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storiesforallfandoms · 4 years

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facing it alone ~ 10k;z nation

word count: 2537

request?: yes!

@colsondaddybakerxx “Yeah.. is it okay if you use my name? It’s Alison (it’s okay if you can’t) and she spent mostly all of the apocalypse alone but then she runs into the crew (basically the main characters in z nation) and they helped her and toke her in, then she Mets 10k.. at first he really shy but when he opens up to her she realizes they both have a lot in common?? And he very very protective over her, making sure no zombies is even close to her and protecting her mostly all the time.. and eventually he asks her out? Pls try and add some zombie scenes haha x also if it’s to hard to get all the crew in the story it’s okay.. just at least add doc and warren xx”

description: after facing the zombie apocalypse alone for some time, alison ends up running into some survivors, and finds herself bonding with the youngest of the crew

pairing: 10k x female!reader

warnings: swearing, violence, mentions of death

masterlist

Facing the zombie apocalypse alone was much easier than having to face it with people. Being with people was just asking for heartbreak. Eventually they would die, whether it be of old age or other causes, and then they’d turn into a zombie and have to be mercied before they turned completely. Too much emotion, that’s the last thing you wanted during the apocalypse.

That’s why I travelled alone, except for the German Sheppard I found not too long after I started travelling alone. He was the only companionship I really needed, plus I managed to train him to detect when Zs were coming and to be able to fight against them himself.

It had been days since our last meal, and since we last found decent shelter, and I could tell both of us were starting to feel it. I hadn’t slept in days, I only had a few small foods that I was had to share with Hunter and they were starting to become scarce. I had no idea when we’d find another place to stay, or when we’d find food. For the first time in a very long time, I was genuinely afraid that things were going to end for me soon.

Hunter stopped suddenly and started to growl. Without hesitation, I positioned my gun to point towards where Hunter was looking. I waited to hear the familiar growling of a Z and to see one starting to approach, however I was shocked when I saw that it wasn’t a Z, but a totally healthy human, also with a gun raised and pointed at me.

“Hey!” came a female voice. “Are you bitten or otherwise unhealthy?”

“No ma’am!” I responded. “Yourself?”

“Not that I know of.”

I slowly started to lower my weapon. Hunter was still on high alert, although now he wasn’t growing at much. “Go check her out, boy, make sure she’s not dangerous.”

Hunter approached the woman slowly, knowing not to fully charge at a human unless he wanted a first class ticket to Dog Z-dom. She lowered her gun as well as she saw him approaching. As if knowing what he was about to do, she put her hand out and allowed Hunter to sniff her, before giving him a brief scratch behind his ear. That was the number one way to get on Hunter’s good side.

As if to tell me everything was fine, Hunter barked. “Yeah, yeah, I see you getting the best petting of your life, I’m coming.”

I was still cautious as I approached the woman, and she seemed to be as well.

“Lieutenant Roberta Warren,” she said, holding a hand out to me.

“Alison,” I responded, shaking her hand. “And this is Hunter.”

Hunter barked when he heard his name. Roberta smiled at him, petting his head again. “Nice to meet the two of you. Are you travelling alone?”

“Yes ma’am,” I responded. “Just the two of us for at least a year now. What about you?”

“There’s an...accidental team of us,” she responded. “Eight of us as of right now, travelling in a truck back that way.” My stomach chose that moment to make a loud noise, giving away my dire hunger. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Couple days now. We have snacks, but it’s not a lot.”

“You wanna come with us? We’ve recently gotten some food, and we’re looking for shelter for the night. What’s a ninth person, and they’re adorable dog.”

I looked down at Hunter. He looked up at me excitedly. Although I was sure he didn’t understand the situation that much, he definitely understood the words “we have food”, and he understood that he, too, was hungry.

What other choice did I have? Besides starve to death and become a Z. I sighed heavily and placed my machine gun over my shoulder. “Show me the way.”

When Roberta said they had a small team, she really meant a small team. All eight of them were armed to the teeth with guns, knives, spikes, and more. It definitely made my lousy machine gun look obsolete.

“Guys,” Roberta announced, “meet Alison. She’ll be joining us for a while. Alison, this is Doc, Garnett, Addy, Mack, Cassandra, Murphy, and 10k.”

I raised an eyebrow at the younger guy that Roberta addressed last. “10k? Like...ten thousand? That’s...your name?”

He looked at me for a minute before looking down at the ground without a response. I raised an eyebrow at him, amused by the reaction.

“That’s his name, don’t wear it out,” the older man Roberta introduced as Doc spoke. “Nice to have you along with us, and your cute lil pooch.”

Hunter whined happily at the attention he was starting to get.

“Climb in,” Garnett told us, nodding towards the back of the truck. “We should keep moving.”

Everyone got into the truck. I jumped into the pan and whistled for Hunter to join me. He jumped in effortlessly and laid between myself and 10k, resting his head on 10k’s lap. 10k looked startled at first until I laughed at his expression.

“Unless you’re a Z he’s harmless,” I assured him. “You can pet him if you want.”

10k tentatively put his hand on Hunter’s head. Hunter poked 10k’s head with his nose and gave him a quick lick before resting himself comfortably on 10k’s lap. I watched 10k relax and smile as he began to scratch behind Hunter’s ear. I couldn’t help but smile myself, but quickly pretended that it had never happened.

