#the SECOND i heard this audio i KNEW i had to make one for Hades | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

muses-darling · 5 years

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Fire & Fury - A Star Wars AU - Ch.8 Engineer

Tracing his pen across the screen watching the display come to life as line after line met his design coming to life. Prototypes of various inventions littered the shelves of his office a partially drunk very cold mug of caf sat undisturbed. Humming as he sketched he brushed a lock of ginger hair from his face. So far today had been less than exciting but that was perhaps the best for productivity? He pushed back from the desk stretching standing feeling his joints move into place after being sedentary for so long. His muscles remembered what moving felt like with pain. He really ought to move more often. His stomach growled again and he knew why he had gotten up, a brain thought better with food in the belly. He also needed more caf, opening the door of his office he noticed nothing out of the ordinary till a realization that the whole facility had gone eerily quiet like the dead. Peering around gave him no insight, he boarded the lift tapping the buttons and giving a imput of his code cylinder he made his way down to the kitchens. Halfway through the lift flickered then came to an abrupt stop.

A glow of heated metal came through the lift door just a small part that almost as if by cutting continued in a circle before the force pulled the whole chunk away revealing a trio of what looked to be Sith.

“No- no NO!” He threw the cup of cold caf at them watching it freeze in the air and shatter as one stopped it.

“Hello Casper.” Darth Ceres smiled her hood concealing all but her mouth of her face. “We need someone of your expertise.”

________________________________________________________________

“I do not believe it is wise to go all the way to the Chorlian system,” Will said from where he stood at the center of the Senate floor. “Meeting the Sith on their doorstep. Is foolishness, it is genocide of our troops. What hope of victory can we possibly bring? We have not experienced an attack from the Sith in quite some time. To mount an attack after this peace we have seemingly felt is to incur their wrath.”

“Ah like the planet you serve Senator always looking for the peace where there is none.” A Senator mocked him.

Will turned, “I agree that the peace is only temporary, we should use it to give aid where it is needed. Rebuild, was Coruscant not just a mere few months ago under siege? What rebuilding effort have we made since? There are people on not just this planet but many others who cry out for help and we offer no aid when we can?”

“We are spread too thin besides now may be the most opportune moment to bring about the peace we seek by striking a blow on the Sith while their guard is down.”

“I tell you their guard is not down.” Will glared at them.

“What do you know of their guard Senator? What do you know of the Sith?” The Chancellor asked him.

“I-”

“Precisely, this attack is advised by the Jedi even, they too want this war done and over with. If we crumble this wall we will end this before long peace will be at hand and we can do as you suggest Senator.” The Chancellor told him.

Will wanted nothing more than to give them all a taste of his mind but he had the people to think about. “Then I move that when this is over that we focus our efforts to rebuilding the Republic.”

“I second,” The Senator of Alderaan said.

Will looked to Adrienne and smiled, she was always on his side.

“Then we put it to a vote.” The Chancellor said.

The vote of course went to the affirmative but only for appearance sake. They would squabble and nothing would come of it. Will moved through the crowd feeling Adrienne touch his arm.

“A moment?”

Will looked to her, “Of course.”

“I will be helping hand out rations today and wondered if you would join me? Perhaps if the people see that there are at least some Senators who care they won’t feel as abandoned?”

“You say Senators like there will be more than the two of us?”

“The Senator of Chandrilla and the Senator of Hapes Consortium will be joining as well.”

Will nodded. “I’ll see what I can do besides helping pass out rations, I’m sure there are some clothes and blankets to be found.”

“That would be marvelous.” Adrienne smiled warmly. “How is the Queen?”

“Jane- Queen Ev’lyn is quite healthy.”

“And the pregnancy?” She asked quieter.

“Our children were born without any problems. I get to see them when I make communications to Naboo.” Will smiled pulling out a small disk of a Holo photo showing twins who were at least six months old.

“How precious.” Adrienne smiled.

“My daughter has a variation of your middle name for hers.”

“Rosaline?”

“Rosemary.” Will smiled. “Her first name is Katherine.”

“And your son?”

“Abra’ham Fitzwilliam,” Will grinned.

“Oh Will that is so sweet.”

________________________________________________________________

Hades was not the only one to tag Kit with some form of tracking, Crowley had done the same but with the force. Following it’s signature to the planet of Eadu the wild storms that ravaged the planet fit well with the current state of Crowley’s nerves. “Stay here,” He told Ben and Harper. “Guard the ship, guard Jules.”

