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naughtyneganjdm · 3 years

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The Mistress - Chapter 48

Summary: When Negan helps Lydia and ends up getting in trouble after accidentally killing someone, the reader does what she can to try and help him so he doesn't end up hurt.

Characters: Reader, Negan, Ethan, Logan, Aaron, Daryl, etc.

Warnings: Swearing, angst, and a lot of tension.

Notes: If you still like this story, give me some love and comment. It may be a boring story and I apologize for that, but I'm doing my best. Thanks for reading. This is for the anonymous that asked me for this story. I know you wanted it badly, so it’s for you.

It was late into the night and you found yourself sitting alone in the living room in your home. The silence was something that often got to you during the nights, but you did your best to get through it. It was exceedingly lonely being up at night, but it was a feeling you had grown used to over the last ten years.

The boys were upstairs sleeping and you just couldn’t fall asleep. You attempted to force yourself to sleep for a while, but it wasn’t happening. Your mind always was lingering to places you knew it shouldn’t have been, so you got up. With everything that had been happening with Alexandria, Negan and the Whisperers, you found yourself worried about everything that had been going on.

You should have been sleeping with how much you were working lately, but your mind was in a state of it couldn’t turn off. You would have thought that after all the hard work you had done, it would have been easy to sleep, but it wasn’t. People were getting unexpectedly sick in Alexandria and you were doing your best to help Siddiq and Dante.

A sense of boredom struck you and you reached for the book that was on the coffee table. You were surprised how much reading you had been doing since you had the boys. Negan was reading a lot of books and would make suggestions on what he thought you might like to read. So, the both of you would often go back and forth making suggestions to one another trading off books. It was kind of boring being alone, so sometimes a good book would be able to keep your mind on something else if only for a little while. Obviously, Negan had nothing he could do so he was appreciative when they started bringing him books to read during his time in the cell. It was something normal that the two of you could connect with.

It wasn’t long into you reading when you heard loud, upset sounds coming from outside your home. It wouldn’t surprise you if it was another fight. The people in Alexandria would always get in fights and for the most part you minded your own business and you kept your nose out of it.

When the sounds grew louder and it seemed like more people were taking part, it finally drew your attention. Setting the book down, you could make out someone saying something about someone being dead and you knew it was bad by how loud people were being.

When the sound of one of the doors opening upstairs was heard, you looked up to see Ethan standing at the railing to look over. Clearly the sound had awoken him and you pointed back toward his room after setting the book down.

“I’m going to go check things out. Make sure you watch your brother,” you ordered and Ethan nodded before heading back toward the room to do what you had told him. Originally you had the boys separated in their own rooms, but Logan had gotten nervous at night and Ethan offered to let Logan sleep in his bedroom to help him feel safe at night. Of course, Logan had agreed immediately and now you were actually happy that they had done that. It meant they were both in a safe spot together while you figured out what was going on.

Heading outside, you followed the ruckus and saw a group of people surrounding something. In the distance you could see that Negan was standing at the edge of the group with his hands tied together. Noticing the people of Alexandria screaming and cussing at Negan, you felt your heart skip a beat in your chest and immediately thought the worst.

Stepping forward you saw a body and blood. Your eyes surveyed the area and saw that Lydia was on the ground crying, clearly injured. Dropping down, you moved in beside Daryl who was also checking on her to get a look at her. You had been trained over the last decade to be a doctor, so your initial instinct was to check on her first since she was a child.

“I’ve got her,” Daryl almost snapped at you and you got back up, realizing that he didn’t want you anywhere near her.

“Negan fucking killed her,” one of the younger Alexandrians muttered and your gaze met Negan’s. Immediately, you knew there was trouble and you didn’t know how to respond. Negan attempted to move toward you, but he was shoved back firmly. You could hear the pleas of Lydia saying that Negan helped her and you could see Negan’s expression clearly upset.

“What happened?” you attempted to step forward to talk to Negan, but they kept you distanced from him.

“Get him out of here,” Daryl’s voice boomed through the crowd and you looked over your shoulder to see him helping Lydia up.

“Hey, hold on…” you tried to beg, but Brandon was leading Negan through the crowd and you felt someone shoving you aside. A grunt fell from your throat at the force someone had shoved you. It was unsure who had done it, but it was clearly purposeful.

There was no way you were going to be able to talk to Negan to find out what happened so you eagerly moved through the group. Spotting Aaron, you stepped forward and saw the glare that he gave you making you take in a sharp breath.

“I told you that guy was bad news,” Aaron snapped at you, stepping back and away from you. “He killed her.”

“What do you mean he killed her? Negan wouldn’t just kill someone. Especially a woman,” you defended Negan feeling your heart pounding inside of your chest and you didn’t know how to respond to things. “Aaron. I know Negan better than anyone.”

“I don’t want to hear it from you,” Aaron pushed away from you when he was clearly frustrated with what you were saying. The way at which your ‘friend’ shunned you in the moment shocked you. Aaron was your friend, so to have that happen made you extremely upset.

You were eager to find out what happened and it was strange that you had to learn from someone you barely knew in Alexandria that Negan helped Lydia after she was being attacked by a group of people that almost killed her. The death was apparently an accident. That alone made you wonder why people were so worked up by all of this. Yes, it was bad, but they were trying to kill a child.

You could see Dante and Siddiq working on the body and really that was the last thing you cared about even knowing that was your job. Moving through the crowd, you went to Daryl while he was talking to Lydia and holing her up.

Your chest ached. Daryl already told you to get away, but you had to do something for Negan. It would most certainly be an awkward encounter considering you and Daryl rarely spoke in general. The last time the two of you connected on any kind of level was when Logan was born which was about eight years ago.

“Daryl, you have to listen to Lydia. You know Negan wouldn’t do this,” you tried to reason with Daryl and you were met with the cold, blue eyed stare of Daryl who was frustrated that you even attempted to talk to him at the time. “Daryl, please.”

“She’s right. He was just trying to protect me,” Lydia defended what you were saying and you were hopeful that since Daryl was there and the people of Alexandria tended to look up to him that they would just listen. “He didn’t mean to hurt that woman. He was just trying to keep them from killing me, which they would have done.”

“You’re just a kid, you don’t know what you are talking about,” Daryl stammered and you felt your heart sinking hearing those words come from Daryl’s mouth. When Daryl looked to you again, you could see the disgust he had for you. “I don’t want to hear it from you Y/N. You are biased and the last thing I need is another biased opinion of Negan on this.”

“You have to be kidding right. How am I biased when I’m the person that knows Negan the most? I know what he would do and what he would not do. He would not just kill some woman, unless there was a cause. You know this was an accident, but she was trying to kill Lydia. Daryl, you have to realize that,” you begged, but Daryl pushed through you and you were surprised at how many people had already done that tonight. You were speaking on deaf ears and no one would work with you to know what the future of Negan would be.

It took hours before you could finally sneak in by Negan’s window to even talk to him. They took this whole thing serious and they wanted you nowhere near Negan.

There was talk that the council was getting together to vote on Negan’s fate. You couldn’t believe that the life of your husband was being voted upon by a council of people who were already biased toward him anyways. Negan saved someone from being killed and this was the outcome? Hell, it was a fucking child.

With them not allowing you to be near Negan, you had to sneak in when you could. You waited for the perfect moment for the guard to move away from the door. It took quite some time, but your stare was locked on Negan’s cell. When he moved, you swiftly moved to the window to Negan’s cell. As Negan spotted you, you watched him quickly get up from his bed when he saw you. Negan hopped up on something and grabbed the bars, his eyes desperately hooked on yours. The look he was giving you, broke you.

“They are going to kill me, aren’t they?” Negan’s voice came out in a shuddering breath. His hand reached out for yours and you hooked your fingers around his, squeezing them tight. You looked around the area to make sure you were alone and you shrugged. How were you supposed to answer that? You only heard people muttering rumors, but no one was really going to talk to you about this. They were going to do everything to keep you out of this. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I heard they are voting on it,” you explained not sure what to say. Your mind was full of so much and you couldn’t even begin to think of how to help Negan. “This is so wrong Negan.”

“I fell for all of this bullshit. I thought by being here it would keep my family safe. That if I did good and I did what they asked we would be able to live here peacefully,” Negan muttered with an upset breath. “I bought this bullshit and thought if I was a good person…that if I did the right thing…”

“You did the right thing Negan,” you tried to reason with him. You knew Negan had grown close with Lydia. She was getting similar treatment as Ethan and you kind of assumed that’s what drew Negan to Lydia. When he noticed her being singled out, he was eager to help her and be kind to her. This was the right thing for him to do, so his death being in question was ridiculous. “This on them. They were looking for a reason to throw this on you. They were looking to attack you when you were down. You saved that girl’s life. If they killed you, it wouldn’t make things right. It would only make them wrong.”

“But it would make so many people here happy,” Negan pointed out with a heavy frown, his eyes looking beyond you to make sure that you were safe there with him. “You have to do me a favor.”

“What’s that?” you reached out to touch his face between the bars. Negan leaned into your touch and let out a nervous breath.

“If they hang me…” Negan began, his eyebrows tightening together while he spoke. Those words immediately made you feel like your body was shutting down. God, you didn’t even think that far ahead. “Please…please don’t let the boys see. Make sure they are as far away as possible.”

“That’s not going to happen,” you refused feeling your emotions getting the better of you when you saw Negan’s eyes tearing over. It was clear that he really thought he was going to end up being killed and you were desperate to make sure that didn’t happen. “I would never let that happen.”

“I don’t think you have a choice baby,” Negan reasoned with you and you could see a single tear sliding down the side of his face. Negan was overwhelmed with what was happening. You learned his expressions being with him for as long as you had been. Often, he would just blow things off, but this was so serious. You both did whatever you could to keep your nose down and to avoid conflict, but this wasn’t a choice of keeping your head down. This was the choice of keeping a little girl alive or not and what Negan did was right. It was just a sad accident that someone took the wrong fall and was accidentally killed. “Whatever they decide, I don’t think things are going to be like they have been. I think…I don’t think good things Y/N. You have to take care of those boys. If they find out what happened…please let them know that I meant well. I’m not the monster that people are going to portray me to be.”

“They would never think you were a monster or believe those lies,” you attempted to tell him, but you could see that the color was draining from his face. You leaned in to meet him in a quick kiss and you caressed your hand in over the side of his face. “I’m going to do whatever I can to fix this.”

“There is nothing that you can do about this,” Negan repeated, his face twisting with agony over the idea of what they were having planned for him. “I guarantee so many of them already have their minds made up on this.”

“But it’s wrong. You were doing the right thing,” you insisted knowing that you wanted to break and fall apart in front of him, but you had to be the one that was strong. You still couldn’t help crying while he touched your face and there was a sadness over his face that told you he really thought this was the end for him. “Daryl is here and…”

“I don’t think he’s going to help,” Negan bit into his bottom lip and looked down. “He came down here because it’s clear that he thinks that I shouldn’t be put to death for this, but he mocked me with the idea of it. I think he was coming down here to try and find a reason why I should be dead. I don’t think he found it. I think he knows what I did was right. It was an accident. They all know it was an accident.”

“Then if he thinks that, it means it should help,” you claimed and his eyebrows perked up. “Daryl is a good man.”

“Daryl is one man,” Negan reminded you and he shook his head. “There is nothing that I can do other than wait. They say I’m going to be able to say my side of the story, but it doesn’t matter what I say because they all made their choice long before I even get my chance to explain. Plus, that girl deserved to die. She was beating on a fucking kid. The world won’t miss her. Who the hell does that?”

“You can’t say that though Negan if you are allowed to speak. I completely agree with you, but you have to appeal to their humanity,” you stated with a firm tone knowing that Negan had a bad habit of mouth vomiting whatever it was that he was thinking. “You have to say you were sorry and stress why it happened. That you saved a child.”

“But I’m not sorry Y/N. I’m not sorry at all. If I wouldn’t have helped Lydia, would our boy have been next? Would Ethan have been their next target?” Negan spouted off and those words hit you hard. Negan wasn’t wrong. Especially after all Ethan had told you. “That boy that took part in it, he’s one of the ones that picks on Ethan. The group was out for blood. They would have killed her if it wasn’t for me. If she was still there to urge the two morons, she could have taken them to our boy next. The world is better off without her and no one will miss her, but those two morons. They are just using her as an excuse to get rid of me.”

“Then say something like that, but not so forward,” you begged, but Negan’s jaw locked up and he looked out in the distance toward the people of Alexandria. “The boys and I can’t lose you Negan. We need you to do whatever you have to in order to stay alive for us.”

“I’m trying. I’ve been trying this whole time,” Negan grumbled, his tired eyes meeting yours again. “I do all of this for you and the boys. I just know that I can’t convince someone who has already made up their mind that I don’t deserve to live. They wanted blood and mine is the one they want to spill. They think this is the first chance they’ve had since Rick disappeared to get me. Rick isn’t here to keep me safe and they know that.”

“I will talk to people,” you repeated an earlier thought and Negan tilted his head to the side.

“You have to be careful who you talk to. You know that people here are dangerous. The last thing I need is them taking their shit out on you because of me,” Negan denied your thoughts, but you couldn’t help it. You needed to talk to someone. Out of the corner of your eye you could see the guard returning and Negan frowned. Who knew when you would be able to speak to Negan again? “Please, just…do what I asked of you with the boys if it comes to that.”

“It won’t come to that,” you promised, leaning in to press another quick kiss against his lips to have that last moment of interaction because you didn’t know what would happen next. “I’m going to do what I can to help you. I promise.”

“Just be safe,” Negan stepped down from where he was and you scrambled to your feet. Walking down the street near your home, you saw Aaron stepping out of his house and approached him.

“I don’t want to see you right now,” Aaron warned trying to move around you when he saw you moving up before his porch, but you stepped up on the steps to block him in. “Anything you have to say, right now is not the time for it.”

“No, now is the perfect time for it. I know you are going to go into that meeting and suggest they kill Negan,” you firmly replied catching Aaron’s blue eyes narrowing out at you. His jaw locked up and you could tell that you were right. “After everything he did to save you the other day you are still going to throw him under the bus and try to get him killed.”

“He’s a horrible, awful man Y/N,” Aaron scowled, the lines in his forehead creasing when he spoke to you. “He didn’t deserve to be here in the first place. He should have died on that hill when Rick cut his throat.”

“So, you’re saying that my kids don’t belong here?” you shoved into Aaron’s chest and you watched Aaron stammer for words. “I thought you were my friend. I thought you cared about my family, but you’re so desperately wanting to take my children’s father away from them. What if it was Gracie that those three were attacking, huh? Gracie came from a place just like Lydia did.”

“Don’t use my daughter as an example to make me feel bad,” Aaron grumbled, a sound of irritation filtering through the air. “I can’t believe you would even attempt that on me.”

“You just don’t want to hear it because you know I’m right. There are a group of people here that want to destroy everyone that they don’t see fit. Your child, my children, Lydia. They are all innocent children that are being singled out for stupid reasons,” you reasoned with Aaron, but he was so stubborn it was clear he was trying to ignore you. “I know you are hurting from loss right now. With The Whisperers killing Jesus, I know how you felt about him. I know how you both felt about each other. It made a rage build up inside of you and likely reminded you of your loss with Eric, but Negan didn’t kill Eric.”

“No, but his people did,” Aaron snorted and his jaw tensed up when he said it. “I was there when he killed Abraham and Glenn. He’s a monster.”

“That’s not the same man in there anymore and you know that. Killing him will make you no better than the man you claim he is,” you snapped on the man you thought was your friend, but you were learning more and more that he wasn’t. “You know what he did was right in saving Lydia. You know that he wasn’t wrong in protecting Lydia and you sure as fuck know it was an accident. You are just taking advantage of the situation and moment.”

“I know that man is a monster. I always knew that he was,” Aaron shook his head and he bit back on his emotions while he looked at you. “This is just a moment where he was in the right place at the right time taking advantage of what he does best. It won’t stop at her. Negan will keep killing.”

“You know that’s not Negan’s motto. Especially not now, but not even then when he was darker than he is now,” you reminded Aaron and you felt your body tensing up. “Do I have to remind you why that moment with Abraham and Glenn even happened in the first place?”

“Don’t you even start,” Aaron tried to push around you, but your hands firmly shoved into the center of his chest.

“You don’t want to hear it because you know I’m right. It happened because you and the rest of the crew went in and killed of Negan’s men while they were sleeping. Was it right what Negan did? No, but what made any of you any better?” you yelled, catching the face that Aaron made. Your friendship with Aaron was done after this and you no longer wanted anything to do with the man standing in front of you. “You are so eager to point fingers when it’s someone you hate, but when it’s you or someone you care about, it’s easy to forget. You’re a fucking hypocrite Aaron. When people come for you for something you may have done wrong, I hope people show you sympathy and empathy in the areas you aren’t showing Negan or my family.”

“You know I love you and the boys like my own family,” Aaron scoffed and you shook your head. That was a fucking lie. No one who loved you or your children would ever attempt something like this on the man that made your family whole.

“No, if you loved us you wouldn’t take the thing that means the most to my boys away from them. What we talked about here is not going to make you change your mind,” you bit back your emotions and stepped away from Aaron. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t even know who you are and I don’t care to any further.”

“You are blinded by him Y/N,” Aaron tried to reason with you as he stepped off his porch and followed you toward your home. “You think because you got pregnant with his children that he is something special. You had a chance at happiness with Daryl and you fucking ruined it for a manipulative piece of shit that uses your boys to make people feel bad for him. Negan did what he knew he had to do in order to get people to empathize with him. If he had two children, two young boys that would break if he was dead…then people would do what they could to keep him from dying.”

“Negan loves his family,” you cut him off, turning to face him. Poking Aaron firmly in the chest, you were doing your best to hold your anger in. “Ethan and Logan are everything to him.”

“Because they are his ticket out of everything!” Aaron snapped and his angered tone filled the air. “Do you think if Negan would have won this war that Negan would still be with you? Negan is still with you because you are the only person that is left. From the moment Negan could, he would use his kids as a topic of discussion when someone could come into the cell.”

“He’s proud of his boys,” you stated feeling your firsts clenching at your side.

“No, he’s not honey. He’s a manipulator. He knows that you will fight for him until the end of time. You guys have a bond because you had children together,” Aaron almost mocked you and you hoped that the boys were nowhere near this to be able to hear Aaron running his mouth off on their father. “Negan throws his boys around in people’s faces because he knows that people will see him as a loving, doting father. One that shouldn’t be dead because his boys need him. The first chance he got to be something, to lead something again he would leave the three of you behind in the dust. He doesn’t give a shit about you.”

“You’re bold,” you bit down on your bottom lip wanting to strike Aaron more than anything, but you were trying to keep your anger down. The last thing you needed was Aaron making a deal about you assaulting him and the boys getting both of their parents taken from them. “You’re a shit friend.”

“I’m a logical friend,” Aaron muttered with a simple shrug, “the best thing that could ever happen for you and the boys is Negan being gone.”

“You’ve seen Ethan,” you thought back to how Aaron had been with them several times when Ethan’s excitement with being around Negan had been. “He loves Negan more than anything.”

“And Negan made sure of that. So much so that your boy will defend him like the air he breathes which is the reason why the negative attention has been drawn to him,” Aaron snorted, his eyes narrowing at you. “Negan is using your little boy to get people to feel bad for him.”

“I’m not going to listen to this,” you felt your body shaking and you stepped back toward the steps. “I hope you can explain to my boys if something happens to their father why you decided he was better off dead. In a way that children can understand because I’ll make sure they know you are part of the reason Negan was killed.”

“That’s not fair and you know it,” Aaron grunted, but you moved up the steps to your house and slammed the door shut.

You wondered what you were going to tell your children. The last time you saw them was in the morning to tell them that you would be back soon. They had no idea what was going on with their father and you didn’t even know what to do at this point. You wanted to break down. You wanted to have faith that the people of Alexandria had a heart and common sense to know that what happened with Negan was an accident, but you lost faith in people a very long time ago. Aaron confirmed your reasoning for feeling that way too.

The next time you saw Daryl, you just prayed that maybe he would be able to help you and your family. There had to be something there from all those years ago that could help you help Negan. Daryl got angry with you for picking Negan over him, but you hoped that maybe there was still some kind of feelings left over that would make Daryl understand your plea.

Until then you would just have to go back to the boys and hope that the best would come from it, not the worst.

-----

Shifting in bed, you looked to the time and knew that you were miserable. You hadn’t slept in so long. It was the middle of the night and all you could think about was Negan and what they were going to do to him if they decided he didn’t deserve to live. How could you sleep with that heavy on your mind?

