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therealvinelle · 3 years

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Carlisle wouldn’t want to be human

This really goes for most of the Cullens, Rosalie excepted (I think Edward would last one day without his telepathy and superpowers before this happened (well honestly I think his denial would keep him from ever admitting this but this isn’t an Edward post so we’re cutting this thought short right now before it spirals)), but I see both Edward and general fandom just sort of take it for granted that if anyone offered Carlisle a miraculous human again pill (and I’m just picturing that as some hokey pill being sold on ad TV) he’d praise Jesus and swallow that down immediately, and I’ve to see anybody argue with that so here I go.

First of, if Carlisle were to suddenly find himself human again I have every belief that Aro would materialize and go, “My dear Carlisle has been made a human? How tragic! Never fear, old friend, I’ll fix that for you. Om nom nom.” and then Carlisle would not be human. And I’m only half joking when I say that, because Carlisle has a lot of friends, and while his animal diet is all well and good, if he were to actually do something like this they’d be very sad his human obsession has gone too far and stage an intervention. “We’re doing this because we love you, Carlisle. Now please try not to be too delicious. Om nom nom.” And then we’re back to Carlisle being a vampire again, though with slightly longer hair this time.

More seriously, if Carlisle was offered this miracle pill, then as a doctor he’d probably be less than enthused about it. He was there to see what happened to the Native Americans when the Europeans came carrying brand new disease, and after viruses and bacteria have had 350 years and a globalized planet to evolve, our seventeenth century priest is going to be in trouble. He’s unvaccinated to boot. He also has a completely different intestinal bacterial flora than modern humans do, which I imagine would not be fun for his digestion. This guy would be a sickly, constipated mess.

As for the main reason - why would Carlisle ever want to be human?

Before he’d mastered his thirst, then he’d probably feel obligated to. For as long as he hadn’t mastered it there was always the risk of him losing control and killing somebody. In his early days he certainly would have jumped on the chance. But none of this is a problem anymore.

So, to take the reasons why he wouldn’t say yes in the present day - first of, why would he not want to be a vampire? He is past worrying about his thirst. His vampirism is at this point purely an asset to him. It makes him great at his job. All his friends and family are vampires. If he were to become human again, he’d not just suddenly suck at his job (as I imagine he has incorporated his super senses into his work to the point where he would pretty much have to learn everything anew if he still wanted to be a doctor), his brain would be slow and limited, and he could never see his cherished friends, people he has known for centuries, again. He’d have to start over with another fake identity in a new place, and sure, this time he could stay until he died of old age, but he’d still be lying to everybody he met about his identity. Carlisle is very much a social butterfly, and he’d be unable to form meaningful friendships when he could never get truly personal with anybody.

In other words, Carlisle would be signing himself up for a lonely life of being average if not bad at his work. And his work is incredibly important to him.

Then there’s the fact that as a doctor, modern viruses aside, when it comes to health problems Carlisle has seen it all. He would know better than everybody that even if the modern viruses don’t make him a sickly mess, even if he doesn’t join the statistics of people who die in tragic accidents, he could still get a brain aneurism at the age of 24 and his human LARP is over. And who knows, maybe he had some nasty disease lurking in his DNA just waiting to ruin his life had he lived long enough, such as ALS. But assuming that Carlisle says “I’LL RISK IT”, even if he makes it to an older age, aging is no joke. Dementia, gout, incontinence, the general and inevitable decline of his body - this is the looming shadow hanging over all our heads. For an immortal who has seen countless humans succumb to it, why choose this?

And for what?

So he could have kids of his own, presumably with Esme?

He has a whole family. Rosalie and Edward especially are his children. Just, this guy loves his whole family so much, I can’t imagine he’d throw them aside in favor of some faceless toddler concept. I also don’t think he’d even want kids of his own, but I think that’s for another post. And also mostly a vibe.

So he could grow old with Esme?

Again - why? She’d be just as much an outcast as he, and face all the same health risks (except I suppose for the modern viruses, she hasn’t been dead for that long). I can’t imagine he’d want to sit idly by and watch her either die ahead of schedule, or live long enough to become unable to care for herself.

Then there’s the fact that at most he’d have six or seven decades. To him, that’s just the blink of an eye. And, again, a very unpleasant blink where he loses everything, is less intelligent, and slowly dies.

Lastly there’s the fact that the human he was is dead, his time has passed. Carlisle doesn’t belong in the human world any longer. He interacts with it because helping humans gives him joy and meaning in life, but he’s a man out of his time and this brave new world is not the one he once lived in. He would not in any way belong, and I think he knows that quite well.

Just, the whole idea that Carlisle would want this is founded on Carlisle having some sort of innate worship of humans where being human is inherently better. I’m sorry, but that’s Edward. If Carlisle felt this way, he wouldn’t be turning others into vampires, and he wouldn’t have vampire friends all over the globe. To him, thirst isn’t a problem, and his vampirism means he can save more humans than he otherwise would. The remaining concern would be God, but Carlisle’s life philosophy is that being a vampire is not by itself a sin, so he’s fine in that regard too.

In summation, I think Carlisle is quite happy being a vampire, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

#carlisle cullen #twilight #twilight meta #twilight renaissance #note on the intestinal bacterial flora #a study was done on an african tribe whose members were eating the same food as their ancestors had for thousands of years #and a group of regular americans #they switched diets #and the african tribesmembers' gut flora was noticeably decreased after just a few weeks #and as far as i remember this was irreversible change #while the modern americans did not have noticeable change #so if i understand that correctly then this might not be such a big problem for carlisle #but it's still food for thought #and i imagine the transition period would suck #he'd probably just take the easy way out and eat unprocessed organic food #be that hipster #vegan vampire and hipster human #... i'm quitting this 'carlisle's indigestion combat tactics' tag spiral #before it gets weirder #point is this guy would lose everything #he could never see his friends again #and in exchange he gets to give a forced smile and say 'yay. i'm human. yayy...'

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rosykims · 4 years

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space in a room.

mind blind – ambrose kim x f!button (gracie wiseman). | rated general. 1462 words. pre relationship. denial. fluff.

He can’t recall the last time he’s been so relieved to say the words, “Class dismissed.”

Ambrose watches the group visibly brighten at the announcement of their freedom, and fights a roll of his eyes as a few of them all but spring up from their seats from sheer, unfiltered enthusiasm. It hasn’t been a bad day, nor has it been an exceptionally good day; all he knows is that watching Gracie Wiseman zoning in and out of reality has inspired in him nothing but the greatest mental fatigue in recent memory.

Just as he’s come to expect of her at the end of each day since her first, Wiseman turns to risk a cursory glance in his direction. She stiffens in surprise when she meets his eye, but flickers away a moment later to blink at a classmate who abruptly cut in front of her, making a near comical beeline for the exit.

Despite the rudeness, he’s glad to halt her quick retreat from the room. “Wiseman,” he snaps, and then nods for her to stay behind. “A moment.”

He waits wordlessly for the last few sluggish students to amble from the room, all the while gauging the brunette girl’s response to the resulting silence. Silence, he’s found, is a deceptively good (if not volatile) tool to use in conversation. Most people can’t stand it – which in turn makes them all the more eager to fill it.

Gracie Wiseman does not seem to fall into this majority, and rides out the quiet between them like it were no more unpleasant than an empty elevator.

When the room at last is privy only to them, Ambrose takes a seat at his desk and regards her candidly.

“You knew the answer to every question I raised today, and yet you said nothing. Why?”

Wiseman blinks at him, dark brows pulling together in confusion. “Well, that’s not true.”

“Do explain, then. Were you tapping out your answers in Morse Code, or did you think it best to rely on old fashioned telepathy, instead?”

“No, I meant …” She hesitates, dark eyes darting between him and the empty chair in front of his desk. After a moment – and with only the most well concealed hint of reluctance – she takes a seat. “I didn’t know the answer to every question, sir.”

If this were anybody else, he might have assumed she was fucking with him. And yet this isn’t anybody else. Wiseman remains polite and serious as ever, not one sardonic bone present in her well-shaped face; perhaps it’s that honest, earnest demeanor which causes him to glare even harder.

Neither his silence nor his intimidation seems to have much visible effect on her. After meeting his stare head on for a long, thoughtful moment, she shrugs with the same put together air of someone a little too well versed in conflict resolution. “I don’t like to take up space in a room, if I can help it. That’s all.”

“I see. So you – what? – intended to breeze through the next four years, safe and secure in your comfort zone? Is that it?”

She at least has the decency to purse her lips at that. In the weeks he’s known her, he’s seen little of anything in her expression besides of a sort of passive friendliness; absently approachable like a high-end real estate agent or a helpful-but-otherwise-vacant receptionist. Disapproval looks decidedly more fitting on her features than vacancy, he thinks.

Objectively speaking, of course.

“Not at all.” Wiseman’s words are a little rushed, giving her annoyance away. She bites down a self-deprecating tut as she reigns her emotions back in and continues. “I just … I had an unpleasant experience, a long time ago. In school. I’m a little less quick to give my opinion when it’s not needed, now.”

Ambrose bites his tongue to hold back a sigh. He’s tired. It’s been a long day. The last thing he could possibly want right now is another childhood sob story from another chronically maladjusted student. For reasons he can’t quite name but which make him decidedly uncomfortable nonetheless, he doesn’t cut her off with an eye roll as he would to any other pupil game enough to seek out his sympathy. Instead, he merely tents his fingers and leans back in his chair, preparing himself for the microcosmic melodrama she’s about to inflict upon him.

“Go on.”

She surprises him again by shaking her head. “I’ll spare you the details. It was a long time ago, like I said. My teacher asked a question, I answered, and he and the students got a decent laugh out of it at my expense. It happens. Most likely the response was a bit too … pretentious, probably.” Gracie – Wiseman – throws him a sheepishly self-aware smile. “I do think they were right to laugh, though. Embarrassment aside, it was a good lesson to learn in the long run; do I answer a question for the question’s sake, or do I answer a question to hear myself talk? I think sometimes it’s better to say … less.”

Ambrose dismisses an unexpected rush of true annoyance directed at Wiseman’s faceless former teacher, leaning forwards to frown at her once again. “I disagree completely,” he retorts. “I’m not interested in the philosophy of this, Cadet. Assessing your personal psychology for every question-answer scenario wastes mine and everybody else’s time. If a question is going unanswered, then answer the question.”

“And deny everyone else the choice to think it out for themselves?”

“Optimistic of you to assume your classmates are thinking much of anything during my lessons.”

Gracie – no, Wiseman – had smiled at his weak attempt at humour, once; he feels impressively foolish to have expected her to do so again. “That hardly seems fair,” she presses with a slight frown. “They’re all brilliant, from what I’ve seen.”

“Perhaps,” he concedes. He likes these first-years, for the most part. Some of them more than others. “But brilliant minds make for very lazy students, I’ve found. You aren’t exempt from that observation, either, Wiseman.”

This time, she does smile. Ambrose smiles too – briefly, but not quite brief enough – before adding, “Speak up in class more. A juvenile fear of taking up too much space in a room isn’t a good enough excuse, and it won’t work on me. Any room is better with you in it.”

The brunette’s brow creases, her lips parting for just a moment before she presses them into a tight line and glances away. An uncomfortable bout of silence – the same traitorous silence he’s usually so unaffected by – seeps between them until the echo of his words come back to laugh in his face and call him Idiot.

He can’t clear his throat fast enough. “Meaning,” he amends, “I will never discourage relevant and intelligent dialogue in my classes. Your contribution is as valuable as anybody else’s. So – contribute.”

She sighs – or, it’s almost a sigh; a deep inhale, with a short nod in the place of a weary breath out. “Yes, sir,” she murmurs. “I’ll work on it.”

“Good. That’s all, then.” As Gracie rises to her feet, smoothing out the non-existent creases of her uniform, Ambrose feels suddenly compelled to straighten up in his chair and look away entirely.

“Of course. Have a good afternoon, Instructor Kim.”

“Likewise, Cadet.”

He stares – unseeing, unblinking – into the blue ink mess of his paperwork, listening anxiously for her retreating footsteps. Just before she disappears back into nonthreatening hallway territory, Ambrose stifles a groan.

“Wiseman?”

Her footfalls halt near instantly. “Sir?”

“Just one more thing.”

“Oh – of course. What is it?”

“Your teacher shouldn’t have laughed at you. Not if your answer was correct. You were correct, weren’t you?”

He barely notices that he’s wound up looking at her again until he finds himself uneasy and self-conscious under the weight of her rueful smile. "Yes,” she replies honestly, all white teeth and dimples. “I usually am. More often than not, at least.”

He laughs, genuinely, although it’s lessened by a steadily growing sensation of inexplicable dread in the pit of his stomach. Anyone else might call it butterflies. “I don’t doubt that – but I do expect you to prove it. Take care, Wiseman.”

“Thank you, sir. You, too.”

Gracie offers a small, terribly affectionate smile in parting before closing the door behind her with a click that echoes ominously around the emptied room. Ambrose lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, and then begins to think very fondly and in great detail about the cold shower waiting for him at home.

#mind blind #mindblind #rosy kim #button x rosy #oc: gracie #mine: writing

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redrobin-detective · 4 years

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hope is the promise of future happiness

its 11am, I’ve not dressed or done anything and I got hit with The Feels

XxX

Izuku had walked by the shop, stopping and staring and wondering, for almost two weeks. He stopped again, as he had most every day walking home from school, to stare at the new sign that had recently been hung up in the window.

‘Takazawa Fortune Tellers: now offering precognitive services! Temporarily transport your mind into that of your future self! By Appointment Only, inquire inside.’ He mulled around the words in his head as he let the crowds carry him away again. Izuku kept his head low so the conflicting emotions weren’t obvious on his face. There was a decent amount of precognitive quirks but most were vague and not helpful in the long run. Any quirks that were useful were immediately snapped up by heroes and other government agencies. The chances that a small town psychic could tell him anything useful was low but...

Izuku rubbed lightly at his red and peeling palms where Kacchan had blasted him 2 days ago. Most days all he felt like was a pile of burns, bruises and depression. He was 13 years old and he was miserable every day of his life with no end in sight. If only he could find something, anything, to tell him that tomorrow would be better than today.

He nervously pulled at his lip as he muttered quietly to himself. But what if the future was worse than the present? What if he was still alone, still unhappy, still a stupid, quirkless Deku? What would he do if there was no future for him, some future him deciding enough was enough and-

Izuku shook his head, to clear it of such dark thoughts. He walked past a store filled with TVs, all bearing All Might’s grinning face as he gave a brief interview following a villain attack early this morning. The sound was off but Izuku knew the steady rumble of his hero’s voice better than his own. Watching that smile, that easy care and confidence All Might radiated eased some of the tension off Izuku’s shoulders. As long as All Might was there to spread peace and joy, the future couldn’t be all bad. No matter what, he would be Izuku’s future, a guiding light to lead him to where he needed to be.

It took him another week to work up the courage to enter the shop. The little bell when he opened the door might as well have been a blazing alarm, it almost caused him to run right then and there.

“Welcome to Takazawa Fortune Tellers, you’re here for the precognitive services, correct?” The secretary at the front said with a small smile.

“Oh well I uh how did you-”

“Mild telepathy, lets me know people’s intentions,” the woman explained, tapping her temple. “That and I’ve seen you stopping and staring at the sign for almost a month.” Izuku ducked into the collar of his uniform and considered running again. He could find a new way home from school, possibly change schools altogether, maybe a new country?

“Please don’t go,” the woman said with a light laugh, “in fact, you picked the perfect day to stop by. We’re booked up for months but our last appointment was a no show so we have an open slot right now. We’re not supposed to take walk-ins but, well, you’ve been waiting for this a long time, haven’t you?”

Izuku flushed but the woman stood up, “I guess destiny brought you at the right time, I’ll let Kenma-san know you’re here. Please sit and fill out these forms while you wait.”

It took all of his inner strength to shakily grab the clipboard from her and begin signing his consents, each making him more nervous than the last. Waiving liability in case he didn’t like his future. Accepting trauma from anything unpleasant he may see. Paying the full amount in the event he was dead in the future and thus could receive no predictions.

“She’s ready for you now.” Taking a deep breath and summoning All Might’s brave smile in his mind, he handed her his completed forms and made his way to the back room. It was a small, almost claustrophobic room with heavily scented candles and dark mood lighting. A woman dressed in elaborate robes with a veil over her face was sitting at a small table. She gestured to the empty chair.

“You’re younger than my usual clients,” she said in a weathered voice, it was hard to tell if she was old or simply worn down. Izuku found himself sympathizing. “How old are you, young man?”

“13,” Izuku squeaked.

“A good age, you have your whole life ahead of you,” she nodded holding out both of her hands. “Now, here’s how this works. My quirk can transport you into your body at twice your current age so when you are 26.” Izuku tried to wrap his mind around being 26, an adult with a job but found he couldn’t. His palms began to sweat. “You will be transported to a time, 13 years from now, when your adult self is asleep so there’s no struggle over dual consciousness. You will be able to see, hear and feel your immediate surroundings but not interact much. The more you try to assert control the more your future self will awaken. Once they’re awake, you’ll be transported back to your current body. You don’t need to worry about privacy, I will only be facilitating your transfer and won’t be able to see anything you do. Understand?”

Izuku nodded, he wouldn’t be able to see or do much if he was confined to wherever his future self was sleeping. It was seemingly innocuous and yet...

“You do understand that, if between now and then, you’ve died that the transference won’t work. Are you prepared for that possibility?” She said cautiously. Having already come this far, he nodded. “Alright then young man, lets see what the future has in store for you. Take my hands and let your mind go as blank as possible. Close your eyes and the next time you open them, you will be in your future.”

Izuku grasped her hands, supple and firm leading him to believe he was correct that she wasn’t as old as he first believed. He tried to quiet his thoughts but it like wiping a white erase board in permanent marker. There was so much to fear, so much to worry about in his future. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed, for once in his life, his hopes weren’t painfully crushed.

He opened his eyes and saw All Might. Specifically a really nice framed All Might poster featuring the hero back to back with a skinny blonde man hung on a wall. It looked like it was signed by someone but he was too far away to read what it said. The date at the bottom of the poster was 6 years from the current year. Well, he was alive in 13 years which was nice to know. The relief that echoed through him was surprising, had he really believed- No, no time for that. He didn’t know how long this would last so he had to make his observations now.