“But-” Ben started before Aziraphale fixed him with a look. “We don’t know what is out there and we don’t know who has Kit, right now we need you both here with Juliet.”

Crowley and Aziraphale moved silently and stealthily along the path curving through the cliff side. Rocks fell from the path way to the chasm below but neither one noticed their focus was elsewhere, elsewhere and keeping them from joining those rocks to smash upon their likeness far below. Lightning illuminated their way as they moved from one stretch of the path to the other. The path opened up revealing a research facility.

Entering in as quiet as possible they made their way through the dimly lit building the silence broken by the thunder and nothing else. A console before them held security footage. “Angel guard me while I have a look.”

Aziraphale wanted to protest but knew there had to be a reason for Crowley keeping him from looking. Crowley was always good at knowing these things.

Fingers flashed upon buttons and the screen till Crowley froze his face gave nothing away but his eyes they betrayed him first.

“Crowley?” Azirphale asked his eyes looking to Crowley.

Crowley looked up, “Aziraphale...”

It was all he had to say, his face now gave everything away. From the way that his lips twinged in sadness, to the way his eyes moved between what they saw on the screen to Aziraphale. The little head shake of disbelief, the tremble of lips that told Azirphale that what Crowley was feeling was strong so strong it swept the mask of calm away.

Aziraphale moved to see the screen but Crowley pressed a button blackening the screen.Things moved slowly, “We missed him.” He said to Aziraphale. “We missed him!” Crowley stood up only for the weight of what he had seen. Aziraphale to catch him.

Aziraphale knew what he was going to see wasn’t going to sit well with him but seeing Crowley like this he had too. Curious Angel, he tapped a button watching as Kit stood before a cowering man only to cut him down, the audio wasn’t there but anyone could see the man had pleaded before Kit slew him. Kit walked up to the camera blood covering his face grinning with terrible Sith eyes then the feed cut out. Azirphale heard Crowley sobbing in his arms as his own tears fell into the forest of ginger hair that grew from his husband’s head. “Oh Kit.” What could have happened to him? What could have turned him? They had trained him so well!

The door came skittering off the hinges stopping at just before them as a sleek bronze colored droid entered. “Greetings: Hello Meatbags! I have come for my master.”

Aziraphale frowned at the odd droid before moving from Crowley towards the strange droid. He grabbed the blaster yanking it away from blasting him and reaching behind he knew the model well, he had read about them and with a flick the droid powered down.

When it powered back up HK-47 looked up from his powered down state. “Greetings: Salutations organic, might I be made aware of where my Master has gone? My last readings sense he was here. Have you seen him?”

“Most peculiar,” Aziraphale said studying him. “Kit never mentioned you.”

“I have had many masters.”

“And who is your creator?”

“Statement: Why Hades better known as Lord Ignis.” HK-47 said.

“I think I preferred him slightly more homicidal.”

“Oh hush,” Azirphale waved Crowley’s suggestion away. “I think he is more charming this way.”

“Agreement: But I cannot fathom hurting organics such as you in my current state I love all organics with every fiber of my wiring.” HK-47 said to Crowley. “Charm is not in my programming originally but I am adaptable.”

“Excellent!” Aziraphale smiled. “Do you have a ship?”

“Answer: No mine was destroyed upon getting here.”

“Then you shall have to come aboard ours.”

“OURS!?” Crowley said standing up. “I’ll have you know that is very much my ship!”

Azirphale fixed Crowley with a look.

Crowley crossed his arms. “And just what do you think that I’m going to let it anywhere near Juliet?”

“Do you want to find Kit?”

“Yes.” Crowley said as if it were obvious before looking at the Droid who had said yes in unison with him.

“Then I suppose unless you have any better ideas you just let me adopt the robot for the time being.”

“Droid Azirphale no one calls them robots.”

Aziraphale smiled a smile that told you that he knew he had won before walking back to the ship.

Hk-47 followed Azirphale complimenting him on his ability to out maneuver the droid in close combat.

Aziraphale returned the compliment with one about the droid standing up to two jedi.

This was followed by HK-47 making a comment about killing jedi with no problem.

Azirphale chose to treat this like a joke patted the droid on the arm and told him that it was refreshing to hear someone who had a sense of humor.

