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#but look at your crazy child coming down to smite you from the sky
anamiableavocado · 1 year
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Endeavor:
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Endeavors A+ parenting tip #1 : Avoid ALL eye contact with the child that desperately wants you to look at them
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philliamwrites · 3 years
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koi no yokan
Fandom: Genshin Impact
Pairing: Kazuha / Aether
Tags: boys kissing, slight angst with happy ending, simping aether, practice sparring
Words: 2k
Summary: “A healthy mind in a healthy body,” Kazuha said, crossing the little circle they used as their practice area to the maple tree where they left their stuff. He took a dark cloth from his backpack and began wiping his body. Aether looked pointedly at the clear sky as if checking if one of Baal’s bolts would spontaneously flash and smite them. “Whatever thoughts trouble you will affect your performance and slowly but steadily deteriorate your physical capabilities.”
“Did the wind tell you that?” Aether wasn’t really into the idea that the gentle breezes cooling their hot skin spilt all his troubles. Be it his mourning for his absent sister or how horny he was for Kazuha. “Maybe the wind should just mind its own business.”
Notes: Inspired by @jeruki's fanart. My twitter: @philliam, my ko-fi: philliam
koi no yokan(恋の予感) (n.) lit. "Premonition of Love"; the sense one can have upon first meeting another person that the two of them are going to fall in love. It is the feeling that future love is inevitable.
In his journey through Teyvat, Aether had seen a lot of things. Dragons, assassins, sentient flowers shooting their frozen or burning seeds at him which never made for a funny joke when he and his party sat around the campfire in the cool evenings. Catboys grown into men who paid their taxes and lived a humble life near calm Springvale. Name it and Aether had seen it.
But Kaedehara Kazuha was something else entirely. When he fought, it was hard to look away. He had a dancer’s grace and a seemingly unerring instinct for what his opponent would do next. His sword wasn’t simply a weapon he swung to cut through enemy lines. It was part of him. Like Lumine completed Aether, Kazuha was only fully himself with a weapon in his hand. This kind of commitment Aether only knew from Xiao, but Kazuha made his devotion for battle look divine; so much purer. Almost innocent in a way that did not speak of foolishness or guilelessness or the innocence of a child that simply waited to be consumed by the world. Kazuha’s innocence was something honest, linked to the making at the heart of the world.
He looked happiest with his sword slicing through the air. He looked graceful plunging from the skies like a hawk pouncing to catch its prey. He looked deliciously fuckable with his hitatare slipping off his shoulders and revealing smooth, white skin glistening with sweat. Aether had noticed a little scar winking at him whenever the fabric slipped and wondered how it would taste like near that elegant curve where Kazuha’s chest turned to solid, firm abs. He imagined leaning over and tasting Kazuha’s skin and suck—
A harsh blow swiped his feet from under him. The world spun and for a moment Aether was flying again, soaring through the sky before golden eyes flashed in malice and his sister was taken from him. The reality of Lumine being absent would come to Aether in flashes. He knew it to be so, but he could not feel it to be true except in these sudden bursts of realisation. The light of that strange, unthinkable truth would dazzle him for a moment and then it would be gone again, a fleeting sense of terrible loss. The pain almost always felt the same, and all he could do in that moment was take it, endure the unbearable and bear it.
It ended as quickly as it stared. Aether’s back hit the hard ground, the impact punching the breath out of his lungs. He stared up at the beautiful crimson sky stretching overhead—red like so many things in Inazuma which was fitting for the country governed by a goddess with a taste for blood.
But then, Kazuha’s even more beautiful face bent over him.
“Focus, Aether,” he said, offering his hand. Aether imagined pulling Kazuha down next to him where they would roll in the dirt like two puppies, drunk on adrenaline and intoxicated with the addicting taste of defiling these sacred lands where the cries of helpless, innocent men would never be heard over the ever-present roar of thunder. Where neither of them was welcome.
Instead, he allowed Kazuha to pull him back up on his feet, slick skin against slick skin, with a swift ease that left little room for imagination how else he could manhandle Aether. He swallowed, his mouth dry.
Kazuha exhaled softly, and even in that companionable silence Aether had grown used to, it was loud enough to catch his attention. “Where are your thoughts, Aether?” Kazuha asked.