Izuku was in a large bed lying on his side facing a wall, the All Might poster was the biggest and most obvious but the whole wall was covered in various pictures and posters. A smaller poster with explosions on it caught his eye and he couldn’t help but smile. Looks like Kacchan made it as a hero after all, he felt bitter, just a bit but overall was happy for his well former friend. Another had a girl in pink floating standing next to someone who looked like Ingenium. It’s not surprise he maintained his fanboy habits even as an adult. It was comforting in its familiarity.

Speaking of which, he observed what he could see of what was most likely his home with some surprise. It was clean but still comfortably lived in. It was also quiet large with some nice, traditionally Japanese furnishings. Much more than a quirkless salary man could probably afford. The bedside table next to him had a clock, which flashed 0547 in bright green letters, a cracked phone he assumed was his and a worn and ripped notebook. It read Hero Notes vol 25.

Izuku instinctively reached for the notebook only to falter. His shoulder hurt, it ached and pulled from what felt like a recent injury. But that didn’t surprise him nearly as much as the scars covering his right hand and forearm. They ached, the way old wounds did, something he would always be aware of but would get used to. What the hell did his future self get up to? He briefly latched onto the idea that he had become a hero but quickly discarded it. Quirkless people didn’t become heroes, he probably got a career as a quirk analyst or something which is why he could afford such a nice place. It wasn’t a bad life from the looks of it.

He clenched his scarred right fist hard, not a bad life still wasn’t anywhere close to his dream. Izuku felt a stirring in the back of his mind and he carefully relaxed his hand. Right, he couldn’t wake his future self, not until he was done. Before he could wonder what else he could do, an arm brushed against his back before draping over his side as another body pressed close to him.

“Too early, go back to sleep,” a soft voice mumbled sleepily into his back.

Izuku froze, so conditioned to hands hurting him but the arm instead just held onto him lightly, like they didn’t want to let him go. It was cool to the touch but it felt good, like chill breeze on a warm day. Oh. He stared down at the pale arm gently embracing him until his vision became blurred. Oh. Izuku had been so prepared to accept a miserable future, even one where he didn’t exist. The idea that he was happy, that he was loved? Even more than being a hero, that had seemed too impossible to even dream about.

He grasped the cold hand and intertwined their fingers like it was his only lifeline. Izuku sniffled, holding onto the hand until he blinked and found the only hand he was holding was that of the fortune teller. She let him grip her fingers as he composed himself, re-orientating himself back into his small, unscarred body.

“Are you alright, my boy?” She asked gently.

“Yeah,” Izuku said through his tears which probably didn’t help his case. “Really yes, I saw-” his breath hitched. “It was good, it was so good and I never thought- I couldn’t imagine someone like me could have that.” She relaxed and gave his hands a squeeze before letting go.

“I’m glad, most people who cry during my sessions don’t do it for happy reasons. Take your time to calm down, Nami-chan will help you when you’re done. After that, your future awaits you.”

“Yeah,” he cheered, sloppily wiping his tears. No matter how bad things were now, they would eventually lead to the cozy home, the wall full of pictures and comforting hand around his side like it belonged there. He would wait a lifetime for that, 13 was nothing.

(luckily he didn’t even need to wait that long for his future to begin with a fated encounter, a question and a promise that his dreams could be reached)

13 Years Later

“‘zuku, you okay?” Shouto asked sleepily from behind him.

“Yeah, why?” Izuku questioned as he blinked himself back to awareness feeling a bit muddled and out of it.

“You’re gripping my hand pretty hard,” Shouto said pushing himself up onto his elbow, “also you’re crying.”

“Aren’t I always crying?” Izuku joked turned to look at his beautiful sleep rumbled boyfriend. Shouto just gave him a thoughtful look. “I’m fine, look,” he responded wiping the tears away. “I just, I think I was dreaming and you know how emotional I get.”

“Was it a nightmare?” Shouto asked settling himself back down into the bed, cuddling close on one of the rare days where one or both them wasn’t patrolling.

“No, no, I don’t think so,” Izuku said shaking his head. He can’t be sure but he thinks he’d been dreaming of his past, of that sad, quirkless boy he’d been. If only there was some way he could tell that kid that things would get better, better than he could have possibly imagined. With the feel of Shouto’s dual temperatures pressed up against him, Izuku looked over at what Shouto called his Wall of Worship as if supporting his friends and colleagues was a bad thing.

All Might’s poster, the exclusive one of a kind poster his mentor had presented to him upon Izuku’s graduation as always drew his gaze. Too far away to read it properly Izuku still had memorized the words from the moment he’d read them, etched onto his heart.

To my boy,

Your bravery and kindness have inspired me from the moment we met. I cannot wait to watch you shine. Your future begins now.

All Might Yagi Toshinori

#i had this thought driving home last night and i cannot stop thinking of it #sad children getting a glimpse of a happier future??? I Eat That Shit Up #my writing #this made me happy might put it up on ao3 #future Izukus gonna be at breakfast and all of a sudden be like ADFGHJKL THAT FORTUNE TELLER I WENT TO WAS RIGHT #he was sleepy and cuddling with his icyhot bf #cant blame a clueless idiot for forgetting for a mo #teen izuku sauntering into school the next day: fuck you Kacchan *I* get a boyfriend in the future

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raindancer2004 · 3 years

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Jane and the Wolf

Word Count: 3,191 Jane x OC Part One Warnings: Jane is aged up. Fluff

It was about six months after Demetri met his mate Lily Cullen that preparations to change her were put into action. Jane had offered to be in the room when Demetri turned Lily just in case she was needed as she would be able to subdue him with her gift. Demetri had expected Lily to want to remain human a little longer; maybe even have a baby with him like Bella did with Edward, so he was surprised by her answer when he approached the subject one afternoon.

“Lily can we talk about the future…our future?” “Of course Dem, what did you want to discuss?” She asked in response “I-I wanted to discuss the topic of children with you” He began, feeling a little nervous “Did you want children before you are turned?” Lily thought for a moment before answering him “I have thought about this a little since we got together and as much as I love you and would love to have a family with you, I just don’t know if I want to take that risk. What if something went wrong? You’d be left all alone forever and wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt; if you were the reason something happened to me” She paused and took his hand in hers “I thought we could have a family another way…we could do what my parents did. We could adopt a child; I mean there are lots of children out there that need a home and we can offer that and I’m proof that a human child can be raised by and around vampires” She added and saw he was smiling at her “Wow. That was not the response I was expecting…but I am totally on board with your suggestion Lils” He replied and leaned in to place a kiss on her lips “Are you sure Dem? I feel like I’m taking away your chance to be a dad…to have a child of your own” She said looking into his eyes, trying to read him “I would be lying if I said I haven’t imagined a little me or you running around the castle but…” He held her hand a little tighter when he felt her try and remove hers from his “I would rather have you by my side forever and give a child a home that needs one, than take the risk of losing you. As you said what if something went wrong? There are no guarantees that you will survive having my baby and I don’t wish to risk your life…not when we have another option available. I love you Lily” He pressed his lips to hers again “Always” “I love you too Dem” She wrapped her arms around him.

Jane stood by the door of Demetri and Lily’s shared room as he leant down to bite her, to change her and was pleased that she didn’t need to step in and subdue him “I’ll keep you company for a bit Demetri” She said as she took a seat on the sofa “Thank you Jane for today and for your company” “I had every faith in you and your self-control Demetri…it was merely a precaution…just in case” She replied smiling “Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing Lily as a newborn. It was nice of the masters to allow her to spend her newborn phase here” “Caius didn’t want her going home and following the vegetarian diet, only for her to return in a year or two and have to change to our diet” Demetri answered, “That and Lily asked for permission to spend her newborn year here…with me” He added “Really? She didn’t want to go back to Forks?” Jane asked sounding a little surprised “No, she told them that she wanted me to change her and that means that I have to take responsibility for her; to be one to teach her how to survive in this life and I cannot do that we are half a world apart” “Wow” Jane breathed, nodding “I bet that made you feel good knowing she wanted it to be your venom running through her and not her father’s” “It did actually…I wanted to be the one to change her but didn’t know if she’d want that kind of bond with me…” He trailed off “Why wouldn’t she? She’s your mate” “Exactly Jane. We’re mates…changing her means I become her sire; her creator…it would change things between us…” “It would only strengthen your mate bond” Jane cut him off smiling. “That’s another thing” He said chuckling “She also told them that as we’re mates, she couldn’t and wouldn’t spend that amount of time away from me. She looked right at Marcus at that moment and I knew then she had won his vote” “Clever girl” Jane praised looking over at Lily with a smile “I think Caius agreed because he likes having Lily around and is curious to see whether she’ll be the one Cullen who doesn’t follow the vegetarian diet” Demetri said “That sounds like Caius” Jane laughed “I bet Aro agreed because he likes the idea of Lily ‘belonging’ to his family” Jane added smiling “Not to mention it links his family to Carlisle’s forever too” Demetri added.

Demetri took Lily hunting for animals in the Tuscan countryside and showed her what she needed to do “Well done Lils. Are you still thirsty?” “I am but…” “But what?” He cut her off “I’m not liking the taste of animal blood” She answered and he chuckled “Ok, but can you do me a favour please Lils?” She nodded “Please try again, maybe try a different animal” Lily agreed “Can I ask why this is important to you Dem?” “I just want you to try the vegetarian diet, it’s what Carlisle would have wanted. However, if you don’t like it and want to follow the traditional diet then you can. I will support you either way” “Thank you Dem. I love you.” “I love you too.”

Lily had tried the vegetarian diet but she found the taste of animal blood unpleasant and that she was thirsty all of the time. The smell of human blood appealed to her much more and she spoke to Demetri about her concerns when she was tempted to kill her friend Gianna; the Volturi’s secretary, so it was agreed that she would follow the diet of the Volturi “You owe me €50 Brother” Caius said to Aro “Fine” He replied handing over the money “I cannot believe you two had a bet on what diet Lily would follow” Marcus said as he looked at his brothers “Oh come on brother, like you were not curious about Lily’s diet choice” Caius replied, Marcus shrugged “I mean Demetri even went to the trouble of asking our permission to teach her to hunt animals so she could honour her family’s lifestyle choice and yet her true nature prevailed” Caius added sounding proud, if not a little smug.

Lily was displaying a level of self-control that newborns do not normally show and the Kings were impressed and pleased that their faith in her and Demetri’s ability to handle a newborn had paid off. Felix had offered to help with fight / combat training as he is the strongest vampire and would be the one less likely to get hurt by her newborn strength.

Lily had been a newborn for six months when Demetri, Lily, Felix and the twins went to Forks to visit Lily’s family. Carlisle had contacted Aro and advised him that he wanted the packs to meet Lily now she had been turned, especially as the treaty now applied to her and Demetri. Aro agreed and thought it may help Lily to get a change of scenery and wanted to know how she would handle being around humans or more specifically Renesmee.

Two days after they arrived in Forks Jake came over to the Cullen’s for a visit and bought over the pack’s three newest members to meet the Cullens; to get them used to their scent and vice versa. As soon as the wolves entered the house Jane recognised Jake’s scent from the battlefield, she then noticed the scent of ‘mint and cedarwood’ followed by the unpleasant smell of two other wolves. The wolves entered the family room and as soon as Sebastian looked at Jane he imprinted on her; he knew then he had found his mate and was shocked to discover that his mate was a vampire; their sworn enemy. The only silver-lining in this strange situation was that the pack could never harm her, she would be protected by him and the packs always. Jake and the other two wolves growled the second he imprinted on Jane due to the pack’s telepathy; they turned to glare at her and they growled again, almost like they were trying to intimidate her.

Meanwhile, Jane felt something inside her click into place the moment their eyes met and she knew she was looking at her mate but wasn’t happy to discover that after waiting over 1000 years to meet him, he was a shapeshifter; a wolf no less. However, she couldn’t help feeling drawn to him, the need to be near him, to protect him. Edward choked back a laugh after hearing her thoughts which led to her glare at him “Stay out of my head, or else” She growled low. “What’s wrong sister?” Alec asked placing a hand on her shoulder “I er…I found my mate” Jane answered low looking at Sebastian. Felix sniggered “Ha-Jane’s mated to a wolf. Caius is going to love that” Felix said nudging Demetri in the side “Felix. Not now” Demetri warned, Felix raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing more.

“Jacob, please can you introduce Jane to your friend?” Carlisle asked, Jake nodded “Jane this is Sebastian. Sebastian this is Jane, she is a member of the Volturi” “It’s nice to meet you Jane” Sebastian said with a smile “Likewise” Jane answered, a small smile tugging at her lips. The tension in the room was so thick you could it with a knife.

“If you hurt her in any way, I will have Demetri and Felix hold you down whilst I neuter you and I won’t use my gift to take away your senses” Alec said straight-faced to his sister’s mate, Sebastian, who didn’t react.

“You never say stuff like that for me babe” “Lily” Edward scolded her “I’d kill anyone who hurt you mi amore. You may not be aware, but I did threaten our guards with dismemberment and the dungeons if they hurt you when you came to stay at Christmas when we first met” Demetri said looking into Lily’s ruby eyes “Aww babe...you’re the best” Lily replied before kissing him “Don’t you forget it” Demetri smirked at her; his arms wrapping around her waist, Carlisle and Esme choke back a laugh at their behaviour. Edward rolled his eyes, still not pleased that his sister was mated to Demetri. “Edward, Demetri and I are mates so you better get used to it because he is a member of this family now and we protect our family” Lily said looking at her brother, Demetri tightened his hold on Lily’s waist.

“Maybe the two of you would like to take a walk, maybe get to know each other a little…away from everyone” Esme offered softly, looking at Jane and Sebastian who nodded “Shall we Jane?” He asked softly, she hesitated for a few moments then stepped forward and making her way out of the house, Sebastian following behind her. They walked away from the house until they were far enough away that they could not be heard, ensuring not to cross the treaty line and being careful to not expose Jane to any humans.

The air between Jane and Sebastian was awkward as neither of them were initially pleased with the thought of being mates as their kind have been sworn enemies for generations, although Sebastian did point out to her that he was not a child of the moon; he was a shapeshifter and can transform whenever he likes. “I would like to apologise Jane for the behaviour of Jake, Liam and Riley; they had no right to growl at you like that, I have no choice over who I imprint on and they know that. Jacob knows that better than anyone” Sebastian said looking into Jane’s ruby eyes “Th-thank you Sebastian, although it-it is not you who should apologise” She replied “However, that said my brother should not have threatened you and I can assure you he will not harm you in anyway, not ever” She added looking into his blue eyes “Thank you Jane, although I did find his threat of ‘neutering’ me slightly amusing” He chuckled and Jane couldn’t help the slight giggle that passed her lips. “I would like to ask you one thing if I may?” He asked and she nodded “Felix mentioned Caius would love that you are mated to a wolf. What did he mean by that as I’m guessing he was being sarcastic?” “Er…yes he was. Caius is one of the three Kings that rule the vampire world and he hates werewolves; more specifically children of the moon. He made it his mission to eradicate them from existence” She replied low, no longer looking into his eyes “I see. I am aware that your family has seen the pack before during the day during the confrontation involving Renesmee, so he must realise that we are not children of the moon” He responded “He does but I feel he will be the one King that will oppose this ‘union’ the most. He will take some convincing I am sure” She said looking up at him “I understand this will be difficult initially, but I am prepared to make this work Jane, no matter the obstacles”

He took her small cold hand in his larger warm one “Just so you are aware as the imprint, you decide the nature of this relationship…” He cut him himself off when he noticed the confused look on Jane’s face “Although imprinting is the way we find our mates, it doesn’t always have to be the case. As the imprint you decide if you want us to be friends or mates. If you tell me you see me as nothing more than a brother or a protector then I will honour that decision, even if it will be hard to do so at first. You will always be my top priority Jane; you will always come first…even before the pack” He said softly and gently placed his hand on her cheek, she leaned into his touch slightly “I have a brother, I do not wish for another. You are my mate Sebastian, and that means I will protect you always” She replied, her hand coming rest on top of his “I will protect you always too. I would very much like to be your friend as well as your mate Jane” “I don’t really have many friends, but… I think friends is a good place to start…the rest will fall into place I’m sure” She replied and he couldn’t help smiling down at her ‘she doesn’t seem as scary as Jacob made out’ he thought to himself. If only he knew.

“How will this work? I mean I am immortal and you…you are not?” Jane asked curiously “I am immortal too…kind of…” He replied and she raised an eyebrow at him “Once we start phasing we stop aging, so as I long as I phase regularly I will not age…therefore essentially being immortal like you” He replied and she nodded “I could turn you later down the line…if you wanted?” She offered “I’m afraid not Jane, vampire venom is toxic to us, it would kill me not preserve me” He replied “Oh, I’m sorry I had no idea. Thank you for letting me know…I now know that I am unable to mark you as mine” “I’m sure we can figure something out…if that is something your kind do once you find your mate” He replied “Will the pack accept me or will it be…difficult?” “They will have to accept you, protect you. The treaty we have the Cullens will apply to you now too…you will also be able to come onto our land as you are my mate. Although things may take a little time to settle down” He answered her “I understand…this isn’t going to be easy for either of our families to accept.”

Sebastian and Jane took it turns to ask one another some questions to get to know one another a little better “My favourite colour is grey/silver. What’s yours Sebastian?” She asked “I like green. My favourite animal is a chimpanzee, you?” He replied “I like horses. Can I ask how old are you?” “I’m 18 years old and you?” He asked “I’m 17…physically, but I have been around for about 1000 years” She replied watching him for his reaction “Wow. Well may I say I think you have aged beautifully” He smiled at her; she looked down taking her bottom lip between her teeth, if she could have blushed she would have. He chuckled low. “What hobbies / interests do you have?” He asked “I like to read; I have quite a few books not to mention the castle has a huge library. I collect china dolls…I have quite the collection. I spend a lot of time with Alec and since she moved into the castle I have become friends with Lily, Demetri’s mate. What about you?” “I hang out with the pack and train with them. I like swimming and soccer and spending time at the beach. I enjoy reading although I probably do not own as many books as you” He responded. “What do you like to do for fun?” He asked “Fun? Er I like shopping. Does practising my gift on Felix when he annoys me count?” She asked “Er…possibly” He answered sounding unsure “I do not know what your gift is…not really” “I am able to cause people excruciating pain that incapacitates them instantly, just by looking at them. It only works on one person at time and I must be able to see them. I am able to make the pain seem mild and turn the level of pain up as and when I want” She answered honestly “Huh…remind me not to piss you off then” He answered her “I would never use my gift on you Sebastian…you are my mate and to hurt you would be to hurt myself” She was making him a promise and he nodded “Thank you, that’s good to know.”

