#one time we brought the fish back-my sister and me poured them into the pool
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I remember seeing different fishes as I grew up
#when I was very young in Mexico they took me to these waterfalls and I remember the silver lines of the tiny fishes and I was so so#scared#I thought the wanted to eat me#when I first started kindergarten in the us they showed me some fish trying to calm me down#it didn’t work but they were so pretty-I didn’t know what the people were saying#I remember going to the creek when the walking trail was still there and catching the fish in old plastic bottles people would#toss into the field#we did this so many times and I always had a horrible feeling it was going to be the last#one time we brought the fish back-my sister and me poured them into the pool#eventually even frogs showed up#my first time at an aquarium was spectacular#everything was dark and blue#my family owned so many fishes throughout my life but the only fish I remember are#the black moor goldfish
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The Little Nereid Part 12
Record of Ragnarok fanfiction
Poseidon x OC
Word count: 2,200
Dynamene, youngest of the 50 Nereids, has lived most of her adolescence as a servant alongside her sisters at Poseidon’s palace. But with her coming-of-age birthday and other developments, what she initially thought was just admiration of her master blossoms into something stronger and more passionate… and painful. Loving someone like Poseidon is not easy period, let alone as your first love. But Dynamene is young and naïve, and all she wants is a chance to be at the sea god’s side.
Categories and warnings: Romance, angst, unrequited love, coming-of-age, earn-your-happy-ending, slow-burn (ish); no sexual content. There will be some graphic violence in the future.
Updated regularly; will have about 18 parts total.
—
It was still dark out when Dynamene arrived at the temple. Dawn was just breaking over the horizon, the ocean calm. Still soaking wet from head to toe, she left puddles of water with each trudge up the sizable hill where the temple overlooked the sea. She had never been to a human temple before. It was less grand than she had imagined, though still tall and stately. It was impressive as far as human architecture went, she supposed.
She entered hesitantly, feeling almost embarrassed to be tracking water into a sacred, if humble, place. In the room at the center of the temple stood Aphrodite's cult image. It was roughly life-sized and hewn from wood, with a delicate cloth draping it modestly. Dynamene suppressed a smile when she saw it; it was much less curvaceous and delicate looking than the real goddess. She approached it gingerly, not sure what to do next.
Most humans that came to temples to ask something of the gods brought an offering, she knew, but she hadn't the faintest idea what to present. She was entirely empty-handed, save for the thin chiton she wore and her treasured bracelet, neither of which she was about to part with.
After a few minutes of pondering, the answer came to her - Aphrodite was the goddess of beauty, too, not just love. Dynamene's hands went to her two braids. Would she accept her hair as an offering...? Surely there was little more a woman could give in way of sacrificing her beauty.
She picked up a sharp seashell from the altar and aligned it with the base of the first braid, against her neck, and took a deep breath. Her hair had been long her whole life, but it would grow back, right?
Before she could even make the first cut, there was a deafening clap, and she was surrounded by white light.
When the light cleared, she was no longer standing in the dim inner room of the temple. A strange burning sensation lingered on her skin before quickly subsiding. Dynamene hesitantly lifted her head.
She was in a vast room with golden floors and roses of every color climbing the frescoed walls. A giant fountain, several times her height, stood ahead to her right. It bubbled and gurgled merrily, the white foam so bright that she could hardly look at it. A handful of small cherubs tended to bunches of pristine lilies that floated serenely in the bottom pool. And to her left, reclining on a golden couch inlaid with diamonds and pearls, was a statuesque woman with golden waves and wide eyes.
"My, you weren't really going to cut your hair, were you?" Aphrodite cried, staring at Dynamene with alarm. "I may be the goddess of love as well as beauty, but I'll let you in on a secret - no woman should sacrifice her looks for a man."
Dynamene immediately turned red. "I... I apologize." She tucked the shell away awkwardly into the fold of her chiton. "Um, where am I?"
"You're at my palace, on Mount Olympus," Aphrodite proclaimed. She smiled at Dynamene and tilted her head. "I've been waiting so long to speak with you. Come, sit!"
Mount Olympus?! Dynamene had been here before on a few occasions to accompany Poseidon as part of his court, but only to the common grounds. Each of the twelve Olympians had their own estate and palace that they designed and furnished to their liking, most filled with opulence and treasure that lesser beings could barely dream of. To think that she should now find herself in one was incredible.
Aphrodite snapped her fingers. A couch that matched her own appeared next to Dynamene, as well as a table with cups and a jug of some mysterious liquid. "You must be famished. You've had quite the journey; sit, sit!"
How could she know that? Dynamene settled nervously onto the couch and smoothed the bottom of her dress. She was all too aware of how bedraggled she must look, especially in such an exquisite place. The upholstery became dotted with dark spots of water from her damp hair.
Aphrodite snapped her fingers, and Dynamene's clothes and hair dried in an instant. "There we are. More comfortable?"
"Um, yes, thank you." Dynamene touched the bottom of her braid in amazement. The jug on the table before her poured itself into her cup, and she brought it to her mouth with both hands. Something incredibly sweet and steaming hot flowed into her lips.
"That's nectar. Careful you don't drink too much, it'll cause indigestion. Now then, you've called upon me for help," Aphrodite beamed and moved upright, crossing her legs. "I'm overjoyed, to say the least." She rested her chin elegantly on the thumb and pointer finger of one hand.
"You are?" Dynamene felt completely lost.
"Yes! I've been following your adventure ever since things began to really heat up a few weeks ago. Your birthday, to be precise. How exciting! I haven't seen a love story this gripping in centuries."
Dynamene almost dropped her cup. "Following me?! Do you mean you've seen everything that's happened since then?"
"Well, the juicy bits, yes. As the goddess of love, I can tune in on any love affair or infatuation I desire. Most are a bit boring, nowadays. But you... Your feelings for Poseidon... It's such a delight! What a turn of events! I'm quite invested." Aphrodite giggled.
Dynamene's face continued to burn red. "I... I don't understand."
Aphrodite sighed and leaned back once more. "Ah, Poseidon... such an enigma. Such a tall, dark, and handsome man... Such an incredible body... But such a wretched personality."
Dynamene flinched.
"He really is a delight to look at, though, isn't he?" Aphrodite sighed, her gaze turning dreamy. "There was a time when I thought I might add him to my body count... But his stifling demeanor quickly dispersed that idea from my head. Such a foul attitude."
Dynamene felt a different kind of heat rise up from her neck to her ears, and her gaze narrowed before she could hide her feelings. Aphrodite laughed in response.
"Oh, don't worry! I'd never touch him now; such a cold fish. Not the type to be a considerate lover, at any rate. An ice statue of a man," she scoffed. Her gaze moved back to Dynamene with curiosity. "But you love him anyway!" Aphrodite leaned forward once more, her eyes wide.
Dynamene stared at her lap, completely overwhelmed. "I... I do." Her voice sounded so small, even to herself.
"Tell me about it! How did it happen? What was it that made you fall for him? I want to know everything!"
"Um..." Dynamene swallowed hard. She could see him clearly in her mind's eye; that piercing gaze and chiseled body. She remembered the way his body had shadowed hers in the dark on the beach. What was it...
Aphrodite smirked, as if she knew exactly what Dynamene was thinking. "Yes, handsome, that much is a give-in. But what else? There has to be something drawing you to him."
"Well..." Dynamene racked her brain. "He's incredibly powerful, and smart. He knows his realm so well..."
"That's a start, I suppose," Aphrodite clicked her tongue. "But men like that are a dime-a-dozen. And that won't keep you warm at night."
"What?" Although Dynamene had no idea what she was getting at, she had the feeling it was something rather uncouth.
"Oh, I apologize. You're a virgin, right? You're inexperienced in these matters." Aphrodite took a dainty sip from her own cup. "Those qualities are all nice and fine, but there's nothing romantic or passionate about them. Not things that really light the flame of love, as it were."
Dynamene was silent for a moment, staring at her hands. She thought of the way he'd spoken with her on the beach, and the way he'd gone out of his way to show her the wonderful things he saw underwater. "He shared his power with me... He used it to show me all the things he could sense in the ocean. It was amazing, and so nice. He held my hand... and I didn't want him to let go."
"So that's it!" Aphrodite said triumphantly. "He made you feel special. He gave you a glimpse of something he's never shown anyone else."
Dynamene smiled wistfully. "And then, he promised me another bracelet... He's never given me anything besides on my birthday. It must mean something. He's never done that for anyone before."
"The frigid tyrant is finally thawing," Aphrodite pondered, swishing her cup. "Maybe he won't spend eternity a virgin, after all," she snickered.
Wait... Does she mean me and him...? Dynamene hid her face in her hands. Oh, no. This is too much. What am I doing here?!
"So he is getting sweet on you, then." Aphrodite threw her head back in laughter. "Oh, I can't believe it; that a day like this would come! It's too much."
"Well... not sweet, exactly, but..." Dynamene rubbed her arm.
"Not sweet?" Aphrodite rose one eyebrow. "He didn't kill you when he had the opportunity. That's quite the gesture of fondness for him, really."
Dynamene blinked, struck speechless.
"Now, then," Aphrodite continued, her voice taking on a more business-like tone. "As far as directly helping you, there's little I can offer. Poseidon would have my head if he ever found out I was interfering in his love life, and that wouldn't do." She sighed rather theatrically.
"Oh." Dynamene's shoulders sank. Then it was all for nothing.
"But..." Aphrodite continued with a mischievous smile. "That doesn't mean I can't point you in the direction of someone who can help you. I've heard through the grapevine that there's a witch not far from Poseidon's estate who does spell work for those who are willing to pay the price. She lives in one of the deepest undersea trenches. I'm sure she'd be happy to strike a deal with you."
"A witch?" Dynamene had misgivings about this immediately. Witches didn't exactly enjoy the highest of praises within the Greek pantheon's society. "Aren't a lot of them shady?"
"They are. But you're clever enough, and there's no guarantee that this witch will be as seedy as the rest. Just keep your wits about you. All you need is something to convince him to make a commitment to you. I understand Hera gave you a blessing during her latest visit."
Dynamene remembered the gilded pomegranate. "She did."
"Something about a guaranteed happy union, correct? She told me about it. There's your ticket to a happy ending; you just need to secure the union in the first place."
Dynamene smiled. "You're right. It was very kind of Hera to give me a blessing. I was so surprised."
"She didn't do it out of the kindness of her heart," Aphrodite sighed, giving her curls a shake.
Dynamene's smile froze. "What do you mean?"
"Hmm..." Aphrodite puffed her cheeks, weighing her next words. "I'll let you in on a little insider's secret: she wants Poseidon married to force a crack in his armor."
Dynamene stared at her. "Pardon? His armor?"
"If Poseidon gets married and has a family, he'll have a weak spot. Hera knows that Poseidon is feared more than Zeus, and she loathes the possibility of him holding more influence. She wants to have a way to keep Poseidon in line. That's why she gave you that pomegranate." Aphrodite shook her head, wrapping a curl of hair idly about one finger.
Dynamene's head was spinning as she tried to put two and two together. "But... the blessing would be useless to her purpose unless she knew that one of us liked the other. So how...?"
Aphrodite giggled mischievously and gave Dynamene a wink. "I guess I'm not always the best secret keeper myself."
Dynamene stared at her, aghast. Hera would use me as a tool to get to Poseidon? Her eyes darted back and forth anxiously. I'm so stupid. Of course she wouldn't give a random blessing like that out of kindness; that's not how the Olympians usually function.
"Don't fret too much, dear Dynamene." Aphrodite's eyes darkened above her smile. "It doesn't really matter what the future after your union holds; not how miserable of a man Poseidon is, or what your relationship turns out to be. If you marry him while holding that blessing, you'll be happy no matter what your situation is."
Dynamene's gaze searched the goddess's face. Why did it seem like Aphrodite's expression was almost one of pity?
Happy... even if I shouldn't be?
"Rest assured, I am rooting for you, little Nereid. Now go; I'll send you near the witch's home. Or, at least where I think it is." The goddess of beauty shrugged her delicate shoulders.
White light enveloped Dynamene once more, and she braced herself. Before Aphrodite's palace disappeared, she heard the goddess call out one last time: "In exchange, I expect to be the first to know about your wedding night!"
---
Author’s notes:
Did you know, when I started this fanfiction, I planned it to be 4 parts and about 9000 words?
I am now past 32000. Help me.
Things are coming to a head, stay tuned.
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Keeping Secrets Ch. 22
Keeping Secrets Masterlist
Pairing: DamonxOc, TylerxOc, ElijahxOc then KlausxOc endgame.
Katie lied in Caroline’s queen bed between Bonnie and Caroline. She was having the best sleep she’d had since she turned thanks to Bonnie casting a one time spell on her to keep her from dreaming. So when Elena’s phone started ringing waking them all up they groaned grumpily. “Go away.” Caroline groaned right before Elena fell out of bed pulling the covers off of Katie and Bonnie. Elena grabbed her phone and answered it. “Elena.” Caroline complained at Elena being loud.
Katie could hear Stefan’s voice on the other end of the line. “Why do the Salvatore brothers have to be such early birds?” she groaned as she grabbed the blanket and pulled it back over her and Bonnie. She was about to drift back off to sleep when she remembered that she would probably dream about Elijah. So she slipped out of the bed, doing her best to not wake the two other girls, then grabbed her phone out of her shorts from the previous day and headed to the kitchen.
She had made a pot of coffee and was pouring a cup when Elena walked in. “Good morning.” Elena greeted her as she grabbed a pack of pop tarts out of the pantry.
“Yeah it was, before someone’s boyfriend called and woke me up.” Katie complained as she sat down at the small table in the room.
“Sorry.” Elena told her as she opened the extremely sweet pastries then threw away the silver wrapper.
“Don’t worry about it.” Katie told her flatly as she stared down at her steaming mug.
“Are you okay?” Elena asked with a worried look at her friend.
“Yeah.” Katie gave Elena a tired smile. “I just haven’t completely woken up yet.”
“If you say so.” Elena told her as if she didn’t believe her. “I’m gonna head out. Tell the girls I said I had fun and see you later.”
“Will do.” Katie told her with a sarcastic salute that Elena didn’t see because her back was already turned as she walked away.
Katie turned her eyes to her phone and unlocked the screen to see two messages, one from Damon and one from Elijah. So she opened the one from Damon first. “Call me when you wake up.” With a heavy sigh she pressed the phone icon next to his name and called him. “Hi.” Damon answered.
“Are you still mad at me?” Katie asked with a cringe, waiting for whatever his answer may be.
“Believe it or not…no.” he answered making Katie cock her head to the side, confused. “Your silence tells me you’re just as surprised as I am.”
“I don’t think surprised is a strong enough word.” Katie replied as she picked up her coffee and took a sip. “You were so pissed when you left.”
“Yeah I was and I wanted to rip his head off, but I stopped and thought about everything you said, not just the part about you kissing him.” he told her, making her eyes water.
“You did?” Katie asked, managing to keep her voice from cracking.
“Let’s just say I’ve lost control and made some mistakes of my own in my lifetime.” He told her and she smiled as she wiped a tear that fell.
“Are you high?” She laughed in confusion. Damon wasn’t usually a rational thinker.
“No. I told you I wouldn’t let him come between us and I meant it.” he told her. She could hear hangers moving around in the background. “So, the Lockwood’s are hosting a high tea for a writer that’s in town writing a book on small town Virginia. Want to come with me?”
“Let me guess, this writer is Elijah and you want to dangle me in front of him like a piece of meat that he can’t have.” She said as she picked up her cup and took a drink.
“Mmhmm.” He hummed making her shake her head at him. “So will you go with me?”
“Nope.” she answered.
“Aww come on.” He begged thinking she wouldn’t be able to say no.
“Do you know what happens to a piece of meat that gets tossed into a lion's den?” Katie asked. “I’ll pass.”
“Fine.” He whined. “How was the sleepover?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Exactly what I needed. Bonnie cast a spell on me so that I could have one night of dreamless sleep.” She answered then frowned and scratched at her brow. “I still need to fill you in on everything that Elijah told me yesterday.”
“Meet me at home after the party.” He told her as Bonnie stuck her head outside to get Katie’s attention.
“Okay.” She told him as she gave Bonnie a smile and held her finger up at her. “The girls are awake. I’ll talk to you later.” Bonnie went back inside.
“I love you.” he answered back.
Katie smiled. “I love you too.”
After hanging up with Damon, Katie opened the message from Elijah. “I apologize for my behavior. I should not have kissed you back. However you should remember that because we are linked I feel every extremity you do. Forgive me?” with a frown down at the text Katie decided not to answer him. Instead she went back inside and filled Bonnie and Caroline in on everything that Elijah had told her the day before.
TVDTVDTVD
“So tell me about this witchy plan you’ve been cooking up.” Caroline prompted Bonnie where the three of them sat at a table in the grill.
“We still don’t know the extent of what Elijah’s up to. I mean, we know that he wants to kill Klaus, but we don’t know how. He purposely didn’t tell Katie that part, right?” Bonnie asked Katie.
“Right.” Katie answered with a nod.
“So I’m gonna ask Luka to tell me what he knows.” Bonnie finished.
“And he’s not gonna tell you anything.” Caroline replied.
“I didn’t say he was gonna have a choice.” Bonnie told them with a smile.
Caroline perked up when she saw Matt and waved at him, but he blew her off. “What was that about?” Bonnie asked.
“I don’t know. I thought we were…” Caroline said then looked down at her hands on the table clearly hurt. “I don’t know.”
“So how are you going to get him to talk?” Katie asked, changing the subject, getting a small thank you smile from Caroline.
“Consider it the witch version of a roofie. I’ll put it in his coffee then when he passes out we'll take him somewhere we won’t be interrupted then I’ll pretty much hypnotize him and make him talk.” Bonnie explained.
“We can use my house.” Katie offered. “I’ve compelled the one nosy neighbor I have to mind her own business.”
“Perfect.” Caroline said with a smile.
Eventually Luka came into the grill and started playing pool. “You’re on Bon.” Katie told her as Bonnie stood from the table.
She ordered two iced coffees and roofied Luka’s. Caroline and Katie were casually watching when Jeremy walked up. “How’s it going?”
“Jeremy, long time no see. What are you doin’ here?” Katie greeted him feeling like she hadn’t seen him in forever.
“Bonnie called. I wanted to help.” He said as he leaned on the table and glanced over at Bonnie and Luka. “How’s it goin’?”
“She’s fishing and he’s biting.” Katie answered.
“She’s giving him the sex smile.” Caroline added.
“Alright, Caroline. I get it.” Jeremy told her with an eye roll.
When Jeremy looked back at Bonnie, Katie and Caroline shared a look. “Does he like her?” Katie mouthed and Caroline arched a brow and shrugged.
When Bonnie looked back at the three of them they headed over to her. Jeremy looped Luka’s arm around his shoulder and started helping him walk to the back exit. “What kind of witch roofie was that?” Jeremy asked with a grunt from Luka’s weight.
“A strong one.” Bonnie answered, sounding a little cocky.
They put him in Katie’s car that she had moved outback and brought him to her house. Katie pushed the coffee table aside and they set Luka in the middle of the area rug. Per Bonnie’s instruction Katie gathered all the candles she could find and placed them around the room. “I’ll go get a lighter.” Katie said as she headed back to the kitchen.
“I got it.” Bonnie stopped her as the candles lit.
“Never gonna get used to that.” Jeremy said as he looked around at the candles.
“Oh, come on. That’s pretty hot and you know it.” Caroline told Jeremy with a smile and Jeremy tilted his head to the side as if to agree.
“I need a bowl of water.” Bonnie told Jeremy who went to the kitchen to get it. As soon as he was out of earshot Bonnie looked at Caroline. “Okay, what was that? It’s hot?” she asked.
“He’s so crushing on you.” Caroline told Bonnie as she moved to sit on the other side of Luka across from Bonnie.
“Yeah I’m with Caroline on this one.” Katie said when Bonnie looked at her.
“So?” Bonnie asked.
“So?” Caroline mimicked. “Would you rather be with a traitor warlock over here?”
“I’m not into Luka.” Bonnie pointed out as Katie sat down on the couch. “It’s just, you know, he understood me, and he was new…and different.”
“And you’ve known Jeremy since forever and you only see him one way, as Elena’s brother. But you’re a witch and Katie and I are vampires. You know it’s not like we’re in any position-” Caroline was interrupted by Bonnie.
“To be picky.” Bonnie finished.
Caroline laughed. “No, to…judge.”
Katie was about to add that now that Jeremy wasn’t doing drugs and wearing black fingernail polish he was kind of hot, but he walked into the room.
Bonnie dipped her fingertips into the bowl of water then placed them on Luka’s head. After a few minutes Caroline asked, “How long is this gonna take?”
“I don’t know, he’s fighting me.” Bonnie answered.
“Please stop. Please.” Luka begged, but Bonnie finally got him to stop fighting her.
“Why are you working with Elijah?” Bonnie asked him.
“Klaus. We both want him dead.” Luka answered quietly.
“You want to kill Klaus too. Why?” Bonnie asked with her eyes closed as she kept her hands on Luka’s head.
“Because he has her and we have to get her away from him.” Luka answered making everyone in the room look at him with confusion.
“Who are you talking about?” Bonnie asked what they were all thinking.
“My sister.” Luka answered.
“Why does he have her?” Bonnie asked.
“He’s searching for a way to undo the curse without the doppelganger. He’s forced generations of witches to help him for centuries.”
“What has Elijah promised you?” Bonnie asked.
“If we help Elijah kill Klaus he’s promised to return her to us.” Luka answered.
“And how do you kill Klaus?” Bonnie asked. “How do you kill an original vampire?”
Luka started fighting Bonnie again as he lifted his head from the floor and shook his head no. “He’ll kill me if I tell you. Don’t make me.” Luka begged.
“I won’t let him.” Katie got down on the floor beside Luka. “Please, tell us and I’ll take full blame for this.”
“It’s okay Bonnie. We can find another way.” Jeremy spoke up disagreeing with Katie.
“No.” Bonnie told him as she closed her eyes and got Luka back under her spell. How will you kill Klaus?”
“After the sacrifice, Klaus will be vulnerable, weak. It’s our only chance.” Luka answered.
“After the sacrifice?” Caroline and Katie asked at the same time.
“What do you mean, after?” Bonnie asked Luka.
“Klaus will be vulnerable.” Luka answered again.
“But Elena will be dead.” Bonnie replied.
“Yes.” Luka confirmed. “Elena has to die.”
Katie and Caroline stared at Luka with a combination of anger and sadness. “No.” Jeremy said as he shook his head.
“Over my dead body.” Katie said as she stood up and grabbed her cell phone, wallet and car keys off the coffee table.
“Where are you going?” Caroline asked with wide eyes.
“To get answers from the man himself.” She answered as she headed for the door. “Lock up when you’re done.” She told them as she walked out the door and shut it behind her.
She dialed Elijah’s number as she got into her car and cranked it. “Hello, Katie.” He answered formally.
“Hi.” She replied snippily.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he asked.
“We need to talk. Where are you?” she asked.
“I am in the boarding house, standing right across from your boyfriend. Would you like to meet me here?” he asked.
“Yes.” She answered then hung up and tossed her phone into the passenger seat.
TVDTVDTVD
When she got to the boarding house she found Damon and Elijah in the library. Damon had blood all over his neck and looked a little weak so she ignored Elijah and went straight to him. “What happened?” she asked, pulling his collared shirt aside to look at his neck.
“The wolves found out about the sun and moon curse. They thought we had the moonstone and they’re still pissed at me for killing Mason.” He answered as he put his hands on her hips and looked into her worried eyes. She cupped his cheeks in her hands and looked at him with questioning eyes. “I’m fine.” She kissed him then turned and walked over to Elijah who didn’t look happy to see them canoodling.
“Damon, will you give us a minute?” She asked while staring at Elijah.
“Yep.” He answered, popping the p at the end of the word in true Damon style, then walked out of the study.
“You’re planning on letting Elena get sacrificed…?” she asked as she walked over to stand at the opposite end of the couch, purposely using it to keep them from being too close to each other. “You’re planning on letting Klaus go through with the ritual?” Elijah tapped the back of the couch in thought. “Don’t try to deny it.”
“I was not planning on denying it.” he told her with a little squint of his eyes. “How did you-”
“It doesn’t matter. Just answer the question please.” She told him trying, despite the pull she always felt around him, to stay mad at him.
“Yes. In order for Klaus to be susceptible to anything that could kill him, Elena has to die.” He answered looking at his fingers that still fiddled with the back of the couch.
“I knew you were keeping things from me, but I didn’t think it was as bad as you letting my friend die.” She told him, her disappointment clear in her voice.
“Where did you get your information from?” he asked looking up from his hands on the couch to her.
“If I tell you, you have to promise not to get mad.” She told him and he just looked at her, thinking about if he should promise her or not.
“I promise.” He told her with a nod.
“Luka, we didn’t exactly give him a choice. So it wasn’t his fault he told us that you plan on killing Klaus after the sacrifice because he’ll be weak.” She answered. “I need to know exactly what you’re planning because one way or another we are going to figure it out. We will not…let…Elena…die. It’s not an option.”
“Elena will be fine.” He told her with a smug smirk.
“How will she be fine if Klaus kills her!?” Katie yelled at him.
He whooshed around the couch and cupped her face in his hands. “I know how to save her.” he told her, looking deep in her eyes.
She knocked his hands off of her face and glared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me that from the beginning? Why all the secrets?”
“Because the more people that know my plan, the higher the risk of Niklaus finding out and stopping me.” He answered. “You will find out everything you need to know in time.” Katie just glared at him. “As long as you are with him I can not trust you.” he told her as she looked into her eyes with a squint. “But you can trust me.”
“No, I can’t.” Katie argued with an aggravated shake of her head. “There are multiple sides to every war. Right now you are on one side and I’m on another.” the more she spoke the more she started talking with her hands. “Until we’re on the same side I can’t trust you either.” She told him, making him frown at her. “I’m starving. You can see yourself out.” She pointed to the front door as she walked away. Elijah watched her disappear through one of the many archways in that house that led to who knows where before he walked away.
TVDTVDTVD
Katie was getting a blood bag out of the basement when her phone started ringing and she pulled it out of her back pocket to see Tyler’s name on the screen. With a confused frown she answered it. “Hey, Katie, can we meet somewhere? We need to talk.”
“Yeah.” She answered, “We can meet at my house.”
“Okay, see you there.” He replied awkwardly.
“Yeah. See you there.” She answered back then hung up.
She drank her blood bag on her way to Damon’s room where she found him in the shower. “You gonna join me?” he asked when he saw her watching him.
“I would love to, but Tyler called. He wants to talk.” She answered and Damon stuck his head out from behind the glass with a curious frown. “So I’m going to meet him at my house.” She told him as she walked over and leaned on the glass.
He growled in aggravation. “Fine, but make it fast because I really need you.” He told her with a pout then stuck his bottom lip out.
Katie laughed. “I’ll make it quick, I promise.” She kissed him on the lips then left.
TVDTVDTVD
Tyler was waiting on her front porch swing, his hands clasped together in front of him where he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. When he saw her walk up the porch he sat up straight. “Hey.” She said awkwardly as she sat down next to him.
“Hey.” He answered back. “So… I figured there were a few loose ends we should tie up before I leave town.”
“You’re leaving?” Katie asked with a look at him across her shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m going to go with Jules, figure out this whole werewolf thing.” he answered.
She turned in the swing and pulled her feet up beside her. “Tyler, before anything else is said between us there’s something you need to know.” he gave her a look that told her to keep going. “I loved you.” she blinked fast, holding back tears. “You were…everything I wanted. You’re sweet, thoughtful, caring…I had a crush on you since jr. high.” She laughed as a tear slipped and he smiled and turned his eyes down. “But after I turned…after we lost the baby…everything changed.”
“I get it.” he told her with a nod. “We don’t make sense anymore.” He told her and she shrugged. “When you broke up with me…I was mad…when I found out you were a vampire, knew about me being a werewolf and didn’t tell me…I was livid.” He told her and she felt a tear slip down her face. “Then I realized that I was mad…because I loved you too.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about me. I wanted to be there for you, I did, but I’m not as brave as Caroline. I didn’t want to risk getting bitten. I am… a coward.” She told him as she moved her legs around in front of her and hugged her knees.
“I get it and you’re forgiven.” he told her as he stood up and turned to her so she stood up too. “I just didn’t want to leave with you thinking I’m still mad at you…I’m not.”
“Thank you.” she told him with a small smile. “You didn’t have to talk to me before you left. After how I treated you I would’ve understood if you never spoke to me again, but I’m glad you did. So…friends?” she asked awkwardly as she held her arms open for a hug.
Tyler laughed and hugged her. “Friends.”
They let go of each other and he headed for the jeep that had been parked across the street from Katie’s house. “Good luck.” Katie called as he climbed into the vehicle and he gave her a wave as they drove off.
When she got back to the boarding house she immersed herself in Damon. Being together was the only thing getting them through the hard days without going completely insane. He was always what she needed at the end of the day.
TVDTVDTVD
The next day Katie and Damon slid into a booth at the grill across from Alaric. “So you two are together again?” Alaric asked with a disbelieving look.
“Yep.” Damon answered as he wrapped his arm around Katie’s shoulders.