Aether kicked some pebbles. He could hardly confess how he imagined sucking Kazuha off. Somehow he didn’t think someone as versed, with a soul consumed by wanderlust like Kazuha, would like to hear that. So he simply shrugged, inspecting the hilt of his wooden practice sword as if it could be held accountable for his lack of focus.
“Oh, you know,” he said, shrugging. “Archons and Visions and the like. The usual stuff.”
Kazuha’s eyebrows rose. Aether held his stare for a long minute but ended up turning away first. Somehow he didn’t believe secrets could be kept hidden for too long from those keen scarlet eyes, and while he wouldn’t mind presenting his body to him, he wasn’t too comfortable bearing his very soul to someone he’d known for less than a month. He wondered if that even mattered. He had let Kaeya rail him in much shorter time than that.
“A healthy mind in a healthy body,” Kazuha said, crossing the little circle they used as their practice area to the maple tree where they left their stuff. He took a dark cloth from his backpack and began wiping his body. Aether looked pointedly at the clear sky as if checking if one of Baal’s bolts would spontaneously flash and smite them. “Whatever thoughts trouble you will affect your performance and slowly but steadily deteriorate your physical capabilities.”
“Did the wind tell you that?” Aether wasn’t really into the idea that the gentle breezes cooling their hot skin spilt all his troubles. Be it his mourning for his absent sister or how horny he was for Kazuha. “Maybe the wind should just mind its own business.”
The wind picked up, tossing Aether’s hair left and right so it came even more loose after their sparring. He was sure his mind played tricks on him, but somewhere in the distance it sounded like Venti’s clear, bell-like laughter. If this was his weird way of trying to set him up, Aether was not happy with it.
“No, you just did.” Kazuha finished cleaning himself, but was in no apparent hurry to tie up his hitatare. When he looked back up at Aether, his smile was a little mischievous but still gentle, and Aether wanted to kiss that stupid grin away. He flopped down next to Kazuha. Dry maple leaves rustled under his body and he took one in his fingers, turning it this and that way just so he could observe the crimson and stall time.
If he met the Raiden Shogun and she didn’t have the answers he desired, then what? How much longer would he have to journey, to tread foreign countries and dangerous lands until he found what Lumine needed him to see? Why was this arduous task better suited than simply telling him? The only logical answer was that during her own travels, Lumine had grown to not trust him in a way only she understood and couldn’t confide in him. The thought closed like a cold fist around Aether’s heart. There was nothing logical about that, for if Lumine chose to hide her heart from Aether, where would that leave him? Loneliness spread like a dark stain inside him, a horror that stole his breath and tightened his chest. Black dots danced across his vision. Aether noticed his body moving without his will, he sat up, afraid he might suffocate. His heart. His heart wasn’t in his chest anymore. It was in his throat, making it hard to breathe. Just thinking she doesn’t need me, Lumine is gone forever and all I have loved, I have loved alone—
A warm hand grasped his, squeezing his fingers painfully until his splintering mind reassembled to the present. Aether stared at Kazuha with wide eyes, filled with horror, with fear, he just couldn’t understand how anyone bore that loneliness without a twin, without another part of their soul bearing the harsh world with them and give comfort and respite.
“Aether?”
Aether flinched, only noticing then how close Kazuha hovered near his face. When he looked down, he saw how his golden strands were caught between Kazuha’s slender fingers.
“There was a maple leaf in your hair,” Kazuha said, not taking his eyes away from Aether.
“Oh.” Aether’s reeling thoughts momentarily halted at this whimsical observation, so simple and apart from his anxious feelings. He looked up at the grand tree above them, crying red leaves. “Really?”
Kazuha still looked at him. A gentle tug lowered Aether’s head back down.
“No,” he said, and then kissed him. His soft lips brushed against Aether’s once, then twice and then he pressed his mouth to his, pushing Aether to the solid, hard ground. One leg stole between Aether’s, pressing a knee against his crotch, and Oooh. Until now, Aether had thought Kazuha to be soft and restrained, a man more servant to the voice of nature than his own desires. But there was nothing soft or restrained about the way he pinned Aether to the ground now, stole his breath and swallowed all those little huffs and moans, making Aether go crazy with lust.
