#they just dropped some really hard hitting clips in links memories and I NEED TO SEE MORE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

luimagines · 3 years

Note

RQ: He’s upset and needs comforting

Masterlist

Ya'll want angst? Because I have some angst.

Very hurt/comfort

Set platonically and within the group since there was no specification. Hope that’s ok! Sorry it took awhile, it got away from me again. I think this may be a trend.

Scenario under the cut! It’s super long so take caution!

Sky

It took a while for you to notice but eventually you do.

Sky has been acting weird all day.

It was only clipped responses at first, then it was was the lack of attention where Sky would have been the first to comment or act otherwise. What really tipped you off finally was how he seemed to be evading the whole group. Not necessarily stepping away and out of sight but he didn’t interact with anyone and when they approached him, he didn’t make eye contact, seemingly trying to cut the conversation short.

No one has said anything.

You mention it to Twilight about his out of character behavior but he says that it maybe a bad day, or he slept wrong, or some other reason that you stopped listening to because it didn’t make any sense.

Sky was always trying to be friendly no matter his mood and it took a lot to shake him up.

What was eating at the Chosen Hero?

Soon, the uncertainty begins to eat at you too and you wait for night fall, once everyone is asleep to strike.

Strike up a conversation that is.

Sky usually takes the last watch because he’s usually the first one out regardless of what activities for the day so you strive to wake up early.

It works for the most part, your internal clock doing what you want it to do when you blink your eyes open. Part of you begins to drift off again so you sit up and nearly fall asleep that way.

A hand comes up on your back and rubs a small circle. “Nightmare?”

It’s Sky and he’s looking at you with mild concern.

You smile and shake your head. “No. I’m alright but I think I’ll stay up with you if you don’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t mind the company.” He moves out of your space and back to where he sat.

You follow, still groggy from just waking from your slumber but succeed in not stepping on any of your friends or waking them up as well with the added noise. you sit next to the Hero of the Skies with little fan fare and let the moment settle on the both of you before looking skyward.

“Can I ask you something?” You don’t look at Sky and continue star gazing even if they’re a little harder to spot as the sun travels closer for it’s shift.

Sky hums in agreement and follows your gaze upwards.

“Are you ok? You seemed a little off lately.”

Sky doesn’t say anything for the first few seconds and you suspect that maybe he didn’t hear you. With him spacing out so much and the fact that you whispered for the sake of your still sleeping friends, you’re inclined to repeat yourself but Sky answers in time.

“Just thinking a lot, I suppose. Nothing serious.”

“Yeah?” You don’t look his way. This is casual. This is friendly. This is not a big deal. “Rupee for your thoughts?”

“It’s not that interesting.”

You shrug. “Hit me with it anyway. It’s got to be something if it’s throwing you off your rocker. Maybe a new perspective will help clear some of it up?”

Sky frowns at your attempts, once again retreating into his mind. You let the offer hang in the air and let it sink in.

You’re disinclined to bring it up anymore. Your brain is still tired and you’re wondering your effectiveness when half of your thoughts are still muddled with sleep and fatigue. You could have totally slept in some more. What on earth made you think this was a good idea?

“Time mentioned something earlier that I can’t seem to let go of.” Sky begins.

You hum back and let him keep talking.

“I never fought this Ganon guy they all so talk so much about. I fought the God Demise. Before I could land the final blow, he cast a curse on me, on us, that some cycle would continue. His hatred would last forever and my blood line and Zelda’s will be cursed to deal with constant darkness caused by him.” Sky admits, looking now at his intertwined hands. “I finished him soon after that but... I wonder... Am I the cause-... Is this all my fault? Am I the reason that we’re all here right now? That everyone has gone through so much? So many thing happened that should have never occurred. Time and Legend and Wild have all suffered so much.... more than I can possibly ever imagine and it seems like it’s never ending. Everyone starts they’re adventures so young... If I had killed him sooner... If I had just got it over with... If I had just shut him up-”

“Hey.” Your hand lands on his shoulder, cutting off his tirade. “None of this is anyone’s fault. The only people to blame are Ganon and now, this Demise guy. You did what you could. You still got the job done and no one here will ever blame you for what has happened to them or to Hyrule. You were young too... you’re still young. Give yourself a little kindness and understanding, just as you do with everyone here. You didn’t deserve it either. It’s not like you asked to fight a God.”

“Well...”

“Sky you know what I mean.”

“I should have been faster. If-”

“There’s no use in worrying about what if’s.” You shove him slightly. “This is our life. Even if you ask, no one is capable of giving you the answers. I get it. It’s hard to know if the path you took is the right one if it’s all you’ve ever known and you can’t see where the other would have lead... But... Even if horrible things happen, I’m still glad to have met you. I’m glad I met the others. I’m happy to be here with you and with them, and I’m glad that it’s not just me anymore.”

You let the words sink in before leaning down wards and trying to get him to look you in the eye. “I can’t answer your questions. But what happened, happened and the best thing we can do is learn how to play with the cards we’re dealt.”

He take a deep breath and finally looks in your direction. “I know you’re right.”

“Naturally.”

“But I can’t help but feel responsible for being-”

“But you’re not responsible for their pain or any of this Sky. If Ganon has anything to do with Demise then it’s all Demise’ fault. His and his only. Understand?” You stress. “I wish... I wish I could do something more to help.”

Sky places his hand over yours where you still have it on his shoulder and sends you a small smile. “I know. Me too.”

Wild

“Zelda, would you please drop it!” You hear the Champion yell, his voice carrying over the wind and somehow getting louder. “We’ve had this conversation before and it’s not the time to have it again. I have things to do excuse me.”

Wild storms into his house and shuts the door behind, blocking it with all his weight and waits for the indignant shrieking on the other side to go away. The voice ends with a frustrated huff and after a moment of silence, Wild relaxes and steps away from the door and further into the house.

You’re almost scared for the moment. You’ve not known Wild to yell, even less so for a Link to be on bad terms with Zelda no matter the universe. To make matters worse, you were the only that was actually within the house at the moment and you weren’t entirely sure how to proceed from here.

“Trouble in paradise?”

That probably wasn’t the way to go, if you were being honest with yourself.

Wild groans, loud and exaggerated and sits at the table in front of you with as much fan fair.

“Do not...call it that.” He sounds tired.

“Sorry.” You amend with an apologetic shrug. “That-” You reference to the scene outside. “-Didn’t sound ideal.”

“No. It’s not.” Wild sighs and places his face in his hands with his elbows on the table. Bad table manners, a small voice in your head pipes up. But it’s his house, so you bite your tongue.

“Can I ask what it was about?” You hesitatingly venture.

Wild takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. “I wanted to live a simple life.” He starts. “Everything was over now, right? That was the idea I had. Defeat the evil and get to finally live as a normal man. Maybe explore more of my home and show Zelda all the cool things I’ve seen and done. Everything I knew, everything I remembered is gone and has been gone for a while. No one alive misses it. No one alive even knows about it. This is the world they were born into and they wouldn’t have it any other way. I was prepared to accept that and join them.”

Your face twists in sympathy as you nod along. “I take it that’s the issue here.”

“When I defeated Calamity Ganon and reunited with Zelda, she seemed so full of hope and purpose.” Wild continues. “I saw it in her eyes. She wanted a different thing to what I wanted.”

“And what’s that?”

Wild gives you a pained look. “Zelda wants to try and rebuild the kingdom. Make it into what she remembers it to be. She wants to strengthen relationships with the other nations and reestablish the royal family and a whole lot of other things that I cannot begin to think of how long it would both take and last considering all the damage that already been done. She wants to be Queen. And over what? Hyrule Kingdom is no more. Can’t be a Queen without a kingdom to rule and there’s not a lot of Hylians left that would agree to being ruled over or even enough of them to count as a kingdom to begin with.”

“I suppose it’s not a bad goal to have but you do make a point.” You try and add to the conversation, feeling wildly out of your depth. “Does she know that you-”

“Yes. And she thinks I’m crazy for it. She thinks that I’ve given up on my friends and the past and the future and- uugghhh.” Wild leaned forward and slams his head on the table with enough force to make you jump.

“That look like it hurt.”

“I’ve had worse.”

“I believe you.” A small smile covers your face.

A beat passes before Wild continues to talk with his head still on top of the table. “I don’t think she realizes that I’ve changed after everything. Maybe if I had my memories to begin with, or maybe if I had managed to defeat Calamity Ganon sooner, I’d be more inclined to agree with her, but I’ve experienced so much and done so much that I don’t want to go back to how things were. I’m a different man now.” Wild looks up at you. “She’s different too but I don’t think she’s ready for that conversation.”

“So you’re stuck with this one?”

“Yes.”

“That sucks man.” You shift in your seat. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Not if you can change the past.” He pouts.

“Shame. I’m fresh out of past changing wishing powder.”

“That’s not a thing.” He pouts even more.

You chuckle at the display before sobering up ever so slightly. “Do you want me to talk to her?”

“What good will that do?”

“Maybe a third person party has to step in. It could be that it’s because you’re the one who saying that she isn’t listening.” You shrug. “I think you’re right but I’m willing to give her chance to tell her side of the story while you cool down in here. I can be a distraction so you can sneak out quietly and she won’t know you’re here anymore! It’s a win win! And maybe you guys can come to an agreement when you both see each other again with new perspectives.”

Wild gives you another tired look and leans into his hand. “I doubt it would work. Zelda is incredibly stubborn, one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever met. But if you think it would help, I won’t stop you. I’ve run out of arguments and I’m done hearing hers.”

“Ok.” You say getting up and moving around the table. “I think it’s worth a shot. There’s a saying where I’m from that goes, ‘it’ll all be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, then it’s not the end.’”

You give Wild a hug around his shoulder and squeeze him tight. “I have faith that you’ll pull through and get to live peacefully, but until then, you’ve got us on your side ok?”

He leans in your direction and wraps his arms around your own. “I know. I figured as much.”

“Good man.”

“I’m definitely sneaking out of here though.”

“That’s fair. Go hide.”

“I will... And thanks for listening to me. I didn’t mean to go off like that.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

Four

"I'm sorry, what?" Four snaps his head up to stare at the Champion.

"What?" Wild tilts his head. "What? There's no stuff in the grass in my Hyrule. Just crickets and lizards...you know normal stuff. I don't know why there's tools and rupees in all of yours."

"You don't-" Four cut himself off with a click of his teeth, a piece in his mind clicking into place. He stands suddenly, clearly upset and tense as he processes the information.

"Four?" You call out to him but he doesn't respond to you, nor does he look back.

"Four!" Hyrule calls as well. "Where are you going?"

No reply.

"I'll go with him. Just in case." You stand up in a rush and nearly knock over the equipment at your feet in the process. "Don't wait up for us."

You follow him.

Four is fast and quiet and it takes very little time to lose him- or rather, for him to lose you.

Before you knew it, there's no trace of him and there's nothing within the forest that would give you a hint to his whereabouts.

"Great." You hiss and look around.

Nothing.

"Four!" If he won't show himself, you'll just have to make some noise. "Four! Four! Show me a sign so I know you're not dead!"

