#my deepest thanks go to lyra | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thenightgazer · 3 years

Text

Spark of Stardust

Chapter 1 : An Interstellar Quest It's not a date. Vergil insists upon it, even when he doubts himself as he asks Lyra to accompany him to search for a perfect birthday gift for Kyrie. But just like the dying star that sparks its undying stardust; the "date" is just a start for him to get to know more about Lyra, as the librarian reveals her "little, deepest and darkest secrets"

Warning : implied psychological and drug abuse

Part 6 of Tales of Apotelesma

You can also read this fic on AO3

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

~~~

It starts with a soft hand that brushes his face. The fuzzy sensation wakes him up. The lamp on the ceiling is the first thing he sees when he slowly opens his eyes wide awake. His eyes linger to his surroundings— and that shocks him because he’s no longer in his bedroom at Devil May Cry. He’s awakened in someone else’s bedroom. The wall is painted with warm colours and there is a large bookshelf besides the bed. When he turns his head to his left, he spots toys and trinkets which supposedly belong to a little girl, and there sits a young woman who smiles at him.

Where am I?

“How was your sleep?” she asks him. Her soft hand ruffles his hair gently. “You look so peaceful.”

He’s speechless. Not because he doesn’t want to answer, but his mouth won’t cooperate with his head. His survival instincts scream at him to get away from this situation, but all he could feel is numbness.

“I brought you dinner,” the beautiful woman continues. He observes her cautiously; she is approximately in her thirties, with long brunette hair and brown eyes. She looks like the kind of woman who looks absolutely harmless. The way her body moves is delicate. Her voice sounds appealing as she tells him the menu and hopes he will like it. She gives him the same warm impression as his own mother, but this woman seems shady. Her eyes remind him of someone... but he couldn’t remember the person. The same cold, void eyes...

“The nurse said you haven’t eaten since last night. You refused to take your medicines. Why? Don’t you want to get better?” Her voice turns colder. “When I heard that you refused to eat, I couldn’t concentrate on my work. I’m afraid you won’t get better. Now you will eat and take your medicine for me, okay?”

He can’t follow everything she has said just now. Who is this woman? What medicines? What nurse? But his head nods automatically as if his body is controlled by someone else, and that little gesture makes this woman’s warm smile appear on her pretty face again.

“Good. Let’s eat! After that, I’ll read you something exciting. How’s that sound?”

He nods obediently, opening his mouth to eat the porridge. He can’t feel the taste, nor can he sense the texture of the food. But the woman looks at him as if she would blast if he didn’t eat. The sound of friction between the spoon and the bowl drives him crazy. She’s making sure that he swallows the food as she cleans up his mouth. After the bowl is empty, she proceeds to pour something from a bottle—medicine— on a small spoon and look up at him, opening her mouth as a command for him to mimic her gesture. She seems delighted when he swallows the medicine.

“Atta girl.”

What is this nonsense? What is that thing she put inside me?

But he knows he won’t get the answer.

It’s all just a dream, right?

The woman walks to the bookshelf. Her fingers run through the book until she finds the one she desires. She sits back besides him again and opens the book, her fingers scan through the pages.

“You don’t like Cinderella, so I picked up this one,” she shows him the cover of the book. “I guarantee you’ll like it! It’s called The Hobbit, an adventure story. Your favourite, right?”

I do like adventure stories. But it isn’t my favourite. It’s Dante’s…

She starts her storytelling in a clear voice. “In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit...”

There’s something in her face when she reads. She seems more relaxed and softer than before, as if she got lost in the story. His suspicion is surprisingly gone while he listens to her and the familiarity strikes him again. She reminds him of his own mother when he was a child, reading him bedtime stories. Cambions in their early childhood needed a lot of sleep just like human children, but Dante and he always refused to sleep early and asked for more stories. There’s something peaceful about this familiarity. It calms him, then he decides to close his eyes again whilst the woman’s voice slowly fades away.

---

The dream shatters as Vergil’s cell phone rings loudly.

The hybrid lays still on his bed. He was sleeping for two hours just because he had no other options left to do aside from sleeping. Yet, even though his body doesn’t particularly need to sleep, he hates it when his slumber is interrupted. His hand reaches to find his phone and immediately pick it when he finds it on the desk beside his bed without seeing who’s calling him because he doesn’t bother to open his sleepy eyes.

“Dad?”

That familiar voice forces Vergil to open his eyes.

“Nero?”

“Yeah. You busy?”

“No,” Vergil throws a blanket from his naked chest as he moves his body to sit and brushes his hair. “What’s wrong, Nero?”

Nero doesn’t reply immediately. Vergil can hear a heavy sigh from his son and that makes him a bit anxious.

“Nothing wrong. Just...” The young devil hunter lets out another sigh. “Today is Kyrie’s birthday. She invites you and the crews for dinner at six. Uh… six as in Fortuna time, which is an hour later from Red Grave time. Just in case you got lost in time again.”

“Of course. We will be attending the dinner. Thank you for the invitation.”

“It’s Kyrie who invites you, not me.”

“...”

“... but having you around here is not so bad. The kids were always whining whenever you and Dante left the house.” Nero’s response is almost excited and eager, much to Vergil’s relief.

The picture of Julio, Carlo and Kyle somehow makes Vergil grins. “You did very well taking care of those little rascals.”

“Thanks,” there’s a pause before Nero continues. “Anyway, I should get going. Nico needs my help to do some crazy shit.”

“I hope all is well for you.”

“You too, I guess...” the young man clears his throat. “And... thank you. For accepting the invitation.”

“It’s the least I could do,” The blue devil smiles, his anxiety is gone as their interaction goes smoothly. “Carry on, son.”

“Y-yeah— bye, then.”

Warmth fills Vergil’s heart as he cleans up his bed and folds the blanket neatly. Never in his life would he have thought that he’d become a father. Even though it was unplanned, having a son does change his life. He has no parental figures to ask advice from and those parenting books are not helping at all, but he learns at his own pace. Two years of effort of atonement is nothing compared to his sins, yet he wants the very best for Nero and is very protective to him.

Then the word stings him.

Birthday, huh?

Ever since he was a little boy, Vergil has never understood the concept of celebrating birthdays. For him, birthday is just another day to pass. If anything, it seems like people love to celebrate the day when their life spans decrease. People are getting old, so what? Why do we celebrate that irony? Is that because of the presents and cake? Little Vergil never found the answer, but he did feel happy whenever he received presents and ate his birthday cake, even if that means he had to share it with his twin, Dante (he had given up the dream of having his own cake, since being twins means sharing almost everything). He didn’t even think about birthdays until Nero reminded him.

I wonder if he knows his birthday...

Vergil walks to the bathroom and washes his face. He looks at the mirror and the man guy in the mirror stares back at him. His reflection somehow reminds him of the strange dream. What was that dream about? It seems visceral, like it was my own memory. His heartbeat gets faster when he has a dreadful negative thought that it could be Mundus’ mind manipulation. If that was Mundus, it’s too pointless. He’d use my own memories to torture me, not with some kind of irrelevant vision.

“Mornin’,” Dante shoves himself besides Vergil and yawns. “I’m hungry.”

“Pleased to meet you, Hungry.”

Dante bursts into laughter. “Since when are you into dad jokes?”

“I’ll take the shower first.” Ignoring Dante’s question, Vergil picks up a dry towel and gets inside the shower cubicle.

Dante takes off his shirt and stretches his muscles. He washes his face and begins to shave his beard. “You said you fought Angelo demons at last week’s gig, right? Heard from Lady the same Angelo demons got sighted at another city. We still don’t have any information on who created and summoned them.”

Vergil wipes the droplets of water from his face. “It seems like those Angelo demons were none like all the artificial demons we have ever seen before. Their form, their abilities, their durability. They looked rather... futuristic, I'd say. I got an impression that the new Angelo was created mostly by advanced science rather than magic.”

“Another thing happened these past weeks. There are three outbursts at restricted medical facilities in different cities.”

“What medical facility?”

“Trish said that the three of them were research laboratories owned by Ravenhill Corporation.”

“Isn’t that the same corporation that won a peace award or something like that?”

“Yeah. The Ravenhills are an influential aristocrat with power over the health and security industry. Most of the health facilities in this world are sponsored and if not, owned by Ravenhill Corporation. They have a branch company here in this city too.”

“And do you think those incidents have a connection with the appearance of Angelo demons?”

“Just a gut feeling, but that’s worth investigating, better safe than sorry, aight?” Dante brushes his hair and flips it back like Vergil. “Hey, I look just like you with this hairstyle! Perhaps I should go with this style from now on.”

“If you’re done talking, get out of the bathroom.��

“This is MY bathroom!”

“And I’m the one who cleans up the mess you’ve created in this house, Dante.”

“Fine~!” Dante chuckles as he cleans up the remaining shaving foam from his jaw. “Have you bought something for Kyrie’s birthday? Got missed calls and a text about the dinner party from Nero.”

“Not yet.”

“I’ve been thinking of giving her a fancy revolver. Heard from Nero that she’s quite good at using guns.”

“... do you really think that women fancy weapons as a gift?”

“Trish and Lady do. But hey! You can go ask our clever librarian!” Dante's face lightens up in exhilaration.

Vergil turns off the shower and wraps a towel around his waist as he opens the cubicle. “What do you mean by ’our’?!”

“Yours, then. She’s a normal civilian woman. Perhaps she can recommend you a perfect gift for Kyrie.”

No, if only you know that she’s not normal! “... you’re probably right.”

A teasing whistle comes from Dante as he takes off his pants and walks inside the cubicle. “As Yoda said, Verge, ‘ do or do not. There is no try ’. Call her and ask her out for a date.”

“I’m not taking any advice from a man who has rotten luck with women. And who is Yoda?”

“Call it what you want it. If you’re not asking her out, I’ll go ask her by myself.”

“Not before I step over your dead body.”

“Ha! Someone’s jealous for realsies~”

Vergil walks away from the bathroom before his inner turmoil tempts him to try to kill Dante… again. His insolent brother might have been teasing him too much, but in a way he’s right. He needs to find someone trusted enough to help him buy the perfect gift for Kyrie.

But she’s on duty today is her work day. I won’t make it right on time to the party if I have to wait for her shift to end.

He’s still thinking about it when he enters his room on the second floor and grabs his phone. Lyra’s contact name is showing up, but he hesitates. It’s still 9 o’clock. The library must have just opened.

After having a quite long internal battle with himself, he decides to call her anyway.

It takes a little bit long for Lyra to finally pick up her phone. Vergil catches the sound of her voice and a man’s laugh who Vergil assumes is Nate. “Bugger off for a minute, will you? — Clayton here.”

“Lyra.”

“Oh, hello Vergil!”

“Am I interrupting?”

“Not at all! Is there anything I can help you with?”

“... yes.”

“Are you okay? You sound like you want to cry.”

“I am certainly not,” Vergil groans at Lyra’s giggle. “Yet, I do believe I need your help.”

“Name it!”

“... it’s about a birthday present.” Vergil clears his throat. “Do you remember Kyrie, my son’s fiancée? She will be celebrating her birthday this evening. She invited Dante and I to her house for dinner.”

“I see.”

“Kyrie has always been there for Nero,” he continues. “She helped guide him to become the person he is now. She took care of him while I wasn’t there for him. She’s an important person to my son. That’s why... at least I have to show her some respect.”

“By giving her a decent birthday present.”

“Yes.”

“I think she will appreciate everything you give to her.”

“She will, certainly. She’s too polite to reject a present, but I don’t want her to think that I’m a careless father-in-law by giving her a gratuitous gift.”

“You’re right. I’d be delighted to accompany you to buy the present, but…I’m on duty right now. I’m afraid I couldn't help you any further.”

“That I know. That’s why I call for your advice.”

“I suggest something small, but meaningful. You told me she love to sing, right? Maybe a vinyl of classical music would — what in the bloody—! Nate! Give me back my phone at once!”

Vergil hears them grumbling and arguing at something. He considers to just hang up the phone given to his hunch that Lyra and Nate are probably having a fight right now, but suddenly he hears Nate’s voice as the young librarian speaks to him.

“Mr. Vergil? It’s Nate!”

This scoundrel's audacity...! “I recognize your voice, Nathaniel. What are you doing with Lyra’s phone?”

“Err... sorry for the interruption, but Lyra forced me to tell you this myself, or else you won’t believe her! I told her that I don’t mind if she wants to go on a date with you! My father won’t be checking on the library today!” Nate lets out a dry chuckle to break the ice, but since Vergil says nothing, Nate continues to speak. “She insisted on at least working today, so I told her to finish the duty earlier so she could spend her time with you. That’s all! Oh yeah, a little advice here; Lyra has a terrible sense of direction, means that you should hold her close— ouch!”

A sound of a book slapped on Nate’s head comes to Vergil’s ear. The next is Lyra’s nervous voice talking to him. “Vergil? You heard Nate. So... we meet at three. How’s that sound?”

“I’ll pick you up at the library.”

“Okay!”

“Then... I’ll see you around.”

“Cheerio!”

Vergil hangs up the phone, unexpectedly feeling the queasiness after he recalls the word ‘date’ as Dante and Nate said earlier. Foolish. We are not dating. We are just going to buy a birthday present. That’s all. Stop this unnecessary disquietude. It’s just Lyra—

“Tell me you’re not gonna go on a date with your boring clothes!”

Vergil hardly glances to his side and sees Patty’s figure standing by his door. The twenty years old girl is wearing an apron and holding a broom in her hand. “At least wear something stylish! You and Dante are all hopeless! No wonder the two of you haven’t gotten married yet!”

“I believe that’s none of your concern, Miss Lowell. And although I lack what humans would consider common sense, the last time I know about human norms and etiquette, that it is rude to trespass on someone's private space and eavesdrop on other people’s conversation.”

“I’m not eavesdropping! I just happened to pass this room while cleaning this house because lately you are not present in this house and Dante is being a lazy bastard as usual! Show some gratitude!”

“Thank you for your help. But as you can see now, I am here and that means I will do the household job while you can go disturb Dante’s peace now.”

“Hey! I heard that!” Dante shouts from the first floor.

“Anyways, let me help you to choose better clothes for you!” Patty insists. “I don’t know who this girl is because Dante won’t tell me, but she seems special to you. You need to dress at your best! Impressing a girl on their first date is a must!”

“I’ll forgive your impudent attitude this time if you kindly close the door, Miss Lowell. I need to put some clothes on.”

Realizing that Vergil wears nothing but a towel wrapped on his waist, Patty flusters as she looks away and grabs the door knob violently. “Fine!”

The blue devil chuckles softly when he hears Patty goes downstairs and screams at Dante for whatever antics that he does right now. He searches through his wardrobe, pondering if Patty was right. And maybe she is. He’s about to blend into society, that means he needs to look less suspicious. He should wear something casual and humane.

Humans and their fashion. Even demons are much simpler.

He picks some clothes with a hope that he won’t look too ridiculous.

---

“Do you think he’s the type of person who brings flowers for a date?” Nate throws paper planes at Lyra’s direction, which she blocks it all with a book.

“Why do you insist that this is a date? We are friends. Friends go hang out sometimes.” Lyra says.

“Dammit, Lyre! You are older than me but I can’t believe you’re so clueless about this. Even idiots could tell that he likes you!”

Lyra groans desperately. “That’s it. That’s the problem of modern society. People nowadays confuse politeness with flirting!”

“Sometimes both work simultaneously! And that’s the case of Mr. Vergil. Sure, he’s polite to everyone even though he always looks like he wanted to kill someone. But he’s different with you; he’s not just polite, but kind. That’s two different things!”