I couldn’t let myself get too close. Once I’ve eaten and gotten some shelter, it would be time to go again. I couldn’t stay around, I couldn’t get attached. Not again.

~~~~~~

We found a lovely house that seemed to belong to a big family once upon a time. It was Z free and had enough space for everyone to be able to sleep comfortably.

Despite finally having a safe place for a night, I found myself unable to sleep. So instead of lying on the floor and keeping up all night, I decided to go outside to get a breath of fresh air. I had taken a room on the second floor of the house, so I opened the window and reached out to take hold of the roof, pulling myself up with ease.

I exclaimed with shock when I saw that I wasn't the only one with this idea. My sudden appearance also shocked 10k, as he jumped and nearly dropped his gun.

“Sorry,” I said. “Didn’t know anyone else was up here. Mind if I join you?”

“You’re already here, I feel like it’d be rude of me to say no now,” he responded.

I chuckled. “I guess you have a point.”

I pulled myself up onto the roof and settled myself next to him. Although he seemed relatively relaxed, 10k still held on to his gun as if his life depended on it. In some ways, I guess it did.

“Why do they call you 10k?” I asked as I laid back on the roof, looking up at the starry night.

“I called myself that, actually,” he told me. “It’s a nickname I came up with when everything started.”

“What’s the meaning of it?”

“It’s how many Zs I’m gonna kill.”

“And what’s your total at now?”

He paused a moment to think before responding, “Two thousand, one hundred eleven.”

My eyes widened. “Holy shit! That’s impressive. What do you have, like, super accurate aim?”

“Basically. I rarely, if ever, miss.” I made a face, impressed by his accuracy. “Why do you travel alone? Were you with someone?”

My body tensed up at the question. Sure, it was innocent enough, and an obvious question to ask someone who had been travelling by themselves.

“I was...once,” I admitted. “A long time ago.”

“What happened to them?”

“It wasn’t a them, it was a him,” I responded. “An old friend of mine, we grew up together. When I was out looking for survivors, he was the only one I came across. We travelled together for months, we found Hunter together and trained him to be as he is. About a year ago, we were fighting some Zs and one...one bit him. Got him pretty good before I could shoot the fucker. We both knew I had to kill him, but neither of us wanted me to. Before I could get the courage to do it, he took my gun and mercy shot himself. It’s...just been me and Hunter ever since.”

10k looked at me with pity and sadness. I kept my eyes trained on the sky, but I could see him out of the corner of my eye.

“I’m sorry.”

I shook my head. “No, don’t be. It was a long time ago. I’ve gotten over it."

There was a stretch of silence between us. 10k raised his gun and a shot rang out. I sat up to see a Z falling as 10k cocked his gun.

“Two thousand, one hundred twelve,” he declared.

“Showoff,” I chuckled, bringing my knees to my chin.

“I had to kill my dad,” 10k said, surprising me suddenly. “It was just the two of us, too, and he started to turn. I was forced to mercy kill him, stabbed him through the head. I was alone until I met the people here, too. They’re nice, I prefer to travel with them than to travel alone.”

“They seem nice,” I agreed, although even I could hear the unease in my tone.

10k looked at me. “You’re...gonna stay with us, right? It’s safer to be in a pack.”

“Not if one of you die and become a Z, or if you have to kill someone,” I pointed out. But when I looked up at him, 10k looked kind of upset by my response, like he wanted me to stay. And there was just something about that look that made it hard to say no. “But...maybe it will be better for me and for Hunter if we stay for a while.”

His face lit up, and I couldn’t help but smile as well. The sound of Z groaning could be heard down belong. Luckily, it was only two Zs. I took 10k’s gun without hesitation and shot them both between the eyes with ease.

“I’d say that’s at least two thousand for me,” I noted, passing him his gun back. A smile crept across his face, and I couldn’t help but smile back.

~~~~~~

“A while” ended up becoming a few weeks, and a few weeks extended into a month, and before I knew it Hunter and I were welcomed into the team as if we had been one of their own all along. We constantly moved together, on the fast track to get to California with the hopes of coming up with a cure to the virus with the help of Murphy’s blood.

As to be expected, it wasn’t an easy task to get from point A to point B, but hey, what’s an adventure without some conflict?

After finding more shelter on one particular day, 10k and I were sent out to look for food and water as our supply was starting to get dangerously low again. As per usual, Hunter was right on my heels as we walked.

“Run ahead a little to check the area out, Hunt,” I told him. “But not too far that I can’t see you.”

He happily trotted along ahead of us, scoping out the area as he went.

“He’s pretty well trained,” 10k commented as he watched my faithful pal run ahead of us. “How did you do it?”

“Honestly, he sort of trained himself,” I admitted. “I mean, we fed him treats to praise him for being so good, but he figured out almost everything on his own; how to sense Zs, how to fight them, what we were asking him to do. Dogs are smarter than people think, you know.”

We were both quiet again for some time. Hunter circled back around to let me know he was still there before trotting off yet again.

10k’s arm almost shot out suddenly to stop me from walking before pointing his fun and shooting. He hit two Zs, with ease just as Hunter started barking furiously in front of us. The two of us raised our guns and started firing as the Zs came into view.

I noticed my pup waiting for instruction, so I brought my fingers to my lips and whistled, the signal to attack. In seconds, he was going after any Zs that were nearby, ripping them to shreds and mercying them.

While my guard was down, a Z managed to grab hold of me. I spun around, hitting them with my gun. Before I could shoot them, 10k finished them off. I looked over at him and offered him a small smile, which he returned.

When we finally finished with the Zs, I took my water bottle from my bag and poured some in a bowl for Hunter, who trotted over excitedly with Z blood still dripping from his muzzle.

“That was something,” I sighed. “Thanks for the save, by the way. I appreciate that. I definitely would’ve become Z chow if it weren’t for you.”

“I won’t let that happen,” he assured me. “I won’t even let you ever be changed.”

I looked up at 10k, my eyebrows furrowing together. “I know you won’t, and I appreciate that you have my back dude.”

10k looked down at the grass under his feet, now stained with Z blood as well. “I don’t just mean it like that, though.”

I tilted my head like a confused dog. “What do you mean?”

