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#* ugh i'm just tired and more than burnt out- and i have some bad news i'm coping w/ about my dad's medical situation
phantasmaw · 2 years
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Hi! So I’m about a week out from finishing my thesis and a final class project-- which means I’ll likely be a bit more scarce up until then, but still lurking! Thank you again for all the patience on longer replies. I’m looking forward to getting back into it soon!
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giorno-plays-piano · 4 years
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The Spider's Bride
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Pairing: spider!Bucky Barnes x Reader
Warning: yandere, obsession, stalking, forced marriage, mentions of suicidal thoughts and breeding (but everything is not as dark as it seems).
Words: 3836.
Summary: Whoever your stepmother sold you to, he wasn't as honorable as she claimed.
P.S. Hey guys! Initially it was supposed to be more horror-ish, but then I wrote a lot of sad Bucky, and, ugh, the story became what it is now. Hope you're going to enjoy!
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"From now on you have to go alone. We're not allowed to come any further." Your stepmother said and stopped, your stepsisters looking at her with visible discomfort on their faces.
"But we have to ensure her betrothed is waiting for her and pass him her trousseau. This is the tradit-"
"He's not from these lands and cares little for our traditions." She quickly cut one of her daughters off and motioned them to give a few bags they were carrying back to you. "The only thing you have to do is follow the path and you will be alright, girl. Stop being so scared, I'm not sending you to meet your death. Suit yourself, dear Lord! You are going to be married to an honorable man, be grateful I've arranged it for you!"
Funny. If he was truly as honorable as she said, she'd let one of her girls marry him instead. Judging by the place he asked you to come meet him, he was some filthy necromancer or a dark mage in hiding. Regardless of that, he had definitely paid good money for you if your stepmother was willing to let go of the one who was doing most of the housework.
Whatever. Since the death of your father, you hadn't been expecting your miserable life to get any better. She'd force you to marry some revolting man sooner or later, nevertheless.
"Goodbye, sisters." You whispered to them, throwing your rough work-weary hands around their skinny shoulders and kissing their cheeks. "May the Lord be with you."
"May the Lord be with you." They repeated quietly, and you saw their eyes were glistening with tears in the darkness of the cave. They were clinging to you like little kids to their mother, and you smiled. Despite being born to this vulture, your sisters were kind-hearted. They were the only ones to bring you joy in the darkest of days.
"Goodbye, mother."
She turned away from you silently and headed back without acknowledging your words. One of her daughters hissed at her with disdain before she looked back and sent the girl a grim look, pointing to the entrance where the light was piercing through the darkness.
"Move. I don't have all day."
Watching the guilty expression appearing on their faces, you patted both of the girls on the back and silently ushered them to go. They weren't the ones to blame for what had happened to you, and they couldn't do much. No one could.
As all three disappeared from your view, you bit down on your lower lip and gathered your pathetic belongings. You didn't have anything valuable since even the dresses your mother wore were burnt once that woman entered the house of your father. Sometimes you were thinking whether anything would be different if he stayed alive, but you weren't sure of that. Maybe it was better without him, the man who had seen his new wife destroying the one and only portrait of your mother, but doing nothing at all to stop her. Maybe it was better you left the house where you were constantly reminded of how miserable and rotten you were, a girl she hated with all her heart.
Rubbing your eyes with the back of your hand to stop yourself from crying, you moved forward, going deeper into the dungeon or whatever this cold unfriendly place was, the medallion your betrothed given you hanging on your chest. Was it his face you saw inside? It would be surprising if he was as handsome as on the picture. Tired, a bit broken, maybe, and somewhat gloomy, but handsome. Or did your stepmother steal this medallion from someone else, some true soldier she claimed your betrothed to be? Was your fiancee ugly, then? Old? Unhealthy? There was only one way to find out.
The more you walked, the heavier the bags with trousseau became in your hands. At one point you thought to just leave them there, but then you sighed and continued carrying them further. Instead of paying a dowry, your stepmother sold you to your betrothed. He could get mad if you didn't bring him even your trousseau.
It was getting colder, and you stopped for a minute to wrap you woolen shawl around your shoulders, dropping the bags to the ground. Your little journey took you much longer than you expected, and you hoped your fiancee hadn't already been waiting for you. He would be enraged, for sure. Hopefully, you still had a little time.
Bending over to pick up your bags, you suddenly froze on the spot. You heard some odd noises coming from somewhere ahead of you and then raised your head. The burning torches lighting the cave were... shaking?
