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[thebrunettewriter]

Too Much

Summary: Mizuki runs into trouble with a villain in an area far from the city. In an effort to save her friends, she distracts the villain, but what happens after puts her in a precarious position...though maybe it isn’t all that bad~ Word Count: 2781 Featured Character(s): All Might, Shouta Aizawa Author’s Note: I have not yet finished season two so please no spoilers! Also! I actually really like this concept and I love Aizawa so if people are interested, I might make more of this story! Might even think about making it a full story! Requests are OPEN!

   “Who’s that?” A whisper of one of the students catches the ear of the woman seated at the table beside the window overlooking the campus of U. A. High. It wasn’t surprising that the costumed brunette, who appeared a little old for the high school, would draw attention. The woman listens to the conversation of the students sitting in the booth not far from where she is, seated on the stool, her ankles crossed and her weight resting on the table, her cheek on one fist.

   “You haven’t heard?” A different kid answers, clearly older than the one that had asked in the first place. The woman watches the older blonde lean a little closer, speaking in hushed tones, not realizing that the brunette could still hear him. 

   “She’s the one that cause all of that damage a week ago,” He whispers harshly, making his younger classmen gasp, eyes going wide.

   “Seriously?!” He exclaims, earning hissed hushes from the others around the table. “Why is she here, then? Isn’t it dangerous?” The younger man asks, voice quiet again. 

   “Apparently, she’s not all that bad, actually,” A different boy, around the same age as the blonde, answers, adjusting a pair of glasses on his face. “I heard she has a crazy powerful quirk but it’s really hard to control.” 

   “Really? How powerful?” The youngest gasps, staring at her in awe. 

   “All Might would have trouble with her,” Glasses answers, causing gasps from the table. “I heard it was actually Aizawa-sensei that had to stop her.” All eyes turn to him again. 

   “Woah, really?” The blonde asks. “I heard that guy’s kinda weird and really strict,” he mentions, to which the other’s nod; clearly, they heard the same. 

   “That’s why she’s here,” Glasses continues, “He’s one of the only ones who can contain her powers when she uses them so she has to stay close. Apparently, she’s being hunted! Since she can’t control her powers she’s a prime target for villains to try and take advantage of her.” The woman tenses just a little at the comment but it goes unnoticed by the boys. 

   “Isn’t it dangerous?” The younger asks fearfully, but glasses shrugs. 

   “U.A. High has some of the strongest heroes on campus at all times, plus state of the art security,” He explains, “And since All Might and Eraserhead are both teachers here, it’s best to keep her close. I think that’s why she’s here. Plus, so long as those two are around, she’s like an ace.” The other two ‘ooh’ and ‘awe’ at the explanation, looking a little more comfortable. 

   “Wow, that’s pretty cool!” The younger mentions before the blonde snorts, grinning. 

   “I’m glad she’s around, older women are hot,” The boys laugh, the brunette turning a little red and rolling her eyes, though she smiles good naturedly to herself.

   “C’mon, man, what about girl’s your own age? Kawasaki’s pretty hot,” The younger points out, drawing the conversation to the girls in their class, which the brunette tunes out. Sharp brown eyes catch sight of a familiar mess of black hair across the courtyard, heading towards his next class, drawing her mind back to the day she met the notorious Eraserhead, the day her life changed.

----

   The echoing sounds of screams pierce the cool night sky, the rumbling vibrations of something huge shaking the earth as the sharp stinging smell of dense smoke fills the air. A small group of civilians run down the abandoned streets—too early for many people to be out—and turn several sharp corners, into alleys. Behind them a huge, monstrous, form follows at a breakneck speed as he lets out an enraged snarl, quickly gaining on them.     A shriek rings out as a small blonde woman snags a piece of trash in the alley and falls to the floor just before a branching path in the alley. The woman behind her, a tall and strong looking brunette, just barely keeps from running the woman over, skidding to a stop as the two men in front of the fallen blonde, do the same and turn back to the two women. The brunette is quick to pull the smaller woman to her feet, an action that makes her cry out again; her ankle sprained.

   “C’mon! We have to move! We just have to stay alive till the pro heroes arrive!” One of the men shout as he runs back to the two. Being the larger of the two men, he’s quick to pick the blonde up as the brunette looks over her shoulder at the villain rounding the corner and entering the alley.

   “Get her out of here!” The brunette shouts as she shoves them both towards the straight branching path. The two men start running without hesitation, but the brunette doesn’t follow.

  This guy’s too fast, the brunette thinks quickly as she grabs a piece of trash from the ground and darts for the right branching path. We’re too far in the sticks. It’ll take too long for the heroes to show up at this rate. I have to distract this thing. Or it’ll hurt my friends. She barely finishes the thought before she turns and hurls the heavy can at the twisted mass of muscle, drawing the enraged man’s attention to her branched path of alley.

  “Hey, stupid! Nice quirk!” She shouts at the man, “Didn’t know there was an ugly quirk!” The resulting shout of rage and multiple profanities from the man’s mouth tell her that her plan was working. Turning back around, she continues out of the alley, hearing the thundering sound of the man following her.

   There’s some a park not far from here. I should lead him there, it’ll be easier for the heroes. They won’t have to worry as much about collateral damage. The woman’s brain is moving as fast and as frantically as her feet as she runs from the villain. Sharp turns and fear are the only things keeping her in front of the creature but it’s not long before she sees her desired park.

   Thank god. There’s no one here, she thinks as she runs for the center of the woodland park. She can’t get further than that, however, before she suddenly feels a powerful force slam into her side, sending her flying into a thick tree twenty meters from the villain. The impact makes her cry out in pain, something in her ribs making a rather unsettling cracking sound.     “Shit,” The woman mutters as she pulls herself off of the floor and spots the man darting towards her again. Nimbly, the brunette rolls to one side as he barrels into the tree she’s just been thrown against, his force destroying it. Holding her side, the woman looks around frantically for any sign of a hero. She sees nothing.

   The dark sound of the villain chuckling draws the woman’s attention snapping towards him, eyes wide at the sound, chest heaving from their chase.

   “We’re in the middle of nowhere,” The man laughs as he turns to face her. “You’ll be dead by the time they get here, and I’ll be long gone,” He points out. The brunette pales as she realizes that he’s right. The heroes won’t get here in time.     “I-I can’t…” She whispers to herself as her own thoughts drift to one option. The man laughs, thinking her words have a different meaning.

   “I’ll make it quick,” He chuckles before setting back on his heels, ready to dart at her.

   “Mizuki!” Comes a shout of the woman’s name, drawing the attention of both to the group of three the brunette had been running with earlier. Her eyes go wide and her face grows deathly pale at the sight of her friends, the villain turning to face the three with a sick grin on his face.

   “Run!!” She screams at them as the villain darts towards them. Time seems to slow as Mizuki stares in horror; the monster slowly closing the distance, her friend’s faces turning pale and panic stricken, and something echoing around in her head.

   You have no choice.

   The woman releases her death grip on the power inside of her. Time resumes to the woman’s perception and the park echoes with the shattering boom, like the sound of a bomb going off. The villain skids to a halt and turns to look back at the source of the sound, eyes wide. The place where the woman was just standing has crumbled, the ground shattered; creating a several meter-deep hole. The brunette, however, was no longer standing there, appearing in the blink of an eye in front of the villain. Her hair and clothes float around her with the violent wind that follows her arrival, her eyes glowing blue with the force of the energy that had been released. Her gaze snaps to the group behind the huge man and she yells at them to run. The three, shaken out of their fear, turn and run as fast as they can, stumbling as they do.     The villain barely has time to shake himself from his own shock before the woman’s hand snap out and grab him by the face, the force of the move sending another crack echoing through the park as she breaks the sound barrier, along with the man’s nose. The force of her energy flowing around her is cracking the ground still, bending and breaking lamp posts, trees, and benches within a fifty-meter radius around her. Suddenly, the villain feels very afraid. The woman hauls him off his feet by her grip on his face before slamming him onto his back, burying him in the ground.

   The impact it almost less painful then the feeling of the raw power flowing around her and crushing his bones, just from him being close to her. The monsterous sized man is quick to lose to the pain, falling unconscious.

  “Fear not, citizens. Why? Because I am here!” Comes a familiar cry, followed by a hearty laugh. The brunette’s glowing eyes grow wide as they fall upon the huge, seven foot, man as he lands not far from them.

   “No.” She gasps, quickly distancing herself from the hero as she trembles, trying to reign in her power. The ground cracks and breaks where she’s standing, the playground beside her, creaking as it bends and crumbles like a crushed tin can. The blonde’s grin falters slightly, hidden gaze glancing between the woman and the man unconscious on the ground. He takes a step towards the woman who flinches away, keeping a great distance between them.

   “Don’t come any closer!” She shouts, arms crossed over her chest as she tries to pull her power back in, trying to control it again. All Might seems to get the wrong idea as he faces her fully and takes a heroic stance.

   “Surrender!” He calls in that boisterous voice, “Turn yourself in quietly and we won’t hurt you!” The woman shakes her head, tears streaming down her cheeks, tears that give the hero pause. The woman grips her hand above her chest as her heart hammers. She lets out a shout as she tries to force her powers back down, the pain echoing through her body like fire in her veins.

   “Mizuki!” Her name is called again, her friends having heard All Might’s arrival and returned. The man looks back at the three as the woman’s frightened gaze falls back onto them.

   “No! You have to leave! I don’t want to accidently hurt you!” She shouts, the turmoil she feels increasing her range of destruction, almost hitting All Might now. “No no no no!” She shouts, curling up into a ball where she, now, hovers, feet no longer touching the ground, the force of her power a full circle around her, pushing her off of the ground that crumbles further beneath her. The blonde steps towards her and feels the force of her power batter him as he steps into its range. Even All Might is forced to put up his guard, sliding several feet to one side as the power batters him.

   “No! All Might! Don’t come closer!” She shouts, her grip on her powers growing tighter, drawing it back into her, the force battering against her body, filling the park with the sounds of sharp cracking of bones; her bones. Her body struggling to pull the force back inside of her.    “Damn it, this isn’t good,” All Might mutters to himself, widening his stance and crouching to dart at the woman.     “Stand down, All Might. I can handle her.” Comes a deep, tired sounding, voice from behind him. Though the range of the woman’s quirk is shrinking thanks to her attempt to reign it in, it appears to be battering her body from the inside out and the power inside of the shorter range seems to have become stronger, lifting the woman higher into the air. The blonde hero takes a step back as the smaller black hair hero walks up beside him, goggles on.

   “It’s Eraserhead,” Comes a whisper from the civilians near them. The man’s eyes fall on Mizuki and turn sharp as they start to glow, his hair rising up around him. The moment his gaze locks on the woman, the power around her disappears and her limp body falls from the sky. All Might is quick to react, catching the unconscious woman before she hits the ground, shaded and dark eyes falling on the unconscious young woman. Her body looks bad, striations along her skin where her veins would be; striations that look like burn marks. Her breathing was shallow and labored, her face pale and body temperature high. All Might looks around at all of the devastation (her quirk was impressive) and notices the man from before was gone. That can’t be good, but he’d have to deal with it later.

   “Nice work, Eraserhead!” He calls to the black haired man, grinning.

 --

   The soft sounds of beeping is the first thing that greets the woman as she wakes…followed swiftly by the feeling of intense pain. She lets out a soft whimper, hand flying up to her chest where the pain is the worst.     “Don’t move,” Comes a deep, gruff, voice as something wraps around her wrist and pulls it back to her side. The woman’s eyes fly open and dart in the direction of the voice. She sees a tired looking man with scraggly black hair and glowing red eyes, a cautious look on his face. She glances down at the large, thin fingered, and pale hand wrapped around her wrist tightly. Spotting a pad of gauze taped to her arm and a clear tube leading out from under it, she frowns, looking around. It’s clear she’s in some sort of medical facility, a state of the art one at that. Turning her gaze back to the man, she notices that the whites of his eyes are growing more red and sore looking. Staring at his eyes, she suddenly remembers what happened, the feeling of her quirk being nullified upon seeing those eyes and the relief that followed.

   “Oh,” She realizes why his eyes are glowing and he hasn’t blinked, “You don’t have to continue nulling my quirk. I can control it now,” She assures, voice coming out a croak. The man seems to hesitate but a huge figure steps into the woman’s line of sight around the privacy curtain around her bed.

   “You heard her, Aizawa!” He grins as the pats the man on the shoulder, making him blink. His hair falls from its floating position, settling around his face again. The two seem to hold their breath for a second before relaxing when the hospital room doesn’t spontaneously combust. Eraserhead takes a step back and releases her arm as All Might moves to her side. The woman tries to sit up, only for him to place a hand on her shoulder to try and keep her down.

   “Your ribs are still broken and your body is under a lot of stress.” He says, voice soft and caring. She offers him a small smile and pats his hand before sitting up anyway.

   “I’m okay. It’s just pain,” She says with a soft laugh, which quickly devolves into painful, rattling coughs. All Might rubs her back gently as Aizawa grabs a pitcher of water and filling a plastic cup, handing it to her when her coughing fit finished. She thanks him quietly as she takes a few sips before cradling the cup in her hand.

   “I’m sorry,” She whispers, voice still rough. “I’m usually good about containing my quirk. Most people don’t even know that I have one,” She sighs. 

[thebrunettewriter]

Gangster Style

Summary: One woman is about to show a sleazy stand user that she’s earned the title of leader of one of the most notorious gangs.  Word Count: 1016 Featured Character(s): Giorno Giovanna Author’s Note: A quick snippet/drabble. I have not finished reading Part 5, so please no spoilers! Requests are OPEN!

   The room was quiet, Giorno is helpless but to watch the woman below him, at the mercy of the man slinking around her. She stands tall, eyes forward, staring at the door twenty feet before her, too far to reach, but just close enough to hope. Despite the prospect of escape, the brunette doesn't move one inch towards the door, remaining calmly where she is, head held high, even as the tall, lanky, sleazy looking man circles around her, paralleled by his stand; Love Sick. Both tall and lanky, they're hunched over, bringing their sickly looking, smug, faces down to her level on either side of her as he continues his movements. 

    "Well well well, who knew the leader of one of the most feared gangs was just a woman!" He laughs as he circles around her, his gaze scanning up and down her body as he does. "Not so tough without your brainwashed lackeys and your guns, huh?" He leans in close, his foul breath hitting her nose, making it crinkle ever so slightly. He laughs, running a long and pointed tongue along her cheek; her fists clench at her sides. 

    "Without even a stand to your name, though you probably don't even know what a stand is," He lets out a coy snicker, the skeletally thin hand of his stand waving in her face. The woman's eyes do not move from their glare on the door in front of her. "You're poor, frail, weak, mind couldn't possibly handle a stand. Even if it did, It’d probably be a weak stand that could only create sparkles and rainbows," Giorno can't help the unimpressed roll of his eyes from his hiding spot in the shadows above the two. He could do nothing but sit there and listen to this fool, helpless to stop the man from whatever he'd planned to do to the woman; his stand a counter to Giorno's own. 

    Finally, the man stops his languid pacing around her, both him and Love Sick standing in front of her, tall heights made null and void by his hunched stoop and, almost impressively, tilted heads. 

    "After I've had my fun with you, I'll take care of that brat hiding in the rafters," He laughs, causing Giorno's body grow tense at the mention of him, ready to call Golden Experience into action at a moment's notice--the stand too bright to be summoned where he was hiding. But the blonde didn't have a chance to move an inch, and neither did the slime ball standing in front of the woman. The moment mention of Giorno and his hiding spot slipped past the man's lips, both of the woman's hands snap out with such blinding speed there didn't seem to be a moment in between her arms resting at her sides and her hands grasping the man's face in a death grip....both the man...and his stand. 

    Eyes go wide behind splayed fingers currently digging into the skin of his and his stand's faces, cracking bone and armor alike. 

    "H-How," The woman's sharp, cold, death stare falls on the man before she lifts both of them up off of the ground and slams them into ground so hard the force caves both skulls in, killing them instantly. Slowly, the woman rights herself, dusting her hands off on her pants before wiping her cheek with the back of her hand as the stand disappears beside her feet. 

    "You can come down now, Giorno," She says calmly, walking over to her desk and picking up the phone as the blonde slowly lowers himself from the rafters, eyes focused on the dead man on the floor. 

    "How did you touch his stand...?" The boy asks as she picks up the receiver. Holding the phone against her collar as she leans over the desk, she looks up briefly at her guest as she dials. 

    "Hm? Oh, right, I didn't get to finish explaining, did I?" She hits the last number and presses the speaker of the phone to her ear as she sits up a little straighter, resting her weight on her free hand--which is currently resting against the desk. 

    "I'm not standless," She hums as if it wasn't a complete shock, the woman casually turning the microphone of the phone up to her mouth as her eyes fall on the dead man in her office. 

    "Michael." She says calmly as the man on the other side picks up, ignoring, or perhaps unaware of the stare from her blonde guest. "An intruder showed up. Had to kill him. Call for clean up." Her call is brief and to the point, the phone back on the receiver before a minute had passed. 

    "You...have a stand?" Giorno questions when she straightens, watching as she pulls her hair up into a pony tail. 

    "Mm," She affirms absently, tightening the pony before lowering her arms and grabbing the edges of her black leather jacket, pulling it off of one arm and holding it up for him. "It's...difficult," She says as she focuses intensely. Vaguely, Giorno can see the ghost-like form of a blue and black stand, an arm superimposed on the woman's own, for a brief second before the illusion vanishes. If he hadn't seen what had just happened, he might of thought it a trick of the light. 

    "My stand doesn't often manifest as a full body. I keep it contained within myself so I don't use too much strength. I would have crushed his skull to dust with the ease of flexing my pinky if I used her full strength, so I keep it contained, which also keeps her hidden," The woman explains, pulling her jacket back on. "As it stands, it's a bit tiring to keep my stand's full power back, but it's better to stay in control. Using her while containing her is a little...dangerous. I've broken and sprained a couple of things doing so," she laughs as if she just told a joke, “But it’s not so bad, having a hidden stand. Even using her other stand users have their doubts.”

[thebrunettewriter]

Saving Aqualad

Summary: A nice day playing in the water turns into a rescue mission to save a rather handsome, dark skinned, stranger! Word Count: 2,938 Arthur’s Note: I wish I had more inspiration for this one to write more... Requests Open!