Lyra half-heartedly listens to Nate’s babble; despite she already knows what is inside Nate’s mind. She knows what he means about Vergil being kind only to her, and Nate’s mind interprets how soft Vergil is whenever he’s around her. The thought of those forms of romanticism confuses her. Being a telepath, she has seen and listened into people’s minds for almost her entire life. She’s no stranger to the concept of love according to universal belief, yet she still doubts its existence.

Sometimes, what people think about something isn’t always synchronized with how they feel about it.

And speaking of which, I haven’t heard Nate’s thoughts since fifteen seconds ago...

“He’s here!” Nate declares as he looks up at the window near the front door. “Wait, uh... is it really him?”

“What?”

“He looks... different.” Nate mumbles. “And he didn’t bring flowers. Guess he’s not the flower type of guy.”

“On the contrary, he is.” Lyra takes a brief look at her appearance in the mirror and puts on eyeglasses before giving a wink at Nate. “See you tomorrow!”

“Now who’s excited about the date!?”

She giggles throughout her journey to the front door, only to be surprised when she opens the door and finds Vergil standing in front of her and about to open the door too. But today he looks stunningly different; he is wearing as black shirt beneath a navy-blue casual coat. His dark trousers make him look taller than usual. He changes his footwear into a pair of black chukka boots. Even with his usual warrior clothes, Vergil Sparda is already breathtakingly handsome. His casual look just enhances his majestic stature.

Lyra has never really given any attention to fashion, but now she can’t take her eyes off of him. “What’s with the sudden change in your sense of fashion?”

“You don’t like it?”

“I like it!” she blurts. “You look… so… normal”

“Is it just me or does it sound like an insult?”

“It’s a compliment!”

“... thank you, I suppose,” Vergil reluctantly scratches his nape. “Shall we go now?”

“Let’s!”

Lyra glares at Nate who’s giving her double thumbs up and loudly wishing her good luck before she closes the door.

“So,” the librarian walks side by side with Vergil. “Do you remember I mentioned that I purchased my devil arm at an antique shop?”

“Yes. What’s with that?”

“I think it’s a good place to start our quest. The shop sells antique weapons, jewelries, old books and trinkets. Perfect collection for Kyrie.”

“Very well. Where’s this shop located?”

“Nova Town.”

“It’s too far from here.”

“Lucky for us, you have Yamato.”

“I’m beginning to think that you see me as a mere means tool of transportation.”

“Maybe,” she winks playfully. “But you are too decent to be a mere tool, my dearest friend.”

The hybrid rolls his eyes, “Let’s find an empty alley first.”

---

“That was the first time I saw Lyra smiling like that,” Nate mutters at himself as he taps something on his cell phone. “Good for her! Ever since I saw their chemistry on the murder in the library weeks ago, I know they’re going to form a relationship soon!”

The twenty four years old librarian giggles at his own fantasy while drowning himself further into a mobile game he always plays whenever he has free time. He almost startled himself when the bell rings and a customer comes in. Nate abruptly pauses the game and greets the guest. “Welcome to The Literarium!”

The guest — a tall and ginger-haired man — returns Nate’s greeting with a nod. A suspicion arises in Nate’s head as he observes the man’s eyes that are covered with sunglasses. Why the hell does he wear sunglasses indoors? He continues to follow the man’s movement, which is also suspicious. The man seems detached from reality as he stares at one of the shelves quite long without really doing anything, not even touching the books. He walks slowly to another section, again without any interest in the books. The man seems eager to look for something as he repeatedly tilts his head to look outside the window, but Nate is certain that he’s not here for books. Then why bother coming here if he’s not interested in books? Nate clicks his pen anxiously. Paranoia begins to consume him. What if he wants to rob this place?!

The ginger-haired man approaches the sale section and finally picks a book. He looks at the cover briefly before heading to the counter. Nate fakes a polite smile when he scans the book— Lord of the Flies by William Golding— and forces himself to make a small talk. “Fine day, isn’t it?”

The man nods while giving Nate his money. “I agree.”

“You like allegorical one, huh?”

The man furrows his brow. “Sorry?”

Nate lifts the copy of Lord of the Flies . “You don’t know that Golding wrote one of the best allegorical novels all the time?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know. I only recognized it as one of the bestseller books,” the man chuckles. His laughter surprisingly sounds very friendly. “I picked it because the synopsis reminds me of the past.”

“Jesus, what a chaotic past you must have back then.” Nate gives him the book and his change.

“Quiet so,” the man flips the page, but Nate can sense he’s focusing on another thing. “By the way, the woman who wears eyeglasses… She came out from this place with a man about five minutes ago. Does she work here?”

Shit, another Lyra’s admirer. That explains my suspicion! “Yeah. You know her?”

“She looks like a person I used to know. Quite different, but I spot some similarities.”

“Maybe they are the same person?”

“The same person?” the man chuckles again as he closes the book. “That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“She died years ago.”

“Oh, man… I’m so sorry...”

“It’s fine. She wasn’t related to me, just a person I knew. At first glance, your friend looks eerily similar to her,” the man’s face abruptly turns into doubt and anxious. Nate swears he can see his hands tremble. “I was terribly surprised when I saw your friend out there. I thought the woman I knew was alive again. What is the name? Your lady friend, I mean.”

“Louisa.” Nate lightly says his lie as soon as he’s aware of the man’s intention. I’m not doing anything wrong. Lyra told me to fake a name in case some flirty bastards ask me her name.

“Louisa, then. Pretty name,” the man seems pleased at Nate’s answer. “Thank you. Lovely library, anyway. Good day for you.”

“Thank you. Happy reading and have a good day!”

He’s different from any of Lyra’s secret admirers, Nate feels uneasy about the man’s strange attitude even though the man has already taken his leave. He makes a mental note to contact Lyra soon after he closes the library. “That guy looks like he’s about to plan something fishy. But I can’t disturb Lyra and Mr. Vergil right now.”

Nate grabs his cell phone and restarts the game with a hope that nothing bad would happen.

---

She’s strangely quiet today.

Ever since they arrived at Nova Town, Vergil catches something unusual from Lyra. She guides the way to the antique shop without talking to him but carefully watches her surroundings. But at the same time, she seems to lose her focus and sometimes stares blankly at something. They have been walking for almost 30 minutes and they haven’t arrived at the antique shop yet. Also, that’s not the only thing from her that is unusual... “You wear eyeglasses.”

“Huh?” Lyra automatically touches her eyeglasses. “Why? You don’t like a girl with eyeglasses?”

“I don’t dislike it.”

“You have a funny way to compliment others, don’t you?”

“I have never seen you wearing eyeglasses before. I thought I was looking at a completely different person when you opened the door earlier.”

“I always wear eyeglasses whenever I’m out to shop, just for aesthetic purposes. I’ll take it off if that makes you uncomfortable—”

“Please don’t. You look lovely with that.”

“Thanks!”

“You’re welcome. Are we getting closer to the shop?”

“… I think so?”

Vergil stops abruptly, “Tell me we are not lost.”

“W-we’re not!” she stutters in panic. “I’m just having a little confusion here, because this town looks different from the last time I came here. It has only been two years and the town is already changing...”

“Are you even certain that we are in the right town?”

“One hundred percent certain!”

“Then tell me,” Vergil curves a devilish grin. “Is Nathaniel right? That you have a terrible sense of direction?”

A light blush blooms on Lyra’s face. “Uh... yeah— but we are in the right town! For real! Just because I have a terrible sense of direction, doesn’t mean I’m an idiot!”

“Yet we are lost, aren’t we?”

“We are not! See that monument over there? It’s the town’s icon. We just have to turn left to that road and the antique shop should be on the right corner.”

Vergil watches the monument that Lyra mentioned before he glances at her again with doubtful looks. “Alright, then. But why don’t you use… what is it again... GPS?”

“Later. I’m practicing my sense of direction by practicing my telepathic ability.”

“Does your telepathic ability have something to do with your sense of direction?”

“Since the murder in the library, I’m practicing to read people’s mind whenever you’re around me because your magical defense blocks my telepathic ability. Normally, all I need to do is just focus on their minds and find out if some of them have knowledge of the place I’m about to go.”

“Why bother? You still can read minds by touching their body parts.”

“That’s impractical! Not everyone wants to be touched. Just imagine if I need to touch a person with haphephobia.”

“I thought you like it when you don’t have to read minds anymore.”

“Just in case of an emergency. Who knows if we would find any strange cases again, or if I’m stuck with Dante and there’s an urgent situation where I’m required to smuggle into someone’s head.”

“Hold on. Your telepathy doesn’t work on Dante too?”

“I guess the power of Sparda includes protection from telepaths.”

“I see. Now I understand,” Vergil scoffs. “The reason why you were awfully quiet since we stepped in this town is that you tried to practice your telepathic ability to find out the antique shop’s direction, so you won’t embarrass yourself in front of me because you have poor sense of direction and you think having to use GPS would make you look unreliable as a guide.”

Lyra hides her hands behind her back and stares at the ground, which to Vergil indicates that everything he said is true and that she’s embarrassed to admit it. To be very honest, he doesn’t think that Lyra does something wrong. He just wants to clarify things behind her unusual behavior, but it unconsciously sounds like he’s scolding her for her little secret.

“Just use the GPS if you need it. You have nothing to be ashamed of. That won’t make me think less of you.”

Lyra seems to hesitate at first, but eventually shrugs and takes her phone out from her bag. Vergil quietly smirks at her surrender.

“Fortunately, we’re on the right track!” She shows Vergil the map. “Thank you for your encouragement, Vergil. That’s the longest advice you ever said to me.”

He shrugs it off. “I guess that’s what friends are for.”

“Still, that means a lot to me.”

“Just forget it. Then how’s your practice going?”

“Still doing my best. The first time I tried to read someone’s mind without touching them whenever you were around me, it was all nothing. But now I can see blurry images and hear buzzing sound!” She smiles at him, her eyes beam as she points at the rustic shop at the corner of the street. “Look! We've arrived!”

When Vergil enters the antique shop, he expects the shopkeeper to greet them with unstoppable pestering offers like all the shopkeepers normally do. That’s why he hates shopping. Thankfully the shopkeeper is sleeping on the counter, like she doesn’t care if someone steals one of the items. The shop itself is quiet and the goods are all unique. The problem is, Vergil doesn’t know where to start searching. There are many items that Vergil puts a certain degree of interest in—necklaces, bracelets, clocks, paintings—but he doesn’t think that it would be useful or meaningful to Kyrie. He starts to think about Dante’s suggestion to give her a weapon for self-protection. It seems easier than this endless searching.

“Do you know the biggest dilemma when it comes to shopping? You expect to find a certain thing, but when you’re in the shop, suddenly you’re not sure what to buy anymore.” Lyra chuckles at Vergil’s confused expression.

“Evidently,” Vergil picks an antique revolver. “I think I want to give her a weapon.”

“Is Kyrie an excellent combatant?”

“She can take care of herself, though she still needs a lot of practice, but she won’t survive a second if she had to fight multiple opponents.”

“Mmmm... okay but... how about something for protection from the demons?”

“That will do. It’s way more practical and useful.”

“Alright. Let’s ask the shopkeeper.”

Vergil points his chin at the counter. “She’s sleeping.”

“I’ll wake her up.” Lyra fixates her focus on the shopkeeper until she slowly raises her head from the counter table and rubs her eyes.

Vergil almost couldn’t hide his amusement. She can wake someone up from slumber? How advanced is her ability actually?

The shopkeeper yawns loudly. “Welcome. How can I help y’all?”

“We’re looking for an item for protection from demons. Do you have anything suitable for that?” Lyra asks.

The shopkeeper looks straight to Lyra’s eyes, then to Vergil’s. She sighs as she walks to the weapon cabinet. “I don’t have much of that, but I have this one. Take a look.” she mumbles, handing Lyra a red music box. The music box looks captivating with a rose pattern carved on the box. When Lyra opens the music box, Vergil recognizes the box is playing Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier.

“Lovely, but I don’t see what’s so special about the music box,” Vergil mutters his doubt.

“Easy, dude. Push the button near the mirror to open the secret room behind it.”

Lyra does the exact instruction until the secret room is opened and reveals a golden bracelet inside.

“What’s that for?” Lyra asks.

“It will glow red whenever there's demons nearby,” the shopkeeper lights her cigarette and walks back to the counter. “When the bracelet glows, you press it and close your eyes, because it will cast a very blinding light. It’ll blind and burn demons and that’s the best time for you to run away.”

Lyra glances at Vergil, who’s examining the music box and the bracelet. She holds her giggle when she notices that the bracelet glows in red when Vergil holds it and abruptly puts it back to the secret room behind the mirror before the shopkeeper notices it.

“I guess the bracelet couldn’t distinguish demons and cambions,” she whispers to him.

“This should be fine,” Vergil forms a satisfied grin. “It has both protection advantage and aesthetical function. Perfect.”

“You take that?!” the shopkeeper shouts eagerly.

“Yes,” Vergil replies. “Is there a money-back guarantee in case the item doesn’t properly work?”

“This is an antique shop, dude. Some items might not working at all—”

“I believe I don’t have to repeat myself.” Vergil insists.

The shopkeeper gulps at Vergil’s unspeakable death threat within his icy eyes, knowing that there’s no use to argue with a man like Vergil. “Dammit, fine! Now can I get my money?”

Lyra howls with laughter, “Blimey, you are a terrifying customer.”

Vergil grins in pride as he heads to the counter.

---

The birthday party will begin in an hour, but Vergil chooses to spend the rest of the time with Lyra at the Sparda Manor. During the day time, they only meet in the library. That makes their little adventure today seem rare... and fun. Lyra buys them ice creams at the end of their journey in Nova Town. She can’t hold her laughter when she catches Vergil’s eyes sparking in childish interest as he holds his ice cream once the magic portal opens its way to the Manor.

“The shopkeeper was different from the one whom I met two years ago. He was nice and helpful,” Lyra murmurs, licking her bubblegum ice cream. “Guess he didn’t work there anymore. We get a sleepyhead instead.”

Vergil says nothing as he examines his blueberry ice cream cone. His memory of V eating cheeseburger hits him. “Why do humans think that creating something messy is a good idea?”

“It’s called innovation, Vergil.”

“Messy innovation.”

“As long as people like it, it is considered as a great innovation.”

He finally gives up and chomps his ice cream. “This is not bad.”

“Tell me this is not your first time eating ice cream.”

“I might be inexperienced in human lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean I never tasted ice cream.”

It’s strange, Vergil recalls the moment when they used to be strangers before Almagest helped them to get closer. Now they stand side by side and talk about stuff like old friends to the point where he could never get enough of her companionship. He lets her wander around his childhood house, even if he barely calls it a house now. He lets out a silent chuckle when she lifts a pile of rocks up to the air just to see what hides behind it, only to find another ruins and she’s slightly disappointed.

“For a second I thought your father was Johann Sebastian Bach.” Lyra looks up at Sparda’s family painting.

“You are not the first person who said that.”

She laughs. “Oh look at you… stoic since you were born. And I already got a picture on Dante being impatient while the painter kept asking him to stand still.”

“Pretty much correct. He complained how itchy his feet were at the end of the session.”

“Your mother was gorgeous,” Lyra admires Eva’s angelic stature. “No wonder Sparda fell for her.”

Vergil forms a wistful smile. “She was.”

“This painting reminds me of The Picture of Dorian Gray .”

“Pray tell, why?”

“Dorian sold his soul to the devil for eternal youth, and it decayed his self-portrait painting every time he did a sin. Of course your family portrait is a different case, but you see, your mother’s face is the only one that didn’t get burned by fire. It’s like a sign that she was the only human in the family…”

