#i got a small table for them to have an underground burrow. USE THE FUCKING UNDERGROUND BURROW
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heres the ladies today + the first posted pic of what their tank looks like right now.
i bought some millet sprays while shopping and it's one of my bettr investments for them. as you can see ginger, dhal, and clove are going nuts for them.
it isnt the most naturalistic or well defined tank but i think it has more than the normal amount of enrichment.
#so mad that they keep trying to bury their house tho#like.#i got a small table for them to have an underground burrow. USE THE FUCKING UNDERGROUND BURROW#SO USE THE UNDERGROUND BURROW INSTEAD OF TRYONG TO SUFFOCATE YOURSELF.#i ripped up so much egg cartons and cardboard to give them soft bedding in their nesting areas without the aspen chips#because karyda and jasmine are very sensitive to the smell and would rather nest on straight up glass than be on the woodchips#but bc of this i had to fill in the area with wood shavings again#like ugh.#if you had just not been stupid you wouldve had a completely allergen free nesting area BUT NO#BUT NO.#they love their hammock tho which is surprisign because everytime i initially add it to their cage they go#feral trying to rip it apart.#but ginger and clove LOVE IT.#theyre in it all the time#im debating getting another platform (taller one probably) for the wheel bc they keep burrying that too and it hits against the glass#super loud at like 3am#and also 18 inches of height is way more space than i assumed.#the ladies
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This isn’t even my final form! *laughs in angst*
Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32206135/chapters/83214115
Chapter below cut for non-Ao3 readers:
“It’s not that bad…” Reginald said softly, gripping his right arm to cover up the fresh cut. Right frowned more before sighing.
“It is, ya have to put an end to this before he aims to kill ya!” Right practically shouted. He grabbed a bandage wrap and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol out of the medkit. "Now give me your arm."
"Righty, I'm fine, this isn't the worst pain I've felt, you know that." The brunette extended his cut arm to his friend. Right poured some of the rubbing alcohol on a rag, then ran it against the fresh wound. Reginald let out a quiet hiss at the stinging and gripped his right arm with his left.
"Y'know, kind of tempted to teach ya self defense since this keeps happenin'" The Aussie chuckled as he set down the rag and started to wrap the bandage around the disinfected cut.
"I know self defense! You were there!" Reginald said, defending himself.
"Sure, then how come you got this cut in the first place?" Right teased. Reginald puffed his cheeks and shoved the ginger with about the force of a teddy bear. "Okay kitten, I got your point now."
Right laughed a bit while Reginald sat there, cheeks puffed and red and crossing his arms. "Y'know Reg, you're cute when you're mad." With this comment Reginald turned bright red and shot his hands up to cover his face. Right laughed more and closed the kit, standing up to set it on the wooden desk next to the bed. Reginald grabbed his gloves from beside him and put them back on, avoiding any and all eye contact with his companion. “Reg, y’know that just because I gave you a compliment that doesn’t mean ya get to hide from me now.” Right said, calming his tone. He sat back on the bed next to the brunette, placing a hand on the other's back and rubbing it thoughtfully. Reginald nodded and smiled, before yawning and stretching his arms. “Actually I really want to tell you that-”
“Oh goodness! It’s so late, I hadn’t realised! I’m so sorry Right but you’re going to have to hold that thought! I have some more paperwork to do before tomorrow and it’s already 10:30, oh dear.” Reginald interrupted, letting his anxiety build up the more he rambled on.
“No, no, it’s fine, it wasn’t that important anyways. I’ll just head off and leave you to work then.” Right responded with a bit of despair in his voice. He got up and walked over to Reginald’s bedroom door, turning back to look at his friend. “Don’t burn yourself out again.”
~~~
Right regretted that day so much. It had been 14 years and he could never let that day go, and now all that regret he felt came right back at him, much harder than ever. The one thing he regretted about that day was not being able to say what he wanted to. But he couldn’t focus on that right now, right now, he had to panic over the fact that a stupid fucking flower tried to kill Reginald for the second time.
He had collapsed on the ground grabbing the broken soul from the glass shards and holding it close to his chest.
“Oh lord! I am so sorry! Shit, shit, shit, I’ll think of something.” Flowey spoke in a panic. He flipped through the book, trying to find an alternative to save the soul. Right just sat there paralyzed with despair. Tears started forming at the corners of his cyan eyes. He couldn’t say a single word, he knew Reginald would fade soon, there was nothing he could say.
Flowey continued looking through the book when he spotted something he didn’t recognise.
“Hey big guy, do you know what a soul bond is? It says here it’s the two human equivalent of monsters absorbing human souls.” The flower asked. Right had only a vague idea of soul bonds from hearing Henry talking to himself about them. But, there was one thing he knew for sure, it would be Reginald’s last resort.
“Tell me what to do.” Flowey glanced over the pages before clearing his throat.
“Ok, apparently this is going to be easier if you’re a DETERMINATION soul. What you need to do is channel your DETERMINATION to his soul, get the soul rebooted with that, then you’re going to try and get his soul bound to you in some way, it’s not very descriptive at this part.” He instructed. Right didn’t fully understand, but he knew he would still have to try his best.
Cradling his best friend’s soul in his hands, he focused on it, he felt as though he would be able to fix it. He didn’t pay attention to anything else, not even to his own soul that had been drawn out. He needed to fix Reginald. He was DETERMINED.
Right felt his soul grow heavier and saw out of the corner of his sight, it glowing brighter. He felt a tear roll down his cheek, then he was hit with a wave of pain that made him feel like his skin was being torn off.
“Oi flower boy! Get the doc!” The man shouted as he bent over more in pain. Flowey managed to tilt his pot enough to fall over, he pulled himself out of the pot with the table ledge as a stable support then proceeding to fall onto the ground before sinking in.
The Right Hand Man gripped his chest with his left hand, still using his right to hold his chief’s soul. His own soul was glowing bright, blindingly so. Right had to close his eyes from how bright his soul got.
“Reg! You have to work with me here! I need you to be strong right now! Please! I…” He paused, letting more tears fall down his face. “I love you!”
And then…
He opened his eyes again, the bright glow stopped, the shards that had chipped off of Reginald’s soul stayed in place. A stream of red DETERMINATION flowed from Right’s soul to the other, filling the break like it was glue. The shards reversed, attaching themselves to the soul once more.
He was fixed.
~~~
Flowey re-emerged from the ground in a panic, looking around for anyone, to only see Frisk, the white-haired human, and their once sibling. He sighed and burrowed down again to get closer.
“Listen Frisk I’m just saying…..what are you doing here?” Chara started before addressing the appearance of the flower. Flowey couldn’t choke this time, he knew what he had to do.
“Where’s the doctor?!” He shouted. The two humans and the ghost were a bit startled at this.
“Why? Is something wrong?” Henry asked.
“Um...god, what was his name again? Why can’t I remember it?! I only remember how stupid it was!” Flowey panicked to himself. Henry immediately knew what was going on.
“Right Hand Man! Is he in danger?!” Flowey nodded in response.
“He’s in the medical tent! And the souls in trouble too!” With the mention of something having gone wrong with Reginald’s soul, Henry shot up.
“I’ll go get the doctor, you kids stay here!” He explained, focusing attention to Frisk and Chara. He ran off in the direction of where everyone else was, leaving Flowey, Frisk and Chara alone.
“So, um, how are you doing Flowey?” Frisk asked nervously. Chara glared at the Flower.
“It was your fault wasn’t it? That’s all you do.” They said.
“No, I was just helping.” Flowey argued.
“And you helped the underground by stealing all of our souls?”
“Chara! He did manage to break the barrier, cut him some slack.” Frisk stated. “Plus, he’s really trying to make amends.”
“your friend is right, y'know kiddo, that flower’s done some awful stuff.” Frisk turned around to see the voice coming from Sans.
“Hello smiley trashbag, when’d you get here?” Flowey asked.
“just now, thought i should poppy in.” He laughed. Flowey rolled his eyes. “anywho, i came here to inform you kiddo that your new friends seem, not so great.”
“What do you mean Sans? They’re really nice.” Frisk asked.
“niceness can only get a soul so far, especially for level 13 soul.” Frisk was shocked at this comment. “judging by your expression, you never even CHECKED them, kid, that’s like asking for a fight. i only got to check henry as he was searching for alph, so who knows about the others.”
“Sans, you’re being paranoid! If they haven't hurt us yet then, then won’t hurt us soon.” Sans sighed at what Frisk said.
“just be careful kid. You should not trust people who came from another world.” His tone had shifted from his usual one, to a serious tone. “anyways, i’m off to check in on pap.”
Before Frisk could even speak again, he was gone.
~~~
Alphys had been in one of the tents nearest to the medical tent, talking with Undyne about some anime they hoped to watch since on the surface, it’d be much easier to access new anime. As they were discussing, Henry ran in, taking a moment to catch his breath.
“Woah there punk! What’s got you all riled up?” The tall fish lady asked.
“Emergency...in the medical tent...danger!” Henry spoke between pants. Alphys jumped in surprise. The three of them rushed to the medical tent, throwing open the fabric entrance to see Right Hand Man trying to get up off the floor using the nearby chair as support.
“Oh my goodness! A-are you ok?!” The doctor asked in a panic, rushing over to help them man up.
“M’fine, jus’ a little after shock. Nothin’ I ‘aven’t ‘andled before.” Right answered in his usual thick accent while rubbing the left side of his head.
“Then why’d...your eye!” Henry started before cutting himself off as he noticed that Right’s left eye had gone from it’s normal turquoise color to a light blue shade, with even the red ring around the iris having changed to a teal color. Alphys looked up at the aussie before noticing the same change.
“I-It’s true! Whatever you did must’ve changed your soul!” She explained, pressing a hand against Right’s chest and retracting it to let his soul be drawn out.
His normal soul did pop out, but it had faint teal orbits circulating it. Along with his soul, a familiar light blue one also appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, it’s break had been sealed with solid DETERMINATION and even had more pumping through newly visible veins.
“Is that?! No it can’t be...unless…” The other human started before trailing off into his thoughts. Then he noticed the discarded leather book on the table, opened to the page with a familiar process. “You binded your soul with the chief’s, didn’t you?” Right looked away for a moment while raising a hand to the teal soul and stroking it lovingly.
The soul glowed brighter.
“It was the only option, Reg’s jar got knocked over and it broke, he was goin’ to fade if ah didn’t do something.” He looked back. “Granted, the flower didn’t give me warnin’ that the process would hurt like a stab to the chest.”
“Yeah, the pain of the other’s death is reflected onto the bonder.” Henry receipted. The other three in the tent just stared at him. Even the way Reginald’s soul was facing and glowing felt like judgement. “Hey, I just read it somewhere.”
“Well now what?” Undyne asked in a monotone way.
“Now, we let Reginald soak up enough determination from Right’s soul until he’s ready to show himself, then he’s got to get used to being a ghost for a bit and if he understands what to do, he’ll fix himself.” Henry answered. He left the tent after finishing his sentence, wandering into the woods for a bit.
“Well he was helpful, I mean, he didn’t even explain half the things I would have to do!” Spoke a disembodied voice in a British accent. Right looked around for a moment, Reg wasn’t there.
“Course not Righty, I’m dead remember? But now since you binded our souls, you can hear me! And I can hear you!”
Right was losing his mind wasn’t he? Maybe he needed more sleep? Well, if you can hear me, then did you hear what I said to bind our souls? Also, what can you see since you can only hear me? He thought.
“Nope! Didn’t hear a thing until your DETERMINATION powered me! And, well, I don’t know where I am, it’s just pitch black and I’m all tangled up in something, not sure what it is, I think that since it’s coming from my wound, it’s blood. Y’know it’s so nice to talk to you, I missed you a lot, I’m actually glad you were the last thing I saw before I ended up in this hellhole.”
Right laughed internally, tied up in your own blood? Yikes. He smiled, now knowing that his darling friend was at least somewhat happy.
