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#the dark tone we had for all that trauma shit will Not be changing because catgirl grelle is just as serious of a topic
bull-shit-suji · 1 year
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not to like wax poetic about the literary nuances of Black Fucking Butler but i feel i need to point out how insanely campy it is. oh okay cool the butler is throwing butter knives at people with guns and winning. we're battling undertaker's zombie army by starting a boy band (we actually got the idea from the ZOMBIES' boy band). theres a curry making competition and its so important it needs an entire volume and a continuing motif dedicated to it. the Grim Reaper Death Gods are all cornballs with gardening sheers. the contradiction. the unintended irony.
i think the manga is like. toeing the line of camp. like its silly yet takes itself so seriously but its not too silly. my immersion is not broken by the silliness. but the anime is uncharted levels of camp. what the Hell was going on with pluto. you're gonna look me in the eye and tell me the phantomhives own a fifty foot dog thing and no one has noticed. simply one hell of a deer. ice skating. theres opium in funtom candy. the queen of england is maybe a little girl. speaking of which, the city of london just burned down. yeah the whole thing. the fifty foot dog was there too.
it's so ridiculously out of left field and the fact that none of the characters seem to notice or care feels like being gaslit. camp so visceral it's causing psychic damage. i am constantly begging the narrative to break character just once and acknowledge its silliness but doing so would negate the lack of awareness that makes it camp. its dated and timeless. an absolute milestone in camp history.
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jasmines-library · 26 days
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Hey, I love your Batfam work! Is there any chance you could do a whump/angst one of batsis being kidnapped by a villian(you can choose whoever you want) and she’s tortured for days with it being broadcasted to the Batfam while they try to track the footage. I feel kinda bad but can you do maybe some head trauma md severe burns? Maybe she has to be put in a medically included coma or smth because of the damage? Also is there any way you could include Barb and Duke along w/ the four robins? If not that’s totally cool! Sorry for the long request but I hope you have a great day!!
Anonymous Requested: batfam x batsib reader whos the youngest and newest robin and is just really goofy and doesn’t take anything seriously (ex: them blaring “who’s the (bat)man” on the comms during patrol [that songs stuck in my head i had to mention it]) and something happens, maybe their first close encounter to death or a run in with the joker and they just become a shell of who they were and stuff
Jokes On Me
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Note: My god im so sorry this literally took me forever to write, thank you so much for being patient. I've been trying to write this all week but just couldn't sit down for long enough to finish it.
Warnings: Torture, blood, burns.
Word Count: 2.5k
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“Y/N, turn that shit off.”
Jason grumbled at you over the coms. You had been blasting some wretched song that you’d found on the internet over and over again and it was beginning to drive him mad. 
“Nope.” You said, popping the ‘p’ loudly. 
“Seriously.” Dick deadpanned. He had found it amusing at first, but it was now beginning to test his patience. 
Agitated, you sighed and turned off the music. “Fine.”
“Thank you.” Jason expressed gratefully, turning his eyes back to the road he was patrolling. The night was cool and quiet besides the odd dog walker or couple returning from an evening out. It was one of those nights where patrol would end early and he could return home to take a warm bath and read a book before turning in for the night. Or so he thought. 
You were rounding the corner, humming that tune that was still stuck in your head when his laughter ricocheted across the walls. You stiffened, eyes widening and hands fumbling for your weapon as your breath hitched. No amount of turning and craning your head allowed you to catch a glimpse of the dreaded figure, and you thought for a moment that perhaps it had just been a trick of your mind, or one of your brothers playing a cruel joke on you as payback for winding them up earlier. But then you heard it again, only this time to your left. You clutched your weapon tighter, eyes scanning the area with a new found sense of urgency. 
“Wing…” You whispered into the coms so quietly that you were surprised he heard it.
“What now?” He somewhat snapped. 
“We have a problem.”
Dick’s heart sank through the floor, his ears pricking up and his demeanour changing completely. “Where are you? What’s the matter? He was trying to let his panic show, but you hadn’t been patrolling as a vigilante for very long, and while you were well trained, you lacked the experience to deal with something big on your own. And from your tone of voice, he could tell that you were in some deep shit. 
Jason worked his legs harder to push himself to reach the direction he had seen you head off in. Albeit it seemed even his hardest wasn’t enough.
When he stepped out of the darkness, the first thing you noticed were his eyes. Wide and bright, easily mistakable for a cat’s as they flashed in the darkness; wild. Rabid. As he emerged fully with that infamous twisted grin splayed out on his face, you felt like a cornered animal; a deer in headlights. You froze, unable to move despite how your heart screamed at you to run as it pounded, trying to break free from your ribcage. 
“He’s here…” A mere whisper sliding over your tongue, so fragile that you weren’t even sure if you had actually said it aloud. Jason had heard it. 
“Who?” 
The Joker was circling you now, dragging out his strides in lazy circles. You should have fought but in that moment all of your training had drained out of you, along with the colour in your face. He smirked, leering down upon you as you tried to keep your trembling hand still. He pouted in mockery and at your silence, Jason repeated his question to you, but you never got the chance to respond. 
“Oh…Just an old friend, Jay-bird.”
“Joker.” Urging his body to move faster, Jason grit his teeth. 
Dick paled. “You leave them alone.” Dick spat. It tried to be a command, but the effect was lost somewhere in transmission.
The joker pursed his lips, tilting his head as he analysed. One of his hands had found his way to your jawline and he trailed it with a cold, gloved hand. You wanted to lean away, to run and find your brother but you knew that now he had you in his grasp there was no point in even trying. “And why would I do that? They’re right in front of me. I could just…snatch them up.”
“Don’t you dare!” Dick was frightened now. “Y/N, you stay there as long as you can, okay? You fight. We’re coming, you hear?”
The Joker frowned at you. “D’you hear that? Big brother birdy coming to the rescue. How sweet.”
His grip on you tightened. “Too bad you’ll be long gone by the time they get here.”
With one swift motion, he had thrown you harshly to the side, your head colliding with the wall with a sickening crack. 
The two boys skidded to a halt just a second too late. You were already gone. 
~
Your head hurt when you woke up. Your eyes squinted against the sterile light. They did no favours to your pounding headache. With a groan, you tried to twist, to roll over and soothe the crook in your neck but instead all that happened was the jinging of a metal chain. You craned your head and spotted the thick chain that had been wrapped around your wrist, confining you to the chair. Struggling, you tugged on them, trying to free yourself only for them to rattle and scrape against your skin. 
“Yeah, that’s not going anywhere, birdy.” The joker chided.
You glared at him through narrowed eyes, trying to mask the thumping of your heart. The joker grinned wildly at your frightened complexion. 
“It was such a shame that Grayson and Todd didn’t get to you in time, but it was far too easy to catch you, little bird: you completely froze.” He snapped his fingers to emphasise his point. “Didn’t batsy teach you better?”
“Don’t talk about them.” You snapped. 
The joker raised his hands, palms facing toward you in surrender: taunting you as if you were the one with the power in the situation. “Touchy subject I see. Too bad.” 
He gestured above you to an incessantly blinking light. “Smile for the camera, you’re live.”
~
Babs had been monitoring the street cameras when the computer beside her flickered to life. She had been searching for any sign of you ever since Dick and Jason came flying through the grandfather clock. Everyone was on edge. 
The moment the screen flashed on, her eyes perked up to watch it, alarmed. She hadn’t turned it on. And there were very few people who could bypass the caves system. So when she saw a small frame curled up in a chair she knew immediately what was up. 
“Duke…” she called to the dark haired boy who was trying to help decipher your whereabouts. “Go and get B.” 
It did not take long at all for everyone to gather around in the cave. Duke was fast, and everyone dropped what they were doing to race down: even Alfred had taken his leave from his duties to see. 
It was almost like some sick irony because as soon as they were all there, you began to scream. A guttering, perfect scream that cut that through them like a knife: unclean and pinging into them messily again and again. 
The joker had taken a knife to your left thigh, his smile dripping with malice as he watched the camera, somehow knowing that at least one of them would be watching. 
Your face was contorted in pain, twisting in agony as tears rolled flatly down your cheeks from fearful eyes. Damian felt sick, his stomach churning. Jason wanted to leave. But all of them were stuck watching. Barbra was tapping away, trying to locate the signal from the video to no avail. 
“I hope you’re watching this Batsy…” He moved round to trail your face with the edge of the knife. You whimpered. “I’ve got your little bird here and I must say, you need to work on their training. They were far too easy to catch.”
Bruce felt his jaw tightening and Tim had to place a hand on his arm to remind him of his place. 
“Anyway I thought we would play a little game… how long can little y/n survive for. I wonder if it’ll be any longer than our very own Jason Todd.”
Jason twitched. 
“I’m testing you here, Bat. Tick Tock.”
The transmission cut to black. 
~
It seemed hopeless. Even though they had been searching for days, they were no closer to finding you. And to make matters worse, they could see you. Not long after the first transition ended did it start up again. It had been lifestreaming since then, and although they had tried to block it from their minds, it was hard to ignore. Especially when your agonised screams ricocheted throughout the halls. 
You looked like hell. Dark bags occluded under your eyes and there wasn’t an inch of your skin that wasn’t marred or stained with drying blood. The burns were worse. Damian could still hear the scream you let out when the joker first brought the hot poker to your skin. It had bubbled and blistered as the skin peeled away; you had thrashed against your restraints violently. Tim was certain that they were going to get infected if they didn’t reach you soon. 
It felt as if they had searched everywhere. Dick and Jason had even asked around to see if anyone had heard anything, going as far to talk to the Jokers closest associates in Arkham, but even if they did know, nobody said anything. Duke had even gone as far to go back to the area to use his powers to see if he could trace anything, but nothing seemed out of place; they had hit a brick wall. That was…until a small light appeared on the monitor. Babs had managed to trace the signal to a small building on the outskirts of the city. 
They were suited up in minutes, making a beeline for the building. They stormed it, recklessly taking down the Joker's goons before Batman chased wildly after the Joker, his face stony and his fists burning with anger. The other four boys chased down the winding corridors, flinging open the doors until they found one that was locked. Tim wasted no time, picking the lock with ease he peeled it open. His breath hitched when he saw you. 
Your face was gaunt, hanging low by your chest. Your suit was torn and there was less of it on your body than there was ripped away. You looked so fragile as your chest heaved sporadically. 
Jason nearly had to take a step back. This place reminded himself too much of his own encounter with the Joker not too long ago. But he pressed forward, fighting his instincts. He had to be strong. Instead of turning back, he kneeled in front of you, whispering your name. His hand came up to cup your face. You flinched away. 
“It’s okay kid. It’s us.” He tried to reassure you, but you shrank back into yourself. 
“We’re so, so sorry kiddo.” Dick tried placing a gentle hand on your arm before moving to work on the cuffs around your wrists. “We’re going to get you out.”
You said nothing, just continued to stare at the black space before you, and Dami wasn’t sure if you even knew they were in front of you. But when Jason moved away from you to help remove your restraints, your fingers latched onto him and you squeaked in protest. 
He sighed shakily. “Don’t worry kid. I’m not going anywhere.”
Damian twisted from where he was guarding the door. “We need to leave.”
Dick nodded bluntly, finishing with the last of the locks. “I’m going to have to pick you up, okay sweetheart?”
You barely registered what he had said. Everything had grown numb, you nodded anyhow. Moving his arms underneath your legs and slipping one arm behind your back, Jason began to lift you. He nearly recoiled when you cried and whimpered with the way your wounds jostled as he sprinted out of the building to get you back to safety. 
~
You were yet to say anything since you came home. You had been back a few days and your wounds were healing up nicely thanks to Alfred’s handywork, but the air was eerily silent around you. It wasn’t as if you hadn’t been communicating with them; you spoke to them with gestures or writing but no one was used to not hearing your voice. The stark contrast between your loud and bustling personality and you now was unsettling. No one wanted to push you too far but the manor was beginning to grow lonely. 
It was one particularly rainy night when you finally spoke.  You were curled up in a large armchair by the window in the library, sinking back into the plush leather as you watched the raindrops race down the glass. Jason had been watching you from afar, contemplating whether to talk to you or not when he walked over. 
“What are you up to?” He asked you, making sure you knew that he was there before he spoke. 
You gestured toward the window,then to the half opened book at your feet and shrugged. 
“I see.” He nodded, taking a seat on the armchair opposite you. A comfortable silence settled between the two of you. Jason wasn’t much of a talker. He knew more than anyone what you were going through, which was why it was nice just to know that he was willing to sit with you, just so you knew that he was there if you needed him. It made you feel safe. But you also couldn’t help but feel guilty, and frustrated with yourself for being in a place that made him feel as though he had to do that. 
“I’m sorry.” You whispered. 
Jason had to do a second take. His heart swelled. “What for?”
You sighed. “This. When I saw him…i-i froze. If I had run then this would never have happened.”
“Shh. This isn’t your fault.”
“But-”
“I promise, Kid. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
You nodded, looking away from him. But then you furrowed your brows and turned back to him. “How did you do it? How did you deal with this, Jay? Every time I close my eyes he’s there.”
“I guess I don’t, really. Or sometimes it feels like I don’t. I still get scared sometimes. I still see him in my dreams. But over time it gets easier. I had people around me to help me. And so do you, kid. We’re here. We’ll always be here.”
Jason shifted to brush away a rogue tear and you leaned into his touch and then wrapped your arms tightly around his middle. 
“I’m here. Always. We’ll get through this together.”
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BATFAM TAGS
@aestheticdaisies @hearts4robs @xxrougefangxx @mamapucket @hell-o-kittys @harleycao @batfamsstuff @alicedawitchbish
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teeth-cable · 10 months
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Im the CSA victim from UniformedArtists blog and I agree with you 1000% dropping everything Vivziepop.
Like I only watch Helluva even after the shit she's done to see how far it would sink but jesus christ.
You know her just saying the counselor is 18-19 isn't fucking good enough because the show says a different thing.
Like before people bring up the argument counselors can be adults... Most TV shows in media actually have minor counselors and we know Vivziepop doesn't research shit about hell or actual royalty so why the fuck am I supposed to believe Adam or her researched counselor age ranges.
Also nobody should have a twitter to figure out if you did or didn't make a grooming subplot.
You know in Curse of Strahd there's a controversial character Gertruda who 50 (500) year old Strahd is implied to planning take as another bride because of where you find her and in the book it states she's recently a teenager. However as much as I hate this plot line due to trauma I understand why it was added because WOTC portrays Strahd as a piece of shit. Like his goal is to chase down the reincarnation of his brother's fiance throughout time until he catches her, makes her a vampire and possibly brainwash/assault her to make her love him. Strahd is meant to be a gross creep. I as a DM and many other age Gertruda up to 18 because we don't want a pedo plot line and it keeps the predatory nature of Strahd intact.
Barbie seems to be portrayed in a significantly more positive light and her grooming behavior is never called out as a bad thing. Like Moxxie should say something at god damn least since he has morals.
There are so many things wrong with the EP. What gets me is writing has multiple stages, first the person needs to come up with the EP pitch, get the directer or network's approval, finish the first draft, then revisit it for grammar mistakes and continuity, then revise it a few more times for a stronger script, and send it to the directer or network again to approve of filming the finish script and that's not even counting how long animation takes too. So during the process of writing to animating, did no one at SpindleHorse see how weird and problematic the script was? The camp for pre-teens is called, "IWannaKumMore"(Their logo being a cum splat), Millie and Moxxie's human backstories of being siblings then making out at the end was unnecessary because they could have just been good friends whose mothers sent them to the same camp, Moxxie this grown ass adult who pretending to be a pre-teen is acting sexual and wants the kids attention, Millie who everyone else thinks is a young boy is getting sent nudes from kids and adults, and Barbie saying how easy teenagers are to manipulate then flash her ass to a boy is implying she grooms kids.
To be clear, I don't have a problem when a dark comedy make these types of jokes as all as they portray the topics and groomers as bad and show they understand that. SpindleHorse did not, like you mentioned they portrayed Barbie in the positive light and Moxxie never calls out her behavior despite being the voice of reason. In fact the tone of the Barbie's scene was supposed to funny but not in a dark ironic way. I don't understand why the camp couldn't be for college students and the consolers are stated and look like actual adults. Everything about the canon camp is childish and filled with teenagers, it's very uncomfortable to see them in sexual situations. In America the youngest a camp counselor can be is 15 y/o but that changes from states to states so no body has a clue, also with the camp counselor having a pitch voice, Barbie referring to him as kid and teenager and him, not once trying to correct her about his actual age, I'm convinced he was kid but Viv had to age him up for damage control.
I'm sorry if this response is all over the place because I'm having trouble describing my thoughts but the writers are in their 30s, and they saw nothing wrong? The writing for HB has been going down for a while now and it was fun to see how the writing could get worse but never in my years of watching awful shows did the writing get so bad, the writers had to resort to terrible jokes about sexualizing teenagers, making an incest joke, and a minor getting groomed unironically. I can't support a person or company that are fine making content like that.
"Unhappy Teenagers" was the first time, I have watched a show and felt a sinking feeling in my gut so much so it still lingers even a day later. I never felt so sick from watching a show and I'm sorry writers and companies think making this type of content and jokes of your trauma and abused experience is okay to do.
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Lost & Found - Chapter Eight.
Thank you so much to everyone for your readership, it means the world to me :) And now here we have it at last, Emma's story in full. Grab a drink, maybe a snack, too. It's a long read!
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Previous chapters - One Two Three Four Five Six Seven
Words - 4,623
Warnings - 18+ content throughout, Minors DNI. Recounts of kidnap, child trafficking, physical/verbal/sexual abuse in the coming chapters.
“Fuck,” he whispered, not immediately knowing how the hell to handle it. Try and talk her down and risk her getting further triggered in her catatonic state, thus heightening the likelihood he’d have his head blown off, or risk the same by wrestling the gun from her. “Emma, Emma it’s me, Guero. You’re alright, you had another dream again. He isn’t here, I promise you. He’s nowhere near you, you’re safe. I really, really need you to hear me and lower the gun.” 
He stayed still as a statue, going for option A, figuring any sudden move could prompt the deadly result of her finger squeezing upon the trigger, and his brains splattering across the bedroom wall. Much to his understandable relief, her eyes focused, Emma blinking rapidly, gasping suddenly. 
“Shit!” she whispered, lowering the gun and turning the safety on, placing it on the floor with a soft clunk. “I’m so sorry! I don’t know what... I... shit!”  
He breathed a sigh of relief, the tightness his insides had coiled into all relaxing, yet his face remained set. “Come on.” He stood, reaching for her hand, leading her from the bedroom into the lounge. “Sit.”  
Her heart somersaulted with nerves as she took a seat on the couch, drawing her knees up and pulling the t shirt she had on over them, making herself small, reading his emotions. He was not happy. Not in the slightest. He went to go pull on a pair of sweats before joining her, placing a bottle of tequila and two glasses upon the coffee table. Pouring out two large measures, he sunk his quickly, his jaw tightening.  
“I’ve been real patient with you over what it is that causes these episodes, Emma. What just happened kinda changes that, though.” 
Her eyes flitted to him, curling up tighter, beginning to tremble. “You’re mad, and I’m so sorry. Please, please don’t be mad.” 
Picking up the glass he’d poured for her, he thrust it in her direction. “Drink that and calm down.” She did as instructed, uncoiling herself, knocking it back in one gulp, setting the glass upon the table again.  
He refiled it, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m mad at you, but that’s all that’ll happen. I’m not gonna slug you, and I won’t shout. I’m not about to do whatever the fuck it was that Rocco did to you. PTSD, trauma or whatever, you just gotta understand that sometimes people get mad, but that’s all that’ll happen. And I am, because you pointed a fucking loaded gun at me, and you won’t tell me whatever the fuck it is that’s dark within you causing this.  
He paused there, softening his tone. “So yeah, you’re gonna sit here and drink as much of that tequila as you need to until you damned tell me what’s up. I’m trying to help you, Emma, I ain’t trying to get shot. I can’t help you until you help yourself. You say I’m your safe person, so trust me enough to tell me.” 
He panicked for a second that his mildly, yet firmly delivered outburst was too much, watching her carefully. She slid to the edge of the couch, reaching for the tequila and sinking it in one gulp, pouring herself another from the bottle.  
She’d crossed a line, even though she hadn’t meant to and she knew, she knew now it was time to tell him what she’d fled from. He’d be the first person ever outside of her situation to hear what had happened to her. Her bravery in giving herself the push to kiss him now had to extend further, filling all the gaps in her story to him.  
Turning to him, she blinked rapidly, swallowing hard. “It’s going to take me a while to explain it all.”  
His shrug was soft, holding his hands up expressively. “We got all night, blue eyes.”  
With the tequila poured down her throat, another splashed into the glass, Guero’s too after he sank his, she took a deep breath. “When I was ten years old, my family and I went on vacation to New York. I remember how busy it was, how the streets were so full of people. My dad carried me on his shoulders a lot of the time just so I could see above everyone, my mom carrying my little brother. One afternoon, though, Dylan wanted to go up on his shoulders, so I walked with mom instead, and we went down to where you queue up to go over to Liberty Island. 
“It was rammed with tourists, I remember. Dylan had started to fuss, screaming that he needed to go take a pee, so my mom was trying to sort him and dad was at a merchandise stand, so I went with her to go find a restroom. It was in the crush of people that suddenly, a guy grabbed me. I tried to scream for her, but he put a rag over my face with something on it. I remember picking out the pink baseball jacket she was wearing and thinking if I could just fight him off and get away, I didn’t have to run far to get back to her. Then I saw that jacket multiply, my vision going treble, and I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up again.  
“I was at this house, this fucking beautiful, palatial home, all Italian marble and huge renaissance style paintings, high ceilings and columns. It was decadent without being gaudy. This is where the first of one of my many blank spaces in memory comes in, I think there’ve been a few times over the years I blanked things off in order to deal with what happened to me, because I don’t remember clearly what was said to me, or how I responded other than being told that I lived there now. Like, I can’t remember exactly how it was explained, but I remember it was Rocco who did.  