“And the rest of the family members were cursed by the evil blood that ran in their veins. That’s why the faces of the three of us were burned. That’s a picturesque perspective.”

“I didn’t say that demon is always evil—”

“I know. Still, it’s a good metaphor. Haven’t thought of it myself.”

“Why don’t you take the painting with you? People keep their family portrait in their house.”

“Dante and I agreed to leave it here as a sign that this mansion once belonged to our family. Besides, I can’t imagine such a painting to be hanged on the shop’s soiled wall. It would be a disgrace for the painting itself.”

“Now that you mentioned it, I think you are right.”

Lyra continues to lift some rocks and put it back carefully once she finds nothing interesting.. “Have you been in there again after you escaped the Underworld with Dante?”

“To collect mementos, yes. Though, as you can see, nothing much was left since Urizen destroyed the whole city. Not to mention almost all parts of the house were destroyed or blocked by pillars and huge stones. We tried to remove them, but it’d cause a domino effect throughout the manor and demolish it completely.” 

“How did it feel to visit your childhood home again?”

Vergil swallows his ice cream at once. He puts a handkerchief out from his coat and wipes his lips. “It felt mostly heartbreaking.”

“I see,” Lyra nods and gives Vergil a light pat on his shoulder. “Not everyone could even come back to the place where their trauma began. Not that it’s necessary. I just found it encouraging.”

“Speaking of memento, what was the most valuable present you had ever received?” Vergil curiously asks.

“Oh, we start to have a small talk now?”

“I thought we agreed to trust each other, don’t we? Then we should start from mundane things.”

“Alright. Make sense. Let me recall it… mmmm… oh right! A lyre!”

“You play lyre? Amazing.”

“I thought you were about to say ironic.”

“Beg your pardon?”

“You know, a lyre plays a lyre.”

Vergil smirks, recalling her remark on their previous little adventure, “You’re right. It’s ironically amazing.”

The librarian rolls her eyes as she bites the ice cream cone. “My mum bought me one for my fifth birthday. It only lasted for two months before I asked her to give me a harp for the next birthday.”

“Did she finally buy you a harp?”

“She didn’t.”

“Why?”

“She died before my next birthday.”

Vergil immediately stared at Lyra’s sullen eyes. “I’m terribly sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay,” she smiles at him, chewing the last part of her cone. “It was a long time ago.”

Lyra has so many things she hides behind her amicable demeanor, and Vergil should’ve feel relieved because after all these months, Lyra finally opens up a little bit about her family, yet he doesn’t feel it at all.

“Were you close with your mother?” Vergil’s tone is full of consideration.

Lyra taps her fingers on her chin. “I guess so. We only had each other.”

“… How did she… die?”

The librarian smirks at him. “If I told you she fell from the tree, would you believe me?”

“Only if that’s the truth.”

She goes silent for a while, seeming unwilling to continue her story. She opens an empty drawer, looking at nothingness for a while. “You might’ve heard about her.”

“Your mother?”

“Uh-uh,” Lyra nods calmly, but Vergil senses a slight hesitation. “Her name was Asteria Crescent.”

Impossible! “The award-winning astronomer?”

“Astrobiologist, yes.”

“I see. That explains your fondness of astronomy.”

The first time Vergil heard about Asteria Crescent was when he was eleven years old, still homeless and constantly moved out from place to place in search of power. Asteria’s groundbreaking research of modern astrobiology broke the news. Her discovery led the scientists to rethink human’s position in this world and question the exact location of the Underworld in the known universe, considering demons as an extraterrestrial creature with its own origin and evolution. Demons and magic are inseparable, but Asteria Crescent was brave to make a further step to explain demonology in a scientific approach. Science and magic are two sides of a coin , Vergil recalls her statements. Science just has yet to understand magic.

“Asteria was a Titan goddess of falling stars and nighttime divinations. That suited her very well,” Lyra chuckles bitterly, swinging her hand to lift a pile of ruins back to its place. “I once wondered why she didn’t name me Hecate, daughter of Asteria and goddess of witchcraft. Maybe at that time, she didn’t have a thought that someday I’ll develop this… psychic ability.”

“The media never reported anything regarding her cause of death. It happened all so sudden, they said.”

“They always spoke highly of her. But when she died, they turned the story into rumors and gossip.”

“So did she fall from the tree?”

“She did fall.”

“But not from the tree.”

Vergil’s demonic eyes catch Lyra’s body slightly flinching, but she maintains her calmness and fakes a smile. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you further about your private life.”

“You entrusted me your biggest secret. I intend to do so. I’m just… not ready to open up, but I know that I want to.”

“When I said that we should try to trust each other, I didn't mean that you should abruptly open yourself to me.”

“Too late. Now you know I’m the daughter of a dead astrobiologist.”

“Why did you change your surname then?”

Lyra stops and gazes at Vergil. She seems anxious while glancing at her surroundings carefully, as if she’s afraid that someone else would hear them. Vergil slightly bows his body when Lyra whispers in his ear.

“I’m being hunted.”

The furrow on Vergil’s brow is going deeper. “By whom?”

“Someone who wants to abuse my power. That’s why I need to change my surname and hang out around wearing eyeglasses, so people won’t find out about my identity.”

For a moment, they stand still there, staring at each other’s eyes to find some clues. It’s logical that Lyra’s unique ability would attract power-seekers, be it humans or demons. Vergil knows it too well; the danger of possessing a greater power. A part of him wants to believe her words…

If only he failed to spot a subtle grin on the corner of her lips.

I would be absolutely fooled by her deception, Vergil grunts discontentedly. "You are lying, aren’t you?”

Lyra’s laughter echoes throughout the lake.

Vergil snarls at her unstoppable giggle. "Quite a jester, I see.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

Vergil doesn’t bother to reply, because he knows it would lead to another bickering. He doesn’t try to hide his amused smile too, even though Lyra teases him about the ‘sly devil smile’. To be honest, he couldn’t care less. He just wants to see her smile, her true smile.

Like the way she’s smiling right now.

“Do you want to have a look at the lake?” Vergil offers, trying to lift the mood. “There’s nothing left to see here.”

“Sure!”

They sit on the cobblestone pier in the lake while admiring the twilight sky. It’s Vergil’s favorite place, ever since he was a child. This place has changed; there are no more Qliphoth roots left and there are several trees and wildflowers growing on the land. The lake no longer contains human blood. It’s mesmerizing how fast time flies and changes the entire city.

“I used to spend my days here, reading and playing with Dante,” Vergil says. “We loved being here more than staying indoors.”

“I can see the reason. It’s bloody beautiful here.” Lyra mutters her admiration. She taps her fingers on the cobblestone playfully, causing a small rift in the lake.

“Dante once pushed me to the lake because we fought over a chocolate bar,” Vergil recalls one of his precious memories. “I pretended to be drowned. He pulled me out of the water and cried, pleaded to me for not leaving him alone and that he’s sorry. Promised me that he won’t disturb me again. Right when he shook my body to wake me up, I pushed him to the lake but he managed to drag me with him.”

Lyra can’t hold her howls of laughter. She chortles until her stomach hurts and her throat gets sore. Vergil swears he never saw her laughing like this. “I’m sorry— I— HAHAHAHAHA!”

“Lower your voice,” Vergil grunts. He starts to regret his decision for rambling about his childhood antics just to get rid of Lyra’s gloomy face. “You might end up choking yourself to death.”

“ Pfffftttt!”

“Will you shut up?!”

“Sorry!” Lyra bites her thumb to hold her cackle but fails. “I just… bwahahaha! It seems that ‘never hold a grudge to the people who wronged you’ is true!”

Vergil pulls her thumb away from her teeth, caressing her reddened thumb. “A little deeper, you would bleed your thumb.”

The careful touch from Vergil distracts Lyra for a while. It’s the first time he holds her without gloves on, and it surprises her how soft his palm is despite the fact that he is a warrior who wields various weapons. Her thumb slips lightly from his palm. “Even if I bleed, I got your Lucy Pevensie’s cordial to heal me.”

Vergil sighs heavily as he removes some strands of Lyra’s hair from her forehead. “I gave it to you for an emergency case only. The cordial was made mostly from demon’s blood, mixed with rare herbs and some complicated spells to make it suitable for human’s bodies. Even the bottle was made from demon’s materials to prevent physical damage. Trish produced only a few bottles of cordial, so use it wisely.”

“I will,” Lyra picks out the cordial bottle from her bag and shows it to Vergil. “See? I haven’t used it since Capulet.”

“Put it back into your bag before it slipped from your hand and fell into the lake.”

“Alright alright! Why do you sound a lot like my mother?” Lyra puts the bottle back into her bag.

“You are clumsy and easily distracted. I have to keep my eyes on you every time. It’s rather distressing.”

“I can take care of myself!” Lyra lays a punch on Vergil’s chest. “Remember, I weakened Phantom last week, so you devil twins could kill that spider easily!”

The cambion smirks disdainfully to her weak strike. He puts something off from the back of his coat and hands it to Lyra. It’s an old book with a black leatherbound with the title engraved in a beautiful golden emboss. “Your payment for escorting me today.”

Lyra observes the front cover with beaming eyes. “The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe...”

“It’s one of the mementos I brought from the Manor. I reckon you would love Poe, given to your fondness of horror and mystery.”

“Then I have to refuse! It’s yours!”

“I believe I made myself clear when I said the book is for you.”

Lyra was about to refuse again, but quickly zip her mouth when Vergil glared at her with his terrifying and undeniable gaze. He won’t take any ‘no’ from her. She flips the pages, and something almost falls from the book before Lyra catches it quickly; an antique necklace with an obsidian pendant. She takes a closer look at the pendant and recognizes the familiar white, shiny dots pattern on it— the Lyra constellation.

“… did you pick this one too from the manor?” Lyra asks carefully.

“… it was from the antique shop.”

“I didn’t see you strolling around the jewelry section.”

“It was displayed on the counter. Nothing special. Just normal jewelry. The pattern just reminded me of you—”

Vergil can’t finish his sentence because Lyra wraps her arms between his waist, locking him in a tight embrace. He can feel the strange, but comfortable warmth fills his body as he returns to hug her without hesitation. Her body is so small and shorter compared to his height that he needs to bow slightly in order to balance the embrace. He loves her scent— a strange mixture of peach, black tea and old roses— and quietly inhales the intoxicating fragrance from her hair. He feels like he could do this all day.

“Thank you,” Lyra’s murmur vibrates his chest. “I’ll cherish this forever.”

“It's just a book and a necklace.”

“These are the best presents since the lyre from my mum!” she chuckles. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually hug people around.”

“Neither do I.”

“So let us hug a bit longer, shall we?”

“It looks like I have no choices but to comply.”

For a moment, they banish their distrusts about each other, breaking the adamant barrier and wishing the time to stop ticking.

---

Yesterday, Lyra dreamt of a boy who wanders around a big house.

She thought it was just a meaningless dream, at least until she realized that she was the boy himself. She looked at her— his — reflection in the mirror; the little boy was handsome with swept back silver hair and a black pajama. His serious and grumpy expression reminded of someone she couldn’t remember yet. She— the boy —wandered off around a big and dark house. It wasn’t her own intention; like her movement was controlled by someone else. She opened a chamber and let herself in. There was a woman who lay unconscious on the bed. Lyra could see traces of tears on the woman’s sullen face. Her body forced her to lift the quilt to cover the woman’s body and tip-toed herself out from the room.

When she was about to go back to her room, she heard a wheezing cry and followed the voice to the main hall. It didn’t take her too long to find out the source of the voice as her hand reached to open a white drawer, where another little boy with the same silver hair cried inside it.

“Vergil…” that little boy stared at her with a turbulent sob coming out from his mouth. “Father… you… you d-d-don’t believe that he died… r-right?”

I am…Vergil?

Does that mean that this crying boy… Dante?

The next thing Lyra remembered was she woke up with tears stream down her face like a waterfall, soaking her pillow. She was sure the sadness she felt in the entire dream wasn’t hers, but Vergil and Dante’s. She was going to tell Vergil about her strange dream when she saw the exact same white drawer in her dream at Sparda Manor, but she thought she was biased. Vergil had told her about how devastated his family was when they heard that Sparda was deceased, and her dream must be just her brain playing a trick to her.

But then she thought, Vergil never told me that he found Dante hiding and crying in that draw…

Tonight, Lyra falls into another strange dream. Even weirder and scarier. A titanic, god-like demon tortured her in the most unimaginably painful way. Her entire body was chained and spiked. The demon was merciless. His face was full of disgust and hatred as he spat her insults and penetrated her head with dreadful illusions she couldn’t even envision. He kept calling her “disgraceful offspring of the traitor Sparda”. It was only then she realized that she wasn’t herself, but Vergil.

Lyra fights herself to wake up, and is barely successful. The dream is too visceral that she almost still can feel the pain all over the body as she opens her eyes. Her back is wet from her own sweat.

Why do I keep dreaming of him? Moreover, I never experienced this kind of pain…

Does it have something to do with our accidental mind link on that day? Strange things have happened since then...

Her wave of thoughts are interrupted by the sudden thirst in her throat. She snaps her fingers and the light from the lamp brightens the bedroom. The door cracks slowly to open its way for Lyra. The librarian walks with leaden steps as she rubs her sleepy eyes. She almost stumbled upon a chair when she entered the kitchen.

“A cuppa sounds delightful to cure nightmares,” Lyra mumbles at herself, swinging her hand to summon a cup from the drawer. The cup flies and lands right in front of her, but she makes no further movement but staring blankly at the cup. Her body is still shivering by the imaginary pain from her nightmare.

“From all the people in the world, why does it have to be Vergil? This mind link is vexing me...”

The harsh cry of a raven causes Lyra to glance over the kitchen’s window. She curves a light smile while opening the window and lets a little raven enter her house. The raven lands on her shoulder for a while before flying around the house and lands on the kitchen counter.

“Where have you been, Corvus? Haven’t seen you for days!” Lyra greets the raven.

The little bird tilts its head and squawks. Lyra giggles as she pats the raven’s head. “Hey look. My friend gave his poem book to me and one of the titles is The Raven. I like it, by the way. And I’ve been thinking about him lately, even dreaming about him. To be honest, it’s disturbing. Do you think I should invite him here and tell him the truth?”

The raven gives her a nod.

“You are right. A cuppa is best served with a friend, don’t you think?”

Corvus flaps its wings eagerly. The black bird flies around Lyra’s head before making its way outside the house.

“Leaving already? You haven’t eaten yet!” Lyra shouts at the raven. “Alright then, send my regard to your girlfriend!”

Corvus squawks something like a curse, causing Lyra to barks in laughter. She heads back to the counter as she turns on the radio to entertain her confusing state of mind, picking the channel telepathically until she finds her favourite channel. She listens to the song while summoning her phone from the bedroom, tapping the screen until Vergil’s contact name pops on the screen.

Down in the willow garden

Where me and my love did meet

As we sat a-courtin'

My love fell off to sleep

I had a bottle of burgundy wine

My love, she did not know

So I poisoned that dear little girl

On the banks below

I drew a saber through her

It was a bloody knife

I threw her in the river

Which was a dreadful sign

“By Jove, that song is sinister,” Lyra chuckles darkly. Her solemn face is turning pale. “As for the poisoned little girl… well…”

She clicks Vergil’s name, waiting for the devil to answer with fingers tangled between the black pendant on her neck, hoping half-heartedly that he wouldn’t pick her call.

