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halothenthehorns · 2 months

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Chapter 1: THE STOLEN CHARIOT

Percy felt the slight shake to his arm, the swirling heavy warmth of sleep leaving him with a sense of happiness. He didn't dream here, which he suspected was the only reason he hadn't been driven nuts yet by getting full rest, but he missed it a lot too. Even if they were horrible visions, just to see where everybody he yearned to be with so much was.

His heavy eyes fluttered, he saw the blonde hair and smiled, thinking it was Annabeth there to call him a drool swamp and they had activities to get to as he tried to slur something together.

"Don't worry Magnus, he'll learn his genders eventually," a surprising female voice instead said close by, and he blinked the last of the fog away to see it was Magnus's exasperated face leaning back. Percy wiped at his sticky chin and muttered an apology to Annabeth's cousin to hide his longing and confusion and mild anger at her hadn't vanished with a nice nap.

"Want some soup?" Magnus offered in a clear offer to change the subject, a steaming mug of something very good smelling in his other hand.

"Yeah," Percy croaked, taking it and sipping the warmth at once to keep that feeling in place all the same.

Time had passed, though he couldn't guess how much as always as he fumbled for the spoons handle and really dug in. He looked around to see Thalia and Jason by the door, laughing and teasing each other about something he was sure, though he couldn't tell from this far away. They were mirroring each other in an odd way, the more energized they got into their topic the more they both kept snapping their fingers before they spoke in an almost eureka moment. It was odd, Thalia's close proximity must be affecting Jason when he did it too.

Will and Nico were right where they'd been, still whispering and sitting very close together like Paul and his Mom on the couch while Percy's eyes were glued to the TV ignoring them.

Magnus and Alex were still hovering in front of him, like they weren't sure if it was safe to leave and he was eating in his sleep or something, but they were signing to each other. It was pretty entertaining to watch, they made large exaggerated faces and were using the gestures slow enough Percy amused himself for quite a few minutes trying to guess what a few could mean before Thalia finally smacked Jason and announced they needed to move on before she started burying bodies with only affection for it in her tone.

As Jason made to pick up the dark red book with an orange five on the spine, it looked a little misshapen, which explained why another book fell out of its pages like someone had tried to cram them together.

It was the brightest book of the bunch being daisy yellow, as well as the smallest. The thin amount of pages was almost as disconcerting as the whole set. What happened in this one that was so important it was included but not attached to any of the others? On the spine was just three symbols instead of any numbers. A chariot, a dragon, and a sword, none of which needed much translation for how this was going to go.

"Err," Jason said loudly, holding it up for the others inspection.

"I say we go for it?" Thalia offered when Nico swallowed but didn't duck his head or start screaming. It felt odd to get a say in if they wanted what they were sure this was about to be revealed, for once. It wasn't even vital to Percy's last adventure that they knew of. It was just the fact that, this wasn't horrible. She liked sharing her life with her brother, even if Jason didn't know that's what was happening. It was far easier to have this explained for her than trying to put all this together herself.

Nico felt the exact same way. He shrugged and gestured for them all to get comfortable with no feeling of fear for once. He found himself looking forward to what Will and Alex were going to say about the Underworld more and more, and what had been going through Percy's mind with a clear head instead of his old fantasies which were fading from his mind more every day.

"Okay," Jason grinned, clearly just happy to be involved at all as he flopped back into his beanbag and read, "The Stolen Chariot."

"Uh," Thalia and Nico said together, exchanging startled looks. There had been no chariot when they were kidnapped by Persephone.

"Who is Percy stealing a chariot from?" Magnus asked in instant concern who he pissed off this time.

"What kind of chariot?" Alex asked with devilish delight, instantly hoping it was Apollo's.

"Why is Percy stealing a chariot?" Will sighed.

"All questions and more that shall be answered in the following order," Percy said while raising two fingers. "Shut, up." Percy said as casually as ever, sitting comfortably in his seat and knocking back the last of his soup, as unbothered as ever at his life on full display. Whether it was a side adventure with his friends or an odd, out of context day shopping with his mom, it was another day of his life he was getting back. If he didn't show an ounce of unease for this mystery, Jason didn't bother to hesitate a second more.

"Pfft," Thalia scoffed, "none of us could go a sentence living like that."

I was in fifth-period science class when-

"Hey, wait a second," Jason spluttered, unable to even get through a whole sentence before he looked around at Percy and Nico. "Does this take place before or after your birthday?"

Percy could feel his mind scrambling for the answer like a pop quiz at his intensity, he panicked and blurted the first thing that came to mind, "Tuesday!"

Thalia sighed and rubbed her temple while Will gave Percy an understanding smile and Jason looked mollified.

"Sorry," Percy shook himself as he vaguely realized that wasn't the right answer, "um, what was that?"

Jason started to repeat himself before Percy nodded and said, "yeah, after." Then he shivered at the suggestion of what Nico thought was the way to win...then he tapped his mind in frustration at feeling like he was missing something. He'd spent some good times at camp, but there was like a glitch in his mind. Ants? Bronze? Odd smell? Was he having a seizure?

"Are you going to share with the class?" Alex tried her hardest not to demand, but it was a struggle.

Percy and Nico exchanged looks, then Percy felt a sharp stabbing pain in his temple anew, making him hiss and causing the room to tremble as his mind tried to race around every avenue of that connected memory without assistance.

"Percy said he'd think about it," Nico offered. "Nothing was decided that night. Ms. Jackson was delightful and Mr. Blowfis shoved all of the left overs into my hands without taking no for an answer when I tried to leave, while Tyson spent the evening asking what every appliance in the kitchen did. A typical night there I'm sure."

Percy was smiling and relaxed again by the end, very unlike that evening, but a soothing balm on his conscience to have the rest of the night restored in such detail that it didn't take any part of him to offer. He was suddenly very grateful for whatever these other days were going to be, all the better to not think about that for a few moments more.

He also failed to mention as well as Nico had how resistant he'd initially been to the idea. He'd eaten that cake in three bites on Percy's windowsill and tried to just dish out the information and depart like some demon carrier pigeon, but Percy had insisted he wanted more explanation and there was more cake.

Nico's resistance had crumbled, but it was a reluctant kid who shuffled in the doorway and stayed in the shadows. Percy remembered wondering when was the last time he'd been around other people, if it was because they were mortals or so much older or just had flesh.

His mom had of course brought him right into the light and fawned over him so much Nico had been smiling like Percy hadn't seen in a long time.

Percy really hoped to push past all that...unless they were going to be focused on that topic before he had to start the war in this mini book? And this was him and Nico doing research into-

"They told you to call them Sally and Paul at least five times Nico," Percy instead went back to teasing and talking to him like normal. Far more normal even than ever before, just a casual friend.

"And it sounds rude and I can't make myself do it when she hugs me like that," Nico shrugged with his arms crossed. He wasn't sure he'd ever want to go back there, it was the warmest place he'd ever been to. It had given him whiplash that night from so long without anything like that and he was sure if he ever went there again he'd burrow into the hall closet and refuse to ever leave.

Nico noticed the hints of jealousy on all of their faces except Thalia, who was nodding in understanding, which was also very strange. Of the myriad of emotions he kept expecting to be on the receiving end of, that was never one of them, but he got it simply for meeting the famous Sally Jackson.

Jason sighed and muttered about getting through this as he went back to the tiny book, visions of blue cake he could have easily pulled from the fridge just not enough.

I heard these noises... SCREECH! "HIYA!"

"A ninja is fighting a bird?" Magnus tried to say with confidence, but it still sounded like a question.

"Heeya is almost yeehaw backwards, maybe it's a cowboy trapped in a mirror verse," Alex said with her usual full confidence of putting the strangest words of man into the world.

Like somebody was getting attacked by possessed poultry, and, believe me, that's a situation I've been in before.

Will sighed and rubbed at his ear again. He really hated those stupid stymphalian birds.

Nobody else seemed to notice the commotion. We were in the lab, so everybody was talking, and it wasn't hard for me to go look out the window while I pretended to wash out my beaker.

Sure enough, there was a girl in the alley with her sword drawn. She was tall and muscular like a basketball player, with stringy brown hair and jeans, combat boots and a denim jacket.

"Clarisse?" Percy demanded along with everybody else around him.

"I did not make up a description of a random person," Jason promised as he composed himself past his shock quick enough. Just because the last time he'd heard of Clarisse leaving camp she'd blown a cannon at a hydra and then had her own ship blown up and was then almost eaten by a cyclops over a firey pit didn't mean explosions followed her everywhere...it was just a really bad combination with Percy's also steller ability to cause explosions and fires wherever he went!

She was hacking at a flock of black birds the size of ravens.

Alex smiled with interest if any Norse myths were going to crossover like last time when a Roman god had been in that Labyrinth. Surely their excursion in this place at the bottom of the ocean couldn't be the first instance of their worlds overlapping.

Feathers stuck out of her clothes in several places. A cut was bleeding over her left eye. As I watched, one of the birds shot a feather like an arrow, and it lodged in her shoulder. She cursed and sliced at the bird, but it flew away.

"Should I feel bad that's kind of cool," Nico grinned.

"Clarisse would either body slam you to the floor or nod her approval depending on where her pride sat," Thalia shrugged in agreement; so the answer was he didn't really feel that bad at all anyways.

Unfortunately, I recognized the girl. It was Clarisse, my old enemy from demigod camp.

Causing the others to laugh in surprise and Jason to even lean behind Thalia to pat him on the shoulder as he said, "look at you finally learning to use that phrase right! She actually is your very first enemy, and you are old enough to have an old enemy now!"

"It really does just take a few years for any lesson to sink into his brain," Thalia rolled her eyes in agreement.

"I will throw feathers at all of you if you don't stop mocking my poor, innocent younger self," Percy sighed, causing even more laughter at the poor, innocent, pathetic threat instead while Percy joined in.

Clarisse usually lived at Camp Half-Blood year-round. I had no idea what she was doing on the Upper East Side in the middle of a school day, but she was obviously in trouble. She wouldn't last much longer.

I did the only the thing I could.

"Mrs. White," I said, "can I go to the restroom? I feel like I'm going to puke."

You know how teachers tell you the magic word is please? That's not true. The magic word is puke. It will get you out of class faster than anything else.

"Write that down, write that down!" Alex mock hissed at Jason like she was getting the secret to life.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Jason laughed in agreement.

"I bet she's worse than others too," Will grinned. "Mrs. White, let me guess, she's a huge germaphobe too."

"Yep," Percy agreed, which was kind of strange for a science teacher to freak out any time a kid so much as sneezed.

"I want to know if that's universal," Will said saintly. "I haven't tried that on Chiron."

"You slacker, I had more faith in you," Percy told him in mild disappointment.

"Go!" Mrs. White said.

I ran out the door, stripping off my safety goggles, gloves and lab apron. I got out my weapon – a ballpoint pen called Riptide.

"And here I was just thinking you should probably live in that getup," Thalia snorted. "You cause enough messes you might as well run around in safety gear!"

"I looked like a discount mad scientist," Percy sighed. "And all we were doing was learning how to burn water, I wasn't exactly at risk of my life."

There was an odd moment of concerned silence before Thalia said, "um, Percy, only you could burn water, the rest of us boil it."

"Yeah, I thought so to," he grinned. He couldn't remember every detail of the lecture they'd gotten before hand, something about hydrogen and energy and junk, but it was cool to see and he was glad he had before Clairsse showed up.

Nobody stopped me in the halls. I exited by the gym. I got to the alley just in time to see Clarisse smack a devil bird with the flat of her sword like she was hitting a home run. The bird squawked and spiralled away, slamming against the brick wall and sliding into a trashcan. That still left a dozen more swarming around her.

"Clarisse!" I yelled.

"Didn't you learn your lesson about that," Will sighed, looking as close to strangling Percy as he ever did. "Last time she got bowled over by Bad Cow Number One crashing into her and you broke your ankle, nearly setting our camp on fire!"

"You need to pay more attention Will," Percy said with a smirk. "We've just established I've only now started using the word old right, you think I'm going to remember something that happened years ago? About Clarisse!"

"He's got you there Will," Nico chuckled while Will sighed in defeat.

She glared at me in disbelief. "Percy? What are you doing –"

She was cut short by a volley of feather arrows that zipped over her head and impaled themselves in the wall.

"This is my school," I told her.

"Just my luck," Clarisse grumbled, but she was too busy fighting to complain much.

"To much," Alex noted with interest. "So she did complain a little and you just blocked it out."

"Something I've always been very good at no matter my age," Percy assured.

I uncapped my pen, which grew into a metre-long bronze sword, and joined the battle, slashing at the birds and deflecting their feathers off my blade. Together, Clarisse and I sliced and hacked until all the birds were reduced to piles of feathers on the ground.

"Teamwork!" Jason cried cheerfully. He was all about that any time it came up, and he always seemed weirdly fond of Clarisse to the others confusion.

"Yeah, yeah, we didn't all die again," Percy patiently agreed.

We were both breathing hard. I had a few scratches, but nothing major. I pulled a feather arrow out of my arm. It hadn't gone in very deep. As long as it wasn't tipped with poison, I'd be okay. I took a bag of ambrosia out of my jacket, where I always kept it for emergencies, broke a piece in half and offered some to Clarisse.

"If it isn't that bad then why are you risking that?" Magnus asked, vividly remembering he'd burst into flames or something as bad if he ate to much.

"Wouldn't you indulge every chance you got?" Percy asked with a grin, just to get a hint of that taste.

"Fair," Magnus muttered, even if it did sound weirdly risky, and they were only on the first page of Percy's latest stunts. It could only go downhill from here.

"I don't need your help," she muttered, but she took the ambrosia.

We swallowed a few bites – not too much, since the food of the gods can burn you to ashes if you overindulge. I guess that's why you don't see many fat gods.

"Or it's because they can change their shape at will," Thalia rolled her eyes at him.

"Why would they only change their shape at me?" Will asked innocently.

Nico snickered and Thalia looked more likely to chuck part of her seaweed beanbag at him than keep mocking Percy for a moment before Jason moved on.

Anyway, in a few seconds our cuts and bruises had disappeared.

Clarisse sheathed her sword and brushed off her denim jacket. "Well... see you."

"Hold up!" I said. "You can't just run off."

"Sure she can," Nico said blankly. "We all have lives that don't involve you Percy. You were her side quest for once."

Percy very much exaggerated his hurt expression, pressing his hand to his heart and everything, but Jason was to busy snickering at the next line of the book to let him play it up to much.

"Sure I can."

Causing the others to laugh in surprise and Nico sigh and decide there were worse people he could have mimicked.

"What's going on? What are you doing away from camp? Why were those birds after you?"

Clarisse pushed me, or tried to. I was too accustomed to her tricks. I just sidestepped and let her stumble past me.

"Clarisse and I perfect bullfighting, if anybody's trying to come up with alternate chapter titles," Alex offered.

"We were not," Percy sighed.

"Come on," I said. "You just about got killed at my school. That makes it my business."

"You got here there Perce," Thalia chuckled. "I always blame anything on you if it happens in your radius, and sometimes when it isn't."

"Yes! Minor victory," Percy cheered all the same.

"It does not!"

"Let me help."

She took a shaky breath. I got the feeling she really wanted to punch me out, but at the same time there was a desperate look in her eyes, like she was in serious trouble.

Their mild humor at this situation suddenly went sharp with concern. Clarisse was nobody's favorite person, but she wasn't the mindless bully anymore who just dumped people's heads into toilets. Was Chris okay? Was her dad doing worse than just verbally castrating her? Not even Will, Thalia, and Nico knew what was going on because this had never been on their radar.

"It's my brothers," she said. "They're playing a prank on me."

"Oh," I said, not really surprised. Clarisse had lots of siblings at Camp Half-Blood. All of them picked on each other. I guess that was to be expected since they were sons and daughters of the war god, Ares. "Which brothers? Sherman? Mark?"

Percy's assumption didn't feel unreasonable, some of the tension eased back out, but this answer didn't track with Clarisse doing anything other than walking away from Percy's help.

"No," she said, sounding more afraid than I'd ever heard her. "My immortal brothers. Phobos and Deimos."

Magnus looked traumatized anew. He even clapped a hand to his mouth, as if fearing anything else he ever asked about next was going to make an appearance at Percy's life.

"Chill Magnus," Percy sighed, "I can't say I'm surprised more children of Ares are making my life miserable."

He didn't move, and Alex reached over to begin trying to pry his fingers away.

"I can't say I'm pleased," Will sighed. "The major gods messing with your life causes me enough heart failure, now the minor gods are joining in."

"They weren't messing with Percy's life," Alex corrected, foot now firmly planted on the ground and actually tugging while Magnus kept his hand locked in place and glared at her. "They were messing, with, Clarisse!" They were kind of concerned what she was fixing to do if he didn't comply and a little more scared to get between them.

"That's, not better Alex," Will sighed just as much at her comment as he did in relief when she sat back anyways and signed something to him.

He stared at her a moment longer before lowering his hand and saying, "no," with a weary groan. He signed it as he said it, putting his pointer and middle finger together to tap against his thumb with his other fingers curled up.

"Thank you," she signed back with a smirk.

They were fascinated what she'd said, and Percy was blunt and curious enough to hope he'd get an answer. "What'd you say to him?"

"I asked if he wanted to be the next Oracle," she said proudly. "I just made that sign up too and he still knew what I meant."

"She mixed the signs for magic and mummy, it was very effective," Magnus admitted with a reluctant smile.

"He can't be a magic mummy prophecy thing if he keeps talking without guessing right," she concluded proudly.

We sat on a bench at the park while Clarisse told me the story. I wasn't too worried about getting back to school. Mrs. White would just assume the nurse had sent me home, and sixth period was woodwork class. Mr. Bell never took attendance.

Percy was smiling at the fact that he'd just been at school long enough to know that kind of teacher observation. He so rarely was anywhere that long.

"So let me get this straight," I said. "You took your dad's car for a joyride and now it's missing."

Magnus made a spluttering of laughter and Alex nodded in agreement. "The book needs to skip over what was actually said more and straight to your understanding of the situation."

"It would be bike jacking too, so I don't know what Percy heard," Jason offered with a bit less laughter, though not to much.