You wait.

"Don't make me get Wolfie!"

Nothing.

"Four!" You scream a little louder and begin to run. Now that you've said it out loud, despite being a joke in the beginning, the thought of Four being dead somewhere spikes your panic and anxiety and it fuels your quest.

It's only been a few minutes and Four can handle himself just fine but you don't think about that.

"FOUR!"

"Why are you screaming?" A voice come just beyond you.

You sprint toward it and find Four in a small clearing, crouched down and appearing to hold something in the palm of his hand.

"I was calling you." You don't know how you find it in you scold him. "A response would have been nice."

"Sorry." He shrugs. "I was having a conversation, it would be rude to drop it."

You get on your tip toes to look around him and find nothing. "With... With what?"

Four looks down into his hand and places it, ever so gently, on the ground, pausing and standing up to see you. "You can't see them?"

"See who?" You step over to him. "Four? Are you ok?"

His face twists in annoyance before sighing. "I'm fine."

"No offence, but I doubt that."

"It... a group of creatures that can only be seen by good children. They were important on my quests and have helped me greatly. Children usually stop seeing them around the time when they turn sixteen."

"Would it be easy for me to chalk it all up to magic?" You bit your lip.

"Probably. If it'll help you sleep at night." Four sighs and looks down to the ground, a small smile on his lips before it twists into a painfully and... he looks seconds from crying.

"I did so much to help them... and they helped me.... They leave gifts in the grass to help travelers and us heroes alike and yet... Wild says it doesn't happen anymore..." Four gulps and looks away from you and what ever is by his foot. "They wouldn't stop.... They're incredibly kind and hospitable and... There's no reason for them... Why are they gone?"

"Four." You reach out and place a hand on his shoulder.

"What happens to them?" His Adam's apple bobs a bit as he sucks in a breath. "It just means there was no one to help them."

"Oh Four." You pull him into a hug and nearly crush him with it.

"There's nothing I can do to help them, is there?" He sniffles into your chest.

"No, I... I don't think so Four. Not that far out into the future." You shake your head and begin to rub circles on his back.

You don't think he's crying but he might be fighting it because he does begin shaking.

He doesn't say anything else and you're loath to let him go when he's so emotionally charged. So you hold him. You hold him for as long as he needs and you wait for him to pull away first.

When he does, you keep your hands on his shoulders and he stays within your reach. Four begins to take deep calming breaths with his eyes closed and you instinctually run your hands through his bangs and push some of the loose hairs from his face.

Minutes continue to pass and the sounds of nature around you fill the void.

"I'm sorry." You say. "I wish I could help you but I don't know how."

Four nods and rubs his eyes. "I don't doubt that. Thank you. I'll be ok."

You don't think he's ready to go back to the group just yet, not after all that. "Tell me more about these friends of yours. How did they help you? How did you help them? What are they exactly?"

It earns you a small laugh and he grins up at you with a watery smile. "Sit down. And let me tell you about the Picori."

Twilight

“You almost died and for what?!” Twilight screams at Wild for the umpteenth time.

It startles you to hear his voice reach such volumes but you’re inclined to agree with him this time around. After Wild’s stunt with taking a hit to the head for Wind, you’d been on the look out for his more... self sacrificing behavior. You knew he wouldn’t think twice to do it and you tried to make it so there wouldn’t even be a chance for him to make such a decision.

This time though, in this last fight, you took your eyes off of him for only a moment and that’s when he broke his streak of uneventful fights.

Twilight, of course, is livid and has no regard for the poor creatures of the forest that have to endure his tirade as he unleashes his concern and worry in the form of rage and over exaggerated gestures.

When Hyrule finishes healing your more minor wounds, you slink away from the soon to be screaming match since Wild is very much still conscious, if a little roughed up. You don’t intended to stray as far as you go but you don’t find it in yourself to care for the time being.

Being around so many people for so long is taxing. You make the executive decision to remove yourself for the time being while tensions are high, to both cool off and to avoid getting hit in the crossfire.

There’s a small creek nearby, you find, and decide to make a small space for yourself there until dinner comes rolling around. The birds and the babbling waters calm your soul and snuffle out the last of the adrenaline. You don’t know how long you sit there, but you can faintly hear the screaming match in the distance that you dipped out of.

You don’t regret it.

More time passes and you find that you may or may not have taken a small nap in the meantime. If the position of the sun is anything to go by.

Despite the pain in your back from sleeping against a tree, the slight ache in your neck from the angle you slept in, you feel better. Clearer, even.

You hope your absence wasn’t entirely noticed but you can’t seem to regret leaving either.

Footsteps creep closer to you and you huddle into a small ball out of habit to avoid detection.

It’s Twilight.

He walks near the creek and takes a heavy seat next to it. He looks both pale or red faced at the same time but exhaustion is laced in his entire body from what you can tell.

He doesn’t notice you.

You uncurl and set your legs out in front of you. Leaning forward a little, as quietly as you can, you see that he’s upset. It doesn’t surprise you. But seeing as you don’t how to deal with an upset Twilight and you can’t really sneak away without crossing his line of sight or making any miniscule noise, you still yourself and wait.

And wait.

Twilight calls your name. Quietly and hollow- like he’s not all there. Or in the way one would talk to a memory.

It’s immediately unsettling. Both in how he sounds and how he knew you were there without you doing anything. But you suppose Twilight can just sense things like that from times to time. It’s certainly not the first time he’s done it.

“I’m here.” You reply.

“How long?”

“A few hours I think. Longer than you were here that’s for sure.” You shrug and slowly crawl out of your hidey hole. “I think I fell asleep....The sun wasn’t over there when I first got here.”

Twilights hums in what you think is agreement but it’s really only a sound. “It’s a nice spot.”

You smile. It’s tense and little fake, but he’s not looking at you so you don’t care for authenticity. “Good thing it’s big enough for the both of us huh?”

“Yeah.” He looked into the distance again, noting that the sun is beginning to set and takes a deep breath. “Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls?”

“Can’t say that I have.” You move closer to him, aiming to sit by his side. “I’ve always enjoyed sun sets and I find them calming to watch but hearing someone finding them sad is a new one. Do you feel sad as dusk falls?”

He hums again. “They say it’s the only time their world interacts with ours.”

“Whos?”

“Lingering spirits I suppose...” Twilight tilts his head upwards before twisting it to look at you. “It’s nothing. I’m just reminiscing about my life before my adventure is all. My... father told me those words and I haven’t forgotten them since.”

You hum this time and lean back to mirror him. “Wanna tell me why?”

“That Champion reminds me so much of myself and yet... he’s ten times worse.” Twilight falls backwards with a soft thump. “I know why he does it but I...”

“You care about him and don’t want to see him hurt.” You shrug. “It’s not exactly a new concept.”

“Tell that to him.”

“Maybe I will. He gets just as upset as you do when this happens, you know.” You shift your weight to make it easier to stand up later.

“Does he? You’d think that he’d get the point to stop doing then.” He growls.

“Maybe he’s scared of losing more friends.” You blurt before you can stop yourself. That was something Wild told you in confidence and while he didn’t say you couldn’t tell anyone- that was kinda implied.

Twilight stills for a moment, the fight leaving him again in a single breath as he considers your words. They don’t seem to be new news to him.

Wild is pretty close to Twilight...Maybe he already knew.

“I still think I’m entitled to not like it.” He settles.

“It’s not he’s asking you to be ok with it. I know I’m not.”

“I guess that’s fair then.” Twilight sits up again and stands up in one fluid motion that you envy. With a turn on his heel, he holds his hand out to you to take.

You take it and feel him effortlessly lift you off of the ground with that one hand.

You don’t comment on it.

“Come on.” He says. “I’m going to need you for moral support.”

“Why?”

“If I yelled in front of him of the whole group, I should apologize to him in front of the whole group.” He admits and wraps his arm around your shoulders. “But I might need an excuse to get close to him again after all the things I’ve said.”

“I get your desert and you’ve got yourself a deal. I left to not get involved and here you are... involving me.” You tease. “I demand payment.”

“One desert? I can do that.”

Hyrule

“I can’t do this.” You snap your head to the sound of the voice and see Hyrule with his arms cross and shaking.

“What? What’s happening? Hyrule?” You step closer to him as you’re the only one within arms reach. “What do I need to do? How can I help?”

“There’s nothing. Nothing you can do, that can make this better.” Hyrule takes one ground step before throwing his arms down. “Don’t you see them? With all their tools and experience and then there’s- me. Just me. Some magic later and a old man with a sword and I found myself trying to save my princess and defeat some evil, but these guys...”

You look around, trying to see if Legend or Sky are close enough to give you back up, or better yet, take over. You suppose it’s better than a panic attack but it’s so left field that you’re stunned and floundering to catch this hot potato of a conversation.

He keep talking.

“For all that is good and holy, they are heroes. Do you see them? Some of them have training, and families and skills and I....was just a boy in a grave yard. How can I even compete with them? I don’t, that’s how. But how can they consider me an equal? When I was in town and listened to the elders and their stories, they would tell me of a legendary hero from the past who courageously defended our home until the very end and who was virtually undefeated in all his adventures. And then I meet Legend....and he’s so much cooler than all those stories combined.”

“Link.” You call out to him and back to the real world. “You need to slow down for me honey because you’re too fast for me to keep up. What do you mean how can they see you as an equal? You defeated Ganon just as they did. You stood up for your home just as they did. You did it all on your own just as they did. Why wouldn’t they consider you an equal? No one cares about where you’re from, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

“But they can do so many things even without the sword!” He exclaims. “They all have a place to go to, a person who cares about them, a title or a skill and a world that’s not on the brink of collapse-”

“Ok, whoa, hey.” You step into his space and take his face into your hands, bringing it up for him to look you in the eyes.

“I have no idea what brought this up but I won’t stand for anyone talking bad about you. And that includes you. We... can talk about your home with clearer heads later, ok? Maybe the others can help with that when we get there, yeah? And well....” You’re sinking. You don’t know what to do with all this information and you have even less of an idea about how to address it.

“Good golly, when it rains, it pours with you lot, doesn’t it?” You hiss under your breath and bite the bullet. With a strong grip, you wrap your arms around the Traveler and pull him close. You try to keep your grip strong without fear of hurting him, but it hits you then how thin he is. How light he actually is. You can feel the hint of armor under his tunic and it does little to quell your fears.

“Clearly there’s a lot on your mind. And... I’m probably not the person to help you through this. If you want to talk about not belonging though, I’m free to listen. I’m the only one here who’s not a Link, if you haven’t noticed.” You try to joke but it falls a little flat. “You though... You belong here with all of us... all of them... And if you need more convincing then I’m bringing this up with Legend who’s is over the moon proud of you and what you can do and he told me himself that he couldn’t be happier to have you as his successor-”

“Really?”

“Not in those exact words admittedly,-” You gulp as the word vomit continues to bubble out of you in waves of panic. “-but I know that’s what he meant because he doesn’t stop talking about how cool you are.”

“Hm.”