“I remember being upset in the days that followed and crying for my mom and dad. He told me that they wanted me to have a nicer life, and that they’d given me to him for that to happen. “Just look around, kid. Ain’t this a nice place?” That’s one thing I do remember clearly. He kept me down in a basement bedroom, though, locked me in there every night. He was nice to me to begin with. He’d give me little jobs to do and reward me with candy if I did them well.  
“I now know what he was doing. That was the start of him conditioning me, rewarding good behaviour, and in those first few weeks, I was always faultless and tried hard. I thought I had to, to earn the better life my parents apparently wanted for me, even though I missed them terribly and really wanted to go home. I was heartbroken, thinking they didn’t want me any longer. 
“I know what I was now, me being there within his home specifically. I was the blueprint, the test subject, to see how easily it could be done, a child snatched, destined for a life of servitude, or worse. No other kids came into the house, but as time went on, I learned that I was the first of many children taken by the mafia and sold. But anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. 
“It was just me and him for the first few days. His wife had been away with her girlfriends on a trip someplace when I first got there, but when she found out what he’d done, she went wild. I remember that, because despite how intimidating he was, Marie always fought her corner. 
“I remember her screaming at him, something along the lines of me being the kid off the news who went missing, that there was a manhunt going on and her demanding to know why he was behind taking me. I have a vague recollection of him slapping her and shouting, and it being so jarring, because he’d been nice to me and it was such a difference in demeanour.  
“It was shocking, seeing him hit her, this nice lady who he was supposed to love. It really confused me, and I remember wondering if I really was there because my parents wanted me to be, or if what she’d said was right and people were looking for me. I needed answers, I was scared and confused, and on that first night she was home, Marie gave them to me. 
“She snuck down to my room and sat on my bed. She told me that she really wanted to look after me, but that her husband could be not so nice sometimes, and it was easier to do what he said. She was so kind and caring, she made me feel like I had somebody on my side. That night was the first time I saw it, the fear in her eyes, and I knew that one day I’d probably be that frightened of him, too.”  
She paused then, her eyes misting as she remembered back to that night... 
“I can’t get you back to your parents, but maybe I can be your mommy?” She held out her little finger, Emma linking hers through it, the coolness of her diamonds pressing against her little hand, Marie’s eyes full of earnest warmth. “Pinky swear, Emsy. We can’t tell nobody though; Rocco can’t know, or I’ll be in just as much trouble as you.”  
“Emsy. She always called me that, and it sounded so lovely in her broad, New Jersey accent. Her voice was shrill and loud sometimes, but she was so kind and soft. I don’t know why she ended up with him. She went to Wellesley; she had a decent education and could have been anything. She worked in fashion before she got married, was a buyer for Bloomingdales and then later Donna Karan. She travelled all over the world, a real highflyer.  
“Anybody could tell she was well-educated; she always spoke so properly. She was smart, she was a real catch. Marrying him to be a housewife, though? I always wondered why she’d do that, make herself small when she was so much better than him. It wasn’t until I was older that I began to see how much he’d worked the same kind of manipulation upon her, too. She was terrified of him.  
“But anyway, because of that for most of the time she’d just tell me to do as I was told, and in front of him she’d be indifferent towards me. She’d tell me to be a good girl and do my chores, act like a robot. That’s how he liked us to be, totally compliant. Then late at night, when he was out doing whatever illicit business he had, she’d sneak to come and see me and be soft and warm again.  
“She’d bring me up to her bedroom and we’d watch television together if she knew he wasn’t coming home. We’d eat chips in our matching pyjamas, and she’d cuddle me tight and blow raspberries on my tummy to make me laugh, telling me she loved me all the world and always would.  
“It was about six months after I arrived that he tried to take me from the house, and Marie put her foot down hard,” she continued, remembering it, the screaming match, Marie shielding her. It replayed vividly in her mind’s eye as she recalled it... 
“You won’t take her, you won’t!” she screamed, pushing Emma behind her. “If you won’t let her go back to her parents then I am not letting you sell her, Rocco! No. She stays here with us, with me! This is a child, these are children you’re snatching from their families, and for what? What? We have enough money! You don’t need to traffic kids, mother of god, it’s beyond a sin! God strike you in shame for what you’re doing!”  
“Of course, he beat her for it. Badly,” she continued to explain, remembering how Marie had slumped to the floor, her face bleeding, her own screams filling the vast welcome hall in horror as he’d laid kicks to her body. “He left soon after, and I remember fetching a washcloth and trying to help her, she was bleeding so heavily. She was more worried about me. We both sat on the marble floor crying, with her saying she’d pack our things and we’d escape while he was out.  
“She tried, but since I didn’t have a passport, we had to try and get across the country via greyhound, and his guys found us at the station and dragged us back. He said if she ever tried again, he’d kill us both. It was no idle threat, either. He’s made people disappear for less.”  
“He got her pregnant with their first child just after that, making it impossible for her to escape him. He had her watched everywhere she went. Marie was just as much of a prisoner within that house as I was. After she gave birth to Joey, she couldn’t focus on looking after me quite as much. It wasn’t like she ignored me, but it became tough for her. I took on the extra load of work around the house to help her since she had her hands full with the baby, but if I ever slipped, god, he’d make me regret it.  
“When I was little, it was just spankings, but the bigger I got, the worse my punishments became. I’d get full on, bloodied beatings. He fractured my cheekbone when I was thirteen. I didn’t go to hospital, instead I saw a mafia doctor. He had no choice when my face swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. 
“He continued to become worse, too, with what he expected of me. After Marie gave birth to their second child, she came down with post-natal depression really badly, and she wouldn’t let him anywhere near her sexually. That’s when he turned his eye to me. I was fourteen.”  
If he hadn’t felt his anger bubbling steadily enough as it was throughout her explanation, that revelation in particular made a flame of rage flare within Guero. He stayed where he was, but his hand moved firstly to pick up the tequila and sink it, reaching tentatively into her space, Emma grasping his fingers tightly as she began to sniff. “He said if I was good for him in bed, then he’d reward me, so I was, and he did. He bought me this Chanel rosary style necklace, one that Marie had and I always admired. Like gifts made my lack of real consent all okay. I felt sick when I wore it. 
“I hated it, what he inflicted upon me. Every single time I had him on top of me, I’d run to throw up after and scrub myself down in the shower. He made me feel so unclean. I felt like I was betraying Marie, too, having sex with her husband. Of course, after so long without my family by that point, she truly was mom to me. It messed my head up, the implications of that. If she was mom, then by default wasn’t he dad? And yeah. ‘Dad’ was routinely raping me. 
“It broke her heart when I told her what he’d been doing. I waited until about eight months after it had begun, when she was better, because I knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it with how depressed she was after Alessia was born. I remember sitting on her bed with her, and she hugged me so hard, told me over and over how sorry she was. I hated it, hated how upset it made her, and I hated that in the end, I didn’t protest it, him coming down to my room to have sex with me a couple of times a week. If I didn’t fight it, he was nicer to me.  
“He started to become more lenient about my freedom when I got to seventeen. All those years I’d been hidden away from anyone other than the family - and by that I mean the crime family - I’d never left the house, I guess because of him knowing I might be recognised. Once I was older, I not only looked different, but he could explain my presence in the home.  
“He told people I was the live-in nanny and nobody ever questioned it. He also told people that I was going to college out there too, despite me never actually finishing my education formally. Everything I know and learned came from Marie, she gave me little classes when he was out, so that I wouldn’t fall behind on learning everything a child needs to know, spelling, English, math, health, all of that.  
“She might have been a trophy wife who loved shopping and luxury on the surface, but like I said, she was smart. She encouraged me to read and read, every book I could, keep on learning. They had a huge library I used to like to go sit in, and I was allowed more time there the older I grew. Oh, god, if I ever spoke with anything even resembling a Jersey twang to my accent, too, she’d correct me. She always said it was important I keep the way I spoke, the only identity he couldn’t take away from me. “You must retain your individuality, Emsy.” That’s what she always said to me. 
“But yeah, the older I got, the more freedom I was allowed. It still wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. I could leave the house, I’d go with Marie to pick up the kids from school or take Alessia to dance class and Joey to little league, especially when Marie got pregnant with Mikey, their third child.  
“It crossed my mind so much, to just take a car and make a run for it, fill up with as much gas as I could afford and drive out of there, but he’d find me. I mean, I can’t even drive but still, I’d have tried. Automatics don’t look tough to learn. It would have been my only option since I don’t have a passport. On paper, I don’t exist as an adult under my real identity, being a missing person.  
“He always warned me against doing anything stupid, though. “I got eyes everywhere, kid. You’d be gone an hour before I dragged you back and made you sorry, I promise you. Remember when you and Marie tried before? It’d be worse for you than it was then, if I don’t decide to make you disappear for it. Don’t even think about going to the cops either, police are on my payroll.” He was right, of course. It’s how he gets away with it. He spends millions in bribe money to keep everything he wants within his grasp. 
“I might’ve had a modicum of freedom, but it was always at the end of a very long, invisible leash. With that little bit of freedom though came the requirements to earn it. He began coming down on me heavily if things weren’t exactly to his liking, and his punishments got worse. He’d beaten me, kicked me, punched me, throttled me and even pushed me down the stairs a few times in the past. One of the worst was when I actually had the courage to stand up to him, when he started yelling at me about the floor not being spotless.  
“I told him it would be if he simply removed his shoes, because he’d tracked the dirt in and that I’d clean it as soon as I’d finished cooking. I was sitting waiting for the pasta to cook, and he kicked me in the sternum out of my chair, straddled my chest and pushed a gun into my mouth. “You ever smart mouth me again, and I’ll blow your fucking head off!” I remember him snarling at me. I didn’t think it could get much worse, but then he began burning me with knives.  
“He’d heat them up while holding me down by my neck in the kitchen, then make me pull up my top and press the metal against my sides and lower back. I look hideous under my clothes because of them all. It hurt, it hurt so fucking badly, and I’d beg and plead with him not to do it, just to hit me instead. He enjoyed it, though. He gets off on it, other people’s pain and fear.  
“So, July just gone I turned twenty-nine, and Marie and I had secret cake like we always did. I could barely believe I’d been there that long, nineteen years. Nineteen years of clandestine birthdays, little gifts sneaked to me at Christmas, anything she could do to make it better for me. She always used to say that she felt tremendous guilt that she couldn’t stop him doing what he was doing to other kids, but at least she could make my life a bit more comfortable. Until something happened that she couldn't. 
“Two months after that, he got me pregnant. I wanted to keep it, figuring it would be my only chance to be a mother since he was never going to let me go. He marched me to a clinic, though, and made me have a termination.” Her long explanation halted, sinking a tequila, chewing her thumb as her grip tightened on Guero’s hand. “It was horrible. They couldn’t give me a medical abortion as it was about two weeks too far along, so I had to go through the hell of the alternative.  
“I’ve never felt more alone than I did lying on that fucking examination bed, having my baby ripped from me. I hated him more than ever for putting me through that, and that’s when I knew I had to find a way to escape him. I had to be smart about it, find a way to vanish without a trace, and the perfect chance presented itself a few months after that. Down in the basement of the house, he keeps a huge, hidden vault below the floor. It’s where he’d have your money taken from, save leaving it at any of his businesses, since he’s under federal scrutiny.  
“I’m the one who used to count it all up and get it put into the crate, ready for his guys to collect and then drive to the port in New York and load it onto the container. I knew that was my chance, so one day when they’d come to collect, I told them that I’d hurt my back and couldn’t carry the crate up as usual, made them go down into the basement to get it.  
The night before, I’d hidden my backpack out in the bushes that bordered the drive, and also adjusted the CCTV cameras so they were all just out of shot of where the van would park. I planned well, because it was my only chance, and I couldn’t fuck it up. Mother Mary, how I couldn’t fuck it up. Rocco was out, of course, and Marie had gone to the market, so it was just me in the house. As soon as they’d gone in, I scooted around to the van out of the path of what I knew the camera reach was since I’d moved them, grabbed my rucksack and hid away in the back.” 
“I felt so much guilt for leaving Marie without an explanation, but she couldn’t have come with me, us and the three kids in there, we’d have never survived. I’m surprised I had enough oxygen to last the journey, to be honest. Plus, it would have been harder not to be noticed, five people fleeing opposed to just one. 
“When the van got to the port, I snuck out and hid before they could see me, and watched which container they carried the crate to before running down there and getting inside. I knew I’d end up in California, but I didn’t really have a plan beyond that, probably because part of me didn’t think I’d ever be able to pull it off.  
“For the entire journey, I had nineteen years of trauma playing out in my head, lying in there in the pitch black. It really fucked with my head, not to see daylight for so long, and just have it all replaying, everything I’d been through. It’s why I was so bent out of shape, it all just collided in me, and I finally processed everything that had happened, felt it all, everything I’d stuffed down in order to survive his abuse. After twenty-three days at sea, the ship ported, the container got looted, and then there you were. My safe person, at last.” 
She hadn’t looked at him once in her entire explanation, Emma picking up the tequila and taking a big gulp, wincing slightly. When she turned to him, she saw his face wet with tear trails, Guero moving to seat himself close to her, his hand cupping her face as he rested his forehead to hers.  
Any anger he felt at her holding a gun to his head had faded long ago, the unpleasant twisting within his guts at what he’d heard forcing it out like an exorcised spirit. It wasn’t about him. It never would be. God, she was so strong, so brave to have survived this. It was little wonder she’d fallen apart while within the container, nineteen years of the trauma stemming from captivity finally washing over her, like the waves beneath the vessel that had spirited her away to freedom.  
“I don’t fucking know what the fuck to say.” He truly didn’t either. Everything he’d just heard had shocked him right to his bones. What in the hell could he say, after hearing of her being a kidnap victim, only saved from being trafficked by Marie Lombardi, a prisoner within the tight hold of an iron fist for most of her life? “I’m so, so fucking sorry that happened to you. I don’t know what else to say, other than I wanna go empty my gun in his fucking skull.” 
He’d taken her life from her, all those years she should have been focusing on school, college, making friends, having boyfriends, everything normal for a child, and then a young woman to enjoy. Worst of all, he’d taken her baby from her, before it was even a baby at all. No wonder she was the way she was. 
To say his heart broke for her would have been an understatement.  
“You don’t have to say anything else,” she whispered, nuzzling his cheek softly as he pulled her onto her lap, his strong arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. “Just sitting and listening to it all was enough.” She sighed, tucking her head beneath his chin as he lay back on the couch, taking her with him. “I’m so glad you found me.” 
He stroked her hair, kissing her forehead. “I’m so glad I found you, too.” Sharing silence, it suddenly hit him, why she’d reacted with such horror at the very thought of placing a bird into a cage. 
Caged was exactly how she’d lived for the past two decades. 
He took a breath, his brow creasing as he let the fury he’d felt bubbling within him boil up, his slow exhale gravelled on a soft growl. “King of the mafia or not, I’d shoot him in the fucking face before he ever came near you again.” 
She believed he would, too.  
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Secrets (Marc Spector x reader)
Word count: 1272
Pairing: Marc Spector x reader
Summary: Marc confronts you after you have been avoiding him for a week
Warnings: cheating, mentions of SA, injuries, trauma, lying, mentions of cheating, amateur writing
“You’re home late,” Marc says from the bed. Fuck, I tried so hard to make sure he was asleep when I came home and made sure to be quiet and I still fucked it up somehow. “It’s been busy at work,” I say. “A busy two weeks?” Marc shoots back. His tone is accusatory. He’s looking for an argument. “I talked to your coworker. She said it has been a pretty easy week.” “She works a different job—“ “Why are you lying to me?” “Why are you trying to pick a fight?” I snap. “I’m not. I’m your husband and I deserve to know why my wife is lying to me,” he says. His voice raises at the end of the sentence, his Chicago accent becoming more pronounced. “No!” you shout, spinning around to face him. “No! You of all people do not get to be all self righteous with me about lying!” Marc stares at you. In all the years he has known you, never once have you raised your voice. You, y/n, we’re always even tempered. Always calm. Always soft spoken. And now you’ve lost your temper and there’s no hope of leaving this for morning. “Look, I don’t want to talk about this. I just want to go to bed,” you say softly, half heartedly. What you’re really trying to say though is: walk away. Stop asking. Let yourself live without knowing. Marc is still silent as you walk across the room to your dresser. You pick out an old sweater and pair of sweatpants. This in spite of the fact that it was summer and while it was cool at night you’d be freezing by morning. “I’ve been sleeping with someone else,” you say. It barely comes out but you can tell he hears it by the way he sucks in a sharp breath. In the dark, you figure you’re safe to change so you unbutton your jeans and pull your sweatpants on. “How long?” Marc asks. You hear the bed groan as he sits along the edge of it. “A week… with my boss,” you say. You slip off your shirt and want to quickly cover up with the sweater, but it’s like telling the truth has taken the last ounce of energy you had left in you. Facing away from Marc, you press your forehead against the cool wall in front of you. “Marc, I am so sorry.” “How? W-why? Why would you do that, y/n? Last week we were fine, we were happy, and you just threw that away,” he says. “I’m sorry,” you mouth the words but no sound comes out. “How did it happen?” He asks. “Marc, you’re just torturing yourself.” “You do not get to decide what is best for me! You do not know!“ As if to punctuate his sentence, he slaps the glass of water sitting on the nightstand, sending it flying across the room and hitting the closet door a few feet away from you where it shatters. He begins to pace as you turn to face the man you’ve wronged. He walks over until he’s inches away from you. You look down at the floor but he grabs your chin tightly and forces you to look at him. “You’re going to look me in the eye and you’re going to tell me what happened… right now.” His desperation-laced voice cracks. “My boss… he’s been going through a divorce. I stayed late Monday because I figured I could get my work done early and we could take a weekend trip and I just… I thought I was alone and I went to the bathroom and I didn’t lock the door because I thought I was alone and—“ Marc’s grip on your chin tightens an intolerable amount. “Marc… you’re hurting me,” you say. He doesn’t let go, you push against his chest and while he releases you, it also sends you stumbling backwards. Sharp pain fills the sole of your left foot as you let out a cry of pain. You had stepped in the shards of the glass Marc had thrown. Somehow in your pain ridden mind, you had the instinct to fall forward, rather than backwards. “Shit,” Marc mumbles. He rushes to the beside table and before you can protest he turns the beside lamp on. When he turns back to get a look at your foot, he catches sight of the bruises covering your body. They’re everywhere it seems, but he notices the dark bruises on your wrist, neck, the two on the underside of your ribs. You had meant to reapply concealer to the obvious ones before bed. So he wouldn’t notice. ~*~ The bedroom looks like a crime scene from the blood smeared across the floor, the small puddle forming at Marc’s knees as he kneels beside the bed, attempting to pick every one of the hundreds of tiny shards from your foot. You lay on the bed, in your sweater. One leg has been pulled to your chest while the other hangs off the edge of the bed for Marc to work at. Your head rests on your tear soaked pillow while you hug Marc’s to your chest. Marc picks the last of the glass out and grabs the anti-septic spray from the first aid kit. He pushes up your joggers slightly to grab ahold of your ankle, knowing the second he applied the spray you’d fight like hell to pull your leg away. There’s another deep bruise around your ankle. He’d bet if he could see the other ankle, it would have a similar mark. He grabs ahold of your leg as far away from the bruise as possible. While you put up a fight as he sprays your foot until the clear liquid begins to mix with your blood as it drips off of your foot. Then as gently as possible, he dries your foot, applies a gauze pad covered in salve, then wraps it tightly with a bandage. “Alright,” Marc says, standing up. “You’re going to need your ID and— and we should bring the clothes you were wearing and we’ll need your insurance card—“ “No,” you say softly. “Please. Not tonight.” Marc sighs. “Please don’t make me go tonight.” Marc wants to argue. He wants to drag you to the nearest precinct, photograph and document every shred of evidence. But he knows that won’t do any good. That would only serve to further traumatize you. Throwing you into a room of people who will pick apart your entire story, poke holes and say the wrong things, photograph and examine your most intimate places. Put you through all of this only to have your case ignored or put through a years long legal battle that would favor your boss no matter how strong of a case you have. He know also that whatever justice you would receive would not feel nearly as good as him taking matters into his own hands. The idea of not killing your boss, but doing enough damage to make the rest of his life terrible, is why he doesn’t argue. He settles into bed behind you, wrapping an arm around your waist. “I’m sorry,” you say. “Don’t apologize. I just wish you had told me sooner,” he says. He presses his lips to the back of your head and just hold them there, taking in the feeling of your hair, your scent, everything.
He won’t allow himself to admit it, but he was scared that you would leave him.
He holds you extra tight tonight, whispering “I love you” until you drift asleep. Then plotting what to do with you boss.
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nalanzu · 1 year
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Weiss Kreuz, Episode 3: Paradise
The episode starts VERY dramatically with a pretty woman screaming in English and a villain literally murdering her with a chainsaw while saying he paid well for this. The body that then gets dragged out of Tokyo Bay is in remarkably good condition for having been murdered with a chainsaw, by the way.
It’s Yohji’s turn for the spotlight, as the name of the human trafficking organization pings his Dark And Tragic Past. Also, it involves beautiful adult women. so he’s definitely in. It’s an international crime ring, this time, which seems like a lot of escalation for the third episode, but here we are.
The tone immediately shifts after Yohji asks to take the assignment on his own and he has gone undercover at a hotel with hot girls and a fake mustache. Which he immediately removes upon waking up with said hot girls and then goes to do some also extremely clumsy investigation. In a black catsuit.
Yohji. It’s 7am. Come on. Why were we not doing this four hours ago?
He does find a woman chained to the wall, by complete accident, who explains she’s been kidnapped and that the cops in the area are in cahoots with the criminals. He tries to leave her there, after getting her out of the chains, but she’s having none of it. Yohji will no doubt find her feistiness intriguing.
The first door they open has a computer with exactly the right information they need, and Yohji has a handy USB cable (or some kind of cable - when was USB invented? This is set in 1996 or 1997) to copy the contents of the drive. His new friend accidentally sets off an alarm, apparently to generate a sense of drama. Yohji dramatically stares at the progress bar on the monitor as we see security racing for the room, which is not as effective in increasing the tension as the writers want it to be.
