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oh-no-a-whovian · 3 years

Text

Despite my claws (love me) Part 3

18+

Summary: Missy Moreno is missing right after fighting a notorious villain. Marcus will do whatever it takes to save his little girl. Even working with that villain to find her.

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x villain-reader

Warnings: Swears, violence, injury, weapons, Mentions of abuse and trauma. Brutal murder. If there’s others let me know

Word count: 5916

Masterlist PT1 PT2 PT4

The sun light streams through cracks in the curtains and you feel nauseous as the train starts to creak and move along the rail. A small cloud of dust plumes into the air as you drop Marcus onto the bed and he leans up on his elbows, finally conscious enough to move. You can feel his eyes on you as you stand frozen in front of him, looking around the space and feeling the sway of the train. It really is the same. Maybe more dust but nothing has moved. You’re willing to bet your old outfits are still in the wardrobe. It’s like you never left and it makes you want to burn it all down.

“You weren’t planning on telling me that he’s your father, were you?” you can hear him but you just can’t react, can’t move, you feel paralysed in place. You really never wanted to be here ever again. Last time you were on the train you barely had a mind of your own. He allowed you a little freedom but ultimately, he treated you like every other person he’d taken. He’d treated you like a slave. “[Y/N]” Marcus calls, pulling you from the whirlpool of your thoughts as he grabs a hold your hand. “Are you okay?” he asks when you finally look into his eyes.

“Do I seem ok to you?” you tell him honestly with a sneer curving your lips. “I thought it seemed pretty obvious that I didn’t want to be anywhere near this fucking train, Marcus. Now let’s kill everyone and get this over with.”

“No! No killing”

“Let’s get one thing straight.” You snap, climbing on top of him, pinning his wrists above is head with one hand and wrapping the other around his throat as he struggles, keeping your face mere inches from his. “The people on this train will not hesitate to shoot you in the face or stab you in the gut”

“[Y/N]” he warns, fighting against you.

“Are you really gonna risk your daughter for your morals, Moreno? You can either grow a pair or stay out of my way.”

“They were normal people once, you said that. Maybe we can save them…” he pleads beneath you, no longer struggling against your vice like grip.

“I. do not. care. Now, have the sedatives worn off enough for us to try to figure out where Missy is?” you ask as you sit up on his hips, releasing your grip. He nods without a word, his eyes following your hand as you check the fake scar and the edges of the mask. “Last time I was on the train the prison car was in the middle but it’s moved every few months.” You consider aloud as you climb off Marcus’ lap. “Unfortunately there won’t be a map of the layout… If we ask where the prison car is we’ll immediately be caught, locked up and brain washed. I don’t need that again.”

“But if we take too long, it could be too late” he points out.

“Yeah, we definitely don’t want to take our time. We should…” a knock on the sliding wooden door interrupts you and you glance at Marcus on the bed with worry. “What do you want?” you snap, sliding the door open with force, the emotional mask you wear sliding back into place, your lip curling in anger.

“Your father wishes for you and your friend to join him for dinner” the man at the door says. His face is devoid of emotion, not even a glimmer showing in his grey eyes. He doesn’t even look around the space in front of him, just stares as if there’s a wall right in front of him.

“I’d rather not” you reply, making to slide the door shut. He grips your wrist with bruising force, his silver eyes finally focusing on yours.

“It wasn’t optional, Sekhmet”

“Fine” you tell him, ripping your arm from his grip and sneering at his use of your dead name. You’re not that person anymore. Haven’t been for years. “How long?”

“An hour” you nod and watch as his eyes glass over again, hating that you probably looked the same once. No soul behind your eyes.

You close the door when he finally walks away and press your back to the deep coloured wood. Marcus is silent as he stands from the dusty plush surface of the bed and you can feel his eyes on you as you keep yours cast to the floor.

“We don’t have time for dinner, [Y/N]” Marcus says as he moves less than a metre from you.

“We don’t know where Missy is on this train and if he’s pretending to be an actual parent then he’s not hurting her. We have time, just not much.” You sigh, looking past him to the window. The particle filled beams of light flicker in and out, then vanish. The light that replaces them is an eerie mix of green and blue with violent flashes of purple. The sounds of clashing stones cracks through the air to match the violet blooms. “We’re not on earth anymore”

Marcus’s brown eyes glance between you and the window, confusion furrowing his brows. There isn’t a sound to indicate that the train has breached the fabric of reality, no sign, just one second you’re on earth and the next you’re on some unknown planet you can’t even breathe on. Marcus pulls open the ashy curtains, freezing at the sight sitting just outside the train.

Colours swirl around a circle of nothing and around you asteroids glowing with vibrant lines of violet smash into each other making the bursts of purple you’d seen through the cracks in the curtain. The ground around the train’s tracks is cracked, reduced to rubble with magma oozing out from the lines.

“What happened here?” Marcus asks in quiet horror as the train passes what looks to be the remnants of an ancient temple, the statues barely recognizable and the stone walls crumbling. “Was it the- the black hole?”

“Mmm, no. Apparently a planet would orbit a black hole just like they would a sun. So I’ve heard anyway” you tell him, watching the scene outside with awe. “Was probably a war or over population… they probably just over used the planet.” You shrug, glancing away from the aftermath of an apocalypse. “This isn’t the time to mourn their loss, Marcus.” you whisper gently as you place your hand on his shoulder, your fingers sliding subtly under the sleeve of his vest. You love how warm he is, you’d never tell him though. You doubt it would be accepted.

“You’re right” he sighs, looking at you, an unreadable look in his warm chocolate eyes. “We should go to dinner… with your evil father”

“Just, remember you’re meant to be a villain doppelganger of Marcus Moreno. You can act how you usually do but like you really hate it and yourself.”

“Right” he replies, looking at you with concern.

“You can either make up a name or use your normal one and ‘refuse’ to tell your real name.” you tell him as you check the fake scar once more, comforting yourself with the warmth of his cheek. Any excuse to keep touching him right? “Depends on your improv skills”

“I have a question…” he says, watching as you remove the blades from your back, continuing when you don’t say anything. “They keep calling you Sekhmet…”

“Your question?” you pause, the blades still in your hand and your chest feeling tight.

“Do you want me to just pretend I knew or that I’m not hearing it… You seem really tense when you hear it…”

“Just don’t use it, ok?” you ask him as you drop your swords onto the bed and another cloud of dust flies into the air making you sneeze and growl. “Fucking… ugh let’s just go.”

“You know where the car is?” he asks, following you as you stomp from the room.

“Uh, yeah. The only car he moves is the prison car. Maybe we’ll be lucky and the prison car will be between us and that arsehole hmmm?” you muse. “Hey you!” you call out when you finally spot one of the poor brainwashed bastards in the isle. “Get someone to clean my room” you’re not sure if you’ll find Missy tonight, might as well have a clean place to sleep right?

“Of course, Sekhmet. Your father has asked that we do as you ask” the woman smiles, her eyes just as empty as the man’s from earlier. Even her hair is dull and lifeless, hanging from a ponytail.

You grab Marcus’ arm as he reaches out, stopping him from asking the brainwashed woman where his daughter is. She steps past you both, Marcus barely registering as an obstacle in her mind as she makes her way through the corridor.

“She’s not gonna tell you shit, Marcus.” You growl “pay attention!” you smack the side of his head “the second our cover is blown we have to get off this train or kill everyone trying to take it over. Asking questions is cover blowing, got it? We need to find the prison car ourselves”

“I just want my little girl back.”

“I know… but you need to listen to me, Marcus.” You say, continuing down the corridor. “The next car should be the private dining room. I’m gonna try to see into the next two cars. If there is only two cars ahead then the prison car is somewhere along the other end of the train” you whisper.

A shiver runs down your spine as you reach the dining car door, your body freezing with your hand raised to the door. You keep getting waves of horror and chills of fear. Your hands shaking and heart beating way too fast. You don’t want to show weakness. Need not to show weakness. You know Marcus would never take advantage of you, never try to hurt you, he’s too good. But your father will and you can’t let him. This place really did fuck you up.

Glancing at Marcus you force yourself to knock, swallowing the fear in your chest.

Another woman, lighter skinned this time, slides open the door an eerily serene smile on her lips as she leads you both to the table. Your father isn’t in the room yet so you breathe a little easier as you take a seat at the mahogany table. You fix your eyes on the door leading to the front of the train, hoping to get a glimpse of the next car when your father comes through. If the next car is his room then the prison car isn’t up this end and you’ll have to make your way to the other.

The woman places a glass of amber liquid in front of you as the door opens revealing your father. You peek at the space behind him, seeing his bedroom and further through the controls for the train. You were really hoping the prison car was up this end.

“Sekhmet! So good of you and your friend to join me for dinner” your father says grinning as he sits at the head of the table.

“Didn’t exactly feel like a choice” you mumble, rolling your eyes and sipping at the drink in front of you.

“Now, now, daughter. You haven’t seen me in five years and I haven’t seen you in much longer.” He points out, smiling at the brainwashed woman as she places plates of food in front of each of you. “Is it too much to ask that I get to spend some time with my little girl?”

“Oooh! It’s almost like you care!” you say, your lips curving into a mix between a sarcastic smile and a sneer.

“You’ll show me respect, Sekhmet. You know what happened last time you got too mouthy” your breath hitches and you shy away, looking down to Marcus’ hand when it moves onto your thigh. He’s glaring at your father, the fake scar making him look even more threatening. “What’s your name boy?” your father asks Marcus once he’s satisfied that he’s curbed your attitude.

“I don’t have one. You can call me Marcus, I tried to steal his life, may as well take his name on the way out” the man beside you says to your father, a sinister smirk on his lips. You’d be lying if you said ‘bad’ didn’t look good on him. He seems to be an ok actor at least.

“Hmmm… and what reason have you two decided to leave that world?”

“Given that we were in three different fights with like fifteen different people just today. I figured it was time for a change in scenery” you tell him, keeping your eyes on the plate of food in front of you. “He was unconscious so I got our shit together and got out.” You say as you jab your fork into a piece of the food, popping it into your mouth. “One of my contacts said that your train had been spotted circling the city”

“Interesting” your father says, his eyes shifting between you and Marcus as he places pieces of food in his mouth. “What did you think of the view?” he asks, nodding toward the window you can all see. Outside pieces of glowing debris float and collide outside the moving train’s window.

“Didn’t think much of it.” You admitted, you thought it was morbidly beautiful but you’ve seen so many places. It’s just one more to add to list.

“Did you recognise it? We passed a temple a while ago.” You pause, confusion marking your features as you glance between the monster you call your father and the ruined world outside.

“Why would I?” you shake your head, watching out the window to see if maybe you do.

“This place was one of your favourites when you were a kid. They were the first lot to make that lion head statue for you.” he tells you, waving over the brainwashed woman for more to drink. You stare out the window dumbfounded. How? “They worshipped you like a god.” He muses.

“What happened to them?” Marcus asks, looking out the window as a particularly large chunk of asteroid collides into the shielding around the train.

“No idea. I suspect they tore their world apart after their ‘god’ hadn’t returned in a long time. Not the first time I’ve seen religious turmoil destroy a planet.” He replies callously, sipping at what you assume is konjac, his favourite.

A heavy silence fills the room as you stare into space. You don’t know what you feel. Horror? Sadness? Fear? Guilt? Rage? Everything? You are definitely holding yourself still though, the urge to end your father at the forefront of all thoughts and feelings. You know you can’t, not yet anyway. If you do all his minions will go berserk. You’d prefer to do it on a planet with a breathable atmosphere. So you can jump if need be.

You can feel your father studying you, hear his fingers topping on the wooden table. He’s probably looking for weakness, for a moment to call in the troops and lock you and Marcus away. It would definitely fast track finding the girl but fuck any plans for escape.

“I need to prep the next dimensional phase. You know where your room is.” Your father says dismissively as he gets up, gesturing for his little slave to lead you and Marcus from the room. You hadn’t even noticed the weapons strapped to the small of her back till now. This place is fogging your mind and you fucking hate it.

~~~~~

You watch Marcus with interest, fighting what you know is a bad decision. You didn’t say a word the whole way back to your old room, how could you? The place you loved most is gone, the one man you’ve started feeling things for is your enemy and is in the most dangerous place you could think of and you’re pretty sure your father has already started his mind game, manipulative bullshit. You need a distraction but you know you shouldn’t try that. You want to lash out.

You keep your back pressed against the door and breathe slowly. You can feel Marcus’ eyes on you but you keep yours closed. You’re pretty sure if you open your eyes right now you’ll jump his bones.

“So… are you immortal?” Marcus asks. You finally look up at him with raised eyebrows.

“What no?” you smile, amused by his question, breathing as the urge fades. You step over to the bed, examining the fresh green silk sheets and the smell of fresh linen in the air.

“Well your father just implied that the goddess from Egyptian mythology was you…” he says as he props himself by your wardrobe with his arms crossed.

“I was” you admit. “But although I do age slower, it wasn’t cause of that.”

“How then?”

“Know how I mentioned that we could be gone for centuries for earth?” you start, posing yourself on the now dust free bed, continuing when he nods. “Well it goes the other way too. We could end up surrounded by dinosaurs next phase jump. Has something to do with quantum entanglement or something. Or maybe how if you put a mirror light years away then looked through it, it theoretically would show the earth millions of years ago.” You propose as you lay on your back, your knees in the air and spread so you can see Marcus between your thighs. It’s a pretty good view. “It’s sciency stuff.”

“Does that mean there could be two versions of the train at one time?” he frowns, looking to the ground.

“Mmm probably… though they’d have to keep a certain distance or risk blowing up…” you pause, seeing worry on his features once again. “If you’re thinking that there’s a chance that this train from a different time point has her that isn’t possible.”

“How do you know that?”

“The space he’d have to keep between the trains is like… two states wide. Any closer and reality tries to correct them, forcing them together like hyper magnets” you tell him, rubbing your temples to remember the things your father had taught you before he stole your free will and mind. “The resulting destruction from the explosion would be devastating throughout time.”

You sigh as you look out the window to the vibrant colours of space, seeing the ruins of a once beautiful planet in a different light. You’d shown them a picture of a lion from earth during a stop there and for some reason they made statues, altars and places of worship in your name. Sure you’d done a few nice things but was that really worthy of worship? Their goddess of healing. You became something else to the people of Egypt. A goddess to be feared. You earned the title they gave you many time over since.

“This is all your fault” you hear Marcus say and you glare at him raising from your spot on the bed.

“I’m sorry?” you challenge, daring him to say that again.

“This. Is. All. Your. Fault.” He sneers, meeting you toe to toe with anger in his eyes. “If you weren’t doing awful things, my daughter wouldn’t have been grabbed!” you leap onto your feet and press your hand to his chest and force him to the wall, pinning him with your body and getting right in his face.

“Need I remind you, that I am trying to help you! You would never have had a chance without me!” you shout, baring your sharp teeth. “I’m on a train that I never wanted to see again. My own father tortured me on this fucking train!” you take a deep breath to calm yourself, keeping him pinned but lowering your voice as he looks down ashamed of his outburst. “I wasn’t even doing anything. I had no plans. I think the most ‘evil’ thing I had going on was a few stolen paintings in my warehouse and renting out space to a known drug dealer….” You sigh, loosening your force but not moving away. “If I did have something planned, I would have been a lot more upset about the children showing up instead of you…” you admit. You know he wouldn’t care about a revelation like that, you know you’re a monster in his eyes. How could you not be? You don’t exactly have much of a moral compass.

You move to step away and give him space but it seems he has other plans. He grabs your arm, pulling you back toward him and pressing his lips to yours like you had done earlier when you made the deal with him. He wraps an arm around your waist and threads his other hand’s fingers in your hair, kissing you with bruising passion. You move your hands up his body as you kiss him back with fierce aggression. Gently you curve one hand on his jaw and the other around his throat, squeezing a little as you nibble on his bottom lip.

You gaze into his lust filled eyes as he pulls away for air, panting like he’s starved of it. You could spend eternity in this moment, even in the worst place in all of reality, you’d stay. His dishevelled hair, soft lips, the warmth of his skin and the gentle tug of his fingers in your hair. If you could have Marcus Moreno for eternity, you would.

~~~~~~~

“How long does it take?” you hear Marcus ask as you glare at the clothes you used to wear, glancing to see him staring out the window to the ashy desert that now surrounds the travelling train. He’s lying naked on the bed, propped against the wall with his arms behind his head, just a silk sheet covering him from you.

“Uuh, depends.” You reply, grabbing the only outfit you’d ever liked from that point in your life and shoving it into your bag.

“On what?”

“Destination mostly. Whether or not there’s a version of the train already there. But apparently there’s a few other reasons that I didn’t get to learn…” you tell him as you pull a shirt on.

“Do you know how to… direct the train back to earth in our time?”

“Somewhat… after a few attempts sure. But I’m not sure we’ll get a few attempts…” you watch as a sand storm forms in the distance, the grey ashes swirling into the air promising violence.

“Why?”

“Just… I need you to trust me and if I say jump, you’ll grab your daughter and jump. Okay?” you can see hesitation in his eyes but he nods. Gently you lift his hand and press your lips to his palm, silently thanking him for not arguing. Getting up with a sigh you grab his clothes, vest and swords and put them next to him. “Get dressed, we’ll start making our way down the train soon. They’re gonna be suspicious…” you huff as you pull on your harness, your gun already in the holster, and pull on your jacket to conceal it.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Well… half of two plans…” you shrug. “We can sneak along the outside and try to figure out where the car is from the windows. Not my favourite. Or! We can move along the inside saying we’re looking for a drink then wing it if the prison car is past the kitchen…” you smile, knowing both plans are fucking awful.

“So we’re just gonna wing it then?” Marcus asks, an unimpressed look on his face as he fastens his vest and puts the Katanas in their sheaths on his back.

“Pretty much. We need to take our things and us being out of the room is suspicious as is… I don’t see this ending in anything but a fight. We just need the fight to be after we find your daughter.” You tell him as you pull on the harness with your two khopesh blades attached. “If we die tonight, it’s your fault.” You grin before stepping over to the door and sliding it open to peek along the hallway.

“We’re not gonna die”

“mmmhmmm” you roll your eyes, gesturing for him to grab the bags and follow. You can’t help your pessimism, it was hard enough getting off this damn train the first time.

You slide open the door to the next car silently, gesturing for Marcus to be quiet. On the right of the hallway is a familiar door leading to a room filled with bunk beds. One of four cars where your bastard father keeps his slaves. On the left a door with a window leading to the ash desert outside, the wind and sand swirling violently.

You creep through the car, then the next, hoping that the neither door to the bunks will open to reveal you two dressed for war sneaking through. Marcus remains quiet behind you, seeming to trust that you know what you’re doing.

The next car is the mess hall and you pause as you peek in. there’s a few of the brainwashed sitting at the long tables, people of different races all staring blankly at the walls as they slowly move the food into their moves. You’d never under estimate them though. They may be slow when doing menial tasks but they’re fast as lightning when it comes to drawing a gun on you. They’re almost as fast as you when it comes to melee too. It’s the main reason you want the fight to be later. So you can jump from the train and avoid them, whether your father is still in control or not.

“How are we getting through?” Marcus whispers in your ear, his body pretty much squished to yours to see the room. His body curving around yours and his hand holding your hip for stability.

“I don’t know… they may be practically zombies right now but... they still know when something is off in their peripheries.” You whisper, flinching slightly when one of them rises, moving into the next car. You assume it’s the kitchen, going by the strong food smell that floats through when the carriage door slides open. “Keep the bags low and as close to the tables as possible. Act normal.”

You rise from your position, standing tall as you slide the door open. A couple of the brainwashed stand at the sight of you, glaring at the intrusion. Their eyes shine a little brighter at the trespass, almost like they have actual thoughts. You know they don’t.

“What reason are you here, Sekhmet?” one that you recognise asks as he glares between you and the man behind you. Probably eyeing the blades on both your backs.

“Father is getting the train ready to take us to our destination, I’m just getting a drink before. You know how that world is, Cole” you tell him, putting your arms up passively. “Could be days before we find water…”

“Sounds like a you problem”

“And when exactly did my father give you free will to make an opinion?” the other mindless look at Cole, ready to jump him. Clearly they’ve been made stricter since you left, they weren’t so ready to jump you when you were showing signs of free will. Cole stutters, his eyes wide as one of the others grabs him. You can’t seem to help the sadistic grin that spread on your lips as he’s dragged past you toward front of the train. You know he’s probably not free, his brainwashing was probably only just wearing off. Everyone would know if he was truly free.

“What was that?” Marcus hisses as you step into the next car.

“A distraction” you tell him, watching the two men doing dishes with their backs to you as you pass through the kitchen.

“If he was free he could have helped us”

“Even if he was totally free he wouldn’t have wanted to. He’d have attacked us instead.”

“How do you know?” he argues, not taking no for an answer as he follows you into the next car. Another garrison car. The prison has to be soon, you’re sure you’re running out of train cars.

“I just do” you snap, freezing as a door slides open at the noise. The woman eyes you both from the door way, silently waiting. “Father said we could get some water from storage” you tell her, praying your lie will sell but moving your hand to the blade on your thigh anyway. You don’t know what allowances he’s made for you. Or if he actually made any at all. Without a word she moves back into the room filled with bunk beds and shuts the door and you finally let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. Releasing your hold on the bone grip of your blade you glance back at Marcus, trying to say ‘shut the fuck up’ but with your face.

“Let’s keep going” you whisper.

It’s almost peaceful, the sound of the train moving and the gentle snores from the sleeping people in the carriages. It’s a shame that it’s also horrible.

The next train car is another garrison and you move through it swiftly, keeping your ears focused on sounds within the room but taking note of the door to the outside. There’s three more cars, just three and you’re pretty sure none of them have exits. Missy must be in one.

You slide open the next door and you’re greeted with an almost empty sitting room. A plush blue carpet and ugly green couches and a holographic screen floating in the middle. Standing to attention by the opposite door is a buff woman, glaring at you as you take in the ugly ass room. You don’t remember it being so damn ugly.

“We need to get into storage. My father said I could take some water and I was told it’s in there.” You tell the strong woman, gesturing toward door behind her.

“You’re not allowed past.”

“My father said I could” you insist.

“You’re not allowed past” you glance between the woman and Marcus incredulously. ‘This bitch’ you glare, trying to decide what to do. You know Marcus will hate it but…

“Fuck it” you sigh, ripping your blade from its sheath, slicing it toward the woman’s throat. A strong arm blocks against your assault and a fist collides with your nose with a crunch. “Shit” you hiss, stumbling back as you clutch at your bleeding face.

“[Y/N]!” Marcus shouts as the woman shoves him aside to get to you. You’re not sure if his shout was worried or pissed as the woman shoves you violently, launching you back into a glass cabernet. Throwing punches into your gut and smashing her fist into the back of the cupboard, barely missing your head. You grimace at the crunch, that would have been your face again if you hadn’t dodged her fierce fist.

A small trail of blood trickles from your nose, filling your mouth with the familiar metallic tang and you spit it out as you move away from the woman. You flip you blade as the woman struggles, her fist stuck in the cracked remains. She growls at the hole keeping her hand in place then looks at you with rage in her eyes. A rare sign of emotions from the brainwashed zombies.

With bared teeth she rips her hand from the wood, tearing the flesh of her wrist and hand as the splintered wood fights the force. She doesn’t scream or cry out as her blood pours down her fingers, she just sneers, glancing at something over your left shoulder to the door she was guarding.

Marcus steps up to your right, his fists raised ready to fight the buff bitch.

“Why do you carry around swords, if you’re not willing to use them on people!” you hiss, keeping your eyes on your prey.

“They’re for monsters!” he yells, dodging as the guard makes the first move, trying to land punches on both of you. Even with her bloodied hand she flails, growling as she shoves past you. You couldn’t see it coming, couldn’t know that she had a gun sitting in a holster by the door. She rips the gun from its holster stuck to the side of the little table by her guard post, aiming it at Marcus.

You hear the bullet fire and feel your body move, the bullet ripping into your side as you shove Marcus out of the way. “Fucking bitch!” you scream and you throw your knife with deadly precision as she aims her gun again, the blade imbedding itself into her skull. She stumbles, her eyes going wide and her mouth dropping open, the gun falling loose in her hand. With one hand clasped to your side you step up the woman, you don’t know how she’s still standing with a blade lodged in her brain. You wrap your fingers around the hilt of your blade and try to pull it from the woman’s head, frowning when she moves with it, gurgling on the verge of death. With a sickening sound the blade pulls free,

Marcus is staring in horror as you turn to him, the woman finally falling to the ground. You can feel the blood oozing from your side and you wince as you move your hand to see. You wipe your blade off on your thigh and gesture for Marcus to move.

“Let’s get this over with Marcus” you breathe, moving to the next door despite your body’s protest. “Leave the bags here, we won’t be able to get out from the end. It’ll be sealed tight.”

Grunting you pull open the next door, ignoring the shelves of stuff and passing around the edge of the room. The next car has to be the prison car. On your way around the sides of the train car to reach the other door a label catches your eyes and you let Marcus pass as you pause to look at the bucket like container filled with weird little capsule like things. The label says they’re filled with water but they look like fucking tide pods and you shiver at the memory of that internet sensation. You grab the handle and take it. You’d be damned if you end up stuck out there without water.

“[Y/N]! The door is locked tight” Marcus calls out as you round the corner.

“Yeah it’s got a DNA lock” you cough, moving him to get to the receptacle. Grimacing, you place your blood coated hand upon the lock. A small buzz sounds from the lock as it clicks open. Moaning in pain you press your hand back to the hole in your side, hissing at the sheer pain. It will heal, it always does. Leaning against the wall you let Marcus open the door and go in, breathing slowly as the train jostles you.

“And here I hoped you might have actually been coming around.”

You freeze, your wide eyes looking to Marcus in the next car. His eyes meet yours as he holds his daughter, finally reunited. You breathe slowly, wincing in pain as you turn toward your father’s voice. Your eyes lock on the barrel of a gun. Shit

A/N: part three is here! Been try to make things a little less specific like features of Y/N and the meal. Curious to know what people pictured as their (plate of food) hopefully no one here is colour blind cause idk how to make this for colour blind people, sorry ⬇️. like and reblog to share the love!

@love93sstuff @superawesomegeek @whore-of-many-hot-men @sara-alonso @farfromjustordinary @i-d-k-any-more

#marcus moreno x reader #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal characters #marcus moreno #we can be heroes

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todorosy · 3 years

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Dark Academia // Todoroki Shouto

Uhh what if UA was drenched in the dark academia aesthetic? Because I am a filthy whore for turtlenecks.

Todoroki Shouto

It was half past 1AM. You know you should be sleeping, but the old creaking of the house and the constant tapping on your windows from the wind hitting the trees were deafening.

You climb out of bed, barely flinching at the cold wooden floors under your feet. You weren’t quite as familiar with the layout of the house as you were when you were a child, but due to your parent’s busy lives with work, you didn’t want to be left home alone during your winter break. Graciously, Endeavor, a close family friend, had offered his home to you for the next month. Of course you took up the offer. The beautiful high ceiling library, the magnificent grand piano, delicious and expensive tea? How could you say no?

The only downside was Shouto.

You’ve known each other since you were children but you two had always had a “friendly” rivalry as your years in boarding school progressed. You would go head to head in class seminars, sports, the speech and debate team, exams, and etc. You despised him and his prestigious attitude, but yet you two had always remained in each other's circle. Rumors arose, but it was hard to say when others would see yourselves having a screaming match in the hallways and studying together in the library that same evening.

Though your parents were very close to each other and insisted on spending dinners, vacations, and outings together- the banters and childish arguments continued then too.

With the moonlight shearing through the curtains, you were able to make your way towards the library. Your favorite room in the house. You cracked the door just enough to slip in. It was pitch black. You feel around the walls for the light switch before you notice a single lit candle on the table.

You grab a candle holder before making your way in between the bookshelves. You run your fingers along the old leather spines of the books. What were you feeling for tonight? Some Samuel Beckett? Sylvia Plath? Maybe something comedic.

“Looking for something?” A voice breaks the silence from behind you.

You quickly gasp and turn around. The candle in your hand illuminates a familiar face that stood a few inches away from yours.

“Christ, Shouto. Don’t scare me like that.” You quickly compose yourself, adjusting the blanket around your shoulders.

“What are you doing up so late? Shouldn’t someone like you be tucked away to bed already?” He cocks an eyebrow.

You roll your eyes. “Oh don’t patronize me, shit head. I could ask you the same thing.” You brush past him to continue searching the shelves. "A princess like you needs their beauty sleep."

From behind you, you hear his footsteps following you.

“Ah, I missed that. You’ve been avoiding me like the plague since you’ve gotten here. Makes me miss our in-class discussions.”

“You missed me, huh? I wished the feelings were mutual.” You tease. “In fact, I think your presence is quite suffocating.” You say peering over your shoulder at him.