10k slung his gun over his shoulder and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I know this isn’t exactly the best scenario to ask this, and I totally understand if you say no, but I’d like to maybe...try and be in a relationship with you...if you want that is.”

He couldn’t meet my eyes after he said that. I looked at him for a long time, waiting for him to take it back. I thought maybe this was some dumb joke, maybe Murphy put him up to it in order to try and embarrass me. I wouldn’t put that past Murphy.

But 10k’s face said he really meant it. 10k was too nice of a person to do something like this, and was definitely awkward enough to act this way if he really meant it.

I took his face in my hands and pulled him for a kiss. He seemed taken back at first, like he was unsure of how to respond to such an action. But he soon warmed into it, placing his hands on my arms and leaning back into me.

I pushed him away after hearing Hunter bark at the two of us. I couldn’t help but giggle at 10k’s dreamy smile on his face.

“That’s a yes, by the way,” I told him as I put Hunter’s bowl back in my bag. “Now, let’s get going. We can’t have a relationship if we’re eaten by Zs.”

#10k #10k imagine #10k x reader #nat zang #nat zang imagine #nat zang x reader #z nation #z nation imagine #imagine #one shot #request

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masterskywalkers · 6 years

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KOTOR character meme - Revan (Mara Reagan)

Questions taken from this post. The Exile’s character questions are also filled out here, for anyone interested!

Name / Gender / Appearance / Favourite Hobby

Revan (post memory wipe) goes by the name Mara Reagan. It’s likely that was also her name prior to the Mandalorian War also, but she has no memory of it being so. Once she discovers who she is, most of her memories are jumbled and mostly relating to the Order, since she’d spent most of her life as a part of it.

She has dark hair which she often keeps tied up, and brown eyes. She enjoys puzzles, and spent a lot of her spare time cracking codes or playing with logic based games (the equivalent of chess).

We know Revan was born on the Outer Rim. Where, and to whom? How did they end up in the Order?

She doesn’t really remember her life past the order due to having both joined at such a young age as well as to having her memory wiped in later life, yet there are echoes of memories related to living on Telos and often having to fend for herself. She was found to be highly force sensitive at around age seven, and sent to the Dantooine Jedi Academy soon after.

What was their relationship with Kreia like?

Revan respected Kreia highly. Revan (or Mara) was not the easiest Jedi to teach - she was incredibly strong willed and had a very obvious sense of justice. She was questioning certain methods and beliefs of the Jedi Order very early on. Her and Kreia were able to sort of see eye to eye, Kreia being the catalyst for Revan later believing there is only the force and no true ‘evil’ or ‘good’.

I also feel that Kreia held a great respect for Revan also, and understood a lot about what she was trying to do. Kreia would likely have been behind Revan’s decisions 100% because they were Revan’s own and not restricted by ‘but this is the Jedi way’ etc.

What was their relationship with Malak like?

Oh my god. I have so many headcanons for Mara and Alek it’s ridiculous.

They were best friends, as close as brother and sister. Alek always followed Mara everywhere, and when it came to fighting in the way he was the one who turned to Mara and likely said the equivalent of ‘when do we start?’

… And I expect that the descent into becoming Sith was so damn heartbreaking in the grand scheme of things, simply because of how much of what they had became twisted. Mara never remembers that she’s the reason Malak lost his jaw, and Alek grew near paranoid that as Darth Revan she was only looking for glory, leaving him behind in the process. And that in turn made him want to become the best out of the two of them, to the point that the betrayal towards her was seen as vital.

They both became so twisted and feared that they forgot who the were as well as who the other was to them. And … that hurts to think about.

What was their relationship with the Exile like?

Again, Revan/Mara greatly respected the Exile (Aria). They were also incredibly good friends, although Aria was younger than Revan. Other than Alek, Aria was one of the first to follow after Mara into war.

Aria was just as tactical and innovative on the battlefield as Mara was, and they ended up bonding greatly through that mutual talent and respect. But it came at a price, as the lines began to blur for them and their methods became both more effective as well as more destructive. Malachor V was the catalyst, and I believe the disjointed memories that resurface from that event are as much a burden for Mara to carry as they are for Aria.

Was your Revan truly doing what they believed was necessary to save the galaxy, or were they just bent on galactic domination- or were they somewhere in between?

At the beginning it was 100% ‘this is what we need to do, and the fact the Jedi aren’t intervening is absurd. We need to help’ kind of deal. Later Mara believed she was doing what was necessary but again, knowing what risks were acceptable losses compared to what was just plain murder / genocide became incredibly blurred for her. She grew to greatly hate the Mandalorians, feeling that the best thing for the galaxy was to just wipe them out entirely. She has always considered them fierce and honourable warriors, though.

Later however she learns to respect and like them - and that’s thanks to Canderous (and later, the other Mandalorians she meets).

What false background/memories did the Council give them, and why? How did they feel when they discovered those memories were fake? Were they all fake?

Okay, so, I’ve given this a lot of thought over the years.

Mara’s ‘replacement’ memories were that she was an ace smuggler, but they weren’t exactly lies. The Jedi Order had rather given her the memories of the life she likely would have led had she never been discovered by someone for her force sensitivity.

When she’s with Carth during the time they first meet she is an incredibly believable smuggler. Carth is just astounded at what she can too, and the tales she shares with him of things she thinks she’s done are just shocking.

When it came to Mara realising she wasn’t ever really Mara though … oh boy. She took that badly, especially when Carth takes it worse. Mara has ‘heard’ the stories of Darth Revan’s actions and she thought they were some of the worst things a person with any grasp of power could do, so for her to have to understand that all of the things that made her stomach turn were either conducted or ordered by her own command or hand? It was a lot to accept.

Did they romance anyone?

