I wanna do a Faerie au, but with Reader as the fae who lures/tempts one of the guys from 141 and steals them away.

Girl With One Eye

Paring: AscendedAstarion x fem!TavReader

Word count: 2.1k

Summary: You were the one who got away, and he's the one who never stopped looking for you. After the fall of the Elderbrain, you vowed to escape Astarion and the person he had become. Now, you reside in seclusion with Halsin and Jaheira, who have spared no effort to help you heal from your pain. Little did you know that when Gale seeks you out for an important mission, returning to Baldur’s Gate would ignite a fire of vengeance within you, aimed at the one who hurt you the most.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Ascended Astarion (he's his own warning), sexual references, angst, hurt and comfort, depression, mentions of suicide, mentions of children, death (no major character death tho....maybe)

A/N: There's something about my Tav that is simply beautiful, and I doubt I'll ever pinpoint what exactly it is. Additionally, I'm excited to announce that I'll be starting to post my fics on AO3! Once I have everything set up on that end, feel free to follow the progress over there too! I'm also contemplating whether to give Tav a name or not. For now, I'll stick with the standard "Tav," but that might change in future chapters.

You weren't sure what you had done wrong that day. Astarion had seemed torn between ascending, but after sharing a quiet evening together before deciding to raid the manor, something inside him had changed. "Astarion, stop. You don’t need to do this. You’ll kill all those spawn," you whimpered, stepping closer to him. Astarion spun towards you, his eyes darkening as his thirst for power began to consume him.

"They're all doomed anyway, Tav. There's no saving them. Unleashing seven thousand bloodthirsty spawn into the world is foolish. This is the best method to protect us, to protect you," he said, desperation evident in his voice, but there was also hesitation behind his eyes. He didn't want this.

"As doomed as they may be, Star, we can't kill them. You're not a killer." Stepping towards him, you stopped when his eyes darkened and his body tensed. Letting out a grunt, you threw your body forward, the metal armor pinching your skin from the position as Astarion began to probe around in your head.

"You are not taking this from me, Tav. I won't let you. I'm trying to give us a future together. I'll be able to walk in the sun with you, and you want to take that opportunity away from us and exile us to a life in the shadows?" he spat, smirking when he found what he was looking for in your head. "I won't let you take that away from me, Darling. You are either with me or against me." With that, he ripped Cazador's shirt from his body and brought the tip of the knife to his skin, smirking as it sank into his flesh. Astarion began to carve the runes into Cazador, your sobs filling the room as you tried to kick him from your mind.

-----

You wake, your body throwing itself forward as a sob tears through your throat. It feels as if you can't breathe, as though someone has their hand wrapped around your throat, cutting off your air supply. Leaning forward, you open and close your mouth in an attempt to force air into your lungs. The door to your room swings open, and Jaheira appears in the doorway, her shadow stretching across the floor where the light sits. Halsin quickly follows, sliding between her and the doorframe. He settles himself on the edge of the bed, gently placing his hands over your shoulders.

"My heart, you need to steady your breaths. Remember our breathing routine. In through your nose slowly, and then exhale," Halsin says, grabbing your hand so you can feel the movement of his chest as he begins to breathe, eventually helping you fall into the routine.

"I hope you die screaming."

Opening and closing your mouth, you wipe at your eyes, urging the tears to stop. Licking your lips, you hiccup, letting your gaze meet Halsin's before eventually glancing at Jaheira.

"I'm sorry for waking you both. I know you were prepping for an appearance with Lae'zel tomorrow." A chill shoots through you as your skin begins to cool.

Jaheira smiles gently at you and makes her way to you. "Little cub, there is no reason for you to apologize. I've noticed the nightmares have grown to happen more frequently now that..." Now that you're hitting the one-year mark of running away from Astarion.