   The brunette giggles as she jumps off the high pile of rocks and slips into the water with a gentle splash, a wonderful dive. She was always a water person, knowing how to swim before she could walk. While other girls were called ‘princess’ or ‘angel’ the brunette was always called a fish. Not even something cute, like ‘angel fish’, simply fish. But the girl didn’t mind. She was far more comfortable in a swimsuit and shorts than anything with frills or lace so she’d never really felt that such cute nicknames would fit anyway.

  Arms toned with ages of swimming, and legs powerful enough to kick through brick, the woman glides effortlessly through the water even when others would be battered and thrown about by the waves.

    Having been raised on an island, the woman knew the waves well and how the water behaved. It was more a home to her than the land her house rested on.

    When she’d moved to the main land for ten years, the poor girl had felt like…well, a fish out of water, so when the young woman had the chance to move back to Guam, the largest island of the Mariana Islands, she left her home and moved back to the beautiful strip of land.

    The brunette flips onto her back and sighs as she lets the water hold and rock her, pulling her goggles up to her forehead and closing her eyes. She was at peace in the water; comfortable. She didn’t have to deal with the stress of the city or the stagnant life style of the country. Island life was the best in her mind.

    It didn’t hurt that super villains hardly ever attacked islands. In the last place she’d lived, Metropolis, she’d run into traffic and delays almost non-stop with the constant work that had to be done on the city after villains decided to make it their playgrounds. Unlike most, she didn’t blame the heroes for any damage they’d caused. They were trying their best and it’s not like anyone else was stepping up to the plate!

    But she’d always been raised around military, so she was of a different mindset and understanding than most. She saw the cost of freedom, and how ungrateful some people were when they wouldn’t step up to the plate and do anything, cowering behind whatever boisterous words they could.

    Still, it was nice to get away from all of that and enjoy the wonderful feel of the island. Opening her eyes, she smiles and pulls her goggles back down before flipping back over and starting to swim swiftly through the salty water.

     Having been on the island for about a month now, she was fairly settled, mostly unpacked, and her car—a jeep—had finally arrived after many delays. She’s gotten into a routine now, driving down to a less known beach by the name of Gab Gab—silly name but lovely beach—and swimming for hours on end while no one was around as she was now. She was fairly far from shore, and happily swimming in the slight rough surf of the ocean.

    Spotting a black and yellow fish, the woman grins and begins to follow it. She hums into the water as she does, easily keeping up with the fish’s sharp turns and seemingly random route.

  Bump.

    The woman starts when something runs into her side. Figuring it’s a shark again, she starts to move out of the creature’s way but stops dead when she sees what bumped her.

  A handle? She thinks as she picks up the floating piece of metal. It’s so light, she’s surprised she’d though it was a shark. It’s curved, with an opening at the top and intricate grooves along the handle, it looks rather like a sword’s hilt. Pulling her head out of the water, the woman treads water as she pulls off her goggles. Squinting a little in curiosity and confusion, the woman looks the object over in her hands, using the light of the sun to examine it better.

     “It still looks like a sword hilt…” She mutters to herself before looking around on the surface, spinning around easily in the water.   “I wonder if the rest of it is around here somewhere!” A little excited by this find, she grins as she looks around. She’s about to pull her goggles on and dive down to go look for it when she spots something moving towards her. Squinting to get a better look, the woman frowns when she sees the black tipped dorsal fin moving in a slow circle not far from her. Blinking the sunlight from her eyes, she notices that there’s actually three that she can see from where she is.

    Pulling on her goggles, the woman sticks her head into the water and looks in the directions of the sharks. With the clarity of the water, she can see that the sharks are circling around a particular bit of reef, but their movements were sharper than usual, more panicked. She swims a little closer to the sharks and her frown deepens. Black tipped reef sharks—as these sharks were—are normally rather timid and are rather far out for usually shore based fish. Inching a little closer—as the woman is unafraid of the rather docile sharks—the woman sees a break in the beautiful coral some fourteen feet below the sharks, almost like something smashed into the sea trees.

   Tucking the metal object into the strap of her suit, she swims closer, looking into the hole.

     She nearly takes in water when she gasps at the sight of what’s in the hole. Popping her head out of the water, she hyperventilates three times—a trick she learned when she was learning to dive—and sucks in a deep breath before diving down. She’s fast as she descends, plugging her nose and clearing her ears when the pressure gets to be too much. Reaching the hole with still plenty of breath, she grips the edges of the coral and pulls herself closer, staring wide eyed at the young man inside of the coral. He’s cut up and bleeding, obviously unconscious, and his leg appears to be caught in the dense coral.   Smaller than the large black man—who appeared to be about her age—the woman manages to slip into the hole with him, though the coral easily slices the skin of her arms and legs as she wiggles down towards the man’s ankle. Grabbing the man’s ankle, she does her best to try and free it from the coral pinning it but the stubborn sea life does not want to move. Without hesitating—though it does cause her to rip her legs up more—the woman reaches for the dive knife attached to her inner calf and pulls it out with ease. She grunts a little as she drives the knife into the coral next to the man’s foot. It only takes a hand full of swings for the coral to break off. Placing her bare feet on the coral, the brunette moves to face the man again, wrapping her arm around his waist. She keeps her knife in hand—incase the blood now turning in the water frenzies the sharks above them—and slowly guides him out of the hole before kicking off the coral with powerful legs and shooting towards the surface.

     Gasp!

    The woman inhales a deep gasp of breath when she breaks the surface and swiftly surveys the area around her. Oddly…the sharks were gone… Confused, but deciding to not waste time, the woman swiftly swims behind the man and wraps her arm around his torso under his arms again. Thanking the heavens for her training as a diver and lifeguard, the woman’s narrow eyes focus on the shore as she swims backwards with her recently rescued charge, her legs and free—except for the knife—hand pulling the both of them towards land.

     “M-Mmmm…” To the woman’s surprise, her charge starts to stir just a little even before they’re halfway to shore. She continues to swim as fast as her powerful legs can carry them, but looks at the back of the man’s head as she continues.

     “Don’t panic. I have you.” The woman assures, really not wanting to have to deal with a terrified man who’s much bigger, and by the feel of the muscles she’s touching, probably much stronger, which is saying something. Particularly not without her dive equipment.   “You might be in pain. Please don-AH!” In the middle of the woman’s words of comfort to the half-awake man, something grabs her leg in a nearly deathly grip and yanks her towards the depths. Releasing the man, before he gets pulled under the water with her, the woman stares at the…creature that has a strong grip on her leg. With huge eyes and bigger teeth, it looks like a deep-sea creature from the depths of the Mariana trench but it’s…oddly humanoid. The creature hisses at her and, with amazing speed, moves to attack her with it’s sharp knife sized teeth.   “Mn!” The woman grunts as her hand snaps out just as fast as the creature and she manages get to it’s mouth before it could take a chunk out of her leg as it was obviously intending. Though the sharp teeth dig deep into her hand, the woman’s knife, currently gripped in that particular hand, drives it’s point into the creature’s cheek and it howls, releasing her hand and jerking away before turning sharply and trying a side assault.

    Having grown up in the water, the woman was extremely nimble in the water, a fact that seemed to surprise the creature when she swiftly dodges the creature’s attack and lashes out at the same time, stabbing the thing in the large eye.

    The shriek it lets out almost makes the girl drop her weapon, but luckily the creature jerks away again and cradles it’s injured eye as it retreats as quickly as it appeared.

    Watching the retreating figure for a moment, the woman glances down at her hand when she realizes that it’s gone numb. Switching her knife to the other hand, the woman glances around and spots her charge, floating just below the surface, unconscious again it seems, and quickly breaks the surface before swimming to him quickly.

  Breathing heavily from her extended—and rather eventful—stay under the water, she slips her knife back into the holster and simply reaches into the water, grabbing the man up under his arms again with her uninjured hand. Determined—even more so now than before—the woman pushes her body towards the shore with the added weight, even as her wounds scream at her and she can no longer use her arm. She’s honestly not sure whether to thank or curse the salt in the water. For one thing, it stings worse than anything she’d felt before as it seeps into her wounds. On the other hand, it is probably cleaning them out—so long as plant life and microbs are invading the wound as well—on top of the fact that the buoyancy of the salt is making her larger charge easier to carry and pull along than it would be in a fresh water body of water.

    She gets to standing height in record time and stands, stumbling a little over the coral—something she can normally handle effortlessly—and grabs the man by the back of the strange wet suit he wears, using one hand and the buoyancy of the salt water to drag the man towards the surface. The minute her charge hits sand and the friction kicks in, the woman drops, panting heavily and shaking slightly in pain—her right hand limp at her side. She hurries to the man’s side on her knees and leans her head over his heart, pressing her ear to it.

    A pulse.

    Sighing in relief, she moves her ear to his lips, holding her dripping hair to the side as she listens for breath. Oddly, he’s breathing. Not a whisper of a breath, just breathing.

     Frowning, confused, the woman leans over him and looks him over. He’s tall, well muscled and very masculine. He has nice, medium toned, brown skin and a full head of—currently soaking—dark brown hair.

    And gils…

    The woman’s eyes go wide at the sight of the gils on the side of the man’s neck, and she gasps sharply, flinching back from the man. Apparently the sound of her gasp rouses the man and his eyes snap open. They glow with a bright blue light along with the tattoos along the man’s arms—one of which suddenly snaps out with blinding speed and catches the woman by the back of her neck.

     The brunette’s entire body goes ridged at the strong grip on the back of her neck and she gasps sharply when she feels something sharp touch her throat.   “What did you do to me?” The man growls, though his voice is clearly groggy and disoriented. This must be an instinctual reaction; a flight or fight sort of situation.   “Saved you from a hole in the coral about fifteen feet below the surface.” She explains as calmly as she can. The man blinks a few times before the glowing blue starts to fade and he slowly releases her. Sighing softly, the woman leans back a little—ignoring the pain in doing so.   “A hole…How did I-?” He grunts in pain in the middle of his sentence as he tries to move. The woman places a gentle hand on his chest, avoiding any wounds, and pushes him back.   “I don’t know how you got there but you were ripped up by the coral. Let me get go grab my kit. Don’t move.” She stands, stumbling a bit, before taking off for her jeep, luckily parked near the shore. She ignores the pain the racks her body and the steadily growing numbness in her arm as she digs in the back of her truck, swiftly pulling the first aid kit out and hurrying back to the man. Hurrying back onto shore, she finds the man has not kept his word, now sitting up with one leg pulled toward him, leaning heavily on the appendage even as he sits. The woman sets the kit beside him and walks to his side.

     “Alright. If you’re going to insist on moving, lets get you to my car so we can get you patched up.” She offers the man her left hand, which he takes without looking up. Luckily still very strong, the woman hauls the man up and pulls his arm over her shoulders. She releases him just long enough to grab the kit again and put it between her teeth—as her other arm is useless—before wrapping her arm around his waist and holding him up. She easily leads him back towards her jeep—despite the pain it causes them both.

    She releases him again to open the door to the trunk before guiding him to sit in it. Pulling the kit from her teeth, she sets it beside him again.

     “What hurts the most? Anything internal?” She asks sternly, watching the man shift and adjust as if testing what, in fact, does hurt the most.   “Chest. External.” He answers simply as he looks up at her finally. His eyes go a little wide at the sight of her.   “Shit! Why are you worrying about me?” He pulls himself to his feet, not even seeming to notice the pain in his body as he grabs her arm—where it’s not ripped up by the coral—and pulls her close. She winces at the feeling, the pain and exhaustion throbbing through her body as the adrenaline slowly starts to wear off.

    “I wasn’t the one pinned under coral and unconscious.” She mutter indignantly as she starts to get a little worried at the lack of feeling in her right arm up to her bicep now. Using her working arm, she pushes on the man’s chest to get him to sit again.    “Sit. We need to treat those wounds.” The man doesn’t budge though, easily ignoring her pushing. She squeaks in surprise and slight pain as the man suddenly picks her up with an arm around her waist and spins her around, setting her down in the trunk instead and grabbing the kit from beside her.

  “You’re right. Those look pretty bad.” He says as he opens the kit. Too exhausting to argue any more, the woman just holds her right shoulder and looks at her knees for a moment before looking up at him instead.

     “You with Aquaman?”  The woman asks, to which the man just hums an affirmative, pulling out disinfectant and a roll of gauze.

    “Gimme your arm.” He holds out his hand as he says that, the one closest to her right arm and she frowns, looking down at the appendage. It’s scratched up all along the bicep and forearm from the coral, but the wound in her hand is deep and ugly, still bleeding heavily. That must be why she’s dizzy.

    “Can’t.” She mutters, and he frowns.

     “What do you mean?” He asks urgently. She looks up at him now.

    “I mean I can’t. The man-thing that bit me…it made my arm go numb.” The black man’s jaw clenches and he grabs her arm gently—an action the woman can’t feel at all.

    “Trenchers.” The man mutters, just loud enough that the woman hears him.

    “Is that what that thing’s called?”

[thebrunettewriter]

Strength of the Songbird

(I love this picture so much! And it’s one of the few pictures that has all four pillar men together!) Summary:  Natalene is an intern at the Speed Wagon Foundation tasked with monitoring the captured vampire Santana. While the job is fairly boring and very quiet, she's perfectly happy just singing to herself. Little does she know, her captive audience is far from unconscious and unaware. When a particular incident leads to Santana's escape, she finds the vampire's interest focused on her; an interest that only gets stronger after he's freed. Featured Characters: Santana, Kaaz|Cars, Wamuu|Wham!, Esidisi|ACDC Word Count: 3,407 Author’s Note: This is based off a dream I had after watching several episodes of Battle Tendency one night. Please note! I have not finished watching Battle Tendency! I don’t think I’m even half way!  Requests Open!