~~~
“Hey Heny~ what’s wrong? Missed me?”
“God no, it’s just that...now Right Hand Man is caught up in this whole soul bond business. I don’t want him to know that you exist.” Henry responded, leaning against a tree.
“Well I know what can help that doesn't involve killing all your friends~” Player cheerfully said while reaching into their cloak pocket, only to pull out a-
#shattered mirror#undertale#thsc#the henry stickmin collection#toppat recruits#cliffhanger#CrossOver#fanfic#fanfiction#post-pacifist ending
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FIC Pt 10: Only August Walker knows how Ethan Hunt dies 1/1
Summary: You are a medic and a member of what’s left of The Apostles. August Walker has been found alive and thanks to you and your team, he’s well on the mend. And now REVENGE!
Ilsa was the first, second was Luther and then Benji met his maker. And now ETHAN MUST DIE.
You and August get even closer like a cute little MURDER couple. This is the end of A Month of August Walker Challenge.
Note: If you like the IMF team, you probably won’t like this series :)
Rating: Minor mention of violence, the climax of the series, you’re gonna love it ;)
Would like to be notified with I post a fic? Message me to be added to my general tag list. Thank you for your support.
Want to read more? Click for my Masterlist
Want to start from the beginning of this challenge? This challenge needs to be read in order. Click to get started with the first prompt entry.
The Obligatory Intro Post to the Challenge
01 August - Please come back, August Walker
02 August - Hello August Walker, I heard you were dead
03 August - Watch your hands, August Walker! People might talk.
04 August - Don’t talk to me, or August Walker again
05 August - Does August Walker even remember you?
06 August - How do you like your coffee, August Walker
07 August - Which part of her do you want, August Walker?
08 August - August Walker, I love it when you’re bad!
09 August - Put your mouth to good use, August Walker
Ethan Hunt was not a stupid man.
In fact, he was quite the opposite. He was cunning and clever and suspicious which were characteristics that helped him to remain one of the top Mi6 agents.
He also had a golden streak of very good luck and August Walker was just about to ruin that man's whole career.
'He went squirrely, ' said Ayami who was pawing through a tin of broken Danish butter cookies from where she sat perched on the kitchen counter-top.
Two weeks after you returned from the Dunn business, Ayami just turned up at the country safe-house. Much to your delight, you'd found her one morning sitting at the kitchen table having a bagel and cream tea. And you knew why she was there. Things were winding up to the big payoff and the team needed to be as consolidated as possible.
'What does that mean?' you asked her but it was Mr. Instant Coffee who answered.
'Means that he knew what's good for him and went underground.'
'Because all of his peeps were getting murdered,' Ayami finished cheerfully and you half expected her and Instant Coffee to slap hands in a celebratory high-five.
August sat silently in his usual place, thoughtfully turning the small white coffee cup in a circle on the table.
'Last time he was seen?' he asked finally.
'Park hotel, Berlin,' Instant Coffee read from the reports supplied by the 'boots on the ground' team. 'Been there for about a week, but he hasn't really stayed one place for more than that. We should have moved earlier.'
'No,' said August, not looking at him, but at the cup. 'No, we want to give him enough rope to hang himself. Let him get complacent.'
'Do we have time to let him get complacent?' Instant Coffee said. 'I mean, the longer we wait, the more time he'll have to burrow in like a fucking tick.'
You looked at Instant Coffee for a moment. He did have a point.
'Okay,' August replied easily. 'You're right.'
At that moment, your respect for August Walker increased ten-fold. That he was able to take in the opinion of the other members of his team was unbearably sexy. He may have earned a little leg over for later that night.
'I'm going alone,' August announced finally, drawing the sharp attention of everyone in the room.
You reined your own reaction because an emotional response in that instant would have been inappropriate. You knew exactly why August wanted to hunt down Ethan alone. Hunt had not only gravely wounded August’s body but also his pride. His revenge was personal.
'That's probably not a good idea,' said Instant Coffee, obviously feeling confident that he had scored a few brownie points a few moments earlier.
August scowled and looked to you. Meeting his gaze, you nodded once.
'August should face Hunt alone,' you said to the room and then to him, added, 'but I don't think you should go alone.'
There was so much gratefulness in his eyes that you felt embarrassed and looked away. You didn't want August to see the answering distress in your eyes. If the fight on the cliff side had been fair, and luck hadn't been on Hunt's side, August wouldn't have lost. Tossing August over the edge was poor sportsmanship. You were afraid that Hunt would employ other clever tricks and defeat August for the second time. And now that August wanted to take the IMF leader on his own ensured that he would be left vulnerable to losing the upper hand.
You didn't want to lose him again, but you remained silent. This was ultimately August's decision and he had made his choice.
**
The two of you didn't speak much on the trip to Berlin. There wasn't much to say. You didn't dare express to him your fears, because that would only serve to distract him with your possibly misplaced doubt. And distraction was the last thing August needed.
When he pulled up to a local hotel to drop you off, you stayed in the car, sitting quietly for a moment, unsure what to do or say. Sighing, you turned to him and reached to cup his cheek.
'See you soon,' you encouraged him. 'Bring me a trophy.'
August nodded and you got out of the car.
Come back to me, you thought watching the car disappear in the afternoon traffic.
Your room faced the Berliner Fernsehturm and you could hear music from the festival going on in the square below. You took a long hot shower and stretched on the surprisingly comfortable bed. It wasn't the Shangri-la, but it was charming and it wasn't long before you fell asleep.
The room door thunking shut as if a heavy weight collapsed against it awoke you hours later. With a gasp, you shot upright and reached for your weapon. You couldn't remember where the light switch was, so when you scrambled up from the bed, you backed up to the table under the window and jerked open the curtains to let in the artificial outdoor light.
The scent of sulphur and petrol filled the room and as your eyes slowly adjusted to the differences in the light you could just make out the bulky form sitting on the floor against the door. You knew that form as the impression of it was etched on your own flesh.
You put your weapon aside and padded barefoot across the hardwood floor, grabbing a towel and wetting it as you passed the small bathroom alcove. You crouched before the shadowed figure and put your hand beneath his chin. You lifted his face to the light and it was clear that Hunt had given August a run for his money.
You gently cleaned the dried blood from his mouth and chin, carefully working it out of his moustache and scruff.
You wanted to say something reassuring, something positive, but you were too overwhelmed with relief.
'Well,' you murmured, stroking his face. 'I hate to see the other guy.'
August was silent and you hoped you hadn't over stepped the line.
He then held up a small package wrapped neatly in butcher's paper and tied with white twine. You took it from him, pulled the string and the paper unfolded to reveal your trophy. Holding it up to the light, it took a moment for you to recognise the carefully extracted evidence of Hunt's death and you smiled.
'Come on, you big brute,' you said fondly, attempting to pull him up from the floor.
When August didn't budge, you stopped straining against his weight and gasped with exertion.
'You're gonna have to help me here, babe!'
Groaning miserably, August managed to get his feet beneath him using the door and you to heave himself from the floor. You struggled to get him out of his clothes and under the soft yellow light above the sink you examined him. Big swollen bruises bloomed across his chest and back accompanied by several shallow scrapes and slashes. You wasted no time washing him up, patching his wounds, and getting him into bed.
Lying on his belly, August was still asleep when you woke the next morning. You went to the minibar refrigerator, withdrew your trophy and admired it in the morning sunlight. Your mobile beeped, distracting you.
It was a message from Ayami.
'Tell your boyfriend to be a little less conspicuous next time, ok?' she'd written.
Curious, and glancing at August's sleeping form, you rang her.
'What's that mean?' you asked when she answered.
'I mean that August didn't need to leave that fucker's burning corpse in the warehouse. He damn near burned down the place.'
'He was obviously sending them a message,' you answered, smiling gleefully, proud of your little murder puppy.
'I can understand that,' she shot back sounding uncharacteristically irritable. 'But that also earned us more attention than we wanted.'
You sobered.
'Is this something that needs to be taken care of?'
'It's already handled,' she answered and some of her good humour crept back into her voice.
You sighed and relaxed, wrapping an arm about your midsection.
'He's not my boyfriend,' you said after a moment with no conviction in your voice and she laughed incredulously.
'When are you coming back?' she asked, changing the subject.
'I dunno. Depends on what August wants.'
'Ok, you two lovebirds hash it out and I'll see you... whenever.'
'Thanks, Ayami. I love you!'
'Get something from the Wall museum for me, ok?'
You disconnected the call and tossed aside the mobile.
Feeling a warm sense of well-being, you re-wrapped your trophy and stored it in the refrigerator again. Climbing into bed next to August, you lifted his arm, crawled beneath it, and curled your body against him.
August had exacted his revenge and you felt satisfied for him. But you weren't sure what was going to happen now. The mission that had consumed so much of your year was over. You felt un-moored and a little panicked, but when August tightened his arm round you, your hamster wheel of thoughts scattered.
There was time to worry later, now in the heat of August's embrace was peace and with a small smile still on your lips, you put your head against him and slept.
This is the end of A Month of August Walker Series. I hope you enjoyed it and please like, reblog and comment.
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Necrokitty Tales: Trouble in Inkwell Isle (Chapter 7)
Authors’ note: Remember, Necrida’s writing will be in italics and SPKC’s writing with be regular font.If you have no idea what this roleplaying thing is, you can start from the beginning here.
Harvey woke up at the sound of his mom banging a pot and blearily looked at the time. “Oh no! I’ve slept in!” He gasped, jumping out of bed and quickly getting dressed. He was about to dash out of his room when he doubled back for Mina’s notebook.
Shoot, he didn’t get to show this to his sister yet. Maybe Mina would come over after school and they could show her together.
That’s what Harvey hoped as he grabbed his lunch box and dashed out the door, not even looking at any of the surroundings.
–
Mina kissed her mother goodbye and took the road to school. At the observatory she saw the broken tree and a strange hole on the floor. This caught her attention! She immediately got close to the tree, mentally analyzing the cracks and shards. Same with the hole. She looked carefully at the way it was digged, there were no claw marks… so she ruled out mole-people. No, this was something else… something… that smelled like flowers. She looked up to the sky, maybe the answer was out there…
She realized she was going to be late if she lingered any longer, so she decided to come back later, maybe with Harvey, and take notes in her adventure journal. And so, she went to school happy and excited for her new discovery.
Mina got in class right when the bell started ringing. She had to run all the way from home and she was out of breath. She took her seat and looked around to see if Harvey was around yet.
Harvey made one last final sprint as the bell rang into the classroom and faceplanted with his desk.
The other school children started to giggle as the teacher shook her head and muttered under her breath. Harvey looked up, rubbing his forehead only to spot Mina and wave excitedly.
Mina got worried for Harvey and was about to go check on him when he waved at her showing he was ok. She smiled and waved back. The lessons of the day begun.
Unbeknownst to Harvey and Mina, Spike was already glaring at them both and plotting his revenge for detention the other day. His dad had tanned him good for showing up late to dinner so he was going to make sure he would return the favor.
–
Cagney did not sleep well. He kept jerking awake, sometimes mid transformation. He didn’t like the dreams he was having. They weren’t pleasant but exhaustion kept forcing him to try to sleep again, even as the sun was already up.
They were dreams of happier times between him and his former friend only for them to be tarnished quickly by his anger. Even a memory of a picnic turned to hearing his friend scream.
He tiredly opened his eyes. “I shoulda just let Tauros gore me,” he grumbled to himself. It probably would have hurt less to have two gaping hole chests in his chest than a big emotional one in his heart.
What was his plan if she did try to stop by? She wouldn’t. But what if? Would he violently throw her out? Or just burrow again. There was nothing the woman could do when he was underground. Not that she would want anything to do with him again.
Cagney decided burrowing was his best option. He was stubborn and if he said he never wanted to see her again and then he went to see her, she’d think she could just walk all over him. That she could accuse him of lying whenever she pleased without listening to him. If she had only give him a few minutes, he might have remembered that he caught the small spyglass and shown her the claw marks on the sheets covering the walls.