Letting out a nervous sound, you shifted into a sitting position when you heard something knock over downstairs. It wasn’t super loud, but it was enough to alert you someone was potentially in your house. It made you in fear for your life and the boys after what Negan had done. You just assumed anyone that knew that Negan was the father of the boys might come after the three of you for revenge. You wouldn’t put it past some of the people in Alexandria.

Reaching for the nightstand, you pulled open the drawer and reached for the gun that was there. Moving down the steps you had your gun up and raised to meet whatever you had to.

Stepping into the living room, you surveyed the dark room until you felt the warmth of a hand being wrapped around your mouth causing you to let out a scared breath. They pulled you back to their chest and you lifted the gun, but the large hand covered yours to keep you from bringing it up.

“Don’t shoot,” Negan’s warm breath pressed in over the side of your face making you look up to see past the small amount of light that was filling the room that it was Negan that was holding onto you. Turning in his arms, you let him grab a hold of the gun and you reached to wrap your arms around his neck to hold him tight. “I’m glad you’re ready to kill anyone that comes in here though.”

“What are you doing? How did you get out?” you stared out at him, reaching up to caress over the sides of his face. Negan was extremely pale and you could sense this wasn’t one of those moments where Gabriel gave him a place to go for a while. “Are you safe here?”

“For right now. Technically I’m supposed to get the fuck out of here, but I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to you and the boys,” Negan explained, clearing his throat while he stared out at you. Negan looked to the gun you had that was in his hand. “Well it’s good to know you are willing to bust a cap into someone’s ass if they come after our family.”

“Things have been a little stressful,” you reminded Negan with a frown and he let out an upset sound. “What’s going on Negan? What do you mean you have to get the fuck out of here?”

“Listen, no one is ever going to accept me here. Not unless I do something big. Something that will make them forget what I did before,” Negan explained with a heavy breath, “You know if I stay here, they are likely going to kill me and we can’t have that.”

“What does that mean though?” you blurt out, still desperately trying to get an answer from him.

“That means someone came to me with an offer and I’m going to take it,” Negan replied with an overwhelmed expression. “I have to do something. Something that if it is done right, I will be able to live here with you and the boys without the fear. We don’t have to worry if someone will go after our boys.”

“How is that going to happen?” she tried to reason with him, reaching for his wrists to squeeze over them in a supportive grasp. “Negan if someone finds you out of your cell, especially now…I’m scared of what they will do.”

“Which is why I have to be fast and be gone by morning,” Negan insisted with a loud swallow. “They won’t find me. I’m far too good at getting out of a tight situation. You know that. You’ve always known that. I can protect myself from these people, but in order to stay alive and keep my family safe there is something I have to do.”

“What?” Y/N contemplated who came to him and released him. “You should tell me so I know what’s going on here.”

“No,” Negan refused and shook his head, biting at his bottom lip. His thick eyebrows were very expressive showing how upset he was with all the pressures that were going on around them. “The less you know, the safer you will be.”

“But for the sake of me and the boys…” she began, but Negan hushed her setting the gun down on the coffee table. He stepped forward and cupped her face in his hands tenderly. The rough caress of his thumbs drew across the sides of your face and it caused a chill to run down your spine.

“That’s why I’m doing this. I’m always going to be scared unless I do something to make people forget,” Negan repeated what he said earlier and you didn’t know what it was that he thought he could do for that to be the case. “The problem is that it is very dangerous…”

“Then don’t do it,” you suggested with a shuddering breath. You knew it was fear because of the way Negan was acting and you didn’t want something bad to happen to him. “I can go get the boys. We’ll take what we need and we will leave. We will go find a home for us and the boys where we can live on our own. We can settle down and just live alone.”

“Here the boys are guaranteed to have food every day. Here the boys and my wife have a roof over their heads. Here my boys can learn and defend themselves,” Negan listed off the good reasons for them to stay at Alexandria. “You have to understand that going out there…there are no guarantees. Our boys are still young. They can’t fight for themselves. We may or may not have a safe place to live. We might not have food. In order to make sure that my family has the protection they need, I have to make this work Y/N.”

“Right, but I don’t understand this Negan. We aren’t really that safe here either if people are this quick to snap,” you pointed out after what happened with Lydia. People were so quick to point fingers and yell murderer when it was a genuine accident that happened. “We can figure things out together. We always have and we always will.”

“I can’t gamble the life or my wife and my boys when I know here, they at least have the support they need,” Negan hushed you, continuing to brush his rough thumbs over the sides of your face. It caused you to shudder and you found yourself desperate for him to figure something out. “I just, I don’t want this to be goodbye, but in case something happens…”

“What are you doing?” you pulled back when Negan went to kiss you and you shook your head. “You can’t say that kind of shit to me. It makes it sound like you are going on a suicide mission. How do you think that will help me and the boys?”

“I can’t explain it, but it will make things better if it works,” Negan assured you and you felt him pulling you close so he could deposit a kiss over your lips. It felt like a very emotional kiss and you didn’t know how to respond to all of it. “Can we go see the boys?”

“They aren’t going to understand Negan because I don’t even understand,” you reasoned with him and Negan frowned. He slouched down to hug you loosely, his nose nuzzling against the side of your neck. “You can’t tell them that you might not come back and that it’s dangerous or could be goodbye.”

“I don’t lie to my boys,” Negan sighed against the side of your neck making you frown. “I need to be as honest with them as possible. If I tell them I am certainly coming back and I don’t, they will hate me forever.”

“They will be broken hearted forever if you don’t come back,” you snorted, knowing that this was driving you crazy. There had to be better options than whatever Negan had planned.

“It’s not like I don’t plan on coming back. I want to come back,” Negan hushed you and he brushed your hair back behind your ear while his eyes were locked on yours. “But I want to be able to come back and be able to be with my family. I want to be able to not be afraid for my life and afraid for my family’s lives.”

“I don’t think there is anything you could do that would ever make that happen,” you hated to be the realist here, but the people here were so eager to take down Negan that there was nothing you could see him doing helping the people here accept him. “You shouldn’t kill yourself to prove a point to these people that they won’t care about.”

“So, I should stay here and wait for them to hang me where my kids could see it and hear about it until the end of time?” Negan retorted with an angered breath and you felt your cheeks flushing over.

“You know that’s not what I want,” you hated when he would get like this. The boys and Negan were everything to you, so he knew that’s not what you were thinking. “I would rather us leave together and not have to have you risk your life for someone I don’t even trust here.”

“This person is important. If their words help us, I think it might work,” Negan attempted to convince you, but you weren’t trusting of anyone here. “I would rather put my own life on the line than put my entire family’s lives on the line. You have to understand where I am coming from here. You asked me to do whatever I could to try and survive for you and the boys. This is my one shot. This is the closest thing I could get to surviving.”

“I don’t want something to happen to you Negan,” you pointed out with a small whimper worried about the unknown of what was going to happen to him if he left. “I can’t have these people hurt you, but whatever you have planned sounds bad.”

“It’s bad, but I think I can handle it,” Negan reached up to brush away the dampness over your cheek that had gotten there from you being overwhelmed from all of this. “Fuck, you know me. I’m a snake, I can always wiggle my way out of tight situations.”

“One day your luck is going to end though Negan and I don’t want to live to see that day,” you reminded him and Negan tipped down to press a long, lingering kiss over your lips. It made you go breathless and you just wished that things could be different. It was so hard having to live over a decade the way you had, but you should have never had to worry about him the way you were. “I just don’t want to lose you.”

“And I want to protect you,” Negan muttered against your lips, his forehead pressed to yours while his thumb caressed over your cheekbone. With his hazel eyes hooked on yours, you felt a chill spread down your spine and you swallowed down hard. “If I knew we had a place where it was guaranteed my children could eat and they would be safe, I would go there with you. I would have run away with you a long time ago, but nothing is for certain out there. Here, you guys have a chance at being protected and I’m going to do what I can to make that work for you.”

“I’m not going to change your mind, am I?” your lips parted and Negan smiled. You knew his answer, you didn’t even know why you asked it. “You’re so fucking stubborn.”

“As are you my love,” Negan snickered and stepped back slowly, his hands reaching for yours. “That’s why I fell in love with you.”

“I don’t know what to do here,” you gave up, looking away from Negan because the more you stared out at him the more you knew you would want to try to convince him to stay.

“Tell me you love me and take me upstairs to say goodbye for now to the boys,” Negan suggested reaching out to curl his finger in underneath your chin to get you to look at him. His right eyebrow arched and you felt your heart pounding inside of your chest. “Then, when I put them back to bed…you give me one last kiss to keep me fighting. That way I know what I have waiting for me at home.”

“You’re something else,” you sniffled realizing that he was making you cry and he stared out at you expectantly. “You know I love you.”

“I know and I love you too,” Negan tugged slightly on your hand leading you toward the stairs toward the boys’ room. When Negan opened the door to their room, you watched him lean against the doorframe to look at the both of them sleeping. There was a certain look in his eyes while he stared out at his boys. You couldn’t read it, but you saw him let out a shuddering breath and he looked to you with an expression you hadn’t quite seen. “I wish I was here for everything with them growing up. I wish life was normal and the two of us could have been the kind of parents these boys deserved.”

“Me too,” you confessed knowing that it was a dream of yours, but you knew it was never going to be an option.

The sound of someone shifting was heard and you looked out to see that Ethan was waking up. When he shot up in his bed at the sight of Negan, you watched Negan hold his finger up over his mouth to make sure that Ethan stayed quiet. Negan moved into the room carefully and you followed making sure to stay by the door enough to keep guard. The last thing you wanted was to get lost in a moment with your family and have someone come in after Negan.

“Dad?” Ethan muttered, scrambling to wrap his arms around Negan’s neck to hold onto him. “I heard things…I didn’t know if I would be seeing you again. I was scared.”

“I know, I was scared too, but we need to talk, okay?” Negan caressed his hand in over the back of his son’s head before Ethan pulled back to look at Negan who was starting to cry. The look Ethan gave him was confused as to why Negan was getting upset. “I need you to do me a favor.”

“Yeah,” Ethan nodded immediately and you knew he would do absolutely anything for his father.

“You know how much I love you, right?” Negan confirmed and Ethan’s hazel eyes were locked on his father’s.

“You know I do,” Ethan reached up to touch the side of his father’s face and a worried expression fell in over Ethan’s face. “I love you too dad.”

“You are everything to me,” Negan muttered, leaning in to press a loving kiss over Ethan’s forehead. When he pulled away you didn’t know if you had the strength to see your son get upset when Negan told him what he wanted. “You, your brother and your mama are my everything. Which is why I need to tell you that I’m leaving for a while.”

“Leaving?” Ethan repeated, his tone getting a bit stronger when he looked to you as if in search of some kind of answer. “Why? Where?”

“In order to keep all of you safe I have to do something and I have to leave Alexandria,” Negan informed Ethan and you watched Ethan begin to panic. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be gone and I’m sure you are going to hear things. Awful things about me…”

“No, why are you leaving?” Ethan denied, letting out a worried breath.

“I can’t tell you that,” Negan shook his head, biting down on his bottom lip firmly, “but I need you to be my good boy and take care of your mama and your brother. Okay? You are my brave little man and I need you to promise me that you are going to protect them.”

“Dad,” Ethan’s eyes started to tear over and he pulled the blankets away from his body, but Negan was still attempting to keep Ethan quiet. “If you’re going to leave, let’s go together. I hate it here.”

“We can’t do that,” Negan shook his head, his voice coming out broken, “Out there is dangerous.”

“But I’m a brave boy,” Ethan reminded Negan with a frown, “Remember? I’m strong.”

“You are and I know that, but out there is not safe. Here you are safe,” Negan hushed Ethan and it was clearly upsetting Ethan badly. “I know you want to go with me and trust me I want to be with you too…”

“Then take me,” Ethan interrupted Negan, his voice now loud enough to get Logan moving in his bed. “We can run away from here. We never have to see these people again.”

“I wish it worked like that Ethan, but it’s not going to happen. Here you have a house, food…out there you don’t have that,” Negan was honest with his son and reached out to brush Ethan’s messy hair out of his face. “You have to promise me what I asked you Ethan.”

“But…” Ethan went to bicker more and Negan gave him a sideways glance. “I promise dad. I just don’t understand.”

“Don’t understand what?” Logan yawned, lifting up in bed enough. He rubbed at his tired eyes before noticing that Negan was there. Logan swiftly pulled his blankets back and ran over to Negan to jump into Negan’s arms where he was sitting on Ethan’s bed.

“Dad is leaving,” Ethan answered and Logan pulled back to look at Negan. “He’s leaving the walls.”

“That’s dangerous,” Logan reminded Negan knowing what he had been told since he was a child. All these kids knew were what it was like inside the walls of Alexandria.

“I have to,” Negan grumbled, reaching for Ethan to pull him in closer to his chest so he could hug them both. He deposited a kiss on each of their heads before letting out a saddened sound. “I love the both of you so much and hopefully I’m back soon…”

“I love you too…” Logan was confused and he reached out to touch Negan’s face when he saw Negan crying. “Dad?”

“I have to go, but you both have to know how much you mean to me,” Negan heard Ethan crying and he squeezed Ethan in closer to him.

“Are you coming back?” Ethan pulled away from Negan to look up at him with worried eyes. When Negan didn’t answer, he shoved away from Negan and let out a hurt sound. “Say you are coming back.”

“I’m going to try,” Negan responded, swallowing down hard while taking notice that Logan just seemed happy to have him in his arms. “Ethan, this is for you.”

“If you don’t come back, how is that for me?” Ethan snorted, reaching up to wipe at his face. “I love you more than anything.”

“Which is why I have to do this and I’m going to do everything I can to get back to you. It’s why I need you to be the man of the house while I’m gone,” Negan requested and Ethan looked miserable, but he nodded. “I love you boys and I promise I will do my best to get back to you both.”

“I love you,” Logan wrapped his arms around Negan’s neck and hugged him close. “Please be safe.”

It was clear that Logan wasn’t grasping it as easily as Ethan was because he wasn’t as upset. It was obvious that he was picking up on Ethan being upset and knew that he should be upset, but he was more so caring for his father and eager just to get to say goodbye.

“Come here,” Negan waved his hand for Ethan after Logan pulled away and moved in beside you to cuddle his head in against your side. Ethan had his legs pulled up to his chest and he was still crying. “Ethan…”

“I don’t want to say goodbye,” Ethan refused and Negan gave him a desperate expression and Ethan shook his head. “Saying goodbye means it could be forever. You need to come back home. You need to be here for us. You just have to.”

“You’re not even going to hug me before I leave?” Negan frowned and Ethan didn’t answer, but he didn’t move either. Ethan’s reaction to it upset Negan, but he slowly got up and moved in to press a kiss against Ethan’s forehead. “I’m sorry I upset you Ethan, but I love you so much.”

Negan moved away from Ethan’s bed and reached for Logan to pick him up in his arms, “Now you, you have to be good, okay?”

“Okay,” Logan agreed with a bright smile leaning in to press a kiss over Negan’s cheek. Negan moved back toward Logan’s bed and placed him back in. He covered Logan with a blanket and tucked him in.

“Now I need you both to pretend like I wasn’t here. It will be keep me safe while I’m outside those walls,” Negan muttered, looking between both of his boys. Ethan simply nodded and Negan looked back to Logan.

“I promise,” Logan muttered, glancing over at Ethan again knowing that his big brother was upset. “Please come home.”

“I promise that I’m going to try,” Negan whispered, brushing his fingers through Logan’s short hair and he stood up from the bed. Negan looked at Ethan who seemed to refuse to look at him at this point. “I love you both so much.”

Negan turned to you and you could tell that Negan was breaking on the inside. When he moved out of the bedroom, he closed the door behind him and when he did, he immediately lowered his head against your shoulder. Instinctively you wrapped your arms around him and heard him crying. Ethan’s response to everything likely broke him and you couldn’t blame him.

“I’m so sorry I put all of this on you,” Negan apologized and you pressed a soft kiss over the side of his neck. “I’m so sorry for everything.”

“Just try to get home to us safely,” you urged Negan to look at you so you could kiss him one last time. Leading him down the stairs, you figured it would be the safest to have him sneak out the back door. Especially if they were already aware of him being gone.

The sound of the door being pulled open was heard when you both made it to the kitchen, “Dad, wait!”

Negan stopped when the sound of feet moving as quickly down the stairs as possible was heard. Ethan surveyed the living room before seeing you both in the kitchen and he ran as fast as he could to Negan who immediately grabbed Ethan in his arms to pick him up. Ethan wrapped his arms tightly around Negan’s neck like he’d never let him go. Negan let out a relieved sound and Ethan pressed a kiss against his father’s cheek.

“I was scared you left,” Ethan muttered with a winded sound while Negan desperately held onto him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Negan pulled back, his eyes full of tears while he looked out at Ethan. “I upset you. I don’t expect you to like everything I do and say.”

“But if that was the last time…if that was the last time…” Ethan began to cry and Negan hushed him, pulling his son’s head in against his shoulder. The dampness of Ethan’s tears soaked his shirt and you felt your heart breaking looking at your son. All three of you were crying at this point and there was no hiding it. “I would hate myself forever because I love you.”

“I love you more,” Negan whispered knowing that it was their thing and it made Ethan pull back. Ethan shook his head and knew that his father wanted him to respond.

“I love you most,” Ethan whimpered and Negan swallowed down hard. “I win.”

“I have to go buddy,” Negan reached up after bracing Ethan in one of his arms to push Ethan’s hair out of his face, “but know you changed me. You are the best thing I ever did in this world. You and your brother are the best part of me. And I will always love you.”

“I love you too,” Ethan hugged Negan one last time and you stepped forward to offer your hand out to Ethan who accepted it when Negan set him back on the ground. You watched Negan open the back door and he stopped before stepping toward you one last time to give you a quick kiss. “We’ll see you soon dad.”

Negan paused at the back door to give the both of you a wink before heading out, closing the door behind him. You and Ethan stood there for a moment and it felt wrong just letting this happen, but you knew that you had no choice.

“Mom,” Ethan spoke up, looking up at you with tears in his eyes. “I’m scared.”

“It’s going to be okay baby,” you kneeled down to be level with Ethan. You brushed your fingers through his hair while watching him cry and you understood it. His father was everything to him. “Dad loves you and if he can make it back to you, he will.”

“I hope he does,” Ethan whimpered, falling in against your chest to cry and you comforted him. You hoped for your boys’ sake that Negan would make it back. It would be hell if something happened to him because that man was this family’s world.

----

“Where is he?” the sound of someone slamming your bedroom door open was heard and you felt Ethan immediately shifting in your arms after being scared awake. After Negan had left last night Ethan had asked to sleep with you since he was so upset. You had agreed to let him lay in bed with you, but you grabbed Logan to lay with you both as well. Lifting your head, you saw Aaron and a few Alexandrians walking into your bedroom. “Where is Negan?”

“In his cell,” Logan’s young voice filled the room and you looked over your shoulder to see Logan slowly pulling himself up from where he was laying down. He rubbed at his eyes and you were surprised that of your two boys Logan was the first to lie. “That’s where he is always is.”

“I’m talking to your mom buddy,” Aaron’s voice softened when he looked at your younger son who was gradually waking up. When Aaron returned his eyes to yours, his glare got worse and he shook his head. “After what you said to me, do you really think I would believe you had nothing to do with this?”

“Do with what?” you snorted with an angry breath, getting up enough to stare out at Aaron. “What happened to Negan? What did you do?”

“Oh, bullshit,” Aaron grumbled throwing his hands up in the air in an angry fashion and your head tilted to the side.

“What happened to my dad?” Ethan blurt out and Aaron gave her a side eyed expression. “Can I see him?”

“He’s not in his cell and he can’t be found. You honestly expect me to believe that you have no idea where he went or where he is?” Aaron scoffed and you reached to wrap your arms around your boys to pull them in close to you.

“Do you honestly think if Negan was able to get away from here that we wouldn’t go with him? I feel like you know me enough to know that if Negan was leaving, especially with his life on the line the three of us would have gone with him,” you pointed out and watched Aaron’s cheeks flush over. “We’re still here. How do I know you didn’t do something to Negan?”

“Oh, you’re something else. You think I went and killed him because…” the sound of someone clearing their throat was heard and Aaron looked over his shoulder to see Daryl moving up the stairs. Daryl moved into the room and pressed his hand into the center of Aaron’s chest to get him to move out of the room. “What?’

“You’re going to upset the kids. You need to stop,” Daryl’s voice was quiet, but you still were able to hear him while you brushed your fingers through your sons’ hair. “The kids are both saying it too. I believe them. So, you need to back off.”

“It’s bullshit Daryl,” Aaron insisted and Daryl hushed him again.