   The sound of the faint hum of machines fills the almost empty, medium sized room lit only by the light of the large UV Chamber that took up one wall of the room, the metal garage door that kept its singular stone occupant currently closed to dim the room even further to let only the light from the windows in the door through. Other than the nearly dead vampire trapped under the light of the lamps there was one soul person in the room, monitoring the machinery and the prisoner behind her.    A figure, lit up by the UV chamber behind her, eyes focused on the readings on the monitor that rested in the podium in front of her, stood tall; a brunette woman in a lab coat. Appearing younger than the mid-twenties the woman was, the female was an intern to the Speed Wagon foundation. Though her dedication to her job, willingness to do the dirty jobs that needed to be done, and her obvious capabilities, she had been granted the coveted responsibility of being the singular in person operator of Santana’s chamber—for the graveyard shift anyway.    The intern, while new, was far from a fool. She knew it was because no one else wanted to be alone in the quiet room with the unstoppable killer at night, and they knew she’d take the job without a fuss.   Granted, she wasn’t completely alone.    On close circuit cameras, though without sound, security as well as several scientists, monitored the room as well as the Vampire imprisoned inside of his cell. Despite this, the twelve-hour shift was quiet and boring. So, the brunette usually took advantage of the lack of audio in the cameras and (mostly) empty room to sing to herself, occupying her time and mind with the lyrics of whatever tune happened to be in her head at the time.    While she was by no means an opera singer or professional in any capacity, she was slightly better than average with a kind, mature, and yet somehow sweet, voice. The woman certainly had fun singing to herself and her, literally, captive audience—though she doubted he could hear her.    The sound of humming that didn’t belong to the machines echoed throughout the small room quietly as the woman recalled the song she’d heard on the radio on the way into the facility.    “Sweet dreams are made of these~” She sung quietly to herself as her head nodded with the rhythm, her chestnut hair--tied into ponytail with only a few strands and sweeping bangs hanging loose in her face--swaying with the motions, “Who am I dis-ah-gree~ Travel the world and the seven seas~ Everybody’s looking for some-“ The woman stops and looks up as the first set of double doors, one’s designed to keep out pathogens normally, or in this case crazy vampires.    As the first sets of doors close, a second set open and reveal a cute, petite, blonde woman. Even if the blonde, another young intern who’d only been with the company for a few months, hadn’t been remarkably small, standing at only five-foot-two with a small frame to match, she would still seem small compared to the brunette. As the younger woman strode over to the one stationed in front of the monitor, the brunette’s size and strength was apparent. Standing at five-foot-eight, the brunette was bigger than her height would suggest--though she was taller still than most of the women she worked with, as well as some of the men. Her frame was disguised, purposefully, under her white lab coat and long pants, but when compared to the small woman now standing beside her, it was impossible to hide. Her shoulders were broad and muscled under the coat, her frame easily twice, perhaps three times, bigger than the smaller woman’s.    There were many rumors as to why the woman was so big--most revolving around waterfalls, mountains, and Siberian bears--as well as bets going around to see how much she could lift—though many gave up when she lifted a piece of equipment nearly two hundred pounds after it ‘broke’ (the team tricked her by sabotaging the machine themselves then asking for help).    “Good Evening, Emily,” The brunette hums kindly, voice soft and quiet despite what her aforementioned size and strength might suggest. The blonde smiles up at her and hands her the bottle of water in her hand. Emily often brought her food or drink whenever she stopped by—usually on some order to collect data or check on the brunette. Taking the bottle graciously, she opens the cap and drinks it eagerly, parched from hours without anything to drink.    “Good Evening, Natalene,” The smaller woman responds back with a soft smile as her eyes flit past the woman and to the UV Chamber. Out of the corner of her eye, the brunette could see the younger blonde shiver at the thought of the vampire behind the door.    “Don’t you ever get nervous?” Emily mutters, blue eyes lit up by the light from the chamber. Natalene just shrugs and gives a soft hum.    “No real reason to get nervous, I guess, it’s a pretty quiet job,” She says as she lowers the bottle and looks over her shoulder in the direction of the vampire as well. “He’s not particularly talkative,” the teasing tone in her voice is clear and she nudges the blonde with a grin. The sound of the blonde’s giggles is cut short abruptly as the entire room is suddenly plunged into darkness and the sound of the machines cute out.    The power went out.    The brunette feels a tight, shaking grasp grip her arm and ball the sleeve of her lab coat into tight fists. The room was filled suddenly with the dull red emergency lights. ---    Natalene stands protectively in front of the blonde crouched in the corner of the room, shaking and sobbing with fear of the huge figure standing, nearly naked, before them, rippling, deadly, muscles illuminated by the red emergency lights. The sound of banging and shouting could be heard, though muffled, behind the first layer of double doors, but it was clear that the security team wasn’t going to get to them quickly enough. The brunette stares down the man with a fierce but wide eyed expression, much like a cornered dog baring its teeth.    For several seconds, neither of them moved, the huge man staring her down with a look of…curiosity. He didn’t seem at all afraid of the brunette, though that was hardly surprising, but he didn’t move to consume her as she had been told he’d done with the German Soldiers when he’d been first captured.    Santana takes a step forward, which causes the brunette to press herself further against the blonde, now completely hidden behind her larger frame.    “Stay Back!” She snarls with a sharp, but slightly quivering, tone. The man pauses for only a moment before surging forward with a blinding speed that even Nat’s quick reflects could only react to by throwing up her arms in defense and close her eyes.    And yet, it wasn’t the feeling of the creature pressing against her or breaking bones that she felt, but a sudden vice grip on her, surprisingly slim, wrists that brought them both together in one huge hand. Her eyes snap open just in time to see Santana’s arm flex in order to pull her up and off her feet—not difficult given their size difference—and to the man’s side, holding her away from the cowering blonde.    The Vampire’s eyes do not fall on the tiny human in front of him, but rather, focus on the woman caught in his grasp, her arms pulled taunt over her head as her feet dangle just shy of touching the concrete floor.    “Songbird…” He says, as if it were her name, red eyes fixed on her brown ones. “You are in the way of my sustenance.” It’s then that the man’s gaze falls back on the blonde who lets out a loud whimper upon feeling his eyes on her.    “NO!” The brunette snarls, flexing her arms and rotating her wrists towards his thumbs, which give without much of a fight to the force of her movement. The man looks back in slight surprise as the brunette hits the ground and immediately launches forward towards him with a speed that was uncommon among men—or perhaps this speed was normal to the humans of this time. The man doesn’t seem to notice or care as the woman’s arms wrap around his (remarkably thin for his size) waist…till he suddenly found that his feet were no longer touching the ground.    “Hmph!” The woman stands tall suddenly, hands gripping her forearms tight as she hauls the oversized man over her shoulder and takes several long strides away from the blonde…before the weight throws her balance off and she slips, unintentionally body slamming the man into the ground, stunning him.    “RUN!” The brunette shouts, taking in the startled man’s shock quickly and shouting over her shoulder at the blonde. Emily scrambles to her feet with a loud sob and dashes to the double doors—one of which was now finally open—as the brunette pulls herself to her feet quickly. She runs up as the blonde runs into the inner set of doors and bangs on them loudly, hysterical sobs just as loud as her fist on the glass. The door was open just a crack, the security team on the other side using a crowbar to try and pull the door open as several others on the other side struggle to hold open the doors that had already been pried free as they tried to close again.    “Move!” The woman shouts at the security team as she steps up behind the blonde quickly, trapping the younger woman between herself and the door as her hands slam against the door, fingers slipping between the crack the other men had created. The man, wide eyed behind their riot masks, take a startled step back and stare in shock as this intern and female lets out a shout, muscling rippling under her lab coat, and pries open the doors. Held just far enough to let in a person, she leans forward suddenly, her chest colliding with the hysterical blonde and sending her through the crack and into the arms of one of the guards.    “Go! Get out of here!” She shouts at them. Emily turns abruptly and looks up at her with wide, panicked, eyes.    “But-!?” The blonde, along with several of the other guards, seemed to realize the meaning of the woman’s words and step forward to try and get to her. But the brunette offers them a kind smiles.    “It’s okay,” She assures before releasing her grip on the doors.    BAM!    Nat jumps in surprise at the sound of another, much larger, pair of hand grab the doors just as she lets go. Her eyes go wide in shock and fear as she looks back and finds a large expanse of a well-muscled chest behind her. Her gaze trails up to the man’s face, which is still surprisingly calm and, perhaps, a little intrigued.    “I’ll see to you in a moment, Songbird. Go sit over there,” Before she can respond to his command or react, his knee comes up and collides violently with her stomach, arching in such a way that sends her to the side and into the wall beside him. Her back hits the metal surface with a sickening thud, the breath knocked form her lungs as she collapses to the ground on her side, her body seizing up and her vision growing dark around the edges.    Santana, satisfied in the knowledge that the human of interest would be unable to move for the next several minutes, turns his attention to the less interesting humans in all black before him. The mortal before him, brave or stupid enough to try and fight while the others fled with the blonde female, shakes as he raises his weapon, one much like the one he’d seen in Germany. Stepping forward, the cool metal and trembling hands of the man sink into the flesh of his stomach, caught there as he begins to digest the man. The guard lets out a guttural scream of pain and fear as he leans forward, trying to pry himself free while also trying to maintain as much distance from the rest of the Vampire as possible.    The vampire doesn’t notice the near silent sounds of footsteps until he sees a familiar figure beneath him, surprising both men as the brunette steps over one of Santana’s spread legs with one of her own. She ducks her head under the arm still holding the doors apart, her hand reaching out and resting on the other human’s chest.    “Leave,” She manages to wheeze out—clearly still not recovered from the throw despite her ability to get up and walk—before she uses what remained of her current strength to shove the guy away from Santana and out the other set of doors before they slam closed as the two guard remaining to hold them open stumble away from the brunette and the huge man behind her. The two formally holding the door grab the, now handless, man under each arm and take off, sparing a glance back to see the unforgettable sight behind them.    The brunette waves behind the glass with a soft smile on her face, her brows upturned. Behind her, the tall beast of a man dwarfs even her size, seeming to encompass her entire being as he stands behind her, still holding open the doors.    Stepping into the room between the doors, almost touching the brunette now, Santana lets the doors shut behind him as he looms over the human in front of him. Shaking now softly, either from fear or her still unstable breathes, the intern turns and looks up at the huge man with a nervous but stubborn expression on her face.    “Interesting…” Is the only warning she gets before a fist, moving too fast for her to see, suddenly drives into her stomach with only enough force to send her consciousness into the black and her body to the floor—though the vampire is gracious enough to catch her before she does. -----    Rousing slowly, the first thing the brunette notices is the tight pain in her gut, one the feels like she’d just done a thousand sit ups in one sitting. The effort not to groan in pain is immense, but she really doesn’t want to feel what would happen if she’d use the muscles required to do so. The next thing she registers is the swaying of her limbs and body, like she’d fallen asleep in a hammock. A confused frown creases her brow as she slowly opens her eyes. While it takes a few moments for her eyes to focus, her frown only worsens when she realizes she’s staring a large expanse of flesh colored mountains and valleys from what appeared to be a bird’s eye view. The realization of what she’s staring at brings with it the sudden flood of memories of her events leading up to her bout of unconsciousness.    With a sharp gasp, she flings her head back and pulls herself up with her arms on the shoulder of the one carrying her, doing her best to ignore the stabbing pain radiating through her stomach as she struggles in the grip of the Vampire; a grip that does not waver.    “We’re almost there, Songbird,” The man says, his voice rumbling through her body through her contact with him. The woman looks back in the direction they are headed and sees the opening of a huge cave, lit by a fire clearly by the flickering red and orange light. She noticed the shadows of several large figures standing inside of the cave and her heart sinks.    “The dog has returned,” Comes a strong but light voice echoing from the cave as the vampire holding her steps into it. Natalene sees the earth suddenly come a lot closer as Santana kneels on one leg and bows his head—the shoulder which he carried her following though she still can’t touch the ground.    “And it looks as though he brought something as well,” Comes a different voice, a chuckle in his voice.    “An interesting human I have found that might be to your liking, Lord Kars,” The man beneath her says before shifting his grip and grabbing the woman by the back of her long white coat, turning her to face the men as he sets her on the ground. The woman doesn’t wait to take in the sight of the three huge men standing before her, somehow more imposing than the one holding her. She instead lifts her hands above her head quickly, slipping free of her lab coat and turning as she lands, darting for the exit with the quickness of a frightened rabbit.    The sudden breeze is her only warning before a massive wall of a man appears before her, a tall blonde in a loin cloth and open vest. Despite being tall and imposing, a trait he clearly uses to bar her way, his arms folded over his massive chest, the female doesn’t break stride, her shoulder slamming into his side. To the surprise of men present, Santana included despite having seen and experienced her strength, the Vampire is actually forced to one side by her strength. She doesn’t stop to fight or attack him, however, as she doesn’t break stride and barrels past him.   The woman doesn’t get far before a pair of arms wrap around her middle and haul her off of her feet, pulling her towards a bare chest. The man barely has time to chuckle before the female in his arms goes limp suddenly and easily slides down his chest and away from his grip, her hands raised above her head to make her descent easier. She hits the ground running, darting to one side to keep away from reaching hands before darting towards the woods outside the cave.    Just as she finally breeches the mouth of the cave, she feels a shiver shoot up her spine as she stares at the dark woods before her and she’s turning before she can register what her instincts have told her. The sharpness of the nearly one-eighty-degree turn forces her ankle into an awkward angle, which she then promptly steps on with her full weight. The sound of the pop is almost deafening but the human, driven by fight or flight, can feel none of the pain.    The brunette runs at the jagged cliff face surrounding the mouth of the cave and is almost twenty feet up before the turban wearing Vampire steps out of the shadows of the woods, staring up at the human with a slightly impressed and amused expression. He approaches the rock wall slowly as the woman continues to climb before suddenly slamming a fist into the rock face, sending violent vibrations up the wall and jarring the woman’s grip. It almost looks as though she might manage to hang on, but the small piece of rock she was gripping gives under her, not inconsiderable, weight.    Natalene doesn’t have time to scream, eyes wide as she falls. But instead of the ground, she finds herself in an equally hard but much less jagged and bone breaking grip of the largest man. He smirks down at her, looking pleased and chuckling lightly at her escape attempts.    “What an interesting human you’ve found, dog,” The man says even as the human in his grip struggles to free herself. He strides back into the cave just as the human manages to worm her way out of his hold and onto the ground again. Looking up, she finds four vampires in total surround her, blocking her escape route. She looks between all of them as the adrenaline wears off and she suddenly feels the pain of her ankle, which buckles beneath her and sends her to the ground. The white-haired vampire takes a step towards her, but the female uses her good leg to force herself backwards, snarling at them like a feral animal as she moves backwards till she finds herself trapped in a corner of the cave, completely at their mercy.

[thebrunettewriter]

Scuttlebutt

Summary:  You stubbornly get out of bed after orders not to strain your injury. Chief's having none of that. Featured Characters: Master Chief  Word Count: 874 Author’s Note: Written eons ago! Requests Open!

"Good for you, Chief" she says, patting his side as she slips around him towards the open door. Before she can get half a step towards the door, the collar of her shirt is grabbed and pulled, making her fall back by the armored spartan's side. She looks up at him with a slight pout.

"Where do you think you're going?" He questions sternly.

"Nowhere, considering my feet no longer touch the ground." To emphasize her point, she looks down at her toes which, even pointed, barely touch the ground, the chief holding her up too high for her to reach. Also as a result of his handling, her arms are parallel to her body till the elbows, where they dangle at that point. She looked like a scarecrow in scrubs. He didn't lower or release her but instead lifted her up further onto one arm. She caught herself with two hands on her shoulder to keep her from going over it. She wasn't going to be a sack of potatoes again. He walked her back to the hospital bed and set her back down on the edge, another point where her feet couldn't touch ground. She glared lightly up at him, but he didn't seem phased.

"Orders are to stay put and recover." He states firmly. She kicks her feet back and forth lightly, trying not to strain her wounded core.

"I know the orders, but I'm not a soldier. I don't have to listen. A little walking around isn't going to kill me. I'm past the critical stage and I've been in this bed for almost two weeks already! I'll go crazy if I stay here any longer! And I'm certain my legs will become useless if I don't do something soon." She argued. He grabbed her firmly by the shoulder and pushed her down onto the bed. She didn't try fighting him, the spartan was twice the size of her, it was obvious he had at least that amount of power, if not more. She laid down on the bed as directed with little more than a frown as she looked up at him.

"Party pooper." She mumbled as he grabbed the ends of the blanket she'd kicked off in her haste to get to him and pulled them back up to her chin.

"Why are you here, anyway?" She asked, sticking her foot out, letting it hang over the side of the bed just to annoy him.

"I was told to check on you." He states vaguely.

"Why?" She asks, quirking an eyebrow.

"I didn't ask. Talking isn't-"

"Your strong suit, I know." She says with a roll of her eyes. He pats her head.

"Follow orders and maybe I won't have to come in here." She sticks her tongue out at him.

"What if I ignore orders just so you'll come back?" She counters, earning her a light--for Master Chief--smack on the head.

"I have things to do. You can behave and recover." She puffs out her cheeks and grumbles but snuggles back into her covers.

"The forerunners, right?" She asks, referring to his comment on being busy. Chief looks at her for a long moment.

"Skuttlebutt." She states simply. He sighs softly and nods.

"Of course. Yes. The forerunners." He says. "It'll take me away from here for a while so you'd better behave and take care of yourself. I don't want to come back and find out that you let this ship fall to the aliens." He states, only half joking. She nods in understanding, face serious for once.

"Don't you worry about that chief. Go do your job, I'll keep these guys safe!" She declares proudly. He pats her head.

"Take care kid." He says before turning and walking to the door. Hearing shuffling and the padding of bare feet on the metal floor behind him, he stops, turning just in time to be tackled by the girl. Her arms wrap around his hips and squeeze as tightly as she can, her face buried in under armor at his stomach. Not really sure what to do, he lets his hands fall lightly on her head and back, just waiting. Before long she looks up at him, eyes filling with tears but a determined look on her face.

"You be careful too, Chief! I have a bad feeling about this mission. You'd better come back to us safely!" She tells him firmly. He pats her head.

"Alright." She pulls back from him and he lets her, his hands dropping to his sides.

"Give me your word, Chief! Promise me that you'll come back safely!" She demands. He nods.

"You have my word as a Spartan." She nods sharply and snaps into a salute.

"Then go kick some alien ass, Master Chief. We're all counting on you." He brings his hand up to his helmet in his return salute before the both of them lower their hands and he turns again, walking out the door and leaving her standing there.

"Be careful, John." She whispers, tears running down her cheeks. She watches him till the doors snap close, cutting her off from the spartan in more ways than she would have ever thought at that time.

[thebrunettewriter]

Black Dragon

Summary:  Black Dragon, a strange rouge warrior, recruited by the Inquisitor is sent on a mission with Cole, Krem, and her lover, Iron Bull. The leader of a very small band of feared warriors, Black dragon, is known to be strict and stubborn, but a kind hearted person who looks out for her own. When she's sent on a mission more dangerous than anticipated, her companions find out why those she's fought took to calling her the Black Dragon. Perhaps it wasn't just the black cloak and dragon design on her chest piece. Featured Characters: Cole, The Iron Bull, Krem Word Count: 8,174 Author’s Note: Graphic Depictions of Violence Requests Open!

The brunette rogue/warrior stands in front of the portal that will take her to her last companion as she thinks about what happened. Nothing was ever simple when mages were involved but how could dealing with one rouge mage end up like this?

--

  “Something doesn’t feel right…” Cole mutters quietly as they step into the abandoned mansion they’d been warned about by the, small, nearby village. Apparently there were sounds, screaming and shouting, coming from the long since abandoned home. The villagers were too frightened to investigate the supposedly haunted house but when some of the people from the small town started to go missing they grew even more frightened. Some fled, most hid, but when a small group of Inquisition scouts were confronted by the few villagers brave enough to leave their homes they’d returned to Skyhold with their message and not long after the Inquisitor sent the Black Dragon to help.

    For the most part the villagers were useless for information, but one older woman—with a little bit of persuading—managed to inform them of a blood mage that had stopped by the town not long before the sounds started. He had inquired about the house and had requested supplies before his true nature was discovered and he was driven out. She was certain it was this rouge mage that was behind all of this and, since no one was coming forward with any better suggestions, the group of four entered the house cautious of the mage’s tricks.   “What do you feel, Cole?” The woman asks cautiously as she looks back at spirit boy. He doesn’t make eye contact as usual, staring at the ground as he tries to focus.   “Something’s…not right. It’s…hidden. Shrouded. Like it doesn’t want us to know what’s hiding behind the veil…” He says in a quiet voice, frowning more than usual as if he’s having trouble finding it.   “I agree with the kid, something’s fishy.” The Iron Bull agrees with a firm nod, his grip growing a little tighter around his weapon. The woman nods but looks forward as she continues.   “Keep listening Cole, tell me if it gets closer or we do.” She says simply as she walks deeper into the house—large and once lavish—her sword already drawn. Though normally an archer, in such close quarters she’d opted for her sword and dagger over her trusty bow. Friendly fire was less a possibility and more a likelihood when crammed into a doorway trying to fight whatever was on the other side.   “It’s coming from there.” Cole says as the brunette gets to a branching path. There’s a door to her left and a staircase to her right but it’s in front of her where the blonde points, to a door under the stairs that likely led to the basement. She looks back at her three companions before nodding. Being the most quiet—next to Cole—she slips in first and heads down the stairs that lay on the other side of the door, leading down into the bowls of the earth. The staircase is winding, digging further and further into the dirt before it finally levels out to a large open room.   “I don’t like this boss.” Krem says quietly behind Bull, who nods in agreement.

  “Be careful, Kadan.” The Qunari says, his eye focusing on her before scanning the room again. They all proceeded with all of the caution they could muster but they weren’t ready for what they got. How could they? A man suddenly stood before them at the opposite end of the room, flanked by two demons. Two powerful demons. Based on text the woman merc had read while in the library of Skyhold—a place she visited often—the one on the mage’s left was a fear demon, his right was a sloth. Neither of them looked weak and the mage seemed to know this full well as he was smirking at the four of them.   “Well well. What an unexpected surprise! We have guests.” The man says, a fairly young man, no older than late twenties, his smirk only growing. He was blonde, longer hair curling around his cheeks, and had bright blue eyes. Some might consider him fairly handsome in his boyish looks, rather innocent appearing, but the smirk on his face and the glint in his eyes told the warrior that he was not being controlled by these demons.

   “A Qunari, a spirit and a couple of humans. How quaint.” The man chuckles cruelly. The woman’s grip on her sword tightened as she gauged the two demons looming over the man’s shoulder. The two of them looked poised to strike at any moment while also appearing calm. Something wasn’t right. It seemed more like they were waiting for the man to do something than the four of them.