Jane was feeling conflicted about everything as she was still a little annoyed with fate for giving her a shapeshifter for a soulmate but she knew she couldn’t stay away from him; the mate pull was there and she couldn’t deny it…she didn’t want to deny it, she just hoped he meant it when he said he wanted to make this work no matter the obstacle.

#jane volturi #demetri volturi #felix volturi #alec volturi #aro volturi #marcus volturi #caius volturi #demetri x lily #carlisle cullen #esme cullen #renesmee cullen #bella cullen #edward cullen #emmett cullen #rosalie hale #jasper hale #alice cullen #volturi #the cullens

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alonely-dreamer · 4 years

Text

The Valuable Sun | Chapter 22 (The End)

Summary: Witches never die.

Pairing: Eric x OC

Warnings: 18+

A/N: Please, note that I am French so there might be some mistakes here and there.

Words: 6228

Masterlist

Adapting to being a vampire wasn’t so hard for Brooklynne. Perhaps because she wasn’t really a vampire, but rather a vampire-fairy hybrid who, aside from being immortal, was as human as she used to be.

She didn’t fear the sun, she ate human food and didn’t have to rely on blood to survive. The hardest part of her transition was that everything was heightened. Her sight, her hearing, her strength… She was faster than lightning, and, since apparently it was a hereditary talent, she could fly, like her maker. A talent she’d have to learn to control, and a talent which Pam was jealously unequipped with.

To the rest of the world, Brooke was just another mortal, weird like her sister, maybe gifted with telepathy for those who believed in those sorts of things. But to her family, to her loved ones, she was the strongest creature on Earth, and, therefore, the weakest.

Eric’s worry was loud and made him even more unpleasant than before. With other people, that is. He took extra care of Brooklynne, who felt like a little girl again, who wasn’t allowed to leave her house because she’d get too distracted to even remember her own name.

Fortunately for her, Eric could not control her days, which she spent with her sister at Merlotte’s. It had been a week now, since she had become a vampire, and the only abnormal behavior she showed was an extreme appetite. She could not stop eating, and she almost emptied Sam’s kitchen, not that he would ever complain about it.

“Look at you,” Arlene said as she walked behind the bar to grab a bottle of alcohol. “You wouldn’t be expecting a happy event, would you?”

Brooklynne almost choked on her chicken wing and Arlene laughed as the hybrid coughed and wiped the mess she had made.

“What? No!”

“I’m just kidding ya. I know you can’t get pregnant. Not while you’re with that vampire of yours…”

Brooklynne watched the waitress walk away and disappear in the hallway, leaving a wave of disapproval behind her.

“Fuck you too,” she mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” Sookie asked, approaching her with a plate she put down on the bar.

“Nothing.”

“What did Arlene want?”

“To make sure I knew how much she hates my kind.”

“To be fair, you’re the first and only one of your kind.”

“Wanna join me?”

“No, thanks,” she swiftly dismissed the mere idea, “hey, isn’t Eric supposed to be here already?”

“Yeah. I guess there was an emergency at Fangtasia. He’s not answering my texts.”

“Well, that’s weird.”

“Not really,” she shrugged. “It’s Halloween. He says there’s always some shit happening on Halloween.”

“When did you start using those words?” Sookie sighed. “You weren’t always so vulgar.”

Her sister laughed. “Sorry. I’m just repeating what he said.”

“Anyway, I have to take out the trash before I leave, want me to drive you?”

“Sure, why not? I’ll join you outside.”

Brooklynne finished her plate, then her drink in one go, before leaving some cash on the bar. She walked across the restaurant and exited through the back door. There, she found her sister and Holly talking about Marnie. Brooke rolled her eyes.

“What’s going on?”

“Hey, Brooklynne.”

“What’s up Holly?”

“Oh, nothing, honey. We were just talking about… well… we just have a bad feeling, is all.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Sookie waved it off.

“Yeah. We’re just spooked because it’s Halloween and all.”

Screeching tires drew their attention towards Tara’s car who had just parked in a panic. Brooklynne didn’t know if it was the previous spooky talk, or just Tara’s look as she ran towards them, but she was starting to have a bad feeling as well.

“Tara?” Sookie called. “Tara what is it? What happened?”

“She’s back!”

“Who’s back, honey?”

“Marnie.”

“Marnie’s dead,” Brooklynne rolled her eyes. “I should know, I killed her myself.”

“She killed Jesus,” Tara started crying. “I think she’s inside Lafayette.”

Sookie turned slowly towards her little sister, who oddly appeared to stand taller than her for once.

“Don’t look at me, I’m no witch. I wouldn’t know the first thing about getting that bitch out of Lafayette.”

“No, Brooke… Eric’s not answering his phone.”

If Brooklynne ever doubted her heart was still beating, she sure had the answer now, as it felt like it skipped a beat as she realized what her sister was saying.

“No,” she scoffed in disbelief. “He’d kill Lafayette on the spot.”

“I’m gonna try to call Bill,” the waitress said as she took out her phone.

Brooklynne shook her head, maybe to try and throw the mere idea of Eric being in any kind of danger away, as she took out her own cellphone.

“Bill’s not answering,” Sookie said, now even more panicked than before.

“Eric either…”

“Well, do we know where they could be?” Holly asked.

Sookie took a deep breath as she remembered what Bill had told her earlier: ‘I’ll be waiting for you at home. My men will let you in.’

“Yes. We do.”

***

Vampires were supposed to heal fast. So fast that they could barely feel pain. Which is why this headache was doubly irritating for Brooklynne. Between the busy minds of her sister, Holly and Tara, whom she was riding with, her own head felt like it was about to explode. Filled with worry and incomprehension, she kept asking herself if she should just get out of the car and run to Bill’s house on her own. She’d already be there.

“You can’t. If Tara and Holly find out you’re a vampire, it won’t be a secret anymore.”

“Who cares at this point? Eric could die any second now!”

“Pam might already be there.”

“If he wanted either of us there, he’d had already called us. Which means he’s in real danger, Marnie is not kidding around, she’s aiming to kill!”

“Don’t remind me. I’m driving you to her!”

“She won’t have a chance to hurt me. She’ll be dead before…”

“You can’t kill her like last time, Brooke. She’s inside Lafayette. We need to trust Holly, she knows how this works.”

“No, she doesn’t, are you listening to her? She’s got a bag full of salt and a mouth full of ‘maybes’. What if she has no clue how to deal with this?”

“Either way, we’re not killing Lafayette.”

“If killing Lafayette is the only way to save Eric, I will do it myself.”

“Are you hearing yourself? You’re talking about killing Lafayette! Our friend! Tara’s cousin!”

“Sorry, Sook. But it’s not a hard choice. Not even a little bit.”

Brooklynne did her best to shut her sister’s disapproving thoughts out of her head, she knew it all already. Of course, she wouldn’t be happy about killing Lafayette. Of course, she’d rather Holly’s plan worked. But if it didn’t, if she had to choose between watching Marnie/Lafayette kill Eric or kill her/him herself, she wouldn’t lose sleep over it. She stopped for a second, a very brief second, and wondered if she’d had thought the same as a human/fairy. If she had been in that situation a month ago, what would she have done? She knew what she would have done. She’d have been too weak to fight off Marnie. She’d have been too weak to save Eric.

She wasn’t going to be weak tonight.

“Any of you got a mirror?” Holly asked as she did the inventory of her Wiccan first aid-kit.

“You ever done this before?” Sookie asked as she handed her a small mirror she found in her purse.

“Goddess, no,” the waitress replied as she shoved the mirror into her bag, next to the salt and the sage. “Usually, I just light a candle and ask the spirits to make sure my boys don’t end up in jail or knock somebody up.”

Sookie could hear her sister scoff and roll her eyes next to Holly, a “what did I say?” echoing inside of her head.

“But so far, that’s worked out okay.”

“Maybe you’re just a good mother,” Brooke mumbled.

“Oh, thanks honey.”

Brooklynne frowned as the mother of two gave her a nervous smile, her lack of faith in her Wiccan religion completely oblivious to her.

“Sook, you can’t let them hurt him,” Tara begged. “If Bill and Eric find out Marnie’s inside Lafayette…”

“I have a feeling they already know…”

Tara stepped on the accelerator. They were only a couple of minutes away. Brooklynne kept trying to reach her maker through their bond, but the silence she was met with only helped widening the pit in her stomach.

Tara stopped the car at the gates of Bill’s property and the four women jumped out of the vehicle, Holly, her bag of magic tricks on her shoulder.

Brooklynne, though she had been patient until then, didn’t even think twice about disappearing on them as soon as she smelled wood and straw.

“Eric!”

She found them tied up together to a pyre, half naked, silver chains around their bare chest.

“What are you doing here? You need to go, now!”

“Are you crazy? I’m not leaving without you!”

“Brooklynne!” Sookie called as she caught up to her sister, Holly and Tara behind her.

“Are you kidding me? You didn’t think to tell us you were a vampire?” Tara started to yell.

“She can’t be, she was at the bar all day long!” Holly said, confused, and a little bit scared.

They didn’t get the time to argue about it any more, however, as Marnie appeared before them.

“As your friend Lafayette would say, what goes around comes around, bitches.”

“I’m gonna kill you, you crazy bitch.”

“You already have,” Marnie replied with surprising calm. “Thank you for coming.”

Marnie/Lafayette raised a hand and waved it once to the left. Brooklynne felt her feet get off the floor and was sent flying across the garden where she collided with a tree.

Eric and Sookie called her name, in useless worry. She was back up on her feet in a matter of seconds.

“Lafayette!”

Tara received a deathly stare from the dead witch inside her cousin, and she gulped.

“… and Marnie. Please, don’t do this.”

“After all they’ve done to you, you protect them?”

“Killing Bill and Eric isn’t gonna make any of that go away.”

“Revenge will never bring you peace,” Eric told her.

“There can’t be peace until there is justice for me, for Antonia, for all the women you tortured and burned for centuries!”

Taking advantage of the moment, Holly started drawing a circle of salt around the pyre as Marnie had her back turned to her.

“All to repress a magic that’s older and more powerful than your very existence.”

“Marnie, what will this serve?” Bill, who saw Holly and understood the plan, asked, to help distract her. “There are millions of us, more being made every night. You cannot win.”

“I’m already dead, vampire. Thanks to you and your friends, I have nothing left to lose.”

Marnie lowered her head and raised her hands in the air as she casted three more words “incendia of sanctimonia”.

“No!” Brooke and Sookie screamed as they tried to make their way to the now burning pyre. But the fire Marnie had just started only grew bigger as they reached it. Brooklynne dragged her sister away from it as Tara joined them.

“Stop it,” she yelled. “It’s still Lafayette!”

“I don’t care,” Brooke growled as she raised a hand, a blinding light coming out of it, hitting Lafayette/Marnie in the chest, pushing them far away. It didn’t stop the fire, to her biggest disappointment.

Holly finished the circle of salt, joining them back to her starting point, as Marnie sat up, now, neither looking like Lafayette or herself, but with a painted face of some sort of creature.

“Give me your hands, now!”

Hesitantly, Tara joined the three women in a circle, taking the hand of the two sisters in her own. Immediately, they started chanting.

“Spirits who watch over us, friends, family, ancestors, guardians of the gate, with this rite we evoke thee through the veil of Samhain, we call thee forth.”

Again and again, they chanted, keeping Marnie out of the circle, however, doing nothing to stop the fire that was burning the two vampires next to them.

As the dead witch growled and the immortals screamed out of pain, spirits appeared in the cemetery near them, walking the earth once more, to join them in their battle. Sookie kept an eye open on Bill, while Brooklynne focused on Eric, doing her best not to break the circle and jump in the fire herself to get him out of there.

“Marnie.”

The summoned spirits stood in the forest, behind Marnie, calling her, only one, however, getting her attention: Antonia.

“Marnie.”

Lafayette’s face changed back to normal as the painted face of the creature disappeared, Marnie, making her way to the ghost of her former partner.

“My sister.”

“You came back to me…” she said, and the witch smiled. “I knew you would.”

Antonia’s eyes moved from Lafayette/Marnie to the burning pyre, and from where she stood blew out the fire as easily as she would have blown off the candles on a birthday cake.

“Antonia, no!”

Brooklynne didn’t wait one more second as she made her way to her maker, ripped off the silver chains tying the vampires to the still hot death trap. Eric’s knees were too weak and she caught him as he fell. However, no one was there to catch the King, who fell off the pyre and onto the hard ground. Sookie was quickly by his side.

“Are you okay?”

“Crispy.”

“Why the hell didn’t you call me? Or Pam?”

“So you could have burned with me? Not a great plan.”

“Not asking for help isn’t a plan at all!”

Off the pyre and back on the ground, Eric enjoyed the feeling of his burning bare feet on the cold grass. Brooke helped him kneel down.

“What the hell am I supposed to do without you? Don’t you dare die on me now that I’m immortal!”

“I’d rather die knowing that you’re safe, than die after watching you get killed.”

“And I’d rather die than spend immortality without you, so don’t you ever do that again!”

“Alright. I’ll try not to get burned alive by the crazy ghost of a witch again. That I can promise you.”

“Shut up and drink,” she rolled her eyes as she kneeled beside him and offered him her wrist.

The witches were still talking on the other side of the circle, and whatever Antonia was saying, Marnie didn’t want to hear it.

“All creatures have their purpose, even vampires.”

“How can you say that? They murdered us!”

“Their cruelty served its purpose: to bring you and I together. And now I am here to take you home.”

“I’m not finished yet.”

“Oh, yes you are.”

That voice. Brooklynne knew that voice. She turned her head, but whoever it was, she was hidden behind the pyre. However, Sookie could see her perfectly.

“Gran?”

“Holy Goddess.”

“Holy shit.”

Eric released Brooke’s hand so that she could get up and see for herself, Adele, her grandmother, make her way to Lafayette, put her hand in his mouth and reach down his throat. She took out a black fog which she threw away behind her. Once it reached the ground, it turned into Marnie.

“I don’t wanna go. I am not ready. Please!” she begged as she stood up.

“I was trapped between world for 400 years… lost and driven mad by my rage. I do not want that for you.”

“And what about what I want?! Nobody cares what I want! All my life, I’ve been afraid. And who wouldn’t be? With dead people murmuring in my ears, making me deliver your messages… making me into a freak! A creepy, pathetic, terrified mess muttering to herself in the corner.”

“But that is not who you are anymore.”

“No. That’s right. I’m not afraid anymore. I’ve got real power now. And you want to take that away from me?” she cried. “You want them to win?”

“Oh, Marnie,” Antonia said as she took Marnie’s face between her hands, “Marnie, can’t you see? Life is pain. But soon, all you have suffered and feared will be meaningless. You will be at peace. But them…”

“… they’ll be stuck here. Forever.”

“And there is no victory in that.”

A tear or two fell down Marnie’s cheeks as she screamed. “Oh, this fucking sucks.”

“Come on.”

Antonia took Marnie’s hand and led her down to the forest where the other spirits were waiting for her. Adele followed them.

“Gran!”

Sookie and Brooklynne called after her, hoping to make her stay.

“Please don’t go,” Sookie cried.

“I have to, dear.”

“I’m so lost without you. I don’t know what to do.”

“Yes, you do. Look at your sister. She’s got it all figured out,” she said as she smiled, proudly, at Brooklynne.

“Oh, Gran… I’m so sorry.”

“For what, dear?”

Brooklynne sniffed and shrugged, hoping her grandmother was proud of her, of who she had become.

“Answer’s where it always is. In your heart. Being alone, it ain’t nothing to be afraid of, my girls. We’re all alone, at the end.”

She smiled at them one last time before joining the spirits back to the cemetery and her granddaughters watch her leave them with tears in their eyes.

Brooke felt a hand slide on her waist, and she took it, as Eric pulled her towards him.

“No offense to your grandmother, but neither one of us will be alone at the end.”

Brooke chuckled as she wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand.

“This is the worst night ever.”

“Well,” he said as he turned her around and wiped one last tear with his thumb, “the night is still young.”

***

Eric had no idea how right he was. Well, maybe he did, a little. He knew what was coming. For him, for Bill. For Brooklynne. They were coming for their heads.

He hadn’t said a word, but Brooklynne knew too. She wasn’t used to being able to read his mind, and it mostly just happened, she couldn’t control it. He was thinking about it, so hard, as he was drinking her blood, in Bill’s living room. She could hear her sister break up with Bill in the other room, and she just wished she could tune them out. Hearing Bill cry made her feel sick.

“Are you sure they’re coming after you too? It wasn’t your fault.”

“They don’t care. I was caught on camera.”

“They destroyed all of that footage.”

“There are witnesses.”

“Glamour them.”

“It’s too late.”

“Then we should leave. Now.”

“And go where? They won’t stop until…”

“Brooklynne.”

The vampire-fairy hybrid turned to see her sister enter the room. Her eyes were red. And wet.

“I’m going home.”

“Okay. I’m staying here, with Eric.”

“You should go with her. There’s no reason for you to be here when…”

Brooklynne shot him a look that told him all he needed to know. She wasn’t going anywhere. She’d save him. Or die trying.

“Have a good night, Sook.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” her sister nodded as she waved, before she walked away.

“The AVL doesn’t know I’m a vampire. They can’t kill me. It’s against their own rules.”

“If you get in their way, if you show them what you can do…”

“Eric,” she stopped him, taking a step forward and placing a hand above his, “either we’re leaving town, or we’re staying. But we stay together.”

Eric sighed, defeated.

“Like you said, neither of us will be alone at the end.”

***

Bill was back to being a cold bastard when he joined them in his living room. He sat in an armchair next to them, and they all kept a dreadful quiet as they enjoyed the last hour of their life.

Bill had nothing else to lose. He had just lost the only thing he wanted, the only thing he needed. Without Sookie, he had no reason to live. He wouldn’t fight the Authority, if they came knocking on his door with a true death warrant. Eric thought about his human life. His immortal life. Godric. Pam. Brooklynne. He thought about the life he had and the one he would never get. The life he dreamt of having with Brooklynne, and the one he could never give her. But Brooklynne wasn’t done fighting. She had barely started. She’d use all of her powers to kill them all, if need be. She felt strong enough. She never even took the time to ask herself if she could.

When the cars arrived, disturbing the silent night as they drove on the gravel driveway, they all felt like time had stopped. Like it was all decided, and they would either leave the house alive, or not at all.

