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saiyan98 · 2 years

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Estelle and The Mark of Arachnid: The Trident of Poseidon (Chapter 3)

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Chapter 3: Percy fought a giant Pigeon at the Park.

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Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fanbase series. Percy Jackson and the Olympians; Heroes of Olympus; Trials of Apollo; Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard are owned by Rick Riordan. Spiderman or any concept of him are owned by Marvel Comics and Sony Entertainment. Please support the official releases.

You know, I never thought my trip would be ruined like this. Museum being closed down due to a pandemic? Sure. A robbery occurred near the area? Makes sense, it is New York. But being attacked by a giant pigeon woman and my brother has to save us while holding an ancient sword? Never thought it could happen. Anyways, Sam and I manage to get out of the building and put her dad right next to his car. Outside of the entrance, police officers were blocking the civilians from entering the building and prevented any casualties from happening. One of the officers walked toward us and Sam’s dad explained the situation. Except, he didn’t tell the whole truth; all he said was that there was some crazy lunatic and that a trained specialist is dealing with the culprit. I wanted to ask why he lied, but my main concern is Percy's safety. Yeah, I was scared out of my mind with the fact that a mythological creature attacked us, and that I almost got killed by it. But right now, my brother, who’s a son, a husband and a father, is inside, fighting that creature on his own.

“You’re okay, dad.” Sam said. “We’re safe.”

“For now,” I implied. “But I need to go back and help my brother!”

“Don’t!” Sam’s dad yelled. “If he’s what I think he is, then you’ll just be in the way. He can get the job done.”

“I don’t care, that’s my brother out there. And not just that, he’s also a husband and a father, I’d never forgive myself if something were to happen to him!”

Just as I was about to head back, the front entrance erupted, showing Percy being lifted by the Vulture herself. Percy was struggling to get loose, but the harpy was also wounded. Percy must’ve wounded her inside. The two flew off towards National Park. I ran off while telling Sam to watch over her dad.

As I reach toward their location, I see Percy defending himself as the Vulture (Ugh, I really got to ask for her real name, someday.) flies down and attacks. Percy tends to roll or dodge to avoid her claws.

“Come on, Vulture. Is that really the best you can do?”

Vulture snarled.

She dashes forwards and Percy swung his sword at her. But, she dodge it and then kicks him off the ground. Percy groans in pain after he falls. The Vulture laughs in amusement.

“Seems age is starting to take its toll on you, Perseus Jackson.”

“And yet, you still can’t kill me.”

Percy threw his sword at her, hitting her by the leg. She snarls in pain and flies up towards the trees. Percy got up and looked into his pocket.

I want to help him, but I have no idea how. I mean, first off, I don’t have a weapon; I have no combat experience at all (Video Games don’t count!), and what’s worse, I’m starting to heat up. Sam said the spider wasn’t poisonous, so why am I starting to catch a fever?!

Percy took out a pen from his pocket.

Really? A pen? He had a magical sword and now he only has a pen. What’s he gonna do, write a formal complaint? He uncapped the pen and it transformed to the same sword that Percy threw. Well, you know what they say, The pen is mightier than the sword. Especially if it’s ALSO a sword.

“What are you doing here, Vulture? What’s your game?”

Vulture replied, “I was simply grabbing a snack while I was scouting. Then I found your sister, and then you came along. Seems fate really is on my side today. Not only will I get a half-blood, but I also get to make you watch as I kill your sister.”

Percy frowned, “Don’t you dare touch her. Your fight is with me.”

Vulture smirked, “Exactly…”

She flies down again and tries to pin down Percy, but he dodged it and was gonna land a blow at her. But she predicted his movement and swirled around and used her wings to hit Percy.

The two were relentless, neither of them would leave an opening to attack. Seriously, where did Percy learn how to fight like that?! Never in my life have I seen this guy fight like that. At home, he’s a nice guy with some idiotic behaviors. Remember the blue food? He loves them; even his own wife makes them for him. And don’t get me started on his ADHD problems. One time, he and I were making a surprise cake for my parents' anniversary, and we ended up destroying the kitchen with dough. Don’t ask how it started, we don’t know.

You get what I’m trying to say? My lovable idiotic brother is fighting for his life against a mythological creature who has a grudge against him. Seriously, what did he do in the past? Is there like a whole series of books I can read about that?!

Percy starts panting as he loses his stamina just defending himself from the Vulture. The harpy on the other hand, was also losing her strength but she has the high ground.

Wait…

“It’s over, Percy Jackson,” She said.

No…

Percy replied, “You underestimate my power!”

Really, Percy? In the middle of a life or death situation, you had to pull a Star Wars Reference? No doubt about it, he’s still my dorky brother.

Anyways, despite what he said, he was really in trouble. He needs to find a way out of this situation and stop Vulture.

“Oh, did I? I know your abilities, Jackson. Why do you think I cornered you in an area with no water nearby?”

Water? What does water have to do with Percy? I mean, he’s a great swimmer and loves the sea, but how is that effective in battle?

Percy chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Vulture asked.

“You idiot, did you forget how trees grow?”

Percy slammed his right hand down to the ground and everything started to shake. I was getting wobbly but I noticed that the falling leaves, the trees nearby, even the flowers and grasses, were being drained. Droppings of water started to appear around Percy and began forming into shapes. Instantly, they formed into spear-like figures, aiming toward Vulture.

She cursed while Percy fired the water spears at her. She dodge a couple but got clipped by the third one and fell down to the ground.

I was shocked at Percy. I mean, he was able to control the water itself like a water-bender. Another thing I noticed is that Percy wasn’t even wet. Both Vulture and I got wet from the sprinkles of water.

Another thing Percy has to explain.

As the Vulture gets back up, Percy points his sword right in front of her neck.

“It’s over,” Percy said. “You lost.”

Vulture scoffed.

“You may have won for now, Percy Jackson. But soon, Olympus will fall. I guarantee it.”

Olympus? Like Mount Olympus? The actual home of the gods? Is that real as well? Ugh, questions just keep piling up and I still have no answers to them! Anyways, Percy summons a small orb of water and it manifests into a rope-like material and wraps itself at the Vulture.

“Now, you stay here while I call the huntresses to pick you up. I really don’t want to get involved with another world-threatening situation right now. Or ever,” Percy said as he, somehow, caps his sword back into a pen and puts it back in his pocket and then takes out his phone.

“Also, Estelle, you’re really bad at hiding.”

I cursed silently and walked out in the opening.

“I thought I told you to get out of here,” He scolded.

“Sorry, it's just, after everything that happened today, I couldn’t see you handling something like that… no offense,” I said, referring to the tied up harpy.

The Vulture snarled at me in hatred.

“When I get out of this, sister of Percy Jackson, I’ll…”

“First off, the name’s Estelle. Estelle Blofis. And second, my brother just whooped your sorry butt. So why don’t you just be a good birdie and zip it.”

She growled at me while Percy guided me further away from her.

“Estelle, please don’t anger her anymore than she already is.”

“Fine, but you’re not out of the woods yet.”

I mean, technically we’re still in the park, but I meant it as an expression.

“Look, Estelle. I promise to explain everything to you soon. But right now, we need to get you home, safely.”

“What about Sam and her dad?” I asked. “That harpy creature nearly killed them!”

“She must be a half-blood. That’s not good,” Percy mumbled.

“What’s a half-blood?”

“Look, just go back with the Stacy’s and get home safely. I’ll deal with the Vulture and meet you back home. Okay?”

Suddenly, the Vulture started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Percy asked.

“You think I was alone this whole time?”

Suddenly, rumbling was occurring around us. Like something big was charging at us. I was starting to lose my balance, and my fever was definitely not helping.

“What is that?!” I said.

Percy was quiet until he yelled.

“Estelle! Run!”

But it was too late, suddenly a giant tree was thrown from the air and got between me and Percy. I lost my balance and fell into a ditch. I groaned in pain as I tried to get back up. Out in the distance, I hear a loud roar and Percy fighting. As I reached the top, I hid behind the log and looked at where Percy was at.

He was fighting a big guy, and I couldn't say who or what he was, but he was bigger than Percy, stronger even, and he was holding some giant axe. Percy has this shock look on his face, as if he knew exactly who it is.

“How on earth are you alive?!”

As Percy was fighting the big guy, I noticed that the Vulture was starting to break loose from her water prison. As she gets out, she flies up in the air and dives for Percy.

“Percy, look out!” I yelled.

Out of pure instinct, I ran toward Percy and jumped, pushing him out of the way. We both fell into a bush while the two villains collided with each other. Unfortunately, the harpy reacted quickly and got out of the big guy’s way. I got up and yelled at Percy.

“We gotta go! Now!”

Percy nodded and got up. We both started running away from the enemies and tried to find a good place to hide.

“What was that big guy?!”

“No time to explain,” Percy answered. “Just another guy I fought back then.”

“Another… How many enemies did you make?!” I yelled. “What, were you on the most wanted list for stealing something important?!”

“Kind of?”

“I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!”

At this point, anything goes. Percy could be a descendant of wizards and went to Hogwart. Or he’s a half-vampire or werewolf because mom fell in love with a monster. Or maybe he’s a mutant like the X-men and all these creatures are just humans with mutations. I don’t know, I just want some answers!

But, as you can see, we’re a bit busy trying to survive. Percy found a spot under a bridge. We ran there and hid.

“Look, I’ll make this as simple as possible once we’re in the clear, okay?” Percy whispered. I sighed and nodded.

“Fine, at least tell me why these guys are after you?”

“The Vulture had siblings and I killed them to save some of my friends. I couldn’t let them get eaten. As for the big guy… well… he and I have some history together.”

“How much of a history?” I said.

“…He once took our mom and sent her to the underworld.”

Okay, that… that was unexpected. “WHAT?!” I yelled. Percy shushes me and covers my mouth. I mean, how would you feel if you found out your mom, who’s still alive, went to the underworld because of your brother?

“Look, it’s a really long story and we don’t have time. Just know that monsters are real and they love to eat humans, especially half-bloods.”

“And what’s a half-blood?!” I whispered loudly.

Before he could answer, suddenly, the bridge collapsed. A giant figure came falling down and roared.

“Estelle, run!” Percy yelled. I got up and ran as far as I could, but then I got pinned down from the Vulture. She swooped down from the sky and dragged me to the floor.

“Don’t think I forgot about you, you little brat,” She snarled.

“Ugh, brush your teeth next time you eat out,” I said, disgusted by her breath smell.

As I looked toward Percy, I noticed he was fighting the big guy. He was wearing a robe so I can’t really see his actual appearance; but, I could’ve sworn I saw hooves on his legs. I tried to get loose from the Vulture’s grip, but she is holding me tight with her claws. I couldn’t break free.

Percy was struggling too. He can’t seem to find an opening with the big guy he’s facing.

“Damn it! When did you get this good?!” He yelled.

The big guy growled at him.

“Kronos is gone! Why are you guys still here?!”

Vulture scoffed. “Haven’t you heard the news? Our father has returned.”

Percy replied with a shocked expression, “What? That’s impossible!”

He kept dodging the hooded monster’s attack.

“Enough! Best you stop now, Percy Jackson. Or your precious sister gets it.”

Vulture lowered her wing arms near my neck and I noticed that some of her talons have sharp edges. She could cut my neck anytime she wanted to if Percy didn't hesitate.

Percy was near the river that was under the bridge so he can probably use it to attack or something. I don’t know, I was still wondering how he did that whole water-bending technique earlier.

“Don’t you dare go near the water, Jackson,” The Vulture replied.

Percy was frustrated. He can’t attack or move, while the big guy gets a free pass to attack.

I hate this.

I hate being the damsel in distress. Yeah it’s nice being saved by the hero; but who’s gonna save the hero if the damsel is too weak to fight? No, I won’t be a burden to Percy, even if I am facing the supernatural. Though, not gonna lie, I’d happily be the damsel if the Winchester brothers came to save us. I mean, have you seen The Winchester brothers?!

Anyways, since Tweety here is holding my arms down, I still have one motive I can use. It’s a dirty tactic, and really nasty, but I had no choice.

“Hey, birdbrain!” I yelled. The Vulture looks at me and I straight up spat at her eyes. Don’t ask how I got accurate aim.

The Vulture grunted in disgust and lost her grip at me. I managed to get my left arm out, grabbed a broken debris and hit the Vulture at her legs. She screamed in pain and let go of me. Percy saw and used it as an opportunity to strike at the hooded man. He put his hand on the river and summoned a huge whirlpool toward the man and pushed away and toward the harpy. I ran toward Percy and grabbed something I can use as a weapon.

Vulture gets up as she is furious from my escape attempt.

“You arrogant, brat. I’m gonna enjoy making you suffer,” She snarled. The big guy growled as he got up and picked up his axe. The two cornered us.

Percy has his magical sword while I have a metal rod from the bridge as I held it like a bat.

“So, Percy, think we can take these losers down?” I said with confidence. But, judging from Percy's expression, we do not have a chance.

“Sorry, Sis, but that metal bar ain’t gonna help you. These guys can’t get hurt from regular material. Only enchanted weapons can.

Thanks for telling me important information at the last second, Percy!

“Great, any more bright ideas?!” I yelled.

As if all hope was lost, our knight in shining armor appeared on his great stallion. And by stallion, I mean her dad’s police car. Jumping off from the broken bridge, Sam dad’s car came flying down and crashed down towards the monsters. As the car crashed on them, more debris from the bridge fell and piled up right on top of them.

As the smoke clears out, Sam and her dad exit out of the car, coughing from the debris smoke.

“Sam? Was that you?!”

Sam replied, “I couldn’t let you handle everything, Stella.”

“…How did you get your driver’s license again?” I said in amusement. Sam shrugged.

Percy sighs in relief and says, “We gotta go, that’ll knock them out for a while, but they’ll wake up soon.”

Sam’s dad nodded, “He’s right, these creatures are resilient when it comes to their hunger.”

“Hunger for food or vengeance?” I asked. “Cause either way, they have got to go on a diet.”

“There’s a subway station nearby. Let’s head over there and head home. I gotta get Estelle home safely and tell my wife the situation.”

“What? Can’t you just call her?” I asked Percy.

“Phone broke during my fight with the Vulture. Seems she was smart enough to stop me from calling for help.”

I groaned in annoyance.

Percy gestured us to follow him as Sam and I helped her dad walk since he’s still wounded from the harpy’s attack. Luckily, he’s not bleeding, but he definitely took a beating from her. We walked toward the subway station and managed to catch a train to the station near my apartment.

We all sighed in relief as Mr. Stacy took out his phone. He made a quick call to the police and told them that he’s fine and taking his daughter to a safe place and will return soon. After that, he gave the phone to Percy.

“Here, my phone still works.”

Percy denied it.

“Can’t, my phone was specifically built for my kind.”

“Your kind?”

Percy sighed, “I’ll explain later, Estelle. Let just get you home and tell Annabeth the situation and-”

“Wait, Annabeth knows too?!”

It was gonna be a long trip back home for Percy.

#marvel #marvel reference #fanfiction #fanfic #spiderman #spider man #estelle blofis #OC #percy jackson #percyjacksonandtheolympians #Percy Jackon and the Olympians #Heroes of Olympus #trials of apollo #pjo hoo toa #kanechronicles

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toomanystoriessolittletime · 3 years

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Second chance

Summary: 7 months passed since Dave found out the woman he loved didn't die. Would she ever remember him?

Pairing: Dave York x OFC (can be read as reader insert)

Wordcount: 2.4k

Warnings: amnesia, f e e l i n g s, angst

A/N: I tried myself on another part of this. I hope you like it.

Part one: two lives

Masterlist

*Taglist in Reblog

Dave York wasn’t someone who believed in second chances. It came with the line of work he was doing. Had been doing. Sighing, he looked at the small house in front of him. He had been sitting in his car for almost 15 minutes, his heart too heavy to open the door, get out of the car and walk over to the door where she would be, still not remembering any moment they had shared.

It was Lissy’s third birthday.

Of course he was invited, the paternity test had confirmed that shortly after their run in at the park. And even though she couldn’t remember him, she would never deny Lissy having a father in her life. Many things had changed in the 7 months since the park.

Dave had quit his job, having made enough money to last three lifetimes. She had moved to town, so Dave would be able to build a relationship with his daughter. Lissy was the sweetest little girl, warming up to him within weeks. The first time she called him Daddy would be something he would forever remember.

They were in the park, him, Lissy and her mother, after having lunch and there were three pigeons chasing Lissy.

“Save me Daddddyyyyyy,” she had cried, jumping into his arms. He had laughed, hugged her close to save her from the pigeons, hiding the emotions behind his mask.

But she was getting better at reading him.

While Lissy was well on her way to being a Daddy's girl it was her mother that seemed to have a hard time letting Dave in. Of course, in a perfect world she would have remembered their whole life together before the accident in the moment in the park. But they weren’t living in a perfect world. And she definitely didn’t remember anything about him. It was hard, looking at the woman he still loved and seeing that she didn’t feel the same way. He had sent Carol a huge bouquet of flowers a month after the park with an apology for not having been a better husband in the past.

It was hard for Dave. Especially when he noticed patterns in her behavior that were just so much her.

She still couldn’t cook, but she tried.

“I do have a mouth more to feed, so I was thinking about taking some cooking classes,” she had said in one of their sessions. Oh yeah. They were going to therapy together every week. Dave thought it would help her remember, but in the end, after 6 months of nothing, he was questioning why he was going.

Because you love her, he thought to himself.

Today would be hard. Not only because of the birthday but because she wanted to introduce Dave to the man she had been dating for a month now. It truly was over and he somehow had to make his peace with it. At least he had Lissy to look forward to.

“Hey Dave,” she smiled as she opened the door. He smiled back, his smile not reaching his eyes. She noticed this happened more often in the last weeks.

“Hi. Am I late?”

“No. Just in time. We’re gonna cut the cake in a couple of minutes,” she stepped to the side, letting the man in. Spending time with Dave was making her feel so confused every time, yet she found herself wanting to see him more lately. Getting used to finding out so many things about her past has been overwhelming to say the least. She could see the longing in his eyes every time he looked at her in the beginning. Yet lately he seemed to shut himself off, wearing a mask to hide behind. She couldn’t blame him. If they really loved each other like he explained to her in therapy, she would die a thousand deaths spending time with him, when it was him who couldn’t remember her.

“I hope she likes her present,” Dave said, shrugging his coat off.

“She’s gonna love it. You could gift her some old socks, and she would love them,” she smiled and Dave smiled back.

“I can’t stay long, but I would love to take her this weekend,” Dave said.

“The whole weekend?” she asked. She had never spent more than a day parted from her since she was born. Dave sighed.

“We can talk about it later…”

“No, help me get out the cake and we can talk,” she said walking through the house with him following her. He could hear music from the living room and laughter and he had to smile. At least his daughter was happy with her friends.

“Talk,” she said and he sighed.

“I can’t do this anymore. I want to spend time with Lissy but I need a break…” he shook his head and she turned around.

“You need a break from me?” she asked quietly without judgment. She knew she was hurting him. And she wanted everything but to hurt the man in front of her. She could see why she fell in love with him. The old her. He was a strong and passionate man who always put his family first. There was something dangerous in his eyes that seemed to make her pulse quicken every time he let it spark through. He knew how she drank her coffee and he always warmed her hands, that seemed to be always cold, stating that they had always been like that. She spent nights awake in her big and lonely bed, trying to make herself remember him. She wanted nothing more than that. To give her and him a happily ever after but she just couldn’t. And it was starting to hurt them both.