Pulling your knees to your chest, you nod, leaning into Halsin slightly. "I know, and they're only going to get worse. It's been a year since I last saw him, Jaheira, and he still manages to torment me from wherever he is." Halsin and Jaheira weren't even exactly sure what transpired between you and Astarion; all they knew is that you ended up in The Grove, begging that they hide you away from him. You were soaked from the rain, and your feet were raw from running. Halsin had been worried you were attacked, but you weren't. Well, not exactly. You never had it in you to tell them just what Astarion did, and that you ran fearing he would find you.

The two glance at you before positioning you between them. While Jaheria assumed a more maternal role in your life, Halsin was someone you admired and trusted. They both enveloped you in blankets as Jaheria softly caressed your back, humming a gentle tune. Closing your eyes, you surrendered to sleep, this time, the nightmares stayed away.

---

You adjust your position on your knees, feeling the dirt seep into your pants as you continue to work the soil. Halsin had convinced you to join him in the garden to harvest tomatoes and plant flowers. It was a welcomed distraction from the events of last night. Wiping your arm across your forehead, you could sense the dirt leaving its mark on your skin. Your hair was tied back in a loose bun, with strands framing your face. As you move slightly, a flash of purple catches your eye, and you look up to see Gale making his way towards the cabin. Standing up, you greet him with a warm smile.

“Gale! It’s wonderful to see you. What brings you all the way here from Waterdeep?” you ask as he nears.

“Well, you know, adventures and... more adventures,” he replies, his grin widening as he takes in your appearance. The last time you saw him, you were curled up in your room, refusing to eat. Halsin had reached out to Gale in hopes of helping you. After weeks of his company, you had finally started eating regularly again, though you remained closed off about what had happened between you and Astarion.

You turn back towards the house before facing Gale again. "They should be inside. Would you like to come in? You must be tired from the journey,” you offer, gesturing towards the open door where Halsin appears. Deep down, you knew Gale was there for a reason. He had minimized his presence to help keep your location concealed, even vowing to only appear if there was something important to discuss.

Gale nodded and followed you into the room, where Halsin welcomed him with a pat on the shoulder. "Welcome, old friend. It's nice to see you again, though I suspect your visit isn't merely for catching up," Halsin remarked, his eyes hardening with his final words. Over the past year, Halsin had become increasingly protective of you, particularly after witnessing your condition when you arrived one rainy night, covered in mud and wounds. Seeing your once fearless and strong demeanor shattered broke him, reigniting feelings he once harbored for you. Since then, he vowed to keep you safe from Astarion.

Gale smiled grimly before turning to face you. Leading you and Halsin to the couch, he sat down and rubbed his hands over his robes. "You know I wouldn't come unless I truly needed your help. You're the only person I trust to carry out this task," he said, capturing your full attention. You hadn't looked at the armor in your wardrobe for over a year. Since the battle with the Elder Brain, you hadn't been the same. The encounter had changed you profoundly, leaving you unable to wield another weapon after being forced to confront innocent souls turned against you.

"As you know, our former companion has embarked on a quest for ascension. Baldur's Gate is in peril as he targets politicians and his spawn overrun the sewers. During his quest, he awakened something that threatens the city. I've consulted with others and you are my last hope. We need our leader and our courageous fighter," Gale explained gently.

Beside you, Halsin tensed and shook his head. "Do you realize what you're asking of her?" he began, rising to confront Gale. "You're sending her back to where she fled from. You're asking her to confront the man she won't even speak of. I refuse to subject her to that. She escaped once; who knows what Astarion will do if he finds her again. We can't risk her safety."

You felt Jaheira's presence behind you as she observed the exchange between Gale and Halsin. "I believe Tav should have a say in this, just as she did regarding her dealings with Bhaal. We trusted her with that decision, and I'm confident we can trust her with this. She won't be alone in facing Astarion; we'll stand by her," Jaheira suggested, always the voice of reason among the three of you.