Brooklynne suddenly felt like she had forgotten so many things. Her siblings. She should have said goodbye to them. But instead, she let Sookie go without even telling her she might never see her again. She was almost certain Eric was thinking the same way about Pam. But he knew if he had let her know about any of this, she’d had come, and he couldn’t do that to her. She deserved better.

At least, Bill had said his goodbye.

“This is it,” the King of Louisiana said as he straightened his suit.

“It’s been a crazy thousand years.”

Brooklynne scoffed dryly.

“I thought immortality would last longer.”

They followed Bill as he took the direction of the front door. He opened with a polite smile, a smile Brooklynne had dubbed “Bill’s political smile”.

Nan Flanagan was standing on the porch with a handful of heavily armed men and she looked pissed. She looked furious.

“Ms. Flanagan, we’ve been expecting you.”

Eric and Brooklynne appeared behind their king. It somehow seemed to make her angrier.

“Hi, Nan. And gay stormtroopers.”

Eric’s ability to make stupid jokes in moments such as this one was one of the reasons Brooklynne loved him so much.

“Perfect. Two birds, one stone,” she said as she entered the house, taking the direction of Bill’s office, followed by her guards.

Though Eric stayed silent, Brooklynne could feel his relief. Whatever Nan’s orders were, Brooklynne didn’t seem to be included in them.

The couple stepped in the crowded office, joining Bill’s side.

“The Marnie situation has been resolved, if that makes any difference,” Bill said.

“Ding, dong, the witch is dead,” Nan replied with a tone so sharp it would have given the true death to any vampire who got too close. “Yippee.”

“His Majesty showed great leadership in extremely perilous circumstances. You should be kissing his ring.”

“Why bother when your tongue’s already so far up his ass?”

Eric contemplated his options as his desire to kill the bitch grew stronger. Brooklynne was glad he controlled himself.

Nan gestured her guards to close the door and they stood before it, blocking the only exit. Brooklynne looked up at Eric who seemed to be as nervous as she was. This meant nothing good.

“I wish for one fucking night you could experience the litany of bullshit I’ve had to deal with. Then you’d have some idea of how little I give a fuck about your small-town witch infestation, or your whole backwoods kingdom, for that matter.”

“For someone who cares so little, you seem awfully pissed off.”

“Do I, Bill? Maybe that’s because I quit my fucking job!”

“You quit the AVL?” Eric asked, as baffled as Bill was.

“And the Authority.”

“No one quits the Authority,” Bill chuckled nervously.

“Quit, fired, same difference!”

“We assumed we were the ones to be terminated.”

“Oh, there’s been an order issued on your heads.”

Hearing those words, Brooklynne instinctively seized Eric’s hand.

“My last duty was supposed to be delivering the True Death to both of you. Of course, I realized I’d be next.”

She sighed, trying to control her anger. Failing.

“I have been alive for eight hundred and sixteen years. I refuse to be retired like a fat first wife!”

“Let me make sure I got this straight,” Eric said. “You’re mutinying against the American Vampire League and the Authority?”

“And you expect us to join you?”

“We won’t be alone,” she assured them. “There are factions inside the regime who have never been completely on board with the current agenda. Sheriff Northman knows what I’m talking about.”

Brooklynne frowned. So did Bill.

“What’s in it for us?” the Viking asked, undisturbed by the accusation.

Nan laughed. “Aside from surviving the night? How about your little fairy toy over there? And her sister.”

Their silence and cold stares didn’t faze her.

“Oh, come on. The mind reading, the microwave fingers? You didn’t think I knew what you were? There are at least a couple thousand vampires who would do almost anything to get a taste of your blood.”

“They’re welcome to try,” Brooklynne smirked.

In the next second, she had seized Bill’s paper knife and cut the throat of all of Nan’s human guards. Eric had wanted to do it, but she insisted, as it was her sister she was protecting.

“You’re a vampire?” Nan gasped, looking at her like she was an alien. Which… she was.

“Don’t. threaten. my sister.”

Bill armed himself with the fancy stake that was on display behind his seat, and stabbed Nan who exploded on the spot. There were pieces of her everywhere, the vampires were covered with her blood. Brooklynne took what looked like a tooth from her hair and threw it towards the pile of blood at her feet. She grimaced, then sighed.

“Can we leave now?”

***

Leaving a voicemail to his progeny, Bill didn’t help Eric clean up the mess he had made of Nan Flanagan. Brooklynne stared at the fake window as her maker made sure to get rid of any evidence that would work against them in case of a trial. Though, if they ever got caught, they would not get the luxury of a trial. Their fate was already sealed, killing Nan was just going to buy them a little bit more time. Or so they thought.

As soon as they stepped out of the house, they fell into a silver trap. They were surrounded by a dozen heavily armed men who threw silver nets at Bill and Eric. They both cried out of pain and Brooklynne’s first instinct was to help her maker, but she was quickly pinned against the wall with unhuman strength.

The soldier took off his helmet and stared at her, right in the eyes, as he said: “go back inside, sit down and forget this ever happened”.

Her eyes grew big as she realized he was trying to glamour her. She could see in the corner of her eye that they were taking them away, towards the trunk of their black vehicle. There were too many soldiers there, all wearing protection gear and weapons that could kill a vampire in a second. She did her best to put the loud voice inside her head to rest. It killed her to ignore it, it almost destroyed her to not try anything to help Eric, but she knew if she tried anything, if she showed them she couldn’t be compelled, if she showed them what she really was, they’d either kill her or take her too, and she would never be able to help anyone again.

So, she did as he asked. She went back inside Bill’s house, sat on the first armchair she could find, and watched as they drove away.

She got up as soon as she was certain they wouldn’t be able to see her follow them. She stayed far enough away, running fast, faster than she ever thought she could run. She even tried to fly, but to no avail. She followed them out of Bon-Temps and into an empty road. It was the middle of the night, so there was no one else there, but vampires.

She tried to think of a plan, of a way to get them out that wouldn’t get her and them killed. But there was no way she could free them without alerting the Authority soldiers.

But, suddenly, the black van in which all of the soldiers had gotten into took another road. It confused Brooklynne for a second, until she realized they were probably going back to their base, which meant Bill and Eric were going somewhere else. Somewhere like New-Orleans, to the Vampire Authority Headquarters.

She ran even faster now, so she could catch up to the single car, in which Eric was trapped. She positioned herself in the middle of the road, in front of the vehicle, but far enough away so that they could see her before driving into her. She rose a hand and the brightest light came out of it, blinding the driver. He immediately, out of instinct, turned the wheel, causing the car to roll over three times before it stopped in the field on her right.

She rushed towards the trunk which was already half opened. One kick was enough to open it wide.

“Brooklynne,” Eric breathed out as he crawled out, “what are you doing?”

“Saving your life? You’re welcome. Come on.”

They helped Bill out but didn’t get the time to do anything else as a vampire, whom Brooke recognized to be the driver, showed up behind them, holding a gun, no doubt loaded with silver bullets.

“Who wants to die first?”

Eric pushed Brooke behind him, screaming at her mentally to run the second she can, to not think twice about it. As soon as he turned into a pool of blood, she had to make a run for it.

But he wasn’t the one who exploded into a disgusting pile of bloody body parts.

A woman stood where the vampire used to be a second before, his spine in her hand.

“You, Hayes,” she said, looking down at the pile of blood, “you die first.”

“Nora,” Eric breathed out.

Their savior threw the spine on the ground and shook her bloody hand, trying to get the remaining pieces of Hayes off of her skin.

“I had arranged for our car to be conveniently ambushed when we hit 310,” Nora said, she had a British accent. Our attackers were going to take out my driver there. Unfortunately, wonder woman over here came 12 miles too soon.”

“Um… sorry?”

“Don’t be. It was badass.”

“Eric, you know this woman?” Bill asked.

“Yes. She’s my sister.”

Brooklynne thought she had misheard. Eric never mentioned a sister. She felt confused and… betrayed?

“Your sister? You have a sister who works for the Authority?” Bill says, both surprised and suspicious.

“I’m a Chancellor,” she replied proudly.

“I don’t understand,” Brooke said. “If you knew they were coming for Eric, why didn’t you warn him?”

“There was no time. The Guardian wanted Nan followed to make sure she carried out his orders. I saw an opportunity to save Eric, so I took it.”

“So nobody in the Authority knows about your relationship?” Bill asked.

“And they never will. We were only connected through out maker, Godric. And Godric is gone,” she said with obvious sorrow.

“As a Chancellor of the Authority, you’re taking a huge risk,” Bill continued, still not trusting her fully. “Why would you choose to…”

“Because I’d do anything for Eric.”

“And I’d do anything for you,” the Viking said as he took a step forward.

He went to hug his sister, whom he apparently hadn’t seen in decades. She smiled as she hugged him back. Brooklynne thought it would have been nice to know he had someone he cared about so much other than Pam. Though she could understand why keeping their relationship a secret was for the best, perhaps he could have trusted her enough to share that secret with her.

“And,” Nora continued, “because you did what you did protecting us from the necromancers. That we would reward you for it with the True Death speaks volume about how out of step the Authority’s current agenda is.”

So, Nan knew. Nan knew of Nora and of her relationship with Eric. Which meant Eric did keep in touch at least a little bit. Brooke tried to keep her anger to a minimum.

“I’m not alone in this belief.”

“Factions within the Authority?” Bill asked, making the connection with the information Nan had given him earlier that night.

“Mm-mmh,” she nodded. “So, who’s wonder woman?”

Nora looked at the fairy with interest, but Brooke didn’t answer, uncertain of how much she should say. She turned to Eric for guidance.

“Nora, this is Brooklynne, my progeny.”

“A pleasure, I’m sure…” Nora mumbled thoughtfully. “What is she? She smells amazing.”

“She’s…” Eric pondered. “… complicated.”

“Right…” she said, suspicious. “And I suppose that light is part of the… complications.”

“What light?”

“The light that came out of your progeny, causing Hayes to drive us into this field.”

Eric looked at Brooklynne with regret. She exposed herself to save him, putting herself in danger.

“Like I said. It’s complicated.”

“Well,” she sighed, resigned to stay in the dark, “’complicated’ is an improvement from that whore you keep around.”

“Nora!” Eric hissed, threateningly.

Brooklynne frowned. Perhaps her contempt for Pam was what kept the two apart for so long. She couldn’t help but wonder if Eric trusted any of them. She thought she knew him, but she just realized she had many, many things to figure out about him still. The fact he kept her true identity from Nora meant he didn’t trust her entirely either, or perhaps, it was just the Authority that made him nervous. But finding out about Nora’s existence that night rose many questions that she didn’t have time to ask at the moment.

“Help me turn the car around,” Nora asked Bill. “Let’s see if it can drive us somewhere safe for the day.”

Eric gestured Brooklynne to follow him and they made their way to the road in silence. She tried hard not to explore his thoughts.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a sister?”

“We don’t tell anyone we’re related. It’s for everyone’s safety.”

“Okay. Why didn’t you tell her who I was? She thinks I’m a vampire.”

“She saw your speed and strength, she already knew you were a vampire.”

“But you don’t trust her enough to tell her the truth.”

“She works for the Authority. If she ever gets caught for being ‘against the current agenda’ she’ll get tortured and asked about everything that she knows. I told you, you can’t trust anyone.”

“So what? I’m just supposed to pretend to be a vampire now? To sleep all day? Pretend I don’t eat human food?”

“Only around Nora, which you won’t be for long.”

She sighed. “Right. So… what do we do now?”

“We do nothing. Nora will get Bill and I out of here. We’ll have new identities, we’ll be safer once we get out of the country.”

“What? What do you mean? I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not.”

Brooklynne gasped as she took a step back. It felt like a slap in the face.

“The Authority has no knowledge of your existence, there is no warrant out for you arrest, you can go back to Bon-Temps, be with your sister.”

“No! No way.”

“Brooklynne.”

He put his hands on both her shoulders as he looked down at her.

“It’s not safe to come with me. They will hunt me down until they catch me.”

“So?”

“So, you’ll be safer in Bon-Temps. Stay with Pam. I’ll be in touch, I’ll call, I’ll…”

“Eric, I am not going back to Bon-Temps without you. I’m not going anywhere without you. You promised! We promised.”

“The life that’s waiting for me is not worth living.”

“No life is worth living without you, how many times do I have to say it?!”

“Brook-“

“No! I have no life without you, Eric. You are my life. You gave me immortality and you better be sure I’m going to spend it with you. You will not abandon me here!”

“Brooklynne,” he sighed as he brought her to his chest.

He placed a kiss on the top of her head as he hugged her.

“This isn’t what I wanted for you.”

“I know. But it’s better than nothing.”

He backed away and placed his hands on both sides of her face.

“I love you,” he said as dark red tears appeared in his eyes.

She gave him a sad smile. “I love you too. More than anything.”

He leaned over to kiss her. His lips capturing hers like it was the first and last time they would do so. He held her tightly to him, as to stop her from slipping away.

He released her reluctantly, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs, and returning her sad smile.

“Forgive me.”

She frowned. But she didn’t get the time to express her confusion as he swiftly twisted her head, breaking it in a horrible sound that will haunt him forever.

The end… ?

**********

Tags: @thepoet1975 @nerdysandwichqueen @catchmeupimgettingoutofhere @raegan-hale @colie87 @heavenly1927 @abbey7103 @with-love-maddie

#true blood #eric x oc #eric northman #bill x sookie #sookie stackhouse #fanfic #fanfiction #imagine #oc #reader #eric x reader #pam #sookie x oc #sookie x reader #jason stackhouse #bad ending #i'm sorry please don't hate me no idk when I'll update or even if I ever will

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hydrangeasimagination · 4 years

Text

Crossover Crush Competition

Wherein which our dear characters meet their rival for your affections.

The twist is that they're from somewhere else.

Another universe!

I've been writing a lot of BNHA but we need some more love for the two other fandoms I write for!

But let's get into the contestants.... Shall we?

Thoughts in quotes are italicized.

In Kusuo’s case, words spoken through telepathy are bolded and italicized and are in quotes.

~ Dari

Round 1

Saiki Kusuo VS. Manuda Kaede (Saiki K & Kakegurui)

"It seems this is a running theme."

The thought was drier as the would-be tone used. Saiki's eyes didn't leave the bouncing form in the distance, the blur of two figures coming closer and becoming more clear with every step.

He'd wait though.

Always for you.

With that sweet as sugar smile he silently admired, you practically sang, "Kusuo!!"

His gaze drifted to the tall boy beside you. Just barely able to keep his expression neutral when he felt the onslaught of unpleasant thoughts from his head.

"So, this is the one that Jabami mentioned... I don't quite see what the fuss is."

Saiki nearly cringed, catching himself before he'd rolled his eyes.

It seems brooding megane were the type you attracted.

"What a pain."

"Kusuo, this is my friend from school," You gestured "Manyuda - senpai, this is Kusuo! My childhood friend."

Violet clashed with onyx, gazes hardening once they've crossed.

The psychic nearly considered taking off his own lenses, but with you there, he couldn't risk it.

No matter.

"Nice to meet you." The white haired male stiffly greeted. "I will be joining you both on this study session."

Kusuo just nodded.

Slowly, dark eyes flickered to give him a once over whilst the dialogue in his head played out. "There's nothing noteworthy of this Saiki Kusuo, seemed I was concerned for nothing. I don't understand why there's nothing but pictures of him in that notebook."

A fury blazed under his skin once those thoughts reached him, it'd apparently started showed in his face as he sees Manyuda narrow his eyes in return. But he didn't let him get the satisfaction for losing his temper for no good reason. Especially not in front of you.

"Ku?" The chime of your voice was filled with concern, making butterflies come alive in his stomach to overtake the anger.

"Let's go, my mom probably set out snacks."

Pointedly, he made eye contact with Manyuda and reached to take your hand.

A smug smile threatened to pull at his lips as he saw his shoulders tense.

"... Perhaps he is more of a threat than I thought."

Oh, he had no idea.

Round 2

Teruhashi Kokomi VS. Bakugo Katsuki (Saiki K & BNHA)

Teruhashi had a problem with Bakugo Katsuki.

He was a brute would be her first gripe.

Crude, rude, mouthy - not to mention cocky, self-righteous, and just straight up arrogant. It'd made him completely immune to her charms, even though he'd never hope to match up to her beauty.

Though she begrudgingly admitted he is good looking, though not enough to act how he does.

But that wasn't the root cause of the issue.

He was smart.

So much so that he could tell that she was putting up a front the entire time. It was frustrating how observant he was as it'd made him call her out even at risk of his own reputation.

Though it's clear he didn't care what people thought about him anyway so he has nothing to lose. He looked through her like it was the easiest thing he'd ever done.

But that wasn't the problem either.

Even though he drove her nuts with his indifference to her, his annoyance at her very presence.

How he'd branded her a “fake” and an “extra” boiled her blood.

She was tough - as thick skin was something she had to have as the pretty and perfect girl.

Bakugo Katsuki is a menace.

A handsome, smart, talented, menace that knew what he wanted.

They'd be a powerful pair if it weren't for one factor...

Her problem was him being around you.

Her crush.

You were lovely! So charming and soft, there's no pressure to be perfect around you because of that sugary aura and lovingly accepting nature. That tendency to fire back and match a flame makes you terribly alluring...

Much to her dismay, she wasn't the only one that thought so.

She sees how he looks at you.

How different he treats you to the rabble...

It makes her skin crawl.

"Hello, Teruhashi - san!" Chirpy and upbeat, bright eyes and all, the requisite greeting she'd grown endeared to.

"... Faker." Bakugo hissed, eyes suspiciously trained on her smile.

He stood unnecessarily close to you, hands stuffed into the pockets of his sagging pants. She could tell he was itching to hold your hand, not unlike her.

The two of them were prideful though.

Unwilling to back down.

"Shall we go? That sweets shop isn't going to be open forever." Kokomi beamed at you nonetheless, radiance pouring from her.

There was no stares of envy directed at them, likely having been scared off by the explosive blond. Knowing of his dislike for her helped in that case too.

"Sounds good." You hummed, unaware of the tension between your friends.

Carmine met sapphire.

Bolts of electricity shot between them, competitive and fiery.

It pained her to admit that he was a worthy rival.

But there can only be one victor.

Round 3

Saotome Mary VS. Uraraka Ochako (Kakegurui & BNHA)

Carefully setting teeth, careful not to grind. Withholding from speaking ruinous words lest favor is tipped differently. Peals of jealously curled deep in her gut, only barely offset by the feelings of affection blanketing her in warmth.

