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theshipsfirstmate · 3 years

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Black Widow Fic: No Time Left to Start Again

Post-BW, between the end and the post-credits. Yelena Belova faces life after The Snap.

No Time Left to Start Again (AO3 - wc: 4983)

She looks down to see her hands disintegrating -- fingers floating away like the wispy tufts of the dandelions that grew in their front yard in Ohio -- and Yelena thinks, Is this a cool way to die?

The question is still on her mind when she comes to, even though she’ll find out later that five years have passed since she started wondering.

She puts the pieces together as fast as she can, even though each one only makes the picture more grim. She learns she was lucky to be in the Widows’ safe house in Istanbul when it happened, even if the rancid smell of the rotted fridge makes her gag and there’s a hole in the ceiling and straight through the floor from a bathtub left running.

She learns that the best estimates say it was half of the population that floated away with her that day, and has now returned just as abruptly. The world wasn't ready for them to go, and it is even less prepared for them to return. Cities are plunged into chaos in an instant, governments and aid organizations just starting to steady themselves after half a decade of desolation get the rug pulled out from them once again.

She learns that her phone still works, even if internet service is shit, thanks to dwindling maintenance and overloaded servers. She learns that the Avengers are fighting a war for the fate of the universe (again), somewhere in upstate New York. And she learns, quickly, where she needs to go next.

“Малышка.”

Melina greets her at the gate with an unexpected softness -- so different than the last time -- and Yelena wonders if the woman has simply spent the last five years alone with her pigs, if they've felt any different than the twenty before. Then, Alexi steps out the door behind her, and she realizes that they have.

“So, neither of you…” Yelena starts to ask as they let her in, though she doesn't really have to. She can see the years on them both, and for a moment, she's a child with a family once again.

My mother is going grey at her temples. My father's glasses are thicker than they used to be.

They both have deeper crinkles at the corners of their eyes and Yelena finds herself hoping that it’s laughter that’s left them there.

“For five years we've been on our own,” Alexi answers, but he can't help himself a little smirk before he continues, “and moss grows fat on a rolling stone.”

He doesn't smell so bad this time, when he wraps her in a bear hug. Mercifully, he's shaved and taken to civilian clothes -- she decides to keep to herself how much she dislikes his new handlebar mustache.

“You did?” Melina guesses, and Yelena nods her agreement into Alexi’s chest before he relents and lets her go.

When she turns back to face the question, she finds herself on the receiving end of a look that feels equal parts discerning and maternal. That too, she remembers from her childhood.

“Are you alright?”

“I seem to be,” Yelena answers, gesturing down to her hands, tangible once more. There won't be an answer that satisfies the woman scientifically, she’ll have to be proof enough. “I don't remember any of it.”

What she truly doesn't expect from Melina is a hug, and it's even more surprising when it’s fiercer and longer than Alexi’s. A beat too long, Yelena realizes slowly. Alexi turns away when she tries to meet his eye, and her stomach turns over with dread.

Something else has happened. Something she doesn't know yet. Something worse.

“The report came over my comms just an hour or so before you got here,” Melina says softly, an arm reaching up to stroke the back of Yelena’s head, just like she did when she was a toddler. “It's over. The Avengers have won.”

There's the sound of splintering wood and both women step back sharply, turning to see Alexi clutching a handful of splinters that used to be the back of a dining room chair. He drops them to the ground and strides back out the door, pointedly not looking at either of them, and Yelena tastes bile in the back of her mouth.

“What else?” She tries and fails to stop herself from asking the question. It comes out on a choked kind of half-breath.

“Tony Stark is dead.” Melina answers, dropping her eyes, an uncharacteristic waver in her voice. “And it's been... harder to confirm, but we are almost certain that Natasha is too.”

In the Red Room, after the treatments, there would be a buzzing in your ears for days, like static from an old radio. Widows in training were known to be disciplined after missing commands, and would do their best to shake it off as quickly as possible, but Yelena sometimes welcomed the fuzzy silences, the chance to try and focus inward, no matter how painful.

This is nothing like that.

This is a heartbreak in a cry, a desperate, wailing sound that builds and builds, cutting through the quiet isolation of the farm compound like a knife. It's only when it gets muffled by Melina wrapping her up in her arms once more, that Yelena realizes she's the one making it.

“Малышка,” her mother whispers again -- my baby -- and Yelena can’t tell if it’s meant for her or not.

They sit around the table again that night, but dinner consists only of vodka and memories and they all try -- and fail -- not to notice the empty chair closest to the windows, the one with the broken back.

“Oh, I hated that blue hair!” Melina admits with a watery chuckle, paging through the photo album when their second bottle is nearly gone. “But she was so good at getting what she wanted.”

“You know, I begged her to dye mine too,” Yelena shares, recalling a long-forgotten memory that means something completely different now. “She said no, that she wouldn't let me be spoiled.”

Alexi interrupts the reverie before she goes too deep, laughter overtaking him as he pokes at Melina’s arm. “I remember the night she did it. You came to bed and you were so fed up, you cried! She made you cry!”

“And I punched you for laughing at me, do you remember that too?” Melina fires back, swatting his hand away.

When she was old enough to realize what had happened to her as a child, Yelena remembers scouring her memories for real moments, signs of genuine affection between the family she hadn’t known enough to question. It was difficult then, to believe any of it had been real. But sometimes now, it's not so hard.

“The only reason I was glad we left when we did, was because I knew I could never have handled her as a teenager,” Melina muses then, but there's little humor left in her voice. Yelena wonders if her face darkens in the same way as her mother’s when they think of that day on the airstrip.

It's quiet for a long moment, but Alexi never stops looking at Melina. Yelena's head is heavy from liquor and tears and she rests it on folded arms as she watches them. (Sometimes, it's not so hard to believe.)

“You didn't want to go,” her father says, low and mournful. “I should have listened.”

“You followed the orders,” her mother answers. “What was the alternative? They would have killed us and taken the girls back if we had made even one misstep.”

None of them had a way out, Yelena thinks, they never had. A super soldier and a Widow, weapons both, with daughters destined to follow in their footsteps. Maybe that's still true. Maybe there is no peace when all you've ever known is war.

But they'd had each other.

“It was real,” she murmurs, as her eyes drift closed. “Natasha said it was real.”

-----

A public memorial for Tony Stark is held on the National Mall. Steve Rogers is consecrated at the Smithsonian, again. But no one seems to know quite what to do about Natasha Romanov. The Black Widow, the female Avenger, the Russian-born assassin, only claimed by America, it seemed, when they wanted to accuse her of treason.

Still, Yelena flies to Washington DC, half-curious and half-desperate to burn off the fog she’s been wandering around in since Melina’s suspicions had been confirmed.

Captain America, the new one, had announced the events on a world-wide broadcast -- making a point to mention Natasha by name, Yelena had noticed -- and so she heads to the museum first, though she's not entirely sure what she hopes to learn. The Avengers have saved the world several times over, but those conflicts are usually reduced to heroic platitudes when it comes to the public, and she expects this to be no different.

She's mostly right, but the exhibit is worth it for a few glimpses of Natasha fighting alongside the Captain, scattered throughout the pictures and video of the Avengers’ years together. That's how she finds herself in a darkened theater, watching a compilation of newsreel footage, broadcasts and shaky cell phone shots, the valiant timeline of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

She feels him sit down beside her, catches the glint of metal in the sleeve of his leather jacket before she can even clock his face. Her nerves are instinctively on edge, but if he came for combat, they’d already be in it, so she stays still and quiet, waiting to follow his lead.

“ты сестра?” he asks softly. You're the sister?

Yelena turns to face him, the question and answer on her lips. But the Winter Soldier speaks again before she does.

“She showed me the pictures once. From when you were kids.”

Yelena couldn't count them if she tried, the nights she spent in the Red Room, rubbing a finger along the torn seam of her photo strip, willing the thought that Natasha was out there somewhere, holding the other half, to be enough to comfort her enough to sleep.

She turns away before he can see the tears in her eyes, but it’s no use -- they’re there in her throat when she speaks.

“They didn't even know her.” She nods back to the crowded museum and hopes he can grasp her meaning. There’s no way Natasha can be properly memorialized by government officials, who knew her as little more than a recon file, or the adoring public, who only thought of her when the world was ending.

“She liked it that way.” He means it as a comfort, but still, it makes Yelena flinch.

He notices, and she knows he understands when he tries again. “They were never gonna do her justice.”

The world never would, never could, Yelena thinks. A spy. A sister. A survivor. A lost girl, who fought her whole life for the kind of peace she’d never allow herself. These are not the people who get parades in their honor, holidays in their name.

“I will,” she says, and the stubborn tears win their battle, spilling down her cheeks. “I will do her justice.”

The Winter Soldier nods, with as much of a smile as he seems to allow himself. “I hope you will.”

Then he's gone, back the way he came, and Yelena thinks it's time to leave this city, with its buttoned-up bureaucracy and privatized secrets.

She doesn't care much about the Stark memorial, but skirts around the periphery on her way back to the airfield, catching a glimpse of the enormous photos and expensive-looking displays.

Natasha’s in these too, off to the side or just out of focus. It's starting to wear on her, the way these people seem to barely even notice the Black Widow, how quick they are to disregard one of their greatest heroes because she didn't fly or transform or wield some mystical weapon.

Shouldn’t that have made her even more impressive?

She's standing in front of a tribute to the Battle of New York just beside the bridge, weighing that unanswerable question, hands clenched unconsciously to fists, when Valentina finds her.

“I've been looking for you.” It sounds more like a taunt. I found you.

Yelena scoffs. “Probably a bad idea, if you know anything about me.”

“Oh, babe, believe me. I know plenty,” the woman answers, offering up that ridiculous name, a business card and a tone that's too familiar for Yelena's liking.

She's not to be trusted. That would be clear even to the Red Room’s youngest and most naive recruit. But it's this gleeful performance of espionage, or maybe villainy, that keeps Yelena from writing her off entirely. From the outfit to the attitude, she's either insane or untouchable. Or both.

And then: “So I have some… let's call it interesting information about your sister.”

Yelena clenches her fists tighter, digging her fingernails into her palm. “I don't believe you.”

Valentina seems to anticipate this, and is already reaching into her bag at the answer. She pulls out a thin, soft-bound book, printed with colorful block lettering: Parkside Elementary School, ‘95-’96.

Instantly, Yelena feels like someone's tightening a vice around her ribcage. “No.”

The woman shrugs, with that haughty grin she's already starting to loathe. “See for yourself.”

She flips it open, turning only a few pages to find the first grade classes, and there she is. Six years old. An innocent smile on her face and a fake last name beneath her picture. Orange juice spots on the collar of her shirt -- Melina had scolded her when they brought the photos home.

“How did you get this?” Even if it's a fake, it was done by someone who knows far too much.

“Well, you don't trust me, so I won't bother telling you,” Valentina snaps, taking the book back before she can look for Natasha. “Let’s call it proof that I know a lot of people who have been keeping a lot of secrets.”

Yelena tries to look unimpressed, dropping her shaking hands to her sides when she realizes they're giving her away. “You and me both.”

“Ha! No kidding,” Valentina replies. It's not actually a laugh. “That's exactly why we're gonna work so well together.”

Maybe it's the grief clouding her judgement or residual conditioning left over in her frontal lobe. Maybe it's the unspoken threat to the rest of her family. Or maybe she was just born for this -- a soldier like her father, an assassin like her mother. Whatever it is, Yelena can feel herself agreeing to Valentina’s “offer” before she's even made it explicit.

“We'll start you out small,” the woman assures, but she knows better than to be comforted. “How do you feel about some light arson? There’s some documents and hard drives at a warehouse in Bethesda that need disappearing.”

“Fine,” Yelena answers, ears already buzzing, as a small voice in her head sings along. Fire is the devil's only friend.

-----

When the money from her first job comes in, she buys an old Chevy C/K and drives to Akron, with a useless hope to disappear again. She's lucky enough to find a modest apartment with a kind neighbor who's always happy to dogsit, which becomes a blessing -- Valentina’s demands only increase as the corners of her fake smile tighten.

But it's enough. Enough that when Yelena thinks about home, she can once again think of Ohio.

Not long after, Alexi and Melina keep a promise she’d asked them to make, and return for a few days. She picks them up at the airfield, and drives to the spot she and Fanny found on one of their long walks together -- under the trees that are just starting to blossom with pink flowers.

Alexi lifts the heavy gravestone from the back of the truck and places it at the end of a row, under a tree, where the ground can't be dug up anyway.

“Toughest girls in the world,” Yelena hears him murmur as he runs his hand over the inscription.

Melina hasn't spoken much since they landed. Yelena thought at first that she didn't want to come back, but when she closes her eyes and takes in a deep, shuddering breath as they stand facing the grave marker, she understands that it isn't that at all.

“Big girl,” her mother begins with an uncharacteristic, watery softness, and Yelena is transported back to another lifetime once again. “I’m so sorry...”

There might be more to say, but the long, mournful silence is broken by the sound of another car pulling up. All three of them go on alert, until Yelena spots a familiar flash of metal from the driver's side.

“не волнуйся,” she says, still stepping defensively in front of her mother. “It’s OK.”

The Winter Soldier -- Sergeant Barnes, she reminds herself -- parks and exits quickly, moving to the rear of the car to help an elderly man step out and straighten himself.

He isn't what Yelena expected, but once he's at full posture, it's impossible not to recognize him. He's the man from the news, the internet, all the posters — give or take a few decades.

“Captain America.” Under normal circumstances, she might chuckle at Alexi’s awed whisper.

“Forgive us for interrupting,” the Captain says by way of a greeting. He sounds like him, too, so it must be true. “And, in advance, for not explaining. I just… I thought both of her families should be here.”

“If that's OK,” Barnes adds with a look, first at Captain Rogers, then back at the family.

Yelena nods her acceptance, but feels her heart sink a little when Melina turns back silently to face the gravestone. Only Alexi steps forward, extending his arm, first to the captain, then to his comrade.

“Alexi Shostakov,” he offers. “You probably don’t…”

“The Red Guardian,” Captain Rogers interrupts, and Yelena tries not to let her eyes go wide as they shake hands proudly. “The Soviet super soldier. Of course I know who you are.”

Alexi puffs his chest up for just a moment, and gives himself a pleased nod, before returning to Melina’s side. It's proof of his grief, Yelena thinks, that that's the end of it.

Then it's her turn. “You must be Yelena.”

“Captain.” She nods once and then twice, looking past him. “Sergeant.”

“Buck mentioned you two had run into each other in Washington,” the older man says with a well-worn, knowing smile.

“I would say we're glad to have you,” she offers as a reply, “but now I'm mostly worried that I'm not covering my tracks as well as I should.”

“Don't worry about that,” Captain Rogers replies, with a shake of his head. “I had to call in multiple favors to find you. Big ones, too.”

“Well then,” she sighs, “I guess I should say I'm sorry you went through all that trouble.”

Another small smile, and then the captain steps closer, lowering his voice almost conspiratorially. It strikes her that, while he's likely still one of the most powerful men in the universe, there's nothing about him that feels threatening to her.

“I don't know if you've noticed,” he tells her, “but I'm getting up there in years. Why don't you save us both a lot of time from now on, and only bother saying what you mean.”

He means it as a kindness, Yelena can tell, but there's only one question she wants to ask, and it's screaming in her mind like a klaxon horn.

“Will you...” she begins, stopping to swallow when her throat turns to sandpaper. “Will you tell us what happened?”

“Yelena,” Melina says sharply, and she almost takes it back. But she knows the curiosity will eat her from the inside out if she doesn't take the chance now, when it's literally right in front of her.

“No, I want to know,” she tells her mother before turning back and steeling herself once again. “I want the truth.”

Captain Rogers purses his lips and tilts his head, like he's seeing something different in her now.

“You really are her sister, aren't you?” he muses.

She scoffs, almost reflexively. “There's no family resemblance, if that's what you mean.”

“Isn't there?” She hears Alexi chuckle softly behind her and makes a mental note to elbow him in the ribs later. One super soldier at a time.

“Please,” she asks again, and the twinkle leaves Captain Rogers' eye as he nods solemnly.

“Natasha sacrificed herself to retrieve the last of the Infinity Stones.” Yelena only understands part of that sentence, and she's not sure if it's the important part.

“The stones were the key to bringing everyone back, to defeating Thanos once and for all,” he explains. “We made a plan, as a team. We each had our assignments, but we didn't know the cost.”

The cost, it's evident now, had been Natasha, and it grates again at Yelena that all the other Avengers had returned from this mission for their final battle, while her sister’s sacrifice had merely been part of the unknowable set up.

But Captain Rogers continues, and she finds consolation in the fact that at least he doesn't take Natasha's death lightly, not in the slightest.

“I went back, after,” he reveals, sounding close to tears. “I tried-- I tried like hell to get her back. I never should have let her go.”

“You wouldn't have been able to stop her.” Melina’s voice comes out of nowhere; even she seems surprised to have spoken. But they all nod at the truth.

“Clint said he-- she wouldn't let him go in her place,” Rogers adds. He’s turning something over in his hands, but when Yelena looks closer, it seems to be just a simple pack of bubble gum. “She was just too…”

His eyes, cast towards the sky, return to their group, and he speaks first to Alexi, and then to Melina. Yelena reaches out for her mother's hand, and it's taken with a fierce squeeze.

“I'm not sure I ever really understood her until now,” the Captain says. “I thought her strength, her heart, who she was, was in spite of what she'd been through. But I know now, it was because of it.”

Yelena’s eyes have blurred with tears, but she can see him turn to her next. “We fought that war for her,” he adds. “And I think she fought it for you.”

It's the eulogy Natasha deserves, the one none of them could have hoped to give, and it feels both fitting and unfathomable that it comes from Captain America, of all people.

They sit in it for a moment, each thinking of Natasha in their own way, until the silence is broken by two people speaking in unison -- perhaps the two that understood her best.

“She would have hated this,” Yelena mumbles, only realizing after a moment that Barnes had said the same thing.

A reserved chuckle rumbles through the five of them, and then a deep, forgiving breath. It’s time to go.

But Yelena drops Melina’s hand as the rest of them turn back for the road, suddenly unable to move. She can’t pull her eyes away from the grave, stuck staring at a legacy that makes her feel six years old again, a metaphorical pair of shoes she'll never be able to fill.

When she doesn't hear either car start, she expects maybe Captain Rogers or Alexi, but surprisingly, it's Barnes who returns to her side.

“I haven't… I didn't make a speech or anything,” she admits, gesturing at the stone with her sister’s name and titles, and willing him, once again, to understand the feelings she can’t put into words. “I don't know what to say to her.”

He's quiet for a moment, and when he speaks it's lower than she’s expecting, like he’s drawing the words from somewhere deep. “Nat never shared much with us,” he tells her. “I understood that. It's hard to talk about memories you don't think you deserve to miss.”

Yelena knows she’s felt that too, that kind of arrested nostalgia. And she’s seen it in the Widows she recovered before the snap. It's not a surprise that the Winter Soldier could understand it as well -- what it’s like to be freed from a prison in your own mind, but constantly aware of how easily that door could slam closed on you once again.

“She wouldn't care what you say here,” he continues. “She would care what you do out there.”

Suddenly, Yelena wonders if his heightened senses include a bullshit detector, if he can somehow see the marionette strings Valentina has looped around her conscience.

“I might have lied to you when we met,” she admits, telling him as much of the truth as she can muster. “I'm not sure I know how to do her justice.”

“I think you do,” he answers. “Even if it’s hard. Even if it takes a while.”

She turns to face him, and he’s staring at the gravestone like he can see something more than the paltry words they had paid someone to carve in Natasha’s memory.

“Nat was haunted by the red in her ledger, but she also thought it was what made her a good Avenger. She thought it made her fearless, unbreakable.” Yelena looks down and watches the metal of Barnes’ bionic hand curl into a fist, and then release. “But I'll take a wild guess that she was fearless before that, wasn't she?”

Through the years of mind control and conditioning, Yelena has never forgotten the feeling of Natasha’s arm wrapped around her back on that airstrip in Cuba, screaming and threatening men twice her size to try and keep them both safe.

“You may not know what to do now. You might feel like the things you've done, or the things you want to do, have set your future in stone,” Barnes continues, cutting through the haze of her memories.

“But there's gonna be a moment, maybe in the future, maybe soon, when you're faced with a choice. And in that moment, if you choose to be the person she thought you could be, that'll do her justice.”

Yelena looks up and Barnes’ eyes are there to meet now. Whatever he knows, it’s enough.

“Thank you for coming,” she tells him. “Truly. And thank you for bringing the Captain.”

“Couldn't keep him away,” the man admits, with his little half-smile. “The two of them...I think that was as close as they let themselves get to anybody. I know he’ll always blame himself, but I hope this helped.”

Yelena nods her goodbye, thinking idly, mournfully, about the way Natasha never gave any thought to her future -- wondering if that’s something she and her teammates had shared. But as Barnes returns to his car, the back window rolls down and Captain Rogers flags her down with something dark and folded in his hand.

“I found this with her things on the quinjet,” he says as she approaches the window, and her throat is tightening with new tears before he can finish, before she can even reach out to touch the familiar fabric. “Thought maybe you might want it. It’s pretty nice, it’s got a lot of pockets.”

-----

When she returns Melina and Alexi to the airfield a few days later, it's the most Yelena has felt like a real person in a long time, maybe the whole of her adult life.

“You’ll come to visit, yes?” Alexi asks, but his raised eyebrow tells her it's more of an order than a request.

“I will.”

“Come for Christmas!” he booms as he climbs out of the truck. “I will tell Santa Claus where to find you.”

Melina doesn't follow him out the passenger door right away, turning back to face her and looking for all the world like a typical worrisome mother.

“Yelena…”

“мама, I'll be fine,” she promises, trying not to hear how hollow it sounds.

“I know you will. But please, watch out for yourself.” Yelena’s stomach knots at the memory of Melina telling Natasha the very same. That was the last time they were all together, she recalls. It always will be.

“And if you need us,” Melina adds, “just come home, where it’s safe. OK?”

It's something about the way she says it that steals Yelena's planned reply from her lips. She doesn't want to lie, not now.

So she ducks forward, pressing her head against her mother’s and willing them both a little bit of peace.

“You are the best of us. Strong like your father, smart like your mama,” Melina whispers. “And like Natasha, through everything, you’ve kept your heart.”

Yelena pulls back then, swiping at her eyes, unable to stop herself from asking. “You don’t think that’s a weakness?”

“Maybe, at one time,” Melina admits. “But now, I think it’s lucky. Because now, you have a place to carry her.”

She can do that, at least, Yelena promises herself, reaching down to tug instinctively at the hem of her vest. Natasha died for them, and so she can live for her. She can do her justice.

“Stay safe, Малышка,” Melina says again, kissing her on the cheek before climbing out and following Alexi towards the runway. They two of them turn back to wave before boarding their jet, and Yelena’s heart knocks in her chest to remind her. That’s my family.

She puts the truck in gear and is pulling out to the main road, brushing away a few stray tears, when she notices it. A cassette, half-ejected from her ancient tape deck, with a Post-it stuck to the end.

She peels off the note and grins at the mismatched handwriting -- “Love, Mom. And Dad,” both in Cyrillic -- before pressing the tape in and starting to sing along.

“A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile…”

#first mate fic #black widow fic #yelena belova #yelena belova fic #black widow spoilers #black widow #natasha romanoff #romanogers (if you squint)#post-bw

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starlightsearches · 4 years

Note

Can I request a fluffy Kylo X OC where they’re chasing their little toddler around Star Killer base? Pleaseeeee? 💕💕😘

Not Going Anywhere

Here’s my first request! I hope you guys like it; feel free to send in more 😌

Pairing: Kylo Ren X Female Reader

Warnings: This is probably a little more angst than you wanted, sorry about that 😬 But the ending is nice and fluffy!

“What do you mean you lost him?” You yell, and Ren puts a hand over your mouth, hoping no one outside of the supply closet heard you shouting. It’s cramped and too warm—only worsening Ren’s anxiety—which had built itself to a crescendo in the time it had taken to find you on the bridge and then convince you to leave your post. You brush his hand away, aggravated.

“I told you, he ran out the door. I couldn’t grab him fast enough.” Ren whispers, pained, “please help me.” Your mouth flattens into a line of frustration, contemplating the potential benefits and pitfalls of making him do it himself, and then you roll your eyes, sighing with exasperation.