Crowley both loved that smug expression and wanted to kiss it off of that cherubic face. Watching the two leave and getting along like old friends was an odd sight to anyone who didn’t know Azirphale who saw the best in anyone. Crowley looked back at the console a shudder. Looking back at his husband and the droid in the distance with an exasperated sigh Crowley threw up his hands following after both too his ship mouthing, ‘unless you have any better ideas.’ Followed by, ‘I’ll show you a better idea.’

#Ch.8 Fire and Fury #SeaCoastCity SWAU #TW: Violence

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lilacmoon83 · 5 years

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Dreaming Out Loud

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 115: Only You

Imagine a world where everything you thought to be fiction or myth turned out to be real. Imagine a world, larger than life, where Gods ruled, a simple kiss from a Prince really could wake a Princess, and the lines between good and evil were not as defined as one might think. Imagine that all the stories you think you know so well turned out to be much different than you thought. Imagine if magic was as real as science. Imagine if you didn't have to imagine any of that and it was all true…

"This is what you have so far?" Greg asked, as a barrage of real footage they had collected and images they had captured played on the screen after Landon's voice over ended.

"Yeah...it's great, don't you think?" he asked.

"It looks like a movie trailer. No one is going to think it's anything other than that," Greg complained, as he paced the room.

"I can't believe that three years of work and this is what we have," he growled.

"Hey...this is good. We have some really damning footage of real magic being performed and real life depictions of actual people that are thought to be fictional characters," Landon admonished.

"That no one will believe!" Greg argued.

"After three years...we have nothing! My father's bones are buried in the FBI crime lab, because no one cares about a thirty-three year old crime! And you've just made a fancy movie trailer that I'm sure any Hollywood studio would love to fund, but I have nothing!" Greg raged.

"Calm down...we can take a different approach with the footage. Maybe I got a bit cinematic with the voice over," Landon agreed.

"You think?" Greg snapped. Landon sighed.

"The crime lab is still our in with all of this. I know it's been a long time, but they will get back to us. They'll get a match. They may already have, but opening a cold case will have to go through proper channels. But that's good for us," he continued.

"How?" Greg asked.

"Because if they do match your DNA to the remains and identify him as your missing father...that will attract the attention of some of the higher ups. Opening a cold case that's over thirty years old doesn't happen every day," Landon replied. Greg sighed.

"Fine...just do something about that silly voice over," he said.

"Relax…I'll get rid of the voice over and turn on the regular audio. Maybe if we just go with the bare bones footage, people will see that it's completely unedited," Landon replied, as they watched some of the unedited footage.

"I just want her to pay…" Greg growled.

"I mean...she killed my father, but they allowed her to remain free and move on. All this bull about how she's redeemed herself and even found love! It's ridiculous! She deserves to be in prison!" Greg ranted.

"I agree with you...and maybe we can take a different strategy," Landon said.

"Like what?" Greg asked.

"Well...we've managed to acquire a few beans without them knowing over the years. Hell, they've grown so many that they'd never miss them even if we took a bushel. Maybe it's time to go to the FBI and make them listen. Maybe it's time to find a way to make her confess. We get her outside Storybrooke...there's no magic there to protect any of them," Landon replied.

"How are we going to do that?" Greg asked.

"She has a son...she has someone she loves now. We can use them to get her to do whatever we want," Landon replied.

"We'd have to lure them away from the rest," Greg reminded.

"Not easy...but not impossible either," Landon surmised.

"Okay...let's do it. Let's make her confess and then take her to them," Greg agreed.

"Great...in the meantime, I'll shop this tape around the Internet. No credible documentary company will pay it any mind. But on the dark web...that will be a different story. If we can get people talking about it...then eventually, it will go viral," Landon said.

~*~

Snow's emerald eyes opened and she smiled, as she found herself firmly ensconced in her husband's arms.

"Good morning," he said in a husky tone, as they shared a kiss.

"Good morning handsome," she purred back, as he held her close and they heard some babbling coming from the baby monitor.

"Sounds like someone else is awake," she mentioned. He smiled and kissed her cheek.

"I'll get her," he said, as he ventured off to the adjoining nursery. She heard their bedroom door open at that point and smiled at the sound of tiny feet beating it toward the bed. She leaned over and pretended to jump in surprise.

"Boo!" little Xander exclaimed and Snow gasped, as she helped him climb onto their large, King sized bed.

"Good morning sweetheart," she cooed, as she settled him in her lap and kissed his blonde haired head.

