before nodding and sliding in next to Remus. Julian had long since overcome his starry-eyed obsession with Sirius-the-hockey-god but he’d never be over the love for Sirius-his-brother-in-law. Sirius who had come to all of Julian’s big games. Sirius who tended to be awake whenever Julian couldn’t sleep, so he would wordlessly take him out for midnight drives. Sirius who had later taught Julian to drive in that same car Julian accidentally crashed one icy morning. His brother in law hadn’t even gotten mad, not for a second. Julian had personally seen one of his friend’s parents red with anger after spotting a scratch in the paint, but Sirius hadn’t even blinked at the massive pole shaped dent in the hood of his car, just run to make sure Julian was alright. 

“Sirius?” Jules asked into the soft silence. Sirius just hummed in response. 

“Were you scared? When you were getting married.”

Sirius seemed to still for a moment, a gentle breeze rustling his curls as he thought. “Non.”

Remus’ chin ducked towards his chest, his eyes flitting to Sirius. “Really?”

Sirius scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, I was scared for sure, but I was scared of messing it up, or that my family would make a surprise appearance at the reception or that we’d lose the rings. But I was never scared of a life with Re.”

Remus laughed softly. “We did lose the rings.”

“Oui. But it didn’t even matter, it all worked out, ouais? So really I had nothing to worry about.”

Julian and Sirius chuckled too, all three of them remembering back. Julian had nearly forgotten about that - surprising since it had been partially his fault. His and Katie’s. They had become inseparable by then and the two of them together had gained the name ‘JK Chaos’. 

Then 

“Come on, let’s see what’s in here!” A nine year old Katie whispered to an eleven year old Jules as they crept through the country house that was being used as the staging house for Remus and Sirius' outdoor wedding. 

Katie rattled the brass door handle, but it was locked. “Do you have a key?”

Julian gave her an incredulous look. “I don’t have a key to my own room, why would I have a key for here?”

Katie shrugged, her dress swishing gently, the bluebell shade bright against her skin. “I dunno - groomsman duties?”

Julian laughed but shook his head. They walked down the corridor a few paces, stopping at the window that overlooked where the ceremony would take place. Chairs bedecked the grass, all turned to face the focal point - the beautiful ivy arch, bedecked in flowers. Everything was immaculate, untouched. Any guests staying in the country house were still getting ready and the rest had yet to arrive. Jules lifted on his toes to see a little further out the window, but a tall sturdy tree to the right blacked his view. 

He turned so quickly he nearly got whiplash, grabbing Katie’s wrist unconsciously. 

“Look! A tree!”

Katie raised her eyebrows at him. “Jules, I’m pretty sure they have trees in Wisconsin too.”

Julian shook his head, too excited to even roll his eyes. “No, look where that tree is! If the window to the locked room is open…”

Katie’s eyes lit up, her mischievous grin returning.  “We might be able to get in.” She breathed. “Jules, you genius.” She grabbed his hand and began rushing down the corridor. “Let’s go!”

“Is it open?” Julian called, a couple of branches below Katie. 

“Un moment.” She muttered and he smiled, knowing she was concentrating too much to even have listened to him, never mind switch to a language he actually understood. She paused and grabbed the silky top layer of her dress, gathering and tying it in a knot around her waist, leaving the white underskirt hanging. “Allors,” She said, sounding much more satisfied. She climbed onto the branch that extended towards the window and shuffled along it, craning her neck. 

“It’s open!”

Jules let out a whoop of victory and climbed the rest of the way, careful not to stain his suit as she slid her fingers into the small gap, prying the window open so they could both clamber in. The room was unimpressively empty. Lovey, like all the other rooms, perhaps a living room if the several couches were to be trusted. A wall of shelves boasted an impressive amount of books and everything seemed to be edged with gold. Other than that though - Julian couldn’t see any reason why the room should be barred. 

“A mystery.” Katie said as she trailed her hand along a bookshelf. Julian agreed with her as he sat down on one of the luxurious chairs, a little side table with a lamp on his left. 

“What’s this?” He voiced as he picked up the little black box that had been resting in the light streaming in from the window. Katie wandered over to peer at it as he opened it carefully to find two gold rings resting inside. 

“Oh.” Jules whispered, finally understanding. “That’s why it’s locked.”

They both picked up a ring, looking at them curiously. The metal glinted in the light and Jules angled the one in his hands to read the inscription. 

“Mon voeu.” He muttered. “What’s mon voeu?”

“How would I know what you wish for?” Katie retorted, before she read the engraving on her own. “Oh right I see. ‘My wish’.”

“Oh.” Jules repeated. “That’s really nice.”

Footsteps and voices came from down the corridor and Julian and Katie froze. 

“Did you see the cake?” 

“It’s literally all I’ve been thinking about since the tasting.”

Julian met Katie’s eyes, both of them hardly breathing as they listened carefully. Lily and James. 

“The tasting was months ago!”

“So you can guess I’m pretty excited about it.” Lily chuckled. “Do you have the key?”

Julian rushed to put the box back on the table and he and Katie half flew in their rush to get back out the window. Katie went first, Julian close on her heels as they scrambled down the tree. 

“Where did they say they left it?”

“On the side table with the lamp.”

“Oh I’ve got it, come on, let’s get back.”

Julian let out a sigh of relief while Katie looked at him in horror. 

“Jules…” She whispered as she pulled a gold ring out her pocket. “We have a problem.”

Julian felt his heart speed up as he pulled out the matching ring. They had been in too much of a rush to put them back. 

“We are gonna get in so much trouble.”

Now

“You were so scared.” Remus laughed, tears forming in his eyes, matching ones already wetting Julian’s cheeks as he lost himself in the memory. It was true - to this day, Julian remembered the way their hands trembled and they stuttered through the explanations, but in the end, no one had cared. It became a funny story to tell at the reception. 

“You laugh, but we dropped them in the grass on the way to bring them back and it took us so long to find them again, we were seriously trying to come up with something to replace them with.”

They burst into a new round of laughter, Hope coming outside at the racket. 

“Boys!” She scolded as if they were all little kids. “You should be in bed - it’s a big day tomorrow.” Despite her commanding tone, her eyes were soft. Time was a fickle friend to all but Hope Lupin, who looked just as lovely today as she did twenty years ago. And perhaps even twenty years before that. 

“We’ll be in soon.” Sirius promised and she nodded satisfied, vanishing indoors again.

“Suck-up.” Julian teased, elbowing Sirius. “Always wants to be the favourite.”

“I think he is the favourite.” Remus grumbled. “You’re the youngest Jules, so you’ve got that going for you. I, however, have been replaced.”

Sirius chuckled, a low sound from his chest and curled an arm around Remus. “You can be my favourite.”

“You can’t cook like she does.” Remus lamented dramatically, but grinned to show he wasn’t serious before kissing Sirius’ cheek. 

“We probably should get to bed though. Especially you Jules, you need all that beauty sleep you can get.”

“Hey!”

Then 

Hey Jules! 

You got a phone! 

Yup! JK Chaos can finally go viral! 

Thirteen year old Julian chuckled as he sat in the passenger seat of the car on the way to practice. 

Sirius says hi. Katie texted and Julian sent a picture of him waving in response before tucking his phone into his bag and climbing out of the car. 