“This is too weird.” Alaric scoffed causing Katie to smile and shake her head at them.
“So other than a lecture on the history of Mystic Falls did you get anything out of Elijah?” Damon asked Alaric to change the subject. Katie would’ve preferred to talk about anything else.
“No, it was boring.” He said with a sigh. “Of course Jenna thinks he’s charming.”
“You sound a bit jealous.” Damon told Alaric then looked over to see Katie smile and tilted her head to the side as if she agreed with Jenna. “What was that?” Damon asked with a point to her face.
“Elijah is really charming.” Katie pointed out getting a glare from Damon.
“Now who’s jealous?” Alaric pointed out with a laugh.
“I’m sorry. I’m a bit unintentionally biased when it comes to him.” Katie shrugged. “How are we going to get information out of Elijah?”
“I just need the right opportunity.” Damon sighed with a frown. “Ah, there’s Jenna with her new boyfriend.” Damon perked up with a look at the front door that Jenna and Elijah had just walked through. “Hey.” Damon waved at them with a smile.
“Hey guys.” Jenna gave them a smile as she headed over, Elijah trailing behind.
“So I hear you two had quite a meeting of historical minds today.” Damon prompted.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” Jenna replied with a look across her shoulder at Elijah who smiled at Damon then Katie who smiled back and she couldn’t tell if she smiled back because of the way Elijah always made her feel or if she was just being polite.
“Well as much as I’d like to continue this, I’ve got papers to grade.” Alaric said as he stood up.
“Have you gotten a chance to grade my make up essay?” Katie asked, stalling to think of a way she could give Damon the opportunity he needed to talk to Elijah.
“I did and if I’m being honest it wasn’t your best work.” He told her and she sank back a bit, now worried that she would never get back to her old self and she’d have to work even harder if she still wanted to remain in the top of her class before the school year was over, summer would be upon them soon. “But given the circumstances I understand why.”
“I have an idea.” Katie said as if a light bulb went off in her head.
“I’m sure it’s brilliant.” Damon told her as he looked across his shoulder at her with a closed lipped smile. “Why don’t we continue this at the boarding house?” she motioned around at the people standing around the table. “I’ll cook.”
“You cook?” Damon, Jenna and Elijah asked at the same time.
“Jeeze, do I come off as someone who would be a crappy cook?” she asked with a look at the three of them.
“Well, if memory serves you tend to burn everything.” Elijah spoke up with a smirk.
“You two know each other?” Jenna asked with a confused smile.
“He was a friend of my fathers.” Katie spoke up with a lie before anyone else could. “So what do you guys say? Tonight, say…six-thirty.”
“I’m free.” Jenna said at the same time Alaric said, “I don’t know if tonight works-”
Knowing that Jenna would get Alaric to come Katie and Damon looked at Elijah. “It would be a pleasure.”
TVDTVDTVD
After they ate lunch Katie headed to the grocery store and bought everything needed to make fresh garden salad, three cheese stuffed shells and mini cheesecakes. After checking out she headed to the boarding house to find it empty. So she started cooking. The main course was in the oven when Damon came in. “Why didn’t you tell me you could cook?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her from behind where she stood at the counter cutting up cucumbers for the salad.
“Because you never asked and it’s not exactly something I like to do.” She told him as she scooped up the cucumber slices off the cutting board with the knife and deposited them into the bowl with the lettuce.
“It smells good.” He told her then started kissing her neck. “So why don’t you like to cook?” he asked looking around the kitchen at the mess she had made.
“My grandfather forced me to learn how to cook and do everything a proper lady should.” She answered as she started halving the cherry tomatoes.
“Thank you for doing this. You didn’t have to.” He told her as he rested his chin on her shoulder.
“You needed an opportunity to pry info out of Elijah and I gave you one.” She said with a shrug.
“Have I told you lately how amazing you are?” he asked in his cute pouty voice making her smile.
“No.” she answered in a laugh.
“Well you are and I don’t deserve you.” he told her before someone knocked on the door. “Is it Elijah?”
“I can’t feel him, no.” she told him as she dumped the tomatoes into the salad bowl. Damon went and answered the door, letting Jenna and Alaric inside.
TVDTVDTVD
She was setting the table with Jenna’s help when she overheard Damon and Alaric talking in the study. “It’s just a fact finding mission. It’s totally harmless.” She heard Damon.
“Just a fact finding mission?” Alaric asked not believing Damon.
“I’ll be right back.” Katie told Jenna and headed to the study.
“Listen, no sneak attacks, no surprise plans, nothing that’s going to put Jenna in harm's way. Okay?” Alaric told Damon as Katie stepped into the doorway.
“What he said.” She told Damon with a point at Alaric as she walked down the steps and over to Damon. “And I mean it. If you are up to something, tell me about it right now.”
“I’m gonna…go help Jenna with something.” Alaric dismissed himself as Katie crossed her arms and looked at Damon with serious eyes.
“I’m not up to anything.” He told her with an innocent smile and a shrug that only Damon could make look cute.
“I call bullshit.” She told him with a suspicious look.
“I promise you. All I want to do is talk to him.” he told her as he put his hands on her hips and pulled her into him. She kept her arms crossed. “Trust me.”
“Fine.” She said as she dropped her arms and placed her hands over his on her hips. “I have to go check on the desserts.”
“Ooh. What are we having for dessert?” he asked as she pushed his hands off of her.
“It’s a surprise, but I’m sure you can guess it’s nothing chocolate.” She told him as she walked away.
Katie was on her way to the kitchen when someone knocked on the door so she headed over and answered it revealing John Gilbert who let himself in. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Jenna mentioned she was coming to a dinner party for Elijah. I decided I couldn’t miss out on all the fun and games.” He replied as Alaric and Damon walked up.
“I’m hosting, you’re not invited, leave before I make you leave.” Katie told him, getting an approving look from Damon.
“There are not going to be any games tonight John. It’s just a friendly dinner party.” Alaric told him as Katie shut the door knowing that she couldn’t force him to leave as long as Jenna was around.
“Fine, but you don’t get dessert. I only made enough for the invited guests.” Katie told him as she walked past him purposely hitting his shoulder hard with hers as she did.
Katie was setting the salad in the center of the dining table when she felt Elijah near and a second later they heard the knock on the door. Damon went to answer it and Katie trained her ears on them. “Good evening.” Elijah greeted him.
“Thank you for coming. Please, come in.” Damon told him, sounding overly polite.
“Just one moment.” She got a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Can I just say that if you have less than honorable intentions about how this evening is going to proceed, I suggest you reconsider.”
“No, nothing dishonorable.” Damon answered as Katie headed their way in hopes of defusing the tension. “Just getting to know you.”
“Hmm. Well, that’s good because, you know, although Elena and I have this deal,” Katie stopped just out of their sight, “if you so much as make a move to cross me, I’ll kill you and I’ll kill everyone in this house besides Katie. Are we clear?”
“If you kill me Katie will never have anything to do with you.” Damon answered not knowing Katie was standing right around the corner.
“I give her back her memories and she will forget all about you.” Elijah threatened.
“Boys.” Katie drawled as she stepped out from around the corner and walked over to them. “Play nice, please.”
“Katie, you look beautiful as always.” Elijah told her, taking in her black sequined spaghetti strap tank top and dark wash jeans as he walked over and placed his hand on her bare shoulder as he kissed her cheek in greeting. Damon didn’t miss the way her eyes fluttered at Elijah’s touch or the aggravated look that followed.
Damon walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her waist as they headed to the dining room.
TVDTVDTVD
The six people sat around the dining table with John at one end and Damon at the other. Jenna and Katie sat on one side with Katie next to Damon while Elijah sat across from her and Alaric sat across from Jenna.
“I hate to break it to you Damon, but according to Elijah, your family is so not a founder of this town.” Jenna said as she grabbed the bottle of wine out of the ice bucket in the center of the table and poured more into her glass.
“Hmm, do tell.” Damon said as if he really wasn’t interested.
“Well as I mentioned to Jenna earlier, a faction of settlers migrated from Salem after the witch trials in the 1690’s.” Elijah informed them and Katie couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of her bond with him or if she really did like it, but she found that she enjoyed listening to him talk. “Over the next hundred years they developed this community where they could feel safe from persecution.”
“Because they were witches.” Jenna whispered mysteriously.
“I’d believe it.” Katie spoke up getting an eye roll from Jenna.
“You would.” Jenna laughed making everyone smile.
“Hey, don’t hate on my open mind.” Katie defended herself then turned her eyes to Elijah. “What else do you know about this town that they don’t teach us in school?” she asked, then took a bite of the pasta on her plate.
“Well the lore says that there was a wave anti-witch hysteria. It broke out in the neighboring settlement. So these witches were rounded up. They were tied to stakes in a field together and, uh, burned. Some say you could hear the screams from miles around as they were consumed by the fire.”
“I wouldn’t repeat this to the historical society.” Jenna laughed with a look at Katie who just smiled, because she wouldn’t be surprised if the historical society already knew.
“It’s starting to sound a little like a ghost story to me.” John spoke up making everyone look at him with a why-are-you-talking look.
“So why do you want to know the location of these alleged massacres?” Damon asked then took a drink of his wine.
“You know…” Elijah shrugged. “A healthy historian’s curiosity, of course.” He answered with a smile at Katie then Damon. Katie found herself liking his smile and she once again pushed the thought aside. As the dinner conversation drug on Katie focused on her food and keeping her mouth shut. She was taking the last bite of her pasta when she felt someone’s foot brush against hers. She thought it was just an accident, but then it happened again and it was clear that it was Elijah, attempting to pay footsie with her. Butterflies stirred in her stomach as he brushed his shoe over the side of her leg. She gave him a glare as she pulled her feet back, tucking them under her chair. He smirked at her then turned his attention back to the conversation.
When everyone was finished with dinner Damon asked, “Would anyone care for some cognac? I have a bottle I’ve been saving for ages.” Damon asked as he stood up.
“None for me thanks. Nine bottles of wine is my limit.” Alaric answered as he stood up.
“Why don’t you gentlemen go have drinks in the study while Jenna and I clear?” Katie asked with a polite smile at the men in the room as she stood from the table.
“I have to say, the food was surprisingly not burnt. It was almost as wonderful as the company.” Elijah told Katie with a smile as everyone else stood up.
Katie laughed getting a look from Damon. “Thank you.”
She started picking up the dishes as Damon and Elijah headed to the study. Alaric hung back and walked around the table to Jenna. “Here, put me to work.” He told Jenna holding his hands out for the dishes.
“Um, I got it.” she blew him off.
“Hey, Jenna, are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Rick.” She told him as she and Katie headed to the kitchen past John.
The girls were putting the dishes in the sink when Alaric came in looking like something bad was about to happen. “Katie, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked and Katie walked over to him and out of earshot of Jenna. “You need to get Damon away from Elijah, now.”
“Why?” she asked as they headed to the study.
“I can’t tell you right now.” He told her making her roll her eyes at him. “Just do me a favor and get him out of there.”
“Fine.” She sighed, not happy about having to spend alone time with Elijah or the fact that Damon lied to her and clearly had a plan of some kind tonight. Alaric walked into the study while Katie stopped in the doorway. “Dessert is almost ready.” She announced then held her hand out to Elijah and smiled. “Can I steal you away from the guys for a minute?” she asked and he smiled an almost cocky smile as he walked over to her and took her hand giving her a playful twirl before they walked into the hallway. “Footsie, really?” she asked as she held onto his arm as they slowly walked to the dining room. Once again butterflies took over her stomach as she looked across her shoulder at the profile of his face.
He smiled, “I could not resist.” He admitted as he looked over at her with a close lipped smile.
“I didn’t take you for the type to flirt by playing games like footsie.” She told him as they got close to the dining room.
“That is because you do not remember how fun I can be.” He told her with a challenging smirk.
“If that is your way of trying to get me to remember another random memory it’s not working.” She told him with a shake of her head. He was about to say something when the alarm on her phone started going off. “That is the timer for the desert.” She told him as she rushed off to the kitchen eager to get away from him.
She and Jenna were putting the topping on the mini cheesecakes, when a sharp splitting pain shot through her chest causing her to scream out in pain and fall to the floor on her hands and knees at the same time she heard Elijah yell out.
Fortunately Jenna couldn’t hear Elijah over Katie and rushed to her side. “Oh my god, Katie, are you okay?” she asked, placing a hand on Katie’s back.
“Yeah.” Katie panted as the pain faded and she stood up.
Damon came into the room with a worried look on his face. “Did I hear you scream?” he asked.
Katie just glared at him then looked at Jenna. “Will you finish these up? I might have to go home.” she asked and Jenna nodded.
Katie ignored Damon and walked into the dining room to see Elijah slumped in the chair, his skin blue with protruding veins. She turned to Damon with a death glare. “I can explain.” He told her seeing the anger in her eyes.
“Don’t bother.” She told him as she pushed past him. As she headed to her room she heard Alaric telling Damon to get Elijah out of there before Jenna came out of the kitchen and saw him. When she got to her room she grabbed her car keys off of the desk. Damon was standing in the doorway, blocking her way out. “Get out of my way Damon.” She told him flatly not looking him in the eyes.
“Please let me explain.” He told her with pleading eyes.
“No.” she told him, finally looking him in the eyes as she pointed at him. “I can’t talk to you right now and I don’t want to. So please, move.” Damon reluctantly stepped aside and let her leave.
TVDTVDTVD
She had just unlocked her front door when she felt a crippling pain shoot through her head stopping her in her tracks. She sank to her knees as the pain intensified until she eventually passed out.
A/N: Likes and Comments are always appreciated.
#damon x reader#damon x oc#damon salvatore#damon x oc fanfiction#Tyler lockwood#tyler lockwood fanfiction#Tyler lockwood x oc#elijah mikaelson#elijah mikaelson x oc#elijah mikaelson x oc fanfiction#multichapter fic#tvd fanfiction#the vampire diaries fanfiction
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Fabio and I share a bottle of wine and discuss previous relationships.
Word Count 2993
No warnings - just a few feelings and a bit of sexual tension No under 18s please
8 What Came Before?
It was late afternoon on the day my new lodger moved in. He retreated to his room after Martin’s visit, and came out when he heard me clattering around in the kitchen.
‘I can help?’ he asked.
‘You say can I help? I corrected him.
‘Ah.’ he sighed. ‘I never learn.’
‘Don’t worry.’ I reassured him ‘I like the way you speak, and you make yourself understood very well. Your vocabulary is really good, but the tenses are difficult. I looked into learning a couple of other languages a little while ago, but most of them have masculine and feminine forms, and that really confuses me.’
‘Ah yes, that is all normal for me.’ He gestured at the salad ingredients. ‘I get these ready if you like?’
‘Okay.’ I smiled ‘Do you want an apron?’ I tugged at my own apron just in case he didn’t know the word. He nodded. ‘I have just the right one for you then.’ I giggled, reaching into a drawer to bring one out that was made to look like a dinner jacket and bow tie. He grinned.
‘Perfecto! I look smart, yes?’ He put it on and struck a pose, hand on his cheek, looking off into the distance, one of the poses that had made my heart beat a little faster when I had seen it on Instagram.
‘You do’. I smiled. I got on with grilling the salmon while he washed and cut up the lettuce and rocket. I told him how to make the dressing, and before long the meal was ready. I put a small portion of fish out for Ginger, who I had shut out of the room while we cooked. He rushed in and wolfed it down eagerly. I hoped he would go and sleep it off rather than sit and stare at me as I ate my dinner. Fabio reached into the fridge, where he had put the bottle of wine he’d brought, and opened it while I got out the wine glasses. We went through to the dining room, the table set out neatly. I loved having a separate dining room and putting everything out just so, with flowers and napkins – it made meal times more of an occasion. Earlier on I had prepared strawberries for dessert, washing and cutting them up and putting a little sugar on them before placing the bowl in the fridge. He poured the wine while I waited.
‘Salud, to my new English home, and my new beautiful friend.’ he said, raising his glass, and I reached out with mine to clink them together, feeling my cheeks heat up.
‘Bottoms up.’ I said, without thinking. For a moment he looked puzzled, then he laughed loudly. I blushed even more, but he set me at my ease.
‘Ah, you mean the bottom of the glass.’
‘You can say cheers or to your health.’ I explained ‘bottoms up is rather – informal.’ I refrained from saying cheeky in case that got me in hot water.
‘Thankyou for telling me - it sounds very English.’ He waved his fork in the air ‘Tomorrow we go out to eat, yes? I pay.’
‘That would be nice. You can say my treat if you like. There’s an place on the coast that does great bar meals, very English. We can go there after our walk.’
‘Si, it sounds good. Do we need to book?’
‘Not usually, but I can do to make sure.’ I replied. We began eating, the fish fragrant and tasty, the salad crisp and the dressing piquant. The wine went down nicely, and he kept my glass topped up.
‘We get just a little drunk.’ He winked. ‘But I don’t throw stones at the window.’
‘You don’t need to, you’re already inside.’ I said drily.
‘That is true.’ he grinned, sitting back in his chair, stretching, his hand behind his head. I reached out to clear our empty plates.
‘Strawberries?’ I asked ‘I have Greek yogurt too. To be properly English we should have them with cream, but I think that’s a little calorific – and I like Greek yogurt.’ He made the gesture again with his thumb and forefinger touching, kissing his fingers and raising his hand
‘Perfecto.’ he grinned, obviously relaxed from the wine, as was I. I presented him with a bowl of the red fruit, bringing the yogurt in with a spoon. He picked a piece up ‘Try this’ he said, and dropped it into his glass ‘Is better with champagne or prosecco, but is good’
‘I’ve heard of prosecco and strawberries’ I replied ‘I’ve never tried it though’ I dropped a piece in my drink and swirled it round. A little of the sugar clung to the fruit, and when I drank it sweetened the wine, while the strawberry was a little tart. I became aware that Fabio was intently watching me as my lips parted to suck the strawberry from the glass. He kept eye contact with me as he sucked his from the wine and rolled it around his mouth. Heat pooled in my belly and I felt a little light headed from the wine.
‘Is good, no?’ he smiled seductively, quirking an eyebrow.
‘Mmmm.’ I replied, spooning the yogurt into my bowl to try and break the spell he had on me. He reached out for the pot when I had done, and ladled a dollop onto his. He took his time with dessert, toying with his spoon and savouring every mouthful until his bowl was empty. I went to take the empty bowl, but he reached across and stopped me, his hand on mine. Our eyes locked as a little jolt of electricity travelled up my arm, and my cheeks flamed red.
‘Is okay, I wash up.’ He said ‘Go, take your glass and sit in the lounge.’
‘I – umm - don’t bother to dry things. I usually leave things and put them away later. I – it annoys me if things aren’t in the right place.’ I couldn’t handle standing next to him drying the dishes, I decided, and although my house was often cluttered and disorganised, in the kitchen everything had its place so that it was easy to cook.
‘You teach me where things go tomorrow.’ he smiled, and stood, taking the bowls and spoons out. I rose onto shaky legs to pick up the yogurt to put it away, then went through to the lounge. I sat in the easy chair and curled up, comfortably full and a little tipsy, taking a deep calming breath. The couch was dangerous territory, I told myself, and leaned forward to put my glass on the coffee table. Ginger was curled up on the couch and opened his eyes to look at me sleepily before dozing off again.
I listened to Fabio washing up in the kitchen. It was good to have company, even company that made my knees go weak and my heart flutter. I told myself he couldn’t possibly feel anything for me, being used to rubbing shoulders with beautiful models. I was just ordinary, my only claim to being exotic in his eyes was my nationality. Of course he was flirting with me, good looking men like him just did that naturally, I told myself. Perhaps he didn’t even know how he was affecting me.
Fabio came into the room with his glass and the rest of the bottle, almost empty now. He sank down onto the couch and Ginger made a little sound of surprise.
‘El gato churo.’ he smiled, and reached out to stroke him. The cat stretched out luxuriously and exposed his belly, a goofy expression on his furry face. I envied him his relaxed acceptance of my new lodger and his total lack of restraint or self consciousness.
‘So we are a little drunk.’ he said, raising his gaze to mine. ‘Relaxed, no?’
‘Solo un poco.’ just a little. I admitted.
‘Martin, he is a good friend?’ he asked, turning the conversation in a direction I hadn’t expected.
‘He is. We talk a lot, about all sorts of things.’
‘He tries to protect you. I think he doesn’t like me.’
‘It’s only natural I suppose. He’s like a brother to me.’ my breath caught in my throat as Fabio gave me a slow smile. ‘I’m an only child – no brothers or sisters’ I said quickly.
‘Senora, you said your head and your heart tell you different things.’ He leaned his elbow on the back of the couch, his cheek resting on his palm.
‘Doesn’t everybody feel the same way?’ I asked ‘your heart tells you to – to jump in, not think about the consequences, and your head tells you to stop. I suppose mostly my head wins.’
‘You mean with love? You have had a boyfriend – or someone special before?’
‘Of course, I’m only human. Nothing longer than a couple of years, mostly just months.’
‘Me also. Perhaps every now and again it is good to jump in, otherwise we are lonely.’ His words made me suddenly feel sorry for him.
‘You’re lonely, Fabio?’ I asked softly. He shifted self consiously.
‘I travel alone. I have friends here and there, but when you move around so much it is difficult.’
‘I’m sorry. Sometimes I feel lonely too, but most of the time I don’t mind.’
‘If I was not here?’ he asked, the end of his question hanging in the air.
‘I’d take in a lodger, maybe not as soon as this, but unless I meet Mr Right One, I guess Ginger would be my companion.’ He smiled and stroked Ginger, who was now sitting with his paws tucked under his body, his head dropping forward sleepily.
‘Lucky cat, to live in this English house, quiet and happy. Rabbits to chase, a warm place to sleep, someone to look after him if he gets sick.’
‘Fabio…’ I started, but he interrupted me.
‘I’m sorry senora, perhaps I move too fast, I…’ he paused and reached into his back pocket for his phone to translate his thoughts ‘I think that maybe you want…’ he rubbed his forehead. ‘Perhaps the wine is talking.’
‘We should just be friendly for now.’ I said gently ‘it’s easy to get carried away.’ He smiled ruefully.
‘Your head is strong. Your heart…’
‘My heart needs a little more time’ I explained ‘It doesn’t always lose, sometimes my head realises that my heart is right. We only met a few days ago.’ He nodded sagely.
‘That is true senora. Tell me, you like me calling you Lisa?’
‘Lisa is fine.’ I replied ‘How about you? Do you have a nickname? Something shorter?’ he shrugged.
‘Not really’ he smiled.
‘You know, the first part of your name – Fab – is like ‘fabulous. How about Fabby?’ He grinned widely.
‘I like Fabby. You use that. Is almost the same in Spanish - fabuloso’ He stretched and took his glass up again, taking a sip and putting it back down again. He looked very relaxed, long legged, his ankle resting on his knee, his arms spread wide along the back of the couch.
‘So you and Martin. You are just friends? Always?’
‘Yes, always, though I had a bit of a crush on him when we met. He was married though, and by the time he was free we were – just friends. I don’t think of him that way, and his life is very complicated.’ We spent a little more time talking about old partners, falling into a comfortable place. Eventually Fabricio yawned.
‘I am tired.’ he announced ‘I think I will go to my room. Tomorrow we go for a walk – you said the coast?’
‘Yes’ I smiled.
‘And you listen to your head, let your heart get used to things.’ he smiled, standing. I stood to pick up the glasses and bottle. He moved toward me, then stopped, thoughtful.
‘Do friends whose hearts are waiting hug each other?’ he asked ‘Is alright?
‘I think so.’ I replied, putting the glasses back down. I walked into his embrace and he held me tight. It was different to hugging Martin – I felt it was something Fabio needed, something that grounded him, but there was an undercurrent, a feeling of potential. I felt him sigh happily, then he drew back and kissed me on the cheek. Doing anything more daring was not a good idea after the wine, I told myself with a little pang of regret.
‘Sleep well. Do you need anything?’
‘No, is fine. I see you in the morning. Is okay to shower when I get up?’
‘Of course, the door has a lock on it, and I’ll hear you. This is your home.’
‘My English home. Goodnight my friend.’
-------
I slept surprisingly well that night, but I closed my bedroom door which did not please Ginger at all. He fussed to be let in, and settled down with a little grumble. At two o’clock in the morning I relented and left the door open when he yowled at me, but he didn’t return until he decided it was breakfast time. He was so insistent that I thought I would risk going downstairs in my dressing gown. I could hear the shower running in the bathroom and calculated that I had time to complete my task before he emerged, so I went to feed Ginger and put the kettle on for coffee. I started out to go back upstairs to get dressed when I realised the sound of the kettle boiling had masked the sounds from the bathroom, and Fabrio emerged, clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist.
My breath caught in my throat at the sight of his bare chest, unwaxed and unshaved with dark hair forming a trail that lead down below the towel. His hair was wet and tousled from towel drying and steam billowed out from the bathroom. He was barefoot and grinned at me disarmingly.
‘Buenos días senora.’ he said as I gripped the newel post to stop my legs from giving way. The scent of his shower gel flooded the hall and I managed to return his greeting.
‘Good Morning Fabio. Did you sleep well?’
‘Muy beuno. Is quiet here. El gato – Ginger, he came to sleep on my bed when I got up for the bathroom.’ I eyed the cat, who had strolled out from the kitchen licking his chops and making for a comfortable place to digest his food. He avoided Fabio’s bare legs, but went to his door and looked up at him, mewing to demand entrance. ‘Ginger, you are bad.’ he scolded ‘You go to Lisa, not me.’
‘I’m so sorry. If you don’t want him in your room…’
‘Is okay, I don’t mind, but he should be more – faithful.’ I shrugged
‘Cats are very independent. I’m glad he likes you, it means you’re not a threat.’ Fabio gave me a smouldering look, and I pulled my dressing gown closer around me. He looked back down at the cat, nodding sagely.
‘Ginger, you are a good wing man. You make me look good.’ He laughed loudly and the cat glared at him and stalked off to the lounge.
‘I uh – I’ll get dressed and we can have breakfast.’
‘Thankyou Lisa.’ He shook his head at me, his hair flopping over his forehead. He pulled at it ‘I do this and then I join you.’
It wasn’t long before we met again in the kitchen, both fully dressed, Fabio’s jet black hair styled and glossy. I made coffee and showed him what was available for breakfast.
‘Have you ever had porridge?’ I asked ‘It’s more Scottish than English. In the USA they call it oatmeal.’
‘Si, I have it before.’
‘I like to cut up banana and cook it with oats and water, and I add something sweet – honey is good, and a splash of milk. The Scots like it with salt.’ He looked thoughtful.
‘Make it the way you like it, and I try it.’
‘Okay, if you go and sit down I’ll get it ready.’ He took his coffee and phone and went into the dining room, and ten minutes later we were sitting together eating and looking out at the garden.
‘Ginger will love it when he’s allowed out.’ I said ‘He probably won’t bother sleeping on my bed if it’s warm outside.’ Fabio looked at me.
‘El gato, he is not sure who to sleep with now. This is good.’ he waved his spoon over his bowl ‘Very healthy, yes?’
‘Thanks. You can make it richer if you make it with milk instead of water. You can put sultanas in, or any kind of fruit you like.’
‘Strawberries?’ He asked, and I nodded, remembering how we had flirted over strawberries and wine the night before.
‘I like bananas best.’
‘You don’t have to feed me all the time, senora.’ he said ‘today we eat out, and on my next day off, I make paella.’
‘Okay, I can put aside space in the cupboard and fridge for any food you want to cook, but otherwise you can share most things – if you’re not sure, just ask.’
When we had finished, Fabio washed up for me again, and I showed him where to put things away in the kitchen. I was getting more comfortable having him around, but there was still an undercurrent, the sense of possibility. I had wanted excitement – but as usual my head had put the brakes on, and I hoped I could overcome that and manage to go toward that goal again very soon.
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Got7 reaction - on your period
genre: reader’s POV
summary: got7 reacting on the reader‘s period
warning: /
a/n: i don’t own any gif, credit to the owners
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Mark
You knew it was coming. The mood swings made it so obvious. Just the thought of Mark touching you made you flinch. He made you angry just by sitting there and breathing.
You bit your tongue not to say something. It’s not his fault it’s not his fault was your mantra the whole day. You tried to avoid as much physical contact as possible. But he noticed.
You were cooking diner (just a ramyeon, you didn’t have energy to anything better). Mark came to the kitchen, putting his hand on your hip with a attempt to hug you.
You moved away so quickly your spoon fell to the pot. The hot water splashed your hands and you hissed with pain „Fuck, Mark!“ you cursed and rubbed the burning skin.
He didn’t say a word, just took your hand and dragged you to the sink. He poured a cold water on it and asked „Better?“
You closed your eyes knowing he is not mad and that he should „I’m sorry.“ You said holding his hand in yours „I’m just..“
„I know,“ he interrupted you with a soft smile „It’s okay. Just tell me next time. I’ll leave you a space.“
That made your heart melt and you pushed yourself on him.
„Or not.“ He added with laughter.
JB
Your period caught you with surprise on a day you and JB both made day off to have it just for yourself. You planned to go out for a breakfast, nice walk through the city and then a on a beach to feed some seagulls, wraping the nice day with a romantic dinner and cinema.