"Morning mommy…" he cooed in return, as he was focused on playing with the toys he had brought with him. About that time, David returned with their baby. Ten months ago, Snow had given birth to their third child, a little girl they decided to name Iris. While their son had inherited David's coloring in hair and eyes, their second daughter had very fine raven colored hair like Snow and David's blue eyes as well.

"Daddy!" Xander called, as David sat down on the bed with them and let the baby crawl between them, while his son jumped into his arms.

"What do you have there, little man?" he asked, as he noticed the toy horse in his hand.

"Horsie," he replied, as his baby sister had crawled into Snow's lap. David had changed her, but she was ready to nurse. He helped her settle down in bed and she began to nurse their daughter. These were their typical mornings, spent quietly together, before their daily routine would set in. They ruled together equally. David spent much of his time overseeing the defense side of their Kingdom and Sheriffing all the Realms with Emma, which he greatly enjoyed. Snow handled the day to day tasks on the diplomatic side, though there were many meetings they attended together, especially when military officials visited from other Kingdoms.

During the day, Ruth, Serafina, and Robert happily watched their grandchildren, as did Hades, Persephone, and Eli when their ruling duties allowed it. But Snow and David's children weren't the only ones keeping their six grandparents busy. There had been many changes to their family and it had grown in more ways than one.

"You go ahead and clean up first. And then we can switch," Snow said.

"You sure?" he asked. She nodded and cuddled the baby and their son, who was very occupied with his toys.

"Okay...then I'll get the munchkins dressed while you clean up. Then we'll go get breakfast," he said, as he kissed her tenderly.

"Granny's?" Xander asked. David chuckled.

"Yeah...we'll go to Granny's," he agreed.

"I want pancakes," he announced.

"Mmm...pancakes sound good. With blueberries," Snow said.

"No...chocolate chip, like Emmy has," Xander replied, making them chuckle.

"Okay...chocolate chip it is," Snow agreed, as he smiled at them and went to shower.

~*~

James looked out over his Kingdom from the balcony of the King's bed chambers. It was almost mind boggling how much his life had changed in the last three years since he had been miraculously resurrected. He was sure now that if Cronus knew for certain that he couldn't count on James' loyalty, he probably wouldn't have chosen to bring him back. But the God of Time had much bigger problems than him. He didn't know much about Cronus' original plan, except it had involved eliminating Zeus and then claiming the power of the skies. But that power had chosen Persephone as its new champion and had almost guaranteed that Cronus would never rise to power. He had settled into ruling his own Kingdom for the last three years and while they would always be leery of him, he was not the biggest threat out there.

After Leopold unfairly took back his own Kingdom, James had opened his castle to Regina and Henry, giving them a place to stay close. While they could have returned to the mansion in Storybrooke, Regina knew Henry wanted to be close to his biological family and Regina was sincerely working on repairing her relationship with Snow; much to his sister-in-law's delight.

It was a surprising thing to see Regina and Snow become good friends, especially after all the bad blood between them. But Regina had really committed to becoming a better person, for herself and for Henry. He understood her journey better than anyone, so it probably shouldn't have surprised them when they fell in love. But they did and after the shock had worn off, they had entered into a loving relationship, one like he had never had and never expected to have. And one she like she hadn't experienced since Daniel, except for what she found with James became far more powerful. With Daniel, it had been true love, but quite innocent and unburdened. But with James, they both still had darkness in them and would always struggle with it. But among all that, they had found kindred spirits in one another and ultimately a love neither of them expected or was even looking for, or so they thought.

"Why are you up?" Regina complained sleepily, as she put her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back. He smirked and turned so he could put one arm around her.

"Sorry...you know I get this way before we have big diplomatic meetings with the other Kingdoms," he said.

"Yeah...I kind of miss the days where I could just storm in and they would agree to whatever I want," she mused.

"This democracy thing definitely comes with more bickering than I like and having to be in a room with Midas and Leopold for hours makes me want to drink," he agreed. She smirked.

"Well...we still have a while until we have to be ready. I can give you something to think about during the meeting," she purred. He smirked and turned to her, as they engaged in a passionate kiss.

"We're supposed to meet everyone for breakfast," he reminded, as she led him back inside.

"Henry is with Emma and Neal so we can be a little late," she replied, as he eagerly followed her back to bed.

~*~

Henry sat in front of the television that morning in their sitting room, playing video games, while his parents shuffled around. The blonde baby girl in Neal's arms fussed a bit, while he dug through her diaper bag.

"Henry...have you seen Tallie's stuffed unicorn?" Neal asked.

"Nope," the teen replied and Neal rolled his eyes.

