#I saw your Green Arrow!Eddie | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

siempre-bucky · 2 years

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downpour

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: Eddie had been in love with you since the summer before freshman and came up with a perfect way to confess to you the summer after graduation. Too bad there's a rain storm coming.

wc: 3.5k

a/n: this was supposed to be a blurb but I got obsessed with Eddie confessing in the rain! Enjoy!!

Something changed the summer before freshman year. Eddie Munson went to summer camp like every other year, ate the same gross camp food, and swam in the same questionable lake, but this year was different. On the bus ride to the campground, your sleeping frame fell onto his side and his heart felt like it was going to explode inside his chest. His brown eyes opened a little wider and a blush spread across his cheeks—he’d never felt that before.

You and Eddie had always been a pair, you grew up in the trailer three places down from him and became instant friends when he moved in with his uncle a few years ago. It was his uncle who mentioned summer camp back in the 6th grade, a way for Eddie to stay out of trouble, and of course, you couldn’t say no when he pleaded with you to go so he wouldn’t be alone.

Suddenly he saw everything about you differently. The way your nose scrunched when you smiled and how hard you laughed when he pushed that kid off the dock, and even the way the sunlight hit your skin as you paddled in the canoe beside him. He tried to push it all aside, you were just his friend.

It was just a small crush, it would fade after the summer was over and when he returned to the trailer park his feelings would subside. Eddie just liked you, it wasn’t like he was in love with you or anything.

He wasn't until the car ride home.

Wayne was blaring KISS, the car was shaking with the sound of the bass. You and Eddie sang together in the back seat, goofy smiles plastered on your faces. “I was made for loving you baby,” you giggled as you watched Eddie and his buzzed hair headbang in the seat beside you. Was it the best song for young teens to be listening to? No, but Wayne didn’t care as long as it made the two kids in the back seat happy.

Eddie looked over and the world stopped, the lush green trees outside the window moved in slow motion. Your laughter managed to drown out one of his favorite songs, hell, it sounded better. A blush rose to his cheeks, the apples of them felt as if they were on fire.

"You good, Eds?" You asked.

He wasn't good, 13 year old Eddie Munson just fell in love with his best friend.

His feelings never faded since the day in the back seat of the old car, they were only growing stronger with each passing year. He got his own van and you upgraded to the passenger seat to sing loudly as he drove down the streets of Hawkins. It was a view he’d never get sick of, and he couldn’t wait until you’d be singing next to him at the concert he’s been waiting years for.

Concerts happened often; album, tour, album, tour… it was a cycle he was used to, but July 30th was a very special date to Eddie. KISS was performing in Indianapolis, and on the very same date he realized his feelings for you years ago. It all went down perfectly in his fantasies: I Was Made For Lovin’ You would be playing live, and he’d turn to his best friend and tell you that he was madly in love, you two would kiss and pyrotechnics would go off from the stage. He’d been fantasizing about that since freshman year.

His van came to a screeching halt in front of your house, the neighbors doing lawn work grimacing and cursing him under their breaths as they looked at the unsightly vehicle. It didn’t take long for you to spring from the front door, trotting down the cobblestone pathway with your duffle bag draped on your shoulder. Eddie’s heart stopped as you waved and smiled in his direction, a heart-shaped arrow shooting right through him.

“Hi, Eds,” you greeted breathlessly as you unlocked the gate and ran straight into his open arms. Because that’s what all best friends did right? Hug the other like their life depended on it. Eddie’s arms wrapped around your shoulders while yours were around his waist, nose pressed to the crown of your head.

“Are you ready for the best weekend of your life?” he asked happily as he pulled away, taking your bag and throwing it into the back seat. His bright brown eyes returned to your gaze, making a heat rise to the surface of his skin.

“I’m more than ready,” you giggled.

“Munson!” Your mother called from the front door, leaning on the frame and wiping her hands off with her floral kitchen rag.

“Mrs. Y/L/N! Looking as wonderful as ever,” Eddie dramatically bowed to her and she smirked in return.

Your mom was like the mother Eddie always wanted, the one he deserved. She never gave in to the scathing rumors by the other mothers at the grocery store, their whispers never seemed to end as the kids she once knew grew up. She always had a snack ready for him when you brought him home after school and before he started driving, she never left without knowing he got inside his trailer safely. She was also the first to know that he was in love with you, and she was the first person you came to when you realized you were in love with Eddie.

“Keep my baby safe,” she hollered.

You and Eddie looked at one another and smiled, “Always,” he said confidently.

After your mom blew you a kiss, you reached inside your back pocket and pulled out a cassette tape. “I made something for the drive,” you said as you turned to him, a sly smirk on your face. Eddie narrowed his eyes as his eyes swiveled from the cassette to your face.

“What do we have here?” he hummed as he snatched it from your hands. You watched intently as he studied the list of songs you wrote with your glitter gel pen. “ABBA? The Bangels? Go-Gos? Bowie…The Beach Boys? The fucking Beach Boys—come on, Y/N you’re killing me,” he whined, crashing his side into his van.

You bit back your laughter, biting down on your thumbnail. “I wanted variety,” you reasoned.

“We’re going to a KISS concert, sweetheart. The Beach Boys? I’m not playing this bullshit,” he ranted as the two of you got into the car.

He stayed stone faced as you playfully huffed, shifting your knees away from him. He could never say no to you, before you could even get to the stop sign at the end of the road you could hear the opening notes of an ABBA song. “Happy, princess?” he asked, looking over at you.

You nodded and looked out at the sky, puffy clouds with hints of gray hovered in the distance and were mostly covered by the houses in sight. “You think it’s gonna rain, Eds?” you asked him.

Eddie chuckled dryly, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. It better not, he thought grumpily as his eyebrows lowered in annoyance. The universe loved to fuck with him, never letting him have anything. Sure, he knew it was childish to think that way but if he had to get down on his knees and beg for one thing to go right in his young life he absolutely would. He’d fuck up his knees, scrape them, get them muddy just to plead all his reasonings to have you as more than his best friend.

He kept his eyes towards the clouds all night, and lucky enough the motel room came with a view of them. They taunted him with the threat of being rained out, staring at him all puffy and shit. “You look like you’re going to beat up the motel sign,” you giggled from your uncomfortable bed.

Eddie turned and toyed with his long hair, a habit you noticed; it was something he always did when he was anxious. “Jus’ thinking,'' he groaned as he stretched. You averted your eyes as his black t-shirt rose, his belly button and happy trail on full display.

“About?” you hummed, raising your eyebrows.

“How fucking awesome this concert’s gonna be tomorrow,” he said happily as he leaped on your bed, resting in front of you, relishing in your giggles and how nice his back felt on the hard mattress.

You smiled and started to play with his hair, shaping the split ends into little hearts on the floral bedspread. “Do you remember when Wayne used to play that old KISS cassette when he would pick us up from camp?”

Eddie smiled fondly, clasping his hands and resting them over his stomach. “He’d get so mad when we’d ask him to play it again,” he remembered, tracing patterns in the popcorn ceiling.

There was a small silence, the air conditioner suddenly became louder than normal without your banter. “I think those are my fondest memories from when we were kids,” you admitted, your eyes finally looking at his face. Eddie’s eyes slowly looked at your face, the only thing in his gaze.

“Mine too.” He suddenly felt overwhelmed, maybe this was his moment to tell you. His lips parted. “Y/N, there’s something-”

He was cut off by a loud crack of thunder. There was the universe, right on time to fuck everything up for him. You jumped up and ran to the window, gripping the stale curtain and ripping it open. The rain had started to drizzle, coating the once dry pavement. “It’s raining!” You gasp. “This might be the best trip ever, Eddie.” Well, it certainly won’t be if the concert gets rained out.

The metalhead huffed and sat up, that smug frown didn’t last long. All he could think of was how pretty you looked in the red neon light of the sign coming in from the window. He took in a deep breath and smiled boyishly, wishing he had his camera on him.

—

The first thing Eddie did when he woke up the morning of the concert was open the curtain. There was not a cloud in sight, just a beautiful blue with birds flying to their next destination. Oh, it was going to be a good day. He excitedly rushed you along, bouncing off the poorly repaired beige walls of the motel room. “We gotta go, move your ass!”

Eddie had his hand around your wrist as he guided you through the hoard of people, giggling like kids as you dodged and weaved, just trying to get a good spot. Music was already blasting through the speakers from the outdoor stage, the smell of overpowering alcohol making your nose scrunch.

“You think we’ll be able to see them?” you asked as you lifted up on your tippy toes. Eddie kept pushing forward until an old biker turned around and gave him the scariest death glare he’d ever seen.

“I hope so, if not we can still hear the music,” he assured you as he finally stopped, his tongue swiping along his lower lip as he looked out at the crowd. He never let go of your wrist and even when you did notice how perfectly it fit around yours, you didn’t bring it up. You let him subconsciously hold on to you, a small shy smile forming on your lips.

Eddie looked up at the sky, a single dark cloud entered his view and stained the expansive blue. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he growled lowly to himself, whipping around to see where the little cloud escaped from. God they were dark and full of water that would drown all his hope and dreams, building up in the near distance. “Throw me a fucking bone, you bitch,” he spat at the sky through gritted teeth.

His grip tightened on your wrist and you peeled your concerned eyes from the stage to see him having an argument with the little storm cloud. “Eddie,” you snorted, using your free hand to tap him on the shoulder, “I don’t think the clouds are going to yell back.”

You grinned as he looked down at you, his pink face from the anger softening and he finally let go of your wrist. That grin dimmed a little bit, you liked when he held you. “S-sorry, it’s just gonna rain and if we get rained out I’m going to be pissed.”

Turning to face him, you wrapped your arms around his and pressed your head to his shoulder to comfort him. You turned your face to look at the clouds behind you, they did look nasty but you didn't want the one thing he’d been talking about all summer to be ruined. “It’s highly unlikely they’ll cancel the show, Eds. There has to be a shit ton of rain and it looks like it’ll be a small sprinkle, as long as the guys wear waterproof face paint we’ll be fine.” You always managed to calm him, a warmth spread to his heart and the screaming in his mind finally dulled.

When the first act came on, the wind started to blow. It wasn’t a gentle breeze but it wasn’t a full blown tornado. Eddie let it go, enjoying the music and watching you sing and dance at his side. Every time he wanted to turn around to check the clouds, you’d grab his shoulder and point to the stage. “Enjoy the show!” you yelled over the music.

When the second act came on, the clouds consumed the blue sky and blocked the sun. If confessing to his best friend wasn’t on the agenda, he’d say this is pretty fucking metal. The dark clouds and low rumble of thunder created the perfect ambiance, but now he just prayed that the rain would wait.

It didn’t. Eddie felt a drop of water on his cheek and his mood dampened for a moment before KISS came out. It was almost time, his heart started to pound against his chest and his head started to rehearse how he was going to tell you.

The rain kept coming, a full on rainstorm was happening in the middle of the concert. He managed to get glimpses of you and how happy you looked. Your skin was glowing from the rain, your smile had never looked so bright, and it didn’t matter if you were getting soaked head to toe.

He knew the song was coming and apparently so did the rain. The drops were coming down and colliding with the earth angrily, the water was rising and covering the grass. His poor Reeboks, he noted as he grimaced. Then the lightning started, and the crashing thunder became louder than the drums and bass. “No, no, no,” he whispered in panic as some people started to leave, rushing from their spots.

The rain was coming in sideways, the wind picking up and the lightning striking every second. Finally, they started the opening notes to the one song he'd been waiting to hear. He had to be quick. “Y/N!” he shouted as he gently grabbed your arm.

Your eyebrows raised as you pushed back your wet hair, looking up at him. “Yeah?” you yelled back, your head swelling between him and the stage. His other hand gripped your shoulder and he turned you to look at him.

He was going to speak when the music was cut off, a stout man in yellow rushed to the stage while the band members quickly fled the flooded stage. “With the severity of the storm we have to cut things short, please exit in an orderly fashion, we have to clear the field!” he said into the mic, his clipboard pressed to his forehead to block the rain in his face.

You and Eddie remained in your spot as people pushed and shoved around you to make their way to the gate. The poor man in front of you was frozen in his spot, his face filled with sadness as he longingly looked at the empty stage. “We gotta go. I don’t want us to get struck by lightning,” you tell him kindly, pulling on the sleeve of his shirt. He didn’t budge, he stood there like concrete was around his feet and not slick rain.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he said to himself meekly.

“Eddie? Are you ok? We need to go, bub.”

He looked at you with those sad brown puppy eyes that made you go weak in the knees. You couldn’t tell if those were tears or rain falling from the corner of his eyes, the whites of his eyes were becoming red and his lower lip quivered. “It’s ruined,” he mumbled.

“There are other concerts, they’ll be back next summer. No biggie,” you tried to tell him but he wasn’t having it. You didn’t understand.

Eddie turned to you and wrapped his arms around your wrists, “You don’t get it.”

You cocked your head, “No, I don’t,” you chuckled dryly.

He took a step closer, his chest inches from yours as he took in deep breaths to calm himself and to prep himself. “They were supposed to play I Was Made For Lovin’ You,” he began, the palms trailing up the underside of your arms until his fingertips reached your triceps.

Your face softened and you took another step closer to him. “And?” you prompted, taking your hands and placing them on his chest. You could feel his heartbeat pounding against the flesh of your palms.

Another step forward and his grip tightened as if he was afraid you’d slip away. “And I was supposed to tell you that I’m—I’m so in love with you. In the car when Uncle Wayne took us home from camp and you sang the song with me. I just knew.” His eyes fell from your gaze, staring at the water that was starting to rise, red solo cups floating in between you.

You lightly bounced from the excitement, “Oh, Eddie,” you breathed, your hand rising to place on the side of his cheek, forcing him to look at you. Your hand moved slightly so your thumb could wipe away the rain from his lower lip, it felt so soft…so inviting. “You remember the night we all roasted marshmallows? I was freezing and they wouldn't let me get my jacket from the cabin?”

He nodded, “I gave you my leather jacket.”

“You said anyone who touched it would lose a hand,” you smiled, tearing brimming your eyes. “That’s when I fell in love with you, Eddie. I’ve been in love with you for years…and I kept both my hands.”

A wave of relief washed over him and he stepped even closer so that your chests touched. “You love me?” he asked, in need of confirmation.

“I love you.”

He leaned in and you matched his motions, lips centimeters away when two strong hands clapped yours and his shoulders. “Listen love birds,” the man said gruffly. You looked at him in shock, “I’m not to risk my job for a couple of kissing teens. Get off the field before we all get electrocuted! Now!” the security guard shouted, pointing to the gate.

Eddie grabbed your hand, not your wrist, but your hand, and ran towards the gate as fast as he could. Pushing and shoving in playful desperation to get back to the van. You held onto him tightly and did your best to stay close to him as he pushed through the sea of people and to the parking lot.

—

He opened your door first, helping you in before he got in the driver's seat. You two sat there wet and panting the harsh rain beating on the metal of his van. Then he looked over and you followed, taking a moment to smile lovingly at one another before he started laughing.

You leaned back on the seat and watched as the rain poured down the windshield, your surroundings all blurry. It was oddly romantic and intimate in your mind. Eddie turned on the van and let the air start to dry you off. Lurching forward, you ejected your tape and put in a familiar one.

“Y/N,” he breathed once he heard the opening chords.

You looked over and leaned over the center console, “Eddie,” you said, matching his tone.

Eddie smiled and cupped your cheek, “I love you so much,” he whispered before kissing you. It was soft and delicate, your lips tingling as his lips glided over yours.

“I love you too,” you murmured as your hands found his neck, deepening the kiss. He turned up the radio, his lips never leaving yours.

Once you finally pulled away, you were breathless, looking at him and moving some damp hair out of his face, “I told you this was going to be the best trip,” you giggled, putting your forehead on his.

“Oh, I never doubted you, sweetheart.”

“Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

“Kiss me again…”

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson imagine #stranger things #joseph quinn

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riddle-me-ri · 11 months

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oh oh! how do you think btas riddler would react to his s/o successfully completing The Riddle of the Minotaur?

A/N: Aww omg this idea is so cute! He would be estatic he would be thrilled and so proud!! Aww I always enjoy writing for my wee husbando this is so cute! Also sorry I sorta…went a wee bit off track lol and I..kinda borrowed a similar twist I’ve done before…I hope you don’t mind…it was just really hard to resist the opportunity was RIGHT THERE lmao

Word Count: 1k

BTAS Riddler x Reader - Full Playthrough

“Edward, what’s this?”

“Oh, you’ll see.” Ed smiled.

You sat up straight in a plush office chair, staring at a large computer monitor. An 8-bit epic score played through the speakers and a pixelated title on the screen in green text:

“The Riddle of the Minotaur”

Below the title was blinking green text stating;

“Press Enter to Start.”

When you finally read the title, you smiled up at Edward.

“It’s your game! I-I didn’t think you had a copy still…after what happened.”

Edward sighed, nodding. “Despite…the outcome of my game being stolen right from under me…I’m still very proud of it.”

“You should be!” You exclaimed.

Edward leaned in and gently nestled his chin into your left shoulder.

He whispered warmly into your ear. “But now, it would mean the world to me if…you played it in it’s entirety.”

You gasped. You always enjoyed playing Eddie’s puzzle toys and video games. They always got you to think outside the box and they were super fun too! Not to mention, you adored the praise he gave you for solving them.

Now, one of his most well known (or perhaps…infamous?) creations was in front of you. Waiting to go on a virtual enigmatic adventure.

‘I-I’d love to Eddie! This is exciting!” Edward chuckled. He always did love your enthusiasm for his creations.

He lifted his head up from your shoulder and gave an encouraging kiss to your temple.

“Good luck, darling. And don’t be surprised if it’s a bit different than what you might have learned when it was released.”

After that Edward walked out of his office, leaving you a bit confused at that last statement.

You knew a little about the game, it’s setting, and the objective to get to the center of a maze and outsmart the Minotaur. You have heard some kid beat the game while The Riddler was at large. What was the kid’s name? Tom? Dick? Harry?

You shrugged it off, maybe Edward just added a couple more puzzles or maybe updated some riddles?

Pushing down on the “enter” button, the game finally began.

Minutes soon turned into a couple of hours.

Your hands flew across the keyboard–answering riddles, clicking on arrows to navigate through the winding maze.

A couple riddles were some you have heard or seen before:

“What is the shortest distance between a point in Nome, Alaska, and a point in Miami, Florida?”

You even recognized one of Edward’s favorite riddlers.

“I have billions of eyes, yet I live in darkness. I have millions of ears yet only four lobes…”

Of course, the brain…duh!

You have yet to run into the Hand of Fate or the Minotaur.

You couldn’t help the proud smirk that grew on your face as you saw the center of the maze up ahead on the map.

However, now the questions…seemed to have changed.

The riddles thus far have been fairly usual and some were related to the theme of the Minotaur mythos…

Yet, these last few had a more…romantic feel?

“I can break, I can be clogged, I can be attacked, I can be given, I can be kept, I can be crushed, yet I can be whole at the same time. What am I?”

A heart…

You navigated further to the center before you hit another riddle.

“I hurt the most when lost, yet also when not had at all. I’m sometimes the hardest to express, but th easiest to ignore. I can be given to many, or just one. What am I?”

You tapped your finger on top of the mouse as you pondered.

“Love…” You typed out the word and pressed the enter key.

Heart, love…odd but you could feel your cheek slightly warm. Perhaps, these were the changes he made, to make the game more special for your playthrough.

Finally, you are just outside the center of the maze. You’re confronted by the Minotaur before you can pass through the final gate.

The pixelated minotaur raised his blade before asking a final riddle.

“Answer the riddle…and you shall pass to the center of the maze. If you answer incorrectly, you shall perish.” The red text typed out the Minotaur’s speech.

“For your final riddle…” The Minotaur began.

“...It connects two people…yet it only touches only one. What is it?”

An empty text box appeared at the bottom of the speech box. A vertical line blinked, waiting for an answer.

“W-What?” You asked out loud to yourself.

Connects two people…but only touching one or the other?

You were lost in thought, so much so you didnt’ hear the door open and someone slowly walking behind you.

Edward wore a proud wide grin on his face. You were so close to the finish line and he had the perfect reward.