You jumped to your feet. The noise was becoming louder. You couldn't quite describe it - it felt like indistinct whispers, but very rough, inhuman. The ground trembled beneath your feet as you felt fear rising deep within your chest, leaving you cold. What was that? What was that sound? What creature was whispering... no, tapping... pounding the ground with something...
You left the bags where they were and turned back. It was not the whisper. It was the sound of an enournously huge insect creeping closer to you.
Bats out of hell moved slower than you when you ran towards the exit, barely containing your screams. Was that a giant centipede? A beetle? Something worse than that? You had no desire to figure it out.
You knew this was a bad idea from the start. Your stepmother had never cared for your wellbeing, so it wasn't surprising she truly sent you to your death. Was your fiancee a necromancer who preferred dead women over the living ones? Maybe so.
You fell down to the ground with a loud scream and sobbed, forcing yourself to get up and look at your blooded knee. Pain shot through it once you tried to move, and you bit your tongue. It was even harder to walk now, but you weren't staying there to let whatever creature come and devour your flesh. Gathering yourself, you clenched your teeth and kept running, albeit slower, to the exit of the cave. If you died trying, so be it.
"Please, don't run from me!" Someone said in a desperate voice from behind, yet the only sound you had heard was the one of dozens of steps against the ground. Many metal legs scratched the stone beneath them, making you shudder and cry.
Whatever that creature were, it would be the death of you.
And so you ran and ran until you couldn't feel your legs, but the monster was too close to let you escape. When you fell down the second time on the same knee, undeniably breaking it, you screamed from pain and tried to crawl away still, watching in utter horror how the shadow emerged from the darkness behind you, it's features inhuman, monstrous, revolting. Watching the claws on its eight long legs enveloped in metal glowing in the dark, you yelled at the top of your voice, raising your eyes to the black spider's segmented body.
As you kept looking up, you saw that a horrifying creature wasn't just a gigantic spider. Half of him belonged to a man. Although below the waistline he had that abominable black body, his torso, chest, arms and head were human.
You screamed until your lungs were burning when you saw the face of a man you first had discovered on a little painting inside the medallion. It was your betrothed. Your stepmother had sold you to the arachnid.
Before he advanced further, the light went out, and you were drowning in the dark, finally loosing your consciousness.
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There was a distant sound of someone's singing somewhere outside of the house. You could mistake it for Aleana's voice, but hers was lower than this one, melodic, almost magical. This charming singing could put sirens to shame.
You slowly opened your eyes, looking at the high ceiling through the silver threads of the canopy above you. It was odd. Even before your father married for the second time you had never had a canopy bed, especially such a gorgeous one with a cloth looking like it was made by the Queen's best weavers. It almost looked like a silky silver web.
Spiders. Arachnid.
You jumped on the bed, throwing away a warm blanket covering your body, and stared at the large room you woke up in. It seemed as big as half of your house at the very least, the walls coloured in shades of lilac and amethyst, two silver chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. You saw dark-wood furniture lavishly decorated with auspicious motifs, a huge oval mirror... it looked like a room of a princess.
"Are you feeling better?"
You screamed when you heard someone's low voice and clamped your hands over your mouth, quickly moving to the farthest corner of the bed, your back pressed into the cold wall. There was a stranger sitting on the chair near your bed, but for some reason you hadn't seen him before as if he just emerged from the darkness.
You were staring at the face of a man you saw in the cave. Now, however, he looked fully human, his monstrous lower half replaced by long musculed legs. He was dressed in black lether while his left arm glowed in the dark, wrapped in metal, but he couldn't trick you with his charms. You knew his true form.
He was a war veteran, stepmother said, a hero, a soldier. She failed to mention he belonged to arachnid troops, the ones who fought alonside soldiers of your kingdom against Hydra tribes.
Grabbing a pillow and hiding behind it as if it were a shield, you cried, shivering and cursing your stepmother silently. How could she do it to you? How could she give you to an arachnid, this revolting, inhuman creature crawling in the dark? How could she send you here, knowing you were to be wed to this beast and bear his monstrous children? Better death than this. Better ending your life yourself than becoming a whore to this creature, forsaken by the gods.
You didn't know how much time had passed before your tears dried out. The man didn't try to get closer to you. He didn't speak, keeping his head low while you shuddered in the corner.
A bride to the spider. Even thinking of that made you feel like throwing up.
"Are you feeling better?" The man suddenly repeated his question, and you shriveled upon hearing his voice.