Swift fingers dug into his bare waist. Aether was looking forward to the bruises he’d see blossoming the next morning. Their bodies pressed together hard; Aether arched his back, hoping that if he just willed it hard enough, he would become one with Kazuha and fill that gnawing black hole inside him. Kazuha reached out and put his thumb to Aether’s jawline. The tips of his fingers brushed the hollow of his throat and pushed against the pulse point where Aether’s blood visibly thundered in exalting beats against his skin.
Kazuha’s tongue darted across Aether’s lower lip. Willingly, Aether opened his mouth, longing to savour his taste and finally quench his thirst for the exquisite being that Kaedahara Kazuha was.
But Kazuha remained still, their mouths inches away from each other, each inhaling the other’s breath. Aether opened his eyes, meeting Kazuha’s that had turned so much darker. Wilder.
“You don’t even know what you do to people, do you?” he mumbled against Aether’s lips. His nose grazed his cheek as he dove for Aether’s jawline, his neck, mapping Aether’s face with his lips and teeth. Aether remembered Kazuha saying once that he smelled like stars, and wondered how that worked.
“What—“ Aether exhaled a long, shuddering breath. “—do you mean?” He tried to buck up into Kazuha, to create some delicious friction between them, but Kazuha’s grip around his waist was like iron. Aether whined, but Kazuha made with one, sharp bite pretty clear that whatever happened would only happen on his volition.
“The way you move, the way you look and think no one notices.” Amusement stole into Kazuha’s voice. “Or might you think only I don’t notice?”
“I am anything but subtle,” Aether acknowledged, planting a kiss on Kazuha’s temple. He chuckled against Aether’s skin. “And you don’t necessarily make it easier, fighting like this.” His hands sneaked inside Kazuha’s hitatare, fingers trembling with excitement spread against his warm chest.
Kazuha inhaled sharply. His own fingers trailed a path up Aether’s waistline, nails scratching the sensitive skin and sending shivers all over his body. “Look who’s talking. It’s hard focusing on anything else with you walking around like this.”
Aether laughed, dark and rich. “It’s my pleasure.”
“No.” Kazuha tugged the fabric of Aether’s black collar down and kissed his neck. “It’s mine.”
Aether didn’t know how long they stayed like this, cradled against the maple tree’s trunk, growing drunk on kisses and lust and the taste of each other until their lips were bruised. At some point, they had dozed off under the setting sun that made way to twinkling stars that winked at them in mischief. Only they knew the secrets and confessions they shared, absolving one another from their darkest sins.
“I know you seek your sister,” Kazuha said, studying the joints and bumps on Aether’s fingers before he brought them to his lips. “We both follow steps of people dear to us, choosing to ignore we only run after shadows. I think that is why my soul refuses to leave you.”
Familiar pain throbbed in Aether’s chest, but where it once was sharp and overwhelming, it now had softened to a dull song. Bearable. “I’m sure one day we’ll catch up to them.” He intertwined his legs with Kazuha’s, felt the warmth radiate off his body. “Together.”
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ghostlyhamburger · 3 years
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Under Agreste: The Show: Chapter 4
Rating: T
Ship: Adrienette, Adrigami
Read from the beginning
Read Chapter 4 on Ao3
“Good morning!” Marinette called cheerfully as she walked into Adrien’s trailer. He smiled at her as she gave Plagg a small scratch under his chin.
“Hey,” Adrien greeted, looking up from his phone. He’d been up for a while already, just waiting. “What do you need from me today?”
“Your job is actually super easy this time,” she said. “Today, you’re going to eat pastries.”
He grinned. “I can get behind that.”
“And I’m here to keep you company till the girls come back,” she said. “They’re split into teams working at local bakeries. I’m not supposed to go because I’m supposedly biased.”
“How so?”
She glanced around the trailer conspiratorially, and then leaned close to murmur, “My parents run one of the bakeries.”
“That’s so cool,” he said with a grin. “Which one?”
“I really can’t tell you that. But I was actually the one who suggested the challenge, help with their publicity.” She took a seat on his bed, right beside him. “I can’t work at the bakery for free like I used to, so I do what I can to help them out now.”
“That’s really awesome of you.” Had her eyes always been so blue, or had he just never been so close to her?