"Ares has a war chariot," Nico reminded with a grin of excitement if they were fixing to get a description of that sometime soon. "Apollo isn't the only one with a fancy ride, all of them have one. It might be what's going on, if Ares sent her to get that back when it was stolen."

"Mmm, I hope that's what's going on, karma," Thalia cackled at his comeuppance finally for his part in Zues's bolt being stolen.

"It's never occurred to me that's what his bike was," Will admitted looking back, "I just thought he created a bike made of human skin and darkness for funsies that one time."

"Why would gods even have chariots if they can just materialize wherever they want?" Magnus asked, his humor subsiding at yet another strange Greek thing.

"It would take twenty years to list all their insane things they do and have and said and did with no rhyme or reason," Thalia sighed.

"It's not a car," Clarisse growled. "It's a war chariot! And he told me to take it out. It's like... a test.

"Oh," Will blinked finally in understanding. He'd heard in passing of this cabin's right of passage, though Ares did it sparingly only to his children he thought were worthy. It was a great honor from what he understood, and yet he couldn't remember her bragging about this coming up one bit.

I'm supposed to bring it back at sunset. But –"

"Your brothers carjacked you."

"Chariot-jacked me," she corrected.

"Percy, you've won chariot races," Jason rolled his eyes at him. "Why are you acting like this is a new concept."

"Keeping Clarisse angry at me is my default," Percy said with an odd twist to his mouth. If he didn't keep her agitation on display, her voice started cracking, and that scared him more.

"They're his regular charioteers, see. And they don't like anybody else getting to drive. So they stole the chariot from me and chased me off with those stupid arrow-throwing birds."

"Your dad's pets?"

She nodded miserably. "They guard his temple. Anyway, if I don't find the chariot..."

She looked like she was about to lose it. I didn't blame her. I'd seen her dad, Ares, get mad before, and it was not a pretty sight. If Clarisse failed him, he would come down hard on her. Real hard.

And Percy would never let that happen to anyone, they all collectively understood without further explanation where this was headed. They still weren't sure why this memory of all things was being shown when the Titan's army was still amassing and Percy might be about to die any page now with his sixteenth birthday on the horizon, but it didn't seem to matter to him.

He was sitting up straight in his seat, a look of concentration on his face only there when he was settling in to help on the next deadly quest. Percy was going to take this seriously and help Clairesse, that's all they needed to know.

"I'll help you," I said.

Jason read past that as casually as if Percy were blushing around Annabeth again. It was just par for the course.

She scowled. "Why would you? I'm not your friend."

I couldn't argue with that. Clarisse had been mean to me a million times, but still, I didn't like the idea of her or anybody else getting beaten up by Ares. I was trying to figure out how to explain that to her when a guy's voice said, "Aw, look. I think she's been crying!"

"Bite him," Alex said at once in such a robust tone they thought she'd said fight for a hot second, but she was scowling so much it was kind of a coin toss.

Magnus couldn't shake the idea out of his head for a moment of Alex going around biting random people on the street if they laughed at people crying, and it did not disturb him as much as it probably should have.

A teenage dude was leaning against a telephone pole. He was dressed in ratty jeans, a black T-shirt and a leather jacket, with a bandanna over his hair. A knife was stuck in his belt. He had eyes the colour of flames.

In another life, that could have been Nico, Percy thought with distaste. This guy had a much stronger aura that instantly put Percy off though, the kind that made his fist ball up to try and hide the shaking like he'd just thrown Nancy Bobofit into that fountain all over again and Mrs. Dodds locked eyes with him. It was anger and fear all bundled up into one tight emotion he would happily lash out with as readily as Clarisse would on any person.

"Phobos." Clarisse balled her fists. "Where's the chariot, you jerk?"

"Whatever happened to corpse breath and Prissy?" Alex sighed. "She hasn't thrown out a good insult in ages."

"The angrier she gets the less imaginative," Percy shrugged. "If she ever calls you one syllable, run for your life."

"You lost it," he teased. "Don't ask me."

"You little –"

Clarisse drew her sword and charged, but Phobos disappeared as she swung, and her blade bit into the telephone pole.

Phobos appeared on the bench next to me. He was laughing, but he stopped when I stuck Riptide's point against his throat.

"Ha!" Will cried in triumph, before he blushed and looked around like he'd done something embarrassing cheering for Percy threatening to stab another god.

"That does tend to silence most people," Thalia said in agreement.

"You guys are lucky I've never tried it on any of you blabber mouths," Percy chuckled.

"You'd better return that chariot," I told him, "before I get mad."

He sneered and tried to look tough, or as tough as you can with a sword under your chin.

An expression Nico had once imagined on Percy's face, clawing his way towards a swimming pool as Luke followed him with his bloody sword point on that deck. Percy had still looked plenty intimidating in his mind, a deep angry scowl on his face ready to taunt to his last breath Luke would never win.

This guy had nothing on Percy even if he had managed it.

"Who's your little boyfriend, Clarisse? You have to get help fighting your battles now?"

"Chris isn't a violent guy is he?" Thalia chuckled. "I hope he doesn't challenge Percy to a duel to the death for this rumor getting a start."

"I will concede that fight, I don't take up every challenge I'm given," Percy promised with an amused dismissal.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Clarisse tugged her sword, pulling it out of the telephone pole. "He's not even my friend. That's Percy Jackson."

Something changed in Phobos's expression. He looked surprised, maybe even nervous. "The son of Poseidon? The one who made Dad angry? Oh, this is too good, Clarisse. You're hanging out with a sworn enemy?"

"The whole cabin kind of lives with him," Magnus rubbed at the back of his neck. "Is it really such high treason?" He wasn't naive enough to think Ares and his kin had forgiven him exactly, but Ares's curse had come and gone in Zoe's death, it hadn't been mentioned in a while, so he'd sort of hoped at least his kids weren't crouched in the shadows anticipating revenge.

"It's certainly not encouraged," Percy said from personal experience of none of his favorite people ever coming from there.

"I'm not hanging out with him!"

"True too," Jason chuckled, "Percy invited himself along, again. She could get a restraining order against you."

"I bet her criminal record is longer than mine," Percy scoffed.

Phobos's eyes glowed bright red.

Clarisse screamed. She swatted the air as if she were being attacked by invisible bugs. "Please, no!"

"Are all of Ares kids just, like this?" Alex asked in disgust. He was worse than Clarisse, a high feat considering she'd started out pretty bad but only gotten better. She had a feeling this guy wasn't going to get the same humanizing treatment his half-blood children did.

"I guess it's one of those things they can't help but inherit, like Zues's kids being all spark and no bite," Percy smirked, not even flinching as Thalia smacked him.

"What are you doing to her?" I demanded.

Clarisse backed up into the street, swinging her sword wildly.

"Stop it!" I told Phobos. I dug my sword a little deeper against his throat, but he simply vanished, reappearing back at the telephone pole.

"Don't get so excited, Jackson," Phobos said. "I'm just showing her what she fears."

The glow faded from his eyes.

Clarisse collapsed, breathing hard. "You creep," she gasped. "I'll... I'll get you."

Jason squirmed in his seat as he realized just how bad he felt for her. This minor god was everything wrong with Clarisse when she'd met Percy, and he wished Percy had lopped off his neck just so they could laugh as he grew it back. The idea felt like an invasion of his mind, something he'd never have dared to think before this he was positive, but he felt it to be true all the same.

Phobos turned towards me. "How about you, Percy Jackson? What do you fear? I'll find out, you know. I always do."

"Give the chariot back." I tried to keep my voice even.

"How strange for you to be scared of such a weirdly specific thing," Thalia smirked, laughing as Percy rolled his eyes at her.

"I took on your dad once. You don't scare me."

Phobos laughed. "Nothing to fear but fear itself. Isn't that what they say? Well, let me tell you a little secret, half-blood. I am fear. If you want to find the chariot, come and get it. It's across the water. You'll find it where the little wild animals live – just the sort of place you belong."

Magnus tried very hard not to cringe at the idea of Percy facing off against wild animals. He might be fond of the idea of Mrs. O'Leary now, but that didn't mean he wouldn't piss his pants and run for his life from her in person, and who knew what other monstrous wolf like creatures this guy had guarding the place.

"Are you going to the zoo!" Alex gasped with such child like delight it made it hard for Magnus to focus on anything else all of a sudden.

"I hope he puts it in the meerkat home if so," Percy chuckled along.

He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of yellow vapour.

"I always knew yellow could be an evil color if it just tried hard enough," Alex said seriously.

"Well that is certainly a topic for another day," Thalia said with interest.

Now, I've got to tell you, I've met a lot of godlings and monsters I didn't like, but Phobos took the prize.

"Is the prize being personally thrown into that pit?" Magnus asked with only mild sarcasm.

"If I could tie some flying shoes to his feet I would," Percy agreed.

I don't like bullies. I'd never been in the "A" crowd at school, so I'd spent most of my life standing up to punks who tried to frighten me and my friends. The way Phobos laughed at me and made Clarisse collapse just by looking at her... I wanted to teach this guy a lesson.

I helped Clarisse up. Her face was still beaded with sweat.

"Now are you ready for help?" I asked.

We took the subway, keeping a lookout for more attacks, but no one bothered us. As we rode, Clarisse told me about Phobos and Deimos.

"They're minor gods," she said. "Phobos is fear. Deimos is terror."

"What's the difference?" Magnus asked.

Jason chuckled without surprise as he read how Magnus had mimicked the book. Magnus just sighed while Percy gave him a nod. At least he wasn't the only one in the room.

"What's the difference?"

She frowned. "Deimos is bigger and uglier, I guess. He's good at freaking out entire crowds. Phobos is more, like, personal. He can get inside your head."

"That's where they get the word phobia?"

Percy cleared his throat with a significant smirk.

"Do you want a cookie Percy?" Thalia cooed.

"Yes," he sniffed, deciding if nobody else was going to take back their snark he'd indulge himself. Jason waited patiently as he went and came back munching on a handful before continuing.

"Yeah," she grumbled. "He's so proud of that. All those phobias named after him. The jerk."

"You know," Alex sighed, "I bet if he was an actual decent half-sibling, Clairesse would be bragging about this constantly instead. It's kind of almost cool in a way."

"So why don't they want you driving the chariot?"

"It's usually a ritual just for Ares's sons when they turn fifteen. I'm the first daughter to get a shot in a long time."

"That is so cool," Jason grinned with enough delight to make up for her rotten dad and horrible half-siblings, immortal and otherwise who apparently hadn't given her enough credit for this.

"Can't say she didn't earn it," Percy agreed, his voice more reluctant, but no less meaningful.

"Good for you."

"Tell that to Phobos and Deimos. They hate me. I've got to get the chariot back to the temple."

"Where is the temple?"

"Pier 86. The Intrepid."

"Did those words mean something to you?" Magnus asked Percy.

"About as much as clam chowder does to you," Percy shrugged. "I know what it is, but I'm not all up in arms about it."

How was it possible he kept managing to answer questions without actually answering them? Percy seriously needed to stop hanging out with Chiron. Magnus didn't harass him for more though, he was sure they'd find out when Percy and Clairesse got that chariot there.

"Oh." It made sense, now that I thought about it. I'd never actually been on board the old aircraft carrier, but I knew they used it as some kind of military museum. It probably had a bunch of guns and bombs and other dangerous toys. Just the kind of place a war god would want to hang out.

"Huh," Magnus said without a drop of interest. Turns out an answer was just as useless as no answer too.

"We've got maybe four hours before sunset," I guessed. "That should be enough time if we can find the chariot."

"But what did Phobos mean, "over the water"? We're on an island, for Zeus's sake. That could be any direction!"

"Did she not hear the part about the animals?" Alex looked a little pouty cute wild critters that could probably murder them all without the monsterus upgrade weren't everyones top priority.

"She was a little distracted," Will reminded. "Oh," he snapped his fingers in thought. "I bet it's in the boar exhibit!"

"Sweet! Pumba and hula skirts for everyone," Alex cheered. Even when they got the reference, they were all still pretty concerned by her.

"He said something about wild animals," I remembered. "Little wild animals."

"A zoo?"

I nodded. A zoo over the water could be the one in Brooklyn, or maybe... someplace harder to get to, with little wild animals. Someplace nobody would ever think to look for a war chariot.

"Staten Island," I said. "They've got a small zoo."

"Maybe," Clarisse said. "That sounds like the kind of out-of-the-way place Phobos and Deimos would stash something. But if we're wrong –"

"We don't have time to be wrong."

"Couldn't you two split up?" Nico frowned. "Whistle for Blackjack and a buddy, they fly faster and you could check both."

"I don't think Clairesse could handle these guys on her own, best to stick together," Percy shook his head, wishing instead he had time to get in contact with Grover or Annabeth for support.

He didn't say it with any kind of cockiness in his voice, he didn't think she'd make or break this all on her own without his help. It was more of a statement that he wanted to help her through this in whatever way he could.

We hopped off the train at Times Square and caught the Number 1 line downtown, towards the ferry terminal.

We boarded the Staten Island Ferry at three thirty,

It was getting on in the afternoon, school would be letting out soon, time was not on their side. What time did the zoo close? "I wish the zoo was open at night," Percy said sporadically.

"It is if you're not a coward," Alex sniffed.

along with a bunch of tourists, who crowded the railings of the top deck, snapping pictures as we passed the Statue of Liberty.

"He modeled that on his mom," I said, looking up at the statue.

"One of the many things I like about you Perce," Magnus chuckled in surprise. "Don't ever let someone tell you you don't listen."

"Huh?" Percy said distractedly, his mind to busy smiling back at when she'd told him this over fixing his straps before their last capture the flag game that summer. Spouting random architecture facts always helped her relax and he'd asked her about something to do with the Eiffel Tower and she'd gone off. They'd won the game.

Clarisse frowned at me. "Who?"

"Bartholdi," I said. "The dude who made the Statue of Liberty. He was a son of Athena, and he designed it to look like his mom. That's what Annabeth told me, anyway."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. Annabeth was my best friend and a huge nut when it came to architecture and monuments. I guess her egghead facts rubbed off on me sometimes.

Percy chuckled along with the others at that rather undersold summary of her. Annabeth was all that and so much more to him and he rarely if ever knew how to say any of it any better.

"Useless," Clarisse said. "If it doesn't help you fight, it's useless information."

"You're friends names aren't useless," Jason said back in a very weary kind of voice. He sounded almost scared. "Getting to laugh isn't useless. I doubt she thinks Chris is useless if he can't hold his own."

It was clearly a touchy subject to him, and with good reason, as Percy rubbed his own temple. Nobody who had their every thought and emotion stripped away would ever think of something they learned again as useless.

It was a harsh view, and one none of them bought Clairesse herself believed. Not after everything she'd been through to help Chris last summer, not after everything she'd done in the battle that followed to help tend the wounded.

I could've argued with her, but just then the ferry lurched like it had hit a rock. Tourists spilled forward, tumbling into each other. Clarisse and I ran to the front of the boat. The water below us started to boil. Then the head of a sea serpent erupted from the bay.

"We've been surprisingly lacking on sea monsters in your life," Magnus sighed as if this had been inevitable.

"A fact I didn't know to savor until it was gone," Percy nodded.

The monster was at least as big as the boat. It was grey and green with a head like a crocodile and razor-sharp teeth. It smelled... well, like something that had just come up from the bottom of New York Harbor. Riding on its neck was a bulky guy in black Greek armour. His face was covered with ugly scars, and he held a javelin in his hand.

"Deimos!" Clarisse yelled.

"At least it's him instead of some other minor Greek god deciding to have a day with you," Jason tried to offer something nice.

"I think I'd rather just have one worse day of my life where they all get it out of the way at once," Percy shook his head. "I'll find a way to have them all fight each other to the death while I eat my snacks and watch and then have to fight the winner."

"I think that would be Zues," Will said with only a slight whimper to his voice.

Percy shrugged and looked more interested in going back to the fridge.

"Hello, sister!" His smile was almost as horrible as the serpent's. "Care to play?"

"Do we get to pick the game?" Percy sighed.

"No," Nico frowned at the idea of this guy warping a thumb war into a deadly tournament anyways.

The monster roared. Tourists screamed and scattered. I don't know exactly what they saw. The Mist usually prevents mortals from seeing monsters in their true form, but whatever they saw, they were terrified.

"Loch ness monster," Alex grinned.

"Mega shark," Magnus sighed.

"Garbage barge getting to close," Thalia wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Percy dreaded the day any of them started manipulating the Mist, he had a feeling all of those options were still more terrifying than anything the god of terror could manage.

"Leave them alone!" I yelled.

"Or what, son of the sea god?" Deimos sneered. "My brother tells me you're a wimp!

"He shouldn't believe everything he hears," Jason rolled his eyes, "it leads to stupid rumors. Would he also believe Phobos if he said he saw Percy hooking up with Clarisse?"

Percy looked traumatized enough at the continued joke like all of them were actively trying to summon the brothers in here now to laugh along.

Besides, I love terror. I live on terror!"

He spurred the sea serpent into head-butting the ferry, which sloshed backwards. Alarms blared. Passengers fell over each other trying to get away. Deimos laughed with delight.

"That's it," I grumbled. "Clarisse, grab on."

"What?"

"Grab onto my neck. We're going for a ride."

She didn't protest.

Will smiled in surprise at the amount of trust Clairsse was showing in that moment. He knew the bully of a girl who had once made Magnolia Cresnt cry by ripping up her flowers would never have done such a thing.

She grabbed onto me, and I said, "One, two, three – JUMP!"

We leaped off the top deck and straight into the bay, but we were only underwater for a moment. I felt the power of the ocean surging through me. I willed the water to swirl around me, building force until we burst out of the bay on top of a ten-metre-high waterspout.*30 feet I steered us straight towards the monster.

Alex grinned with jealousy at Clarisse getting to experience that. She just knew the child of a war god was having an adrenaline rush right then and probably liked Percy plenty now for this awesome tactic. Clarisse might even stop threatening to kill him or something crazy.

"You think you can tackle Deimos?" I yelled to Clarisse.

"I'm on it!" she said. "Just get me within three metres."*ten feet

We barrelled towards the serpent. Just as it bared its fangs, I swerved the waterspout to one side, and Clarisse jumped. She crashed into Deimos, and both of them toppled into the sea.