Carth, and I don’t care if anyone calls his character boring. Both Mara and I think he was damn interesting (that and I live for the angst of Carth waiting for her to return, never knowing if she’ll ever come back but understanding you can’t keep someone like Mara caged).

Who was their favourite crew member to hang out with?

It’s tied to both Canderous and HK.

HK is a link to the person she once was, and Mara loves her murder!bot. She doesn’t deter him from the murder, but makes sure that he only has his enjoyment to deserving assholes.

Canderous though is someone Mara liked from the get go, and she’s incredibly stunned later (after discovering she’s Revan) that he doesn’t hate her but continues to just respect her - even more so now he knows she’s the great warrior his people fought against. His way of thinking and seeing this is incredibly interesting to Mara, and she feels that she learns a lot from him. Canderous very much became the link for her to see that both sides in a war have their own perspective and that’s something that’s huge for her.

Dark Side ending or Light Side ending? Did Bastila survive?

Neither :)

Mara saved the galaxy, but then decided to once again stick her middle finger up at the Jedi and followed her own path. Although she’d had history with both the dark and the light, Mara was probably very close to being a Gray Jedi.

Bastilla lived, by the way ;) She aids Aria (Exile) a lot with the rebuilding of the Jedi before Aria and Atton leave in search of Mara. Revan never returns to the Jedi, regardless of whose rebuilding it.

What happened to them post game? Just how WRONG is the swtor ‘canon’?

I follow canon to the points that Mara goes in search for both the Sith Empire and Emperor Vitiate. But that’s as far as it goes since I, like many, was very disappointed in the ending of the Revan book.

She’s gone for years (as is Aria and Atton - who refuses to leave Aria’s side at this point) and the three of them attempt to wear the Empire down as best as they can up until they feel they can finally contact those they’d left behind in order to fight the threat once and for all.

Mara never regains her memory fully, and is forever haunted by bits and pieces of both her past and the life the Jedi constructed for her. It’s something which the Emperor tries to use to weaken and coerce her back under his control, but despite his efforts it fails to work efficiently.

Her and Atton have a very rocky friendship, and she’s not sure how she can ever fix the things her past self had done. She realises that it’s something she can’t fix, and that instead they simply have to rebuild their trust in one another other time. Atton never looks up to her like he once did (which Mara is thankful for because she feels she doesn’t deserve it) but over time they do come to some understanding and acceptance of one another.

I don’t know if she ever returns to Carth. In my headcanon the fight against the Sith Empire takes a good number of years but it is successful, yet I feel that once Mara feels she’s accomplished what she had once failed to do she disappears of the radar, still believing her past horrors are something she shouldn’t be forgiven for or that she can really return from. Not to mention she’s been the victim of horrors and abuse herself, I feel the poor dear eventually becomes exhausted of everything and when what’s done is done, she returns to the life she once she believed was hers: smuggling.

#kotor character meme #knights of the old republic #kotor #ch: mara reagan #ch: darth revan #gaming: knights of the old republic #misc: gaming #misc: kotor character meme #aria / exile to come later at some point too #whenever i have the time and the energy to put pen to paper so to speak #but for now here's some talk about mara - my revan. the girl i never get to talk about!

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musicprincess655 · 6 years

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Hey guys! I recently hit 500 followers. For the new people, I update this soulmate au every time I hit a multiple of 100 followers. It’s time for SemiShira’s story!

Swans.

When Eita was younger, he’d assumed the swan feather on his right forearm would make his soulmate easy to find. He’d imagined girls with elegant features and queenly faces, boys with regal and princely bearings. Whatever gender his soulmate was, Eita had no doubt they would have a personality and appearance worthy of royalty.

Who else could be represented by a swan feather?

It had taken him almost a month of high school before he’d realized that his mark could apply to almost anyone. Shiratori. Swans.

He was a dumbass.

And okay, it couldn’t refer to just anyone. Since he’d made the horrifying realization that his mark was a feather from his school’s unofficial mascot, he’d been methodically going through people, trying to weed everyone out until he found the person he belonged to.

Satori was out – and thank God, because while Eita loved Satori like a brother, he was just that. Like a brother. Eita couldn’t imagine being his romantic soulmate. He’d considered the possibility that they were platonic soulmates – much less common, but not unheard of – until Satori had seen Wakatoshi’s left hand. Besides the fact that three-way soulmate bonds were even less common than platonic ones, Satori and Wakatoshi’s marks matched each other perfectly and his not at all.

Reon was out for a similar reason. He’d found his soulmate in childhood, a small girl named Ai. While Eita liked them both – especially Ai, who despite her plain face was the life of the party – they very clearly didn’t match with him.

And on and on it went. Even though the wrist was the most common place for soulmate marks, about half the team had marks in different places, and the ones that didn’t also didn’t really match him. And of course, that was just the team. There were a lot of students at Shiratorizawa that Eita had never met.

So here he was, stuck mulling over every person in his school, staring at a pond that would at least partially freeze when winter fully set in. Maybe he’d been right the first time. Maybe his soulmate was a prince or princess that he’d meet after he graduated. Only about 50% of people met their soulmates by the end of high school, and he was in the winter of his third year.

“This is stupid,” he muttered to himself. He’d heard it a thousand times. No one found their soulmate because they were looking. Soulmates always found each other when they least expected it.

But how was he supposed to avoid looking when there was a good chance his soulmate was somewhere around him?

“Oi! Eita!”

Satori was waving from where he and Wakatoshi were perched on the bank of the pond. Once, Eita would have been reluctant to join them. They’d been completely absorbed in each other when they’d first started dating. But now that the honeymoon phase had worn off, Eita didn’t feel like a third wheel hanging out with them anymore.

“What are you two doing out?” Eita asked. “Isn’t it a little cold for a park date?”

“Coats exist,” Satori shrugged. “Besides, the swans only come here in the winter.”

