#and now for. pairing i made up in my mind... truly the rarest of the rare | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theblack3stday · 2 months

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YOUR RAREST OF FLOWERS — Marlene Mckinnon

Pairing: Marlene Mckinnon x shy!reader

Summary: You are a naturally shy girl and you usually only hang out with Remus. But, one day, you find yourself hanging out with the Marauders and being teased by Marlene.

A/N💌: Thanks for the request, I hope you like it🫶🏻🫶🏻

Word count: 2.7k

Warnings: probably none

The weather was a perfect fit for the beauty of spring. The budding of the flowers, the greening of the leaves on the trees, the gentle wind blowing, and the shining sun made it all worthwhile.

As the wind passing through the open windows of the greenhouse spilled out, it also brought the scent of the flowers in the greenhouse and filled the noses of the students.

"The classes are over," said James excitedly as he sunbathed on the grass.

He turned his face to the sun and closed his eyes. In order to enjoy the heat better, he unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt, took off his tie and put it in his pocket.

"We are free and we can do whatever we want!" Sirius concluded James' words. He was sitting cross-legged next to James.

He grinned and extended his hand to his best friend, who completed his sentence as he wished. James and Sirius high-fived each other. Remus and Peter chuckled at them.

As Lily and Marlene come, boys’ attention turned to their friends.

“My flower!” he jumped from his place to give a kiss to his girlfriend. Marlene set her place next to Peter.

“Oh, fuck!” Remus cursed with realisation. “I have to meet Y/n at the library!”

Remus quickly hurried to meet up with you.

Meanwhile, James continued to fawn over Lily, who smiled with satisfaction. Marlene frowned and shouted after Remus. “Who the hell is Y/N?”

“His book buddy.” Peter answered.

Remus rushed through the hallways, desperate to make his way to the library. Once there, he found you already occupying a seat, buried in a book.

You have been Remus Lupin’s book buddy for quite some time now. Despite his quiet and sometimes brooding nature, you always enjoyed your time together spent discussing your latest books and their characters. Before you knew him, you had thought that he’s a noisy annoying idiot like his friends, but he was the opposite. He was calm, nice and understanding. You were a shy person, but when you were with him, you feel like you are with your brother.

Remus had quickly picked up on the fact that you were a shy person, even if you didn’t realize it yourselves. But he didn’t mind at all, because he knew that he was the same way. He found comfort in your quiet nature, and he enjoyed having someone who he could truly share his thoughts and feelings with. It was one of the main reasons why he enjoyed spending time with you so much.

As spotted you reading, he paused to take a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. Once he was sure he would not let his anxiety get the best of him, he approached you with a small smile. "Hey, Y/n. Sorry, I'm a bit late." he greeted you, his tone gentle and warm.

You smiled back at Remus, your face instantly warmed by his gentle demeanor.

"It's okay, I haven't been waiting for too long. Don't worry about it." you assured him, keeping your tone equally as gentle as his.

The two of you sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, both enjoying the feel of the other's company.

“So, what's the book you were reading?” Remus eventually asked, breaking the silence with a lighthearted, inquisitive tone.

You told Remus the title of the book you were reading, explaining that you had just started it but that it had instantly piqued your interest. Remus nodded along as he listened, his own curiosity piqued by your description.

“I can give you the book, when i finish it.” you said. Remus nodded as you offered him that “Thanks.”

“Do you want to read outside? The weather seems nice.” you asked him, closing your book.

As you and Remus walk outside, you see the Marauders lying on the grass, enjoying the sunlight and chatting amongst themselves. You recognize them as James, Sirius, Lily, Marlene and Peter, and they seem to be having a good time. They notice Remus and smile at him, but don't seem to notice you just yet. You feel a bit uncomfortable as your presence seems unnoticed by the Marauders, who continue to chat and laugh amongst themselves. Remus notices your discomfort and asks you, “Is everything alright?”

You shake your head and tell Remus, “Maybe we can read tomorrow, you know..”

Remus understands where you are coming from, and he comforts you, “We are not intruding. They are just chatting amongst themselves, and they are actually friendly people if you get to know them. Trust me, they are not that what you think.” he whispered, so only you could hear him.

“Hey, who’s this, Moony?” James noticed you first. Or you thought like that. Marlene was the one who noticed you. She noticed you before the others, and she quickly looks away, a slight smile on her face. Your shyness was so cute she thought. As you look around to see that the Marauders have noticed you, you see Marlene's gaze turn away with a slight smile on her face. You feel a bit embarrassed and shy being noticed, but you can't help but feel like Marlene's faint smile was directed at you.

“This is Y/N.” Remus said placing his hand to your shoulder. Marlene's faint smile seems to grow larger for a moment when she hears Remus mention your name. You can sense Marlene's gaze lingering on you after you've been introduced to the Marauders. She seems curious about you, and there's the faintest hint of a smile on her face.

As Remus introduced you to them, your shyness seemed to catch their attention. Particularly, Marlene appeared to gaze at you intently as you nervously looked away from her, feeling a little embarrassed by the attention. Her grin seemed to grow larger when she understands that you realised that she was interested in you. That made you blush even harder.

"I guess this is our book buddy, eh James?" Marlene added with a teasing wink, throwing you a flirtatious glance.

James laughed and agreed, "The one and only! We can't wait for you to hang out with us more often, " He joked, a playful glint of mischief in his eye.

As Marlene made the teasing comment, you felt your ears heat up with an instant blush. You could feel the Marauders' gaze on you, each of them finding your blush immensely adorable in its own way.

"Oh, I'm sure she will," Remus replied with a grin as he looked over to you, his tone playful but also reassuring.

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves now."

James let out a boisterous laugh as he slapped Remus' shoulder jokingly.

Remus returned a wink, as he smiled at you reassuringly. Marlene playfully rolled her eyes and shot Remus a small smirk before turning her gaze back towards you, her playful flirtatious glances now laced with curiosity.

You could sense a playful tension in the air between the four of them. You didn’t know what to say. You just stand there watching them making jokes, having fun and enjoying the day. You laughed with them, but never joined the conversations. You stood quietly in the background. Remus seemed to sense your nervousness and reluctance to join in on the conversations. He kept a close eye on you as well, and his playful tone became a little more gentle in his efforts to include you.

Meanwhile, Marlene couldn't help but watch you with growing curiosity. Her playful glances kept getting longer, she was becoming more and more intrigued by your soft shyness.

You could feel her gaze, and you found it difficult to not look at her in disbelief as she continued to flirt with you in such a subtle yet noticeable way.

As Marlene watched you, you were unaware that she had been looking at you for longer than you'd expect. She suddenly picked up a flower from near her feet, quietly and subtly.

She then reached up and handed it to you, not saying anything but hoping you'd understand the gesture.

As Marlene gracefully handed you the flower, she smiled with a slight blush filling her cheeks. The gesture was innocent yet clearly filled with romantic meaning, sending your heart fluttering in delight. You felt your ears heat up and your heart beat a bit faster as you softly smiled back at Marlene.

As you accepted the flower from Marlene, a warm feeling spread through you, and you couldn't help but return her smile. The simple gesture spoke volumes, and you felt a connection with her that went beyond words.

"Thanks," you murmured softly, your voice barely above a whisper, but carrying a depth of gratitude.

Marlene's smile widened at your response, and she nodded gently, her eyes sparkling with understanding.

The exchange between you and Marlene didn't go unnoticed by the others. James nudged Sirius playfully, a knowing smirk on his face, while Lily observed the interaction with a fond expression. Even Peter couldn't help but glance over, his curiosity piqued by the subtle yet significant moment unfolding before them.

Remus, ever observant, caught the exchange between you and Marlene, and a soft smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He felt a sense of warmth and happiness seeing you connect with one of his closest friends.

"So, Y/N, what's your favorite book?" James asked you. As the group turned their attention towards you, you felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness fluttering in your chest. You swallowed softly, meeting their curious gazes with a tentative smile, ready to answer any question they had for you.

“You read?” Sirius frowned. James rolled his eyes to his best mate. You chuckled to their silly little ‘argument’. "Um, well, I really love that muggle book called ‘Little Women’"

“She read it 7 times!” Remus added.

James and Sirius were surprised to hear that information. “Did I hear that right?" James turned to his best friend.

“I think so.” Sirius said. Lily playfully rolled her eyes.

“This is a classic, I really love that book too! Do you have any other hobbies besides reading?" she smiled at you gently. You knew she was a nice and calm person. Once you were a group in the potions project.

“Hmm, I like to draw and paint in my free time. It's a nice way to unwind." you said.

“Maybe you could show us some of your works sometime?” Marlene grinned. The playful banter between you two continued, as Marlene seemed intrigued by your interests.

“Sure.” you played with your hair trying to avoid the eye contact between you and her.

“Maybe sometime, we could paint together?” she suggested.

“Sure, yeah.” you replied softly, continuing to avoid the eye contact.

After that day, you began to spend more time with the Marauders. The playful banter and flirtatious tones became a frequent occurrence for you, but you didn't mind it. Remus was still your best friend, but you get along with Lily too. She was so nice and obviously she was a crazy reader like you. The boys, Sirius, James and Peter, sometimes were very noisy, but you got used to it. They were fun, and it felt as if you could truly be yourself with them. Marlene continued to play with you. She loved making you blush, especially when your cheeks turned red. When you avoided eye contact, she knew she was doing it right.

It was an another sunny day. The year was almost over. The Hogwarts hallways were bathed in the warm glow of the midday sun, casting long shadows along the stone walls. Sunlight streamed through the high windows, painting intricate patterns on the polished floors. As students bustled between classes, the air was filled with a sense of energy and excitement.

“Y/N!” Marlene spotted you in the hallway outside of class. She playfully sprinted to keep up with your pace, she run towards you She tried to synchronise to your steps. She eventually caught up, giggling innocently at the sight of her chasing you around. “Do you remember that you promised me to paint together?” she playfully asked, matching your steps and rhythm.

You rolled your eyes “That was before I learned you can’t paint.”

"Then you can teach me, huh?" she said while placing her arm on your shoulder, continuing her playful flirtatious tone.

"Maybe..." you replied, with a confused glance to Marlene, who had a playful look on her face.

The two of you continued to have a playful exchange, with Marlene still matching your pace quite expertly.

"Come on, surely I can't be that bad!" Marlene said, continuing to playfully chase you.

"I wouldn't be so sure." you replied with a smirk, before continuing to walk casually as if the chase was no big deal.

Marlene playfully let out a playful huff of frustration as she continued to try and catch up to you.

"Well, if you want to see it so badly, I guess we're just gonna have to have that painting session soon!" she playfully pouted, clearly enjoying her own pouty behavior.

"If we do, I'll be sure to judge you mercilessly." you teased back with a laugh, as Marlene replied with an apologetic grimace.

As the two of you eventually made your way to the lake where the Marauders usually hung out, Marlene playfully commented on her lack of artistic talent.

"I may not be talented in painting, but I have other skills," she said playfully, as the two of you continued to walk along the quiet path.

“Like teasing shy girls?” you felt your heart beating quickly when you asked her that. You didn’t mean it, it just came out from your mouth and there were you, standing in front of her like a tomato.

"Like teasing shy girls." Marlene replied with a playful grin, causing your ears to warm with a blush of embarrassment.

Your shyness was something Marlene had grown quite fond of, and as such, she regularly enjoyed teasing you whenever the two of you interacted. The playful tone and flirtatious banter only made her teasing more enjoyable, causing you to blush more heavily and smile softly, albeit still feeling a little bit of embarrassment.

You were still blushing profusely when Marlene suddenly leaned forward and kissed you, completely taking you off guard.

You were stunned for a moment, but the feeling of her lips against your own was electrifying and made your blush grow even brighter.

Your shock at her sudden actions soon turned into pure ecstasy, and your cheeks felt warm and fuzzy as you enjoyed the unexpected kiss.

Marlene pulled her face away from yours after the kiss, her expression one of pleasure.

"I hope the shy girl likes me teasing her?" she asked with a giggle, her flirty voice filled with playfulness.

You were still a bit taken aback from the unexpected kiss, but you managed to reply with a soft smile and a nod.

"Good," Marlene said playfully, her playful tone and flirty energy still flowing through her voice.

Marlene giggled softly as she leaned closer and kisses you again, this time leaving no doubt that she had every intention of doing so. The playful flirtatious tension between the two of you only grew stronger with the repeated act of kissing, making both sides eager for more.

As Marlene and you engaged in another series of kisses, the tension and flirttous energy between the two of you escalated intensely, as if to compensate for the shyness and awkwardness you had experienced previously.

Your kisses grew more passionate and intense, and before you knew it, the two of you were deeply involved in a heated and fiery makeout session, oblivious to the world around you. Your hearts were pounding in your throats, and your breaths were coming quickly as you both enjoyed the intimacy of the moment.

@hrts4prongs ‘s request

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blackjackmagi83 · 2 years

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Criminal Behavior (11)

Masterlist

WC: 2.7K

Pairing: Druglords Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes X Detective Original Female Character

Summary: Rose Phillips, one of the best vice detectives in the game, was given a mission to catch the biggest drug lord in all of New York. James Buchanan Barnes. Framing as a lady of the night at a hidden gentlemen’s club, her mission being to do anything it takes to lure her target into her trap. Even if it means going through one of his accomplices to get there. Will the notorious criminals fall for her trap or will Rose fall for their criminal behavior?

Warnings: Lots of swearing, violence, and mild sexual content.

Hope you enjoy the chapter ♡

Seeing Chief Stark in a painted tin can suit was not exactly what Rose had expected when planning this wellness check. She figured he'd be lounged on the couch sprawled out with a pack of beer and women's underwear laid around him. That sounds wrong. Long story short, Tony Stark is the biggest playboy Manhattan will ever see in 1952 and doesn't give a fuck about showing it off.

“Who?” She felt like an owl with the amount of times she repeated the word, still trying to wrap it all around her head.

Stark rolled his eyes with a dramatic huff, "Did you not hear me, I Tony Stark, am Iron Man.", his attention shifted back to the wiring that didn't want to stay in place, "I'm still working on a solid name but that has been the best one yet. You know, I quite like it now that I'm saying it aloud to someone. Yeah I'm going to go with that."

Her brows furrowed as she silently questioned his calm composure, "Alright..but why? Is this for some weird fetish club or something? I mean you do you, who am I to judge but-"

"No-geez Phillips why the hell is that the first thing to come to your mind?" He interrupted, a hand rubbing down his face. Sometimes he found her really insufferable.

She rolled her head towards him with her brows raised, "I work undercover in a underground gentlemen's club for wealthy criminals. You hear weird shit in there."

"Oh so you're comparing me to them now?", He gave her a disapproving side eye with a glint of playfulness.

"Of course not.", Rose bit her lip, barely hiding a sarcastic grin, "They're actually tolerable."

"You're a rotten little brat you know that?"

"And you still didn't answer my question."

Her eyes drifted to the shield on the wall, paint shimmering against the lights with not a dent in sight. It looked as if it had just been made.

"That is what this suit is for." He reached up to take it from the wall, the sound of metal scraping against metal whistled around them as he rubbed a hand over the star, "Made from the rarest and strongest metals in the world. I still think it’s my father's best work."

She joined his side, her own hand skimming the surface of the shield, "It's incredible, but isn’t vibranium impenetrable? You'll never be able to destroy this shield."

He ignored her ignorance, his focus on the gleaming weapon in his hands. He'd find a way. A way to destroy Captain America and the Winter Soldier once and for all. And this was the way to do it. Then he'd be on top again with nothing and nobody in his way. His prison sentence would be over and the guilt that pecked at him constantly would finally go. He just had to make sure Rose didn't find out who he truly was behind the mask. He didn't want to lose her too.

The plan he had organized in his head played on repeat, eyes bulging in adrenaline at the image of watching his enemies' guts spill around him, a clean hole blasted through them. Yes, what a sight that'd be. He could see their faces clear as glass, the unsettling horror of their consequences finally catching up with them.

Rose’s eyes shifted to his face, withered with dark circles and an edge that could cut if directed at the wrong person. With a gentle hand and a quiet whisper she tilted her face to force him to look at her, "What aren't you telling me about this case? I know there's more to all of this than everyone is letting on. Especially you Chief, you nearly blasted me to ashes because of it. So, please be honest with me?"

His hand paused, a clammy sweat forming a cold chill down the back of his neck. It was a day he hadn't been able to forget and he knew that Steve didn't either. He took the key to Captain America's sanity, his innocent hero mentality to a blood thirsty barbarian.

Tony Stark killed Peggy Carter.

Rose watched the rollercoaster of emotions stir on his face, closing his eyes to hide the disaster that was held behind them. She kept quiet. Her normal sarcastic remarks sitting in the corner while sympathy and nurture took its place.

"It was an accident." His eyes remained closed, his breathing heavy but quiet, "Wrong place, wrong time kind of accident.", Rose's intent listening and reassuring touch gave him a push to continue, “I was investigating a lead on Barnes, something about checking a problem with inventory at one of their old facilities. It was a long shot but I had to take it, I was desperate. My position as chief was getting questioned because of this case. How I was incompetent for not catching them sooner and so on and so forth. I got distracted by my anger and pride and I just-I just fired at the first person I saw."

His head was spinning, the memory as vivid as the night it happened. The screams still rang in his ear whenever the memory began to fade, reminding him like an alarm that never turned off.

"I didn't know he brought her with him." His voice had shrunk to a broken whisper.

Rose was hesitant to speak, the gears in her head turning as she pictured the incident, "Barnes brought a woman with him?"

Stark let out an agitated groan, "No! Barnes wasn't even there, that slippery fuck. Always just out of my reach.", He sighed, giving her an apologetic glance, "I don't know why but James sent Steve in his place. Probably knew I was coming. I’m not sure, but he brought Peggy, his wife, along with him. I don't have a clue as to why other than it was a last minute change and he forced her along."

Another stab of remorse penetrated his chest. He knew of Peggy, she worked with his father for a long time. A time when Steve Rogers and James Barnes didn't exist in her world yet. She was incredibly intelligent with a mind so sharp she’d whip you straight on your ass in seconds if you questioned her. He admired that about her. Then she met Rogers while working with the super soldier serum. It was love at first sight from what his father had told him. Barnes ruined that woman and led Rogers to believe it was simply fate. Another reason he hated him so much. But Rogers wasn’t innocent in this mess. He was just as fucked up as the rest of them. He just refused to admit to it, even with all the blood that coated his hands. He’ll see soon enough, just wait.

Rose wasn't sure how to feel at this newly learned information. There wasn't a single relic that could've been seen to show he was once happily married. No photographs could be sighted in his apartment, packed clothes she used to wear, or a wedding band adorned his left ring finger. Not even in his files which she found odd. It was as if she never existed in his life at all.

An evil pang of guilt shot through her, thinking about all the moments he had with her. The love in his eyes clouded with the vision of another in his arms instead of her. Did he picture his wife while he laid with her too? Guess it works in a cruel way. They were each other's pawns in this fucked up game of chess.

She was his dead wife's replacement while he was a step in the ladder of reaching Barnes. The world truly works in curious ways when uniting people.

Stark gained a rush of courage, pushing him to continue, snapping her focus away from the jealousy that forced its way through her, "I had surprised them, my gun pulled and my lines rehearsed to perfection for that moment. Like I said, I was desperate, so when they started to run, I just pulled the trigger until the clip was empty. I aimed for Rogers but I guess I wasn’t as good of a shot as I had thought. I sho-I shot her six times in the back, straight through her chest.", His hand pinched at his eyes, burning from his grip mixing with salty tears, "And I fucking ran like a coward while he had to watch his wife die in his arms. His shield was a prize to show the department that I wasn't one to be questioned on my capabilities. I'm still ashamed of myself for it. For all of it."

It was hard to process, the image of the bullet wounds and skin paling with blood loss, the fear that Peggy must’ve felt as she slipped away, was tough to swallow, "Chief, I'm so sorry."

"I don't want your pity Phillips. I deserve everything coming for me for what I've done but Pepper shouldn't have gotten punished with me."

"Pepper?", The name was foreign to Rose, the woman never mentioned before.

"I know it's known that I tend to - get around..a lot per say, but Pepper was someone who I truly loved. She was someone very special to me. Steve wanted to make sure I got my karma for what I did. I watched as he took that shield and bashed her skull into the ground. I almost was next, begged for it even. But he wanted me to suffer just as he had. Alone and angry with my grief. So he smashed his shield into my chest, tore open two valves in my heart.", He pointed at the glowing orb in the center of his suit, "This is what keeps me alive now. A metal implant that can give out at any moment. I wish it would but it seems I must serve my time for longer."

Stark had taken a piece of Steve’s heart so he took a piece of Stark’s to compensate for what he had done.

Revenge tastes best when served cold.

Seeing him collapsed and broken reminded Rose of the time she had first killed someone. The power behind a gun when shooting a breathing target was something she underestimated. A piece of her leaves with every bullet that shoots from her gun. Feeling it claim the spongy flesh, burrowing a home in broken arteries and penetrated organs. It was a feeling that never left her. Every soul taken glued to her back, weighing her mental stability further down into the earth. She's heard the stories of men who couldn't handle using lethal force, later found with a rope around their neck or a hole that matched the one they had given their target, too heavy to fight the shed blood that coated their hands. It was a depressing reality she’d grow used to, having to be one of the officers on sight when she worked the lower ranks. Lost a few close friends that way.

"He didn't tell you, did he?" Stark's bloodshot eyes were on her now, "About Peggy."

"No, he didn't."

The door opened with an aching croak followed by the chime of keys being removed from the rusted lock. Steve looked at the clock.

12pm it chimed, four hours since Rose had left the apartment, leaving him behind with an abundance of lies and secrets for him to find. Unexpectedly, but tediously hidden that made him brew with questions of betrayal and doubts.

Steve stood with his back to the door, his fingers tapping along the countertop as he waited for her to notice his awaiting presence. He could hear her heels clicking against the wood, pausing, then returning to their clicking as she approached his hunched figure.

Warmth erupted along his tense shoulders, his muscles relaxing at the touch he desperately sought comfort from, wanting the anger within him to diminish as if what he had seen didn't exist. But he did, plain and clear in front of him in neatly stamped typewriter ink.

Steve roughly shrugged off her touch, taking a few steps away as he shoved the cardboard box in her direction. Silently, he watched her confused brow relax into a blank stare, hands opening the lid with a light pull.

"Did you open it?" Her voice was monotone, her eyes glued to the contents inside of it.

Steve sucked in a sharp breath trying to contain the questions that wanted to scream out at her, "Yes."

Her head shook disapprovingly, a scoff sneaking past her lips, "Is that what you do when I'm not home, just go through my stuff?"

His jaw tensed as he made eye contact, "Why were you hiding it in the first place?"

Her hand leaned against the counter while the other was on her hip, she was fuming, "Because it's my business where I decide to put my stuff? What secrets I’d like to keep to myself? You and I both know the minute I told you you’d never let me leave, saying it’s too dangerous. I know I’m right so don’t humor me.”, her head shook again, “God I can’t believe you right now."

He returned her scoff, eyes following her as she poured herself a drink, downing it in a single gulp, "I just don’t understand why you couldn’t just tell me, that’s what I’m upset about Rose. You chose to hide it instead of being honest."

"As if you aren't hiding anything, what a fucking joke." Her eyes narrowed, her lips snarled as her frustration grew. How long was he going to play innocent here?

He approached her like a raging bull, his body growing to its full height as he stood straight, staring down at her like a child with his hands pressed firmly into her arms, "I don't like what you're insinuating."

She matched his stance, pressing her chest against his, craning her neck as she challenged him, "Don’t puff your chest out at me like you’re trying to intimidate me. You of all people should know I hate that."

He raised his hands in mock surrender as he stepped back, a sarcastic grin plastered on his lips, "Sorry officer, won't happen again."

"I'm not a fucking cop."

She had to try to maintain her cover, even as the proof sat a few feet besides them. She’d find a way to recover from this blow.

"The badge and papers say otherwise, detective ."

She gritted her teeth as she thought of her next words, regret following closely behind, "And what about your job or better yet what about your ex - wife ? When were you going to tell me about her? If you even planned to, that is."

His tone had diminished to a mumble, his breath hitching noticeably, “What did you just say?"

Fucking Stark. That bastard must’ve said something, wanting to turn Rose against him. He knew Stark was up to something again. Always needing the upperhand in their battle for revenge.

"Have you already forgotten? No, I know you haven't because every time you look, touch, or fuck me, I see that you're replacing me with someone else.", She watched his adam's apple twitch as he swallowed, his eyes drooping to one's of sorrow. A silent agreement, "That's what I thought. How cruel. Yes, I hid my job from you because it's dangerous for me to. Dangerous to the people I care about. Did you think of that?"

Steve grew uncomfortably silent, his eyes distant in thought. Rose wasn't sure if she should stand there or grab another drink. She sure as hell needed it but felt paralyzed in her spot as he drew her close to him.

“I’m sorry.”

And yet again, Rose had let Steve carry her away, sweet nothings and apologies whispered in her ear as he took care of her. Body and soul filled with the warmth of him, tangled into one mass being of existence. Her mind twisting hopelessly between the evidence of a murderous revenge seeking man and the emotional connection of the misunderstood soul that attached to every piece of her. While another picked at her, guilting her over her temptations at selfishly wanting both. Corrupting all thoughts and everything she once believed in.

Part 12

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juniorgman187 · 3 years

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Any Day Now (Reid Fic)

A/N: Plz imagine being impregnated by season 10 Spencer Reid. WHEWW CHILE

Summary: Reader’s pregnancy finally takes its toll on her, leaving both Spencer and Reader to navigate through rough waters from miles away. Category: Fluff, Soft-soft-soft angst, One-Shot Pairing: (POV)Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader Content Warning: Pregnancy Word Count: 3.2k

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

At first, it was nothing I couldn’t handle.

Multiplied mood swings? Understandable, her hormones were everywhere.

An ever-changing appetite? Great, at least now it wasn’t such a hassle for her to decide where to eat.

A suddenly much tighter FBI vest? Well, that’s what the adjustable velcro straps were for.

Again, nothing that I hadn’t already planned for. Even before I delved into parenting books galore, I had a pretty good general idea of what to expect. Not only because of JJ’s earlier pregnancy or Kate’s recent one, but more so because of my extensive knowledge of the human anatomy. This made riding the storm of (y/n)’s pregnancy easier ... until it didn’t.

It was somewhere in her 35th week that things finally got the best of her.

There was a linear increase of events that suggested things were taking a turn for the worse, so I slightly anticipated a steep decline to occur at any moment. For instance, soon after (y/n) started showing, I began to lose count of how many times I had to insert my hand between her seatbelt and her bump to create a gap just big enough so that the belt wouldn’t have such a suffocating restriction on her. Nor could I fully account for all the hours of sleep she’d lost tossing and turning, just trying to find a comfortable position where she wouldn’t be crushed by her own weight. And I certainly couldn’t remember, not even with my eidetic memory, how many times she’s almost walked out of the house completely barefoot after getting frustrated with her inability to put shoes on by herself.

In some sad way, I knew she wished to regain some normalcy in her life. Not that she regretted motherhood, but that she wished she didn’t have to experience so many small inconveniences that summed up to something larger than the life she was helping come into fruition.

She just wanted to drink coffee again without running the risk of a miscarriage. She wanted to climb up a flight of stairs without getting winded by the first few steps. She wanted to put on a tight shirt without looking exceptionally overweight. And most of all, she just wanted to keep working.

If she had to go to hell and back to stay in the BAU while pregnant, then to hell and back she went.

My wife, as stubborn as ever, had made me - and the entire team - promise not to baby her as soon as we revealed that we were expecting.

“I don’t want any of that ‘but you’re pregnant’ crap, got it?” She narrowed her eyes darkly at all of us, pointing an accusatory finger. “Anything you can do, I can do pregnant.”

And from that day on, she did what she vowed to do, what I knew she could do. She still chased after unsubs, shot all the bad guys, arrested the felons, but eventually - inevitably - it wore down on her.

The easiest effect I could identify was her drowsiness. It used to take her a while to fall asleep on the jet, and sometimes, she’d stay awake the entire flight. But after the grueling hours she’d endured during her pregnancy, we would barely board the plane before she knocked out. I think falling asleep in the seats gave her the comfort she couldn’t find lying horizontally in a bed. No one said anything, though, because she’d already made it explicitly clear that she didn’t want us to pay her any special treatment, which I understood. Nobody likes to be pitied, but after today’s incident, this went far beyond pity.

It was just plain concern.

“The doctor said I’ll be fine.” She grumbled, waving me away with a flick of her hand. However, seeing as she was currently lying in a hospital bed, donning a gown that only partially hid from me all the wires and pads that stuck to her body to monitor her health and relay it to the machines - she wasn’t fine. And I needed her to know that I wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was the team. (I didn’t tell her this because she would’ve quite literally took my head off, but they were all out there in the waiting room instead of working on the case).

“Emphasis on the future tense ‘will.’ You will be fine, but right now, you’re not.” I prepared myself to deliver the news I knew she didn’t want to hear. My voice became significantly quieter, reaching such a low decibel I wasn’t sure she’d even hear it, but maybe that was by design. She didn’t want to hear it as much as I hated to say it. “Maybe you should consider going on maternity leave now.”

Immediately, my wife shook her head with the biggest pout I’d ever seen. I could see it in the way her lip quivered that she was about to cry, no doubt because of the hormones, but especially because this job was her last piece of normality. She clung to it because it was all she had left to remind herself that she was still, in some capacity, the woman she was before.

“Spencer, please.” She begged, as if I could do anything. “I’m not ready to leave yet.”

I pursed my lips and looked away for a second to hide my own emotions. Seeing her cry was never easy, but being the cause for it made this even harder. I felt the formation of a lump in my throat and the pricking of tears in my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I croaked. “But I can’t let you keep risking your health,” I explained, neglecting to voice the final part of that sentence. ‘Or our baby’s.’ But I didn’t say that. How could I? It would’ve only guilted her further.

“Your blood pressure’s getting higher,” I explained, keeping my eyes steady on hers, not letting them stray to the machine that she clearly didn’t know how to read. But with one glance at the numbers, I already knew they weren’t good. I didn’t lead on just how bad they were, though. “You fainted today, and if you’d landed even a little bit differently, you would’ve ended up with a lot more than just a few scratches on your stomach.” That was the extent of my guilt-tripping. It didn’t feel right coming out of my mouth, but it was the only way I knew she would understand the severity of the situation.

“You were already planning on going on maternity leave next week, what’s a few days earlier?” I asked, briefly referring back to her obstetrician’s recommendation of not flying after her 36th week.

We both agreed that after week 36, she’d take her leave of absence since she couldn’t join us on the jet anyway. It was our ‘compromise.’ If she insisted on still going in the field, then she had to listen to the doctor’s orders and not fly for the last month.