Uraraka was simply too cute.

Too nice.

There's no way she could be this naive, right?

Mary teetered on that fine edge, unable to tell the motives of her apparently oblivious rival in romance.

She'd barely able to keep herself composed when it came to matters of the heart. Her quirk went haywire, turning so red that she'd match the blazer Mary donned.

Sutbly nonexistent in Uraraka's dictionary, plain and simple,

But her suspicion remained, ever looming and growing.

Then there was you.

Genuinely oblivious, charismatic, kind, and so endearingly stupid... No wonder the both of them vyed for your attention so readily.

Though it seemed to be unknown to Ochako that Mary was even competition.

Her thoughts buzzed, "Or...."

Biting the inside of her cheeks, golden gaze narrowing into pinpricks.

A wash of irritation.

"She didn't think I was noteworthy enough to be considered."

Not until today.

Today would be the day.

"Uraraka Ochako."

The brunette looked startled, standing betwixt her friends. Of whom were surprised to see Saotome standing before them, her head held high with a burning fire in her gaze.

Uraraka suddenly felt uneasy, judging by her look.

Both of them knew of each other, yes, but only because of associating with you.

"C - can I help you, Saotome - san?" She squeaked out, confused.

Plantings her hands on her hips, the girl in question straightened her back and stared right at her.

Between parted pink lips, dropped a bomb, "This is a declaration of war."

"E - eh? Saotome - sa -"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, not even you can be that much of an airhead." Mary scoffed gently, reaching her hand up and sweeping her pigtail back.

Her friends were unable to speak, unable to believe that this was in fact happening.

"For..."

The blond fixed her rival with a gaze, a little vindicated to watch her flinch back at the syllables of your given name. Nothing but a determination lined her eyes and she was going to make good on the promise she made.

"The rules are there will be no sabotage," She plainly stated "and we will be happy no matter which one of us wins out."

Uraraka still stood, gaping and red in the face.

Mary didn't stay for her answer, turning on her heels and knowing exactly where to find you.

This was her day after all.

She didn't turn her head, just kept walking.

Distinctly, she wondered if she'd been mistaken.

Ochako's shout made her pause mid-step, made her wait to make sure it was her rival that spoke...

After this night, there will be no mercy.

"... Let's do our best!!"

"Let's go to war."

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everafterkeiji · 3 years

Text

Song: Squeeze by Fifth Harmony

Summary: When Shoto finds the safest place to be in was your arms.

Pairing: Shoto Todoroki x fem! reader

Genre: fluff

Warnings: slight mentions of his past, twinkle of angst

Quirk: Telepathy and telekinesis

A/N: Hi second imagineee, feedback/reactions will be very appreciated!!

End of the night, looking at me, what do you see?

Wish I could read your mind

All this powerful man craved was touch. A touch that can ease his mind. Ease his guarded heart. He was well known as Endeavors masterpiece but behind closed doors was less than a work of art as people visualized it. He was trained for years not even having the chance to live his youth with such joy and happy memories. Growing up he was restricted from talking to any kid that came his way, his father looking down on every child that wanted to become friends with his son thinking that no one can ever be enough for his Shouto. Shouto was above everyone else and Endeavor made sure to remind him that throughout the years.

When the incident of his scar came, he didn't hesitate to escape the house he lived in. No sibling could have ever prepared for that moment that changed his life.

Dimming the light, here in the dark, going by feel

Only the moon to guide

As he ran with tears in his eyes, he tripped on a rock making his knee scrape the ground leaving an ugly wound to it. The rain poured, even the skies cried for the poor boy who only wished to be normal and to be loved. Shouto hugs his knee letting his sobs echo through the empty street.

Rain stopped pouring over his head and he looks up with hurt eyes. His bi colored eyes land on a girl in a yellow rain coat hovering an umbrella over the two of them.

"You look really cool. Whatcha doing here? Mama says raining gets you sick." He sniffles as he looks at the girl with e/c eyes. Her head tilted as she wonders about the random boy. She looks at the boy who was hugging his knees when she finds an unpleasant wound on his knee. Her eyes widened as she grabs his hand dragging them to a corner where rain couldn't reach them. He was being dragged by a rather cute stranger and he had no choice but to follow her because he was lost in the thought of a girl holding his hand.

"You hurt ya self. What's the your name?" She asks removing the raincoat exposing her beautiful hair. He wiped his eyes turning around, scared that this interaction would cause him a consequence from his father.

"Stop talking to me, n-no one likes me. Go away." He says with sadness. He stands up with his head hung low. He was scared of talking to her. He hasn't interacted with anyone who sounded like an angel. He starts to walk away when the girl ran up to him, surrounding him in a hug. His eyes widened, his arms frozen, time suddenly stopping as he was focused on the tiny girl that was hugging him.

W-what is this feeling? A h-hug?

"Mama says when someone is hurt we should give them a big ole hug! I hope this makes you feel better! Mama always does this to me!" She cheers continuing to hug him. He sobs in her shoulder finally allowing his arms to reciprocate her embrace. They sit on the floor. To her it meant nothing, just a girl comforting a boy who was sad. To him, it was everything. Finally someone comforted him and she didn't push him away or scold him for crying. She was hugging him. Letting him know that crying wasn't weak like his father told him.

"I really think you look cool, pretty boy. I like your hair. Oh and your eyes! How did you make them like that?" He laughs at her questions wiping away his tears as he pulls away from the hug. She touches his hair and squeals at how cool the colors were and he softly smiles at her.

"What's your quirk? Can you change colors?" She asks with a lifted brow and he shakes his head no. She tilts her head at his movement looking at the cool boy with her curious eyes.

"No. My quirk is ice and fire. My dad says I shouldn't use it outside though." He pouts but she shakes her head. She grabs her by the shoulder looking at him with her big eyes.

"THAT'S. SO. COOL. Can you show me? Pleaseee?" With every word she shakes him as his face showed his shock with tight lips and wide eyes. He sees her pouting and sighs before removing her hands on his shoulder as he raises his left hand emitting a small flame from his palm. He touches the ground softly with his right hand making the ground frozen. She lets out a gasp as she rapidly claps her hands.

"YOU'RE SO COOL!" He smiles shyly at her.

"What's your quirk then?" He asks while she opened her mouth, his arm was harshly pulled. He was faced with an angry Endeavor.

"Father-"

"You! Get away from my son! A weakling like you should never come near him again. Shoto, come with me this instant." He says and you gather your raincoat, glaring at the man who hovered over you. Shoto looks at you, hoping this wasn't your last meeting.

"Please father-"

"NO! You are coming home leaving this rat. She doesn't deserve you, Shoto. Let's go." He says and as he drags his son who was trashing around desperately trying to reach the girl.

"Don't worry cool boy! I hope I helped! We'll play soon!" She screams, waving at him happily and this brings a slight smile onto his face. The words of his father blurring out as he was focused on the girl that brought him happiness from a single embrace.

I didn't even get her name.

Now that he's in UA being praised by his peers, his mind still lingers on the girl that made him feel safe. He wished he could've gotten her name, just something to remind him that she made him feel that way even if she was a stranger.

He sits at the back while he admires the girl that was laughing at Denkis English accent. He swears she was familiar. Mina leans her head on the sweet girl while she continues to laugh at Kaminaris poor attempt to flirt with her. Y/N turns to Shoto who already had his eyes on you. You simply blush at it but chose to look away ignoring the butterflies that surrounded your mind.

Despite him being a friend of yours, you couldn't hide the feeling of your heart when he walks by. Avoiding to sit beside him whenever you had lunch, scared to let him see your flustered cheeks. He always asked you if he wanted to half with his soba, noticing it was his favorite you decided to say no every time. Your friendship began when the annual Sports Festival came when you managed to land a battle against Bakugo. You and the hot headed were friends since you hang around Kaminari. But he didn't back down, even if he was fighting a friend. In the end, he won. But he regretted seeing your passed out state. Todorokis hands form a ball as he leaves his seat rushing to go to Bakugo.

"How could you do that to her?" Todoroki asks him as Bakugo rolls his eyes.

"What does it matter to you half and half? It's a battle. I had to win. " Todoroki glares at the blonde in front of him.

"I'm her friend too, shit head. You think I don't feel like shit seeing her like that." Todoroki rolls his eyes.

"Some friend you are then, Bakugo." He spat but Bakugo only shakes his head with a sly smirk on his face.

"And you're one protective ass boyfriend." Todorokis cheek warms at the thought but before he could defend himself the door creaks open to you sleepily rubbing your eyes with bandages.

"K-katsuki.. Todoroki?" You saw the two of them while Todoroki rushes to your side.

"Hey are you okay?" Todorokis tone softens as he sees you covered in bandages. You nod at him before looking over at Bakugo.

"You did good their, dumbass. You're boyf-" Todorokis eyes widen as he closes the door leaving a chuckling Bakugo behind.

"What was that?" You ask tilting your head as he stops in his motions. He takes in your expressions and his brows furrowed at the similarity.

Where do I remember that from?

"Expect nothing but nonsense from him."

He didn't mean to protective then but he couldn't hide the similarities of the young girl to you. You mirrored an angel in disguise in his eyes. He sees how you enjoy protecting people giving them your perfect smile. He only wished that it was you so it made sense to him when he started to like you. Once he's gotten all the pieces together, he could never let you go again.

And you wished the opposite.

The minute you saw his hair when he entered Class 1A. You knew it was him, the boy you had comforted when his father took him away before you can even get his name. He had grown into a handsome and powerful man, much reserved and guarded now. He also took in your presence but you hoped he wouldn't recognize you. You hoped that you were a forgotten memory. When you were a child you came back to where you had met the boy telling you're parents that you two were gonna play again. After a week of his disappearance you were broken at the thought of the cool boy never meeting you again.

But now you two were in the same room everyday.

Even after school.

There were moments when you would visit his room along with the others for a study. You would be the one to be left behind still answering a few questions you skipped, anxious to ask him a bunch of questions when him and the others were already finished.

"You sure you really don't need my help?" He asks with a chuckle seeing your stressed state as you just twirl the pencil in mid air, your focus long gone.

"I just couldn't catch up with you guys, I understand it- I really do. You guys are just too fast and I barely understood half of the things you said with the way Izuku kept rambling the equation." He laughs before getting behind you, his chest pressed against your back as he grabs the pencil you were toying with before pointing the pencil at the equation you've avoided. Your breath hitched at how nonchalant he was being this near to you.

When we're alone, I get so close

Give me your warmth I've never known

"I understand the Midoriya part, he was very confusing but I will help you." You couldn't even understand half of what he said while his head peaked on your left side, cheek to cheek with yours. Your telekinesis loosing control as some of his pencils were circling behind you two, your eyes wide and your stance tense. Your cheeks flushed red when he turns to look at you. Your heart literally screaming, beating so fast.

"I really hope you're not searching for the answer on my face. Oh well is there anything on my face? You've been staring at me for a while." He says monotone but his bluntness only brought you more trouble when he noticed you staring.

Please help me. You thought.

"N-no really there's nothing there you're just really pretty- t-the uh equation is pretty hard sorry I just keep getting distracted-" He laughs at you before pulling away from where he was positioned earning you the time to breathe.

"Now you do sound like Midoriya. Why don't you head back to your dorm? I'm happy to continue this equation if you're having a tough time with it." You shook you're head trying to reach the paper in his hand but he only lifts it higher considering he was way taller than you. You roll your eyes at his tease but he only smiles more.

"Please, I'm volunteering. Get back to your room and sleep well. I'm not asking for anything in return. "

"But-"

"Quiet, Y/N. It's really okay." You sigh in defeat as you step back. "Fine, thank you Shoto. Good night and you sleep well too. " You say to him and he gives you a nod.

"Goodnight, Y/N." As you close his door, you nearly couldn't walk back to your room at how nervous you are. Still in tact with your quirk as his pencils, pens, and notebooks were all in mid air twirling continuously. As he takes a sit to finish your equation, he jumped slightly at the sound of things falling beside him pressing his foot to the floor freezing it. His eyes widened at his stationary were all laid out on the floor, silently thanking that it wasn't some sort of bomb.

The moment he realized he needed you close to him was when the training camp incident began. Scared of the thought of you getting hurt without his protection. He knew this wasn't because he was your friend, he wanted to be more than your friend. At that moment, love blossomed in his heart thawing the ice that protected it.

When training camp began, none of you expected to be ambushed by villains. There you were seperated from him when blue flames surround the area. Villains came and attacked the students. As you were running to reach the building you were faced with Toga as she gives you a wave.

"My! You're so pretty~ I would love to borrow that sweet face of yours. Seems like I can't be your friend, deal with her for a while." Toga scurries away when your back came in contact with a Nomu. You ran away as he chased after you, you flew before removing a few trees and send their way to the Nomu. You're eyes glowing purple with the use of your quirk as you flew to the others helping them while gathering rocks and wood to be your weapons.

Shoto can see you from above as you gathered countless of rocks. He watches you as you raised your hand with a scream when you threw all of them to the villains that circled the Pussy Cats. Your purple aura circling around you like a fire but what you didn't notice was a man with a hand out directed to you shooting blue flames in your way sending you off, screaming at how painful the flames were as they touch your skin.

"Y/N!" Todoroki screams trying to run to the direction you flew off but he was stopped by Midoriya.

"Todoroki-san we have to save Kacchan. Y/N-chan can handle herself." Todoroki only agreed knowing Midoriya was right.

When Dabi had his hands on Bakugos neck, you flew heading straight for Bakugo but he disappeared before your eyes. Your eyes glowing more than usual as you sunk down to your knees feeling helpless that you couldn't save him.

When you turn around to see Todoroki who you have yet to seen for the entire night and you flew to him wrapping your arms around him as he quickly reciprocated your sweet embrace. You gripped his shirt, feeling overwhelmed to see the boy safe. Your mind easing at the sight of him without any wounds.

Face to face, caught in a wild embrace

"You're okay.." he whispers, thanking the stars she was safe and sound. Hugging her tighter before tears dampened his shirt.

"I c-couldn't save him-" You tried to reason but he only shushes you before you can say anything else.

"I know, I know but what matters right now is that you're safe here with me."

Since then his goal changed from being a hero to being your boyfriend who can always protect you. You also became more open with him as you come by his room whenever nightmares would surface and you did the same whenever he was at rage with his father.

Only you know how to save me

Now, you're all sat in the common room watching TV while you flew around trying to escape Bakugos wrath. Meanwhile, Kirishima was mindlessly switching channels he stops when he sees Endeavor and Hawks on the TV.

"I didn't know Endeavor and Hawks were friends- SHIT A NOMU! " Kirishima shouts averting everyone's attention to the TV. Shoto came running to watch. As the battle began, you bit your lip with worry as you watch his expressions. You didn't get want to use your telepathy to see what he was thinking, knowing you'd be pushing some boundaries if you do so. Everyone was tenses and cheering for Endeavor. When Endeavor was shut down you can feel his heart ache. Everyone else turned to him but soon came to turn back to the TV.

For the past minutes, all you could feel was how his heart was breaking with every blow his father receives but when his father raises a fist to the air while Todoroki falls to his knees, panting and sweating. Everyone was commanded to give him some space. He runs to his room, closing the door with a slam, his heavy breathing surrounding the room. Covering his face in his hands as he tried to calm his self.

You flew right to his room ignoring the screams from the others to let him have his space knowing that Todoroki needed more than space and silence. You opened the door to see him in his bed, knees to his chest as you hears his sobs. You immediately wrap your arms around him, running your hands through his split colored hair that you fell in love with. You used your telepathy to avoid him from replaying the moments in his mind.

Put your arms around me, baby

"It's okay, Sho. I'm here we're all safe. He's safe and he did amazing. You don't need to worry, I got you." He hugs you tighter as you comfort him caressing his back. You pressed a kiss to his hair. He hugged you tight, finding your arms to be his safe zone and he never wanted anything more than to be held by you all the time.

And squeeze

"Breathe for me okay?" He nods before leaning his head on your shoulder, closing his eyes taking in your words.

Remember the night talking to me

Saying the words I wanna hear the most

He was reminded of the angel that fell on his path when he was a kid but now his breathing calming down knowing the same angel that saved him before was here in his arms.

"Its always been you, Y/N." He says pulling away from your embrace as he places a hand on your cheek before pressing his forehead to yours making both of your cheeks flushed red.

"That night- when I was a kid. It was you. I found you." He says and you smile at his words.

"I found you too, pretty boy." He smiles at the nickname before pressing his lips to yours. You smile before kissing back your hand finding its way to his cheek pulling him closer. The stars were more than happy to see you two finally found each other. You both pull away as you look at each other. He hugs you again smiling to himself and you embraced him with all the love you had for him. With his heart happy and filled with love finally finding the girl meant for him he only thought to himself.

I've found my home.

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spookyspaghettisundae · 3 years

Text

A Spark To Ignite the Dead Wood

Cold, angular, gray. One door in, same door out.

A sleek reflective window, in which Jericho Kane could stare into his own sad mug, complete with all the ugly scars. His vision blurred as his mind wandered to what the window might be hiding on the other side of the interrogation room. A little camera on a stand with a blinking red light to indicate it was recording? A person, or two, waiting for some cop to enter the room and grill him for answers?

A thin chain connected his handcuffed wrists to a small metal hook on the table in front of him. The chain’s links rattled and ribbed against the hook whenever he budged, which he had to do every now and then, his fidgeting owed to the hard chair that made his sore butt cheeks ache, and a backrest designed to offer neither comfort nor invitation to lean back and relax. Everything here was perfectly engineered to make a stay as unpleasant as humanly possible.

Even the air in here was cold. A tiny little grate in one high corner of the room, big enough to fit two fists inside, took care of ventilation. Though it probably relied on air conditioning, he had to wonder if it was not allowing the cold wintry air to leak into this dreadful little room.

Following the sound of a key turning in a lock, a chunky clank heralded the door to the room opening. Jericho craned his head and spied the face of the person entering. Unfortunately, he recognized him. That recognition coaxed a groan to growl right out of Jericho’s throat.

It had been years, yet Jericho knew that unkempt beard, those horn-rimmed glasses on a flat nose, the receding hairline that framed a short mane of curly hair turning silvery, and that familiar face—now marked with days of sleep deprivation and wrinkled in what had to be disdain.

Using a hand that already gripped a thick manila folder while he carried a cheap plastic cup of steaming coffee in the other, Detective Augustus Shaw averted his gaze and slammed the door shut behind himself. He approached the table, plopped down the items from his hands, causing some coffee droplets to splash onto the surface, and pulled out the chair with an annoying sound of metal grinding against synthetic floor tiles.

