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theotheroccassionalfanficwriter · 3 years

Note

I have a request! So Reader is curious about what Zhongli was like during the Archon war so Zhongli gives them a dream (With consent of course) where they meet Morax and reader gets fucked by him. Also Zhongli is watching too. If he manifests in the dream to join in or not is up to you.

This was the hardest fic I wrote so far because I had to think if I'd go for two dicks Zhongli or not. So anon, and everyone else, please suspend your disbelief in this fic. Yeah 4 cocks might be too much for one hole but listen as the new adage says "If there's a hole, there's a way!"

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

Summary: A simple question borne out of curiosity leads you to experience a side of Zhongli that no historian had never even thought of.

It started from an innocuous question, one borne from curiosity and genuine desire to know more about him.

“What were you like, during the Archon Wars?” You had asked, the midday sun shining brightly through the bamboo leaves on the roads of Qingce.

Your hair fluttered in the soft winds, your silver bell tinkling with each step you took as it fluttered from the sides of your sash.

“Unpleasant” He had answered after a beat, he stopped observing you and looked forward, blankly staring at the road as he remembered the way he was.

Just as cold and as unfeeling as the rocks he had come from.

“Hmmm…”

Your curious tone became on the receiving end of his inquisitive look. You smiled at him, gentle and just shy of being embarrassed, “I think, you would have no patience for my usual antics. Had you been unfortunate enough to have met me then.”

“Perhaps,” Zhongli agreed but silently he thought, ‘I would have still come to like you.’

You laughed at his agreement, oblivious to his silent thoughts, “Ah~ but I feel like I would have so much fun teasing the version of you during the Archon Wars.”

“I bet you were so uptight during that time, like a stick in the mud!” You continued in playful banter, “I’d probably be the first person who’d get you so mad you’d be red in the face!”

Zhongli found amusement in the triumphant tone you held, your tone just as excited as it was when sharing theories with Miss Alice. Zhongli found comfort in that, the knowledge that even at his most scariest, and most unpleasant point in his life, you would be fond of him.

“Zhongli, do you think that if we met back then we’d be as close as we are now?” You asked him, “personally, I think that we wouldn’t be. I don’t think I would have been able to survive the aftermath of the Archon Wars.”

Zhongli paused in his walking, his joy washed away in your rationality.

“What makes you so sure of it?” He asked, ‘I would have protected you.’

You gave him a soft smile, “We wouldn’t have gotten along, I would probably punch you in the face. And then you’d get mad for the disrespect.”

Your laughter rang in his ears, as if mocking his sentiments even if he knew that your words held a modicum of truth in it. Back then, he had no qualms on dirtying his hands, no matter how gentle he tried to be, he never wavered in face of difficult decisions, always choosing the best option that would lead to victory.

How would he have reacted to you, who fought and found answers beyond what was given, always seeking a third option that would ensure a happy end. You were not meant for war, your ideals and kindness would have no place in those cruel times.

Even so, Zhongli wanted to prove you wrong.

“Then, shall we place a bet?”

“A bet?” You asked, eyes glinting in anticipation of a boon.

“Yes. I shall give you a dream, of sorts, that can transcend through time.”

“Ooooh~! Another one of those adepti arts, I presume?”

“Yes. I would let you meet the version of me before the height of the Archon Wars” Zhongli began to explain, “then if we manage to be as close as we are now, I have won the bet. If that version of me ends up loathing you, I acquiesce to your belief.”

“And what do I get if I win?” You asked.

“Whatever you wish for” He answered, eyes shining bright like cor lapis.

“Deal.”

The golden leaves of the gingko trees fluttered as it fell down to the ground. Morax sat on one of the edges on the numerous outcrops of Qingyun Peak. It was a rare moment of peace, there was no imminent danger that needed to be quelled. Liyue was in momentary peace. He sighed and let himself relax, enjoying the solitude up until he heard the soft sound of someone landing nearby.

In an instant he appeared before a human who wore strange clothing. He pointed his spear at them, “Speak, why do you trespass on the grounds of the Adepti?”

“Huh?” You blinked at him, slowly getting up as you patted the grass and dust off your clothes, “Damn, Zhongli wasn’t really kidding when he said you were too wounded up.”

Morax frowned at your impudence, “Mortal, that is not the way to speak to the Prime Adep-”

You raised your arm towards him, interrupting him as you offered, “Osmanthus wine! I’ll share it with you if you don’t get mad at me!”

Your wide smile, warm and inviting made him uneasy. An unknown feeling bursting in his chest as he stared into glinting eyes.

“Impudent” He said before moving to capture you and bring you down the mountain.

Despite moving at a speed impossible for a human to match, you had effortlessly evaded his hands. Your laughter rang loudly in the open field, teasing and amused. Zhongli frowned and quickly gave chase and yet you eluded him, teasing him by purposely letting him almost grab the hem of your sleeves only to speed up at the last possible second before appearing far away from him in another direction.

Frustration building up, Zhongli decided to use his geo to block your path, slowly studying your moves so as to anticipate where you would move. It went on and on, erecting stone steeles to block your path until you were caged and nowhere to run.

“Uwaa~” You panted, a mild tone of complaint seeping into your voice“How come you can’t even have tenderhearted feelings for this weak human?”

Morax frowned at your blatant lies, “No human would be able to match the speed and energy of an adepti the way you do.”

You gave him an amused smile, sweat dripping down your face, “That you’ve met. Have you ever made it out of Liyue?”

Morax didn’t answer, stony gaze boring down on you.

“Aiya~ what a tough crowd…” You trailed off and yet the smile on your face never wavered, “but if you keep up such an attitude towards me~ I’ll win the bet and have an adepti answer my whim~”

“What tricks have you done, mortal!” Morax pointed his spear at your throat.

Your smug look never wavered, “Ahahaha, I did no tricks Lord Adeptus~”

“Lies!” He denounced, “What sort of charm did you use to seduce one of my own?!”

“Seduce?” You blinked at him owlishly before a wide grin broke out on your face, “Oh, oh! You think I’m seductive?”

You pushed his spear away, sauntered to him, pressing your chest close to his, arms wrapping on his neck. With a voice dripping in honey and seduction, you whispered in his ear, “Does Lord Adeptus find me pleasing to his taste? Would you like to have a taste of me?”

Your lips moved to his exposed thoat, kissing the apple of it. Morax felt some sort of stirring within him, convinced that you had placed him in a trap, he pushed you off unconsciously gentle with his grip, “What sort of spell have you casted?!”

Your laughter, soft and oddly fond, made him uncomfortable. A feeling that he could not name settling in his bones. His chest was warm as he stared on the way the soft afternoon light shone on you, casting you in warm orange light as you laughed uncontrollably.

“No spell, just utterly charming in your eyes” You answered, fluttering your eyelids and gracing him with a smile he often found among the numerous brothels on Chihu Rock.

“Shameless!” He admonished as he took out a talisman and withit binded you.

“Oh~ How kinky~” You said with amusement as if you felt no danger.

‘Foolish mortal’ Morax thought privately as he pulled you along to begin the trek down the mountain only to stumble upon your next words.

“Does Lord Adeptus plan to have his wicked way with me then? Bring me somewhere secluded and show me the might of his jade pillar?”

“You! You! You!” Morax found himself at loss for words.

“Adepti would never stoop to such a barbaric act!”

“Oh” Your disappointed voice only served to confuse him, until you uttered your next accursed words, “I wouldn’t have minded if it was you~”

A wink sent his way accompanied by the odd motion of your lips had his face beet red. It was the first time he had ever suffered such a loss. Embarrassment gave way to anger when he heard your laughter, his hand moved to curse you until another voice stopped his movements.

“Must you resort to such means, to win our bet?”

Your smile brightened up as you saw Zhongli walk in the clearing, wearing his archon clothes. His hair swayed in the wind, gentle smile plastered on his face despite the chiding tone of his voice.

“But the appeal of having you indebted to me was too much to resist!” You answered with a jovial grin that made Morax pause.

“More of you?” Morax asked with great annoyance until he realized how much similarity he had shared with the new “guest”.

A split second was all it took before you found yourself encased in Zhongli’s familiar arms, his strong shield surrounding you both as Morax’ vortex vanquisher hit the shield. You blinked, slightly rattled but still relatively calm as if you weren’t just about to be skewered by the Lord of Geo.

“Are you alright?” Zhongli asked, concern evident but you remained staring at Morax.

“Zhongli~ I’m starting to understand why you think I’d get along with this version of you!”

You grinned, eyes no longer glinting with plastic curiosity. Zhongli sighed and resigned to whatever consequence would be the outcome of your action.

It took several terse talks between Zhongli and Morax to draft an acceptable contract between the two of you and Morax. All of it just to accompany Morax in his day to day life. Zhongli found himself frequently being on the receiving end of a spear, or in some cases a glower from the amount of times you had teased his stubborn and unpleasant past self.

However, Zhongli could not deny that this version of him was growing fond of you, soft even, with the way Morax would occasionally gently steer you away from the geo vishaps or the rare times he would bring you to Azhdaha to play with the large geo dragon.

Though this soft moment would always, almost, be followed by your teasing. Zhongli wasn’t even spared from your flirtatious remarks though he did have the advantage of knowing you longer, thus he was able to render you speechless more often than not when compared to Morax. But from the past few days, Zhongli could see how Morax was learning and he knew that it would only be a matter of time before you would be rendered speechless by Morax as well.

Thus, the three of you spent the days in simple fun, getting to know each other, sharing battles and each moment Zhongli spent observing how you acted with Morax brought him some sort of warmth, happiness at your acceptance and your rationality during such troubled times. It was true that your kindness would not have survived but Zhongli could see that if you truly had lived in this time, your kindness would have just taken another form, adapting and yet remaining all the same.

You were a safe haven, for him, for Morax, and for those who met you in this troubled times. A human who stubbornly remained kind, who audaciously declared that even Celestia could be wrong. This side of you that remained hidden in the present times, flourished like a well cared for silk flower.

Therefore, it really should not have surprised him to see Morax begin courting you, not that you noticed, and yet it did. Surprise and discontent warring inside him, both claiming that you were his and one discrediting his former self. He figured that the same thing was most likely happening with Morax, from the dangerous glint in the other’s eye when he drew close to you or held you by the waist.

Somewhere between teasing Morax and having Zhongli recount his past through the various strolls you took in Liyue Harbor, you noticed the almost possessive way Morax would act towards you, the barely kept aggressiveness directed to Zhongli whenever he would care for you or the occasional soft growls towards threats you didn’t even notice.

It was fascinating to watch him, and you made no secret of it. So a part of you couldn’t help but blame yourself for provoking a dragon. Really, what sort of person says, “I can take you” to a god of war?

“Me, apparently” You thought with great regret and annoyance as you found yourself benign subjected to the intense bedroom look of Morax.

“Can you?” Morax purred, eyes glinting with something primal and you can’t help but be entranced.

You have always been drawn to beautiful and dangerous things.

In contrast to his predator smile, his kiss was gentle but no less passionate than your previous lovers. Morax’ grip on your body was firm but gentle, bringing you close to his rock hard body. You gripped his clothes as you opened your mouth wider, letting his inhuman tongue explore your mouth.

In the privacy of his abode, you didn’t hesitate to tangle with him. Battling for dominance in the bed, a passionate dance of desire that had the dragon in him purring in delight. Morax bit your neck and you moaned in pleasure before making the split decision to bite him back.

Your clothes were askew, private parts exposed to the cold air and you returned the favor to Morax. His hair was untied and his thick cocks sprung out as soon as your hands pulled down his pants. In a fluid movement, you easily took both of his cocks inside your mouth.

Morax, who had never experienced such a thing, felt his heart quicken just as his arousal rose once more. It was a testament for his new found feelings towards you that he let his guard down and lost himself to the sensation of your tongue and mouth as it sucked him off. His hand clasped the back of your neck and held you still as he began fucking your mouth.

Your moans of pleasure made wonderful vibrations that intensified his arousal, drool dribbled down on the side of your lips as you slowly lost yourself to the haze of pleasure. His bed shook with each vigorous thrust that hit the back of your throat, he stilled inside your mouth, his cocks managing to not make gag as it spilled thick loads of cum down your throat.

Morax smirked at you and you smiled back, lazy and challenging. He laid you on the bed, body naked as the day you were born. Despite his recent orgasm, his cocks were still erect and throbbing, you bit your lip in anticipation.

Legs spread wide, exposing your hole that was calling out for his cocks with each twitch that was visible in Morax’ eyes, you were the picture of desire. Morax swore as soon as he plunged his cocks inside your tight and warm hole, you moaned feeling as if you had ascended to Celestia itself when his cocks stretched your hole. The burn, a mixture of pleasure and pain.

He moved slowly, coaxing you with sweet words as you cried out in pain and pleasure until the only feeling left was pleasure. For all of his inexperience, Morax was good at reading people and body language, and yours was the easiest he had read. It took him barely a minute before he was able to accurately tell which parts sent you to a high, which part of you brought forth more arousal.

He sucked on your tits as he thrusted into you, hitting your sensitive spot that had you moaning and begging his name. Your lustful moans felt more devoted than any other prayer he had received from his people. Your kisses felt more divine than any offering he had ever tasted.

If there had been another way to reach Divinity, Morax had no doubt that making love with you was one of them. Each touch from you sent his body aflame, each call of his name made him feel more of a god that he wasn’t.

Oh! How he wanted to drown in you for eternity until erosion came for him. He wanted you in all the ways he never understood, each particle of his cell calling out to yours, and Morax felt it too much so he poured each and every emotion you made him feel in fucking you. He fucked you as if to brand himself in you in all the ways that matter. He plunged his cocks inside you again and again, bringing you countless orgasms as you submissively let him maneuver your body however he wanted.

He fucked you from behind, thrusting hard enough to leave marks on your buttocks, spilling his seed again and again without stopping his thrusts as you came again and again.

He fucked you sideways, spreading your legs high and wide, as his mouth kissed and bit your neck, his hand pinching and twisting your nipples while his cocks slid in and out of your hole that was overflowing with his seed. He broke you apart with each round and mended you over and over again until you lost count of the times you came.

Both of you were so focused on each other that neither of you noticed the arrival of Zhongli.

And what a sight it was to behold, the way your body contorted in half as he watched Morax impale you with his cock again and again, the scent of sex heavy in the air. Zhongli felt his cock stir, quickly hardening as the lewd sounds of flesh clapping echoed loudly, he moved slowly as he divested himself of his clothes until he reached the side of the bed just as you and Morax laid on the bed, panting from the most recent orgasm.

He observed your body seeing the marks and bruises that littered it on top of the numerous drying flecks of cum on your skin. He swallowed his saliva and spoke,

“Perhaps there is room for one more?”

And your smile, inviting and sparkling at the thought of another challenge, made him breathless and helplessly fond of you all over again. The continuous and seemingly never ending cycle of him falling for you over and over again was one he would never tire of.

“Why don’t you come over and see for yourself?” You said, positioning yourself to lie on Morax as you spread your legs once more, hands going to your hole and spreading it for Zhongli to properly appreciate.

You felt Morax’ cum dribble down just as you felt his displease growl.

“I bet I can take the two of you at once”

There was no such thing as a medicine for regret, and it was one you had no need for. Not when two predatory glint brought you to a new height of pleasure.

Zhongli’s thrust was just as hard if not rougher than Morax, as if he was releasing centuries of frustrations to your abused hole, not that you were complaining. You were already lost to the pleasure of their cocks filling you and stretching you, all semblance of rationality thrown away as you begged for their cocks.

Zhongli’s cocks fucked your hole, easily slipping in and out from the cocks it had been receiving from Morax, Zhongli’s cocks were thicker but shorter when compared to Morax. Despite that his skillful thrust had you clamping and twisting as your mouth busied itself with Morax’ cocks.

Between the two of them, not a single part of you remained untouched. Your body was stained with their love, their marks littering every inch of your skin, their hands leaving bruises on your skin as you sank deeper and deeper into them. The overpowering scent of cum filled your senses as Zhongli and Morax threw away their rationality and began to fuck you like beasts in heat.

The fact that you could take them both at once, was proven true, with the way your holes relentlessly sought their cocks, how you ignored your bruised knees just to get into a better position for them. And it pleased them terribly, made them want you more. To make you theirs permanently and for as long as they breathe. It made them fuck you harder, just to reach deeper inside you, spilling their thick cum inside you until it over flowed.

You moaned, joy mixing with pleasure as you came just as they filled you to the brim. White spots filling your vision until you finally passed out. Your body remained responsive, your hole twitching as Zhongli continued fucking you through your orgasm.

Morax grinned, animalistic, as he took his cocks and smeared the remaining cum on your lips and then spreading it on your face, “You really could take us both at once.”

His cum spilled from the slight gap in your mouth, his thumb gently pushed it back inside before he turned to Zhongli, “Shall we see if they can take all of our cocks in one hole?”

Zhongli stilled as he spilled more of his cum inside, then he answered, “Let’s see how long it takes before they wake up as well.”

The two of them worked together, loosening your hole until it was able to fit four cocks inside, your walls spasmed with every thrust as your let out unconscious moans with the immense amount of pleasure from having four cocks inside you. Your unconscious and limp body was sandwiched between Zhongli and Morax, your nipples played with until it was sore and overly stimulated. The two of them didn’t stop fucking you until your stomach was filled with their cum, their cocks repeatedly penetrated you, thrusting inside you again and again until they had their fill.

Their cum created pools of semen on the bed sheets, some of it on the floor when the two decided to switch positions, trying out different positions with your unconscious but eager body until they were satisfied. By the time you woke up it was already afternoon of the next day, your body utterly sore from all the sex it went through.

You blinked and realized that there was someone sleeping beside you, a quick glance on the side and you recognized Zhongli, ‘The dream must have already ended’ you thought as you slowly got up from the bed.

Except your legs could barely stand, making you fall into the floor in a flash. You blinked, your mind not registering the pain but instead focusing on the feeling of something warm dripping down from between your thighs.

“Are you alright?” Zhongli asked, the vestiges of sleep clinging on his eyes, as he frantically assisted you back to the bed.

His torso was filled with scratches and bite marks. You flushed with embarrassment as you recognized the marks you left on him.

“I-just what happened after I passed out?”

“The first or the second one?”

“?”

Zhongli smiled tenderly at you, “It’s alright if you can’t remember, I’m sure another round would jog your memory.”

Like a magic trick, his words had your hole eagerly twitching with anticipation. Coyly you lied back on the bed and spread your legs, showing him your glistening, cum filled hole.

“Perhaps” You agreed with a seductive smile, “I’m sure I can take you well.”

#zhongli x reader #genshin impact zhongli x reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact morax x reader

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violettelueur · 3 years

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INUMAKI TOGE || PRETTY

| featuring : inumaki toge from jujutsu kaisen

| warnings : grammar errors, but other than that n/a

| form : imagine

| word count : 1282

| published : 29 december

| request : hi! i would like to order an imagine for inumaki where he says a non onigiri related sentence to the reader for the first time :D ah but you can also skip this if youd like because i think i remember you saying that inumaki was a hard character! i hope u have an amazing day/night <3

| barista’s notes : i hate you all...you didn’t tell me that episode 120 of Black Clover was this emotional...guys it made me cry ffs....i hate you all ʕ ꈍᴥꈍʔ but what i wanted to say was that this imagines curse technique was inspired but Bleach (my favourite anime of all time) and their use of Kido - which is kind of like spells they use during battle - and the name and number is the same as in the anime and this was because i was watching a fight scene from bleach once again while writing this ʕ ㅇ ᴥ ㅇʔ other than that, i hope you enjoy your cup of classic black coffee (jujutsu kaisen request!) and you’re welcome to come again anytime soon!

With the sunshine trying to peek through the branches, you as well as other second years were walking around the premise of the school, taking a short break from the training that you were all doing with both Fushiguro Megumi and Kugisaki Nobara for to Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event to prepare for the team battle that going to happen on the first day.

“Y/N, are you okay? You have been in a daze since we started this walk,” someone suddenly asked, causing you to look away from all the tall trees that covered the sky to the girl with the high ponytail, who was looking at you with a concerned look on her face.

“Leaf Mustard?” Inumaki then questioned, leading you to realise that they were actually worried. Wanting to put them at ease, you quickly put a small but gentle smile on your face and waved your hand up and down to wave them off, “yeah, yeah, I’m fine guys don’t worry. I’m just a bit tired from training,” you said in a calm tone leading to both Maki and Inumaki to smile back at you as a sign of relief.

“I can’t really blame you, you did use a lot of curse energy to train those two idiots, but don’t push too hard, we need you for the individual battle against Todo on the second day since Okkotsu isn’t here,” Panda explained, causing you to look down to the stone pavement as you began to ponder what Panda had just said.

Panda was right, you couldn’t use up all your curse energy right now since you were one of the sorcerers that could even take on Todo for the individual battle that was happening on the second day of the event. However, unlike your senior, you were just a grade one sorcerer like Todo meaning you were the strongest student within the Tokyo side right now.

Breathing out a huge sigh, you looked back up to your classmates before quickly mentioning with an annoyed tone, “ahhh I don’t want to see that fool again, I don’t want to even fight him, what a pain,” leading to both Maki and Panda laughing at you knowing what was going on your mind.

Even though you were in the Tokyo end of the schools and the complete opposite of his type, for some odd reason Todo had a well-known crush on you ever since you had helped him defeat the curses during the attack that Geto launched in Kyoto and now you were just stuck in that whole different situation...even though you had a crush on a different person.

Slyly looking over to the cursed speech sorcerer, you couldn’t help but start to wonder if he had the same feeling as you did - and to be honest, you had no single clue. However, knowing how Inumaki was as a person, he probably just saw you as his friend due to his caring and protective personality traits.

You and Inumaki met at around the same time when you both started at Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College and became really close the second you both started getting to know each other. From the light conversations to planning different pranks, as time went on, you began to realise that your face would always have a light pale pink flush every time you would talk to him as well as your heart rate going a little faster than it originally should. What had done it for you finally was when Okkotsu came into the classroom with Rika and Inumaki immediately stood in front of you even though he knew that you were capable of defending yourself from the curse.

“Well maybe if I use my domain expansion-” you quietly muttered causing Maki to suddenly interrupt you.

“Y/N that will kill him,”

“But that was my plan,” you answered back with a pout, causing everyone to laugh at your joke before all of you continued walking before you all started to wonder where both Fushiguro and Kugisaki were.

ꕥ

‘I am going to kill this bastard’

“Curse spell number four: Hainawa!” you yelled out, causing your curse energy to form a bright cracking rope around your arm - somewhat resembling lightning - before your fling your right arm towards the direction of the Grade one sorcerer that you and the second years were gossiping a few minutes ago, leading to the brightly lit rope to wrap itself upon Todo, halting his movement completely before he falls down onto the wooden platform he was standing on.

Walking towards the fallen sorcerer, you began to click your knuckles as if you were ready to physically beat the large man before placing your foot on top of his head to press his face further onto the ground.

“Now,” you started with a menacing tone before continuing with, “since you caused my junior’s head to bleed, should I cut your whole head off first?” leading to Panda, Inumaki and even Fushiguro to shiver at your deadly and frightening presence that was in front of them.

“Tuna tuna,” Inumaki quickly said as he raised his arms up and down as a way to mention you to calm down to which you instantly did the minute you looked at him directly in the eye, only to quickly turning your head the other face the way to avoid him seeing any rose hues that may sudden paint themselves on your cheeks.

Slowly taking your foot off from Todo’s head, you quickly made your way towards Fushiguro and crouched down to his level. “Are you able to get up Megumi?” you asked kindly to which Fushiguro nodded at you before you slowly helped him up and passed the young jujutsu sorcerer to Panda, so he would get to the infirmary a bit quicker.

Suddenly, you felt a slight tap on your shoulder, leading you to turn to look over your shoulder to see Inumaki place his two index fingers on his cheek which caused you to instantly blush at the adorable sight.

‘Damn it..why do you have to be so adorable Toge?’

Once again, he pressed his cheeks as if what he was interpreting was not understood by you. After tilting your head to the side in confusion as you couldn’t understand what he was trying to do, you unexpectedly saw his two fingers reach over to your face before feeling them being placed at the corner of your lips. Starting to blush profusely by his actions, you suddenly felt your lips being lifted up to form a smile on your face.

“Are...are you telling me to smile, Toge?” you confusingly asked in a struggle since your lips were still being pushed together due to Toge’s fingers still being on the corners to force the smile you were wearing now. Nodding at your question, Inumaki moved his fingers away leading to the drop of your artificial smile before you quickly replaced it with a real smile that he was so desperate to see.