“Spencer,” She whispered again, this time with tears running down her cheeks at the bat of her eyes. With the pad of my thumb, I gently wiped them away, wishing I’d never caused them to be there in the first place. “I can’t do this anymore.”

She never let on how difficult things had become for her. She never said it’s too much (and it must be too much some of the time). So when she finally admitted the burden her pregnancy had created, I could already sense its arrival. So without a second wasted, I pulled the guest chair right up next to her bed and sat in it while reaching for her hand. Despite the presence of the pulse oximetry on her index finger, I still took her hand between both of my own, not minding the gap that the device created.

“You are the strongest woman I know. There aren’t many pregnant women out there who can do what you’ve done these past eight months. They wouldn’t even think of it.” We shared a brief laugh, which lightened the atmosphere enough to encourage me to continue. “You are bearing our child, (y/n). Nobody else gets to do that. Not me. Not another girl. Just you. It’s only you who can truly give for our baby right now and you’re -you’re my girl ... and right now, I need you to take care of our girl, okay?”

She nodded rapidly with still glistening eyes. For the first time, that day, she stopped thinking her job was as an agent and started knowing her job was as a mother.

And a damn good one at that.

_ _ _

If there was anything I’d learned over the past years, it was that I should never expect my wife to follow the rules. Today was no exception.

She should’ve been in bed right now, taking it easy, but instead, she was standing right beside the jet, saying goodbye to each and every one of us before we boarded.

This would be our first flight without her.

“You take care, mama, okay?” Morgan told her, kissing her cheek before waving goodbye.

“I’m gonna miss you so much.” Kate sighed, engulfing (y/n) in a hug that I knew couldn’t have been comfortable with each of their bumps in the way, but they relished in it anyway. If I didn’t know any better, it looked like Kate was about to cry. Maybe that’s because their dynamic was different than any other. Their simultaneous pregnancies meant that they knew one another’s struggles far better than any of us could, so granted, it would be hard for Kate and (y/n) to be away from each other. They’d been in this journey together after all, in a way I couldn’t have been.

“Oh,” JJ sighed happily, taking (y/n) in her arms and swaying gently from side to side. “You are going to be the best mother ever.”

“Said the best mother ever.” (Y/n) remarked, laughing bittersweetly. It was something in her smile that let me know it was just for show.

Then, in one of the rarest moments of history, Hotch hugged (y/n), earning a slightly more real smile from her.

“Get some rest. You deserve it.” He whispered.

Not even a second after they pulled away did Rossi wait to take (y/n)’s face in his hands and plant two kisses, one on either cheek.

“If you need anything, you call us.” He ordered, mimicking a drill sergeant.

And though, I wasn’t ready, I found myself making my way to her, getting ready for one of the hardest goodbyes.

She wrapped her arms around my torso and let her head press against my heart. “I don’t know how I’m gonna do this without you.”

For the first time that night, she wasn’t faking a smile or putting on a face. I knew when she was saying goodbye that she was only laughing and grinning for everyone else, but underneath it all, she was experiencing a great sadness that no one else could understand. Everyone was just as excited as we were for this baby, if for no other reason than I was finally going to have a family of my own. That I’d finally found the people who were going to be there for me forever. And maybe it was that knowledge, the knowledge of how happy this baby made others, was the reason she never let it show just how hard it was for her. Otherwise, it’d ruin the fantasy. And so she wore happiness like a mask to hide the profound pain that would’ve wounded our spirits.

“Hey, I’m not leaving you forever,” I whispered somberly, hugging her a little tighter. “And if anything happens, I’m just a phone call away.” As much as I tried to believe my words, neither of us could find the truth in it. Even I knew I wasn’t just a phone call away. I’d be miles and miles and miles away from two of the best things that have ever happened from me.

She inhaled sharply and pulled away from me, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the hope that I hadn’t already seen them. “I should probably let you go now.” She laughed lightly.

Our bodies parted, but I had yet to let go of her hand. I shook it up and down gently as I told her, “I love you.”

She shook my hand back in just the same manner. “We love you, too.”

A smile crept onto my face after the immediate realization of what she meant.

My girls.

At last, when I walked up the steps to the jet, I finally let go of her hand at the last moment possible, and even after we released hands, our arms stayed outstretched for a passing second as the distance between them got further and further. With the warmth of her hand leaving mine vacantly cold, I watched as she replaced it on the very top of her stomach, as if to say, “We’ll be okay.”

_ _ _

“Reid?”

I refocused my vision to Morgan who was calling my name. From the look on his face, I realized he probably tried to get my attention multiple times before this.

“Sorry, what did you say?” I shook my head to clear my mind, but it didn’t work. A part of me was still in another world, lingering in thought.

My mind would never shut up about her, but it seemed like today, it was firing all these things at me at 2x speed. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact event that I felt guilty for, but really - take your pick. It could’ve been anything, it could’ve been everything.

It could’ve been the fact that I was here and she wasn’t. It could’ve been the fact that in those last moments I saw her, I realized just how strong she was being this entire time, and how I was asking her to be even stronger, as if the weight of the world wasn’t enough. It could’ve been the realization that she was struggling this entire time, but never asked for help, thinking that she’d be a burden - the very thing she made us promise not to let her be. That is the reason after all, that she told us not to let her pregnancy be an excuse for anything. Because if she didn’t contribute anything, then she’d be holding us back - she’d be dead weight. I knew that, and yet, what did I do?

Nothing. I walked away and boarded that fucking jet like a brainless idiot.

I should’ve stayed with her.

Morgan’s eyes turned to slits while he tossed the manila folder onto the table, seemingly setting it aside so it wouldn’t be a distraction from his question. “What’s going on, man?”

I shrugged, pretending not to know exactly what he was talking about. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just zoned out, that’s all.”

Clearly exasperated, he said, “Come on, man. Don’t do that. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Whether it was defeat or a sweet surrender, I tucked my hands in my pockets and let my head hang low, eyes glued to the ground. Unexpectedly, I was sniffling and wiping my nose before I could register that tears were already coming. “I’m just worried about her.”

It felt stupid to admit, especially considering I saw her only 8 hours, 37 minutes, and 12 seconds ago. But the absence of her and our baby was growing more and more apparent with every passing moment I spent in this office without her. Usually, she would be here to keep me company, bothering me while I located the comfort zone - not that she ever really did bother me. I quite liked her presence.

Sometimes, when I was left alone, the room would get too quiet, and it’d just be me and my thoughts. And maybe she knew how scared of my own mind I was when it wandered, so she never let me be alone with it - never let the room get too quiet. She would talk and talk and talk, and I could never get tired of listening. Her voice was like white noise. If she was here, things would be as they always were. I would be standing at the map, and she’d no doubt be sitting in a chair, rubbing gentle circles around her protruding stomach as I felt her watching me intently.

“Found it.” I would say, drawing a big red circle around the zone.

To which she would say, “You’re a genius.”

Sure, I’ve been called ‘genius’ a million times before, but it never felt the same as when she said it.

Morgan could see the invisible pain in my chest, and he pulled me in by my shoulder to wrap his arm around me. It might not have looked like it, but it was the most reassuring hug he could’ve given me. I can’t explain it, but it felt like (y/n)’s warmth and love had possessed his body and he was radiating it now.

“I know it’s scary, man, and honestly, we all wish we could be with her right now. But trust me when I tell you she’s not alone.” He treaded carefully with his words, and I could tell there was something he wasn’t saying but that wanted me to figure out.

I didn’t even have to verbalize my question because soon enough, when Morgan pulled back, his phone began to ring.

“It’s Garcia.” He told me, though he didn’t answer the call, which was weird enough. But then he gestured to the computer on the table, and so I half-heartedly watched as the screen changed from the blue background to a video call with Garcia.

And who else would be sitting beside her but my wife?

“Look who I’ve got with me!” Garcia squealed, clapping her hands together excitedly.

“You’re supposed to be on bedrest.” I playfully scolded her.

“I was! I was, I promise. But after I said goodbye to you guys, I went home and got four hours of sleep, and then I went to my doctors appointment, but then when I was driving home, I thought why would I go back there when I’ve got everything I need right here?” She motioned around Garcia’s lair, even lifting up a hospital-go bag that Penelope no doubt compiled just for her. If there was anyone I trusted to take good care of her, it was Garcia.

Like I said before, I learned to expect (y/n) not to follow the rules. So naturally, she found a way to still work even on maternity leave.

At this point, the rest of the team neatly filed into the room, erupting in cheers of excitement at the sight of (y/n) in the bat cave.

“Is everything okay?” JJ worriedly asked.

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine! Baby looks good, my blood pressure’s getting better, so we’re doing okay.” She smiled proudly, and so did I. That was her first appointment on her own, and though it couldn’t have been easy, especially this late in her term, she did it anyway. Because that’s my girl.

“When are you due, again?” Kate asked (y/n), earning an enthusiastic, “Doctor says if she’s on time, New Year’s Eve!”

It never failed to make me smile whenever she brought up her due date. She was always excited to proclaim that our daughter might be brought into the world at the exact time we brought in the new year.

“But if I’m early, it could be any day now.” She explained.

Here’s where I had to cut in. “Hopefully not any day now! I don’t wanna miss it.”

“You won’t!” She promised through a wide grin.

Something else you should know about my girl? She always keeps her promises.

And on January 1, at exactly 12:00 - just as promised - I had the privilege of watching (y/n) deliver a healthy 6 pound and 9 ounce baby girl.

The weight of my whole world.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Can you tell I love it when someone says “my girl”? I think that’s my favorite pet name ever.

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sombrasaiyan · 2 years

Text

Beautiful Black Bride | blacklifla

major character deaths, graphic violence, sexual themes, angst

summary: Goku Black wants his perfect utopia free of mortals. However, he doesn’t plan on going any further without his saiyan mate Caulifla at his side. Through attempts does he try to get her to be his bride, but it may have to cause him to make some sacrifices. Finally, Caulifla reciprocates his feelings as the two dance their way into the darkness.

pairing: goku black x caulifla, vegeta x caulifla mentioned

author’s note: Please note that this one shot is unfinished at the moment but I want to get it out there! When I get the motivation again I will be adding the smut! But in the meantime, enjoy of what I have to offer! My next official one shot is still a work in progress and my estimate is that it will be as long as the Immortal Affair. So look forward to that.

Sparing a mortal's life was out of the question. However, only the rarest red red rose would receive the upmost golden ticket to live on without the fear of being purged. Never in a thousand years would Goku Black believe that he would harbor such romantic feelings—for a mortal saiyan—a bad combination of both worlds. Both kinds of beings he wanted deceased, especially when it came to the most annoying ones such as Goku and Vegeta. There was one mortal saiyan who he didn't want to see perish at all—nor would he let Zamasu torture with his murderous intentions.

"You've hardly taken a sip of your tea." The familiar voice breaks the god out of his thoughts.

Goku Black blinks as his eyes wander to his partner who assists him in carrying out his mortal purging.

"It's not like you to be so easily distracted," he continues, taking an ample sip of his hot tea. "What's caught your attention?" Curiosity seeps through the green Supreme Kai's very being.

To easily pull his pondering away, Black raises the teacup from being placed down the table and forces himself to take a sip of his tea, delightful and earthy. "Nothing in particular, Zamasu. Just the thought of our utopia's future being blessed with no mortals remaining. Just the way we envision it."

Zamasu arches a snow white eyebrow and hums a soft melodic tune. "I like the sound of that." Zamasu chuckles as a matter of factly. "Forget I intruded your very god-like thoughts with such a stupid question."

And Goku Black did forget, because he could only think of her.

━━━━━━━━━━━

Her body became restless with never-ending thoughts of the future timeline. Once was she a forced citizen who inhabited that cruel world. Now with the help of the time machine, she was pushed back to the present, where she could rest easy with the warmth and safety of this world.

Of course, Beerus and Whis had many conversations and arguments with Champa and Vados about how a universe six saiyan managed to make her way to the future timeline when truly she didn't belong there. Of course, neither of them had the answer to that question, and Caulifla herself didn't have the answer to that question either.

It was like a magnetic force that pulled her to that universe and forced her to live her days there. Fortunately and unfortunately, was she able to drag Cabba and Kale along. Now, her two best friends were stuck in that universe while she was free of a dark paradise here. It was alright though, they had Trunks and Mai alongside them for safety and defense.

As Caulifla hesitantly voyages out towards the time machine, she takes a deep breath, exhaling her fears as she lays a gentle hand on the surface. Flinching, she feels a big hand pressed down on her shoulder, followed by a giggle.

"I'm going to have so much fun knocking some sense into Black and Zamasu!" The goofball giggles with optimism. "Not that I can, but beating them up sure will be lots of fun." He sensed the boiling tension inside of Caulifla, and hoped that his words would ease her mind free of her nightmares.

"Oh yeah! I can't wait to show Zamasu what I'm made of! I'll make sure I twist him into a green pretzel!" Caulifla comments with as much boldness as possible.

"That's the spirit," Goku turns himself towards the open door. cupping his face he shouts, "Hey, Vegeta! Get a move on, we don't have much time to waste! The others could really use our help!"

"I hear you Kakarot!" Vegeta growls as he adjusts his armor to his liking, casting a quick glance at Caulifla before taking her into his lifting arms and throws her into the time machine, and as he expected, she was screaming her head off at him at his action.

"So you sense her uneasiness too, huh Vegeta..." Goku silently thinks as he watches the prince hover into the time machine, Goku quick to follow. This time, the three saiyans would be going without the two female scientists, since the time machine was cramped enough as it is.

Caulifla takes a deep breath, ready as she'll ever be to return to the future.

━━━━━━━━━━━

Kale found herself sleeping in Cabba's arms lately, and the male saiyan didn't seem to mind. Frost too, was plastered on Cabba like thick glue. Frost eventually decided to join in the attempts to stop the gods of this world, since he couldn't stand seeing his three saiyan friends stuck with a problem they couldn't easily fix without help. As time passed in this world, Frost grew much closer to Cabba, more than he expected.

Cabba was wide awake as he frowns at the thought of Goku Black and Zamasu resting so peacefully. His fists quietly clench underneath the covers, as he attempts to distract himself with other thoughts. As he is close to falling asleep, he feels a storm of footsteps coming towards his direction. Careful to not wake up his friends, he is quick to get on his feet and hover over to the open area of the train station that was now their home.

His eyes widen as his jaw hangs loose at the sight that laid in front of him: healthy and raring to go saiyans, Vegeta, Goku and most importantly, Caulifla.

"Cabba! Are you and Frost and Kale alright?" Caulifla attempts to poke her head around her friend to spot the other two.

"Yeah, we're alright. Frost and Kale helped me fight off Black and Zamasu for a bit, they deserve to rest as much as the rest of you do." Cabba answers, though knowing these three wouldn't easily comply.

"Hmph! You seriously think that the lot of us are here to sleep? Those pathetic so called gods deserve to die for everything they've put us through! It's time to get a move on!" Vegeta turns to Goku and Caulifla before turning around to face the front of the train station. "Well? Are you two coming?"

Goku smirks, "Yep! I've been itching for those rematches!"

As Goku and Vegeta begin to speed their way out, Caulifla tails behind them, only to be stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Wait, Caulifla. I need to talk to you about something that happened earlier today." Cabba whispers lowly.

"Uh, okay. Is everything good with Frost and Kale?"

"...Yeah. It has something to do with you, but I don't think you'll like it."

━━━━━━━━━━━

The ghastly smoke from the fire burns his nostrils as the smell of debris was also very prominent in this area. The fresh memories of torturing the frost demon and the weak saiyan girl made him smirk—but what made it twist into a frown was the fact that Caulifla was no where to be found. It made him want to go on a purging mortal rampage, but he had to be patient. His beloved would return sooner than no time.

"Ah, I sense the saiyans have returned, how about we pursue them again?" Zamasu suggests as Black blinks out of his thoughts. He hated when Zamasu pulled him away from concentrating on his own little plans.

"Mmm, Vegeta and Goku. But then, where's Caulifla?" Goku Black resists the urge to growl, knowing that Zamasu was already rather suspicious of him.

"I can't sense her, but do you want to do the honors of killing her? If you give me the honors of killing Goku." Zamasu says as he turns to look at the dark god with a sinister smirk.

"Good. He doesn't suspect a thing." Goku Black inwardly thought. Nodding at his partner, he gathers himself up. "Well then, let's show those blundering fools what we're truly capable of!"

With that, the two gods soar across their almost perfect world, scanning the area for the saiyans. Goku Black could care less about Goku and Vegeta right now—he'll leave Zamasu to pester them. Right now he needed to be with Caulifla, he needed to have his mate alongside him, protected from any dangers that could come her way. She too, needed him. Goku Black could see it in her eyes, that she knew that they belonged together for eternity.

"There you two phony gods are!" Goku bellows from below as Zamasu grins in delight. Just the sight of Goku made him very elated. Today was the day that Zamasu would kill Goku.

"And where's Caulifla?" Goku Black asks casually, with arms folded. Though, knowing the two saiyans, they weren't just about to give intel on their female teammate. Perhaps, they had caught on instead of Zamasu about Goku Black's loving feelings for her. Most definitely, if they knew, they would never trust the wickedly evil saiyan.

"That's none of your concern Black, but if you must know, she's in the present timeline as safe can be." Vegeta declares with a grin, knowing that it would piss off Goku Black.

"Never mind about the brat saiyan. We have these two to kill." Zamasu says, keeping his eyes on Goku. "I hope you enjoy your last day on earth."

"If you think I'm going down that easy, then you're wrong, Zamasu! You're dead wrong!" Goku immediately transforms into super saiyan.

"We'll see about that." The green god creates his signature lavender purple ki blade and chases after Goku, the saiyan quick to throw punches and kicks, avoiding the blade as much as possible.

That left Vegeta and Goku Black. Goku Black wasn't in much of a mood to fight, not while his saiyaness was out there somewhere without him. If he wanted her to trust him, that meant no harm was to come to any of her friends from now on. For now, however, he would allow Zamasu to have his fun. Goku would be a big distraction for Zamasu, and that gave Goku Black enough time to look for Caulifla.

"Does something trouble you, Black?" Vegeta asks with folded arms, seeing as though the god didn't proceed with their newly awaited battle.

"Nothing at all, saiyan. You see, I am rather tired from fighting that other female saiyan and that lizard. Also, I would much rather rest now. How about you join Goku? From here I can sense that he is struggling to maintain in the fight with my counterpart." Black suggests, hoping that Vegeta would go away as he intended.

"Is this some kind of joke?!" Vegeta demands. "Because if it is, it isn't funny at all, bastard."

Black simply smiles, "Ah, Vegeta. You can sense it too, can't you? Goku isn't going to win this fight. Why don't you be smart and go assist your friend before he's murdered."

Vegeta growls under his breath. He hated to admit it, but Black was right. However, the prince was mildly confused about the dark saiyan's behavior. He wanted answers, but he wouldn't get them anyway. It was hopeless trying to get Goku Black to say anything. Without another word, Vegeta was finally off, flying into the sky to join in the fight to help Goku.

The sweet smell of roses cloud Black's nose as he frowns. The two saiyans lied to him about Caulifla's whereabouts, because he's finally found her.

And he won't intend on letting her go ever again.

━━━━━━━━━━━

Caulifla could only lay on the floor, shattered glass surrounds her being, some pierced her lovely ivory skin enough to make her bleed. Soft whimpers escape her lips as she forced herself not cry in pain. "Stupid Cabba..." she manages to say. Her vision was blurred by the tears she attempted to push back. Her world felt heavy as her ears rang in pain.

"Soon, Caulifla you'll understand...I'm doing this for the safety of all of us!"

Is all he said before he blasted her into the wretched glass building, and now here she was, laying on the ground with many questions of Cabba's cruel intentions. What his mere words meant, and why, just why would he do it?!

Soon, she'll receive her answer.

"Caulifla?" The familiar husky voice calls out, light like vanilla, loving and trusting for once.

The little saiyan's eyes widen once she realized who it was. How was it that he found her so easily? When she masked her ki as much as possible to hide herself in this state. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tries to ignore the pain that was overwhelming her body.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound of his boots coming closer and closer sends shivers down her spine as she forces herself on all fours. Even attempting o crawl away was such a chore, and she hated feeling so defeated at this moment. Soon, she'll be trap in the arms of the dark god, and she had to at least try. Try to escape the hell he was about to put her in.

Goku Black onlooks at her bloodied and broken figure with a frown. His eyebrows furrow once he realized that this was most likely Cabba's doing.

"Remember, boy! No harm shall come to my mate, and I will spare your life alongside your two lovers!"

"Tch, stupid saiyan couldn't even keep his promise of not hurting you." Goku Black saunters slowly in the direction of Caulifla, almost getting a high of watching her struggle in that position.

"Y-You led Cabba to do this! Why?!" Caulifla demands, her palms pierced with the fragments of broken glass as she gasps out in pain of it cutting her skin.

Black was tired of watching her crawl through the glass bath and inflicting pain upon herself. Sighing, he scoops her up within his arms. Again, however like their last few encounters was the little saiyan quick to try and escape his strong arms, leaving Goku Black frustrated.

"Let me go you bastard! I am not going to stay in that hideout with you again!" She cries out, as Goku Black growls into the back of her neck, causing Caulifla to gasp out in surprise. A part of her was drawn to him, but the very sane part of her wanted to evade him. Deep down however, she too knew how eternally bound she was to him.

"Quit being so childish, Caulifla! I'm not going to have you bleed out to death here, and you don't have to worry about Zamasu this time around, alright? You'll be with me, and I won't let anything happen to you." Goku Black assures her as he cautiously begins to take flight to the sky.

Caulifla keeps a scowl on her face, digging her nails into her palms. She was angry at the fact that she was dragged back into his arms, again. Somehow, Cabba had something to do with Goku Black. Caulifla couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal over this very fact—though whatever Cabba must've gotten promised in return was worth it, apparently.

━━━━━━━━━━━

Delicately as possible, Goku Black begins to remove the shards of glass as Caulifla lays there with her tattered and torn clothes removed, leaving her in only a black undershirt and her red and black panties. Once all the glass was removed and he had tended to her wounds as quick as possible, she was quick to get on her feet.

"Where do you think you're going?" Black wraps a hand around her arm and tugs the small saiyan back into the bed, as she fell into his embrace. Caulifla bit down her lip so that her growl wouldn't be heard by the dark god. She knew Goku and Vegeta were currently fighting against Zamasu, and quite possibly Cabba. Caulifla wasn't just going to sit here and let Goku Black get possessive over her. Not again, at least.

"I need to take a bath..." she mutters.

Goku Black then realized, that it had been a few hours since he had taken a bath, given that he was too distracted with his training and trying to perfect his rosé form. With a devious smirk, and sexual intent in the husk of his voice, he playfully chimes in, "Then allow me to join you~ tonight shall be the night we shall fully expose ourselves to each other!" Caulifla's heart drops to her stomach as an unfamiliar tingling sensation spreads within her legs. She didn't know what this was, but all the saiyan knew was that she only experienced it when she was with Black.

"No, Black. I don't want to shower with the likes of you...the blood of your victims most likely stains your body." She says through her teeth, just in case saying these words louder would cause an unpleasant reaction from him. True to her beliefs, it did, because she could feel his slowly building up anger on her back. However, she didn't regret making the ugly truth known.

He firmly squeezes her into an embrace, not a single temptation of murder was in his mind, oddly enough. But this was the saiyan he had grown quite fond of, one he absolutely couldn't live without. Did he regret toying with the saiyan from the start? Even sparing her life when had many chances to kill her? No. Not a fragment of Goku Black regretted it at all.

"Stubborn as always, my beloved saiyan..."

Caulifla inwardly sighs in relief. The fear that began to internally devour her mental state was now subdued. In the past, if Caulifla wasn't too careful with the choosing of her words, Goku Black wouldn't hesitate on punishing her. Most of which resulted in him throwing her over his legs and spanking her, or even biting into her skin to taste her blood and leaving bite marks. Her words tumble out of her mouth in a begging manner. "Please, Goku Black...let me shower alone...I'm not entirely ready to expose myself to you...yet."

Goku Black felt a nice warmth on his chest as a smile couldn't resist being painted on his lips. He nuzzles into her neck lovingly as he whispers softly, "I understand, my beloved saiyan. A feast shall await you after you finish your bath, please don't take long..."

"Change in words..." Caulifla thought to herself as she nods, inching herself out of Black's hold. "Okay, Black. I can't wait to have dinner with you..."

Black grins, watching as she nostalgically gathers up a couple of fluffy towels alongside a change of clothes. As he eyes her body up and down, he says, "Until when will you finally be comfortable with me bathing with you—or even, having me completely..."

Caulifla nearly flinches at his dirty words, as she found herself looking at him. Conjuring up the right words, she takes a few moments to respond to the saiyan god. When he wasn't being evil or murdering mortals, was his company genuinely good. When he wasn't so eerily nice with a sense of stalkerish tendencies, did Caulifla find herself in a safe position. When Zamasu wasn't constantly glaring at her, or even breathing in the same spot as her, was she fine with being with Goku Black.

"When I know it's entirely safe and I don't feel like I'm drowning in your demons..."

━━━━━━━━━━━

The sound of the running shower was barely audible in the kitchen, as Black admired the spread of food he had cooked for himself and Caulifla. His raging sexual urges beg him to barge in the bathroom and join Caulifla in the shower. Just the dirty thought of the naked saiyan with water droplets sprawling across her body, and the way the water runs down her skin so perfectly. Perhaps it was his filthy imagination, but he could swear he heard her soft moans. Maybe she too, wanted him to join her in the shower, where their desires would unveil to each other.

Licking his lips, he darts toward the bathroom, his lips transfixing into a frown once he realized they were moans of pain. "Caulifla! I'm coming in!" Goku Black shouts as he quickly opens the door and scurries in. His jaw gapes at the sight of her body laying there in the tub, her blood seeping out more than it should. Most likely it was weakening her, causing him to curse under his breath. Goku Black quickly swipes the towel from hanging on the towel rack.

Caulifla shivers as she lays bare in the tub, yelping out in pain, Goku Black with his free hand plays with the knobs to turn them off, then proceeding to wrap Caulifla in the towel. "Did Cabba do more than shove you into that glass building?!" He demands, his worrying words bubbling high with his tone.

"Nngh—I don't think it was just that...I-I don't know what's wrong with me...." Caulifla whines.

"Nothing is wrong with you..." Goku Black sighs as he swiftly leaves the bathroom, gently holding Caulifla.

Upon exiting, his eyes lock with Zamasu, who was on the other end of the hallway with a frown. From the corner of her eye, could Caulifla see the god who intimidated her and tortured her. Of course he had a frown of disapproval, and a menacing glare.

"So, you leave me alone to fight Goku and Vegeta so you can play house with this stupid saiyan!" He growls, shaking his head. "Have you learned nothing from the first time around? She'll always get in the way of perfecting our utopia!"

"You're here safe and sound are you not?" Goku Black says with a grin. "And my mate is here to stay. With that being said Zamasu, I want no harm to come in the way of my saiyan. Are we clear?"

Zamasu slams a fist into the wall closest to him, causing Caulifla to flinch in Goku Black's hold. "Are you seriously going to risk everything we've worked so hard for—for this saiyan?!"

"Enough foolish talk, Zamasu! I'm not just going to listen to you ramble on about our failures and blame them on Caulifla! I'm going to tend her wounds again, and I expect you to tell me every intricate detail of your battles!" With that, Goku Black returned to his room with an exhausted Caulifla.

━━━━━━━━━━━

It wasn't until Caulifla woke up in Goku Black's bed did she realize she had fallen asleep. Of course he was sitting at the edge of the bed, awaiting for her to finally awaken. It seemed that he had realized this, as he turns around to face her. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm one-hundred percent fine being kidnapped by you again. And it's not like I'm in pain."

"Cut the sarcasm, saiyan."

Caulifla sits up slowly, looking at Goku Black. "Maybe you should listen to Zamasu and let me go—he's right, I'll only get in the way."

Goku Black's eyes linger towards Caulifla's bandaged figure before locking eyes with her. "Pay no heed to him, his words should have no effect on our relationship. Just stay by my side..." his fingers glide across the covers as he inches close to her. "...And I promise you, I will give you everything."

As Goku Black comes closer and closer to the saiyan, Caulifla found herself laying back down the bed. Goku Black quickly yanks the covers away as he slowly gets on top of her, leaning his face towards hers. Under slow breaths, did Caulifla fight with herself on whether or not to give in to temptation, when multiple times, the offer was completely consensual from his part. This wasn't the first time they kissed, and certainly wasn't the last.

"Caulifla~" Goku Black lovingly whispers before entrapping his lips onto hers, her heart hammering in her chest. She couldn't respond as quickly as he could, but her arms numbly wrap around his broad back, Black sinking down against her body, causing Caulifla to shiver. Eyes closed, the saiyans continue their kissing session, the god's curious hands roaming across her body, trailing across the warm skin of her stomach, rising up to her bra playfully.

Caulifla's eyes immediately open once he crossed that barrier. The most they've ever done was kiss, never once did they cross over to sexual territory—no matter how much both of them wanted to.

"B-Black, we can't..." she whispers.

Black grins as he chuckles, "I'm sure Zamasu already senses our ki spikes, he must've gone out to..." not finishing what he mentally thought, but instead choosing another set of words. "Give us privacy."

"Not when your world is like this...I don't want to have sex knowing the majority of my friends are fighting for their lives."

Goku Black closes his eyes as he takes a deep breath, he loved Caulifla's heart of gold, but hated how much she cared for Goku and Vegeta. "Alright, we'll wait my love. Are you hungry?"

Caulifla nods as Goku Black leads her out the room, both anticipating the feast that hopefully hadn't gotten cold.

━━━━━━━━━━━

The sun has dipped itself into the ocean, the colors of scarlet, orange and magenta bleeding into the waves. The saiyan couple walk alongside each other as they take a loving stroll on the beach. Caulifla wears a two piece scarlet bikini while having a black sarong wrap cover the lower half of her bikini. Goku Black wears a black tank top with a pair of black swimming trunks with red amaryllises patterned on them. They both wear a pair of matching sunglasses as they hold hands with each other.

Caulifla looks at the ocean as she giggles giddily at the sight of it. "Please, can we swim for a bit? I know you only wanted to take a stroll—"

Goku Black chuckles as he shakes his head. "Of course we can swim, we can do whatever you want."

Caulifla smiles, taking Goku Black's hand as they make their way towards the water, Goku Black hoisting his little saiyan up before throwing her into the body of water. Caulifla immediately shrieks as she shivers in the cold temperature of the water. "What the hell was that for?! Do you want me to go rosé on you and beat you up!" She screams through her chattering teeth.