“A…not a…ugh…there was love…heart…it’s gotta connect.”

You gasped as your mental lightbulb went off. You typed sporadically on the keys.

“A…wedding…ring?” You pressed enter.

The screen went black for a moment, before showing your warrior character in the middle of the maze standing in front of a trove of treasures.

Your smile grew wide as the text came up confirming your victory.

“Eddie!” You hollered as you jumped out of your seat. “I did it!”

“I knew you could, darling.” Eddie beamed.

You jumped again this time in surprise more than excitement.

Edward was right behind you, a soft look filled with affection topped with a sweet smile.

“Eddie! W-When–how–I, I did not see you-”

Edward chuckled. “I wanted to be here just before your inevitable win. I knew you would…but you never cease to amaze me.”

You giggled as you rushed over to him, planning for an embrace. But before you got your arms around him–he dropped down on one knee.

Your eyebrows scrunched in the middle.

Then another lightbulb goes off.

The riddles, the answers…especially near the end.

“I may be the smartest man in this world…but only you could make me the happiest man in this world…will you marry me?”

You got your second wind to rush him again, to finally embrace him. This time you followed through and even knocked him down to the ground.

“Yes! Yes!” You shrieked excitedly, “I’d love to!”

Edward sighed in relief as he tightened his arms around you. When you finally let up, Edward gently slid the ring on your finger.

“It connects two people…” He began.

When the ring nestled around the base of your finger, your smile widened more than when you won the game.

“Yet, it only touches one.” You finished.

#ri writes #btas riddler x reader #btas edward nygma x reader #batman the animated series riddler x reader #batman the animated series edward nygma x reader

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thefinalcinderella · 10 months

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Tsurune Book 3 Chapter 3 - The Song of Naru (Part 2)

Let me share my personal theory: In this universe, the sport of kyudo possesses the supernatural ability to alter one's brain chemistry. Those who have a deeper affinity with the bow are more transformed by this ability. Kyudo, it seems, can make one become more spiritually attuned and connect seemingly completely unrelated concepts, but also warp one's thought processes to the point of non-kyudo practitioners finding them incomprehensible.

Anyways I still had no idea what's going on. And yes, that last line in the chapter is real

Glossary here

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

The word used here is 文字絵 (mojie) which means a picture formed by letters

In Japanese, superstring theory (超弦理論) contains the character for "bowstring"

A yotsugake is a kyudo glove that covers four fingers

Dousha is "a form of Japanese archery with the purpose of shooting arrows from one end to the other of the outer area on the west side of Sanjyusangen-do temple"

Toshiya is another name for dousha

A kosode is a short-sleeved kimono. It contains the character for sleeve

Apparently this is a quote from Kuroko no Basuke?

Previous | Next

The sun was flashing, spreading rainbow-colored wings of light.

It was the middle of May. The prefectural high school kyudo tournament preliminaries were being held.

The competition event was “close range.” The first day’s “individual competition” consisted of shooting four arrows in two stages in zasha, and the top ten with the highest number of hits would be selected for the next round.

The “team competition” on the second day consisted of one coach and five to seven archers, and one male and one female team per school could participate. The competition format was teams of five, four shots in zasha, and a time limit of eight minutes. Forty-one schools participated in the boys’ competition, and the eight teams with the highest scores in the first and second rounds would advance to the prefectural tournament. Looking at the past results, winning was between thirty and thirty-five hits, and the lowest halfway point was twenty.

Kazemai High School had a total of six girls: the three second-years Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo, and three first-years. The boys had a total of seven, with the five second-years Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, and Minato, and the two first-years Himuro and Kanbayashi. A total of thirteen people entered the individual and team competitions.

Kazemai was the winning school last year, so they attracted a lot of attention. Their school’s name was printed on the back of their green jerseys along with the illustration of an arrow.

When a student from another school said, “Oh, it’s Kazamai,” Nanao folded his hands behind his head.

“This is read as Kazemai. I get it, I sometimes say it wrong too.”

Kaito was appalled. “Don’t get the name of your own school wrong.”

“Japanese kanji is hard because there are so many different readings. Nippon, Nihon, Hinomoto, and Yamato are all examples of the ever-changing name of our country, after all.”

“Oh, it’s Asahina and Eddie from YumiDou,” they heard someone say.

They looked and saw the Haneina High School members passing by, with the flashy duo leading them. “Haneine?” someone muttered when they saw the characters printed on the back of their orange jerseys.

“Those guys are called ‘Haneina High School’… Oi, Asahina and Eddie! Merha!”

When Nanao waved at them, Asahina and Eddie also waved back. In addition, there were other unique members following them, such as a man with narrow eyes, a boy with a notebook and pen, and a boy with fresh flowers in his bag.

Asahina saluted them. “Hey, Nanapri and everyone from Kazemai. It’s been a while. How are you guys?”

Eddie continued, “Prince Nanao, it has been long seen we’ve last contacted each other. The frog art (1) I received from you the other way has seen a lot of uses, that it has.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I saw your last stream. You hit the center of the target in the dark!”

“Thank you. My body learned how to do it using something interesting. If it’s my dojo, I rarely miss a shot.”

“That’s amazing. I’d like to learn that technique too,” Seiya said.

“During kai, the second joint of your bow hand’s index finger should be in line with the position of the tree branch outside the kyudojo.”

“That isn’t something you learned with your body, it’s something you saw with your eyes…”

“Haha, well, it’s alright, isn’t it? I’ll be able to do it with my mind’s eye sooner or later.”

Suddenly, Asahina stared at Minato.

“Hmm? Is there something on my face?”

“I don’t know why, but I feel like rubbing your forehead, Narumiya.”

Seiya quickly hid Minato’s forehead. “You need our advisor’s permission.”

“Seriously? Just how strict are things at Kazemai? If only we can use a jutsu to clone him and borrow one of them. Oh, speak of the devil, Doppelgangers No. 1 and 2 have arrived.”

Asahina’s gaze was directed at a group of people dressed in purple jerseys.

It was the Kirisaki High School kyudo club. The twin brothers Senichi and Manji stopped walking at almost exactly the same moment. Their bangs were arranged symmetrically to each other. Senichi, whose bangs were parted to the left, spoke.

“Doppelgangers are already old news. We’re the Twin Fighters now.”

Hearing this, Kaito’s jaw dropped.

“I can’t believe there are guys with terrible naming senses in a different way from Seiya… Are you sure you guys aren’t going against the times?”

“Huh!?” The twins exclaimed in unison. Kabashima and Yushima tried to calm them down, but Senichi picked up the corners of his mouth and bared his teeth, and Manji pulled his eyelid down and stuck out his tongue. Without paying any attention to what was going on around him, Ryouhei ran up to a certain person.

“Shuu-kun!”

“Hey, Ryouhei. Did you grow taller again?”

“Yep. I’m not losing to you yet!”

“Fufu. I guess I have to give up.”

“It’s a shame that Motomura-senpai and Sase-senpai aren’t here anymore. It’s so sad that everyone has to go their separate ways after graduating from high school, even though we had so much fun together. I wish I could shoot with everyone more.”

Shuu’s pale eyelashes wavered. Senichi and Manji reacted.

“Yamanouchi, stop calling him that.”

“Huh? But Shuu-kun is Shuu-kun, isn’t he?”

Someone was watching the jumble of green, orange, and purple as they chattered.

Kuon was lamenting outside the circle.

It’s him! The man I saw in my dreams.

…No, wait. Who is Fujiwara-senpai looking at?

Following his line of sight, Kuon found Minato there. Shuu had a gentle smile on his face.

I can’t believe this. Those who stand at the top should not smile so frivolously. I don’t care about the dog anymore. This guy must be harmful to Fujiwara-senpai.

The antique doll smiled coldly.

After the opening ceremony, the individual competition started. The order was random in individual competitions.

The girls went first. Hanazawa, Shiragiku, Seo, and six other girls put on their yugake and headed for the waiting room with their bows, arrows, and tsurumaki with spare strings. Tommy-sensei went with them.

Cheering squads from each school took their places in the stands. It was filled with people holding paper cranes with prayers written on them and others recording in notebooks.

The Kazemai girls started appearing from the third group. Hanazawa’s matooto was cheered by the audience, and Shiragiku and Seo, who were in separate groups, followed. They performed a light and lovely dance, and as a result, Hanazawa had two hits, Shiragiku had three hits, and Seo landed all four of her arrows.

Next was the boys’ division.

Haneina’s Asahina, Eddie, Matsuda, Kanuma, and Igarashi. The five unique and showy individuals captured people’s attentions even when they were alone. Two in particular, Asahina and Eddie, had hair colors that couldn’t be misperceived even from a distance, and their shooting was even more beautiful than in their videos. Their arrows were like flashes as lightning, and they hit with all four arrows.

Kanbayashi, a Kazemai first-year, watched them from the waiting room and thought, I can’t shoot disgracefully. I have to do my best not to bring shame to Kazemai.

The first individual match. Kanbayashi was at the second target in the second group. The archer before him drew his bow. He released his arrow and hit the target at three o’clock. It was a good start.

Meanwhile, tension had stiffened Kanbayashi’s shoulders.

Huh? Why can’t I focus?

As he panicked in his mind, he raised his bow and moved to daisan. He slowly pushed his bow open—

Right when Kanbayashi realized it, the arrow was no longer in his hand and was sticking out of the arrow path. The arrow had jumped out of his hand while he was still drawing his bow. He had no idea what happened.

Crap, crap, crap.

No way, is this target panic…?

No, no, no, I’ve been nervous plenty of times, but I’ve never let go this early. No, there’s no time to think about this. I have to nock the next arrow—. His hands were shaking, and his bow grip was becoming slick with sweat.

It’s fine, it’s fine, it’ll be okay next time.

The more he chanted that in his mind, the rougher his breathing became.

For his second shot, Kanbayashi’s arrow was once again released before reaching kai. The venue became noisy as people started murmuring to each other, and the sound of someone saying “Ah” remained in his ears. The archer behind him released a sharp-flying arrow. Shouts of “Yes!” reverberated.

Kanbayashi’s third shot came around. He could feel his hands shaking. He didn’t know how to interpret this first-time sensation. What did Narumiya-senpai say? To overcome target panic, focus on breathing and exhale slowly. Exhale, exha…, oh no, I can’t do it—.

Again, before he even drew his bow back, the arrow was released in an instant. The sound of the aluminum arrow sweeping across the ground resounded, and it pierced the target after bouncing.

Is this what it means to not hear a tsurune?

It was almost terrifying for an archer.

After shooting all four arrows, Kanbayashi didn’t make any matooto, while Kaito, Seiya, and Minato landed all their arrows, and the others ended the first round with three hits.

Once he left the kyudojo, Kanbayashi buried his face in his hands. His heart was still pounding. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Nanao called out, but Kanbayashi’s face was so stiff that all he could manage was a forced smile.

This is so embarrassing. I became a complete mess in front of my senpais and my family who came to support me.

I’ve been practicing and practicing, but when the actual competition comes, I end up like this. What am I doing—.

Kanbayashi gripped the arrows that he retrieved.

“Please remove me from the lineup for tomorrow’s team competition! I can’t do it! I definitely have target panic! I don’t want to be a burden on everyone!”

This time it wasn’t Kanbayashi, but Minato and the second-years who were blinking rapidly.

It was Kaito who responded. “Oi, oi. We’re still only halfway through the individual competition. Why don’t you just hit the remaining four?”

Nanao and Ryouhei also chimed in.

“That’s right. It’s a little too early to give up. Let’s focus on the individual competition in front of us first.”

“Yeah, what he said. There was also a time when I panicked because my string snapped, but I managed.”

However, Kanbayashi didn’t change his opinion.

“It’s impossible! I’ve always had the potential to get target panic! My mental weakness is the only thing I’m confident about! You have to have had it to understand how awful it is!”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Minato. Nothing but the words of someone who experienced target panic could reach Kanbayashi’s heart now.

Minato stepped forward.

“Although it’s called target panic, it’s still a relatively early and sudden system. It’s not severe yet. We can get back on track.”

“You saw me, didn’t you!? My terrible shooting! I was so careful about target panic, but why, why…”

“Let’s do the dantian breathing exercises together. You’re too worked up right now, but you’ll calm down in a few minutes.”

“I can’t do such wishful thinking!”

Minato took Kanbayashi’s hand.

“Kanbayashi, listen to me. My mom once told me about something she read in a book. In ancient times, the Japanese named very fast vehicles ‘tsubame.” The second-fastest were ‘kodama,’ and the ones after that were ‘hikari.’ What do you think is a vehicle that’s faster than light?”

“…Was there anything faster than light?”

“The Shinkansen ‘Nozomi.’ It’s the Japanese word for ‘hope.’ The slogans were, ‘Nozomi of Ambitious Japan! is always there for you’ and ‘Nozomi is the fastest way to meet the person you want to see.’”

Tommy-sensei, who had been watching their exchange, smiled broadly.

“I’ve ridden on the ‘Hinotori’ before. E=mc2. It reminds one of Einstein, the monument of theoretical physics. When things move, they get heavier.”

“Tommy-sensei, you’re knowledgeable about physics too?” Kanbayashi said.

“No, not at all. I’m just a geography teacher. I only know the two theories: relativity, which deals with gravity, and quantum mechanics, which explains the behavior of matter in the microscopic world.”

“The only one of the seventeen subatomic particles that hadn’t been confirmed, the Higgs boson particle, was discovered in this century. It was called the God particle, and is responsible for giving mass to everything. And I guess there’s also the ‘superstring theory,’” Seiya supplemented. (2)

“Super-string?”

“The superstring theory. It’s a theory that claims that the origin of all things is ultra-small ‘strings’. The theory is that particles are actually the vibrations of these strings. It’s still at the stage of hypothesis.”

“The universe is made up of the sound of strings. I guess it would be too poetic to say that tsurune is the true nature of matter. Sound is the vibrating waves of air. Since it’s said that everything from people and plants to minerals are made up of waves, to say that ‘Nozomi’ is faster than light might not necessarily be wrong,” Masa-san said.

“Wow, tsurune is incredible.”

Tommy-sensei smiled with satisfaction at Kanbayashi, who was blinking rapidly.

“When I hear the word ‘ambitious,’ I think of Dr. Clark’s words. ‘Boys, be ambitious. Like this old man.’ I can almost hear the doctor laughing as he says, ‘I’m an eternal young man.’ Now, there’s still a long, long way to go. Let’s go to the next stage together.”

“I don’t really understand, but I’m going to let the team competition wait and focus on what’s in front of me right now.”

Kanbayashi changed his mindset and practiced dantian breathing as Minato put his hand on his lower abdomen.

As for the results of the individual competition, Kazemai’s Minato, Seiya, and Kaito, Kirisaki’s Shuu, Kabashima, and Kuon, Haneina’s Asahina and Eddie, and Seo from the girls’ division would be advancing to prefecturals.

The second day was the team competition.

The first round. The Haneina team, who were famous as Yotubers, drew a lot of attention for their shooting.

The oomae was Eddie Fox.

His long, blond hair was tied high up on his head, and a headband was tied around his forehead. He looked like an actor in a period drama. Once he gripped his bow, his jokester persona disappeared as his eyes sharpened, his breathing became shallower, and his face became dreadfully serious. A burst of sound resounded from the target area as he took advantage of a momentary gap and got in close to his opponent.

The second target was Matsuda Kotetsu.

He had poor vision, and the world he saw was composed of multicolored balls of light. His hearing was above average, and he had an excellent sense of perception. Whenever he stood before the target, he always stood behind someone else because it was easier to perceive the distance when someone was standing in front of him. Kyudo was a sport that could be played by people of all ages, and physical differences were no handicap. With the use of remote video conferencing, it was even possible to have a match with people on the other side of the world at the same time.

The third target was the naka, Kanuma Nobuhiko.

He was a haiku poet who loved writing haikus. He was staring absentmindedly into space during the middle of a competition.

A staff member approached him and asked him in a whisper, “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

“The eye of the snake/the white water surface holds/the golden-scaled fish. I tried to write a poem about carps living in a pond, but I guess it’s too mediocre. On a summer’s day/the koi frolic and a cat/sleeps beneath a tree. How’s that?” (3)

“This isn’t a haiku contest, it’s a kyudo tournament! Concentrate on your shooting!”

“Okaaay.”

Kanuma nocked his arrow. The spectators who had witnessed the scene were taken aback by his lack of nervousness and extraordinary strength of his heart.

The fourth target was the ochimae, Igarashi Shion.

He was the Gardening Prince who loved flowers. Even when he was sitting in his chair in the waiting room, he kept fresh flowers with him and left them with his tsurumaki. Even his bow was decorated with flowers he drew himself, and there were even people who wanted him to sell it to them. His shooting was as sweet-smelling as a flower and created the illusion of a fairy flying.

The fifth person was the ochi, Asahina You.

His red hair symbolized the rising sun. He parted his bow and followed the correct tsurumichi path. What was beautiful was good, and what was good was true. If you sought beauty and aesthetic, you would naturally follow the right path without being aware of it. Far from concepts such as “seeking the truth” and “ascetic training,” and the irrepressible joy that radiated from him captivated those who watched him. He liked to have fun, and believed in fundamentally ignoring what wasn’t fun or changing it to be fun.

The Haneina High School kyudo club was both noble and greedy. They lived not by the values of others, but their own axes. The five of them were comrades and friends who had met each other on their travels. Of course, there were occasional clashes of opinion, but they knew when to quit, so there were no lingering resentments. Making videos was a great way to learn about life and society, as what one said and did was constantly exposed to the public eye. It wasn’t easy to communicate something to others. True expressive people seemed to be free and unfettered at first glance, but they kept their feet on the ground and devoted themselves to their work.

The five of them carved out the Eight Stages of Shooting.

Ashibumi, douzukuri, yugamae, uchiokoshi, hikiwake, kai, hanare, zanshin.

When five circles, a “yoko kaichuu,” were lined up next to each other on the scoreboard, there was an eruption of applause.

Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo, who were watching from the stands, let out sighs.

“It feels really fun.”

“Their shooting was brilliant.”

“They’re formidable opponents. It seems that the boys’ division won’t be so smooth-sailing.”

The members of the Haneina High School kyudo club achieved the high results of four, four, four, three, and four hits each.

Second round, first kyudojo. The champions, Kirisaki High School, were taking their turn.

The oomae was Kabashima. He was particular about his face and form. In the name of Kirisaki High School, he shot so that no one could complain. When gripping the bow, the tenmonsuji should be firmly sticking to the todake, and the skin between one’s thumb and index finger should be rolled up from below. It was no exaggeration to say that kyudo began with the Eight Stages of Shooting and ended with the Eight Stages of Shooting. Originally, it was the Seven Stages, but with the addition of “zanshin,” it became eight. Why did they make it eight? He felt something profound in it. He earnestly, single-mindedly, carved out the Eight Stages and created a matooto. He was intoxicated by the sweet tone.

Senichi was at the second target, and Manji was at the third. Although their time-difference attack was sealed up, the confidence of the Twin Fighters was evident. We stand on the front line, the firing line. Come on, follow us. They looked completely relaxed, as if victory had been decided before the fight had even begun.

The ochimae was Kuon Takumi. Unusually for a high school student, he used a yotsugake. (3) There were slight differences in gripping the string depending on whether you were wearing mitsugake and yotsugake. Originally used in dousha, (4) and it was said that yotsugake was more suitable for people who drew many arrows like the toshiya (5)in Sanjusangen-do or for people with tough bows, but since Kuon believed that yotsugake were more superiorly ranked than mitsugake, he chose to use it. The arrow that was released almost hit the center. A rapturous air exuded from his whole body.

When the ochi, Shuu, started to lift his bow, the entire venue resonated with silence.

Even the sound of his clothes rustling was daunting. He possessed a divinity, as if he had reached a higher level than what everyone called the “Young Lord.” He himself became a bow and emitted a tsurune that soared through the heavens. Shuu’s sound instantly erased the uncanny colors created by Kuon and purified the place.

A true sound.

A good sound.

A beautiful sound.

By the time the people whose hearts were pierced came back to their senses, Shuu had already left.

The results were announced over the loudspeaker.