He tried to make his heart cold and it wasn’t quite working. Maybe with time. Time didn’t heal all wounds, but it certainly made them hurt a bit less. He wondered how long it would take to completely get over a 20 year friendship.
–
Hilda barely slept a couple of hours. She had spent the entire night turning in her bed, playing the night events over and over in her mind. That stare… She shivered. Since she couldn’t sleep she decided to start her day, there was a lot to be done anyway.
First she took a shower, hoping that might relax her a bit. She dressed up, and got down the stairs to the kitchen that still smelled like burn so she left the windows open. She skipped breakfast and went directly to the projection room. She grabbed a broom and a trash can from a closet and started sweeping lost in her thoughts.
HIlda kept swiping around until she stumble on the pieces of the big pot. She delightet herself remembering Cagney´s face when he saw the smaller pot inside. She really touched a sensitive fiber there. Her vision started to blur. She realised she was crying again. She immediately wiped her tears and she dropped the broom angrily.
“Stupid Cagney! That damn weed almost fucking killed me! ” She tried to change her sadness in anger again, but this time, it only resulted in more tears running through her cheeks. She cover her face weeping silently and slowly crouched hiding her face between her knees.
She hated herself when she succumbed to weakness like this. After a few minutes, she started to pick up the pieces of pot thinking she might be able to glue it.
She remembered Cagney’s comment about a failed art project and a shy smile showed in her sad face. He would definitely made fun of her if she tried to put this together. He would make a witty comment, and she would have a comeback, and they would forget about it with a laugh.
A stronger memory came back to her, terribly aching her heart: the time she got tricked by a certain someone, pretending to be someone else, made her fall for him so he would get her soul contract. She remember how Cagney fought for her, how he held her tight… He prevented her from losing her mind completely…
And last night… the way he looked at her… did he really mean it?
Near one of the pieces she found her old spyglass. She looked at it surprised, did they knocked out something when they storm off? She nearly gathered all the pieces of the pot when she found the statue.
Something was wrong here. She went back to the exposition room where those items belonged, nothing else was missing and everything was in order.
Her heart froze at the view of the purple flower next to the poppy.
Hilda put the things in place and got closer to check the plant. It was really pretty and … it had a note!
Her hand shook a little when she reached for it. It said : ‘Leaving a note to REMIND YOU we got reservations for friday. Also, try not to kill this one’.
“Oh… no… ” she felt the weight of guilt on her shoulders.
‘We’re definitely not going!’ Tauros voice echoed inside the woman’s head.
'What?!’ Gemini joined in. “We’ve planned this like a week ago!”
'Yeah! And it cost us a heated argument just to decide a place we both liked to go’ Sagittarius decided to join.
“C'mon you guys! You really think after what he said to me… after the way he looked at me! He would still go our date?” Hilda talked to herself.
'Oh! So it IS a date’ Gemini giggled.
“W-what? No… I mean… appointment? Rendez-vous-OH! Whatever! Point is, he is NOT gonna go!
And neither am I!” She threw the paper at the projection room.
Hilda stood in place a few minutes until she silenced the voices in her head. She took a deep breath and walked back to the projection room. She got discouraged at the sight of the huge mess and leaned on the wall.
She took some time to analyse the damage. There were shards everywhere! On the blankets, the pillows, the chairs… that dome was gonna cost a lot to rep-why there’s a hole on the wall?
Hilda frown and got coser, it was the vent! Why it was open? Her heart skipped a beat. Cagney was telling the truth? Somebody was stupid enough to break in? And she yelled at him. Her guilt was getting heavier by the second until she remember he almost choked her to death…
She held her head confused and sat on one of the chairs just to stand up right away at the feeling of sharp crystal in her rear. If she ever get her hand on the thief…
–
During lunch time Mina told Harvey about her discovery this morning.
“And, I’m telling you, that is NOT a mole people hole! It was way too big and no claw markings! Plus it smelled very good.”
Harvey scratched his ears. “Huh. I mean I’ve seen a few larger holes than normal but a really big hole? And a nice smelling one at that? Doesn’t ring any bells. The only nice smelling hole I’ve ever seen is the time my mom dropped an open bottle of perfume down a hole by accident.” The rabbit wrinkled his nose. “That wasn’t exactly a nice smelling hole though either. Did you wanna go check it out after school? What did the hole smell like?”
“We are definitely going to check it out! The hole smelled like flowers! And there was a broken tree near that too! My suspicion is…” she whispered to Harvey “Aliens! From Venus! I hope you remembered to bring my adventure journal, because this is a major discovery!”
Todd, the mosquito kid who was in detention yesterday with Spike heard them talking. With a grin he sat on Spike’s table.
“I know how you can get back to them!”
Spike eyed the mosquito classmate. “Lay it on me, bloodsucker. I’m itchin’ for it.”
“I heard them talking about a journal. It seems very precious to that new kid”. Todd smiled “it would be a shame if something happen to it.”
Spike rubbed his hands together. “It would, huh? Let’s say we visit the dorky duo on their way home, huh?”
The mosquito nodded at his friend with a grin.
–
Hannah waited patiently for the chance to talk to her cousin and the opportunity finally presented itself when her mother left the house for a few minutes to get a some things. She hopped over to her cousin and motioned him over. “Hey, Henry. I have a question.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you meet the big flower?” She asked twirling the red ribbon in her hair
“Yeah.”
“Was he as grumpy as Harvey says?”
“He was very grumpy. He yelled at me and threw me out and threw stuff at me.” Hannah’s face fell at that. She was really hoping her older brother had been exaggerating.
“Ah.”
Henry scratched his head. “It was weird though.”
“What?”
“He was really angry and stuff, but he asked me if I was okay.”
“Really?” Hannah asked, her face lighting up again.
“Yeah. And THEN he threw me out.”
Hannah wiggled happily. “Will you go with me to see him?”
“Heck no!”
“Darn.” Hannah thought of something else. “Do you think he needs a quilt?”
Henry thought about it. He didn’t remember seeing any bedding of any kind while in the pile of lost school supplies. “Maybe. I didn’t see if he had any.”
“Yay!” Hannah jumped happily. “I’ll get started.”
Henry shook his head as his cousin ran away to her room. This whole family was weird.
–
After what it seemed like the longest day of her life, Mina rushed Harvey to go faster. She really wanted to investigate and explore the hole.
Harvey was moving as fast as his floppy feet could carry him. He never had to be rushed before unless someone was chasing him. Usually he was the faster one.
But Mina’s excitement was contagious and even he found himself eager to leave school and go check it out, even as something was gnawing at him inside that the hole was bad news bears.
As they were passing near the flower field Todd and Spike blocked their way.
The little mosquito grinned maliciously and stood behind Spike with his arms crossed. Mina immediately stood in front of Harvey.
“What do you want, Spike?!”
—
It had taken the whole day, but Cagney had finally sorted his thoughts. Or at least enough to lapse into a restless sleep once more. He had not wanted to be gored, sure, but had his reaction really that extreme? He had been exhausted, high off panicked adrenaline (nearly getting crushed by a massive ton of glass could do that to a fellow) and then kicked out and caked and nearly gored.
Maybe he could be slightly justified in a counterattack and he could have just smacked her into a wall. That wasn’t much better but it was better than choking her. Could he really not have stood to hear her berate him anymore last night that it warranted suffocation? Well, he definitely got exactly that and she didn’t say another word to him.
And most likely she wouldn’t again.
He craved silence at the moment and stirred irritably in his sleep, almost aware of a loud commotion by his fence.
–
Spike grinned and chewed his lip. “I want your notebook, Mina. Now give it to me before I make you both sorry you crossed me yesterday!” He barked.
Mina looked at him surprised. How did he knew about her notebook?
“What notebook, you… you idiot!?” She was brave, but not very good in dealing with conflicts.
The shouting was starting to attract the other students heading home from school. They started to gather round, to see what would happen next. There was a general murmur of “What notebook? Like her homework notebook?’ someone asked.
Harvey winced and his ears drooped. Oh man, he’d normally high tail it out of here, not wanting to get beaten up in front of the entire class. Again. However, Mina was standing her ground, albeit not that effectively. And he didn’t want to lose a friend this quickly. So he remained frozen, holding onto their backpacks instead.
Spike barked loudly again. “We overheard you at lunch going on and on about your special little notebook. So hand it over!”
Mina noticed the kids gathering around them. Second day and she was already in a fight… normally it takes a week or two… and the notebook, her precious adventure journal… she should have been more careful when she talked about it.
“Go away Spike, before you get hurt! ” she showed her tiny claws hoping it would discourage the little puppy.
Kids around gathered even closer when they realised there might be some blood.
–
Cagney was growing increasingly irritated. He just wanted silence now but there was a buzzing noise now. He opened his tired eyes to see a bee nearby.
Normally, he wouldn’t mind the bees, but today was an exception. “Hey, buzz off will you for a bit. I’m trying to get some sleep,” he complained.
“No can do, bud. We’re way behind schedule as it is.”
“Ugh.” Cagney wasn’t in the mood to argue and throwing out a bee was never a good idea (stingers hurt) But another idea came into his head. He could hit the pest with a dandelion and when he was disoriented, plop him outside and send him on his way. It was a bit harder to cough up dandelions in his regular form but there was no way he was going to transform back into his monstrous form. He had done enough damage with that, thank you very much. So he started hacking and coughing in an attempt to pull them out.
The bee gave Cagney an odd look. “You need a glass of water, bud?”
“No, hchh, hchh, I’ll be done soon,” Cagney couldn’t help but chuckle at the confused bee.
–
Spike smirked. “Ooh, look, this bat’s got claws. Cute. Well I got these,” he opened his mouth, showing off his canine teeth.
When Mina still didn’t back down, he barked. “Todd! Pull Harvey’s ears!”
Harvey squealed at that, drawing everyone’s attention and pulling his ears down. “Leave us alone!”
With the kids distracted, Spike charged Mina.
Mina opened her eyes wide at the look of Spike’s fangs, she didn’t think of that…
Todd obeyed with an evil smile on his face and attacked Harvey.
Mina wanted to go and stop him, but Spike charged on her making her lose her balance and fall on her back facing him. She tried to find a part of his body where she could sink her claws.
Kids around started yelling, encouraging them to keep fighting.
Harvey swatted and tried to desperately kick at the mosquito before seeing Spike push Mina down! He gave one more final swat before running to her aid, trying to push Spike off the B-cat.
Spike winced as Mina scratched at him but with his thick bulldog skin, it wasn’t as effective as she would have liked. He gave her another good shove to the ground before yanking away her backpack from a distracted Harvey.
“Todd! Keep em busy!” He yelled sticking his hand to grab the notebook.
The other children were really cheering and yelling now. This was really exciting now. Most people just gave up to Spike but this was really different even if Mina and Harvey were losing.
–
Cagney was about to chuck a wad of dandelion at the bee when the insect jumped backwards in surprise. “Who’s doing all that yelling?!”
The flower didn’t anticipate that and reared back to avoid the stinger, only for his head to hit the bench of his tree. He coughed and breathed in the dandelion attack instead.
The bee fluttered over to Cagney as the carnation choked and coughed. “Hey, hey bud, you okay there?” The bee asked in concern, reaching out to shake the flower.
He stopped as Cagney unsteadily jerked toward him, revealing his pupils dilating manic under the effect of the dandelions.
–
Todd quickly pushed Mina as she was about to tackle Spike making her fall on a very muddy zone making it difficult for her to get back on her feet.
He turned to Harvey, pointing his stinger at him.
“You better not move, Dumbo! Or this time I’ll drain you!”
Harvey froze at Todd’s threat, not sure if he could actually do it, but not wanting to risk it if he could. He looked toward Mina worriedly.
Spike gave a triumphant shout and pulled out the notebook. He waved it in front of them both with a sneer. “Awww. So cute!” He laughed. He grabbed one of the pages and started to pull.