Well.
Your ovaries thought otherwise.
„Oppa I’m so sorry…“ you sighed once again. You were cuddled in blankets on the couch, sweating and clinching your jaw. You could have managed the whole day if there wouldn’t be the cramps. Fucking cramps so bad that even pills didn’t help.
„Don’t be sorry like it’s your fault.“ He scolded and caressed your forhead. He sat down, bringing you tea.
„We were supposed to have a nice day..“ you closed your eyes, due to the pain and tears.
„I’m at home with you, without anyone interrupting me or sayin’ ‘brRRaAh!’every minute.“ he laughed „How is that not a nice day?“
You laughed with him.
„Just try to sleep I’ll make something for lunch.“ He raised and kissed you on the head.
Jackson
You two were cuddling on a couch with a new Disney movie on, sharing a nice moment. It was a long time since you both had the chance to do something together and counting in your period, Jackson said it’ll be good to stay at home and rest.
The movie slowly came to its end when you felt your cheeks going wet cause of the waterfalls of tears. You wiped as many as you could away but when Jackson moved to stand up and turn off the telly you gasped as the wave of emotions hit you.
„Y/N?“ he froze with shock „What is it?“
For a second you couldn’t respond – that hard you cried. You hid your face in your hands and tried to stop this silly burst.
Jackson’s hands took your shoulders and shaked with you a bit „Y/N? Please, you scare me!“
„It was such a sad movie!“ you cried loud.
It was so stupid yet cute he just had to laugh. He pushed you on himself and laughed „Really? You’re crying your life out after a disney movie?“
That made you cry even more – it was so stupid! You felt like an idiot.
„Okay if you won’t stop I’ll cry as well you know that.“ His voice cracked.
„I know.“ You sobbed and laughed.
Jinyoung
Because Jinyoung has two sisters, he is quite laid back when it comes to women’s problems. Including period, cramps, mood swings, hunger or whatever might be connected wit it.
He is very well informed (not that he’d want to be) and you can count on him in every situation.
One morning you woke up and just knew. ‘Why the hell’ - you thought and tried to figure out what to do. You were at Jinyoung’s place, you didn’t bring anything here yet. Thinking about the handbag - the last tampon you had you gave to your friend at work.
You tried to move quietly, but Jinyoung suddenly appeared next to your side of the bed, sitting down. He was already dressed up.
“Hi,” you said and tried to look cool.
“So what do you preffer?” he asked and smiled to encourage you.
“What?”
“Tampon or pads?”
You had to blink a few times seeing his straightforwardness. He seemed pretty confident.
“Ehrm... pads?” you answered.
“Okay. I’ll get them.” he kissed your forhead and stood up.
You sat up “Wait!” you were so shocked - how he knew?
“Yeah? Anything else? Chocolate? I have Milka but if you wish otherwise..” he looked at you.
“No, just.. how you know I need it?” you asked simply.
His eyes avoided yours and smiled shyly “I just know my girl.” and left.
You laughed at his attitude but then froze. As you stood up you just saw - you were sleeping on a japanese flag now. Cursing and taking of the sheets you just had to smile at Jinyoung’s gentleman behaviour. He is a true sweety.
Youngjae
Youngjae took you with JB and Jinyoung on a lunch since you didn’t have the time to spend time with each other.
You were feeling dizzy already when you drove there, but wanted to play it cool. You missed being with him and you wanted to see the boys as well.
You actually even weren’t hungry or sociable. You just didn’t want to disappoint them.
When you all arrived to the restaurant boys started bickering and talking about the food they’re gonna get. The waitress came to take the orders.
„And for you miss?“ she turned on you.
„Nothing, thanks.“ You smiled.
All the boys looked at you „Are you okay?“ asked Youngjae.
You nodded, holding back the whole dizzines and back pain you suffered. You managed to have some conversation with them until the food was brought. The smell of it was just awfull and you a had to fight the throw up tention.
„Hey, you wanna try it at least?“ asked politely Youngjae and handed you a spoon full of noodles, veggies and soup.
You covered your mouth and shook your head, quickly standing up. Almost didn’t make it to the restrooms you threw up all the breakfast you had into the toilet.
After you came out, Youngjae, leaning on the door quickly stood up and took your head in his hands „Are you alright?“
You shook your head.
„The boys think you are pregnant.“ He smiled.
„Quite the opposite.“ You chuckled.
His eyes widened with understanding and nodded „Let’s go home.“
„What? No, have fun with them I’ll go on my own.“
„You crazy? Look at yourself you’re shivering.“ He locked arms with you and smiled „Don’t worry I’ll leave the food here.“
Bambam
That little shit knew very well when you’re going to have your period and he even made himself a note on the fridge.
His tactics was to leave you as much space as possible, one day he even disappeared in the morning leaving you just the safe box he prepared. It was filled with tampons, pads, chocolate, chips, pills, warm pad and he even got a Bridget Jones on a flesh disc. All that with a note “love you, but you can manage this yourself”
After you explained him it is kinda cruel of him avoiding you he stopped leaving you when on your period.
He just acted very strangely.
“Let me take it it’s too heavy.”
“What?”
“I thought you can’t pick up heavy things.”
“Bam I’m on my period not pregnant.”
When you vere cooking he pushed you away and said “Move and go to sleep you look tired.” then rushing back to you with “HELP IT IS BURNING!”
But in the evening he got super romantic and before cuddling to you he politely asked “May I be clingy tonight?”
Yugyeom
„C’mooon I wanna go to the pool!“ pouted Yugyeom. He was behaving like a child since the morning. You both planned to spend the day in a swimming pool.
But your period took over and stole all the mood for playing around in the pool.
„Gyeomie I’m so sorry I just can’t…“ you sighed for the seventh time and stroke his hair “Go with someone else and have fun, I’d be just a frowny fun spoiling one today.” you winked lazily.
Yugyeom nodded and his shoulders went down “I see.”
He stood up, packed some stuff and waved “I’ll go then.”
“Yeah.” you smiled at him holding back tears. He’s actually going to go on his own?
Apparently yes, he left and after the door shuting, you let it go completely. That stupid bastard! You didn’t mean it seriously! And he just leaves you here. Alone and sad.
You made yourself simple lunch and before you started to eat it, you heard door opening.
“Well that was quick!” you said loudly. He was out for a hour, not even.
“Surprise!!” he screamed back when arriving to the kitchen. He placed a big paper bag on the table before you.
“You didn’t really think I was going to leave you here, did you?” he laughed when you looked in the bag. There was Little mermaid on dvd, jelly fish, haribo sea world and a towel.
“Really? A towel?”
“We’re gonna cuddle in a towel yes!” yelled Yugyeom out with excitement.
“Jeez I should’ve known.” you laughed.
#got7#got7 imagines#got7 reactions#got7 x reader#got7 x you#kim yugyeom#bambam imagines#jackson wang reaction#choi youngjae#jinyoung reaction#jaebum#mark tuan#got7 au
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the ice will start to break, the day will fade away (8/18)
Summary:
“Have you heard? The Elephant of Caocin has committed high treason!”
From Trikru’s most reputable war hero to Trikru’s most wanted traitor, Kova found themselves stripped of their titles and trapped between a clan that wants them dead and a camp of invaders - the same ones who kidnapped and tortured their brother.
But Kova was willing to do anything to stay alive and keep their family together.
Pairing: Bellamy Blake/Grounder OC
Word Count: 4,007
TW: Canon typical violence, virus outbreak/illness
A/N: Hello friends!! I’m in the middle of finals week, so I won’t be able to work on CH 9 just yet. I should be back in action by next week, so wait for me and I’ll yeet Kova right back at y’all. If you’re reading through my blog, the read more does not show up due to Tumblr’s new formatting, so please click on the post itself. I’ll be updating every other day at 12pm EST. Enjoy!!
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viii. illness.
The fear of grounders and the strange unknown past the safe walls of the dropship was enough reason for the delinquents to pull their weight around camp. That was how Bellamy developed a routine for their camp to survive, to thrive — one group cut the wood, another group used the good wood to build the walls, and another would use the bad wood to control designated campfires, while another group would bring back buckets of water to the camp to boil. Etc, etc. Since Bellamy was the only adult in the entire camp, the delinquents listened to him.
Until he brought back the grounder.
Well, he didn’t want to bring back the grounder. Octavia and Raven had sneaked them in. All Bellamy did was carry them to camp until they went batshit crazy and attacked him. And, no offense to Wells, but he only carried them because he wanted to get back to camp as soon as possible, preferably without arrows in his back. Wells was far too slow, and Bellamy still remembered the way his knees trembled under their weight, ready to give out at any moment. Bellamy couldn’t blame him — when Octavia transferred the grounder’s body on his back, he felt as if he were Atlas carrying the world on his back.
Needless to say, Bellamy had woken up the next day sore in muscles he didn’t know he had.
Don’t get it twisted, though. It wasn’t like the delinquents would ignore him or anything of the sort. But now some of them would hesitantly say they would do it later, and the bolder ones would straight up say they have too many chores on their plate.
One choice, one grounder, and suddenly his reputation changed. Bellamy didn’t know if the delinquents were losing faith in him as their leader, or worse, thought of him as soft. His hands clenched into fists at the idea of being gentle with a grounder.
And if that weren’t enough, the one night he went out with the Exodus scavenger group, there had been a conflict between Harper and the grounder. He thought he had been specific enough with the guards, but not enough, he supposed.
“Don’t let them out of this tent for whatever reason.” Bellamy told the guards. “If you have to use force, do so. If you have to tie them up to the bed, do it.”
The moment he and Clarke had been informed what happened, he prepared for another round or two of arguing, but to his surprise, not only Clarke and Octavia defended the grounder, Monty did as well.
“As much as Jasper’s my bro,” Monty sighed, shaking his head, “he was being a real dick about the situation. So was Harper.”
One grounder shaped headache turned into a Murphy shaped migraine, with his sudden appearance and capture while they were gone. And if that weren’t enough, Murphy had also brought a disease with him. Derek practically coughed up a lung before he died in the dropship, surrounded by a pool of his own blood, and Bellamy could only stare at his body while Clarke poured alcohol in his hands.
“Bellamy!”
He startled, shaken out of his thoughts. “Mmh. Sorry. What do you think we should do?"
“Quarantine. It’s the only way.” Clarke turned to Finn and dumped the rest of the alcohol on his hands. “Round up everyone who had contact with Murphy and bring them here.”
Finn wordlessly nodded and ran off. Bellamy looked back at Clarke. “What about everyone they had contact with?”
“Well, we have to start somewhere.” She responded, facing Connor on the floor. “Connor, who was with you when you found him? Who carried him in?”
The boy took a deep breath, still unnerved that he could die at any moment because of this disease. “F-First one there was O-Octavia.” He managed to stutter out.
Bellamy wished he hadn’t.
Clarke’s voice barely registered in Bellamy’s mind as he sprinted out of the drophip to find his little sister.
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Lying on their stomach, arms crossed under their pillow, drool pooling beneath their cheek, Kova woke up with one instinctual thought screaming out a warning.
‘Someone is inside my tent.’
The hair on the back of their neck pricked up. A ripple ran across the fabric of the tent. Definitely not Octavia or Clarke, based on the heavy and uncertain footsteps entering the tent. Definitely not Wells — he wouldn’t sneak into their tent in the first place.
No, whoever this may be, they wore heavier boots.
The conflict last night came to mind, with two faces at the forefront. Jasper and… Harper, was it? Although they couldn’t remember what the two gunners wore last night, Kova couldn’t think of anyone else who would willingly enter their tent, regardless of intentions.
While this certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to kill them in their sleep, Kova had no intention of making it their very last time, either.
Acting as if they had been disturbed in their sleep, they shifted and rolled onto their side, grumbling bleary nonsense, and strategically placed their hand by the pile of clothes. The footsteps had stopped when Kova moved, then resumed a few moments after Kova stilled.
The footsteps approached their bed, heavier, determined.
Snatching a dagger from the pile of clothes and holsters, they flipped the handle and swung their arm back at knee-level. Just before the knife tore out a tendon, Kova caught a glimpse at the intruder’s face and stopped the swing just before the point could prick at Bellamy’s skin.
Startled at the sudden attack, Bellamy took a step back far too late if Kova had gone through with their attack. Irritation passed over his features, face tightening. All he wanted was to find his sister for fucks sake, not get shanked in the leg by some grounder. "What do you think you're doing?"
Losing momentum from the swing, Kova flopped back onto the bed and face planted into their pillow. “Tch, shouldn’t I be asking you that?” They grumbled out as they pushed themselves up. “What made you think sneaking up on me would be a good idea?”
“Wasn’t trying to.” His eyes narrowed. “How did you get a weapon?”
Kova notably froze, muscles tensing, before they relaxed and the lie easily slipped off their tongue, “Stole it. Your guards aren’t very good at guarding.”
That seemed to spark an angry fire behind Bellamy’s eyes, but before he could rise to their bait, he shook his head. “No, you know what? We’re not doing this right now. Where’s Octavia?”
“A-Oct?” They whipped their head towards him in shock. “Why? Did something happen?”
“The fuck did you just call her?”
“It’s a nickname, relax. I haven’t seen her since last night. You didn’t answer my question.”
“One of ours came back yesterday — Murphy. Your people infected him with something and sent him here. One of the guards just died from it and the one that survived said Octavia had first contact with Murphy.”
‘Ah. That name. Lincoln mentioned it before.’ Kova grabbed their clothes wordlessly and tied their dreads back in a low bun. They swung one leg over the bed and used their hands to guide the injured leg to follow.
“What are you doing?”
They snapped their head up. Bellamy watched them with confusion written on his face. “What does it look like?” They didn’t bother with the armor and kept their undershirt on, pulling their jacket on top. “I’m going. You find Octavia, I’ll help Clarke or whoever with Murphy and the infected.”
“And who said you’re allowed to do all that?” His question came through gritted teeth.
“I did.” They stuck their feet into their pant holes and stood up, wincing at the stretch of both the bandage and the cut. They stepped closer to him as they tied off their pants around their hips. “What will you do, stop me?”
To his frustration and their satisfaction, they sent him an obnoxious smirk when their eyes met, and to top it all off, they bent over and picked up their boots that were next to Bellamy before sitting back on the bed, shoving their feet in. “Unless you want your little sister running off to my bad little brother for information.”
His jaw tightened. Bait caught, fish captured. With a resigned look, Bellamy gestured with his hand for them to hurry up. Kova looked down to tie off their boots, only for an open hand to appear in their sight. Bellamy twitched his fingers. They looked up at him, confused.
“Cough it up.”
“What?”
“What else? The knife.”
“Seriously?” They gave a sigh at his glare and reached behind, passing him the dagger. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice it didn’t belong to the invaders. He barely glanced at it before he tucked it beneath his belt—
“Clarke!!”
The two shot up. They glanced at each other briefly, wearily, before they left the tent. Kova left their mask behind.
The entire camp was in chaos — the delinquents ran around in a frenzy while their friends bled out of their eyes and ears. Some had already fallen to the ground, twitching every once in a while.
Kova cursed, watching the horrifying scene with wide eyes. They snapped out of it with a shake of their head and grabbed Bellamy’s arm. “Go find Octavia and bring her to your dropship. She has to get checked out ASAP.”
Bellamy didn’t need telling twice. He ran off and Kova made their way to the dropship. They pulled back the curtain and was hit with a wave of drying blood, vomit, and death. Suppressing a gag and a wave of memories, they pushed through and found Clarke.
“Kova,” Clarke turned around, the lower half of her face covered by a handkerchief. “You have to stay away, there’s an infection—”
“It’s alright.” They cut her off as they made their way through the first floor, throwing their jacket on top of stacked boxes, carefully making sure they didn’t step on outstretched hands or careless feet. “I’ve been infected with this virus at least three times already. If this strain hasn’t killed you all yet, then it certainly won’t touch me.” They glanced at a dead body at the side of the entrance, covered with a cloth. “Who’s patient zero?”
“Murphy. How did you know—?”
“Bellamy.”
Out of all the responses Clarke would have expected from Kova, Bellamy was not one of them. “You saw him?”
“He was looking for his sister.” They explained. “I can show you what symptoms to keep an eye on, but I need to see Murphy first. I’m no doctor, but I know every strain is different, so what I’ve seen before might not apply here.”
Clarke nodded and brought Kova to the very back of the first floor, where Murphy was resting in a corner, huddled in a blanket. Kova crouched in front of him, taking note of severe visible injuries. Some, unfortunately, very familiar. ‘Tortured. By who? The General?’
Before they could bring up their wounds, the curtains of the entrance flung to the side. Bellamy entered, holding a cloth to his face, dragging Octavia close behind him. The two bee-lined for Clarke.
Kova dropped their knee and turned around. “Clarke, if she’s not visibly sick then you need to look for swelling at the roof and the back of her mouth, her throat, and around the neck. Those are the most common symptoms of this virus.”
Behind them, Murphy stirred awake. Even through his bleariness, he recognized Clarke, Octavia, and Bellamy standing far in front of him, but the person crouched in front of him was unfamiliar. That already rang alarms in his head, seeing as no sky person would be unfamiliar to him. They all grew up with one another, after all.
If their strange clothing didn’t ring the alarm louder, then the tattoos traveling up their arm and the circular welts across the back of their shoulder did. Ice flooded his veins, and he was suddenly much more awake. He kicked out with his feet and pressed his back against the wall.
This, unfortunately for him, alerted whoever was in front of him. They turned and confirmed his suspicions when he saw five dots tattooed along their cheekbone. They turned back to Clarke.
Unfortunately for them, the damage was done. They unknowingly revealed themselves. This wasn’t your average grounder, this was—
“Elephant of Caocin!”
With just a phrase, the question on Kova’s tongue died and shriveled up along with them. Bellamy never thought he would see them with a look of pure fear. But there they were, eyes wide, mouth dropped, breath hitched and caught in their throat, hands trembling and fingers clenching into fists.
Before anyone could break the icy silence, Kova whirled upon Murphy. The boy was smart enough to scramble away from them against the wall, but he must have a death wish, because he actually laughed in their face! “Yeah, that’s right!” His voice was awfully confident for someone cowering away. “I know your dirty little secret, you fucking grounder. Your general and lieutenant had a lot to say about the Elephant of Caocin, the traitor of Tri— whatever the fuck your clan is called—”
“Murphy!” Clarke warned.
“—the scum of the Earth with five drops of ink across their cheek!”
Kova lunged forward, fist colliding across Murphy’s cheek in a satisfying punch. They would have thrown another if it weren’t for two arms linking under their armpits and dragging them away, even as they thrashed and cursed and kicked their legs. Murphy barked out a laugh, even with his cheek bright red and bleeding and his eye already swelling.
“Let. Go!” They hurtled their body away and pressed their hand against the wall, leaning for support, their breaths coming in quick short successions. They had been dragged behind a wall, a barrier between them and Murphy.
They felt the weight of a hand on their shoulder blade, the warmth seeping through their clothes. “…hey.”
“What, Bellamy.” They snapped, but they didn’t reject the touch.
“Murphy’s a dick—”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“—and he’ll do anything to get a rise out of someone.” Bellamy continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “I don’t know what that shit was about, but don’t forget we’re here for Octavia.”
Their jaw and hand clenched, but Kova nodded, pushing themselves off the wall. They used the back of their hand to scrub their nose and sniffed before rising to their full height. “Right. You’re right. Octavia first.”
He pulled his hand away, and for a second too long, Kova wished he hadn’t. They shook their head and made their way back, shoulders tense. They snatched a group of tongue depressors from one of the tables and brushed past Octavia and Clarke, despite the girls' soft protests. Crouching in front of Murphy, who scrambled away from them, they said, “Open your mouth.”
“Why, will you torture me just like your little friends?” The boy sneered, but his voice wavered in fear.
“No. I need to see if you’ve gotten to the peak of the virus. Open your mouth.”
“Murphy, just let Kova check it out.” Clarke said as she checked Octavia’s throat with a flashlight.
“Since when were you friends with the grounders? Let alone scum like them.” Murphy tried cutting Kova with his words, only to be disappointed that they didn’t respond. Instead, they counted the tongue depressors in their hands and tied them up.
Clarke also ignored him with a roll of her eyes and explained Octavia’s evaluation. “Okay, we’re done here. No visible signs of swelling or bleeding.”
“So you’re saying she doesn’t have it?” Bellamy asked.
While the three talked, Murphy spat in Kova’s face. Luckily for them, they had a feeling he was planning on doing something incredibly stupid and had closed their eyes and mouth just in time.
Three audible gasps came from behind the two. Kova could hear Bellamy’s heavy boots stepping close.
To the trio's surprise, Kova wiped their face calmly with their hand and opened their eyes. No one expected the resounding smack across his face, the palm of their hand striking where they had punched him before, strong enough to send him sprawling across the floor.
He sat up, holding his cheek with a groan, and just as he opened his mouth to curse them out, Kova crudely stuck the stacked and tied tongue droppers between the right side of his teeth, forcing his jaw open. Murphy’s eyes widened in panic, and just as his hands scrambled to take the object out of his mouth, Kova grabbed both his wrists in one hand and held him down.
“Clarke.” The three sky people had never heard Kova’s voice so… frigid before. “Come here.”
Clarke glanced between the Blake siblings, unsure, before she approached slowly.
Kova took the flashlight and pointed it to various areas of Murphy’s mouth. “See here? The gums and uvula are always the first to swell, and so does the back of the throat. But since he already vomited, the swelling of the throat and uvula go down first. His gums might bleed, but otherwise, he’s well past the peak already. Not surprising, since he’s patient zero. You should find something similar with the others infected.”
They returned the flashlight and released Murphy’s hands. He tried pulling the tongue depressors out to no avail. He had the nerve to glare at Kova.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t want the scum of the Earth touching you, right?” The sneer they sent him was no less than pure vengeance.
Clarke passed them a bottle of alcohol and a rag. They thanked her and wiped down their hands and their face. “Is there a cure?” The sky leader asked.
A shake of Kova’s head brought all their shoulders down in distraught. “The only cure is natural selection. The virus can rapidly evolve if there were enough people, but since there’s less than a hundred people here, we don’t have to worry about its evolution. If Murphy is already getting better, than it'll take two to three days for the virus to fully pass the camp.”
“So we just wait it out?” Octavia asked.
“Essentially, yes. Until everyone clears up.”
”Bellamy, do you want to stop the spread or not?” Clarke referred to the conversation and him were having before. She rubbed a finger into the side of her temple, trying to sooth the headache forming. The idea of quarantine was difficult in such a small space, but they would have to manage.
His gaze fell over Octavia. “She’ll get sick just being here.”
“Look, I’ll keep her on the third level with the other people who aren’t symptomatic just yet. Think of it as a way to stop her from sneaking out again.”
“Screw you, Clarke.”
Kova snorted. Octavia sent them a weak hearted glare.
Bellamy pointed behind his shoulder with his thumb. “I have to get the others to work on the wall. There might be another retaliation soon. Stay safe.” He looked at Kova. “You… We’ll have a talk later.”
Oh. Oh no. Their eyes widened ever so slightly. A resigned sigh passed their lips. “Yeah, sure, whatever.” Kova tugged the bottom of their shirt to wipe their face again. “If this is settled, I’ll go clean up and bring separate water for you guys.”
It wasn't a complete lie. They were going to get them water, after they get their weapons from whichever tent the invaders hid them in.
The two left the dropship together.
Just as Octavia placed a hand on the ladder, ready to head up in isolation, a hand stopped her.
Clarke leaned against the ladder, all her energy disappearing. “Octavia, wait. I need you to sneak out again.”
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So Octavia snuck out on Clarke’s orders. She was a bit peeved that Clarke didn’t trust Kova—
(Although Clarke said “It’s not that I don’t trust them, but they can’t be our only source. Lincoln might know something they don’t.” But Octavia knew that was probably bullshit.)
—but at least this meant she could see Lincoln again. She just wished it was under better circumstances.
As soon as she arrived at the entrance of Lincoln’s home, she didn’t bother knocking and walked down the stairs and called out his name a few times. He had already been waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. He hurriedly lifted the sides of her hair.
It took her a moment to realize what he was doing. Realization crossed over her face, and she couldn’t help but step away from him. “You knew.
It wasn’t a question.
His jaw clenched ever so slightly. “I tried to tell you, but you never came.“
“You were too late. I found the kid your people sent to infect us.” Octavia hissed out. “My people are dying, Lincoln. Clarke sent me here for a cure.”
“There is no cure.” His eyebrows creased. “Did Kova not tell you?”
Octavia’s shoulders slumped. “Yes, but Clarke wanted to know if you knew something they might not.” Anger bubbled inside her throat once more. “Wait, so you were just going to let my people die? You were going to let me die?”
“The sickness passes quickly.” Lincoln defended himself. “There are a few who are immune. We just use it to soften the battlefield. I’m not surprised you are one of the strong.” He placed a hand on her shoulder in pride, only for hurt to flash in his eyes when she pulled away from him.
“Battlefield? What are you talking about?”
“The warriors are attacking at first light.”
“You have to help me save them.”
“I can’t! I’ve tried already, and now my sibling is a fugitive and my people think we’re both traitors.”
“Why, because of the bridge? You were just trying to make peace!”
“It… It wasn’t just the bridge.”
Octavia looked down, recalling what Murphy had been rambling about before. “The boy — Murphy — he called Kova the Elephant of… cao-something. What was…” The question died on her lips at the look of horror across Lincoln’s face. “Lincoln?”
A shaky sigh passed his lips. “He what? How did he know?”
“He said a lieutenant and a general talked about them — that they were the scum of the Earth or something. Lincoln,” she placed a hand on his cheek, encouraging him to look at her. “What was that about?”
He leaned into her soft touch. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He changed the subject abruptly. “I’m leaving, Octavia. Soon. I want you to come with me and Kova.”
She dropped her hand in shock. “To where?”
“There’s a clan - east to the sea, then across it. They’re allies of the woods but they’ll take us in, I personally know the leader. I’ve already sent a message to her asking for a safe passage.”
For her whole life she was stuck in the Ark underneath that cramped space and then stuck in a cell just for being born only until a few weeks ago. But now she had the opportunity to travel around the Earth freely? The idea was almost tempting. But thinking of her brother and her friends, she hesitated. “I… I can’t just let my brother get killed.”
“There’s nothing you can do about that now.”
“I can warn them.”
By the Gods, she was stubborn. It was one of the many traits he loved about her, but not at this moment. “Octavia, they will kill you. If you’re there at dawn—”
“I won’t.” She took a step back, heading towards the stairs. “Just wait for me here. I’m coming with you.”
“…wait.” Lincoln held her wrist with enough strength to make her pause, but gentle enough that she could break free if she wished. That was one of the many things she loved about him — he rarely grabbed her, nor did he try to manhandle her like others.
She leaned forward, placing a quick kiss on the side of his mouth, but then he turned his head, and the kiss deepened just for a moment until Octavia reluctantly broke it off first. “I’m coming back to you.”
“…I know.”
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#Bellamy blake x oc#bellamy blake x reader#bellamy x oc#bellamy blake imagine#bellamy blake imagines#the 100 imagines#bellamy blake#the 100#bellamy blake fanfiction#my writing#writeblr#wip fanfic#the night our stars aligned (and our breaths touched)
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The Falcon and the Rose Ch. 47 - Inclinations
First chapter on AO3
This chapter on AO3
Chapter Rating: Teen
Relationships: Alistair/Female Cousland
Additional Tags: Fereldan Civil War AU, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Demisexuality
Chapter Summary: After so long apart, Rosslyn and Alistair finally find a chance to talk.
---------------------------------
The eleventh hour came before Rosslyn finally decided to give up on working. She made it through the payroll and the duty roster, and even Gideon’s droning personnel report, but every time she glanced up, Alistair’s letters stared back at her with their secrets still sealed and waiting, and even if she couldn’t bring herself to read them – not quite yet – she reached out every time to reassure herself of their ink-and-paper realness under her hand. The thirteenth time was once too many. With a sigh, she kicked back her chair and cast aside the letter from the steward of her family’s holdings in Nevarra, snatched up the packet by its silk ribbon knot, and slipped it into her pocket. She would read them, she would, but first she would see Leliana.
As she crossed the camp to the infirmary, a blush began to crawl up the back of her neck no matter how she tried to push it down. The aloofness between her soldiers and Alistair’s had vanished from the day before, and in its place an easy camaraderie that spilled over into their greetings to her. She kept her chin raised. Of course they knew the prince had slept in her pavilion, the camp was too small for anything else and soldiers gossiped worse than washerfolk, but knowing it as a fact grated less on her sense of propriety than having to endure an army’s worth of tipped winks and indulgent smiles.
Leliana was not in the infirmary.
“I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, Your Ladyship,” Amell said, sorting a basket of fresh herbs into bundles. “She left quite early.”
Rosslyn frowned. “What happened to the assassin’s remains?”
“I’m not sure – try the armoury, maybe?”
“Thank you.”
The armourer’s wagon sat in the middle of the camp, pouring out smoke and the odour of hot metal from the small furnace built over the rear wheels. The smith nodded to her as she approached, and pointed over her shoulder before returning her attention to the belt buckle she was mending. Rosslyn followed the direction, her hand tight around Talon’s hilt, and sighed as she caught sight of familiar red hair tucked in the shelter of the wagon’s doorway. Marjolane’s body lay covered in a sheet behind her, out of the way and secure while a decision was made for what to do with it.