She had a point. It had been a year since you escaped Astarion, and you had begun to heal. Perhaps facing him with the support of your friends was the final step you needed. You wouldn't be alone, and maybe you could show him that you didn't need him as much as he believed. "I think it's time I face him, Halsin. I can't move forward if I can't muster the courage to confront Astarion and show him that I'm thriving without him. Besides, I can't turn away from adventure. Astarion is endangering the city, and I feel compelled to stop him," you said gently, resting your hand on his arm.

Halsin hesitated before nodding. Gale clapped his hands together, a gentle smile on his face as he looked between the three of you. "Excellent. We should make haste; Shadowheart is due to arrive in the city tonight. We can use the Sigil to expedite our journey. It's time to don that armor, Tav; you'll need it," he said, locking eyes with you.

---

Your arrival in Baldur’s Gate certainly didn't go unnoticed, especially not with the ear-splitting shriek that Shadowheart let out upon seeing you. Her arms wrapped tightly around you, nearly causing both of you to topple to the ground. Returning her embrace, you let out a hearty laugh before pulling away to take in her appearance. She looked better than ever, her silver hair standing out against her skin. Her eyes seemed softer, and she genuinely appeared happier than the last time you had seen her.

"My gods, Tav, it's been forever since I've seen you. You were missed at the celebration Withers threw," she exclaimed, pausing to brush your bangs from your face. "Astarion was looking for you there. I was surprised you weren't by his side as usual. He grilled Gale and me for hours, trying to glean any information about your whereabouts. Considering what he's become, Tav, I don't blame you for disappearing. If we encounter him here, I promise I won't hesitate to have Gale fry him alive with a fireball," she added gently, causing a soft smile to spread across your lips as she squeezed your arms gently.

You and your small group made your way to Elfsong Tavern, where the entire top floor was reserved for your crew, a small perk after saving the city from mass destruction and assisting in its rebuilding. Stepping into the room, you glanced toward the side where you and Astarion had spent many nights discussing your future before confronting Cazador. It was a time when both of you were genuinely happy, before he became a stranger.

Snapping out of your reverie, you stretched your arms and set your things down near the bed. Shadowheart watched you from across the room before deciding to set up her bed next to yours. "I figured since you're over here alone, I'd join you," she said, her reasoning clear. The memories that lingered in this room had the potential to destroy you, and she didn't want you to face them alone. A small part of you was grateful for her presence.

Gale once again volunteered to cook dinner, resulting in Halsin pleading with him not to touch the food. As you sat back and watched the others bicker, a small smile spread across your face at the sight. It reminded you of the days you traveled together, how close you all were, and the strange little family you had become. All that was missing were a few friends and a vampire desperate for your attention. Frowning at the thought, you looked out the window, watching as people came and went from the tavern. It wasn't until a flash of white hair caught your eye that you stood.

As the others continued to bicker, you slipped out of the room and made your way to the alley where you had seen the white hair. Looking around, you tensed, your hand moving to rest on the blade strapped to your thigh. The feeling of being watched grew stronger, and the soft sound of footsteps sent a chill up your spine just before you whipped around and grabbed the arm of the intruder, slamming them against the wall and holding the dagger against their throat. Your eyes widened as you came face to face with a pair of crimson eyes. "Hello, darling...miss me?"

Crazy smells lately

day 1

Obviously i appreciate and cherish all of my senses equally but i feel like i overlook smell the most. i think for me it's a three-way first-place tie between sight touch and sound, and then smell and taste are a two-way second-place tie. if i had to rank them that is — i've been faced with that question a maximum of two times. that being said, the first time i got covid i was like if i lose my taste and/or smell i will kms. didn't happen thank god.