“Thanks,” she said, a light blush crossing her cheeks. She stayed close to him, just for another moment longer, her eyes just watching him, an ocean he could drown in…she pulled back quickly. “Anyway! Want to go get some breakfast so you’re not judging on an empty stomach? I know when you’re hungry enough, anything tastes good, and you should be fair.”
“Sounds good,” he replied, standing up. “What’s at craft today?”
“Some eggs, I think,” she said, following him out of the trailer.
The two talked as they ate, exchanging stories about what it was like working as a model or a baker as a child. Adrien learned that Marinette’s favorite thing to cook was macarons, and she promised to make a batch of passionfruit ones for him once he mentioned that was his favorite flavor.
Long after their breakfasts were gone, they stayed talking, winding up comparing strategies for Ultimate Mecha Strike, when Marinette’s phone suddenly went off.
“Oh, they’re back,” she said, glancing at the message. “You should head over to the mansion, the girls will meet you in the kitchen.”
“You’re not coming?” he asked, surprised.
“Biased, remember?” she replied, grinning. “Nino’s got this. Alya’s supervising your private date tonight, so I’ll see you for the second date tomorrow. Have fun!”
**
Adrien was presented with two identical plates of eclairs. The hopeful girls watched as he ate from one, then the other.
“I think I like this one better,” he said, pointing to the second plate. Half the girls cheered.
“The winner is the Dupain-Cheng bakery!” Nino cried. “Losing team, please leave, Adrien, choose two girls from the winning team for private dates.” He leaned close to the model and muttered, “Please choose Lila and Kagami, makes my job so much easier.”
“Um, I pick Lila and Kagami,” Adrien said.
“Great!” Nino said. “Kagami gets the dinner date, Lila gets tomorrow. Adrien, Kagami, dress up nice, the car will be ready for you in an hour.”
**
Adrien didn’t have to think too hard about his date. The restaurant and his outfit were chosen for him, so all he needed to do was get ready to spend some time with a pretty girl.
When he saw Kagami, though, he actually felt his heart skip a beat. She was heading down the main foyer stairs of the mansion, a dramatic entrance that was clearly planned for the cameras. But she was beautiful despite the trite scene, and he found himself looking forward to spending time with her.
He offered her his arm as she reached the bottom of the stairs, and she took it with a grateful smile.
“Where are we going?” she asked curiously.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” he replied, laughing softly at himself. “But I’m sure it’ll be nice. After all, I get to spend this time with you.”
Her cheeks pinked softly as she smiled. “Are they feeding you lines? That was…cheesy.”
“This cheese is all me,” he said with a grin and a wink. “You ready to go?”
**
“So, you’re from Japan,” Adrien said, spearing a bit of asparagus on his plate. “Did you grow up there, or in France?”
“Japan,” Kagami replied. She took a sip of wine and continued, “We had a housekeeper who spoke French, so I was fortunate enough to grow up speaking the language. Moved to the country when I was a teenager, so by now…it’s been about half my life, I guess.”
“Do you like France?”
“Well, it’s home,” she said with a soft smile. “I still love returning to Japan for holidays, though.”
“I’ve always wanted to visit there,” Adrien said. “I don’t really have a lot of free time, though, with modeling, and my father…”
She held up her glass. “To overbearing rich parents?”
“To turning out amazing despite them,” he replied, clinking his glass against hers.
The conversation between them flowed easily as they found they had much in common—an interest in fencing, woes of being homeschooled, an addiction to American potato chips. By the end of the dinner, they were laughing together like they’d known each other for years.
They returned to the mansion together, walking to the door hand in hand.
“I suppose this is it, until the next crazy date they send us on,” Kagami said, her fingertips lingering against his palm.
“This is it,” he said, distracted by her smile, the way she seemed truly happy around him. He couldn’t resist leaning close and kissing her, a brief brush of lips to lips.
She just smiled widely at him as he pulled away. “Good night.”
**
The next day, Adrien had a good amount of time to himself in the morning. He watched mindless videos on his phone while petting Plagg, the kitten content to curl up in his lap and sleep the whole time.
It was one of the best mornings in recent memory.
A knock came at his trailer door. “It’s me!” Marinette called, her voice bright and chirpy as always.
“Come in!” he called back.
She opened the door and smiled at him, though her eyes seemed to be laughing at him. “Are you ready for your date with Lila?”
He sighed, gently lifting Plagg and setting him aside. “No.”