At the sound of footsteps, Leliana wiped her eyes. “Your Ladyship, I wasn’t expecting…” The smile she offered hid too many things underneath it, but Rosslyn did not pry.
“Shall we go for a walk?”
At first they stayed quiet, content to share each other’s company, until the silence strained too far and the whole of Marjolane’s history – and Leliana’s – tumbled out like a confession. Her time being patronised in the Orlesian court, relationships that thrived on a shared love of danger, a betrayal leading to torture and accusations of treason, all orchestrated by someone who cared for others only as tools to be used and discarded. After such a life, it was no wonder she had sought refuge in the chantry of a remote Fereldan village.
“I knew you were more than just a lay sister,” Rosslyn murmured, at a loss for anything else to say as Leliana reached the end of her tale and fell silent once more. “A bard. It explains your skill with a bow.”
“Bards use whatever tools they can to reach their targets while staying in the shadows,” came the reply. “An arrow to the eye through a dark window works as well as any. I am sorry that she came for you.”
She shook her head. “If not her then it would have been someone else, possibly someone who couldn’t have been distracted. You saved my life last night, I’m only sorry for what it cost you.”
“It cost me nothing except a shadow I am glad to be rid of.” A muscle worked in Leliana’s jaw, but she dismissed whatever she was about to say with a huff and instead painted on a smile. “But perhaps it is better to dwell on more pleasant news, no? I heard this morning that Prince Alistair kept you company last night, and did not leave until this morning. It seems the two of you have reached an accord after your avoidance yesterday.”
Rosslyn stiffened at the merriment in the older woman’s eyes. “Nothing happened,” she said. “At least, nothing like I’m sure what a lot of people are implying. That’s –” Beyond me, she wanted to say. A river flowing back on itself. Even in the depths of her loneliness without his letters, a small part of her had breathed relief that he had turned away before she had to see her shortfall reflect with revulsion – or worse, pity – in his eyes.
Her friend placed a gentle hand on her arm. “I am sorry if my prying causes discomfort, I only meant that you look happy. Whatever troubles you, I am sure His highness would listen.”
For a moment, the memory of waking resurfaced and covered the blight of Rosslyn’s thoughts, eyes blinking, limbs heavy with contentment, warm and safe as Alistair’s fingertips tracked reverent paths across her skin, and the I love you dropped so easily from his lips as if he had said it a hundred times before. She wanted to believe her future lay that way, wanted it with a strength that made her ache. What would her mother have said? Or Oriana? If she spilled all her innermost terrors, where would Leliana’s guidance take her? The older woman was a friend, who had proven herself a dozen times over in the past few months, and yet the hand on her arm, the soft smile – those were bards’ tactics, meant to reassure and encourage shared confidence, too close to manipulation to stomach even though it came from a place of trust.
“I found out he didn’t stop writing to me,” she admitted instead, gaze distant. “He thought about me, all that time. I don’t know what, exactly, I haven’t read his letters yet, but –”
“What do you mean, you have not read them?” Leliana cried. “You have a more disciplined mind than I. I would have torn them open the instant they touched my hand, never mind whatever official duties might try to call me away.” She grinned. “You should go! Sit in the roots of a beech tree and read your letters with filtered sunlight falling across the pages and the wind stirring your hair. It makes for a very romantic image, no?”
“Not at this time of year,” Rosslyn observed wryly. “Perhaps you’ll allow me to retire to the stables instead?”
“If you insist on being so practical and Fereldan about it. Ada will be pleased, at least.”
She frowned. “Morrence, why?”
“Because it means she still has a stake in the betting pool.”
“The what?”
“Be easy,” Leliana tried. “She has not laid money on you.”
“But others have?” Rosslyn persisted, feeling her face heat. “My private life is not a matter on which to bet like it’s some sort of race – especially not… that part.”
“I am sorry to have offended you.”
“You haven’t done anything. But it stops, one way or another.”
Surprised by the frost in her tone, her friend glanced down, contrite, and nodded. “I will see to it, but if it will make you feel better, this does not come from a bad place. Everyone knows you two have been giddy on each other for months.” The smile returned. “Though I think some are not so good at noticing the obvious.”
“Things were complicated,” she protested. “They still are.”
Leliana gave her a long look. “The heart is a complicated organ. But I think it may lighten a little if you were to put aside all other matters and see to your reading this instant.”
“Will you be alright?”
“As I said, Marjolane was a shadow.” A shrug. “And now I am standing in the sun.”
Still not quite convinced but unwilling to push the issue, Rosslyn watched her friend retreat back towards the infirmary, fishing in her pocket for the touch of paper and ribbon against her fingers. Her stomach churned to think what they might contain, but talking had steadied her, and she sighed as she turned towards the picket lines. Lasan would be grumpy she hadn’t brought him a treat, but she could make it up to him later. The horsemaster greeted her warmly when he spotted her coming around the corner, and offered her the dish of boiled chicken he had just fetched for Cuno.
“Sedative’s worn off, ma’am, and he’s much brighter, but still weak. Try not to excite him too much, and don’t let him scoff it all at once,” he said, before saluting with a hoofpick and turning to wander down the line.
She let herself into the roped-off stall where Cuno had been settled, keeping her movements quiet to avoid startling him out of his doze. The scent of the cooked meat made his nose twitch, however, and when he realised who had come to visit him, he wriggled out from under the deep pile of straw in which he had slept and tried to haul himself to his feet. Trying to keep the dish out of reach, she shushed him and came to sit by his head before he could move too far.
“Yes, yes, I’m happy to see you too,” she chuckled, pushing him away before he could lick her face. “Good boy. Now, lie down or you’re not getting fed.”
Cuno did as he was told, setting his chin and one heavy paw on her thigh to properly employ his charm, his tail wagging with every piece of meat he plucked gingerly from her fingers. He was clearly still queasy, but he was trying, and she smiled her relief down at him as he swallowed the last piece and flopped on his side, groaning in contentment. She ardently scratched his ears as she eased the letters out of her pocket. They had crumpled slightly, but the knot gave in to her fingers with ease despite the way they trembled.
“No boy, it’s not food,” she told the dog, who had roused at the faint crinkle and was leaning over to sniff at the packet.
She was glad to have him with her as she read, offering an anchor against the tempest that threatened to swallow her. Alistair wrote his moods without guile, and she teased them apart easily through worry and confusion and hurt, the attempts to re-engage with tales of his daily life, sketches he thought might make her happy, or provoke at least some response. When that fragile hope turned to despair, tears pricked at the corner of her eyes to think what he had been through. She, at least, had had a reason to think he might not be writing to her. The knowledge that he wasn’t beholden to Valesh Aeducan did nothing to calm the wriggle of jealousy that snaked through her insides, however. Every mention of the dwarven woman’s name jolted through her chest, the casual way it was slipped into descriptions of his lessons in the Shaperate, into Bhelen’s politics, into every bitter plea and word of censure that flowed from his pen. And as she read about what the two of them had almost done, she had to stop, and turn away, and close her hand over her mouth to quell the lurch of bile in her stomach. He had said no, but he had wanted to, and aside from the feeling of betrayal came that deeper, slinking fear, the one that whispered she wasn’t enough, that he would find her wanting and turn away.
“I thought I might find you here,” said a soft voice above her.
She swiped the stains from her cheeks, hoping he hadn’t seen.
“How is he?” Alistair asked as he let himself into the stall.
“Enjoying the attention immensely,” she managed. Her voice sounded bright and brittle as copper in her ears. “Aren’t you?”
In reply, Cuno merely lifted his forepaw onto her arm to give her better access to scratch his chest. The repetitive movement grounded her, let her focus on something other than Alistair’s warmth settling beside her, his worried scrutiny and his hand as it found the small of her back.
He pressed a kiss to her hair. “This is my fault. Some of the things I said –”
“Don’t.” She tried a smile. “You could’ve told me he burned them.”
“That wouldn’t have been fair,” he answered. “Not after I got to read yours. How, uh… how far through are you?”
She drew in a shaky breath, smoothed the paper over her lap. “Only a couple left. I suppose it changes the effect, reading them all at once.”
“I know what you mean – but I didn’t realise how much I missed you until I had your voice again. Does that sound weird?” A wisp of hair had come free of her braid, and his hand barely brushed her skin as he tidied it away.
“No,” she chuckled, but fiddled with the corner of the letter nonetheless. Her heart pounded “You and Valesh….”
“I didn’t know.”
She shook her head, tripped carefully around the words. “I know, but… Was there ever a moment when – did you never waver?” The question burned, as it had burned since Cailan had let slip his plans for his brother over the breakfast table, but only once the words were spoken did she realise the trap that lay in them. Ashamed, she dropped her gaze to her hands. “No, that’s not a fair question to ask. After some of the things I said to you…”
Alistair sighed as she tried to shift to give him room and laid his cheek against her shoulder. “Sometimes – there were moments, when I was just so angry, but… I should have had more faith in you, I should have – I don’t know – figured it out, asked.”
“Who would you have asked?” she countered, leaning into him. She didn’t want to read the rest of the letters, not now she had the relief of him next to her, real and solid and warm. “You couldn’t have said anything without giving up the secrecy I asked for.”
“This wasn’t your fault.”
She stroked Cuno’s ears, closed her eyes. “It wasn’t yours, either.”
They rested together for a moment, stulted by the direction of the conversation and the current of doubt still swirling beneath their relief. When Rosslyn blinked her eyes open again, he was watching her, and his hand had found hers, his thumb a feathersoft sweep over her knuckles. Tilting forward into a kiss was the easiest thing in the world. As he responded, gentle at first, delicate in his uncertainty as he closed the last of the space between them, she sank into the feeling without caring that there might be people to see. His hand came up to cup her face, bring her closer, and as she opened to him, the hungry push of his tongue into her mouth sent a shock of heat through her body.
One of the horses kicked over its bucket. Alistair broke the kiss, blushing, though his hands still held her face. With a self-conscious chuckle, he pressed his forehead to hers.
“I came to ask,” he managed, voice rough, “do you think you could get away for a little while?”
“I might be able to. Why?”
He stole another kiss. “It’s a surprise.”
-----
They emerged from a stand of trees a short time later to a view of a grassy bank dotted with late wildflowers and birdsong. A dilapidated water mill couched by a deep stream, its roof fallen in to blackened timbers and its walls choked with ivy where they hadn’t crumbled completely. Repairs to the adjoining paddock showed where someone had used it recently, and Rosslyn shivered to think this might have been where Marjolane had waited for her.
Getting away from the camp had been easy once Rosslyn’s duties had been handed off to Gideon and Captain Mhairi had been convinced of their good intentions. They chose caution, and brought their weapons, but no guards followed them, and for the first time in months the weight of scrutiny lifted enough that they might have been the only two people in the world. With a grin like a cat’s, Alistair dismounted and skirted around Lasan’s flattened ears until the was close enough to hold up his arms to Rosslyn.
“I can dismount my own horse, you know,” she grumbled.
His grin widened. “I know.”
Hiding a smile behind the roll of her eyes, she slackened the reins and lifted herself out of the four-pronged cavalry saddle. Strong arms slid around her waist as she descended, steadied her as she unhooked her foot from the stirrup.
“Do you remember the last time we stood like this?” he murmured, with a kiss to her left shoulder.
“You mean when I scolded you for not doing what I ordered and nearly collapsed from blood loss? It wasn’t very romantic.”
He chuckled. “Oh, I don’t know – there was candlelight, at least.”
“Those were torches.”
“Alright, spoil my fun if you must. Come on.” He let her go and reached for his gelding’s trailing reins, clucking it to walk on behind him. Together they fell in step and emerged into the sunlight. Crickets chirped in the grass and moths scattered beneath their feet as she slipped her fingers into his.
“You still haven’t told me why we’re here,” she reminded him.
“Would you like me to?” he teased.
Her eyes narrowed. “I think you want me to ask.”
“My lady is too clever for me.”
She squeezed his hand and bumped his shoulder.
“Now, it should be around here somewhere – aha!” He pointed to the far corner of the paddock, where a canvas bag was slumped against the gatepost next to a neatly folded blanket.
“A picnic?”
The smile he offered her turned bashful. “I thought it would be a good excuse to stay out here for a while – to talk – and… I know you well enough to know you haven’t eaten yet.”
“It’s a great idea,” she assured him. “It’ll be nice to take a break from being not-watched by an entire complement of house guards.”
“Or pulled aside by every minor squabble that needs a mediator,” he agreed. “Gideon told me some of what’s been happening. You deserve a moment where you get to be just you and not the Teyrna of Highever.”
She blinked, stopping in her tracks so abruptly Lasan jerked his head up in annoyance. That he would take the time to speak with her Guard-Commander, and know precisely how to lift the weight that had dragged at her heels for so long, prodded at the hole in her chest caused by his absence – healing it, she realised, even as he glanced back at her with a grin on his lips and such warmth in his gaze her reply died on the tip of her tongue.
“You can’t fault me for wanting you all to myself for a little while,” he said, letting go of her hand to lead his horse through the gate.
“I suppose not.” She kept her voice light, despite the sudden, growing realisation that the next few hours of solitude might offer her best chance for a confession of her secret, and the misgivings that had made her push him away only a few hours before. He deserved to know, to choose freely. And she would live with it.
She tried to put it from the mind and enjoy the silence as they untacked the horses. Though the beasts were glad to have the trappings off, the humid air had left damp patches of sweat beneath the saddle pads and raised clouds of midges to bother them as they stood tethered to the rail. Lasan shook himself with a grunt as Rosslyn rubbed him down, lipping at her sleeve and turning to blow sweet air against her cheek when she reached the sensitive spot at the top of his withers. She smiled, murmuring to him in Clayne. He had scars now, bald stripes crossing his shoulders and haunches that hadn’t been there when they set out from Highever, but it did nothing to detract from his confirmation, from the beauty of his gleaming bay-roan coat.
She blushed when she caught Alistair smiling at her.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a horse quite so besotted with its rider,” he said as she tossed aside the twist of grass she had been using as a brush.
“Are you jealous?” she asked.
“I don’t recall you ever scratching my neck like that.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Do you want me to?”
“I, uh…” He coughed and averted his eyes, flushing so deeply she felt a twinge of regret for teasing him.
“My father bought him for me as a colt,” she told him. “My first real horse to train myself.” She unhitched the reins from the fence and walked Lasan around to turn him loose. “He was going to be my foundation sire.”
“What do you mean?”
For a moment she didn’t answer, busying herself with the straps. “Before all of this, I was planning to raise horses.”
He was watching her again. “I didn’t know that.”
“You’re the only person I’ve told,” she replied airily. “My family… I own an estate further east from Highever with perfect pasture land, and I thought I’d try to improve the stock. Orlais nearly destroyed the Forder breed during the Occupation, like they did with Mabari. I thought it would be a shame to let them die out completely. I was going to tell my parents, but then Loghain stormed out of the Landsmeet and rumours started about a civil war, and I decided it could wait for a less tumultuous moment. It’s just an idle dream now.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Alistair said, laying a light hand on her arm.
“No. When this is all over there’ll be too much to do rebuilding the teyrnir, and that’s more important.”
When he didn’t reply, she dragged her attention from where the horses were exploring the confines of the paddock to find his gaze unfocused, marred with a frown. Perhaps she had erred in mentioning the future, even obliquely. With so much still left to do, she had kept herself from thinking about it much, about how her life would be bound to her title, and her responsibilities to Highever’s people after all they had suffered. As she looked at him, however, a secondary image flashed across her vision, a glance of afternoon sunlight into her father’s study, falling across her, and across the book she imagined in Alistair’s hands as he lounged next to her, like they had been that morning when they woke up. She pushed it away before it could sting too much, and snuck a kiss from him instead.
“What was that for?” he asked, stunned.
She shrugged. “Being you.”
“Oh. Good.” He grinned. “I guess I’ll have to keep doing that then.”
“Shall we?”
He followed her gesture back to the gate, to where the supplies had been dumped, and smiled at her again, offering his arm. Together they scouted the meadow for a place to set down, Alistair with the burden of the canvas bag, and she with the blanket, offering the odd remark whenever they caught sight of something interesting in their path. The bluff they finally chose overlooked the stream, with a clear eye to the horses and enough distance from the surrounding trees that they could spy anyone who tried to approach. Rosslyn sighed, though she couldn’t shake her worry.
“I still don’t know how you persuaded Mhairi to let us wander off without an escort,” she said as they flattened the long grass into a springy cushion for them to lay out the blanket.
“She knows a little of what’s happened,” he replied. “I told her I needed to talk to you without being overheard. They had this place cleared out thus morning and I asked very nicely if she could talk to the quartermaster and set up some provisions while I came to find you.”
“We’re not entirely alone,” she noted, catching sight of a steel glint just beyond the line of trees.
“No, well, Mhairi takes her job seriously. Which is a good thing I suppose, but not something we need to worry about right this instant.” He patted the space next to him and placed the bag of food in his lap, darting a quick kiss to her temple as she kneeled and peered over his shoulder to see.
There couldn’t be much to expect from a harried army on the march in the middle of the mountains, but the quartermaster had clearly made an effort. Inside the bag, beneath packed plates and a pair of chipped horn mugs, they found bread, cheese, dried fruit, cured meat in waxed paper, and even a slightly squashed blackberry custard tart, along with basic cutlery and a bottle of elderflower wine. Each new surprise was laid out with a ridiculous level of ceremony designed to make her laugh, and as conversation warmed between them they picked at the fare, enjoying the sunshine and the respite from their usual lives. Swifts darted among the wildflowers as they talked about what had been the past few months, the summer campaign in the south and the wealth of knowledge in Orzammar’s Shaperate, news from the Clayne and knowledge of Anora’s secret desertion to her husband’s cause.
“I missed you every day,” Alistair confessed, searching for her hand on the blanket. At some point he had sunk into her lap and rested his head on her legs, eyes closed against the sun as she lazily carded her fingers through his hair.
She hummed. “I probably could have done with you, too, now I think about it.”
“Hey, you managed not to murder Baudrillard,” he pointed out. “That counts as a success.”
“Believe me when I say it was a close thing.”
The growl in her voice gave him pause, and he squinted up in alarm when an accidental twitch of her hand yanked at his scalp.
“What did he do?”
She watched a kingfisher flash from a dead branch into the stream. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Rosslyn…?” He levered himself off her lap, catching hold of her chin in an attempt to persuade her to look at him. The words he wanted to say stuck in his throat.
“It was nothing more than words,” she promised. “At least to me.” She dropped her head against his shoulder and sighed. “And he’s gone now. It can’t have been much better having to put up with Eamon for so long.”
This time, Alistair did growl. His fist clenched. “When I found out what he did… I used to think he was a good man. I can’t believe he tried to separate us like that.”
“Yet here we are,” she reminded him, pulling back to eye him properly. “It didn’t work. The question is, what are we going to do about it? Does Cailan know – about what his intentions were?”
He winced. “Cailan. You… don’t know, do you? I didn’t mention it when I wrote?”
Bewildered, she shook her head, frowning when he cursed and shifted so he could take her hand in both of his.
“Cailan…” His lips pursed, and he couldn’t meet her eye. “Cailan has plans to divorce Anora. I’m pretty sure the whole thing is Eamon’s idea in the first place, but his reason for it is so he can… ugh, so he can marry you instead, actually, as a way of distancing himself from Loghain without being tied to Orlais or the Free Marches. Eamon stopped the letters so I wouldn’t interfere.”
“That’s what you meant in that letter,” she realised. “When you asked if Cailan had…”
“Please don’t. I was an arse. Worse than an arse.”
“You were in pain. And he pushed King Bhelen’s sister into your path on purpose.” Rage coiled in the pit of her stomach. For as long as she had known Eamon, she had baulked at the liberties he excused through his closeness to the Crown, his justifications for meddling in Cailan’s affairs, but withholding private correspondence from a member of the royal family went beyond mere interference. It was treason.
“You warned me,” Alistair recalled. “You told me not to trust him.”
“He’s spent a lifetime in politics,” she replied. “And he is the king’s uncle. You couldn’t have ignored him completely.”
“I used to think – ugh. For the longest time I was told I should be grateful for being allowed to stay in Redcliffe after my mother died, and he’s held it over my head all these years.”
She stroked his hair again, cradled on his shoulder, offering comfort and sharing in his anger, until he angled away with a deep inhale and brushed a kiss against her hair.
“If we tell Cailan, it would mean telling him everything.”
Around them, the late afternoon sun slanted long through the grass, drenching them in stripes of golden light and blue shadows that held the first chill of evening.
“I know,” she answered.
“I – I don’t want to hide this anymore,” he pressed, pulling back so he could fully see her. “I love you. We’re stronger together, and I want everyone to know how I feel about you.”
The words hit her like a blow, a yearning so strong she leaned into him as if pulled by a string, thinking to kiss him, or hold him, or perhaps crawl into his lap and refuse to leave until the sky itself fell down. But this was the time; it would be unfair to lead him further than she could go. So instead of answering the tilt of his mouth she shuffled out of his reach and knelt, palms on her thighs, back straight like Aldous had taught her long ago, and mustered her voice from behind the sudden lump in her throat.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she said.
Somehow it was worse that he waited patiently. She wanted to take his hand, play with it to distract herself, but the thought that he might pull it back made her pick at her own fingers instead.
“Do you remember the first night we were in Dunedyn – the conversation we had?”
“We did a lot of talking that night,” he reminded her, his gaze steady, but worried.
“The part about the lamppost,” she said. “When I told you I had never… been intimate with anyone.”
He smiled. “I remember. I told you I hadn’t either. That’s still true.”
“For me, there was more to it than that. It’s not just that I haven’t done it, it’s that I’ve never wanted to. That whole – I’m not –” Her heart thronged in her ears; nerves ran tingling through her hands. “Desire has never… had a place with me. Not to that extent. I don’t understand it. When I was growing up, whenever anyone talked about attraction or – or wanting to sleep with someone, I always thought they were exaggerating, I thought that was what people did, like it was a game and I was the only one who didn’t know the rules.” A sigh, steadying herself. “And then one day my mother’s friend, Lady Landra, accused me of pretending to be oblivious on purpose after… well. Her son made a suggestion that never occurred to me, and it made things awkward. And that’s when I realised I was…” Broken, her mind sneered. “Different.”
She started when a hand reached out to cover hers, but if she looked at Alistair now, if she lost her nerve and looked up and found him retreating, the ground beneath her might fall away entirely and take her with it.
“My family… had concerns for me,” she forced out. “Oriana used to say it was only nerves because I had no experience, and Fergus wondered if I preferred the company of women and just couldn’t admit it. my mother… she never mentioned it at all, but she kept inviting her friends to bring their very eligible sons with them whenever they came to the castle, or pointing out when someone showed me attention at the Landsmeet. In the end, I hated going there, smiling along with the innuendo, having to fend everyone off and lying about why.” She steadied herself. “Vaughan tried me – I broke his nose but he told me…”
“What?” Alistair asked gently, when she faltered.
She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth. “He said in the end willingness wouldn’t matter. It was a parting shot, because he had blood pouring all over his brand new doublet, but it’s not like he’s the only one who thinks that way.”
“Rosslyn –”
“I’m telling you this because it does matter,” she interrupted. “What I feel for you is… more than I’ve ever felt for anyone, more than I thought I ever could, and… I love you, but as terrifying as it is to think I might not be enough, it wouldn’t be right to let this continue if you have expectations I can’t meet.”
Her voice cracked but she drew her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down, determined not to cry. She could do so afterwards, once everything was left in ruins and she could crawl into the rubble to hide, out of sight of the man who left her more certain and more unsure of everything than anyone else she had ever met.
“Rosslyn.”
She squeezed her eyes shut tighter.
“No – love, look at me.” A hand brushed along her jaw, cupping the back of her head. “Is that why you froze this morning?”
She snorted. “So you noticed.”
“Look at me. I didn’t know what I’d done,” he admitted shakily. “I’m – I’m glad you told me. I’d hate it if we went further and I only found out after that you didn’t want to. And what you said about Vaughan… I never want to be that person, especially not for you.”
Startled by the tremor in his voice, she chanced a peek from beneath her eyelashes. His gaze wasn’t on her, but staring inward at some demon of his own.
“You could live with it?” she asked, voice low. “If we never…?”
“Breaking your heart would be worse.”
Her breath heaved like she was drowning. She had thought him lost, then lost again, but the sunlight that lanced across his face betrayed no lie in his eyes, only refracted through his irises to cast them in shades of molten amber like on that first morning when he had wrapped his own blanket around her shoulders. It warmed his skin to bronze, curved across slightly-parted lips, burned his hair beyond its usual tawny colour until it looked like spun copper. Her hands were numb.
“I want you,” she said, blushing when she realised she had spoken out loud. “That is, I want to be with you. This morning, waking up next to you felt so right, and there have been times when I’ve imagined, uh, more… But it’s all so new, I hardly know what to do with myself, or how to act, or what to say, and… I don’t want to disappoint you.”
“Heyyyy…” He shifted onto his knees so he could reach her, slid a comforting arm around her waist. “I’m new at this too, remember? We can go slowly – Maker, we’ve faced down all sorts of things and come out just fine, we can work this out too.”
The world faded away; there was only Alistair’s face and the hard beat of hope in her chest. Words would not come, though she tried to find some suitable, until all she could do was shake her head and throw her arms around his neck and bury her head against his shoulder. The laugh that bubbled up her throat was half hysterical, more of a sob than anything else, but an arm pressed around the small of her back, wrapping her up with a strength she never wanted to be without.
“I’m sorry this worried you,” he murmured.
“You said ‘we’,” she replied. “Us. Together.”
He pulled back to smile at her. “Of course. Nobody else laughs at my jokes, and kissing isn’t nearly as fun when you’re on your own.” He paused, inhaled, suddenly uncertain. “You do enjoy that, don’t you? The kissing? It’s not… too much?”
How could she not love him? She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing she might say could encompass every thought in her head, the sheer force of the rush in her blood. Her hand went to his cheek, her eyes to his mouth, and before she could think about it at all she leaned forward and crushed a kiss to his lips, with the pinesmoke scent of his skin bursting in her lungs and his hair soft as silk under her fingers.
“Only when it’s you,” she breathed, pulling back only far enough to bump her nose against his.
It was his turn to laugh. “In that case, maybe I should give you another one…”
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one
Monroe Falls is a simple town made up of fishing docks and home cooked meals. Boats lined up the wooden docks where fisherman would cast their nets into the Pacific Ocean in hopes of catching a school of cod. Monroe Falls sits on the edge of the Washington and Canada border line, so it was well known for its trading goods and fishing posts. The small town was always cold. The weather forecast almost never called for sun unless it was the first week in July where the sun rose and the air was warm enough to roam around town in shorts. Normally, the weather was gray and bleak: dark clouds blocked the sun and light rain was a permanent land mark in the town. Monroe Falls was a town that most people would leave as soon as they got the chance unless of course you wanted to be a man of the sea or you were apart of a family run business since the town was founded.
It’s not that Niall was stuck in Monroe Falls per say. It’s just that he never really felt the need to leave. The only time he ventured out into the world was when he went off to college in California, but he still had a piece of home with him. When moving off to the state of constant sunshine- something Niall rarely seen, he brought- well more like pleaded Isabella to come. He wouldn’t have made it without her, and he wouldn’t have moved back if it wasn’t for her. See, for Niall, he knew what his future was. It was planned before his birth. He would take over the carpentry and hardware store that his family built from the ground up. Hell, his great great whatever grandfather was one of the founding members. His ancestor built most all of the buildings in Monroe Falls so it was destined for him to stay in that small town in Washington. What wasn’t planned was for him and Isabella to become pregnant at twenty-four… a year before both of them graduated with their masters.
It was a shock to both families. Not that anyone was disappointed; it’s just that they were so young and didn’t know the ways of the world. Twenty-four is too young to have a baby without a good job or home.So after spring semester, NIall and Isabella packed up their one bedroom apartment and headed back to Monroe Falls. They transferred out of University of California, Los Angeles, and finished their masters online. It wasn’t like they had much left, but they didn’t get to experience walking across the makeshift stage to shake hands with their dean. Niall had a few business classes left, and Isabella only needed to intern at a local newspaper company before she graduated with a journalism degree. They spent the latter part of their last semester getting ready for the twins. Niall spent most of his free time working at Horan Building, LLC, saving up for when the babies came. Niall’s father, Bobby, provided two new cribs, while Niall’s mother and step father gave them plenty of clothes for the twins, diapers, and the essentials. Isabella’s parents- who were nothing but hard working middle class parents, put down a down payment on a house. They used up every penny of their savings account to provide a home for their youngest daughter. Isabella’s older sister provided car seats and a baby monitor- she even chipped in on the first house payment.
Once Iz graduated, Niall worked as the manager at the hardware store. Niall quit school to work and to help renovate the house in preparation of the twins. Life was hard, but Niall and Isabella loved every second of it. They made ends meet, but leftovers were a staple in the Horan household.