“Thanks mom!” He half yelled as he closed the door and ran inside to the rink, waving at his friends. 

“Hi Julian.”

Julian turned to see one of the members of the girls team - Anna. They were the same age group and the two teams often had to share the ice if the rink was busy. 

“Oh hey Anna, how’re you?”

She grinned, her light hair tumbling around her face until she scraped it back into a ponytail as she chatted to him. Julian was never sure how girls managed to tie their hair back so quickly with so little effort but it was pretty cool. He wondered if maybe he should learn so he could do Katie’s sometime.

“I’m good! I’d better run though, I’m late for practice.” 

Jules nodded and with that, Anna was gone. He blinked and continued his way to his own locker where many of his own team were already gathered. 

“Hey guys!” He grinned, and just like that, his head was back in the game. 

Now

Julian stared up at the ceiling of his childhood bedroom. The glow in the dark stars were still there, although their glow was very faint now. Not that Julian needed their light to guide him, he had looked at those stars all his life, he could map them out better than a sailor. 

He was getting married tomorrow. 

And so, he did as he so very often did. He texted Katie. 

Then 

The Christmas party was loud and busy, people seemingly in every nook and cranny in the house. Julian looked around for Katie, he had been here for at least an hour but he had only seen glimpses of the other girl and she had always been busy, whether it was helping Celeste put out food or chatting to others and once even putting out a minor fire she had certainly not caused by tipping over a candle  but so far, she hadn’t been able to talk to Julian. 

Julian finally caught her eye and they managed to slip away going out to the garden, past the pool and down to the swing hidden by a great big tree where they had always plotted and planned. 

“We need a code word.” Katie said by way of greeting. “So we can say it and the other knows we need to talk, just us.”

Julian agreed. He couldn’t believe it had taken this long to think of something like that. At fifteen, he and Katie had been best friends for at least six years now. 

“What should our code word be?”

Katie shrugged, sitting on the swing and rocking back and forth gently. “Pancakes?”

Julian laughed, but he nodded. “Yeah that works.”

Katie grinned, but her face quickly became more serious. 

“Hey Jules?” She asked, her voice softer than he had heard it in a long time. 

“Yeah?” His tone matched hers, but he didn’t know why. He hadn’t planned it. 

“Have you ever kissed anyone?”

Julian froze, his heart stuttering. In the moonlight, Katie’s hair glowed, silver catching on the dark strands braided back, her jeans and jumper not suitable for the weather, nor were Julian’s own but they hadn't planned on coming out here for long. “No.” He whispered. 

Katie nodded. “Yeah, me neither.”

She stood up, shivering a little. “Come on, we should get back inside.”

Julian could only blink, but made to follow her. “Yeah okay.” He followed, taking a few quick steps to catch up with her when Katie turned quickly and they collided. 

Katie reached out and steadied herself with Julian’s shoulder before surging forward and pressing their lips together. Julian stayed frozen where he was, her lips warm against the cold night. 

Katie pulled away and stepped back, nodding to herself. “I just wanted to know what it’d be like.” She explained and then launched into a description of what new drills her hockey team were learning. It was funny, everything was different, but nothing had changed. 

Julian thought about the things they were learning in science, all the calculations. How there always needed to be a constant. 

He thought maybe Katie was his constant. 

Now

You up? 

Is this a booty call? Cause I gotta say, it seems like inappropriate timing.

Julian laughed, then covered his mouth, hoping he hadn’t woken anyone. Katie’s quick wit had never once failed to amaze him. 

Darn, there goes my plans 

Why are you still up?

I just can’t sleep

So you’re texting me?

Who else?

Then 

Julian got his first girlfriend at seventeen. 

Anna was lovely and bright and sweet. They had been dating for around six months already when she finally met Katie, the Dumais girl arriving in Wisconsin for a weekend visit. 

Julian didn’t know why he had been nervous - they both got on really well. He had had no indicators to suggest otherwise and yet the entire week leading to their meeting, his head had been full of anxious ‘what ifs’. Not to mention the knot in his chest. 

But there was no reason to be nervous… right? He just felt like this because Katie was his very best friend. He wanted them to get along. Yeah, that was it. 

“I like her.” Katie commented as Anna left the Lupin house. 

“Yeah, me too.” Julian said automatically, laughing when Katie elbowed his side. 

“Well duh. That’s why you asked her out.”

Julian shrugged as they walked back inside waving to his dad who was on the phone in the kitchen. “Actually it was the other way around.”

Katie barked a laugh as she threw herself on Julian’s bed, tucking her arms behind her head, lounging as if she owned the place. “Why am I not surprised?”

“I’m not sure if I should be insulted or not.” Julian said as he lay down next to her, staring up at his stars. 

Katie was the one to shrug this time, shifting with the movement. “Neither. It’s just an observation I suppose.”

“And what would that observation be exactly?”

Katie tilted her head to look at him. “You’re careful. Not with other stuff, mon dieu, we all know you’re a reckless idiot on the ice but with this kind of stuff. You’re gentle I guess.”

Julian smiled, that warm rush of feeling known to your core washing over him. “And you’re the exact opposite.”

Katie grinned, some of her dark curls coming loose. “But of course! JK Chaos wouldn’t be balanced if I wasn’t.”

Julian smiled, holding out his hand and they performed their super secret, super complicated, super cool handshake. Katie had named it when she was ten and it had stuck. 

“Well we need balance.” Julian agreed and Katie nodded, blue eyes meeting his for a moment before she turned away, biting her lip. 

“Ouais.”

Now 

Julian looked at the words on the screen, his heart clenching. 

So you’re texting me?

Who else?

Your soon to be wife for one

Julian didn’t know what to do. He felt like Katie was the only one who could help him figure this out, but Katie was the last person he should ask. 

Ha ha. He said, because even that was better than the turmoil inside him. Guess I’m just nervous. 

Why?

Why am I nervous? Cause I’m getting married. I know I call you Katie Kat but I sure hope that brain isn’t made of chocolate.

We should get you up on a stage. Katie responded and Julian snorted,  practically hearing her sarcasm even as he lay alone. 

But what do you have to be worried about?

Um.., How about the terrifying concept of making the wrong decision?

Katie was quiet for a long time. Julian thought maybe she had fallen asleep when a reply finally came through. 

Do you think you’re making the wrong choice?

Julian paused. Was he?

I don’t think so?

Do you love her?

Yes. Julian wrote back, even as something thundered in his chest. 

Well then, you have your answer I guess. Katie responded.  I’d better get to sleep. 

 Jules held his phone close to his chest. 

Yeah, me too. Night Katie Kat

Then 

“Do you love her?” Katie asked out of nowhere as they passed the puck back and forth in her basement. 

“We’ve been dating for two years.” Julian replied, sending the puck back to her harder than he meant. From her raised eyebrows he knew she had noticed, but she didn’t comment. 

“That’s not what I asked.”

Julian shrugged, taking the puck and dragging it around the goal. 

“I guess? How do you ever really know you’re in love.”

Katie raised her chin, blue meeting brown as their eyes focused on each other. Julian could have sworn she was staring at his soul. 

“I suppose it’s something you just know.” Katie said. “My maman and papa are in love. And Re and Sirius. Leo, Logan and Finn. Your parents. They all seem to know pretty well.”