“The results will be announced now. First shooting range, Team 17, four, four, three, four, four, nineteen hits total. Second shooting range, Team 18, four, two, two, four, 12 hits total. That is all.”

Kirisaki won, and Kazemai went after them.

The oomae, Kaito, drew his bow tightly. He relaxed his hands and stretched his upper arms.

More force, more force. He stretched and stretched—then released. The arrow was sucked into the target while spinning clockwise.

The second target, Ryouhei, didn’t only grow in height. He had the dignity of an archer, and he shot with majesty. He was someone who had love for everyone. He would continue to have affection for himself and others for the rest of his life. The target accurately reflected the archer, and the round target, without deceit or calculation, was waiting to be pierced.

The naka, Seiya, was also clearly different from who he was a year ago. He took off his obstinate armor and stretched his limbs freely. He hated himself. He hated irrationality, fate, all of it. When he became entwined with hatred and fell into a swamp, there was someone who reached out to him. That person said that they didn’t care what kind of person he was.

The ochimae, Kanbayashi, began to carry out his shot. He concentrated on the lower abdomen that Minato had put his hand on before.

The dantian is “here.”

Now, gather the light here.

He threw away all speech and listened only to the sound of his breathing. When the wind calmed down, his arrow flew at high speed.

The ochi was Minato. He summoned the wind that should have stopped. The wind that rushed around the earth was the land’s breath. Once you were able to feel that, you became a wind user. He manipulated the wind at will and connected it to a new era.

The tsurune took everything away.

For the results of the first round, Kazemai had fifteen hits out of twenty.

After the first and second rounds were completed, Kirisaki had thirty-six hits, Haneina had thirty-five, and Kazemai had thirty-three.

All three schools made it through the preliminaries.

After the tournament, the Kazemai second-years and Masa-san waited for a car to pick them up. Tommy-sensei and the first-years went home first. Waves of people came and went to the other shore.

Minato, Seiya, and Ryouhei sat on the edge of a flower bed. Ryouhei immediately started to eat his sweets. Seiya, finding the verse from “Greensleeves” stuck in his head, couldn’t help but hum it.

He met eyes with Masa-san, who was next to them.

“Is that an English folk song? You know a lot of old songs, Seiya.”

“If you know it, then you must be ancient as well, Masa-san. Minato’s mom used to hum it. Oh, it can’t be helped if you don’t know it.”

A bell was rung. Fighters burned with quiet fighting spirit.

Seeing the two jab at each other, Nanao quickly took out his phone. He entered the search words, and the English lyrics and translation were displayed.

Kaito peered at them.

“What’s this? Isn’t this just a guy who got dumped and kept whining about it? Isn’t it too obsessive to say at the end, ‘Goodbye, please come here again and love me?’”

“Kacchan, you don’t understand heartbreak at all.”

“Hah? I don’t need to.”

“Yep, that’s what I thought.”

Ryouhei said that he would eat all the sweets.

“What kind of woman is Greensleeves? He’s calling her name over and over, right?”

Seiya was the one who answered. “I did some research, but the prevailing theory seems to be that it’s a metaphor and not a real name. There are various theories that Greensleeves is a prostitute, a dead person, or a ghost. Also, some people think that Greensleeves isn’t a song about lost love, but more like a hymn.”

For a moment, sound disappeared.

Even though it should have been extremely noisy with all the people around, the area was so silent that it made their ears hurt. Even the birds were quiet.

Masa-san murmured a few words.

“Green kosode—. (6) I think it’s talking about the upper arm.”

“What do you mean?” Minato asked.

“There’s a custom in the West to wear green when one turns into a spirit. When you think of Santa Claus, you think of red clothes, but that was because he was dressed in a company’s image color in advertisements, and in England, he was originally dressed in green. According to one theory, Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas, that is, a clergyman. He is a person who seems to have existed, and his name and deeds are passed on to his disciples.”

“What does that have to do with ‘upper arms’?”

“I think ‘Greensleeves�� refers to the arms themselves. It’s ‘green sleeves.’ When you touch the arm of a person, a miracle will occur. That makes them a vessel of the divine.”

Masa-san typed into his phone.

Alas, my love, you do me wrong.

Greensleeves was all my joy.

Greensleeves was my delight.

Oh, my chest feels like it’s about to burst. You who bestow love, how cruel you are.

You let enjoy your love, and say you’ll forsake me. Is this a test of God?

Greensleeves, you are joy itself.

Greensleeves, you are days of happiness.

I was happy just being by your side.

Seiya spoke.

“That sound like words dedicated to God. A somewhat critical song of lamentation and resignation.”

“Greensleeves may have been a person who had a healing hand that could cure illnesses and injuries, or maybe she was a saint. There are even those who say that it is the name of God. It’s distinct from the secular world and doesn’t appear openly. Even if you’re attracted by, yearn for, adore, sacrifice yourself, and give up all your wealth and power for the singing voice that you overhear from the church, you cannot touch ‘it.’”

“I see. In that case, I can at least acknowledge the manly spirit of ‘I’ll stop you even if I have to cling to you,’” Kaito said. (7)

“Kacchan, this isn’t a rugby play. And ‘manly spirit,’ really? You completely ruined the mood,” Nanao said.

Seiya lowered his eyes and took off his glasses.

“Being abandoned by God might be an indication that humans are irredeemable.”

Shiragiku’s expression clouded over, and she gripped Seo and Hanazawa’s hands.

“How awful…it was such a wonderful melody.”

As everyone fell silent, Minato pondered.

Has God abandoned humans?

Is this really true? Didn’t I forget something important?

“You’re wrong! Such a sad and gentle melody could never be a criticism and lament to God. This is a joyful song for a coming-of-age ceremony!” he started shouting.

Before he knew it, everyone was staring at him blankly. The three girls shrank back while still holding hands.

Masa-san tried to follow Minato’s thought process.

“Coming-of-age ceremony? What’s with this all of a sudden? Where did your thoughts fly to, Minato?”

“I remembered my mother’s words. She said that at coming-of-age ceremonies, it’s a ‘song of naru.’”

“…What do you mean? Did your mother have a shrine maiden disposition?

“No, she was a normal mom.”

“Don’t put too much stock in what Narumiya calls ‘normal.’ By the way, who’s Naru? Is that a new character? Now I’m even more confused.”

Kaito scratched his head.

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#tsurune #tsurune translation

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crazycookiecrumbles · 2 years

Text

The Paladin’s Archer

Masterlist

A/N: I’M SO DEVASTATED PLEASE — NO SPOILERS, SEASON 4

also reblogs and comments appreciated. especially comments, like, i need feedback to live and to motivate lmao

Pairings/Characters: Steve Harrington x Reader

Warnings: a lil’ DND au-ish, but I swear it makes sense

Summary: Steve Harrington, the paladin of your dreams, was on a mission to save the famed archer of the Deadman’s Forest, which just so happened to be you. AKA: The reader fantasizes HARD during one of Eddie’s DnD sessions.

The setting was in a crumbling castle in a land far, far away. The castle sat atop a mountain peak surrounded by a deadly sea, whose waves slammed against the mountain side, splashing the base of the castle with every hit. While the skies were dark and dreary, the spiraling path up to the castle was well lit with torches, and littered with discarded bones from victims past.

Outside the castle sat a black steed watching the front door, waiting for his master to return. Ahead of him a stood a man with a greatsword strapped across his back, body adorned with grey, black, and blue armor that was soiled by dirt and ashes from his travels. The blue tabard he wore was stained from his travels and torn from his fights, but he stood tall outside the castle before grabbing the hilt of his blade, swinging it over his head, and walking into the dreaded castle with his weapon held in both hands.

“Ah, Sir Steven Harrington, Paladin of Calthea, here to save the Y/N the Bold, Archer of the Deadman’s Forest. I’m afraid you’re too late. The ceremony has already begun. Y/N will be the right hand of Vecna, and you won’t stop him.”

“I don’t have to stop him,” Steve shook his head. “Just you.”

“Then perish!”

The sorcerer hurled a ball of fire in his direction. Steve quickly strafed, then dove and rolled out of the way before quickly jumping up to his feet. He looked around and caught sight of a rope hanging from the wall that was used to close curtains. Steve grabbed on and dove over the railing, the rope unraveling and helping to ease Steve’s descent to the ground.

He dodged another blow, then another, before diving behind a column and searching desperately for any sight of you. His eyes happened upon a doorway lit by one singular torch. He made a mad dash and slammed the door behind him once he was inside, effectively blocking a fireball before it could burn him.

Steve took a deep breath, steeling himself before he cautiously went down the spiral stairs in search of his beloved. Sneaking carefully, he rounded the final bend and saw everything he needed to see. You were laying on a slab of stone with markings carved into it. Your wrists and ankles were bound at every corner and surrounded by candles, the wax spilling and burning your skin with no room for you to inch away from it. Your leather armor had been cut away from you, leaving you in your green blouse and dark pants while your belt, boots, quiver of arrows, bow, and the rest of your arsenal lay forgotten in a corner.

There were four individuals in dark red cloaks that stood at each corner of the table holding a knife in the air above their heads, each of them prepared to stab your palms and feet.

You were tugging at each corner to no avail. Your heart was racing as you realized you were going to become one with the very being you had spent all these years fighting so hard to destroy. You shut your eyes tightly and tried to focus on your breathing while you made yourself think of things that brought you joy, your friends, your family, the paladin you had fallen head over heels for and had yet to tell. You were preparing yourself for the pain.

“Maker,” Steve whispered as he readied his weapon. “Give me strength.”

Steve surged forward with his blade ahead of him and ran it through one of the cloaked individuals. This startled the other three, and it interrupted the chanting that had begun to take place as they prepared their ceremony for you.

Your eyes opened when you heard something clatter on the ground. You looked over and could see a blade sticking out of the chest of one of your sacrificers, their blade now gone, lost somewhere on the ground. As the blade was withdrawn from their chest, you could see Steve standing there after their body fell on the ground, exhaling a breath of air that moved the hair on his forehead.

“Steve,” you breathed in shock. “I thought you were dead.”

Steve smiled at you as he brought his blade back up to fight, “I can’t leave you, not yet, Y/N.”

Your heart soared at his words until it stilled when you realized he was fighting three others on his own. Still, you struggled to get away, but you couldn’t wriggle free of the chains that bound you. All you could do was listen as Steve fought for you, sword clashing against their blades, his magic fending off theirs as he fought for you.

It was silent. The air was still and thick with tension that left you in fear. Did Steve fall in battle, Steve, the esteemed Paladin of Calthea? Was this really his fall? You’d thought it once before, but he had just proven himself. Had this only been to tease you, to give you false hope before the darkness took you?

You heard the sound of metal striking metal, and suddenly the tension on your left ankle was gone. You lowered your chin to your chest to see Steve catching his breath as he freed your ankles from their confines. Steve moved swiftly to your side and leaned over you to undo one wrist, then the other. He grabbed your arm and pulled you to sit upright, your legs swinging over the side as he pulled you to the edge.

Steve’s gloved hand came up to your face. Tenderly, he grasped your chin and studied the bruising on your cheek and the swelling of your eye, markers of the fight you had lost to get yourself into this predicament. Steve frowned because seeing you hurt always killed him, no matter how strong and skilled a fighter you were.

“I thought I was too late,” Steve whispered as he bowed his head in shame and shut his eyes. “I feared the worst for you.”

You smiled softly and leaned forward until your forehead was touching his, relief washing over you once again, “I thought you were gone, Steve, and it ruined me.”

“I’m here, Y/N. I’m here. I’ll never leave your side again, you have my word.”

Opening your eyes, you lifted your head to see Steve staring at you, eyes wide as he studied you like a realization had just dawned on him. You watched as he swallowed a lump in his throat. What you’d have given in that moment to know what he was thinking before you did what you did, but it was too late for that.

Seeing this as, potentially, your final chance, you reached up to cup his cheek before leaning forward and pressing your lips against his chapped, bloody lips. You didn’t care that they were less than the ideal, less than what you had always fantasized about. It was Steve Harrington, the greatest paladin in the land, your best friend, the love of your life.

Just as you were beginning to pull away while thinking this was the biggest mistake of your life, Steve’s hands held your shoulders as he deepened the kiss and reassured your initials actions as teeth mashed into each other as he struggled to control himself in the moment he’d been yearning for for years.

Steve pulled away with a gasp, “Y/N, I am forever yours for as long as you’ll have me.”

You smiled in relief, “Forever, Steve Harrington.”

He beamed, “Doesn’t sound nearly long enough, does it?”

Suddenly you both heard the bang of the door upstairs being splintered open and blown off its hinges. Steve ran to your gear while you jumped off of the table. He was by your side in a second, helping to put your weapons on you while you slipped on the rest of your armor.

“Are you well enough for this?” Steve asked as he readied his blade, the shadow of the sorcerer growing larger as his form descended down the stairs.

You rested your quiver on your belt and nocked an arrow in place, “I can fight. I have you.”

Steve grinned, “You’ll always have me.”

“Hello, earth to Y/N, hello!” Eddie Munson’s voice began to infiltrate your daydream as he snapped his fingers and clapped his hands, the other members of Hellfire Club sniggering and whispering to each other as you finally came out of your daze. “Geez, Y/N, wake up! Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I’m good,” you cleared your throat as you nodded and sat up straight. “Sorry, where were we?”

Dustin rolled his eyes while Eddie sighed dramatically and threw himself back into his throne, “We’re at Castle Darthalius. You’ve just entered in order to save the princess and stop them from stealing her life force. Roll for initiative.”

“Right, right,” you muttered as you grabbed your die.

“Maybe if you stopped fantasizing about Steve, you’d know what we were doing…” Mike trailed off.

You leaned over and smacked the side of his head, “Shut the fuck up Wheeler and talk to me when you can finally wake up in the morning without a puddle in your pants.”

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington #steve harrington fic #steve harrington stranger things #stranger things fic #stranger things season 4 #the upside down #joe keery #eddie munson #mike wheeler #fic

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wandawiccan60 · 1 year

Text

Part 20: The Witch of Camden Town

Alfie Solomon’s X Jovonka(FemOC)

A/N: Hello everyone I hope you’re all having a wonderful 2023 so far and I am back with another new successful chapter for my Alfie story. I hope you guys enjoy it for those of you who have been following me in this journey and I want to thank you as always. In this chapter i had a hard time knowing where to stop but I am very happy where it ended. I know this part seemed sad again (I’m sorry guys 😔) but don’t worry guys Thomas is going to have a very big plot in the next few chapters😉😉😉. As always guys please comment, reblog, and gives follow it’ll mean a lot for the page and again guys you all rock . And as usual I’ll see you all on the post and Enjoy!!!

P.S. I’m typing on my IPad so this made me really happy to be able to write on my new IPad keyboard. 😃😃😃

ALFIE SOLOMON’S MASTERLIST

Word Count: 5,266

TAGS: @hecatemoon87, @i-love-th-characters1, @jarvisrocks, @zablife, @kittycatcait219, @evita-shelby, @theshelbyclan, @theshelbyslimited,, @ao3feed-symbrock, @rikki-b-lake, @annisse, @alikaheroes, @tomhardyspinkyfinger, @edwardthomashardy1, @star017, @thealmightybitchgoddess, @mollybegger-blog, @ninja-potato-shelby-solomons, @tea-atfive, @professor-alfie-solomons, @solomons-finest-rum, @symbean, @veddieiscanon, @97freaknik, @jollysoulfestivalfreak, @weirdgirl16355, @omgeternal, @twvstedsouls, @bubblyani, @buttercup32sstuff,@queenofthefaceless, @queencoraline3, @quarterpastmidnight, @thefics-that-drip, @queen-multi-fandoms, @lovebitesimagines, @alfiesolomons-treacle, @vee-eddie, @spicyshelf, @maladeusa, @shahandy, @skibbidybeep, @maddymax67,

WARNING 18+ ONLY!!!: Some Cussing, Some Blood, Trauma(mostly Alfie has PTSD sort of), Mentions of Child Mistreatment, & Even More Devastation

🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️🥀🖤♥️

Arrow House: 1 Month Later

Alfie… Alfie darling… can you hear me love…

“Mmm… Jo- Jovonka?” Said Alfie, turning his head from one side to the other against the soft white pillow, hearing that familiar voice again.

He saw her again, that heavenly goddess face of hers with that smile so bright. Her long brown hair softly waved through the smooth breeze. He saw her wearing a gorgeous long white sleeve dress standing on a big green field with a small cottage house shown from behind.

“JOVONKA!” He screamed out while inhaling a long fresh of air, his eyes bursting open wide.

Alfie noticed he could see clearly from one eye while the other saw nothing but blurriness. It only made the Jewish king feel panicked, not wanting to believe that half of his sight was gone.

“No… no this can’t fuckin’ be, it’s impossible,” he cried out the old maid tried her best to comfort him as much as she could.

“Sir, please try to calm yourself. Breathe in and calmly. You’re safe and try not to move too much as well. You suffered too many injuries when Mr. Shelby’s men found you in the water banks off of Small Heath. Here, drink some wat-.”

“Small Heath?” Exclaimed Alfie once he heard the woman say Shelby and the town he was in. “Your fucking with me, aren’t you, madam? How long have I been in this place? And why did they bring me here?”

“Because Mr. Solomon’s you were almost at the brink of death and it was the right choice to bring you here in my home,” interrupted Thomas standing by the open door of the room, “and also you would have easily been put away in the gutter or easily found by the people that wanted you dead from the start.”

The Peaky walked his way next to the left side of the bed. Alfie remained quiet while the old woman stood up on her feet.

“What the fuck really happened to you, Alfie? Who did you start a war with now, eh?” Thomas pushed on, wondering how the fearless Jewish king of Camden Town ended up in such a way something he never thought he would see.

“It’s somethin’ you will not understand Tommy, it is more of a personal thin’ than business mate,” said Alfie, remembering the day they took away his entire world in front of his own eyes.

Thomes in silence was now curious to know what caused him to end up powerless and weak.

“Righ’. Frances brings some food for Mr. Solomon’s if you please,” he said as the old maid nodded her head, walking her way out of the room, leaving both men alone.

Thomas took his silver case containing his cigarettes, putting one between his thin lips.

“You should know already that I have a condition, mate. Smokin’ in my presence affects me, so I suggest yea not to do it,” said Alfie, pointing a finger at the Shelby, flickering open the lighter before burning the white stick.

“So what was it then Alfie?” Tommy went on lighting the cigarette ignoring the Jew’s warning as he kept asking more questions, “if it wasn’t for business then what caused the man himself to end up losing half his site and fractured bones? There had to be a reason to let yourself be fucked over like thi-.”

“I SAID LEAVE IT! It’s somethin’ I only should know of and you shouldn’ so don’t you push it, yea?’’ Alfie screamed out, breathing in hotly through his nostrils, staring back at Thomas feeling unbothered for one bit.

However, the Jew felt tears forming against his eyes, feeling his lips quiver slowly, nodding his head from side to side. Tommy never thought of seeing the king of Camden Town show emotion. He then walked his way towards the other side of the room until he sat on a brown hand chair. All the while, Alfie felt a tear stream down from the corner of his good eye. There was stillness in the room except for the crackling of wood coming from the fireplace. Tommy forward himself by his elbows, looking up at the once fierce crime boss crumbled with weakness. Alfie exhaled out an inaudible sigh and spoke up a moment later.

“I lost somethin’ so much more precious and dear to my heart than the distillery and the house in Margate,” he said between broken words recalling the horrific event in his mind as he went on, “she was everything to me Tommy, like you don’ imagine.”

“And who was she to you that sounds precious to you?” Thomas said, looking down at his cigarette stick letting out a slow puff, knowing exactly where this was going.

“Her name is Jovonka, the most beautiful goddess to ever walk upon this world. More marvelous than gold and silver that I have seen, oh god if only…,” Alfie closed his eyes as flashes of Jovonka’s smile and moments with her came into play as he clenched his eyes tightly together.