    “Come to fight me, have you? The villagers finally decided to hire someone? Well, it’s to be expected. They’re rather slow, but better late then never I suppose. I’ve been wanting for some…stronger specimens.” The man says, looking them over.   “Where are the people you kidnapped?” The brunette growls, growing tired of his banter. The man smirks and glances over his shoulder at a door behind him.   “There are…people back there. They’re frightened. So much pain. So much fear. It’s so cold…” Cole says from behind them. The mage smirks.   “What a clever little spirit.” He comments, looking at the blonde who glares at him. “Hmmm…now that I’m thinking about it, I have been wanting to test my demons and they’ve been oh so eager to as well. We’ll wait for your reinforcements to preform my experiments. I think I’ll give you to these demons!” He says almost gleefully. The entire party tenses as the two demons move suddenly for them. They charge at the creatures but are blinded by a light and their world goes black.

 --

  “There you are! Come inside!” Comes a familiar voice. The brunette looks up to see her mother standing not far from her in front of her house, the door open behind her.   “M…other…?” The woman says, having difficulty focusing. How did she get here? What was she…doing before this? The woman smiles and beckons her inside.   “Hurry up! You need to clean up before supper. You’re a complete mess!” She laughs and gestures to the girl again. Still confused and dazed, the woman steps towards the house slowly. What…was she doing…what…something wasn’t right…

     She sees a shape loom over the shoulder of her mother and her eyes go wide before she breaks into a dead sprint. She screams for the woman to move, fight, do something, but she doesn’t seem to notice. The brunette runs as hard as she can but…can’t seem to get any closer. Her mother seems a fixed distance away, like no matter how hard or fast she runs her mother and the house behind her move backwards just as quickly. Tears stream down the girls’ face as she sees the figure raise a dagger into the air in slow motion. She screams and cries for her mother to move, to get away, but she does nothing but smile until the dagger drives slowly into the woman’s back.   “NOOOOO!!!” She screams as she runs even harder, her lungs and legs burning. Her mother drops like a puppet with her strings cut and the dark figure is illuminated by the light from outside. Ice explodes through the girl’s body, starting from her heart and she’s frozen mid step, staring with wide, tear filled, eyes at the slightly blurry figure in the doorway, dagger in hand. Rubbing the water from her eyes with a quick swipe with the back of her hand the woman stares at her mirror image in the door. While one version is wide eyed and terrified, the one standing behind the collapsed form of her mother wears a cruel grin, splatters of blood of the woman who gave birth to her only serving to highlight the demented delight in her eyes.   Without a word, twisted grin only growing, her doppelganger turns and walks further into the house, the door closing behind her as if of its own will. Jolted back into action and ripped from her shock, the woman takes off again. This time, the house doesn’t move and it takes her seconds to reach the door and fling it open…just in time to see herself drive a dagger into the heart of her own father. She screams and runs for the man just as he collapses but something catches the attention of the both of them. They look over at the figure in the doorway, a young, blonde headed boy.   Her heart stops as she stares at her brother, who only stares up, confused and sleepy, at the evil version of herself. Eyes snapping to the other woman as she starts to move towards the boy, she tries to run after her, protect her brother where she couldn’t protect her parents, take the blow, kill the other woman, anything! But her feet wouldn’t move. They felt bolted to the floor.   Run! It’s not me! Run away!! She tries to scream but her vocal cords are frozen as well and she can only stare in horror as the woman who looked like her walked slowly up to her child brother.  NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! She screams in her head, tears streaming down her face as she tries to move, tries to scream, tries to look away. She can do nothing but watch the sharp metal drive into the heart of her little brother by her own hand.   The woman smirks and turns to look at the tormented rogue as she sobs and struggles. All at once the boy drops to the floor, the woman is freed and the doppelganger is gone. Without hesitation the brunette runs to her brother’s side and falls to the floor beside him. She screams and cries for him to wake up, pressing her hand to the wound as she cradles his limp head in her arm but he doesn’t move, blank eyes staring up at her with a terrified and betrayed expression. Sobbing and rocking back and forth, cradling the child, she only registers the slowly heating room when she feels something burn her upper arm.   The moment the woman looks up she gasps and jumps to her feet, still holding the child in her arms, and stares in horror at the flames beginning to engulf her house. She spins around and looks behind her at the bodies of her parents but they’re both consumed by flames already.  “No!” She screams, running to the back door with her brother in her arms and bursting through the wood, splintering it with the force of her impact, sending both her and the limp form of her brother flying. The woman lands hard in the dirt, sliding for several feet before coming to a halt.

  Calling her brother’s name weakly, she wills herself to sit up but can’t bring herself to stand as she stares in horror at the sight before her. Her house, her childhood home, is alight with flames, her mother and father trapped inside and probably already consumed by the raging fire. And her brother? Her brother had slid into the side of the house and was now alight with the flame as well, corpse now turning to ash.   “How…? Why…?” The brunette sobs as she stares at the flames, but the only answer she gets is the cold feeling of the first drop of rain on her head before it begging to pour, soaking the woman and slowly dousing the flames. The rogue can only sit there and stare as the water puts out the fire slowly, leaving only the charred, destroyed, remains of her childhood home and her only family.

  Broken hearted, the woman sobs and sobs as she sits in the mud on her knees, until she can’t look any more, her head dropping to look away from the horrible sight. The huge puddle of water she kneels in reflects her broken expression and tear stained face back at her and she can only stare…. until something catch her eyes. She frowns at something small and white peaking out of her shirt. With numb fingers she slowly reaches into the collar of her tunic and pulls out a necklace. She stares at the white object in her palms for a while before her eyes grow wide and she gasps. Memories of leaving her happy, healthy, family at home as she goes adventuring returns to her.  “That’s right. The Mercenaries, the betrayal, the inquisition!” She fingers the dragon’s tooth in her palm. “Bull.” She whispers before jumping to her feet as one last memory hits her. The two demon’s float into her mind; a sloth and fear demon! She scowls and looks around.   “This isn’t real!” She very nearly snarls as she looks around before something catches her eye. Standing not five yards to her left is the imposter, the smirk gone from its face as it glares at her.   “YOU!” The woman snarls at her doppelganger as she draws her sword. “You’re a demon imposter!” The creature gives her the slightest of cruel smirks and the woman snaps. She’s on the creature before it can register her movement and her sword is buried inside of its belly.   “Fake or not, you do not harm my family.” She growls as the creature stares at her with wide, lifeless, eyes before falling to the ground as she throws her off of her sword.

     The woman stares for a moment before looking around. Her eyes go wide as she spots a tear in the air, like the water when it laps against a stone or stick. With only a moment’s hesitation, the woman suddenly darts towards the rip and dives through it.

  Tumbling to the ground the girl looks around before letting out a sight of relief. Though the fade wasn’t always a pleasant place for her, this was so much better than the nightmare she came from. Eyes and mind now clear, the woman starts off down the only path that she can, weapon drawn. She knows what she needs to do next. Time to free her friends. ---

“No!” She hears a familiar voice call as she walks down the path. Glancing around sharply, the rogue spots a short branching path with a fade portal on the other side and darts for it, jumping inside without a moment’s hesitation.   “I’m not. I’m not like you.” Cole whispers, eyes and head lowered. A demon hovers over his shoulder, a slim hand on his shoulder. Before him stands Rhys, who looks horrified as he stares at Cole.   “Look at how he stares at out, how terrified he is. He knows you’re a monster.” The demon whispers. “He knows what you really are now.” Cole shakes his head but is visibly disturbed by the words.   “I’m not a demon. I won’t be a demon!” He says in a shaky voice. “I want to help. Heal the hurt!” He protects but the demon grins cruelly behind him.   “Like you helped Cole?” He breathes and the blonde goes stiff.   “How much pain was that boy in? How hurt was he? And yet you did nothing.” The demon hisses the last word through his teeth. “You didn’t help him.” “But…I tried to help! I was there. He wasn’t alone!” He says but the demon chuckles at his weak and shaking voice.   “You didn’t help him. You didn’t save him.” The demon gets closer to his ear. “You used him.” He nearly purrs, and Cole’s already big eyes grow wider.   “No!” He exclaims, looking up for the first time. He opens his mouth to protect further but can only watch in horror as Rhys backs away from him slowly.   “Monster…DEMON!” The man yells before turning and running from them, leaving the blonde stunned and shaking.   “You see? You’re a demon just as I…You can’t change that.” He growls in his ear.   “No…” Cole breathes, barely believing the words himself.   “Yes~” The demon purrs again with a satisfied grin.   “No!” Both demon and spirit look up at the source of the voice that just yelled. The demon hisses and looks back down at Cole.   “Ignore her! You are a demon! You don’t help anyone!” The creature continues to try but the spirit is suddenly yanked from the demon and pulled tight to the woman’s side. Holding the boy’s hand with one of her own, she grasps her sword with the other and points it straight at the demon’s throat. Eyeing the creature for a moment, the woman squeezes the blonde’s hand and looks down at him, not once letting up her protective stance.   “Look at me.” The woman whispers as the spirit stares at the floor, eyes still wide. He doesn’t seem to hear her. Still holding his hand, she lifts hers up to his chin and tilts his head up to look at her. It takes a moment but the blonde’s doe eyes finally focus on her.   “This creature knows nothing. This is an illusion created by the sloth and fear demons outside. We are trapped in the fade because of them. None of this is real.” She tries to reason, but the terrified and conflicted expression on Cole’s face remains.   “I could become one of them…” He says quietly, earning his hand a near painful squeeze.   “No! You couldn’t! You’re not like that. You’re kind. You want to help people. We want to do the same. And right now there are others who need your help. Remember Bull? Krem? They were with us when we got shoved in here. They believe in you just as I do, just like pretty much everyone in the inquisition. And right now they need our help.” She coaxes.   “But what if I can’t help them…Cole, he-“ But the brunette interrupts. “You helped Cole. What were his last words? You’ve told them to me before.” Cole stares up at her.   “’Thank…you…’” He says almost hesitantly. The woman nods.   “Yes. You help people. Demons don’t you’re not going to become one of them. You’re not one of them. This is only an illusion.” She says and the light seems to come to the spirit’s eyes before they narrow and turn to focus on the demon who hisses.   “Damn you!” The creature hisses at the woman, ducking under her sword before she can drive it into his throat and lashing out with his claws and clipping her arm before bouncing off of her armor. The warrior jumps back as Cole lunges forward and draws his twin daggers, slashing the both of them across the demon’s exposed chest, creating deep gashes in the creature and giving the woman time to recover and step forward, spinning around and slicing the demon’s head off in one clean stroke.   The head bounces off the creature’s shoulder and falls to the ground about the same time as the body as both spirit and human straighten.   “Thank you…” Cole says gently as he looks back at her. The woman opens her mouth to reply but shuts it quickly, eyes going wide as the boy’s body starts to grow translucent.   “Cole…be careful. I’ll follow soon.” She says gently as she takes his hand gently, knowing that the spirit is being released from the confines of the demons’ trap. The hand disappears from her grasp seconds later and she stares at the place where he once stood before turning and leaving. Now to save the other two.

---

Stepping back onto the path outside the portal, the brunette is a little startled to see a figure standing before her. She doesn’t recognize the man shaded in darkness, half transparent. Reaching for her sword, body tense, she stops when the man holds up a hand.   “I am not here to harm you.” The man says, voice laced with this otherworldly echo. Though the man was certainly strange, she didn’t feel any malice coming from him, nor did her gut tell her to fear this man.   “Why are you here then?” The woman asks as she straightens and releases the hilt of her sword.   “You need to know how to leave, how to get out of this place.” He says. The woman tilts her head.   “Don’t I just free my friends? And then disappear as Cole did?” She asks, but the man shakes his head solemnly. Her heart sinks.   “I am afraid your path is not so simple. Since you woke of your own accord you cannot leave so easily.” He states, making her frown.   “That hardly seems fair.” She grumbles under her breath, making the man chuckle almost humorlessly.   “No, I suppose not, but it is still the truth.” He says.   “Then how do I leave?” She asks, shifting her weight onto her other foot. The man doesn’t speak for a moment.   “There are four demons that guard seals that protect those that would keep you here.” His words sound almost cryptic, but the brunette seems to understand.   “The Fear and Sloth demons.” She says slowly, the image of those two powerful demons flanking the blood mage drifts into her mind. Can she really beat them?   “Yes.” The man pulls her from her thoughts. “You must defeat the both of them before you are allowed to leave.” He states.   “And my allies?” She asks hesitantly.   “They will not be able to join you but they will be freed when you defeat the demons tormenting them, as you did with your spirit friend.” He states softly, seeming to try and break the news to her gently.   “But I won’t be able to follow them…?” It doesn’t sound much like a question as she looks at the path before him. Out of the corner of her eye she sees the man shake his head.   “Not as they leave. You must defeat the two demons before you are permitted to leave.” She looks up at him slowly.   “And if I don’t defeat them?” She asks, looking up at him.   “Then you will be trapped here in your own living hell till your body withers away in the outside world then you will likely become a manner of demon not dissimilar to the ones you face now.” His voice is almost monotone as he says this but there’s a hint of sympathy for her. The woman takes in a deep breath before nodding softly.   “I understand. Thank you.” She states and the man nods.   “Be careful.” He states before he fades and disappears silently. Though she does not know the man, she thanks him mentally for the information before walking back onto the main path and continuing down it.   Time seems different here. While the brunette feels like she’s been walking for hours she’s fairly certain it’s only been ten or twenty minutes before she finally spots another branching path. This path is slightly longer than the one she took to get to Cole but at the end sits a portal as his did.   “Don’t!” She hears a familiar voice shout and her feet are taking her down the path at a brisk clip before she can even think about it or hesitate.   “Krem!” She calls, though she doubts the man can hear her on the other side of the portal, before running inside. ----

     The vint stares in horror at the men surrounding him, a mixture of disgust and rage in their eyes. Before him, protective as he always has been, stands Bull, glaring at the others.

  “Why pretend? No matter what you do you will never be a man!” Comes a voice from the crowd.

  “I’m not pretending! It’s who I am.” Krem protests yet again, head throbbing as he tries to figure out why he was in this situation in the first place.   “Liar! You’re just hiding! You cannot be a woman so you pretend to be a man!” Comes another call, Krem glares in the direction of the voice.   “Knock it off! Krem is more of a man then the likes of you!” The Iron Bull defends, getting pissed. Something wizzes through the air suddenly and smashes the Qunari in the head. Though it leaves a clear mark it only seems to piss the dragon horned man off.   “Stop defending her!” Several of them shout before something else sails through the air and buries itself in Bull’s shoulder, who grunts in pain but stands firm in front of the vint.

    “Is that the best you got!?” He calls with a roar, as he yanks the knife from his shoulder and throws it to the ground. A short grunt of pain echoes through the dark room again as Bull falls to one knee, an arrow embedded in his thigh.   “Boss!” Krem calls, trying to move to help the Qunari but his body doesn’t respond.

    “I don’t need your help. Just stay back there.” The Iron Bull growls as he stands. Krem frowns but clutches his head as trying to understand why he feels Bull is acting strange only furthers the pain in his temple.

  “I don’t need protecting, Bull! Let me help! We’ve faced worse!” The vint calls but Bull glares back at him with one eye.

    “No. I can’t let a girl get hurt.” Krem’s eyes go wide.   This is wrong. He thinks as his head throbs. But why? What am I missing?!   “You can’t fight.” Comes a voice in Krem’s ear and the fog thickens in his head. “You’re a woman. You can never change that. And every day that you lie to yourself and others people will get hurt.” The brunette shakes his head, gripping his hair as he fights the pain to find his clarity. Something was wrong.   “This can’t be-“

    “Real?” The voice interrupts. “It’s very real. What you do, what you pass for, is a lie.” The thing hisses.    “The truth is-“

    “Krem!” Comes a higher woman’s voice that rings a bell in the Vint’s mind. He looks up abruptly.   “Krem!” Comes the voice again. His eyes dart around, looking for the source of the voice. Unable see anything, the brunette struggles to move and follow the sound. He stops and stares, eyes wide, as Bull ripples like the reflection in a pond before a figure steps through him and comes to a halt in front of him.    “Black Dragon.” He breathes as he stares at the armored woman in front of him. He straightens as the clouds in his mind start to clear. She smiles softly and nods.   “NO!” Hisses a voice in the vint’s ear and the rogue before him grows serious.   “Move!” She calls and quick reflexes allow the man to dive to the left as the woman draws her sword and slashes at the demon that had been standing unnoticed behind him. The creature disappears before her blow can hit and the woman swears.

