#probably won’t get any since it’s fairy small but worth a shot
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Ask Box is Open
I mean, it always been open from the start but I just want to have asks because I don’t know what else to do. It can be anything related to the musical from lost media, suggestions, or even about the blog itself! As long it’s appropriate of course!
#casper the musical#not archive#send asks#probably won’t get any since it’s fairy small but worth a shot
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Vil Schoenheit: After RSA’S Performance
The first time he had been left speechless was because of you.
You who always knew what to say, you who always had an answer to the problem at hand.
Where were you?
A/N: What is formatting. I don’t even know.
But listen though. When did Vil get hot? I mean he has always been hot but is it now because he is sad boy? A rude boy turned sad boy? Is that why I am attracted to him now and was compelled to write this?
I don’t know but I’m in love so I’m going to run with it.
This is how Vil would react if MC looked like they were enjoying RSA’s performance.
Part 2, here!
What Vil felt couldn’t really be put into words.
His grades would say that he was one of the highest ranking students in the Language Arts for Night Raven College. Not just in regular human speech but also in fairy-dialect, animal dialect and any sort of dialect that Professor Trein would demand. Vil also excelled in prose, poetry and abstract writing.
Being left speechless was not something that was supposed to happen, not twice in a row.
The tightening of his throat would speak otherwise, as well as the sudden feeling of vertigo.
Vil could barely hear Kalim through the jovial sound of Neige’s voice, the one thing that had kept him awake for these past few weeks--no these past few years. When was the last time that he had felt so helpless? Was it when he had first met him? Neige, with his bright smile and lovable personality that made people overlook his mistakes, his very obvious mistakes. The way he wouldn’t go when it was his cue, or how Neige would forget almost every other line only to finally have the script memorized by the time it was opening night.
A children’s song.
“What even is this song! The chorus just won’t leave my head!”
He wasn’t even ready during dress rehearsal, Neige would wait until fucking opening night.
Was it dramatic to say that the whole event had haunted him? As well as the domino effect of undeserved fame that Neige had gotten afterwards?
No, to Vil, being overshadowed by this person despite all the effort that he put into each and everyone of his performances was something akin to being shot by a gun.
Over and over and over.
He had been beaten by a children’s song.
Every single commercial, every music video, every promotion and every product placement that Neige did was like a dagger carving him up from the inside out.
So when the VDC presented itself, he jumped at the chance to not just shape himself into the perfect being to defeat Neige, but to shape others to show that not only could he surpass himself but he could help others break through their own ‘ugly’ exteriors to discover their own personal beauty. And by all means he had done it, he had taken five rough and ugly rocks and turned them into polished jewels.
Polished jewels that framed the diamond he had worked so hard to turn himself into.
His grip on the audience seat loosens when something flashes through his mind.
The practices had been rather arduous, not only having to make sure that he was flawless but trying to deal with Epel’s stupid gender based ideas, Ace and Deuce’s lack of grace and even Kalim’s really really terrible singing voice. Yet something had made it even a little bit worth it.
Someone, he needed to correct himself, someone had made it a bit worth it.
The sixth potato that he had hoped to start shaping after this whole thing was over.
What could he say about you? At first glance you were truly nothing special. An uneventful, magicless person from an equally uneventful place that hadn’t even been accepted into this school but was instead made a student because of the monster next to you. You weren’t even a student, more like a glorified problem solver for the Headmaster. Ideally, Vil should have also hated your guts since you were essentially getting the same education that he had been getting when he was a first year but without any effort but there was something different about you that he had not expected.
I think you’re probably the fairest out of everyone in the school.
A small glimmer of something beautiful.
But in the end your opinion is the one that will matter to you.
You were honest. That is something that Rook had mentioned about you once he did his recon of the new manager for the VDC team. How the Ramshackle prefect really didn’t have anything to offer but that the quality that stood out the most to the hunter was your refreshing honesty.
He had modeled for crowds of adoring fans and yet he found himself pulling out his pocket mirror and fixing non-existent imperfections before talking to you. Yet even when he tried to make himself look presentable to you, you always seemed to catch him when all of his walls were down.
“You should have seen the information that I got from Riddle, Leona, and Azul. They have really gotten a reputation behind them, the Ramshackle prefect. I wonder what will happen if we keep them close~”
Vil wouldn’t admit it to anyone but there had been a brief moment that his heart skipped a beat when the news about how the VDC team would be rooming in Ramshackle. He figured it had skipped out of beat due to the horrific news that he would have to room in a dorm that had not been used for who knows how long but when he had come inside and been greeted by your smile, it was almost surreal how he had come to terms with this feeling of nervousness.
The night before the VDC had found Vil in the Ramshackle lounge, a cup of tea in his hand as he watched a video of that day’s performance. There were still minor imperfections here and there but those would be easily covered up by his own singing and movements. Epel had also improved exponentially which highly increased the probability of a successful performance and with Jami’s hypnotizing movements and Rook’s aura there was no doubt that he had this competition under his heel.
But nerves like these didn’t leave overnight.
A creak on the stairs brought him back to the present, taking a sip of his tea as he continued to look at the video.
“If you’re here to ask me about why I am awake at this hour, Rook, I would like to remind you that you insisted we review the performance in the morning which already did nothing to calm my nerves--”
"Vil-senpai?"
His head snapped up to look at you , the light of the moon masking him in shadows while illuminating you as you made your way down the staircase. He clicked his tongue and turned off his phone.
"Was I interrupting something?"
Vil shook his head, “Last minute detail check. Everything has to be perfect by tomorrow.”
You nod and walk towards him, standing next to the couch before pointing to it. Vil looked at you before looking at the seat next to him. What were you--oh. He nodded and you sat down on the other side of the love seat, both of you farther apart that he would have liked.
“Does the manager have anything they want to say to me?”
“It just gets me thinking. You have been doing this performance perfectly in my eyes. Over and over again that it makes me wonder just what you think is lacking.”
You bring your feet up to the seat, hugging your knees together as you look down at the floor, “Maybe your definition of perfect and my definition of perfect are so different.”
The Pomefiore dorm leader rolls his eyes, “Did your Heartslabyul friends put you up to this?”
“Ace and Deuce? Great Sevens no. If they did I would have rightfully ignored them and gone to bed. I’m just your manager, I’m not here to negotiate.”
“Just a manager.” Vil frowns and looks at you, “You understand that you are currently housing the Vil Schoenheit as well as six other people who happen to be under my temporary tutelage. If you and your dorm weren’t around I would have had to keep those two Heartslabyul potatoes in the Pomefiore dorm and I don’t think I could stand letting them sleep in one of our beds. Our dorm has standards, luckily yours is the most neutral place I can stand being around those two without losing sleep.”
He blinks at the snort you let out, staring as you wave your hands and apologize while trying to prevent another one from surfacing.
“That is the only straightforward compliment my dorm has received. Neutral.” you laugh again before wiping a fake tear from your eyes, “Am I allowed to take it as a compliment?”
Vil is glad for the darkness, it hid the sudden flush in his cheeks.
“Take it as you will.”
You nod and stand up, stretching and letting out a satisfied sigh when your back made a small cracking noise that had Vil clutching at his cup. Anybody else and he would have walked out of whatever conversation he was having, so why did he find that tolerable with you?
“Then let me pay it back.” you hold out your hand and for a brief moment Vil wants to take it. Clearly that was an invitation for something and it alarmed him that he didn’t mind the mystery behind it. Yet your finger pointed at the cup, Vil looking down and seeing it was empty.
Oh.
He hands it to you, doing his best to make it so that your fingers would brush in the most accidental way possible.
“In my own opinion, as well as the opinion of others, I think you are the fairest out of everyone in the school.”
The air in Vil’s lungs gets caught in his throat.
“No joke. The way you carry yourself, the effort you put into everything you are a part of. Even the potato comments are almost...endearing? Potato plants produce rather pretty flowers, right? Maybe you are just trying to get the flowers inside of us to bloom as well?”
He is staring.
He is staring and not saying anything. You had left him without speech.
“But in the end your opinion will be the one that matters most to you. I just hope that it will always be positive.” you scratch the back of your head and yawn, “I’m going to grab a glass of water and head back to bed, I’ll see you in the morning.”
Your eyes are still meeting his as a small flush adorned your cheeks, probably embarrassed by what you had just said. Or he would like to think you would be embarrassed, if this was any regular love story he would stand up and grab your wrist and keep you from running away from him before cupping your face and leaning in--
“Good night, Vil-senpai.”
"Goodnight."
You who always knew what to say, you who always had an answer to the problem at hand.
Where were you?
His eyes start looking around for your figure, hands itching and brain running slower than it ever had before. Maybe you would make it better? No, you would make it better. You would go over to him and smile before saying that the competition hadn’t even started and just because that song seemed to be moving everyone under a stupid nostalgia spell, Vil’s hardwork would shine through. Neige hadn’t taken everything from him, not just yet.
Vil feels the weight on his shoulders lessen when he looks at you only for it to double when he sees your face.
You were smiling, humming along to the silly melody as your head bobbed up and down.
Even in practice your gaze remained fixed on them, yet with Neige you seemed to feel that infectious, annoying melody and enjoying it?
“What’s wrong? You look pale.”
Had he lost you as well?
“Vil...Vil?”
The first time he had been left speechless was because of you.
“...Nothing. Don’t worry.” he turns his back to Rook, “It’s not worth seeing their performance. I will be in the waiting room.”
Vil walks away, so many thoughts clouding his head as he replays the words you had said to him.
Who the hell cared about his opinion when yours was just as important?
#twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland x reader#twst x reader#twst#vil schoenheit#vil schoenheit x reader#pomefiore#vil x reader#twst mc#Im in love with Vil dont look at me#available books
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Wild Hunt
I think I promised @goldcaught a Klaroline Fae fic years ago. This one has been in the works for a while, let's not talk dates, but 2020 definitely slowed production down. I promise, the second half will not sit languishing in my WIP for too long! The biggest, most heartfelt thank you to Kiry, who has been both a cheerleader and a kick in the pants as needed to get this thing on track to being finished. Kiry doesn't sleep, but I can't complain too much, since they have kindly listened to me complain until the wee hours of the morning. (And also my girl @klarolinedrabbles who saw a super early version of this and was kind enough to be encouraging.)
Edit; And I failed to tag @kirythestitchwitch directly, but you know, today was a trip.
A couple of notes to avoid confusion:
Fae: A word used in this fic to generally reference a type of European mythological beings.
Sean O'Connell: Cami O'Connell's Twin.
Synopsis: Killing Tyler Lockwood starts a chain of events that put Caroline exactly where she's always dreaded and longed to be: in the arms of Klaus Mikaelson.
Warnings: Alternate Universe; Alternate Universe - FaeAlternate; Universe - Soulmates; Fae!Caroline; hybrid!Klaus; Minor Character Death; Blood and Gore; Mild Gore; Implied/Referenced; Torture; Psychological Torture; Canon-Typical Violence; Compulsion; Blood and Injury; Blood Drinking
Hand pressed tightly against her side, Caroline took several careful breaths, her lungs burning and her pulse a steady thump in her ears. Her senses were hyper alert, magic straining to catch the faintest hint of a disturbance. All around her, humans slept soft and cozy in their beds, and the night had gone quite. As the silence continued to hold, she allowed herself to relax, letting the cold of the concrete at her spine cool her flushed and fever warm skin. For the moment, she was safe.
Reaching up, she rubbed her breastbone, lips curling into a small, pleased smile at the burn. Her father was angry. If she survived the night, that alone would make the pain of her injury worth it. Thankfully, the knife wound felt like it had finally stopped seeping, and her glamour would hide the blood. It was the iron poison that was going to cause her complications. The black spider web crawling up the line of her ribcage hadn’t made it close to her heart, she was her mother’s daughter too, but it weakened her all the same.
It left her in a magical disadvantage.
Grimacing as her phone buzzed silently in her pocket, she pressed a little further into the concrete behind her and looked around. There was nothing to suggest her cousins had been able to track her, though that was just a matter of time. Thankfully, even suffering from iron, she had enough control of her magic to hide the glow from her phone, though she didn’t quite dare to risk more.
Not yet.
Pulling it free from her pocket, she winced at the number of missed calls and quickly scanned the texts that had accumulated.
Bonnie (12:45 AM): Hello???
Bonnie (12:46 AM): You’re not dead.
Bonnie (12:46): Are you ignoring me?
Bonnie (1:10 AM): I swear, I’ll put Enzo on a plane. With the time differences, he’ll be there before dawn.
Bonnie (1:10 AM): Then you’ll have to listen to him complain about airplane food while he tries to kill people.
Bonnie (1:11 AM): I might do it anyway. I could use the alone time.
Wincing, because Bonnie Bennett did not bluff, she hurriedly tapped out a response.
Caroline (1:11 AM): I’m alive.
Bonnie (1:11 AM): What happened?
Caroline (1:11 AM): It was a trap.
Bonnie (1:11 AM): How bad?
Caroline: (1:12 AM): I’ve mostly stopped bleeding and Tyler is dead.
Very dead. She’d made sure of it. There was a lot someone like her father would do with a dead body, so she’d made a point to separate his head from his body so he couldn’t be resurrected. Baba Yaga spells were rare and costly, but if anyone could get their hands on one, it would be her father. It was why she’d then dumped her stash of holy water on the body and then carefully dusted him in iron shavings, rendering his body and his blood unusable.
The little dots below her conversation on her messenger app popped up and died several times, and Caroline closed her eyes, letting her head fall back as she waited for Bonnie’s response. She’d know that coming to Chicago was a risk, for a number of reasons, but even at her most pessimistic she wasn’t sure she could have guessed just what she’d find here.
What could possibly have led Tyler to be so desperate that he would trust her father? Tyler, who was one of the few people who knew the truth of her origin, who had hugged her when she’d said goodbye and told her he would always care about her. Tyler, whose blood she now wore beneath her nails, who had stabbed her with an iron knife and who had died with hate in eyes.
Her phone buzzed and she glanced down.
Bonnie (1:13 AM): Klaus is in Chicago.
Caroline stared at her phone, surprise and a shot of adrenaline leaving her momentarily breathless. Klaus. Here. In Chicago. The city where Bill had set up his most recent plots, where Tyler had attempted to betray everything that had once made him a good man. Sliding her teeth along her lip, she very carefully typed her reply, her fingers shaking.
Caroline (1:14 AM): You said he was in London for the next month. What changed?
Bonnie (1:15AM): I don’t know.
Bonnie (1:16 AM): Do you need an exit?
Bonnie (1:16 AM): He owes me.
Caroline was shaking her head even before she started typing. Being anywhere near Klaus was a terrible idea, and Bonnie knew that. That her friend would never make the offer unless she thought it necessary left dread sitting low in her stomach.
Caroline (1:16 AM): What’s got you spooked?
Bonnie (1:17 AM): Someone is blocking my scrying spells.
Caroline (1:17 AM): Bill?
Bonnie (1:17 AM): If we’re lucky. We both know what it means if we’re not.
Caroline’s fingers tightened on her phone case, her pulse loud in her ears. Bonnie was right. Very, very few things blocked her from seeing what she wanted to see. Bill could do it thanks to the blood bind but it wasn’t easy, and he never managed it for long periods of time. Grams probably could have done it. But the list of powerful witches who remained alive in the United States after the purging of New Orleans was short.
There was only one reason Bill would use the blood connection between them to block out any outside magic from interfering tonight. She hadn’t just pissed her father off, she’d actively disrupted his plans, and thanks to Bonnie’s magical brilliance, he couldn’t track her easily. But there was another way to drag her to a Fairy Court, and she would have to move very quickly to avoid it.
Baring her teeth in a mimicry of a smile, she gave herself a moment to feel a sharp burst of satisfaction. She had a list on her phone of her father’s potential means of retaliation, and Wild Hunt was right there at the top as the worst possible outcome, but it also meant Tyler must have been far more integral to his plans than she’d guessed. Even knowing that her chances of survival had just taken a serious dip, it did little to dim her pleasure. If she was very, very lucky her father’s precious Queen would feel the need to take out his failure on him directly.
A girl could hope.If she survived the night, she was going to find a fancy bottle of wine and pick up a cupcake. Maybe two cupcakes. She deserved the mini-celebration.
Caroline (1:20AM): I spotted half a dozen of my cousins tonight. I don’t know who holds their allegiance but it probably won’t matter. If Bill is super pissed, he’ll call them all.
Bonnie (1:21 AM): Fuck.
Bonnie (1:21 AM): If it goes bad, don’t be an idiot. Use Klaus.
Caroline (1:21 AM): No.
Caroline (1:22 AM): Favor or not, I killed his hybrid. He doesn’t strike me as forgiving.
Bonnie (1:22 AM): He’s not.
Bonnie (1:23 AM): You don’t have to tell him.
Caroline (1:23 AM): Uh huh. I’ll call you when I’m safe. 🤦😘❤️🏃
Shoving her phone back into her pocket, Caroline exhaled slowly at the bite that was her warning that her magic was nearly tapped dry. Giving herself another half-a-dozen heart beats to celebrate her first major victory, she turned her mind to her problem at hand.
Bonnie had good reason to be worried. It had been almost thirty years since the Queens had summoned a wild hunt to drag one of the half-Fae home for punishment. Bill had made a point to tell her in great details the torture that had awaited her cousin, the way the Queen had plucked his body and his mind apart for his treachery.
Caroline doubted she had become enough of a problem that the Queens would send the hunt, which meant that Bill would be expending a great deal of power to collect her. Her lips twisted, finger tapping silently against the side of her phone. Fae magic was powerful, and so was her father, but it could be circumvented. She needed to concentrate on that, put together her plan.
Pissing her father off twice in one night would normally be her highest priority, but instead what she wanted to think about was the message Bonnie had given her.
Klaus Mikaelson was in Chicago.
Anticipation was a tantalizing thrill in her veins. She’d hoped the truth of New Orleans would have helped her grow out of her strange obsession. Instead, it left her wanting to know more. It was a struggle, when all she had to do was text Bonnie and ask for a location. She could then finally indulge in the bone deep curiosity that had been part of her life for as long as she could remember. Maybe figure out the cause of her obsession with a monster she’d never met.
She might’ve, if only doing so tonight wouldn’t put everyone she cared about in danger.
Caroline slid her lip between her teeth, letting the small hurt ground her. If she thought her father hated her enough to call down a Wild Hunt now, exposing the Fae’s secrets to Klaus would make his rage burn even more bitterly. She’d honestly have done it years ago out of spite if such a move would only put her in the crosshairs of the courts, but it wouldn’t.
Bonnie and Enzo would also be marked.
The High Courts currently considered her rebellion to be a family matter, though one Bill was unable to control adequately. She could not risk a Queen deciding she was her enemy in truth, not yet. Not when she was so close to figuring out how to banish her father permanently to the otherside of the Veil.
She’d be thrilled to just killing him, but she long since accepted that might not be possible. Tyler had been right, when he’d called her a monster. When he’d called all of them monsters. He just hadn’t understood that for all of the terrible things in this world that there were worse fate’s hidden behind the veil in between the worlds, horrors lovingly encouraged in Underhill that could break a human mind merely with their existence.
Earth had pushed the Fae back with their iron and religion all those years ago, had sealed the veil with witch magic, and humanity considered themselves victorious. But the truth was all they had done was defer the fight for the territory the Fae claimed as theirs to own to a different day.
The Fae hadn’t forgotten humanity nor had they forgiven them for their defeat. Banished behind magic, the Fae watched and watched and hungered. They had waited for the time that they had truly passed into myth, until the world forgot how to defeat them with a dangerous patience. But the nature of the Fae was as capricious as it was violent, and not all agreed on waiting.
Some had altered their plans and plotted a different course of action.
The Great Experiment.
Caroline supposed she should be grateful for that impatience, it was the reason for her existence, but all she could muster just then was a familiar anger. For six hundred years, members of the High Courts had mingled their blood among humans, hoping to breed children with resistance to both iron and the religion, the tools that had locked them away from the world that had once been theirs. And their plan had produced some success, though not always how they had hoped.
She was one such success.
Elizabeth Forbes had never been comfortable with her half-Fae child, but she’d also refused to abandon her to a world filled with monsters. Instead, she’d taught her daughter the good and the bad of humanity, had shown her the world as it was and what it could be. Her father saw her as a tool, a means to an end. Her mother’s love had been gruff and uneasy, but she’d tried.
She would never, ever forget that.
Or forgive Bill for her death.
Caroline had defied her father and his magic, had pitted herself against his will as she vowed vengeance for killing the one thing she’d ever claimed as her own. Her mother.
Hunting Bill required care and a meticulous eye for detail, and a particular stubbornness she had in spades. His magic was more powerful than hers, but he had always underestimated his only child by Liz, brushed her off as not powerful or clever enough for his schemes. It’s been a deliberate decision of hers to hide what she was capable of, hoping that such a ploy would save her mother. Now, she used her magic against him with the same ruthlessness he had taught her as a child.
But she was just one half-breed among hundreds, and so she’d learned to be careful. She wasn’t even the most powerful of those born on this side of the veil and underhanded ambush tactics had always served her better than brute force. A disruption there, a few dozen murder’s here. Just enough to skew her father’s chessboard while she worked to uncover the truth of his plotting. The fewer of her cousins who were able to carry out the will of her father and his fellow full blooded Fae’s plots, the safer humanity was from a terrible strike.
But she couldn’t kill them all, though she’d certainly tried. Her family did not die easily, and magic lingered in places of terrible violence like fingerprints. Each kill was a risk that could lead to her death. Over the years, it’s become clear that if she wanted to destroy her fathers plots, she couldn’t do it alone. The tie that connected them, the thread that burned so clearly now in her chest with her father’s rage, meant that she’d never be truly safe from him. Blood ties were not easily broken.
But Caroline knew witches, so she’d returned home, to the place where the only people she trusted still lived. Tyler had already been gone by then, lost in his need for vengeance, but Bonnie had been there, lingering in the ashes of conquest almost as if she’d been waiting.
It was then that Caroline had learned that humanity's greatest monster had become its potential savior. That the true potential of Ester’s terrible offspring had finally been unlocked. Klaus Mikaelson had broken his curse.
Her fingers curled into her palms, the strange, bone-deep curiosity that ground her joints together every time she thought of his name a familiar sensation. Klaus had broken his strange Sun and Moon curse in the forest she knew so well, had cut a bloody path through everyone who tried to oppose him, and laid the foundations for the army of hybrids he was determined to build. His perfect army that feared neither sun nor death and were unnaturally loyal.
Hybrids that Bonnie had helped create.
Her best friend rarely spoke of the events that led to the creation of the hybrids, refusing to give Caroline even the smallest detail of how a hybrid was made. Even tucked away in her home in Maine twenty years later, hidden by both Fae and witch magic. Caroline might not have the hows involved, but she knew the whys.
It all circled back to Bill.
Liz hadn’t been the only causality of her father’s hunger for power, just the first in their small town. Murdering Sheila Bennett had been a mistake in that it had set Bonnie against Bill, but it fit the pattern Caroline was starting to see in her father’s plans. Liz had been human, but one whose family had been deeply entrenched in the supernatural for generations. Sheila Bennett had been powerful, but she’d been born of the witch line that had created the Otherside. Gram’s had made sure her death had cost Bill, but it hadn’t been enough to stop his plans as Tyler’s presence tonight had proven.
Sometimes, Caroline wondered why Bonnie didn’t hate her. Bill was a scourge that returned time and time again, because her blood allowed it. Maybe if she’d been stronger they’d have been able to protect their families. But what she couldn’t protect, she could avenge.
Bonnie had agreed to help. Had been working on her own plans for years. The first real foothold into Bill’s master plan had been with the Augustine Society. Bonnie had been watching them for months before Caroline’s return, humans who had relentlessly experimented on vampires. They’d staged a rescue for the vampire that had been imprisoned, and it had been Enzo who had known of Tyler.
Tyler who had been the first of Klaus’ successful hybrids, whose loyalty was a shaky thing despite whatever magic bound him to his maker. Her childhood sweetheart who yearned for freedom from the yolk he had chosen. It’d taken months to go through the society’s notes they’d managed to save, to dig into the texts they had been experimenting with.
They’d known so much but understood so little.
But one thing had become crystal clear.
Bill was trying to bring down the Veil. Not unexpected, as most of the Fae worked to destroy it. But Bill also worked to understand what had led to the banishment of the Fae, so he could break it better.
It had been humans, werewolves and witches who had originally created the veil, blocking the Fae Lords from returning in great numbers after their banishment, forcing them to squeeze through cracks when the veil between worlds was thin or use now defunct gates. When iron had slowly lost its grip on the world, they might have managed more but for Qetsiyah.
Bonnie’s ancestor had been clever. When she’d bound the otherside, trapping Amara in stone and Silas forever out of her reach, she’d sunk the power of those souls into the Veil between humanity and the Fae, creating a second anchor. An additional failsafe to guarantee that no Supernatural would be so foolish as to undo her work.
Witch. Vampire. Werewolf. Hybrid. When they died, they were shuffled into Qetsiyah’s chosen afterlife, and their souls protected humanity. Humans were spared that fate, but their very existence acted a detriment to the Fae, as it was humanity who embraced iron.
The fastest way to destroy the Veil would be to free Silas. For a while, she and Bonnie had worried that he would succeed. But no one knew where Qetsiyah had hidden Silas’ body, and for all of her father’s attempts to restart Silas’ little cult, he’d always failed. The last real surge in members had ended when they’d been slaughtered, setting her father back decades.
The only other way to destroy what Qetsiyah had put into place would be to destroy the Veil at the root. And while no one understood the magic that had cast out the Fae so many years ago, her father didn’t need to understand the magic of the Veil to break it. He just needed dominion over it. But that was no easy task. Humans and witches could be bribed or fooled. Werewolves hovered at the brink of extinction. But the children of Esther, the hybrids that now walked the earth, defied every master but one. And so her father gathered his pieces and worked to subjugate Klaus’ creations in secret.
Caroline had tried to save Tyler.
She’d tried to talk him out of the part that Bill needed him to play. He’d refused. And the betrayal had burned like acid in her gut.
It had been Tyler, who had helped her dig Elizabeth Forbes’ grave. Her friend who had given her his gloves when her palms started to bleed, had said nothing when her tears had made her clumsy. It had been Tyler who sat with her and Bonnie, listening as Grams told them of the dangers in the world after Caroline had announced she was leaving. But her friend had died long before Caroline had killed him.
She shivered in the wind.
She knew Klaus played his part in that. It was impossible not to. It had been because of Tyler that she’d ended up in New Orleans, after all. The whispers of the destruction of the city, of how entire witch lines had been lost to madness and death had not adequately captured the horror of it. She’d seen what Klaus had left behind: werewolf packs left in ruin, the survivors turned and bound to his will. Broken witches and terror ridden vampires.
But rarely death. Klaus was not so kind to let his true enemies escape him in such a way. Instead, his wake left behind living ghosts. At least in this, she had done her best by her old friend. Whatever had driven him, whatever horror he had witnessed that had turned him so fully against her, she hoped he could find peace from it now.
She wasn’t so sure she’d be so lucky. Klaus was a spector in her life that she didn’t know if she could escape. And tonight, she’d killed his first hybrid. She grimaced. Klaus would not take to that news kindly. Best if she was long gone when he learned of it.
She wondered if she could manage it. She already felt the pull in her chest, the need to see, to touch, burning through her. It has always been like this. When Grams had first mentioned his name all those years ago, she’d felt the smallest of pulls, a jolt of curiosity. A tug she couldn’t explain. And everytime she thought his name, every time she heard another whisper of the night terrors he created, the tug to search him out grew stronger.
She’d deliberately chosen to look for those horrors once, hoping the truth of his nature would terrify her into running away. Instead, the monster that she had cultivated since she was seventeen and covered in her mother’s blood had approved. The more she learned, the more she wanted to know.