Goku Black chuckles as he trudges towards her. "I want you to get used to the cold water," he scoops her body up as her body leans against his, her frigid form had yet to fade away. "You're so cute when you're all mad and threatening~"

Caulifla pouts, and before she could open her mouth to respond, Goku Black had swiftly dropped the two of them into the water. Wrapping his arms around her figure, he grins mischievously at the frown that had formed on her lips. Kissing her swiftly, he never wanted this moment to end.

As they come back up to catch their breaths, Caulifla floats her way over to Black and punches his cheek lightly. "That's some way to get your girl to forget that you threw her in the water." Caulifla says as Black grins in amusement at her words, inching closer to her.

"My girl indeed..."

As the night went on, the saiyan couple found themselves walking back to their beach house. As the dark god's eyes stare at the crystal moon surrounded by a wave of stars, did he realize that right now was the absolute perfect time to make Caulifla always and forever his.

Tugging her back into his arms, Caulifla confusingly looks in his direction. "Another swim? Thanks but no thanks, I'm really looking to scrub all the sand and sea off me."

Goku Black genuinely smiles as he whispers, "I don't think I can live without you, the saiyan within me wants you forever." He takes her hand into the warmth of his own and gets down on one knee slowly, Caulifla's eyes widening as her heart skips a beat. Chills travel through her body as this surreal moment seemed like a beautiful nightmare.

"Caulifla, will you marry me and spend your immortality alongside me?"

Those words rang long and loud in her ears in a repeated echo, over and over again. Their eyes are matched in a silent staring contest as Caulifla shivers within her skin. She knew that he would ask this eventually but she didn't think it'd be so soon.

"On one condition..." she finally says, her voice unfamiliar to her.

"Anything, Caulifla!"

"I want you to stop your Zero Mortal Plan and let all my friends live."

━━━━━━━━━━━

"What on earth has gotten into you, Black!" Zamasu screeches at the god, who was sitting silently at the table out in the balcony. His tea remained cold and untouched for hours. His hands were clasp together as he rests his chin on them, lost in many many fathoming futures. He wasn't particularly interested in anything Zamasu had to say, much less going to reply. He was just going to let his partner ramble. "First you refuse to assist me with the Zero Mortal Plan, then next you go on this absurdly romantic, and might I add repulsive vacation with that stupid saiyan! She's got you wrapped around her little finger and you're eating up all the false feelings she's giving you!"

Goku Black rolls his eyes beneath his eyelids, grumbling at Zamasu's annoying words. With a big exasperated sigh, he finally speaks, "How many times must I tell you Zamasu, stop shoving yourself in my business with my saiyan! It has absolutely nothing to do with you! Now kindly leave me alone, I'm not in the mood for this!"

Zamasu grumbles, shaking his head. "Mark my words, you're going to regret all of this when time comes." Goku Black watches Zamasu disappear into the night sky, off to do Kami knows what.

Angrily, Black throws the teacup through the sky and blasts it with a ki blast. Nothing was going his way, and he wanted Caulifla. He wanted Caulifla so badly, he wanted her at his side—he wanted her to be his bride—but her conditions were too difficult to agree with. He wanted to finally experience indulging in the forbidden fruit—and of course, they would be each other's firsts.

If only they came to a stunning conclusion which would lead to their unity.

━━━━━━━━━━━

Caulifla didn't want to interact with Cabba, that included Frost and Kale, sadly. Sure, she missed both of them dearly, but she didn't want to feel the potential betrayal from them as well. She didn't stay much longer in the hideout either after Black pulled away silently at the beach. Even if she did decide to go back, Black would most likely ignore her and Zamasu would continuously glare at her and mock her—inevitably torturing her beneath him again and again. She would be screaming out for Black to help, and he being so angry wouldn't give a damn.

And then she would die in a bath of her blood.

Avoiding the many safe areas known to the remaining survivors, she hoped she would at least run into either Goku or Vegeta while she was on foot. She wasn't in much of a mood to fly, since that would leave her wide open for anyone to spot her.

It didn't help however that her sexual frustrations were growing, and she wasn't one to be swayed to sex so easy, let alone touching herself. If Black had simply agreed to her conditions, they would most likely be away in their honeymoon, their sensual saiyan mating would commence, and no doubt they'd be craving each other each moment they had available. Just like she was craving him right now, surely he'd be craving her too.

Before she could attempt to get into an abandoned building, a familiar voice calls out to her from above the sky.

"Caulifla, is that you?"

Her eyes cast above to the sky, searching for the voice, sighing in relief once she saw it was Vegeta.

"Of course it's me, Vegeta! Where's Goku at? Is he with everyone else?" She asks as she watches Vegeta drop himself across from her with his casual folded arms across his chest routine.

"As a matter of fact, he's not. I assumed he was with you since he wasn't with me or anyone else...by the time I got to the fight, Kakarot and Zamasu were gone."

Caulifla's heart drops to her stomach at the prince's words. "Ah..." she couldn't come up with a snarky remark on the bat, which left Vegeta to believe that Goku wasn't with Caulifla either. "Well, i-if I see him, I'll make sure to tell him you said hi..." her words were nervous and nearly too stuttery, so in an attempt to not cry or scream in anger, she forced herself to take flight. Before she could speed away entirely, Vegeta pulled Caulifla into his arms and wrapped them around her body.

"Wait just a second, Caulifla!"

She froze within his hold and none of the words she wanted to say were coming out. At this rate, she would for sure cry over the unknown fate of Goku.

"All this time, you've been with Black haven't you?"

Caulifla remains silent, the sound of her heartbeat was loud in her ears.

Vegeta growls under his breath, "Damn it, Caulifla! You may not be saying a word right now, but we both know how very infatuated that stubborn bastard is with you!" He spins Caulifla's body around and holds her chin in his hand, forcing her to stare into his menacing eyes.

"V-Vegeta..."

"Kakarot may very well be dead...and there's nothing we can do about it...we can't trust the others no more..." Vegeta leans his face down to meet hers. "Please, let's run away from this together..."

"But the present..."

"We're stuck here, Caulifla! No one can find the time machine anymore, so please! The only thing keeping me sane right now is you! You're all I have left if Kakarot is truly dead!"

Although Caulifla herself felt eternally intertwined with Goku Black, vise versa—if Goku truly was gone, Vegeta was the only person she could genuinely trust. Caulifla smiles softly and wraps her arms around Vegeta slowly. "Okay, Vegeta. Let's survive together."

"Caulifla, I l—"

A roar of applause breaks the pureblood saiyans' attention as Caulifla's eyes widen at the sound of a sinister and dark chuckle.

"Bravo, saiyans. Bravo! Oh Vegeta, you should've had Caulifla when you had the chance." Black gives Caulifla a sideways glance from standing across Vegeta. "But now it's too late...now both of you shall pay the consequences. You Vegeta for harboring such erotically emotional feelings for my mate." In an instant, Black teleports in front of Caulifla, coiling a hand around her neck as she gasps, immediately being lifted up into the air. With silver eyes, and a sinister dark and deep husk, he whispers, "And you Caulifla for abandoning me and hiding yourself well from me."

"Black, let her go!" Vegeta says as he makes a move to inflict pain on the god to make him drop Caulifla.

"I don't think so."

Another voice cuts in, dragging his ki blade down Vegeta's insides as the prince's eyes widen, coughing out blood as he rasps out, "Za-Zamasu! What have you done to Goku!"

Caulifla's watering eyes force themselves to focus on Zamasu. She too wanted to know the whereabouts of Goku.

Black nearly frowns at Caulifla's sudden interest in Goku, as he smirks, dropping the small saiyan down to the ground. "Go on, Zamasu. Enlighten these saiyans as to what you've done to Goku. Every. Single. Detail."

"How could I forget?" Zamasu chuckles, placing a firm boot into the back of Vegeta's skull as the prince struggles to fight back due to his blood loss, managing to curse at Zamasu was enough. "First and foremost, I allowed Goku to get carried away with his own optimism. And just when he was wide open, and wanting to know what happened to Caulifla, he kept on fighting me to answer him, but of course, I didn't give him intel." Zamasu wickedly smiles at Goku Black. "Someone didn't let me."

"And then...?" Caulifla cautiously finds herself crawling towards the direction of a now severely wounded Vegeta, attempting to reach out. "Vegeta..." she whispers lowly as she outstretches a hand towards him.

"C-Caulifla...stop..." Vegeta warns, but it was too late.

Caulifla squeaks as Goku Black drags his little saiyan, hauling her up into his arms, creating a ki blade as he points it towards her neck threateningly. "Behave, little saiyan. Why don't you keep listening to Zamasu's story? It isn't very nice to try and pull away his prey, is it?"

Caulifla could only whimper as she could feel his gentle breathing down her neck. "Please, let me go!"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Goku Black taunts, motioning Zamasu to keep going.

"Right," Zamasu clears his throat, gripping Vegeta's hair tightly as he raises the saiyan up on his knees, making his ki blade swim through his insides. Vegeta could only scream inside his mouth as he bit down onto his gloved hand so Caulifla wouldn't get injured through attempts to try and save him. But as the prince's eyes locked on her, he could see the fear and anguish in her eyes. The tears flow as she couldn't reach to Vegeta. "As I was saying, Goku wanted to know where his precious Caulifla was—obviously I didn't know either. I knew my fellow comrade would tell Vegeta that he should save Goku. And two against one is no fun...so after I tortured that idiot saiyan I dragged him into our palace and..."

Black chuckles as he waves his ki blade away. "Here comes my favorite part!"

"I killed him! I made sure that each and every moment was excruciatingly painful for him until his last dying breath! He kept screaming out for the both of you, but none of you came to his rescue!" Zamasu loudly laughs as Vegeta and Caulifla could only share the same horrified expressions, neither one of them said a word, or breathed for that matter.

Caulifla was the first to snap out of her silence as she squirms and shakes uncontrollably in Black's arms. "No! No! GOKU!" She screams into the skies as she cries. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR KILLING GOKU!" In a flash, the shades of magenta and purple collide, unveiling Caulifla in Rosé, due to allowing darkness seep through her being.

Black's eyes widen as he couldn't contain her any longer, pulling away from the bright light that was Caulifla's transformation. Immediately, the female saiyan speeds her way towards Zamasu, slamming a hard fist into his face. Through his growls, does he attempt to claw at her face, met with a kick at his outstretched left arm, snapping whatever bone was holding it together.

The kneeling saiyan prince could only watch in horror as Caulifla mauled at Zamasu with such sinister pair of silver eyes. The worst of it all, was she was adorning the form of rosé rather than that of blue. Vegeta could only force himself to stay mute, he really couldn't say anything after seeing Caulifla in such a state of darkness.

Goku Black grins over at the direction of Vegeta, amused by his paralyzed state of being. "Does it amaze you Vegeta that my lovely mate has such a dark side to her as I do?"

Vegeta manages to snap out of his trance as he glares at the saiyan god. "You've led Caulifla astray, Black! You will regret tainting her into this monster!" His body was quivering with such a burning hatred for Black. He has done nothing but trouble from the start, let alone, allowing Goku to die takes the cake. Which, hadn't entirely hit Vegeta yet, since in some fucked up way he believed Goku was still very much alive.

Zamasu coughs out blood, his health depleting by the waves of attacks, a completely insane Caulifla was throwing at him. He had very little chance to recuperate from every single one, and at this rate he feared that he would die at the unleashed evil of the pathetic mortal saiyan he forever hated. When his eyes weren't focused on Caulifla, they would linger towards Black, bewildered by the fact that he was grinning at this, that he was allowing this to happen—and to continue for so long!

"A-At this r-rate I-I'll..." striking his ki blade at Caulifla was hopeless, the more he slashed at her, the stronger she became. "What kind of saiyan are you!"

"You didn't show mercy to Goku, do you honestly believe you deserve me to spare you?! Goku's gone!" Caulifla slams her body on top of Zamasu's as all he could do was stare up at her, feeling her hands coil across his throat as she began to choke him. Through his blurred vision he could see tears forming at the ends of her eyes, rosé engulfing the grime green sky above. "He's never coming back this time! You bastard! You took away not only my comrade, but one of the only people I could trust!" She screams at Zamasu, jabbing her foot into his stomach repeatedly as the green god continued to choke and scream out, but of course Black would only watch.

Caulifla had become his equal.

"Alright, Caulifla. That's enough, off of Zamasu, now." Black says calmly as he walks up towards his mate beating Zamasu to the ground.

"Why are you even allowing this to happen!" Zamasu screams at his direction, Caulifla halting in her brutal actions. She too, wanted to know why as well, though she didn't lift herself off from Zamasu.

Goku Black chuckles as he shakes his head at Zamasu. "Well, Zamasu this is the third time you've broken a promise with me, isn't it? I told you you could only torture that insolent saiyan Goku, not kill him. Once again, you've shown me who my real ally is. Who belongs in this world aside from myself." Black comes closer to the pair, casually lifting Caulifla off from laying on top Zamasu, quite infuriated by the sight even though it wasn't by any means sexual. "So I'm going to do away with this meaningless partnership. Now."

"Black, what're you..." Caulifla gasps as Black throws her over his shoulder, and before she could finish what she was going to ask, a loud boom erupted throughout the area, leaving both Caulifla and Vegeta stunned. Caulifla barely manages to catch a glimpse of Zamasu's body deteriorating into thousands of chunks, blazed by the obsidian and purple mixed Black Power Ball. Black grins in delight as he hears Zamasu's dying cries, going into fits of laughter.

"What a monster!" Vegeta utters under his breath as he shakes his head, visibly disturbed enough for the day. "Y-You better not do the same to Caulifla! I'll kill you!"

#dragon ball #dragon ball super #dragon ball z #db #dbs #dbz #one shot #sombrasaiyan #caulifla x goku black #goku black x caulifla #blacklifla #vegeta #goku #son goku #crack ship #zamasu #cabba #frost #kale

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violetnotez · 3 years

Text

Its Chirstmasssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!! I finished this up all last night, so I hope this is at least coherent!

This is for the BNHA Hangout Christmas Collab! Here is a link to future masterpost for the fics for the event!

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Shoto x reader | one shot

Word Count: 1.5k+

Warnings: cussing

Synposis: When Shoto realizes you’ve been particularly lonely without him during the holiday season, he decided to get you an extra special gift

the music collection | buy me a ko-fi! | requests open for haikyuu+jujutsu kaisen

｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★

“Shoto-do you really have to go?”

You asked, a pout on your lips as you gazed at your boyfriend.

You were still cuddled up in your shared bed, the heat from Shoto’s skin already dissipating out of the sheets.

You pursed your lips, sitting up crossed leg as You watched him slide each button of his shirt sleeve into their slots, his washed, bi colored hair slightly wet from his shower.

“You know it’s not fair to look that good and then just leave,” you gave him a fake, stern look, earning a small smirk from the man.

He continued working up the shirt, looking sleek yet-well-delicious.

Shoto was just too handsomr for his own good-sharp jawline, perfect skin, piercing bi colored eyes, not to mention his amazing body….sometimes you had to wonder how you were able to get such a flawless man to end up with you.

He finished with his other sleeve, peeking a look at you as he slicked his hair back with his right hand, the strands mixing and framing his face perfectly,

why’d he have to look that good?

“It’s not as if I want to leave, dear-but I do have work,”

You cuddled deeper into the sweatshirt you were wearing, your hands dissappearing in the sleeves.

“But you’re always working-you cant take one day off?”

Shoto chuckled at your obvious neediness, making his way over to where you were sitting. He leaned across the bed to be in front of your sulking form, brushing a piece of your bed head from your face as he laid a gentle kiss on your lips.

“Evil doesn’t take a day off love,”

“Why do you always have to be so-so stoic all the time,” You giggled, playfully placing your hand on his chest and pushing him back.

Even though you and Shoto had been living together for over a year now, it never ceased to amaze you how much the man worked. After working at an agency after UA, Shoto had been incredibly busy-and being the #3 hero, you could see why. If it wasn’t a late night call, he was patrolling, interviewing sidekicks, training, teaching students on their hero studies, interviewing with magazines….he always had something to do.

You couldn’t get mad at him though-he had warned you in the beginning, but you were also accustomed to the hero life as well- well, somewhat.

You had gone to UA to be part of the hero suit course, and had become suit designer for the top heroes (hence how you met Shoto). You witnessed day in and day out how difficult it truly was to be a hero, even if you weren’t one yourself, so you didn’t mind when Todoroki was gone all the time. Yes, it got lonely at times, especially during the holiday season, but you made sure to keep a smile on for him.

“Don’t forget, I did take Christmas off,” Shoto gave you a small grin, his bicolored eyed searching to please you.

You smiled back, your heart thumping out of your chest as you poked him gently in the chest.

“After I asked you too,” you corrected, a teasing tone in your voice.

-And thank god too, I would have so lonely by myself,” you tried to chuckle at your remark, making the situation light.

Shoto knew you too well though-something about your voice didnt sound as happy and light as before. When you joked with him, your laughs were more cheerful and your smile was brighter-but something about you right now felt strange...as if you were holding something back from him.

Shoto’s grin turned into concern, his digits cupping your cheeks gently and guiding your eyes to look at his.

“Have you been feeling lonely lately?” He asked bluntly, your eyes growing wide.

Man-you couldn't hide anything from him.

You chuckled nervously, looking to the side, guilt beginning to fill your chest.

“I-I, no, it’s fine, really, I was only kidding,” you chuckled, your voice taking on a higher pitch.

“You don’t seem to be kidding,” Shoto bite the side of his lip, trying his best to make eye contact with you, “if you want to tell me something, you don’t have to be afraid.”

“Be afraid of the number three hero-“ You rolled your eyes playfully, a soft smirk on your lips, “-never.”

Shoto gave a small grin, worry still in his eyes. He knew something was strange about you lately, the way you seemed to be always craving for him. He hated to admit it, it boosted his ego somewhat to have you were so desperate for his touch- but he knew it wasnt healthy for you to be always missing him.

With him being a pro hero, he had quite alot more duties than most could imagine- which sadly left little for him to indulge in his own personal life. Shoto felt deeply lucky to have someone like you who understood his busy schedule, never batting an eye when he had to cancel yet another date or leave you by yourself on countless nights...but it still left a gnawing sensation of guilt sitting in his stomach.

“Im fine Shoto,” your voice broke into his thoughts, your tone gentle and sweet like a sun kissed cloud, “really.”

Shoto sighed, his thick lashes fanning his cheek. You were stubborn at times, especially when you wanted to reassure him-which only affirmed that you really werent feeling all that great as you said you were. But Shoto didnt want to push it any further- maybe you were really okay, and he was overthinking it….and he was going to be late if he didnt leave soon-

“Go kick some ass for me, kay?”

you gave him a wide smile, placing another quick kiss on his lips.

Shoto blinked a few times, a rush of adrenaline filling his body as he felt your skin against his. His lips tingled from the agonizingly quick touch-he took it upon him to give you a deeply intense kiss, the rush making you breathless.

Shoto pulled away, his eyes having the rarest glint of mischief as he stared back into yours

“Of course love,”

｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★

“Ya ready Shoto?” You grinned, your body snuggled into your comfiest pair of pajamas and your fingers warmed by a hot cup of cocoa.

Christmas Day has finally came, and thankfully, Shoto kept his promise-he would be staying the whole day with you with no interruptions.

You were just so excited to finally have one day to selfishly love your boyfriend, and on a holiday too!

The room almost felt surreal-it was early morning, the Christmas tree you two decorated light up like a Star, class Christmas music playing in the background, homemade cookies littering the apartment in a sweet aroma and the room in a romantic warm haze of lights.

It just felt so unbelievable perfect and comfortable, Shoto looking sheepishly excited and nervous.

“I think you should go first,” you smiled up at him as he sat down next to you, black coffee snuggled into his hand (in a DynaMIGHT mug, of course gifted to him by the hero himself).

Shoto bit his lip, seemingly trying to hide a smile as he set his mug down on the coffee table.

“Not to be rude love,” he grinned, his hands gently grabbing a large box from under the tree. The paper was a shiny golden hue, snowflakes on the paper reflecting like glitter from the lights on the tree. He slide the box against the wooden floor, being strangely gentle with the contents.

“But my gift cant wait.”

Your eyebrows were knitted together, a confused grin on your lips.

The box was pretty big-what did he get you now?

Shoto never seemed to give you endlessly expensive gifts, having no concept of what was considered fancy or exorbitant- trips to places you could only dream of, hefty amounts of clothes and jewelry, merchandise from your favorite shows...hell you had to talk him out of buying you a car one time-this guy would drop anything to get you whatever you wanted.

And that made you guilty as hell whenever he did-so what did he give you this time around?

Your mind was racing as you looked at the box, trying to read whatever he was thinking about on his face.

“I swear to god Shoto if you bought me that expensive gaming system-“

He chuckled at your obviously guilty face, shaking his head as he smiled.

“No, no it’s nothing like that-“ he said, giving you a mischievous grin, “I think you’ll like it much better than that.”

You blinked a few times, your mind going completely blank.

What could be better than a PS5, Xbox, or Switch?

You looked down at the box, feeling strangely nervous as you obeyed Shoto’s wishes, slowly opening the top lid….until it rustles.

The box.

Moved on its own.

You squeaked out in surprise, your hands slamming the barely opened lid back down and looking at Shoto for help.

He had never seen you look so adorably confused in his life, a rosy hue on his cheeks as he looked at you with a loving expression.

“It’s okay,” he whispered reassuringly as he wrapped his hands nervously around yours.

You felt him guide your hands up, you both now lifting the lid off the large box.

Shoto took it and placed it gently on the ground, sitting back to watch you look into the box.

The box rustled again, your mind so utterly confused….what could make a box do that?

“Shoto I-“ you tried to ask, but all he did was nod to the box, signaling for you to just look.

You did as you were told, getting on your knees to peer inside…

A gasp left your lips, your heart beating out of your chest as you looked inside at the sweet little baby kitten playing with their bowl of yarn in the box.

“Hi baby,” you cooed in awe at the little baby, your hands scooping them out and snuggling them to your chest.

They were so soft and warm, their fur as white as a snowball with rosy pink paws.

“Oh my god-Shoto-you really didn’t- are they really-?” You were in such a state of shock, you couldn’t seem to form any coherent words as you looked at your sheepish boyfriend.

“I-I didn’t know exactly what to get you...but after seeing how much you missed me throughout the day, I thought it was fitting to get you a companion for when I’m gone,” he smiled, his digits nervously fidgeting in his lap as he waited for your approval.

You petted the little creature on your chest, it’s big doe eyes staring at you with such confusion you couldn’t help but giggle.

“Shoto…it’s perfect,” you smiled at your boyfriend, leaning in to plant him a kiss on his lips.

You giggled at his expression, clearly not expecting your show of affection as his cheeks turned a fiery red.

“I-I’m glad to here that,”

｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★

None of these characters or shows are my own, only the storylines and narratives I create are mine. Copying, stealing, plagiarizing, rewording, or using my storylines in other media, claiming to be your own, or reposting without my consent is not allowed.

#bnha #bnha x reader #mha x reader #shoto x reader #bnha shoto x reader #shoto todoroki x reader #bnha shoto todoroki x reader #mha shoto todoroki x reader #todoroki x reader #bnha todoroki x reader #mha todoroki x reader #shoto x reader fluff #shoto todoroki x reader fluff #todoroki x reader fluff

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1000fiction · 3 years

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Day 10: Frottage ft. Brynjolf

Relationship: Unspecified

Species: Unspecified

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, Sexual Daydreams

Summary: Yet another cause for celebration has attracted quite the crowd to the Flagon, and whilst they’d rather be in each others company in private, a little party isn’t going to stop the Guildmaster from causing some mischief with their second in command.

The Flagon was alive, truly alive. The alcoves were filled to the brim with trading merchandise, tables had been added to compensate for the sudden influx of patrons. Vekel’s bar had never been so busy, nor had his stocks been filled with such fine goods. The guild in every aspect had its soul back. Not a single member could’ve asked for more.

That was until the Guildmaster returned not a month later, a leather backpack stashing some of the rarest treasure few had laid their eyes upon.

With assistance from Vex, the legendary Crown of Barenziah had been reformed to its mythical glory, and now took pride of place amongst the guilds other keepsakes, right behind the Guildmaster’s desk.

What had once been a gloomy area due to Mercer's consistently foul mood, was now a reminder of what could be achieved. All thanks to the efforts of Brynjolf’s protégé.

The title of protégé had long been swept aside, however, as many would argue the new Guildmaster had far succeeded their second in command in skill - Brynjolf being one of few to disputed such a statement - but none could deny their shared title of lovers, for it seemed neither made an effort to disguise their relationship.

Not ones to miss a celebration down in the sewers, the thief of the hour and their second in command were in attendance at the central table, the Guildmaster nested in Brynjolf’s lap, bottle held loosely in their grip, and an easy smile upon their face as their free fingers stroked idly through fiery red hair.

“Never dared to dream the guild would come this far love,” he voiced, head rested against their shoulder as he sat in quiet contemplation, his slightly inebriated mind drifting through the feats and foes the pair had faced together “couldn’t have done any of this without you. Though I suppose I deserve some credit for finding you in the first place.” The Nord chuckled, hand idly running across his companion’s thigh.

“Very funny, lad.” They jested, poorly executing his accent as they ruffled his hair. “Though I suppose you’re right, I’d still be picking pockets and roaming free without you.” A pinch to their rear silenced them rather quickly. “Fine, fine, I’d be nothing without you, the guild would be nothing without you, you’re a hell of a man.”

“Oh, say that last part again, I think I like it.” He chuckled, nuzzling into the soft skin of their neck.

“You’re a hell of a man, Brynjolf, my man, to be exact.” Their tone dropped, sultry and smooth and their fingers trailed down to graze over the fine hairs at the back of his neck, using the leverage to pull themselves against him, strategically rubbing against his crotch.

His eyes widened as he looked them over incredulously, gaze flicking to the company they were surrounded by. He took note rather quickly that none were at all interested in the love birds, not when they had the choice to watch Delvin attempt to drag Vex onto a table for a dance. Though, perhaps they were all waiting for the fight that was likely to ensue.

The thoughts and fears of wondering eyes were swiftly cast aside, however, as his lover spun in his lap, resting their elbows on the table, thus slotting his already stiffening cock snugly between their buttocks.

He tested his grip and their hip, tugging and releasing in time with steady rocks back and forth. Attempting to look nonchalant, he looked towards Delvin’s drunken performance, though that was exceptionally difficult given the rising tightness in his leathers.

The Guildmaster on the other hand, seemed to be coping just fine – to his annoyance – as they had now begun conversing with Vipir and Cynric who neighboured them at the table. Though he barely registered what they said, his lover’s words must have been truly enthralling for neither of the lower members noticed the slow gyration of the Guildmaster’s hips, an action strikingly similar to ones performed between the lovers in the privacy of Honeyside. They had both been naked those times – he thought, bitterly – and as he recalled, his cock had also been buried in them, his name rolling off their tongue in amorous euphoria.

It was that moment he realised he would not be receiving such sounds. No words of praise, no unbridled cry of his name at their climax. It was torture.

Delicious, torture.

The groan he let out was intentional. Honest.

Vekel seemed to be the only one that noticed the strange occurrence, and in a shockingly quick moment of genius, Brynjolf snatched up his companion’s now empty bottle.

“Another round of your finest Vekel, for the finest thief in the guild, and for the finest thieves in all of Tamriel!” The flagon erupted in cheers, despite his hopes of distracting the revelers with alcohol, Brynjolf now felt far too many eyes on him.

“To the guild, to nocturnal, and most importantly, to getting drunk blind!” The Guildmaster leaned back into him, taking the new beverage from the passing barkeep, and raising it in toast, expertly covered his now prominent bulge with their rear in the process. All around took a swig of their drink before going back to enjoying the festivities.

Not long after did Delvin dive headfirst from his stage, giving the pair the perfect distraction, one the Guildmaster in its entirety.

Hands on his knees and feet firm to the ground, they bounced on the straining bulge of his cock, the contact sending torturous shockwaves through his aching shaft. He moaned again, though he was smart enough to muffle it, his face buried in their neck as stray strands of his hair tickled their cheek. They laughed merrily; any who happened to glance over would surely mistake their lustful disposition as an alcohol-fuelled daze. He felt them clench, his hands straying to their ass to feel the muscles tighten and release. By the nine he wished for nothing more than to take them there and then, bent face-first into the table, onlookers be damned.

They’d fucked several times in risky places, including the cistern, but never had he entertained the idea of having people intentionally see them. He surprised himself by finding the thought obnoxiously appealing.

He could imagine it now, his cock balls deep inside them, his hand at the back of their neck pressing them into their desk, their moans and gasps echoing around the cistern with each of his thrusts. Niruin would miss every shot at his target, Thrynn would miss every swing at the training dummy, and Cynric would no doubt break several lockpicks as he desperately tried to focus on his practice chests. All others that occupied the space would have to bury themselves in their beds, or watch.

It would certainly stop the lecherous gazes some of the newer recruits dared to throw at his lover, as all would finally be able to see how good he made them feel. And how no one would be able to stand up to such a performance.

Such thoughts swam in his mind for Gods only knew how long, and without his consent, his fingers dug harder into their hips, and he began rocking up into them. Thankfully, his conscious hadn’t left him entirely, for he didn’t move with the intensity he would usually use to chase his release. His lover helped him further – thank the Gods! – by clutching their stomach in theatrical laughter, the way their body rocked and quaked causing delicious friction against his oversensitive cock.

Brynjolf came hard.

Were it not for the quality of the Guildmaster uniform, he would’ve ripped holes where his fingers clung to them, their leathers bunched in his fingers as he slowly came down from his high, his mind still racing with unsavoury thoughts, and blood beading at his bottom lip from how hard he’d bit into it.

He felt them shift, felt his cum smearing against his softened cock within his own breeches, and felt the warmth of their side once again resting against his chest as it had been before this encounter.

“You’re lucky Vex finally decided to start a fight, otherwise someone surely would’ve noticed how dazed you’d become. I would’ve assumed you’d plain of existence, were it not for the way you desperately attempted to rut into me without someone noticing.” Their breath fanned his skin, cool against his burning cheeks. They lay a kiss to the flushed skin, gently smoothing back his stray hairs from his eyes. “What were you thinking about?”

“Can’t tell you I’m afraid, after the stunt you just pulled, I don’t want to go putting ideas in your head.” He chuckled, pulling them in for a sparingly chaste kiss.

With an arm wrapped securely around their waist, he was finally able to lurch forward and take his own renewed tankard from the table, clinking the metal gently against their bottle.

“But I do have a mind full of ways to punish you for all this. So long as you have a plan to get me out of here without everyone seeing I’ve soiled myself.”