There is further drama as Yohji and his new girlfriend escape security and their guns in Yohji’s tiny ridiculous sports car. Security chases them on motorcycles. There are narrow alleyways, villains driving a Mercedes (with guns! and yet apparently not yakuza), and Yohji getting shot in the lower right quadrant of his abdomen.
Either sepsis or hemorrhagic shock would like a word with you, Yohji. Possibly both. The location of the bleeding changes from frame to frame, but, uh, it’s either gone through his intestines or his liver.
At this point we get a flashback of Yohji’s Tragic Past, in which he had been shot on another occasion and his presumed partner is shot when he tells her to run and save herself and all this does is put her right in front of the people chasing them. Who shoot her. For some inexplicable reason, they did not shoot Yohji, incapacitated on the ground less than a hundred yards away and screaming.
The new friend has, in addition to being very useful in a melee type brawl, cleaned and bandaged his wound. Again, I have some thoughts on the internal organs that now have holes in them, but the narrative would like us to believe that Yohji is well on the path to recovery with a field dressing composed of a filthy evening gown.
There is a lovely heartfelt conversation, in which we touch on the ethics of doing terrible shit for money and whether or not that leaves one with a soul and whether or not his buddy having (involuntarily) worked in the sex trade is a trash human being (they conclude that she is not, which is a low bar to clear, but hey at least they cleared it). Yohji then explains his Tragic Past and that the organization that kidnapped his new friend Maki is the same one that killed his old partner.
Cut to the next morning, when Omi is woken up by a phone call demanding he come pick up his buddy and giving him an address. Omi is more concerned about who’s calling, until a gunshot sounds. Yohji tells Maki to run, because as we all know the most common trauma response is to recreate the situation that caused the trauma in the first place.
Maki is shot in exactly the same way as Asuka, giving us a closed narrative loop for Yohji’s PTSD. He passes out in the alley, somehow not noticed by the targets despite the screaming, and we cut to the rest of Weiss going over the information Yohji has gotten from the target’s computer. They’ve taken him not to a hospital but up to his bedroom.
Guys. Please.
Maki is not dead but has been recaptured. She is now, somehow, soiled goods and marked for death, presumably also to raise the dramatic stakes, because this makes zero sense from a narrative point of view. We also have Yohji joining the rest of Weiss for murder hijinks, also for The Drama.
There are a LOT of action shots of Weiss being dramatic and pretty. And Maki, strung up again, much like last time. Aya gets one of the actual targets. Yohji strangles the other one, hoisting his body up in the air via wire. Again, I have thoughts on the hole in his abdomen, how this is likely to tear if he lifts things heavier than a couple of kilos even if it’s been correctly repaired (it has not!), and the internal organs that are - honestly, I am expecting too much, in wanting any sort of medical accuracy here.
Yohji has also found Maki’s corpse strung up from the ceiling (why???? why would they keep the body?), so we get a dramatic reaction shot. We end on his placing a flower on her now respectfully laid-out body.
I’d forgotten that the Introduce Yohji episode had not one, but two women in refrigerators. Neither Asuka (former partner) nor Maki have any sort of depth; they exist only to draw a very clear parallel between Yohji’s past and his present, and generate the same type of sympathy the previous episode wants us to feel for Aya. The point of the episode begins and ends at Yohji’s pain.
I wouldn’t quite call this a Dead Dove scenario in fic, but it’s absolutely Hurt No Comfort. It resonates with me a little more now than the Aya episode did, although what I want out of it is an AU where Asuka and Maki kick ass together. What the fandom back in the day wanted out of it was Aya/Yohji, which I seem to recall being the dominant pairing. (I could be wrong and linkrot has eaten away the majority of the fandom’s history, to be fair.)
I do think the writing seems tighter this episode; aside from the absolutely egregious medical inaccuracies (which I am going to try to ignore for my own sanity), the aspects that jarred the most were the sheer convenience of finding first Maki and then the right computer in quick succession. On the other hand, there’s only so much screen time, and let’s be honest, we are here for hot men in leather outfits murdering criminals.
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messers-moony · 3 years
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Annotated Books & Sleek Hardcovers | R.B
Paring: Regulus Black X Fem!Lupin!Reader
Summary: Everything told them to be apart, but they said fuck the world.
Inspiration: Click
People would describe the younger Lupin sibling as warm and bright. She shined like the sun and was warm like a sunny summer day. She was the breeze on a warm summer day and the sun on a chilly autumn morning. She was worn books with annotations in the margins, highlighting, and scribbles. She was dependable, sweet, kind, and loving. 
Dependable like a best friend. Sweet like Honeydukes chocolate. Kind of like a puppy dog who had been just adopted and as lovable as soft blankets. Her brother was no different. He oozed shyness, charisma, and intelligence. His tousled sandy hair and gleaming green eyes made everyone bend to his will. He didn’t even know that he was doing it. 
But by fifth year, Remus Lupin had come out as gay. A month later, Sirius Black was on top of the Gryffindor table with a blushing Remus announcing their relationship. Remus had given his sister a sheepish look as he sat back down. Y/n had just kissed his cheek and smiled. 
Y/n and Regulus had been sitting beside each other when Sirius had taken the Great Hall by storm. Instinctively, Regulus tightened his grip on her hand, and Y/n allowed her thumb to run along his. She watched as his shoulders relaxed a prominent amount. 
“Well,” Regulus whispered, “I wasn’t expecting that. Did you know?”
Y/n shook her head, “No, but I’m happy for them. Are you?”
“I ‘spose.” Regulus shrugged, “When do you think they’ll find out about us?”
“Remus is a bit oblivious.” Y/n replied, “Sirius doesn’t really turn his head in your direction.”
Regulus looked down at his lap, “So if anything, we’ll have to tell them.”
“Do you think,” His voice was lower than a whisper, “That he’ll ever be my brother again?”
“I do.” Y/n leaned her head on his shoulder, “Siblings have a special bond.”
“I hope you’re right.”
She snorted, “I’m always right.”
At that, he cracked a smile. 
Maybe it was her warmth that melted the ice surrounding Regulus’ heart. The icy, cold, Regulus Black. It wasn’t like they were hiding their relationship, but people were terrified to talk about it. They didn’t want to face the wrath of the young Black brother. 
Regulus was described as the dark, cold winter nights people despised. The winter nights that were so low in temperature that even staying inside with the heat on, blankets on, and layers of clothes couldn’t warm. He was sleek, hardcover books and soggy leaves in the fall that left you disappointed when the satisfying crunch didn’t echo through your ears. 
Regulus Black was everything but warm. He was your least favorite color. Your least favorite food. He was everything you hated. Perhaps it was Y/n’s sweetness that brought some of the crunchiness back to his leaf, the pen to his book, and the folded pages. 
They were star-crossed lovers. Everything in the universe was trying to keep them apart from the colors of their robes and the clashing of their personalities. Regulus was the dry autumn and brash winter. Y/n was the prospering spring and hopeful summer. Perhaps they were the best of both worlds, and that’s why they worked together so well. 
It wasn’t until their sixth year when their relationship had become the talk of the school. Regulus had begun wearing long sleeves even in the hot months, and people grew suspicious. Only he and she knew what laid beneath that crisp white button-up. Beneath the cold ice he kept around his heart. 
Y/n looked around Platform Nine and Three-Quarters for her raven-haired boyfriend as Remus joined his friends on the train. When she did find him, it wasn’t pleasant. Walburga had been fussing with his sleeve, making sure it stayed down, and she had slapped the back of his head for slouching over. Regulus had rolled his shoulders to stand up straight. Orion didn’t look impressed, and Walburga murmured something along the lines of, “Good enough.”
“Now, what do we say, Regulus?”
Regulus caught Y/n’s eyes for just a split second, and he looked away hastily, “Toujours Pur.”
“Good.” Walburga stated, “Now go.”
He nodded and began walking toward Y/n’s general direction. Regulus took her hand in his directing her on another path, “Meet at our usual compartment.”
Y/n gave him a smile in response as she walked away. It left Regulus with a pink hue coating his usually pale skin. His stomach fluttered, and his heart palpitated. They entered the train on opposite sides and met in the middle at their compartment. She was already sitting down when he plopped down beside her. His head was leaning on her shoulder. 
“Missed you.” Regulus slurred, sleep evident in his tone, “Wish I could’ve escaped.”
“I missed you too, Reggie.” Y/n took his left hand in hers, “But I know that we have a lot to talk about.”
He tensed, “I suppose we do.” 
“Things like what’s on your left forearm?”
“Y/n, please-“
“I’m not mad.”
“But you’re disappointed.”
Her light laugh confused him, “I’m not either, actually.”
Regulus lifted his head to look at her, “You aren’t?”
“I just want to know what you plan on doing with that mark.”
“I don’t have a choice.” Regulus stated, slumping down again, “I have to serve him.”
Y/n hesitated, “You have choices.”
“What are they?”
“Be a spy.” 
“A spy?” Regulus queried incredulously, “Are you serious?”
A silly smile graced her features, “Actually. Forget I asked that. Are you daft?”
“No.” Y/n replied, “I’m actually top of our class, so.”
“If he finds out I’m a spy. Then I’d be killed, Y/n.” Regulus said softly, “It’d be different if I didn’t care about anyone. If I had nothing to lose, but I do, and I don’t want to lose a chance at a future with you because of it.”
Y/n took his face into her hands, “You can’t do this. You can’t work for him. You’ll kill yourself slowly anyway.”
“I don’t have a choice.” He wiped a tear from her cheek, “This was bound to happen. This was my fate.”
“Who gives a shit about fate.” Y/n chuckled tearfully, “Professor Trelawney always said that you could change fate.”
Regulus cracked a tiny smile, “You would pay attention in Divination, wouldn’t you.”
“Someone’s gotta give Sirius the notes.” 
“Sirius… I didn’t even think about-“ Regulus stopped, “He’s- He’s gonna hate me.”
“Hey, Regulus, look at me.” His breathing sped up, and his hands began to tremble, “Sirius isn’t going to hate you.”
He shook his head, “No, he’s- he’s gonna- I’m gonna-“
Y/n wrapped her arms around him. Regulus nosed at the crook of her neck, breathing in the sweet perfume. The fragrance smelt of crisp apples mixed along with her scent of caramel, chocolate, and marshmallow. It gave him something to focus on, and with his muddled mind, Regulus fell asleep. 
Regulus was still asleep three hours later when Sirius came barging into the compartment stopping in his tracks. Y/n brought her index finger to her lips, ordering him to be quiet. Sirius shut the door and sat in front of them. Regulus’ face was out of view from his older brother's. His nose was nuzzled in Y/n’s neck, and his hair hid his face. 
“So,” Sirius began quietly, the atmosphere had never been so thick, “How long?”
“Fourth year.” Y/n thought Sirius’ eyes were going to bulge out of his head. 
“But you- and him- you don’t-“
“Don’t belong together?”
Sirius nodded, “Who are you to say? Technically I could say the same about you and my brother.”
“Fair point.” Sirius muttered. 
It was quiet again, and all that was heard was the slashing of rain on the window of the train, “How- How is he?” Sirius’ voice had never been so quiet before. 
“He’ll be okay.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?”
Before Y/n could respond, Regulus began to tremble again. He was trying to dig his nose deeper into her neck and reaching desperately for something to hold onto. Y/n allowed his hand to grasp hers tightly. His trembling subsided, and Y/n gently kissed the crown of his head, allowing him to relax finally. 
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“I never-“ Sirius looked shocked, “I could never calm his nightmares….”
Y/n gave him a soft smile, “Perhaps it’s a Lupin talent.”
“Perhaps.” Sirius replied, “But, is he okay?”
“He will be.”
“What does that mean?” Sirius questioned loudly, and Y/n hushed him, “They didn’t- did they?”
She nodded solemnly, “We’re gonna- We’re gonna work through it together.” 
Sirius could see her swallowing the lump in her throat. Sirius could see the dullness in her eyes, the same dull that Remus’ eyes got after the full moon. Sirius could always read Remus through his eyes. They were a tell-tale of his emotions. It seemed that he could do the same with Y/n. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, untold trauma, and unspoken words. 
“Take care of him, yeah?” Sirius requested quietly as he stood up to leave the compartment. 
She nodded, “Yeah.”
He closed the sliding door quietly. It was a quiet walk back to his own compartment with the Marauders. The task of getting the summer homework to copy turned into an entirely new adventure. Sirius opened the door to his compartment to find James and Peter talking animately. Remus sat with his head against the glass and head in a book. He had some muggle markers beside him that Sirius liked to draw with. 
Sirius slumped beside Remus putting space between them. That was the first tell. The second tell was that Sirius didn’t speak, and he stared out to the train's hallway. Remus closed his book, placing it back beside him, and wrapped his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders. 
“What’s wrong?” His voice was low and hot in Sirius’ ear. 
“Nothing.” Sirius replied, still not looking into Remus’ eyes, “Your sister was no help. Said I needed to do the homework on my own. Said I was a tosser for not doing it.”
Remus snorted and nuzzled his nose into Sirius’ cheek, “Well, perhaps I ought to tell her that’s not how she should speak to my boyfriend.” 
“No.” Sirius hated how distant he sounded, “She’s got other things to worry about.”
The lycanthrope furrowed his eyebrows, “Like what?”
“Like you.” Sirius lied like it was nothing, “Who do you think puts hot cocoa and Honeydukes chocolate at your bedside after the full?”
“Then I should give her a sister of the year award.” Remus corrected, and Sirius nodded, “Perhaps you should.”
If only I could get a best brother award, Sirius thought. It was selfish. He knew that. It was wrong to envy Y/n and Remus’ relationship. Unfit to be jealous of his brothers relationship, but he couldn’t help it. Sirius wanted to be the one to chase all of Regulus’ demons away. Sirius wanted to hold him during every thunderstorm as he used to as children. Sirius should be happy for Regulus even if it weren’t because of him. 
It took a month before Remus was storming into the common room and yelled insanities at his sister. Remus wasn’t thinking, words fell from his mouth so carelessly, and the entire common room stared as Remus had his sister pushed against a wall, hands holding her up from the collar on her shirt, seething at her. 
“You must be one of the stupidest people I’ve ever met.” Remus seethed, and Y/n flinched, “You must be fucking insane.”
Sirius could do nothing but stare, “Maybe I should’ve disowned you as my sister the minute I saw you hanging out with him.”
Tears ebbed at Y/n’s eyes, “But I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I trusted you, and you betrayed me.”
James couldn’t tell what was worse, the fact that Remus was so calm and his voice was so low or when Remus yelled, “You were my everything. My sister, my partner in crime, my other half, and you fucking destroyed it.”
“Mate, stop.” James tried to interject, but Remus just shoved her against the wall harder, and streaks of silver appeared on her cheeks. 
“Wonder what dad would do if he found out.” Remus taunted, and Y/n shook her head, “You know how much dad despises them.”
Y/n choked, “Remus-“
“Don’t.” He snarled, “My name isn’t allowed to fall from your mouth. Fucking traitor.”
Sirius had enough, “Remus, stop. That’s enough.”
Remus whirled around, Y/n sliding to the floor, knees to her chest, “Who are you talk? You did the same thing back in fifth year.”
“I’m not your bloody sister.” Sirius snapped, “She’s been there with you through everything. Maybe if you let her explain, then you could understand.”
Remus pointed at her and looked at Sirius with fire in his eyes, “She isn’t my sister. She’ll never be my sister again.”
Sirius could remember the exact same words falling from his mouth only a year earlier, and it crushed him. Y/n was sobbing, and her knees were pulled tightly under her chin. James was trying to console her, but it wasn’t working as Remus and Sirius went toe to toe. Y/n didn’t deserve this for loving who she loved. 
Remus scoffed when Sirius wouldn’t back down and stormed up to the boy's dormitory. Sirius knelt before her and lifted her head from her lap. His thumbs wiped away the tears, and he took her into his arms. So much built-up pain, built-up trauma, built-up lies. She was finally crumbling like a tower on an unsteady foundation. Y/n was a one-hundred-story tower that was collapsing from the bottom up. 
Debris falling everywhere and soot clouding the atmosphere. He could see the smog slipping in her mind, clouding up her judgment and thoughts. Sirius could see the debris cluttering and scraping away at her heart. With every scrap and every tear, her heart began to give out. It felt like being crushed in an elevator, with no room to breathe and no room for moving. She was stuck, and that was it. 
Y/n couldn’t remember much after feeling Sirius’ lips on the top of her head. But she woke up on the plush of the common room couch. The rough maroon fabric was felt beneath her fingertips. Beside her was a boy in an armchair. He was curled up, and a black fleece blanket covered his body from the coldness of the Gryffindor common room. 
Beside her was a glass of water and a note. She picked up the water and allowed it to glide down her throat, soothing the ache from her earlier crying. Her nose still felt stuffy, and she willed herself to sniffle quietly, trying not to wake the boy beside her. The parchment was ripped at the edges and was written in beautiful calligraphy. 
"Il y a toujours des ténèbres avant que la lumière brille."
She folded the note and placed it back on the side table with the empty glass. The fire had gone out fully in the common room, allowing the temperature in the room to fall. It was cold, dry, and dark. Y/n had never seen the common room so dark. Not a candle was lit, and no light was shining from the windows. Just the slightest bit of moonlight. Gently she stood up and reached for the boy's hand in the armchair. 
“Reggie.” Her voice was smooth and soft, “Reg.”
He stirred and opened his eyes to meet his girlfriend's warm ones. Sirius had rushed to the Slytherin common room despite all prejudice. Some of the Slytherins spat at him when he asked for the password. It took ten people before Regulus finally answered to the incessant knocking. He was shocked to be met with his older brother. 
There Sirius had told him what happened, how Remus had shoved his sister against the wall accusing her of betraying him for dating him. Regulus felt ashamed. He didn’t want to be the reason they didn’t get to be civil with each other. Sirius even uttered the exact words Remus had, “She isn’t my sister. She’ll never be my sister again.” Regulus had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying anything. 
People stared at the younger Black brother as he walked into the Gryffindor common room. The Gryffindor’s glared, spat, and insulted, but he didn’t care. He found his girlfriend lying on the couch with a thick red blanket surrounding her. Sirius had claimed that Marlene had brought it for her, and Sirius had been the one to move her to the couch. Regulus saw the dried tear stains, the swollen eyes, and the bruised lip. 
“It wasn’t pretty.” Sirius had muttered, “Remus isn’t one to hold back.”
Regulus smoothed her hair back, “This is because of me….”
“Reg, no.” Sirius had replied, “Remus will come around. He just doesn’t know how to digest this.”
The common room was silent, and Regulus just held her hand. His thumb stroked the back of her hand softly. Sirius watched as Regulus went through a wave of emotions. He was hurt, confused, concerned, and terrified. It was like watching the seasons go by. Watching everything welt, die, grow back and prosper just to repeat the cycle. It was like watching a new book turn into an old one as the ink was embedded onto the pages, the papers getting folded, tabs being placed, and the spine being cracked. 
Regulus appeared to be a sleek hardcover book, but she was his person. She turned him into a used paperback. One with highlighting, tabs, folded pages, a cracked spine, and a loved cover. His heart beat for her. She was the reason he woke up every morning, the reason he ate, the reason he got good marks. She was his reason. 
“I tried talking sense into him.” Sirius confessed quietly, “He just brought up the incident in fifth year.”
Regulus closed his eyes tightly and tried to withhold his tears, “Maybe I should talk to him.”
“No.” Sirius said sternly, “You’ll be asking for death.”
“What do I do, Sirius?” 
His blue-grey eyes were glittering with desperation, “Nothing… Take care of her.” 
With that, Sirius left a kiss on his younger brother's head and left the common room, retreating to the dormitory. Regulus sighed and placed his forehead on the back of her hand. Tears slipped from his eyes and onto the material of the couch. Everyone was gone at that point. The common room wholly cleared and the fire slowly decaying in the fireplace as Regulus Black finally allowed himself to break. 
He woke up on an armchair with a soft thick black blanket covering his limbs. Red rimmed e/c eyes met his blue-grey ones, and he felt a wave of relief. Y/n reached her hand out, and Regulus took it, keeping the blanket around his shoulders as she brought him to her dormitory. The girls were sleeping, and Y/n sat down on her bed, Regulus doing the same. She drew the curtains and muttered a silencing spell. 
Regulus laid with his head on her pillow, pulling her to lay on his chest. He wrapped the fuzzy black blanket around them. Y/n nuzzled into his side, and he placed a kiss on the top of her head. They didn’t need to exchange words for expressing how they felt. They knew how the other felt. There was no need on elaborating. She fell asleep not too long after, and Regulus laid awake trying of solutions. 
Even when the sun broke the horizon, Regulus still had nothing. 
They continued the year like this. Remus and Y/n didn’t speak at all anymore. Remus went as far as to change his schedule and ignore the sweets left on his bedside after the full moons. Sirius would pretend it came from him, but Remus still would budge. He would chuck the chocolate in the trash even though he knew that Y/n barely had money in the first place to buy it. He’d dump the hot chocolate in the waste bin and smash the mug to get out any frustration. 
Sirius thought that the worst part was Remus never grieved for his sister. He never saw Remus cry or get upset about what he did. It was like Remus had no remorse for what he did. Sirius had grieved. He had sobbed in the midst of twilight with shit silencing charms. Sirius had wailed and clutched his blanket close to his chest, hoping it would soothe the aching of his heart. 
When they graduated, Remus didn’t look for his sister in the crowd. He didn’t care if she was there or not, but she was. Y/n was there holding Regulus’ hand tightly, watching her brother shake Dumbledore’s hand. She watched as Sirius embraced Regulus in a tight hug in the shadows. Y/n smiled bittersweetly at their embrace as Regulus took her hand back in his. 
Sirius began to open his mouth, “No need to lie. I know he doesn’t care if I was here or not.”
Y/n shuffled on her feet, and Sirius took her into his arms. Sirius was shorter than Regulus, and he didn’t smell the same, but his hugs were just as comforting in a brotherly way. His hand caressed her hair, and Sirius couldn’t help the way his heart ached. He shouldn’t be the one hugging her, Remus should, but he isn’t. Sirius kissed her forehead and released her from his hug. 
“I’ll write to you guys.” 