“Fine, let’s go,” you shove him unceremoniously from the closet and back into the hallway, and two officers outside the door startle at his sudden appearance. For a moment they look like they might laugh, until they see your face, and instead they avert their eyes, suddenly absorbed with the screens of their data pads.

“Which way did he go?” You whisper to him, and Ren starts off down the hallway in what he thinks is the right direction. Others are watching as you make your way down the corridor, curious whispers following behind.

People know, of course, about the two of you. That had been unavoidable. You had done your best to stay professional in the public eye after your relationship began, but nobody on the whole damn crew was capable of keeping their mouth shut, especially after your nine-month “special assignment” off-base. Still, privacy was necessary to the survival of your relationship, and for any sense of normalcy when working. Most crew members never even saw you in the same room, let alone exiting a closet together.

“I’m sorry,” Ren whispers, again. He can see your anger in your posture, the way you stomp down the hall, listening intently for any sign of your son.

“Don’t you think-”

“No,” he cuts you off before you can finish. This is a conversation you’ve had before, and not one he’s interested in having again.

“I’m just saying,” you begin, “I could take him somewhere—somewhere safe—where he could grow up. Have a childhood. And then, later, when this is over …”

“You can’t leave.”

“Being on this base is not good for him, Ren.”

“Neither is growing up without a father.” He’s growling, anger bleeding through his words. You bite your lip and don’t respond. These talks never go well; Ren always ends up frustrated, and it’s worse this time because now he knows that you’re right. Maybe his son would be better off far away from him. Safer.

He’s still worried as the two of you walk: there are plenty of dangerous places a child could find themselves on the base. The armory, the hangar … the trash compactor. He forces himself to move faster, overtaking you quickly with his long stride. You feel it too, the panic, and grip his wrist in your fingers, a strange and unfamiliar show of affection for such a public space.

“Can you sense him?” You ask, running your thumb over the edge of his sleeve, finding your way to the skin beneath, but the panic won’t subside. He shakes his head, feeling helpless, and you pull him into an alcove.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” you whisper, bringing your hand to his face and rubbing the pad of your thumb over his cheek, “but we do need to find him. Can you?” Ren nods into your palm, calmed by your touch, and focuses outward, looking for his son. He’s easy to find once Ren has found focus: a small spark of joy amid the harshness and conflict of the base. Ren takes your hand in his, and pulls you in the right direction, the worry ebbing now that he has a clear destination. He pulls you to a stop in front of a door and punches in his access code, not waiting for it to open all the way before you both rush in.

Two sets of eyes stare back at you, their shock echoing their own, the silence in the room broken apart by pealing laughter. This is a Storm Trooper barrack, you realize immediately, the eyes belonging to a group of Troopers, KH-1317 and TZ-4390, in uniform but without their helmets. They look sheepish and avoid your gaze.

“Jaren!” You break from Ren, running to your son, pulling him out of the arms of the nearest Trooper. He giggles again, oblivious to the tension in the room, and you hold him close.

“Where did you find him?” You ask, and both Troopers relax infinitesimally, seeing that they are not in trouble.

“We were doing our rounds and he came around the corner,” KH-1317 says, gesturing to her partner, who nods, “we didn’t know he was your kid.” There’s a pause, awkward, uncomfortable, as no one seems to know what to say next. You pull your son tighter in your arms, and he rests his head on your shoulder, tired from his exciting afternoon.

“Thank you,” you say, hesitantly, “for watching him.” This is a break from the normal order of things, a strangely human moment for all of you, and Ren’s not entirely comfortable with the scene unfolding before him.

“It was no problem,” the other responds. She waves uncertainly to Jaren, who waves back tiredly, fighting to keep his eyelids open. You tug on Ren’s hand, surreptitiously, pulling him towards the door, and the two of you leave a bit embarrassed, but grateful.

The walk back to your quarters is better, almost peaceful, as Jaren dozes on your shoulder. Ren is feeling strange, the fear of losing his son gone now, leaving something soft and sentimental in its place. Gingerly, he places a hand on the curve of your spine, the connection so gentle you may not have noticed it, if you hadn’t outside of your quarters.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” you whisper, looking up at him with worry in your eyes. You’re drawing attention again, holding your child in your arms, and Ren knows that he’s only making it worse, but he needs to feel close to you right now. He solidifies the contact, pressing his hand more firmly into your back, and glares at the watching crew members who in turn avert their gaze.

You enter your chambers together, the room dark, and a little messy: clothes on the floor, and a few toys scattered around. You set Jaren in his crib and pull the blanket over him. He’s already asleep, soft pink lips pursed into a perfect O, his dark, unruly hair brushing his eyebrows. Ren sees too much of himself in him. He sits on the bed and swallows hard, unable to look at you, now that you’re alone. Afraid of what you’re about to say.

He feels the indent of the mattress as you climb up behind him, running your hands through his hair with soft, even strokes. He sinks into you, instinctively, amazed that you still have the power to undo him with such a simple touch.

“I’m sorry.” Your chest vibrates against his back as you speak, and tears prick his eyes without warning. Ashamed, he turns away from you, pressing the heels of his hands into the sockets, hoping to keep the grief from spilling out. You move to him again, pulled in by his gravity, grabbing onto his wrists and uncovering his eyes. Your expression is delicate, and you run your hands over the tears on his cheeks, clearing them away. He melts against your touch, the skin of your lips ghosting over his forehead, down his temple, and then placing a soft kiss on his nose. He smiles, involuntarily.

“I don’t want to leave,” you say quietly, mouth resting against his ear now, “and I’m sorry I suggested it.”

“I don’t want you to go,” he wraps his arms around you, holds you to him, laying back on the mattress beneath you. You fall together, your head resting in the crook of his neck, breathing in time. Your fingers trace lazy shapes on his chest, and his breath hitches in response.

“I lost him,” he says, and he’s crying again, the tears running down his face and into his hair, “he could have gotten hurt, and it would have been my fault.”

“Things like that happen, Ren. You can’t blame yourself.” You sit up and look him in the eyes, deadly serious. “You’re a good father. He needs you.”

“I don’t want you to go,” he’s repeating himself, but he’s desperate. He can’t do this without you.

“We aren’t going anywhere.” You fold into each other, and he feels it. You mean it when you say you’ll stay.

#requests #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren x you #kylo ren fanfic #star wars fanfic #my writing

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theloverofdragons · 3 years

Text

Return to Ravenloss

It’s ironic, the Hero thought to themselves, that while the towns on the surface seemed darker, the one below the ground was bursting with colour.

Where before they had been frozen, Ravenloss had been abandoned aside from the half-spider Chaosweavers, it was now teaming with life from all across Greenguard; humans, elves, minotaurs, even a few Atelans. The lights on the streets and from the now occupied and decorated houses and shops reflected off the underground flora, and the stalls in the market sold all kinds of items, from food to clothing to weapons; a far cry from the last time they had visited.

However, despite Ravenloss’ newfound colour and beauty, there was a sense of fear in the air that became clearer as the Hero approached the Equilibrium Gate and saw the strange purple magic of the Void leaking through, turning the path leading up to it almost incorporeal and corrupting and moving the houses, bushes and rocks around it.

Sa’vaya said that Tomix was in Pellow Village so that would be their first stop, they decided, nodding to Dorian as he warned them to be careful. It had been far too long since they had seen him, not since before they had to go to Willowshire to deal with Gorgok before the whole Earth Orb saga (and oh so much had happened since then; the Ultimate Orb and the Super Mega Ultra Darkness Dracolich, the Wrath of Wargoth and then being frozen by Jaania for five years and emerging into a world that was familiar and yet so different…).

The Hero had missed him, and the two of them had much catching up to do (hopefully his hunt for Lust had gone well); after all, he was the first person outside of Oaklore and Falconreach that they were visiting since they had thawed.

Despite the growing corruption of Ravenloss, Pellow Village looked much the same as they remembered as they emerged from the Equilibrium Gate with the market to their left, the grove to their right and the statue of Pandora in front of them. Speaking of Pandora, they hadn’t had a chance to reunite with her yet – aside from feeling an intense surge of joy when they thawed – as she evidently wanted them to get their bearings first (after all, it wouldn’t do for them to be disorientated from newly thawing and run the risk of making it worse if Pandora materialised), but hopefully they could have their reunion soon.

Very soon, it turned out, as once they had entered the grove where the Glow Tree was, a familiar flash of light emanated from the cube by their side.

The Hero turned with a smile. “Hi Pandora.”

Their SoulAlly returned the smile. “I missed you, Hero. How are you?”

“I missed you too,” the Hero replied softly. “I’m…okay. As okay as I can be, I think. But you know me, Pandora; I keep going no matter what! How are you? Were you okay while I was frozen? I know my dragon had Serenity and others in Falconreach to look after them.”

Pandora gave a tinkling laugh. “I know you do, Hero. I look forward to being able to weave by your side once more. It was hard, but I had Aegis and Tomix visit to keep me company.”

“I’m glad you had them,” the Hero’s smile widened. “And me too; I can’t wait to weave with you again. Maybe Tomix will have some new tricks to teach us.”

“It’s possible,” Pandora agreed before a block of ice materialised and shrunk away, revealing a familiar light blue spirit.

“Pandora? What are you doing in Pellow-oh,” a smile slowly spread over Aegis’ face when he noticed the Hero. “That makes sense. Hello, Hero. It is good to see you again.”

“Hey Aegis,” the Hero waved before cocking their head to one side. “Good to see you too. You look…different from what I remember.”

“Ah yes,” Aegis looked down at his shield. “While you were frozen, on Pandora’s request, I attempted to melt the ice crystal but the magic was too powerful. I am attuned with the element of Ice so the magic was able to change my appearance.”

“I see,” the Hero nodded. “Well thanks for trying, Aegis.”

“You are most welcome,” Aegis grinned. “By the way, Tomix is just to the right of the grove, at the edge of Pellow Village.”

“Thanks, Aegis!” the Hero grinned back. “Hopefully we’ll be able to have a proper catch up later, and with you Pandora back home where we don’t have to worry about something exploding.”

“I look forward to it,” Aegis laughed as Pandora – who had been gazing at the Hero with a look of maternal affection – smiled and vanished back into the cube, before disappearing himself in another flash of ice.

The Hero glanced down at the floor, their cheeks beginning to hurt from smiling so much; after so long frozen, it was good to see some close friends again. And now to see one who they regarded as one of the closest of them all. They rounded the corner to the edge of Pellow Village where a wooden structure that looked like the beginning of a ship was moored, with a familiar white haired figure standing in front of it.

“Tomix!”

The Soulweaver turned and his eyes lit up. “Hero? So it is true, you are alive and well! These past few years have been really tough for all of us. I believe we have a lot catching up to do.”

“We absolutely do,” the Hero grinned, darting over and enveloping Tomix in a hug before he could protest. “How are you? What’s happening with Ravenloss?”

Tomix made a show of dusting himself off once the Hero had released him before returning the grin. “It seems the Equilibrium Gate cannot be closed, and the Void is bleeding through it. Unfortunately, I can't find a way to stop it. The area around the gate is off-limits, for the safety of people living in the city.”

“I see,” the Hero nodded. “What about Riadne and Izaac? Are they still here?”

“They are,” Tomix lifted his hand to point back towards the Equilibrium Gate. “Riadne is currently helping in the Ravenloss Orphanage. She will be joining me, once this ship is ready. When the Chaosweavers were driven out of Ravenloss, she turned her attention to help rebuild it. As for Izaac, he has been studying Pellow Village... for all these years apparently. Do me a favour and don't raise your voice while talking with him. He's gone a little cuckoo. It seems the void has a strong influence on the weak-minded. You should be careful.”

The Hero blinked. “Hey! You were never joking before! What happened?”

Tomix smirked. “You are only young once, but you can be immature forever.”

“I…think I’ve read that somewhere before,” the Hero mused, stroking their chin.

“Quite possibly,” Tomix nodded sagely.

“So I never got the chance to ask after we banished Greed, but what exactly happened to your hands? Are they alright?”

“Ah, yes...” Tomix gave a wry grin. “You see, SpiritLooms are not supposed to break. The ones I had were already damaged because of what was sealed within them. The weaving accident I had as a kid must have damaged them even more. They... they also fused with my arms... I couldn't replace them neither repair them. Once they broke, it felt...it...let's just say it wasn't a pleasant feeling... Eh, cutting to the chase, I lost my hands. My physical, material hands. What you are seeing here, is my soul. I shaped a part of it to look like hands. I can't touch nor grab anything physical. I still can fight though, so don't think I'm useless...”

“You’re definitely not useless, Tomix,” the Hero declared. “It’s always an honour to fight by your side, and you’re an amazing teacher as well! What about your hunt for the corrupted spirits? Did you banish Lust?”

Tomix’s grin faltered and he sighed shakily. “Before banishing Lust, she revealed to me, that Aspar is Envy. I did not believe it at first, why would I? Aspar was my best friend... He vanished a few months after I banished Lust. I thought he'd come back, like he did before when we were hunting Wrath. But he hasn't. I'm still feeling the bond, but it's become corrupted. I'm trying really hard not to believe that Aspar is Envy, but all the evidence is telling... I have really good memories of our journeys, and I hate to think he's been Envy this whole time. Fooling me. Using me... Using me for his own plans...or something. I don't know. But I do know where he is now. He's heading into the Ynnungaap. I'm not really sure why though. To get there, I need a ship, a flying ship. A ship strong enough to reach Ynnungaap. I need all the help I can get, you are welcome to join me Hero, if you wish. You are one of those who I can still consider a friend...”

“Oh…” the Hero covered their mouth with their hand. “Oh Tomix, I’m so sorry. Of course I’ll come with you to stop him. What’s the Ynnungaap?”

“Thank you, Hero,” Tomix replied. “Ynnungaap is a location beyond the void, also known as Deep Void. It is where the void core is located. I'm guessing this might be Asp-I'm sorry, Envy's point of destination. But why? What could he accomplish with the void core? I thought I knew him well...”

“We’ll find out what he’s planning, Tomix,” the Hero vowed. “And we’ll stop him! What about your SoulWeaving though?”

“I had to form a bond with a different elemental spirit, I couldn't weave without Aspar by my side. I visited the plane of elemental spirits and came across a familiar figure; Aegis. We travelled to visit Pandora, and discussed my quest as we did so, and so became SoulAllies.”

“Oh wow!” the Hero jabbed their finger behind them in the direction of the grove. “We just saw Aegis. That explains why he’s in Pellow Village if he’s your SoulAlly! I’m so happy for you two. So where do we start on our mission to stop Envy?”

“Straight back into it, huh Hero?” Tomix laughed. “Well we need people to help us build the ship. I think the first step would be visiting Edelia, the school of Soulweaving. The Headmaster can give us supplies and people for the ship. On our way there, you can show me some Soulweaving so I know you’re not too rusty! And who knows, maybe I’ll have time to teach you some advanced techniques and can call you ‘Master Soulweaver’ soon.”

“Looking forward to it, Tomix! Let’s get going!” the Hero grinned, turning and running back towards the Equilibrium Gate.

Tomix watched them go, shaking his head fondly before following at a more leisurely pace. No matter how much things had changed, they were still raring to go on an adventure. And he had to admit, he was looking forward to showing them Edelia…

The Soulweaver stopped suddenly, his eyes widening with realisation. Hopefully while they were meeting the headmaster, the topic of which elemental spirit the Hero was bonded to wouldn’t come up. Headmaster Zellaraneish and the Hero. Baltael and Pandora.

An impromptu family reunion may not go too well.

****

Disclaimer: DragonFable is owned by Artix Entertainment. Dialogue taken from talking to Tomix in Book Three Falconreach before Ravenloss was open, and then in Pellow Village.

Also on FFN and AO3

#dragonfable #reverse soulallies au #the hero #pandora #aegis #tomix #my writing

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oliviastan17 · 4 years

Text

Stuck (3/?) Vegas Part 1

Length: 2.5k

Warnings: Language, drinking, gambling, fluff, smut

A/n: Seb in this shirt inspired this smut. GIF not mine. DO NOT POST TO ANY OTHER WEBSITE. Reblog please! There will be a Vegas Part 2!

Liv was exhausted but her mind was keeping her from falling asleep. She just worked 4 12’s in a row and she should have been able to fall asleep quickly. She had been tossing and turning in bed for about an hour when she heard Sebastian unlocking her front door.

With her apartment dark he quietly walked in, put his bag down, and shoes off.

“I’m awake,” she said quietly.

“Sorry. Dinner ran late,” he said taking his clothes until he was only in his underwear. He lifted the blankets up and lay down on his side of the bed. They had been together for 3 months and hadn’t spent a night apart so sides of the bed had been determined a long time ago.

“Sorry I didn’t want to go,” she said scooting over to be closer to him.

“You’re tired, I get it,” he said lifting his arm up so she could snuggle up in the nook of his neck where she fit perfectly. He brought his hand up to cup her face and leaned his head down to kiss her.

“I can’t fall asleep. My mind is racing,” she said after taking a deep breath.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Do you have any regrets?”

“Where did that come from?”

“I’ve had this patient for 2 weeks and his response every time I ask him how he is doing is ‘I’ve got no regrets so I can’t complain.’ I’ve been thinking about regrets a lot today.”

“Do you have any?”

“Yeah, I think if I could go back and change anything I would have handled things with my dad better.”

Liv had a complicated relationship with her dad. He wasn’t the kind of dad to say “I love you” or even hug or kiss his kids and she had always held that against him. A few years ago they had gotten into a fight where Liv let out a lifetime of frustration on him and said some things she knew really hurt him.

“But you and your dad are okay now.”

“I guess. I mean we aren’t close and probably never will be but I still regret what I said to him. What about you?”

“I don’t think I have any regrets. Everything I have done has led me to be right here so it’s hard to regret any of it, you know. I worry about regretting things in the future though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like I worry about missing out on something because I made a wrong decision or not getting to do everything I want to do cause I ran out of time. Shit like that.”

“My patient is just always so happy. He’s really sick but always smiling. Maybe it’s the no regrets lifestyle and I should try it out.”

“Maybe we should.”

“Love you,” she said as she settled in his arms.

“Love you,” he said as he kissed her forehead.

Liv was finally able to drift off soon after. Maybe it was due to talking about what was bothering her or Sebastian’s calming presence. Whatever it was, she was thankful. Her question got Sebastian thinking about regrets and him not wanting to have them as he tried to fall asleep. He came up with a plan he would share with Liv in the morning.

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

Sebastian wasn’t in her apartment when Liv woke up and she figured he had probably gone to the gym or something. She was a little confused 30 minutes later when he burst through her front door with his suitcase rolling in behind him.

“I need you to pack a bag,” he said walking towards her and smiling big with excitement.

“Pack for what?”

“I’m calling it The No Regrets Tour and our flight leaves in 3 hours,” he said after checking his watch.

“No Regrets Tour? Where are we going?”

“You know last night I was thinking about regretting things because I didn’t have time to do it or go to that place and my first thought was we should go to Australia but since we only have a few days I went with our second travel destination.”

“You want to go to Vegas? Today?”

“You up for it? You think you can handle all this sexiness in Vegas?” he asked jokingly gesturing to his glorious body.

“Honey, I think you need to worry about handling all of me when I am in Vegas,” she told him with a wink. She could almost see the wheels turning in his head while he smiled big as he thought about her response.

“This is quickly turning into my best idea ever!” he said kissing her.

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

“Traveling with you has its perks Seb,” Liv said as she looked around the suite he had booked and thinking about the first class tickets, the town car that was waiting for them at the airport, entering the hotel through the back entrance, and then the quick check in.

“You like it?”

“You did good,” she said and then wrapped her arms around him as they looked out the window at the Las Vegas strip.

“Oh, look. Thunder from Down Under,” he said pointing at the large billboard advertising the show. “That could count as a little bit of Australia.”

Liv laughed.

“I came here for my 21st birthday with my mom and we stayed here one night and then she transferred us to the Wynn because people shutting doors were waking her up. Well, that’s what she says anyway. I think she just really wanted to stay at the Wynn. Such a diva,” she said obviously joking.

Sebastian laughed while he snaked his hands around her waist to pull her closer and she brought her arms up to circle his shoulders as she kissed him.

Liv’s phone rang at the same exact time as there was a knock at the door.

“That’s our bags,” he grunted out as he unwrapped his arms from around her and then went to answer the door.

“Speak of the diva,” she said as she answered the FaceTime on her phone. “Hey Mom.”

“Hey, how's my favorite daughter?

"You say that to your other daughter, too. Don't act like we don't know."

"I just saw your Instagram. You didn’t tell me you were going out of town.”

“It was very last minute. When did you get Instagram?”

“Your Aunt Kathy let’s me use hers. So where’d you go?”

“Just took a quick trip,” Liv said flipping the camera to show the Las Vegas strip view.

“Oh now I’m jealous! Where are you staying?”

“At my favorite. The Bellagio,” Liv replied flipping the camera back around.

“Did you warn Sebastian how loud it is? Oh there he is!" she said seeing him walk in the background. "Sebastian, did she tell you how loud it is there?”

“Yes, she did,” he said stepping into full view of the camera. “I was actually thinking about switching to the Wynn,” he said and then took a playful elbow to his stomach from Liv.

“See Liv? I told you I thought he looked smart didn’t I?”

“That’s not the word you used Mom.”

“Well, anyways have a good time! You’re coming for dinner next weekend right? You too Sebastian?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” he assured her.

“Bye Mom,” Liv said and then hung up. “What?” was her follow up question when she saw the smile on his face.

“Your mom loves me.”

“You're the only boyfriend who would talk to her on the phone before actually meeting her.”

“Yeah, I don’t just look smart for nothing.”

“You don't want to know what she actually said. It was wildly inappropriate,” Liv laughed.

“So what do you want to do first? Drink, shop, eat, gamble?”

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

“You can do all of them all at the same time here. Let me show you how to properly sin.”

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

Eight hours and copious amounts of alcohol later they were sitting at a blackjack table. Liv had busted already while Sebastian had the choice of staying at 20 or splitting the 2 10’s. Unsure of how to bet he shot a glance at Liv.

"No regrets tour," she answered shrugging her shoulders. He puckered his lips and nodded his head then added another $100 bet to split the cards. He hit blackjack on both hands with an ace dealt for each.

“No fucking way!” Liv laughed in disbelief.

“You ready to go?” he asked stacking up his chips.

“Yeah.”

He generously tipped the dealer $100 while Liv threw her chips in her bag and then he tossed his chips in with hers.

“How much are you up?” she asked while handing him her phone to hold because she couldn’t zip up her clutch as they walked away.

“Two grand maybe? Who is Poodle?” he asked looking at her ringing phone.

“Alex,” and she followed by answering her phone with, “Anastasia Beaverhausen.” The latter caused Sebastian to do a spit take.

“Hold on, I think I killed Seb,” she laughed.

You need help burying the body?

“Nah, false alarm. You and I can’t sneak away and get married now.”

Is that what you are doing in Vegas?

“What?”

I said what are you doing in Vegas?

“Pursuing my lifelong dream of being in a celebrity sex tape.”

I better get a copy because you sure as shit won’t describe his dick to me.

“We’re going up to the room. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Okay, fuck that Winter Soldier real good!

“Copy that,” she said rolling her eyes and hanging up.

“I’m really glad you brought up a sex tape cause I brought my camera and uh...” he teased raising his eyebrows as they waited for the elevator.

Liv playfully pushed him away.

As soon as the doors to the elevator closed Sebastian had her pinned against the wall, kissing her with his hands roaming all over her body. She thought about stopping him but then she decided “fuck it.” This is Las Vegas and they would not be the first couple to get a little handsy in the elevator. Neither one of them noticed the doors had opened on their floor until the people waiting for the elevator cleared their throats.

“Sorry, she just won’t stop attacking me in elevators,” he said grabbing Liv’s hand and leading the way out of the elevator.

“Oh my god. Lies!” Liv responded.

“Hey man, aren’t you Bucky?” the man asked as they passed him.

Sebastian stopped walking, turned around and said, “Who the hell is Bucky?”

“No way!” the man said with excitement. “Can I get a picture?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Sebastian took a picture with the man and his girlfriend who clearly had no idea who he was.