“I don’t want to I just… If we wanna do this, co-parenting, I need to find a way to live with the feelings I still have for you. And I think for that it’s best if we take a little break.”

She only nodded, sucking her bottom lip in. Why was this hurting her so much?

“You’re dating and you deserve to be happy, but so do I,” he added stepping closer towards her.

“I know,” she whispered, crossing her arm as if she was hugging herself.

“I wish I could just flip a switch and everything would be like back then…”

“I’m not dating, I only told you that in hopes that this would make you move on,” she confessed and Dave took a deep breath, ignoring the wave of relief that flooded through his body.

“Will you let me take you out to dinner?” he asked.

“Like on a date?” she asked.

“It doesn’t have to be, but yeah. Like on a date.”

He was almost as touching her now, his chest against hers.

“But you said you wanted a break,” she whispered.

“It’s a break so I can fall out of love with you, or a date so you can start to fall back in love with me,” he said quietly and she found herself smiling softly.

“I’m not the same person you fell in love with, Dave. I may look like her on the outside, but….”

“I know. Just let me have one night. I’ll cook for you and we can talk. Without a therapist or Lissy around. Just us,” he smiled hopeful, his hand coming up to put a stray of hair behind her ear.

“Okay.”

She had never been to Dave’s apartment before. She knew that he was still living in the same place she used to live with him. She didn’t want to imagine the amount of heartbreak he went through ever since she disappeared. She still didn’t know the whole story about them. She only knew that they both met because they both had worked at the CIA. And she wanted to get answers today. There were some pieces of the puzzle that were her past, that didn’t make any sense to her. Maybe this was the reason she just couldn’t remember a thing.

She smelled something delicious as she made her way up the stairs, knocking on the apartment door. She was nervous. In all the time knowing each other since the park they never spend time alone.

The door flew open and she smiled seeing him barefoot, wearing jeans and a shirt.

“Hey,” he smiled, stepping to the side so she could walk in. She couldn’t stop letting her eyes wander through the big room that seemed to be hallway, dining room, living room and kitchen all at once. It seemed familiar. Dave only watched her as she slowly walked in, her fingers brushing over a bookshelf that held her books.

She jumped when she felt something rub over her feet, followed by a meow. A cat was sniffing at her feet, rubbing her soft body at her calves.

“That’s kitty. She’s… She’s your cat,” Dave explained. She looked at him with big eyes.

“I had a cat?” she leaned down to pick her up, a calmness washing over her, as the cat purred against her chest.

“You found her outside as a kitten and took her in. She’s a little over 6 years old now.”

“She’s a sweetheart,” she smiled, not letting go of the cat as she followed Dave.

“Yeah she grew on me after…” he shook his head, smiling softly before he turned from her.

“I hope you still like my paella. You used to love it,” he said.

“I love paella,” she said with a smile, leaning with her hand propped up on her hands on the kitchen island.

“It smells delicious. I can’t wait to taste it.”

“Wine?” he asked and she nodded. She watched him as he opened the bottle of wine and couldn’t help but let her eyes wander up his strong arms. When she looked into his eyes he just winked at her and she felt herself blush.

“Hungry?” he asked, handing her the glass of wine.

“Starving!” she answered.

“So we met at the CIA but I hated you at first?”

“I am a pretty big asshole to most people.”

“Must be your face. When you have this brooding look you look like you’re plotting murder,” she joked a while later, sitting on the sofa across from him. Kitty hadn’t left her side the whole evening. She was now sleeping peacefully in her leap.

Dave sighed.

“You wanted the truth. How we met. How we fell in love. How… How I thought you died and left…” he choked on his words, looking away from her. This would be hard.

“Dave… Did we kill people?” she asked out of the blue. Dave turned his head to look at her for a long time.

“Yes. Yes we did. And we were the best at it,” he added. She sucked her bottom lip in, nodding slowly. And so he told her. Every little thing. About the death of McCall and about how they took jobs outside the CIA making a name for themselves. He answered every single question she had.

“I should be scared of you and of the person I was but looking at you…” she breathed in deep, shaking her head.

“I feel safe with you. Like I’m finally where I’m supposed to be. I can’t describe it. I can see why I fell in love with you,” she smiled a little.

“This is a lot to take in. I had my suspicions about my past. There are pieces of things I remember but it’s not enough to understand them. And at this point I’m not sure if I want to remember. Though I have so many things to be thankful for from my old life…”

“Such as?” Dave asked.

“Meeting you? I wouldn’t have Lissy if it weren’t for you,” she whispered and Dave felt himself smile at her.

“I didn’t know you were pregnant. I wouldn’t have taken the job for us if I had known… I’m so sorry,” he closed his eyes, letting his head fall down. Her heart broke. Yes, she was the one who experienced the memory loss but he had all the memories. Carefully she pulled Kitty off her lap and closed the distance between herself and Dave. Taking his hands in hers, she felt him shake.

“It’s not your fault. Do you think I would have listened to you? It’s not your fault Dave. You hear me?” she squeezed his hand and felt him shudder. He let his head fall against her shoulder and she gasped, letting go of his hands to hug him against her. He was shaking in her arms as he silently cried against her shoulder.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t know I was pregnant back then. I wish I could remember. We would have been so happy,” she smiled, letting her head fall against his.

“You are such a good Dad. I wish you would have been there when Lissy was a baby. But you’re here now. And we’re not going anywhere,” she promised, her heart full. He had stopped shaking at some point, yet couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He never wanted to let go. He felt her kiss his temple and he shuddered again. One of her hands pushed under his chin tilting his head up so he had to look at her.

“I may not remember being in love with you, but I think I am falling in love with you,” she whispered looking into his eyes. Dave stopped breathing, trying to register the words that had just left her lips. He just looked at her, taking her in before he leaned in, closing the distance between them, to finally kiss her. She gasped against his lips, her arms wrapping around his neck as she melted against him. This. This is what felt right. She never wanted to let go.

Resting with his forehead against hers he smiled.

“Promise me to never leave me again without saying goodbye,” he whispered and she smiled back.

“Never,” she vowed kissing him again.

#my writing #dave york #Dave York x reader #Pedro pascal #fanfic #fanfiction #dave york fanfic

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the-demelza-robins · 3 years

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never understood you before (but i do now) part vi

guess who’s back!! and with the final chapter!! sorry for the wait, and hope you enjoy!

you can also read this on ao3

THANKSGIVING BREAK PASSES in a flurry of turkey, potatoes, and disapproving glances (courtesy of Petunia). When it finally comes to an end, standing next to her parents and waving halfheartedly at Vernon’s car as it backs out of the driveway, all Lily feels is relief.

The moment is short lived. “Lily, dishes,” Laurel says, more of a statement than a question. Lily sighs and walks back into the kitchen. She’s about ten minutes into the seemingly endless pile of plates and tupperware before her mother joins her.

“What did you think of Vernon?” Laurel asks, leaning against the kitchen doorframe. Lily pauses, faucet still running. She calculates. Honesty is not the solution here, but neither is an outright lie.

She settles on saying “I think they’re a good match” while sponging the pan she’s washing a little too aggressively.

Laurel hums. “Petunia’s always been more — conscientious of the future. It’s one of my favorite things about her. She plans and she plans and she plans.”

She’s planning with Vernon, Lily translates. Her future is safe with Vernon.

“I think there are some things you can’t plan,” Laurel continues, smiling slightly. “Your father and I… never in my wildest dreams would I have predicted marrying him. I just — I just worry for Petunia, that she won’t be able to experience that.”

Silence, except for the faucet.

Lily clears her throat. She wishes she could respond I worry for Petunia, too, but the fact is that she and Petunia have never been close, not since they were children, not since — well, not since Severus. In the dim recesses of her mind, Lily can scrounge up some happy memories of her sister — shared Halloween costumes, Petunia’s protective stance on the playground — but they’re both rare and fleeting. Petunia is Petunia, and Lily is Lily, and the former will forever disapprove of the latter in the way that only sisters can. She can’t vocalize this truth, though — even if her mother already knows. Instead: “I think Petunia doesn’t want anything to be unpredictable. I think she’d hate falling in love with someone unexpected.”

Laurel nods, standing up a little straighter. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You’ve been branching out this year. I know you don’t tell me everything, but the Parents’ Association moms are very chatty. I never would have imagined you with Roger Davies, that’s all. I was surprised.”

Lily knows that she’s started to blush, but she can’t stop. She and her mother never talk about these things. “I really don’t think I’m in love with Roger, if that’s what you’re getting at, Mom,” she says, thinking of the last time she really spoke with him. The last yearbook meeting, maybe? Anything they’d had had fizzled out after that first date, after she’d somewhat clumsily executed a slow fade. “I haven’t even spoken to him recently.”

“Well, I guess I’m behind the times. Want to catch me up? Anything going on lately?”

“No,” she says, more forcefully. “Nothing.” Inexplicably, Lily pictures James, sitting on the kitchen counter just days ago. She pushes the thought down — she must have had too much wine at dinner, to be randomly thinking about him like this.

“Just checking,” Laurel says, a glint in her eye that Lily can’t interpret and feels vaguely threatened by. “I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow morning.”

“Love you,” Lily calls automatically, already back to the soapy water, her mother’s words echoing in her head. You’ve been branching out lately. Had she, really? Yes, she’d spoken to Roger. Become friends with James. She supposed she had more people to say hello to in the halls now, but that was really just because of her position as head of the yearbook. The fact was, she still felt like the same old Lily, truly open to only a few people, closed off to the rest of the world behind a veil of awkwardness and, at times, imposter syndrome. Her thoughts pull towards James again: how comfortable she feels in his presence, how easy it is to do away with the layers of caution that seem to smother her other social interactions. She shakes her head, turns the water off, examines the now clean kitchen. No more thinking of James Potter, she tells herself firmly. The thought echoes through her head as she gets ready for bed, self defeating by nature.

*** Marlene comes back from Thanksgiving break with a new friendship. She and Remus, she explains, had been volunteering at the same soup kitchen over break. Long hours ladling soup and tearing off bread had created (by Marlene’s telling) an unbreakable bond. “All of this is to say,” she says now as she swerves past a mailbox, Lily hanging on for dear life in the passenger seat of her friend’s car, “that Remus invited me over to watch a movie at James’s on Friday. It’s so funny how they — all four of them, you know — just invite people over to each other’s houses. Squad goals? Anyway, he said the invite was for me, you, whoever else. Dorcas has those damned violin recitals, but hopefully we’ll be able to spring her free — watch it! —” (a pigeon had dared hop into the road, and flew away hastily) “— and Alice and James and Sirius and Peter too.”

“Oh,” Lily says.

Marlene shoots her a look. “I thought it was a wonderful idea, seeing as you've started to become completely platonic, innocent friends with James Potter —”

“— every day, I regret telling you about Halloween more and more —”

“— and there’s nothing like a movie on a Friday night to solidify a friendship, is there, Lily?” Marlene smirks, and Lily can do nothing but silently fume as they pull into the high school parking lot. “Come on. You know it’ll be a good time.”

“I do, and I hate you for it,” Lily grumbles, getting out of the car. “And, for the last time, there’s nothing going on with James. Stop smirking.”

“Speak of the devil,” her friend says in lieu of a response, motioning to where James is approaching them from across the parking lot. For a second, all Lily can do is stare. He looks tanner, she thinks, briefly, before dismissing the thought; he didn’t even travel over the break. She must be seeing things.

He stops in front of them, holding onto his backpack straps and squinting against the sun. “Just the girls I was hoping to run into.”

“Oh?” Lily asks, tossing her hair over her shoulder and glancing up at him before she loses the nerve. Just James. Just a slightly tanner James. Nothing you haven’t seen before.

“For the movie on Friday: Peter and I want to watch Jaws and Sirius and Remus want to watch Love, Actually. Thoughts?”

Lily finds herself sputtering, “But — I barely just agreed to go, how did you —”

Marlene’s dangerously close to smirking again. “I may or may not have told James you’d be a sure thing,” she says, not noticing (or not caring) about James’s hair, or his tan, or the way his biceps flexed slightly when he ran a hand through his hair. How could someone not care about those things? “Have a nice break, Potter?”

“Perfectly fine. Did you like the flowers, Lily?”

Marlene shoots her an incredulous look, and Lily doesn’t know who she wants to murder first. “My mom really appreciated them. Tell your mom she said thanks.”

He pouts. It makes his mouth look — good. Shut up. She knows what it’s like to kiss him. Shut up. To feel his lips on her skin, on her neck, against her pulse point. Shut up.

“— game on Friday,” James is saying, and Lily’s not listening, but it doesn’t matter, because now he’s talking to Marlene. Lily trails behind them, watching as her fellow students move aside to let him pass through the parking lot, through the school entrance, through locker-lined hallways.

“— coming, Evans?” he asks, snapping her out of her stupor. They’re standing outside what she belatedly recognizes to be the math classroom, Marlene long gone.

She blinks once, twice. He raps her temple gently, that teasing glint in his eye again. “Lily?”

She’s so stunned by the fact that he’s touching her — granted, his knuckles are touching the side of her head, not a particularly romantic gesture — that for a second, she can only stand there, scrambling for some excuse, something to fill the suddenly heavy air between them.

Before she can come up with a suitable response, Gretchen Prewett shoulders between them to step into the classroom, breaking their contact and bumping into Lily a harder than strictly necessary. And that’s when Lily remembers — James and Gretchen. Gretchen and James. Gretchen with her curly blonde hair, her brown eyes, and her kindness, her infallible goodness, ever since kindergarten when she offered Lily a turn on the swings — Gretchen ensconced in James’s embrace after the soccer game, Gretchen whispering in his ear at the Halloween party, Gretchen with her arms around his waist at that one house party at the start of the year….

“Lily?” James repeats, this time with more concern. “You okay?”

She blinks again, suddenly unable to make eye contact. “Um, yeah.”

“Thought I lost you for a second there,” he says. “Shall we?”

He steps through the classroom door, and all Lily can do is follow.

***

That night, Lily sits on her bed, calculus notes spread around her, and texts the group chat.

i don’t think i can do this movie night thing on Friday

She exhales, the lie settling in her brain. She adds: something came up

Marlene responds almost immediately.

Marlene: was that something the realization that ur so desperately attracted to james samuel potter, you can’t be in the same room without wanting a repeat performance of halloween night?

Dorcas: i don’t think james’s middle name is samuel

Marlene: semantics

Dorcas: you don’t have to go lily

Marlene: oh yes you do

Lily: his middle name is Fleamont after his dad

Marlene: …

Marlene: why would you ever know that if you didn’t want to submit to the sexual tension that seems to follow you both EVERYWHERE

Lily: i’m a normal person who pays attention to things, that’s how i know his middle name!!!

Lily: and we do NOT have sexual tension

Marlene: pish

Marlene: i saw the way you were looking at him in the parking lot today

Marlene: you were feasting ur eyes

Alice: i wasn’t there but i believe marlene

Marlene: it’s okay tho because he was checking you out too

Lily’s blushing uncontrollably now. She’s always loved Marlene’s relentless determination, her stubbornness; however, it’s almost never been turned on her. What makes her friend’s insistence all the more infuriating is the fact that she’s right. Lily is plagued by flashbacks to Halloween night whenever she’s close to James. She can’t help, really, but admire how smooth his jawline is, or the shape of his collarbone, or the curve of his biceps, which sometimes show, depending on what shirt he’s wearing —

Even his once-annoying habit of constantly messing with his hair has grown on her, if only because she knows what it feels like to run her fingers through it, and wants desperately to repeat the experience.

Lily: okay even if i were a smidgen attracted to him it doesn’t matter because i completely forgot that he had a thing with gretchen

Alice: omg gretchen

Marlene: i thought they were just hooking up???

Lily: idk but she was really aggressive to me today right after i spoke to him

Marlene: huh i didn’t think she had it in her

Alice: go gretchen honestly

Alice: it’s about time she developed some backbone

Dorcas: yeah not with lily tho???

Lily: i don’t want to be a homewrecker

Marlene: you are literally so dramatic

Marlene: just ask James where he’s at with Gretchen

Marlene: on Friday.

Marlene: when you’ll be at the movie night, because you’re coming with us, because i’m picking you up at seven

Marlene: :)

***

At 7:05 on Friday night, Marlene pulls into Lily’s driveway.

“Surprisingly punctual,” Lily comments as she slides into the passenger’s seat, the familiar hum of the engine calming her nerves slightly. There’s a bitter chill to the air, to be expected in early December, and she wraps her coat around herself more tightly.

Marlene shrugs. “I do what I can.”

Then she floors it. All too soon, Lily finds herself standing in front of James’s door, hand hovering over the doorbell. “Is this really —”

Marlene rolls her eyes and jams her finger against the bell. “Yes. It’s really necessary. Talk to him and then ride off into the sunset together.”

Just then, the door swings open, and there he is: hair wet from a post-game shower, wearing a shirt that brings out the green in his eyes — eyes that flick up and down, taking her in, so quickly she almost could’ve missed it.

“Lily, you look great,” he says, then clears his throat. “Um, we’re downstairs. Movie’s about to start.” For the first time, he seems to notice the girl standing beside her. “Hi, Marlene.”

Marlene whistles lowly as they head downstairs, and Lily prods her with her elbow, cognizant of the fact that her cheeks are turning more and more red. She tries to take her mind off of James by focusing on her surroundings; she hasn’t been in his house since elementary school, when it was common procedure to invite the whole class to every birthday party. It’s nice — that’s no surprise, considering his family’s considerable wealth — and looks fairly lived in. As she and Marlene step into the basement, fully finished with a giant television and an assortment of comfy chairs and couches, Lily begins to regain her composure.

Sirius and Remus are cuddled up on one end of the couch, with Alice and Dorcas sitting on the floor in front of them, flipping back and forth between Jaws and Love, Actually. Marlene immediately walks over to Remus, and Lily trails behind, dismayed to hear that the two have already begun talking about a class that she doesn’t share. She turns towards Alice and Dorcas, but is stopped by the prickle at the edge of her vision — some subconscious mechanism alerting her to the fact that she’s being watched. Sure enough, Sirius Black is staring at her, eyebrows raised. The almost challenging expression is new to Lily; the Sirius she’s always known has been laid back, easygoing.

That is, before she accused him of trying to take advantage of her best friend on Halloween night. She cringes internally at the memory; she won’t apologize for worrying about her friend, but perhaps she had jumped to conclusions a bit too quickly. She clears her throat and veers towards him, steeling herself.

“Lily.” Sirius inclines his head ever so slightly, watching as she perches awkwardly on the couch’s arm.

“Sirius. I, um, probably should apologize for Halloween night.”

“What part?” he says, and something’s wrong, here, she thinks. “The part when you accused me of taking advantage of Marlene, or the part when you stuck your tongue down my best friend’s throat, then abandoned him?”

She’s so floored she almost falls off the couch. He’s speaking quietly, tone monotone, and if she hadn’t known better, she would’ve thought he was bored by the whole thing. But his gaze hasn’t moved from her face, and she realizes for the first time that Sirius Black, while angry, is worthy of fear.

“I — well — I’m sorry for assuming your intentions with Marlene. I didn’t know you —” she looks towards Remus, still chatting away obliviously with her friend “— I didn’t know you were in a relationship, and I overreacted. As for the James stuff, I — I really don’t know what to say. I thought he just wanted to be friends.”