He trails behind you and slithers a hand around your waist and pulls you close with your back to him.

“Now you better watch your words. You are in my home after all, and we are lost in between these bookshelves. It would be a shame if...” He leans over your shoulder and blows out the candle providing the only source of light in the room.

“It would be a shame if I poured this hot candle wax all over you, peabrain. Now it's pitch black and I can't see anything.” You groan.

“You’re telling me you didn’t light anymore out in the main study room? Good job, stupid.” He scoffs and releases you from his grip.

“Well why did you blow out the candle in the first place? This isn’t an erotic scene in Twilight. Get real.” You roll your eyes and turn to face him. "And stop stalking me. I wanted to come down here and escape the overwhelming Todoroki presence.

“I couldn’t help myself, you're just too easy to annoy." His voice suddenly goes low "But anyways, I'm glad I caught you because I've been meaning to discuss some things with you.” His voice suddenly goes low.

“What is it? Can't it wait until the morning or is it that dire?” You cock an eyebrow.

"Well it could've if you weren't fleeting every room I step into." He rolls his eyes.

You were suddenly less than a feet from each other. You could barely make out his face in the darkness, but he held onto your wrist to make sure you weren’t a fog in the dark.

“But no, it's not as serious as it sounds. I’ve just been wondering a lot lately. We've known each other since we were pretty much born right?"

"Right...?"

"Well, how do you really feel about me? Drop the academic rivalry stuff. Can you actually not stand my presence?"

You almost snorted out a laugh.

“Are you serious? You created this dramatic build up just to ask me that?” You try to suppress your laughter. "How old are you again?

Your eyes adjusted to the darkness and you met his gaze. He looked much more innocent than he did earlier. His hair was disheveled. His eyes were tired. I took you a second to calculate an answer.

“Okay, okay. I won’t tease you." You let out a sigh. "But... I think you’re infuriating at times. Annoying. Prideful.” You begin. “But you’re a good rival. You keep me on my toes. So I don't hate you as much as everyone thinks I do. Only a smidgen I guess." You playfully say.

“Ah okay. Ditto to you. Princess complex. Always have to be so pristine and proper around everyone.” He chuckles under his breath “But you know I don’t hate you either. You keep things interesting over at UA. I like having you around.”

A blush dusted over your cheeks. You’ve never seen Shouto get so into his emotions. He’s usually as serious as ever and keeps conversation casual at most. You had to admit to yourself that you did have an infatuation with him when you were at the ripe age of 13, but that was quickly repressed when you were competing for the entrance to UA.

“Yeah...I’m glad we were both accepted into UA." You awkwardly look down at your feet. "But why'd you ask anyways?”

"I'm not sure. I guess I was just trying to predict how our dynamic would play out after we grow up and part ways onto our own careers."

"I see. I mean if I'm being blunt, we're not exactly bffs. Kinda."

You’ve always seen him in a different light than your peers. They always complimented him and boasted about him and were envious of his intelligence, but you knew him better than that, which is why your relationship was so confusing.

"How has.." You begin "...your father been?"

His breath hitches before he sighs. He then lets out a scoff. You feel his hands fall from your wrist.

"He's been the same guy he's always been. You know how it is." You could hear the sad smile in his voice.

"I do." You reply sadly.

"I want to be a writer. A journalist even. He wants me to take over his company. It's pathetic. There's no chance that I'd be able to run a business and write on the side."

"Hey, don't talk like that." You cut him off. "Who says you can't just drop the business all together and pursue writing? You've got brains in your head and the heart of a lion."

"Now watch yourself. if you keep talking like that, I might risk it all right now." He chuckles.

"I'm serious." You firmly put both your hands on his shoulder now, giving them a hard squeeze. "You don't have to be who your father wants you to be. I support you. Even if I want to rip your face off sometimes, you know I'll always be rooting for you."

There was a moment of silence between you two. He stood there, eyes gazing into your own like a lost child searching for something. You didn't know, but he appreciated your words more than you may think. He's been waiting his whole life for some reassurance and some escape from the path he's been forced upon.

"Thank you Y/N. Really." He pulls you in for a hug and it feels like all of the air from your lungs and is replaced with the soft scent of sweet mint and lemons. You hug him back tighter, smothering your face in his chest.

"No problem. You know, all these years of insults aren't for nothing." You mutter. "I want you to be the best version of yourself."

He moves his hands from your back to cup your face and head. He pulls away just enough to plant a gentle peck on the top of your head. You stayed intertwined like that for a few moments longer. You felt your body overheat under the thick blanket draped over your shoulders, but you didn't move.

"Y/N."

"Uh..yeah?" You muffle out. Your heart was racing.

"I think this is the first time we've hugged. Ever." He chuckles. "A lot of people would be jealous, you know."

"Aaanndddd... you've officially ruined it." You roll your eyes and push him away. "Get a lot of bitches, Shouto? Huh? You're such a hot shot, right?"

"Of course. I am a Todoroki after all." He teases.

"Ah yes. Nothing else to admire other than your family name." You began making your way down the aisle of books back to where you came from, he follows right behind you. "I thought you never cared about romance and all that bullshit."

He ponders the idea for a second.

"I've been around. Relationships are distracting and not many people catch my attention anyways."

You and Shouto make it to the main study where you light more candles around, dimly lighting the room just enough to see each other's faces.

"Oh? You've been around?" You ask with amusement, browsing through many of the books stacked on the table. "I've always thought you were too good for anyone. Might I say, a pure virgin boy?"

"Shut up." He rolls his eyes. "I've had my fair share of flings and dates. Bet you can't say the same can you, prude? Not even a first kiss?"

"As if I have the choice. My father wouldn't let me waste any time with a significant other, and I know for a fact that yours wouldn't either." You scoff. "And I've actually kissed lots of people! And I bet all of them would say I'm decently good too!"

You start to feel your stomach twist. You lied. You've never had your first kiss. You've always ran away from confessions and confrontations. You have your back turned to Shouto, mindlessly flipping through the books to mask your nervousness but your clammy hands could instantly give you away.

You feel a hot breath exhale onto your bare neck, making you instantly turn around to face the tall figure blocking your view. You look up to lock eyes with the boy you grew up learning to despise.

He picks up a strand of your hair and twirls it between his fingers. "You know, after spending so much time with you for all these years, I think I have a pretty good idea of your mannerisms. Especially when you're telling the truth or not."

"You don't know anything about me, Todoroki." You stand your ground and glare up at him.

"You've never had your first kiss. You've never felt someone else's skin on yours." He states, running his fingers down your strand of hair. "Don't lie about it. I know you."

"And if I haven't then why is it any of your business?" You spit back.

"It's not, but just wanted you to admit it. You're not the winner you think you are, Y/N."

Your face erupts in fire, but you keep your composure calm.

"The winner? Sweetheart, I'm the prize" You snarl.

You step forward, making him stumble back.

"You think you're so desired. You think you have everybody wrapped around your finger, but listen here, babe." He eventually hits the wall on the other side of the room. His eyes are wide.

"You can have anyone you want. You can swoon as many as you would like, but you can't have me."

You grab the back of his neck and pull his face close to yours. You're damn near on your tippy toes just to reach him, but you make the effort flawless. His breath hitches as you're just a few inches away from each other. You squeeze your eyes shut and connect your lips together like a hard punch.

He felt frozen, but slowly matched your lips. His hand harshly grips the side of your neck as if he's slipping away.

You were on fire. Your feet were ready to cramp up from holding the position for so long, your eyes were begging to open to see whether or not his were, your hand on the back of his neck was getting even more clammy, and you honestly felt like you could throw up for the bold move you just made.

You ripped away and stumbled a few steps back.

"But I can have you. And that's what makes me the winner."

You turn around and quickly escape, leaving him and your dignity in the study.

At least you left with your pride.

#shouto todoroki #bnha todoroki #todoroki x y/n #todoroki x reader #todorokixreader #todoroki fanfic #boku no academia #bnha #mha #my hero academia

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boat-full-of-lotus-pods · 5 years

Text

MDZS Chapter 98. “A Hatred for Life[1]” Part 1

The fight against Jin GuangYao commences

With Wen Ning sprinting along, Wei WuXian led them straight to the Guanyin Temple in the middle of the city. When he and Lan WangJi had scouted out the layout of the temple during the day, they had planned to come investigate it further at nighttime, breach the array in the temple, find out exactly what was sealed within it, and see if it could be used against Jin GuangYao. However, not only had Wei WuXian slept all the way till five in the afternoon, but ‘that’ had also happened soon afterwards. Thus, their original plan was completely ruined. Right now, with all the pent up frustration within him looking for outlet, Wei WuXian was itching to stir up some trouble for Jin GuangYao.

It was deep into the night and the city was quiet. It was already past curfew for most households, and the gate of the Guanyin Temple was shut. Looking from outside the temple’s walls, the inner courtyard appeared pitch black. Wei WuXian leaped up the wall in two strides. Right before he reached the top of the wall, however, he suddenly paused and thought, ‘Something’s not right.’

Wen Ning paused as well, and said quietly, “There’s a barrier here.”

Wei WuXian made a hand gesture to Wen Ning and the two of them landed soundlessly back down on the ground. Leaving the gate, they circled to the Guanyin Temple’s back. Finding an inconspicuous corner, they carefully scaled the wall. Hiding behind a roof beast[2], they peeked at the courtyard below.

Just one glance and they were both stunned.

With all the lights and fires burning bright within, the Guanyin Temple was filled with people. Half of the people were monks. The other half were cultivators dressed in robes of Sparks Amidst Snow. The two groups were standing mixed and mingled. Some were holding bows, others had swords in their hands. Alert and vigilant, they seemed to be guarding something, and periodically exchanged words with one another. However, since the entire perimeter of the Guanyin Temple had been bound by a special barrier, the temple within appeared pitch black and dead quiet from outside the temple’s walls. None of the light or noises carried beyond the barrier.

But what had stunned Wei WuXian wasn’t the barrier, the cultivators or those fake monks. What had stunned him was the man dressed in white standing in the middle of the courtyard.

Lan XiChen.

Lan XiChen was not restrained in any way. Even his sword and his xiao[3], Liebing[4], were still strapped by his waist. Standing amongst the group of people calmly, the other cultivators and monks all seemed to be treating Lan XiChen with dignity and respect, even answering to his every word.

After observing for a while, Wei WuXian said to Wen Ning quietly, “Go back to the inn right now and bring HanGuang-Jun here immediately!”

Nodding, Wen Ning disappeared at once. Jin GuangYao was nowhere in sight, and Wei WuXian had no idea if he was here or not, and whether if the Stygian Tiger Seal was in his hands. Thinking, Wei WuXian bit his own finger, breaking the skin, and held his bleeding finger to the mouth of the Spirit-Trapping Pouch by his waist. He was planning to lure out a few small ghosts to help him summon over some evil beings in secret. Little had he expected to suddenly hear a series of dog barks coming from the end of the street beyond the Guanyin Temple’s walls.

Wei WuXian was immediately scared witless.

Blinding terror ripped at him from within as he fought the urge to flee for his life. Trembling, Wei WuXian hugged onto the roof beast tightly. As the dog’s barking drew closer and closer, terror engulfed Wei WuXian’s heart. ‘Save me, Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan, save me!’ He couldn’t help but repeat this in his heart like a mantra.

As if drawing courage from the thought and the name in his head, Wei WuXian forced his shuddering self to remain calm. He prayed to the Heaven and the earth for the dog to be a masterless, orphaned dog that would quickly wander away, but fate was less kind than he had hoped. Along with the dog’s barks came the voice of a young man, saying, “Fairy, shut up! Do you want to wake up this entire street in the middle of the night?!”

Jin Ling!

Lan XiChen became startled at once. Those cultivators from the Lanling Jin Sect probably all recognized the voice of Lanling’s Young Master. Exchanging looks among themselves, they drew their bows, arrows ready. Jin Ling’s voice quickly grew closer and closer, and it wasn’t long before he was right outside of the Guanyin Temple’s gate, saying, “Shh! Shh! If you bark again I’ll stew you! ......Where exactly are you bringing me?”

Wei WuXian’s heart leaped through the moon over a thousand terror, ‘Jin Ling, you unlucky child! Hurry up and leave this place!!!’

But Jin Ling stopped right outside the Guanyin Temple’s gate, and Fairy was still howling madly, seemingly roaming in circles and pawing at the ground and the wall. Confused, Jin Ling asked, “It’s here?”

A moment of silence later, he actually knocked on the gate, asking, “Is anyone here?!”

Within the courtyard, all the cultivators were attentive and high-strung. With arrows drawn on their bows, they aimed at the gate, holding the bowstring tight, waiting for an order. Lan XiChen said quietly, “Don’t hurt him!”

His voice wouldn’t carry outside of the barrier, yet no one lowered their guard or their bow. Jin Ling seemed to have sensed the peculiarity of the place as well. Even if there were no night guards by the temple’s gate, someone ought to have been woken up already by those thundering, banging noises he had made against the gate. It made little sense for the temple to still be engulfed in silence. Thus, Jin Ling stopped making noise. Just as Wei WuXian was about to let go of the breath of air he’d been holding, a wave of barks was suddenly heard from outside the walls again. Jin Ling’s voice was filled with irritation, “Hey, why are you heading back all of a sudden?!”

Wei WuXian was delighted, ‘Good Fairy!!!’

Jin Ling yelled, “Fairy! Come back! Fuck!”

Wei WuXian prayed in his heart, ‘My little lord, just hurry up and get out of here with your dog!!! I beg of you!!!’

Yet, a few moments later, the almost unnoticeable rustling sound of rocks and powder could be heard. At first, Wei WuXian couldn’t identify what the sound was. A moment later, he was suddenly drenched in cold sweat, ‘Shit, that little brat’s climbing the wall!’

The moment Jin Ling reached the top of the wall, he was confronted by an entire courtyard of bows drawn and aimed at him. His pupils shrunk instantly. One of the monks had either never seen Jin Ling before or had already prepared to annihilate any and all intruders. The monk released his bowstring and the arrow soared towards Jin Ling!

Hearing the distinct, crisp sound that the bowstring had made in the air, Wei WuXian knew right away that the wielder of the bow possessed exceptional skills. If the arrow were to reach Jin Ling, it’d pierce through his chest and break his bones for sure. Right now, there was only one thing that Wei WuXian could use a projectile to block the arrow for Jin Ling. With no time to hesitate, Wei WuXian leaped onto the wall and cast it into the air, shouting, “Jin Ling, run!”

The thing he had cast out was the bamboo flute he’d been carrying with him ever since he’d returned to life. It collided against the arrow, shattering into pieces upon impact, and knocked the arrow off its course. Jin Ling’s figure disappeared from the wall. He’d probably ran away. Meanwhile, since Wei WuXian had exposed his position, more than a hundred arrow flew his way like a wave of sharp rain, turning the roof beast he was hiding behind into a spiky hedgehog. Wei WuXian silently praised his luck of having something to hide behind. None of these people had poor aim and their cultivation were likely also not bad. Whether Jin Ling could successfully outrun these people still remained a concern. Leaping down the wall, Wei WuXian made a loop with his fingers and was just about to blow a whistle when he heard a laughing voice behind his back, saying, “I would advice Young Master Wei otherwise. A shattered flute is no big deal, but a severed finger or tongue would be a lot more uncomfortable.”

Putting his hand down, Wei WuXian agreed, “Very reasonable advice.”

The person responded, “Shall we?”

Wei WuXian nodded and remarked, “Sect Leader Jin is too kind.”

Jin GuangYao smiled and said, “It’s only proper.”

They circled around the temple’s grounds on foot as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Upon arriving in front of the main temple, Wei WuXian was speechless.

The gate of the temple was already open. As expected, Jin Ling had not succeeded in escaping. Held at sword point by a few monks, he hesitated for a moment before calling, “Youngest Uncle.”

Jin GuangYao simply replied, “Hey there, A-Ling.”

Footnotes:

[1]: Hensheng: 恨生, the name of Jin GuangYao’s sword. Broadly means “hate life”. Not sure if this suggests a hatred for his own life, a hatred for living itself, or a hatred for other people who are alive.

[2]: Roof beast: 檐兽 are a type of Chinese roof decoration located on the ridgeline of a building’s roof.

[3]: Xiao: 箫 or 洞箫 is a Chinese instrument shaped like a vertical flute.

[4]: Liebing: 裂冰 is the name of Lan XiChen’s xiao. Broadly means “cracking ice”.

Edited: @light-salami thanks for finding the typo!

#魔道祖师 #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #novel translation #my translation

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shesgayfor · 5 years

Text

Patient, Sebastian

Summary: Reader is a dentist, and Sebastian, reader’s boyfriend, agrees to come in for a cleaning done by her. Fluffy kinda, detailed.

Characters: Sebastian Stan, reader

TW: Dentist, Dental tools/talk

The two of them had only been together for a few months, but it felt like years. He was a famous actor, and she was a successful dentist. They’d met through a friend of a friend, at a dinner party. They hit it off immediately, he was quiet and charming, she was bold and sweet. It was an instant connection between them, and they both knew it. He had been not super busy lately with any projects, giving them time to properly get to know each other. Dates out in public, being snapped by paparazzi. She handled it really well, for someone who's never been in the spotlight before.

They often spoke of their work with each other, him telling her about past acting gigs and famous people he’s worked with, while she talks about her fascination with dentistry and the short list of celebrities she’s encountered. Living in Manhattan, New York she was bound to see celebrities come through her practice. Somewhere along the most recent conversation, he agreed to come into her office for a cleaning. It felt like a big step in their relationship somehow. Almost like, hey we’re getting pretty serious and you cleaning my teeth will prove that kinda thing. I mean they’d seen each other naked, so what’s her seeing his teeth any harm.

She had been finishing up a patient when her front desk receptionist interrupted her.

“Sebastian is here.” The receptionist smiled at her. Her stomach dropped at the comment, but it also made her smile.

“Thank you, Lauren. I’m almost finished.” Y/N said to her. She nodded and left the room. She excused her patient, getting herself ready to clean her new boyfriends teeth. She was actually really nervous about it, or around him. Or both?

“Hey Doctor your next patient is here, want me to send him in?” A hygienist approached, asking her.

“Yes please, thank you Amy.” She nodded as she walked into the front to retrieve the patient. Y/N walked all the way to the back of the building into her office. Sebastian’s previous dentist was sending over past records, and she wanted to print them and bring them in. She heard Amy and Sebastian lightly chatting, assuming she was bringing him into the room. Her practice was private, which meant she owned her own section in a building. The layout consisted of a small, waiting area up front. A door separating that area, to then leading to the one and only dental room, which had a sliding door to it, for maximum privacy. Her office was located right behind the dental room. It wasn’t a huge area, but it was private, and it was hers. One receptionist and two hygienists would be on staff for one day. She did most of the biggest procedures like cavity fillings, wisdom teeth pulling, braces installation and more. Her hygienists usually dealt with minor cleanings, but not today.

She grabbed all the printed papers and headed into the dental room. Slowly walking in she saw her long boyfriend sitting on the chair in the middle of the room. She quietly slid the door closed, as his head turned around to see her entering.

“Hi,” he said softly, with a smile. She placed a hand on his shoulder, before bending down to place a soft kiss on his lips. “Hi,” she said back. He was looking her up and down, intrigued by the white coat.

“So professional, doctor.” He said to her. This made her laugh, and slightly blush. God damn he made her nervous. She studied his calming face, his slightly scruffy beard and fluffy brown hair. His piercing blue eyes that intimidated the hell out of her.

“How was your day?” She pulled up a stool with wheels next to him.

“Eh, considering it’s only noon not much has happened. How’s it been here?” His words were soothing to the ears.

“Kinda busy, actually. Had an emergency root canal at 8 this morning so that’s always fun.” His face dropped to one of horror and disgust. “I know,” she laughed, “always a fun time.”

“You’re not doing a, root, canal, on me are you?” He asked.

“God no babe,” she placed a hand on his. “Just a cleaning!”

“Okay good.” He looked relieved.

“Hey, you agreed to this. I promise, I’m gentle.” She responded.

“No no I know. I trust you 100%. I need a good cleaning and who better to do it than my incredibly intelligent, beautiful girlfriend?” Her face went bright red, and against her eggshell white jacket it was quite obvious.

“Awe am I making you blush?” His voice had a hint of laughter in it.

“God you always do, don’t sweet talk me! I am your doctor.” She sounded half joking half serious.

“Alright I’ll be good.” He folded his hands on his stomach and leaned his head back into the chair.

“Right. Okay let’s get started, shall we?” Her bright, straight teeth were being revealed. She rolled behind him, typing something into the computer and grabbing some materials. A high tray appeared, revealing several tools. She reached into a drawer to grab fresh gloves and a nose and mouth mask. The mask and gloves went on, and she was ready to get started. A paper like towel was placed around his neck, it being purple in color. Her foot tapped a button to make the chair go up and backwards, forcing him to be laying on his back. The overhead light gets turned on, and aimed directly at his mouth. She picks up a mini mirror, and a pointed tool as she moves it directly towards his mouth. He does a bite down, bear all teeth type of smile before he actually opens his mouth.

“Open up, babe.” She teased softly behind the mask.

“Yup.” he says as he does exactly as she asks. The current position of them was him, obviously lying flat on the chair. Her, she was sitting on the rolling stool right under his head. She was incredibly close to his face, doing this on purpose.

She moves the mirror around to check out every single tooth, with the occasional light poke from the pointed tool. “Damn Sebastian.” she whispers behind the mask, but loud enough for him to hear.

“What?” Except it came out as someone would expect it to with tools in their mouth. She brought her eyes to his, his looked slightly concerned.

“Your teeth are incredible.” She was genuinely astounded. The corners of his mouth went up to that comment.

Her mirror continued to maneuver around his mouth, checking every nook and cranny. She did this for a good two more minutes, really getting thorough. “Is that?” she started but stopped. Her pointed tool tugged lightly on a clear piece of material glued to the top and bottom behinds of his teeth. “Retainer?” She was speaking to herself at this point. He stayed quiet and just observed her as she looked. She was looking at a perfect set of teeth, each one aligned perfectly. She did a little bit more light scraping, before removing the tools from his mouth.

“Everything okay?” He asked, watching you type something into the computer.

She pulled the mask down to speak to him. “Yes yes, of course. I’m just a little confused on something I’m trying to check something out.”

“What are you confused on?” His voice was one of concern.

“I’m seeing, retainers in your mouth.”

“Oh,” he brought his finger to the back of his lower teeth. “You mean the wire thing right? That’s like glued on, right?”

“Yes those. Did you, have braces at some point? There’s no way, you’re an actor. I’ve never seen any pictures of you with braces unless I didn’t look hard enough.”

“Uh yeah, I did have braces about 5 years ago.” He laughed.

“How? As an actor? Were they clear?”

“No it was invisalign.”

“Ohhhh!” Her voice was louder at this point. “That makes so much sense holy shit.”

He nervously smiled towards her, softly speaking a “yeah.”

“Why’d you get invisalign at the mere age of 31?” She questioned. He got kinda quiet, as a sad look fell over his face. “Seb?”

“I hated my smile, Y/N. I’d been acting for 10 years at that point, I had this stupid crooked front tooth that drove me crazy. I never wanted to smile I felt ashamed. I’m in movies, and people see close ups of my face. I wanted to have a smile I could be proud of.”

Her face turned to one of sympathy. “Awe Seb, that is understandable. If it’s something that bothered you that much, then I’m happy you helped yourself. I think you’re adorable now, and I bet you were adorable with a little snaggletooth.” She laughed, trying to be sincere.

He shook his head and forced a laugh. “It wasn’t, it was annoying.”

She shrugged. “Perfect teeth are boring. But whatever, yours are perfect but you are not boring. Crazy how that works..” Her head was floating up looking around.

“Okay sorry, I got way too distracted. I’m gonna finish up.” He nodded, as she pulled back up her mask and prepared for the next step.

The next step was flossing. Since behind his top and bottom front teeth had a retainer, she had to use a different technique to do so. She pulled out a device that was small and thin enough to pull floss through tight teeth, aka his. “I really hope you floss.” She smiled down at him. He muttered an “uh huh” with her hands in his mouth. She began pulling the floss through each tooth, gently teetering back and forth between the teeth. Surprisingly, he did not bleed once. “So you floss daily? That’s, hot.” She spoke to him. His eyes widening at her comment, unsure how to respond. “Sorry, ignore that. I meant, it’s nice to see.” She quickly tried to cover it. She brought over a water squirting tool, rinsing out his mouth. “Go ahead and spit.” She said as she pointed to the small sink next to him. He did so, and she brought up the one that sucked out air into his mouth, cleaning it up.

“Bite down.” She took her gloved hands and pulled back his lips to get a good look at the teeth. “Perfect. Now for the polishing. You have a flavor preference?”

“Uh, peppermint is good?” She nodded at his response.

Another tool was revealed, this one looking like a drill, but not. It was a circular piece at the end that spun, basically an advanced toothbrush.

“Open.” She said with a slight drag on the N. He obeyed and she began cleaning and polishing every surface of each tooth. He let out a few chuckles during it, which made her laugh as well. This took about five minutes to finish, as she is always thorough and doesn’t ever miss a spot. The water tool made its way again, rinsing out his mouth. She pointed to the sink again, he knew what to do. She stuck the air sucker into his mouth, “Close. And, open.” clearing out any left over paste.

“You’re almost done.” Her eyes smiled, as he couldn’t see her whole face.

“Awe really? I’ve been enjoying this.” She shot him a look of confused and almost joking.

“Oh yeah?” Her tone was snarky.

“Yes. My girlfriend is cleaning my teeth in a very private room. I get some interesting one on one time with her. Even though it’s a little weird, I’m having a good time.” He was flashing his pearly whites at her.

“Well,” she paused. “I’m enjoying this too.” Her face slightly blushed. They both shared a laugh.

“What’s left?” He curiously asked.

“Fluoride.” She replied. He audibly groaned at the response. “Oh? Not a fan?”

“That stuff always has me on the brink of gagging, it’s the worst thing ever.” His face was one of disgust.

“Mm. Bad gag reflexes?”

“Pretty much.”

“That’s fortunate for you though, cause you’d have a rough time sucking dick.” Her face was one big smirk, it was clear through the mask too.

“Dear god Y/N.” He laughed. She shrugged, “just saying.” He slowly nodded, with attitude.

She prepped the pink goo on the arch shaped mouthpiece. She filled a top and a bottom piece.

“Just breath and try not to think about it. Open.” She carefully placed the fluoride trays into his mouth, lifting up his soft top and bottom lips to fit over the tray. “60 seconds, you can do it.” She took off a glove and grabbed one of his hands with it. He closed his eyes shut, trying not to gag on this stuff. “40 seconds” she was rubbing his hand with her finger ever so lightly. “20 seconds” her ungloved hand carefully stroked his cheek, feeling his baby smooth skin. “10 seconds.”

“Okay okay, open.” She removed both the trays and tossed them to the side. A cup of water was handed to him, as she wiped his mouth off with a towel. The mask and gloves both came off, as she stood up from the rolling stool.

She gently smiled at him, “all done.” He sighed a sigh of relief, as that last part was the worst part.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” She questioned.

“Not at all,” he ran his tongue over his newly polished teeth, “they feel great.” He was bearing his smile at her, which made her heart flutter.

“So on a patient level, your teeth are in incredible condition, Seb. You clearly take care of them. I recorded three fillings from the past, and the retainers from the invisalign you had years ago. Nothing looks chipped or damaged, the fillings are in great condition and the retainer looks as sturdy as it will get!”

“I-, wow yeah thank you.” He was a little embarrassed himself, his cheeks going red.

“I gotta say, this was incredibly satisfying for me. I can’t explain it really. I told you how I’ve had an obsession with dentistry since I was young, I just wanted to do this so badly. Why though? No clue.” She paused, to look at her boyfriend who was still lying on his back, with the overhead light still on. She turned it off, so she wasn’t blinding him. “To get to clean my boyfriends teeth though was, like an accomplishment for me almost? Maybe not. It’s weird, but I was just happy you let me do this for you, Seb.”

“Hey, I get it. You’re passionate, use that word instead. There’s no judgment. I admire you and your work, it isn’t easy. I mean, scraping random strangers teeth all day? I’ll pass.” He laughed at his own comment. “Your a real professional Y/N and I’ll come back anytime for you to clean my teeth.” She placed a hand on her chest and slightly took her body back. “Seb! That’s so nice oh my god!” She was enthusiastic at this point. “Here shit sorry let me put the chair back up.” She said as her foot tapped the chair back to a ninety degree angle.

“Come here.” He reached his arms out, pulling her face into his. They managed to kiss yet again, which lead to a small makeout session. She sat on his lap on the chair as the two of them continued extreme kissing.

“Wow thank you for that.” She propped herself off his lap, wiping her lips with her hand. “You taste so good.” She told him.

“Well, you did just clean my entire mouth so, I’d hope it does.” His face had a suggestive look on it.