“Awesome! Thank you so much!”

“Yeah, no worries! Have a good night!” he said as he put his arm around Liv and began walking down the hall to their suite.

“Who is Bucky?” Liv had to ask.

“That’s who I play in the Cap movies,” he said stopping at the door and putting the key card in.

“I thought you were the Winter Soldier?”

“I’m both. It’s the same person.”

“You have multiple personalities?”

“What? No! Why isn’t this working?” he said putting the key in for the 4th time and seeing the same red light appear.

Liv turned to look at the door and then saw the room number. “Shit! This is not our room number, “she laughed.

The door suddenly opened and the obviously annoyed occupant asked, “Can I help you?”

“Oh fuck! I’m so sorry! Wrong room.”

The only response they got was the door being shut.

Liv was in a ball of drunken laughter on the floor as she pointed to the room across the hall. He was laughing almost as hard as she was as he tried the key in that one and it worked on the first try.

“Come on,” he said holding his hand out to help Liv up and then pulled her inside. “God damn hotel. Why would they switch the rooms like that?”

Something in Liv switched when she walked into the suite. She heard him say something as he shut the door but honestly could not have cared less what it was. She noted it was something that he must have amused himself with because he was smiling his goofy smile when she turned around.

She dropped her purse on the ground while kicking off her shoes, grabbed Sebastian by the collar of his shirt and pulled his lips down to hers with her hand on the back of his neck. His smile got wider against her lips as he wrapped his arms around her. She started gently pushing him in the opposite direction of the bedroom so he pulled away.

“Other wa-“ he said but was cut off by her shoving him up against the door. Oh! It’s going to be one of those nights. He smiled knowingly and excitedly.

She brought her lips back up to his hurriedly and he responded passionately while unzipping her dress and pushing the straps down so it fell to the floor. She slipped her hands up his burgundy shirt and he quickly removed it. Her hands briefly grazed the nape of his neck while she slipped her tongue past his lips. She let her hands feel all the way down his chest, to his abs and down to undo his pants. He moaned as she slid her hand into his boxer briefs and stroked his rapidly enlarging cock.

She broke the kiss to kiss down his body until she was down of her knees pulling his pants down and wasted no time before gently sucking the precum off his tip.

He sighed “Fuck” as she moved her mouth up and down his shaft stopping to swirl her tongue around the tip before resuming the motion. Alternating between fast and slow head bobbing following her mouth with her hand had him rapidly approaching his release.

He bent down placing his hands on her arms bringing her back up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She brought one leg up knowing his next action and he held onto it so she could bring the other leg up to wrap around his waist.

With his pants still around his ankles and his lips finding hers again, he shuffled into the other room and collapsed on top of her on the bed. He stood back up to step out of his pants while taking her underwear off, then climbed back on top and positioned himself to thrust into her but was stopped when she flipped him over to be on top and guided him into her core. His hands gripped her hips tightly as she moved up and down until she grabbed his wrists and moved his arms up above his head, entwining her fingers with his and kissing him deeply. It was all tongue and nibbles on his lips until she was clenching around him and moaning his name.

He quickly grabbed her hips again and rolled her over, then wasted no time before pounding into her fast and deep until he felt her back arch and clench around him again. A few thrusts later he came.

He hovered above her and murmured, "God, I love you,” before bringing his lips back onto hers.

When he finally broke the kiss she replied, "Love you too.”

Vegas Part 2

Permanent tags

@sideeffectsofyou @thejemersoninferno @vania-marie @sophiesvalkyrie

@swanlakemikey @hm-fck @beaubucky @allsortsofinterests

Stuck tags

@essie1876 @thummbelina

#Sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfiction #sebastian stan fluff #sebastian stan smut #sebastian stan x ofc #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan x you #sebastian stan fandom #sebastian stan fanfic #sebastian stan fan fiction #sebastian stan fic #las vegas #vegas

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perhapsitmaybedragons · 4 years

Text

God's a Right Bastard, but Then So Am I

Oh look, chapter 2 already! Odd for me.

If you prefer to read on AO3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26633029/chapters/65005873

or keep reading below:

Newt sat back at the table, not noticing that his tea had grown cold. He couldn't figure out where to begin with his question, so he had swallowed it down since Crowley's party, but found that it kept repeating on him, trying to come up. Finally, he pushed the tea away and jumped up from his seat. “I thought we burned that book.” He hadn't meant it to be accusing, not really. But it still came out that way.

Anathema looked only slightly guilty. “We did.” He waited for her to continue, but she just turned back to chopping up the vegetables for dinner.

“Well?” he prodded.

She put the knife down and turned back toward him. “We did burn it. And...” now she looked truly guilty. “And I went back to where we burned it and there was one scrap left in the fire. You know Agnes had to have predicted that, right?” she didn't wait for an argument. “So I picked it up, and it's what lead me to the box for Crowley. I don't know what's in it. You know how Agnes could be about people opening things from her that weren't intended for them.”

That was certainly true. He felt placated, but only for a moment. “Why didn't you just tell me?”

“I thought you'd be upset. I told you I was done being a Professional Descendant and then I couldn't resist looking to see if any of the new book hadn't burned up.”

Newt just shrugged. “I mean, I don't mind. I wouldn't have made fun of you or anything,” he picked his cup of tea off the table and took a long swig before almost spitting it out. “Blech. Cold tea,” he dropped the cup in the sink. “What did the part that led you to the box for Crowley say? Anything else we should be worried about?”

Anathema rocked a little on the spot, biting her lip. “Nothing else about us, I promise. It just led me to the box. How long should it be taking us to reach London?”

The sudden shift in topic threw Newt off momentarily. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, when you and I go to London by ourselves it can sometimes take hours if the traffic's bad enough, right?” He nodded. “Did you notice when we drove there yesterday it took ten minutes?”

“I thought the pleasant company just made the time feel like it went faster,” Newt was trying to be charming. And if Anathema weren't so worried, it might have worked.

“It didn't just feel like it,” she shook her head so vigorously that some of her hair started to spill out of her bun, “It actually took ten minutes. I checked.”

“Maybe Aziraphale worked a miracle to get us there faster?” It wasn't a new idea for him. He'd noticed each time they'd gone how impossibly easy the trips had gone and how they had arrived at their destination much sooner than they should have. But he'd been worrying that maybe his inability with computers had somehow shifted so that it infected clocks as well, so he hadn't wanted to be the one to bring it up.

“It's happened before. But only when I end up there because Adam wants me there.”

“So,” Newt said as comprehension dawned on him, “You think he still has his powers? I thought he got rid of them since he made his dad his real dad and the other guy,” he pointed down “he told to get lost?”

“He did, and it's like his powers went away for a little while, but then they came back almost immediately. And if Adam still has his powers...”

“Then is he still the AntiChrist?”

Crowley usually didn't bother with it, but he could sneak and skulk with the best of them. The first assignment – it hadn't been spelled out that it was a first, but Crowley knew, whether by experience or instinct, that it was just one of many – was to sneak his way into Hell.

Now, glamours don't usually work on demons. But they only expect humans or angels to bother with such tricks. The best way to hide is often to be front and center. A minor miracle and Crowley looked like just any ordinary demon – no glasses, no snake eyes, no red hair and the hardest part, no sauntering walk. Instead he slouched himself over as though the very weight of the air were oppressive to him. Not a hard feat in a place that smelled so foul.

As promised, God had beamed the knowledge of where to go directly into his mind, though She still refused to answer why she couldn't do this Herself or even tell him what exactly was going on.

He weaved in and out of the aimless crowds until he reached a hidden area under a stairwell. He knew this room well – he used to give most of his presentations in here. Crowley had received a commendation for that as well, the invention of the Work Meeting That Could Have Been an Email – not that he'd ever managed to get the other demons to learn how to use email.

He was a little irked to find that it now looked like a broom closet. All the more insulting since demons weren't known to clean. He closed the door behind him and started searching, grumbling the word 'ineffable' as he went, cursing that he didn't even know what he was looking for. He slipped on a wet floor sign (that for some reason was lying on the floor completely soaked) and landed on his butt. “Damn it,” he muttered, glancing around to make certain no one had heard.

No one was reacting as though they had, but he saw a shadow fall across the bottom of the door way. He scooted back against the wall and tried to cover himself as best as he could with miscellaneous brooms, mops and buckets. He managed to block himself in so that he could still peer out, but someone would have to know to be looking for him to find him.

“You're late,” This was Micheal, who appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the room. Crowley was trying to quickly think up an excuse, but she didn't seem to be talking to him.

“I'm a demon,” Hastur grumbled, closing the door behind him as he joined her. “Isn't timeliness close to godliness or something?”

“That's cleanliness, though it seems your lot isn't doing a good job on that part, either. So I guess that's good for a demon.”

“Right, right,” Hastur waved the insult away, “Beelzebub said they're too busy for this.”

“Gabriel said he was too busy,” Michael responded. “Though I think maybe he just didn't want to come here,” she made a face. “How is it that the room for holding your cleaning supplies is somehow even worse than the other rooms? What are you even doing with this room if you aren't going to use it?”

“I dunno. Maybe a new torture idea,” he quickly opened the door to glance around, then shut it again. “No one's listening. What else has to be done?”

“The new riders are selected,” she smirked. “It took quite a bit of work, but we figured it out. Won't even have to get the old ones out, aside from well...You know.”

He nodded darkly. “And how do you get the kid to go along with it? Why does he still have his powers anyway? Shouldn't your side have removed it from him?”

“Why would we be the ones to deal in demonic power? No, that was your side's screw up, not heaven's,” she lifted her head proudly. “As agents of God we can't be the ones to have messed this up. Had to have been your side.”

Hastur's hand burned for a moment, but Michael miracled a glass of holy water into her own hand. “If you want to play around with mutually assured destruction, I promise we will still come out on top.”

He extinguished his hand. “But hang on,” he said, “If it's mutually assured wouldn't that mean both sides get taken out?”

Crowley had to fight back the urge to say “Good for you, Hastur, a cogent thought!”

Michael crossed her arms. “Anyway, back to The Great Plan,”

“Ineffable,” Crowley muttered softly from his hiding place. Luckily neither of them seemed to hear him.

“So, he still has his powers and he's still on for the part. Why can't we just kill him and get another one?”

“Because then we have to start over. At least eleven more years of waiting,” her hand twitched, “Gabriel may not come out and say it, but we all know that the Great Plan was corrupted, mostly by your man Crowley.”

“Seems your guy Aziraphale had a hand in it.”

“Humanity needs to come to an end. There time was supposed to have been over by now. This will not only sort out the battle between Heaven and Hell, it will finally put this planet to rest and we can move on with things. Not sure why She's so fond of the place.”

“Now we're on the same page. Burn it all down, I say,” his hand was on fire again.

“Not yet. If we rush it again we may end up running into more trouble. The riders are selected, but I will need demon assistance with their corruption.”

“I'll get someone on it. Give me the names.”

Crowley found himself leaning forward. That would at least be a nice start for some thwarting, them just handing the identities away like that. But he wasn't that lucky.

“No. Not here. Not yet. Soon.”

“Don't see why we have to wait,” he sniffed.

“We're working backwards here. This is one of the last pieces – we plan each part out carefully, then work back so there are no loose ends. I trust at our next meeting you'll be on time?” she disappeared without a goodbye.

“Yeah, right. Be on time for a meeting with heavenly forces,” Hastur muttered to himself as he left the room.

Crowley waited for what felt like hours. He hadn't worn his watch as even that had been a custom piece that might have gotten him recognized. Hadn't thought to swap it for a replacement because he usually brought a phone, and he'd left his phone off and in his car parked several streets away (and glamoured, disgustingly enough, as a Ford Fiesta). He finally chanced moving again, sneaking out as stealthily as he snuck in.

Fortune seemed to be back on his side as he clambered back into his car without incident. He turned on the radio expectantly, but no voice of God filled his car.

“Well? I did your bloody errand, what's the next task?” he waited. No answer. “Oh son of a...” he beat his hands against the steering wheel. “You do know what happened back there, right Almighty? That's your job, to see everything? You could at least say 'so glad no one caught you and dumped you in holy water'.”

No answer came. He drove home, frustrated and disgusted with the whole situation and with a burning desire to call Aziraphale and complain to him. But no, if he told Aziraphale the angel would want to help. And might even be a little jealous that Head Office had gone to Crowley and bypassed Aziraphale completely.

Better to keep this one close to his chest, at least for now.

Adam was having trouble sleeping. Not entirely unusual for an active eleven year old, but this had started with a feeling of worry down at the pit of his stomach. He'd first misdiagnosed himself with hunger. Half an hour and two bowls of ice cream later, he still had the worry but now he also had a stomachache.

Dog curled up at the foot of his bed, but he wasn't sleeping either. Dogs, even hellhounds, can sense their master's upset. He whined and scooted into Adam, nudging his nose against Adam's hand. “I thought it went away, Dog. Or that I'd figured out how to control it. But it's not over and I don't want my friends to get scared again. I don't want to lose control again.”

Dog whimpered and Adam smiled as reassuringly as he could.

“It'll be all right. I'll go see Anathema tomorrow. She'll know what to do.”

#Good omens #fanfic #good omens fanfic #chapter two #an update

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blehbleehhhh · 5 years

Text

Is This Love? ft. Eremika<3

Hello, my fine furry friends. I’m back with what I reallllllly hope makes up for being gone. If you’ve ever gotten a migraine, have POTS or EDS, or you’re a spoonie, whatever, you understand why more than most people. When I’m symptomatic, it’s harder to think straight, and it’s so fucking annoying :c Anyway, enjoy a piece inspired by this classic love song by Whitesnake. Ugh, love them! (But mostly Eremika 😍) Also, YES, you can still submit suggestions. I’m always looking for new ideas!! You can private message me as well, I’ve had a few people reach out that way, but do feel free to reach out this way, too. ❤️ Thank you for being understanding! Alright, lets do this, it’s a long one!

In racing thoughts she demands his attention at all hours of the day no matter what Eren is doing, or who he may be with at the time, there's no stopping them now that he's begun to question how he feels about Mikasa, so he can't push her out of his head even if he wanted to. Who the hell am I kidding? I've been aware of these feelings for years now. I don't know if I can fight it anymore. He tossed his dog's tennis ball in the air and quickly caught it in one hand with a long, drawn out sigh, thinking about how wonderful it would be to turn his chair around and see the most beautiful woman in the world laying in his bed, even if she's just sleeping. I'd give anything to hold her right now. There's gotta be more to this than I'm aware of because why else would I be thinking and dreaming about her? Mikasa has been out of town with her family for almost a month and, though she's gone on vacation for week every summer for as long as he can recall, the young man quickly found himself to be missing her a lot more than usual because the pair has never really been apart longer than a week or two at a time. However, since it's senior year, her parents decided to let their daughter choose a destination instead of a default visit to see family, and even extended the duration of their trip as well. Their flight home from Japan landed over an hour ago and all Eren can think about is calling her to see if it would be okay to drop in since he's much too impatient to wait until Monday morning. With a quick glance over his desk he reached for his phone and dialed her number knowing that, even at 12:30 am, she would still be awake from her pesky insomnia.

"Eren? Are you okay? What is it?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can I come over?" He asked, giving the tennis ball another toss up into the air to catch it as he maneuvered himself to stand from his chair.

"Why?"

"I just need to see you."

"Oh! Well, alright -"

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

"But, Eren, I don't understand -"

"Just wait up for me, okay? Give me ten minutes."

Mikasa was sitting at her desk with a sketch book when he arrived, looking focused and determined with whatever she's drawing. Through the window, he can hear Aerosmith's Angel as he quietly observed the familiar and ridiculously sexy way she's pushing her fingers through the sheet of black satin that insists on falling across her beautiful face. God, she's fucking gorgeous. Eren lightly tapped on her window with his knuckles, and immediately felt his knees grow weak when she looked up from her sketch book, not even positive whether it's that pearly smile, the finger she's giving in request for a second more, or the sight of her bare, long legs as she rose out of her chair, flipping her hair over to put it in a messy bun that's throwing him off it’s so cute. She caught the perfect glimpse of Eren standing at her bedroom window when she came back up and, little did he know, his grin and the way he stands with his hands tucked deep in his pockets, the subtle waves of his shaggy, chocolate brown hair all make her weak at the knees, and always have for as long as she can remember. The elastic snapped in place to secure her hair as she pressed her hands against the window to push it open it for him, practically bouncing on her feet from excitement. "Oh my god, Eren!" Mikasa grinned, throwing her arms around his neck as she suddenly jumped to catch his waist between her legs and rested her cheek on his shoulder, stomach fluttering from the sound of his quiet chuckle and the feeling of his arms tightly wrapped around her petite frame as they stumbled back a step together. "I can't believe this! Why are you here?"

Well, this certainly hasn't happened before.

"I, uh," Eren smiled as she pulled back to look into his eyes and carefully helped her slide down onto her feet, anxiously resting a hand on the back of his neck. "I missed you a lot and I didn't wanna wait until Monday morning to see you." Her cheeks immediately blushed a light shade of pink as she bit her lip to disguise the automatic smile, timidly crossing her arms on her chest to rub her own shoulders.

"Really?"

"Mikasa," He cleared his throat from nerves, fighting the urge to grab that pretty little face and kiss her, his eyes flickering from those stormy grays to a pair of baby pink tulip lips. "There's something that I need to tell you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I'm in love with you," Eren smiled as he carefully took her face in hands when her mouth fell open to express shock, listening to the wonderful sound of her giggle while she reached her hands up to carefully grab onto his wrists. Their faces slowly grew closer, allowing them the ability to lightly rub the tips of their noses together. "I’m crazy about you." With a large grin, she slid her nose alongside his just like she’s always dreamed of doing, squeezing her hands around his wrists.

"Say what now?"

"Did I fucking stutter? I said -" He smirked as she let out a soft giggle, carefully studying each other's eyes. "I'm in love with you, I think you're beautiful, and I think you’re sexy as hell."

"Wow..."

"Wow?"

"I-I just," Mikasa smiled as he lightly stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. "Do you have any idea how crazy -" But he couldn't take it anymore and crashed his lips against hers, neither of them giving a single damn about the brief bout of sloppy, inexperienced kisses. After tonight, there will be no more repressed feelings and occasionally pissing each other off from the sexual tension, just two new lovers falling into bed together for the first time. She happily lay beneath him as her hands slowly roaming his back, trapping him between her legs and kissing him like he was her only source for air, just as desperately as the way that they're being returned. Her fingers sunk into his hair as he slid his hands beneath her baggy night shirt until they were resting on top of her toned stomach, so smooth, soft and warm. How could he have been so dense not to notice how blatant her flags were, despite being waved directly in front of his face? This woman has always harbored these same feelings for him, but he was so ignorant to how she felt that he had missed all of them until recently and intends to make it up to her no matter how long it takes, and he'll prove such motivations tonight. Slowly, he pulled his lips away and pushed her shirt up to expose a pair of perky, braless breasts, watching those expressive eyes as he leaned down to drag his tongue on one of her hardened nipples. She sighed happily as she slowly ran her fingers through his hair and arched her back to push even more of her aroused, sensitive breasts closer to his eager mouth.

"So, I had a huge epiphany while you were gone," Eren flicked his tongue across her nipple and smirked as he gave it a kiss. "When I realized after a week that I had started to miss you. And at that point, I couldn't stop thinking about you," He paused with a smile when she started to blush, more than happy to hear the sound of her giggle. "That's when I realized how long I've had these romantic feelings towards you. For some reason, they were a lot easier to control and ignore until you left for more than a week.” She placed a finger under his chin and gently forced him to look up at her, smiling sweetly as she slowly pushed her fingers through his hair.

"I really missed you too, Eren..."

"So, if I were to ask you to be my girlfriend, what would you say?"

"I'd say that it's about damn time." Mikasa giggled as she gently played with his hair, content with allowing him to grope her naked breasts in his hands and roll his thumbs over her nipples, kissing the newly discovered erogenous spot on her neck with a quiet chuckle because she suddenly began to grind against his increasingly noticeable hard-on. Squirming this way and that, she sighed with pleasure from the electrifying feeling of his mouth suckling and nibbling on her neck, knowing very well that he can’t get enough of her already.

"I could do this all night." Eren squished her breasts together and smiled when she let out a tiny squeal, pressing her legs into his sides as he finally took one of the sensitive tips in his mouth, suckling gently or harder depending on her moans. He lay beside her on his side, carefully resting one of his hands across her stomach to slowly rub along the waistline of her red and blue flannel pj shorts as his mouth gradually released her nipple, looking up to meet those beautiful, hypnotic eyes. "May I?" He smirked when she giggled and nodded her head in response, eager to return his little pecks as she allowed him the privilege of spreading her legs, leaving one bent while the other was slowly pushed down sideways so his hand could easily slip beneath her shorts and panties to touch the heat.

"This can't be happening..." Mikasa grinned as he leaned in to kiss her once more and slowly reached up to cradle his cheek in her hand, all while one of his fingers slipped along the wet flesh between her legs. It's something that he's thought about in passing on occasion, fingering her to really get her going before burying his face between those gorgeous, long legs, thoughts he has more often when she wears shorts or something that eventuates her slim lower half. He slid his hand up an impressively toned stomach and kissed down her body so slowly, so sensually that it sent chills down her spine. "Oh, you don't need to do that.." The young woman managed to say through rugged breaths, watching through a half lidded gaze as he pulled her shorts and panties down until everything fell on the floor. He leaned in to kiss her smile before dragging his lips, teeth and tongue along her torso, kissing progressively lower and lower. Oh, how she's longed to see this man peeking up from between her legs doing precisely what he's about to do.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No! No, I just..." She flashed a most endearing, bashful smile and blushed. "I'm still a virgin, so I've never been..."

"Eaten out?"

"Yeah, that."

"Don't worry, you're my first time doing anything like this, too...” Eren offered her a comforting smile as he took one of her hands in his and laced their fingers together. "But it’s just like everything else we’ve encountered. We’ll figure it out together, right?" She bit her lip to hide a grin, feeling so flattered and wanted by him that it gave her a hot flash of nervousness, worsening the tint on her cheeks.

"Okay...” And it's immediately clear that she was entranced with his voice, finally experiencing the new sensation of someone else's fingers pressed on her absolutely aching clitoris. Mikasa reached up to push her hair out of her face and smiled, watching his eyes as he carefully slipped a finger inside the wetness with a smirk because her mouth has fallen open. She bit her bottom lip as he set a hand on her thigh, gently pushing that leg aside to prevent it from closing around his head, growing harder by the second at the sight of glistening skin.

"You're so wet..." He smirked, watching her grin become disguised with a lip bite as he leaned in so he could drag his tongue along her slit to get a good taste, and glanced up in time to see her head fall back against the pillow. "In case you were concerned," Eren whispered, wiggling the tip of his tongue on her clitoris before quickly lapping at any new fluids. "You smell and taste sweet." She moaned softly from the feeling of his flattened tongue rubbing circles on her little nub and gently tugged on his hair, slapping a hand over her mouth to catch a moan just as it came roaring out from the back of her throat.

"Erennnnnn..." There was an instant tightening of his jeans from her sounds, which became even worse when she grew juicer from his finger slowly moving in and out with the hopes of avoiding any discomfort, only to receive nothing but little, pleasurable sounds muffled by her hand. He carefully added a second finger, taking his time with pushing it deeper as her fingers accidentally pulled too hard on his hair, making him tear his mouth away with a quiet chuckle, planting a kiss on her cleanly shaven mound as his finger slowly slipped in and out of her.

“Ow.” Eren teased as he lifted his head to see that her face has changed significantly in the last few minutes from their intimate encounter, her head back against the pillow, and since she's finally aware of how he feels, he can admire her beauty without a single care if she catches him or not. He reached for the hand she has loosely tucked in his hair and laced their fingers together over her thigh to press it into the mattress. “You’re so beautiful.” The young woman hummed in response with a smile as she lightly rubbed her foot along his back and removed her baggy shirt to bare herself in front of him completely for the first time. His fingers moved faster as he sealed his mouth around her damp, pink flesh and suckled, having remembered overhearing from other guys that doing so will definitely drive her wild. Mikasa whimpered into her hand, squealing with delight as she squirmed in his arms this way and that, forcing him to remove his fingers and slide his arms beneath her hips, holding her still against his mouth. Moments later, she covered his tongue in her nectar, his head quickly shaking side to side as his lips rubbed her overly sensitive clitoris, making her tremble as he removed his mouth. He planted a kiss on the outside of her glistening slit and slowly trailed them up to her mound, finally opening his piercing green eyes to glance up at the woman he's always loved more than anything.