"Then stop playing the game and help me look. You know how fussy she gets without it," he said. Henry paused the game and started to look around, before finding it behind the sofa.

"Hey...big brother to the rescue," Neal said, as he showed their six-month-old daughter the stuffed toy. She grabbed onto it with chubby hands and calmed down, allowing him to put her in the stroller, as Emma came downstairs.

"Okay...let's go have breakfast and then we'll get you off to school, kid. Do you have your homework?" Emma asked.

"Yep," Henry replied, as he grabbed his backpack and turned the television off.

"Hey sweetheart...are you giving Daddy a rough time?" Emma cooed to their daughter.

"Like her mother," Neal deadpanned.

"Please...you love it," she said, nudging her fiance.

"Yeah...I do. I probably should have my head examined," he joked.

"Wouldn't do any good. No doctor can fix you," she joked back.

"Haha," he mocked sarcastically.

"Are we going or not? I'm starving," Henry complained.

"You're fourteen. You're always starving," Neal quipped, as he pushed the stroller out and they walked through one of Hades insta-portals, as they had come to call them, and arrived in front of Granny's for breakfast.

~*~

"Okay sweetie...there all cleaned up," Belle cooed, as she blew a raspberry on her little boy's tummy and he giggled. Rumple smiled from the doorway of the nursery in their castle.

"Everything in order?" he asked.

"Oh yes...we just had a bit of a diaper emergency. I don't think we'll be having anymore strained apricots for dinner anymore," she replied, as she finished dressing him and picked him up.

"You know, I could have cleaned him up with a wave of my hand," he quipped. She shot him a look.

"And I told you I don't want you changing Gideon's diapers with magic," she chided.

"Fine...but can I at least get rid of the dirty one?" he countered.

"Now that would be okay," she agreed, as the dirty diaper disappeared. She looked at him suspiciously.

"Where do all those dirty diapers go when you poof them away?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Who says that I don't just disintegrate them?" he answered with his own question.

"Because the other day, when we were at Snow's and David's, you made one disappear and Hades seemed to think it was funny," she responded. He smirked.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.

"You're right...it's probably best that I don't," she replied, as she handed their son to him and got his diaper bag. An insta-portal opened and they stepped through, arriving in front of Granny's.

~*~

"Ohhh...there they are. Come to Nana…" Persephone gushed, as Snow and David arrived at Granny's with the little ones.

"Nana!" Alexander called, as he rushed to her and she lifted him into her lap.

"Hello my handsome boy," she cooed, while Hades poofed a stuffed three-headed dog for him to play with you.

"You three spoil them rotten," Snow admonished, as she hugged her father.

"That is what Grandparents are for," Eli said, as eagerly took his tiny granddaughter in his arms. Snow shook her head in amusement and sat down beside her husband. Since her father's royal role these days was simply as an adviser, he had been very happy. The stress she had seen upon him while she was growing up, at least in the alternate reality, was gone and for that, she was very happy for him. Surprisingly to some, Hades was happy ruling beside her mother and gladly maintained his supportive role to her. He had naturally worried about his former Throne and who was taking care of the dead. It was very big job and one he took seriously. He regretted the years where he had ruled unjustly, but when they managed to learn that Prometheus had exited Elysian to take up the mantle, that had been a relief to him. Prometheus was a fair man and had always been an ally to mortals, being that he had gone against Zeus long ago when he gave fire to mortals. He had paid for it dearly, but had been rewarded a hero's afterlife in Elysian by Hades, centuries ago, much to Zeus' chagrin.

Persephone had proven equally that her new role as God of the Skies was very well suited to her as well. The last three years in the United Realms had yielded peace and for that, Snow was incredibly grateful. There were still conflicts, crime, and the normal day to day strife that any society faced, but peace had mostly reigned.

"Hey…" Emma called, as they were the next to arrive.

"Hey sweetie," Snow said, as she hugged her parents, while David eagerly lifted Tallie out of her stroller.

"Hey there peanut…" he cooed and patted his grandson on the arm.

"Oh...that reminds me," David said. Snow smiled and dug out some comic books from the pocket on their stroller.

"Wow...thanks Gramps," Henry said, as he accepted the gift.

"And Nana and Papa didn't forget you, sweetie," Snow cooed, as they presented her with a new stuffed sheep.

"You seriously just lectured us about spoiling our grandchildren," Hades mentioned. Snow smiled at him.