The sea serpent came after me. I quickly turned the waterspout to face him, then summoned all my power and willed the water to even greater heights.

WHOOOOM!

Fifty thousand litres of salt water crashed into the monster. I leaped over its head, uncapped Riptide, and slashed with all my might at the creature's neck. The monster roared. Green blood spouted from the wound, and the serpent sank beneath the waves.

The forced environmentalist in Percy from all his time around Grover actually felt kind of bad for the animal...and also wondered how safe that blood was for the already deplorable water.

I dived underwater and watched as it retreated to the open sea. That's one good thing about sea serpents: they're big babies when it comes to getting hurt.

That got a good laugh from everyone in here, though the confused question from Nico, "when did you fight any of them to know this?"

"The fish talk," Percy chuckled. "Whenever I pop into the ocean, some of them even like to brag about witnessing fearsome fights that shook the ocean, and the retreating monster always has like, five missing scales."

Clarisse surfaced near me, spluttering and coughing. I swam over and grabbed her.

"Did you get Deimos?" I asked.

Clarisse shook her head. "The coward disappeared as we were wrestling. But I'm sure we'll see him again. Phobos, too."

Tourists were still running around the ferry in a panic, but it didn't look like anybody was hurt. The boat didn"t seem damaged. I decided we shouldn't stick around. I held onto Clarisse's arm and willed the waves to carry us towards Staten Island.

"Or next thing you know, the local paper's going to be calling you a boat terrorist," Thalia agreed.

"I'd get Tyson to try and clear my name," Percy tried to disagree, but knew she was more than likely right.

In the west, the sun was going down over the Jersey shore. We were running out of time.

I'd never spent much time on Staten Island, and I found it was a lot bigger than I thought and not much fun to walk. The streets curved around confusingly, and everything seemed to be uphill. I was dry (I never got wet in the ocean unless I wanted to) but Clarisse's clothes were still sopping wet, so she left mucky footprints all over the sidewalk,

"You can't dry other people's clothes?" Magnus asked in surprise.

"Apparently not through thought, though I was afraid Clairsse would break my fingers if I tried to pat her shoulder and find out," Percy admitted.

and the bus driver wouldn't let us on the bus.

"Did the guy come away from that with all of his face still attached?" Jason asked in mild concern.

"Yeah," Percy whispered, his heart sinking faster than the sun. Rather than getting angry, she'd watched it drive off with a concerningly red face and gasping breath that seemed closer to tears than Percy had ever wanted anyone to be, let alone her.

"We'll never make it in time," she sighed.

"Stop thinking that way." I tried to sound upbeat, but I was starting to have doubts too. I wished we had reinforcements. Two demigods against two minor gods was not an even match, and when we met Phobos and Deimos together, I wasn't sure what we were going to do. I kept remembering what Phobos had said: How about you, Percy Jackson? What do you fear? I'll find out, you know.

After dragging ourselves halfway down the island, past a lot of suburban houses, a couple of churches and a McDonald's,

Causing a smattering of giggles and some side eyed looks at Nico, who held his head with dignity and retorted before anyone could ask, "no, I was not hiding in the playpen keeping an eye on them."

"I just hope you try other fast food chains and some home cooked styles," Will didn't sound the least bit sarcastic at least. "Maybe the dead like tofu burgers too, you don't have to be brand loyal," he didn't manage to finish in the same way and fell off snickering too while Nico sighed but grinned at what they were mocking. Not his creepy death summons, just the food he'd used.

we finally saw a sign that said ZOO.

"Real subtle with that imagery," Percy chuckled.

"A blink and you'll miss it sign," Thalia agreed in confusion. The giant honking statue was the obvious tourist attraction, but surely this was on somebody's list to go to instead.

"I hope they label everything like that in there, keep it a theme," Jason grinned. "I don't want fancy plaques under each animal with their Latin name and their biome details, I just want it to say eagle. That's it, that's all you get..." He trailed off laughing as hard as everyone else.

We turned a corner and followed this curvy street with some woods on one side until we came to the entrance.

The lady at the ticket booth looked at us suspiciously, but thank the gods I had enough cash to get us inside.

We walked around the reptile house,

Magnus and Alex burst out laughing hard, quickly exchanging smiles and trying to stutter something about Percy releasing a boa, but it made no sense to anybody else and Percy thought them nuts anyways.

and Clarisse stopped in her tracks.

"There it is."

It was sitting at a crossroads between the petting zoo and the sea otter pond: a large golden and red chariot tethered to four black horses. The chariot was decorated with amazing detail. It would've been beautiful if all the pictures hadn't shown people dying painful deaths.

"Really is a mystery how she doesn't get along with you better Nico," Percy sighed. He'd only seen details like that on Hades's palace.

"We spend to much time arguing which is better," Nico said deadpan. "Causing death or being death."

The horses were breathing fire out of their nostrils.

Families with buggies walked right past the chariot like it didn't exist. I guess the Mist must've been really strong around it, because the chariot's only camouflage was a handwritten note taped to one of the horses' chests that said OFFICIAL ZOO VEHICLE.

"I bet Ares is really kicking himself right now he never thought to turn his ride into that," Jason said with full exaggeration.

"Must wear khakis to ride," Alex nodded seriously.

"Yes, I'll drive!" Will cheered.

"None of us have a license, I wouldn't get in a vehicle with any of you whackjobs," Nico lied through his teeth as he smiled along.

"Where are Phobos and Deimos?" Clarisse muttered, drawing her sword.

I couldn't see them anywhere, but this had to be a trap.

I concentrated on the horses. Usually I could talk to horses, since my dad had created them. I said, Hey. Nice fire-breathing horses. Come here!

One of horses whinnied disdainfully. I could understand his thoughts, all right. He called me some names I can't repeat.

"I bet Will could repeat them," Alex smirked.

Will sighed, mildly embarrassed for what he'd called Hera.

Percy couldn't even look that offended as he tried to say, "hey, I could say them! It's just, my moms got a thing against strong language too-"

Alex winced and nodded quickly in understanding that didn't need further elaboration.

"I'll try to get the reins," Clarisse said. "The horses know me. Cover me."

"Right." I wasn't sure how I was supposed to cover her with a sword, but I kept my eyes peeled as Clarisse approached the chariot. She walked around the horses, almost tiptoeing.

She froze as a lady with a three-year-old girl passed by. The girl said, "Pony on fire!"

It was a cute moment for five seconds, before they all sighed and remembered how Rachel had described how horrifying the world could be and nobody believed her. There went another child inbound for the same fate, unless she herself just happened to be a half-blood and was likely to deal with even worse. Percy might have just witnessed the first of many memories where she would try to believe the lies her mom told her.

"Don't be silly, Jessie," the mother said in a dazed voice. "That's an official zoo vehicle."

The little girl tried to protest, but the mother grabbed her hand and they kept walking. Clarisse got closer to the chariot. Her hand had almost reached the rail when the horses reared up, whinnying and breathing flames. Phobos and Deimos appeared in the chariot, both of them now dressed in pitch-black battle armour. Phobos grinned, his red eyes glowing. Deimos's scarred face looked even more horrible up close.

"The hunt is on!" Phobos yelled. Clarisse stumbled back as he lashed the horses and charged the chariot straight towards me.

Now, I'd like to tell you that I did something heroic, like stand up against a raging team of fire-breathing horses with only my sword.

"Uhhu, and that Chimera was really a chihuahua all along," Jason shook his head at Percy's internal thought still thinking them fools...which was a weird sentence the longer he thought about it.

The truth is, I ran. I jumped over a trashcan and an exhibit fence, but there was no way I could outrun the chariot. It crashed through the fence right behind me, ploughing down everything in its path.

"Percy, look out!" Clarisse yelled, like I needed somebody to tell me that.

"At least she's doing her due diligence and not, not helping," Nico snickered.

"Can't say she doesn't give clear and precise orders," Will agreed a tad more honestly.

"Revenge," Alex told a lot more seriously for all the times Percy did that to her.

I jumped and landed on a rock island in the middle of the otter exhibit. I willed a column of water out of the pond and doused the horses, temporarily extinguishing their flames and sending them into confusion. The otters weren't happy with me. They chattered and barked, and I figured I'd better get off their island quick, before I had crazed sea mammals after me too.

"I bet they swear more than the horses," Thalia chuckled.

"You're lucky they didn't start throwing their pups at you, trashing their home," Jason snorted.

I ran as Phobos cursed and tried to get his horses under control. Clarisse took the opportunity to jump on Deimos's back just as he was lifting his javelin. Both of them went tumbling out of the chariot as it lurched forward.

I could hear Deimos and Clarisse starting to fight, sword on sword, but I didn't have time to worry about it because Phobos was riding after me again. I sprinted towards the aquarium with the chariot right behind me.

"Hey, Percy!" Phobos taunted. "I've got something for you!"

"A white flag?" Magnus said without a hint of hope.

"Magnus, if you don't want to play anymore, just say so," Alex rolled her eyes. "He throws one of those otters at you in revenge!"

"I like Magnus's better," Percy sighed.

I glanced back and saw the chariot melting, the horses turning to steel and folding into each other like clay figures being crumpled. The chariot refashioned itself into a black metal box with caterpillar tracks, a turret and a long gun barrel. A tank. I recognized it from this research report I'd had to do for history class. Phobos was grinning at me from the top of a World War II panzer.

"Say cheese!" he said.

"Whatever happened to the easy monsters, like the math teacher just slicing me to ribbons?" Percy sighed.

"You need constant experience and new environments to learn to grow Percy," Thalia said in a pretty good imitation of Chiron's voice.

"You need a swift kick to the head and your turn at this," Percy scoffed. The annoying part was Thalia probably could take down a tank with just her bow without even pulling out her shield.

I rolled to one side as the gun fired.

KA-BOOOOM! A souvenir kiosk exploded, sending fuzzy animals and plastic cups and disposable cameras in every direction.

"I bet somewhere in those rocks Kampe' is cheering for him," Alex snorted.

"How do you keep managing to make this universe crazier Alex?" Percy groaned, now the vivid idea in his head of Phobos riding on her in mind.

"I'm just special that way," she grinned.

As Phobos re-aimed his gun, I got to my feet and dived into the aquarium.

I wanted to surround myself with water. That always increased my power. Besides, it was possible Phobos couldn't fit the chariot through the doorway. Of course, if he blasted through it, that wouldn't help...

"What do you need us for anyways Percy," Jason chuckled in surprise he'd been about to say the same thing. "You think all the good comments for yourself."

"Can I get that in writing Jason?" Percy smirked.

"Get what in writing?" He asked swiftly, turning back to the book like the smart kid he was.

I ran through the rooms washed in weird blue light from the fish tank exhibits. Cuttlefish, clown fish and eels all stared at me as I raced past. I could hear their little minds whispering, Son of the sea god! Son of the sea god! It's great when you're a celebrity to squids.

"I bet it is," Will snorted. "I can't imagine much impresses them!"

He spoke in that unique way where Percy wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not, so he just let that one slide.

I stopped at the back of the aquarium and listened. I heard nothing. And then... Vroom, Vroom. A different kind of engine.

I watched in disbelief as Phobos came riding through the aquarium on a Harley-Davidson. I'd seen this motorcycle before: its black flame-decorated engine, its shotgun holsters, its leather seat that looked like human skin. This was the same motorcycle Ares had ridden when I'd first met him, but it had never occurred to me that it was just another form of his war chariot.

"It really wouldn't have made any less sense for him to have just created that out of thin air or this," Magnus sighed.

"I'm surprised he didn't use the tank!" Alex yelped.

"Hello, loser," Phobos said, pulling a huge sword out of its sheath. "Time to be scared."

"I did not set my alarm for this!" Percy groaned.

"You don't set your alarm for anything," Thalia rolled her eyes.

I raised my own sword, determined to face him, but then Phobos's eyes glowed brighter, and I made the mistake of looking into them.

Jason hesitated at once, watching Percy intently.

It took him a moment to realize he was silently asking permission. Like this would finally be the thing so embarrassing and so private he'd yank the baby yellow book away and declare them all off limit to his thoughts. These guys had read every dumb, stupid, Annabeth related, illegal, and illogical thing he'd ever done, and they still checked in with him to make sure they weren't crossing a line as nobody tried to rush Jason.

Percy just shrugged and waved him on.

Suddenly I was in a different place. I was at Camp Half-Blood, my favourite place in the world, and it was in flames. The woods were on fire. The cabins were smoking. The dining pavilion's Greek columns had crumbled and the Big House was a smouldering ruin. My friends were on their knees pleading with me. Annabeth, Grover, all the other campers.

Save us, Percy! they wailed. Make the choice!

Percy shivered, his stomach a painful twisted fire all its own he wished he could wrap in a nonflammable lab coat and goggles.

The interesting thing was though, as he wrapped his arm around himself and curled in tight for the vivid memory of that paralyzing, painful idea, was where it was hurting. Not his head, not tormenting his memory. Just the idea of this still sickened him, and that was its own host of problems he didn't know how to dissect.

I stood paralysed. This was the moment I had always dreaded: the prophecy that was supposed to come about when I was sixteen. I would make a choice that would save or destroy Mount Olympus.

Now the moment was here, and I had no idea what to do. The camp was burning. My friends looked at me, begging for help. My heart pounded. I couldn't move. What if I did the wrong thing?

Thalia's heart truly went out for him. She wasn't surprised in the slightest to hear all that, it had once been her greatest fear too. She'd passed this on to him, and he'd stepped up and accepted it so Nico wouldn't know this burden.

She could have never stepped out of this fear like she already knew he would.

Then I heard the voices of the aquarium fish: Son of the sea god! Wake!

Suddenly I felt the power of the ocean all around me again, hundreds of litres of salt water, thousands of fish trying to get my attention. I wasn't at camp. This was an illusion. Phobos was showing me my deepest fear.

I blinked and saw Phobos's blade coming down towards my head. I raised Riptide and blocked the blow just before it cut me in two.

"Saved by the fish," Thalia snorted in surprise. "Oh, I hope you liberate them all by dumping that place into the ocean so they don't turn into fish sticks!"

"This probably is the greatest thing to ever happen in their little lives, we have cuddle fish to thank for your existence," Will agreed way to excitedly, like he was fixing to demand a cuddle and it kind of scared Percy.

"One of these days, I'm going to do something so awesome and epic, none of you chuckleheads will come up with some smart-ass response," Percy said with no amount of confidence.

"Please," Alex smirked in a way as if taking on a bet, and Percy swallowed in horror, immediately scolding himself of five seconds ago and whatever other memory he'd just provoked into Alex's line of sight.

I counterattacked and stabbed Phobos in the arm. Golden ichor, the blood of the gods, soaked through his shirt.

"Does that do anything?" Magnus couldn't help but ask with disgust in his tone, Thalia had just mentioned eating fish sticks. "In Christian myth they like, symbolically eat their god through bread and wine. Does that stuff help make your ambrosia?"

Percy felt a sudden need to vomit violently at the suggestion. He really felt the need to get Magnus tested for ADHD or a psycho-analysis, definitely one of those.

"Certainly in some myths their blood is referenced," Will said without even batting an eye. "A few monsters were said to be powered by it," he didn't say which out loud, as one theory was Talos. "It's not actually as common as Percy makes it seem for the gods to bleed though, so nothing that specific, I think."

"Only Will's allowed to answer my questions now," Magnus decided, since that answer hadn't scared the piss out of him.

Will pursed his lips and felt instantly bad he'd kind of been lying. Magnus's question was in fact one interpretation of their godly food, none of the kids at camp just liked to acknowledge it...so it was more a lie of omission.

Phobos growled and slashed at me. I parried easily. Without his power of fear, Phobos was nothing. He wasn't even a decent fighter. I pressed him back, swiped at his face, and gave him a cut across the cheek. The angrier he was, the clumsier he got.

"He didn't just flee?" Alex quirked a brow in surprise. "Ares did when you finally got a stab in, so this guy's just a smidge better than his dad."

"I will not be dishing out compliments to any of them," Percy scoffed.

I couldn't kill him. He was immortal. But you wouldn't have known that from his expression. The fear god looked afraid.

Thalia threw her head back laughing in delight. It was quite an evil laugh and there really should have been lightning crackling behind her, but Percy merely gave her a high five of delight as he smirked along.

Finally I kicked him backwards against the water fountain. His sword skittered into the ladies room.

"Using your own curse against him, you are something to strive for Perce," Jason snickered along.

"Enough, with the bathroom guys!" Percy groaned.

"Not a chance," Alex scoffed.

I grabbed the straps of his armour and pulled him up to face me.

"You're going to disappear now," I told him. "You're going to stay out of Clarisse's way. And if I see you again, I'm going to give you a bigger scar in a much more painful place!"

Nico couldn't help the breath that escaped him, the stab of heat that washed through him. Yeah, that was hot.

He ducked his head and ran a very embarrassed hand through his hair to hide such a thing in hopes Will wouldn't notice. That was still okay to think with Will's arm around him...right?

He gulped. "There will be a next time, Jackson!"

And he dissolved into yellow vapour.

I turned towards the fish exhibits. "Thanks, guys."

Then Nico felt all the more embarrassed at how kind he found that act. Percy thanking the fish felt very much in the same way he thanked his skeletons. Apparently that crush was still in there, or at least parts of Percy he still greatly admired.

Then Will called in delight, "aw, Percy! Your mom would be so proud! You didn't even need a Nereid to remind you that time!"

He sounded so sincere, he really wasn't mocking Percy but just happy he was over there showing gratitude. Maybe it was all the mystery surrounding a Big Three Kid Nico would never get, maybe it was just Will, but Nico still found it plenty charming too...and leaving him just as confused.

Then I looked at Ares's motorcycle. I'd never ridden an all-powerful Harley-Davidson war chariot before, but how hard could it be? I hopped on, started the ignition, and rode out of the aquarium to help Clarisse.

"That gave me seven more kinds of terror than that God ever could," Jason shivered at the idea of Percy with that kind of power.

"Annabeth would be drooling right now if she heard that," Thalia rolled her eyes, causing Percy to turn a whole new color of red as he blushed and stammered at her like his tongue had been decompressed.

I had no trouble finding her. I just followed the path of destruction.

"How we always find Clarisse at camp too when we need to go looking for her," Will chuckled.