~~~

A/N : the song mentioned at the end of the chapter is “Down In The Willow Garden” by The Everly Brothers.

Tagging : @drusoona @harlot-of-oblivion @queenmuzz @shiranyaaww @andieperrie18 @rubixa-seraph @blooddrop-palace (I honestly forgot who to tag, so if you want to be tagged just send you reply or DM me! XD)

Masterlist | AO3

#devil may cry fanfiction #vergil x reader #vergil x oc #vergil x lyra #vergil #dante #nero #lyra #vergil x original character #original character #developing relationship #mystery #tales of apotelesma #spark of stardust #night writes

37 notes · View notes

crackedoutgiraffe · 4 years

Text

To the Moon and Back

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

A/N: Chapter 12

You and Spencer’s first date was tonight. At work, for the past week, you and Reid would sneakily catch each other’s eye. You both decided that telling the team wasn’t the best idea. You would eventually tell them, you just wanted to be sure this would work before getting their hopes up. You had planned for a date for two weeks prior but that was interrupted by a case.

“Hey,” Reid and you were leaving the office at the same time that night. “ I’ll be at your apartment around 7.”

“How fancy should I dress?” Reid wouldn’t tell you where he was taking you.

“I would say pretty fancy,” he smirked in your direction.

“Can you please tell me where we’re going?” You pleaded, you hated surprises.

“Nope,” he put emphasis on the P.

The elevator doors opened and you walked out, “I guess I’ll assume you’re going to kidnap me then,” you turned to him and shrugged. You walked off and heard him scoff.

When you got to your car, you squealed like a little girl. You were finally going on a date with him. You had been hoping this would happen since you joined the team a month ago. You quickly drove to your apartment to get ready. You took a shower to wash off the sweat from work today. You were going to wear the dress that Rossi gave you and the shoes you’d bought. Your makeup was very glam and your hair was curled.

The doorbell interrupted you putting on your makeup. You were simply in a robe, you hadn’t put your dress on yet. You opened the door to see Spencer standing in a suit with a bouquet of roses, “You look nice.”

“These are for you,” he handed you the pink roses.

The roses smelled like heaven, “these are my favorite, how did you know?”

“I heard you talking about them to Garcia,” he stood there with a smile on his face.

“Oh, come in, I'm sorry,” you had completely forgot that you were still in a robe. “I haven’t finished getting ready yet.”

“I’m a little early,” he walked inside and looked around your apartment.

You gestured to the couch, “Make yourself comfortable, I should be done in a minute.” You walked back to your bedroom, but left the door open. You felt bad for leaving him by himself for so long. You were done with your makeup in the next five minutes. You put on your dress and entered the living room, “Are you ready?” He seemed to jump when you entered.

“You look...wow,” he was completely flustered with your appearance.

“Thank you,” you grabbed your keys and your gun.

“Right this way,” he opened the door for you, he followed you out and you locked the door. The two of you walked down the hallway and to your car. He gave you directions while you drove. You eventually arrived at Masseria in downtown DC.

“Reservation for Spencer,” he told the hostess.

She looked up his name in her tablet, “Right this way, sir,” she grabbed two menus and led you to your table.

Reid pulled your chair out for you, “thank you,” you sat down and he walked to the other side of the table. The waitress set the menus on the table and offered the two of you wine, you both declined. Eventually, the two of you ordered your food. He ordered the steak and you ordered the ravioli. During the dinner, you two made conversation. You talked about your time so far at Quantico and how you were liking the job, you talked about what you both studied in college. The waitress came back and asked if you would like dessert and you both declined. By nine, Reid was ready to go. He paid the check and you left.

You started the car and were starting to go back to your apartment but Reid gave you instructions to a different place. In the heart of DC, he had you pull over and park the car. You were outside of a little ice cream shop.

“I figured you would want to get dessert for less than $100,” he smiled as you got out of the car.

You pointed at his suit, “aren’t we a little overdressed?”

“Who cares?” he walked over to the driver’s side and offered you his elbow. You interlocked your arm with his.

You walked into the little ice cream parlor and strolled along the counter for a bit. They had 20 flavors by your count. “Can I have three scoops of the chocolate chip cookie dough?” You asked the older man working the counter, he nodded at your request and started to make your order. You walked over to the cash register and pulled out your credit card.

“I’ll have three scoops of the pistachio,” Reid pointed at the green ice cream.

“Coming right up,” the old man put your ice cream by the cash register, and started to work on your order. It didn’t take him long to come back to the cash register where Reid had joined you.

“Is that for here or to go?” The man looked at you two for a response.

You opened your mouth to speak but Reid beat you to it, “to go.”

“Alright, that’ll be $10,” you handed the man your credit card. Reid went to grab his wallet but you stopped him before he could.

You two grabbed your ice cream and got back into the car. You handed him your ice cream and started your car. He gave you more directions that eventually lead you to a hill overlooking all of DC.

“Wow,” you stopped the car and admired the view for a minute before you heard Reid’s door open. You too got out of the car and followed him, he still had your ice cream in hand. You both walked to a part of the overlook where you could sit down. He handed you your ice cream and you both started to eat.

“Truth or dare?” he asked you.

“Truth,” you smiled at his game.

“How many boyfriends have you had?”

You cleared your throat, “one,” that was a really odd question for him to ask. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he smiled.

“Who is your favorite among the team?” You wanted to know who he felt safe with.

“Morgan, he’s always had my back,” he seemed choked up about it. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Really?”

You scoffed at his reply, “My friends and I played this a lot in college, you don’t want to know some of the things I did.”

“Alright then,” he smiled, “I dare you to eat the biggest scoop of ice cream you can.”

“That’s it?” It was kind of a stupid dare, “Ok,” you took a giant spoonful of ice cream and put it in your mouth. He was looking for you to get a brain freeze and you did, but you had trained yourself to not show a reaction to those sorts of things.

“Really? No reaction,” he seemed surprised at your straight face.

You finished eating your giant spoonful, “I don’t react to brain freezes,” you took another bite, “or lemon juice.”

“The phenomenon of a brain freeze is common enough to have been the subject of research published in the British Medical Journal and Scientific American. A study conducted by Maya Kaczorowski demonstrated a higher incidence of headache in subjects consuming an ice cream sample quickly, in less than 5 seconds, vs. those who consumed slowly, taking longer than 30 seconds, 27% and 12%, respectively,” he started to ramble.

“Reid,” you snapped him out of his rambling, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“What is your deepest darkest fear?” you leaned toward him.

“I guess it would be not being able to help people,” his face reflected feelings of sadness, “I’ve been trying to help people since I was young, and if I couldn’t do that I don’t know what I would do with my life.”

“That’s deep,” you laid down on the grass and looked up at the stars.

“Truth or Dare?” he laid down with his head next to yours but his feet in the opposite direction.

“Truth,” you sighed, the stars made you feel safe, that along with Spencer.

“What is your biggest regret?”

“I went on a trip in 2003 and while I was gone my grandma died,” a tear rolled down your cheek. “Before I left my dad told me that I could either stay and watch her die, or go on the trip.”

“I’m sorry,” He turned to look at you. “My dad left me and my mom when I was younger.”

You turned to look at him, “I’m sorry.” You felt a hand running through your hair. The two of you laid there and watched the stars for an hour or so, “Reid, stand up.” The two of you stood up.

“What’s wrong?” he was really nervous, after all you were so peaceful before.

You walked over to your car and started it, “nothing’s wrong,” you gestured for him to go back to the spot where the two of you were laying down. You connected your phone to the bluetooth and started to play ‘In the wee small hours of the morning’ by Frank sinatra.

“What are you doing?” He had a smile on his face.

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” you walked up to him and wrapped your arms around his neck.

He wrapped his arms around your waist and the two of you started to sway back and forth. You rested your head on his chest. The two of you danced for what seemed like a minute, but was really two hours. The fact that your car battery didn’t die was shocking. Eventually you two laid down on the ground. You put your head on his chest and he ran his fingers through your hair.

“There’s Orion's belt,” he pointed up at the sky.

“Cassiopeia,” you pointed at the W shaped constellation.

“Perseus.”

“Taurus,” this was a competition now.

“Gemini.”

“Auriga,” you pointed.

“Canis Major.”

“Pyxis,” I took astronomy class, bitch.

“Antilla.”

“Corvus,” you now see why people say that you’re too competitive.

“Crater.”

“Virgo,” your star sign.

“Libra.”

“Serpens Caput.”

“Hercules.

“Lyra,” this one was harder to find.

“Cepheus.”

“Ursa Minor”

“Ursa Major.

“Camelopardalis.”

“Lynx.”

You pointed at the stick figure, “Cancer.”

“Hydra.”

“Sextans.”

“Leo.”

“Leo Minor.”

“Bootes.”

“Draco.”

“Canas Venatici.”

“Alright,” you sat up from his chest, “you win.”

“Are you ready to go home?”

You yawned, “Yeah, it’s getting late.”

He stood up and offered you his hand to help you stand up, “I’ll drive.” He held his hands out for the keys.

“Thank you,” you yawned again and tossed him the keys. You got into the passenger seat. The drive down the hill was uneventful. Spencer would look over at you every once in a while. Eventually you fell asleep in the car. Spencer noticed this and turned the radio down. He smiled at your sleeping self. When he got to your apartment, he parked the car and walked over to the passenger side. He grabbed you and carried you bridal style up to your apartment. When you woke up you were in the elevator, still in Spencer’s arms. He smiled down at you and you snuggled into his chest. When he got to your door, he set you on your feet. You grabbed your keys and opened the door.

“Thank you for tonight,” you gave him a sleepy smile.

“Thank you for being a wonderful person to take on a date,” he smiled at you and started to walk down the hall.

“Hey, Spence,” he turned around at the sound of your voice. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” he started to walk back to you, standing in your doorway.

“Kiss me,” you stood up straight. You felt his lips hit yours and you immediately closed your eyes and wrapped your arms around his neck. You stayed in the passionate kiss for about three minutes, before he pulled away.

“Goodnight, Y/N,” Reid started to walk down the hallway toward the elevator. You entered your apartment and fell on your couch, completely dazed from the magical experience.

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x reader #Criminal Minds #criminal minds fic

59 notes · View notes

itsthe-neo-zone · 4 years

Text

Wands and Potions - NCTdream & WayV

Please read the Masterlist before continuing ahead with the chapter.

Warnings: read the warnings in the masterlist linked above, song recommendations can be found there too.

A/N: Thank you to those who appreciate and support this piece of work! You know who you are, and thank you to my wonderful followers and taglist! you make this possible.

Chapter 16:

“I wanted to ask you about something.” Selene whispered; she didn’t have to be loud; she was sitting on the edge of a log in the clearing near the edge of a small island on the black lake.

“Fire away,” Yangyang was behind her, plaiting her soft locks, the feeling of the gold-like shimmer beneath his hands calmed him slightly. He was about to reveal his thoughts and deepest desires to her.

“Is it true, the whole dark arts thing.” She breathed out Yangyang could feel how she visibly tensed beneath his gaze. He looked down at her shoulders, the way they curved in slightly. She felt vulnerable around him. “You’re taught the dark arts?”

The exasperated sigh she heard from him was worrying her and his silence increased the level of anxiety in her tenfold. She felt his slender fingers let go of the strands of hair she let cascade down.

She had ever gone this far away from castle alone. “Yes,” he murmured; he took his steps to come stand before her. “I’ve done things… that are regrettable, but I’d never try to harm anyone.” Crouching to be at eye level he looked into her eyes with full sincerity.

“It’s alright.” she crooked her head to the side breathing out, the stray strands of her hair fell down past her eyes “You’re not scared?” he asked puzzled, his eyes wavered slightly looking anywhere but her.

“No,” pulling up all her courage she smiled at him, assuring the slender figure before her. “I’m not.”

“Even if I tell you I know of the unforgiveable curses.” He was a little sceptical in mentioning them.

“Even if you tell me about those.” Selene didn’t hesitate she answered immediately letting him know she trusted him, it scared her a little, but she believed he was good inside. He never judged her for being a half-blood and although it was difficult for him, he maintained their friendship.

“So, why did you bring me here?” Selene looks around. She knew of her whereabouts, but she was confused, why specifically here?

The two continued walking along the path into the woodland sitting on the island, the neighbouring patch of land had the grave of the preceding headmaster of Hogwarts. They began talking, Yangyang explaining what he believed and where his affiliations lied.

“Gellert Grindelwald was right. He had a plan to keep us away from hiding. All wizard kind. Durmstrang students look up to him, we recognised him as our leader.” Yangyang glanced around, they wandered off into the main coppice, letting themselves get caught in the magnificence of the nature.

“Do you think like him, do you believe that wizard kind deserve to rule, that it’s your birthright?” Selene was wondering, she wanted to understand what he believed to be his right. She wanted to get her thoughts around his ideals and beliefs.

“I do.” He walked up to a certain tree gathering from its leaking sap. “Tree sap must be quite rare where you come from.” she comically pondered, Yangyang grinned turning to face her “Just a hobby.”

“So, you think there are powerful wizarding families that would be willing to continue Grindelwald’s noble work?”

“Definitely, I’m surprised your family isn’t in on it too.” Selene chuckle; she thought of her obsessive blood supremacist mother and her family.

“Don’t be, I’m sure they’re a part of it, my family is intense when it comes to this kind of ordeals.”

[01:36PM]

Selene had been spending the rest of the free afternoon she had in the empty potions room. Professor Giverlein left the empty room letting her know there were no more potions classes that day leaving her with everything she could ever need.

“There’s no way I’m going to get this?” Selene whined thrusting her digits past the sides of her head rubbing her sore scalp. She was beyond stressed.

Sleepless nights, Chenle and his problems on one side. Rose and Albus with their family stress on the other; her own family ordeals tugging at her, the prophecy the portrait spoke about, the lestrange manor invitation, Yangyang and his affiliations to the return of the Ancient Sacred 28 and then Scorpius and his solemn depression. Selene was trying to solve too many problems at once.

She felt as if it was all coming back, as if the matters were taking her physical body and heath as tribute she was going to regurgitate. Holding it in, she lifted the elixir the potion she had been working on secretly aside her schoolwork.

The bitter after taste was awful but she withstood it for the benefits the potion would give her. This was old magic; you’d give something up for the taking of another. In this case it was her blood.

Selene hid the bubbling liquid in the cauldron, she lifted the rusty metal towards her shelf setting a lid on top and pushing it inwards quickly to sheath the brewing of the elixir. She took her seat back at the edge of the table.

Selene was reminded of the tournament happening from the exaggerated shouts and yells from the harbouring window. The voices came from students a year or two older, closer to Yangyang’s age. Selene sat there dazed for a moment. It was getting closer to the winter break, meaning the deadline for the potion project was creeping nearer.

Playing with the leaves of the daisy root; Selene remembered what she had gone through to get the foliage. She recalled what Chenle did for her. He saved her from the hell she was going through, twice. That should prove that he cares.

But why do I still hate him for his harsh words and cold demeanour?

[06:17PM]

[Selene Pov]

“I got your message. What is it?” I rushed to the library. Moving past tables I saw a crouched lyra she was shaking, and I mean shaking. Almost vibrating.

“What on earth happened. And why did you send that idiot Irene to tell-” I stopped my whining because I realised this was real, she was in tears and it looked like anymore and she’d lose it all. I lifted her up swinging the robes she had on the floor over her shoulder blades.

Olivia comes rushing into the library, I could hear the frantic panic in her voice as she desperately wanders about the immense hall of the library.

“Oh thank heavens you’re here!” I speak agitatedly my voice breaking, “Olivia what’s happening to her.”

“He found out!” Olivia crouched she grabbed the girls palm, “Hopefully this works.” She pulled an elixir out of the robes pocket taking a couple drops and setting them on the girls wrist.

“Who found out?” I was panicking, I should be keeping my calm but the view before my own two eyes was scaring me.

“Se-Selene, he saw, it- I didn’t. he saw E-everything.” I hushed her, “It’s alright, I understand. We’ll solve this.”

It looked like Olivia understood what lyra was blabbering about, the rush in her hands and movements forced me to lift the dropped unknown potion and take care of the small container and its excess drops.