“Pretty!” Inumaki cheerfully commented, causing you to look at him with widened eyes which now, in turn, confused the speech curse user. “You...You said ‘pretty’ Toge, that is not an onigiri ingredient!” you shouted as you grabbed his shoulders before looking left and right to see if anything was going to happen since you knew the effect of his curse technique.

However, all you heard was laughter causing you to turn to him once again to see him with a joyful expression on his face. You look at the boy for a second before beginning to laugh yourself.

“Ah what are you talking about Toge? You’re the pretty one here!”

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dropssofjupitter · 3 years

Text

The American

Pairings: Fred Weasley x Slytherin!Reader [Platonic] , George Weasley x Slytherin!Reader [Semi-slowburn]

Summary: A new transfer student is welcomed to Hogwarts during the politically tense times that have befallen the wizarding kingdom. And despite their better judgement and the new (and frankly horrifying) DADA teacher, the twins can’t seem to get her out of their mind

Word Count: 2.5 k

Warnings: Umbridge (I feel like that’s enough said for that one), anxiety mentions, swearing (light. maybe one f-bomb), Ron being a lil prejudiced against Slytherins

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A/N: I took a small liberty with the last name just to help the story flow better, so I’m sorry if that’s upsetting. I am also apologizing ahead of time if I wrote the twins ooc, it’s my first time writing a fic for them! [Not beta read, any mistakes are mine and mine alone]

You took a breath, hands smoothing down the sides of your skirt, twisting nervously in the folds. You could do this. Nerves ran throughout your body, making it feel like it was humming with energy as you shifted on your feet. You could do this. The professor next you, McGonagall if you remembered correctly, placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. You forced a small smile, turning your face back to the set of great wooden doors in front of you. You could barely hear a thing that was being said, you just knew that you would be introduced after the new teacher and then sorted into your house.

“In other news,” a voice raised from behind the doors and you looked up sharply. “We have a transfer student joining us this term. We have decided that it would be best for everyone if her sorting ceremony were as public as the first years, so please. Join me in welcoming Y/N Jones.”

The hand left your shoulder and you looked up, taking in another nervous breath as you watched McGonagall place her hand on one of the doors, nodding to you to motion that it was time before pushing the doors open. You forced your face to remain neutral, and straightened your back as you walked alone up to the Headmaster in the front of the room.

The sound of your shoes hitting the stone floor caused your anxiety to rise again, but you pushed it down, forcing yourself to keep your head high and act like you knew you belonged here. You stopped in front of the stool placed at the top of the steps and turned, sitting down on it and effectively silencing the whispers that had been floating around the Great Hall.

The headmaster (god, what was his name again?) raised a dusty old witches hat and placed it on your head. The brim of the hat slipped over your eyes, and an older sounding voice resounded in your head, mulling over where to place you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fred and George had fully expected this year’s welcoming feast to go like all of the others. Cheer when the first years were sorted (booing when it was into Slytherin, of course), boo again when the new DADA teacher was announced, and then gorge themselves as they planned the perfect way to sneak puking pastilles into Draco Malfoys food (it never worked). However, they were both pleasantly and utterly surprised when Dumbledore announced a new transfer student. Hogwarts had never really had a transfer student, at least while they were there.

Fred turned to George and elbowed him slightly, a half smirk on his face. “Maybe we’ll have another gullible second year to talk into insulting Snape, eh George?”

George grinned as he swallowed a quick swig of pumpkin juice. “Maybe so Freddie.”

However, as the doors to the Great Hall opened and you walked through, all thoughts of pranking left the boys’ heads. You carried yourself like you were the only one meant to be here, and like the others were new students embarking on your domain, and it drew the boys’ full attention. They only remembered to pick up their jaws when you sat down on the stool to be sorted.

Ron, who had noticed their strange reaction, tried to get their attention through a poorly hushed whisper, but to no avail. The twins were too focused on what house you were going to be sorted into.

It felt almost foolish to hope that you would be a Gryffindor, but hope they did. They waited with baited breath as the Sorting Hat took its sweet, sweet time. After what felt like an eternity, the hat had finally reached it’s verdict.

“Slytherin!” The voice rang out through the Great Hall, and the Slytherins cheered as their flag was momentarily displayed on the walls of the Hall. The twins felt their heart sink as they kept their eyes on your form, watching you as you walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down in between the first years and older house members.

“Oi! Fred! George!” Ron exclaimed, exasperated as he gave up on catching his brothers attention. “Bloody hell! It’s like I don’t even exist!”

Next to him, Hermione giggled knowingly, shaking her head at Ron.

“Oh? Have you got something to say now?” Ron asked, turning his face towards Hermione.

She sighed and shook her head again. “You really are incredibly dense sometimes Ron.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had spent the remainder of the feast politely talking to your fellow house members, answering their questions and asking some of your own. It seemed that they were all either in awe due to your transfer, or in disbelief once they found out that you were American. Quite honestly, you couldn’t blame them. Yet your anxiety kept you from speaking about it, and instead had you hesitantly picking at the comfort food that had magically appeared on your plate once you had sat down.

After the feast was done, you were escorted to your room and introduced to your roommates by a prefect whom had asked you multiple times (despite your constant assurances) if you needed a tour of the castle itself. You settled into your room quite easily, introducing yourself to the girls and exchanging pleasantries before unpacking your trunk and getting your belongings situated. One girl, Pansy you believed, seemed particularly kind to you, and you made a mental note to get to know her better.