“And everyone has a different background, ok? Everyone has skills and people that the others don’t have. That’s ok. It’s not a competition. I get worried that one day you guys are going to create some game out of all your trauma. Like... who had it worse and just go around in a circle listing off all the things that happened to each of you... Whoever runs out of things to say or can’t think of something as bad or worse than the others is out. Last man standing wins.”

“Don’t give them ideas.” You feel him chuckle. It’s breathless and small and it doesn’t reach your ears despite your closeness but you feel it.

“Good thing it’s just you and me right now.” You sigh a little in relief and loosen the hug. “Look, just.....whatever you think you can’t do, just know that there is someone who is confidently doing it wrong right now. In the group or not, just keep your eyes and watch. They don’t plan on doing it better either and people are celebrating them for it. Please believe in your own excellence as much as they believe in their mediocrity.”

“Big words.”

“You’re awesome for trying. Others are not and don’t plan to. You’re already better than them.” You amend, stepping away to look him in the eye again. “The group can’t do magic like you can. That’s all you. They all have items sure but no one can do what you do... and you’re self taught, right? That’s incredible! You have just as much as a reason to be here as the others. I swear it.”

Hyrule sighs and gulps. He doesn’t believe you. It’s not enough.

You knew it wouldn’t be and it’s definitely doesn’t scratch the tip of the iceberg of the bomb he just dropped on you but... step by step. Little by little. you have a plan.

“Screw it. Let’s catch up with Wind and Warrior and get them to tell you how awesome you are, since you won’t listen to me. And if you’re still a nonbeliever then we move on to the next pair. We’ll go down the line if we have to.” You nod and grab his hand, beginning to drag him along.

He laughs after you, a little hysterical and in disbelief. “You’re crazy.”

“That is not new information.” You reply, hiding your grin. “I say it’s Hyrule loving hours and I’m gonna get everyone to join.”

“You’re not joking are you.” It’s a statement. He already knows the answer.

“Nope!”

Legend

It was your turn on watch for the night. In an hour or two you were supposed to wake the Veteran for his shift and finally catch some sleep.

The others snored and slept away without a care in the world. It was just you and cackling fire that was active but you’d kill for something to help your mind get passed the boredom.

Anything but monsters or an attack that is. You’d hate to jinx your good luck so far.

In the corner of your eye, while fighting to keep your head up, you see Legend shift. Not necessarily unusual. You’re inclined to ignore it.

But then he shifts again, whimpering like he’s been hurt and a white knuckled grip on the blanket.

You still and begin to wonder what’s your level of care here.

Part of you, in kindness, wants to go wake him. The lack of sleep seems more merciful than letting him suffer a prison of his own making.

But you also don’t know how he’ll react.

You know he’d hate to be seen as weak for whatever normal reason and he’s been inclined to wake up swinging in the right circumstance.

Twilight suffered a broken nose for the whole night because he was disinclined to wake up Hyrule or take a potion.

Not you’d make the same decision and suffer the whole night in the same manner but it certainly fails to sound appealing.

Just as your about to appeal to your better nature and force yourself to go wake him before it gets worse, he shoots up into a sitting position with a strangled scream. The job seems to have been done for you- but in the worse way.

He’s breathing hard with his hand gripping his chest. Legend begins to frantically look around and slowly begins to piece together where he is and what’s happened. He never looks behind him, where you are, before running a hand through his hair a little harder than you think reasonable and getting to his feet.

You cough slightly, leaning away from the fire and back into previous position. You hadn’t realized you leaned into his direction as you watched him, inches from putting your face into the flame.

He startles at the sound and whips around, one hand poised to reach the sword he’s not equipped with.

“It’s just me.” You wave. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

He calms somewhat and you can see his jaw flex. “Well, goodnight to you.”

His voice is croaked- from disuse or an overwhelming emotion, you’re not sure.

“For me maybe. But you? That was quite a scare you gave me as well.” You play it off. You can at least pretend that you weren’t watching him. That you would have saved him a little earlier and took your sweet time doing it. You offer a peace offering to your morals. “Want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” He snaps, furiously rubbing his face. “It’s nothing new. We all deal with it one way or another.”

“True. But it’ll be easier to let it go, and let the experience float up into the air and never return. Otherwise it’ll fester and grow.” You shrug. “But I won’t force you. I know you’re not exactly fond of me.”

Legend glares into the fire as you talk and refuses to look at you. Once you finish though, he moves his head away, still not in your direction but visually drops more tension from his shoulders.

He doesn’t say anything.

“There’s a spot next to me with your name on it if you want it.” You offer. “A little company wouldn’t hurt.”

He takes more time to respond and you resolve to go back to staring at the fire.

A moment or two passes and you hear the faint sound of crunched foliage. It takes of your will power to not look up as he approaches and even more so when he decidedly sits next to you.

The fabric of his tunic brushes your leg for a minute and it strikes you odd that he sat that close despite the rest of the log at his disposal.

It must have been bad if he wants to be close to someone right after. The thought enters your mind. Once it’s there you don’t chase it away and instead casually lean back with your hand behind you.

If the angle causes you to lean closer to him in the process, you don’t say anything.

And if Legend notices, he doesn’t say anything either.

A moment of time passes in silence, the only sounds through the whole forest are crickets and a passing owl with the occasional whisper through the trees.

“How do you do it?” He asks.

“Do what?” You tilt your head in his direction.

He’s still not looking at you.

“Keep going.”

The answer shocks momentarily but you’re not surprised that it’s coming from him out of the whole group. “Legend-”

“I’m tired.” He says instead. “I hate this. I hate that sword. I hate that pig demon. I hate that I can’t be done.”

You hand comes up to his shoulder and you force him to look at you.

He lets you and he looks up to you with tears building up in his eyes and for a moment you’re struck by the odd balance of how old he sounds but how young he looks- is.

You stuck floundering for a response to answer him with but he asks one more thing. “Why can’t I be done?”

You pull him into a hug before you can stop yourself. “I don’t know. I don’t know Link.”

You find yourself wanting to cry as well once Legend collapses into the hug. He’s not hugging you back but he’s being held for the first time in... you don’t know how long. Your grip tightens.

“But I do know is that you’re not alone. Not anymore. And maybe....maybe this is the final fight. That’s why we’re all together right? A darkness so evil ahead that every hero is required and then....rest. For each and every one of you.”

You sniffle, carding your fingers through his hair without a moments hesitation. “If it’s not then I’ll fight everything for you from then on. I’ll take your place you hear me. I’ll take your job and title and you won’t have to do this anymore.”

“I’m the Hero of Legend. That’s not exactly an easy thing-”

“No. I am the hero now. I’ve decided it.” You hide the tears in his hair to the best of your ability.

Legend snorted, loud and wet but you elected to ignore it just as you were ignoring the ever growing wet spot on your shoulder. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“It does now. I said so.”

A beat.

“...Ok.” He sniffled and rubbed his head on your shirt. He took a deep breath and exhaled, letting the night take over the atmosphere again. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

He nods once, definitive and final. Your expecting him to let go now and return to his roll, already electing to take over his shift as well and just push through the next day.

Except he doesn’t.

Legend calls your name, testing the waters and lifts his head up ever so slightly. “...It’s not that I’m... not... fond of you-”

“Save it for a rainy day.” You grin. “I think you’ve had your fill of emotions for the night.”

He nods and eventually slips into sleep with his head on your chest, no doubt lulled by your heartbeat.

With tearful eyes, you stare back into the fire.

Time

Time marched from the stunned group the same way a parent does after making a scathing remark instead of a lecture.

You know the one.

“I’m not mad. Just disappointed.”

The poor boys suddenly didn’t know what to so with themselves or how to get back into Time’s good graces.

You felt for them and their awkward meandering through the camp. So, with your pride swallowed, you follow in the vague direction where Time went off to and decided to at least talk him down.

He is... decidedly harder to find than you previous imagined.

Just as your starting to think the Old Man doesn’t want to be found, you hear subtle swing. It’s to your left and it sounds heavy.

So naturally you follow it

Which leads you to a small clearing just beyond a bunch of bushes.

Time is there, full armor still on and swinging his giant sword forcefully, each swing stronger than the last. It’s as if it weighs only as much as Four. You’ve wondered in the past what it would like if he decided to actually throw the smallest ones of the group but out of fear, do not voice your ideas.

Just because Time won’t doesn’t mean that the others won’t try.

It’s hard being the responsible one when there are nine Links to take care of, each as much as a gremlin as the last. It must be hell on Time’s back to carry the group.

You see where he’s coming from and yet...

“You can stand to be a little more patient with them.”

The words are out of your mouth before you can actually stop them.

Time stops abruptly, in both the figurative and literal sense, before the man turns to you with that same face of neutral disappointment.

“They are heroes.”

“They are also children, Time. I think that it’s because they are heroes that they deserve to act their age every now and then.”

“Slacking won’t divert the evil away from our home.”

“Running face first into the problem won’t solve it either.” You sigh and walk up the man. He tenses as you approach and slowly lets his weapon down. The Hero of Time is an intimidating creature but you refuse to let that dissuade you.

“Look, I know why you’re upset. I get it. It’s hard to get a job done when you feel like you’re the only one it’s important to... But have a little faith in our group. Please.” You plead and stop right in front of him. You have to look up at him slightly due to the angle but he was forced to acknowledge you here.

His arms cross and he opens his mouth to respond but you cut him off.

“You’re right, they are heroes and there is a job to be done and an evil to be done away with. But they were even younger when they earned the title. They still vanquished the darkness even for their age. You have to trust that they will do the same here.” You reach up and put your hands on his shoulders, getting onto your tip toes to look him in the eye better. “And they will. Because they are heroes. Because they have the spirit of courage. Because they are Link... Just like you.”

He softens his stance ever so slightly but he still doesn’t look pleased.

“It’s not easy I know.” You get down again. “But they look up to you. I think all of them do. And I can’t stand to see how hurt they look when you get upset when they act their age. It’s not like they can help it.”

He takes a deep breath and uncrossed his arms. He takes a minute to respond. Time stared at you intensely before he drops all the tension in his body and finally lets his weapon go. A single hand comes up to pat your head.

“Let’s head back to camp.”

He says nothing else and continues to walk past you and back the way you came.

You don’t ignore the sense of accomplishment and refuse to dampen it when you catch the tiniest slivers of a smile before he turns away from you completely.

Wind

You’re lying peacefully on the dirt when you hear someone sit beside you with more power than would ever be needed.

You don’t open your eyes for the sake of the other person, not really thinking much of it and even forgetting that they were there until you heard the smallest of sniffles.

Now, you’re sitting straight up with wide and concerned eyes locking directly onto the crying form of your beloved pirate.

It’s hard not to feel for him and while you’re not sure what sprung this up, you don’t have it in you to turn him away, or to ignore that he was upset.

Neither of you say anything and you’re almost afraid it make the picture in front of you a little too real.

Instead, you move yourself closer to him and open up your arms.

Wind doesn’t hesitate to throw himself onto you and let his body sag with unwanted emotion.

As sobs silently rack his body, you begin to feel yourself rock back and forth for both his comfort and yours. Soon you start running your hands through his hair and rub small circles on his back.

He cries for a long time and never once gives you a clue why.