It was why she’d helped Bonnie disappear. Whatever happened between her and Klaus, she was determined to protect her friends from the fall out of it. But she was not the only Fae who hunted for information about Klaus, and Bonnie Bennet had helped create his hybrids.
Her people would destroy Bonnie, if they learned that truth. That a witch from Qetsiyah’s line had once again worked great magic against them would light the fires of their impotent rage for a long, long time. As long as Klaus and his hybrids roamed the earth, it made their chances of winning a war that much harder.
Fae magic was powerful, but given forced limitations by the rules they had to follow. Klaus and his creations were bound by no such things. And they were swallowing the world.
It had been nearly five years since the first hint of a hybrid returning to the US since New Orleans had raced through the Supernatural community. Over the decades, the US communities had watched from a distance as Klaus had bent Europe to his will, his creations breaking across city after city like a wave, choking out any dissent in their paths.
London, Paris, Milan. They all fell at Klaus’ feet with little more than a whimper.
The first real sign of his return had been when he turned New Orleans into a witches' graveyard, and then his gaze had turned to Chicago. Her father was no fool, he had to have known that Klaus had made this city the seat of his power in the States. Bill was far too cunning to risk catching Klaus’ attention unless he had a plan, and not knowing the exact details of what that plan was worried her.
Though she could guess part of it.
A sharp whistle cut through the air, and Caroline’s gaze cut along the rigid angles and sharply jutting corners of the builders around her, but she maintained her hiding place. She had no intention of being flushed out of cover like a bird they intended to net but she needed to come up with a plan.
Glancing at her watch, she grimaced.
It was nearly two in the morning.
If her father had chosen to call a Wild Hunt, she had roughly sixty minutes until the witching hour of three A.M. struck, and the Hunt was let loose. The blood tie to her father might have eroded to the point that he could no longer use it to force her obedience, but they had never managed to break it entirely. Fae magic was tricky. Blood ties more so. Instead, Bonnie had done her best to cloud it, to thin the connection to a single, potent thread.
A Wild Hunt would cut through the witch magic hiding her and return her to her father. Caroline was certain the only reason Bill hadn’t tried to do such a thing before was because of the cost. Calling a Hunt took a great deal of personal power. She would only have one shot of slipping away, and the risk of being caught by her father’s soldiers was dangerously high.
Klaus was in Chicago.
Her fingers clenched, and Caroline put her phone away. She wouldn’t risk Bonnie or Enzo by going to Klaus, not yet. Not with Tyler’s blood fresh on her hands. But that didn’t mean she still couldn’t use his presence in the city to her advantage. In a game of half-breeds, it always came down to who was the better gambler.
Supernatural cities always had seedy vampire nightclubs and supernatural friendly bars littered throughout. When Klaus had taken over Chicago, he had commandeered several for his own use. But there was one club in particular that she’d pinned down as potentially being part of his stomping grounds; the number of bodies that were secretly removed from the club gave credence to her theory, though she supposed it could just be a place that attracted excess stupidity.
If she was going to have a chance tonight, she needed to go into that club and stay just long enough to let the scent of mingling supernaturals hide her trail so she could slip away undetected and find a place she could hide from the magic seeking her. If she was lucky, Klaus’ potential presence would act as a deterrent.
It was a risk.
Not only because she needed to keep her own blood-lust in check, but because she had never before let herself venture close enough to Klaus to risk catching a single glimpse of him. She was magically exhausted and wounded, the slow crawl of thirst thick in her throat, and her bones ached with the insistent need that made no logical sense.
She would have to be so very careful. Still, for now, her glamour was holding. Setting her teeth, Caroline turned and headed to the heartbeat of the city. Tonight, she’d find a way to live and tomorrow she’d call Bonnie and they’d work out a plan for her to escape. And she’d have to do it without indulging in a curiosity that had no name but was a pulse in her blood.
The rest is here: A03
(I’ll add the link to FFN once I get it posted.)
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Day Two: A Gentle Heart For a Noble Soul [Orion x Sabina]
I’m slow with writing all of my entries for @ockissweek but eventually, I’ll get to them all, even if takes me weeks. XD
In Day 2, this story features Sabina Peg’asi, one of my Andromeda Six traveler and Orion, @julikidmxns's Dead Space OC. There’s a little bit of crossover going on but I believe I made it work. Hopefully, I portrayed your boy right, @julikidmxns! :)
Summary: He signed up to be a princess’s bodyguard to take a break from all the horrors he’d seen in space. Compared to his previous line of work, guarding royalty was small potatoes. And yet, Sabina Peg’asi was definitely not the type of royal he was expecting but now, he’d protect her to the ends of the galaxy and back. Day 2 of OC Kiss Week 2021. Prompt: Courtship. [Orion x Sabina]
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“When I love
I become liquid light.”
― Nizar Qabbani
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He never expected his next bodyguard gig would wind him up a royal palace, almost a galaxy away from his own home, but at least the job was straightforwardly easy enough and the pay was absurdly lucrative. As long as he kept his new charge safe, he would be set for life.
His new charge was a princess, a far jump from all the wealthy business people who hired him for clout and to look intimidating to all their enemies and allies. This princess was dressed in a long, slender beige and silver gown decorated with such elaborate geometric designs and needlework that Orion wondered how long it took the dressmaker to produce such an intricate (and expensive) article of clothing--if the young royal’s wardrobe was indeed handmade. Next to her, he felt severely undressed.
Resisting the urge to check his clothing for any pressed lines or wrinkles, he opted for staring ahead like a typical stoic guard and repeated the name of his charge in his head while he wanted for the princess’s mother to arrive. She was the one who contacted him about her request--albeit technically, one of her secretaries called him on the Stellar Queen’s behalf. This would be the first time he spoke to the queen, assuming she would make an appearance.
Princess Sabina Peg’asi, youngest child of King Fenris and Ta’jean, the Stellar Queen. Hopefully, you won’t be too much trouble.
Bright pink eyes stared up at him with uncertainty and Orion shifted a little in place, keeping his back ramrod straight and his expression completely neutral. Standing in such an opulent room with a young royal scrutinizing him in only a quiet, curious manner was an alarmingly drastic change to his previous stints as a mercenary, especially with some of the weird, inconceivable shit he’d seen in his line of worth and some of that included the dead coming back to life as beings even more monstrous and voidless. At least there wouldn’t be any Necromorphs lurking in the hundreds of crystal chandeliers or underneath the vivid, elaborately woven and designed rugs that probably cost more than a year’s worth of his salary. He quickly glanced down to make sure his boots were polished and clean along with no traces of scuff marks or muddy footprints on the plush carpet.
As he rose his head to face his new charge, the young princess quickly curtsied, her long navy blue braids dipping down with her while the perfectly round twin buns on either side of her head never wobbled or wavered during the slight movements. Her buttery yellow skin glowed briefly, a testament to her half-Tiljanni heritage. Her behavior confirmed Orion’s suspicion that there indeed was someone important behind him because no princess would curtsy to a bodyguard in greeting.
“Hello, Mother,” the half-Tiljanni princess greeted, only resuming her full stance after her mother boredly bid her to rise with a wave of her hand. His charge stared hopefully at her mother, a small smile gracing her slightly round and youthful features. “I’m so overjoyed to see you today!”
The Stellar Queen barely paid Princess Sabina a glance as she settled her cold, crossed gaze on Orion and crossed her arms. Several of her own guards, as well as a close confidant, and secretary, were right behind her. Silence permeated the area and just when Orion was about to introduce him and list off some of the credentials, the Tiljanni queen nodded stiffly at him and snapped her head back at her secretary, a human who appeared at least twenty years older than him.
“He’ll do. Set him up in a room near Sabina’s quarters so he can reach and protect her at a moment’s notice.”
Both of Orion’s eyebrows rose up but he uttered nothing. That was the fastest job interview he ever had his entire life. Either Queen Ta’jean read his list of qualifications and experiences or someone else did and told her about them because her mind was already made up. Besides, he had a feeling how peeved she would be if he decided to tell the Stellar Queen he had a change of heart and would not be accepting the royal family’s offer to guard one of their precious children.
Ta’jean’s secretary nodded, bowing his head. “It will be done, Your Majesty. I’ve already discussed the terms of payment to the mercenary and he is more than satisfied with the salary we assigned to the position.”
“You daughter will be in safe hands,” Orion spoke up, disliking how they were talking around him as if he wasn’t standing right there. “There is nothing I can’t handle.”
The queen shot him a bored look before adjusting the long sleeves of her dress. “I hope you’re right. Someone needs to keep Sabina on a tighter leash since she has a penchant for wandering off and letting her curiosity get the better of her.”
The said princess glided to her mother with such poise and grace Orion nearly mistook her a fairy. “That was one time, Mother, and I was horribly lost! Plus, I hadn’t seen you in weeks and I wanted to visit you.” She bit her lip at the last admission, her hands gripping the skirt of her finely wrought gown and twisting the fabric as she stared at her mother tearfully. “Last time you cancelled our private dinner. Do you think we can have some time together tomorrow?”
The Stellar Queen unleashed a heavy, burdensome sigh as she gifted her daughter an exasperated expression. “You know how busy I am lately, Sabina. Tomorrow most certainly will not work but…” She sighed again, as if she was a long suffering martyr. “But we can try at the end of this week.”
A wide, elated beam immediately stretched itself across Sabina’s soft features and her pale yellow skin seemed to illuminate from her recent joy. “Thank you so much, Mother! I can hardly wait! We have so much to catch up on!” She embraced her unwilling mother tightly, the hope in her pink eyes painfully evident. Orion’s gut twisted as he observed this uneven display of affection, of a young daughter so desperate for her mother’s attention and time that she was merrily settling for scraps of it. In the back of his mind, he wondered who he really should be protecting Sabina from: foes against the Crown or Sabina’s own family.
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Orion, her new bodyguard, was definitely easier to get along with than she first anticipated.
Besides her oldest sister Nerissa, the Crown Princess of Goldis, her only other friends were Maristela, her half-sister who was a year older than her, and Vex, a palace guard assigned to the protection of both her and Maristela but now was focused more Maristela’s safety now Orion was hired to be her personal bodyguard. It was weird having someone new follow her around, making sure she wasn’t alone with strangers, palace staff members, or even relatives (a Peg’asi could never be too careful Sabina once heard). She was so used to just having Vex be at her and Maristela’s side for so long that she forgot Vex was still essentially a palace guard instead of being her first true companion that wasn’t a blood relative.
But Orion was surprisingly easy to get along with, once she got him to open up. She could still recall his confused face when she gave him a tour of the palace, asking him he was faring in his new role, and later, inviting him to a card game with her, Maristela, and Vex. Even after her assurances he didn’t have to come if he had no desire to so, he still showed up and awkwardly sat next to her, somehow winning half of their games thanks to his mastery of emotions. Sabina observed at him through every game, vainly trying to search for a hidden tell or a crack in his distinguished, staid visage. Even his striking grey eyes revealed nothing but there was a warmth in his eyes when he congratulated on her first win. Later, Maristela teased her on how much she had been staring at her new bodyguard, her grin widening at Sabina’s flushed cheeks and vehement protests. And when she tried to explain her reasoning, Maristela simply smirked some more and bantered that she didn’t expect her to be interested in men with streaks of silver in their hair. In an uncharacteristic bout of frustration, Sabina hurtled one of her pillows at her older sister but Maristela merely dodged and kept laughing, even as another pillow hit her arm.
Despite her sister’s teasing, Sabina didn’t distance herself from Orion. Even though having a bodyguard reduced her already dwindling amount of privacy, Orion was her friend now and found ways to give her some semblance of freedom. She was always grateful for his kindness.
With a bounce in her step, she rapt on Orion’s door, hugging the books close to her chest as she swayed back and forth in anticipation for his arrival. She truly hoped he was free and in the mood to go outside. She relished spending time with him, even if he didn’t reveal a lot of details about himself.
The door cracked open and Orion’s head appeared, followed by two muscular arms as he opened the door wider once he saw Sabina was alone. Sabina’s rosy eyes roamed how some of his dark hair was parted to the side in soft waves, his full, finely groomed groom and mustache sprinkled with strands of white and grey. For a second, all words failed her and Sabina drew blank on what to say.
He peered at her curiously. “Your Highness? Is everything all right?” The hint of concern in his tone yanked her back from her trance and Sabina smiled reassuringly at him. Next time, she’ll compose herself better around him and not randomly get lost into gazing at his handsome face and kind eyes---
Focus, Sabina!
Fixing her stare at his forehead instead of his eyes, Sabina managed to finally form some words without being hopefully distracted. “Everything is just fine, Orion! And remember, you can call me Sabina when we’re out of the public eye.”
He ran a hand through his hair--it looked a little bit damp, Sabina noticed. Did he shower recently? “I’ll try to remember that, Your--Sabina. Did you need something?”
Remembering the real reason why she initially knocked on his door, the half-Tiljanni princess stood briefly on her toes as she bounced a little, unable to contain her good cheer. “Since the weather is proving to be quite pleasant and promising, I wanted to stroll along the gardens and find a nice place to read my books.” She glanced down, a sudden shyness creeping into her while her cheeks heated up. “And, well, I was wondering if I could give you a tour around the gardens. You mentioned you never witness gardens so enormous and well groomed before so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to rectify that. The flowers have bloomed perfectly!”
His mouth twitched into a small smile, the warmth in his eyes remaining. “If that is what you wish, Your High--I mean, Sabina, then let me gear up and I will escort you to the palace gardens.”
Still bouncing on her feet, Sabina beamed brightly at her minor victory. “Wonderful! I’ll be waiting in my room when you’re done. And no need to rush on my account, Orion. I have my books to keep my company until you’re ready to resume your post.”
He bowed his head at her respectfully. “Of course, Sabina.”
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Reading in the gardens with no one but Orion standing by worked in her favor much more than she expected it too. Besides the entrance of the royal gardens, her and Orion hadn’t run into anyone from the palace, particular her siblings. The unexpected privacy pleased her, for she didn’t have to worry about anyone popping out of nowhere and rebuke her for the way she was oh so casually leaning up against Orion as she read her beginner’s medical text and snuck glances at her bodyguard to see how he was faring. He was still hard to read, something Sabina wished she could do better. Her mother wouldn’t often criticize her for how open she was with her emotions, always wearing her heart on her sleeves and trying to make friends when she should be distancing herself from everyone and analyze what they want from her.
Unbidden tears swam near the brim of her eyelids and furiously, she rubbed her eyes, forcing herself to focus on the words on the page before her and banish the last conversation she had with her mother over dinner. One that ended far too soon for her liking.
“The sooner you harden that fragile, weak heart of yours, Sabina, the better. Or else this world will chew you up and spit you back up and you won’t be able to recover from it. And I won’t be around to tell you ‘I told you so’.”
Inhaling deeply, Sabina fiercely flipped the text page, trying to ignore how blurry the text was starting to look as her treacherous eyes became watery once more. Her mother was wrong, she wasn’t weak! ...Was she?
“Next time we talk, Sabina, I hope to see evidence that you took my advice to heart.”
Her concentration evaporated, Sabina dejectedly closed the book and aimlessly stared at a rose bush across from her, drawn to all the various colors in each flower while blinking back the unshed tears. Today was a perfectly good day for her and Orion and she would not ruin the peaceful mood by crying!
Beside her, Orion shifted. Out of the corner of her eye, Sabina saw his body was pointed squarely at her. Keeping her head down, she tried dabbing her eyes and ended up sniffing a little in the process. She didn’t need to look up to see his alarmed reaction, his concern for her was practically rolling in waves.
“Sabina...what’s wrong? I thought you’d be excited to be outside, in the gardens.”
“It’s not that,” she choked out, thoroughly humiliated when a hiccup or two escaped her in the middle of her explanation. “Everything here is perfect. The weather is beautiful, you’re here, and I have some semblance of privacy, but…” Another hiccup came and several treacherous tears trickled down her cheeks.
In a flash, he in front of her, one knee on the ground and his kind grey eyes fixated directly at her, searching for any signs that caused her distress. “But what?” he gently prodded.
Shame flooded her yet Sabina couldn’t deny him. In such a short timespan, Orion became one of the very few people who understood her and when they were alone, treated her like a normal person, without a hint of judgement. If anyone could give the truth straight to her, it would be him.
“Am I weak, Orion?” she whispered hoarsely, leveling her vivid pink eyes with his grey ones reluctantly. “Am I just an useless paper doll that can't do anything right?” She reached out, searching for Orion’s hands, to hold onto something real and stable, and he complied, wrapping his gloved hands around her dainty yellow ones.
“Whoever told you that is wrong, Sabina,” he replied, not even bothering to inquire where this disparaging musing of hers came from. He most likely heard snippets of her mother’s scathing words during their private dinners when he was outside, guarding the door until Sabina was ready to return to her chambers. “You are not weak. You have more strength than you realize.”
She squeezed his hands a little for solace. “But how? I don’t have the vast knowledge or skill set like many Tiljaani have to help people nor do I know any useful things to contribute to my family or to Goldis in general! There is so much I can’t do or understand, even with an advanced royal education!”
“Your compassion is not a weakness.” The sharp edge in his tone startled Sabina but she listened, feeling herself drawn to Orion and whatever he may say next. “Don’t let anyone else convince you otherwise. There is a shortage of people with a gentle heart like yours, who just want to help and make everyone’s lives a little better. With little or no success, I’ve beheld how you try to reach out to your siblings, the ones who you hardly have interacted with, for a chance to be a real family. And even when you don’t get the result you hoped for, you try again. You’re far too determined to give up so easily.”
Her lips cracked into a tiny smile and she sniffed, trying to clear her nose while a few more tears leaked out even as she blanked them back. Her hands were still collapsed inside Orion’s and she had no desire to retract them back. She liked the way he was holding her--or her hands, in this case.
“You really think so?” she asked carefully, inwardly wincing at the temor in her voice. She slid down from her stone bench to kneel down in front of Orion, craving to be closer to him and whatever else he had to say. Maybe she was just searching for validation but his words were beginning to bring her some comfort.
He nodded his head firmly. “I do. After all, you’re one of the very few people here who went out of their way to welcome me and always wanted to know how I was doing or if I needed anything. Do you think I’ve forgotten the time when I reminisced what my favorite dish was to you and magically, the very next day, the kitchens were serving that meal to me for supper?”
“Your face seemed so wistful, so nostalgic that I just had to find a way to give a little piece of your home back to you. All I did was inform the cook of what was in the dish and she did the rest. She did all the work, not me.”
Orion’s visage was now barely an inch away from her, his sincerity blazing freely in his gaze while the corners of his eyes softened ever so slightly. “Yes, but you’re the one who listened to me and took the initiative to make me feel a little bit more welcomed and at home in this new world. No one gave you orders, you just executed that on your own.” A ghost of a smile danced on his mouth, so close to her own lips that for a fleeting second, Sabina was breathless. “That’s just one of the many reasons that make you so beautiful.”
No sooner did that admission left him, did Orion realize his slip and jerked his head back, eyes wide in alarm. Inwardly, Sabina bemoaned the loss of their proximity and with what little physical strength she possessed, she tugged him back to her before he remembered to release her hands. She was so used to his touch and how warm and safe his own hands were.
Peering up at him through her eyelashes (a trick she was glad Maristela taught her), Sabina leaned her body closer to him, saying, “You really mean all that? Even the beautiful part?”
Orion coughed awkwardly, his gaze now on their joined hands, which appeared much more romantic given to how long they were simply kneeling together, holding hands. Finally, the tension melted out of his broad shoulders as he slumped forward, as if conceding. “Yes...yes, I do. I mean every word of it.”
Her skin glowed like the sun at his confession yet Sabina hardly cared enough to notice. Instead, she leaned in nigh enough for their noses to first bump into each other before she angled her head to its side to plant a chaste but lingering kiss to his cheek. Traces of his beard tickled her skin, a sensation she enjoyed far more than anticipated. The princess thought his beard would be scratchy but its thick smoothness pleasantly surprised her.
Orion’s breathing hitched but he didn’t yank himself away from her. “Princess, Sabina, are you sure…?”
She kissed him again, this time on the lips. “I’ve never been sure of something my entire life.” Embolden, Sabina planted a third kiss on his forehead and was rewarded with an encouraging, soft smile from Orion. “Consider this a very special thank you from a very grateful and smitten princess.”
And when Orion’s hands cupped her supple, round face to dry away any remaining tears from her cheeks, he wasted no time to kiss her slowly, steadily, and full of tenderness, causing her poor heart to burst with elation while she encircled her arms around him, feeling the muscles on his back clenching momentarily beneath her fingertips. That last kiss rendered them both breathless, unable to remove themselves from each other’s arms. Sabina was content to sit there, listening to her bodyguard’s heartbeat while he absentmindedly stroked her back.
“You don’t mind that, I, er---?”
“Kissed me?” Sabina grinned as she cocked her head up to face, unable to conceal her glee. “Not at all! I hope you didn’t mind either.”
His chest rumbled with a chuckle and he tucked one of her long, thin braids behind her ear. “You don’t have to worry about me, Sabina. Unexpected as those kisses were, I enjoyed them as well.”
A coy grin spread itself across her refined features. “Then does that mean we should resume said kissing or if not, at least plan on getting back to it in the near future?”
Orion cocked one bemused brow at her, entertained by her sudden boldness. “I may not know much of Goldis customs but are you attempting to woo me, Princess Sabina?”
Her cheeks darkened by a deep blush, more evident by the vibrant illuminance from her skin. “Yes...? Do you not like that?” Her voice came out rather tentative and nervous.
Shaking his head, he let himself smile for her again prior to kissing in the center of her forehead, reassuring her that his feelings hadn’t changed or were a fabric of her imagination. “I just wonder what I did to deserve such a kind soul like you.”
“Just give me a day and I’ll have an entire book filled out on why you’re a noble, wonderful man with a caring heart, sweet eyes, and very nice beard.”
He gave his pepper speckled beard a quick stroke. “Just nice?”
Sabina pouted, crossing her arms. “Don’t tease me, Orion! I really do like your beard!”
After a few more minutes of banter and blissful enfoldments, she was due to return to the palace and get ready for one of her musical lessons. Smoothing out the creases in the chiffon fabric of her pale pink gown, complete with tiny golden stars decorating the attire from top to bottom, Sabina glanced up in time to watch Orion snap off a brilliantly crimson rose from the nearby rosebush and present the striking flower to her. He scratched the back of his head, an awkward tic of his that Sabina found to be rather endearing.
“I’m not really good at romance or know the correct steps to sweeping you off your feet, but if I’m going to secretly court you, I’m going to do this right,” he explained, looking a little self-conscious as he held out the red rose to her. “And I remember you remarking earlier in our tour of the gardens that roses are one of your favorite flowers so---”
He never got to finish his sentence. Sabina had already tossed her arms around his neck and covered him with at least a half-dozen of airy kisses, all followed by the words: “Thank you thank you, Orion!”
The next day, Sabina snuck a fresh tulip containing the same color of her rose into one of Orion’s spare holsters. After all, she shouldn’t be the only one to receive gifts in this covert courtship.
#OCKiss21#OCKissWeek#ockissweek21#Sabina Peg'asi#Orion Caldwell#Orion x Sabina#a6 traveler#andromeda six traveler#Dead Space#Andromeda Six#A6#A6 game#oc kiss week#OCs#my writing#No proofreading we die like men#I was getting so giddy at the end of this ship because the royal/protector dynamic was killing me and giving me so many options for them
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The Unexpected Reward - Chapter 8
Summary: Natsu and Lucy go on a job together, but what they bring home is something neither anticipated. Forced to make a life changing decision, they have to adapt quickly, but that's never easy, especially given the circumstances. As they work together on their toughest adventure yet, they find themselves drawn to one another, in ways they never realised. Nalu/cute/fluff/multi-chapter.
Lucy felt nauseous. She'd spent the better part of the morning worrying over whether Haru was okay and it was making her giddy. Gray and Juvia knew how to look after him, they'd been the one's to offer, yet she couldn't shake the worry that something might happen. What if he cried? Or became sick? Had she packed everything he needed? What if he got hurt? It was exhausting! She put her head into her hands to stop herself from hyperventilating. At this rate her head was going to explode.
The train was way too stuffy for her liking and it was making her feel faint. She'd opened the window as wide as it would go and greedily inhaled the cool air that filtered through. Hopefully, this journey would end soon, she wanted Natsu. He always calmed her down but he was currently out of commission, asleep on her lap after puking everywhere.
For once, he'd actually offered to get the train which had surprised Lucy at first, but she understood his reasons, and that's what made it all the more endearing. Natsu seemed to be maturing before her very eyes, choosing to get on the train, just to get this job done quicker, was only the start of it. Becoming a parent made you grow up, whether you wanted to or not, and Natsu was no exception.
It wasn't just with Haru he'd shown his maturity, it was with her as well. He'd kept to his word, every day since they'd shared their first kiss he'd showered her with affection, something she'd never expected from him. He didn't seem to be able to keep his hands to himself, which Lucy was totally fine with. But everything was still very safe and she had to wonder if he had any intention of taking it further, because she definitely did.
When the train finally came to a stop, Natsu was out of the door like a shot, hugging the grass beneath him, and he had the audacity to call her weird. "Are you done being an idiot?" She asked, looking down amused, with her hand on her hip.
"You don't understand how great this feels after being on that death trap!" He groaned, not taking any notice of the insult.
"Well, when you're finished we need to go check in somewhere and then we'll see this person about the job." Lucy said, holding out her hand to help him to his feet.
"Check in somewhere? Luce, I hate to tell ya but we don't have the money for that, it's why I brought an extra sleeping mat." He said, looking at her like she was the idiot now.
"What?! But I don't wanna sleep outside!" She cried out like a spoilt child.
"You're the one that wanted to stay at home for an extra two weeks, we had just enough money for the train tickets." He said, like it was obvious. It was true, Lucy had said it was because she wanted to wait for the right job, when in reality she just didn't want to leave Haru. "Don't worry though, I'll keep ya warm!" He smirked.
She blushed a little, "I guess that's a good enough compromise. I guess it'll be worth it because it pays so well!" The blonde exclaimed. Just before Natsu turned around, she pulled him to her, sporting a sly smile and yanked him down to her level. "Natsu, if you so much as look where you're not supposed to, I will do very bad things to you. Are we clear?" She said in her most sickly sweet voice. She brought her mouth to his for a soft, lingering kiss, as if to seal the deal. They needed every single Jewel that was being offered and Natsu had a habit of, well, destroying things.
"Yes, ma'am." He murmured, pulling away from her and grinning. Was it weird that he found Lucy threatening him kinda hot? He could get use to threats like that. The one's often made towards him, aka Erza's, weren't so alluring, more absolutely terrifying!
"Good! Now, let's see where we need to go." She let go of Natsu and reached into her bag, fishing out the request paper.
The job they had chosen seemed simple enough, it'd been the easiest request for the most amount of money on the board, meaning it shouldn't take too long. Mages were needed to rid a garden of pests that kept trying to steal some magical plants. It was safe, easy and good pay for not a lot of work. Lucy had been so pleased when she saw it, that she hadn't even run it by Natsu before presenting it to Mira.
"Apparently there's a mansion somewhere around here, it shouldn't be too hard to find." She said, taking Natsu's hand. Neither really knew where they were going but a mansion should be easy to spot, the area looked pretty small.
When they'd finally reached it, their mouths flew open at the sheer size of the estate, it looked like it went on for miles. Lucy felt a little nostalgic, it looked very similar to her childhood home, only much more grand. They walked up to the enormous doors and rang the bell, wondering what sort of person would live in such a huge place.
When the door finally opened, a young man had answered, probably in his late twenties, not much older than they were, he was suited and booted and looked quite important. Lucy assumed he must be some sort of business man, similar to her late father, they all looked the same. The man stepped out without saying a word and peered at the two, catching sight of their guild marks and smiled.