“Yeah.” Julian whispered, his mind reeling. Remus and Sirius were his role models for just about everything, including the love he wanted to have. Was that what he shared with Anna? How had they known? How would Julian know?

Now

Then Jules crept into Remus’ room once more. 

“Re?” He whispered into the dark. The light from the hall dimly lit the room and Remus stirred, Sirius sleeping soundly next to him.

“Jules?” Remus whispered, even as he threw back the covers to climb out of bed, tiptoeing so he wouldn’t wake Sirius and following Julian back to his room. “Hey Jules, what’s up?”

Remus climbed onto the bed with him, just like he used to do when Julian was small and had a nightmare. 

“How do I know for sure?”

Remus didn’t have to ask what he meant. “I guess you never do. You just have to trust that you love someone and they return that same love back to you.”

But what wasn’t quite what Julian meant. He didn’t doubt that Anna loved him. He was just never sure if he loved her the same. 

He thought he must. Julian was twenty six years old, they’d been dating for nearly ten years. Although sometimes… just sometimes Julian thought that was maybe why he had proposed. Because that’s what everyone expected from them, particularly as they had been together for so long. It was the logical next step. 

“Right, yeah.” Julian muttered. “That makes sense I guess.”

Remus held out his arm and Julian hugged him tight. 

“I can hear you mind whirring.” Remus murmured, but Julian just tucked his face into his brother's chest. “It’s not too late Jules.”

Tears burned Julian’s eyes but he refused to let them fall. It was too late, it was all too late. He was on the ice and he could see the collision coming but there was nothing he could do to stop it. 

A song he had heard a long time ago rang through Julian’s head, one line playing over and over again on loop. 

And I asked my friend, what’s a fella to do? Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue.

So Julian held his big brother close, and fell asleep. 

Katie

Now

“I still can’t believe it.” Marc laughed as they ate breakfast at the hotel, his plate piled with food from the buffet. “Little Julian getting married.”

“Yeah.” Katie agreed, taking a big drink from her coffee. “Neither can I.”

Marc continued eating, oblivious to the storm raging inside Katie’s heart. “Why aren’t you best man?”

Katie raised an eyebrow. “Well for one, I’m not a man.”

Marc rolled his eyes, pausing to take a sip of orange juice before shovelling another forkful into his mouth. “Y’know wha- I mean.”

Katie covered her face with her hands. “Okay ew, first of all don’t talk with your mouth full. You’re not five. And second of all, Remus is his best man.”

Marc tilted his head, accepting the answer and Katie could have sighed in relief. She was already tense enough, two people had already come up to her for a picture and at least three had ‘discreetly’ photographed her as she just tried to have her breakfast. She hadn’t even showered yet so she was not looking forward to what the media would come up with later. 

Then 

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Katie grumbled to Adele as her sister finished pinning her hair. “Why am I doing this again?”

Adele didn’t miss a beat. “Because prom is fun, and even if it’s not, hanging out with your best friend in fancy clothes is always funny.”

Katie couldn’t argue with that. Sighing, she stood up and turned to Adele, her floor length gown comically out of place in her room cluttered with hockey sticks and signed pucks, helmets and polaroid's of her with her team. 

“How do I look?”

Adele beamed and kissed her cheek, being careful not to smudge Katie’s makeup. “Comme un ange.”

Katie rolled her eyes but smiled and began to leave her bedroom, hearing the doorbell ring. 

“Wait, shit I can’t go down now!” She said in a mild panic. “Jules is here, if I go now it’ll be like some dumb movie when the girl comes down the stairs as the guy just stares at her. It’s weird and awkward.”

Adele bit her lip as if she was trying to suppress a smile. “Okay, I’ll go and distract them and you can sneak down, ouais?”

Katie nodded gratefully. “Ouais. Merci.”

Katie waited in the upstairs corridor, hearing Adele lead her family into the kitchen. When the voices had dimmed a little, she gathered her skirts, her sneakers peeking out at her as she crept down the stairs. 

“Oh, wow.”

Katie whipped around to see Julian walking out from the bathroom, eyes wider than Katie had ever seen them. 

“I thought you were in the kitchen.” Katie groaned as she let her dress drop inelegantly around her legs once more. She looked him over, eyeing his blue suit with a careful eye. “You don’t look half bad.”

Julian laughed and took a step closer, holding his hand over his heart dramatically. “Wow Katie Kat, you sure know how to flatter a man.”

Katie raised a single eyebrow, a power play of there ever was one. “I mean, you’ve said nothing about how I look so really I think I have the upper hand here.”

Julian quirked his signature goofy smile before finally pulling Katie in for a hug. “You look incredible.”

Now

“Katie, ma cheri, es-tu prêt?”

Katie looked up from where she was rooting through her suitcase to see her mom, stunningly beautiful as always in a deep red dress. 

“I’m ready.” She cleared her throat, standing up straight. “You look amazing.”

Celeste waved her off with a flick of her wrist. “Oh non, look at you.”

Katie blushed, her forest green dress fluttering around her. “Merci.”

Celeste took a step forward, cupping Katie’s face in her hands. “You love him.”

Katie didn’t even have it in her to be surprised. Of course her mom knew. She felt tears well up in her eyes but tried her best not to let them fall - it had taken her long enough to do her makeup, she really didn’t want to have to do it again. 

“Oui.”

“Does he know?”

Katie shook her head sadly. “Of course not, he loves someone else.”

Celeste carefully wiped away the stray tear that had danced down Katie’s cheek. “Are you sure?”

Then 

“I think I have literally never seen it rain so hard.” Julian commented as the two of them stared out the car windshield as the rain poured around them. They faced the hotel where the dance was being held, but even stepping out of the car would have them soaked instantly. 

“See, this was a sign that I wasn’t supposed to come.” Katie commented, her tone dry. Julian side eyed her, not saying anything for a minute before he turned up the car radio. 

“I have an idea.” He said, opening the door and stepping out into the car park in the lashing rain. He ran to Katie’s side and opened the door, holding out his hand. 

“Come on! Come dance in the rain.”

If she had been Adele, she might have refused or protested. She might have even taken off her dress to protect it. 

But she was not Adele. 

So Katie took Julian’s hand, laughing at his curls, already flattened against his forehead and shut the door behind her, watching splotches of water darken her dress until she was fully saturated, tilting her head back into the sky. 

She opened her mouth, sticking out her tongue to catch the raindrops, Jules giggling as he followed suit, the two of them looking absolutely ridiculous and getting very strange looks from passer byers who had made use of the wonderful invention that was the umbrella, but they didn’t care. 

Katie connected her phone to the car speakers and pressed play to a song, grabbing both of Julian’s hands and spinning them in a fast circle, round and round until they fell together, laughing as hands slid over slippery skin and hair stuck to them better than any tattoo. 

And I don't know how it gets better than this

You take my hand and drag me head first

Fearless

And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress

Fearless

Now

Katie couldn’t help but think about that day lying on Julian’s bed. She had said he was careful and she was not. She was supposed to be his counterbalance. 

Katie had been too careful, she hadn’t been doing her job. 

“It’s not too late.” Her mom had whispered. 

Speak now or forever hold your peace. 

Heart thundering, Katie picked up her phone. Six hours until Julian’s wedding she pressed his contact and texted him one word. 

Pancakes.