"Well, like you said...it's what grandparents do," she mused.

"Grandparents usually don't have kids the same age as their grand kids though," Emma teased.

"You shush and Iris got a new stuffed toy too when we picked out one for Tallie," Snow replied, as Rumple and Belle were next to arrive with Gideon.

"Hey…sorry, we're a bit late. We had to change clothes already this morning," Belle mentioned. Snow winced.

"We've had those mornings too," she replied. Gideon and Iris were only about a month apart. Snow and Belle had gotten pregnant nearly at the same time and being pregnant together had made them even closer friends. It had served to do the same for David and Rumple as well.

"Sorry we're late…" Regina said, as she and James finally arrived and she kissed Henry on his head, as they sat down.

"It's okay...our order is already in," Snow said.

"How do you know what I want?" Regina replied.

"Apple pancakes, mom...you're kind of predictable," Henry teased, making James chuckle in amusement. She nudged him.

"Very funny, you...new comics?" she asked. He smiled and slid one over to her.

"Yep," he answered, as she opened it to read, while they waited on breakfast and conversation flowed effortlessly as usual when they all managed to get together. Robert, Ruth, and Serafina arrived last, completing their family gathering, just as breakfast was delivered.

~*~

Ravenna paced in the secluded chamber of her palace, where Claude Frollo had conducted his work and experiments for the past three years. It was painstaking work and she felt no closer to any of her goals. If she didn't hold control over him, then she might think he wasn't doing what she asked. But unfortunately, the particular thing she was asking for was not easily accomplished.

Originally, she had wanted to find a way to curse her former step-daughter. She wanted her to suffer a fate worse than death, but she had quickly learned that there was no curse that existed that true love could not overcome. It became clear that death was the only thing that true love could not save her from. And so the search to find the perfect way to kill Snow White began. She wanted her to suffer and she wanted those around her to suffer losing her. She was so tired of her being the one that all the Kingdoms adored. She had everything. True love with a handsome, loving husband, who thought the sun rose and set with her. Three beautiful children and a large family full of people that would do absolutely anything for her. In addition to that, most of the people in the Kingdoms, particularly her own adored her and still called her the fairest of them all.

Her jealousy had steadily grown and her hatred with it. Hans had implored her to let it go, as he could see nothing good coming of it for their Kingdom. His older brothers agreed as well, but with Arawn still imprisoned for war crimes, Ravenna was next in line and had ruled flippantly. Her own interests were first, while the people did without. She was a very unpopular Queen and their own people constantly discussed how much better the rulers of some of other Kingdoms were. Snow White was always mentioned among them, which only further enraged their sister.

But Ravenna refused to work for her people in favor of fulfilling her own interests. She was always harshly criticized at the United Realm Council meetings and Hans was sure today would be no different.

"We may finally be onto something today," Frollo said.

"You've said that before and it always goes up in smoke," Ravenna retorted.

"And without this cauldron, you may never have gotten this far," he argued.

"Fine...do you have it then?" she asked.

"Not yet...but my research has revealed one crucial ingredient we need for success. Unfortunately, it is not available in our Enchanted Forest," he replied.

"Then where can we get what we need?" she demanded to know.

"Another magical forest...across the ocean," he answered. She had heard of this place and could even see it in the distance from her vantage point. It was still a mysterious place and the only place that had not sent a dignitary to join the United Realms Council. Very little was known about it still and there were even plans to send a group of diplomats there to make contact. No one was certain of why no one from this land had sent their own individuals out, but they had so far respected their obvious desire to remain isolated. If they still planned to send a team, she knew they would never choose to send her. They were always claiming she was too volatile and had an irresponsible rule. But that would not stop her from going there if the ingredient she needed was somewhere in that forest.

"Then we will leave for this new land, in secret, after today's Council meeting," she decided.

"Yes, my Queen," Frollo agreed, though he had little choice. As long as she held the Promethean flame, the very first and famed flame the God Prometheus had given to man, she would be able to control his every move.

~*~

Breakfast was finishing up and they paid their checks, while preparing to hand off all the little ones to Ruth, Robert, and Serafina, who were happily watching all of them, while they were attending the monthly Council meeting that morning.

"Okay kid...bus is pulling up outside," Emma said, as she hugged him and Regina did as well, as she kissed him on the head. He and Neal bumped fists, as he headed out to the bus

"Have a good day sweetie," Snow called, as he waved to his family. Just as they prepared to head back to the castle, Emma's phone rang.