#Skyrim #Skyrim x Reader #Kinktober 2019 #Kinktober #Brynjolf #Spicy

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pretoriafics · 3 years

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Deep breaths - Immersive Weekends #3

Hey, guys! This is the last one from the Immersive Weekends. Actually, I should have posted it last weekend but it was my mom's birthday, so, I had to delay it. I'm kinda learning how to write smuts, but I think this is one of my faves! I found out that the secret is a sexy playlist lol

Have fun! <3

+18 ONLY Reader’s name: Meg Word count: 1.405 Pairings: White!Reader x Bucky Contain: Soulmate AU; Fluff <3; Smut Warnings: English is not my main language <3; Inappropriate language MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE MASTERLIST

Bucky was one of the rarest persons who anyone could find: He has a soulmate. Until he could find her, he would never see the colors of the world. During his life before being caught by Hydra, he tried so hard to find the one he was promised for him. However, he never found it. Barnes completely gives up his hope to found her when Hydra got him, and when he was finally free from them, he accepted he would never be able to find you. He was truly convinced his soulmate was already dead after so many years.

However, he was completely wrong.

You can even imagine how surprised and euphoric he was when he finally saw you for the first time. You were entering the Avengers Compound with your little brother Peter, smiling and laughing. Gosh, your smile was the most beautiful thing Bucky ever saw. Your ocean eyes had the power to embrace him and let him completely stuck. Your smile was inebriating, intoxicating. While the colors of the world were being revealed to him, Bucky was inevitably hitten by a kind of love at first sight that he could never be able to comprehend. You are not what he was expecting, but more than that. His mind would never be capable of imagining such a beautiful creature.

You did not know how to act in front of him when you realized Bucky was your mate. When he came to you to say his first "hi", you blushed. Bucky almost melted in pure love when he saw your red cheeks. He approached you calmly and with no hurries, and then, you finally get the first kiss of yours under the stars on the terrace of the Avengers Compound.

But, well... Bucky was being a little jealous lately. He did not talk with you about this, but you felt it when you were talking to a friend of yours. Well, it was pretty obvious. He cannot stop looking at your friend with a deadly glare.

Then, one night on his couch at his New York apartment, he looks at you while watching Netflix and simply says:

"Sweetheart, I have to mark you. How else will everyone know you’re mine?"

You just look at him, blushing because you know what it means. The only way he could mark you is under a union - which was just an exquisite way to say he only can do it during sex. You guys had never done that before, and you were pretty shy about this. You were just waiting for the right time.

"Are this because of Norman?"

"I don't like this guy."

"Babe-"

"You're mine, Meg. I'd looked for you for so much time, doll..." He said, holding your face with his human hand "I'd waited for you during so many years... And now that I've got you, I just can't lose you."

You gave him a smile, almost melting in pure love.

"You will not lose me, babe." You let out a low chuckle, founding his words adorable. You love the way he says he needs you. "I'm here with you. You are everything I had asked for. Actually, you're more than that."

He gave you a smile, pulling you to his lap.

"I want you."

You put your arms under his shoulders while sliding your fingers through his hair.

"I want you too."

Bucky puts his human hand on your face and pulls you to a slow and wet kiss. All that love on your heart was overflowing while you kiss him, feeling the taste of his lips.

While Bucky? Oh, he was addicted to everything on you. Your eyes, your lips... He has not touched your body the way he wanted yet, but he already was addicted to it too. Secretly, he watched every inch of your body. He watched every curve, and when you both are making out, Bucky always touches you with such a will. However, he always tried to restrain himself. He knew your wish to go slow.

But he cannot avoid his thoughts a few times. The simple act of looking at your body always made things with him. Now, he finally got permission to take your body to his wills.

His hands run through your body, firm and so in need of you. When he finally holds your waist, he pulls you closer while holding you with his vibranium arm. His human hand runs through your bare leg, and you let out a sigh between the kiss, tempted by his touch.

That made a fire burn inside of him, begging for you.

Urging to have your body, Bucky slaps one of your ass cheeks and holds it after that, making you let out a low giggle in amusement. A moan trespasses your lips between the kiss, and you move your hips painfully slow on him.

Man, he needs you so much. Each move of yours drives him crazy.

Bucky took your pajama shirt off of you, interrupting the kiss. Then, he slides his thumb under your inner lip while you look at his eyes, needy. You already started to blush due to the high temperature of your body.

If you already are so beautiful wanting him, he cannot even imagine how perfect you are when you come.

Possessed by lust, Bucky wraps his human fingers through your hair and pulls it. Your head goes back, exposing your neck and bare chest to his deepest desires. His lips go to the skin of your neck, putting soft kisses and slow nibbles on you while his vibranium hand rests on your moving hips. Then, he took you and lay you on the couch, fitting himself between your legs. Looking deep into your eyes, he slides his hands in the inner part of your legs slowly. It is incredible how everything on your body is like gasoline to him. The softness of your skin, the way your chest goes up and down with your deep breaths, your blushed skin to his touches, the way you bite your inner lip while you look at him... Everything just fed his will to tame your body and made you scream his name.

Bucky takes off the shorts of your pajamas, letting you just in your red lace. You sat on the couch, holding the hem of his pants. Then, he grabs your wrists, snapping his tongue in denial to you.

"No, no, no, baby girl." He pushes you to the couch again, letting you fell lay. His voice was so deep that it is making shivers run through your body. "Stay right here."

Without taking his eyes off of you, Bucky pulls his pants down with his heart running into his chest. Then, he pulls your red lace to the side, earning free access to you. Thirsty for your lips, he curves himself on top of you by supporting his body with his vibranium arm. Bucky kisses you while he enters your body slowly. Burning in lust, he groans while you let out a low moan. You already feel your forearm burning slightly, with the mate bond mark gaining form.

Bucky stops kissing you, looking deep into your eyes while he moves in and out of you slowly. His human hand runs through the side of your body down to up, feeling your body contort intoxicated by lust. Your hand slides to his back, craving your fingernails under his skin when he moves faster. You let escape a moan, with your eyes trapped on his. Seeing you contort in pleasure was pretty satisfying to him. It was the most beautiful thing ever.

His human hand wraps around your neck while he moves faster inside of you. Bucky blue eyes were darker in pure pleasure now. And then, a moan of yours got mixed into the sound of his body going into yours. It was his time to let out a groan. Barnes approaches his mouth to your ear and, with his deep and low voice, he said:

"Fuck, I love these sounds you make." He put his mouth away from your ear to look deep into your eyes now. His voice was imperative, demanding. "I want more, and I wanna hear it louder. I want everyone to know who you belong to. Let them heard it, babe."

The entire condo knew now who you belong to. And, oh, they heard you. All night.

#bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes fics #bucky barnes fanfics #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes smut

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prettywordsyouleft · 4 years

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Bloodstone | Part 1

Summary: You knew all about the ring your grandmother had told you about and yet when the stone fell from it one fateful day, you weren’t truly prepared for its return, nor who it came back with.

Pairing: Kim Namjoon x reader

Genre: fantasy / romance

Warnings: talk of witchcraft, and a bit too much LOTR banter >_>

Index: Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

After the initial shock wore off and your legs regained their feeling, you cradled your hand to your chest, protecting it as you swiftly moved through the afternoon crowds to the closest subway station. There, you grew more apprehensive once the underground train hurtled its way across the grid to where you needed to be the most. After departing the subway, you walked as fast as your legs would carry you to the little shop at the very end of an alleyway, opening the door and listening to the bell above it chime in your arrival.

The store owner lifted his glasses further up the bridge of his nose in curiosity, only to sigh when he saw you there. Yoongi then narrowed his gaze at your evidently anxious state and stood up. “Are you alright, Y/N?”

“It finally happened, Yoongi!”

“What did?”

“The ring!” you cried, thrusting your hand out at the man as you approached the counter, looking at him for a cure. You were beyond reason now and your best friend merely contemplated the situation before him and then scrunched up his face in disbelief.

“Are you… high?”

“Oh my god, really?!” you breathed with frustration and Yoongi grimaced.

“Well, put yourself in my shoes right now. You sound really crazy.”

“Maybe I will go crazy. She always said it would test everything about me.”

Yoongi slumped back down on the stool behind the counter, though he didn’t shift his concerned gaze from your face. “Your grandmother? Didn’t she give you that ring when you were ten?”

So he did remember. Nodding with relief, you placed your hand down on top of the glass countertop, the overhead lights now illuminating your hand brightly. The tarnished silver reflected the light, the gaping hole in the center of the ring only further emphasised. Your best friend leaned in and inspected the wounded piece of jewellery.

“Maybe the stone fell out because this ring is ancient,” he offered but you shook your head adamantly. The ring was old, but it was strong. You had once tried to remove the stone yourself. It was wedged in there for good.

Or so you had thought.

“Do you remember what my grandmother used to say?”

“A whole lot of gibberish?” Yoongi stated with a wry smile and then shrugged. “I dunno, Y/N. I used to go to her house with you so I could get some sleep. Her couch was the comfiest…”

“Because she had put a spell on it for those who had tired bones could rest well,” you murmured and Yoongi snapped his dark gaze up to your face with surprise. You were equally astonished. “Please don’t tell me you never once noticed she was a witch, Yoongi.”

“I just thought she was kooky like some old women can be,” he sheepishly responded, scratching at the back of his head. “Really? She was a witch?”

“I wish she had taught me more than I know now. It was all good to warn me, but what am I meant to do without her powers?”

“What did she used to say?” Yoongi asked, pulling out a pen and paper from beside the cashier.

“That the stone in this ring wasn’t from here, and one day it would return to its world. She told me when that happened I’d have to be ready for a test that will challenge me in every way possible.”

“I feel like I just stepped into Lord of The Rings,” Yoongi muttered and you cocked your head to the side to give him an unimpressed look. “Look, hobbits aside, the information she gave you isn’t very specific. Where was the stone from?”

“She couldn’t tell me, just not from a human race.”

Yoongi visibly swallowed before continuing. “Okay, what about why? Why with its return to the world it came from does this affect you?”

“Because I wear the ring?” you guessed and Yoongi groaned, pointing at you incredulously.

“Yes! Why did you wear something so god damn dangerous for?! You could have said, no thank you grandmother, I want to live a normal life, instead of taking on the ring of Mordor and I don’t know, tainting us all with this quest of yours that you’re now on!”

Rolling your eyes at Yoongi, you shook your head. “Just because you run a comic bookstore doesn’t mean we live in a world where…”

You trailed off with the pointed look Yoongi gave you as he folded his arms over his chest. You let out a huff in defeat.

“So you wore this ring since you were ten,” Yoongi refocused. “And now today the stone disappears. Do you feel different?”

“Well, apart from the stress from losing it, no. But today isn’t just any day, Yoongi.”

You implored him to think and his mouth fell ajar, nodding softly. “It’s been a year since your mother…”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence the stone left this world exactly a year after my mother did,” you managed to say, blinking rapidly and looking up at Yoongi through an increasing veil of tears. “If anything, I would connect the two.”

“I hate that your words sound logical to me right now,” he admitted with a heavy sigh. “So we have no knowledge of what to do next, why this is happening, or anything really. How is this being prepared?”

You wondered the same thing.

Namjoon hadn’t stopped staring at the bloodstone since he first saw it. He had simply sat back down at his desk and cast his gaze upon it for an immeasurable while.

Whilst his body was completely still, his mind was anything but. Warnings of his father from the past flooded his mind, holding him back from the temptation of reaching out to inspect the stone closely. He had looked at it from almost every angle now, fascinated by the perfectly structured gem. He had never seen such beauty before and he had played a part in sending some of the rarest of stones to earth over the years. The red was not dark like a garnet and yet not nearly as bright as a ruby either. It was rich and full, enticing him to continue his examination. He wondered if the stone would be as warm to touch as it was to look upon. Blinking away his hazy thoughts, Namjoon clamped his hands to the base of his seat, pushing back the desire mounting within him.

He wouldn’t touch this stone.

But after another length of time and an equally strong longing to just pick it up once and then put it back down, Namjoon knew he had to put space between him and the bloodstone.

“You’re luring me in, aren’t you?” he murmured at the wicked thing, getting up and walking over to the farthest spot in his studio. However, he couldn’t train his gaze to stay away from the stone, chewing on his bottom lip in deliberation.

Was it really that bad? He had been told not to do many things in his life and found out later it was out of fear something bad could have happened. He had survived through them all. And where had the stone even come from? Could it have fallen from the Heavens? Travelled from Earth? Either place, Namjoon yearned to travel to. Especially after the loss of his father all those years ago.

He wished the man was here now to guide him away from the very stone he had warned him countless times to never get involved with.

“I won’t do it,” he concluded, nodding weakly at his decision. Turning to switch off the lights in the room so he could head into the main house he shared with his sister, Namjoon gave a final look at the red glow around the room and shut the door.

Only to re-enter mere moments later with haste. “I need to hide you in case Marian finds you.”

The fear of his sister touching what had been forbidden by his father made Namjoon dash around the studio, looking for a box and something to gently guide the stone into it. And, because he was so focused on doing just this, he wasn’t as aware of his actual surroundings, tripping over the leg of his stool as he hurried over to the desk.

It all happened too fast to prevent calamity. The tools he held dropped from his hands as he fell onto the desk, his chest being the first part of him to connect with the gem. An image of a human woman appeared in his mind right as he felt the stone absorb him entirely.

The studio was now empty of both the bloodstone and its keeper.

_________________

Part 2

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delicatelyherdreams · 4 years

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Pragma(tic) 24: She Mends a Body and a Heart

Pairing: Persephone!Bucky Barnes x Hades!Reader

Summary: In a world where the old gods never truly died, you must learn to navigate your way through the ups and downs of immortality. And if living forever wasn’t hard enough, an ancient evil is now threatening to break free after centuries of silence. And as if that still wasn’t hard enough for you, now a pesky and infuriatingly handsome god is trying to wedge his way into your life. Gods, work, love, and conflict—what more could a goddess need? [Hades & Persephone AU]

Word Count: 4016

Warnings: Language, mention of wounds

Pragma(tic) Masterlist

Previous 23: Her Heart Betrays Her

The fires of Hell seemed dull compared to the fires of the forge.

They were hot. They made you tired. They cast a ghastly glow over the walls.

But there was no place you’d rather be.

Tony was right; having complete control over your own project was therapeutic. And the project you were working on was even more so.

You were constructing Bucky’s prosthetic arm.

As an amateur builder, you didn’t know if it was such a good idea to be responsible for such a major task, but Tony had assured and reassured you time and time again that you could do it. He told you that he was confident in your ability and that he would be there to help you if you needed it.

You worked day and night on your project, sculpting the arm and embedding it with nerve endings and mechanics to make it function properly. Tony helped you with the exact operations to make it like a real arm, but the whole thing was crafted by you. You took the measurements Tony had taken and used them to build his arm. It was surprising how easy it was for you, but you had a feeling that Tony was giving his divine blessing to you to make you more adept and capable. You appreciated this.

You made Bucky’s arm out of vibranium—the rarest metal on earth—and embedded it with rivers of gold. You crafted it with tender care and love, each detail added painstakingly to make it perfect. You would settle for nothing less than perfection. He deserved nothing less than perfection.

You spent a month and a half working. Peggy took over running the Underworld and Clint volunteered to lead all of the dead mortal souls to the afterlife for you while you were in the forge which allowed you to devote all your time and energy to your project. You appreciated them immensely. You needed this break.

You found that Tony was right: working on something you controlled entirely allowed you to cope. With every passing day, you found yourself losing tension in your body. A weight was being lifted from your shoulders.

You accepted your father’s death, finding the strength to move on. It was surprising how easy it was to push past his death, but, then again, you did hate his guts. You’d spent the majority of your life keeping him in the corner of your mind, letting him plague you always. You let the trauma he’d inflicted fester without fully forgiving it and healing. But now that he was dead, you were able to let it go, and, as the month came to a close and your project neared its completion, you felt lighter than ever.

It was liberating.

“Hey, kid!”

You looked up from the arm you were working on. You’d been polishing the metal and buffing out the blemishes with heat. Your hand glowed hot with hellfire embedded in your skin and you pulled it off as you looked at Tony. “Yeah?”

He had his bag slung over his shoulder and a lopsided grin on his face. “I’m calling it quits early tonight. I’m taking Pepper out for a date.”

“Alright.”

“Will you lock up if you leave? I trust you in my forge, but I don’t like it open if it’s unattended.”

You understood this so you nodded. “We both know I’m not leaving, but yes I will if I do go.”

“Thanks! You’re the greatest!”

You heard the heavy forge door slam shut behind him and you were left alone. You almost preferred it like this.

Left to your own devices, you warmed your hands again and began to even out the rougher parts of the surface. This was the finishing touch, really. It had already been tested for flexibility and function and, after one simple procedure, the arm would be a perfect replacement for the one that Bucky had lost in the battle.

You just hoped he’d accept it. It was crafted to be your apology to him. It was an offering to say “I’m sorry for getting you hurt. I’m sorry you lost your arm because of me. I’m sorry if I’m not worth it.” You hoped that the love you’d put into this gift would be enough to earn his forgiveness and show him that you still cared.

The creaking of the heavy forge door pulled you from your thoughts, but you didn’t look up. “Forget something, Tony?” you called out as you took your hands off it and allowed them to cool. Taking a soft cloth from the work table, you used it to polish the surface of the metal.

There was a pause before a voice that definitely wasn’t Tony’s responded, “No. I have come to talk to you.”

Your hands stilled and you slowly brought your eyes up to meet Winnifred’s.

She looked dressed for gardening in a pair of simple jeans and a green blouse. Her dark hair was tied back in a loose bun. She was pale and dark circles rimmed her eyes. She looked exhausted. She met your eyes without delay, though you could see the slight anxiety in her posture. She was nervous about something, though you couldn’t tell what.

Perhaps it was because your hands were glowing with heat.

You stood up straighter, taking your hands off your project. “Winnifred,” you said, your voice adopting formal diplomacy, “to what do I owe this pleasure?”

She looked uncomfortable under your gaze as she shifted her weight from side to side. “I… I wanted to talk to you. Privately.” She was quick to add on that last part as her eyes darted around.

“Well, we are the only ones in the whole forge. This is about as private as it gets.” You weren’t going to leave. You were still working and leaving would just disrupt your progress. You looked back down at your project and continued to polish the arm’s surface. “What is it that you need?”

“It’s about my son.”

Your motion faltered for only a second. Anxiety began to bubble up in your chest. “Wh-What about him? Is he alright?” you asked, your voice fighting to stay calm and even.

“Yes! Yes, he’s fine. Everything is progressing well in his recovery. He’s doing well.”

“Then why have you come?” You didn’t understand why she would come all this way to visit a person she loathed.

Winnifred hung her head as if she weren’t quite sure of the answer herself. “I wanted to thank you!” she finally blurted after a short pause. The suddenness of the claim startled you both and she looked taken aback by her own words. She hung her head.

It was… odd to see her like this, all submissive and repentant. There had been a time when Winnifred was nothing but snarky with you at council meetings or in the streets. She hated you with a burning passion and was never afraid to let you know it. But now she was almost reverent for once. She was tiptoeing around her words and choosing them carefully. She was watching her tongue and actions and keeping them in check. It unnerved you to be treated with such respect by her. You supposed that this was a result of your explosion on her after the council meeting despite it being months ago.

You frowned at her. “For what? I haven’t done anything for you.”

“For saving my son’s life.” She took a deep breath and glanced up. “I… I watched him try to fight the titan to save you, but you dove in front of him in time to stop the blow and when he… when he…” Her voice cracked and she pressed her lips together tightly. Her eyes found the ceiling and stayed there for moments on end. You could see her eyes reddening. “When he lost his arm… You were there to stop the bleeding. You saved his life and I… I know we’ve had our differences and I really don’t like you, but I have to thank you for that. You saved my son and for that, I owe you everything.”

“You owe me nothing.” You sighed and hung your head. “I would’ve saved him regardless. I couldn’t bear it if Bucky were killed because of me. He’s too precious to me.” You breathed a laugh and shook your head. “You don’t have to thank me for something I would’ve done anyways. Besides…” You shrugged and placed your hand on the prosthetic once more. Dragging it against the vibranium before you, you watched your reflection become clearer. “My life wouldn’t be complete if he wasn’t a part of it.”

Winnifred fell silent, her expression conflicted. “You love him, don’t you?” she asked, her voice as quiet as a whisper.

You nodded. “Yeah. I do. With all my heart.”

“I should’ve guessed.” She sounded resigned by your confession as if she expected this. “I really don’t like it, but I suppose I don’t have much of a choice. My son is grown; he can make his own decisions on who he loves.”

“And you really don’t have the power to stop me,” you added nonchalantly.

“Don’t remind me.” She pursed her lips. “You should go to him.”

You paused. “I’m sorry?”

“Go to him. In the hospital. He asks for you every day, wondering if you’d gone to see him. He’ll never ask me, but one of the nymphs brought it to my attention after the tenth time he’d asked for you. He’s quite confused as to why you haven’t gone to see him yet.”

“I did see him… Once…” And he was sleeping. You hung your head. “I can’t face him yet. Knowing what I’ve done to hurt him, I don’t deserve to see him—not until I’ve finished.”

Winnifred’s eyes trailed down to the prosthetic you were working on. “Is that for him?”

“To replace the one that was stolen by my father,” you confirmed. “I can’t leave until it’s complete.”

“When will that be?”

“Soon.” You paused in your work and looked up at her again, your gaze unsure. “Do you really think I should go to him?”

“I do. I know he loves you more than he’s ever loved another. He needs you, (y/n). Please, don’t keep away from him too long—for both your sakes.”

You frowned at her. “Why are you doing this?”

She shrugged as she took a step back, beginning to make her way to the door once more. “I’m not sure myself. Maybe it’s because I’ve finally accepted that my little boy has grown up. He’s going to love you whether I approve or not. I’d rather not lose him over something silly like this. Just… Promise me you’ll take care of him? He’s still so young and I fear for him every day. But… If he had the Queen of Hell protecting him, then I might just sleep a little better.”

You smiled softly at her and nodded. “I promise.”

An understanding between you was forged in that moment—one where she finally accepted you as a part of her son’s life and where you vowed to love him. After years of bickering and animosity, you finally found it in yourselves to tolerate each other.

———

Your heart hammered in your chest as you stood in the white halls of the hospital. You felt out of place in your dark clothes and a large prosthetic wrapped in cloth in your arms. It’d been a while since you’d last been here and you wanted nothing more than to get out.

But you had to be here. He was calling you—pulling you to his side.

Behind the door, inside room 107, your love lay in wait for you. He didn’t know you were here, but you figured that he could sense you. Your aura had grown stronger since the execution when you took on another domain and you reeked of death. It was not a good omen for a hospital, but you had to be here all the same. You only wondered how Bucky would react to you after being apart for so long.

You knew you didn’t have to be nervous; this was Bucky after all. You loved him and he loved you. But you still feared the worst. What if he was disgusted by the very sight of you? Appalled by what you had become? Would he send you away? Would he ask to never see you again?

Logically you knew that each situation was more unlikely than the last, but you were still afraid. You were afraid of being rejected by the only man you truly loved.

You glanced down at the white cloth that covered the arm you’d built for him. Would he accept it? Would it even fit him? You’d done your best to make it exactly like the left arm he’d lost, but was it enough? Was it suitable for a god?

There was only one way to find out.

Steeling your nerves and shifting the prosthetic to one side, you slowly raised your fist and knocked on the door of his room.

“Come in!” urged the voice of a god and you stopped for only a second. Gods… How you’d missed his voice…

You swallowed the lump in your throat and slowly opened the door.

The room had taken on Bucky’s personality over the weeks he’d been here. When you first visited, it’d been bare and sterile. There’d been no color. But now it was lively. Bouquets of flowers filled almost every available surface and the room was bright. The colors made you dizzy, there were so many and so vibrant.

The only occupant in the room was sitting on the bed and your eyes found him immediately. He wasn’t looking at you yet and this gave you time to appreciate him.

His hair had grown out a considerable amount. At least two inches had sprouted, giving length and volume to those locks you loved. He’d grown a short stubble of a beard as well. You could only imagine how prickly it was. He looked good. His skin was tan and warm and he had a small smile on his face as he looked down at the book that was opened in his lap. His hand fondled the page, rubbing the paper between his thumb and forefinger. His other hand… His other hand wasn’t there nor was his arm. The hospital gown covered the stump that remained, but you could see the bandages peeking out from under the short sleeve. It was pure white and haunting—a chilling reminder of what had provided it.

Bucky’s eyes stayed on his book as he turned the page. “Is it time for my meds again?” he asked, his voice even and expectant.

You forced your voice to work as you set the prosthetic arm down on a side table that had a bit of spare space. “I… I don’t know. Do you usually take medicine at,” you paused to look at the clock, “1:30 in the afternoon?” You crossed your arms and hugged your body anxiously.

His head snapped up as he heard your voice, his blue eyes going wide with disbelief. His lips parted in a silent gasp. His gaze was filled with wonder as he looked at you like you were the only thing in the room. He whispered your name like a desperate prayer. “You came…”

“I came.” You offered him a weak smile as you took a step into the room. “I’m sorry it took me so long, but I—”

He was out of the bed in an instant, his legs making wide strides over to you. You had to drop your arms as he engulfed you in a tight hug. His arm clutched you tightly, his fingers digging into your back as he buried his face in your neck. “You came,” he repeated, his breath warming your skin.

You shivered beneath him as you wrapped your arms around his torso, holding him just as tightly if not more. Oh, how you’d missed this—missed him. You clung to him desperately, taking in every inch of him. Your face was wet. Tears streamed down your face, dampening his hospital gown. But you didn’t care. You just wanted to hold him and be held by him.

His shoulders shook with silent sobs as he held you tight like he couldn’t believe you were there. You could only imagine what was running through his mind.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, your voice breaking on the second syllable. “I’m so, so sorry for everything. For all the pain—”

“Shh…” He shook his head in your neck. “You don’t have to apologize, Doll.” He pulled away ever so slightly, letting his hand fall from your back and rise to cup your cheek. His thumb brushed your tears away and he gave you a watery smile. Tears of his own were starting to fall from his eyes as he gazed at you. “There’s nothing to forgive.”

Your lips trembled as you looked him over your eyes falling on his left shoulder. “But… I hurt you.” Your shaky hand reached out to what remained of his left arm but you stopped before you actually touched him.

“You didn’t do this to me, (y/n),” he said taking your hand and guiding it to his arm. He let your hand linger on his wound, not even flinching. You figured that it had mostly—if not fully—healed by now with immortality helping him. “You are not responsible for this. Your father is. But, from what I heard, he’s gone now.”

“He is. I made sure of that.”

“I’m sorry.” he inhaled sharply and leaned forward to press his lips against your forehead. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I… I wish I could’ve been there for you, but I wasn’t. Now, for that, you will need to forgive me.”

You stared up at him, a soft smile covering your lips. “There’s nothing to forgive.”

He chuckled. “I guess not.” He reached down and took your hand. “Come. Let’s sit down and talk. I haven’t seen you in two months. I missed you.”

You went willingly, smiling at him as you brushed lingering tears away. “I missed you too.”

He climbed back into the bed and slid under the thin hospital blanket before lifting it up for you to join him.

You felt a little squished as you squeezed into the bed meant for one, but it was cozy. With your body pressed against his right side, he was able to wrap his arm around you and pull you in close. You turned into him, resting your head on his chest and wrapping your arms around his torso. He’d lost some weight. He was thinner around the middle.

He pulled you in close and buried his nose in your hair, taking a moment to simply breathe you in. His body relaxed more and more with every passing second, soaking in the comfort of your presence that only you could give.

In all honesty, you felt more at peace in this moment than you had in months. Being with him had some effect on you that you couldn’t explain. It was lovely and you never wanted it to end.

“Where have you been?” he asked after a while, his voice husky with longing.

“Working,” you mumbled into his chest. “I’ve been in the forges working… I needed to be able to do something productive to get into a better headspace.”

“Is that why you didn’t come to see me?” His voice was hurt but sympathetic. You could tell that it had pained him that you didn’t come to visit him, but he understood needing space. You appreciated him for that.

You nodded. “I couldn’t come until I was done… Until I had something to offer you as my apology for everything I’ve put you through.” Your eyes flickered up at the cloth-wrapped arm still sitting on the table. “I brought it with me.”

“Oh?”

“Mhmm. I wasn’t sure if I should even come, but then your mother visited me and—”

“My mother?” He was astonished. “You mean the woman that hates you went to see you willingly?”

You couldn’t refrain from giggling. “Yeah. She came in to tell me that I should see you and she gave us her blessing in a weird way. She’s not happy with it, but she finally realized that she can’t really stop us if we want to be together. Anyways, she was the one who really convinced me to come. I wasn’t sure I should until she told me to. But, again, I couldn’t come empty-handed.”

“What did you bring me?”

You smiled softly at him. “Let me show you.” You pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before pulling away from him and sliding off the bed. You made quick steps to the table where you’d left your creation waiting. You could see a small sliver of gold shimmering through a gap in the cloth. “It’s not much,” you said, wrapping your arms around the metallic prosthetic, “but it’s all I have to offer.” You took a deep breath and turned to him. “I worked on it for about a month and a half to make it perfect for you. We tried to get all the measurements right.” You carried it over and deposited it on the bed beside him. Taking great care, you unwrapped it slowly. The black metal shimmered in the light and the gold was as radiant as the sun. You heard Bucky’s sharp intake of breath but you couldn’t look up. “It’s not much, but I figured it’s a suitable replacement. Tony helped me with the wiring.” You could feel your nerves growing and you looked down. “A-A simple surgery will attach it to your body and nerves and it’ll be just like the old one only—you know—metal. But you’ll be able to feel things and move it just like you did your arm and I made it from vibranium so it’s indestructible and—”

“(y/n).” He took your hand to pause your rambling.

You swallowed and looked up at him. “Yes?” Did he hate it? Did he not want it? Had you made it for nothing? Your heart pounded in your chest.

His smile was soft as he gazed at you, his eyes dancing with light. “Thank you… This… This is more than I ever could’ve asked from you.” He moved his hand from yours and placed it on the metal prosthetic. His fingers traced over the embedded gold with a tenderness you’d only seen him use with you. “You made this for me… You made a new part of me…” He let out a breathy laugh and shook his head. “Why?”

“Because I love you.”

His head snapped up as the words poured out of your mouth.

It took you a moment to realize why they’d shocked him.

You’d finally said it.

I love you.

After all this time, you finally told him.

His lips were parted in quiet wonder. “You love me?” he whispered softly.

You could only nod. “With all my heart.” It was relieving to tell him. It’d felt like a secret lying heavy on your shoulders and, now that you’d finally told him, you were free of the burden. Because you did love him. You loved him more than you’d loved any other being. You loved him with every fiber of yourself and with everything you had. Why you hadn’t said it earlier, you didn’t know. But you were glad you’d said it now. Now it meant something.