Then 

Was it just Katie or did Julian seem nervous? Julian was never nervous with her. Maybe it was just the connection of the phone call, she should move to a place where her signal was stronger-

“Katie, I um.. I’m gonna ask Anna to marry me.”

Katie’s eyes snapped to his face. “Quoi?”

Julian swallowed, and Katie watched from miles away as he pulled out a ring. 

“Yeah, I figured it was time.”

“Romantic.” Katie teased as she tried to quell the feeling that she was going to throw up. This was not how it was supposed to go. It had taken her a long time to figure out her feelings for Julian, but at twenty four she had finally worked it out. And he was going to marry someone else. 

Now

“Hey Katie Kat.”

Katie smiled weakly, shoving her hands in her coat pocket to hide the trembling. She felt overdressed in her outfit for the wedding when Julian was still in jeans but that couldn’t be helped. Katie sat next to Jules on the Lupins’ porch swing, glad she was wearing makeup because maybe it would help hide her blush. 

“The weather’s really nice today, huh?” Jules prompted, but Katie just smiled, steeling herself. She couldn’t idly talk about the weather, she would lose her nerve. So she threw back her shoulders, raised her chin and-

“Julian, I love you.”

Julian frowned, taking her hand. “I know, I love you too Katie, what-”

Katie shook her head. “No, Jules, listen. I’m in love with you.”

Julian froze and Katie’s heart beat over a hundred times a minute. Or maybe it had stopped completely. Either way it certainly wasn’t doing what it should be and Katie’s hands shook and she bit her tongue to stop herself from blurting out more when Julian obviously needed to process things.

Julian stood up abrupt, taking his keys out of his pocket. “I have to go.” He said and took off, getting into his car and driving away. Katie sat frozen where she was, alone once more, lost in the place where she had always felt found. Julian drove away, the world spun around and Katie stayed right where she was. 

Then 

Katie opened the door to Sirius and Remus’ house with her key - she had been given one for when Julian had come to stay, so she could come and go as she pleased. 

“Salut, it’s me!” She called into the empty hallway as she dropped her bag and ventured in a little further. Sirius was in the kitchen pouring a cup of coffee and he just smiled at her as he pulled out another mug. 

“Hey Katie, you here to get into some more JK Chaos?”

Katie chuckled and accepted the coffee with thanks, cupping it with both hands and holding it close to her face. “What else would I do?”

Sirius just smiled as Julian came into the room, wordlessly greeting Katie with their super secret, super complicated, super cool handshake.

“See you later!” Julian said to Sirius and Katie waved goodbye before they went out the door, getting into the car and driving away.

“What’re we doing today?” Katie asked as she drove. Julian shrugged in the passenger seat. 

“I don’t care, as long as I’m with you.”

Now

Someone was knocking on her hotel room. 

Katie had made her way back, she hadn’t even said goodbye to the Lupins - she didn’t think she could without crying. Instead she went home alone and straight to her room, knowing she couldn’t miss the wedding no matter how much she may want to. If she didn’t she knew that one day, she’d look back and wish she were in the pictures. Wish she was there for her best friend. So she was going to go and smile and be happy because she loved Jules and she could do this for him. 

There was another knock on the door and Katie rolled her eyes. “I’m coming, jeez calm down.” She muttered, the door handle cold on her skin as she opened the door. 

Julian was waiting on the other side. 

“I called off the wedding.”

If Katie had been holding anything, she would have dropped it. As it was, she took a step backwards, blinking. “What?”

“I called off the wedding.” Julian repeated, running his fingers through already very mussed hair. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’m a blind idiot, but I love you.”

Katie was beginning to wonder if any of this was real when Marc came up behind Jules, completely oblivious. 

“Hey Katie, did you get that text saying the wedding’s off? Weird, what’s that abou- Oh hey Jules.”

Katie turned to her brother. 

“Marc, I love you, but if you don’t leave right now I might have to kill you in your sleep tonight.”

“So that’s why the wedding’s off.” Marc commented before backing away, no doubt rushing off to tell everyone what he had seen. 

“Come in before anyone else sees.” Katie said as she took Julian’s hand, pulling him in and shutting the door. 

Julian’s hands were shaking. “Am I too late?” He whispered. “Please tell me I’m not too late.”

Katie smiled as she brushed a stray curl out of his eyes. “You’re right on time.”

And then she kissed him. 

Once upon a time, there had been a girl who kissed a boy in her back garden at midnight. She had been young and inexperienced but even then, she knew the kiss had been magical. 

Today, there was a girl who kissed a boy in a hotel room on what should have been his wedding day. She was still young, but much more experienced so she could now say with much more confidence that if their first kiss had been magical, this one was earth shattering. 

“I love you.” Julian whispered again and again between deep kisses that made Katie feel like her soul was bared. 

“Took you long enough.” Katie grumbled, but kissed him again, twining her fingers through his hair like she always dreamed she would. “I love you too.”

Soon

Katie blushed as she sat in a room, surrounded by both their families. Her dad kissed her on the cheek before handing her a drink and proposing a toast. 

“To JK Chaos,” Dumo said, his knowing smile nearly splitting his face. “For finally getting their shit together.”

Everyone cheered while Katie just laughed, lifting her hand to show off the engagement ring and tilting her head a little to give Julian a chaste kiss. He grinned down at her, hand resting delicately on her waist. 

He surveyed the crowded room for a moment, before ducking down a little to whisper in her ear; “Pancakes?”

Katie was pretty sure her eyes sparkled as she winked at him. “I’ll meet you outside in ten.”

The End.

[thedevilsdom]

should’ve behaved

Mammon’s usually such a good boy! It’s a shame that he’s gotta make a mistake at some point or another

A request for MC/Mammon with vibrators, punishment, overstim, and aftercare. Technically Male MC but it doesn’t really come up

~1.9k words

Mammon had been a bad boy.

He usually does his best to be your good boy, wanting nothing more than to please you and earn your rewards and praise, but you’d just been edging him for so long! What else was he supposed to do? His hands had zipped down from where he kept them behind his back to his dick so he could finish himself off, and the very second his orgasmic high left him, he felt the dread set in instead.

His eyes are wide as he looks down between his cum covered fingers and up at you. You’ve got a stern look on your face that lets him know what’s in store for him and he shivers in anticipation and fear.

“Hm.” You cross your arms and he whimpers. He knows that you’d never be unnecessarily cruel to him, you’d never hurt him to the point where he’d be questioning if you still love him, but he’s well aware that there’s going to be at least some punishment.

“-M sorry,” He shrinks under your gaze.

“I know you are, I know,” You pet his hair. “Lay down on the floor, on your tummy.”

There’s a thud as he drops down on his knees and immediately positions himself on the tiled floor just as you want him. You kneel down and position him, moving his body until he’s laid half on his side and half on his front, with one leg bent to keep him like that. His still hard cock is resting on the smooth floor, drooling precum. You leave for a second to grab what you’ll need, speaking as you come back.

“Tell me everything you did wrong, pup.”

“I- ah- I moved my hands from where they were supposed to be,” He says. With that you slide a cock ring down his length. “I touched myself without your permission.” You put a pair of nipple clamps on him, relishing his little yelp. “And I c-came without your permission.” With that final confession, you spread his ass cheeks and push a lubed up vibrator into his hole.

“Nice and honest, puppy.” You give him a little spank and you slowly stroke down his back. “Just for that I won’t be too rough. Okay?”