Thomas said little as he let him release his sorrows out. As he sat up straight, placing the white stick between his lips. The Birmingham king felt what Alfie was feeling since he had lost two important people before in his life. The first, of course, was his mother Martha; she died of unknown causes once his father Arthur returned from the war. She did everything to raise him and his brothers and little sister Ada after their father abandoned them. Until Polly took the role of being both a mother and aunt and the accountant of the Shelby Company Limited. And then came along with Grace, who he almost lost her to a bullet at a formal party one night. Thomas took the shot and got hit on his lower back, not minding the hot pain that he felt that night. What mattered to him was her wife was alive and unharmed, even if he had to die for her. He inhaled another drag from his cigarette before he spoke once more.

“How did you lose her and by whom?” Thomas asked, lighting out the white stick on an ashtray Alfie then wiped the rest behind his right hand answering Thomas’ question.

“That fuckin’ wop himself, Darby Sabini. He took my dove away from me all because he wanted her for himself but for his sick reasons. It’s a long story mate, but one thing that I’ll promise is he is goin’ to pay and die once I have my hands around his bloody neck just to give him a taste of what seeing the fuckin’ devil would be like. He’ll see,” said Alfie, tightening his hands into hard fists angrily, remembering how Sabini put his filthy hands and cut her delicate face.

“Fuckin’ hell Alfie, out of everyone in London, you're at war with him. How did you make him your biggest threat, considering you both are very close? And having your… I’m assuming they took away your wife from you and ending like this,” Thomas said, pressing his lips together while nodding his head in disappointment, not believing his friend would do such a thing.

“Hehe, nice try Tommy, she ain’t my wife not yet to say, but I’ve been thinkin’ of askin’ her to be mine way before the incident with Sabini. Which I should have when I had the chance, but it seems it will not happen. How long have I been asleep for eh?” Alfie asked, trying to get out of bed while feeling a sharp pain behind his back, which he stopped moving for a moment.

“It has been over a month since we found you half dead on the longboat. You were injured, half your face almost unrecognizable, blood everywhere like a slaughtered animal,” Tommy went on saying, but this shocked the Camden gangster hearing how long time has passed.

“You said fuckin’ what Tommy? Listen sweetheart, I’m not sure if you didn’t hear me correctly righ’ or you just didn’t clean your ears out properly this morning. But I’ll be asking you again mate, how long was I fuckin’ unconscious and don’t be a cunt if you repeat what you said before. Or I’m going to murder you even if I’m stuck in this infernal bed, yea?” Alfie demanded back, giving a deadly stare at Thomas, which the Peaky didn’t seem to bother about.

Before Thomas could repeat himself, there was a knock on the door, knowing who it was.

“Come in Frances,” called out the Shelby man as the front door opened as the maid came inside carrying a silver tray with Alfie’s breakfast on it.

“Is there anything else I could get you, Mr. Shelby?” She asked, placing the tray on top of a large wooden table filling a white china cup with black tea.

“No, that’ll do Frances, thank you,” said Tommy, dismissing her politely, to which she just nodded her head and walked her way out of the room, leaving both men alone once again.

It was quiet between the two. Alfie still wanted an answer, feeling rage from inside himself, not believing that it had been a month when he was almost beaten to death. It’s impossible for time to go by that quickly, but for Alfie he still didn’t want to admit what the Shelby was saying.

“Alfie, listen to me. I know it might seem like a joke to you, but it’s the truth. You have been in and out of consciousness whenever you said things Frances couldn’t understand. She tried to relax you by giving you many medications to calm you down,” Thomas said, but he could tell by Alfie’s facial expression he was not having it, nodding his head in disappointment.

“Why did you take me in, Tommy, eh? Instead of easily sending me to a hospital?” Replied Alfie carefully sat up from bed feeling a sore, faint pain on his back, letting out a low hiss groan.

“Because if you ended up in the hospital instead of bringing you in me house you would have easily gotten recognized and killed no matter what. That is how much I care for you, Alfie, even if we had some bad blood in the past. So you still believe I’m lying to you or agree with what I have said to you?” Thomas stood up on his feet, reaching out for a glass of water directing the cup towards Alfie.

The Jew swiftly knocked off the glass from Tommy’s hand, both water and shattered glass spread onto the hard wooden floor. The Shelby didn’t seem to be bothered by this behavior and instead just placed his hands inside the pocket of his black pants. He eyed Alfie once again, seeing water against his eyes, seeing and feeling that anger inside of him.

“This can’t fuckin’ be mate, a month has passed by already,” Alfie said, caressing his beard while nodding his head. “I’m afraid at this point in time I fear they have done the worst to my Jovonka. That Italian bastard will see his Judgement day once I have me hand around his neck. I must search for my Jovonka even if my body hurts.”

“Alfie, don’t move. Stay still and rest your not fully recovered.”

“Leave me fuckin’ be! I can’t sit here the whole time while my Jovonka is still out there, probably at this moment afraid, gettin’ touch and tortured by that dirty fuckin’ devil while you're tellin’ me to stay here like if I had a disease! So don’t tell me yea that I need to wait for myself to heal like if you’re my decision maker!” She burstingly said, breathing harshly through his nostrils seeing in Thomas’ eyes, which he didn’t seem to flinch for once.

Tommy said nothing for a while, hearing Alfie’s breathing calm down little by little. Until he came to his senses feeling his body relaxed, but he didn’t expect to hear what Thomas was about to say to him next.

“Look, Alfie, if you want and if you’re alright in what I am going to say. Me, me brothers, and me gang can spread out and search for your woman. I insist it doesn’t matter how long it’ll take us to find Jovonka either day or night, weeks, months, whatever. I know what you want the most in this universe is to have her back with you safe and out of harm’s way. You’ve done things for me before in the past, and I think it’s fair for me to return the favor by helping you with what I’m proposing to Alfie. But you have the last word,” said Thomas, turning to face the large glass window overlooking the fields in front of his house, hoping for the gangster Jew to say yes.

Alfie thought king and hard inside of his mind on what he just heard from his dear peaky friend. It didn’t sound like such a bad idea, considering the state he was in at the moment. However, he had a bit of a trust issue towards Tommy, his brothers and his Peaky gang. Thinking if all of this was some sort of lie that Thomas is making up. But deep down Alfie had to believe in him for this once feeling knowing fully well is giving his word and life. If it means death to find Jovonka with the Peaky Blinders help, then so be it. What Alfie cares about and is important to him right now is to have Jovonka in his arms once again and her sisters to be found. The Jew then pulled the white blankets off from him and carefully put down his feet, feeling the touch of the cold floor below him. Groaning under his breath while supporting his weight against his arms, he finally spoke after a long pause.

“Find my Jovonka Tommy and bring her home to me, as well as her two sisters. Please bring them back as well. Their names are Isabel and Elena. I just hope they aren’t harmed. And I hope it is not too late either,” begged Alfie, making the Peaky king turn to look at him with a confused look on his face.

“Wait Elena?”

“Yes, Tommy, she’s just a little girl. I can’t imagine how afraid she would be feelin’ at this mome-.”

“Elena, I know who she is. She’s back at the orphanage in Birmingham,” Thomas said, cutting off the Jewish man. His eyes grew wide in shock, not believing what the Peaky just said.

“How, how did you find her, Tommy? Where was she? Did she escape from Sabini? Were her older sisters there with her?” Alfie asked from one question to the other that Thomas couldn’t keep up.

“Alfie, hold on a moment and listen,” The Peaky man said, trying to calm the Camden Town king down as he continued on, “her only company that she had with her was a large brown dog and two men that tried to take her away. But we saved her in no time. We killed one of them, but we have one as a hostage down at the docks. We already know that they work for Sabini, but there will be more of them coming, no matter what.”

The Wandering Jew just nodded his head slowly, feeling both shocked and relieved to hear Little Elena is safe and sound. However, it made Alfie think for a moment or two, feeling worried for the little girl to be recognized again, even if it’s at a place where there were many people. He didn’t fully trust the caretakers inside the orphanage and would rather have her here at the Arrow House than be in Birmingham.

“I thank you Tommy, really I do. However, I just feel it’s best for Elena to be here in your home. No disrespect to your institution or anything, but I would feel more at ease if she would be here instead. I just fear they would take away from her at any moment or be noticeable again. If that is alright with you and, of course, your wife,” suggested Alfie, hoping it wasn’t too much to ask from the Shelby.

Thomas agreed with him completely, thinking that Elena would be more comfortable in his house, especially that Alfie was here. And so later that day, he drove his way back to Birmingham and bringing Elena back to his haven.

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Grace Shelby Institute

Young children were laughing and playing around the small courtyard except for Elena, where she sat on a long brown wooden bench in a far corner. While Cyril laid flat on his stomach beneath the white pavement floor, eyeing the other little people in front of him. Ever since Thomas left her here at the orphanage weeks ago, it has been hard for Elena to socialize with the other girls her age. Especially the ones that have teased and called her names for no apparent reason just because she is new to the place. Since the first night, Elena couldn’t sleep thinking about if she will ever see her sisters and Alfie again one day. She went as far in thinking that she might spend the rest of her youth until she was old enough to fend for herself. Only with time will Elena have to accept the fact that Jovonka and Isabel might be long gone before she reached a certain age. But it is too early to think of such a false prediction that she knows it will never happen. As she continued to sit quietly minding her own self until suddenly she felt a painful hit on the side of her head. She let out a small “ouch” placing a hand on the spot where she got hit. Elena then felt her hand become sticky and watery, not realizing that blood came out from the top of her head. She removed her hand away from the spot until she saw her tiny hand marked with her own blood. She felt her heart pumping uncontrollably, not knowing what to do. There was sudden laughter coming from the bullies that threw the small pebble rock at her. Cyril growled at the little devils, and out of nowhere, another peddle was thrown at poor Elena. Hitting her this time on her left cheek, leaving a small red bruise.

“Circus freak circus freak,” yelled out a boy about 10 years of age throwing another pebble, missing her completely accidentally hitting the big mutt, making him bark furiously.

This made the children back away, fearing that the dog would leap at them and bite. As well as the little girls that threw the first pebble, we’re also afraid of the big dog seeing the big sharp teeth that he was showing off. Cyril didn’t stop barking until a bell was chiming throughout the playground, indicating that their free time was over.

“Everyone make several straight lines, if you please. Come along now, yes,” said one nun, who were the caretakers of the orphanage and the children, did what they were told.

Elena stayed where she was, pressing both of her hands on the side of her head, putting a bit of pressure. She felt like she was about to faint, but she leaned back for a moment, resting her head against the white brick wall of the building. Elena tried her best to not let the tears that were forming inside of her. But with all of her strength that she had inside, it was no use until she became breakable. She hated the feeling of being inside a place where she being mistreated differently and being told nasty things. Elena wished to be back home in Romania just like the old times when she felt like an ordinary little girl. Where she could be in her own world and instead of being pushed and shoved by people, she didn’t even do harm to them. Her tears continued to stream down slowly on both of her cheeks until she heard her name being called.

“Elena, what happened to you? Here, come on, let’s go get you fixed up, yes?” Thomas said, placing his hands gently on top of her small shoulders, but she didn’t move an inch.

He noticed the now dried blood on both her forehead and hands. Elena still cried her eyes out. Cyril tried his best to comfort his little companion while he nuzzled and whined at her. Thomas knelt down in front of the little girl, taking her hands in his.

“Why are they so cruel to me? I just don’t understand… I want to go back home with my mama, papa, Jovonka, Alfie and Isabel. But I feel they will be gone when I’m older, and I’ll be all alone and no one to go to,” said Elena between whimpers, wiping her tears with the back of her hands.

Thomas could feel the pain that the little girl was feeling seeing that the place hadn’t been treating her with welcoming arms. Which is something that he has talked with the headteacher of the institute in his own way, of course.

“Elena, you’re never going to be alone anymore. What if I told you that I should bring you home with me instead? So you don’t have to be here anymore. How does that sound to you, eh?” Said Thomas with a small smile. Elena looked up at the blue-eyed man, not wanting to believe him at first.

“You mean forever?” She replied.

“Yes, my dear, forever.”

Little Elena, without a minute to lose, hugged the thin man by the neck. He returned the gesture, gently carrying her in his arms.

“Let’s get you to your new home now,” Thomas said as both he and Elena made their way towards the inside of the building Cyril was following behind them.

Some hours went by as Elena was waiting patiently outside of the headmaster’s office, dangling her small legs to entertain herself. All the while, Thomas was confronting and making death threats and accusing the nuns for not properly watching over Elena. They were deeply in denial, telling the Shelby that they had been watching over the little girl, but Thomas wasn’t having it. But he easily mentally broke them once he told the nuns that if he ever sees that kind of behavior once more in his own orphanage there will be a price to pay.

They then looked at each other until the main nun handed him out Elena’s documents without exchanging a glance or a word. Thomas took the papers, bid the nuns farewell and left them with one last chilling comment.

“Remember something ladies, there is God, then there are the Peaky Blinders. Good day sisters,” and with that he was gone, taking Elena back to Arrow House where she will be herself and be safely secured from the outside world.

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Arrow House, Warwickshire

The sound of both Alfies’ footsteps and wooden cane echoed throughout the large living room. While overseeing through another large window as the sun was setting from afar. He ghastly stopped pacing back and forth since he got out of the bed, anxious and waiting as patiently as he could for Elena’s arrival. Inside the other room, there was Thomas’ young boy Charlie playing with his toys while her mother, Grace, sat on a large couch reading a book by the fireplace. She was hesitant at first when Alfie arrived at her home, thinking that he would bring lots of trouble for her, Thomas, and the rest of her family. But seeing the condition that he was in almost on the brink of death, she welcomed him. However, once Alfie gets fully stabled, she told Tommy that he needs to leave afterwards with no excuses. Which he promised her, but he hasn’t told her the other deal he did with him and that would make her upset. Alfie suddenly mumbled under his breath as he checked through the window seeing if there was a car already coming his way, but there wasn’t.

“Where the bloody fuckin’ hell are they? It’s almost goin’ to be dark soon,” he said in a bothered tone while tapping his right foot, losing a bit of patience.

He didn’t notice Frances standing in the living room doorframe. She then spoke to him, making Alfie come back from his train of thought.

“Mr Solomon’s sir, sorry for the bother, but dinner is about to be ready soon. Will you be joining Mrs. Shelby and Charlie so I can set a plate for you?” She asked the Camden gangster, but he didn’t bother to look at her and said nothing.

Taking it as a no, Frances left the man alone, asking no further questions. But he then heard another woman’s voice with an Irish like accent knowing who it was without turning to look.

“You really care very much for this girl, don’t you, Mr. Solomon’s?” said Grace, leaning against the frame of the door, crossing her arms together.

“Indeed, she is, and I kept a promise to both Jovonka and Isabel that I will keep them all safe, but I failed miserably. And now this time I have to keep Elena close to me if it kills me,” he said, gripping the top of the cane remembering the first time he saved the little girl back at the distillery and the start of a bond between her and him.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Mr. Solomon’s is Elena your daughter or some other family member of yours?” She asked, walking inside the room as she sat down on one of the couch armchairs hoping it wasn’t too much to ask.

“Hehe, funny that you say that Mrs. Shelby, but she ain’t my daughter. If she was my blood, I would break hell and would start losing my mind little by little. But she became family to me and so did Isabel, her older sister and then my love Jovonka. She became my everything in this world that I could have ever thought of having. Until I lost her that day, when he came to ruin everything,” he said, inhaling hot breaths through his nostrils can’t get that awful image out of his mind when Sabini cut her precious soft face.

Grace nodded her head silently, understanding what Alfie is feeling at the moment, which she would feel the same way if he were in his place. Thinking about if something terrible would happen to her, Charlie and Thomas, she would most likely lose her mind as well. They are her whole life and happiness. Without them she would feel hopeless, lost, and feel a black dark hole in her heart. It sometimes haunted her, but tried her best to not think of it too much. Before she could ask Alfie another question, the little boy Charlie came inside while carrying a wooden horse toy between his hands.

“Mama,” he said, showing off the toy to his mother while she smiled, placing him on top of her lap hugging him close to her.

Alfie saw this, seeing the happy innocent son and mother sharing a tender moment in which he felt warm inside. Seeing how close of a bond they have together, reminding him of what he felt with Elena when they were back in Margate. Sharing wonderful memories and letting her be like a child, that she is meant to act. There was a sudden light coming from outside the window, which showed that Thomas and Elena had finally arrived.

“Father is here,” Charlie cheerfully saw the headlights of the car coming to a complete stop as he hopped off from her mother’s lap.

“Yes, it is papa. Come on, let’s go see him, Mr. Solomons. Will you join us?” Grace asked, but the only reply she got from him was just a nodding gesture.

As the trio made it to the front door of the house, Thomas came out of the car as he opened the door for Elena. Scared at first as she hugged Cyril close in her tiny arms.

“It’s alright Elena, you’re safe, and I forgot to tell you, but there is someone that has been waiting for your arrival. He’s waiting for you at the door, do you trust me?” He said giving her another reassuring smile extending his right hand out to her Elena took his hand as she made her way out of the car her feet touching the dirt floor while Cyril followed right behind her

In front of her, she saw the enormous house. She then saw a woman with beautiful blonde short hair with a nice looking white blouse dress with a little boy next to her. But suddenly behind them she saw a familiar face and, to her shock, she knew who it was right away.

“ALFIE!” she cried out while running her way towards him while the big bullmastiff ran after her, also recognizing his owner.

Alfie fast walked his way down the small steps, not caring if he was still in pain making his way towards the little girl. They both met in the middle of a water fountain. Both Elena and Alfie embraced in a warm, tight hug as he sat on his knees. Cyril excitedly sniffed around Alfie’s scent while he whined at his owner, happy to see his owner once again.

“Oh, Elena I’m so glad to see you again I thought I lost you too, but thank God you’re here now,” he said leaning back to see her bright face seeing tears streaming down her cheeks, “and you as well Cyril.”

He patted the top of the dog’s head, barking in reply, giving small kisses on the side of his owner’s face, which Alfie just let him be.

Thomas smiled at the scene in front of him, knowing he did the right thing to bring the girl to Alfie. Knowing now that he had to think of what he promised to do for Alfie and that is to find Jovonka and her sister Isabel.

“It’s good to see you too Alfie I was worried that the evil men caught you. But what happened to your face?” She said, placing her right hand gently against his ugly scar, which didn’t bother him for one bit.

“It’s nothing, Little Elena, and something you shouldn’t worry about too much, yea? We should get inside. It’s getting late. Now are you feelin’ hungry, darlin’? Dinner is about to be served. Would you like some?” He said, giving her a smile at her which she nodded her head in “yes.”

And just like that, Alfie felt at peace finally knowing that Elena was back in his arms and away from harm.

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springgirlwaiting4fall · 2 years

Text

The Nanny: Eddie Kingston and You

Part Six

Part 5

The table was stunned silence as everyone watched Eddie storm away. For a second you felt embarrassed, than anger took over.

You knew for a fact Renee and Jon didn’t care you were sitting down eating and making conversation. Renee had taken Stella and told you to go for a break and to eat and have some fun. You would be taking the baby home, putting her to bed, and staying at their home until tomorrow afternoon. Jon and Renee were staying in a hotel tonight for some couple time.

Checking your phone you saw that you still had another hour, until you were to meet Renee in Jon’s dressing room to pick up Stella. You said goodbye to the Anthony and his friends.

Walking out of catering you looked down the halls, trying to find which way Eddie went. You turned right and saw a bunch of signs with names of different locations and arrows. There was a sign with a cigarette that said smoking area.

You followed the arrows for the sign and found Eddie outside in a little alley way pacing up and down, smoking like a chimney. You stood there with your arms across your chest, your one foot tapped the ground, waiting for him to notice you.

He walked past you twice, so involved in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice you. It wasn’t until he looked up to light another cigarette that he noticed you.

The two of you just starred at each other. Eddie’s eyes were a dark green, you noticed before that his eyes changed color depending on his mood.

“What?” Eddie’s voice was rough and hard, he was trying to scare you away. You were not going to be intimated by Eddie Kingston.

He was purposely trying to start a fight with you. You took a breath, counted to 5 and breathed out. “You owe me an apology.” You made sure your voice was strong and even, this was a fact.

Eddie’s body relaxed a bit, when he saw you weren’t going to fight with him. His eyes were still dark green and while he wasn’t yelling, his voice did sound defensive. “You were flirting with those guys.”