"Sheriff," she answered, as she listened to the complaint on the other end.

"All right...we'll be right there," she said, with an eye roll.

"Another active bar fight at the Rabbit Hole," she said, as she put her jacket on.

"I'll give you a hand," David said, as he kissed Snow quickly.

"I'll catch up to you at the meeting," he promised. She nodded.

"Be careful," she called to both of them.

"Need an extra hand?" James asked.

"Couldn't hurt," David agreed, as his twin kissed Regina and followed them out. Snow smiled, as she watched her husband and daughter do what they did best. Helping and protecting people. She kissed her little ones and Ruth smiled at her.

"Off to save the day again, those two," she said fondly.

"As always. Thanks for watching them," Snow said.

"You know we love it," Seraphina replied. To have the three of them to help out was invaluable. Snow was not a fan of hiring a nanny and since her children had so many grandparents to help out, such had not be necessary.

"Well, I guess we better get to the Council meeting," she said, as they left the diner as well. She couldn't say that they ever accomplished a lot in their meetings, but they were still important to get all the leaders together in order to discuss the issues. She always hoped for less arguing and more solutions, which she did not always receive. Thus was the reality of politics. David usually got even more annoyed than her, for her husband was always one for action. But the diplomacy and this process were important and necessary, even if the results were slow to be realized most of the time. But she felt that the future had never been brighter as far as she was concerned and she only hoped that their relative peace continued to reign...

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Charming family #Swanfire #Rumbelle #AU #PersephonexHades #Greek Mythology meets fairy tales #The United Realms #romance #adventure #family #dreaming out loud

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sun-and-shadow-aloy · 5 years

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Favorite Passage

I have done this one once and went with a passage from a Dragon Age story, so @pikapeppa hit me again ;)

This time I am going to share one of my favorite passages from Seeker of the Nora. It was insanely hard to choose just one but this passage shows how deeply two of the men she loves care for her and she for them. (Also, maybe a bit of a nod to Pika, since she was the one that tagged me ;) )

“So, you’re here. Really here. You risked your life.”

Sylens glared at her for a moment. “Of course, I did. If you’d have been killed, the Nora’s Sacred Mountain would have never given up its secrets.”

This man’s cruelty knew no bounds. He had saved her only so he could continue using her. Here she was thinking that maybe he was actually beginning to care what happened to her, but no. She was simply a prize, a weapon, a tool.

“Too bad you wasted your time. Helis destroyed my Focus and the Alpha Registry with it.” She was tempted to turn her Strider away and continue on to the Sacred Lands without his aid. She knew if she ever saw the man face to face, she’d want nothing more than to punch him.

Sylens laughed then, a small one, but enough to turn Aloy’s attention back to him. “Not at all. The whole time I’ve been monitoring your Focus, I’ve duplicated every data file you’ve scanned. Installing that data to a new Focus was trivially easy. ‘Happy birthday, Isaac. Daddy sure does love his little big man.’ He tossed a new Focus to her and she nearly dropped it in her shock.

She hadn’t heard those words in so long. It used to be her favorite find. Amongst all of the data her Focus had collected, it was the first and the one she watched when she wished for a family of her own. Of course, Sylens must have known this. There were little collection ticks anytime a file was opened. It always showed her, her most viewed files first. Among them were favorite pictures of beautiful landscapes, photos of Avad, Erend, and Nil. Audio and video recordings of times long since past and even one of Rost fishing. That was the first time she’d realized she could capture a video log. He’d had no idea what she was doing, so he sat there and took in the gentle breeze and the cool crisp air. It was him in his element.

“You’re really good at making it impossible to like you. But I guess I need this.” She wouldn’t let him know what some of those images meant to her. She placed the device on her ear and felt a calm settle over her as if she had reattached a piece of herself that had been missing for far too long.

Sylens smiled then. “It’s time to see where you were born. Maybe even learn why.”

Aloy’s frustrations with the man piqued again. “Yeah. Meet the machine that birthed me into this world. Isn’t that how you put it?”

He shut down then, turning his strider away from her. “I’ll be off.”

“Wait,” Aloy said suddenly. Not even sure why she was unwilling to let him wander away.

He turned back to her then. “Yes.”

She wasn’t sure what she wanted to ask him. Many thoughts and questions ran through her mind. She was about to ask but then their attention was drawn to the not so far off distance. A cloud of dust rose, signaling an oncoming horde. Aloy froze. Sylens watched in silence. Both of them seemed wary of whoever was coming.