“Yes, Master.” His heated body is trembling. If he had a tail it’d be between his legs.

“Good.” The vibe in his ass gets powered on first, then the vibrating ring around his cock, then you sit cross legged in front of him so you can reach forward to the thin chain that connects the nipple clamps. His watery eyes can’t help but look between your legs as you sit, and he’s grateful that this display is having at least some effect on you.

The vibrations start out weak, but in just a couple seconds you ramp them up and he’s suddenly very aware of how oversensitive he still is from having just cum earlier. His eyes go wide and he yelps, trying to squirm away, but you keep holding the clamps’ chain, keeping him where he is. As he writhes, his slick cock slides against the tiles, the cool pressure only feeling overwhelming on his hot skin, and the vibrator in his ass keeps brushing against his prostate.

“Mas-ah!” Tears already start to brim in his eyes. He can’t stop his body from trying to move away from the sensation, but it only makes you tug on the nipple clamps and his cock move against the tiles. “Oh fuck fuck fuck!”

“What, pup? Don’t like it?” You give the clamps another harsh tug. “You shouldn’t have been naughty. You knew what you were doing was wrong and you still did it. This is your punishment, so take it.” As mean and cold as your words are, you know he’s got the safeword, and you would stop the instant it’s said. Yet, he doesn’t say it, so you continue.

“It’s so much,” He squeaks, interrupted by whines and whimpers. “Ple-please, need- need you-“ His head feels like it’s floating off his body. He doesn’t care that your touch would feel like molten lava on his skin, he needs you to touch him, pet him, hold him, anything.

It’s been only about half a minute since you started, but Mammon’s a mess. There’s drool where he’s got his face pressed to the floor, his poor, abused cock is deeply flushed and throbbing, his hands form fists behind his back. You feel sorry for him.

“Cum again and you can be done.”

He sobs against the ground and weakly thrusts his hips. The feeling against his sensitive skin is almost too much, but he knows that he needs to push himself over the edge for this torture to end.

“Cum, gonna- gonna, ‘m cumming! Nnngh!” With a low whine, his orgasm washes over him and he shudders, cock giving pitiful little drops of white against the dark tiles. Immediately you go and turn the vibes off, then gently remove the clamps from his sore chest. You let him rest like that for a moment, panting and warm on the floor, your hand gently placed on his bicep to ground him. Once you think he’s ready, you slowly, carefully, take the vibes off of him and set them aside, ignoring his whining complaint at the oversensitivity.

He looks like a mess. Drool on his cheek, the beginnings of tears in his eyes, a shine of sweat across his body. You feel a sick sense of pride inside you, knowing that you made him be this way.

“Oh, my little pet, come here.” You open your arms and he eagerly- though shakily and slowly- clambers his way into your lap. He fits himself against you as best he can. One of your hands comes up to rest on the back of his head, cradling it against your shoulder, while the other holds him across the back. “You did so good for me, you’re always so good for me.”

He tilts his head, turning his face to your neck, and shifts into his demon form. You begin to preen and care for him wings, feeling him shiver as he comes back to his body.

“Come take a bath.” You say. Your voice is soft, and it’s taken on more notes of care and compassion than you’d had in the scene, but you keep just enough sternness that it still registers as an order from his dominant. You’re not looking to give him whiplash from jumping out of a scene too soon. He nods, mindful of his horns as he pulls back from you, taking your hand as you walk him over to the bathroom connected to the room. You plug the tub and get the water running.

“I’ll be right back, I’m going to go get some stuff for this.”

You’re fleet footed as you move back to the room and grab the things you need, heading back with them in your arms. A pack of cookies, a bottle of water, and some bubble bath soap. You come back to find Mammon with his hands in the warm water filling up the tub as his body is wracked with shivers.

“Come on, let’s get you in there.” You feel a little bad for taking your eyes off of him long enough for him to get chilly, but you know that he’s fine. You help him into the bath and he immediately sighs at the warmth, relaxing into it until just the top half of his face is above the water. He looked at you with puppy dog eyes, requesting something despite not wanting to move his lips out from under the warm water to actually ask. Though, you know exactly what he wants.

You remove the remainder of your clothing and slip into the tub, situating yourself behind him. He immediately leans back into your warm chest, a low, demonic trill resonating from him like a purr. You gently splash water across the parts of his body that aren’t under it and you pour the bubble soap into the bath, allowing it to foam. Gently, caringly, you clean his body. You hadn’t done any impact play tonight, so there are no wounds to take care of, but you still check him over for any injuries.

“Anything hurt?” You say, hands massaging down his body.

“Just a little sore, ‘s all. Usual stuff.” He was hesitant to move up enough out of the water to speak, but he knew that you wanted an answer. Almost immediately after, he sinks back down into the comforting warmth.

“Good, let me know if anything feels off.” You begin to wash his hair. You move delicately as you wash his hair and pay careful attention to his wings and horns, slowly coaxing him out of the scene until you’re both on equal ground. Though, you still turn him down when he wants to return the favor of being washed, citing that he should just relax after such a scene.

“It makes me happy to take care of  you, Mams.” You say with a smile as you work some shampoo into your own hair. You don’t spend nearly as much time cleaning yourself as you did cleaning him, just simply doing your usual shower routine. He waits idly by, eyeing you as you wash yourself. His wings dip passively into the water, casually swishing about in the foam.

“What are you looking so hard at?” You giggle. His eyes track the bubbles that cascade down your body as you wash the shampoo out of your hair. Mammon instantly huffs and pouts, stuttering out a few syllables as he tries to think of a response.

“Can a demon not keep an eye on his treasure?” He says, resolute in believing that that was somehow a correct and convincing answer.

“I don’t mind you watching, baby, you don’t have to be embarrassed.” Reaching out, you take one of his hands in your own and place it at the side of your waist, physically giving him permission to touch and hold you. You finish cleaning yourself up, noting that- while he’d moved off of you so that you could wash up your own body- Mammon has been scooting closer and closer to you the whole time. You rinse the both of you off, then get out of the bath and unplug the drain. You towel dry Mammon off first, laughing at the way he bats his wings to get the water off of them, before moving to dry yourself off next.

Next comes the pajamas. After finding out a while ago that Mammon usually just slept in an old shirt and boxer briefs, you’d gotten him some actual pajamas to wear. You hand them over to him. They’re the softest, comfiest set of pajamas you could find, and they’re extra comforting after a scene. He puts them on himself and waits for you to get dressed before following you out into the bedroom once again.

He’s in bed the first chance he gets, slipping under the covers and waiting for you, looking up at you with those puppy dog eyes. Naturally, you relent and get in with him, allowing him to pull you close.

“Was that all good, Mams?” You ask as you wrap your arms around him.

“I can’t think of any complaints.” His words are already slurring with the pull of sleep.

“We can talk in the morning.” You pet his hair, “Good night, baby.” He nuzzles into you, nearly hiding his whole face against you. You can feel his dopey smile against your skin.

“G’night, MC.”

Want to request something? Send a request to my inbox, or support me on kofi!

[mxvladdy]

Forgotten Affections: Mammon

Here is Part Two of @marymaryroo 's request!

This one used more of my True forms ideas so if you want some more contexts here is Mammon's Link

Hope you like!