“You really think an eight-year-old and a ten-year-old can be part of an elaborate scheme? Look at them. They are scared,” Daryl looked over his shoulder to see the boys staring out at him with big eyes. “Just leave…I’m going to talk to Y/N for a few.”

“Whatever,” Aaron waved his hand and motioned the others to follow him out of the house after Daryl’s order.

“Hey,” Daryl simply muttered, his blue eyes hooked on yours and shifted on his feet. “You think we could talk?”

“Could I have a few?” you stammered and Daryl looked between the two boys. “I have to get the boys ready for the day and I have to get ready myself.”

“Yeah, I’ll be downstairs. You okay if I throw some breakfast together?” Daryl offered and you swallowed down hard. You nodded and Daryl gave you a final glance before closing the door back up for you.

After a minute, Logan pulled from you and looked to you with big eyes. He began to whisper knowing that Daryl was still in the house, “Did I do a good job?”

“You did a great job baby. Both of you did,” you leaned forward to press a loving kiss over Logan’s forehead.

“It’s to keep daddy safe,” Logan sighed and you looked to Ethan with a worried expression knowing that this was hard on him.

The three of you got ready and by the time all of you made it downstairs Daryl was done putting together some scrambled eggs and veggies for your family. Sitting down at the table with Daryl felt awkward and the boys were quiet.

“You know, the two us spent a lot of time together when you were a baby,” Daryl snapped his fingers to get Ethan’s attention and Ethan lifted his head from his plate. Ethan’s hazel eyes were fixated on Daryl and Daryl offered up a small smirk. “When you were a kid you called me doo-doo all the time.”

“Like poop?” Logan blurt out with a giggle and Daryl smirked.

“Right. He couldn’t say Daryl so he called me that,” Daryl remembered all the time he had spent with you and Ethan in the past. The fact he smiled about it confused you because he spent so many years staying away from you after he found you with Negan. Other than when Logan was born, he avoided your family for the most part.

“I’m sorry,” Ethan apologized, his face twisting with confusion on what to say to Daryl after that.

“Oh no…I uh…I actually kinda liked it. It was cute,” Daryl confessed, lowering his head to poke at the food on the plate he made for himself. Back then you felt like you and Daryl were going to be friends forever, but after his blowup over knowing you were in love with Negan, you never thought he would come back again. “You were a cute kid.”

“A lot of people think you are my dad,” Ethan informed him with an uneven breath and Daryl nodded. “Why?”

“Well...a lot of people here didn’t like your father. So I told people that you and your brother were my boys to keep you safe,” Daryl admitted and with how little time he had spent with the boys, it was clear he was uncomfortable with how that played out. “Though, if I was your dad I would have really sucked.”

“You said you spent a lot of time with me?” Ethan confirmed and Daryl reached up to brush his hair back behind his ear while he nodded. “Then, why did you stop?”

“I made a poor choice. Your mom and I were good friends,” Daryl muttered looking to you as he spoke, “And I let something get in the way of that.”

“We all make bad choices,” Logan blurted out and Daryl turned his attention to Logan who boasted that proudly. Daryl chuckled and reached out to rub his fingers through Logan’s short hair.

“You were just a little guy the last time I really saw you,” Daryl thought back to the first time he held Logan and he looked uncomfortable. “You both grew up so much. I wish I would have been around more with the two of you growing up.”

“You can always be around now,” Logan reminded him with a simple shrug.

“I don’t have a lot of friends,” Ethan whispered, his eyebrows tensing together as he spoke. “Judith is friends with me, but she’s busy a lot. I wouldn’t mind being friends with you.”

“What do you mean you don’t have a lot of friends?” Daryl blurt out and you nudged his foot with yours underneath the table. “I mean uh…”

“I get picked on a lot,” Ethan responded with a long sigh. “People take out a lot of their anger about my dad on me. It’s…lonely.”

“I’m sorry,” Daryl now realized why you nudged him like you did. “People can be jerks.”

“Yeah,” Ethan sighed and rest his jaw on his palm. “Other than dad, I never get to play catch with the other kids.”

“I’ll play with you,” Daryl blurt up and Ethan’s eyes excitedly lifted up from the plate, but he looked to you almost begging to let him do it. “I mean I’m horrible at it and you will probably be chasing it for a while, but we can try.”

“If you want to…I’m sure Daryl is very busy though right now,” you pointed out and Daryl shrugged.

“I can make time,” Daryl insisted.

“Can Logan play?” Ethan questioned and Daryl chuckled.

“Of course,” Daryl answered and both boys quickly got up from the table to go run for the gloves that were upstairs. “Where’d they go?”

“They went to get their gloves,” you knew where they went because this was what they did every time Negan played with them. “You don’t have to be nice to my kids just because they are worried about their dad.”

“I should have been nice to your kids the whole time,” Daryl frowned, reaching out to place his hand over yours to give it a firm squeeze. “You can’t help who you love. I should have realized that sooner. I’m sorry.”

“Since we’re talking about love, I heard you have something going on,” you snickered and Daryl rolled his eyes. “Then again, it depends on who you ask. Some people think you and Carol have had something going on for a while, but others…they say now Connie.”

“There are rumors for everyone here. You get in a small community and you’re sleeping with everybody,” Daryl snorted, ruffling his messy hair a bit. “If there was something, I would tell you. I just have friends.”

“Mhmm,” you stared out at him and he playfully shoved your hand aside.

“You haven’t changed,” Daryl silently chuckled and you looked toward the entrance of the kitchen when both boys returned.

“It’s my dad’s glove, do you think it will fit you?” Ethan held it up in the air and Daryl slowly stood up from the table.

“We’ll make it work,” Daryl looked at the table to see the plates. “You guys go get started. I’m going to help your mother clean up here and then we will come out.”

“Okay,” Logan agreed and followed Ethan out of the house. There was a silence between you and Daryl as you gathered the plates.

“You know, for the first time I know Negan did the right thing,” Daryl confessed, his eyes hooked on you as you moved for the sink. “I know that Negan was just trying to protect Lydia. He still killed someone, but I don’t think he deserves to be punished for it.”

“Well that’s nice to hear from you,” you were thankful that Daryl kept this between them with the boys out of the house. “For once I agree with you about Negan.”

“But running off was not the answer,” Daryl’s eyebrows perked up and you felt your jaw clenching, “You’re being honest when you tell me that you have no idea where Negan is?”

“I have no idea where Negan is,” you were honest, you had no fucking clue where he was. Did you know he left? Yes. But did you know what he was doing? No. So in a sense you weren’t lying. “Truthfully, I hope no one has hurt him.”

“A lot of people are mad at him,” Daryl responded, his eyes still hooked on you like he was trying to read something from you. “If you knew where he was, I could help him and keep him safe.”

“Daryl, I’m not lying when I say I have no idea where he is,” you restated throwing your hands up in the air. “If this is the only reason you are attempting to be nice to my kids…”

“No, I wouldn’t…I couldn’t do that,” Daryl maintained with a shake of his head. “That’s genuine. I told people these boys were mine and I’ve hardly been around.”

“You’re not their father,” you reminded him and Daryl rolled his eyes before shrugging. “You know people might take out their anger toward Negan on my kids because of this.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Daryl immediately responded with a firm shake of his head. “I promise, they will not put a hand on those boys.”

“They are already picking on Ethan. Especially one of the boys that actually did this with Lydia. He told Ethan that he should be dead, just like his dad,” you informed Daryl with a frown and swallowed down hard. “Trust me, with how I’ve been feeling here, I wish I could have left with Negan.”

“You should never feel that way and your boys should never have to go through that,” Daryl insisted with a firm shake of his head. “You should feel welcomed here. This is your home. It has been for a very long time.”

“I never felt like this was my home,” you confessed with a sad breath, leaning back against the counter. Daryl took a minute before standing in beside you. His arms folded in front of his chest and he nudged you softly with his shoulder.

“I never really did either,” Daryl breathed out in a long, shallow breath. You looked to him with confusion and he shrugged. “I don’t know. Home is the people I care about. Not a place. I care about a few people, that’s it.”

“But everyone loves you here,” you snorted and Daryl threw his hands up in the air.

“That’s their mistake. They don’t even know me,” Daryl grumbled in his drawl before biting down on his bottom lip. “They just hear things and assume.”

“Well, that’s what people do with my family,” you brought back the original topic and Daryl frowned again. “They assume and they attack. Me, they pretty much ignore for the most part. I keep my head down. I do my job and I take care of my family, but they train their kids to attack my children who are innocent. If I could have, I would have gone with Negan.”

“Well, since people love me here, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen with people coming after ya,” Daryl announced and you gave him an odd glance. That was hard to believe. Daryl couldn’t make people do anything at this place. Everyone was judgmental and even if he tried, you doubted it would work. “Let’s go play with those boys.”

Walking outside with Daryl, you could see that a lot of Alexandria was out and it made you uncomfortable. Especially after what had happened with Negan. When Aaron broke into your room this morning, you were sure people just like Aaron assumed you helped in Negan’s escape. When Daryl moved down the stairs to play with Logan and Ethan, you took a seat on the top step, but it made Daryl stop.

“What are you doin’?” Daryl muttered reaching his hand out for yours. Accepting it in your grasp, you gradually stood up from the stairs. “We’re all playing catch. You can have the glove. I was never the glove wearing type anyways.”

“Cool!” Logan tossed you the glove that was Negan’s.

Looking it over, you saw ‘dad’ written on it from in Ethan’s handwriting. It made you smile. You wished times could go back to that. Sure, Negan was still in a cell, but it was better than having people wanting him dead and him being missing.

You couldn’t break down. At least not now or in front of your kids. Later you were sure it would happen. You were scared. Scared for Negan. Scared for your boys. You were worried you would never see Negan again. With the way he was talking it sounded like he was going to get himself in trouble and you didn’t want that. You didn’t want Negan to get killed. He was everything to you and your boys. So worried was an understatement when it came to your emotions.

Playing catch with the boys and Daryl felt odd. People were staring, but the boys were having fun. Daryl was cracking jokes and had an occasional laugh here or there when the boys would get amused with him.

It was sweet seeing Daryl playing with them. This is kind of what you had expected Daryl to be like when Ethan was younger until he got upset with you and stopped showing up. Ethan and Daryl had been so close then, but after your fall apart, you never thought you would see something like this again.

Logan was still not extremely great at playing catch. That was more so Negan and Ethan’s thing. Logan liked playing with his toys more than playing sports, but he was doing his best. Swallowing down hard, you watched Daryl move across the front yard to pick up Logan. He spun Logan around and Logan’s laughter filled the air when he did it.

After Daryl set Logan back down on the ground, Logan fell to the grass giggling and Ethan gave him an odd look. When Daryl moved back toward you, he stepped in beside you and you felt him press a small kiss against your cheek. Giving Daryl a weird expression, you didn’t know where the hell that came from.

“People are watching, right?” Daryl muttered under his breath and you quickly glanced beyond him to see that a few people were watching them playing. “I told you, I gotcha.”

“You don’t have to pretend…” you began and Daryl hushed you.

“Nah, I should have been doing this all along and I’m sorry,” Daryl whispered, his blue eyes hooked on yours before he shrugged. “Your boys are cool little dudes. I would like spending time with them. You did a great job with them.”

“Thank you,” you didn’t know what else to say as Daryl went back to the spot he was in and he tossed the ball to Ethan, but it managed to completely miss Ethan.

“We need to work on you, a lot,” Ethan snorted with a laugh going to grab the ball that Daryl threw. “If you keep coming back, I’ll make sure to have your aim better in no time.”

“Sounds like a deal,” Daryl snickered when Ethan threw him back the ball and Daryl underhand threw the ball to Logan next.

Even if Daryl didn’t genuinely want to be there spending time with your family, it was nice that he was willing to do this so people would stop giving your family shit and hopefully take off some of the pressure that would be there with Negan gone. Any little thing helped and with your family on the line, keeping them safe…that’s what mattered the most.

#Negan #Jeffrey Dean Morgan #negan x reader #negan fanfiction #The Walking Dead

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izzielizzie · 4 years

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Hi. Could you write a one shot where Nate and Bronwyn are childhood besties. And do everything together like tissue masks on a Friday or something? And they secretly like eachother?

Hi! Yes! This is very long and not my best work so I apologize, but enjoy! Also there are some notes at the end (because I obviously need to make this longer than it already is)

Thirteen Years Ago (age three):

Anna Rojas did not expect anything extraordinary to happen when she took her oldest daughter, named Bronwyn, to daycare for three hours. All she wanted was a break from the overly curious toddler, who had been pulling her younger sister Maeve’s auburn curls to see if they would fall out. Needless to say, neither Anna nor Maeve were very impressed.

Bronwyn, who had been surprisingly calm as her grey eyes surveyed the room filled with loud children and multicoloured toys. Finally, her eyes stopped at a small bookshelf, and her face lit up. “Mama! Down!”

Anna obliged, and she watched as the small girl walked towards the books. The daycare runner stepped up next to Anna. “She’ll be in good hands Annalise.” Anna turned to look at the woman next to her, who had the same vivacious red hair and clear grey eyes as she did.

“Don’t call me that, sis”

Annalise’s sister, named Eabha, just grinned and gently pushed her towards the door. “Have a good three hours! I’ll make sure your oldest is in one piece and ready to pull hair when you’re back!”

Yes, Anna did not expect anything extraordinary at all.

Ellen Macauley didn’t think that three year olds needed to listen to their parents arguing, which was why she felt it was a good idea to send her son Nathaniel to a local daycare. The daycare itself was a child haven, but her anxiety was piling on. What if something happened? Knowing that if she stayed for too long she would take Nathaniel back home, causing even more anger from her husband, Ellen left as fast as she could. Through the haze of tears that disgusted her, Ellen couldn’t see where she was going, and she walked straight into a woman with bright red hair who was dressed fashionably in a cashmere sweater and black leggings. Everything about her screamed money, Ellen thought.

“Sorry,” Ellen mumbled, stepping back and nearly stumbling. The woman clamped an arm around her forearm.

“Don’t worry about it,” the woman pulled her up and looked at her closely. “Are you crying honey?”

Ellen didn’t know why this woman cared, but her expression was so motherly that Ellen found herself talking about how she was afraid that her arguing with her husband would hurt her son and that she was always so anxious and tired and she wanted to make sure her baby was okay.

The woman, who introduced herself as Anna Rojas, gently guided Ellen to the front window of the daycare. “Which one is yours?”

Ellen didn’t look through the window, but recited his looks: black hair, dark blue eyes, wearing a green shirt and black jeans. Anna gently squeezed Ellen’s arm and pointed through the window.

“Is that one Nathaniel?”

Ellen looked through the window and saw a red haired woman who looked remarkably like Anna sitting with a book in her hands. One side of her was a girl with dark curls. She had a bright, curious expression on her face and she was looking at the picture book intently. Sitting next to her, with his hand clasped tightly in hers, was Nathaniel. He looked happy. Ellen released a small laugh. “Yes it is. He looks so happy.”

“He’s with my little sister and daughter. He’s in good hands I swear.” Anna paused and looked at the woman standing next to her. “Care to get a coffee with me?”

“Sure,” said Ellen.

Three hours later the two women were good friends. They expected to maybe see one another a couple times around the city. But they didn’t expect their children to become inseparable.

Five Years Ago (age eleven):

Nathaniel was used to screaming. His parents argued so frequently that he couldn’t remember the last time it was quiet. He just stuffed his head under a pillow and tried to zone out. He was surprised however, when the arguing stopped. He could hear his father screaming “Come back!” over and over again, a door slammed, and everything was silent. Fearing the worst, Nathaniel climbed out of bed and crept into the living room. His father was standing in the middle of the room, staring at nothing. He turned when he heard his son.

“She’s gone. I need to get out of here.”

Nathaniel was suddenly terrified. He had no idea where his father was going, his mother was gone, and on top of it all, a thunderstorm was in that night’s forecast. The thunder terrified him, especially at night.

“Dad, where are you going?”

“For a drive. I’ll be back soon.” He became suddenly very serious. He grabbed Nate by the shoulders and shook him hard. “You don’t leave this house do you understand? And don’t let your mother in. If she comes back I’ll… I’ll…”

Nate could imagine a couple of things that his father would do. His father shook him again. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

“Yes,” mumbled Nathaniel.

With that, he was gone, just as a clap of thunder shook their rundown house. Nathaniel jumped. He knew what was going to happen: his mother would come back the next day, argue with his father, and leave for good. His father would drive and drive until he found a bar with enough beer to tide him over, and he’d show up tomorrow afternoon drunk and tired and ready to argue with anyone and everyone.

He needed someone who would stay with him tonight, he decided as the thunder became more frequent. Without thinking whether he should or not, he picked up the ancient phone on the coffee table and dialed the one number he knew by heart.

Bronwyn arrived, soaked from head to toe. Her aunt, who she had been living with for the past few months as her younger sister underwent chemotherapy for her Leukemia, honked her car’s horn once to alert them that she was pulling out of the driveway. Seeing Bronwyn’s bespectacled face calmed Nathaniel. He and Bronwyn were both in agreement that the best day of their lives was the day they met. When Bronwyn was panicking over school or her sister’s health, she turned to Nathaniel. And when Nathaniel’s home life became terrifying, he stayed with Bronwyn.

“Nathaniel, I’m so sorry,” Bronwyn stood on her toes to give him a big hug, which he returned, despite getting the front of his shirt soaked. Nathaniel closed his eyes. He felt better whenever he was around his best friend.

He pulled away. “Yeah, well, not much I can do. But we should get you some dry clothes.”

Nathaniel led Bronwyn to his room, where he pulled a sweatshirt and sweatpants out of his drawers and handed them to Bronwyn. She walked to the bathroom, and while he waited for her, Nathaniel lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. It was strange really, how three hours ago he came back from soccer practice feeling hopeful. He had scored three goals in a row, a personal best. Never had he imagined that this would be the day his whole life changed. Nathaniel didn’t move until Bronwyn came back and curled up on the bed next to him.

“Nathaniel? What are you thinking?” Bronwyn asked him this a lot, especially when he put up walls and ignored everyone.

“I need a new name. Like, I don’t know, Tim.”

Bronwyn scoffed and rested her head on his shoulder. Even in his clothes she managed to smell like green apples. “Tim sucks, you need something better.”

Nathaniel appreciated that Bronwyn didn’t question why he wanted a new name. She knew why. She knew that Nathaniel carried too many connotations. She knew that Nathaniel was the result of a dysfunctional family. She knew that names carried power.

“You’re right. What about Dante?”

“You wanna be named after an Italian poet?”

“I have no idea how you know that, but no, I don’t.”

“He wrote about hell or something. I read about it in a book the other day.”

“You read a lot. What about Niel?”

“That’s worse than Dante.” Bronwyn snuggled closer to Nathaniel. She was silent for a long time, and Nathaniel thought she had fallen asleep when she suddenly sat up, nearly knocking her glasses off. “I’ve got it! Nate!”

“Nate?” Nathaniel sat up too.

“What, do you not like it?”

“No, no, I love it. Bron… it’s perfect.” You’re perfect was what he nearly said. Embarrassed at himself, but also overjoyed at the new names that somehow fit him, Nate lay back down and stared at the ceiling again. Bronwyn, who was used to Nate’s bouts of silence, simply took off her glasses, put her head back on his shoulder, and drifted off to sleep. Nate stayed up longer, turning his new name over and over in his head. After a few minutes, the word Nate lost all its meaning and he turned instead to Bronwyn, who was snuggled up against him. He watched her for a moment as his chest grew warmer, a strange new feeling overtaking him. It would be nearly three years before he figured out what the feeling was.

It was love.

Present Day (age sixteen):

Friday nights always came as a relief to Bronwyn, who could take a break from her stressful life and just relax with her best friend. Although, since most of her stress was caused by her best friend, tonight would not be relaxing. Bronwyn wasn’t quite sure when she crossed the line from friendship to love with Nate Macauley, but she had some guesses. Maybe it was the night she lay in his arms and helped him come up with his new name as his old life came crashing down around him. Perhaps it was the day he came running into her little sister’s hospital room, barefoot and still in his pajamas, just to be with her when the doctors were sure that morning would be Maeve's last. Or maybe it was when he too cried tears of joy when Maeve pulled through. It was the first time she ever saw him cry. Or maybe it was the night he stood out in the rain with Bronwyn so they could wait at the bookstore to get the final book in her favorite series. Or maybe it was when he punched Evan Neiman in the nose when he wouldn’t leave Bronwyn alone.

Or maybe, Bronwyn Rojas had always been in love with Nate Macauley.