“NO!” Mina yelled when he started to pull the pages from her journal.
Harvey thought fast. He pointed behind Spike. “Hi, Mrs. White!” He yelled.
Spike immediately stopped pulling the page and looked around wildly. “Where? Where?”
Todd also looked back to see if Miss White was there.
When Harvey cleverly distracted Spike, she waved her wings with all her strength, release herself from the mud and was about to tackle Spike with her claws fully out.
“Ain’t no teacher here,” Spike realized, turning. He saw very very angry Mina lunging at him and panicked. He looked at the field, look at the notebook, look at the field, one last look at Mina and then chucked the notebook over the fence.
Harvey gasped. “Not the field!”
There were equal gasps and yells from the other kids as the notebook sailed over the fence and deep within the field.
Mina stopped looking with wide eyes at her notebook landing on the other side of the fence spreading some pages on the way.
She gave a furious look at Spike, her eyes filling with tears and her body shaking with anger. Then, she slowly walked towards the fence.
Harvey grabbed Mina’s arm. “Wait, wait, Mina! Don’t go in there, it’s not safe! We-we can go get my mom or something later just-!”
Mina was too angry, she just wanted to get her notebook and go home. When Harvey grabbed her arm she hissed at him. She cleaned a tear from her dirty cheek and climbed the bench with the agility of a cat.
She didn’t even looked around to see if there was somebody watching. She simply let herself down with the help of her wings.
Harvey stood there, every cotton fuzz ball on him standing on end. He swallowed and turned toward another student. “Can you go get an adult please? My mom or uh, someone?” And with that he jumped over the fence as well, trying not to freak as he did.
Two of the other children ran down the road. Looking for an adult.
–
Something landed with a loud flap near the bee and Cagney let a wild swing toward it, hitting a patch of clover instead with a dulled thud. The bee saw how hard he demolished that patch of clover and paled.
“Say, bud, I think I’m going to just head home. I’ll come back later.” The bee buzzed off quickly leaving a very disoriented carnation.
Cagney was really disoriented. This had to have been one of the stupider things he had done to himself. He laid still, seeing if that would make the world stop spinning but not by much. Unaware of the notebook that lay near him.
–
The two kids ran as fast as they could to the observatory and knocked at the door. Hilda was in no mood for visitors today, she had too much in her mind right now, so she decided to ignore it.
After a couple of minutes the kids started to lose patience and run to the next house.
They had more luck here, an adult was already outside the house gathering some berries from the nearby bushes.
“Help! Help please!” The kids yelled.
Isabella turned her hears at the direction of the sound. “Kids? W-what’s wrong?” She answered worried.
The kids were a bit out of breath but they managed to speak.
“Please, lady! Hhh you gotta help!”. Said one of the kids.
“The hhh the field hhh flower!” Continued the other one.
She heard 'help’ and 'flower field’’ and she immediately understood where she was needed. She just hoped Mina wasn’t involved. She dropped her basket with the berries and took flight following the strong smell of Cagney’s flower field.
–
Everybody looked in silence, almost as if they were holding their breath. Suddenly, they heard a thud nearby and they all gasped in surprise taking a step back, but they couldn’t see the carnation.
Todd, feeling that this wasn’t going to end well, got closer to Spike and whisper, “We should get outta’ here” and discreetly stepped away from the fence.
Spike did not move yet. “Nuthin happened yet,” he grumbled, “don’t be a chicken.”
Todd stopped walking away but he still kept his distance.
–
Mina stood still at the sound and tried to scan with her little bat ears the origin of the itm but her little heart was beating so fast it was almost the only thing she could hear.
Harvey tugged on Mina’s arm, drawing her attention and pressed a finger to his lips, giving her a scared, reassuring smile. The little rabbit pointed in the direction of a big tree. “I think I saw it go that way but we have to be really really quiet.”
The fact that the Carnation wasn’t already yelling might be a good thing. Maybe he was asleep. In which case they might be able to grab the notebook and leave. The two crept closer, Harvey still holding Mina’s backpack.
Mina looked at Harvey surprised and she showed a grateful smile. She felt very bad for hissing him before. She looked at the direction he was pointing at and nodded. She got on all fours and walked as discreetly as possible trying to keep her body hidden through the flowers.
Harvey spotted Cagney and prevented Mina from moving any closer. The flower was…asleep? Harvey wouldn’t have believed it, but yet there he was, lying down on the meadowy grass, not moving, facing away from them.
He sighed in relief but his ears drooped worriedly as they spotted the notebook. It was dangerously close to the carnation. He could see the b-cat’s eyes light up at it and he shushed her before she could shout in excitement.
“That’s Cagney. It looks like he is asleep…which is really lucky,” Harvey admitted. He was never asleep this late in the day. If someone was careful, they could probably get the book. He motioned Mina close and looked at his friend. She was awfully scuffed up from her brawl with Spike. Even her wings looked a little battered.
They wouldn’t have been in this mess it hadn’t been for him. He swallowed and pressed her backpack into her hands. “Stay here, I’m going to go get it. It’s my fault that it was even brought to school in the first place,” Harvey explained.
Mina gave Harvey an skeptic look and denied, moving her head. If the flower woke up she new she would be able to avoid it with her cat reflexes, she wasn’t so sure if Harvey would be able to move as fast. She really didn’t want him to get hurt…
She put on the backpack and pointed Harvey towards the bench to indicate him to leave.
Harvey was secretly grateful when Mina declined his offer. The carnation kind of spooked him a lot. He crept away just out of immediate reach of the plant and made a binocular hand gesture with his hands, hoping that would indicate to her that he was going to watch from a safer distance.
Mina nodded and smiled at him. She then turned to the carnation and walked closer very slowly trying to reach her journal with her arm. She realised she was shaking.
Harvey watched his friend creep closer and sighed. They were really lucky he was asleep. A little too lucky, Harvey realized, his attention flickering over to the flower. How could the carnation be asleep when the sun was out? There was no way they would could be this lucky. Unless…
Cagney wasn’t actually asleep.
Harvey’s eyes widened as he realized the carnation had moved slowly and maybe it wasn’t as noticeable if you were up close and could only see a part of him, but from where Harvey was, he could see the whole stem was twitching.
The rabbit suppressed the urge to shout. He had to warn Mina. He waved frantically at the bat who had his back toward him.
The little girl was too focused in not making a sound, she didn’t noticed Harvey trying to get her attention.
Finally she grabbed the notebook and picked it up as delicately as she could to prevent making any noise with the pages. It was really hard with a shaky hand. A few of the pages fell down making very little noise. Mina grinned her teeth and looked at the flower without daring to move.
–
Cagney’s eyes shot open at the small sound. God, he’s not sure if that was a real sound or not. In this state, he could probably hear colors. He should probably start with just standing and if he could manage that then maybe he was actually hearing real things.
–
Harvey hopped up and down now, watching the flower starting to rise up from his base, waving his hands frantically.
Mina bit her lip and quickly started to pick up the pages and putting them back inside the notebook. She turned around towards Harvey and this time she saw him jumping frantically. She thought he was just happy the she recover her journal and smiled at him holding the notebook triumphantly in the air.
–
Cagney’s head swiveled around as he rose to his full height. His eyes locked on a figure in front of him. One that wasn’t there before. He tried to focus on it but he couldn’t exactly see what it was. It was small, kind of dark. It didn’t ring any bells.
Until he spotted the pointed, cat like ears. And a tail. His eyes narrowed as his mind started to put two and two together. This looked just like the cat burglar from last night. Had she really been stupid enough to try to steal from him in his own garden. It even looked like she had a bag or something.
–
Harvey watched Cagney loom over Mina and his eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. He pointed and shook his head frantically back and forth, trying to get her to come to him. He didn’t think her vision was the best but she had to at least see that he was freaking out, right?
The little bat paled. Now she understood what Harvey was trying to say. She repressed the need to look back holding her notebook tightly against her chest.
#necrokitty#tales#smallpersiankitten#smallpersiankittencuphead#necrida#cagney#carnation#betchstein#isabella#mina#harve#hare#HIlda#berg#submission#rp#rolplay
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[Supernatural] No one will know the violence it took (M, Michael/Adam, 3.8k)
No one will know the violence it took (Can also be read on AO3)
Michael / Adam Milligan (M)
With thanks to Hillywood for actually freeing our boy from the Cage, I don’t mind writing for this fandom once more. So long as I don’t have to address actual canon because have no idea what’s going on.
Part 5 of Somewhere to Begin
(“I'm sorry. I'm sorry you are who you are and you got mixed up in all of this. I'm sorry you decided to forgive me and I fell for it. I'm staying away. What else do you want me to say?”)
Adam bites the inside of his lower lip and blinks his vision clear of that borrowed memory. He shakes off the remembered lash between his shoulders of the cold wind on that dark night, the empty street spilling before them. Michael hovering, angry and shaken, uncharacteristically at a loss.
Sometimes Adam wonders if Castiel really did him a favour downloading all of that to his brain.
(”What else do you want me to say?”)
How does Michael transition from a psychopathic mass murderer to a man who even considers that he’s at fault? Who pleads with Adam to forgive him? How does Adam even inspire the thought in Michael’s head that he doesn’t want to torture Adam and play with the already fraying threads of his mind?
“It starts with you, Adam,” Castiel unhelpfully reminds him just when Adam thinks the angel has finally given up the cause. “The war turns when you get him on our side--”
They’re three boxes through unloading their supply run in late winter, running up and down the stairs from Sam and the trailer back to their food pantry.
Spring is just around the corner. Adam can taste it in the thaw of the morning, that minuscule difference in degrees that settles on his skin like mist instead of frost. It couldn’t come soon enough. Being cooped up underground is driving him stir crazy with the seasons dragging longer in an beleaguered stream of overcast days.
Adam just has to wonder aloud when this might all end and he can eat some real food again. At least if they had some fresh ingredients, he could cook them a real meal. And somehow the angel contorted that question into the Bigger Picture.
Doesn’t Castiel understand rhetoric?
“Well maybe I can’t, okay? And maybe I don’t want to."
Adam whirls, shoving the box of canned vegetables on the central table of their bunker. A pile of jars pickling sun-dried tomatoes and fruit jostle at the corner. Kevin would be disappointed if they toppled; Adam glares at them until he's certain they won't.
"He’s a psycho. He messes with people--he kills them and he enjoys it, speaking from experience.” He throws his hands up in dismissal. “And I don’t want another fucking cent of that guy. I just wanted a normal life helping people, but failing that: a quiet after where I could be with my mom. Since I don’t get that either maybe the least I can ask is people stop trying to shove that fucking maniac down my throat again. And when I say people, I really mean you -- it’s just you, Castiel. I will turn up to your shitty war and keep the kitchens stocked, I’ll oil the gun barrels and do your research, I’ll keep Kevin safe. But stop trying to make Michael and me happen. It’s not gonna happen.”
Castiel stalls at the top of the stairs, arms full of canned beans. His face pulls in contrition, “Adam--”
Adam throws up a hand up signalling the conversation over, mouth terse as he storms off, boots stomping on his ascent of the tiled stair. He’ll feel bad about putting that look on the angel’s face and making Castiel put the rest of their food away by himself, but for now he’s done.
///
One day, the war will end, humans and all other species will have peace, and the archangel Michael will stop invading Adam’s dreams like it’s his regular pit stop. But--dragging his hands down his face in exhaustion, Adam laments--it is not this day.
“Your vessels are no more than marionettes in a storefront: stars and dust collecting memory as you drag yourselves towards death. The oldest of us understand what you really are… we can rearrange your atoms, however we like.”
Michael stands in the open living-slash-dining space of Adam’s motel room with all the grandeur of a self-important, ageless being unaccustomed to sharing the spotlight. Adam doesn’t have the heart or the care to tell him this isn’t the Globe Theatre. Michael’s hand turns on the air, twisting some unseen dial to a design in his mind’s eye. His dark eyes gently thin on his spectator.