Before you knew it, you were fast asleep in your bed, wrapped in the comfortable blankets that had been provided and assuring yourself that tomorrow would yield only positives.

~~~~~

The next day had indeed started out well. You woke up on time and were able to find your classes easily, and you were also praised by Professor Sprout for your extensive knowledge in Herbology. However, things took a small turn for the worst went you entered Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The first thing you noticed was the teacher in the front of the room, watching with beady eyes as students casually found their way to desks and friends. Her monochrome outfit looked awful, having the likeness of a pattern you swore you saw on your grandmother’s couch once, and had given her a look that, quite plainly, reminded you of a toad.

The second thing you noticed was the fact that the seats were filling up, and quickly. Scurrying towards the closest open seat, you ended up next to a girl with unruly hair and a red and yellow tie. She smiled kindly at you as you sat down, and you returned the action before returning your eyes to the front of the room.

“Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations, more commonly known as O.W.L.S.” The teacher spoke, seeming to punctuate every word of her sentence with a pause as the blackboard behind her wrote what she had spoken.

“Study hard, and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be, severe.” She smiled, a tight lipped sort of smile that let everyone know she was faking it. With a wave of her wand the stacks of books behind her began to float down the aisles, distributing themselves amongst the students.

“Your previous instruction on this subject has been, disturbingly, uneven.” You looked down as a book placed itself on your desk, pulling a face as you saw the cover and began to flip through it.

“But you’ll be pleased to know that from now on you’ll be following a carefully constructed, Ministry approved course of defensive magic.” The girl next you did the same, and raised her hand.

“Yes?” the professor called on her.

“There’s nothing in here about using defensive spells?” she said, the confusion evident in her voice and mirroring the confusion on everyone else’s faces.

“Using spells?” The professor laughed, walking closer towards your table. “Well I can’t imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom!”

“We’re not gonna use magic?” a redhead boy piped up, turning the book over in his hands.

“You’ll be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way,” the professor replied, her annoyingly ‘girly’ voice already seeming to get on your nerves.

“Well what use is that?” A brunette boy who looked shockingly similar to Harry Potter asked. “If we’re going to be attacked it won’t be ‘risk free’.”

“Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class!” The professor said, her nerves evidently already frazzled as she raised her voice. The brunette boy sat back in his seat (No seriously. He could make money as a Harry look-alike) , obviously on edge as the professor took a moment to turn around and address the class again.

“It is the view of the ministry, that a theoretical knowledge would be sufficient to get you through your examinations which after all, is what school is all about.”

“And how are theories supposed to prepare us for what’s out there?” the brunette boy asked again, sharing a look with his table partner who had spoken up earlier.

“There is nothing out there dear,” the professor replied, and at this, you couldn’t hold back a scoff. The professor whipped her head in your direction, and a few classmates turned to look at you.

You looked up and swallowed thickly, your eyes meeting the professors. “I mean, I could be wrong, but wasn’t there a basilisk within the school a few years ago? That kind of seems like something ‘out there’.”

The professor stuttered, and a few eyes widened around the classroom. “Ex-cuse me?” she said, taking a step towards your desk.

“I’m just saying that there are certain undeniable dangers. Especially around this school, it seems.” You paused, hands fiddling with your robes under the table in a nervous habit that you hadn’t quite seemed to kick just yet.

“Lying, Miss Jones, will get you nowhere.” The professor fired back, a tight-lipped smile plastered on her face.

“She’s not lying,” the brunette fired back. “There are present dangers out in the world. Like, oh, I don’t know. Lord Voldemort.”

The entire class went silent at his comment, some turning to glare at him with barely disguised hatred and others suddenly finding their desks and books to be the most interesting thing in the room.

The professor, after taking a moment to recover of course, changed directions in order to walk towards the brunettes desk. “Now that, is a lie.” She replied in a dangerously low tone.

“Oh, so I suppose that Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord then?” he replied in an accusatory manner. Gasps rose up from the class, disgust now evident in most of your classmates faces.

“Cedric Diggory’s death was an unfortunate accident-”

“No it wasn’t! Voldemort killed him! I watched it -”

“That is enough Mr. Potter!” The professor yelled, losing her composure suddenly. The dead quiet settled over the class again as she smoothed down her skirt. “Potter, Jones, please see me for detention after classes today.” She said simply, before turning around and starting the days lesson as if the entire exchange had never occurred.

You sat at your desk, absolutely dumbfounded. You had had no intention of speaking up in class, much less saying something apparently so controversial that it warranted a detention. Yet here you were, in your now decidedly least favorite class with your most recently least favorite teacher. How did you manage to get yourself into these situations?

The brunette next to you looked over with a small look of sympathy whilst your fellow Slytherins shared a not so subtle haughty laugh in the corner of the room. You sunk low in your seat, making up your mind indefinitely that speaking in class was completely off the table now.

Thankfully, the class passed without any further altercations, and you nearly sighed with relief when it ended. You gathered up your items, shoving the new (and frankly quite stupid) DADA book into your bag and turning to make a beeline for the door.

The brunette who had offered her sympathy earlier in the class spoke before you could leave the desk though. “Thank you for speaking up. For Harry I mean. Not a lot of people would do that, especially now.”

You looked up, slightly confused. “What do you mean?”

She returned your look. “Did you not hear?”

“Hear about what?” The two of you had slowly made your way to Umbridge’s door, lest you incite her wrath twice in the same day.

The brunette was about to answer when the redhead who had spoken earlier wrapped his arm over her shoulder in a protective matter. “Is this Slytherin bothering you Hermione?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at you in what you assumed was his best glare (honestly it wasn’t very good).

You furrowed your eyebrows and took a step back. “Excuse me?”

“I said,” he stepped in front of Hermione and crossed his arms, “is this snake bothering you?”

“Oh honestly Ronald!” Hermione cried out from behind him, grabbing his arm and pushing him out of the classroom door. She threw an apologetic smile over her shoulder at you before turning back to Ron and smacking the back of his head.

You stifled a laugh at the look on his face and shook your head as you headed the opposing way down the corridor, not entirely paying attention to your surroundings as you double checked your schedule for the third time that day.

Moments later you were sprawled out on the corridor floor, having collided with two people who had apparently been running at breakneck speed. You groaned and picked yourself up to a sitting position, looking over at the other two boys currently thrown over one another. Great. More redheads.

Despite your better judgement, you gently kicked one of them with your foot after picking yourself fully up off of the floor. “Hey, are you guys alright?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fred and George were royally screwed. Fucked, if you will.

They hadn’t planned to quite literally body slam you in the corridors whilst running away from Filch after setting off dung bombs in his office, it had just. . . happened. And quite unfortunately, at that.

George rolled over and off of his brother as he felt your foot kick him, looking up at you with what he hoped to Merlin was a dashing smile as he suppressed whatever copious amounts of pain that he was feeling in that moment. “Barely, but I suppose we’ll manage. Right Freddie?” He asked, looking down at his brother who was still planted face first into the stone floor.

“Speak for yourself oh brother dearest,” he sarcastically replied as he peeled himself from the stone.

“Weasley’s!” Filch yelled from down the corridor, running full speed (or as well as he could) towards them, students wrinkling their noses in disgust and turning away as he passed them.

“And that,” Fred said, offering George a hand up, “would be our cue to leave.”

Both twins offered you crooked grins, George even going as far as saluting you, before they dashed off through the corridors, quite possibly traveling faster than they had when they’d ran into you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You watched them, thoroughly amused despite being tackled, and bent down to pick up the paper schedule that had fallen from your hands. As you reached down, you noticed a larger and much thicker parchment next to yours. You grabbed both and looked closer at the thicker parchment, watching with amazement as what seemed to be a map of the school faded away into nothing.

You looked back up at the boys just in time to see them turn a corner and disappear from sight. It appeared as though you’d have to return their tricky map to them another time.

Smiling at the thought of interacting with the chaotic individuals again, you headed off towards Divination.

Add yourself to my taglist here

#Harry Potter #dolores umbridge #fred weasley #george wealsey x reader #george weasley #fred weasley x reader #pansy parkinson #Draco Malfoy #weasleys wizard wheezes #weasley twins #fred and goerge weasley #Ron Weasley #Hermione Granger #dumbledore #minerva mcgonagall #snape

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blind-alchemists · 3 years

Text

Meta-Analysis of the Rift Mage Specialization

I said in February I was going to do it, and it only took me seven months to follow through!

Anyway. Analyzing game-play elements for narratives purposes has become somewhat of a hobby of mine ever since I really got into GameLit. Then, I started "fangs" and felt that my fight scenes were boring, so I build ability trees reminiscent of DA:I's for my OCs. You know, as you do. During that process, though, the lack of banter acknowledging several choices struck me as odd. Especially regarding specializations. Especially when it comes to Solas'.

We’ll be taking a look at (in order)

1. Description

2. Codex Entry

3. Skills

a. in comparison to DA: II’s Primal & Force Mage

4. Specialization Dialogue with Solas

5. Conclusion

Disclaimer: I talk a lot (this post might have about 2.5k). And, I promise you, you'll be tired of seeing 'the Fade this' and 'the Veil that' at the end of it.

Description

“These mages draw upon the force of the Fade, either pulling matter from the Fade to attack or twisting the Veil itself into a weapon to stagger or crush their enemies.”

[source – DA wiki; bolding mine]

So, lore-wise, mages do ‘draw upon the Fade’. Sure. But do they ‘pull matter from the Fade’? Absolutely not.

Physical things and the Fade rarely mix well. Plus – this is mainly my theory – the way magic is utilized (the 'drawing upon the Fade part') requires it to pass through the Veil. Magic being a form of energy, and thus not physical, does not constitute to ‘pulling matter from the Fade’.

That's the first thing other mages (read: Dorian, Vivienne, possible the Inquisitor) should (or could) have referenced in banter/dialogue.

The rest of the sentence ('twisting the Veil into a weapon') is also highly interesting, since there is little known about the Veil. Nobody knows how it works. And, thus, nobody should be capable enough to manipulate it consistently enough to use it as a weapon. But considering it's Solas who gets this specialization - well. He knows the Veil well enough, don't you think? (Which is why I think Rift Mage should have been Solas' personal, individual specialization like Fenris' Lyrium Ghost, but I just really like personalized skill trees in general.)

However, having answered that question, connecting magic so closely to the very thing can be described as a “magical vibration that repels the Fade”, I'm curious about how it would work. Since, you know, mages are inevitably tied to the Fade. Wouldn't the Veil repel a try to manipulate it by a mage? Is using mana the same thing as drawing energy from the Fade? If so, it would be straight-up impossible to actually use such a method for any ordinary mage (read: not Solas). If mana can be used without the Fade, it would be possible, but is such a thing feasible? Can you switch between spells and Veil quickly enough without horrific consequences such as possibly tearing yourself apart?

Very interesting topic. Would love to go into it more, but at that point, I'd become subjective, so let's end it here.

To summarize: Rift mages do things (physically pulling things from the Fade plus using the Veil) normal mages don't do. There is also a chance, logically speaking, that no one else but Solas (or mage!Inquisitor) can accomplish such a feat without dying a horrific death.

Codex Entry

From "Power Bleeds: Harness the Flow." Your Trainer's words make one passage stand out:

There are no tomes dedicated to this manipulation. There has been no time for academics, only the practical—and not in a manner that mitigates risk. Power in a raw form has found an outlet, both visible and in ways that only we of arcane proclivity can sense. The risk is great.

An account:

From this page forward, these are the notes of Thelric. They began as the work of my mentor Julion, and I will continue in the research she began, as she cannot, because she is dead. The rift we were examining did not react well to her last investigation. We believed ourselves prepared for demonic manifestation. We were not prepared for how the energies we expected would be encountered. Well-versed in the forces that magic can produce, my senior was surprised by an alteration, a deviance. That which previously had to be coaxed is now a flood that must be staunched. The same amount in different intensity, quick to expose fault in the way it is accessed. She drew too much, expecting resistance. There was none, and her form suffered the brunt. Tread carefully in studies of new matters, for I cannot unsee the end of her.

Scattered symbols and sketches follow.

[source – DA wiki; bolding mine]

Apparently DA:I has a thing for hiding the true horror in Codex Entries and off-hand comments.

Here, we learn one key fact: The school of Rift Magic is relatively new ('no tomes dedicated to this manipulation'). I think it's safe to assume the possibility - and thus research concerning it - emerged around the time the Breach appeared. So it's new, people have no idea what they're doing, but it somehow works. A little like the whole time magic thing, funnily. (That brings me back to a lot of questions I have about the Veil: Just how powerful is it? Just how deeply is it intervened with Thedas?)

Reading further, the entry seems to (only) stress how dangerous Rift Magic is. Who would have thought! No, really, it's a fair point to empaphize. I'm not certain the Trainer and his previous teacher (or anyone else but Solas) know what kind of role the Veil plays in this, and so of course experiments are going to get ugly. The Veil holds a much greater importance than the people of Thedas realize.

And, in a very similar vein: The people of Thedas don't know much about directly interacting with the Fade through, say, a rift, which poses another risk. The wiki entry establishes two things in particular that are relevant here: Using spells (in the Fade itself) has unpredictable results, and one can draw unprecedented power from it while sleeping.

The codex entry cited above proves that. A rift is a direct connection to the Fade, and thus unpredictable ('She drew too much, expecting resistance. There was none') and that power is too much to handle ('her form suffered the brunt').

My theory is that, while a certain flunction is natural to the Fade, the Veil also plays a role here. Which I'm not sure. But it has one.

Personally, I wouldn't be sure the risks of a horrific death outweigh the benefits of power, but let's look more in depth at that!

Skills

Which brings me to the abilities themselves.

The first two you can choose from are Veilstrike and Stonefist. (Which I think should have had their names changed but, oh, well.)

Veilstrike: “You recreate your own fist from the essence of the Fade and smash nearby foes to the ground.” (Upgrades being Punched Down and Wounded Veil, but they don’t have anything interesting for this analysis. Note the names, though.)

Curious here is the 'recreate [...] from the essence of the Fade' part here. On first glance, it sounds like a rather ordinary spell, right? But it's not. That's just the 'hiding in plain sight for the first playthrough' aspect of Solas' character.

Mages do shape their spells with energy from the Fade (as far as my assumptions go). Maybe they can also recreate something. I'll give them that much. But the essence of the Fade - the inherit, unchanging nature of it - can't be manipulated by them. I think that's specifically a trait only Dreamers can have. (More evidence for my 'Rift Mage should have been Solas' personalized, individual specialization' hc!)

There is an argument to be made if this already constitutes for 'pulling matter from the Fade', but this isn't even the funkiest part yet.

Stonefist: “You summon a boulder from the Fade and smash it into your target, sending them flying.” (Upgrades being Shatterstone and Unblockable Force.)

'Summon a boulder from the Fade', you know, as in, bring physical matter from the Fade to the other side of the Veil. A thing that is pretty much unheard of. Remembers what happens to spirits when they pass violently through the Veil? There is an entire game dealing with that. (I mean, stones won't hopefully turn into demons, but my point is that bringing things through, usually, is not a wise idea.

Another thing someone could have commented on.

Passives: Restorative Veil, Encircling Veil, Smothering Veil, Twisting Veil.

Unfortunately, neither of these descriptions give me much, but they all have the ‘Veil’ component in their name, so that’s interesting.

Upon closer inspection, the Veil can function in a variety of ways: speeding up mana recovery, further weakening enemies, boosting your own damage. (Veilstrike being an example of a means of attack.)

Now, my question here would be: Do over mages notice changes in the Veil? Do they feel it shift and bend? If not, well, that's one thing. if they do, even subconsciously, I'd want banter. (I want a lot of banter, though. Just generally speaking.)

Pull of the Abyss: “You create a tiny rift that pulls enemies toward a central point.” (Upgrades being Shaken Veil and Devouring Veil.)

I can live with never hearing anything about everything else. Sure. But this one? This damned skill? You're telling me I read that the first time I played the game, nodded, and that was it?

'You can create a tiny rift-' I'm sorry, do you what now? After a good a couple of hours of learning just how bad rifts are?

And the upgrade names. Shaken Veil, Devouring Veil - is there anything this thing can't do, except for becoming more and more horrifying and giving me bad vibes ofr whatever DA4 will do with it?

Firestorm: “You summon flaming meteors, raining fire down upon enemies all over the area for the next several seconds. This ability consumes and is powered by focus.”

This one is ... honestly, I don't like it being here. It's an AOE skill, which does fit in with the rest, but it's fire and it seems rather randomly assigned compared to other focus abilities with a more personal note (Haste, Rampagne, Cloak of Shadows, Mark of the Rift).

Doesn't give a lot here to analyze, except that raining down flaming meteors is the level of (global) destruction I can see happening in the future if Solas isn't stopped. So. That's fun.

(It's the ultimate skill in the Fire/Ice tree in DA:II, or at least the ability there has the same name.)

DA: II Comparison

Nearing the end, I'll take a brief look at the Force Mage specialization from DA:II and the Primal base skill tree for mages. Both have some interesting similarities.

First, Primal.

Stonefist: “The mage hurls a stone projectile that strikes with massive force.”

It's only the name and the effect, honestly, but it is curious to see it in a skill tree that focuses exclusively on the elements earth and lightning. (Because Pride demons also use electricity ... yeah, yeah. I'm reading too much into this.)

Petrify: “The mage entombs an enemy in stone, leaving the foe temporarily unable to move. However, the target becomes more resistant to damage for the duration of the spell.”

This has nothing to do with Rift Mage, but in light of Trespasser, I'll just leave it here for your consideration. Petrifying people is neither new nor exclusive to Evanruis.

Now, onto Force Mage.

Fist of the Maker: “The mage slams enemies into the ground with incredible power, against which armor is no protection.”

The effect sounds like Stonefist (Primal) and Veilstrike.

Pull of the Abyss: “The mage conjures a maelstrom of energy that draws enemies to its center while slowing them to a crawl.”

This one is similar to the Rift Mage skill with the same name, so it might have served as an inspiration (or base).

Overall, though: nothing much to say here. Maybe I could talk more about Rift Mage being focused on crowd control, but that is probably for game-play balance. I could connect that to Solas' character and analyze every little thing to death. I'm not doing it, though.

Specialization Dialogue

Solas: You have begun practicing new magical forms. Interesting. You seem to be drawing upon the raw substance of the Fade, likely using your mark as a catalyst. I use similar techniques, although it took me years to learn that. Why did you choose such an esoteric area of study?

Inquisitor: (if chosen) I hoped that studying such magic would me help better understand the Fade.

Solas: While our fight affords little time for formal study, the wise can better themselves even in the midst of battle. Perhaps especially then. I hope your new studies serve you well.

[source]

Let’s go through this slowly.

‘You seem to be drawing upon the raw substance of the Fade-’ Alright, we’ve talked about that. Makes sense he’d comment on it. ‘likely using your mark as a catalyst’ Sorry? The Inquisitor is doing what? I’m not saying it’s not possible, I’m just saying it might not be an overly smart idea to use the Anchor in that way. Because it’s attached to the Inquisitor’s arm. And because the Inquisitor knows what happens if it snaps out of control. So, purposefully doing something that might cause you agonizing pain? Mh. Yeah. No, thanks.

Also. The 'drawing upon the raw substance of the Fade' part makes me think that the Anchor does give the Inquisitor Dreamer-like abilities. Forcefully, and possibly difficult to control, and the Inquisitor might not be aware of it, but. That would be an interesting aspect to explore.

‘I use similar techniques, although it took me years to learn that’. Well. Yeah. Mostly a sound response, except I’m not really sure it's true. Why does he say years? Because he didn’t go right to sleep after creating the Veil, or because he studied such methods theoretically beforehand? I doubt he refers to the time Inquisition spans, because it’s not that long, cannocially, (isn't it like ... a year? I forget what the devs said), but … I don’t know. It doesn't sit right with me. Solas never truly outright lies, so there is probably some merit in it.

‘Why did you choose such an esoteric area of study?’ That’s … an interesting way to ask. Sure, there is a very small group who has this specialized knowledge, but it feels a little like deflection.

The rest of the conversation doesn’t give much for me to analyze.

Conclusion

TL;DR: There should have been banter. Or Rift Mage should have been a personalized, individual specialization.

Pull of the Abyss is the funkiest skill in the entire game, from a meta-perspective, because tearing a hole into the Veil is the opposite of what the Inquisitor is trying to do.

There are also many more questions than answer to take away from this regarding the Veil and the Fade and how Solas manages not to blow his cover, but I believe there are theories about at least the two former points out there.

I thank you very much for bearing with me for this long!

#dragon age #dragon age meta #meta #rift mage #solas #analysis #rift mage specialization #skill tree #ability tree #analyzing game-play-elements for narrative purposes #long post #even for my standards

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im-frickin-trying-okay · 3 years

Note

Hey there, i have maybe an odd fic request for you, or just headcanon if it doesn't grab you that much.

Y/N is a witch/wiccan and offers too help shoto with his hand crusher curse, but after an intimate little ritual he thinks they/she accidentally cast a love spell on him or maybe the spell backfired. Turns out he just has a crush and is being a big dork about it.

Sorry this took so long! It might not be the most accurate, but hopefully it turned out okay. Also, I sorta mixed it with a coffee shop au but that's more as a tool than a plot point lol

Hand Crusher's Crush

I hope I did this justice :) I feel like I'm a bit better at descriptions than dialogue. Also, I did a bunch of research, but if anything's super inaccurate, please let me know!

A knock on your door caught your attention. You didn't tend to get visitors, as sometimes the world felt too 'peopley' for your taste. It's not like you weren't open to them, you just didn't have a lot of friends. Opening the door, you found yourself face-to-face with a striking young man. His hair fell slightly over his eyes, with red and white split down the middle.

"Um, hello," you said, not sure about this curious stranger. He cleared his throat quietly.

"Hello. I'm Shoto from UA," he said. He seemed quite serious, but it came across as a bit awkward. "Shoto Todoroki," he added. "I heard you have a special kind of healing quirk."

"Well, technically no, but I like to think I do," you reply simply. Your quirk is called Vibes. You can visualize, manipulate, and use certain energies. Once you got control of it, and did a little research on how to collect the intentions and energies, you changed your lifestyle. "Are you hurt or sick?"

"Well, no, it's not that I'm hurt. It's that I... I hurt people," he said, remorse bleeding into his voice. He glanced down at his hands, before looking back up at you. "I don't want to hurt people anymore."

For a split second, you wondered if there was some sort of killer at your doorstep, but instead of turning him away, you gave him the benefit of the doubt. "Hurt people, how?"

"Whenever I'm around, people hurt their hands," he said, completely serious, and a bit regretful. "It's like I'm the hand crusher or something." You blinked at him. Hand crusher? Well, at least he's not a serial killer. "I think I'm cursed, and I heard that maybe you could help with that."

"Ohh, a curse, huh? Well, I suppose I could try," you said, opening the door a bit wider.

He walked in, and was immediately hit with the scent of lemons. Looking around your living room, he noticed some things that he wasn't quite familiar with. He narrowly avoided the small black tourmaline towers on either side of the door, and felt his gaze land on the shadowy shelf on which there were three different jars of water. His eyes were drawn in all different directions by all the different things. Crystals on the shelves, tiny jars by the windows, and enough candles to set the house on fire.

"So," you said, gesturing around. "Uh, welcome, I guess. Come on over here." You gestured over to a small table with a few chairs around it. He sat down across from you, not seeming sure of what to do. "Let's start off easy. Who's hands have you been crushing?"

He sighed at the question. "A couple of my classmates', at least. I'm not sure if I've hurt anyone else." He took a bit to explain the situations, and how as far as he could tell, he was the only thing that tied the events together. It sounded a little bit like a coincidence, but then again, it was probably possible, right? And he would know better than you about what happened.

"Well, okay. I can probably help you," you said, still pondering over the stories he'd just told. "How good are you at cracking eggs?"

After an egg test, you found that he wasn't cursed per say, but there was definitely a lot of negativity surrounding him, and it was definitely weighing on him.

"Well... I'm not sure if it has to do with the crushing-of-hands, but there's some stuff I can help with," you said simply. He nodded, fully trusting.

You walked across the room and grabbed a few things. Selenite, rosemary... You counted off the things you needed in your head, before going back to your seat. You explained your plan to him. Cleanse and banish negative energy, and you'd be giving him a selenite crystal. It wasn't a problem, since you already had a lot.

"Will the crystal help stop me from hurting people?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"It's possible," you said simply. "If someone decided to punch a wall while you were in the room, their hand would be crushed, but it's not your fault."

"But wouldn't I have-?"

"Hey, hey, listen," you said gently, putting your hand over his. You could feel his doubt, but you wanted to reassure him. "It wouldn't be your fault. If it still feels that way, maybe try not to identify as The Hand-Crusher. That might be part of why these things occur so often." He frowned slightly, before nodding. He came to you for help, so it wouldn't be right of him to turn it down. "The crystal will basically just help keep your energy clear."

"My... Energy," he repeated, trying to remember if the first hand-crushing incident happened before or after Kaminari convinced him to try a Monster. "Is it bad?" he asked nervously.

"It's not bad, it's more of the things crowding around and onto it." After attempting to explain it, and getting a confirmation of his understanding, you began.

Rosemary smoke began to fill the room, but because of your quirk, it didn't look like smoke. Instead, a soft white light flowed through the space. Shoto watched in what seemed like awe as the room began to glow. Placing the rosemary bundle in a bowl, you continued on.

You clapped your hands, and golden sparks shimmered around them. Shooting your hands up, the sparks flew, before landing in a circle around you, like a dome of glitter. Shoto couldn't seem to pick where he wanted to look. The room seemed completely different now.

What would've normally been a smoky room and a bunch of stones turned into a beautiful light show, a light filled world with the two of you at its core. Something about the way his eyes sparkled made you feel a vague satisfaction. It made you glad to know that he wasn't bored or anything of that sort. He didn't seem to be a very smiley person, but he was clearly enjoying this.

Once all was said and done, and the lights began to fade, his eyes remained trained on you. "How was that?" You asked. "How're you feeling?"

He blinked out of his reverie. "Actually, much better," he said, seemingly surprised. "Thank you," he added.

"Happy to help," you replied, completely genuine.

"How could I repay you?" He asked, already reaching for whatever was in his pocket. It didn't take a genius to figure out he intended to use money, and really, you were financially comfortable. Your YouTube channel was decent, and considering that working at a coffee shop meant constantly being around coffee and tea, you didn't mind it. Besides, you didn't feel like you did as much as you probably did.

"Oh, no no," you said. "It's okay. You can repay me by trying to tune out negative people in your life," you said matter-of-factly. "It'll probably help delay any bad-vibes buildup." He hummed, nodding, but it wasn't hard to tell that he already had his mind on a specific someone.

"I know who I need to keep away from."

• • •

Over the next few weeks, Shoto was aware of the way that his mood had been lifted. He hadn't realized that he was feeling bad until he started feeling better. He was also vaguely aware that Midoriya hadn't broken his arms recently. It really worked! He felt glad that the curse was gone, as long as whatever else may have been wrong.

Then it began. He would occasionally think of you, think of what happened, and look back with a feeling of gratitude. When he held the selenite and felt his mood and thoughts balance out, he thought back to when you gave it to him. He couldn't help but think that you truly were magic.