"You do it the hard way," Thalia scoffed, "I just shout as loud as I can about how Ares's sacred animal should have been a chicken and she comes running."

"Yeah, but Thalia, I don't wish to die," Will groaned.

"Your loss," she shrugged, "she's great practice, better than half the monsters you'll find in that forest."

Fences were knocked down. Animals were running free. Badgers and lemurs were checking out the popcorn machine. A fat-looking leopard was lounging on a park bench with a bunch of pigeon feathers around him.

Alex hummed with pleasure at the mention of some of her favorite animals. She loved sneaking into zoo's to get more ideas of what to turn into. The mayhem at every corner and Percy once again putting gods in their place somehow just made this trip sound even better.

I parked the motorcycle next to the petting zoo, and there were Deimos and Clarisse in the goat area. Clarisse was on her knees. I ran forward but stopped suddenly when I saw how Deimos had changed form. He was Ares now – the tall god of war, dressed in black leather and sunglasses, his whole body smoking with anger as he raised his fist over Clarisse.

"You failed me again!" the war god bellowed. "I told you what would happen!"

He tried to strike her, but Clarisse scrambled away, shrieking, "No! Please!"

There was no room for shock or denial in them, it's not as if this had been subtle at any point in time. Just more than enough anger that Ares should come sniffing around hoping for a fight so Percy could stab him somewhere even better this time. Will would have even been happy to cuss up a storm if that would have attracted him faster.

If this were a true memory or just a nightmare becoming reality, the fact was, Percy wasn't going to let it go any farther.

"Foolish girl!"

"Clarisse!" I yelled. "It's an illusion. Stand up to him!"

Deimos's form flickered. "I am Ares!" he insisted. "And you are a worthless girl! I knew you would fail me. Now you will suffer my wrath."

I wanted to charge in and fight Deimos, but somehow I knew it wouldn't help. Clarisse had to do it. This was her worst fear. She had to overcome it for herself.

You could only help someone so much, Magnus well knew from seeing it time and again. If someone didn't want to be helped, they never would change. Clarisse was strong, he wanted her to fight back, but even if she didn't have it in her, Percy would never just stand there and let the worst happen if she couldn't and lived with this forever.

"Clarisse!" I said. She glanced over, and I tried to hold her eyes. "Stand up to him!" I said. "He's all talk. Get up!"

"Unlike his daughter," Thalia agreed savagely. Clarisse was her word. That girl did not postulate and pretend to be the toughest girl at came. She strived for it. A worthy huntress if she'd ever consider it.

"I... I can't."

"Yes, you can. You're a warrior. Get up!"

She hesitated. Then she began to stand.

An old chant came to Nico's mind, one he found himself uttering now. Not quite a summons, more like an empowerment to help the spirits stay longer if you had a need for them or had to wrestle for control. The shadows on the wall danced. They seemed angry, and vengeful, but it didn't scare anyone this time as they swirled about. They wanted to be free of here, not come closer.

"What are you doing?" Ares bellowed. "Grovel for mercy, girl!"

Clarisse took a shaky breath. Very quietly, she said, "No."

"WHAT?"

She raised her sword. "I'm tired of being scared of you."

Deimos struck, but Clarisse deflected the blow. She staggered but didn't fall.

Will felt a burn pass through him, the kind that made the world turn red. Clarisse had earned her father's respect and gotten his blessing, but she should have been granted it here too. How Ares had restrained himself he didn't know, she should have been burning as bright for this as he felt.

"You're not Ares," Clarisse said. "You're not even a good fighter."

"Can Clarisse get disowned for that?" Jason asked with a bit of worry amongst his pride though. He didn't want her to get in even more trouble for making Ares's immortal kids look bad. Percy was one thing, Clairsse could receive his actual wrath.

"I don't care," Percy's grin was too infectious, the kind of bright eyed energy that could take on every Olympian without batting an eye. He'd get his dad to adopt her or something.

Deimos growled in frustration. When he struck again, Clarisse was ready. She disarmed him and stabbed him in the shoulder – not deep, but enough to hurt even a godling.

He yowled in pain and began to glow.

"Look away!" I told Clarisse.

We averted our eyes as Deimos exploded into golden light – his true godly form – and disappeared.

We were alone except for the petting zoo goats, which were tugging at our clothes, looking for snacks.

"Dang it, nobody told me Grover was there in spirit too!" Alex snickered.

"I'm going to throw pellets at you," Jason sighed at her.

"Clarisse would be thanking me for taking those sappy looks off your faces," Alex sniffed with confidence.

The motorcycle had turned back into a horse-drawn chariot.

Clarisse looked at me cautiously. She wiped the straw and sweat off her face. "You didn't see that. You didn't see any of that."

I grinned. "You were great."

"The correct answer, Percy, was 'see what? I didn't see anything!'" Thalia told him in exasperation.

"Didn't get that memo," Percy shrugged. They hadn't seen the surprised smile on her face, and he was used to ignoring what Clarisse said anyways.

She glanced at the sky, which was turning red behind the trees.

"Get in the chariot," Clarisse said. "We've still got a long ride to make."

A few minutes later we reached the Staten Island Ferry and remembered something obvious: we were on an island. The ferry didn't take cars. Or chariots. Or motorcycles.

"Um, it's a godly vehicle," Magnus said blankly. "Are you telling me it obeys the laws of physics and needs a road?"

"I, didn't think to test that theory," Percy admitted. He and Clriasse had definitely been in panic mode by the color of the sky.

...and boy was that new for Magnus pointing this out for once! Alex found herself beaming. Their little boy was growing up!

"Great," Clarisse mumbled. "What do we do now? Ride this thing across the Verrazano Bridge?"

We both knew there wasn't time. There were bridges to Brooklyn and New Jersey, but either way it would take hours to drive the chariot back to Manhattan, even if we could fool people into thinking it was a regular car.

Then I got an idea. "We'll take the direct route."

Clarisse frowned. "What do you mean?"

I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. "Drive straight ahead. Go!"

Clarisse was so desperate she didn't hesitate.

Jason looked so jazzed in his seat, laughing up a storm he tried to read through. "I always knew she'd do great on your quests! She's actually trusted you all day and this is going to be so cool in your next fight when you two team up with Annabeth and the monsters won't know what hit them!"

"Yeah Jace, really looking forward to that," Percy said in exasperation, mostly for his entirely correct and yet way to much enthusiasm for their next deadly adventure on the horizon.

She yelled, "Hiya!" and lashed the horses. They charged straight towards the water. I imagined the sea turning solid, the waves becoming a firm surface all the way to Manhattan. The war chariot hit the surf, the horses' fiery breath smoking all around us, and we rode the tops of the waves straight across New York Harbor.

Magnus missed the days when that would have been the weirdest thing he'd hear in his life. After a moment of consideration though, he found himself instead realizing what he really still missed was Hearth and Blitz. This, this was just something he was indeed used to.

We arrived at Pier 86 just as the sunset was fading to purple. The USS Intrepid, temple of Ares, was a huge wall of grey metal in front of us, the flight deck dotted with fighter aircraft and helicopters. We parked the chariot on the ramp and I jumped out. For once I was glad to be on dry land. Concentrating on keeping the chariot above the waves had been one of the hardest things I'd ever done. I was exhausted.

"I'd better get out of here before Ares arrives," I said.

Clarisse nodded. "He'd probably kill you on sight."

"Pfft, let him try," Alex scoffed with complete confidence.

"Let him not," Percy's tone was a surprise; soft, a tad concerned. The last time he'd pissed that guy off, Zoe had died for it. His sons might not have enacted some curse on his blade before they'd vanished, but for all he knew, Clarisse was going to suffer next for their win this day.

"Congratulations," I said. "I guess you passed your driving test."

"Bet we can't make illegal copies out of that license," Percy sighed in disappointment.

"Bet I know some people who still try," Will groaned, Alex and the Stolls at the top of his list.

She wrapped the reins around her hand. "About what you saw, Percy. What I was afraid of, I mean –"

"I won't tell anybody."

Percy winced, muttering an apology into the universe and still wishing to curse out whatever god had done this to him. Not for his sake, but because Clarisse had no more say in her life being exposed than Annabeth and Grover.

"We promise not to speak of word of this to Clarisse," Thalia offered in return.

"Speak for yourself," Jason still had that crazy smile in place like he was going to demand of her as soon as possible what it had felt like to stab a god and then be in their godly glow. He had Percy's account, but more perspectives could only be better!

Thalia elbowed him, hard, and he yelped in surprise then pouted and muttered a promise along with everyone else they'd take this secret to the grave to stave off embarrassing the poor girl. She'd been through enough.

She looked at me uncomfortably. "Did Phobos scare you?"

"Yeah. I saw the camp in flames. I saw my friends all pleading for my help and I didn't know what to do. For a second, I couldn't move. I was paralyzed. I know how you felt."

Jason looked around at Percy with even higher regards than before in his eyes. Percy could have just said yeah and left it at that making Clriasse feel he was lying considering he'd come to her rescue.

Instead, Percy had somehow given the perfect answer. She could have known he'd needed help to snap out of it too, but Percy had a little to much pride of his own to share that, and if he had Clarisse probably would have thought he was still a liar. He really knew everyone in camp so well, it made him jealous and all the more respectful towards him.

She lowered her eyes. "I, uh... I guess I should say..." The words seemed to stick in her throat. I wasn't sure Clarisse had ever said thank you in her life.

"Don't mention it," I told her.

I started to walk away, but she called out, "Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"When you, uh, had that vision about your friends..."

"You were one of them," I promised. "Just don't tell anybody, okay? Or I'd have to kill you."

A faint smile flickered across her face. "See you later."

"See you."

I headed off towards the subway. It had been a long day, and I was ready to go home.

"All done," Jason said in surprise when he flipped the page and saw a new chapter title.

"Not that this wasn't as thrilling as any other thing we've heard about your life," Magnus said as he got up to get the book, "but why were we shown that again, like this? Aside from getting a day in the life of Clarisse's miserable side of the family, this wasn't anything I'd think we wouldn't have found out about from some passing comment of yours." Then again the books, his memories, whatever, weren't prone to glossing over to much, so perhaps this was just significant for a reason they weren't seeing.

"Don't look at me, I have no idea what order this is going in," Percy shrugged. It would have been nice if that had instead been from Clarisse's perspective to give him a real break. Ah well, he wasn't going to be complaining about one more memory back.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #clarisse la rue #Jason Grace #Thalia Grace #nico di angelo #will solace #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #reading the books #HDYSG

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angel-jada · 1 year

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1NC0M1NG CH4T FR0M . . . . . RORONOA ZORO

✩ F0RUM N4M3 . . . . . KUNOICHI

✩ F0RUM C0NT3NT . . . . . the slightest hint of sip zoro, the story of how you met the strawhat crew ( and your swordsman ), f! reader, you’re a badass, Luffy saves you, nothing too crazy

✩ 4UD10 R3CS . . . . . I WANNA BE YOURS / arctic monkeys

I can’t believe I didn’t account for this. I am such an idiot.

You knew the creak of a disembarking ship all too well, which only told you that the Strawhats were back way before the estimated time.

This is the last time I trust Kovu with gathering intel.

Sighing, you placed the rolled up prints of poneglyph in their respective tubes, then tied them to your back, silently ducking into the shadows when hearing footsteps outside the door.

You were currently aboard the Thousand Sunny, the flagship of the Strawhats, trying to steal their poneglyph prints for your boss.

It was a simple job, too. They were docked at some random island for supplies, the reindeer that was left behind to watch the ship had fallen asleep, and it was broad daylight.

No one would suspect a thing.

You should’ve been back on land by now, handing over the prints and finally breaking free from his abusive reign.

This job was your ticket to freedom.

Yet Kovu just had to fuck shit up.

I can’t stayed holed up in this room forever. They’ll get too far from land.

With a huff, you slowly opened the door, happy to sense that no one was around.

I need to find a way to get to the back of the ship. I can jump from there, and probably swim back.

You ran lightly towards the stairs, happy you went barefoot for this mission instead of using your getas.

There was no possible way to get back there without being seen, so the least you could do was be fast about it.

You were up the stairs in a blink and now running straight for the gigantic cannon-looking thing attached to the back of the boat.

Almost home free.

For the first time in who remembers when, you smiled, freedom just in reach.

Until it wasn’t.

“YOHOHOHOHO! Um, guys! There’s a lovely lady that is trying to sneak off the ship! AHHHHH! SHE HAS THE PONEGLYPHS!” A skeleton man shrieked, landing in front of and blocking your easy exit, drawing a sword from his cane.

Dammit! Time to try the front!

You back flipped, twisting yourself in the air so you landed the opposite way, allowing you to book it in the other direction.

“You can’t be serious!” an redheaded woman exclaimed, running up the steps and to the back deck with a small orange and white staff in hand.

Cat Burglar Nami.

She ran at you, the staff extending into something much larger.

She swung, aiming for your head but you dropped into a side lunge, using your extended leg to sweep her feet and knock her on her ass.

You grabbed her staff as he was distracted, squeezing it by accident. Out of nowhere, it extended impossibly long, shooting you into the air.

Luck may be on my side today.

You smirked as you flew up the side of the mast, getting about halfway up before planting your feet on it, running up the rest of the way.

You managed to get to the yard, perching yourself so you could look for another form of escape, when you sensed something.

Nico Robin.

You jumped off the yard, grabbing onto it like a monkey bar just as four pale arms sprouted from the wood, attempting to grab you.

“Whoa! That’s so cool!” a giddy voice exclaimed from below.

Your gaze slowly shifted to the deck below, only to see that trademark hat, and the notorious man that it rested on.

Strawhat!

You could sense another attack coming your way so you swung yourself as if you were on uneven bars and let go, flying into the air.

“Is she nuts?! She’s gonna kill herself from that height!” a large man with weirdly shaped blue hair exclaimed from below.

Cyborg Franky.

The swing was too short. You wouldn’t go overboard.

Curse these heavy cuffs!

One silver cuff was attached to each of your ankles, their being there out of your control.

Noticing you were getting dangerously close to the ground, you imbued your legs with some haki and landed safely, creating a small crater on the grassy deck.

As the dust settled, you realized you were surrounded by Strawhat, Zoro, and Blackfoot.

Shit.

“GAHHHH! SHE’S SO GORGEOUS! LOOK AT HER SHORT KIMONO!” Sanji shrieked as his eyes turned into hearts and blood shot from his nose.

Despite the blonde man’s...awkward display, you sensed another pair of eyes on you, so much so that it practically burned.

The Pirate Hunter?

The second you turned to him, your heart caught in your throat.

You had seen his face on his wanted poster a few times before, and you’d be stupid to deny that he wasn’t a handsome man, but looking at him in the flesh... the pictures didn’t even begin to do him justice.

And before you even realized, the two of you locked eyes, and in an instant, it felt as if your legs turned to jelly.

A warm, fluttery feeling spread throughout your stomach, and it felt as if everything else in the world had stopped.

What is this? Was I poisoned?

Just going off his glare, you could already tell that most cowered under his gaze. So why were you reacting this way?

You mentally slapped yourself.

You have to focus.

“You. What are you doing on my ship? And why are you stealing Robin’s poneglyphs?” Strawhat asked seriously, his face quite the contrast from his giddy expression before.

You sighed.

There was no way you could lie out of this mess.

“I am a kunoichi of Iguro clan. And I have been ordered to steal your poneglyph prints,” you stated, your tone firm.

“Any idea why?” Nami asked, her and the rest of the crew walking over.

“None. I am left completely in the dark,” you shook your head.

Your expression quickly turned determined.

“But I do know that this final job is my one way ticket out of hell, so peacefully or not, I’m leaving.”

You lowered yourself into a fighting stance, glaring at Strawhat as his lips grew a smirk.

He cracked his knuckles. “Alright then.”

“Luffy you better not hurt her!” Sanji fumed from the side.

Using your haki, you peered into the near future to see him punch you with an extended arm.

Can’t have that.

“Gum Gum Pistol!”

You tilted to the side, avoiding his hit with ease.

The entire crew gaped, save for Zoro.

Strawhat’s grin grew even larger, if that was possible, and wound up both arms.

A barrage of fists.

“Gum Gum Gatling!”

The barrage came quickly, but you dodged just like the first, flipping, lunging, and performing splits to dodge.

Imbuing your arms with haki, you grabbed one of his arms, harshly pulling him towards you. And like a bungee cord, he came, and you slammed a flattened hand into the pressure point on his neck, knocking him out.

“Luffy!” the crew exclaimed.

Zoro quickly drew two of his swords and ran for you, so you immediately dropped his captain and drew your own katana, meeting his two with a loud clash.

He smirked, which made that fluttery feeling return to your stomach. “I see you use Ittoryu.”

You smirked right back. “I’m knowledgeable in the style, yes.”

The both of you pushed off, returning to your stances before running at each other again.

Swords flew through the air as the both of you met the others attack perfectly.

You lunged into an attack, but he blocked it yet again, so you hook the outstretched foot to his ankle, deepening your lunge to pull him down.

He grunted, doing everything he could to keep his stance planted and balanced, so you imbued your foot with haki, and he did the same for his.

He seemed almost amused at the fact that you were still pushing your sword against his, openly showing that you were incredibly close to him in strength.

Not even Tashigi could do that.

And not only was he amused by the woman in front of him, but in silent awe.

Sure, your beauty was what caught his attention first. You had every feature that a woman would kill for.

Smooth, chestnut skin, plump lips, beautiful hip dips and curves, and beautiful (e/c) pearls, that looked as if they held galaxies in your glance.

But now that he saw your fighting prowess and raw strength along with it, well you could say you had him hook, line, and sinker.

You still kept strong, keeping your sword firm in it’s place as the Pirate Hunter continued to push down.

That is, until the pain equivalent of a thousand lightning bolts stemmed from your ankles, and you let on a cry of pain.

No! Not now!

Zoro realized this and quickly pulled away his swords before the electricity could be conducted to him.

You dropped your katana, falling over as you held yourself in agony, muffling your shouts of pain on your forearm.

“What’s wrong? What did you do to her, marimo?!” Sanji asked, yelling at the green-haired swordsman.

“I didn’t do anything to her!” Zoro fired back, glaring at the cook.