     “Krem!” She calls without looking and the man draws his own weapon and puts his broad back to hers without hesitation. Both watch with sharp eyes for any sign of the creature.    “Here!” The vint calls just as he moves to swing at the creature. Based on the lack sounds of impact, the woman assumes the creature disappeared again.    “Here!” The dragon calls as she attacks the suddenly appearing form of the demon, only to press herself back against her partner as the creature disappears without a hit.    “Wait…listen.” She hears the vint say quietly. Their breathing slows at the same time as they focus on the sounds. They can hear each other’s heartbeats and the sound of their soft breathing. But under that there’s a faint swishing sound, like a soft breeze. Both of them close their eyes and listen carefully. It’s going in circles. Stalking around in the dark for them, slowly getting closer till….   “THERE!” They both shout as they both lash out. The back of Krem’s hammer smashes into the hidden figure of the demon and throws it towards the black dragon, who easily drives her sword between it’s ribs, glancing off a few while buried inside it’s flesh and cracking them before protruding out the other side, blood and bits of lung clinging to her sword. The demon can only manage a gurgled gasp before it collapses heavily against the weapon. The girl lets it fall before retching her sword from its body and turning to look at Kerm.    “Damned thing. Thought this was real.” Krem mutters in his usually, if slightly more annoyed, tone. The woman shakes her head.    “Fear and sloth demon. Trapped in your living nightmare.” The woman explains with a sigh.    “Never did like demons.” The man mutters again, looking down at the demon before looking up at her. Her smirk suddenly falls as she stares at him. Glancing down at himself he’s a bit surprised to notice that he can see through his own hands and see the fading image of his weapon’s handle below it.   “It’s okay. It just means you’re leaving the fade and going back to the real world.” She says gently, a sad smile on her face. The vint scowls at his hands and looks up at her. Seeing that she’s not doing the same he gets a little worried.   “What about you?” He asks urgently. She shakes her head.   “I’m trapped here still. But you have to go.” She says gently. The man shakes his head and tries to walk towards her but his legs feel too heavy to move.   “No. I’m not leaving you to fight this alone! I’m not leaving you here.” He says firmly as he struggles against the weight of his own limbs, trying to fight the call back to the real world.   “You don’t have a choice.” She says gently, her sad smile wavering a little as she watches her friend struggle.   “You’d better get out of this or I’m coming back in for you!” The man threatens just before the last of him blinks away. The woman lets out a pathetic laugh as tears fall down her cheeks. The thought of that being the last time she sees Krem makes the woman’s heart squeeze in her chest.   “Focus.” She mutters to herself as she scrubs her eyes before turning and walking back out of the room, each step reminding her what might become of her and what lies ahead. With each step…she feels something dark stir in her heart. ---

And here she stands. No noise comes from this portal she stands before now, which worries her. There are only two paths this time and one door is sealed so the portal before her must be the last of her companions. Something feels so wrong and stirs the darkness somewhat in her heart. Not willing to give into her fear—particularly give who lays behind the portal—the woman takes a breath and steps through.   Blinded momentarily, the brunette has barely enough time to duck as her eyes focus and spot the flying form headed towards her. With a sharp gasp, she drops and the figure flies over her, flying through the portal she’d just come from. Wide eyed, she looks in the direction the body came from. Her eyes go wide and her heart grows cold when she sees the source.   Standing, slightly hunched, in the middle of a foggy field surrounded by several figures—ones without colors or defining features—was Bull. But…something was wrong. His sweaty, exposed, back—which was facing her—was heaving and shaking. That wasn’t unusual, as she’d often seen him after sex, fighting, and training and he was not so different, but something was wrong. Something wild and cruel rolled off of him in waves and seemed to seep into her very bones and turn them to ice. Standing slowly, she slowly tried to approach her heaving lover, still some yards away.   The woman jumps when she hears the man roar and slam his fist into one of the figures surrounding him. The thing collapses before standing again slowly just as two of its companions jump at the Qunari. The huge man spins around and slams the back of his trunk like arm into the two creatures, sending them flying and turning him to face her. He doesn’t seem to notice her but the gasp of fear she lets out when she sees him makes his attention snap to her.   Madness.   In Bull’s single eye she sees nothing but wild, cruel, madness in its depths. The blood dripping from the man’s lips certainly doesn’t help the crazed look. Paling a little, the woman straightens. The man just stares at her, not seeming to recognize her.    “B-Bull?” She calls to him, but he just continues to stare. Her eyes dart to his left and right as the shades seem to dance around the edge of some unseen circle surrounding the Qunari, stepping in tauntingly every few seconds, almost stimulating the bloodlust in the merc’s eyes. At that thought, something dark tightens around her heart and embeds itself in it, refusing to let go. She feels a sudden rage directed towards the shades that taunt her lover.

    She’s distracted from her dark thoughts and rage, however, when the huge Qunari takes a step towards her and she suddenly feels a wild madness wash over her like a powerful wave, clearly now the focus of these feelings. Bull stares at her with dark eyes, pupils nearly devouring the color in his eyes as he stalks towards her. Unable to help herself, the woman takes a step back for each step forward he takes.

    “Bull! Listen to me! This isn’t you! You aren’t Tal’ Vashoth!” She calls to him as she slowly retreats. He doesn’t seem affected by her words and continues to advance.   “Remember the Chargers! Remember Krem! The Inquisition!” She continues to try almost futilely, anything to get him to remember who he was and what he was doing. But he doesn’t seem phased.   “Don’t you remember me?!” She jumps as her back hits a tree, looking back at it before looking forward at Bull who’s slowly closing the gap, eye dancing with dark madness and pleasure at her current position.   “You call me Kadan! Remember? This is fake! I am real!” She stares up at the man who now stands before her and towers easily over her shorter frame. She almost sees something in his eyes and her heart swells, before going suddenly cold as he suddenly lashes out and grabs her by her throat. She gasps and grabs his huge, strong, hand, trying desperately to tear it off as she’s lifted into the air.  Her feet leave the ground as he holds her up with relative ease as she gasps for breath. Her hand inches towards her sword but hesitates before grasping his hand again. She can’t do it. She can’t hurt him even as her eyesight starts to fade and go fuzzy at the edges.   “B-Bull….please…” She gasps out as she feels her toes start to tingle from lack of air. But his grip doesn’t loosen. Her slowly oxygen starving mind struggles to find something, anything to get him to go back to normal; to release her and to be released from this living hell. She can only think of one word.   “Poppies.” She utters her safe word, one long since drilled into the both of them. In her vision, almost gone, she sees the Qunari’s eye wide before the fog fades all at once and he releases her with a grunt of surprise. The woman falls to the ground and drops to a knee, gripping the ground as she sucks in precious air like a man dying of thirst, her body trembling.   “Kadan.” Bull breathes as he takes a knee before her and grabs her by her shoulders, pulling her to his huge muscle bound chest and envelops her in his trunk like arms. The woman’s eyes close as she sinks gratefully into that familiar warmth, the scent of him filling her nose and easing her tension. The moment is short lived, however, when the girl opens her eyes and spots something over the Qunari’s shoulder that she hadn’t noticed before.   “Bull! Behind you!” She barks as jerks away from him. Knowing his partner well, both on the field and in the bedroom, he understands her tone of voice before she can even finish and shoves her onto her back, covering her as his demon attacks from behind, managing only to clip the one eyed merc’s back with it’s claws.   Bull sits up and throws a backhanded punch at the creature to drive it away as the human pulls herself up off the ground. The two of them stand abruptly, the brunette drawing her sword as she faces the demon…only to find that it wasn’t there. Or, at least, it didn’t appear to be. Being a rogue, and a damned good archer, the woman’s sharp eyes caught the shimmer of light to Bull’s right.   “Bull! Punch right!” She orders him, which the Qunari follows without hesitation, his fist connecting with the chest of the invisible demon, sending it back several yards before it jumps to its feet. Keen eyes lose the creature for a second before catching it again…almost directly in front of her.    “Bull!” She yells as her free arm goes up to defend herself. The Ben-hassrath spy’s quick reflexes and sharp eye catch the creature and his hand lashes out with the same speed it did to catch her throat. This time, it grabs the demon’s face in one giant hand, holding it there.   “Kill it!” He barks, which she doesn’t hesitate to do, her entire body tingling as something in her very soul is filled with bloodlust for this demon that would torture her love, giving her a speed and strength she didn’t realize she had, driving her sword into the middle of the demon’s ribcage and smashing through bone and flesh till it’s buried to the hilt in the creature’s body.

     For a long moment, there is nothing but silence as echoes of the sickening sound slowly die out. Slowly straightening—the tendrils of that strange darkness inside of her slowly going dormant once again—the woman pulls her sword out of the body, with great effort, and Bull releases it, letting it collapse in a heap on the ground.   She can feel the eye of her love staring down at her for a moment before he takes her hip and pulls her close, kissing her firmly; desperately, apologetically. The woman returns the kiss with some passion before pulling away and staring up at him, eyes watering, knowing what has to happen next.   “I’m sorry. I don’t know….” She shakes her head to stop him.   “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t real.” She says before glancing down at him and frowning.   “You…get to go back to the real world, Bull.” She says quietly, smiling up at him even as tears start to slip down her cheeks. The Qunari looks down at his body and sees it start to fade. His lover steps back away from him and he struggles to reach out for her again.   “You’re coming with me.” He states firmly but she shakes her head.   “I can’t, Bull.” She says quietly, voice breaking a little in the middle of the sentence. He struggles all the harder, fighting tooth and nail just to reach out to her.    “Then I’ll stay! I’m not leaving you here, Kadan!” He nearly shouts as he reaches out to her with nearly invisible hands. She only gives him a heart breaking, trembling, smile through her tears.   “You can leave.” She says in a ‘cheerful’ tone. “Go. I must stay.”    “Kadan!!” He yells before he’s gone entirely. With Bull gone the weight of all that she faces and all that has happens hit her. The last she might ever see of Bull, the last kiss she might share, the scent of him she may never experience again, all hit her like a druffalo and stir that darkness in her heart again. That feeling only feeds and grows as she thinks about the suffering he’s been through living his nightmare, the same for Krem and Cole, and the feeling now fills her body. Turning, the woman, entire body tense like a tight coil, stalks towards the portal she came from, the darkness seeming to seep and pool around her with each step. Stepping out of the portal her body sings with a quiet, cruel, dark, and powerful rage. She walks back down the path she’d come towards the other portal, no longer sealed, stepping on the shade that had flown out of Bull’s portal without a care or notice. Slowly, she stalked towards the door, rage building, till she stood in front of it.

     Placing her hand on the door, she pushed it open coolly and stepped in the dark room. The door shut behind her with a dull thud.    The fade was silent for a few, tense, moments, before filling with the surreal screams and quails of crippling terror and mind numbing pain; the sounds of two demons meeting their fate and getting exactly what they’d dished…their own hell.

---- The landing is soft as her booted feet touch the ground with a strange grace as she returns to the living world. The mage turns from the captured forms of her companions and looks at her with a smirk already planted on his face.   “It seems you managed to slip out too! I’m…impre…” His words die in his mouth as his brain finally catches up with what his eyes were seeing. Slowly the woman stalks towards him, eyes lowered. She’s covered in blood, her sword arm limp and bleeding by her side. The man’s eyes go to her other hand and catch a glimpse of something in her hands before they’re flung to his feet. His eyes grow wide and his blood runs cold as the heads of his two most powerful demon’s roll to a stop in front of him. His doe eyes snap up to the woman who hasn’t stopped slowly stalking towards him.   “S-S-S-S-Stay back!” He shrieks, stumbling back as he raises his staff to trap her as he’d done to the others. His entire body freezes in horror as he looks back at her again. Eyes no longer on the floor, deep, dark brown, now almost black, lock on the man with a calm, dark, cruel rage coiling within their depth. This isn’t the fiery rage that leads to the elemental demons but a cruel evil, a promise that a fate worse than death awaited and they were focused entirely on him. Even without realizing it, the mage’s spells containing the other companions drop but they can’t move. They can’t stop staring at the woman slowly advancing on the frozen mage, frozen just as completely as the mage even though they were further from her and not her focus.   One who was normally so gentle and kind, so full of light and smiles even on the brink of passing out, one who put the safety of her friends above all else, no longer seemed to exist in the woman that stared down the miserable blood mage. She didn’t seem human any more. Demons would cower from the pure black, evil, rage that seemed to wrap around her very being like twisted snakes. With every step the blackness inside of her seemed to coil even tighter, making her company grow even more tense with every step like any second the coils would snap and a horror that could dwarf the arch demons’ would claim the mage’s very soul and make it suffer.   The room was dead silent except for the soft, almost nonexistent, sounds of her steps as she closed the gap. Heartbeats could be heard if one listened close enough. She was so close to the man who could only stare in horror at his eternal suffering taken shape.   Three steps till she was standing in front of him and yet no one moved.    Two steps and the whole room held their breath.    

   One step and heartbeats stopped.    Zero. Time seemed to stop as the woman stared down at him with those black eyes. It might have been minutes; it could have been days for all they knew. But something finally broke the silence.     “Death.” Comes Cole’s whisper that echoes through the silent room. The mage lets out a squeak of a whimper and the room is suddenly filled with the smell of urine and fear. The woman continues to stand in front of the man, staring him down with her black eyes as he trembles like a leaf in a hurricane, tears and snot making a mess of his face as he cries, seeming to forget how to breath as he does so. He can’t move, can’t fight, only stare doe eyed up at the woman’s evil black powers seem to reach out an caress his very soul.    ……..   “Pathetic.” If possible, the man’s eyes grow even wider as the woman that would be his death utters these words in a cool, dark, calmly enraged, tone. She turns her eyes from him and continues walking past him. The moment he’s freed from the woman’s gaze he bends over and vomits onto the ground below him, retching nearly everything inside of him onto the ground before his legs give out and he collapses onto the floor in a heap, landing in his own vomit and urine.   Paying no mind to the sad display going on behind her, the woman walks to the door the man had gestured to earlier and opens it, walking inside and to the cage filled with terrified people. She grabs the keys off of the table as she passes and unlocks the door without a word, pulling the door open and looking down.   “Go.” Is the only monotone word to leave her mouth and they don’t have to be told twice, crying both fearful and happy tears as they run out of the room and past the convulsing husk of a human on the floor, seeking their freedom upstairs. The three other companions wait at the door as woman turns again, eyes back on the floor as she walks steadily towards them. She pauses in the doorway as the three step aside—all utterly silent—to let her through.   “Let’s go.” She says quietly before walking past them towards the stairs. They watch her back as she walks away and see the darkness slowly, very slowly, start to fade from her. They all look at each other, making a silent pack never to speak of this to her before following, Bull leading the way.

     She’s silent as she climbs the stairs steadily and makes her way outside. She pauses the moment her feet hit the grass and she just stands there. The others watch her for a moment, looking at each other again before turning their gaze back to her. Her back is still to them and her head is still bowed as she stands there. It’s quiet around them again, nothing but the steady drip drip of the blood from her arm sliding down her fingers and falling to the grass meeting their ears. Bull frowns as he sees her like this and steps forward, slowly reaching towards her, ready to bring it back at any sudden movement on her part.   “Kadan…” He calls to her gently. That seems to do something as she slowly turns her head to look up at him. Her eyes are back to normal and the tension leaves the bodies of all three of her companions in a breath at the sight of the normal browns filled with a mixture of emotions. She stares up at Bull before her eyes suddenly grow dull.   “Bull…” She breaths before she suddenly collapses like a puppet whose strings were cut. The merc reaches out with brilliant speed and catches her in an arm before she can hit the ground, pulling her up. His eye quickly locks on the woman’s shoulder to see it dislocated with a large, bloody, gaping wound.   Cursing he picks the girl up in both arms and strides to the village for a healer, the unconscious woman in his arms.   They arrive at the closest thing the town has to a healer and the old herbal expert tends to the woman’s wounds and lets her rest, Bull and Cole remaining with the girl as Krem goes to report what happened to the scouts to get the information back to the Inquisition.   Though the wounds were deep and dangerous, the black dragon, asleep on the bed, looked relieved and relaxes. The blood mage was dead and her black rage was no longer emanating from her.   If only for now, she merely slept.   She slept a calm, dreamless, sleep.

[thebrunettewriter]

Music Moves Us

Summary:  In which Bruce hires a pianist with a particular gift for music. Featured Characters: Bruce Wayne, Martha Wayne, Thomas Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth Word Count: 1,199 Author’s Note: Pure sap I wrote eons ago and thought I’d share!

Her fingers danced across ivory keys. The soft, slow, striking of the keys drawing the attention of the guest. Slowly, the room started to quiet till the only sound was the crisp notes of the grand piano.

Everyone's eyes focused on the brunette in the blue dress, her small hands putting on a play for the men and woman of the ballroom.

As it started out, the song was light and slow, the dominate high notes played by her right hand, supported by the soft, low, notes played by her left. The sound was something out of a young girls' music box, the notes sharp and deliberate.

The audience watch her, some smiling, others secptical as to why she was so important. As pretty as the sound was, it was nothing particular.

Bruce watched as well. Having done a little research on the woman, he knew the 'magic' was when she closed her eyes. When she lost herself in the music.

He didn't have to wait long before he, along with everyone else in the room, understood why.

A little faster in the tempo, keys started to roll, a light sound as the right hand still led. The brunette closed her eyes slowly, her body relaxing, her hands dancing as if on their own across the keys.

With just her hands and the piano, the woman managed to transport the entire audience to a different world.

Most of the guests closed their eyes, the rest staring off, their minds in the world she was creating.

Bruce watched in awe for a moment as he saw her capture the minds of everyone there, till the music started to pick up once again.

The woman threw herself into her playing, both striking and rolling the keys, a perfect sound that rang out clear as if the piano itself was falling under her spell.

Bruce couldn't help but close his eyes and fall into the music. As he did, he found himself in the world of his memories, he parents again before his eyes. He was a happy and smiling young child again, playing with his parents. Alfred was beside him with a smile as he watched him play with his parents.

Suddenly, the woman's left hand started taking over, rolling in deep, low, keys. Young Bruce frowned as the keys slowed and he found himself back in that alley, his parents beside him, the mugger in front of them.

The dark notes slowed and Bruce watched in horror as the man pulled his gun out. His lips moved, but he heard nothing but the low sounds of the piano. The world goes dark for him for a few second before the keys start sounding more urgently, left hand still dominate, but the right slowly starting to make itself known.

The keys started rolling up the scale, growing loud and urgent and suddenly, his father stepped in front of him and attacked the man. A shot in the sound of a sharp, high, key, sounded and Bruce's eyes widened.

The sound started to slow again. Her right hand took over again, her left assisting to soften the sound.

Young Bruce blinked, eyes wide. He stared at his father's back for a moment before his bright blue eyes drifted to the mugger as the music slowed again to a crawl.

Just as the music started again to roll up the scale, slow and in light strikes, Bruce felt his heart soar. The man was on the ground, whimpering and shrinking away from his father who stood over him, the gun gone from the man's hand.

Slow as the music, the man turned and young Bruce's eyes widened. His jaw dropped with each slow, sharp strike of the keys.

It was him.

The man that had stopped the mugger wasn't his father, but Bruce himself. The older version gave him as soft smile as the keys started to slow to an obvious stop, making the world around him fade. Just before the final cord faded, just before his vision vanished, he caught a glimpse of her parents over his other self's shoulder.

His blue eyes shifted to them just as they started to fade, and image that would burn forever in his mind, thanks to the woman behind the keys of the piano.

Standing side by side, they smiled at him, a single phrase ringing out beyond the growing silence around him.

"We love you...Bruce."

Darkness.

It took Bruce a moment to realize that his eyes were closed. He opened them and looked at the woman who caused his vision. She sat there, eyes drifting across the crowd, hands folded softly.