“Yes, when Remus kissed me for the first time, my first thought was, ‘Oh, I bet he just wants to be friends,’” Sirius mutters acridly, but his expression has softened slightly, and Lily allows herself to relax, just a little bit. “Jesus Christ. This is worse than I thought.” “What is worse?” Lily asks, feeling strangely defensive. “James and I —”

“James has had a crush on you since seventh grade, Lily,” Sirius all but hisses. “It’s so incredibly obvious, I never even considered you didn’t know. I thought you were —”

“Some manipulative bitch stringing him along?” Lily finishes, arching an eyebrow at him, hoping she can disguise the shock reverberating through her. Since seventh grade.

“You’re kind of scary, Lily Evans,” Sirius says drily. “And sharp. Emotionally aware or some shit. It’s intimidating. The poor fool was just happy to have time with you, even if you thought that him fucking kissing you was an expression of platonic friendship — ”

“That’s not — I’m not — I — he was with Gretchen!”

Sirius scoffs. “I can’t explain all his choices. But they were never together, never officially. Gretchen was hooking up with Michael Goldstein at the same time. She can get kind of territorial. I told him not to get mixed up in it, but he was so hung up on — well.” He pauses. “I’ve said too much.” His tone is not apologetic or regretful in the slightest; in fact, Lily can see the beginnings of a smirk on his face. She doesn’t focus on it for too long, though; there’s too much to process. For the first time, the possibility of James — of really being with him, of holding his hand, of FaceTiming with him late into the night, of walking down the hallways together — cements in her head. Her head swims, imagining the potential of it all. “Where’s James?”

“Getting drinks upstairs,” Sirius says, eying her with suspicion. “Why?” “I think he and I need to have a talk.”

***

Lily finds James in the kitchen on the main floor, trying and failing to carry seven beer cans at the same time. When he sees her, they come crashing to the floor, and before she knows what she’s doing, she’s helping him pick them up, avoiding eye contact.

“What are you doing up here? Is something wrong?” James asks once the cans have been dealt with.

She leans against the kitchen island, wiping her palms on the sides of her jeans. His gaze follows the motion before he blinks and makes eye contact again, clearing his throat. Waiting for her to speak.

So she does: “Nothing’s wrong. I just — I wanted to ask you about someone.”

He cocks an eyebrow. “Really? Who? Sorry. Whom.”

Lily can’t help but roll her eyes, his impeccable grammar relaxing her nerves. “Whom? Really, James?”

He scoffs and shakes his head, but there’s no real heat to it. “Only the best for my yearbook editor.” He’s leaning against the wall opposite her, hands in his pockets. When he looks back at her, the air feels like honey: thick and slow-moving, sweet. She’s never had someone look at her like that before. Her heart speeds up. Get back on track, Lily.

“Right. Uh, anyway. I was thinking about Halloween —”

There it is, again. That look. Followed by a brief glance at her mouth — he’s quick, but she’s attuned to his every movement, now — before his eyes flick back up to her face. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. And I realized that I completely forgot about Gretchen.”

James breaks eye contact. “What about her?”

One deep breath, then two. “Well. Were you seeing her? Was I — helping you cheat, or —”

“God, no,” he says. “Lily, I would never — we weren’t exclusive, or together, and she was mostly using me to make Michael Goldstein jealous, anyway.”

“Oh.”

He clears his throat again, runs a hand through his hair. It’s dry, now, and looks impossibly soft. Lily’s fingers clench automatically.

“Well,�� she says, heart pounding. She senses she’s very close to something, something big; it’s like she’s standing on the edge of a cliff, crystal-clear water below, and she’s terrified of how deep she might fall. No matter that jumping off that cliff is what she’s been wanting to do for months now. No matter that jumping off that cliff might simply mean closing the two feet of separation between her and the boy she so desperately wants. “See you downstairs, then.”

***

Lily bolts.

There’s no other word for it; she walks out of the kitchen as fast as she can, pretending not to hear James calling her name. She knows she’s a coward. She knows that if she’d crossed that final threshold, if she’d turned back around, if she’d stayed, her life might look very different. But she can’t do it.

The fact of the matter is, Lily Evans has been Lily Evans, undesirable, longer than she has been Lily Evans, as-crushed-on-by-James-Potter-since-the-fucking-seventh-grade. She needs to let the notion sink under her skin. She’s out of first moves; she’s out of soul-searing confidence. She asked about Gretchen. It was a baby step. Now she can go downstairs and watch the fucking movie, and bear the brunt of Marlene’s disappointment, and fall asleep fantasizing about James’s lips and hands and body instead of experiencing the real thing. It’s fine. It’s what she’s used to doing, and so far, she’s done perfectly well.

It’s not that she doesn’t like James; no, the opposite holds true. She very much likes James, to an extent that is unfamiliar and sticky and all too attainable. James Potter — the disco ball that’s sharp around the edges, except lately it seems as if they’ve both been childproofing the jagged parts, making them soft and round and welcoming. She doesn’t know how this works, how to navigate a minefield that’s been disarmed and paved over.

Besides, she thinks as she begins to walk down the stairs to the basement, how is she supposed to hold up to the idealized version of herself that must have been growing, festering, in James’s head for the past five years? Lily, who’s only kissed three people, and never done more; Lily, who doesn’t know how to be in a relationship, especially one with one of the school’s most visible students; Lily, who, despite all her newfound confidence, still can’t wrap her head around the idea that James would like her. Would want her. Would —

“Lily?”

Instinctively, her head snaps towards the voice’s source. It’s James, of course it is. He stands at the top of the stairs, the soft glow of the overhead light making him look practically angelic. She nods at him.

“Can I join you?”

“Yes.”

He walks until he’s standing on a step two feet away from her. The trek down to the basement involves two flights of stairs, with a landing in between; on the first staircase, therefore, she and James are hidden from the basement’s occupants, from outside influence, from the world.

“What is it?” she asks, going for unbothered and confident and failing miserably. She can’t meet his eyes.

“I was just wondering — now that we’ve, um, cleared up the Gretchen thing — well, the thing is,” he says, running a hand through his hair and smiling apologetically, “I’m, um, rambling. Sorry. Um, what I’m trying to say is that I’ve really enjoyed being your friend over the past few months. But — and it’s only fair you should know — I’ve really, really liked you for the past few years. God, that makes me sound creepy. It’s not that, I swear. I just — you’re so — so poised and kind and sharp. I always, well, I always thought you were too mature for me, too smart. You — you really don’t suffer fools, Lily, and I am one, but, well, in spite of that — in spite of everything — will you go out with me?”

She looks up at him, eyes wide, heart beating wildly. “You are a fool, James,” she whispers, words almost catching in her throat, because there it is. He’s just given the final confirmation, the truth: that he, James Potter, likes her. Wants her. Wants to be with her. She can’t stop — fuck, she keeps remembering Halloween. His hands on her skin. “I — you’re a complete fool, and you’re also ridiculously charming and intelligent and social in a way I can’t fathom, and I respect you. I really do.”

James’s face falls. “Right. Well, I’m glad you respect me, and I’ll just — I’ll just go now, I guess —”

“I don’t want you to go,” she bursts out. This conversation is getting out of her control (when had it ever been in her control?), the words slipping away from her. You can’t do first moves, grand proclamations, the voice in her head whispers snidely, but she ignores it. “I want you to stay. I respect you, and I like you, and I want to be with you. See?”

It’s his turn to look gobsmacked. “Oh. As friends, or —”

She pounces on him. There’s no other word for it, not really; she reaches the staircase step below his, and then she guides his mouth down to hers, hands around the back of his neck, back arching under his. If she stands on her tiptoes she can make the angle better, and… there. Something like a sigh falls from James’s mouth. His hands wind through her hair, glasses bumping slightly against her forehead. It’s not a perfect kiss. But it does accomplish the most important thing, for James Potter, jagged around the edges, and Lily Evans, sharp to the touch, have changed.

Both are now soft, malleable, in each others’ arms.

#jily #jily fic #jily fanfiction #harry potter #james potter #lily evans #american high school!jily #harry potter fanfiction #james x lily #James Potter x Lily Evans #mine #my writing

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monsterfuneral · 4 years

Text

the vampiric pros and cons | the lost boys

Relationship: Poly!Lost Boys x Fem!Reader

Summary: One year anniversaries were always important, it was a mark of a year long commitment to one someone or something but what happens when your four someone’s seem to forget?

Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, the reader has a breakdown, the boys being dumb, fluff, swearing.

Words: 3.3k

Author’s Note: I hope you like this as much as I liked writing it, thank you very much anon for the request <3

Idk what is giving me this 3k word juice but I really enjoy it

REQUESTS OPEN

(please read my “I do NOT write” section before sending in anything <3)

---

There were pros and cons of being a human. One very important con being time perception, whether it be what time you had to be at work, what year it was, or even what special occasion fell on what day. Time was something your very undead boyfriends hadn’t had to deal with in decades, while they attempted to adjust to your much more human life it did come with difficulty, which today just proves how much. With your eyes flitting from the mirror to the clock on your nightstand and back to your reflection, you couldn’t help but let out a slow sigh. They were an hour late.

While at first you assumed at least one of them- Dwayne- would be able to keep track, that thought now seemed futile. You knew that as a vampire you didn’t have to stress over something as trivial as time management, especially since they quite literally had forever to do something. But you couldn’t deny it hurt every time you watched the clock tick by without any signs of revving engines outside your apartment complex. You couldn’t deny that it stung when they seemed to have forgotten your one year anniversary.

Your eyes locked back onto your reflection’s, looking over your outfit for probably the thirtieth time. While you weren’t wearing some fancy ball gown and your hair wasn’t perfectly styled, it was a lot more effort you put in your everyday appearance. You had switched out your worn leather jacket for a fancier, seemingly spotless one. You even put on your best pants, not a rip in sight, along with a pair of black combat boots that looked brand new. The effort probably wasn’t worth it knowing the boys would probably be dressed in their regular clothes, which you didn’t mind, but thinking about that now it made you feel slightly ridiculous for even caring so much.

With another glance at the clock on your nightstand you felt a harsh pang in your chest, 1:21am it read in big red blocky numbers, they were supposed to pick you up at twelve. You tried to keep the tears at bay but the more you stared at the clock the blurrier the numbers got. Was it stupid to have put hope in them in the first place? Could you really blame them? You knew what you were signing up for, so why were you getting so upset?

You brought your hands up to your face and sniffled, wiping the tears away rather harshly.

“Fuck.” More tears slipped from your eyes in retaliation and you let out a groan, realizing just what you had to do. You walked over to the chair in the corner of your room, one that served more as a laundry hamper rather than something to sit on, and plucked your bag from top of the pile searching for your keys.

If they weren’t going to come here then you were going to come to them, and you were not happy.

---

You white-knuckled your steering wheel the whole drive to the bluff, music playing low on your radio yet still feeling all too loud. Even though they had forgotten you couldn’t help but feel like it was your fault. But that was ridiculous right? You had reminded them almost every night and they had seemed to be listening, did you just not try hard enough or did they really just not care?

The tears were pooling again, blurring the lines on the road before they morphed into dirt and you were finally parked at the rickety wooden stairs leading down to the cave. You shut the car off and just sat for a few seconds trying to level your breathing. You glanced at your wristwatch and it read 1:53am, you couldn’t suppress the growl that crawled up your throat. After everything you did for them, after all the times you reminded them, they fucking forgot.

With that in mind you threw the rusty car door open and slammed it shut, your fists clenching beside your thighs before you drew your jacket closer to shield yourself from the ocean breeze. You stomp down the creaky stairs, angrily muttering to yourself before coming up to the gate entrance and slipping inside, careful not to snag your jacket like you’ve done many times before.

You walked through the tunnel leading towards the flickering light coming from the candles and metal barrels. It usually warms you from the inside out but in this moment all you felt was cold. There was no smile growing on your face, no hands guiding you carefully so you didn't bust your ass on the way down, no whooping vampires flying overhead. It was silent inside the cave. Nobody was here. They must have been out feeding. That thought only served to enrage you even more.

Of course they had time to remember their own needs but not yours when it was your anniversary? You hadn’t even asked for much either, all you wanted was to go down to the beach and have a cute little night-time picnic with them, a bonfire lit off to the side and all of you having a great time, that’s all you wanted.

You couldn’t help but once again feel like you were overreacting, was it really their fault for forgetting? While they certainly weren’t perfect when it came to remembering everything, at least they tried. But what stopped them from trying this time? Stop over thinking so much. Did they still care for you or did they lose interest? You’re being ridiculous. You felt tears begin to streak down your cheeks once again, the frustration building more and more.

When you plopped down onto the couch a small puff of dust followed, clouding around your hips as you cradled your head pathetically and cried into the palms of your hands, very certain the makeup you had put on earlier in the night had been fully cried off.

You weren’t sure how long you had been sitting on the couch after your last tear dropped, but it felt like hours. Your body felt vacant of all emotion, your eyes locking onto the flickering candle sat atop the fountain, it held all of your focus as it danced and swayed with the occasional breeze that would push itself inside the cave. The fluttering of wings sounded so much louder now too with it being so quiet, Marko’s pigeons flying back and forth every now and then. Your head didn’t even lift up when you heard the distant whoops of your vampiric partners. The anger was now completely washed away and was replaced with a cold nothingness, all emotions having been exhausted from your body when it had been racking with sobs.

The fluttering of clothes sounded overhead when they finally flew inside, circling the top of the cave before finally realizing there was an unmoving figure sat upon their couch. David was the first to touch down, cold blue eyes staring at you with concern as you just continued to stare ahead at the flickering candle. His heavy steps echoed off the cave walls as he drew closer saying your name gently as if it would break you to say it louder. If you were being completely honest with yourself, it probably would have.

David kneeled down in front of you and carefully placed a hand on your knee which you moved slowly away from. He raised a brow and looked back at the other three, Marko was chewing on his thumb nail, closely watching the scene in front of him unfold.

“Kitten?” David’s voice was probably the softest you ever heard, his eyes locking with yours once you were finally jolted from your daze “Hey are you okay?” You almost felt guilty, he looked so worried even with how little he showed it on his face, it was in his eyes.

“Babe what’s wrong? Did someone do somethin’ to you?” Paul chimed, stepping closer to the couch cautiously. You still didn’t speak, mind still in a thick fog. “Babe?” Paul sounded worried too and you couldn’t bring yourself to lift your head up to look at him.

“I think something’s wrong guys.” Marko said from where he stood behind David.

Paul let out a scoff “Yeah no shit, man.” You could practically hear him roll his eyes.

Finally your mouth opened, prying your chapped lips apart and muttered a raspy “You forgot.” It felt like the littlest bits of energy were finally sinking back into your skin, allowing you to lift your head and look at your four worried boyfriends. “You forgot about our anniversary.”

Their eyes widened almost comically after hearing you say that. A groan coming from Marko as he threw his head back, fingers knitting through his perfect curls “I told you guys there was something wrong tonight! I knew we forgot something!” Paul let out a long sigh and leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Dwayne finally got closer and kneeled himself down next to David.

“Hey sweetheart…” He whispered, reaching out to gently take your hand in his colder one “We are so sorry. You gotta understand that we wouldn’t do this to you on purpose.” He squeezed your hand gently, looking back at the others. You knew that if you had any more tears left you would have probably started crying again. “We’re so sorry that we hurt you like this…” He brought his hand up to your chin and lifted your head up so he could look you in the eye standing up and bending over to bring his face closer to yours “Please let us make it up to you.” His hair was veiling over your face as he leaned in, almost shielding you from the outside world, his chilled lips met your cheek softly delivering the gentlest kiss you’ve probably ever received.

“Yeah babe please let us make it up to you.” Paul practically begged. You turned your head stiffly to look at him, seeing how frantic he almost looked.

“Would you like that?” Dwayne asked, voice soft as if he was telling you a secret. You couldn’t deny the tug on your heart when looking into his dazzling brown eyes, the desperation to earn your forgiveness all too evident.

“Okay…” You whispered back, afraid to speak any louder.

---

The bonfire in front of you danced with the ocean breeze, a breeze that softly weaved through your hair and would have made you shiver if it wasn’t for the blanket David wordlessly wrapped around your shoulders. He sat next to you staring into the amber flames too, the yellows and oranges lighting his face up beautifully. The hollowness from your breakdown was finally beginning to melt away, a small smile creasing your lips before bitterly falling again.

“I’m sorry.” You muttered quietly, but not quietly enough as the rest of the group raised their heads and voiced their curiosity of what the hell you were apologizing for. “I was being a drama queen.” You chuckled humorlessly “You guys have told me so many times how hard it is to manage time as a vampire and I still got so worked up over something so stupid.”

Marko was the first to shake his head and voice his opinion “Hell no, you’re not going to feel sorry for something that isn’t even your fault!” You looked at him from over the fire, his expression hardened “It’s us who should be sorry- who are sorry- not you. I’m not letting you blame yourself because you’re dating a set of dumbasses.” Paul nodded in agreement, not even trying to start some childish argument for being called a dumbass.

“And it’s not stupid either. We’ve been together for a whole year, which is a long time to commit yourself to one person, let alone four vampires.” Dwayne chimed, soothing your remaining guilt. You gave him a grateful smile while David pulled you closer to him, arm slung around your shoulder and letting you lean against him.

Silence had settled over the five of you again for a good ten seconds before you heard Paul yelp, making you jump. Marko had him pinned to the sand, their bodies both flailing as they wrestled. “Oh your ass is grass pipsqueak!” Paul threatened when Marko flew up into the air, Paul following closely, some sand falling back onto the ground below. David shook his head and chuckled as he watched the two rambunctious blondes play fight, growling and hissing at each other.

“Children...” He muttered playfully smirking at you when you giggled.

“Come on up guys!” Marko called a few feet above the fire, Paul pulling harshly on his hair making the shorter blonde let out a yelp of his own.

“Yeah, how does it feel asshole!?” They pushed each other, flying in opposite directions before colliding again.

“Paul I will fucking dunk you in the ocean!” Marko threatened.

David squeezed your side a little tighter “You wanna go for a ride princess?” He asked, eyes still locked on Paul and Marko.

You felt yourself start to smile “Yeah I want some front row seats to this.” You shrugged the blanket from your shoulders and handed it to Dwayne who took it without a word.

David gave you an encouraging squeeze before helping you stand up and kneeling down a little so you can jump onto his back. He tightened his grip on the backs of your thighs and told you to hold on tight, which you did. He slowly rose from the ground and you let out an excited giggle next to his ear, having gotten used to the heights of flying a long time ago. Marko and Paul’s petty argument got louder as you both got closer, they were punching and kicking and even clawing at each other like feral alley cats.

“I’ll tie you to a tree and leave you there, fucking test me.” Paul seethed, you would have thought he was serious if you hadn’t known them, plus the wide smile on his face was an immediate giveaway.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

You squeezed your arms tighter around David’s neck and muttered next to his ear “I bet you ten vinyls Marko completely wastes Paul.”

David let out a quiet snort and turned his eyes over to you “You’re on. If you lose you have to sleep over at the cave for a whole week.” You rolled your eyes at the counter before he continued “Let’s just say you won’t be getting much sleep if I win a kitten.” He winked at you and turned his head back just in time for Marko to grab a hold of Paul’s jacket harshly and began flying towards the ocean so fast you could barely see them.