“Holy shit," Mikasa giggled as he slowly kissed up the rest of her body and gently squeezed her hand in his before releasing it to tuck his hands beneath her pillow. "That was amazing..."

"It'll only get better with practice you know.” He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at her as she reached up to hook her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a brief, rapid succession of kisses.

"Can you stay tonight?"

"I'll have to leave really early but, yeah," Eren smiled as he leaned down to gently kiss the tip of her nose. "I can stay tonight."

"Good." She smiled as he flashed a devilish grin and dove into the side of her neck, reaching between them to mess with the buckle of his belt. "There's something that I've always wanted to do with you," Her breath tickled his cheek as her fingers tucked beneath the waistline of his opened jeans and boxers. "I wanna suck your cock.." Eren slowly looked up into her eyes, his widened out of shock because he's never pegged someone like Mikasa as having the desire to do such a thing, but mostly psyched having been getting the occasional dream where they engage in rough sex that always starts with her being passionately eaten out.

“Are you sure? I don't want you to feel like you owe me."

"No, I want to." Mikasa smiled sweetly as she lightly touched the sensitive head with her fingertips. "Because it’s your turn now, Eren..." He felt himself grow red at her proposition but also getting extremely hard and excited, rolling off of her onto his back so she could easily remove the clothing from his legs, tossing them on the carpeted floor in a nearly silent heap. Biting her lip, she gently slid her hands beneath his shirt in the hopes of encouraging him to sit up and remove it, impressing her immediately with how ripped he is while still being so slender. "Wow, and you say my body is incredible?" He just propped himself up on his elbows with a smirk, watching a string of her spit dribble out onto his well endowment as she began to slowly rub her hand along the length.

“That’s because your body is incredible and no, I haven't had my dick sucked."

"I'm honored to be the only one who gets to taste it..." Mikasa grinned at the man gazing at her lovingly as he reached for the sheet of raven hair shielding his view of her beautiful face. "You may have to help me." With a gentle touch, she swiped her thumb across the tiny, oozing slit and stroked his raging hard-on, smiling with those stormy grays as she leaned down to slowly lick up the shaft of cock once, twice, three times, his hand gathering all of her hair to one side. He groaned as she swirled her tongue around the head with a smirk, watching her allow more saliva to cover his entire hot length, lips slowly traveling along each side and pause so she could gently suck the sensitive head into her mouth.“Holy fuck, Miki..." Eren chuckled with a quiet grunt when he felt her sweet lips slowly massage just the head before she started following her hand along his length. Her hand came to rest at the base and gently gripped his balls as she slowly tried to swallow his length, only to gag and immediately pull away with a mix between a cough and a giggle. “Try relaxing your throat if you're gonna - just like that..." He half moaned under his breath and released her soft hair from his grasp to run his fingers through it the next instant, making sure to push stray hairs away from her face. But when she came back up, a hand replaced her mouth and made him feel dizzy from the pleasure of her head bobbing with her simultaneous strokes. His breath was now caught in his throat at the feeling of her hollowing her cheeks, slowing her pace to prepare for the inevitable as she slid a hand up his abs to hold the hand he has resting on his chest and laced their fingers together. He grunted and involuntarily bucked his hips with every spurt of hot seed shot into her mouth that were swallowed happily as he slowly rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand. When her eyes finally opened after coming up for air, Mikasa was pleasantly surprised to see his incredible green eyes already on her as she released him from her mouth with an audible pop. "Fuck, that was every bit as hot as I imagined." He chuckled, watching her tongue seductively swipe across her bottom lip and sit up on her knees, a finger scooping any leftovers from her chin as she swirled her tongue around the tip of her finger before sticking the small sample into her mouth, watching his smile quickly turn into a playful smirk. "'Oh, Eren, I've never sucked a dick before' that's you," She smiled as she straddled his lap and leaned down to slowly drag open mouthed kisses up his chest. "That's how you sound."

“I kinda just did whatever I thought would feel good and I guess it worked," Mikasa giggled as she licked up to the side of his neck, making him groan playfully as he rose to wrap his arms around her tiny waist. "I don't know what everyone's complaining about because it really isn't that salty..."

“I don't really eat salty stuff. I’ve heard that eating a crap-ton of fruit is supposed to make it taste better, maybe we can try that sometime?"

"Oooh," Mikasa grinned and snaked her arms around his neck. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I look forward to doing that." She watched his eyes, allowing him to slowly guide her slick heat along the length of his cock with a soft moan and leaned in to plant a kiss on his lips. "I’m on the pill but.."

“Don’t worry, I have no intentions of knocking you up quite yet.”

"Does that mean you intend to marry me someday?"

"Why not?" Eren smirked when she pressed her lips against his once more and flipped the girl on her back, making her giggle as she eagerly spread her legs for him then hooked one around his waist. He slowly pulled away just enough to look into her eyes, holding himself up with support from his hands being pressed into the mattress, making sure to take his time with inching his way inside and give her frequent breaks consisting of brief, tender, distracting kisses. With watery eyes, she whimpered into his mouth, making him pull away again as he brought a hand up to wipe her tears. “I'm so sorry, baby."

“It's okay." Mikasa offered a sweet smile as he leaned in to kiss her and slipped his hands back beneath her pillow, more than content with laying still so she can get used to his thick length buried inside of her after years of wondering what this moment would be like. She moaned softly into his mouth, letting him know that she's finally passed the worst of the discomfort, that it would be okay to start moving and he did so slowly, making her tear away with a quiet giggle against his lips. "Ooh, you're so big..." Eren just smirked, letting out a small chuckle as he crashed his lips against hers and slipped his tongue into her mouth, both of them fighting the other for dominance. She sunk her fingers into his soft, chocolate brown hair and allowed one of her hands to roam his toned, naked back as she deepened their kiss even further, totally unprepared for how good it would feel when his hips really started moving. The quiet moans that filled his mouth only served to make him want to thrust faster, their lips soon parting with an audible smack since she had erupted into a fit of uncontrollable moans as she arched her back and used her legs to pull him closer, looking up into his eyes with an equally half lidded, lustrous gaze. "Oh, Erenn!" The girl managed to say amidst her moans and smiled at his smirk as he dove in for the side of her neck to bathe her soft skin with kisses, his hand reaching back so he could slowly caress her leg while giving the most erogenous spot a much rougher kiss.

“I love how fucking tight you are..." His breath tickled her ear, and it made her squirm even more, smiling as she rode him from below because her climax is overwhelming and it has her drunk. She could tell how close he was because his breathing had gotten increasingly choppy and, being close to another orgasm, she decided that it would be fun to try talking dirty.

“Come for me, Eren,” Mikasa moaned to him, digging her nails into his back as he thrusted into her faster and faster. “Oooh,” Her voice was quiet as she tried to control her sounds, squealing with delight loud enough for the two of them to hear. “You can come inside me, ohh, yes, fuck me! Fill up my tight little -”

"Ohho no," The young man smirked as he propped himself up on his hands to watch her breasts move in tandem with her equally perfect body, their hips not once slowing down. "There's something that I have always wanted to do with you...” She giggled upon remembering what was said earlier before everything had started, when Mikasa mentioned something to him along the same lines. He took in a sharp breath and chuckled from the incredible feeling of her inner walls constricting or releasing him because it was simply intoxicating, and it sent them both over the edge into a blissful state. With a swift movement, Eren sat up straight as he pulled out and immediately hunched over her body again, pumping himself until his load squirted onto her stomach, making her giggle because she’s still in a little bit of shock that this even occurred, let alone the fact she just slept with her childhood best friend. “Cum on your fantastic abs.” He said breathlessly and quickly copied the smile on her face as he planted a kiss on her soft lips.

“Wait, really?”

"Totally. I've always been aware of how attractive you are, you know, especially when you wear a bikini. Guys come up to me and ask if you're single all the time."

"Well, now you can say, 'Mikasa Ackerman is my girlfriend, so go fuck yourself.'"

"I used to hate it when that happened but now I'm excited to brag about you being mine." Eren smiled, watching her eyes as she reached a hand between them to touch the evidence from their night of passion and seductively stuffed whatever was left on her finger into her mouth with a playful grin. "Seriously, Mikasa, you’re mega hot." Suddenly, a cellphone sitting on the nightstand beside them vibrated, which prompted her to reach for hers as he leaned down to press his lips to her neck. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulders to see her phone screen, and then she gasped.

Levi: Oi, brat, I'm trying to sleep over here and it's really difficult with all of your incessant screaming.

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thedistantstorm · 5 years

Text

Keep On Rising (Until The Sky Knows Your Name) 10

A story about how an orphaned Amanda Holliday comes to belong in the Last Safe City and the family she finds along the way.

(Or, the story of how Commander Zavala finds himself responsible for one Amanda Holliday.)

Chapters: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09

This time: Zavala calls in a favor, Amanda meets Eva.

There are obstacles, road blocks… challenges, to any objective.

He is not a man who allows himself to stray from the task at hand, except when necessary. This isn’t technically necessary - not to him - but he knows that the consequences of not following through will outweigh the repercussions of missing three minutes of faction banter.

Really, no matter how long the three heads argue, the outcome will still be the same. Lakshimi has the funding for her project and will proceed with her objective, paying Hideo to produce the weapons she requires, leaving Arach Jalal licking his wounds because if he wants new ships, he’ll only have the meager support of the Vanguard’s budget - and only if he plays nicely.

For a man who consistently says whatever thought crosses his mind without any situational awareness, it’s a rather unpleasant deal. To Zavala, he’d rather they skip that part, and forego the carrying on leading up to it.

He’d made a promise this morning. Foolishly. He presumed nothing large would come up, Ikora was on duty tonight, she could handle anything short of a large-scale attack on the City, and this meeting was supposed to adjourn at least three hours earlier. He knew better than to assume.

What were you going to do? Shiori asks silently between them while Jalal throws his tantrum in the direction of Lakshimi-2. She knows you come when you’re able.

Maintaining his look of inscrutable stoicism, he answers in kind. She was looking forward to this. I never speak so specifically on purpose, and now…

It was going to happen eventually, She replies through their link. And honestly, you’re going to have to get used to it, if this is ever going to work. There’s a pause. And I think that’s the part you’re more worried about, if you ask me.

Shiori. Though it’s not particularly audible, the Ghost understands his tone immediately. It’s the tired one he uses with Cayde-6, most of the time.

So, if you’re not going to make it, you’re going to have to think of an alternative. Someone else who might not be in this meeting and would be free. Someone who’s good with kids, easy to get along with, won’t pepper Amanda with questions…

Shiori.

What?

Zavala’s only physical reaction is a small part of his lips, a practiced glance at the ceiling. Around him, the room carries on, oblivious to their conversation. See if Eva is free. Please.

The nurses try to get her to eat. They bring her both dinner choices from the hospital’s cafeteria, make offers of ice cream and sweet treats. She doesn’t want any of it. Zavala promised he’d bring them both dinner. He never makes promises, but he always follows through. Maybe something happened.

She asks the nurses, but they simply sigh and tell her that he’d likely gotten busy. He was very important, didn’t she know?

Of course she did. Anytime she asked him for something it was always in that way that suggested maybe he could, that he didn’t have to. She knew eventually it would all run out, everything did. She’d have to go back to the orphanage and it would be back to one day every few months. If she was lucky, she might see him for an hour or two.

But she could enjoy it while it lasted, she thought. He was the one who asked her this time, not the other way around. She knew he would come through. He always did.

So, when the door to her room slides open very tentatively, she freezes. That isn't Zavala, she knows it instantly. Her eyes darken, narrowing in distrust on the newcomer and the bag in her arms.

"Hello, dear," The woman says in a heavily accented voice. She lingers in the doorway, holding up the bag. A look of momentary confusion twists her lips into something concerned, but it's there and gone. "Zavala sent me. He was worried you might be getting hungry. He's been stuck in a meeting all evening and isn't sure when it will end." She looks at Amanda's face, not her stump. And she seems pretty nice, Amanda supposes, but she still doesn't trust her.

The woman steps into the room, her brown hair glinting with a hint of gray under the fluorescent lighting. "May I?"

She nods. "Will he come after?" And then, nose scrunching, she asks, "And, uh, who are you, anyway?"

A laugh comes in reply. The woman sets aside the tray of untouched hospital good, pulling out rice and beans in a clear container and a few opaque containers that look like meats. The girl stares in rapt surprise.

"My name is Eva. Eva Levante." She sets to arranging the contents of the containers onto a plate - a real one, not the plastic ones the hospital uses. "I know he promised you something from one of his favorite restaurants, but between you and me, I think he likes my cooking better."

Amanda swallows hard. "Smells real good," She concedes in a whisper. "Do," She looks to Eva, "Do ya think he'll come after his meetin'?"

That makes Eva pause. "Oh, don't you worry, my dear. He'll come see you as soon as he's done. He seemed very upset that he hadn't been able to make it on time." She hands the child a fork. "I brought him some dinner as well," She smiles, winking, "He works too hard. Someone has to keep an eye on him."

When Zavala arrives hours later, Eva is reading. It's nearly eleven, and it's apparent that he is bone tired, but he slips in quietly and offers her a grateful nod.

"She just drifted off about half an hour ago. Tried to hold out as long as she could, but the pain started to get to her. She didn't want them to knock her out before you got here."

"She's stubborn," He answers gently. "Thank you. Truly, I-"

"Yer here," Amanda calls, woozy, blinking her eyes to fight off the effects of the narcotics. Her hands reach toward him and he smiles, taking the few steps to her bedside, leaning down, and letting her hug him. Returning it, even, with a very gentle squeeze.

"I'm sorry I'm late," He whispers, but she's shaking her head into his chest.

"'S ok," She drawls. "Jus' wanted ta see you."

He hears Eva rise sharply behind him and it strikes him immediately. This is - he detangles himself from Amanda, who blinks in hazy confusion - how this must be a difficult thing for her to walk into blindly.

"M's Eva?"

The well-dressed woman pauses, halfway to letting herself out. Zavala looks at her back, sees her fists clenched and his heart feels like it's breaking. Of course. He should have thought this through. He knew what she'd been through, this was asking so much of her.

"Thanks fer sittin' with me," Amanda slurs sleepily. "An' dinner, too. Wus' nice."

Eva nods, tilting her head so that only the side of her face is visible, shadowed in the yellow lights. "I'll come visit again, my dear," She says. "Get some rest."

"Eva."

"Don't worry about me, Zavala. It's alright." She turns all the way back, giving him a watery smile. Her voice is thick with emotion, and it guilts him terribly. "You call me any time she needs."

"Thank you," He answers, hoarsely.

"She lost people, too," Amanda murmurs a little later, her breaths so slow and even it's as though she's already asleep. He hums in agreement, knowing she'll be out like a light soon enough. She probably won’t even remember it. "She's still nice though."

"She is," Zavala agrees. “Would you mind if she came back?”

“Nah,” She hums, breathing heavier. Zavala pulls up the blankets she’s mussed in her attempt to sit up and greet him, tucking her in before taking up his usual spot beside her bed for the night. “Like yer friend.”

Eva is waiting for him in the Plaza the following afternoon.

“You didn’t have to send me flowers,” She chides, hands on her hips. “It was was not a big deal.”

“You helped me, yet it upset you,” He answers. They fall into step rather easily, their destination determined by time of day. “That was not my intent.”

“There is not a mean bone in your body, Zavala. It was just surprising.” She gives him a knowing smile. “I would not have taken you to be so… indulgent.”

The Commander coughs politely, almost bashful. “Neither would I,” He admits.

“She’s a special girl.” Eva presses, and Zavala nods in agreement, almost too subtle to notice.

Eva chances another glance his way, a wistful smile on her face. “Something tells me this isn’t just a random act of kindness. You look conflicted. Tell Eva what you are thinking.”

“It’s all right,” Zavala answers. “I don’t-”

“Amanda told me you’ve been sitting with her every evening since she was injured. And those bags under your eyes confirm it. You are not sleeping, Commander. You’re going to drive your Ghost crazy not taking care of yourself.” She wags a finger at him. Eva might be the only person in the City who has the gall.

“I’m fine.”

His Ghost flickers into the cradle made by their shoulders as they walk side by side. Eva might be shorter than Zavala, but Shiori finds a happy medium between the two of them. “I told him he needs to get used to this. It’s an adjustment phase.”

The Tower vendor stops moving. “Really,” She sounds rather elated, the opposite of what Zavala is expecting. He’d been preparing for bittersweet. He turns and evaluates her to make sure the conversation isn’t upsetting her, as the situation had last night. “You wish to take the child in? She did not seem to think-”

“I’m considering it,” Zavala admits, quietly. “I have not made any definitive plans as of yet.”

Eva hums, continuing on, passing him by. She catches his elbow, squeezing the unarmored part above it. “I think that would be wonderful,” She gushes.

Zavala blows out a controlled breath, sighing, “I have no idea where to begin.”

“No one ever does, Zavala.” Eva smiles at him proudly. Her endorsement is nearly tangible. “You learn from them as much as they learn from you.”

#destiny fanfic #amanda holliday #commander zavala #Shipwright September #eva levante #zavala is tower dad

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yodawgiherd · 5 years

Text

Resolution

>>>Read on AO3<<<

Rating: M

Hey guys, back here with the (slow as fuck) update, but hey, it's here! Also filling the prompt on some JxH action, if you know what I mean. So yea. Enjoy!

“We can find him.“

She said.

“I’ll help you.“

She said.

How hard can it be to find a single guy, in 2k19, the age of the internet, huh? Welp, as it turned out, pretty fucking hard indeed. There are about two and a half boatloads of Marcos in the states and finding the right one among them was basically like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Hah. There is a certain thing called protection of personal data and online privacy, and no matter how nicely they asked, the internet just refused to breach laws for them. The bitch. It surely didn’t help that neither Hitch nor Jean was any kind of hacker-men, so skirting alongside IPs and whatnot to find their goal was out of the question, unfortunately. All these things combined, they were in quite a bind, and Hitch for all her initial bravado was slowly but surely losing steam.

“You know what?”, leaning back, she rubbed her tired eyes, groaning as every muscle in her body protested against the sudden movement, “Fuck this.”

Jean, who wasn’t faring much better, looked up from the laptop with a weak smile.

“We giving up?”

“Nah. Just a change of pace. We’ve been going at it from the wrong angle.”

“Oh? You got a different one then?”

“Sure do.”, leaning back forward, Hitch fixed him with an intense stare, one that used to be much more intense when she wasn’t this dog-tired, “We have to start at the source, as our online methods have apparently failed us.”

“What’s the source then.”

“That’s obvious, isn’t it?”, she pointed at him, “You.”

Jean stared at her for a minute, then scratched the back of his head. Awkwardly.

“Yea… I’m lost.”

“Look, we can’t find shit in these files, so, all have left is tracing back the physical source. You.”

“….. okay?”

Jean might have been completely dumbfounded by what Hitch was saying, and not really following, at all that was, but hey, as long as she seemed to have an idea what she was doing, he was more than okay to just sit back and let her take the lead.

“What are we doing then?”

“You said that you don’t remember where he ended up, right?”

“Correct.”

“But if you were a good friend of him as a teenager, then I’d say that your mother was in the least acquainted with his mom. Parents tend to do that.”, Hitch snapped her fingers, smug, as if she had just cracked the case, “You have to call your mom.”

Oof.

“Hey, mom… Yeah it’s me… I’m okay, okay… Listen, I just need to ask you something.”, Jean shot a look at Hitch, who gave him a supportive thumbs-up, “You remember Marco? The kid I used to hang out with? Yea, that one. Yes…. Okay, and do you recall what happened to the family, after his brother… you know… Oh?”, Jean blinked a few times, “Really? Okay, thanks. Yea, love you too, talk soon!”

With that, he hung up, finally turning to Hitch who was quite literally sitting at the edge of her seat.

“So? What did she say?”

“They moved.”

“Where?”

“Not that far away actually,” turning back towards the laptop, Jean clicked his tongue, “a few hours drive, seems like.”

Unlike Jean, who seemed to be brooding more and more with every passing second, Hitch couldn’t help but feel excited as their goal finally seemed to draw near. Well, near-er, at least.

“Time for a road trip then.”, she exclaimed, grinning, already planning how to clear her schedule for about two days, that should give them enough time.

“Road trip..”, Jean repeated mindlessly after her, a part of him dreading the now apparently unavoidable meeting.

The drive was a bit more than a few hours, and when they reached their destination the day has steadily progressed into an evening already. Finding a city was nice and all, but still, if it was a big one, their search was just about as dead as it was before. Okay, maybe a bit rejuvenated, but far from being happily finished. Yet, as fate willed it, they finally hit a tiny vein of gold in their series of unfortunate events, and the town where Marco was living in now, if the information was accurate, was a small one, making the good old strategy of going door to door, like a pair of carolers, a viable one. A bit of searching later, with Hitch growing progressively more excited and Jean more stiff by the second, they found it. A house, plain-looking one, with the Bott family name innocently sitting on the mailbox, making Jean feel like he was young again, going to ask Marco’s mother if her son can go and play outside. Hitch all but dragged him to the door, knocking while almost bouncing on the spot with excitement.

“Maybe they aren’t home..”, he suggested weakly, when no one opened for a few seconds, but Hitch wouldn’t be so easily rebutted, and shaking her head, she knocked again, louder.

The door opened.

Marco’s mother, miss Bott, has grown old over the years, as human beings tend to do. Her welcoming smile turned into a surprised expression when she saw Jean standing there awkwardly, the years apparently not proving enough of a distraction to make her not recognize him.

“Jean?”, she asked, voice shaky, “Is that you?”

He wanted to answer, he really did, but somehow his throat was insanely dry all of a sudden, and he couldn’t get a word out. Luckily, Hitch was there, ready for a rescue mission.

“Hi!”, she got the attention of the elderly woman, “I’m so sorry that we are intruding, but we’ve been wondering, could we talk to Marco? We’ve been told that he lives here.”

“Marco? Marco…”, she took a shuddering breath, the years weighing on her shoulders hard, just from that single word. She looked up, over Hitch’s shoulder, on the taller person behind her, eyes shimmering. “Jean, I thought you knew…”

He could get words out if he tried hard enough.

“Knew what?”, he croaked.

“Marco… Marco is gone… Dead. A car accident, years ago…”

And they say that God has no sense of humor.

Miss Bott must have sensed the dramatic shift In his mood, because she took a step back inside the house, giving space.

“Why don’t you come in, and we can…”

“No.”

Jean surprised himself with how cold his voice sounded, but now that he said it, he was adamant about the decision.

“I’m sorry that we barged in like this, but we really have to go now.”, robotic, machine-like words sprouting from between his lips, like a prepared speech, but the thought of getting away, right now, was the only thing that he could focus himself on. No more memories. No more painful surprises.

With an awkward half-bow, his body even stiffer than it was before, Jean made his way back to the car, only half-mindedly hearing the quick-worded apology Hitch was saying to the old lady. Sitting into the driver’s seat, heavily, he reached out to start the car, only to be stopped by the gentle and surprisingly firm grip of Hitch’s hand.

“You’re in no condition to drive.”, she whispered, “Let me.”

Not seeing her point, but in no mood to argue, he obeyed, changing seats and handing the keys over. Then he was left to stare out of the window, into the falling darkness, wondering what the hell was this whole grand tour for. Nothing, that was the logical conclusion. Just a waste of time.

He didn’t even notice that they stopped at some motel, or when the hell Hitch even got the room for them, but now he was sitting on a bed, staring at a wall, with rain thundering outside the windows. When did that happen?

“Looks like a small storm.”, Hitch said, entering, shaking the raindrops from her hair, “I thought it would be better to just spend the night here, and go back in the morning. What do you think?”

“Whatever.”, Jean muttered, honestly not giving a fuck right now.

“So… Uh..”, taking off her wet coat, she sat down on the other bed, facing the brooding man.

“Want to talk about what happened?”

“No.”

“Jean you should…”

“No.”

“It’s really better to…”

“No.”