“Dear god Sebastian you’re making me hot in my workplace, this is so dangerous.” She panted.

#dentist #dental #dentistry #sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #okay listen i did research and found out that sebastian fixed his teeth #i found picture proof that he had invisalign #there's also a video of his dentist talking about it #everything else is imagination #i have no idea why he fixed his teeth this is just my imagination #he was cute with crooked teeth #but looks so hot with his new teeth

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lavoie-susie · 6 years

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The Blood in your Veins Excites Me

(Yandere!Lawrence x Reader)

Read on Ao3

Summary- It started out as an innocent fascination. And to be honest, it did. But it grew into something more. Something darker, less innocent and sweet. But, he couldn’t take it anymore. This itch… it had escalated, slowly at first, until it was the white-hot rash burning at his skin that he knew today. It wasn’t his fault, he would reason with himself. It was not his fault. It wasn’t. You were the one to be held accountable for. Not him.

Warnings- Stalking, Yandere character, Lawrence is a creep (and we love him for it)

Yandere!Lawrence x fem!reader

It started out as an innocent fascination.

He hated leaving his apartment. It was cold and too bright and there were so many people. It felt as if there were eyes on him at all times, he had no privacy. It scared him, made him nervous. But, sometimes he was forced to leave his apartment. He needed more fertiliser for his plants, one had grown too big for its pot and needed re-potting. He needed more fertiliser. Luckily it was late, late enough for there to be little people still out and about, but early enough for his local plant nursery to still be open.

Walking through the automatic doors filled him with dread. He probably wouldn’t have to speak to any employee’s, he had been there many times before. But the familiar smell of the nursery did nothing to calm his anxiety. He rubbed his sweaty palms over his faded jeans, eyes shifting around the building nervously, looking for the desired section.

His heart sunk, it seemed that the store had done the unnecessary yet again and changed the layout of the store. He subconsciously scratched at his clothed forearms as he wandered cluelessly around the store, looking for any sign to direct him in the right direction.

“Hey there, is there any way I can help you?” A soft voice interrupted his mild panic. He flinched, turning around and stumbling slightly.

“Oh. I’m sorry for startling you…” The woman frowned, looking genuinely concerned.

Lawrence shook his head. He stuttered nervously, eyes looking everywhere but the woman. “No. I-I’m looking for fertiliser.”

The woman smiled warmly. “Ah! I’m sorry, we just changed the layout of the store. If you’ll follow me, I can show you where we keep it now.”

Lawrence nodded, his face warming slightly. The woman seemed unfazed with Lawrence’s strange behaviour.

As Lawrence followed behind the woman, he noticed how her walk was of liquid grace, seamlessly weaving around plant pots littered around the ground. He was captivated with her effortless beauty. The way her hair swayed softly with each stride. It looked soft and healthy. He wanted to be the one to help it grow.

“Do you like plants?” The woman asked idly, slowing her walk as she shifted her gaze behind her towards Lawrence.

Lawrence nodded softly. “I do. I like the way they… need me,” he muttered.

The girl smiled, her eyes shutting briefly. “That’s different, I haven’t heard that one before.” Lawrence felt momentarily disheartened, of course she wouldn’t understand. “But, I do agree. I can see how it can give you a sense of power. Sounds… Interesting? Maybe I should buy a plant,” she continued.

Lawrence sped up his pace to match hers, noticing the nametag reading ‘(Y/N)’. He smiled, it suited her well.

“He we are. Do you need help choosing?”

He didn’t, but he wanted to talk to her more. Something that didn’t happen often, so he wanted to make the most of it. He didn’t want her to leave.

“Yes please.”

She nodded, asking a few questions regarding what plant he needed it for, and how much he would need.

“Oh, in that case—” she cut herself off with a grunt as she lifted a large bag and placed it into a shopping cart nearby, “—I think this one will suit you best.”

Lawrence frowned. She could have hurt herself with a bag that heavy. “Be careful…”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, I’ll be fine. Now, is there anything else you require, Plant Boy?” she teased.

Brows furrowed in worry, Lawrence shook his head.

Lawrence arrived home that night happy that he had ventured outside of his apartment.

It was a week later when Lawrence returned to the place you worked. This time, he didn’t need anything. He just wanted to see you. It was also daylight. He wanted to see you in the natural light, instead of the unflattering industrial lighting.

Lately his dreams had been filled with the colour of your eyes. Your angelic voice. He wanted to see you smile, but he couldn’t settle for imagining it anymore. It was like an itch, but it didn’t matter how much he scratched it, it felt as if it was embedded under his skin and he couldn’t reach it. He felt so uncomfortable.

He needed to see you so all of this would stop. He wanted to go back to raising his plants.

Walking inside, he noticed that you weren’t at any of the check-outs. Suddenly the thought that maybe you weren’t here entered his mind. He felt mad. How dare you not be here when he wanted you to be.

“Hey! How can I help ya, ya look lost?” A loud voice shouted in his direction. Lawrence grimaced, he didn’t enjoy how loud this person was being, the stranger’s presence was obnoxious. Lawrence shuffled away quickly, hoping to not attract anymore unwanted attention.

He found a section of cacti, a type of plant he disliked. Cacti could survive for a long time, with no need for care. If he were to mistreat a cactus, it would most likely still survive. He hated them.

“Hello sir, how may I- Oh! Plant Boy!”

It was you. He whipped around, surprised to see you. Just as he thought, you looked even more beautiful in the daylight.

“Lawrence. My name, I mean…” he stuttered, his ears reddening.

You smiled, “Nice to see you again, Lawrence. I’m (Y/N).” The way you said his name made his knees weak. You were breathtaking. You held out your hand towards him. He stared at it as if it was holding a knife to his throat. You felt bad, so you slowly retreated your hand back to your side, frowning in the process.

Lawrence panicked, he didn’t like seeing you make such a sad face. He snatched up your hand, shaking it gently. His face bloomed a dark red shade, and he quickly let go of your hand, avoiding eye contact.

“I have to go.” He uttered, embarrassed.

“Oh. Okay…” He was already leaving, not sparing you another glance as he awkwardly shuffled away, avoiding your co-workers like the plague. He hadn’t even bought anything.

He had to see you again. Just once more, he tried to reason with himself. He knew it was a lie. He could still feel the warmth of your hand. It was so soft. He had been so close to you. You smelt like dirt and leaves with a hint of cheap perfume. His hand smelt like you.

It was his new favourite scent.

He sat in his car, staring at his hand. It had dirt on it. Dirt that had touched your hand. Dirt that had touched your hand and was now touching his hand.

He immediately regretted washing it off that night.

He spent the next few weeks committing your work schedule to memory, which days you worked and what times you started and finished. He had it written down in an old and worn notebook he had bought at a thrift store. Some days your hair was greasy and unkempt, it was obvious that those days you had slept in. Some days your hair was wavy from bed, yet still presentable. Some days it was clean and straight, either straightened or combed out. Even the days when you were late to work, and your clothing was messy, there was still something about you that drew Lawrence in. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but you were a magnet to him.

He sat outside of the plant nursery in an obscured corner. It was dark now and you’d be off any time now. He had a camera in his hands. It was cheap, but good enough quality to capture what he needed to. He knew the pictures would never compare to the real thing, but he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t at least try to capture your beauty.

The automatic doors opened. One hand waving goodbye to your co-workers, the other lazily clutching at the strap of your backpack. You had such pretty hands.

He brought the camera up to his eye, taking a quick shot of you. The resounding shutter of the camera lens caught your attention, a look of confusion apparent on your face as you turned to face the area where the noise came from. Lawrence bathed in your expression; any face you made brought him euphoria. He took another picture. He wanted to see your face when you were scared, when you were mad, when you were… aroused. He wanted to see it all, to have it all to himself. He wanted to be able to bring any emotion he wanted to your face, to be able to manipulate it freely.

You quickened your pace, clutching at your backpack straps tighter.

Lawrence did not follow immediately. He quickly checked the outcome of the photos. It was too dark to make anything out. He turned the flash on, then followed you around the corner; sneaking in the shadows. From what he already knew, you didn’t live too far away, and no public transport would be needed. It was lucky for him—you knew his face, and if you saw him get onto the same bus as you with a camera around his neck, you would be suspicious.

You stood still at a traffic light. There were no cars passing, but the light was red. You were so cute, abiding by the law even when there was seemingly no one around. The bright red stoplight brought out the colour in your eyes.

Lawrence crouched behind a small bush, steadying his camera. He counted, just before the light would turn green, he would take the picture. Less likely that you would bother to turn around and try to stop him.

3… 2… now.

You flinched at the sudden bright light, but the light turned green and you hurried across the road. You would turn back periodically, paranoid. It was so cute.

Lawrence decided not to follow you any further. He would save the fun for another night.

The veins of your hands and neck stood out in the bright red light of the stoplight, the surprised expression on your face inexplicably adorable, your hair messy from the slight wind.

The image was perfect. He framed it.

He followed you home after work one evening, writing your address down into his journal. It was as if you sensed him there, watching you, as you turned around at every noise.

He was nervous too, afraid that you’d discover who he was and hate him. Lawrence knew this wasn’t the normal way to get to know someone, he knew your fear was understandable. He too would hate to be stalked… But for some reason he couldn’t keep himself away.

Your house was average. A little dirty. But the inside could always be different. Maybe you even had plants too… He wondered what type of plants you kept.

He watched as your shaking hands fumbled with the keys to unlock the door, failing to fit them into the lock on the first try. He felt slightly bad for scaring you. He’d make it up to you one day. When you were his.

You finally unlocked the door, roughly shouldering it open. He flinched as you slammed the door shut as soon as you were inside, locking it immediately. Lawrence returned home quickly, laying on his bed and remembering your trembling form. You looked so sweet, shaking and terrified. He remembered seeing the blood leave your face when you realised you weren’t alone. He wondered how warm you felt, how the warmth of your body would contrast against the cold air. He wanted to feel how warm you were.

He noted when the lights would shut off inside your house. He would creep in, eager to see your living space. It was a little messy, not that you had much time to clean with all the work you were doing. Judging by the pile of due bills on your kitchen counter, he knew you were living pay-check to pay-check. It just wouldn’t do. He could provide for you, you didn’t need to worry anymore.

He noticed a bundle of black fur curled up on a well-used couch. A cat, it awoke upon realising there was an intruder. It crouched down, a low growl sounding from its mouth. Lawrence tried hushing it, reaching his hand out for the animal to sniff. It slowly leaned in, before rubbing its head against his hand. Lawrence spent some time, sitting next to the cat, who he later found out was named Poe. It didn’t seem to trust him fully, but Lawrence was just glad that Poe wasn’t trying to attack him anymore.

Lawrence had grown quite fond of Poe, visiting your home in the darkness of the night, staying to pet Poe and snoop around in your belongings. It seemed that Poe had grown fond of him too, especially when Lawrence would bring treats for him. Poe would follow him around silently as he walked around your house, looking in your draws and trying to remember where everything was. By the second week, he had your house all mapped out.

It started out as an innocent fascination. And to be honest, it did. But it grew into something more. Something darker, less innocent and sweet. But, he couldn’t take it anymore. This itch… it had escalated, slowly at first, until it was the white-hot rash burning at his skin that he knew today. It wasn’t his fault, he would reason with himself. It was not his fault. It wasn’t. You were the one to be held accountable for. Not him.

Your existence was magnetic, Lawrence couldn’t keep himself away, he was continuously pulled in.

What if someone else was pulled to you? What would he do if someone else tried to take you away? You would forget all about him. The mere thought terrified him until he was shaking and tearing away at his long hair, his scalp red-raw from his insistent nails. He couldn’t let someone take you away from him. You were his. He had to obtain you, selfishly keep you from leaving so no one could discover your angelic existence.

Then, he would never let you leave. If you tried to run (but why would you want to?), Lawrence would amputate your legs. You didn’t need them anyway. Lawrence could provide for you. If you tried to fight back (again, you would never need to, Lawrence wouldn’t mistreat you, he cared for you too much), he would saw away at your arms. Then he could care for you.

It sounded… perfect. You were perfect.

He had already noted the times in which the lights in your house would turn off, leaving the bathroom light on (cute), so it was easy entering again.

A while after the lights were gone, and the noise in the shabby house had died down, he crept in, scarily silent. Poe noticing him and rubbing against his legs as he walked through. He packed a small back full of your clothes and necessities. He put Poe and the bag into the backseat of his car.

He was shaking, whether from nerves or excitement he didn’t know. You would finally be his. -

You remember the night so vividly. You had fed your darling cat, Poe, before changing into your night clothes. Hopping into bed and falling asleep without a problem.

You woke up, unsure of the time or what woke you. There was a dip in the bed near your feet, you assumed it was Poe. “Poe, I told you not to lay on my sheets. You get fur everywhere…” you moaned groggily.

“Your voice… It’s as heavenly as I remember it, even when you’re tired from sleep. You… draw me in.”

You flinched. Your cat couldn’t talk. You slowly turned your head, eyes adjusting to the dark at a snail’s pace. Long blond hair, tied into a messy ponytail. Ocean eyes, staring into your soul.

“You remember me, right? It’s me, Lawrence! Though, you did call me ‘Plant Boy’ for a while…” he spoke. His voice hesitant yet excited. You could see the glimmer of hope in his eyes. You nodded. You didn’t know how he got in your house, or how he knew where you lived, why he was here. You were afraid of what he was capable of. He smiled, a hand clutching at his arm and his shoulders hunched, a nervous habit.

“What are you doing here… Lawrence?” you asked, heart palpitating. He smiled nervously, his eyes shifting away from yours and his ears reddening. “I like you. A lot… I want you. Want you to be mine.”

You could feel the sweat beading on your forehead.

“We’re practically strangers… I don’t think you’ve thought this through,” you tried.

Lawrence frowned, brows furrowing. “H-how could you say that… I… I’ll take good care of you…”

“Lawrence, I think you should leave.”

Lawrence shook his head, fists clenching. He looked angry. He stood from the bed, making eye contact. “It’s okay, (Y/N), you don’t know what you need. But I do.”

This was the part you remembered most vividly.

The tightening in your chest, heart beating rapidly. Your voice getting caught in your throat, unable to call for help as he paced towards you. His hands, shaky, wrapped around your throat. You could feel the strength in them.

“It’s okay, my love. Nothing’s g-going to hurt you. I won’t let anyone hurt you…”

His hands constricted around your throat, not hurting you, but restricting blood flow, making you light-headed. Your own hands pulled at his wrists, tears running down your face.

He looked more scared than you. He trembled, his palms cold and sweaty around your throat.

You lost consciousness. He hugged your dead weight to his chest.

When you awoke, you felt groggy and dazed. Your eyes adjusted quickly, noticing that you weren’t in your bedroom.

It came back to you in flashes. Hopeful eyes. Anger. Furrowing of the brows. Dizziness. Fear. Blue eyes blurred by tears.

Lawrence.

You struggled in discomfort, the tape around your wrists digging into your skin. You were bound to a wooden chair, a blanket draped over your shoulders. Though, the room you were in was comforting. Soft lights lit the room, plants littered over every surface, green curtains and sheets. The view from the window was beautiful, the tall skyscrapers lit in the darkness of the night. You allowed your gaze to linger on the window, trying to calm your beating heart.

“(Y/N? You’re awake… I’m g-glad.”

Your stare dropped to your feet. You didn’t want to see him.

“You fit in the room so nicely. Like a puzzle piece. See? I knew it was meant to be.” He muttered, almost to himself.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed, his chin resting on his hand. Staring at you. Admiring, even.

“I hate to have to tie you up, but I can’t trust you just yet. Just for now, okay?”

You nodded. Afraid.

“Hey, look at me.” You didn’t want to. You really didn’t want to let him think you would bend to his will so easily, but you were so afraid.

You shifted your gaze to his, slowly, biting your lip as nerves buzzed through your body. His hair was down, blond strands laying over his shoulders. It looked soft. His shirt lay abandoned on the floor, showing off his pale and toned stomach. You pulled your gaze from his stomach to his biceps; a thick ring of ink circled each arm. You wondered what the tattoos meant, or if they even had a meaning. You had to admit, he was attractive, perhaps in the more unconventional sense. He wasn’t clean-shaven and tan or prince-charming, he was lean muscle and porcelain skin and stubble and pine and musk. He terrified you, and yet his very presence helped you relax your muscles, steady your breathing and accept where you were.

That’s why he was so dangerous.

“That’s my good girl. My good girl,” he purred, a blush prominent on his face. You rubbed your thighs together, unable to wring your hands together. His gaze flicked down to your thighs, yours following it. You were wearing a beige summer dress, soft pale pink thigh-highs, a pattern of little vines climbing up your legs.

You were unsure as to why you hadn’t noticed your change of clothes before.

“Oh, do you like it? I bought it just for you. I think you suit pink. So… innocent,” he smiled.

You didn’t reply, keeping your gaze on your thighs. His face twisted in frustration. “You seemed to like talking before, why not anymore? Have… have I done same thing wrong?”

You sighed. It wouldn’t help you to stay silent forever.

“I… You didn’t ask me if I wanted to come here. You took me here leaving me with no choice.”

Lawrence shook his head, laughing to himself.

“I told you, you don’t know what you want, what you need! You wouldn’t have known if you wanted to come here, so I made the decision for you. That’s what I’m here for. I’ll take care of you, and you don’t need to do anything but stay here with me. Plus, what would I have done if you had been swept away by someone else? What would I do without you? Silly girl.”

During his speech, he stood and began pacing towards you. Kneeling in front of you, he placed his hands over your bare knees, squeezing firmly before rubbing his hands over your thighs. You shook your head, afraid of what he would do. “Please… no.”

“It’s okay, my pet, I won’t touch you there. Not yet. Just… let me feel your skin. I’ve dreamed about running my hands over your soft thighs, feel the warmth your blood creates. I… want to create marks, brand you as mine.” As he spoke, he ran his hands over your thighs, resting his head on them and tracing figure eights with his thumbs.

There he stayed, his chest rising and falling evenly, your combined warmth making you feel safe and warm.

He said he wouldn’t touch you… there… yet. He seemed lonely and wanting someone to love. As insane as it sounded, you could understand him. If you were to gain his trust maybe he would let you leave as you wished.

You could only hope.

He fell asleep like that, his warm breaths raising gooseflesh over your thighs. Soon after Lawrence fell asleep you felt your eyelids become heavy, falling into slumber.

#lawrence #btd #my fics #my writing #boyfriend to death #boyfriend to death 2 #yandere #yandere btd #lawrence oleander #plant boy #cute yandere #soft yandere #creepy #trigger warning #cliche ending but i was stuck lmao #reblogs are better than likes #pls i beg

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maddy-the-otome-hoe · 5 years

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And They Were Neighbors Ch 4

I’ve actually had this done for a while. Just kept forgetting to post it and I figured since I did nothing today I’d pretend I was more productive. Tagging @minnimay17 @artemira-sengoku @frywen-babbles @dear-mrs-otome If anyone else wants to be tagged in updates let me know! Also light smut toward the end

First Previous Next ~ Coming Soon

It had been a week since Mitsunari stayed the night but MC hadn't seen much of him sense. They texted a little in the mornings and evenings but neither one ever said anything about seeing each other again. So on Friday night MC found herself too anxious to invite him over and instead decided to bake something. However she couldn't decide what to make so she texted Mitsunari anyway. I'm thinking about baking something. Any suggestions? He replied before she could even put her phone down.

Manju. She looked at her phone in surprise. Normally it took him at least a few minutes to text back because he was either working or reading something.

That was fast. Do you like manju? He answered right away and she almost wanted to question him. This was so strange and she almost wanted to ask if it was actually Mitsunari. However before she could another text came in.

Yes. That was when the idea popped into her head and it seemed almost foolproof.

Well in that case do you want me to bring you some once they're finished? The reply wasn't instant this time but it only took a couple of minutes.

If you want to. To anyone else it sounded like he didn't care but she knew it was as close to a yes as she'd get. After sending a quick ok she set to work on the manju. It was been awhile since she made anything like this but it felt good to be doing it again. In fact it almost felt nostalgic. Once the manju was done she put them in a container and headed over to Mitsunari's. She knocked on the door and his voice told her to come in, so she did. His apartment had the same layout as her's but it seemed much more elegant. There were two bookshelves one at each end of the couch, and off to the side of the room was a single chair. She could just picture herself curling up in it with a book. "Is there something wrong?" Mitsunari's voice snapped her out of her staring and she smiled.

"No. You just have so many books." Her gaze drifted back to the bookshelves and Mitsunari smiled.

"Well of course. I'm not a dullard like you. There are more in my bedroom and study too." He stepped closer to her but her eyes were still on the books. It was taking all of her self control not to run her fingers over the spines and pick one or two out. When Mitsunari blocked her view she blushed and held out the container to him.

"I brought the manju over. Do you want to try one?" He didn't say anything but headed for the kitchen. She followed him and saw that he was getting out a couple of mugs.

"I made some tea when you said you were coming over. I didn't have peppermint though so I hope citrus is ok." This made MC smile and she set the manju on the counter.

"Thank you. Citrus is good too though." He handed her a mug and then immediately popped one of the manju in his mouth. Once he was done MC felt on edge. "Well how are they?" He only shrugged but continued to eat them.

"They aren't entirely inedible." The words had barely left his mouth before he ate another one. It was obvious that he liked them and she smiled. Once the manju was gone Mitsunari sat next to her and took a drink of his own tea. The silence wasn't really uncomfortable but MC couldn't help but feel restless. This was the first time she'd seen him since he stayed the night with her. Mitsunari didn't seem like the type of guy to just sleep around but it also wasn't the first time she had thought that about someone. She also knew that nothing would get solved if she kept it to herself.

"Mitsunari can I ask you something?" He raised an eyebrow at her question but before she could ask her phone rang. Groaning she pulled it out of her pocket and saw that it was Inuchiyo. "It's Inuchiyo. Hold on just a second. Hello?" The irritation in her voice was clear but it only turned to anger from there. "What do you mean you're having dinner with him?" Another pause and she was clenching her first. "No I don't want to have dinner with you two." Mitsunari wasn't sure what was said to her but it was enough to make her stand up and start pacing. "No you will not bring him to my place. I don't care what his reasons are I don't want to see him." She stopped pacing and Mitsunari saw a defeated look on her face. "Fine I'll be there in like ten to twenty minutes. Just don't bring him here." She hung up the phone and sighed. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to get so angry." Concerned about what he had just heard Mitsunari felt he should ask.

"Is everything alright?" She let out a short laugh followed by a deep breath.

"Technically yes. I'm just not happy about being forced to see my dad. Apparently he ran into Inuchiyo and now they're having dinner. If I don't go meet them then Inuchiyo is going to bring him to my place." She then flashed him an apologetic look and he hated that she looked so upset. "I'm sorry but I have to go." She turned to leave but Mitsunari was right behind her.

"Alright I'll drive. Just tell me where to go." She turned around and looked at him in shock. "Don't give me that look. I'm your boyfriend and as such it's my responsibility to do things to make you feel better." The word boyfriend rang around in her until she was able to repeat it.

"Boyfriend?" His brows pushed close together again and he frowned at her.

"Of course. You don't think I just sleep with anyone do you?" She shook her head and his face relaxed a little. "Do you want me as your boyfriend?" There was a twinge of fear in his words and it almost broke her heart. Of course she wanted him. He was all that she had been thinking about in the last week.

"Of course I do. I told you that I wanted you and everything that came with it." His cheeks flushed as she repeated those words to him. Turning away from her Mitsunari grabbed his keys and then her hand. She didn't dare say anything in fear that he would let go so she simply followed him. Once they were in the car MC figured that she needed to explain everything about her dad. "So you probably figured out from Inuchiyo's phone call that I don't get along well with my dad."

"That seems like an understatement, but continue." She shrugged at his assessment but knew he was right.

"I'm really just putting it nicely. See him and my mom got pregnant with me when they were still in high school. So they got married and did the baby thing but my dad was always cheating on my mom. So a lot of my childhood was just me and mom and the boys. Then they finally got into a good place and I thought my dad had actually changed. Then my mom found out that he was cheating with a coworker again. Things got really negative in my family after that so I cut ties with my dad and left for school. He didn't even try contacting me until I moved to the city though. So I haven't talked to him in almost five years." She didn't mean for it to all come out in one breath but she was nervous. Mitsunari took all of the information though in stride. He figured that the more she got out now the less nervous she'd be by the time they got to the restaurant. "I'm also sorry that you had to find out about all of that like this. I normally don't even tell any of that to people. I mean I obviously planned on telling you since we're dating, but not so soon."

"It's alright." He paused trying to think of words that would comfort her. "I'll be with you so if you need to leave we can leave. Sometimes things with your family just don't work." There was a sadness in his voice that told her that he knew this personally, and she wanted to ask but knew it was best to wait. One family crisis was more than enough for now.

"Thank you Mitsunari. I'm actually really glad you're here with me." She smiled at him and he was relieved to see that it was honest. They got to the restaurant and it didn't take them long to find Inuchiyo because he began yelling as soon as he saw them. When they got to the table MC introduced Mitsunari to her dad. "This is my boyfriend Mitsunari. This is my dad Jay." Her dad held his hand out to Mitsunari and he shook it.

"Mitsunari you like girls!" Inuchiyo was clearly drunk and loud which only irritated MC and Mitsunari.

"Of course I do you drunk dullard." Inuchiyo only squinted his eyes at him and then looked to MC.

"I don't believe it MC. I don't trust his answer." MC only rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"So Pumpkin how long have you two been dating?" Her head snapped up and she glared at her father, but he pretended not to notice.

"I'm not here to play catch up. Inuchiyo said that you had something to talk to me about so lets just start there." Mitsunari was keeping Inuchiyo engaged in conversation but still paying attention to MC. There was so much pain and coldness in her words but he admired how in control of it she was. Geoff sighed and raised his hands up defensively.

"You look so much like your mother when your angry. How about I order us a round of drinks and I'll tell you after that." MC's expression didn't change at all but again her father didn't seem to notice. He was already flagging down the waitress to put in an order. She waited till he was done checking out said waitress before she tired speaking.

"Dad you know I can't drink." He only gave her a confused look and she sighed. "Alcohol is a blood thinner and I get really sick if I drink it. Not to mention I'll bleed even more if I get hurt." This wasn't the first time she had to remind her dad and she was sure it wouldn't be the last.

"You got hurt! Who hurt you? Was it him?" Inuchiyo pointed a finger at Mitsunari. MC again rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone.

"That's it. You're way to drunk and I'm texting Toshihisa to come get you." Hearing this Inuchiyo tried to reach across the table but Mitsunari smacked his hand away. They glared at each other but Mitsunari didn't say anything.

"No don't call him. He'll just lecture me and kill my mood."

"Well you should've thought about that before you got so trashed. He'll be here to get you in five minutes so I suggest you switch to water." After dealing with that she turned back to her father. "Why did you even let him drink so much? You know how he gets." Her dad only shrugged.

"Inuchiyo is a man now and he can handle himself." MC rolled her eyes and took a drink of water.

"Can you just tell me why you wanted to talk to me so bad? I was actually having a nice night before all of this." Her dad frowned at her but sighed.

"Can't we at least order something to eat before we talk? I haven't seen you in so long and I've missed you." MC's hands clenched into fist on her lap and Mitsunari reached over to hold one.

"That's not my fault. You knew where I was at school, you had my phone number. Communication is a two way street. Now you can either tell me what it is you want to tell me, or I'm leaving." Letting out a final sigh her dad finally gave up trying to bond.

"Alright fine. All I really wanted to tell you is that I've decided to sign the divorce papers." The tension left her body and MC's gave her dad a suspicious look.

"Why?" It was a simple question but it was all that was on her mind. "For six years you've refused to sign them and keep trying to control Mom. Now out of the blue you say you make a big show about signing them. I don't buy that it's out of the kindness of your heart." Her voice cracked a little and she took a deep breath to hold in all of her emotion.

"Well the reason I've decided to sign them is because I'm going to marry someone else. We've actually been dating for the last three years and I'd really like for you to meet her. She already met the boys and they love her." That was the final straw. Of course he stayed in touch with her brothers but not her.

"Ya know what dad. If you didn't bother to tell me about her for three years then you certainly don't need me to meet her or come to the wedding." The ice in her voice was enough to make anyone shiver and even Mitsunari was surprised by it. He had always seen her be so kind and warm. Such coldness really didn't suit her and he didn't like it. MC got up from the table and headed for the doors. Her dad tried to follow but Mitsunari stopped him.

"I think you've done enough. Please just stay away from her." The anger was clear on his face but Mitsunari ignored it and left to follow MC. He found her just outside the doors talking to someone with jet black hair. She looked a little more relaxed as she talked to the person and Mitsunari assumed that she knew him. Then the person reached out and touched her shoulder and Mitsunari rushed to her side and slid an arm around her waist. "Are you alright MC?" Hearing Mitsunari beside her was enough to ease all of the tension out of her and she nodded.