Bruce took a moment to scan the crowd as well and he saw that, though a little slower, the others looked as if they had done the same as him. As if they had fallen into their own world, with the guidance of her music.

Bruce looked up as he felt eyes on him. Brown met blue as they stared. She gave him a soft, understanding, smile. She subtly made a gesture to him, wiping under her eyes.

Bruce frowned, but did as gestured, wiping softly under his own eyes. He started upon feeling something wet and warm under his fingertips.

He was crying.

Staring down at his hand, he saw the telltale glisten of the water on his fingers.

With wide blue eyes, he looked back up at her. She met his startled gaze with a small, sheepish, smile and couldn't help but giggle, hiding it behind a small fist.

Applause.

Both man and woman jumped as the crowd burst into sudden applause, breaking the two of them from their own little world.

The brunette composed herself quickly and slid gracefully from her seat, standing and bowing to the crowd, a soft, content smile on her face, joined by a dusting of pink on her cheek.

She walked down the stage and up to the crowd, where she was instantly surrounded.

Bruce watches her, unable to help himself as he smiled softly, noticing her flustered appearance as she was confronted by the people.

"Master Bruce?" The british accented voice of his butler sounded behind him. Bruce didn't turn to face him as he answered.

"What is it Alfred?" he asked. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the older man came up beside him. Both men stared at the woman.

"If I may, what did you see, sir?" Alfred's eyes went to the young man, though he didn't turn his head. He noticed, with a smile, the soft, far away look in his eyes.

Bruce looked again at the woman as she started to fidget all the more, her face flushed. Feeling pity for the woman, he walked to her, but not before answering his butler.

"My parents." Alfred smiled as he watched Bruce approached the woman. His eyes fell upon a portrait of the Waynes hanging in the ballroom.

"He's starting to understand." Alfred's eyes fell on the young pianist, smiling.

"I think this young miss will finally be able to help you, Master Bruce." he muttered as he turned and walked off to tend to the guests.

[thebrunettewriter]

Old Allies

Summary:  One of Luke Skywalker's padawans, Castel Pasnara was the oldest beside Ben Solo and was trained along side him when he started showing signs of his own abilities in the force. The two grew close as they grew older...which made Ben's inevitable betrayal all the more devastating to the young woman. Now terrified of the man she once called a friend, she goes into hiding, using a technique even Skywalker had yet to find records on. Ben thinks her a ghost, her broken and hidden connection to the force letting her hide among the stars. But when she sense the presence of a new power in the force, Rey, she decides it's time to face her demons and join the resistance. 

Featured Characters: Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron Word Count: 3,996 Author’s note: Graphic Depictions of Violence

  “You know where Master Skywalker is?!” Chirps a voice from the back of the crowd, a voice vaguely familiar to the general. The woman squints to get a better look at the one who spoke as the crowd parts to reveal a lone figure in a dark, heavy, cloak, hood obscuring her face.

 “Lower your hood and reveal yourself.” The woman orders, voice dripping with authority. The folds of the cloak part with the raising of the young woman’s hands and keen eyes catch sight of a metal object attached to the woman’s belt that makes them gasp.

 However, the sight of the lightsaber and the sound of the girl’s voice has the general’s eyes growing wide even before the girl lowers her hood. Free of the fabric, Liea can now see her mistake. The years have been kind to the girl, now a woman, her face more mature than when she last saw it.

  Her dark brown hair was up in a bun with only bangs and a tight braid behind one ear free from the confines. She had a small but clear scar across her throat and up her chin and a little into her cheek but it was too thin to be a light saver burn.

  “Castel?! Castel Pasnara!?” The general calls and the woman grins, walking up to her.

  “Hello again, General Leia.” She calls happily as the older woman steps towards her, each step slow and hesitant as if she’s unsure if this is all real or not. The younger woman, however, strides purposefully and strong as she walks. She’s grown up.

  The older and shorter woman grabs the girl and pulls her into a hug when they get close enough, causing the younger to laugh gently as she returns the hug before they both pull back, her grip strong on the girl’s forearms, as if trying to anchor herself.

  “H-how are you-?” The older woman looks her over, unable to finish the question, so Castel does it for her.

  “Alive?” She smiles. “I can explain, but not out here.” She glances around at all of the people staring and talking, the word ‘jedi’ easily heard among the whisperings. The general looks around before nodding.

  “Yes, yes, of course.” Liea gestures to one of the Mon Calamari standing where she had been before she moved. The man walks up to the two quickly, looking between the two. “Show her inside, get her cleaned up and fed. I’ll finish here.” The general says, authority back in her voice. The man nods and gestures Castel to follow him, which she does after a respectful bow as the general goes back to the speech to the rebels.

~*~

 “Hello beautiful.” Comes a smooth voice, drawing Castel’s eyes—formally closed—to the source. A man stands above her seated form, leaning against some supply boxes beside her, an elbow propped up on the top of the boxes. Based on the jumpsuit, along with the cocky smirk and general appearance, the woman easily identified him as a pilot.

  “Hello, Pilot.” She responds politely, not bothering to stand. Free of her cloak, she now wears a long tunic, slit on either side up to her belt, a pair of cloth pants, knee length boots, and a long sleeved shirt under the tunic, all in forest greens and tans. While not exactly jedi robes, the woman’s lightsaber dangled from the belt around her waist and gave her away.

  “Are you really a jedi?” He seems skeptical even as he continues to smirk at her. She chuckles at the tone of his voice and shakes her head. About to say something, he’s interrupted by her.

  “I am only a padawan officially. I haven’t been back to my master to finish my training.” The pilot looks astounded, staring down at her with wide eyes before grinning and holding a hand out for her.

 “Wow! Well, padawan, I’m Poe.” He introduces with a grin. The woman smiles and takes his hand, shaking it.   “Castel.” She responds, he grins and goes to respond when he’s interrupted again, this time by General Leia. “Castel! You must tell me what happened. How did you survive? How did we not know? Does Luke-?” The padawan stands and holds a hand up to calm her, smiling gently.   “May we go sit down first?” She asks, the older woman, formally flustered, composes herself and nods, gesturing her to follow. Poe, curious, follows as well and the three of them take seats beside a young man on a medical gurney. Liea takes the younger woman’s hands and squeezes firmly.

  “So…who are you exactly?” Poe asks at the same time Liea ushers her to tell her story. The woman looks at the pilot and smiles.

    “I’m Luke Skywalker’s first Padawan.” She tells him, causing the man’s eyes to grow wide along with his grin.

  “Woah!” Is all he can get out before Liea draws her attention back.

   “Castel, please.” The woman nods and inhales before she starts her story.

~*~

 We were the oldest.

  We were the strongest.

  We were the first.

  I was found first, on a planet with no name worth remembering. Though Master Skywalker never offered me an explanation as to why he was there, I still vividly remember the day we met.

~*~

  The brunette slips through the crowded, dark, dirty streets of the perpetually raining planet. Her stomach growls loudly as she eyes one of the several hot, steaming, stalls filled with bland but hearty street food.

  The girl, no older than ten, moves closer to one of the stalls, inhaling deeply to calm her nerves as she eyes a particularly large piece of meat. Her eyes dart around before she reaches out in a subtle gesture with her right hand, the meat lifting off of the hook and closing the gap to her by an unseen force. The floating food doesn’t go unnoticed by the vendor, who immediately shouts at the girl and struggles to dart out from behind his stall. The brunette pales and darts through the crowd again, running as fast as she can through the streets, her bare feet slapping loudly against the wet pavement.

  Still hearing the vendor shouting and running after her, catching up despite her head start thanks to his much longer legs. Darting down an alley, the woman finds herself met with a dead end. Spinning around abruptly, she’s met with the angry visage of the street vendor as he closes the distance between them.

  “Do you know what we do to thieves around here, little girl?” He sneers, cornering the girl against the brick behind her. Now close enough to get detail of his face, the young brunette stares up with wide eyes at the man’s oily face and sick grin. A hand lashes out and grabs the little girl by the hair and yanks her towards him.

  “Leave the girl be,” comes a strong, but quiet voice from the mouth of the alley, just loud enough to be heard over the rain and the ambient sound from the street. Both man and girl pause and look in the direction to see a man in a heavy cloak, features hidden beneath a heavy hood. The rain starts to pour all the harder as the stranger approaches slowly, soaking the three down to the bone, bringing a cold chill with them.

  “Stay out of this, stranger. The thief deserves a beatin’.” The girl lets out a frightened whimper and struggles against his hold, clawing at his hand. A sudden sound, like the mix between a hum and a heavy base—a sound that can be felt tingled between the shoulder blades—makes the brunette pause and looking back over at the stranger.

  “Release the girl, walk away, and forget everything that just happened,” the stranger says in a monotone voice as the girl catches a slight movement from under his cloak. She suddenly finds herself on the ground as the man releases her and turns, walking out of the alley and disappearing into the crowd. The girl stares up with wide eyes at the man who approaches her from her seated position on her knees on the floor.

  “That is a very rare talent you have, little one,” the man commends in a gentle tone as he stops before her and lowers himself down to a knee in front of her. She can see his face now, peeking out from behind the shadows of his hood, intelligent blue eyes focused intently on her.

  “What’s your name?” She stares up at the man for a long moment before she answers;

  “C-Castel,” she answers in a mousy voice, intimidated by the power she sees in his eyes. He gives her a gentle, calming, smile.

  “Well, Castel, would you like to come with me? To leave this planet?” He asks, offering a hand for her to take. “I can teach you to hone your gift; to use the force.” Castel hesitates for only a moment before taking his hand, the meat she’d stolen falling to the ground with a splat onto the cold, wet, ground; forgotten.

~*~

  After Master Skywalker took me in and started to train me, General Leia and Master Solo’s son showed signs of the force. Since I was far from finished with my training, and there were no other masters to train one of us instead, Master Skywalker took him on too and trained us both.

~*~

  “Ben, this is Castel,” Master Skywalker introduces, “The two of you will both be trained under me, so I expect the two of you to get along.” The young, mop headed, young boy looks just as shy and embarrassed as the brunette standing before him.

  “H-Hi,” the boy mutters first, brushing some of his curly black hair from his face. Castel smiles shyly and nods her own greeting.

  “H-Hello,” she offers her much smaller hand out to the boy, “I-I’m C-Castel. It…nice to meet you, Ben.” The boy hesitates for a moment before taking her hand shyly in his own and shaking it softly. His hand was huge compared to hers—though they were both around the same age at twelve—and yet his grip was gentle on hers and his hand shook ever so softly with his nerves.

  “I…like your hair,” she points out after releasing his hand, trying to ease some of his tension, though she was just as shy and nervous. He looks up at her with wide, brown, eyes before his cheeks turn a little red and he turns his gaze away from her abruptly, his hand drifting up to his hair to brush it out of his eyes nervously.

  “Th…thanks,” he mutters quietly, not looking up, “I…uh, I like your eyes…they’re pretty.”

~*~

  That was the first time I met him. We were both shy to begin with, but when we opened up to each other, we became inseparable.

  I was better at defense, misdirection, hiding.

  Ben was better at Offense, manipulation and anticipation.

  WE worked well together; we were so close.

~*~

  “I got him!” The boy shouts as he jump at Master Skywalker, who simply dodged, managing to trip the boy on his way by and send him sprawling, rolling right into a tree and hitting it with a loud thump!

  “Ben!” Castel darts towards the fallen boy and drops to her knees next to him, rolling him over to see his chest heaving as he tries to get his breath back; the wind knocked out of him.

  “Ben! Ben! Are you okay!?” She calls as she shakes him, to which he just lets out a groaning wheeze.

  “Castel,” comes her master’s voice from behind, drawing the girl’s sheepish gaze up to the much taller man.

  “Y-Yes sir?” She doesn’t move from her friend’s side, her own body between her teacher and her partner out of some protective instinct.

  “You missed your moment,” he points out, “You both continue to ignore the force and act, or do not, when your instincts tell you otherwise.” His gaze is critical as he stares down at the girl.

  “Get up, Ben,” The man instructs. Castel turns to help him up but is stopped by a sharp call from her master behind her. “Hold!” The girl looks up at the older man with wide eyes, her hand retreating from its offered position and curling into a timid fist.

  “He needs to get up on his own,” Master Skywalker states firmly, “It was his own foolish mistake that landed him in that position in the first place.” Looking down at her friend, who is still wheezing softly, meets his own gaze—one of silent pleading. Averting her eyes, she takes a hesitant step back. The betrayal in his eyes as she sides with their teacher broke her heart and she almost steps to him again before he aggressively shoves himself off of the ground and stands, ready to fight again.

~*~

  I should have seen the signs.

  I should have known.

  He was my best friend, my closest companion, and I couldn’t save him.

~*~

  The two eldest padawan walk around the complex of the old ruin that their master had commandeered in order to teach the two of them the old ways; and later the several other apprentices he’d picked up. Ben and Castel, as the oldest of the students by several years and the first two to be taught by Master Skywalker, often stuck together and would travel around together, exploring the planet that had become their home, whenever they weren’t training.

  Ben had grown into a real man, growing over their master to somewhere around six-foot-two. His hair was just as much of a mop as it was when they’d first met but it had grown out of its baby curls and into looser waves—growing more mature just as he had. Long gone were the days where the boy, now a man, blushed and hid his face from strangers and compliments.

  Castel, having grown as well into a mature, but kind and gentle, woman, took to mother the young padawans that had been recently added into the fold, some as young as five years old. Her attitude around Ben, however, was completely different to the one she donned around the younger ones or her master.

  Ben was special to her; just as she was to him.

  They knew each other well…so well that Castel knew that Ben was troubled based simply on how quiet he was being. She also knew that his pride was too great and that he wasn’t going to talk about it until he was ready.

  “Castel?” He speaks up after a half an hour of walking around in almost complete silence. It seems that he was ready now.

  “Yes?” She asks, her voice gentle and quiet. She’d never quite grown out of her shyness completely.

  “Do you…ever think about leaving?” He asks, refusing to look up at her as he speaks, staring at his feet as he continues to walk, his hands wringing the hem of his robes. Castel thinks for a moment, humming softly.

  “Well…yes, I suppose I have,” she confirms. He’s in front of her before she can blink, grabbing her hands in both of his and gripping them tightly. He stares down at her with wide eyes, alight with excitement and hope.

  “Then we should go! We should leave!” He states firmly, leaning in so close their noses are almost touching. Castel’s eyes are wide as she stares up at him, her mouth hanging open in surprise. “Just the two of us! I have somewhere we can go! There’s someone who can take us in! He can train us instead! We don’t have to be around these ungrateful people anymore!” He’s almost shout at this point, his chest heaving with his own excitement and quick words, without a moment to take a breath.

  “Ben, what are you talking about?” The woman dismisses with a soft laugh and a shake of her head, “We can’t just leave! We belong here!” The excitement leaves him in a blink of an eye and she finds the betrayed look on his face again before it’s replaced by anger. He drops her hands abruptly and stomps off angrily, leaving a stunned Castel in his wake, the image of his betrayed face burned into her mind’s eye and her hands tingling from where he’d gripped them so desperately.

~*~

  I couldn’t save the young ones.

~*~

  That sounds of screams and shouts echoed through the temple, ringing like bells in the brunette’s ears as she runs hard, as fast as she can, in the direction of the temple. She was so far that by the time she got to the building, it was already in flames, the sharp burn of the smoke she inhales as she bursts through the trees to see the stone building makes her want to retch. She runs for the building to try and save those still trapped inside. The sight of a tall figure in dark robes, so familiar yet not at all the man she’d grown up around, makes her pause in her running.

  “Ben!” She yells to the figure, who’s hood turns towards her to indicate that she had the man’s attention. Castel’s relief to see the man safe and unharmed fades with a sudden, startling, horror and realization when the gleaming metal in his hands ignites. The red blade seems to extend in slow motion as the horrified woman stares at her with a horrified understanding.

  Ben had turned to the dark side.

~*~

  And I’m reminded of that every time I look in the mirror.

~*~

  The make takes a slow, menacing, step towards her, snapping her from her stunned horror. The fear and betrayal she feels is written all over her face. She takes a few steps back before suddenly darting away from Ben and into the building, rushing inside to get to the young ones, still trapped in the burning temple.

  The flames lap at the woman’s exposed flesh as she rushes past, the smoke filling her lungs and making her cough. Screaming the names of the padawans as she rushes towards the sounds of screaming, she rounds the corner towards the room they used to prepare food and skids to a halt. The sight of the writhing bodies engulfed in flames with flesh already black as charcoal, brought bile to the back of her throat.

  She didn’t have more than a moment, however, to take in the sight and try to take her first steps towards the young ones before something volatile behind them suddenly explodes.

  The woman’s arms go up fast enough, thanks to her connection and training with the force, her use of the force could only minimize the damage. Her power protected her chest from most of the flames and the debris but one of the large pieces bounces off of her make shift ‘shield’ and slices up her throat, jaw, and cheek with the ease of a hot knife through butter. She couldn’t register the pain before the force of the blast hits her and sends her flying through the window behind her, shattering it and sending her into the bushes where she smacks her head on a heavy fallen branch and blacks out.

~*~

  I was unconscious for at least twelve hours as it was midday by the time I woke up. I looked around for hours, but I was the only other living being at the temple.

  I didn’t know what to do.

  My best friend had betrayed us, my master was gone, and the others were dead.

  So, I did the only thing I could; I hid.

  “But how did you stay hidden from him?” Leia asks, “Luke thought you dead.” The brunette smiles softly, eyes down cast, focused on her lap as she wrings her fingers together.

   “I hid my connection with the force deep within myself. I have not, and cannot, use the force. In the eyes of the others, I am hidden, the same weak connection as everyone else.” She explains, her throat a little parched from the long story she’s just told. The pilot seems to have noticed the slight hoarse tone to her voice as he hands her a cup of lukewarm water to drink.

   “I assume you haven’t reconnected with the…uh, force, then I take it?” He comments as she drinks. Licking the water from her lips, Castel turns her eyes to the dark skinned human laying on the medical bed beside them.

  “No,” she confirms. “If I reconnect, if I reveal myself, no matter where he is, Ben will know. He’ll find me.” The fear in her voice, though she attempts to hide it, isn’t hard to detect and it an emotion both Poe and Leia share.

  “Not that I’m not excited to see you again, Castel,” Leia starts, drawing the brunette’s gaze back to the General, “But why have you come back? Why now?”