“I’ll explain later but you have to get Scorpius right now. Do whatever you need to do he must come here right now.” I nod already running off I pushed past the main library doors not caring or even asking questions on my Scorpius had to be there.

I was running even faster than I had when I heard Scorpius’ voice in my head, using every force I had in the rest of my body I managed to clear the thoughts for a couple more seconds sending a energy fuelled message to the blond slytherin boy.

“Where are you going?” Jade yelled after my speeding self, she watched me turn towards the dungeons of the castle, following she tried to catch up but as a speeding bolt, the only thing she caught was my maroon hair trailing off behind me.

I reached the entrance of the Slytherin common room. It was guarded by two gargoyle statures and a password. Never being down here before; I panicked. Lyra didn’t look like she had much time before she was out.

Catching sight of the one person I didn’t want to be around, I groaned. Why him, why Chenle of all freaking people? It just had to work that way, turning around to face him I forcibly pushed down any form of resentment and dignity I had.

“Where is Scorpius?”

“Look what the snake swallowed? It’s Selene Adams, have you come to apologise?” Jisung who was next to the blond spat smirking, the smug grin on his face annoying me more than it should.

“I’m not here to apologise to anyone.” I glared back at him; his words made me feel like shit. “Where’s Scorpius, Chenle?” I repeated my question my body language visibly showing I was under a time limit.

“Tell me?”

“Selene they’re not going to help.” The familiar echo from behind me voiced down the damp and dreary corridor. “Jade please help me, lyra has fallen and Olivia sent me to get Scorpius, its urgent.”

She nodded pushing past the two; specifically Jisung. “Ill get him now, wait out here.”

“Be fast. Please!”

I paced up and down the width of the small corridor, Jisung’s face immediately changed realisation dawned over his sharp features and he quickly followed the dark raven female; leaving the blond boy standing a meter away from me.

It felt awkward. I didn’t want to talk to him or even be around him. Though I could feel his penetrating gaze it pervaded my head trying to understand my thoughts, defiling me.

“Stop that.”

“What? Stop what?” he sneered his voice was back to the usual the voice he always had; the softness that was once there when we were at the mansion was nowhere to be found. I guess snakes venom spreads fast, especially of that snake is Rosier.

“Your staring.” I snapped back.

“So now I can’t use my eyes, and who said I take orders from you? Filthy half breed.” His words took me back to the times I’d let myself be lectured and broken down by him.

I wasn’t going to answer but the look of pure aggravation on my face said enough. Watching the now appeared Scorpius drag me off was enough to let it slide, lyra was more important anyways.

“You can tell me what happened later and why I’m desperately needed when Lyra’s the one in trouble but now we need to get to her as fast as possible.”

After pulling Scorpius on a wild goose chase to the library then noticing Olivia took Lyra to the lunch table on the outside of the castle gates and into the gardens past the wooden bridge. I had finally made it completely emphysematous.

“What is it, what is going on?” the blond boy was extremely confused and shocked. His movements were extremely erratic.

“You’re going to have to sit through this one, Scorpius.” Olivia spoke she was hesitant. Weary to all his reactions.

“Do I go? Or what do I…” after catching enough breath I ask the unanswered question. It seemed like this was a private ordeal, I was unsure of whether it seemed ok for me to be here.

“You’re related to him; he may need some ‘moral support’ through this.” Olivia hissed she was put in an uncomfortable position; I could see it myself. She lifted the lifeless right arm that belonged to lyra.

The cold wind brushing past our stiff bodies allowed me to lean into Scorpius for warmth and comfort. Though I think he was the one who needed comfort now, he looked extremely anxious.

“Do you know what’s happening?” I look into his eyes leaning over his shoulder. Scorpius gleams smiling lightly at my pouted facial expression.

“You look cute.” He mumbles, pulling me down to sit next to him. He sighed, it seemed like he had a rough day today. “To be completely honest, I don’t know what this is about, but I have a bad feeling about this if my predictions are correct.”

The unease was evident in the way he stations himself waiting for Lyra to wake from her deep slumber.

“Why did you ask me to bring him here?” My question was directed to Olivia, but I couldn’t take my eyes of Lyra her tired and overworked emotional toll showing through her face. I was stupid not to notice, the glimmer once in her soft eyes no longer there.

“I should have been there for her like she did for me.” I muttered voice breaking, it sounded weaker than it should have. Watching the ravenclaw witch wake her up from the antidote of the elixir she looked shaken and dissipated.

“Selene, Scorpius?” her voice was barely above a whisper, lyra woke up but she was still in a haze. “I’ll let Lyra explain, just give her time to awaken.” Olivia added letting lyra sit up, I moved to help the brunette witch. My friend, a sister to me.

After giving her a few moments to calm I spoke up nudging her to speak gently. She had energized just enough to talk. But as soon as she looked up and into Scorpius’ eyes the tears started. He was shocked, his lips trembling wanting to say something but unable to speak.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” I was truly disordered, completely flummoxed. The two were reacting lie they had shared some sort information. Everyone was reacting strangely. Even Jade was understanding her eyes flashed when she heard of Lyra being hurt.

“I think I know, but I’m unsure…” Scorpius was as still as a stone sculpture at this moment. “And it’s scaring me.” He breathed looking at her weak shivering fingers before him, they laid on the table as she sobbed, “Is it a possibility that I’m- I mean, that you’re…

Her voice was incredibly shaky, she yearned to hug him but it was difficult... Everything was telling her not to push his limits.

“I wanted to, -really- I wanted to tell you for so long. But fath-father didn’t let me. He kept me away too. I’m so sorry.”

@ajuniceuajuniceu @kkuljungwoo @sensiblebutch @kangkinoa @nctzen2020 @mystic-jungkook @merryandhappylele @bcbymingi @mochischeeks @rilakunma @jaehyunspaghetti @commentgirl @99jjh @johnnys-wifeu @misaraem @apricottulips @h2ogamergirl @angelsnowflake

#nctdream series #wayv senarios #kpop fanfic #nct hogwarts au #nct chenle #wayv yangyang #NCT 127 #nct fanfic #nct wayv #wayv x reader

28 notes · View notes

gffa · 5 years

Note

hi! i really want to get into the EU stuff, but i have absolutely no idea where to start. can you point towards a few good books, maybe? thank you, and i absolutely love your account btw!

Hi! Thank you for the kind words, I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog. ♥ Recommendations for EU stuff often depends on what you’re interested in, because there are a lot of books I really enjoyed, so I’ll organize them by era, since that’s how fans are often divided. I’ll also include comics, because often times the comics are some of the absolute best stuff!If you haven’t watched The Clone Wars and Rebels yet, those are absolutely the places to start as they’re key to the fabric of the bigger story, imo. Not that you can’t understand the movies without them or anything, but TCW is especially important for understanding just how grueling the clone wars really were. And Rebels is important for showing the fates of a lot of the TCW characters and seeing the Empire vs the Rebellion (it does a lot to flesh that out, too).PREQUELS:

Any of the Star Wars Adventures comics that contain the prequels characters are great. Well, ALL of the Adventures comics are great, but the prequels ones are adorable, funny, and yet really well-told. They’re light-hearted and largely oneshots, but the IDW comics have been incredible for still being some of the absolute best SW content out there. Especially a not-miss is #12-13 and the 2019 Annual for the Padme&Leia&Breha story.

Obi-Wan & Anakin comic by Charles Soule. A five-issue mini series that has the most stunning art of all the comics I’ve ever seen pretty much, it’s also a really good look at the time of Anakin’s apprenticeship and provides some interesting glimpses into their early days together.

Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic by Charles Soule. This comic was an absolute phenomenon to read month to month and one of the comic series that I’ve spent the most time analyzing and felt it’s really held up to scrutiny, which shows just how much thought went into it. It’s 25 issues of Vader fresh off Revenge of the Sith, over the span of a couple years, and really does an AMAZING job of exploring Anakin Skywalker as Darth Vader, all the choices he made and the themes of the comic are all about showing he can’t admit to the HUGE mistakes he’s made. It was incredible.

Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure by book Cavan Scott. I’m not usually a fan of Choose Your Own Adventure style stories, but this one was worth it to me to get an absolutely DELIGHTFUL book with Obi-Wan and Anakin, who are cranky with each other, but ultimately show that they can come back together and obviously care about each other. Sprinkle in some other cool stuff (Jedi details, Bant Eerin being recanonized) and it was lovely.

Dooku: Jedi Lost audiodrama by Cavan Scott. If you’re interested in Dooku, Asajj Ventress, or the Jedi at all, this drama was pretty amazing, it gave a ton of worldbuilding detail, but also did a lot to fill in the backstory of Dooku and gave us a long look inside Asajj’s head as well. Qui-Gon makes some appearances, he has an amazing dynamic with Dooku, and my heart as always skips a beat for how much I love the Jedi.

Age of the Republic comics by Jodie Houser. Holy shit, these comics were SO GOOD. They’re a series of oneshots about the various heroes and villains of the time, a glimpse into the lives of all of them, and Houser really nailed it here. My favorite is the Obi-Wan one, because the conversation he has with Anakin about Qui-Gon is a must and delves deepest into the characters’ stuff, but all of them are worth reading.

Jedi of the Republic - Mace Windu comic by Matt Owens. A five-issue mini series that, okay, the art is Like That but the storyline really worked for me because it’s a really good look at Mace’s character and his belief in the Jedi Order and how he came to master himself and how the galaxy looks at Jedi. It’s woven around a fairly typical action plot, but one of the things that always strikes me is the compassion the Jedi show one of their own, even when they’re falling into darkness, as well as this is a comic about Mace Windu’s faith and his work to master himself and it’s SO GOOD.

Kanan: The Last Padawan comics by Greg Weisman. Stunning art plus a look at some of the characters/relationships that I want so much more of (TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT DEPA BILLABA) and more glimpses into life at the Jedi Temple, as well as telling the story of how the character went from Caleb Dume to Kanan Jarrus, all of it heartbreaking and so, so good.

While the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover is no longer canon, but it does an absolutely phenomenal job of breaking your heart all over again for the characters and expanding on everything that was going on during that time and really, really gets into the headspace of Anakin’s character in a way that was line-edited by George Lucas himself, so I think of it as having a lot of emotional truths to it, rather than being part of canon (which it’s specifically said as not being).

ORIGINALS:

The ongoing Star Wars comic (by Jason Aaron, then Kieron Gillen) + the original Darth Vader comic (by Kieron Gillen) are the absolute best place to start, they’re an incredible addition to the characters’ journeys between ANH and ESB. The two comics are meant to be read concurrently, so I recommend them together, they often show the same scenes from different points of view, but you can roll with either of them if they’re going well for you. They’re my favorite for what they add to the story.

Star Wars Battlefront II’s storyline can be watched on YouTube like a movie, which is about two hours long, has some fantastic characters (Iden Versio and Del Meeko are amazing, but also the brief storylines the OT trio have in the game are fantastic) and it does a really great job of helping to bridge the gap between the OT and the ST, explaining a lot about Jakku’s significance and how the First Order popped up.

From a Certain Point of View novel by various. MY FAVORITE BOOK IN THE EU, FULL STOP. A series of point of view stories from various supporting characters during A New Hope is exactly what it sounds like and, okay, not all of them worked out for me, some of them are very skippable if you’re not enjoying it, but the Obi-Wan one, the Qui-Gon one, and the Yoda one are all must-reads because they are HEARTBREAKING and fill in so much of what’s going on with those characters in the OT with regards to the PT events. Also the Motti one is the single funniest thing Star Wars has ever put out.

Lords of the Sith novel by Paul S. Kemp. While I’ve only read about a third of this one so far, I’ve enjoyed it a lot, as it’s a look at some of the worst parts of SW’s timeline, where Vader and Palpatine are at their worst, where Ryloth is suffering, but it’s done with deftness and gravitas, imo. Possibly better after you’ve seen TCW and Rebels because Cham Syndulla’s character will have more weight then.

Legends of Luke Skywalker novel by Ken Liu. This book came out around the time that The Last Jedi came out (or at least that’s when I read it, iirc) and it was a balm for my soul that needed Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. It’s an in-universe series of myths, so it’s not literal, it’s stories told about Luke Skywalker as he travels the galaxy trying to understand the Force and the Jedi. It’s lovely!

Thrawn novel by Timothy Zahn. I still think the first Thrawn book was really good (even if the shine came off the apple after that) and it does a fantastic job of setting up the character’s backstory, intro into the Empire, and creating the character of Eli Vanto, WHOM I LOVE. It’s a great read and some of the best of Zahn’s Thrawn work.

ROGUE ONE + SOLO:

The Rogue One novelization by Alexander Freed. I had trouble connecting to Jyn Erso when I first watched the movie, but the way Freed wrote her as this messy, complicated, thorny person who was trying to do the right thing was perfect for making me fall in love with her. (Freed is really, really good at writing messy, complicated, worthwhile women, imo.)

Most Wanted novel by Rae Carson. I loved this book a lot, where it’s a young adult novel set before the events of Solo and helps tell Han and Qi’ra’s backstory and is a great space adventure at the same time.

Catalyst novel by James Luceno. This does a really great job of bridging the Republic era with the Empire era, how the galaxy went from the Clone Wars to what we see in Rogue One, AND expanded a ton on Galen Erso’s character, his relationship with Orson Krennic and Lyra Erso and Jyn, so it made the R1 experience just a ton more valuable for me.

SEQUELS:

Bloodline novel by Claudia Gray. This book still does the absolute most to bridge the gap between the OT and the ST, to explain the events of what happened in that time period. Gray’s writing is best when she’s writing Leia as a character and this book works as a novel for her and as a story about the rise of the First Order and some of the problems of the New Republic.

Spark of the Resistance is a young adult novel (so about 200 pages) by Justina Ireland. I only recently read this one and I just thoroughly enjoyed it, it was Rey and Rose and Poe off on their own adventure, which was typical cute Star Wars stuff, but the chemistry and adorable banter between these three was so good I could have read an entire series for them! (I also liked her Lando’s Luck YA novel, if you’re interested in his character.)

Poe Dameron comics by Charles Soule. Soule’s writing is some of the best stuff in SW so far and he does an absolutely phenomenal job of capturing the charisma of Poe’s character, while also giving him an actual character arc to work through. The comics just fly by, they’re so good and so smoothly easy to read and so damn charming.

Cobalt Squadron novel by Elizabeth Wein. If you get the audiobook of this, it’s narrated by Kelly Marie Tran, who does a love job of reading it, and was a book that helped me just utterly FALL IN LOVE with Rose Tico. It’s a book that does a lot to explain her back story and who she is and it’s just absolutely wonderful.

The Last Jedi novelization by Jason Fry. If you really, really hated TLJ, this might not be the book for you, but I found it to be a book that helped fill in some smaller details that made the movie work better for me and got inside the characters’ heads just enough to help grease the wheels to put me in a better place with the movie, so I always really like it.

#fic recs #(not really but that's my tag)#novels #Anonymous

41 notes · View notes

sleeplesspensieve · 6 years

Text

Remedy for Guilt - XII

Summary: The daughter of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange is a Healer who finds herself not only haunted by her past but also questioning her choice in career. When Lyra Lestrange’s old headmaster offers her a position as Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher she finds herself thrown into an adventure involving a secret affair with a colleague, discovering the cure for a disease and dealing with students cursing themselves. Who knew that being a Hogwarts Professor was such a rollercoaster?

Set in the school year of 1990-1991 with the prospect of a sequel, or two, on the horizon.

Rated: E for graphic sex scenes in THIS and later chapters. Over 18′s only please.