anyway. committed voluntary overstimulation by going into le labo this morning. now i am back in the hotel room and i smell like their paris exclusive vanille 44 perfume and it's giving me a headache. this is just like the time last spring when i put on my usual fragrance before going out — margiela replica by the fireplace … need to try something new i fear — and it gave me such a fucking horrid headache that i had to go to bed early. i like perfume just fine. sometimes it is totally too much though. and, like, i want to understand le labo, because everyone who is cool likes it, but i must have tested out like 10 of their perfumes (8 on paper, 2 on my skin) and i did not like a single one. the only way i can describe how i feel about it was that everything smelled wrong. too strong in an industrial way. i can't come up with a better word. i walked out feeling like i was covered in soot.

and like i'm not even trying to be contrarian here!! i tried so hard to like it! it just didn't do it for me.

tomorrow i am going to go to dover street parfums market. surprisingly i have never tried out any of the cdg perfumes, ironic bc it's my favorite. looking at the brand list on the site rn. little nervous but we will see how it goes.

a couple of my friends work at the aesop downtown which is near where i work, and i should probably go visit them. but i am worried that i just won't understand again. at least i will get a discount.

day 2

hit dover street parfums market. layout was crazy imo. it was like a very clean maze. i left overstimulated … surprise !

i don't have much to say. everything looked cool but i was overwhelmed. lowkey i blacked out. i have only a couple of formulated thoughts which i will share next.

guys i think there is something wrong with me … i didn't love any of the cdg perfumes either. i did like concrete the most, and cdg2 knocked me out in a bad way, but i was just like oh my god for most of it. i don't know what's going on!! i tried out the replica perfumes they had and those were the only ones i actually liked. have i been conditioned by maison margiela to only like their fragrances?! am i going through a phase??? is it ok to not enjoy perfume?!

ugh i need to get into perfume more because i have no idea what i'm talking about. i need to be able to recognize what smells i like-- in the winter i like to be warm and in the summer i like to be fresh, but i need to learn to pinpoint specific smells. hopefully i just smell good naturally too but my biggest fear, more than rejection and being forgotten, is smelling bad and i feel that i have to wear perfume to feel some sort of control!!

now i'm all like, why does it even matter if i don't like any of these dsm perfumes? obvi i want to signal to people that i know what i'm doing -- i am a bitch who loves fashion and has a coherent style whatever, and also a deep love of external validation even tho i am also confident in myself. so it shouldn't bother me if i don't fuck with a cdg perfume because regardless i still have my shit together. i can't let the perfume wear me just because of its brand! and yet here i am like nooo what's wrong with me. i need to take a nap

dspm

You're upset bc you got called out on saying something stupid like just man up and say ok I'm wrong I won't do it again sorry like that's all you have to do.... it really is that simple ????