Eita looked back at the pond to see that yes, there were the big white birds that had been haunting his thoughts on the edge of the pond. He sat down almost ruefully, looking at them along with Satori and Wakatoshi.

They really were beautiful. The way they slid around the water slowly was like poetry in motion. Even Eita could put aside his associations with them to enjoy how pretty they were.

“Nasty little fuckers,” Satori commented. “I love seeing them, but I know to keep my distance now.”

“What?” Eita asked. “What do you mean?”

An expression that Eita didn’t recognize passed over Satori’s face, and it took Eita a moment to place it as embarrassment. In the time he’d known Satori, he hadn’t realized his best friend felt enough shame to feel embarrassment.

“One of them went after him in our first year,” Wakatoshi cut in. “It was quite an experience.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Satori complained. “I just wanted a closer look. I never expected it to bite me.”

“You should’ve known better than to try and touch a swan.”

“I do now!”

“Wait,” Eita interrupted, because once the two of them got started, it was impossible to get their attention anywhere else. He’d never understood how Satori could hold such long conversations with Wakatoshi. Even being friends with both of them, Eita had never been able to draw Wakatoshi into a conversation with more than the necessary information being exchanged. “Swans are mean?”

“They’re territorial, which I know now,” Satori said, with a look thrown Wakatoshi’s direction. “They go after anyone who gets too close pretty aggressively, which no one bothered to tell me until one bit me on the arm.”

“I thought you would know better,” Wakatoshi said blankly, which might have been genuine and might have been Wakatoshi being amused at his boyfriend’s misfortune. Eita had never been great at telling the difference.

“I didn’t know they were aggressive,” Eita said, trying to bring them back to topic.

“Like I said, nasty little fuckers,” Satori said. “They’re pretty to look at, but get too close and you’ll get snapped at.”

Eita froze, his eyes still tracing the movements of the swans closest to him. He knew someone who fit that description perfectly.

He’d always kept an eye on Shirabu since the younger setter was prone to hyperfixating until he hurt himself, but with this new information, he looked closer. He knew Shirabu had a soulmate mark on his left forearm, but he’d never known what it was. Shirabu was weirdly protective of it, never showing it when asked. Besides knowing it took up most of his forearm by the sleeves Shirabu sometimes wore to hide it, Eita knew almost nothing about it.

But now that Eita was paying attention, he could see what he’d missed for two years. Shirabu always wore his blazer or a long-sleeved uniform shirt, but he never covered his arms during practice, rightly assuming that everyone would be more focused on the ball than his soulmate mark. Especially when he was practicing setting, arms poised and turned out to the world, Eita had a good look at his mark.

It was a feather, although Eita could never get a close enough to say what bird it belonged to. All he could really see was that it was about the same size as his, and a little darker.

For the first time, Eita started to consider that his mark might be for Shirabu. It wasn’t that he’d never thought Shirabu was pretty or been attracted to him. It was more his surety that Shirabu would never return the feelings. Shirabu was prickly with everyone – even Kawanishi, who was supposedly his best friend – but he seemed to have a particular aversion to Eita. Eita had always assumed it was their clashing personalities, but maybe there was something else behind it.

So for now, Eita waited and watched. He caught all the glimpses of Shirabu’s mark that he could during practice, and while no one could really tell that marks matched until they were laid side by side, Eita started to think he could recognize something of Shirabu’s mark in his own.

And then practice was over forever for Eita, snuffed out by a nobody team that had risen from their own ashes.

Eita didn’t see much of Shirabu after that.

It wasn’t just that they were avoiding each other. In fact, Eita was looking for Shirabu more than ever with the deadline hanging over his head. However, he had his own problems to deal with. He’d never thought of himself as someone who’d go to university, but one had extended an offer of a volleyball scholarship. It wasn’t anything that would let him go pro, but it would pay for university, and he’d get to play again. It wasn’t an opportunity he was going to give up.

But he still had to pass his final exams if he wanted to keep it, so he spent all of the free time that had once belonged to volleyball on studying. He stared at his books until he went cross eyed, and didn’t spare any time on vanishing younger setters.

Until he was at his graduation ceremony, final exams passed, university scholarship clinched, and no closer to figuring out if Shirabu was really what Eita thought he was.

It wasn’t the end of the world that he hadn’t figured everything out with Shirabu. He had Shirabu’s LINE ID, and they’d even exchanged a few polite messages before, although all relating to volleyball. It wasn’t like he couldn’t keep in touch, even if he wasn’t at the same school anymore.

A spring of something that felt alarmingly like nostalgia welled in Eita’s chest. Despite the struggles, the losses, the pain, he’d had a good three years. He was going to miss Shiratorizawa.

And then he saw the person who’d been haunting his thoughts for months.

Shirabu didn’t look like he was running away anymore. His eyes were set and determined on Eita’s face. It couldn’t have been more obvious that he was waiting for Eita to come to him.

“Take care of yourself,” Eita said, because it seemed like the kind of thing to say when he was more or less saying goodbye. “Keep practicing with Goshiki. I know he annoys you sometimes, but he’s going to be the next ace, and you have to work as well with him as you did with Wakatoshi.”

“I don’t want to talk about Goshiki right now,” Shirabu said. It was time to settle things once and for all.

“Show me your soulmate mark,” Eita said. It wasn’t a question, but Shirabu was perfectly free to leave if he didn’t want to. Eita fully expected him to.

Instead, Shirabu shrugged out of his blazer and rolled up his left sleeve, holding out his arm for Eita to see. Eita held his wrist, turning his arm to see it. A grey and white feather took up most of Shirabu’s forearm.

“I thought it was for Ushijima at first,” Shirabu said, refusing to meet Eita’s eyes. “I saw him my last year in middle school, and…well. An eagle seemed to fit perfectly.”