And not that he felt the need to, Niall asked Isabella to marry him the day they moved in. She was two weeks shy of being five months pregnant, and while unpacking a box of Niall’s personal belongings, Isabella found a purple velvet box. The ring wasn’t fancy- it was completely modest. The ring had one tiny diamond that set in the very middle of a silver band. Isabella knew that Niall had spent what he could afford on it, but she never needed a ring. She loved Niall with or without the materialistic things. She gazed over the ring as it shone under the bedroom light.
“Was gonna ask ya when we graduated, but things….they came up,” Niall said. He had been leaning on the bedroom door frame watching Isabella take in the sight of the symbol of forever. “Sorry it’s not fancy. It’s all I could afford with the twins coming and all.”
“It’s beautiful,” Isabella smiled. She placed the ring on her fourth digital on her left hand. Niall walked up behind her, wrapping his broad arms around her growing waist- his fingers barely touched each other now, and asked one of the most important questions of his life.
“Well, will ya?” He was sure he knew the answer already, but still, his heart was in his throat.
“Who else is gonna be my baby daddy?”
“My guess is Collin. He’s had a thing for you since day care.” Isabella’s brown eyes twinkled as she laughed. That was their relationship- a constant of bantering, but she knew in her heart, Niall was the one for her.
“Yes…” she finally answered. “Forever and always.”
“Forever and always.” Niall smiled, his life was complete.
The wedding was anything but perfect. Isabella couldn’t find a decent dress that wasn’t from the ‘80’s that would fit over her belly. No priest would bless the marriage so they settled for the court house.
The judge smiled at the young couple before pronouncing them man and wife.
When the twins arrived, there were complications. They came too early.
Mackenzie, the youngest, couldn’t get enough oxygen. He struggled to breathe and his immune system was failing.
Maggie was underdeveloped. Her heart was too weak, and she never cried when the doctor pulled her out of Isabella’s incision.
The twins spent weeks in incubators fighting for their lives. Isabella fell into a very dark depression, feeling like she failed as a mother, and seeing his newborns struggle to live nearly killed Niall. He drank every night to wash the pain away, but no amount of alcohol pushed the hurt aside. It was always there in the back of his heart.
Then one day, like clockwork, the twins grew stronger. They grew and won the fight of life.The first year of the twins’ lives was hard. Niall and Isabella fought, at least, twice a day. She’d snap at Niall over the littlest things. She was hiding that she was frustrated- she wasn’t producing any milk, and her head constantly hurt. She was always tired, and she forgot the simplest things- like turning off the stove top. She forgot it was even on and she had decided to draw herself a bath while the twins were asleep nearly burning down the house. She couldn’t see the TV even though she was right in front of it. The ever growing black spot covered the screen. She became distant and unwilling. Her loud laugh grew silent and she never wanted to leave the couch. Her words went from vibrant to slurred as she forced herself to put a simple sentence together. It wasn’t until Niall came home after working that he found Isabella laying on the floor unconscious. The twins were screaming, and a pool of vomit and foaming saliva was pouring out of Isabella’s mouth.
Niall shook, slapped, and rocked Isabella awake, but nothing worked. She was still laying limp in Niall’s arms.Their neighbor, Mrs. Rogers heard the twins screaming when she walked outside. She noticed the front door was wide open and assumed the worst. She walked over cautiously calling out Niall’s name. It was when she climbed the stairs that she saw the tear soaked face of Niall cradling Isabella’s lifeless body.
“Oh my God, Niall.” She covered her mouth as she pulled out her phone to call 91-1. “I got the babies. You-you go when the medics get here.”
The ride to the emergency room was the longest five minutes of Niall’s life. The paramedic in the back never stopped her work on Iz.
Niall couldn’t stop pacing the empty and silent waiting room as the doctors performed tests on Isabella.When the doctor walked into the room with a somber look on his face, Niall broke down. The doctor, Matt, who Niall and Iz went to school with gave Niall the news. Matt’s words faded out as Niall pushed his way to Isabella’s room in the ICU.
She was conscious, and her words were barely audible.
“Think something’s wrong with me, Ni.” Her head was shaved where they had cut into her scalp. The stitched up scar was red and swollen. He couldn’t take his eyes off it as he grabbed his wife’s hand, squeezing it gently- too afraid of causing more pain.
“Forever and always,” he cried as he kissed his wife’s forehead.
In the months that followed, there were more surgeries than Niall could remember. Stage four was embedded in his brain. The mass of cells nearly always doubled in size when they came back. Niall never had been violent until he punched Matt in the face after telling him there was nothing more that the doctors or surgeries could do. The tumor had spread beyond where he was comfortable going, and it had consumed who Iz was. After a night of milking busted knuckles and whiskey, Niall brough Isabella home for the last time.
The twins were now two, and when they saw their mom walk into their home, they waddled their way to her screaming, “Mama!”
Niall didn’t work a single day until Iz became better. They drained their bank account and the house payments were being taken over by Horan Building, LCC. Niall had refused to leave Iz’s side. She had grown weak- her eyes were sunken in, and one could tell just how fragile she was.
But, it was on a Monday, two months after Isabella came home that she would not wake. The night before was filled with laughter as the four of them played around in the living room.
Niall shook and shook Isabella, but no sound or movement came from her. Niall called Matt, but when he arrived, she was already gone. Niall fell to his knees beside the bed where Isabella was as he begged God to take him instead.
Everyone in Monroe Falls came to the funeral. It really was a beautiful service, but what shattered Niall’s heart was when the twins stood over Iz’s grave and waved “bye-bye” to their mother.
The house became silent without Iz’s laughter or singing. It grew colder without her warm smile or her need to cuddle under a blanket. It wasn’t the same. However, the twins, they gave him hope. They kept him too busy to grieve. The empty house filled with laughter, singing and running around again. Bare walls began to hold art projects and photos. It was becoming a home again.
Isabella’s parents, to Niall’s surprise, had a life insurance policy on her. When his father-in-law came by the shop one day, he handed Niall a check for one hundred thousand dollars.“To pay off the house. And to give the twins a decent college fund.” The older man stopped at the glass door before leaving.“She loved you, ya know. And you will always be a son to us.” Both men shed tears that day.
Every year on November twenty-fifth, Horan Building, LLC closes, and the kids skip school so they can grieve as a family.
Maggie has grown into a witty, book loving cheerleader whose heart is too big for her own good. Mack grew to be tall and lanky and loved soccer; Niall insistent that they join sports, secretly he was afraid they would become sick again if they weren’t active. He was happy taking care of is kids, and running the shop. He was content. He wasn’t lonely.
Or that’s what he made himself believe.
At night, the loneliness screamed at him as he tossed and turned in his bed- their bed. No, he’s moved on. It’s been fifteen years. He just doesn’t have time for a relationship. Until he met her. The green-eyed girl whose smile caused butterflies in his stomach. The woman whose concern over his daughter alarmed him. He clung to her kind voice and soft words.
But what he’s most afraid of getting too close her because everything he touches washes away in the tide.
#niall horan#niall#niall fanfic#niall horan fanfic#niall au#niall horan au#1dff#niall horan imagine#niall imagine#niall fanfiction#niall horan fanfiction
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Talk to me
A/N: Shoutout to @mashmaiden for being my sounding board. You da best! (Ch.7)
Lightly tapping on her front door, he rocks on his feet back and forth, feeling a bit nervous. He goes to knock again, but when his fist is just about to hit the door, it’s slowly pulled open. The site before him, taking his breath away.
Her face is red, tears pooling in her eyes as more run down her cheeks.
He quickly hurries towards her, cupping her cheek, wiping the tears away. “Kens, baby, what’s wrong?” The sad and somewhat sorrowful look that graces her face making his nervous state earlier long forgotten.
She shakes her head, not sure how to get the words out. Mandy had finally convinced her that she needed to tell her boyfriend, but she never really thought about what she was gonna say.
Bringing his other hand up, he holds her face in place so that she’ll look at him. “Look at me.” He finally gets her attention and she slowly raises her eyes, locking with his. “What’s wrong?”
The look that fills his eyes can only be described as worry. “I’m sorry, Marty.”
“What are you talking about?”
She knows she needs to tell him. Taking a deep breath, her voice cracks as she tells him what’s for sure gonna make him run. “I-I’m pregnant.”
His eyes widen at the news, a million thoughts running through his head. “Are-are you sure?”
Slightly nodding her head. “Pretty sure. I’m three weeks late and that’s unusual for me.”
“Have you taken a test?”
“Yeah, I just haven’t had the nerve to look.”
Taking her hand, he guides her to the bathroom where the test is laying out on the vanity. They both walk over and look, their eyes being met with a positive sign.
“So a baby.”
“A baby.” A flood of tears start pouring out of her eyes, when her suspicions are confirmed. “I-I’m so sorry.” She begins to shake, gasping for breath.
He grabs her by the waist, pulling her against him, pressing his lips to hers. “I love you, Kens Marie Blye.”
Slightly out of breath from crying and their kiss, she’s a bit shocked by his reaction. “You-you aren’t mad?”
“Mad? Kensi, how could I possibly be mad? Surprised, sure. Shocked, perhaps. Over the moon completely and totally excited? You bet your beautiful ass, sweetheart.” He shakes his head at all the emotions running through his mind.
The surprised yet joyfulness that fills his eyes tells her that his words are truly genuine. “But what about school?”
“Hey.” He places his finger under her chin, tilting her head up to look into her eyes, wanting her to see the sincerity held in his. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course I do. More than anyone.”
Letting out a sigh of contentment at her words, his heart swells even more when he sees the truth and honesty behind her words reflected in her eyes. “Then trust me when I say that we can do this. You and me. Together. It may be hard some days. We may want to rip each others hair out. You will most definitely want to hit me a few times when I’m being an idiot. But I’m your idiot.” He places a kiss to her forehead. “And I will do anything and everything for you and this baby. Our baby.”
She’d just gotten out of her Psych class when she gets an overwhelming sense of gratefulness as she looks at the table in the corner and sees that full mop of blonde hair. She was so afraid that she had pushed him away. And yet he’s surprisingly drawn closer to her even more so now that she’s finally told him.
Walking up to him, she smiles when he brings his lips to hers. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He grabs his bag from the table, and takes ahold of her hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth. “How are you feeling?”
“As good as anyone can be in this type of situation.”
He gives her a soft smile, as they start to walk out of the building, hand in hand. “That’s good.”
They’re walking along to her next class, when she finally works up the nerve to tell him. “So I have an appointment today at 4.” She knows he said that he would do anything for her and the baby, but that uncertainty that rears its ugly head at times, makes itself known.
“Okay, I have a class, but I can get one of my buddies to take notes for me.” He’s not caught off guard in the slightest and something tells him that she thought he would be.
“You don’t have to do that.”
He gives her a playful smirk, trying to ease the tension that is clearly running throughout her body. “Yeah, I do or I won’t really know what’s going on next class.”
Rolling her eyes, she shakes her head, smiling. “I mean you don’t have to go with me.”
“Of course I do.” He stops in his tracks, turning to look at her. “I meant what I said last night, Kens.” Softly rubbing his thumb across her cheek. “I’ll do anything for you and this baby.”
Well that was definitely not what they were expecting. They had gone into the doctors office ready for her to confirm what they already knew, but once again life had other plans.
They walk out of the office towards his truck, finger intertwined. “I really thought.”
Throwing his arm around her shoulder, he pulls her in, placing a kiss to the top of her head. “I know. Me too.”
“I guess it’s for the best though.”
“Yeah, it probably is.” Once they reach the truck, he stops, taking both her hands in his, dream filled look in his eyes. “I gotta be honest though. I was really looking forward to a little sassy brunette running around.”
She loves how excited he was about this. Clearly she had nothing to worry about when she thought that she was carrying his child. The thought of telling him in the future and not being filled with uneasiness, makes her smile. “One day.”
“One day.” Echoing her words, while the images of her and their daughter sitting in the rocking chair, while her mother sings soft lullabies to her, makes him very excited for the future that he hopes and prays they might have one day.
Seeing his dreamy filled gaze, she leans into kiss him, knowing that he’s probably having similar thoughts to hers. “I love you.”
“I love you too. So much.” He places another kiss to her lips, showing her just how much.
It had been the best birthday he ever had. His girl showered him with love and fish tacos. She took him to the beach for dinner and a stroll along the waters edge. He’d never felt anything like this in his life. A few days ago when he was afraid that he was losing her had been the worst time of his life. Those few short days that he hadn’t seen or heard from her had been quite literally hell on Earth for him. But once she told him that she thought that she was pregnant he understood why she was so distant and drawn away from him. It wasn’t because of him but because of what it would mean for her.
She would be the one that would have to juggle going to school, writing papers, showing up to class all the while pregnant and all the things that come with it. Of course he would’ve helped her all that he could, but the part of her that’s still worried about being left and left alone with a child at that was one of the main thoughts running through her head.
With all that in the past now he can’t help but smile and think about what their future might hold as they lay in the bed of his truck, looking up at the stars. “What do think they’ll be like?”
She’s brought out of her trance when his voice fills her ears. Tilting her head up to look at him, brow furrowed. “What do I think who will be like?”
“Our kids.”
“I don’t know. When I thought I was pregnant, I imagined a boy.”
“A boy. Obviously because he’s gonna have a little sister to protect.”
“Obviously.” She smiles, thinking about what his personality would be like. “He would have shaggy blonde hair just like his daddy.”
“And the stubbornness and appetite of his mother.” He winces as she twists his nipple.
She ignores his wince and thinks about their daughter. “Our daughter would have long brown hair, with beautiful blue eyes.”
He nods, agreeing with the images that fills both of their minds. “With my sense of humor and your sassiness.”
She smiles, placing a kiss on his chest. “Yeah, that sounds really good.”
“Okay, so what’s the plan.”
“Plan?”
“We gotta have a plan, right?” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
She likes where this is going. “Well, first we both need to graduate.”
“Then get married.”
A bit taken back by his words, she knows they’ve kinda already talked about it, but him actually saying the words out loud takes the breath out of her. “Ye-yeah, then get married.”
“Then you’ll be going to Georgia for NCIS.”
“And once I’m placed with an office, I think we could start thinking about kids.”
He places a kiss on her temple. “Sounds wonderful.”
“Sounds like a dream.”
Pulling her in closer, he lets out a content sigh. “Well in the wise words of one Walt Disney, ‘All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.’”
They share a smile, knowing that with each other they have enough courage to last a lifetime. A beautiful dream filled lifetime.
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Snakes Ch. 4 (Michael Langdon x Reader)
A/N: Ok so I wrote this in an hour because I was very angsty and sad for our baby. SO here is how I think it should have ended. #michaellangdondeservesbetter
I may write one or two more fluffy chapters to heal our souls. For now I REALLY hope you enjoy this and it makes you happy!!!
If you haven’t read my series SNAKES or you need to catch up you can find all of the chapters at the top of my MASTERLIST
Word Count: 2687
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Y/n felt a tremendous amount of energy and power flow her after their ritual. Ms. Meade helped Michael get into a maroon velvet blazer. She offered Y/n a black lace pantsuit. A dress wouldn’t be beneficial in a fight.
“No matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you and I am glad to have you by my side.” Michael came to her and held her face in his hands.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love you too Michael, you’ve taught me more so much about myself, I never would’ve found out on my own.” She looked at him with so much love, before he places a strong kiss on her lips.
“They will come, it won’t be like the dream. You’ll know what to do.” He looked at her in all seriousness. Her eyebrows furrowed with worry.
“What if I’m not ready, what if I can’t fight them?” Her voice laced with concern. He kissed her on the forehead.
“When the time comes, you’ll know what to do. You have to trust your instincts.” He was so sure in his voice. He placed on last kiss on her lips before they felt a presence in their domain. She looked to him before taking a deep breath, they made their way out of the room and down the stairs. Michael stood in the front, Y/n at his side and Ms. Meade behind them. Six witches stood in front of them.
Mallory, Coco and Dinah. She never would have guessed that they were witches, but she could feel the power coursing through them. She sensed that Mallory is a rising supreme. She recognized the other three from her dream. She quickly learned their names by peering into their minds, something she didn’t know she could do. Myrtle, the red head. Madison, the young blonde. Cordelia, the current supreme. She discovered their plan to destroy Michael.
Dinah made a comment before Michael interluded.
“How can any of you defeat me when I’ve already won?” Michael stood with a hip cocked.
“You haven’t won.” Cordelia takes a step closer to them.
“Perhaps you haven’t noticed the state of the world.” He laughs at them.
“It’s almost as bad as your dinner jacket, but at least the world can be saved.” The red head’s sarcastic comment was unappreciated as Y/n shot her a glare.
“By you?” Michael questions darkly, his voice going deeper.
“By all of us.” Cordelia stood tall and confident. Y/n almost felt sorry for her.
“Hey, get the wax out of your ears, I’m hear to watch.” Dinah snapped at them.
“But I’m not.” Coco gathered her dress and stomped in front of the other witches. Y/n and Michael cocked their heads simultaneously. “Just don’t let me die again, it really sucked the first time.” Cordelia threw a hand out at her. Y/n pursed her lips and shook her head.
“When I’m done, you’re gonna wish you were all dead.” Michael spoke.
“I always thought the world would end with fire and ice, not witches and warlocks.” Myrtle rolled her eyes.
“The seventh seal has been broken. Wormwood has fallen from the sky and turned the rivers to blood and fire. The bottomless pit has been open and my swarms of scorpions and locusts have ravaged humanity. The world has been remade in my father’s image.” Y/n almost didn’t recognize Michael as he spoke.
“Darling, it seems daddy didn’t tell you the most important rule of bringing on the apocalypse, the first thing you have to do is get rid of all the witches.” Myrtle laughed at him. Y/n’s hands clenched into fists at her sides.
“Big mistake.” Coco said. She had no business speaking.
“I could annihilate all of you in a second and the world would go on without missing a beat. You and all your work will be forgotten in the ruble of the past, but I want to give you a future. Fall to your knees and accepted me as your Lord and Savior and I will bring you to the table as my obedient subjects.” His voice went deep. He brought his hands behind his back, Y/n watched as the witches giggled and snickered at him.
“Imbeciles, fall to your knees before the king, hail Satan.” Ms. Meade demanded them angrily.
“The only way we would sit at your table is if your decapitated head was the center piece.” Cordelia sneered at him.
“Cordelia, your raised me from the dead, so that you would have the power of Voodoo on your side, but if you know anything about who I am you would know that the only choice I pick would be the winner.” Dinah made her way to Michael and bowed to him.
“You’re half right Dinah.” Cordelia stated. Everyone turned to a new presence that made its way into the room.
“She needed the help of a powerful Voodoo queen, but that ain’t you sis.” Marie Laveau. Y/n’s eyes went wide, sensing her power. “To release me from hell, Cordelia promised Papa Legba, the darkest and most corrupt voodoo queen’s soul for mine, you’ll serve him well in my place.” Laveau put her hands on her hips as she sneered at Dinah.
“You’re a fool Marie Laveau would have done no different if you were queen.” Marie snarled at her before she teleported behind her and stuck a butcher knife in her neck. Dinah sobbed as she tried to stop the blood from pouring profusely.
“Out with the trash, give Papa my regards.” Marie flipped her hair over her shoulder in a cocky manner. Ms. Meade looked to Michael before removing her hand and revealing a gun, she cocked it and prepared to fire. Cordelia spoke some sort of spell that sent Ms. Meade into a craze. Michael and Y/n turned to see her shaking.
“Ms. Meade?” Michael questioned with worry before she exploded, sending Y/n and Michael over the railings. Parts of Ms. Meade flew everywhere. Y/n and Michael tried to catch their breaths at the wind was knocked out of them. Ms. Meade’s head landed next to Michael. Tears welded in his eyes before she powered off.
“Madison!” Y/n heard Cordelia call out, she looked over her shoulder to see Madison reach for Meade’s gun. She aims at Michael.
“Sorry about your little toy, bitch.” She shot Michael over and over. He backed against the wall before sliding down, blood pooling around him. Y/n remained on the floor Covering her head. Myrtle went up to him and pet his hair.
“Smooth as silk.” She said with large gasps, as she yanked a chunk of his hair, handing it to Mallory.
“A personal item, remember dear, focus on it. Use it to focus on a time and place in Michael’s life.” They chanted some part of the spell before they encouraged Mallory to find a place to perform the spell.
“I’ll hold him off as long as I can, go.” Madison said, clutching the gun tighter. Y/n made her way to Michael, she knew he was ok, but she had to act. She crawled to him and cradled his head to her chest, crying as she rocked him. To say she was having some PTSD was an understatement, but she knew she had to sell it.
“Michael?” She said shakily. Her hand stoked his cold face. She cried and looked to Madison with tear stained cheeks. Madison paused, only for a moment.
“You’re going to be next bitch.” There was a large commotion, Madison turned her head and a body on fire fell by her feet. Michael blinked a few times before the blood returned into his body.
“Oh fuck, I guess its back to retail.” She cocked the fire arm before turning around. Michael put a hand on Y/n’s shoulder, giving her a nod. She extended her hand out to Madison and clenched a fist, with that, her head exploded off her body.
Michael cracked his neck and looked up to the stairs.
Side by side, Y/n and Michael climbed the steps.
“Their coming!” Marie screamed at the witches. Marie performed some voodoo blocking Y/n and Michael from passing. She began to chant.
“You will not pass.” She said, Michael shoved his hand forward, a force blocking him.
“You really think your stupid voodoo spells can stop me?” He smirked before shoving his hand in her chest, grabbing her heart. “Is that all you got?”
“Not exactly.” She Spit out. Before Y/n could turn around, Coco stabbed Michael in the back.
“Die again, fuck face.” She screeched at him. He turned to her fully, looking down at the knife poking out of his chest. He brought his free hand to feel the wound.
“Normally that would work.” He yanks the heart out of Leveau, causing her to fall. “but I’m nothing like normal.” He takes a bite out of the heart, licking his lips after. He pulls Y/n to him, offering her a bite of the heart, which she gladly takes. He kisses her in front of Coco. Lost of tongue as they lick the blood off each other’s lips. Y/n brings her hand to Michael’s back and yanks the knife out of his back. He rolls his eyes and looks to Coco.
He whips his fingers and snaps her neck. Him and Y/n stomp in the direction of the witches.
“How did you think this would end? Prophecy in inevitable.” Michael spoke, Cordelia turns to look at them. “I was always going to win, Miss Supreme.” He spits Venom at her.
“Not on your own, you’ve been led by the hand, coddled the entire way. By your father, the warlocks. I look at you and I don’t see a man, I see a sad, scared little boy, so pathetic he couldn’t even kill me with a thousand nuclear bombs.” She bit at him.
“But I never expected to. I knew like a cockroach I knew you would survive the nuclear fallout. I wanted you to and now I have the satisfaction of watching you die, knowing you failed.”
“You still don’t get it do you? Even now, you think there is only winning and losing. Success and failure, but failure is when you lost any semblance of hope. You will get to watch me die, but you won’t find it satisfying.” She stole the knife from him, causing him to look at her in shock.
“Satan has one son, but my sisters are legion motherfucker.” She plunges the knife into her chest. Michael gapes like a fish in shock. Michael screams as Cordelia falls to the floor. Y/n hears commotion in another room. She runs, abandoning Michael. Mallory is performing a time travel spell.
They are going to kill Michael as a child. She thought to herself. The idea causing her to tear up. Not yet, she couldn’t cry.
It was like it happened in slow motion. Y/n ran into the room. Myrtle screamed at her trying to defend Mallory as she went under. Y/n used all of her powers to kill Myrtle, she exploded all over the walls like her dream. Y/n reached for Mallory as she heard Michael scream.
“NO!” as she touched Mallory, she was brought into the past. She was across the street, laying in a neighbor’s yard. She looks up to see a young Michael start to walk across the street. She senses the black car before it appears. She runs to Michael and pulls him down shielding him, her hand goes up as the car flips over them.
It crashes and slides up against a tree. Y/n takes young Michael’s face in her hands.
“Wait here.” She speaks quick to him. His eyes brimmed with tears as he nods quickly.
She strides over to the car and uses her powers to rip the door off the car. She yanks Mallory out and drags her to the middle of the street. Mallory was bruised and bloody.
“How dare you kill him, he had the mentality of a child Mallory!” Her hand goes to Mallory’s throat, she lifts her in the air, choking her in a bone crushing grip.
“He, he’s evil, Y/n. He needs to die.” Mallory chokes out.
“If you kill him like this? You are no better than he is.” She crushes her throat and Mallory goes limp in her grip. She concentrates and sets her on fire, her spirit ceasing to exist.
She takes a deep sigh of relief. She walks over to baby Michael, who is curled up with his head in his knees.
“Hey, hey, shh, its going to be ok.” He looks up at her with watery eyes in awe.
“Who are you?” He hiccups in between the words.
“You’ll know when you’re older.” She kisses his forehead and stands. She offers a hand to him, which he accepts.
They walk and in hand back to his house. She finds Constance and grabs her face in her hands. She looks deep into her eyes putting her in a trance.
“You will love him and take care of him. No deed he does is worth not loving him. Teach him kindness, teach him love and compassion. Teach him humility, teach him remorse. Be there for him like no one else was.” When Constance snaps from her trance she looks to Michael and hugs him. She apologizes for the awful things she said earlier.
“I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry Michael, I love you.” She hugs him and holds him close. He takes a deep breath as he holds her tight, crying into her shoulder.
Y/n launches herself out of the water, choking on some water in her lungs. Michael is quick to yank her out of the tub and hold her close. He rubs her back and waits for her to calm down.
“Are you ok my love?” He asks, searching her eyes for something wrong.
“I, I fixed it.” She looks to him, proud of herself. A smile breaks out on her face.
“Fixed what?” He asks in confusion. She stands and offers him a hand, he looks at the hand with a look of confusion. Memories flash like a movie reel. He stands slowly, taking her hand. His face softened. His wounds healed. Tears fill his eyes as he pulls her to him. His face shoved into her neck as he cries. He sees the memory of what she did for him. She saved him, she gave him a chance at a real childhood at real happiness.
With how fucked up the timeline was, it didn’t necessarily prevent the apocalypse, but it did enough.
“Come with me.” She smiled up at him, they walked hand in hand as she let him to the door outside.
“Y/n, you can’t go out there.” He pulled her hand back, preventing her from opening the door to the outside. She brings her hands to his face with a wide smile. She kisses him lovingly before releasing him.
“Trust me.” She waited for him, he nodded. Y/n opened the door, the walked up the steps of the school when the clearing came into view.
The sun shined, the grass was green. Birds chirped in the background. Michael’s eyes were wide, a large smile grew on his face. He spun slowly looking at every angle. Blue skies, green grass. The air was clean, he took a deep inhale, breathing in the good air.
He plopped himself on the ground, laying flat on his back. Y/n looked down at him lovingly, happy to see him happy. He pulled at her hand and brought her down on top of him. He kissed her, a hand holding the side of her face.
“You did this. I can’t thank you enough. This is one of the best feelings I’ve had in a long time. I love you Y/n” He caressed her face, looking at her in awe.
“I love you too Michael.” She pressed her head to his forehead, kissing his nose before resting her head on his chest. They both closed their eyes.
Finally, at peace.
***************************
I’m not crying, you’re crying....
Taglist.
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#michael langdon x reader#michael langdon fanfiction#michael langdon x fem!reader#michael langdon#Michael langdon imagine#Michael langdon imagines#Michael langdon deserves better#ahs#ahs apocalypse#ahs8#ahs coven#american horror story#American horror story fanfiction#American horror story apocalypse#american horror story imagine#cody fern
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First Days
I poked my head around the corner and looked both ways. From the small traces of light pouring in we could determine it was some kind of bunker or very large basement. Maybe some kind of disaster shelter? It was easily larger than our home back in Qaywas, though it was very rough and unfinished. Most of it was bare concrete with some simple metal rods for hanging tarps like curtains in the doorways. There were some wooden supports in some places that someone used to tack up more discarded tarps, probably to cover up some of the more depressing cement-grey walls and make it feel a bit more like a home.
Judging by the cracks in the floor and some of the damage in the doorways, this shelter had been here for quite some time but had been long abandoned by the previous residents of the town. Thinking back to what Saffron had said, I still wondered just what drove them away.
I took my sister's hand and wandered the hallways, looking into the other rooms through the gaps between the curtains and thresholds. Like the other room, they all seemed to have some kind of bedding and a few personal odds and ends like clothing, some small toys, books, and paper.
Xhianei tugged my arm in the direction of a more central room, so I followed. Sura was sitting on an old stool writing something on some paper tacked to the wall with what looked like a blue drafting pencil.
"Alright, so, is there any specific kind of jobs you'd want here?" she asked, turning to us.
The both of us looked toward each other, but I just shrugged. I was fine with just about anything.
Something caught Xhianei's interest, however, and she saw past Sura to get a better look. Sura noticed her interest and turned around to grab the things laying on the floor just behind her.
"These are just some clothes I have to fix up for the kids," she said, opening up a small shirt adorned with scuffs and holes. "Some stuff like this I try to salvage since we don't have a whole lot for clothing. I also make new clothes since there was some materials left here, but I'd like to waste as little as I can get away with."
She placed the shirt back down on top of the pile.
"Seems like this might be a thing you'd like to help me with?" she inquired. "I'd appreciate it and it's never really too early to learn how to do these things."