You don’t ask either.

Still, once the moment has passed, you continue to hold onto him. He doesn’t make any moves to let go of you any time soon and you’re happy to be there for as long as he’ll let you.

That doesn’t stifle your concern over the cause but you’re loath to bring it up.

Minutes pass with the boy in your arms and it’s only when you shift positions, does he look up at your face. His eyes aren’t as red anymore with the amount of time that’s passes since he’s stopped crying but his face is still a little puffy and his cheeks are both stained in tears and incredibly red.

A small smile creeps onto your face when you look back at him. “Feel better?”

“A little.” He admits and sniffles the last of the tears away, wiping his face with his sleeve. “Thanks.”

“For you? Anytime.”

Warrior

It struck you as odd that it was dinner time the group seemed to be missing someone.

Earlier that day the group had split up to take down some troublesome monsters on the border of some tiny town defenseless town and that was that.

It didn’t seem like big deal nor was it a particularly hard thing to do. The monsters weren’t infected and they didn’t have numbers on their side so your group took care of the pests in a matter of moments.

And yet, when everyone regrouped there was a visible tension.

Some thing had happened on the other side of the fight and no one wanted to fess up, even less so when Time mentioned it.

It worried you.

Now, as it stood the tension was still there but Warrior didn’t want to come out of the wood work. He had left earlier claiming to need to check up on his appearance and no one had questioned him. No one offered to go with him.

It was always dangerous to go alone.

“Hey, has anyone seen Warrior?” You glance around again, hoping it was just a miscount on your part. “It’s been awhile since he left.”

“He takes his sweet time.” Legend snapped. “And you know how narcissistic he is. He’s probably trying to get every single little hair in the right place and working out every little blemish in his stupid uniform-”

“I’m going to look to him.” You stand, placing your cooling food down by your foot. You don’t know what happened or what caused it but at least an idea begins to form. “It’s been too long regardless. Keep my food warm for me, yeah?”

You don’t wait for a response and walk away into the tree line where you think Warrior might be.

“It’s getting dark. Be careful.” Someone calls from behind you, mouth clearly full of food.

“Yes sir.” You reply.

You march on.

When you’re sure you’re far enough away, you begin to call out to Warrior.

It takes a minute to get any results but you’re starting to worry about your friend. The sun is lowering in the horizon as time goes by and you’re beginning to feel silly and frustrated and-

“I’m here.” A tired voice replies.

“Oh thank goodness.” You cross the distance between you two. “I was really starting to worry.”

Warrior puts on a brave face and a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes greets you when you stop in front of him. His look a little puffy and you think his eyes might be a little red but it easily be the lighting- or lack there of.

“Are you ok?”

“Obviously.”

You doubt him and it must have shown on your face because he immediately begins walking away. “Well look at the time. Crazy how fast the sun goes. Let’s get back to the group and eat. I’m starving-”

You grab his wrist as he pasts you and get a good look at him. “Are you ready to go back to the group? They can wait a little longer if you want them too.”

It irritated you that it’s come to this. How no one went to check on him. How no one offered to go with you. How no one seemed bothered by this. How long that he was alone dealing with something that’s been bothering him. How it took you so long to do something.

“No. It’s fine.” He says. Lying. It must have really bothered him, usually he’s better than this. “It’s about time to head back anyway.”

“They can wait.” Your grip tightens. “The sun can wait. We’re not obligated to be there. What’s wrong? ...If you want to talk about it that is...” You trail off uselessly. It only occurred to you that near the end that he may not even speak about with you. You weren’t the closest in terms of grouping but you can’t stand the thought of someone hurting alone.

“I’m fin-”

“You look like you were crying.” You cut him off. “If you don’t want to talk about it with me, that’s fine, just say it. But you might need more time before you head back anyway if you actually want them to believe you when you say you’re fine.”

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

“Warrior?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“If it bothers you then it’s not nothing.” You push. “But....fine. I won’t force you to talk to me. I just wanted to see if you were ok... You’re not but it’s better than seeing you bleeding I suppose.” You grit your teeth, annoyed by the lack of results. You did tell him that he didn’t have to talk to you and you don’t hurt him further but part of you wants to fix this. Even if you don’t know what it is, your heart calls for justice at his pain.

But he is unwilling.

“Camp is this way by the way.” You mention, looking at the ground. “You were actually farther away than I thought, so it’s a bit of a walk.”

“I just think it’s easier for people when I’m not around.”

You still and slowly turn to face him.

He’s looking at the ground as well, unable to say it and look you in the eye. It’s not what you were expecting and you’re not sure how to follow after that.

It’s a rare moment of vulnerability for him- even rarer that he’s showing it to you and you don’t want to squander the show of trust.

“Back home...there was a lot of... attention on me. A lot of blame... for starting the war. Or at least being the cause of it.” He admits, scuffing his shoe against the dirt. A little bit kicks up and sticks to the toe. He does nothing about it. “People listened to what I had to say because I was some destined hero. At first I didn’t think anything of it because I had thought it was one big mistake and sooner or later people were going to see that I was just some soldier not worth the time of day. It happened to be pure luck that Impa got it right when she gave me this uniform. Zelda made me a captain because of it and suddenly I had all of these men I had to give orders to. And if anything failed or if we lost, it would all have fallen on me. The blame, the guilt, the responsibility of the war...and then we found out why Cia was even opening these portals to begin with-”

You hug him.

“Please don’t cry.” You say into his chest. Your throat is tight and it a little hard to breath but you power through. “I’m not good at this. I never have been.”

“I’m not going to cry. It’s not worth crying.”

“I’ll cry for you then.” You admit and hug him tighter. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It was no ones fault.” Warrior hugs you back and rests his head on top of yours. His voice seems a little tight too and you’re sorry for all the things that he must have gone through.

You hug him for as long as you deem appropriate before letting your arms go lack and stepping away.

Or... at least you try to.

Warrior suddenly has a grip on you and refuses to let you leave.

“Please... Just stay a little longer.”

You do.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #linked universe x reader #I had no idea where exactly to go with this one #believe it or not I wrote Legends first.#I didn't know it would get as long as it did #are these a bit generic?#yes.#warrior's is also very long #sorry not sorry #should I have split this one?#probably.#did I?#no.#it took days ya'll #next time I'll split it again

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kmikaelsonimagines · 3 years

Text

The 1: A Kol Mikaelson Imagine

Request from Anon: The 1 please xx

I didn’t realise until I read over this, but there’s a bit of me in this one, in that what Kol feels is very similar to my own experiences. If you guys ever need to talk about anything similar to the content in this imagine, please don’t hesitate to pop me a message. Hope this is okay for you lovely, and enjoy x

Want to hear the song? Find a link to it just below:

The 1

I'm doing good, I'm on some new shit Been saying "yes" instead of "no" I thought I saw you at the bus stop, I didn't though

Kol had been doing well for the first time since it happened. It had only taken a few months, but he was finally beginning to feel some level of peace. He knew that he would never be the person he was again, never feel entirely complete, not after what had happened, but he was starting to feel almost contented.

It was what she would have wanted, always moaning at him for being too moody whenever things didn’t go quite the way he wanted them to. He smiled at the memory, seeing her faint outline standing in front of him.

It wasn’t really her, he knew that, but it was better than nothing. Better than being alone with his thoughts, better than letting himself spiral into a deep dark void where he was reminded of all his mistakes, self-loathing swallowing him up.

He refused to let that happen, not again, knowing that if he fell down that hole again, there would be no-one to help him out of it. No-one had the first time, after all, his family either hiding and pretending it didn’t happen, or threatening him if he stepped a foot out of line.

It was why he had left Mystic Falls, not being able to face them, not that they would have missed him.

But now a few months on, he realised that he needed to go back. He took a breath before opening the front door, stepping into the house where it happened.

The house where Y/N had died.

I hit the ground running each night I hit the Sunday matinée You know the greatest films of all time were never made

The first thing he saw was the book on the armchair. Spine broken, pages old and worn, leather bookmark sticking out of them. He knew that book, knew its smell, its touch, the way it made the reader smile.

It was Y/N’s, something he had obviously left behind when he had taken her things and moved them out of the Mikaelson mansion. Someone was reading it, and as Kol inhaled its scent, hoping that Y/N’s had lingered, he felt anger bubble up as hers was swallowed by that of his older brother.

Elijah.

Kol tried to drown out the image of his sibling with one of Y/N, of her telling him just how this was the greatest book of all time, how a film should be made out of it. He had promised her that one day, when that movie was made, he would take her to see it on a Sunday afternoon, and she had smiled, her eyes lighting up as she kissed his cheek.

Kol pulled the bookmark out of the pages, and pocketed the book. He would take it home with him when he was done here and leave Elijah with the ever damning thought that he would never find out what happened at the end of the novel.

Just like Y/N would never see that movie. I guess you never know, never know And if you wanted me, you really should've showed And if you never bleed, you're never gonna grow And it's alright now

“You’re back.” Kol was snapped out of his thoughts of Y/N by the voice of his sister. Turning, he looked at Rebekah, her eyes so full of sadness and hope that maybe her brother would stay this time.

“Not for long. Just need to pick up some things, and then I’ll be gone.” His words were clipped, and he turned his back on his sister as he walked towards where his bedroom was. No, not his bedroom. Their bedroom. His and Y/N’s.

“Kol.”

“What, Rebekah? What could you possibly want?”

“How are you?”

Kol shook his head. He knew his sister cared, knew that she was trying. But it was too little, too late. If she wanted him to stay in the first place, then maybe she should have tried a little harder all those months ago. Maybe she shouldn’t have sided with Klaus when Kol went on a bloody rampage out of grief, his hybrid brother threatening to dagger him again.

Fucking hypocrite. How many people had died at Klaus’s hands after he had lost someone?

But Kol didn’t say any of that. “Fine.”

He opened up the wardrobe, trying not to look at the bed where he and Y/N had slept.

But we were something, don't you think so? Roaring twenties, tossing pennies in the pool

Kol knew Rebekah was still standing there, watching him as he ran his fingers over Y/N’s clothes. Unlike the book that still rested in his pocket, her scent still lingered, and he resisted the urge to cover himself in it, to wrap each dress, each t-shirt, each jacket around his body.

If he did that, he was sure he would break down, and all his progress would be for nothing.

His gaze turned to a black dress, short feathered sleeves between his fingers as he remembered the day Y/N had worn it. It had been her birthday, he forgot which one, but he remembered how she had leaned over the railings surrounding the pond in the park.

He remembered how she had pulled coins out of her purse and given one to him.

“Make a wish, Kol.”

“You know we could just do this with magic.”

She’d pushed him playfully. “Just throw it in. You can’t tell me your wish otherwise it won’t come true.”

She had said that he couldn’t tell her. It hadn’t stopped him from showing her that night, pushing the dress off her shoulders and her body into the bed behind him.

Kol took the clothes off the hangers and packed them into the box he had brought with him.

And if my wishes came true It would've been you

“Kol, can you just talk to me? Please.”

Kol walked past his sister with that box of Y/N’s clothes, pretending as if she wasn’t there. He hadn’t forgiven her for what had happened those months ago, for siding with his brothers, for acting like Y/N hadn’t even lived in the house.