Paul screamed before hitting the water, not being able to catch himself as he was catapulted into the waves. He came to the surface with a string of colorful curses being thrown at Marko who was cackling loudly just above him, curling in on himself as he shook, looking as if he was laying down in midair. When Paul rose from the water you could practically see the steam rolling off of him as he grabbed Marko and brought him underwater. You were glad they were dead because Paul was literally forcing Marko to stay underwater while he laughed, traunting the curly haired blonde, watching as he thrashed the water around frantically.

When Marko surfaced he let out a growl and was about to give Paul the same treatment but David calling out to them drew his attack short. “Come on boys! We don’t have time for your little drowning session, the sun’s gonna be up soon!”

“You owe me ten records.” You pat David’s chest triumphantly and he hummed in response.

“I guess I do.” He turned his head to the side and gave you a slow kiss, one that made your heart flutter in your chest and your cheeks heat up.

Paul and Marko flew up slowly, Dwayne joining the four of you as well with your blanket still in his arms. The two blondes looked like wet dogs as they tried to shake the water from their hair, effectively spraying all of you with water.

“Hey watch the jacket!” You half teased, wiping the droplets off onto David’s jacket which made him shake his head in slight annoyance. “You’ve had this jacket for years calm down.”

---

The fly back to the cave wasn’t a long one, five minutes or less, but David knew you didn’t feel like walking all the way back and honestly neither did he. So the wind blew your hair from your face as he and the boys weaved playfully past each other, laughing and calling out into the night sky. You finally felt like yourself again, all the previous emotional exhaustion now replaced with a simmering happiness in your chest. You were still harboring a little anger at being so easily forgotten but that was a conversation for another night, right now you just wanted to enjoy yourself, flying through the sky without a care in the world before finally touching down on the cave floor next to the fountain. Most of the candles that were still lit before you all left had been blown out while you were gone. You looked around and watched as the boys all settled down, Marko lighting the barrels again and setting the torch inside to burn too.

You settled yourself back down on the couch between Dwayne’s legs, his back against the arm of the sofa. He threw an arm over your chest and held you against him, settling a few soft kisses on your cheek. “You feeling like sleeping here tonight sweetheart?” noticing as you attempted to stifle a yawn.

“Oh are we having a sleepover.” Paul teased with a wiggle of his brows. He leaned over the back of the sofa and tried to kiss you but a strand of his still wet hair smacked you in the face making you groan.

“How are you still wet.” You chuckled, peeling the wet strand from your right cheek moving it behind his ear.

“Blame it on that douchebag chihuahua.” He sent a playful glare in Marko’s direction who yelled out a defensive “Hey!” in response.

You looked down at your watch and muttered a quiet ‘jesus christ’ at the time, 4:39am. You hadn’t even realized how late it had gotten, the night seemingly passing by in a haze while they were gone.

Dwayne moved your hair over to your right shoulder “You can go ahead and sleep sweetheart.” His voice was soft in your ear, lips brushing against your neck as he kissed your neck softly. “I can take you to your nest, tuck you in and shit.” He chuckled, the sound vibrating against your back. You turned over on your side and snuggled closer to the tall vampire, your face buried in his neck.

The night may have had a much more than rocky start but in the end you were happy. You couldn’t stay mad at them, especially when they didn’t truly mean to hurt you. It was a mistake and they made up for it and will probably continue to do so for weeks. You knew what you were getting yourself into when they told you what they were, and you loved them even when the cons sometimes outweigh the pros, you were willing to go to the ends of the world for them and they were more than willing to do the same.

---

Paul getting absolutely fucking dunked was inspired by the amazing @tweedracer

Links to their stories here, please read them they’re amazing:

POLY! LOST BOYS x HIPPIE VIBES READER by Tweetracer

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the-delta-42 · 3 years

Text

New Car

Marinette couldn’t help grinning as her parents guided her outside. She could hear the excited chatter from her friends. She had a feeling that the thing her parents were guiding her too was a car, but she couldn’t be certain.

“Are you’re eyes closed?” Asked her father, making Marinette laugh.

“Papa, you’re literally covering my eyes.” Teased Marinette, provoking a laugh from her mother.

“Well, you remember that car you were so enamoured with?” Asked her mother, making Marinette frown.

“You mean the red one that was bought by someone else the day after I saw it?” Responded Marinette, it was a red, beat-up hatch-back that had seen better days, but Marinette had loved it. Ever since she passed her driving test, she’d looking at cars. Her parents had made it clear that they thought her motorcycle wasn’t safe enough for them. Said bike had been totalled after Kim took it for a joyride and was still being fixed.

“Well, we may have known more about it that you thought.” Said her father, removing his hands, allowing to Marinette to see in front of her.

A red, beat-up hatch-back that had clearly seen better days. It was the car Marinette had fallen in love with after seeing it, only it had been cleaned, fixed up and given a fresh coat of paint. Marinette numbly approached the car looked inside it. The interior was the same, dark grey seats, with a matching carpet, the dashboard was the same colour. Marinette suddenly grinned, before sprinting to her parents and hugging them.

“Thank you.” Said Marinette, her voice muffled by her father’s shirt, before she took the key he held out for her.

“It looks tacky.” Came Chloe’s voice, scrolling on her phone.

“Chloe, not everyone can afford the latest Lamborghini or Ferrari.” Said Adrien, looking in the car, before gasping, “There are cup holders!”

Everyone looked at Adrien.

“I’m guessing that fancy sports car your dad got you doesn’t have them.” Said Nino, frowning at Adrien.

“It did, but then he had them removed because he ‘didn’t want me making a mess of myself or the car’.” Said Adrien, looking at the back seats, “There are only two doors.”

Marinette gently pushed Adrien to the side and unlocked the door, swinging it open, she leaned over the seat and pulled it forwards, allowing access for someone to sit in the back seat.

“Oooh.” Said Adrien, leaning forwards.

“Yeah, ooh.” Said Alya, leaning against the bonnet, “I call first ride.”

Adrien, Nino and Kim protested, but Alya just smirked and sat in the passenger seat, waiting for Marinette to get in and start driving.

“Sorry.” Said Marinette, before getting in the car and driving off.

“Did my girlfriend just steal your girlfriend?” Asked Nino, making Adrien shrug.

Marinette returned an hour later, grinning, with Alya laughing about something. The rest of the day passed without incident, except when Marinette’s car alarm went off, because a dog had taken a leak against it.

Marinette was curled up in her bed when she heard what sounded like a car driving off, with a groan, she pulled a pillow over her head and went back to sleep.

The next morning, when Marinette went downstairs, she found a police officer sitting in the living room. Her parents looked nervous, while the officer just looked tired.

“Good morning?” Said Marinette, looking around.

“Ms. Dupain-Cheng?” Asked the Officer, getting a nod from Marinette, “I’m afraid we picked up a car thief last night, we found him driving a red Honda Civic, we pursued him on foot, but when we went back for the car, we found he’d placed an incendiary device in the vehicle.”

Marinette’s face fell, already dreading what the officer was going to say.

“The car was deemed unsalvageable, but” Said the Officer, making Marinette look up, “we managed to clear it with our superiors, and we’ll be sending one of the cars confiscated from the thief’s parking lot.”

Marinette numbly nodded, before heading back to her room. She’d sent a text, telling Alya about the incident and, after getting dressed, decided to design some clothes until she felt better. Alya and some of Marinette’s other classmates turned up, offering condolences over Marinette’s, now destroyed, car.

Around three in the afternoon, Marinette heard a truck stop outside the bakery. Kim looked out the window and did a double take.

“No way!” Gasped Kim, getting Marinette and some of the other to go over to him, “Marinette, they brought a Dodge.”

Marinette looked out the window and nearly choked on her drink, as the tow truck unhooked a red Dodge Challenger with a pair of, what Marinette assumed were, buffalo horn on the end of the bonnet. Marinette rushed downstairs, skidding to a stop when she reached the ground floor.

“Normally, we wouldn’t give her a muscle car, but it was the only one that was, 1. Fit to be on the road and, 2. Didn’t have anything wrong with it.”

Her mother turned around and spotted her standing at the bottom of the stairs, “Marinette, we were just about to call you.”

Marinette went to the window and looked at the car, “Is that it?”

“Yeah, it’s the only one we can’t find a problem with.” Said the Officer, holding the key out for Marinette to take.

Numbly, Marinette took the key and the officer left. Marinette exited the bakery and looked at the car, there were a few dents in it, but other than that, it looked to be in working order. Grinning, Marinette got in the car and started up the engine, quickly putting on her seat belt, Marinette drove off.

Chloe let out an inhuman screech at the sight of Marinette’s new car, “Where’d you get that?”

“My car got stolen and wrecked, this was the only one that didn’t have a problem with it.” Shrugged Marinette, locking her car up.

Adrien grinned at the car, as Chloe stormed off in a huff, “Okay, I’ll admit it, your car is cooler than mine.”

Marinette looked at the dark grey Lamborghini that Adrien’s father bought after he passed his driving test. For some reason, Marinette felt something was off about the car.

“How long be-” Adrien was cut off by screaming.

“How does he work so fast?” Asked Marinette, as she and Adrien ran off to find a place to transform.

Within minutes, Ladybug and Chat Noir had subdued the Akuma, Chloe, and had purified the Akuma. Ladybug cast Miraculous Ladybug, as the ladybugs flew across the city, a red muscle car suddenly was brought back online.

The car silently observed his surroundings, before a young woman with pigtails approached him, “That’s got to be a new record.”

“What, five minutes?” Asked a blond-haired man, “I’m pretty sure Mr. Pigeon was under a minute.”

“I still can’t believe she got akumatized over a car.” Said the woman, unlocking the cars door.

“Marinette,” Said the blond-haired man, “You know Chloe, she’ll get akumatized over anything.”

Marinette sighed, and slumped against the car, “Still, Adrien, it’s starting to get old, either she should be sectioned or go to counselling.”

“Knowing Chloe,” Said Adrien, as Marinette got into the car, “She’ll probably get them to say she’s in perfect health.”

Marinette snorted, as she closed the car door.

A giant, white and orange robot grumbled at a monitor screen.

“What is it, Ratchet?” Asked a bigger red and blue robot, his voice a deep baritone.

“Optimus, Cliffjumpers’ signal has just come back online,” Said Ratchet, glaring at the screen, “Again.”

“Once due to the presence of Dark Energon.” Said Optimus narrowing his optics at the screen.

“Yes, but unlike last time,” Said Ratchet, staring at the screen, “it’s not corrupted, if anything, it’s in perfect condition.”

“Where is it located?” Asked Optimus, looking down at Ratchet.

“Paris, France.” Said Ratchet, looking at the screen, “Didn’t Agent Fowler say something about ‘superheroes’ there?”

Optimus was silent, just before he heard multiple engines rolling into the base. A blue motorcycle, yellow muscle car and a green 4x4 drove into the main area of the base. With them were three humans, at the other entrance to the main area, two more robots, one white and blue, the other white, green and red walked in.

“’Jackie!” Yelled a giant green robot, after transforming from the 4x4. The yellow muscle car and the motorcycle following suit, turning into a yellow robot and a blue and silver female robot, respectively.

“Hey, Bulk.” Greeted the red, white and green robot, before turning his attention to Ratchet, “The Doc just said something about a ‘bots signal coming back online.”

“Cliffjumpers’ signal has come back online, again.” Huffed Ratchet, checking the programs software, “However, unlike last time, it’s in peak condition.”

“Think it might be a ‘con trick?” Asked the female robot, placing a hand on her hip.

“I doubt it, Arcee,” Said Ratchet, as the three human’s stood close to his work station, “Since we last saw Cliffjumpers’ remains being welded back together by MECH, it is possible they may have done what, frankly, seems impossible.”

“We saw them using energon to power his t-cog,” Said a short boy, with wild brown hair and glasses, “they could’ve transformed him.”

“And when they couldn’t control him,” Said a tall, young man with black hair and blue/silver eyes, “They just pawned his vehicle mode off to a collector.”

“Where’s the signal coming from?” Asked Arcee, her optics narrowing.

“Paris, France.” Said Ratchet, making all the human go still.

“Wait,” Said a young woman, with gold/amber eyes and pigtails and a braid, “you mean one of the cities with actual superheroes?”

The two males just stared at Ratchet in surprise.

“Yes, Miko,” Sighed Ratchet, focussing on the screen, “one of the cities with actual ‘superheroes’.”

“Doesn’t Ladybug have a sort-of healing power?” Asked the tall male, getting surprised looks from the bots.

“What was that Jack?” Asked Arcee, looking at her charge.

“Yeah, Ladybug can literally fix a destroyed city!” Exclaimed Miko, slinging an arm around Jack’s shoulders, “There’s a video of her fixing Paris after it was entirely flattened during an Akuma attack!”

The Autobots all stared at them.

“Rafael, translation if you please.” Said Ratchet, after a couple of moments.

“There’s someone in Paris that can turn people into monsters, by using their victims emotions.” Said the short boy, Raf, “The first akuma was called Stoneheart and the heroes were thirteen when Hawkmoth first appeared.”

There was the tell-tale sign of the Autobot’s optics flickering that showed they were using the internet. Arcee frowned and looked impressed.

“Yeah, each time they meet Hawkmoth in person,” Said Miko, getting the bots attention, “they keep gaining ground on him and he always runs off.”

“Then why haven’t they beaten him yet?” Asked Bulkhead, getting a sigh from Miko.

“A few years back they had a team,” Said Miko, looking down, “a pretty big team, until they were betrayed by one of the team members that had outed their identity to the public.”

“After that, the Akumas got worse and, eventually,” Said Jack, shrugging, “Ladybug and her partner build a new team, hand picking the individuals, and if anyone of them pulled the same stunt as Bourgeois, instant memory wipe.”

“Which made taking tests a whole lot harder.” Joked Miko, getting a snort from Jack.

“So, this Ladybug can literally fix anything?” Asked Ratchet, getting the humans’ attention.

“Yeah, as long as she knows enough about it and how much need to be fixed.” Said Jack, as Ratchet had a thoughtful look on his face.

“No.” Said Optimus, before Ratchet could even voice his opinion, “I’ve seen the footage of her restoring the city, if she were to do the same with Cybertron, she would most certainly perish.”

Ratchet’s shoulders slumped.

“School has a trip to Paris planned next month,” Said Jack, making the bots look at him, “We all signed up for it, if Cliffjumpers’ signal is still there by then, we can all check it out.”

Optimus frowned, before nodding.

Miko and Jack shared a suffering look, the tour of the Agreste fashion company was duller than when the principle giving a speech. The woman showing them around had the same attitude as she was barely pointing things out as they passed them.

“And if you look to your left, you’ll see all the models posing naked to emulate ancient Greece.” Said the woman, Marinette.

Jack and Miko didn’t both looking, but the groan from Vince told them it wasn’t what Marinette said it was.

“If any of you looked, you would now know that it just the fabric dying department.” Said Marinette, looking back at them, “It also tells me which ones of you should be observed.”

There was a louder groan from everyone else.

“Now, here’s the fun areas of the business,” Said Marinette, as the tour group walked into a large open room, “This is where we model clothes, cars and any other random crap that can be modelled.”

A blond-haired man, reclining on the bonnet of a sports car immediately perked up, “Marinette!”

In a matter of seconds, the man had picked Marinette up, kissed her, spun her around and stared at her as if she was the only thing in the universe.

“Adrien, working.” Said Marinette, getting the man to put her down.

“That’s the Tsurugi LX-10 Model.” Said Jack, getting everyone to look at him.

“You’re familiar?” Asked Adrien, looking at Jack.

“I know that they’re illegal in the States because of the number of times previous models had to be recalled.” Said Jack, before scowling, “Not to mention the number of people that died after their cars crushed them against a wall.”

“Well, this model doesn’t have the self-driving gimmick,” Said Adrien, frowning at the car, “but it does have a feature called incognito mode.”

“Which is?” Asked Marinette, as the car turned from silver to black.

“That.” Said Adrien, folding his arms, “Madam Tsurugi had it designed for the police, but then she put it on the common market and now, they’re facing a metric fuck ton of lawsuits.”

“Then why are you modelling it?” Asked Miko, making Adrien smirk.

“I wasn’t,” Said Adrien, folding his arms, “I was taking a nap.”

A screwed-up ball of paper hit the back of Adrien’s head.

“Work now, flirt with your girlfriend later.” Yelled a photographer, while a red-haired, dark skinned journalist laughed.

Adrien grinned, before charging at them, soon all three were on the floor with Adrien squeezing them.

“Ms. Dupain-Cheng, what’s going on?” Asked a cold voice.

“Alya’s here for the interview, Adrien was catching up on his sleep and I’m showing the tour group around.” Said Marinette, turning to face a tall, white haired man.

The man looked at the car and then to Adrien greeting the journalist and her camera man.

“And, no, nothing out of the ordinary happened.” Said Marinette, as the man frowned.

“I believe I told Rossi to show them around.” Said the man, looking at Marinette.

“She didn’t show this morning.” Said Marinette, pulling out her phone, “She didn’t respond to any of the messages I sent her, either.”

“This is the fifth day running?” Asked the man, making Marinette nod, “Notify the Police, she might’ve had another accident, seeing how she became prone to them after the incident.”

Marinette nodded and put her phone away, “I contacted the police after I was told she didn’t turn up, I also called Tsurugi Motors, told them the car wouldn’t start and I’ve heard nothing since.”

“What wrong with it?” Asked Jack, getting a look from Marinette and, presumably, her boss.

“It won’t start.” Said Marinette, as she walked over to the car.

“Does it make any strange noises when you try to start it?” Asked Jack, following her.

“It clicks.” Said Marinette, before Jack frowned.

“Vince, come here.” Said Jack, leaning inside the car and pulling the latch from the bonnet.

Vince came without question, lifting it up and looking inside.

“Found the problem.” Said Vince, as Jack joined him, “There’s no engine.”

Everyone looked inside the car and saw an empty compartment. Jack then went to the back of the car, checking the rear end for an engine, “It’s back here.”

“It looks like it’s been scooped out and dumped back here.” Said Vince, as Jack rolled up his sleeves.

“Help me lift this out,” Said Jack, as Vince took the side opposite to Jack, “on three. One. Two. Three.”

Carefully and with great effort, Jack and Vince lifted the Engine out and placed it on the floor. As they were straightening up, both froze at the sight of a small, blinking device.

“We should leave.” Said Jack, his tone leaving no room for argument, “Now.”

Marinette and her boss joined them and saw the bomb.

“Sound the alarm.” Said the boss, while Marinette went over to the PA system, saying something about a ‘code silver’.

Half-an-hour later, the tour group and the employees were standing on the other side of the park away from the building.

“Maybe it’s defective.” Said Raf, just as the building shook and collapsed knocking everyone to the ground and producing a massive dust cloud, “Or not.”

“It was delayed by 30 minutes.” coughed Jack, standing up and looking at where the building had been, “If we hadn’t spotted it, then we would’ve been near the top floors.”

Everyone sat on the sidewalk as Ambulances arrived, the ones closest to the explosion were being treated, while masks to deal with the dust and other debris were passed around.

“Still like explosions Miko?” Asked Jack, as Miko was having a cut on her head examined.

The Japanese girl groaned in response to Jack’s question. Jack felt a twinge of sympathy for her, before he saw Marinette approaching a red car with bull horns on the hood. Jack watched as she sat in the drivers’ seat, before resting her head against the steering wheel.

“That, is a nice car.” Said Vince, staring at the car.