“Don’t get into too much trouble.” Y/n replied with tear-filled eyes, “I can’t imagine you gone.”
Sirius smirked, “Yes, ma’am. Don’t you know I always obey the rules?”
“She’s being real, Sirius.” Regulus didn’t crack a smile, “This war isn’t a joke, and I’d- I’d like to see you next year when I graduate.”
“I’ll be there.” Sirius said solemnly, “I won’t leave you guys. They won’t take me alive.”
Y/n cracked a smile, “Good.”
Regulus nudged his girlfriend, and she wiped the tears from her cheeks, “Protect him. He gets reckless and forgets about himself. Don’t let him do anything stupid.” 
Sirius could still hear Remus’ voice in their first Order meeting, “I swear on all Merlin if they touch her, they’ll be sorry.” 
“‘Course. Don’t forget he’s still my boyfriend.” Sirius replied, and Y/n smiled, “‘S why I’m asking you and not James. Keep- Keep my brother safe, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
They joined the Order of the Phoenix without looking back. Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter quickly became some of the best Aurors of the Ministry of Magic. Sirius had made the Daily Prophet multiple for putting Death Eaters in Azkaban. Many citizens of the Wizarding community thought of him as the next Alastor Moody. 
Seventh year was the worst one yet. Most of the Slytherin Death Eaters were attacking the younger kids. Most of the older Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs had to defend them from the unforgivable curses. It seemed normal to hear the crucio curse being thrown away and seeing green flashes. It made Y/n sick to her stomach. 
It got so surreal that Y/n and Regulus had begun sleeping behind tapestries or hidden tunnels. Dormitories and common rooms were no longer safe. Their backs ached, and body’s sore from lying on concrete, but it was better than dying. Graduation was not a celebration, and no one from outside was allowed in, but Sirius waited for them at Kings Cross. 
The next time Y/n saw Remus was when she was being sworn into the Order, and he barely spared her a glance. Not long after the speech was being spoken, another person entered the meeting point. He was shockingly familiar with wavy black hair and blue-grey eyes. Remus jumped out of his seat, and James had to hold him back. Regulus released a breath and stood beside his girlfriend. 
“Now. I’m sure there’s a lot of confusion.” Dumbledore began calmly, “Regulus has sworn to be our spy.”
Remus growled, “He’s a Death Eater.”
“Exactly.” Remus glared at the old Professor, “Therefore, he can enter and participate in their meetings. Then he can come back here and report what he knows.” 
“I don’t like it any more than you do.” Regulus said, “I don’t want to put anyone in danger, but someone needs to do it.”
Remus went to speak, but Regulus cut him off, “Someone needs to protect your sister.”
Everyone stared in shock at the bold statement that came from the young Black brother's mouth, and Remus leaped from his seat, “She is a traitor. Just like you.”
Instinctively Regulus moved her behind him as Remus was now face to face with him, “She’s everything but. Wasn’t she the one who stopped Fenrir Greyback from killing you?”
“Shut up.”
“Wasn’t she the one who cleaned your wounds after the full moons before the Marauders?” 
“I’m warning you.”
“Wasn’t she the one who used to make you hot chocolate when the nightmares got too bad that you couldn’t sleep?”
Remus snapped, and Sirius pulled him away from Regulus. But they all saw how Y/n cowered when he lunged forward, how she flinched back, covering her face with her hands. Regulus kept a tight hold on her hand, and they watched as Sirius calmed Remus down, bringing him upstairs. When Remus was gone, Dumbledore spoke again. 
“Well, the first Order meeting will be announced in just a couple of days. It allows Y/n and Regulus to get in their positions.” Dumbledore announced, “It allows Y/n to get some training and Regulus to get Voldemort’s trust.”
Everyone dispersed. Y/n and Regulus apparated to a flat they had bought in London. It was relatively modern for the time and had everything they needed. The place was clean and brand new. When they landed in the living room, she went straight to the bedroom. Regulus prepared her a hot drink and set it at her bedside table with a warming charm. He laid beside her, placing her head on his heart. 
“Je Vous Aime.” His french accent was so smooth and gentle, like a baby blanket, “Je t'aime aussi.”
Everything just got more stressful as time passed. Regulus’ job got more and more dangerous, making Y/n worry profusely. It got to times where they had to pretend to throw curses back and forth so he could prove that he was loyal to them. It wasn’t until a rumor of a spy for the Death Eaters came out that Regulus’ job became crucial. It took three more meetings, and on October 15th Regulus knew who it was. 
He could remember the day vividly how Voldemort welcomed Peter Pettigrew to the Death Eaters with open arms. Regulus had stared in mock happiness but, in reality, had been shocked. Someone so close to the Potters had gone and betrayed him. So when Peter was absent from one meeting, Regulus brought it up. 
“They spy is Pettigrew.”
“No.” James chuckled, “You’re lying, right?”
Regulus shook his head, “He plans to kill you, Lily, and Harry on Halloween.”
Everyone stiffened. The air was tense, but Dumbledore smiled victoriously, “Beautiful work, Regulus. We’ll apprehend Pettigrew when he’s seen again.”
They had set up a false meeting where Peter got sent to Azkaban only two days later after Regulus announced he was the traitor. That sparked the war between them, and this time, Regulus was on the right side, the side he always wanted to be on. A week later, and on Halloween, Voldemort was dead. Many people's lives were lost, but many were saved. 
After the war, Remus had proposed to Sirius, and yet Y/n was still not invited to the wedding. Sirius had begged Remus to make amends with her. The war was over. This nonsense was not needed anymore. But Remus was stubborn, and Y/n was too afraid to approach him, so James gave her the invisibility cloak to watch her brother marry. Not the ideal way she planned on watching her brother and his love get married. 
A couple of months later, Regulus and Y/n did the same. Except they did it alone, with Sirius being their only witness and the person marrying them. Sirius couldn’t help but feel awful for Remus not being able to walk her down the aisle, not to see her in the pretty dress she had picked out. It wasn’t until fifteen years later when Y/n had two teenage boys, and a little girl did someone came knocking on her door during the winter holidays. 
Both boys were running around the house, and their little sister was trying to keep up. Two twin boys who were fifteen - Romeo and Romulus. A little girl who was just about ten named Ascella. Romulus was a carbon copy of Sirius. Romeo had the Lupin sandy hair and the Black family eyes with the Black family defined face. He was the best of both worlds. Ascella looked like a female Regulus. 
Romeo was the Keeper of the Slytherin house for Quidditch. Romulus played Beater for Gryffindor, and little Ascella would get her Hogwarts letter in just about a year. Regulus and Y/n both predicted she’d be in Gryffindor with her brave, mischievous nature. Y/n was the one to get the door with her two boys behind her. Ascella had been called into the living room by her father. 
Y/n was shocked to meet familiar green eyes, “Um- hi.”
“Hey.” Remus said nervously, scratching the back of his head, “I hope I’m not intruding.”
Both boys behind her looked confused, “Mum, who is this?”
A pang of hurt hit Remus, “This- This is my brother.”
“Brother?” Romulus questioned, “Like he’s our uncle?”
“Yes.” Y/n retorted, “Now you boys grab your sister. Go do something upstairs while we talk, yeah?” 
Romeo looked crestfallen, “Mum, we aren’t five.”
“I know, but we have a lot of talking to do.”
Romeo sighed, “Fine but be safe.” 
She kissed the tops of their heads, “Of course.”
Ascella was running to her brothers within seconds after Romulus called for her. Remus saw her black hair flutter around as she followed her brothers up the steps. Y/n smiled and motioned for Remus to come inside. The house was lovely and decorated for the holidays. Y/n walked through the hallway to the living room, and Remus followed. 
“I apologize for the mess.” She chuckled, “Having the boys home makes the house messy.”
Remus saw the pictures on the wall, “A Slytherin and a Gryffindor.”
Y/n smiled, “Yep. Romeos the Slytherin, and Romulus is the Gryffindor. We have a feeling Ascella will be in Gryffindor too.”
He placed the picture back down and sighed, “Merlin, what did I miss?”
Regulus was still stiff and stern, “A lot if you couldn’t tell already. That’s what happens when you call your sister a traitor and decide to disown her.”
All three children were listening secretly and grimaced at their father's words, “But don’t worry. I’ve done your job. I’ve been there for her, protected her, and made sure she was happy.” Regulus snapped, “And Sirius did your job of being the children’s uncle.”
“He didn’t even tell me you guys had kids.” Remus muttered, “‘Course he didn’t. In case you don’t remember, you didn’t want anything to do with us.” Regulus retorted. 
The children had never heard their father speak this way with so much ice in his words. Regulus was blunt and unapologetic, “We wanted you to be a part of our family, Remus, we really did. But we didn’t know how you’d feel.” Y/n informed. 
“Plus, the last time you saw us, you tried to kill Regulus.” Ascella covered her ears, and Romeo ushered them to his room to stop listening, “Yeah, so forgive us for not inviting you to be a part of our family.”
Regulus punctuated his statement by putting his arm around Y/n’s waist, “I’m sorry.” Remus murmured. 
“I’m really sorry for how I acted. It was immature and stupid of me.” He continued, “I didn’t know how to feel when I heard my sister was with a Death Eater at the time, and I was just scared.”
Y/n stood up and hugged him, “Remus. What you did isn’t going to be forgiven. I’m sorry.”
He had tears glazing in his emerald green eyes that dulled with age, “I know we were young, but that doesn’t excuse the words you said or how you acted. Trying to kill my husband and saying god awful things about me.”
Y/n took her seat beside Regulus, and Remus sniffled, “You did this. Not us.” Regulus reminded, and Remus nodded. 
“Okay, I just- I’ll go.” Remus stood up from his seat and walked down the hallway to the front door; he took in every family portrait. 
When he got to the door, Y/n opened it for him, and he walked out, “Remus.”
He turned, and Y/n hugged him one last time. His chin rested on top of her head, breathing in her shampoo that still hadn’t changed since third year. The same perfume from fourth year. Her arms fit around him just the same way as they had when they were little children running around the lake. Y/n kissed his cheek and released herself from his embrace. 
“I may not be your sister.” Y/n repeated with tear-filled eyes, and Remus allowed the tears to fall; her two boys were standing beside her, “But you’ll always be my brother.”
The door had closed, and Remus decided that that was the end of his chapter. He had underlined, circled, highlighted, and folded every significant page, but this was the end of the chapter. He was flipping to the next page, where the new chapter began. The new chapter where he had to live without his sister or his niece and nephews. 
Remus always loved fragile, cracked paperbacks. 
3K notes · View notes
beomglocks · 3 years
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better ; c.yj
summary : you deserve better
pairing : ex-boyfriend/mafia leader!yeonjun x reader
warnings & other : angst, mention of trauma, stalking and kidnapping, yeonjun breaks into your house, refer to picture for visual, i saw this edit on ig and now my mind has fuel, listen to better by WOOGIE.
w/c : ???
---
the sunlight peeks through your shades and onto your face, causing you to stir in your sleep. you squeeze your eyes tightly shut hoping your brain can trick itself into sleeping for just a couple more hours longer.
it works for a couple of seconds. closing your eyes tight may have tricked your brain into thinking it was still dark enough to indulge in more sleep.
you sigh peacefully, hoping to get back to your previous dream but you're cut off by the sound of a door being slammed shut.
you open your eyes but remain in bed. it had to be around 7am at least which means no one should be in your house. well, no one should be in your house period. if it was a robber, they sure do work early.
you get out of bed, not caring about your lack of proper clothes because if you were gonna die, what's the point? you take careful steps toward your kitchen to make sure you don't alert whoever may be in there.
the sound of things being moved around and frustrated groans grows louder the closer you get to the room. you grab your nearby safety bat from a corner in your hallway and bring it above your head to swing.
when you come into the line of sight of the intruder in your house you halt yourself from swinging and bring the bat down to your side, the person not realizing yet that you're there.
anger bubbles inside of you at the sight of the sleeve of tattoos and dark head of hair that you recognize all too well.
"what the fuck are you doing in my house yeonjun?"
the boy in question seemingly pays no mind to your question and simply continues rummaging through your fridge and cupboards. "where the hell do you keep your peanut butter?"
you cross your arms at him. "i asked you a question."
"so did i," he retorts. you roll your eyes at him. "you're in my house ass hole, in case you forgot."
he subtly rolls his eyes away from your line of sight and stands up from the fridge. now that he's seen you, his eyes linger on your body for longer than you're ok with. he leans back on your counter with a smile, a visible change in his demeanor, "good morning."
"answer my question," you frown. he sighs, "we got busted and i needed a place to crash."
"yeonjun!" you exasperate. "what? i slept on the couch out of respect for you," he raises his eyebrow, taking a bite out of his slice of dry bread.
"what the fuck do you want me to do, thank you? i told you not to involve me in your mafia gang whatever shit anymore and you go and do this," you gesture to the mess on your countertop.
"yeonjun you're the only other person here! what's with all this shit on my table?!" he continues eating nonchalantly as you scold him and try to clean up as best as you can.
"can you calm down," he sighs. he takes another bite of bread before placing the plate on top of a random box of pizza. "no one saw me come here, you'll be fine."
you continue cleaning, without saying a word to him. you feel like if you open your mouth you'll explode. you clench your teeth as you watch him look through your fridge again out of the corner of your eye.
it's been months since you last saw him and this is the first thing he does. from the counter, you have a pretty good view of his back as he looks through the fridge.
even though you hate him, your mind wanders back in time when that same back would be littered with your marks and scratches. the neck tattoo that would be colored with hickeys he would proudly wear is now bare and untouched.
your eyes go up to his head which thankfully is still turned away from you. the pink mullet he used to rock is now a dark undercut with hints of red. it looks good on him, you have to admit. his ears have more piercings than you remember and you hold back a smile thinking about the time when you would play with his ears and he would tell you to stop.
"you're awfully quiet, what're you thinking about?" he asks, still facing the fridge. you have to remember your relationship with the mafia leader ended months ago, whatever feelings that were present right now were most likely your heart missing human interaction.
"thinking about how i want you out of my house," you mumble, picking up a half empty cup of ramen. he sighs, standing up and fixing his messy hair.
"i said i was sorry," he leans back on the fridge, watching you clean. you bite your tongue, picking up the empty pizza box and tossing it in the trash. "sorry doesn't make up for trauma yeonjun, that's what you don't understand," you say quietly.
"if i knew that would happen to you i wouldn't have left you alone, you know i would've had soobin or taehyun be around you 24/7!" he reasons.
"well you didn't," you breathe out. you give him a tight lipped smile and for the first time in months he's reminded of the pain he saw in you eyes when they brought you back.
"you decided drugs and money were more important than your fucking girlfriend that you love "oh-so-much" getting stalked and kidnapped."
“that’s not tr-“ “that’s what it felt like!” you place an empty soda bottle on the table. he blinks at your outburst. in all the time you’ve spent together, you were never one to lash out even when he annoyed you to no end.
he stares at you for a moment before closing his eyes and biting the inside of his cheek in frustration. "y/n," he sighs angrily.
"even after i killed them all? it wasn't enough for you! you still left me," he steps closer to you and you unconsciously step back. you recognized this tone on yeonjun but he never used it on you. it's gravely and deep and on the rare occasion that you did hear it, the outcome was never good.
"yeonjun..."
"no, look- i know what happened to you was fucked up but i tried my best! it still wasn't enough- you still left and didn't even tell me.." he chuckles at this. "do you know how long it took to find this fucking place?"
you look down, suddenly feeling small. any bravery you had has now dissipated. it's like your mind and body were so used to yeonjun that you just knew when to submit.
"you were my only sense of normalcy in that place," he mumbles. "sure i've got the boys but they're not you.."
his head is hung low, making his hair cover his eyes. your first instinct would've been to run into his arms and pepper him in kisses. endless strings of 'i love you' to reassure both of you that what happened wasn't either of your faults.
you bite your lip, "is that why all this food is like this..."
he doesn't move from his spot. "im sorry, i miss you." you almost feel your heart break. you hate seeing yeonjun so messed up about something that he just eats to forget because it's his only other form of happiness, well apart from you.
you walk up to him, bringing your arms around his slim frame. at first, he doesn't hug you back since he wasn't expecting that but soon enough he engulfs you as if he's been touch starved for ages.
"im sorry, please come back to me? i'll do better, i promise you won't get hurt anymore hm?" he sounds hopeful and it makes you close your eyes.
"you need to leave," you say quietly. you feel him hug you tighter as he places his chin on your head. "please let me stay with you," he pleads.
you force yourself to step away from him which takes a lot more effort than you thought. you look up at his face and he looks so broken. it’s rare to see a mafia leader look this vulnerable but yeonjun opens himself up to you like this at times and you feel lucky, in a weird way.
he watches you expectantly, waiting for your answer. “yeonjun i just- i don’t feel safe around you anymore.”
you swear you see his heart shatter right in front of your face.
you want to hit yourself but it’s true. where you once felt peace you only feel fear. maybe once upon a time yeonjun was like your savior but now he brings pain, especially with the type of work he does.
he looks down, biting his lip. you can tell he's trying to act like what you said didn't just tear a hole straight through his heart. "you know i'll still watch over you and keep you safe," he promises.
you smile lightly at him, glad that he hasn't completely given up. "i know." he wastes no time stealing a kiss on your forehead, quickly moving away before you can complain or push him away.
"you still fucked up my kitchen though," you say when he starts walking away to your door. he only shrugs as you watch him walk out your door and out onto the streets.
you can only sigh, hoping he'll be safe until he can get his base back.
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Text
Graveyard Siblings (5)
[Masterlink] (PART 1) (PART 4)
-----
Mari and Cass sometimes switch their suits as they have the same body type. Cass would sometimes go out in full Hellbat gear and give the appearance that Hellbat is out more often than she actually is.
So Orphan/Black Bat also sometimes uses guns.
This also helps with concealing secret identities. Maria was rescued by Hellbat from Joker’s Henchmen. (Vicki Vale was getting sus of the new Wayne and Hellbat.)
Unfortunately since Hellbat rarely comes out and she had already made all of her appearance for the month and it wasn’t a busy weekend, the public had come to the conclusion that Hellbat has a crush on the newest Wayne.
Basically everyone thought that Mari has a crush on herself. Which led to some teasing and escalated to Mari announcing that Jason had a crush on Red Hood on live TV.
It didn’t help that a video of Red Hood and Jason re-enacting Romeo and Juliet with Jason on his apartment balcony and Red Hood on the roof was posted on the internet a few days later. (Thank you, Trixx and Tim’s awesome video editing skills)
Sadly, it was taken down 24 hours later. (Tim and the others have multiple copies of it, on the cloud or hardware, hidden around in the manor and their respective safehouses in the US.)
Some people kidnapped Jason to hopefully gain leverage over the Red Hood and to their dismay and nightmares for years to come, Hellbat came instead.
One lucky and incredibly brave reporter asked why she was there instead of her brother.
Mari being a little shit, “Red Hood may be a tough and scary guy but when it comes to his feelings, my brother is a chicken.”
Pictures of Jason tackling Hellbat somehow never made it into any papers.
The criminal underworld hasn’t taken a hint and Jason has been kidnapped a few more times.
Other times Jason was kidnapped:
Robin: Red Hood made a fool of himself in front of Todd recently and he doesn’t dare to show his face.
Spoiler: He was taking too damn long checking his hair even though I told him that no one was going to see it under his helmet and he was so offended that he is currently sulking in the bathroom.
Red Robin: Red Hood can’t think straight when he is around Jason. I mean have you seen the dude.
Arsenal*during a rare visit to Gotham*: Red Hood owes me one now.
Dick finally ends it by going out as Red Hood and rescuing Jason. Gotham is happy that Redson (Red Hood x Jason) ship has finally sailed.
-------
Kate, Babs, Cass, Steph and Mari were out on Mari’s first girls’ night since her move to the manor.
This is set a little after she came back from Paris with Jason.
They watched rom-com movies, did hair and nails, gossip about the superhero community and bitch and vent to each other.
Marinette off-handedly mentioned the crazy shits she had done during her stint as Ladybug. It started with asking about the T-rex in the Batcave and she mentions jumping into the mouth of a live one before.
Everyone in the room was shocked and after a few more questions, it was obvious that she was very reckless and self-sacrificing. Yep, she was going to fit into this crazy family just fine.
And Holy Shit. There is so much trauma packed into this kid. She needs lots of therapy.
Babs finally decided that they all needed to get out and have some fun. All in their respective suits and they went out.
Joined by Harley, Ivy and Selina.
Plagg came along because I want Plagg to meet Selina.
It was a chaotic night and it was a miracle that Bruce didn’t find out about what the girls did.
-------
Batman and Red Hood were on patrol together when Selina jumped in front of them.
“Hello, Boys”
“What do you want, Catwoman?”
“I want to meet my new prodigy, Kitty Noire.”
Cue Marinette jumping down from her hiding spot, transformed with the Black Cat Miraculous. “Hiya.”
Red Hood carries her like a potato sack and points his gun at the other two.
“Nope, she’s my sister and I called dibs. I adopted her. She’s off limits.”
“Legally, she’s mine.” Batman coughed out.
“I did it first. Emotionally. She’s my emotional support sister. You have plenty kids already, B and Selina, get your own.”
“Hey, I am still here and can hear you.”- Maria
-------
Alya was worried for Lila. She had been acting weirdly for the past month.
She looked very out of sorts. Her clothes weren’t in order and her hair was in disarray. She had bags under her eyes and her eyes looked wild. Lila didn’t look like herself at all.
She jumped at any sound and flinched at really sudden movements.
Alya tried to find out what was wrong with Lila and received vague answers.
One time Lila said that Marinette is to blame.
Alya reaches the somewhat right conclusion that Marinette was haunting Lila and hurting her because Lila used to come to school with bruises and claims that Marinette did it.
Alya goes to Marinette’s grave to desecrate it. (Yeah, go anger the ghost that is haunting someone.)
Unfortunately, the moment she tries to do something, the sky turns dark, clouds appear and the wind begins whipping. A Lightning strike near her and there was a cloaked figure beside her with a scythe.
All Alya saw from the figure was the blood-red lips in a very sharp grin and glowing blue eyes, raising the scythe high before she ran away. The scythe swiped the air where her head once was.