“I could unmake you. And make you again. Over and over. Until I was done with you.”
Doesn’t Michael get tired of this?
Slouched against the headboard of his bed and tucked beneath the sheets, Adam draws his knees up with a slow, heavy sigh. “You’ve done that already--down below. Or is ‘the oldest of us’ also the first to forget?”
It’s ten-past-ten, he would really like to get some proper shut-eye. He hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep since he tried to make reparations with the First Nations tribe they pissed off when Adam’s brothers trespassed on a hunt three weeks ago. So many elders and families to apologise to. Things Dean just did not care about.
Michael’s expression loses its bright, faraway glaze, focusing on his former vessel. His mouth curls in a smile. “It didn’t all hurt, if you remember.”
Where is Michael going with this?
Adam blinks back at him, careful not to flinch. He must present only a portrait of tired exasperation.
“Never said I didn’t,” he concedes, and turns his back, burrowing down into his thin cocoon for the evening. It still rails against his instincts to show even a figment of the angel his back -- his subconscious doesn’t know that Michael isn’t really here and bears no real threat against him.
The creak of floorboards make him tense. He shuts his eyes and bites his tongue when the mattress dips with weight.
Michael is not really here. He can’t hurt him.
“Maybe I’ve been trying the wrong approach,” the angel's timbre softens, warm and low. "Too much stick. Not enough carrot.”
Adam refuses to react to the presence radiating heat at his back through the sheets. His fingers clutch a little tighter to the duvet tugged tight around his shoulders.
Michael is not here.
“Good night, Michael,” he mutters tightly in dismissal.
Warm breath stirs the hair above his ear, and years of conditioning tell Adam to remain as still and quiet as death, to wait--wait, hold his breath and pray, wait--
He’s not real. He’s not real.
“I’m coming for you, little Adam,” Michael promises him in a soundless breath. “I’m going to find you. And I’ll make you so glad I did.”
///
“I’m really glad you’re not seeing that vampire anymore,” Kevin tells him when they’re packing the small barrels of rock salt and mountain ash into the back of Sam’s truck.
Adam narrows a look at his not-quite-maybe-friend, and glances around to see who may be in hearing distance. Thankfully, his brothers have disappeared back into the bunker and Castiel….
Adam has stopped caring about Castiel.
“Kevin. Dude.”
He doesn’t clarify that he was never ‘seeing’ Michael; his dignity isn’t that fragile, and he knows what Kevin means: I’m glad you’ve stopped sneaking away and risking your life to barter with that guy.
Adam doesn’t clarify that since they ran out of sage to ward the places they sleep, Michael has been invading his dreams instead. Well, Adam is the only one who ran out. More was supposed to arrive in the latest stock run but Sam’s supplier didn’t come through. Adam just has to hold out for a few more days. In the meantime, Sam needs it more than him.
Adam may also have failed to disclose this recent development.
It’s just as well. He was getting light-headed from all the blood loss of his face-to-face time with Michael. Not to mention the other reactions the angel inspired from his body the last time they met.
He shoves the memory away, like a dirty sweater kicked to the back of his mental closet.
Adam and Kevin agreed never to speak of it. At least, Adam negotiated for Kevin to hold his tongue in exchange for getting to speak with his mother. Far be it for Adam Milligan to keep a guy from his mom. If Adam had his way, they’d all be home with their moms by now.
Kevin, unfortunately, forgets the exchange was for his silence because his face falls into a soft pout and he keeps talking. “He’s dangerous, you know. He could really hurt you. And you’re my friend. And what if he hurt me?”
Adam sighs under his breath, slamming the tray closed once the barrels are secured. “He’s not gonna hurt you, Kevin. He has to protect you.”
For now, Adam echoes. Who knows about tomorrow? Kevin doesn’t need to lie awake at night from nightmares about the fickle oaths of angels. Kid hears enough about the Order of Dickheads On High from Dean’s daily sermons.
He stills as a thought occurs to him. He considers Kevin with a narrowed eye. “You been having dreams about him?”
Kevin blinks with a small frown of confusion. “No. Why?”
Hmm. “Just checking. They’re known to do that sometimes.”
Kevin peers closer at him, dark eyes frustratingly earnest. “Are you?”
“Nope,” Adam lies and resigns himself as Kevin crowds close, suspicious and worried, their shoulders brushing in their hurry back to the shelter of the bunker. The convoy is locked and loaded for Sam and Dean to go do their hero stuff. Good riddance.
Or, God willing. Adam really has to get the intent straight in his head. Sam and Dean have to survive this. He wants them to fight and come back safe because--
--If they don’t, that’s one less buffer between Adam and this war.
No! Because he just doesn’t want them to die. He doesn’t want anyone else to die.
“I don’t like leaving you with him,” Kevin says.
“You won’t have to. We’re done.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“And you shouldn’t.” Why does Kevin think Adam still needs convincing? “All angels are the same.”
Kevin’s expression turns troubled. He looks so young when his face twists like that, seeking an olive branch of congruity in this crazy world that’s yawned open beneath his feet. “But… Castiel isn’t like that.”
Adam doesn’t like the angel, but he has to concede the distinction. “All angels who haven’t been kicked out or clipped their own wings, are exactly the same.”
///
Castiel finds Adam a few days later in one of the rare circumstances he’s allowed topside without an escort. Well, it’s a nice illusion. The appearance of Castiel affirms that he is never truly alone.
It’s a nice place, this vantage from the bunker aboveground on the lake. The sun has broken through the clouds of Winter grey, beaming over the calm water and basking Adam in a warmth he tries to draw down into his bones. He slumps on an overgrown tree stump by the shore, breathing deep and listening to the breeze coo through the pines and the water lap at the brambles.
Castiel lowers himself, folding his legs by Adam’s stump and Adam watches the angel’s trenchcoat smear with moss. The effort is noted. Castiel doesn’t often sit.
“I’m sorry if I’ve put undue pressure on you,” Castiel says, careful and halting. He glances up, briefly meeting Adam’s eye and unlike every other dysfunctional fuck in their party, at least Castiel’s contrition comes before the crime. The angel licks his lips, searching the vantage of the lake and the tall pines of the shore on the other side. A piercing cry makes them both look up. A falcon soars by, wings spread wide and high above the treetops.
“Not long ago, I would have asserted you had to do this because it was the only way. But oblivion… brings a certain perspective. I’ve been betrayed, beaten and killed more than most. I think you and your family are uniquely qualified to empathise.”
Adam snorts a laugh under his breath. He flicks a wreath of twigs he braided against his thigh. “You giving me permission not to do the thing I already said I wasn’t going to do?”
Castiel sighs. “I’m sorry, Adam. I was wrong. Before, I didn’t know. We’re all desperate to protect what we care about.”
Dean. It goes unsaid, but the fact he and Castiel are now a thing has changed a lot.
“I used to believe the ends justified the means,” Castiel continues, the soft breeze ruffling his fringe as he gazes out to the lake. “I believe it was sung into our being on creation. And I was ready to be the means, to sacrifice anybody and anything for those ends. But the ends are the same for all of us. Death is coming for all of us. Your brothers and I… we’re trying to help what happens after. And there will still be sacrifices to make, but… it also matters how we get there. I tried the other way. I was fooling myself thinking I had any real control over the outcome. But I can control this: so, if I’ve caused you any more harm in asking you to do this--I’m sorry.” Castiel’s voice lowers, apologetic and gentle. “You don’t have to turn him. Maybe we’ll find another way. Maybe we won’t. But that’s not on you alone.”
Adam stares out at the lake and he can’t quite tell when his vision began to burn and blur .
A wet laugh chokes out of him and he swipes his cheek when some of those tears escape. He thought he didn’t need any of those apologies, but maybe that was just because he believed they would never come. He feels like his chest has been wrenched open and something black and poisonous has loosened its hold on him.
Castiel really is the exception.
“My brother does not deserve you,” Adam finally says, voice thick, resolutely glaring at the lake. “He’s way too primitive.”
A hand closes around his elbow and Adam looks down. Castiel smiles in understanding, squeezing his arm. Adam swallows thickly and nods back, remembering a time before he knew about monsters and Winchesters, and he might have thrown his arms around someone for sharing something so sincere, but Minnesota was a long time ago.
Everything is different. Even him.
///
“Fuck me well enough to remember; I won’t need a sex tape.”
The words reach Adam murky and incomprehensible as he rises from the weight of sleep. Strange noises prickle his ears, familiar but estranged in this context of waking alone in his motel bed, a line of drool smearing against his cheek on the pillow. He raises his head to peer blearily at the white paint peeling from the bathroom door, then the dark curtains still drawn over the windows, not a hint of sunlight breaking through.
What time is it? What’s going on?
“Relax, baby. Open up for… that’s it. Breathe with me.”
Wait a fucking minute.
Reality hits him like a shard of ice between his shoulderblades. He whirls in bed, sitting up sharply.
Slumped in the bedside armchair, Michael holds Adam’s most jealously guarded possession above his face as the video plays on that phone: telltale whimpers and grunts fill the room. Adam feels his face flush with panic and embarrassment, all coherent thought flees his mind.
Fuck, fuck--
“What the fuck are you doing?” is all he can screech.
Michael doesn’t even glance his way to acknowledge he’s been caught, he doesn’t blanch or flinch at the knowledge he’s watching a sex tape of the two of them. A tape that somehow involves neither of the two people currently in this room He’s probably watched the birth of galaxies and orgies of entire dynasties; this probably doesn’t even blip on his radar.
Adam’s mind spirals to a terrifying possibility: Michael will want to know where this video came from, how this video even exists. He’ll force Adam to talk, and soon enough he will realise that there’s another future Adam is aware of. If he’s discovered the phone, what else had he discovered in its storage?
Adam’s stomach drops. If Michael grows aware of the reality Castiel is trying to forge, will he nullify it entirely?
(“That’s not on you alone.”)
A grunt of amusement draws Adam from his mental spiral.
“The way you move, Adam,” the angel shakes his head, posture lazy, shoulders dropped low in his chair. Michael raises an eyebrow, swiping at the phone screen and Adam’s ears burn hearing his counterpart cry out. “I’ve watched this five times and I still can’t believe it.”
That smirk turns on him and Adam flushes all over again, this time definitely in embarrassment--and anger at himself.
He should have known. He should have done something--been more careful about what memories Michael could access through the door and down the hatch of his dreams. Maybe if Adam hadn’t watched the video multiple times himself, it wouldn’t have preserved itself in his memory for crystal clear recollection.
Shame winds hot through his gut. He did this to himself.
The sheets twist as he kneels forward on the bed. He thrusts his hand out. “Give that to me.”
The video abruptly falls silent and Michael pulls a face at it. “Why haven’t you watched to the end? Are you that scared of me coming inside you?”
Adam didn’t think it was possible to blush any harder. He falters at the force of the full-body flush of horror, hot and dizzying. He feels sick. He’s sure his face is beet red, his head is ringing and his heart feels like it will ratchet its own chambers apart. He stumbles off the bed all the same, towards the archangel, reaching for his phone.
“Why would I add to my nightmares?”
Michael frowns gently and keeps him at bay with a raised hand, holding the phone away. The simple touch against Adam’s shirt is enough to make him flinch back. And from the way Michael pauses, studying him, it does not go unnoticed.
“Nightmares?” Michael’s frown turns quizzical. “You looked like you were enjoying yourself.”
“That’s not us!”
“I know that’s not us.”
Michael stands, flooding into his space, almost chest-to-chest. Adam stumbles back, feeling the blood that had rushed to his face abruptly drain elsewhere, heart thumping, hands tingling, priming for a fight.
Michael cants his head, a familiar and dangerous little smile curving his mouth. “But it could be, if you tell me where you are. You’ve thought about it.” Michael studies him closely, eyes glittering in the dim of the bedside lamp. “Haven’t you?”
Adam stares back in shock. Michael seriously isn’t going to ask him where he got that video?
This is all very disorienting.