After a while though, he noticed something changing. He'd look back on the same events, but instead of gratitude, he felt nothing but longing. He wanted to see the way the room lit up, he wanted to see your face, he wanted to hear your voice, he wanted you to hold his hand again... These new thoughts were more frequent, and you were always on his mind now! You were stuck in his head, and now he found himself missing this perfect stranger, always wishing to be in your presence. At first he couldn't identify these feelings, but then... Oh no.

You must've accidentally hit him with a love spell or something! He'd only seen you once, so that had to be the explanation, right? He'd have to go to you so you could fix it! Or was that the spell talking? Could it just be that he wanted to see you again? Maybe he just wanted to hear your explanations, to see the way you smiled if he said something that sounded like a joke but really wasn't, to see the way that your eyes lit up when you used your quirk, and oh, those eyes- No, bad Shoto, focus.

Things were complicated to say the least. It actually made him happy to think about you, and considering that the crystal didn't do anything to take away the feelings, he wasn't overly worried about the love spell's effects. However, over time, he realized how problematic it could be. Spacing out in the middle of an English lesson just to think of you was probably the most common reoccurrence. It wasn't like he didn't know the topic, but it was confusing to be asked a question and not even know what was being discussed.

He wasn't used to losing focus like this. Occasionally it would happen, but everyone's mind wanders. This felt different. You'd populate his mind, even narrate his thoughts, and he wasn't sure how to prevent it.

He had to put a stop to this. He tucked the selenite into his jacket pocket, and went to go get some tea. Yes, tea. Contrary to popular belief, he could still enjoy the stuff. Right now, he just wanted to pick some up before going to see you. Hopefully it would help get his thoughts in order, and calm him down. He walked into the shop and stared at the ceiling for a good thirty seconds before getting in line. He pondered if he should go talk to you directly about the love spell. Should he imply it? Did he want to fix it? It was hard to tell. He didn't dislike it, but the things that it caused weren't the best. He thought this over until he got to the front of the line.

"Hello, welcome to- Shoto?" came a familiar voice. His gaze snapped up to meet yours, and his heart jumped into his throat. The incessant fluttering in his stomach and chest made it hard to string words into a sentence. "Wow! Didn't expect to see you here," you said, pleasantly surprised.

"Hello," he blurted out, a mix of embarrassment and confusion swirling around in his head. He tried to come up with something more articulate, but was suddenly drawing a sudden blank. "Spell worked," he said, before immediately feeling like that was an understatement.

"Oh, well that's good," you said with a smile. You glanced up at the clock. "I'm off in like, 20 minutes if you wanna talk, but for now, how can I help you?" you asked. He blinked, before firing off the order he only remembered because he'd said several times before.

A bit later, he sat at his own table, a small one in the corner, and thought. He thought about how his mind was clouded with everything about you. He thought about how he finally got to see you after so long. He thought about how he'd only seen you once before. He thought about this love spell, and how he didn't exactly dislike it. He thought about how you might react when he told you. He thought about how it would be better to go into this slowly, and how- "Shoto!"

He popped his head up, before running over to grab his drink. He forced an awkward smile, which kinda looked like a grimace, before heading back to his seat, lost in thought once again. He didn't want to scare you off, of course, but did he even know you well enough to bring up this topic? He could say that he loved you right then and there, but he didn't even know your birthday! He barely noticed the time passing until you sat in the chair across from him.

"Hey," you said, smiling. "So, how've you been?" you asked. His mind went completely blank and he had no memory of what language it was that he spoke. His heart pounded in his ears. I can't do this, not yet- Idiot, that's what you're here for! Well, that and tea. Dammit- Say something! Once he wrangled his thoughts together, he tried his best to respond.

"I-I've been good. Well? Well. Grammar. Um, how about you?" he managed, the tips of his ears already bright red. He was embarrassed by the lack of his usual composure.

"I've been decent," you replied shrugging. "Thinking about you," you added. He choked on his drink, his face turning bright red.

"What?" he asked, trying not to seem flustered. This spell was getting troublesome.

"Y'know, just how you've been doing and stuff. So, you said that the stuff we did worked?" you asked. He nodded. "That's great!"

"Y-yeah," he said, frowning slightly. "Question. Er, is it possible for me to lo- No, is it possible to accidentally cast a love spell?" His heart was pounding.

"What? Not that I'm aware of, no. Why, did something happen?" you asked, slightly confused. Those things have to be intentional, don't they?

"Ah. Can they be a result of a spell backfiring?" Shoto asked, trying to think of what else could've caused it.

"I mean, I guess that would probably depend on the spell, but even then, I don't think so," you said, now a bit concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Me?" he asked incredulously. "Of course I'm alright," he said. If a spell didn't cause this, then what did? He tried to run through the possibilities. Should he tell?

"Hey, look at me," you said. He did as you said, meeting your eyes. "If you think something happened, you can tell me."

"Oh, no," he said, shaking his head. "I'm fine." The warm and fluttery feeling didn't give him time to think before he said his next words. "I just thought it might be a spell, since I'm falling in love as we speak."

About five seconds of complete silence followed. In those five seconds, a lot happened. Shoto could've sworn his heart stopped, but the blood rushing to his face proved otherwise. You seemed to be in a state of shock, not able to respond. Your heart thudded in a he's cute, yeah, but how did this even happen kind of way.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out.

"Are you for real?" you asked at the same time. Your head was spinning. What's happening right now?!

"What? I'm right in front of you," he said. When you laughed, he took a moment to reconsider. "Ah, right. Well, yes, I am, but I didn't mean to say it like that." The nervous buzzing in his head was one of the strongest emotions he'd felt in the past who-knows-how-long. "I thought it might be a spell or side-effect, since I don't know you all that well."

Holy shit, he's completely serious.

The situation would've been concerning if it weren't so funny. You found yourself laughing, and trying desperately not to in order to not hurt his feelings, but oh my gods, he really thought this was a spell?! He seemed bewildered, and that just made it funnier.

"I'm- I'm sorry," you said, gasping for air, "You thought I cast a love spell?"

"Unintentionally," he added, as if that made it better. "I don't think you would have done that without telling me first." His face was still red, but he seemed calmer.

"Well- You're- you're right about that part," you managed through the laughter. "I can confirm for you that I didn't cast a love spell," you said, just barely able to sound calm.

"I see," he said, not meeting your eyes. The second-hand embarrassment was a lot. He stayed quiet, not sure what to say.

"Shoto?" you called, once you managed to calm down.

"Hm?" came his wordless reply, his mind clearly somewhere else.

"That was adorable," you said, simply stating your thoughts out loud. He's so painfully genuine all the time that it's hard to not to think so.

"Wh-what?" he said, as light embers flew from his red hair. Or rather, the red part of his hair.

"I mean, it was!" you said, before suddenly backtracking. "Not in a weird way, it just is, y'know?"

After stumbling through awkward conversation for three minutes or so, Shoto asked a question. The question almost killed you.

"If I'm not under a love spell, then what is this?" he asked. You choked, really not understanding how you'd have to explain this.

"You... Is it possible that the, er, feelings developed naturally?" You asked, trying to phrase it as professionally as possible.

"Don't you have to know someone for a long time for that?" he asked in response.

"N-not necessarily," you said, trying to decipher if he was still being serious. "One interaction can be enough, and as of now, we've had two," you added. He seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"Alright, then I suppose that makes sense," he said, nodding. After a beat of silence, you laughed.

"Well. Uh. If your concern was too few interactions, we could always just talk more, if you want," you offered, head still swirling with the awkwardness of all this.

"I'd like that," he replied, the blush never leaving.

• • •

It had been five months now, and Shoto could now say for absolute sure that there was no love spell involved. The two of you were much closer, and he liked getting to call himself your boyfriend. He enjoyed getting to know you, and was surprised at how much better he knew himself. He was still a dork, and still a bit fast to jump to conclusions, but that's just who he is. However, you did help him change, and it was in the best way possible. You showed him how to change his definition of love into something healthy, and he couldn't be more grateful.

From the day you met, you lit up his life in more ways than one.

Could anyone blame him for loving you?

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master-sass-blast · 3 years

Text

Children of the Gods: Part Three, Chapter One.

AT LONG LAST, THE PLOT FICS ARE BACK, BAY-BEE!!! AND B O Y ARE WE KICKING OFF WITH A DOOZY!!!

As you can see by the title: this is chapter one of three for this fic; I had to chop it up due to length.

Also, this fic as a whole makes for my 100th part of the CHC! I feel like I should do something to celebrate. Let me know if y’all have any suggestions.

Summary: It's been months since anyone's seen or heard of Allison Ricci. At last, you think the storm might be over.

And then Karen Page gets kidnapped again.

Pairing(s): Piotr Rasputin x Reader, Nathan Summers x Wade Wilson, and Frank Castle x Karen Page.

Rating: M for kidnapping, attempted murder, attempted suicide, canon-typical violence, gun violence, and depictions of injury. Like I said, we’re kicking off with a doozy.

Word Count: 4.9k.

Set after “Children of the Gods: Part Two.”

Taglist: @marvel-is-perfection, @chromecutie, @super-darkcloudstudent, @girl-obsessed-with-things, @leo-writer, @emma-frxst, @sadstone-s

There’s no mention or sighting of Allison for nearly six months. Every trail you had for her before goes stone cold. The apartment is cleared out and abandoned. She doesn’t show up in the fighting rings, and even Karen and Frank don’t report anyone following them.

You start to wonder if she died for good this time. That maybe she revived and got herself and her mentor out, but didn’t survive after that.

(You wonder who’ll bury her body, if she’ll be lain to rest next to her family or in a random patch of ground somewhere.)

The storm seems to be over.

And then Karen gets kidnapped again.

***

Wade and Nathan are the ones that technically call it in –by showing up on your doorstep with Frank in tow.

“Allison’s back,” Nate says when your eyes bug out of your head. “Figured Xavier would want to have his people try and round her up, rather than there being an issue with mutant control.”

You blink rapidly, then nod. “Uh… yeah. Let me call Piotr.”

***

The perks of being on a technically-special-law-enforcement team with fancy jets: you can get to the scene a hell of a lot faster than conventional authorities.

You, Wade, Nathan, Frank, and Piotr meet up with Illyana, Mikhail (the two Rasputin siblings are there to “assist” with Allison’s specific powers, considering how things went last time), and Neena in the mall parking lot. After a brief rundown of the plan –get the civilians and Karen out of harm’s way, then detain Allison before the actual cops show up—you all split up and head in through the four major entry points.

The mall is packed when you walk in –go figure, it’s a weekend. Shoppers stroll from shop to shop, vendors at the pop up stands call out to passersby, music plays on the overhead speakers.

“The picture the kid sent me had a pretzel stand in the background,” Frank growls through the speaker in your earpiece.

“Food court, then,” Neena replies –in perfect, crystal clear audio, no less. “The kiosk map doesn’t show too many food stands outside there.”

Illyana tugs on your sleeve and directs you to the left. “We are close.”

You dodge to avoid a cluster of shoppers. “There’s a lot of people here. If she –if she has… weapons, like last time—”

“We’ll deal with it,” Nathan growls over the comms system before softly reprimanding Wade for trying to detour into Hot Topic. “Our goal right now is to capture Allison before she escapes again.”

“Civilian lives still matter,” Piotr insists before putting a hand on the small of your back to usher you around a “Wet Floor: Caution” sign. He’s armored down, but he’s wearing his X-Men suit under a black sweatshirt. “We must consider their well-being.”

“And if we tell them they’re in danger, we’ll make a panicked stampede, and that won’t help us or anyone else,” Nate says tersely. “Just stay calm. Our best bet is to try and talk Allison down without alerting anyone around us.”

“If she tries to hurt Karen—" Frank grits out.

“We’ll cross that bridge if and when we get there,” Nathan declares, tone permitting no room for argument.

The lot of you round another corner, passing by a shop that boasts having “all the latest console games at all the best prices” and a Victoria’s Secret—

“I see her,” Neena says. You hear thuds her footsteps pick up, and a second later you see her jog around a Starbucks stand and head down the hall to the food court. “Twelve o’clock, dead center of the court.”

Twenty meters away, sitting at a little food court table, are Allison and Karen; the former is dressed in all black, leaning back in her seat while staring down the latter –who, all things considered, doesn’t seem too much worse for wear.

Frank inhales sharply, then appears through the crowd a few minutes later, walking so fast he’s practically running. “Too many people here.”

“We’ll talk her down,” Nathan says, rounding the corner nearest the Macy’s with Wade.

Illyana tenses, then grabs your arm before breaking into a run. “We need to move. She has seen Castle.”

Sure enough, Allison’s scowling. She shoves her chair back hard enough to knock it into the table behind her; she stands, ignoring the complaints from the nearby diners. Her eyes start glowing blue as she glares at Frank.

“Ah, shitfarts,” Wade grumbles.

“Everyone down!” Nathan bellows before yanking Frank back and erecting a telekinetic shield.

A massive shockwave of blue energy erupts across the food court, sending shoppers and tables alike flying into the air. The glass, domed skylight over the food court shatters, raining shards of windows and broken lights down on the panicked, shrieking bystanders.

Illyana erects a shield before the shockwave can hit the rest of you. She grits her teeth as debris and a few of the shoppers closest to the epicenter bounce off it, tumbling along the tiled floor. “Still think we will ‘talk her down?’”

No, you think, gulping when you realize that some of the blast victims aren’t getting up. I think we’re well past that.

“Karen!” Frank charges towards Allison, shotgun –loaded with bean bag rounds—in hand. “Get down!”

Karen dives behind a toppled table.

Illyana charges at Allison, clothes shimmering as they morph into black body armor. She leaps over an overturned table, then extends her hand and fires a blue bolt of magical energy at the younger girl.

Allison ducks. She stumbles briefly, but quickly rights herself. She grits her teeth, then screams as she unleashes a volley of azure-colored energy blasts at Illyana.

“Go! Get out!” Piotr waves a few stragglers –with their phones out to film the ruckus, go figure—away. He ducks another round of fire from Allison, then armors up and strides towards her. “That is enough—”

Allison whips her head to the side, then back at Illyana. She quickly fires a blast at Illyana –successfully knocking the older girl off her feet, then turns and unleashes a beam of blue energy square into your husband’s chest.

Piotr sails into the food court’s Subway stand with a groan and a resounding clang.

You cram down the urge to run after your husband –he’ll be fine, he’s taken a lot worse before—and focus on the fight at hand.

Nate, Wade, and Frank are pinned down; they’re using some trash can stands as cover, but Allison’s got enough firepower to keep them from risking getting any closer.

Piotr and Illyana are both down for the time being; your husband’s tangled up with the condiments trays, while the youngest Rasputin’s on the floor, groaning.

Neena’s working the perimeter, getting shoppers out while setting up to flank Allison from behind.

And Mikhail’s… disappeared—

No, there he is, you think when you see him blink into existence. You let out a short sigh of relief when you see him take Karen’s hand and teleport to a safer distance, then do a short run before launching yourself in the air. Alright, let’s get the boys some cover.

Allison’s head jerks back as she follows your trajectory. Her eyes glow, bits of blue smoke wafting off at the corners, and then she fires another bolt of energy at you from her eyes.

You flit out of the line of fire, then fling an arc of wind at her.

Allison topples onto the tile floor. She yelps, then disappears into the ground to avoid being ensnared in one of Illyana’s spells. She pops back up a few feet away moments later—

Just in time to see Wade duck behind an overturned table.

Your brother snarls, cursing and panicking when Allison renders the table to a pile of ash with a flick of her wrist. “Something tells me that murder baby’s leveled up!”

“Gee!” You holler back. “What was your first hint!”

“Go!” Nathan hollers when Allison uses a bolt of magical energy strong enough to rip through several store fronts. He waves Karen and Frank off. “Get out of here! We’ve got this!”

Allison whirls. She bares her teeth when she sees Frank and Karen escaping, then slaps her palm against the food court floor.

Brilliant, bright streaks of azure energy zip along the floor, twinkling against the tiles before disappearing a few feet ahead of Karen and Frank.

The floor –from edge to edge of the hall, leaving no area untouched—crumple into ash, leaving a pit more than twenty feet deep. The ground between the doors behind Allison and the girl in question evaporate as well, along with the spaces in front of the emergency exits.

“Just when I left my rock climbing gear at home,” Wade grumbles, sounding somewhat winded.

Allison charges towards Karen and Frank, rendering tables, chairs, and random debris to ash as she runs to get a straight shot. She knocks Wade off his feet with via chucking a bolt of energy at him, forces you to duck behind a Pizza Hut counter with another one—

And then runs smack into Mikhail when he teleports right in front of her.

Mikhail wraps his arms around her, then leans back so he clears her feet off the ground. He stumbles a little while Allison rages and snarls. “Got her!”

Allison swears –then twists and drives her heel into Mikhail’s crotch.

Mikhail drops. He curls in on himself, groaning. “Kroshechnyy kon'… O Bozhe, moi yaytsa.”

Allison tumbles to the ground. She dodges more wind strikes from you, then lets out a feral snarl as she charges towards Frank and Karen.

Frank yanks Karen behind him, then shouts as he barrels towards Allison.

He has no game plan. You can see it in his eyes.

You vault yourself over the Subway counter, intent on tackling Allison, or knocking her over with a wind slice, or –something.

Before you can do anything, a blue circle forms around Allison, glowing brightly before expanding into a domed shield.

Allison skitters to a stop. Her dark curls jerk and bounce as she looks around wildly. She seethes, then launches a blast of energy at the shield, only for it to bounce off the veil of energy harmlessly.

A few feet away, Illyana lowers her hand. She smirks. “There. Much better.”

“Will –will that hold her?” Karen asks, voice rough and shaky.

“Until we can find way to transport, da.” Illyana reaches up her sleeve, then pulls out a spell book. “I have potent sleep spell. Will take but moment to find proper runes for casting.”

Behind you, Piotr groans as he finally disentangles his head from a –now very crushed—oven. He staggers, shakes himself, then turns and sags with relief when he sees Allison in the shield bubble. “Oh. Good.”

“Are you okay?” You jog over to him as he armors down and all but collapses into a nearby booth. “Babe? What’s wrong?”

“Ears are ringing.” He groans and clutches his head in his hands. “I hit my head very hard.”

You rub his shoulders, reassuring yourself as much as you are him. You can only imagine where else he’s hurt if Allison managed to concuss him while in defense mode. All you want now is to get back to Xavier’s so your husband can get the medical treatment he needs. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be—”

The ground shakes.

You steady yourself on the booth opposite Piotr –then suck a breath between your teeth when it happens again, harder than before. “Shit.” You whip your gaze back to Illyana. “What’s—”

You see Illyana, teeth gritted and eyes glowing blue as she holds both her hands towards the shield.

You see Nathan, Neena, and everyone else slowly backing away from the dome of energy.

And, inside the containment bubble, you see Allison, flinging attack after attack at the walls of the shield.

Your eyes widen when you watch Allison unleash a sustained burst of energy at the shield walls. Fuck.

Glowing, white cracks form along the shield.

Oh holy fuck.

“Get down!” Neena screams.

Piotr all but tackles you –despite his head injury—to the floor just as the shield gives way. He armors back up, then covers your body with his.

Magic energy explodes through the food court, flinging the remaining tables and chairs into the walls. All the windows –in the skylights, the automatic doors, and the nearby shops—blow out, spraying glass everywhere. The ground shakes, cracking and dissipating into clouds of ash in various places.

Allison crawls out of the crater left by her explosion. She pants, shoulders heaving with each breath. Her mouth tugs into a fierce scowl; her eyes glow so brightly that they’re almost white.

Cracks form on the ground next to her, glowing white and smoking. They widen into gaping holes, with vortexes of energy swirling inside them.

And then these… beasts crawl out of them. Snarling, slobbering monsters with fangs the size of your arm. Their claws shatter the tiles underneath their massive paws. Their eyes glow red, not unlike hellfire. They almost look like wolves, if wolves had crossbred with the Hulk and had ichor and tar dripping off their skin.

Your jaw drops. “What the…”

Mikhail lets out a whoop. “Puppies!”

“Do puppies normally look like they want to turn humans into sausages?” Wade yelps, skittering out of reach when one of the hellhounds lets out a howl that sends a plume of fire into the air.

Illyana swears up a storm. She flicks her wrist, summoning the Soul Sword to her hand.

Before she can do anything else, though, one of the hellhounds charges her, knocking her off her feet and into one of the nearby shops.

“Snezhinka!” Piotr shoves himself to the feet, armors up, and barrels off after his sister –with Mikhail hot on his heels.

The other hellhound stalks towards Neena, Wade, and Nathan. It growls, acid dripping from its teeth and onto the ground, corroding whatever it touches.

“Should’ve worn the brown pants,” Wade groans. “Okay –anyone got a plan?”

“Duck!” Neena shouts when the hound unleashes another fiery howl.

You don’t duck –or run, or attack, or anything useful. No, you freeze, torn between going after your husband and siblings-in-law, helping protect Wade, Neena, and Nate, or trying to get Karen and Frank away from Allison.

Speaking of which…

Allison is lobbing bolts of energy at Frank and Karen; she’s closing in on them fast, quickly cornering them against the crater she’d made between the food court and the rest of the wall.

Frank whisks Karen behind his back. “Hey, hey, hey!” He extends a hand towards Allison in some sort of desperate attempt to get her to stop. “Just calm the fuck down!”

“Go to hell!” She rears back for another attack –and there’s no cover, nothing for Frank or Karen to hide behind or grab onto—

The choice makes itself for you.

You jump over the booth Piotr had pulled both of you behind and whip a wall of wind at her.

The blast launches her off her feet. She shrieks, sailing behind a pile of rubble before disappearing from view.

“Come on!” You leap over to Karen and Frank. The sounds of the hellhounds are too close for comfort –and, judging by Wade’s shrieks, the general amounts of swearing, and Piotr’s groans of exertion, the beasts are winning. “Let’s get out of here.” You get an arm around Karen, then start to put one around Frank, intent on lifting them over the crater and flying them out of here—

There’s a scream, and then a thin, whip-like strand of blue energy wraps around Frank’s neck.

His eyes go comically wide as he flies backwards. He lets out a choked shout, then groans –guttural and rough—when he hits the ground.

Allison stalks towards him. Her teeth are bared, and she looks entirely done with the situation. …And then she pulls a knife out of her jacket pocket.

You level another blast of air in Allison’s direction.

She manages to deflect it with a shield, then fires a volley of energy bolts at you and Karen.

Karen dodges.

You don’t.

You careen into the crater, narrowly dodging exposed bits of steel bar reinforcement and some leaking water lines before hitting rock hard dirt. You grunt, wind going out of you as you crumple against the ground. Fuck.

The hellhounds are still snarling nearby. You can still hear their ghoulish howls, accompanied by the crackling roar of the fire they unleash with each snap. Above the hellish din, Wade’s swearing and shrieking about his ass, Nate’s firing his future gun, Illyana and Mikhail are arguing—

Dammit. You shove yourself to your feet, panting and swearing the entire time. Once you’re upright, you launch yourself to the mall floor—

Which is when a new sound makes itself known to you.

Frank is screaming. That in and of itself isn’t unusual –he does it quite often—but now he’s doing it on his back, hands wrapped around Allison’s forearms, trying to keep her from sinking her knife blade into his right eye.

You’d think it wouldn’t be much of a fight –but she’s winning. She’s using her powers for leverage against Frank’s strength. You wouldn’t think a teenager with arms like noodles would have a shot, but Frank’s arms are shaking as Allison slowly, inexorably, pushes the knife towards his head.

Frank shouts –and Allison shrieks right back at him; she sounds like a pissed off barn owl.

You stumble forward, wincing and collapsing to your knees when your left leg screams in protest. Shit.

Allison bares her teeth at Frank –and then she freezes. Her body goes stiff. Her eyes roll into the back of her head –and then she collapses against the ground, limp as a ragdoll.

Karen Page stands behind her, stun gun in hand. She lets out a hard breath when Allison drops against the ruined tile floor, then turns the stun gun off and reaches to help Frank up. “You okay?”

He grunts by way of response.

Allison starts squirming against the ground, trying to push herself upright.

She yanks the barbs and wires connecting her to Karen’s stun gun out of her shoulder, seething and snarling all the while. She staggers to her feet, lurching wildly as she tries to regain control over her body. She whirls, dark curls flinging back and forth with abandon.

Frank snaps into action. He immediately throws Karen behind him, forcing her back and away as Allison storms towards them. He holds one hand out, keeping some space between him and the teen. His gaze snaps back and forth, searching wildly for some sort of obstacle to put in her path or some sort of cover to duck behind—

There’s a dull thud, and then Allison lets out a choked shout as she tumbles to the ground.

Behind her, standing in the wreckage of one of the shops, Neena lowers the repression cuff gun your dad created to help capture rogue mutants.

You bend over, panting as you brace your hands against your knees. “Cool. Awesome. Holy shit.”

The snarling of the hellhounds disappears, too; the only sign they were there to begin with are the mounds of ash they leave behind.

Slowly, your dad, Wade, and the Rasputin siblings come staggering out of the surrounding shops.

You sidle up next to Piotr, who’s already armoring down and looks beat to hell. You nod at him when he nods to you, then focus on the scene at hand.

Allison crouches on the floor. She snarls, yanking at the repression cuff on her wrist.

“Okay –ow, fuck!” Wade cringes as he resets his dislocated arm, then limps towards Allison. “Alright, murder baby. I’ve been chewed on, used as a tug toy, had a shop light fall on my nuts, and I’m pretty sure my third cervical vertebra is never going to feel whole again. Your whole ‘vengeance blood lust’ was pretty cute, but I draw the line at spinal reconfiguration. Time for you to head over to Xavier’s Home for Extraordinary Children and do group fucking therapy like the rest of the X-Dweebs.”

Allison bares her teeth at him, then kicks him square in the crotch.

Wade shrieks, doubling over and dropping to the floor. He curls into a fetal position, whimpering over his “dangly unmentionables.”

“Enough, Allison,” Nathan grits out. He uses his telekinesis to drag her across the floor, steadily sliding her towards him. “It’s done. Let it go.”

“Eat –eat shit!” Allison scrabbles against the floor, searching for a handhold –then snags a loose gun (most likely dropped by Mikhail at some point) and fires at Nathan. She struggles to her feet when he ducks –breaking the telekinetic hold—then whirls and aims at Frank.

“No!” Karen flings herself in front of Frank –which results in a lot of protesting from him—and holds out a hand. “Allison, no! Killing him isn’t what you want!”

“Like hell it is!”

“No, it isn’t. He’ll be dead and you’ll be in jail, and you’ll still have all your anger with no outlet for it,” Karen insists, voice ragged. She fixes Allison with a hard stare. “Let it go, Allison. Killing him won’t change anything.”

Allison sneers. “Fuck you. Like this is about ‘change!’ My family’s never coming back, and I have to live with that every single day. I have to remember waking up to them being gone, to their brains on the walls, to his—” she whips the gun wildly to point at Frank “—stupid graffiti tag on the floor. No, fuck you! I’m the one who has to go through the nightmares and the loneliness and the grief and has to bury my family! I don’t care that this won’t change anything. I’ll feel good for five seconds, and that’s better than the past few months have been!”

Your stomach clenches. Shit.

Frank gulps. Eyes shining, he steps out in front of Karen –even though she tries to stop him—and puts himself right in Allison’s line of sight. “You want me dead? Do it.”

“Frank,” Nathan says, voice sharp with warning.

“Pull the trigger,” Frank says, stepping closer as Allison’s hands shake. “Take me out. I killed your family. I did the same thing to you that happened to me. I’m a hypocrite; I deserve it.”

Allison seethes, body trembling as Frank slowly approaches her. “I will! I’ll do it!”

“Pull the trigger,” Frank says, voice soft and thick with emotion. “Do it, kid. Take me down if you want it so bad.”

Wade pushes himself off the ground. “Castle, I swear to God—”

Allison growls –and lowers her gun. She sobs, shoulders slumping. She falls to her knees, body shaking with each gasping breath she takes. “You couldn’t just… kill me? Do me the favor of not having to live without them?”

Frank flinches, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows reflexively. “I don’t do shit like that, kid.”

Allison looks up at him –and her gaze sharpens. She smiles, sharp and manic. “Oh. So that’s what it takes to break you.”

And then she put the muzzle of the gun under her chin.

“No!” You fling yourself at Allison, colliding with her before she can pull the trigger. You tackle her to the ground, wrenching the gun out of her hands before hugging her tight against your chest. “No, sweetheart. No. No, no, no—”

Allison shrieks. Tears stream down her face once more. “Just let me die! Please! Why won’t any of you just let me die!”

You shush her gently, rocking her back and forth. You cast your gaze over your shoulder, looking to Piotr.