Kol hadn’t stopped blaming himself for what had happened to her. If only he hadn’t shown her his wish, maybe she would have still been alive. If only he hadn’t whispered it onto her skin, maybe he wouldn’t have had to bury her.

If his wish had come true, Y/N would still be here. If his wish had come true, Kol and Y/N would have been spending the rest of eternity together.

He surveyed the room, patting his pocket to check that her book was still there. It seemed he had everything he needed. Except-

There was a dagger at his back, the point digging into his skin through his coat. He froze, a familiar chill creeping over him. It had been Klaus last time, it had been Klaus almost every time.

He had never thought it would be his sister, never thought it would be Rebekah threatening him.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting you to listen.”

In my defense, I have none For never leaving well enough alone

Kol’s anger grew as Rebekah spoke, and he tried ridiculously hard not to snap.

“I know you’re upset with us, but we’re your family Kol. We were hurting too. We miss her too.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.” His voice was flat as he tried to remain calm, tried to keep his defenses up, the way Y/N would want him to. “Are you going to put that bloody dagger down?”

“Not until you agree to forgive us.”

That was it. That was the moment Kol snapped, his rage pouring over him in waves.

“Forgive you? Forgive this family? You must be joking. You’re the reason she’s dead. Klaus thought the best idea would be to put me away, Elijah won’t even show his face, and you’re swanning around in one of her dresses. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. I can’t forgive you when you won’t even acknowledge that she’s dead, and that it’s your fault, because this bloody family is too damn obsessed with pride and power, and can never leave things alone.”

“But we’re family, Kol.”

Hearing in Rebekah’s voice that she was off guard, Kol turned and gripped the blade in his hand, yanking it away from his sister. “No, we’re not. Y/N was my family, and you all took that away from me.”

He dropped the knife to the floor and left the house.

But it would've been fun If you would've been the one

Once back in his car, Kol put the box full of Y/N’s clothes on the passenger seat and gripped the steering wheel so tightly he thought his knuckles would protrude from his skin. He wanted to scream, but knew that once he did that, it would attract attention and that was the last thing he wanted.

So he took deep breaths, trying desperately to steady himself before he drove home. Whatever home was anymore.

He remembered the book in his pocket, and pulled it out so as not to damage it whilst he drove. He fingered the pages, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips as he remembered Y/N’s words.

“You’d like it if you just read it, Kol.”

“I’ll wait for the movie.”

Kol smiled, tears welling in his eyes. If there was ever a time to read Y/N’s favourite book, it was now. He opened it up and his breath caught at what was scrawled onto the front page.

Kol,

If you’re reading this, it means you’ve finally listened to my advice.

I love you, and just so you know, you’ve always been the one for me.

Y/N xxx

Kol lifted the book up to his nose, and there it was, the last lingering trace of her scent. He inhaled it, breathing in all he had left of his Y/N.

None of that stopped him from placing his forehead on the steering wheel and crying until his throat was raw.

None of that stopped him from mourning Y/N, the woman who should have been the one.

Masterlist

Folklore Masterlist

#the vampire diaries #tvd #tvd imagine #tvd imagines #the originals #to #the originals imagines #the originals imagine #Kol mikaelson #kol mikaelson imagines #kol mikaelson imagine #kol mikaelson x reader #nate buzolic #nate buzz #Nathaniel Buzolic

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dontmindmyshadowhunting · 3 years

Text

Dru meets Ash (Fan Fic)

This is Chap 6 of “Welcome to Faerieland”, a sequel to my Kitty Fan Fic "To never being parted" although it can be read as a standalone story.

Dru meets Ash (again, although she doesn’t know they have already met) in this Chapter.

AO3 Link here.

*****

Jaime and Dru landed a little away from a clearing where a revel was being held. Jaime hastily slipped the Eternidad back into his pocket. He would give it back to Cristina eventually, but in the meantime, he knew she had no trouble being escorted in and out of the Unseelie Court whenever she wanted to. Perks of being the King’s girlfriend.

Jaime and Dru had both dressed in faerie clothes, in order to blend in. Dru was wearing a long azur blue dress that brought out the color of her eyes. It fell just above her ankles, revealing high-heeled boots (conveniently hiding a few daggers). An upturned collar and long sleeves covered the marks on her neck and arms, though the low-cut neckline would inescapably draw anyone’s attention to her cleavage. Her dark brown hair was efficiently pulled into an elegant bun. Where Jaime and Dru’s skin showed, both had covered their marks with concealer.

As they walked toward the revel, and the music grew louder, Dru turned to Jaime. “I have to go find a friend of Nene’s. She may help us locate Ty and Kit. It’s better if I go alone, she knows the Blackthorns very well but she’s a bit wary around other Shadowhunters. Don’t stay too far, though. And of course, I don’t need to tell you not to drink or eat anything.”

“No, you don’t,” Jaime answered a little harshly. Blackthorns knew a great deal about the Fair Folk, but so did the Rosales, he wanted to remind her.

When they had finally joined the party, Dru waved at a faerie woman with blue hair and purple eyes who was standing next to a tent, in deep conversation with a kelpie, and left Jaime to stand awkwardly at the edge of the forest.

He had not been there five minutes when a fey swooped in to offer some refreshments.

“No, thanks,” he replied immediately, lifting one of his hands reflexively to prevent the fey from coming any closer.

“Are you certain? Mundanes are particularly fond of this one,” he said, pointing to a blue drink, “it makes you look younger. Not that you need it, of course.”

“Huh. Is there a drink that makes you grow like two years older, without altering your appearance?” The faerie stared at him aghast. Jaime couldn’t blame him. “Never mind, very stupid question,” Jaime mumbled.

Dru appeared then, her eyes glowing in excitement. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the forest.

“So... any information on where we could find your brother and Kit?”

“Have you ever been to a revel before?” She replied, ignoring his question.

“Hum. No, but Cristina told me a bit about them…”

“Come over here,” she said as she drew him further into the forest. She stopped in front of a tree, put both her hands on his chest and pushed him against the trunk. His back hit the wood with a loud thump but it was mostly drowned by the sound of his heart beating in his chest.

Her gaze was intense, dark eyelashes batting seductively over her blue-green eyes. Jaime swallowed.

“Er- Dru, what are you doing? Aren’t we supposed to go hunting for Ty and Kit?”

“Relaaax. What happens in Faerie stays in Faerie, doesn’t it?”

She bit her lower lip and he gasped.

“God, Dru, those lips…” Jaime choked. His thoughts were becoming more and more incoherent.

“Can I… kiss you?” she asked.

“God, yes. Please.” Jaime slumped against the tree trunk, feeling all the tension leave his body at once.

Dru closed her eyes and he did the same. As she pressed her full lips against his, he could feel blood burning through his veins like wildfire. Yes, yes, finally. He could be struck by lightning - he probably would - he didn’t care. He would die a happy man.

She bit his lower lip and he could taste his own blood, but he didn’t mind. Feisty little Dru. He brought his hands on either side of her face to cup her cheeks, but instead of soft skin he felt a very light... stubble. He pulled away immediately and found himself staring into a pair of bright blue eyes, the colour of a summer sky. Kit Herondale was smiling at him, his grin as mischievous as ever but somehow it looked wrong. All wrong.

“What does your heart truly desire, little Shadowhunter?” he said, cocking his head, and it was not his voice, but a woman’s voice.

From one moment to another, Kit’s blond hair and blue eyes were replaced by a faerie woman with gray fine hair drifting around a pale face, her skin smooth and ageless. He was staring at a leanansidhe. He cursed himself. What a fool he had been.

He stepped back, feeling sick, and hit something hard behind him. He was about to turn when he was dealt with a blow on the head. His sight blurred and he barely had the time to blink before he fell into unconsciousness.

****

As she was talking to Nene’s friend, Dru saw Jaime disappear into the forest with a faerie. What the hell was he thinking? They weren’t here to have fun.

She thanked her contact, who unfortunately didn’t have any information, and moved to where Jaime had vanished inside the forest.

The tree trunks were spaced, but their branches leafy and close enough that it was difficult to see beyond a few feet. She cursed Jaime silently as she got deeper inside the woods, the sounds of the revel now receding and being replaced by the sounds of nocturnal animals and insects. She thought about all the horror movies that warned you from doing just that.

If it wasn’t for her years of Shadowhunter training she wouldn’t have heard the soft footfalls behind her. She stepped further into the forest until she was at an advantageous position for a fight and whirled to face her stalker. It was a very tall faerie knight dressed in elegant velvety clothes. Probably gentry and part of the King’s guard. He smiled at her and she kept herself from shivering from the coldness of his grin.

“What are you doing here all alone, little girl?”

He probably thought she was a helpless mundane with the Sight. Admittedly, she didn’t look like the Shadowhunter women type, with her curvy figure.

“Minding my own business. As you should.”

“Do you know there are dangerous creatures lurking in these woods?”

“I definitely do. And let me tell you a secret…” She cupped her hand around her mouth and spoke in a stage whisper. “I am the scariest one of them.”

The faerie knight laughed.

“I am Ruadhan Fairburn. I used to be one of the best knights of King Kieran’s guard, and I have met him personally once. I am also acquainted with Gwyn ap Nudd, of the Wild Hunt. You certainly don’t frighten me.”

Oh, no. He did have a reputation as one of the realm’s best fighters, before King Kieran had suggested he retire, probably due to his attitude.

She mimed checking her watch (although she wasn’t wearing any). “Oooh, so it’s already time for a bit of name-dropping? Sorry, none of these ring a bell.”

No need to tell him she had seen Gwyn cry in front of Love actually a week before, on Friday’s movie night, and that she affectionately called King Kieran Kiki.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. When I am done with you, my name will be printed in your memory.”

“Hmmm. Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll pass.” She started running her hand through her hair casually, intending to pull out her hair stick made with adamas. It was a gift from Jem who had it made by Sister Emilia.

The faerie’s expression turned furious. “I am not really giving you a choice,” he said in a clipped tone.

An audible sigh had them both whip their head toward the general direction of the sound.

A few feet away, up a large tree, a boy - or rather a young man judging by his frame and the length of his long limbs - was lounging on the thickest branch. He was reading, holding his book high, so Dru could not see his face, only white blond hair tucked behind pointy ears. He was dressed in stunning finery, all black, his collar turned up. He was wearing dark silk gloves and his long fingers were splayed across the cover of his book. He was most certainly part of the gentry, or even royal blood, Dru thought.

“You heard the lady,” he said in a bored voice, and Dru could not help but startle at the sound. It was a beautiful, lyrical voice. “She is not interested. Now, move along. Go hump a tree or something.”

“Excuse me?” the faerie knight spluttered, his delicate features set in a mask of shock. “Do you know who I am?”

“I don’t know who you are, but I know what you are, and that’s enough to convince me not to develop our budding relationship any further,” he answered, turning a page.

The knight started to advance on him, but the blond faerie didn’t even lift his nose from his book. With a flick of his hand, he had the faerie knight hauled away like a puppet, as if a giant invisible hand had grabbed him from behind.