  “Most of my connection to the force is gone, yes, but my perception is still strong,” She begins, “I felt the her.” While the general nods in understanding, the x-wing pilot looks between the two of them.

  “Rey,” Leia clarifies for the both of them, to which Castel nods.

  “If I felt her, I know Ben will have as well, and will come after her,” the brunette explains, “I came to help, and to face Ben again,” The grim look on Leia’s face is in stark contrast to the proud smirk on Poe’s.

  “They’ve already met,” he states, causing the padawan’s eyes to widen, “She killed him not long ago before heading off to find Luke,” Instead of a happy or relieved expression on her face, as Poe might have hoped, the woman frowns and looks up at him.

  “Ben still lives,” She states simply. It’s the pilot’s turn to grow wide eyed, shaking his head.

  “No! He was on the planet when it blew up! Rey did some real damage before she left!” He insists.

  “Trust me, Ben is alive,” There’s the smallest gleam of relief in Leia’s eyes at the news that her son was still alive, even if she likely already had her suspicions. “My connection with Ben is something even I cannot sever. So strong that I have had to avoid being on the same planet, less his suspicions be confirmed true. He thinks I am a ghost at the moment and his attention is focused elsewhere. But my attention has always remained on him. He’s alive.” Poe’s expression falls and he looks bitterly at the dark-skinned man unconscious beside them.

  “Fyn nearly lost his life in that battle. He still hasn’t woken up yet,” He says before his eyes are drawn to the woman again as she stands from the crate she’d been seated upon, walking up to the man.

  “Who is he?” She asks softly as she stands next to the man, eyes roaming over his face. Poe looks over at Leia, who nods, assuring him that the brunette is trustworthy enough to be told.

  “He was a stormtrooper.” He explains, “He defected when he realized what the First Order really did. He saved my life and nearly lost his own while helping the rebellion.”

  “Ben did this,” it didn’t sound like much of a question.   “Yeah,” The pilot confirms quietly, staring down at the man.

  “I wish I could help,” She says quietly, her hand resting gently on the unconscious former trooper’s shoulder. “Master Luke had been teaching me force healing before we…” were betrayed. She can’t bring herself to finish the sentence. “When we last saw each other.” She looks over at them with an apologetic look.

  “I cannot help heal him, not unless you want the entire first order knocking on your door step,” The three share a shiver at the thought, “But I can help you defeat Ben. For good.”

[thebrunettewriter]

Too Stubborn for your Own Good

Summary:  Maria, a lieutenant under Gabriel Reyes, gets injured in the field and returns without signing into sick bay, keeping her wound stubbornly hidden under her jacket. When a little bird informs Reyes, he decides to take in on the woman's stubborn pride and do something about her wound; forcefully if necessary. Featured Characters: Gabriel “Reaper” Reyes, Angela “Mercy” Ziegler, Jesse McCree Word Count: 2,215 Author’s Note: Graphic Depiction of Injury/ Set Pre-fall

Maria keeps a straight face as she fires her weapon down range, putting three bullets in the dummy robot. Despite her wound hidden under her coat and her slightly shaking hands, the dummy drops to the floor 'dead'. 

"You're off." The voice startles the woman, who winces slightly in pain. The movement doesn't go unnoticed, nor does the fact that the woman was startled in the first place. 

The brunette turns as the source of the voice walks up to her. She snaps a salute to her chocolate skinned commanding office, who just waves it off as he approaches her. A good half a foot taller than her, his sharp chocolate eyes are lock on her. 

"You didn't sign in at sickbay." He says. 

"I didn't go to sickbay, sir." She responds, though she knows that he's already well aware. 

"Oh?" He looks pissed but he's keeping his anger in check. "And why not?" 

"It wasn't a bad wound, sir. I took care of it myself." She says simply, not backing down even as he steps closer. 

"You did not apply for sick leave either." He comments. 

"I don't need it." She assures. His eyes narrow at that comment. 

"Don't you? Assuming your wound does not infect, you think you could handle yourself in a fight right now?" Her body tenses at his comment but she stubbornly nods. 

"Yes sir." He leans down close, face inches from hers. 

"Prove it."

Maybe she shouldn't have taken him up on that offer. It was effort not to scream as the Captain hounded the wound blow after blow before easily dropping the woman to the floor. The shock of the pain was so strong that she couldn't move and could barely breath. Reyes stood over her, arms folded. 

"Rethinking what you said earlier?" He growls in that raspy voice of his. She gives him an exhausted glare. 

"No sir." Her entire body shaking, she forced herself to stand, a stubborn pride winning out. Her stubbornness wasn't the only reason she fought, though. Maria honestly didn't think her wound so bad, and thought herself a wimp and a whining drama-queen. Never mind the bandage that was now stained with blood from the freshly opened wound. Never mind the cold feeling in her fingers, the tingling in her feet, or the dizziness. Never mind the fact that she could barely see or stand. She had to be making a bigger deal out of it than it really was. She couldn't sit here and complain while others had it worse. There were things to get done. 

"I'd admire your stubbornness and strength if it wasn't for your blatant stupidity." The man growls and the woman suddenly feels way too tired to deal with this shit. Turning away from him and towards the door of the training room, she staggers off, sheer force of will the only thing keeping her standing. 

"I haven't dismissed you." The man growls as he walks after her. 

"Kindly shove it up your ass. I have work to do." She mutters, just loud enough for him to hear. Her filter and capacity to care are always the first things to go when she's tired or--in this case--injured. 

There's a snarl behind her before she's suddenly yanked back by her collar and shoved onto the ground, a knee on her chest pinning her to the mat beneath her. 

"You're under my charge." He growls as she struggles weakly beneath him. "And you just lost your freedom, soldier. You'll be seeing Dr. Ziegler." Maria glares up at him. 

"Like hell. I don't need her, now piss off." The captain leans down very close, his breath warm against her ear. 

"I wasn't asking." Maria's hazy mind barely has time to comprehend what's happening before she finds herself over the shoulder of her commanding officer, his vice grip on her thighs locking her there. Clawing at the back of his shirt with her good arm in an attempt to gain some leverage, she starts wiggling and squirming in his hold. 

"Let me down!" The woman shrieks as she shoves weakly at the man's back, grabbing fists full of his tight black t-shirt to try and pry herself off of him. Gabriel, however, had a firm hold on the back of her thighs, the steel cables that were the muscles in his forearm pressed firmly against her legs; unmoving. 

"Scream all you want, lieutenant," the captain grunts as his grip tightens just a little on her legs as they attempt to strike him in the chest, "Dr. Ziegler will take a look at you and patch you up before I'm forcing you to take sick leave." The woman lets out an indignant squeak at that. 

"Like hell you will!" She snarls at him. 

"Try to work and I'll strap your ass down to the bed," he turns a corner and spots a grinning McCree leaning against the wall. 

"Careful who you say that around, Captain," the man teases even as the chocolate skinned man strides past. "Some people might take that the wrong way!" Maria looks over at the man with a pleading scowl. 

"Wipe that smirk off your face and help me, McCree!" She yells at him, but the man just laughs and holds up his hands. 

"You got yerself into this mess, ma'am~" He purrs, "Maybe you should go to sickbay yerself next time!" The woman's eyes go wide at the fact that the cowboy obviously knew that she was wounded before they narrow abruptly. He must've tipped Reyes off. 

"Goddammit, McCree!" She calls as the man holding her turns another corner and strides into the medical quarters. It seems that Ziegler was informed beforehand as the Captain doesn't say two words to her before she's carried into an exam room and set roughly on one of those particularly fancy medical chairs. The blonde doctor's heels click against the floor as she trots up to the woman and offers her a kindly smile. 

"What seems to be the problem?" She asks. Good. She wasn't informed of details. 

"Nothing so drastic." Maria assures with a kind, yet sheepish, smile, "Gabriel is over reacting," her glare falls on the man before returning to Angela. "My injury is minor, nothing that needed to be forced here for and drawing you away from those that got seriously injured during the fight." She stands quickly, forcing the blonde to take half a step back. "I'm sorry for wasting your time. Please focus on my men." 

The lieutenant isn't able to take half a step towards the door before the much larger male grabs her by her injured shoulder and shoves her back into the seat. Her entire body grows tense and spasms twice as she lets out a sharp grasp of pain. Though the man is glared at by the doctor, her gaze falls back onto the woman, just as harsh. 

"'Nothing', hm?" The doctor echoes, a scolding tone to her voice even as Gabriel releases the woman. 

"Enough of your protesting," Angela insists, "show me your wound." The brunette looks between Gabriel and Ziegler before deciding she's outnumbered and out classed. With a grumble and a sigh, the woman pulls the sleeve of her jacket down with her uninjured hand, hissing softly as the blood soaked fabric is pulled free from the wound and down the limp limb so the woman can take a look. 

Angela steps closer as Gabriel relocates to the brunette's other side, on hand to pin her down should he need to...again. Pulling the fabric of the woman's shirt away from the wound, the doctor inspects it closely. The deep frown on her face is not a good sign. 

"How barbaric." The woman breathes as she probes around the wound gently. "I haven't seen these rounds used in years. These bullets were designed to shatter in the wound to make it harder to remove." The woman explains, making Maria pale just a little, though her face was already almost white by this point due to a nasty combination of blood loss, pain, fever and exhaustion. 

"I need to remove these now. I can only administer a local anesthetic." The woman warns even as she straightens and scurries over to the cabinets along one wall. "Reyes, would you be so kind as to lower the seat back. It's the large lever on the back." It takes only a moment before the chair is suddenly lying flat and the brunette is staring, wide eyed, up at her Captain's serious visage. She hasn't seen him serious very often, and the look sends a shiver up her spine, her heart racing. 

Barely any time seems to pass as she stares up at the face before Ziegler is suddenly beside her, spraying some liquid over the wound quickly. 

"I'll need to dig out the bullets quickly," she explains as she quickly pulls on gloves and grabs several viscous looking surgical tools. "The fragments are lead line and are likely already poisoning you. If you had come to me to begin with, I would have had time to create a proper anesthetic or called Anna." Despite the scolding, Angela, much like Reyes, looks almost frighteningly serious. "The numbing agent should be starting to work already but this will hurt." The blonde places a comforting hand on her forearm gently before grabbing a pair of medical scissors and cutting away the fabric of the shirt surrounding the wound. 

"Reyes, would you-" 

"Yeah," the Captain doesn't seem to need the doctor to finish her question before he grabs the brunette's hand, giving it a soft squeeze as he looks down at her. Maria looks up at him abruptly before taking several deep, controlled, breathes through her nose. 

"Alright, Maria," the blonde says quietly. "I'm starting,"

--

It's almost an hours before Ziegler, sweating lightly from the effort, drops the last piece of shrapnel from the Lieutenant's shoulder and drops it onto her medical tray with a softly clatter, the tweezers she'd been using soon following.  

"There," Ziegler sighs, "Now just to patch you up," the blonde assures as she grabs further vials and strange equipment to clean out and seal the wound.

Maria, now curled up on the chair, panting heavily, her entire body shaking as her muscles go limp and she release her death grip on Gabriel's hand. To her credit, the woman didn't scream or make more than the occasional gasp of pain during the whole process. The captain places his other hand on her head gently, the most sincere praise she's ever given her. The woman can barely focus on it, however, simply trying to stay conscious at this point. 

"She will need to be monitored for several hours." Angela informs Reyes as she finishes cleaning the wound, moving on to the foam to seal it. "I doubt she will take kindly to remaining here, though I do wish to ensure she takes the medicine I will prescribe her." The Captain gets her implied meaning quickly and nods. 

"I'll keep an eye on her," he assures. "She's my responsibility regardless. Stubborn though she is, I'll make sure she does what she needs to." 

"M'right here. I can hear you." Comes a muttered voice from the barely conscious brunette; awake though her eyes remain closed. Angela chuckles softly as she wraps a crisp white bandage around her wound with gentle, skilled, hands. 

"Haven't you passed out yet, stubborn girl?" Reyes huffs out at her. 

"Not on your life, Capt'n." She hisses, cracking one eyes open to look up at him. "I'll remind you that I've never passed out in my life," she points out proudly. 

"If you want to keep that record, you'd do well to behave, then," he grins down at her cruelly, "Or I'll just knock your ass out myself." She glares at him and huffs before the doctor pulls away from her and stands. 

"There you are. All finished." She smiles gently as she pulls off her gloves and sets them on the tray. "Now, I'll be sending you to your quarters with orders to stay there. Captain Reyes will take you to make certain you stay put," she looks up at the chocolate skinned man, who nods. "I don't want you doing any work for at least the next twenty-four hours. I want you to rest." She looks down at the lieutenant, who stares back up at her with half lidded eyes. "I'll be sending something for the pain and to combat the lead poisoning later." Ziegler, having given her information, looks back at the Captain and nods ones to dismiss them, before busying herself with cleaning up the mess. 

Gabriel gives the brunette little time for her groggy brain to catch up before she finds herself suddenly pressed against the man's chest, strong arms supporting her weight under her knees and back. 

"G-gabe, don't. M'heavy." She grunts out, pushing weakly at his chest, which rumbles under her palm in a warning growl. 

"Enough, Maria. No more of your stubbornness for now." He growls, that smooth voice lulling her tired body into a state of almost weightlessness. "Just rest." She didn’t have to be told twice, asleep in his arms before he even makes it to her room, completely exhausted.

[thebrunettewriter]

Master List

Welcome to my blog! Here’s a Master List to help you keep up with my writing! Hopefully you’ll find a story here that you enjoy that you might not have seen and/or this Master List makes browsing just a little bit easier!

Star Trek-

Sick Bay (SFW Mild!Leonard McCoyxReader) {Snippet}

Doctor Strange-

Strange Feelings (SFW Doctor Stephen StrangexApprentice!Reader) {Snippet}

Blade-

Rebar (SFW BladexInjured!Reader) {Snippet}

Destiny-

Reef (SFW Uldren SovxHuman!Hunter!Reader) {Snippet}

Overwatch-

Too Stubborn for your Own Good (SFW-ish Gabriel “Reaper” ReyesxOriginal Character) {Snippet} Star Wars- Old Allies (SFW-Ish Young!Kylo RenxOriginal Character) {Preview}

Batman-

Music Moves Us (SFW Bruce Wayne) {Snippet}

Dragon Age Inquisition-

Black Dragon (SFW-ish Iron BullxOriginal Character) {Snippet}

Halo-

Scuttlebutt (SFW Master ChiefxOriginal Character) {Snippet}

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure-

Strength of the Songbird (SFW Pillar Men/Original Character) {Snippet} Gangster Style (SFW Giorno Giovanna WITH Stand User!Original Character) {Snippet}

DC Comics- Saving Aqualad (SFW Injured!Aqualad/Injured!Original Character) {Snippet}

My Hero Academia- Too Much! (SFW Shouta Aizawa/Quirk!Original Character) {Snippet}

[thebrunettewriter]

Very Slow uploads

Uploading new things will be very slow for me right now. I might post pre-written stories that just need editing, but I currently have pain in my left wrist which I think might be carpal tunnel so I have to take it easy until it heals. So sorry for the delay!

[thebrunettewriter]

The Bonds of Friendship

Summary: Sometimes, friendship is just sitting in a room quietly and enjoying the company of said friend...even as he talks to himself and screams randomly. Word Count: 721 Requests are OPEN! Author’s Note: Just a little idea I had, kind of a...fluffy fantasy if you will, of just sitting next to Mark and playing my own game while he works on his videos. Added some stuff to make it a little more interesting! While I do watch Markiplier, I haven’t seen everything and I’m sure there will be things that show up that others will spot that don’t work, but I hope it isn’t too distracting. I just like the guy and think he’s awesome, I don’t know anything and everything there is to know about him. Regardless, enjoy!

Sitting beside the Youtuber’s desk, she stares down at the dimmed screen of her 3DS, playing the latest Pokemon in the dark room even as her friend with the dyed red hair talks to the camera. The brunette has been sitting there, on a pillow her friend had been so kind as to provide her (though he had offered a chair prior), with her knees tucked up to her chest for almost an hour as Mark played his games, focused on her own. As promised, she’d been silent the entire time, save for when he spoke to her during the moments where he turned off the camera to get back through a portion of the game he’d already trekked through. She just enjoyed the sound of his voice, listening to him even as she focuses on her own game.

  A sudden shriek from Mark and the woman jumps in surprise, unable to help a tiny squeak from escaping. Sheepishly, the woman looks up at him, only to find him grinning down at her. Her cheeks turn as red as his hair and she apologizes silently before returning to her game.

-Several days later-

She’d grown used to sitting next to Mark while he recorded, and enjoyed the time to play her games and get away from the stress of work and her MBA program. While once or twice, she’d accidently yelped or squeaked when his reaction startled her, she’d managed to stay quiet and out of the way for a while. Despite this, her noises have triggered rumors among his fans, which varied from spooky tales of a ghost in his recording room, to very…explicit retellings of a secret girlfriend under his desk—which she was neither and, for the record, was neither a girlfriend nor was she under his desk…she sat beside it. The two tended to laugh about it, but the hype didn’t seem to be dying down any time soon.

Currently on a live stream, Mark had been at it for a while now, she lost track of the time, and she was starting to grow hungry. Deciding to get the two of them something to eat, as Mark will no doubt be hungry as well, the woman carefully sets her game to the side before quietly pulling herself to her feet, carefully avoiding the cameras, and slips outside.

Socked feet tread softly on the floor as a large white dog eagerly shadows her to the kitchen. Getting sandwiches for the two of them, the woman takes Chika outside to go to the bathroom, before letting her back in, grabbing the two plates, and trotting silently back into the room.

Still carefully avoiding the camera, the woman goes to set the plate down beside him, out of view.

“You guys want to know about the ghostiplier?” The woman barely has time to recall the name the fandom had christened her with before her wrist was suddenly grabbed in a strong hand and her whole world turned sideways for a second. She lets out a shriek, only just managing to toss the paper plates—face up thankfully—onto the open space on the desk. If either of them had managed to look over at the two plate, which land perfectly atop one another without spilling a drop, they’d probably be impressed. However, the brunette was preoccupied, staring up at Mark with wide eyes when she suddenly finds herself in his lap.

“M-Mark!?” She squeaks as her face turns bright red. He just laughs and looks back at the camera.