Eita could understand why Shirabu had jumped to Wakatoshi as a possible match for his mark. He also knew that by the time Shirabu had seen Wakatoshi, he and Satori had already found each other.

“So you’ve been hiding it for years because…?” Eita asked. He resisted the urge to lay his arm alongside Shirabu’s to see if they matched.

“I wanted more time,” Shirabu said. “I was wrong about it being for Ushijima, and then I…I think I figured out who it was really for. And I wanted more time to figure out how I felt about that before they knew and expected things from me I wasn’t ready to give.”

“You figured all that out on your own?” Eita asked. He’d never been in doubt about Shirabu’s intelligence, but he also knew how limited it was when it came to Shirabu himself.

“Taichi helped,” Shirabu said, looking angry about it. “He’s the one who figured out who this belongs to in the first place, and he’s been nothing but smug about it since.”

Eita took that as his cue to roll up his own sleeve and compare his arm to Shirabu’s.

Their marks weren’t the same – in many ways, they were very different people. But the marks matched, in a way that Eita couldn’t articulate no matter how hard he tried. Something about the lines, the slopes of the feathers, made it clear that though they came from different species they very much belonged together.

“So what now?” Shirabu asked. Eita wondered if he’d been feeling the deadline hanging over him as keenly as Eita had and just dealt with it in the opposite way.

“Well, first of all, you better answer my messages,” Eita said. “No leaving me on read for weeks. I know you have LINE and I know you know how to use it. Keep in touch.”

Shirabu blinked.

“You don’t mind that it’s me?” he asked. “I thought you didn’t like me.”

“That’s not true,” Eita told him. “You’re a pain in my ass sometimes, but I’ve never disliked you.”

He ruffled Shirabu’s hair just to see him wrinkle his nose when his stupid ruler bangs got messed up.

“You mean it?” Shirabu asked, fixing his hair with his free hand. “You’re okay that we’re soulmates?”

Eita raised Shirabu��s arm to his face so he could kiss the mark.

“I could do a lot worse.”

There was a smile tugging at the corners of Shirabu’s mouth that he couldn’t seem to quite get a handle on. Eita felt an answering one rise on his own face.

#semishira #hqfanfic #haikyuu!!#soulmate au #my writing

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sunshine-omega-pack · 6 years

Text

Chapter 1: What is in a Dynamic?

Alpha, Beta, Omega. Alpha Beta Omega. AlphaBetaOmega. Society is made up of these 3 dynamics, they are what makes society run. Alphas to lead, are assertive, and make the decisions in positions of authority. Betas to keep the balance, most are found working in law enforcement and social services, they are the buffer zone between Alphas and Omegas. Omegas. Omegas, rare and exquisite, make up ¼ of the population. They are perceived as delicate things; they carry the next generation in their wombs, they take care of the home. This is what’s taught in schools, outdated teachings reinforced in the minds of the youth to bring them to synchronicity and conformity. Dynamic stereotypes are all over the place, certainly in everyday life and especially when it comes to mating.

All Omegas must have a mate prearranged by a parent or have selected a mate by the time they are of age and must be abstinent for their theoretical future mate. Betas, though the buffer zone, are encouraged to find mates that are Betas as well to keep the mating pool open for Alphas and procreation of more Omegas. Another “encouragement” is for Omegas to take one mate and one mate only, polyamorous relationships that are centered around an Omega are often frowned upon and discriminated against harshly. However, its perfectly fine for an Alpha, an Alpha may take more than one Omega mate as to secure their family’s line and satisfy their needs. A societal double standard that was justified by “keeping Omegas in their place.”

Shae Lopez was never exactly the type to follow the leader or buy into any of the crap that teachers and public officials were trying to drill into his mind. Shae is an Omega, living in a conservative town in California of all places, it was not exactly the best place for Shae’s situation. But Shae could not help who he had fallen in love with; Juliana Yuen (Alpha) and Damien Matthews (Beta). Their relationship was pretty “uncommon”, strictly speaking, within the confines of society. Not extremely rare nowadays but still not accepted fully by conservatives and older folk. People still believe in Alpha/Omega and Beta/Beta bonds as the only valid unions in terms of mating. Though even Alpha/Alpha, Alpha/Beta, and Beta/Omega were less stigmatized than a polyamorous Alpha/Beta/Omega (varied or in that order) and/or Omega/Omega relationships.

The majority in their small town disapproved of the three of them living together in a domestic setting.

And what was worse than the disapproval were the looks that Shae got from the people in his city; the unveiled lust, disgust, and pure hatred sent his way after presenting. There was young Alphas who couldn’t take a hint and would try to talk him up, Shae was not impressed. He would try to excuse himself as quickly as possible, he told them he had mates but most were undeterred. Shae has had some pretty close calls.

There were disapproving, judgy Beta and Omega care providers and fellow classmates who thought he was just being selfish. Omega groups would go out of their way to exclude him some of the time because they didn’t want to be seen associating with him. It was bad enough that most of them knew he was transgender, which he already got a lot of cheek for, but it didn’t help that he’s also an unmated Omega to top it all off. That's right. Despite having two mates that he loved with all of his heart, he was not claimed by either of them. He is an unmated Omega, just past the age where he would’ve been expected to be mated officially and have pupped by now, but neither was true for Shae. Though not for lack of trying.

He had been in a committed relationship with Damien and Juliana throughout high school, most of the time it was on the down low. They three of them had met through detention. Shae had talked back to a health teacher who was preaching about abstinence to a group of fourteen year olds, which is what had landed him in detention. Juliana had snuck alcohol onto the campus but was quickly apprehended by school security, she had a charming smile and spoke with charisma which is how she wormed her way out of suspension. And finally Damien was brought in last for doodling on the desk in front of him, which they all agreed was a stupid reason for detention. But it had brought them altogether, making fun of the teachers and forming a close friendship that evolved into a relationship. Juliana had requested that it stay between the three of them because it was so stigmatized, especially in high school where cliques tend to meddle in everyone’s business.