Misinterpreting his stunned silence, Michael presses on. “Remember? With the power I have, I could unmake you… you remember what it feels like when it hurts.” Michael searches his eyes carefully. “Imagine… remember. We can tip it the other way.”
Adam swallows nervously. That knowledge, that muscle memory is the undercurrent of every conversation, every look, every touch that Michael has brushed against him since he stalked across the parking lot of that bar with Adam in his sights.
Their most recent encounter only confirmed it, falling against each other with the delirium of blood loss and a brief inversion of power. Michael’s mouth on his skin, sinking between his thighs.
In the dim of Adam’s dream, Michael’s smile gentles, coy. “If I made you feel good. Rearranging your atoms, I could wreck you from the inside without ever laying a finger on you. Give you so much pleasure, leave you hoarse and slavering, it would break your mind.”
Adam huffs a rueful laugh under his breath and shakes his head.
There it is. Always warping back to control and damage. It doesn’t matter how it happens, so long as Michael gets to enjoy creative and fun ways to unmake him.
Adam’s voice cracks, trembling. “Do you remember... when you weren’t so into breaking people? And... you actually protected me? Down there?”
In the Cage.
That video had disturbed Adam for weeks. At first, he thought it was the obvious revulsion of seeing himself wrapped up in his enemy. He felt sickened and betrayed by his other self, and the unwanted arousal it inspired. But he was most repulsed when he realised beneath it all was a wretched sadness--mourning for what could have been.
Because the way Michael held and sheltered him in that video made him recall when they first landed in the Cage. Their relationship had never been like that, but--
“I looked for you,” Michael reminds him, voice a thick slurry through clenched teeth; one of those involuntary truths. Huh. Adam didn’t even consider if that would still work in dreams. “I took you back and I fought for you, remember?”
“You gave up,” Adam mutters, throat tightening.
Michael has inflicted a lot of hurt on Adam and his family, but this fact aches the most: Michael wasn’t kind before, but the Cage turned him downright cruel.
Adam trembles, fists clenched at his sides. He glowers, unsure what to make of the way Michael studies him, expression softening. “I blame you and your brother. But he’s not the one who won’t leave me the fuck alone now. I fucking hate you. Yeah, you could play me like a puppet; that’s all you’re good for now. But you couldn’t make me feel a genuine thing I enjoyed if it killed you.”
He steps in close enough that he feels the typical heat Michael radiates, the sheer power and energy of his angelic form straining to contain itself in the month’s vessel of choice. One breath too deep would press them together, Adam would feel that heat through the thin layer of his shirt. He doesn’t push his luck, though he very much wants to shove both hands against the angel’s chest and watch him stumble. He wants Michael off-balance, staggering back--
--On his knees, nuzzling his smile into Adam’s palm, rumbling pleasure at Adam’s praise (“you did so well”)--
Adam kicks that memory down the hatch and slams the door shut.
“You’re pathetic, General. I can’t even pity you. Get out,” he growls.
Michael raises an eyebrow. “You’re not fun when you’re sad.”
Adam’s fist flies, but Michael is gone before it connects--and Adam jolts awake mid-swing, tangled in his motel bed sheets.
The sky is paling to a grey sunrise behind his curtains. He is alone.
He thumps the mattress with a snarl and takes a deep breath.
Not fun when you’re sad, Adam’s mouth twists into a bitter scowl of frustration. Asshole.
#midam#michael (supernatural)#adam milligan#supernatural#castiel#kevin tran#dream sequences#somewhere to begin#my niche is officially redemption arcs of psycho and sociopaths
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Love in Literacy
A slow, slow burn in which you are a partially deaf librarian who teaches Levi to read when he first comes from the underground. Spoilers for the No Regrets OVA!!!
(also posted on ao3)
CHAPTER ONE
You lifted your chin up to peer back into the window positioned behind your bed. You squinted your eyes. It was still pitch black outside, even the moon was dim, wispy clouds enveloped its light like a thin veil. You could feel the bitter morning air seeping into your small room, despite the window panes being closed tightly shut. Normally in this situation, you would flop back onto your side and burrow yourself further into your blankets, willing yourself back into a slumber. But regrettably, you had to get up. You savored the warmth of your sheets for one last fleeting moment before whipping your legs out of your bed and placing your feet on the icy tile floor. You groaned as you reached up, stretching your back.
You pushed the scattered clothes, books, and loose sheets of paper that rested on the floor with your feet, creating a path for you to actually walk through. Before you entered the bathroom, you shot a glance over your shoulder back at the filthy state of your room. When was the last time I actually cleaned? You had always been a messy person, but as long as other people didn’t see its cluttered condition, you couldn’t find it in your heart to care. Besides, did it matter that your room was a little messy? You scrunched your nose. But this was a bit much, even for you.
But you didn’t have time to dwell on that, besides, you had gotten up at the ass-crack of dawn for a reason. You yawned as you entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind you, so you could pretend the chaos residing outside of it was nonexistent. Out of sight, out of mind. You turned the small glass knob on the sink, cupped some water in your hands, and began scrubbing your face vigorously with the cold water. Just as you were about to style your hair, you paused and stared at your reflection in the mirror. I suppose I don't have to do much with it anymore, you thought, frowning. When you were still a serving military member, every day, you would style your hair up into a tight bun, to prevent it from impeding your vision. One of the best parts of the day was making it back home, flopping your tired bones onto the bed, pulling the hair tie from its taut position, and feeling your scalp relax.
You stared at yourself in the mirror in front of you. Your eye bags had become more prominent, but aside from that, you looked clean. Put together. You gave your reflection a practiced, polite smile. It was convincing enough. Satisfied with your appearance, you left the bathroom and made your way to your wardrobe. You skimmed your eyes over its contents. Eventually, you decided on, (or rather, it was the only clean item of clothing you had) a dark royal blue dress, with a white buttoned upfront. You whipped off your nightdress, exposing your bare skin to the chilly interior of your room, shivering as the cold air hit your skin. Fuck, it's cold. You pulled the dress over your body, got your shoes on, and snatched your glasses from your desk. You pushed them up your nose, adjusting them slightly. Everything came into focus. You were ready to begin the day.
You walked to the door and swung it open into a long wooden hallway, and began to make your way down the tall corridor. The only thing providing you light were the small, dimly lit lanterns placed along the upper half of the cream white walls. You reached large wooden doors, releasing a small grunt as you pushed them open. You repeated this process with two more hallways, silently making your way through the old castle. Unsurprisingly, you didn’t see anyone else while you walked, and it wasn't long before you had arrived at your destination, the castle's library. After your discharge from the Scouts due to your hearing (or lack therof), Captain Erwin offered you the opportunity to stay at the Scout Headquarters, to work in record keeping, and general maintenance of the library. It’s something you were extremely grateful for.
You pushed open the library's heavy wooden doors. You could feel the long, shaky creak they released under your fingertips as you did. You made your way down the center of the long room, mentally preparing yourself for the workload that your superior had so graciously gifted you with. The library was nothing grand, but it was spacious enough to house five rows of large cedar bookshelves, although they were somewhat crowded. The floor was partially covered with a dark forest green carpet, that went through the middle of the room. Down the center of the shelves was a wide pathway, so that guests could navigate their way through the shelves, with various wooden tables, chairs, and couches for them to seat themselves. At the end of the room was a wide desk, covered in books and other clutter. That desk was where you did all of your work, and spent most of your hours of most of your days.
You sat down, and cracked your knuckles before looking down at the writing on your open notepad.
Levi Ackerman, Isabel Magnolia, and Furlan Church.
A little bit over a week ago, Captain Erwin had entered the library, asking you to gather as much information on these three as you possibly could. When you had inquired as to who they were, he told you that he was looking to possibly recruit them into the Scouts. You had raised an eyebrow at this, but you didn’t press him any further than that. You, among many others here, placed a lot of trust in the Captain's judgment. If you recalled correctly, his squad had gone down to retrieve the three today… or was it yesterday? You furrowed your brow. You really couldn’t recall. Well, collecting information on them had been a huge pain in the ass. Hours you had spent, scavenging through various documents, files, looking for something, anything pertaining to their backgrounds. Unfortunately, your efforts had resulted in essentially nothing. The only thing you had found on them was their wanted posters. But you supposed it was to be expected. Documents for people living in the Underground were usually spotty if existent at all.
You snapped yourself out of your thoughts and began with the task at hand, which was reviewing and sorting through the files of the new scout recruits. Erwin apparently needed them completed by seven o clock today, hence the painstakingly early wake-up time. You took a deep breath, focused your vision on the multitude of papers in front of you, and began to work.
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Miraculously, you had managed to finish early. There was less work than you had anticipated. Damn, I guess I could’ve slept in had I really wanted to, you thought to yourself, as you leaned back into your chair, looking up to the tall ceiling. You frowned. You suspected that it would be a while before the Captain arrived to collect your work so, in the meantime, you decided to go for a breath of fresh air outside. You hoisted yourself up from your work area, and sauntered to the library's large wooden doors. Again you made your way through the corridors of the large castle, that now had the morning sun's light passing brightly through the long windows. You courteously greeted a couple of people as they passed you in the halls. Eventually, after pushing open one last door, you had made it outside. As you did, you felt a stinging cold rush of air hit your face and shuddered.
As much as you disliked pitying yourself, you decided to take a stroll out to the training grounds to reflect on when you were an active soldier. Your eyes glazed over the wide field that used to be where you practiced hand to hand with your squadmates. You missed it.
Going outside the walls was terrifying, and it wouldn’t be honest to say that you never felt like you had regretted your decision. Time and time again, you had mourned the deaths of comrades, after seeing them die in the worst ways imaginable. You still had nightmares. But it gave you purpose. It provided you some sense of control over the impending horror of those monsters outside the walls. You weren’t naive enough to be oblivious to the fact that your reasons for fighting were selfish, for your own twisted sense of comfort. Wanting to feel needed...but was there really any harm in it? Alas, being partially deaf and continuing on expeditions was too high of a risk. Communication was key, and if you couldn’t communicate properly with the rest of the group, you were extra baggage. Another corpse thrown into the back of a cart to be pulled through the gawking crowds of the inner city. You were only partially deaf, so in combination with being able to somewhat hear people speaking very loudly, and the fact that you could read lips, you were still able to communicate normally with those around you. You weren’t entirely useless.
You continued walking along the side of the fields, suddenly halting at an idea. Maybe if I go to the common area, I can say hi to Hange. Recently, you’d been so swamped with work that you couldn’t have your little meetings with them. . With that, you swiftly changed your direction and began to head over to see Hange. On the off chance that they were on break, maybe you could talk with them briefly, if they were still working, you would head back to the library. You bit your lip in thought and brought your hands up to hug your arms, rubbing them for some heat as you walked.
To your surprise, when you arrived, there was an announcement being made. The scouts were lined up in rows, eyes up at the front. You halted for a moment, then you made your way up to where you were as close as you could be to the front, while still placed behind the soldiers. You saw Commander Keith Shadis standing in the front, along with three others you didn’t recognize. You inched a little further, leaning your head in a tad so that you could get a better view of the Commander's lips. You strained your eyes.
“ATTENTION ALL” Keith bellowed , looking through the crowd in front of him. “FROM TODAY, THESE THREE WILL BE FIGHTING ALONGSIDE YOU ALL.” The nice thing about Shadis was that he shouted about every sentence that came out of his mouth, so you could hear some of the things he was saying.
Ah, so these must be the three that you were researching. You shifted your focus to the strangers standing next to Shadis.
The girl on the left looked younger than the other two, chestnut brown hair framed her face, which housed fierce green eyes and an eager smile. She had a petite, but still athletic-looking figure. At the opposite end of her was a tall blonde man. Handsome, you noted, silently. He had light hazel eyes, that seemed a bit apprehensive in front of the crowd, arms folded stiffly behind his back. Finally, your eyes laid on the man in the middle.