He opened his arms to embrace you and you found a home in him once more. He held you close and hummed. “I love you too.” He pulled away just slightly to place a kiss on your lips.

A kiss that said, “I love you.”

A kiss that said, “I need you.”

A kiss that said, “I won’t ever let you go again.”

And that made you love him even more.

Next 25: She Almost Murders Someone (Again)

#bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky barnes #bucky #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x reader #pragma(tic)#hades and persephone #hades & persephone #persephone!bucky x hades!reader #delicatelyherdreams #bucky au

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cookieundertherock · 4 years

Text

The Prince’s Bride

I know this isn’t a request, but it is some writing. I’m working on a Shinsou x reader rn so I hope this fantasy/royalty au Kirishima x reader will suffice until I can get it out. Please enjoy!

I’m planning on making this a series so if you guys want more please tell me!

warnings: some language and a pissed off reader, but that’s about it for this chapter word count: 1,562

You sighed as you stare out across the gardens from your balcony. The dragon lilies are in bloom so that’s nice, but they don’t have dragon lilies in the North Lands that you knew of. You sighed once more and groaned as you draped your arms across the balcony railing.

Out of all the princes that your father could marry you off to it had to be the most mysterious one from the land farthest away from your home. Obviously he couldn’t bear to be around you anymore so he had to ship you off to the Northern Kingdom. Yeah, thanks dad.

For the last time you sighed, shaking your head as you pushed off the balcony railing, Your hair moving around your face as a slight breeze brushed past. You turned and trudged back into your room, looking around at the place you’d called home for your whole life, feeling a painful ache in your chest, knowing that you’d be leaving it.

“I’ll miss you the most old girl.” You commented to the teacup dragon you were gifted with as a young girl. The poor thing was too old to travel anymore and besides the Northern Kingdom was too cold for a Desert Teacup like herself.

Gently you scratched under her chin and exhaled softly, looking around your room once more. ‘It’s almost time.’ You thought, gently touching your bed. Stepping away from the bed you walked out your door and down the hall, taking one last breath to calm your nerves. It was finally time.

The journey to the Northern Kingdom was as long as you had expected, thankfully for you the ride was scenic. Scenery does not, however, make up for company, and your company was not at all enjoyable. Of course your father had to send the most annoying attendant with you they could find.

You sighed again as the attendant attempted to make another joke at you, cackling at his stupid quip. You rolled your eyes and sighed, a glare in your eyes. How you hated this journey so much already and how you despised your father for doing to you what he had done. You still couldn’t believe that he had sent you away just because he couldn’t make an agreement with the king of the north.

“Agustar, if you don’t stop with your horrible excuses for a joke I’m going to throw you out of the carriage myself.” You growled lowly, eyes sharp. The man shut up after that. You were tired of this. Tired of everything that was happening. It was all so... tiring.

The trip lasted several more weeks, making you nearly bash your and your attendant’s heads in several times. It was almost a relief to you when you pulled up in front of the large castle of the Northern people.

You stepped out, startling as a sudden loud noise sounded above your head, making your insides quiver and your body freeze. You looked up, eyes widening as you saw a large, unearthly creature flying above your head. An Artic Dragon. You’d never seen one in person before, only heard stories, and seeing one now, only confirmed how magnificent they truly were.

The large beast alighted on a balcony attached to the castle. Huh, so that’s why the place was so big. You watched as the crimson red dragon promptly sit as a figure came out and began to talk to it. The dragon almost seemed human in its responses, becoming very animated at what the person, a young woman from what you could tell, was saying.

After a moment longer the beast shook its head and jumped off the balcony, flapping its great wings as it flew away from the castle before suddenly dropping in front of you. Scarlet red eyes gazed into your own (e/c) ones as the beast stared you down, large nostrils flaring as it presumably inhaled your scent.

You had only heard stories and read about the arctic dragons. They were some of the rarest and most reclusive dragons, only living here, in the Northern Kingdom. You felt a shiver run down your spine as the dragon took one, two steps closer to you, its hot breath hitting you in waves.

“I guess the stories about you having the multiple pairs of horns is true…” You whispered softly as you finally managed to get the breath back in your lungs. The dragon seemed to snort in amusement at this and slowly stretched its neck forward, grazing you with its snout. You laughed breathily as you managed to graze your fingers along the crimson scales before the beast took off, a moment before the doors to the palace opened.

Your legs were quickly growing tired from being ushered around the large castle so quickly after being caught standing in the courtyard by the queen herself. She had rushed out to you, immediately beginning to fuss over you and your unsuited dress. She had gone on to prattle about the new, much warmer and more weather suited dresses and outfits you would soon receive from coming to live here in the North.

All you could was smile tightly and nod along with everything she continued to spout. You weren’t really paying attention to what she was saying anyway, being far to enraptured by the stunning palace around you. You couldn’t believe this place! It was…breathtaking. You had never seen a palace like this one before, even your own home couldn’t rival the primal beauty of the place.

“And this is your room!” The queen’s voice finally rang through your daze. “This is where you’ll be staying until the wedding. You Dlainians must think us strange for insisting a custom like this, but it makes more sense to us for the soon to be spouses separated until they know each other better.” She explains.

Your eyes snapped to her face and you smiled in a slightly strained manner. “No, it’s great. Thank you your majesty. It’s plenty.” You said, doing your best to try and get away so you could rest before dinner. “I’m very tired from my journey so I would love to rest up a little if you don’t mind.”

The queen paused her ramble for a moment before smiling kindly, her expression softening. “Of course my dear. Rest up my dear, my family and I will see you at dinner, my son has been eager to meet you.” She said sweetly.

It took you some time, but eventually, you had calmed yourself down enough to face what was happening. In the large luxurious room you’re staying in you found multiple dresses and outfits already ready for you, including the dress you figured you were supposed to wear to dinner. It was...crimson. Crimson like that dragon’s scales that you saw earlier. You briefly wondered if that was just a coincidence or if there was a reason.

You pushed the dress to the side though, instead heading straight to the bathroom to clean yourself up. It was a seriously long journey and you wanted a little bit of time to freshen up. Thankfully the bath you found, already drawn, was still steaming hot and ready for you to relax and clean up. It was perfect.

After taking your bath all that was left to do was dry off and prepare for dinner. Oh goody...the dinner of doom....

You sighed to yourself as you sat down at the beautiful vanity in your room, staring into the mirror at your reflection. You didn’t feel like the soon to be queen of the Northern kingdom, instead, you felt more like an imposter of some sort.

Finally, you picked up the makeup left on the table for you and applied a light coat, something simple, for the dinner. You had to make an effort, but you didn’t want to really try. You brushed your hair out after, doing you your best to get the dress done up after. Damn. These dresses were so much simpler than the ones you had at home. It was….nice in a way not to be burdened down by so many petty coats and skirts.

After a bit of struggle with your new boots you were presentable for your dreaded dinner. You took a deep breath before you began to descend the stairs to the dining room. The time had come.

You took a deep breath as you stood atop the stairs, doing your best to settle your nerves before you plunged down into the unknown. One more deep breath entered your lungs as you took the very first step, the stairs quickly flying under your feet until you were at the bottom. Well...here went nothing.

As soon as you stepped into the dining room the queen was at you, immediately complimenting you and asking you how your rest went, but the only thing you could focus on in that moment, was the pair of eyes that were staring into your own (e/c) ones.

The prince was staring at you and the color of his eyes made the breath leave your lungs. He was certainly handsome: Chiseled jaw, strong cheekbones, a cute nose, silky hair, and a broad shoulders. But the thing that caught your attention most, was his eye color. His eyes. They were...

Red. Red like a dragon’s.

#bnha #bnha x reader #my hero acadamia #my hero acadamia x reader #kirishima x reader #bnha au #au #my writing #my story #series #the princes bride

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paintedrecs · 4 years

Note

Since you've semi-recently gotten into "Gargoyles," do you have some fanfic recommendations for it? (And yes, you can include your own fics if you want. We don't mind.)

Hahaha honestly I don’t have a lot of other recommendations - when I was close to finishing the show, I got impatient and checked the David Xanatos/Owen Burnett tag on AO3, which <em>literally had six fics in it</em>. I was surprised and disappointed, and I spent a few days idly writing a fic in my own head. Since there was nothing out there for me, I had to create my own content.

At one point, I told @mad-madam-m, “I'm talking myself out of writing a Gargoyles fic that 1 person (me) would read.” She replied, “Why would you talk yourself out of that.” I said, “.....huh, fair point I guess.” A few days later, I’d posted an 11k fic.

The funny part is that M, who had not seen the show at that point, has now written 10 Gargoyles fics (going on a 30k+ 11th) to my 4. So really, she played herself.

I’ve poked around in a few other Gargoyles fics - basically scrolled through the whole tag and checked for anything that sounded like it had sufficient Owen in it - but I’m...kinda picky about my pairings, and I’ve gotten weirdly attached to the rarest possible dynamic in this fandom. (Polyamorous Xanatos, married to Fox and dating Owen, but without any romantic/sexual OT3 trio action.)

And I’m also very picky about how people write Owen, because there’s this odd tendency to separate Owen Burnett from Puck, treating them as different people/personalities. Owen IS Puck. Puck is Owen. Just because his face and name changes doesn’t mean he does.

I wrote nearly 37,000 words to try to properly convey my love for this incredibly complicated, fascinating character. (Each subsequent fic was because I felt like I didn’t quite do enough in the last one. I still have a few more in me, if I can ever get around to writing them.)

So...my recommendations...really are just my fics and M’s. Sorry!! It’s sad for me, too. :(

Here they are, though, if anyone’s interested.

My Fics

Then Fate O’errules (30k)

This two-part series has my original Owen POV fic (11k), and an 18k Xanatos POV follow up, since M wanted to know what Xanatos was thinking during all of their relationship drama. (These fics are, incidentally, the first time I ever used the E rating. Gargoyles is an oddly inspiring show.)

I’ve left this as a complete series, since it covers everything I wanted it to, and I consider it a full story.

However...I’ve been dipping back in with timestamp-style fics, so everything I’ve written for this pairing all fits within the same universe: canon-compliant, with the very slight and (I think) fully believable addition of Xanatos being romantically/sexually involved with Owen.

But a Dream (5k)

Technically this has an unhappy ending (unusual for me), but it fits between chapters of my longer series, so it’s just a glimpse of a tougher point in their relationship, when Owen was stubbornly breaking his own heart and Xanatos was massively failing at communication. I honestly really like what I did with the snapshots of their dynamic here, regardless of the angst.

Spirits of Another Sort (2k)

Another quick timestamp between episodes, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Xanatos putting so much effort into trapping a trickster, when he already had a far more powerful one at home. I also have a LOT of emotions about how incredibly desperate Puck is to stay with Xanatos, as Owen. I love exploring their love, as messy and complicated and painful as it is.

[Pending fics: Another short timestamp, from earlier in their relationship, set in the dojo. An outsider perspective on this unusual Xanatos family dynamic from David’s dad, Petros. And, if I ever manage to go back to it, a fairy tale AU that I fully outlined months ago.]

Mikkimouse’s Fics

To my incredibly great fortune, M ended up liking the Xanatos/Owen dynamic as much as I did, so she’s written a few lovely fics for this pairing, now bringing the grand total in the AO3 tag to fourteen.

The Course of True Love Never Did Run Smooth (2k)

M and I had a conversation some time ago about A Midsummer Night’s Dream, because how can you talk about Puck (and Oberon, the douchebag) without bringing up that play. M then produced this very wonderful snapshot from later on in the Xanatos/Owen relationship, when they go to a play together and run into unexpected emotions. It’s very tender and true to them. I love this one a lot.

Important Questions (592 words)

Xanatos gets drunk. Owen is indulgent.

Explanations (195 words)

A very short, very sweet glimpse of the Xanatos family. I love seeing Owen’s softer side, especially with young Alexander.

Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be (5k)

While all my fics are tightly focused on the Xanatos family - primarily Xanatos/Owen, with Xanatos/Fox and Alex in the mix - M has really run with the wider Gargoyles world. She’s particularly great at writing Elisa, who’s one of my favorite characters in the show (which might not be visible from my fics, since uh...Owen doesn’t particularly like her, and I’m largely writing from his perspective).

M has a fantastic grasp on Elisa, though, and has fully sold me on the idea of Elisa and Xanatos eventually becoming really solid friends. This fic has achingly great Xanatos/Owen pining, but it’s mostly about Elisa (sniping at Xanatos but grudgingly getting along with him because he’s frustratingly brilliant and ridiculously charming), and it’s A+.

New Friends and Stranger Companies (3k)

Another stop along the “how the effff do Elisa and Xanatos become best friends??” journey, with Xanatos showing up at Elisa’s apartment after the events of The Gathering. There’s some Owen/Xanatos and Fox/Xanatos, but it’s mostly about Elisa & Xanatos starting to see (to Elisa’s dismay) how much they have in common. There aren’t many people in the world who know what it’s like to be a human hopelessly in love with a very powerful...non-human.

It’s messy and complicated and Elisa begins to really get a sense of the kind of guy Xanatos truly is, beyond his immense wealth and evil plots and fondness for messing with her easy-to-mess-with roar-happy winged boyfriend.

Concerns (200 words)

Some episode timestamps, because this really is the kind of show that inspires you to fill in the gaps. First, a brief exchange between Xanatos and Owen after they’ve discovered Goliath and Elisa (their two biggest harassers and meddlers) are off on some Avalon World Tour, leaving them free to do whatever they want.

That Shrewd and Knavish Sprite (2k)

And an exchange between Hudson and Owen during The Price, when Owen got his stone hand and Hudson turned out to be a lot more perceptive and difficult than the extremely easy to predict Goliath. Also an introduction to another unexpected friendship I’m super on board with: Owen needs friends, and Hudson makes weirdly perfect sense. (They’re definitely not there yet in this fic, but I’m hoping for a sequel.)

Gargoyles Three Sentence Fics (575 words)

Some of M’s early explorations of Elisa and Alex, whom she wrote wonderfully even before watching the show.

Ill Met By Moonlight (5k)

An Elisa & Xanatos friendship? Weird, but it works. An Elisa & Owen friendship? ...Not really going to happen.

One of the things I really like about this show is that it has all these different layers of relationships. Xanatos can be deeply in love with both Fox and Owen, but that doesn’t mean that Fox and Owen are going to feel that way about each other. They get along and definitely grow closer over the years, especially with all three of them being Alex’s parents, but they’re different kinds of people who live different lives and who both happen to have fallen in love with the same man.

Similarly, Elisa and Xanatos becoming best friends doesn’t mean that Owen and Elisa will ever be close. You don’t have to like all your friends’ friends - being an adult means recognizing and knowing how to navigate those complexities.

So here we have Elisa waking up tied to her least favorite person in the world, a sentiment that Owen has no interest in refuting. But they can still work together, and Elisa can still feel and express concern for Owen when she realizes he’s not quite as put together as he always appears.

(Also really great action writing. M is fantastic at that.)

Gentles, Do Not Reprehend (1.2k)

Along with Elisa, M has really made Alex her own. She’s working on a 30k plus Alex-centric story that I am super excited about, and this is an initial window into some of how that will look. I lovelove the unusual and wonderful Xanatos Family structure, and M does such a great job of building it out in funny, emotional, believable ways.

#gargoyles #xanatowen #david xanatos #owen burnett #elisa maza #fox xanatos #alexander xanatos #hudson #goliath #Anonymous #mad-madam-m #i would edit those italics tags but every time I edit posts on here it breaks my read more #so sorry #ugh tumblr

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thdorkmagnet · 4 years

Text

Where in the World is Janna Ordonia?

Hello everyone! Here is my Carmen Sandiego AU/ Master Theif Janna AU, whichever you want to call it! So this is, as you probably guessed, inspired by the new Netflix series "Carmen Sandiego". Ever since I watched the first episode I've been picturing Janna filling this role so much and I just had to write it! But I did change some things around from the show like making Janna a straight up thief rather than a thief who only steals from other thieves. This will also be a Jantom fic since I don't think there are nearly enough of those out there right now and I wanted to help add to the collection. This ship needs more love!

Also big shout out to Andychipss for the awesome cover art! If you get a chance check her out over on Instagram! She always does an incredible job!

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters belong to Daron Nefcy and Disney. Carmen Sandiego belongs to Broderbund Software, Netflix and Lauren Elliott. All right go to them.

The city of lights was dazzling that particular evening, its namesake casting a brilliant and beautiful glow across all of Paris. Even the dark corners seemed to hold a life to them, making the whole city feel as peaceful and romantic as they say. And on one particular rooftop stretching high above the paved streets below stood a young woman. She wore a black long-sleeve shirt with matching pants and long black boots, giving her the outward appearance of a shadow herself. But blending in would be rather difficult for her since over that she wore a bright red trench coat and matching fedora. Her short dark hair hung slightly out from beneath her hat. She had tanned skin and brown eyes. Her appearance was eye-catching that was for sure, which was why it was a strange choice of attire coming from one of the most elusive and legendary thieves in the world. Her name which was known across the world was Janna Ordonia, the Scarlet Thief.

The girl looked coolly out from under the brim of her hat, holding a pair of small binoculars to her eyes. From her sight, she spotted her next target up ahead, a museum. She watched as some security guards made their rounds, in the exact pattern she memorized over the last few days of staking the place out. "Predictable," she sighed slipping the pocket-sized spying device into her coat pocket. "I was hoping for a bit more of a challenge," she groaned in boredom.

"Well y'know, you could wait until Acme shows up," came a voice from inside the communication device in her ear. "You know some of their agents are on your trail since you set fire to that shop earlier today." His voice was accusing now, clearly trying to make her feel guilty for her crime.

But Janna was unaffected by the attempt, saying plainly, "Come on, Alfonso, I can hardly be blamed for that, they were asking for it."

"How?" Alfonso asked in exasperation.

"Charging 30 bucks for a stupid model of the Eiffel tower is insane!" Janna scoffed. "And they call me a thief."

The young hacker just sighed burying his head in his hands. "Anyways, am I all clear to head inside?" Janna asked returning the conversation back to the task at hand.

Alfonso complied, doing a few keystrokes on his computer, but still grumbling under his breath in annoyance. "Yeah, hang on," he mumbled, shutting down all security in the museum as if it were no big deal. "There, done. But you better do this job fast before someone realizes it's down."

"Hey no problem, fast is my middle name," Janna said, doing a quick stretch to loosen up her muscles. It was important to stay flexible in this line of work.

"I thought you didn't have a middle name," Alfonso pointed out.

"Well I just gave myself one," the girl replied, before leaping off the roof. As she fell she whipped out a grappling gun she kept in her sleeve, firing it and attaching it to another building's side. She felt the string go taint as she sailed around the side of the building, detaching it fluidly off the wall before flying into an opened window and right into the museum.

Her feet hit smooth tile as she tried to slide to a delicate stop. But she didn't predict her momentum correctly as she stopped just short of hitting a wall and knocking a small pedestal holding some priceless vase on it. Janna didn't even have time to dive for it before it hit the floor and shattered into a million pieces. The young thief sucked in a breath waiting to see if the loud noise had attracted any guards, but after a couple beats of silence, Janna declared it a false alarm and let her body relax once more.

Alfonso, however, was less calm, as his squeaky voice spoke up from Janna's earpiece, "What was that noise?! Janna did you break something!"

Janna scoffed, kicking the fragmented pieces under a nearby fancy rug. "Aw, relax I'm sure it wasn't that important."

"Janna!" The young hacker screamed and the girl was tempted to take the earpiece off to avoid the inevitable rant but settled for merely reminding her friend, "Better keep your voice down, Al. Wouldn't want to wake your roommate."

The audible groan through the earpiece was her reward as she sauntered superiorly though the quiet museum, keeping her eyes peeled for her target. Alfonso's roommate Ferguson often got on the young hacker's nerve, especially when they were on a caper. The loudmouthed teen seemed to have no self-control as he would frequently butt in and distract Al while he was trying to hack, getting overeager and nosy over what the two were doing (treating it more like a game than a life or death situation), and just being a general nuisance, which frayed Alfonso's last nerve. But this seemed to do the trick as the boy stopped with his incessant whining and Janna was able to enjoy a couple minutes of silence, taking everything in. She walked with practiced ease through the marble halls, making sure her footsteps made no sound as she traveled deeper inside. Her brown eyes scanned the area, alert and precise, despite her relaxed posture, taking in slow breaths of musty air.

She always loved being in a dark museum at night, the empty and quiet always soothing to her. As much as she loved chaos, even Janna couldn't deny how beautiful and simplistic a simple trip through the abandoned hallways could be. It was like looking into a hidden world, a peek behind the curtains. During the day, the museum was close to bursting with tourists and tour groups and kids on school field trips, making the experience feel cheapened and hallow. But at night, that was when the museum could truly be itself, no lights, no spectacles, no overzealous explanations of what made its contents art, it could just exist and allow its art to speak for itself. And that was something Janna could relate too.

Her eyes glance lazily around at the paintings and sculptures and all forms of artistic achievements, each one a masterpiece in its own right and each one probably worth a fortune. But none of them were what she was looking for. She had a much bigger prize in mind.

The girl came to a stop in front of a large painting, the image a portrait of a sailor, the delicate paint strokes perfectly encapsulating the man's gruff demeanor. Janna cocked her head to the side as if admiring it closely as she said into her earpiece, "Alfonso, I'm at the painting."

"Great, the panel should be behind it, I've overwritten the security codes but you'll have to pick the lock yourself," the hacker replied, all business now.

Janna smiled mischievously. "Not a problem." She took a step closer to the painting, saying softly to the image, "Sorry about this, captain." She gently grabbed the painting's frame, lifting it off its hook and moving it as carefully and quietly as she could. As she did she noticed that her eyes were now level with the deep angry eyes of the painting and she muttered under her breath, "Hey, don't give me that look. You brought this on yourself." Without another word, she set the painting down on the opposite wall, before turning back to her next objective. It was a small safe, made of thick unbreakable metal, and Janna could see it had two sets of locks on its smooth surface, an electronic lock with a small series of buttons and a panel, as well as a combination lock next to it. On closer inspection, Janna could see that Alfonso had already done his part, the panel flashing the word "Entry". Now all that was left was for Janna to do her part.

Janna cracked her knuckles, flexing them a little to make sure they were nice and loose. She carefully grabbed hold of the small turn-style knob, putting her ear up to the door as she began to ever so slowly move the knob left. Soon she heard a click echo through the cold metal and smiled, immediately turning the knob the other way, waiting for the next click to sound. She continued on with this meticulous task, making sure to move slowly and preciously with each turn of the dial. Until finally, the last click sounded and she took a step away, whispering smugly, "Child's play."

With one swift motion, she turned the handle and pulled the safe door open, staring inside with a victorious smile. Inside the small metal box sat a plain black briefcase with a simple lock that took the highly skilled Janna only a minute to pick. She flicked up the latches before opening the container, wanting to make sure she had the correct package. And just as she had predicted inside sat a small golden statue sealed tight in the foam covering they had carefully placed around it so it wouldn't be jolted or damaged. The statue was in the shape of a woman, a ballerina, her arms raised in a graceful and beautiful pirouette.

"Is it there?" Al asked nervously, he always got anxious when he couldn't identify the item firsthand.

Janna whistled, eying the statue closely as she muttered under her breath, "Oh it's here all right."

The young hacker let out a sigh of relief, before saying, "Good."

"Must be pretty special if our client wants it so badly," Janna commented.

"The Golden Dancer is one of the rarest statues in the world. It is one of a set of three identical statues kept in hidden locations around the globe. They originated in-"

"Geez, Professor Al, I didn't ask for the history lesson," Janna interrupted, sealing the briefcase back up and closing the safe. It was time to cover her tracks. Hopefully, no one would even notice it was even missing, at least for a while.

Alfonso let out a groan of annoyance but decided to change the subject, informing the girl instead, "Okay Janna, you'll need to be extra careful moving around the statue, we don't want to risk damaging it."

"Come on, Al, we've worked together for how long now?" Janna told him, setting the large painting back in its place from before. "Don't you know me better than that by now."

"The fact that I know you so well is exactly why I said something," Alfonso deadpanned.

Janna made a hurt scoff into the tiny device, telling him, "Well that's just rude." Her face showed a different story though, as she just smirked and nodded in satisfaction at her work. The painting was now perfectly aligned on the wall again, not an inch of it out of place, you couldn't even tell it had been moved at all. She picked up the briefcase, saying smugly, "Okay, now I think it's about time for my dramatic exit."

Just then a loud shout sounded from elsewhere in the museum, the echoed voice bouncing around the walls and Janna turned to it with a start. "Jan, what was that?" a nervous voice asked in her ear, Alfonso clearly hearing the voice too.

Janna, however, just whispered softly to herself, "Hmm, I was wondering when they'd show." Her smirk widened as she added, "This should be fun."

…

The two Acme agents walked side by side through the dark museum, both on high alert, their eyes darting as they meticulously searched the room for any threats. Well the young man was, the other seemed too entranced by every painting, sculpture, and statue they came across, her blue eyes gleaming with admiration as she looked over each piece of art. This wasn't the only contrast between the two, the two seeming to be as different as night and day, despite their similar style. Both wore fancy black suits (the standard for all Acme agents) but where the boy's was well-pressed and had not a crease out of place, the girl's was wrinkled in a few places but still quite beautiful on her slim frame. The man's short spiky brown hair was perfectly styled and lay even on his tanned face, his brown eyes narrowed in grim determination, which was almost thwarted by the adorable mole just under his left eye. His blood-red tie was a stark contrast to the pure white dress shirt he wore underneath his suit. The girl's long blond locks seemed to almost flow down her back, a small blue butterfly clip resting just above her bangs. She had on a carefree smile and walked with a noticeable skip in her step. She had on a dark blue tie and wore a black skirt and dark blue stockings rather than the dress pants of her partner. The only similarity the two seemed to share were the matching golden rings they both wore on their right hands.

"Do you really think someone is in here, Marco?" the blond asked, her eyes still gazing around in curious innocence.

"Well according to our intel-" the boy began.

"Meaning you," his partner interrupted, giving him a teasing look.

Marco smiled and blushed slightly. "Well, yeah. I mean, I am a man of many talents." He cleared his throat, willing away his blush before continuing in a matter-of-fact tone, "Anyways, Star, I heard news that the Scarlet thief was recently spotted in this area earlier today after setting fire to a local shop..."

"Classic Janna," Star commented.

"And then the whole security grid for the museum just happens to go offline the same day," Marco continued. "A place where they are keeping one of the rarest and most priceless statues in the world, mind you. Seems just a bit too suspicious if you ask me."

Star shrugged, saying, "Makes sense to me."

"In fact, Janna is probably in here right now, so we need to stay focused and not get distracted by anything."

"Got it," Star said, doing a small salute. But as she turned her head she let out a small gasp, grabbing onto her partner's arm and squealing, "Oh my gosh, Marco. Look at that adorable painting of a kitty! I have to take a picture of it!" the girl pulled out her phone but it was quickly snatched out of her grip.

"Star," Marco scolded, pulling his arm free of his girlfriend's surprisingly strong grip. "We aren't tourists, we have a job to do, remember?"

"Okay..." the girl muttered, giving him a pouting look that caused Marco's stomach to do flips at how adorable she looked. But he held back his coo as he simply nodded and told her, "Good."

The two had only gone a few more steps before something new caught Star's eye, the girl saying, "Look Marco it's a unicorn vase, ooohhh I want one!"

"Starrrr," the boy said, gaining the girl's attention before gently reminding her, "Focus."

"Right, right," Star said, nodding, her eyebrow now furrowed in determination. "Focus, I got this."

The two continued on a few more steps only for Star to gasp in shock again, causing Marco to sigh in annoyance. "What is it now?" he asked in defeat. Star quickly pointed up at one of the large statues towering over them. A big, hulking ox looking thing with an angry expression on its stone face. "Oh my gosh, Marco that statue guy looks just like you!"

"What, that looks nothing like me?!" the boy exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips as he gave the girl an angry glare.

Star had to fight to hold in her laughter as the boy's expression and demeanor matched the statue creature perfectly, the girl barely managing to stifle her chuckle by slapping a hand over her mouth.

"I don't know, Marco, I think it's pretty spot on?" a voice said behind the pair, and Star and Marco both turned to see Janna staring down at them from the floor above, leaning against the railing with a casual ease.

"Janna," Marco growled under his breath, reaching into his jacket pocket and whipping out his stun gun. He aimed it up at the thief, shouting out, "Don't move!" Star did the same next to him, yelling up at their target, "Hands in the air!"

"Well, which is it?" Janna asked, an eyebrow slowly raising but making no sign of complying.

The two agents shared a look, their cheeks now slightly pink, before Marco said in slight annoyance, "Just stay where you are."

"Sure, no problem there," Janna said, leaning a little heavier on her arm. "I'm quite comfortable up here."

"Well hopefully you'll be just as comfortable in prison, cause that's where you're headed, Janna Ordonia," Marco commented bitterly.

Janna scoffed, shaking her head. "I see you haven't changed any, Diaz." She paused looking over at Star before asking, "So how have you been, Star?"

"Oh, I'm great," Star replied brightly.

"Hey, don't change the subject!" Marco shouted.

"What? I'm just seeing how you two have been. It's been a couple of months since the last time we hung out, after all."

"If by 'hung out' you mean you swiping my wallet and using it to buy drinks for every pub in Ireland," Marco muttered in annoyance.

"Hey, you should be thanking me, you're a local hero there, now," Janna replied.

Marco's eyebrow twitched, but he said nothing more. There was never any point in fighting with Janna.

"Look, Janna," Star took over, picking up on her boyfriend's increasing annoyance. "We all know you stole something from the museum so why don't you hand it over and then we can-"

"Whoa, hang on a second!" Janna interrupted her face and voice showing interest for the first time since they had arrived as her eyes finally spotted the matching rings on the agents' hands. "Since when have you two been engaged!" She quickly picked up on the intense blush that soon coated the young couple's cheeks, as well as the quick loving look that passed between Star and Marco, before their focus returned to Janna.

"For a few weeks now..." Star admitted, clearly overjoyed to be confessing this, even if it was to their enemy.

"Unbelievable, I can't believe you two didn't tell me!" Janna scoffed out, shaking her head in disapproval.

Marco rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, "Maybe because it's none of your business."

"So how did it happen?" the thief asked, leaning closer to the two, her eyes shimmering with questions.

The brown-haired boy opened his mouth to remind her once again that their personal life was none of her business, only for his fiance to blurt out in an excited squeal, "Oh my gosh, it was the sweetest thing, Janna. You should have seen it. One minute we're beating up a group of VILE agents, the next Marco's down on one knee proposing!" Star let out a long sigh at the memory, putting a hand to her blushing cheek, her shoulder just barely touching her finance's side. "It was so romantic."