He didn’t know why, but seeing you in so much pain made him hurt. It was a sharp pulling feeling, as if his heart was on a string connected to you.

“The shocks seem to be coming from her ankles,” Robin pointed out, everyone’s attention turning to the cuffs that adorned your feet.

“How do we get it off her? ‘Cause that looks super painful,” Franky asked, grimacing at the sight of you writhing in pain.

It was then that Strawhat got back up from the ground, looking at you with a blank face.

“Oi, (y/n), can you hear me?” your boss asked, his voice coming from the cuffs.

“Shit,” you cursed, weakly trying to get up.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” you could practically hear his smirk of the other side.

“Lemme cut to the chase. You failed your mission, plain and simple. So you know the consequences.”

Your eyes went wide and tears threatened to spill as you realized what he meant.

“No!” you emptily gasped, trying to speak through the pain. “I’ve...I’ve worked with you for 10 years! My debt is paid! We had an agreement!”

“You stupid girl!” he shouted. “I was never going to honor our agreement! You’re too good of an assets to pass up! You will work under me for the rest of your pathetic, little life!”

The ship went dead silent, the Strawhat crew looking at you sorrily as tears poured down your cheeks.

10 years of your life, gone. All because you believed the word of a pirate.

He was right. You really were a stupid.

Painfully, you turned to Strawhat, who looked over the situation intently.

That’s when you got an idea. And settled on it in a blink.

Down on your hands and knees, you bowed your head to the captain, the rest of the crew letting out quiet gasps.

“Strawhat, I...hnnggh...I apologize for knocking you out earlier and...un-understand that I am in no place to ask you for such a favor but,”

You lowered your head to the ground, accepting that you would have to die in a state of embarrassment and weakness.

“Please kill me.”

If you thought the crew was shocked before, they were flabbergasted now.

Even Zoro.

“I’ve wasted the last 10 years of my life with that monster. And now that there is no end in sight, I do not wish to live.”

Strawhat kept the same neutral face as he slowly approached.

You took a deep breath, smiling as you realized your suffering would soon be over, and the bliss of nothingness would welcome you.

But it never came.

Strawhat instead walked past you, silently, and you understood.

I should’ve known.

Such a favor couldn’t be done for someone who just stole from him.

Suddenly, you felt the weight release from your ankles, and the shocks stop.

Your eyes shot wide as you lifted your head, snapping your head around to see that Strawhat had broken off the cuffs for you.

“Hey, guy! I don’t know if you can hear me anymore, but know that (y/n) is under my protection! And she won’t be paying back your stupid debt anymore!” he shouted into the broken pieces.

The small stream of tears that were rolling down your cheeks were now complete waterfalls.

In one motion, a man that you had just met, a man that you tried to steal from, had set you free. After 10 years of hellish torture, you were finally free.

But you still tried to compose yourself, sniffling as he turned back around to face you.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” you quietly asked, looking away from the man.

His smile grew into full on grin. “All you needed was a little help, there was no reason to kill you.”

Your eyes went wide.

There was no way. This had to be a trick.

“Next time just ask.”

Your ears perked at that part.

“Next time?” you asked.

“Oh, yeah! I meant to ask. Do ya wanna join my crew? It’d be so cool if we had a kunoichi!” He cheesed.

You were shocked to say the least, looking over the rest of the crew’s faces to see that they were smiling as well.

Never before had you been met with such kindness. He wasn’t even getting anything in return.

You sniffled, clearing your throat. “I would like that,” you smiled, looking down at the ground.

And as he cheered, and ordered Black Leg to cook a banquet in celebration, you wiped a stray tear from your cheek, looking up to the clear, blue sky.

Strawhat Luffy would never know the bounds of your thanks.

You could never repay him.

#one piece #one piece fluff #one piece angst #roanoa zoro #zoro x reader #roronoa zoro #roronoa x reader #zoro x y/n #roronoa zoro x reader #roronoa zoro x y/n

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butch-reidentified · 1 year

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New kitten Nicatine (always cat pun names) has been given a scrunchy for a collar. We thought he'd hate it but he actually seems to be attached and cried when we took it off 🥺

Nik was found injured with two siblings at about 3 weeks old by a friend of my neighbor's. My neighbor took them in despite a severe cat phobia, because she has a big heart (and isn't scared of kittens so much as grown cats). After running into me outside one day and finding out we are registered kitten fosterers for the county, my neighbor came to me for advice and I helped her out with the kittens. Sadly, by that point the three of them had come down with a mysterious illness, suspected to be parasite-related. Despite our best efforts, by 7 weeks of age, he was the only survivor of his litter.

She became deeply attached to little Nik, even more so because she couldn't save his sister and brother, but knew she couldn't take care of him. He'd grow up, and she would struggle with her phobia despite her love for him. And besides, she struggles with mental and physical health issues as is, and is going through some challenging life stuff right now on top of it all.

She's been having a difficult time finding an adopter for him - and is very worried about ensuring whoever adopts him will take proper care of him and shower him in love and spoil him. At the same time, our roommate has moved our since we got married, and took his two cats with him, leaving us with "only" three cats and two dogs. So we had been discussing possibly adopting another cat. And it would be so great for her to have this bundle of joy she loves so much be directly across the street where she can visit or even borrow him any time she likes....

So we did! And he's adjusted so incredibly well. Everybody loves Nik and Nik loves everybody (though I'm missing a pic of him and Cleo, our calico). He is super sweet and snuggly, and loves to play-fight with both the dogs and the cats. He did have scabies when we got him, but we fortunately already had medication for it (one of the upsides of having so many animals - we have a home vet pharmacy at this point). So we treated it immediately and it hasn't spread despite our being far too soft to keep him quarantined (well, it wasn't just our softness - we also didn't want him to miss out on crucial weeks of learning, development, and socialization).

He's just the best. I have to admit, while we have a male dog we adopted in early 2018, I always said I'd only adopt female cats. I've just always had the sweetest, best female cats, and the male cats I've known have generally been unfriendly, if not outright aggressive. But the circumstances were just too perfect. The only complaints I have so far are that, 1, despite being litter box trained, he's been shitting under our bed because he's so attached he doesn't want to leave our room. So of course I did what anyone would do and bought a litter box for the bedroom. And 2, he's definitely got some attachment issues and screams endlessly if I kick him out of the bedroom so we can sleep. Fortunately, this is easily solved by making sure I don't just kick him out, but take him all the way out to the rec room where the other cats are so he's not lonely.

Also... he's definitely an ass man 🤣

And my last little gem for you all is this: I have turned my poor Nik into yet another iPad baby. If you have cats, especially young kittens, and haven't heard of the app Cat Alone... girl have I got a TREAT for you! Just look at him. This is a tame video, but he usually goes nuts hopping all over my phone chasing the beetles. They make fun noises when he gets 'em.

And it's not just beetles - you can pick from other bugs, a finger, or a green laser pointer-style dot of light. I usually let him pick now, and he actually knows which ones he likes and clicks them! And to top it off, he's started asking for my phone when he wants to play by jumping on it and biting at it, then sitting up and staring at me until I get the message.

I'm sure I'll be reblogging this and posting a ton more Nik content (tagged Nik & in my catposting, petposting, and mine tags). Let me know if you have any specific requests for content of him or any of our other 3 cats and 2 dogs! I love sharing the immense love and comfort we get from our zoo with the rest of the world.

And lastly, since he knows how to use the phone, if you comment or reblog and say hi or welcome home to Nik, I'll let him type out a personalized reply for you 😋

#Nik #mine #catposting #petposting #kitten #cute cats

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neverasfarawayasitmayseemxo · 2 years

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Its Been So Long - Part 2

I decided to write this part in Austin's POV. I hope the timeline adds up, I'm not good at math lol

It’s short but I hope you like it :)

Austin's POV

I can't fucking stand watching her touch that guy. After four years of no contact whatsoever, she still manages to drive me nuts.

I take a quick glance and see her looking at me. At that moment, Lily wraps her arms around my waist. So I decide to sling my arm around her shoulder and pull her closer. If [Y/N] wants to play games then I can play too.

I notice [Y/N] quickly look away and look back at Doug speaking at the podium.

I wonder what she was thinking.

I take another look at her and she's still looking at Doug. My eyes naturally shift down to her cleavage and I can feel my dick starting to get hard. I shift uncomfortably in my seat to try and make it go away.

She looks so sexy, her hair cascading down her back. I look over and see that guy Jake pound back another scotch on the rocks. I analyze him for a moment trying to figure out what she even sees in him. The only thing I can really see her liking about him is that his teeth are white. Other than that, he's nothing to look at.

No, I wasn't jealous. I just want what's best for [Y/N] even after all this time. I look back over at her cleavage and notice she's gliding her finger up and down her chest.

Fuck. I shift again and Lily sits straight up.

"You okay?" she asks.

I nod and bring my hand down to my crotch.

"I'm fine, need to use the bathroom. Be right back" I say quicky.

I rush out of the ballroom and into the bathroom. I let out a huge sigh of relief and look at myself in the mirror. My dick is clearly hard.

I turn the water on to wash my hands and notice on the back corner of the sink was a vase full of lilacs.

I stare at them thinking back to a memory I had almost forgotten about.

It was [Y/N]'s 21st birthday. We had been dating 4 years so far.

We were gathered at a local bar in town and a ton of her friends and family were there to celebrate.

Most of the party guests bought her booze as a birthday gift. Cliché, huh? Tequila, Vodka, McGillicuddy's, you name it, she got it.

I decided to be different. Being her boyfriend and all, I felt like I knew her better than anyone. I was aware of what she thought sentimental would be.

I hand her the bouquet of lilacs and a handwritten card attached.

"Oh my god" she say, inhaling the smell of the flowers. She holds them close to her chest.

"You like them?" I ask excitedly.

She nods. "I love them. You know lilacs are my favorite flower...and cards...they mean so much to me"

She looks into my eyes and shakes her head.

"Everyone else brings a stereotypical, 'Hey! She's turning 21 let's get her alcohol' kind of gift. But you, you gave me something from the heart" she says.

I nod as a big smile spreads across my face.

"I love you...more than I could ever love anyone ever" she says. She wrinkles her nose when she says this. I love when she did that. It was so cute.

She kisses me deeply and I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight.

"I love you so much" I say as she leans back and looks at me.

I open my eyes so the memory will go away. I can't even look at the lilacs now.

I rub my face and adjust my tie so I look more presentable when I go back to the table.

As I open the door to the bathroom, I step out and notice Jake out in the lobby of the hotel talking to a group of guys. He's super loud and obnoxious. He was definitely drunk. He was practically talking with his entire body.

I roll my eyes as I pass them. Losers.

I walk back into the ballroom and notice Doug has finished his speech and the music is back on and the chatter is loud.

I look over at [Y/N]'s table and notice her sitting alone. She's sipping on her apple martini. I look at my table and see Lily is still there chatting with another girl beside her.

Just then, I look and watch as [Y/N] gets up and walks over towards the terrace doors and swings them open.

Now's my chance to talk to her.

I stick my hand in the pocket of my tuxedo and pull out my wallet. I know I stuck a piece of gum in here earlier.

I open the wallet and take the piece of gum and stick it in my mouth.

Then, I finger through the slots and pull out a photograph.

It was [Y/N] and I at a photo booth. We were 17 years old. There were three pictures in total on the strip. The first was us making a silly face, the second was us kissing and the third was my favorite.

It was both of us smiling, cheeks touching and arms around one another.

I remember the feeling in that moment. Pure happiness.

I was only really happy when I was with her.

I look back over at the doors to the terrace and stick the picture back in my wallet and the wallet back in my pocket.

If I was going to get the girl, I was going to have to do it now or never.

#austin butler x reader #austin butler #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler fanfic #austin butler smut #kittenlittle24

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aisururuby · 7 months

Text

Befriending an animal

Arhen currently sat on the grass inside the forest near the villa with Verbena and Arienne. Eden decided she was going to teach them about their culture on her side of the family. The heibis. When they were still months old, Eden would always talk of their grandparents and how she plans to teach them to use magic when they’re older. They pondered at the time, ‘What’s heibi?’ And it was until last year, they finally knew what she meant.

Not only were he and Sun-Hi reborn into a fantasy world as a prince and princess, but they’re not fully human. They’re not fully human and they themselves along with their aunt, sister, and so-call ‘mother’ are forest spirits or elves(?) called heibis who are loved by dragons. . . . . . . . . . . . Fantasy world, huh?

“Now today I brought you here so you can attempt to befriend small animals in the forest. We heibis can easily befriend animals. However since you’re all still young we’ll focus on befriending a bird or squirrel. Alright?” Said Eden. Eden had a bag of berries and nuts to lure in any small animals.

“Yes, Auntie!” Said the three of them.

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

“Ugh! Why can’t I get anything?!” Shouted Arhen. They were at it for an hour and so far Arienne managed to befriend a songbird that came by and Verbena befriended a chipmunk. Eden was trying to help him get one animal to come to him but nothing. Heck the chipmunk Verbena became friends and looked at him then ran towards his sister. Was that chipmunk messing with him?

“Be patient, Arhen. These things take time plus this is normal. Not everyone back at the village got it right away. Okay?” Said Eden as she pressed a slight kiss on Arhen’s cheek. She looked over to Arienne and Verbena who seem to have attached a few animals. “W-wait, girls, that's too many! Arhen, wait here a moment while I handle this. Already?” Said Eden. Arhen nodded his head and off Eden went to shoo away some of the small forest animals.

Arhen sighed, “I at least want to befriend a bird on my own before we leave. Aunt Eden said we would only be here for an hour and a half before our guard comes searching for us and go back to the villa.” he mumbled. He knew Sun-Hi would tease him on the way home while Verbena and Eden would try to comfort him, which he didn’t want. Eden seemed so excited to teach them about their culture. He didn’t want to disappoint her.

This activity reminds him of So-woon, Arienne’s tiger cub. Sometimes he can’t help but envy Arienne’s relationship with her. So-woon keeps Arienne safe when she can. Though she does the same for him, it doesn’t feel the same. He’s not sure why he feels this way. Envy? He has Eden and Verbena here too . . . . . .So how come he long for what she has? Longing? For what though?

“Okay children, I think we should leave now. We’ll come back next time.” Said Eden. Arhen snapped out of it and saw his aunt was tired from dealing with the animals around his sisters. Their hair was now a mess due to some chipmunks previously rummaging through their hair trying to avoid Eden’s hands. Okay maybe he’s a bit relieved he didn’t manage to befriend a forest creature. Only a bit.

Eden began fixing his sisters’ appearance so their guard wouldn’t question what happened with them. Afterwards, they began to leave the clearing however Arhen noticed the feeling of the wind was different from before. Maybe it was going to rain soon but why does it feel nostalgic?

Once out of the clearing Arhen spotted a man in uniform waiting at attention. He must have heard them coming since he turned towards their direction, “Miss Eden, you’ve returned? How was your little adventure?” Said the man. “We’re fine, Noah. I told you we were only going to play with some forest animals.” Said Eden. Noah was a guard assigned to them by Selena to protect and escort them to places. Which he guessed did make sense since despite the fact he was reborn as a prince, he never saw a guard in person except in story books Eden read to them. Derolina castle had no guards.

“But miss you’ve returned earlier than expected, did something happen?” Asked Noah. “Nothing happened so let’s-” “Auntie scared the animals away” Verbena said with a pout. Eden suddenly flushed red from embarrassment as Verbena exposed her. Him and Arienne couldn’t help but snicker and giggle at the scene before them.

“Verbena!”

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

“Where am I? Wasn’t I just in bed?” Arhen finds himself in the same forest clearing from early that day. “Why here?” he questioned.

‘Arhen’

“Huh?” Startled Arhen looked to see no one with him only to spot a red light near the forest trees. Curious, he hesitantly walked over to the red light, “What is this?” he said. As he grew closer, he noticed the air started to get windy. “This smells the same as the wind from earlier . . . .this is just a coincidence, right?”

‘Arhen, I’ve been waiting to meet you.’

“Who are you? And why do you want to meet me?”

‘You’re someone I've wanted to see since I emerged.’

“And what’s your name?”

‘Don’t have one. Maybe you could name me when we met.’

“What- Are you the light in front of me?” questioned Arhen.

‘Just reach for the light and you’ll see for yourself.’

“How do I know this isn’t a joke?”

‘It’s not, true me.’

“Sure?” Arhen grabbed the light and suddenly everything went white.

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

“Ugh, what kind of dream was that?” Arhen woke up from his dream feeling puzzled by the dream. ‘Who was I even talking to? Aunt Eden said heibis can travel through dreams but I don’t think that’s what happened.’

Arhen noticed everyone was still asleep so he couldn’t talk to Arienne or Athanasia yet. However before he could lay back down he spotted a bundle of red fur next to his side. “So-won?” asked Arhen. Arhen looked closer only to realize it wasn’t So-won.

“What the hell- what’s a neugdae doing in my bed?!”

#the twins new life #the twins siblings new life #manhwa crossover #ttsnl oc #arhen yuriana #arienne yuriana

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parragone · 1 year

Text

wip weekend

featuring; Kapkan and his nieces, Alyona and Ludmila

I'm attached to this little family and I might draw them later

note; Kapkan briefly alludes to his experience in the Beslan siege toward the end

She seemed to eye one of the questions on her screen with apprehension before she scrolled up rapidly. “So, this assignment is to talk to a family member who isn’t your parents about their lives,” she said, “And you’re obviously my best uncle with the best stories, so is it okay if I ask you some questions? You don’t have to answer if they get too personal, I can just put ‘no appropriate answer’ in the short section.”

“What sort of class is this?” He asked as he leaned against the back of the couch.

“Social studies,” Alyona answered with a cheery smile. “Part of the class is to look at our own family history to help us understand ourselves. Class is super boring, but the activities mean I can nag the adults in my family, so…”

“Oh, then you’ve been driving my brother nuts,” he laughed. “Alright, let’s start your questionnaire.”

“Okay, first - what’s your full name and job?” Alyona clicked into something on her screen. “Simple answers work, they don’t expect you to out yourself as James Bond or anything.”

“Ah, the basics. Basuda Maxim Nikitovich, soldier,” he said after a moment of consideration. “Ground Forces, if you must be specific.”

After a moment of typing, she nodded. “Okay, so, what’s your earliest memory?”