Short. Moving on from his height, you began to observe his other features. He had jet black hair, styled into a neat undercut. His mouth was set in a hard set line, unfaltering. Your eyes moved up his face, and you made note of his pale complexion, as you reached his eyes... they surprised you. Damn, if stares could kill… Piercing, frigid black eyes is what you were met with. Under them were prominent eye bags that strongly contrasted his pale face. Weary. You found that you were staring at him, your eyes unknowingly drawn to his presence. Without you realizing it, his eyes had turned onto you. When you noticed, it gave you a start, and you quickly tore your own eyes away from him, suddenly finding the dirt on the ground insanely fascinating. After a couple of seconds, you dared to look up again, and you saw that he had returned his focus back to the crowd.
Suddenly you felt embarrassed, not because he had caught you staring, but because you had folded so easily under his gaze. Everyone in the vicinity was staring at him, so it’s not like he caught you doing anything wrong, and yet you reacted like a child that had gotten caught stealing a cookie from the jar by their mother. You sighed before glancing back up to the front. You saw the girl's lips moving. You assumed they were introducing themselves, but you couldn’t hear them all that well anyways, and besides, you already knew who all three of them were. I suppose I can talk to Hange later anyways, perhaps during lunch… With that, you pivoted on your left heel, swiftly turning your back to the crowd, and began a stride back to the library.
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You had been sitting at your desk, head buried in a book that studied human biology, for about ten minutes. When it came to reading, you usually preferred storybooks, but you figured you might as well pull out something different, from the essentially untouched science section of the library. Prions, infectious, disease-causing agents, unlike bacteria and parasites, prions are not fully living organisms. Because of this, you cannot kill a prion. They are deformed pieces of protein that can eventually destroy th-
You felt a light tap on your shoulder. You looked up and saw a tall blonde man with bright blue eyes looking down at you. Erwin. Most of the people at headquarters were aware of your hearing impediment, so to avoid shouting or getting very close to you, they usually gave you a light tap on your shoulder to capture your attention. You gave him a pursed smile. You pulled out an old navy blue ribbon from your dress pocket and placed it on the page, closing the book softly.
“Hello Captain, what can I do for you?” you said as you raised yourself up from your chair, so he didn't have to crane his neck down to speak. You focused your gaze on his lips.
“Good afternoon,” he said, offering you a curt smile. “I’m sure you recall those three new recruits? I believe I saw you in the back as they were being introduced.” you nodded at this before speaking.
“Yes I am, sir. I had come over to give my regards to Hange, but decided against it... how are they Captain?” you inquired, leaning back against the wall behind you, “Do they live up to your expectations?”
He chuckled at this,
“They do.” He lowered his voice and continued. You saw a glint pass through his icy blue eyes as he spoke, but you couldn’t make out the emotion triggering it. A small shiver ran down your spine. Something about his gaze was unnerving.
“One of them in particular, they move like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
A short pause in the conversation followed his statement. His eyes were on you, but you could tell he was somewhere else. You began to feel minute under his eyes. Hastily you broke the eye contact between the two of you, swallowing quietly. Just as you were about to ask for further explanation, he cleared his throat.
“As I was going to say, those new recruits should be on their way here right now, I instructed them to meet with you after they settled into their lodgings, so you could put down some information for their general records.”
You shifted back up from the wall slightly. You debated in your head whether to ask him what you had intended on earlier, or just dropping it, and quickly settled on the latter.
“I can do that.” You nodded and smiled up at him.
He nodded back. “Thank you, I wanted to give you a heads up so that you wouldn’t be too surprised when they arrive.”
“Thank you for the concern Captain.” you chuckled.
He gave you a small smile, before adjusting his coat and heading back to the door.
“Have a good afternoon.” He said, giving you a small wave as he turned his back to you.
“To you as well, sir.”
With that, he had exited the room, leaving you on your own once again. You stretched, letting out a soft groan, before returning to your desk and back to your reading. All that was left to do now was to wait for their arrival.
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You had begrudgingly tasked yourself with the job of organizing your disgusting desk. You had begun by putting all the books back in their rightful places along the shelves and had just started sorting through the scattered papers, Trash, Trash, Important, I might need that later, Trash, I’ll keep this one just in case, Trash... Suddenly, you noticed some movement along the top of your peripheral vision, and you shot your head up, eyes wide... Ah, it was the three musketeers, you relaxed in your seat. Furlan and Isabel looked at you somewhat expectantly, and you noticed Furlan's mouth moving, but you couldn’t quite catch the words. You looked at the man standing behind the two. Levi wore a bored expression on his face. They looked like they had been waiting. That’s a little embarrassing. You felt your cheeks flush, before standing up and plastering a smile onto your face.
“So sorry about that, I suppose I was a little too invested in my cleaning there.” You paused briefly for any reaction from them. When they said nothing, you introduced yourself quietly, and you continued.
"I understand that Captain Erwin sent you here so I could write you guys some records, so let's get into that.” you released a pensive chuckle, and whipped around towards your desk, hastily grabbing a blank notepad and a pen from it.
“Shall we begin with you?” you asked, turning to the young girl.
“Sure!” she gave you a cheeky grin, and you couldn’t help but return the smile.
“Very good, could we start with your full name? ” You turned your focus to her lips.
“Isabel Magnolia” You hummed at this.
“And your age?”
“I dunno… If I had to guess I’d say around 19?” She looked up for a moment, pondering. “Or maybe younger than that? I’m not enti- ”
She suddenly stopped talking, and you tore your focus away from her mouth back to her eyes as she did.
“Is something the matter, Isabel?”
“Why dontcha look me in the eyes when I'm talking?” she asked, bluntly.
Something that you had struggled with since your accident was interpreting the tone of others when they spoke to you. You knew the words, but were they being sarcastic? Were they upset with you? Joking? Normally, if someone had said that to you, you might’ve assumed that they were angry with you, But as you observed Isabel, you only saw genuine curiosity plastered across her face, her wide green eyes looking at you, lips sealed shut, patiently awaiting your answer. How refreshing. You laughed a little bit before answering,
“Ah, that's because I'm partially deaf in both of my ears,” you explained kindly. “So to communicate with others,” You lightly tapped on your own lips with your finger, “I have to rely heavily on my ability to read their lips.” You saw her eyes light up.
“Wow, really!?” She exclaimed, slamming her hands against your desk, shaking its contents, “That's so cool!” She suddenly faltered, before lowering her voice down to its original volume. Her mood certainly switched quickly.
“So...ya can’t hear me at all right now?” She asked, cautiously.
“Right now I can somewhat hear the pitch of your voice, but it would be difficult to understand you without looking at your lips, although, when you were shouting, I could hear you a bit more clearly.”
“SHOULD I SHOUT THEN?”
You jumped a bit, and you stifled a snort before looking back at her.
“No need for that, I can understand perfectly well with lip-reading, also, the difference in what I hear when you shout isn’t all that great anyway.” You answered. You cleared your throat and prayed the slight heat that you had felt trickle onto your face after snorting like a pig wasn’t noticeable. “And besides ” You glanced back at her two comrades, Farlan seemed amused, but Levi wore an irked expression on his face. “I don’t think the hearing people around you would appreciate it.”
“Were ya born deaf, or were ya in a-”
“Hey idiot, we got things to do here y'know? " Levi interjected, raising an annoyed eyebrow at his partner. "She didn’t even get through two questions before you interrupted her, and we still have to go get checked up by the nurse after this.” Prick. Immediately you felt guilty after that thought. Although he could've been kinder, he was actually correct. You turned to Isabel and saw that she wore a dejected look on her face at the man's harsh words. I guess she really cares about what he thinks of her. You decided to speak again.
"Ah, he does have a point there, we can always chat another time if you're still curious Isabel.” You said softly, “You can usually find me in here, but let's continue, shall we?" You gave her a genuine smile as you lifted your notepad back up to write on it, and she seemed to perk up at your offer.
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The results of your questioning had been pretty uniform among the three of them. They all had a good idea of their ages, but they couldn't be certain. They couldn't tell you where they were born, or the names of their parents, aside from Levi, who was able to provide a name for his mother, Kuchel Ackerman. Because of their lack of answers, the questioning was promptly wrapped up. Although you didn’t get a lot of information about their backgrounds, it wasn’t a complete waste. You had decided that you really liked Isabel. She had a contagious zealous personality, the type that you didn’t often see among military members...she reminded you of an old friend. And Furlan, who had seemed stiff at the beginning of your meeting, had quickly gotten comfortable, playfully bantering and joshing around with you. Witty, smart, good-looking, what more could you ask for? And lastly Levi. You learned absolutely nothing about the type of man he was. He gave you curt, short answers that left nothing to the imagination. He wore a disinterested look on his face, his dark eyes seemed bore right through when he looked at you. From this interaction, you could only assume he was the dullest man on the planet, but you knew that couldn’t be the reality of the situation. Simply put, he was a mystery, and that irritated you beyond belief, as someone who was ravenously curious.
Since the questioning was completed, you only had one thing left to do, which was to have them each copy their signatures down, just to have it on paper. You handed them each a paper and a pen, and headed back to your original place at your desk, hoping to continue where you had left off in your cleaning. But as soon as you turned your back to them, you felt a tap on your shoulder and turned to see Isabel looking at you sheepishly, fiddling with the pen in her hands. You blinked.
“Is something the matter?”
“I’m sorry” She mumbled, turning her eyes to the floor, a faint blush covering her face, “I don't really know how to write a signature.”
You felt a pang of guilt in your chest for putting her in a difficult situation, but you didn't allow any of it to appear on your expression. Instead, you gave her a smile.
“That's perfectly fine, you can always just do some sort of figure, or if you’d like I can teach you a simple one for your name. ”
“...Really?” The nervousness was slowly dissipating.
“Of course! I’ll show you right now,” you said eagerly, spinning around to grab your own pen. You walked back over to Isabel, grabbing her hand gingerly, and leading her to one of the tables at the center of the library. You sat her down and pulled up a second chair so that you were sitting close to her.
“Some people when signing documents will only use their first name, their last, or both, some will even abbreviate. A lot of them honestly look like random scribbles,” you explained, looking at her. You chewed your lip in thought. “How about we write yours as ‘Isa Magnol?” You asked her.
She nodded her head quickly, but you could tell she was still confused.
“Okay!”
“Okay! I’ll write it down right now, and you can practice it every now and then until you get it.” You strengthened your grip on your pen and jotted her name down on the sheet.
𝓘𝓼𝓪𝓜𝓪𝓰𝓷𝓸𝓵
You turned your head to her, satisfied.
“Well? What do you think of it?”
”It’s really pretty.” She said gently. Her eyes were slightly wide in awe, but they were quickly shrouded with doubt as she glanced back at you.
“...But it looks kinda complicated, will I really be able to do this?”
“Of course you can! You seem very capable!” You chirped. ”Here, give me a moment.” You stood yourself up from your chair and stationed yourself behind her as she whipped her head around at you in confusion. You leaned forward over her, so that your chest brushed lightly against her back, and grabbed her right hand, which was still holding the pen, in your own.
“Okay,” You said, lowering your voice, you were already close to her ear. “I’m going to show you the motions of it, and then with that, you’ll be able to try it on your own.”
She nodded, determined. You felt her grip tighten around the pen.
Slowly, so that she would be able to remember the movements, you moved her hand with your own across the paper, all while giving her quiet instruction for each letter. After you were done, you raised yourself up, looking down at the paper. It was a bit sloppier than your own, but it still looked neat.
“How nice!” You praised. “Okay Isabel, you keep the first piece of paper so that you have something to reference when you practice, and I’ll take this one as your official signature.” You said as you looked back down at her. She wore a giant grin on her face, smiling silently at the piece of paper, and once again, you couldn’t help but smile down at her too. Her energy was truly infectious. Suddenly, you became hyper-aware of the two other people in the room, and you jerked your head back up at them. You looked at Levi, his face appeared softer than before... or maybe not? Or perhaps you just made that up in your mind due to his overall lack of expression.