"You must be the Fairy Tail wizards I requested? Please do come in, my housekeeper will show you to the dining room where we can discuss everything. I'll be there in a minute." He gestured to an older woman, who they were meant to follow.
"Please follow me, Mr. Felix will be along shortly. He's a very busy man you see and has lots of clients to attend to." She said, smiling to Natsu and Lucy as they made their way down the huge corridors.
"Clients? What exactly does he do?" Lucy asked. Maybe he was famous for something?
"That'll all be discussed at dinner. Here's the dining room." The woman opened the door to reveal the biggest table either mage had ever seen, with a massive spread of food on top of it, making Natsu's mouth water. "We've laid out food for you, I imagine you must be famished after your long journey. Please help yourselves to as much as you'd like while you wait." The Housekeeper said before stepping back out of the door.
Just as Lucy was about to thank her, Natsu grabbed the blonde's hand and flew over to the table and started to dig in. "You're such an animal sometimes, Natsu." Lucy said as she watched him pour a whole plate of meat into his face. She never understood how he could eat so much, and where did he put all of it? The man was entirely muscle!
"We're broke so I'm stuffing myself silly!" He said as he chewed on god knows what. "Isn't that the white stuff you like, Luce?" He pointed to a pot filled with this thick, creamy substance.
Lucy chuckled at what he was pointing to and grabbed some 'white stuff' for herself, spooning it into her mouth. Yogurt, as it was more commonly known, was her absolute favourite. She plopped some fruit into it and dived right in until the entire pot was empty. Once they'd finished, the woman came in and tidied their plates away and in followed 'Mr. Felix' or whatever she said his name was.
"I do apologise, I had a client to see to, but I'm done now." He said as he sat down and poured himself a drink. "What do you call yourselves?"
"My name is Lucy and this is my partner, Natsu." She smiled. "Thank you for the food, it's very much appreciated!"
"You're welcome! My name is Felix and I'm a doctor. My husband and I specialise in medicinal magic and we grow specific plants that help in the healing of mages, like yourselves." He paused to take a sip of his drink.
"Awesome! We could use some of that with the amount Fairy tail gets into fights." Natsu joked, earning a deathly glare from Lucy, but the man chuckled at them.
"Yes, I've heard about Fairy Tail's reputation, but don't worry, you don't need to put on any airs and graces in front of me. I wouldn't have posted the job to your guild otherwise." Felix smiled at them both and watched them relax.
Natsu cleared his throat, and straightened himself up, "Er, so what's been going on then? What would you like us to do?" He asked as he stared at this Felix guy curiously.
"Well, it started about three weeks ago, my daughter was playing outside when she'd walked off towards the plant nursery. She's not really supposed to go in there but she's only young. Me and her Papa heard her scream and went running to see what'd happened. But when we got there she was huddled on the floor shaking and crying and the building had been ransacked."
"Poor thing, that must've been scary for her, did she see anything?" Lucy sympathised.
"We're certain she did, but when we ask she won't speak about it. It steals from us every night, regardless of how much we barricade the doors and windows, it manages to find a way in. I worry because without those plants we can't continue our work. I have many mages that rely on my help but our supply is dwindling." He looked down solemnly at the table, Lucy and Natsu could see that helping others meant a lot to him and they were more than willing to help him catch whatever it was reaping havoc on his livelihood.
"So you have no idea what's been stealing from you?" Natsu asked. Not that it really mattered, he'd burn it regardless.
"Unfortunately not, the only person that's seen it is my daughter, but it's too scary for her to talk about." Felix explained.
"Would it be possible for us to try and talk to her? With your permission of course." Lucy asked. If they could get the little girl to describe what she saw then they would be able to figure out a plan.
"You're more than welcome to try, but like I said she is only young so I'm not sure how accurate the details will be. I'll take you to her now, follow me." He said, standing and walking out of the door, with Natsu and Lucy following.
After what seemed like an endless maze of corridors, they entered into a children's play room. There, playing with her toys, was a sweet little girl, she couldn't have been much older than three or four. She looked over at Natsu and Lucy and giggled, bounding over with one of her toys to show it to them, taking a particular interest in Natsu and his crazy pink hair.
"Hey there kiddo. Whatcha got?" He said, plastering his signature grin on his face and crouching down in front of her.
"Amelia's teddy!" She beamed and gave it to him, while she ran back and retrieved another to give to Lucy.
Her father remained standing by the door as he watched his little girl play with Natsu and Lucy. They were trying to make her feel comfortable before they eventually asked her what she saw. Lucy had an idea of how to get the little girl to talk, it was all about compromise, but she just needed to time it right.
She picked up something that resembled a plant and showed it to the child, "Your Daddy grows special plants like this doesn't he?" Lucy asked. Amelia looked at the flower shaped toy before taking it into her own hand.
"Yeah! Daddy and Papa make magic people not sick any more." She smiled.
"Did you know that we're magic people? We've come to help your Papa and Daddy." Natsu whispered into her ear, like it was a big secret that only she was allowed to hear.
"You're magic?!" The little girl gasped, "Show me! Show me!" Amelia jumped up and down in pure joy, clapping her hands together.
Lucy chuckled at her enthusiasm and brought out the silver key to summon Plue, Amelia couldn't believe her eyes, she was in awe of the weird little, shaky thing. "Again, again!" She giggled, the bright smile never leaving her face.
"Alright then, watch this!" Natsu said, he laid his palm out and lit a small flame. He grinned as her mouth fell open in absolute amazement at Natsu's magic. Then, just for her, he turned the flame into a flower, then a star and then anything she requested, before lighting his entire hand up. "It's cool isn't it? You know I could set my whole body on fire, if I wanted."
"Wow, you must be really strong! Can you help Papa and Daddy with your magic?" she asked, still astonished by what just happened. "Amelia was in the nursery when the bad man took all the flowers. He saw her sneaking and said that she should never tell anyone or he'll get her when she's sleeping, but you can burn him with your fire."
Natsu and Lucy both looked at each other, concerned, and then back to where Felix was standing, who looked pretty shocked by what his daughter had just told them. How could someone be so cruel to a child? The two mages nodded at each other before looking back at Amelia, grinning at her, "Of course, we'll help them, you can count on us! I'll burn the bad man with my fire, then he'll be gone for good." Natsu said, watching her small face light up at his words, leaping up to give him a big hug, before returning to what she was playing with.
Natsu and Lucy stood up, waving at the little girl before leaving the room. They followed Felix back into a sitting room, settling on a couch opposite him. "Thank you for what you did there. She was refusing to talk to us but you managed it. You don't happen to have children yourselves?" Felix asked. Should he have asked that? Maybe it was too personal? About to apologise for the intrusion, but stopped as Lucy spoke up.
"Yes, we do actually. We have a son, this is our first time leaving him so it's been a little difficult, but it'll be nice to go home and see him when we're finished here." Lucy said quietly, smiling through glossy eyes as she thought about how much she missed her baby and how desperate she was to cuddle him. She wiped at her eyes quickly, "Sorry, I just miss him that's all." Natsu, feeling her discomfort reached over to take her hand, caressing it softly with his thumb.
"I understand, being a parent can be hard and you never really get use to it. In time, being separated from them gets easier but they'll always be on your mind. How old is your little one?" Felix asked, it was refreshing to speak to other parents for once.
"Four weeks now. We found him on a job at just a few days old, he'd been abandoned so we took him with us and then adopted him." Natsu said, pride emanating from his being. He rather liked telling people he was a dad now and best of all he loved talking about Haru, it made his heart feel full and all the more excited to go home to him.
"Wow, that's wonderful! It takes special people to do something so selfless, I'd say good luck to you both." Felix was in awe, what an incredible thing to do for a helpless baby, not everyone would be so kind. However, as much as he'd love to talk about their children all day, they had business to attend to. "Any way, what do you think now Amelia has spoken to you?"
"Well, it sounds like it's just one man. What I'm confused about is why this person is stealing those plants from you, unless they're a mage themselves or if they're not then they must be selling them?" Lucy pondered, it made perfect sense that someone would do that. They'd see this enormous house and think they could earn the same fortune by selling the plants for whatever price they wanted. "I think the only way to find out is to wait for him."
"I agree. Where are you staying tonight? I ask because the thief only seems to come when its dark out. We have a guest house next to the plant nursery and you're more than welcome to spend the night there, if that makes it easier for you? We can provide food and anything else you might need?" Felix offered, hoping they would accept so they could be there at the right time.
"You mean it? Hell yeah! That beats sleeping outside on the grass." Natsu cheered, that should cheer Lucy up.
"That would be amazing, thank you!" Lucy said, beaming over at Natsu.
Once they'd reached the guest house, it was already getting dark. Felix had told them that he would send some food over and would leave them to it. When both mages went inside, they couldn't believe their eyes. It was huge! Natsu was speechless, even their guest house was bigger than their home back in Magnolia.
Lucy instantly ran over and collapsed onto the bed, chucking her bags onto the table and sighed in relief. Natsu chuckled at her eagerness and walked over shortly after, crawling onto the bed, leaning above her so that their faces were level. He smirked down at her pretty face, "You didn't think I'd forgotten did you?" He said as he slowly came closer, watching her cheeks tint pink as he claimed her lips before she could say anything.
The kiss started off slow, but very quickly turned heated and needy. He'd been dying to get his hands on her all day and now it was just the two of them, he couldn't help the excitement build in his stomach. Lucy reached up and tangled her hands in his hair, pulling lightly, earning her a low growl from Natsu. The sound of his pleasure made her weak, there was something so animalistic about it. She wanted to hear it again and so forced her tongue into his mouth, whimpering into him from the hot wetness. What she'd give to feel that blazing tongue all over her sensitive skin, she could feel herself heat up at just the thought of it.
She loved that they did this now, it made her feel wanted and loved by him and that was an incredible feeling. Natsu was just so hot, it was hard to think straight once he got going. He pulled back and stared into her eyes with pure adoration, her swollen lips were always a feature he dwelled on, proud of himself for doing that to her. She brought her hand down to his neck and brushed over the scar there, making a shiver shoot through Natsu's spine.
"I don't think I'll ever get use to that." She said, reaching forwards and planting another soft peck on his lips.
"I'm certain you won't be saying that by the time we leave. Not with all this free time we have, just waiting around for some guy to show up." Natsu smirked, watching her face turn pinker then it already was as she bashfully looked away from him. She was too cute sometimes, how is it someone as sweet as Lucy could choose someone as hot-headed as him? He'd probably spend the rest of his life trying to figure that one out, but for now, being in her presence and receiving her undivided attention was enough for him.
"Are you just going to keep staring at me, Natsu?" She giggled, only stopping when his mouth attacked hers once more.
This time it was more intense and passionate, it was filled with so much raw emotion a simple kiss didn't seem to be enough any more, he wanted more and so did she. Just as he was about to reach down to her jaw, they heard a clatter and what sounded like glass shattering. It was apparent that even alone, something insisted on interrupting them and neither mage was impressed. Reluctantly stopping in his tracks, Natsu lifted his head and looked around for any intruders, sniffing at the air. His sensitive hearing picked up on footsteps coming from outside.
"I think our guy is outside." He said, leaning down and giving her one last kiss on the lips. "Come on, Luce. We'll have to finish this later." He smirked at her blush, then got up and ran over to the door, about to open it.
"Wait, Natsu! Don't just run into danger like that, we need to think of a plan, we don't know who our enemy is." She exclaimed, why did he insist on running head first into things all the time?
"Huh? Lucy, it's one guy! How hard can it be?" He didn't understand, what was the problem? It was simple; beat up bad guy, get paid then continue making out until they fell asleep. Job done.
Just as Lucy was about to retort, there was a huge explosion and even more shattering glass, then they noticed a faint glow of a flickering light coming in through the window. She bolted off of the bed and after Natsu, who'd already run outside, the entire plant house had been set ablaze. Lucy looked over and saw Felix running towards them, fear in his eyes as he gazed upon the devastation.
"It's on fire! What happened, is he here?!" He shouted at them as he came to a halt.
"Yes he is, but we'll find him, don't you worry." Lucy yelled over the crackling of the fire, pushing Felix away. "Stand back, Natsu will take care of the fire." and just like that, Natsu began to eat it, sucking it up until it had been put out completely, leaving just a charred shell of the building that was once there.
"Felix! Felix!" Someone yelled. They all turned to see another man, panic stricken, running over to them and clutching hold of Felix for dear life. "S-She's gone! Amelia is missing! She's not in her bed and I've looked everywhere but I can't find her. Oh god, what if he's taken her?!" He put his head against his husbands shoulder and began to tear up, while Felix looked at him in shock, dread settling in his stomach.
Natsu walked over, locking eyes with them both, "I promise we'll find her and bring her home to you." He then turned to Lucy, "He's nearby, I can smell him." He took her hand and they ran off in the direction in which the thief had gone.
They ran into a clearing that was surrounded by trees and bushes, the perfect place for an assailant to hide. Natsu came to a halt and let go of Lucy, sniffing at the air again. Lucy was quick to notice his unease as he whipped his head around to look for any movement.
"Is something wrong, Natsu?" Lucy asked, concerned at his serious expression.
He snapped his head to her, catching on to the worry in her voice and sighed, "The girl's with him, I can smell her too. But, it's his scent, I know it from somewhere." Natsu said quietly.
As she opened her mouth to reply, Lucy was suddenly dragged behind a large bush by Natsu. He covered her mouth with his hand and shushed her to keep quiet, whilst he listened to the footsteps that were quickly approaching. Natsu wouldn't usually hide, but that smell was throwing him off, he needed to know who it was first. He cautiously peered around the edge of the bush at the man who's face had been hidden by a hood. Whoever it was had tattered clothes and looked in need of a good bath.
"I know you're here, Fairy Tail, I've been watching you." The man provoked, trying to lure them out.
Natsu, about to jump out the second he mentioned the guild, was pulled back down by Lucy, who shook her head at him. Huffing in annoyance, he remained seated, for now. It was obvious the man didn't know where they were hiding, so for the time being they had the advantage.
"I saw you both get off the train earlier and so I followed you. What are the odds we should stumble across each other again? Have you come to ruin my life further?" He snarled. Natsu was watching him through the shrubbery, he still couldn't get a good look of his face and that voice, where had he heard it before? Who the hell was this guy?
"Come out and face me you cowards! Or I'll hurt the little girl, you wouldn't want that now, would you?" The man threatened, looking around for the two mages to appear from the trees, but neither did. "Very well, what do you think would happen if I... cut off a few of her fingers? How loud do you think she'd scream? Would you come out then?" He laughed maniacally like all of this was some sick joke to him.
Natsu and Lucy both looked at each other in disbelief, surely he was bluffing? Lucy felt bile come up into her throat, what a disgusting thing to threaten! Luckily, Natsu couldn't see the little girl with him, she was nearby though. He could hear her whimpering and could only hope that she was unharmed.
"No? Fine. Then what about… that little baby of yours? How loud would he scream?" About to laugh again, but was stopped abruptly as he felt himself being choked and lifted off of the ground by a very strong grip around his collar. Yet he still managed to smirk as he stared into the piercing eyes of a very pissed off dragon slayer.
"How do you know my son?!" Natsu bellowed, watching the man begin to struggle against his hold. In his attempt to free himself, the hood finally fell down from the guys head, revealing his face.
"How, indeed…" The man chuckled, his voice strained.
Taken aback, Natsu's eyes were like saucers as he stared into the eyes of none other than Haru's biological father. "It's you!" Natsu exclaimed, his grip tightening around the still smirking man's clothes, his anger returning tenfold. "Start talking! What're you doing here?!" He brought his other fist up and set it alight, this man would pay for what he'd threatened, but first, Natsu needed answers. "Speak! Or I swear I'll scorch that fucking smile right off your face!"
Lucy had taken it upon herself to retrieve the little girl while Natsu dealt with the aggressor. She was absolutely horrified by what he'd said, so much so it was hard to think straight, but she had to remind herself that no matter what, this was one man and Haru was safe at home. Gray and Juvia were powerful mages, they would protect him if anything were to happen.
Once she'd found the poor little thing, Lucy quickly checked her over to make sure she wasn't hurt. Amelia recognised the blonde instantly and jumped into her arms, clinging on for dear life. Lucy tried to calm her down, but it was so heart breaking to see. She began to walk back to where Natsu was, stroking the little girls back as she wept into Lucy's shoulder.
She felt such empathy for the girl, maybe it was because she was now a mother herself, but seeing her in such distress held a lot more meaning then it once did. She could only imagine how Felix and his husband must be feeling, not knowing if their daughter was safe or whether she'd even return home, it must be utterly heart wrenching.
Once she'd reached the clearing, her eyes nearly shot out of her skull, her knees felt like they were about to buckle as she laid eyes upon the man that Natsu's fist was about to make contact with. He yelped out in pain and collapsed onto the ground, clutching at his painful, bloodied nose. Out of all the people it could have been, it had to be him, the man that'd knowingly left Haru to burn in that fire, the man that she never wanted to see or think about again.
Natsu looked over to Lucy, relieved to see that she'd found Amelia, but winced at the clear agony in her eyes from just being in this man's presence again. It must've brought back all of those dreaded worries and memories that she'd tried so hard to get over.
"Lucy, leave him to me, I've got this. Concentrate on Amelia, she needs you right now." Natsu said, trying to reassure her. Caring for the girl was a good distraction and that's exactly what Lucy needed.
Lucy nodded at him, but her eyes were glued to the groaning man on the floor. Her body had frozen in place and she couldn't get rid of the sick feeling in her stomach. She needed to collect herself, Natsu was right, Amelia needed the comfort of an adult, she'd been taken from her bed by the 'bad man' and that must have been so frightening for her. She stayed behind Natsu and sat down on a log, holding the little girl close, soothing her until she calmed down.
"How touching… So, how is the runt doing? Still alive I hear? Unlike my wife you failed to save." He spat the last bit, with blood pouring out from his nose as he looked up to Natsu.
"That's what this is about? You've got some nerve, the baby is none of your concern any more." Natsu sneered, what a pathetic excuse of a man, he was just about ready to singe every last hair on this weasel's body. "You left him to die, what kind of sick bastard does that to his own child?"
"That puny rat was good for nothing, he built a rift between me and my wife yet all he did was make her suffer. It was one complication after another, but I wanted to believe that by supporting her, everything would turn out alright. But it was made clear to me when she gave birth to such a feeble and weak baby, that I could never love it. He was so sickly and small, no son of mine would be so pathetic! But she chose the baby over me, so I walked away." He snarled, only resentment and bitterness with every word he spoke with no sign of compassion for the little one.
"Be quiet! I don't want to hear any more! How can you say such things? He just needed some extra attention which is exactly what we've given to him, because he deserves to be loved." Lucy shook her head in disbelief, as she listened to the man laugh at her words. What was he saying? She felt like crying but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction, not in front of him any way. Taking in a deep breath, she continued, "If you were so appalled by your own child, then why're you kidnapping other peoples? Why are you here?"
"My home was destroyed, remember? I had to get by somehow and those magic flowers I stole sold for a good amount of money, but I wanted more so I thought I'd kidnap the girl and hold her ransom. But you two have ruined my plans again." He said, slowly realising his mistake as he stared into the eyes of a very outraged and riled up Natsu. He felt all of his confidence leave him, he no longer had the little girl as leverage and no way out of the sticky situation he'd gotten himself into.
"Enough talking, I've heard enough of your crap!" Natsu shouted, "I should've done this the first time we met!"
He was struggling to comprehend how such an asshole like this guy, could produce something as sweet and good natured as Haru. It really brought home how glad he was that they'd found the baby when they did, because otherwise… well, it didn't matter now, this man was going to pay for everything.
The man instantly started cowering, reminiscent of his first meeting with Natsu. Suddenly all of his bravado from earlier had gone as Natsu stormed towards him, setting his entire body on fire. Lucy couldn't help but smile at how fiercely protective he was over their family, she felt her earlier fear fade, there was never anything to worry about.
Lucy tapped little Amelia on the shoulder to show her what Natsu had said he'd do earlier that day. Her eyes were wide with amazement, as Natsu used his magic to burn every last inch of the pathetic man until he was no longer conscious, tying him to a tree so the council could come and collect him.
"Wow, Natsu! You really did set that man on fire!" Amelia squealed from Lucy's arms, making the blonde giggle.
"I told ya I would and now the bad man will never come back." He grinned from ear to ear at her, ruffling her hair. "We should get you home, I bet your Papa and Daddy are worried about you?"
He looked to Lucy who smiled at him but he could still see the hurt in her expression, this was a totally unexpected turn of events and she would need time to run it through her head. He took her hand and they walked back to the mansion, breathing in the brisk air to cool themselves off. All of them needed a warm bed and a good nights sleep, they were exhausted both physically and mentally. However, now with the job completed, they could get paid and return home to Haru, and that was worth every single hardship they faced.
Amelia spotted both of her fathers and smiled excitedly at them, once being put down on the ground, she ran as fast as she could and flew into their arms, never wanting to let go. Natsu and Lucy watched as the little family were reunited and it was incredibly heart warming.
"Thank you so much for everything you've done! There isn't enough on this planet we could give to thank you for returning Amelia to us." Felix's husband said to them, unable to control the happy tears that slid down his face.
"Hey, don't worry about it, she's one brave little girl. The thief has been taken care of as well." Natsu said, pride emanating from him for being the one that defeated him. Although, he was a little disappointed that he'd not been a mage, all that talk and no substance. That was usually the case with people that wanted to take him on, even when they were mages, they very rarely stood a chance.
"I have your reward here actually, I wanted to give it to you now as a thank you." Felix said, passing the huge bag of money to Natsu.
"Whoa, you sure you counted this correctly? Seems a bit heavy!" Lucy rolled her eyes, typical Natsu and his blabber mouth!
"I doubled it, that's why it's heavier. You've been so kind to us all and you even befriended Amelia who I'm sure is going to be talking about you two for a very long time. She's going to miss you both dearly." Felix looked over to where his husband was standing with little Amelia in his arms, smiling and laughing. "You two have gone beyond what either of us expected and above everything you kept our daughter safe, for which I could never repay you for."
Now Lucy felt bad, he'd been so generous since their arrival that she didn't feel deserving of the extra money, but it would come in handy with Haru, that's for sure. "That's very sweet of you, but are you sure? You were offering a large amount as it is and now that your business is going down are you sure you want to double it?" Lucy asked.
"Don't worry about that, we'll get by. Family is more important, right?" Felix smiled at them before bidding them good night.
Natsu and Lucy returned to the guest house, smiles on both of their faces at the extra money. Now they wouldn't have to work for a while and would have all that free time at home with Haru, to watch him grow.
Lucy collapsed onto the couch by the window and sighed, today had been a mind fuck and that was putting it lightly. Natsu grabbed a water cannister from his bag and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed opposite her, not sure if she wanted to talk or be left alone to think. He took a few large gulps of liquid before chucking it to her, hoping it would refresh her somewhat. After what seemed like hours of staring into the abyss, she finally spoke up.
"I'm sorry I wasn't much help back there, when I saw who it was, I froze. I don't know what came over me." Lucy said, staring into her lap and avoiding Natsu's gaze.
"But you saved the girl, and you made sure she was okay, that's still helping Luce. Seeing that guy threw me off as well, I definitely wasn't expecting to see him." Natsu said, he understood how she felt, it was a shock, for sure.
"Is that really what jealousy and grief does? We've met some pretty awful people but there has always been some sort of reason behind their actions, but I'm struggling to understand his reasoning for despising his own child so much." Lucy finally looked up to Natsu, he looked so serious, this wasn't like him at all, it was probably troubling him just as much.
"There is no reason, Luce. We've all been through grief, he's obviously a very sick and twisted person, but in the end, he's the one missing out, not us. While he's lost everything, we've gained our little boy. Haru's what made us a family and that's something I'll be forever thankful for." Natsu said, he realised then just how much he truly missed his son. As nice as it was to go on a job again, he was ready to go home and he could see Lucy was too.
"I miss him too, Natsu." Lucy said quietly, smiling at him. He didn't even need to tell her what he was thinking, she already knew.
Natsu moved himself to sit next to her. Reaching out, he cupped the sides of her face in his hands with the most delicate touch, like she was some fragile piece of porcelain and gave her a half smile. She always wore her heart on her sleeve and tried to see things through the eyes of others, and he could tell it was affecting her that she couldn't do that this time, not with what that guy had done. But he admired her for it just the same, it was a quality she'd always possessed, one that'd attracted him to her in the first place.
He pulled her face in, grinning as his nose brushed ever so lightly against hers, "We have some unfinished business to attend to, Lucy." He wanted her so badly, especially after what'd happened, he didn't think he could wait much longer.
She looked deep into his stunning green eyes and smiled back, allowing him to capture her lips in a slow, passionate kiss. Instantly, they both felt every negative emotion slowly leave their bodies and were left with the tingling sensation on their lips, where their mouths merged together in a fluid motion over and over again.
He hoisted her up and carried her over to the bed, lifting the covers and placing her gently down on the soft sheets, never breaking contact. He climbed on top of her and continued to assault her mouth with his, sucking lightly on her bottom lip. Natsu wanted to venture further, to explore places he hadn't been yet. Breaking off from her lips, he made his way, ever so attentively, up her jaw, down to her ear and onto her neck, leaving wet, open-mouthed kisses in his wake.
She felt like she was in heaven, as he greedily swallowed each and every sound she made. Hearing her gasp and moan as he savoured her sensitive skin, made him want to just take her and throw caution to the wind, but he had more self-control then that, that day would come eventually. If this was how she reacted with just a bit of heavy petting, then god knows how she'd feel if he went any further.
But tonight wasn't that night, he didn't want to push it too far and so kept all activity above the collar bone and so did she. They continued like this for who knows how long before eventually breaking away and falling asleep. Lucy was nicely snuggled up to Natsu, relishing in his warmth and he was sprawled out, taking full advantage of the enormous bed.
Both of their lips had been thoroughly used and abused and their skin looked red and swollen. She was definitely going to have marks in the morning, but it didn't matter because she'd given as good as she'd got, so with any luck, Natsu would too and she couldn't wait to see his reaction at her handy work.
Hi guys, I hope you enjoyed, even if it was a bit darker, but they finally completed their first job away from the baby. There are a few things from this chapter that haven't been answered, which will be explained in the next chapter, it would be way too long otherwise. Thank you for reading!
#Nalu#nalu fanfic#nalu fanfiction#fairy tail nalu#fairy tail#fairy tail fanfiction#fairytail#fairy tail 100 year quest#fanfic#fanfiction#natsu dragneel#Natsu and Lucy#natsu x lucy#natsu lucy#lucy heartfilia#natsu
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The trouble of owning a dragon
Fairy Tail, Nalu, friendship, romance & fluff
Lucy ends up becoming the owner of a small, troublesome dragon. However, owning a dragon is not a simple matter -especially when the dragon turns out to be not a dragon.
Chapter 2 (ao3) (ff)
Lucy would have stuffed the dragon into her bag if she didn’t think he would dig his way through it. But now that she was standing at the train station, she wondered if sacrificing her favorite bag would have been worth it. Natsu seemed beyond agitated and ready to take off at any second.
He was sitting on her shoulder, tail wrapped tightly around her neck and claws digging hard into her shoulder. She had tried easing his grip on her a few times, but it only worked for a minute or so before he was back to clamping onto her. Lucy could tell he was nervous about something, she just didn’t know what. She had expected this to go like it had yesterday, with him hissing at every human that looked their way. But no, it wasn’t like that at all.
Natsu’s odd stillness and neediness to hang onto her had started that morning, when Lucy had tried telling him how to behave on the train. He’d started making distressed sounds and clawing at her luggage. She knew he was trying to tell her something, but the problem was, she didn’t speak dragon.