“It looks like a Dodge Challenger.” Said One of Vince’s friends.

Marinette suddenly turned her head towards the teens, before getting out of the car and walking towards them.

“I should’ve checked earlier, but are any of you hurt?” Asked Marinette, just as a silver Aston Martin pulled up.

“Miko hit her head when we all fell.” Said Jack, as a young Japanese woman got out of the Aston Martin and rushed towards them.

“Marinette,” Yelled the woman, as she came close to them, “I heard there’d been an explosion.”

“Someone placed a bomb in the back of one of your mothers’ cars.” Said Marinette, turning to face the woman, “It was actually one of the visiting students who discovered it.”

Marinette paused, before looking at Jack, “Speaking of, how did you know what a bomb looks like?”

Jack suddenly felt uncomfortable, “Movies.”

Marinette frowned, but didn’t say anything, “Apparently, the only one hurt was Miko.” Marinette pointed towards the Japanese teen, who still had a paramedic looking at her head wound.

The woman looked at Miko, before turning back to face Marinette, “The Police will probably be along shortly, I’ll see you later.”

Marinette nodded, before turning back to the students, “So, how’re you finding Paris?”

After everyone had been collected and taken back to the hotel and the employee sent home, Marinette opened the door to her shared apartment, she could hear Kagami and Adrien talking in the kitchen.

“I can hardly smell the pesticides.” Said Marinette, in lieu of announcing her presence.

“Yeah, and the rats are gone as well.” Said Adrien, poking his head out, “How’d everything go?”

“If you mean by everything, having to deal with insulting phone calls from the Tsurugi’s, as well as having to deal with the Police,” Said Marinette, slipping her shoes off, “it went great.”

“What’s my mother threatened to do now?” Asked Kagami, seasoning the food.

“She didn’t threaten to do anything,” Replied Marinette, dropping onto the sofa, “She just used the entire call to hurl insults at me.”

Kagami blew air through her teeth.

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.” Said Marinette, before the sound of glass shattering made her look towards the window. She approached the window and looked outside, just in time to see Adrien’s Lamborghini race down the street.

“Adrien, your car’s jut been stolen.” Said Marinette, looking out the window.

“I’ve been thinking of getting a new car anyway.” Said Adrien, as he finished setting the table.

As if on cue, a motorcycle, 4x4 and two sports cars peeled down the street.

“Fucking kids.” Said Marinette, closing the curtains.

Arcee drew close of Lockdown, half-transforming so she could shoot at him without falling behind, Bumblebee and Smokescreen started to head the bounty hunter off, before he transformed and dove through a billboard. The Autobots all came to a stop, Arcee scowling at the hole left behind by Lockdown.

Arcee collapsed back into her vehicle mode and started to head back to where they found Lockdown. A red Dodge Challenger with bull horns sat waiting for them, Arcee considered kicking Cliffjumper, just to get a reaction from him.

Cliffjumper prevented her from following through, transforming and stretching his arms out, “You’ll not believe the month I’ve had.”

Arcee transformed and glared at him.

“I suddenly feel like I’ve got a few seconds to live.” Said Cliffjumper, before Arcee tackled him.

Arcee kept hitting him, until a torch shone on them, making the Femme turn in the direction of the light.

Cliffjumper froze at the sight of Marinette, behind her were her sparkmates, at least he thought they were her sparkmates, all three just staring at the sight in front of him.

“Akuma?” Asked Adrien, cocking his head.

“Nope, they haven’t started yelling yet.” Said Marinette, approaching them, “Where the fuck has my car gone?”

Cliffjumper pushed Arcee off him, before collapsing into the familiar, red Dodge Challenger with bullhorns on the end of the hood, that Marinette had been driving for the past month.

Marinette just let out a long-suffering sigh, “Just my fucking luck.”

Ratchet watched as the Autobots all drove into base via the ground bridge. Optimus frowned at the sight of Cliffjumper, then at the sight of three humans climbing out of him. The red Autobot transformed and looked up at Optimus.

“There’s a really funny story here.” Said Cliffjumper, before a purse hit his side.

Cliffjumper looked down at Marinette, before wincing and looking back at Optimus. Optimus nodded and Cliffjumper crouched down and looked in Marinette’s eye.

“Hey, kid.” Said Cliffjumper, as Marinette glared at him, “You’re probably wanting an explanation.”

“Probably?” Groused Marinette, her glare intensifying, “I just found out my car, which I got after someone stole and torched my actual car, is some giant robot, gundam thing.”

Adrien brightened up.

“Actually, I’m not a gundamn thing,” Said Cliffjumper, making Marinette frown, “I’m an Autobot, my name is Cliffjumper.”

“An Auto-what-now?” Asked Marinette, as the horned bot sighed.

“If I may,” Said Optimus, making Marinette look up at him, “I believe proper introductions are in order. My name is Optimus Prime, we are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the Planet Cybertron.”

“Ah, aliens.” Said Marinette, folding her arms and frowning.

“This,” Said Optimus, gesturing to Ratchet, “is our medical Officer, Ratchet,” he then gestured to the four Autobots behind Cliffjumper, “You have already met Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Smokescreen.”

Marinette looked at the four of them, before her eyes widened, “Hold on, weren’t you the jokers that followed the guy that stole Adrien’s car?”

“Actually,” Said Arcee, folding her arms, “that was another one of our kind, his name’s Lockdown.”

“Lockdown?!” Gasped Ratchet, getting looks from the rest of the team, “Here?!”

“Adrien’s car, was a robot?” Asked Marinette, folding her arms and cocking an eyebrow.

“And not a good one.” Said Arcee, before spotting Tikki poking her head out of Marinette’s pocket, “What’s that?”

Marinette withdrew Tikki from her pocket, making Optimus frown.

“Honoured, Creator.” Greeted Optimus, making Marinette look down at the Kwami.

“‘Honoured Creator’?” Asked Marinette, getting a sheepish look from Tikki.

Marinette scowled at Cliffjumper’s dashboard, as the Autobot played around with his radio. Marinette had taken the whole reveal of an alien race hiding on Earth, what she didn’t take well was Cliffjumper outing her and Adrien’s identities to the other Autobots, namely after Tikki had been spotted.

“Can you please stop that?” Asked Marinette, as Cliffjumper jumped from a station playing classic rock to one playing Bulgarian shriek metal.

“Sorry.” Apologised Cliffjumper, as Marinette got out.

“Don’t drive off anywhere, I won’t be able to explain to anyone why my car is out driving itself.” Said Marinette, before closing the door.

Adrien looked at Marinette, before going back to watching the Agreste legal team and Tsurugi legal team yelling at each other.

“Father’s trying to pin the bomb on the Tsurugi’s.” Said Adrien, just as one legal aid picked up a chair and threw it, “I don’t know why people watch wrestling, we’re seeing the same thing, but we didn’t pay for anything.”

“How’d your dad take your car being ‘stolen’?” Asked Marinette, making Adrien wince.

“He thinks Madam Tsurugi’s behind it.” Replied Adrien, “Kagami’s consented for her car to be searched, in case there’s anything that’s been placed in it.”

“You know, I actually thought the person who’d have the problem with our relationship would be your father.” Said Marinette, folding her arms.

“He did, until I said that your skill, and potential, would be under the Agreste name.” Said Adrien, shrugging, “He became silent after that.”

“I’m sure it had nothing to do with Nathalie falling pregnant.” Said Marinette, making Adrien snort.

There was the sound of glass breaking, as one of the legal aids was sent through the window. Marinette didn’t even blink as she pulled out her phone and called the police, while Adrien looked at his phone, grinning when he saw it was still recording.

Down in the car park, Cliffjumper watched as a silver Aston Martin pulled up and Kagami step out. Giving Cliffjumper a subtle wave, Kagami headed straight for the elevator, leaving the Autobot with the car. There was the sound of grinding metal as Cliffjumper transformed and crouched down next to the car.

“What are you?” Whispered Cliffjumper, changing the angle for which he looked at the car.

Cliffjumper froze, there was an insignia that was hidden in the front wheel arch. The winged Autobot symbol of the Elite Guard.

“Optimus.” Said Cliffjumper, contacting the Autobot Base.

“Optimus is otherwise occupied, Cliffjumper, what do you need?” Came Ratchet’s voice.

“There’s a car here with Elite Guard Markings, are you picking anything up on your scanners?” Relayed Cliffjumper, waiting for Ratchet to respond.

“I’m not detecting any- wait, I’ve just focused on your immediate area, there’s one Autobot signal in the vicinity, there’s no name associated to it, but it’s definitely there.” Said Ratchet, just as Cliffjumper heard the lift ring. The red Autobot collapsed into his Dodge Challenger alt, waiting for the person to leave.

A brunette with hair tails that resembled sausages stood in front of Cliffjumper.

“So,” Said the girl, her voice oily and demanding, “You’re the pile of crap that Dupain-Cheng got.”

Cliffjumper decided he didn’t like this girl, she reminded him too much of Starscream. The girl rummaged around her bag, before pulling out a can of spray paint.

“Let’s see how she likes this.” Smirked the girl, shaking the can.

Cliffjumper immediately honked his horn and set off his alarm, before revving his engine and advancing towards the girl. She dropped the can and fell backward before scrambling away from the vehicle.

A security guard appeared from around the corner and spotted the red Dodge Challenger blaring it’s alarm, with one of Gabriel Agreste’s models, Lila something, screaming at it.

“What the hell is going on?” Demanded the security guard, before asking Ms. Dupain-Cheng down to silence her car.

“I-I was walking past it and it started driving at me!” Cried Lila, as the guard frowned.

Marinette arrived and silenced the car.

“Your car isn’t one of those self-driving types, is it?” Asked the guard, getting a confused look from Marinette.

“Are you kidding?” Asked Marinette, frowning, “I got this after my last car was totalled after some meth head stole it.”

“Ms. Rossi says it drove at her.” Said the Guard, as Marinette took a step forwards and slipped on something.

“What the hell?” Said Marinette, picking up a can of black spray paint, “I don’t suppose you were going to be painting anything, Lila?”

Lila stuttered out some excuse, while Marinette gave the can to the guard and went back up to the design office.

“What happened?” Asked Adrien, his glasses rest on his head.

“Lila was scared by Cliff.” Said Marinette, frowning at one of the designs.

Adrien nodded, before looking back at the computer, “What was I thinking when I asked my father to teach me how to run a business?”

Marinette and Adrien climbed out of Cliffjumper, while Kagami drove her car after them. Ratchet shooed them towards the seating area, all three spotting three of the children that were on the field trip.

“You know, I’m not even surprised.” Said Marinette, dropping into one of the chairs.

Miko rushed towards Ratchet and Cliffjumper, her eyes zeroing on Cliffjumper.

“Who are you?” Asked Miko, as Wheeljack and Smokescreen entered the main area.

“Name’s Cliffjumper, I heard a lot about you and your friends from the others.” Said Cliffjumper, just as Ratchet jumped backwards when the Autobot transformed. Everyone froze when his head rolled off.

“Oh no.” Said Raf, approaching from behind Miko.

“Oh no what?” Asked Cliffjumper, picking up the Autobot’s head.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Asked Jack, looking at the Autobots.

“Nah, this is Cogman,” Said Cliffjumper, gesturing to the Autobot, “He’s a Headmaster, meaning his he can detach and transform into a smaller bot.”

Cliffjumper held the head in place, as Ratchet started to insert energon into Cogman’s body. There was silence, then Cogman lurched and grabbed Ratchet and Cliffjumper and threw them into Bulkhead.

There was a grinding sound and Cogman dragged a broadsword from his back, stumbling around the base.

“Wha, when, where am I?” Demanded Cogman, his optics flickering.

“You’re in our base, Cogman.” Said Optimus, advancing towards the clearly wounded Headmaster, “My name is Optimus Prime.”

“Optimus, leader, commander,” Muttered Cogman, looking around, “I, damaged, Lockdown, Lord Bur-, Hot Rod.”

With those final words, Cogman lost consciousness and collapsed, his head rolling off once more.

The Autobots and humans all stared at the fallen Transformer.

“I’ll prepare an energon feed.” Said Ratchet, just as the proximity alarm went off.

“Really? Now?” Grumbled Ratchet, as the elevator opened.

“Prime, what’s this I hear about your ‘bots tearing up Paris?” Demanded Fowler, before catching sight of Marinette, Adrien and Kagami, “Again?!”

Marinette stared at the man, before Cliffjumper coughed.

“You!” Yelled Fowler, “I thought you were dead!”

“It’s a long story.” Said Cliffjumper, as Bumblebee and Bulkhead helped move Cogman.

Lockdown was seething, he’d spent months hunting down Cogman, finding him in Stasis Lock in the possession of some human insect, then a dead Autobot showed up, followed by Team Prime. Lockdown had made the deal with the human, Agreste, in the hopes of rounding up the rest of the Knights, hiding as Agreste’s son’s car, dealing with the humiliation of that boy driving him, spilling liquids inside him. Megatron had instructed him to find something called a Miraculous, and after seeing what it could do first hand, he could see why. If such small objects could fix a destroyed city, restore hundreds, if not thousands, of lives and bring back a dead Autobot, what could they do to Cybertron?

Lockdown transformed and stalked towards Agreste’s window, breaking it and waking the human up.

“Your child has friends,” Snarled Lockdown, glaring at the human, “of the Autobot variety.”

Hot Rod aimlessly drove around the dark streets of Paris, Sir Edmund Burton had instructed him to come to the city before he was killed by Lockdown. Hot Rod hadn’t seen Cogman since that day, but maintained radio silence until he reappeared on his scanners.

A swirling green vortex opened up in front of him, making the disguised Autobot skid to a halt. He recognised the sight of a space bridge, despite the power levels being significantly lower that what was required for interstellar travel.

A tall, red and blue figure walked out of the bridge. Hot Rod transformed and stared up at Optimus.

“Prime?” Asked Hot Rod, not believing his optics.

“Hello, Hot Rod.” Said Optimus, turning back, gesturing the bot to follow.

“H-how long have you been on the planet?” Asked Hot Rod, as he followed Optimus through the bridge.

The ground bridge closed behind him, leaving a seething Lockdown hidden in the shadows, Gabriel Agreste secured tightly in his seat.

Fowler watched as the French Autobot spoke with Bumblebee and Arcee, while the British one was being checked over by Ratchet. Fowler’s phone went off, making the agent turn away from the Bots.

“Fowler here.” Said Fowler, frowning.

“Bill,” Said General Bryce, his tone grave, “I suggest you look at the French News.”

Fowler frowned, “Why?”

“You’ll understand when you see it.” Said Bryce, before hanging up.

Fowler walked over to the TV, unplugged the game the kids were playing, getting a protest from Miko, and turned it over to the French news channel.

And would’ve spat out his coffee if he’d remember to pick it up.

“Prime, you’re going to want to see this.” Called Fowler, getting the Autobot leaders’ attention.

Optimus made his way over, his optics barely concealing the shock he felt. Megatron and the Decepticons were attacking Paris. Optimus didn’t bother to translate what the newscaster was saying, only frowned and turned to Ratchet.

“Ratchet, activate the ground bridge.” Commanded Optimus, before looking at his team, “Autobots, prepare to roll out.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Said Jack, looking at the Autobot’s Leader, “What happened to Robots in Disguise?”

“Take a look, Jack,” Said Arcee, gesturing to the screen, “Megatron’s just blown that cover away for us.”

“No, what I mean is, what is Megatron hoping to gain?” Reiterated Jack, looking around the team.

“There’s nothing in Paris that would interest them.” Said Fowler, looking at the Autobots, before Marinette fiddled with her earrings.

“How much do you think Lockdown learned before his cover was blown?” Asked Marinette, looking at the floor.

The Autobots froze, “He’s after the jewels.” Said Optimus, frowning.

“What those magical pieces of Jewellery?” Asked Fowler, before scowling, “I can have what heroes we have to locate them, and their owners or wielder or whatever.”

“That will not be necessary, Agent Fowler.” Said Optimus, looking at the agent, “They are already safe.”

“How can you be sure?” Demanded Fowler, as Marinette removed something from her pocket.

“Because they’re already here.” Said Marinette, removing the earrings, making them return to their usual red and black spotted appearance.

Fowler froze, as Optimus and the Autobots prepared to depart.

“If Megatron knows what they can do, he no doubts plans on using them to restore Cybertron.” Said Optimus, getting a snort from Ratchet.

“And, no doubt, ridding himself of his Dark Energon poisoning.” Snarked Ratchet, before revealing a scan of Megatron, “I took this scan back when we were dealing with Unicron, Megatron had at most, three Earth decades left before he becomes one of those mindless beasts he loves controlling.”

Optimus stared at the scan, “Ratchet, if we were to wound him enough, would Megatron become a ‘mindless beast’?”

“It’d have to be extensive, like,” Said Ratchet, frowning, “the spark extractor or beating him into a pile scrap with the Forge of Solus Prime.”

“What about Plagg?” Asked Adrien, as the small, black Kwami snored in his hand.

The Autobots stared at the embodiment of destruction, as he burped and grumbled about needing cheese.

“To get either of you close enough, would be too much of a risk.” Said Optimus, as Tikki hummed.

“I could make them Cybertronian.” Said Tikki, making everyone freeze.

“You can do that?” Asked Marinette, cocking her head slightly.

“If I really wanted to, Marinette, I could turn you into a squirrel.” Said Tikki, frowning, “However, the change would be permanent.”

Everyone was quiet, before Miko giggled, “I’ll do it!”

“No.” Was the unanimous response.

“The city’s burning, Prime,” Said Fowler, leaning against the railing, “The casualty list is already in the thousands.”

The base was silent, until Marinette noticed how tense Jack was.

“You okay?” Asked Marinette, touching Jack’s shoulder.

“My mom’s attending a medical conference there.” Was Jack’s short answer.

“Jack, she could be hidden somewhere, somewhere safe.” Said Miko, a small frown gracing her lips.

Marinette gave Miko a sideways look, before smirking. She’d noticed the concern the Jack had for Miko had gone deeper than simple friendship, or even family, she just didn’t notice that it went both ways.

“Paris is my home, if you’re going there, I’m coming with.” Said Marinette, looking up at Optimus.

Optimus frowned, before Adrien and Kagami joined Marinette and looked up at Optimus, their decision made.

“Ratchet, activate the ground bridge.” Said Optimus, silently allowing the human to accompany them.

Jack watched the Autobots leave with Marinette, Adrien and Kagami, before scowling and making a break for the ground bridge, Miko and Raf quickly following after him.

He had to find his mom, she was the only family he had left, he didn’t care that he was running into hell.

Marinette stared at the charred remains on the park and, subsequently, her parent’s bakery. The Eiffel Tower was on its side, one of its leg torn off, Decepticons were tearing the city apart.

“It’s here,” Came a gravelly, growling voice, “I know it.”

The group all froze when Jack shot past them, disappearing into the smoke.

“Jack!” Yelled Miko, before she too disappeared.

Raf was a couple feet behind the girl, before he tripped and fell over. The distant screams of the civilians filling the air, Optimus closed his optics and sighed. He believed at least half of the city’s population had been caught up in the crossfire.

“Autobots, evacuate the civilians.” Commanded Optimus, his battle mask sliding into place, “You three, I suggest you find whatever you need and guide them to the ground bridge, Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Smokescreen, remain with me to guard the bridge.”