"Yeah!" Xhianei exclaimed.
"Would you mind also helping with laundry? It's pretty tedious but it goes a lot faster if there's more people."
"I can do that too!"
Xhianei seemed very excited for what all lie ahead, more so than I would have initially thought. It was better than the alternative, I guess.
Sura wrote some things on that piece of paper, likely a list of jobs for Xhianei.
"I'll probably also need some random help here and there, 'specially if someone gets sick or hurt or something. Mostly cleaning stuff or helping with food, shouldn't be too hard."
Xhianei nodded. Seemed like typical household needs.
"Sounds good. And you?" she looked to me.
"...Uh..." I trailed off and found my eyes scanning the floor.
From the corner of my eye I could see Sura's ears cock askew.
"Rough time?"
"...Yeah."
"Well, I won't pretend to know your life, but you can certainly tell us about it if or when you feel comfortable. We'll try to make your time here as easy as we can," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "The five of us here know each other pretty well, coming from the same place. I'm actually glad you're here and not...there."
There was a notable hesitation in her words and some of the shine in her warm cinnamon eyes appeared to dull. I'd be lying if I said my interest wasn't piqued, but now wasn't the time.
"...I'm...fine doing whatever," I said, eyes still toward the floor.
"Well, you're probably fairly close to Saffron's age and he mostly deals with getting food, so would that work for you? We could always use more help with that."
"What would I be doing, exactly?"
"We have some cane poles and we're right by the coast, so fishing around the water and crabbing around tide pools for sure. There's also quite a few fruiting trees and bushes and some other vegetation growing around here to forage as needed. Saffron has a guide for what all is available around here and how to recognize it so you won't be going at it blind. You'd bring me what you have in the afternoon so Harley and I can cook what needs to be and store what doesn't for the next day."
"...I can do that."
"Would you mind also helping Connor with composting?"
"Composting?"
"It's when you take all the scraps you can't eat from food and let it kinda decompose in a pile over time. Cuts down on waste and it's good for the soil so you can use it for gardening. Connor is pretty young and might need help carrying stuff from time to time."
"That would be fine."
"And, like I told Xhianei, we might need some help here and there with some jobs on occasion. Same explanation as before."
"Okay..."
She finished writing down everything on the piece of paper.
"That should be all. Saffron is already outside and I'm sure he'd like the help, so I'll show you both the way in and out of here."
The two of us followed Sura down some winding halls and up a flight of old stairs. Pushing through the curtain just ahead we found ourselves back in the outside world, greeted with a pleasant sunny day and a nice breeze.
"Hopefully that wasn't too complicated, but you'll get used to it anyway," Sura assured, stretching under the sun. "Xhianei, if you don't mind, stay here while I show Xhias where Saffron likely is."
"Okay!" Xhianei said with a smile.
I followed Sura around the town ruins, eventually reaching the outer edge along the coast. Not far from us was a stone ramp, likely dug and left by the people here previously. Below the ramp was a handful of tide pools and a rusty Saffron sitting on some artificial steps untangling some lines.
"Just take that ramp and head down, he'll show you what all you need to know. If you need to come back to the bunker he'll show you the way back, though as you saw it's not too complicated. I'll see you both this afternoon, good luck!" she turned around and said with a wave.
I looked to her fading figure, then back down to the coastline. In a way it reminded me of home, though this was a lot more rocky from the places I remembered. Nevertheless, I descended the ramp to meet up with Saffron, who was still untangling some lines on the cane poles. Hearing my steps he turned just enough to see me.
"So you're gonna help me with food, I take it?" he asked.
"Y...Yeah, at least I'll try," I answered.
"You'll do fine, this ain't very hard to learn," he reassured. "Most of this is waiting for something to happen and not taking more than you'll use."
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"Don't take more than you know you'll use, otherwise you're just making waste. We don't have any way to store or preserve things at this point so it'll be in everyone's best interest to keep that in mind. You'll get a feel for what I mean as you go."
He finished untangling the lines and handed me one of the poles, hook already baited, and put his gloves back on.
"I figured you'd be doing this job so I brought down both poles," he said, motioning me to stand on the stairs. "These are pretty easy to use since there's nothing fancy about them, just hold out the pole and drop the line in the water like so. Jiggle it a bit to get interest, otherwise it's just a lot of waiting."
I followed what he showed me on the stairs to his approval.
"Looks fine," he said, looking at my hands. "You'll probably want gloves if you're gonna do this job since it's pretty hard on the hands, so if this is still something you're fine doing at the end of the day I'll see if Sura will make you a pair."
After that we both headed closer to the water and down to an abandoned dock to do our chores. We both sat at the edge facing away from each other, occupying either side of the dock. My mind trailed off to think the past few days over, focusing mostly on this morning as small fish came and went between the both of us.
"I, uh, was wondering something," I quietly said, not wanting to make too much noise.
"Hm?"
"Who is the, uh, one big guy? He didn't tell us his name."
"Tall, shady, carries a weapon everywhere?" he recalled. "That's Riv. He was probably tired and spaced it, but you'll see him again later in the afternoon."
I didn't really like the sound of that, but said nothing.
---
Days came and went, slowly turning into weeks. I took care to do my job as well as I could and learn as much as I was able while Xhianei did the same. Somehow I was pretty decent at fishing, crabbing, and digging up shellfish in the brackish waters without much help and Saffron seemed to really appreciate the help. The more help he got, the more spare time we both got, which we mostly used to help with schooling Connor and Harley or tend to Sura's small garden.
Xhianei was always excited to show me what all she did with Sura that day, even having fixed up a lot of my old clothes. As strange as it was, this was probably the most normal living environment I'd ever known. Xhianei was, however, not terribly impressed with how I avoided Riv as much as possible. I didn't know anything about him and I was honestly too unnerved to learn, so I kept my distance. While I was hoping it wasn't so noticeable she never had a hard time reading me.
Over time I was able to confide in Sura and Saffron about what led us here. The both of them were...strangely understanding. Not really in the 'oh, I'm sorry to hear that' kind of way, but something a lot more serious and, dare I say...meaningful? While it was comforting in a way, it definitely strengthened my wonder about what led them to a place like this.
---
I took my plate of food from Sura and sat outside. I gave the landscape a look-over before bringing a bite of fish to my mouth, taking in the scenery before me and seeing it in a different light than I had before now.
Lost in thought I was startled by a familiar voice from off to my side.
"Mind if we talk?"
---
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Pharos of My Soul: Dragon Tales (Fic, Sorey/Mikleo, Dragon/Fantasy AU)
Title: Pharos of My Soul: Dragon Tales (Chapter 1 of 3)
Series: Tales of Zestiria
Pairing: Sorey/Mikleo
Summary:
Tales of a man-eating dragon, a prince, and their growing family.
A collection of shorts from Pharos of My Soul / Dragon Bride AU.
CHAPTER ONE: PUPS VS. PUPS
Mikleo squares off against a hoard of slavering Beasts that invade his peaceful home.
(CONTENT WARNING: mpreg, xenophilia, and generally weird biology.)
Link: AO3
This is a joint collaboration between me, Ali (@eachainn), and Nami (@shamingcows)! Ali and I wrote a dual AU very loosely based on the 2015 Russian movie “He’s a Dragon.” Ali’s version, as well as her short stories in the universe, are available here in the AO3 collection. Mine are there too I guess.
Read on Tumblr!
Mikleo had defended this island for centuries. What the befuddling mist did not keep out, Mikleo was sure to drive off with tooth and claw. It was the only home he had ever known; the resting place of his mother’s bones. He knew every inch of the sandy shore, every winding path through the mountain caves – he had paced them, years without end, lost in a book he was struggling to read, lost in thoughts, lost in idle loneliness. Now, it was all that and so much more – it was a place of precious memories, and a bower for his pups.
But after hundreds of years of tireless duty, Mikleo had a fatal lack of judgement. No, it wasn’t in the doing of capturing Sorey from his home, it wasn’t in the doing of – doing Sorey, it wasn’t in the duty of allowing him to stay, or allowing him to return.
Beasts had invaded their home, and Mikleo was powerless to stop them.
“Mikleo…”
Mikleo stayed, stiff and unmoving, crouched over his pups. He could feel them trembling underneath his belly, hidden by his feathers; their soft whimpers piercing his heart with guilt. He would protect them. He would keep them safe. But he was terrified as well; terrified of the Beast, terrified for his children, terrified for Sorey.
Sorey took a slow, careful step forward, and placed one of the Beasts down in front of them.
“Mikleo. This is Elize.”
The tiny Pomeranian puppy blinked at her surroundings. She clearly wasn’t able to see terribly well over the purple plushie held gently but firmly in her wee jaws, especially considering it was almost as big as she was. All the same, she did not seem interested in putting it down any time soon. Sorey stroked a hand over Elize’s pale golden fuzzball fluff to try and smooth it out a bit, then scratched the top of her head with a single finger. Elize made a tiny peep, and raised herself up onto wobbly hind legs in an attempt to chase the feeling of Sorey’s petting hand. Her front paws swam in the air for a moment before she toppled over with an audible puff! to the ground.
It was in Sorey’s nature, Mikleo suspected, to try and befriend things that could kill him in a matter of seconds. That was how this whole – this whole everything started, after all. Sorey staying here, Sorey making himself a precious and irreplaceable part of Mikleo’s life. Mikleo had thought Sorey’s parents could be trusted – they were odd, just as Sorey himself was odd, but upon their second visit to the island they had brought these Beasts, claiming them to be playmates for the pups. Playmates. The idea that they considered those dangerous creatures proper playmates for his sweet children was insult enough, even if the horror of their very presence had not gripped him from the start. The moment the Beasts had poured off the ship, snapping and snarling and howling, Mikleo had gathered up his pups and fled in a flurry of feathers to a secluded outcropping at the mountain’s top. And there they had stayed for the past few hours, and there he intended to remain until those humans contained the horror they had unleashed on his home.
His husband’s behavior today was – indecipherable. Instead of demanding that his parents rein in their Beasts and remove them from the island, Sorey had climbed up to their stronghold almost immediately; to plead his parents’ case, to claim that the creatures were harmless. He had even brought one with him – a Beast with a coat as black as the maw of an open throat. It was dressed in a little outfit and Sorey called it “Jude”, and asked the Beast to do a few tricks. It could rise up onto its back legs and do a tiny dance, and could offer its paw in some sort of perversion of human social niceties. Mikleo dared not move an inch, dared not allow this creature a step closer to his children.
Eventually, Sorey shook his head, gathered the Beast, and carried it back down to the beach. Mikleo thought that he’d finally gotten his point across – he’d give Sorey a piece of his mind once those Beasts were gone, and Sorey would find himself not welcome to sleep in their nest for a few days, but as long as he did his part in atoning for his lapse in judgement, Mikleo could find it in his heart to forgive him…
Or at least he thought he could, until Sorey brought up another Beast. And then another. And another.
This Beast that Sorey had brought up was smaller than the rest, this much was true. Mikleo was fairly sure that he could best it in single combat, if it decided to make its move. Even if he had little chance of escaping without grave injuries, he had little choice in the matter – he would place his life on the line to save his pups, and would give his everything to ensure Sorey’s safety, even if he had endangered himself through his naiveté and innocence. For in truth, that was just one more thing that Mikleo loved about him – one more thing that he wanted to protect, always. The Beast had finally wriggled to its feet, with effort, and stared at Mikleo with its terrifying predatory gaze. Mikleo fluffed up the crest around his neck and head, raised his hackles; tried to make himself look as menacing as possible, even as he tried to control the shaking of his limbs.
He was a dragon. He was an unstoppable force of nature, as swift on land as he was in air, and deadlier still when underneath the waves. He was the protector of this island and the surrounding seas; ruler of the misted isles. He was the father of these innocent pups, the husband of that – that frustratingly simple man, and he would no longer cower in a corner. He would stand tall, and face this battle with courage.
He could not control the undignified squawk of terror as one of the other invading Beasts barreled into the cave; breaching their last bastion of safety. It was fast as lightning, darting in and out of the shafts of light filtering through the cave openings. Mikleo saw the flash of its teeth, the glint of its awful claws. The Beast pounced, lunged –
Sorey groaned. “Oh, Milla, honestly…you act like mom doesn’t feed you.”
Milla looked over her shoulder at Sorey as she munched on the bug she had been chasing. The green iridescent shine of the insect’s body and the half-buzzing wing still hanging out of her mouth identified it as one of the species of dragonflies that lived on the isle. This particular species were terrible pests, and aggressively swarmed the island’s shaded pools during their breeding season; crowding out the less loathsome breeds of dragonflies, and multiplying so quickly during their peak that the fish and birds that fed on them couldn’t keep up. When walking by the water at night, it was all one could do to avoid getting stung, and their swooping and buzzing spooked the pups so. This one’s demise, as gruesome as it was, was hardly a loss. Milla held her fluffy tail up high and proud over her haunches, and gave it a cheerful little wag as she swallowed down her prey. She shook out her coat, then pressed her snout to the ground; snuffling about to see if she had missed any bits and pieces of her mid-morning snack.
“Just please, don’t puke that up in the boat on the way back,” Sorey asked her, as if the Beasts could understand anything but the language of violence and terror. He had picked up Elize again, and she was perched in the crook of his arm. She blinked her eyes, slowly, as if she was about to fall asleep. “And don’t try to eat it again afterwards.”
The Beast known as Milla yipped, and trotted out of the cave; her body language easy and confident, as if she already knew the caves like the back of her paw. Mikleo bristled at the very idea – in offense, and in horror. If the invaders had already mapped out the cave system, what hope did they have?
Mikleo was too busy fretting to feel Aster squirming out from under his belly, too distracted to see him poke his head out from underneath his feathers, watching the scene before them. Aster was a shy, quiet boy; cautious, and not prone to the recklessness of his sisters. But what Mikleo failed to recall was that Aster was still his parents’ child, and thus, was possessed of an insatiable curiosity. Had Mikleo remembered this fact, even in such a stressful time, perhaps Mikleo would have kept a closer eye on him – or at least, a more firm seat on him.
Mikleo let out a panicked, desperate cry as he saw Aster dart out, out of the corner of his eye – his claws gripped at air as he tried to reach out and snag him back. He was too small, too quick, too determined to see the new “friend” that his papa was promising him. Sorey smiled as he saw his son approach, and knelt to the ground to put the Beast in his arms at eye level with Aster.
“There we go, that’s my brave little boy. Say hi to Elize.”
Mikleo was absolutely certain that he was about to see his precious baby boy eaten alive. Little Aster, who he’d had to coax out of his egg; gently calling to him to encourage him to break out. Little Aster, who loved nothing more than being held and read to, who always let Mikleo groom him without complaint (or kicking), who always needed his papa’s lullabies to fall asleep after a nightmare. He had to move quickly, before the Beast struck – but if he moved, he would leave his daughters unprotected, and the Beasts had already proven that they knew the caves. What if more were lying in wait, biding their time until they could descend and make off with his sweet little babes? He was gripped by this agonizing, impossible decision.
Aster rose up on his hind legs, and drew in his arms politely as he gave Elize a delicate sniff. Elize squirmed, whimpered, and began to tremble. Sorey made a soothing noise, and stroked his hand over her fluff once more.
“Aster’s just a little baby like you, Elize. No need to be scared.”
He couldn’t imagine what Aster had smelled on the creature, but it made Aster twitch his tail, fluff his coat, and let out a joyful (and loud) squawk. The noise made the Beast yelp, and its panicked thrashing caused Sorey to lose his grip. It fell to the ground, and fled out the cave entrance; its nails scrabbling for purchase on the rock as it went. Aster seemed to deflate at the departure of the creature, but Mikleo could not have been more proud of him. He wanted to weep in relief. His precious, brave baby boy. He had stared death in the face, squawked at it, and saved them all.
Sorey darted after the creature, and yelled over his shoulder as he went:
“Sorry, just – she’s too little to run around on her own! I’ll be back in a minute, stay here.”
As long as Sorey was finishing the job of driving the creature out of their home, Mikleo was willing to be ordered around. He was just…too relieved. He found himself transforming into his smaller form, and bundled Aster into his arms; nuzzling and cooing to him. It was unlike Aster to turn down cuddles – Sorey liked to call him a “love bug” for it. Strangely, though, Aster was having none of his father’s affections today. He squirmed and wriggled until Mikleo put him down, and sat almost sullenly as his sisters closed in on him; sniffing at him suspiciously, as if they weren’t sure he was still alive after that encounter.
Mikleo made a questioning noise, and Aster turned his gaze to him, his eyes soulful and sad.
“Papa said she was a little baby. I scared her.”
Mikleo was baffled. “That’s…Aster, it was dangerous. It’s good you scared it off.”
“Didja see how the one ate that big nasty bug whole?” Anemone whispered in clear awe.
“I liked the first one’s dance,” said Allium, before she briefly, and shakily, tried to imitate it on her own hind legs. “And his jacket. I bet Grandma made it, just like the clothes she makes for us.”
His children clearly did not understand the gravity of the situation. But they were innocent, just like Sorey. Mikleo gathered the three of them up – two under one arm, one under the other, and carted them through the cave and up to the nest room. It wasn’t easy, and wasn’t entirely quick. They were growing bigger every day, it seemed – soon he wouldn’t be able to do this, and so, he indulged himself whenever he could.
“Can we play with those things when papa comes back?” asked Anemone. “Please?”
“You were scared of them,” Allium accused. “Just like daddy.”
“Was not! And you were too!”
“Yes you were! You were crying like a little baby and all puffed up—”
Mikleo made a warning noise, and the girls quieted down. Aster still stared at him; stared at him with those eyes, so hopeful and sweet, so much like Sorey’s.
“I’m going to go find your father,” Mikleo said. “The three of you are going to stay in the nest, and not move until I get back. Or else no bedtime stories for a week.”
Mikleo knew his children – and more than that, he knew their parents. As insurance against the inevitable escape, he murmured a spell at the nest room’s entrance; activating the protective charms there, creating a barrier that kept things in place – nothing out, and nothing in. He felt the magic thrum in his veins. It was a spell that drew from his own life-force, and would stay in place until he dispelled it or died. Whichever came first.
Mikleo could remember that awful day, so long ago: when he cowered under his mother as that human stalked their home, when she had hidden him away in a secluded spot (too far away from their nest to make a break for it) and told him not to move until she came to get him. He’d waited hours for her to come back; too scared to move, too scared to make a sound.
Hours became days. He was hungry, and terrified, and desperate for his mother to return…but she never did. When he finally gathered the courage and desperation, he crept out of hiding to search for her. And find her he did – most of her.
Sometimes he idly wondered what would have become of him if Lailah hadn’t decided to come calling that day, if she had been less willing to care for him. If, when she saw him slowly digging a grave, she had simply turned around and left. But, she didn’t. She stayed, and comforted him, and raised him. He was forever in her debt.
Now that Mikleo had…given himself some time to think, perhaps his children had a point. Perhaps he could grant that these Beasts were not deadly threats – certainly not as deadly as the human that had taken his mother away from him, at least. But what he could say about them was that they were loud, and messy, and were traipsing all over his island as if they owned the place. Now that he was confident that he did not have to fear never returning to his little ones in the nursery, he could march himself back down to…wherever his in-laws were lurking around, and tell them firmly to gather the Beasts and leave. But he supposed that would be easier said than done. Mikleo had read books on marriage that emphasized the importance of boundaries with in-laws, but there was also the matter of respect, and marital harmony, and…
A dragon’s senses were sharp; far sharper than a human’s. Moreover, the cave system was like a sprawling spider’s web – it carried sound and vibration from all over the island. He could detect Sorey’s heavy footsteps toward the northern end of the system, and could confidently state that he was nowhere near where that one Beast – “Elize” – had run off to. And as for Elize…he could hear faint, frantic little whimpers, and the scratching of claws on stone.
Mikleo hesitated. They were frightful little Beasts, and messy, and annoying. But those whimpers were so plaintive, and so like those of his own pups that he found himself drawn in to them, driven by parental instinct.
It was no trouble navigating the cave system to find her. Mikleo watched, cautiously, hidden behind an outcropping. The Beast was scratching frantically at a crack at the intersection of wall and floor, and whimpering as she did. The purple stuffed toy that she had previously held in her jaws was absent; and, perhaps due to its absence, the Beast appeared to be quite distressed. Mikleo felt that it was a safe assumption that, in the process of fleeing from Aster and Sorey’s pursuit, the Beast had skidded into this room and lost her grip on her toy, sending it tumbling into the crack in the stone that she was now clawing at.
The Beast, engrossed in her mission to save her toy, did not seem to notice Mikleo’s slow, cautious approach. It was not until he was standing over her that she noticed his shadow. She froze in place, and then, began to tremble once more.
The stuffed toy had not fallen too far into the crack – it was beyond the reach of a Beast, perhaps, but Mikleo had thumbs in his current form. It was a small and painless task to retrieve it. He placed it on the ground in front of the Beast, and watched as she carefully, gently picked it back up.
She had stopped trembling, and stopped whimpering. Those eyes of hers were just like Aster’s and Sorey’s.
…There was no more time to focus on this. He needed to discuss things with Sorey’s family, now. Mikleo rose out of his crouch, and continued on his way down to the nearest exit. He heard the tip-tip-tap of Elize’s claws on the stone floor; following him as he went. He sighed, and bent down again. If it was as Sorey indicated, and she was no older than the pups, she surely was already exhausted from running blindly through the caves. She was quite light, at least – certainly lighter than his children were now.
In no time at all, they emerged into the afternoon sun. Mikleo squinted and looked around, until he spotted—
“Mikleo! You found her!”
Sorey jogged up, with his mother Selene not far behind. Selene tearfully held out her arms, and Mikleo – perhaps more hesitantly than he expected of himself – handed her Elize.
“Thank you,” she said. “Oh, goodness, Elize, you gave me quite a scare…”
Mikleo looked at Sorey, expectantly. Sorey scratched at his head.
“We’re…rounding up the rest. It probably wasn’t a good idea to bring everyone at once.”
“No,” Mikleo said. “No, it was not.”
Sorey gave him those Eyes, and Mikleo looked away with a huff before he was drawn in.
“So? The rest of them?”
“We’ve got most everyone rounded up,” Sorey said, gesturing behind him. There was a little yellow Beast barking repeatedly at a fish in a pool, a gray-muzzled Beast sunning itself on a rock, and a reddish-black Beast gazing dramatically into the horizon; perched on a rock, backed by a waterfall. “I sent Jude off to look for Milla, and dad went off to look for…”
Mikleo felt the brush of something on his leg, and jumped a mile. It was the doing of a new Beast, who appeared to be undeterred by Mikleo’s rejection, or his scream of terror. It closed in and tried rubbing on his legs again; giving him what could only be described as…an extremely fake and off-putting attempt at puppy eyes. Sorey sighed and grabbed the Beast before it could dart away into the brush.
“That’s Alvin. We’ve been chasing him all over the island. Don’t let his act fool you; he just doesn’t want us to put his leash on him.”
Selene tsked and shifted to hold Alvin under her other arm. “You naughty thing, always running off to cause mischief. It’s time for the harness of penitence again…”
She ignored Alvin’s mournful howl, and carried him and Elize off to the pool to be supervised. Sorey offered his arms to Mikleo, and Mikleo decided he would grant it. Sorey’s arms were so strong, and held him so tightly. He tucked his face against Sorey’s chest, against the warm skin revealed by his open shirt, and sighed.
“Are you doing okay?” Sorey asked quietly. “You seemed…really rattled up there.”
“It’s fine,” Mikleo whispered. “I’ll talk about it later, maybe. Once these creatures are rounded up and off the island.”
Sorey kissed his head, right at the base of his horns, and Mikleo couldn’t help but purr. Sorey was all too aware of his weak spots: kisses to his horns, kisses to the scales at the nape of his neck, stroking fingers through his feathers, ticklish touches to his ribs and sides. Sorey himself, in general. It really was hard to stay upset with him, even when he brought chaos in his wake.
They were interrupted, then – politely interrupted, but still interrupted. The Beast known as Jude was shifting back and forth, stretching out his paw and trying to get Sorey’s attention without spooking Mikleo by barking. Once he had gotten their attention, Jude whimpered, spun in place, and trotted to point out the path through the brush and trees that he’d taken.
“Did you find Milla?” Sorey asked. “Come on, let’s go get her.”
Jude led them along, and they eventually emerged near an island pool – to a scene of utter destruction. The thing was, it was mostly destruction revolving around those nasty pest dragonflies. At this time of year, the air should have been thick with them…but the pool had apparently been cleansed of their reign of terror. Half-eaten dragonfly bodies littered the ground and water. The birds and fish were enjoying a feast, and the other insects that made the area their home – the butterflies, the bees, the colorful little beetles – were able to go about their day in peace. It was…idyllic, and Mikleo didn’t know what to think. (Except to be thankful that those fucking dragonflies were dead. He was sure to kick one of their corpses into the water for a fish to eat as they walked.)
Continuing to follow Jude, the trail of insect corpses slowed. Mikleo recognized the area as a prime spot to gather melons from the fruit trees, and recognized the carnage on the ground as the remains of many melons. Finally, they spotted their target: Milla, passed out in a half-eaten melon rind. Her tongue lolled almost completely out of her mouth, and she breathed slow and heavy. Her body was sluggish with bug meat and melon, and she barely reacted when Jude came up to her to lick at her face.
“Come on, Milla, let’s get you back to mom,” Sorey said soothingly. He bent down to pick her up. “Hey – hey! No more!”
Milla weakly tried to take another bite of the melon as Sorey tried to move her. Thwarted in her gourmet quest, Milla tried to howl to the heavens, but it came out as more of a fat gurgle. Jude picked up the half-eaten melon in his jaws, and brought it along with them as they travelled back to the waterfall where the rest of the Beasts awaited. Mikleo could respect his dutifulness.
Selene did not seem entirely surprised at the state that Milla was returned in, and graciously accepted the gift of slightly-eaten melon from Jude. Although the Beasts were now…under control, Mikleo was clearly quite through with having visitors for the day, and it was late in any case. While Georg set about carting the Beasts back to their main ship via rowboat, Selene stayed ashore. She bowed her head to Mikleo.
“I…I must apologize for the commotion today,” she said. “Please don’t blame Sorey. He told me that I should only bring one, maybe two of my pups for the grandchildren to play with. I thought I knew better, but I clearly didn’t.”
Mikleo gathered his thoughts before he responded.
“…It’s not that they’re unwelcome,” Mikleo explained. “Perhaps I wouldn’t mind them again. The children were interested in them. And the one’s appetite, you see, could be useful for a problem we’ve had for some time—”
As the saying goes, when one speaks of the devil, the devil is called to appear. A lone dragonfly, apparently seeking revenge, buzzed ominously towards them – more specifically, it was targeting Milla’s bloated, prone body on the sand. Jude stood in front of her, ready to defend her in her time of digestive need. The dragonfly was not impressed, and divebombed the both of them – stinger out, ready to give Jude the welt of a lifetime.
The reddish-black Beast, Gaius, walked in front of Jude with a dominating and absolute sort of confidence. He locked eyes with the dragonfly. The dragonfly skidded to complete stop, mere centimeters in front of Gaius’ unflinching muzzle, and – after a long, tense moment – dropped completely dead to the sand. Gaius snorted dismissively, then turned and kicked sand over its corpse with his hind legs. He then trotted to Selene, and permitted her to scoop him up for kissy-kissies.
Sorey and Mikleo bade their guests farewell, and retired to the nursery to free their own pups from confinement. The pups swirled around their legs, chittering at them in accusing tones – you were playing with those fluffy things without us! – and were only soothed by the promise that yes, grandma and grandpa would be visiting again soon. Yes, you can sleep in the big nest with daddy and papa tonight. And yes, you can have an extra story before bed.
Mikleo couldn’t help but worry, sometimes. Old wounds seemed to rip open at the most inconvenient times. He brushed his lips over Sorey’s forehead, and leaned to put out the lantern. But Sorey’s arms were so warm, and his pups’ purring was so soothing. It grounded him in the present, and kept him in the moment – and kept him hopeful for their future, together.
#sormik#sorey/mikleo#suremiku#soremiku#soymilk#tales of zestiria#i guess this is my personal tales of zestiria tag now#a tenderly crafted fanfiction
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Chapter 17
Rustle darted through an ever narrowing sequence of passages. He’d ceased thinking about where to go several minutes ago. The passages he chose were more about how to get further from the mess he’d inadvertently left behind him. Finally he wedged the bubble that served as his air supply into a narrow enough crevasse for his discomfort with close spaces to push his maddened panic aside.
He turned and looked to the opening and took a moment to catch his breath.
“Monsters…” he panted. “Monsters. In a cave. At the bottom of the sea. Lost. Alone.”
He held his head and tried to keep from falling back into the beckoning arms of open panic again. It didn’t work.
“Why did I ever leave the pond!?” he squealed. “What am I going to do now? Merantia picked the wrong person to help her in her wonderful, flawless errand.”
The surface of his bubble, bulging from the crevasse in the wall, trembled. He reluctantly eased forward, took a breath, and stuck his head out into the water. At first there was silence. Then the water brought him the deep, resonant clack and crackle of claws scraping at stone. He pulled his head back into the bubble and shook the water from his hair.