Jericho shot a glance at the cup of coffee but tried not to let his thirsty gaze linger there. Neither would the cheap bitter swill help at all against the unpleasantly fluffy feeling of cottonmouth that plagued him right now, nor did he want to give Shaw any conversation material to work with. The career criminal and con man wanted to keep things short and painless. On some level, he did not want to waste the detective’s time, either.

“Jericho Kane,” Shaw said after demonstratively clearing his throat. “Long time no see. How long has it been since we’ve had the fortune of having your company around here in Maine?”

He took a sip from his cup and his forehead furrowed with crinkles counting both too many years of time on the force as well as from cringing over the coffee’s terrible aftertaste getting stuck on his tongue. Shaw shook it off and set the cup back down.

“Rap sheet tells me you’ve been pretty busy all these years, and up and down the whole East Coast, no less,” Shaw added, gently tapping the folder with his left palm. He cleared his throat again, audibly attempting to fight against the bitter film clinging to the roof of his mouth. Then he asked, “Do you want to hop right in and spill the beans, or do I need to flirt it outta ya?”

Shaw smiled at him, though no sincerity reached the crow’s feet framing the corners of his eyes. The detective hated being here as much as Jericho did, even though he could have walked out of the interrogation room anytime.

“Are we burying the lead here? How’s about you just tell me what business you had in any of the places you were trespassing in all week, and we both get to leave sooner? I know both of—”

“I’m not saying anything without my lawyer,” Jericho interrupted him sharply. He swallowed and stared at the place where the chain and hook on the table met, between the coffee stain and the pointless pile of papers and photographs jammed into the overflowing folder.

He could practically hear Shaw’s frown when a stifled sigh made the detective’s nostrils flare, and the seconds of silence that followed only underlined that air of disappointment.

“Okay,” Shaw said, taking another sip from his coffee and the smacking his lips indicating instant regret. “Alright. Fast-trackin’ this, then we both get to leave sooner. You work for the group that runs drugs across the northern border?”

“When’s the lawyer getting here?”

“Sources tell me you’ve worked for two crime syndicates—at least. One in NYC and the other all the way down in Miami. Any others send you onto an errand in our neck of the woods?”

“Not saying anything without a lawyer, man.”

“You went from being a two-bit drifter and con artist, constantly getting evicted from really terrible apartments, to your parole officer in Rhode Island refusing to offer any statement and looking like he had seen a ghost after you got out of the slammer.”

Jericho just kept his mouth shut. He jutted his jaw out and his lips curled inward, turning into a hard-pressed, thin, white line.

“Listen, man, I know you’re not a terrible person. Probably still got debt to pay off to some heavy hitters, right?”

Nothing.

“Some people in my position would mistake this monstrous pile of paper for proof that you’re a monstrous person, but I know better. Most people in your position got your reasons, constantly wonder if they’re bad people themselves, and deep down somewhere, buried underneath all the rotten things you experienced and any crimes you committed, you’re just—just a human being.”

Jericho deeply disagreed and looked up at the detective, locking eyes with him. He silently mouthed “lawyer” at him. Shaw ignored that and continued.

“You’re always down on your luck ‘cause people like us don’t get to win the lottery. We get dealt a bad hand in life, and we roll with whatever we’ve got.”

Shaw cradled the plastic cup, balancing it on an edge as his fingers idly circled it in his hand.

“Well, today’s your lucky day for a change, Jericho. Work with me here. You tell me what I want to know, and I’ll make sure you’re out of here in no time.”

Lawyer, Jericho thought, hoping that telepathy might finally work for him, one of these days.

“See, you can disappear behind bars for a while for some petty bullshit, or you can cooperate with me, because I’m really not that interested in you,” Shaw said, taking another pained sip from the cup. “No offense.”

Lawyer?

The telepathy did not seem to be working, or Shaw was blowing it off. No way to tell. Maybe this was not the best opportunity to try it out, but it was not like Jericho had anything better to do right now.

“See, I know things got weird at some point,” Shaw said. The cup plopped down onto the table’s surface and he leaned over it, closer towards Jericho.

He was playing to make their exchange feel more intimate, the crook figured. But the detective’s tone had shifted, and a strange glint flashed across his eyes. Jericho could not help but feel intrigued.

Did Shaw know more than he was letting on?

“A cigar-smoking guy in a stretch limo invites you in after a botched 'milk run’ in a meat packing plant, says he can make all your problems go away,” Shaw said.

Jericho kept his eyes locked onto the detective’s. How in the hell did he know about that?

“He offered you new work and the money he was offering was too good to turn down, so of course you took it. Who in your position wouldn’t have? Lemme guess, he had big mean-looking fellas in white suits with big mean-looking guns, and Cigar Man’s speech was a monologue with you for an audience.”

Frighteningly on point. Shaw had arrested Jericho’s full attention. Not a single thought trailed off, not a single word formed inside his head. He still wanted a lawyer before he admitted to anything, but the eerie accuracy of Shaw’s description rendered Jericho’s attention rapt.

“But the guy in the packing plant made your mouth melt shut and you had some voodoo man in New Orleans get that fixed. And there was that crumpled bag from the golden arches that provided a happy meal and a poisoned apple every day. Or a serial killer priest who ritually crucified himself after mass and could turn into the Incredible fucking Hulk before you and some of Cigar Man’s boys put him down like a dog and several dozen rounds of point-fifty caliber ammo,” Shaw said.

Jericho’s heart skipped a beat. Though Shaw was only scratching at the surface of all the unreal things he had witnessed in his recent years working for the “club"—the detective somehow knew. Knew of what Jericho liked to call "the weird shit.”

Shaw shot a glance at the mirrored window and said in a hushed murmur, “There’s nobody over there, Kane. No camera, nothing. I know better than to let anybody else in on this. I know how weird and un-fucking-believable all of this is. Hell, I question my own sanity just saying any of this out loud, but I have seen some shit myself. And—listen—I’m here to hear you out. I just want to—I wanna know the truth.”

Jericho swallowed the big empty wad of nothing that suddenly lodged itself inside this throat, yet it refused to go down no matter how many times he repeated the useless motion. That ball of anxiety stayed stuck right there, a slimy void only adding to the rest of his discomfort. He leaned back in his chair despite how painful the metal bars bracing the backrest felt.

“Look, I know of the Carcosa Casino job you were part of, down in Atlantic City. What did they call the 'package’ you were supposed to take from those thugs? 'Lightweight ghosts?’ What in God’s name is that, anyway?”

Jericho shook his head, croaked out a clipped, “Dunno.”

“You didn’t ask questions. Can’t say I blame you,” Shaw said, shaking his head in unison. “Probably woulda done the same in your shoes.”

He broke eye contact and shoved the folder in between the two of them. Flipped it open. Papers rustled; glossy prints of pictures glided from the main pile onto the discard pile he started right next to it.

Jericho recognized the Heavenly Night bar from one of the big photos even though this image depicted it as charred black and burnt down—from that one time when he had set it on fire with a thought. From that one time when he had discovered what unnatural abilities he possessed.

Another picture portrayed Jericho in a black raincoat with a green surgical mask on his face and sunglasses concealing his eyes, toting a silenced pistol in one hand—but he easily identified the distinct shape of his own head despite the stubble left behind after shaving it.

His typical “job attire” whenever he worked for Cigar Man.

“You usually get self-deleting messages with simple, straightforward instructions and are left to figure out the rest. You’re pretty good at that, right?” Shaw asked.

More pictures. Incident reports. A timeline of all the weirdness that Jericho had lived through. Hints at the world hidden behind the world, a world of human monsters that could alter reality on a whim as soon as they figured out the cosmic cheat codes. Most people do their damnedest to rationalize the weird to the best of their ability, but at some point, it gets hard to deny it all. Shaw must have gotten there on his own.

“The four-digit numbers just kept piling up in your bank account and everything stayed untraceable. Shit, Jericho, one of the guys at Homeland Security admitted to me that they didn’t just fail to trace anything—they couldn’t. Every data trail just vanishes into thin fuckin’ air. Like the hand of God reached through every computer and wiped every record clean.”

Jericho had gotten a message from Cigar Man just last week, so his mind went there. The new job. He dispelled the thoughts, focusing on trying to get a read on the seasoned detective. What was his deal? Was he on the payroll of the other syndicate? The douchebags over in Europe?

“And I get it, man. You never ever stopped to question this, because it’s both too good to be true—and too scary to fuck with,” Shaw droned on.

His sympathy was grating on his Jericho’s nerves but clearly genuine. The crook sensed it. The detective felt that same spark he had felt himself, all those years ago.

That time when he still struggled to understand it all. When he felt ambition, wanting to know how the secret world worked. How things like magick functioned, and trying to understand what, if any, difference existed between ghosts and demons.

That spark always struck dry wood, igniting the debris that rested, dead and dormant at the back of one’s mind, bursting into flames and feeding roaring fires of burning curiosity.

Shaw finally fell silent and stopped shuffling through the papers and photos. He let his gaze wander back upwards, scanning Jericho’s face for a reaction until they locked eyes again. That glint in his eyes—it reflected the hungry fires, consuming any knowledge it could get.

“C'mon. I know you wanna talk to me. You wanna talk to somebody, anybody. I’m not your enemy, Jericho. I’m not like him. I’m not—”

Jericho’s heart began to race in that instance and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, knowing in advance what name Shaw was about to utter. A horrid premonition during which time almost slowed to a complete halt and his eyes went wide.

“No!” Jericho suddenly shouted. “Don’t say—”

Shaw’s brow furrowed but he continued anyway, oblivious to the trigger he was pulling, “I’m not The Way King.”

Jericho’s heart skipped a beat and his blood curdled. The harsh white light from the neon tube overhead in the interrogation room flickered in response to that name being spoken.

“Fuuuuuck,” Jericho hissed, elongating the vowel in agonized defeat.

“Something wrong with me saying that? The Way King?” Shaw asked, continuing to shoot his mouth off, oblivious to the smoking gun he unwittingly kept firing every time he flapped his gums.

“Shut the fuck up! Stop saying his fucking name!”

The lights flickered again. The background noise—that constant buzz of chatter and drawers and metal doors and shoes tapping against hard floors and someone shouting and some chuckling and people on the phones and—all the life in the police station, muffled through the steel door, it all went dead. All at once.

Jericho lurched forward, causing Shaw to shift back in his seat, startled. But the surprise written across the detective’s visage mirrored the dread that must have taken hold of Jericho’s own face. Jericho showed him his empty palms in surrender.

“I will tell you whatever the fuck you wanna know. But you gotta—you have to fucking unlock me, right now. We need to get out of here,” Jericho whispered at him, enunciating every syllable with sharp endings and harsh gravity punctuating every stop.

Shaw stared at him, slack jawed. Now it was the detective’s turn to swallow a big lump of nothing that had gotten lodged in his throat. He bit his lip for a second and his hand went for his pocket. Crammed his fist right in there and dug around to look for the key.

Then the detective started shaking, wracked with spasms like he was being seized by an epileptic attack. His mouth started to foam while he gurgled.

The chain ribbed and rattled as Jericho leaned back as far as he could, trying to gain as much distance as possible, until he felt the tug of cold metal keeping him locked in place, and he heard the crunch of the chain accompany his bondage bringing him to a helpless stop.

Shaw’s eyes rolled back so far into his head that they looked only white and bloodshot. Then a hideous grin shaped across his face, clearly not his own. Drool dribbled down from the curve of his lip, forming pearls on the way down Shaw’s beard until the saliva dripped down onto his lap.

“There you are,” the Way King spoke through Shaw’s mouth, stealing his voice but spewing it out in a different cadence and tone. “Told you, boy. I will always find you, no matter where you go.”

Blood rushed in Jericho’s ears, his heart pounded like one of those huge Japanese drums; just thundering away and drowning out everything, leaving him deaf to the rest of the world and mesmerized by the spiderweb of crimson in Shaw’s white eyes, knowing that the Way King now stared at him through the powerless borrowed vessel.

“Let’s have a little chat, shall we?”

The handcuffs sprung open without anybody manipulating them. Jericho froze. Did not dare budge.

There was no point in running.

He was going to have to hear this demonic dickhead out now.

His deals always sucked.

—Submitted by Wratts

6 notes · View notes

kill-for-cookies · 4 years

Text

Promise is a beautiful lie (pt. 7)

Dhawan!Master x Reader

Words: 3191

Note: Finally I wrote it! And that’s why I have a very good mood. Hope, you too. Oh, and friendly reminder, my inbox is open and you can send me requests.

Previous parts: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

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The Doctor didn't tell you where you were going today. All she said was it would be a little hot. Obviously, she decided to surprise you. You never were happy with surprises. You liked when everyone talked to you straight. Besides, waiting was a real torture for you. You couldn't stand it.

Now you were in the TARDIS wardrobe, looking at yourself in the mirror. You were wearing a shirt and skirt. You liked it. Simple but stylish. But you decided to put on a white scarf made of light fabric. Now it was perfect.

'I like it. Looks great' you inwardly made a compliment.

'It would look better if you wore purple.'

Of course, how could be without him? Could the Master ever leave you alone for one day? You didn't process last night's meeting in the TARDIS and he was here again. There was one but. You didn't mind. Well, not exactly. You were, of course, but not as much as you could have been. Earlier you would have tried to get rid of the Master, but now you didn't really want it. Yes, there was a note of discontent, but certainly not a fountain.

'Has anyone ever told you you're obsessed with purple?' there was one advantage of this conversation. You could tease the Master. The main thing was not to get carried away.

'Yes, they don't shut up. Usually they quickly fall silent for some reason... So strange!' he said it so dramatically that you immediately rolled eyes. The sarcasm clearly sounded in his voice.

You walked through the corridors of the TARDIS, coming back to the console room. You decided to leave his remark without comment. Maybe the Master would leave you if you just didn't say anything. Honestly, you didn't particularly want to tease or argue with him. Just wanted to spend some time quietly on some alien planet. You had a lot of thoughts to deal with. For example, what the hell happened yesterday? So you were begging for two or three hours of solitude and peace.

'So, where are you going this time?' but apparently, this would remain a pipe dream. Deep down, you took a deep breath.

'Why do you want to know?'

'It's not polite to answer questions with questions, love' you could feel his grin. Could even imagine it. So often you had seen the Master lately. You felt it near your ear. Damn telepathy. Sometimes you just hated this.

'Anyway, I won't tell you until I know why' you crossed your arms over your chest, which made you a little uncomfortable walking. But you couldn't help yourself.

'I'm just curious' to your surprise, you believed the Master. It really sounded sincere. But out of habit, you asked.

'Really?'

'Yes, I'm not lying. Swear on two hearts it is.'

'I'm sorry. Just last time you pretended to be a different person and were jealous of yourself.'

'I wasn't jealous' you were sure the Master was offended and pouted. He often reminded you of a little spoiled child.

'Oh, right. How could I forget about your unsurpassed acting talent?'

'I forgive you. Next time I won't be so generous' you rolled eyes again. You thought you would soon see your entrails.

Finally you reached the console room. The Doctor was waiting for you, leaning on the console and reading a book. You didn't want to know what it was about. Either in a language that the TARDIS refused to translate or you wouldn't understand complicated words.

"Doc, I'm ready" she smiled and put the book away, looking at you.

"Wow! Scarf! I love scarves. I wore it once. It was so long that when folded in half it reached my heels and I was taller" your face immediately broke into a wide smile. You had no doubts that it was true.

'I always wanted to straighten it so the Doctor would fall.'

You weren't even surprised by the Master's comment. It was a little funny, though. Usually he tried to kill the Doctor, set a death trap for her. But right now it was quite different. Just a little prank. He was definitely a child at heart.

'I think it's cute' you objected.

'You just didn't see the scarf. It was multicolored and striped. No sense of style. I've never had a problem with style' and here he was again. Did the Master ever get tired of praises? Obviously not.

"Y/N, is everything okay? You're frowning" the Doctor peeked around the central column. Damn, she noticed. You got carried away with argument. Emotions showed on your face.

"Er... I was just talking to my mother yesterday. It brought up couple of unpleasant memories. It's okay."

You tried to give the Doctor a confused smile, but it was more tight and unconvincing. But it was enough for her to stop asking questions. A small sigh of relief escaped from your throat.

'Liar. Did you learn it from the Doctor or you always did it?' the Master teased. This situation clearly amused him. You really wanted to see his face and hit him so hard.

The Doctor stood at the door and opened it, inviting you to come out. So you did. You were met by a scorching red sun, which made you close eyes and put hand to your forehead to create some shade.

The sharp smell of spices hit your nose. So sharp that you wanted to sneeze. In front of you were stalls with all sorts of things. Spices, flowers, fruits, vegetables, technologies, etc. It seemed you could buy here everything in the Universe.

It was so atmospheric. There was a lot of people. Some of them examined and brought goods. Others shouted and argued. Apparently, didn't agree on price or quality.

Everything seemed so alive here. Real. No pomp and conventions. Simple and clear. That was what you really liked and missed a little. You couldn't take your eyes off this sight. It was even a little breathtaking. In a good way, of course.

"Welcome to Guoron. Planet of merchants and markets" the Doctor put hand on your shoulder as she lined up with you. "You said you wanted something simple. So I thought..." she didn't finish the sentence when she saw the tears in your eyes. "Sorry. I thought you'd like it. I can take you somewhere else..."

"Don't you dare. Don't even think about it" you said sharply, raising your voice at the Doctor and wiping away tears. "I'm crying with happiness. I didn't think it would be so great" you added more gently after seeing her surprised and wondering look.

The Doctor brightened. Her eyes showed she let out a deep mental breath. She was about to say something, but jumped up and ran to the counter.

"Oh, look. It's a waste-to-fuel Converter. I didn't know it was invented in the 37th century. I thought I was 39th. I learn something new every day" the Doctor never changed. This was probably a good thing. Besides, it was difficult not to like it. Every time she did that, you instantly smiled.

You decided to leave the Doctor. Let her examine mechanisms on his own. You weren't as interested in it as her. Honestly, you weren't interested at all.

You moved forward. Stalls were endless. It was like the street, you were walking on, led to nowhere.

You had some kind of alien fruit in your hands. You were given it to taste even though you didn't have any money. The Doctor must forget to give money to you. Or just didn't have it as usual.