“I’m sorry, I got a little distracted, didn't I?,” you said, letting out a nervous laugh, “If you guys have completed your signatures I can take them right now,” you said, as you made your way back to them. As Levi stretched his arm out to give you his sheet, Furlan quickly shoved his own behind his back.
“Excuse me!” He said abruptly. You cocked your head in surprise.
“Yes?”
“Well, as it turns out, I was actually having some trouble with my signature as well. ” He said nervously, hand at the back of his head. He looked a little red. You raised an eyebrow, what did he have on the paper, then?
“...Oh? With what part specifically?” you questioned.
“W-well... I was thinking it would be useful to me if you ‘Showed me the motions of it’ like you did with Isabel th-” He was swiftly cut off with an elbow to gut from Levi, and he doubled over, coughing. Your eyes widened, startled by the sudden act of violence.
“We don’t have any more time to dilly dally around here, we should’ve left ten minutes ago,” Levi said flatly. “Just give her what you have.”
Furlan sighed, shooting his partner a quick glare, and defeatedly, handed the paper over to you. It felt awkward now, so you didn’t try to say anything else. You silently took the paper and gave Furlan a small, pitying smile. You brought the papers back to your desk, reached down, and hurriedly filed them away in your drawer. You looked back up to face them with another polite smile.
“And with that, you guys are all done here.”
“Thank ya! I’ll try to come here when I can to say hi!” Isabel said eagerly.
“I look forward to that very much." You responded. You paused for a moment, and then turned your attention to the other two.
“The nurse's office should be two doors down, on the right side of this hallway, you can’t miss it.” You instructed. Levi gave you a small nod, before turning around and heading towards the door, and the others followed suit. Once you saw the large wooden doors close, you sighed loudly and collapsed back into your desk chair with a thud. Talking to people sure is tiring.
authors notes:
theres that hehe. did you guys like it? feedback is appreciated. should i post the next chapters on here as well?
link for the rest of the chapters: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30083745
#levi#fanfic#attack on titan#levi ackerman#captain levi#levi x reader#levi x y/n#fanfiction#levi attack on titan#aot hange#hange zoe#no regrets#slow burn#fluff#angst#gore#erwin#erwin smith
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The Dig Initiative: Chapter 29
The Recruit
What a fucking trip.
Underground group of illegal kids and illegal adults, just doing what they did because they could? Fuck it. And that big bastard, the tired looking guy with the fire in his eyes, he just sprung up on them with a doctor from Altamira? With another patient? And in an underground subway with, get this, Santa Clause. Alright, he just went by Clause, but he had the beard. There was a reason for the name. Come on. The only thing the recruit really cared about was himself. He cared about why in the hell he was helping so much.
It was a compulsion. That was it. Had to be helping. Had to aid, had to connect with these people after Olsen was cut off. Maybe it was just an augmenter thing, he didn’t know. Didn’t care, either. Just going to keep on going with this nest like it was a regular thing. Fucking subway station. Unreal.
He had been there for the soup kitchen incident. Hell, he was the reconnaissance that led to even having a plan for the soup kitchen incident. The raid. People from Locke Security took down the people there with a look. A whole team had that building flat in seconds. They were good. So good. So good, jus the two of them, together, they could impulsively turn a man’s head around and leave him dead on a table because she was pissed that her ex-husband didn’t know she was still alive. You know, the usual.
But, you know what? These people could do the same. Soup kitchen had a small group of potentials, maybe ten who had transformed. This? This was sixty plus! This would take more than a patrol team to take down. It was, honest to god, impressive. He had to stay, just to see what was going to happen next.
They had gathered around a woman going through the fever like she was their lost little lamb. So what, she was transforming. He’d done it. Most of these people had done it. Why was it so weird for this one? Because she was pregnant? So what? Who cares, he’d say. Everything else was already falling apart, why not put a fetus through it? Nothing was going to surprise him, really. He knew that if some slimy tentacle monster burrowed up from beneath them and sang in Yiddish, well, that was another Wednesday by now. Big deal, he’d say. Yiddish Slug could go on and slaughter them all, because why not.
Course, he couldn’t deny, there was something else about the pregnant girl. A familiar pull. A calling. That old song that Olsen gave him when he went through it.
The best thing to do then was sit around and wait. Everybody was nodding off like they were on fumes. It’d been an exciting day. People were dead. That Teddy guy was possibly bleeding out. It was a lot to take in and sleep was easy and free. So while everyone hunkered down, the recruit decided to make up some time and watch the door. Help out. He just had to.
It was the blonde chick who finally came over to talk. Not thin, not fat, little short, with a big pile of curls that fell over to the left whenever she swept her hands through them. She was cute with her cat eyes and her pink lips. She was the band guy’s talent. They were a pair. Except, you know, the pregnant chick came in and messed that whole arrangement. The blonde was talking through this and the recruit hadn’t heard a thing she said while he was checking her out.
“Sorry?” he asked.
“I mean, it’d have to be quick in the morning, but Fletcher said we could take their keys and head out. A van is way more inconspicuous than that stupid semi-truck.”
“Van? Semi? Head out where?”
“To the store. Get food. Supplies. What are you, dense or something?”
“What? No. No!”
The recruit picked at his shirt, puffed up a little to make himself seem taller. They were both shrimps and it was embarrassing that this woman was almost as tall as he was. Perfect height, though, if he were to lean in and kiss her suddenly. No, that was stupid.
“Okay, so.” The blonde wagged her head a bit, indicating with perked shoulders and open palms that she wanted an answer. “Are you in? Out? Or what?”
Go up into town, get some food, feed these people without getting caught by anybody from Locke Security. Harvey had asked earlier, and the recruit said yes because he needed something to do. It would be a great way to help, but a risk to their safety and the whole hidden operation. He didn’t have a partner. He didn’t feel like severing the connection with Olsen, trying to rewire himself with some talent in the nest. He was ignoring that siren call from the pregnant one, he really was. It was itching at his teeth, it was poking at his spine. It was a hassle. The math was all right there, pointing at how dumb it would be to go with her.
“Yeah,” he answered and gave her a smile. “Of course. You say when.”
Her eyes lit up and it was what those poetry guys were all talking about, like the sun rise. Really pretty.
“Alright well, by my watch, it’s almost 3.”
“You have a watch?”
“Yeah.” She flashed her wrist, like it was the most obvious thing. The Samsung bar was there, but, next to it was a second band. A real watch. It had a little key screw and everything. Analog. I mean, that’s the way to go, he thought. “Stores stay open until 6, and these guys say we can come out near the Library. Shouldn’t be hard to get to the grocery store. I think we’re ten blocks from one. So that’s nothing, if we can borrow the van. I don’t know, but just be ready soon, okay?” Blonde brushed her fingers through her hair, snagging curls and tossing them over to the left. He imagined it, sure, but he thought she smelled like flowery shampoo or a light deodorant. “And, look, I know you have a history and all that and we technically very much kidnapped you, but I’m tired and I want to be able to trust a little, so can we just go and not make this a thing?”
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Uh, no. That’s not an answer.”
“Neither is yours. Your name? Non de plume. Prénom of choice. Whatever.”
“Annalise,” she answered and scrunched her nose, considerably the most adorable thing ever. She was judging him. “And I recall you didn’t want to give yours.”
“Yeah, well, you were beating me up and there was that dead guy there, so.”
“Dead guy you killed.”
“I did no such thing,” he said indignantly. He touched his chest over his heart like his whole family’s honor had been sullied. “I was just as much a witness as you were. So, don’t point fingers.”
Annalise shoved a skinny pointer up near his eye. He could see the fine lines around her knuckles and the dirt under her nail. It was close. She muttered through her teeth, “I’ll point what I like, got it?”
“Got it.”
“Good.”
“Good,” he repeated.
“…Good.”
They could go on like this for hours. He’d enjoy it if they did, but he let Annalise have the last word before she went back to the little dirty underground shack to get some keys to the van. What van? They had a van parked above them? Wild. And a semi too? What was that even about? Her augmenter stood next to the wall with his arms crossed, staring hard across the way. Now that guy, maybe he was that sort’ve soft California grunge type with longish hair and a beard and ripped sleeves, but he could probably throw a better punch than some. Nice arms. Really cut kind of look. He had black bands around his wrists, that punk band thing going. Musician. Meant diva. Meant if he was stepping on toes with Annalise, it would be fun to see where the fight would take them. He wouldn’t say no to a ménage a trois. The recruit winked at him and the other guy scoffed, rolled his eyes, almost went into the shack just to get away, but didn’t. Not a firm no. Not a bad sign.
Annalise slithered past the other augmenter with keys in hand. She had a long stride, a weight about her that was all control. The other guy noticed it too. He watched her like she was his last meal. She was talking again, talking talking talking and the two guys were so busy fawning that the recruit didn’t get anything.
“Sorry, say that again,” he said and winced when she rolled her eyes.
“You deaf?” Annalise was so close to playfully hitting him on the head. Maybe not playfully. Didn’t matter. “We need to make a list. Okay? Bulk items. Dry goods. Baby formula.”
“Baby formula,” he said, eyebrows wrinkled. “Why do we need baby formula?”
“For. The. Babies.” She punctuated each word by pinching the air, like she was setting them up on a teleprompter for him.
“Yeah, right. Of course. Babies.” The recruit remembered Thomas talking about the twins. He just wanted to rile her up. “Like I totally saw babies when we were running out of that warehouse.”
“I don’t care if you did or didn’t, we’re getting formula. Capiche?”
“Yeah.” He pressed his shoulder into the wall, leaning on one leg. It made him a freckle shorter than her. “Duh.”
They had to go find anything they could use to carry the goods. Annalise asked around for cash, hopeful that they could buy some of it and steal the rest. But these people had nothing but hands and feet and hungry stomachs. Even the people who lived in the subway didn’t have cash, they were homeless. They panhandled and were probably just not giving up anything they had. Fair enough. The recruit looked down at his Corin Complete watch. Thing was dead, but if he could find somewhere to charge it, probably a Starbucks or something, he could log into his bank and transfer out funds. When they were back in range, he’d slide the app up his forearm and use the digital card to pay. Maybe nobody was looking for him yet. Olsen certainly didn’t bother sending a message.
“I got it,” he said to Annalise’s back. She turned, puzzled, and he said, “I’ll pay. I got it.”
Annalise smiled, impressed. Score one. “Alright, buckaroo, if you’re ready to go?”
“You wanna bring your boyfriend with you?”
“Boyfriend?” She looked back at the augmenter and scowled. There was a little bad blood there. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Great, even better. I like collecting sets, but this makes it more fun.”
They found a few duffel bags, hunting gear stuff. He put a strap across his chest and marched towards the dark tunnel, the one Jimmy-Jam pointed them down to get to the platform. He was feeling giddy and light. Whole thing was a mess. Locke Security, what Olsen did, the subway community. But he had a need to feel something close to normal because he was so close to just throwing his hands up in the air and asking for someone to feed him a bullet out in the woods. This was fun. This was pure bullshit and he loved it.
Annalise tagged along with a bag in each fist. When she caught up to him she asked, “What do you mean ‘collecting sets?’”
“I dunno.”
He knew.
The tunnel was dark, and he stumbled along the tracks with the tip of his shoe, trying not to trip. He kept thinking something about the third rail. Don’t touch the third rail. He couldn’t tell first from third, so whatever happened was going to happen. Let it. Course, if he went up in smoke and left Annalise high and dry, that would be kind of embarrassing.
“You wanna find out?”
“You’re either creepy or cheesy,” she said after she passed him, looking back through the dark. She swung the key around her finger and, could that be? She winked at him. “But, hey, I’m willing to play along. Just, you know, don’t try to screw me over because I will end you, tiny man.”
Tiny man. Christ.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said and thought about how she was talented. Maybe she read his mind.
….
Shit.
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#The Dig Initiative#writing#prose#novel#self-publishing#The Recruit likes to curse#but he also likes boys and girls#my little bi baby#Against the Gray
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