He tapped his fingers on the back of the couch as he furrowed his brows. When it came to early memories, he had many, but he struggled to name one as his earliest. “I think, if I am honest, it would be the day they brought Pyotr home and told me that this potato in a blanket was my baby brother. I refused to believe that a baby looked like that until, with all the fury of a newborn who did not know his own volume, Pyotr unleashed this god-awful wail that lasted for nearly an hour.”

“He screamed for an hour?”

“Made your grandfather lose his mind,” Maxim laughed. “And we became best friends from that moment onward. I think I was three, then.”

“Wow, okay,” she said as she typed the story out. “My uncles bonded over being mean to my grandfather as children.”

“It is the sacred duty of every child to ruin their parent’s sleep schedule and break their parent’s things,” Maxim said with a solemn nod. “What’s the next one?”

“The next question is sort of weird,” she responded. “When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?”

“Oh, this is fun. When I was young, I told your grandparents to their faces that I wanted to, and I quote, ‘go live in the woods and never come back’ so I could live as a mountain man. I threatened it in the same way other children threatened to run away to the circus,” he said with a small shrug. “I actually did it for nearly a week when I was fifteen, but a snow storm made me come home early. I suppose it influenced my choice of being a soldier, but really, there was no choice back then. Soldier or factory work, they would tell you. And they were right.”

“Wow,” she said quietly, eyes wide. “Is that why dad works in the factory?”

“Yes. Your father never had the stomach for a military life.” He had a bitter smile as he shook his head. "It's much easier to choose something new now. What are you going to be, again? It was either pancake scientist or unicorn doctor-"

"I want to be a brain surgeon!" She folded her arms and puffed up proudly. Maxim winced inside as he recognized his brother in her pride, but said nothing to deter her. Alyona had chances none of his generation did.

“Alright, alright. Next question, Alenka.”

Alyona looked down and, with some apprehension, bit her cheek. She scrolled down, far enough that he knew she had skipped a question, and nodded as if she had successfully avoided something. “If you had three wishes, what would they be?”

“Oh, a hard one. Hm.” Maxim furrowed his brows as he tilted his head back. “I think… Hm. I don’t think I would use them, really.”

“No wishes?!”

“None at all. The world is the way it is because that is how it must be,” Maxim confirmed with a small shrug. “If I had to use a wish, I think I would wish to see a dodo bird.”

Alyona scrunched up her face, but typed on her laptop anyway with a self-confident nod. “Weirdo uncle.”

“Definitely. Say, what’s that question you skipped?”

“I didn’t skip a question!” She turned red and straightened up in the way she always did when she was lying. “I swear!”

“Mhm. So if I were to steal your laptop away and look at your assignment…?”

His niece started to protest before she huffed sadly and looked at her screen. “I just don’t want to make you sad.”

“Go on, Alenka. I’m a big boy, I can answer a question.”

After a moment of hesitation, she nodded. “Okay. The question says, ‘When did you decide your child’s name’, but you don’t have any.”

“You’re right,” he said with a nod.

She stared at her screen for a while as they sat in silence, and Maxim stared at the play pen as he pondered how to proceed. There were a lot of things he tried to shelter Alyona and her sister from, with some easier to hide than others. Alyona had been four when the siege happened, and she had no idea how close she had come to growing up without him.

“Uncle Maks, why don’t you have children?” She half-closed her laptop as she asked, bright eyes curious and tinged with worry. “Do you not want any?”

“Oh, Alenka, I would love to have children. Tima and I have even discussed it.” Maxim took a deep breath and chose his next words carefully; she wasn’t old enough to understand the worst of the world, and he wanted to keep it from her as long as he could. “When you were very young, I had to do something very, very hard. Part of that was seeing many dead children around your age. I would love to be a father - it is something I have wanted for a very long time - but I haven’t healed from that. So instead, I keep you, your sister, your cousins, and your friends safe from anything I can.”

“So you might have children someday?”

“One day, I hope to.” He nodded quietly as he met her eyes and gave her a small smile. “They would be adopted, but it is something I want. For now, you and Ludmila are the closest thing to daughters I can have.”

“Then I have to stay super, super safe.” She nodded, eyes serious. “I’ll make sure I’m never, ever in danger.”

“No, no. Not at all,” Maxim sighed softly as he reached over to brush her hair from her face and pat her cheek. “No, Alenka, all you must do for me is be happy. If you can find one good thing to write to me about, it makes my work all the easier.”

#12/2/23 #wip weekend #kapkan #r6s #unfinished

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cocoabubbelle · 2 years

Text

Watching “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” (1969-1970 CBS) + Thoughts

Episode 9: The Backstage Rage

Scooby again is unable to fairly divide food between him and Shaggy. Then again he’s a dog so maybe I’m being too hard on him.

Mysterious violin case falls off a mysterious car driven by a mysterious person.

You can tell our heroes are good people as rather than run off with most likely stolen money stuffed in a violin case, they attempt to alert the police each other so they can solve the mystery. You can also tell they’re not that wise since they stay out in the open for the criminal to nab the stolen money back.

How did the mystery car get behind them when it was in front of them only a minute ago??

Female (secretly criminal) poodle looks suspiciously like female poodle who snubbed Scooby then got dog napped from Episode 5.

“RIKES! Rit’s grone! Ry roofed…” Translation: “YIKES! It’s gone! I goofed…” this made me giggle 😆

Female Poodle implied to be a puppet. 1) that explains why she was lifted up without anyone holding her; 2) that does not explain how her expressions changed to flirt with Scooby. At least Scooby takes it in stride that he was tricked by a dog puppet.

Shaggy shows his rare smarts by being on the same wavelength as the other teens when they deduct that they are up against counterfeiters.

The doorman the gang meets has a really unique and interesting character design compared to other characters we’ve seen so far. I wonder if that means he’s the culprit?

Shaggy and Fred seem to think so when Shaggy finds a stray dollar bill hastily stuffed in a dresser in the puppet maker’s shop(?). Viewers might think so to after the doorman makes a real suspicious face after the Scooby Gang leaves.

Animation Blooper: Shaggy talks without opening his mouth.

Fred bets a donut that the brand new $20 bill Shaggy found is a phony. Velma deduces that it’s genuine. Now you owe Velma a date donut Freddy. (Be silent, my inner Fred x Velma heart)

Doorman really does have a unique design. Also, the way his puppet opens one eye to peak on the snooping Scooby Gang while he sleeps indicates he might be the criminal. That or he’s a normal old man who’s suspicious of a bunch of teenagers and a dog who awkwardly barged in and out earlier only to break in again.

Fred tells Scooby to be quiet as if he and the other teens weren’t speaking out loud at their usual volume.

This is the first time Fred split the gang up without lumping himself with either or both of the girls.

“I wish we had a clue to a clue.” Daphne Blake

Velma, after almost getting hit by a sandbag while being several feet away from Daphne: “Wow! We almost got hit by that sandbag!”

I bet a donut that random colored box Scooby Is sniffing is a Jack-in-the-Box.

It is. Pay up the dough…nut 🍩

Shaggy tells Scooby not to clown around not even 30 seconds before he dresses himself up like an 1800s general 🤡

Fred once again asserts his heroic leadership and volunteers Scooby to check in the prompter’s box where the mysterious criminal was creeping on them.

Scooby after diving after the Scooby Snack after Daphne offers it to him without strings attached before tossing it into the prompter’s box. “Dirty Trick! >:C” 😆

Caped man playing organ Phantom-of-the-Opera style

Random barbarian jumping on stage and roaring at the Scooby gang prompts Velma to rush into Shaggy’s arms (Velma x Shaggy).

Animation Blooper: Limping Poodle Puppet is gigantic for a few frames, but is back to its diminutive size after Scooby catches it.

Sleeping Doorman turns out to be a puppet. At least he didn’t turn out to be cake.

The fact that there are puppets attacking the gang from everywhere tells me Fred shouldn’t talk about their plans out loud.

What did I tell you? The Puppet/Caped Man followed them.

How did he manage to get ahead of them and trap them in a hallway with only one of the entrances available? Shenanigans, that’s how.

Apparently no one knew until Velma figured it out that the life-sized puppets attacking them were puppets.

Scooby bravely chases Puppet Master and corners him so that Fred and Shaggy could quickly trap him.

To no one’s surprise, the doorman was the puppet master all along.

This is the second time this season the Policemen have made an appearance. Out of 9 episodes.

Day 9 of no “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids.”

#hanna barbera #scoob #scooby doo #scooby doo where are you #scooby dooby doo #scooby gang #daphne blake #shaggy #fred jones #velma dinkley #shaggy rogers #shaggy x velma #velma x shaggy #shelma #shenanigans #puppets

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ofmcthman · 2 years

Text

⌠ lili reinhart. 24, unspecified sexuality, cis woman, she/her. ⌡ wait a minute, is daphne abernathy still in town? i thought i saw a flash of (a tattered backpack covered in souvenir and novelty pins and buttons, torn jeans and overly-worn shoes abandoned on the floor , and an alien tattoo on her ring finger )! last i heard they were working as a journalism student nearby. when it’s the (virgo)’s birthday on 09/13 i forget that they’re persistent and celebrate that they’re big-hearted. i hear here with me by dido every time i think of them.

TW: death mention

@liminalintro

full name: daphne jean abernathy-fitzpatrick

birthdate: september 13th, 1998

age: 24

height: 5’6”

birth place: centralia, pennsylvania

bio:

there are six abernathy-fitzpatrick girls, and as the youngest of the brood, daphne takes pride in being the weirdest

from the time she entered the world, daphne has been nearly uncontrollable, a fact that drove her mother nuts at any point in the day

her sisters at least gave the illusion of being civilized, but in comparison daphne could usually be found hanging from a tree or building a fort out of every blanket and pillow in the house, often with a book in her hands that she would consume in record time

being the youngest meant that she was mostly shielded from what people in town would say about her family

unfortunately for her parents, she was quick to catch on, though the youngest of the abernathy-fitzpatrick clan was good at pretending that she didn’t, especially when it came to giving her family some sort of relief where they could get it

daphne’s form of escape came in the form of books, science fiction ones to be exact, and those paired with her obsession with x-files sent her into what could only be described as a tailspin

suddenly her world was consumed with aliens in any form she could get them in, usually resulting in her going to the library at least twice a day

daphne didn’t have a very big friend group because of this, and the friends she did have tended to drown her out when she went on tangents about the knowledge she had on some of these creatures, writing her off as the nerdy one of the group

despite her weird interests and behaviors, there was always one person that daphne kept coming back to, and that was michael

the two were thick as thieves, getting along almost too well as kids, and then even moreso as teenagers

nobody was surprised when they started dating, and before she could really blink, daphne knew she was in love with him

the two wanted a future together, going so far as looking at the same colleges and making plans in case that didn’t work out for them; needless to say, they were attached at the hip, and daphne could never imagine a life without the boy by her side

for once, daphne didn’t feel out of place in life or like she needed to be something else in order to impress others; michael allowed her to be unapologetically herself and that put her at ease

unfortunately, after quite some time together, her luck ran out when she received a phone call informing her of michael’s untimely passing

of course she was devastated; he was the love of her existence and suddenly she felt entirely empty

it was a shock to no one when daphne threw herself into keeping busy; it didn’t matter if it was school work or her writing projects, she always needed something to distract her

before long, daphne’s theories about michael’s passing began to consume her entire life, and she threw herself into research

she’s always felt that there was something suspicious about his passing, the way he died practically unbelievable to her

daphne’s life suddenly became consumed with both grief and the need to find the answer, days filled with finding the spare time during school to get to the bottom of what happened, and it quickly became an obsession

soon enough she wasn’t taking care of herself; she skipped more meals than she ate, and when it came to a sleep schedule, it was practically nonexistent

by the time she’d graduated high school, the friend group that daphne did have had dwindled significantly, leaving her all by herself again

she liked to pretend that she didn’t care, adamant that she didn’t need anyone to take care of her, but everyone knew that was a lie

what daphne failed to realize is that she had a good support system in the form of her sisters, an easy fact to overlook when the stigma around your family isn’t the best in the world

despite her family urging her to go away for college and to distance herself from the town that held so much loss, the youngest abernathy chose not to listen, settling for a school in philadelphia so she could be close to home

daphne feels like she’s been floating through life for the past few years, but she’s found ways to distract herself

first it started with skateboarding, taking the time to meet up with her sister bowie so they could learn together

she also took to going to the woods more and more often, ignoring the pleas of her family to stay safe — though how could one be unsafe with the likes of kelly mcmaster trailing behind her

these days, daphne is becoming more and more comfortable with opening up to people, though she still keeps her heart mostly closed off

daphne’s major form of showing affection is showing people the cool rocks she finds, all of which are deemed extraterrestrial

her career as an investigative journalist is steady and safe, and it allows the youngest abernathy creative freedom so she doesn’t feel so stuck

she spends most of her days with kelly, finding comfort in his companionship and ignoring the fact that she’s quickly developing feelings for him

daphne’s main goal is working on her relationship with her sisters; after michael’s death, she worked hard to isolate herself, and getting out of that slump has proven difficult

overall, daphne abernathy is just a spitfire, and if you can keep up with her you’ve made a friend for life

#liminal:intro #daphne abernathy: intro #death mention tw

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paladin-shenanigans · 3 years

Note

what about a little imagine/headcanon featuring lance, pidge, keith and matt finding out their usually opinionated, headstrong and intelligent s/o is VERY easily flustered and shy from the most trivial of affection, and how do they use it to their benefit?

oh my god anon this is absolutely ADORABLE how did i not get to writing this sooner?????

lance

☆ okay, one should definitely expect lance to mercilessly tease his s/o, no matter what time of the day or what may prompt him to do so

☆ he finds out about his s/o's shyness when giving them a hug after a dangerous mission, worried if they were hurt. he gives them a gentle kiss on the cheek, and they immediately get flustered. he instantly picks up on what’s happening and he can’t hide a smirk.

☆ he’ll take the liberty of complimenting them as many times as he wants in a day. he’ll be all like “nice going babe!” “you’re the paladin!” watching them get all flustered and he’ll giggle to himself

☆ he enjoys complimenting his s/o because it surprises the other paladins that he’s not focusing on himself for once, but in truth he kind of is doing it for his own entertainment. in truth he does want them to believe him deep down because there is some truth to his words despite his compliments having little to no detail

☆ he takes the liberty of sharing how wonderful his s/o is with the other paladins. yes, he brags about them. if they’re nearby or not. but mostly when they’re nearby because he LOOOVES seeing their flustered face.

pidge

☆ being a bit of a knowledge nut herself, she’s quite often complimented by members of the team even when she feels she doesn’t deserve it. she doesn’t fluster too easily, but may get a bit squirmy if it goes on for too long.

☆ she first noticed her s/o’s reaction to affection when she gave them a big hug, relieved that they saved the lives of her and the team by figuring out a way to overrun a virus implanted into the castle of lions

☆ she showered them with praise, thanking them for turning them away from imminent death, making their face burn a bright red color

☆ pidge was almost apologetic, worried that she pushed it too far, but her s/o was out the door before she could finish. she appeared concerned for her s/o, but on the inside she knew exactly what was going on in that brain of theirs.

☆ she’ll likely compliment her s/o very loudly when working on the bridge or when they’re around the other paladins, slipping her words in at the perfect time to see their cute flustered face. she can only chuckle to herself, amused at their reaction, but is happy to call it all off if she senses that the others are going too far. she always apologizes when this happens.

keith

☆ i think this personality description is actually very reminiscent to how keith himself would react to this kind of praise. he and his s/o are very similar in this regard and he subconsciously finds himself getting attached to people like this since they’re kind of his favorite person

☆ he isn’t one to give compliments freely, but he often finds himself telling his s/o that he really values their intelligence and their ability to quickly think through problems. he isn’t a very agreeable person in general, but he often finds himself agreeing with his s/o over most other people on the ship.

☆ he can empathize greatly with their shyness when being complimented, for he hates to admit it aloud but he can get that way a lot himself. he often finds himself telling his s/o that he’s glad to have them in his life because they’re so similar and he can relate to him so much, and they become very flustered, almost like putty in his hands

☆ he’s a bit surprised on the outside at first, but he’s beaming with pride and happiness on the inside. in fact, whenever he sees them get all flustered and shy from compliments given from the other paladins, his heart starts to race in his chest and he thinks to himself “oh my god you are literally the CUTEST PERSON EVER”

☆ he’s actually kind of clingy in private, and not the biggest fan of pda. you bet he showers his s/o in all kinds of compliments as he kisses all over their face, telling him how lucky he feels to have them in his life.

matt

☆ OH GOD HE WILL LITERALLY TEASE THEM SO MUCH. HIS S/O SHOULD DEFINITELY BE PREPARED HOLY SHIT.

☆ like keith and pidge, he can see a bit of himself and his own qualities in his s/o, relating to their outspoken and hot-blooded nature. however as soon as he found out about the other side of their personality he practically melted, wanting to see more as soon as possible

☆ he’ll follow them around, showering them with as much praise as possible even if they’re doing general household work. cleaning their room? matt’s there, calling words of encouragement. cooking in the kitchen? instead of asking if they need help, matt is yelling out things like “smells delicious babe!” “my baby is such a good cook aren’t they?” he’s so proud of them i swear, but he’s mainly doing this to watch them get all twisted and flustered.

☆ they remind him very much of pidge, despite his sister having developed more of a backbone to compliments. he thinks it’s beyond cute that his younger sibling and his s/o share this quality together

☆ he definitely likes to shower them with baby talk in private, saying things like “where’s the puppy eyes?” “that’s my cute little baby!” “let’s see those dimples!” then he’ll do a bunch of dumb shit to make them laugh and try to help break them out of their embarrassment haha

#voltron #vld #vld headcanons #fluff #x reader #lance #pidge #keith #matt #headcanons #my stuff #my headcanons #ask #anonymous #request #lance x reader #pidge x reader #keith x reader #matt x reader

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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 3 years

Text

CTRL+ALT+DECEIT

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape; oral, fucking, stalking, hacking, threats, implied violence.

This is dark!Jake Jensen x reader and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Synopsis: You find your pictures on someone else’s Insta but that’s not the only thing he’s stolen.