You held in a giggle. Eddie was jealous. Anthony had called his friends over, because you told him you were a college student near by. And his single friends wanted to know what club and bars were popular for after the show tonight. You told them you weren’t sure but would ask some of your just turned 21 girls in your study group were they typically went and if they wanted to hang out with some professional athletes tonight. You explained that all of that to Eddie and added “but even if I was flirting why would it matter to you.”

Eddie look confused, but his eyes stated to turn a lighter green. “Wait. Sweets, how old are you actually?”

#aew #aew fanfiction #eddie kingston #eddie kingston imagine

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talesofsonicasura · 2 years

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Play With Me

A little something for the spookiest month of the year. Warning that this does contain some light gore and blood. This is a Legend of Zelda based fic but I'll put a Linked Universe tag so it's easier for others to find it.

'It should've been an easy job! Just raid Lon Lon Ranch and take every bit of Lon Lon Milk. The only person there at the moment is the ranch's little redhead daughter. She would've made a good extra coin on the black market but…' A shared thought amongst a medium sized group of bandits.

They were an infamous group who has been terrorizing Hyrule as late. Offering their services to the highest bidder no matter how despicable the job in question was. Every single one had always gone off without a hitch as the Dark Moblins weren't just any common criminals.

They made a plan for each job, checking the acquired info about every place, the people who live nearby and how long it would take for unwanted help to arrive. A very wealthy noble had asked the Dark Moblins to steal all of Lon Lon Ranch's famous milk. Night would be the time they struck as the ranch owner had left for some important business which in reality had been a setup.

The girl put up a fight so it was only fair that the bitch deserved a blade to the arm. And everything went to hell afterwards. Some monster came out of nowhere, one unlike anything seen before. It rushed at them like a Keese from hell.

The now alone bandit, Gary, remembered the vivid scene that led to his group fleeing. Razor sharp claws plunging through Ridrick's stomach like paper, large spines turn Eddy into a pincushion, and giant fangs crushing Dustan's head as if it was a grape. How their blades broke against its tough hide whilst metal axes were snapped like twigs.

Gary barely made it into the small woods in Hyrule Fields alongside at least six of his comrades. He didn't know what happened to everyone else but the bandit could tell the hell that came. An omen brought in the form of a SONG by a distorted, deep, growlish almost childlike male voice.

Do you want to play with me?

A simple game of hide and seek

Close your eyes, and count to three

Keep this interesting for me

Everyone had picked up their speed when slitted crimson eyes pierce within the darkness of the trees. Gary's stomach curdled from the pure madness within those bloody lights. A glare promising nothing but agonizing death.

The skies are darkening, the world you know, the hills no longer green

Like the animals your blood will flow

Dreaming of this cursed machine

A blackened blur darting from tree to tree faster than an arrow. The moonlight provides small peeks of large stick sized spines. How the crimson painting those large clawed hands. Caleb was the first to go.

Smiling wide with empty eyes I'll find you, you're a lot of fun just like your friend you're

Hiding but I'm deep inside your mind, you'll

Die a thousand times

Do you want to try again?

You're tired of running, nowhere to hide and

I'm getting closer every second

Behind you

Gary barely got a glance when he saw the massive paw grab the poor man from behind. His comrade had enough time to scream before he was dragged into the bushes. The man saw Caleb's dismembered lower torso crash into a tree as if it was a mere ball.

There's so many souls to play with

So little time, not long till I find you, run for your life

You're in my world now, you're joining your friend

I'm coming to take your soul in the end, you can't run

Marie quickly followed next. Gary made out the horrible whistling that came when the beast flung its quills. How the young lady let out a short scream before it became a gargled whine and went dead silent. It must have hit her lungs or windpipe.

There's a silence in the air you know you're facing your demise

Try to counteract but you're too slow, disappeared before your eyes

Try to run, try to fight, try to keep the end in sight

I'm always just beyond your reach

Count from three down to one, find out how far you can run

Found you, game over and over again

Matthew tried to fight back with his trusty bow. No doubt to buy everyone some time to escape from this monstrosity. Gary remembered the flames that temporarily lit up the woods from the man's Fire Arrows.

You're tired of running, nowhere to hide and

I'm getting closer every second going supersonic

I'm in the corner of your eye I'm in your deep subconscious

I'm getting closer every second

Behind you

A swift powerful gale instantly blew out the fire as if it were mere candlelight. Gary had turn his hand back for a second just to catch Matthew's blood curdling scream before his bow was shoved through the throat. Furious blood red eyes stare back alongside a malicious smile of crimson coated fangs.

There's so many souls to play with

So little time, not long till I find you, run for your life

You're in my world now, you're joining your friend

I'm coming to take your soul in the end, you can't run

Fang immediately followed as the bandit heard the telltale sound of a curse. Poor fool must have tripped cause he had enough to plead for help. Shouts of 'I don't want to die' fell silent with a harsh wet sound similar to a pumpkin getting smashed.

I'll be your nightmare tonight

The torture is fun and the fun will be endless

So just try to put up a fight

I'll be counting the seconds, you're drowning, you're bound to go down in this fight

My arms and mouth are open wide, reveal the emptiness inside

No more hiding, drop the façade, you know the truth, I aM yOuR GOD!

Charlie was the last one to fall as both of them decided to split off. Between them, the surviving bandit had more stamina despite being slower. His cold blooded shriek became overshadowed by the powerful earthshaking roar of that thing.

Do you want to play with me?

A simple game of hide and seek

Close your eyes, and count to three

Keep this interesting for me.

Gary had managed to take shelter behind one of the larger trees. Trying to calm his heart and breathing before he would search for better cover. If he got out of this insanity, a price would be put on that beast's head. No way that damn monster finds peace as every hunter, warrior and knight hunts it down.

You're tired of running, nowhere to hide and

I'm getting closer every second going supersonic

I'm in the corner of your eye I'm in your deep subconscious

I'm getting closer every second

Behind you

The bandit barely had any time to sprint much less dodge as a large clawed hand went for his head from behind. He didn't get much farther when a mustard yellow spine dug itself deep into his right heel. Gary couldn't hold back the scream from his ragged worn throat as two more found themselves in his right arm and left thigh.

There's so many souls to play with

So little time, not long till I find you, run for your life

You're in my world now, you're joining your friend

I'm coming to take your soul in the end

The wounded bandit felt his heart sink as the beast lumber out of the foliage. Every bit of the moonlight shone down to reveal its hideous visage in full much to Gary's growing horror. A giant hulkish beast crossed between man and porcupine that dwarfs even the biggest horse.

Dark golden fur stained with so much blood that it was now blood orange, long gold mane that lead down a back covered in hundreds of sharp mustard yellow spine bigger than a grand oak sapling, long tail engulfed by those large deadly needles trail behind, large paw like hands that can encompass a man's skull and claws the size of knives.

Its eerily wolf-like muzzle smiled maliciously back with razor sharp bloodstained fangs, long ears narrow in fury as blue slitted humanlike eyes turn blood red at the sight of the bandit. Slightly thick fur outlining the powerful muscles that would put even the burliest of giants to shame. Gary let out another scream as the beast grabbed his bleeding ankle and ruthlessly pulled the spine out.

There's so many souls to play with

So little time, not long till I find you, run for your life

You're in my world now, you're joining your friend

I'm coming to take your soul in the end, you can't run

The bandit let out one final scream as he was pulled into the forest brush by his foot. His nails dug into the dirt leaning a trail of blood from how hard he held on. Last evidence that Gary even existed was the crimson that wouldn't be found once nature began to feed.

Later that night, a certain prickly beast would be washed clean of his deeds by a certain red haired girl. Both held in each other's loving embrace until morning where the beast would become a normal Hylian boy. And none shall ever learn the truth behind the Dark Moblins' gruesome demise.

And that's it. This is my WerePorcupine!Link specifically the OoT/MM iteration. Story takes place post Majora's Mask where he's living with Malon and Talon on Lon Lon Ranch. Ingo doesn't start working until a bit later than in canon.

In the Linked Universe, this Link is called Mask while the older iteration has the name of Time. These names make it easier to separate the Links especially if you have write the different iterations together.

That's all I have for now. Until next time folks, I'll see you back at Hyrule. Here's the song that not only Link was singing but also the fic's title, Play With Me by Longestsoloever.

youtube

#Youtube #fanfic #loz #loz oot #loz mm #sonicasura #tales of sonicasura #loz link #legend of zelda #wereporcupine!link #wereporcupine!mask #tw violence #legend of zelda link #loz malon #lu time #lu mask #wereporcupine!time #linked universe #linked universe related

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what-if-i-imagine · 4 years

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Challenge: Post the Titles of all your WIPs

I saw @bipolarmolarfanfiction do this and decided to totally expose myself to my followers with this challenge. The challenge is kinda self explanatory, you just post all the titles of the WIPs you have in your folder no matter how odd they are.

Send me asks about my WIPs if any of them seem interesting to you to see what they’re about or if you want a line or two from them.

(I’m sticking to my DC WIPs to hold onto a shred of my sanity. The main ships or gen group will be put after each title.)

Olivarry Omegaverse Sick Fic (Olivarry)

A/F Convergance (Olivarry, Felicity/Iris, Gen Flash and Arrow fam)

Olivarry Torture ft. Savitar (Olivarry)

DC is a Poly Mess (Well, it’s a poly mess I can’t really list them all)

Angel/Demon (Olivarry, Superbat, Natalia/Talia)

Poly Mess: Batkids Getaway (the poly mess ships with a focus on Gen Batkids)

Father Todd (Gen Batfam)

JKW2020 Daycare for Outlaws and Lanterns (Jaykyle)

RHatO Rewrite 1 (Gen Outlaws)

Frostbite and a Good Family (Gen Outlaws)

Jason’s Pups [The Demon Children] (Gen Talia Kids)

Shiva and Tangu (Gen Jason&Shiva&Cass)

Children of Gotham (Gen Jason&Cass&Steph)

Voice Mails (Olivarry, Birdflash, Jayroy, Gen Arrow and Flashfam)

An Assistant and a Neighbor (Superbat, Super and Batfam)

The Future (Martha/Thomas, Superbat, Super and Batfam)

RHatO Rewrite: You Love him, Don’t You? (Jaykyle, Jayroy)

Remedy to Lonliness (Jayroy, Timkon, Stephcass, Birdflash, Batfam)

Interlude IV-Batman (Jason&Bruce, Batcat, Demonbat)

The Fifth Scarlet (Terry&Jason)

Baby Scandal (Jason&Bruce, Bruce&Alfred)

Fast Enough: One Month Later (Jayroy fam)

A Better Father (Jason&Duela)

The Seven Crowns (Outlaws, Justice League, Young Justice)

All Hands on Deck (Batfam)

fear for the one who crosses my love (Jason&Bruce, Superbat)

Black Lantern (Jason&Hal, Lanterns, Batlantern)

Did You Forget the Contract You Signed (Clark&Jason)

The Numb Days (Batfam, Jayroy)

Green Eyeliner (Jason&Bruce)

NightDad (Jason&Dick, Birdflash)

Titans ABO (Titans)

Doctor Jason (Batfam, Jaykyle)

Prince of Gotham (Jayroy, Batfam)

18 (Jayroy, Titans, Jason&Dick)

A Marriage in the Family (Jayroy, Jason&Bruce, Outlaws, Batfam)

Brick Walls and Forget-Me-Nots (Jayroy, Batfam)

Vampire Jason (Natalia&Jason, Jason&Bruce, Batfam)

Time to go Home/Swallow (Batfam)

Hunger Games Batfam (Jason&Steph&Duke, Batfam)

Words of Love (Jayroy, Batlantern)

Nanny McJordan (Batlantern, Batfam)

Hurt Me Once (Jaykyle)

Titans Ave. (Outlaws, Titans, Jayroy, Starae, Rose/Artemis)

The Garzonas Case (Jason&Dick, Jason&Bruce)

Bizarre (Jayroy, Jason&Bizarro)

Undercover Quadruple Date (Timkon, Jayroy, Birdflash, Damijon)

Biz’s First Gala (Jason&Bizarro, Batfam)

An Omega’s First Gala (Jason&Bruce)

Parallel Darkness (Jason&Bruce, Batfam)

Date Night [Proposal] (Jayroy)

Sailor Bat (Jason&Eddie&Rose, Jayroy)

How to be a Villian Parent (Rouges Gallery&Jason)

Kitten (Jason&Selina, Batcat)

fall from the nest, far from the tree (Batfam, Jason&Cass)

players in a game I don’t intend to lose (Jayroy)

Dick&Jason’s Death One Shot (Titans, Jason&Dick, Dick&Bruce)

[Instert Girlfriend’s name]’s Story (Jayroy)

heal what has been hurt (Jason&Bruce)

Shugo Chara! (Jayroy, Jaykyle, Outlaws, Batkids)

Mer Eggs (Jayroy, Batfam)

Date Night (Batkids&Jason’s Kids, Jayroy)

Baby Batfam (Batfam)

Little Black [Sheep] Bird (Jason&Batfam)

Never Know, Never Forget (Jason&Bruce)

Birds and Arrows (Jayroy, Bat and Arrowfam)

Childhood Love (Jayroy, Roy&Dick, Titans)

Need Your Help (Thad&Barry, Flashfam)

Nightwing and Flamebird (Dukechris)

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saiilorstars · 4 years

Text

It Had To Be You

Ch.19: Wild Girl // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Barry struggles to help Belén get a hold on her powers' darker side. At the same time, they have to worry about the fact Iris is getting closer to figuring out who they really are to the city.

{Previous chapters here}

"You want me to...what?" Belén looked straight ahead at the STAR Labs training field in despair.

Beside her stood Barry, in his Flash suit with his hood off, who once again explained to her the motive of this visit. "You can't let your powers control you, Bells. It's quite simple actually. You-"

"Um, I believe the one that turns into a poisonous flower is me, Barry. No flower powers, no opinion."

"Fair enough," Barry conceded with his hands held up. "You said that when you 'change' it was usually because of some radical emotion you were feeling at the time."

"Yeah, when I was mad or frustrated actually."

"But you never actually learned to control it?"

"Um...no, that would be a definite no."

"And that's why we're here today, to help you gain control."

Belén once again looked at the empty field before them. Barry told her no one from STAR Labs knew about their little visit and no one would know about future ones till she was ready to talk about her untapped powers.

"I don't...even know how," Belén crossed her arms self consciously.

"And that's why we're here," Barry took her arms and gently put them to her sides. "I'm not an expert, but I do have some training on my side okay?"

"Are you gonna shoot me like Oliver did with you?" she innocently asked.

Barry laughed and shook his head. "No, I promise I will not shoot you. I don't do that sort of training."

"...you promise?" Belén asked quietly, still overly guilty she'd let Oliver do that to him the last time he was in the city.

Barry smiled at her, still answering her despite thinking it was obvious those tactics weren't his style. He stepped closer to her, lowering his head a bit to touch noses. "You think I'd shoot my girlfriend?"

Belén blushed. She felt like a teenage girl honestly with all the heat in her face and the jolt her heart kept giving. It'd been a couple of days since their first date so they were still getting used to their new relationship. It involved a lot of blushing, shy touching and some kisses here and there.

"Maybe to get back at me for Oliver's arrow tricks?"

Barry lightly chuckled. "No, I'm getting him back later on. Now, c'mon, you can do it Miss Azalea."

"If you say so," she took in a breath to calm her nerves. "How...how do I even start?"

"We need to trigger it first of all, and once we have it, we need you to learn a way to hold it off until you decide to change back."

"Oh, right, easy-peasy," Belén crossed her arms. "Except I told you it only happens when I get mad or frustrated."

"So then I just have to annoy you? I can do that," Barry grinned and took off without giving her a chance to ask what he had in mind.

She barely shifted her feet when a strong gust of wind pushed her backwards. She stumbled for a couple of seconds, blinking wide and fast, and then was hit with the same force. "Wait-" she nearly fell forwards but Barry returned again and made her do the opposite.

He went back and forth, truly irritating the hell out of her because she didn't have the opportunity to get her balance back.

"BAR-" but she whirled in her spot again. On one try, she actually fell to the ground. When her eyes snapped open, there was a new wildness sitting in them. A rapid scaly green crawled over her skin afterwards. "STOP!" she roared and jumped back on her feet.

Barry came to a skidded stop, stunned to see her change. Belén had narrowed eyes on him and without a warning shot a vine right at him that smacked him to the ground. With a groan, Barry opened his eyes to see the sky up above.

Well, at least it worked, he thought though he was sure there were some fine bruises forming on his back. Thank god for the super healing.

Belén started blowing her poison which, in her state, turned out to be stronger-packed with poison than thought. Barry got on his feet and coughed for a moment due to the poison. He started to run around her just like he usually would but this time Belén conjured up a a series of vines and spun on her feet to swing them at Barry. The speedster crashed straight into it and was thrown a great length away.

"That one actually hurt, Barry pushed himself upright. He saw Belén was coming towards her with the same strange wild eyes and frankly, it did scare him a little knowing she wasn't in full control. He was sure, though, that with the right training, she would beat it. "Bells?" he called to her. "It's time to reel it back!"

But she kept coming.

"Belén?" he called louder as he stood up. "Belén, I know you can hear me! C'mon, take control!" She drew one arm back, getting ready to attack again. Barry hook his hand at her, frantically calling to her. "Belén! I'm not fighting you anymore, see!?"

She growled and fired boomerang-like bits of vines with thorns all around them. Barry sped out of the way and came up from behind, ramming her to the ground. She gasped and Barry saw how quickly the scaly green vanished from her skin. Her usual warmth filled her eyes soon afterwards, signaling she was back.

"I'm sorry..." Barry apologized and got off her.

Belén groaned and rubbed the back of her head, groggily looking around. "I couldn't get back, could I?" Barry's face said it all. Belén sighed and covered her face with her hands. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, you just..." Barry pursed his lips and thought about it, "...kind of kicked my ass."

"Well if I'm gonna do that I'd rather do it as myself," Belén pushed herself up to her feet and fixed herself up. "This was a mistake."

"What? No! It wasn't-"

Belén raised an eyebrow at him, none too pleased he was trying to downgrade whatever she'd done. "I wasn't in control and if you hadn't knocked me down, I probably would've actually hurt you."

"Belén, c'mon," Barry walked up to her and took hold of her by the arms, "You've been suppressing this side of your powers so it's natural that they're gonna be harder to control but-"

Belén shrugged his arms off her and stepped back. "Then maybe it's best if I just leave them alone. Maybe if I let them stay inside they'll just...go away."

"I don't...I don't think it works that way," Barry hated the mortified look on her face.

"I don't want to hurt people," Belén whispered. "So maybe...maybe for now it's just best to leave things alone. I-I need to think..."

"Belén-"

But the woman shook her head, meaning the conversation was over. "We're done," her order was frail and quiet, but its finality stood out.

~ 0 ~

"Your brother hasn't been answering his damn phone," Angie told Maritza the moment the latter walked into Angie's apartment. "And for that matter, he hasn't been around for days."

Maritza would've liked to roll her eyes at Angie and tell her off for being so annoying but in this case...she happened to be right. Rayan was slowly getting...weird. She didn't know what it was - nor did Angie or Noah - but Rayan was acting differently. No longer was he all a genius put together. There were moments where he...spazzed out. He had mood swings, moods that he never really exhibited.

"I think we should try that warehouse," Angie's voice brought Maritza back to the present. "It's the only place where he could be."

Maritza agreed it was a good idea and so the two headed out of the apartment in search of Rayan.

~ 0 ~

Through his many problems, Barry could only manage so far to only add new ones. Rushing into the city's morgue caused him to collide with Singh, knocking over the man's drink over his new coat, and partially dropping the drink on Barry himself. After dozens of apologies, he moved over to Joe to discuss the newest crime scene left behind last night.

"What's with all the water?" Joe inquired, gesturing to the emergency sprinklers on the ceiling. "Did the sprinkler system go off or something?"

"No, I checked all the sprinklers. They're all intact. But look at this," Barry led him to where the coroner's corpse laid on the floor. He bent down beside it and, with some tweezers, picked what looked to be like a small particle of ice off the ground.

Joe titled his head, confused. "What is that, ice?"