“Don’t move any closer. What did I just say about me not wanting to develop our relationship further? Have you never been taught how to take no for an answer?”

The faerie knight was seething but he backed away, walking in reverse, before he whirled and disappeared inside the deep forest.

“Thanks, I guess.” Dru said, relaxing her stance. “Although we could have avoided the drama. I had the situation quite in hand before you intervened. I could have knocked him out before he had the chance to spell out the word asshole.”

The faerie laughed, and it was a beautiful chime sound.

“Ladies shouldn't have to dirty their hands,” he said, as if she had not just uttered the word “asshole”, disqualifying her as such.

“What century do you live in?” she asked, shaking her head. “Anyway, I am a Shadowhunter, dirtying my hands is part of the job description.”

She saw his whole body suddenly tense. Slowly, he brought the book down, just enough to reveal a pair of green eyes under delicate blond eyebrows. As soon as he caught sight of her, his eyes widened in surprise and he let the book fall on the ground, the resulting thump muffled by the grass.

In a single swift and elegant motion, he had jumped from his tree and was standing a few feet away, facing her.

Up close, she could see his eyes were a clear emerald green. It made her think of grass fields glowing under the spring sun. His features were sharp and ethereal, his white blond hair tousled as if they had caught wind. Physically, he was the opposite of Jaime, all pale white and thin silvery curls where Jaime had brown golden skin and dark thick hair. They both had a lean figure and a debonair manner, but where Jaime was almost gangly, the faerie was all graceful moves and regal stance.

He is absolutely gorgeous, Dru admitted reluctantly. And he was watching her as if he knew all the secrets of her heart, as if he had always known her and was merely returning to her after leaving for a short while.

Although she was almost certain she had never met him, something about him struck her as oddly familiar. She was idly wondering whether her mind had conjured up one of the princes of her books. Maybe, he was the product of her own fantasy and he would disappear from one blink to another… But no, she had not been the only one to see him. Get a grip, she told herself.

“It’s you,” he breathed.

Dru tried to regain her composure. She straightened up as she answered. “It’s definitely me.” She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night,” he whispered in a daze.

By the Angel, his voice. Everything about him ensnared your senses, enticed you to love and worship him. But Dru knew better than to let herself be fooled by men’s - especially faerie men’s - spells and enchantments.

She swallowed and answered in her most detached voice. “Shakespeare. Romeo meets Juliet. Act I Scene 5. Already bringing out the heavy artillery, I see. Do you always quote other people’s work to make yourself interesting? Or do you actually have a personality?”

The strange prince was taken aback for a second. Then, slowly, a grin spread across his face. He was breathtaking when he smiled.

“Oush,” he replied, miming a sword stabbing through his chest. “That went straight through my heart.”

“This line may work its spell on the naive and gullible girls you usually manage to sweep off their feet, but it definitely doesn’t work on me.” Dru sniffed.

The fey cocked his head, as if he was inspecting a strange wild animal.

“You assume that I am trying to seduce you?”

She rolled her eyes and whirled, avoiding to stare at him for too long. He was quite intimidating. And she needed to find Jaime.

“Don’t be a jerk, in addition to being a cliché,” she said without a backward glance, as she walked away. She could hear the sound of his laugh behind her, echoing in the forest like ringing bells.

****

Tagging @gabtapia sorry I’ve been so busy lately but I am definitely back now with more chapters.

#cassandraclare #cassandra clare fan fiction #the wicked powers #the dark artifices #jaime rosales #drusilla blackthorn #ash morgenstern #ash and dru #dru and ash #ash x dru #dru x ash #tda fanfiction #tsc fanfiction #the shadowhunters chronicles icons #the shadowhunter chronicles

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bird-in-a-cage · 4 years

Text

It wasn’t Steve’s fault. He came across the page by accident. He certainly wasn’t social media stalking some guy he spotted in the library when he should have been working on his accounting course because he was far too shy to just go over and say hi.

What a ridiculous thought.

He didn’t lay awake in his dorm room that night, after seeing those blue eyes and hearing that laugh and certainly wasn’t instantly smitten. Definitely didn’t spend almost half an hour finding out his name through college facebook pages, then use that information to find not one but two instagram accounts. One clearly a more public page, photos of cars and coffee and the bay at sunset. The other just a total thirst trap, post after post of shirtless shots. Chest bare and shiny and tanned and toned and gorgeous. There also, definitely, wasn’t a link to an Onlyfans page right in the bio line, topped and tailed by sparkle emojis.

Steve, categorically and without question, did not pay $12.99 to become a subscriber after less than a minute’s thought.

He then absolutely did not turn the brightness down on his phone, slip in his earbuds and spend the whole night watching seemingly endless videos of this guy going to town on himself. On the most beautiful dick Steve’s midwestern, recently-out-of-the-closet-for-good-and-wrapped-up-in-a-bisexual-pride-flag ass had ever seen. He didn’t immediately commit this guy’s name to memory like maybe this was all a dream and he’d forget it in the morning somehow.

BillyBoy

Just paying for college with what god gave me

Steve really should have stopped. Should have cancelled the subscription in the cold light of day, but he didn’t. Couldn’t. The crush had only been small before, no more than just a passing glance. But now Steve knew what this guy sounded like when he came. The ramp up of moans going deep, the sudden stop before the gasped out sigh. The endless string of fucks that came with thick ropes of cum. It was impossible to go back to not knowing that information.

Most of the videos were taken on campus. Places Steve had to pass everyday going too and from class. Mostly bathrooms. Occasionally just empty hallways in the middle of the day. Not that Steve sought them out to check his theories about this guy. With his perfect chest and perfect dick and perfect cocky grin and clear exhbitionist streak.

Steve wasn’t obsessed. It wasn’t something that could easily become a problem. It wasn’t as if some days he would just walk through places videos had been filmed previously in the hopes of just bumping into this Billy guy, who outside of the internet was apparently incredibly illusive. Not that Steve would even know what to say if he did find him. Probably just stutter something embarrassing before going to find a corner to die in.

The boy can come out of the closet but the cape of shyness apparently comes with him. Accounting and finance wasn’t the course to meet people.

There was one video though, one three minute clip that lived in Steve’s head from the moment it ended. It wasn’t taken in public like the vast majority of the others, but clearly in a dorm room from all the furniture matching Steve’s own. A see through silicone sleeve taped to the corner of a desk, clearly filled with little bumps and ridges. Taken from a chest down angle it was just Billy’s magnificent cock fucking this toy over and over, thrusting and pumping, thighs getting tense as the sounds were just groans and a slick wetness. Gradually getting faster and faster, the thick head of his cock poking through the end of the sleeve with each thrust, shiny and pink and fat and weeping. It gave Steve endless dreams about being fucked like that. Bent over a desk. Feeling all that weight and girth break him apart, just begging for it. Feeling the load spilled over dark wood deep inside him instead.

It wasn’t an obsession. It wasn’t.

Steve didn’t nearly drop his phone in the middle of the silent library when a notification vibrated and sent jolts down his spine and his eyes to go wide.

BillyBoy is live!

Steve acted as natural as possible, finding a place to sit on a table that was mostly empty, set up his things like he might at all try to study and flipped open the video like he was texting. Just to check. Nothing more. He wasn’t obsessed, goddamnit, he wasn’t. But he recognised where BillyBoy was though. All the books in the background were a dead giveaway. Steve tried to keep his face in neutral. He’d thought about this moment, bumping into the guy in the middle of a shoot and offering to lend a hand. A throat. Anything this guy wanted Steve was down for. Carpet burn and bruises be damned. He held his phone close to his lap as he watched. Watched Billy grin at the camera, pan down his ridiculous body with his shirt pulled up under his chin and cup his hard cock through a pair of bright red board shorts. When Steve could pull his eyes away from the main focus, a book in the background caught his eye, a name on a spine.

Mastering Bookkeeping.

That information hit like a punch. Steve knew exactly where he was hiding this time. Knew he was there right now. Suddenly his tongue felt fat, his limbs just deadweight and useless. He could get out of the chair, walk to the back corner and find the man who had been plaguing his every fantasy. Finally put them to rest and witness first hand what he thought about every single time he jerked off. But he couldn’t move. What would he even say? Hi, I’ve been giving you money to see your dick for months now, can I touch it? Steve cringed at even the idea. He wasn’t one of those people. The bolder part of him knew exactly what he wanted to do. Find Billy and have that cock fuck his throat until it was raw and horse. Swallow everything. But Steve had been in college for almost three terms now, had barely even said hello to anyone not in his class. He couldn’t just do that if he couldn’t speak to people. Especially someone he wasn’t obsessed with. Someone he hadn’t wasted hours scrolling through instagram posts figuring out what this guy was like in real life and not half naked spread out on a mattress with his dick in his hand.

But life doesn’t throw you very many chances. And his father did always say to grab each one you come across. Of course he never meant it to be about boys, but still.

Steve turned the video off when he knew it was almost over, it was kind of embarrassing that he knew that from sound alone, slipped his phone into his pocket and decided to just be bold for once in his life. He could always say he just needed a book. It wouldn’t be a total lie. He left his things on the table, all intentions of coming back to actually get some work done and wandered up to the upper level, towards the back corner. He was there, leaning back against a shelf of textbooks, even more perfect in real life. Flushed from clearly just coming, shirt rolled back down and shorts rolled back up. If Steve hadn’t known any better it maybe looked like Billy had been doing something weird like jumping jacks or just running on the spot. But Steve knew a lot better. And seeing that grin in real life made his knees feel weak. Blue eyes sparkling. Blonde hair pulled into a messy bun, one that looked effortless. Like he’d just rolled out of bed and had an early class. Steve felt his palms start to sweat. He shouldn’t have done this. Just grab a book and leave. But he was caught in that gaze. Like a deer in headlights. Like a moth to a flame. Stuck. Billy licked his teeth, looked Steve up and down very noticeably.

“Hey there pretty boy...”

Okay, Steve was obsessed. Very obsessed. And this was everything he’d wanted for months. His heart was hammering in his chest, palms now practically soaked, trying to force the sound of this beautiful man coming over and over again out of his head enough to talk around a nerve swollen tongue, because nothing would happen if he didn’t just try and say something regardless of how stupid or embarrassing it would sound. Nothing would happen if he didn’t try.

“Hi…”

#harringrove #billy x steve #my writings #so i haven't written anything in two weeks #be gentle #not 100% happy but i finished something #so thats good

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patriciasage · 3 years

Text

Title: double trouble

Author: Patricia_Sage

Fandom: The Adventure Zone - Amnesty

Pairings: Indrid Cold/Duck Newton, Dani/Aubrey Little (mentioned)

Summary:

Aubrey feels like her heart has crawled up into her windpipe. The flame in her hand flickers erratically. Two copies of Duck stand before them, breathing hard and holding their hands in the air. Ned, pointing the NARF blaster at them both, is attempting to appear confident, but Aubrey can tell he’s panicking.

“Shit, Duck,” Aubrey says, “Why didn’t we think of a code word?”

[posted in full below the break, but you can find me on AO3]

Aubrey is scared shitless, but she won’t admit it.