Alya didn’t get far before she tripped and blacked out.
When she woke up, she found herself in the hospital with no idea how she got there.
She was told that somebody found her with a concussion in the park and took her to the hospital.
------
The next one on Mari’s hit list was Natalie.
She wasn’t as involved in the whole thing like Lila, Adrien or Gabriel but she still did it anyways.
Her punishment is a little mild compared to the others and was more of a warning to Gabriel.
Natalie woke up in the middle of the night to see a not-so-dead Ladybug sitting on her vanity chair with the moonlight from the windows illuminating her body and her neck. Her suit was torn exactly like the day of that battle with blood dripping down her arms and from her open wounds. The shadows kept her face hidden but glowing blue eyes stared at her.
Natalie was scared at first. But she regained her normal cool composure.
“I assume you are here to extract your revenge for aiding in your unfortunate demise. But before you kill me, I regret my part in my entire thing and I apologize for everything I have done against you even though I knew it was wrong.”
“At least you show remorse over what you have done. Visiting my grave when even my parents didn’t and leaving flowers. I love those purple hyacinths by the way. Did you know that they mean sorry in the language of the flowers?”
“Why are you stalling my death? Just kill me already.”
“Madam Sancouer. You just played a minor role in my downfall compared to what Adrien and Lila Rossi did to me. And you showed more guilt over your actions than they ever did and Adrien claimed to have loved me. And like I have told the Bats, Death is too swift of a punishment.”
“Who are the bats?”
“None of your concern. You should be more concerned about yourself.”
“Lila sees the ghosts of her past and they haunt her. Adrien is in a living nightmare and has no control over his actions and is despised by everyone. What are you going to do to me?”
“Well, since you show some guilt over your actions, let me tell you a little secret. I am not dead. Not really. I mean I did die. But there was a spell in the grimoire that revived me. It took a few days to work.”
Marinette changed to her normal form. It was a little jarring to see an older Marinette Dupain-Cheng sitting on her vanity chair like it was a throne. The Ladybug suit and the wounds were gone. She looked a little familiar.
“Why are you telling me this? What was the point?” Natalie faltered as she wondered why the girl looked familiar. Marinette moved closer and her face was fully illuminated by the moonlight.
“I intend to take everything by which I mean everything from Gabriel Agreste for what he did.”
“M. Agreste just wanted his wife back. You just gave him your Miraculous, you would still have everything.”
“What difference would it make? Sure I had friends and family before but they turned out to be disappointing. I might have become a famous designer like I dreamed of and can't achieve because I died. Besides, he never said about wanting his wife to come back in his tedious monologues. For all we knew back then, he wanted them for world domination. He showed that he would end the world for them. For kwamis’ sake, he nearly started World War III, just for a pair of earring and a ring. He was willing to kill me to have her back. No wait, he did that too. If he actually read the translated grimoire or asked the Guardian or at least someone with magic for help instead or maybe used his head and made some who can heal as his champion using the Butterfly, we wouldn’t even be in this mess. Face it, Mme Sancour, your boss is a power-hungry and very controlling maniac who is also thankfully an idiot.”
“But- he- he just-. You are just a child, what do you know? M. Agreste knew what he was doing.”
“A child who had a normal life up until he tried to ruin it with his idiotic schemes and hiring Lila to do it. A child who had to fight a war on her own.”
“I am sorry you had to go through that but I doubt you and your little revenge rampage is going to solve anything.”
Ghostly Chains wrapped around Natalie’s body, squeezing tight like it was squeezing the life out of her.
“I was all for sparing you, you know. If you had actually listened to my side of the story, you would have spared from my ‘little revenge rampage’. This is going to be a little painful. Sorry about that.” In a tone that was definitely not sorry.
Pain coursed through Natalie’s body. Her skin crawled and itched as pitch back feathers grew out of it. Her bones turned to dust and reformed.
Where Natalie Sancour once was, there was a raven.
An omen of death and destruction for one Gabriel Agreste.
Marinette leaned down towards the raven. Natalie tried to peck her eye out but Marinette held the beak in a firm grip.
“Ah. ah ah. Luckily for you this is temporary. Mostly. Every night, you will assume this shape and each night the longer you will stay in this form. Slowly counting down the days until Gabriel’s downfall. Since you love helping him so much, you are going to help him know how long he has to live. The night you are a raven from sunset to sunrise, that sunrise starts the day Gabriel Agreste will be utterly destroyed.”
She released the beak and headed towards the window.
"Send him my regards."
With that, she was gone.
(Part 6)
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thefanficmonster · 3 years
Text
Partner
Ethan Winters (Resident Evil Biohazard) x Reader (Gender Neutral)
Warnings: Spoilers for Resident Evil 8:Village, Swearing, Mentions of injury
Genre: Angsty Fluff, Comfort
Summary: Following the final battle in the Dimitrescu Castle, Ethan is surprised to stumble upon a person who witnessed the whole debacle, offering him a safe place to patch up his wounds and rest for a little while.
Requested by Anon. Hi dear! Thank you so much for your request! So sorry you’ve had to wait so long but here it finally is! Hope you come across it and enjoy reading it! Love, Vy ❤
“That was...something else.“ Ethan Winters mutters to himself as he limps his way out of the Dimitrescu Castle which is now vacant in terms of residence - his doing. He killed Alcina Dimitrescu and her daughters, all arguably in self defense and with little guilt to follow. However, plenty of trauma’s definitely attached to him following the horrific events he had to go through and the things he had to see between the walls of those luxurious rooms hiding dark secrets of the vampires who took pleasure in torturing people, and wreaking havoc over the villagers who feared them.
“At least they won’t hurt anyone any longer.“ He tells himself, giving the monster of a structure one final look before he continues back towards the center of the village where he’s gonna rethink what he’s got to do next, gather his bearings, take a breath and keep going. He has no other option but to keep going, he won’t allow himself to quit no matter what danger he faces. In his mind, he’s convinced himself that he’s already seen the worst, it’s easier on him that way, it suppresses the fear he’d feel otherwise. The last thing he wants is to think what’s in store for him ahead, he’d rather focus on what’s up to him to do next.
“And we can’t thank you enough.“
The sudden presence of an unfamiliar voice startles him, causing him to whip out his gun and point it in the direction it came from. However, he quickly finds his deadly tight grip loosening ever so slightly because he realizes he’s pointing the barrel at a very human-looking and seemingly harmless person.
“Who are you? Who’s ‘we’?“ Ethan still refuses to let his guard down though, just cause it may not be a life or death situation, doesn’t mean this person won’t bring him trouble and Lord knows that’s the last thing he needs right now.
On instinct, the person takes a step back, “I speak on the behalf of all the remaining villagers. I mean, it was only a matter of time before we too became victims in the Dimitrescu Castle basement. I was next, actually, but the commotion you created allowed for me to escape. I owe you my life, foreigner.“ The speak hurriedly and in a hushed tone, as if the fear of their torturers overhearing them still lives within them despite the monsters being deceased.
“Glad I could help you.“ He nods curtly, remaining at the distance of seven feet between them, “My name’s Ethan Winters by the way.“
They give him the tiniest of smiles, “Y/N L/N, pleased to meet you.” Their gaze gives him a quick onceover, assessing the damage the horrors of the castle have inflicted on him. Their eyes widen in shock at the many bleeding wounds all over his body but what appears to rattle them most is the severe injury that’s causing his limp as well as the missing finger - a poorly wrapped would that has surprisingly not started getting infected yet. “Look, I know you don’t trust me, but I don’t trust you to take care of yourself either. I live in that windmill over there in the outskirts, come with me, I’ll help you with...well, with all that. You seem rather hopeless at medical care.”
While he could refuse their offer, he wouldn’t be able to deny the fact that they’re right - he knows the basics of first aid, but his injuries are far too gone for simple first aid, especially when taken into account that he doesn’t even have any supplies. How he’s not died from blood loss is a surprise to him as much as it is to them.
“What’s my guarantee you won’t turn on me?“ He finally asks after a decent amount of time contemplating it.
They shrug, “You have none. But, you have the guarantee that if I turn on you, you’ll be the one coming out of that altercation alive.” Their gaze sizes up the guns he’s got on him, emphasizing their point.
Suddenly, Ethan feels sorta ridiculous - after all, guns or no guns, he could probably take on them easily with just his knife. Regardless, no one can blame him for being cautious. “Fine.“ He mutters, “But please don’t turn on me, I’ve already had one hell of a day.“
Y/N nods, motioning for him to follow them, “I promise I won’t.”
                                                               *  *  *
“Wow, what a back-stabber! Some friends you have, Winters.“ Y/N comments as they set down a cup of tea on the small wooden table in front of the freshly patched up Ethan.
Turns out, he made the right move by trusting them - they used to be the village’s main nurse until it all went to hell and they went to hide in the shadows of their windmill where they, as evidenced, still are today. That being said, not only did they have all the necessary equipment to fix him up, but they also had the skills and knowledge needed to use that equipment.
“There are those friends who borrow money from you and never pay you back and there are those who shoot your wife randomly while you two are trying to have dinner. Two types of friends out there really.“ He sighs, his tired, a thousand yard stare following the path of the steam levitating from the cup that’s been placed in front of him. “I have no time to dwell on that right now though. My daughter is in grave danger and I have no idea where I should even start looking for her.“
Y/N sits down on a chair opposite his, “Well, you’ve already defeated one of the village Lords looking for Rose, process of elimination should reveal where she is - wherever she is, it has to be one of the Lords’ residence. Mother Miranda trusted Lady Dimitrescu most so it’s a wonder why she wasn’t there, but then again, Heisenberg’s factory is damn near impenetrable, one cannot enter unless he wants them to so she could have entrusted her precious cargo to him.”
“How do I get to that fucker?“ Ethan tightens his hand into a fist, squeezing so tightly his knuckles turn white. There’s so much within him, so much that’s happened to him, so much in such a short amount of time and he’s had no time to deal with any of it. He’s a volcano waiting to erupt, but he has to do so at the right time - in front of the right danger to show he’s not hopeless or weak as his opponent may think. “Where do I find him?“
“He’s in the outskirts too just on the other side of the village.“ They sigh, regretting every word they are saying since they know they are just feeding him information on how to get himself in the worst kind of danger he’s probably ever been in. “That key you have, it’s not complete to access his quarters yet. By the looks of it...“ they observe the key Ethan has placed on the table, “You can only get to Lord Donna Beneviento’s estate, and I wouldn’t suggest heading there before you heal at least a bit more. Her and her dolls are a real nightmare. Of course, I haven’t experienced it for myself, but the stories are enough to get an idea.“
“So you’re telling me I have to waste my time with the little fish before I can finally get to Rose? You know how long that’ll take? You know how long she’ll have to be at the mercy of a fucking lunatic until I can finally save her?!“ Ethan snaps, banging his fist against the table, bad idea considering his hand’s been just patched up. The impact sends a jolt of pain up his arm that makes him hiss.
“I get it, I understand, Ethan. But you are a lot less likely to get to your daughter if you’re dead, you know.“ Y/N cautiously explains, their eyes narrowing a bit as they wait for the pearl white bandages to soak crimson, sighing in relief when they don’t. “Speaking of how likely you may or may not be to get to her on time, I’d also have to mention your odds would be significantly higher if you were to receive help from someone else. You’d need someone to have your back throughout all the shit you’re about to go through, especially Heisenberg’s factory where two eyes are not enough to track each and every threat that might pounce at you.“
Calmer now, Ethan gives them a puzzled look, “What are you suggesting?“
“I’m suggesting - well, I’m offering you my partnership.“ They explain, watching his expression change to one of knowing and understanding. “Of course, you’d have to give up one of those guns and hand it down to me, but I think that’s a small price to pay in exchange for an extra pair of eyes and limbs to guard and help you.“
Ethan’s first instinct is to decline. He can’t afford to see another person dying around him or because of him, he wouldn’t be able to stand it. But then again, just like he had no guarantee they wouldn’t turn on him, he has none that they’ll die. Of course, he’ll do everything in his power to keep them and himself alive and they don’t seem like they are in it to half-ass it either. Quite the contrary, they seem perfectly determined and ready to face the same shit he’s about to.
“What do you get in return?“ He asks, his gaze suspiciously measuring each line on their face to gauge their true intentions. He’s a complete stranger to them, they’d have no reason to be this selfless for him, it’s obvious they are aiming at something bigger.
Y/N scoffs, leaning back in their chair with a small bitter smile on their face, their gaze resting on the tabletop and avoiding his, “You really wanna know? I want my revenge - revenge for what they did to this village, to me, to so many people I cared about and to those I didn’t even know. But...” they trail off, pausing to sigh out a heavy sigh before continuing, “But I also wanna redeem myself. I knew I should’ve done all in my power to stop them when their havoc was still on the rise, I knew I should’ve done more, but I didn’t. And now I’ll die trying.”
“You won’t die.“ He says sharply, barely a second after the last word left their lips, “I won’t allow it.“ He adds, taking a bit of the edge off his voice.
Their eyes come up to meet his, searching for what he means, “Does that mean...“
“It sure does, partner.“ Within the blink of an eye, his pistol is on the table, fully loaded and free for their taking, “You just give a green light and we’re off.“
Y/N lets out a sound between a laugh and a gasp as their hands quickly wrap around the gun, looking at it in disbelief before whispering a quick ‘thank you’. Ethan allows them to marvel at it for a bit longer but they don’t wait another second. “Get your ass up, Winters. We have monsters to kill.”
He needn’t be told twice
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subwaysurf45 · 3 years
Text
Ghost Rider
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summary: on a mission you drop and few flirty comments to Bucky,  he might not pick up on them but Steve helps him figure it out. 
pairing: Ghost Rider!Reader x Bucky Barnes. 
words: 2375
warning: fighting, violence, burns(?), sexual innuendos 
Masterlist!
the whole “demon with the skull on fire” look was kinda hard to keep hidden, not that you wanted to. You were recruited by S.H.E.I.L.D. after a fight, the Ghost Rider needed to be stopped but you had info on the real bad guys that made you who you were, you helped the Avengers with hunting. 
your performing days were over, after crashes and trauma you tried to hide away...like before, the head on fire thing was very memorable; but you wanted to forget. 
Tony and Banner worked together to find a face for you, and after sometime -and a little input to make your hair fire-red- you looked normal, for an Avenger. 
The team sat in the conference room, Cap was leading the discussion. He was going over the plan and all the different ways it could end and the proper ways to handle the multiple endings. 
Bucky was sat beside you, he always found a way to be near, not too close but just enough. “I like the face, forgot to tell you- I mean, I didn’t see the skull because you were in a cell and only Banner and Tony saw it but still...looks nice,” he whispered, you smiled and nodded. When you looked back to Steve, out of the corner of your eye you saw Bucky shake his head, he muttered  something to himself before listening in again. 
“Like the hair,” you whispered after a couple seconds so you didn’t get caught like school, Bucky had just cut the long locks to a nice trim. “looks strong and healthy, like someone could pull it.” you joked 
“Thanks, it really stays out of my eyes-”
“Buck.” Steve slightly raised his voice, “c’mon, man.”
“Sorry,” Bucky whispered before looking out of the corner of his eye to you, you felt like kids trying to be proper in front of the adults. Bucky flashed a smirk before really listening. 
*****
You were all in the quinjet, your combat pants were full of knives, you preferred knives rather than guns; it just happened like that. Bucky sat across from you, you tried not to look at him because of his intense stare you thought your new face was going to melt off if you really focused on it. 
Everything was ready, your uniform was set. or so you thought, Bucky stood and kneeled beside you, His nimble fingers going to your left calf to zip up an open pocket. His hand rested on your knee as he took one final scan, looking at your legs and pockets. His thumb swayed back and forth as he checked, as he stood he used your thigh to get a little push up even though he didn’t need it. 
“Wow,” he dusted off his own knee from the dirty floor, “great thighs, you should teach me your workout routine.” He smirked before going back to his seat, his tongue flicked up and rested on his tooth, he was really going for it. 
and you weren’t one to lose in a battle of flirty comments, the first thing that came to mind was blurted out with the coolest tone. 
“they make great earmuffs,” you winked, but Bucky just nodded, he didn’t get the joke and you were now wondering if that complement he gave you wasn’t supposed to be sexy, he just thought you were strong.
*****
You were all camped out by the building which was deep in the forest, everyone was in position. The rain was beating down hard, you could hear thunder from afar but you knew it was getting closer. You were slightly slipping up in the mud, your boot would get caught and would almost fall off. 
the earpiece was buzzing, everyone was confirming their status and what they saw. The tall trees covered the moonlight so you would have to rely on the earpieces way more than a typical mission. 
“west entrance, clear.” you whispered. 
slowly everyone worked their way inside, your door was open so you went right in. You did have a gun on you but you knew if anyone came to fight you’d switch to knives, but long distance needed guns. 
All you needed was files, this group had too much information. 
Bucky was on the second floor, he and Nat were getting files loaded on the hard drives. She was typing away while Bucky covered her six, he scanned around and around even though the building was extremely dead and quiet. It didn’t look dead, there were no cobwebs or any tipped chairs, it looked like an office that was in use. 
“this isn’t right, they would have someone protecting the files.” Bucky muttered and left Nat’s back, going to the doorway where he came in to look again. When he turned, she was there. “I have this feeling, I don’t know wha-aah!” 
You heard a scream from upstairs, you dropped what you were doing and headed up, gun ready to open fire. Nat was looking around and breathing hard. 
“what is it?” you asked. 
“Bucky- he was there- and then not there- they’re like assassins, they are so quiet.” She was paranoid, you’d never seen her like that before. “I have all the info, but we need to find Bucky.”
the earpieces were constantly running, everyone else was listening. “We have to roll out, we’ll get Bucky soon.” Sam said, “this place is freaking me out.” 
“We can’t just leave,” you shake your head, but Natasha was already leading you out.
As you reached the outside Natasha let go of her death grip, you shook off her hands and looked back to the building, something was wrong; there should be sounds of movement.
“It’s too dark in there and this won’t end well, I’m calling the shots and I say no.'' Steve put his foot down and towered over, you were a little shorter but the build of that man made you feel small.
You turned back and headed to the door, Steve tried to grab hold of you but he retracted his hand with a hiss. He looked at the palm of his hand and saw it was red, there were already pus bubbles forming.
“You burnt me?” Steve yelled.
You closed your eyes as Steve yelled nothing at you, you needed to help Bucky and you were going to do whatever you needed to do. Your head started to heat gradually, like boiling water. The fake couldn’t hold your heat, the jaw began to melt exposing the skull you used to sport; a little melted near your left eye. But what changed the most was your hair, like a bonfire it was big and tall; you were now taller than Steve. Red flames licked the air as the blue flames in the middle stayed almost still, a ball of light from the actual fire on your head lit around you, allowing you to see.
“I did burn you, third degree.” You sneered and walked to the door, “and if you’re gonna leave Bucky and make me save him, get me Steve’s bike.” You left them with the sound of the door slamming to echo around the vacant forest, it rang louder than thunder and rain.
You walked around, trying to hear for any sign of life. Your heart dropped when you heard a muffled scream, it had to be Bucky. Your feet stomped and echoed up the stairs and the screaming got louder and more despite, when you turned the corner you saw Bucky strapped by the ankles and wrists to a medical table, his eyes were wide with fear and his mouth was stuffed with some rag. 
“oh god,” you muttered and ripped out the cloth in his mouth. 
Bucky didn’t even give himself time to breathe, “ghost! It’s fucking ghosts- and they went through me- i can see your jaw bone- and then they could-your head in on fire- and then I’m tied- and- BEHIND YOU!” 
you turned and saw a ghost, your flaming hair swooshed and shot out sparks because of how fast you turned. The ghost had a knife in his hand, and three emerged from behind him. They were opaque and seemed like ghost zombies, parts of them were missing. 
There was a stand off for three seconds before the fighting started, and Bucky could barely see what was going on. You danced around the ghosts with ease and it seemed as though you knew what was coming, he wanted to help but as much as he tugged on the restraints he couldn’t break free. HIs body was about to give out, he was in shock and he was tired like everyone else; but being tied up made him remember his Hydra days and that was enough to make him become small. 
“I got you,” you muttered and untied him, the ghosts were gone. 
“how did you-...?” Bucky didn’t need to finish his sentence. 
“I took one of their knives and used it on them, they couldn’t die from our real weapons so I had to use theirs, it was easy.” you got him out and helped him up,  Bucky was putting most of his body weight onto you. 
“You’re warm,” Bucky tiredly muttered, he was about to pass out. 
“I know, I have fire hair,” you said with a smirk, the fire helped you out of the building. Just for safe measures you leaned down and allowed your hair to light the wall, the rain that was pouring outside would put out your fire and you’d just have normal hair but it would also put out the fire that would start in the building; you didn’t want it to burn the entire forest down. 
Bucky was about to collapse on you, his eyelids hovered and barely stayed open.  he looked sick, his face was green and extremely pale. 
“I-I need to sit..” Bucky slurred and fell against the bottom of the staircase, “I think they drugged me...” You tried to pick him back up again but he was heavier than you. 
“Buck, we gotta go,” you warned. 
he sloppy grin covered his face, “you’re cute when you’re stressed, I love it!” he sang, “you’re always so cute, I just wanna put you in my back pocket and take you everywhere with me- Oh! I could put you in my backpack and... oh that a good idea, good one, James.” Bucky giggled as he thought of taking you everywhere with him. 
“You’re definitely drugged,” you giggled and got him up again, when he protested you thought of staying for a bit longer but the fire you light was fast approaching, “Shit!'' you yanked Bucky up and headed for the door, only then did you notice a oxygen pipe running down the wall, “Bucky was gotta go!” 
you busted through the door and smiled widely at Steve’s bike waiting there for you, you carried Bucky over and put him on the seat and you got in front of him. 
“My butt is wet!” Bucky yelled like a child, it had been there for a while because of the pool of water on the seat.
“Hold on!” you yelled, the engine revved and as your feet left the ground the bike took off. There was mud everywhere, little potholes and murky water splashing up. you spotted a ramp-type-mud-thing near a tree and went for it. Bucky saw it too and grabbed hold, “Bucky!” you yelled. 