"Mm-hmm." Barry then pushed the coroner's shirt to reveal purple bruises left on the stomach. "The coroner has multiple impact bruises on his torso, all the size of a tennis ball. Judging by the amount of ice and water on the ground, I'm guessing he was killed by hail."

Joe was even more lost. "Hail? In here?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think this was Snart?"

Barry straightened up and shook his head. "No, his cold-gun couldn't have done this."

Eddie moved over to the two holding a tape recorder. "Joe, we got something. The Coroner's office just installed an automated dictation system. Listen to this."

He played them the tape which revealed that Mark Clydon was alive and searching for the coo responsible for his brother's, Clyde, death. In the end, the coroner gave up the name that turned out to be Joe's.

Needless to say, Barry felt an extra layer of pressure to find this new metahuman quicker than normal.

~ 0 ~

Iris shuffled papers for one of Mason's stories, barely paying attention as she was busy looking around. She was pretty bored without her close friend in, so when she saw Barry coming in she perked up at the little distraction she would soon have. Leaving her papers on Mason's desk, she walked for him. But as she neared, she picked up on some odd, yet totally familiar, things in him.

The moment she got close enough to be heard without shouting, she voiced them. "Hmm," she crossed her arms, "That nervous face, the shifting, and the sole little Azalea in your hand could only mean one thing…" her lips widened with a teasing smile, "You had your first couple fight."

Barry saw no point in denying it. Sooner or later Belén would tell her something. "Something like that," he settled for.

Iris chuckled. "What was it? Week-a-versary? Oh! Or you-"

"Iris," Barry cut in sharply, "It's not the moment to be funny. I need to see Bells."

"Well I'm sorry to inform you but she's not here. She left early for dance practice."

"Damn," Barry mumbled.

"You know," Iris began, coming closer and letting her arms fall on her sides, "I could help you out."

"No offense, Iris, but I don't think you can…"

"Sure I can," Iris assured. "You just let me get her to a place and watch how things get sorted out." Barry gave her an unsure look, clearly preferring to do this on his own. Iris nudged him, pegging him on. "C'mon, I can help. Let me help. Pleeeease?"

Barry knew when he was at a loss, and against Iris West he was always at one. "Alright, fine."

Iris clapped and cheered, one main idea already forming in mind. "You won't regret it, I promise!" While she hugged him, Barry was still yet to feel so confident.

~ 0 ~

Maritza and Angie both walked into the warehouse they'd found ages ago to come around and practice their powers. It was the same one Rayan took an office for himself before coming to find Maritza and revealing he was alive.

"Rayan?" Maritza called as the women looked around. "You around?"

"Clearly not," Angie had walked into the office already. Maritza followed in a couple seconds later and found Angie gazing over a couple empty pill bottles on the desk. Angie picked one of them up and tilted her head. "These are headache pills. I bought some last week and they've all gone missing."

"My brother is not a pill abuser," Maritza warned Angie not to even go there. She came further inside and took a look at the state of the room. It was a mess, even for Rayan. "My brother is not okay..."

"You think?" Angie sarcastically gasped, making Maritza glare. "Oh c'mon, I'm not an idiot. Rayan's been...losing it, for a lack of a better word. I think it's your sister's fault."

"Belén did nothing," Maritza frowned. She was still fairly upset about Belén choosing the Flash over her family, but what Rayan was exhibiting had nothing to do with her actions. She suspected it was something biological that was hurting Rayan but up until now he hadn't shown anything besides headaches.

"Then where is he?" Angie gestured to the empty room.

Maritza went around the computer and pushed Angie out of the way so she could pull out a drawer. Rayan had a hidden laptop inside and so Maritza pulled it out to see what was inside. Unfortunately, he'd shattered the screen.

Angie's eyes widened. "Well, he's getting worse. Why do you think he would do that?"

Maritza decided not to answer. She put the laptop back inside the drawer and gazed at the papers over the desk. It appeared Rayan was taking notes for something. She grabbed a couple and skimmed some lines.

We're all losing. It's over. We must end it.

"Rayan...what the hell...?" Maritza lowered the papers and looked up at Angie, for the first time with honesty since they'd met. "We need to find him.

~ 0 ~

"I have never bowled a day in my life," Belén sighed as she and Iris walked down a bowling alley. She was only mildly interested in the place but she knew how much Iris loved the place so she just went with it.

"Easy win then," Iris rubbed her hands with a widened smirk.

Belén rolled her eyes. "I would think so. Why am I here again?"

But her answer did not come from Iris herself. She spotted Barry and Eddie halfway down and blamed herself for being so clueless this time. When she glanced at Iris the woman was cheekily smiling, turning and walking backwards to the guys.

"Iris West, one day...I will get a clue," Belén weakly pointed at her friends and followed after.

"Hey guys," Iris greeted, going straight to Eddie who was tying his bowling shoes on the couch.

"You are one sneak," Belén promptly accused Barry who'd gotten up from the other couch. Barry stuttered and somehow tried saying a sentence that involved apologizing. "I'm not mad with you, Barry, I hope you knew," she spoke quieter while Iris and Eddie got ready to bowl. "I'm mad with myself because...you know…"

Barry nodded, feeling relieved but not enough knowing she was still conflicted with herself. "You shouldn't be. Maybe I pushed you too far-"

"No, you didn't. I'm just...I don't know what to do," Belén admitted with a bitter chuckle. "I don't want to hurt anyone but the powers...they're my powers and I should be able to use them."

"Exactly," Barry was glad to see her perspective had changed since the last time they saw each other. "And we can work on it. Everyday. I want to help you. Can I?"

Belén looked to the side. She felt she was being overly complicated but she couldn't see herself agreeing right there. She didn't feel...ready. "I need some time. I don't think I can jump back into that training again tomorrow. I can't."

Barry took his win where he could. It was a compromise in the end. He wouldn't push her but she wouldn't let it go.

"Hey?" Iris called, making both metas look at her. "We bowling or what?"

"I've never bowled in my life," Belén sighed to Barry.

"I can teach you," he said, now eager to play. He took Belén's hand and led her towards the other couple.

Iris cheered as they began to play. Barry took his first turn, and with Belén intently watching him, he made sure to take his best shot. He swung the bowling ball down the bowling lane and made a perfect strike. Gasping in awe, Belén clapped for him. In his excitement, Barry did a little dance of triumph that involved sliding his feet and waving his arms.

Belén laughed for him as he came back. "That was adorable," she commented while his face flushed.

"Yikes," Iris, too, was laughing from her spot with Eddie, the latter trying not to laugh, "Belén, it's not too late to switch for a nice cop."

"Oh, thanks," Barry sarcastically said, glancing at her sharply.

"Aw, I like scientists better," Belén shrugged, winking at Barry.

"Thanks," Eddie mimicked Barry's sarcasm.

Belén winced and sheepishly smiled at him. "No offence."

"Let's just let Bells take her turn," Iris offered. "I can help you if you want-"

"No you won't," Eddie yanked her back the steps she'd taken towards the other couple.

"What? Why?" Iris frowned.

Barry had taken Belén back to the bowling ball retrieving space. To answer Iris' question, Eddie pointed as the other pair moved for the bowling lanes. Barry placed his hand over Belén's hand that held the bowling ball. He instructed her how to bend and move her arm. Together, they moved in sync and swung the ball down the lane. Although it wasn't a perfect strike as Barry's had been, she still managed to knock eight out of the ten pins. Belén squealed in delight and whirled around, practically jumping on Barry and giving him a hug.

"That's why," Eddie told Iris.

She gasped and looked up at him. "Is that why you took me golfing? To hold me?" Eddie cheekily smiled and went for another bowling ball.

As the night progressed, Iris proved to be a better bowler as she and Eddie increased their scores. Midway through, Belén felt so bad she was causing their loss she told Barry it was better for him to go solo.

"That's no fun!" he shook his head, plopping down on the couch beside her. He reached for one of the french fries she had on her plate over her lap.

"You know, I'm making you lose," Belén said, making a face at Iris who'd taken a seat on the other couch. "And I gotta be honest, I'd feel a little less guilty if someone-" Iris looked up with a wide smirk, "-didn't tease you about it."

"Good going Iris, you're making my girlfriend feel bad," Barry shot her a sarcastic look. Belén whacked his arm, making him laugh. He only stopped when he caught Belén yawning behind her hand. "You tired?"

"A little. I was up early today," she nodded.

"Maybe we should call it a night, then," he looked back at Iris and Eddie as he came back with a soda in hand.

"I'm sorry," Belén apologized as she left her plate on the middle table and got up with Barry.

"Don't worry about it," Iris waved it off. "I'm just glad you two are fine again. Whatever it was you were fighting about…"

Barry and Belén exchanged looks, both agreeing not to touch that subject right now. Barry ushered her towards the counter where they would switch in their bowling shoes for their regular shoes. Denying Iris and Eddie's offer for a lift, they headed on their own towards Belén's home.

"This was oddly fun," Belén said as they watched Iris and Eddie drive away.

"Oddly?" Barry quickly looked at her, suddenly afraid their fight was still an ongoing thing.

"I'm not exactly the sports girl," Belén gestured to herself with a light chuckle. "I don't like them very much."

"To be honest this is probably the only sport I was ever good at," Barry shrugged, "In case you were hoping you scored yourself a sporty boyfriend…"

"I'm happy with who I'm with," Belén reached for his hand. "My singing scientist."

"We're never letting that go, are we?" Barry laughed and shook his head.

"Nope! I've still got the video on my phone," and Belén could promise him right there and then that the video would always be there with him.

Barry brought them to Belén's front porch and with one glance at the driveway Belén concluded that her sister wasn't home.

"I wonder where the hell Maritza went," she thought out loud as she began to check for the lights from the living room window. "She's teaching tomorrow in the morning. And Axel..."

"It's eleven..." Barry said after checking his phone for the time. "Aren't four year olds supposed to be sleeping by now...?"

"Mhm," Belén was now checking her phone as well. She found one text message from Maritza sent over an hour ago saying Axel was left with their neighbor, Mrs. Andrews, and was waiting for Belén herself to go pick him up. "Oh my God!" Belén's eyes widened in alarm. "I should've picked him an hour ago!"

"Well, it's not like it's far," Barry reminded Belén the house was literally just across the street from them.

"Funny," Belén playfully rolled her eyes. "I need to go get him. Hopefully Mrs. Andrews is still awake."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, that's fine. You have work in the morning too, I remember," Belén wagged a finger at him. "But thanks for offering."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, then?" Barry reached for her hand, gently stroking small circles over the back of her hand. "If...you want...?"

Belén chuckled. "I want. Definitely want." She leaned forwards and kissed him goodnight, something that left them both blushing.

From there, the two split. Belén had an interesting time trying to figure out where it was her sister had gone to. Axel didn't even seem to know, and much less Mrs. Andrews.

~ 0 ~

Mark Mardon would have expected anything nowadays, but his hideout's door flinging off its hinges was not one of them. A man in black and grey leather walked in with a complete straight face. His brunette strands seemed about the only messy thing about him.

"You have got to clean up," Rayan remarked like this was just going to be a casual greet and meet.

"Who the hell are you?" Mardon stood up, hands extended to threaten them.

"Put the hands down please, it's gonna be a waste of time if we fight first then talk," Rayan walked in, looking around the cluttered and dirty apartment.

"Why would I talk with you?"

"Because we essentially want the same things," Rayan stopped on a side, hands behind his back.

"I doubt that," Mardon snapped, bur Rayan remained at ease.

"Your brother died because of an officer and the Flash. More importantly, he died because of that Particle Accelerator. It's only fair we take them out in retaliation."

"I want bigger," Mardon clarified his intentions.

"Course you do, and on that I believe we differ but if we work together we can take it all down. I, personally, want the Flash but I'm willing to compromise."

Mardon scowled at the man. "I don't need any help!"

"If you would-"

"I said no!" Mardon practically screamed his powers off but Rayan deflected any potential threatening away from his body.

Telekinesis was by far the superior metahuman power, he thought. He also felt smarter, incredibly smarter than your average human. "I feel like you still wanna try your own luck against the officer. Do it. And when it fails, I'll be back to discuss how we can work together." Before he left, though, he made sure to leave behind a way to be in contact. He was sure Mardon would come around eventually.

~ 0 ~

"Hellooooo?"

Cisco looked up from a half-finished metal wand-looking device. He beamed at the second call for someone.

"Cisco! Boom!"

"Sweet!" Cisco laughed as he turned on his chair to greet Belén and Axel. "Axel! Welcome back!"

"You are not in charge of him anymore," Belén warned as Axel ran up to the empty chair beside Cisco.

"What are we going to make today, Cisco?" Axel pushed his chair closer to Cisco's, eager to see what was on Cisco's computer screen.

"Uh, you are going to make nothing," Belén warned them both before they got any ideas. Maritza entrusted her to watch Axel and that's what she would do. After getting back late last night, Maritza asked Belén if she could look after Axel for the day while she went off to work. Mrs. Andrews had other plans for the day and since Belén had the day off...it was all set.

"We are," Axel whispered to Cisco, though not as quiet as he thought because Belén was warning Cisco with a glare not to even try it.

"So...you want to check something cool out?" Cisco gestured to his computer screen.

"Always," Belén moved around to Cisco's other side since Axel was already leaning forwards on the right.

"I remembered the laat time we had a run-in with Mardon, Clyde Mardon-"

"Em - you mean that period in which you all decided I shouldn't know anything about metahumans?"

"Let bygones be bygones, Belén," Cisco said in a rushed manner, wincing at Belén's 'Mhm' in return. "I was tinkering with something to help attract unbound atmospheric electrons."

"I speak English, not nerd."

"Well Barry understood it."

"Mm, I rest my case," Belén patted Cisco's shoulder.

Cisco looked up at her, obviously offended. "For real?" Belén just shrugged in response. Cisco shook his head and continued to explain. "Basically, this thing would work like a sponge and suck up all of the particles in the air that allows Mardon to control the weather."

"Oh, that sounds good," Belén smiled at his excitement.

"Yeah it does!"

"Yeah!" Axel repeated in the same excited voice Cisco had even though he knew the boy didn't have a clue about the conversation. He decided to instead give Axel a live show by creating a new weapon that would win them the fight against Mardon.

At some point, Belén heard her phone vibrate from her purse and went to answer it. It was a text from Iris, and its content was...alarming. She quickly forgone the text to dial Iris instead. She motioned Cisco to keep an eye on Axel while she talked out in the hallway. "Iris, what is this nonsense?"

"Well, you tell me," Iris countered. "Mason showed me some pictures-"

"Iris I thought we discussed this - Mason is an idiot. You shouldn't even be following his so called 'lead'."

Iris thought she should point out that if she - Belén - had the confidence in her to tell her what exactly went on with STAR Labs and its workers, she wouldn't be following Mason's lead at all. But instead, Belén kept it all quiet. "I just wanted to know what was really going on with Dr. Wells and-"

"There's nothing, Iris," Belén sighed, rubbing a hand over her temple. "There's no story - I should know."

'Yeah, you should,' Iris thought rather bitterly.

"Bells?" Barry's voice made the ombre-blonde jump on her spot.

Quickly hanging up - much to Iris' irritation - she turned around. "H-hi, Barry," she greeted, hoping to God he hadn't heard anything, especially Iris' name.

"What did Iris want?"

Dammit, Belén gritted her teeth behind her closed lips. "Just...work stuff," she began her weak explanation.

"Why are you holding your phone like that?" Barry inquired after noticing she was practically clutching her phone to her chest.

"Hmm?" Belén looked down at her hands and quickly moved them to her sides. "No reason, just...stressed. What are you doing back?" she decided it was best to slowly lead him into the cortex to prevent any other questions.

"There was an incident with Mardon. He tried attacking Joe and I earlier."

"Is Joe alright!?"

"He's fine, but he's confined to the station now so...Cisco?" Barry gave a call, making Cisco look up from Axel. "How are we doing with the, uh…?"

"Wizard wand!" Cisco exclaimed, causing Axel to giggle and wave his finger at Barry and Belén.

"Like Harry Potter!"

"Uh, no, he has a wand," Cisco reminded him and pushed Axel's finger don.

"K, see that's why I don't want you in charge of my nephew," Belén crossed her arms and shook her head at Cisco.

"How does it work?" Barry asked after struggling not to laugh.

"Think of it like an active lightning rod," Cisco said and got up from his chair. "You just point it at the sky, and it'll suck up whatever energy's floating around it like a sponge."

"And it'll stop Mardon?"

"At the very least slow him down," Cisco pointed at her with the wand. "If there's no atmospheric electrons available to him, there's no way for him to control the weather."

"Sounds great," Belén laughed.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go get this to the station and explain how it works for Joe," Cisco said, understanding the situation was even worse there. "Bye Axel, and remember? Sonic?"

Axel happily threw his arms in the air. "Boom!"

"CISCO!" Belén shouted but Cisco had already dashed for the exit. Barry had to laugh himself as he turned back for the desk. Belén decided to leave that behind to focus on something a little more important. "Um...would it be wrong to ask of you like a big big favor when we're like barely starting to date?"

"Well, considering we've been friends for months more, I think it should be fine," Barry tried to humor her. He was no fool - he knew Belén was trying to hide something.

"I have to go into work just for a bit - tiny bit of a second - like a quarter really, well not exactly, it'd be more but you probably got the jist-"

Barry surprised her by planting a kiss on her that lasted well over a minute. They missed the quiet "yuck" Axel uttered while he got into some drawings on the desk.

"U-uh...w-w-what, what...was that...for?" Belén blinked pretty fast afterwards, trying to catch her breath.

"Just...thought it would be nice," Barry crookedly smiled, although now he was becoming self-conscious about what he had just done. "But, maybe now...that I think about it...it might have not been the best way, to, um...to interject…"

"N-n-no, that...was excellent," Belén flushed bright red, "I mean...feel free to do that again...yeah, anytime."

Barry laughed, slowly returning to normal. "Alright, so, this favor...what was it exactly?"

"Right," Belén sucked in a breath. "Um, I just really need to go back to CC Pictures to talk to someone. Can you take care of Axel for a bit?"

"Yeah, no problem. Want a lift?"

"I...don't...I really need to do this on my own," Belén warned, knowing Barry's persistence in helping others.

"Then I stay outside with Axel," Barry compromised after getting the sense this was something more complex than just a simple pop back into the workplace.

"There's no way you're letting me go out on my own are you?"

"Nope."

"Fine," Belén went to grab her purse off the desk. "Axel? Come here, please."

Axel obediently went to his aunt. "Are we going to go help Cisco?"

"No, you're going to stay with Barry for a tiny bit, okay?" Belén explained to him what would happen in the next couple of minutes.

Axel glanced at Barry for a second. "Can you make a wand like Harry Potter?"

"I can make a cooler one," Barry easily replied to, earning himself a big grin from the boy.

It was all he needed to have Axel's comfort and trust. So, he took hold of Belén and Axel and in a second he had them inches from the CC Pictures. After pleading Barry for him to stay in his spot with Axel, Belén went inside the place. First thing she did was locate Mason. It wasn't difficult catching him on a coffee break at the snack table.

"Mason?" she called while making a straight beeline for the man. "We need to talk."

Mason took a short sip from his coffee mug. "Isn't it your day off today?"

"Why the hell did you insist on the stupid STAR Labs story with Iris when I specifically told you there was nothing more!?"

"Because I didn't believe you? I thought that was self-explanatory?" Mason arched one eyebrow.

Belén was in no mood to entertain his common sarcasm. "You listen to me right now you overbearing-" she began jabbing her finger on his chest, "-self-righteous man, you better leave my friend Iris out of this ridiculous story. Stop putting ideas in her head!"

"I think-"

"I don't give a damn about what you think!" she snapped. "You will stop, or I will come back and make you wish I never even entered this place."

"Such determination," Mason's observation didn't make Belén falter. This wasn't a game for her - it meant Iris' credibility as well as safety from any potential crazies who took her words seriously.

"You've been warned," Belén turned on her heels and strode out of the place without so much of a glance.

True to his word, Barry had remained outside caring for Axel. When he saw Belén coming towards them it wasn't difficult to see something had changed in her. "What's wrong?" He went for the direct question.

"Nothing, you wanna walk instead?" Belén went past him into a hasty walk.