“Too bad,” she replied, her smile growing wider. “Get yourself to wardrobe, and then you’re going to have a wonderful stroll by the Seine and share Andre’s ice cream with her.”
“The sweetheart’s ice cream?” he asked. He idly picked some fur off his pants.
“Yep, that,” Marinette said. “I wonder what ice cream will represent her? Do you think Andre has a rotten apple flavor?”
Adrien laughed. “Well, if he does, I’ll smile and pretend it’s delicious right until the cameras shut off.”
She joined in the laughter. “You. You’re my favorite. Be at wardrobe in five, okay?”
**
Andre sighed beatifically as he gazed at the two people before him. “Ah, young love! Let me see what I can come up with for you!”
Lila held onto Adrien’s hand too tightly as the ice cream vendor bustled around his cart, scooping ice cream into a cone before handing it to her.
“Durian and raspberry pepper,” he announced. “Sweet with a firey kick!”
Lila struggled to hold her smile as she accepted the ice cream. She took a bite and immediately winced at the unusual flavors.
Marinette was at her side before Adrien could blink. “I’ll take that,” she said, gently pulling the cone from Lila’s hands. “You’ll get it back, don’t worry, but—Andre, can you make up something for both of them?”
Andre’s smile didn’t falter as he replied, “I do not have any flavors that can harmonize these two.”
“Can you make one for him and pretend it’s for them both?” she asked, smiling though her eyes were hard and determined.
“I suppose I can…”
“Great,” she replied, turning and walking out of the view of the camera. “And, go!”
“For you,” Andre said, scooping up more ice cream, “Peach, blueberry, and strawberry, a sweetness that can’t be matched.”
Adrien smiled and thanked him as he took the ice cream.
“All right, let’s have the lovebirds take a bite!” Marinette called.
Lila wrinkled her nose as she looked at the cone in Adrien’s hand. “Uh, I’m allergic to strawberry.”
Marinette glanced up at the sky as she willed the universe to smite her where she stood. Or Lila. She wasn’t picky in that moment. “Can you just pretend?”
Adrien took a bite of the ice cream while Lila pretended to chew on something.
“It’s ice cream, Lila, you don’t chew--you know what, this is good enough, we’ll make it look good in editing. Just—enjoy your ice cream, guys, hang out while we get some more footage.” She handed Lila’s cone back to her before slumping onto a bench next to the river.
A few moments later, Adrien sat down next to her. “Did you want any ice cream?”
“Sure,” she replied, leaning over to take a bite. She smiled as the fruity flavors spread over her tongue. “Wow, I forgot how good Andre’s ice cream is.”
“It’s really great,” he said, smiling at her. “So do you believe the whole magic ice cream thing?”
“Nah.” She shrugged. “I just think it tastes good. So, do you know who you’re getting rid of this week?”
“Oh yeah, I have to figure that out,” he said with a groan. “I don’t know. I know there’s the girls you want me to keep, and I do want Kagami to stay, so maybe I’ll just…wing it on the rest?”
Marinette smiled and nudged him with her shoulder. “So, do you think Kagami’s the one?”
“I don’t know. Maybe? She’s different from the other girls, and I want to get to know her more,” he said. “What do you think of her?”
“I think you should pick one of my girls so I get the bonus,” she teased. “But if you walk away from this show happy and in love, then hey, that’s all I can really ask for.”
“Well, I’ll at least walk away with a new friend, right?”
“Oh yeah, best friends,” she agreed. “Even if your work and my work mean we’ll never actually talk again, I think you’re awesome. And I’m not just saying that because it’s my job to make you happy.”
Adrien smiled and offered her more ice cream.
**
At the ceremony that afternoon, Adrien chose to send home Mylene, Suzanne, and Roxanne.
He barely remembered who any of them were, so he figured that was the best option. He wished them the best before heading back to his trailer for some quality time with Plagg.
But as he approached his trailer, he saw someone he probably should have expected sooner or later.
“Hello, Father.”
**
“Next time: How will the girls fit in Adrien’s fast-paced world of fashion? Will their style stand up to the scrutiny of notable designer Gabriel Agreste? Find out!”
Buy me a coffee?