Word Count: 4927

Multichapter Fic (Expected to be around 30-35 chapters with a planned sequel which will take place during the Harry Potter Books)

Chapter Twelve – Discoveries

Deep in the dungeons in the Head of Slytherin’s living quarters a young witch stirred in her sleep, her movement woke up the wizard whose arms were wrapped around her. The man was confused by the naked warmth that lay against his body. After a few blinks he registered that the tangled mess of black hair and sleeping figure belonged to none other than his colleague, Lyra Lestrange.

Severus eyes drifted shut; his expression was strained as his thoughts drifted onto the night prior. He had spent his birthday bedding the young witch that slept against him then he was crying in her arms. As he recalled what he had said his first instinct was to get out of that bed, replace his and her clothes and pretend that nothing had happened. For a moment he even considered obliviating her, how could he face her each day knowing that she knew some of his deepest secrets?

As soon as the thought passed through his mind his heart dismissed it. It was telling him he could trust her, that it was ok to open up to her. He felt at peace as he felt her curled up next to him, he allowed his arms to remain holding her. The warmth that she radiated made him reluctant to leave his bed. He closed his eyes and focused on the feeling, not knowing how long this would last.

Severus’ thoughts weren’t allowed to wander too far as Lyra soon found herself awake too. She smiled fondly as she rolled over and faced him. “Morning,” she hummed her hand rested on his chest. “Have you been up long?”

He shook his head no. “Classes will start in two hours,” he said.

She nodded in acknowledgement. “Did you sleep well?”

Their conversation made Severus feel as though he had woken up in an alternate reality, that Lyra was his wife and that she would soon be rolling out of bed to make them breakfast. The thought warmed his heart but he knew it wasn’t a possibility. He simply nodded in response to her question.

The responses he had given caused Lyra to feel concern. “Sev,” she said, her hand reached up and stroked his cheek. “Everything you told me last night I will never breathe a word of to anyone. You can trust me.”

“What do you feel guilty about?” he asked.

Lyra paused for a moment, questioning whether or not she should divulge the truth or not. As a gesture of good faith she decided to do so. “A lot of things,” she frowned, her hand retreated to her side as she began to explain. “I guess the guilt started when Albus made me work in the Hospital Wing and I had to treat that girl that I almost killed. While I was there I could see that I could put my talents to better use so I tried which is how I got into healing, I thought it could be my way of redeeming myself for all I had done but I think it fucked me even more. When I started at St. Mungo’s my first rotation as a Trainee Healer was in the ward for those with permanent spell damage and I saw the Longbottom couple that I tortured along with my parents and Uncle Rab and Barty. I saw their son visit and he would’ve been Draco’s age. I couldn’t sleep. I kept dreaming of them screaming and losing their minds. I felt so guilty for inflicting that on them.”

“You were there?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she sighed as she began to recount, “I had just gotten back from my first year from Durmstrang. My parents were upset that the Dark Lord had fallen and they knew that there were Aurors tracking down his whereabouts so they captured the Longbottom couple. Mum wanted to teach me how to use the Cruciatus Curse properly so they all showed me and gave me pointers on how to do it effectively to cause the most pain. It went on for hours until they were completely incoherent. Eventually my parents were captured and you know the rest.”

“Did you actually torture Karkaroff?” he questioned. Lyra nodded reluctantly, not wanting to admit the cruelty of what she did to the reformed Death Eater that lay with her. His curiousity got the better of him as he asked, “Why did you do it?”

“I was 13, Sev, first day of my third year at school and Karkaroff is introduced as the new Headmaster. I had heard his name mentioned by Uncle Lucius and my parents when I had visited them. Whatever he had done made them angry but they believed that the Dark Lord would return and impart justice. I later asked my Uncle directly what he had done and he told me that in exchange for the names of several Death Eaters he was allowed to walk free. I was so angry that he was living in comfort whilst my parents rotted in Azkaban. I didn’t believe that the Dark Lord would return so I decided to give my own justice.”

“I spent months plotting my revenge. I didn’t want to kill him, no, I wanted him to suffer and I had learnt from the best on how to torture people. I thought it was fitting that I used the skills they had been imprisoned for as a method to carry out my revenge on their behalf. I snuck into his quarters while he slept and I placed a silencing barrier up so no one could hear him and another so we wouldn’t be disturbed. I woke him using the Cruciatus Curse, you should’ve seen his face of terror on his face when he realised it was me. I used the Cruciatus Curse on him for hours and I revelled in it but I was only young, I didn’t have enough magical energy to maintain my torture but I think it stopped him from going insane like the Longbottoms. It went on for about 12 hours before they found us.”

“He was in hospital for only a week and during that time I went to trial. I had the best defence lawyer money could afford and a bulletproof defence. How could I, a child of 13 years, raised by Death Eaters, be responsible for my actions? I was a product of my environment and going to Durmstrang would reinforce the use of the Dark Arts so they gave me a slap on the wrist and sent me to Hogwarts. I think it worked to an extent, most witches and wizards involved in the Dark Arts during my year were pathetic anyway I just got caught up with showing off my skill and that’s how I nearly killed that girl. I did feel bad for her to an extent and I think Albus exploited that which is how I ended up in Healing. Who knows where I would be now if he hadn’t forced me to work in the Hospital Wing? I’d probably be out there trying to raise the Dark Lord back to power.”

Lyra’s description of events terrified Severus. It was evident that she was truly the daughter of Bellatrix and Rodopholus Lestrange. The thought of Lyra pursuing the Dark Arts further was disturbing. He knew that she was an extremely talented witch with a thirst for knowledge, he was thankful that it had been channelled into a more meaningful pursuit. He wondered where her loyalties would lie if the Dark Lord did return. “Do you think he’ll come back?”

“It’s been what, ten years this year?” she said, “I don’t think so. I went and saw my mum on Christmas Day and she seems to still think so but I think it’s just to maintain her sanity, not that there’s much left. What do you think?”

“I have the same doubts,” he replied, shaking his head, “Albus seems to think he will.”

Lyra’s hand drifted out and reached out for his left arm. Severus flinched at first but her fingers delicately traced the lines of his Dark Mark. “It’s so faded,” she said as she thought back to when she would touch her mother or father’s tattoo. “You’ll be one of the first to know.”

Severus watched as she seemed lost in her thoughts, her fingers still stroking his tattoo. “Lyra,” he said, bringing her back to the present. “We should get up, we have classes to teach.”

She frowned, “Can’t we just stay in bed.”

“It’s too suspicious if we both call in sick,” he said.

“Can I get my panties back?” she asked with a hopeful look.

“I’m definitely keeping them,” he said amused, “Better hurry back to your quarters if you want to wear any today.”

She glared at him as she climbed out of bed and got dressed. He remained in bed and watched as she hid her naked body away from view. “I’ll see you around,” she said as she found her way out.

As Lyra reached the Grand Staircase to begin her ascension to the third floor she saw a concerned Professor McGonagall quickly stepping down.

“Oh, Lyra,” she said, not missing a beat, “You best come with me, something serious has happened. I need to speak with Severus.”

Lyra followed as they headed back to where she had just left. Minerva knocked on the door and Severus opened it immediately, allowing the two witches to enter his office.

“I have terrible news, Severus,” Minerva said, “Marcus Flint had a seizure at breakfast this morning. Poppy thinks it’s Psyrot. He’s been placed in a potion-induced sleep for now but she think he’ll have to go off to St. Mungo’s.”

“I’ll contact his parents,” Severus replied.

“I don’t know how it went undetected,” Minerva said.

“He probably got it when he was on break and it’s just gone unnoticed,” Lyra said, “I know Poppy listed all those symptoms but he might’ve just not had any until now.”

Minerva shook her head, “In any case, we need to be more aware. We all need to keep a look out.”

“Of course,” Severus said.

Lyra remained silent as the two discussed the course of action. She completely tuned out, her head beginning to spin with thoughts. This was the first distinguishable case of Psyrot, with it would come many more. Students would begin to flood the Hospital Wing at the slightest sniffle which probably wasn’t so bad but she knew that Severus and herself would have to keep up with potion requests. They had made around 100 bottles which was about a sixth of the school’s population, if half the students thought they were sick then they’d run out rather quickly.

“Lyra,” Severus said, bringing her attention back to the present, “We’ll probably have to make more Pepper Up Potion.”

“Yeah,” she said, looking slightly dazed, “I was just thinking about that.”

“We’ll brew some more tonight,” he informed her, “Wouldn’t want to run out.”

“Of course,” she said, “I’ll see you after dinner.”

Lyra left with Minerva, Severus needed to write a quick letter to Marcus Flint’s parents. The two made their way up silently, waving in and out of students and carefully following the staircases as they moved about. Lyra found herself alone with Minerva as the set they were on slowly moved.

“So, Lyra,” Minerva began, “What were you doing at Severus’ office so early?”

“Just wanted to check in on him before we had classes,” Lyra lied, “I had a present for his birthday.”

“But his birthday was yesterday,” Minerva’s eyes narrowed as she felt she had caught her. “You and Severus seem awfully close, particularly after the Founding Ball.”

“I’ve known Severus since I was a kid,” Lyra shrugged, “You know, cause my parents were Death Eaters, just like he was. My Uncle is a close friend of his, in fact he even came over for Christmas Dinner.”

“It seems to be more than just that,” Minerva said, “I think there’s something going on between you two.”

“Really?” Lyra’s eyebrows raised in fake surprise. “News to me.”

Lyra was thankful when the staircase finally connected to the landing of the third floor, she said a hurried goodbye, excusing herself from their conversation. Unfortunately for her, Lyra had ran out of time to change her clothes and her students were all lined up ready to enter her classroom. She reluctantly welcomed them all in and began her lesson.

It was surprisingly easy for Lyra to keep her composure, despite the fact that she didn’t have any underwear on. After a while she didn’t seem to notice, her thoughts were more preoccupied on the fact that no one had been paying attention to the content of her lessons. Had she become boring? To be fair everyone was still rather shaken from what they had seen at breakfast this morning. Lyra was over the constant gossiping half way through second period and threatened to deduct house points if they continued their disruption. This tactic seemed to work as they focused on the Hinkypunk she showed them and explained the methods of combating it.

Lyra had hoped to duck off during the break that she had between the second and third period but she saw that two students had stayed behind. Both were Slytherin boys on the Quidditch team who she recognised as Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick. Usually she’d be keen to answer questions from eager students but she knew that these two boys in particular had a tendency to cause trouble and weren’t particularly engaged in her class. They approached her desk as the rest of the class were filing out.

“Professor Lestrange,” Derrick addressed the teacher. She raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement so the boy continued, “We were wondering if you knew anything about Marcus? We were supposed to have Quidditch practice tonight.”

Lyra sighed, “I recommend you speak with Professor Snape.”

Derrick went to answer but he was interrupted by his friend. The blonde haired boy sneezed hard, not covering his mouth, and Lyra felt her face become wet with the boy’s mucus. She wiped her face with a hand as she had no tissues at hand and glared up at the boy who was now shaking in his boots at the look his Professor was giving.

“Merlin’s beard,” she glowered, “Did your mother teach you any manners. Go to the hospital wing now.”

The two boys darted off embarrassed that Bole had just sneezed into the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor’s face. Lyra’s untainted hand reached for her wand and went to clean up both her face and hand but she looked closer at her hand. She felt very subtle movement on her hand and as her face neared it she saw tiny dots in amongst the mucus as well as one small worm wriggling. From sight she knew that this parasite must’ve been the cause of Psyrot but she needed to research it further. She summoned a glass vial and scooped mucus that landed on her hand, attempting to coax the worm and its eggs into the tube. She cast a stasis charm on the contents, hoping that it would prevent the eggs from hatching and the worm from dying and she put it away in her office.

Lyra sat at her desk and began to brainstorm on a stray piece of paper the known workings of the disease. On one side of the right hand side of the paper she listed the known symptoms and then on the left she wrote the words parasite and mucus. The fact that it was spread through mucus ruled out the gastrointestinal tract, the symptoms didn’t align with respiratory so the logical conclusion was the brain? She wasn’t convinced but it made sense. Pepper up would increase the body’s temperature and could potentially destroy the integrity of the worm’s body but only up to a certain point which was why they couldn’t cure it once it had reached the second or third stage. She wasn’t entirely sure why Sleeping Draught worked during the second stage and it wouldn’t in the third stage. She knew during the third stage it was the body’s own immune response that would kill the host so maybe the Sleeping Draught prevented the development of the worms to cause destruction to trigger the immune response. There were still a lot of missing pieces of information but now that Lyra had a sample of the parasite responsible she was confident that she could develop a cure for it.

Lyra heard her next class enter and she rushed down to teach but her mind was still curious about the parasite she had found. Over her lunch break she made her way to the library and was pouring over books about parasites and worms, as well as recapping historically relevant illnesses. Madam Pince was reluctant to lend so many books out to the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, particularly as they weren’t relevant to her subject but Lyra managed to convince her after laying on the charm which was a difficult feat as Lyra hadn’t had the best reputation during her years of study.

Lyra placed aside the books, hoping that she would get to them over the weekend as her night would be taken up by brewing potions with Severus. The final two classes for the day seemed to drag on as looked forward to sharing her discovery with the Potions Master. Her eagerness to leave was not lost on her students as she was in fact the first to leave her classroom. She stopped by the staffroom to grab a quick bite for herself and Severus for dinner and she rushed down to the dungeons.

“I wasn’t expecting you so early,” Severus said as he answered the door.

“I have exciting news,” she beamed, bouncing into his office.

Severus prompted her to go on, taking one of the plates she had set out for him.

“I have discovered the cause of Psyrot,” she announced, “Of course, I still need to test my theory but I think I can work up a cure.” Severus listened and ate as Lyra detailed her discovery. As she spoke he felt a great deal of respect and admiration towards her as she was rambling about her theories.

Severus was beginning to realise that he saw Lyra as so much more than Lucius’ niece that needed a close watch, she was beginning to become her own person. Lyra, unlike her parents, was kind and had a passion for caring for people which was evident in the way that she had treated him and her desire to find a cure for this disease. He thought of the way students and staff spoke about her, they all admired her despite the reputation she had gained as a student.

“So, I just need to confirm it is this parasite,” she continued, “Then I’ll need to figure out how to kill it without harming the host and then I’ll write up a report and I’ll be published then my healing career could take off and you never know I might be the one to discover the cure for Lycanthropy, I just hope no one else beats me to it. Why are you smiling at me?”

Severus didn’t realise that he was smiling at her, he laughed it off. “You recall how early in the term you said you don’t know where Dumbledore gets these teachers from?” he asked, “You’re acting exactly like everyone else.”

Her eyes narrowed at the Potions Master’s amusement before smiling as well, “I suppose you’re right.”

Lyra helped herself to the dinner she had brought for the two of them and they caught up briefly over the food before they headed into his classroom to begin brewing. They worked mainly in silence, intending to work efficiently and quickly as possible as Lyra was itching to return back to her room in order to study the books that she had borrowed. It took them a few hours but they finished up at around 10pm, leaving her time to do a bit of reading before she’d settle for bed.

“Did you want to enjoy a glass of wine with me?” he asked.

She smiled and her plans of reading were quickly forgotten as she accepted his offer. The pair moved on to his quarters, thankful that it was past curfew and that no students would see them sneaking around. Lyra probably brought enough suspicion upon herself that morning as she was leaving his quarters so early. The cosied up to the fireplace and cracked into a bottle of elf-made wine. The two began to gossip about the students that they shared and how their attitudes differed in their classrooms.

“How is Marcus Flint fairing?” she asked.

“His parents came to take him to St. Mungo’s this morning,” he replied, “Hopefully they can help them there but I’m not sure what more they can offer as they know as much about Psyrot as we do.”

“Maybe someone’s already discovered a cure?”