Arcee, Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Cliffjumper and Cogman, ran out into the city, carefully instructing anyone they met towards the ground bridge, killing any Decepticons stupid enough to charge at them. Arcee kept her optics open for Jack and Miko, before spotting the two, Jack slumped over something in front of the remains the hotel. Arcee’s spark froze, realising what Jack was leaning over.

Miko was holding onto Jack as he cradled what remained of his mother, her lower half had been vapourised, her eyes were glassy and unseeing. Tears were falling onto her face and Jack sobbed.

“Jack.” Said Arcee, kneeling down next to him and Miko, before she caught sight of June.

“She was all I had left.” Gasped Jack, looking down at his mother.

“I’m sorry, Jack,” Said Arcee, hanging her head, “but we need to go.”

Jack swallowed and closed his mother’s eyes. Jack got to his feet, before the rubble in front of him and Miko exploded, sending shards of rock and metal through the two humans.

“NO!” Screamed Arcee, as she saw blood appearing on the two.

Optimus and his portion of the team were fighting of the Decepticons as Bumblebee ushered the humans through the ground bridge, some were reluctant, while other jumped at the opportunity.

“Optimus, I’ve found Jack and Miko.” Came Arcee from over the comm.

“Excellent work, Arcee, bring them back to our position and send them through the ground bridge.” Commended Optimus, shooting the head of a Vehicion and lobbing a sizeable statue at Dreadwing, knocking the seeker down.

“Optimus, they’re hurt, I, I think they’re going to die.” Said Arcee, making Optimus pause.

“Locate Marinette and Tikki,” Said Optimus, unsheathing his sword and gutting a decepticon, “if what the Creator said is true, she may be our only hope to save Jack and Miko.”

“Change their species?! Optimus, don’t you remember what she also said? That the change would be permanent?” Demanded Arcee, as Bulkhead threw Knockout to Wheeljack, who punched the Decepticon medic.

“I am aware, Arcee,” Said Optimus, knocking an Insecticon’s head off, “but we are past the point of debate, our base doesn’t have required facilities to aid them in their recovery.”

“But if they were Cybertronian, Ratchet could patch them up no problem.” Realised Arcee, went silent.

Arcee skidded to a halt in front of Marinette and Tikki. The two gaped at the sight of Jack and Miko’s bloodied bodies.

“Optimus said you could save them.” Said Arcee, holding the two humans out.

“I said I could change them and that the change would be permanent.” Stressed Tikki, looking at the two.

“Optimus said that if you changed them, Ratchet could patch them back up.” Said Arcee, as Tikki frowned.

“Okay, but you’re going to need help carrying them.” Said Tikki, as the spots on her body glowed and her eyes went white.

A flash of light later, a male, silver, black and blue coloured mech lied on the ground, another flash had a pink and black with gold detailing femme lying next to the Mech.

“I can move Miko, no problem,” Said Arcee, before activating her comm, “Bumblebee, I need your help with something.”

Ratchet watched as Agent Fowler did his best to calm the humans down, he was monitoring the Autobot life signals, when two suddenly came online. A few minutes later, Arcee and Bumblebee entered the base with the two unidentified Cybertronians.

“Ratchet, these two need patching up.” Said Arcee, as she clumsily sat the Femme down.

“I’m not even going to ask where you found a Triple-Changer.” Said Ratchet, as he set to work, “Bumblebee, monitor the team while I work.”

Bumblebee nodded and took position at the monitor screen. The wounds had pierced multiple important areas, but it wasn’t anything couldn’t fix. The triple changer, roughly the size of Optimus muttered something.

“Mom…” Said the Triple-Changer, with Jack’s voice.

“I’m not picking up any human life signs, Optimus.” Said Smokescreen, as Marinette, Adrien and Kagami re-joined them.

“Tikki’s not picking up anything either.” Said Marinette, as Optimus nodded.

“Autobots, fall back!” Commanded Optimus, as he, the Autobots and humans retreated, leaving a city empty of living humans and full of Decepticons.

Marinette looked through the crowd, her classmates were safe, Alya had grilled her about the Autobots, she’d met Nadja and Manon, bumped into Nathalie and Lianne and various other citizens of Paris that had to be evacuated. Marinette stopped when she saw her parents, handing out food they’d managed to save from the bakery.

General Bryce and Optimus were having a meeting with government officials and high rank armed forces officer. All of them looked confused, especially when Optimus had relayed, he’d chosen to save the surviving citizens, over destroying Megatron.

Chloe was the only survivor from her family, having been with Sabrina for the night. The same story was with Alix, but she’d been with Kim and Max. Adrien’s father and Lila were nowhere to be found, with them officially being declared dead.

Jack and Miko had been taken somewhere private, giving them both time to readjust to their new bodies.

A Decepticon scout that had been captured had relayed that Megatron wasn’t looking for the Miraculous, but rather, The All Spark, believing it to be buried under the city.

“What exactly is this ‘All Spark’?” Asked General Bryce, as Optimus frowned.

“It is an ancient force from Cybertron, that allows new sparks to be formed,” Said Optimus, “in essence, it could create worlds and fill them, with life.”

“And that’s how your race began.” Said the head of the CIA, “But why would it be under a city, who put it there.”

“Mr. Edmund, I doubt the All Spark was placed on earth, it is more likely it was drifting through space and entered Earth’s atmosphere, where it crashed down onto the planet with enough force to block out the sun.” Said Optimus, before looking at the other human officials, “It is likely that the All Spark was aboard a ship that no doubt was destroyed upon impact with the Earth.”

The Officials were silent.

“The secret’s out.” Said the President, “The whole world now knows about you, amazingly, some terrorist groups are now claiming responsibility for the attack, only to be attacked themselves.”

“There is also the issue of the two humans that had their species changed.” Said Bryce, as Fowler coughed.

“Sir, they were both grievously injured in Paris,” Said Fowler, “The only way to save them was to get them immediate medical attention.”

“Facilities that the Autobot base doesn’t possess.” Said Bryce, glancing out at the sea of people, “And since you were evacuating civilians, you couldn’t spare the bots or resources to get them to a hospital.” “Had the change not taken place, they would’ve perish passing through the Ground Bridge.” Said Optimus, as there was a cough from the entrance to the room.

Optimus, and the Human officials, turned and looked at the source of the cough. Bulkhead stood in the entrance.

“Miko’s awake.” Said Bulkhead, as Optimus nodded.

“I’m afraid, Gentlemen,” Said Optimus, turning back to the Officials, “that my presence is needed elsewhere.”

Optimus turned and walked out of the room, looking at Bulkhead, “Has Jack shown any signs of regaining consciousness?”

Bulkhead shook his head, “Miko was demanding to seem him, but, frankly, I’m not sure how he’d react if his woke up to his current state.”

Optimus frowned, “Has there been any response to our message?”

“Jackie hasn’t received anything, but they might be maintaining radio silence until they reach earth.” Replied Bulkhead, as he opened a door and a wrench his Optimus in the chest.

“Whoa, Miko!” Yelled Bulkhead, getting in front of Optimus, “Calm down!”

“Where’s Jack?!” Screamed Miko, picking up a barrel and throwing it.

“Jack is still under observation, Miko,” Said Optimus, internally groaning about his shattered wind screen, “he has yet to regain consciousness and his emotional state will be greatly unstable.”

“Unstable?!” Screeched Miko, throwing a crate with circuit boards at the two, “That’s a fucking understatement! He just saw his mother bisected corpse!”

Optimus couldn’t contain the wince, before the comm went off.

“Optimus, we have a problem.” Said Smokescreen.

“What is it, Smokescreen?” Asked Optimus, keeping an eye on Miko.

“Jack’s awake, and he’s kicking the scrap out of us.” There was the sound of Smokescreen being hit, before there was silence.

“Smokescreen?!” Demanded Optimus, before heading out the door, already knowing that Smokescreen was out of action.

Marinette saw Optimus, Bulkhead and Miko run across the base, no doubt trying to reach Jack.

Megatron glared at the burning city from the throne that had been made from the hideous structure that the humans dared to call ‘art’. Lockdown had told him about these ‘miraculous’ but Megatron’s prize was something far more powerful. Soundwave had detected the All-Spark underneath the city, spurring Megatron to claim it as his new capital, with the power of the All Spark, and his own scientists work, Megatron would be able to cyberform this entire world and then move on to Cybertron, Primus and Unicron. Creation and Destruction. Life and Death. Soon, Megatron would be taking his place amongst the gods.

Megatron heard frantic pleading, spotting Dreadwing dragging Starscream towards him. Shockwave had been returned to them, mostly thanks to Soundwave who’s detected some unusual activity on Cybertron.

“Starscream.” Growled Megatron, getting to his feet, “What feeble excuse do you have for us this time?”

“P-p-please, Master,” Whimpered Starcream, trying to pry Dreadwing’s hand off his head, “I-I-I only came here to re-pledge my undying loyalty to you!”

Megatron glared down at Starscream, before throwing is head back and laughing, “You are many things, Starscream, but, frankly, I no longer have any need of you.”

Starscream’s eyes widened, as Megatron levelled his fusion cannon with the Seeker’s head. The last thing the treacherous Decepticon saw was Megatron’s displeased snarl and the cannon discharging.

Starscream’s lifeless husk fell to the ground.

“Shockwave, I believe you have some experiments that required… test subjects.” Said Megatron, as two Vehicon’s started dragging Starscream’s body, as Megatron held his hand out to Soundwave. The Silent Decepticon dropped a spark into his hand, “And someone find out where the real Starscream is and bring him here.”

The Decepticons dispersed, leaving the warlord alone with his thoughts.

Optimus and Bulkhead pinned a squirming Jack to the ground, while Ratchet tried to sedate him. One of Bumblebee’s door wings had been torn off, while Smokescreen had lost an arm, Wheeljack, Arcee and Cliffjumper had sported minor injuries. Wheeljack was working with Arcee to reattach Smokescreen’s arm, fortunately it was a clean cut. Miko sat on the ground next to Jack, doing her best to calm him down. After a few minutes of struggling, Miko had calmed Jack down enough for Ratchet to give him the sedative.

“That went well.” Said Arcee, as Smokescreen rotated his arm and Ratchet worked to reattaching Bumblebee’s missing door wing.

“Never would’ve thought it.” Groaned Smokescreen, jerking his arm around.

“Is he going to be okay?” Asked Miko, making the Autobots look at her.

“Jack was under a great deal of mental and emotional stress when the change occurred,” Said Ratchet, looking at the monitor on his arm, “I’m afraid that I can only help patch up his wounds, I don’t that the necessary skills to help with his emotional wellbeing.”

“You, you said he was a triple changer,” Said Miko, her gold optics looking up at Optimus, “What is that?”

“A triple changer, Miko,” Said Optimus, after a moment, “Is a Cybertronian who had two alt modes, most of them joined the Decepticons, with very few siding with the Autobots.”

Miko blinked a couple of times, before looking back down at Marinette.

“Where’re Hot Rod and Cogman?” Asked Arcee, looking around for the two Autobots.

“Cogman is on the roof of the base,” Said Ratchet, as he pulled a piece of shrapnel out of Jack’s shoulder, “Hot Rod is seeking a new alt mode.”

Optimus frowned, before leaving the room and heading to the roof. Cogman’s back was to Optimus.

“Seven Autobots have broken Earth’s atmosphere and heading to the surrounding desert.” Said Cogman, looking up at the sky.

“Have you been able to discern their identities?” Asked Optimus, stopping next to Cogman.

“Jazz, Prowl, Ironhide, Sideswipe, Mirage and Jetfire have sent out identifying signals,” Said Cogman, not looking at the Prime, “The seventh hasn’t responded and there are four more Autobot signals entering the system.”

Optimus frowned, the six Cogman had listed would be excellent additions to Team Prime, but he couldn’t help but worry that the seventh signal was some Decepticon trap. Optimus was broken from his musings when a ship appeared above them. Optimus squinted his optics, identifying the ship at the Iron Will.

Cogman went to draw his weapons, “Stand down, Cogman, it’s Ultra Magnus.”

The Cybertronian Knight froze, before scowling. The ship touched down beside the base, prompting Optimus to head back inside the base.

Marinette laughed as Kim finished his story. There was an idle chatter amongst the Parisians, some were laughing, while others were simply basking in the silence of their group. Arcee watched the humans.

“It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Asked Smokescreen, joining Arcee, “They just lost everything and they’re acting as if nothing’s changed.”

“Smokescreen,” Said Arcee, after a moment, “they lost objects and those who lost family found others who share their grief. At the end of the day, they still have each other.”

Smokescreen looked at Arcee, “You sounded just like Optimus.”

“I’ve serving under his command for years, frag me.” Snarked the motorcycle, as Optimus walked back into the base.

“I’m not sure I want to know.” Said Optimus, walking over to the monitor station, “Seven new Autobots have arrived on this world, with another four approaching.”

“Any idea who they are?” Asked Arcee, as Smokescreen returned to watching the humans.

“Ultra Magnus has landed his ship outside,” Said Optimus, observing the screen, “Cogman has identified the other signals of valued allies, they will need picking up before Megatron comes for them.”

Arcee frowned, before the monitor beeped and an Autobot life signal lit up the screen, “Wait, is that Ironhide?”

“Cogman identified Ironhide as one of the signals that arrived,” Said Optimus, as he programmed the ground bridge, “Arcee, Smokescreen, come with me.”

Ultra Magnus raised an eyebrow as he scanned the planet, he heard one of his passengers snort at him.

“If you have something to say, soldier, now’s the time.” Said Ultra Magnus, turning around.

The Autobot who snorted at him, Brawn, folded his arms, “You just said we landed outside of Prime’s base, why don’t we just knock on the front door.”

Brawn was primarily green and yellow and resembled Bulkhead. Behind Brawn, Springer, a green triple changer, coughed and Kup, a teal warrior with a cigar in his mouth scowled.

“Whether we’re outside Optimus’s base or not, we cannot risk being seen by the natives of this world.” Said a rose-and-white femme, Elita One, looking around the mechs, “Optimus is concerned about someone.”

“Attention, Autobot Ship Iron Will,” Came Ratchet’s voice through the comms, “The main entrance to the base is open, I’d like to suggest you come in, before Ironhide destroys any more of my equipment.”

“I heard that, Doc.” Came Ironhide’s famous drawl.

The Autobots heard Ratchet sigh, before terminating the connection.

“I think it’s safe to go in.” Said Brawn, standing up, “I hate being in this tiny ship.”

The Autobots filed out of the ship and into the base, with Ultra Magnus activating the cloak as soon as they were off the ship. Elita smiled at the sight of Arcee, before freezing at the sight of two Cybertronians she didn’t recognise. Arcee followed her sisters gaze and winced.

“It’s a long story.” Said Arcee, as Optimus re-entered the base, followed by Jazz, Prowl and Jetfire.

“I think we’re going to need a bigger base.” Said Smokescreen, looking around.

Springer was accosted by Ratchet and practically dragged to the med bay, “Finally, someone who might be compatible with my patient.”

“What?” Asked Springer, as Ratchet forced him onto a berth.

The ground bridge opened again, as Bulkhead lead Sideswipe and Mirage into the base.

“Wow, what a dump.” Said Sideswipe, as Arcee went back to looking into the room she’d been looking in before Elita arrived.

Ultra Magnus approached Arcee, before catching sight of the sea of humans.

“What are they doing in the base?” Asked Ultra Magnus, making Arcee look up.

“Long story.” Came Arcee’s response, “Optimus will fill you in once everyone’s here.”

“Optimus the four signal Cogman said were entering the system that just broken the atmosphere.” Called Ratchet, squinting at the screen, “It’s Hound, Crosshair, Drift and Warpath.”

Smokescreen let out a low whistle, “Is it me or are we getting a ton of heavy hitters?”

Marinette looked at all the people getting ready to leave, they were being taken back to France and were going to be placed in temporary housing until Paris had been reclaimed. The Autobots had taken the news about Jack and Miko with mixed results, Ultra Magnus and Kup didn’t believe it, until they spoke with Miko, while Crosshairs thought it’d be funny to get a rise out of Jack. Crosshairs still had trouble with his arm.

Ironhide, Springer and Jetfire had taken to training the newly turned Cybertronians, while Optimus dealt with the press. The rest of Team Prime had started ferrying the Parisians back to France. Cliffjumper crouched next to Marinette, making her look up.

“We’re doing everything we can it make it like it was.” Said Cliffjumper, looking over the sea of Humans.

“Optimus is going to try and take the city back, isn’t he?” Asked Marinette, looking back at the crowd.

“Yeah,” Said Cliffjumper, as Elita One directed Mirage and Sideswipe in their tasks, “I know it’s gonna seem a bit empty, but I promise, we’ll do everything in our power for you to go home.”

“Thanks,” Responded Marinette, smiling slightly, “It means a lot.”

“Marinette!” Called Kagami, as she prepared to get on a truck, “It’s time to go!”

Marinette nodded, before looking up at Cliffjumper, “I guess this is goodbye.”

“I prefer a ‘see you soon’.” Said Cliffjumper, before crouching lower, allowing Marinette to hug his head, “I’ll miss ya, kid.”

“I’m gonna miss you too.” Replied Marinette, before heading away from the Autobot.

“There’s nothing you can do,” Said Hound, his cigar bouncing as he spoke, “we’re gonna out live ‘em all anyway.”

The last of the trucks vanished through the ground bridge, leaving the Autobots alone.

Cliffjumper looked at the crowd of humans, a task force specially designed to fight the Decepticons, the Non-biological Extra-terrestrial Species Treaty. Optimus frowned as Bumblebee and Jetfire returned from their scouting missions.

“They are surrounding the city like a fortress, so that no one can see what they’re up to on the inside.” Mused Optimus, frowning, “Our only chance is through the element of surprise.”

“How are we supposed to retake it?” Asked Sideswipe, scowling at the wreckages.

“Earth is our home now, Sideswipe, while we call it our home, we must defend it.” Said Optimus, looking at the red Autobot, “I can only ask you to follow me into battle.”

“Optimus, you don’t even need to ask.” Said Konton, Miko, cracking her knuckles. Wheeljack had adopted her, to prevent her spark from failing, with Optimus and Elita doing the same for Jack, who’d taken the name Trion, in reference to his three forms.

“Then, today, in the name of freedom, we shall take the battle to them.” Said Optimus, turning away from the group, “Autobots, Transform and Roll Out!”

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glompcat · 3 years

Text

The cockroach I saw chilling in my building's stairwell this afternoon haunts my thoughts.

I had gotten so involved dealing with with the whole dishwasher situation I forgot that thanks to alternate side parking my car could have gotten a ticket half an hour ago, and there was still another hour left before I was no longer in danger of a fine.

So when I saw the cockroach scuttling around under bottom of the second floor staircase, I wasn't really able to do much other than observe it. Dealing with the potential ticket was more my priority.

But now, after having my new dishwasher installed and soaking in the joy of being able to easily clean and sanitize the dishes my cat ate off of - the cat who has cancer and gets chemo every other week. The dishes I am under instruction from the vet to only touch while wearing gloves, same as his litter. While I was in the middle of loading that brand new dishwasher for the very first time, I kept thinking about the roach.

I also thought about the mouse that nested in my bed two years ago. The one my cat befriended. I was woken one night hearing a rustling sound and opened one of the largely empty storage drawers to find he'd been there for months - nested right under Justice's favorite sleeping spot.