Magic is a beautiful and powerful thing. It permeates the Devildom like an eternal fog. For the residents, it is as common as breathing. From the strongest of their kind down to the lowest inhabitants, it is integral to their culture and daily life. Mistakes and accidents happen daily with young and old alike learning or experimenting. Magical rebounds and mishaps mean very little to them, especially the brothers. From the Celestial Realms down, they have seen it all.

Sometimes they forget that to you, magic can be a volatile and dangerous.

Part Two of Three: Mammon

TW: Gore and slight body horror

His plans are not stupid. No matter what his brothers thought or said. He was always calculating, always thinking and scheming. Sometimes his plans were fast and spontaneous, some do get the better of him. But risks were always a part of the games he plays. The hazards are just as an addictive high as the rewards he strove for. Mammon knew his plans could go sideways, but he never cared. When he failed he just would try again. Variables changed on a dime and he knew how to handle that. Life moves fast but he always moves faster. Until he couldn’t.

The plan this time was foolproof. Everything had been in place, or so he thought. He ran a tight ship with his informants and an even tighter ship with his court. He anticipated everything. He just can never predict you.

You weren’t supposed to be here. Why were you here! You should have been at school!

Of course, the witches saw you as a threat. They thought he was trying to underhand them once again. They weren’t wrong obviously. But he would never put you in harm's way to get what he wanted. Seeing you here startles him, startles all of them. While the shock of your face showing up where it didn’t belong slows his reaction time, it increases the witches. Their spells move with blinding speed, out-pacing him by mere seconds as he tries to get to you. The spells hit you with a wet crunch, flinging you across the room. He watches in horror as your body flops like a marionette cut from it’s strings. He catches you scooping you up to his chest before hitting the concert hard. He skids along the cold warehouse floor hiss when his heat cracks hard on the metal of a stack of crates.

It hurt, but he couldn’t give less of a damn. He didn’t give a shit about the black blood trickling from his brow or the crack in his beloved glasses. He had one thing on his mind, you. You were still and loose in his arms. He saw no blood, but something wasn’t right. His pact is alight with pain, flaring and itching as he panics something wasn’t right with his master and his pact couldn’t locate it.

The next few moments in time freeze around him as he moves faster than he ever has in his life. The city and realm are brief flashes in his mind's eyes as he blinks, he just had to keep you safe. He takes you to the only place he knows you will be safe. It was the safest place in the kingdom for him, and it would be for you too.

The cave is cold. An eternal shadow coats every part of the large cavern, it had been a while since he had visited his hoard. His greatest treasure now sleeps in his bedroom and shines more brightly than even his most precious stones. Yet, now you were as cold as the jewels he once coveted. He doesn’t remember shedding his human skin but he doesn’t care using his many mismatched and uneven wigs to move you to his nest.

He tucks you into the silks and wool sheets lining his bed. Bending closer he nuzzles your arm. His many broken and scarred beaks picked up on the fetid odor of tainted magic seeping from your pores. He can’t place all the damage done to you but it is more than he knew what to do with. He was no practiced healer like Asmodeus or learned in medicine like Satan. No, he didn’t have that, but he was yours, and you were his to protect. So he does what he can through his pact, leeching some of the poison from your body into his. Getting comfortable beside you he shuffles you closer into the remaining soft down feathers on his belly. This close he can feel your frail heartbeat.

The hours move on and you still do not stir. He hates himself for this. How could he be so useless? You trust him, he was your first man he was supposed to be better than this. In this moment Mammon regrets every class he ever ditched and the class he slept through in the Celestial realms. He was never good with magic but perhaps if he had just paid attention he might have been able to help you better right now. Whatever toxins the combination of spells had embedded you rolled in his stomachs mixing with his guilt. He takes it all powering through so you could rest.

You stir sometime in the wee hours of the morning, of what day he doesn’t know and he doesn’t care. His many eyes never leave you as you wake. “Mammon?” You slur, mind still groggy with sleep and the residual effects of whatever it was that hit you. He clicks his many beaks asynchronously in delight, the chatter of bone on bone is raucous.

Beside himself, he turns back to his human form in a dizzying blur of feathers and gold light. “Babe!” He snatches you up kissing every bit of your skin he can find. “I am so sorry. I fucked up-you weren’t supposed to be there. How in the hells did you find me?” He pulls back to make eye contact with you. Your eyes are wide with shock. “What’s the matter? Why are ya lookin’ at me like that?”

You looked confused, eyes darting around you as you clutch the furs and blankets closer to your bare chest. “Mammon. What...what’s going on? Where am I?” You glance down at yourself seeing how battered and bruised you were. You look at him, the confusion now replaced with unadulterated terror. “Mammon...what did you do?”

“Ti?” He shakes his head momentarily, losing his grip on your shared tongue. “Babe-I don’t understand.” He tries to touch you. You push away, scrambling back and tumbling from his nest. Mammon hears your heart rate pick up, hammering like a helpless beast when it knows it's cornered. But where was the threat? You were safe here, tucked away with him. He feels numb, disbelief locking his jaw and tightening his shoulders.

You couldn’t think he was the threat...right?

“C-come on,” He blinks back tears. “This ain’t funny. Don’t you remember me?” He reaches out for you beckoning for you to come back to his nest. There is an odd and sharp twinge in his pact and he hisses. You mark weights him down, locking him in place from coming any closer to your trembling form. You were stopping him from comforting you. You were scared of him.

“Mammon.” You shudder holding the blankets close and back away till your back hit the rough stone wall. “You’re scaring me.”

“An’ your scaring me! You promised not to play cruel jokes on me.” His head bobbles inhumanely, sapphire and gold eyes glowing in the low moon light.

He smells the sour tang of sweat blooming on your skin, his sense locking on the bob of your throat. He mimics the dry clicking of it as you try to swallow enough spit to speak. “When did I do that?” You croak. He rears his head back. The words strike him hard. You curl away from his screeching arms raised for a blow that he would never do.

“Date? You, us!” He barks, voice coming sharper and shriller in desperation. “Our late night drives? Us...movie nights alone at the theater. Just last night?” He implores searching your gaze for something. Anything!

You shake your head clutching your brow. “I’m sorry, I don’t...” His caw of rage rattles his chest. His many heads emerge again to echo his cries. He shakes them in disbelief. “Mammon! Listen to me, please! Just-just take us home-”

“No!” You flinch back, spit coating your upraised arms. “You are my human!” Mammon’s eyes flash in warning. If you didn’t remember him then the others could try to take you away from him. He would never let you go. Your scream of terror is swept up in a flurry of wings and plumage as he disappears back into the night.

He doesn’t return home to the House. He takes flight and heads east, the winds and forest coming alive with the sounds of his legion taking to the sky with him. Search. Find. He orders images of the coven and what they did to you flashes in his mind to his murder. Those mages did this, and they would fix this. He travels on the wind ignoring the searing pain of your mark. You are calling him to return, ordering him to. The pain only fuels his desire to hunt.

He will have to be fast, for your sake. While his cave had plenty of fresh water and food for you he knew you. You were that spark in the night, that shock to the system that kept him going. You help him keep his head up high. You would try to get down from his nest, or try the other brothers before long.

His council found the witches one by one, picking off the weaker members while leaving the elder witches to him. He barrels through the punishment of breaking a pacts to extract whatever he could from them before his talons find their throats. The kills got more and more savage as each hunt turns up nothing.