“How did you figure out that it was a parasite?” he asked.

“Bole and Derrick spoke to me after class asking about Flint and whether or not they’d have practice,” she recounted, “Bole then proceeded to sneeze on my face and noticed that in the flecks of mucus he left behind that there seemed to be eggs and I spotted a small worm crawling.”

“Wonderful,” Severus said.

“Obviously, I’ll need to test other students to see if it holds true,” she said, “Then there’ll be a lot more work to go but it’s achievable. Do you think I should credit them if I write a report?”

“You shouldn’t give either of them any credit,” he said, “They are both complete imbeciles.”

Lyra laughed at his response, her head shook in disapproval but a smile was still plain on her lips. Severus watched her as she pressed her lips against the cool of her glass as though she was hiding her face away from embarrassment. His gaze caught hers and she smiled forming wrinkles around her eyes as well as a twinkle within. That smile was so precious that he wanted to keep it locked in his memory forever.

Lyra’s eyes cast down as if staring at Severus was like staring at the sun. She felt her heart ache in want and her cheeks were flushed. She attempted to blame the feelings on the alcohol she had been drinking but in her heart she knew that her Uncle was right. That she was in fact falling in love with Severus Snape.

The thoughts and feelings were uncomfortable and unfamiliar to Lyra. No one had ever made her feel this way, her heart was racing but her breathing slow. She felt faint and dizzy, she finally knew what people meant when they said they had butterflies in their stomach and her stomach was in knots. She had crushes before but this was a completely different ball game, it was almost as though every single one of her crushes came to confront her all at once. The feeling made her nauseous and she didn’t know whether it was because she felt this particular way or whether she was terrified about the consequences of her feelings.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned that the look of joy had fleeted and was replaced by an expression of illness. She shook her head dismissively and he asked once more.

“I feel strange,” she said, her eyebrows strained.

“Are you sick?” he asked, rushing to his feet.

She laughed, “I think it’s much worse than that.”

“What?”

She shook her head and sighed, pushing her feelings aside, “It’s nothing.”

“Don’t make me use Legilimency on you,” he threatened.

“I know better than to let my guard down around you,” she smiled, “I think I’m just tipsy and tired.”

“Time for bed,” he said as he removed her glass and placed it on the table. Lyra took his hand as he pulled her up, escorting her to the bed.

“Can we shower first?” she asked. “I haven’t bathed since yesterday and I feel pretty gross.”

“Are you wearing underwear, Miss Lestrange?” he asked.

“Don’t call me that,” she said, “It makes me feel like a schoolgirl about to get a detention.”

“We should try that one time,” he smirked.

“Are you going to bend me over your desk and spank me?”His eyebrows raised in agreement and Lyra laughed, “When was the last time you were laid?”

“I shagged this beautiful witch last night,” he said his arms wrapped around her and he cornered her against a nearby wall. “I stole her panties then she went the whole day without them.” He slid his hand down the front of her skirt, underneath the material and touched her naked sex. “Sound familiar?”

Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip before she bit it. “You don’t know how much I want you, Lyra,” he whispered into her ear.

“I have an idea,” she said, her hand made its his crotch and the palm of her hand ground into it.

“Don’t tease me, Lestrange,” he warned, his breath hot against her lips. She kissed him hard and fast, her hands quickly unbuttoned his vest and his removed her clothes, parting to pull her top over her head.

“Why the fuck do you have so many buttons?” she groaned as she discarded his vest and got to work on the button up that was hidden underneath.

“To frustrate witches like you,” he said, undoing her bra and getting to work on her nipples.

She moaned, struggling to maintain concentrating on working her fingers around the buttons. Eventually he was free from his upper garments and her lips moved onto his neck as her hands fumbled clumsily with his pants.

“Don’t leave marks on me,” he said as she began to suck and bite where she was kissing. It was too late for his warning and she didn’t care. Her lips just moved down to his chest where she continued to make her mark.

“Lyra,” he groaned as her hand gripped around his cock and began to slowly pump and tease. His fingers looped around the band of her skirt and pulled it down. A finger dipped beneath the folds and once assuring she was wet enough his hands gripped onto the backs of her thighs and hoisted her up so her hips were on his. He pressed her body against the wall behind her and held her there as he manipulated his cock to slide deep into her.

Severus’ hips bucked up into hers eliciting a small moan from Lyra with every thrust as he fucked her against the wall. His hands gripped her thighs and her ass hard as he pounded into her. Lyra’s arms were wrapped around his neck, one hand buried into his hair whilst the other held onto his back for leverage. Her eyes connected with Severus for a moment and she could see the lust that was swirling around in his dark orbs. His eyes flicked down, watching her breasts bounce and his cock slide in and out of her sex. The sight alone made him groan hard as he felt the tension in his balls grow.

Lyra too watched what he was focused on, the sight of him plunging in and out was erotic. Severus Snape is fucking me against a wall. The thoughts, the feelings and the sight was enough to drive her over the edge. She grabbed a hold of him tighter, her nails began to dig into his back as she came hard. As the tension began to release for her, so did it for Severus. He came inside her, his thrust slowed and he pressed Lyra harder against the wall as his body relaxed, scared she was going to slip.

He let her down slowly and the two wordlessly headed to the bathroom. Both too tired to stand they settled for the bath again. Severus urged her to sit on his side, on his lap this time, returning the favour from last time. She relaxed into his embrace and allowed her eyes to drift shut for a moment.

Severus allowed the exhausted witch to sleep for a few moments, enjoying the comfort of her body against his. He rested his head against hers and noticed the smell of her hair, lavender like a sleeping draught. Maybe that’s why he felt so peaceful, like he could sleep again. His thoughts were no longer strained with his failures, instead they were calm and restful. He felt as though Lyra anchored him down, he was no longer worried about the future or what was to come because he felt that if he had Lyra by his side that everything would work out. He knew he trusted her and he believed that as she slept in his arms surrounded by a pool of water that her vulnerability was also a gesture of trust.

Ten minutes passed of Lyra sleeping and he gently nudged her awake, knowing that if she slept any longer that she would have difficulty sleeping. She was half asleep as she washed herself so Severus helped her scrub her back. He ushered her out once they were done and made herself dry thoroughly after a lazy attempt. When they moved onto bed Lyra quickly fell back asleep and Severus had no difficulties as she curled up against his chest.

#severus snape #fanfiction #harry potter #original character #hogwarts #fanfic #lyra lestrange #oc

4 notes · View notes

simplyoriginalcharacters · 7 years

Text

Lyra Espinosa

Hello there! This is the first of my two main characters, Lyra!

Context about the setting: The story takes place in an isolated ambiguously-European town (how original) called Solace, cut off from the rest of the world due to it being situated near a coastline and a dense forest. Many of the characters are mythological creatures from all over the world taken human form and live among each other pretending that they don’t know about their neighbour’s blood-drinking habit or hairy transformations once a month. Despite these unique traits, it’s a fairly normal, closely knit small town.

Full Name: Lyra Vega Espinosa

Age: 19

Gender: Cis-female

Species: Human (Witch)

Hair: Tightly curled, short, light brown

Eyes: Slightly protruding, dark brown

Weight: 75kg / 165lbs

Height: 5"10 / 178cm approx

Extraneous Physical Features: Sharp long nose, freckles across shoulders, nose, cheeks and collarbones, scar across right cheek and down right side of upper and lower lip due to being pushed into a barbed wire fence when trying to protect her twin brother in a schoolyard brawl when they were thirteen.

Clothing Style: Casual Sporty

Personality: Good: Extremely loyal (will beat your ass if you even touch her friends without their express permission), highly intelligent (well, she may not have graduated top of the class or anything, but she did manage to get into a prestigious and extremely selective Astrochemistry course in her university, so there), brave, adventurous, friendly, free-spirited, and charismatic. Is also secretly a hopeless romantic (but shhh, nobody told you that)

Neutral: Extraverted, sensitive, reflective, loves the beach and the ocean, an excellent actor (though this isn’t necessarily on stage), creative

Bad: Has a childish sense of humour, has incredibly low self esteem (yes, I know that she is charismatic and this is a contradictory trait, but all humans have contradictory traits to some degree), is clingy and self-sacrificing (she doesn’t want to lose another family member), cocky and arrogant.

Backstory: Born into a mixed-race family (Scottish on her mother’s side, Cuban on her father’s side), Lyra never felt like she fit in with many of her classmates. Lyra did not grow up in Solace, rather a small country town in Scotland called New Deer. Despite the red-faced monocultural aspect of her birthtown, Lyra and her twin brother Cygnus were never bullied, having grown up on their father’s advice of ‘Pull the first punch, but smile first.’ Despite her friendliness and general cheer, Lyra did not have many friends, much to her dismay. Her parents were practicing witches, which did contribute to it, but it was mainly due to Cygnus’s ability to see ghosts, which their parents discovered after Cygnus led a ghost of an old Basset Hound to the shopowner and nearly gave the poor man a heart attack when he saw old Bessie semi-transparent behind him.

Upon the recommendation of a friend, Lyra and her family moved to Solace when Lyra was about 10 and Lyra had a much happier time and managed to gather together a relatively large group of friends (though she only has about five people she’d probably kill for, at least at the beginning of the story).

Skip ahead about eight or so years, and Cygnus (who she adores) starts acting weird. He’s secretive and comes back at random points in the night, and despite the fact that he won’t tell her anything, begs her to promise to not say anything about his behaviour to their parents. Cygnus begins acting stranger and stranger (she finds strange pieces of wood and herbs in his jean pockets, unusual stones and a dried piece of raw meat at one point, though she assumes all but the last one are simply ingredients for spells) and, at one point he crawls into her bed in the middle of the night because of a nightmare (something he hasn’t done since he was nine) and admits to her that he’s scared, though he won’t admit what he’s scared of.

On the morning of Lyra and Cygnus’s 19th birthday, Cygnus goes missing. After three days, the police come to their door and tell them they have found Cygnus’s dead body under a dense copse of trees in the local forest - and they suspect it was a murder. This is where the story begins.

Main Goal: To find out who killed her twin brother and why

Major Obstacles: Was it a supernatural being, was it a neighbour, who would kill him and why, did Cygnus have any interaction with these murders, did it have any connection with his strange behaviour before his death, was it actually a suicide, if it was a murder was it a once off thing or is there a serial killer running round Solace, what would the murderer have to gain from killing Cygnus?

Extraneous Character Info:

Lyra has a little sister called Perdita who’s thirteen.

All witches have familiars, which are basically parts of a witches’ soul taken form - Cygnus’s was a swan, Perdita’s is a dalmatian, Lyra’s is a little owl, Lyra’s mother’s is a bluebird and Lyra’s father’s is a woodpecker.

Lyra used to date one of her close friends - another witch called Darcy (who has a nightingale familiar) who she continues to have a close relationship with though it is strained by their past romantic relationship.

Lyra is a surfer and got a swimming scholarship to her University.

Sorry this is so long! My other character will be submitted as soon as possible! Thank you!

Hello!

Lyra strikes me as the type of girl who want to go cave spelunking. She’s outgoing, adventurous, a risk taking extrovert who loves the stars (possibly because she was named after them). I appreciate that her personality is fleshed out enough from the good to bad for me to picture what she might find herself doing. It did however leave me with a few questions. Why doesn’t this girl try to figure out what her brother is doing? Why didn’t she follow him, look in his phone, cast a spell? Since your story starts with a death, let your character start in the middle of some theories. Don’t have her just begin to think about what happened, intelligent people always have theories before the fact, not just after. Show us a character in the midst who’s rejected the easy stuff.

There are a few details that need to go into the profile to really help me completely see Lyra. She’s a witch, but what does that mean in this world? Are there schools of magic? Magic in general? What about their parents? Why does it seem like only Cygnus’ magic was important to get them moving to Solace? What is the police force like in Solace? Is she going to work with them? Is the Astrochemistry program she’s going into accepting of magical people? Does it involve magic or is it all standard spectroscopy? Does it affect her swimming? All of these questions and more are probably answered inside the story, but looking at this profile Lyra seems lacking because we can’t see what differentiates this adventurous witch from others we’ve read about.

I’m also curious about her family. It’s entirely possible all of this was written for very specific reasons, but right now we’ve got two children in the family named after constellations, and one who isn’t. We have four family members who have bird familiars, and one dog. Right now this paints the younger sister in an overtly different light. If this was purposeful, take note that we noticed, if not, ask yourself if you meant for the readers to single Perdita out, because it may make our minds wander.

As a small side note her father’s motto of “Pull your first punch, but smile first.” I think may have been written incorrectly, or I’m simply not getting its meaning. It’s going over my head because I don’t know how smiling before delivering a blow at not full strength would keep someone from getting bullied.

To end this off I’m going to step my toes into the water on a sensitive subject. In your character’s physical description you mention her nose, hair, and eye color, but never other features such as jaw, chin, face shape, and no mention of skin tone. Unfortunately many people tend to think of white skin as ‘default’. Think of old school crayon boxes with a ‘flesh’ colored crayon which was a generic beige. The range of skin tone from the palest white Scot to the deepest brown Cuban is enormous, and all of those skin tones can have freckles, brown hair and brown eyes. Where does your character lie on that spectrum? Don’t assume that if she’s white it doesn’t need to be stated, and if she’s not don’t be afraid to describe her as a woman of color. Be descriptive so we can picture her clearly.

Happy Writing!

-Shields

#soc critique #submission

8 notes · View notes

sandstonesunspear · 7 years

Text

Space Dinosaurs

Or alternatively known as: The Antics of Kevin and Hellen

Space Dinosaurs have arrived! Thanks to @nerdsbianhokie and @change-the-rules for all the space dinosaur discourse. Some of this pulls from that. Hope you all enjoy!

Kessel took the crowbar and quickly removed the top of the crate. He peered in and blinked.

“Well, Kess?” Jackson pipped up. “What is it? Randorian ale? New weapon’s mods for the Captain to nerd out over?”

Kessel said nothing. He continued to stare inside the box, not quite believe what he was seeing.

“Uh, Kessel?” Kessel’s silence was starting to make everybody nervous.

He finally turned away from the box. “Somebody get the Captain.”

Alex walked into the cargo bay. She was a little disgruntled at having been woken up to find the ship not under attack. She had, after all, given specific orders to not be woken unless someone was dying, in need of serious medical attention, Reinhart and Jackson were attempting to bake a cake, or the ship was under attack.

“Alright, I see no smoldering cake and no one appears to be dying, so somebody better have a good reason for waking me up,” she grumbled.

The crew, as one, immediately pointed to Kessel. Alex sighed. Of course it was Kessel. The giant Boloxvian appeared to take no notice of her entrance and was hunched over the crate while…cooing? Alex’s brow furrowed. Okay…no wonder the Jackson had been so alarmed when he’d gone to get her.

She cleared her throat. “Kessel?” He turned away from the box and turned to look at her. “You mind cluing me in here?”

“You have check this out, Cap,” he grunted, motioning for her to join him. Alex gave him a wary look but obliged him nonetheless.

She glanced into the box and blinked. Were those…?

“Are those what I think they are?” she asked.

Kessel shrugged. “Looks like it. I mean, you’ll probably have to run some tests to confirm, but so far I can tell, yeah.”

Alex looked back down into the box. Two tiny figures stared back at her. Dinosaurs. Tiny dinosaurs in space. Honestly, she didn’t know why she was so surprised.

“Well?” Reinhart asked eagerly. “Are they really dinosaurs?” Word had spread around the ship that the box contained what appeared to be, by all accounts, a pair of miniature dinosaurs. Granted, prior to today, a good chunk of the crew had no idea what dinosaurs were given that they didn’t exist on other planets, but still. It wasn’t every day that a supposedly extinct animal from a planet 10 light years away showed up on a ship, and in miniature form to boot.