"Yeah. Oh Mitsunari this is Toshihisa, Inuchiyo's older brother. Toshihisa this is my boyfriend Mitsunari." The two of them nodded at each other but didn't say anything. "Inuchiyo is still inside the restaurant with my dad. I'm sorry you had to leave your meeting to come get him." Toshihisa smiled at her but shook his head.

"No worries. It was pretty much done so I left my assistant to wrap things up. Are you sure you're going to be alright though?" Toshihisa took her and gently rubbed the back of it. Mitsunari's brows furrowed together and he spoke before MC could.

"She already said that she was. Why would you ask her again?" Toshihisa glared at Mitsunari and he returned the look.

"I care about her that's why." Mitsunari's eyes widened. "When I got here she was clearly upset so naturally I was worried. Someone needed to comfort her." The implication of his words made Mitsunari's blood boil. Not wanting to make a scene Mitsunari grabbed MC's hand and went straight for the car. The whole way home Mitsunari was silent and MC didn't really know what to say. It was obvious that he was upset but she wasn't sure why. When they got back to the apartment building Mitsunari was still holding onto her hand which seemed like a good sign. He opened the door to his apartment and pulled her inside.

"Mitsunari ar," she didn't get to finish before he pulled her into a hungry kiss. It felt needy and scared, like he was desperately trying to claim everything she was for himself. When he pulled back his cheeks were flushed and his eyes burned with lust.

"I didn't like the way that man spoke to you. I want to be the only man who touches you and cares about you." Suddenly it all made sense. Mitsunari was jealous and that was enough to make her eyes go wide.

"Are you jealous because of what Toshihisa said?" His eyes darted away from her face and his cheeks grew darker.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's just obvious that both of the Madea men have feelings for you and you seem completely oblivious to them." He looked beyond frustrated as he spoke but MC was in awe. It was a new side to him and she never imagined that he would get so jealous so easily. She placed her hands on her on the sides of his face and made him look at her.

"I love that you care about enough me to get jealous but I promise I'm not going anywhere. As long as you want me I'll be here with you." He was about to kiss her again when there was a knock at the door. "Are you going to get that?" He didn't even bother looking toward the door.

"It's probably Sakon so no. Besides I'm too busy to answer the door right now." She smiled at him but then there was another knock at the door. This time a voice followed the knocking.

"Mitsunari it's Hideyoshi. I need to talk to you." This got him to glance at the door and she saw a flash of uncertainty flash across his features.

"It's ok to answer it. We can always finish this later." His face brightened and he nodded. When Mitsunari opened the door Hideyoshi came inside and looked surprised to see MC standing there.

"Oh hello MC. I didn't know you were over here. Am I interrupting something?" MC only smiled at him and pointed to the now empty container of manju.

"Nope I just made some manju and brought some over since Mitsunari likes it. But since you guys need to talk I'll get out of your hair." She was about to make for the door but Hideyoshi stopped her.

"Oh no it's alright. I just need to borrow Mitsunari for a second." He looked to Mitsunari and smiled. "Can we use your study?" Mitsunari gave him a concerned look but nodded any way. They left the room as Mitsunari lead the way to his study. He closed the door and was about to ask what this was about when Hideyoshi spoke. "Have you thought any more about what your feelings for MC are?" It was the last thing Mitsunari expected him to ask and he didn't really know how to answer.

"Why do you want to know all of the sudden?" Hideyoshi smiled at his friend but his eyes remained serious.

"Because I'd like to try asking her out, seriously this time. However it seems like you're already dating her. Unless I'm wrong?" Mitsunari's eyes narrowed at Hideyoshi's declaration and that was all the answer Hideyoshi needed.

"You'll have to fight me if you want her because I don't plan on giving her up." Mitsunari hated that this was happening but he meant every word. He had actually come to care for that dullard of a girl and he wasn't going to let anyone take her. Even if it was Hideyoshi. However Hideyoshi only began to laugh and Mitsunari stood there confused.

"There's no need for us to fight." Hideyoshi was still struggling to contain his laughter. "We're all adults so we can just ask her. If she chooses you then I'll renounce my feelings and let you two be happy. Is that alright with you?" The idea had Mitsunari nervous because he couldn't imagine her saying no to Hideyoshi if he was serious about it. Then the words of her words from earlier rang in his head and gave him some confidence.

"I'm still not happy about this but if you think that's the best way to go about this then ok." Hideyoshi's smiled was more than amused while Mitsunari wore his usual bored look. When they got back to the living room MC was perched on the arm of his couch with a book in her hands. Mitsunari's breath caught in his throat. It looked as if she belonged there on his couch, reading his books. His nerves seemed on edge the closer Hideyoshi got to her.

"Hey MC can I ask you a question." Without looking up from the book she nodded. "I was wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner this weekend. As a date, just the two of us." Again she answered without looking away from the book.

"Sure that sounds great." Mitsunari stared at her in shock but MC didn't seem to notice. In fact she was so into the book that she wasn't paying much attention to anything and that only served to aggravate him more. He walked over to her and plucked the book out of her hands. She blinked in shock and looked up to find a seething Mitsunari. Concern quickly spread through her. "Mitsunari what's wrong?" The question shot through him like arrow and his brows formed into a deep crease. His features twisted almost into a scowl.

"Why you, I," His words kept getting caught in his throat so he took a deep breath. "You just agreed to go on a date with Hideyoshi." That was all he said before storming off to his study and slamming the door. MC whirled around and looked at Hideyoshi.

"What on earth is he talking about. I'm not going on a date with you." Hideyoshi gave her a playful smile which she didn't like at all. To her this was serious and she knew that Hideyoshi knew this too, but he still played it off as some joke.

"Well to be fair you did say yes." When her expression remained serious Hideyoshi sighed and gave her a sad smile. "To be honest I kinda figured that you already had feelings for him but I wanted to throw my hat in the ring just to be sure. Cause I really do like you but I won't interfere, I promise. This is the last you'll hear about my feelings." He turned to leave but there was just one thing he had had to ask. "Why Mitsunari?"

"I honestly don't know. All I know is that I want to let him in and I've never felt that way about anyone." Giving her a soft smile Hideyoshi nodded and stepped over to the door.

"I see. Well take care of him for us and be patient with him." Seeing Hideyoshi care about Mitsunari over his own feelings finally brought a smile to her lips and she nodded. After Hideyoshi left MC waited to see if Mitsunari would come out of his study but he didn't. Instead of bothering him she decided to borrow his kitchen and make some more manju and tea. Once it was done she balanced the manju on a plate and carried it toward Mitsunari's study.

"Mitsunari it's me. Can you please open the door so we can talk." There was no answer she began to regret not giving herself a free hand to open the door herself. "I made some tea and manju." This time the door opened enough for her to wedge her foot in. She closed it once she was in the study and put the tea and manju on the desk. However Mitsunari was across the room looking in a book and seemed to pay no mind to her. She wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not but it managed to only make her feel worse. Sitting on the edge of the desk she looked down at the ground. "Mitsunari I'm sorry. I really had no idea what Hideyoshi was asking when I answered him. Sometimes I just get really into a book that I just kinda go on autopilot." Still no response and she sighed. "I would never even think of dating anyone other than you Mitsunari and I meant what I said about wanting you." Her brain was begging her mouth to stop but it hurt too much just to leave it like this. She wanted to fix this and that meant saying the one thing she'd been too scared to say. "I care about you more than anyone, I love you." Mitsunari felt himself tense at the words but still didn't say anything. Since he realized that she was still here his brain had been all over the place. Now she was spouting about love like an idiot. MC honestly wasn't sure if he was actually listening to her but now that the words had slipped out the silence felt like rejection. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Maybe I should just head home." Just as she was about the take her leave the sound of Mitsunari's book snapping closed made her jump. She finally looked up at him and saw that he was smiling at her. In just a few steps he closed the distance between them and pulled her in for an intense kiss. One full of passion and it felt like a wave washing all of her anxiety away.

"I'll never understand why you chose me over Hideyoshi but I'm glad you did." His hand rested against her cheek and his smile was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She stretched up to kiss him again and he gladly accepted. "Please stay here tonight." He whispered the words in her ear and they sounded almost pleading. Her answer was obvious but before she could say it her stomach growled in between them. Mitsunari pulled back enough for her to see his eyebrows arched up. "Are you hungry?"

"Sorry. Yeah a little but it's not that big of a deal." Her whole face turned red and she tried her best to wave it off. Of all the moments for her stomach to talk it had to be now. She was cursing herself for not eating before coming over here. Not paying any mind to her embarrassed state Mitsunari took her hand and led her to the kitchen. He gently pushed her into a chair and began to pull various things out of the cabinets and fridge. "Mitsunari what are you doing?" He didn't look at her but she could see his brows crease together from his profile.

"What does it look like you dullard? I'm cooking you dinner." He began chopping up some vegetables but just kept frowning at them. Curious to see what the big deal was MC walked over and saw that his onion was diced so fine that it was nearly mush.

"Would you like me to cut them. I do have the training you know." He seemed reluctant to do so but eventually handed her the knife.

"Just don't cut yourself. We don't need another reason to postpone dinner." If it had been any other person that remark would of made her angry but all she could do was roll her eyes and begin chopping. Mitsunari watched in awe at how fast and efficient she was at it. Despite her condition she showed no fear in it and he thought it admirable.

"Hey Mitsunari, you're not going to stop being friends with Hideyoshi because of what happened to night are you?"

"Of course not. Hideyoshi is a man of his word so even though I'm not happy about his feelings for you. I know he'll keep his distance." It was a relief to hear him say that. She knew how much he cared for Hideyoshi and she didn't want him to lose that. "Why did you ask anyway."

"Well I know how much you care about Hideyoshi and I didn't want you to feel like you still couldn't be friends with him." She smiled at him before putting the vegetables in the pot. "I honestly don't care who has what feelings for me as long as they respect me and my relationship with you. They can pine all they want but it wouldn't change my mind." She blushed at her sudden declaration but she meant every word. Normally she wasn't so outspoken but something about Mitsunari gave her the courage to speak honestly. They fell silent as she stirred the ingredients in the pot. Mitsunari wanted nothing more than to embrace her right then and there but he knew she needed to eat. Her complexion had been nothing but pale since they got back from the restaurant with her father. After eating Mitsunari took the dishes and she went to find the book she was reading earlier. However it wasn't there and then she remembered Mitsunari taking it from her. "Hey Mitsunari what did you do with the book I was reading earlier?" He frowned at her question as he picked out his own book and settled on the sofa.

"It's in my study. I was trying to figure out what was so fascinating about it that you would agree to a question you didn't even hear." MC rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. He was still pouting about it but at least he wasn't shut up in his study anymore.

"It's called active listening. Not all of us are amazing like you and can listen while reading, so I fake the listening." His eyes glanced up at her but she only shrugged. "Well I left my glasses next door so I need to go get them real quick. I'll be right back." She also thought it would be a good idea to change her clothes if she was going to stay the night. When she moved back over to the couch to grab her phone she suddenly felt herself being pulled onto it. She was pressed up against Mitsunari's chest and felt his warmth spreading through her. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and held her tightly. The feeling was beyond nice but there was a sense of desperation to it, and it made MC worry. "What's wrong?" He didn't say anything but she knew to be patient. The words were inside of him somewhere and he just had to find them.

"You don't need to leave. I can read to you if you want or we could watch a movie." His voice was quiet and she could hear how embarrassed he was.

"I need to get a change of clothes too though. Unless you want me to wear your clothes." The teasing tone in voice made Mitsunari stiffen. He could let her wear his clothes but he wasn't sure he would be able to handle actually seeing it. "I can't wear these jeans forever. They're actually very uncomfortable and very tight." Her words made his cock twitch and she smiled with satisfaction.

"Are you sure you're going to come back?" The question came out like a breath before he could stop it and he hated how anxious it made him. She heard how small and scared the question had sounded and it made her sad. Her heart broking thinking of how lonely he must of felt all the time with just him and his books. She knew because she had known that feeling all too well and she hated it. Books were great but they were never enough. Gently she moved one of his hands from her waist and brought it too her lips for a kiss. It would probably take a while for her to ease all of his fears away but it was what she wanted.

"Of course I'm coming right back. There's nowhere else I'd rather be than right here with you but sadly all my stuff is at my place so it's inevitable." She paused and Mitsunari wondered what she was thinking. "I could always bring over enough stuff to stay a couple of days if you want me too. That way I wouldn't need to run back and forth so much. I mean if you're ok with that." This time she spun around to see what his expression looked like and he seemed to be thinking. To Mitsunari it sounded easier for her to just move in with him, but even he knew it was too soon for that. However the idea of waking up next to her several days in a row seemed like a dream to him. When he came out of his thoughts he saw her eyes staring at him with a curious look. He brought a hand up to cradle her cheek and smiled at her.

"I think that's the first time you've had a decent idea manju-girl." She pouted at the new nickname but guessed it was better than being called a dullard. Instead she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Alright. I'll be right back." He nodded and finally let her get up off the couch. She hurriedly went back over to her apartment and threw both work and sleep clothes into a duffel bag. After changing and making sure she had all of her medicine she ran out the door. When she got back over to Mitsunari's he raised a brow at how out of breath she seemed. He was still on the couch but didn't move. "No one said it was a race you dullard. You're panting like a wild dog." She composed herself at the door and pouted at him.

"Well I can always leave and take longer if you'd rather." His cheeks turned pink and he scowled at her before going back to his book. She put her bag down by the door and joined Mitsunari on the sofa with her own book. He carefully watched as she put her glasses on and opened the book. She had on another tank top but this one was a soft purple and he could see her black bra through it. Her legs curled up on the couch and pressed against her chest. With her hair swept to the side he could see her neck and wanted nothing more than to kiss it. The more he looked the less interested he became in his book. He began to think about the skin underneath and the thought of studying her again had his cock going hard. Moving quickly but quietly Mitsunari got up and locked the front door. The sound of the lock was enough to make MC look up from her book and she saw him leaning against the door with a frown. She was about to ask what was wrong but Mitsunari spoke first.

"You really enjoy being some kind of siren to me don't you?" He took a step toward her and she just raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Letting other men touch you, agreeing to dates, and now you sit there in that." He was now leaning over her on the couch and his eyes glanced over her tank top. From this angle he could see her breast swell with every breath and he had to take a breath of his own. Her eyes were wide with surprise which only made it harder for him to focus on his words. It didn't help that her words were still floating around in his head. If she loved him then this all had to be a dream because he didn't believe it could be real. "It's almost like you're trying to get me to fuck you." As if to prove his point he captured her lips in a hungry kiss and she gasped. Using it as a chance to deepen the kiss he slid his tongue into her mouth. Her book fell to the floor and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She rose to her knees in order to push into the kiss and Mitsunari's hands held her tightly by her hips. When the kiss broke he wasted no time moving his lips down her neck. He bit down on her plush skin and she mewled in pleasure. The sound was dripped in honey and he wanted to hear more of it. This was different than the first time they had sex. They had defined what this was and that made it all the more real. There was no doubt about what this was for them and even if Mitsunari couldn't say that he loved her, she knew that he was showing her.

"Mmmitsunari." His name rolled off her tongue and it made his brain feel like it was on fire.

"Vile succubus." His insult lacked any venom to back it up as he scooped her up in his arms and headed for the bedroom. "I hope for your sake, you're off tomorrow." If she was going to make such noise then he'd give a real reason to.

#it's 2 am and i am tired #got way too distracted #but ayyyyeeee #it's up #and they were neighbors #slbp mitsunari #ishida mitsunari #fan fiction #my writing #atwn ch 4

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fcsterchildrcn · 6 years

Text

Rebirth

Part 1 here

ARC: REBIRTH

WARNINGS: afterlife shenanigans, implied past abuse, funeral

She was floating. At least, it felt like she was floating. Red eyes opened, seeing an unfamiliar surrounding. She didn’t feel scared, or worried. A little confused, maybe. She pushed herself into an upright position, noticing where she was. A great, green field, filled with multitudes of different colored flowers. The sounds of wind was only vaguely overtaken by the sounds of voices.

Her movements felt fluid as Charlotte moved to her feet, her entire body telling her to go towards the voices. She had no reason to go against this train of thought; nothing bad could happen here. Though it felt like the land could stretch forever, it took no more than a minute for her to reach the source of the speaking.

What appeared to be the working of a tea party were laid out. A small table, white cups and teapots. Everything was shrouded in light. As her eyes scanned over the new sense of scenery, they stopped at the sight of a woman. She was much larger than any human in height, even as she sat on a plush throne-type seat. Her skin was a magenta color, her hair a gradient of brown and blonde. She was dressed in fine robes of purple and gold; the colors that made Charlotte think of royalty. Though there was one thing that was the most mesmerizing-- This woman had purely white eyes.

Before the pinkette could even speak, the woman’s gaze was on her, a huge grin painted itself on her features.

“We’ve been waiting for you, dear. I’m glad you could make it. Please, take a seat.”

It was like her body was moving without her, legs carrying her to a chair that was softer than anything she’d ever touched.

A cup of tea was set before her. Charlotte had never been one to drink tea, yet she still moved to put the cup to her lips. It tasted like absolutely nothing. How odd, she thought, though her mind seemed to be elsewhere.

The clear blue sky, the flowers surrounding them, even the layout of their little party and the extra chair that seemed too meticulously placed. It was all so beautiful, it made the young woman feel at peace.

“It is a wonder, isn’t it?” The woman’s words caused Charlotte’s head to snap forward, as though she were meant to be paying attention to this inhumane being who radiated a gentle warmth from her entire being. “Most people have questions once they reach this point. Though, it is pointless. They’ll never remember it once they pass along.”

“Pass along?” Charlotte felt like an echo as she repeated it.

“Oh, dear. You don’t know where you are, do you?”

She shook her head as a negative.

The woman stood, absolutely towering over the other. A hand was held out, and Charlotte couldn’t help but notice the hourglass tattoo on her wrist, covered by a plethora of golden bracelets. With little hesitation, she took the being’s hand; the next thing she knew, they were walking side by side along a marble trail. A vast garden surrounded them, creating a mix of aromas that made her feel at home. “You may not remember what happened before you awoke. That may be for the best come the given time. But, humans were never meant to last forever; their time is so short compared to those like myself. I should not trouble you with that. What I will tell you is that you are no longer a part of that world. Your body may be there, but your spirit is here with me.”

Charlotte looked up at the other, a muted look of shock written on her face.

“I’m dead?”

“In that world, yes.”

That was when the reality sank in. Though in a place so beautiful and welcoming, it was hard to feel truly saddened. This didn’t stop a tear from rolling down her face. A large hand moved to wipe that tear away, a motherly look of thoughtfulness given from the Being.

“Now, now. There is no need to mourn. We have much to talk about. Ah, I do wish you could stay here. You’re so precious, and life has not treated you well in your young years. Humans can be such… Awful creatures at times. But they can also be the most endearing. Your sentimentality, your heart. Even through all the sadness, the most kind hearts emerge.” She had begun to walk again leaving Charlotte behind to catch up.

The silence after that was not an awkward one, yet now the human had so many questions. If she was dead, where would she pass onto now? This woman had said she couldn’t stay here; where would she go? What had happened to her? Did she even want to remember? What had happened in her life to get her here?

… Why were her memories so foggy?

There were faces floating around her mind, but they were so indiscernible. She could feel the emotions from these faces, but couldn’t put names to them. Couldn’t put anything but the feelings of love and hate and sadness. Then, they quickly washed away before she could truly grab them.

Once she caught up with the being, her mind felt blank. The questions didn’t need answering. If they were truly important, the answers would come to her. Why was she so unconcerned about it all?

“Forcing those thoughts will have nothing good to come… The Acacia tree. It is said by those in your world that it symbolizes Immortality, usually dealing with natures of the human soul. You are a human that has dealt with many things concerning your soul. Your spirit has been broken and rebuilt so many times. Charlotte is the name you have chosen for yourself, though. Which means it has more power than any mere word. I know there will be more in your path, and I must apologize for that now, even if you won’t remember it when you awake once more.” Her voice had grown sad towards the end; it was quickly washed away with a bright smile as Charlotte’s hand was gently grabbed, pulling her along.

“I have a gift for you.”

As the two walked, the scenery began to change once more around them. Soon they were in a great dining hall, punctuated by a table with cloths of purple and gold. Down at the end sat a figure; a man who seemed to have been waiting for quite some time. Charlotte couldn’t make him out right away, and he barely seemed to move until the two had made their way to the end of the table. Despite the large size, there were only three seats. Once of which was occupied by the man.

The two took their seats, and the pink haired girl finally was able to get a look at the man. He was older than her, but by only slightly more than a decade. His hair was a dull shade of brown, and his eyes seemed tired and sad, most unlike the other things that had been seen in this heavenly garden.

His eyes, ones that seemed a duller, more browned red than her own, seemed to be locked on her. This man seemed to remember her, yet she could only vaguely make out why he seemed familiar. Only one thing came to mind every time she glanced at him; Worry. Whether it was for herself or for this man, she still had not pinpointed.

The Being waved a hand, catching both the humans’ attention. “Give her a moment, Ronan. She doesn’t remember, much as you didn’t when you first arrived.”

The man had said nothing, and still continued to sit silently, only glancing back and forth between the girl and the woman.

“I know him?”

“You did once, yes.” The being started, her eyes nearly glowing with a stilled excitement. “But he is a different man than you know him to be. It is funny to me how time goes by for you all. It was only the blink of an eye for me, but for the both of you, it could feel like eternity. Much like a dream, I suppose. Dreams tend to feel shorter than they are. He is only a part of your gift! You cannot go back without a guide. Usually, We wouldn’t send back someone so unqualified, yet it was decided he should. You see, most of you creatures don’t get second chances. Many feel remorse once they arrive if only for the reason they don’t like how they are remembered. Others… Well, humans are as they are.” She clapped her hands together, and the outside roared with a mighty thunder. The man opened his mouth to speak, then seemingly thought against it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It was the first full sentence Charlotte ad said since she’d arrived. The first hint of true emotion she had showed. It shocked the being only for a moment before she gave a big, hearty laugh.

“Ah, there you are. I was wondering when that attitude of yours would join us.” Attitude? She’d only said one thing.

“You said you had a gift for me. This man… How is he a part of it? Why does he look so familiar? Who are you?”

“I suppose I should introduce myself..” The being laughed. “I am Beileag. I am a divine being over your world. One of them, anyways. You humans tend to call us ‘gods,’ though I guess correcting you all would be fruitless, anyway.”

Charlotte was confused now. More so than earlier. Pictures were beginning to come back to her. Faces, names, family--

There was no way this man was her family.

“You want him to be my guide? What kind of guide would he even be?” Charlotte now remembered. Charlotte was now angry. Who was this woman who claimed to be a god, saying that one of her tormentors would guide her? A man she hadn’t seen in years. A man who she felt deserved no redemption. “Where do you think you’re sending me?”

The sight of a storm started to roll in as Beileag frowned. It was the first time she’d looked upset this entire time. Had the human not liked her gift?

“Why… You are going back to your earthly body.” “But I’m dead!” She slammed her hands on the table, and another rumble of thunder occured. Unlike the previous time, this one was very much an unhappy noise.

“Acacia--” “That’s not my name! You don’t get to be here! You don’t get to be my guide! I’d rather stay dead!” Now there were tears as the girl stood up, fury showing in her scarlet eyes. She stared daggers into the man-- into Ronan Kincaid. Beileag moved to stand up, her voice loud enough to scare both of the humans to their senses.

“THAT IS ENOUGH. I will not have this kind of temper in my garden!” She boomed, and Charlotte paused. The human slowly found her seat, not taking her glare off of her father. “You humans. Like I said, you are as you are. Do you not believe people can change, Charlotte? When Ronan joined us here, he was bitter and angry, just as you are now. But he has learned a few things. He has seen what his actions have done. He has watched your brother grow up without knowing of your whereabouts. He’s watched you lie to avoid those who have searched for you. He has watched you abandon every inch of a family that has ever taken you in.” Charlotte had opened her mouth to argue, but the Being held up her hand to silence her. “He has seen that it is his fault. And I understand that you do not want to relive your past. But there are other humans who need you, and who are going to need the gifts only you can possess. So, I ask you this one request; Please accept my gift and at the very least, give this man a chance.”

The sky returned to it’s clear shade of blue once Beileag had taken her seat once again. Charlotte had her options laid out for her; accept her second chance at life, or pass on to whatever lay beyond this garden.

“What happens if he blows it?” “I--” He tried to speak, but his voice fell lost to the greater being.

“He will return. And he will not get a third chance.”

“And to me?”

“You get to live as long as you don’t die.”

“That’s fair.”

Beileag’s smile returned, though Ronan seemed more worried than he did when they’d entered. She motioned for Charlotte to come forward, and she did, albeit hesitantly. A hand was placed right above her heart, as her own started to glow. A new tattoo, a heart in the same style of the hourglass on her wrist, seemed to burn itself onto her chest. A golden light began to surround them all, and the world itself seemed to be taken over by nothing but endless light. One last thing seemed to be said, but it could not be heard. That was the moment her vision faded.

Her head hurt when she woke up, her hands immediately going to her head as she sat up. And god, when did her bed get so stiff? Charlotte really needed to invest in a new mattress. Something felt off as she ran her hands through her hair. She tried to remember her dream, or even going to bed the previous night. A chorus of gasps caused her to freeze in place, her eyes snapping open. She wasn’t in her bed, and this wasn’t her room. This wasn’t even a house. She heard a noise as though someone had fallen over, and slowly turned her head to look out amongst the funeral-goers.

She was sitting in a casket. She was wearing fancy clothes. Everyone looked like they had been crying. That’s when it hit her. She had died. This was her funeral.

All Charlotte knew to do was scream.

#◆ IC: Charlotte ◆#♰ ARC: REBIRTH ♰#death //#afterlife //#child abuse implications //#this is long #and if you want the tldr just ask #i'm going to start a starter thing after this maybe?

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mrplantman · 6 years

Text

mr. brightside || task 001

Location: Dr. Besty “Bee” Dobson’s Office Date: August 16th Time: 2:30 pm Inspiration: Mr. Brightside by Run River North

Arlo takes a deep breath – in through the nose, out through the mouth – and schools his expression into a lazy, relaxed grin. He knocks on the door in front of him before burying his hands into his pockets in an effort to keep them from fidgeting.

Betsy doesn’t keep him waiting for long. The door opens and he’s hit with the familiar (if slightly unsettling) smell of chocolate and evergreen – an odd combination for the middle of August. But, Bee’s always been a little odd. A little off center, for a medical professional. Probably why she’s been able to deal with the Foxes (and all their many, many problems) for this long without turning tail and running for the hills.

“Arlo!” She exclaims warmly, gesturing for him to step inside. “C’mon in.”

Knowing he’s alright with physical contact, she gives his shoulder a light pat as he passes by and… It’s nice. The whole thing is nice: as inviting as a shrink’s office can be, and yet.

He still hates coming here.

Every year, it’s the same. Every year, he has to psych himself up for this. To sit here, for an hour, carefully maintaining every inch of armor he’s crafted, perfected, over the last decade.

It’s so much harder, with her. She’s not like his teammates. Not like Brayden, or Jazz, or Jen. Not like Wymack or even Abby. She’s sharper. She knows. Every button to press, every weakness to exploit. Every year, she chips away at him as he sits and sips hot chocolate and talks about the weather. About practice and the constant construction going on on campus. About the rising price of gas and which team he’s most excited to play this year.

It’s a game of chicken. Which one of them can outlast the other as the clock on the wall ticks down.

It’s exhausting.

Like playing chess against an opponent who can read his mind. Predict every move he makes before he makes it.

Impossible.

Arlo plops down on the most comfortable, worn-in leather chair in the room, adjacent to Bee’s desk. Crossing his legs underneath him, he settles back, accepting the piping hot cup she presses into his palms. Despite knowing the hot chocolate is a gimmick, a way to loosen him up, to make him feel at ease…. He still drinks it. If he’s gotta’ come here, he’s at least going to get some sugar out of it.

Bee slides into the chair behind her desk and sets her own cup to the side. Leaning forward, she props her elbows on the table and rests her head in her hands, giving him a fond smile.

“So. Senior year! That’s exciting, huh?”

“Yeah, actually.” Arlo takes a small sip of hot chocolate, fighting the urge to twist the mug around in his hands. To squirm. “I honestly can’t believe it’s already August. Time has flown by.” He smiles softly and shrugs. “I don’t think it’s even hit me yet. That I’m a senior. It probably won’t until the first game. Or at least until classes officially start, you know?”

Bee nods, her gaze steady and unwavering.

“Time has flown by, lately. I agree. I feel like I haven’t seen you in quite a while.”

“Aw Bee. Did you miss me?” He throws her a mischievous grin and winks, for good measure.