Love, unrequited or not, was always better dealt with on spa nights, as Bronwyn’s other best friend Addy had said that morning. Which was how movie night turned into spa night. Bronwyn was surprised Nate agreed with the change. Now, as he rang the doorbell, Bronwyn wasn’t sure she wanted to spend any time with Nate, lest she say or do something stupid. She couldn’t afford to lose this friendship. Before she could pretend to be sick so she could back out of what was certainly going to be an awkward night, Nate was bounding up the steps and barging into her room.

“‘Sup Bronwyn.” Nate collapsed onto Bronwyn’s bed. He looked really nice in black jeans, a black leather jacket, and a deep blue shirt that brought out the colour of his eyes.

“Not much.” Bronwyn turned in her desk chair and stretched out her feet so they were resting on the bed beside Nate.

“Nice. So, spa night? Why?”

Bronwyn shrugged in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner. “Felt like changing it up. Also, it was your turn to pick a movie and you were just going to pick Ringu weren’t you?”

Nate shrugged. “Do not ask and I shall not lie.”

“That’s not a real saying.”

“Whatever Bronwyn, let’s just get this over with so we can eat a bunch of your mom’s brownies.”

An hour later, Nate and Bronwyn were lounging on the couch, charcoal sheet masks on their faces and a plate of brownies between them. Nate looked away from the TV, which was tuned to a kids show the pair used to like.

“God Bron, what does your mom put in these?”

“Coffee,” said Bronwyn as she took another brownie from the plate.

“I wouldn’t mind some coffee.”

“Nate, it’s nearly nine. No one drinks coffee this late.”

“Ah, but Bronwyn, you are mistaken. I drank coffee at one last night.”

“This morning.”

“What?”

“One in the morning Nate.”

“Yeah, yeah okay. Anyway, the spring dance is coming up.”

“Yes it is. Are you taking Amber?”

Amber and Nate had been a couple since freshman year, and it definitely didn’t bother Bronwyn at all.

Nate gave Bronwyn a weird look. “Um no, we broke up.”

Bronwyn sat up and nearly knocked the plate to the ground with her foot. Nate lunged for it and caught it just in time. “The brownies are safe!” He declared before popping another one into his mouth. Bronwyn took the plate from him.

“First of all, no more, you’re gonna get a stomach ache. Second of all, why did you break up with her?”

“No Bron, you have it wrong. She broke up with me,” Nate paused and looked at his hands. “She thought I was in love with someone else.”

Bronwyn paused. She was about to stand up to put the brownies in the kitchen, but she seemed rooted to her spot. Not another one, she thought.

“Well, are you?”

“Am I what?”

“In love with someone else?”

“Oh. I mean, yeah.”

“Who?”

Nate gave Bronwyn a pitying look. “You sweet naive girl,” he said. He took the plate from her hands and leaned forward until he pressed a small kiss to her lips. He pulled back and grinned at her.

Bronwyn’s head was spinning (the fact that she wasn’t wearing her glasses wasn’t helping anything), and she wasn’t quite sure why Nate had kissed her when he was in love with someone else.

“Wait, but, who is it?”

Nate closed his eyes and sighed. It seemed like he was praying for patience. “You obviously, you idiot. I’ve been in love with you since we were eleven, although I didn’t realize it then. I mean, who else would I do this with?” He waved at his face, which still had the mask on it.

“I, but, Amber?”

“Amber was just an, I dunno, an attempt to move on. You obviously don’t care for me that way, so…” He trailed off and stood up. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t want to mess up this friendship. I should, I should go.”

Bronwyn was stricken dumb for only a second. Nate was heading towards the door. Bronwyn jumped off the couch and raced after him. “Wait!”

He turned around, looking hopeful, and Bronwyn stood on her toes and put her hands on his shoulders. “Nate?”

“Yes?”

“You still have a mask on your face.”

“And?”

“You should probably take it off before I kiss you.”

Nate grinned slowly. “Hey,I kissed you and you have one on too, Rojas.”

Bronwyn just laughed.

“I love you Nate Macauley.”

“I love you too Bronwyn.” He put an arm around her and led her to the bathroom. “Now can we please take these things off now?”

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Okay, so notes time!

1) I had not intended to make one section from their moms’ points of view, but it kind of happened and I kind of like it

2) I have no idea what Mrs. Rojas name is, so I made it up. I also don’t know what her sister’s name is, so I made that up too. (Technically they’re not made up, they’re the names of my sisters)

3) I know that Maeve doesn’t have auburn hair, or curls, but I like to think that her hair darkened and straightened out as she got older (am I pulling from my own El Salvadorian/Irish heritage because there’s absolutely no cannon stuff written about their childhood? Yes)

Okay, I hope you liked it!

#nate x bronwn #izzielizzie's fics

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subarublue · 3 years

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Sparda Family Bonding Time Series - Part 4

Series Description: It’s family bonding time! Sparda family style! A series of short stories revolving around platonic familial relationships between the members of the DMC crew. Warning: Lots of fluff and bonding ahead.

One Shot

Title: Through Thick and Thin

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Timeline: Post DMC5

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 2622

Read on Ao3

Summary: “You’ve been around through all my shit and you’re still here. Good friends are a rare thing in our line of work, so maybe it’s not really saying much, but still…you’re the best friend I’ve got.”

Notes: Always thought that if Dante considered anyone to be his best friend, it would probably be Lady.

She saw him look up from his magazine the second she stepped inside the office. He was seated at his desk, feet propped up on the sturdy wooden surface reading a magazine as if he’d never even been gone. There was a brief moment where he looked hopeful; probably thinking she might be a client so he could start making some money after being gone for so long, but when her dual colored gaze met his ice blue one, he gave her a wry grin.

One day. Dante and Vergil hadn’t been back from the underworld for one day and she’d managed to find out about it and was already paying him a visit. Lady admitted to herself that she had been a little worried about him, so she was glad he was finally home and, from the looks of it, unhurt. She could only imagine what it was like spending so much time in the underworld; especially when you’re hated by devils like he was.

She could see it in his eyes that he was expecting her to be bringing trouble along already. Not that she was a magnet for it or anything; more like trouble was a magnet for her. She was the one who went looking for it...purposefully...so she could shoot it.

Or shoot him. Really she was prone to either, and she knew she was a damn good shot; she rarely missed. And boy, did she have a good reason to shoot him this time.

“I see you’re finally back in one piece,” she said with a smile as she strode up to his desk.

“Missed me that much you just had to see me as soon as I got back, did ya?”

She cocked her eyebrow at him as if to say ‘really?’ He probably thought she wasn’t in the mood for his antics, but truthfully she couldn’t have been happier that spending so long in the underworld hadn’t changed him. She’d been really worried when that first couple of weeks had stretched into months. And though she would never admit it to his face out loud, she had missed him...a lot.

But now that she knew he was back, unharmed, and still the same old Dante, she had a bone to pick with him.

“Where’s Vergil? I assume he’s gonna be staying with you for at least a little while, right?” It made the most sense, seeing as how Vergil pretty much had no one to turn to except for Dante and his son. And since he didn’t really know his son at all yet, he probably felt like Dante was his only choice (other than living on the street or something like that), even though she was certain Nero would have taken him in, regardless.

“Yeah, but he’s not here at the moment.” Just the opportunity she was looking for.

“Good ‘cause I wanted to talk to you about him without him here.” Her no-nonsense tone had Dante sighing and flopping his magazine onto his desk.

“Thank you for all that concern over my well-being, by the way.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but now she wasn’t in the mood for his antics.

“Can it, Dante. Try to be serious for a change.” She knew that was a tall order for the man, but this was important. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

When she made no move to elaborate further, his confusion became evident. “Tell you what?” Obviously, he had no clue what she was talking about.

Which to be fair, wasn’t really his fault. He’d been gone for a long time and who knows what he’d had to do to keep going while stuck in the underworld, even if he hadn’t been alone this time. But that didn’t mean he was getting off the hook that easily.

“That Urizen and V were really Vergil.” She watched his expression slacken into surprise. “I mean, you knew, didn’t you?” Her accusing glare meant she expected the truth out of him and no beating around the bush, either.

He sighed again, a resigned sound that told her he knew he wasn’t getting out of this without some form of an explanation. Whether or not it would be what she was looking for still remained to be seen.

“Urizen, yes. V, no. Things might have turned out differently if I’d figured that one out a little sooner than right as he was putting himself back together,” he said casually.

“You think?!” She felt herself getting a little annoyed with his nonchalant attitude over the whole thing. She took a deep breath to try and calm down. He did just get back from the underworld yesterday and was going to be adjusting back to normal life for a while. Once she felt like she could say something without yelling at him (though the annoyance was still clear in her tone), she continued, “You still should have told me...and Trish, too! We would have handled the situation a lot differently if we’d known.”

She knew he knew she was right when he didn’t respond and couldn’t even look her in the eye. She’d known him long enough to know what was eating him up at the moment: guilt. They’d suffered for his choice and she knew that didn’t sit well with him.

She decided to ease up on him. Yeah, him not saying anything had ended badly for her and Trish, but that was the risk all hunters took when going into a job. Besides, he obviously hadn’t meant for it to turn out the way it had. And it all worked out in the end for everyone...well, mostly. He and his brother still got stuck in the underworld for a while so she supposed she could cut him some slack for that.

“So why didn’t you?” The softened timbre of her voice drew him out of the very likely self- deprecating thoughts he was lost in.

“Hmm?”

“Tell us, I mean.”

Dante just shrugged. “Don’t really know.”

And there went her trying to be nice; right out the proverbial window. He was being difficult and he knew it. She scoffed. Fine. If he was going to play it like that, she wasn’t going to make him talk, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to make sure he knew she wasn’t happy with him.

“And here I thought we were friends,” she said it with such seriousness that it startled him into looking up at her suddenly. She could tell he was wondering if she really meant it or not.

“We are,” he said carefully. His eyes narrowed at her; a silent challenge just daring her to dispute it...

...but she wasn’t backing down, either. That was something she never did and he knew it.

“Yeah well, you sure have a funny way of treating your friends.” By funny she of course meant horrible. Now she was angry and it showed. The least he could have done was given her his reasons for keeping Urizen’s true identity a secret, but now she’d had enough. Talking like this was only going to end with an argument between them and she’d already decided she wasn’t going to force it out of him, even if it was tempting.

She turned on her heel and stalked back to the door, fully intent on leaving.

“Best, actually,” he said it so quietly she’d missed it, but it was still loud enough that she knew he’d said something, even if she didn’t know what.

She stopped just as her hand touched the doorknob. “What was that?” She twisted to face him, her expression giving away her displeasure with him at the moment.

“Best,” he repeated it louder this time as he looked at her. “You’re my best friend.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at his admission. He’d said it so seriously she couldn’t help but be taken aback for a moment. Yeah, they’d been friends for over two decades now, but he didn’t really mean that...did he?

A sudden wave of emotion hit her and she struggled not to let it show. Her worry for him while he was gone and the relief she felt now that he was back on top of what he’d just blatantly admitted was overwhelming her. So she handled it the only way she knew how; brush it off like it was nothing.

“Stop joking around, Dante. I’m not in the mood, anymore.” She turned back to the door. She needed to go and get herself back under control, but she didn’t even get the door open before he was speaking again.

“I ain’t joking. You’ve known me longer than anyone, save Vergil.”

When she turned to look back at him yet again, he’d gotten up and was now leaning against his desk. The look on his face was serious and very uncharacteristic for him. It seemed he’d done a lot of thinking while stuck in the underworld; about his life and the people in it.

“You’ve been around through all my shit and you’re still here. Good friends are a rare thing in our line of work, so maybe it’s not really saying much, but still…you’re the best friend I’ve got.” He hesitated a bit at the end, actually starting to look a bit embarrassed at admitting such a thing to her.

Lady was just stunned. He’d never said anything about feeling that way about their friendship before, but looking back it kind of made sense. There was a dynamic between them that neither had with anyone else in their lives.

She couldn’t fight the upward twitch of her lips, as much as she tried. Was she still annoyed with him? Yes, of course she was. He’d worried her; worried everyone, really. And then he came back like nothing had changed and wouldn’t even give her an answer to the question she’d asked.

But he’d also just admitted something very personal. That was very much something he wasn’t inclined to do often, if ever at all. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable, especially emotionally. She would know after all; she was the same way. And so her anger had now simmered down somewhat.

“Don’t get all soft on me now. I’ll start to think you’re possessed and may be tempted to shoot you to make sure.” She leaned back against the door with a smirk.

He chuckled at that. “Wouldn’t be normal if you didn’t.”

Normal. A memory came unbidden to her of a time in their lives when they were much younger; just barely adults, really. Dante dressed in nothing but his signature red coat, pants, and boots; no shirt of course. And her, in a mini skirt, toting guns around a crazy tower. He’d saved her life then; and she’d shot him in the head for it. Luckily, he was half devil. If he hadn’t been, neither one of them would probably be standing here today.

The silence stretched on for a bit, but neither was uncomfortable in it; evidence of just how long they’d been friends. She was about to finally tell him she’d see him again soon and leave, when he spoke first.

“I didn’t want to believe it.” He looked nervous now, but she wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first.

“Huh?”

“Urizen. I didn’t want to believe that was Vergil. That’s why I didn’t say anything. Somehow, telling someone else made it feel...true. Guess I just couldn’t accept that.” A guilty look fell over his face again. “And you paid for it. Trish, too. I’m sorry for that. You shouldn’t have even been there. It was my shit to deal with.”

At first all she could do was just stare at him her mouth slightly agape in mild surprise. He actually told her. She hadn’t expected him to just come out with it without some more prodding, much less apologize for it; at least not to her face. He was the type that preferred to apologize with his actions rather than words.

Her surprise didn’t last long. She pushed off the door and walked over to his bar, only stopping to grab a bottle of his favorite whiskey and a couple of glasses before heading back to his desk. When she reached him, she set the glasses down and poured one for each of them. She handed him one, noting that his wry smile was back finally.

“Your shit to deal with, huh? Well, what are best friends for if not for putting up with all your shit?” She held up her glass with a smile.

He laughed at that. “Guess I’m stuck with you then.” He clinked her glass with his own and they both knocked back their drinks. As Dante sat back down in his chair, Lady took a seat on top of his desk and proceeded to pour them each another round.

“Actually, there’s one more thing that I should be pissed at you for.”

He gave an exasperated groan, “What now?”

She could tell by that he had no clue what she was about to bring up, and while he should have known, she couldn’t really blame him. It had happened right before he left, and then spending so much time in the underworld he had probably forgotten all about it while trying to focus on surviving.

That didn’t mean she was letting him off the hook for this either, though.

“Two words,” she said as she took another drink, “Kalina Ann.”

She watched as his face fell, suddenly remembering the fact that Nico had ‘rented’ her beloved weapon to him before he booked it with his brother to the underworld.

“Ah shit!” His exclamation told her everything she needed to know about the fact that he likely couldn’t remember what happened to the Kalina Ann II, meaning she wouldn’t be getting it back.

Which, in and of itself wasn’t a problem; she’d already had Nico make her a new one almost as soon as she’d heard from Nero he wouldn’t be back for a while. She still had work to do, after all. But there was still the matter of paying for the rental use and subsequent loss of her property left to deal with.

“Don’t worry about it so much. Since we’re best friends and all, I won’t make you pay me back for it...” she paused for a moment, watching in amusement as his expression turned to relief briefly, before she continued, “...right away.”

His jaw went slack at that. “Seriously!? I haven’t worked since I left! How the hell am I supposed to pay you back for that?!”

“Relax. I can wait. After all I’m used to waiting when it comes to you owing me. And I won’t even charge you interest, you know, since you’re a bum and haven’t had a job in a while.”

The deadpan stare he was giving her only had her grinning madly at him.

“Gee thanks. You’re so generous.” He reached for the bottle, suddenly needing another strong drink.

“What can I say? I’m just a great friend.” A thought suddenly occurred to her then and Dante might have been worried had he noticed the new wicked grin that spread across her face while he poured himself another shot. She couldn’t resist the temptation that presented itself.

“Maybe I should start coming to you with all my girl talk now, huh? You know, since we’re besties and all.”

Dante’s hand jerked, almost spilling the bottle he was holding and all Lady could do was laugh at the mildly horrified look on his face at her suggestion. It was priceless...and one she wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.

← Part 3 • Part 4 of this series • Part 5 (WIP)

#dmc #devil may cry fanfiction #dmc dante #dmc lady #friendship #best friends #devil may cry #my writing #suby scrawls

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fivesevenseveneight · 4 years

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Second Chances: Part 6

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Word Count: 1470

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Characters: nonbinary!Deceit (referred to as Dee because I started this before the name reveal and I don’t want to change it), Alastor (OC), Carl (OC), Virgil is mentioned but not by name

Pairings: eventual anxceitmus

Warnings: Dee gets a snake, food mention, toxic relationship

A/n: I still do not know how to do a read more on mobile, so if anyone does please tell me. Please let me know if I need to tag something or if you want to be added to/removed from the taglist. @iosonnounpanne thanks for reviewing this for me!

Dee loved snakes. They had loved snakes ever since they learned what the little yellow creature on their palm was, and for their whole life, they’d dreamed of having one. They had researched everything that they would need to have and do to take care of a snake, and they’d been planning on getting one soon after starting law school. But then they met Alastor, life got complicated, and two-and-a-half years passed with still no snake.

Hopefully though, that would change soon. Dee had slowly been building up the courage to ask Alastor about getting a snake. It was a delicate process. If they asked at the wrong time, or caught him off-guard, or gave him any rational reason to say no, he would, and the topic would be closed for discussion forever. Plus, there was a pretty good chance of him yelling in any of those scenarios. So, Dee had been casually mentioning snakes and the idea of getting a pet, and Alastor seemed fine with both. But they had yet to actually ask him.

Today, Dee thought, their heart pounding. Today is the day I’m going to ask.

Alastor hadn’t slammed the door when he got home from work, he didn’t yell at Dee for forgetting to do the laundry, and he even hummed while Dee made dinner, which he only did when he was in a good mood. Dee had been waiting a long time for such a perfect opportunity, and they were not going to waste it. Not again.

Dee cleared their throat and looked meaningfully at Alastor, who was sitting at the opposite side of the dinner table. He swallowed the bite of food he’d taken and looked up at Dee.

“Do you need something?” he asked.

“I wanted to ask you about something,” Dee said, ignoring every instinct that screamed at them to be quiet. “I was thinking about getting a snake. I’ve been interested in getting one for a long time, and I know that—well, you’ve mentioned before that you like snakes, too. Besides, our soulmark is a snake, and I think it would be… fitting.” They held up their right hand and let out a tiny, nervous laugh.

Alastor went quiet for a moment, and Dee added quickly, “I’ve done a lot of research. I know exactly what I need, and I’ve saved up enough money for all the supplies. You wouldn’t have to pay for or do anything.”

After a nerve-racking pause, Alastor finally answered. “Fine. As long as you take care of it.”

Dee felt weak with relief. They thanked him, promising that they would work everything out. Then they asked Alastor how his day was, and listened to him rant about an annoying coworker until long after the neighbors had fallen asleep.

***

The harsh fluorescent lighting in the pet store hurt Dee’s eyes, but they couldn’t stop staring at the beautiful brown snakes in a tank on the wall.

“Ball pythons,” said an employee, walking up to Dee.

“I know,” Dee said, not looking away.

The employee stood there awkwardly, waiting to see if Dee would say anything more. They didn’t.

“Can I help you?” the employee finally asked.

Dee sighed to themself, reluctant to tear their eyes away from the gorgeous little snakes, and looked over at the employee, who wore a name tag that read: Carl (he/him).

“I’m not the usual reptile guy,” the employee, Carl, added quickly. “He’s out today, so I��m filling in.”

“I’m looking for a snake.”

Carl smiled. “Well, you came to the right place.” He opened up the tank with several baby ball pythons in it. “Is there a specific one you want?”

Dee looked over the small snakes curled up in various places and positions around the tank. It was hard to pick one; they all looked so perfect. Then, their eyes locked on a smallish-looking half-albino in the back. “That one,” said Dee, pointing. “In the corner.”

Carl grabbed a tiny cardboard box with small holes punched into it and carefully swept up the snake, placing it gently in the container.

Dee picked out the rest of the supplies they needed, signed a few forms, and went home. When they were sure that everything had been set up properly, they—very slowly and delicately—placed their new reptilian companion in the tank that stretched across a cleared-off spot on their dresser. The snake stayed still for a moment, then began slithering tentatively around the tank. Dee crouched down to watch the snake at eye level.

“I think I’ll call you Dante,” they said. “You look like a Dante.”

Dante flicked out their tongue.

Dee couldn’t help but giggle at that. “You’re a good listener aren’t you?”

Dante didn’t say anything (obviously).

Dee stood up. “I’m probably freaking you out now. I’m going to go for a run. You stay out of trouble, okay?”