“That’s more than one. They’re waking each other up… What did I do!?” he said. “Oh, think! Think, think, think! What does this mean? What happens now? The inscription. What did it say? There was… um… There was a bit about each one of those things being foe enough for a great hero. And… Oh! Yes! The water’s edge. They will only be stopped by the water’s edge! They won’t go out into the air.”
An almost demented smile came to his face.
“Of course! That’s why this cave exists! That’s why there’s so much air here. It’s to stop the thieves from getting out!”
He slumped against the wall behind him, which was now dripping dry thanks to the bubble pressing up against it.
“At least I didn’t doom everyone.” His brow furrowed. “Except… when Eddy read that tablet, the water started rising…”
He clawed his fingers through his hair. “We did doom everyone!”
His flight reflex briefly disregarded logic and wisdom. He rammed face first into the opposite wall in an attempt to retreat further into the tiny crevasse.
“Ugh…” he groaned. “It… It won’t work this time. I can’t run away from this one. Even if I could make it all the way to the surface without being eaten by a fish or something, what would happen to Eddy? And his sister? And everyone they know?”
He reached down to his side, where he’d secured the digging claw he’d borrowed from Eddy’s glove.
“I can’t flee…” He swallowed. “Which means I have to fight. Or find someone who can. Merantia! … No. She sent me out here for a reason. She cannot fight right now. She isn’t strong enough. And not Stuartia. Vile and evil Stuartia. Curse her name a thousand times… But that only leaves Eddy. And what can Eddy do? He’s strong, and he’s more at home here in the sea. But he’s still just a merman, what is a merman against one of these… these so-called thieves?”
He took a breath.
“Maybe… Maybe it doesn’t matter. We’d be together. And more is better than less. And if this is an adventure, a story of myth in the making, then surely the end can’t come until we reunite.” He tightened his fist and shook his head again. “I’m talking nonsense. Madness. But this whole day has been madness. So maybe madness is the only thing that makes sense.”
He patted his sling, and its one sweet remaining.
“Anything is better than hiding until I starve or suffocate…”
With what little courage he was able to gin up, he flitted back out into the open and began to retrace his steps. Isolated in the center of his bubble, for the first few minutes he was spared the ominous sounds of the beasts he’d unleashed.
By the time the rumble of countless clacking claws finally reached his ears, he was nearly upon them. As the only source of light in the entire cave, there was little hope he could remain unseen, but he did his best to douse his glow as much as possible regardless. This left him buzzing about in near blackness, his mystic intuition the only means at his disposal to guide himself. He skimmed low to the floor of the cave, keeping as far as he could from the clacking and crunching. Now and then he caught a glimpse of a slashing limb or a drifting hulk with a chitinous shell. The things seemed to be ignoring him, more interested in freeing their brethren than wasting a moment to squash the tiny point of light floating among them. They were also moving with a sluggishness that suggested they were anything but fully recovered.
“Good,” he whispered to himself sweeping between two empty crypts, “I still have time… But who knows how much? I’ve got to get to Eddy fast.”
His buzzing flight quickened as he approached the entrance of the tomb. When he reached the first of the three gates, he allowed his glow to return to full brightness and flew for all he was worth. His mind and body were approaching their limits. There had been a reason he’d come into this place. Was it Merantia’s will? Had he thought he’d find Eddy? He couldn’t remember anymore. He didn’t care. For the moment the foolishness of even the divine and wise Merantia’s instruction had soured him on acting on her behalf. Right now, Eddy was all that mattered.
Rustle swept together the ragged ends of his mind and focused as properly as he could on Eddy. A fairy was simple to find. They were mystically attuned, practically a part of the wind, and a bright focus of magic. Eddy, even when they were side by side, was much more subdued. And Rustle simply had never needed to hone this skill.
It was frustrating, like trying to snatch a curling wisp of smoke from the air. The mystic sensation of his soul was a blurry, half-felt ember. It was simply a weak beacon in the distance, ignorant of any walls that lay between them. He tried to trace out some path that would lead to the distant sensation, but there was no route available to him.
He was about to give up when, for the first time in too long, fate smiled upon him. He couldn’t explain it, but in the blink of an eye, Eddy’s soul seemed to flare brightly. There was a definite, unmistakable path to him. It was circuitous—leading deep into the system of tunnels before it looped back to him--but that didn’t matter. He suddenly had a route to follow, and he would not spit in fate’s eye by failing to act upon it.
Borgle had been digging steadily, but the lack of sea water caused a considerable amount of delay. The walls, while still cooling a good deal faster than nature would normally allow, were taking longer to cool than when immersed. No water also meant maneuverability for the huge digger was greatly diminished. Borgle’s solution was to dig at a far steeper angle than normal. And after a half hour of digging, in what it appeared was becoming a bad habit for the device, Borgle suddenly vanished. The bottom of the tunnel had given out.
The digger plunked out of sight with a distinctive splash. Water rushed in to fill the bottom of the freshly dug tunnel, cooling the walls swiftly and coming to a stop about halfway up the glassy, smooth tunnel. This was fortunate, as the sight of water pouring into the tunnel was an veritable siren call for Eddy. He launched himself down the slippery tunnel and splashed into the water after Borgle without a moment’s thought of if it was safe.
A few seconds later, he surfaced, sputtering and coughing.
“I forgot the water-for-air again,” he said.
“I gathered,” Mab called from above. “What’ve you found down there?”
“Good fresh water!” he said. “Not fresh in the not salty way, fresh in the not sitting around way.”
“What does it matter if it is sitting around or not?”
“I don’t know. Water in the sea just feels better than water in a pool. Say! Do you think that is what Rustle means when he says he knows when the air is trapped or isn’t?”
“What are you on about now? Who’s this Rustle?” Mab called.
“I told you all about Rustle while we were coming here.”
“It’s been years since I had to pay attention to yammering. Nice to have someone to talk to, but years without having to deal with nonsense talk hasn’t done my attention span any favors.”
“He is my—”
“I don’t care any more now than I did then.”
“But you just asked.”
“A mistake I won’t make again. Now what’s down there!”
“I’ll see!” Eddy said, Mab’s bizarre attitude failing to make a dent in his unquenchable enthusiasm.
He took a breath and dove down into the water. For the first time since he came to this place, his eyes had to adjust to their own illumination.
The chamber Borgle had discovered was quite shallow, and the water was quite warm, almost uncomfortably so. The walls had the same glossy blackness as most of the stone, but here it was harder and more jagged. He had to be careful to keep away from the walls, lest he slice himself.
While he was taking stock of his surroundings, Borgle was keeping busy. The digger was downright graceful in the water, pivoting under the power of its tail and maneuvering toward a section of wall that was riddled with fractures. Borgle’s eyes swept over the wall. It grabbed onto two rough spots with pincers and tugged. The wall shattered into chips of stone, revealing a chamber that had clearly been chiseled rather than crafted by nature. Having followed its orders, Borgle pulled back and chimed happily, awaiting the next instructions.
Eddy, whose held breath was running short, allowed himself only a brief glance at the new chamber. His eyes opened wide and he was barely able to keep himself from shouting in excitement.
He popped back out into the tunnel gasped for breath, and bellowed up to Mab.
“You should see it! It’s beautiful!”
“What is it?” Mab asked.
“It looks a bit like Borgle, but more! And not shiny metal like Borgle. Not mostly. It is made from stone.”
“A digger?”
“More than a digger. A… a very much digger! Pointed down. It does not look like it can swim like Borgle. It is only for down digging. Thin stone things hold it up, but they look like they will break if it ever moves.”
“Worthless, then.”
“Worthless? It is a thing made by a hand of Tria!”
“But it is only for digging down. We don’t want to go down. We want to go up, or aside. Anywhere but down.”
“It is worth little for you or me right now. But it is worth very, very much for the world! A thing left behind by the hands of a god!”
“Bah. I’ll worry about the rest of the world when I can get back to it.” Mab grumbled. “You said the water felt like it was connected to the rest of the sea. Does that mean it’s a way out for you?”
“I do not think so. Not for me now or for Dua then. But maybe small things. The walls are filled with very much cracks. Some I can fit my fist in, but they seem like they go a long way. Just as much digging to get out here as from anywhere.”
“Fine. Then get back up here, bring Borgle, and let’s dig our way out back where we should have been hours ago.”
“We cannot go yet. This machine sleeps, waiting for someone to wake it. If Dua could not, maybe I can. Maybe it was only because she was here for so long that—”
“It doesn’t go where we want it to go, it is a waste of time!” Mab shouted. “We are lucky digging down to find it didn’t cause this whole section of the cave to collapse, if the stone was that thin between here and the water. You said the walls were full of cracks down there. That means—”
“I will go. It will be fast.”
Mab shouted something rather rude after him, but he was too busy reciting the water-for-air spell to hear it. Once the words were spoken, he dunked down and replaced the stale air of the cave with a fresh, fulfilling breath of water. He swam back down to the chamber Borgle had unearthed and slipped inside.
The machine really was a wonder. It was long and sleek, simpler in design than Borgle, but more than making up for it in sheer size. It was triple the diameter of Borgle, and easily ten times longer. Rather than tentacle-like pincers, it made do with much shorter appendages, presumably the closest Dua could manage to fabricate without metal. He ran his hand over the polished stone and marveled. It was not quite like the stone around it, though. Dua may have harvested it from elsewhere, or perhaps she had changed it somehow, mystically or otherwise.
His claws clicked over intricately carved symbols. He leaned close to shed more light upon them. They were in long lines, like ribbons wrapped around the mechanism. They crossed each other, and each place they met bore the hammer and spear emblem, in metal. They had likely been harvested from a fallen digger, as was the blunt nose of the massive creation and any other parts that would strike the stone.
The great many bumps and scrapes Eddy had accumulated meant that it wasn’t difficult to find a spot on his body willing to offer up a smear of blood. He anointed each emblem he found, and each time he was treated to a pulse of amber glow and a flash of mystic energy. The third and final splash of blood breathed life into the the mechanism. Stubby appendages shifted and scraped. Beady “eyes” near the blunt nose lit up. Instead of the merry, lively rhythm that echoed from within Borgle, this thing had a duller, far more mechanical sound. Despite the astounding craftsmanship, it was comparatively crude. The thing lacked the spark of life, or at least of personality, that Borgle had. And it did not wait for instructions. The very moment it fully activated, it shattered its stone supports and struck the ground like a massive hammer, shattering stone like glass.
Eddy scrambled back to a safe distance and watched in awe as it sunk into solid stone as though it were mud. The pincers started to spark and heat the walls of the tunnel. This made his current distance significantly less safe as the temperature rose sharply. He retreated into the tunnel Borgle had bored. Here the temperature of the water eased upward more slowly, taking it from warm to unpleasantly warm, though not threatening to boil him alive as the water nearer to the digger had. Nevertheless, he decided to give the thing some time and distance before he ventured back to its chamber. He recited the spell once more and dragged himself back up the tube to the surface, where Mab was waiting.
More accurately, she was fuming.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, hoping someone would eventually show up. I’d forgotten that when you talk to someone else, you may as well be talking to yourself anyway!” she barked.
Eddy hacked the last of the water out.
“I am sorry if—”
“Don’t you ‘sorry’ me!” Mab said. “Look around you!”
Eddy blinked at the comparatively bright light cast by the stalks and ceiling. The whole cave was rattling around them. Dislodged stone danced across the cave floor. Bits of the floor had slumped downward. Some of the nearer stalks fell and slid down the slope. Distantly, chunks of the odd growth on the ceiling cracked free and sprinkled upon them, along with spritzes and showers of water from above.
“I hope your gods have some favor left for you. Mine certainly aren’t listening to my prayers,” Mab fumed.
“Surely this isn’t as bad as the quake that came before. The cave will hold,” Eddy said hopefully.
“There’s a difference between shaking the earth and boring holes in it. A cave this deep, beneath the sea, is a precarious balance at best. Even if the roof doesn’t fall on us, there is no telling what has kept the sea from flooding it. And you may be well served by having this place fill up with water, but it will be the end of me!”
Eddy’s face hardened as he realized the sort of danger he’d put his new friend in.
“Borgle! Up here! Now!” he called. “Mab, you follow me.”
“Where? What good will it do?”
A fault crackled up from below, splitting the edge of the pool. The stone beneath the statue of Dua cracked and the petrified figure vanished It dropped down into the shaft the massive digger was leaving behind.
Eddy dragged himself to the edge of the pool and dipped his hand inside.
“The temperature is not bad. The water from outside is cooling it fast.”
“Are you not listening?” Mab said. “If the ceiling comes tumbling down, wading into a pool of water won’t—”
Eddy grabbed her hand and quickly uttered the words of the water-for-air spell. Mab gasped twice, first when her lungs decided fresh air wasn’t what they craved any longer, and again when Eddy heaved her forward into the water. She sunk like a stone, heavily heaped as she was with tools and armor, and came to an abrupt and uncomfortable stop when she struck Borgle approaching from below.
Stones and water rained down steadily. The ceiling was giving way. Eddy muttered the spell once more for himself, then slipped back into the water. And thumped down beside Mab, who was having some difficulty coming to terms with the fact that she was a water breather for the time being.
“Down, Borgle. Down fast, until we are safe from the collapse or I tell you to stop!” he ordered.
Borgle chimed happily. Its pincer-tipped legs reversed direction, clattering crab-wise along the smooth wall since the digger was angled such that its tail would do little good. Deep, reverberating clashes of stone on stone assaulted their ears. A thin stream of pebbles sprinkled down from the opening above. Mab clung to Borgle’s blunt nose as they descended. Eddy drifted above her, darting his eyes upward to monitor the flow of debris and back again to be sure Mab was unhurt and adjusting to the jarring shift to an aquatic environment.
“Breathe normal,” Eddy instructed. “I am very much a good caster of the water-for-air spell.”
“I can’t breathe normally!” Mab growled. “I breathe air normally.”
“Now it is water. It is the same.”
“I hate the water!” Mab barked.
A clatter of stones rang out from above. Eddy turned and just barely managed to deflect a large stone as it tumbled down behind them.
“Right now you would hate the cave more.”
Borgle finally reached the strange void where the larger digger had been and eagerly righted itself. As a consequence—or perhaps as a calculated act of rebellion, this dumped Mab from its nose. Eddy snatched her before she could plummet too far and worked his tail hard to tug her aside, clear of the increasing stream of jagged stones rushing down from the tunnel that had led them here.
He held her in his arms and swam over the pit the larger digger was creating. It had been mere minutes, but already the thing was little more than a distant sequence of sparking flashes and a dull orange glow of cooling stone.
“That thing digs very much fast…” Eddy said in awe.
“Never mind that! Put me down!” Mab squealed.
Eddy looked about. There was a jagged and unpleasant-looking floor to this section of the tunnel, but the low rumble of continued collapse above made it clear this wasn’t the safest place to recover one’s wits. Alas, the crackle and collapse had failed to open any new exits, so the only way forward was downward, where the large digger had gone. He let Mab’s weight pull him down into the deepening pit. Borgle swam happily along behind them. The tunnel, while mostly glassy smooth like those Borgle left behind, had more than a few voids along its edge. The massive digger must have plunged through previously hidden tunnels running through the sea floor. Eddy darted into the largest and continued along it. Borgle followed. When the rumble of the collapsing cave either subsided or was far enough away to no longer be heard, Eddy set Mab down on the much smoother and more pleasant floor of the tunnel.
As Borgle settled down and awaited further instruction, Eddy looked over his new friend. She was, to put it lightly, less-than-mollified by the rescue. The water was doing strange things to her beard, causing it to billow and wave like an anemone. Behind it, her face was red with fury.
“See?” Eddy offered. “Safe and sound.”
“Save and sound? Safe and sound! Is that what you call this? Before I met you I was living a lonely but otherwise comfortable life, scraping a living out of that strange, glowing cave. Now I’m trapped underwater at the bottom of the sea, after having my former home crushed in a collapse that you caused.”
“It was a mistake and I am very much sorry.”
“I am going to be the first dwarf to die by starving while wandering a maze of deep-sea tunnels, but you are ‘very much sorry,’ so I suppose that’s fine. Nothing you do matters if you’re very much sorry about it.”
“I didn’t know what I was doing would—”
“I told you what it would do!” She felt her hands over armor. “Where is my ax?”
She found the handle and pulled the gear-fabricated weapon free.
“What do you need your ax for?”
Mab answered with a vicious swipe of the weapon. Eddy darted up out of her reach.
“Get down here and take your medicine, coward!” she cried.
“What good will attacking me do?” Eddy reasoned.
“It’ll make me feel better. And it’ll make sure you don’t cause any more cave-ins.”
She swiped and slashed at him fruitlessly as he patiently waited just beyond the range of the weapon. When she was winded—or perhaps, in light of her current respiratory status, when she was currented—she dropped the ax to the floor of the tunnel and plopped to a seating position. She covered her face with her hands and, slowly, her gasping turned into angry sobbing.
“Do not be sad, Mab,” Eddy said.
“What can one dwarf do in a lifetime to deserve this…”
“We will get out of this place. I will help you.”
“No!” Mab cried. “Stop helping me! You are a menace, you awful fish. A curse! You are a punishment clawed up from the great below for some horrid deed I must have forgotten. Leave me be! I’ll find my own way out.”
She struggled to her feet and thumped along the tunnel, heading down its slope, deeper into the unknown darkness ahead.
“But you don’t have any light!” Eddy called after her.
“I’m a dwarf in a tunnel. I’ve got all the light I need,” she growled back at him.
Mab angrily grappled with her drifting beard for a moment, twisting it a bit to keep it from floating into her face, then continued on her way.
Eddy turned to Borgle.
“I had forgotten how many adventures heap terrible misfortune upon the characters who are not central to the story,” he said, grateful to, for a moment, no longer rely upon his damaged translation spell. “Every good story has a village destroyed. It had never struck me how that must affect those aside from the hero.”
He watched Mab stomping along until she was no longer visible, then swam along at a respectful distance behind her. Until she calmed down it was probably best to give her some space.
“Of course, she’s probably one of the important helpers that show up in the more entertaining adventure stories. But it is unfortunate she had to lose her home. Maybe when we tell this story, we’ll build her heroism up a bit.”
Ahead, she stumbled and fell, illustrating how extremely well suited the dwarven language was to profanity.
“Or at least we’ll make her less grumpy…”
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prompt: bro, i noticed you weren't wearing our friendship bracelets while you were giving me head. is everything okay?
A friendship bracelet? Yozora turned over the multi-coloured trinket in her hand. It beamed a bright mixture of yellow, pink and green, with its beads the shape of tiny rounded stars, and protrusions that prodded at her skin when dragged it along her palms. That's so childish, she thought. Even Kodaka and I didn't have them when we were kids.
Object as she might inside her own head, she couldn't find the bravery to do so in front of her friend's face when she lifted her gaze from her gift. A curious doe-eyed face stared expectantly back at her, sapphire pools wide open, judging Yozora's studied expression. Presents were Sena's key way of showing affection, Yozora knew this to be true. And gift giving was a thing that friends did on occasion; a vulnerable, sacred act in specific, when it came to the two girls. There would be time to lob insults at her, when the blonde deserved it better. Now?
Now all Yozora felt right to do was to grin back at her benefactor, sliding the bracelet onto her own wrist. On her right, her dominant hand, and the most prominent place to see it during her daily rituals. Sena's lips curled into a smile at the spectacle, bright eyes lighting up with sparkles, akin to a clear night sky. In response, she brought her own wrist over to Yozora's, a similarly coloured bangle matching the one the dark-haired girl just donned. “See now?” She began, her friend letting her explain. “Isn’t it cool? We totally match -- we’re exclusive!”
Exclusive was one way to put it.
“This is what you mean by making me special?“ A jest, thrown by Yozora, accompanied with a chiding smile. It was cute, she’d thought, the moment spurring up memories from the Christmas party not too long ago they’d both attended. Except now, instead of being huddled over by each other’s side in the club room, they were face to face sitting on Sena’s plush mattress, dressed up casually in their pajamas.
“Not really. Well, maybe?” The blonde pouted, cocking her head to the side for the moment. “I mean, it’s true that trading and wearing these is a sign of our friendship. And I guess,” her eyes darted over their colours, the plastic bits clattering against each other with a slight shift of her hand, “if we have them on all the time outside, people will know of our bond, and how strong it is between us, won’t they?”
“You wanna tell everyone I’m special?“ And... and yours?
Blue eyes searched her face once again for hesitation and doubt. “Why, do you have a problem with that?”
“No,“ Yozora replied. Her feelings were honest about Sena’s embellishment of her status. Though, she couldn’t help but imagine the gift was much more intimate than it really should’ve been. The hair clip she’d received from her friend on her birthday had been a symbol for her and her alone, even though it was a gift from someone else. So it was subtle, in its own way. It already matched the rest of her wardrobe, too. But this one? The girl would need to check twice before it looked more like a cry for help, paired with stuff from her own closet.
Sena’s smile put her worries to rest for the time being. “Good. I mean, of course you wouldn’t!” There was her eccentric bravery and pride once again, Yozora thought, as she leaned back into the pillow behind her, stretching out her legs as she watched her friend sit up straight. “It’s not every day that someone gets to be endorsed by a goddess like me. And now, with these bracelets, everyone at school’s going to know!” Confidence exuding through her form, pure and unbridled. “Just watch,” the Kashiwazaki continued, determination pouring through her essence. “Your reputation at school’s bound to sky rocket again!”
“Yeah, if you mean for getting in trouble.” One snide remark wouldn’t hurt, would it? “We’re not supposed to wear accessories like these around campus.” her friend corrected, getting cozy with the bedding. “Though, I don’t think I need to do anything about my reputation. School Council’s unnecessary work, anyway. With Hidaka--”
“Hinata.“
“Hidaka,“ Yozora corrected, shooting Sena a glare, “off the chairman position now, it’s safe to say my representative days are over. Good riddance.”
Sena laid herself beside her friend, trapping a pillow between her and her arm, slipped underneath it. Against the pink, her friend’s nearly bursting purple velveteen top paired with tight white shorts made it clear that her graciousness wasn’t lost, even between two girls. “Don’t you ever want to go back?” She questioned, and Yozora reasoned it to Sena’s growing friendship with her sister that was growing ever the more suspicious, even for her.
“I don’t need to,“ she returned, setting her arms together, fingers playing with the beads on her wrist. At the risk of being cheesy, Yozora pressed herself forward, taking in a breath before expelling the words, “All I ever wanted is right here.”
She swore Sena’s heart jumped at those words. Her own mirrored in turn, beating hard against her chest. “Don’t get too excited,” she started, urging herself to continue in haste, “You, Rika, Kodaka, our Neighbours’ Club -- I never needed anything else like status and reputation to be happy.”
They made eye contact. It almost felt like a challenge, Yozora felt, a beckoning for her friend to take the reigns and come back at her with questions. She knew if anything her friend had copious amounts of affection for her, though what kind and exactly how intense her feelings were, the dark-haired beauty couldn’t place her bets (and a part of her was still debating if she ever wanted to know). Eventually, Sena closed her eyes, humming as she put herself in thought, and Yozora let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding onto.
“But the bracelets are still fine, right?” Sena eventually mentioned, withdrawing her hand from underneath her cover, examining the konpeito-like mess that had begun to shift, moving up towards her arm. Yozora agreed, looking over her own duplicate, before the blonde waved off her own concerns and started prepping her side of the bed for rest. This left her friend, her servant to rise, turning off the lights for both of them, before heading back to bed to sleep.
Yozora hated how the stars dug into her skin, after experiencing its use for only so long.
. . .
It had only been a day and the bracelets were already noticed. Whether it be an organic catch of the eye due to its bright colours or if Sena just off-handedly mentioned it to everyone Rika in the club room, Yozora wasn’t one to know.
All the blonde did was glance behind her for a moment to check who’d entered their space, before setting her eyes back to the television screen behind her, more focused on completing the route she’d set her sim character on. Meanwhile, she let Rika start off greeting the girl and her childhood friend, Kodaka trailing behind their club leader and giving his junior a wave.
“Yozora! Ah, Kodaka, did you see it?“
“See? See what?“
Silence from the dark-haired beauty, as she brushed past the scientist and made her way over to the end of the table, eyes glancing over at Sena’s eroge for a minute.
“The friendship bracelets! It’s such a cute idea, isn’t it?“
Yozora squirmed.
“What friendship bracelets? Do you want one between us to share? Or is this for the Neighbours’ Club in general?“
Please, no.
The club leader and the present gamer shared a quick glance between them -- in an instant their feelings of irritation and embarrassment became clear. Yozora’s glare was harsher, and her friend pulled away first, gluing her eyes back to the screen for safety.
“No, no! It’s Yozora and Sena; they got a pair together!“ The tips of the blonde’s ears started to glow red. Meanwhile, her servant quickly fished out her phone from her pocket, tapping into it with rapid speed. “Wait, did Yozora not tell you about it in class?”
Why would I? A thought that the mentioned girl hadn’t bothered to consider, too focused on sending a discrete message off to her air-headed friend. So much for being covert, though, as Sena let out a quick exclamation as the phone in her lap began to buzz, the gamer instinctually setting her game on pause before placing her controller on the carpet, looking over the received message.
From: Yozora
Subject: did you tell hera bout the bracelt
Message:
She punched in a handful of buttons back as Kodaka and Rika continued their banter. “No, she hasn’t,” the male replied, glancing up from his junior for a moment and over towards their leader. Yozora shot back a scowl, half wanting to check that her sleeves had covered the embarrassing artifact up, but knew that the movement of her eyes would’ve given it away. “Well, is it true? Did you bring it today?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” A quick play -- one that caused Sena to hiccup on her typing. Pushing the initiative, Yozora set her elbow on the table, hand resting against her cheek, pretending to be nonchalant about it. “Things like those shouldn’t be brought to class, y’know. The teachers would just confiscate them.”
“So you’re saying only Sena’s got the bracelet on?“ Rika was nitpicking, now. And between the girl’s astute observations (or informed debating), Yozora seemed to be running out of options to hide it. “So much for friendship. Wouldn’t you agree, senpai?“
Rika turned her head up towards Kodaka, who everyone knew was probably racking his brain in an attempt to play it diplomatically. “I mean, it’s true you shouldn’t be bringing it to class -- it’s against school rules to keep something like that on you that’s colourful and eye-catching. It’d be pretty obvious to spot in the middle of lessons if you had it donned on you.”
Yozora nodded vigorously. On her lap, her phone buzzed for a spell.
“But--“
“But it’d be pretty sad to leave an accessory in the name of friendship behind.“ Violet orbs went to check a tiny screen. “Isn’t that right, Yozora?”
From: Meat
Subject: Bracelet
Message: Yeah, why wouldn’t I? I didn’t have it out in class but it should be totally fine to wear it during club hours
do you not have yours
Totally fine to wear it during club hours...?
The girl tilted her head sideways as she looked over in Sena’s direction, pushing herself back in her chair to catch a glimpse of her friend’s wrist. There it was, the tiniest bit of it peaking underneath a newly unraveled cuff. Yozora gulped. At least it wouldn’t bite at her skin and leave marks against it any more. That’s how layering it over her school shirt would’ve been, right?
“Yozora?“
“H-huh?!” Had she been called for? She shot back into her original position, minus the elbow-on-table, looking over at her club members with a look of feigned indifference. “Yeah! Of course-- what’s up?“
“You didn’t hear us, did you?“
“No, I-- definitely did.” Yozora was wrangling with her sleeve now, trying to pry her own accessory out. The candy-like colours revealed themselves slowly, though each yank of it forward hurt, and under the club members’ gaze did their translucency shine, catching the light of the rays flooding into the room through open windows. The beads went over on top of her blazer’s greens, and there it remained, Yozora heaving a sigh, her skin now spared from its wretched contempt.
“There,“ she held her wrist out, glancing away from Rika’s look of awe and Kodaka’s impressed expression. “Are you two happy now? It’s just some dumb bracelet, no big deal.“
“For a dumb bracelet,“ Sena retorted, finally looking up from her game with a frown mixed with a smile. “It looks good on you.“
Really? Yozora knew her friend was just happy to know she wasn’t alone in holding onto the item. But she shot back a questioning look at her added comment, before examining the accessory over her wrist once again. Its colours were pretty, with how they reflected the sun shimmering down upon it, but to say it matched well with their school’s uniform was one hell of a statement. Well, I for one don’t see it. “If you say so.”
“I know so,“ came a whisper loud enough for only the two of them to hear, before the two girls carried on with their day, only half listening into their club members’ conversation. Rika was busy fawning over the appearance of their friendship item, and complimented on how they were matching, and oh-- did you know? Some come in the form of lockets, and they even had the extra sense to match up physically once you put them together! Like the ones with the faces of the sun and moon, or those black and white cats she’s seen in advertisements...
Most of what followed were research statements from Sena (she went through all that work just for this thing?) and Rika trying to convince a half-hearted Kodaka into getting one for each other to represent their bond instead. Yozora barely followed, but she took an appreciation with having the accessory be idolized at all.
This way, it really did make her feel special. Even if the exchange was just between her and her club.
. . .
If only the bracelet went unnoticed by everyone else. Unfortunately for Yozora, meeting a few other people on the odd occasion around school meant that word would travel around fast.