“Yes,” she replies, and genuinely seems to mean it, “of course I did. I’ll be honest, I was… surprised that I didn’t see you at all over the summer.”

The atmosphere in the room changes instantly. Arlo feels something heavy settle in the pit of his stomach and his chest tightens uncomfortably. He knows what she means. And she knows that he knows.

Coming out of the gate swinging this year, then.

“Well, you know,” he hedges sheepishly. “I was pretty busy. Someone has to keep Brayden entertained. Otherwise he’ll start chain smoking and tearing up the carpet and dragging trash all over the house. Like one of those small, yappy dogs when you leave them alone for too long.” From anyone else, the joke might sound harsh, or critical. But Arlo’s tone is fond, and the smile creeping across his face is the most genuine one he’s had all day.

At the mention of Brayden, an imperceptible expression flashes across Bee’s face and, for a brief moment before her features even out again, Arlo thinks she might say something. But she stays quiet, and the silence stretches out awkwardly between them. Arlo takes another sip of cocoa and swallows hard, chancing a look at the clock.

God, it’s only been ten minutes.

“Arlo,” Bee breaks the uneasy quiet that’s descended on the room. “Your father died last semester. You don’t want to talk about that at all?”

Of course he does. Jesus Christ, it’s all he wants to do. Ever since he got that call, since his initial freak out, he’s been pushing it away. Shutting it out. All of it. The pain, the grief, the confusion, the isolation. The all-encompassing, ever-present hurt that’s ripped a savage hole right through the middle of him.

All he wants is to just admit it.

To tell someone, anyone, that he’s not okay.

To say it out loud:

I’m not fine.

But that would require admitting it to himself.

That would require ripping open that hole – that wound – again, after he’s tried all summer to haphazardly tie it down. Sew it up. Cut it out.

Admitting it would require going through it, all over again. Every bit of it.

And he’s not strong enough. Never has been. It’s why he hides, constantly. Why he protects himself with goofy grins and casual touches and the perpetual need for attention. For affection. Because he’s not strong enough to wear his heart on his sleeve – to flaunt his problems, his fears, his anxieties, in plain sight.

He’s not strong enough ask for help.

It’s easier to cower.

To run away.

To put on a mask.

He can’t face it. Can’t face himself.

He won’t.

“Bee, I’m fine.” He laughs, waving his free hand in a vaguely dismissive gesture. “Seriously. It’s all good, okay. Made my peace with it.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time believing that, Arlo.”

“And I have a hard time believing that we didn’t fake the Moon Landing.” Arlo gives her a helpless sort of shrug, and carefully sets his rapidly cooling cocoa on the desk in front of him. “But, what can ya do?”

“Arlo.”

“Bee.”

She sighs.

“I know that I can’t make you talk about it. Not if you’re not ready. But, I do hope you know that… What you’re doing, it will catch up to you. One day, it’s going to be too much to carry. Too much weight to hold up on your own, and you will crumble beneath it. But you don’t have to. It doesn’t have to be that way. You have people who care about you. People who want to listen. To help. You need to learn to lean on that: on your support system. Your teammates. Your coach. Your friends.”

She doesn’t mention herself, and Arlo is almost grateful. That she knows. He could never, ever come clean here. In a setting like this, surrounded by white walls and textbooks and leather sofas that a thousand other people have sat on before, spilling their problems like marbles on a wood floor, watching with satisfaction as they all bounce and roll and slide away for someone else to deal with.

“Thanks, Bee.” And it’s the most that he has. The most he can give her. It’s just barely enough. She relents, and the rest of the hour passes almost easily. They trade small talk about his new teammates, about the upcoming season and Abby’s new haircut.

As she walks him to the door, she rests a gentle hand between his shoulder blades, practiced and careful.

“My door’s always open. You know that.”

It’s not a question, so he doesn’t respond. Just shakes his head and laughs, throwing up a hand as he strides out of her office and back into the overly air-conditioned main hallway.

He makes it halfway back to the Court before he’s choking, scrambling to find a bathroom. Luckily, he’s near the Applied Sciences building – and he already knows the layout. He bursts into the men’s restroom on the third floor after a frantic rush up the stairs, and barely gets himself into a stall before he’s shaking apart. He doubles over on the ground next to the toilet, face buried in his knees as he takes in great, heaving breaths that do nothing to soothe his panic. His chest, tight before, now feels like it’s clamped between an iron vice, slowly squeezing all the air from his lungs. His sides are starting to ache from the strain, and he wraps an arm around his middle, as if he can somehow hold himself together through sheer force of will. His free hand snakes up to tangle itself in his hair and he squeezes his eyes shut, so hard black spots dance behind his eyelids.

He focuses on the whine of the florescent lights overhead.

The sound of the stall door next to his, squeaking back-and-forth on uneven hinges.

He focuses, and he waits.

Eventually, his body begins to unfurl on its own. Breathing gets easier in increments. In fits and starts, like an old farm truck, backfiring until the engine finally rumbles reluctantly to life.

He pushes himself up off the floor. Flushes the toilet, though he didn’t use it, and let’s himself out of the stall with slow, clumsy hands.

The mirrors above the sink are harsh. Unyielding. Unwilling to participate in his lie, they highlight the paleness of his skin. His shaking limbs. His dry, red rimmed eyes.

No tears. He’s not sure why.

Maybe he just doesn’t have it in him.

Mechanically, he washes his hands. Scrubs at his skin with a paper towel until he’s bright pink and rosy. He practices a smile in front of the mirror, and though it’s likely to fool no one, right now –

it’ll have to do.

#task 001 #task #panic attack tw #graphic panic attack tw #grief tw #disassociation tw #mind the tags ya'll ok??#luv you all #selfp

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writesandramblings · 6 years

Text

The Captain’s Secret - p.78

“We Get What We Deserve”

A/N: This chapter concludes the events of episode 10, "Despite Yourself," and continues with the events of episode 11, "The Wolf Inside."

Full Chapter List Part 1 - Objects in Motion << 77 - Hook Line and Sinker 79 - People They Come Together >>

The brig on the ISS Shenzhou was exactly as Lorca remembered it. The three agony booths, the crackle of torture devices, the unending screams. Two of the booths were occupied. The third had been emptied for Lorca, its former occupant shunted over to the containment pen to sit and enjoy what little respite the too-bright lights of the pen offered.

"Only the finest agonizer booth reserved for the treacherous Lorca," Connor announced. Lorca resigned himself to step inside it. At least the booth had been sanitized recently. The only thing worse than getting into an agony booth was getting into one that was already drenched in someone else's urine.

"Absolutely not," said Burnham.

Connor and Lorca turned towards Burnham, Lorca's alarm evident on his face. Was she trying to spare him this? That was a mercy Terrans did not give. Connor was equally confused.

Burnham's response to this silent question was to shout. Not the kind of calm, commanding, scathingly dangerous tone that would have shut Connor down completely, but a shout that just seemed to be for the sake of shouting. There was a forced insincerity to it. "What did I say to you! I do not want some overzealous guard killing him before I have the chance. I would punish the entire ship for an error that grave!"

Lorca winced. He probably should have told Burnham what agony booths were, but he could not explain to her how he knew; the booths were so ubiquitous they did not merit definition in the rebel data core. It also felt like there was a plaintive note of desperation in her voice. Not only did it remind him yet again she was not his Michael, it might spell their downfall if she failed to convince the Shenzhou's crew of her strength.

"We would never allow him the release of death, captain," Connor assured her.

"See to it that he is installed properly here," Burnham said, addressing the brig security chief and Tyler, and still sounding entirely too unconfident. Thankfully, she finally hit her stride. "I need to access my files. Escort me to the ready room." She strode away with Connor.

The brig commander issued some quick orders. Double-check the monitoring systems, set low thresholds for the alarms that warned when someone was entering potentially deadly distress. (Alarms which were usually turned off. People sentenced to spend time in agony booths were typically expendable.)

Lorca was mildly annoyed by this result. He did not need to be coddled where agony booths were concerned. He also noticed Tyler seemed slightly dazed and decided the best thing to do was also the thing that came most naturally to him.

"Well, now that it's just us chickens, who’s up for a little mutiny? I'll make it worth your while." He smirked. He received only silent glares in response, but it was his way of signaling to Tyler that everything was fine.

Tyler’s expression showed no sign of reassurance at the joke. He looked as dazed as before. Lorca's eyebrows knit in momentary concern. Tyler's head was not in the game. He needed Tyler in the game more than ever because he was counting on Tyler to protect Burnham.

The security chief came and removed his restraints, then shoved him backwards into the booth. Lorca smirked at her. "Maybe you'd like to come in here, too? I can show you a good—" He never finished. The door clicked shut and the booth turned on and he screamed as his skin seemed to light on fire with electricity. Every nerve, every synapse lit up with pain. He had to fight to keep his hands from clawing at his face—that was a rookie mistake where agony booths were concerned, and he was no rookie. As he screamed and screamed and screamed, he forgot all about Tyler.

Connor picked up on the flaws in Burnham's performance. Even if he had not, her demise was the only way for him to keep his captaincy of the Shenzhou. He came at her in the turbolift between the brig and the bridge. Burnham was forced to defend herself, stabbing him with his own knife and feeling a rising panic as his eyes went wide at the realization that his life was ending.

It was the second time Burnham had watched him die, and even though Connor had tried to kill her, it felt as horrible as the first. When the turbolift doors opened and his lifeless body spilled out onto the bridge, the crew assembled there began to applaud. Crew with familiar faces: Kayla Detmer, currently Discovery's helmsman and formerly helmsman of the USS Shenzhou, standing as the ISS Shenzhou's first officer. Around her, Weetan, Januzzi, Gant—officers Burnham had served with and known for years, but complete strangers as they applauded Connor's death.

She was glad for the solitude of the ready room and equally saddened by it. It had the same dimensions and layout as the ready room of the USS Shenzhou. She and Captain Georgiou had spent so many hours in there, planning missions and reporting to Starfleet and reviewing ship operations. This room was different, darker, and decorated to be faintly menacing, but it was familiar all the same.

That was the worst thing, she decided as she scanned for the Defiant files. Everything here felt familiar yet wrong, like looking at yourself in an unmirrored photograph.

She found the files. There was a problem. The data was massive, encrypted, and behind a formidable firewall. It could not be transmitted off the ship undetected.

After dealing with general ship matters and receiving a comprehensive update on the Shenzhou's status, Burnham retired for the night into the captain's quarters. It was a relief when Tyler contacted her on the comms. "How's the captain?" she asked.

She could hear Tyler exhale heavily. "It was... horrible. He's hanging in there..."

The captain was not her only concern. She could only imagine how that scene had looked to Tyler after surviving Klingon prison for seven months. Her voice softened. "How are you?"

"I wish I were with you."

Burnham wished that, too. "We should keep a low profile for now." Talking was some comfort, so they did that for a few minutes and then Burnham slept as best she could in a bed that was not her own on a ship where it felt like the shadows were filled with daggers.

In the morning, she beelined for the brig. She could hear the screams from the hallway. The first thing she saw when the doors opened was Lorca in the same agony booth as the day before.

Burnham addressed the brig commander. "I want to speak to the prisoner. Alone. Clear out this rabble." It was a fierce, determined voice, entirely what it needed to be. If Lorca had been aware enough to hear it, he would have described it as steel and approved entirely.

"As you command, captain," said the brig commander. She rounded up the brig's other occupants with brutal efficiency and herded them away, the brig guards following. Burnham and Lorca were alone but the room was still filled with the sounds of Lorca's screaming. It was a different scream than Tyler had observed the day previous; lower, hoarser, more of a keening than a full-throated sound.

Burnham went to the brig console and found the command to turn off the booth. Lorca's voice terminated into a gasp and he sank down in the booth with exhausted relief. Burnham dashed over and opened the door.

Lorca looked up at her, breathing heavily. "Oh," he said, and managed to swallow. "It's you." He closed his eyes and relaxed, his breaths leveling out into a slow, even rhythm.

Burnham crouched down and tried to help him up, but he waved her off.

"Just... give me a minute."

He seemed utterly exhausted. "Were you in here all night?"

Lorca gave a snort of amusement. "Is it morning already?"

Burnham stared. How could they keep someone in this state for such prolonged periods? "Sir, at this rate, I'm uncertain how much more of this you can take." The stress alone seemed potentially fatal.

"Ah, they pull you out when you lose consciousness," he told her, managing a smile. "I just haven’t yet. Guess I'm made of pretty strong stuff." It was a point of personal pride. He could go longer in an agony booth than almost anybody.

He motioned for Burnham to help him up. He stood up straight and tall and stepped out of the booth, rotating his shoulders to ease the stiffness out of them. Noting Burnham's continued look of concern, Lorca offered, "I'm fine. Good thing I skipped breakfast. Hate to embarrass myself the way some others have." He looked over at the adjacent booths. That was another rookie mistake. The smell in the brig really was abominable. "I think I'll use this opportunity to avail myself of the facilities if you don't mind."

She turned her back while he did. The containment pen seemed to have no privacy settings. Apparently even that simple courtesy was beyond Terrans.

"I'm truly sorry about this, captain. If I could get you out of here without arousing suspicion, I would."

Lorca was touched by the concern but shrugged it off as he returned to the central section of the brig. "I've been through worse."

It was hard to imagine what was worse than this. "The Klingons?"

"If you like," said Lorca dismissively. Burnham realized her guess was wrong.

"The Buran," she tried again.

Lorca looked at her calmly. "I know pain, Michael," he said. "I think we both do. Whatever this is..." He gestured at the agony booth. "It doesn't compare to that."

Her parents. He was talking about the death of her parents. Burnham felt a small well of sympathy she had thought buried with the memory of her parents' deaths long ago.

Seeing that sympathy, Lorca smiled. It was good to know, under all that Vulcan nonsense, she was still as human as he was. He treasured that right now, because for a moment, he felt like he was looking at a different Michael Burnham.

Some part of him wanted to reach out, embrace her the way he had embraced the woman whose face she shared, but he knew better. There was no pretending his Michael was anything other than dead and, in more ways than he could express, this Burnham was not her. He was simply grateful that the universe had provided him opportunity to see her again.

"Sir, I have an update on the Defiant files..."

There she was, all-business Burnham. Right on cue. He listened to the update with mild agitation. When she was done, he said, "I know you can do this. Keep at it. The sooner we get those files back to Discovery, the sooner you and I can both get out of here." There was an easy answer to getting the files but he could not tell it to her because, again, how would he explain the knowledge? So many things he could not say.

He stepped back into the agony booth.

"Maybe I can adjust the settings, make it less..."

Lorca smiled and turned away because he did not want her to see the regret in his face. "It's fine. I can take it." Had he looked at her, he would have seen her sympathy a thousand times magnified, and a horrible regret to match his own as she closed the door and turned the booth back on.

The pain made the heartache go away. The pain made everything go away. As he screamed, it even made Burnham go away, because she could not watch the horrible writhing of a man she respected as her captain. Lorca pressed his hands against the walls of the booth and screamed and screamed. There was something freeing in it, in not have to think of anything, of screaming without end.

Besides, some part of him felt he deserved it for failing his Michael Burnham.

The security chief and guards were in the hall. They wordlessly returned to their posts. Burnham noticed the other prisoners were not waiting in the hall with them. Detmer's voice came over the comms. "We're ready for you in transporter room one, captain."

In the transporter room, Burnham found the brig's three former guests arrayed on the pad like offerings for inspection. Detmer stood at the ready and exchanged a nod of greeting with Burnham.

Detmer spoke to the assembled prisoners. "You are all guilty of malicious thoughts against your emperor. By order of the sovereign Terran Empire, I hereby sentence you to death."

Burnham felt her eyes widen slightly and fought to keep her face impassive as the three figures were enveloped in particles of white streaked with gold. They were being beamed out to space where they would suffocate and freeze in the vacuum. All Burnham's time at the Vulcan Science Academy, fighting to keep her emotions in check around her Vulcan classmates, was being pushed to its limits. She turned from the empty transporter pad and strode out.

Lorca had warned her. Her decency in taking the time to speak with him had been a weakness. Those three crewmen had paid for that weakness with their lives.

The news of Culber's death took the crew of Discovery by surprise. It was as if the darkness of this universe had infected the ship. The fact that the murder had been perpetrated by Stamets made it even worse.

Sylvia Tilly was still having trouble with this turn of events. Even in his worst moments of delirium, she could not see Stamets as being capable of murdering his own husband and dragging the body down to deck twelve undetected, but apparently that was what had happened. That said something to Tilly. In a very real sense, that person who had stumbled out of the spore chamber after the jump had not been Paul Stamets, and she intended to prove it.

As the ship shifted over to night, Tilly headed to the engineering bay and pulled a canister of spores from the wall. She informed the other engineer in the room she was taking it for a comparative analysis to try and determine if a property variance had caused the universe jump (just in case anyone asked) and proceeded to deck nine.

O'Malley was on the door. He and Larsson were on twelve-and-twelve solo shifts now out of necessity, not that anyone else on the ship really knew or noticed. "Captain," he greeted, displaying the same sort of jaunty irreverence as he had used the first time he met Lorca.

Tilly smiled, glad for a small spot of light in these dark times. "Delivery!"

Normally, the spore delivery was conducted entirely in the security area, but today, Mischkelovitz directed Tilly to bring the spores all the way inside. It did not escape Tilly's notice that Mischkelovitz's nose and eyes were red from recent crying. "You're not going to take them into..." Tilly wondered what to call the crawlspace.

"No need," said Mischkelovitz, gesturing to the security monitors up by the ceiling. "Captain's not on the ship. He won't see." She directed Tilly to put the canister on the table and went to open a wall panel.

Tilly decided to ask now before she lost her nerve. "I've been bringing you a lot of spores. I was wondering if you might be willing to help me with something in return?"

"Okay," said Mischkelovitz, opening a conduit to load the spores into.

The words came flowing out of Tilly like a broken fire hydrant. "The jumps have affected Lieutenant Stamets brain, and ever since the last jump, it's like his brain is stuck and that's what made him kill Dr. Culber, because the Paul Stamets I know would never do anything like that! He injected himself with alien DNA rather than let Ripper suffer, he hates seeing anyone suffer. I need your help to fix him, to make him himself again. Lieutenant Stamets is always saying physics is biology, so I was hoping maybe we could try and make medicine like engineering and fix him that way?"

Mischkelovitz gaped. Tilly winced, knowing her verbal hemorrhage could have that effect on people sometimes, but Mischkelovitz's shock was due to something else. "Hugh is dead?" Her jaw began to tremble. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.

"I didn't realize—" Tilly paled. Of course Mischkelovitz did not know. She rarely left her lab and never spoke to anyone on the ship outside the small circle of Lab 26 personnel. Tilly clenched her hands. Mischkelovitz was so jumpy Tilly was not sure if she should try to hug the other woman or not, but standing around doing nothing felt wrong. She tentatively reached over and put a hand on Mischkelovitz's shoulder.

"I'm okay, I'm okay!" went Mischkelovitz, wiping her face furiously. "What happened?"

"They think... they think that he had an episode and ran away and Dr. Culber chased him and Paul... Lieutenant Stamets snapped his neck."

Mischkelovitz's breaths came in rapid, ragged gasps. "They think?"

"That's what Commander Saru told me happened." Tilly gulped. "But Lieutenant Stamets couldn't do something like that! He wouldn't!"

With a series of long, shuddering breaths, Mischkelovitz seemed to get hold of herself. She knew what it was to be blamed for and even responsible for the death of someone you loved through no intentional fault of your own. "Okay," she managed, and nodded. "I'll help."

The spores lay untouched on the table as Mischkelovitz and Tilly went over Stamets' brain scans. The changes to the white matter and cerebral blood flow, suggestions for how to undo or repair the damage in some way, they went over it all. Mischkelovitz managed to explain the neurological processes in ways Tilly could understand clearly, a task which was made more difficult by occasional verbal slip-ups: "mite whatter" instead of "white matter," "teurological nissue" for "neurological tissue." It seemed the more technical Mischkelovitz's words became, the more the letters rearranged themselves.

The conclusion of their assessment was that much of Stamets' brain had been rendered nonfunctional as a result of the structural changes to the organ. Thankfully, the situation was far from hopeless. "You're right," said Mischkelovitz, "it's a ratter of medirecting the pathways, but medical intervention can't do it. He's part of the network. You have to reroute the network."

Tilly's eyes went wide. "Of course!" The network that needed rerouting was the pathways forged by the mycelial link. "The spores changed the structure, they can change it again."

"You just have to be careful to change it to the right structure. Here." Mischkelovitz brought up an earlier brain scan of Stamets; the one Lorca had provided her when she okayed him for that last jump. "You can use this as a template."

Tilly beamed. "Thank you so much, Dr. Mischkelovitz."

Mischkelovitz blinked a few times. "You... you can call me Mischka."

"I can?"

Mischkelovitz nodded rapidly. "It was nice having a partner again. Maybe... maybe if I can find myself here..."

That threw Tilly for a loop. "You want to work with the other you? Isn't she a bad person? It seems like all the people here are... the worst version of us. My doppelganger has killed dozens of people!" Captain Killy had, in fact, killed hundreds, but in this instance, Tilly was referring only to those deaths Killy had performed with her own two hands.

"Maybe," said Mischkelovitz quietly, "but if I could just find me, maybe I can be two people again."

It was tragically sad. Mischkelovitz seemed to think she could replace Milosz with her evil twin. Tilly was not sure what to say to that. "Maybe," she offered after a moment. "Thanks again."

As the doors cycled, Mischkelovitz's odd desire lingered in Tilly's thoughts. She almost forgot O'Malley was outside. Tilly startled when he asked her, "You were in there a while. Everything all right?"

Nothing was all right, but Tilly was starting to feel like it might be better soon. "Uh, yeah! Just... Dr. Mischkelovitz and her husband really had a special connection."

"Oh?" prompted O'Malley. "How d'you know that?"

"They recorded these research logs. It was like..."

O'Malley smiled softly. "Like the same person in two places?"

Tilly was surprised. That described what she had seen perfectly. "Exactly! Did you know Milosz Mischkelovitz?"

"I've known them both since they were eight," said O'Malley, smile deepening into one of genuine affection at the memory.

"You grew up with them?"

O'Malley started to laugh quietly. "Emellia is my sister," he said in proud explanation. "And my favorite person in two universes." That fact suddenly amused him, fraught as it was with the unfortunate nature of their circumstances.

Tilly's eyes went wide as saucers. "I have a million questions!"

O'Malley considered that. As far as crewmembers went, Tilly was right up there with Saru in his estimation. She was amiable, cheerful, intelligent, generous, and kind, but her overly eager nature and willingness to stumble into making mistakes did not make her a very popular person. A bit of an outcast, really. At the beginning of the voyage, she had tried to join the family dinner in the mess hall and they'd turned her away. O'Malley now realized they had done themselves a grave disservice with that action. "Well, I've got nothing but time."

"Really?"

"I mean, I can't promise I'll answer everything, but I'm standing around all night either way."

Though her uniform gave the appearance of Terran scourge Captain Killy, the eager look of excitement on Tilly's face was anything but. "Tell me everything!"

He wouldn't, of course, but he knew enough minor, unincriminating anecdotes to entertain. "So there was this one time, when Mischka was ten..."

In the morning, Saru and Tilly contacted Burnham for an update on the mission. Saru chose not to inform her of Culber's death. It would only distract Burnham from her task. Besides, there was nothing at this point any of them could do.

Stamets lay strapped down to a medical bed, restraints across his torso, arms, and legs. He was completely immobilized. There was no way he would escape again. His milky-white eyes stared unmoving at the ceiling, only the beeps of the medical monitors signaling that he was still alive.

Tilly hated seeing Stamets in this condition, but Saru was adamant the restraints were needed. "If Lieutenant Stamets killed Culber, he may be a danger to all of us." That Stamets was not the real suspect was a fact known only to a few. Circumstances were bad enough without the crew thinking they had a potential murderer roaming the ship who could freeze time and strike anyone, anywhere. Circumstances were bad enough with everyone thinking Stamets had murdered his husband.

"He only escaped because the containment field was disabled," said Tilly. She had not thought to raise it after seeing Stamets; neither had the nurse. In fairness, it was hard to notice a lack of something in the room, particularly when Stamets had seemed so largely unresponsive. "Culber probably lowered it himself. Who could stand to see the person they love in a cage?"

"Perhaps that was his fatal error," mused Saru. At present, he and Groves were operating under the theory that Stamets had gotten out of sickbay, wandered down to deck twelve, and Culber had tracked him there, encountering Allan. Allan then killed Culber, framed Stamets, and deleted the relevant security footage. The theory was not perfect, there were a lot of questions like why Allan would kill instead of just disappearing as he seemed readily able to, but it was a solid theory.

Tilly's reply was immediate. "Stamets didn't kill anyone."

"Are you suggesting there's a murderer running free on our ship?" asked Saru, concerned. Because Allan had always kept himself on the fringes of everything, never getting directly involved, no one seemed yet to realize his absence. That could surely only last so long.

"No!" exclaimed Tilly. "I'm saying that this... this is not Paul Stamets." She brought up Stamets' brain scan on the nearest display and outlined for Saru the details of her discussion with Mischkelovitz. "This was an unfortunate consequence of an addled mind trying to reach beyond a cloud of confusion. We are losing him, commander, and fast."

"The lieutenant's health it in the hands of our medical officers," said Saru somberly.

"Medicine isn't working! This is a spore issue. Which means no one is more qualified to treat him than I am." Before the mirror universe, such an outburst would have been entirely out of character for Tilly. Some combination of the role she had been forced to assume as Captain Killy and her desperation to save Stamets had combined to produce a forcefulness within her. It surprised her as much as it did Saru. She quickly tempered her outburst with a plea. "Please? Let me bring him back."

As he looked down at Stamets, Saru thought that this was not what Culber would have wanted. "Very well," he said, though some part of him doubted Tilly would be able to succeed where Culber had not. They had to try, at least. For the memory of Hugh Culber.

Part 79

#Star Trek #Discovery #Star Trek Discovery #Captain Lorca #Gabriel Lorca #Mirror Lorca #Michael Burnham #Cadet Sylvia Tilly #Sylvia Tilly #Saru #Commander Saru #The Wolf Inside #Despite Yourself #Ash Tyler #Paul Stamets #Hugh Culber #ISS Shenzhou

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theladyofdeath · 7 years

Text

Kings and Queens. {Ch 11}

Summary: A Throne of Glass AU inspired by the Breakfast Club (1985). Five students come together for Saturday detention, and realize they are not all that different. You can read previous chapters here.

Author’s Note: I love writing this fanfic, and I hope you all are enjoying it just as much! Let me know what you think. Enjoy. <3

Dorian.

11:30 a.m.

She was coming.

We were going to get caught.

I could already feel my father’s anger, his glare, his hand stinging my skin.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move.

Panic.

I was frozen in panic.

I had felt panic before, many times throughout my life. I had panicked when my father came home to find me doing anything but homework, I had panicked every time I was asked to speak up in class, and I had panicked every time I came within ten feet of Manon Blackbeak.

But this – this was an entirely new definition of the word panic.

The others stood watching me, but they already knew. They could see my face, my eyes, could sense the fear radiating off me in tiny beads of sweat.

“Go,” Rowan whispered, and Aelin looked up at him as if he had just told her he was a bikini wearing baboon named Celaena.

“Are you stupid?” she asked, her tone implying that he was.

“I’ve got nothing to lose,” he said, already letting go of her hand before she could protest further. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

She opened her mouth to call after him, but a hand was placed forcefully over her lips.

Aedion’s.

He subtly shook his head: a warning.

Rowan leaped into a sprint down the hallway breaking off our hideaway, banging on the lockers and yelling profanities as he did so.

I hadn’t realized I was standing rigidly, staring with my mouth hanging open until I was pulled back by the collar of my t-shirt into the janitor’s nook to my left. After barely managing to steady myself, Maeve and her obnoxiously loud heels came around the corner. I couldn’t see her face, her infuriated expression, by I wish I had. Anger was radiating off her tense shoulders, her clenched fists resting stiffly on both sides of her pencil skirt.

“Rowan Whitethorn! Stop. Now.” She demanded.

In typical Rowan fashion, he didn’t.

She let out a crippling scream, one that made the hairs inside my ears die untimely deaths.

I had seen Headmistress Maeve mad plenty of times, but her anger usually brought her joy. With Rowan, however…..He really knew how to get under her skin. They were family, that much I knew. Apparently, they were not close.

As Maeve disappeared around the corner, the faint sound of Rowan’s voice still echoing through the halls, Aelin’s shoulders slumped.

“Uh.” Lysandra let out a breathy laugh from behind me. “What the hell just happened?”

“I think Whitethorn just saved our asses,” Aedion acknowledged, impressed.

“He’s not like you all think he is,” Aelin said, her eyes still staring down the hall, where he had disappeared around the corner. “He’s different.”