And now he was just sitting in his place, not making a sound, staring at the train tracks with unblinking eyes. He hadn’t so much as looked at the man that had bumped into her on the way here!
Lucy was getting more worried the longer this went on. He hadn’t even finished his breakfast! Had she broken him somehow? What was she supposed to do with an ill dragon? She didn’t think that any vet in Magnolia was qualified to treat dragons. Ugh, this whole dragon business was a nightmare!
Petting the side of his head with her hand, she tried calming him as much as herself with the repetitive movement. Even though Natsu hadn’t hurt her in the small amount of time she’d had him, she was still a little distrustful of the dragon, half expecting to be bitten for touching him. He didn’t bite her though, he barely acknowledged her at first. She stroked her finger against his scaled cheek a few times before he lightly leaned himself against her hand. His gaze didn’t stray from the train tracks though.
“Natsu,” she cooed softly, trying to distract him from whatever it was that was causing him worry. Reluctantly, the dragon tilted his head to look at her. “What’s wrong?”
She wasn’t sure why she kept talking to him as if he could actually answer, but somehow it felt right. There was an odd spark in his eyes when she talked to him, something that told her he wasn’t just about his instincts; he was far smarter than that. Like he was capable processing and understanding in a way that wasn’t normal for an animal of any kind.
Natsu looked at her a with serious eyes before his head snapped towards the sound of the approaching train. He inched closer to her head and leaned against it.
Was she imagining it or was the dragon trembling slightly?
The sound of the train whistle had Natsu standing on his hind legs and screeching in distress while his wings flapped in alarmed manner. Well, one of them was flapping, the other just rammed against her cheek repeatedly.
Was he afraid of the train? How was that possible? Dragons didn’t travel with trains... Unless he’d been transported with it earlier and the experience had traumatized the poor creature.
Lucy cursed herself for not asking more questions from the shopkeeper. Was he the one to traumatize Natsu, or was the wizard who sold him responsible?
“Hey, Natsu, it’s going to be okay. Trains aren’t that bad. Whatever has you so spooked about them is not going to be a problem, I promise.” Lucy tried to soothe him, though her words seemed to fall on deaf ears.
She wanted to hug him close, partly to try and calm him and partly to make sure he didn’t take off on his own. Nervous dragon loose on the crowded train platform was just asking for trouble. She couldn’t act on her wish to hold him though, since she had to keep a hold of her luggage. The best she could do at the moment was try and grab his tail again if he decided to make a run (fly?) for it.
Of course she could summon one of her spirits to lend a hand, but Lucy was a little worried about how Natsu would react to something like that, and this definitely wasn’t the place to find out. Once they were back in Magnolia however, the celestial mage planned on familiarizing Natsu with all her spirits. She had a feeling they would be needed to help her manage the dragon.
As the train rumbled to a stop at the station, Lucy kept one hand at the ready to catch him while also murmuring soft words of comfort, though she didn’t think it was helping much.
Lucy waited until most of the crowd had filtered out of the way before making her way into the train. Natsu was tense on her shoulder, his claws biting through her shirt and into her skin. Deciding that reprimanding him would be cruel considering his current state, Lucy tried her best to walk with quick and steady steps to their seats. Beyond glad that she had managed to book both of the seats in order to avoid any incidents, she pushed her luggage next to the wall and sat down.
Prying Natsu off of her shoulder turned out to be surprisingly difficult. He was sitting rigidly and his claws were tangled in the material of her t-shirt. It took some tugging as well as ruining her shirt, but she had him sitting on her palms just in time for when the train to started moving.
And just like that, Natsu was laying flat on her hands, the bright red color of his scales dulling before her eyes and turning a concerning shade of light pink. Even his unusually warm body seemed to cool in an instant.
“Natsu?” she whispered, poking him gently with her thumb. All she got was a little grumble. “...Are you motion sick?” She really couldn’t think of another reason for his sudden look of illness.
Tail wound tightly around his small body, Natsu tucked himself into a little ball and nuzzled her palm.
“Oh, you poor little thing.”
She held him close to her chest with hand while using the other to fish out a few napkins from her handbag. Carefully so not to pounce him around too badly, she tugged the napkins under the sick dragon -just in case. “Would you like some water or food? I think eating something salty might help.”
If the sound he made was any indication, he didn’t.
Lucy stroked softly along his back, murmuring what she hoped were comforting words and trying her best not to jostle him. The next few hours would be long for the tiny creature and she felt awful for unknowingly putting him through this. What a horrible way for him to spend the second day with his new carer.
Hopefully he won’t hate me after this, she thought grimly.
When the ticker inspector stopped to chat with her, Lucy felt terrible for being relieved of the dragon’s current condition. But honestly, letting your dragon tear into a train employee was a sure way to get kicked off the train... Though Natsu would probably be happy about that.
Hours later, when they finally arrived to Magnolia, Lucy nudged Natsu to crawl around her neck, where he hung limp. While cursing at the way her hands were cramping after petting him for so long, she gathered her bags and rushed out of the train as fast as she could.
She really hoped that some fresh air would be all that the dragon needed to feel better. And luckily, it really didn’t take long for Natsu to start lifting his head in order to look around. Lucy suspected that the heavenly scent from the bakery was a great motivator for his improved health.
“Don’t even think about it,” Lucy warned when she saw him eyeing a burger stand. “Food is going to have to wait until we get home.” She wasn’t going to temp faith after surviving the train ride without any incidents.
Natsu growled in displeasure and gazed longingly to where the food was located. But thankfully, he remained on her shoulder even he wasn’t happy to do so. Lucy reached up to scratch under his chin, hoping to placate him. “I’m glad that you are feeling better.”
He looked at her, still offended for having been denied food but he seemed to cheer up when she promised he would get to eat soon . He clicked happily at her before nuzzling her cheek. Stars, he was adorable.
As soon as she pushed open her apartment door, Natsu shot off her shoulder to explore. Lucy was slower to follow him to the living room, dropping her bags to the floor, she watched as Natsu flew around the room before landing on her dresser. He sniffed and poked at the nick-knacks there, and Lucy could only hope that he didn’t try to eat anything there.
She took the time to empty her luggage while Natsu got busy crawling around every available surface. He was very interested in the bed, rolling on the blankets and digging himself under the covers. The next time she looked up, she found him nosing through her desk and the papers there. She didn’t waste time jumping up to shoo him away. “No! Don’t touch those, I’ve-”
But Natsu wasn’t listening to her since he was already speeding towards the kitchen. Lucy grumbled under her breath and followed after him to make sure he didn’t destroy anything.
They were both disgruntled to find that Lucy did not, in fact, have anything to eat in her kitchen. As it turned out, she had forgotten that she had planned to do the shopping once she’d been paid for her latest job.
Lucy slammed her head against the fridge in frustration. Her two options were to go shopping with hungry and less-than-happy Natsu (because leaving him alone in her apartment seemed like a bad idea) or head to the guild and eat there.
It wasn’t difficult to decide that the guild would be the better option. None of her friends would sue her for the damage Natsu did, and her guildmates would have to meet the dragon sooner or later -might as well get that out of the way. And she did need to go inform Mira that her mission had been a success and she was back, safe and sound. So the Guildhall it was.
“All right then.” She plucked Natsu off the kitchen table where he was sulking and held him in front of her. “We are going to head for the guild where we can eat. BUT! No biting or clawing at anyone unless I tell you to, got it?”
He only wagged his tail in excitement over the promise of food.
Lucy let him clime to his usual spot around her neck before snatching up her bag and marching out the door. She had hoped to feed Natsu at home and then try to introduce him to some of her spirits -she still needed to see if Aries wanted to make a contract- before venturing into the crowds with him, but this couldn’t be helped. Though she would have felt far more comfortable knowing that she could safely call for her spirits to help if Natsu went on a rampage.
Luckily the streets were calm and Natsu was more focused on the prospect of food than he was on the passersby. Lucy tried to distract him further by telling him about her family at the guild. She was pleased to find that he seemed to be interested in what she had to say. He became very excited when Mira’s cooking skills were mentioned and grumpy when Gray’s stripping habit came up. All in all, she was curious to see how Natsu would settle in.
The dragon on her shoulder tensed when she walked through the massive double doors of the guildhall. There weren’t that many people around, but Natsu shifted nervously as Lucy replied to the few hellos that were yelled in her direction.
“It’s all right. They are all friends,” she cooed at him while trying to pry the claws off of her shoulder. She took a seat at the bar, grateful that the others were sitting around the tables and no one was nearby to harass Natsu just yet. That is, until Mirajane popped up from behind the bar, startling the poor dragon badly enough that he nearly fell from his spot.
“Lucy! You’re back! And you brought a friend.” Mira’s eyes zeroed in on Natsu, and she giggled when he hissed at the barmaid. “Can’t say that we’ve had dragons inside the guild before.”
“No, Natsu,” Lucy reprimanded him sternly when he made a swipe towards the other woman. “This is Mirajane. The one I told you about, remember? The one who won’t feed us if you bite her.”
Natsu looked between Lucy and Mira a few times, before he dared to move himself on top of the bar. He approached the new person carefully, keeping his eyes nailed to her like he was expecting an attack. Mira lowered her hand slowly for him to sniff. After a long minute that had Lucy biting her lip nervously, Natsu sat back and gave what looked like a nod. The two women took that to mean that he was accepting Mira as not a thread.
“Oh my, aren’t you adorable.” Lucy could tell from her tone that the she-devil was finding it difficult not to cuddle the scaled creature. “How on Earth Land did you get yourself a dragon?”
“Ugh, not on purpose.” Lucy shook her head, still finding it hard to believe that she had an actual dragon. “It involved a sleazy, blackmailing shopkeeper -whose shop you should never visit, by the way- and my desperation to get Aries’ key.”
“Oh, you finally found the key! Loki must be pleased. And I’m sure Aries is happy to have a home with you too.” Mira clapped her hands together in a joyful manner and smiled widely. She knew just how long Lucy had been looking for that one key.
Lucy shrugged and glanced at Natsu, who was following the conversation with narrowed eyes. “I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to either of them yet, but I’m planning on it once we’ve had something to eat.” She smiled hopefully.
“Say no more. I assume you want your usual? And...uh...what do dragons eat?”
Lucy decided on a large steak for Natsu, though she had to assure Mira that the dragon could definitely handle the big meal despite his size. And he seemed eager to prove her right with the way he inhaled the meat as soon as it was placed in front of him. Lucy ate her burger and fries with more manners while chatting with Mira about the details of her last mission.
“Has Happy returned yet?” Lucy asked after finishing her milkshake. Natsu had seemed to fall into a food coma next to his plate.
Mira shook her head. “Not yet. I got a word from Wendy right after you left for your job; they got sidetracked at the beginning of the mission and are just now getting started with their monster hunt.”
Lucy frowned a little at the information. As annoying as the talking cat could be, she was really missing the little guy. They’d been friends and roommates for the past three years that Lucy had been in the guild, and the cat’s presence in her life was something she had gotten used to. Recently though, Happy had started tacking along on their newest member’s quests -Lucy assumed that it had to do with the female cat that was always glued to Wendy’s side. Not that Lucy could blame the cat for his interest -heavens knew that Lucy would have ditched Happy in a heartbeat for the chance to go on adventures with a hot dude.
And maybe it was better that Happy wasn’t around just yet, since it gave Natsu the time to grow used to his new environment without the added stress factor of having to share his home and Lucy’s attention right away.
Or he would grow used to it being just the two of them and the addition of Happy would bring a disaster.
“Do you happen to know where Levy is? I could use some help researching dragons.”
“Oh yes. She had a fight with Gajeel this morning and she stormed out. Said she had a headache and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.” Lucy wondered what Gajeel had done that was bad enough to drive Levy out of the guild library for a full day.
The Celestial mage slumped in her seat a little. She didn’t wan’t to bother Levy with this if she was still pissed over the dragon slayer. Of course she could do the research on her own, but Levy would speed up the process considerably. And Lucy worried that Natsu would grow bored if all her focus was solely on the research, and that he would end up destroying the books. Levy would -understandably- murder them if that happened.
“When she shows up, could you tell her about Natsu and that I need help researching dragons?”
At Mira’s agreement, Lucy said her goodbyes, scooped up the still passed out dragon and headed for the door. While she usually liked to hang around the guild, it seemed best to give Natsu time to grow used to all this. Sticking to short, food filled visits at first so that he would associate the place with good things (those being food and attention from Lucy), before starting to introduce him to the other members of Fairy Tail.
She was just about to reach the doors when someone slammed themselves right into her back, knocking Natsu out of her arms and onto the floor. He was quick to pounce back to his feet, angry eyes and hisses directed at the person pressed to her back.
So much for nice and calm introductions.
“Lucy! You gotta help me! It’s Erza, she’s gonna ki-” Gray stopped his fear filled rambling as soon as he noticed the growling creature on the floor. “Shit! The fuck is that? Lucy get back!” He yanked her behind himself and got ready to use his maker magic.
Before Lucy had time to tell Gray to back down, or to calm Natsu, the dragon had already launched himself at the ice wizard. She had to scramble to get out the way, when Gray took instinctive steps back to avoid the attack.
“No!” She watched in horror as Gray swung a bat made of ice, hitting Natsu with a sickening thud and sending the tiny dragon flying across the air. Natsu didn’t seem injured though, he flapped open his wings in order to stop his momentum.
For a moment he hung in the air, eyes flicking between Lucy and Gray. She took a careful step forward, holding her hands out in a calming manner. “It’s okay, Natsu. Gray didn’t mean to-”.
She didn’t get to the end of the sentence before Gray reached his arm out to stop her from going too close. After that, it was no surprise to Lucy that Natsu dove towards Gray again. He threw up his arms, making an icy shield to hide behind. Natsu managed to stop just before hitting the obstacle while also starting to breath fire towards the shield.
Lucy stared in alarm, uncertain on what she should do. It was doubtful that either of them would listen to her now, and stepping between them seemed like a good way to get hurt. Before she could waste any more time, a new voice broke in.
“Gray! What do you think you’re doing?” Lucy’s eyes snapped towards Erza, who was looming behind them, looking as intimidating as ever -even with strawberry cake smeared across her shirt. Both Gray and Natsu stopped what they were doing, their attention drawn towards Erza. “If you think that just because you’re fighting a dragon, I’m going to forget about you knocking over my cake, you are mistaken.”
Oh, poor Gray.
“N-now, hold on...” The ice-make wizard had gone pale and was now trying to inch his way towards the doors, remnants of the shield melting on the ground and Natsu completely forgotten. “I-I didn’t mean to do that, it was an accident.”
Erza grabbed Gray by the labels before he could make a run for it, and hauled him up. “You didn’t even apologize!” She shook her head in disappointment. “Honestly, I thought you were raised better. But it seems I need to teach you some more manners.”
Lucy watched with mild worry for her friend, as Erza dragged the petrified Gray away. The guildhall had gone completely silent, all the occupants having been caught up in the entertainment of the past few minute.
Natsu was still hovering in the air looking baffled, when Lucy snatched him back into her arms. “Well, we’re going now!” she shouted over her shoulder as she rushed outside. Natsu had started to struggle in her arms, intending to go back and finish the fight.
“No, Natsu. Gray is a friend. What happened was an accident and you two shouldn’t fight.” Lucy tried her best to get him to settle, but the dragon tried to wriggle his way to freedom until they were back in the safety of her apartment where he just sulked and glared at her. He huffed at her words and flew away from her.
“Do not give me that look. I’m not letting you hurt my friends.” Lucy collapsed onto her couch and motioned the dragon to fly closer. “Or them you. Come here, I need to see that you aren’t injured.”
Not that she would know what to do with an injured dragon. Stars, Porlyusica would scowl her all the way to hell, if she brought a dragon in for treatment.
Truly, there had better be some kind of ‘how to’ -guide for taking care of a dragon.
Natsu took his time before deciding to land in her lap in order to let her inspect him. She was very gentle about touching along his sides and pushing carefully against his stomach, worried that the hit Gray had give had caused some serious damage. She was relieved to find that Natsu didn’t seem bothered by her poking, meaning that there was probably no broken ribs or internal bleeding.
“Oh, thank the Stars. We don’t need to risk our lives visiting Porlyusica,” Lucy breathed out and started to run her fingertips lightly over the laid-down spikes along his spine. Natsu seemed to enjoy the petting, judging by the way he was stretching his back into her touch. If he was a cat, Lucy was sure he would be purring.
Eventually, he tipped over to lay on his back like a dog wanting to get it’s belly scratched. Lucy laughed a little before doing just that. Underneath his chin seemed to be the sweet-spot for scratching.
Marveling over how warm he was, she smoothed over the scales, taking note of the fact that the scales were far softer on his stomach than they were on the other parts of his body.
She also found that he had a single white scale just under his jaw, which stood out against the deep red that otherwise covered him. How odd.
When she tried to stop the stroking, he wrapped his tail around her wrist to drag her hand back. He was far too adorable and she couldn’t make herself stop the petting just yet.
Soon enough, Natsu was relaxed and snoring, the stress from earlier forgotten. Once she was sure he was sleeping deeply enough, Lucy risked summoning Virgo as quietly as she could.
“Good eve-” Lucy cut off the spirits greeting with a frantic shushing and pointing towards the sleeping dragon. She didn’t even want to think how he would react waking up to stranger in the room.
Though Virgo, the masochist that she was, would probably thank Natsu for the mauling.
“Hi, I’m sorry. I kind of need your help right now, but please try not to wake Natsu.” Lucy looked at the spirit pleadingly.
“Of course, Princess. What would you need me to do?” Virgo whispered back, already looking eager to receive a task.
“Could you go grocery shopping for me, please?” Lucy cringed a little. She felt awful about asking things like this from her spirits, but taking Natsu to the market might be too much after what happened earlier. “I would do it myself, but Natsu has already started one fight today.”
“I would be happy to.” Virgo’s eyes were shining with happiness, which eased Lucy’s guilt a little. “Would you also need assistance with the dragon?”
“No, thank you. Natsu is a new addition to our family -he just needs some time to adjust before meeting you all.” She scratched his chin with a little more pressure, smiling at the way one of his back legs (paws?) kicked in response.
“Alright. Do you want me to inform the other spirits of his presence?”
“If you don’t mind. He might be a little protective of me, but I would like him to meet you all. He’s going to tack along to my missions and it would be good if he had no problems with you guys popping in.” Lucy looked up quickly, remembering what had started all this. “Could you also pass along my apologies to Aries for the delay with summoning her? I have been dying to meet her and talk about maybe making a contract, but I got Natsu at the same time I got her key, so things have been kinda hectic.”
Virgo smiled softly and nodded. “I’ll be sure to tell her. We are all very excited about you finding her key. Loki has already made a list of ways he can show you his gratitude.”
Lucy was still mulling over the threat that was Loki’s gratitude, while Virgo collected Lucy’s wallet and left the apartment.
Natsu was a little like a cat, in the sense that once he decided to fall asleep on her lap, she couldn’t find in in her heart to move him. So instead, she spend a good hour sitting on her couch petting him. Virgo had returned, filled her kitchen and left for the spirit realm long before the dragon finally decided to get up.
The rest of the day was spent cooking for tomorrow (Natsu seemed puzzled by the suddenly full fridge) and cleaning the apartment, with Natsu sticking close by the whole time.
When the sun started to go down, Lucy gave Natsu a rundown of tomorrows plan. He was not happy at the prospect of having to meet Lucy’s spirits. Which meant that Lucy felt the need to give him a good long lecture on how biting your friends was a bad thing that we don’t do, before letting him crawl into bed with her. He, of course, spend a considerable amount of time traveling under the covers and refusing to settle down. Lucy suspected that it was a revenge for the lecture. She was already pretty annoyed by the time he finally decided to curl himself into the crook of her shoulder.
As if sensing her less-than-good mood, he poked her cheek with his snout a few times, instantly melting her.
“Alright, alright,” laughing a little, she gently nudged his head away from her cheek. “Just go to sleep already.”
After one more nuzzle to her chin, he laid down, his head resting over her neck. Lucy couldn’t help but feel a little happy as she fell asleep.
#fairy tail#Nalu#nalu fanfic#natsu dragneel#lucy heartfilia#My writing#the trouble of owning a dragon
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PROMPT TIME BABE. Give us some WereNorman being assisted by Sammy and Abby in escaping captivity in big wolf form. Who then takes them away to his pack to meet and get Sammy red as the wolf turns back to a hot man.
This took an unexpected turn, so it's not exactly what you asked. Still good I promise!
Summary: Sammy was pretty sure this was a fairytale in the making. He'd always dreamt of moving to the city and starting a career as a prestigious musician, adored by all for his magnificent compositions, far away from his father's cattle ranch and especially from the reach of his witch of a step-mother. Usually though, fairytales tended to send a fairy godmother to one's aid, not an intelligent and positively massive wolf...
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[[MORE]]
There was a part of Samuel Lawrence Jr that felt like he'd missed out on something very big. An opportunity to achieve more, rather than end up where he was now. Still living in the ranch he'd called a home since birth. Granted his little family had changed after his mother's passing, his father welcoming another woman into his life and both baring a little sister that Sammy often looked after himself.
It wasn't too bad of a life. He worked hard and got to reap the fruits of his labour without much hassle, but it felt... Incomplete. Like he could be more than another simple farmer.
He could have been great.
"I think you're bored of it all." Abigail once said, as both sat by this one big and very old tree that he'd play his banjo under, after escaping the scrutiny of his parents. His little sanctuary of sorts, in the form of a dried up husk home to god only knew what critters. "You're an adult now, and you've never really got to go farther than the town nearby."
"Not for a lack of trying..." he sighed. He'd wanted to leave many times, but there was always an excuse keeping him tied. His father's age, the need to keep the ranch in good condition, his step-mother's discouraging and downright abusive insults... He couldn't leave as he pleased. He was bound by duty.
"Maybe one day you'll get your lucky break." She offered one of her sweet little smiles, the ones that tried to offer him her unending optimism. "Maybe we both will... The ranch is beautiful and all, but I'd like to see the world and make friends."
They couldn't have imagined that their lucky break was indeed just over the horizon. Nearing with each nightfall and each changing phase of the moon. Until one night, it finally presented itself.
Sammy jolted out of bed when he heard gunshots. The moon was at its fullest and brightest, and he cursed as the light stung his eyes ever so slightly. He'd left his window open to let in the cool breeze, since his room often got stuffy.
Pulling on his coat and boots, the blond rushed downstairs and grabbed his gun, wondering if someone had come back to steal more chickens like in the last few months. His father had sworn he'd shoot dead whichever son of a bitch tried to mess with his coops again.
To Sammy's surprise the gunshots stopped as quickly as they began, and he found Samuel Sr barricading the barn from outside.
"What's going on?" He asked, noticing that Abigail had come to investigate the ruckus, while her mother watched from the window.
"A wolf. A whole mountain of a fucking beast was stealing the hens!" Their father hissed as he made sure the lock was in place. "Need my bigger gun. Fucker ain't leaving my farm with his life!"
He ran back inside, presumably to look for his bigger gun. The one he kept in a safe in his room for reasons Sammy never quite understood. His step-mother retreated from the window, closing the shutters with a slam. Leaving Sammy and Abby alone to look at each other.
"... We're not just letting dad kill a wolf, right?" The girl asked, looking mildly put off.
"I mean... It was stealing chickens." He shrugged. He was pretty sure it wasn't illegal to kill wolves, even if they were becoming a bit of a rare sight these days.
"It was probably just hungry! We can't punish an animal for doing what it has to survive!" Abigail pouted. "It's like if dad shot me for eating all the chocolate spread."
"It's not the same, and I knew you'd done it you little scamp!" He glared slightly in annoyance before shaking his head. "What do you propose? That we break a window in the back and just let it run free?"
"Yes! That's a great idea! Maybe it won't come back after such a fright." Abigail smiled brightly at him and Sammy had a feeling her optimism knew as much sanity as it knew an end. This was a crazy idea.
"Abby..."
"Please Sammy...?" She looked at him pleadingly. How could he resist that face?
So here he was, at the back of the barn pushing over a stack of hay that obscured one of the larger windows.
"This better be worth it and the mutt better have some sense and run off..." Not a minute after, something truly massive jumped out of the now open window and stared at both of them. It was a tremendously large black wolf, as black as tar, with coarse fur and a single yellow eye. Sammy's blood ran cold once he realized that from sheer size and muscle it could easily overpower the big old ornery bull his father used to breed his cows.
Instead of displaying any form of aggression however, the beast stared at them both, nodded its head in a rather human fashion, and offered them a paw (which Sammy noted looked disturbingly humanoid in its shape).
"I..."
"He's offering to shake...?" Abigail was just as confused by the creature's behaviour. "I think... I think it would be rude not to accept?"
"Well... I... Sure, this might as well happen." He took the offered paw. Next thing he knew, both he and Abigal were being carried away by a bipedal thing that looked like a wolf, but sure as hell didn't act like one.
Sammy was pretty sure this was a fairytale in the making. He'd always dreamt of moving to the city and starting a career as a prestigious musician, adored by all for his magnificent compositions, far away from his father's cattle ranch and especially from the reach of his witch of a step-mother. Usually though, fairytales tended to send a fairy godmother to one's aid, not an intelligent and positively massive wolf...
Said creature ran pretty quickly on its hind legs while carrying a young adult and a teenager. Both who were too stunned to even make a peep.
They weren't even sure where they were, since they'd never really ventured so far into the woods before.
After what seemed like an eternity, they stopped by a tree stump. The wolf set them down and stretched, before motioning for them to stay put and going towards a small pond to take a drink.
".... Abigail?"
"Yes?"
"I'm never relenting to any of your requests ever again..."
"That's fair."
The wolf returned, tail wagging like a pleased dog. It appeared to be gesturing strangely at them, which left both scratching their heads in confusion. Noticing their looks, the wolf smacked its own muzzle and then proceeded to write in the dirt with it's big dirty claws.
'Thank you kindly, you folks saved my hide.'
"Oh my god it can write..." Sammy put his face in his hands. The absurdity of it all was making him feel hysterical.
The wolf wrote once more.
'Of course I can write. You never seen a werewolf before?'
"A werewolf!" Abigail gawked "I thought those weren't real..."
"They're not. I probably just hit my head and am hallucinating all of this..." He yelled once she'd pinched him. The wolf was still there and staring at him with what appeared to be an unamused look on its face. "Or maybe not..."
'You done?' it wrote, sounding quite sassy without even needing to vocalize it. 'As I was saying, you folks saved my hide, so I'm in your debt.'
"Debt? What do you mean...? Like, a favour for a favour?" Abigail frowned "We were just doing what was right, even though you were kind of stealing from us."
'Which is why I'm in your debt. I wronged you, but you still chose to be merciful. As such I'm offering you both my services.' the wolf bowed, and the two noted the pale spot on its chest just below its neck that made it look like it was wearing some sort of cravat. 'If you graciously accept, I will consult with my pack so as to request some leave for a while until I repay you in kind.'
"Is any of this necessary?" Sammy gulped. Having an intelligent wolf working for them felt a little odd.
'Very. It's the proper etiquette for us wolves. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Be it in the good or bad sense.' the wolf bowed again. 'I was raised properly, unlike some of the other brutes that call themselves real wolves... A bunch of fools is what they are. Getting shot at and giving us all a bad name.'
Ironic considering he'd been stealing from a ranch and got shot at himself.
"I think it'd be rude not to accept such an offer." Abby finally said.
"Abigail!"
"Sammy, this is what we've been waiting for! If he can help us get to the big city, we could really start our lives!" The girl insisted. "Don't you want to be happy?"
'The big city uh? I got a home in New York, I could definitely show you kind folk around.'
"How does a wolf get a house in New York City?!" Sammy was a little incredulous at the claim.
'I'm only a wolf once a month, that's how. The commute to these parts is hell with how traffic is like there. Takes about three days to get here, and I usually spend the end of the month with my pack.' the wolf huffed 'Which is why I'm consulting with them if you accept. Deal, or no deal?'