Note: Yay, another Jensen fic at last. I’m probably gonna try to work in more one shots between my series. I’m looking at Andy Barber, Ransom Drysdale, or Lee Bodecker right now for next week but we’ll see.

Thanks to everyone for sticking around and putting up with me and thanks in advance for all your feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

The chirp of the chat pierced your eardrum once more as you ignored it for the spreadsheet of dates on your other monitor. Working from home could be both peaceful and distracting but the third bing had you muting and pushing your headset to your neck with a grumble. You switched windows as the chat box blinked.

‘So why didn’t u tell me u had a bf?’ Zia’s bubble blipped up followed by impatient emojis.

“Wat r u talking bout?’ you typed back and clicked back to the spreadsheet to update the status of each course. That noise came again and you flipped back.

‘I’m not stupid! Come on. He’s far away but he’s cute.’

You frowned and tapped the space bar lightly. You were utterly confused. The only activity in your daily life were the general notifications from Tindr. You repeated the question and she sent an emoji rolling its eyes.

‘I’m serious.’ you replied.

She sent a link and then a laughing GIF attached to another bubbled response, ‘I’m not buyin it.’

You clicked on the hyperlink and a new tab opened. You scrolled down on the Insta as the air was knocked out of you at the sight of your own face. Not only were their pics taken from your public profile but several you’d never even posted. Your skin crawled and the bing sounded again.

‘So… an online thing huh.’ Zia pressed on.

‘I gotta work.’ you closed out of the window entirely but stayed on the Insta.

You scrolled through about a dozen or so selfies of you, each labeled as ‘missing my lady’ or ‘she’s so sweet, sending me pics to keep me company’. Your stomached roiled with mortification and the unsettling sensation of intrusion. It was easy enough to guess you’d been hacked but to think this was what the creep did with it was even more startling.

You changed the password on your Insta and went through the process of doing so with all of your accounts and ran a scan on your PC. You would likely have to file a ticket for a proper inspection with a specialist. You couldn’t help but shake as you went back to the profile after checking your bank account and PayPal to make sure it wasn’t worse than just pics.

You went back to the profile and found photos of the culprit. His spiky blond hair and glasses were unsurprising and his comic book tee shirt was even less. Your disgust was quickly replaced with anger as you hit the chat icon above his info.

‘Hey, jackass, care to tell me how you have my photos on your profile?!’

The read icon appeared almost and you saw him typing. It stopped and then started again.

‘You’re so beautiful, I wanted to share it with everyone.’

You scoffed at the message and cringed at the screen. ‘Are you nuts? Like actually. You stole my photos! You hacked me. Creep.’

You blocked him immediately after hitting send and logged out. You opened Excel again and tried to focus on the coloured cells. You could hardly process what you were doing as your phone began to vibe on the corner of your desk. It didn’t let up and you couldn’t focus past the incessant buzzing.

You snatched it up and several messages covered the screen as you unlocked it. ‘You really think that’s gonna work’; ‘You can’t block me’... several in a similar vein that you deleted before blocking the number. You silenced your phone and turned back to your monitor.

Suddenly the screen went black and you blinked. You hit the keyboard and clicked, assuming it fell asleep. It lit up again but all you saw was yourself staring back. Your mouth fell open and you ripped the clip-on cam from atop your monitor. You disconnected it as the notepad opened and typing flicked up across the white space.

‘I didn’t want it to be like this.’

You could move the mouse or backspace. All control was lost and you sat there helplessly watching the scrawl.

‘I think we’d be really good together if you only gave me a chance. Can’t you see I worship you?’

Your phone began to shake constantly and a private number flashed. You picked it up and hollered into the speaker, “leave me alone”. You hung up but it kept on and your screen turned to black once more. Your PC was still on but there was no reaction from the machine.

Fuck, you sat back and looked at your phone. You couldn’t even call work to tell them because the damn thing wouldn’t stop ringing. You put your head in your hands and grunted in frustration. How the fuck did all this happen?

🖱️

After your initial panic died down, you disconnected your tower and shut off your phone. You left your cell behind as it was just as useless. You hauled the PC down to IT at your work and filled out the ticket without giving intricate details on everything the weirdo had taken.

You left with a borrowed laptop. You wouldn’t sign into your personal accounts and stick to the company portal. You were embarrassed but happy to have a temporary solution. You got home and set up the new computer and reconfigured your wi-fi. You finished the last of the day’s work and ended the day with a glass of wine.

When you dared to turn your phone on again the next morning, it was filled with notifications from all platforms but each one you clicked on errored and prompted you to sign-in. All your new passwords were wrong and you knew it was him.

You checked the Insta and found a screenshot on his profile from the day before, your mouth agape in horror that could easily mistaken for surprise.

‘Her face when you pop the question on the call’. The caption made your stomach curdle and you nearly flung the phone away. You couldn’t comment without logging in or message. So you created a shell account with a throwaway email you used on Reddit.

‘Why won’t you stop?’ you sent the message through as you waited for your coffee to brew.

‘Stop what?’ he added a winky face with his reply and you growled.

‘You know who this is! Why are you doing this?’

‘Hmmm…’ he let the message hang there and you sat down with your mug and listened to the birds outside. ‘Imagine what someone else would do with everything I have.’

‘Look at what you’re doing. You’re ruining my life.’

‘Ruining? Sweetie, I’m watching over you. Protecting you.’

Your nostrils flared and you burnt your tongue on the coffee and planted it on the table so it sloshed over the sides.

‘Love you, sweetie. See ya soon.’

The chat box turned grey as you realised he blocked you. That pissed you off more than anything and you lobbed your phone away with a shout of anguish. This guy was fucked!

You were shaking so much you couldn’t even drink your coffee. You got up and paced until you could think straight. You dialed into work and told them you were taking the day off for a personal emergency and shut down your phone. You were too afraid he would find a way onto your work laptop and you didn’t want to have to explain that to IT too.

🖱️

Zia showed up on Saturday and she wasn’t happy. She buzzed up and banged on your door impatiently. You let her in and she crossed her arms over the strap of her purse as she crooked her hip.

“I know I shouldn’t have snooped but if you’re mad at me, you should’ve just said so. I would’ve backed off,” she scowled.

“I’m not mad,” you said as you backed into the front room and dragged your feet over the rug.

“Sure, you’re just ignoring all my messages by accident,” she stayed at the other side of the room.

“Not exactly, no,” you shrugged, “it’s a long story.”

“And you couldn’t shoot me a message to say that at least?”

“Look, I’m stressed the fuck out. I’m sorry but the only reason I didn’t answer you is because I can’t.”

“You can’t?”

“I can’t even turn my phone on anymore.”

“What--”

“Just--” you touched your temples, “I don’t even know how to explain--”

“Jesus, are you okay?” her anger slaked away as her voice softened.

“No, I’m not,” you sniffed, “I’ve been trapped in this apartment and I can’t think straight and I can’t even talk to anyone because my phone and my life is totally fucked.”

“How about we get a coffee and you can tell me once you’ve calmed down,” she said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so worked up.”

“You don’t know how bad it is. I really fucked up,” you whined, “I don’t even know how it happened.”

“Is this about the boyfriend?”

You huffed and shook your head, “I told you, he’s not my boyfriend-- Let me get dressed.”

After you felt presentable enough to leave the apartment, the thought of getting away ushered you down the winding stairwell and onto the sidewalk. You and Zia walked down to the cafe on the corner where you always overspent on their specialty drink and caught up.

You ordered but when you tried to use your card, the machine beeped in rejection. You tried again but still no luck. Zia offered to pay and you promised you’d pay her back. Anxiety pitted deep in your stomach as you sat. You’d have to call the bank and figure out why eight dollars would bounce.

“So,” Zia said as she shaded her eyes against the sunlight streaming onto the open patio, “he’s not your boyfriend?”

“I don’t even know the dude,” you hissed as you almost overturned your cup, “Zee, those pictures, they were all on my phone. I never sent them to anyone. I don’t even know his real name and when I confronted him, he crashed my whole system and blew up my phone. I haven’t been able to log into anything because of him.”

“You’re shitting me,” she chuckled.

“Zee, I’m not fucking kidding,” you blinked, “don’t you think if I was dating some dude out in who knows where, you’d be the first to know? You think I’m wasting my time with the idiots on Tindr for fun?”

“No way,” she scoffed.

“Zia, look me in the eye,” you said as you gave her a stern look, “I’m freaking the fuck out.”

“Did you call the police?” she asked.

You sat back and closed your eyes. You were so swept up in the panic, you hadn’t even thought. You could report it to the police, just get a record of it even if they didn’t do anything else. You heard horror stories of hackers and how little could be done but you had to at least try.

“I guess I should go down to the station today,” you ran your fingertips along your chin, “I don’t know, I felt so alone, I thought--”

“And call your bank right now,” she slid her phone over, “figure out what’s going on with your accounts.”

You took her cell and dialed the number on the back of the card. You dragged your finger down the side of your cup as you listened to the automated message and hit the buttons to direct you to customer service. The hold song bubbled in your head and finally picked up as you finished the last of your mocha.

You explained the issue after giving your information as Zia sat patiently across from you. She watched the other patrons and looked out across the street as you waited on the representative on the other end.

“Looks like your account has been locked. Your savings and checking have been placed on hold citing possible fraud,” the woman explained.

“Well, can’t you unlock them? Why would they be flagged?”

“Hmm, well I see no suspicious spending so possibly… it could be due to an external lock, not us.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t speak to that. Have you received any communications from the Revenue service?”

“Revenue service? I don’t--no,” you gulped.

“I’m sorry, there’s nothing else I can tell you,” she said, “you should consider contacting federal services.”

You hung up and handed Zia her phone back. “Apparently, I’m under investigation for fraud? I don’t know.”

“Shit,” she took her cell, “are you sure?”

“It sounded like it but-- I gotta check my credit card,” you stood and grabbed your empty cup and your purse.

You stormed down the street to the ATM at the corner and inserted your card. LOCKED the machine made a hideous noise and you pulled out your card in irritation. You put your wallet and touched the sides of your neck as the heat swelled through you.

“I don’t understand--”

“Um, you should see this,” Zia said.

Zia turned her screen towards you and your heart dropped to your toes. There was a picture softened by a blush Insta filter and the caption read, ‘just got into town, surprising bae with flowers’. Over the cluster of petals at the bottom of the image were you and Zia sitting at the cafe patio.

You spun and searched around for any sign of the man and the bouquet. You could hardly breath as it felt like you were being squished between invisible walls. You clapped your hand against the wall and steadied yourself as Zia gently rubbed your arm.

“Let’s go to the station,” you croaked as tears welled in your eyes, “please.”

🖱️

The police told you everything you expected. Even as you showed them the photos and explained how you never met that man in your life, they only offered you words on a piece of paper. They’d file the report and follow-up in case of any further escalation. It was a non-answer, a cold shrug.

Zia went home with you as she offered to stay the night. You gladly accepted and the two of you cozied up on your bed and spent the night watching early 00s rom coms. You found it hard to relax even with her there. You couldn’t stop thinking about how close he’d been without you even knowing.

You at last began to doze off as Reese Witherspoon triumphed and exhausted by the endless maelstrom of dread, you slipped into a deep but perilous sleep. You were locked in limbo between waking and slumber, almost as if you could hear everything around you but remained blind and unknowing all the same.

You woke with a start as you felt like you were falling. You sat up and reached to the other side of the bed. Zia was gone. She must have got up to get water or use the bathroom. You took a breath and turned your legs over the edge. You got up groggily and lumbered across the room, your mouth dry and head aching. Some tylenol and water would do you well.

You hesitated as you noticed the bloom of light just around the corner from your doorway. Zia must be having trouble sleeping, you guessed as you kept on. As you came in sight of the front room, you heard a whimper and you backed up against the wall as tall figure stood before the coffee table. The flowers laid across the wood, slightly crumpled from a struggle.

As Zia whined, he jabbed her with his foot and she grunted around the rag tied around her mouth. Her arms and legs were bound behind her as the man loomed over her. You recognized his blond hair and glasses, the menacing blue eyes as he raised his chin and crossed his arms.

“Been waiting on you,” he stepped over her, “I was disappointed when I realised it was her. Good friend though, hanging around…”

“Don’t hurt her, please. What do you want?”

“You can’t figure that out?” he taunted, “huh, I’m sure you can guess what it will take for me to leave her in one piece.”

Zia wiggled and received another boot. You pushed yourself forward and he stepped closer, predatory as he dropped his arms and clenched then unclenched his fists. He chuckled as you stopped short and gaped up at him.

“She’s cute,” he said, “she can join us if that makes it easier for you.”

“You’re disgusting,” you snarled and winced as he reached out to touch your cheek. You fought not to shove him away, your eyes on Zia’s bound figure.

“Play nice and I will,” he warned, “every time I hurt her, that’s on you. I wish I didn’t have to do this to show you how much I love you.”

You shook your head as your lip trembled. He pressed his palms to your cheek and ran his thumb along your lips. He leaned in and you cowered as you realised how big he was. You didn’t expect that looking at him from the other side of a screen.

“Do we put on a show for her or did you want a little privacy?”

“You won’t get away with this,” you hissed.

“Oh yeah? I locked you out of your social media, your pc, your bank… do you really want to see how far I can take this?”

He smothered your murmured answer with his mouth and kissed you gruffly. He pulled away and looked you in the eye. He bit his lip and hummed.

“So, do we do this here?”

“You’re sick,” you grabbed his hand and wrenched it away from your face. You yanked him and directed him to the bedroom, “you monster.”

“Now come on,” he twisted his wrist around and grabbed your elbow, “I could’ve killed her. Don’t think I won’t.”

You quivered as he forced you back into your bedroom, the street lights casting shadows between your curtains. He flung you ahead of him, as strong as his thick arms would suggest. You stumbled and caught yourself on the side of the bed. You turned as the door slammed and he prowled towards you like a wild cat.

“Well,” he threw his hands up and you caught a glint of light against the lens of his glasses, “you want me to undress you or you think you can handle that, sweetie?”

You puffed in repulsion and looked away from him. Even in the dark, you could feel his eyes on you. You jittered as you reached to the neck of your loose tee and slowly raised it over your head. You dropped it to crumple on the floor and you touched the top of your shorts. You heard him moving around and shied away as he flipped the switch and light shone across the room.

You pushed down your shorts as you heard a thump from the next room. His jaw twitched as his eyes lingered on you and he reluctantly glanced away. He swung the door open and stormed out into the front room. You went to the door and heard his snarl.

“Stop fucking moving,” he rasped, “every time I have to tell you, I’ll pop another out.”

Zia gave a muffled sob as you heard a sickly crack and you hurried to look around the wall into the room. He blocked your sight with his broad chest and pointed you back to the room.

“I didn’t say you could leave the room,” he spun you and slapped your bare ass, “fast, fast, fast… before I lose my patience.”

Your skin stung from the strike and you tripped through the doorway as he followed quickly. Another slam and he poked you further into the room with his knuckle. You stepped away from him and tried to cover yourself as you faced him in horror.

He quickly swooped his shirt over his head and revealed a buff chest thick with blond hair. He kicked off his shoes and fumbled to undo his fly. He tilted his head as he looked you over and groped himself through his jeans.

“You know what to do,” he said, “I’ve seen the way you touch yourself… cyber security 101, cover your webcam.”

You shuddered as he beckoned you closer. He stopped you and put your hands on the waist of his jeans. He leaned in and nuzzled your temple as his hot breath seeped into your goosebumped skin.

“My turn,” he pushed on your hands until you pulled down the denim on your own strength.

He stepped out of his jeans and snapped the elastic of his boxers. You stood and latched onto those shakily. He ran his fingers along your arms as you pulled them past his erection and they fell to the floor with a whisper. You didn’t look down, instead staring past him as his hand swept up to cup your tits.

His fingers crawled up your chest and his hands wrapped around your neck. He squeezed and turned you so that your back was to the bed. He marched you backwards as you felt his dick bobbing between your bodies. You gasped as he pushed you down onto your mattress, your legs dangling over the edge as he came up to straddle you.

“Such a good girl,” he taunted, “look at you… I bet you’re wet already.”

He pulled a hand away and stroked his length as he raised himself on his knees. He clung to your neck as he leaned over you and planted his hand on the bed above you. He hovered his dick over your head and you closed your eyes.

“Put it in your mouth,” he ordered, “now, or I’m putting it in your ass.”

You reached up blindly and angled his tip against your lips. He dipped his hips down and you choked as he prodded at your throat. Your legs twitched as he forced his cock past your gag reflex and your whole body tensed at the intrusion.

He balanced on the hand above your head and the one on your neck. He thrust harder and harder as sloppy sucking reverberated around the room between his dark groans.

“That’s it,” he purred, “look at you taking my cock. I can only imagine how tight that cunt of yours is.”

Your eyes welled and you flicked your lashes as you tried to bat them away. You kept your hand at the base of his dick as you tried to ease his motion. He ignored your reluctance and only delved deeper as he brought himself to his limit, your lips touching the fuzz along his pelvis.

When you couldn’t breath, you slapped his hard stomach and he reared out of you abruptly. You coughed up spit as he sat back on his heels and released you. He huffed as he looked down at his glistening dick and climbed off of you.

“Stand up, turn around,” he snarled as his eyes flashed.

His glasses were low on his nose and he slipped them off entirely and folded them up on your night table. He squinted as he watched you stand and turn stiffly. He smacked his hand in the middle of your back and pushed you over impatiently. He stepped closer and tapped his tip against your cunt as you were exposed to him.

He bent his legs and poked along your slick folds. You were wet enough for him to glide in and fill you up completely. He was so big it was painful and you arched your back as you tried to take it. He pulled back and slammed into you harshly. You let out a garble and he repeated the motion, taking you off your feet.

He leaned over you and grabbed your knees, lifting them on the bed as he urged you forward. His hand brushed up over your ass and he pressed between your shoulder blades until your face was flush to the mattress, your arms bent around you like a broken doll.

He thrust again and the loud slap made you wince. He jerked his hips roughly until he found his motion, rutting into you with hissy breaths as his other hand groped your ass. He hummed as your body shook before him, ruled by his touch as your walls clenched him.