Dante slithered under a rock.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

After checking one more time to make sure that everything in the tank was in order, Dee grabbed their jacket and went outside. The air was crisp and cool—perfect for an afternoon jog. The sky was gray and full of clouds. There were a few people walking around, mostly in pairs (presumably soulmates). They seemed to be taking advantage of the calm spring weather, just like Dee was.

Dee put in their earbuds and sighed, relaxing and letting the rhythm of their music envelop them. The whole world seemed to slow and shift so that all the fears and worries surrounding them went just out of focus. Dee loved it. It was like being underwater, except they could breathe fine. It let them clear their mind and gave them the space to think, whereas every other part of their life seemed crowded and smothered by people or expectations or some looming threat that wasn’t quite clear to them yet.

(Jogging was actually a suggestion from Dee’s therapist. Dee had decided to go to therapy about a year ago and admittedly, it had been helping. Although, Dee still couldn’t quite figure out how to tell Alastor that they were going to therapy. They just called it their “Monday night yoga class” and he didn’t question it, thankfully.)

Dee let themself slip into a trance of being relaxed yet alert, and jogged around the city, casually noting the things they saw. There was the pawn shop, and the large, grungy Going out of business! sign adorning its front window. There was the bookstore, and the pet store, and the tattoo parlor. Eventually, Dee reaches the park (where someone was walking a very large dog), and next to it, the cemetery.

Going by the cemetery always made Dee a bit nervous. They wouldn’t say that they were superstitious, but hey, you could never be too careful, right? Most days, the cemetery was empty; but today, there was one person there, standing near a tall, solitary oak tree. They were wearing a black hoodie and seemed to have purple hair (although, at this distance, Dee couldn’t be sure). It almost looked like they were talking.

Dee shook their head and refocused on their course. Whoever was at the cemetery, whatever their purpose was for being there, it didn’t matter, at least not to Dee.

Finally, after hints of indigo had begun to creep into the sky, Dee arrived at home. They took off their jacket and removed their earbuds, panting softly. They walked into their bedroom and checked on Dante, who was now curled up in the back corner of the tank. Dee set a hand on the dresser, careful not to shake the tank and startle Dante.

“How’s it going, buddy? You seem to be getting settled in nicely,” Dee said. “Just wait till my soulmate gets here. You’ll love him. I do.” Dee smiled. “I do,” they repeated to no one.

If anyone had asked, Dee would have happily shared that the reason they chose Dante was because of the pattern of scales on their head. The half-albino effect made their head entirely white—except for a large patch of brown on the left side of their snout. It was beautiful, like it had been painted on by an expert artist. It reminded Dee of the birthmark on their own face.

It looks beautiful on Dante. Maybe it looks beautiful on me, too. Dee gently traced the curves of the serpent on their palm, still watching Dante.

Slam! Dee flinched at the sudden, sharp noise of the front door shutting.

“Look who’s home,” Dee said softly.

He slammed the door harder than he needed to, Dee noted. He must’ve had a bad day. Again.

Dee slipped out of the room and headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner, bracing themself for another long tirade from Alastor. He did not disappoint.

(Taglist: @sociallyanxious-1 @someone-idk-is-here @the-melody-of-eliza @froggols @deadeyedustin @sympathetic-deceit-trash @surleytemple @entitydark @sadgayisme )

#sanders sides #fan fic #sanders sides fanfiction #nonbinary!deceit #nonbinary!janus #deceit sanders #janus sanders #ts deceit #ts janus #anxceitmus #sanders sides au #soulmate au #sanders sides soulmate au #my writing #my post

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iamnotoriginalphil · 4 years

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Family Matters (Zelda Spellman x Reader) - Part 14

Synopsis: Zelda has a plan for how to get you to confess.

Words: 1116

Warnings: mentions of sex

AN: I’m gonna admit, now I’m falling into a pattern quarantine is going way better. Let me know if you want to be tagged in future chapters.

Zelda knocked on your bedroom door, Dante’s Inferno in her hand. Silence met her. She knocked again, knowing you were in there. When she continued to get no answer she pushed the door open, assuming you were either ignoring her or couldn’t hear her.

Her eyes widened, finding you standing in front of the mirror without a shirt on. You glanced up, your eyes widening when you saw her. You grabbed a shirt, clutching it to your chest to hide your bra. You whirled around, staring wide eyed at Zelda.

This was already off to a better start than she was expecting.

“So sorry,” Zelda said, “you left this downstairs the other day.”

She held out the book towards you. You looked at it, opening your mouth then closing it. You reached out a hand, doing your best to keep your chest covered with your shirt. It slipped, falling to the floor as you grabbed the book from her.

“Do not worry about it, Luna,” she said, “there is no need to cover beauty.”

You flushed bright red, ducking down to grab your shirt. You slipped it over your head, covering yourself. You blinked at Zelda.

“Thanks,” you muttered.

Zelda perched on the edge of your bed, watching you place the book on the desk across from the window. You ran your hand over the cover. You bit on your lip, taking a deep breath. You looked surprised when you turned back, finding Zelda still in the room.

“Is there something else I can help with?” you asked, rubbing the back of your neck.

“Can I not seek out your company?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You haven’t before,” you said.

“A fact I regret.”

“Um, okay.”

Your gaze skittered away from her, to the window. You lent back on the desk, clutching at the edge hard enough to turn your knuckles white. Zelda stood from the bed, her heels clacking as she crossed the room. You watched her, looking like a scared rabbit. She stopped short before she invaded your personal space.

“I know I have been rather cold towards you,” Zelda said, “but I was hoping that could be forgiven.”

“Forgiven?” you asked.

“I would like us to be,” Zelda said, taking a step towards you, “closer.”

“Closer?”

Zelda took another step towards you, close enough to feel the heat rolling off your body. Your tongue darted out to wet your lips. She looked down, focusing on your mouth.

“Surely you’ve noticed my attentions have changed,” she said.

“Uh huh.”

Zelda lent forward, a hand coming up to cup your cheek. She closed her eyes, drawing closer. You pulled out of her grip, hurrying past her. She opened her eyes, steadying herself on the desk. You had your back to her, looking out the window, your arms wrapping around yourself.

Zelda considered you, her head titled to the side. She’d never had that not work out for her. You were working hard to not give in to her seduction. She needed you to, in order to get you to let your guard down enough to let something slip. She figured having you admit something to her would be better than accusing you without any real proof. And she knew from experience that lovers often let things slip in the heat of passion.

It would also help her figure out if you truly felt any malice towards her family or if there was something she couldn’t see about the whole situation.

Zelda laid a hand on your shoulder. You turned to her. She gently tucked some of your hair behind your ear, enjoying the way you took a deep breath. You gazed at her, worrying your bottom lip between your teeth. She used her thumb to pull it from your teeth, swiping along it. She watched your eyes darken and your breathing turn shallow.

“I would like to spend more time with you,” she purred, “alone.”

“Alone?”

“Without my family,” she said.

“We’re alone now,” you said.

“Indeed we are.”

She caught you round the waist, pulling your body against hers. You were so warm and so soft in her arms. Your hands landed on her shoulders, neither pulling her closer nor pushing her away. You were looking up at her as if she was about to make your dreams come true. Your red lips looked plump and delicious, the sweetest fruit she could taste.

She ran her fingers up your spine, tangling her them in your hair. You made a moaning sound, your eyes slipping closed. Zelda found herself fascinated with your face. The soft afternoon light was making you glow, each feature delicate and enticing. She tugged on your hair, forcing your face up. You let out a whimper, that infuriating bottom lip being caught between your teeth.

You jerked out of her hold, your eyes snapping open. You stepped back from her, tucking your hair behind your ear. You gave her a tight smile.

“Zelda, I don’t know if we should be doing this,” you said.

“There is nothing wrong with giving in to one’s passions,” she said.

“You’re my employer,” you said, “we shouldn’t.”

“That does not have to have any bearing on what we do in our private time.”

She gently took your hand, placing it on her cheek. She put her own hand on your lower back, pulling you back into her body. Your thumb stroked along her skin, lighting a fire in her. She lent forward, her nose brushing against yours.

“I don’t think I can do this,” you said.

You pushed her back, removing her hands from your body. The cold shock of rejection washed over her, leaving her feeling uncomfortable in her own skin. You took a deep breath.

“Zelda, you’re a beautiful woman but I’m obviously not as liberal minded as you,” you said, “I can’t do this and not let it affect my work.”

Zelda met your eyes, surprised at the tears gathering theres. You sniffed, wrapping your arms around your body, all your walls slamming back into place.

“I understand if after this you can’t have me here anymore,” you said.

“I’m not going to ask you to leave,” she said, forgetting all about Bella in the face of your worry.

“Even though I won’t sleep with you?” you asked.

“Luna, I already told you. What we do in our private time has no bearing on work,” she said.

You flung your arms around her, hugging her tightly. Hesitantly Zelda wrapped her arms around you too. You pressed your lips to her cheek in a chaste kiss.

“Thank you.”

Somehow that was a better result than the one Zelda had been angling for.

Tags: @theenglishwizard @eyesofanangeltongueofadevil @hallospaceboyy @alexusonfire @justkeepbreathingnow @ghostsunderstoodmysoul @witching-imagines @praisezeldaspellman @escapetodreamworld @panicnymph @anxiousgoldengirl @theprassebox @witchessticktogether @pizzapyjamas @plooffairy @whos-to-know @spicyrice20 @fallenangelmuse @whos-to-know @step-intoyour-power

#Zelda Spellman #zelda spellman imagine #zelda spellman x reader #caos #caos imagine #family matters

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iwriteforspencerreid · 4 years

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white noise

Hey! This is my first fic on tumblr and for spencer Reid, I really hope you like it :)) xx addi :)

Warnings: angst, panic attacks, overstimulation (not the sexy kind), near death experiences, hurt/comfort. Some fluff

Summary: reader has a tough time coping with the last case the Bau worked on and has a panic attack in a dangerous space, spencer finds them and helps them. Some feelings get admitted and the end is mostly fluff. Gender neutral reader!

Everything felt distant as you sat looking out the window of the BAU jet. Your mind had been running nonstop the past 3 hours or so hyper-focusing on what you could’ve done better. if you hadn’t been 3 minutes too late. Nevermind the what if’s, you were exhausted and for the first time in the past few hours your mind had cut out. If you were any less tired you’d recognize the red flags but you didn’t and you only passively regarded the silence as something to be grateful for.

Absentmindedly you scratched at your skin trying to rid yourself of the blood and dirt that was only imaginary at this point. When you work with serial killers and murderers all day every day you start to recognize the feeling of someones eyes on you, even out of it you could feel the curious gaze Spencer had locked onto you. You probably looked like a mess but then again you couldn’t find it in you to care. Everything felt dull and hazy; you were just so tired.

You were too out of it to notice that the jet had landed and there was blood all over your hand now, you had scratched your arm too much for too long that it started to bleed. You hadn’t noticed. Someone’s hand touched your shoulder and you flinched violently away from the touch. Looking back you saw a startled Spencer reach out to you again. As if on autopilot you muttered an excuse and fled the jet ducking your head and walking as far away from Spencer’s far too curious eyes.

The next hour went by much the same. You were so dissociated and exhausted to even bother keeping track of the amount of time it took to get back to the bullpen. You hardly even registered when Emily called out to you.

“Hey y/n, you still up for the get together at Rossi’s later?” Dazedly you muttered some form of agreement not processing what you were agreeing to but you’d do anything to get them to stop looking at you. For you to be able to leave and scrape the imaginary blood off of you. Emily then went on to list a time for everyone to meet at. 8 something or other, you hardly cared. Your skin burned with the feeling of someone’s eyes on you again. You didn’t have to turn to find out it was Spencer’s, he hadn’t stopped looking at you all day and you hated the intensity of it all. you hated how much it made you want to shrivel up and hide for the next 50 years.

Leaving the bullpen felt like an eternity, you were finally getting on the elevator when a hand caught the doors and Dr. Spencer Reid followed inside, you resisted the urge to scream because you honestly had no problem with Spence. The complete opposite really. Any other day you’d rejoice in noticing his eyes on you all day or even catching his attention, since you’ve had a crush on him for the past couple of years. However, today you were just so not up to speaking or existing anywhere near anyone. It was one of those days where you were so emotionally drained that you wanted to blend into the wall like some sort of chameleon. It was almost as if anyone even glancing at you made your skin crawl and made you want to cry but you were so exhausted and dazed that you honestly doubted if you even could.

“Hey y/n, I noticed the whole thing on the plane and you’re blink rate has been off for the past few hours. Considering what happened today surely had some sort of affect on you and I was wondering if you wanted to talk-“

“Spence” you winced at the way your voice sounded. There wasn’t anything wrong with it per say just today speaking honestly felt like nails on a chalkboard. “I really appreciate the concern but I’m absolutely fine.” You almost felt bad with the way your tone dripped in sarcastic acidity. You were never this scathingly dismissive and the kicked puppy look on Spencer’s face made you feel instantly bad but as soon as the doors to elevator opened you bolted. You’d apologize to Spencer later, when talking wasn’t so godamn hard.

The ride home was a blur and you were honestly confused on how you didn’t get into some sort of accident since you couldn’t even remember driving all the way home but you weren’t one for looking a gifthorse in the mouth and instead rushed inside. The closer you got to your apartment the more your skin itched and burned, even the movement of clothes on your body felt like a million tiny needles. Finally unlocking the door you didn’t even wait to lock the door before you were tearing the clothes off your skin. The cold air of the apartment doing a small part of soothing the imaginary flames dancing all over you but when you looked down all you could see was blood.

It was everywhere and it made your stomach churn with naseua. Stumbling your way into your bathroom you reached for the knob in the tub, desperate to wash the blood off and forget. All you could hear was the gunshots and sirens. You could still feel the way her body went limp, how much heavier it was. It was as if the stench of blood and death was forever engrained in your head and you couldn’t stop yourself. Remembering how panicky your voice was telling her to breathe to just breathe that it was all okay that she would get help but it was a lie. So much of a lie. You remembered having to be carried out of there and halfway through the ride to the police station you had to get out of the car to dry heave up your dinner onto the side of a highway.

You remembered Spencer, oh god did you remember Spencer. He was the only one who kept by your side the entire time. Rubbing small circles on your lower back as you vomited, or how his muttering of reassurances cut through the fog that clouded your mind. You tried to remember what he said to hold on but for some reason it kept slipping from your reach. It was as if you were back in that warehouse in Arizona. The heat amplifying the stench of blood and death and for some reason you were screaming, you couldn’t remember why though, why were you back there, what were you screaming for, Anna? Anna was dead, she died there but that was so long ago, wasn’t it? Why did it still smell like that? Why were you yelling?

Everything went dark.

You heard beeping, what was beeping? It smelled like disenfectant and white. The room was dark though or maybe it was cause your eyes where closed. Where you dreaming? No there was a hand in yours, felt kinda like Spencer’s. But why would Spencer be holding your hand? You were in your apartment last you remembered, but your apartment didn’t smell like this. What was going on? you should probably open your eyes, right. They were so heavy though and the person holding your hand was humming Mozart, they had a nice voice, it was like Spencer’s. Spencer had a nice voice.

You finally managed to lift your eyelids. Waiting for your eyes to adjust you tried to move your fingers, they were really stiff though. Your throat was dry and your tongue felt like a hundred pounds so you didn’t even try to speak. Blinking a few times you managed to see the room you were in. Definitely a hospital, but why were you in a hospital? What happened? You were so confused but the soft humming of Mozart’s Piano Sonata was soothing and kept you from panicking. Turning your head you saw Spencer sitting in a chair next to you, a copy of Dante’s Inferno in his one hand and yours in his other. He hadn’t noticed you yet and you took that moment to observe him, his hair was messier than normal, as if he had been doing the thing he does when he’s stressed where he runs his hands through his hair multiple times within the hour. His eyes were dark and he obviously hadn’t slept but he was still so beautiful. His jaw was as prominent as ever and his lips were drawn into his mouth unconsciously. You wanted to trace the furrow in his brow till it smoothed out and went away but you couldnt lift your arm. You settled for tracing his features with your eyes instead. He’s always been so gorgeous you could never understand it, the way he could look so tired and stressed but still manage to look perfect. He was perfect.

The moment he saw you his eyes simultaneously darkened and lightened, as if he was happy to see you but worried at the same time. You were too caught up in how expressive and pretty his eyes were to hear what he had said though. You blinked a few times and he finally got the message and handed you the water sitting on a tray to the side. Taking many grateful sips you sighed in relief as he put it down.

“Hey” he muttered softly, you couldn’t help but notice he was still holding your hand, his thumb moving in swipes across your knuckles.

“Hey” you replied equally as soft, “what, what happened?” You watched as his brow furrowed more and he looked at you with concern and something else you couldn’t quite tell.

“I’ll uh, let me alert the doctor first, then we can talk about it ok? The rest of the team wants to see you when your up for it aswell, they wouldn’t let more than one person in the room.” You nodded your head as best you could and watched as he walked out into the hallway. His hands moved as he spoke presumably to the nurse behind the desk. “God, did you love him.” You had thought, it was odd for that was the first time you truly acknowledged your feelings for the lanky doctor, however it wasn’t as surprising as you had thought it would be, you had known it for some time and being in love with the doctor felt so natural. It wasn’t as scary as it had been with your previous partners, this felt safe and warm.

You were so caught up in your thoughts that you didn’t notice when the young man returned to your side. He gave you another one of those looks the one mixed with concern and...care? You still couldn’t quite place it but it made your stomach churn with something akin to butterflies.

“Hey,” you giggled reaching up and tucking the one stray curl behind his ear, it took some effort but touching him was worth it. “Whatcha thinking about up there?” You asked tapping his temple softly. You saw his expression melt and if you weren’t so unsure of yourself you’d say it was almost affectionate.

“How-“ he paused licking his lips and shifting into a more serious posture “how much do you remember of last night?” You paused to think about it trying to recount the events in your head yet there were serveral lapses in your memory.

“Uh, not a lot, I remember being really overwhelmed and uh, I went to take a bath and thats it.” His brow furrowed and he looked at you, but it was one of his more inquisitive looks, one that screamed he was trying to figure you out.

“Don’t profile me, Doc, just tell me what happened” His expression softened somewhat as he continued to gaze at you, you noticed that his hold onto you was gentle as if you were more fragile than other things. You tightened your grip on his hand as reassurance that you were there and you wouldn’t shatter in his hold.

“You didn’t show up to Rossi’s like you said you would and I was already really concerned about your behavior. It just didn’t sit right with me and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, so I went to check on you. When I got to your place you hadn’t answered your phone or the door and when I tried to open it it was unlocked. I heard water running in the bathroom and thought that maybe you were just busy in the bathroom and you forgot but,” he paused his expression darkening to something akin to sadness. “When I got closer there was water leaking into the hallway through the door and that’s when I opened the door.” He shifted again not meeting my eyes. “You were unconscious in the tub for almost 4 hours. The water was so hot it caused burns all over your body and you passed out from the heat. There were signs of some sort of panic attack and you had been clawing at your skin till it opened and bled. The heat of the water cauterized the cuts but it wasn’t pretty.” You let out a soft “oh” before realizing how much this affected the doctor and you felt the need to comfort him.

“Thank you,” his head lifted in surprise and you saw he was going to interject but you cut him off.

“I don’t know why but for some reason the last case hit me pretty hard, you were the only one who noticed and stuck by my side the whole time. I could’ve died if I was in there for longer, both you and I know that. So thank you. You saved me and now I’m ok, Doc. I can’t promise I won’t have some scary moments like that again, it comes with the job but you saved me and I can trust you’ll always be there too. I’m ok and I’m alive and I’m here, Spence. You dont have to worry about me, love. I’m here.” He just swallowed and nodded his head. All of a sudden he surged forward and hugged you.

“I was so scared” he muttered into your hair. And all you did was hold him and whisper reassurances to him.

“I’m here love, I’m here.” He pulled away after a minute or two but not completely. He rested his forehead to yours and looked at you with such affection and love in his eyes it stunned you. You noticed his gaze lower to your lips and meet your eyes once again. You were still frozen with unsurity, almost positive that this was all a dream and you were back in your bathroom dead or something because there was no way that The Spencer Reid loved you back. He must’ve noticed your apprehension and spoke in such a soft tone as if he were scared that this wasn’t real either, that the air between us was going to shatter if he spoke to loud.

“I- I can’t almost lose you again. Y/n, i need you to know this, you might not reciprocate but seeing you like that scared me so bad and all I could think about was that I should’ve told you. I love you. I love you so much and I have ever since 4 months ago when you told me that Star Wars was better than star track for the sole reason that the Ewoks were the cutest things you had ever seen.” You couldn’t help the grin that stretched across your face at his small soliloquy.