"So, where's the wedding going to be?" Janna asked with genuine interest.

"We decided to have it in Marco's old hometown," Star replied instantly. "Nothing too fancy, just a simple wedding with our closest friends and families. Don't want to attract too much attention, y'know."

"Staarr," Marco whispered to her in warning, trying to remind his future wife not to divulge too much information to the perceptive thief. He knew she was excited and everything but Janna was the last person he had wanted to know about their special day, considering her track record for making his life miserable every chance she got.

"Huh, sounds nice," Janna commented from above, sounding genuine and sincere, even going as far as to flash them what could almost pass for a warm smile. But Marco wasn't buying any of her act, he had been fooled by her one too many times. "So when can I expect my invite?" she added.

"Uhh, never," Marco deadpanned.

Janna gave the boy a fake hurt look, feigning ignorance as she asked, "What, why not?"

"Maybe because we don't want a common criminal hanging around during our wedding," the boy snapped, giving her an accusing glare.

"Plus, we're kinda arresting you, soooo," Star added, with an apologetic shrug. At that, the two agents held their guns up once more, their gazes hardening as they kept their focus and attention on their target.

The young thief let out a dejected sigh, sitting up and turning her back on the two but still keeping a light grip on the railing behind her. "Fine, I see how it is," she said in the saddest tone she could muster, watching out of the corner of her eye to see if they would let their guard down any.

She inwardly smirked as Star lowered her gun just an inch, her face softening in sympathy, while Marco only seemed to grow more suspicious, his eyebrows somehow furrowing more than they already were. "Look, Jan, just toss us down the briefcase and we won't have to use force," Marco said in a slow, even tone, but Janna easily caught onto the hidden threat that lay beneath.

She let out a deep sigh, before saying softly, "Whatever you say." The next few seconds went by in a flash as Janna instantly turned and jumped over the railing, now falling back to the first story. Star and Marco flinched, Janna seeing their fingers tightening on the triggers of the stun guns but before either could react fully, the girl threw the briefcase in her hands, it smacking directly into Marco's chest causing the boy to grunt in pain and surprise and crash to the floor hard. Star turned to her boyfriend in fear, Janna forgotten as she screamed out a panicked, "Marco!"

Janna, meanwhile, quickly shot out a grappling line from inside her sleeve, where it roughly attached to the ceiling. The string went taunt allowing the young thief to soar over the two agent's heads. She detached the line, tucking into a roll as she hit the ground and soon she was back on her feet once more.

Janna turned, seeing Star checking on her partner, who was more stunned than hurt and didn't even hesitate to shoot out another grapple line which latched onto the forgotten handle of the briefcase, before being zipped back over to her at record speed. Janna caught it with practiced ease, looking smugly over to the pair of agents now shooting her confused but angry glares, and she merely winked and tipped her hat toward them, saying in her typical sarcastic wit, "Thanks for holding onto that for me. But I think I'll be going now."

The thief took off at a run, knowing it would only be a few seconds before the two agents pursued her with a fiery vigor and she needed to put as much distance between her and them as possible. And just as she predicted within seconds Janna heard a loud voice shout, "Hey wait!" and she increased her speed, heading straight for the top floor of the building.

Star helped Marco to his feet before the two quickly ran after the escaping thief, the latter growling under his breath for being outsmarted again by the willy Janna. He ignored the slight heat in his cheeks, keeping his focus entirely on his target, whose head start was doing little to match his and Star's speed, quickly gaining on the girl.

The door to the roof busted open as Janna emerged, running toward the edge with Star and Marco right on her heels. Janna didn't even hesitate as she jumped off the roof, sailing flawlessly through the air before landing on the rooftop of the next building. She turned to give the two a victorious smirk before running away at top speed again.

Marco and Star, however, were far from beaten, the two racing ahead with no fear or hesitation as they too leaped off the building's side, landing on the next roof in perfect synchronization. Janna turned to see the two chasing after her again and she smiled to herself. This was just the challenge she had been hoping for.

The chase across Paris continued, Janna leaping from rooftop to rooftop, with little to no regard for her own safety, even the breakneck drop that waited below and the cold, bitter wind rushing against her face doing nothing to slow her pace. She began trying to dissuade the two agents from following as she took riskier and more dangerous jumps, knowing from experience that Marco would more than likely take the safest route available, rather than risk injury for him or his girlfriend. That boy was always too overly cautious for his own good, something Janna was hoping to use to her advantage.

But for once, Marco didn't seem to be falling back on his safe ways, keeping pace with his target as he precariously threw himself across every gap he came across. Star happily doing the same, looking like she was having the time of her life, chasing after the elusive thief with her boyfriend.

At this point, Marco's lungs and limbs were screaming at him to stop and allow them to rest. But the boy didn't listen, instead pressing them harder to continue. He was going to catch her this time, he was sure of it. And his hopes rose as he saw the row of buildings was soon coming to an end, instead opening up into a near-empty harbor, the light from the moon catching in the gentle waves and causing the water to shimmer and dazzle. That was definitely too far for even Janna to jump.

The girl seemed to notice this as she brought herself to a stop, just inches away from the edge. She turned to face the two agents, who were both huffing and puffing at this point, exhausted from the long trek over the Paris skyline. But they smiled at her with tired but victorious smirks, Star saying in a gasped breath, "Ha, looks like we win! You're trapped!"

"Just give up, Janna, there's nowhere else for you to run," Marco added, his voice low and full of finality.

"Maybe not," the girl said in a soft tone, keeping her face blank, before she smirked and added cryptically, "But maybe I don't have to." Her eyes snapped over to the waiting harbor below, before returning over to the two agents. Star and Marco gave her quizzical looks for a second before they both gasped in shock, realizing what she was saying.

"Wait, you aren't seriously going to try and jump that, are you?!" Star asked in disbelief, her eyes widening some in worry.

"No way, Star, she's just bluffing!" Marco said confidently.

"Are you sure about that?" Janna asked, taking a step closer to the edge, a gust of wind nearly knocking her hat off her head but she stood unmoving against it, bracing herself against its biting chill.

Star looked over to her boyfriend, cupping a hand around her mouth as she whispered to him, "I don't know, Marco. She seems pretty serious."

The boy agent paused, heeding his girlfriend's advice and giving his target a closer examination, taking in Janna's relaxed and almost teasing posture, her eyes showing no sign of hesitance or concern. Marco inwardly cringed, Star was right she was definitely up to something. But he didn't let it show as he again warned the girl, "You can't make that jump, Janna. Just surrender peacefully and things will go easier for you."

Janna cocked her head to the side, making a big show of thinking this over, tapping a finger against her chin in a clearly mocking manner. "Hmm, I don't know. 'Surrender' and 'peaceful' aren't exactly in my vocabulary." Keeping her gaze locked on the two agents she took a step closer to the edge, her foot now partially off the building, a wide smirk growing on her face as she added, "Besides since when have I ever taken the easy route."

Then, without another word, the girl turned and lunged forward, kicking off of the roof with all her might, sending her form flying smoothly through the air. At the same time, Marco lunged for her, hoping to catch her before she was out of reach. "Oh no you don't!" he screamed, his hand reaching out to grab onto her signature cloak. But he was just milliseconds too short, his fingers barely brushing the bright red fabric before it slipped through his fingertips, leaving him touching nothing but air... and falling quickly and precariously toward the waiting water below. Marco let out a high-pitched scream, his arms flailing in a desperate attempt to somehow slow himself, before splashing into the cold moonlit harbor, a spray of water sent hurtling through the air.

Janna, however, remained as calm as ever, holding out an arm and firing off her grappling gun once again, it easily connecting to the side of a building across the stream before yanking her quickly towards it, the trained thief doing a quick flip in the air before landing expertly on the rooftop.

Star, who had watched the whole display from the safety of the nearby building, muttered to herself, "Oh right, grappling hook. Forgot she had that."

Down below, Marco surfaced, coughing and spluttering as he spat out as much water as he could from his lungs, looking shocked and bewildered from the unexpected dive. His spiked hair now lay flat and clung to his head at awkward angles, his form shuddering in the frigid temperature.

Janna looked smugly down to the young agent and then back up to Star before saying, "Well this has been fun, but I got to run." The girl then began making her way across the rooftop, walking smoothly and steadily now that she didn't have to worry about being pursued. She kept her back to them as she waved her goodbye, shouting, "Congrats on the wedding by the way! Make sure to send me some pictures."

Once the girl was out of sight, Star turned her attention back to her boyfriend, asking in concern, "Marco, you okay?"

The boy let out an exhausted sigh. "I'm fine," he said dejectedly.

"You sure?" Star questioned, not looking quite convinced. "Nothing's hurting?"

"Just my pride," the boy admitted, looking sadly off into the distance, the exact direction his target was now headed.

Star gave her fiance a sympathetic look, before adding, "You want me to go after her."

The boy shook his head, slouching forward as his face hardening into an angry scowl. "Nah, there's no point. She's probably long gone by now."

"Okay well, in that case, I'm coming down to help you," Star replied.

Marco's eyebrow raised in confusion, not quite understanding what his girlfriend was implying. "Wait, what do you mean by-" he started to ask, only to be interrupted by a loud shout above, looking up to see Star diving off the building too, letting out a cheer of excitement as she free-fell through the cold, night air.

"Wait, wait, wait, Star don't, it's too cold!" The boy shouted in warning, waving his hands wildly but it was too late as Star splashed down into the bay right next to him, sending a wave of freezing cold water into his face and leaving him spluttering once more. Star surfaced a second later, water dripping from her bangs as she giggled at her Marco's startled face.

The boy let out a few deep breaths, still in shock from being pelted with the icy cold water but soon found himself smiling too, his fiance's laugh too infectious for him to resist. And pretty soon Marco was laughing too, pressing his forehead to Star's and bringing his arms around her, the two floating on the water's surface as one. "You know we're gonna be in big trouble for not catching Janna, right?" Marco reminded Star, though it was light and warm in comparison to just a few minutes ago.

"Aww, we'll get her next time," Star reassured the boy, cupping his cold cheeks in her hands, the warmth of her fingers causing Marco's whole face to tingle. "Besides, I already know where's she heading."

"Wait, you do?" Marco gasped in surprise.

Star gave her boyfriend a quick wink, saying in a flirty tone, "You're not the only one who can gather intel, y'know." Marco continued to give his partner a disbelieving look, not that he should be too surprised. Star was amazing and when she put her mind to it, there was nothing she couldn't do.

"So where's she headed?" Marco asked curiously.

"Welllll, judging by the direction she was going I would say our Scarlet Thief is heading for the train station. It's only like a block away from here and we both know Janna is known to try and skip town the first chance she gets," Star explained, while her fiance just listened in awe. "So all we gotta do is head over there and find out which train she got on."

"How do you know that?" the boy asked, raising a playful eyebrow at his bride-to-be.

Star shrugged. "Reasons," she said vaguely.

"Like?" the boy pressed, giving her a flirty look he knew she couldn't resist.

Star blushed slightly as she replied, "Let's just say I've had my eye on this place for a while now. You may be in charge of planning the wedding, but I'm in charge of the honeymoon."

The boy instantly froze, his face turning a dark shade of red that easily surpassed the color on his tie. He definitely hadn't been expecting that answer and he had to cough into his hand to clear his tight throat, looking away from the beautiful piercing blue of his girlfriend. "Oh yeah, okay, great, that's uhhh... that's great," the boy muttered nervously, Star holding back a giggle at the embarrassed blush on her Marco's cheeks.

Instead, the blond let out a loving sigh, giving her adorable fiance's small form a quick squeeze, as she squealed out, "Aw Marco, your so cute!" But she quickly added in a determined, serious tone, "But we can flirt later! Right now we got a job to do!"

"Yeah!" Marco shouted, pumping a fist into the air, too, before the two shared a quick high five. Just as their hands connected, a motorboat sped by them, sending a wave of freezing cold water washing over them. Both of the highly trained agents froze in place, their hands still touching as Marco muttered behind chattering teeth, "But first things first, let's get out of this water before one of us freezes to death!"

"Agreed," Star replied, her form shaking in perfect sync with her boyfriend's as they both began furiously swimming for shore and hopefully some much-needed warmth.

…

Janna was able to board the train out of Paris without any complications whatsoever. Mostly due to the fact that Alfonso had purchase Janna a ticket in advance, under his partner's direction, though being sure to give the conductor a fake name since Janna was a very wanted criminal at the moment. The young hacker had shown reluctant at first towards the plan, saying that even with a fake name she could still be recognized and that it would safer to just sneak onboard. But Janna had been quick to argue, saying that Al was just being paranoid and worried too much... which he absolutely did. But despite his concerns, Alfonso had gone ahead with the purchase, making sure Miss Hanna Orlandia had a ticket out of the city.

And just as Janna had predicted, nobody paid her any mind, the conductor barely batting an eye in her direction as he just lazily punched her ticket and sent her on her way. Janna, of course, making a smug comment to Alfonso which caused the boy to groan in annoyance and accept defeat... this time.

From there it had been as simple as stashing the briefcase in one of the storage cars, making sure it was buried under a pile of luggage and wouldn't be accidentally discovered by any noisy passengers, leaving Janna free to enjoy the trip.

She slowly walked through the row of cars looking for her seat, ignoring the irregular shifting beneath her feet as the train carried forth at rapid speed, already fast on its way to her destination. "Sooo that could have gone... better," Al said in her ear, trying to lighten the mood and the girl chuckled.

"Yeah, but we did get to see the power couple so I'd call that a win," she responded, ignoring the weird looks she was getting from the few passengers that went by. "And we just got away scot-free."

"I don't know Janna," Al responded nervously. "This just seemed too easy."

Easy. Yeah for him, maybe, all he had done was sit there and give out directions, Janna was the one who had been in a hot pursuit across Paris with two of the most highly-trained secret agents in the world. "Oh relax Al," Janna replied with a roll of her eyes. He could be so over-dramatic sometimes. "We're fine."

"Yeah, Al relax," came a familiar voice through the earpiece.

"Ferguson! How long have you been up?!"

"Mmm," Ferguson hummed thoughtfully. "Probably about three minutes or so."

"Well if you're up than can you do me a favor and clean the dishes, the sink is full again and it's your turn."

"Whaaaattt nooo," Ferguson whined. "Why can't you do it?"

"Because I'm busy helping Janna," Alfonso explained, sounding exasperated with the discussion already.

"Well let me help Janna and then you can do the dishes," Ferg suggested excitedly.

"No way! I'm not letting you touch my system, you don't know anything about it!" Al argued loudly.

"Aw come on how hard can it be if you do it?"

"Ferg, I said no!"

The speaker quickly filled with the sound of the two wrestling, Alfonso probably trying to push Ferguson back from his expensive and highly breakable equipment. After a few seconds of listening to the annoying grunts of them fighting, Janna pulled out her earpiece, knowing they could go on like this for a while and she was in the mood for some peace and quiet.

She reached her own reserved car, smiling softly to herself as she saw the door was already open, alerting her someone was already inside. And she had a pretty good idea who.

And the moment she stepped inside her smirk widened as her suspicions were proven correct, he was there. He sat with his legs crossed and his arms stretched out on the back of his seat trying to look as casual as possible. His hair was spiked just like she had remembered it and the familiar pink color made Janna inwardly chuckle. He wore a bright red shirt with a star on the front and a long black leather jacket, black gloves with the fingers torn off, and black jeans. His shoes were his typical orange boots. In short, Tom Lucitor looked as great as ever.

He gave her a devilish grin, saying in a smooth tone, "Thought you'd show up, took you long enough, though."

Janna put a hand to her hip and said in the teasing tone she reserved only for her greatest rival, "Aw, Pinkie what a surprise."

The boy's calm demeanor shattered as he growled at the hated nickname. "I told you my hair is salmon!"

"Mmm yeah I'm still gonna call you Pinkie," Janna replied with a shrug, taking the seat across from him.

Tom groaned, crossing his arms in a pouting gesture. "Yep your still as intolerable as ever," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"And your still as angry as ever," the girl replied, leaning back in her seat, crossing her legs and resting her hands behind her head. "So what brings you to Paris, the City of Love, don't tell me you've gone all sappy and turned into a romantic."

"You know me better than that, Jan," Tom replied, flashing her a cocky grin. He leaned forward a bit, before saying in a knowing tone, "And I think you already know why I'm here."

Janna smiled. "Yes, but I wanted to hear you say it."

Tom's gaze narrowed slightly before he began in a threatening tone, "I want you-"

"You want me?" Janna interrupted with a mock look of surprise. "Well looks like you are turning into a romantic."

Tom growled angrily under his breath as he spat out through clenched teeth, "I want you to give me the statue."

"What statue?" Janna asked, feigning ignorance.

Tom just rolled his eyes before snapping, "The Golden Dancer! The one you stole from the museum."

"What makes you think I stole anything?" Janna asked, her cryptic tone never ceasing and the smile on her face told Tom that she was very much enjoying herself, much to his annoyance. "Can't a girl visit Paris without having some ulterior motive?"

"Yes, but you're not most girls," Tom stated simply, and for the first time since she had gotten there Janna's cheeks got the slightest tinge of pink.

"Aww, you flatter me, Tom," Janna cooed coyly, winking at him.

"That wasn't a compliment," Tom stated, trying to hide the joy he felt at making her blush. She was so cute when she was blushing, it almost made him forgive how aggravating she could be.

"Yes, it was," Janna said calling his bluff, and Tom felt his cheeks heat up again against his will, growling to try and hide his embarrassment.

Almost. He almost forgave her. But something told him, she wanted it this way, which was why being around her was so frustrating. She always knew just what to say to set him off. "Look are you gonna give me the statue or do I have to make you," he threatened, wanting to just get to the point and get this whole confrontation over with before he was reminded anymore how much he had missed her. His hand slowly moved to his pocket, making sure his movements were subtle enough she didn't pick up on them.

"Hmmm," she hummed, tapping a finger to her chin, clearly thinking it over or at least pretending to. "Yeah no, I don't think so. I stole it fair and square. You want it so bad you should have stolen it yourself." Tom smirked. "Why would I do that, when I got you?" He leaned forward, his malicious grin widening with every word, looking proud of himself for conning the elusive thief. "I followed you all the way, here, y'know. And I didn't even have to try to find you, you made your presence well known. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were slipping Janna." His hand now grasped the electric stun baton from within the confines of his pocket, ready to draw it out and use it to knock his annoying rival out cold. But then Janna did something unexpected, she leaned in closer to him, freezing the boy in place as his heart began hammering in his chest. Soon their faces were just inches apart, Tom looking deep into Janna's brown gaze, a soft, almost sincere look on her face and he wondered if she was actually opening up to him for once. Her fingers began tracing lines on his shirt as she softly whispered, "Or maybe I wanted you to find me."

Tom tried not to shudder as her warm breath tickled his skin. Her lips were so close now, challenging him, teasing him to move in, but no matter how much he wanted to (oh man did he want to) he knew better than to let his guard down around her. "Wh-Why would you do that?" He asked, trying to hide the squeak in his voice.

And then Janna moved in even closer until her lips were almost touching his as she said in the most honest and sincere tone he had ever heard come from her lips, "Cause I missed you, Tom."

The boy gulped but found himself actually moving in for the kiss, all ulterior motives, all scheme, all logic thrown out the window as he attempted to capture that which he had never yet been able to steal: Janna's affection.

But just before their lips brushed, Tom felt a stinging sensation in his side, which then turned into a powerful burning. He let out a yelp of pain as he looked down, only to see Janna had snatched the baton from his pocket and had it pressed into his side, electrocuting him.

"Sorry, Pinkie," he heard Janna say to him in an apologetic tone, but it was distant and fuzzy as his brain began to shut down. "But you know the first rule of dealing with a thief. Never let them get too close."

Tom let out one last growl of annoyance before he lost consciousness, falling back against his seat, asleep.

Janna pulled the device away the second she saw the boy's eyes close and quickly pocketed the device. It was very nicely made, she might have some use for it in the future. For a few seconds, she just stared at his sleeping face, looking so cute and peaceful you couldn't even tell that beneath lie a hotheaded, temperamental thief. He was too much fun to tease when awake, but asleep he was irresistible. Which was why she couldn't help but lean over and place a gentle kiss on his cheek, letting her armor crack for a second as she whispered to his sleeping form, "See you around, Tom."

She stood, stepping back out into the hallway, giving him one last longing look over her shoulder before closing the door to the train car sealing the sleeping teen inside.

Once she had put some distance between her and her unconscious rival, she slipped her earpiece back on, saying smoothly, "Hey Al, what'd I miss?"

"Janna?!" Came the worried, expected shriek of her friend. It was clear he had been panicking for a while now. "What happened? I lost contact with you. Did something go wrong?"

"Nah, not really," the girl lied instantly. "Must have just had a bad signal there for a while."

"Well that's a relief," Alfonso said with a sigh. "For a minute there I was afraid you ran into that hot-headed rival of yours. That would have been a total disaster."

"Wellllll, actually," the girl said in a purposely overly hesitant way.

Alfonso let out a long sigh. "Spoke too soon," he muttered under his breath.

...

The train pulled into the station an hour later, a crowd of passengers emerging from the train in a hurry, eager to stretch their legs after the long trip. And hiding in plain sight, the thief in red whistled as she strode along, an almost skip in her step as she carried the large briefcase loosely at her side. She made her way to the dock, where a large boat waited for her, giving the captain a wink as she boarded, letting him know it was her and he nodded to tell her he understood. He said something over to one of the crew who ran off to inform them now they were good to go. Not even a minute later the ship was already plowing it's way out of the harbor and heading toward open ocean.

The captain went over to greet her, saying pleasantly enough, "Miss Ordonia, glad to see you made it." His gaze slowly lowered to the briefcase, eying it greedily for a second. "And by the looks of it, your heist was a success."

"Captain Carrots, a pleasure as always," Janna said with a smile. "I trust my colleague already paid you in full."

"Aye yes, your friend already sent us the cash."

"And did he give you my instructions?"

The captain nodded. "Aye, he did."

"Good, then since you know our destination, I'll leave the rest to you," Janna said, going to walk around him but he stepped into her way, blocking her path off.

"Why don't you let me take that off your hands," the captain offered slowly reaching down to grab the briefcase, Janna hearing the greed and desperation in his voice. "Me and my crew will make sure it reaches its buyer safely."

Janna quickly bat his hand away and positioned her body so the briefcase was no longer in his line of sight, wagging a scolding finger at him while clicking her tongue in disappointment. "Nice try, Captain, but I wasn't born yesterday," she said with a smirk, the captain gritting his teeth at her. "And I was given strict instructions by my employer to deliver the statue myself and to make sure I personally handed it over to him. But if you'd like I'd be happy to call and let him know-" Janna made a show of reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone.

"No!" The captain shouted, putting a hand up to try and stop her. Janna gave him a knowing smile as he cleared his throat, continuing much softer, "No that won't be necessary." He plastered on a forced smile that was just priceless to the young thief who was enjoying every second of this, though she made sure not to let it show... not too much at least.

"Good," Janna said, slipping the phone back in her pocket, the superior grin never leaving her face. "Then I'll leave you to your job and you can leave me to mine."

The young thief then pushed her way past the man, leaving the fuming captain alone to rage as she found a seat near the back of the boat, her back literally against the rail that prevented her from falling into the crystal clear waters below her. The second she sat down she felt a lurch as the boat propelled forward at an even faster speed now that they had reached deeper waters, quickly on it's way to Janna's next destination. The girl set the package down at her side, before letting out a relaxed sigh, leaning back in her seat, feeling the cool breeze of the ocean washing over her as she stared out at the picturesque ocean waves for a second.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Alfonso said in her ear.

"What messing with the captain, of course, I did?" The girl admitted, no shame in her tone. "He was trying to con me, so I just let him know who he was dealing with."

"You know, you wouldn't have to do that if you let me hire a law-abiding citizen instead of a dirty, crooked conman."

"Wheres the fun in that? Besides haven't you ever heard the phrase 'honor among thieves'."

"Yes, but the more time I spend with you the more convinced I am that it's a bunch of nonsense," Al deadpanned.

Janna chuckled at that, before saying, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It wasn't."

"I know."

Alfonso sighed and she heard the distinct sound of the young genius banging his head against his desk (it wasn't the first time one of their conversations had ended that way and the thief was slightly curious if there was an indent in his desk from how many times he had done it). Janna decided to show a little mercy for her friend and change the subject, saying, "Oh relax, Al. Look on the bright side, we got the painting with minimal damage, got to see our favorite power couple, and even managed to get away from Tom unscathed. Sounds like a pretty successful mission to me."

"Yeah," Alfonso agreed halfheartedly. "Guess there is that. Let's just hope we threw that hothead off our track for a while."

Janna smiled thoughtfully to herself, bringing up the mental image of the handsome thief into her mind. "I don't know, something tells me we'll be seeing him again very soon," she replied, unable to resist adding a knowing edge to her tone that the young hacker picked up on instantly.

"Janna, what did you do?" He asked in exasperation, hoping she hadn't done what he feared she had done. Knowing her, it was entirely likely.

Janna didn't reply, just smiling smugly to herself as she stared across the waves at the fading sunset on the horizon, wondering what the next day would bring her, while her head spun with the image of gorgeous red eyes.

…

Tom was furious the moment he had woken up with a splitting headache and a dry mouth, feeling a bizarre mixture of regret, disappointment, and rage. But mostly rage. And all of it was directed at one soul individual. Stupid Janna! He couldn't believe he had actually fallen for such an obvious trick and he silently cursed himself for actually letting her get too close.

And now here he was, storming through the nearly empty train with a sour scowl on his face. He ignored the few passengers remaining, wanting to just leave without any further complications. Not that he was worried about getting caught since he had swiped a ticket out of some unfortunate soul's pocket when he snuck onboard, he just didn't want to be bothered until he got the chance to cool down. He wasn't sure where he was at this point since he had no clue how much time had passed while he was unconscious, for all he knew he could be in another country, for crying out loud!

Stupid Janna! This was all her fault. If she hadn't tried to-

Tom growled as his cheeks lit up with a blush, willing them back to their normal hue. How could he have been so stupid! He should have known better than to try and actually do that with her. Of course, it was a trick, ugh, how could he be such a moron?!

Suddenly, Tom stopped in his tracks as he spotted a pair up ahead, his heart leaping into his throat as he recognized the well-dressed couple, the boy holding a picture out toward the train conductor while his blond partner practically lay up against him as she stared over his shoulder, these two clearly having no sense of personal space with each other.

Great, Star and Marco were here, as if he didn't have enough to deal with, now he had the two best agents in Acme on his tail and he doubted they'd be all that happy to see him once again. Tom didn't waste any time as he quickly ducked into the empty train car beside him, knowing they were sure to recognize him the moment they spotted him his few run-ins with them memorable enough for him to leave a lasting impression and make him weary from encountering them again. He left the door open only a crack as he listened to the two's conversation while cursing whatever force had decided to give him this string of bad luck.

"Please look closely, sir. Are you certain you haven't seen her, it's very important," Marco asked the conductor, his voice friendly but professional as he pressed the man for more info.

"Hmmm, now that I'm looking at it, I do think I've seen her before, pretty sure she was sharing a car with a young man, I'll go check the books, see if I can find out which car it was," the conductor said, Tom listening as a pair of footsteps faded off into the distance.

Perfect, just perfect, Tom silently groaned. Now those two knew about him! Hopefully, they wouldn't put two and two together-

"Sooo Janna was with a young man, huh? Are you thinking who I'm thinking?" Star said in a knowing tone and Tom winced. Never mind.

"What, Tom?" Marco asked, sounding like he was deep in contemplation. "It could be, but that's a pretty big conclusion to draw Star."

Star scoffed loudly, Tom hearing a light smack (probably the girl lightly tapping her partner's shoulder). "Come on, Marco. It makes total sense. Think about it, those two are always hanging around each other..." Well, she wasn't entirely wrong. "... and you know they can barely keep their eyes off each other." Again, it was true, just not for the reason the blond agent seemed to be drawing.

"So what you think their partners?"

"Well that and also secretly dating," Star added, sounding so proud of herself for figuring it out.

Tom nearly fainted right there, his cheeks filling with so much blood he nearly passed out from blood loss in the rest of his limbs. How could they seriously think he would have any feelings toward his annoying rival other than disgust. But his mind betrayed him, momentarily flashing back to Janna's form slowly moving in for what seemed to be a loving kiss and he vigorously shook his head to relieve himself from the memory, willing down his now racing pulse.

"Dating?" Marco said skeptically. "I mean I guess it's possible..."

"Of course it is!" Star said confidently. "Those two are crazy about each other." She paused before adding in a sappy, loving coo, "Almost as crazy as I am for you."

"Well I don't think anybody could be more in love than I am with you, Star," Marco replied in an equally flirty tone. Tom tried not to gag at the young couple's overly affectionate ways. Could these two be any cheesier?

"Aww Marco, you are too sweet!" Star squealed. She sounded more like a lovesick teenager than a highly trained agent.

The boy let out a long, disheartened sigh as he muttered, "But y'know, I still can't believe I fell for her tricks again!"

Marco face-palmed, flushing in embarrassment as the previous events of the night came back to him, looping through his head and making him feel more and more ridiculous with every cycle. "Why is Janna always one step ahead of us! Every time I think about what happened, I just feel like an idiot." He buried his head in his hands with an audible groan, while out of sight of the two Tom was nodding in agreement and annoyance. He could totally relate.

Star gave her boyfriend a sympathetic look, seeing just how badly he needed cheering up. Luckily, the blond knew just what to do to help. She gave Marco a flirty grin, grabbing onto his tie and lightly pulling him towards her, causing the boy to let out a startled squeak, their faces now mere inches from touching. "Well, I think I know a way to get your mind off of that," she whispered coyly, causing a shudder to jump up Marco's spine.

"Starrr," Marco muttered in embarrassment, his eyes jumping around the empty train car, making sure they were, in fact, alone. "This isn't a good time, we're on a mission, remember? What if someone sees us?"

But Star didn't seem to be giving up, simply replying seductively, "Let em look. I've been waiting to kiss my future husband all day and I'm not waiting any longer." With that, Star moved in for the kill, her fiance's lips about to be captured and claimed by her once more.

Meanwhile, the disgusted Tom was busy debating on either staying quiet or slamming the door open and turning himself in (both of which had some major cons) when the voice of the conductor suddenly cut into the moment, much to Tom's relief, saying pleasantly to the two agents, "Okay I think I found it."

Tom could hear a small shout from the two, followed by noisy shuffling as they obviously pulled apart from each other. The thief could hear a loud cough from Marco (probably trying to clear his tight throat) as he said in a forced, formal tone, "Uhh, good. T-That's excellent news, sir."