There were so many questions I wanted to ask, my curiosity getting the better of me, but I wouldn’t. I didn’t know Aelin. It was not my place. Instead, I simply nodded before stepping out into the open, hoping no other teachers from the meeting were coming this way.

“I hate to ruin this beautiful moment,” Aedion sighed, “but we don’t have much time. We need to get back. Now.”

I cursed under my breath, causing three sets of eyes to swivel my direction.

Before anyone could comment on my purity being disclaimed, I turned on my heels and began a slow jog.

I couldn’t lie. The moment I heard their footsteps fall into a steady step behind mine in a sweet, simple melody, empowerment filled my very core. I had never been a leader. I had hardly ever been a follower. It was usually just….me.

This was different. I was a part of a team. I felt alive. I felt lost in a dream.

I was pretty sure I was never going to feel the same euphoria again.

We ran.

The halls were a maze that we knew like the back of our hands. It never changed, the layout of the hell we unwillingly attended day after day. However, it was a bit like playing PacMan as a child. Although we knew the maze, and could see every turn and dead-end, the little monsters that strolled through the hallways were always heading somewhere different.

I prayed we didn’t run into any little monsters. Just like PacMan, I was pretty sure we were going to die.

“Left, through the bandroom,” Lysandra muttered from behind me, beginning to lose her breath. I couldn’t blame her. My lungs were deteriorating.

I obeyed, though, hoping it would be a shortcut worth taking advantage of it.

It was, I decided, the moment I saw a hint of a black jacket coming around the corner.

“Good save,” Aedion winked, sending her blushing.

Aelin’s golden eyebrows rose, a disgusted, confused look distorting her features.

There was a door at the back of the bandroom, where they often loaded instruments into the trailer before an away game. My hope fell into the pit of my stomach when we halted, finding it locked.

“Damnit,” Aedion mumbled, running his fingers through his hair. “Let’s –“

“Back up.”

I glanced at Aelin, who had taken a warrior’s stance behind our group. “What –“

“Back up,” she snapped, and nobody bothered to argue as we swiftly moved out of her path.

Surprising the hell out of me, who rarely felt surprised, the self-proclaimed princess of Havilliard High kicked the door wide open, allowing soft, white snowflakes and a frigid wind to brutally slap me in the face.

“It’s a blizzard out here,” Aedion groaned as he entered the cold.

I shut the door behind the four of us to the best of my ability, but Aelin had damaged the lock severely.

I was impressed. Somewhat uneasy about the thought of damaging public property, but impressed, nonetheless.

We ran.

Well, as fast as the rapidly falling snow would allow us to. There was a good foot stuck to the ground at this point, and I could only hope that Headmistress Maeve would not look under the tables to see the frosted bottoms of my khaki pants.

My teeth began chattering as I mentally slapped myself for removing my sweater.

My time alone had me sweating, though. It was invigorating, although it would surely haunt my dreams that night.

I had never done anything wrong. Not that I was naturally the rebellious type, because I wasn’t. But, I had spent my whole life according to a schedule – my father’s tight, grueling schedule. I woke up, I went to school, I came home and did homework until I went to bed. What was assigned was never good enough, I to had to go above and beyond.

In my free time, I read, which I enjoyed, although I never was allowed to read fiction, which is what I loved. I chose reading textbooks and bibliographies over joining my father in his office, though, learning to be just like him.

Not that day, though.

That day, after I had separated myself from the others, I had taken every textbook I had to the chemistry lab. It was me, a Bunsen burner, and the disappearing of page after page after page of useless nonsense that had never gotten me anywhere in my eighteen years.

Except for miserable.

I hated school. Perhaps, in another life, I would have not minded it much. But it had been forced into me since the day I started Kindergarten. It was not a normal experience, it was a childhood that I wish hadn’t lived through. It was late nights and early mornings, and bruises that graced my skin if my grades weren’t high enough.

I hated school almost as much as I hated my father.

I had never been able to live much of a life, at all. I could not remember a moment of my childhood that was not spent in our home’s study or my father’s office. I could not remember a moment of my teens when I did not resent the man that promised I would thank him someday for all the long hours I had spent retaining knowledge, instead of being out with my friends, or going to the football games on Friday nights.

I found myself wondering how ashamed he would be of me as I trudged through the snow with my fellow group of delinquents.

And I beamed when I realized I didn’t care.

As we came upon the window, still cracked open, that belonged to the library’s bathroom, Aedion got down on one knee. “Lysandra.”

He held out his hand as he ordered her to be the first, and she took it without hesitation. Using his knee as a foot stool, Lysandra hoisted herself up, and pulled herself through the window.

Aelin was next, and although I expected a snarky remark to Aedion, there was not a single one as her golden hair disappeared.

“Come on, Dorian,” he offered, and when I shook my head, he pulled me forward by the fabric of my trousers before I decided it wasn’t worth it. I would follow the women, and look like even less of a man for one reason: we were running out of time.

I fell onto the bathroom floor head first, making Aelin gasp, and the two girls run to my aid as I laid on my back, staring at the fluorescent lights that flickered on the ceiling, a soft moan leaving my lips.

Aedion, the athletic guru that he was, landed swiftly on his feet before eyeing me. “Rough landing?”

Moaning, I managed to sit up, with the help of Aelin and Lysandra, while my vision cleared. “I’m…fine. Thanks.”

Rowan’s loud crooning floated through the library, and I was suddenly on my feet, following the others as swiftly as I could.

I had a feeling I was going to be sore the next day. And, perhaps, the next week all together.

“Detention, Whitethorn, for the rest of your days here at Havilliard!” We could hear Maeve screeching as we came around the corner, the statue of my ancestors and the tables sitting in front of them sneaking into view.

“What?” he asked, louder than most people would to someone standing mere feet away. “You told me to get back to the library, I’m only doing as you asked!”

He was warning us. They were no longer coming. They were here.

The door clicked open as soon as I fell into my chair, the others just behind me.

Rowan came into view, his broad frame taking up most of the doorway. Maeve was right on his tail, looking as if the headmistress had disappeared and hell had reincarnated in the form of a woman, standing tersely in front of us.

Dark, green eyes quickly took each of us in, lingering on Aelin as if to ask, Are you okay?

She gave him a terse nod before his shoulders lost their tensity. He was still playing the part, though, his arms crossed and his eyes ablaze.

“You are an embarrassment to this school and your family name!” Maeve yelled, slamming the door behind her, huffing and puffing as if she could barely stay contained within the limits of her small, slim frame. “What a disgrace!”

A small, sly grin appeared as Rowan stopped, and sat gingerly on the edge of Aelin and Aedion’s table. “I may be a disgrace, Maeve, but I have a lot more to be proud of than you do.”

“Like what?” a single, perfectly sculpted eyebrow rose. “The fact that you have detention for every Saturday until you graduate? Or, the fact that you’re a pathetic, little orphan who hides behind snide remarks and bullying others to get by?”

Aelin began to rise in her chair, but Aedion quickly pulled her back down.

“Oh,” Maeve crooned, “do you have anything to add, Miss Glathynius?”

Rowan would not look at her, but his head shook, slowly. “No, she doesn’t. This has nothing to do with her, or anyone else in this room. This doesn’t even have to do with me, Maeve –“

“Stop calling me that. You will address me as Headmistre –“

“You are so damn miserable in your personal life that you have to make everyone else around you miserable, too.” He laughed, manically, as he spoke, each word streaming out of his mouth like lava. How many years had he held this in? How long had he wanted to stand up to this woman, this relative, and didn’t? “You treated your family like shit, so they abandoned you. My mother never said a good word about you when I was growing up. There was a picture of you two hanging on our wall, when you were children, and every time I had asked her about you, do you know what she said? She would say: Oh, that’s just somebody that I used to know. My dad finally told me who you were one day, told me that you two had a falling out, didn’t say over what except it was your fault, and that, unfortunately, I would be having you as my fucking headmistress once I attended this godsdamned place. You wonder why you’re not happy, why you have no friends, why you have to pick on children in order to feel any sort of pride…..You’re a bitch, Maeve. The sad thing is, you don’t even realize it, do you?”

We all sat in silence, the sound of the heater humming fervently in the distance.

Rowan’s chest was moving up and down rapidly, heat and anger radiating off him in waves.

Then, Maeve lifted her chin, without any emotion, and nodded. “I will be speaking to the board about your expulsion at the next meeting. Until then, Saturday detention until May.”

With that, she left, unfazed, as she closed the door behind her, and slid the lock into place with a clank.

After a second to reign in his emotions, Rowan turned to us, slowly, and smiled.

@bigbangt1963 @throne-of-ashes-and-beauty @sarah-akhavan@gcarroll@kortanna@nightquart @notjustanyoldfangirl @superhuman-imagines@iwouldtrusthagridwithmylife@callmeladytypewriter@saybell1994@2-bookmaster-2 @eye-of-elena @shadowsinger-fireheart@inejcalmarekaz@viridiantopaz @books-are-friends-not-objects@raven-the-dark-titan@theantisocialbookworm310 @whydoyoucareaboutmyusername

#kings and queens tog #tog #fanfic

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kotamouse · 7 years

Text

Vampanarimloo Ch. 1 Pt. 2

“What do you what, Webber Boy?” Kerik says irritably after he opens the door.

“Your help,” Panaro shrugs.

Kerik looks him over. He can tell the young Merik is incredibly distraught. Panaros eyes have bags from worrying about Karimloo all night, and his shoulders slumped in exhaustion. When Kerik looked in Panaro’s eyes, it was as if he could see through into his mind and see all the fear and sadness tormenting him in there. And though most of their Eriks were accustomed to not eating often, Panaro’s stomach rumbled loudly, and it sounded almost painful. He really did need his help.

“Come in,” Kerik opens his door for Panaro to come through. “This is regarding your companion down the hall isn’t it.”

Kerik's room was certainly a sight to behold. Panaro could see boards lining the walls, several detailed blueprints and layouts for all sorts of inventions and architectural structures. The furniture had been gutted and replaced with fine Persian rugs, a cushioned armchair, and a well furnished bed. The smoke and scent wafting through the room was courtesy of the hookah pipe on Kerik's nightstand.

“Yes…” Panaro stifled a cough inhaling the smell.

He takes a seat on Kerik’s bed, which was softer than he at first expected, and sighs while Kerik goes over to the personal bar he has set up and pours two drinks. Panaro can tell he is tense, in fact this is the tightest he’s ever seen the other man's shoulders. Kerik was always the most laid back of all of them, but tonight was different all together. It was as if Panaro were talking to a whole other Phantom entirely.

“So,” Kerik says. “What is it.”

"What am I going to do?" Panaro asks, shaking like a leaf.

"Kill him, plain and simple,” Kerik responds flatly.

"I love him! I'm not going to sit by and let that happen-" Panaro was cut off by Kerik slamming his hands on the table he was pouring at, shaking the glasses.

"So you're fine if he hurts you?!" He shouts, wheeling around.

“He wouldn’t hurt me.”

Kerik scoffs, "Don't think I didn't see those marks."

Panaro adjusts his collar, his fingers grazing his lip “He didn't mean to… it was an accident…"

"Right. What if it's Jones next? Or Mauer? Mann? What if next time around he goes after father dearest Crawford, eh? Can you live with one of your own’s death on your conscience because you let things be?! I've seen this dozens of times over before!" Kerik's shoulders were shaking with rage.

Panaro sat in shocked silence, he had never seen Kerik like this before. His raising his voice was a terrifying thing to behold. His golden eyes seemed to be made of flames in his anger, but soon they cooled. Kerik assessed the situation at hand, and let his shoulders drop. Handing Panaro a glass of some sort of alcoholic drink- smelling strongly like a cream sherry mixture -he sighed.

"Sorry. This is a sore spot for me,” Kerik apologizes, downing his glass in one gulp.

“You said you knew about this happening before…?” Panaro asks carefully. “How…?”

“In Russia…” Kerik breathes in deeply and begins fixing another drink. “I was alone… I was careless…I wasn’t listening to my surroundings, paying attention to where I was. I didn’t know anyone was following me.”

Panaro watches Kerik carefully as he tells his story. The novelized man holds his glass so tight Panaro is worried it might shatter in his hands as he moves towards the window. Kerik’s jaw is locked tight, and Panaro shifts uncomfortably, absentmindedly rubbing Ayesha’s ear to calm his nerves.

“I was attacked,” Kerik continues, his voice gravely. “By a vampire… He must’ve thought I’d be an easy target, you know, someone who wouldn’t be missed. I suppose he was right…”

“How did you get away?” Panaro asks.

“Well for starters I put up one hell of a fight,” Kerik chuckles and turns towards Panaro. “But it was Nadir who saved me in the end. He heard the commotion going on, in fact he was already following me, and he put an end to the vampire. I would’ve died if it weren’t for him…”

Panaro could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

“He took me under his wing, taught me everything I know about vampires. We were an unstoppable force in Persia when it came to hunting…” Kerik pauses. “What I’m saying, Panaro, is that I’ve seen these creatures first hand. I’ve seen the destruction they cause and have been the boot of it more times than I’d care to admit. But it doesn’t matter who they are or how much you love them. They’re not cats that can be tamed. They’re beasts that need to be killed,” He was beginning to raise his voice again, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

“There has to be another way… That can’t be the only answer,” Panaro says desperately, suddenly standing. “There has to be civil vampires they can’t all be ravenous!”

“I’m sorry-”

“Vampires are creatures of strategy right? That’s why they attack when people are alone! Or why they change people with no moral compass,” Panaro is frantic and loud. “Well they were wrong with Karimloo! Please!”

“Panaro… he’s not human anymore.”

“He may not be human, but he hasn’t lost his humanity,” There’s a long pause. “He’s the one who told me to come downstairs you know. He was the reason I left the room when I did. He didn’t want to hurt me… It’s still him Kerik. It’s still Karimloo.”

Kerik watches Panaro with pity, but also with great remorse. He wished what had happened to Karimloo hadn’t as much as anyone, perhaps even more since he knows the strain of the situation, but what could he do?

“Help him,” Panaro jabs. “You said you knew vampires like the back of your hand, prove it. Help him be safe to be around. Train him.”

Kerik rolls his glass around between his fingers, processing the entire conversation. “Let me see him.”

“Be my guest.”

The two make their way to the couple’s shared room in silence, both of their minds working through the whole thing. Whatever Kerik saw in this room would decide Karimloo’s fate, and both he and Panaro knew and dreaded that fact. Placing his sweaty palms on the cool door knob, Panaro held his breath as he opened the door.

When the door opens the pair sees Karimloo wearing only his tank top and sweats, pacing the room and covered in beads of sweat. Panaro sees his lover’s mask thrown haphazardly on the messy bed, and most items on their dresser knocked over. Karimloo’s wig, though still on, is a tangled mess, and they could tell he has been running his hands through it for a while. Panaro hated to see him like this, and Kerik hated to see Panaro seeing him like this. Closing the door again, he speaks.

“He needs to feed,” Kerik says, reading Panaro’s confused expression.

“Can he do that without…?” Panaro feels a flush of worry go over him.

“It’s possible, yes,” Kerik answers. “Just incredibly hard for those who have been recently changed.”

“Can you help him stop once he starts,” The Broadway Man asks, then adds. “Humanely.”

Kerik sighs, “There are ways of subduing them without killing them yes.”

“Thank you.”

“Love?” Panaro says softly as he pushes open the bedroom door.

Karimloo’s face lights up when he sees his companion, but his glad expression seemed to be a mask that covered a look of despair. Upon seeing Kerik, however, both expressions melded into one of anger, though his eyes still showed the same fear.

“Why did you bring him in here,” Karimloo hisses, looking at Kerik.

“What do you-“ Panaro starts, but is cut off.

“Don’t think that I couldn’t hear you all talking about me downstairs,” Karimloo’s fist curls itself into a tight ball. “Or the two of you talking in his room.”

“Love there is no way in Hell or Hannibal that I am going to let him hurt you…” Panaro carefully takes his partner’s hands. “You have to trust me…”

“I do trust you,” Karimloo’s voice is calm as he looks into the eyes of his love. “It’s him I don’t trust.”

“Contrary to what either of you may believe, I came to see if I could help you,” Kerik steps forward. “Whether I like it or not.”

“Help me how?” Karimloo asks skeptically.

“Well, first off, I’m sure you’re thirsty. My job is to make sure whoever you bite you don’t drain dry.”

Karimloo’s mood instantly shifts and his shoulders drop, “I… I can’t. I don’t want to hurt anybody.”

“Well the longer you hold it off, the more likely you are to snap and the less likely you are to leave your meal alive,” Kerik explains. “If you feed now, there will be less harm done later.”

Karimloo bites his lip. Kerik was right and he knew it. But what could he do? Was he supposed to risk it biting someone in the House? Someone he loved? Would that connection give him incentive to stop?

“How?” Karimloo breathes.

“Me,” Panaro steps forward, causing both other men to startle.

“Panaro, I can’t…”

“If you snack on Kerik he won’t be able to stop you as readily as if he was just watching and making sure everything is going alright,” He explains. “It’s safer this way.”

“We didn’t talk about this,” Kerik puts his hand on Panaro’s shoulder. “Panaro…”

“I trust him, Kerik… and I trust you.”

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” Kerik warns.

“Do we have another choice?”

The room stands in silence for a moment, Kerik thinking through every possible outcome. Panaro stares at him, trying to convince him with his eyes, and Karimloo stares at Panaro, full of worry for his love. With a sigh Kerik gives, not finding any other option.

“Panaro. Sit,” He says and gestures to the bed. He then pulls up their desk chair and sets it kitty corner to the edge. “Karimloo.”

Karimloo sits in the chair and takes Panaro’s hand, his shoulders tight. Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath. This was the moment. Just as everything could go right, there was a bigger chance that everything could go wrong. Any number of them could get hurt, and none of them wanted that to happen.

“So, Vampy, you’re going to use Panaro’s wrist. It’s safer should something go wrong, then you’re not on his throat threatening anything important,” Kerik explains and Karimloo nods, rubbing Panaro’s hand protectively. “When you’re ready.”

Panaro turns his wrist over, and Karimloo takes a deep breath in, not even believing himself what he was about to do. A chill runs down Panaro’s spine when he sees the fangs in his love’s mouth and his brain makes the connection to what’s about to happen. Kerik places a hand on the panicking Phantom’s shoulder, trying to calm his fight or flight response.

Carefully as he could, Karimloo bites into Panaro’s wrist and he jumps at the puncture, a yelp leaving his lips. Kerik watches carefully, looking for any sign of danger. It was a simple enough task, but the stakes were high. One wrong move and Panaro could get the short end of that stick, but if that happened Kerik would make sure Karimloo got the sharp end.

“I think that’s enough…” Panaro says, his head beginning to swirl. “Angel…”

“Karimloo,” Kerik tries to grab his attention. “Karimloo you’ve had your fill you’re killing him. Karimloo!”

Kerik flips open a ring he had on his right hand flicks it’s contents- a small amount of vervain -into Karimloo’s face. Karimloo shoots up and growls at the Novelized Man, still in a feeding frenzy. Suddenly, the two are hand to hand, struggling for the upper hand. Karimloo was stronger, but didn’t know how to use it to his advantage yet, and Kerik knew that. The fight grows on, but remains even until Kerik throws the vampire to the ground and steps back, pulling a stake out of his jacket to Panaro’s horror.

“STOP!” He shouts and jumps up in between them, still dizzy and clutching his wrist.

Karimloo snaps out of his rage when he hears his love’s voice, but Kerik isn’t so easy.

“Get out of the way, Panaro,” He orders, looking straight through him and to Karimloo.

“What did you expect to happen he was feeding!” Panaro yells, unsure of what he’s actually saying.

“He could’ve killed us!” Kerik shoots back, still ready to attack.

“You know just as well as I do that he wouldn’t.” Panaro defends. “He just needs to learn how to control it.”

“Even if we do, we can’t be sure that it can be trusted.”

“It? Are you listening to yourself? That’s still Karimloo over there! Can’t you find it somewhere in yourself to see that?!”

“I want to, Merik! I want to believe that it’s him!” Kerik shouts, a single tear rolling. “Do you think I want to kill one of our own? I want to trust him… but how can I when-”

Kerik’s emotional outpour was paused by a white flash entering the room. The fighting men looked to the spot on the ground where the fluff ball went curiously. The stake Kerik held in his hand slipped to the ground when he saw Ayesha in Karimloo’s lap, purring as happy as can be.

“She’s… she’s never done that to one of them before…. She always…. Attacks…” Kerik is at a loss for words.

Karimloo scoops up the cat and walks over to Kerik. Handing her to him, Karimloo looks into the Hunter’s eyes. Kerik nods and takes Karimloo’s hand with his free one, Ayesha perched in his left.

“I’ll help,” He says, looking between the two Meriks. “Let’s get to work.”

#IT WORKED #HERES THE REST OF IT #nnyl whispers #vampanarimloo #panarimloo #erik house #phantom of the opera #fanfiction #ramin karimloo #hugh panaro #ayesha #vampire #kerik #kay!erik

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itsalwaysgarytime · 7 years

Photo

All finished now :)

On Board UNSC Infinity 1215 Hours, January 15th, 2558 "Hey Cher!" Michael roared running up to his team lead. "Looks like you got lost." He jested with a big grin. Beaumont only chuffed at him tryinig to laugh at her confusion of the Infinity's innards. "Yeah you try and find your way from S-Deck to this mess hall without having to take multiple rail trips that seem to pendulum around the same spot." She responded throwing her left arm over his shoulder and shuving him back into the mess hall. The Infinity was still receiving her crew from Earth as more and more personnel got called back from shore leave, but the hall was still bustling with people coming in to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner depending on their post scheduling. "It won't be a problem after a week, I'll learn the layout of this beast by then." Michael snorted as he sat down at a table where Killbourne and Fitsimmons were already chowing down on their assortments of food. "Go ahead and line up for your food Cher, I already had mine." Michael said gesturing to the front of the mess hall where the chef was serving up lunch. "Hey Alfonso get your ass back over here." Killbourne shouted smacking the table. Michael sped walk back over to Lionheart's table and sat down next to Spartan Frank Killbourne. "So how was shoreleave for you guys?" Fitsimmons asked shoving his food tray away slouching on the table. "First time seeing Earth for me." Frank answered a look of haughty disappointment leaked from him. "Don't get the big deal really." He said blowing air through his lips like a horse would. Michael nodded and was about to tell his story of his escapades in Hamburg and other locations in Europe when the color from Fitsimmons drained like he was witnessing a scarab barge into the mess deck. Out of curiousity he turned around to see why Simon had become so frightened. It was their instructors, Division Commanders Beckett and Geralt. He had hoped that the Infinity would ditch them on Earth for this next tour but lady luck just likes to crack her knuckles straight into his nose it seems, like most women. Beckett was the true monster of the 2 of them though. That woman had no kindness in her at all. The only kindness she could give him would be to not notice him and walk right over him, literally if necessary. "Fuck me in the ass..." Killbourne spat out through his tensed bite. The 2 officers went to get in line for food and ignored Fire Team Lionheart. "So, you ever wonder why Beckett has a fucking warthog winch stuck up her ass?" Fitsimmons asked leaning forward to better hide his words from the queen of ire. Michael's smile grew into a devilish smile. "Oh I know, I hate her so much and you need to know thy enemy right? So I decided to go snooping when we were on ANVIL and found her record had been left open by some dumb spook from ONI when I went looking." Alfonso said proud of his sleuthing. "Our dear Beckett was apart of the glassing of Orin." Alfonso said. "Orin? What the fuck is Orin?" Killbourne asked his tray in his hand to hide his lips from the crowd that Beckett and Geralt were meandering in. "Exactly, seems it was a colony that her and Geralt's fire team were on that got turned into a colossal marble in a matter of a day." As he explained Beaumont had finally got her food and had sat down to eat. "What are you inbred cavemen discussing?" She asked grabbing the fork on her tray. "Why Beckett is a twisted cunt." Fitsimmons said gesturing towards the crowd. "Language Simon." Beaumont hissed as she smacked him upside of his head. "Sorry Gunny." Fitsimmons chuckled. Beaumont gave him a stern look but allowed Alfonso to continue. "Beckett, Geralt and Fenn were all a Fire Team who were serving on Orin when the Covenant found it and decided to add it to their bag of marble planet collection." Michael repeated. "From what I could find on their file that wasn't just a black ink spill on the file, they were put into comas and lost.." Before he could speak another word, Michael's head was smashed into the table's pillar with enough force to make him swallow the wrong way and choke. The entire cafeteria had gone silent from the sound of his head crashing into the metal. "You..." Beckett was right in front of him, her eyes dead set on him never blinking and livid with rage. Her teeth gritted and popped. "Mel...Beckett!." Geralt tried snapping her out but she crashed her fist into the pillar, inches away from Michael's head denting the reinforced structure like it was copper. Her fist shook from the damage it traded with the Infinity. Blood trailing from her fractured knuckles. "Alfonso! YOU BETTER FUCKING SWALLOW YOUR TONGUE RIGHT NOW! OR SO HELP ME I'LL GRAB THAT MAGGOT AND SHOVE IT SO FAR DOWN YOUR THROAT YOU'LL TASTE SHIT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHILE ONLY BEING ABLE TO TALK OUT OF YOUR ASSHOLE!!" Beckett screamed. The primal rage in her voice was nothing he'd ever heard before, not even on ANVIL had she ever snapped like this. "Yes... s.." He stuttered from the shock of the moment only for her ram her fist into the pillar once again the previous dent buckling into a crater. Lighting for the table had shut off as the wiring must have been permanently damaged. "Beckett." This time Geralt had reached out and grabbed Beckett's shoulder and calmed her down some how. Her stare still locked into Alfonso's. That wasn't a threat that was a signed, packaged and ready to be delivered promise. He got the message and hung his head when Geralt finally took Beckett out of the mess hall that seemed taken by the moment, all just gawking at the blood stained wound in the pillar next to his head. --------------- Wanted work on a "Moment" instead of just "pieces" Wasp is the boogieman to new Spartan Fire Teams, her training methods cruel but efficient and she expects the absolute best in all aspects from the SPARTAN IVs. To continue the legacy of Lieutenant Commander Ambrose. Who did the same for her and all SPARTAN IIIs. She doesn't tolerate any playing around or joking. Every one lost the right to that a long time ago. Skeletons in the closet...

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eienias20 · 7 years

Text

Butterfly and Firebird

An RP featuring DeltaMachina’s Butterfly of the Battlefield: Esmeralda and my own Fiery Corporal: Jaynix. These two hang out a lot in RPs and this another of their adventures wherein they partake in the much loved activity of Ganglion killing!

RP ran from 6/23/17 to 7/2/17

Butterfly and Firebird

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Dodonga Caravan, an ever bustling source of commerce for the Nopon in Noctilum. Despite being in a less than ideal location, they somehow still continued to operate their center of business from here for throughout the region.

Right outside is a small base camp and tonight's shift just so happens to belong to a certain Interceptor among others, sitting at the table and sipping from a milkshake as she speaks to a yellow Nopon wearing a blue beanie.

"Aaah, it's all so adorable!"

She grins, looking at the Nopon's collective of freshly made hand-knit hats laid out in front of her. There's a twinkle in her eyes as she speaks.

"Sad to say the headgear is kinda my thing, but you just make them all so adorable!"

"Then tall green friend should spend! Give to other friends like always!"

The Nopon beams with pride, her wings clapping together as she speaks happily.

"Nosusu is glad that friend is willing to gather materials so often, or may not be able to keep up with orders!"

"Oh, how could I abandon one of my girls when she's so adorable and talented?! Let me just-wait, shouldn't I be getting a discount?"

"Meh, meh! Friend gets paid for services! ... Usually!"

The Nopon pouts, adjusting her hat as she averts her gaze. To be honest, usually Esmeralda just dropped off the items free of charge after a nice little clear out of the local nuisances.

"Haaah... Nosusu, you are a dangerous businesswoman. No wonder Koko always recommends me to you."

"Nosusu is a pure and honest businesspon! Dangerous is Prone hideout around corner. So full of nasties. Even after all this time, surprised friends have not blown it to pieces!"

Esmeralda's eyes shift over in the direction the Nopon speaks of. Understaffed, no Skells, not much of anything compared to the larger base at the center of Noctilum's northern area...

"You and me both, Nosu."

The girl sighs as she pokes at one of the hats, thumbing her finger against one colored red with a pink stripe.

Eienias || Jaynix

Not far from Es' base camp, a rover cut across the normally serene Noctilum forest, hard rock blasting from the speakers as Jaynix, at the wheel, whistled along with the song.

She enjoyed the music but it being loud also allowed her to block out any and all unpleasant thoughts...at least for the moment. Spotting the base camp, Jaynix turned down the volume and slowed the rover to a stop. Jumping out she turned to the two BLADEs she brought along for the shift change.

"Anton. Archer. Hope the ride was smooth but here we are!"

The two thanked her, Archer speaking.