“What?” his voice was shaky. 
“That’s my boob!” you screamed as you went up the ramp, the building exploded behind you and Bucky forgot to move his hand, the loud noise made him hold tighter, “Ow!’ you grumbled as you landed, going at top speed. 
Bucky lowered his hand, “sorry, sorry, sorry, god i didn’t mean to, sorry,” he kept repeating himself, you could feel the blush radiating on his cheeks from behind you. 
“Never said I didn’t like it...” you muttered. 
“What did you say?” Bucky asked, but he didn’t get an answer because you were back with the rest of the group. 
You all went home, Bucky was wheeled to the medical ward to see what he was drugged with and you went to your room. 
*****
Steve was holding a laptop as he walked into Bucky’s room, he was still in a hospital bed in the med center, it had been a couple days and Bucky was feeling fine; it was a mix of shock and some random drug they never really identified. 
“Alright, I’m showing you something,” Steve’s eyebrows were knitted together, he opened the laptop and it had the audio recordings from the earpieces from the last mission. 
“Those earpieces save?” Bucky groggily asked. 
“Yes, and I’m showing you this.” Steve had pulled audio clips, “you and y/n need to stop flirting and actually do something, I can’t keep hearing this in my ear all the time.” he sighed and hit play. 
‘great thighs, you should teach me your workout routine’
‘they make great earmuffs’
Steve deadpanned to Bucky, Bucky just shrugged, “I didn’t know what she meant by that so I just smiled and nodded.” 
“Bucky!” Steve yelled, “where does your head need to be for her thighs to make earmuffs?”
“between her legs?” But was picturing a really fatal choke hold that Nat did once. 
“what else is between her legs?” 
“her- oh...” his face went from confused to red, “oh...!” Bucky bug eyes met Steve’s knowing face. 
“and you grabbed her boob, and just listen to what she says when you moved it.” Steve scrolled a bit and then hit play. 
‘never said I didn’t like it...’
“I was drugged, I didn’t know what she was saying!” Bucky cried, “I can’t believe it went over my head.”
“go talk to her!” Steve said. 
Bucky stood up and rolled his shoulders back, he walked out of the med center and to the rooms, and at one point he thought about turning around and wimping out but he held strong and kept going. Once he was at your door he knocked and you opened pretty quickly. 
“I-” he cleared his throat, “I was thinking about you,” Bucky said. 
“really?” you smirked. 
“ya... I was wondering if you had a pair of earmuffs I could try on?”
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emilyshotchniss · 3 years
Text
What, Are You Like In Love With Me Or Something?
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Summary: After crushing on each other for years, you and Emily finally pull your shit together:)
Pairing : Emily Prentiss x Fem Reader
Warnings: Minimal swearing
Word Count : 1675
4:27am. Are you fucking kidding me.
You reluctantly rolled out of bed and dragged yourself to the bathroom, turning the shower on. You love your job, but getting called in at four in the morning was a fucking pain in the ass. After standing under the hot water for a considerable length of time, you got out and chose your outfit. Once you were ready, you repacked your go bag, and dropped your cat Willow off at your neighbours apartment, before heading to the office.
When you arrived, it was 5:02am, and you were pretty sure that in your current mood, if you didn't get some coffee soon, you were going to go full on unsub on someone. That mood was suddenly lifted as soon as you entered the bullpen - you ducked out of view and watched as your best friend Emily walked silently through the nearly empty office, and placed a mug of coffee on your desk. She gently sat it on your favourite coaster, then tiptoed back over to her desk, grabbing a small bag and sitting it next to the mug on your desk. She adjusted everything until it was the way she wanted it, and smiled to herself before sitting back at her desk. You also smiled to yourself, before walking in fully, pretending you didn't just spend three minutes hidden behind a wall watching her.
"Morning, Em!" You smiled.
"Oh hey!" She replied, clearly trying to act chill as if she hadn't just spent five minutes fixing you breakfast.
"What's this?" You asked, opening the small bag she left you.
"Oh, uh, I, I picked you up a croissant from the Starbucks downtown on my way in," She said, smiling sheepishly.
Your heart nearly burst, and you felt an overwhelming rush of butterflies in your stomach. The gesture was lovely, but wasn't helping you get over the huge crush you'd been harbouring for a while now. You pushed your feelings into a tiny little box in the back of your mind, because there was no way she felt the same - she was just being a good friend.
"Thank you," You smiled, before taking a bite of the croissant. "For this, and the coffee. Lunch is on me,"
She smiled back, but you couldn't help but notice how her eyes lingered a little longer than they were supposed to. Your "moment" was interrupted by Morgan and Garcia barging through the doors, shortly followed by JJ, Rossi and Reid, prompting Hotch to call you all into the conference room. You took a quick sip of your coffee and one last mouthful of your croissant, before following the team upstairs.
***************************************
It was around 1:49pm when you walked back into the local PD, carrying two bags. You opened each door with your foot, and made your way to the conference room, finding Emily sitting alone with a file. The rest of the team were still away getting lunch.
"Hey, aren't you getting hungry?" You asked her.
"Uh, I'm fine, I'm nearly done with this-" She stopped rambling when she saw the bags of food. "You shouldn't have,"
"I told you, lunch was on me today. That coffee and croissant saved me from murdering someone this morning. I owe you," You said, earning a laugh from Emily. You felt a blush creep up your neck and across your cheeks, and you could've sworn you saw Emily's cheeks turn a faint pink - but it was probably nothing.
"What did you get?" She asked, as you continued to unpack.
"An italian BMT for the lady," You said, handing her her sandwich. "And a roast chicken sub for myself."
"Ugh, you're amazing," She said between mouthfuls.
You felt that same rush of heat in your cheeks again, and immediately got up to put the empty bags in the trash in a desperate attempt to hide your face.
"Seriously... thank you. I really needed this today..." She said, trailing off into a whisper almost. Her face had changed, and you could sense something was bothering her.
"Em, you okay?" You asked, concern lacing your tone.
"Oh, uh, yeah, yeah I'm good..." She lied.
"Don't lie to me. What's going on?" You said, matching your tone with hers.
"This doesn't leave this room-" She warned, your nerves making an appearance.
"This case- it, it's getting to me more than I care to admit..." She began shakily.
"In what way?" You asked.
"Regina- she said something to me, and it's kinda sticking with me," Emily said, taking a deep breath. You've known her long enough to know that that's her tell.
"She said that I have no idea what it's like when the monster from your nightmares comes back for you - that mine is dead, yet she still has to live with hers... it's stupid I know-" You cut her off.
"It's not stupid Emily. You went through a massive trauma, nobody expects you to magically be okay now that he's dead. You're still processing everything - that takes time, and we're all here to support you through it - I'm here to support you through it..." You told her, making sure she heard exactly what you were saying.
She let go of that breath, feeling a little calmer. "I have no idea what I'd do if you weren't my best friend..." She laughed nervously. Friend. That stung way more than it should've - but you put these feelings away in that little box at the back of your mind, attempting to compartmentalise it all.
"Seriously - thank you," She told you, grabbing your hand briefly, before getting up to put her napkins and stuff in the trash. Just at that, the rest of the team piled back into the station, ready to tie up the loose ends of the case before flying back that evening. You shook your head, laughing at your stupidity for falling for your best friend, before joining the rest of the team.
***********************
Back at Quantico, the team dragged themselves into the office to finish reports and grab their stuff before heading home for the night. Before you knew it, you looked up from your desk to find that most of the team had left, you Emily and Hotch being the only three remaining. You checked your watch, and decided that the reports could be finished in the morning. Throwing on your coat, you turned to look at Emily, still working away.
"Hey Em, we can finish those tomorrow, come on," You told her. She looked up at you anxiously, before reluctantly closing the file and grabbing her things. You both walked in silence to the elevator, but you could feel her eyes burning into your skull as you waited. After the silence had become just a little too uncomfortable, you turned to meet her, as she quickly diverted her gaze.
"What..." You asked with a smile.
"No, nothing- its nothing." She replied.
"You were staring at me- what, are you like in love with me or something?" You joked, not thinking anything of it - then your stomach suddenly dropped as her face turned a deep red - it was clear you'd correctly guessed her thoughts.
"Em-" You said, barely above a whisper. "Is that true?"
"I- uh- I um..." She began, her face turning a deeper red with each stutter.
"Emily look at me-" You told her, grabbing her wrists. She met your gaze, her eyes glassy.
"I love you too... I always have," You trembled, a single tear rolling down her face now.
"You have?" She cried ever so softly, her vulnerability catching you by surprise.
"Always... I- I never knew it was mutual," You smiled.
"I- I was going to tell you, but-"
"But then everything went to shit," You said, finishing her sentence.
"Yeah," She chuckled, sniffing back tears.
The elevator doors slid open and you squeezed in, taking her hand in yours as they closed behind you.
"Have you been sleeping?" You asked, not turning to face her, already knowing the answer.
"No..." She replied, barely loud enough to her - she was ashamed of being traumatised. You squeezed her hand tighter, before turning to face her.
"Come stay at my place tonight- we'll watch a movie, have hot chocolate, and maybe then you might be able to rest." You offered.
"Okay.." She smiled. "Thank you."
"Not necessary." You told her, interlacing your fingers with hers.
******************
As soon as you got home, you kicked off your shoes and headed straight to your bedroom, grabbing clothes for both yourself and Emily. After you both got comfy, you made two rather large mugs of hot chocolate, finishing them quicker than either of you would care to admit.
"Hey it's late, you coming?" You asked Emily, nodding towards your bedroom.
"Sure," She smiled, letting you lead the way. You pulled back the covers, letting Em slide in first as you followed. Lying in the darkness, your arms wrapped around her body, pulling her closer to you. As she met your eyes, no words had to be spoken- you leaned in to give her a gentle kiss that said everything you wanted to say, her returning it with equal passion. She stroked your cheekbone with her thumb, before speaking up.
"I love you - I wish I'd told you sooner." She whispered.
"I do too - but we're here now - that's all that matters." You replied.
She hummed in response, before tucking her head into your shoulder. You drew tiny shapes on her back until you heard soft snores coming from underneath your ear. It was in that moment that you realised you'd never felt love like this before - a love that consumed you. You kissed her forehead before succumbing to the slumber along with her, wondering just how you got so lucky.
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too-gay-for-marvel · 3 years
Text
one of us
a/n: I LIVE! listen. listen. yall know me well enough at this point to know that i make no promises about posting more stuff. i might post something in a few months. maybe next week. lets spin the wheel of fate and see what happens, shall we?
Request:  hi!! do you think you could write a prequel of sorts to i don’t need a hero? it’s one of my absolute favorites and i was wondering if you could write something angsty for the mission where the reader gets shot protecting wanda? <33 thank you!!
Word Count: 2546
Warnings: swearing, canon-typical violence
Pairing: Wanda x Reader
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She hated you.
Wanda Maximoff absolutely, unquestionably, without a doubt hated you. There was not a single thing about you that she didn’t hate, from the stupid cocky look on your face to the way you refused to be of any help. You were supposed to be an ally now, not a nuisance.
And yet there you were.
Sitting across from her at the table and shooting her a look that made her want nothing more than to throw some magic right at your face. If she was lucky then maybe it would even knock you on your ass and she could wipe that stupid smirk from your face. It would almost make this meeting with you worth all the hassle.
“Does everyone understand their jobs?” Maria asked, bringing Wanda back to the table and forcing her to pay attention.
“Blow shit up and have fun doing it?” You asked even though that most certainly wasn’t your job and you knew it.
Don’t let them out of your sight. Maria’s voice rang in Wanda’s mind and, after a silent look, she gave a nod of affirmation. It didn’t seem as if you had noticed, and that gave Wanda a feeling of superiority. Technically it wasn’t a competition, and she already knew she was better than you, but to know that she could scheme about you in front of your face was something that gave her more joy than she would ever openly admit.
The meeting concluded without a hitch. You had even admitted - rather begrudgingly - that you were to do nothing other than keep the attention off of Wanda and Sam. In Wanda’s mind, that was a good start; you usually argued until you were blue in the face.
But with you agreeing, all Wanda had to really worry about was the upcoming mission. And whether you would keep to your word or not.
----------
By all accounts, and much to Wanda’s and Sam’s surprise, the mission had been going well. You had launched fireworks on one end of the building to cause a commotion while they had snuck in through the back. She had used her powers to distract the few guards left inside, and within minutes they had found what they were looking for.
In fact, the mission had been going so well that Wanda had been on the verge of asking if you were okay. There was no way you could have behaved for as long as you had, not without a proper motivation. But right as Wanda had lifted her hand to start her comms, an unusually loud explosion sounded off, quickly followed by guards running and yelling.
Heading in their direction.
“I knew it was too good to be true,” Wanda mumbled to herself.
Only seconds after Wanda had muttered her lack of surprise at the situation, the same guards she had heard appeared in the hallway behind them. Directly between them and their exit.
Of course, she heard Sam think. Very loudly.
It turned, very quickly, into an all-out brawl. Unlike you, they didn’t exactly aim to kill; if it was avoidable then they would. But that didn’t mean there weren’t still plenty of bodies lying on the ground, continuously making it harder and harder for them to leave.
“To the roof,” Sam ordered during a short lull in the fighting. “We can get an emergency evac from there.”
And before Wanda knew it, they were once again fighting and trying to make their way up the stairs. It wasn’t the most difficult thing in the world, not with her powers and Red Wing. But that didn’t mean it was easy either.
“Leaving already?” You asked over the comms, causing both Wanda and Sam to roll their eyes at the lack of seriousness in your tone.
“Just get to the roof,” Sam replied shortly, refusing to say anymore on the matter.
“When I’m ready.”
Wanda swore if she hadn’t promised Bucky not to kill you, she would have done it then and there.
It didn’t take long after that for Wanda and Sam to make it to the roof. He told her he was going to fly around and scope a potential landing, and Wanda agreed to hold down the fort until he came back. They both ignored the fact that you were nowhere to be found.
In typical Avengers fashion, the guards came back not long after Sam had left her alone. She wished she could have been surprised, but when it happens nearly every time, it loses it’s shock factor.
But this one was worse than usual; Wanda was, unfortunately, feeling overwhelmed. She knew the horde would run out of bodies eventually, but would that happen before or after Sam showed up? She had no clue, and that was something that terrified her.
Needless to say, she got her answer when an entire army made it up to the roof.
“That’s my cue,” your voice came over the comms, a little too cheery for the situation, but Wanda wasn’t going to answer. At that moment, she hoped you burned along with the rest of them.
An explosion rocked the building underneath her feet, sending more panic racing through her veins. Fucking idiot, she thought, you’re going to destroy the building with us still in it! More explosions followed suit.
“You’d better hurry, Sam, Y/N is gonna blow the building,” Wanda spoke clearly, but rushed. As terrified as she was, she knew it would do no good if Sam didn’t even understand her.
“Just a bit longer, I’m almost there.” She didn’t like that Sam sounded more panicked than her.
“Need a hand?” Your voice came through again, but it was drowned out by a roar that grew increasingly louder.
It was a missile. A missile that was going to hit the roof. The roof that she was standing on.
“Just move!”
Wanda was too transfixed by the missile heading her way to notice someone running toward her. Someone who quickly wrapped their arms around her waist. Her body tensed as her feet were lifted off the ground and she was suddenly launched off the side of the building right as the missile hit the spot where she had previously been standing.
Wind rushed past her ears, along with something that sounded like a scream. She couldn’t tell who it was coming from. The trip to the ground took only a moment, but felt like it was never going to end. Well, not until she forcefully met the ground, that is. The air was knocked out of her lungs and the person on top of her didn’t help.
“Get off me,” she grunted as she pushed the person off and sat up. Only when she was up did she notice it was you, new scratches on your face and blood dripping down your ears.
“You stupid Avengers, always in the way,” you mumbled just loud enough for Wanda to hear. Or maybe it was just muffled because of the deafening ringing in her ears.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Wanda shouted, pushing herself onto her feet and watching as you did the same.
“What do you mean, what was I thinking?” You shot back. “You were the one who didn’t move!”
“I didn’t need your help.”
“You almost got hit! By a missile!”
“And yet you were the one who launched it!” Wanda stepped forward, her finger jabbing into your chest as she talked.
“I saved your life!” You shouted back, throwing your hands up in indignation.
“You pushed me off a building!”
“Don’t criticise me! No one else was helping!”
“I didn’t need help from some wannabe hero!”
“I’m not trying to-” you were cut off by the sound of a gun, and your eyes widening. You both looked down to see a dark red spot near your hip, growing larger by the second.
You hit the ground before she could catch you.
Wanda looked past you to see one lone guard, his shirt still on fire and his skin singed beyond recognition. His arm was still up, gun pointed where you had previously been standing. She didn’t have to bother with finishing him; he collapsed, his body slowly burning.
She crouched down immediately, her hand moving to the spot on your hip. Her hands went to press on it; something she had learned from Maria and Natasha, something she hadn’t thought she would ever really need to know.
You groaned ever so slightly when she pressed harder, but aside from that you were silent and still.
“Coming in hot,” Sam said. She didn’t bother looking up, but felt the wind from Sam and the evac landing behind her.
Sam was quick in assessing the damage. He picked you up and carried you to the quinjet, getting you stabilised for the trip back. Wanda thanked the gods that it would be a short trip.
She hoped you would be okay.
----------
Technically, it wasn’t the worst injury someone had come back from a mission with. Tony always came back with multiple contusions, sometimes broken bones if he had been careless. Natasha and Clint were always a mess, having been absorbed in trying to keep the other safe. Hell, you had come back with worse injuries.
So why this one had taken so much out of you, Wanda had no idea. All she knew was that it had been four days and you were still unconscious. Even the doctors couldn’t understand why you hadn’t woken up. Sure, trauma could keep someone in a coma, but you had seen much worse. So why this one?
“Time for food.”
Bless that man.
Wanda looked up from her book to see Clint leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. A signature look for him, she realised. But she noticed, strangely enough, that he did not come with food. Extremely rude.
“Making me scavenge for myself now?” Wanda teased as she closed her book.
“You could say that,” Clint shrugged. “You gotta get out of here for a few hours, Wanda.”
So that was his purpose.
“Not yet,” she answered simply.
“They haven’t woken up yet, won’t wake up while you’re gone.”
“You don’t know that-”
“-Wanda,” Clint interrupted, “they’re not waking up. Get some food, take a shower, maybe a nap. It’ll be fine.”
She looked over to you and just stared. Your face hadn’t really changed since they had gotten you back to SHIELD. No sounds, no movement, nothing. Maybe there was a new crinkle between your brows, but nothing to really indicate you were going to wake up. No matter how much she wanted you to.
Damn you for making her worry about you of all people.
And damn Clint for being right.
“Two hours.”
“Make it five,” Clint shot back, a smile tugging at his lips.
“Three.”
“Four.”
Damn him.
“Fine. Four. But not a minute more,” Wanda sighed. But, and she hated to admit this, Clint was right; she needed some time to recover. She hadn’t even left herself recover from the mission, instead coming straight to the medical ward with you.
Clint nodded once and waited for her to leave before heading into your room. Sweet of him to take her place while she was resting. It would at least give her some respite to know that someone was watching you while she was gone. Now she just needed to take care of herself and get back.
Well. Maybe after a bath.
----------
“Wanda wake up!”
Not the best way for anyone to wake up from a nap.
Wanda shot up out of bed and tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes. She was sure she looked like an absolute mess, and she could feel the knots in her hair. Oh god she felt terrible. Two hours was not enough time for a recovery nap. They better have a good reason for waking her up.
“Good, you’re up,” Clint huffed from the doorway. “Y/N’s gone.”
Okay. Pretty good reason.
She didn’t bother brushing her hair; didn’t even bother changing into clean clothes. It was fine though, she had slept in her mission clothes anyway. What was one more day, right? Besides, it gave her a bit of comfort that she at least wouldn’t be running through the hallways half-naked.
It was, for lack of a better word, pandemonium in the halls. The assumption was that everyone was looking for you; and that assumption was correct. If you hadn’t been such a damn nuisance to SHIELD in the past, maybe they would’ve just let you go.
So really, this was all your fault.
But that didn’t stop Wanda from making her way to where she felt she knew you had gone. There was no proof, but it was a feeling. A feeling that was similar to when she had known whenever Pietro had gotten into trouble. Not quite as strong, because nothing could beat twintuition, but it was still there.
And it was right.
Wanda didn’t know what to really expect you to look like after a few days of rest. But you looked a mess sitting in the dark cell. You were still in your hospital gown, and the gauze was still wrapped around whatever wounds you had sustained. The worst part? You sat curled up in the corner.
“Y/N?” Wanda stepped closer to the cell, but was met with a beeping sound that she was terrifyingly familiar with.
A proximity bomb.
She jumped back and waited for the explosion that never came. Instead, the beeping stopped, and you continued to sit in the corner. Her eyes searched for the bomb, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to find it. If you had hidden it, then you would be the only one who could get to it.
“Everyone is looking for you,” Wanda whispered, just loud enough for you to hear.
“Leave me alone.” Your voice was hoarse, and you let out a series of painful-sounding coughs.
“They’re worried about you.”
“They can worry about themselves,” you shot back, “I’m fine.”
“Y/N,” Wanda urged. She didn’t like seeing you like this. She hadn’t cared for you much, hadn’t even liked you, but this… this wasn’t you. “What happened?”
And then you turned. She could see the bruises on your face, the bags under your eyes, a look on your face that she couldn’t quite place. But your eyes… your eyes pierced through her soul in a way she hadn’t thought possible.
“You fucking heroes happened,” you replied, your eyes never leaving hers. “Couldn’t fucking leave well enough alone, had to bring me into all this fucking mess.”
“Y/N-”
“You wanted me in this fucking cell, now I’m here.” Wanda could tell you were running out of breath. “So leave me the fuck alone.”
With that you turned and stared back at the wall, your back to her. She couldn’t go to you, couldn’t help you. That bomb of yours would blow the both of you up if she got closer. And she just knew you were finished talking to her. You had made your decision, and she would just have to accept it. It seemed the team was right.
You would never be one of them.