“Just listen to me!”, a bit pissed off with how he was cutting her off, Hitch raised her voice, but all that she got from Jean in response was an arched eyebrow, “I’m a professional, I’ve been dealing with things like these on daily basis! Just let me…”

“No.”

Other people would just probably say fuck it, and leave him to sulk, wouldn’t probe anymore, as Jean didn’t want any help. Hitch was not like other people.

The slap was hard, stinging, setting his cheek aflame. Jean’s eyes immediately lit up, his body ready for the fight or flight response, and he was not in the mood for flight. Yet as quickly as he tensed up, he relaxed, when he realized who was the one that hit him.

“Now are you going to listen?”, she asked, nonchalantly, ignoring the way he stared at her.

Jean worked his jaw, snorted, and shook his head.

“No.”

She slapped him again, even harder, making Jean wonder where the strength was coming from.

“Now?”, again, such a calm voice, a sharp counter to the heated actions. But he wouldn’t budge.

“No.”

When Hitch tried slapping him for the third time, he caught her hand, restraining her effortlessly.

“No more…”, he began, but Hitch was resourceful, enough to hit him with her other hand, forcing him to restrain it too.

“No more unnecessary violence.”, he said, cheeks burning.

“Unnecessary? I disagree, it is necessary, as it is the only thing you seem to react to at all.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t need your council or your help. I’m fine.”

“I never said anything about helping you. Maybe it’s me that needs to talk.”, she countered, “But if you’re putting yourself so readily in the victim position, maybe you do need my help, huh?”

“No.”, again retreating to that word, as it was the only thing that seemed solid right now, Jean did his best to push back against her offers, to handle it on his own, but Hitch wouldn’t back down.

“I don’t want to talk.”, he whispered.

“Then don’t.”, she offered, and pushed forward, using the last possible assault, now that he was holding her hands.

She kissed him.

Jean was surprised by her attack, taken aback enough to allow himself to be pushed on his back, the hold he had on her hands dissolving and suddenly Hitch was the one holding his considerably larger arms hostage, pressing them into the cheap motel mattress above his head.

“Is this a part of your normal therapy?”, he managed to breathe in-between the kisses.

“Nah,”, she grinned against his lips, “You’re getting special treatment.”

The room was getting hotter, so Hitch sat back to remove her shirt, a feat which Jean gladly assisted her with. She could clearly feel that for all his apathy and cold attitude, he was certainly getting excited now, the unmistakable pressure against her thighs obvious.

“I still want to talk.”, she hissed, making Jean stop in his efforts to weasel out of his own shirt.

“Now?”, he asked, quite uncertain of what to do in his situation.

He looked so funny, with his handsome face all twisted in surprise, frozen with his shirt open and half-out of it, so much that Hitch couldn’t hold it back and began to laugh, shaking her head.

“No, not now. After.”, but to show that she’s serious, she poked him in the middle of his chiseled chest, “But I won’t forget about it.”

“Oh?”, expression darkening, Jean reached out to pull her closer, flipping their position so she was under him now, squirming beneath his broad-shouldered frame.

“We’ll see about that.”, the words were full of promise, and Jean quickly followed them up with a string of kisses down Hitch’s neck, the heat in her spiking above safe figures.

“Maybe I’ll just…”, his hands were now busy downstairs, unbuckling Hitch’s belt and helping her slide out of her jeans, with her avid assistance, and with their combined efforts she was soon bare to him, allowing Jean to slide a finger into her heat, “…fill your head with different thoughts.”

Desperate to get the situation back into her control, as much as she could, Hitch grabbed a fistful of Jean’s hair, yanking him back up, to face her, and when he did she felt a shudder running down her spine. His eyes were empty, save for a burning desire, dark orbs with the fire smoldering on the inside.

“I need you.”, he said, and there was not any question about what she should answer him.

“You have me.”

Spreading her legs in an invitation, Hitch tilted her hips up, allowing her lover to slide himself in, the sensation making her gasp. Jean was usually gentler, but the events of today seemed to burn it all away, and he didn’t hold back when his hips began moving, the dance they both knew so well. Whatever her dedication was before, it was being chipped away at, with every thrust, and all Hitch could do was hold onto Jean’s back for dear life, gasping for air. She couldn’t even see his face, as Jean had it hidden in the cook of her neck, his hot breath fanning over her sweaty skin. Yet it ended as quickly as it began, with him pulling out, much to Hitch’s disappointment.

“Need you to turn around.”, he grunted, his tone allowing no discussion right now, but then again, it wasn’t as if Hitch was looking for one. With his rough help, she turned, getting on her hands and knees. Thankfully, Jean didn’t let her hang for long, covering her body again and using the different position to push in even deeper than before, filling her completely. And again, same as before, he didn’t start up slow, but set a powerful pace, driven by some primal need that Hitch didn’t really understand, but was more than willing to help him to come to terms with it. The small room was full of her moans, and the sounds of skin meeting skin, but Jean remained quiet, muting whatever pleasure he was feeling himself. Fingers, intertwining with her hair, this time it was Jean who yanked her head back, exposing Hitch’s neck to his teeth, vulnerability he immediately took advantage of, marking her skin with fervor. Her pleasure peaking, Hitch reached back behind her, grasping blindly, until she found one of Jean’s hands, guiding it between her trembling thighs. He knew what she wanted him to do. Spreading her open and dipping two fingertips in, Jean began to attend to her clit, rubbing her until she was squirming underneath him, even harder than before, moaning loudly, not caring about the poor neighbors behind the paper-thin walls of the motel in the slightest. Seconds later, her orgasm wrecked Hitch’s body, much to Jean’s pleasure, enough to push him over his own edge. Soon, the room went quiet, with only two sets of breaths slowly calming back to normal.

“Ready to talk now?”, she wanted to know, when the rush of sex was done with, making her lover chuckle.

“You didn’t forget? Damn.”

“I never forget.”

“I’m not sure what you want me to talk about..”, Jean grunted, reaching over to rub a soothing circle over her hipbone, defined beneath the skin, marked with red where he gripped her during their earlier activities. “He’s gone, so any closure I could have gotten is gone with him.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way. I was thinking…”, intertwining her fingers with his, Hitch looked up, “what if we go to Marco’s grave? You could talk to him, say that you’re sorry, see if you don’t feel better afterward.”

Bringing their connected hands to his lips, Jean pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

“As we are staying the night anyway, I’d say it’s worth a shot.”

Wearing a huge satisfied grin, Hitch leaned over to kiss him properly, happy that Jean was properly out of his shell, and that while the initial plan didn’t really work out, there was still a chance to salvage the situation. And don’t even dare to say that she’s not the damn best therapist that there is, albeit her methods can be…. strange, at times.

#fanfic #snk #aot #jean kirstein #hitch dreyse #smut #;)

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lyatttrash · 6 years

Text

New Chapter Alert!

As Fate Would Have It Chapter 2

I’m going to try and keep up with these but we’ll see.

FF.net/AO3

“Wyatt I am not putting him in that seat it’s disgusting!” Lucy argued at the entrance of Target. She tightened her grip on Henry as Wyatt moved to take him.

“Lucy it’s fine! A little dirt will do him some good.” He huffed.

“Wyatt he’s ten months old he’s not even big enough for that seat.” Wyatt stood his ground, giving her a stare that he reserved for when he meant business, hoping it would cause her to surrender. No surprise that it didn’t. Lucy is the only person brave enough to constantly go toe to toe with Wyatt, and frankly she’s the only person he’ll allow to do so. Lucy straightened her spine and met his stare with the same intensity, years of being a college professor have perfected her ‘no nonsense’ glare. Henry obliviously giggling between them, completely unaware of the silent power grab going on above his head.

Wyatt gripped the cart tighter before muttering, “fine.”

Lucy smiled and whispered to Henry, “See? He can never say no to me.” Henry babbled in response. An older couple walked past and just smiled and shook their head at the pair. To everyone else they looked like a young couple running errands as a little family. She’d never admit it but it was fun to pretend that’s what they were… even if it was only for a few hours.

As they strolled through the aisles, everyone they passed seemed to smile at them. Lucy huffed when one too many women made eyes at Wyatt. He shot her a quizzical look and she pretended she was just blowing hair out of her mouth. They nearly crossed everything off the list Lucy made a crib, a car seat, a stroller, some bottles, diapers, a few toys and now they were standing in the food and formula aisle. Wyatt was just about to comment on how easy Henry had been through the store when he decided he’d had enough. His little face turned red and scrunched up, Wyatt was sure his screams could be heard in the parking lot.

“Damn little mans got pipes. You sure he’s not your kid?” Wyatt joked. Lucy involuntarily blushed at his indirect compliment. She just laughed and rolled her eyes. Lucy began soothing Henry, shushing him while holding him close to her chest, bouncing him up and down. Lucy’s heart broke for the child. This morning he woke up in his own bed with his mom there to take care of him then suddenly he was thrown into a new environment, surrounded by people he doesn’t know. Poor thing is confused as all hell, looking for anything familiar, most likely his mom. Lucy wanted to cry along with him.

“I know little guy. Shhh, I know, I know. It’s scary but I’ve got you.” Lucy cooed softly to the boy. Lucy met Wyatt’s eyes and the way he was looking at her took her breath away. She hadn’t seen such a genuine smile from him in such a long time.

“You’re a natural, you know” Wyatt said softly. His compliments and the way he was looking at her was too much to handle. Lucy had to remind herself not to get sucked in. Things were finally back to normal, well as normal as two people who have gone through what they did could be. They were Lucy and Wyatt no doubt about it, but not quite Logan and Preston. It was a weird limbo they were in, neither knowing where they stand with the other. Had the moment for them passed? Are they destined to just stay friends? These are the questions that keep Lucy up at night, it also doesn’t help that she’s currently holding his baby, a baby she has to keep reminding herself isn’t hers. She was just going to end up getting hurt if she kept pretending they were a family. Wyatt and Henry were a family, Lucy assumes she’s just going to be called in from time to time to baby sit, probably be referred to as ‘aunt Lucy’.

“I adored Amy as a baby, my parents had to remind me all the time that I was just her sister not her mom.” She joked, desperately trying to deflect from the situation. Wyatt chuckled and turned his attention back to the wall of baby food. He stood with two containers of formula in his hands, intensely checking the nutrition and ingredients. Lucy’s heart warmed at how much he already cared for this little guy that he has only known for a few hours. Lucy looked around she spotted something that she knew would help Wyatt immensely. She silently walked over and placed a large box in the cart.

“Lucy what is that?”

“It’s like a Keurig, but for babies” Lucy replied hoisting Henry higher on her hip.

“Absolutely not, we don’t need that.” Lucy tried not to get too excited over the word ‘we’ but it made her smile nonetheless.

“Trust me I saw this on Oprah you want it!” she challenged.

“Since when do you have time to watch Oprah?” he teased.

“I do have a life outside of our training sessions, you know.” She scoffed lightly. Even though the threat of Rittenhouse is gone Wyatt still makes her train with him three times a week. He claims you can never be too careful, especially living in the city, but Lucy doesn’t mind. She likes all the extra time she gets to spend with him, having a reason to be physically close with him even if it is only for a few hours a week.

He took a step closer, his flirtatious tone having an even greater effect at his proximity, “well then sounds like I’m not working you hard enough since you have time to watch Oprah.” She sucked in a breath, he hadn’t flirted this openly with her in a long time, possibly ever.

Standing her ground, she knew she couldn’t let him win. Lucy took a step closer so she could whisper in his ear, being a full head shorter than he is she had to stand on her toes which forced her body to be pressed against his, “I think you won’t do a damn thing considering I’m standing in the baby section of Target at 9:30 on a Saturday.” He didn’t have a response but he swallowed hard and Lucy knew she won their little flirting match.

---

Lucy eventually dragged a reluctant Wyatt over to the clothing section, a place he had been dreading since they stepped into the store. He smiled and rolled his eyes as Lucy pilled outfit after outfit into the cart.

“I think that’s enough Luce, he probably has more clothes than you do at this point.” He teased. Lucy tried not to outwardly show how affected she was by the nickname. She ducked behind a rack of clothes to hide her blush.

“Daddy doesn’t know what he’s talking about, you can never have too many outfits. Right little guy?” she cooed at the baby. She honestly doesn’t know why she referred to Wyatt as daddy, it just slipped out but somehow it felt natural. She laughed at his stunned expression at her bold teasing. He cocked his head to the side. Lucy knew that look, he was about to dish it right back out, he was about to speak when an older lady placed a hand on his arm.

“Your family is absolutely precious, how long have you and your wife been married?” Lucy turned her head,

“Oh uh…” she fumbled unsure of what to say. A deep blush appeared on her cheeks at being called Wyatt’s wife. The name secretly sent a thrill through her. She was about to politely correct the lady when Wyatt cleared his throat next to her.

“Um… almost four and a half years.” His answer took her completely by surprise. She hadn’t expected him to just go with it. If her cheeks were pink before she probably looked like a tomato now. He smiled and glanced at Lucy. Her heart fluttered at the memory and she wondered if he remembered as well.

“Well stop the presses here I am going on and on how’d he do it with you?”

“Do what?”

“Propose silly I mean look at that rang!”

The smile and small wink told her he did.

“He is just the cutest little thing on God’s green earth!” the lady gushed at Henry, “what’s the little angel’s name?”

“Henry” Wyatt and Lucy said in unison. They made eye contact with each other, his lips turned up into his signature smirk and she felt her face heat up again. Get it together Lucy! He walked over so he could stand next to Lucy. He put his arm around her to he could rub Henry’s back. They’ve been closer in the last 20 minutes than they had been in a long time. The smell of his cologne all around her was intoxicating. Her mind fogged with the memories of their time in 1941, being able to completely give themselves over to each other. They let themselves fall hard, knowing the other would be there to catch them. Lucy missed being this close to him, the whole time he was with Jessica she ached for his touch. Seeing the way their future selves were with each other gave her hope but it’s still been a long journey back to him. Not one Lucy minds taking if it means she’ll end up in his arms. Feeling bold she leaned her head back against his shoulder. She felt him freeze for half a second but then instantly relaxed and moved his hand to her lower back, falling into a comfortable familiarity that she’s missed so much.

“You don’t let anything happen to them!” the lady warned.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Wyatt said softly while pressing a kiss to the top of Lucy’s head, her breath caught in her throat as she fought back tears. The gesture was so small yet so intimate, her mind was swimming with all the things his action could mean. Was this all just a show for the nice old lady? Were they finally at a place to cross over into something more? Seems like kind of an odd place to make that jump, the infant clothing section of a Target…lost in her thoughts she didn’t even notice the woman walk away, Wyatt awkwardly cleared his throat and stepped away from Lucy, both refusing to make eye contact.

“We should probably get the little nugget home.” Lucy whispered glancing down at a sleeping Henry.

“He’s certainly had an eventful day.” He agreed. They made their way to the check out in silence and carried all their items out to Wyatt’s jeep. The mood lightened as Lucy laughed at Wyatt fighting to install the car seat, she kept telling him he was doing it wrong and he just grumbled in protest. Mumbling something about a ‘bossy-know-it-all’. Climbing in on either side of the car they both turned towards the back seat. They sat in silence for a moment watching Henry sleep. Lucy traced his face with her eyes, the soft fullness of his cheeks, his large eyes, long eyelashes, cute little button nose, lopsided grin that she would know anywhere, the grin she fell in love with all those years ago in the waiting room at Mason Industries. Lucy looked to her left and saw Wyatt staring at her with admiration but quickly turned away when she caught him staring. Blushing slightly, she turned her gaze back to Henry, wishing so bad he was hers.

#timeless #lyatt #lyattfic #fluff #kidfic #as fate would have it #lucy preston #wyatt logan #Lucy x Wyatt

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sweetlysilent · 7 years

Text

Undercover

Requested: Nope

Pairing: Theo Raeken x Reader

Description: Gerard’s army had grown, by a lot, fortunately for you though you were apart of this army, so people trusted you, which worked in your favor since you were secretly a supernatural being yourself, but nobody knew that, they only saw you for what you portrayed to be, a killer of the supernatural.

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 3,368

A/N: Wowww hey guys, so it’s been a while since I’ve written like anything, I’m in such a slump and I have intense writers block and just feel so unmotivated. But I want to get back into writing, therefore, I wrote this random Teen Wolf imagine. I kinda just created this in my mind and then just wrote it down. I personally don’t think it’s that great, but maybe you all will like it?? I dunno, but anyways try to enjoy it, I’m kinda iffy on it ngl.

“Everything will change, Scott won’t even know what hit him, once we kill his Beta his whole pack will crumble.” Gerard grinned, as his whole army cheered in admiration.

You on the other hand watched in disgust, all these people were brain washed by this delusional old man who thinks he can overtake the whole world.

You were quickly snapped out of your thoughts from the sound of Gerard’s voice.

“Y/N, you know what to do tomorrow correct?” Gerard pulled you aside, as you nodded in response.

“Of course, how could I forget?” You replied, giving one of your famous smirks, making Gerard laugh darkly, nodding in fascination.

Yes, you were one of his favorites in the group, one of his greatest weapons, if only he knew you were secretly supernatural, then the roles would be completely opposite.

“Theo why are you coming to our practice, you don’t even go here anymore.” Liam complained, his lacrosse gear in his hands, Mason walking beside him as they entered the field.

“Scott told me to stick around with you, I’m just doing what he says.” Theo shrugged, remembering the conversation he had with Scott earlier over the phone.

Liam only huffed in annoyance, putting his helmet on his head before jogging out onto the field with the rest of the team.

Mason sat on the bench along with Theo, observing the area around them just in case something or someone should happen to appear.

“I can’t help but feel like something is going to go wrong, do you ever get those feelings?” Mason questioned, glancing around the field, as Theo rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Not really, but you need to calm down, you reek of anxiety.” Theo groaned, as Mason muttered an apology, watching the team start to practice.

Beacon Hills had a game coming up on Friday, therefore, Coach was making them practice even harder so they’d be ready to win for once.

Mason was too busy cheering on Liam, even though it was only a practice as Theo tried to explain, but Theo was distracted by something else, by your voice, being a werewolf his heightened hearing was a blessing at certain moments.

“Yes, I know what to do, we’ve been over this already, alright bye.” You huffed, hanging up the phone and sitting on a bench a few feet away from Theo and Mason, thankfully they didn’t notice you.

Or so you thought.

You carefully pulled out your notepad, along with a pencil and a pen, glancing up to see who was on the field.

You began writing down what you observed.

Lacrosse practice:

Nolan - a human, extreme anxiety, always looks scared, how did he make the team??

Gabe - a human, overly confident, overall a douche that I will probably punch in the face someday

Liam - a werewolf; specifically a Beta, Scott’s Beta, has anger issues (extreme) but also slight confidence, seems cautious of his surroundings..

You glanced up, setting your pencil down, before pulling out ear plugs, you had to do this otherwise it would be a dead giveaway of what you were.

You cautiously put them in your ears, before grabbing your pen and clicking the button, causing a noise that only supernatural creatures could hear.

You watched as Liam covered his ears, his eyes shutting tightly as he stood on the field, causing some of his teammates to look at him weirdly.

Lacrosse Practice:

Liam - I did the test, the pen I created sends on a high pitched noise only supernatural beings could hear, and Liam reacted just like I knew he would, therefore, it was a success.

You ended your sentence, only to look up to see Theo holding his ears, his eyes scrunched together in what seemed to be pain and anger.

You noticed Mason sitting beside him, trying to figure out what going on, that is until he made eye contact with you.

You quickly broke his gaze, clicking your pen once more, causing the sound to stop, you instantly gathered your belongings, taking the ear plugs out of your ears before rushing off into the school.

You did what Gerard wanted, you just hoped that it was worth it like he said it was.

“What the hell happened out there?” Liam shouted as he ran up to Theo and Mason, the rest of the teammates exiting the field.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure as hell going to find out.” Theo growled, clenching his fists, looking around to see where you had gone, he had heard your voice, he knew it had to of been you.

“I-I think I know what happened.” Mason interrupted, causing both of them to look at him, their eyebrows raised.

“I think it was Y/N, I noticed she was writing down something, and when she clicked her pen, you both reacted to it, it was as if she was testing you guys.” Mason explained, as Theo and Liam looked at each other.

“We have to tell Scott, I didn’t know she was apart of Gerard’s army, who knows what she actually did to us.” Liam vented, as Theo rolled his eyes, while Mason stood there thinking.

As Liam went off to get rid of his gear, Theo called Scott, letting him know what had happened, needless to say Scott was shocked, he wasn’t expecting an attack to happen so openly.

And neither was Nolan or Gabe.

The next day was unusual, you felt more confident, having a hidden identity and being apart of a group with so much power made you feel invincible.

You were currently in the library, writing a paper for your English class when you felt a hand grab your arm, tugging you to a place between the book shelves.

“You have some nerve doing what you did the other day.” Gabe scolded, glaring down at your small figure as Nolan stood beside him.

“You can’t just go out and test people without letting others know first.” Nolan added in, making you roll your eyes.

“I had a job, I did my job, that’s it.” You replied, yanking your arm out of Gabe’s grasp, sending him a glare.

“Just don’t do it again or we’ll have trouble.” Gabe threatened, which only made you laugh in response.

“Last I checked, you and Nolan and that other kid were going around the school, literally stabbing people in the hand to see if they’d heal faster, so don’t you even dare try to control me and my actions, got it?” You spat, watching Gabe and Nolan swallow nervously.

“And if you ever man handle me ever again, I promise I will break your arm.” You threatened, before giving a smile and returning to your table to finish your English paper.

However, without being seen from other students you pulled out your notepad, grabbing your pencil before jotting a few notes down.

Library:

Gabe - thinks he can control everyone, almost got a broken arm because he’s a douche

Nolan - is a literal lost puppy what

Theo - is a part of Scott’s pack??? I think?? reacted to the pen, got super pissed though

You then went back to your paper, not noticing Liam and Mason watching you from afar.

“Are you guys almost here?” You heard someone talk through the phone, but you couldn’t place the voice.

“Yeah, were five minutes away, be ready.” The voice on the other end spoke, making your eyes snap open, but all you could see was black.

Where were you?

Scratch that, who the hell was with you?

You tried to move your hands, but you felt them cuffed, making you groan in annoyance.

“Whoever the fuck you are I swear to god I will kill you!” You yelled, startling Theo and Liam in the front seats.

Yes, these two idiots had kidnapped you.

They both looked back at you, seeing you fighting the handcuffs, before looking back at each other with concerned expressions.

You soon felt the car stop moving, and before you knew it you were being taken out of the car, hands on both of your arms as they lead you to your destination.

You then were seated on a chair, voices filling the room as you sat there impatiently.

“Guys, this is nice and all but can I please have this sack taken off my head?” You questioned, before feeling the fabric being released from your head, only to be met with Scott’s pack.

You glanced around the room, before leaning back against the chair, a small smirk on your lips.

“I already don’t like this.” Stiles complained, as Lydia swatted at his arm.

“Y/N, I’m sorry we had to meet like this.” Scott started, but you only laughed in response.

“Yeah right, like I really believe that?” You shook your head in disbelief, laughing once again.

“Also, which two of you morons kidnapped me?” You raised an eyebrow, watching as they all exchanged glances.

“Why do you want to know?” Liam questioned, locking eye contact with you.

“Oh you know, so I know which one of you to murder first!” You yelled, instantly standing up, kicking the chair out from under you, breaking free of your cuffs.

“Shit, someone get her!” Stiles screeched, grabbing Lydia and protecting her in the corner, while Malia and Mason stood behind Scott as him and Theo and Liam tried to catch you.

You on the other hand got ahold of a knife, why they thought taking you to the animal clinic was a good idea was insanely stupid on their part.

“I know it was you two idiots, so who wants to die first?” You twirled the metal in your fingers, eyeing up Liam and Theo, who were ready to pounce any second.

“Y/N! Please! We don’t want to hurt you, we just want to talk.” Scott tried to reason with you, but you only laughed in response once again.

Sure, you may be just like them, a supernatural creature, but you had an image you had to keep up, they had to believe you were one of them, a hunter.

“That’s a shame, because all I want to do is hurt you.” You growled, swinging the metal through the air at Theo and Liam, who jumped back, their eyes glowing a bright yellow as their fangs slowly appeared.