"We owe you. I'm not sure what went wrong with my chopper but it was a grand help."

Jaynix waved him off.

"The Outfitters will have it up and running before you know it. Anyway, off to work with the two of you. Go on! Get!"

Thanking Jaynix again the pair took off to relieve the current on duty BLADEs. Jaynix turned to watch them go, taking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling…calm. She was calm and whispering to herself.

"All I long to see...is your smile..."

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

While Nosusu spoke, Esmeralda continued to think quietly to herself as she thought about the base more.

“If I remember right, the Prone in that base were supposedly under command of some asshole called the 'Blood King' or something dumb like that. But after he kicked the bucket they supposedly just kind of started petering around and... yeah, I think there's a new head honcho there. Question is what was their name again? Whatever, I'll just call him dead meat if I-“

The sound of the other BLADEs walking over threw off her train of thought.

"Hey there, we-"

"Yeah. Whatever."

Esmeralda huffed as she got up, rolling her eyes and flicking her launchers to her back.

"Later Nosu, I'll drop some materials off next time I'm in the area."

The two blades just stare at her as she walks forward, eyes looking at her Skell cleverly stuck behind the trees. Then again, hard to miss a large white Skell with an E-scythe on its shoulder.

"C'mon sweetheart, I think it's time for us to-wait a minute I know that rover...!"

Without a second though, she completely blows off the two BLADEs and dashes forward without a moment's thought.

"Jaaaay~!"

The girl smiles as she runs at the red Interceptor, all six feet of her rushing forward before grabbing the girl in a very embracing hug.

"Hey there gal pal what are you doing here?"

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix's soft whispers were abruptly cut off upon feeling a powerful oncoming force, before she could react in any way she was being hugged incredibly tightly by a very familiar green Interceptor.

"Es?"

Looking to the other woman holding her, Jaynix smiled. This was exactly what she needed.

"Hey there Butterfly! What brings...well, I guess you asked me first."

Hands stuck to her side as a result of Es' powerful hug, Jaynix gestured by tilting her head towards the two BLADEs that just arrived.

"Archer had some technical problems back in NLA so I offered him and Anton a ride out. Wasn't doing much back in town and a drive sounded like a good distraction…what about you Butterfly? What brings you to Noctilum?"

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"Oh you know just... point defense."

Esmeralda stated as she tilted her head towards the base camp.

"You know, make sure no nasty Indigens get near-make sure no Prone get too rowdy down the road..."

Esmeralda let go of Jaynix, coughing into her hand and flicking some of her hair out of her field of vision with the other.

"... Man, gotta tell you though honestly? Not really too exciting over here. For a Ganglion base down the road, it sure is quiet. They just all decide to hole up there; you know... things like that..."

There's an irritated look on her face as she places a hand on her hip.

"I'd kill for a chance for me and the big steel sweetheart around the corner over there to go ham on the place, but they'd say I'm just causing a scene or something.”

There's a moment of silence from her before she grins and looks at Jaynix.

"You know, it's a shame. They'd probably be ecstatic at the Caravan to hear that the Prone got cleared out if someone gave them a thrashing, right?"

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix tilted her head, listening to Es. Boredom sucked, she'd rather be in the middle of the loudest, wildest mess than just standing around doing nothing. Es definitely wasn't a fan of the nothing thing. Relatable. Hearing Es' last statement, Jaynix chuckled.

"Subtle."

She then looked down the road in the direction of the Ganglion base. She knew about it. No surprise that the Ganglion remnants were holed up there and still putting up small but annoying resistance. Looking back to Es, Jaynix smiled and put an arm around her.

"They're worried about you causing a scene? With the two of us together we will do much much more than that. You get some excitement and we do some good. I'm 100% on board with this thrashing. "

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

There was a moment of laughter, before Esmeralda stared at Jaynix and her smile turned into a slightly confused look. Then the realization hit.

"... holy jitt, you're serious."

The girl looks at the caravan, her eyes drifting back to the Corporal after a few seconds of thought.

"Okay, so let's say we do tackle this place. Much as I want to approach it and blast the place in my Skell, it's not that simple."

She flicks out her comm device, bringing up a layout of the fort and leaning against Jaynix's rover.

"The entire place has to get unmanned in one shot if we want to pull this off. And if we do... honestly, I like to think a lot of people would be sleeping better once tonight hits."

The girl nods her head at the corporal, flicking her comm device out of view of any other nearby prying eyes as she checks to see if the other BLADEs that were dropped off are watching.

"You're all in on this, then?"

Eienias || Jaynix

Once Es' eyes met Jaynix's, the Corporal gave her a determined, fiery gaze. She's serious. She then observes the fortress layout on Es' comm device and listens to her words.

"I am completely down with this, Butterfly. If we get this done, take out all the Ganglion hiding out over there and not letting any of them get away...BLADEs, Nopon, anyone who comes by this area will have a lot less to worry about."

Walking over to her rover, Jaynix retrieved her weapons from the trunk and gave each of them a quick check before looking to the other Interceptor and smiling.

"It's you and me, Es. We've taken on Ganglion before. We've got this."

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda,

"Yeah? Well much as I hate to admit it, unlike the other ones these idiots are... well, smart idiots."

With that conflicting statement out of the way, she begins to bring up a small written analysis of the base itself.

"Lakeview Stronghold, despite its unoriginal name, has an oddly high amount of anti-Skell measures, primarily cannons that take down anything that tries to approach from the air. They've reinforced the place with a few troops, but they're a lot more organized."

Her screen flicks to the image of the base again, red dots lighting up at key points where the troops were stationed.

"Even with a little over a dozen Prone, they have it set up so that once anything steps into the base, the entire place goes on alert-and then they always manage to repel anyone who approached from that point. Positioning, tactics, everything that I wasn't expecting... otherwise I would have taken it out earlier, honestly. Also, I really doesn't help that the entire upper half of the fort is covered in snipers either. Whoever it was who set that place up knew what they were doing."

She flicks the device back into its holding place, and she places a finger to her lip as she tilts her head.

"And besides that, trying to approach from the ground is... way too risky."

She shakes her head, not wanting to say why it is for her.

"I did find one alternate route, but there's a Sylooth in the way and I couldn't fit my Skell through there. Our only option is to try and approach from the upper levels, on foot."

With a shake of her head, she looks at Jaynix with a slight pause.

"Plus, if we take too long then they might send word to their neighbors at Bedrock Hold over the mountain. And...you can guess how that would go."

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix crossed her arms and focused, listening to everything that Es had to say. Once the other Interceptor brought up the map of the base, Jaynix leaned in close, eyes taking in everything. Seeing this heavily fortified location gave her a sense of nostalgia. Familiarity. She was all set to comment on it but remembered that the last time she brought up something relating to Earth, it looked like it made Es the slightest bit uncomfortable. She wouldn't be the first either.

"Alright then Butterfly let's see if I'm on the right page here. We have to go into that Stronghold and take everyone out as quickly as possible knowing that the moment we engage, everyone in the facility will know what we're up to. Between that and the positions they're occupying it definitely seems like they're using their heads...that or, they have one person using their head and they know a thing or two."

Jaynix then looked off in the direction of the Stronghold.

"I've got experience with raiding bases...I do it all the time...part of that included disabling fortifications. If we could take out the base wide alert system it would be easier. If. That said, if you're sure we can't get by the Sylooth then we can go with the upper level approach. Where would that route take us?"

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"If you have good footwork? A small groups of ledges that we can jump to the start of the upper levels from."

She nods.

"We start from there, we can take out the snipers on the upper levels, move onto the rest. Ground combat is easy pickings from there without the eyes on high after all"

Her eyes move to a large group of tree roots not too far off, and she nods her head.

"We climb up Redsnake Pass, take a bit of a hike to the top of the mountain there and we can... probably hit the mark! Definitely probably!"

Scaling most of a mountain just to approach a base right around the corner. Well, it's certainly an approach.

Eienias || Jaynix

"Definitely probably?"

Jaynix followed Es' gaze to the route that the pair would have to take. It certainly was a long way around but if it made the oncoming fight easier, then she had no real complaints. With a confident smirk she looked back at Es.

"I've got great footwork and enough energy for a hike or two. We can make our way there and take these guys out no problem! Those snipers won't even know what hit em."

Jaynix slammed her fists together.

"If you're all set to take it to em, so am I!"

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

God, Esmeralda knew she liked this girl the minute they hit it off-and sure enough she continued to impress. Usually most people met her ideas with skepticism or just outright avoided them, but Jaynix? Took them to heart and was ready to roll in the blink of an eye.

“I wonder why Irina never introduced us-“

The realization this might be why crossed her mind...but was then promptly shoved to the side as she nodded happily.

"Then let's get moving. Might take an hour to get up there, but once we get there I can probably get us down nice and easy! Come on Jaynie, time to take down some threats!"

The girl quickly clasped her hands together, and her wing-like launchers zipped to her back from their resting place in the base camp.

"Man this is the best though. I can't wait to see the look on Irina's face when we get back and tell her we totally trashed this place!"

Her voice softens for a moment, and she gives a slight sigh as she closes her eyes.

"I guess it has been a while since I got to work with her, though... maybe the three of us should all sit down after this, get something nice to eat and shop a little. Then we can all go on missions together, kick a bunch of Ganglion butt, just you, me, Irina and..."

She pauses for a moment, crossing her arms in thought and a quizzical hum.

"Oh and Gwin, I guess. I mean it's not a four girl squad but hey, he pulls his weight! Well... usually.

Sheepishly smiling, there's a faint blush on her face as she scratches at her cheek.

"Eheh, sorry... I'm running my mouth too much again, aren't I?"

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynie. The Fiery Interceptor couldn't help but smile at hearing that nickname; it was so cute and innocent sounding. Not at all like her but she loved it. An hour hardly sounded like any sort of huge commitment, Jaynix was more than ready for it.

"You, me and Irina? That sounds like a guaranteed good time! Come to think of it, it’s been far too long since I last saw her...well, here's hoping that changes soon."

Jaynix began moving away from the base camp when she heard Es mention Gwin. Of course! Can't forget the loyal farm boy. Noting Es' face, Jaynix couldn't help but chuckle.

"No worries Butterfly, I tend to talk a lot too, sometimes more than I should, other times not enough but a lot of words do come out of my mouth, heh. Anyway, once we wrap up with the Ganglion and have some free time, if you wanna bend my ear about Gwin for no reason in particular, I’m always available!”

Jaynix gave Es a wide smile and a wink. She felt so much lighter just after a few moments with Es. Hopefully this mission took a while, she desperately needed something to occupy her mind and focus with.

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Bend her ear? Esmeralda didn't quite catch onto what Jaynix meant, but she just gave a light chuckle and motioned for Jaynix to follow. "Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's get climbing.”

//////////

The top of the mountain hadn't been too hard to trek to, thankfully due to the whole ‘Mims having really great leg parts' thing she supposed. Though she had been quiet most of the way, since it did require a fair bit of focus.

Regardless, the two Interceptors had made great time climbing to the top-only a good thirty minutes. Looking over to Jaynix, the girl gave a nod as she motioned to the cliff's edge, looking down at the Ganglion base below. It was simple compared to most of the others... but perhaps that was why it proved a more difficult place to topple. Security in simplicity, or something. Whatever, it was going down today and that's all that mattered to her.

"Alright, so we're going to start from the left. There's a small series of ledges below we'll drop to-Oh, fog."

Es was now looking down on the fort as a thick layer of the frustrating stuff drifted in and covered the surrounding area. Mira's weather was working against them apparently, and Esmeralda gave a disappointed huff as she tried to find the location below. The fact that she could see the top of the Fortress' bridges and platforms was the only thing she had to go on right now... and very, very little else.

"Damnit, this is going to make things tougher, isn't it?"

Eienias || Jaynix

The climb was relatively effortless, Jaynix welcomed the physical activity and before she knew it, they reached the top. Jaynix joined Es in looking down at the Ganglion base, their target.

She looked at it right up until the fog began covering most of it up. Jaynix chuckled at Esmeralda's disappointed huff. But she felt her slight irritation, the weather certainly wasn't agreeing with them.

"Tougher yes, but look at the bright side Es. They'll be having a hard time keeping their eyes on us. The big difference is we are two highly skilled BLADEs. I think the fog might be a boon. An annoying one...but a boon nonetheless."

Jaynix gave a thumbs up to Es, the fog was unexpected but it was not going to sideline her. Either of them. No way.

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"... Eh, at worst if we get separated you'll be able to find me from the light show."

With a smirk, she stared at the ground below and tried to pinpoint the location they could land... but with the fog, all she could do was estimate. If she messed it up, then she would land right... No, she couldn't mess this up. The one thing that could screw up this mission was not going to happen.

"Well, this might be easier if we try to do that... okay. Hope this works for two."

The girl made a motion with her hands, her launchers spreading to the side of her and Jaynix, taking a breath as she grabbed onto the corporal's shoulder.

"So hey, you know how when you free fall in a Skell it's super cool? At least I think it is-but then you realize you're off on the landing and you only have a few seconds to... Actually, don't think about that. Just uh, think about butterflies and birds. Landing. Delicately."

Yeah. Delicate. That thing she is. Completely. Extending her hand out to her companion, she tried to keep her smile on while inside silently trying to... well, hope that this little experiment would pay off.

Eienias || Jaynix

Light show eh? Jaynix laughed, she enjoyed how confident Es was in her abilities and after their shared mission in Oblivia, Jaynix knew she had every right to be. Es then began setting up some kind of...plan on how the pair would jump down and land safely on the barely visible Ganglion base.

Feeling Es' hand on her shoulder, she gave her a smile which then faltered a bit once Es mentioned Skells. That was the last thing she wanted to think about in any capacity after what happened in the AD.

Jaynix shook her head, focusing instead on butterflies and birds...which matched the pair of them very well. Thinking of it that way, she felt herself calm down before looking to Es' outstretched hand.

"...a Butterfly of the Battlefield and a Firebird. I'm not quite sure I'm so delicate with how I rough house assholes but...I can try."

Reaching out, Jaynix took hold of Es' hand and gave her a confident smile, she had faith in Es' plan...whatever it may be.

"We've got this."

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"Gravity Lunge."

On cue, the launchers flicked to their combat state and created a sphere of energy as Esmeralda wrapped her arms around the other Interceptor. Grabbing onto Jaynix and gritting her teeth, the two were caught up in the antigravity field of the psycho launchers as they began to drag them along their course, the sphere surrounding them pushing them forward off the ledge, and sending them rolling down it-tossing up debris from the mountainside as they continued to careen down the side. Four seconds left, three seconds...

“Okay, ledge! Can't land on the center of the bridge or we'll get seen, so a bit to the left and”

Careening the sphere's trajectory to the left, Esmeralda tried to focus as a tree branch came into view to her left, sticking out from the side of the mountain. The girl's eyes widened as she realized her miscalculation, and that they were falling faster than she had anticipated-did she put too much thrust into it or-? One second left.

“I really wish the Colonel's words didn't always apply when these things happen...!”

As the two fell into the thickest of the fog, Esmeralda spun herself around, the launchers disengaged the field- THUNK ... the feeling of her back hitting the solid rock and using herself as a cushion so Jaynix didn't was not one of her proudest moments.

"O-okay, destination... arrived..."

She muttered with a wince of pain, quietly as to make sure nobody else would hear. Chock this up to the list of things she would feel tomorrow...

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix was not expecting Es to wrap her arms around her, next thing she knew they were inside an antigravity field and rolling down the mountainside. This was definitely not at all on her list of ways to get down a cliffside and onto an enemy base...but there is something to be said for being taken off guard.

All the raids and assaults she's done in the past never involved something like this. Then the pair hit solid rock, it was an abrupt stop though Jaynix didn't feel it as much since Es took the hit. Looking to Es below her, Jaynix let out a small, quiet laugh.

"This is not at all where I expected to be today. Thanks for taking me on a ride, Butterfly."

Jaynix smiled at Es before standing and helping the other Interceptor up, now taking the time to examine their surroundings. Their foggy surroundings. She could make out some figures here and there but this was definitely going to be a test for the pair.

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"Yeah no, I'm... I'm glad you enjoyed it. Oooof..."

Pushing herself up to her feet, Esmeralda pressed her hand against the mountainside to try and orient herself with where they just landed. Taking a look to her left, she could faintly make out the waters below, and knew full well that meant-

The sound of a Dilus' growling caused her to lock up, and she shakily grabbed at her saber.

“It's down there... you won't have to deal with them if you stay inside the place... just stay calm...”

"Just keep moving along the wall here, mind your footing. Once you see the upper level of the base... it's all a straight shot from there."

With a nod of her head, she looked to Jaynix once more and gripped on her saber's handle tightly.

"Give me a second; I'm still... a little disoriented from that fall. I'll get moving in a moment."

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix stood aside, keeping an eye on Es as the other Interceptor tried to center herself. The fall was incredibly disorienting after all and the impact did not help things either.

Then she saw something very familiar in Es' face and her body language. It was faint but something about it connected with Jaynix. She remained silent as Es told her the directions they should be heading, Jaynix let her eyes wander for a bit and observe their foggy surroundings.

Once Es had fallen silent, Jaynix stepped closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Es. Are you okay? Aside from the fall."

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Jaynix's hand meeting her shoulder made Esmeralda jolt back a bit, but a sigh of relief and a reassuring smile went across her face as she nodded.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. As long as we clear this place out, we don't have anything to worry about afterwards."

Her launchers centered behind her back again, and with a quick few steps forward, jumped up to the next ridge over. The base's upper bridge was right below her, and that meant it was finally time to start the offensive.

"I'll take point. You clear out the upper levels once their focus is on me. I'll take the low road once we get our first down up top."

With a nod of confidence, she knelt down and tried to focus ahead of her.

"You all set?"

Eienias || Jaynix

Reassured by Es, Jaynix stepped back. Es was capable and if anything went awry as it often did, Jaynix had Es' back. They'd be fine. Nodding to her partner, she watched Es leap down below before sharing her strategy with Jaynix.

"You're going to draw their fire? Alright. You stay ahead of their shots and I'll cut them down, they'll never see me coming."

Jaynix took a deep breath before drawing her blade. Speed was key here. The longer the enemy snipers remained active, the greater chance they had of hitting Es. Jaynix knew Es could take many hits, but she'd rather keep any possible damage to a minimum.

"I'm all set! Let's get this started."

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Launchers orbiting her body and making her usual protective field, she began her walk forward with her saber still inactive. The sounds of her footsteps against the metal stood out among the silence, though the wildlife of Noctilum could still be heard. She only hoped that it would muffle the sound of her approach-because the light created by her aura would stand out far more than even her headgear would.

“Clear for the first part so far... but if I remember right the first station is right at the end of this.”

As the Interceptor thought to herself, the sound of a single sniper shot smashing into her protective field-and quickly dispersing into bits of beam energy-caused her to tilt her head up at the first offender.

"Now you see-this is so much easier than sneaking about."

She grinned, whirling her saber and igniting the cutlass-like blade as she began her rush forward-jumping through the open gap of the watchtower and running up the stairs inside. When she reached the top, another shot smashed into her protective aura, and she just rolled her eyes as she looked at the offender-a large male cavern Prone-

“I mean they’re all large but still…”

The Prone seemed relatively distraught at the fact the sniper was doing nothing to her.

"Knock, knock, asscave."

Es said as she whirled the saber, lunging forward and slashing at the Prone, causing him to block the attack with his rifle. Needless to say that didn't work well, as the thing cut straight through and left him with two halves of a whole sniper that surely- THUNK

Apparently quick thinking prevailed however, as the feeling of said half of that sniper went colliding into the Interceptor's head. Ouch.

"GAH! RUDE!"

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix watched Es take off, shots ringing out from the Ganglion snipers positioned along the base. Smirking, Jaynix swung her blade, flames covering her body before she launched up onto the base and made for the sounds of gunfire. As she drew closer she could see the Cavern Clan Prone throw part of its broken weapon at Es, striking her head.

"Not cool."

Leaping and letting out a war cry, Jaynix carved deep into the Prone's back, ripping through its flesh. The Prone roared in pain before turning and attempting to strike Jaynix with its fist.

Dodging the first strike was easy but the Prone reacted far quicker than she thought it would given its injury and nailed her with a second blow, pushing her back.

Spitting, Jaynix watched the Prone charge her and smiled, this one definitely had some fight in it. Using her speed she began dashing around the Prone as its fists swung wide, every missed blow led to a quick bite from her blade. As she carved up the Prone it only grew angrier, slamming the ground and causing Jaynix to lose balance from the immense force.

Seizing the moment the Prone tackled her to the ground and raised its fist, the Prone then gagged as Jaynix pierced its body with her blade. Shoving the body off of her and off her blade, she stood and stabbed it one last time. Pulling her blade out of the corpse she looked back at Es.

"You'll take care of the rest down below and I'll handle what's up here. Easy."

Jaynix then brought up her fist.

"Best of luck, Butterfly."

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

The sound of multiple guns clicking to life and Prone battle cries gave plenty of notice that they were now the center of attention.

"Right then, time to-"

Another sniper shot collided with her as she stood in front of Jaynix, grumbling as she turned in the direction of the sniper with a look of irritation. God, no wonder people had issues with this place.

"Ugh, seriously! Guys always interrupting everything...!"

With that, she turned her head back to Jaynix.

"I'm leaving the upper levels to you, there's a structure in the back-we'll meet up there!"

And with that, she vaulted herself off the side of the tower and to the ground below. Saber in hand as she gripped tightly, clenched her teeth and leapt into the storm of oncoming beam fire with fury in her eyes as, well

"GALACTIC CATACLYSM!"

-Yeah, goodbye to the ground below her as a giant massive energy blade crashed into it, sending dirt and debris into the air and disorienting the ground troops.

"Alright losers, listen the hell up! As the Interceptor's own Butterfly of the Battlefield I-"

And then another sniper shot crashed into her protective aura.

"Can I finish a sentence here, dammit?!"

Eienias || Jaynix

Orders received, Jaynix turned her gaze on the upper levels as Es vaulted off to the ground below. Spinning her blades she began ascending the staircase. A prone saw her coming up and charged down towards her. Ducking his opening strike, she kicked him over the railing and continued uninterrupted.

As the Prone hit the ground below, stunned by the impact, Jaynix emerged at the top where more enemies were lining up their shots, aiming at Es below.

"Hey assholes! Keep your sights off my friend!"

Clenching her teeth she threw herself at the Prone before her. Two rushed to engage her while the last one chose to avoid the battle and provide fire to the combat below. Jaynix cursed, she'd need to get through the two in front to get that last one's aim off of Es.

Blade flashing she began striking at the Prone, this time she made sure to watch them closely not planning to fall for any more sucker punches. Sure enough, much like the first Prone, they were fast, smart with their movements, at least relative to most Prone she's fought.

They evaded several of her strikes, swinging the ends of their rifles at her. All three combatants were dodging and weaving, Jaynix's blade occasionally cutting through skin. She heard another sniper shot go off from the third opponent and knew she had to change strategies.

Swinging out, she struck the Prone's weapons and jumped away, bringing her Gatling gun to bear the sides popped open, a barrage of missiles shooting forth. The Prone before her took the brunt of the blast and were thrown back. Path clear, Jaynix aimed and fired on the third one, bullets riddling him and taking his attention away from Es.

"That's right. Focus on me assholes!"

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

Esmeralda meanwhile was trying to slash her way through to reach her targets. The constant barrage of beam shots were starting to wear away at her patience and her protective field, but she sure as hell wasn't going to relent.

As one of the Prone finally came into her sight, she went in for the slash and cut a large gash in his chest, her eyes sharpening as she prepared to bring the saber down for a finishing strike.

Before she knew it her attack had interrupted by another Prone body slamming her into the massive rock in the dead center of the base, causing her to stumble with a muffled swear as she got back to her feet and kicked the jerk back.

“These guys... sure there's only the two of us, but seriously? I should be doing better than this... no; they should be way easier than this.”

Darting out of the way of the next volley of shots, the Interceptor renewed her aura, a quick flash of green light sweeping over her before she tried to make out the figures among the fog. If she could just lure them somewhere less open she would have an advantage, but...

“They're playing too defensively, most Prone just go for the attack and nothing else... and why the hell haven't I heard a single alarm this whole time?”

Eienias || Jaynix

Even with the bulky Gatling gun in her hands, Jaynix continued to dodge as many blows as she could from the three very skilled and hostile Xenoforms. Every so often she'd feel a graze or her weapon would take a hit, but she remained focus, she had to do her part.

Spinning around she opened fire, a whirling torrent of bullets shooting out in all directions, pushing her opponents back. Grinding to a halt she leapt at a Prone and slammed her weapon into its face, the size of the weapon and the strength she put into the swing dazed the Prone, giving her time to turn around and fire on the other two attempting to close the distance.

"Hmm. These assholes seem to know a thing or two...but don't worry. Es will be fine, focus on them. Kill them."

Swinging her Gatling gun back again she slammed it into the dazed Prone behind her, throwing it to the ground. Drawing her blade she shot forth, flames once again covering her body.

The first Prone she ran past was quick, evading the end of her blade, but the second wasn't so lucky as she ripped its torso open. Skidding to a halt, she spun around and slashed through its back as well. As the Prone fell dead, the other two joined up. Jaynix then heard something and looked behind her; the Prone she had thrown down the stairs was back.

"Hmph. Still three on one...fine..."

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

The sound of combat from up above meant that Jaynix was now engaged with whoever was there. The fact the sniper fire had ceased meant she was busy up top.

"... Alright then, my turn to get serious now!"

The girl's eyes flickered with light as the feeling of Overdrive activating swept over her, and her senses seemed to sharpen with it. Making out the distinct shapes in the fog, she quickly dashed forward and through the oncoming storm of attacks. And as she ran up to the first prone, fury reflected as she ripped her saber straight through the Prone's arm.

As he howled in anger, the girl then proceeded to let forth a flurry of slashes, each one drawing blood and burning through the Xeno's body until he falls, lifeless and mutilated as the Interceptor's eyes dart between each remaining hostile.

The other Prone seemed to cease their attacks, staring at the Interceptor as if they were trying to evaluate her. One of the Prone nodded to the others, and the rest of them move back silently into the fog.

"...I really hope you aren't planning to run off, because no way in hell am I-"

"Glennar has returned."

The large Xeno says, arms crossed as he looks at the Interceptor.

"Demands combat. We are to watch, not interfere."

Esmeralda just stands there, glaring at him with annoyance.

"Ex-gacking-scuse me?"

Eienias || Jaynix

On the upper levels of the fort, the sounds of battle rang out; Jaynix's blade collided with two of the Prone clubs. They had engaged her while the third, rifle drawn, prepared his shot.

In the midst of a swing, the two in front of her jumped away and a shot rang out, the round striking Jaynix's shoulder and pushing her back. Even as the other two charged in and their clubs made contact, Jaynix couldn't stop herself from smiling.

With a war cry, her blade shot out, slashing back and forth with burning fury. One Prone managed to jump away covered in cuts while the other was pinned against the railing.

Leaping into the air, Jaynix delivered a savage kick to its head, throwing it over to the ground below. She then turned to the other two who made no move to engage. She prepared to press her attack when they jumped over the railings themselves.

"What the...hey assholes! You don't just stop the fight half way through!"

Following suit, Jaynix landed on the ground next to the lifeless Prone she kicked over, neck snapped on impact. She then made out the forms of two Prone disappearing into the fog. Narrowing her eyes, she gave chase.

"Get back here!"

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda,

The girl glares at the Prone, a raised eyebrow as she points her saber at him and smirks.

"Seriously? You're trying to make demands with me, really! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

With a quick slash downwards, she begins to step forward. Then a large Prone... well, I mean they're all large but-oh you get the idea. The guy is big, has most of his face covered in some makeshift mask that looks like it's made out of bones, markings carved on it. A large string of what look to be incense containers of some sort hangs off his belt, but otherwise he... seems about like most other Prone. Outside of y'know, being more menacing.

"Aaand the tryhard of the day award goes to…”

Esmeralda snarks, whirling her saber in her hand.

"Right then! I guess we'll just go through you first and then I’ll take care of the rest."

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix continued through the fog until it cleared up...relatively speaking, to a wider opening where she found-

"Es!"

Upon looking over the surrounding area, she also noted several other Prone standing far back, a corpse on the floor, no doubt Es' brutal handiwork and another Prone standing taller than the others around stepping forward.

Jaynix narrowed her eyes as she looked this individual up and done, he seemed a bit different from the others aside from his size...something told her he was the one in charge around here and it also looked like he was personally taking the offensive instead of sitting back in his chambers and waiting.

"Mr. Big Shot himself came out to greet us? Charmed."

Jaynix noted Es was all set to fight, bringing her own blade up Jaynix called out.

"Es, are you alright?"

Keeping her eyes on the big Prone and her hands holding onto her blade tightly, Jaynix was set for whatever came next.