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knightrepentant · 7 years
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Deal With It Later
The gentle music of foam upon shingles was nowhere to be heard today. Beneath an oppressive sky, where thunderheads reared, the sea clawed in fury at the coast. Snow was thick in the air and upon the ground, and for this blessed moment, the land looked pristine. The Fallen drank in the bitter winter air, feeling its chill in his lungs, and breathed it out in a glad sigh. He shut his eyes and simply stood for a time, listening to the intense stillness, a brief oasis in the midst of the chaotic desert that was his new life.
               “Always took you for a summer-lover, y’know.” Over his shoulder, wearing a crooked smile, was a skinny strip of rags and ragged edges holding a rifle. “Didn’t think some pampered pre-war loser could handle the cold.” Smirking, The Fallen pointed with his rifle at the merc,
               “Can handle it better than some, especially scrawny, chatter-tooth punks,”
               “Oh, shoot me in my heart, why don’cha?!” They shared a grin, then turned back to the trail. Around them stood a vast graveyard. Rank upon rank of blasted trees, their branches snow-adorned. Bereft of leaves, the woods looked almost as they had in those long-lost winters before the War. “So, a lighthouse?”
               “That’s what Garvey said, there’s just the small matter of some squatters we gotta clear out. Some folks he called ‘Children’…” MacCready spat into the snow,
               “Goddamn Children of Atom! Hope you brought plenty of Rad-X, man. Their gamma guns pack a nasty sting.” 
               “Ain’t met a group o’ crazies yet as can’t be shut up by a bullet ‘tween the eyes, Lord knows you’re good at that.” Heat rose in MacCready’s cheeks, but he recovered swiftly,
               “I aim to please,”
               “Mack, if you make that joke one more time I’ll shoot you myself.”
               “Heh, spoilsport.” Snow crunched underfoot, and far beyond, a beam of light swept across the sky.
               The last thing the Child’s eye saw in this life was a .308 bullet speeding directly towards it. Blood and bone sprayed across a sign that read ‘Kingsport Lighthouse’. Green sparks burst in a flower of rads just above The Fallen’s head, and he quickly ducked behind a truck’s rusted carcass.
               “Whoa! These freaks ain’t half bad! Don’t wanna have to tell Garvey his hat got vaporised!” MacCready squinted down his scope, and found a Child not quite cautious enough. The rifle jumped back into his shoulder and another skull bloomed red like a waking flower.
               “Why’d you even bother with it?! We searched a dozen blocks to find a hat he’d swap it for!”
               “This is the only cowboy hat in the whole Commonwealth, Mack!” The Fallen yelled back, as if that were the only explanation required. Gamma blasts rained upon them from the blasted house, the hiss of radiation lost beneath the Childrens’ shrieked curses and calls upon the wrath of Atom. The Fallen slung his rifle over his back, “Fuck this”. A .44 and a 10mm spun in his hands,
               “What’re you…?” MacCready reached out a moment too late, his outstretched fingers caught only a fleeting grasp on The Fallen’s duster, “Are you nuts?! Get back into cover! Sam! Sam!”
               This was nothing new. Chinese bullets or radiation-addled fanatics, it didn’t matter, he just needed to get the bullets where they needed to go. The .44 roared in his right hand and another Child folded up to be trampled underfoot. Keep moving. If you move, you live a few seconds longer. His sergeant said that, in some long-buried foxhole. The 10mm snapped at the air, shattering ribs over by the lighthouse doors, and The Fallen whirled to bring the revolver to bear once again. The bullet leaping forth to smite another disciple struck a ribbon of crackling green energy arrowing in the opposite direction. Its impact upon his right shoulder felt no heavier than the brush of a bird’s wings, or the breath of a lover, but a terrible burning spread across his chest like the ire of a hundred hornets. The culprit received a sniper’s bullet to their temple as recompense, and the surviving Children fled to the lighthouse proper.
               The Fallen necked a couple of Rad-X and charged the door, a grenade sailing from his hand and between the doors just as they clanged shut. Cries of triumph from within had only the briefest instant to become screams of panic, until those doors shivered at the impact. There was quiet inside the lighthouse as The Fallen made to push the door open, until a hand clamped around his wrist,
               “Sam! Will you just stop for a minute?!” MacCready took him by the shoulders and forced their eyes to meet, “What the heck was that?! You don’t close with the Children, you could’ve been pukin’ your guts up in the grass by now!”