"U-uh, sure," Barry hurried a little to catch up with her.

"I want Jitters."

"Okay," Barry tried leaning forwards to see her face, "Are you okay?"

"Honestly, no," Belén shook her head. "But don't worry about it I'm taking care of it!"

"Really?" Barry was now eyeing her balled up fist in her jacket pocket. He stopped and abruptly grabbed her by the same arm, revealing a mildly emerald green fist. "Because it doesn't look like it." Belén was staring at her hand with terrified wide eyes. Gently lowering it while also covering it with his own, Barry made a step closer to her and tried to understand again. "I want to help, so tell me how to help."

Swallowing hard, Belén stuffed her hand back in her pocket. "It's Mason again. He's...he has this crazy idea that there's something suspicious going on with Dr. Wells. And he doesn't stop there, oh no, he now has Iris asking questions."

"What?" Barry frowned. "What could he possibly have against Dr. Wells?"

"I don't know!" Belén exclaimed. "He knows what happened to Simon Stagg. Apparently, nobody's heard from him or seen him since the night you stopped Danton Black."

"Okay…"

"But he's wrong, God everything is so wrong! And I'm trying to make things better but it just doesn't seem to want to be fixed!"

Barry quickly wrapped her into a hug - along with the help of Axel - and kissed her hair. "You shouldn't leave all this for yourself, Bells. I can help you - I want to help you."

"Then please help me because I don't know what else to do," Belén admitted.

"Of course," Barry barely got the two words before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He saw the text message urging him to get to the police station. "I gotta go," he said to Belén who didn't need further explanation than his facial expression. With a kiss on her cheek he was out of the street in a second.

Belén resorted to making her way back to STAR Labs on foot as she had originally planned minutes ago - though stopping first by Jitters. By the time she got back to the building, she heard from Cisco and Caitlin about the terrible thing that happened back at the station involving Barry's boss - Captain Singh - landing in the hospital thanks to Mardon.

"I should have been there to help," Belén couldn't help blame herself after hearing the story. She was looking at Axel who'd taken interest in drawing on a lone paper Caitlin supplied for him along with a pencil. He was deadset on a new Harry Potter wand.

"Where were you anyways?" Cisco curiously asked, but upon receiving a sharp look from Caitlin he quickly added, "I mean, just...just out of curiosity...though if it was some date with Barry I would rather not hear it."

Belén laughed and shook her head. "It wasn't that, honestly. It's...well...I know Barry is going to tell both of you at some point so might as well get over it. One of my co-workers thinks there's something weird going on with Dr. Wells."

"Weird as in how?" Caitlin crossed her arms, trying to understand.

"Like, he's not who he says he is or...I don't know, maybe he's hiding something?" Belén shrugged, thinking it even more ridiculous with each time she said it out loud.

"That can't be," Caitlin scoffed and went back to the desk. Cisco, meanwhile, became silently pensive. "Dr. Wells is a fantastic man."

"I think it just might be a gruge from the accident with the accelerator," Belén admitted. "But I just don't like the fact that this co-worker is bringing Iris into it."

"I'm sure everything will work out fine," Caitlin sent her a reassuring smile.

"I guess," Belén sighed and started gathering her things. "Anyways, I think I'll be heading home. Hopefully everything works out for Barry's boss. Keep me posted okay?"

"Yeah, goodnight," Caitlin said, watching the woman pick up her nephew.

"Goodnight," Cisco mumbled and also watched Belén leave.

Caitlin was shutting off one of the computers when she noticed Cisco's extra-pensive demeanor. "Cisco, you okay?"

"Honestly, no, Bells is making me think about Dr. Wells' true persona…"

"What?" frowned Caitlin. "You don't actually think what her co-worker says is true do you?"

"No, no, it's more than that. Joe said that maybe Dr. Wells was somehow involved in of Barry's Mother's death and her murder."

Caitlin wondered how many idiotic things she would be hearing about Wells that night. "That's absurd."

"Yeah, I know, and that's what I said, and we proved that that wasn't the case, but I'm just saying, some things aren't adding up."

"Like what, for example?"

Cisco motioned for Caitlin to follow him into one of the side rooms. "Come here, look at this." He stopped in front of another computer and typed away. "The night we trapped the Reverse-Flash in the force-field, he escaped because the containment system failed, but I checked that data three times, and the super-capacitors were still fully charged when he got out. The numbers don't add up, Caitlin. There's no reason that the containment system should have failed."

Caitlin could understand his confusion but to say that Wells had something to do with it was beyond ridiculous. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation."

"One perfectly good explanation is that Wells did something to the trap."

"Are you suggesting that Dr. Wells is in league with The Man in the Yellow Suit? I'm... We all saw that thing nearly kill him that night."

"Yeah, nearly…"

"Cisco, what you're saying doesn't make any sense. That's crazy."

Cisco turned to Caitlin, very serious, and asked, "Can you keep Wells out of STAR Labs tomorrow morning?"

~ 0 ~

"You went to who?" Angie's high-itched voice filled the apartment without even trying.

Rayan popped in another headache pill and motioned her to wait. After quickly swallowing it without water, he repeated his story again. "I went to Mardon - the new meta that's causing trouble. I knew he was probably going on a hunt for the West detective and-"

"-you thought you would just strike a deal?" Noah was just as confused as Angie. "What for? I thought we decided not to bring anymore in? It's a nuisance-"

"-tell me about it," Rayan still eyed the man with regret for Maritza's choice of bringing him in. "New recruits tend to be useless."

Noah ignored the insult and got back to business. "So what the hell did you even see this guy for? Gonna cause a big storm over the city?"

"I went back because I saw an opportunity to get to the Flash," Rayan got up from the couch. "I want to know who he is." Noah exchanged a confused glance with Angie.

"What for?" Angie was dumb enough to ask out loud.

"Because I want to know who the hell managed to get my sister to leave her family!" Rayan's shout made her flinch.

Noah rolled his eyes. She had to ask. "Who cares who's behind the mask," he said. "I say we just start taking whatever we want."

Angie perked up at that idea. "I can get behind that!"

"NO!" Rayan once again screamed and this time he caused a portrait hanging behind Angie to crash straight on the floor.

The blonde woman growled as she saw her graduation frame all broken. "STOP DOING THAT!"

Rayan flung his hands to the side and threw both metas to the ground, using his telekinesis to pin them there. "Let me get this straight for you," his voice was dark and final, "I'm going to find out who the Flash is, and when I do I'm gonna kill him. And maybe then my sister will reconsider her life choices."

Despite their attempts to get off the grounds, Angie and Noah found themselves stuck there until Rayan felt otherwise. Still, they could both see a small trickle of blood oozing from Rayan's nose.

~ 0 ~

Knock, knock, went the door of the West residence. Instead of being received by Iris, Belén was received by none other than her new boyfriend. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?" she tilted her head in confusion but nonetheless allowed Barry to take her bag and let her inside.

"Slow work day," he said cheery.

Belén hummed in thought and spotted Iris coming out of the kitchen, apparently ending a phone call.

"I can't get my dad to answer," she frowned, leaving her phone on the coffee table. "Hey Bells, what's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Belén said politely.

"Right now?" Iris made a face. "I don't get into work for another two hours. Barry and I were about to get lunch if you wanted to…"

"No, I want to do it here away from all things Mason," Belén said sharply, letting her know what the subject was going to be about.

"Oh…" Iris' eyes flickered from Barry to Belén, wondering which one would be lying to her face today.

"I don't know what he's been telling you but you can't listen to him," began Belén.

"I don't know what's real and what's not, but all I know is that he's got some sort of big article coming out about Dr. Wells," Iris shrugged.

This was new information to both Belén and Barry.

"What kind of article?" asked Barry.

"The sort that exposes him I would say?"

"This is the kind of crap that I'm talking about," Belén slapped a hand to her forehead. "He's gone berserk."

"Look I don't know what he's got written for that article but I can guarantee that I had no part in it." With that clarified, Iris picked up her phone from the coffee table and made a gesture she would be upstairs getting ready for work.

"I tried," Barry began with Belén about the whole ordeal with Mason, "But she keeeps giving me the same responses."

"You think she's not believing in us anymore?" Belén worried they would begin to lose the trust Iris had for them if they kept up all this secrecy.

"I hope not," Barry, too, was also thinking the same thing.

"I guess that's it for me here then," Belén sighed, shaking her head. "I thought I could make a difference but I guess I was just wrong."

"No, c'mon, wait up," Barry grabbed her arm and gently turned her around. "If Iris wants to believe something then we can't force her to change it, and we can't blame ourselves for it either."

"It's our job to protect those we love and right now I feel like Iris is going to get herself into trouble. Remember what happened with that blog of hers?"

"I know," Barry agreed with the gravity of the situation. "But we can't stop it. I mean, the best we can do is just keep an eye on Iris. We won't let any harm come her way. I promise."

Belén fully trusted him, and she trusted herself to be strong enough in case Iris ever needed them.

~ 0 ~

News spread fast about Joe West's abduction, and while Iris was distraught she knew Eddie was doing all that he could to bring her father back. However, things grew worse when she received a call from Mardon himself asking her to come to the waterfront on her own. She wouldn't be alone, she was promised by Barry and Belén who'd been with her at the time. They figured if things came to worst, one of them - most likely Barry - would be able to sneak off to fight as the Flash while Belén stayed with Iris to make sure she was alright.

Before heading off they tried contacting someone at STAR Labs for backup, but no one answered...which was weird for them. But for time's sake they didn't dwell on it. If they had known that Cisco was facing the Reverse Flash himself, revealed to be Wells, perhaps they would have given it a bit more consideration. By the time the trio reached the waterfront, the sky was darkening with rumbling thunder. Immediately, they knew who was behind it.

"Oh my God," Iris was terrified by the sight. She could see in the distance a faint gray boat in the ocean where her father was surely hostage.

"Barry I think we might need to do that disclosure now..." Belén mumbled to him.

Barry agreed with a sigh. He glanced at Iris, sadly, and wondered why it had to be like this. "I'm sorry," he told her before speeding off.

Iris' mouth gaped open and she pointed in the direction he went off in. There weren't words at the moment that she could use.

Belén turned around to her, placing her hands on Iris' shoulders. "And breeeathe, please. Listen Iris this isn't exactly how either of us wanted you to know but…"

"He's the Flash, isn't he?" Iris sucked in a breathe, her eyes flickering from one side to the other.

"Yes, and the only reason we didn't tell you was because..." but she trailed off when she saw a park bench coming directly at them. "DUCK!" she pulled Iris down in time.

Iris winched as the park bench crashed into pieces not too far from them. "What just happened!?"

Belén quickly got back on her feet and spotted the culprit. She gulped. "Iris, you have to leave..."

"What? But I want to know what's going on!" Iris searched for the culprit as well and figured it had to be the man across them who was coming towards them. "Who's that? Enemy of Barry's?" the sharpness in her tone didn't go unnoticed by Belén. She was mad. Mad as hell.

"No...that...that would be my brother," Belén stepped forwards, hands forming into fists.

Iris' eyes widened in alarm. "But...but he's-"

"Crazy, by the looks of it," Belén inwardly sighed. What had her brother come to now? She took another step forwards and raised her hands. "Rayan, whatever you want-"

"It's time to go!" Rayan didn't waste time in openings nor chit-chat. He knew exactly what Mardon was going to do and he needed to get his sister out of there at once.

"Go? Go where!?"

"Away from here, to safety," Rayan calmly stopped a couple feet away from her. "She-" he nodded to Iris, "-is not welcomed."

"How is he still alive?" the indicated woman asked.

"I murdered my captors," Rayan said plainly then returned his attention to Belén. "You coming the easy way or not?"

Belén raised an eyebrow. "You're threatening me now? Is that what we've really come to, Rayan? Seriously?"

"I'm looking for your safety, Belén. I've already warned Maritza and she's getting Axel out of here but-"

"-you've talked to Maritza!?" Belén wondered how that went for her poor sister.

"Let's go," Rayan motioned Belén to come walking towards him but Belén shook her head. "Belén, let's go."

"No, we've got to help these people," Belén glanced back at the water, which was building up into what looked like would be a tsunami. "That's going to take out the city-"

"-which is why we need to leave now-"

"RAYAN!" Belén suddenly screamed, trickles of scaly green going down her cheeks. "Listen to me, dammit! We need to help!"

Rayan balled his fists now, eyes closing for a second. He felt that pain in his head begin to increase. "I don't have time, Belén. I really don't. Let's-"

Belén saw this was going to be a useless argument so she decided to focus on the more important factors around them. "Iris, leave this place. Just...go to STAR Labs. I'll try to help-"

Rayan rolled his eyes and made a motion with his finger for something to come over. Broken metal legs of the park bench he threw at them earlier now shot towards them again. Iris gasped and shut her eyes, expecting to feel the immense pain at any moment. Instead, Belén swung an arm to the side and captured the bench pieces with a vine that wrapped around each piece.

Now furious, she turned on her brother. "GET OUT!"

Rayan was surprised to find the scaly green all over Belén, and even more so when she retaliated against him. Lasso vines tried to capture him so he jumped back a couple steps - a decent distance - and in that time Belén once again urged Iris to get away from them. Not wanting to be a liability for her friend, Iris decided to head over to STAR Labs.

Rayan telekinetically caught the lasso vines, leaving Belén to continuously try to pull them out of his pool of energy. "Amazing, you worry about everyone except your family," Rayan said.

"Are you kidding me!?" Belén openly shouted at him. "You've attacked people - you just tried to hurt someone you knew! You are not the brother I used to have! You're just like any other metahuman the Flash and I catch." She left the vines and conjured up new ones. She swung them like boomerangs at her Rayan but he would deflect them with his fingers.

Belén could hear the pandemonium around them as the waters behind grew bigger and got closer to the city. In one of her distractions, Rayan actually threw her an empty baby stroller and knocked her closer to the ledge. As she got up, she saw Barry, as the Flash, zipping around the coastline over and over.

"If I have to take you unconsciously then I will!" Rayan's warning pulled her back into her fight.

"Try me," she said with no hope of making up after this. She charged on back towards him with every intention of defeating him and putting him away in the pipeline like she once promised.

Thanks to a quick chat with Caitlin, Barry was intending on creating a 'vortex barrier' along the coastline to stop the tsunami. It was the only way to keep everyone safe, he just hoped he was fast enough. On each round that Barry made along the coastline he could see brief glances of Belén trying to strike a man he hadn't seen before. He couldn't figure out who it was, but it looked like the fight was heated.

I need to finish to help her, he pushed himself harder to keep going.

Belén was too enraged with her brother to realize she was losing herself again. The wildness was coursing through her, giving her an extra layer of strength against Rayan. Thorn-covered vines stabbed Rayan's chest and one of his palms. As he screamed, she lunged onto him, tackling him to the ground.

But somehow, it all vanished. Everything from Barry's eyes began to disappear. There was a loud, eerie noise that filled his ears and the next thing he knew he was running under a dark Central City street. He came to an abrupt stop in a familiar intersection and looked around.

He saw the same woman calling for a taxi as he did the previous night. He saw the dog owners, the running man on his cellphone...everything.

Where was he? When was he?

#the flash #barry allen #arrowverseocs #ocappreciation #ocapp #barry allen fics #the flash fics #barry allen imagines #the flash imagines #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you

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smutnug · 4 years

Text

Day 6: Fighting together

It was hard to say when he first noticed her: a scout among hundreds of scouts, and she kept her head down. As they made their tortuous way to Adamant the camps eddied and scattered according to the landscape.

Faces around the mess tent changed night by night, but after a time she sank into Krem's consciousness. Dark eyes, dark hair, a build so slight as to be almost elvish. She smiled when it was polite, kept her head down. Didn't seem to want to be noticed.

He couldn't help it; he noticed her.

And now he found himself looking for her, when all his attention should be on the battle. Inquisition trebuchets shattered the walls of Adamant, and out trickled demons like ants from a broken nest.

The chief will hate this. The Iron Bull was fighting within the walls, closer to the Inquisitor. Krem could only hope the lot of them were keeping each other safe.

The Chargers were a cohesive unit, but they'd never faced this exactly: rage, despair, desire, pride all at once. At least this time they had forces fighting at their side.

And what forces! Cullen's troops were a well oiled machine, each unit sure in its purpose and every man and woman giving their all. The scouts were as adept in combat as in their more mundane field operations; Krem lost count of the times he saw a life saved by a timely arrow or the flash of daggers.

Until his people and a pocket of soldiers had a despair demon cornered against a collapsed wall. The blighted thing kept dancing out of reach of their weapons and the rubble was unsteady enough to make leaping after it a folly.

He couldn't say which was worse, the shards of ice it threw out, or the choking miasma of hopelessness that followed in its wake. They were wearing it down, but not quickly enough. He saw one green soldier nearly put down his sword, only steeling himself at the last minute.

Then there she was, tiny and fierce in her ichor-spattered scout jacket. Spinning her staff - her staff? - once, and slamming it on the ground. The thing caught fire all at once, its tattered robes going up like dry tinder. It screeched and swerved about even as the loose grey skin melted from its face. She was perfectly still, jaw set until it was nothing but ashes on the dry desert air.

Then she caught his eye, ducking her head as she tucked a lock of black hair behind her ear.

Well look at you, Krem-de-la-Krem, he could almost hear the chief say. Sweet on a mage.

"You saved our arses," he croaked, feeling oddly self-conscious. Around them the fighters took advantage of the sudden lull in battle, stretching wearied limbs and shaking off the remnants of despair. "Thanks."

"You would have killed it." Her voice had an Orlesian lilt. "It was weakened."

"Saved us some time, then," he said with a grin. "I'm Krem."

"I know," she said, glancing away. "I've seen you around."

Had he been so obviously staring, those nights in camp?

"At the Herald's Rest," she clarified.

"No." She raised an eyebrow, and he stammered, "I would have noticed. I mean…I have a good memory for faces." I'd remember yours, at least.

"I mostly sit upstairs. It's quieter away from the music."

"You don't like the music?"

"Well enough," she answered with a shrug. "Less than some." Krem found himself lost for words, and with a smile she extended a small palm. "Caroline. Call me Caro."

"Krem," he said, grasping her hand.

"Yes," she said softly. "I know."

There was a screech from overhead; as chilling as the cry of despair but amplified, a million knives drawn across slate.

Their eyes met, panicked.

"Were you in Haven?" he asked.

"Yes."

"The Wardens have lain down arms! Defences are down!" Shouted word came along the line. "Target the demons!"

"What in the bloody Void did they think we were doing?" Krem muttered. "Chargers! To the fortress!" He looked down: somehow, he still had her hand. "Stick with us? You seem a good person to have around."

Her smile may be sweet, but her grin was perfection. "Très bien, Krem," she said, stepping to his side. Her head was barely higher than his shoulder. "I had planned on going that way anyway. Let's fight together."

#14dalovers #3 days late #Part 1 of 3 #krem x OC #I cannot insert a text break I'm sorry

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cygnetofthesea · 5 years

Note

66 , westallen:)

I’ve been wanting to write this AU for two months now and I finally get to all the while fulfilling this prompt–shooting two feathers with one arrow (I just made that up because “killing two birds with one stone is so morbid”). Hope you guys enjoy this!

Staring At The Other’s Lips, Trying Not To Kiss Them, Before Giving In

Chemistry in Motion

If Dr. Barry Allen and Dr. Iris West were chemical elements like the ones they so dearly loved, together, they would be the compound that would cause explosions. The charged energy every time they were in a room together made their colleagues uncomfortable and often resulted in an awkward shuffle out of the lab.

Only Dr. Harrison Wells, their mentor, was brave enough to stay in the room as he barked at them to “quit the bickering and remind me why I brought you both onto the team.”

If anyone were to ask either Barry and Iris, neither would give in and admit the brilliance the other. Dr. Allen would gripe about how he couldn’t believe he was yanked from his hometown in Moscow just to be placed alongside a stubborn and infuriating scientist who did nothing but question him at every turn.

(Nevermind the fact that he’d also often mutter under his breath about the “beautiful and brilliant nuisance” in his native Russian tongue lest Dr. West overhear and call him out on it.)

Dr. West, on the other hand, would practically emit steam from her ears every time his name even came up.