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

The Glennar proceeded to pull one of the containers off his waist, raising it into the air and waving it about, the smell permeating the area heavily. Smelled like... ew, rotten corpse. Delightful. Esmeralda gave a disgusted look at the Xeno as she shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Seems like one of those beast trainers the Prone have. Pffft, what's he going to do? Call out a Suid?"

She rolls her eyes, a smile on her face as she tries to ignore the odor... and in the process, neglects to hear the sound of large footsteps coming from the water outside the stronghold.

"Come on Jaynie, I'll cut this idiot into pieces before-“

As she prepared to lunge forward however, the sound of an all too familiar Indigen's growl caused the girl to lock up.

"Uh... ah...?"

A Dilus. The reptilian masses began lumbering forward towards the Prone, obviously drawn by the smell of the incense he wove throughout the air. But not just one, the outline of another began to step forward through the fog, and another, and another...

And Esmeralda's face paled. Her hand began shaking as her hold on her saber started to slip. Backing up into Jaynix, panic began to sweep over her as she moved her saber towards the approaching Indigens, her eyes wide and body almost shaking as she stared at the reptilian creatures.

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix shook her head briefly at the stench, it didn't matter what aid the Prone called on, a herd of Suid, a Simius or whatever else. Jaynix was ready for it and set to tell Es as much when the other woman fell silent, looking ahead, Jaynix could see a group of Dilus approaching the Glennar. She could make out about four when Es bumped into her.

"Es?"

Jaynix stepped next to her and gave her a brief look, but it was enough to see that Es was not doing well. At all. The fear in her eyes was immediately recognizable to Jaynix. Taking the lead, she stepped in front of Es, keeping her sword up.

"Es! Remember what you told me back in Oblivia. You said that I had to move. To stand and fight...or to run. But I had to do something and I did. Now I'm here to help you. You're strong Es and we're together..."

Jaynix put a hand on Es' shoulder. She wasn't sure what was about to go down and she was the last person who should be offering anyone support after what happened in the AD...but she was also the only other person here and she had to do something.

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

The feelings of fear coursed through her-instincts failing her, thoughts failing her, an absolute feeling of helplessness washing over her as she struggled to grip onto her saber-tried to remember how to recalibrate her launchers-anything that would keep her alive. Anything that would let her-

Fight. Run. Move.

The words registered, but it wasn't until Jaynix's hand touched her shoulder that they became the focus of her mind. Her head snapped up, her entire body felt a massive surge as Overdrive's innate abilities heightened at an almost alarming rate.

Everything around her stopped registering-just the targets in front of her-and the terror they stirred inside her. The girl's entire body shifted into full gear, the feeling of Overdrive amplifying her adrenaline and mixing with her fear caused her to dash forward at a speed she couldn't normally muster.

Wordlessly, her saber burst to life and entered the high-powered state attributed to Galactic Cataclysm, and she began to swing at the Dilus ahead of her, bringing the massive blade straight into the center of the group-and straight through the center of one of the unfortunate things.

Just one problem. None of these swings had a single ounce of accuracy. She was wildly swinging, like she was trying to keep something away.

“I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't...!”

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix saw Es' photon saber flare to life and knew nothing good would come of it, quickly she threw herself out of range as Es began wildly swinging her massive blade of energy.

Jaynix rolled across the ground to see one of the Dilus was bisected by the wrathful blade and the rest were opening their maws to engage. Jaynix had to do something but every thought that came to mind was more difficult than the last.

Knowing that she couldn't sit aside as Es continued her savage assault, Jaynix spat and stood up, engaging Overdrive as well. Jaynix watched Es' attacks and the Dilus preparing to strike, one of her swings went wide leaving her completely exposed.

Seizing that opportunity, Jaynix shot across the clearing just as a Dilus launched itself at Es, massive maw ready to bite down. Jaynix collided with it in midair, her blade cutting through it and throwing the pair across the ground. Jaynix remained low as Es' blade seared through the air over her head.

The Dilus continued to fight her as she clenched her teeth and held it down, the additional strength granted by Overdrive helping her greatly.

"Es! Es! You have to breathe! You have to focus! Es!”

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

There was a voice calling to her, but it barely registered past anything more than a sound as the thoughts reverberated in her head.

Turning towards the sound her eyes flared with light. Dragging her saber along the ground she rushed towards the Dilus with fear and fury in her eyes.

Swinging the blade up over her head she brought it crashing straight down onto the Dilus that Jaynix was holding.

Eienias || Jaynix

"Es! Es! You-"

Jaynix was cut off as Es charged her, and brought her blade up. She could barely register it but knew she had to move. Acting quickly, she released the injured Dilus and jumped aside as Es' blade cleaved it in two.

Skidding to a halt, Jaynix called out to Es again and again before feeling something off. Looking down she saw a large gash running across her body. She didn't move fast enough.

"...Es?"

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

“Have to survive! Have to survive! Have to-!”

“Esmeralda?”

"Irina...?" Esmeralda's eyes met the source of the voice. Jaynix. When did she get here? When did... she get hurt? Was it the Prone? Or the Dil-

"...no. No, what did I...? No, oh no, no, no...!"

The sound of the remaining Dilus behind her left her with the last of her nerves shot, and she panicked. If she didn't attend to Jaynix's wounds, she would-but the Dilus and the Prone-

“I-I have to-I...!”

Esmeralda grit her teeth and ran away from the Dilus before its jaws tried to clamp down on her, barely grazing her as she ran over to Jaynix and gripped her arm tightly.

There wasn't a single word spoken as she dragged her through the waters away from the Stronghold, barely on the verge of tears as the two vanished into the fog away from the base.

Eienias || Jaynix

The glow of Overdrive kept Jaynix relatively free of pain, but in light of the drastic and unexpected hit she took, it gave and faded away, leaving her body.

Jaynix had enough in her to see some semblance of self return to Es. From there she mostly felt numb as Es took hold of her and proceeded to wave through the waters. She tried to focus on Es' hand holding onto her.

"Stay. Conscious. Es needs you."

"It's alright Es...I'll be fine...it's okay..."

Jaynix took as deep a breath as she could manage, she's pushed her pain down plenty of times before. This was no different. Needing to reassure Es, she focused on her arm that Es was holding; Jaynix moved her hand and held onto Es' arm, giving her a squeeze to let her know that she was still there.

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"No, you're not going to be okay!" She whimpered. "Don't lie to me! Don't even speak to me right now...!"

The girl's eyes filled with panic as she pressed Jaynix against the nearest wall when they were finally in a safe zone. She pulled out her saber.

“Have... have to use the healing mode! Crap, I don't have the energy-have to...!”

She gripped her saber, closing her eyes as she gripped at her saber's hilt, activating an art as she grit her teeth. The energy in her body was drained through the use of Essence Exchange, becoming a new source of energy as she quickly shifted her saber to use its healing mode.

“Astral Heal! Astral Heal! Astral Heal...!”

She muttered the words inside her head as she tried to remedy her companion's wounds, green lights sweeping over the wounds-trying to minimize the damage as best as they could. However, it would only be a placebo effect until proper maintenance was performed.

“Have...have to get her to Maintenance...just have to get her to the Skell but...no, have to fix this first, have to-!”

The saber's healing effects continued on and on, as Esmeralda's desperate expression continued to get worse. This was her fault. This always is her problem. She wasn't protecting anyone-she was trying to cut down everything without hitting the brakes. She...

"Astral heal... astral heal...!"

Her voice began to grow hoarse as she kept crying, trying to continue to heal the Corporal desperately.

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix felt a wall to her back, the support was comforting. Closing her eyes she continued to take in deep breaths before facing Es again who was crying and pushing herself to heal her with everything she had.

"Es..."

Jaynix couldn't let her continue, she couldn't let Es work herself to exhaustion and she couldn't let her take all the blame for this…she saw the panic in Es’ eyes, the desperation in her voice and the tears staining her face.

Jaynix knew all too well what this path led to and she didn't want to see anyone else walk it. Mustering her strength, Jaynix moved forward and pushed Es' hand away, the photon saber hitting the ground.

Jaynix then placed her arms around the other Interceptor, embracing her.

"Es. Everything will be alright. Just breathe. Please."

Holding onto her tightly, Jaynix continued to speak softly.

"We're still in this together Butterfly...we're both still here."

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"It's not alright! Astral-!"

The moment Esmeralda's saber fell from her hand, everything felt like it stopped. And as Jaynix's arms wrapped around her, and it felt like everything shattered. The feeling of uselessness, the regret, every last emotion and thought was pushed aside as she screamed into Jaynix's shoulder, one of her hands gripping at the gash as if it was trying to cover it up.

About half a minute later, she clenched at the Corporal's side and muttered under her breath, trying to push herself off Jaynix. It was then the blood on her hand became apparent, and her eyes closed as she struggled to speak.

"Need to... need to get you to the city. Find someone to repair this before you..."

She clenched her hand into a fist.

"Get the first aid kit out of my Skell, air lift you back after I seal the wound properly..."

Eienias || Jaynix

Jaynix ran her hands along Es' back as she screamed. This was what she needed. To let it all out. Jaynix knew that she shouldn't be standing let alone stopping Es from healing her...but she couldn't sit idly by as the other woman suffered, she refused to.

Jaynix heard Es speak; state her plans and how she wanted to help her. She nodded, continuing to hold Es until she felt parts of her body going numb. As strong as she was, blood loss was blood loss. Protoplasmic fluid or not.

"Es. I trust you. Fully. I...I have to go now...but I'm still right here, with you. You can do this...you can get us back to NLA. I believe in you."

Jaynix took her arms from Es, slowly as she leaned against the wall and slid to the ground. She kept her eyes on Es, she wanted to stay awake. No one hated sleeping more than her...but she couldn't.

She gave Es the best smile she could manage before everything went black.

DeltaMachina || Esmeralda

"Jay? What does that-"

The feeling of silence falling over the area as Jaynix passed out was all that remained as she weakly reached for her, eyes staring at the redheaded Interceptor as she fell to the ground.

"Jayn-"

She stopped herself, and all the emotions she had just poured out were replaced with a wave of bitterness, anger, all towards herself as she stood up.

She checked Jaynix for a pulse, but even that didn't ease the renewed bitterness as she turned around and gripped at her headgear, eyes fixed on the ground as she left out a frustrated scream.

"No... why, what the hell is wrong with me?!"

The Interceptor grabbed at the headgear at her head, flinging it as hard as she could against the wall Jaynix rested on. One of the light wings flickered, but the gear fell to the ground no worse for wear as she dug her fingers into her forehead, covering her face with her palms and swearing to herself over and over.

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. They were going to keep people safe. Go home and maybe spend some time with Irina and Gwin, laugh about stunts they pulled, get chewed out for not letting Irina know so she could join in...

And then she remembered all those people Jaynix said she felt so close to, and her hands fell from her face. Her expression was pained, lonely, and empty.

"...Of course not…why did I even start to think I was starting to belong here?"

#xenoblade chronicles x #rp #roleplay #cross #esmeralda #jaynix #fanfiction #i'm sure they'll be fine #fan fiction #i mean why wouldn't they be?

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playboybaek · 7 years

Text

Professor - four.

Baekhyun x Reader

Angst - Professor!AU

Word count: 1535

Description: You finally gave what Baekhyun wanted, sex. Now he should leave you alone, or so you thought.

A/N: Just a little angsty filler chapter to hold over. More like me stalling because I’m not sure how I want to end this yet. I feel like the end is near though. IT CAN’T BE HELPED.

one. // two. // three. // four. // five. (soon)

The next day when you arrived to Baekhyun’s class, it was announced that he wouldn’t be present today. You couldn’t help but wonder if he was okay. When you woke up this morning he was already gone, you haven’t heard from him sense. You should feel relieved that the pestering has come to an end, but you couldn’t help wondering if something happened, or maybe you both got caught. Who knows if Chanyeol saw, or heard anything last night. Your head played through numerous scenarios before you realized that class was over. You stared down at your blank notebook, not even a single note was written from class.

You sighed, picking up your belongings before finding a place outside to enjoy a quick snack before next class. The rest of your day continued as normal as it could be. A day without Baekhyun at your heels, begging for attention like a dog. You smiled to yourself at the thought, before quickly pushing the thought out of your mind. This is what you wanted, and now you got it. You should feel happy, relieved, even thankful, but you couldn’t shake him from your thoughts. Each class was harder and harder to sit through.

“This is exactly why I had no intentions of dating during college.” you mumbled angrily to yourself as you punched in your apartment code.

“So you do have a boyfriend.” you heard a voice at your side. You jumped backwards in what was supposed to be an intimidating karate pose. Chanyeol shook his head laughing, trying to copy the pose himself. You couldn’t help but to laugh at his attempts, which you were sure were worse than your own.

“I don’t.” you finally replied to Chanyeol’s statement. “Boyfriends are unnecessary and a huge distraction. Not to mention; smelly, slimey, egotistical, noisy, obnoxious, stu-” you were cut off by Chanyeol’s finger against your lips. You stood there stunned for a second at the sudden contact. You pushed his hand away and started to protest before he shushed you. He placed an ear against your door.

“I think someone’s in your apartment.” he whispered, concentrating on trying to detect any further noise. Your heart lept in your chest. You thought it could be Baekhyun, but quickly realized there was no way he could know the code to your apartment.

“Are you sure you heard something?” you whispered back to him, placing your head against the door as well. He nodded confidently.

“Open the door and I’ll check it out real quick.” he mouthed the words, the whisper barely audible. You nodded and punched in the numbers again, pushing the door open quietly. Chanyeol walked in first, his hand searching for the lights. He knew exactly where they were, probably because his apartment was the exact same layout. You quietly shuffled in behind him, looking every direction like a spooked mouse. You let the door close on it’s own by accident, a clear indication that someone was in the apartment trying to be sneaking. You froze, slowly closing your eyes as you silently cursed yourself a million times.

“Took you long enough, I’ve been here all day.” you hear a familiar voice walking from the hallway. Your eyes shot wide, but it was too late to react. Chanyeol’s eyes were five times the size of yours when he saw Baekhyun standing in your living room in casual clothing. “Oh.” Baekhyun said almost under his breath. You were a quick thinker and put it to good use.

“Oh, Mr. Byun. Sorry for making you wait. I know we had a tutoring session today, but because you weren’t in class I thought you’d be too sick to make it.” you said apologetically, trying to sound as convincing as possible. Luckily, Chanyeol didn’t know you well enough to know the fact that you most certainly didn’t need a tutor.

“Ah, yes.” Baekhyun cleared his throat. ‘Smooth’ is all you could think to yourself. “I’m feeling slightly better and decided to try to make it to my tutoring sessions today.

“Wow, Mr. B. You’re really dedicated to your students.” Chanyeol said in actual shock. You did everything in your power to suppress a laughter that could possibly break a few eardrums. You pretended to look at the time on your phone.

“Well, it’s long past our session. Looks like you should get going, I’m sure you have others to ‘dedicate’ your time to.” you shot at Baekhyun, making sure he got the point loud and clear. You held the door open, waving your hand like you were a doorman. “You too Chanyeol, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” you gave him one last smile as he shuffled out of your apartment.

“I need to talk to you about some assignments before I go.” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow in your direction, continuing the charade until Chanyeol was out of earshot. Once the door closed you let out a deep sigh of relief. You turned back towards the intruder known as Baekhyun.

“Look, you can’t just go into people’s apart-” you started scolding, only to be cut off by Baekhyun’s lips assaulting yours in a violent manner. He pushed you back into the wall, your head hitting it harder than you thought it would. You started to give in, allowing his dominance to consume you entirely. Your nerves were on end all day because of this man. Finally being able to see he’s okay, to see that he’s perfectly fine, to feel him again. The internal battle continued to rage inside you until you finally pushed him off you. Baekhyun wasn’t one to give up easily, he pinned your wrists above your head, moving his hot rushed kisses down your neck to your collarbone. You let out a single moan as he shoved his thigh between your legs, making you very aware of the effect he had on you.

You snapped out of it and pushed him off you once again, using all the force you had to free your wrists, this time you covered your mouth while holding your other hand up to him. “Please leave.” you managed to say while trying to regain your breathing again. “We had our fun, now we are done. I gave you what you wanted, now we can move on.” you hope your voice didn’t sound as vulnerable as you felt. Baekhyun looked at you with a confused hurt expression.

“You think this was some sort of one night stand?” you could hear the disappointment in his voice and chose to ignore it. “I thought we were actually making progress here.” he rubbed his hands through his hair, looking down at the ground as if it had answers. “You… you slept with me thinking I would just leave you alone afterwards.” his words were weighing more and more on you, but you never stopped him. “You pity me.” he laughed out. You could see him slowly break due to his own mind, you didn’t have to say anything. You wanted to tell him that it wasn’t true, but that’s exactly what it was. Your freedom for the exchange of a one night stand.

“I told you I didn’t want this.” you couldn’t look at him as you spoke, your voice a harsh whisper. “I have my school to worry about, I can’t have a Professor mess it up because of his selfish one sided lust.” you spat, trying to keep your confidence. You felt it slowly deteriorate.

“My one selfish one sided lust?” he laughed again. “You’re telling me that you didn’t enjoy that for even one second?” he was talking in a seductive tone, a smirk that was made to kill. He was vengeful, the look in his eyes that you were used to, was long gone now. You don’t know this look and it scared you. You backed into the wall again as he closed the distance, slamming his hand on the wall near your face. You flinched away not knowing if he was going to actually hit you or the wall. He noticed your expression and dropped his hand, ruffling his hair wildly while grunting to himself.

You desperately wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him. You were the cause of him being like this, but you hated seeing it. You wish life was more simple, but this is the situation you were giving and you’re dealing with it accordingly. After calming down, Baekhyun finally rose his head, gaze meeting yours.

“I wish…” he took a deep breath. “I wish you would have let me explain things first.” you looked at him questioningly. He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I have to go.” before you could stop him he was already out the door, leaving you confused and hurt. You were relieved he took it upon himself to leave, but it didn’t stop your mind from wondering what he was saying or why he was in your apartment, or why he disappeared all day. You shook your head as if that were to rid it of all thoughts of Baekhyun.

He was gone and now everything was going to be okay.

But it wasn’t, it was far from okay.

#exo #baekhyun #chanyeol #baekhyun professor #baekhyun angst #chanyeol fluff #exo angst #baekhyun x reader #baekhyun au

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karnathian-tea-party-blog · 7 years

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KTP Episode 1: The Tower of Nars’Thann

Through a thick miasma of confusion and exhaustion, 6 people, each of different backgrounds and yet bound by a similar fate, awaken to the sounds of a man pleading for his life. They see that they are bound by their hands and feet, necks hanging over a rudimentary trough that is caked in dried blood. They look up to see a grotesque demonic creature gripping the back of a human male’s neck. The man pleads for his life, but the creature does not relent, slicing open his neck and draining his blood into the trough. The creature then strolls over to an elven woman next to his last victim and picks her up by the nape of her neck. She too pleads for her life, but her neck is cut open in sacrifice to the rusty trough in front of her. The demonic creature then proceeds to the other side of the basin and begins the process on a half-elf, but he relents. The party sees that he appears to be listening to a voice that they cannot hear, and upon receiving his information, he leaves his butcher’s knife on a nearby table and exits the room.

The 6 people, whom I will refer to as “The Adventurers” until they establish a name for themselves, begin panicking and trying to put their heads together to find a way out of their bindings. The human male at the end begins screaming, desperately pleading for his life. The dwarven male, Marcus Rustskin, also begins wailing and insisting that they all need to leave as soon as possible. This causes aggression in the group and tensions rise even more. The adventurers know that if they can’t find a way to free themselves from their entrapments, they too will end up draped over the grisly drain in the center of the room. Luckily for the group the Goblin ranger, who introduces himself as Naglethorpe, has hidden a short dagger deep within the confines of his rectum. The group can free themselves as long as he can manage to loosen the blade from his anus. Upon first trying, however, he only manages to release a burst of loose gas, annoying those around him. The tiefling near the center of the room, who reveals herself as being named Peanut Butter Jones, reveals that she has a small mouse friend, Hamlet, who has snuck in via her hair, and knows that he can assist them if Naglethorpe is able to loosen the dagger from the confines of his body. The female human, Betty Kilroy, uses her experience as a pirate captain and natural-born leader to unwillingly convince the wailing human male, Cole Witherstin, to “use his mouth to catch the blade as Naglethorpe releases it.” While he is not thrilled to do so, Cole knows that it is his duty, so he assumes his position behind the goblin ranger and steels himself for his unpleasant task. Naglethorpe pushes with far too much force this time though, and the knife flies out of his anus with an earthshattering force, right into the eye of Cole Witherstin. The human is knocked across the room and the knife is placed slightly out of the group’s reach. Luckily for them, Hamlet the mouse is able to retrieve the knife and hands it to Smorp, the half-elf that sat next to his master. Smorp then freed Peanut Butter Jones, Betty Kilroy, and lastly Naglethorpe, though very reluctantly. Not trusting the goblin, Smorp elected to keep his knife for themselves. Cole and Marcus pleaded for the group to release them, and while there was much debate as to their trustworthiness, the dwarven famer of the Feronis clan and the human banker of North Valley were allowed to roam free with the group. They both claimed to have remembered a small amount of knowledge about the layout of their prison and were willing to show the way to the group’s escape. As the adventurers were debating the quality and source of this information, it was revealed that the frail elven corpse located in the northwestern corner of the room was, in fact, a living creature. The frail, withered creature spoke to them in pained breaths, introducing himself as Evel. Peanut Butter Jones, proficient in the infernal dialogue, saw that he was covered in dozens of crimson tattoos that listed the names of various demons, some known to her and some unknown. Evel knew that his time was coming to an end, and that he was already too far as a “sen’esh”. His speech seemed to imply that this was also to be the fate of our adventurers if they stayed within the hallowed halls of this prison. During all of this dialogue, Naglethorpe successfully stole his knife back from Smorp, content in his stealthy theft.

With renewed fervor, the adventurers set out to escape their prison. Cole and Marcus claimed that the team was no match for their jailers without any weapons, but they knew that the armory of the prison was located below them. Smorp suggested that the party uses a door that they had unlocked, but the rest of the party advised that it was better to smash through the rusted grating at the bottom of the trough and climb down. They piled a couple bodies on the grating, to no avail. Peanut Butter Jones attempted to stomp on the bodies to speed the process along, but this too was not sufficient. It finally took Naglethorpe picking up Cole and slamming him through the bronzed latticework to break through and fall into the armory below. The rest of the adventurers lowered themselves down and found the rest of their possessions, plus some additional weapons. As they gathered their belongings, several loud noises were heard on the other side of the armory door. The noises became louder and louder, but the party elected to stay in hiding for the moment. As they milled about, Peanut Butter Jones went to check on Evel, only for him to spin around and reveal that he had a short sword in his hands. He thanked them for allowing him to get this far and apologized, before shoving the blade upwards through his jaw, piercing his brain and killing him. Unnerved by this event, Cole screamed that he had to leave now and ran out into the next corridor, with caring and doting Smorp following him into the hall. There they saw 3 pale, convulsing creatures, each adorned with crimson tattoos similar to Evel’s on their bodies, crawl around the corners at the end of the hall. The creatures reared up and began charging the party, screaming “SEN’ESH!!!” The first fight had begun…

Smorp began by firing an icy blast, with Betty’s moral guidance, at one of the creatures, knocking it off course and slowing it down. Naglethorpe, hiding behind a weapons shelf, took aim and placed an arrow straight into the chest of another of the creatures. Despite this long-range assault, 2 of the creatures managed to leap upon Cole, pining him to the ground. Marcus and Betty ran out to assist the group while Naglethorpe stepped around the shelving. Peanut Butter Jones also moved to help out, but she saw Evel’s body twitching out of the corner of her eye. It seemed the old elf was coming back as one of these creatures, these “sen’esh”. Marcus managed to throw one of the sen’esh off of Cole and Betty attempted to shoot the other one execution style with one of her pistols…only to realize she had no ammunition. She kept attempting, but found that she was without bullets and went for a pistol-whip, to a much lesser effect. Naglethorpe released another arrow, catching a sen’esh in the eye and felling it. In the mean time, her reservations of killing a living creature behind her, Peanut Butter Jones stabbed her short sword directly through Evel’s abdomen, though his heart. As he slumped on the blade, he quietly thanked her and passed on from this world again. The sen’esh saw this and began charging Peanut Butter Jones, but a quick flash of light from Smorp threw them off course. One fell to the ground, while the other crashed into Naglethrope, tipping over the weapons rack behind them. At this point Cole was becoming a crying wreck, so Peanut Butter Jones went over and poked him with her sword to give him a reality check. This left her open from an attack from a recovering sen’esh, but Smorp fired a bolt from her crossbow, scrambling the creature’s brains. Vastly outnumbered, the final sen’esh was put to the tip of Peanut Butter Jones’ broadsword, ending the poor creature’s existence. The adventurers reveled in their victory as a celestial “`WOOOOOOWWW`” rung from the heavens.

The party elected to head down the stairs that the creatures came from, and they suggested that Marcus, who claimed to know the way out, lead the way. He was sent down the western stairwell alone, and just as quickly as he had left the rest of them barricaded the stairwell and went down the opposite stairwell in the east. Peanut Butter Jones somehow acquired a magical grenade that she tossed at the barricade, in some attempt to kill Marcus. The adventurers heard a loud boom and assumed the dwarf’s life was over…only to descend into the next room and see him standing there. “That sure was a huge blast! Did you guys hear that?!” he asked the group as they all uncomfortably shifted where they stood.

In front of them stood a huge ornate door with various markings and writings in infernal. Peanut Butter Jones touched the door and was able to discern that it read

“I am in all, as copper as the earth, as vermillion as the hate of millions. What am I?”

The adventurers racked their minds, and answered, though incorrectly. At their incorrect guess, a gargoyle descended down from the corner of the room and began spilling blood from its mouth in an attempt to fill the room. The gang then tried again, only to have another gargoyle appear and increase the rate at which the room was filling. After several tense minutes of thought, they determined that the answer was blood. “Blood!” they all shouted at the door. The door received their answer and sprung open, the gargoyles rising back up into the ceiling and the blood ceasing to flow. They party was congratulated with another celestial “`WOOOOOOWWW`” and they exited into the next hallway.

Delighted, Marcus and Cole said that they remembered this as being the front door to the prison. They rushed ahead, with Smorp in tow. The rest of the party took time to check the hallway for ghosts and traps, but the hallway seemed innocent enough, so they followed from a distance. Relieved that he’d be able to leave alive, Cole became overjoyed and told them that he’d be able to pay them handsomely when he got back to North Valley and Highmoon Savings and Trade. He began to give Naglethorpe his PIN number, but before he could finish, a deep, booming voice invaded their minds. This demonic voice shook them to the core as it began speaking.

“You are Playthings of the most interesting sense. I thought you no more than fuel for my Kal’than, or more sen’esh, but it seems you have promise. You may leave my tower, but the price for exiting is sanguine life force. You must spill the blood of the dwarf, Rustskin. Do this, and you may live. Refuse, and you are food for my forces…”

After a brief discussion, the adventurers decided that they would ignore this voice’s instructions and just leave. As Peanut Butter Jones reached for the door, however, a bolt of energy flung her back. All of a sudden, Marcus and Cole began convulsing, crimson tattoos appearing all over their body, glowing frighteningly bright as they seared their flesh. Their bodies were combined, bone and sinew morphing into a gross amalgamation of flesh. This creature, Colcus, set its sights on its former allies and swung at them. Smorp and Peanut Butter Jones jumped out of the way and steeled themselves for a fight.

The adventurers found Colcus to be more nimble than his size made him out to be, but they slashed and cut into his body. Naglethorpe lodged an arrow in the beast’s eye, Betty sliced through its stomach, and Smorp fired her mighty crossbow into its brain, each greeted by a cry of “owwie zowwie”, a classic Cole line. It was Peanut Butter Jones, however, who delivered the final blow, sticking her sword directly through the creature’s pallet and severing its brain stem. As the flesh beast fell, the deep voice once again returned, a dark echo in the heroes minds.

“You are toys of the highest degree. I will allow you to live with your sins…for now…but soon you, and all the living, will bow to the might of Nars’thaan…Now…awaken…”

With this the adventurers felt a familiar snap and they fell to the ground, blacking out.

When the adventurers awoke hours later, they were on a sandy beach far, far away from the prison they just seemed to be in. They felt confused, and looked around them. It was when they looked around that they saw they had a design etched into their left hands. This was the same design that they had seen on the sen’esh in the prison. They felt as though they had reached another level, physically and mentally, but they knew that a lengthy adventure awaited them…

#dnd #Dungeons and Dragons #Aaron Wilbanks #original character #original story #sen'esh #Nars'thaan #Karnathian Tea Party #ktp #Naglethorpe #Smorp #Betty Kilroy #Peanut Butter Jones #Cole #Marcus #campaign #mark of death

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