Okay but have you seen my other posts where I said "I'm wrong I get it" "I get it I fucked up"Like I literally acknowledged I fucked up and people still felt the need to send a 17 year old death threats because literally you can't fucking disagree with anyone on this shit website without people attacking you. Like I'm literally being told to kill myself over a sarcastic comment I made and it literally drove me into having a psychotic episode because I literally have multiple psychological problems and I ended up carving awful fucking shit into my body with an actual knife. Like do people on here actually realize when they attack someone, that person might not actually be able to handle being threatened because of something literally so fucking small. I literally went to this person and tried to explain myself and yeah I did it in a petty way and they posted it for literally all their followers to see, but then as soon as I started getting anon hate they were like "but those aren't MY followers". Like how do you ACTUALLY know none of those people aren't your followers tho??? Like do you really think that ur followers are gonna step forward and say "yeah lol I was one of those ppl threatening that girl and saying that her and her family deserve to be killed" legit all because I compared TRUMP to fucking HITLER. Like bitch now that I've had my mental breakdown and I've calmed down a bit I can actually advocate for myself and say I'm allowed to have a differing fucking opinion than someone else and I shouldn't be fucking harassed for it. And idk wtf the whole "white liberalism" thing is when like I've done nothing to show I only care about the white race. Like yeah I'm white but that's literally just it??? Like sorry that I think that history is repeating itself bc THE SIGNS ARE ALL THERE and I have countless people agreeing with me WHO HAVE STUDIED THIS SHIT, that Trump is going to turn this country into something absolutely fucked up (he's literally having neo-nazis work for him like idk how else to fucking make this comparison any clearer???). Like are you just upset bc I compared him to hitler bc that's literally what everyone has been doing and it's annoying or are you literally trying to tell me that there are no similarities between them and that I shouldn't be worried as much as you all should be??? Like as long as you're not a Straight White CIS Christian Male, you're fucked. People are being fucking murdered because of this dude. What I'm trying to say if yeah I'm admitting I fucked up and I literally HAVE BEEN but none of you people people listen so I literally went into full panic mode and caused physical fucking harm to my body that probably requires a doctor to look at (let's be honest im not going to a fucking doctor because if they ask me why all this happened and I tell them it was tumblr discourse, they either won't understand or I'll get the biggest eye roll ever). I literally hope everyone is satisfied with themselves here. Are you happy that you got the "clueless white girl" to finally hurt herself because I hope you are. And the whole thing about me "using my mental illness to manipulate people and make them feel bad for me" is so much bullshit. Yes I had someone take a screenshot btw because I wanted to see how things were playing out. All because you got through this type of shit without support doesn't mean you're a better human being??? This was talked about as if people knew exactly what I suffer from and that it was just me using mild depression or something to excuse the dumb shit I do. And if you haven't fucking noticed yet, I literally just admitted right there that some of the shit I do is in fact dumb.If you want to get into this with me and you really want an explanation I can give it to you because that really isn't half the case. My family literally is full of people who have psychological problems (some of which I don't even know the names of). Just recently my grandfather (a retired police officer) was found hiding in his bedroom from my grandmother with a loaded fucking gun while whispering to it and he was later diagnosed with stage 3 Alzheimer's and he's convinced my grandmother is a member of the Italian mafia sent to assassinate him. I'm not telling you family stories for nothing and I'm sure you guys are gonna have a good laugh about this too because no matter what I say to explain myself I still get treated like shit. Im not even sure if I'm allowed to say this, but if even a team of Harvard Medical Graduates; professionals that people from all around the world seek for help from; can't pinpoint what psychological problems I have, then I shouldn't be given that "trying to manipulate people" shit. A fucking adult said this. If you have any experience with being mentally ill like you say you do, then you know just how fucking difficult it is to properly function and be able to say the right things and advocate for yourself. Do you know how fucking hard it is to fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning knowing that you'll probably have to rely on a caretaker for the rest of your fucking life because you can't make choices for yourself and will need to be under constant supervision so you don't fucking hang yourself one day?? I don't fucking enjoy being a literal walking disease, but thanks for implying that I would ever use it as a fucking tool to get what I want when I want it, you ignorant fuck. You didn't possibly think after screenshotting my mental breakdown that "Hey, someone probably has to have some type of chemical imbalance to type all of this out" before posting it and using it as a prop to get on some fucking high horse. I'm not some mildly depressed idiot fucking white girl who has no clue what happens outside of the cushy walls of my fucking house. I know how fucking horrible and disgusting the human race can be to each other which is part of the reason why I'm like this.I get it! You're so much more fucking smarter than me!!! I'm a stereotypical white western liberal! You caught me red handed! I literally hope that every single one of you have gotten your superiority fix for the day because I've literally had to move blogs because of this. I actually came back to this blog to clean up my mess of posts which is what I do after my episodes, and I happened to notice that one of the anons I had was surprisingly not abuse, but still something bitchy anyway. If you want anything positive to come from me answering this, then I'm just gonna say Thank You for not being like one of the other people who wished death upon me. If you guys still aren't satisfied with this, then I don't fucking know what else to say?? I've explained myself and admitted over and over that I was wrong, but nobody was satisfied until I freaked the fuck out and they got a good laugh out of causing a stupid white girl distress. I'm humiliated now and have pretty much become a laughing stock so yeah. There it is.