He’s scrubbing at his face with his hand. He meets your gaze, eyes widening before he shrugs, as though to say, “I don’t know how to handle this, either.”

“Okay.” Nathan crosses the distance to you and Allison. He crouches behind her, cuffing her hands behind her back before helping her and you stand. “Alright, kiddo. Let’s… let’s get you some rest. Okay?”

“I –I need Ar-Artemis,” Allison sobs. Her body heaves with each step she takes. “I need Artemis, I need her—”

“Okay, munchkin,” Wade says as he walks Allison in the direction of the jet. “We’ll get her called for you. Do you have her number? Anyone else you want us to call?”

“My law-lawyer.”

“That checks out.”

You hang back, letting Wade take over. You feel fried; pain aside, your mind is utterly void, a swirling mass of black and gibberish and too much and screaming and—

Neena hooks her arm around yours. She smiles at you when you look up at her, then gently ushers you after Wade and the others. “Come on. Let’s get back to the mansion.”

***

“I’m gonna fucking murder you, Castle!”

You wince as another angry shriek bounces off the walls of the jet’s cabin. You’re sitting on one of the benches, injured leg propped up on your husband’s lap.

Allison snaps and rages as Mikhail, Neena, and Wade try to buckle her in; somewhere during the walk to the jet, she’d switched from broken weeping to insurmountable rage once more.

Next to you, Frank keeps his eyes trained on the ground. He’s got an arm around Karen, who’s watching Allison in cautious silence.

“You’re fucking dead! I will hang you up by your fucking intestines! I’ll put your fucking sniper scope up your ass, you emo wannabe piece of shit!”

Wade snickers. “‘Emo wannabe piece of shit.’ Good one.”

Now that you’re up close to her, you can see just… how not well she’s doing. Dark bags hang under her eyes, stark against her pallid skin. Her cheeks and neck are gaunt –and, under her dark clothes and slapdash body armor, you suspect the rest of her body tells a similar story of grief and an inability to cope.

Who could cope, with everything she’s been through? The only person in this jet who has a similar understanding is the one that put her family in the ground –and he did that to cope with losing his own family and being shot in the head, so that pretty much says how well he’s doing, technically speaking.

Piotr squeezes you gently when you sigh. “We are almost home.”

Not close enough, you think as Allison all but foams at the mouth while she hurls insult after insult at Frank.

Wade rears back, shaking his hand. “Not the middle one! I need that one! Motherfucker!”

Allison spits his finger out of her mouth. She plants her feet, then tries to launch herself at Frank again.

“Enough!” You stand, careful to keep your weight off your bad leg. “You’re in a jet and you don’t have use of your hands. Either let yourself be buckled in or we’re sedating you!”

“This is bullshit,” Allison growls, even as she lets Neena and Mikhail sit her down and strap her in. Her eyes never leave Frank. “He’s the one who killed my family, and I’m the one in handcuffs.”

You march over to Allison as best you can. You’re not sure what your face looks like right now, but given the way she shrinks back you’re certain you look pissed. You plant your hands on the wall behind her, one on either side of her head, then lean in until you’re almost nose to nose with her. “You’re handcuffed,” you spit out between gritted teeth, “because you tried to kill yourself in that mall. The restraints are for your own safety; they have nothing to do with Frank.”

“But he—”

“Isn’t in our jurisdiction,” you tell her, voice hard. “We picked you up because you’re a mutant engaging in criminal activity. It was either us or the DMC, and if it’d been them, you’d be in the Icebox or dead. Frank only came because you kidnapped his girlfriend –and, frankly, it’s reasonable that he’d want to come along to save her.”

The dark-eyed teen pouts up at you. “But –my family—”

“Is gone,” you finish, voice softer now. You lean back a little so you’re not so in her space. “And I’m sorry you lost them, Allison. I really am. What Frank did was wrong. But you can’t keep on this path. You’re endangering yourself, and you’re endangering the rest of the community by reinforcing the belief that mutants are dangerous through your actions.” You straighten up. “If you don’t calm down, we’re going to have to lock you in one of the changing rooms until we’re at the mansion. Do you want that?”

She glowers, but shakes her head.

“Neither do I—”

“We can go into one of the changing rooms.” Karen stands, and Frank stands with her. She flashes you a sympathetic, appreciative smile when you look at her. “We’ll be fine in there.”

You heave an internal sigh of relief when Neena ushers Frank and Karen into one of the changing rooms, then slides the door shut.

Allison glares after Frank. She sniffs, chin trembling. “He killed my family. I woke up and –and they were gone.”

“I know, sweetheart.” You smooth her hair away from her face as she starts crying again. “I know.

“I want Artemis,” she sobs, skinny shoulders shaking with each breath she takes. “My phone –on my phone—”

“We’ll make sure we call her for you,” you reassure her as you stroke her hair. You grimace as she collapses –as much as the seatbelt lets her—against you, weeping against your neck. You hold her as best you can, trying to ignore the twinges in your leg or the creeping sense of ‘we’re in over our fucking heads… again’ crawling up your spine. “I know, sweetheart. I know.”

#sass writes #piotr rasputin x reader #nathan summers x wade wilson #frank castle x karen page #tw: violence #tw: gun violence #tw: attempted murder #tw: suicide attempt #this one's p heavy #but at long last we're back to PLOT #and not just smut fillers #deadpool fanfiction #x men fanfiction

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marvelettesassemble · 4 years

Text

Choices (Fred x F Reader)

Summary: You arrived with Charlie at the battle of Hogwarts just to witness Fred being crushed by the wall. You helped him while Charlie is searching for your sister Nymphodora Tonks, just to tell you that she didn’t make it. So it was your choice: staying in Britain and helping raise your sisters kid or going back to Romania to follow your dream.

Warnings: Battle of Hogwarts, death (but Fred lives)

Word Count: ~ 4.100

A/N: This was supposed to be something completly different, but I kind of like the ending. And somehow this is the first time that I’m anxious to post something since I started writing again. So I hope you enjoy!

It had taken a while for you to arrive at Hogwarts. You had to take a detour, but you had finally managed it. You were travelling with Charlie Weasley – a friend you had made at the Dragon reservoir in Romania. When you got the message that the battle was starting NOW and your sister would participate you quickly walked to Charlie. You had talked about it before, but you hadn’t realized that you would have to leave so soon.

„Charlie, is that your family?“ you asked when you saw three people who had the same hair colour as him.

„Yeah, the twins and Percy,“ he said with relieve in his voice and started to make his way over.

You followed him and before you could reach them a curse hit the wall behind them. Charlie and you sent both a stupor in the direction of the attacker.

„Fred,“ you heard the brother with glasses scream. He was busy shoving the brick pieces away.

„Can you do something?“ Charlie asked you when you arrived and you kneeled next to the person on the floor, who seemed to be Fred. The pulse was there – barely, but it was there.

„I can’t promise anything. He’s no dragon. And I need to do it now, we can’t move him. I need protection,“ you said.

„Please try,“ another voice said and belonged to someone who looked exactly like the person in front of you.

„Okay, I put both of our lives into your hands.“

„Do you know where Mum and Dad are? Ginny? Ron? Bill?“ Charlie asked, but didn’t get the answer he hoped for. „I’ll search for them. I’ll look out for Tonks too,“ he squeezed your shoulders saying his thanks and telling you silently he’d look out for your sister just like you did for his brother.

„Can you help me to remove the last stones?“ you asked and Percy helped you while George stood guard and then you zooned out. You had managed to come up with a new technique for dragons who had problems with breathing when they came into the world. In the reservoir you tried to protect the species who were a dying breed. So you tried to do everything that there would be more of them and you had to get creative.

You had managed to get into the system of the dragons, feeling for the organs and trying to form them to make living for the dragons easier. So it was no lie when you told Charlie that were worried because his brother was no dragon. His body was different, but you hoped it wouldn’t matter. You sat down next to Fred, put your hands on his chest and let your mind wander.

You started with his lungs, which were the first target as the bricks had fallen down his torso. When you managed to form them again you moved to the airways. It was difficult and strength-draining. You couldn’t rush in fear that his body wouldn’t mend or wouldn’t accept the sudden change.

„We can move him now, but I’m not done. I’d rather one of you would levitate him and I’d do the protecting, my stunning spells are rather powerful.“ They agreed and told you that you’d move to the great hall. It has been some time since you’ve been in Hogwarts so George led the way.

It did take a while for you to arrive but you figured it would still be better healing one twin there than in an open hallway where you were an easy target.

„Have you seen my sister? Tonks?“ You asked when you arrived at the Great Hall.

„Haven’t seen her or Remus for awhile,“ George said. You nodded and looked to the right, where a young boy was laying motionless on the floor. He was really young and your stomach turned. You quickly looked away, you needed to focus on Fred. When Percy laid him down on the floor as you asked him to, you took your seat next to him again and turned everything else out.

It took long. Charlie was a really good friend of you. You met in Hogwarts and when you heard how much he loved it in Romania you decided you wanted to go there too. And so you started a friendship there and you didn’t want to tell him, that you tried but failed to heal his brother or that he’d suffer because you hadn’t given it all.

Suddenly you felt something flicker under your hands. Surprised you took your hands back afraid you’d done some damage. But then you realised that Fred had opened his eyes.

„How are you feeling?“ someone asked him. You quickly looked around you and noticed a lot of red heads around you.

„Like I’ve been hit by a wall,“ a dry voice replied and after a second in silence the first one began to chuckle.

„Do you have trouble breathing?“ you asked and felt relieve when he said he didn’t. You quickly learned that the battle was already over and that you’ve won.

„Where is Tonks?“ you asked and stood up, but the healing took a lot of your strength and your legs were stiff from sitting so long. Strong arms steadied you, arms which bore a lot of scars and burns just like yours. „Charlie, where is my sister?“ you asked again.

„I’m so sorry,“ he said. When you had thought about the battle you hadn’t thought one second that your sister wouldn’t make it. Not once! Because your sister was a fighter and a damn good auror.

„Her husband?“ you asked and he shook his head.

„Your family?“ was your next question.

„They’re all okay. Harry and Hermione also,“ his familiar voice answered.

„Okay, that’s great,“ you said with a monotonous voice. You were really glad but you felt kind of numb, because all you could think about was that your nephew didn’t have his parents anymore. How could you tell your parents, that your sister wasn’t there anymore? You asked if you could see them and Charlie pointed to the place where two people lay holding hands.

You didn’t recognise your sister immediately. When you thought about her there was always a great energy surrounding her, her hair a bubbly colour and a smile on her face. The person in front of you didn’t look like that at all. And so it took a while before you broke down and took her hand into yours.

„You were her sister, right?“ someone asked behind you. You nodded.

„You’re Harry,“ you said when you looked at him. „You’re the godfather of Teddy.“ It was his turn to nod. He sat down next to you without saying anything. You suddenly felt the need to hug him. When you told him that you wanted to, he let you and put his hands behind your back.

And suddenly you felt so tired you couldn’t even form a word. Exhaustion took over your body and you didn’t notice the panic you caused Harry when you fell limp in your arm.

You woke up when you felt someone poking your side. You slowly opened your eyes. „Charlie?“ you asked when you just saw some red hair.

„No, its George.“ You opened and closed your eyes until everything focused. „I’m really sorry, but Fred has trouble with breathing. Can you take a look at him?“

You nodded, feeling a headache and your eyes felt swollen. „Where am I?“ you asked when you took in your surroundings.

„You’re at the burrow, our home. You passed out, so we took you home with us. Most of us camped in the living room, but we gave you Charlie and Bills old room. Can you come downstairs with me, please?"

"Sure, I’m sorry. I’m not a morning person, I need my time after waking up.“

„Technically its still night,“ he said sheepishly.

„Lead the way,“ you said when you finally stood in the room. You followed George steps after steps until you reached a room crowded with people. Mattresses were all over the floor and people were sitting by each other.

They made room for you so you could sit down next to Fred. „Charlie, can you get me some water?“ you asked when you noticed him near you. You introduced yourself to Fred and asked him where it hurt.

„It’s not really hurting it’s just difficult to breathe. I would have let you sleep, but the all keep fussing around me.“ He admitted.

„Okay, I’m going to put my hands on your chest and then I want you to breath slowly in and out, so I can take a look what’s wrong. If there is something wrong or when you feel pain I need you to grab my hand or arm, I won’t hear anything, okay?“

„If this was just an excuse to touch me..“, he started and you chuckled. You thanked Charlie for the water when he handed you a glass and get back to work.

You closed your eyes and concentrated on the body in front of you. You quickly found what caused the trouble. A dent in the air way made it difficult for him and you formed it back the way it used to be.

„Is everything okay so far?“ you asked when you didn’t notice anything else.

„Yes, thank you,“ Fred smiled at you.

„I need to go to Mum and Dad,“ you said then, but Charlies hand stopped you.

„You need to eat something first, you’re exhausted. You won’t make it. We already messaged your parents. Come eat something and I’ll bring you there.“

And so it came that you sat in the Weasley kitchen with Harry next to you, Ginny on his other side and Charlie next to you with Mrs. Weasley in front of you. You supposed the food was good, but you didn’t really taste anything. You were anxious to get home to your parents and Teddy. So you left pretty quickly and you promised to see Harry the next day with Teddy.

You had decided to stay in Britain and to give up your job in Romania. It broke your heart a bit to leave that behind, but it would have broken your heart more when you would have left your family and Teddy.

Your Mum wasn’t the youngest anymore, more a grandma than a mother and you weren’t ready to take care of a baby on your own. This wasn’t what you had imagined your life. And Harry needed to get his life together first and start to think about what he’d want.

Currently Teddy stayed with you in your apartment and you were at a loss. When Tonks had written to you that she was expecting, you thought it was kind of funny to send a little plush wolf. What you didn’t expect was that Teddy would become obsessed with it. And now you had lost it and the baby wouldn’t stop crying. You rocked him in your arm while searching for the plushie.

A loud noise was heard behind you and you turned around to see Fred in your apartment. The baby in your arms was still crying and you must have looked helpless as Fred walked directly towards you and took the baby out of your arms. Immediately the crying stopped.

“How did you do that?” you asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the habit.” he shrugged.

“Do you have kids?”

He laughed. “No, but many siblings.” He cooed at the baby and when you looked past him you saw the wolf right before your couch. You quickly grabbed it and pushed it into Teddys hands who giggled happily. “You missed our meeting, so I wanted to check on you.”

“I’m sorry. We fell asleep and then he was crying and crying and he threw up and I’m still full of vomit I realise now.” You picked at your shirt. “Could you maybe watch him for me? I’ll be quick with a shower?”

He laughed and told you that it would be fine and you could take your time. You really enjoyed your shower, but you went still quickly to your room to change. You walked back to the living room and smiled when you saw Fred who was playing with Teddy. You grabbed the bag you had already packed.

“Okay, we can go, but I’m afraid we have to use the floo powder. I learned the hard way that Teddy doesn’t like to apparate.”

When you arrived at the burrow Mrs. Weasley welcomed you. “We were afraid something had happened, dear,” she said.

“I’m sorry, but Teddy was fussing and throwing up.” She patted your arm in understanding.

“We still have some time before we’ll eat. You want to check up on Fred first?” she offered. She took Teddy in her arms and you walked with Fred to his old room.

“So, any complains?” you asked and went to work. You didn’t really need to blend everything out it was just formal for you to check him over.

“Just one,” he admitted. “With my heart.”

“What?” you asked shocked and moved your hands towards the place where his heart laid.

“Yeah, it’s beating awfully fast whenever you’re near me,” he smirked at you.

“Fred Weasley, I can’t believe you. I was really worried I messed something up.” You crossed your arms and left the room.

“Everything okay?” George asked when he saw you storming into the kitchen.

“Your brother is an insufferable flirt who doesn’t seem to understand when he needs to be serious.”

“That means at least he’s himself,” George smiled at you. You walked over to Harry who had Teddy in his arms.

“I have to show you something,” you smiled at the younger boy who you’d spend much time with as he wanted to see Teddy often. You grabbed the little picture book out of your bag. “Hey Teddy, you see the elephant?” You asked and pointed at the picture of the grey animal. “He has a cute little trunk, hasn’t he?” His little hands grabbed at the book and when his finger touched the picture and followed the outline of the trunk his nose started to form and he soon had a little trunk himself.

Harry and George laughed and Teddy was glad someone was laughing and let out little hooting noises which made the other ones laugh louder. Although this wasn’t what you had wanted in life you weren’t sad. Although you couldn’t take care of the dragons anymore you were taking care of another human being and you had help from a lot of wonderful people.

Charlie sends you letters with pictures of the dragons, telling you how they were doing and in return you sent him pictures of Teddy. And Charlie was surprised that in almost every photo was a Weasley or Harry.

You were invited to the reopening of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes and your mum insisted that Teddy stayed with her and you made yourself a nice day. While others couldn’t wait for the shop to open up again you were curious what it looked like as you’ve never visited it.

You had to admit that you were surprised how many people were in front and obvious in the shop. So you decided you’d wait a little bit before you’d visit the twins. After eating ice cream you finally entered the shop and lost your voice for a moment. There was so much going on that you couldn’t decided where to look first.

“Hey do you know how much the Puking Pastilles are?” A young guy asked you and hold up one in his hands. Just behind him there was the price written so you answered him and he walked happily away.

“Already helping, love?” a voice you had heard quiet often asked. “Come, I want to show you something.” He grabbed your arm before you could do anything against it. “They are brand new, I hope you like them.”

He stopped in front of a cage and you had to look twice to make sure your eye wasn’t playing tricks on you. “Are these dragons?” Your voice was getting higher near the end of the sentence.

“Yes, it took a while. Here, hold one,” he opened the cage and quickly grabbed one of the three little dragons and placed it into your hand.

“Is this an Antipodean Opaleye?” you starred fascinated at the miniature dragon in your hand.

“They are your favourite, right?” Fred asked.

“Yeah,” you breathed. And then you realized that you had a dragon in your hand. “Why am I holding a dragon, Fred? They need special care,” you wanted to say more, but he interrupted you.

“Calm down, these aren’t real dragons. They just look like them. Imagine them as puppets who move around. They don’t need food or anything. We invented them and I promise you there were no dragons harmed.”

You calmed down a bit and watched as the dragon started to walk on your arm. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s yours.”

You wanted to protest, but then George appeared at your side. “Just take it, we want you to have it. You don’t want to waste Fred’s work, right? He lost a few nights sleep over this.”

“At least let me pay for it,” you said and took the dragon in your hand again.

“No way, see it as some payback for giving me back my brother. I couldn’t even imagine how I should have done all the work without him.” George said and gave you a half hug before he disappeared to help some customers.

“You’re already doing so much. All the meals at the burrow and the meals Molly gives me for home, you looking after Teddy.”

“We want to, just accept it,” Fred hugged you shortly.

“I’m going to take a look around. But I’m going to pay for whatever I want to take with me.” you smiled at him.

“Call if you need help,” Fred winked and disappeared also.

-x-

Teddys first words were spoken on his first birthday. You were celebrating with your parents and the Weasleys at the burrow as it provided the most space. He was currently in Harrys lap who told you all about his training as an auror. You almost felt like old times when your sister told you she started her training.

Teddy wanted attention, but Harry didn’t notice it at first. “Mum!” Silence filled the room. And then Teddy began to cry. “Mum,” he cried again. You were shocked and not quite sure, if he meant you or your mother Andromeda. When Teddy cried harder and put his hands toward you and you still didn’t move – because you were not his mother, his mother was your sister, who was dead and how were you supposed to tell this little kid this? – Fred put his hand on your shoulder.

“He wants you, love,” his suddenly soft voice was in your ear.

“I’m not his mother,” you said slowly and quietly.

“How is he supposed to know that? You’re by his side almost all the time,” you mum said. And Harry was standing in front of you holding the crying baby so you could take him if you’d reach out.

When you finally did and Teddy was secured in your arms, he slowly stopped crying. He put his hands up to your face and pulled at your lip while he giggled and the word ‘Mum’ left his mouth multiple times. Tears gathered in your eyes but you refused to let them fall. Freds hand was still on your shoulder, his thumb rubbing circles onto your skin. Harry was looking at you, as were the rest.

“We’ll explain that he has two mothers in time.” Your mom offered and then you started crying. You pressed the little body into you and started crying. Teddy started crying again and your mother took him from you.

“I’m so mad at Tonks. Why did she walk into the battle and left us with this mess. How are we supposed to tell this little innocent human that his mother isn’t with us anymore? How are we going to explain this mess? That he thinks his aunt is his mother? That his godfather is barely legal himself? That I’m a horrible person because I’m mad at my dead sister because I had to leave my dream behind? I don’t know what to do with myself. I never wanted this, but I wouldn’t treat him for the world. He’s everything to me and I’d protect him always.”

“Don’t you think Tonks and Lupin would be glad that you’re taking such good care of him that he thinks of you as his mother? We’ll figure something out. Maybe you can help out in the shop for a few hours if that’s what you want,” Fred offered.

“No one is angry at you. We’re all adapting and it’s obvious that Teddy needs you. I think you need him too,” Harry offered you his arms.

“What are you doing Friday night?” Fred asked on one of his many visits.

“The usual?” you said while you put away the dishes from dinner while Fred wiped the table clean.

“Lets go out. I know for a fact that you used to visit the pub in Romania frequently,” he said. “We can ask the others or it could be just the two of us, whatever you prefer,” he said almost sheepishly.

“Thats because there was nothing to do there BUT to go to the pub. We were in the middle of nowhere. And if I didn’t know you better, I would say you were too afraid to ask me out on a date,” you laughed not really thinking what you had said out loud.

“What if I was?” he asked and stopped with the cloth in his hand.

“Yeah, right,” you were still smiling until you turned around and looked at his face and were surprised to see that he wasn’t joking. “Are you serious? Fred, I know you did all the things because I kind of saved your life, but I want you to know that you owe me nothing. I’m glad and I appreciate everything you and your family have done for me, but you don’t need to.”

You already felt like a burden.

“We do this because we want to. I’m here all the time because I like to spend time with you. I want to take you out on a date. I guess you kind of touched my heart in more than one way when you put me back together,” he said and looked you in the eyes.

“I’m older than you,” you said.

“So?” he asked.

“I don’t come alone, I kind of have a kid,” you went on.

“Does it seem like this bothers me? I like him and he likes me, I come from a big family.”

“I don’t want more kids.”

“Don’t you think I know that? Would you just go on a date with me? We don’t have to plan a future now. Just go on a date with me. Maybe it’ll be great and if not we can go back to just how it has been. We’ve got nothing to lose,” he said and grabbed your hand.

“Okay, but I have to find someone who will look after Teddy,” you said.

“Oh don’t worry. George already said he’d take him,” Fred smiled brightly at you.

“Got it all planned, huh?” you asked.

“Sure, I have for a while now, love,” he smiled brightly at you.

The date went well, and after that first one there came a second and a third. It wasn’t easy with a little kid around, but Fred made it easier and of course the rest of the family. It wasn’t always fancy what you did, most of the time you fell asleep on the couch because you were exhausted. Fred was around so often, that most of his clothes were at your place than at his own flat. So, George asked him one day why he didn’t pack all of his stuff so he could use the extra room.

Teddy grew up with so much love. You’d tell him stories about you and your sister growing up, Harry would tell stories about his dad and you made sure that he knew where he came from.

It took a while for you to find something else you wanted to do besides dragons. And your heart grew heavy when you looked over at the little dragon Fred had gifted you, who was sitting on your night table. George had confided in you, that Fred had just come with the idea of it to impress you. When your eyes shifted, they found a picture of Teddy in a dragon costume, which Charlie had gifted him, and you knew that you had made the right decision when you turned around and cuddled more with Fred.

#fred weasley #fred weasley fanfiction #fred x reader #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley ff #weasley x reader #amwriting #marvelettesassemble #i love the ending tbh #am I allowed to say this about my own story?

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lyranova · 3 years

Text

Rain

Hi guys~! So this is the one shot I mentioned earlier and posted the little sneak peak for. It explains how Hikari and Alistar became friends (it also explains what happened to Alistars mom), so I hope you guys like this! Also if you don’t want to be spoiled please don’t read ☺️!

Word Count: 2,854

Genre: Fluff and Angst

Warnings: Death, Mild Language.

Taglist: @eme-eleff

———

Yami frowned as he listened to Julius on the other end of the communication device. Apparently, a Golden Dawn member lost control of his magic and now the entire base was covered in Plant Magic. So Julius asked if Yami would be able to handle it, Yami had said he could and he looked over at his 12 year old daughter Hikari. They were the only ones here, everyone else was out on missions even Charlotte. He sighed as he put away the communication device and crossed his arms.

“ Hikari, do you think you’re ready for your first mission?” He asked her seriously, this would be her first time out on an actual mission. One that could be dangerous. His protective side was screaming at him, telling him to just leave her here for a while that someone was going to be home soon, but the Captain side of him urged him to bring her. She had her heart set on joining the Black Bulls and being a Magic Knight, this would be a good test to confirm and see if this was the path she wanted to take. Besides, if it appeared to be too dangerous he could always take her somewhere safe, he was her dad and would protect her no matter what.

“ Really?! You’re taking me on a mission with you?!” Hikari gasped excitedly as she jumped up and ran over to her father, he nodded and her eyes widened in excitement. “ Yes I’m ready!” She saluted just like Asta had taught her. Yami chuckled and ruffled her hair a bit, she almost had as much energy as Asta when it came to missions.

“ Alright then. C’mon, let’s go.” He commanded and Hikari once again saluted her father before following behind him outside to their brooms. She could be so adorable sometimes.

———

Yami and Hikari both gaped at the sight before them; the Golden Dawn's base was completely covered in various flowers and vines, some stones had been damaged or broken, the vines were moving around, gripping the building tighter and tighter, as though it were a snake trying to squeeze the life out of its prey. It reminded Yami a lot of when he rescued Charlotte from her curse all those many years ago, except these ones weren’t attacking them, not yet anyway.

“ Hikari, stay close to me, and keep your hand on your Katana at all times. Just in case you need to defend yourself.” Yami instructed seriously, he watched the 12 year old girl nod and do as she was told, the smile and excitement were gone from her face. Instead a cold seriousness replaced them, she was focused on her task, and nothing would snap her out of it. He chuckled to himself, she looked just like him right now. He made sure to keep his hand on his Katana as well before pulling out his grimoire and walking forward.

“ We’re going to have to cut through this aren’t we?” Hikari asked in a soft, almost sad, tone. Yami nodded before turning to look at her, she walked up to the vine and reached a hand out. But Yami quickly grabbed her wrist and stopped her. “ This Qi coming from the vines, it’s familiar, like I’ve seen it before. It even feels different, like it’s sad.” She added before looking to her father, he sensed it too, both the familiarity and the sadness. He was glad Charlotte had agreed to teach Hikari Qi.

“ I know, but it can’t be helped. In order to get to the squad members and to the mage casting this spell,” he unsheathed his Katana and Hikari did the same. “ we’ll have to cut these down!”

The two Sukehiro’s slashed and cut their way through the vines, releasing Golden Dawn members that had been trapped along the way. Yami looked around, the mana was beginning to get stronger the closer they got to the center of the base. But the vines, they weren’t attacking them, they were only holding the Golden Dawn members, some were squeezed and held tighter than others, but other than a few bruises and cracked ribs they were ok. Hikari was holding her own, Yami wasn’t very surprised given who her parents were, but still she seemed completely comfortable here, she was in her element.

“ Hey dad, I think the mage is in here!” Hikari called as she looked through a large doorway that used to hold two large double doors. Yami walked over and he felt it; a large concentration of mana, yep this was where the mage was. He started hacking and slashing, occasionally using his dark magic, to cut through the vines. Hikari was behind him helping, he left the thinner ones to her while he cut down the bigger ones. When they finally reached the center of the vines they stood still, eyes wide in shock.