There was a pause before the conductor asked, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No!" the young couple shouted much to quickly and Tom couldn't help but smirk from his hiding spot. Geez, why were they acting all embarrassed? Weren't they about to be married or whatever? "Anyways, what'd you find out?" Marco asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

"Well according to the record, someone with your description purchased a ticket in advance under the name of Hanna Orlandia," the conductor explained.

Star scoffed loudly, saying in a disappointed tone, "Really, that's the name she went with? Come on, Janna you're more clever than that."

"Star, don't compliment our criminal," Marco scolded.

"I'm just saying, that's kinda a lazy fake name," Star said, defensively.

"Oh yeah, and what would your fake name have been?" Marco asked his girlfriend in a playful tone.

"I don't know maybe something cool like Carmen or something."

"Ummmm, did you want me to go on or-" the conductor asked hesitantly.

"Oh yeah, right," Marco said in realization. "Continue."

"Well, she was staying in train car 15 along with a young man with pink hair." Tom had to suppress the growl he felt rising in his throat. It was salmon, not pink? Why did nobody ever get that?!

"Ah hah!" Star exclaimed in victory. "Told you it was Tom!"

"Yeah, guess you were right. I mean, i don't really know too many guys with pink hair," Marco replied in agreement. Salmon!

"Can you take us to their car? Maybe they left behind a clue or something," Star asked, the conductor immediately complying, saying, "Right this way."

Tom listened intensely as the sound of footsteps retreated deeper into the train, fading into the distance, along with Star's long rant to her boyfriend about how he and Janna were clearly dating and working together (which he did his best to ignore). He waited until they were completely out of earshot before pulling the door to the train car open, doing a quick check left and right before smirking and making his way over to the exit.

Once he was outside on the narrow streets of some unknown city, he picked a random direction and started walking, needing to put as much distance between himself and the two agents as he could. That had been a close one, much closer than Tom liked, but at least he hadn't had to deal with Star and Marco directly. He still had bruises from their last encounter, those two packing a big punch despite their appearance... especially when working as a team. No, as annoying and inconvenient as it had been, it could still have turned out much worse for him.

Sure they knew he had been there, but they wouldn't find anything. That much he was sure of since he had made sure to leave nothing behind that could be used to track him, despite the blinding rage he had felt after-

Tom let out a low growl as the memory of earlier entered his mind, anger filling his chest once again. Right, he had almost forgotten about stupid Janna and her stupid tricks. Why had he even followed her there in the first place? Hadn't he learned by now to steer clear of Janna and her obnoxious, charming ways? All she ever did was make trouble for him. What had he been thinking?

The boy roughly shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, trying to ignore the obvious answer that kept popping into his mind, refusing to admit just how badly he had wanted to see her again. He paused though, as his fingers brushed up against something. Tom came to an immediate stop as he dug around in his pocket, his fingers tightening around what felt like some sort of ticket or something before pulling out a small slip of paper. Tom stared at it stunned for a moment, knowing instantly who it was from. There was only one person who could have slipped this into his pocket without him knowing, presumably when he was unconscious. Finally, after a few more seconds, he slowly unfolded the note, confusion pinching his eyebrows as he read the soft, delicate handwriting, his heart thumping once against his will. Can't wait for our next date. See you in Venice, Pinkie. -Love, the Scarlet Thief

For a few moments, all Tom could do was read and re-read the note over and over again, his cheeks pooling with more and more blood every time his eyes crossed the words 'Pinkie' or 'Love'. Finally, after several minutes of contemplation, Tom silently folded the note back up, slipping it back into his pocket.

He just stood there for another moment, letting the words sink in, his gaze slowly turning to the rising sun over on the horizon, its bright colors seeming to be a perfect representation of his heart right now. Glowing.

And then Tom did something he almost never did, he let all his barriers drop, allowing himself a long, warm smile. But this was not just any smile, this was the widest, goofiest, most lovestruck smile that had ever crossed his features, one only those who were hopelessly and passionately in love could conceive. And despite how annoying and obnoxious and difficult Janna Ordonia the Scarlet Thief could be... Tom would be lying if he said he wasn't excited to know he would be seeing her again very soon.

Hope you enjoyed! Jantom is impossible for me to resist and I had to put in my daily dose of Starco or it just wouldn't feel right to me. So I might continue this someday in the future but for now I'm keeping it as a one-shot. I just don't have enough time at the moment to make more (plus I don't really have any more ideas for heists or whatever) but if you want you are welcome to send me ideas for it in case I ever do continue. Like I said no promises.

Anyways that'll do it for me, hope you have a great week and stay safe and healthy! Stay awesome, Stardom! Especially all you Jantom shippers out there ;)

#Star vs #Star vs AU #My Writing #Where in the World is Janna Ordonia #Carmen Sandiego AU #Master Thief Jan AU #Janna Ordonia #Jantom #Starco

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saiilorstars · 4 years

Text

The Beginning of Everything

Ch. 31: A Time Lady’s Duty

// Story Masterlist //

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 10th Doctor x Female OC

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel

[If you would like to be added to this specific OC’s taglist, let me know!]

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Chapter summary: As the Master gains control of the Earth, the Time Lords strive to save themselves from extinction. The Assessor, for that matter, will do anything to ensure their victory even at the expense of her sister.

[Renata’s new face claim is Livia Brito and the Assessor’s is Ana Brenda]

The Master was relishing in his triumph. He had every single human under his control, every weapon at his disposal, a whole planet just for him...and then came the truly best part. On one side of the room he had the Doctor strapped to the very chair that had kept the Master a few hours ago. There was a thick black strap going over the Doctor's face - finally shutting up that gob of his - with a few other straps to keep him bound. On the other side, the Master had Renata bound to a regular chair but she had no gag on. He wanted to hear more of her excuses, see the shame on her face each time he would remind her of her past. It was his entertainment. The old human beside her was just a plus. He didn't know what he would do with Wilf yet but he was sure to have a plan later on.

"Now, then. I've got a planet to run!" the Master exclaimed, tapping his fingers against each other as he walked towards the controls. He had every world leader as a version of himself.

"This won't last," Renata said after the Master annoyingly checked in with each World Leader. He'd done this three times already.

The Master turned around, glaring at her for a brief second before he grinned. "Oh my dear Renata! You really think that, huh?" he scurried towards her, missing the Doctor squirming under his straps. He wanted the Master far, far away from Renata.

He won't hurt me, he heard Renata's calm voice in his mind. She was having a stare down with the Master three inches from her face. To her credit, she truly did not seem afraid of him.

He's crazy. You don't know what he would do, the Doctor returned.

He won't hurt me because then he wouldn't be able to mock me and shame me if I really died. Renata had no doubt that the Master wouldn't hesitate to inflict some type of pain on her but never to the point of killing her. She was a good source of fun for him, a toy that he could squeeze and laugh at. He could never end that type of game.

"Why are you so silent?" the Master demanded from Renata. Usually by now she would have said something else, something about how this plan was crazy and he would never succeed. But all she did was stare. He looked back at the Doctor who had stopped squirming. He craned his head as if he were going to look at Renata again but he started to laugh. "Oh! Oh! I get it!" He stepped away from Renata so that he was between her and the Doctor. "You opened up your telepathic abilities! You're connected! How romantic. Tell me," his laugh disappeared as he turned to Renata. "How long did that take after I was gone? You waste absolutely no time, my dear Renata."

Renata glared at him but there was still an inkling inside her reminding her that what the Master claimed was true. She did make a terrible mistake in the past. But she would not allow him to guilt her over things that never happened. "I only opened my mind because the situation called for it. I've done nothing wrong."

The Master laughed again and bent down in front of her, shaking his head. "It's hilarious to me that you actually believe yourself. Who would've thought that the noble Renata—" he mocked her name, taking pleasure at her flinch, "—would do something so...primitive like a human. I mean, you—" he gestured back at the Doctor, "—I sort of expect because, well...look at where you've wasted centuries of your lives on." The Doctor glared at him. "Of course you would pick up their ape-like ways. Then again, this did happen before so maybe you were always like this. Having an affair? Hm," he brought a hand to his chin as if he was really pondering on the situation. "I've always been rather infamous myself but you would never catch me having an amorous affair. Pathetic!" He screamed, causing all three of his prisoners to flinch from the sudden volume. "Embarrassment to our people!" A deep, dark fury that crossed his face - that one did make the Doctor fear for Renata's well being. The Master turned on his heels for the Time Lady and rushed right up to her face, so much that she had to lean away. "Betrayal for my brother! He was an idiot but he was still my brother! He showered you with stupid love, stupid gifts and you go and betray him! You should be dead like the rest of them!"

Renata scrunched her face as he kept shouting at her. She could feel some of his spit landing on her skin but it wasn't what mattered. His words were all true. Her stomach churned as she thought of her late husband. Elek. He did give her everything she wanted; everything anyone would've wanted. He was always sweet to her, never once raised his voice even when they did have a arguments here and there. But he was rubbish at arguing - she always pointed that out to him when they made up.

"Maybe it's because I don't want to argue with my beautiful wife," he would tell her later in the day.

"Or maybe you just have no talent at it," she would poke more fun at him to see if she could get one proper argumentative response, but she never did.

There were the gifts that he would surprise her with. Being an Architect gave him ample exploration of the planet. Sometimes he would come home with the rarest of things that he claimed that only fit her. She still remembered her favorite gift: a necklace that he himself had forged. It had her name, her true name, written in Gallifreyan along with hers. He had given it to her just before the War had begun and what truly made it her favorite gift was that it also had their unborn child's name. At that moment, Renata was about four months pregnant and they had come up with a few names until they had decided on their favorite name. She loved that necklace.

When the Master heard the first blip of an oncoming sob, he straightened away from Renata, pleased with his work. Even when she claimed to have moved on, there was always something that would pull her back to her roots.

Renata? Don't cry. Don't cry, you've done nothing wrong. The Doctor struggled even more to get out of the stupid chair holding him back. It was me. It was always me. Gala? I'm so sorry my love. You don't deserve any of this - you never deserved any of it.

Renata could only bring herself to look at him for a few seconds, showing her reddened eyes in the process. That was false. It wasn't all on him. He never forced her into anything. Her thoughts were cut short by the ringing of a cellphone. Everyone froze and slowly their eyes landed on Wilf since the ringing was coming from him.

"But that…that's a mobile," the Master scowled at the old man.

"Yeah, it's mine, let me turn it off!" Wilf struggled to move his hands with the rope around him.

"No, no, no. I don't think you understand." The Master marched over to Wilf's chair. "Everybody on this planet...is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?" He searched for the phone himself and came across the revolver first. "Ooh, and look at this. Good man!" he waved it at the Doctor then Renata. He let it drop to the ground and continued the search until he found the cell phone. "Donna," he read off the screen. "Who's Donna?"

"Nobody, move on," snapped Renata though the tone she was going for didn't exactly portray the snap. She was still trying to recover from her little episode, but she was not going to let it be the reason Donna was hurt.

The Master answered the call to hear Donna's frantic voice telling him all about the "changed people" in her house and in the streets. "Who is she!? Why didn't she change!?" he angrily demanded to know.

"Well, it was this thing the Doctor and Renata did…" Wilf struggled to remember the right name. "The Metacrisis?"

The Master laughed condescendingly. "Of course. "Oh... He loves playing with Earth girls, huh Ren? You would know."

Renata glared at him. At first, the mere mention of the Doctor with Rose Tyler would set her off. A human girl...but things were so different now. She knew better, she knew humans a lot better. She couldn't blame the Doctor for anything. It was his story and it was a tragic one all on its own without her adding ridiculous jealousy.

The Master ordered his clones to track Donna down. Wilf panicked as the clones did the job.

"You just leave her!"

"I wouldn't do that," Renata, on the other hand, warned calmly. Even the Doctor didn't squirm or try to say something behind the mouth strap on him.

The Master craned his head at the Time Lady, smiling sarcastically. "Why?"

"I just wouldn't."

The clones had found Donna in two minutes but just as they closed in on her, she released golden energy from her head that knocked them all out, including herself.

When the Master looked at Renata afterwards, she was smirking but her eyes flickered past him to the Doctor. He was responsible. He growled and stalked towards the Doctor, pulling the gag off him.

"That's better!" the Doctor opened and closed his mouth in strange ways to get the movement back in order. "Hello. But really, did you think I'd leave my best friend without a defense mechanism?"

"Doctor, what happened?" Wilf asked him. He wasn't able to understand if Donna was truly safe or not.

"She's all right, she's fine, I promise. She'll just sleep," he assured Wilf.

The Master exhaled deeply, forgetting all about the stupid human. She would eventually die on her own anyways. "Tell me, where's your TARDIS?"

The Doctor didn't answer immediately. He stared at the Master in an annoying silence. "You could be so wonderful."

"Where is it!?"

"You're a genius," the Doctor continued to ignore the demand. "You're stone-cold brilliant. You are, I swear, you really are."

"Stop it!" he snapped, but instead he got Renata to join in.

"He's not wrong," she said. "You and Elek would have these conversations that I could never dream of understanding. And you know, most of the time Elek was so inspired by you. He admired your intelligence. What would he think right now if he saw this? Wouldn't it be better to travel together?"

"Travel with the likes of you?" he sneered and looked between the pair. "With the likes of both of you!? Ha!"

"But maybe together, all three of us, we could figure out how to stop that noise inside your head," the Doctor said, truly meaning it. He wants to believe that if the noise was gone, things would be so different. Maybe the Master would finally find peace.

"Would it stop, then?" the Master's voice was suddenly quiet. "The noise in my head?"

"We can help."

"I don't know what I'd be without that noise."

"Wonder what I'd be, without you."

The Master stayed quiet for a moment, almost looking like he was considering such an idea. He'd been with that noise all his life, what would he do if he could truly get rid of it?

"What does he mean? What noise?" Wilf asked them.

The Master was too far in thought to deny the human the answer. "It began on Gallifrey. As children. Not that you'd call it childhood. More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation. To stare into the Untempered Schism."

"But what does that mean?" Wilf continued to ask. He had no idea what the man was talking about.

"It's a gap in the fabric of reality," the Doctor simplified it. "You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts."

"You get three reactions basically," Renata said quietly. She could see the raw pain the Master held just by remembering his initiation. "You either run away, go insane or you get inspired. Very rarely do you see another reaction."

It didn't take a lot for Wilf to decide what reaction the Master had. Renata knew the Master's story, and she knew the Doctor's story.

Which one were you? the Doctor asked her. He was gazing at her curiously, unable to decide whether or not she was as against the Initiation as the Master was.

A small smile came to Renata's face. I was inspired. I saw the Gallifreyans and how they struggled outside the Citadel. I wanted to help them. It was at that moment that Renata set out to find a way to help the people their city had forgotten about simply because they chose against regeneration. It shouldn't have mattered what they decided. They were still of the same species, the same kind originating from the same world. They should have always been one.

You were amazing even as a child, the Doctor remarked and enjoyed seeing the blush spread over Renata's face.

"I saw the worst," the Master bad turned to Renata, once again sneering at her. "Not all of us could be inspired," he mocked her and moved away. "They took me there, in the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums, the never-ending drums."

~0~

Gallifrey.

Two Time Lords were bringing in a Time Lady with a ruddy appearance. Her pale face had bruises and cuts that were still open. Her brunette hair was tangled in knots. She had her arms gripped by each Time Lord and they wouldn't let go until they reached their destination. Twice she had tried to run away and if she could, she would.

Finally, they stopped in the Matrix room where the Assessor waited. She stood on a platform when her sister was brought inside. "There you are." She gave a nod at the two Time Lords to leave them. "Renata, you look well."

Renata's emerald eyes glared at her sister. "Why am I here?" She had just received her newest location to move towards to when all of a sudden she had two Time Lords demanding to take her away, all on orders from the High Council.

The Assessor stepped down from the platform and walked up to her sister. "I have a task for you."

"But I just got a new assignment—"

The Assessor raised a hand - a very clean hand which just angered Renata all over again - to command silence. "Forget it. The Council has assigned you to a much more important duty. Failure is not an option here."

"What do you want?" Renata asked. She couldn't understand why the hell the Council wanted something from her. If anything, they needed to get off their behinds and do something to help them. Time Lords were dying outside and yet the High Council - those snobby creatures - wouldn't leave their protected chambers. They were letting everyone else die, including her.

"We got word that the Doctor has stolen the Moment. And just so we're clear, the Moment has the power to destroy the entire planet along with the Daleks. You are going to find him and stop him from activating it."

Renata nearly keeled over but she didn't because she knew that her sister was playing a joke on her. The Assessor would never want her near the Doctor, not after what happened in the Academy. Centuries may have passed but the anger in the Assessor was still as raw and fresh as the day she found out about them.

"I know you must be confused but time is of the essence. If you don't hurry, all of this—" the Assessor gestured to the room they were in, the room where all of their history was in, as an example of what they were saving, "—will be lost."

"You're not joking," Renata whispered. "You really do mean it. You want me to find the Doctor?" Anger quickly filled her face. "You forbade me from seeing him again! Don't you remember!? You literally threatened me! You blackmailed me! You were prepared to hurt him if I didn't end things! You destroyed my life! And now you want me to go find him? You want me to save you? Do you want me to save the very institution you once said would kill the Doctor?"

The Assessor wasn't phased by her sister's outburst. If anything, she thought it was embarrassing. But her sister was always more...emotional than the rest of their family. She didn't understand that things worked in a specific way and each of them had to do their respective tasks. "The situation calls for it. The Doctor's family is dead. You are the only one who could stop him. He will kill us all."

"No! Absolutely not! You will not use me!" Renata was beyond furious that she shoved her sister away.

The Assessor struggled to regain her balance and sent a dark glare her sister's way. "I advice you not to do that again, little sister." She dusted her robes off, something that made Renata want to throw her to the floor. The Assessor's robes were elegant and clean as was her appearance. She was untouched by the war.

And here she was, demanding for a soldier to keep fighting.

Renata had already been beaten and worn down by the war to hold what little restraints she had to keep herself composed. She had lost everything and even then, when she was so alone, the Assessor never once offered her support. They were the last of their family and yet it didn't feel that way. Renata lost it. "You haven't fought for us! You haven't fought for me! You don't care about anyone! Our parents died months ago and you didn't even check up on me!"

"You were fighting," the Assessor said, her tone still untouched by Renata's spats. "You had a duty, so did I."

"You have no duty! You haven't been out there!" Renata frantically pointed out the door. "People are dying! The children—" she stopped to close her eyes, "—are dying. I saw a whole group of them disintegrated in one second." Tears rolled down her face. "Cece," the use of her sister's nickname was the only thing that made the Assessor shift with actual emotions, "My own child died inside me. It wasn't enough that I lost Elek, I lost my child. You did not care."

"The casualties are part of a war. They are not surprising," the Assessor said, though her eyes did linger on her sister's stomach for a few seconds. "You think that I am not affected by the passing of our family? My own husband died, did you forget? But I have a responsibility and I will continue doing it until my last breath. The same goes for you now."

"You still don't care," Renata shouldn't even be surprised by that, but she always clung to a little bit of hope that somewhere inside the Assessor did have feelings. She did love her family, her. "I've lost most of my lives and you are now asking me to put myself in further danger."

"How many lives do you have left?" the Assessor inquired.

"What—"

"How many lives?" the Assessor demanded this time.

"Three more!"

"How would you feel about a whole new cycle?" the Assessor slowly tilted her head, knowing that she now had her sister's entire attention. "The Council understands your journey is treacherous and they are prepared to grant you a new regeneration cycle. All you have to do is retrieve the Moment from the Doctor."

Renata raised an eyebrow at her sister. They must be really desperate to offer that type of deal. Regeneration cycles were not handed out lightly. There had to be exclusive reasons for somebody to receive a whole new cycle.

And yet everyone was dying.

Maybe...the Doctor had figured out a way to make everything stop. He always knew what to do. A small smile came to Renata's face when she recalled the many times he helped her solve her problems. She hadn't allowed herself to think about him much after they parted ways. But now the Assessor was making her go back to a painful moment in her life. Renata was forced to drive the Doctor away and now the Assessor was taking it back just to save her own skin?

Fury bubbled inside Renata. She laid eyes on her sister and the woman still didn't offer up any emotion. Everyone was dying and she didn't care. The Council didn't care. No more, Renata gritted her teeth behind her closed lips. They shouldn't have had the power they did. Oh, she hated them all. She hated all these people in power who did nothing for their citizens. And now the Assessor was dangerously close to being added to that list.

It's time to end it, Renata decided. She had nothing left. Her husband was gone, her child was gone, her parents. The Doctor had long been gone. The Assessor had never been there. I deserve better.

Renata straightened herself up and walked up to her sister. "I want the cycle first," she spat in her sister's face.

The Assessor smirked.

~0~

Present Day.

"Listen to it," the Master commanded the two Time Lords with him. "Listen." But of course, without a mind connection, neither Renata nor the Doctor could hear the drums...but they now knew that they were real.

"Then let's find it, you and us," the Doctor attempted to construct yet another speech to stop the Master, but a new idea had crossed the Master's mind.

"Oh! Oh, wait a minute! Oh, yes. Oh, that's good!"

"What? What is?" Renata dreaded what he had come up with, although a part of her asked herself what more could he do that would be worse than what he had already done to the planet.

"The noise exists within my head. And now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine! Oh... Oh, yes!" His laughter was cut short with another skeletal flash struck him. He dropped with a groan.

"The Gate wasn't enough. You're still dying," the Doctor grimly.

"This body was born out of death. All it can do is die," the Master was able to pull himself up after a few minutes. "But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said, "the end of time.""

"I said something is returning. I was shown a prophecy. That's why I need your help."

"What if I'm part of it? Don't you see?" the grin was quick to return to the Master's face. "The drumbeat is calling from so far away, from the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source! Oh, Doctor... That's what your prophecy was. Me!" He crouched in front of the Doctor. "Where's the TARDIS?"

"No. Just stop. Just think—"

The Master rolled his eyes and suddenly pointed a finger at Wilf. "Kill him!" A helmeted soldier moved towards Wilf and aimed his gun at him. "I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead."

"Oh stop it," Renata frowned. "Why not redirect it at me instead? Maybe you're not the only one with a little bit of power left." Had she been anyone else, he might have had the gun aimed at her but here she was completely unharmed. The mental torture was the only thing he used against her, but never physical harm.

The Master shot her a glare, practically warning her to keep her mouth shut. "I'll kill him, right now!"

"Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone-dead stupid," the Doctor's calmness despite the situation was the first thing the Master should have noticed.

"Take aim," he ordered the soldier.

He never was smart for the obvious. Renata smiled at the Doctor. He over thought too much. His brother didn't.

The Doctor was able to smile back at her. The Master noticed their silent smiles at each other and scowled. "What us going on!?"

"What I think the Doctor meant to say is that you've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious," Renata made a face at him.

"Like what?"

"Well, for starters, you're over exerting yourself - oh!" Renata exclaimed as if she only just remembered the real point they'd been trying to make. "And that guard—" she nodded at the soldier holding the gun on Wilf, "—is one inch too tall."

It was only then that the Master finally gave the soldier a good look, but it only lasted a few minutes before the soldier hit him with his rifle. He pulled his helmet off to reveal Rossiter underneath.

"Oh, my God, I hit him. I've never hit anyone in my life!" He was absolutely stunned at himself, but Addams ran into the room looking primed for the job.

"Oh I know, it gets you the first time," Renata smiled at him with a chuckle. "I never hit anyone—"

"What about me?" frowned the Doctor. "You hit me loads of time in the foundation."

"Yeah, but those didn't hurt. I meant like an actual smack or something. And the war doesn't count either."

"You did hit me hard enough to hurt!"

"I did not!"

"Don't you remember when you threw a—"

"Both of you stop!" Addams cut in to scold the two.

Renata flushed with embarrassment. No one had ever scolded her too. What was going on with this new body of hers? She did not want to be like the Doctor. The universe truly could not handle two of him.

"We need to get out of here, fast!" Addams said, throwing a look at the unconscious Master on the ground. She doubted Rossiter had him hit hard enough to be out for anything more than a few minutes.

Rossiter had untied Renata while Addams untied Wilf. The Doctor proved to be a bit more difficult with the multiple straps.

"God bless the cactuses!" Wilf laughed when he could finally stand up from his chair.

"That's cacti!" the Doctor called.

Rossiter stopped struggling with the straps, quite offended with the two of them. "That's racist!"

"Please don't offend the people who are saving us!" Renata scolded the Doctor and Wilf. There we go, she did the scolding because she wasn't rude.

"This prophecy of yours, Doctor...where did it come from? Doctor?" one of the Master's appeared on the screen behind them.

"Come on! We've got to get out!" Addams told Rossiter, she thought he was far too slow.

"There's too many buckles and straps!".

Addams groaned. "Oh just...wheel him!" Rossiter didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the chair by the handles and started turning them for the door.

"No, no, no! Get me out!" the Doctor shouted at them. "No, no, don't! Don't! No, no, no!"

Renata ushered Wilf ahead of her but she stopped for a moment just outside the room, smiling - almost laughing - as she heard the Doctor ahead of her, shouting for them to properly release him. Her smile suddenly dropped while her eyes widened. "You are not rude!" she scolded herself before finally running after them.

With all the chaos and running away, the Doctor couldn't get either Vinvocci to listen to him and take them to the TARDIS instead. Even Renata, when she caught up, couldn't get them to change course and she wasn't going to let them take the Doctor either. They would have to come back for the blue box afterwards.

"Not the stairs... Not the stairs!" the Doctor fought to get out of the remaining straps but the stairs had come up and now he was being rocked in all directions. "Worst...rescue...ever!" He only stopped fighting for a second when he heard something strange behind him. "...is that laughing? Renata, you're laughing!?"

Renata caught herself quick and covered her mouth. "No!" she gave the muffle answer and focused on running and nothing more.

The Master had caught them in the teleporting room but despite that, the Vinvoccis were one step ahead. They teleported themselves out of the building, off the planet, and onto their ship.

"Now get me out of this thing!" the Doctor practically ordered while he wriggled like a worm.

"Don't say thanks, will you?" Addams scoffed as she went to help him out.

"He'll thank you when we cut off the weapons the Master still has!" Renata sighed as she hurried to undo the straps on him.

"Oh, my goodness me...we're in space!" Wilf had found the huge glass wall at the end of the room. He could see planet Earth, bright as ever despite what was going on. With a view like this no wonder Donna loved traveling.

"We'll come back to the exciting part, Wilf! Promise!" Renata said just as she'd pulled the Doctor off the chair. From her force, he leaned just a bit too close to her face, not that he cared. He quite liked her new face.

"Come on!" she urged him to remember what they were supposed to do.

"Right!"

Adams couldn't understand what was the huge rush. They were no longer in danger since they weren't even on the same planet as that crazy man. "But we're safe! We're a hundred thousand miles above the Earth!"

"And he's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire!" the Doctor said, making her finally realize the problem.

"Oh. Good point. This way!" she took the lead out of the room. Renata hurried for Wilf who was still taken by the grand sight of space.

"But we're in space!"

"Aha!"

"We've got to close it down!" the Doctor said as soon as they found the controls.

Rossiter gave him a mad look. "No chance, mate, we're going home."

"We're a salvage team. Local politics has nothing to do with us," Addams argued as well. "Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better!"

"No you are not!" snapped Renata and before Addams could open her mouth, Renata continued to shout. "The whole reason Earth is the way it is right now is because of your stupid machine! If you and your people had been more responsible, this machine would have never fallen into the hands of the humans! Therefore you are responsible and under the rules of the Shadow Proclamation you have a responsibility to help us fix things! And just so we're clear…" Renata pulled out her sonic and used it on the controls, effectively killing the entire power line.

The Doctor was stunned by her actions and her entire outburst as a whole. He was about to do the same thing but that's what he always did. That was no shocker. But Renata had finally come around humans and Earth to the point that she would do anything to help them and save them.

Plus, she looked incredibly good arguing someone's ear off. I love that woman, he concluded with a huge grin on his face. Also not a shocker.

"You've wrecked the place!" Addams was in complete outrage. If she wasn't green, she would've turned red from anger.

"The engines are burnt out!" Rossiter was in a state of panic instead of anger like his co-worker. "Just auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck in orbit!"

"Thanks to you. You idiot!" Addams spat enough to make Renata wince.

Okay, so maybe she hadn't thought it through but if she hadn't killed the power, the Master would've killed them. But, there was still a bit of guilt sitting on her shoulders. She might have doomed them anyways. "I'm sorry," she said as Addams and Rossiter stormed out of the place.

"Hey, you did what I was going to do anyways," the Doctor walked up to her and brought his hands to her arms. He offered her a supportive smile and pulled her into a hug while she struggled to accept the reality.

~0~

Gallifrey.

"My Lord, I have my sister," the Assessor had brought Renata into the main chamber of the Council, though not before cleaning her younger sister up a bit. She would be damned if Renata embarrassed her.

Renata's face had been cleaned up for the meeting and any blood dripping on her had been forced shut with a bit of the Assessor's own regeneration energy. It didn't surprise Renata though that her sister had done that, because she knew that the Assessor only did it to make her 'proper'. Her hair had been forcibly untangled and Renata dared to say it hurt almost as much as each of the cuts and bruises she'd gotten from battles.

"Excellent," Rassilon looked the brunette over from his spot at the table. She didn't exactly return the gaze. This was the first time she walked into a chamber of the Council, and much more she was seeing a Visionary. Hardly anyone saw a Visionary up close.

The silver-haired woman continued to write on her scroll, acting as if she was the only one in the room.

"But we may have found another solution," Rassilon said as he gestured to the hologram of Earth behind him.

"But...that's Earth," Renata recognized the blue-green planet almost straight away. She looked at her sister for an explanation, but even the Assessor was puzzled.

"What doe that planet have to offer us?" she asked, sharpness tinging her tone.

"Our very salvation," Rassilon's tone was even sharper, a piercing that reminded the Assessor of her place. "We have sent a signal. A simple task of four beats transmitted back through time, and implanted in the Master's mind as a child."

"What!?" Renata blinked. The Master always complained about a noise in his head, one that - shamefully - she and her husband never believed in. "You...you did that to him? The endless drumming, he would call it. You're the one who put it inside his head?"

The Assessor gripped Renata's arm, silently telling her to shut her mouth. "Forgive me, my Lord, but what is the plan? I thought I presented one myself."

"The Master is on Earth, in the future, and if we can establish a link then perhaps we can leave the Time Lock."

"But it's just an idea," frowned Renata. "To establish a proper link you would need something physical…"

"Something...so simple," Rassilon agreed and turned away to consider what might do.

"So small and shining, shining bright and cold, the tiny, tiny star, falling, falling, burning, burning, burning," the Visionary babbled on to herself.

The Assessor blinked when she realized what it could be. Her head snapped in Renata's direction, her eyes lowering to the jewel around Renata's neck. Without a warning, she reached over and pulled the necklace off Renata's neck, ignoring her sister's cry.