On the fifth day of his hunting, Lucifer finds him. His world turns into a blur of black mist and boney fingers as his brother throws him violently from the gurgling body of his last victim. Empty eye sockets bore into Mammon's dazed faces. “Where…” Lucifer opens his broken maw, jaw creaking as his voice gurgles out. Mammon ignores him screeching and clawing at the hand pinning him to the floor. The fingers begin to close slowly, choking off his air until he is forced to revert to his other form, dark chest gasping for air. “Wheerrree…” Black smoke fills his lungs, the cold radiating off of Lucifer’s exposed bone burns his skin.

Mammon hisses back, throwing caution to the wind and landing a quick kick to his brother’s deteriorating nasal bone. “Mine!” He groans, head filling with static. “They are mine...even if they don’t remember me.” The fingers around his throat loosen before pulling back. Mammon coughs holding his throat as he struggles to his knees. “You can’t have them.” He wipes his face, cleaning off blood and tears. Devil’s when did he start crying?

“Mammon.” Lucifer tries again, flowing closer. “No one wants to take them away. I want to make sure they are safe.” Safe? Of course they were safe! The Great Mammon was watching over them, there was nowhere safer. Right? But there was safety in numbers too, what was a murder of crows or a flock of night creatures if they did not stick together. Mammon pushes his palms hard into his eyes till light spots of color irrupted behind his eyelids.

Clarity and exhaustion caught up to him all at once. “I messed up. I messed up so bad, μέντορας.” He looks at the corpse of the last witch. They were the final witness to what had happened the night he got you hurt. His last chance to help you is gone, splattered across the pavement. “Λυπάμαι. Λυπάμαι, αδελφός.” The dam breaks, all the suffering, and confusion of the past week overwhelms him in that moment, robbing him of coherent thought.

Warm human hands grip his shoulders squeezing him tight to center him. “Calm yourself. Remember how I taught you?” he nods, grimy head bobbing through a hiccup. “Good-good. In through your nose and out your mouth. Yes, just like that. Again.” Once punishing hands now wrap around him surrounding him in a sea of black silk and soft hair. It is of little comfort to him now, but Mammon feels the invisible hands clutching his hearts loosen. Lucifer does too and brings his brother out of the crook of his neck to look him over. “I want to help both of you. But, I need to know what is going on.”

To say Lucifer was displeased was an understatement. He couldn’t fault Mammon for his outburst, while he could not say he would do the same he understood what fragile hearts his sibling has. Mammon would never intentionally harm you, but as he pleads his case Lucifer began to worry more and more for your well-being. Mammon wasn’t going back to check on you, that was very clear by the pattern of violence he had marked around the eastern prefecture. Mammon’s recklessness had the potential to get you hurt, and he could not have that.

“Take me to them.” Lucifer raises, helping Mammon up from his knees.

“Can’t.”

“Mammon.” His patience grows thin.

“I can’t,” Mammon repeats himself, firmer this time. The magic he placed on his nest was the last that he had. Having a demon as strong as his brother coming in would break the barrier beyond his repair. “I swear to you I will bring them back, now, back to the house. Just please...I can’t take you.”

Lucifer sighs but relents. Mammon doesn’t swear often if not at all. With care Lucifer takes the back of Mammon’s head and brings his forehead to touch his. “Promise?” Mammon coos softly showing his neck in submission. “Thank you, now go retrieve them. I will clean up this mess.”

Mammon returns to his nest to find you sleeping again. You were clothed and freshly bathed, bits of food nearby and used cutlery at your side. He doesn’t approach fearful of how you would react after last time. He kicks a pile of gold by the side of you instead. You react immediately, lurching up in bed. Something shiny glints in your hand and he laughs. The silver dagger gleams in his direction. “Mammon?” You blink in the low light squinting hard to make out his form. “Is that you?”

“Of course,” He steps closer, arms relaxed at his side. “No one else can come up here, you know. Or, I guess you did at one point.” You lower the knife but keep your eyes trained on him still hesitant.

“Are you ok?” Getting a better look at him you frown. He was a mess, disheveled and grungy. Dark viscous matter cling to his once vibrant white hair clumping it and sticking to the hard edges of his face. You didn’t want to know what it was, but you had your suspicions.

“Yes.” He said, tone clipped and stressed. “Come on, let’s get you back.” He holds out a grimy hand to you.

You look at it. “Are we really?” With how he left you you weren’t sure if this was a trap or not. For all his boisterous claims and vibrato you never thought he would actually go through with anything. Now you weren’t sure.

Mammon nods, waiting for you to make up your mind. You take his hand after a few minutes of contemplation. Your touch was so familiar yet foreign all at once. It was as warm and soft as he remembered it to be, but that was it. You were hesitant with your touch, fingers barely resting in his scabbed and scarred over palm. “What happened?” You turn his hand over seeing how the cuts and bruises continued.

“Nothing.” Nothing of worth any way. “Come, Lucifer is waiting for us.” That makes you pick up your pace and it chafes him.

When you both land in the outside garden of the house Mammon let’s you go. Rushing over to Lucifer’s side, you almost use him as a shield between the two of you. You grab at his brother’s pressed suit jacket asking a rapid fire slew of questions. Mammon relaxes only a fraction noting how Lucifer has yet to touch you out of respect for him.

Lucifer let’s you run out of steam before speaking. “I believe I know what has happened but let’s get you checked out first, and Mammon.” He looks over to his hunched brother. “Go wash up. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.” Dismissed, Mammon slinks off to his room without a fight and empty handed.

With a clean bill of health, minus the apparent memory loss you sit in Diavolo’s office nursing a cup of tea. You look at your companions on either side of you. You, Solomon, and Lucifer sit on Dia’s large couch while the prince paces in front of you. The latter shaking with rage.

“I’m not mad.” You say again looking at the men around you. Mad wasn’t the right word for the feelings you have right now. You were angry at the situation and how Mammon handled it, yeah. But now you were more confused and fearful for his sake. Even if you didn’t recall the particulars of your relationship, what you did remember was a warm and friendly mix of emotions and companionship. He had always been a good friend and steadfast ally after the initial rocky start. Could you have been more? Something blooms in your chest.

“Irregardless,” Dia turns to you, face grim. “He put you in immediate danger and then abducted you. If Lucifer hadn’t tracked him down you still would be missing.” You nod your mouth closing on a rebuttal. He wasn’t wrong. “And,” He continues. “This matter now has more repercussions then just you and your lost memories I’m afraid.”

“That’s right.” Solomon butts in. “The covens are in an uproar. Seats have been usurped and the power imbalance now is reaching dangerous degrees. They want blood.”

Diavolo scoffs, cursing low in infernal. “Mammon needs to be reprimanded, Lucifer.”

Lucifer stiffens next to you. You hear the soft creaking of his leather gloves as he clenches his fists tight. “Is this not enough?” He leans forward imploringly. “Let me handle his punishment. You know I am fair with it.”

“He wiped out the entire East coven. This will take years for me to handle diplomatically. The council of Magi wants justice, and I cannot blame them. Mammon broke contracts and peace agreements.”

His words go over your head but the implications were very clear. “I’m so sorry.” You bow low in your seat. This was your fault. You should have taken a brother with you to retrieve Mammon that night. While trapped in Mammon’s treasure trove you had plenty of time to go over that night’s events and try to figure out why Mammon had said those things to you.