“I win” you whispered back to his confusion you added “I’ve loved you for 7 months now ever since you read me kafka on the way home from a case in Tennessee.” To which he smiled and kissed you.

And it was perfect.

#spencer reid x reader #criminal minds fanfiction #mgg x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer x reader #gender neutral reader #spencer reid x gender neutral reader #criminal minds

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skiesoftwilight · 5 years

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Strange Feelings (Vergil)

This is my very first piece writing for Vergil and in general, the DMC fandom. This idea was something I was toying around with as I tried to get an accurate read on the characters before I actually wrote it; i’m actually happy how it turned out. I based the portrayals off of the newest game: DMC5, just so you guys can go by that. I hope you guys enjoy!

Word Count: 1619

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“Alright, we're here.”

Nico’s boisterous voice was immediately met with a collection of aggressive shushes from the back of the van. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she flicked the extinguished cigarette butt in between her fingers out the driver’s window before rolling it up and killing the engine to the van. Turning to get out of the driver’s seat, she joined the rest of the Devil May Cry crew in the back.

“Did you guys just—” It happened again. She shut her mouth and finally let her eyes take in the scene that seemed to be more important than letting her announce their arrival back at the office.

Everyone was sitting in dead silence staring at the couch with a mixture of expressions. Dante’s was the most eye-catching as his eyes were narrowed with confusion and his mouth was slightly agape with a shit-eating grin tugging on the corners of his lips. Nero sat beside Dante at the table, wearing a small smile, while Lady and Trish had curious gazes. Nico confused by her friend’s expressions; she didn’t understand what had made them that way until she looked in the same direction they did.

A soft gasp fell from her lips. She saw Vergil sitting on one end of the couch, his hand cradling the left side of her face with his eyes closed while his other arm rested on the back of the couch. Seeing Vergil sitting on the couch sleeping had already confused her, but the minute she spotted your sleeping form sprawled out on the rest of the couch with your head laying on Vergil’s lap, she about lost her mind.

Leaning down to speak to Nero, she whispered in his ear, “Uh, you’re seein’ what I’m seein’, right?”

“Everyone is seeing what you’re seeing,” Dante answered for the young demon hunter, not even bothering to turn his head away from the strange scene in front of him to address her directly, “This… this is definitely something that I’m gonna bring up tomorrow.”

Lady shoved Dante’s shoulder as he playfully swatted her hand away. Nico nodded her head as if she understood exactly what she was seeing, but she really didn’t; Dante and Nero had told her about Vergil before he joined the crew. They told her about his struggle for power and control and how he wasn’t really in touch with his human side and was learning to embrace it after escaping the Underworld with Dante a couple of months back but… the scene before her showed a completely different side that they didn’t tell her about; it also appeared that they have never seen this side of him either but their expressions.

“What do we do?” Nico asked in a hushed voice.

“We leave these two in here for the night,” Dante shrugged his shoulders, “They obviously look comfortable and it would be rude to wake them.”

Trish rolled her eyes while stretching her arms out in front of her, “A real gentleman you are, Dante.”

“Oh, no, he’s the real gentleman here,” Dante tilted his head in his older brother’s direction with a grin plain on his face.

“I’m still tryin’ to figure out how she was able to get her head on his lap,” Nico spoke, pointing at you while she looked to the others.

“That’s easy,” Dante said, crossing his arms, “He let her.”

Every once did their best to stifle their shocked gasp while Dante turned to them and told them to lowered their voices by lowering his hands, “He’s definitely has a soft spot for her, if he didn’t, she would’ve been laying on this dirty-ass carpet.”

Nico glared at him while he shrugged his shoulders once more. No one spoke for a long time as they took the scene before all deciding that they should leave the van and get some rest on some of the beds in the office. While Nico made her way to the door, the floor creaked beneath her worn boots and the sound of a sharp intake of breath stopped everyone in their tracks.

“What’s going on? Where are you all going?”

Vergil’s icy eyes narrowed on the group trying to step out of the van; they all had wide eyes and closed mouths as the looked at the older Sparda brother. He tried to rise from his seat but was stopped by the weight of your head in his lap. His confusion and irritation deepened when he saw you sleeping on him; he looked to his brother and his friends to help explain what exactly was going on.

“We were just heading out the door into the office,“ Dante hitched a thumb over his shoulder as he looked at his brother with a sly smile, “You can come in with us if you want to—oh wait, you can’t.”

“Dante,” Vergil stared down his brother, his hand already forming a fist, “Move her off of me, right now.”

“Why don’t you wake her yourself?” Dante questioned his brother, his shit-eating grin coming to back to his lips, “That’s if you really want to go inside and sleep alone and break her sleep as well…”

“Dante, don’t be cruel to the man,” Nico looked over at the legendary demon hunter, “He won’t do it because he has a heart.”

Everyone snickered, looking at Vergil with half smiles while behind their eyes they were a bit fearful of making fun of him when he was known to be ruthless to go up against in a challenge. Vergil looked down at you once again, taking in how peaceful you looked; one side of him urged himself to wake you so he could end this conversation, but the other side told him to leave you be, that with you laying there, it was strange, yet comforting.

“Alright, alright,” Dante sighed, “I’ll be back to help you with her.”

“Dante.”

“I promise.” Dante placed a hand on Nero’s shoulder, squeezing it to make him start walking out the door. Every one whispered bye to Vergil as they left, even Dante. Once they left, Vergil was left alone in the dimly lit van with only his thoughts to keep him company.

Observing your sleeping form on the couch, he took in how the gentle moonlight that crept in through the break in the shades highlighted your facial features. The warmth that your body gave off, struck a strange feeling throughout his body that gave him goosebumps across his skin. The sweet smell of your hair surrounded him with a delightful scent that he had never smelt before. The feelings and things that he experienced around you gave him a strange feeling that he had never felt before, but it brought him comfort.

Dante came back to the van holding a pillow and a blanket under his arm with that same shit-eating grin on his tired face. He handed his brother the pillow while he tossed the blanket across your body, causing you to cuddle closer towards Vergil.

“What is this? What are you doing?” He asked Dante, “I thought you were coming back to help me with her?”

“I did,” Dante shifted on his feet, “I brought a blanket because no matter if it’s forty or a hundred degrees, she always sleeps with a blanket and the pillow is for you, you know, to rest your head on and sleep.”

Vergil gave a death glare to Dante and just as he was about to threaten him, you stirred, lifting your head up for a brief moment before laying it back down on his lap; his anger dissipated with you simply coming into his mind. Dante shook his head as he stifled another chuckle.

“Dante, don’t you dare—”

“Get some rest, brother,” Dante spoke softly with a certain kindness behind his words, “Oh and by the way, Nico said don’t get too wild in here if she does wake up,” He laughed to himself, “Actually that’s from me but I’m sure she would say the same…Oh and just a side note though, not that I’m trying to hint at anything but, you surprisingly made a good kid, Nero… I’m sure the others might come out the same way, you know, minus the whole orphaning them and whatnot—”

“That’s enough.” Vergil gritted his teeth and waved his hand towards his younger brother to dismiss him; Dante did his best to contain his childish laughter until he closed the van door. Vergil groaned as he heard and saw Dante dying of laughter as he made his way back into the office.

With a heavy sigh, Vergil looked down at you once more before looking to his arm that was draped across the back of the couch. He didn’t want to disturb you but his arm was beginning to hurt, he made the choice to drape it over your waist; he told himself that it was for his own benefit and he could care less about yours, but deep down in his human side, he was relishing in the thought that he finally been able to draw strength from what he used to perceive as a weakness.

Knowing that he couldn’t do anything with sleeping with you still laying on his lap, he let his gaze settle on you as he was lulled back to sleep by the endless thoughts surrounding you in his mind. He knew of your connection with his human counterpart, V, and he still felt it when they merged and he set eyes on you afterward; who knew that after those long months in hell with his brother and you on his mind would strengthing the human in him and bring him to where he was now?

#Vergil #Vergil Sparda #Devil May Cry #Devil May Cry 5 #DMC #DMC5 #DMCV #Vergil imagines #Vergil imagine #Vergil Sparda imagines #Vergil Sparda imagine #Vergil x reader #Vergil Sparda x reader #DMC imagines #DMC imagine #DMCV imagine #DMCV imagines

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louadorable126 · 3 years

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Demons(you).me: Chapter 9 - Schrödinger's Eva

Artwork Commissioned from Aya/Itouyas on twitter! Please check her out! <3

>>Click here to read on Ao3!<<

Summary:

In a city controlled by the generally altered race of Demons, Lady’s life as a mercenary on the lower floor was never easy. Especially when she ran into Dante. A demon on the hunt for his missing brother.

———–

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Characters: Vergil, Lady, Dante

———–

Chapter 9:

At the loud clunk of a bottle rolling out the bottom of a vending machine, Dante mindlessly squatted down and reached a hand under the dark flap.

The glass was ice cold to the touch beneath his fingertips; wet too - dripping with water droplets that uncomfortably ran down his hand. Water condensing under the warmth of his flesh. Just what he needed right now. A good kick to the senses.

God, he felt so numb.

The walk here had done little too soothe him. No, it had just given him more time to think, when he just wanted to do the exact opposite. It had been a constant battle of trying to keep his mind empty, free of any stray thought, while also trying not to get run over by cars. Something that turned out to be pretty damn hard!

Dante pushed himself back up off the ground, using the colourful vending machine as a support. He didn’t even attempt to find a bottle opener. Instead opting to just rip the mettle topper off with his bare hands. Bottle plugged to his mouth in his next breath and letting the freezing liquid pour into his system. He couldn’t bring himself to stop. It kept coming; as he chugged, chugged and chugged, until his body could take no more - practically on the verge of asphyxiation when his lips finally left the bottle.

“Fuck, that was good!” He coughed out, voice raspy. Falling back against the vending machine with a thump. The young man allowed himself a few moments to breath, before glancing back at the bottle. He’d managed to down at least 3/4’s of the bottle in one foul swoop. He had to smile a little at that, a new record for him. Might as well finish you off then, shouldn’t I?

And so he did. This time thankfully not almost suffocating himself.

Done with the bottle, he dumped into into a nearby, green ringed recycling hole beside the machine. Lighting up happily when he did so, as he moved to order another beer from the vending machine’s display.

"Attention all travellers! Due to a on-going police incident, all trains from 11pm onwards have been cancelled, as this floor will be placed under immediate lockdown for the foreseeable future. It is advised travellers either find suitable residence for the night, or board any of the remaining trains currently platformed. Thank you for your patience. Glory be to our Emperor!”

The peppy tannoy announcement quickly faded away, soon replaced by the starting of a tacky hip-hop beat in its place leaking out of the small rooms speakers. Dante sighed and shook his head at the announcement. Walking over to a small steel counter and bar stool by the large glass window, new bottle in hand.

It made sense they’d be closing off the area. Although Dante hadn’t exactly counted on them being so quick about it. The police were far less efficient than his people were at dealing with stuff. Although, murdering a bunch of people right next to some of the wealthiest of humans in the city, probably send a rocket up the arse of much the bureaucracy that normally held them back.

Must’ve been quiet the pandemonium back at the party . All those corporate folks clutching their pearls and fainting... W hat I would have given to seen that! Dante chuckled to himself at the thought. Taking another swing of his beer. Guess those poor guys down there will work for now.

Blue eyes focused down on the hectic platform bellow. The last stragglers of the floor’s night-life battled each-other over the nearby ticket hurdles in a mad crush. Although there was a particularly amusing group of what looked to be a dozen bachelors, bent over backwards forming a makeshift stairwell over the tall barrier for their groom to walk up. It obviously failed of course. The guy lost his balance and ended up going crashing to the ground on top of his friends, but they all seemed to be having a laugh at least.

The platform itself was no better. People sprinted down towards the trains like they were getting onto the last life-boats of the titanic. Cramming tight into the trains like fish in sardine cans. Clearly he wasn’t going to be sitting on the way back it seemed. Great.

For what should have felt like a clean victory tonight, really was starting to feel like the complete opposite. Yeah, their big family secret was now as good as dead and buried now (if Augustus was holding up his end of the bargain), and they could return back home finally. But, what would even be awaiting them there now when this adventure was over? Lady sure wouldn’t. She’d be stuck back down here. Where they could only - what? Visit her whenever they were given a new assignment? Ugh, Dante wasn’t even starting to miss them. How much pleasure had he gotten from being able to do his own thing down here? It was amazing feeling, not having every mission strictly chosen for him by mother dispatch’s hand-

Don’t think about that! A voice snapped in the back of his mind like a metal slap. His body jolted in sharp response, as the alabaster hand around his glass tightened. Just don’t.

Dante took a shaky sip of his icy drink. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he attempted to purge his mind of the thought once more.

But the beer did little to help, its chill expertly focusing his mind onto that exact topic, onto her alone.

What was Trish? Please stop . Clearly not Eva in terms personality that’s for sure. They couldn’t be more different. There… there just wasn’t the same flame there that Eva had always had. That’s the best way Dante could think to describe it. Eva always felt warm in a homey way, while Trish felt like the violent tinders setting the whole place alight. Stop It!

Granted, he couldn’t lie that he didn’t find that quality rather admirable. But the uncanny valley was just far too strong for his own liking. Heh, maybe that’s the same feeling people get when they meet him and Verge for the first time. Two people who look completely alike, but are so wildly different from one another it. Fuck, maybe Trish is just a long lost twin of Eva’s who’d just happened to be converted into a demon at some point? Fucking absurd idea, he knew. But given how many recent revolutions about his family had come to light in the past few weeks. How much did he truly know about his family, anymore? For all he could know, twins really could just run in the family-

He was just kidding himself wasn’t he? Dante could already imagine Vergil disapproving remarks over how ridiculous such an insane idea was. And he knew damn well phantom Vergil wasn’t wrong. He knew the most likely answer. You’re going to regret this you idiot! Stop thinking now! He always had.

The only other thing Trish could most likely be was…

Eva herself.

Ground up and converted into one of his own kind.

There was no other obvious (and realistic) way why Trish would look so much like her. And in a twisted way, the idea just worked, from the moment it clicked in his mind! What would be a more fitting punishment for her and Sparda, for having half-human offspring like him and Vergil, than making Eva into a demon against her will?

A twisted, cruel smirk pulled at Dante’s lips. This was all his fault wasn’t it? He should’ve been there to protect her. He never should have gone looking for Vergil. He should’ve payed closer attention to him instead of brushing his strange behaviour off, stopped him before he went on his murder tour of the city’s databanks in the first place. He was such a awful brother and son to the both of them, wasn’t he?

"Attention travellers! 5 minutes remain until the last train departs!”

Despairing, Dante went to go take another sip from his bottle. Yet only a drop of the bitter drink landed on his tongue. He lifted the bottle up into the air, and lazily tipped it upside down. Squinting a little, gazing up into its small hole, only to depressingly find nothing there…

Maybe he was taking this self-deprecating train of thought too far though? There was nothing concrete about that conclusion. He was just going off yet another assumption wasn’t he?

For one, Trish didn’t have the trademark bleach white hair they all had. Heh, another blindingly obvious deduction there Detective Dante! He thought, a weak smirk just tugging at his lips. It...wasn’t a great case for Eva not being converted the more he thought about it though. She clearly had the tech of a demon, being able to summon those swords at will and all, and as Vergil had demonstrated tonight, she could’ve just dyed it blond. Perhaps it was a faint memory of Eva slipping through. But no, even that didn’t seem quite right...

He’d run into a few newly converted demons in his time, and while disoriented, they seemed to be able to completely recall their old lives with no trouble. Yet Trish had no memory of either of them - not even the basic motherly sixth sense that Eva always seemed to have, still lurking in there at all. So Eva's memory being wiped (did they even have that tech?) seemed out of the question. And what about the rucks that would’ve been caused upon the discovery that a human woman had been living on the upper floor for like what? 20 years under the demonic authorities noses? That would’ve been all over the news without question! Yet they hadn’t heard a peep of anything like that…

“Attention travellers! 2 minutes remain until the last train departs!"

So Eva could be safe, but she also be long gone. What a wonderful fucking paradox!

Dante rubbed a hand across his tired eyes, his fingertips glazing over the warm sweat covering his brow. He got up from the stool, nursing the empty beer bottle to his chest; somewhat amazed it wasn’t shattering beneath his firm hold. He really needed to get going. No matter how much the anxious twist of his gut, or dizzy, alcohol-fogged mind begged him to do anything but sit his ass back down.

Shakes racked his body, as he stumbled out of the small room and headed towards the escalator back down.

“Attention travellers! The last train will be departing in 1 minute!"

———–

Click here to read more!

#devil may cry #dmc #devil may cry fanfiction #dante sprada #vergil sparda #lady dmc #dante dmc #vergil dmc

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charliejrogers · 4 years

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I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Or, What Many Will Think About Midway Through This Movie)

You may be expecting a long review for this movie. I mean, let’s be honest, I dissected the shit out of Birds of Prey, to the point that it was almost inappropriate for the kind of movie it was. But this movie? The arthouse classic-to-be from the much-revered Charlie Kaufman (both writer and director here), I’m Thinking of Ending Things? A movie filled to the brim with symbolism and which refuses to commut itself to any one point of view or plane or reality? This guy’s gonna write about it for fucking eternity.

Well, no. It won’t be the case. Why? Because I don’t think I really got it. Sure, I could try to wax poetic about my thoughts on aging, time, whether there’s meaning in relationships, meaning to our lives (all themes the film raises and which serve as its central core) But it would just kinda sound bullshit coming from me.

So, yeah, this isn’t much of a plot movie. It starts with a young woman (Jessie Buckley) waiting in the street of a snowy quiet country town’s downtown for her boyfriend, Jake, (Jesse Plemons) of one month (or longer?) so that the two can join Jake’s parents for dinner. Despite taking this proverbial big step in her relationship, she’s wondering (evoking the film’s title) whether she should end things. Or is that really what the title is about. Like everything in this movie, every piece of dialogue every character, every suggestion of a chronology, things are laden with a second meaning. Part of your enjoyment from the film will derive from whether or not you enjoy being strung along for 135 minutes without ever really understanding what’s going on, what’s really being said, who these characters really are, or when/where the hell are we in the world?

Despite those tantalizing and exciting questions, I’m here to warn you now, nothing big or exciting happens in this film, at least by conventional movie standards. We watch the couple drive to the Jake’s parents’ house and that takes about 25 minutes of film time. We’re in the house with his parents for probably about 45 minutes. Then the drive home takes another 20-25 minutes. The scenes about driving are just that: two people in a car talking to one another without much event. It’s like the car ride scenes from your favorite buddy/road trip movie but with all the fun adventures taken out. Instead what we get are long, confusing conversations more akin to Matthew McConaughey’s time spent in a car on True Detective.

But one thing becomes exceedingly clear when we finally get to Jake’s parents’ house: the film’s banal settings (a country road, a farmhouse, a rural high school) belie a truth about the film. It is not set in our reality. Jake and the woman’s conversation on the car ride is full of reflections on the nature of time, aging, depression, and life. Jake is a slightly insufferable intellectual. He’s the kind of guy who says he doesn’t know a whole lot about musical theater and then proceed to list 15-20 musicals of various fame and obscurity. The whole scene feels as quirky and just-shy of overwritten, i.e. par for the course of a pretentious art house film such as this. But the mannerisms of Jake’s parents are more than can be attributed to a quirky film. His mother is a jealous, possessive neurotic played by Toni Collette in a way only she could and a twitchy, and his father is a lecherous rival obsessed with his girlfriend played by David Thewlis (a favorite actor of mine). And throughout the meal, the confident, know-it-all we knew from the drive regresses into the behavior of a weak, embarrassed child. These are caricatures taken word from word from a textbook on Freudian psychology more than they are believable humans. The film admits and confirms the Freudian aping rather explicitly.

But just when you think you understand what the film’s up to, it switches course. After dinner, the woman starts to explore their house and starts a journey through time (but, again, with none of the excitement that sentence would normally imply.) It’s my second favorite sequence in the film (the first being an interpretive dance that occurs towards the film’s end… yes, it’s THAT kind of film). It’s filmed and framed in the trappings of a horror movie, but there’s no jump scares or horrible truth to be found. It’s how I imagine someone would adapt the tone of the superb video game Gone Home (yes, I’m one of THOSE people). But yeah, there’s no horrible truth… except if you consider the inevitability of human decay and disease to be a terrible truth. Every room the woman stumbles upon finds Jake’s parents appear to be a different age and health than when she first got to the house, ranging from a mother decked out in 50s/60s apparel to old, feeble gentleman. From there the movie continues to refuse to stay in one place and becomes odder and odder. It’s then I realized to think of this movie of a totally abstract piece of art, like the dream sequences of The Sopranos or Buffy.