Abigail stared at her brother pleadingly, and even the wolf's gaze was glued to him. Sammy didn't see a way out of this, and then again did he really want to?
"Fine, but we need to pack up..."
"Great!"
'Excellent, sun will be up in a few. I'll take you back to your home and meet with you in the morning. Keep a look out for a Norman Polk.'
And so it was.
The wolf snuck them back to the ranch, where they packed up their things as their father searched frantically for the escaped wolf. Once they were done, Abigail snuck their bags to the big tree they hung out by, and both sought out their father, explaining the beast had fled and they'd tried to chase it to no avail.
In the morning they are breakfast as usual, got washed up and dressed, then waited.
Near sundown, a tall and rather handsome man with only one eye approached them.
"Norman Polk?" Sammy asked.
"In the human meatsuit." The man bowed, grinning rather wolfishly. "Yous ready to depart?"
"Yes." Both replied giddily.
"Great. Let's get goin', before your crazy pa comes out with that bigass gun o' his..."
This really was like a fairytale. Where they got their happy ending thanks to a kindly entity that respected the olden rules of equivalent exchange.
Except instead of a fairy godmother, Sammy and Abby ended up with a werewolf indebted to them. A new start seemed like fair enough of an arrangement to repay them fully.
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Breaking the Spell: A Stucky fic to Benefit Planned Parenthood
I’ve been writing ficlets for donations to Planned Parenthood. For more information, see this post. Leavinghope_AO3 asked for something where Steve treats Bucky very softly. Thank you so much!!!
“Oh fuck,” Bucky says, doubling over. Steve runs in front of him, blocking a second blast from the wizard with his shield, then flinging it at the wizard. It connects, the wizard flopping backwards as it ricochets off of him and returns to Steve. Natasha runs up to him as he tries to stand up and stuns him long enough that he goes down.
That’s when Steve realizes that Bucky hasn’t gotten back up.
He looks behind him and Bucky is… out. Steve drops to his knees, checking Bucky’s pulse — still there — and breath — still breathing. Thank God. “Bucky’s hurt,” Steve says into his earpiece. “I need transport.”
— —
“You can leave his side,” Natasha says a few hours later. He’s sitting in Bucky’s hospital room, holding onto his left hand with both of his. “One of us can take over.”
“I’m okay,” Steve says with a small smile. “I want to be here when he wakes up.”
Natasha exhales, takes a seat on the other chair by Bucky’s bedside. “Tests came back inconclusive. Looks like he was hit with some kind of magic.”
“It was a red beam of some kind.” He squeezes Bucky’s hand a little tighter. “We should probably get Wanda over here, see if there’s anything she can do to help.”
“Good call.”
She pauses. Steve looks over. “What?”
“You could try kissing him,” she says.
“Natasha.” He shakes his head, looks back down at Bucky’s face. He’s not even grey; he looks like he’s asleep. His eyelashes look so long.
“It’s worth a shot, if it’s magic. Fairy tales have a grain of truth in them, don’t they?”
“I’m not going to kiss Bucky. That’s not what we do.” He reaches out and smooths a hand over Bucky’s hair, pushing it out of his face. Steve would hate it if there was something bothering him while he slept, like ticklish hair. When he pulls his hand back, he takes a deep breath. “Besides, I think the true love has to be requited.”
He doesn’t know why he says it; it’s been sitting in his chest long enough that he should be able to keep it quiet. But maybe if one person knew, if just one person understood what seeing Bucky like this is doing to him, then maybe…
Well, he doesn’t know what. But it would maybe it would mean something.
“Are you sure about that?” Natasha asks.
“It’s all been enough, just getting to be with him again. I’ll take him any way he’ll have me.” He looks up and over at Natasha with a heartbreaking smile. “It’s enough but I don’t want to kiss him. I don’t want to know that it’s not returned.”
There’s a long moment where Natasha just looks at him. “Okay,” she says. She leans over and presses a soft kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be back later with a change of clothes,” she promises.
“Yeah, a change of clothes would be good.” He settles back into his seat, turns his eyes back to Bucky. “I don’t want to leave his side.”
— —
“You have gotta shower,” Sam says two days later and, alright, Steve agrees. If Bucky wakes up, he doesn’t want him to pass out from the stench of super soldier sweat.
He’s halfway through shampooing his hair when there’s a knock on the door. “Steve, you gotta hurry up,” Sam says.
It takes Steve forty-five seconds to finish up, get dressed, and be ready to return to the hospital.
“He’s been tossing and turning since you left,” Bruce says. “It’s like he’s having a nightmare.”
“Bucky,” Steve says, pushing past the small crowd gathered in the room to Bucky’s bedside. He looks terrible. His skin is sweaty and ashen; Steve can see the way his eyes are moving behind his lids. Just before Steve takes his hand, he begins thrashing, his limbs moving. “Is it a seizure?” Steve asks, eyes wide as he looks to Bruce.
“No, just a nightmare. He’s not at risk of choking.”
“Good, that’s…” He trails off as Bucky moans. “Oh God, Buck,” he says in a soft voice. He manages to grab Bucky’s hand. He holds it tight. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he tells him. Steve knows that the room is full of people, all watching him, the way he’s speaking to Bucky. They’re all judging him. But it doesn’t matter, all he cares about is Bucky knowing, even if it’s deep in his subconscious, that Steve is here for him. That he wants Bucky to wake up.
“Let’s give them some space,” Sam says, ushering everyone besides Bruce and Steve out of the room. Steve is grateful for him. Even Bruce looks at Bucky’s charts so that it feels like they’re alone as they can be.
Steve gets as close as he can to Bucky’s ear and he starts to say in a low, calm voice, “It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re just asleep. This is just a dream. You can wake up, if you want, or you can stay asleep. But whatever’s happening in there is just a dream. Just a bad dream.” His throat closes up a little as he says, “I’ll be there when you wake up, Bucky. I’m going to stay right by your side. I…”
I love you.
The words die in his throat. He knows that Bucky knows that he loves him, but Bucky doesn’t understand how. And it’s not fair to put it on him, even when he’s just asleep.
“I want you to wake up,” Steve says instead.
And then, to his surprise, Bucky squeezes his hand.
— —
A week passes. Wanda doesn’t know what to do, so they call in Doctor Strange, who will be coming this afternoon. Steve stays with Bucky, eats his meals by his side, showers up as best he can in the room’s sink. He sets up flowers by Bucky’s bed and reads him books, long sci-fi novels that Steve hates but Bucky loves. Each night, Steve falls asleep, his head next to Bucky, hoping that he’ll wake up in the night and Bucky’s eyes will be open.
“Are you sure you won’t try kissing him?” Natasha asks one afternoon. Steve’s working on a little, colorful paper chain to hang over Bucky’s bed, just something in the room that isn’t shades of grey.
“I won’t,” Steve says.
“I don’t think he’ll be that bothered about it, either way. He doesn’t even need to know.”
Steve is quiet for a long moment, focused on pasting the ends of one of the chain links together. “Is it selfish not to try?” he asks, eventually.
“I think you’re the only one who can answer that,” Natasha says. “I don’t have the answers.”
— —
It’s late. The sun has gone down and the hospital has gone quiet. Steve’s eyes droop as he tries to finish this chapter of the novel he’s reading aloud to Bucky and he concedes that it’s probably time that he tries to go to sleep. Sighing, he puts the book down, marking the page they left off on.
And then he looks at Bucky. He’s so beautiful, his chest moving up and down with each breath. His lips are pink and plush. His eyelashes cast shadows on his cheeks.
“Would you be angry with me? If I tried?”
Bucky doesn’t answer.
The best thing that happens is that Bucky wakes up. The worst thing that happens is that Bucky stays asleep. Steve can deal with the emotional fallout on either end after it happens.
“Okay,” he says. “I love you, Buck. And I’m sorry.”
He leans over Bucky, hesitates one long moment, shuts his eyes, then kisses him gently on the lips.
He pulls away, tears filling his eyes for reasons he can’t quite describe, and sees Bucky’s own eyes open.
“Steve?” Bucky asks.
Steve’s heart beats fast.
“Yeah?”
“I love you, too.”
— —
It turns out that folks in a coma can hear what people say around them.
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Dancing- One Shot
@annekebbphotography @burnsoslow @drakesensworld @ladyangel70 @kingliam2019 @bbrandy2002 @butindeed @bascmve01 @drakewalker04 @pedudley @captain-kingliamsqueen @duchessemersynwalker @insideamirage @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @kozabaji @texaskitten30 @ibldw-main @kimmiedoo5 @nikkis1983 @dangerouseggseagleartisan @gnatbrain @walker7519 @lodberg @cmestrella @hopefulmoonobject @addictedtodrakefanfic @angi15h @liamxs-world @rafasgirl23415 @notoriouscs @whenyourheartskipsabeat @jovialyouthmusic @nz1091 @yukinagato2012 @indiacater @seriouslybadchoices @rainbowsinthestorm @cordonianroyalty @dcbbw @qammh-blog @furiousherringoperatortoad
Tagging combine tag list ⬆️😃
Characters belong to Pixelberry apart from The Walker Twins - Arianna and Jackson Walker.
*******
Riley couldn’t sleep, after the interrogation from her first meeting with Bertrand- she wondered if she could actually succeed in winning the Prince’s hand in marriage. The tour of the palace with the Beaumont’s opened her eyes wide open. The luxury, the life that others lived. It really was like living in a fairytale.
Walking through the hallways, she tiptoed not wanting to announce her mystery presence to those who were unaware about her.
“Woah what’re you doing out here?”
“What am I doing out here? I’m too excited to sleep.” Drake shook his head, he knew she was naive but he couldn’t help but think about what it would be like to have her in his arms. She was beautiful. Especially after she met them at the club in the black sequin dress. Her waitress uniform wasn’t doing her any justice.
“Can’t wait for all your fairy tale dreams to come true tomorrow at the ball, huh?”
“You don’t have to be a jerk about it.” She originally snapped before winking at him.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to...be like that.”
“Like what? Yourself?”
“Hah. You know what? Come with me.”
Riley hesitated at first, he had been sarcastic with her ever since they had met. Especially on the flight when he threatened to jump out if she broke out into song. Following him through the palace, he led her into the courtyard. Standing frozen, she looked bewildered at him as he pointed to the tree. Drake took one hand and leant against the ancient oak, his fingertips roamed through the barks crevices. They stood surrounded by a riot of coloured leaves, and the cool night air.
“Here we are.”
“You want me to.... admire the tree?” Looking at the tree it was beautiful, like something straight out of a royal portrait.
“Yep. Take a good look.” Laughing at her scrutinising every part of the tree, he shook his head. “I’m ... I’m just joking we’re actually going to climb it. The special thing about this tree is that it’s very close to the palace. So close to that from the top we can make it onto the roof.”
“The roof?” Now I know he’s pulling my leg. Or attempting to break it!
“Trust me. Its worth it. Now c’mon!”
After the struggle of the unexpected climb in a tight expensive blue dress, they reached the rooftop. If she tore the dress, Bertrand could potentially throttle her for being so irresponsible. Riley had to agree with something - it was totally worth it. The view was breathtaking.
“Wow this is beautiful.”
“Glad you like it.” Drake watched Riley’s eyes sparkle alongside the moonlight.
“Anyway I’m going to hang out here for a while.. you’re welcome to stick around if you want to.”
“What’s that over there?” Drake looked over, of course she would notice the balcony of the Prince’s room.
“That’s Liam’s room. Heh. Actually you can get there from here, if you want to surprise him.” Feeling guilty if she went, and left him alone. She debated about what to do.
“I won’t be long. I’ll just say Hi. Surprise him. Will you be here when I get back?”
“Sure.” Drake watched her leave him, feeling slightly heartbroken that she had listened to his advise- but she wasn’t there for him.
****
Riley made her way carefully across the roof, she had to thank her parents for those gymnastics classes enabling her to maintain her balance. All that practice on the beam had definitely paid off.
Seeing the window open, she was grateful that it wasn’t a waste of time. Sliding gracefully and effortlessly through the window- she managed to stick the landing on two feet, avoiding making a fool of herself.
“Riley?” Liam couldn’t breath, thought his imagination was playing tricks on him.
“Hey, I had to see you.”
“I don’t understand.. what are you doing here? Riley. I never thought I’d see you again.”
“But this is a good surprise. I hope?”
“The best. But how did you get here?”
Riley explained that Maxwell and Bertrand had decided to sponsor her for their house and to join the other suitors. Liam shook his head still trying to comprehend if this was reality or some type of dream.
“I knew house Beaumont would likely sponsor someone but I’ve never heard of a noble house sponsoring a commoner.” Riley’s heart sunk, she assumed that Liam wouldn’t use her status against her- especially as his best friend was a commoner also.
“How did you manage it? What convinced them?”
“It was Maxwell’s idea.”
“I’ll have to thank him for that later...”
“And what does a thank you from a Prince look like?”
“Oh just something small.”
“A jewel-encrusted goblet? A prize stallion?”
“Something like that seems a fitting reward. But wait. All that explains why you’re in Cordonia. But not exactly how you landed in my room. You might have noticed that the other noble ladies aren’t exactly here for a receiving line.”
“I suppose not many women show up in your Chambers unannounced.”
“Definitely not and certainly not by coming through my window. How is it that you’re here with me right now in this room, Lady Riley?”
“Well that part was my idea.”
“Your idea?”
“Yeah. Bertrand would probably faint if he knew I’d come here alone... unchaperoned.” Thinking about how Bertrand would react, could he possibly torture her until she understood the meaning of noble lifestyle.
“And so what was your plan now you have me here?”
Creeping closer towards him, she wrapped her arms around him- she could feel his heartbeat increase, as he returned the gesture.
“You tempt me, Lady Riley.”
“I tempt you? And what is the Prince tempted to do?”
Without responding, Liam led her towards the wall- leaning her against it, he didn’t remove his hands from her petite frame. Slowly pressing his lips onto hers to begin with, it soon became passionate. Breaking the kiss, baby blues fixated on each other. Riley noticed Liam’s eyes soon have sorrow in them- asking him what was the matter. He explained that with her she brought out the good in him, unexpected things seemed to occur in a positive way- always surprising him. Riley smiled, telling him too that he was full of surprises. Looking bewildered at her, she described how selfless he was wanting his friends to have a good time on his bachelor party.
“Our conversations always entertain me... but I’m afraid we’ll have to continue this conversation another time.”
Riley looked disheartened, Liam did too. After explaining that she was risking her safety being alone with him there, she slightly understood his reasoning for cutting their time short. It was her first night there- she didn’t want to become court gossip so prematurely. Promising her that he would see her again shortly, he kissed her on the cheek.
*****
Returning to the rooftop, Drake was still there as promised. Staring into the distance. Asking her if she had a good night with Liam, slightly broke his heart when she responded.
“Mind some company?”
“Course not wouldn’t have brought you here if I did. This is my favourite part of the palace. Just me and the stars.”
Leaning back onto his elbows, Riley followed. Both just staring up to the starry sky- admiring the beauty it provided.
“No one else knows about it.. so no one else comes up here.”
“It’s so isolated up here, how did you find it?”
“I spent a lot of time around here when I was growing up. Lotta games of hide and seek with Liam. Funny he never found me up here even though it’s his castle.”
“So why’d you bring me here?”
“I guess it just seemed like something you might like. I mean, whenever all these courtly Royal walls start closing in... being here helps me feel normal again.”
“Sometimes I can’t believe I’m really here.”
“I’ll say. It takes a certain kind of person to pack up and go to a foreign kingdom to try and win over a guy she just met..”
“Is this your way of saying you think I’m completely irrational?”
“I wouldn’t come right out and say it, but...”
“Just say it.”
“Yeah it does seem a lot for someone to do. Well in any case ... if you want to last around here, you better be ready for tomorrow.” Riley looked confused, with all the excitement she hadn’t considered what being a suitor had entitled. Until Drake’s words hit her like a ton of bricks.
“The masquerade ball. You know, all the bowing and curtsying? There’s rules for everything around here.”
“So I’ve been told... but can you show me?” Drake laughed at her before seeing her eyebrows rise.
“I’m serious..” Her eyes pleading with him for more sincere advise.
“Sure I’ll bite.”
Drake stood in front of her gulping. Admiring her beauty as they faced each other.
“Okay pretend I’m Prince Liam and we’re about to dance. You can’t just walk up and shake my hand or something. I’d bow to you and you’d curtsy.” The both did the noble introductions.
“And then? If we’re going to dance...”
“I’d take you in my arms and then...”
“And then..”
“I...”
“And then we dance?”
“Right! We dance. Or I mean, we would. You and Liam would.”
“And the fancy waltz play, so on and so forth.”
“Exactly..”
Needing to let her out of his embrace, he stepped back- gazing towards the floor, placing his hands into his pockets.
“So that’s it. That’s how you dance the Cordonian Waltz. Now we better go, I dont want you getting in to any trouble.”
“Trouble? Why would you get me in trouble?”
“Oh you know. Lady in line to win the hand of the Prince is seen slumming it with the local commoner. People talk in a place like this and it’s rarely good news that they are spreading. Things here... it’s not like how it is in normal life, where you can be just yourself and do whatever you want. Here there’s always someone waiting for some gossip to spread about you...something to use against you. I know what this place looks like... something straight outta a fairytale. But don’t let it fool you. Most people don’t get a happily ever after around here. C’mon.”
Drake led her back towards the tree, going down first- he was waiting for her, a gentleman gesture- waiting to be the hero incase she slipped. Holding his hand out towards her, he wouldn’t have been offended if she refused any help. Unexpectedly she held his hand, a bolt of electricity ran through his veins. Pulling her down safely, he held her in his arms briefly before lowering her down to the ground.
“Hey Drake?”
“Yeah”
“I just wanted to say thanks for everything tonight. “
“Don’t mention it. Riley....”
Riley patiently waited for him to elaborate. But he remained silent, she could see his mind over thinking- but he thought better of it, instead just providing her with a slight smile.
“Goodnight.”
“Night Drake.”
****
“Mommy?” Riley awoke startled, until seeing her twins sitting on the edge of the bed laughing her.
“Riley?” Drake came into the room with a cup of coffee for her, wondering why the twins were laughing at her. The twins re-enacted what was Riley was doing in her sleep.
“I had this crazy dream.”
“Yeah we gathered. You never laugh that hysterically in your sleep.”
“What was the dream about mommy?” Arianna asked, intrigued. Their Mom always told the children about how they met.
“Was it really funny?” Jackson asked, hoping it was one of his mom’s funny stories she would spontaneously make up when they were upset.
“I found it funny, kids go and get ready for the day.”
Drake snuggled into bed, next to his wife holding her tightly- unable to resist kissing her.
“So what was the dream about?”
“It was about when I first arrived here. That first night I met Bertrand, they both took me on a tour around the palace. Then I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a walk and bumped into the grumpy commoner. But you weren’t grumpy. You were actually helpful. You guided me to the courtyard, we climbed a tree and you showed me some breathtaking views on the rooftop. We talked, then you suggested that I sneak into Liam’s room. He was surprised to see me, kissed me against the wall- he was really out of character. Quite flirty. Then I returned to you, you said the rooftop was the place you’d escape to feel normal.” Drake began to laugh, he knew Liam felt something towards her at the beginning of the social season, but he wouldn’t allow risking her safety and kissing her in his chambers.
“But it’s not, I’ve never climbed a tree onto a rooftop. And you know where my secret location is in the palace- the library tunnel. Dance? Me? I didn’t know how to dance until my gorgeous fiancée taught me. That just isn’t my characteristic. I hated noble life, so avoided it at all costs. So no way would I know how to dance the Waltz.”
“I know! We were all out of character, that isn’t us. In my dream I seemed like some slut- doing anything to spend time with you both. I knew you was a marshmallow deep down, but I’m glad we had the slow burn romance. That was what made us the Driley that everyone loves. It was a crazy dream.”
“Maybe so. But I’m glad I was a jerk to you to begin with- making you fall in love with my cynical charm. If i didn’t act like that- I’m not sure if you’d have fallen in love with me. I’m glad it was you who taught me how to dance and you who made me become a noble. I’m glad with how the social season went even with all the drama and the scandal, I wouldn’t change our journey for anything.”
#theroyalromance#choices trr#riley brooks#drakewalker#riley x drake#prince liam rhys#liam x riley#arianna walker#jackson walker jr#riprileybrooks#ripdrakewalker#ripliamrhys#riporiginaltrr
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ok trying this again lol hopefully tumblr doesn't eat my message but i saw where you reblogged that halloween prompts last night and wanted to request "strangers who hooked up at a party while in costume but tbh i might be in love with you so i’m gonna walk this earth looking for the right woodland nymph" for newmann. the thought of hermann dressed as a woodland nymph is CUTE!! thank you, maria
from list of halloween prompts here
HEHE this one took me a while bc i’ve been slammed with a cold the past few days thats made me want to do nothing but like. lie in bed. HERE YOU GO ENJOY
———————————————
“Sexy fairy, huh?” Newt says.
The dude leaning against the wall lowers his drink and frowns. “Pardon?”
“Shit,” Newt says. “Hang on. Sorry.” He pulls out his plastic fangs and works his jaw a few times, then settles right back into his most charming smile. “I said sexy fairy, huh?”
“Oh,” the dude says. He looks down at himself–the illfitting white tunic, the tacky fake vines glued to it, his sandals (socks with sandals, actually, wow)–and gives a self-conscious tug at the equally tacky flower crown atop his head. He’s a real hottie. Big brown eyes, dark eyelashes, cheekbones–definitely Newt’s type. He’s surprised that no one else dove in to chat him up first. “I think it’s meant to be a nymph, actually. I bought it at the costume shop on the way here.”
He’s all posh and English. Newt wasn’t expecting that, but he thinks he can dig it. He leers. “So the sexy is all you, then?”
The nymph’s frown only deepens. “What do you mean?”
“I mean–” Newt sighs. “I was calling you sexy.”
“Oh,” the nymph says again. “Er. Thank you.”
They slip into uncomfortable silence. (Way to go, Newt. Struck out already.) “Are you here alone?” Newt tries again.
It’s the wrong thing to ask: the nymph makes a face and takes a long sip of his drink. (Purple, with weird foam on top, probably whatever’s sitting in the punchbowl marked Witch’s Brew.) “Yes,” he says. “I came with my date, but he–ah–”
His eyes drift to a guy in a semi-matching costume on the dance floor, who’s currently bumping up against some hunk dressed as a sexy pirate.“Ditched you?” Newt says.
The nymph makes a non-committed sound. His hand tightens around the head of his cane (which he’s also wound fake vines around–Newt appreciates the creativity). “I didn’t want to dance,” he says, and then it’s his turn to sigh. “We only met a week ago, on some moronic–dating app my sister insisted I try. I should’ve known he’d…”
That won’t do; Newt was trying to get the guy’s number, not send him spiraling into moodiness. “Hey, I’m here alone, too,” Newt says. “All alone.” He doesn’t even know the host–it’s one of Tendo’s exes, he thinks, who he may or may not have gotten sushi with one time years ago but never bothered unfriending on Facebook.
“Mm,” the nymph says. He gives Newt a long once-over. Newt wishes that he’d planned better, and worn something a little sexier than just standard vampire. (Like sexy pirate; the guy the nymph’s date latched onto instead had the right idea.) As is, he’s probably only passably sexy: his pants are tight enough, and his shirt is open enough, and he has enough glitter in his hair (because it’s fun) to light up like a fucking disco ball in the light. “I suppose you’re going to ask me for my mobile number now. Or offer to get me a drink, despite the fact that I clearly already have one.”
Newt grins goofily. “That was the plan.”
He get another long, considering stare. Then the nymph sets his drink down and clasps his free hand around Newt’s wrist. “Follow me,” he says.
“Cool,” Newt says. “Uh, are we going to the kitchen? I think it’s–”
They’re not going to the kitchen: they’re going to an empty broom closet. Newt can appreciate a forward-thinking man who knows what he wants.
“You ought to know,” the nymph gasps, tangling his fingers in Newt’s hair, “I don’t really do these sorts of things.”
“Really?” Newt says. He grins up at him, face inches from the guy’s stupid tighty-whiteys. “’Cause I do. You want me to put my fangs back in?”
“No. Ah–!”
***************************
Newt wakes up with a hangover (predictable), his phone buzzing off the side table with his alarm (annoying), and the strangest sensation that he met the love of his life last night (unexpected). The sensation is only amplified when he picks up his phone and sees that he’s, apparently, sent no less than five texts to his dad about it (his fucking dad, of all people, Newt needs some friends), but it quickly turns to dread when he sees the mess that is his poor forearm.
(“I’ve got a spot right here,” Newt slurred. After mutually-reciprocated hijinks in the closet, he and the nymph–who had told him his name at one point, Newt was sure, he just totally forgot–proceeded to get totally smashed off whatever the fuck Witch’s Brew was and then make out in the corner until Newt finally reminded him that he still wanted his phone number. The nymph was game. He was less game when Newt showed him where to write it in bold black Magic Marker one he rucked up his sleeve: his right forearm, between his jellyfish tattoo and his Godzilla tattoo, on a small patch of empty, freckled skin.
“Cute,” the nymph said, wryly.
He said it in a way that made it clear he didn’t think Newt’s tats were actually very cute. “I like them,” Newt said.
“Can’t I just–” the nymph was struggling with the marker, “–put it right in your, ah, phone?”
“This is more fun,” Newt said.”)
The number is nothing more than a smeary mess now–probably casualty to the massive rainstorm raging outside that, if Newt’s soaked pile of clothing on the floor means anything, has been raging since he stumbled home last night.
He can’t even remember the guy’s name.
SOS, he ends up texting Tendo after a healthy amount of coffee and Tylenol. hooked up with super hot guy at a party last night and have no fucking clue how to see him again and i think i might be in love. help
you’re almost forty, Tendo replies, which is no help and isn’t at all the sick burn Tendo probably thought it was.
Newt resorts to stalking Tendo’s ex’s Facebook page instead. For anything, really. There are only a few photos up from the party last night (so far, anyway), and most of them are focused on the dance floor and the guy’s friends. Newt clicks through obsessively anyway. The ornate Jack-O-Lanterns that’d been on the front porch, Tendo’s ex and some chick in zombie makeup, the punchbowl of foaming purple Witch’s Brew, and–finally, in the very back corner of a shot–Newt standing with his mystery man. Tacky crown and all. He exists, at least, not some extremely specific hallucination on Newt’s part, even though a reverse image search turns up with absolutely nothing but links to buy his costume.
He has better luck with a blurry photo of his mystery guy’s (deadbeat) date laughing in the kitchen under the bright orange string lights: Tendo’s ex actually tagged him. Probably because he wasn’t totally crashing the party after seeing a post about it like Newt was. Newt’s luck pretty much stops there; not only does the guy make no mention of the nymph Newt spent the night with when Newt stalks his page, but he hasn’t updated his status in literally six months, and none of his friends (because Newt combs through his friends list, too) look remotely like Newt’s mystery man.
So. Newt sends him a friend request.
He accepts it in the amount of time it takes Newt to take to feed his fish, heat up a tiny bowl of spaghetti-o’s, and regret sending it in the first place; he almost spills the bowl over his laptop in his hurry to send a message. Hey, weird question, but who’d you bring to that party last night?
lol why?
“I’m in love with him” is definitely a little forward, so Newt makes up a fast, and hopefully at least mildly believable, lie. He has my umbrella.
Typing for a while. tbh idrk him, we met online. his name was hermann
Then: i think hes a teacher or something
who are you anyway? comes a second later.
Hermann. Newt likes it. It also rings a very, very vague bell. cool thanks! Newt sends back, and then quickly unfriends the guy. Anyone who could possibly ditch a guy as hot and funny and, overall, perfect as Hermann (as Newt remembers him, anyway) is not worth Newt’s time.
exciting update, he texts Tendo. his name is Hermann!