There in the middle of the room, on their knees, was a young boy. He appeared to be around Hikari’s age, his messy white hair stuck to his face, his hands and entire body trembling, his blue eyes stared at the ground in front of him. The vines moved around him protectively after sensing the intruders, but Yami made quick work of them and cut them down in one swift movement. The boy almost appeared to be frozen, but his labored breathing proved otherwise.

“ Dad, isn’t that Captain Vangeance’s son?” Hikari asked softly. Yami looked at her for a moment before looking back at the boy; she was right, it was Alistar Vangeance, William's only son. That's why the Qi seemed so familiar, not only because the movements were similar to William’s, but he had seen the boy use his magic on multiple different occasions. He was extremely talented, like Hikari, well, he wasn’t as talented as Hikari if you wanted Yami’s honest opinion.

Yami noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Hikari approaching Alistar, he reached out and grabbed his daughter by the shoulder.

“ Hikari. You don’t know what’s wrong with him, he could attack you the minute you get close.” Yami told her seriously, but the look in her eyes held steely determination. She was going up there whether he wanted her too or not. The two stared each other down for a few moments before Yami sighed and let her go. “ Fine. But I’ll be watching, one false move, and I’m getting you out.” He warned, she nodded and walked up to Alistar.

The boy didn’t even seem to notice her presence, he stayed in the same spot, in the same position, as she walked up to him. Hikari had known the boy pretty much her entire life, they weren’t very close though as they were in two separate squads, but she had met him numerous times and found him pleasant to be around. Even if he could be a little bit of a ‘by the rules’ type, but he was always kind and polite to her. This didn’t even look like the same boy.

“ Hurt...it hurts…” Alistar struggled to get out, his voice was hoarse as though he had been screaming, there were vines wrapped around his legs and ankles, but they didn’t look tight enough to be hurting him.

“ What hurts?” She asked him as she looked around his body, his shirt was slightly torn, but he had no wounds.

“ Everything…” Alistar told Hikari so softly that she almost missed it, her head shot in his direction. Sweat was dripping down his face as though he were in extreme agony. But when he finally moved his eyes to look at hers she gasped; his eyes, they held a different kind of pain in them. Alistar wasn’t talking about physical pain, he was talking about a different kind of pain, one that couldn’t be seen.

“ Look, I know you’re hurting right now, and I’ll do what I can to help you. But just because you’re hurting, doesn’t give you the right to be hurting others too!” Hikari shouted, shocking both Alistar and Yami. Alistar gaped at the young brunette. She could understand he was hurting and that in return he wanted others to hurt as well, but that didn’t mean it was the right thing to do!

“ I…” He trailed off, his eyes suddenly searching hers, for what neither really knew. But the vines that surrounded them suddenly began to vanish. “ I don’t want to hurt anyone else.” He finished, his voice breaking, Hikari instantly looked away sheepishly. She hadn’t meant to be so harsh.

“ Alistar!” A voice suddenly shouted as they stepped into the room. It was William Vangeance, a slightly out of breath one, but William nonetheless. Alistair's Eyes widened and the pain in them quickly morphed into anger. The boy quickly stood on shaky legs and took off running.

“ Alistar!” William shouted again as he went to take off after him, but Yami stopped the Golden Dawn’s Captain in his tracks.

“ I wouldn’t if I were you. You seem to be the one he’s angry at.” Yami pointed out, William sighed, as much as he wanted to chase after his son he knew Yami was right. “ Hikari! Go make sure the kids alright would ya?” Yami ordered, Hikari nodded and chased after Alistar.

———

Hikari panted slightly as made it to the top of the nearest tower, she had seen him come this way she was sure of it. She walked around and saw him standing there leaning against one of the pillars, he appeared to be lost in thought.

“ Why'd You follow me?” He mumbled before turning to look at her, his eyes were usually so warm, but now they were as cold as ice.

“ I was ordered too.” She answered honestly, he laughed a humorless laugh before pushing himself off the pillar and stood across from her.

“ Let me guess, my father sent you.”

“ No. Mine did.” Hikari saw the surprise in his eyes before it disappeared just as quickly. The two pre-teens stood in silence, neither one knowing what to say or where to start.

“ Alistar,” Hikari asked softly yet cautiously just like her mother would do. “ what happened?”

Alistar looked away instantly at the question, his body began to tremble once more. Where did he start? How did he even begin to describe what he found out today? He leaned a hand against the pillar for support, Hikari went to help but he held a hand out to stop her. He needed to calm down. He didn’t want anyone else to get hurt or worse, because of him again. He took a few deep calming breaths before he bit his bottom lip, the words were on the tip of his tongue, but he wasn’t sure if he had the courage to say them out loud.

“ I…” Alistar paused, shutting his eyes tightly and squeezing them. “ I killed my mom.” He said, his voice cracking in the middle, Hikari’s eyes widened, what was he talking about? How did he kill his mom? She didn’t understand.

“ What do you mean?” She asked softly, she watched Alistar's hands ball into fists as his shaking only got worse. He finally looked up at her, his blue eyes were full of hurt and anger.

“ My mom...she died giving birth to me. I caused her to hemorrhage, to bleed out, and that bastard lied to me about it!” Alistar suddenly shouted as he slammed the side of his hand into the concrete pillar, probably cutting his skin somewhat.

Hikari blinked, his mom died giving birth? But, she had heard that she was ill and had passed when he was still a baby. She watched his body still shake, out of anger or sadness she couldn’t tell, she just stood there watching him. She willed herself to speak, to say something, but no words would come out. What was she supposed to say in this situation? How was she supposed to react? Oh how she wished her mother was back from her mission to help her!

“ Your dad lied to you?” She asked, that was the only thing her brain could think of to ask in the moment. When he nodded he walked away from the pillar and sat down on the ledge of the tower.

“ Yeah, he told me she died of an illness when I was a couple of months old.” He muttered, Hikari walked over and sat down next to him. So that’s the story Captain Vangeance decided to tell Alistar all these years, but she was a little confused, her father had told her the same thing. Did he actually know how Captain Vangeance’s wife died? Or was he in on the lie as well?

“ Do you think, maybe he didn’t tell you because he knew you’d react this way?” Hikari suggested, causing Alistar to frown at her.

“ What do you mean?”

“ Right now you’re angry, not just at your dad but at yourself too. You’re blaming yourself for something you had no control over, that neither of you had control over.” Hikari explained before turning to face Alistar. “ That look in your eye, I could tell there was anger, sadness, and pain in them. But there was one thing I noticed that I didn’t recognize until now: blame.”

“ Your dad was trying to keep this from happening, to keep you from blaming yourself. Even though I don’t agree with him keeping this from you, I can understand why.” She finished, Alistar blinked and looked away. He knew she was right, and she knew she was right. But she didn’t want to rub it in, not when it came to this.

The two sat in silence again for a few moments before another question popped into Hikari’s head.

“ Who told you about your mom?”

“ No one. I overheard a few squad members talking about it, talking about how if I were their child they wouldn’t be able to look at me, how they can’t believe my father doesn’t blame me for it, how they wished it were me instead of her that died.” He spoke softly, Hikari felt an anger rise in her, how dare people talk like that about him?! She quickly stood up, a hand on her Katana.

“ Who was it? I want names and detailed descriptions.” She ordered, causing Alistar to blink up at her before he let out a small laugh.

“ What? Are you my bodyguard now?” He asked in an almost mocking tone.

“ Maybe I am. Someone needs to watch your back for you. Otherwise things like that are going to keep happening, especially when you climb up the ladder.” Hikari pointed out.

“ You think I’m going to make it all the way to the top?”

“ Hm, not all the way, since I’m going to be the Wizard Queen someday. But I do believe you’ll make Captain of your squad and when you do, I’ll be right behind you watching your back, even though we’re in two different squads. Just like I know you’ll have mine.” Hikari said as she sat back down.

“ How do you know I’ll watch your back?” He teased, his eyes widened in surprise when she blushed and looked away sheepishly.

“ Because, you’re you.” She muttered, not sure what he wanted her to say. That was really the only good way she could describe him; Alistar was Alistar, he was nice, calm, determined, a born leader and above all he was loyal to his friends and squadmates. “ Also, because we’re friends now!” She added with a laugh causing him to look surprised once again, friends? He and her were friends? He shook his head and smiled softly, his usual smile that everyone was accustomed to seeing.

“ Thank you, Hikari.” He told her softly, she waved it away.

“ No problem, you would do the same for me.” Hikari shrugged before she heard him laugh again.

“ My, the rain is really coming down isn’t it?” Alistar asked suddenly as his face was pointed to the sky, Hikari frowned and looked up as well.

It was a completely clear afternoon, not a single cloud in sight.

“ But, it’s not rai-.” She cut herself off as she looked over at Alistar.

Tears streamed down the young boy's face, all the emotions he was feeling finally overwhelmed him. He was sad, angry, guilty. But he was also happy he had finally made a friend, a true friend, for the first time in his life. It was all too much for his emotions to handle, so he cried silently.

Hikari smiled softly before moving closer to Alistar, she grabbed his hand and held it gently, just like her parents would do whenever she was sad. She gave it a small squeeze.

“ You’re right. It really is raining terribly.”

———

I’m sorry if this isn’t very good but I hope you all enjoyed, this last scene with the rain is a small nod to FMA, I noticed Alistar and Hikari’s relationship is similar to Roy/Riza’s (which wasn’t 100% intentional 😅) so that scene was a nod to it haha. Anyway thanks for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

#children of the future #oc; alistar #oc; hikari #hikari is not my oc #yami sukehiro #tw: death

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titaniasfics · 3 years

Note

if your prompts are still open, for wanda and vision: "my love for you is set in stone" (bc tell me that 'Heart of Stone' from SIX isn't the perfect song to encapsulate the devastation that was the finale of WandaVision?! gahhh I just want Wanda, Vision and the kids to be together and happy!)

In which Vision needs to defeat Wanda before he can save her.

Inspired by a mashup of two prompts:

1) One shot of Vision and Wanda making up after a fight. Would love to see your take on it.

2) If your prompts are still open, for Wanda and Vision: "my love for you is set in stone" (bc tell me that 'Heart of Stone' from SIX isn't the perfect song to encapsulate the devastation that was the finale of WandaVision?! gahhh I just want Wanda, Vision and the kids to be together and happy!)

Bonkers drabble speculation on how Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness movie might end. I make a ton of assumptions on this so please be aware that this all made up. Like, more made up than usual. Leans heavily into comic book lore, especially the Giant-Size Avengers Comic Book, Issue #4.

Oh, and I’m a noob when it comes to fight scenes, so I’ve contrived every way to avoid writing one.

Thanks, anons! The song “Heart of Stone” is now on my WandaVision playlist.

Heart of Stone

Vision’s vibranium arc reactor, which Dr. Cho installed to replace the Mind Stone and the flimsy solar absorption unit courtesy of SWORD, strains against Wanda’s sustained energy blast. Her beautiful blue eyes which normally turn a color of magma when she invokes her power, are now pitch black from Dormammu’s possession. Under his influence, she is doing her best to fulfill his diabolical directive.

Kill The Vision.

Even after Dr. Strange’s attempts to weaken her, she is as incandescent as the black energy that pulses at the center of the Dark Dimension. The Supreme Sorcerer tried to warn Vision when he first appeared in this hellish dimension of evil in search of Wanda.

She won’t recognize you. She will kill you and when she returns to herself and realizes what she has done, nothing in the universe – not me, not Agatha Harkness, not even Dormammu himself – will be able to withstand the force of her rage.

If he cannot reach her, she will not only destroy him, but in her grief, she will tear apart the multiverse and everything within it. Wanda’s grief is a cosmic force all its own.

He knows. He became well-acquainted with it in Westview when, like a puppet himself, he was sent to neutralize her.

Now, suspended between a host of conquered planets at the mercy of the god of the Dark Dimension, Wanda is draining him, even as he dredges up every last store of energy that the reactor can generate to resist her. Around him, the dimension roars with the collective fear of an infinite number of trapped beings.

I’ll hold off Dormammu, but if she doesn’t snap out of his spell, neither of us will be able to stop her and Dormammu will take Earth’s dimension.

As Dr. Strange warned, Vision needs to thwart Dormammu’s endless designs to absorb Earth into the Dark Dimension, but Vision also needs Wanda and he must find a way to get her back.

He sends another pulse of energy, forcing her to pull back, but she recovers quickly, his blast nothing more than an annoying insect bite. If he could just get to her. Look into her eyes. He knows like he knows who he is, who they are together, that he can reach her.

“Wanda, you are killing me. Darling, please,” he begs, knowing his words are a poor substitute for what he needs to do to free her.

“The Vision must die,” Wanda repeats, sending a last, decisive blast towards him. The impact sends fire through his body, heat like nothing he’s ever experienced. He falls, hurtling like a chunk of meteor to the hellish rock below. The impact is nothing compared to the pain. Vision is burning in his skin. His senses are compromised, his systems failing, despite the nanobots unfurling in his bloodstream, scurrying to stem the hemorrhages of a body struggling to remain intact.

When Wanda lands before him, he senses her more than he feels her. He reaches out to her, lifting his eyes to gaze into hers. Even though his vision is fading, he sees that they are as bottomless as the dark matter of the cosmos. As dark as the evil that holds her.

“Wanda, you must remember…who you are…”

“Wanda Maximoff is no more,” she drones and his heart fractures at the realization that her words might hold an unwanted truth. Perhaps Dormammu has buried Wanda…his Wanda… so far inside herself that she may never emerge again.

“Who said…Wanda is no more? Dormammu? You once said…you needed no one…to tell you who you are. Do you really take him at his word?”

She blinks, shaking her head as if to clear it. “Dormammu,” she murmurs and the emptiness in her voice is rich with confusion. On the strength of this, Vision staggers to his feet.

“You are not a puppet.” He reaches for her, her flinch half-hearted because she allows him to grasp her by her upper arms. “You are Wanda Maximoff. You are the Scarlet Witch –“

“The Scarlet Witch,” she repeats.

“—and you are my love,” he finishes before his strength gives out and he falls to one knee before her. “I am weak. I am not sure if I will recover, but you must remember who you are.”

The struggle is clear on her face. “Remember who I am. Who I am...”

“Yes. And remember that my love for you is set in stone, no matter what happens here.”

“Vision?” she asks, her question as plaintive as a child’s. He looks up again at the brittle tone of her voice. The darkness in her eyes floods with a blue as bright as the summer sky over the mountains, a blue that is out of place in this terrible hellscape.

“Wanda,” he says, reaching for her, but his strength is failing him as energy is diverted to repairing his damaged systems. “Remember us.”

She stiffens as if a distended rubber band has snapped into place. “Vision!” she shouts, kneeling before him. “Did I do this?”

He wants to say give her an affirmative answer but speech has escaped him and staying conscious consumes his every last effort.

“No-no-no-no,” she moans, tears distorting her words. “You can’t…you can’t die again.” Her hands glow and she places them over him. “I’m here. I’ll fix you.”

Vision takes a deep breath as her energy courses through him – familiar, like the smell of her hair or the softness of her skin. The fire that threatened to consume him earlier cools to a gentle pulse as the nanobots in his body feed on her energy, accelerating repairs, putting his body back together again at a rate even they had not been designed for. But they hold onto their structural integrity and Vision is able to see clearly again. His thoughts untangle and his strength returns.

She withdraws her powers, her palms warm as she cradles his head in her hands. “How? How did you get here?”

Vision puts his hand over hers, reveling in the feel of her skin against his. “It is a rather long story that I will share with you when we leave this place.”

“First things first,” she says, crushing her lips to his and at that moment, he realizes how much he has missed this as well, the sheer physicality of her love for him. A mad god howls in rage just beyond, the Dark Dimension threatens to swallow them both, but he is lost to the taste of her mouth and the warmth of her arms wrapped around him.

“Hey, guys?” comes a voice that pulls them from their bubble of bliss. “I could use some help over here.”

They pull apart to see Dr. Strange, locked in some magical struggle for dominance against the god of the Dark Dimension, straining against his power.

“I’ve got this,” Wanda says, rising into the air. “Don’t go anywhere.”

In awe of her power, he takes off beside her, ready to offer her the backup she really does not need. “You will never get rid of me again.”

***

One-shot masterlist on tumblr

ScarletVision Collection on AO3

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jaskiersvalley · 4 years

Note

I just wanted to say a) oh my gods the cute laiden fluff I die. b) holy crap you wrote that cute Little!Lambert fic I found a bit ago! Nice!! And c) rawrkin explicitly told me you were nice and worth messaging and who am I to pass up such an endorsement? I love your stuff it's very good. 💜💜💜

Considering I’ve already come and made a twit of myself in your inbox in response to this, I’ll keep it brief (and in reverse order). C) @rawrkinjd is out there being lovely and spreading rumours that I’m nice XD We all know they are the real sweetheart here! B) I’ve had a few more asks about Little Lambert come in (with Aiden getting involved too...) so there may be more of that to come. C) Fluff is where my heart will always lie. There are so many unhappy endings in real life, let fandom be where everyone gets to be happy and cute. With that in mind, I may work a hint of Laiden into your thank you ficlet which is a vague companion/follow-up to this one. :D

It seemed that Yennefer wasn’t best pleased with how winter was shaping up. The path up to the keep was still open and Lambert had been glancing out towards the approach regularly, as if expecting someone. Eskel seemed to be in on it, sometimes standing with him, a hand on the small of Lambert’s back, murmuring a soft “he’ll be here” at times. That already had Yennefer rolling her eyes. She still seemed quite bitter that her spell to turn the witchers into children hadn’t taught whatever lesson she wanted to instill in them.

As it tended to be, things came to a head with Jaskier. He had tugged playfully at one of the decorative ribbons on Yennefer’s dress as they moved around the dining hall, settling down for dinner. As Jaskier sat down, Lambert glanced longingly towards the door with a sigh.

“Have your happy families,” Yennefer growled and Jaskier was enveloped in a puff of purple smoke. As it cleared, a large eyed child sat in his place.

Nobody dared move for a moment, taking in the sight of a de-aged Jaskier until Lambert cleared his throat. “Oh no. He’s adorable.”

Not just adorable, also impeccably well mannered. Jaskier ate his dinner, already behaving like a dainty little lordling. It was all endearing and none of the witchers could look away from a toddler who had more table manners than the lot of them combined.

“Thank you very much for dinner,” Jaskier lisped. and Vesemir could see every stone cold witcher heart thaw in the room - including his own.

Settling Jaskier down for the night was an easy affair, he was sleepy, seemed quite determined that as it was evening, he would go to bed. That night, the wolves gathered in front of the fire and sighed.

“I didn’t think children could ever be this polite.” As he spoke, Vesemir stared into the fire. “None of you lot were ever this good.”

Famous last words. In the morning, Jaskier was gone. Not disappeared but definitely nowhere to be found. His altered scent led the witchers on a merry trail across the whole keep. Even worse, there was the occasional childish giggle and the patter of feet but Jaskier was nowhere to be found. They spent a whole morning looking, splitting up and taking different floors and wings of the keep, even going into areas that had been considered closed off for decades because nobody wanted to remember what happened behind certain doors.

It was futile, Jaskier was nowhere to be found. Even worse, the trail grew cold, there were no pattering feet or more giggles. The witchers reconvened in the dining room, looking haggard already, only to find Vesemir stood in the middle, staring up into the rafters, one hand raised to silence his wolves. Without a word, he pointed up into the vaulted ceilings. Only thanks to enhanced vision did the witchers see the small figure draped over a girder, arm dangling limply as Jaskier slept.

“How to we get him down from there?” Eskel asked, looking around.

“My question is, how did he get up there?” The counter from Lambert was also a fair one.

Before any answers could be give, Geralt broke into a run with “he’s rolling!” grunted between puffs of exertion. Sure enough, Jaskier had turned from his back to his side and gravity was doing its thing. Almost in slow motion, Jaskier toppled from the rafter.

“Eskel! Aard!” Geralt yelled. Only years of training together had Eskel sending a moderate blast towards Jaskier’s falling body. It won them enough time that Geralt could leap the final few meters and he caught Jaskier in his arms, his own shoulder slamming into the ground rather than their bard’s.

“Again! Again! Again!” Jaskier trilled, seemingly waking up without any kind of transition from sleep to sleepy to awake. Before anyone could react, he was up and off, rushing into the kitchen and, a moment later, running across a beam up high. “Catch me Geralt!”

The next minute Jaskier was falling again with a childish “whee!” and Eskel had to use aard to direct him towards Geralt once again. Thus the newest game was born. Jaskier had boundless energy to run, climb and jump, only to repeat again. And again. And again. Even Eskel was feeling the strain, his signs coming out weaker while Geralt huffed and puffed at having to run around to catch Jaskier who jumped off random beams, never the same one.

“Last one, then it’s lunch time,” Vesemir’s voice was clear through the hall and Jaskier took a running jump, almost missing Geralt as Eskel’s aard didn’t give him enough of a boost.

Sitting at the table, Jaskier eyed the plate of food, heated up remains from the previous night. While the witchers tucked in, Jaskier pushed it around on his plate before shoving it away.

“I don’t like it.”

“You ate it yesterday,” Geralt replied around a mouthful.

“But I don’t like it today. I want grouse.”

Even if Kaer Morhen had a stash of grouse, they wouldn’t have cooked any just because Jaskier was being picky. They ignored his indignant kicking of the table leg. The first sniffle and smell of salty tears had all of them looking up. Jaskier’s cheeky were ruddy red and large crocodile tears trickled down his cheeks.

“But I want grouse,” he wailed, voice breaking on a shriek.

Vesemir had honestly thought he had seen everything in his many years. But not once had he watched a child slither down a chair, muscles lax yet tight with rage. On the floor, Jaskier truly let loose, screaming, little fists pounding into the stone of the floor. The witchers all froze and stared at each other, not knowing what to do.

“If you won’t eat it, you’ll go hungry,” Vesemir ventured when Jaskier took a breath. Another howl of rage was his only answer.

Eskel was the first to decide this wasn’t for him. He picked up his plate and carried it into the kitchen, finishing his meal there, Geralt rapidly joining him. A look was exchanged between Vesemir and Lambert, neither wanting to be the last one left with a hysterical child. By virtue of being nearer the door, Vesemir won and made his hasty retreat.

Left alone with Jaskier, Lambert looked at his plate and then towards the door that led to the entrance of the keep. When no help seemed to come, he shrugged and kept eating.

There was a lull in Jaskier’s theatrics and Lambert felt a small wave of relief. “Hey kid, you done?”

“No.” More screaming.

“Okay.”

Eventually, Jaskier ran out of steam. After lying under the table for a little longer, he climbed out and sat back on his chair, arms crossed over his chest and glaring at the plate.

It was less than a day since Jaskier had turned into a child and already the witchers were tired. Not just the regular fatigue but the kind where they would have fallen into a pile in front of a fire and slept for probably a whole day. Eskel was worn ragged from all the signs, Geralt from the stress of catching Jaskier, Lambert’s nerves were fraying from the screaming and Vesemir thought he was too old for this shit. Sadly, his concoction only worked on witchers, otherwise he would have already pinned Jaskier down and forced a dose of the stuff down his throat.

The main door to the keep opened and a newcomer strolled in. A little put off by the lackluster greeting, Aiden followed his nose and found the others in the dining hall, a child opposite Lambert.

“You came,” Lambert sighed a waved. Three heads peered out from the kitchen and Eskel waggled his fingers with a tired smile.

“I did. And who is this? A Child Surprise?”

“Jaskier. The brat. I mean. The bard.”

Looking around, Aiden suppressed a smirk. He had a good idea what had been going on. Rather than make a big thing of it, he pointed at Jaskier’s plate. “You going to eat that?” A stubborn shake of head was his answer. “Sweet. I’m starving so you won’t mind if I-”

He cut off his words as a fork almost stabbed him in the hand. “Guess I’ll get my own plate then.”

The others watched as Jaskier glared at Aiden and hurriedly stuffed his food into his mouth, hunched over the plate. For his part, Aiden hid his triumphant grin and walked into the kitchen, getting a slight shoulder bump in greeting from Eskel.

After lunch seemed to settle down, the wolves were rather hopeful of an afternoon nap. Children did that, right? They piled in front of the fire, grumbling. Aiden joined them, Jaskier sat triumphantly on his shoulders and clutching his hair.

“Now,” Aiden said, “we need to put these big babies to sleep. Can you help me tuck them in?”

Little hands patted the throws down that Aiden draped over the other witchers. He tried not to laugh at how they were all drooping, cuddling up into a tangle of limbs.

A few hours later they woke in various states of decoration. Lambert had a candle stuck up his nose, Eskel’s hair was tied into a lot of small bunchies while Geralt’s face was scribbled on in charcoal and ash, giving him the most incredible eyebrows and scowl. Meanwhile, Vesemir was adorned in anything shiny that could be found in the keep.

“What the-?” Lambert growled and looked up at Aiden who was far too entertained.

“You left me with the kid. We kept ourselves entertained.”

Sitting up, Vesemir had to try and hide his own amusement. “How are you so good at keeping up?”

“He’s no worse than any other kid.” The shrug from Aiden seemed genuine. “You had them here too, didn’t you?” A look at the wolves and Aiden’s eyes went round. “You were all quiet and serious, weren’t you? Other than Lambert but even his firecracker ways were muted by comparison.”

It seemed that destiny had already matched the children to the schools they would fit in with the best. And it was safe to say, if Jaskier had been destined to be a witcher, he wouldn’t have been a wolf.

#geralt of rivia #jaskier #lambert #eskel #aiden #vesemir #de-aged jaskier #witcher wolf pack #tldr: child jaskier is a brat

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shadowsfascination · 3 years

Text

Shadamy Swordland ch 6 |

Rouge brushed the dust from her clothes after scolding Shadow about his reckless move, whose attitude remained as indifferent as ever.

“Guys?-” Amy said, trying to get their attention.

“I knew what I was doing!”

“Sure didn’t look the part.”

“Guys, look!” The pink hedgehog shouted. “A floating city…?!”

Shadow and Rouge finally paid attention to her, turning their heads to look at her. Amy walked towards the end of a cliff and bent over to the edge to overlook the place they ended up on. Multiple sandstone paths winded across the skies along floating, vine-clad buildings with spiralling paths around them, leading to the top. Shadow joined her, hooking a finger behind her belt to keep her from a potential fall into the depths he couldn’t see the end of.

“It’s so beautiful… We should have a date here sometime.” Amy dreamily glanced at Shadow.

Rouge whistled, impressed by their discovery. She flew to the closest floating pathway across from the others and created a connecting road between them, closing the gap so they could cross. Amy ran forward to the path and yanked Shadow along with her, who had forgotten he was still hooked on her belt. The male tumbled onto her, his weight pressing on her, making her falter. He quickly unhooked his finger from her belt and curled his arm behind her back to catch her.

“Gotcha. You need to start watching your back more if you still want that date, Rose.”

_____________________________

Meanwhile elsewhere on a floating island above the sky-high ruin befallen floating city the three had set foot on, an echidna picked up the slightest of vibes of a familiar energy. He rested against the stone stairway that led to an altar, his eyes closed as he concentrated on the waves of energy that unexpectedly drifted among the upward winds. He rose and walked towards the bridge that connected the floating island to the city below.

‘Knuckles’, the guardian’s name, attempted to seize some shards of green energy that whirled up to the island, but couldn’t get a hold of it. They flew off in different directions, escaping the grasp of his hands. He doubted for a second.

“No, I’m sure of it. This has to be Chaos Energy!”

The quizzical expression however didn’t leave his face for the gemstones he was guarding were right here with him. They were the only thing he’d ever seen that could produce this type of energy waves. He was more than familiar with the stories of special Mobians possessing a strange power that could either use or produce Chaos Energy, but never saw one before.

“Guess it’s time for me to test out that sacred art skill.”

Every new-born member of the designated guardian family inherited a sacred art skill called ‘vision’ when they’d been given a name. After the naming ceremony, which would secure the bond between the Master Emerald and the future guardian, the skill would develop along with them as they grew up.

The ‘vision’ allowed them to sense Chaos Energy up to a 15 mile radius around them. It also gave them the ability to ‘jump’ into an image, zooming in on it like a telescope. The most important thing about it though was that the guardians could make the entire island temporarily invisible to hide it from outsiders.

Knuckles rapidly blinked three times in a row, activating the skill and zoomed in on the source of the Chaos energy. Taking in three Mobians he saw walking on the floating paths of the Sky Sanctuary he gasped with unease. The black one made him recall something like he recognized him.

“He looks like…-”