So what do I think is going on? Obviously spoilers for here on out. Despite getting the majority of the screen time, this is NOT a movie about the young woman. At the very beginning of the film we are introduced, briefly, to an older, portly gentleman in his late 70s, looking out a window. The film cuts back to that exact same room and window 30 seconds later, but in the old man’s place is Jesse Plemons’ Jake. From that I take it to mean the two are the same person, with Plemons representing the older Jake younger self (or imagined younger self). Alongside the main plot, we occasionally get images and short scenes of the older Jake, a janitor at a rural high school who lives alone. The intellect (or perhaps false sense of intellect) of his younger self is clearly not meeting its potential. He is mocked by students for his age and fragility. What I think we’re watching is this older Jake trying to make sense of what it means to be old and who is currently on the verge of suicide unable to see its meaning. Although I compared the film to a dream sequence, I don’t think it’s fair to reduce the whole thing to Jake’s dream. More I feel like we are seeing a manifestation of Jake’s subconscious thoughts on screen play out.

Who is the young woman then? I’m not sure. I doubt she represents any actual woman – she’s given a variety of names. She almost plays the part of our (and his) guide into Jake’s subconscious like Virgil to Dante, but she’s more than a void. I think she represents what Jake would want in a woman in his life, a confident woman who can see through Jake’s faults (but notably sees them and sees them clearly). She’s not overtly sexual like the women at the ice cream who clearly make Jake uncomfortable. But yet, it’s telling that even in his deepest, most private thoughts that I think we’re seeing, he cannot imagine that even his ideal woman would want to be with him.

We get lots of reasons for why Jake thinks things are like this. Clearly he holds resentment for his parents, even if he feels like it’s cliché to do so. But time is his true nemesis. For me the most telling scenes for my understanding of the movie comes at the end with the interpretive dance, which shows Jake and the young woman (or, at least, stand-ins for those two) engage in a beautiful display of courtship, love, and marriage, only for the young Jake stand-in to be violently by a representation of the older janitor Jake. Clearly Jake thinks of his current self as something wholly distinct from his younger self, and that the creature he is now, a creature created by time, has destroyed who he once was. Like many of us (or as many of us think), he peaked in high school, the last place where people gave him awards for being who he is. This detail adds a sadness to the fact that he works as a janitor at one now. And it is notable that the film’s journey ends there, at a high school, where inexplicably he is being awarded a lifetime achievement award. Achievement in what? It’s unclear. What is clear that the person receiving the award is not the janitor Jake, but the younger Jake (Jesse Plemons) with old-age make-up on. With his dying breath he is able to see the self he loves, his younger self, grow up and live the life he wanted. There’s no sense at all of his present circumstances or person. Then we cut to a shot of janitor Jake’s truck buried in snow, presumably (on my interpretation) with janitor Jake frozen inside, dead.

So ultimately whether or not you like this movie depends on your tolerance for head-up-its-butt dialogue about the grand questions of life combined with its purposefully obtuse presentation. As one of the biggest douchebags I know, I liked it, but didn’t fall head over heels for it. The only other associated Kaufmann production I’ve seen is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but from what I understand, this movie is Kaufmann at its Kaufmann-iest. I have a great respect for the planning and thought behind every second of the film and I can honestly say I was never not entertained. I loved the film’s mood and atmosphere and that I was always on my toes. It’s a movie that truly has gotten better as I’ve continued to think about it over the last three days. But still, I don’t think I always understood what was going on and it’s a little too obtuse/abstract for it to be an all-time classic. I respect that for some people this may be their favorite movie of all time, and for others it may be a crock of shit. I’m somewhere in the middle, and cautiously recommend this film to those of you who are open to some abstract art in film. If you are, definitely try it out, you won’t forget it. If you are not open to it, skip it; you will have no qualms about endings things early.

***1/4 (Three and one-fourth stars out of four)

#charlie kaufman #i'm thinking of ending things

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deadanddeactivated · 4 years

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Sanders Sides Hogwarts AU

So... this started as me just listing things out for a harry potter au and now it’s a semi-fic? Oops. Um. Enjoy? More to come for the other characters later if people want?

I’m thinking Roman and Remus are technically muggleborns, except their aunt is a witch so when Roman starts showing accidental magic their father knows exactly who to turn to. He’s almost relieved actually, because magic didn’t tear his family apart but it’s so hard to talk with his sister when their worlds are so different and he tries but she doesn’t so they rarely see each other. But now his son has magic! And she comes to stay, comes to help Roman and teach him everything she knows about Hogwarts and the magical world.

But Remus, well, Remus doesn’t seem to have magic. Because where Roman is explosive, Remus isn’t. Remus sits and talks to snakes and his magic helps him play pranks. Roman shouts and the walls rattle and things float when he’s happy. Their father loves them both the same, but Roman and Remus face the same problems he and his sister faced. Their worlds are so different, they grow apart.

And then their father dies. It’s unexpected, it’s tragic, and they’re left alone. Roman, obviously, goes to live with their aunt but Remus is given a choice. He can go with them and face all that he can never have, day in and day out, or he can move in with his muggle uncle.

Remus chooses his uncle, thinking that Roman doesn’t want him around, thinking that all that magic right in his face and out of reach might just make him scream.

Roman watches Remus leave and starts thinking he’s the problem. His father’s gone, his brothers gone, and Roman internalizes that in the worst of ways and his aunt doesn’t know how to notice.

They don’t see each other much after that. They barely talk at the few family events Roman attends. Eventually Roman stops wanting to go to those, tired of watching everyone else be close and having fun while he feels like the outsider.

Then Hogwarts sends outs its letters and Roman isn’t surprised to get his, but he is excited. Remus though, Remus is very surprised to get his.

“There has to be a mistake.” He frowns. “I’m not a wizard. Roman is.”

“The book doesn’t make mistakes,” McGonagall assures. “Don’t you remember doing things that no one else could when you were young?” Remus does, of course he does, he clung to those moments like a lifeline as he felt Roman drifting away. But...

“That wasn’t magic, that was me trying to be like Roman.” He claims, because that’s what Roman said, annoyed his brother would try to steal his thing, and his Aunt never saw him.

“Ah, but it was magic,” McGonagall says but she still sees the hesitation in Remus’ eyes. “Come to Hogwarts, there’s no better place to prove you have magic. And if you don’t, you can come home as soon as you’d like.” She promises.

“Okay.” Remus agrees after a moment because, well, he wants to go. He doesn’t think he has magic, except deep down he knows, but Roman will be going to Hogwarts and Remus misses his brother so bad. This way they’ll see each other again, right? And maybe, just maybe, if Remus does have magic they can be brothers again.

The trip to Diagon Alley is incredible and if Remus were paying as much attention as his uncle, he’d fall in love with the place instantly. The thing is Remus isn’t paying attention. As they move between shops, buying clothes and books and a wand, Remus is desperately searching for his brother, just in case.

“Remus, why don’t you pick out some other books.” His uncle eventually says, leading Remus back to the bookstore that’s cleared out a little since the first rush. “You could find a book about wizard criminals, I bet they’re a lot more interesting than ours.” He suggests, hoping that the allure of the dark side of the Wizarding World will be enough to grab Remus’ attention.

It is and Remus’ Uncle leaves him in the bookstore as Remus starts wondering which wizard to add to his criminal masterminds collection back home.

His search is interrupted by a little garden snake whose slithering over the shelves.

“I don’t think you’re meant to be here.” Remus comments, using a finger to scratch the snakes head.

“I can be where I want.” The snake hisses, making Remus laugh lightly.

“Fair enough.” He says. “Maybe you can help me cutie, I’m looking for the coolest wizard criminal they have.”

“Damnit Tempest, where did you go?” He hears a whispered hiss but it doesn’t come from the snake. Looking around, expecting to spot another snake, Remus instead spots a boy with a burn on his face. “There you are.”

“You can talk to snakes.” Remus notes, eyes wide. He didn’t know other people could do that. Roman couldn’t do that.

“What of it?” The boy huffs, clearly defensive.

“So can I!” Remus grins, bouncing over. “I’m Remus!” He greets.

“De.” The boy says. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do. Come on Tempest.”

“I like it here.” Tempest claims, curled up on the shelf.

“We have things to do.” De snaps.

“Aw, you have to go already?” Remus pouts. “I was hoping we could chat. Hey, are you starting at Hogwarts this year? We could be friends!”

“You clearly don’t have a lot of those.” De mutters.

“Not yet!” Remus agrees, getting an eye-roll in response. Moving past Remus, De collects Temptest from the shelf despite her hissed protests.

“You should look for books on Wrath.” Temptest hisses to Remus.

“Tempest.” De scolds.

“Thanks! Bye!” Remus calls, waving them off. He finds books on this Wrath character in the history section of the bookstore instead of the criminals. His uncle finds him shortly after he buys it.

“Find something to read?” His uncle guesses, hands behind his back.

“Yep!” Remus grins. “It looks more war than crime, but a snake told me to read it so.” He shrugs.

“A snake?”

“Yeah! I made a friend! His name is De and he can talk to snakes too!” Remus grins.

“That’s great!” His uncle grins back.

“What you go do?” Remus asks.

“I found you another friend.” His uncle says and reveals what he’s hiding, a small cage with a rat inside. Remus gasps, immediately opening the cage to pull out the brown creature inside. He grins wider when the rat runs up his arm, placing itself on his shoulder.

“I’ll name him Trash Rat!” Remus announces.

He doesn’t see Roman that day.

On the train, Remus means to find Roman. Instead he gets distracted when he spots De sitting alone in one of the carriages, Tempest resting on the window sill he’s looking out of. Despite De’s protests, Remus sits with him and talks the entire trip. Despite De’s protests, he’s actually enjoying Remus’ company by the end of it. A little bit.

Because of that, though, Remus doesn’t see Roman until the first years are standing out the front of the great hall. Remus is chatting to De when he looks over and sees his brother, chatting to a small group.

“Roman!” Remus shouts, cutting himself off mid-sentence to bound towards his brothers.

“Remus?” Roman frowns, surprised and confused. “But...” he trails off, not sure how to politely say ‘you don’t have magic’.

“Isn’t this great?” Remus grins. “We both have magic now! And we’re going to boarding school together! Do you think we’ll be in the same house? We could room together again!” He says, words rapid fire enough it takes Roman a moment to catch up. When he does all he can do is mutter ‘uhhh’ before the great hall opens and they’re heading inside.

With a last name like Prince, Roman and Remus are stuck to nearly the end of the list.

“His whole names Dante?” Remus whispers, scandalised, when De is called up as Dante Smith. The tables seem to fall under a hush as the hat is placed upon his head, just like it did for that Patton Heart kid.

“Slytherin.” The hat calls a moment later and the room returns to normal.

“No surprise there.” Roman mutters to himself. “That guys a serious bad apple.”

“What’s wrong with De?” Remus frowns.

“He’s the son of an evil wizard,” Roman says. “And he can talk to snakes. Don’t get much more evil than that.”

“But... I can talk to snakes.” Remus mumbles, too low for Roman to hear. Or maybe Roman just ignores him.

The names continue until finally, the list hits the Prince brothers. Roman is called first, older by a hair. The hat is on his head for just a moment before it announces Gyfinador, convinced by Roman’s personality and his begging. Roman breaks out into a grin, joining his table, before Remus is called up.

“Gyfinador, gyfinador, gyfinador.” Remus chants as the hat takes it’s place on his head but he’s quickly distracted, quickly pondering the weight of the hat and if that makes any sense. After all, the hat is sentitate and speak but no heavier than the hats Remus tried on the other day. Shouldn’t it have organs? Or at least lungs and vocals chords? Those should definitely weigh more. Does that mean all hats have those?

“Curious, I see.” The hat notes. “A much better fit for Ravenclaw than Gyfinador.”

“What? No, I’d be a great Gyfinador!” Remus argues. “I’m super impulsive!”

“I see that.” The hat hums. “But there is much more to both houses than that. Ravenclaw.”

“No, please.” Remus tries. “I want to be in Roman’s house.” That makes the hat pause a moment, reading into his mind, before it sighs.

“I don’t think that will do either of you any good.” It says. Finally, before the hat can take as long as it did with that Heart boy, it announces to the room - Ravenclaw.

Remus gets off the chair numbly, looking to the table he’s meant to join now, then to the brother that's not looking at him.

“Do I have to sit over there?” He asks McGonagall who smiles sadly.

“It would do you better to make friends in Ravenclaw.” She says, as polite a ‘yes’ as he’s ever going to get. Downtrodden, Remus takes a seat among the Ravenclaws.

“You should eat.” Someone tells him a moment later. Looking up, Remus sees another first year adjusting his glasses. What was his name again? It was one of the B’s, right? Is he wearing a tie under his robes? “I’ve been informed we will be getting a tour after dinner, it would be best to keep your energy up.”

“I guess.” Remus sighs, begrudingly piling food onto his plate. He doesn’t make conversation as he eats, neither does glasses. Right until the dinner vanishes, replaced with deserts of all kinds.

“What?!” Glasses huffs under his breath. “That’s ridiculous. Has the food changed, was it transported? How?”

“It’s magic.” Remus says, amused despite himself.

“It’s against the laws of science.” The boy says.

“There’s probably a science beyond it.” Remus shrugs one shoulder. Glasses looks surprised a moment before schooling his expression.

“You are the first person to agree with me on that since I received my letter.” He says. “I’m Logan.”

“Oh! Logan Berry! That’s what it was!” Remus says, finally placing the name he’d heard.

“Yes, that is my full name.” Logan mumbles.

“I’m Remus Prince.” Remus says.

“It’s good to finally meet someone that appreciates science,” Logan says.

“I don’t know, from what I’ve heard about Ravenclaw, we probably aren’t the only ones. Ravenclaw is full of nerds.” Remus hums.

“That has yet to be proven.” Logan states, making Remus laugh again.

Okay, he thinks, maybe this isn’t so bad.

32 notes · View notes

skvaderarts · 4 years

Text

Chapter Fifteen: Telemiscomunications

You can check out the Masterlist Here for more links to places to read!

Firefox decided not to work today, so I had to use Edge *shudders* between this and the app not working earlier this year, I think Tumblr just hates me.

Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for the comments once again! I tried to take the time to respond to them all. Talking to everyone always puts a smile on my face. This chapter and the next are shorter set up chapters, mostly due to the fact that the next few chapters will be longer as we reach the climax of the story, and I needed to flesh them out more. But don’t worry. This isn’t the end of the story; not by a long shot. This is just book one. At about chapter seven I realized that this wasn’t going to be a single book affair, so I started work on planning part two’s ending. The structure of the story didn’t work as one very long book, so there will be a second installment. More on that later. For now, thank you for your continued support and enjoy this chapter! I’ll keep writing for as long as you keep reading!

-~-

If it was somehow possible to sleep for almost a full day without trying to, Vergil had just done it. This was very much unlike him. The eldest Son of Sparda couldn’t remember the last time that he had slept that long, especially considering the fact that he was in an unfamiliar environment and didn’t generally drop his guard. Genuinely restful sleep wasn’t something that he experienced often, so he relished the opportunity despite the fact that he hadn’t intended to do so. When he had gone to check out the room that Dante had given him, it was as if the bed had called him into it. One moment he was standing in the doorway, and the next he was waking up at dusk the next day. The transition had been so seamless and sudden that he had thought it was the same day at first. But then he had stumbled into the main office and Dante had started laughing. Vergil had no idea what his younger twin brother found so humorous, but he had a feeling he was going to find out very shortly.

“I was starting to think you were dead,” Dante said as he sat at his desk eating pizza.

The Jukebox was blasting some song that the older twin didn’t recognize but didn’t really acknowledge enough to feel any sort of way about. It was just aimless background noise to him. Vergil glanced over at him, not really sure what to say to that. It wasn’t his fault that his brother hadn’t been smart enough to check his pulse if he thought that something was wrong. It occurred to him that Dante had more than likely checked on him multiple times in order to come to that conclusion. How odd that he hadn’t noticed. Did he really sleep that deeply? Surely not. He liked to think that he would notice if someone was that close to him, even if he was unconscious. Dante couldn’t be that sneaky, could he?

Vergil strolled across the room to glance out of the large windows that spanned the length of the walls, in need of something to idly pass his time. While residing within the same building as his brother wasn’t something he had come to dislike as of yet, he still found the need to have his own space. Right now, he was out of his element. The office didn’t quite feel like home to him just yet. While he never felt entirely safe and wasn’t very adept at dropping his guard (a lifetime in the underworld does that to you) he felt more at ease here than he’d like to admit. Although he wasn’t really sure quite yet why that was, he couldn’t help but notice.

As Vergil gazed out at the storm that raged just beyond the glass, he clasped his hands behind his back. He suddenly had the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. The eldest Son of Sparda didn’t know what that premonition pertained to, but it was as clear as day. Or perhaps not the day, considering the current weather. The storm was quite… dramatic, wasn’t it?

“... You thought I was dead and didn’t think to check,” Vergil didn’t turn to look at Dante as he spoke. He was thinking, but about what, he wasn’t sure. It seemed that he might not be as awake as he initially thought.

Dante took a piece of pizza and leaned back in his chair, placing his feet on the opposite end of the desk from where the delivery box was. “Well, if you died, I guess we could just give your friend a call,” Dante said, clearly being sarcastic. The younger of the two obviously didn’t want Vergil dead. But even if he thought he was, there was no way in hell he was going to try to wake him up to find out.

Before Vergil could retort, the phone rang. The old rotary style phone had been through plenty of abuse in its lifetime, so it was a wonder that it worked at all. Much like the jukebox, it seemed to be determined to remain a part of the office. Vergil glanced over his shoulder at his brother as Dante groaned. Why did people always have to interrupt him when he was trying to eat?

“If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think you were avoiding someone,” Vergil said sardonically, a hint of amusement in his voice,” one your female companions, I presume?”

Dante pointed at him as if to tell him to watch it, resisting the urge to mock him childishly. Vergil was on a winning streak in regards to his behavior. It had been three whole days and he hadn’t stabbed anyone to death yet. That was truly something to cherish. Mind you, he had spent a third of that time asleep, but still. It was an achievement he didn’t want to actively sabotage. But Vergil was actually right for once. He was absolutely avoiding Lady, Trish, and Morisson at the moment. Or even worse… Patty. He had a lot going on right now. The last thing he wanted to think about was the money he owed the girls or the birthday party that Patty was never going to let him live down. There would be a time and a place for that later. Hopefully much, much later. As in never.

Half expecting to be cursed at the moment he answered the phone, Dante reached forward and snatched the phone off of the receiver. It had been a long time since he’d answered it. Before he could recall a single syllable from the English language, a woman’s voice spoke from the other side of the line. It wasn’t the girls. It was Magnolia.

“Oh thank heavens! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you lot all day! Where have you been?!” The woman’s voice held a note of worry as she spoke. She was clearly concerned and flustered but holding her composure well nonetheless. “I’ve been trying to speak to Vergil. Something is happening and I’m not sure what it is.”

Despite the fact that the phone didn’t have a speaker function, Vergil heard her loud and clear. The twins had a keen sense of hearing. Barely anything escaped their notice. Vergil turned away from the window and walked back over to the desk, interested in hearing what she had called them about. Dante glanced up at him as his brother leaned on the desk, tilting his head inquisitively. The Youngest Son of Sparda held the phone out so that they could both listen in.

“You wanted to talk to me, Magnolia,” Vergil said almost hesitantly, clearly out of his element talking to someone on the phone,” What is it?”

Magnolia sighed in relief, clearing her throat. “I may have bumped into that cult that everyone on TV keeps going on about. You’ve heard about them, I presume?”

Dante and Vergil glanced at one another. No. No, they had not. Dante didn’t exactly watch TV and Vergil had been, well, asleep for an entire day. There weren’t in the loop as far as current events were concerned. All they knew was that this storm didn’t seem to want to let up and that the naps had been in order. She seemed to glean her answer from their silence, shuffling slightly from the other end of the line. They both took a moment to think about her statement, not entirely sure yet as to if this turn of events should concern them.

“What about em,” Dante said nonchalantly,” Are they actually a threat?”

Magnolia nodded before considering the fact that they couldn’t possibly see her through the phone. “I believe that some of them, maybe. A few of them attacked me on my way to Fortuna,” She paused for a moment, thinking about the attack,” I couldn’t tell you how they pegged me as a threat. They had a summoner with them who presented a decent challenge. He managed to conjure a Kyklopse, but I made quick work of it. But that wasn’t the main reason for this phone call.”