This abomination isn't like anything they’ve faced. Before, hunting them felt like finding a dangerous animal that had to be put down. This one is intelligent and intentional, and the attacks are personal. Knowing the abomination had taken Dani’s form sends a shiver down Aubrey’s spine.

Eugene had told Duck that he had seen some ‘alien activity’ at Pins & Needles, the bowling and knitting club, so the Pine Guard was sent to investigate.

“You’re not supposed to split the party,” Aubrey whispers.

“But a group of three people cannot investigate two noises at once, Aubrey,” Ned replies, continuing to sweep the staff room with his flashlight. Aubrey is comforted by the flame in her hand as both a light source and a weapon. “Besides, Duck can take care of himself. He has a sword, for goodness sake.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t have his powers anymore and he didn’t bring his helmet! I’m worried about him.”

“There’s only the bathrooms left to check and then we shall be reunited. Nothing to fret about, my dear.”

Except, there is something to fret about. A shout echoes through the building, followed by a loud crash. Ned and Aubrey look at each other for a second before sprinting toward the sound. “Duck!” Aubrey calls. A loveseat is overturned in the knitting area and a ball of yarn has made its way halfway down one of the lanes. There’s no sight of their friend.

The phone behind the front counter begins to ring. Before Aubrey can think about answering it, there’s another sound.

A crash followed by some swearing. It’s coming from the area behind the lanes. Ned makes his way to the carpeted path on the edge of the room. Aubrey runs directly down Lane 3, her combat boots skidding slightly on the smooth wood. When she reaches the end of the lane, she doesn’t stop to think before she hits the floor. She propels herself into a slide, feet first, crashing through the bowling pins and the plastic curtain and emerging in the back room. Ned flings open the door, out of breath, just after Aubrey gets to her feet. They take in a strange and frightening sight.

Duck is on the floor and he is grappling with someone who is also wearing a ranger uniform. The person underneath clips him with a punch to the side of the head and dislodges him. It’s dim in this back room but Aubrey can see his opponent’s rugged features, now. It’s Duck.

Duck reaches amongst some bowling pins and retrieves Beacon. He swings it down with ferocity and Aubrey lets out a startled shout as it moves toward her friend’s face. But the attack is intercepted by another Beacon. The two swords wrap around each other like snakes, spitting insults.

“False! Ephemeral!” One of them snarls.

“Pathetic duplication! You cannot compare to Beacon!” The other shouts.

“Fuck,” Aubrey says.

Ned steps forward in the hallway behind the pin-dispensing machines. Aubrey clambers down next to him as he draws the NARF blaster. “Halt, Ducks!” Ned commands. “Step away!”

Both Ducks look up from their tangled position on the floor. The one on top attempts to yank Beacon back, but the two swords are linked together. The force of their sword tug-of-war causes both weapons, still entangled, to be flung in the air. One of the Ducks reaches for Beacon, but Ned takes a threatening step forward. “Hey!” They both freeze. “Stand up and kick the swords to me.”

Aubrey feels like her heart has crawled up into her windpipe. The flame in her hand flickers erratically. Two copies of her friend stand before them, breathing hard and holding their hands in the air. Ned is attempting to appear confident, but Aubrey can tell he’s panicking. “Shit, Duck,” Aubrey says, “Why didn’t we think of a code word?”

They speak at the same time: “I told you!” / “No shit, Aubrey.”

“Alright. Everybody, remain calm,” Ned says authoritatively. He levels the NARF blaster between them. “Tell me something that only Duck would know.” It’s incredibly cliché. Aubrey resists the urge to roll her eyes.

The two Ducks speak at once, again: “Uh, that we hooked up?” / “Like how we slept together eight years ago?”

Aubrey’s jaw drops and she looks over at Ned, scandalized. Ned adjusts his grip on his weapon, flustered and embarrassed.

Aubrey hits him in the arm with her non-flaming hand. “Ned, you idiot, the Bom-Bom looked through all your memories when you were in that hotel!”

“Right,” Ned mumbles, blushing. He clears his throat and attempts to look intimidating again. “Tell us something only Aubrey would know!” Aubrey groans in frustration.

Duck One, on the left, speaks up. “We don’t have time for this, y’all. The more we fuck around, the more time it has to figure out how to get past us.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” Ned shouts.

“We can’t let it get away again, Ned!” Duck One reiterates. He takes a deep breath and steadies himself. “Shoot us both.”

“What!?” Duck Two protests.

Aubrey sees Ned make a decision. Her heart races, but she’s frozen to the spot.

Ned shoots the Duck on the right.

Except his flesh doesn’t come apart in scattered orbs of light. He doesn’t scream like a malfunctioning computer. Red blood, and lots of it, pours out of the wound in his thigh. Duck collapses with a very human yell. “Fuck! Ned!”

The abomination takes advantage of this moment of distraction to create a rift. It steps through, smiling with Duck’s face. The rift closes and Ned’s second foam bullet embeds itself into the wall.

Aubrey and Ned run to their fallen friend. Aubrey feels sick at the sight of his pants darkening with blood. Duck lifts his shaking hands off of the wound for a second before pressing them down again, hard. “It’s not – fuck! – Doesn’t look like you hit an artery. But holy shit, Ned! I could never take a bullet, but I really can’t take a bullet right now, man; I’m just a regular guy! Fuck!”

“I’m so sorry, Duck. I thought it would be very improbable for the abomination to volunteer to be shot.”

“And you thought I would volunteer to be shot!? Fuck, man, you should have done what it said and shot us both. This is worst-case scenario shit right here. Dammit!”

“Yes. I’m –” Ned looks absolutely miserable, but he steels himself and turns to Aubrey, who has stalled next to the growing puddle of blood on the carpet. “Aubrey, go to the front desk and call an ambulance. Bring back the first aid kit under the counter.” He takes off his jacket and places it on Duck’s thigh, replacing the ranger’s hands with his own.

“How do you know it’s under the counter?”

“It’s always under the count– go, Aubrey!”

“Right!” She takes off running, this time through the door and along the side wall. She jumps over the counter and frantically scans over the bowling shoes before finding the landline on the wall.

The phone rings just as her fingers are about to touch it.

Aubrey answers, “H-hello?”

“The ambulance will take too long. I’ll be there soon.”

The voice is familiar, often heard through a telephone. “Indrid! Wait…was that you calling, before?”

“Yes, Aubrey,” he replies a little harshly. “I was going to tell you not to shoot my boyfriend.”

Her first instinct is to protest, correct him that it was Ned who pulled the trigger. Instead, she says, “I’m sorry.”

Indrid sighs and the sound pushes against the receiver. “No. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have raised my voice. I’ll be there soon.” The dial tone rings in her ears.

About five minutes later, the bell above the front door rings. Aubrey and Ned, crouched over their injured friend in the back of the alley, share a meaningful look. Duck is slumped against the wall, pale and bleeding through the bandages. They’re ready to protect him.

There’s a deep fluttering of wings and the scraping of claws on the wood flooring. Then…nothing. It’s almost impossible to hear footsteps on carpet. Aubrey raises a fist of flame and Ned readiest the NARF blaster at the door.

Ironically, they’re relieved to see a monster step through. He’s so tall he has to crouch under the doorframe, wings folded close to his body. His huge red eyes glow in the dim room, flickering in Aubrey’s light. A pair of clawed hands raise in response to Ned and Aubrey’s defensive stance, the other pair holding onto a white box. He chitters in a way that Aubrey assumes is meant to be calming. All she can focus on is the movement of his sharp, terrifying mandibles.

Duck speaks up from behind them, his voice weak. “Hey, darlin’.”

“Hello, Duck.” Indrid reaches out a clawed, dark hand and hands Ned another first aid kit. He must have brought this one from his Winnebago or from another room in the building. “You need to add more bandages – tighter – if he’s going to make it to the hospital.”

Ned nods and gets to work. Aubrey wonders absentmindedly why he’s so calm about this. The moment she saw the bullet go into Duck’s leg, she just about passed out.

Indrid turns to Aubrey and tilts his head to the side in a swift, insectoid motion. Aubrey has only seen him in his Sylph form once – the time they asked for his glasses at the Winnebago. If she didn’t know he was a friend, she would be absolutely terrified right now. As it were, she’s still a little unsettled by his proximity. He towers over her, dark and frightening.

Indrid seems to notice her reaction. Shoulders hunched a little, he draws a pair of glasses from a pouch on his waist (like a moth fanny pack, Aubrey thinks). When he puts them on, he becomes the pale, tall, slightly disheveled man she’s familiar with. He’s wearing an old sweater of Duck’s, emblazoned with one of The Smiths’ album covers. Indrid looks a little uncomfortable. Aubrey realizes with a jolt of guilt that it’s because of her.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I’m just not, you know, used to seeing you as the Mothman. You can take your glasses off if you want!”

“It’s alright, I understand,” Indrid replies. He fiddles with the large lenses and shivers a little. He keeps his disguise on. Aubrey feels bad for making him feel self-conscious. Empathetically, she thinks of how it would feel for people to look at her and act scared or unsettled. Just because he’s a giant, frightening moth doesn’t mean she should make him feel bad about himself.

Before Aubrey can make an attempt at a better apology, Ned speaks up. “Won’t you be spotted transporting him to the emergency room?”

Indrid’s head tilts back and he freezes for a moment, evaluating potential futures. He returns to the present with a sigh. “He’s going to pass out before we get there.” His hands clench in frustration. “I can’t carry him in my human form.” Indrid turns to Duck. “Sorry, Duck, I’m going to have to leave you on the sidewalk outside of the hospital and call in from a payphone. Too many questions.”

Duck manages a weak shrug and grimaces. “Well, shit. Alright. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Indrid glances over at Aubrey before taking off his glasses again. Aubrey makes sure to keep her face neutral as the Mothman appears in front of her once more. Ned scrambles out of the way. Indrid kneels and his claws dig into the carpet. When he stands up, he has Duck cradled gently in his top set of arms, the other two providing support. Duck is a big guy, but he looks almost small surrounded protectively by Indrid’s wings.

Aubrey thinks about how most people would find Dani scary in her Sylph form, but all Aubrey sees is the woman she cares about, the woman she would do anything for. Indrid must be like that for Duck. Even though the Mothman’s transformation is significantly more intense than Dani’s, this is his authentic self. As the four of them make their way out of the back room and past the bowling lanes, Aubrey can’t help but notice the comfort the two take in each other. Duck buries his fingers in some chest feathers while Indrid’s free hand gently strokes his hair. It’s kind of…cute.

Ned opens the front door to the bowling alley and peers around the parking lot. “Coast is clear,” he says, holding the door open for everyone to step through.

Aubrey turns to Indrid. “Take care of him.”

“I will,” Indrid replies, then takes off into the sky with a powerful beat of his wings.

Aubrey and Ned watch until Indrid’s form disappears into the night sky. Ned sighs and Aubrey looks over at him. He looks like he’s about to crumble from guilt. He’s much bigger and taller than her, so all she can do is place a comforting hand on his arm.

“Come on, baby driver, let’s hit the road.”