You didn't want to talk. Since the time your stepmother had first entered your house, your life was pathetic and worthless. She stripped you of your dowry and all belongings of your mother; she took away your dresses and even ribbons you used to decorate your hair with. You were not the daughter of lady of the house anymore. You were her errands girl, her little servant, the one she had been taking her anger out on. Even when your father was still alive, you knew you wouldn't be allowed to marry a decent man.
You dreamt of running away and living all by yourself in the forest before it was invaded by agressive driads and deadly lamias. After that you quietly accepted that your fate was to suffee in the arms of your offenders. You realized gods didn't want you to be happy, but you couldn't even imagine you would end up being sent to a dungeon right into the arms of this monster who was to breed you. You felt revolt rising deep within you. Even dying was better than this.
"I have healed your knee." The man said, and you blinked, suddenly conscious of your lack of pain. It was true, you had broken it on the run, but now you felt nothing as if you didn't hurt yourself in the first place.
He probably expected some gratitude.
"Thank you." You said in raspy voice, holding the pillow closer to you and hiding your face, your eyes red from tears. You thought it was funny he didn't chain you, but did he need that? With those eight legs of his he could catch anyone without breaking a sweat.
You bit down on your lip and saw he was watching you intently, so you lowered your gaze, looking at your airy silk dress. It softly glowed in the dark like the cloth of the canopy, and you suddenly thought that this revolting creature had undressed you and seen your naked form. Tears started gathering in the corners of your eyes again.
"Please, do not be afraid." The man said tenderly, and you answered him with a sob. His tired expression became worried. "I am sorry for scaring you earlier. I have thought it would be better to show you my true form from the early beginning."
You sniffed and tried covering your shaking feet with the blanket. Why did it have to happen to you? What had you done? Why had he chosen you over other women? You were far from the prettiest ones among your village.
"Why me?" You asked in a little voice, afraid of what you might hear.
The man - the monster in human flesh - smiled at you, his gaze wistful, and you shivered.
"I saw you on the day of the summer solstice. You were dancing barefoot around the fire with your sisters." The man said, and his gloomy face lit up. "You had a flower crown on your head."
Oh, he was there on the day of the festival, then. It was one of the few days when you could break free from the hold your stepmother had over you. Your sisters and you always went to the clearing in the woods and danced till the sunset after giving your prayers to the gods protecting your lands. This year your sister Adana had made you a flower crown to cheer you up.
"You were the most charming woman I have ever seen." His quiet voice made you snap out of your thoughts, and you greeted your teeth. "I've been watching you since then when you were out in the village or doing the house chores in the backyard. I saw... I saw when you didn't let your stepmother kill the spider and put him in the grass instead."
He gulped, and you bit the fabric of the pillow, shutting your eyes for a few seconds. This beast had been secretly watching you for months, and you had no clue about it. Did your stepmother know? Did she let him do it? How much did he pay her to let him follow you around?
"Are we even compatible?" You sniffed again, afraid to look at him. "Humans and..."
"We are compatible if you refer to being able to bear my children."
Your fingers buried into your hair, pulling at the roots in frustration. You bit back a cry knowing it wouldn't make you feel better. Carry little monsters in your womb and give birth to more of those revolting creatures... Were you supposed to lay eggs like spiders did? Would your children grow inside those cocoons? Before you could stop yourself, you were crying loudly and pressing your face into the pillow. When you sensed the man standing up and moving closer, you screamed in horror, pressing yourself further into the walls. He stepped back, an awful, hurt look in his eyes. Before you'd feel guilty, ashamed at yourself, but not now. Not in front of a creature that deserved nothing but death.
He sat back on the chair, watching the shiny wooden floor beneath his feet and allowing you time to calm down again. Why was he quiet? Did he try to persuade you he was civil? That he wouldn't jump at you like spiders did with its prey? The mere comparison made you shudder, and you wiped the tears with the pillow again.
The silence felt heavy, but you had nothing to say while the man was probably afraid to talk to you, knowing you didn't want to hear his voice. Did he know how revolting he was? Did he know you'd never step into the cave if you knew who was waiting for you there? Did he know you wished for nothing but break its disgusting long legs with metal claws on the ends?
You forced yourself to think of something else once you looked at his unbearably sad expression. He must have known a beast like him didn't deserve love. Not a love of a human being, at least. Why did he choose you? Why hadn't he seeked his betrothed among his own kind?
"Why looking for a human?" You asked him, lowering your gaze to your knees. "Why not the one from your own tribe?"