You remember that day clearly. Going to classes, turning in homework and rounding up the brother’s before they got into mischief. You run down that night the best you can too. You remember texting the group that you would bring Mammon home in time for the last meeting of the day, then the burning sensation of spells hitting you and bright flashes of light before waking up next to him in his nest. You remember him, but those nights he told you about and his feelings he shared with you were gone. Nothing there but black space.

Solomon’s hand on your shoulder breaks your musing. “This isn’t your fault. I’m sure we can settle this out over time.” The two demons in the room nod, faces unreadable. With that Solomon nods, getting to his feet. “I believe the time for humans in the room is over, shall I escort you home, or would you like to stay at Purgatory?”

“Home please.” The week's events land heavy on your shoulders. You wanted to sleep in your bed surrounded by familiar comforts. “I’m over this demon shit.” Solomon doesn’t even try to hide his snort.

“There is never a dull moment with you around, huh?” He chuckles, combing a hand through his hair once he gets to the front door. You shoot him an exasperated look. “Relax. I promise we will get this all set to rights...if that is what you wish.”

“I have a choice?”

Solomon raises a pale brow. “Yes. I do believe I can fix this with enough time and preparation. While Mammon had the right idea going to find the root of the problem and there for the spell, he did it all ass backwards. Once I get in contact with the spirits of those he murdered I believe I can get you back together again. You do want that don’t you?”

Did you?

The question perplexes you while you crawl into bed. Did you want something that you didn’t even know you had? The Mammon that had greeted you when you woke up was like nothing you could remember and had planted a seed of doubt within you. What about him had you fall for him in the first place? Would you remember all of this if Solomon was able to fix it? Could this break in your memory change how you felt for him? Ugh-why was magic always so difficult…

You are left to your own devices for a while allowed to stay in from work and school while you recover. The brothers dote over you in their own ways, all expertly navigating around any question you had about Mammon’s whereabouts. Only Beel gave you any useful information.

“He’s...working off his debt.” Cryptic, but at least you knew he was alive. With the brother’s all being tight lipped you took matters into your own hands. Your phone was gone, no doubt shattered on the floor of the warehouse when you fell. You should have had a new one by now, but Lucifer seemed to be hiding it from you like Mammon.

The door to Mammon’s room is sealed tight, no handle or seam to be found. The loud hum of magic radiates from the door making it impossible for you to open. Even his seat at the council was empty. So much secrecy, you were beginning to believe you were being punished as well.

Good thing you were too pig headed to care.

Cornering Lucifer wasn’t as hard as you expected it to be. He very well could have been waiting for you to jump him by this point. He looked tired and drained, his mark, like Mammon’s, was dark and silent on your skin. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“Yes. Though, as you can see, I’ve grown tired of it.” He waves at himself leaning on the wall just outside of the kitchens. “What do you want?”

“Why can’t I find anything?”

“Any what?”

“If I was dating Mammon wouldn’t there be, I don’t know evidence of it?” There was nothing in your room, and you couldn’t get into Mammon’s. The other’s had been of no help. It was gone, as if by magic. “Is this your doing?”

Lucifer pinches his brow with a grimace. “Yes, and no. Mammon asked me to.”

“What! Why?”

“He heard what Solomon said to you. That you are unsure if you want those memories back. This is your out.” A gift as Mammon likes to think of it, the last one Mammon can give you. Even if it kills him, his brother still thinks of your comforts.

“Don’t I get a choice?” Lucifer snorts eyeing you.

“It is one of the very few strategic advantages of being human. Have you made one?”

Yes? No? “Well, I would like to make an educated one! I can’t do that if I can’t even see Mammon now can I? I’m clear headed now.”

Lucifer chortles rummaging in his pocket. “Please, the fact that you picked Mammon as the object of your affection clearly shows me you have never thought clearly a day in your life.” He drops something in your hand before turning. “The magic of the door is gone. Just-please be gentle with him. The council has not been kind.” He gives you a final small smile. “You two were happy together, you know.” He leaves you with your new phone in an empty hallway.

You clutch the small device close to your chest, eyes riveted to the screen. Lucifer had backed everything up. Your contacts, calendar dates, assignments, and pictures. You click on your photo gallery. Oh, there were so many pictures of the two of you together. For a moment you hate the you grinning up through the screen. Mammon’s arms wrap around you, his face nestle in your hair as you glow under his attention. He looked serene, eyes closed with a blissful smile peeking out through your locks. The next few photos were very much the same, little dates and windows into a life you wanted to remember. The next few you took were candid photos. Him asleep on his couch stretched out and snoring or in the kitchen trying to do something, and failing.

It was so different from the Mammon you remember and the one you saw so briefly in the cave. Deep down your heart hurts for him, out of sympathy or the echoes of your lost love you weren’t sure, but you wanted that life from the pictures again. You reach his door with a new reinvigorated fire in your belly. You could do this. Mammon would never fall for someone indecisive.

The door opens as quiet as a whisper into a dark room. Stepping in you hold your breath, ears hyper aware of just how dark this place was. You don’t think you’ve ever seen this place without lights on. Mammon didn’t like the dark all that much. The room was quiet too, except for an eerie wet gurgle. “Mammon?”

“Leave.” Deeper into the room a massive black shape moves. “Shouldn’t be here.” You turn to the shape, arms outstretched to guide you through the pitch. “Don’t-” Several large luminous gold eyes lock with you. They are weary and apprehensive. You push forward till your hands touch some feathers and…

“You’re bleeding.”

“It’s fine.” Like hell it was. Ignoring his protest and the slick feel of his blood on your hands you grab for your phone.

“Oh Mammon.” Your stomach twists. In the bright little of your little flashlight you can see only a small bit of his side, but it was shiny with fresh blood, feathers broken and limp from where hands had yanked at them. “Who?”

“The Rite of Equivalency.” A head turns to follow your fingers. He hisses, the feel of your fingers stroking along a raw gash under his upper set of wings burns. “Pound for pound of flesh for that which I took.” His beaks click, sore and irritated, they had not been gentle with their gathering today. His body was worth a lot to witches. His feathers and beak shavings were valuable in potions and on the market. It was the most lenient punishment Lucifer could broker, even if it did literally cost him a limb or two. Your hand goes still on his side, he can feel your small fingers trembling on his hind leg.

“Mammon-this is monstrous.”

The crow chortles swiveling his heads to look at you. “Are we not monsters?” He tries to joke, uncomfortable with your gentle touch now. “Hey- no...please don’t cry.” He sees tears clinging to your eyelashes, your lower lip quivering. He opens a wing to try to wrap it around you but stops gasping in pain. His side was like a live wire, healing bones burning under his thin skin while they mended. He is so tired.

You pick up on his discomfort and move away wiping at your tears. This wasn’t about you right now. “I came to talk about...us and what you overheard between Solomon and I,” His heart rate picks up.

“Lucifer put you up to this.” It wasn’t a question but a simple statement of fact. He had hoped-

You shook your head, brushing his side. “He gave me the option by opening the door, but I wanted to do this. To see you again and talk.” Talk, and get his side of the story, to fill in the pieces of the puzzle until you could get them back yourself. You pull up a few pictures and turn the screen to him. “I want to go back to this. I think I liked being yours.”