The fruit was blue, round and bumpy. It was glowing a little. In general, it resembled a raspberry. Just increased in size. You took a small bite of the fruit. It tasted like watermelon. Great! Your first alien fruit was edible and delicious. But you hardly finished your meal when the Master appeared in your mind again.

'Aren't you tired of lying to the Doctor?' he definitely wasn't going to leave you alone. It was getting annoying, as if everything, that had happened yesterday, didn't make any sense.

'What else should I do? Tell her everything? I don't think that's a good idea. So what do you suggest?'

Before the Master could respond, you heard that someone was addressing to you and trying to get your attention.

"The girl with white scarf!" you turned and looked around. You were the only one who wore a scarf. Certainly white. But you asked with embarrassment.

"Me?" you said to the old lady in the orange dress, moving closer to her.

"Yes, you" she just smiled sweetly, even though you were still looking at her in confusion. You certainly didn't expect that someone here would address to you. "Don't you want to know your fate?"

"Sorry, but I don't believe in fate" you were already half-turned and about to leave, but the old lady wasn't going to give up so quickly.

"Aren't you curious, Y/N?" your eyes immediately widened as soon as you heard your name.

Where did she know it? Did someone tell her? But who then? Not many people know it (especially on another planet or century). You certainly weren't as famous as the Master or the Doctor.

"W-where do you know?" you barely managed to say it. Your voice was trembling. Disquiet and anxiety grew in you at an extraordinary rate.

The old lady didn't answer you. She just signed to follow her. You weren't sure you should do it. On the one hand, you really wanted to. After all, you always were curious.

On the other hand, you were worried. Maybe it was a trick. Like using you as bait for the Doctor. And that wouldn't surprise you very much. In your practice, this was the norm.

'Don't go, dear. Surely this is some kind of trap' in the Master's voice there was a... concern? He worried about you? If you didn't know him, you'd be pretty sure he did.

'It's nice to know you care about me' through the bond, you felt his resentment and annoyance. He must have crossed arms over his chest and rolled eyes. 'But I want to know where she knows my name. If you don't like it, get out of my head.'

It wasn't a good idea to talk to the Master like that, but you didn't care. This old woman was right. You were very curious. So much that it got the better of your disquiet. And even though you didn't believe in predictions, you couldn't help yourself.

Long pause. A long, tense pause. You even started to get nervous, because the Master didn't say anything. Nothing radiated through the bond, as if he wasn't in your head, although you could tell it wasn't true.

'Okay. I'll give you fifteen minutes' and now you were alone. Alone with all this madness. You were hoping in fifteen minutes you wouldn't hear the Master saying 'I told you so'.

You were a little sad he was gone. Honestly, you wanted him to stay. Now you regretted you sent him away. At least, it would be some support. And even if the Master teased you, it would be much better than being alone.

You went inside the store. It was dark. The only light sources were candles. The room had a couple of bookcases with various books. There were skulls on some of the shelves. You wanted to believe these were 'magic' skulls and not something else.

In the middle of the room was a table with two chairs. The old lady was already sitting at the table, shuffling cards, waiting for you, like she knew you would come in.

"Glad you didn't listen to the Master" you froze in place with round eyes. You didn't even hide your surprise.

How the hell did she know about the Master? He was in your head. He even wasn't on this planet. And in general, how did she know you argued with him to come in or not? Now you weren't only curious, but also scared.

"Sit down" you slowly sat in the chair in front of the old lady. You were still waiting for the catch.

"Where do you know my name?"

It was the only thing that made you be here. You wanted to deal with this quickly and get out of here as quickly as possible. That lady scared the hell out of you. Perhaps, more than the Master had ever done.

"Take four cards from the deck" you quickly blinked your eyes. Your mouth opened to object, but she cut you off. "Just do it. I promise you'll get answers."

Brilliant! It didn't bother you at all. The woman, who knew your name and your meetings with the Master (even the Doctor wasn't aware of it), didn't frighten you at all. Just the best day on this damn planet!

Your hand with wariness (as if you put your hand on a hot pan) pulled out four cards.

"I made predictions to many people. Counts, generals, kings and others. And some of them came across a card that means deadly danger" she said, shuffling your cards.

'Um... Okay, but how does that explain she knows me?' you thought to yourself, shifting in your chair. You were hoping the Master would say something now. But unfortunately, this didn't happen.

"Your first card is the inverted King of swords. In your past there was a strong enemy who caused you a lot of trouble and suffering. He has done you serious harm. Did you have him?" the abrupt transition confused you a little. Maybe this old lady would tell you later what she meant earlier.

You were thinking. Yeah, you had one guy at school who bullied and humiliated you. You even cried about it a couple of times, but you wouldn't call him a strong enemy.

In general, you could include the Master there, if we talked about the past. But he wasn't exactly your enemy, he was the Doctor's. But considering he threatened you and your friends... So theoretically, he was.

"Yes, I had. But perhaps, everyone had such person" the lady nodded at this and on her face was written 'fair'.

"Well, they were threatened with death, but they were always saved by someone" you frowned, trying to understand who she was talking about. Probably about her clients. "The more such predictions were made, the more I learned about this person. And that was you."

Wait what? You quickly blinked in surprise. Would you save someone? Of course, you traveled with the Doctor, but usually it was she, who saved the situation.

"Well, yes, I'm traveling with the Doctor, but I'm only helping her..." you lowered your head and rubbed your neck in confusion.

"No, it was you and not with the Doctor. Have any clue?"

Even if that was true, how could you save alien kings and counts without her? You didn't have your own ship... And then it hit you. You even forgot about it. You met the Master from your future and he said you two were together. Well, after that, you interrupted him, not wanting to know what he meant.

Apparently, in the future, you would travel with the Master and dissuade him from killing. And it seemed possible. Of course, you were a little unsure of your guess, but that was the only explanation.

Besides, the more you met the Master, the more you believed he could change. And if he could, maybe one day... you would leave the Doctor for him (and just a month ago you thought that was impossible).

You would not because you were attracted to the Master. You just felt like you were the only one who were good to him. Plus, the Doctor had Fam. In the worst case, she would easily find a new companion, but the Master wouldn't.

"Wow! Congratulations. You got the Sun. Now your life is like a fairy tale. Adventure and true love. Perfect combination" okay, let's say the first time it was an accident. But now it didn't feel like this.

You definitely couldn't complain about your life now. It was really good. You saw the stars and history again with your own eyes. And there was definitely something between you and the Master. You wouldn't say (at least, for now) it was love. But you couldn't deny you didn't have feelings for him, either.

"Let's say I believe you, but why did you say 'I'm glad you didn't listen to the Master'?" you decided she shouldn't know she was right. You still didn't trust her, but the more time passed, the more you believed her story.

"I know you've been talking to him a lot lately. Don't worry, the Doctor won't know about it" the tension began to gradually leave your muscles. You didn't even notice it until now. "I know a lot about you from the predictions. Didn't I say that?" you looked away. You needed time to digest all this information.

Honestly, you weren't as scared as you were when you first came in. Of course, you were, but for some reason, deep down, you believed her. Felt this lady would do no harm to you.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Really sorry" your eyes were quickly up to her face, asking 'what happened?' "Inverted Ten of swords. This is one of the most frightening card. You will soon face a terrible ordeal. And it will bring you tears, pain and devastation."

It was like you were struck by lightning. Although you didn't believe in fate (after all, previous cards didn't fully convince you), it was still scary to hear this. You didn't want to know what the last card would be. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it would tell you. Your future in general.

You got up and walked quickly to the door. The old lady tried to stop you, but you weren't going to turn around. You were devastated. No thoughts, no emotions. Just nothing. The only thing you wanted was fresh air. Well, as far as it was possible in the market.

When you entered a small alley, you stopped and pressed your back against the wall, taking a deep breath and closing your eyes. Surely, you didn't think the day would pass like this. It was supposed to be wonderful. Supposed to be.

You had no idea you were going to be so upset today. Especially from fortune telling. It was more likely the Master would spoil your mood, but certainly not this.Maybe you shouldn't have left. Maybe the last card was a good one. Maybe everything would end well. You would live happily ever after...

You stood there for a few more minutes in silence. Alone with yourself... Damn, you wished the Master was back in your head. His taunts would cheer you up. Who knew you loved them so much? Certainly not you.

When you came back to normal a little, you were about to leave and find the Doctor, but you were violently grabbed by arms.

#fanfiction #doctor who #dhawan!master #dhawan!master x reader #dhawan!master imagine #the master #the master x reader #the master imagine #dw #dw imagine #doctor who imagine #sasha dhawan

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theassthatquits · 3 years

Text

The Plane of Celebrations Ch 3: A Lesson in Empathy

The third chapter is posted! You can read the first two here.

Summary: After the events of the Day of Sacrifice, the crew attempts to prepare themselves for the next holiday: The Day of Humility (A lesson in Empathy). Barry and Lup visit a temple.

“Okay, so according to this book on this plane’s celebrations, it seems like the next one is the Day of Humility: A Lesson in Empathy,” Barry was thumbing through the text, trying to figure out what their year here was going to look like.

“And? What does that mean for us? I can’t go another day without my sense of taste, I’ll just knock myself out for the rest of the day,” Taako called out from the other side of the room.

The crew was congregated in their common room, Barry was sitting on the couch with Lup draped over its back, reading over his shoulder. Davenport was standing in front of him at attention, ever the professional. Taako was leaning against the doorframe pretending to look uninterested but Lup could tell he was pretty apprehensive about what the next “holiday” would entail. Ever since the Day of Sacrifice, Lucrecia and Magnus had doubled down on what they lost. She had been writing more than ever and was currently taking detailed notes during their meeting. Magnus was pacing around the room lifting dumbbells that he had acquired from...somewhere.

“I can teach these people a lesson on empathy, they’ll never know what hit them,” muttered Merle from the floor where he was sitting cross legged. “I think they need a taste of Pan.”

“Something tells me that bringing Pan into this world isn’t going to fix anything, old man,” Lup teased from behind Barry’s ear. He shivered involuntarily.

Barry read out loud from the textbook: “‘The Goddess Eies had noticed that everyone was too harsh and judgmental of their neighbors, not caring what others had going on in their lives. To solve this issue, she made every head of household swap with another. For the full day, they had to live in another family’s shoes, doing what they do on a daily basis, experiencing their struggles, their joys. At sunset, she brought everyone together in the center of town for a community feast.’”

“Okay so we swap Davenport with someone for a day and then go to a delicious feast? Psh, this will be easy,” Taako scoffed from the doorway and turned to leave, waving behind him. “Taako out.”

“Hmm, I guess we can prepare for this at least.” Davenport started staring off into the distance, stroking his beard. “Do we have any idea when this is going to happen?”

Barry started flipping through the pages, running his finger along down the paragraphs. “Uhhhhh, no clue. It doesn’t really give a timeline.”

“Ooh! I have an idea!!” Lup leaped up and started prancing around the room. “How about we head into town and start asking around. They must have some idea of when this fantasy freaky Friday will take place.”

“Hmm...I suppose that isn’t the worst idea.”

This was all the permission Lup needed. Squealing, she ran over and enveloped him in a large hug. “Thanks cap’n! Hey, Taako! Get your fancy shoes on! We’re going out!” Lup jumped up and ran down the hall after her brother.

Sighing, Davenport turned to Magnus. “Will you go with them? Just to make sure there’s no...trouble?”

Magnus smiled and pointed one of the dumbbells at him. “You got it, cap’n’port!”

——

Barry sat in the lab, engrossed in the book, making notes all over the pages trying to prepare for the holiday ahead. Was it a magical switch? Would the captain wake up inside someone else’s body? Or would they receive word of where he should go? Would it even be Davenport that was chosen? He had just assumed because he was the leader of the group, but maybe it was more of a metaphorical head of household, someone who held them all together. That would probably be Lup if it were. Barry frowned at that idea, he wasn’t so keen on the thought of Lup switching places with a random person for a day. Maybe it wouldn’t affect them at all, they were all just assuming it would because of the last holiday. It’s good to be prepared regardless, he decided.

“Hey, there’s a whole world out there that can tell you all of that information, you know.”

Barry smiled. “Well if I’m out there winning the world with my charm, what will you do?”

“Hmmm,” Lup walked into the lab, settling herself down on the couch in the corner. “I guess hide here in the lab like the nerd I secretly am.”

“Gather anything good?”

“Oh, loads! So it’s going to take place sometime next week, it’s apparently always around the first week of the sixth month. And it happens magically, like Davenport is going to wake up in someone else’s bed on that day.”

“Yeah but will he be in that person’s body or his own?”

“His own! Isn’t that incredible? The kind of magic needed to just instantly transport all of those people, that’s…god-like.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure the forces behind all of this are gods. That is a whole lot of power that they would need for something like that…” Barry trailed off and Lup turned to look at him.

“What are you thinking about?” She said after a moment. “Barry, that’s your very intense thinking face. Did you get an idea?”

Barry snapped out of his reverie. “Oh! Sorry, Lup.” He furiously scribbled some notes down. “Yeah, something did just occur to me. Has anyone talked about these gods? If they have met them or anything?”

“I think a few have mentioned them by name but I haven’t heard of anyone being visited by them since the first time these events took place. I did see a few temples around town, did you want to go check them out?”

He paused, staring down at his writing. “Yeah, I think that might be a good idea.”

—-

Lup and Barry walked across town, over to the Temple of Eies. They walked past people preparing for the holiday, setting up tables and centerpieces, passing around sign-up sheets for food and entertainment, the temple itself was being adorned with flowers and letters written to the Goddess. Everyone was in high spirits, despite knowing that any day now a random person would magically wake up in their house.

This was not the first time that they had travelled into town, but Barry did not recognize many of the faces, he had really only just been to the library. Lup on the other hand was already on a first name basis with quite a few people. It seemed like no matter where they went someone was yelling over to them, or giving her a high five as they passed. One man was particularly enthusiastic about the high five and she swerved him, laughing as she walked past.

“He’s kind of a dick,” she whispered to Barry. “Told Taako his outfit looked stupid and no one messes with my boy like that.”

The temple was abuzz with activity and Barry almost suggested they turn around until they noticed that they were actively being welcomed inside. It was small, a statue of what he could only assume was Eies was at the front, a tall winged woman with her hands on the heads of two small children on either side of her. Fresh flowers were strewn around her feet, providing some color in an otherwise very gray space. A couple of benches were placed nearby and some columns lined the walls but other than that it was a pretty boring space. Not one that is immediately thought of for a Goddess of immense power.

“Can I help you fine folks with something?”

The small voice startled Barry and he turned around to find a halfling looking up at them.

“Yeah, actually. Are you in charge here?”

They chuckled at that, “Is anyone really in charge of anything? The Deities are the ones who are in charge, we just act in their vision. But yes, I am a devout follower of Eies and the keeper of this temple. What can I help you with?”

“Uh, we were hoping that we could ask you some questions about the upcoming holiday and the Deities.”

“Oh of course! I thought you were going to ask me for something difficult, this is an easy one. Come, come, let’s go sit and have a chat.” They led Lup and Barry towards the front of the temple to one of the benches nearby the statue. “My name is Sadorn, you two must be part of the group that are staying in that large metal thing right outside town.”

“Yes, this is Barry and I’m Lup. We haven’t been here for very long, we arrived a couple of days before the Day of Sacrifice.”

“You must have had quite a scare if that was your first venture into our celebrations!”

“Yes, it was…” Lup grimaced. “Unpleasant.”

“I’m sure but it is the work of the Deities! They know all, and we must trust them. Now what are your questions?”

“I’m curious about the nature of the Deities,” Barry started off. “Where did they come from and how do they know ‘all’?”

“Well, my dear, the Deities came from the sky! They had been watching us for a long time and couldn’t bear to see us miserable anymore. You’ve heard the stories, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I do have a book I have been reading, but it doesn’t give much in the way of specifics.”

“What kind of specifics are you looking for?”

“Like...has anyone alive spoken to a Deity?”

“Oh, no, the Deities left us a long time ago. They still watch us from above and will interfere again if needed.”

“How would one get into contact with a Deity?”

Sadorn motions to the letters left at Eies’s feet. “Write a letter, leave it at her feet. She will answer.”

“How does she answer? A note back? Some telepathy, perhaps?”

“Dear heavens, no,” Sadorn laughs as if this was the best joke they had heard in awhile. “The Gods don’t write notes.”

“Then how will we know?”

“Trust, my dear. The world will speak to you.”

Barry, a man of science, was not thrilled with this response.

“Okay, this has been...an interesting talk. Thank you for your time, Sadorn.”

“You’re very welcome, and please let me know if you need anything else. Have a great rest of your day and a safe holiday.”

Lup smiled warmly at them. “Thank you for talking with us, Sadorn. We will see you at the festival.” After Sadorn left, she turned to Barry. “Well, not the most reliable of sources but maybe we should give it a shot. Do you have any paper?”

The only thing on him was the book on celebrations he had been reading, so he flipped to the back of the book and ripped out the title page for the second chapter.

“What are you writing?”

“Well, they say that the Deities know all and they obviously have incredible power to pull off the things that they do. I’m going to warn them about the Hunger. And ask them for their help. If they really do have that kind of knowledge, then they should know that we aren’t from this plane and maybe they will know what to do.”

“I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask.” Barry pauses while writing, looking puzzled down at the paper. “What’s wrong?”

“How do I end a letter to a deity? Should I sign it with love?”

“Nah, man. Sign it something cool. We should come up with a name for our crew….ooh! I got it! How about the Hunger Blasters!”

Barry’s brow furrows, “I don’t know, sounds kind of dirty.”

Lup slaps him on the back in celebration. “Then it’s perfect! Sign it and let’s go!”

Sighing, Barry signed ‘Hunger Blasters’ at the bottom of the letter and then underneath in smaller print ‘(Sildar Hallwinter and friends)’. Probably best to be formal with a Goddess.

#blupjeans #barry bluejeans #taz #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #the stolen century #lup taako #Lup #barry bluejeans my beloved #the plane of celebrations

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nellaesarts · 3 years

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Fairy Tail & The Paragande Kingdom - Chapter 3

FIRST CHAPTER | PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

At the moment Gray arrived in the bottom of the stairs, Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Wendy and the two Exceed jumped on him.

“Gray ! I’m so happy to see you ! shouted Natsu with excitement in his voice.

– How are you ? asked Lucy.

– I’m hanging in there… Could be better, but heh… he responded with a quiet voice.

– Take your time, said Erza, Don’t force yourself to come here if that’s too hard for you.

– That’s not the case, don’t worry. I feel better, I assure. I still think a lot about her, but… That’ll be fine.