He ran back to the altar and quickly scanned the murals on it, his eyes widening at the shocking resemblance of the images and the Mobian strolling on the floating pathways below him. He looked at the black male again.

“It is him! But why? What’s he doing here? I’d better keep an eye on them.”

The guardian decided to track them from the island and casted a spell to turn the island invisible, not letting his curiosity getting the best of him.

___________________________

“So, what will you do when you’ve obtained the emerald, Rouge?” Shadow asked.

“I’ll take it to the man who’s willing to help me, like I told you.”

“What does he plan to do with it?”

‘He’s getting a little too interested in this. I’d better distract him.’ Rouge thought.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to ask so many questions?”

The bat acted overly insulted only to bump into Amy next when she wasn’t paying attention of what was ahead of her. The pink hedgehog had stopped walking without warning and the others immediately understood why. Unmistakably present was the amount of Chaos spores in the air ahead of them, leading upwards. Amy took a step forward.

“Amy!”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Rouge yelled.

“What?! I’m going up there! To that floating island.” Amy pointed upward.

“Floating island?” Shadow questioned.

“Sweetie, I don’t see anything up there. Maybe we should call it a day.”

“How- how can you NOT see it?! It’s right there! Look!”

Seeing the other’s puzzled expressions Amy finally believed they really didn’t see what she in fact saw: a bridge leading to a floating island. That’s where all the chaos energy’s concentrated. How could they not see it? Especially with their sacred arts levels higher than hers.

“It’s really there! I’m telling you it’s real. I’m not crazy, okay!”

Shadow and Rouge first glanced at each other with a kind of concern before shifting their gaze at Amy.

“I don’t rule out that there’s something up there, okay? But let’s call it a day and go back here another time. “ Rouge said.

“Agreed.” Shadow added.

“Fine. I’ll show you when we get back here.”

_______________________________________

After Amy and Shadow parted from Rouge they walked back to the academy in the dark. It had started snowing again and a bleak breeze flared up, dusting up the snow in tiny, cold whirlwinds of powdery snow. Before Shadow waved his student goodbye and paced on to his home, he told her to get a good night of sleep before the sword fight tournament tomorrow. He hoped she wouldn’t be too tired from today’s events. Bending over to the flower pot next to the front door to pick up his keys from underneath it, he suddenly felt someone’s hands on his shoulders.

“You and I need to talk!”

His fellow knight hissed at him while dragging him into the shadows of the alley next to the hedgehog’s house. Blaze yanked Shadow towards her, their metal breastplates clanking at their touch. The cat pulled him up by the little chest-fur that managed to pop out from under his armour, poking a finger in his muzzle. Her eyes fiercely glanced at his own crimson ones.

“Why are you still hanging out with her? On your day-off that is. Don’t you understand how this will add to the already existing rumours?”

He pushed her away and stepped back. “What’s your problem?! It’s dark and no one’s even here.”

“I am. I caught onto it. Someone else might as well.”

“We have been training in the woods today in preparation of the tournament tomorrow. I have nothing to hide apart from my trainee’s excellent swordfight skills, that is.”

“It doesn’t look like that, Shadow! You return in the dark after spending the day together. You’re constantly looking over your shoulder and scanning the place the entire way you’ve been walking with her as if to make sure no one catches onto you two.”

“We’re just trying to avoid causing more rumours. I’m not even the least bit interested in her like that. I don’t care about romance, Blaze.”

“Well, you’re clearly getting along with her. Even if what you say is true, it looks suspicious.”

“See what you wanna see. I don’t care.”

The lavender coloured cat grabbed his shoulders, genuine concern glistering in her eyes.

“Care about it a little more, will you?! As a member of the high order of knights you have a reputation to uphold! We all do. Your actions might affect all of us.”

“No need to remind me. Now stop sticking your nose in my business and worry about your own student. That hyper-annoying blue hedgehog is a real troublemaker.”

Blaze’s face showed a variety of changing expressions at Shadow’s statement. Sonic was an adventurous spirit with an impulsive nature and when he felt it was needed, he turned out to be a true rebel at heart. It often lead Blaze to the board’s office to apologize on behalf of him when Sonic refused to. Her cheeks coloured a bright pink, all much to Shadow’s amusement.

“That’s… beside the point right now! I propose the idea that you two will only train inside the training facilities and domes for a while, so you’d be in si-“.

“Rejected. It’ll disadvantage her in battle. Amy has as much right to develop her fighting style in secret as anyone else.”

“If you truly have nothing to hide, this shouldn’t be a problem.”

He shrugged himself free of her hold.

“This conversation’s over. Good night, Blaze.”

___________________________

“Hey Ames!”

Sonic excitedly waved at his pink friend when spotting her entering the Ruby Dome’s dressing room. He walked up to her, tossing her towel to her. Amy caught it with ease and wiped the sweat from her forehead while gulping down a glass of water.

“Ah, thanks! I needed that. Are you up next?”

“Sure am. How did your matches go?”

“I’ve won every single one of them.” Amy smiled like a victor.

The blue hedgehog gave her a thumb’s up while holding the door open for her to enter the main battlefield in the dome. Shadow and Blaze greeted their students and Amy proudly told her friend and trainer how she’d won all of her matches today. The cat expressed her gleeful surprise about Shadow and Amy’s secluded training session the other day, only to display the suspicion in her jade eyes.

“That’s me! Wish me luck, will you?”

“Good luck, Sonic!”

As Amy watched Sonic enter the battlefield, she saw Shadow enter after him. She’d completely forgotten Shadow competed against the seniors today. Amy knew very well that both Sonic and Shadow were crazily fast and both had outstanding sword and dodging skills. It was still likely for Shadow to win, but every spectator today knew this match ought to be very interesting.

Both hedgehogs had that peculiar look on their faces with a certain grin curling their lips and a certain seriousness in their eyes. Amy couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. She took a seat next to Blaze whom she felt had a similar nervousness over her. Amy said a little prayer in her thoughts that Blaze wouldn’t start questioning her about Shadow. She felt guilty enough already as it was for lying to her.

“Good luck Sonic, you’ll need it” Shadow challenged him.

“Heh, we’ll see about that.”

Sonic’s grin widened and he scratched his nose. They nodded once at the referee, readying themselves at his countdown. The way the hedgehogs’ body language showed the energy inside them made it more than obvious both had long anticipated a match like this. At the sound of the ringing bell the two dashed forward, racing towards their opponent, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

Confidently preparing for the incoming impact of their swords clashing against one another, Shadow neared his opponent, effortlessly matching his speed. Searching for an open spot to strike, the two hedgehogs closed in on each other. Sonic’s eyes fixed on Shadow’s sword to block his upcoming strike.

Within the last two or three steps away from him, he felt his heart jolt inside his chest, his eyes drawn to their swords. The spectators screamed enthusiastically behind them. The small piece of emerald on the handgrip of Shadow’s sword flared with light as he dashed forward. The air filled with thousands of tiny turquoise fireflies, which Amy now knew were actually Chaos spores.

“Oh boy… “ Amy squeaked, holding her breath.

“You’ve seen this stuff before?” Blaze asked.

“Errr, yes! It’s some sort of energy.”

The metal swords clanked against each other with tremendous impact when Sonic blocked his opponent’s strike. His sword suddenly blazed like Shadow’s after their touch, creating a large bolt of nasty bright light. Like he had hit the break at once everything just stopped around them, totally frozen in time. He was only able to move his eyes and shifted his gaze from his sword to Shadow. The black hedgehog looked back at him, clearly experiencing the same thing.

In the blink of an eye a small emerald was laid in the handgrip of his sword, blazing as fiercely as Shadow’s. It sent a powerful rush through his body before the frozen world came back alive again. The bolt of light swung them high into the air, smashing them down on the opposite sides of the battlefield with a loud crash. Neither of them moved. Clouds of dust formed above the place the hedgehogs crashed into the ground while the crowd gasped in shock in the stands behind them.

________________________________

END NOTES

Pfff this took me long enough. I’m actually not at all satisfied with this chaper. I feel like it’s a little stiff. Bleh. I just don’t know how to write it differently. This always happens though. Somewhere along the process of writing a story I start to dislike what I write because it lacks decent quality imo... AAAAHH!

Anyway here it is! I still hope the ppl who do read it enjoy it. As always: annoying drammar mishaps/typos or tips and thoughts are welcome. Be friendly though :) Just message me.

I’m also working on a couple of oneshots and drawings. In between now and June I’ll be busy making a portrait of my grandpa who passed away in november (he had covid). I promised my grandma I’ll make her a painting of him for her birthday in june.

@shadamyheadcanons

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diaryofabeautyfiend · 3 years

Text

Small Time Witch (27)

A S G A R D

When you were a small child you attended a Christian nursery school until you were old enough to start kindergarten. One of your very earliest memories was how your teacher described heaven. She called it paradise where the weather was always warm and there were so many trees and mountains and sprawling landscapes. “In the middle,” she would say “is the Lord’s palace. It is so bright and shiny that you will almost be blinded by its majesty.” Perhaps the teacher had been a former resident of Asgard.

You stood at the foot of the Bifrost bridge where Heimdall greeted you. In the distance was the palace glistening like a jewel amongst the stone statues and mountains. The water beneath the bridge looked like it was made of glass it was so still and blue. If you didn’t know better you would have believed you were walking into Oz.

Heimdall stood next to you staring into the horizon with his gold eyes glinting in the sun. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

“Yeah” was all you could manage.

“Welcome to Asgard, Princess.” You were startled back into reality.

“I’m not a princess. Please call me Y/N.”

“Your marriage to the Prince is recognized by the throne. It would be improper of me to call you by your name. The Allfather is expecting you.” He directed you into the care of two palace guards who freaking bowed to you. They loaded you into a small craft that zipped you to the palace.

Thor was waiting for you at the door. He introduced himself extending his hand. You reminded him that you were family and you hug. “It’s weird, Thor, because in another life I know you. We’re very close and get into all sorts of trouble together. Usually alcohol is involved.”

He laughed and drew you into his Vice grip. “You remind me of my mother. That may serve you well today.”

“I hope so. The only Odin stories I ever hear are of him being super gruff. He was even a little mean to Jane. Who can be mean to Jane Foster? Sweetest person ever.”

“You know of my Jane?”

“Of course. We’re very good friends. When you’re in town you two usually stay with us. It’s nice.” You didn’t have the heart to tell him that Jane passed away due to complications from cancer. Bruce thought the Aether likely mutated her cells and her body didn’t handle it well. Knowing that you were friends with Jane put a little smile on his face so you chose to keep it to yourself.

When you approached Odin you bowed. He peered down at you from his throne. He looked older than you thought he would. The guy was ancient. You supposed he shouldn’t look young. He looked more frail than anything.

He stood up and walked down the steps to be closer to you. “So this is the Midgardian witch who captured my son’s heart? You are very impressive, young lady. I’ve heard of your talents. Let’s leave this room and retire to my chambers. We’ll have more privacy.” He offered his arm which you took. Thor followed behind. “Please, sit. Now, what can I do for you?”

“Right down to business. Ok. Your highness, I am here to negotiate the terms of Loki’s sentence. The King and small council of Vanaheim have offered to keep Loki in the palace, with your consent of course. In exchange, they will keep me in the Temple of the Vanir to learn their ways. Also, my powers allow me to absorb the energy of the infinity stones. There is a Titan searching for the stones, sir. In my time, he destroyed Asgard and Xandar looking for them. If I can possess even two of them, I can stop him before he lays waist to the Nine.”

He did not say anything for several minutes. You were terrified. Finally, “The Vanir intend to weaponize you. Is that what I’m understanding?”

“I suppose that would imply that they have some sort of control over me. I will not be a weapon against another realm.”

“And if they use Loki as leverage, what choice would you have?”

You took a deep breath so you wouldn’t have a tone in your voice. “With all due respect, Allfather, they wouldn’t have the strength to fight me. I know how this sounds. It is dangerous and there is no guarantee I’ll succeed. I have to try.”

“Thor? What do you think? Another one of Loki’s tricks?”

You started to panic. Thor’s brow was knitted together. He was skeptical of the whole plan.

“Please. Don’t you have your own prophet? How can I prove to you that I’m not tricking you? What can I do?”

“Thor, call in Freyr. Let’s see if he can make sense of this.”

When Freyr saw you his face lit up. “Princess! How lovely to see you again. May I have a moment alone with the girl?”

The two men left the room. “You remember meeting me?” Your voice was trembling.

“Of course! Are you still so naive to think time is linear? This, my dear, is your destiny. The Norns give you the illusion of free will when really all of this was predetermined. You are here because you are meant to fight this war.”

“And Loki?”

He patted you on the head, “He’ll come around.”

When Odin and Thor came back in Freyr did most of the talking. Odin agreed to come with you to Vanaheim to meet with the king and investigate this threat. That was all you could ask for.

He invited you to stay for a couple of days to get acquainted with your new home. It wasn’t a request that much you knew. Thor was happy to show you around. He brought you to your chambers which were near Frigga’s. He showed you her gardens and told you to feel free to explore. There were some sheers on a small table. You slipped them in your pocket so you could take some clippings. She had everything you could possibly need to preform a spell. Literally any spell you could think of.

Thor followed you listening to you speak about the flowers and herbs that grew wild there. The more you spoke the more he understood why Loki chose you. You were so like their mother but with a jagged edge. Poised and gentle but you would definitely cut a bitch without a second thought.

Once you sat down for lunch he worked up the courage to ask about his brother.

“Y/N, can you tell me why my brother did this? Why Midgard specifically?”

You put down your fork and looked him directly in the eyes, “I think you know the answer to that question. Because you loved Earth. Because Earth loved you. You found Jane. He was jealous and angry and took it out on you. But it took him years to admit that he was really so deeply hurt by Odin’s admission.”

“But why not fight me directly? The people on Midgard were innocent.” He was beginning to get angry. You had to remember this just happened so the wounds were still fresh.

“He did fight you directly in New Mexico. When he turned the Bifrost onto Jotunheim he effectively killed that part of himself. The part he thought monstrous. When he let go of Odin’s staff on the bridge, he thought he would either die or live on in exile somewhere. He was ready to leave it behind. But Thanos found him. First he seduced him with power and revenge then he tortured him into subjugation. For a whole year he tortured him. Then, during the attack, he was controlled by the mind stone and The Other could hear him. That’s why he didn’t relent when you said you would bring him home.”

Thor was quiet. You could see tears in his eyes. He had never thought of his brother as a monster. Even when the glory of Loki’s destruction rained down from the heavens, he still loved his brother. He thought back on how Loki looked when he saw him before Chitauri invaded. He looked sick and bruised. He was having trouble standing. The amount of force it would take to mark a god’s skin was beyond comprehension. And now, all he knew was that Loki was recovering on Vanaheim. He had no idea just how close to death Loki was.

When you returned to Vanaheim you went directly to the Temple of the Vanir. Thor went right to his brother. He was outwardly shocked by Loki’s appearance.

“Have you come to throw me in the dungeon?” Loki held Thor’s eyes to attempt to intimidate him. It wasn’t working. He winced as he tried to sit up straighter. Thor would not dare help him in fear of injuring his already fragile pride.

“No, brother. I’m here to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk.”

“Then perhaps you’ll listen.” Loki looked away from him but raised his hand to signal him to carry on.

“If your quarrel was with me why not just fight me?”

“I wanted to prove to father that I can do something. He conquered realms. Why can’t I? That’s what kings do! It is my birthright!”

“Loki, I fear you and father are more alike than either of you care to admit. A king’s job is to unite the realms not to simply rule.”

Loki looked away in shame. “I would have been a good king. Both loved and feared. I would have built an empire.”

“And we all would have watched helpless as it consumed and destroyed you. Forget all of that. You have been given a second chance, brother. A chance with this woman who shares your spirit. Do not squander it lying about feeling sorry for yourself.”

Loki quirked his brow. He thought you had taken your one way trip back home after the way he treated you. Surely you weren’t still carrying on with your plan. The thing was no matter where you were on Vanaheim, he could feel you. Now he can’t. “She hasn’t gone?”

“No. She’s in the temple preparing for the stone. I’m going there myself. Why don’t you join me?”

“Funny. I can’t feel her.”

Thor gave him a weak smile and patted him on the shoulder. “Mother gave her free reign in her garden. No telling what manner of spell she conjured. I’m sure it’s for your own protection.”

You were a clever little witch. He would never say it aloud but he loved how quick you were. If you succeeded with the stones you two would be the most powerful couple in the known universe. You could probably dethrone Odin together. No army would be powerful enough to stop you. He stuck those thoughts into the back of his mind. You were uninterested in power in the way that Loki was. He could not understand your altruistic nature. All of this risk and for what? For people who didn’t know you existed. Though, if you didn’t care for others, he supposed you would have moved on by now and never given him a second chance. Perhaps now was the time to put such irrational things aside and support you.

——————————————————————

The Vanir worked quickly to construct a room strong enough to withstand a nuclear blast. You would have to crush the stone to release its full power. The only weapon strong enough for that was Mjölnir. If you were not worthy enough to wield it, Thor would have to be in the room with you. There was a real potential neither of you would make it out alive. First thing first, you had to lift the hammer.

The weight of Mjölnir would be of no concern if you were worthy. You stepped up to the handle and with effort you rocked it a little. Thor looked nervous. “You can do this, little sister.”

You took a deep breath, closed your eyes and on three you lifted again with an unburdened mind and a clear heart. The hammer was in your hands.

Gasps filled the room. No one dared utter a word. You let Mjölnir dangle from your wrist and made your way to Loki. “Lok, listen, if I don’t make it...”

“Shush, mortal. You will.”

You put your hand over his mouth, “If I don’t make it, please know that for one brief blissful moment, you were happy. We were happy. I love you.” He gripped your hand and opened his mouth to speak but you stopped him. “Don’t say it if it’s not true. Please.”

“Y/N, you will make it. I have faith in you.” You stared into each other’s eyes searchingly.

“You want to kiss me right now don’t you?”

He chuckled, “Desperately.”

You planted the softest most barely there kiss on his lips. He pulled you in to deepen the kiss. The tip of his tongue pressed against yours for just a second and then he released you. You pressed a knotted clipping of Yggdrasil into his palm and hung a tiny gold screw driver around his neck. When you walked away a gold bracelet adorned with emeralds dangled around your wrist. Around your left ring finger was a twin piece of knotted Yggdrasil. The screwdriver was warm to the touch and, if he listened closely, he swore he heard your heart beating.

You went into the room and slammed the metal shut and froze the lock. You held out your hand and forced the cube to crush with your magic. All that remained was the stone. This little blue stone that shined with the light of a million lightning strikes. It floated in the air. You circled it balancing Mjölnir on your shoulder. You plucked the blue candy button out of the air and placed it on the floor. As if it knew it was about to be set free, it released a high pitched whine. You raised the hammer into the air and with all of the force you could summon, you struck it. The room flooded with blue light so bright you couldn’t look directly at it. It sucked in its energy and then exploded outward sending shards of the jewel into your skin. It pushed you around the room like a pinball pinging you off of any surface it could find. You felt like your flesh was separating off of your bones and you were turning to liquid. All at once it went dark and dropped you to the ground.

——————————————————————

Loki paced the floor muttering to himself. Everyone else held their breathing straining to hear any sound. An utterance to let them know you’re alive. That’s when they heard the explosion. Blue light radiated from every exposed crack and nail hole. They heard your body careening off the walls and, with an unsettling thud, the room fell silent.

Loki rushed to the door trying to pry it open. The lock was jammed. Thor tried too but it wouldn’t budge. Njord yelled over their banging that the door was at least five inches thick. You wouldn’t hear them. He tried the key but it broke in the lock. Freyr used his seiðr to crush the door. When it fell away from it’s hinges, you emerged. Your hair had gone completely white and your eyes looked cloudy. You blinked a few times and they went back to normal.

You handed Thor his hammer and patted him on the shoulder. “Sister, speak to us. Are you well?”

You smiled and nodded. You took Loki’s hand in yours. Electricity crackled off of your fingertips. You smiled and opened a black void behind you for which to escape. In the blink of an eye you were on Asgard then Midgard then back to the temple. He laughed and clapped his hands, “You are a clever little witch aren’t you?”

“Princess...” Njord looked worried. You were unaware of your physical changes. You may have been a mutant but you were still a mortal. The stone could have severely injured you. “Your highness, please. We need to get you upstairs.”

“Relax, Njord. I’m perfectly fine. I feel amazing.” You were talking a mile a minute.

He kept insisting and you grew impatient. The more impatient you were the more your hands glowed and your eyes changed. “Njord, let’s give the Prince and Princess some space. She’ll come upstairs shortly.” Frigga ushered everyone out so you and Loki could sit in peace.

You couldn’t sit. Your skin felt too tight for your body. You needed to expel some energy. “Y/N, what’s going on in your head?”

“A million things. I’m wondering if I should go to south London right now since I know where the aether is. I’m wondering if the rest of my powers are amplified. I feel like I’m plugged into a massive battery, Lok. Maybe I can heal you quicker than Njord. Can I try?!”

He laughed and pulled you down into the chair next to him, “You’re like an excited puppy. Let’s go outside before you piddle on the floor. We can test your powers there.”

He lead you to an open space where you could work without fear of hurting someone. Your powers were indeed amplified. Your electricity was more like lightning. You grew a sapling into a knotted mature tree. You split yourself up into many clones and made it rain over the two of you. All of that should have tired you out but it did not. The last thing was to heal Loki. That was sure to drain you as broken as he was. You placed your hands on his solar plexus and went to work. Every ache and pain subsided every cut knitted itself back together. He felt reborn. You were settled.

You went back to the palace for dinner to talk strategy with Odin and the king. Since you and Loki were the only ones who ever faced Thanos, it was crucial that you were involved. You came to the conclusion that you needed numbers. You would divide the realms and enlist help even from the Dark Elves and Jötuns. You and Thor would go to Earth to speak with SWORD who handled all extra dimensional doings. Everyone agreed that Loki shouldn’t travel to Midgard just yet. You insisted the Avengers not be involved but, your X-men friends would be delighted to assist. At this point, they were more powerful anyway.

When you retired for the evening, Loki walked you back to your room. “May I ask you something?” His eyes were fixed on the floor he tried his hardest to sound confident. You lifted his chin so he would look at you. “Why couldn’t I sense you when you arrived? Why can’t I feel you now?”

“I guess I just wanted you to feel your own feelings for a change. I thought I might be overwhelming you.”

“I thought...” he laced his fingers in with yours, “I thought you were angry with me.”

“Oh I was. You’ve never raised your voice to me. It hurt. I didn’t want you to know how much.”

He didn’t know how much he missed you in the short time you were gone. He missed you right now and you were standing right in front of him. He kissed you on the corner of your mouth, “I’m sorry to have raised my voice. I’m sorry I’m hurting you. I wish I could love you as you love me. I am trying, Pet.”

“Lok, you can’t fall in love with someone in such a short period. We have time.” You kissed him gently and slipped into your room.

He stayed outside of your chambers for a while with his head pressed against the door. Love was not something he gave freely. He wished things were different. He wished his future self never helped Thor. He wished he would know the happiness you spoke of. One day he would. For now he would keep on disappointing you.

——————————————————————

The next morning you woke up and surveyed the clothing you were gifted. Nothing screamed Midgard 2012 to you. You waved your hand over your body and came up with something more south London and less Stratford Upon Avon. Satisfied with your look you set out to Loki’s chambers.

You knocked but he didn’t answer. Once more and a giggling flustered chamber maid opened. She straitened up when she saw your face and readjusted her apron straps. “Princess!” she yelped. “Apologies. Prince Loki should be along shortly.”

“You know what? Tell him don’t bother.”

She called after you but you didn’t turn around. You kept your spine straight and let your head high. Your heels clacked loudly as you stomped through the halls with a walk that would make Naomi Campbell proud.

Thor was coming out of his room and smiled when he saw you, “Good morning, sister! You’re looking well.”

“Are you ready to go? I don’t think it’s wise for Loki to show his face on earth.”

Thor was pretty daft when it came to the whims of the fairer sex but your face was speaking loud and clear. You held his hand and landed in a warehouse in London. You searched high and low but struck out.

“What exactly are we looking for?”

“A void filled with a red mist.”

“And you are certain it’s here?”

“This is where Jane found it, yes.”

“Is this around the time she found it. Maybe it’s not here yet.”

“No, it’s here. I can feel it. I just have to ah! It’s here.”

He swung Mjölnir and the wall crumbled. You stuck your hand in and he grabbed you.

“Wait. Is this wise? I feel like one of the Vanir should be with you or at least Loki. If anything goes wrong I won’t know how to help you.”

“Your brother is more interested in his chamber maids than saving the universe. If anything goes wrong, call for Heimdall.”

“Did you catch him with someone else? It’s very common in royal marriages...”

The Aether called to you and effectively drowned him out. While he prattled on you put your arm through the wall and let it take you. It meshed with the space stone because they were meant to be together. Their energies lifted you up off the ground and light poured out your eyes mouth and fingers. You collapsed back down where Thor caught you. He shook you but you were unable to focus. You put your fingers to your mouth and pulled away with crimson soaked tips. Thor scooped you into his arms cursing you and then raised Mjölnir to call Heimdall. Just then you stopped him.

“No. No, I’m fine. Don’t call him.”

“But, sister.”

“No. Put me down.” He did as he was told and carefully set you on your feet. You smoothed your hair and fixed your clothes. With a flourish all of the blood vanished.

“Come on. Let’s go see Jane.”

“You are out of your mind. I have to get you back to Njord.”

“Nonsense. I have to see Dr. Selvig to fix what my darling husband broke. And you, brother, need to see Jane. You miss her. I want you to be happy. She needs to be happy. Just take her to lunch.”

He agreed but insisted you take more traditional transportation rather than using your powers. You found the nearest train station and took the tube to Jane’s office. This Jane was a lot less together than the Jane you knew. She was so stunned to see Thor at her door that she could barely speak.

You introduced yourself as Loki’s wife but assured her your marriage was less gothic romance and more Charles and Di. A reference that Thor didn’t understand but Jane did perfectly. She brought you to Dr. Selvig who was speaking nonsensically. He seemed to recognize you right away. Though you had not yet met he knew the energy that was inside you. You placed your hands on either side of his head and pulled the power of the space stone out of him. He was weak but thinking for himself.

You practically pushed the happy couple out of the door to have lunch on you. You conjured a credit card an an id for Thor. You said you had business to attend to.

Darcy offered to give you a ride which you happily accepted. Had her drop you in front of Claridge's, a very posh hotel in Hyde Park, where you intended to relax and partake in retail therapy. Magically their best room was available for the evening. You held your breath when they ran your card. You had no idea if it would work. Luckily it did. The porter showed you to your room. You asked for a bottle of single malt and a glass to be left in the seating area. You kicked off your shoes and started to unbutton your blouse when you heard a man clear his throat.

You had not immediately seen Mobius M. Mobius when you entered. Funny, neither did the porter. Electricity crackled in your fingers and, as you raised them to strike, he walked toward you. “Holster those weapons, Mrs. Laufeyson. Or is it Odinson? Either way. I’m not here to hurt you. Just to talk.”

“Do you drink scotch?”

#loki laufeyson #loki x reader #marvel #marvel witches #mcu x reader #loki angst #loki of jotunheim #loki x you #loki odinson #infinity stones #thanos #TVA #mobius m mobius

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peach-the-owl · 3 years

Note

23,38 and 46. With Jester where the M9 is going out to this mission that was was assigned to them but won't take the kid, we get in a argument with Jester about it and we run off ,then traveler finds us and it convinces us to go find them and save them. (SORRY IF THIS TO TOO MUCH! keep it up btw :3)

Conflict…… I love it, and don’t worry it’s not too much. Actually I’m not sure what to consider "too much" just yet, I guess I’ll cross that barrier when it’s reached but for now… conflict 😁