Newt has a lecture to teach at six, three hours from now, so in lieu of actually preparing for it, he decides to be a creepy stalker instead. Hermann’s date said he was a teacher: none of the local public schools have a Hermann (or a Herman, for that matter) on any of their staff pages, K all the way up to Twelve, nor do the private schools. He has better luck when he pokes through staff directories for nearby universities instead: this gives him two Hermans and one Hermann, but neither of their provided pictures look remotely like Newt’s Hermann. Not even when Newt squints.
He spares another miserable glance at the smeary ink on his arm before shutting his laptop. Maybe it’s just not meant to be.
He’s walking to campus from his bus stop the following week–the day before Halloween–when the most fucking unbelievable thing in the world happens.
He sees Hermann.
Just sitting outside the campus coffee shop at a little table, sipping a paper travel mug dotted with little orange pumpkins. Reading over some notes. Newt’s sure it’s Hermann: it’s Hermann’s big brown eyes, Hermann’s long eyelashes, Hermann’s sharp cheekbones, Hermann’s cane propped against the brick wall next to him. Newt’d recognize him even with the stupid nymph costume swapped for more sensible sweatervest and tweed. “Hermann!” he shouts excitedly, waving both arms. “Dude!”
Hermann looks up. He drops his coffee.
He’s completely speechless when Newt finally manages to book it across the street (dodging traffic, including the bus he came in on) and collapse, panting, into the empty seat across from him. “I can’t believe it’s you!” Newt says. “Holy shit, dude! I’ve been trying like crazy to track you down. I lost your number, so I had to message your shitty boyfriend–”
“Not my boyfriend,” Hermann says, faintly.
“Right, your shitty date,” Newt corrects. “You look so good. I almost didn’t recognize you without all the leaves. I’m so glad I found you. What are you doing here, anyway?”
Hermann blinks a few times. Registering it all. “I work–” He says, and gestures to the stairs that lead up to the main part of campus. “Er, here. Physics. I teach physics.”
That explains why Newt couldn’t find him on any faculty pages–he just assumed that Hermann couldn’t possibly be working at the same university as him and didn’t bother checking. He though he would’ve remembered seeing a face like that around. Physics, though, makes sense–it’s not like they’d be in the same building. “I do too!” Newt says. He leans in, beaming away. “Well, not physics, biology. I can’t remember if I told you my name or not. It’s Newt. Dr. Geiszler, if you wanna be serious, but I’m pretty sure we’re way beyond that at this point.”
“Ah,” Hermann says. “No, you didn’t say your name.” He blinks a few more times before finally seeming to get over his shock, and it’s replaced with mild amusement instead. A small smile. “You’re a doctor?”
“Are you that shocked?”
“You’re not very–” Hermann does a very bad job of disguising his laugh as a cough. “Professional. You know–at the, ah, party, you really should’ve just let me–”
“I know,” Newt says, and Hermann’s smile grows.
“Writing it on your arm was a terrible idea,” Hermann says. “I was horribly offended, you know, when you didn’t call the next day.”
Newt fishes his phone out of his pocket, unlocks it, and offers it out to Hermann with a grin. “Looks like I won’t be making the same mistake twice, then.”
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Mysterious Fathoms Below
Also on Fanfiction.net and A03
Chapter 8: Leaving Neverland
Emma looked dejected at the fire, as they returned to their camp without any sign of Baelfire.
"I'm sorry honey…" Snow said, as she put her arm around her daughter's shoulder.
"It's not your fault, Mom...I guess he just doesn't want to be found," Emma replied.
"We'll keep looking, Princess...but for now, your Mom and I need to hunt so we can eat," David said. She nodded.
"I'll watch the ankle biters," she said, as he dropped a kiss on her head.
"I was hoping we'd find him. If we could reunite Rumpelstiltskin with his son...then he'd certainly help us end the curse, don't you think?" she asked.
"Maybe...but Baelfire is angry. His father let him down...I know the feeling," David replied. Snow clutched his hand, as they trekked further into the jungle to catch some game.
~*~
"Psst…" Emma heard the noise and looked up. She smiled, as she saw Tinkerbell in a tree above her.
"Tink!" Ben called, as he and the twins gathered around her once she jumped down.
"Hey guys…" she said, as they all hugged her. They had met Tinkerbell upon their arrival in Neverland and had become friends. Tink had even revealed that she had once been friends with Regina before she was the Evil Queen, but was betrayed by her. Surprisingly, she and Snow got along well in that respect, since they had both been wronged by the same woman and Tink looked out for the family as much as she could.
"Where are your parents?" she asked.
"Hunting...wanna stay for dinner?" Emma asked. She smiled.
"Sure…I brought some fruits I managed to find," she said, revealing a few coconuts and a bunch of bananas.
"I met someone yesterday…" Emma said. Tink smiled.
"Let me guess...Baelfire," she replied.
"You know Bae?" Emma asked.
"He's been around here for a couple hundred years," Tink replied, as Snow and David returned with some game.
"Hello Tink," Snow greeted warmly, as David went to skin their catch.
"It's good to see you," David said.
"You too...but unfortunately, this is more than just a social call," Tink replied.
"What's going on?" Snow asked.
"I'm afraid Pan is threatened by your family...and he's planning an attack," Tink revealed.
"Why? He's never bothered mermaids before," David said.
"Yes, but your family isn't exactly typical mermaids and he thinks the children might be useful to him," Tink replied.
"He plans to get rid of you two and take the kids," she said, as Snow looked to David.
"He's going to take our kids over our dead bodies," David refuted.
"That's the idea...which means you all need to leave Neverland, tonight. I also know that Baelfire escaped and according to Pan, he made it to the land without magic," Tink said. Snow and David exchanged a glance. They knew that going up against Pan was risky and that it wasn't worth risking their lives and children's lives for it.
"Then…I guess we'll leave. We're familiar wit the land without magic too," David said.
"We could check in with Owen and Kurt," Snow suggested. He smiled.
"Yeah...it's been a while and probably about time. That's a start," he agreed, as they enjoyed dinner with Tink, before they went about packing everything up, ready to move on.
"We'll miss you," little Hunter and Rose said, as they hugged the former fairy. She smiled.
"I'll miss all of you too. Stay safe," she said, as she watched the kids scurry into the water and immediately change into their mer-form. Snow and David gave her a nod, before removing their bracelets and stepping into the water. They transformed too and she watched the family leave.
"Good work...they didn't put up a fight at all," Pan said, as he landed beside her. She glared at him.
"I did what you wanted...now hand it over," she demanded. He smirked and gave her the vial of pixie dust.
"It's useless if there's no one to believe in you," he goaded. She watched them go and looked at the vial. The kids did believe in her though...now she just had to believe in herself again.
~*~
The Charmings emerged in the waters of the Atlantic ocean off the Jersey coast. They found the small cove where they had departed from Kurt and Owen years ago and were surprised to find them there at the cabin. It had been many years, so they weren't sure they would even still be living near Jersey. But it seemed that luck was on their side.
"Snow?" the young man called, as he sat fishing on the dock.
"Owen?" she asked, barely recognizing him, as he nodded.
"Look at you...you've grown so much," she marveled.
"I'm fifteen now," he replied.
"Are we clear?" David asked.
"Yeah...it's just Dad and me. He ran into the nearest town, but he should be back any minute," Owen replied, as they pulled themselves up onto the dock. They put their bracelets on and their legs appeared. The kids climbed onto the dock and their transformation happened automatically.
"Wow…" Owen marveled.
"You remember Emma...she was just a baby the last you saw her," Snow said. He nodded.
"And this is Ben, and the twins, Hunter and Rose," David replied, as Kurt pulled up in his truck.
"Well...this is certainly an unexpected, but pleasant surprise," he said, as he and David shook hands.
"It's good to see you again," David said, as he noticed the children.
"Likewise...you've been busy," he mentioned slyly, making David smile.
"Just a bit," he replied, as he put his arm around Snow.
"Yeah, it's no secret that we can't keep our hands off each other," she said slyly and Kurt chuckled.
"What brings you back?" he asked curiously.
"Uh well...a friend told us that someone we're looking for ended up in this land," David replied.
"Really? Maybe Dad can help. He knows a friend that finds people for a living," Owen chimed in.
"Really?" Snow asked.
"Uh well...she's a bail bondsperson. That's someone that finds people trying to escape the law," Kurt explained.
"Like a bounty hunter?" David asked. Kurt nodded.
"A similar concept, but she might be able to help. She may be able to help, even if this person isn't evading the law. Do you have any information?" Kurt questioned. David winced.
"Yeah...that's where it gets complicated. We have a first name and know he's about Emma's age. Probably around fourteen or fifteen," he replied.
"Well, it's not a lot to go on, but I've seen you two do some amazing stuff, so it's worth a try. She lives in Boston though if you're up for a road trip," he said. They nodded.
"And we have gold that we can exchange for this land's currency if you know of a place that does that," David said.
"Sure...there's a diner in town. Let's get some food and then we can make plans," he said, as they followed him. Firstly, they would have to find some clothing from this land as well, but they trusted Kurt and Owen not to lead them wrong.
~*~
Their arrival in Boston came a couple days later. They had exchanged their significant amount of gold for dollars and now blended in like normal people in the clothing of this realm. Kurt rented them a sport utility vehicle to make the trip to Boston and they met with the woman he mentioned in a local park.
"Kurt...it's good to see you and Owen, you're so big!" the woman said.
"It's good to see you too, Cleo. These are my friends, David and Margaret and their children. This is Cleo Fox," he said.
"Nice to meet you...what can I help with?" she asked.
"Well, this is a long shot, but we're looking for a boy. We only have a first name and a pretty good sketch," David said, as he looked at Ben, who handed the sketch to his father.
"That's a really good sketch...did you do this, young man?" she asked. Ben nodded and Snow smiled.
"He's a very good artist," she boasted.
"What's his name?" she asked.
"Baelfire," David replied and wasn't surprised by her odd look.
"That's...not a name I've ever heard and probably one that won't allow someone to fly under the radar," Cleo said.
"Then you think he would probably use an alias?" Snow asked.
"Definitely…" Cleo replied and their hopes sank.
"But that doesn't mean we're at a loss. But trying to find someone with so little information could take a long time," she said.
"Dad's really good at finding people too. Maybe he can help?" Ben asked.
"He's not wrong...these two helped Owen find me when we got separated by a really bad storm. That's how we met...and I know you're looking for a partner," Kurt replied. She raised an eyebrow.
"I am...and I don't hire just anyone, but if Kurt vouches for you, then you must be good. He's not a fan of a lot of people," she said, teasing him a bit.
"Okay...it's decent pay with benefits, but you'd have to move here to Boston and be willing to travel a lot," she offered. Snow and David exchanged a glance and she nodded. Finding Rumpelstiltskin's son could very well be the key to helping Emma break the curse.
"It's a deal we're willing to make," he replied.
"Okay then...welcome to my team," she said, as they shook hands. Snow and David exchanged another glance, hoping that this was the beginning of their journey to breaking the curse and freeing their people...
#Snowing#SnowxCharming#Charming family#Emma#Baelfire#eventual Swanfire#mermaid AU#romance#adventure#family#mysterious fathoms below
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Darksiders Arthurian Tales Revisited
Chapter 13: The Hunt Begins
Strife immediately panics and goes looking through his inventory to find a crystal. Death however grabs him by the shoulders.
"STRIFE! Calm down, Miriam should be fine. Uther likely won't pay attention to her. As far as he's concerned, he's probably among the group that doesn't view her race as people."
"Still worth checking on her, you know? I do not want tiny getting punted." Strife states.
"She can actually avoid getting stepped on you know. I taught her a spell to make herself taller. A better disguise than her running around in country bumpkin dress."
"Ok she can do a whole lot more than just country bumpkin, I know, I helped" Strife tells him annoyed.
"Right, and you have such a good style." Death remarks sarcastically.
Strife rolls his eyes before calling Miriam up finally. Miriam meanwhile is reading another romance novel as per usual in the city library. She ends up hearing her crystal go off and quickly hops down from her powder puff for a bed. From there Miriam hopped across a thin line with decorative lanterns on it, using said lanterns as platforms. Once across the line she gets down to the table her crystal is on using a bucket for a elevator. Finally upon reaching it she answers the call in a very cute, high pitched voice.
"Hello there?"
"Miriam you alright?"
"Mmhmm, you know I am my big gunslinger. What's cooking?"
Death suddenly busts out laughing in the background, "Did she just utter the expression 'big gunslinger'!?"
"Oh go sit on Harker's dick Death!" Miriam shouts in a mini explosion.
"Uhm no thank you. Ahem."
Then Puck walks in, "Already did it for him."
"Wait a minute.....Strife did you get into trouble at another bar?" Miriam asks.
"No no not at all my Sugarplum Fairy." Strife tells her gulping.
Puck looks at him funny, "Wait are you and her an item? I didn't know you were into shots of hard alcohol."
As Death continued to try and die of laughter, Strife retorted to both of them, "First off, she's a shot of Jaeger. Second off, you, shut up."
Miriam is of course squeeing at the comment, "Awwwwwwwww. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
"AH! Sugarplum you're gonna crack the windows, tone it down a peg. Anyway, I'm calling to ask if you're alright."
"As I said I'm fine. Why so worried?" Miriam inquires gingerly.
"Uhm just uh...telling ya....uh....if anyone bad mouths my brother, keep your head down. Don't speak up about it ok?"
"Oh sure, but what's he done this time?" Miriam asks.
"Uhmmmm.....I may have pissed off a King, again."
He hears a tiny facepalm, "Really?"
"To be honest, I was trying to stop him from harming an innocent person." Death expresses.
Strife adds on, "Yeah, he's got on crush on her too."
"Zip it."
"Hey you make fun of my love life, I make fun of yours. This is the game we play brother, this is the game we play." Strife states.
Suddenly Miriam hears the bell above the front door ring and glances over, "Oh, I gotta go now. May need to help with this customer. It's how I earn my keep here you know."
"Right right, just stay out of trouble. Swear to me you'll be safe ok?"
"Of course honeybuns, talk later." Miriam says before ending the call with a smooch. She then scurries to the front desk where a rather scary looking pirate is. The old librarian is noticeably concerned upon meeting them.
"Uh ah.......Mr Ding.......uh-uh I mean Captain Leatherbeard. What brings you to my humble library? A romance novel perhaps?"
"Heheheh haha....Nah nah, you know I'm not into those books. They're nowhere near realistic, or worth my taste." The bald man said simply. His 'beard' lived up to his name. Scarred tissue and calloused skin that when touched was comparative to leather. He had no true hands, as one was replaced by a massive anchor. The other looked like an unfinished prosthetic, that is unless it morphed another tool. A constantly changing piece of work that could become multiple things, using the mechanical parts mixed with a good dose of magic. Course he hadn't expected to hear a sudden small voice pipe up next to him.
"Actually sir, the romance novels can be very realistic."
He glanced over to the small Pixie Elf girl, "Hmhmhmhm....how so?"
"They just are, I assure you." Miriam insisted a bit flustered.
"Heheh....and have you experienced any of those things in your books?" The Captain inquired, getting closer to her.
"Why would I be so inappropriate as to tell a customer such things?"
"Heheh....I hear it's inappropriate to call a customer 'wrong' on a subject."
Miriam gulped, "Sir it was only an assurance."
"Oh assurance was it? So, you're saying this poor lonely soul of mine could find love? Have a peaceful life? Could have someone accept me for the way I look? The way I talk...heheh? For the way I act? You're saying I can find love? So naive. So filled with hope in this cruel dark world."
"I have love, and he appreciates me for who I am. Never judges my little stature." Miriam states.
"Heheheheh....Well I mean you are quite a pipsqueak but, I've seen smaller. And besides, how tall is your great prince? Is he as tall as me? Or is he as tall as my beautiful first mate here?" Leatherbeard asks her whilst pulling his first mate over, a female surprisingly.
"Shorter than both of you actually, but I still love him very much." Miriam says all dreamy.
"Oh well then, since there is a small height difference, you mind telling me how you get all 'snuggly' with him?"
"I'm afraid I can't say, it's private." Miriam states firmly.
"Hmm, we've already gone this far? Why can't we go any further?" Leatherbeard questions before suddenly snatching her in his fist. Squishing her big time he inquires further, "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't pop you? What makes you unique enough for me NOT to SQUEEZE?"
Miriam finally utters the spell under breath, which knocks Leatherbeard back slightly. As the light from the spell clears, he sees she's taller now. Slightly taller than a halfling, lithe, and actually rather 'blessed' as well.
"Hohohoh....now I can see it. Hahaha." Leatherbeard says before putting his hands on both her shoulders, "Now I can see why someone as tall as him could find someone like you pleasurable. Mind if I take a peek?"
"I'd rather you didn't....." Miriam says backing away like a frightened fawn. Her black doe eyes certainly don't help her image.
"Oh come now, you already gave me one good peek. What's wrong with seeing the whole show, as it were? I'm sure your, man, won't mind. He isn't here to give any trouble now is he?"
Miriam began looking around frantically and finally just forced herself through a window. Naturally she was cut by the glass but in her terror she paid no heed to her bleeding arms and feet. Scurrying away like there was no tomorrow. Only for Leatherbeard to pursue her. He takes a shard of glass, and upon sniffing it, "Got ya. Run run as fast as you can, nowhere to hide from me."
Miriam kept running, leaving a trail of even more blood as she went on in her fear. Meanwhile the librarian takes the opportunity to call Strife, "Strife you need to get down here, Miriam's in trouble."
Strife freezes and asks, "Wait what do you mean by trouble? What's going on?" Suddenly he hears the poor man being choked out and yells, "What's happening what's happening!?"
The first mate then picks up for him, "Captain's about to get himself a new gift. Thank you for her, honestly. Captain's been feeling a bit antsy today."
"Bitch where's my girl?!"
"Look honey my time is short, so if you know what's good for ya, let this happen. Or you can just get yourself killed, your choice buddy. Either way, this one's on you." She tells him before slitting the librarian's throat and ending the call.
Suddenly Death gets his own call from a very scared Miriam, "DEATH HELP ME!!"
"Ah! What's going on, and please speak calmly if you can?"
"Just get me out of here! Please!" Miriam screams at him.
"Merlin, get a portal ready! Miriam you need to keep running, who's chasing you?"
Suddenly Death hears a yelp and a voice he never thought he'd never hear again, "So your name's Miriam eh? Heheheh...and I can hear your friend there. Hello there Death, been a while. Hahaha ha..." Leatherbeard tells him before singing the song Oh Death.
Course he's interrupted by Strife, as he explodes whilst hearing Miriam whimpering on Death's crystal, "You motherfucking son of a bitch! Fucking damn you, you goddamn monster! I won't let anyone I care about become one of your playthings! No matter how demented you are, so come at me you bitch!"
Leatherbeard actually looks impressed, "Strife? Heh, last time I remember you were just a squirt. Heheh...been a while, been a while indeed."
"What the hell are you on about? Last I checked, we never met!" Strife yells at him.
Death notices Morgen looking a bit scared again, and inquires quietly, "Do you know him?"
"He's one of Uther's privateers." Morgen says in her fear.
"Shit. Strife you need to cool it." Death tries to tell Strife before they hear Leatherbeard singing that song again.
He then actually lets Miriam go surprisingly, and menacingly calls after her, "Keep running, just...keep...RUNNING.."
From there everyone hears the painful transformation that Leatherbeard undergoes. His 'screams' of pain more like moans that slowly become a strained hissing sound. The bones snapping in place, limbs and teeth growing. Every visceral detail and bloody pop they hear on the crystal. Finally a low hiss is all that's heard next before the crystal is smashed to bits. The wereshark has begun his frenzy. Strife begins having a panic attack, imagining whatever twisted being he fears Leatherbeard may be now. He can't get the image of Miriam being devoured by some twisted amalgamation out of his head. No matter how hard he tries.
"Shit fuck....shit!"
"Calm down calm down, Merlin get that portal ready damn it!" Death shouts.
"Working on it working on it! I can't keep a good lock on it when she's running around as fast as she is!" Merlin shouts back.
"Then let ME find her! My crystal's still intact so you can track me with that right?" Strife tells him.
"Riiiiiight." Merlin says.
"Be careful, he's a vicious monster and you still don't know what you're going into." Death warns Strife.
"I think I got this." Strife states confidently.
"Don't be cocky."
"Bitch please, I know what I'm doing. He's a Therianthrope, magic can still work against him right?" Strife questions.
"You have no idea who or what he is. That's it, I'm going with you in case you get yourself killed."
"I have this covered." Strife insists.
"Now is not a good time to argue. If you want to save Miriam, we need go now. Merlin get that portal ready!"
Merlin shouts back, "I already got it ready, now stand in the circle!"
As they do so, Miriam turns into her normal self. Letting a loud little shriek as she does so. As the glass still stuck in her scratches her up more. Miriam then slowly climbs up a wall pipe and after getting comfy she slowly begins losing consciousness. Course Strife heard her shriek of pain and immediately bolts in that direction. With Death running after him in worry. Miriam's extra blood however, brings Leatherbeard's attention all the more. Eventually Strife finds the blood trail Miriam left, and he and Death then hear Leatherbeard breathing nearby.
"You go get her, I'll take care of this guy." Death tells Strife before taking a stance for combat.
Strife nods and hurries on, finding the blood trail has led to the pipe she's hiding in, and it's practically leaking out of the pipe. He panics and quickly whispers up the pipe, "Miriam, you alright in there? Miriam I need you to say something."
He doesn't get much of a response, beyond a sudden rapid group of little thumps going down the pipe. Finally Miriam falls out of it, covered in her blood and scaring Strife shitless.
"Miriam!" Strife shouts in his panic whilst trying to patch her up. Even ripping her clothes off to get to her injuries better. As he's working on getting the glass out and wrapping her up quickly. Occasionally he nudges her with a finger and each little moan she lets out gives him the reassurance he needs. All of a sudden, Death is sent flying through a building. Landing conviently right beside his younger sibling.
" What the fuck?!" Strife shouts before looking behind him. Seeing a massive wereshark staring him down.
"Heheheh...three birds, one stone." Leatherbeard says in a low, hissing voice.
Strife pulls out Redemption and uses charge shot on him. The first shot sends him back a ways. Leatherbeard looks at Strife, then at where the bullet hit him, and laughs. Strife then realizes, the bullet didn't even penetrate through that thick bastard.
"The fuck?"
"Heheheh, cute." Leatherbeard laughs before flexing the bullet off of his skin. It left a dent, but nothing more. Not even blood.
As Strife is trying to think something to do, he feels something grasp his hand. Looking down he sees Miriam hugging his hand as tight as she can in her state. Shaking a little bit as she does so. Strife then hears Death behind him getting up.
"Nnngh...try the electric shock and run!"
Strife does so and hopes for the best. Using his electric shock on Leatherbeard seems to be somewhat effective. The electricity slows him down and it pumps through his body. Strife then immediately takes the borrowed time to try and help Death up.
"Go! I'll be right behind you!"
"I'm not leaving you behind!" Strife hollers before getting Death on his shoulder. His other hand grasping onto Miriam still. From there he hurries as best he can to get himself and the others out of there. Suddenly Leatherbeard forms his prosthetic into a massive anchor flail and then slams it down in front of Strife.
"No more running boy. Heh....you grew up big and strong. Compared to the pipsqueak you were when you were young. Absalom didn't see your potential, while THAT ONE on your shoulder nearly smothered it out. Heheheheh...."
"Last time I checked, if there's one thing my brother taught......don't give a shit about what others think. Give a shit about what you think. And personally, I think you're an asshole." Then he set Miriam in Death's hand pulls out Mercy, and aims at Leatherbeard's dick. Using a lazershot he continues, "And just for you scaring my lady, prepare to lose your dick!"
Strife begins firing, whilst Leatherbeard pulls his anchor back to deflect the shot. He succeeds in doing so to Strife's anger. Strife brings out his daggers but sees even those seem to not affect him. As unfortunately his silver enchantment doesn't work as he'd hoped. He's then bitch slapped backwards into the square, hitting a fountain at the center. Strife then gets up with some effort and fights on, only to get slammed in the ribcage by the anchor. He spits out blood briefly and Death meanwhile finally searches his mind and finds Crom.
"I need a little bit of your power, that's it."
"A small bit, in return for your time later." Crom states to Death's confusion.
Death suddenly feels a surge of power in him, like a rising flame, a burning sensation as vines begin growing around him. He then shields Miriam in a small bubble before going on the attack. The vines catching a flame and wrapping around Leatherbeard as Death begins floating in midair. A raged fuelled fire consuming him, slowly eating away at his sense, as he begins burning Leatherbeard. Even thorns form eventually that hold Leatherbeard in place as he burns within the vines' grasp. The shield bubble housing Miriam soon harmlessly bounces towards Strife, who's looking at his older brother in horror and shock. As the vines are also wrapped around him and burning him as much as they are Leatherbeard.
Scooping the bubble up he shouts at Death, "That's enough! We've got her let's go!", Strife then hollers out, "Merlin we've got her! Get us out of here now!"
Death however gives no indication that he's hearing him. Fighting the power as much as he is using it. Unable to do much else beyond attacking and fighting for control of himself. The pain making it even harder.
He thinks he can hear Strife shouting at him, "Death snap out of it! Merlin pull us out now!"
"If Death's like that I can't! He'll pose a danger to others! If I bring him here he'll probably burn this whole place to the ground, try and snap him out of it!"
Strife then yells at his brother one more time, as he can see Leatherbeard smirking. Healing from the flames as fast as Death could burn him, "Dude it isn't even working on him, stop!"
"I.....must burn...." Death shouts as he begins to lose control of himself, then in Strife's mind he tells him, "Douse..me.....now!"
Strife nods and sees the broken fountain spewing water. He only needs to redirect it. Strife takes a manhole and tries redirecting the water towards Death. The water hits Leatherbeard at first but isn't doused. Death however is then hit square in the chest and is doused. Death reacts quickly by throwing an attack at Strife, being under the influence of the power still. It misses luckily and Death grabs his head suddenly. Finally coming to his senses with effort, and realizing he is massively burnt. He begins healing and gets over to Strife, only to turn around as he hears Leatherbeard snapping the vines. Death takes off towards Strife despite his extreme pain, then shouts,
"GET US THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"
Merlin then finally does so," Got it got it, it's on its way."
"We're low on time! Death's hurt bad and Leatherbeard's coming right at us!" Strife replies.
The circle then begins forming around him, and Death manages to get into the circle. However his achilles tendon is suddenly scratched by Leatherbeard's prosthetic hand, which he morphed into a harpoon gun. Just as the group finally teleports away, Leatherbeard picks up the bloodied harpoon bolt. Death meanwhile is screaming in pain as the adrenaline shuts off, he can feel the burns all over his body and his injured tendon. War immediately grabs Death, throwing him over his shoulder.
"Gah! Could you please be gentle!?"
"Sorry." War says simply before hurrying to find a medic.
Strife meanwhile stays behind with Miriam after getting her out of the shield bubble. Merlin is about to ask but Harker comes in and does it for him, "What the hell's happening here? Why is your brother screaming bloody murder?"
Strife only shook his head, "Leatherbeard....nnngh....", he then holds his side as the adrenaline rush in him dies down too.
"You, sit down. I'll take care of your girl as best I can. Ok lassie, geez what'd ya do to yerself in order to cause this?"
Miriam shakily explains, "I was big at first....and broke through a window....got glass in me though. Me going small again.....well you can probably guess what happened...."
Strife then looks at her, "Seriously, you shrunk down with glass in you?"
"I was scared......but it was even scarier while I was hiding......I thought.....I thought......" Miriam begins to say before sniffling.