“Y/N, either you surrender now or we do this the hard way.” Theo growled, making you smirk.

“Poor Theo, of course you’d want to do it the hard way, that’s all you know how to do, I mean after what you did last year..” You shrugged, the knife in-between your teeth as you smirked, watching his jaw clench.

“Y/N, don’t do this, stop.” Scott warned, watching Theo visibly start to shake in anger.

“And for you Liam, I don’t even know where to begin, with all your anger issues and almost murdering Nolan and Gabe I mean..” You raised your eyebrows, Liam’s body shaking with rage.

“Guys stop this is what Y/N wants.” Lydia screamed, making everyone cover their ears, her voice booming throughout the small clinic.

Theo and Liam both looked at each other, before looking at Scott who nodded in agreement with Lydia.

“That may be right, but I’m not letting her get away.” Theo growled, walking up to you and snatching the knife out of your hands.

“You’re lucky I don’t rip your throat out right here.” Theo threatened, his face close to yours.

You let out a fake gasp, a smirk on your lips as you stared into his eyes.

“Promise you’ll do it later?” You shot back, as you bit your lip, making his eyes darken, before grabbing your arm, setting you back in the chair.

“Alright, now that, that’s over lets get back to what we were going to do to.” Scott looked between you and Theo.

“We know you and Gerard are close, and since you seem to have a good knowledge of his plans, we need you to tell us what he’s up to.” Malia stated bluntly, as Scott covered his face with his hands.

“What she meant to say was you need to give us information.” Stiles shrugged, watching as you just sat there.

“What so now the all mighty hunter can’t speak?” Theo laughed, his arms crossed as he watched you.

You glanced over at him, shooting him a glare, which he gladly gave a smirk back in response.

“You know for someone that is apart of Gerard’s army, you’re supposed to be scared of supernatural creatures, but you.. you aren’t why is that?” Liam questioned, his eyebrow raised, waiting for your response.

“Maybe I’m just good at hiding it.” You responded, keeping your focus straight forward.

You couldn’t possibly give them information, Gerard would know, and you would be compromised.

“Y/N, I know you know information, so why not share it with the rest of us?” Scott pleaded, making you snort in response.

“If I tell you anything he’ll know, and well.. he’ll kill me himself.” You looked up at Scott, letting out a sigh.

“But you’re one of his favorites.” Liam interjected, making you shrug in response.

“If you couldn’t tell, he doesn’t care if people die.” You rolled your eyes, something you couldn’t help but do.

“I noticed.” Theo commented, making you nod in response, your hard shell slowly fading.

“Can’t you tell us anything?” Malia groaned, getting bored of the conversation.

You sat there, thinking for a minute before a idea popped into your head, make it a game.

“What happens to an army when their leader is killed?” You questioned, glancing up at everyone who had bewildered looks on their faces.

“What?” Stiles questioned, looking at Lydia and Malia who shrugged in response.

“How does that have anything to do with this situation?” Liam questioned, as he looked at you.

“It has everything to do with this situation.” You replied, looking at Scott as he tried to think of the answer.

And then it made sense, he understood what you were implying.

“When the leader is killed the whole army falls, and they lose the war.” Scott whispered, as you nodded in response.

“I already knew Gerard wanted to kill me though.” Scott replied in confusion, making you nervously bounce your knee up and down.

You hesitantly moved your eyes over to Liam, then back to Scott, giving him a look.

“Gerard doesn’t just want to kill me, he wants to kill.. Liam..?” Scott spoke aloud, causing everyone to look at him.

“An army loosing their leader results in failure, results in falling, just like an Alpha loosing his first Beta, you will crumble, you will fall, you will lose the war.” You explained, breaking eye contact with everyone, as they stood there stunned.

“So you tested me, on the field, to see what would happen..” Liam started putting the pieces together, as you continued to look down at your shoes.

“We need to get as many people as we can, we’re not loosing, not today.” Scott spoke determinedly, as Lydia, Malia, Mason, and Stiles rushed out of the room.

“Y/N, I’m sorry we kidnapped you, but it was the only way.” Scott apologized, something you knew he did a lot, deep down you knew he was a kind and caring person, he always wanted to save everyone.

“I’m not, she deserved it.” Theo muttered, making your head snap up, your eyes squinting at him.

“Someone has hurt puppy feelings.” You pouted, making his jaw clench once more, before he walked over to you.

“I’d watch that pretty mouth of yours.” He warned, making you smirk in response.

“Aw, you think I’m pretty?” You stood up, getting in his face as he smirked down at you.

“Don’t push your luck sweetheart.” He grinned, resting his hand on your arm, creating a warm feeling, something you weren’t used to.

“Who knew the bad boy Theo Raeken had a soft spot.” You smirked, moving a curl out of his face.

Theo watched you intently as your fingers grazed his skin, something he wasn’t used to feeling.

“Guys, this is gross, go get a room.” Liam groaned, before exiting the room, making you both smirk, quiet laughter filling the room.

You both stood there, studying each other’s features, something that you both never thought you’d be doing.

“You’re different, I can’t put my finger on it yet, but there is something definitely off about you, and I’m going to find out.” Theo spoke determinedly, making you grin.

“Good luck, I’d like to see you try.” You taunted, making his eyes once again darken, before his hand moved to the back of your waist, catching you off guard.

You saw the grin appear on his face, making your heart beat quicker, which you knew he could hear.

“I accept that challenge.”

531 notes · View notes

minijenn · 6 years

Text

Crystal Falls: Reaching Out

Ye ye ye ye ANGST!!! Hey tbh this is the most can do seeing as how the next actual canon chapter of UF is mostly fun humor (with some nightmare fuel thrown in I guess) so I gotta satisfy my craving somehow. Still, can you believe it took me only three days to push this whole thing out? I was fucking MOTIVATED HAHAHA Now if you wanna know more about the context behind this AU, you can find all that here. And with all that outta the way, let’s get rollin with the (incredibly dark fair warning) angst storm!

Crystal Falls

Reaching Out

The concept of a “normal childhood” was a completely foreign one to both of the Pines twins, just as it had been to their uncles before them and to every other human born either into the conquest-hungry legacy of planet Earth or into the rebellion that had risen up to thwart one such conquest. The twins found their roots in the latter camp, even if their actual birthplace had been on Earth as opposed to the mostly peaceful Homeworld that had become their own home after their parents’ death. “Because where else were the next seeds of justice and peace to be raised but on the very planet we all swore our lives to protect?” Ford often boldly claimed throughout the twins’ younger years. Stan would usually just offer a playful scoff at his brother’s melodrama, Dipper and Mabel chuckling in amusement before running off to go play with Steven under the Crystal Gems’ lax supervision. And for the first few years, that’s what it was like; crystalline days, star-speckled nights, rousing tales of courageous battles gone by, laughter amidst streets filled with Gems bemused by their antics, comfort, happiness, friendship, family, and most of all, peace. Peace so hard fought for, so hard won. And of course, not at all destined to last.

Because when the twins were only five years old, that peace was shattered for them both the very same moment the glass of one of the shack’s windows shattered one night when they were asleep. The very moment it did, Stan and Ford were already on high alert, rushing to grab the confused, groggy younger twins and whisk them away to safety without even explaining what they were really running from. The threat soon made itself obvious, however, when the family emerged into the night, only to be adamantly pursued by a sizable group of masked figures. By their odd, militaristic outfits, it was clear that they weren’t Gems, and later the twins would find out exactly what their uncles had known from the moment this all began: that these assailants were Earthlings, sent to destroy the very last remnants of the rebellion left on Homeworld. In other words, them. A task that, against all odds, they unquestionably succeeded in in the worst of ways.

All it took was one tiny moment, one perfectly aimed shot at Stan’s exposed back for him to go crashing down, momentarily paralyzed by the blast as Dipper fell out of his arms. Despite his uncle's desperate attempts to convince him to flee, the young boy was just as stunned as he was, though more out of fear than anything else as their pursuers made their fast, final approach.

Ford has already ran ahead of Stan with Mabel in tow, but he stopped and turned back around in an instant upon hearing Dipper’s distressed, pleading cry. Without hesitation, the former rebel began racing after the Earth loyalists as they started hauling his nephew away, despite his best attempts to struggle against them and Stan’s best attempts to move and stop this horrific kidnapping before it could even begin. Likewise, Ford shot after the assailants, trying his best to get a clean shot in that wouldn't end up harming Dipper. Tears had already started forming in Mabel’s eyes as she remained secure in Ford’s grip, while her brother was being stolen away from her right in front of her own eyes. Yet both of the twins, even as young as they were, had a dreadful feeling about how all this was going to turn out. And those fears soon came true as Mabel noticed Dipper reaching out his unrestrained hand to her, his eyes wide and wet with terror as his captors refused to relinquish their hold upon him. She extended her arm back out to him, the distance between them far too great for them to even come close to intertwining. Then, in a flash of what seemed almost like magic, the Earth loyalists disappeared into the night, taking Dipper right along with them.

Ford’s blaster hit the ground the moment they all vanished, his eyes wide with shock as he tried to figure out where they might have gone. But all the while, Mabel kept her arm reaching out, a tight sob escaping her as she realized her brother might never meet it again.

For seven years, she kept on reaching for him. It it was only after he finally returned that she found he had stopped reaching back.

“When are we going to find Dipper?” Mabel asked almost constantly within the first 24 hours after his abduction. Stan and Ford could only offer her the terse answer of “soon” as they continued discussing the matter with Rose, Pearl, and Amethyst, all of their voices in hushed, anxious whispers that neither Mabel nor Steven could really hear.

“When are we going to find Dipper?” Mabel asked after a week had passed. By now, almost all the Gems in Crystal Falls had gotten in on the intensive search for the missing boy, all of them more than happy to do anything they could to help two of the humans who were instrumental in saving their world. Things had been largely fruitless so far though; the Earth loyalists had been very smart in covering their tracks to the point that even the most astute Gems couldn't find so much as a trace. But still, Stan and Ford refused to let their mournful niece lose hope that her brother would be returned to her safe and sound. And so once again, they answered “soon” before tucking her into bed for what would no doubt be yet another sleepless night.

“When are we going to find Dipper?” Mabel asked after a month, an exasperated,almost frustrated sigh escaping her along with the question. This question had been a constant every single day now, usually aimed at Stan or Ford or one of the Crystal Gems. And as time went on and the bags under her uncles’ eyes grew darker and deeper and the Gems of Crystal Falls slowly began winding their search efforts down, the answer started to turn from a “soon” to a “we don’t know”.

“When are we going to find-”

“We’re not gonna find him!” Stan slammed his fist down on the table, his expression and tone rife with both grief and anger. A year had passed, a year that had felt like 20 to Mabel, and even if she was still only 6, the weight of just how incredibly long it had been since she had seen Dipper, since they had been happy and together was not lost on her. And yet, for the first time in 365 days, her fretful curiosity was not met with positivity or uncertainty. It was met with a no.

Needless to say that Ford was quick to counter his brother’s harsh reply with sharp disapproval, and soon enough they had launched into a fierce argument. Mabel simply curled herself into a tight ball, hugging her knees to her chest as she dolefully listened to her uncles fight, something that had become a very common occurrence over the past year. She was only half paying attention to their squabble as she settled into her own morose thoughts, but what she did pick up from their unrestrained argument unnerved her to the bone.

“It’s time to stop kidding ourselves, Ford! If he was still here on Homeworld we would have found him already! Chances are those lunatics probably dragged him off back to Earth a long time ago!”

“W-well, then we’ll build a ship! I’ll get Rose, Pearl, and Amethyst to help us! Maybe even recruit some of the other more technologically inclined Gems. We’ll go to Earth a-and bring him back, and-”

“And what?! You honestly expect us to survive ten seconds on Earth when we’re at the top of their most wanted list?! If Greg was still around, then maybe I’d think about it, but on our own? It’s a suicide mission for sure.”

“But we can’t just forget about Dipper, Stanley! Who knows what those… those barbarians have done with him?!”

“I haven’t forgotten about him! The kid’s pretty much the only thing I’ve been thinking about for the past year, but he’s not the only thing we have to protect around here. We gotta think about Mabel now, Ford. They already took one of ‘em; we can’t let them have them both.”

Ford’s half of the argument finally faltered at this, his shoulders sagging in defeat as he turned away bitterly, clearly fighting back tears. Stan let out a long, guilty sigh as he glanced over at Mabel, whose eyes were overflowing with questions about everything she had just heard. And while it had taken almost a year, Stan realized he had finally worked up the nerve to start answering some of them.

Explaining the concept of death to a child who had spent almost her entire life on a planet populated by beings who were practically immortal would have been a hard enough undertaking as it was. But explaining that such a thing could have happened to said child’s very own brother was something else entirely. And it was because of that, that Stan was completely unable to keep tears out of his eyes as he slowly, gently explained to Mabel that he believed the worst had happened to her brother, that their futile search was at last coming to an end, that their family was now forever fractured as a result. That, more than likely, Dipper was dead.

Except no, he wasn’t.

But he might as well have been.

Because from the very moment Dipper had been brutally torn away from his family, his entire life turned upside down in the most horrific of ways. As soon as they had gotten out of Stan and Ford’s immediate range, the Earth loyalists had wasted no time in showing just how ruthless they were by throwing their young captive to the ground roughly and binding him tightly before he could even think of trying to run away. From there, a very long, downright perilous journey commenced, one that Dipper was essentially dragged along the entire way for by his callously cruel captors. All too quickly, the familiar greenery of Crystal Falls started to fade out into the barren, yet mysteriously lovely crystalline scenery of Homeworld that lay beyond the sector’s borders. Needless to say that Dipper was overwhelmed with curiosity and fear about where these loyalists were taking him, but any meek attempt on his part to ask any questions was met with jeering silence, hateful warnings, or even the occasional hard slap or kick. Clearly, his uncles had underplayed just how malicious the Earthlings were in all their light hearted war stories; because these people were wicked, downright heartless even, in ways that Dipper had never in his young life been exposed to before.

As their lengthy trek dragged on into days, even his homesick tears were only met by mocking laughter, his pleas for freedom receiving only cold denial. But even so, Dipper held onto the hope that Stan and Ford would come after him; that they’d beat these brutes back and bring him home to be safe and sound with Mabel once again. Certainly there was no question that they’d come, that they’d find him, that they’d all be reunited as a family once more. Perhaps they were already on their way even as the Earth loyalists continued pulling him across Homeworld’s dry, empty landscapes. He just had to be patient, to keep on hoping, and soon enough they’d be there. He just knew it.

Eventually their travels came to an end as they reached what ended up being a rather well hidden tunnel that led deep underground. Dipper had never really been afraid of the dark, but there was no denying the sudden terror coursing through him as he was shoved into this foreboding darkness, almost as if something inside of him knew that if he went in there, he wouldn’t be coming back out. The trip through the tunnel didn’t last too long before it ended at a large, square room, all four of its towering walls oddly composed of large mirrors, with a small opening in the ceiling high above providing the room’s only natural light. Dipper couldn’t make sense of this bizarre set up as he was shoved into it, the wall to the tunnel closing off behind him and leaving him cornered alone with his captors.

And if he had thought things had been bad before, this was where everything became unimaginably worse.

In a sense, it was almost as if the Earth loyalists didn’t know they had captured a mere child based on how they treated him. Because the unprovoked, merciless beating they gave their young captive in those first few hours would have been horrific enough for an adult. But for a child, it was so, so much worse. Dipper was completely powerless to stop any of the senselessly aggressive blows landed upon him by the much larger adult loyalists, each one of their attacks carrying some kind of venomous slur: “Rebel scum should have been mutated with the rest of them.” “Filthy traitor, just like the rest of his disgusting family.” “If only we’d gotten the girl too, Cipher would have rewarded us twice as much.” And so on and so forth for what seemed like ages until it finally stopped, though it hardly felt like it was over. Dipper could barely move at all as he lay in a crumpled heap on the ground, his own blood pooling around him as he tried to block out the triumphant laughter of his captors, tried to ignore the biting pain that was everywhere, tried to imagine his family breaking that wall down, rushing in and sweeping him off to warmth and safety and away from this waking nightmare.

A nightmare that simply refused to end.

Almost as soon as the beating ended, the interrogation began, though it was nothing better. If anything it was worse, seeing as how the loyalists kept hounding him and hounding him with questions he simply didn’t have any answers for. “Where is the leader of the rebellion?” “Are there more of you filthy rebels out there?” “What kind of weapons are your uncles holing up in that base of theirs?” “How many of those pathetic Gems are allied to your side?” And again and again and again, endless questions that made no sense to him, ones he couldn’t even think to come up with anything for in his battered state that only got worse as he was physically punished for each and every wrong, unknowing answer.

And so it went on like this for quite some time. It was hard to keep track of time in this minimal mirrored space, but Dipper tried in the rare moments whenever his captors weren’t abusing him. By his estimation from the light pouring in from the ceiling, several days had passed, probably more, and still no sign of Stan, Ford, or anyone making even an attempt to save him. But even so, despite how terrible things were, he was still hopeful. Maybe they were just having a difficult time finding him; perhaps they were searching the entire planet over, all in a desperate attempt to learn where he was being held. So he continued to carry that hope, forced it to be the only thing he thought of when the loyalists lay their unforgiving hands on him.

But hope could only get him so far.

Days started to turn into weeks and the loyalists were clearly starting to get impatient with the lack of information they were getting from their young captive. Miraculously, the beatings had lessened, though only because they had realized that they’d probably end up killing him if they kept at it with as much frequent intensity. But the loyalist leader was adamant. He often complained about having been assigned to simply “babysit some rebel brat”, and it was clear he was growing tired of such a doldrum lot. And though the other loyalists warned him against it, he soon decided to take matters into his own hands.

He stormed into the cell lividly one day, a long knife in his hand as he caught Dipper wistfully staring up at the light from above. The leader sneered coldly, quickly catching the boy’s attention and prompting him to scramble to his feet and back away in a fearful, feeble attempt to put some distance between himself and his captor. “Aw… what?” the leader scoffed, his leering smirk hidden behind his concealing mask. “You think your uncles are gonna come swoop in here and save you? Please.” The leader laughed darkly as he suddenly kicked Dipper cleanly in the stomach, knocking him back roughly before he grabbed him by the front of his shirt and forced him up to his level. “Face it, kid: those has-beens aren’t coming for you. And can you really blame them? Look at you? Scrawny, weak, pathetic. Who would even want you? If we were back on Earth, then you’d have been somebody’s target practice by now. You’re a waste, just like this entire worthless planet is. But hey, if you wanna keep staring up at the sky with that pointless hope of yours, then be my guest! In fact…” the leader’s voice dropped low and sinister as he lifted his knife, eliciting a small, fearful whimper out of Dipper as he held it dangerously close to his face. “I’ll even help you get a better view!”

In a movement so fast Dipper couldn’t have even seen it coming, the leader lashed his blade out, its sharp tip catching the upper half of his face before swiping across his eyes in a swift, fluid movement. The boy was powerless to hold back an absolutely agonized scream at this, pain overwhelming his every sense as the leader carelessly dropped him with a sadistic chuckle, watching him writhe in anguish as the heavy wound poured with thick, dark blood. In a pathetic attempt to block out the pain, Dipper closed his cut eyes as much as he could, sobbing miserably as he forgot about everything else but the anguish, so deep and so unbearable that it eventually ended up sweeping him into the void of unconsciousness altogether.

He didn’t know exactly when it was that he opened his eyes again; but when he did, he was met with nothing but both lasting pain and the sight of complete and absolute nothingness. There was no color, no shapes, nothing. And yet, he could still feel the ground below him, could hear his own sharp, panicked breathing as clear as day. So why couldn’t he see?

And then it struck him. The memory of a knife ripping across his eyes. His sight being torn away from him at that horrible moment. The blood still stuck to his face from the wound running almost entirely across his face. The incredibly crippling fear that he would never see anything ever again.

Stan had used a word for such a condition before, but Dipper was hard pressed to remember it. Blonde? Blunde? Blind? Blind sounded the most correct out of those, so that was what he went with to describe the unfamiliar sensation, but it still hardly helped him feel better. Because now, all he could do was weakly pull himself up to sit and try to feel his way around, grasping at nothing but empty air before finally reaching the smooth surface of one of the mirror walls boxing him in. As he touched it’s cold exterior, Dipper couldn’t help but feel as though something else was wrong too, aside from the horrific fact that his eyes seemed to no longer work. For the first time since he had gotten here, the room was completely silent. No sound of jeering loyalists, or threatening footsteps or anything else really. His non-existent vision was useless in giving him any actual information, but as far as he could tell without it, the loyalists were gone. He waited in silence, unable to tell how much time had passed anymore with all sense of light now stolen away from him, for those footsteps to return, for their wicked mocking to resume, for the pain he had grown so accustomed to by now to continue but… it never did. He could have waited for years and they never would have returned. And after about what felt like a month or so, Dipper finally allowed himself to feel some form of relief from that.

That relief was short lived however as he realized that the loyalists had essentially abandoned him in a prison he had no power to escape from even when he did have his eyesight. But now, as blinded and weak as he was, he was even more trapped than ever before. The only way he managed to actually survive was through the small constant trickle of water that came in through a pipe installed at the corner of the cell. As far as food went, it was rather sparse for the first few weeks, with the only thing he had to rely on being the scraps of bread he had wisely managed to save from whatever meager helpings the loyalists had thrown his way. Still, as time went on and that supply started to run out, he quickly began to fade. His injuries, while slowly healing on their own, were still not properly treated and his stomach was filled with only a deep, aching hunger that the tiny scraps he was trying his best to preserve could not satisfy. But still, he knew he had to hold out; Stan and Ford and Mabel were coming to save him, he had to keep reminding himself. They were coming to save him and take him home and he didn’t even care if he wouldn’t be able to see them because just hearing his sister’s voice again would be enough.

And so he sat tight in that cell, sitting directly under the light from above, his unseeing eyes staring off at nothing as he spent his empty time repeating that hopeful mantra to himself over and over and over again. “They’re gonna come…” he began in a whisper, his voice hoarse and shaky from a lack of use but even so he kept going. “They’re gonna come find me… They’re going to save me… T-they… they do want me… They’re coming… They’re on their way here right now… T-they’ll be here soon… I… I know it...”

Many days were spent like this, with him whispering these gentle, but comforting promises to himself, desperately clinging onto the idea that they were real, that they would come true. That they were more than just an empty, meaningless dream.

His energy soon started to wane more and more each day as his stock of food grew dangerously low. With not even enough strength left to remain sitting up, he eventually resorted to lying in place, though his self-reassurance didn’t stop. Occasionally, whenever he’d fall asleep, he’d find himself back home in Crystal Falls, bright and happy and colorful as he sat at the dinner table with Mabel, Stan, and Ford, all of them laughing warmly as they ate deliciously to their hearts’ content. And then, he’d open his eyes once again and be met with absolutely nothing once more, his heart and hopes sinking lower and lower every single time.

However, it was during one of these wistful dreams that his usual empty routine was abruptly interrupted. Upon feeling something unfamiliar brush against his leg, Dipper flinched awake, instinctually glancing down only to bitterly remember sight was no longer a privilege he had. So instead, he reached down, feeling his way as he often did until he made contact with the small, brightly chirping creature who had happened to invade his cell. The more he felt this seemingly amicable being out, the more he realized its bumpty round hardened surface felt… familiar. In fact, the more he thought about it, this thing seemed to be exactly like the small, friendly Geodite creatures that the forests of Crystal Falls were littered with. The thought of home was enough to elicit a small smile from Dipper as he forced himself to sit up, despite the painful protest his starving stomach gave him, so he could properly greet the first real semblance of company he had in quite some time.

“Hey there, little guy,” he began, his voice still rather weak as he allowed the friendly Geodite to crawl into his lap as he continued stroking it. “You’re a long way from home, aren’t you? I know what that’s like… How did you get in here? Did you climb down from all the way up there?” The Geodite, seeming to understand, let out a bright chirp in response, one that Dipper couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at. Even though it wasn’t much, the very thought of not being so alone anymore managed to brighten his spirits just a bit. But at the same time, it also made him think of something else, something he hadn’t before. Something that could very well finally end up being his ticket out of here. “Wait… you came from up there…” he nodded upward, wishing so much that he could see that promising beam of light once more. “That means… you could go get help! Quick! Go back up there and find my Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford! A-and Mabel too! Especially Mabel… I… I miss her so much… I wonder if she misses me too…”

The Geodite interrupted his pensive thoughts with an excitable chirp as it suddenly lept from his lap, scurrying away until the only thing Dipper could make out were its clattering footsteps as he began walking against one of the mirror walls. It stopped somewhere above him, chirping encouragingly this time as Dipper frowned and shook his head sadly. “I… I’m sorry… I can’t see you… o-or anything really…” The Geodite simply chirped again before its skittering continued until it gradually disappeared into silence, leaving Dipper to morosely realize that he was left alone once again.