I was so upset killing that mouse. So fucking upset. The first thing I ever saw die was my class gerbil in the first grade, it died as I watched it. Due to the rain we were playing indoors instead of outside during recess, and a classmate and I stood next to the cage, having a whispered conversation about if we thought it would be mean to wake the gerbil up or not to play with it. As we did his little chest rose and then fell. rose and then fell. rose and then fell fell fell fell fell. I was so upset killing that mouse. After every other method failed, including getting rid of the bed frame itself, my best friend helped me set the mousetraps.

Three weeks ago my best friend, who now lives in San Fransisco, stayed at my parents house for four days after a good friend of hers got married not too far away. It was the very first time I had seen her in person since February of 2020. The first time I saw her since she still lived just two subway stops down from me. She had always always always talked about moving to California, and I am so glad she actually did. She can't stand winter and wears a pleather jacket in even the most horrific of heatwaves. At least - I want to be happy for her about the move. It's complicated because I miss her. While she was there the two of us discovered a robin's nest on my parents’ back porch, and there were two little robins inside of the nest all huddled together. The next day as we ate lunch (on the other side of that porch) the mother bird swooped in with a worm and fed them. We joked about them coming to join us for lunch and watched them and the hummingbirds flitting through the yard as we ate. Two days later those little birds flew away, but before they did I held Justice up to the side porch window right next to the nest. He didn't look concerned at first, but when the mother bird arrived and they started to jump and chirp with joy his eyes lit right up and he let out a meow that I swear sounded like the word "woah!"

I think about the pigeons that nest on my bedroom's windowstill. At just the right angle you can see them out my apartment's bay window. Justice used to have a bed there, but after he fell off of it and almost hit his head on the radiator I decided to take it away. He's a delicate old man and I really don't want him to hurt himself.

To my delight a pigeon was standing right in front of that spot. Right there.

I didn't want to let the moment go to waste so I carried the cat to the window, and Justice's pupils got real real wide. I sat down by the window and he purred in my arms. I chatted with him about the pigeon, and after it flew off and he wanted out of my lap we sat there for half an hour watching the cars as they went by.

He is still here, we are still enjoying life together. One day at a time. He was given three to four months when he was diagnosed with cancer and we are now in month five. I am so lucky to have this moment. I keep telling myself that.

All I can think about is how that cockroach will still be living in this building long after my cat is gone.

#feline cancer #end of life pet care #I should probably get to work putting everything in my kitchen back #since I had to put everything on my kitchen shelves in the living room #and put the shelves themselves in there too #I also had to move everything on the counters #so they could fit the dishwasher into my apartment's tiny kitchen #yeah #time to put all of that back.

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c-rose2081 · 3 years

Text

Dragon Afternoons

Love Like Dragons AU

Bevie | Jay & Lonnie | Mal & Audrey BROTP | Little Dragons

—

Evie was deeply flustered. Throwing another wadded paper ball at the overflowing trash bin, she missed and hit Mal - her five year old Isle Dragon - in the head. The mean eyed purple beast grunted unhappily at being woken from where she slept by the wall heater, and Evie lifted a hand to her lips with a little gasp.

“Oh, Mal. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you,”

The dragon snorted, as though saying ‘sure you didn’t’, and tossed her head slightly.

“I’m just so frustrated,” Evie said to her best friend, who stood and stretched with a gaping, toothy yawn, “I’m supposed to be designing these gowns for the Imperial Ball next month but I’m stumped. If I don’t come up with something soon I’ll miss my deadline!”

Beginning to worry, Mal leapt up from the floor and crawled onto Evie’s shoulder. Giving the woman a warm cheek bump as a form of comfort, the blunette chuckled weakly, “thanks M. But I’m not sure what to do,”

Mal, being a dragon, couldn’t answer with words. But she lifted her shoulders, as if shrugging in the face of Evie’s current predicament. After all, what did a dragon know about fashion or clothes? Sighing a bit in defeat, Evie rubbed the place between her brows with a thumb and forefinger. At this same moment, there was a loud THUNK as something rammed into the outside of her study door. Standing, Mal gave a little rattling question as Evie gently turned the handle.

Three month old Dizzy tumbled head first into the office, rolling like a pinwheel on her back before settling on her belly with a squeak and a huff. She had only been hatched a few months prior, but already was the size of a small kitten. Her paint splatter markings only seemed to grow brighter and more numerous as she grew, and her massive floofy lion tail was still as untamed as ever.

“Dizzy!” Evie exclaimed, squatting down to pick the dragonling up off the floor, “you poor thing. What are you doing?”

Dizzy gave a little squeak, and Mal snorted rather loudly on Evie’s shoulder to assert her presence as ‘Aunty Mal’. Shortly though, Ben appeared around the corner looking a tad flustered.

“Sorry E! I didn’t mean for her to get away from me,”

“It’s ok. But what are you doing?”

Passing Dizzy to Ben, who dropped her into the pocket of his jeans, the man smiled.

“Jay called; he wants to meet the dragonlings. And it’s such a nice day, I thought maybe some time outside would be good for them. And you, if you’d like?”

“Oh Ben, that’s so thoughtful,” Evie mumbled, “but I have this huge deadline and I’m so stumped,”

“Well, maybe a short picnic with friends will inspire you?” Ben suggested, quivering as Dizzy clambered back out of his pocket and up the side of his blouse, “you could use a break, love. You’re overwrought. And Jay wants to get to know you.”

“Jay. He was the best man at our wedding? The one with the long hair?”

“Right. He’s really cool, we played Tourney together in school. There’s someone else coming who I think you’d like to meet as well,”

“His girlfriend?” Evie asked, already turning off the light to her study. Maybe a moment outside would jog her poor, crazy brain.

“Sort of. It’s a surprise,” Ben insisted, wincing as Dizzy sat directly on his head, “and she’s on my head,”

“I got her,” Evie chuckled, taking the dragonling off her husbands hair with a little nose kiss, “she’s such a little dear,”

“If that’s what we’re calling it,” Ben huffed, mimicking Mal a tad as he straightened his shirt, “now, shall we go? You’ve got your sketchbook?”

“Always,” Evie laughed, tucking Dizzy into the pocket of her skirt where she curled up for a nap. Mal was a big help in wrangling Ceila, the eldest hatchling, holding her by the scruff. While Audrey — Ben’s Aurorian Dragon — had Carlos clinging to her back and snoozing away. Only when they were all in the car on their way to the park did Evie allow her mind to wander. Currently, all of her designs felt...wrong somehow. They didn’t capture the essence of royalty and grandeur that the Imperial Ball represented. And she wanted her designs to be exceptional, as Ambassadors from all over the world would be present.

It was a huge deal. And Evie was kinda freaking out over it.

As they neared their destination - the same park Ben and Evie first met - the young couple began leashing up the dragonlings. Though Mal and Audrey were sure to stay close by, Dizzy and Ceila would definitely run off. Carlos was still much to small to run away on his own, and Evie was certain he wouldn’t stray far from mom. As usual, Ceila was a bullet right out the gate, followed closely by Dizzy as the two were usually partners in crime. Mal and Audrey sat on their consecutive owners shoulders, keeping an eye on the little ones from above.

Still thinking about her designs, Evie almost missed the flash of green, red and gold in the trees.

“Evie, look up,”

And she did, and her breath was stolen instantly. A beautiful, absolutely gigantic serpent ran above them. Plated in metallic, colorful scales, the monster was the most elegant thing Evie had ever seen. It ran on the wind itself, wingless but still somehow flying. It’s face was like a lion, with large golden cat like eyes, and floating tendrils of black fur which rippled like water on the breeze.

“Oh my...”

Evie, still astounded, jumped as the creature dove suddenly. Twisting its long body around, it caught a flying frisbee in its square jaw. It then flew back towards the ground where a young man in a tank top happily took the disk, and gave the dragon a pat on the head.

“Jay!” Ben called out, “over here!”

“Ben! What’s up, man!”

Jay was tall and muscular, and had Evie not already been married, he was certainly dating material. His smile was boyish and innocent, and he happily took Ben’s outstretched hand before pulling him into a ‘guy hug‘, “glad you could make it out. It’s been forever,” Jay spoke, “hey foxy lady. I hear life’s been good to you, huh?”

Audrey trilled happily as she let Jay gently tickle the underside of her chin, preening at the touch.

“And Evie,” Jay said, turning to the woman with a grin, “nice to see you again. And who’s this?”

Motioning to Mal, who looked severely unimpressed by Jay, Evie chuckled. Dragons had been prohibited at the actual wedding ceremony, despite having snuck in away. So Jay hadn’t technically met Mal yet, other then a possible glimpse.

“This is Mal, she’s...” Mal snorted at Jay, “difficult,”

“Nah, no worries. Lonnie is the same way, I totally get it,”

“Lonnie?”

“Yeah, my favorite lady. She’s over there...probably destroying that frisbee. Hey, Lonnie!” Jay gave a sharp whistle with his fingers as the massive serpent like dragon lifted her head. She still had the disk, but looked close to destroying it with massive teeth, “don’t eat that! Plastic is bad for you!”

The dragon gave a low rattle of annoyance before returning to her play time, and Jay shook his head, “sorry. She’s been cooped up while my parents are visiting. They aren’t big fans of Dragons. So, introduce me to the little ones,”

Kneeling down to where Ceila and Dizzy were running around Ben’s legs, they immediately came to investigate.

“This is Ceila and Dizzy,” Ben insisted, pointing to each Dragonling, “and then Carlos, the little brother.”

Gently picking up the runt from Audrey’s back, Jay laughed happily as he was placed within cupped palms. Evie’s heart melted at the sight of such a tough man holding such a tiny creature. It was very attractive.

“He’s so small,” Jay commented, “and no colors or anything?”

“His egg fell out of the nest and developed a crack,” Evie explained, swatting at Mal who was getting a bit agitated at just standing around. She always was the impatient one, “Uma thinks it’s a mutation,”

“Ah. Well, Uma is the dragon expert,” Jay nodded, giving Carlos back to Audrey who whistled in thanks, “well, come on over and meet Lonnie. And then we can eat. I brought takeout!”

And so they did, approaching the serpent dragon as a group. Up close, Evie could see now she had both fur and armored scales, her face surrounded by the softest looking white plumes. Her head was significantly larger then her body and square in shape, while her four legs had viciously sharp white talons.

“She’s beautiful,” Evie breathed, feeling Mal’s claws dig just a bit tighter into her skin. After all, unlike Audrey who Mal was only slightly smaller then, Lonnie was the size of a Great Dane, “what breed is she?”

“Imperial Dragon,” Jay answered, “got her from a breeder not to long ago. She’s a show Dragon. Catch and release, but also a bit of agility,”

“Catch and release?” Evie asked, grappling already for her sketchbook.

“Yeah. It’s a game to test a dragons ability to hunt. You release a clay pigeon on a fast track and let the Dragon go after it. It’s really fun to watch. Lonnie here is a world champion,”

Lonnie grumbled a response, and Evie glanced at Mal curiously. Other then the rats in the shed and the laundry on the line, Mal didn’t ever show much interest in hunting. She mostly played with her food before becoming bored and moving on to something else. Maybe she needed to give this catch and release idea a try?

“Think it would be ok for the little ones to meet?” Ben asked, keeping Ceila and Dizzy’s lines short, though they were already moving closer to the larger dragon in curiosity.

“Oh yeah. Lonnie is a big softie really. She just looks scary,”

And so Ben very carefully let out the lines. Evie glanced at Audrey, but she didn’t appear to worried and was actually checking out her claws. Mal was back to being vaguely annoyed with the whole thing, yawning and laying across Evie’s shoulders in the sun. Lonnie, who had now noticed the little dragons coming closer, dropped her frisbee. Evie, enamored, happily captured her long thin body, shimmering coin like scales and wavy Raven fur on paper.

The beast bobbed sideways for a moment, turning her head this way and that to have a better look. Her golden eyes widened into moons as her long furry tail flicked back and forth. The bells acting as her collar jingled as the little ones were finally upon her. And Evie, for a tense moment, thought she may leap for them. But instead she dropped to the ground, chin against the grass and nostrils flaring with happy play. She rolled onto her back as the baby dragons clambered up onto her underbelly, sliding down the ridges. Dizzy even managed to sit on her flat muzzle, staring the great beast in the face.

“Awe,” Evie crooned, “so cute. Ben take a picture,”

“I’m already on it,”

“Ah see, nothing to worry about!” Jay said, waving to the place where he’d set out a rather large blanket and boxes of takeout, “now how bout lunch. I’m starving.”

And so three adults, and six dragons all sat down for a meal together. While eating, Evie continued to color and make patterns. She smiled as the dragonlings slid down the serpents back like a slide, or when Mal got brave and batted at her ridge only to be easily pushed over by a gentle but playful paw. Audrey just napped in the sunshine, happy to get a bit of rest while holding little Carlos close to her to keep him warm.

“This has been a perfect afternoon,” Evie said when their food was nearly gone, and the fortune cookies were cracked and read aloud. Mal was currently eating a strawberry from her hand, content back on her shoulders, “and Lonnie is welcome at our house anytime. I’m sure the little ones would enjoy a visit from their second Aunty anytime,”

“Any more dragons and we’ll have to get a bigger house,” Ben complained to his wife as she beamed.

“You know I’m a dragon mom, Ben. Don’t even tempt me with that idea,”

“You walked right into that one,” Jay laughed, tossing a coconut prawn to Lonnie who caught it easily. Laughing easily, Evie glanced down at the sketchbook in her lap.

“Think you have enough to get those gowns done?” Ben asked her, leaning back on his hands and stroking Audrey’s head gently.

“I think so,” Evie answered, closing the book and tucking it back in her bag, “But we don’t have to go quite yet. I think I’d like to see some of that agility Jay was talking about.”

“That’s if we can find where Lonnie buried the frisbee,” Jay complained, causing more laughter. And as the sun began to set, Ben, Jay and Evie watched as Lonnie performed daring acrobatics for prawns, and the little dragons — tuckered out from a day of excitement — slept peacefully in pockets and bags.

—

A/N: And Lonnie and Jay are officially in the story! Make sure to ping me with other characters you may be interested in seeing :) Evie does need a bigger house...maybe a Dragon sanctuary *eyebrow wags*

#descendants #disney descendants #dragons #descendants fanfiction #love like dragons au #evie grimhilde #mal bertha #audrey rose #ben florian #jay son of jafar #lonnie li #celia facilier #dizzy tremaine

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webrokethe4thwall · 4 years

Text

Venus in the City

A request from @rottmntrulesall for their Little Sister Venus AU. I highly recommend you check their blog out!

After begging and pleading with Splinter, the Turtles and April had finally convinced him to let them take Venus for a ride in the Turtle Tank. Venus fussed only a little as Donnie strapped her into a car seat that he had made especially for her before squealing in delight as the tank roared into life. Her older siblings smiled fondly at the happy noises she made.

“You like that, Venus?” Raph asked, carefully driving through traffic. “You like riding in the Turtle Tank?”

“Yeah!” April cheered in a high pitched voice, waving both of Venus’s arms in the air and pulling a giggle out of the Indian Tent turtle.

Venus’s eyes shone happily. The buildings were moving so fast, and her chair would bump and rattle in the most fun way! This was great!

“Wait, was that—” Donnie started as he squinted out the window.

Suddenly, the Turtle tank swerved as the Foot Lieutenant, Foot Brute, and Foot Recruit landed on the hood.

“Turtles!” Foot Lieutenant rasped. “Prepare for defeat!”

“Oh, come on!” Leo groaned. “Can’t we go for one drive without some bozos ruining everything? How’re we gonna deal with these guys with Venus here?!”

“Like this!” Donnie flipped a switch, and Venus was pulled into the back of the tank and encased by a clear dome. “That bubble is made of a highly damage-resistant material that will keep Venus safe while we deal with these jerks.”

“Don’t worry, Venus,” Mikey comforted the confused baby as their siblings rushed out of the tank. “We’ll be back soon. Just sit tight!”

And like that, Venus was alone in a bubble in the Turtle Tank as the teenagers battled the Foot Clan just out of her sight. The baby chewed on her teal ribbon tail for a little while before growing bored. Venus didn’t want to be in her chair anymore. She wanted out!

A moment later, Venus felt herself slipping free of her car seat, out of the bubble, and through the Turtle Tank’s floor. Her brothers and sister were still in heavy combat though, and the baby didn’t like how loud they were being. Closing her eyes and crawling forward, Venus slipped through dimensions to get to someplace quieter until her siblings were done fighting.

“That didn’t take very long at all,” April said as she and the Turtles climbed back into the Turtle Tank.

“I guess they didn’t restock their paper from the last time we fought them,” Raph gloated, hefting himself back into the driver’s chair.

“Let me put Venus back in her spot, then we can get rolling again,” Donnie said. Flipping another switch, the protective bubble pulled away, and the car seat returned to its original position. “Ready to go, Ve-ven-oooh, boy.”

When they all saw the empty car seat, their stress levels skyrocketed, but it could’ve just been Venus messing with them. April swiped her hand through the air just to be sure. They all shared a look and started freaking out.

“Where did Venus go?!” Mikey screamed. “She’s just a baby! What’s going to happen to our sister?!”

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“Where’d yous come from?” Venus blinked her eyes open to find Repo-Mantis staring down at her. She had traveled all the way to the junkyard. “You lost or somethin’, kid? I’m not a fan of turtles runnin’ around my junkyard.”

“Baah! Puh!” Venus babbled, crawling between Repo’s legs and disappearing further into the junkyard.

“Where d’ya think your off’ta?” Repo asked, ducking to follow the baby turtle’s travel. But she was gone. She had literally disappeared. “Wha?”

Not wanting a baby mutant wandering around his place of business, Repo went to look for her. He soon found her in his electromagnet. She managed to swing the heavy machine to hang over the school bus plugging Mrs. Nubbins’ den.

“Wait, no, no, no, no!” Repo shouted, rushing towards Venus. “Not that scrapheap, kid! Stop!” Too late. The bus pulled free, and the cat-mantis was unleashed. Repo immediately about-faced and ran away from his beloved pet.

Growing bored of the purple bugman and the machinery, Venus slipped out of the electromagnet and crawled out of the junkyard. She quickly caught wind of something that smelled delicious! A yellow van topped with a T-bone steak was parked across the street. What was over there that smelled so good?

“My, my, what have we here?” Venus was lifted up by metal hands that brought her face-to-face with a smug Meat Sweats. “You’re just the ingredient I needed for my latest recipe! How fortuitous for me.”

He plopped the baby turtle into the broth heating up on the stovetop, scrapped in some chopped up veggies, and sorted out the seasonings that would “unleash the flavor” within Venus. The Indian tent turtle gurgled delightedly in what she thought was tasty-smelling bathwater. She munched on a carrot piece, splashing in the broth, when pepper suddenly dusted her snout.

“That should do it,” Meat Sweats said. As he cleared away his spices, he noticed Venus scrunching up her face. “What’s that look for? My seasoning is perfectly balanced.”

He drew closer to the pot just as Venus unleashed a powerful sneeze. The sneeze was followed by spikes shooting out of her shell, flying all over the food truck’s kitchen. Meat Sweats squealed in horror. He knocked the pan off the stovetop and out of his truck, baby turtle and all, as the spikes pinned him by his apron to the cabinets.

“Oh, rubbish,” Meat Sweats grumbled.

Venus continued to chew on the veggies remained in the pot with her after the tumble when the she was lifted up once again. This time it was orange crab pinchers that carried her into an alleyway. So many new people in one night!