He pushed his thumb down between your cheeks and circled your asshole. You strained and lifted your head in alarm. His other hand quickly stretched over your crown and pinned your face to the bed. He felt along your cunt and slickened his thumb before trailing back to your puckered ring.

He pushed lightly at first and as he broke through you gasped and whined. You gripped the blankets as he moved his thumb in and out of you, his hips still rocking steadily into you. He slid his thumb out entirely and prodded with two fingers instead. Before you could react, he forced them inside and you cried out in surprise and pain.

“I know you want it, sweetheart,” he groaned, “I can feel…” he kept fucking you, “I can fucking hear it.”

Your holes tightened around you as he carried the pace. A new pressure began to bloom inside of you, unlike anything you’d felt before. The burning in your ass and the stretching of your cunt mingled to an agonized bliss. You sobbed into the blankets as you came uncontrollably around him, shamed by the unwanted release.

“Fuck,” he drew out the word as both his hand and his hips sped up, “look at you cumming for me. Cumming for this creep.”

You moaned and curled your fingers around the duvet tighter. You felt the same knotting deep inside and you came again as he reached a tantamount. This time, you gushed around his cock and felt the deluge down your thighs as the noise grew wetter and louder.

“Look at you, sweetheart, you can’t handle it, can you?” He snorted as he sucked in a breath suddenly and his hips staggered.

He pushed his fingers deeper and kept them there as he fucked you as hard as he could. He slammed into your cunt over and over. Your hips throbbed with each tilt of his pelvis and you smothered your cries as you felt him coat your walls in his release.

He stopped just as suddenly and dragged his fingers out of your ass. He leaned against you until your legs collapsed and fell onto you with a sigh. He covered your body with his as his shallow breaths hazed around you.

Your own heart raced as you stretched your arms out stiffly and quivered. You tried to pull yourself from beneath him. He kept you pinned under his weight and jolted you with a cruel thrust.

“Oh, we’re not done, sweetheart,” he muttered along the shell of your ear, “not even close.”

#jake jensen #dark jake jensen #dark!jake jensen #jake jensen x reader #fic #dark!fic #dark fic #one shot #the losers #dc

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phantoms-lair · 3 years

Note

Listen I am sorry in advance what would you write for an Izuku has the omintrix au you have such good bnha au I must know!

"I need your help."

It was honestly somewhat new for him. Unlike most of his employees, Nedzu himself had never worked as a hero. He'd gotten to his position through pure efficiency. "Is there something UA can do for you, Miss?"

"Not UA," said the woman. "You." She handed him a picture. "This is my son, Izuku. He's a bright boy, brilliant and hopeful. Quirkless, but he doesn't let that bring him down." She balled her hand into a fist. "We were on vacation camping in the Kashiku Forest a month ago-"

"That was when the meteor started the forest fire," Nedzu observed.

"It wasn't a meteor." the woman said darkly. "It landed not to far from us and Izuku wanted to see a real shooting star. We were the first one the scene."

Okay, Nedzu was officially intrigued. "What was it?"

"A capsule of some kind. A metal sphere with segments that shifted as it opened. There was something inside, like a bracer or a watch. Whatever it was, it flung itself towards us and attached itself to Izuku's wrist. it fused to his arm and would not come off. At one point they made the decision to amputate his arm from the elbow down." The woman shook slightly, and Nedzu could only imagine how frightening that would be for a child who looked no more than ten.

"But the amputated arm moved on it's own, then just...reattached itself. They said they'd have to take him to a special facility, then...nothing. The number they gave me has been disconnected. I called his school to explain his absence and they said they had no records of his being there. He pediatrician suddenly accepted a new job across the country." Her voice was shaking and tears were beginning to stream down her face.

And Nedzu understood. Her child had been disappeared. His next question would normally have been if she had gone to any hero agencies, but with the influx of a violent new villain group they would be far too busy to look into what sounded like a conspiracy nut's fantasy.

But Nedzu knew better. The scar on his face was a testament to what humans would do when they found something new. And a quirkless kids would be ideal to slip through the cracks. "Don't worry. We're going to find your son."

"We've got him," Aizawa's voice came over the speaker and Nedzu let out a sigh of relief.

His plans were quite good, but he knew no plan was perfect. As much as the temptation to grab one of the school robots and crash in was there, he knew that would be ill advised.

One person could be made to disappear quite easily, a team of heroes was much harder. Admittedly they were mostly underground, those tended to handle stealthy and clandestined missions better, but one or two very publice heroes just because of the difficulty the government would have in silencing them. Fatgum had a good head on his shoulders, and this was rather personal for Midnight, as she discovered the samples of her sleep gas she'd been giving weren't being used to devise non-lethal takedown options for police, as she'd been told, but to keep the kid constantly sedated so he couldn't try to escape.

The child Eraserhead brought to him looked even smaller than in the picture, though that might have been because he was curled up in sleep. There was a containment device covering his entire left arm. They'd have to deal with that. But first they had to get him back to his mother.

#IzukuJū #Ghost Writing #Vilgax's minions are assumed to be a new villain group

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kissme-hs · 3 years

Text

𝒮𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓎 {𝒸.𝑒}

This concept has been on my mind from a long long time. I just get so fucking turned on seeing him in that gorgeous beard oh my sweet lord. I was going to post it tomorrow but oh well, also i didn’t proof read so pardon me for the mistakes. Hope you enjoy! Please reblog :))

Pairing: Chris Evans x Fem! Reader

Word count: 3.05k

Warning: 18+ smut, oral sex fem receiving and giving, filthy talk, fingering, unprotected sex etc.

.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.◦.✽✦✽.

He looked breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking. The way he was sprawled on his mother’s couch that was situated in front of the fire place made your mouth water whilehis other family members gathered around sitting comfortably on a spot that makes them warm.

His thick thighs looked so inviting and his arm that rested on the couch top, every flex made his veins move and his hands that ghosted over your neck made you shiver. He run his knuckles on the back of your neck as you turn your head to face him to see him smiling at you.

What a bastard.

And that beard that adorned his cheek, holy Christ only if you could push his head between your legs and let his mouth slurp on your aching throbbing core until your legs are trembling and shaking and you’re begging him to stop.

You found yourself ashamed of getting lost in your deep thoughts of wild fantasy—basically eye fucking the Lisa’s son while his whole family was around present in the room chatting with you two, well mostly him because you were way too tied up in yourself and your pressed together thighs that you were barely fathoming any word that they uttered.

But how could you not?

He looked like an absolute sex god, with his Andy Barber phase fluffy hair and that beard. That navy blue t-shirt that seemed a little tight on him showing you his ever muscle and highlighting his biceps.

And again there you were, thinking about how good it’s feel when his arms are around your waist while he pounds mercilessly into you, his face hidden in the crook of your neck while you clutch onto this biceps wanting to release.

But oh that beard.

Though you wanted to feel it in between your legs, there was no possible way to describe how bad you wanted to feel it against your lips. Your fingers ached to grab onto his cheeks as your tongue plays with his whilst his hand grabs onto your titties as they usually do.

Snapping out of your wild thinking you found your lower lip tucked between your teeth and a noticeable change in the pace of your breathing. You knew you need it, need to feel him.

“Um, excuse me?” You said out of nowhere cutting of Chris’s childhood story that he was busy telling Scott’s boyfriend. Your sudden action made him furrow his eyebrows as you felt his eyes follow you out of the living room disappearing in the corridor. He turned his head back to meet his mother’s worries facial expression.

“Is she okay chris? Go check on her”

He nods obliging his mother and his own worry towards you as to why you had to excuse yourself from the room full of people you adored. Maybe it was a little stomach bug, he thought.

His bare feet pads over the hardwood floor as he stops when comes across the bathroom far away from the people talking in living area, he knocks on the door twice.

“Baby, honey are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine” no you’re not. You need him.

“Baby let me in” he nudges the door gently only to be disappointed when he notices it’s locked. Sighing he faces close to the door.

“Cmon sweetie”

The concern that dripped down his voice made you feel guilty as you open the door, but as soon as you come across his beautifully handsome face, the brightest blue eyes, the perfect nose and the plumpest lips you couldn’t help but pull him inside with a strong tug and close the door behind him.

You did take him by surprise, but it wasn’t anything compared to when your fingers started fiddling with the buckle of his belt trying to get it lose open, your lips attaching to the veins on his neck as you press your body firmly against his.

He took the sign. After all he did know you like the back of his hand.

So when you finally succeeded in not only getting his pants down his legs but also managing to get him rock hard with just your feathery kisses on his delicate skin of neck your lips turned up in a little smirk until his fingers lifted your face up by your cheek to meet his eyes.

The dilated pupils burned into yours while he stared at you—now with lust, concern washed away long time back.

“What’s got you so worked up huh?” He spoked pulling your groin close to him, close enough for you to feel his growing bulge.

“I- this” you whispered biting your lips as your eyes shift’s their gaze from his eyes to his beard and then down to the swell in his pants, well aware of how intense effect it had on Chris. ‘Makes me lose my mind and bend you over until I fuck you like a slut’ says Chris. Your hand grabs over his jeans as you rubbed your palm against it making him shut his eyes close, lashed resting beautifully on the apple of his cheek as he leans his head back against the door, giving you a perfect access to his exposed neck.

Thanking the heels that you still had on it made it no difficult for you (which usually is due to the height difference) to bring your lips close to the veins popping on his neck and placing opened mouth kisses. You knew neck kisses drives him nuts, and you were in no shock when you felt his big hands grab your butt and giving it a rough squeeze causing you to moan which you quickly covered by biting down on his shoulder.

“fuck” that’s all he could manage to utter the minute you got down on your knees within a blink of an eye. With his belt already undone it made it easier for you to just slide his jeans down along with the boxers, too worked up to tease him now.

As soon as the cotton material of his boxers came down his thick thighs, his hard shaft sprung against his lower belly. Red tip, leaking and veins clearly visible due to the hardness watered your mouth.

“Go on baby, take that fucking cock in your little mouth” he said through gritted teeth trying to be as hushed as possible with his family only mere steps away. Collecting your hair in his hands he forced your face up to look at him and you did, in every filthy way possible. With your eyes staring at him through your lashes, you grabbed his thick shaft and gave it a good few pump which already trembled his whole body before licking it from the bottom all the way to the top, not breaking the eye contact. And once you reached his aching swollen tip, you licked the slit collected the salty juices and tapped his heavy cocked on your stuck out tongue.

It looked nothing less than a porn scene, with you on your knees sucking his cock in his mother’s bathroom while he’s leaning on the door holding your hair in his hand pushing your head further to feel the tip of his dick in the back of your throat, his face covered in the most satisfied expression. Swear could’ve had a million hits.

Your wrist moved around his base ever so lightly adding a little pressure even then so squeezing it making his body jump with pleasure. And your other hand rolled his balls in the palm of your hand while you drooled on his cock with his every thrust, gagging.

“That’s it, take my fucking cock like the slut you are” he moaned fucking your mouth as you continued deepthroating not caring about the tears that ran down your face smudging your mascara and his thick dick ruining your lipstick. Pulling him out of your hollowed cheek with a ‘pop’ you lowered your face to take his ball in your mouth.

With his dick held up with your hand you sucked on his balls, licking them with your tongue whilst his eyes stay fixed on you, observing your every move, you lips, the way you hollowed your cheek and suckled on his thick shaft effortlessly made his muscles clench and soon he was cumming down your throat.

Pulling away with strings of your saliva from your lips you wiped the mess with the back of your hand after gulping down every drop of his cum you stood up straight and the second after his lips were hot and heavy on your swollen ones.

Kissing you heard before biting down your lower lip he pulled away.

“Meet me out in 5 minutes, we’re leaving right now!” and with that he fixed his hair and left you alone in the bathroom to collect yourself, fix your look and follow him out where you were met by pair of questioning eyes.

“I’m good guys, just an upset stomach”

“yeah ma I am gonna take her home, she needs to rest. Thanks for the dinner and see you soon” kissing his mother’s head he hugged everyone goodbye as you did too before you guys collected your belongs with your coats and wallet and found your way to his black SUV.

Once seated inside you could feel the sexual tension rising between you two as you buckled yourself in, trying your best way possible to look innocent.

He does the same, buckling himself in and driving off his mother’s driveway onto the main road. Gaze fixed on the road, hand gripping the wheel tightly almost as if he’s trying to control another orgasm.

“you couldn’t wait could you” he asked head straight ahead.

“no”

“why”

“you looked hot”

“what made you so horny”

“your beard”

“what about it?” stopping at the red signal he finally turned his head to have a look at your face. Flushed up and looking ever red with the back lights of the cars in front. You bite your lip once again out of habit this time, something you do when you’re either nervous or just horny, which in this case you were to the extreme.

“i-I just can’t stop thinking about your face between m-“

“here?” he cut you off, when his hands pulled your legs apart in a swift motion and his fingers dipped down inside your panties. He could feel the wetness of your socked panties on the back of his hand as he slowly draws circle on your throbbing clit. Your hand gripping his wrist as you spread your legs further apart allowing him more access.

“Yes, fuck I wanna feel your beard on my skin while you eat me out baby. Wanna feel you so good in me tonight.” You moaned as the car stopped at another red signal, the one just before you exits the main road for you house and this time he couldn’t control his eagerness so leaning over he grabs the back of your neck and hides his face in it, kissing the gentle skin with roughness and impatience.

His teeth dug in your skin, biting and nipping gently causing you to let you head fall on the window as his hand rubs your pussy and lips kisses your neck.

Oh how amazing it felt feeling the scruffiness of his beard on your skin. Just like you wanted.

“shit” Chris muttered under his breath when he heard the car behind honk, probably because he didn’t pay attention when the red turned green and he raced the car down the room stopping straight at your big driveway. And the way from the porch of the house all the way to the bedroom was a complete rush. With clothes discarded on the floor and your mouth attached together not breaking apart to even breath he pushed you up against the wall of your bedroom.

Hands held on your either side his lips left yours leaving you breathless to make their way down from your jawline to the crook of your neck. His facial hair did tickle you ever so then but again the rubbing of it against your supple skin felt amazing and you could feel yourself dripping down a little with the arousal.

His hands that were holding yours now supported your bum as he lifted you up with you wrapping your legs around his waist. Your front rubbing against his belly probably smudging your wetness around his, you enjoyed the feeling of it while lasted before he threw you on the bed and his body hovered you the second within.

“Gonna eat that fucking pussy so good baby” he said as he eyed your body with those lusty eyes but soon he had to break his gaze when he felt you pull him down by his dangling necklace.

“I want you to eat me until I tell you to stop” You whispered against his ear and boy he felt his dick twitch. And your wish was his command, so his lips made their way down your neck to your perched up nipples. Grabbing your right titty in his hand he rolled it against his palm while his lips suckled on your left nipple. His eyes closed breathing heavy as he lets go of it and attacks the other pebble hard nipple.

His warm tongue felt amazing on your sensitive buds while it flicked and rolled your nipple around making your arch your back. Hands grabbing his soft brown hair pushing his head down to where you needed the most making him chuckle as he placed tinny kisses down the way to your pussy.

“eager little slut you are” he whispered and pushed your legs apart, your core glistened with the wetness that caused which made his mouth water to get a taste of that beauty. Throwing your leg over his shoulder he kissed your inner thighs softly and slowly making you roll your hips with growing impatience.

“please” you whined

“please what?”

“please tongue me, eat me out baby” you pushed his face down with any shame one your core.

Smiling to self he took a deep sniff of your aroused sex that drove him insane before laying his tongue flat against your lips, pushing through up and licking the juices up. The saliva that his tongue carried made it easier for him to glide it along your smooth skin stopping when it felt the bundle of nerve.

Knowing you and your body with like the back of his hand never failed him to find your clit. In fact he didn’t need to find it, after being together for all these years it would be shame if he didn’t.

“such a tasty cunt” he moaned against your pussy before sucking up on your clit and pulling on it until you squirmed beneath him. Pushing your hips down by his hand he held your waist as while his tongue flicks over and over against your aching core. His beard rubbing on your skin tickled it again but how could you complaint.

His lips on your cunt felt incredible. And your pussy tasted delicious on his tongue. If he could, he would eat you out every month which he possibly could.

Holding your tit in your hand you kept your eyes shut feeling the plump of his lips around your pussy until his tongue dipped inside your opening hitching your breath.

“shit baby oh my god, just like that. Tongue fuck this pussy of yours”

The words of appreciation boosted his ego like a rocket and his tongue paced up. Dipping in and out and then slurping the juices off your pussy soon to be replaced by long slender finger that stretch you out deliciously.

Feeling your tight silky walls against his fingers as he pumped them in keeping his mouth on your core he felt the growing neediness in himself, as much he wanted to taste your sweet cum on his tongue dripping down his chin and slurp every drop of it, he also wanted to put his hard dick inside you and fuck until you cannot walk.

So detaching himself from your cunt (which was a bit sad for him) he was once again pulled down by you attaching your lips on him, tasting your own sweet self. You knew he wanted to fuck you, you knew his dick was probably aching by now with hardness so you pumped his shaft from in between your bodies before lining himself in front of you.

“nuh huh, slut gets the rough way” and with that he flipped you over on your belly and held your hips up, basically face down ass up and without a further word he pushed himself inside of you.

Grabbing you by your waist he thrusted inside you moving your body to match his rhythm as you did. His every thrust outstretch you so gracefully as he licked his hand and across your thigh placed it on your clit so he could rub the nerve bud.

“You feel so good oh my god” he moaned rocking his hips forward into yours as you kept your face hidden in the pillow, your tits bouncing with ever push he gave you. It wasn’t later than that when you felt the coil in your stomach burning up, he did leave you before without a release so it was no shame that you felt yourself on the edge of within 15 minutes of his dick inside you.

And even Chris was close, the soft cushiony walls and the continuous clenches squeezed and warmed his cock making his toe curls as he lowered himself against your back kissing your shoulder. You knew he was close, the minute he starts softening up from all dom that’s the time he his about to cum.

So taking in the sign you gave him a one hard clench followed up by his rough push that hit your G-spot to the utter level of pleasure that your legs trembled and soon you were coming undone with him. His cum dripped down your thigh as he laid on top on your back not pulling out, enjoying the now innocent moment of intimacy with the person he loves.

“I’m never shaving again”

“Bold of you to assume you were even allowed to”

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