"That's mine!" she made to take it back but the Assessor raised it over her head. This current incarnation of Renata's was quite petite.

The Assessor ordered for her sister to be taken into custody. "The Master would recognize this straightaway," she walked up to Rassilon holding the necklace in her hand. There was a clear diamond at the end of the silver necklace, one engraved with Gallifreyan names. "After all, he did help his brother forge it."

Renata was in tears as she fought the two Time Lords holding her back. "That's mine! Elek gave it to me! Assessor, please! That's-that's mine!"

Rassilon took the jewel into his hand and examined it briefly before looking up at the Assessor. "Do not fail me," he darkly warned, but the Assessor remained calm.

She was always sure of herself. "I would never."

Rassilon threw the diamond into the hologram. Renata cried loudly for her lost jewel but still her sister did not flinch.

It was a means to an end.

~0~

Present Day.

On the Vinvocci ship, the Doctor worked to get the power back on. Renata helped with what she could but she had to stop when she noticed from the corner of her eye something shiny soaring through space. It was heading for Earth!

"The last thing this planet needs is a meteor," she sighed as she walked towards the glass wall.

Down on Earth, the Master and his clones had pinpointed the impact of the 'meteor'. The clones all searched the crash site until one soldier found something peculiar in the middle of the crater. It glittered.

"It's a diamond, sir," he picked it up as he informed the Master. He scraped the dirt of the jewel to see a clear pattern of Gallifreyan names. A laugh came to him. "Oh... the most impossible diamond. You won't believe this. It's a Whitepoint star!"

The Master had enough laughter to last him a lifetime.

~ 0 ~

Wilf had gotten lost in the ship for a few minutes. It was like a maze and after another odd interaction with a woman he was sure was part of his imagination, he finally found Renata and the Doctor in the main room where Renata had killed the power.

"Aye, aye. Got this old tub mended?" he asked the pair, but they didn't seem so cheery.

"Just trying to fix the heating," the Doctor mumbled while he crossed two particular wires.

"Sorry," Renata said yet again. The heat was off because HE she killed it.

The Doctor, by this point, was more than done with her relentless apology for something that was going to be done either way. "Renée, just stop it."

Wilf took a seat near them. Renata drifted towards him, figuring the heat wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

"D'you know, I've always dreamt of a view like that," Wilf gave a nod towards the glass wall. No matter how many times he looked at the Earth, it wouldn't stop taking his breath away. It was simply amazing. "I'm an astronaut. It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day." And yet there was no cheer for the new day. He kept thinking about Sylvia and Donna, and everyone else he once knew. "My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now. D'you think he changed them, in their graves?"

Renata lowered her gaze, unable to answer him because the answer might not be the one he wanted to hear.

"We're sorry," the Doctor said for him and Renata. He came over to the two and sat down next to Renata.

"It's not your fault," Wilf told them. They were the good guys. They had no say in what the Master did.

"The noise inside his head…" Renata scrunched her face as if something was trying to come to her, "I swear there is something I'm missing. There's something tickling in the back of my head about it. Something that's telling me I'm forgetting something."

"Seven-hundred fifty-eight, something's bound to slip your mind," the Doctor joked only to see if he could get her to smile. He did. And it was so worth it.

"Never say a lady's age," she lightly jabbed him on the side, making him smile now.

"You're how old?" Wilf gawked at Renata. He had to study her face again but even when he did, it didn't make sense. Her new face was younger than the last one she had on.

"You want to hear somebody really old?" Renata jerked her thumb at the Doctor. "He's 906! Yeah, he's old!" She thought she would definitely get the Doctor back with that one, but all he did was smile fondly at her.

He just wanted to see her cheer up for a bit. He still didn't forget the fact she'd died only hours ago and he'd missed it.

Wilf shook his head at the two. "We must look like insects to you."

"I think you look like giants," the Doctor corrected him, extending that fond smile to him as well.

"My perspective on humans has changed in this last 2 years," Renata said with her own warm smile. "And I have Martha to thank, and Gabriela...and Donna." Wilf teared up in that moment as he wondered just what amazing things his granddaughter had to have done in her time up here in space. She had changed so much because of it and Renata and the Doctor. She had been a better person - she was a good person right now but being her other self gave her so much more perspective.

He couldn't let them die now, not on his watch.

"Listen, I... I want you to have this," he took out his revolver and held it at the pair. "I've kept it all this time, and I thought…"

"No," the Doctor said calmly. He expected this to come up sooner or later.

"No, but if you take it, you could…"

"I couldn't," Renata confessed. For all the harm the Master had done to the Earth and herself, and the Doctor, she knew she wouldn't be able to end him. She wouldn't even try to fight it.

"You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then," the Doctor pointed out to Wilf.

"Too scared, I suppose," Wilf said, lamenting his courage.

"I'd be proud," the Doctor suddenly said, starting a new thought.

"Of what?"

"If you were my dad."

Wilf did a double take at the Doctor, waiting for him to take it back or laugh it off. "Oh...come on...don't start!" The Doctor smiled wider at him, but when he did it reminded Wilf of what was coming for him. He didn't deserve that. "But you said...you were told... he will knock four times, and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it, The Master? That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you."

Renata tried her best not to react but her body flinched. It was an automatic response to such a horrid thought. She leaned on him, not even noticing it with all the thoughts that ran through her head. "I wouldn't let him," she whispered.

The Doctor put an arm around her, having heard her perfectly well. He gave a nod to Wilf's question and that was all Wilf needed to try and hand him the gun again.

"Then kill him first."

"That's how the Master started. And it's not like I'm an innocent," the Doctor started off on grim note, not that he could help it given his track record. He always knew what he'd become, but he would get by because he would push it away. He wouldn't think about it. "I've taken lives. I got worse - I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't. I just can't."

"But there's a difference," Renata raised her head off his arm. "The Master likes it. He likes what comes with death. You don't. And you know what? None of us are innocent. I'm certainly not."

The Doctor studied her eyes for any trace of doubt, a doubt for her words that she'd just said. Not too long ago he believed that she would be angry with him for what he did to their planet. Even as she denied such accusations, there was always a part of him that wondered if she was truly sure. It was no secret that she longed to be back on Gallifrey, who's to say that she wouldn't change her mind about him one day?

"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?" Wilf thought to ask after taking another look at the planet.

"I don't know."

Wilf didn't buy that answer. "Doctor, what happens?"

"...the template snaps."

Wilf blinked. "What, they go back to being human?" He couldn't believe his ears, nor his eyes when both aliens nodded at him. Here they were lamenting the human race's current situation and there was always that one solution!? He was a bit angry now, properly angry. "They're alive and human? Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare DARE put him before them. Now you take this, that's an order, Doctor. Take the gun! You take the gun and save your life! And please don't die!" The tears got the best of him, but how could he calm down? He had done so much for their planet and now some man was going to kill him dead? And the Doctor wasn't even going to fight it! That simply couldn't be. "You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die!" He forced the gun onto the Doctor's hand and closed his fingers over it. "You take it!"

But the Doctor still refused.

Renata shut her eyes, wishing everything would just stop. It had to stop, right? One way or another. But he might die. She shuddered a breath.

Maybe it's my rightful punishment, the Doctor's voice filled her mind. He wasn't looking at her, he couldn't. His gaze had become glued to the glass wall out of guilt. I went too far on Mars and I...I've done too much harm. Maybe my time is up.

Renata reached for his hand and squeezed it tight. Only one of us should have to regenerate and I already did it. There's no reason why you need to follow.

Before the Doctor could respond, the Master's voice came over the speakers. "A star fell," his tone was mocking, or at least getting ready to mock. "It fell from the sky. Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond...is a Whitepoint star. And you, my dear Renata, might know about it considering I helped my stupid brother forge it." Renata's body jumped up from the floor on instinct. Her hand immediately went to her neck. "And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be...spectacular. Over and out."

"Renata?" the Doctor cautiously got up and turned the woman around.

Her eyes were widening, as if she was just realizing something. She rose her head with a mouth hanging open. "Oh Doctor...it's my fault. It's my fault."

"What? What does that mean?" Wilf got up as well, but he couldn't understand why Renata was so mortified all of a sudden. Neither could the Doctor.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. A Whitepoint Star diamond was only found on Gallifrey…

"It's coming back to me! The-the thoughts! I-I buried them so long ago - that's my Whitepoint Star! The Assessor gave it to…" Renata swallowed hard as a lump had appeared in her throat. The tears were filling her eyes quickly. It was coming back to her in a rush. "She took it from me, Doctor. She pulled it off me…" her shaky hands found her neck, ghosting the place where her beautiful Whitepoint Star had once hung long ago. "They stole it from me! And now they're coming here! The Time Lords are coming back!"

The Doctor couldn't make sense of everything Renata was seeing but she was letting her mind fully open to his and so he could see the same rush of images she was getting. The Assessor, Rassilon, the Whitepoint Star…

The Assessor had yanked it off her sister and handed it over to Rassilon.

Renata screamed and jumped for her necklace to be returned, but it was too late. It was far gone…

Until now.

A deep fury coursed through his entire body in that moment, a fury that went for so many people on that planet. He didn't know how much of it went to the Assessor, but it was a big one. He turned away from Renata and picked up the gun from the floor as he stormed out of the room.

"What happened? I don't understand," Wilf tried to calm Renata down, but the Time Lady was weeping.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor ran into the control room where Addams and Rossiter were still trying to make the necessary mends to get them home. He went straight for the comms and turned all communications back on. As soon as he did, everyone began to hear the four beats.

"What's that?" frowned Addams. What else could go wrong now!?

Rossiter checked the computer for the information. "Coming from Earth. It's on every single wavelength."

~ 0 ~

Gallifrey.

Renata was sitting on the ground over her knees, much too exhausted to keep crying and thrashing. Her sister had once again proved that she loved nobody, not even her own family.

"Contact! At last!" Rassilon exclaimed, making Renata raise her head. Everyone seemed content with the results, including the Assessor. She was smirking, like she had planned the whole thing.

Of course everything would turn out fine. She had made sure of it, just like always.

Rassilon strode out of the room, prompting everyone else to do the same. The Assessor walked after the group but instead of leaving with them, she stopped beside her sister on the ground.

"You took one of the last things I had from Elek," Renata said, her voice strained from her sobs. She gazed ahead but at nothing in specific, she was just lost. "Ripped it right off me like it didn't matter…like he didn't matter."

The Assessor said nothing as she bent down in front of Renata. She put a finger underneath Renata's chin and turned her head to face each other. "Renata, it didn't. A Time Lady must do what is expected of her. You had the means to help our people and you did. You did your duty."

Renata seized the Assessor's finger under her chin and shoved it away. "This was not to help our people," she snapped. "It was to save you and the Council, to those in power."

"Our people," the Assessor said again, making it obvious that she didn't see anyone else below their class as part of their kind. "Cheer up, Renata. You still have the locket." She barely touched the golden pendant around Renata's neck. "I didn't take it all from you."

"Yeah you did," Renata whispered. "You took it all away."

The Assessor's face went flat when she realized Renata wasn't talking just about the White Dwarf Star. "I saved you," her voice was low, warning Renata not to try and argue that matter with her again. "Because of me you had a life fit for your class. The Doctor would have ruined you."

"And now you're here, asking me to go back to him."

"And you will do it if we need to. Mother and Father raised you to always do whatever was asked of you. Never forget who you are, Renata," the Assessor straightened on her feet and ordered the Two Time Lords with her to make sure Renata did not move.

Author's Note:

The Assessor is, uh...sort of...mean? But at the same time she's kind of stupid for not seeing that Renata is going to double cross her in the end. (Go Ren, scam them!). Also, the next chapter is the LAST chapter of this story *sniff* I'm kind of sad about that. I've had this story for a long time now .

Random but since it's Halloween, and I frikin love Halloween, feel free to drop suggestions for any halloween one shots with Avalon!

P.S As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "noble-crescent" and the tag I created for any posts having to do with my work is # noblecrescentedit.

#ocappreciation #doctor who #10th doctor #dw imagine #10th doctor imagine #doctor who fics #doctor who imagine #10th doctor fics #oc: Renata Cartwright #oc: the assessor #fic: the beginning of everything

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purplezebraproductions · 3 years

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The Alters: Page 4

Chapter 1: Coming to the Void (cont. under the cut)

[Please do not repost my art!]

There was an incessant pounding in Dinn’s head as he awoke. All around him he could see nothing but white, and for a moment he thought his vision had faltered. Shifting his head to look around he caught sight of Creed lying just a few paces to his right. His body was unnervingly still and Dinn’s heart dropped. With great effort Dinn attempted to stand, still extremely dizzy and slightly battered from the fall. Carefully he made his way over to Creed. As he got closer Creed’s body finally shifted only slightly. He was alive. Dinn sighed in relief, letting out what he didn’t realize he’d been keeping in. Dinn had only seen Creed as still as a corpse one other time and he wasn’t one to relive horrible memories. “Creed?” Dinn called out softly as he came closer. Supporting his weight on his elbows Creed looked over to see Dinn kneel just beside him. “Dinn? Where are we?” He asked shifting around to sit up properly. Dinn could see Creed’s eyes were still blown out, an indicator that he was still terrified. Understandable considering the world around them had morphed into a vast plain of white. No shadows, no walls, no sky, no evidence that they were still in the world of the living. Helping Creed to his feet Dinn responded. “I don’t know. The last thing I remember was getting pulled through that portal.” “Right…but why?” Creed asked the open air. It was clear that he was distracted by his own thoughts than actually directing his attention toward Dinn or his answers. Dinn gripped tightly onto Creed’s elbow, something he did regularly back when they were fighting on the same side. He had just found the physical contact somewhat comforting. As if it meant that he was truly still alive and that someone took notice of his existence. But now, he wasn’t sure. Sure, Creed was standing right next to him, but he was in the same situation. Who’s to say Creed wasn’t dead too? Suddenly the pair heard a loud screeching sound from behind them. As if someone was dragging an iron nail over glass. Dinn and Creed both covered their ears tightly, feeling as though their heads would pop off as the sound grew in intensity. They quickly ducked down to the ground fearing some sort of bombardment or attack from a force they couldn’t see. The sound was now ear piercingly loud and they could do nothing to stop it. Just then a voice broke through the piercing sound. It spoke in a brassy raspy voice, as if it hadn’t been used for many years. “Do not be afraid.” It said. Though the voice was calm, its booming intensity instantly made the pair pause and look up in abject horror at what they saw. What was staring back at them could not be described so easily. It looked down on them with its many eyes and spoke with its many mouths. “Do not be afraid I said. I am not here to hurt you.” But the rings of fire that surrounded its form spoke a different story. The form was moving, ever changing the more it was observed; as if it had no literal form on its own. Its body would shift with spikes and rings and mouths and hands. Great wings would drip and morph through all stages of life and all varieties of winged creatures. The fire would quell and grow and rotate and shift of its own desire. And the eyes, oh the eyes. They’d close and open always in different places, but always with the same unsettling stare directed at the pair. “Who are you?” Dinn asked finding his voice again. “Who I am is not important. Who you are is much more meaningful.” It said. Dinn looked over at Creed hoping to catch his eyes, but Dinn only saw terror etched across his face. His knees were bent, making him almost as short as Dinn, his hands hovered over his ears with his fingers pressed tightly into claws scratching his skin. His eyes had not left the being since it appeared, his pupils dilated drastically. “Creed. Creed!” Dinn tried to call to him, but it was obvious his mind was anywhere but here at the moment. With a deep breath Dinn shot out his hands grabbing Creed by the shoulders. “Creed look at me!” Creed noticeably jumped in place and Dinn could feel him trembling. But luckily it seemed like he could breathe again despite himself. His breaths came out shaky, but it was more than nothing. “You are Creed. And you are Dinn.” The being spoke, gripping both men’s attention, before Dinn could say anything that might calm Creed’s nerves. “What’s it to you?” Dinn spat back. “We need your help.” Now Dinn and Creed looked at each other, their questioning gazes mirrored in each other. There were so many questions. Who is we? Why them? Why had they taken them from their world? What could they do to help this creature? But Creed could only ask one question. “Why?” He stammered. “There has been a mistake. A critical mistake that could shape the future of the worlds. This one, and all of its altered forms.” Creed and Dinn had been silenced by the beings booming voice. They didn’t understand what it was saying, but they knew they needed to heed its words if they wanted to survive. “Your counterparts’ souls have been mixed up. A green one has ended up with a red, a blue with a yellow, a purple with a white, and so on. You are one of the only pairs that have ended up in your correct spots—” “What are you saying?” Creed interrupted. “Creed just listen!” Dinn shot back in fear of angering the being. “No! I don’t understand! Altered worlds? Counterparts? Souls—What does any of this have to do with us?” He was sputtering again. The being’s words were indeed causing him to panic, but Dinn didn’t know how to calm him. He too was so utterly confused and terrified at the thought of not knowing. But the beings voice didn’t waver. “You are Creed. And you are Dinn. The correct ones in your world. The correct ones for each other.” It said shifting its many eyes between the pair. “Think of it as if you’re sorting marbles. You are both cat’s eyes, therefore you are in your correct spot in your box together. But in the next box there is a cat’s eye and an onionskin. And in the next box there is a pearl and a mica. And in a box a few rows down, there is a swirly and a tiger. None of those go together, and yet they were put in the same boxes for safe keeping. Isn’t that awful? To have so many mismatched marbles.” Dinn still didn’t really understand what the being was going on about, but he hazards a guess that its mistake had something to with souls in odd places. Maybe? “So, what do you want us to do about your…marbles?” He asked incredulous. “Well, they must be sorted.” “Why don’t you sort them?” He shot back. The being paused for just a moment. “Imagine, if you will, that I am newly blind.” The being emphasized this by closing all of its many eyes, finally adverting its gaze from the pair. “Maybe then you’d understand that a swirly can certainly feel like another swirly, but it can also feel like a cat’s eye. In fact, perhaps all the marbles feel exactly the same according to my hands. I would need much more time to figure out which is which. Time, we do not have due to this anomalous circumstance. But, if two sighted people were able to help me sort my collection…” “If you’re newly blind, then how do you know we’re both cat’s eyes?” The being’s eyes flung open at Creed’s question. It hadn’t been anticipating such a statement. It faltered for just a moment. “Isn’t it obvious? You two were my favorite part of the collection. My rarest two cat’s eyes! So, I brought you with me wherever I went. That is how I knew your touch.” Creed shrunk back, suddenly faced with the being’s eagerness had made him uneasy again. “But, as for the others I can’t be sure.” “I’m going to ask this again once.” Dinn stressed, his own panic forming into anger. “What. Do. You. Want. Us. To. Do?” The being stared back at the ignorant man. Realizing that his blatant emotions in protecting his Creed were overcoming his fear of the figure. It had doubted itself before, but now there was no question. These two were indeed cat’s eyes. “I have created a home for you and your altered forms wayward souls. Here, in the heart of Infinity. It is the place you see around you. This glorious white canvas that can be perfected to your liking, whatever that may be. I have opened up portals to the Infinity from each altered world and sent invitations to every Creed and Dinn I could find. If they heed my warnings, they too will be arriving here shortly in order to quell this anomaly. Your job, as Guardians of this piece of the Infinity, is to help each Creed find their true Dinn, and help each Dinn find their true Creed. That is why I have brought you here first.” That was their job? To play fucking matchmaker for a bunch of beings they had no idea existed until now?! Just because they may share their same names does not mean they’ll ever be able to recognize who goes with who. “And if we refuse?” Creed spoke up, his breaths evening out and his voice shaking a lot less. The being paused. “I have left you both a portal back to your original world. Seeing as how you are not a part of the anomaly; it would make sense that you could return home at any time. However, just know that if this anomaly continues to plague the many worlds, then it will come to affect you as well. The glitch in our system will result in the worlds attempting to tear themselves apart and attempt to fit neatly back together like a puzzle. Even for a perfect world like your own. The universe crumbling and morphing into small bite size pieces will surely tear apart humanity and everything that comes with it. To us this is no big deal. For when the worlds do piece back together life can start anew from the very beginning. But, for you, death will be slow and painful. That is, if you refuse. The choice is yours.” And with that ominous foretelling the being slowly melted away into the world around them, becoming nothing more than a streak of light that shone from the white sky. Creed and Dinn could only stare in stunned silence at the place it once was. With a large metallic sound, a singular hole opened up behind them. A swirling blue vortex stood moving rhythmically, as if calling to the two stunned men. This must be their portal home. Or maybe it was the portal that the altered forms were supposed to enter from? Or perhaps both? Creed didn’t have much time to ponder. With a sudden wave of dizziness coming over him he fell to the ground, slipping through Dinn’s numb hands.

#writer #writing #The Alters: Original story #writers on tumblr #original #original story #oc #original character #digital art #digital artist #artists on tumblr #illustration #story

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laufire · 4 years

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@thepawnhits asked: I was wondering if you could go into further detail about your comment under the murphystartedthefire about murphy stans who hate emori?

(I hope you don’t mind that I answered over here; it’s just that this post got long enough to merit a read more and I’ve seen tumblr mess up with those in ask posts as of late smh ¬¬)

I know this might come across in ways I don’t intend to-- I’m not here to tell anyone how they define their fan experience; this is specifically about how I see the fandom spectrum. If someone wants to call themselves a Murphy stan and hate on Emori I’ll simply assume we have a different definition of the term and that they have remarkably bad taste xD and move on.

On that vein: according to my vision of what a stan is, I would never see someone that hates Emori as a Murphy stan.

There are wildly different ways to love a character, and stanning is only one of them, and the rarest one at that, IMO. Sometimes we think we love a character (or like them, or have “come around” to them), to discover later that it wasn’t so. I know it’s happened to me a few times (and I take pride in knowing myself quite well, overall, lol), that looking back I ended up thinking, well --in hindsight, I didn’t love them that much. For example, I would’ve count Daenerys as one of my favourites in the ASOIAF books, maybe even number one at some points, and I did like her on the show whenever I tuned in (not that often). However, I’m not enraged about her ending, and in fact I appreciate quite a lot of what the GOT finale did. Because though I like Daenerys, I was willing to trade her for other characters and other developments that mattered more to me when it counted --at the very end. Because I liked Daenerys, maybe loved her even, but I did not stan Daenerys (that I reserved for Cersei lmao).

Stanning, to me, is something quite unique and nebulous to define, but it more or less comes down to this: you nterpret the story through that character, other characters & how they affect them included (you will ship different ships if you stan a character vs. if you merely like them, IMO); they’re your number one priority to the point you’d “betray” your loyalties to other characters you like (if you’re capable to even like them in the first place, if they’re in the way of your fave. I happen to be, which creates a lot of conflict in my fannish life until the endgame comes and all bets are off lmao, but not everyone is and they probably have an easier time of it xD); and you want them to have the BEST, richest storyline, to get everything they say they want and more (and the keyword here is “say”, because if you stan a character you will take what they say at face value; you won’t doubt their POV, you won’t think they’re ~misguided and need to be “taught a lesson”, that they need to fundamentally change who they are at their core. You’d love them as they are because stanning is a fucking ridiculous state of being), even when it looks like it’s way beyond their reach.

Stanning is also very self-centered of us fans. All fannish love is, I guess. We don’t love characters the way we love people (not the ones we love genuinely, beyond ourselves, at least). It goes through a filter of what WE think and want too, because characters aren’t real people and their well-being only matters in-so-far as we’ve latched onto them. Fannish love is different from person to person, but one thing that’s true for my type of stanning is that “happiness”, as in the character being easily “content” matters a lot less to me than them winning. So whether or not a most interesting ship from them happens to bring them heartbreak once in a while... so what, as long as it brings real, tangible benefits to their storyline? With second-rate characters I like I might say “oh, that ship is nice, it makes them happy, it’s convenient for them”, etc. With my OTPs and my faves that’s not even in my radar. I want victory, not contentment, ffs.

Another thing it’s important to take into account and that I rarely if ever see fandom mentioning is that where a character is positioned in the narrative conditions how you love them. It’s not the same to start out the show with Clarke as your number one fave (even if boy, did she took a few hits in the meantime), or even Octavia and Bellamy (... same with him), than if you latch onto Raven, Murphy, etc. They weren’t quite at the bottom of the barrel, there were always characters way below them, but they were positioned explicitly below other characters in their introductions.

Fans adjust their expectations when they love secondary characters like that, whether they’re able to admit it or even realize it. We expect them to get less than the leads, because that’s how hierarchies work. Most of the time we’re right, but sometimes there are ~shakeups, and The 100 is one of those times, IMO. Because of that, Murphy got a lot more of what would’ve been expected in s1. Faced with that, fans need to reajust, but some can’t. Depending on how risk-averse they are, they might fear that their fave is getting something that’s not their “due” according to the initial structure, and that means they’ll be “punished” for it and have it, at the very least, taken away. The bigger they are, the harder the fall, etc. Personally I happen to like the risk --no risk, no reward--, and this ~timid way of loving your number one doesn’t align with my view of stanning characters at all *shrug*. Like, what the fuck is the point if you’re gonna settle for mediocrity xD

Now, wrt Memori specifically.

I have alluded to this in several post in the past; here I talk a little bit about Memori as a narrative that uplifts Murphy, for example. That, to me, it’s the gist of it. Memori is AMAZING for Murphy’s storyline. AMAZING. It’s THE romance of the show, period. It does wonders for his character, it’s made him The Romantic Hero (which is the most flattering way a male character can ever come across IMO), it’s made him pull outstanding stunts. Memori brings the most of Murphy, and as someone that loves Murphy, I love Memori for it (among other many reasons, like the fact that it’s very much My Type of ship).

Somehow people claim that because she was “mean” (...) to him in s5 that’s a bad relationship for him and... lmfao. EVEN if I thought they said that in good faith (ha!); EVEN if I agreed with them in their reading of the ship (ha!)... MEMORI IS NOT A REAL RELATIONSHIP.

MEMORI IS A FICTIONAL PAIRING. I don’t give a fuck about “healthy”, and I don’t see the vast majority of fans do either; not when push comes to shove, not about the ships that truly matter to them, their OTPs, and not just their ~casual pairings. I don’t want Memori to be a conflict-free storyline, because I think it would be an objectively worse ship if it was. Sometimes the conflict will be Memori vs. the world. Sometimes it’ll be Emori vs. Murphy. I think both have merit and both had done a lot of good for the ship.

So then, I question: why would people who love Murphy (or claim to, or genuinely think they do but), hate on Emori and think she’s the worst thing that’s happen to him, in the face of the overwhelming proof of the contrary?

One option is that, like I say, they find Memori to risky, to beyond Murphy as he was introduced in s1 (this fandom is even more stuck in s1 mentality than most I’ve encountered, and that’s saying something). It could be, though I haven’t seen clear examples of it.

What I have seen are examples of people that, for a variety of reasons, aren’t being quite truthful about their priorities, tbh. This will sound presumptous on my part but I can’t bring myself to care because I’m quite tired of this fandom; it’s repetitive af, even if I weren’t to take into account that I have been in several fandoms, even if often as a mere lurker, and I’ve seen all of this before, over and over again. I’m TIRED people xD

I’ll be blunt: this attitude, comes from CLARKE’s stans, not Murphy’s. People whose priority is Clarke, and that think she should be centered in the show (usually with Bellamy/Clarke as the ship they use to channel it --the ones that go for Lexa don’t seem as keen on invading Emori and Memori’s tags but they might be out there too). Potentially I could see it from Bellamy stans too (though frankly, on the vein of this post, my definition of a stan wouldn’t ship Bellamy with Clarke lol); so far Memori and Bellamy aligned quite well in canon, but all the s7 could change that and turn into resentment.

Because that’s what I think it is in a lot of cases: resentment. Resentment that Murphy and Emori get a Romance, capital letters, while their own ship is... well. While their ship isn’t. I’ve seen this happen in other fandoms and that’s all there is: petty jealousy. Why can’t my fave enjoy this?? Which, btw, is a sentiment I can sympathy with? It’s the way they try to pass it for something more that annoys me LOL.

And tbh I think that’s what a lot of Murven “shipping” comes from (and even that short moment of Murphy/Echo shipping I remember from s5 lol): it’s not genuine, passionate shipping; it’s convenience shipping that doesn’t own up to it. Now, I think there are Murven shippers out there that are passionate about it; I myself like it a little, even if only in a fanon context (and preferably in a thruple lol), but a.) I’ve happened to see those more often than not multiship Memori too either way, and b.) you can tell a lot of those shippers aren’t genuine by their reactions to the Murven scene in late s6 IMO: they HATED it, not because of the admittedly cringy dialogue lol, but because they were there for each other in a way that didn’t account for Clarke. That scene, which by all accounts should’ve been shipping fodder, was derided and hated on, because to a lot of Clarke stans the ship is just a way to get Murphy into a less potent ship, with the added benefit of keeping those women they feel threatened by away from Bellamy. Win-win.

This is a tangent, but hell, if anything I think having getting canonically paired with Raven would’ve been potentially terrible for Murphy’s narrative. Remember when I say stans take their fave at their word? It’s similar for writers: when writers truly respect a character, they take them at their word. In male characters especially, there’s one way this manifests, and it’s in their romantic storylines: the lead guy (or any guy with real narrative capital) loves One Girl, and One Girl only (if he hesitates between more he’s a no good wishy-washy and weak-willed jerk and the writers can even come to dislike him for it). There’s no version of his story that can look truly victorious if she doesn’t love him back and they don’t get their endgame, period. So when writers “stan” that character, in the particular way writers do, they give him just that: Peak Romance.

If the writers had pulled from Memori to write him with Raven, two things could’ve happen: either it’d happen humiliating Raven for Emori, or the other way around (yes, as fandom we can imagine other scenarios. In actual canon F/M/F triangles almost invariably go like that, sadly). If it’d happened before s6, I would’ve said Emori getting the short end of the stick was a more likely option, though now I’m not so sure. Either way, both scenarios would make Murphy Look Bad for hurting a girl’s feelings (yes, Murphy has killed people. But like I’ve said, Romantic Hero is what looks best and you CAN’T be a romantic hero if you seriously spurn a girl, even if it’s not your #1 girl. Writers are ridiculous but this pattern holds over and over smh). It would’ve been even WORSE if said girl was Emori, because it means the writers no longer respected Murphy’s POV and his priorities. It would change the core of Murphy’s character because Memori was written into his DNA, no turn backs, the way Bellamy as Octavia’s Big Brother was on his, for example.

Aaaaaanyway. I hope this has shined some light on what I meant lol. But I guess it can be summarized with: in terms of pure narrative, Emori has been consistently great for Murphy’s character. Why would you hate her if you love him, in the way a stan loves?

#memori #the 100 #john murphy #emori #thepawnhits #t100 thoughts #replies #talking to the void #my thoughts #favourites: the powah of lurve #you WISH your faves could ever

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