Alex examined the chart that Lyra handed her. Her eyebrows lifted as a grin spread across her face. She nodded.

“According to the tests we’ve run, yeah,” she confirmed. “We now have two dinosaurs to add to the crew manifest.”

Just hearing those words said aloud sounded absurd, but in all honesty, none of them were surprised anymore.

“Captain, what names would you have us add to the manifest?” Zar’ya asked from her station.

Alex raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re asking me?”

Zar’ya shrugged. “You’re the captain. You named the ship,” she pointed out. “Why should you not name our newest crew member?”

That Alex had named the ship DEO to stop Lyra from registering it as Boaty McBoatface shouldn’t have inspired confidence in anybody regarding her ability to properly name things.

Zar’ya gave Alex an expectant look. Alex sighed. She looked at the two tiny dinosaurs, which appeared to be some kind of pterodactyl according to the chart she held in her hands.

“How about Kevin and Hellen?” She asked after several moments.

The Roltocon gave Alex an approving nod. “Very well,” she said. “I’ll made the necessary changes to the roster, Captain.” She moved to the terminal to input the information, leaving Alex to continue to observe her newest crew members.

Alex hummed her acknowledgement.

“Why Kevin and Hellen, Captain?” Lyra asked curiously.

“Kevin just looks like a Kevin,” she said with a shrug. “As for Hellen…well, I have a feeling she’s going to raise Hell.”

A loud yelp came from the bed, drawing their attention. Reinhart was holding their finger, which Hellen has just taken a nip at. Based off the blood that she had drawn, it was obvious that Hellen, and possibly Kevin, had some sharp teeth.

Alex gave Lyra a look. “See what I mean?”

DAY 1

“Thangarian balls!” Kessel snarled. Where had his heatsink gone? He’d just put it down.

“You kiss your broodmother with that mouth, Kess?” Lyra asked from her position at one of the benches without taking her eyes from her reports.

“Oh, bite me,” he growled.

He continued to search the area around him, lifting box after box as if they weighed nothing. Given his size and strength, they probably didn’t. He was growing increasingly frustrated with each lifted box revealing nothing. A chirping noise caught his attention. He turned.

There stood Hellen, his heatsink clenched in her jaws. Kessel swallowed nervously. That heatsink of his was heavily modified. It was great for long firefights and siphoned excess heat from his blaster back into the rounds, giving them an extra punch. But there was a reason few people, aside from Alex, wanted to be near him when he was tinkering with his rifle: that extra punch that the heatsink granted also made it incredibly unstable when removed from the rifle. And now, the newest member of the crew was holding in her jaws without a care in the world.

He crouched down, careful to keep his movements slow.

“Hello, Hellen,” he greeted calmly. “Please return my heatsink. Cap’ll be pissed if you ended blew up the cargo bay.” He paused. “Come to think of it, she’ll also be pretty upset if you get blown up too.”

Hellen tilted her head as if contemplating his words. Sweat gathered on Kessel’s forehead with each passing second. Then, Hellen made a muffled chirp, flicked her head, and tossed the highly unstable at him.

Kessel’s heart stopped. The heatsink seemed to fall in slow motion as he lunged. He could hear Hellen chirping away in the background. His managed to get his hands around it but fumbled it. He felt his thump press the indent in the groove. Everything around him seemed to go silent. Ah fuck.

A tiny beep was Kessel’s only warning before the heatsink exploded. He was sent flying and crashed into a bunch of cargo crates. The acrid smell of burning hair told him that he’d just lost his eyebrows. Again.

He lifted his head to see Hellen flying about and Lyra laughing. He clunked his head back on to cold metal floor of the cargo bay. Wonderful.

DAY 2

Fenrites were not the deepest of sleepers. How could they be, when Romulus was one giant death trap? With just about everything on the home planet trying to kill them, a Fenrites brain had evolved to be on constant alert. Using the inherent sensory organs within the body, the brain pictures of the surrounding area so that the sleeping Fenrite could be ready to react at a moment’s notice. That also meant it was incredibly hard to take a Fenrite, sleeping or awake, off guard.

So, when Bob woke up, he immediately noticed that something felt…off. His brow furrowed momentarily before that weird sensation ran through him again. His frown deepened. It appeared to be coming from his left ear.

He reached to the left side of his body, figuring that he had just slept on top of another data pad. He was surprised when his hand met a leathery body instead of a data pad. He glanced to his left ever so slightly and was taken aback to see Kevin happily nomming away at his ear. Coming from Romulus, and having lived on Earth, it certainly wasn’t the weirdest sight he’d ever encountered.

Bob sighed. “Remove your teeth from my ear, Kevin,” he ordered firmly.

Kevin continued to chew Bob’s ear.

Bob reached for Kevin once again, only to be met with the tiny dinosaur snapping at his fingers. His ear wasn’t able to enjoy being free from tiny teeth before Kevin returned to chewing it.

Bob sighed again. It was obvious that Kevin had no intention of leaving his ear alone and he was too tired to deal with this shit. Kevin would get bored sooner or later. Whether or not he would still have an ear once Kevin was done chomping on it didn’t really concern Bob. It would grow back, eventually.

Bob closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Kevin kept chewing his ear.

DAY 3

The doors to the medbay hissed open.

“The medkits are in the third cabinet to the left,” Zar’ya said, without even looking up from stitching Kessel’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Zar,” Reinhart said. They raided the mentioned cabinet, pulling a battered medkit out.

“Which one got you, kid?” Kessel asked.

“Kevin,” Reinhart replied as they began bandaging their hand. “Apparently, he likes to bite as much as Hellen does.”

Kessel grunted.

“Which one got you?” Reinhart asked.

“Hellen.” He didn’t need to elaborate. The tale had already spread around the ship. His lack of eyebrows had only verified what being told.

Reinhart nodded sympathetically. “She’s a troublemaker,” they remarked.

“Eh, she’s feisty.” A gleam of admiration appeared in Kessel’s eyes. “I like it.”

Zar’ya scoffed and tugged the needle tightly, causing him to wince. “Kessel, we are well aware of your masochistic tendencies,” she said in exasperation. “But please keep them to yourself when I’m the one working on you.”

Kessel chuckled. “You got it.”

The medbay doors hissed open again. In walked Bob, sans his left ear. He took in his injured crewmates and an exasperated Zar’ya.

“Which one got you, Bob?” she asked.

Bob blinked. “Kevin. He likes my ears.”

DAY 4

“So, can you tell me why the number of crew members coming into sickbay has tripled in the last four days?” Alex demanded.

Lyra cleared her throat. “Well, it appears as though our original estimations regarding the ages of Kevin and Hellen were slight off, Captain.”

Alex’s brow furrowed. “And what does that have to do with injured personnel?” she asked.

“Developmentally, Kevin and Kellen are in what humans would call their ‘teething stage,” Lyra explained.

Alex stared at her. “You have to be kidding me.”

“I’m afraid not.”

“But they have teeth already!” Alex protested. “Reinhart got bit on day one!”

“The primary teeth have developed. The remain four sets are now coming in,” Lyra said calmly.

“So, everyone who’s been injured these past four days has been injured because Kevin and Hellen are teething?”

“Yes, and they’re using the crew as ‘teething rings.’”

Alex just sighed.

DAY 5

The Silohan snarled. “Easy ship, they said,” it grumbled. “No one’ll put up a fight, they said. Creechmate fucking assholes!”

The raid had gone to hell as soon as it and the rest of its creech had stepped foot on the Starship DEO. They had immediately been met with a hail of blaster fire. Declan had fallen to a Boloxvian brute. Emil had been gutted by a Korugarian child! Taxa had been taken out by a Starhaven bitch wielding, of all things, a frying pan! As the leader of the raiding creech, Cinna had done its best to ignore its fallen creechmates and plowed on, only to come face to face with the ship’s captain.

She had chased it across the ship, a look of fury on her face. Her blade, which looked to be made from Akkadian kyber, had reflected every shot Cinna had put out and forced it on the defensive. Cinna hated being on the defensive. It was used to aliens cowering before it and its creech.

Now Cinna was hiding in the cargo bay, praying to its gods for a way off this ship before it fell at the hands of a furious human woman. It could hear the sounds of boots running throughout the corridors accompanied by the occasional shriek as another Silohan was taken down. Cinna snarled with each shriek. Never before had it encountered a ship crewed by so many different aliens that worked so well together. Come to think of it, it had never encountered a ship with a multispecies crew either.

A soft trill caught Cinna’s attention. It looked up to see a tiny alien with wings. Cinna relaxed, lowering its gun at the sight. Obviously, this thing, probably the ship’s pet, was of no threat to it.

Big mistake.

The tiny alien let out a hair-raising shriek. Cinna had no time to react before the alien dove in and bit it in the throat. Cinna flailed as the jaws clamped tighter around its throat. It let out a gurgle as blood bubbled in its throat before everything went black.

Alex stepped into the cargo bay, sword drawn. She had heard Hellen’s shriek and had come running. She cautiously moved about, only to come to a stop at the sight of a dead Silohan and a preening Hellen. She stared.

“Did you kill him?” Alex asked.

Hellen trilled happily.

Well, alright then. Alex nodded her approval. “Good job, Hellen.”

DAY 6

Zar’ya examine the number of patients before her. While some of them were recovering from the raid carried out by the Silohan creech the day before, most of them were in the sickbay because they were suffering from bite wounds. She sighed.

Alex walked in. In addition to being the ship’s Captain, she was also their Chief Medic. The only reason she wasn’t tending to the wounded was because she’d had to do a final sweep of the ship to make sure that none of the Silohans from the second raiding creech had remained on board.

“How’re the wounded, Zar’ya?”

“Well, they’ll all live,” she replied bluntly.

“I’m sensing a but coming,” Alex remarked dryly.

Zar’ya gave her a look. “But,” she stressed. “Most of the wounded aren’t here because they were wounded during the raids.”

Alex sighed. “Let me guess, they’re the latest batch of those service as Kevin and Hellen’s ‘teething rings?’” Zar’ya could practically hear the air quotes around the words teething rings.

“Indeed. Might I suggest getting, I don’t know, actual teething rings for them instead of letting them use the crew as chew toys?”

“Jackson offered up one of his broken rifles, the one made from duranium,” Alex said. “Kevin snapped it in half with a single bite.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Alex folded her arms and leaned back slightly. “Turns out, they have a bite strength of over two tons, which shouldn’t be all that surprising considering Hellen ripped out the throat of the Silohan creech leader from the first raid.”

Zar’ya frowned. “So, we’re just going to let Kevin and Hellen continue chewing on the crew?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Alex shrugged. “I mean, no one’s dead, aside from the Silohans, so they obviously have the fine control needed to safely chew on the crew.”

For once, Zar’ya couldn’t argue against that logic.

DAY 7

Alex face planted on to the bed. It had been a long week. The appearance of Kevin and Hellen had been a welcome reprieve and had lifted the spirits of everyone on board, but then everything else quickly decided to nosedive. Kessel had blown up the cargo bay and singed off his eyebrows, again. Bob was missing an ear and wouldn’t disclose how it had happened. The number of crew members visiting sickbay had dramatically increased because Kevin and Hellen were teething. To top it all off, the DEO had come under attack not once, but twice, by Silohan raiding creechs. Needless to say, this had been the week from hell. Granted, there was no such thing as an easy week given that they were several light years away from Earth, but this week in particular had just sucked.

Zar’ya had noticed how exhausted Alex was and had recommended she get some rest, posting to the crew that they were not to disturb Alex under the threat of being jettisoned out the airlock. Normally, Alex would’ve protested, said she was fine, and gone about her business before walking into a wall. But for once, she chose not to complain. In fact, she was looking getting some uninterrupted shut eye.

She should’ve known better. As soon as her eyes slipped shut, the intercom crackled to life.

“Captain?” Came Reinhart’s uncertain voice.

Alex wrenched her eyes open. “Yes, Reinhart?” she said, working hard to keep her voice from becoming a growl.

“I think we have some trouble in the bridge.”

Alex huffed and swung her legs so that she was sitting up. “You think? You’re going to have to be a lot clearer than that.”

“Uh, well, it’s kind of hard to explain over the comm, Captain,” they stammered.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Alright, hang tight, I’m coming.”

Alex stepped into the bridge. She had spent the walk from the Captain’s Quarters to the cockpit preparing for a worst-case scenario. While she hadn’t been met with any alarms or panicking crew members, she was still wary. After all, in space, Murphy’s Law ruled supreme.

That said, she was absolutely unprepared to see the nightshift bridge crew fawning over Kevin and Hellen. Alex stared. Were they actually…? She rubbed her eyes. Yep. Her crew, made up of aliens from numerous species, many of whom had spent time on Earth, were using Kevin and Hellen to recreate a scene from Firefly. From the looks of Kevin and Hellen, they weren’t exactly pleased with this development.

She glanced at Reinhart, who caught her eye and shrugged. Given that they hadn’t been on Earth, it was no surprise that they had no idea what was going on. Alex moved to approach them all, careful to keep her steps light as so not to be noticed.

“…we should call it your grave!” Jackson growled, gently manipulating Hellen.

Hellen let out an indignant squawk at the motion.

“Grah! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!” Bob countered as he moved Kevin to the side.

Kevin also voice his displeasure.

Alex cleared her throat. “What’s going on here?”

Everyone jumped. They turned as one to look at Alex. She dug her thumb nail into her finger to keep herself from laughing at the expressions on their faces. They all looked like children who had been caught going after the cookie jar.

Jackson was the first to recover. “Uh, Captain, sir!” He saluted, releasing Hellen.

Hellen trilled, happy to no longer be a prop.

Alex raised an eyebrow. Yes, she had worked for a government paramilitary organization that was militaristic in nature and demanded some formality, but that formality had no place on a ship in deep space whose crew was basically family. The only time when she would ask for such a thing was when they were about to go planet side or came upon another ship and hoped to establish diplomatic ties.

Jackson squirmed at her raised eyebrow. It was obvious to him that Alex was awaiting an explanation, which wasn’t a good thing. She was, after all, not exactly the most patient of people.

“We were just, uh…” he tripped over his words.

Bob came to the rescue. “We were helping Kevin and Hellen exercise,” he said quickly. Jackson shot him a thankful look.

Alex look unimpressed by their lying prowess, or lack thereof. And she thought Kara had been a terrible liar.

“Bob, let Kevin go.” He immediately released Kevin.

Kevin let out a happy sounding noise.

Alex held both of her arms out to Kevin and Hellen. The two miniature pterodactyls made their way up her arms and settled themselves on her shoulders.

“Kevin and Hellen will be coming with me,” she said calmly. “From here on out, they are not to be used as props for you all to reenact scenes from Firefly, understood?” The I can’t believe I actually have to tell you all this, went unspoke as she glared at them, daring someone contradict her.

The crew respected Alex enough to not disagree with her. Even if they hadn’t, the sight of Alex Danvers with two pterodactyls perched her shoulders like a pair of parrots would’ve been enough to have them nodding their agreement.

Alex nodded, satisfied. “Glad we all understand each other. Now, I’m going to bed and sleeping for the next eight hours. If things slightly go to hell, grab Kessel and Lyra.”

Another sea of nods answered her.

“Goodnight, everyone.” Alex turned on her heel and exited the bridge with Kevin and Hellen still sitting on her shoulders.

Alex only managed to get five hours of sleep before another Silohan raiding creech, not having learned from the previous two raiding creechs, decided to take a stab at the DEO. She was not pleased.

#space pirate alex #alex 'fight me' danvers #alex danvers #supergirl #my writing #sandstonesunspear #space dinosaurs

3 notes · View notes