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xoxo-teddybear · 3 years
Text
Oh, The Lies You Tell - Bakugou Katsuki - pt. 1
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Bakugou x f!reader
Warnings: angst, trauma, abuse, betrayal, fluff, slice of life, smut, cursing, manipulation, possible spoilers, physical harm, 18+
BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST
Ep. Warnings: cursing, mentions of abuse and manipulation, slice of life(ish), manga spoilers!!
A/N: Ok so this is just what I daydream about, and since ima tv addict, I’m involving some “Avatar: The Last Airbender” related things, but a little different. This is more of an introduction to our character but I hope you enjoy!
Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt.5 Pt.6 Pt.7 Pt.8 Pt.9
Summary: It’s Y/N’s first day at UA.....as a “former” villain
“Y/N L/N. She’s a new transfer student. Treat her with your respect and do your best to take care of her.” The tired teacher spoke.
“.......Hey. Please treat me well.” The intimidating girl said as she bowed in respect.
Now if you were to see Y/N on the streets as a stranger, you wouldn’t even think she would have this threatening aura. The class agreed. She’s gorgeous. From a far, you would think she’s a sweetheart, But the girl had a cold, calm stare in her E/C eyes. There was actually no way to describe it. It was just chilling to the bone.
Not only that, but it was clear you were a little rebel. Mainly because of the way you decided to change up your uniform. Your sleeves were torn off to make your button up top some sort of tight fitted turtle neck with a tie that was complimenting your busty figure. Especially since it was tightly tucked into your skirt, pressing against your torso instead of loosely sitting in there like the other girls. You also added a small dark brown belt to cover where your skirt and top meet. Your waist gave the perfect show of how curvaceous you truly were. Your thighs were deliciously thick and your ass must’ve been a perfect peach, considering it caused your skirt to seem a little too small for you. Instead of the typical shoes and knee high socks, you opted for thigh high dark brown leather boots that folded at the top to match your belt. No heel though, of course. Gotta keep it casual. You finished off your rebellious look with a pair of black leather fingerless gloves. Do you look like trouble? Yup. Do you look hot as hell though? You bet.
“You may be seated next to Katsuki Bakugou.” Your new teacher spoke. Before anybody else could give an indication of who this “Bakugou” boy was, an electric blonde spoke up.
“Be careful with that one pretty lady, he’s our resident hot head.” The boy spoke while the entire class giggled.
“Shut it dunce face.” Your eyes shifted from one blonde to another. This time with a spiky head of ash blonde hair and piercing red eyes. As you walk towards your new seat, you made eye contact with the spiky blonde, you saw the look on his face. Just like everyone else, a face of fear and shock, except this time the person didn’t know who you were.
Bakugou could definitely say upon first glance, you were definitely something fierce. It threw him off just how powerful your presence was. He quickly turned away as you took your seat.
As class began, everyone had their eyes on Y/N. Some admiring her beauty, others wary of her aura, and some too nervous to mention their newfound fear of her. In the middle of Mr. Aizawa’s boring lecture, a scratch at the door could be heard.
‘A scratch?’ Everyone thought. But Y/N knew exactly who it was.
When Mr. Aizawa went to open the door, in came what appears to be a wolf-dog. Mr. Aizawa seemed to casually accept it and just expected you to explain. He was too tired to deal with this crazy shit.
“Oh..there you are Rumor. Took you long enough to find this place.” The creature, also somehow intimidating, simply just huffed at the girl and layed down next to her seat in between her and Bakugou.
“L/N, please explain to the class why Rumor is here. They clearly seem to be confused.” Y/N looked around the room to see her new classmates staring at her and her furry friend.
“*sigh* he’s my animal companion.” You simply stated. Apparently it didn’t satisfy your peers because a freckled, green haired boy spoke up.
“Animal companion? Like a service dog?” The timid boy asked. You secretly rolled your eyes at the fact you’ll have to answer this question again. That is until Bakugou spoke.
“You damn nerd, if he was a service dog, she woulda said that now, don’t ‘cha think?” ‘Dunce face and a damn nerd huh? Wonder what new nickname this hedgehog will give me.’ Your little quip made you give the smallest smile with a quiet laugh to yourself
What you didnt realize was that during your little moment, Bakugou was watching you the entire time. He fought the blush that was threatening to rise and successfully won. ‘The hell?’ Bakugou thought. Since when did he blush?
“He’s right. Rumor isn’t my service dog, he’s my animal companion. And no, not my pet. He’s more like a close friend. My best friend if anything. He’s also not a dog either, he’s a changeling.” You explained hoping someone else knew what a changeling was. Thankfully, the “damn nerd” did.
“Changeling? I thought they were just a myth.” He said. “What the heck is a changeling, Deku?” You turned and saw it was a girl with a round face and pink cheeks. ‘Deku? How rude’ you thought to yourself.
“Changelings were rumored to be magical like beasts who could take the form of any animal they chose. Those forms could be as real as eagles and bears or as mythical as dragons and unicorns. They could also change the size of their form too. Am I right, L/N?” Deku asked you.
“You’re completely right, Deku.” The green haired boy blushed at his nickname on your tongue. “Rumor can be any creature I command. His wolf-dog form is his casual form though. It’s the form he took at birth I guess.”
“You guess?” Bakugou asked.
“Yes, I guess. I didn’t have Rumor since he was born. I found him while I was on a walk in the forest. We just clicked, and he followed me home. That’s when I discovered his powers and what he was, and seeing that changelings were only rumored to have existed, I thought it would’ve been a fitting name. We’ve been together ever since, and not only does he work as a friend, he’s a fighter too. He’s like a partner to me which is exactly why principle Nezu allowed him to attend UA with me. I guess you could say he’s part of my...uhm..quirk” You thoroughly explained. You couldn’t help it. You loved talking about Rumor. He was your best friend and definitely one of a kind.
Rumor looked up at you and barked. You turned to pet him on the head and gave him a little smile. Something that didn’t go unnoticed by the resident hot head, which once again caused him to fight back a blush. ‘The fuck is going on with me today?’ The blonde thought to himself. Finally satisfied with the answers, the class picked up where they left off and continued to learn about quirks which didn’t seem all that useful to you since....you don’t have one.
——————————————————————————
Later
“Remember, we will all be meeting at gym gamma tomorrow morning, so don’t bother coming to the classroom. Just meet up there with any comfortable gym wear.” Mr. Aizawa said at the end of the day.
“Yes sir!” The class all said. “L/N stay behind, I need to speak to you and Rumor.” The tired teacher said with a yawn.
“Yes sir.” You calmly replied.
As the class gathered their things to leave, some came up to speak to you. First it was Deku and the round faced girl.
“Welcome to UA L/N. My name is Izuku Midoriya!” Deku said.
“Oh my apologies. I thought I heard that your name was Deku.” You said so nonchalantly with your sweet voice.
“Well it’s just a nickname that started up with Kacchan.” The boy was now blushing in slight embarrassment while rubbing the back of his head.
“Kacchan? I’m sorry, I don’t know who that is.” You said.
“Oh right! My bad, Kacchan is Bakugou. It’s a name I gave him during our childhood.” He stated.
“Seems a little mean.” You chuckled
“Yeah but he’s always been like that.” The boy smiled with a small laugh.
“I think I can tell. He must be really nice to Deku and Dunce face.”
You both shared a laugh at your little sarcastic poke at the explosive blonde that the girl was feeling a little left out.
“Anyways, I’m Ochako Uraraka! I was really hoping I could talk to you more but Deku over here can’t seem to keep his mouth shut.” the girl slightly teased.
“Meh. No worries. We’re gonna be stuck together for the next few years. We have plenty of time to get to know each other.” You so kindly spoke as you gathered your stuff.
“Totally! We can-“ Uraraka was cut off by a very handsome two toned boy with a scar. He definitely reminded you of some you knew. You watched as he came up to speak to Midoriya.
“Hey, Midoriya. Did you want to...” you tuned out his conversation. You simply just stared at him in awe. No doubt about it. He was definitely Dabi’s brother. But he was a whole lot more handsome.
The boy caught onto your staring and introduced himself.
“Hello L/N, my name is Shoto Todoroki. You may know me from my father, Endeavor, but I assure you, I’m nothing like him. In fact it’s safe to say I hate him.” He stated ever so calmly. ‘Wow. So blunt. And I guess hating Endeavor runs in the family’
“Hey it’s fine. I get it, daddy issues.” You nervously laughed but this seemed to strike an interest in Todoroki as he seem to have wanted to continue bashing both of your fathers until he was interrupted by Bakugou.
“You’re in my way Icy-hot.” ‘Jeez, another nickname?’ You thought.
“Then move to another side.” Todoroki quickly came back with.
This caused you to now openly give a quiet laugh, you could already tell what kind of relationship those two have. During your small laugh, Bakugou once again caught himself staring, except this time, he was caught. And it was by you.
You both made eye contact once again. As he stared into your E/C colored eyes, and you stared into his rubied gems, you both grew a slight blush on your cheeks and the 3 standing next to you both took notice.
“Hey..” you sweetly said.
“..........hey.” He replied and quickly looked away embarrassed. That peaceful little moment made your heart stir. Something that hasn’t happened in a long time. If felt calming, loving, happy...and weird and confusing. Thankfully, Dunce face came up to flip the switch.
“Wow Kacchaaannn,” the electric blonde said wiggling his brows. “Never seen you blush like that. You got a little crush on the new gir-“
“SHUT UP SPARK PLUG!” Bakugou exclaimed as he quickly made his way out of the classroom.
“Hey why you gotta be so mean all the time man!” Dunce face cried out.
“I SAID SHUT UP” Bakugou screamed from down the hall. ‘Well he certainly is interesting.....and cute’
“Ah jeez, whatever,” the blonde sighed before you seemed to have caught his attention.
“Well hey there pretty lady,” he started “I’m Denki Kaminari and you are one gorgeous girl. And you definitely got a rockin’ bod-“ he was cut off by our scary teacher.
“That’s enough Kaminari, I need to speak to L/N. Now all of you, out.” He commanded.
They all took their leave thinking about how cool and kind you were. Oh how wrong they were. The little act you put up sure was convincible. Hell, the only thing you genuinely meant was that Todoroki and Bakugou were cute and the blush that came up whenever Bakugou stared at you. You still couldn’t explain it but you brushed it off.
When all were gone, you mentally took notes of their names and possible quirks.
Izuku Midoriya. Alias: Damn Nerd and Deku. Quirk: unknown.
Ochako Uraraka. Alias: unknown. Quirk: unknown.
Shoto Todoroki. Alias: Icy-hot. Quirk: possibly related to cold and heat
Denki Kaminari. Alias: Dunce Face and Spark Plug. Quirk: possibly related to electricity
Katsuki Bakugou. Alias: Kacchan. Quirk: unknown
“L/N.” Your teacher snapped you out of your quick thought and got you focused.
“You seemed to be very comfortable with telling them about Rumor.” Mr. Aizawa said with an eyebrow raised.
“Well he is my best friend. I could go on and on about Rumor for hours if people didn’t stop me. And you can’t lie, he is pretty interesting. Especially his fighting style. You would know all about that, wouldn’t you....Eraser Head?” You said with a sinister smile.
You were well aware that Aizawa knew Rumor’s capabilities very well. You were also aware he knew much about yours too. I mean, you both have fought each other before. And one of you almost didn’t make it out alive. Hint hint, it wasn’t you.
“You are to address me as Aizawa Sensei or Mr. Aizawa, Titania.” He sternly said.
“Ouch, the villain name? I thought the past was the past. There’s a good inside me, dont you remember? You were the one who said it after all. You were even the one who recommended an S-Class villain like me should join UA.” You snidely replied.
*flashback*
As you fought against the skilled pro, you could tell he was getting weaker and weaker by the second. You used your air bending to push him back, crushing him into the wall, and keep him far away. Before you could send Rumor in to finish the job, a hand on your shoulder stopped you.
“Kurogiri? What are you doing here?” You stopped fighting and quickly turned to your superior in a fearful and shaky manner. Although you were much stronger than him and could easily take him down, you knew better. Your mind had already been so manipulated into thinking you were the weakest villain in the league, when it reality, you were strong enough to take down Shigaraki in a snap...but you didn’t need to know that.
Eraser Head, too tired and beaten to even pick himself up off the ground watched the interaction from the distance.
“You were told to collect intel, not fight a pro.” The black fog stated.
“Well yes, but he tried to stop me an-“ he silenced you with a smack to the face. Kurogiri was a respectful man...in ways...but he was just following orders on how to treat Y/N.
“If he tried to stop you, you run away.” He said, matter of factly.
“But he-“ once again, he cut you off but this time with a louder voice.
“But nothing! You were to gather intel and report back to base. Not fight. If you got into trouble, you are to run away, and use your bending and Rumor as assistance.” He stated.
“Yes sir. I’m sorry sir.” You said with your head bowed down in dishonor.
Aizawa could already tell from afar how controlled you were. In past fights, he’s noticed how you were so quick to succumb to any villain in the league, and you were always so willing to go back to them no matter how many times you could’ve ran away on your own. It was like they had something you needed, or more so it was them that you needed. For survival, perhaps?
“Did you even gather the information we needed?” Kurogiri asked.
Your silence gave him all the answers he needed. With a disappointing glare he reached for you, when you flinched at just the slighted movement, Aizawa knew something was wrong. Yes you were a villain, but it was clear you were also a manipulated child. So he acted quick, and attacked Kurogiri, knocking him out, and grabbed you. Before you both took off, you threw one of your earrings at kurorgiri’s unconscious body, knowing he’ll know what to do once he sees it. As he ran with you, he took notice of the animal behind him that followed you. When he finally landed on a cliff hanging over the city, he placed you down to sit on the grass and looked at you before speaking.
“I can see it. All of it. They’re controlling you aren’t they?” The pro-hero spoke.
“Excuse me? Nobody is controlling anybody! I choose to follow orders!” You yelled as Rumor came up to you.
“What is that thing?” Aizawa asked.
“He’s my friend and you won’t harm him!” You said while grabbing onto Rumor.
The pro took note of that word you used. Friend. Villains don’t have friends, they don’t have anybody but goons and partners in crime. Literally. You were definitely different compared to these other villains.
“I have no intentions on harming you or your friend.” The pro spoke.
“So what do you want with me.”
“....Simple. I want you to go to school, live in the dorm rooms, eat good food, train more to become better as a person and fighter, and make more friends. I see a good in you Titania, you deserve a good life. Not one controlled by villains where you do their bidding for what? Survival?” Aizawa said as he crossed his arms while looking at you.
You were in shock. He was able to figure you out. Well, he figured out why you were with the league. Survival. But it doesn’t matter, you were so brainwashed that you were convinced anyone outside the league wanted to kill you...at least that’s what the LOV told you.
“I don’t want to go to school, I want to go back home to the league.” You said while looking down and holding onto your furry friend.
“Home? UA could give you a better home.”
You looked up in shocked at his words. He wanted you to attend school at UA? You know that place. That’s the one place where the league has been so invested in ever since All Might joined the staff there. Suddenly, an idea came into thought. You knew exactly how you were gonna get into the league’s good graces and out of the cold shadow.
“UA?....That’s where you want me to go? How the hell am I supposed to get in there? I’m a known villain genius.” You sarcastically said.
“A villain hidden behind a full face mask. People don’t know your true identity, and did you ever think that maybe the league wants it that way?” He said
“Are you saying you know who I truly am?” You questioned him.
“No, but that doesn’t matter right now. If you want to go to UA, I can help you. I’m a teacher there and I can put in a good word for you. Sure it will take a lot of convincing but I’m willing to do it. Using UA as a reformatory program for you could be benefitting you in more ways than one. So if going to UA is what you really want, I’m more than happy to help you Titania.”
You couldn’t believe it. Your heart was so excited. You were finally going to get away from this horrible life of crime and killing. Away from the abuse and blood. Away from the league. But your brain was telling you to deny it all. You were safer with the league, everyone is out to get you, and you will die without the villains help. But a bark broke you out of thought.
You turned to your side to see what seems to be a smile on Rumor’s face. He was wagging his tail and sticking his tongue out while giving you puppy dog eyes. It appears he knew what was going on and he seemed excited. For your best friend, the world. So you gave in...happily.
“Y/N.” You said while getting up off the ground.
“Huh?” The pro spoke.
“My name is Y/N L/N, and I’d be happy to join UA.” You said with a smile and tears of joy filling you eyes. Rumor happily barked at the pro as well.
“Well alright then,” the pro said sticking out his hand for you to shake, “Y/N L/N, welcome to UA.”
As you shook his hand your smile held a thousand words. Happiness, excitement, villainy, and sin. Sure you were going to benefit yourself, but you were also going to benefit the league.
*Present Time*
“I was hoping I’d get more respect from you considering I was the one who got you into UA,” Aizawa tiredly said while turning his head towards the ceiling and crossing his arms. “But I guess that mischief and attitude just comes with the deal.”
“Correct.” You simply said.
“So are you willing to tell them what your “quirk” is? You seemed so open about Rumor, I thought your powers would be the same.” Aizawa pressed on.
“Not sure yet. I only just met the students. They seem nice.” You said while looking at your now very interesting shoes.
“They’re a crazy bunch, but they’re incredible friends. They could be great friends to you too Y/N.” You looked back up at him with hope, but quickly remembered why you were there in the first place.
The teacher took noticed of this and continued. “Either way, they’ll have to see what you got tomorrow. In gym gamma we’ll be doing some sparring including our quirks, so you’ll have to show them all that you can do.” He said.
He saw how that made you nervous. Not because you were scared to speak about or show your abilities, but because you knew you would be hit with thousands of questions. Oh how annoyed you must be.
“Understood.” You said to him as if you were a soldier. He won’t get used to that. He’ll have to make sure you know it’s ok to speak to people as..well people, and not like everyone is your superior.
“Good,” he began to walk to his yellow sleeping bag to pick it up, “now head to the front of the school. I left an escort for you to help guide you to your dorm room. That person will also be a guide in all things UA for you so be nice. You’ll be stuck with them for awhile. That is all, you can go now.”
As you and Rumor made your way to the front, you had so many questions going on in your mind. Should you make new friends or keep them at a distance? Should you completely drop the league and join UA? Should you blow your cover and expose why your truly there? What to do, what to do.
When you made it to the front, you finally saw your escort, and you couldn’t help but give a little smirk.
“Hey..”
A/N: If y’all wanna see the clothes that inspired Y/N’s uniform, check this out!!!
A/N: Damn guys, I know I’ve only just started writing but this is kinda the story I imagine in my mind at night. So I thought it would be fun to give it to reality. So here’s my first FanFic😅 hopefully it doesn’t turn out too terrible, but I promise to work on my skills and improve. Also, if you need a reference to what Y/N’s uniform looks like, search up “Akame from Akame Ga Kill.” That’s the look that heavily inspired Y/N’s new uniform. And if you’re confused on what the boots look like, search up “Lucy Heartfilia thigh high boots,” bc those are the EXACT boots I imagine on Y/N except in a darker brunette color to match the belt. Once again, NOT spell checked so my apologies for any mistakes. I hope you enjoyed pt. 1! And if this goes well, tell me if you’d like a pt. 2! I love to hear feedback! Thx <3
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blonde-in-charge · 3 years
Text
Wildcard, Chapter One
** Hello everyone! My name is Kat, and this is the first imagine I have ever posted! I am still really new to the posting process so please stick with me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy **
Summary: Steve Rogers found you on the side of the road after a mission involving Hydra and convinced the Avengers to take you in. You have no name, no memories, and no idea of what you are capable of. All you know is that you are a super soldier with more hidden abilities than you care to admit. The first step to finding answers was to train you. Nobody, including you, knows what is up your sleeve. 
Characters: No Pairings(yet) Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, Sam Wilson
Warnings: Tiny bit of cursing, Loss of memory, Mentions of blood/violence, Scars
Words: 3.3k
Waking with a start, you groaned at the action of shifting your legs between the scratchy sheets. Your legs tightened and strained from the previous day, making you unable to move comfortably. Sitting up, you hiss as you strained to throw your legs ofthe side of the bed. It was quiet, for once, in the tower. On any other normal day, you would hear the group you lived with from down the hallway, chatting loudly over breakfast and laughing. You glared over at the angry red numbers projecting themselves into the air. 
4:45am
Shit.
Pulling your arms up over your head, you stretched your aching muscles until you heard the satisfying popping noise come from one of your elbows. You pushed yourself off of the bed and sighed as your legs took on the weight of your body. You ached like never before even just standing still. You felt up your nightstand in the dark, knocking over random half drunk water bottles in the attempt to find your glasses. Satisfied when your fingertips took hold of the lenses, uncaring of the fingerprints you knew would bother you later. The door automatically slid open as you walked towards it, slowly and not picking up your feet. One of the perks of living with Tony Stark was that you never had to open a door on your own, the downside was you had the misfortune of walking into non automatic doors on the rare occasion you left the tower.  
The halls were silent in the tower, making the shuffling of your feet seem louder than they should have been. As you walked past the doors of your colleagues you could hear soft snoring from one of the rooms and louder snoring from further down the hallway. You smiled to yourself, knowing your friends were getting what you couldn't, sleep. It wasn't like you tried to get less hours of sleep than everyone else, your mind and body have not let you rest since you have joined the team. 
-Eight Months Ago- 
You sobbed, curling yourself as tightly into a ball as you could, holding your hands to your chest as your hair whipped through the air. You had secluded yourself into the corner of an abandoned gas station in god knows where. You had no idea where you were, how you got there, what was happening, or even who you were. You had woken up on a cold metal table in a concrete room wearing nothing but a sports bra and tight training pants that stopped at your ankles. You don’t remember how but you broke the cuffs holding down your wrists and ankles, leaving bloody gashes in their wake. 
Your attention was drawn to the sound of heavy footsteps nearing you as you pushed yourself into the wall, begging to just disappear through it, “Please don’t take me back” you sobbed, hot tears rolling down your face, “I don’t know anything just let me go!”
Uncovering your face you looked up into a man's face. He looked relatively young with his blonde hair but the worry lines he was sporting upon looking at you aged him. 
He knelt down in front of you keeping his distance, “Shhh, I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to help you. What's your name, kid?” He studied your face with kind blue eyes, his gaze felt instantly calming.