The twins seemed to absorb the information given to them, Vergil seemingly more troubled than Dante though he wasn’t showing it. Kyklopse were native to Malet Island. How had this person managed to gain control of such a formidable and obscure demon? This didn’t bode well. As they thought in silence, Magnolia continued, conscious of the fact that they were listening intently.

“I’m at Nero’s house at the moment. Charming little place. I quite like it,” as if on cue, the children could be heard screaming in the background, Nico yelling something to them about piping down because an adult was using the phone,” Apparently your sons took an impromptu trip to Fortuna Castle in the Lamina Mountains. According to the lovely young ladies here, they were looking for something in the library? Either way, they’ve been there a couple of hours and haven’t returned. Everyone is worried, even the little lady who swears up and down that she isn’t.”

Nico cursed at the statement.

Vergil looked visibly uncomfortable and Dante seemed about two seconds from bashing his head into his desk. They had both had occasion to visit that place and neither of them had particularly enjoyed their stays. It was probably the most dangerous castle in the human world that wasn’t located on Malet Island. Why on earth would they go there, especially with the condition that V was more than likely currently in? This could be very bad. Vergil leaned forward further, sighing slightly before continuing their correspondence. “And this is the part of this conversation where you inform me that that isn’t the worst part.”

Magnolia sighed too. Vergil could still read her like an open book, even from the other side of a phone. “Yes. That isn’t the worst part. I believe the cult may have followed me here. I arrived a short while ago and snuck here as discreetly as I could, but I saw another boat approaching from the distance as I arrived. I don’t believe that they are after me, but I have a feeling they may go snooping around the castle. Call it intuition, but why else would a cult with summoners in their ranks visit this island?”

Without speaking Vergil stood up and walked down towards the back door of the shop. He opened it and disappeared behind it. Dante glanced at him before turning back to the phone. “... I think we’re gonna have to call you back.”

With that, he hung up the phone and turned his attention back to his brother. Where the hell had he just gone?

-~-

Magnolia stood in the entryway of the house holding the wall-mounted phone in her hand, staring at it as the dial tone blared loudly. They would call her back? What the hell did they mean they would call her back?! There was no time for that! For all she knew, the cult could already be at the castle and both Nero and V could be in terrible danger. While she was certain that Nero could handle himself, V absolutely couldn’t fight right now. It could take a week or more for his powers to begin to trickle back in. If he possessed healing abilities, he would be lucky if they had kicked in by now.

After a moment she hung up the phone and turned around. Kyrie stood just a few feet away, her hands clasped and her posture entirely too at attention. She wore a pleasant smile, but anyone with any basic level of comprehension of human emotions could tell that she was scared. She smiled gently at the young woman for a moment. A few seconds passed like this, the two of them locked in this silent understanding. Kyrie couldn’t bring herself to ask this woman that she had barely just met for her help, but she could tell that she could handle herself. Magnolia walked over to her and placed her hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle shake. She recognized what the young brunette with the large doe eyes was too afraid to ask.

“Don’t trouble yourself, dear,” She said in a firm, reassuring tone,” I’m going to go to the castle and see what they are up to. You just stay here and stay safe.”

Kyrie smiled wearily, unable to find the proper words for her relief. She didn’t know why, but the middle-aged woman before her made her feel safe. She opened her mouth to thank her but was stopped by a loud noise reminiscent of some kind of humming. A split second later, the front slammed open, bounding off of the wall. Although not quite hard enough to split the frame, it produced a loud, thundering boom that took the young woman by surprise, causing her to let out a terrified shriek. Nico scrambled down the hall, her hands clenched firmly around the neck of a lamp as the cord dangled uselessly. She had clearly just yanked it from the wall, desperate to come to her rescue. Magnolia glanced at her, her brow furrowing as she nodded to herself in approval. She liked this wily young lady. There wasn’t an ounce of fear in her.

The three ladies turned their gaze back to the door just as Vergil walked in, still in the process of sheathing Yamato. He had clearly left in a hurry as his hair was drenched from the rain. He’d made no effort to stay dry whatsoever. He looked grimly miffed and not at all in the mood for this. But, there was no anger in his demeanor. That couldn’t be a look of concern, could it? Magnolia shifted from the protective stance that she had taken and straightened her back, folding her arms. It was good to see that Vergil still took her seriously when she called him, even after all these years. It was rare that she needed to, but the fact that he had immediately shown up spoke volumes. She knew that he was aware of her capabilities. If there was a threat she didn’t feel comfortable taking on, he took it seriously.

Dante followed shortly after he, the look on his face somewhere between befuddlement and curiosity. He had never seen Vergil jump up and immediately race off to another location based solely on the testimony of another individual before. And he clearly took this potential threat seriously. Was it the mention of the Kyklopse that had irked him so thoroughly?

“... You were going to the castle,” He said rather bluntly, clearly ready to assess the situation for himself. Vergil was not the least bit pleased about this and it was very slowly starting to show.

Magnolia nodded, stepping forward to join him. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I was just leaving. I didn’t expect you to come so soon,” She grabbed her coat off of the hook nearest to her and shrugged into it, flaring it out in order to adjust the fit,” I’d have you know, I’m out of practice. Haven’t been in a good fight for several years now. I’m a healer now. Do keep that in mind?”

“How fortunate for his opponents,” Vergil thought to himself,” She could piece them back together after he diced them into bite-sized chunks.” He had no idea who this cult was, and he didn’t care. All he knew was that they needed to die and they were going to, especially if any harm came to either of his sons. While Nero was quite capable, it was rather difficult to launch an effective offense against an opponent with someone who was essentially helpless in close proximity. There had better be a good reason they had taken a trip to that godforsaken death trap, especially with V in the state that he was in.

The eldest Son of Sparda stopped for a moment to consider his somewhat irrational but fully warranted response. Was he actually worried about them? No, that was preposterous. Vergil, the Darkslayed, feared no one (well, virtually no one) but here he was, stymied by the concept of his two very capable children possibly being in harm’s way? Where had this sudden concern for their well being originated from? He would worry about that later. For now, he needed to know where they both were. Precisely where they were. And they needed to take care of this “cult”.

“It won’t matter in the slightest,” Vergil said as he glanced at Kyrie before turning to go back outside. He couldn’t help but notice her change in demeanor, much like Magnolia had,” They will be dealt with soon enough.”

Vergil descended the front steps and set off, expecting that they would simply catch up. He wasn’t going to wait for them and he wasn’t going to ask for them to follow him. The eldest of Sparda’s twin sons had spent a lifetime in the underworld. Vergil would make quick work of these cultists, with or without the help of his companions. Magnolia and Dante shared an acknowledging glance before he followed after him, jogging lightly to catch up with his brother’s brisk pace. Magnolia turned to Nico, stealing a glance in the direction of Dante and Vergil. She would have to catch up with them after their sudden departure.

“You there, with the lamp,” She said firmly.

Nico brandished the lamp before lowering it, not entirely sure what she planned to do with it now that she thought about it. Tiffany lamps were heavy, yes, but they required getting in close to be effective as a blunt force weapon. She wasn’t getting that close to a potential summoner with a demon. But she hadn’t thought of that at the time. She had simply acted in what she assumed to be the best interests of the people she had come to care about.

“Y-yes? Wadda ya need?” She fumbled over her words for a second, her slight embarrassment intensified by the acknowledgment of how ridiculous she looked in this moment. This woman probably thought she was certifiable.

“... as you were then, dear. Keep up the good work.” Magnolia said pleasantly. She nodded to her, reaffirming her statement. Nico stared at her like she’d lost her mind for a moment before nodding back. She now understood what the older woman was telling her.

“Don’t worry, miss,” Nico said with certainty,” Nothing’s gonna happen to anyone here under my watch.”

Magnolia nodded and turned towards the door, sauntering away. She stopped in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder in Nico’s direction. She smiled as she spoke. “Oh, I know you will dear. Of that, I have no doubt.”

With that she stepped out of the door, using her food to push it closed as she went. As she stepped out into the rain, she noticed that Dante and Vergil were about a block ahead of her. She shook her head. They moved awfully fast, didn’t they. It was going to be quite the job to keep up with them. But then again, nothing having to do with Sparda’s descendants was ever easy. And she relished the excitement, although in the hopes that it would be short-lived. She had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

-~-

Okay, so this didn’t end up being any shorter than normal. LOL. Well, maybe like 100 words. How ironic. I guess that’s what I get for assuming I couldn’t hit my minimum word count with just a phone call scene. I’m kinda proud of myself. Toon in on Friday the 19th for chapter 16 and thank you as always for reading this chapter. We're all going through a lot right now, so it makes me happy to give you something to look forward to every week. Hopefully! And go listen to the song this chapter is named after. It’s good. There’s only one so it shouldn’t be hard to find. Take care, everyone!

9 notes · View notes

sardonicmanic · 4 years

Text

I Tried To Forget

🖤Spencer x Female Reader🖤

~Summary: When you start acting weird during a case in your hometown the team starts to get worried and tries to figure out what’s wrong with you. But you are trying you hardest to forget memories and the pain associated with this town and the things that happened to you in the past, but it won’t be that easy....

~Warnings: ANGST, Mentions of Emotional and Physical Abuse, Violence

~Word Count: 2.2k

~A/n: This story wasn’t requested but I have had this idea for a story for a while so why not write it right?? Bold = Flashback

!!Feel free to leave me suggestions for stories!!

🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

It was 9:30 in Quantico, Virginia, and the team was just starting to arrive at the BAU, happy they got a couple more hours of sleep before work. Emily and Morgan were chatting about what they did the night before, when they heard two familiar voices coming through the doors of the BAU.

Y/n and Spencer laughed and sipped their coffee as they walked into the bullpen and headed towards their desks. After sitting, they continued their conversation. Y/N listening to Spencer with infatuation and hanging onto his every word as he rambled on about a random book he had read that morning. Derek turned around in his chair and smiled at the two agents, amused at the obvious chemistry the two shared. Deciding he'd mess with them Derek uttered an sardonic, " Well...Good morning, you too", as he leaned back in his chair. Y/n and Spencer stopped their conversation and turned to look at Derek. “You two seem to be having a wonderful morning.", Derek said somewhat sarcastically, smiling at his own comment.

Spencer blushed, as Y/n turned around in her chair smiling, "And... Are you trying to imply something Derek Morgan?", Y/n said folding her arms playfully as she squinted her eyes.

Morgan puts his arms up jokingly and laughs, "Hey. I'm just saying, you two love birds look pretty happy over there together."

Spencer just blushed as he looked down at his feet, desperately wanting a way out of this akward conversation. Emily deciding she would chime in said , "Morgan isn't wrong you know.", before smiling at the agent and now embarrassed doctor.

"Listen here Morgan..." Y/n started, jokingly ready to come back with a sly comment of her own.

However, just as Y/n was about to speak, Rossi walked up the agent’s desks and said, "Hey guys. Roundtable, we have a case". “Thank God", Spencer said as he quickly got up and rushed into the conference room, relieved to escape from the akward conversation. Morgan snickered at the doctor and uttered, "Aw looks like pretty boy can't take the heat.", before he got up from his chair. Emily and Rossi laughed at Derek's comment as they followed the rest of the team to the roundtable.

Before they got there, Y/n caught up to Derek and nudged his arm playfully before whispering, "This isn't over, Morgan.". Making Morgan laugh as he entered the room and sat down at the table with the rest of the team.

When the whole team was at the roundtable, Aaron quickly walked into the room and sat down, "What do we have Garcia?”, he said. Prompting Garcia to quickly get up from her seat and begin to debrief the team, "Alright lovelies, today we have three female victims who have all been stabbed a number of times in the stomach, dumped, and posed in public places all throughout the small town of Grove, Oklahoma.".

As Garcia stated the location of the case, it triggered something in Y/n. Suddenly, she felt her stomach drop as memories of her childhood and hometown rushed back into her mind.

"You are a mistake!" said Y/n’s mother as she pushed her into the cold empty attic. "I knew your father and I should have gotten rid of you!" She said as she grabbed Y/n by her hair and threw her to the hard, frigid floor. "You just wait until your father gets home...he is gonna teach you how to respect the people who gave you life!" Y/n's mother said as she slammed the heavy door to the attic. “And your staying in that attic for a week!” Her mother screamed at the top of her lungs, as Y/n shivered in the corner of the cold attic.

Y/n choked back tears as these horrible memories rushed her through mind. Trying to shake these thoughts and suspicion, Y/n picked up her case file and tried to focus on the task at hand. “Well the way the unsub is posing his victims shows he has remorse or that he somewhat cares for his victims..” , Y/n said trying to take her mind elsewhere.

“Exactly.", Spencer chimed in. "It’s almost like he is laying his victims to rest”, Spencer said as he pointed out the victims arms crossed over their chests. “However, there is a lot of overkill”, said Morgan inquisitively staring at the many stab wounds that littered the victim's stomachs.

As the team continued to profile the case, Spencer was sneaking glances at Y/n. Spencer and Y/n had been really close friends for a couple of years now, and the doctor knew everything about her. He knew because he spent every moment he could with her. Whether it was watching doctor who or just sipping coffee and talking in his apartment, the two profilers always seemed to be together. Spencer ultimately loved to be around Y/n, and every chance he had, he was. But he always wondered if they could ever be more than just friends. However, the doctor was too nervous to ever pursue these feelings.

As Spencer listened to Garcia resight the details of the case, he glanced to his right to look at Y/n again. When he looked he noticed the agent biting the inside of her lip and studying the file intensely. Spencer knew something was wrong. Y/n only bit her lip when she was really nervous about something. And seeing this behavior made the doctor furrow his brow and glance again at the agent before turning his attention back to the case files.

"With the increasing frequency of these kills, this could turn into a spree very quickly", said Rossi as he looked at the victims upon the board. Aaron stood up and grabbed the files, "Exactly why we can't waste any time, wheels up in 30", he said as he exited the room.

As the team left the room, Y/n rushed past Spencer and headed towards the bathroom to compose herself. As she did, Spencer watched her leave, a worried look covering his face before Rossi came to stand beside the doctor. "What's wrong with her?" He said looking at the doctor. Spencer looked at Rossi and then nervously towards the direction that Y/n went in, "I don't know, but whatever it is...it's making her more nervous than usual”.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom Y/n was trying to take deep breaths to calm herself down. She splashed water on her face as flashes of her childhood played through her head.

“So...you wanna be disrespectful huh?”, Y/n’s father said as he smoked a cigarette. “Please!”, Y/n cried out as her father got closer to her. “I didn’t do anything! Please don’t hurt me!”, She continued to scream. Y/n’s father just laughed as he got closer to his daughter. “Let me teach you a lesson Y/n, about respect”, her father said as he got closer and closer, the lit cigarette burning in his hand.

Y/n tried hard to erase these memories from her mind, but soon tears started to involuntarily run down her cheeks. Y/n quickly covered her mouth to hide the sobs that now racked her body as she hide in the stalls.

After seeing it had been a couple minutes, Y/n took a tissue and wiped her face to try to hide the fact that she had been crying. After she looked at her self in the mirror, Y/n took a deep breath before leaving the bathroom to go meet the team on the plane.

On the plane, Spencer sat in the back, next to Y/n, as he read Dante's, Inferno for the 100th time. Taking a break from reading, Spencer looked over at Y/n to see her staring blankly out of the window, something obviously weighing heavy on her mind. Spencer was starting to become concerned with how Y/n was behaving ever since they got on this case. Y/n was usually a very happy person, she was never one to sit in silence on the plane. She usually talked about the case with the team or she would mindlessly chit chat with Spencer about some nerdy interest the two shared. Spencer, wanting to break the silence, looked towards Y/n and whispered, “Hey, you doing okay?”.

Y/n turned to the doctor and forced a smile onto her face, “Yeah I’m fine Spence, just thinking about the case”. Just as Spencer was about to say something else, JJ’s phone started to ring. After answering, she looked at the team and said, “Another victim has been found in Lendonwood gardens. She was stabbed 27 times in the stomach.”.

“That was fast.”, said Rossi as he looked at the team.

“Your right. The unsub waited a week to kill with his last victim, but this time there was only 5 days between each murder”, Y/n said as she focused her attention from Spencer to the team's conversation.

“Alright. Morgan, Reid, I want you guys to go look at the latest crime scene and see if there is anything new with the latest victim. Emily, I want you to visit the first crime scene and see if you can see anything there. I will start to work victimology at the station with JJ, while Y/n and Rossi will interview the latest victims family and anyone who saw them last”, Aaron said as he quickly assigned the team to tasks. After being given his orders, Spencer glanced at Y/n worryingly, feeling uneasy about not being able to keep an eye on her during this case.

As the team went back to doing their individual activities, Y/n looked at Spencer and saw him shift uncomfortably in his seat. Sensing his uneasiness, Y/n tried to calm the genius's worries,"Hey.", Y/n said as she grabbed the genius's hand and smiled. "I'm fine Spencer, I promise", Y/n said looking the doctor in his hazel eyes and giving him a smile.

Spencer looked at Y/n with a worried expression, "Are you sure?", He said, concern lacing his voice as he held Y/n's hand.

"I'm sure.", said Y/n as she gripped the doctors hand tighter, trying not to show the true anxiety she was feeling as they got closer to landing.

"Okay", Spencer said reluctantly, as he went back to reading his book. He wasn't satisfied with Y/n's answer, but he didn't want to bother her by asking more questions so he left it alone.

When the plane landed, the team gathered all their things and started to de-board the plane. As Spencer de-boarded the plane, he watched Y/n climb into the SUV with Aaron. Rossi looked at the doctor as he de-boarded the plane, noticing his anxious demeanor. Trying to reassure him, Rossi walked up to Spencer and lovingly patted him on the shoulder, "Hey kid, I will keep a close eye on her". Spencer turned to Rossi,smiled, and said, "Thank you.", before following Morgan to the SUV and heading to Lendonwood gardens to assess the latest crime scene.

When Aaron, JJ, Rossi, and Y/n arrived at the police station they were greeted out front by a tall man with a thick southern accent. “Y’all must be from the FBI, I’m sheriff Yates, Thank you for comin’ down.”, he said as he shook Aaron’s hand.

“No problem. I’m SSA Aaron Hotchner, how do you do?”, Aaron said as he shook the Detective’s hand. Aaron turned and motioned over to the people standing behind him, “These are agents, Y/n, JJ, and Rossi. The rest of our agents are assessing the crime scenes.”. The agents waved at the detective as he tipped his hat towards them.

“We have had a lot of bodies poppin’ up around here for the past few weeks”, he stated as he turned and started to walked into the building, the agents following closely behind. "Stuff like this doesn't happen in Grove", the detective said solemnly as they walked into the office. Suddenly the sheriff turned to the agents and said, “Sad, what happened to all those women, I knew most of them.... I hope y’all can catch this bastard.” the sheriff said looking at the agents.

“We have our best agents working this case sir, we will try our hardest.”, said Rossi reassuring the officer.

The detective shook this head as he turned to lead the team into the office. Officers and detectives buzzed around, as the sheriff lead them to a room further within the station. “We have a evidence board, table, and chairs set up in there”, the sheriff said as he pointed towards the room. “Thank you”, said Aaron, as he walked into the room with JJ to get set up. Before the sheriff went back to his work, Rossi asked if their was anyone seen with the latest victim before she went missing. The sheriff nodded and said, “Yes actually, the staff at Lendonwood said they saw a couple with the victim prior to the murder”.

“Are they here?", said Y/n as she looked around the office. The sheriff nodded and gestured towards a room, “Yep, they are waiting in that room over there.”. Y/n looked towards the waiting room and said, “Do you mind if we talk to them?”. The sheriff shrugged and said, “Be my guest.”, before he left to give orders to his officers on patrol.

Rossi and Y/n walked over to the waiting room ready to interview the couple. But before Y/n could go into the room Rossi stopped her, “You okay today kiddo, is something on your mind?”, he said looking at Y/n. Y/n contemplated telling Rossi, but she had trouble even thinking about her past, let alone talking about it. So reluctantly Y/n uttered, “I will be fine Rossi, I just wanna solve this case.”, as she turned the door knob. Rossi sighed as he followed Y/n into the room. He knew she was hiding something, he just couldn’t put his finger on what.

But soon it became apparent, as Y/n stopped in her tracks when she saw who was waiting in the small, rundown room. Y/n’s face drained of all color as she looked at the couple in front of her. The couple looked towards the agents who walked in, and a eerie smile crept upon their faces when they saw a face that they recognized. Their smiles sent shivers down Y/n’s spine and made her heart stop.

“Well... Look what the cat dragged in.”, the husband mocked. “My very own daughter”, he said earning a little laugh from his wife as they looked at Y/n’s reaction upon seeing them.

Rossi looked at Y/n with confusion before he quickly took her out of the room. "What is going on?" Rossi thought as he closed the door behind him.

To be continued.....

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