It was Yukimura (club traitor #2) who’d revealed her knowledge of the accessory first and foremost, accompanied side by side with Yusa (club traitor #1). The dishonorable kin had pointed it out upon their crossing, as the dark knight and her mistress were making their way out towards home, just getting off time from club activities.
“Ah,“ she’d started, a stack of boxes in her hands. “You two. You’re not allowed to wear those on campus, you know.“
Had the warning been coming from Yusa, the two celestial girls would’ve shunned it off by now, teaching the red-head a lesson in futility. Instead, the hound was yipping by her master’s side, box trembling in her hands, chiding her friend about picking a fight with forces beyond their control (though in truth, their war had started ages ago; it was just better not to stir the pot whilst they were in school).
“We were only on our way home,” Yozora defended, knowing that while both of them had bones to pick with the challenger, she would be the primary actor coming in hot to defend her queen. “School hours are over and we’ve just come from after school activities. Surely this falls under the clause of a change in appearance during club.“
Yukimura clicked her tongue, glancing over to the mongrel for a second. It was to no one’s surprise that the two girls would want to keep moving, Sena butting in with an exit in response. “If you’ll excuse us.”
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Alone Together---Chap. Fourteen
I thought it would be hilarious to take the girls out on a mini weekend vacation right in the middle of a blizzard. They've been cooped up in the house for too long, to the point Alice was finding entertainment by spiking her coffee.
Their faces when I told them we're going on a trip was priceless.
"Wait...where?" Sadie asked with her mouth full of Rice Krispies.
"We're going to New Zealand. Camping, hiking, all that good fun. You have been moping for too long and it's making me want to mope around." I said, shaking a finger at her.
Alice sat down across from me, still groggy since it was morning and her auburn hair messy from sleep. Her coffee sloshed around in her reindeer mug, almost spilling onto her left hand. She looked at me through squinted eyes from the light of the kitchen, causing me to grin at her appearance.
"What? Do I look like the Loch Ness monster?" she asked.
"More like a nightmare." I snickered, and she whacked my arm at the name calling.
Sadie almost snorted out milk from her nose, and then agreed with me, causing her sister to glare at her.
"I'll pour coffee into your cereal."
"I'll spit it into your cup."
"You can go from motherly one minute to sisterly the next," I rolled my eyes at their bickering.
"How can we go to New Zealand when we're in the middle of a blizzard?" Sadie asked as she stirred her cereal to turn the milk brown.
I grinned, "You still have that snowglobe North gave you?"
Sadie immediately beamed and nodded. Alice gave a confused look to Sadie and then to myself. Just seeing the look of confusion on Alice's face on how we could even possibly get there was hysterical. I love surprising people.
As Sadie ran to go retrieve the snow globe, I explained to Alice how the contraption works. Alice seemed to think I was kidding, but she ended up getting herself ready by finding her wallet and dressing warmly.
Sadie would not stop bouncing around in excitement, her arms holding a bag with her bathing suit and some activities like a book of hers and a couple of pens to bring along.
"We can go to the beach and run all over the hills and-!" she rushed, nearly dropping the crystal globe in her hand.
"Sadie, just throw it. The sooner you do that the sooner we get to have fun from this snow."
The view where we ended up was beautiful, and unlike the dark blizzard that occurred back home this place had the sun high in the sky, bearing down warmness that made Alice shed off her jacket and gloves. We stood in a clearing far away from any city or town life, surrounded by the forest. Sadie drew in a happy sigh as the wind rustled the green leaves up above, beams of light shedding through thick branches and draping curtains of leaves and willow branches.
"It's beautiful…" Alice murmured, not noticing Sadie giggle and run off in one direction.
I smiled, about to open my mouth and comment that her own beauty couldn't match the forest, but then Sadie tripped on a tree root, falling flat on her stomach. Alice heard her yelp, and immediately drew in a fearful breath.
"Sadie?!" Alice asked, and I could see her body battling with her mind whether to stay put or run over to see if her sister broke anything.
"I'm okay!" Sadie looked back, holding up her sneaker, "My shoelace came undone!"
"Idiot." Alice rolled her eyes, heaving a big sigh of relief.
Sure enough, Sadie found a burbling creek close to the clearing, the floor of it covered in smooth pebbles. Sadie was changed into her yellow and white floral bathing suit and splashing around in the creek, scaring away fishes and jumping from rock to rock.
Alice and I sat on a fallen log near the creek, her pants rolled up so she could dip her feet into the cool and calming water. She had a peaceful smile on her face, and that made me feel a lot better than seeing her look bored back home.
Sadie lifted up a rock and grinned, "Pitch! Look how big this one is!" she called.
I nodded, "That's impressive. You could put it on the bank to dry and then paint it with the paints you brought if you wanted to."
I heard Alice giggle at Sadie's shocked face that quickly broke out into a wild grin, "You're a genius!" And with that, tossed the giant rock onto the bank and began searching for more smooth rocks to paint on.
"Darn right I am." I muttered so only Alice could hear, and she laughed at my playful jab. Her laugh always made me smile.
"Thanks for bringing us here. We really needed a break from the snow." Alice said, looking at her hands that gripped the log so she wouldn't fall off.
"It's nothing." Was all I could say while looking at my feet in the water. I looked over at Alice's feet. They were much smaller than mine, and her toes were so tiny. A scar ran along the ball of her left foot to her big toe, a paler shade than her normal skin color.
Alice noticed my staring and smirked, "Got it while running in the woods, back before Sadie was born. I was an idiot and didn't listen to Dad's warning about being barefoot, and I ended up cutting it from either a rock or a branch, I can't recall. Sadie actually thinks I stepped on a sword while fighting the monsters under her bed."
I snorted at that, "She actually believes that?"
Alice grinned and shrugged her shoulders lightheartedly, "Cause I told her that when she was six."
That made me laugh, and that caused Sadie to look over at us in curiosity before continuing to try grabbing fish that sped by her still ankles.
"Does she know that the monster under the bed was probably me?"
"If it was, you would recall getting hit multiple times with a softball bat," Alice rolled her eyes, "Sadie stole my bat and woke up the entire house with her banging….I think that was just an excuse to get some stress out."
I noticed Alice's pause there when she returned her gaze to the scar on her foot, the water rippled around her toes and her ankles.
"...What happened? What do you mean by stress?" I asked, taking her hand in mine.
She gave a small smile as her fingers laced with mine like knitting, and said softly, "She made the mistake of telling kids at school that she was friends with the Sandman. The kids in her grade thought it was interesting and such, but the word got out to the older kids in the school and they pushed her around and tormented her for it. She didn't tell our parents anything until the school called…"
I waited, knowing where this was going.
"Sadie threw a punch at a sixth grader, and gave him a black eye. Even his own eye was red…" Alice looked up at Sadie's form bending over to peer at a turtle, "that was the only time she's ever hurt anyone. She would never even hurt a spider. But because the older kids have power in the school, she lost friends. They thought she was strange."
"Kind of like your story you told me." I said, removing my hand from hers and gently touching her shoulder.
Alice sighed, a sigh that meant the conversation was over and the event was back in the past.
"Yep!" She smiled, "So I guess that's what also makes us closer, right?"
I smiled, and kissed her forehead. She grinned, and without a warning gently pushed my chest, causing me to fall off the log and splash behind it. I spluttered out water, rubbing my face to get water out of my eyes. She laughed, her white smile glimmering in the sunlight and her hair looked like fire. She looked like a human phoenix….which in a sense, she was.
I grinned evilly, and before she could notice my hand creeping towards her, yanked her in as well so she fell on top of me, her legs straddling my waist. Alice gasped, her clothes immediately getting wet along with the ends of her hair.
I laughed at her expression and tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear, her laugh half muffled from my ears being submerged in water. Alice quickly kissed my nose, but once she pulled back I pulled her back in to kiss her. We still smiled through our kiss, and Alice was holding back giggles as her arms wrapped around my shoulders.
"You guys better not be foolin' around back there! I don't want this water getting contaminated by love cooties!" Sadie called from the bankside.
I almost choked on water when I laughed even harder at that, and the fact that Alice was blushing like mad was making it harder to restrain myself to just a chuckle.
Sadie was back at the campsite in her tent, fast asleep while Alice and I walked along the creek, listening to the soft babble and tiny splishes against rocks and branches that gently caressed the surface. The moonlight shone brilliantly on the water, making the water sparkle and gleam with the additional starlight. Alice and I held hands tightly as we walked downwards towards the bed of rock that Sadie was near before. It was just us enjoying the silence.
Alice cast a look up at the moon, and whispered out, "Is he watching us right now?"
I looked up with her, noticing the moon was full. No words whispered through the air, so I assumed he wasn't watching us. Maybe focusing on his other spirit 'children'. I squeezed her hand reassuringly, thinking she was scared of the thought of being watched.
"Not sure. Doubtful...there are many of us he watches over."
"How many?" she asked, looking at me with wonder.
I smirked, and twirled her in a circle before pulling her close, her back pressed against my chest, "Probably more than a hundred. Every personification and entity you can think of exists…"
Alice softly laughed, her hands tightening around my fingers, "I can think of a lot."
I grinned and gently tugged at her hips, making her laugh before turning around. She saw me heading in a different direction, and her smile faded in curiousity.
"Pitch?"
"Follow me," I beckoned her close, "There's something I want to show you."
We had to carefully step over slippery rocks and fallen logs, even scrape by leafless bushes before stumbling upon a pool of water, so crystal clear it envied the Caribbean seas. Giant ferns scattered along the edge of the pool here and there, and there was a waterfall leaking out from a pile of rocks that had moss dotted around it. Flowers bloomed fully, their petals not even closed due to the moonlight.
"Whoa…" Alice breathed, stepping forward as if in a trance.
"It's called the Pool of Reveries. Some old spirits come here to meditate to regain sense of who they are and what they once were. I thought of sharing it with you...well...cause…."
I couldn't say it. My words got caught in my throat. What was intended as an informative statement turned into something sappy, and you know fairly well I'm not a very sappy person. I hate sappy.
Alice caught my stumble and she knew my struggle to keep myself looking older...more, I don't know, unaffected by the entire concept of love and such. Boogeyman-material, let's call it that. She came closer to me, her chest almost against mine and her neck craned upwards. I knew she was teasing me.
"Because?" she asked, tilting her head to the side in a playful manner. I huffed and looked away.
"You know why." I muttered, but felt Alice's body against mine and her breath on my neck.
"I want you to say it." Alice whispered, her hands barely grazing up my chest. That caused me to shiver. I needed those hands right then and there, without our clothes on. In the water. Making love until dawn.
"I…" my breath shook, "I love you...and I want you in my life...you mean the world to me...more than anyone else."
As if I had anyone else besides her. But it was true. I'd rather have her than a thousand friends, or even a large family or connections I once lost back in time. She was all I needed, and saying that to her under the full moon made a great weight lift from my shoulders. I felt an emotion similar to the feeling of success, hope and love...all mixed into one. How a being like me was capable of finding this love, not even I knew.
"I love you too, Pitch. A whole lot…" Alice kissed me gently before pulling away, "And I want you in my life, too."
"We're even, fair and square." I grinned, and that made her laugh as she closed her eyes, our foreheads touching in peace.
...Until we heard crying.
At first I thought it was just in my mind. It started out soft, almost unnoticeable to the ear. By the time I recognized the sound, I thought it came from Alice. We shared confused looks, thinking one of us was making that noise. Alice was fine, not a single tear was shed from her chocolate-colored eyes, and she looked just as curious as me to where the sound of crying was coming from.
It wasn't soft, gentle crying. It was sobbing. In pain sobbing. Alice and I immediately felt the world crash around us. What was once a state of just us, enveloped in our own love turned into sheer panic. Sadie. That's all we could think. It had to be her. Something was happening when we were gone. The light of the moon seemed to vanish quickly, and it took me a second to realize the reason it vanished was because we were running towards Sadie's crying.
"How long were we out there?" Alice asked, and I could sense her fear in her question as she ran close to my side.
I honestly didn't know. I knew it was a long period of time, and we both assumed Sadie would be fine by herself near the tents, sleeping soundly near the crackling fire. Maybe she rolled too close to it and accidentally touched the flames? Maybe she got scared of being alone? I didn't sense any fear in Sadie's direction, only from Alice and myself.
"A long time. I just hope-" but the sight before me cut me dead off.
Sadie was crumpled to the ground in agony, sobbing hysterically at ghostly images of those who bullied her and teachers that looked down upon her, and they whispered hateful and demeaning words to the ten year old. Tears stained her cheeks, so much her face was red.
And the girl in the blue dress happily skipping around her and laughing…
Was Misery.
Anger filled up inside me. This little brat had the audacity to hurt a child that I would consider something close to a daughter? For so long I've suffered the same way Sadie has, and nothing would stop me from what I was going to do to Misery for harming her.
"You're so pathetic, it's laughable!" Misery giggled, patting Sadie's head. Sadie shirked away from her freezing cold, clammy touch, and bit her hand to hold back a scream of agony.
Time slowed down, when Misery looked up. Her smile turned horrified when she noticed I was sprinting towards her. With an angry scream, I blasted her with my nightmare sand, sending her careening backwards towards the trunk of a sturdy tree. Alice was shouting, but I couldn't listen.
I wanted Misery dead.
She targeted me for years, drove me insane, and now she was going to target those who I loved most. Seeing Sadie bend over like that in defeat...broke me. I've seen Alice in her worst, and Misery wasn't even there to cause that. I hated seeing them suffer, and now I have someone to take it out on.
My feelings got the better of me. When I slammed Misery's body into the tree, she made no noise. She just wore a horrified expression at my audacity to harm another spirit. It wasn't against the rules to hurt another one, but...she was in the form of a child. An old spirit like her that used to look like a hag took the form of an innocent child, thinking that image would protect her. But it didn't in this case. Even if she looked like Sadie's age, I still pummelled her into the tree. I heard the bark crack, and that loud noise echoed throughout the forest.
"PITCH, STOP!" Alice screamed.
That got me out of my stupor. I didn't realize what I was doing...I was making it worse. God, so much more worse. The two people I love witnessed me hurt another being...even if my mind said she deserved it, it was no excuse. It wasn't valid.
I looked back and saw Alice and Sadie's scared expressions, feeling my heart break into tiny pieces. That's all I could do...was make people fearful. Scared. Terrified…
"Let her go, Pitch." Alice whispered out, holding onto Sadie like a lifeline, "She's gotten her punishment."
"You don't understand!" I shouted, glaring back at Misery who was fucking brave enough to give an innocent smile, "This little rodent has been making me miserable for centuries, targeting me to the point I cave in to insanity. Now she's targeting those I love and she's going to pay for it!"
"Kill me and you'll kiss your sorry immortal life goodbye. Not like you had one anyways." Misery said before a nightmare wrapped around her throat and lifted her into the air.
"I'd rather have none than see you exist." I hissed at her.
Sadie started whimpering again, and quickly turned away from the sight of a girl her age being strangled in the air.
"Pitch, I get it! She deserves it, but doing this won't solve anything. You're better than this."
"No you're not." Misery choked out.
"Don't listen to her!" Sadie shouted, glaring at Misery, "She's just jealous because no one cares about her!"
Misery's smug face fell, and her eyes looked over at Sadie. I looked back, too. I wasn't expecting her to be standing in front of Alice as if she was the one worth protecting. The nightmare I controlled gently let Misery back down, but she made no move.
"What did you say?" she asked, her voice quivering.
"You're jealous of Pitch because he's finally gotten something you never had. You only were around him because he had nothing like you, and you're mad at him because now he has what you've always wanted." Sadie said, stepping closer.
"Sadie, get back to Alice. Now." I said sternly, but Sadie ignored me.
"That's not it at all!" Misery stamped her foot, "I like making people miserable! That's why I'm here! Not like you have a purpose here on Earth."
"YOU LITTLE-!" I heard Alice scream, but she made no move to lunge at her like I did before.
Sadie shook like a leaf at her sister's ferocious tongue, but continued to talk to Misery. I couldn't help but feel a smirk tug at my cheeks. Sadie was guilt tripping her.
"You lie but you know I'm right. You're just mad because you never got what you wanted. You're selfish. You're self-centered. The people who bullied me were, too. You're just like them."
"No I'm not! I'm...I'm miserable like you are!" Misery's bluish tears started dripping down her cheeks, "He...he just got what he deserved!"
"No he didn't."
"He's a monster! All he does is make people be afraid of things that you wouldn't understand. He's just a freak that will never be loved, nor cared about!"
I was about to spit a curse at Misery when I heard Sadie whisper out, "...Really?"
I turned to look at her, surprised that this little ten year old found her voice. She was standing up to her. Alice looked surprised too, even hopeful. For so long Sadie was put down, and now she was standing firm. She was strong.
"Go look in a mirror." Sadie said coolly.
Ouch. That was a fatal blow, especially to someone like Misery. Misery's body quivered at the verbal rock Sadie threw at her, her lower lip trembled. With a last raging breath, she shouted at me.
"I never want to see you again!"
And like that, she was gone. Her body turned into mist, as if she melted into the darkness.
There was a cold silence between the three of us. I could only look from where Misery once stood to Sadie's face, who looked just as shocked as I did at her own bravery. Alice glanced between us, her mouth open as if words wanted to spew forth but nothing came.
"Sadie..." Alice said, touching her shoulder.
Sadie let out a long breath, one of relief. But even releasing that tension didn't make her any better. I saw it in her eyes. Immediately, I reacted when I saw her legs give out, wobbling like a puppet doll's.
I ran over and caught her, hearing her try to hold back more tears. Alice started panicking, but I quickly calmed her down before she could freak out and possibly worry Sadie even more.
"Get the container of hot water and make her hot chocolate, she needs something warm. I'll sit her by the fire." I said, standing up.
"What's wrong with her?" Alice asked, her voice still frantic as she hurried over to the fire pit.
"Misery's own work is ten times as worse as just feeling misery on its own. To the point it causes depression...I should know." I murmured, holding Sadie close. Her nervous breathing subsided a bit, and I could still feel her sad heart beat.
You would know by now I'm not well educated in the comforting area of life, but like I said before, seeing Sadie suffer the same way I did made me know what to do. When I dealt with that, I knew I wanted at least a person to hear me talk or be surrounded in warmth instead of coldness...a feeling inflicted by Misery to make it stay longer inside the person's soul. Misery's work was so strong and long lasting, I've seen humans hurt themselves due to it, do anything radical and fatal to make the emotional pain go away. I couldn't risk that now.
Alice watched me gently sit Sadie down near the fire, and I grabbed a nearby sleeping bag and wrapped it around her.
"How bad do you feel?" I asked, touching her head.
"I feel like I'm worthless…" Sadie's voice wavered, "...like she was right."
I heard Alice mutter, Well Misery could go fuck herself. Good thing Sadie didn't hear that. I knew Alice was protective of her sister, so seeing how conflicted and angry she was for the safety and love of her baby sister was welcomed greatly. Just...not those choice of words.
"Misery is a liar, and she tells people that to make them feel bad. She's heartless and cruel, which you are not. Not one bit. You hear?" I said, sitting next to her.
"But-" Sadie started as she accepted the mug of hot chocolate from Alice.
"I can list five traits of you right off the bat. You're fun, compassionate, brave, smart, and very important to those around you." I said sternly so she could hear my honesty.
Sadie blinked, and looked up at me. I wasn't sure if she was understanding what I meant by important, but then I saw the glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"Sadie, you're the one thing that's meant a lot to me since our parents died. You kept me in reality and you kept giving me faith that things will get better. You're really important to me." Alice said, sitting next to her and rubbing her back.
"You're the reason your sister and I are together as one, so I have that to thank you for." I said with a smile.
Sadie rolled her eyes and smirked into her cup, "You wouldn't do it yourself, I had to help you somehow."
Alice and I smiled at that, which made Sadie sit up a little straighter. She looked between us, her eyes getting brighter.
By now Sadie was saying things quietly, things she knew that proved her importance to others, "I'm important to Gramma because she loves me. I'm important to Lucy because we're best friends since kindergarten, and Mom and Dad say I'm important because they called me their Little Angel. Right?"
Alice kissed the top of her head, "Exactly. You feeling better yet?"
Sadie slowly nodded, but then looked at me. "Why would Misery come and find us?"
I pursed my lips tight, not really wanting to answer that. This was partially my fault from the beginning. What was intended as a vacation from the cold up north turned into a horrible nightmare.
"I know that look, Pitch," Alice warned, "Don't you dare go blaming yourself now. This isn't your fault."
"If I hadn't brought you two here none of this would've happened." I shot back, and Alice furrowed her brows, completely disagreeing with me.
"But I wouldn't have gone swimming! I had fun today. Besides this...I had fun!" Sadie protested.
I sadly smiled, ruffling her hair gently. "I know...I just don't like seeing you two suffer because of me."
"We aren't." Alice said, albeit dangerously, to the point I thought we would have an argument.
That made me instantly silent. I did not want to anger Alice, especially after she witnessed her little sister in agony at the hands of Misery.
"What matters is that it's over...And we're safe. She's gone for good, and she'll no longer bother you anymore." Alice said, cupping her hand to my face.
I guess she was right...now that Misery had sworn she never wanted to see me again, I was free. I no longer would deal with the inner turmoil, insanity and utter sadness that her powers would plague me with. The cloud of depression I dealt with for so long could finally disappear, like I've always wanted. I could finally walk without dread of running into her again, and not fear of her hurting my loved ones…
"You're free, Pitch." Sadie said, beaming.
I'm...I'm free.
#fanfiction#fanfics#rotg fandom#rotg fanfiction#rotg fanfic#pitch black#pitch black x oc#rise of the guardians#rise of the guardian fanfics
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All I Want For Christmas is You
Also on Fanfiction.net and A03
Chapter 2: The Christmas We Got Engaged
David sat in the car and rubbed his gloved hands together. Stakeouts were probably the worst part of being a detective. It was a lot of waiting and boredom. But this one was important, for any arrests they made here could lead to bigger arrests in the future.
The rumors had been true and in the last year, David had been fast tracked by Captain Weaver and paired with Detective Rogers. He was the object of envy among many of his fellow officers that had joined the force at the same time. Many of them were still uniformed officers and the fact that Weaver had paired him with a senior detective showed that Weaver saw a lot of potential and promise in him.
For David, he could care less about the praise or prestige. He wanted to be a detective to bring justice to the people of this city and that meant stopping the illegal dealings of the two major corporations that seemed to run this city. Spencer Industries and Blanchard Enterprises. They both had personal stakes in seeing that the corrupt men running these companies were brought down, but it didn't keep them from doing everything by the book. These were not men that were easily brought down. They held power and influence, not to mention the money needed to buy just about anyone, including every Judge they had tried to file charges with so far. But this pair was determined, even if meant stakeout after stakeout.
But there was even more on David's mind these days and for what seemed like the hundredth time, he gazed at the ring in his hand. It had belonged to his mother and tonight was the night he was going to ask the woman he loved to marry him.
Christmas Eve was special for them. It had been this night they had met one year ago and since, his life had completely changed.
He fell and fell hard for Mary Snow, who he had called Snow from day one and it stuck. Snow seemed to just fit her and after spending Christmas with her and her family, they had started dating. She wasn't like any other girl he had ever met. She didn't want or expect fancy dinners and expensive outings to social events. She had grown up with all that stuff and wanted no part of that life. Instead, their dates were spent with walks down by the Fremont Troll Bridge and picnics in the park. And when they did go out, they frequented her sister's bar or quaint, locally owned diners and small coffee shops where they would share hot cocoa with cinnamon and talk about books.
Her father knew about them and was none too happy about his daughter dating a cop or her continued defiance toward him. Leopold Blanchard would give anything to get his daughter back under his thumb and groom her into the family business.
But Snow would have nothing to do with him and was three years into getting her degree in education. She was amazing and he only hoped that she wanted to marry him as much as he wanted to marry her.
"How many times are you going to keep looking at that ring and bloody stewing about it," Rogers asked, as he returned to the car with coffees.
"Thanks…" David said, as he accepted the drink and sipped at it.
"And I'm not stewing...it's just...what if she says no?" he asked. Rogers sighed.
"Mate...she loves you. She's the happiest Roni and I've seen her in all the time I've known her. She's going to say yes," he insisted. David smiled, as he thought about putting this ring on her finger.
"Hang on...we've got movement," Rogers said. David pocketed the ring and tuned back into the reason they were there. They listened through the bug they had planted and they became very interested in the deal that was going down involving shipping deals.
"Spencer Industries pretty much controls the shipping at the docks. Why would anyone associated with Blanchard Enterprises need to make deals with Spencer?" Rogers wondered.
"We know Spencer has had financial setbacks. Maybe he's having more cash flow problems than we thought. He lives a very lavish lifestyle and that costs a lot of money," David mentioned.
"But we know Blanchard Enterprises is booming in real estate right now," Rogers countered.
"Yeah...they're building like crazy all over the city," David said, as he thought about that for a moment.
"And a lot of those building materials are coming by ship...and who knows what else Blanchard is bringing here on those ships," David said.
"Spencer needs money...you think Blanchard could be paying him to allow his people to move freely about the docks and transport anything they want?" Rogers asked. David shrugged.
"It would make sense. We know the people that inspect shipments are already in Spencer's pocket. More money would easily change whose in control," David replied.
"It's a good theory…" Rogers agreed.
"I know...it's not enough," David said.
"Hey...we'll get them both. They're both dirty and there is something sinister going on down here. We'll find out what it is and then we'll take them all down," Rogers insisted. Since it was clear that those present today were the underlings, they called the stakeout for the day. They would keep listening, as they knew eventually, there would be bigger fish to fry so to speak. But for now, it was Christmas Eve and a time to be with the women they loved.
It wasn't long before they arrived at Roni's that evening and Alice greeted them both with hugs. She and David had really taken to each other and it wasn't long before she had dubbed him Uncle David.
"Hey Roni...is Snow here yet?" he asked. Roni smiled at his use of the name Snow for her sister. Since the two had met, it had been a romance like none other.
"She's up in the loft, wrapping gifts," Roni told him. He smiled and hurried up to the small loft he had called his home for the last three months. Snow rented it from Roni and he had moved in with her at her request three months ago.
As he walked up the stairs, he could hear her humming a Christmas song and smiled. He spied her by the window and there was a sprig of mistletoe above her, which was perfect. She was perfect and he felt his nerves twist in his gut.
"Hey handsome," she cooed, as she got up on the step-ladder to fix a bit of garland that had fallen down.
"Hey yourself beautiful," he said, as he saw her wobble and cry out. He hurried to her, just in time for her to fall right into his arms.
"Oh...you caught me. Good catch," she complimented,
"Did you doubt I would?" He asked. She smiled and kissed him in response.
"Never," she replied, as he stared at her with love and awe, before putting her on her feet. Her phone rang, interrupting them and she sighed, as she silenced it.
"You're not going to answer that?" He asked.
"It's just another reporter that wants to interview me on why I hate my father and then paint me as some spoiled, ungrateful brat," she replied. He sighed and put his arms around her.
"I just hate that they can't see him for what he is. You know, just because he hasn't killed anyone by his own hands doesn't mean that he hasn't ordered it done. The things he's involved in…" she lamented.
"I know…I know what he is and it pains me, because I know it hurts you. But I also know what he tried to do you, my love and I promise you that I will bring him to justice one day," he told her. She smiled thinly and kissed him tenderly.
"I know you will...I believe in you, but I want you to be careful. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," she breathed, as their lips met passionately again.
"You are not going to lose me. In fact, there's something I'd like to do to make sure of that," he said, as she spotted something shiny in his hand.
"It was one year ago that my life changed in an instant and for the better, because I fell in love last Christmas and so this Christmas, I was hoping you'd make me luckiest man in the world," he said, as he got down on one knee and held the ring up to her.
"Will you marry me?" he asked, as tears pooled in her eyes and she held her hand out.
"What do you think?" she asked. He grinned and slipped it on her finger, as she took a moment to gaze at it.
"I know it's not a huge diamond or anything, but it was my mother's and she always said that true love followed this ring. She was right," he said.
"I love it...and I love you," she gushed, as she slipped her arms around his neck and their lips met again with the tender passion they had come to relish from each other. Eventually, after a lot of kisses and a bit of an intense make out session, they finally managed to make it down to the bar for Christmas Eve. After all, there would be time for them to be alone later and they wanted to be with their loved ones on that night.
"Well...did you do it?" Roni asked. David nodded and Snow showed them her ring, causing cheers.
"About damn time, Detective Nolan," Lacey commented playfully, as she nursed a drink.
"Papa says you're getting married!" Alice exclaimed. David smiled.
"We are and you can be our flower girl," he said, as she beamed at that.
"Congratulations are certainly in order. Perhaps we should toast," Weaver said, as he raised his glass.
"Fill her up," Lacey agreed, as Roni filled her glass and then poured champagne for the rest of them.
"To love and family," Roni said, as they toasted and each of them made it a point to include Alice, though her glass was filled with grape juice.
"Merry Christmas, my love," Snow cooed.
"Merry Christmas, my darling," David responded, as they looked up to see they were again under the mistletoe and shared a tender kiss…
#Snowing#SnowxCharming#Charming family#hyperion heights au#Roni#Weaver#Rogers#Alice#romance#adventure#family#Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
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