“I- I don’t- I don’t know,” you stared at him in disbelief, how could you not know your own name? The man looked at you and nodded before looking behind him and speaking so someone you could not see
“Guys, I found a girl about 10 miles out from the compound, she is in pretty rough shape. Have the quinjet meet at my coordinates ASAP,” He spoke softly around you but in a commanding tone until he nodded, apparently getting answers from the voices you could not hear. His eyes trailed back to your eyes, searching you. His eyes then trailed down to your hands clutched at your chest and they filled with worry. 
You looked down at your own hands stretching them in front of you, there were deep cuts on either one of your wrist running all the way around until they met in a circle, and they were bleeding profusely onto your exposed stomach. You looked back up at the man, suddenly extremely light headed and you watched his figure fade away into darkness as you passed out. 
-
The coffee maker trickled the dark liquid slowly into the pot, a sound that soothes your nerves every early morning. You wished you could go back to sleep but everyone would be getting up soon anyways, and coffee was calling your name. Whatever that was. The minutes ticked by as the coffee pot filled up and you realized you had stood there unmoving, staring at a whisk while trapped in your own mind. You reached up into the cabinet for your favorite mug and hissed as your muscles protested the sudden movement. You felt the presence of someone behind you as you poured the fragrant liquid into the mug. 
“Didn't we have that talk with you about announcing your presence in rooms when you entered, Buck?” You held the mug in both hands and turned around to lean against the countertop.
The brooding soldier stood before you with his resident scowl on his face and long brunette hair sticking up in every direction. Your eyes scanned over the man sporting black tee shirt and sweatpants, the circles under his eyes matching his outfit. He looked as if he slept as well as you did. He studied you for a second, his eyes questioning why you were awake.
You watched him carefully, “Bad dream,” was all you offered to him before he gave a knowing nod before looking away from you, his actions told you he was up for the same reason. He took a seat at the island in the middle of the vast kitchen and rubbed his hands up over his face as you made him a mug of coffee. Bucky took his coffee black, with one sugar, while your coffee had to be the color of your sheets with at least four sugars. Like the bad ass you were. He gripped the mug with his flesh hand, allowing himself to feel the heat of it before he sipped it. You two sat together in a comfortable silence that was familiar with the both of you. Your relationship with Bucky was the strongest of any relationships in the group (besides yours with Steve) despite your lack of communication. Both of you had seen the same hell and understood each other on the deepest level. Bucky never looked at you longer than necessary, even when speaking he kept his head down, he only ever looked at you when you weren't looking, to study you. Everyone in the tower treated him as a time bomb, except for you because you understood the trauma he has experienced. You had been in the tower long before Bucky had joined. The reason you were found was because they were looking for Bucky. 
A new set of footsteps caught your attention and pulled you out of your thoughts of the dark soldier. The familiar and heavy footsteps rounded the corner and met your face with a refreshed smile. You gave him a half smile, “Morning Capt.” 
Steve smiled at you over his shoulder as he opened the fridge, “Good morning, kid. Good morning, Buck,” He started pulling out different ingredients for the breakfast he was planning on making, but every morning you take over that process because Steve hasn't cooked ever in his life. As he pulled foods out, you pulled out pans and made your way over to the stove
You busied yourself with making scrambled eggs and bacon while letting your mind wander. Your relationship with Steve was strong, you had been inseparable since he brought you to the tower because of the sense of comfort he gave you. Steve had been extremely protective of you when it came to the other team members, he was always worried you would get over-stimulated or someone would cross a line with you. He was the best friend who let you sleep in his bed when you had nightmares but also would hold you down when your line of sanity breaks. That was another thing you and Bucky had in common, everyone was waiting for you to snap. If the power went out in the tower, your room and Bucky’s room would be the only two doors that lock and stay locked. You were also suspicious that Tony’s interface, Friday, sends Steve notifications of when you leave your room at night or if your heart rate elevates unexpectedly, because Steve always was there out of pure chance. 
“She's doing that thing again,” The voice snapped you out of your deep thought and you looked up into the face of Sam, “Mornin, Hot Stuff,” He grinned at you, the stupid grin that he did when he referred to you as one of your ever changing nicknames, “How did you sleep?” 
You finished plating the mountain of bacon you had made while distracted and ignored the question, “Would you like a cup of coffee, Sammy?” you asked as you turned around to face him and place the food on the island as the rest of the Avengers seemed to file in. 
You weren't surprised to see Bucky had already escaped the kitchen quietly, he never sat in one place for too long. Steve had watched you with concerned eyes, which made you realize he caught the part where you ignored Sam’s question. You shrugged to yourself, I can survive on two hours, I’ll be fine. Natasha came and touched your shoulder, “Gym in an hour, resuming our session from yesterday.”
You sighed, you were still so sore from yesterday's training. You could barely sit in a chair without your muscles locking up so how did she expect you to train again? Yesterday consisted of 100 weighted squats, but your weight was Steve Rogers. Nat really liked to make you work on the thing you struggle with the most, your strength. When you first came to the tower, you had broken the bathroom door, actually you didn't break it, when you tried opening it, you basically threw it across the room and broke a lamp. Your current favorite mug is the 12th favorite mug since you have been here and Sam refuses to give you a fist bump because you broke his hand the last time, you cringed at the memory. You made your way to your bedroom and pulled out a sports bra and leggings. Most of the clothes you owned were either Natasha's or free Avengers merchandise. You made your way to the bathroom and removed your glasses to put your contacts in, you wondered if you had always had trouble seeing distances, not that you could remember. You looked at yourself in the mirror, the (y/e/c) eyes staring back at you looked so tired and unfamiliar. You brushed down the wild mane that was your hair and pulled it into a tight braid. You opted to wear a long sleeve tee shirt to cover the nasty scars that littered your body from your rescue, you knew no one cared but you did not need a reminder. 
-
Natasha was ready before the hour was up and you knew it. You always met her early in hopes of ending the session early, but that never happened. The training room was located three floors down from you and it took up the entire floor. Nat was standing in the sparring ring in the center of the room with Tony and Steve.
“Do I have to squat both of you?” the whine was evident in your voice and Steve chuckled
“No, we are going to help you learn to control your powers,” He gave you a slight smile and you could sense the anxiety in his voice
“Which ones?” You raised an eyebrow at him and he looked at Tony
Tony cracked his neck, “The ones we know of, hopefully those are the only ones but you have been known to surprise us,” Tony sounded slightly annoyed, you knew he was not your biggest fan, “but I came prepared.” He slapped the fire extinguisher at his side like a new car 
Natasha looked at you sensing your discomfort at the situation, “where do you want to start?”
-Eight Months Ago-
You woke up with a start, one second you were in front of this man and the next in a bright room. You blinked rapidly to adjust your eyes to the light as you sat up to take in your surroundings. You were in a small room of glass that separated you from a larger room that looked like a medical office from the future. You felt your arms and looked down to see deep white set scars that circled both of your wrists. You looked up and made eye contact with the man that saved you before as he made his way to your room and stepped in. He had a soft smile on his face as he glanced at you, “Mind if I sit?” he asked, gesturing to the chair at your left you didn't even realize was there. You nodded at him silently and he took his seat while watching you examine your scars, “I hope you got some rest, you have been through a lot the last couple of hours.”
Your head shot up as you looked at him, you opened your mouth to speak and let out a barely audible, “Hours?” You remember the slices in your wrist, they were so deep, how could this heal in hours? You looked at the man for some sort of explanation but he offered none
“My name is Steve, I was the one that found you last night. Do you remember that?” You nodded your head once again, “That's good, do you remember how you got where you were when I found you?”  
You were a million miles away trying to remember anything. You remember the room you woke up in, the way you tore yourself off of the table, the blood, and then all you could remember was fire and the howling of the wind in your ears as you ran. As if he read your mind, Steve nodded at you and combed his fingers through his hair. He stood up and left the glass cubicle for a second to speak to a woman outside. The woman then followed him in and started to unhook you from the various monitors around you before she stepped out of the room. Steve looked at you questionably before offering his hand and asking, “Do you think you can walk?” You nodded and slid your legs over the side of the bed and pushed yourself up onto your feet, holding Steve's hand for balance. He watched you take a couple of steps before he was confident you would be okay, “Follow me.”
-
You huffed out a breath that made the hair hanging in front of your face jump. Your body was screaming at you to let it rest but Natasha’s training was resilient. Tony had resorted to putting on one of his iron suits to protect himself from you. You looked at Nat and she simply nodded, “Again.” You sighed loudly and used all of your might to focus on the suit in front of you. Fire suddenly engulfed your hands and reached up to your elbows as well as your feet up until your knees. Your eyes had turned into flames that flickered out of the socket as you made a fist and punched Tony’s suit in the center of the chest, where his power source was. The lights in the suit flickered out as well as the flames engulfing your body. You looked over at Nat expectantly and she nodded in approval. You huffed out a sigh of exhaustion and doubled over with your hands on your knees. Your vision was spotty from the amount of power you put into the set but Natasha and Tony were relentless. “Stand up, we are moving onto the next set.”
“I’m fucking tired,” You hissed as you stood up straight, “Give me a second.”
Natashas stone look reamined, “You won't have a second if Hydra comes after you again.”
You flinched at the name, Hydra. No one has spoken that word around you since you joined the tower and rightfully so, the name burned through you and you felt your body start to heat with anxiety before Tony cleared his throat, “Look power puff, lets just get the next set finished and you can go back to hating the world after, yeah?” He clapped his hands together and faced you while ignoring Nat’s glare from the corner. 
You pushed the hair back from your sweaty forehead, “Fine, which set?” You took your stance across from the suit with your hands out in front of you, ready to wield whatever he asked for. 
You could hear the smirk in his voice, “Surprise me.” You shut your eyes to concentrate, then you felt the power creep up your skin from a dark place within you, causing goosebumps to rise. Your eyes opened and locked with the target in front of you. You swirled your hands around watching as frost covered the floor, creeping its way towards Tony before it encapsulated the feet of the suit with thick blocks of ice. The suit itself did not completely freeze over on the outside, you were forcing your abilities inside the suit, trying to force the millionaire out. The suit cracked in some spots and opened as a safety precaution to a worried Tony Stark, who was shivering enough to shake the ring. You barely hear Natashas voice as you watch the ice creep slowly up Tony’s body, his wide eyes staring at you with fear. 
“y/n!”
Your name snapped you out of the trance you had been in and you focused on the situation. Tony was almost completely trapped in a frozen block and Natasha’s feet were frozen to the floor of the ring, both of them staring at you with wide eyes. You turned around to face Steve as he stared at you with concern written all over his face. Your words caught in your throat, “I didn't mean- I’m- “ You turned back towards Natasha and Tony and forced the ice to creep back from them. Tony fell out of the suit onto his knees with a gasp, holding his arms and shivering violently. 
“Tony, I am so sorry, I don't know what-” Tony held a shaking hand up to you and you looked down at your feet.
“S-save it, k-kid.” He looked at you and leaned back to sit on the ground, “This is what I get for helping train th-the new kid.” He sighed and closed his eyes before laying back against the ground, “No hard feelings, Frozone. Just give me a minute and take the day off.”  
You watched him with worried eyes and turned back to Steve, who was mirroring your expression but not for Tony. You shrugged your shoulders and walked over to him, hanging your head low. He reached out to touch your shoulder but you flinched at the sudden movement. Steve stopped his hand and then dropped it, letting it hang limply at his side while studying you. You gave him an apologetic look before walking away towards the elevator. 
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lavendersugarplum · 3 years
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☂︎ZEROᵗʰᵉ ʳᵉᵈ ᵘᵐᵇʳᵉˡˡᵃ
(The Umbrella Academy x Sibling! Adolescent! Reader)
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sᴏɴs ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀs
─━━━━━━⊱☂︎⊰━━━━━━─
ZERO WAS OBSERVING HERSELF in the mirror imagining what her day would be like this morning. The change in the weather already had her feeling gloom, but she didn't really expect much from today. It was probably just going to be just like every morning, or so she thought.
Seconds later, Pogo came in, gently, through the door. "Miss Y/n, Luther, and the rest of your siblings are here." As soon as those words fell out of the chimp's mouth she froze as if she didn't know how to process what he just said. She couldn't believe it. Zero didn't think that they would even attend. After how so Sir Reginald treated them, this must be some kind of joke. Once Zero fully processed what was happening, she positions herself around and raised an eyebrow. "Why hadn't you told me they were coming before?"
"I wanted it to be a surprise." Pogo smiled gently at her before walking up to fix the tie on her uniform. Once he was done tying it, he looked at her with his big brown eyes. "You'll do fine. Just talk to them." Zero nodded in understanding, eyes furrowed. "I see....... and Pogo?
"Yes?""You don't have to call me Miss. I'm not quite grown up, as you can see."
"Well, I think you've grown to be a mature young lady," Pogo said smiling.
"Too bad Mr. Hargreeves didn't think so." Zero thought as she walked out of the room.
~☂︎~
TO SAY THAT SHE WAS nervous was an understatement. It had been forever since she had seen any of her siblings at all, including Luther. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Zero's head in anxiousness. Within every step she took getting closer to the living room, the feeling of her throat closing up came with it.
When Zero arrived in the living room, the first person she saw was her bulky brother Luther along with Diego, Allison, Klaus, and Vanya. They had all looked so grown up. It almost made Zero envy for how mature they had gotten.
"Zero has arrived." Pogo announced causing the five to have their eyes zapped straight to Zero. Vanya was the first to walk up to her with welcoming arms. "Zero." Vanya went over to hug her, causing Zero to back away trying to contain her abilities from being triggered. "I'm sorry." Vanya apologized as she backed away.
"You came back." Zero said, putting what had just happened aside. She was just overjoyed and slightly overwhelmed to see her family again.
"I told you I would come back." Vanya shyly smiled, running a hand through her dark brunette hair. The next person to the conversation was Klaus.
"Oh my, Zero! Well I'd say you don't look a day over..... Since I last saw you!" Klaus said acting surprised but was just really being a tease."Some family reunion, huh?" Zero slightly rolled her eyes at him. "Go on, M-I mean Zero. Go sit by Luther." Pogo held his hand out in the direction of the couch. As Zero made her way over to the couch, she tried to avoid eye contact with her siblings in pure shyness.
"So do you come out of your room now or is it just for stupid occasions like these?" Diego asked, clearly annoyed.
"Diego." Allison warned.
"It's fine." Zero said quietly, voice barely above a whisper. As soon as she said that Klaus's eyes widened.
"Wait. She can talk now?"
Klaus asked, but everyone just ignored it as a question.
"Why am I always the last to know about stuff?" Klaus groans as he fixes himself a drink.
A pensive silence starts to enclose over the room. Zero understood it was kinda awkward because none of them saw each other in such a long time.
Zero observed her siblings as they had their moments of silence. She looked to Luther who looked the same just as when he had left. With the chimpanzee DNA he took, he had gotten taller. She remembers when they were younger, with him being the leader. She knows Luther tried his best, but Reginald didn't think that was enough. Luther was always the leader, and she could feel how much it always got on Diego's nerves. Those two were always getting into rivalries.
Sh started to feel bad that he's going to realize he went to the moon for no reason. Reginald didn't read his reports at all; and she knew that.
Even though Luther was raised to be the best and most useful, Zero couldn't deny that he went through some trauma. They all did. He was raised to believe he was the best and a leader. Another example of Reginald's bad parenting. And as a result, his ego is still here, as Zero noticed. He's the only one that still cares for his father, while Zero just doesn't know how to feel after all the things he did to her. They say it's always better to forgive, but Zero just doesn't know.
Luther loved being hero more than anything, she had to  just hope that he wouldn't put that over himself and his family.
Her pupils bored over to Diego. He may be brash, but deep down Zero senses that he's insecure and still wants to prove himself. Still trying to measure up to Luther, even though Diego has become very skilled in Zero's eyes. She still remembers the time when they had first interacted.
~☂︎~
ZERO WAS WALKING DOWN the hall with Reginald's reports in her hand; taking them to him. A thud into her shoulder made every last one of the reports fall out of her hand, but like magic, she reached her hands and the reports defied gravity to arrive back into her possession.
"Sorry"
Zero was about to walk away but Diego stopped her.
"W-wait. I heard you in my mind. What kind of ridiculous trick are you playing on?"
"...... I can read minds and feel emotions."
"Well don't do that on me. I-i don't need a weird girl like you looking through my mind." With that Diego walked away, keeping a guard on his mind.
~☂︎~
ZERO THEN PEERS AT ALLISON. She had grown up to be a very pretty girl, as so Zero thought. Allison was always nice towards everyone in the Umbrella Academy. She never once talked bad about anyone behind their backs, which is quite admirable to Zero. How much Allison craved for attention is what she didn't notice.
Then there's Klaus. Still the same rebellious person he is. Zero admires how he can just move on and not dwell on the past too much. Sweet and vulnerable as a boy, and also her other close friend thanks to Ben. Besides herself, Klaus got experimented on by Sir Reginald the most. Through the years he has become not all himself, which awakens her concern for his well-being.
Finally, there's Vanya. Zero learned that she became a writer. She remembers when she sent her book to Reginald, but he never read it. Zero finds herself wondering how her music career was doing. Though in the past she seemed aloof, not want to have anything to do with her siblings, Zero had always watched them from afar, knowing their feelings and insecurities.
But sometimes it would be too much feelings and insecurities.
Zero's thought process was interrupted when Luther began the gathering speech.
"I guess we should get this started. So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at dad's favorite spot."
"Dad had a favorite spot?" Allison asked, astonished, an expression of surprise crossing her face along with the others.
"You know, under an oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?" Luther asked, like it was a usual thing.
Not all of us were his Number One, is what Zero thought.
"Will there be any refreshments? TV? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner." Klaus asked as he nonchalantly popped a joint, joining his siblings in the living room, drink in hand. Luther's face scrunched up at Klaus.
"What? No. And put that out. Dad didn't allow smoking in here."
"Is that my skirt?" Allison says in tone, referring to the skirt Klaus was wearing. "What? Oh, yeah, this. I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know. But it's very breathy on the." Klaus motions his hands. ".... Bits."
"Listen up. Still, some important things that we need to discuss, all right?" Luther proceeds.
"Like what?" Diego asked dryly and uninterested.
"Like the way he died."
"And here we go." Diego rolled his eyes, uninterested.
"I don't understand." Vanya mumbles. I thought they said it was a heart attack."
"Yeah, according to the coroner."
"Well, wouldn't they know?"
"Theoretically," Luther explained.
"Theoretically?" Allison asked.
"I'm just saying, at the very least, something happened. the last time I talked to Dad, he sounded strange."
"Oh, Quelle surprise!" Klaus exclaimed gurgling his drink.
"Strange how?" Allison asked.
"He sounded on edge. Told me I should be careful who to trust. Hearing these things made Zero look up from her lap, at Luther.
"Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles," Diego said walking over to him.
"No. He must have known something was going to happen. Zero, you must know something. Did he say anything out of the usual to you?" Luther said kneeling to Zero.
".........No." Zero replied, looking back down.
Luther sighed and got back up. "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad," Luther said referring to Klaus, causing Allison to scoff.
"I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, "Dad, could you just...stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?"
"Since when? That's your thing," Luther encourages.
"I'm just not in the right frame of mind," Klaus replied.
"You're high?" Allison exclaims.
"Yeah! Yeah! I mean, how are you not listening to this nonsense?"
"Well, sober up, this is important. Then there's the issue of the missing monocle." Luther said.
"Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?" Diego said.
"Exactly. It's worthless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge."
"Where are you going with this?" Klaus asked.
"Oh, is it obvious, Klaus? He thinks one of us killed dad." Diego said, eyes trained on Luther.
"You do?" Klaus said in awe.
"And I already know exactly who is the main suspect is. He thinks Zero did it." As soon as Diego said that everyone's eyes went wide and Zero tensed up.
"No, Zero. That's not-" Luther reached out for Zero, but she backed away.
"Why......do you lie?" That was the last thing she said before walking out of the room, heading for her bedroom.
"How could you think she would do that," Vanya said in disbelief.
"She's a kid, Luther," Diego said.
"You're crazy, man. You're crazy. Crazy."
Klaus, Vanya, and Diego started to storm at the room not wanting to continue with the conversation anymore.
Allison started to walk away too with a disappointed look on her face.
"That went well," Luther said sarcastically. He sighs and settles down on one the couches and rubs his head in exhaustion.
"Master Luther."
Luther's thoughts were halted by Pogo, who walked in; wooden walking stick glued to his paw. Luther had called him in to ask him about Sir Reginald's Monocle which turned to be missing.
"I'm trying to locate Dad's monocle. Have you perhaps seen it?"
Pogo simply shakes his head.
"No, unfortunately I haven't, but I would assume it would be one of his personal findings."
"It's not there... I've already checked." Luther goes silent almost about to give up.
~☂︎~
ZERO WAS IN HER BEDROOM reading the book Ben gave her. She already read it a thousand times, but this book is the only thing she has of Ben. She soon started to hear the music play in the house. She shook her head and kept reading. Zero' started to think about what Luther had said about their father seeming off. It wasn't just him, she also noticed he was a out of character months before he passed. Reginald started telling her more about the world beyond the Academy. Of course they would have their usual sessions, like playing chest or eating breakfast together. Sometimes they would just sit by the fireplace in silence. No lectures, no teachings, just silence.
Zero's thought process was diminished by a Thunder clap and sound clouding her ears, along with bright blue shadowing over her room. Zero decided she would stay in a room since there is no way she was going outside. A blue glint casted her eyes as she just stared in awe at the illuminating glow. It was some sort of a wormhole forming in mid-air. She saw her siblings going out to look at it as well.
"And just what do they think they're doing?"
She saw Klaus coming out with a fire extinguisher throwing it in. She then saw Luther directing them to back away from it. All the Hargreeves just stared at it with the wind ferociously blowing. The unbelievable happened. A small figure fell from the whole. As soon as the person hit the ground, the wormhole instantly closed up.
The siblings started to inch closer to the figure, along with Zero who examined the person with curious eyes, eyes widening at what it was.
It was her missing brother.
Five Hargreeeves
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