“Hey, Carl, check it out! It’s one of those turtle mutants that we hate, but littler!” The crabman without pinched Venus’s cheeks. She whined in displeasure and swatted his pincher away. “This one would be way easier to eat, and she’s already in some soup!”

The crabman with hair poked Venus’s cheek and felt his heart melt like butter when she sucked on his claw. “Pass, Ben. That’d be messed up. Maybe if she was bigger.”

“Bah?” Venus questioned, releasing the claw from her jaws. Bigger? What did that “bigger” mean? Steadily, the pot she was sitting in started getting tighter. Venus’s line of sight climbed, higher than when she sat on Raph’s head! The crabmen seemed to begin to panic. The baby turtle giggled and clapped her hands as the crabmen did a silly dance in front of her.

“This is not what I meant!” Carl shouted, swinging his arms wildly as the baby turtle quickly grew to double his and his brother’s size. Ben and Carl ran in wild circles for a moment before crashing into each other hard. The shock from the impact and panic from the giant infant knocked the duo unconscious.

Venus stared at the still crabmen before shrinking down to her normal size. They weren’t doing much more than breathe at this point, and the Indian tent turtle wanted something more entertaining than that. She crawled away and soon heard the laughter of children at a playground. All those colors and kids looked fun! Venus was all set to join them when something flopped onto her head and over her eyes.

“Turtle! Prepare to taste defeat at the hands of your greatest foe, Warren Stone!” The long pink thing in a purple jacket rolled into a dramatic offensive pose before the Indian tent turtle. “I won’t hold back just because you’re a ba-argh!”

Venus gripped the worm mutant by his throat and pulled his stretchy body as far as she could. This was a great toy! She whipped Warren around like a lasso and laughed brightly at the way he yelled. He made really funny noises, too! A white dove then flew into Venus’s line of sight and made her think of the cartoons she and Mikey would watch where birds would flock around the worm and beat them up. Attention drawn away, the baby mutant dropped the mutant in her hands and followed the dove.

“Where are you going?!” Warren shouted after her. “I’m not done with you yet!” He was then surrounded by a flock of large pigeons that had materialized out of thin air. “Or maybe I am.” The flock proceeded to attack the worm mutant. “Aaagh!”

Venus followed the dove for a few blocks, watching it land on the broad purple shoulder of Hypno-Potamus.

“There you are! Back in the hat you go,” Hypno said. He placed the dove back in his magic hat, poofing the accessory away, and caught sight of the baby turtle. She clapped at the sight of the hat disappearing, eyes wide with wonder. “You like that trick, little lady? Wait a tic, where is your family?” He glanced up and down the empty street then shrugged. “How about a little magic show until they come along?”

At the baby’s impartial gurgling, Hypno started performing tricks for Venus. She was delighted by the multicolor hanky rope the magic hippo pulled out of nowhere. Hypno clapped his hands together, and the hanky rope had transformed into a rainbow of cards floating between his palms as he drew them apart. Hypno flinched back at how high-pitched Venus’s surprised shriek was.

Where’d the rope go?! How’d the cards fly in the air like that? Was he magic like Leo and his portals? Was she magic? She looked at her own hands, clapped them together, and opened them herself. Cards floated between her palms, just like Hypno! She was magic!

“How’d you do that?” Hypno asked, just as surprised as Venus. He smirked and snapped his cards away. “Let’s see you copy this then!” He conjured up his top hat once more, and doves rocketed out from its depths.

Venus unleashed amazed laughter. Her cards disappeared as she waved her hands towards the birds flying up into the air. However, her happiness turned to fear once the flock of doves changed directions and flew straight at the baby turtle. Scared and confused, Venus screamed at the doves and the unfortunate magic hippo behind them as well.

“Argh!” Hypno cried out. He pressed his hands onto his ears, but the baby turtle’s scream was too strong. He squeezed his eyes shut against the birds that swarmed past him, missing Venus scramble away. All he was left with was ringing ears and a sense of confusion.

Venus blinked around tearfully at the fancy hotel she somehow entered. She crawled around the front desk and sat down. She liked birds, but those had gotten way too close way too fast.

“Hey, who’s kid is this?” A bellhop asked as he rounded the desk. “She doesn’t have a cloaking broach.”

“Take her to the yokai floors,” another bellhop said. He sniffed the air around her. “And see that she gets cleaned up. She must’ve gotten into the kitchen and lost her broach somewhere along the way if her scent is anything to go by.”

“All right, little one, let’s go.”

Venus let the bellhop carry her into the elevator and was happy to get a bath for once. The broth from earlier was starting to make her scales itch. She also liked the gentle attention the funny creatures in the red suits gave her. They were almost as good as her big brothers and big sister!

“Oh, she’s so pretty in that shade of teal!” The octopus yokai who had given her a bath said, carefully bouncing her in front of the other bellhops.

“Is she one of our guests?” A fox yokai bellhop asked, letting Venus fiddle with his hand. “I don’t recall any turtle yokai staying with us. And that mask kinda reminds me of those other turtles who keep breaking in.”

“What seems to be the piddly-problem here?” A sickeningly sweet asked from behind employees.

“Big Mama!” The octopus yokai spun to face the powerful spider yokai. “We seem to have a lost guest in our midst!”

Big Mama bent down to get a better look at Venus. She was stare was intense and unwavering. The yokai holding the baby and the bellhop were starting to sweat from how long Big Mama was locking eyes with the Indian tent turtle. Then, the disguised spider yokai squealed in delight, sweeping Venus into her arms and cuddling the baby close.

“Oh, what a splendiferously precious, teedly tiny turtlely-boo!” Big Mama cooed, rubbing her cheek against Venus’s. Venus laughed as Big Mama’s hair tickled her neck. “Such sprinkly-sparkly eyes! A fantampulous giggle as lovely as her ribbon!” She pulled back and considered the child in her arms once more. “Come! Big Mama will take care of you.”

Venus burbled contentedly in the purple lady’s arms. She reminded the baby of her daddy with how she talked.

“But Big Mama, what about her family?” the bellhop asked. “Won’t they be worried about her?”

Big Mama gave the bellhop a scathing look. “If her family truly loved her, she wouldn’t be lost and causing such a fizzywinkle among my on-the-clock employees! I shall deal with this doodlie-bug’s family if they ever show up.”

Venus chewed at the end of Big Mama’s cravat, watching the other yokai shrink away from the pretty purple lady. She must’ve been tough like April and Donnie for everyone to be so scared of her. Venus loved how much attention this “Big Mama” was giving her, but she was starting to want her brothers, sister, and father the longer the lady held her. Maybe everyone was done being loud by now? She should go back to her car seat. Venus started fussing and struggling to get to the floor.

“Oh, what’s wrong, cutie-doodle?” Big Mama asked. “Don’t fuss.”

When Big Mama lifted her higher and started walking away from the other yokai, Venus began to struggle in earnest. She didn’t want to be in this fancy building anymore! She wanted her family! Put her down! She slipped, quite literally, through Big Mama’s fingers and crawled as fast as she could towards the elevator.

“What?!” Big Mama shrieked. “Catch her!”

Suddenly, bellhops galore blocked Venus’s path. The baby didn’t stop for a second before she was crawling up the walls and onto the ceiling. All of the bellhops stared up in shock at her. However, the owl bellhop shook off his surprise, leapt up, and pulled the baby mutant into his arms. The unfortunate bellhop soon found his hands full of many Venus’s piling one on top of the other until he toppled over. Each bellhop and even Big Mama caught a duplicate before she hit the ground.

“Well,” Big Mama said, obviously ruffled. “That was unexpected. Are you quite done, turtle-boo?”

That’s when the acid vomit started shooting out of every Venus’s mouth.

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“Why doesn’t she have a tracker on her?” Leo yelled at Donnie. “You put a tracker on everything.”

“I wanted to!” Donnie yelled back. “But you all thought it was too extreme to put a tracker on a five-month-old!”

“Since when did you listen to us about where to put your trackers?!” Raph yelled.

This fighting was getting them nowhere. The Turtle Tank tore through the streets as the worried siblings searched for their missing little sister. They had chased of the Foot after five minutes max of combat. They had locked the tank door. Where could Venus have gone? Who could’ve been able to take her?! If it hadn’t been for sporadic dust clouds shooting up from Repo-Mantis’s Junkyard, they wouldn’t have had a clue where to start.

“Return our sister, you fiend!” Mikey demanded.

His family jumped out of the tank, armed and ready, only to see Repo dodging and running away from Mrs. Nubbins. Well… they weren’t expecting that. Repo was pretty good at keeping his beloved murder cat contained.

“Do we help him?” Leo asked slowly.

“No,” Donnie said. “This is a waste of time!”

“He might know something about Venus, though,” April countered.

“Alright, Mad Dogs,” Raph said. “Get that cat-mantis!”

One determined sibling fight later, Repo found himself on the business end of Leo’s odachi.

“Hey, bug-man,” Leo greeted. “You see a baby turtle mutant pass by?”

“That little thing was with yous guys?!” Repo yelled.

“And don’t even think about lyin—what?” Donnie asked. “You’ve seen our baby sister?!”

“Yeah,” Repo said, head lulled back. He may as well tell the kids what they wanted; they had saved his life after all. “She must’ve crawled off after letting Mrs. Nubbins out a minute ago. Came outta nowhere, that kid. Left outta nowhere, too.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” April demanded.

Muffled shouting from across the street drew the teenagers’ attention away from Repo, who took this opportunity to slip away. With their initial target gone, they went to investigate where the shouts had come from. April was the first to see the familiar food truck parked across the street. Something pointy stuck out at several spots on the outside of the truck.

“Meat Sweats!” she yelled, throwing the ajar backdoor open wide.

“Not you lot!” Meat Sweats groaned from where he hung on the wall. “One turtle disaster was enough!”

“Give us our sister!” Raph said, pulling the pig mutant free and dangling him in the air.

“That little terror is your sister?!” Meat Sweats roared. “Does the big one here shoot spikes, too?!”

“What? No,” Raph denied, lifting Meat Sweats higher. “Where’s our sister?”

“I threw her out, pot and all, when the spikes came flying at me,” Meat Sweats explained.

“We’re coming, Venus!” Leo yelled, tearing out of the food truck with his other siblings as Raph continued to hold Meat Sweats.

“Stop. Trying. To eat. My. Family!” Raph snarled in the pig mutants face before going to join the others.

Leo and Donnie were on the rooftops, looking in every direction for a hint of teal of their bubbly baby sister; Mikey and April scourged the alleys and streets for signs of Venus; and Raph patrolled in the Turtle Tank. A few moments later, the three groups converged where scraps of metal and two mutant crabmen lay uselessly in an alleyway.

Donnie prodded the mutants with his tech bo, saying, “What happened to you guys? Wait. Let me guess—you found a little turtle and she beat you up?”

The crabman with hair opened one eyestalk, saw the frustrated and near-feral teenagers looming over him and his brother, and shook his head.

“No, she got big, and my bro and I freaked out so much we knocked each other out. I thought she was gonna eat us.”

“Okay.” Donnie crouched down to look the crabman in the eyes. “First of all, she’s just a baby. Worst thing she can do to you right now is bite your exoskeletons. Second, where is she?” The crabman without hair raised a claw and wordlessly pointed towards the park across the street. “Thank you, gentlemen. You will not be eviscerated today.”

The Sando brothers cowered away from the determined children and slunk into the sewers as they crossed the street. The park was empty at the moment, so April wasn’t worried about anyone seeing the giant mutant turtles wadding through the bushes.

“Venus!” April and the others called in intervals, tearing the park upside down for their baby. “C’mon sis, where are you?”

“You guys looking for a baby turtle?” Warren Stone asked. He was chilling on a park bench, sipping a smoothie.

“Warren Stone!” April squealed. She ran up to her news anchor idol. “Do you know where our sister is? She’s got a teal mask and a pretty defined shell.”

“Yeah, she crawled that a-ways about ten minutes ago,” Warren said waving in the general direction. “Chasing a bird or something. No respect for the laws of mortal foe combat.”

“Thanks Warren! Stone-head for life!” April ran off to get her brothers. “I got a lead! Venus isn’t here anymore, but I know where she went!”

“Lead on, April!” Leo said.

April led them in the direction Warren Stone had waved in, and they soon came across Hypno. He was shouting and swinging a top hat at a flock of doves swarming over his head.

“Hypno!” Mikey shouted, wrapping the chain of his kusari-fundo around the hippo mutant. “Where’s our sister?”

“What?” Hypno shouted. “I don’t know anything about a ‘blister.’”

“I said sis-ter,” Mikey yelled. “Baby turtle mutant. Teal mask. Where?”

“Never met one,” Hypno shouted. “Why would a lady turban merchant need a flask? Speak up! I can’t really hear at the moment.”

The teenagers groaned. This was getting them nowhere!

“Did you lot happen to lose a baby turtle?” Hypno asked. “One passed by a minute ago. I gave her a magic show, but the doves scared her off.”

“Where’d our baby sister go?” Mikey yelled as clearly as he could. Hope shined in the box turtle’s eyes.

Hypno seemed to wilt from the question. “I don’t know. She let out a killer scream that took out my doves and my hearing. I didn’t see where she went.”

“That would explain the screaming-match,” Leo grumbled. “Mikey, let him go. Venus isn’t here.” But she has been causing some top-tier mischief.

Raph brought the Turtle Tank around for everyone to pile in and regroup. Now what? Hypno was their last lead to finding Venus, and he didn’t know where she crawled off to. How did her screaming make the hippo mutant go that hard of hearing anyway? Sure, the baby had a loud voice but not loud enough to make someone go near-deaf. Right?

“Now what, team?” Raph asked. “Where do we look next?”

“Well,” Donnie started. Then explosions erupted from the Nexus Hotel in the distance.

“FOLLOW THE CHAOS!!!” April shouted.

Moments later, the Turtle fam burst into Big Mama’s hotel, weapons drawn and ready to take on the spider yokai. The sight that greeted them was not what they expected from the usually put-together criminal boss. Small fires lit up parts of the lobby and stairs, yokai and humans alike were either flopped over broken furniture unconscious or shaking in absolute terror. A yokai ran from one end of the room to the other screaming his head off.

“What happened here?” Leo asked, lowering his sword.

“I don’t know,” Donnie said, looking at his wrist scanner and typing on it. “I’ll hack into the security feeds; you guys keep an eye open for—”

Big Mama chose that moment to leave the elevator in giant yokai spider form. The first thing the Turtle fam did was pull into a tighter circle, defending Donnie as he reviewed the hacked feeds. They noted how she looked, well, battered, bruised, and burned. Big Mama looked at the teenagers with six tired eyes, down at her thick arms, then back at the teenagers. She slowly walked towards them.

“Does this belong to you?” she asked, voice wavering from exhaustion.

Extending her arms, Venus dangled from her hands.

“Venus!” They all cried.

Raph carefully took Venus into his arms and backed his entire family as far away from Big Mama as he could. His siblings launched themselves onto his arms, kissing and cooing at the baby turtle warbling happily back at them. Before they could interrogate the spider yokai about how she got her claws on their precious baby sister, Big Mama passed out less than gracefully in her lobby.

Raph quickly carried his family back to the Turtle Tank where they continued to fawn over their baby sister, relieved to have her back and taking turns holding her close. Donnie held Venus very carefully. She had somehow gotten out of one of his inventions specially designed to protect her, and he took it personally. How had it happened?

“Let’s see how you got into Big Mama’s hands, shall we?” Donnie said, passing Venus off to April and hooking up his gauntlet to the tank’s display screen.

As the security feed played out, the Turtle fam watched with increasing shock as their baby sister all but destroyed the Nexus Hotel. From the very moment that she went intangible in Big Mama’s arms, to crawling up onto the ceiling, duplicating, and puking up acid, the teens couldn’t look away. Then things really got weird.

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Venus screamed in the arms of every bellhop that held her, causing them to drop the duplicates to cover their ears. Big Mama wasn’t so lucky. She held the original baby turtle. Big Mama had to transform into her yokai form in order to cover her ears and not drop the baby.

“Hush, cutie-doodle!” Big Mama tried to soothe the child.

No! Venus didn’t want the spider lady anymore. Maybe if they couldn’t see her, they’d leave her alone. Leo played peekaboo with her all the time. Maybe the same rules applied? Venus covered her eyes and held as still as possible. She heard a gasp of surprise and suddenly felt her bottom hit the ground.

“Where’d she go?” a bellhop asked.

“I don’t know,” Big Mama replied. “She was right here! Find her!”

Venus crawled away as the bellhops and Big Mama waved the air around the ground searching for her. She made it to the elevator right as it was closing before becoming visible again.

“There she is! How’d she get in the elevator?!” a yokai yelled out.

The crowd tried to get to the baby turtle, but the doors had already closed. Venus blinked. She looked around the box-like room she was in. How did these things work again? She spotted the shiny panel of buttons and made grabby hands at them. They were too high up! The Indian tent turtle’s line of sight was soon above the panel of buttons. She could totally reach them now! Venus slapped the panel happily. The room felt like it was moving.

When the doors opened again, there were bellhops waiting. They, unfortunately, were not expecting the little baby to have grown to be bigger than their employer. Venus mowed them down as she crawled into the hallway. She found a stairwell and wandered her way down a few flights before shrinking down again.

The door was too heavy for her small body to open. However, she didn’t hesitate to crawl right through the wall to the other side, which just so happened to be a fish tank. Venus loved swimming! She followed the exotic fish in the tank for a minute or two, completely missing the looks of horror guests and employees alike gave her for how long she was in there. What? It wasn’t like she was gonna run out of air. She did this all the time at home.

“There you are!” Big Mama cheered, scooping the baby turtle out of the water tank. “Oh, now you’re all sobbled! Come, dear, let Big Mama dry you off.”

Oh, not this lady again! Venus huffed and puffed, struggling to get out of the gentle but firm grip. Then, she felt something shoot out of her shell. Screaming rang out around her, and Big Mama gasped. Venus looked around and saw several spikes impaling pillars and pining people to the walls. The baby clapped, clearly enjoying the silly poses the yokai had struck to avoid the spikes.

“That’s quite enough of that,” Big Mama admonished. Neither yokai nor baby noticed the pillar behind them starting to fall over. “I’ve had enough fizzywinkles in my hotel today, thank you.”

The pillar groaned and slammed on top of the two females. The bellhops rushed to lift the pillar from Big Mama, who was banged and bruised from its weight, but Venus was perfectly fine. Her scales had formed into a silver armor, leaving a baby turtle shaped hole in the raised column.

Then, a fire started from one of the spikes slicing through an electrical outlet. Everyone started screaming and running. Venus started crawling away again. And—

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Donnie shut of the video feed. He, Raph, Leo, Mikey, and April stared at Venus in shock. Raph quickly drove them home. After the teens all gathered in the living room, they collapsed into a heap of exhaustion, stress, and disbelief. Splinter walked in to see Venus sucking her thumb on top of Donnie’s chest as the soft-shell gently patted her head.

“Ah, there’s my precious little girl!” Splinter smiled. “Come to Daddy, Venus.” He lifted Venus to his hip and rubbed his nose to her beak. “So, how was her first ride in the Turtle Tank?”

Splinter raised an eyebrow in confusion at the way the teens groaned and sunk even further into their sibling pile.

Mikey shot up from the pile and shouted, “VENUS HAS POWERS,” then sunk back to his place between his brothers and April.

What a chaotically long day.

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