Divine Intervention

Child of the Nein (Jester & Child!Reader)

23- That's not fair! 38- I hate you, 46- You came back

Doing odd jobs for people was both a nice way to help the small communities and make some nice cash for future shopping needs. The town you’d stumbled in was paying a generous reward to anyone who could deal with the chimera that’s been terrorizing the place. The Nein were in one room discussing their course of action while you were in another, happily jotting down in the notebook Jester gave you some little doodles of you fighting the beast as if you’d already won. The door creaks open and Jester walks in, you bounce up to her not noticing the nervous look on her face.

"You’re back! That means you’re all done talking and we can go kick some chimera butt." You say pumping your fist in the air.

"Yeah, ummm, about that…" her voices trails off a little, you still none the wiser as you grab her hand.

"C'mon, c'mon, we can’t keep everyone waiting!"

"(Y/n), I know you’re excited but-"

"Just tell me about it on the way there!" You quickly cut her off before she can finish, making your way to the door.

"Your not coming!" You pause, the smile on your face instantly disappearing as you turn to look at Jester confused. "We were all talking and have decided that you should stay here." She spoke slowly as if having a hard time speaking her words aloud.

"But… but why not?" You look at her with big eyes, she rubs at her shoulders, clearly up having a hard time with this.

"It’s just that this could be really dangerous and we don’t want anything bad happening to you."

"That’s it!?" Your confusion and disappointment bubbled into anger. "We’ve been in lots of dangerous fights before, why is this so different? I know how to handle myself, I can fight!" You argue, Jester bites at her lip.

"I know you can, but you’re also still little and you don’t have a lot of experience, so you can’t come." She crosses her arms and gives you a hard look, your growing anger refuses to let you give up.

"That’s not fair! I’ll never get to learn if I don’t try! What happened to us being the unstoppable team? It’s not fair!" Tears stream down your face as you stomp your feet around and flail your arms up and down in frustration. For a moment Jester looks like she’s about to cave but she shakes her head and looks at you with a stern look.

"That’s enough (y/n). I have to learn to take responsibility for you and I say you’re not coming, that’s final!" You both stare at each other for a second try to make the other back down, when neither one of you does you scream in frustration.

"I hate you!" You yell then quickly turn and dash out the door before you can see Jester's look of pure heartbreak.

"Wait (y/n), come back!" Jester calls to your retreating form, but you were already too far to hear her. She tries to go after you but is stopped by Caleb and Beau.

"We need to leave, now." Caleb simply says.

"I-but I…" Jester shifts her gaze from them to the direction you’d run off in.

"Look," Beau sighs, "whatever it is that’s bothering you will have to wait till we get back." Jester takes one last look at where you’d been then gives a sad nod and follows after them, but not before giving a silent prayer to the Traveler to watch over you.

You were sat by a small pond in town staring at the reflections in the water seeing birds flying around freely in the bright and beautiful sky, you grab a stone and chuck it into the pond making the image shift and shake, than another. Soon you were standing and grabbing whatever seemed close enough to you, throwing them into the pond watching the reflection ripple around before settling down again every time. You reel your hand back but stop yourself this time before throwing the object and stare at it, this was the holy symbol to the Traveler Jester made for you and you almost threw it away. You grip the item tightly and hold it to your chest remembering and feeling guilty about what you shouted at her earlier, slowly sinking back down onto your knees. You hear a soft sigh, seeing a second presents approach you out of the corner of your eye.

"This sour look on your face really doesn’t suit you, I much prefer it when you’re smiling." You turn your head and stare in awe at the clocked figure that takes a seat next to you.

"It’s really you." You speak softly, still absolutely starstruck that you were talking with the very deity Jester's told you so much about and the one you'd come to serve as a paladin to. You hear a chuckle come from them.

"Tell me child, why are you here instead of with everyone else?" You tilt your head in confusion at his question, he should already have known the answer to that.

"I thought you knew everything, so you must have heard me and Jester argue earlier."

"Indeed… I just wished to hear it from you," he pauses a moment. "An unfortunate thing for me to watch really. I rather like seeing the two of you working together to cause such marvellous chaos. Now why don’t you get up and rejoin them."

"But I can’t! Jester said I had to stay here." You cross your arms and pout a little.

"Now when have rules like this stopped you from doing something fun." You look at him again and can see a devious smirk from under the large hood. "If you ask me, rules are more like highly regarded or overly glorified… suggestions others choose to follow, when nessessary." The Traveler hums, you were slowly starting to get the idea being placed before you.

"You really think it’s okay?"

"Oh absolutely, and if they ask you just tell them I was the one to send you there." Your smile brightens for a second but drops when you realize something.

"Wait but I don’t know where they are!" You look to him with concern, he raises his hand and licks at his fingers? Strange, but who were you to question his methods. He then points towards a rocky hillside area.

"If you head in this direction you’ll find where they are, and if you hurry you’ll make it just in time too."

"In time for what?" You ask, feeling him place a gentle hand on top of your head. He leans in a little closer and says.

"Why, in time for them to see just what a paladin of the Traveler can really do." You smile at this and quickly go grab your gear, you take one look behind your shoulder and see that the Traveler was now nowhere in sight but sensed he was still watching over you.

With everything ready you run off in the direction the Traveler had shown you and it’s not long until you find a rather large cave entrance amongst the rocks. There was something about this cave that, when you entered, made you feel icky. As you walk deeper you tap into your Divine Sense in hopes that it’ll help you find the source and to your surprise you were able to detect something fiendish just within your senses radius and decide to follow the awful scent. As you follow your senses you can’t help but wonder what sort of fiend would be here, and more importantly weren’t you supposed to be fighting a chimera. You find your answer when you reach a pitted out area, the source your senses lead you to was in fact a chimera but it was far different then what books have described. It still had the heads of a goat, lion and dragon but it’s wings were more bat-like, it’s tail was that of a scorpions and it had quills on its body like a porcupines, not to mention its abnormally large size and the odd chains that wrapped around its body. The Mighty Nein were down there fighting the beast, they all looked badly roughed up though the chimera itself also looked pretty beaten but not as badly it seemed. It lets out a variety of snarls as it closes in on everyone, you had to think fast, looking at the chimera you notice that the chains on it all linked to one spot on its back where a mysterious stone was wedged into it, that stone had to be the source of the fiendish energy you detected. The only way to get to it was to get onto the chimeras back, fortunately it was in this pit but you were gonna need to make some good distance if you wanted this to work. The chimera swats at the everyone scattering the group to get out of the way its sights then set to the nearest target and as luck would have it that target was Jester. You had a plan, would it actually work you weren’t sure, but you prayed to the Traveler for help and take a few steps back then sprint forward using a combination of the Grease spell you knew and your shield to slide gaining an extra boost of speed. You rocket off the edge and kick off your shield for even more distance, by some divine miracle you managed enough distance to arc yourself right on target with the chained stone. With a loud battle cry, using all your strength and help of gravity you bash your mace into the stone using up a Divine Smite for extra power, so when you hit the stone a large and bright burst of green light pulses from the chimeras back and you hear a loud crack as the stone shatters into pieces the energy within shooting up into the air before dispersing into nothing. Chains clatter to the ground and the chimera collapses, shrinking in size and its extra features revert back into their intended form, you tumble to the ground in a not so graceful way but you didn’t care. The party stares at you in silence and you look over at Jester who slowly picks herself up and you can see tears in her eyes. You run to her ignoring everyone else and practically jump into her waiting arms.

"You came back." Her voice teeters close to a sob while you both share in a much needed hug.

"I’m sorry about what I said, I didn’t mean it, I don’t hate you." You on the other hand couldn’t stop your sobbing, and feel her press a soft kiss to the top of your head. You stay like this for a little while, no one bothering to interject with your sweet little moment.

"How were you able to find us?" Jester asks when you finally break the hug.

"The Traveler came to me, he showed me." You say with a smile, Jester stares shocked for a second then a large smile of her own spreads across her face.

"Isn’t he the best." She says more as a statement, one you nod eagerly to.

"I don’t mean to interrupt, but we should be gettin' out of here." Fjord steps in, pointing to everyone else who were waiting somewhat impatiently. You both give him a nod and make your way back out of the cave.

"I told you all we should’ve brought (y/n) with us." Jester huffs a little.

"It seems you were right," Caleb says then looks to you. "We never should’ve underestimated your abilities." You just give them all a nice smile.

A little ways away a clocked figure watches the party leave the cave, casual banter and laughs now being shared with everyone, the cloaked figure gives a sigh of relief before disappearing from plain sight.

#critical role #critical role & reader #mighty nein #the mighty nein #mighty nein & reader #jester lavorre #jester & reader #nothing romantic here

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thegrantwater · 3 years

Text

Darkness Feeds on the Saddest Souls

A small taste, that's all I ask.

part one, also on my ao3

word count: 1896

When Regina came too, she smelled smoke.

She wasn’t sure where it had come from, the smell of flame, but it was almost overwhelming. Looking down, she saw black tar dissipate at her feet. A grey dress fell to her ankles, and she pushed the hood of her newly adorned cloak back to her shoulders. Looking up, she realized she was in the middle of a forest, one she wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with. The air felt crisper here, and as she took a deep breath in Regina realized that she’d ridden Rocinante through these woods as a child.

“I’m in the Enchanted Forest.”

“Very perceptive, dearie.”

She whipped around, seeing Rumplestiltskin leaning on a tree behind her. He looked like he did when they’d first met, his skin glistening in the light and wrapped in his attire from a life lived long ago.

“How the hell are you here? You’re in Storybrooke, in a coma.” He gave a slight nod, a smirk on his lips.

“Yes, I am. Or rather, he is.” Regina furrowed her brows, confused.

“What are you?” She was nervous, feeling magic crackling in the air around them. Her power hadn’t felt like this in ages, and she thought back to when Emma had helped her activate Jefferson’s hat. The energy in the town hall then is what she felt now, the raw intensity weighing her down and lifting her into the sky all at once.

“I’m many things. The voice in your head, the Dark One’s powers inside of you-inside of all Dark Ones. Rumplestiltskin is just one of many.”

“So Emma failed,” her voice was soft, laced with something she couldn’t even put words to. The last thing she remembered clearly was Emma taking the dagger in her own hand, raising it to take on the curse herself. After that was darkness, and pain coursing through her veins as she lost consciousness. It was slowly making sense, her ending up in the Enchanted Forest. The runes by her feet came into focus, translating quickly in her brain once she realized what they meant.

Regina was now the Dark One, standing on the stones that gave life to the first to carry this burden.

“There it is. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to spell it out for you.” She glared at the man as he took a step towards her. “Now, are you ready to begin?”

“Begin what?” She replied, finally stepping off of the stones and starting into the woods around her.

“Well, learning to be the Dark One, of course! Though it shouldn’t take much time, you were a more prolific heart stealer than I ever was in my day. Maybe a little training, learning to hone all the powers of the darkness, but I’m sure it won’t take longer than a week to make you one of the most powerful Dark One’s of all time.” He was trailing behind her, a spring in his step as the leaves crunched under his feet.

“I won’t embrace the darkness again. I can’t,” she spoke, still walking through the trees. Henry was present in her mind. He would never forgive her if she fell back into her old ways, not after how far she’d come. Regina wouldn’t fool herself - she was no hero, and she never thought she would be. But she’d improved herself, had worked towards happiness and peace with the family she’d created, and if she went back to the darkness she wasn’t sure she’d find her way out this time.

“Oh, they all say that. But everyone who steps from that well enjoys the taste too much. It’s intoxicating, your majesty, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of that.” She stopped in her tracks, turning to face the vision behind her. He was smiling, a disgusting visage of filth and evil. “So you can fight the urges, and you can try to ignore my whispers in your ear at every turn. But everyone falls for the flavor of the darkness. The only way to stop is to be stopped.”

“If I’m in the Enchanted Forest, then Merlin isn’t far from here, and the Apprentice told Emma that he can destroy the darkness. So I’m going to find him, and he will fix this.” She’d stepped closer to him, now practically nose to nose with the embodiment of calamity. She almost gagged at the smell, identical to what she’d smelled at the stones. It was the smell of suffering, of pain caused over thousands of years. If she let it sit for a moment, it smelled like her castle had in its prime. The blood of her enemies spilled on the marble floors, the rot of death permeating the hallways as she drank bitter wine from the decanter in her bedroom, crying out into the night for her wishes to be granted. But Regina knew better than to trust the Blue Fairy to answer her calls - her sleepless nights praying for the fairy to take her away were still imprinted in her mind.

“Merlin? You’re much better off with me,” he kept the same wicked smirk on his face, and Regina rolled her eyes as she turned her back to him once again.

“I doubt that. I won’t hurt the people I love, not again.”

And so she kept walking.

“Apprentice,” Emma burst through the curtain in the back of Gold’s shop, where Blue was dabbing at the wizard’s forehead with a damp cloth. “The darkness took Regina. Where did they go?” The rest of her family trailed in behind her, Hook trying his best to keep his distance. Emma wanted him to; she thought that if he tried to come near her after what had just happened, she’d rip his throat out.

The Apprentice sat up slowly, swatting away the fairy’s hand. “She’s now where all darkness is born, Savior. Your realm.”

“The Enchanted Forest?” Snow asked softly, clutching David’s arm. Emma kept her focus on the man in front of her. If she looked back, all she’d be able to see was Henry’s face, crestfallen at losing his mother for the umpteenth time.

“Then you need to take us there,” Robin spoke up from behind them. The Apprentice looked past Emma, clearly disappointed. How this frail old man could hold so much power and so little at the same time, Emma would never understand.

“I’m too weak now, but this will help.” He waved his hand, and in a flourish of grey smoke a wand appeared in his hand. The handle was ornate, a delicately carved green wood, knobbed on the bottom. “This was a gift from Merlin, the day I became his apprentice. In it is all light magic.”

Emma snatched the wand from his hand, inspecting it closely. “So this can take us to my mom?” Henry was quiet, his voice barely a whisper. Emma looked back to see tears in his eyes, fists clenched at his sides. Regina did the same thing when she was upset, almost as if it was an attempt to ground her anger.

“Not on its own,” the man explained. “It needs to be wielded as it was forged, with both sides of the coin. Light and dark as one.” His voice trailed off at the end, and he fell back onto the bed, eyes rolling back into his head. Blue brought the cloth back to his head, wiping at it gently and muttering to herself-some kind of healing spell if Emma had to guess.

“The only person with that kind of power is the one we’re trying to get to,” David spoke, a thought simply bursting through the silence. “How are we going to get there without her?”

Emma stood, the want firmly in her hand. “Maybe we don’t need her. I can try and use this thing myself.” Turning back to the group, she held the wand towards the ceiling. All eyes were on her as she slowly made a circle with the wand, and her only thoughts were directed towards seeing Regina. She thought that if she could devote her mind to the woman in question, that just maybe it would force the magic through the wood and into the portal she was struggling to create.

“Emma enough!” Hook shouted, stepping forward and pulling Emma’s arm down. As he did, Emma’s other hand reached up and gripped his throat, fingers practically crushing his arteries.

“I know what I’m doing, Killian.” She growled, eyes pointed in anger. Robin stepped between them, breaking the connection between the two. The pirate let out a cough as air filled his lungs again. Emma felt the hard stares of her family on her, shocked by her aggression. None of them could remember the last time she’d behaved like this, if at all. Even Emma struggled to think of a time she’d been overwhelmed by such rage.

“Emma you heard the man,” Robin started, attempting to get her focus on him and not the man she’d threatened now twice in the same night. “The wand needs both light and dark to reach its full potential; your magic is purely light. Without the darkness, we won’t be able to activate it.”

“And what’s your great suggestion, Robin? We call Regina and ask her to activate the wand for us? She’s not here!” She shouted, now stepping up to him with a fury in her stance.

“We need someone wicked, Swan.” Hook muttered, still rubbing at his throat. The ginger spitfire locked under the hospital, part of the reason they were in this mess in the first place.

“No, no, no. That witch is more than wicked, she’s deranged. All she’s ever wanted was Regina gone, do you really think she’d agree to help us get her back?” Emma said, and as her adrenaline rush came down she started to feel her head pounding.

“We have to try, Ma.” It was Henry that spoke, as heads turned to face him. Snow and Charming were appalled at the mere mention of Zelena, and after all the damage she’d caused Emma was right there with them. She opened her mouth to speak, but Henry began again before she could get a word in edgewise. “My mom left her there because she thought that it was possible Zelena could change. Maybe this is her chance.” He was desperate, grasping at straws in an attempt to convince her. “And Robin’s right, you’ll never be able to wield the wand on your own. I think it’s worth the risk, if it means we can get Mom back. Please.”

The room fell quiet at his pleas, everyone deciding on their own whether or not it was even a viable option. Emma was the deepest in thought, grappling with the dilemma before her. They were right - she couldn’t use the wand on her own. And with Gold comatose, there truly were no other options for a magic user in the town. But what would Regina say when she found out they’d let Zelena go? Sure, it was for her, but locking the witch up was for her as well. And if Zelena harmed any of them, nothing would go well.

But Emma had made her decision the moment she’d realized who Hook was talking about. So she focused back on Henry. “Looks like we’re making a stop at the hospital.”

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hiraemy · 3 years

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Lumine and the Goblet of Fire [part 3]

[Part One] [Part Two]

Word count: 2k

Notes: I’m sorry for the delay! I actually planned to have this part posted last week, but there were a few things that got me troubled so I had to postpone it a bit. This part is almost 100% action, and I’m not sure myself if I could write it in a way that’s interesting and easy to imagine, so... Yeah. I would spent more time trying to make it work, but I thought I had already delayed it enough. Anyways, thank you for the support and enjoy your reading!

Act three: Lumine and the stupid First Trial

To everyone who had the rare luxury of getting closer to the twins, there were a few obvious things that came to light, like how Aether and Lumine were complete polar opposites but still managed to understand each other with a simple glance.

Lumine was the most guarded of the two— almost bordering on paranoia, but we don't talk about that—, probably a result of her constant worrying. She wasn't one to openly talk about her feelings, even to Aether, and it took a lot of insistence from Paimon to even befriend her.

Aether was too aware of this. He knew Lumine had a lot on her mind, and he also knew not to push some things because it was both painful and cruel to do it to her. Still, when he heard about the Triwizard Tournament, he felt like it was a once in a lifetime opportunity that they couldn't miss.

It was good for her to be pushed out of her shell once in a while. Aether felt like one day or another Lumine had to learn to not let her fears keep her from doing risky things. Better sooner than later, right?

That being said, it wasn't like he was a heartless monster. Watching Lumine's eyes glistening with anxiety from the screen— even if no one else could spot it in her stoic expression— made his heart clench, a grimace forming on his lips.

He had full faith in his twin. But that didn't stop him from worrying.

Lumine learned too late that watching someone almost being crushed by a legendary beast and actually being the person almost crushed by a legendary beast were two entirely different experiences.

While she felt her breath caught in her throat too many times watching Childe and Albedo defeat their opponents earlier, she felt like if she didn't breathe enough in her own trial she would be toast in no time at all.

Dvalin lunged, his entire body crashing in the stone and leaving behind a trail of destruction, eyes narrowed on her figure. Lumine ran until the end of the platform, gulping when she saw the dead end. Fuck. There was another rock pillar, but it was too far. The dragon was closing on her and she had to think fast. She had three options here: learn how to fly out of nowhere, fall to her death or to try to outsmart the Great Dragon Dvalin.

Yeah, no fucking way.

So, flying it is.

Broomsticks were out. First of all, she didn’t even bring her broom from Beauxbatons, because she didn’t think she would need it in the first place. Besides, this was a pocket dimension, so, unless she knew how to teleport things from outside, that was also out of the question. Right. In the end, it was do or die. Great.

Lumine was going to kill Aether. Was it bad that she could only think of how she could be the most petty and annoying to her brother after this? Oh, if she survived, of course. Not to jinx or anything.

She gathered all the courage of a lifetime in her chest and took a deep breath. She didn’t dare to look behind her or even below and jumped off the still, safe ground. Her hair whipped in all directions and invaded her mouth and she almost let her grip on her wand slide. Lumine was sure both Paimon and Aether would kill her later for being so reckless, but she convinced herself that they couldn't kill her if she was already dead in the first place.

Free falling was extremely unsettling, with no other words being enough to describe the feeling. Her stomach was spinning and all her senses were screaming for her to do something, but her logical mind overruled everything, making sure she got the timing right. When she felt the tickly sensation of passing by the clouds, she finally let out the breath she was holding.

“Arresto momentum!” She stopped falling. Literally. Ignoring the chills in her spine when she noticed that she couldn’t see the ground when she fell at least a hundred meters from the platform, she stabilized herself in a good position mid-air before casting the next spell “Ascendio!”

Lumine was shot up upwards, but this time, she had full control of her movements in plain air. It was almost as if she had a pair of wings on her back, allowing her to have a fair combat in the skies with Stormterror. The rational part of her mind asked herself how the fuck was she supposed to do attack and defend when she was already distracted with maintaining the Ascendio charm. She didn’t even know before jumping if her trick was going to work, so everything she could accomplish after was already great.

Dvalin roared again, his entire body convulsing, almost as if he was in pain. Lumine narrowed her eyes at the strange behavior, but decided to take the advantage of not being noticed by the beast yet.

“Confringo!” She yelled, aiming directly for his head. Dvalin took the direct hit and roared again, his scales scorched, but mostly unaffected despite the lethal force used behind the curse. “Expulso!” Lumine tried again, merely blasting the dragon a few inches off course in air. The beast seemed more annoyed than damaged by her attacks, blindly clawing as someone who tried to shoo bugs away. The witch had a hard time avoiding his attacks, almost being hit once or twice.

However, in these attempts, she noticed something. No matter what spells she threw at Dvalin, the dragon wouldn’t attack her with the intent to kill. He had a few too close tries, but he never aimed directly to take her down. It was almost as if he was distracted with another thing— Or he simply didn’t want to attack her. It roared a lot, each time sounding more painful than the last. Was he cursed, or something…?

Not a single spell she casted had a great effect on his defenses, no matter how strong her firepower was. She didn’t doubt her combat abilities, having full confidence in her DADA and Charms scores from Beauxbatons, but it was painfully clear she wasn’t going anywhere with this full offensive plan. Before, Tartaglia managed to beat the Oceanid sorely in combat, but Albedo took a rather different strategy to encase Andrius in wines and stop it from moving. What the hell would she do with an opponent who was tankier than both of the other beasts, and at the same time, could kill her with a single swipe?

As if a light was shoved into her brain, she noticed a purple crystal hanging from Dvalin’s neck. It was almost as if it was forcefully implanted into his skin, corruption growing between his scales and rooting the gem in its place. Not a single book that covered the biology of the world’s magical beasts mentioned a purple gem on the dragon, so maybe… Was it safe to guess that it didn’t belong there originally?

Another attack brought Lumine from her thoughts, her left arm suffering a deep gash from the shoulder to her elbows for lack of attention. It stung like a bitch and she bit her lips harshly to stop the pitiful scream from escaping. If she wanted to take a closer look to that crystal, she had to be better than this.

“Diminuendo,” She cast the spell on herself, feeling her figure shrink until she was twenty centimeters tall. In this state, Dvalin’s crazed eyes were unable to track her, so she had an easier time flying until she was at the dragon’s neck. She casted the countercharm to grow back into her full height and used Relashio, removing the crystal’s roots from his neck. The crystal let a purple smoke that Lumine didn't inhale by instinct and clattered to the ground. The blonde quickly blew the gem to dust, watching as it released a lot of elemental energy into the air.

The dragon seized as if it had suffered a great shock, his uncontrollable spasms sending her flying towards the stone platform like a pathetic bug, the ground around her gaining a huge crash landsite from the pure strength of the throw. Her back gave a pitiful noise— it wasn't broken… hopefully— and the air was expelled from her lungs, leaving her gasping for air.

She didn’t even have the time to properly feel the pain, because in a blink of an eye, Dvalin was also falling— Right on her. Lumine propelled herself by the elbows, tripping on her feet one or two times before being able to drag herself away from the gigantic dragon, and escaping by a hair thread. Her adrenaline rush lasted a few seconds before she collapsed on her feet, right arm(the good one) crutching her ribs rather tight.

“Is it over…?” Lumine muttered, tired and feeling like she could sleep for months. As if she had jinxed it, Dvalin groaned again, but the only body part he could move was his head. His mouth was half-open, showing the sharp fangs and the strange coloration on his tongue— It had a nasty stain, looking like rotten flesh. But the thing that caught her attention were his eyes. The pupils were grey, hazed and unfocused, even if the irised sustained an angry looking red with a tiny purple circle spinning around the pupil as if it was actively sustaining a curse.

Lumine still had to take that Plume. However, there was something off about his whole demeanor that made her extremely unsettled.

With tiny, careful steps, she dared to get closer to him. The dragon hissed, growling in a threatening tone that screamed ‘Get Away!’, but she ignored it for the sake of her instincts. Suddenly, his head dragged on the floor, aiming to bite her.

Her hand shot up automatically, wand long forgotten meters away, on the ground where she fell before. She didn’t know how— or why— she did that, but rather than questioning her own sanity, she felt the energy channeling on her veins into a not-exactly-shield made of pure magic. And instead of crashing directly on it, Dvalin simply stopped mid-track, eyes changing coloration and suddenly clearer. His pupils slowly regained focus, clear and a dark black coloration again, the circle around it long gone.

Dvalin shook his head slowly, regaining his senses.

It stood up on full fours, wings opening in a magnificent beast deserving of the title King of the Skies. It gave another roar that sounded even… happy? At least, as far as happy roars could go, she guessed. Anyway, it didn’t want to claw her eyes out, so she was taking it as a win.

Ah. Right, the plume—!

“Mr. Dvalin!” She screamed when the winds began to pick up again, signaling that the dragon was almost leaving the platform for good. She ignored the dumb feeling of calling Stormterror by ‘Mister’ and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Please, could you give me a plume? It's really important…!”

It sailed off. Lumine tried to not let her disappointment show on her face— God, who the fuck was dumb enough to try to chat with a dragon—?!

Wait.

On the stone platform, hidden by the cracks. Lying there was a single dark blue plume.

The cheers were loud. So loud that Lumine first thought she was going to be deaf. Still, with Dvalin's plume on her raised fist, she didn't have in her to let the screams affect the adrenaline of beating the goddamn trial with flying scores. Literally.

She quickly scanned the crowd for her brother and Paimon, searching for approval in her most

precious people in the world, just to see Paimon almost flying off the benches. As for Aether… well.

Seeing the grin on his sister's face caused a wave of pride to take over his system in a heartbeat. All the tension accumulated on his muscles left him all of sudden, making him flop tiredly into the chair(when did he stand up anyway?).

A part of Aether's worries were soothed. Lumine was strong. Even if she didn't notice, she was letting herself grow into a beautiful flower despite all the harsh currents that tried to take her down.

"...you're crying"

"...n-no, I'm not… Stop laughing, Paimon!"

#genshin impact #genshin #lumine #childe #aether #paimon #albedo #genshin fanfic #chilumi #childe x lumine

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