“Here you go, everyone, Ghostiplier!” He announces. The woman glances over the camera before realizing the live stream was open and currently projecting her bright red face. Squeaking in surprise, the woman hides her face in his plaid scarf, though it does little to hide the blush that had now reached her ears.

“Wow! I think you broke the comment box!” The man laughs as the woman attempts to wiggle out of his lap, though his grip, still on her wrist, and his arm around her waist keeps her there.

“This is so embarrassing! M-Mark!” She squeaks, resigning herself to her fate, though she continues to hide her face against him. She pokes him in the ribs as revenge, though she’s hard pressed to be mad at her adorkable friend.

[thebrunettewriter]

Soulmate AU - red strings of fate.

with the appropriate magic or inherent talent, a person can see them for others 

strings can break - because of arguments, distance, too long a time finding the other side, falling for someone else, deliberately cut 

specially gifted people/magic users can tie strings back together

retied strings aren’t permanently attached, they need more care & untie easily with arguments (and sometimes with no prompt)

OTP: two soulmates but their string breaks just before they find each other

OTP: a string-mage and a person whose string is still attached to another person

OTP: a person coming to a string-mage with their partner (not original soulmate) only to find their string was originally attached to the string-mage

OTP: a long-term couple who keep working on the relationship (never checking their strings) only to find when they’re old that they’ve always been soulmates. 

OT3: a person goes to string-mage to find out about the status of their red string and they find out there are two

OT3: three best friends whose strings are linking them all together

[thebrunettewriter]

Soulmate AU Tropes

Soulmates who can feel each other’s pain

Everything you draw on your skin also appears on your soulmate’s skin

The name of your soulmate tattooed on yourself

The first words you’re soulmate will ever say to you tattooed on yourself

Having, when you’ll meet your soulmate countdown clocks

Not being able to see colour until you meet your soulmate (extra: colour disappears when your soulmate dies)

Being able to telepathically communicate with your soulmate

Reincarnated soulmates

Matching tattoos with your soulmate

Stop aging at 18 years old until you meet your soulmate

Having dreams of your soulmate before you’ve even met them

One person aggressively not believing in soulmates, until their soulmate proves them wrong

[thebrunettewriter]

soulmates aus

in which your scars will disappear if your soulmate kisses them  

in which everything you mark your skin with your soulmate is also going to get it on theirs; but you’re not exactly a tattoo person so you’ve begun writing things on your arm and one day you get a reply 

in which when you sleep and you’re soulmate’s awake, you’ll see the world through their eyes 

in which soulmates have the ability to meet in their dreams if they think hard enough about each other 

in which you can hear your soulmates thoughts when you are within a reasonable distance 

in which you switch body when you’ve had a really big fight 

in which you can only see in colour when you’re touching your soulmate 

in which every bad word you think about your soulmate appears on your skin 

continued; in which you find your soulmate and their skin is completely clear 

in which your ageing slowly slow down until you’re the same age as your soulmate 

other AUs

[thebrunettewriter]

Soulmate AU Story Ideas

Because I am complete trash for Soulmate AUs, I decided to try and make a post about them. Hope you guys like it! ♥

✖ Soulmate AUs involving measurement

[ Time // Countdown ]

Where for whatever reason, your clock is stuck/frozen/it’s not counting down anymore but it hasn’t reached 00:00:00:00 yet and you’re freaking out because this hasn’t happened to anyone before.

Reverse one where the clock starts at 00:00:00:00 from the moment you’re born and stops counting the moment you meet your soulmate, so it’s like a reminder that “It took me 19 years, 11 months, 20 hours, and 13 seconds to meet you, you fuck, and you do it by spilling coffee on me, thanks, now my laptop’s broken—what, you’re buying me a new one? Okay.”

Your soulmate clock is actually a countdown of how long your soulmate has left to live and holy shit you have to find your soulmate soon because your clock says you have three months left (for angst maybe).

Alternate version of above where your clock is a countdown of how long you and your soulmate have left to find each other or else you both will die because the universe is sadistic af—and if you find your soulmate you get to live longer.

Another alternate version of above where you and your soulmate’s clocks have each other’s life spans on it but you can give your time to your soulmate if you want to so they can live longer. Again, because the universe is sadistic af.

The soulmate clock is actually something breakable and you accidentally break yours or vice versa.

Alternate version of above where someone purposely breaks their soulmate clock so they can be with someone they fell in love with that isn’t their soulmate/they are strongly opposed to the whole soulmate idea and want to defy the system.

Your clock is counting down too fast (as opposed to everyone else’s) and you have no idea what’s going on anymore.

It’s been a busy week and after finally having some time to yourself, you just happened to look at your soulmate clock and see that it’s already at 00:00:00:00 and you don’t know when that happened because you don’t religiously check your clock either.

Your soulmate clock is actually telling you what time it is where your soulmate is currently at (could include AM/PM/time zones or not, for example 3:46:31 MDT).

I already wrote something similar to this but a countdown au where your soulmate has died and you two still happen to meet each other (one is a ghost, one is alive) and the other finds peace after the meeting.

[ Distance ]

Where you actually have a compass instead of a clock, and it leads you to where your soulmate should be.

✖ Soulmate AUs involving colors

[ Eyes ]

Reverse colors AU where you can see in color but once you meet/marry your soulmate your world turns black and white, this is how people can tell that married couples really love each other because they’re willing to give up a world of colors for their soulmate. If your soulmate dies you get to see color again.

Between you and your soulmate, only one of you can see other colors and the other sees black and white. Like you can see all the other colors except black/white/grays, and the other one can only see in black/white/grays. If you two meet, you’ll get to see all the colors.

You can see colors but realize that recently, with each passing day, your world of colors is becoming a little duller and you’re panicking because you don’t know what’s going on, or what it means, or if your soulmate is okay.

You can see colors and your world turns black and white but it doesn’t necessarily have to mean your soulmate is dead. There can be other factors that will result in a black and white world like losing eyesight, but you don’t know that.

You will be able to see the world in full color once you meet your soulmate but until then, you can only see the world in the eye color of your soulmate. However, you can alter the color your soulmate can see, for example, by wearing contact lenses. Like if you wear blue contact lenses, your soulmate sees the world in blue, purple makes them see the world in purple and etc. And you realize each day/week you get to see the world in a different color because your soulmate is being all cute and would want you to see every color there is and they probably have a huge collection of contact lenses by the time you both meet.

Everyone is born color blind and their sights are fixed once they meet their soulmate, or your soulmate is blind and you have the choice to give them your sight, but it’s irreversible and if they die, they take your sight with them.

[ Hair ]

If you dye your hair, your soulmate’s hair color changes as well and you swear the moment you see your soulmate you will choke them because you just woke up with your hair colored like a rainbow and it’s your first job interview at a prestigious company what the fuck. Oh, and your best friend just took a picture to post online and wait—what, how many likes is that?

Like the above AU but you only get highlights for the dyed color of your soulmate’s hair. If your hair color returns to normal, it means your soulmate has returned to their natural hair color too.

Related to the first two AUs—you decide to get revenge on your soulmate by dying your hair the most absurd color combination you can think of and the exchange goes back and forth until you meet each other. It can be that if you meet, you two can dye your hair without affecting the other anymore.

If your soulmate dyes their hair your fingernails turn into that color (like nail polish?) and you’re hoping your soulmate isn’t bald by the time you meet because it’s the fifth time the past two months that your nails have changed colors.

If your soulmate dyes their hair, your eyes turn into that color and you wish your soulmate wouldn’t change it again because you really like this shade in your eyes.

✖ Soulmate AUs involving any kind of body mark

[ Tattoos ]

You and your soulmate have identical tattoos on your wrist about the date when you’ll meet each other. Place and time can be included (as opposed to the countdown AUs).

Like the countdown AU, an alternate version where it’s your soulmate’s date of death that’s tattooed on your skin.

Where a tattoo isn’t set from the moment you’re born and whatever tattoos your soulmate gets, you get it too and it’s all cool because you kind of like the designs, except you also feel the pain of getting a tattoo and that sucks because you’re kind of in the middle of an exam right now and it’s getting harder to concentrate on your work.

You remove your tattoo because you hate the idea of someone dictating who you can be with for the rest of your life and the person who’s removing it happens to be your soulmate and they’re torn between letting you know and just not bringing it up because you kind of went there because you didn’t want a soulmate and vice versa.

Your tattoo is only half complete and it completes itself the moment you find your soulmate, like if you had half a heart, you’d get a full heart on your skin.

You’re not sure if the other half of your tattoo should end with this person’s words, or that one’s—wait, I think it might end with the phrase of that other person too. It’s just a very open-ended sentence…

You don’t have a name tattoo on your wrist, meaning you probably don’t have a soulmate but you didn’t want your friends to tease you about it so you had a tattoo made on your wrist about some name you picked at random because your friend said she wanted to see it soon. And then somehow there’s a person claiming to be your soulmate and they’re kind of cute and sweet so you don’t know what to do.

Because the universe is sadistic af, it only gave you the first letter of your soulmate’s name.

Your tattoo is like a mood ring, it changes its color depending on what your soulmate is feeling at the moment and you’re not sure exactly what rainbow means.

[ Scars ]

The only way for your scars to disappear is when your soulmate kisses them goodbye.

[ Others ]

Whatever mark you get on your skin your soulmate gets it too so one day, you just kind of just get a sharpie and start writing on your skin. You definitely didn’t expect to get a reply, but you did. Now it’s five in the morning and you’re just about covered in ink and this will be a pain to wash off later.

Imagine the above point but like, your soulmate maybe falls off a bike and you write on your arm what happened, and your soulmate replies to reassure you everything’s okay. Yes, you always carry a non-permanent marker to write on your skin at all times.

You accidentally fell down the stairs and broke a leg, oh, and fate must love you because it seems your soulmate also broke the other leg (or something else) and whatever happens to the other, you feel it too (no actual injury but you feel the same amount of pain) so now you’re in the hospital and you happen to meet your soulmate in the waiting area.

Wait, imagine the above point but way into the future and you’re about to give birth and your soulmate must be cursing you and rolling on the floor by the operating table or the waiting area screaming murder and punching walls while crying. Also periods, yes periods. Okay, I’ll shut up now.

You can choose to take the pain of your soulmate away. Like if they’re sick or even if they just have a paper cut, you can choose to transfer the pain/sickness to yourself instead and they’ll heal. You can only do it once you meet them though, since what happens to them doesn’t happen to you, unless you transfer it to yourself.

Like above but what if the pain becomes two times or more worse. Imagine someone afraid of pain, and the other soulmate shouldering everything or maybe you can half the pain your soulmate feels if you can’t handle taking everything on your own.

Alternate version of above two points where you can also transfer your pain to your soulmate. Imagine the payback you can do.

✖ Soulmate AUs involving reincarnation

There wasn’t a soulmate system in place before, now it’s about a thousand and more years later, and—wait, aren’t you the person that killed me in that back alley?

Where you’re reborn with the memories of your soulmate and you can only get your past memories if you meet each other again in this lifetime.

You somehow find a diary/journal of your old self and read through the contents of how you met your soulmate centuries ago.

Your soulmate was an artist of centuries ago, and currently, you’re an art student at university (or not but you’re taking an arts class). Then one day for a field trip, you go to a far-away museum and you just find yourself staring at what was your reflection, wearing different clothes to fit the timeline but it was definitely a split-image of you, on one of the framed displays.

Alternate version of the above where your soulmate still was an artist of centuries ago but you were there too, and you both were able to meet again in this lifetime. You don’t remember anything but you’d be at the museum, looking at the picture that looks like you with curiosity until your soulmate (who remembers everything) comes by and asks you what you think of the painting.

You’re sent to an insane asylum because everyone is convinced you’ve lost your hold on reality since you’re the only one that remembers everything from your past life. Also, that new doctor is your soulmate.

Your soulmate from the past life is not your soulmate in this life.

You become a writer and your series of novels become extremely popular, but what they don’t know is that you’re retelling your previous life where certain circumstances made it so you and your soulmate did not end up together but your soulmate promises to be with you the next lifetime. At a book signing you open the book cover of a fan’s copy to see something written on the front page: “I’m sorry I took so long.”

You don’t remember anything from your previous life but your soulmate does—your first meeting under the tree with the broken swing in summer, the way you smiled when you met each other again at the start of the school year, your eyes that were filled with such mirth and depth and beauty, even the way your hands fit together like missing piece of a puzzle—everything, even the gasps for air, the coarse little pleas, the way you stared with a look of betrayal until your bright eyes became nothing but a dull sheet of color at the hands encasing your neck in a vice grip.

You keep going to this place, and you always notice another person here too. Neither of you know that this is the place where the both of you had died/first met in the past life.

✖ Soulmate AUs involving dreams

Kind of a reincarnation AU where you’re losing the distinction between reality and dreams because when you’re asleep, you actually relive your past life, and you’re not sure if you’d much rather stay in the past or in the present anymore.

If you’re on separate time zones, when you sleep, you see the world in the eyes of your soulmate at present time. You see the world through your soulmate’s eyes, what they’re eating, who they’re talking to, the contents of the essay paper they’re trying to finish, but if they look into a mirror/reflective surface/picture, the image is blurred so you don’t really have a clue what they look like.

You see your soulmate in the eyes of their friend instead.

Imagine that soulmates just have this ability to dream together/meet each other in your dreams regardless of whether or not you two meet in real life. Your dreams could then be like a real-life video game, for example, you two could be in a zombie-apocalypse type of dream and you both would try your best to help each other out. If one gets bitten/dies you wake up and your soulmate is there to tell you everything is alright or tease you how you couldn’t shoot fast enough and then you’d both go back to sleep and maybe start round two.

Just like the above point, imagine how you and your soulmate could pretty much be with each other even after you’d both gone to your separate homes/shared bed.

Your soulmate is dead and the only way you two can see each other again is in your dreams and everyday your soulmate tries to make sure you know they love you and will always be there for you the moment you close your eyes and retire for the night.

✖ Other Soulmate AUs

You and your soulmate can communicate with thoughts and your soulmate happens to be a math major and you really need help with this test right now.

On some days, whatever your soulmate thinks of is something you can hear in your mind and your soulmate is currently reading really hardcore smut fics and you’re trying so hard not to mess up this class presentation which shoulders half your mark for the semester.

You get to share the same talents as your soulmate and you probably hit the jackpot because it’s the first time you’ve ever touched this instrument but you’re quite the professional at it, what? Shredding? I don’t know what that is but—oh… hey okay, I just did it I think.

The Red String of Fate exists, and only some people have the ability to see the strings, and these people can actually cut strings and knot other people’s strings in to alter the soulmate laws. Your best friend’s wedding is tomorrow and they know you can see the string. They ask you to help them defy the laws of the universe and help them be with the person they love even though they know that’s not their soulmate. You know they love each other so much so you help them, even though the person your best friend’s marrying/your best friend is your soulmate.

How about like the colors AU except it can be your voice or your hearing instead that comes and goes when your soulmate dies. Imagine how your soulmate’s voice is the first and the last thing you’ll ever hear.

So I decided to just make a post of all the ideas I’ve thought of so far for each theme! I tried to think of things I haven’t read before but I’m pretty sure with tons of people out there, some of these are sure to exist already. I was also planning to write more but maybe next time, my heart hurts already from typing these ;////;)’

I hope you guys like it though and please feel free to add on to this or make these into stories please I’ll love you forever and tag me please I’d love to read them.

++ justfandomwritings is queen of Soulmate AUs, and I’d like to dedicate this to her because she’s amazing and so much more ♥ ^^

[thebrunettewriter]

Soulmate AU Masterlist

Tattoos or Marks

Red tallies appear for every person you’ve loved, black for every person you’ve loved that has died, and a white tally for when you meet your soulmate

A mark that matches, sometimes like a puzzle piece to someone else, and grows hotter the closer they are to you

You have a tattoo of what your soulmate is most passionate about

You have a tattoo of the first words they say to you

You have a tattoo of how old you both are when you meet

Changing tattoo that tells you the coordinates of where your soulmate is

Tree tattoo that changes with the seasons, but blooms pink in spring instead of white if you met your soulmate

Identical tattoos or birthmarks

Incomplete tattoos that complete themselves on your skin when you meet the person with the rest of your tattoo

Tattoos that change colour depending on what your soulmate is feeling

Eyes

Heterochromia - you have one eye of your soulmates eye colour and when you meet you get your own eye colour instead of having two different eye colours.

You only see in black and white until you meet your soulmate

Reverse black and white where you give up seeing colour when you meet your soulmate

You only see in black and white until you touch your soulmate

You only see in the different shades of your soulmates eye colour until you meet them

You can’t see the colour of your soulmates eye colour until you meet them

You see colour the first time you hear your soulmates voice directly and the colour spills from their lips

Ears

You can hear your soulmates voice in your head, but only when they sing

The secondary voice in your head is your soulmate speaking

You can speak once you meet your soulmate

You can hear once you meet your soulmate (the first thing you hear is their voice)

Time & Age

When you reach 18 you stop aging until you meet your soulmate

Watch countdown to when you’ll meet your soulmate

Reverse countdown, your clock counts up and freezes when you meet

You have a clock on your body that tells you what time it is where your soulmate is, it changes colour when they get closer to you

Body or Hair

At new years on midnight for a single minute you possess your soulmates body

Your chest glows when you look them in the eyes

Marks on your soulmate appear on your own body

You have your soulmate’s hair colour on a stripe at your wrist, when they dye or chance their hair colour the stripe changes

If you change your hair colour, your soulmates changes to the same colour (your hair goes to it’s natural colour when your soulmates does)

When you change your hair colour, your soulmates eyes change to that colour

You and your soulmate share all physical senses (I.E pain, heat, pleasure, etc…)

Other

Red sting to connect soulmates

Your soulmate is the only person you remember from your past life

Everyone is given a journal that they can use to write to their soulmate

When you sleep, if your soulmate is awake you can see what they’re doing

You dream your soulmate, but very basically (such as their silhouette or the view of their back) 

Telepathy soulmates

Sharing skills and talents with your soulmate

When your soulmate eats something you crave what they’re eating

When your soulmate cries you cry

When you kiss your soulmate for the first time your entire body glows

I got a lot of ideas from this post so I recommend you check that one out too!

Common AU Masterlist Link