Eventually they were forced to come out when Shae had his first heat mid junior year and absolutely refused to go home unless he was allowed to bring both of his mates with him. It had been a uphill battle as Shae had stood there with slick stained pants and sweat beaded on his forehead, arguing with the stupid principal. It was Shae’s guardian who had to call to give permission that finally allowed their escape to the nearest emergency heat room. The rest of the week they had what seemed like a never ending amount of heat sex and the two of them had taken care of Shae’s immediate needs but hadn't claimed him (causing an absence of the biological bond that Shae’s inner omega desired). Typically in their city Omegas are claimed the first heat around to avoid conflicts with others and to show the authenticity of a relationship.

Juliana and Damien had told Shae that it was because they didn't want to claim him without consent, which was reasonable answer. He had only just presented as an Omega and they hadn't talked about what to do in that situation beforehand. They were very unprepared for a situation like this in the first place. Honestly they had all thought that Shae was going to present as a Beta like Damien had because they were more common. Omegas were just so rare, so one would assume that when presenting they would present as an Alpha or a Beta but Omega rarely crossed their minds unless there were specific obvious traits a person had. Shae felt rushed to be mated as an Omega, lots of people were bound to notice him and try to take advantage. It would be all better if he was claimed by someone he loved rather than a stranger that he didn’t know.

They soon had a long discussion about what direction they wanted their relationship to go in and Shae had told them that he wouldn't want to be mated to anyone but them. Juliana and Damien were quick to agree that they only saw Shae as their omega. Three months flew by and the seasons changed around them. Shae went to heat again during the winter months. Shae had begun nesting instincts this time around, with not a lot to work with, but he made do with his blankets, pillows, and a couple shirts of his partners’ and possessions of legal guardian. At the end of the heat week through all the blurry memories and strong scents, Shae still found himself as unclaimed. No bites on either side of his neck, on where his scent glands would be, but plenty of marks other places. This time when he questioned them they had neutral looks on their faces. Juliana and Damien didn't want to give in to their “biological urges” and wanted to keep it at the pace they were going. They still would help Shae with his heats and loved him but they weren't ready to claim him. Shae understood their discomfort, and didn’t push about it for the next couple heats, but that didn’t make it any less disheartening that his lovers were uncomfortable with claiming him.

Shae was confused at the attitude of both of them, his omega was restless, obsessing over what might be wrong with him. He really didn’t think that it was his partners’ faults that they weren’t ready to claim him. So Shae thought that it must be something that he was doing that didn’t welcome their bites, so he tried to figure out with all his might what it could be that he was doing wrong. Shae, who had been already a bit of a curvy and pudgy, opted to lose weight because he was worried that might have been the issue, but it wasn't. They didn’t take notice to the alarming loss in body fat, the two didn’t even really bat an eye.

So he thought it could be because of his personality, which was typically strong-willed and independent. But he wouldn't feel comfortable if he had to change that even if Juliana ordered him to be the meek omega people wanted him to be. He had even ditched the omega classes he was enrolled in because they would just teach him how to be obedient and how to make his alpha happy. But he didn't have an alpha technically because Juliana hadn’t claimed him yet. Shae was starting to feel a little desperate, he didn’t really know what he could do.

Though because of Juliana and Damien hadn’t claimed him it left Shae the most vulnerable of them all. The inability or refusal to claim your omega partner after their first or second heat was perceived as weakness to other Alphas. Everyday walking to school or home there would be hungry eyes following him, waiting for the moment to strike. To the eyes of the Alphas in town, Shae was free game to mount and claim because his lovers had failed to do so. He told Juliana and Damien about his worries but they had dismissed them as foolish because nothing like that in their city had ever been reported. Juliana and Damien just started scenting him extra to assuage his fear of being attacked by another alpha. And it worked for a while, having the scents of the ones he loved around him gave him the confidence not to notice and it semi-repelled stranger Alphas. And so Shae had been trying to be content with that for the time being until the moment came where he would bare claim bites of his own.

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whitewolfofwinterfell · 7 years

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I read an article as to why Stefan and Elena should End up together... It basically stated that A love that sanctifies (Pure ) is better than a love that consumes you.. And that even though Damon met her first and without the sirebond intensifying her feelings for Damon that her love for Stefan was greater.. And because of the differences in Stefan and Damon's personalities that Stefan is her Best option..

Yeah, I completely agree with that article. For me, Stelena’s love is purer, more romantic and meaningful than D*lena’s, which is why I’ve always had a preference to Stelena. I’ve always said that the whole point of the triangle is to show the contrast between the two brothers and the love they have with Elena. Our bias and opinions means usually we view one of those loves as being better than the other, but I think that generally it’s not supposed to be perceived like that. We’re supposed to understand that Stelena and D*lena both have real love that is equal in strength, but the dynamic of those two loves is very different. And it’s the writers job to decide which one of those loves (if any) should win out in the end.

I do think that people put too much emphasis on the sire bond sometimes in regards to Elena’s feelings for Damon. It’s like we want to believe it’s the only reason she fell in love with Damon, when in reality I think we all know that isn’t true. Elena had an attraction to Damon going all the way back to season 1 and in season 3 she definitely developed some very strong feelings for him. It’s natural for us to pick and choose what we see, but in 3x18 Stefan told Elena she was in love with Damon and in 3x22 Matt also told Elena that when you’ve fallen in love with someone you can’t ever shake them. So the idea of Elena being in love with Damon was planted long before 4x07. What the sire-bond did, was push Elena to finally act on those feelings when before she always held back because she was too afraid to.