"Take it easy, he's not after you right now. Plus he doesn't know where we are, and he can't find us." Strife tells her whilst nuzzling her with his finger.
Then everyone freezes as they hear Leatherbeard call them up and begin singing Oh Death once again. Harker drops to the floor, screaming, "NO!", over and over again. Having a full blown panic attack. Miriam hugs Strife's hand right away and begins sobbing into his palm. The taunting singing goes on until after the third or fourth time Harker screams no.
"Ah Harker, I didn't know you were here. Heheh I'm on my way to wherever you land lovers are. And Harker, keep yourself warm for me. I don't want it to be too hard on ya."
Harker immediately hides in his serpent form inside an empty pot. Muttering gaelic swears to himself in fear and occasionally uttering things that suggest pleading. Eventually they hear him having what sounds like a PTSD flashback in there. Death comes back into the room with help from War and Morgen, having heard the commotion.
"What's going on? I heard Harker screaming." Death inquires with a slight hitch to his tone.
Strife points at the pot, "He's having a....'moment' in the pot there. Might want to go check on him."
As Death goes to do so, Leatherbeard has one final thing to say to Strife, "So, how often do you use the cocksleeve?"
"You son of a...!" Strife goes to retort before the crystal hangs up. He then notices Miriam looking extremely hurt by that. Naturally he scoops Miriam up and brings her close to him. Gently placing her to his face after removing his helm. She of course hugged his nose for being so sweet to her, a gave a teensie peck to it's bridge. His warm smile gave her a big reassurance as he oh so tenderly returned the kiss to the side of her head.
"Sugarplum, I love you more than anything. You're so much more to me than a cocksleeve. You give me what matters, you accept me just as much I do you. And that's just fine by me, in fact it's perfect."
"Awwwwwww.....you always know what to say." Miriam replies blushing hard.
"And she's completely red, you sure she's bandaged correctly?" Death states sarcastically.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure I patched her up just right. And uh what did Leatherbeard mean by he'll see us soon, he has no idea where we are? Right?" Strife inquires of him.
He thinks back, and remembers how effective a shark's sense of smell is. And both of he and Miriam have bled profusely between themselves, "He has both our scents. Damn it!"
"How the fuck did he do that?"
"He's a shark! Think about it." Death growls at him.
Both Strife and Miriam get a horrified look, and Miriam in particular begins having a mini panic attack. "Don't worry, I won't let him get to you. I'm gonna find a way to kill this bastard, you hear me?" Strife tells her calmly whilst cupping her in both of his hands.
Death then remembers Harker and checks on him inside the pot. "You in there?" Death asks tapping the outside of it.
Harker then comes up from the pot and is now in a smaller version of his true form. Being about the size of a house cat once he comes out. He then hops into Death's arms and begins to make a slight purring noise.
"Seriously?" Death asks before petting him like a house cat.
"Thanks Death. I know it's......probably not the best....time right now but.........thank you." Harker expresses slowly.
"Don't mention it. I'm only doing this to calm you down." Death states.
Harker sighs before telling him, "Thanks anyway, it helped."
Death notes his depressed and hurt tone, and can't help but say something, "Sorry if my cold, callous nature is making itself too apparent. Just trying to handle all that's happened."
Harker perks a bit at that and questions him, "How's Miriam? Is she alright?"
"I daresay she's probably about as scared as you are. Perhaps it'd do her good to hear from a person who knows how she feels right now." Death tells him simply.
"You think so?"
"Yes, I do."
Harker thought a moment before deciding to make his way over. Going into his serpent form and floating over in a flowing motion. He lands on the table near Strife and coils up into a circle before asking him, "May I speak with you and Miriam by chance?"
"Yeah sure." Strife responds before revealing Miriam from within his hands. She looks over to Harker and waves a bit despondently, "Hello Harker."
"You doing alright?"
"Better now, just still not great." Miriam replies snuggling her man's hand.
"That bastard. He just knows how to get inside your head, and mess with you." Strife adds on in anger.
"Yeah he gets inside your head and messes with you, real bad." Harker responds simply.
Miriam lays down on Strife's hand and tries to fall asleep, course Strife has a better idea for her. He stands up and thanks Harker for the brief talk, even suggesting they continue another time. For now he takes Miriam to his room, placing her on his bed and breathing heavily as he removes his armor. Still in pain all his own, but masking it as best he can for her sake. Wanting nothing more than to make sure she's fine. He soon has his armor off and checks himself in the mirror. Making sure he's not hurt too badly as he looks over his massive bruising.
"Damn, he really did a number on me. But it's worth it. Nnnnngh." Strife says before hissing as he turns around, looking at his back next. Covered in scrapes and bruises from the fountain.
"Ah damn it!" Strife hisses out when scratching his head, right where a bump happened to be.
Strife ultimately sighed to himself and laid down at last. Seeing Miriam all curled up on the bed was both warming and adorable all at once. Gently he stroked her teenie body up and down with his finger, only for her to hug it. He couldn't help but continue to let her hold him that way. Falling asleep slowly as he watched her keenly. The next morning Miriam woke up and seeing Strife asleep with his finger in her grasp made her truly happy. Gushing and squeeing on the inside, Miriam gently kissed his finger before carefully maneuvering around so as not to wake him up. Granted it was easy, given that she was barely the size of his hand. Eventually she made it to the floor and made a pitter patter sound running along it. Miriam upon reaching the door placed her tiny hand to her chin and began thinking of a plan. She wanted to test to see if it was locked. She found some long wire and formed the end into a hook shape. From there she tried to place it on the door knob, which took a few attempts. Once she finally hooked the door knob, she began to shimmy up the wire. Once all the way up it took some effort to balance herself on the knob. But after managing this, she hopped from the knob to the latch lock. From there she checked it's position and saw it wasn't locked, so she thusly latched it that way. She heard Strife stir with a light groan but he didn't wake up. Miriam then sighed with relief before hopping onto the hook wire and sliding down it to the floor. She then went behind the room's partition and decided to borrow a chair cushion to sit on the floor. Her grabbing of the cushion's tassel was enough to pull it down surprisingly, but it landed on her as well. Causing her to get smothered a little before she made her way out from under it.
"Mmmmmph.....mmmmnnngh....eeh! Whew. Ok. Now to wait." Miriam whispered to herself before getting on top of the cushion.
Strife then curled his hand up and realized Miriam wasn't there. He bolted up, "Miriam, agh........damn! Knew I was gonna be sore in the morning. Uh Miriam, you here? You alright?" He goes to get up but is way too sore to move.
Miriam however finally answers, "Over here honey! Behind this big, tall.....thingy! I wanted to surprise you with something."
"Oh ok, whew."
War however comes on by and tries the door. Seeing as it's locked, he can't open it normally. So he knocks and calls out to Strife, "Is it alright to come in?"
"Yeah it's alright, none of us are doing anything. You can come in now."
"The door's locked." War states.
"Well I can't exactly get up!" Strife retorts.
As War begins searching for a key, Miriam calls out, "Sorry, was hoping to surprise your brother with something. But, I guess it can wait.....want me to unlock the door?"
War laughs, "Uh yes, I need to check on him. Make sure he's able to move."
"Dude, I'm having a really hard time moving my arms, my legs.....just nope." Strife informs him.
"I could do without the mocking, but I'll unlock the door." Miriam states before going the through her earlier process all over again.
This time Strife is awake to see what she's doing. Naturally he can't help but give some comments and encouragement, "Doing pretty well, although one thing would make this easier and better. Try swinging, it makes it easier. We practiced on your landing remember?"
Miriam sighs and begins swinging like he says to. Course she ends up going in circles and in her little panic forgets to let go. "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaahhaaaaaah!"
"Let go let go let go!" Strife shouts at her.
War meanwhile hears the commotion and readies his fist to punch through the door to catch her.
Miriam finally lets go and has her eyes shut the whole time. Strife then let's her know, "You're fine, if you kept your eyes open you'd have gotten a 9.5 landing. That's an 8.5."
"Hmmm? Oh....ok whew. Also, zip it." Miriam retorts before hopping to the door's lock from the knob and then unlocking it this time.
War settles down at this and then opens the door. Seeing Strife stuck on the bed and letting Miriam hop onto his massive gauntlet hand. He then lets Miriam down onto the bed and begins checking Strife over.
"I've never seen you this fucked up. Even up against Moloch."
Strife gains an grumpy face, "I would flip you off, but I can't seem to move my fingers."
War shakes his head, "You're probably just exaggerating.", then upon seeing all the welts and massive bruises he has when removing the covers, "By the nine hells, what happened? Next time you go up against him, I'm coming with you."
Strife then told him, "He punched Death through a building! This guy then bitch slapped me through a fountain, and he threw an anchor at my chest! Who the fuck brings an anchor to a fight!?"
"Oh my gosh! Is that why these look so bad?! I'm so sorry." Miriam says before cuddling Strife.
"Not your fault, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ow." Strife assures her.
"What would win, his anchor or my fist?" War inquires.
"Depends, how close are you going to get?" Death questions from behind War, whilst on crutches.
"What the fuck happened to you?" Strife immediately asked.
"A harpoon to my achilles tendon doesn't bode well for me. Although the question you asked me is one I have to ask you. What the hell ha-?"
"Anchor to the chest, and being smashed into a fountain too. Yeah be happy you're able use crutches. I can't do shit." Strife tells him.
Miriam meanwhile curls up onto Strife's neck and snuggles him a little. Course Death has an idea.
"I have some ointments that can help heal....all that. But I'm not doing it, Miriam, if you'd be so kind. I'm going to get check on breakfast, War let's give them some privacy."
"Why must we?" War inquires.
"Do you really want to our brother naked?"
War immediately shakes his head and follows a snickering Death outside the room. Once it's closed Miriam taps Strife's face to get his attention.
"Yes Sugarplum?"
"Think I could show you that one thing? Since we're alone now, and because it might make things easier." Miriam suggests.
"Yeah go ahead and show me."
Strife then watches as Miriam goes behind the partition again after using the blankets to climb down to the floor. Then after a moment he sees a flash of light and hears her speak again. But her voice sounds a smidge lower now,
"Are you ready?"
"As ready as I can be."
Strife then sees Miriam step out as a nude short woman. With long black hair and quite the 'blessing' for such a small girl. The curves she has aren't that bad either, in fact it's a welcoming sight. Only her eyes remained the same, pure black like a raven's.
"How do I look?"
"I'm glad that one muscle's working." Strife smugly remarks.
Miriam's giggle makes him smile warmly as she walks over to him to get the ointments on. "Guess that means you like it then? I was worried you might not..."
"Miriam, all I need is you."
She gushes and does her best to hold in the squee before finally beginning to get the ointment on him. Being as gentle as possible so that he doesn't feel pain. She hears a few pops and feels them too as things go back into place. Strife groaning and moaning all the while.
Meanwhile Morgen began tossing in her sleep again. She could hear that one voice again, in that ever dark void. Immediately she screams for Death to help her. But is taunted by the being for the effort.
"Why scream for such a man who cannot understand us for what we are? My sweet Ilona."
"Please Death, if you can hear me, help me....please." Morgen continued to beg, ignoring the voice as best she could.
Suddenly she heard a brand new voice, one just as terrifying though, "Let the poor girl rest. She needs it after all. Don't you have anything better to do, other than tormenting children?"
The voice from before answered, "You know as well as I do, this is no mere child."
"What is going on? Please just....no more....Let me go..." Morgen begs the two voices in her fear. One presence tries to pull her away, another however keeps her in place.
"She must stay." The voice spoke up.
The other however explained angrily, "I will not allow her to remain here. Release her now or else."
"Or else what?" The original voice laughed from beyond the haze.
Death is using the crutches to get around, and catches a sudden dizzy spell. Nearly toppling over but catching himself with the strength he's got left in him. He then hears a creepy, grandiose voice speak in his mind, "Prepare yourself for an unexpected trip."
"I'm not exactly in the best condition for...oooh" Death begins to warn him before completely faceplanting on the floor.
He comes to in a darkened plane, one with a swirling blackness that he can't begin to make sense of. He hears the screams of several men, women, and children. Then he hears a familiar voice from within. One that he recognizes above all the rest in that void,
"Please stop.....please...."
"What the? Morgen? Morgen?! Is that you?! Where are you?!" He shouts into the void.
"Death!? Death please help me!" Morgen replied as a sudden light quickly bursts from her chest.
Quickly the light travels forth and finds Death after a moment. Circling him briefly before leading him along. Good thing the Horsemen's mental strength is enough so that he can actually run. Chasing the light down, and hoping it's leading him to Morgen. Luckily he's correct in his assumption, and grabs Morgen once he reaches her. Morgen naturally hugs him in her panic.
"Morgen are you alright, what's going on here?" Death quickly inquires.
"Morgen? Funny name. You're not supposed to be here."
"Neither are you, whatever this place is." Death retorts.
"It's all in my head, that's where we are." Morgen explains whilst shaking.
"Come out and show yourself coward!" Death shouts into the void.
"Coward? I find that hilarious coming from you. Given your fear."
On cue some burning worms begin traveling up Death's body. He tries swiping them off and stomping on them, only for a pile to begin forming. Morgen quickly reaches into the pile after him and searches for his hand. Course the more frantic in her search she gets, the more her light begins shining. Finally it bursts from her entire body, engulfing the worms in a bluish white light, as well as the void around them. Morgen is left dazed after the experience but pulls herself together enough to make her way over to Death. Death's on his knees when feeling Morgen's hand on his shoulder. He glances up to see her looking dazed still and the world around them is now a bluish white void instead. Only a few patches of black remain, like parasites in her head.
"What's going on?" Death asks sighing.
"I truly don't know. Either it's an evolving nightmare, or some unknown tormentor. But this has happened twice now. It horrifying each time I go through this." Morgen informs him whilst sitting down to try and manage her dazed state better.
"Are you alright?" Death implored.
"I'm fine, just dazed." Morgen replies doing her best to stand up, nearly falling down.
Death of course stands up to catch her, "Woah easy there. I have you. You sure you're alright?"
"Yes, I'm only dazed. But thank you regardless. What about you? That looked horrifying." Morgen says to him.
"Little shaken up, that's all. Now, where the hell are we?"
"My head, like I told you before." Morgen replies simply.
"Ok I must've been seriously messed up from that incident."
"Uhm so long as I wake up we should be fine, I think. We just need to find a way to achieve that." Morgen explains a bit unsure.
"Please tell me that there is no ridiculous requirements or tasks to get the hell out of here."
"I'm trying to think of something believe me. Perhaps knock me out here and see what happens? Shove me off a cliff maybe? Falling dreams do wake people up usually." Morgen tells him.
"Are you insane, where are we going to find a cliff here? Secondly why would I even do that?"
"Then let's hear yours then smartass." Morgen retorts.
"Uhm let me think let me think, let me think of something good."
Morgen looks at skeptically before she starts hearing something. Turning around she sees the black spots pulsating. They're silent, then one begins talking and starts to sound eerily familiar.
"Hello little bun oven. When you grow up you're probably gonna be all nice and pretty. Yeah your Papa's pride and joy, and other things maybe, heheh..." Morgen heard Leatherbeard say.
#Darksiders Fandom#Darksiders Fanfics#Darksiders OCs#Darksiders Arthurian Tales Revisited#Death#Strife#War
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Here's a prompt: Scarlet Vision bonding during the year between AoU and Civil War because we all need fluff right now. Maybe Vision teaching Wanda something? I feel like it usually goes the other way around.
Thank you so very much! I quite love this prompt and I for sure agree, we need some more fluff right now. I’m incorporating the musical we just performed at my school Friday and last night, Hello, Dolly! This is probably the fluffiest piece I’ve ever written and I hope you enjoy reading! Click here for the link to the song that was used to inspire the last section of this one-shot. (x)
“Have you ever seen a musical?” Wanda questions, swiftly maneuvering her way through a crowd of tourists that had stopped to take a picture. Just like the tourists, Wanda too is impressed by the grandeur of the lights of Broadway. Billboards are aglow with the current musicals, as well as a few classics. Every theater is advertising their current show in a spectacular and eye-catching way. Crowds gather outside the theaters, eager to get seated. It all looks like something of a movie rather than reality.
“I have not, but I did research the one that we are to see tonight,” Vision states with a grin. He tugs at the collar of his shirt as if it is uncomfortable. Wanda hadn’t seen him in anything other than some sweaters and slacks. She couldn’t help thinking that he looked very handsome, his red complexion contrasting with the light grey of his suit. Her black sequined dress compliments his outfit as well.
For Christmas this year, a mere two months ago, Vision had surprised Wanda with mystery musical tickets. He’d gotten the idea from hearing her speak passionately of one of her favorite musicals, Les Miserables. She then mentioned how she wanted to watch some new musicals. This comment prompted Vision to buy tickets that night. Though, he was unsure which one to chose. Natasha had helped, also suggesting that he should keep it secret.
“You’re still keeping up the act as if I guessed wrong. I know I guessed it. It’s going to be Cabaret. Right?” Wanda teases, a confident smirk on her face. Vision smiles back innocently, knowing fully well that she is wrong. They were going to see the revival of Hello, Dolly! It’s a Broadway classic, and Vision figured she would appreciate something traditional to Les Miserables and Cabaret.
“Fine don’t tell me,” She giggles, nudging his shoulder with her own.
“You’ll see when we get there Wanda. I assure you that it will be worth your while.”
With his keen eye, Vision spots the Hello, Dolly! theater up ahead. He averts his eyes though, in case Wanda is following his line of sight.
“Do I get any hints?”
“Nope.”
“You’re being difficult Vis. You know that right?” Wanda chuckles and Vision cant help meeting her ocean-green eyes.
“I do recognize that,” Vision states, a smile still present on his lips. “But it is all for good reason.”
Vision quickly dodges around a couple holding hands, causing Wanda and Vision to split. It takes a minute for Vision to find Wanda’s small frame in the crowd of busybodies. When spotted, he makes his way over to her.
“Here,” he says, offering his elbow to her. “You mustn’t get lost before the show.”
“Was that a direct insult to my height, because I feel it was. I am not that small!” Wanda exclaims, straightening her posture and resting a delicate hand on the small of his arm. “See, I only have a few inches on you.”
“You’re in heels, Wanda,” Vision deadpans, his response reminiscent of that of Tony Stark.
“So what?” She laughs. It sounds so genuine, so full of life, that it makes Vision grin. He’s only heard that laugh a couple of times since her brother died, which was less than a year ago.
“Wait, that’s the theater for Cabaret,” Wanda says, her head turning as they walk past the entrance.
“I know.”
“So I guessed wrong?” Vision responds with a nod of the head. Wanda draws her eyebrows together and mutters under her breath. “I thought for sure I was right.”
“Would you like to see it another time? I didn’t mean to disappoint you.”
“Oh no, no, no, Vision! You didn’t disappoint me! I didn’t mean to come across like that. And I would love to go see it sometime.” Wanda squeezes his arm gently with a sincere look in her eyes.
For a second he gets lost in her gaze but quickly looks away when the Hello, Dolly! sign catches his eye.
“Here we are.”
When Wanda doesn’t respond, VIsion turns to look at his friend. Her face is the equivalent of a kid in a candy store. She only says one thing
“Oh, Vision.”
After finding their seats in the balcony, Wanda is buzzing with excitement.
“I’ve heard so much about this musical, and it’s up for Tony Awards too. The pictures are so beautiful online but this is…” Vision begins to tune out her rambling but still watches her with great interest. The way her nose scrunches when she exclaims about something and the way her eyes dart back and forth around the theater as she compliments the towering theater. She finally pauses and meets his eyes.
“What?” She says, her ears, that are visible due to her elaborate updo, heat to a scarlet hue.
“Nothing. I like the way you are passionate about this and how you are so excited. I like seeing you happy Wanda.” Vision states truthfully.
“Yeah. I like being happy too. That doesn’t happen that often.” Her enthusiasm starts to dissipate from her voice as if being faced with reality once more.
“Let us enjoy this night together, okay?”
“Okay.”
As if on cue, the lights dim and the pit orchestra begins the overture.
The sun has set when the two exit the theater. Wanda’s hand had found Vision’s elbow sometime while exiting, similar to how they were walking earlier before the show.
“I think the best song was for sure Put On Your Sunday Clothes but my favorite character was Minnie Fay. She was so adorable! And then in the hat shop when she finds Cornelius Hakel. That was so funny. Ernestina Money was also hysterical too. What about you? Who did you like the best?”
“I quite liked Barnaby Tucker. He was quite enjoyable to watch. I really enjoyed viewing the Hello, Dolly! sequence at the Harmonia Gardens. It was truly a brilliant welcoming song,” Vision says, recalling the scenes.
“Yeah, that was really good. And the waltz scenes. The orchestra complemented the dancing so beautifully. I want to learn to dance that way,” Wanda says before softly humming one of the songs.
“Let us walk to a nearby fountain and I’d love to teach you,” Vision shly says, pausing at a crosswalk. Someone in the distance yells at passerby to buy their Broadway t-shirts.
Nearly identical to the enthusiasm of Dolly Levi in the musical, Wanda taps the lapel of Vision’s coat and exclaims.
“Vision, I didn’t know you could dance!” She laughs, proud of her impression. Vision laughs softly in response. The two continue across the road to a nearby fountain that was conveniently placed.
“During the waltzing scene, I was able to analyze and catalog the moves, from their feet placement to the angle at which their arms were at.”
“I see. You and your brilliant mind. You never seem to not amaze me.” Wanda says, whispering the last part beneath her breath. Now it’s Vision’s turn to blush, but it isn’t noticeable through his already red complexion. The only way you would be able to tell is by the heat radiating from his face.
They finally arrive at the fountain. It is lit up with fairy lights strung from the street lamps. The city lights also help illuminate the surroundings in a pearly glow. Music plays in the background from speakers, making the place even more peaceful. It’s almost ethereal, this place. Other than the scream of traffic horns from the nearby street.
“Ready?” Vision says, turning to face Wanda. “I can teach you here unless you’d like to wait until we get to the Compound.”
“I don’t want to be ridiculed by Tony,” she chuckles. “Besides, this place is a lot more beautiful than the compound. And the people here are too busy in their own businesses to worry about us.”
Vision nods, before reaching out to tenderly grasp Wanda’s hands. She smiles gingerly, subconsciously biting her bottom lip. Vision notices but keeps his focus on the task at hand: teaching Wanda to waltz.
“As Dolly said, ‘Place your hand on her waist and stand.”’ Vision reaches out to touch Wanda’s waist, so gracefully silhouetted in her black dress before stopping. “Uh, may I…” Vision stutters.
“You may.” So he does, gently at first as his body remains stiff and terse.
“Okay then. Next up, Dolly says: ‘With your right in her left hand.’”
Wanda reaches out and grasps Vision’s right hand with her left. “And then?”
“Just follow my lead, okay?” Wanda nods. VIsion starts counting in threes, creating a steady rhythm. Wanda stumbles a few times and after each stumble Vision always seems to grasp her tighter.
“Ready for the next step?” Vision asks once they’ve set into a simple rhythm.
“Yeah. Let me guess, it’s the next verse of that song, isn’t it.” Vision nods, smiling. Wanda giggles before nodding, urging him to continue on.
“’ Take the someone who‘s arms you’re in. Hold onto her tight and spin.’ Those are the next lines.” Vision spins Wanda out grasping her hand tight enough so that she won’t tumble to the ground if something were to happen. She spins back inwards. For a brief moment, her back is to Vision’s chest and his arms are around her waist. But before she knew it, they were back in the starting position, waltzing in threes. Under her breath, Wanda hums the waltz theme from the musical, keeping both dancers in time.
“Hey, look! I’m dancing!” Wanda exclaims, directly reference to Cornelius Hakel in the musical. Both laugh and just as that happens, Wanda trips, falling onto the ground and pulling Vision down with her. They both end up laughing on the ground, unaware of the crowd they’d amassed.
A round of applause engulfs the two and both stand up. Vision’s body language screams that he’s uncomfortable, but Wanda is quite the opposite. She stands up and bows, linking fingers with Vision and urging to do the same.
Wanda sees a few video cameras in the crowd, as they had recorded the dance. But her and Vision’s face was already public to the world as being apart of the Avengers, so it didn’t bother her. Maybe they’d made the news tomorrow, who knows. But that didn’t matter to Wanda. She was still stuck in the high of dancing.
“Thank you, New York!” She exclaims, reaching a hand up to the sky. Everyone laughs before dispersing and leaving Wanda and Vision to their own devices.
“That was fun.” Wanda giggles, meeting Vision’s gaze that had been on her for the last few moments.
“Indeed it was. We should head back now. But I have one more thing that I’d like to say before we fly back, Wanda. Thank you for making this night so amazing.”
“No. Thank you, Vizh.” Wanda says. And with that, she kisses his cheek.
And although in that moment, Vision and Wanda claimed it was just the two of them as friends enjoying a night out, in the future, they’d coin this day to be their very first date. A date when everything was just as it should be. When the world was a peace with the two. That peace didn’t last long though, for the universe has different plans for these two very souls.
If you would like to watch the video song in which the last section of this one-shot is inspired by, click here.
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Soulbonds and fairy dust
TITLE: Soulbonds and Fairy Dust
CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 10/?
AUTHOR: nekoamamori
ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine one of the fae has been helping the Avengers, jumping in to help them on missions and vanishing before Shield can bring her in. Loki joins the team and convinces her to come talk to the team and consider joining before Shield takes more drastic measures.
RATING: T (so far)
NOTES/WARNINGS: Also on AO3 here
You smiled at his romantic gesture, at him caring enough to heal the wound for you. “I can heal others about as well as Mama Frigga,” you paused and remembered that you were an adult now and should refer to Frigga in a more appropriate manner “the Allmother,” you corrected quickly and you saw Loki’s smirk at your correction. “Can’t heal myself though, especially not wounds made for blood magic…”
“That makes sense. Though blood magic is a dangerous thing…” it was also illegal on Asgard, but he wasn’t calling you on it.
“It is,” you agreed. “Unfortunately it’s the only way to open or close a door to Underhill without a lot more power than I’m prepared to use right now.” It was possible to close the doors in order ways, but it was difficult at best and dangerous at worst.
Loki sighed and nodded in acceptance. “Just try not to use it around the palace. Mother even restricted me from learning that type of magic,”
You nodded agreement quickly. “I’m not surprised the Allmother has banned the learning of blood magic. It is too easily corrupted. Don’t worry, I’d never use anyone else’s blood and I’m very careful about using it at all. I think even she’ll forgive me for using it to close one of the doors to Underhill,”
“After what you told me about what happened to you there, you’re probably right.” He wouldn’t speak for Frigga, but he knew his mother well enough to know how she’d likely react.
“She won’t want the possibility of other children being kidnapped, especially not so close to the palace where it’s supposed to be safest,” you reminded him. Frigga was protective of her people, which wasn’t surprising at all of Asgard’s queen.
Loki nodded agreement. “It would not be good for more Asgardian children to be taken from their homes,”
“There’s other doors on Asgard, but none close enough to be a danger right this moment,” you told him as you headed back to the palace. “And strong enough fae can open new ones…” it was a rare skill and only the strongest of the fae could manage it, but it was a possibility that they needed to be aware of.
Loki nodded his understanding and you could see the concern in his expression. “Should I inform my mother or the Allfather of the possibility of more kidnappings?” you noted the distinction between Frigga being called ‘my mother’ and Odin being called by his title. Things between Odin and Loki were rocky indeed for that to be his term of address.
“I’m sure they’re aware of the possibility, though it sounds like they might not know about the doorways? That’s how the fae slipped past Heimdall all those centuries ago. I don’t think he can see the doorways,” you told Loki. Heimdall was supposed to be able to see everything, but even he wasn’t infallible. Odin and Frigga needed to know there was a weakness in the realm’s defenses.
He nodded. “I will inform them of the doorways. They will need to keep an eye on them. If there are any other strong magicians here, they should be able to feel the magic the doorways give off,” he told you, trying to sound reassuring.