"We don't have many females left." He answered immediately as if he were waiting for you to speak up. "The war with nagas had affected us more than you think."
"But, surely, there are other species willing t-to... mate with you?" No, you didn't truly believe anyone in the whole world would be willing to, except the actual giant spiders of the South.
"There a few like driades of coniferous woods and dark elves living in the caves of Northern Mountains, but their number is decreasing, and they are not as willing to marry our men as before. They are trying to save their own kind."
"Oh, I see. There are too many of us, humans, so we aren't that valuable." You smiled bitterly at his words, and the man's blue eyes widened.
"My apologies, I didn't mean it. I would never say anything like that, apple of my eye."
You cringed at his words: he was still trying to trick you into believing he was some gentleman.
"Please, I know it is hard for you to believe me now, but I swear by my mother's name I'll give you more than any human man can." The creature whispered, his gaze soft and loving. "Whatever you wish for I shall bring to you."
"I don't want any man to give me anything." You sobbed, shaking your head. "I've only ever wanted my mother to come back, nothing else."
There was something that looked like understanding and pity appearing on his face. He could apprehend the loss of the one you loved the most, it seemed.
"Forgive me, but this is the only thing I cannot do for you. We practice necromancy, that's true, yet... you don't want you dear mother to be brought back that way, believe me."
"Than there's nothing you could give me."
You knew you were unreasonable - nothing could bring her back - but you didn't want him to think you were accepting his kind offer. He was a monster, and you didn't deserve to be wed to him.
But then what choice did you have? Surely, you would never leave this place - even if he was kind enough to attempt returning you to your stepmother, that rotten woman would never give him his money back, and he wouldn't let you go otherwise. Despite all your struggle, he would marry you, and you would have to comply.
How soon would you lose your sanity? Would it happen after seeing his true form for the second time? Maybe when he would bed you?
You felt an urge to throw up and clamped your hand against your mouth again.
"Do you have a potion?" You mumbled, forcing yourself to speak.
"A potion?" He repeated and frowned. "What potion do you need, my love?"
"I don't know how you call it... the potion that makes you fall in love with someone. They say it twists your heart and makes you forget whatever you felt before towards the one who gives it to you." Rubbing your tired wet eyes you asked, fixing your gaze on the blanket. You were repulsed by the idea of him even touching you, but if it was unavoidable, maybe being charmed and happy was better than losing your mind completely.
The man sighed, wiping his face with his hand in a black leather glove.
"A potion like this truly exists, and I can make it for you, but it won't help." He said quietly. "The charms don't last long. Of course, they would give us enough time to conceive a child, but is it truly want you want me to do to you?"
Don't say anything, don't say anything, don'tsayanything.
"Then what do you want from me?" More and more tears dropped to the blanket. "Do you expect me to fall in love with you at the first sight? Do you want me to pretend I like being here?"
"No. I don't."
There was a deep desperation to his voice you hadn't heard before, and it made you fall silent despite all the words almost leaping out of your mouth. So, this creature must know how disgusting he was in your eyes. Surely, you weren't the first human female captured by his tribe - they all knew how scary and ugly they looked to the ones of your kind. Why bringing you here, then? Why forcing you marry him? Of utter desperation because there was no one else for him to mate with? Because he liked you?
It wasn't getting any better.
"I know you are still tired. Please rest. No one will enter your chamber unless you ask for anything yourself."
He got up from his seat and slowly went to the other side of the room where those huge wide doors were - they were so big that he could enter in his true form. You hiccuped at the thought. For now he looked perfectly human - you could even call him handsome if you hadn't seen him back then in the cave. If only he was a true man, you'd be the luckiest girl in the world.
You pressed the blanket to your wet face to take away whatever was left on your cheeks and coughed a little. Staying here was frightening, but you were all by yourself, at least. If you got a bit more rest, maybe you'd think of something. Maybe you'd figure it out.
You could still hear the distant sound of singing somewhere outside, and suddenly you found yourself speaking to him again, making him look back at you.
"Who is that?" You asked, staring at his strong beefy figure. "Is it another prisoner?"
A prisoner, that was how you called yourself. You saw creature's gaze falling to your feet as he inhaled deeply and murmured, "No. They are my sisters singing to us." Before you could cry out in horror, asking what magic they casted on you, he continued. "They are sending us their blessings."
When he had disappeared behind the doors, you pulled the blanket over your head, feeling guilty, hurt, and disgusted at both him and yourself.
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