“Don’t even mention the puppy-eyed ‘doctor’ who keeps putting in the wrong units of measurement into the acceleration mass spectrometer. You’re in America, use the correct units!”

(Nevermind the fact that she thinks it’s stupid they were the only ones that used a different form of measurement than the rest of the world…Or that she could barely look at Dr. Allen for too long because his stupid bespectacled green eyes made her soft like the way his hair flopped when he ran his hand through it in frustration.)

The tension between the two scientists reached a new height when Iris found that Barry had once again changed the settings on all their machinery. It was only after she punched into the numbers before she noticed the small units in the bottom corner of the screen.

She clenched her jaw and absolutely seethed. Whirling around, she charged at Barry as he sat hunched over a microscope.

“What is that matter with you?”

“Well, yesterday, it was my turtle being eaten by my cat. I had to scold her most severely,” he responded blithely in his heavy accent.

Iris reared back at that, baffled, but he continued on without looking up.

“After that, it was watching you nearly crack your neck while reaching for the graduated cylinder as I specifically said I would get it for you. Nearly gave me a heart attack,” he commented casually. “And well, at the moment, you’re shouting at me while I’m trying to concentrate on identifying the particles in this chemical that was shot at us by our enemies. What’s the matter with you?”

Iris spluttered, taking all that in, especially the bit where her well-being nearly gave him a heart attack, before remembering why she was irked.

“Well, today, and not to mention every other day, it’s you! You changed all the units of every single one of our equipment. Are you asking for a disaster on a nuclear level?”

He swiveled around in his chair and looked at her. “No. I am simply asking why I must compromise and yield to your every need. Try adapting to a different lifestyle.”

He swiveled back to his desk and scribbled in his book while muttering, “And perhaps try a different flavor of men.”

“What was that?” she demanded, cocking her head to the side.

“Oh nothing,” he said simply before she, again, heard him mutter something. “I suppose Dr. Thawne and his blondeness is quite nice too.”

“What? What the hell does Eddie have to do with anything? And quit being so damn passive-aggressive.”

He whirled around and looked her square in the eye. “Fine. Would you like assertiveness? How’s this for assertive? You are beyond infuriating,” he enunciated.

“Me? How am I infuriating? You’re the one who walked into this lab with a stick up your ass and your nose in the air since day one!”

He got up from his stool and advanced toward her. “That is not true. I was actually excited to work alongside you, the esteemed Dr. Iris West until I found out that you don’t exactly play well with others.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, how do I say it? You’re not a team player. ‘It’s my way or the highway.’”

She scrunched up her nose. “I never said that!”

“Oh, you didn’t have to say the words explicitly. I got the picture.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Oh, is it?” he asked in mock surprise.

She looked up at him, at those annoyingly gorgeous eyes framed by those annoyingly thick and adorable lashed and let out a frustrated growl. A small voice in the back of her head whispered that perhaps there was a little truth to his words. Iris was, after all, alone her whole life. She never knew what it was like to be part of something other than herself.

“You! You are so full of yourself if you think you have me pegged, you arrogant…accented…ass!”

He let out a harsh breath through clenched teeth. “Chert by tebyapobral, tvoichertovskikrasivyyeglazaigubykrichalinamenya!”

“What did you say to me?” she belted, pointing a finger at him. “What kind of person argues in a different language? How am I supposed to present my counter-argument if I can’t understand a damn word you just said to me?”

“I said,” he replied, jabbing a finger at her and moving closer until they were just inches apart. “‘Goddamn you and your fucking beautiful eyes and lips screaming vitriol at me’!”

Iris let out a sharp breath as her chest heaved, her eyes wide. “W-what?” she uttered in a small voice, a decidedly stark contrast to the volume she previously took on.

“You’re a marvelous being but so goddamn stubborn it drives me absolutely mad,” he glared.

Iris couldn’t help but let her eyes flit to his lips where heavy puffs of air emitted. Heavy, hot air that she wanted to feel against her. Desperately.

She looked up at him only to see that his own eyes had traveled to her lips as well. Before either knew what was happening, they charged at each other, their lips finding one another like magnets.

And they absolutely melted and fused against one another. It was electric. For the first time since they met each other, they finally yielded to the other as their bodies gave and took.

She was pliant under his hands as he brought them firmly around her to lift her and settled on top of their lab table while her leg wound around his waist and kept him firmly against her. She let her heels drop with a clatter as she practically scaled his torso. He gave into her touch, groaning under the feel of her hands traveling under his lab coat and dress shirt to the expanse of his back while his hands dove into her hair and guided her lips in time with his.

He gasped against her skin. “Gods, I’ve dreamed of getting lost in you. Feeling your soft, shiny hair between my fingers,” he whispered into her mouth. “You really are incredible.”

His words jolted in her chest as her skin heated under his touch.

“I don’t mind it when you change the units,” she breathed as she kissed along his cheek to his ear.

“It makes me so hot when I see you working on those heavy machineries and when you balance equations in your head.”

She laughed breathlessly as his lips dragged across her throat, leaning her head back. “I’m sorry I wasn’t welcoming when you first arrived. I really do respect the work you do here.”

He licked her jaw and smiled against her cheek. “You were already forgiven. Besides, you’re making up for it plenty now. This is quite a welcome. Albeit late.”

They looked at each other softly for a long moment before leaning in again, unable to stay apart for long. As they explored one another, little did they know Dr. Wells was walking by.

He did a double-take when he saw what was happening through the lab window before he looked away and rolled his eyes.

“Fucking finally,” he grumbled as he walked away, leaving the love birds to their private moment.

#Westallen #cygnetofthesea writing #prompt request #WA AU #Westallen AU #thank you to the anon for the submission!#It was the perfect opportunity for me to finally write this little story that's been on my mind for two months now!

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theateared · 4 years

Text

Lyes were often misunderstood.

Though they looked like animals on the outside, they were undoubtedly sentient. Their intelligence was far higher than that of the average animal, and their ability to communicate their desires was second only to beings that were capable of speech. Though most understood that these creatures were dangerous-- walking contradictions: fluff and venom all in one-- they often underestimated just how clever they were.

That was why, when he encountered Edgar yowling in the middle of the road, Murr knew that something was terribly wrong.

“Hey… hey! Quit that damn racket!” He crouched, tired legs creaking like an old attic ladder. In such a disgruntled state, the huro knew better than to try and pet him. “What’s wrong with you?”

What the lye couldn’t say, he made up for with action. He rounded Murr swiftly, forcefully nudging his rear as if imploring him to stand up again. He obeyed, hissing at the crack of his knees. There was no time to focus on it as the lye suddenly darted down the street. The entity reminded Murr of a perfectly shot arrow, straight and swift, and though his feet ached and his arms stung from his labour that day, he took off running after him, a brief “Hey!” being the only audible thing to leave him before momentum swallowed his sounds whole.

He followed Edgar as if he was the animal, drunk on loyalty, rucksack with his half-full lunchbox in it clattering dully against his back with every timed footfall. He needs something but he can’t tell me what it is. I wish he could tell me. It’d make things so much quicker. His thoughts parted like clouds when he witnessed the lye completely clear his orchard’s fence, dark form little more than a streak of shadow as he landed effortlessly on the other side, continuing his furious pace into the trees. Dear Raku, Murr thought, vaulting over the obstacle similarly, it must be an emergency.

His pursuit came to a stop as he shadowed his companion up the hill to his house. Pausing to catch his breath, he watched as Edgar dashed towards the nearby shed, pawing at it a few times before turning his head and staring expectantly. His macabre gaze locked onto the huro in a way that made him shudder. Had he not befriended Edgar, he likely would’ve felt afraid.

“Alright… no need’a be so pushy,” Murr muttered, closing the distance between himself and the door. Hands patted lazily at himself as he tried to locate the set of keys he kept on him, eventually finding the appropriate one and sliding it into the thick padlock. It opened with a cinematic clang, door pushed open so that the lye could slink through the thin gap and disappear into the darkness. Murr allowed the door to swing all the way open, the dying light of the day spilling inside and illuminating the surroundings a little. He watched with some amount of curiosity as Edgar clambered over the wagon he used to transport fruit, leaping from pail to pail as if he weighed nothing, eventually settling in the far corner of the room. Even before Murr entered the shed, he knew what the other was after, expression quickly changing from intrigued to sour. “Did y’seriously make me RUN from work just so you could have some goddamn fruit?”

“Mrrrooow.”

Murr felt his frustration build, a haughty huff heaved through his nose before he turned his back and began the loathsome hobble to his front door. Growing up on the Murphy Orchard, he was more than used to hard work. That being said, shifts at the factory-- shifts that he couldn’t get out of due to being the person who funded the creation of the place, therefore making him legally responsible for it-- killed something inside of him. It was more than just exhaustion; it was a deep-seated discomfort that was gained only from doing something that one despised. Though he’d been raised to accept that work was part of the equation (“With excess wealth comes great responsibility, Li’l Murph. That’s just how it is. You’ve been blessed, so you need to pay your dues in any way you can.”), that job was nothing short of hellish to someone like him. He didn’t want to spend his days sandwiched between identical work benches, he wanted to stand on stage, hone his craft, make art-- but there were some things that just had to be done.

“Myyyuuueeerrr…”

Though he doubted it, the utterance sounded awfully like his nickname, causing him to turn around and look at Edgar. He was swatting at the fruit he’d left in one of the pails, eyes glowing white in an attempt to get the huro’s attention.

Murr let out a deep sigh, then trailed inside. “Whaaat…? C’mon, Eddie, I’m fuckin’ beat…”

As soon as he crouched low, the lye stood on his hind legs and tugged at the bag tucked neatly over Murr’s shoulder. It dropped to the ground, zip tugged at with his teeth until he managed to pull it open. The lunchbox was swiped out with his jagged tail, flung carelessly to the other side of the shed, before he dragged the empty bag towards the fruit, looking up at Murr once more. It didn’t take long for the huro to piece together what he wanted.

Feeling curiously compelled to follow through, Murr began to scoop fruit into the bag until it was full. When it was, he pulled the zip taut, watching as Edgar’s head bobbed briefly with approval before he got back up and began to walk from the shed.

Murr sighed, climbing back onto his feet, adjusting the bag properly over his shoulders. Resignation had already begun to settle like dust: his day was not over, despite how tired he was.

“Alright… where’re we goin’, then?”

Edgar was a solid guide. As soon as he began to barrel down the hill, guiding Murr through his acres of land with all the aptitude of the fabled North Star, Murr knew that they were headed for the No-Mans Land. The deep forest that nobody but him had ever dared to call home… it held some mystic charm that he couldn’t quite put into words. Perhaps it was the questions that surrounded it-- where do its paths lead? And why does everybody steer clear of them?-- or perhaps it was the fact that, once upon a time, he’d made the foreboding shadows his home. It hadn’t been easy to leave the cushy life behind, mainly because of his family-oriented values. He had realised pretty quickly that he’d lived sheltered and privileged despite how hard his parents had worked to teach him good, honest values, but it hadn’t been that difficult for him to adjust. He had been raised not to take his wealth for granted; therefore, when he abandoned his bank account in favour of living amongst nature, praying to Raku that it would create a blank slate for him, it hadn’t been that hard to accept that he was completely at the mercy of it - and that, if he had any hope of surviving, it would be through learning a new way of life. In some ways, that isolation had saved his life as much as it had destroyed it.

They tore through the woods together like a pair of seasoned bandits, Murr finding his pace as he went, and the descent into the shadowy undergrowth became a walk in the park. He felt like a veteran when it came to traversing uncharted territory. He had the best chance out of perhaps anybody in Huron of navigating this tumultuous space. There was so much of Huron that most citizens didn’t know about, so much that lurked in the shadows, so many species and paths that existed independently of rhyme or reason or knowledge, and he could rest easy knowing that he was one of the few people who knew how to handle it. At this point, there was not a single nook nor cranny in this place that he didn’t understand.

Edgar, deeply dissatisfied around water, barely thought about it before making the impressive eight foot leap across the landmark that Murr had dubbed Pebble Cove. It was a shallow stream, knee-height at most, but the pebbles that littered the clear water made it appear much deeper, almost endless. His way across was courtesy of two large, slippery stones some ways apart from one another. There had been countless times where he’d lost his footing and gotten himself drenched from head to toe, but now he was used to it, knew exactly where to land in order to push himself onto the next one, then the bank, without skidding over and ruining his clothes. Even with the bag full of fruit weighing him down, he crossed with the light-footed quality of an antelope, bouncing across as if completely unhindered.

Their surroundings changed from sunset golds to emerald greens, the foliage becoming denser and shading everything a mesmerising tint of jade. A cumbersome fog befell them as they snaked their way through thick thorns and hurdled over fallen logs, charging further into the faux-unknown like untethered warriors. As he passed, Murr swore he saw pieces of himself lodged into landmarks. The time he taught himself to fish in the Foggy Fissure; the time he was swarmed by a gaggle of gluttonous glowflies after dark; the time he’d slayed a derma plant and spared Edgar’s life in the process… all things that had shaped him and his existence out there. Where are we going now? Why are you leading me through all of these places?

He was relieved when Edgar began to slow down, mad dash reduced to a brisk stalk, long whiskers twisting and turning like antennae as he scanned his surroundings keenly. He stopped completely at the base of a large tree, sitting down and waiting for Murr to approach.

“So,” he started, slinging his bag from over his shoulders. Now that he’d stopped moving, he felt the strain of his muscles, an uncomfortable fire burning in his joints. He was pushing his luck. “What business have y’got here, huh?”

The cat-like creature yawned, scratching at the bark listlessly before returning to its stationary pose. Murr squinted, shuffling closer until he could crouch low. As he ran his finger along the wobbly surface, he took note of a curious crease-- almost as if the bark was missing a zipper that could be pulled back. It didn’t take long for him to realise that the markings were that of his friend’s, his powerful claws and dagger-like tail carving out an entrance. Holy shit… I knew Edgar was strong, but strong enough to hollow out a tree? That’s new to me.

Stubbornly, Murr wriggled his fingers into the indentation until he was able to dig his nails in, pulling hard, feeling the bark eventually give way like a drawbridge. He was immediately met with two poised tails, venom dripping onto the floor, and he barely had time to yelp before Edgar suddenly leapt in with all the grace of a kamikaze pilot. With a bigger lye in the picture, both were quick to withdraw, stumbling backwards while hissing quietly.

“Who are these guys…?” Murr asked. It was more a question for himself than for Edgar. He wasn’t so stupid to think that, just because he had one lye’s trust, he could suddenly blend with the rest of the specie. But then why was he even here?

“Myyyuuueeerrr.” Though Edgar sat motionless, tail curled calmly around his feet, Murr felt as if he was being beckoned inside. It was only with a shred of reluctance that he did so, body curling in on itself so that he could fit through the makeshift door. Once inside the hollow trunk, he was shocked to find that there was a lot more space than he first thought. Though he could by no means stand up, he could sit comfortably without dipping his head or bending his spine. The back of his head met the wall, eyes cast to what he supposed was the ‘ceiling’. A couple of feet above his head, an opaque cylinder of wood travelled upwards undisturbed. They must only have dug out what was necessary for them to live comfortably, he mused, distracted only by Edgar fervently nudging his hand. “Myyyuuueeerrr!”

For a few seconds, he was clueless,staring back at the lye with an empty head… until he remembered the fruit he’d brought with him.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, leaning forwards enough to shrug the bag from his back and open it. As soon as starfruit entered the picture, both of the distrustful lyes fell silent, black eyes wide like dinner plates, before a pair of forked tongues stuck out in an attempt to taste it. “Oh… here. Lemme take it outta the bag real quick.” He ignored the collaborative flinch, wholly prepared for them to act offensively, settling two pieces of fruit a short distance from their feet. They glared sharply at him for several seconds, shark-like teeth bared like an armada of tiny knives, before they both let go of their aggression long enough to slink forward and snatch the fruit, retreating into the shadows at the back of the hole. Slowly, he turned his head to look at Edgar instead. “I get it now… these little guys needed food. But what was stoppin’ you from huntin’ yourself?” There was a long pause, one filled with his friend examining his claws with evident disinterest. Murr’s face fell deadpan. “Oh. Nothin’. You just used me because it was easier. You fucker.” However, when Edgar’s pointed smile curved across his face, he couldn’t help but smile too. There was something admirable about the lye’s intelligence, even when he felt the brunt of playing the fool.

He sat there for what felt like years, huddled in this small alcove deep in the woods, feeling safe despite being caged with three highly venomous creatures. The more the two youngsters ate, the more docile they became. His presence was met with the same indifference that Edgar treated him with; a quiet respect, a vague version of mutual trust manifesting from the dark in very much the same manner that doubt did. It was a tangible feeling despite its elusive, unspoken nature. Whether or not they considered him a ‘friend, he knew that he was at the very least welcome for the meantime.

When moonlight cast its dim cyan light, Murr felt it was time to leave. However, when he went to stand up, he felt one of his legs refuse to move. A glance down showed precisely why. One of the lyes had dug its tail into the loose fabric of his pant leg, all but stapling it to the ground. Though he had no doubt that he could free himself if he pulled hard, it would most likely result in the startled creature attacking him.

“Uh… Eddie?” he whispered, watching three pairs of ears twitch in his direction despite the fact that two of them were asleep. “I can’t-- move-- oh…” He fell quiet as Edgar clambered into his lap, curling into a ball, long bat-like ears wrapped around his head as he prepared to sleep. He’s not going to let me leave, is he?

“Hah...” Murr sighed deeply, allowing his legs to poke out of the entrance in an attempt to get more comfortable. The moon’s luminescence made it look like he had a whole-body halo. If only he could be that holy. “... I guess it’s a sleepover then.”

#☆ — i never promised you your dream boy. ❜ ( main. )#☆ — i'm just here to destroy. ❜ ( ic. )#drabble *#/ I REALLY LIKE THIS DRABBLE BYE #i know this's gonna just fall into the void but like. i still really like it

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80soleff · 6 years

Text

je t’aime, eddie: two

summary: “pardon my french, eddie spaghetti, but you’re the cutest fucking person i have ever seen.”

word count: 1,804

a/n: guys, i’m really sorry about the wait, it’s finals week and i’m trying to finesse the shit out of my bad grades so i can pass!

1, 2, 3, 4

the minutes passed slowly in the empty denbrough house. the wooden floors remain quiet, waiting to be stepped on by it’s residents and the derry newcomer.

upstairs in bill’s room, a second twin-sized bed was pushed against the wall, near the windows. a red and white striped comforter was splayed across the mattress and next to the bed was a nightstand identical to bill’s. resting upon it was a blue alarm clock and a box of tissues.

the gravel crunched under the wheels of the car as they pulled in the driveway. eddie kaspbrak, in all his french glory, hopped out of the car and onto the ground, breathing in the american air.

“bill, help eddie with his things and make sure you give him the grand tour.” bill’s mom said, being extra sarcastic on that last part. his parents made their way over to the door to unlock it.

walking around to the back of the car, bill began to have his doubts about this whole foreign exchange thing. the car ride was awkward as ever and it didn’t occur to him how bad sharing a room might be until now.

with every bag he picked up, a shaking sound accompanied it. he seemed to have some sort of medicine in every piece of luggage he packed.

in an uncomfortable silence, bill and eddie walked up the creaky wooden stairs inside of the historical home. going into his, well, their room, he set his bags down on the bed. he heard a little beeping noise, a watch, coming from eddies direction.

the smaller boy quickly spilled the contents of his bag onto his bed. he took a weekly medicine container out and pulled a red pill from the compartment labeled wednesday. eddie gulped it down with no water, just like it was nothing. bill flopped down onto his bed and stared at him as he did it.

“so, w-what’s wrong with y-ou?” fuck. definitely not what he meant.

“um, excuse me?” eddie questioned, slight offense evident in his voice.

“i meant, l-like, the m-medicine. why do you h-have to take it, if y-you don’t mind m-me asking.” he didn’t mean for it to be an offensive question, he was genuinely curious. then again, it wasn’t even his business.

“right, sorry.” bill waited for him to speak again. “it’s for, uh, asthma.” he sensed a little bit of hesitation in eddies answer, but he let it slide. bill’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, eddie looking around his room like a lost puppy.