To these words, the team make to him a compassionate smile.

– BY THE WAY ! Did ya know what happened yesterday ?! We saved a girl ! shouted again Natsu, very proud of himself.

– Natsuuuuuuuuuuu Calm doooooooooown, launched Lucy.

– I know, yep. I seen her up there, with her Chosen. By the way, Makarov and Pog will make a speech for the Guild in a few, answered Gray.

– Really ? If that so, let’s take a seat ! said Clara.

– Good idea, Clara !” approved Happy since the group led themselves to a free table.

They just had the time to sit that Makarov appears on the Guild’s stage with Pog. The silence takes place in a few minutes, and the Master started to speak.

“Good afternoon to all of you. As you certainly all know, yesterday, Natsu and his team bringed here a young woman who was near to the dead and Pog, here. he said while he showed the Chosen. Let me first tell you that Alexandria, the young mage, is out of danger, thanks to the good cares of Porlyusica and Mirajane. he turned himself to them, as the Natsu’s team sighted by relief. I thank you a lot for that, ladies. Now that Alexandria is better, Pog have decided to speak to you and tell you their story. I let him speak, now.”

At these words, Makarov left the stage and gave way to the Chosen. Pog moved forwards and a gentle green light started to bright around him.

“*Good afternoon, Mages of Fairy Tail. First of all, I want to thank warmly all of you about welcoming us here. Alex and I are in debt to you for it.*

As soon as the first words came to the mages’ spirits, a collective shiver shakes the assembly.

*As Makarov said, my name is Pog and the young woman is called Alexandria Delaus. We both came from a Kingdom which is located beyond the seas and about which you certainly never heard anything about : Paragande. Do not be surprised to ignore the existence of this land. There is several months of sailing to reach it from Fiore so, the business trades are really rares.*

To these sentences, some whisperings raised in the room. Why does a mage had to run away from her country ?

*Calm down, calm down, I’ll explain, he continued, tempering the rising agitation. In our country, or to be more precise, on the entire continent where we lived, the magic is not shared as in Earthland. Everybody can not use it, only a few hundreds of people born per year with the capacity to use magic, without any need to learn it. For the remainder of the population, they would never be able to use it. Thereby, the magic is a real delicacy, pretty researched. Our actual King, Vegas, is born without any power or magic sensibility. That’s the first one of his lineage who was born as a not a mage. He saw this situation very badly and, year by year, that go to his head, to become crazy. He convinced himself that he could access to magic if he take it off from the mages of his country. So, he started to hunt them, one by one, taking their magic off until their death, to incorporate it in some weapons or to attempt an injection of it in himself. As we know, Alex is one of the last living mages of the entire country. The few others are hiding in the Kingdom, but the King have tools that his population have not. We know that one day or another, he’ll catch them. He almost did it for us. When he just missed us, we took the decision to climb on the only business boat which was on departure from Felicia, the capital, to Fiore and so, we unload here about two months ago. But there was a thing that we ignored at this time. That is that the King’s trackers were following us very close. They chartered a frigate which have started to follow our boat only a few days after us. So, we know that they are in Fiore and that they're on our trail. There is what I can tell you about our story.*

The little being interrupted himself for a second to probe the hall.

*I wish to thank you again for your reception, but don’t worry, as soon as Alex will be fully recovered, we will leave the Guild immediately. Our trackers are dangerous, we don’t want to put any of you in a sensitive situation.*”

Makarov moved forward on the stage again to take place in Pog’s side. He turned himself to the speak to the Chosen.

“Do not worry about that, Pog. You and Alex can stay here as long as you want or need. The guild will protect you if necessary.

– BUT MASTER ! shouted an unidentified voice in the hall. How can you promise something like that to strangers ?

– THAT’S TRUE ! made another one. And maybe they just lie to us and they are just some fugitives who have things to be ashamed of !

Pog sighted to these comments, then straighten him up. Suddenly, his whole body seemed to ignite with a bunch of light green flames.

– *Right. I will exceptionally prove to all of you that I am not lying. I shouldn’t do that because of the energy that will cost to me, but it seems that I have no choice. As you have all noticed certainly, I can communicate with you by telepathy. My power permit me to let to the people I communicate with an access to my own mind. You will so see my own memories, directly from my mind. Prepare yourself, that can be rude.*”

And suddenly, a wave of energy swept through the hall and without warnings, all the members of Fairy Tail found themselves immersed in the psyche of the Chosen. They so all could assist of the reality about the Paragande Kingdom, through Pog’s eyes and by experiencing his memories again. The violence of the visions pull some whines off here and there, while in everybody minds, the tragic past of the mage showed up. Pog chose to show them all. To not spare anything. He so share with them the feelings he experienced during all these years. The fear. The anxiety. The hate. The sadness. The rage. He had to convince the mages that he and Alex were not criminals, he has to make them live the horror in which he and Alex grew up.

When the visions stopped finally and as Pog’s mind retracted itself, a heavy silence take place in the hall. Every mage looked like they were deep in thoughts. These visions send them back to the darkest hours of the Guilde. Some were crying, carried away by emotion. And nobody cast doubt on Pog speakings again after that. After a moment during which nobody could talk, Cana was finally the first one to stand and speak.

“Pog, I will never put in doubt your words again, believe me. I don’t want to live that again.

An approbation clamour came from the other mages. The experience had obviously been unpleasant for most of them.

– May I ask you a question ?

The little being nodded his head in approbation.

– What are you, exactly ? What is this magic ?

Pog launched a smile to the assembly.

– *Well, it seems it’s time for me to tell you more about myself. I am what we called in our continent a Chosen. The Chosens are spiritual magic creatures and we are born at the exact same day and hour of a mage, who so become our Linked One. Since then, we are linked by fate and by the magic to this mage. We share nearly the same magic energy, a part of our thoughts and some of our feelings too. The way our life will unfold therefore depends largely on the future of this mage. Nonetheless, even if we are linked, we stay as being in our own right and stay independants. We are born in eggs which come directly from the earth, in the spiritual city Mehag. We are raised by some other chosens who lost their Linked Ones until we are strong enough to protect our mage. For example, I could leave Mehag when I was ten years old and I take one year to find Alex. We are in the other one’s side for only eleven years. *

–But if your fates are linked to your mages, how some Chosen could stay alive despite the disappearance of their Linked Ones ? asked Levy, curiously.

– *Excellent question. That’s because even if our fates are linked, we have our own magic energy, we don’t share it all. If we have still a few of it when our Linked One dies, we can survive. That’s rare and a lot of Chosen prefer to let themselves died in these conditions. Sometimes, some mages renounce to their magic and so, lose their powers. That’s a real heartbreak for the Chosen who lose a part of themselves at this moment and if they don’t turn insane at this moment, they join the Chosen who lost their Linked Ones by death to raise the future Chosens.*

– I see. You are so dependant and independant of your mages in the same time. punctuated the blue-haired mage.

– *That’s it. And to be honest, I believed that we could communicate by telepathy only with our Linked Ones, but when Alex and I arrived in Fiore, we noticed that was not the case : the Chosens can communicate like that with every person who is mastering magic. I so had to learn how to limit my telepathic channels to filter our communications with Alex and so not be catched. However, that’s how I found Lucy, Natsu and their friends.*

– And we are still happy to welcome you here, commented Makarov. To come back about your escape, what afraid both of you so much about your pursuers ?

– *That’s simple. They created some devices which can suck the magic energy up. And these machines are like… Unlimited. They are many and dangerous. In front of people with such weapons, we, magical persons, can not do anything.*

– I see… Well, my friends, the meeting is adjourned, I think Pog spend enough energy today speaking with us. Erza, Laxus, Mirajane and Macao, join me in my office, we will organiz a defensive strategy in case of these strange enemies would attack us.”

To these words, the crowd dispersed. Pog find himself fastly alone, nearly ignored. He wanted to run to Alexandria to stay with her, but he knew that she just needed a bit of rest and that his presence would not help her. He started to wandering in the hall, until his belly started to growl due to the food smells which were hanging around here and there. After a few seconds, he feels a presence in his back. He turned himself to face Happy, who smiled to him.

“Hey, Pog, are ya hungry ? Come with us, we are going to eat soon !

The Chosen smiled back to the Exceed.

– *With pleasure.*”

For the first time since a long moment, the creature was about to eat a good meal in company of nice people. That hasn't happened since so many years…

——————————————————————————–

Well well well, finally, more informations about our dears Pog and Alex !

Didn’t they had a hard life before they arrived in Fairy Tail ? :P

And that’s not finish !

Please excuse my english, as this is not my native language, I have certainly do a lot of errors in the text. I just hope that will not ruin the reading ! :/

See you soon for the next chapter ! :D

#fairy tail #fairy tail universe #erza scarlet #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #happy fairy tail #carla fairy tail #wendy marvell #makarov dreyar #pog #Alexandria Delaus #literature #fiction #fanfiction #hiro mashima #fantasy #illustration #paragandekingdom

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thetravelerwrites · 4 years

Text

Monster Match #21: Astomi

The Traveler's Masterlist

For @moonlightreetops: Appearance: Mortal Woman, Pfp is me(straight brown hair, almond hazel eyes), short, scared, with sevral tattoos. Personality: INFJ, Cancer, loud, protective, generous, and I have a snort laugh; definitely a hugger. Therapist friend and proud. I believe I was born cursed to always be polite and kind to everyone. I'm not naive to the trouble I can get into this way but I still cant help myself. Oh! And I cry with every movie and sad commercial. It's annoying.

Hobbies: Hosting D&D, Collecting macabre things, Responsible Social Distancing. Likes: Roadtrips, Pretending I'm more fond of the outdoors than I actually am, Forest Paintings, My Nerd Family, Opposoms. Dislikes: Heights, Bugs, Cooking, Cockroaches (listed separately from bugs because I will panic cry)

Ideal Partner: Someone whose more grounded than I am but at the same time is understanding of my struggles and won't berate me for them. And preferably a monster who wont leer in my windows. (Still have fears of that from my childhood monsters) NSFW & SFW welcomed. My orientation is Pan. So you are free to throw whatever you like at me.

You’ve been matched with an Astomi!

Originating in Greek and Roman mythology, Astomies, also known as the Gangines, are an ancient legendary race of people who had no need to eat or drink anything at all. They survived by smelling apples and flowers. Megasthenes, a historian and Asian Indian ethnographer, located them at the mouth of the river Ganges. They are described as being hairy and having no mouth. When traveling, they would carry roots, flowers and apples to smell. They could die by smelling a strong, unpleasant smell.

There was a forest reserve near your home that you frequented to draw and paint. There was a section of it that was strangely green all year round, and you weren’t sure why. None of the trees were evergreens, so the hidden grove should have lost leaves and turned grey like all the greenery around it in the winter, but it never did. You never went into it, and you never saw anyone near it. It was just an oddity no one knew anything about. Lots of people said it was haunted.

The more logical minded people claimed there was a hot spring somewhere in the grove that kept the trees green, but that it was toxic to people, which is why no one ever went there. Though, that didn’t make sense to you. If it was toxic, why were there flowers and birds? The wildlife seemed unaffected by whatever odd supposed toxin existed in the grove.

It had struck your interest more than once, but you never went in. You loved ghost stories, but you weren’t necessarily keen on being in one. And the threat of a toxin was enough to keep you from venturing in.

Though, one day, as you were wandering close, you heard a mournful whimpering, as if someone were in pain. Your worry about ghosts and toxins flew out of your mind as you ran into the grove, looking for whatever was making the sound.

“Hello?” You called. “Is someone there? Are you okay?”

“Please!” They called. “Can you help me?”

“Yes,” You said, pushing past the thick foliage. “Just hold on, I’m coming. Keep talking to me so I can find you! What’s your name? How old are you?”

“Geras!” They said, coughing. “I’m ninety-eight seasons!”

“Seasons?” What was ninety-eight divided by four? “So you’re twenty-four?”

“I suppose,” They said. “But we don’t measure time that way.”

“We?”

“The people of the grove,” They said. “My family and I.”

“Wait,” You said, untangling yourself from a tree. “People live in here? I thought there was a toxin in the air that killed people.”

“What?” They actually laughed, which turned into a hacking cough. “No, of course not.”

“What about the ghosts, then? Are they real?” You asked with a laugh, but you were met with silence. “Geras? Geras! Keep talking.”

“Hurry, please,” Geras said, their voice hoarse. “Please.”

“Almost there,” You said. You finally managed to fight your way through heavy branches and dense underbrush and into what looked like an apple orchard. There were all sorts of apple trees there, and in between a copse of heritage apples was a person laid between the rows, unmoving.

“Geras?” You called. You couldn’t see much of them beyond the long brown hair all over. You could only tell that they were tall and gangly.

Next to them was a bag that stank to high heaven. At first you thought it could be poisons, but you looked inside and found a litany of gross hunting sprays: skunk essence, liquid ass, insect repellents, deer musk, and the like. The odor was so strong that it made you gag.

“Is this the problem?” You asked, breathing through your shirt. They nodded weakly. You weren’t surprised. It made you feel woozy, too. “I’ll get rid of it and come back to check on you, okay?”

“Yes, please,” They gasped.

You fought your way back out of the grove into the dead winter forest, back to the hiking trail to find a trash receptacle. It took nearly thirty minutes to find one, and another twenty to return to the grove. By the time you got back, Geras was not there. Worried, you followed the row up to a house.

The house was… old. Very old. So old that you couldn’t even determine what style or era it was from. It was tall and square, made of rough brick and thatched roof. There seemed to be no windows, but the entire front wall was open and had a rolled up flap that closed that side from the elements.

From the open side, you could see people moving around, hurried, almost frenzied, and you called out to them.

“Hey!” You said. “I’m looking for Geras! He… or she.. or they passed out from some garbage that got thrown in here. Are they okay?”

They all stopped and turned to stare at you from the shadow, and it was then you realized that there was no lights or electricity. There wasn’t even a power pole or lines anywhere nearby.

“Are you the one who helped Geras?” One of them asked. They had a feminine sounding voice.

“Yes,” You said. “Are they okay?”

“She’s not well,” The speaker said. “I am her mother, Foteini.” The woman came down and out of the shadows, and you took a step backward.

She was covered from head to toe in fur, except for her face, which was hairless, but possessed no mouth. Her eyes and nose were very large, however, and her silvering hair was long behind her.

“What are you?” You asked, your voice a little shaky.

“The people of the grove,” She said, her voice not coming from any sort of mouth, but rather from all around her. It wasn’t like telepathy; you could actually hear a voice in your ears, but it seemed to emanate from all over her. “Do not be frightened. We are gentle people.”

There were three other people there in that stepped out of the darkened interior, a black haired creature like Foteini and two much smaller ones the same color as the mother, likely children. They clung to the legs of the taller, black furred creature, seemingly frightened of you.

“Will Geras be okay?” You asked haltingly.

“I don’t know,” The mother said. “She inhaled much of the fumes from those poisons.”

“Is there something I can do to help?” You asked.

“You’ve already done her a great service,” Foteini said. “We would not have been able to help her, if we had found her, and if she had laid there longer, she’d likely have died.”

“Why?” You asked. “That stuff stank, sure, but it wasn’t technically poisonous. Not inhaling it, anyway.”

“We live on the aromas of nature,” Foteini explained. “Flowers, trees, fruit. Those sustain us. Pungent, unpleasant smells, like that poison you disposed of, are toxic and potentially fatal to us.”

“Oh,” You said, daunted. “Is there something that could help speed her recovery?”

Foteini thought. “Roses. They are among the most fragrant things that exist in nature, but we haven’t been able to grow them here in many years. Could you find some?”

“Yeah. Yeah! I… I’ll be back!” You said, and dashed back out of the grove before they could stop you.

You got out of the forest, dropped off your painting stuff at home, and went to a plant nursery.

“Do you have any rose plants?” You asked the clerk.

“Well, yes,” The clerk said. “But it’s too late in the year to plant them. If you want to grow from seeds, though, you can plant those now. I can sell you some seeds and give you a guide.”

That’s too long, you thought to yourself. Geras needed the roses now. “You know, I’ll take it, but I’m in a hurry.”

“Uh… alright.”

The clerk packed up the seeds of several types of roses and a guide for each, and as soon as you had them, you sprinted to a flower shop. You purchased a large bouquet of the finest, freshest, most aromatic red roses, and while it took a chunk out of your bank account, you didn’t want to run the risk of buying some that were less than perfect in fear that they wouldn’t work.

It was nearing sundown when you returned to the grove, and Foteini seemed surprised to see you.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d return,” She said. “Humans tend to stay away from this place.”

“I brought the roses,” You said, gasping for breath. “And some seeds to plant.”

“This is… most generous of you,” Foteini said. “Please, come inside. Night is approaching and you don’t want to be in the forest after dark. There are far less benign creatures out there than us.”

You shivered and followed her inside.

Geras was lying on a pallet in a far room, her breathing labored and raspy. Foteini began to lay out the flowers around Geras’s head, arranging the flowers around Geras’s head in a circle.

“Breathe deep,” Foteini said soothingly, rubbing Geras’s chest like a mother would for a sick child.

Geras made an effort to take a deep breath, but it sounded pained. However, after two or three tries, her breathing eased and eventually, after about an hour of tense waiting, she was able to breath without struggle. Foteini relaxed, and so did you.

“You should sleep here tonight,” Foteini said. “And eat as many apples as you want. We owe you a great debt.”

“I’m just glad I could help,” You said.

You fell asleep almost immediately after eating, having been exhausted by all the running. When you awoke, there was a new bushel of apples sitting next to you, and next to that was Geras, watching you sleep.

“Oh,” You said, sitting up and rubbing your eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m much better now,” She said, smiling with her large green eyes. “Thank you for everything.”

“Of course,” You said with a self-conscious laugh. “You gave me a scare.”

“I’m sorry,” She said. “I know humans aren’t used to us.”

“No, I mean almost dying like that,” You corrected her. “I mean, I was a little startled, I’ll admit, but you guys seem nice.”

“You’re nice, too,” She said, continuing to smile.

“Thanks,” You said, starting to blush under the weight of her stare. “I, uh… I should get back, I have to go to work later today.”

“Of course,” Geras said, standing in a fluid movement and holding out a hand to help you to your feet. “Though… I hope… you’ll come back to visit?” She held out one of the roses for you to take.

You smiled at her, your hands still clasped. “I would like that very much.”

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Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

#Exophilia #Monster Match #Reader Insert #Astomi #Greek Mythology

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