But I do agree, that Elena’s love for Stefan was always greater, at least until the sire bond. She had a choice in 3x22, I always think that the fact that she chose Stefan says a lot. It proved that regardless of how strongly Elena felt for Damon or whether she loved him or not, she still loved Stefan more and he was still the person she wanted to be with. The only comparison I can really think of here is Bella from Twilight, because it’s practically the same thing. Edward left and Bella was lost and heartbroken and Jacob was there for her through it. She grew to love him, but the second Edward came back there was no question about who she wanted to be with. Yet, Jacob kept pushing and insisting there was something between them, just like Damon did with Elena and when finally Bella let go in Eclipse and kissed Jacob, she realised that she did love him, just like Elena in 3x19. Yet the first thing Bella said to Edward after that kiss was, “I love you more,” and later on she told Jacob she didn’t admit it sooner because she knew it wouldn’t change anything, and that’s exactly like Elena. She didn’t want to admit she felt something for Damon because she felt like that made her a terrible person and she knew that even if she did admit it to him and herself, it wouldn’t change the fact that she still loved Stefan more. So although I definitley don’t think the sire-bond was responsible for creating Elena’s feelings for Damon, it’s obvious that the sire-bond is 100% pushed Elena to act on those feelings fully, which turn intensified them until they were enough for her to break-up with Stefan. Julie herself has even confirmed that on numerous occasions.

I also agree that Stefan is better for Elena in terms of compatibility and personality. I’ve already explored that in other posts in the past, but the fact that Stefan and Elena still have such a healthy, supportive friendship even after they broke-up on pretty bad terms (I mean, c’mon she dumped him for his brother!). And really, in the history of their relationship Stefan and Elena have never been on bad terms. Whilst Damon and Elena have had periods of time where their relationship has been incredibly hostile and Elena has actually hated him, the same can never be said for Elena and Stefan. If you look at any of their scenes in season 5-6 you see that compatibility even in small scenes such as the one in 5x19 (x) where Stefan helps her revise or their interactions in 5x20 (x). They’re just two people that connect so easily, because they’re very similar people. Here are some of their similarities:

They both kept journals

They both dreamed of working in medicine

They both enjoyed literature

They both wanted to be human

They both wanted a “normal” human life with children

These kind of things, although they might seem small, are what can bind two people together for life, because Stefan and Elena share a common dream and vision for their future and have a deep understanding of the way each other think. They get each other. And Paul himself has said before that Stefan is suited more to Elena, because Damon is too unstable and reckless and Elena isn’t that sort of person. She needs to feel safe and have some stability. That’s why I’ve never understood the whole D*lena quote of, “You want passion and danger and adventure”, because Elena has never, ever expressed a want for that. It’s actually something Damon’s projected onto her and we hear her say it in season 6, “Thank you for giving me everything I ever wanted.” Yet when had Elena ever said that was what she wanted? Did she want love? Of course, but other than that what she wanted was normality. She wanted a life where she got to go to school, hang out with her friends at the Grill, come back home to her parents and eat dinner with them, tease her little brother, go shopping with Caroline and Bonnie for homecoming dresses, fill out college applications and choose her major and where she wanted to go and eventually get married and have a family. We know this because in 1x07 she told Stefan she wished she could forget all about the supernatural world, in 2x20 she told Stefan she wanted to grow old and start a family, in 3x22 she dreamed of her senior year when she was happy and her life was normal, in season 4 she repeatedly talked about how she wanted to be human again, in season 5 she actually went away to college despite being a vampire, because that’s what she’d always wanted to do. The clues as to what Elena’s always wanted are right there and “danger” and “adventure” is not even included. Passion, yes, because when she first met Stefan she admitted that’s what was lacking in her relationship with Matt and that’s what she was looking for. And that’s why her and Stefan are so much more compatible. Especially now that they’re both human, they could grow old together, have that ordinary, happy, family life, run their own medical practice together and just get to experience life the way they always wanted. Personally, I just can’t see that ever happening with D*lena. When I close my eyes I can see the happy ending for Stelena and I can see it lasting forever, but with D*lena I can’t, because they’re not compatible in this way. I mean, Damon being a human, a father, a husband, living the 9-5 life…am I the only one that thinks that’s absolutely absurd? Like Stefan said, it would be his hell. That’s not who Damon is at all. He would despise living that kind of life and there’s only so far his love for Elena can extend. It’s all very good him sacrificing his vamprisim for her, but eventually he would become so miserable that just being with Elena wouldn’t even be worth it anymore. But if Stefan and Elena were human together, I just know they would be together until the day they died. I know it. Because they have all of the components and foundations in place that make relationships last a lifetime - compassion, understanding, empathy, rationale, friendship, respect, communication, an emotional connection, shared passions. It’s all there. Passion, danger, adventure, a love that consumes you…that kind of love has an expiry date. Eventually it will burn out, because when you’ve been with someone for 50+ years it goes without saying that the passion will have likely fizzled out, the danger will have gotten tiresome (because who wants that kind of unnecessary fear in their life?), the adventures will have worn out and won’t be as fun and the love will have been sucked into oblivion. Everything that is used to describe D*lena’s love is the definition of temporary. Love like that can be more intense than any other kind of love, because it’s almost an obsession, but it does not last. My grandparents have been together for over 50 years and do you want to know what my nan says whenever I ask her how she’s managed to keep her marriage alive for so long? “Because he’s my best friend.” That’s it. It’s not because it’s passionate or exciting or consuming or any of those other things, because whether you like it or not those things can’t last a lifetime. In the end, it’s friendship, having that mutual respect, adoration, fun, camaraderie and trust - that is what keeps a marriage alive and I just don’t think that D*lena have the potential for that like Stelena do.

#answered #the vampire diaries #stelena #anti-delena #my meta #tvd meta

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