You weren’t reassured.
“They can’t close them,” you reminded him. He seemed to have forgotten that point. Knowing where the doorways were wasn’t good enough.
“I know, but they can keep an eye on them. Especially if the fae decide they want to take more asgardian children,”
“Do you really expect the Allfather to allow the matter to rest there when I can close them? Especially when no one else here can?” you didn’t think Odin was going to let you out of this without closing the rest of the doorways, especially any doorways that were too close to the population.
Loki sighed, seeing your point. “No, but he won’t argue with Mother once we inform her of what it requires you to do,”
You weren’t convinced by that logic. Odin would do anything to keep Asgard safe, including convince his wife that a little blood magic was allowed. Or that overworking the only person who could close the doorways was worth the risk to get the doorways closed. “If I have a map, I can at least pinpoint the locations of the doorways for them,” you told Loki softly. You didn’t tell him how strong of a mage it took to close the doorways. You figured he didn’t know and there was no need to inform him at this juncture.
Loki nodded. “We will do what we can,”
By then you’d made it back to the palace. You paused just inside, trying to determine what the plan was. “Are you telling them about the doorways before or after dinner?” you asked. You’d lost track of how much time you had.
“After,” Loki decided after a small pause to consider. “Let’s enjoy dinner before we have to deal with business.” The pair of you walked to the great hall for dinner, your armor shimmering to court clothes as you walked. You noted that you both chose clothes that allowed the soulbond marks on your arms to be clearly visible. You started to worry as you neared the great hall, though. Your place used to be at one of the tables with your mother and other nobles. You didn’t know where you’d be now and you didn’t remember anyone really except the royal family and Thor’s dumb friends. Loki held out his arm for you to take. “Would you be up to sitting with me and my family?”
You gave him a look, but took his arm. “But, only the royal family sits at the head table…” you’d heard that line thousands of times over the first couple of centuries of your life when you used to demand from your mother why you couldn’t sit next to your best friend at dinner.
“Things have changed. With the soulbond, you are considered part of the royal family now,” Loki reminded you. That consideration hadn’t occurred to you yet. “Besides, my mother wouldn’t have it any other way,” he added with a warm smile.
It was strange that you were considered part of the royal family now when you weren’t even officially courting. You weren’t quite sure what you were, except that you had your best friend back, and for now, that was enough. It was still strange that just because you had power lines on your arm, a soulbond mark with Loki, that made you a member of the royal family. You squeezed his arm, though. “Then I’ll gladly sit with you,” you told him warmly. His bright smile was completely worth it and you continued on your way to the great hall.
You walked with him happily and looked over the statues and decorations on the way, noting which ones you remembered from your childhood. “Should I don an illusion too?” you asked him softly, in case it made things easier on him. Or on you both. You knew your strange looks drew a lot of attention.
You saw his eyebrows furrow in that look of confused concentration you knew so well. It brought a warm smile to your face as you remembered. “What do you mean?” he asked you, legitimately confused.
“You aren’t the only one with the power of illusions, trickster,” you told him with a smirk. With a shimmer of power an illusion settled over you and Loki was no longer looking at the fae he’d come to know, but an older version of his Sigyn with long golden hair and blue eyes, with normal non-pointed ears, though with the green lines of power still on your skin.
Loki froze in disbelief as he looked at you. “Wow. You look so much like the little girl I used to know…”
You laughed at your silly best friend. “Of course I do. This is what I would have looked like had the fae not gotten ahold of me,” you told him.
Loki nodded and considered his next words carefully. “You don’t need to hide behind an illusion though,” he reassured you. “I do because most Asgardians hate frost giants, and I hate that I’m one of them,” he explained. “Plus, I’ve been wearing it all of my life, even though I didn’t know it until a few years ago,”
You hesitated, unsure. “You don’t prefer-?” you couldn’t get the rest of the question out, unsure if he would say yes and be unable to accept you for who you were now.
“I care about you either way. I don’t care what you look like, I care about you,” he reassured you firmly.
You hesitated a moment longer, unsure, but let your illusion slowly fade away. “If you’re sure…”
“I would not lie to you, I know better. Besides, you would be able to tell if I was lying,”
“That may be what the Sigyn you knew would have looked like, but this is who I am now,” you said softly when your illusion was gone and you were back to normal.
He gave you a warm, reassuring smile. “I know. And you’re beautiful,”
You gave him a small tentative smile since he wasn’t lying. “And you’re handsome, my prince,” you replied warmly.
“Thank you, darling,” he replied just as warmly. You finally reached the dining hall and Loki paraded you on his arm as you walked to the head table where the royal family sat. He led you straight to the chair beside his and pulled it out for you. He sat between you and his mother.
“Careful thanking a fae,” you teased, trying to ignore the stares from the nobles as you were seated at the head table. You gave him a warm smile of appreciation as he pulled out your chair for you.
“What happens if I thank a fae, little one?” Loki asked you, more curious than anything.
You pondered over how best to explain it to him. “It implies enough gratitude for whatever you are thanking them for that they can claim you owe them a favor in return. And you do not want to be indebted to one of the fae,” you explained. You wouldn’t hurt Loki, but you knew there were plenty of fae who would if give the opportunity.
He nodded, accepting the reality and the seriousness of your words. “I shall keep that in mind.” You nodded your approval and glanced over at the morons’ table where they seemed to have gotten over the worst of the fairy win, though they seemed hungover. You laughed quietly at them. Loki looked over as well and saw how hungover they were too. “That is certainly some powerful wine,” he commented approvingly. He hated that they always tried to get him drunk. This was definite recompense.
You smirked. “None of the morons have magic of their own, so they have no immunity to fae wine. You could have some and not be nearly so affected, as long as you were careful,”
“That’s a relief. I might wish to try some at some point,” he was willing to try almost anything, especially when it had to do with magic.
“I’ll share. And even be kind enough to make sure you don’t drink too much of it,” you added teasingly.
He chuckled. “I appreciate that.” You noted that he carefully hadn’t thanked you.
You grinned at him. “You’re learning,” you told him warmly, noting how your light conversation felt like… home.
“Brother! You actually joined us for once instead of hiding in your room with your books,” Thor greeted Loki too jovially when he arrived.
Loki rolled his eyes and you hid a laugh behind your glass of wine. “I did not wish to leave Sigyn alone with you and your hungover friends,” he replied dryly.
“Speaking of, that was a cruel trick on your old friends, Lady Sigyn,” Thor told you with a glare. It wasn’t a sever glare, not really, but it was a glare nevertheless.
You shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, but your hand gripped Loki’s too tightly in nerves. Upset males made you cringe and shy away. “They should know better than to accept gifts of drink from the fae…” you replied softly, shyly. “And I didn’t hurt them,”
Loki glared at his brother for making you tense up. “They were asking for it,”
“They simply wished to see their friends,” Thor replied, but he was cut off from making things worse by Odin and Frigga arriving. Everyone had to stand and Thor had to hurry to stand by his seat next to Odin’s. Frigga kissed Loki’s cheek as she moved to take her own seat next to him.
Odin remained standing for a moment and it was he who made things worse on your nerves. “It is my honor to announce that Lady Sigyn Freyadotir, duchess of Asgard, Goddess of Fidelity has been found and returned to us after so many centuries. Not only that but she and my son Loki have become soulbound,” he announced, sounding proud of both of these occurrences. Loki was surprised Odin sounded proud about him. You were digging your nails into Loki’s hand and had been since Odin spoke your full name with your titles. Loki covered your hand with his, trying to ease your nerves and fear. He sensed your emotions and didn’t like them.
Names had power. You knew that better than most. And Odin had just announced yours for the entire court.
Odin finally sat and dinner was served. “Sorry,” you murmured when you saw nail marks in Loki’s hand and used a drop of power to heal the marks you’d left.
Loki smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry about it, darling,”
“I wish he hadn’t done that,” you said softly, still on edge from having your name announced. You were in the habit of hiding your truename. “Also where in the nine realms did ‘Goddess of Fidelity’ come from?” you asked in shock. You’d never had that title before.
“It was what you were supposed to be the goddess of before you were taken by the fae,” Loki explained.
“I don’t think I ever knew that…” you replied softly. You couldn’t remember knowing that before and that didn’t seem like something you’d forget or make yourself forget.
“I didn’t officially receive my godhead until I was around 300,” Loki told you.
You nodded. “But you’re a prince of course you’d receive a godhead at some point. I’m not royalty,” you reminded him quite logically.
He chuckled. “Darling, you are my best friend. You are close to my mother and a noble of Asgard. All nobles receive a godhead,” he reminded you.
You remembered something and nodded. “Mama was goddess of beauty,” you said softly as you remembered that tidbit. He gave you a small sad smile and wrapped an arm around you reassuringly. You gave him a small smile in return. “I think the court is about to blow a gasket over the dark prince touching a lady,” you teased him.
He chuckled warmly and it was nice to hear the old familiar sound of his laughter again. “Like I care. They can think of me however they wish. It doesn’t faze me,”
“Sure it doesn’t, peacock,” you teased him warmly.
Frigga turned to her son during dinner “Have you been enjoying showing your lady around the palace?” she asked him kindly.
“I actually haven’t had a chance to yet,” he admitted a bit sheepishly. “Though, on that note, there is something we wish to speak to you about after dinner. Without Father,” he added quickly.
Frigga raised and eyebrow, but didn’t seem concerned about the request. “Of course, darling,” she replied just as warmly and kindly as she always was. She gave him a conspiratorial smile. “After dinner or after you have a dance with your lady?”
He chuckled. “You read my mind, Mother,”
She laughed. “I know you well, my darling,” she replied, then glanced at the morons’ table. “Do you know what happened to Thor’s friends? They’re remarkably quiet tonight…”
You and Loki shared an amused look. “That’s a long story, Mother,” Loki replied, since he didn’t really want to go into it right now. Especially if it could possibly get you in trouble. You were looking sheepish since Thor wasn’t pleased with you for that trick on his friends.
Frigga gave you both a knowing smile. “And some things never change…” she mused.
Loki chuckled. “You know you love how mischievous I am,” he told her brightly. He was never so open with anyone else in the court other than his mother and now you.
“It does tend to cause excitement around here. The palace is dreadfully dull without you. And mischief that leads to those three being quiet is definitely appreciated,”
Loki kissed her cheek. “It is dreadfully dull on Midgard without you as well, Mother. It is always good to come home just to spend time with you. And I’m happy to bring a little excitement back with me,” he added with a mischievous smirk.
“You shall have to enlighten me on how you subdued them though. It seems like a useful skill,” Frigga mused. The morons were usually quite loud and obnoxious. Their only redeeming quality was that they were skilled warriors.
“Let’s just say my soul bound has many tricks up her sleeves,”
“I expect no less of one who is worthy of your affections, my darling,” Frigga told him warmly before turning to you to try to goad you into speaking. You’d gotten shy with all the attention.
/What has you so tight lipped, darling?/ Loki asked when he noticed how shy you were.
/I… I’m just not used to positive attention anymore… especially from those in power…/ you tried and probably failed to explain.
/I’m sorry to hear that/ you heard understanding in his tone. /But remember, you belong here. You have nothing to fear from my family. Besides the Allfather, the rest of us have nothing to hide from you/
/I know. It’s just hard. And she’s still expecting the little girl she knew. Also not calling her ‘mama Frigga’ anymore is hard~/ you whined the last, but you opened up more to Frigga when the subject changed from your past to safer subjects like general magic studies. And Loki.
/My Mother would probably love to hear you call her Mama Frigga. I know she misses being called that. And I’m sure she realizes that you are not the same girl you once were. My mother is not naive/
/Probably is not enough when propriety and the royal family are involved/ you reminded him, noting that Frigga seemed happy that you were willing to talk about something, even if it wasn’t yourself. And Frigga was having a touch too much fun telling stories of younger Loki to make you laugh.
Loki was getting more and more embarrassed by all of the stories and turning redder and redder. “Mother, please~” he whined at a particularly embarrassing old story. Frigga laughed and Loki’s whining and switched to a story of one of his accomplishments instead.
/She refuses to answer questions about herself more than what magic she’s studied. I had to get her talking about something/ Frigga told Loki as she told her story.
/She’s still adjusting to being shown any form of affection. Life in underhill was not easy for her/
/I wish we knew what happened there. We might be able to figure out how to best help her/ Frigga does politely, to Loki at least, change the topic of conversation to the differences between fae and Asgardian magic which is something you could lecture them on at length.
/I do as well. I’m sure she will tell me eventually but I do not plan to force it out of her./
/Wise decision, darling/
Dinner finally ended after a delicious dessert and Odin left the second it was over, claiming work to do. As soon as he was gone, Loki stood and held out his hand to you. “Sigyn would you honor me with the first dance?” he asked you formally.
You gave him a warm, bright, smile and placed your hand lightly in his as you stood. “The honor would be mine, my prince,” you saw how much he lit up every time you called him that. He smiled brightly and led you straight out to the middle of the dance floor. You both drew a lot of attention, just because of who you were. Your exotic looks and the soulbond marks didn’t help matters any. The music started and you took your position automatically, clearly knowing what you were doing. You’d danced in the fae courts for centuries. You were both wonderfully graceful and a sight to behold once the dancing began. You both appeared to be floating across the dance floor and your eyes and lit up in joy. You didn’t notice when you started to literally shine with joy as you danced.
You danced for a long while before you both remembered that you had to talk with Frigga about the fae doorways.
You didn’t want the night to end, but duty called.
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Ch. 2
Pairing: Edgar x Iris
Rosanne did not disappoint. While her disapproval of my actions clearly present, she had called in the cavalry. Two other middle-aged women were gathered around me, deliberating on how to proceed. The first thing that they decided had to be addressed was my breasts. A lot of pain came with how tightly Edna was wrapping them. She had experience in helping royals into ballgowns and that required some strength. Corsets were hard to lace up. She blew a strand of hair out of face. “What do you think, Meredith? Will that be tight enough to use with the crystals.”
Meredith worked as a fairy godmother of sorts. It was a hush hush kind of thing, but for the right price, she could give you crystals that could alter some features slightly. Kind of like draping a mirage over your own body. Completely changing a person’s face or body was impossible, but she promised that it would be enough. “We just have to give you a rougher edge to your jawline, and keep those lady parts nice and hidden, and overall make you give off a presence of manly.”
Rosanne had been busy making me pants and shirts to wear for any casual occasion. The Red Army uniform that regular soldiers wore would be issued upon arrival. I needed something to wear tomorrow, and Rosanne knew Ian well enough that she could make an outfit that would be most like him. Something casual, a little baggy, but still put together, as I, disguised as Ian, would be begging for a chance to prove myself.
“Here, dear,” Meredith patted an empty chair. “You’re going to have to sit down for this.” She had a large needle in her hand. It took a moment for me to realize. Ian has his right ear pierced at the top. Thankfully, I had never wanted to do that. Regretfully, that means my first piercing is going to be done by someone other than a professional. “Now, the crystal is easy to pop out so long as you take the back of the earring off. You’ll have to replace it every four days. Since it’s so small, you’ll get more of them from the crystals you’ve bought.”
The tip of needle poked into the soft cartilage of my ear. I sucked in a breath. The stinging pain that shot through my body as she stabbed me, made me cry out in pain. “Oww. Owww! That hurts!” I complained, gripping the edge of the seat to keep from moving away.
Meredith laughed lightly. “Iris, you’re going to be training with men much stronger than you. You’ll have to learn to take pain without screaming like a girl. While my crystals can change your appearance, they cannot change your voice. You’ll have to keep your octave a little lower.” Sticking in the earring, she wiped away the little trickle of blood.
Going over to the mirror, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was me, but it was Ian. “This is crazy,” I said, touching my chin to see if it was still the same. It felt like my chin and jaw… Running my fingers over my breasts, they were still there but, in the mirror, I couldn’t tell. Magic is awesome.
Rosanne brought me some black slacks and a tan baggy long sleeved shirt. “Iris, I wish you would reconsider, but I know your pride won’t let you,” Rosanne said, watching me slid the pants on and the sliding a belt through the loops to keep it on my bony hips.
I smiled at her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for worrying about me, but this is what I was meant to do. Fighting was always my strong suit,” I replied. Ian wouldn’t survive the first week of army training.
Meredith handed me my satchel and slid the bag of crystal pieces into it. “You need to hurry. The Red Army loves rules, and all recruits must be present by 9AM, right?” She pointed to the clock that read 8:30. We’d been at this all night, and at this rate, I might be late.
Edna wrapped her arms around my neck. “This material is water resistant, so taking a bath should be alright. Just come see me on your off day and I’ll redo it for you,” she said, patting my back.
Rosanne and Meredith both hugged me tightly as well, giving more wishes of good luck.
Setting out to return to the Red Army Headquarters, I had to run through the Central Quarter to make it there on time. Catching my breath just outside of the main gates, a familiar voice came from beside me. It was the Queen of Hearts, Jonah. “You there. You should have already arrived to change into your uniform. What’s your name?”
Damn. I didn’t even think about that. “Ian Adley,” I replied, getting an immediate frown out of him. With my showing up yesterday, Lancelot probably told him about me and Ian.
“You finally decided to serve like your uncle before you?” He asked, not believing it. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he turned on his heel. “This way. King Lancelot will decide whether or not you will be accepted into the Red Army.” He had an arrogant air about him, and he clearly did not like me.
Moving down the familiar hallways, we passed two others of the chosen thirteen, Zero and Kyle. Zero stopped mid-sentence, staring at me. He stepped into my path, and asked, “Are you Ian Adley?” He squinted at me, like he could see through my disguise.
“My sister insisted that I at least try,” I replied, keeping my voice even and low. Being Ian isn’t so hard. He’s just a pushover who doesn’t care about the military at all. At least this way I can make myself, well Iris, look good.
Jonah cleared his throat, standing at the door of Lancelot’s office. “King Lancelot is very busy, soldier.”
Slipping past Zero, I took a deep breath and entered his office. It’s kind of nerve racking to be back here. The last time he had rejected me so blatantly. Ian wouldn’t be impressive after he insulted the King of Hearts at the dinner. The silence was only broken when I said, “Iris told me what she tried to do, and then smacked me for running away.”
Those clear blue eyes narrowed at me, and he folded his hands on the desk in front of him. “Yes, I do admire her resolve to take your place.” He stood, walking around the desk and up to me. “It’s because of her that I have made decision to allow you to join the Red Army as a regular soldier. Should you prove yourself to be worth of the title, in a year or two, the position of the Ten of Hearts will be taken into consideration.”
That means I’m in, right? Schooling my features to keep from smiling at my small victory, I nodded my head. “I understand, King Lancelot.”
Lancelot moved past me, toward the door. “Jonah will take you to the barracks where you will change and come to first exam. Should any of the officers want to take you under their command, then, and only then, will you be permitted into the Army.” He left with a flutter of his cape and left no room for argument.
“It’s unlikely due to your inexperience and the knowledge that you ran away from your duty,” Jonah said before leaving me in a plain barrack room. He’d walked down in front of me, not bothering so much as to look at me. He wouldn’t be on my side.
The uniform lying on the bed took longer to put on than I imagined, but I appreciated the privacy at the moment. There were actually two beds, making this a shared living space. Difficult to be a girl with a male roommate, but I’ll make due. If everyone knows about Ian, then they’ll have found out that he’s quite strange and oddly girly. It wasn’t a bad quality, and in fact, worked in my favor.
The clock struck nine just as I slid into the last spot at the very back of the rows of soldiers, all here to join the Red Army. Lancelot stood at the head, speaking about their duty and the training that we would all undergo as new recruits. The chosen thirteen were around him, surveying the men around me. My name being brought up caught my attention. Lancelot’s harsh gaze was back on me, and the group of men moved out from around me. “Ian, since you didn’t find it in your soul to fulfill your duty until just this morning, you will have to defeat our Ace of Hearts in a duel before you are permitted.”
Great.
#ikemen revolution#ikerev#ikemen revolution fanfiction#lancelot kingsley#jonah clemence#edgar bright#zero#kyle ash#For Crimson Glory#Chapter 2#Iris Adley#lets be real#i listened to i'll make a man out of you the entire time i wrote this
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Another 10 TV Shows You Should Give A Shot If You Haven’t Already
This is the third installment of my recommendations of shows for you to add to your own lists. I watch a lot of television and I’ve got, what I consider to be at least, a wide variety of shows under my favorites.
If you haven’t seen the first or second list, you don’t need to unless you want to see another list of ten shows you may want to check out if you’re looking for anything new to watch.
Warning, though, some of these don’t end the best way and may end up more as a disappointment. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.
I. The Librarians.
Does this have to do with the movie franchise The Librarian? Yes.
The Library has chosen a new group to help safeguard magical cursed artifacts throughout time and around the world. An art historian, a thief, a mathematician, and a warrior are tasked with finding and saving all the mysterious, ancient artifacts. (IMDB).
This show covers action, adventure, comedy, horror, fairy tales, and much more. It’s a good choice of a new show if you’re a fan of Doctor Who and Warehouse 13, which then makes this feel like a strange mixture of the two shows.
You might find some familiar faces in Rebecca Romijn who has played the older version of Mystique in the X-Men movies, Christian Kane who’s acted in Angel, Leverage, Supernatural, and is quite the Country singer, and Noah Wyle who is the original Librarian from the movie series reprising his role, Fallen Skies, ER, and Donnie Darko.
II. My Babysitter’s A Vampire.
Technically, this did air on Disney. However, it was a Canadian production if I’m remembering correctly. The show follows after the events of the movie by the same title, so I suggest giving the movie a watch first for some background before diving into the show.
Now, because of the fact that it aired on Disney, it is a little more child friendly but it’s still quite a good show if you’re looking for a laugh. It holds more than just vampires and while things happen a little quickly (in the movie, at least) everything makes sense.
Unfortunately, it only has two seasons, but it’s worth a watch if you’re looking for something a little more light-hearted than most of this list.
III. Killjoys.
In the Quad, a planetary system on the brink of a bloody interplanetary class war, a fun loving trio of bounty hunters attempt to remain impartial as they chase deadly warrants. (Taken from IMDB).
Set in space with loads of action and adventure with all the added scifi bonuses. And while I haven’t gotten around to watching the show in full myself, I do quite enjoy what I’ve already seen of it.
I highly recommend giving it a shot.
IV. Dark Matter.
Set in the 27th century, Dark Matter focuses on six people who wake up on a deserted spaceship with no memory of who they are or what exactly they’re doing there. The six of them reluctantly team up and set off to find answers regarding their presence on the ship together with the help of a female android.
If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m quite the fan of scifi and futuristic shows. Dark Matter was unfortunately cancelled, but not until it already produced three kickass seasons.
V. Stargate SG-1.
If you’re a scifi fan, chances are you’ve seen this or heard of it. Maybe you’re like me, who grew up watching it over and over again because rewatching shows seems to run in the family.
However, if you want to give this a go, be aware that there is a movie you need to watch first, Stargate (1994), that gives a bit of background before jumping into the show. Warning, actors were changed from the movie to the show but once the show started, those actors stay in those roles.
Stargate SG-1 follows a secret military team formed to explore other planets through the discovered form of space travel, the stargate. It spans over 10 full seasons and a couple of movies too. Plus, two spin-offs.
I highly recommend watching this show if you’re a fan of scifi, ancient mythology, and just wacky goodness in general.
VI. Stargate: Atlantis.
Stargate: Atlantis is the first of two spin-offs to Stargate SG-1. This team is sent to a whole other galaxy in order to expand interplanetary communications and trade and end up coming across a whole new powerful enemy. You might see a familiar face or two pop up and I don’t just mean characters from SG-1.
It’s a great spin-off and while the third spin-off (Stargate Universe) is not on the list, if you like the first two shows, you should give the third a shot. I, personally, have not seen or gotten around to seeing the third installment of the Stargate shows just yet, so I won’t recommend it until I do.
(Plus, Jason Momoa is in this one!)
VII. Sleepy Hollow.
When Ichabod Crane is resurrected and pulled two and a half centuries through time to unravel a mystery that dates all the way back to his founding fathers, things get a little crazy in the town of Sleepy Hollow.
While I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, I’m also quite the fan of fantasy. Sleepy Hollow was a wonderful show while it lasted and while it’s been a while since I’ve watch it on any screen, I know I’m still going to love it as much as I did when I first saw it.
(Keep in mind, there are some issues that happened BTS with the lead Nicole Beharie [played Abbie, who is pictured above] and how they treated her alongside her character, so I completely understand not wanting to give this a go if that bothers you!)
And you might recognize a few faces amongst the cast. Orlando Jones who’s known for his role in American Gods, John Noble who’s known for roles in Elementary, Salvation, Legends of Tomorrow, and Fringe, Nikki Reed who known for the Twilight Saga, and Janina Gavankar who is known for her roles in The Morning Show, The Vampire Diaries, and The Mysteries of Laura.
VIII. Firefly.
Now, if you know underrated shows, there’s a high chance you know Firefly. Firefly is one of Joss Whedon’s works that unfortunately got cut way too short in its life span.
Even with only 14 episodes to its single season and a movie that wraps up the story on the big screen (but don’t worry, there’s extra content available online to find to know more about the lovable Browncoats), Firefly is highly respected.
Set in the future, the show follows a ragtag team of renegades aboard a small ship named Serenity (Class: Firefly), they find themselves wrapped up in a bigger mess than intended and work their way out of it the best they can while still evading the authorities trying to hunt them down.
Now, Firefly had been aired out of order so I highly recommend searching up the correct order before giving the show a shot just so you understand everything going on.
The cast is full of familiar faces that include Nathan Fillion who is best known for his roles on Castle, The Rookie, Big Mouth, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Con Man, plus his upcoming role in the second Suicide Squad film, Gina Torres who is known for her roles in Angel, Westworld, Pearson, and Suits, Morena Baccarin who’s known for her roles in the Deadpool movies, The Flash, Gotham, and V, and a young Zac Efron even appears in an episode.
I will always highly recommend this show to people looking for something quick to binge while also being highly entertaining and catching.
IX. Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
If you’re a Whedon fan or was alive at any point in the 90s, or have a father like mine, you’ve probably seen this show. Hopefully, you’ve at least heard of it if you haven’t seen it. The title kind of explains it, but you get seven full seasons (plus a bunch of comics that continue the story afterward) plus a spin-off.
The show follows Buffy Summers, the chosen Slayer at the time, and her adventures after moving to a new town (after burning down the gym at her old school to kill a bunch of vampires, but she can’t really explain that one to the authorities) that happens to be sitting above a Hellmouth.
Between the action and slightly disturbing relationships, Buffy the Vampire Slayer handles a lot of teen angst and comedy.
I always laugh throughout the one scene from the episode Hush and if you know what scene I’m talking about, you know why.
It’s truly a great show and had a great ending. Highly recommend starting to watch ASAP.
X. Angel.
Lastly on this list, Angel. If you don’t know, Angel is the spin-off to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It follows Angel, the vampire, after he leaves at the end of season three of Buffy and moves to the lovely city of Los Angeles. Along the way a few familiar faces show up and new ones get added to the mix.
Some soul-reading karaoke happens, and a few people get killed along the way. Maybe even get turned into a puppet once in a while.
Overall, it’s one of the best spin-offs to exist and holds it’s own through action, comedy, and pure spite.
I highly recommend giving it a shot. It’s up to you however if you try watching it at the same time it lines up with Buffy. My dad does it due to crossover episodes, but I know it can be quite the difficulty figuring out.
It’s up to you when to watch it.
#angel#watchlist#tvshows#buffythevampireslayer#btvs#firefly#sleepyhollow#stargate:atlantis#stargate: sg-1#darkmatter#killjoys#mybabysittersavampire#thelibrarians#qsdpopculture#qsdbloggingpopculture#qsdblogging#findingqsd
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