“Shadow Carja,” she asked.

“Not likely. Coming from the wrong direction.”

This eased a bit of her nerves and she pressed on. “Helis recognized you back in the Sun-Ring. You told me that you’d assisted the Eclipse. Not that you knew the men who killed my… who almost killed me.” She had almost said her father, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of being able to correct her again. Rost wasn’t her biological father and he knew that. It would be one more thing he could throw in her face.

“So, now you know. The man is a serious threat. So let’s do all we can to make sure he and Hades do not succeed.”

She didn’t know what she expected him to say. Maybe some form of argument or some admission of guilt, but as always she got nothing. She sighed, “Right.”

She knew she would get no further answers from him and the dust cloud was drawing ever closer, making Sylens antsy. It was apparent that he did not want to be seen, even if they had just surmised that these people weren’t likely Shadow Carja.

“I’ll be on my way. To make matters worse, Helis ordered an Eclipse detachment to attack the Nora Sacred Land. The tribe’s already weak. They won’t stand a chance. You should come with me.” She knew a fighter lay under his intellectual façade. He wouldn’t have gotten this far if he weren’t.

He huffed. “Absolutely not. I have preparations to make elsewhere. Besides, it looks like you may have more help than you thought.” He gestured to the crowd of men that still drew closer to their position.

Her eyes still weren’t at their best and she tried to squint through the blazing sunlight to see what Sylens meant, but she couldn’t make out what he was trying to tell her.

Before setting his heels into his Strider he handed over one last gift, Shadow Carja armor. He said it would help her should she need to return to Sunfall or Shadow Carja territory. And then he apologized for being needlessly cruel about who or what her mother may be, telling her he did hope it was a who, not a what. That lifted her spirits somewhat, but not as much as the next thing she caught sight of.

Avad’s banner, along with the banner of the Vanguard swung proudly in the hands of the men coming toward her. And at the head of these men, two figures sprinted toward her. One was bulky and in heavy armor. He couldn’t quite keep up with the man ahead of him but he pushed just as hard.

Aloy jumped from her seat on the Strider. Tears sprang to her eyes as the sun’s gleam caught on the white of the Carja armor, made the red feathers glisten. She never thought she would be so happy to see that stupid headdress. He was alive! And he had brought the whole of the Vanguard with him, Erend included.

She raced forward. The tears made her swollen eyes ache but she didn’t care. She needed to touch him, to make sure the Sun wasn’t playing tricks on her. She needed to hold him, to kiss those thick lips and to know he was real. After her battle with the Behemoth, her legs ached, but she pushed through. She would make it to him, even if she collapsed into his arms.

As they closed the distance to each other, Aloy was rewarded with one thing she thought she’d never see. Nil was smiling. A genuine ear-to-ear smile. The last few days must have been just as hard on him as they were on her. To see emotions from him in any capacity was more than she had anticipated and made fresh tears bubble to the surface.

When she was close enough she leapt into his arms. She didn’t know she had the strength left, but somehow she made it and neither of them could help the laughs that sprang from them as they collided. Nil swung her around and buried his face in her neck as she wrapped her arms around him.

“I love you, Aloy. I love you.” He kept repeating the words like a mantra.

Aloy began to believe she would never stop crying. Her heart felt lighter than it had in a very long time, but they continued to spill down her face. With each new revelation the moment brought, it was like a wall was broken letting the rains pour and wash away all of the hurt and pain of the last few months. Hell, the last few days. Neither one of them had been certain that the other had survived. She knew he had made it out of the room before Helis’ bomb went off, but nothing past that. He must have thought the same when he heard the explosion behind him.

When he put her down, she pulled him into a deep kiss. Her heart exploded. She couldn’t contain how she felt about him any more than he could. “I love you, too. Everything about you.”

The moment was broken, but in no way ruined by the sound of someone else coming up behind them. She turned to the sound and opened her arms. Erend pulled her into a tight hug and the tears started anew.

“Fire and spit, Aloy. You have got to stop doing this to me. This is the second time I thought you may be dead.”

He squeezed her so tight that his armor started to hurt but she didn’t care. He was here. She had her rock to see her through this next phase. She had the Vanguard at her back. She had Nil. She might be able to give the Eclipse a real fight.

I believe I have tagged everyone already, so if you are reading this and haven't been tagged yet... consider yourself tagged.

#writer meme #seeker of the nora #niloy #Ereloy #favorite passage

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