               “They had us pinned down, had to put ‘em off balance,” The Fallen replied in monotone. His face a mask of confusion and outrage, MacCready shook his friend roughly,
               “Hey, this isn’t China, or whatever, anymore! I need you here and now or next time we might not be so lucky!” The Fallen breathed in deep,
               “Yeah. Yeah, I’m sorry Mack, I…” MacCready lent a reassuring hand to his stinging shoulder,
               “We’ll deal with it later. One thing at a time, right?”
               The lighthouse beam still swung on, treading a familiar path without end. At the railing beneath that blazing beacon, a woman clung to every breath. Her garb was tattered, but not that of the Children, and she wept to see the two men gain the top of the stairs. The Fallen knelt with a reassuring smile, but she screamed in horror, her pointing finger showing too late what leapt screeching upon them. A ghoul so withered it barely seemed alive, its skin ablaze with radioactive light, cannoned into the pair. A cry of panic made the Fallen’s head sing, and all he saw of MacCready was one hand clinging dearly to the platform’s edge,
               “MACK! I’ve got you!” Strong hands locked around MacCready’s wrist, but MacCready’s eyes were focused on another,
               “It’s coming back! You gotta take it down!” The Glowing One was on its feet, but the Fallen kept his gaze on the merc,
               “Hold on, Mack!” He tried reaching for his revolver, but felt MacCready’s wrist slip in his grasp. His free hand returned to clinging to his friend, “I…I can’t hold you and fight this thing!” He kicked out frantically as the glowing ghoul sprang towards them. Rad-rotted bones crunched wetly under his foot, but its claws found their mark in his side and the Fallen yelled in pain.
               “Sam! Pull me up, Sam! It’ll rip you apart!” MacCready screamed as black teeth sank into the Fallen’s leg, skeletal fingers raked at him to leave sizzling wounds, “No! Not again!” A shot rang loud, echoing far across the silent trees and the Glowing One shrank back, bright green blood spattering the metal. The Fallen had dropped his rifle to save MacCready and now it swayed in the hands of the injured woman. She held it up before her as the creature jumped at her, and both of them disappeared down the rusted staircase. The Fallen shut away the terrible burning pain and summoned strength enough to haul MacCready to the platform. The reprieve didn’t last long, and the pair ran to the top of the stairs.
               The Glowing One was dead. It lay lightless and broken on a landing, its neck twisted and torn from the fall. Eyes wide, lungs gasping, but whole, the woman slumped against the wall with the rifle across her knees. The Fallen staggered over to kneel beside her, and those wide eyes looked at him in awe,
               “It’s…it’s you. The one the caravans call a guardian angel.” Her fingers clutched too tightly at the gun when he reached for it. time for a different tactic,
               “Maybe I was, once. Maybe I was the last one.” He sat beside her, for suddenly his bones felt heavier than steel, “last angel in Heaven. God and all his others, had all flown away.” A bitter note soured his voice, “Couldn’t bear to watch anymore.”
               “They call you the Fallen.” A smile tugged at his lips,
               “Aye, they do, ever since the the bombs came, and burned away my wings.” MacCready watched from the stairs, his face solemn, “then I fell, down and down through the burnin’ sky…”
Gently, oh so gently, he pried the gun from her hands, then he smiled, “Well there you go, then. Listen, the Minutemen’ll be here before sunset, they’ll look after you, blankets, hot food, a bed, you name it. My boy MacCready here, he’s got a bit o’ business as needs takin’ care of. Come on, let’s get you to the house.”
               A coil of steam climbed out of the cup in the woman’s hands, no longer trembling. The Fallen leant the barrel of his rifle on his shoulder, seeing from the corner of his eye the inscription upon it, ‘Hand of the One’. “You saved our lives back there, ma’am, ever you need my help again it’s yours, no questions asked, no excuses, no fee. Take care now,” He touched the brim of his hat, and stepped out into the swirling snow. MacCready was leant against the blood-splattered sign, a cigarette between his fingers. They fell into step without a thought, “Mack?”
               “You called?”
               “What’d you mean by ‘Not again’?” Only the soft crunch of snow answered, and neither of them dared to look at the other. “…Deal with it later?”
“Yeah.”
“I hear you.”
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