Or so he thought; for just a few hours later, the Geodite finally returned, though it wasn’t alone. Several more seemed to follow it, all of them cheerfully “singing” as they made their way down to Dipper, who was admittedly confused as one of them seemed to push something towards him. It was only as he picked the object up and felt out its soft, smooth, sweet-smelling texture that he excitedly realized exactly what this was. “Fruit!” he gasped in shock, not hesitating to take a generous first bite. Its immediate sweetness filled him with immeasurable relief as he realized that he was actually going to have something resembling decent food since his capture. Yet the Geodites weren’t finished yet, for as he gave them his wholehearted thanks, they presented him with even more pieces of fruit, as well as nuts and even a few vegetables. Needless to say that Dipper was quite confused as to where they had ascertained all this food from seeing as how such plants (or any plants really) weren’t native to Homeworld, which left him to assume that a terraformed sector, much like Crystal Falls, couldn’t have been too far away from wherever his underground cell was. But even so, the Geodites didn’t stop off at one delivery; they kept their self-started food service going, supplying Dipper with as much food as he could hope to eat.

It took a little time, but eventually his energy, as well as his drive returned to him, inspiring him with the motivation to try and finally find a way out of his cell. Even if he was essentially stumbling in the dark, he still walked along the perimeter of the room, feeling his way against the glass walls in the hopes that one of them wielded a door. Unfortunately, there were all completely seamless, with no apparent exit in sight which only left him with one other option: trying to break the glass itself. And so he tried and tried and tried and tried but it never seemed to so much as even crack. Even throwing one of the willing Geodites into it did nothing to dent his longtime prison. After weeks and weeks, his escape efforts started to diminish along with his hope. Even if he did have suffice food and water and company, he still lacked the one thing that he was yearning for the most, something that he hadn’t known for so very long that he was starting to forget what it even felt like: freedom.

Every now and then he’d give himself that reminder that his family was still out there looking for him, but that was starting to become less and less frequent as the days went by. When the Geodites first came to him, he’d pass the time by recounting what stories he could remember from before his capture, stories of him and Mabel and all the fun they used to have together but as time went on, those stories started to blur within his memory. He held no question in his mind about Mabel and his connection to her or Stan or Ford, but the specifics seemed to be fading away as months passed on into years. And as those years came and went so too did the hope that he’d ever step foot out of that cell.

But certainly, he tried to reason with himself amidst empty days only occasionally broken by a Geodite generously delivering him his next meal, they were still looking for him.

Certainly, he rationalized as his blank, blinded eyes stared at the ground in front of him, his mind starting to forget what things like color, light, or even his own sister’s face even looked like, they would be coming any day now.

Certainly, he thought as he lay down to sleep only for his once hopeful dreams of home gradually stopped altogether, they would find him.

Certainly… he realized, tears starting to fall from his clouded, ruined eyes as his heart broke and his hope finally died, they had abandoned him, just like everybody else.

And that’s exactly what he believed for the next three years, his heart turning as cold and hard as the unyielding mirrors all around him. Until the day they finally did come.

Which only made his heart turn even colder.

Seven years.

Seven years he had been gone, six of which she had presumed him to be dead. She had given up hope, just as her uncles had, of ever seeing him again. He had been captured and killed, far too young true, but killed nonetheless. That was it, wasn’t it? End of story, nothing more to tell. Except it wasn’t the end.

Because here he was, standing right before her. Her brother, so long thought to have died a tragic, undeserved death, had been alive all these years, hidden away deep underground miles away from Crystal Falls.

For Mabel, there couldn’t have possibly been anything more miraculous than this.

And yet… for as much as this was so unquestionably Dipper, she found that there was so much about him that… wasn’t. He was so much gaunter and paler than he should have been, his hair an overgrown, scrubby mess and his clothes much too small for his now 12 year old body. But then there were his eyes, which had struck her to the core when she had first seen them. Grey and cloudy and unfocused as opposed to the warm, alert brown they should have been, the deep, wide mark of an old, settled scar discolorating the skin around them almost like a mask. Eyes that carried such a haunted, lost look to them that it completely chilled her in every way. Eyes that seemed to be set in a perpetually piercing stare in nothing in particular at all. Eyes that, as she quickly found out, had been completely and utterly blind for the past several years as he sat in this cold, hollow prison all by himself, waiting for help that never came.

Tears of relief and sympathy flooded her eyes as she rushed to embrace him, but on instinct he flinched away from her touch. His panicky manner became even more apparent when he heard Steven and Lapis speak up, his blindness barring both of them from his perception as he tried and failed to place voices to faces and faces to names. Mabel tried to ease him, tried to calm him down, but this attempt was only met with a kind of hostility she hadn’t been expecting. Dipper’s anxious manner soon turned fierce as he addressed her, not looking in her direction as he spoke to the open air and harshly accused her of forgetting about him, of leaving him to rot alone in this cell while she lived the safe, free, happy life he had never really known. Mabel could scarcely believe what she was hearing, and as much as she wanted to argue that not a day had gone by in which she hadn’t thought about him, hadn’t hoped against hope that he was somehow still alive and that they’d somehow be reunited once again, she didn’t. Instead, she simply took his hand and slowly led him out of the cell that had been his home for the past seven years, giving him his first taste of renewed freedom that, from here on out, would only ever be tentative at best.

“You stopped?! What do you mean you stopped?! How could you just… just stop looking for me?!”

“Cut us some slack, kid! Its been seven years! Can you really blame us for expecting the worst after those Earthling wackjobs took you?!”

“Yes, I can! You just gave up completely! Did you even wonder what they did to me down there?! What I’ve been through the past seven years of my life?!”

“We don’t need to wonder, Dipper. W-we can see… And we’re sorry if we threw in the towel too early, but-”

“You’re sorry? I spent over half my life buried underground, nearly starved to death, and went blind, and you’re just sorry?!”

Once again, Mabel found herself curled up into a small, fretful ball, her knees snuggled under her shawl as she silently sat on the sidelines while her brother and uncles duked it out in by far the most vitriolic argument she had ever seen. Really, if she had to pick a side in it, she would have certainly been on Dipper’s, mostly because she had always felt some small inkling in her heart that giving up the search for him had been wrong somehow. And even though that inkling turned out to be right, things still were far from blissful and happy like she had always dreamed they would be if her brother ever returned. In fact, things were anything but that as Dipper, Stan, and Ford continued to fight, their argument echoing brutally throughout the shack. Even Steven’s comforting hand on her shoulder did little to ease her worry, which only spiked upon hearing her brother’s intentions of going off-planet.

“W-wait… you’re what?” she finally spoke up, sitting upright in her seat as she looked to him with wide eyes.

“You heard me,” Dipper answered coldly, still looking at nothing as he responded. “I’m leaving. I’m not about to stay here and be a prisoner on this planet or in this family anymore! I want to be free for a change. And I know I’ll never, ever be that here.”

“Dipper, that’s absurd,” Ford remarked incredulously. “You can’t leave Homeworld to openly traverse the depths of space on your own. You’re much too-”

“Much too what? Young? Blind?” Dipper challenged crossly, his hands in tight fists at his sides. “I don’t see why any of that matters, seeing as how I’ve been on my own for the past seven years and managed to survive just fine all by myself!”

“Kid, don’t be stupid about this,” Stan scowled authoritatively. “You wouldn’t last two seconds out there, not with all those Earth ships roaming around everywhere. Besides, you said so yourself; you’ve been gone for seven years. As far as we’re concerned, you’re gonna stay right here and make up for all that lost time.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Dipper asked harshly. “Do you really think we can all just go right back to being some perfect, happy little family again after you guys just forgot about me!?”

“Dipper, w-we didn’t forget about you…” Mabel said, her voice fragile as she stepped over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, frowning as he flinched from the unexpected contact. “We just… we… we didn’t know that you were… we-”

“You didn’t care,” he cut her off coldly, his blinded eyes set in a fierce, unforgiving glare as he pulled his shoulder away from her. He said nothing more as he turned and started feeling his way towards the door. While Stan made a move to try and stop him, Ford held him back, shaking his head sadly as he watched his battered, broken, bittered nephew leave as he placed the blame for his years upon years of endless suffering upon them all. Which, in so many ways, was a perfectly sensible thing to do.

But even so, Mabel hurried after her brother, intent on keeping him from disappearing from her life once again. Because even seven years later, she was still reaching out for him, even if she knew, deep down, that her extended hand had found him far too little and far too late.

Mabel knew she should have been happy for Dipper as she watched Steven heal his longstanding blindness, but the only thing she could do was frown as that healing spit worked its magic. As Dipper flinched back, closing his eyes and covering them out of surprise first before he slowly opened them once more. As he gasped, his returned brown eyes widening as they finally saw again for the first time in seven years. As tears started to well up in those eyes at how overwhelming it all was as he finally looked over to her in complete shock, as if he was seeing her for the first time ever.

Which, in a way, he was.

And in that moment, the way he smiled at her, the way he said her name with such awe and happiness in his voice, truly made her think that perhaps things might finally turn out alright. This feeling only grew as they mutually embraced, tears in both of their eyes now as the sheer triumph of the moment spoke louder than any words could. This was it, Mabel though with a contented sigh. This was exactly what had been missing the past several years. This was how everything was supposed to be.

Except it wasn’t meant to last.

Because all too quickly their hug disbanded, all too quickly Dipper glanced longingly back at the ship he had been trying to steal just moments ago, all too quickly Mabel remembered exactly why she had been hesitant about Steven healing him in the first place. Because with his vision restored, now there was absolutely nothing stopping Dipper from leaving, this time on his own accord.

As Steven and Lapis both put forth efforts to try and coax him into staying, Mabel could only stand there in silence, shellshocked by how quickly everything had been unfolding. They had only just found him yesterday, but here he was, set to be taken away once more. She couldn’t really blame him for wanting to leave though, there was no way she could have; because if their roles had been reversed and she had been trapped in one place for as long as he had, then she likely would have wanted to chase freedom just as much as he did.

Perhaps if she had at least some of his boldness, then she would have boarded that ship with him. Perhaps if it was just the two of them, with no friends or family or anything else on Homeworld to worry about, she would have joined him in sailing through the stars, both of them finally together like they should have always been. Perhaps she would have… but she didn’t. Instead, she only watched, tears in his eyes as he departed, knowing that the chances of her ever seeing him again were small but at the very least he was alive and free as opposed to the alternative she had grown up believing was true. Still, that didn’t stop her from reaching her hand out after his ship as it drifted higher and higher into the atmosphere, before it disappeared from view entirely.

Only this time, he didn’t reach back.

Dipper had known, from the moment he touched down on Homeworld again, that this was a bad idea. That certainly he’d be followed here, that he’d lead those Earthlings right to the very place where his family still resided. And while he didn’t really have his doubts that Stan and Ford would be able to fend off a few kids from Earth, he did start to worry when Lapis ended up being the one to first discover him and his wrecked ship in the forest of Crystal Falls. He supposed he should have counted himself as lucky that it hadn’t been Mabel, for certainly she would have dragged him back to the shack to tell Stan and Ford everything that he knew, something that he was far too uncomfortable to do so soon after returning. Fortunately, Lapis was much more patient with him, and through that patience, an unexpected bond began to form.

Even before his initial capture, Dipper had never gotten close to any Gems, including even the Crystal Gems who lived essentially right next door to his family. Even though they were practically everywhere, he had never really had any interest in befriending any of them, mostly since a large majority of them seemed to be so emotionally dry and distant. Lapis, however, was a stark exception to that, an example of a Gem who wore her metaphorical heart on her sleeve as well as her open curiosity, something that Dipper couldn’t help but relate to. And so the unlikely pair steadily developed a genuine friendship, with Lapis coming by every day as Dipper continued repairing his crashed ship. As almost therapeutic as their peaceful time together was though, he knew it wasn’t meant to last, for as Lapis professed her hopes that he would stay on Homeworld, Dipper found that his growing guilt and dread would no longer let him remain silent about the threat he knew was soon to come. And after telling Lapis about his perilous escape from Earth first, she urged him to go divulge it all to his family, knowing that they would need such pertinent information if they ever wanted to keep Crystal Falls, or Homeworld as a whole, safe. But how could he just go and tell them that he had led this threat right to their door? How could he admit to his uncles that they had been right all along? How could he apologize to Mabel for leaving her again, which was exactly what he had every intention of doing once this disaster was said and done?

But in the end, he did go and tell them, if for no one else than for Lapis. His resolve to remain professional nearly melted as Mabel rushed up to him, throwing her arms around him in a hug that she never thought she’d get to have again. Yet as much as he wanted to return her embrace, he didn’t as he instead forced his manner to remain cold and unmoved while he stoically warned his uncles of the coming Earth invasion, watching stonefaced as their initial reaction rose into frantic panic. Then, with his message delivered, he slipped out once again, his refusal to let himself fall back into his own family just as staunch and hardened as ever.

And once again, he completely missed his sister’s outstretched hand as he walked out, her heart reaching after him in the hopes that he would stay with her this time, but knowing that was far too much to hope for.

“Well, well, well… looks like things just got a lot more interesting…”

Dipper gasped as he found that the very first thing he was met with upon pulling himself out of the crashed ship’s wreckage was the pitchy voice of the demon who held domain over the entire Earth and all its vast empire. The very demon he had risked life and limb to escape from during his flight from that chaoitc planet, who should have been back on Earth seeing as how he had merely just sent two of his cronies to do his work for him. Yet now, Pacifica was nowhere to be found while Gideon simply stood by, fuming at how Bill was apparently ignoring his proposal to make a deal to take out the Pines family, as well as Steven and Lapis, who had been unfortunate enough to get caught up in all this. But instead, the demon’s singular eye now held focus on Dipper, who couldn’t deny the flash of terror that struck him as that imposing triangular form cast an oppressive shadow over him.

“Hey there, Pine Tree! I was wondering where you ran off to. Guess my hunch about you crawling back to this boring ol’ hunk of rock was right, huh?” Bill began quite effervescently, though as he noticed Dipper attempting to back away, he was quick to reposition himself right behind the boy in a flash. “Whoa, not so fast, kid! You don’t wanna miss out on what could very well be the best deal you’ll ever make, do ya?”

“W-what?” Dipper asked, not having the context to really know what the demon was talking about.

“Hey!” Gideon shouted in sudden outrage as he sent Bill an appalled glare. “I was the one who summoned you here, Bill! I thought you were gonna make a deal with me!”

“Oh, yeah, I was gonna do that,” Bill shrugged nonchalantly. “Until a much better alternative came along.” The demon’s tone dropped low and sinister as he pointed his cane over at Dipper, who was still completely lost amidst this unknown turn of events. “So… see ya, Gideon!” With another flick of his cane, Bill managed to completely take control of Gideon’s amulet, resulting in his own telekinesis being used against him to fling him far away from the Kindergarten crash site and freeing the demon up to get back to business. “Now, Pine Tree, where were we…?”

“L-Leave him alone!” Mabel shouted as Bill started circling her brother almost threateningly. The only reason she hadn’t ran over to pull Dipper away herself was because of the steady hold Stan had on her arm, keeping her held back just as much as she had been held back the first time he had been stolen away from her seven years ago. Only now, with a threat so much more dangerous and unpredictable as Bill Cipher, her complete inability to do anything to help Dipper felt so, so much worse.

“So listen up, Pine Tree, cause I don’t like to repeat myself,” Bill said as casually as ever, ignoring Mabel’s fearful cry. “You may not know this since you’ve been all blind and buried for so many years, but back on Earth, I’m pretty much the most powerful guy around. Time manipulation, the ability to change anything and anyone with a blink of an eye, endless amounts of magic your feeble human brain couldn’t even hope to comprehend, you know, the works! But here on silly old Homeworld, things are a bit… different. This planet’s outta my hands, which is something I plan on changing pretty soon, but for now, I kinda can't interact with this place physically without a vessel. So I need a little… help, if ya catch my drift…” s on edge as he already was by the dream demon’s mere presence alone, Dipper slowly shook his head, finally realizing just how fast his heart was pounding as he tried his hardest to reconcile his complete and utter terror. Still, Bill simply sighed in exasperation and rolling his eye before he explained. “My drift is this: you let me possess you, let me take the reins and sit in your control seat for a while, so I can finally get rid of what’s left of your stupid, annoying family! Heck, since you’re so un-Pines compared to all the rest of them, I’ll even let you walk away with your life when it’s all said and done as my way of saying thanks! Sounds like a pretty good plan, doesn’t it, kid?”

For a moment there were no words that Dipper could find to describe just how absolutely appalled he was by this incredibly gruesome idea. The fact that Bill Cipher, of all the beings in the universe, wanted to use him as a tool to destroy his own family, that he wanted him to agree to let such a thing happen? It was beyond twisted and cruel. In fact, he was so shocked by it that he couldn’t even properly express anything but absolute dumbfoundment at it when he finally did manage to respond to it. “I… I don’t understand…” he choked, shaking his head once more. “W-why… what makes you think I would ever say yes to something like that?”

“Why wouldn’t you say yes to something like that?” Bill retorted calmly. “Think about this for a sec, Pine Tree. These three?” he threw a hand out towards Mabel, Stan, and Ford. “They let a bunch of Earth squares steal you away when you were only 5 years old. And then what did they do? What did they do while you were beaten and battered almost constantly for weeks on end? What did they do when someone ran a knife over your eyes until you were completely and totally blind? What did they do when you were left for dead in that empty cell for seven years with nothing but a bunch of dumb old rocks and your own pathetic, unfulfilled dreams to keep you company? Oh, that’s right! They did nothing!”

Dipper shuddered at this, hating to admit that every single thing the demon was saying was true but knowing in his heart that it was. He had languished, suffered, hoped in vain for so long that they would come for him, but they never did until after all the hope he had left in him had long since died. And even then, they had only managed to stumble upon him on accident. Stan and Ford had even said so themselves that they had stopped looking for him only a year after his disappearance. This was something he had thought about frequently, ever since he had been set free, and every time he did, it only made him ache with the belief that his own family had cared so very little about him that they had just given up on him completely. And really, it was a large part of the reason he had already given up on them.

“Really, kid, it only makes sense,” Bill continued, fighting rationality upon seeing that his manipulation was seemingly working. “I mean, you don’t even wanna be part of their family anymore anyway, so why not just do yourself a favor and lighten this whole ‘rebellious legacy’ load off your shoulders? At least then, you wouldn’t have to keep running away all the time.”

“Dipper! Don’t listen to him! Please” Mabel cried once again, pulling against Stan’s grip, though it held fest, lest she break free and throw herself into the same danger her brother was in.

“Seriously, kid, he’s lying to you!” Stan shouted adamantly, wanting to believe that, despite all of the abuse he had been through in his young life, that his nephew was smarter than this. “You really think he won’t off you the second he’s through with all of us?! Because that’s not how that psychopath works, believe us.”

“Stanley’s right,” Ford agreed, the immense worry in his otherwise tight expression. “Dipper, you can’t trust him, he only wants to-”

“Hey, how about you three butt out for a sec and let Pine Tree decide here?” Bill cut their pleas off sharply before turning back to Dipper. “See what I mean, kid? The only thing they care about is saving their own hides. That’s exactly why they never bothered to look for you even ten minutes outside their own backyard. Guess they didn’t think you were worth the effort.”

“No, we did think you were worth it, Dipper!” Mabel protested fiercely, though she kept at it as Dipper finally glanced over at her, clear conflict filling his expression. “I never wanted to stop looking for you! I always hoped that you were still alive and out there somewhere and I was right. A-and I know you’re mad at us for taking so long to find you, but you can’t do this. Please, Dipper… I-I can’t lose you again, not like this…”

Dipper could still scarcely even think of what to say amidst being pressed on all sides, but for what seemed like ages he kept his frightened, anxious, uncertain gaze on Mabel, who could only meet it with tears after she finished her appeal. She desperately hoped that it would be enough to sway him against such an awful deal, that he’d staunchly turn Bill down and finally come to stand with his family once more. Yet… it really didn’t seem to be enough, for instead of keeping his sights on her, he gradually glanced over to Lapis, who had simply been standing along with Steven in tense silence this entire time, neither of them having the faintest clue about what to do to stop this. As Dipper made eye contact with her, the most the blue Gem could do was softly shake her head, her eyes wide with unabridged terror at the thought of losing the boy she had just grown so close to like this. And yet, it was only as Dipper saw that terror that he realized what would happen if he said no to the demon’s twisted aspirations. Even if he refused, then Bill would always be able to find someone else, someone much more willing even, like Gideon for instance, to carry out his sadistic plans. And then, none of them, no one on Homeworld at all, would be safe, including his family, including Mabel, including Steven, including Lapis. No one would be able to stop the insane demon from doing whatever violent, demented thing he wanted, including destroying anything and anyone who stood in his path of conquest and chaos. If he said no, then there would be no telling what might happen.

Which was exactly why he had to say yes.

“So, kid, have you made up your mind yet?” Bill asked with faux boredom. “Because I’m a very busy demon, what with ruling my own intergalactic empire and everything, and I haven’t got all-””

“I’ll do it,” Dipper spoke up, squaring his shoulders and putting on his bravest face as he thought about exactly what this would entail for him. Even so, he had a plan, one that was only really tentative at best and one that would only really lead him to even more suffering than he had already known, but at least this time, it would all be on his own terms.

Needless to say that the reaction to his staunch agreement was intense. Mabel was the first to lash out, finally pulling herself out of Stan’s hold as a loud scream of protest tore from her. Lapis wasn’t far behind, her wings summoned as she rushed forward, tears forming in her eyes as she hurried to try and stop this deal from going through by any means necessary. Unfortunately, while Bill didn’t have much power on Homeworld, he did have enough to erect a blue fiery barrier, one that easily barred Mabel, Lapis, and anyone else from breaking this arrangement while still giving them a front row seat to it all.

“Yeesh, so much drama with you rebels!” Bill rolled his eye caustically. “I gotta admit, I’ll kinda miss that about you chumps… but not for long! So, Pine Tree, are you finally ready to get even for all those long years of abuse and abandonment? Cause if you are, then all it takes is just one simple handshake…” At this, the demon held his hand out, blue flames sparking over it as he presented it to Dipper, who simply looked between it and Bill himself with cold acceptance. He was ready for this, whatever it was, he told himself. He had spent seven years in blinded emptiness, how could this be much worse than that?

And yet, he still looked over at the pair who had rushed forth in vain to try and save him, both of them looking to him tearfully and still begging him not to go through with this. His resolve nearly crumbled upon meeting Mabel’s miserable expression, but it came back to him when he saw Lapis’. For seven years he had dreamed of nothing but freedom, and now, he was going to give that freedom up, more than likely forever, just to save the two people he was still absolutely certain he cared about.

It was probably the most worthy sacrifice he could think of, if he was perfectly honest with himself.

So, with a deep breath and closed eyes, he took the demon’s hand, allowing his own to be pulled down in shake that locked everything in place. And from there, everything seemed to happen all at once.

The very first thing he felt was pain, pain that was so fierce and so intense that it made the anguish of having that knife torn across his eyes feel like a mere scratch by comparison. But as the pain died out, as all his senses died out really, they were replaced with something else, something that seemed to overwhelm every single fiber of his being: power. Or at least he thought it was power, because what it really was was something far beyond what his mortal mind could even begin to comprehend. In fact, the only things he knew of it were that it was rich, strong, tantalizing, chaotic, uncontrollable, and his. But it wasn’t really. Rather it belonged to the miasmic, sinister, unquestionably insane entity that was quickly flooding his consciousness, splitting it cleanly in half and brutally pushing him aside as it easily took control of everything, all while he was left adrift inside his own completely ravaged mind, desperately trying to recover from the shock of it all before it was too late.

Mabel let out a tearful gasp as the wall of fire finally fell, allowing her to see that Bill was gone, but Dipper was still there, his eyes still shut and his body rigid and unmoving as she hurried over to him, Lapis following not too far behind. By the time she had almost reached him, however, he started to do something she hadn’t been expecting: laugh. As the laughter rose in volume and grew more manic, she realized that it was indeed in Dipper’s voice, but at the same time, it was also Bill’s. Both voices were completely unified as his laughter rose to triumphant levels, his eyes opening to reveal that one of them was still a natural, normal brown, while the other was sharply slitted against bright, piercing, glowing yellow, telling Mabel only one thing. That the worst had indeed happened. That her brother had been taken away from her yet again, only this time, she would never get him back. That he wasn’t even Dipper anymore, that he couldn’t be with with someone like Bill running wild and free inside his mind. Bipper… she concluded briefly, the name sounding so very wrong, even inside her own mind. Still, she was so heartbroken by what was happening that she couldn’t even allow herself to feel any form of betrayal towards him for what he had just done. Even if that betrayal was something that the newly dubbed “Bipper” was more than happy to remind them all off.

“Ah, now this is more like it!” he exclaimed proudly, his voice still a twisted mix of Bill’s and Dipper’s, though there was clearly more of a demonic edge to it. “It’s been so long since I’ve needed one of these flesh sacks that I almost forgot what being inside one of them is like! Still, I owe you one for being so nice and compliant about all this, Pine Tree! So,” his demented grin grew as he began to lift off the ground, blue flames curling up upon both of his hands as he hovered over his targets with sadistic glee. “What do you say we get started, huh? Oh, that’s right! You’re probably still trying to pull your measly human mind back together after having so much limitless cosmic power crammed into it all at once! Well then, don’t worry, kid! You just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. I’ll take it from here…”

Bipper let out another absolutely wild laugh at this, his yellow eye sparking with murderous intent while his flames grew larger as he prepared to rain them down upon his unprepared foes. Stan and Ford and Steven were all absolutely shellshocked by what they were seeing, none of them scarcely able to believe it while Lapis let out a harsh, broken sob at how far Dipper had fallen. But all Mabel could do was reach out to him once more, tears refusing to leave her eyes as she hoped that somehow, someway, this twisted nightmare would finally end, that she’d wake up and he’d be there and they’d be happy again, just like they had been so many years ago.

But of course, no matter how much she reached, it was never to be.

For suddenly, right before Bipper could bring his flames down, they abruptly died out, much to his apparent surprise. “Huh?!” he glanced at his hands in shock, clearly trying to bring the flames back only for him to suddenly go flying back in mid air towards the entrance of the Kindergarten behind him. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing, kid?!” He let out a sudden anguished shout at this, his limbs struggling to break free of some kind of invisible bondage as his expression changed from confusion to absolute raw fury. “For almost my entire life I’ve always been somebody’s prisoner,” he began fiercely, Dipper’s voice clearly starting to overpower Bill’s. “I practically grew up inside a jail cell I couldn’t even see. I missed out on everything my life should have been! And even after I thought I was finally free, I didn’t even get to enjoy it before your stupid forces came along and captured me all over again! But no more; I’m through with being trapped and tortured everywhere I go! Now it’s your turn to be locked away and forgotten, Bill! Let’s see how you like it!”

With another harsh shout, he pulled himself back even more, a blue glow igniting around his hands, one that transferred to the rocks surrounding the Kindergarten’s tunnel entrance. “Whoa! Wait! P-Pine Tree, stop!” Bipper gasped as the other half of him realized exactly what was about to happen here and fought in vain for control against it. “W-what about your revenge?! This is your one chance to take out your neglectful family and you’re completely wasting it just to put me away?! Don’t you realize you’re doing the exact same thing to yourself!? You’ve lost it!”

“No,” he replied to himself coldly, his expression a resolved glare as he looked to both Lapis and Mabel, finally smiling just the slightest bit as his hand moved to bring the rocks down on his telekinetic command. “I haven’t.”

“Dipper!” Mabel cried in an absolute panic as the impending cave in began, the rocks falling hard and heavy before him. The Kindergarten itself was closed off completely on the inside, with its one entrance also being its only exit, and Bipper had brazenly, intentionally landed on the wrong side of the momentous pile of rocks. Meaning that once all of them fell, he’d be trapped inside indefinitely, something that Mabel couldn’t let happen, but was ultimately completely powerless to stop.

“Augh! Stupid kid!” Bipper shouted in blind rage, his limbs trembling wildly as he desperately tried and failed to wrest back control. “This wasn’t the deal! When I take control back from you, I’m gonna make you wish you were never born!” The other half of him simply let out a soft, almost accepting sigh at this, his fury dissipating into calm acceptance of his fate as he closed his eyes, not wanting to see that final look of desperate anguish on Mabel’s face as the last of the rocks fell. “Too late,” he muttered calmly, mentally preparing himself for the nearly endless internal conflict to come. “I already do.”

And just like that, he was gone, the final rock falling as Mabel collapsed to her knees with a broken sob, her hand still held out, just like it always was, for the brother who had just condemned himself to an eternity of imprisoned torment. The brother who had given away every part of himself, including his highly sought after freedom, just to save her life. The brother who would certainly never be able to reach his hand back to her now, even if he wanted to.

She missed him.

She thought she had missed him before, when she was but a teary-eyed five year old who kept thinking that he’d come home “any minute now”. She thought she had missed him after he had taken off on that ship to parts unknown, presumably never to return. But now? Now she missed him so much that it almost physically hurt her. Because now she could go down to the entrance of that Kindergarten at the edge of the sector literally any time she wanted to. Now she could place her hand against that impenetrable rock wall, she could imagine him on the other side of it, wrestling against the demon he had let into his mind with every ounce of resistance he had in him, she could whisper her tearful promises to find a way to help him, no matter how it might take. Promises that were largely more wishes than they were actual promises.

Still it seemed that her and Lapis were really the only ones who were making any kind of effort to do something about Dipper’s plight. The Crystal Gems were clueless when it came to a being as tricky and enigmatic as Bill Cipher, the Fusions’ Logs offered literally no assistance, and most frustrating to Mabel, Stan and Ford seemed to be very hands off about the whole thing. One night, not too many weeks after Dipper had trapped himself and Bill away, her frustration finally exploded into full on rage as she shouted at her uncles, fiercely demanding why they seemed to be doing nothing to even try to help their own nephew, why they were seeming to be giving up on him all over again. Their rebuttal was that they wanted to help Dipper, they really, really did, but they simply didn’t know enough about Bill and the extent of his abilities to do anything that would be safe for the good of Homeworld at large. As it stood, the merciless demon who had single handedly conquered Earth had finally been subdued and sealed away, inside the body of a twelve year old who had locked them both inside a barren Kindergarten, true, but sealed away nonetheless. Which meant that for now at least, the planet was safe.

But that was far from good enough for Mabel.

Despite how much of a failure Lapis’ attempts at helping Dipper had been thus far, Mabel couldn’t help but admire how hard she was trying. The blue Gem had researched extensively on the mysterious demon, had tried to terraform around the Kindergarten, had even gone as far as to fuse with the brutish Jasper into the massive, merciless Malachite in the hopes of decimating that rock wall, a plan that had only left Lapis with more scars than successes when it was all said and done. And even if none of her ideas were working, Mabel wished that she had even a fraction of the blue Gem’s verve, because as things were, she felt so completely useless. Dipper had saved all their lives, perhaps even all of Homeworld itself, and what did he get as a reward for his courageous selflessness? Yet another prison for him to rot away in, this time with a cellmate who was the complete and utter embodiment of hatred and chaos itself. And what was she doing to help free him from that prison? Nothing, just as Bill had accused them all of. She was doing nothing to rescue her brother from his horrendous situation, just as she had done nothing to rescue him seven years ago. The truth of it was she was failing him in every sense of the word. Because as much as she wanted to help him, she didn’t even know where to start at all. She didn’t know how to break that massive stone wall keeping him locked away down. She didn’t know how to kick the vicious demon he was currently sharing his body with out. She didn’t know how to bring him home once and for all, to get him to finally stay with her, to convince him that they were still a family, no matter how many times they were torn apart.

She didn’t know how to help him; which meant that the only thing she could do instead of try was what she had always done: keep reaching out for a hand that never seemed to reach back.

He could feel it.

Day in and day out, it pounded heavily against the back of the half of his mind he still had some semblance of control over. It coaxed him, begged him to open that door, to let the floodgates go down, to let that rich, endless power now afforded to him just flow through him completely unfettered. To just let go, to end his pointless vigil and let himself finally be free to do whatever he could possibly imagine. The power tugged on his very soul, it seemed, hounding at him to be used, demanding to at least let the other, much more wild and malicious half of his consciousness use it if he wasn’t going to.

It absolutely terrified him.

Mostly because it was something that Bill had absolutely no qualms about taunting him with almost constantly as they shared their prison that was his body, which was trapped inside an even larger prison that was the Kindergarten. Fortunately, whatever half of him that was now the demon negated his former need for food, water, or even sleep because the Kindergarten itself was completely desolate and devoid of all signs of life except for him. Even then, he barely felt alive as he sat in once spot, in one of the larger holes in the hollowed out walls he had claimed as his own moments after locking himself away. And there he stated, largely unmoving as he resumed the very same stance of waiting for nothing that he had grown so used to during his first bout of captivity. Only now, he didn’t expect to be saved; in all honesty, he didn’t want to be saved. Because if he was saved, then so was Bill. And all at once, everything he had thrown his life away from would be worth nothing at all.

Still, even if he had managed to subdue the demon physically, that didn’t mean keeping him bound mentally was anything close to a simple task. Every second of every day was a struggle for control, one that he only narrowly managed to maintain the upper hand in. Bill would try almost ceaselessly to escape his ridiculously determined vessel only for Dipper to somehow reign him back in every single time. It didn’t take long for the demon to grow desperate, and as he did, so too did his tactics. Even though he had little to no control over their shared body, his still had a potent presence inside their mind, the connection between their consciousnesses being more than enough for him to get his messages across. In his most petty fits of rage, Bill would often press nightmare after nightmare upon Dipper, filling them with the most unspeakable horrors both imaginable and unimaginable, things that would have easily and utterly broken the average human mind upon so much as a first glance. But what the demon underestimated was that he was dealing with a mind that had already been broken by years of untold horrors all their own. And in its place stood a wall of indifference and determination so strong and sturdy that even a being as powerful as Bill himself was having a hard time putting a dent in it.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t stop trying. Because even if he knew Dipper held little struggle against him, Bill could tell that he was struggling with the immense power they both had access to, though Dipper even moreso now because of his well-maintained control. And while it infuriated the demon to no end that a mere human child was in a better position to use his powers than even he was, Bill knew he could use this struggle to his advantage.

“When are you just gonna give up already, kid?” he asked, their voices still intertwined as they echoed through the otherwise dense silence of the Kindergarten in an almost ethereal way. “We both know you wanna use it, so why don’t you? It’d be a way better use of your time than just sitting around here doing nothing all day.”

“I think you know exactly why I’m not going to use it,” he replied coldly, evenly, just as he always did whenever the demon attempted this, which was very often. “Because if I did, then you’d probably be set free. Which is not something I’m about to let happen now, or ever.”

“Geez, well sorry for asking, ‘Mr. Warden’. I just couldn’t help but notice that its calling to you a bit… stronger than usual… You really sure you don’t wanna answer that call? It’d be pretty disappointed if you just left it hanging, you know.”

“I don’t care. I’m not using it. I don’t need it. Now could you just be quiet for a change instead of trying to wear me down, which isn’t working by the way. I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Aw, what’s the matter, Pine Tree? Thinkin’ about poor little Shooting Star again? You sure tend to do that a lot, even though I don’t get why. Honestly, if I were you, I’d be angry at her instead of worried about her like you are. Especially since her life should have been yours.”

He flinched at this, his eyes widening somewhat as his brow furrowed in confusion. “W-what do you mean?”

“What, you mean you can’t see it? Oh, that’s right, you won’t let yourself use any of my-or should I say--our powers for some stupid reason. Well if you did, then you’d be able to take a glimpse at any number of alternate realities that split off of our own. And I’m not lying to you when I tell you there’s one where Shooting Star was captured that night instead of you. You wanna take a quick peek?”

His heart sank at the very idea of any reality where Mabel went through even half of the pain he had endured. After all, he had been hurt so deeply and so profoundly in so many different ways that he wouldn’t wish that kind of anguish upon anyone. Except for Bill maybe. Especially since the demon didn’t seem to care about his already quite loud internal protest against this. “Too late! Here ya go, Pine Tree! Enjoy what could have been!”

Dipper gasped as his mind was abruptly whisked away into the dreamscape, allowing him to watch as an inactive observer as an entirely different version of his life played out before him. All at once there he was back on that fateful night seven years ago, where any chance he once had at living a normal life had died right along with his freedom. And yet, instead of the Earth loyalists nabbing him and taking off, they managed to get ahold of Mabel instead. Dipper felt a bitter chill run through him as he watched his younger self reach out for his abducted sister as she disappeared into the night, presumably never to be seen again. A year past, one that he spent in worry as Stan and Ford searched high and low, all the Gems of Crystal Falls lending their aid to try and find Mabel but they never did. Dipper begged, pleaded against his uncles as they finally called off all their search efforts, knowing that any hope of getting her back again was incredibly slim. Yet over time, he began to accept that painful truth as well, as much as it hurt his heart in every conceivable way to think that he’d never see his sister again. And so, as a way of bracing himself against that pain, he forced himself to move on, to keep on living his life, because certainly, that’s what Mabel would have wanted.

And so he did. He watched with wonder as his childhood played out in a much better way than it actually had. He lived in warmth, comfort, and peace with Stan and Ford, their care for him immense as they both knew he could have been lost just as easily as Mabel had been. Never once did he want for anything; he was always well fed, well bathed, well rested, and well loved. Stan taught him how to fight while Ford brought him up with all of the scientific knowledge he had in his arsenal. He craved knowledge, thrived in it, sought every opportunity available to him to learn more just to satisfy his curious nature. His days were spent in free, cheerful exploration, Steven often at his side as they ran through the streets and woods of Crystal Falls, building friendships with most of the Gems who lived there and uncovering the mysteries that lay beyond its limits. In time, Lapis showed up to Crystal Falls, just as eager to learn as he was and together in their pursuit of knowledge, they were unstoppable. And they years went by in their quiet way, unfettered in their peacefulness and bliss as he lived his life, embracing every second of it and reveling in the amazingness of the complex, yet beautiful world all around him. A world that he had never gotten to see much of with his own eyes as they had been blinded so long ago. A world that he could have had just as much as Mabel did. A world that he wanted, that he felt robbed of, that he should have had and why didn’t he? Why had he been the one who had been taken away? Why had he been the one who suffered through so much senseless torture? Why had his life been stolen away from him before it had even really begun?

And most of all, why couldn’t he do anything to change it?

But he could… The tug at the back of his mind reminded him. He could change it if he really wanted to. He could bend time, warp it to his favor, make the clock reverse to the point that he could actually have the peaceful, coveted life that had just played out before him. He had that power now, it was all his. And accessing it would be as easy as simply opening up that door and letting it all flow in.

As he considered opening that door for the first time, somewhere, on the other half of his consciousness, Bill Cipher laughed triumphantly, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before his impressionable young vessel caved completely. And then, there would be no one who could stop him.

The Kindergarten’s implosion could be heard and seen all across Crystal Falls, even as far as the abandoned ship near the lake. The moment they all realized what it was, Stan and Ford had already started setting off, the Crystal Gems hurrying not too far behind. And though she had been ordered to stay behind at the ship with Pacifica and Steven, Mabel refused to simply wait by while her brother suffered any longer. Which was why she raced after them, running across town without a single stop, all the way to the ruined remains of the Kindergarten. And the sight she found there was more than enough to make her blood run completely cold.

There he was, floating high above Stan, Ford, and the Gems trying to stop him, his entire body aglow with blue flames as he let out a dark, malicious laugh. Gone was all the calm control Dipper had had when he had sealed them both away, for though it had taken him months, Bill had finally gotten the control he had been so fervently vying for. Already the demon had taken some of his anger out on his vessel for his lengthy imprisonment, if his bloody nose and chest were any indication, but even so his manner was wild and unrestrained as he rained his vengeance down upon those below without a single sign of hesitance or restraint, triumphantly taunting them all the while.

For a moment, the most Mabel could do was watch all this chaos unfold from her distant vantage point, tears streaming down her cheeks as she felt all sense of waning hope fade away. She knew that Dipper had fought for so hard and for so long to keep Bill at bay, more than likely putting himself through endless amounts of anguish and agony every step of the way. But in the end, his fierce, courageous struggle still hadn’t been enough. In the end, the demon had still won, he was still having his long awaited revenge, he was still poised to destroy her entire family, Dipper included.

And after years of doing nothing, that was something that Mabel was not about to let happen.

“Hey!” she shouted, boldly rushing forward into the fray. The moment they realized she was there, Stan and Ford tried everything they could to hold her back, but she pushed past her uncles this time, running right up to her possessed brother, glaring up at him with all of the ferocity and righteous fury she could muster. “Get out of him already, Bill! Now!”

“Well, well…” Bipper began with an intrigued grin as he drifted down a bit, Bill still clearly in control as his yellow eye flashed twistedly. “Look who we have here… Glad to see you could make it, Shooting Star! I was thinking I was missing one out of the set, but nope! Guess the family’s all here, finally together again! Isn’t it just sweet?”

“Shut up!” Mabel growled, her hands curled into tight fists at her sides. “I don’t know how you beat Dipper back and broke out but that doesn’t matter, because you’re going to get out of his body and leave all of us alone!”

“Oh yeah?” he asked challengingly. “And what makes you think that? What makes you think I’m not just gonna burn you and your stupid uncles to a crisp before doing the same thing to the rest of this worthless planet?”

“I know you’re not gonna do that because somewhere in that body, Dipper’s still there, I know it,” she retorted, her manner still brazen and resolved. “And I know he would never do that.”

“Ha!” he laughed mockingly at this claim. “Then clearly you don’t know your own brother that well, kid. He just spent the last several months trying his best to resist using our immense cosmic power, and you wanna know the only reason he finally gave in? So he could take your happy little life away from you so he could have it instead while you’d be tortured and imprisoned for years on end just like he was! You call that selfless? Or noble? Or heroic? Cause I sure don’t!”

Mabel’s determination finally shaken away into shock upon hearing this, her eyes widening as she tried to make sense of what she had just heard. “W-wha… n-no! That… that’s not true! H-he wouldn’t… you… you’re lying!”

“You wish I was, kid,” he scoffed coldly. “But go ahead and tell her, Pine Tree! Tell her all about how you were ready and willing to roll back time and flip your fates around! I’m sure she’d love to hear about how much you don’t care about her!” A gasp escaped him, tears starting to well up in his eyes as his other half was finally allowed some control. Guilt was written all over his expression as he looked down at her, telling her all that she needed to know that the demon had, against all odds, been telling the truth. “M-Mabel… I… I didn’t… I was just… I never wanted you to-” He let out a sharp cry of anguish as control was viciously ripped away from him again, his remorse turning into a smug grin. “See, Shooting Star? He can’t even bring himself to deny it because it’s true! He was gonna throw you under the bus just so he could take everything you’ve ever known and loved for himself! Some brother he turned out to be, huh?”

Mabel said nothing for a moment, a few tears finally escaping her as she thought about just how horrible it all was. It was true: Dipper really had wanted to swap their fates around, to put himself in her peaceful place while she took his own horrific one. He had gone through so much agony in his life that she couldn’t even begin to imagine going through all of that herself, much less somehow surviving it like he had. And yet… for as terrible as this truth was… she still couldn’t find it in her to be angry at him like Bill clearly wanted her to be. She couldn’t be, no matter how hard she tried, because when it came right down to it, he had every single right to feel that way. He had been beaten, blinded, abandoned, brutalized, and yet in the end, in that deciding moment when he had been given a chance to exact his revenge against the family that had wronged him, he hadn’t. Instead, he had turned the tables, trapping both himself and Bill away and remaining strong in his vigil for as long as he had been able to hold out. He had saved them all, even when he really hadn’t been obligated to, even when he could have saved himself so much more easily. And in Mabel’s eyes, that selfless, sacrificial act far outweighed whatever small, overall insignificant moment of selfishness that had led him here.

“D-Dipper… I… You… W-what happened to you was… it was so unfair…” Mabel began waveringly, desperation in her eyes as she looked up at him tearfully, hoping that her brother could hear her beyond the demon controlling his body. “I haven’t stopped thinking about how unfair it all was from the minute we first found you in that cell… Pretty much every day I ask myself why all this happened to you instead of me. B-because if I could have, then I definitely would have swapped places with you in a heartbeat. You didn’t deserve what you went through. You were just a kid, we both were. Heck, we still are. And its so wrong that you’re the one who has to keep going through all these terrible things because… b-because of me… So… if you wanted to switch our lives around, or, heck, even if you wanted to just get rid of me altogether… t-then… then I’d understand that… Because you deserve so much better than what you got… You always have… and you always will…”

Bipper scoffed haughtily at this attempt at an appeal, his eyes rolling as he began buffering it off. “Oh give me a break, Shooting Star. Like any of your schmaltzy apologies are actually gonna-” He suddenly trailed off, his tears returning as sadden sincerity filled his expression. “M-Mabel, no… I… I never… I don’t want to change things around like that… I thought I did, b-but… but I was wrong… It’s true, my life has pretty much been… well, the worst, but I’d never, ever wish any of that on you… I just… I… The only thing I want is for all of this to finally end…”

“And it can,” Mabel smiled warmly, reaching her hand out to him once more. “You’re stronger than Bill is, Dipper, I know you are. You held out for so long now that you’re practically a pro at handling crazy murderous demons! And you wanna know why I know that? Because you’re my brother; and fighting back and being totally awesome is something that runs in our family, whether you like it or not.”

He let out a small, genuine laugh at this, and Mabel felt her heart begin to soar as, for the first time in years, he began to reach his hand back to meet hers. Yet before they could connect, it was stopped once again, this time by his other hand as a fierce struggle for control again. “N-no! Don’t listen to her! I’m not about to let a bunch of sentimental family garbage ruin everything I’ve worked so hard for!” His other half resisted fiercely though, pulling past this restraint as he continued reaching out for Mabel, his hope finally returning to him after years and years of it being gone. “Well I’m not about to let you or anything else keep me away from my sister anymore! So face it, Bill. This is over. And you’ve lost!”

And with that, their hands finally connected, years and years of separation and grief ending in one moment of sheer love and triumph. The demon let out a wild screech of defeat as suddenly, without any warning of all, he was shoved straight out of his longtime vessel, back into his triangular form as he shot back into the open air. As Stan, Ford, and the Gems hurried after Bill and eventually forced him to retreat, the blue glow surrounding Dipper faded, his shared power gone as his eyes closed and he collapsed right into Mabel’s arms. She held onto him tightly, mostly out of fear that he’d be taken from her again if she ever let him go, as he trembled uncontrollably, his body and mind both in shock over just how much it had been through over the past few seemingly endless months. But even so, she was there for him, rubbing a hand over his back gently in an attempt to soothe him as she whispered gentle reassurances to him all the while.

“It’s ok, bro-bro,” she said softly, ignoring everything else going on around her as she reserved her attention solely for him. “Everything’s gonna be alright… it’s over now… You’re safe… you’re free… And that’s exactly how you’re gonna be from here on out… I promise…”

Dipper said nothing in response to any of this, mostly because his mind was still struggling to pull its ruined parts together again as it recovered from Bill’s incredibly toxic presence within it. But even so, he showed his appreciation for her comfort by slowly, shakily lifting his arms to return her embrace as he buried his face into her shoulder, knowing that this was perhaps the first time in seven years that he truly felt like he was no longer alone.

And even though tears were still running down her cheeks through it all, Mabel couldn’t help but smile, joy unlike any she had ever experienced before flooding her every sense. Because for the first time in seven years, through pain and scars and grief and guilt and everything else, he had reached out to her once more. Even if time couldn’t take back any of the things that had kept them apart in the past, they were finally together again.

And for both of the Pines twins, this was more than enough.

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