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twomoonstwosuns · 4 years

Text

thanksgiving break

back to you [series masterlist]

previous part · next part

pairing: professor!poe dameron x reader

warnings: smut (18+), swearing, age gap (reader over 18), everything consensual

word count: 4.3k oops

a/n: get ready, i’m turning this into a full series (my first ever series and i’m STOKED). it’s gonna be full of smutty, fluffy, angsty goodness. i’m making a tag list, hit me up if you want to be added. i’ll link the masterlist when i have it made. also sorry not sorry i got really carried away and basically just wrote a porno.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You hadn’t seen Poe since that night.

You weren’t purposely avoiding him. In fact, you had caught yourself looking for him within a crowd of people, in line getting coffee, or walking outside between classes. Since his class was over, you had no reason to go to the building he taught in. And it would definitely be weird if you started showing up to his office hours without a reason.

Midterms were rough on you and everything after that just seemed to be getting harder. Studying for multiple tests and writing long papers took over your life for the month of November. Graduation was one semester away and you couldn’t take your foot off the gas, so you pushed yourself hard. Your diet consisted of energy drinks and whatever you could nuke in the microwave or get delivered late at night. Luckily, you weren’t alone in your stress. Your apartment-mates Karé and Jessika were in the same boat as you.

It didn’t help that you couldn’t stop thinking about your hookup with Poe, the way he kissed you, the way he sucked on your skin, and especially the way he fucked you just on the cusp of rough. It was good, so good, and you wanted it to happen again, which is probably why you were seemed to be looking for him everywhere you went. What would you even say if you did see him? Hey Professor, wanna fuck again? just didn’t seem like the right way to ask.

Thanksgiving break was a very welcome interruption.

You turned in the first draft of your thesis paper, the invisible weight on your shoulders lifting as you walked out of Professor Holdo’s office, wishing her a good break. Your phone buzzed inside your pocket and you saw your older sister Tallie’s name flash across the screen.

“Mom wants to know what time you’ll be home.”

You pulled the phone away from your ear, checking the time.

“Probably in like an hour, hour and a half? I’m heading back to my apartment now and have a couple last minute things to pack. Why?”

“She’s running to the store and wants to know what you’re making to bring to dinner tomorrow. If you answered your phone, you’d know that.”

You scoffed at her attitude.

“First of all, I don’t know what I’m making yet so tell mom I’ll just stop at the store myself. Second, I know it’s been awhile since you’ve been in college, but let me remind you that I still have classes the day before Thanksgiving.”

“Yeah, I got that. Sorry.”

Tallie’s answer was short, clipped. At this point you were seriously debating staying at your apartment during break and eating a box of mac and cheese if this was the attitude you were going home to. All you wanted was a relaxing break. You needed it. You deserved it.

“What the hell’s your problem?”

“Nothing. I just—it’s our first holiday since dad left and I’m more angry than I thought I would be.”

You stopped in the middle of the hallway, making students around you have to sidestep you. You shot them an apologetic look as they passed. You understood why your sister was giving you attitude and gave her the benefit of the doubt. You knew it was Wednesday but had forgotten the significance of the day. Today was the day your parents’ divorce would be finalized. You let out a heavy sigh.

“I get it. I’m angry too.” You said.

Another person coming down the perpendicular hallway caught your attention and when you looked, you saw him, the person you’d been looking for. You gave him a smirk as he walked closer and he gave you one back when he made eye contact with you. Everything your sister was saying was passing through your head without being processed as you discreetly checked him out. A black sweater with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms was accompanied by dark blue jeans and a brown leather bag hanging off his shoulder, the shoulders you had fond memories of holding onto as he pounded into you. Poe Dameron was effortlessly dreamy. You held a finger up, silently telling him to hang out for a second. Poe slowed his walking and took out his phone, lingering an appropriate distance away from you.

“Look, the way I see it, we can stay angry or we can not think about it and just have a good break. I haven’t seen you since the summer.”

“I know, I’ve missed you. We’ll have to do something before you go back to school. And you’re right about being angry. I’ll let it go, for you…and for mom. I hate it when you’re right, by the way.”

“I’m always right, I don’t know why you’re not used to it by now.” You heard Poe laugh quietly and you gave him a look. “I gotta go, but I’ll be home soon.”

You hit the end call button and looked back up at Poe.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Everything ok?”

“Yeah, um—“ How much do you tell him? It was just sex the one time, it’s not like you were dating. You shook your head, deciding not to burden him with your family drama. “It’s nothing, really. My older sister’s a little bit of a drama queen sometimes.”

“Ah. Only child; never had that.”

“Consider yourself lucky.”

The air around you was tense, wrought with sexual tension that could be cut with a knife. You couldn’t help but bite inside of your cheek as you looked at him. The way Poe was raking his eyes over you was nearly the same as the way he looked at you at the club. He wanted a repeat of that night too. The words were on the tip of your tongue and you could tell Poe wanted to say something too. You wanted to say them so bad, but you didn’t know who might be lingering behind doors or around corners, so you settled for small talk.

“You heading out?”

“Yeah, I’m flying out to my dad’s tonight. We’re doing friendsgiving with a couple of his Air Force buddies and a few of my friends who don’t have much in terms of family.”

“That’s sweet,” you said. “Is Beebs going with you?”

Poe chuckled. His orange and white corgi Beebs had become very popular when he had his laptop hooked up to the monitor in his class and everyone saw the adorable dog as his computer background.

“Unfortunately no, he’s getting dropped off at doggy day care. Flying stresses him out.”

You thought you ‘awwed’ in your head, but the way Poe snickered made you realize you had actually said it out loud. You couldn’t help it though. The way he adored his furry companion was too sweet. Poe looked around him before taking a step closer to you.

“Give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“Give me your phone.”

You gave him a look as you handed your phone over. He held onto it for a minute, typing something in quickly before handing it back to you. His fingers brushed over yours and your whole body felt warm. You looked up at Poe, his eyes on you as he leaned in.

“See you later.” He said lowly in your ear as he passed you. He was playing a dangerous game out in the middle of the hall like this, but you found yourself growing wet instead of caring. You bit your lip to contain your smile before looking back at him, your eyes landing on his ass that just looked too good in those jeans.

“Tell your dog I say ‘hi’.”

Poe threw his head back and laughed loudly. He turned to look back at you and winked. You walked away in the opposite direction, the smile never leaving your face.

》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》

Thanksgiving dinner ended up being a lot more pleasant than you anticipated. Since your dad walked out, you had expected his side of the family to be awkward towards you. You actually expected them to not come at all. But they showed up with unconditional support that made it clear they were on your side and were very vocal about their disapproval after several glasses of wine. It was reassuring in a way.

It was Saturday afternoon when Poe texted you. You were lounging on the couch working on homework with reruns on as background noise. He asked if you wanted to get together, to which you texted back embarrassingly fast that you’d love nothing more. You’d never admit to it to him, but you had been anxiously awaiting a text since the minute you got home.

He texted you an address to a hotel in the city. Confused, you gave your mother some excuse about going to meet a friend to get coffee and work on homework. With your backpack full of random books, you drove into the city towards the hotel. You nearly sped down the streets, the anticipation at having Poe between your legs again making you want to clench your thighs together.

You arrived at the hotel, texting Poe that you were in the lobby. He gave you his room number and you were having a hard time standing still on your way up. The thoughts that swirled around your head were sinful, and you were so caught up in how aroused you were that you almost missed the room. You knocked twice before Poe opened the door and pulled you inside He pressed you against the door.

“Hi,” Poe said, giving you a sexy smile as he took your jacket off.

“Hi.”

You grabbed the front of his shirt and crashed your lips against his. He wasted no time sliding his tongue into your mouth and tangling it with yours. He was half hard already and you wondered if he had been thinking of you. You groaned at the feeling, heat pooling in your belly at how good it felt having his denim clad cock rubbing against your clothed core. Poe lifted your shirt over your head, breaking the kiss to do it but immediately reconnecting your lips. He pulled you from the door, his hands warm as one hand splayed across your lower back, the other kneading your breast through your bra. He turned you into the room, walking you in.

You unhooked your bra, flinging it somewhere in the room and bringing your fingers to the hem of his t-shirt. You paused as he helped you lift his shirt over his head, staring at his chest. The sneak peek you got through his shirt on Halloween gave way to a broad, muscular chest, tanned and toned. A silver chain lay against his skin, a ring hanging on the end of it. You traced your finger down his sternum, hooking it around the necklace.

“God, you’re sexy.” You breathed. The look he gave you nearly made you melt. Poe grabbed the back of your neck, trailing his lips from the curve of your jaw back to your ear. He left a trail of wet, hot kisses and you nearly lost your breath when he ran his teeth over your pulse point.

“Easy—fuck—easy on the marks this time.” You said breathlessly. “I still have to see my family tomorrow.”

You felt Poe chuckle against your skin, bringing his lips back up to yours and gently biting your lip.

“Good thing it’s scarf season,” he smirked before darting his tongue out to trace over where he’d bitten.

He unbuttoned your jeans and dipped his hand inside, cupping your heat through your underwear. You were embarrassingly wet, everything he was doing was making your body temperature rise. The back of your legs hit the bed and Poe gently pushed you onto it, removing his hand long enough to scoot you back. He pulled your jeans down your legs, unhooking them from your ankles and tossing them into the piles of clothes on the floor.

“Well well, what do we have here?” Poe said with a salacious grin, running his lips over the small tattoo on your side. He ran his finger along your slit over your underwear, feeling you soaking through. “Fuck, you’re so wet.”

“Poe, please…”

“Please what?” He had a playful glint in his eye as he traced his finger along your underwear down to your inner thighs, avoiding the place where you really wanted him.

“Touch me. Please touch me.”

Poe practically ripped your underwear off and brought his fingers to your clit, pressing light circles on it. Your hips bucked up looking for more friction. Poe placed a kiss on your stomach and then on your breast before coming face to face with you. His eyes were nearly black with lust.

“Like that?”

His voice was rougher than you’d ever heard and it made you even more wet. You whispered out a ‘yes’ as he slipped a thick finger inside of you, pumping it once, twice before adding a second. “Fuck Poe, don’t stop.”

His thumb circled your clit as his fingers pressed inside you. You clenched around him, your orgasm blindsiding you and making your stomach flutter. Poe dragged his fingers out of you, bringing them up to his lips. Watching his tongue swirl around his fingers collecting your arousal made your pussy ache with need.

Your hands immediately unbuttoned his pants and he pushed them off with his briefs. You hooked your leg around his waist and pushed him onto his back, the underside of his cock against your pussy. You kissed him quick before making your way down to his neck, biting just above his clavicle.

“No bite marks,” his throat vibrated underneath your lips and you felt his breath catch as you palmed him over his briefs. “I’m teaching all day Monday.”

His reasons were as valid as yours, but you knew he was teasing as well. You kissed down his sternum, the metal of his necklace cool on your lips, and looked up at him from under your lashes.

“You could rock a scarf.”

Poe sat up, grabbing your face and kissing you hard as he flipped you back onto your back. You squealed at being manhandled that way and it surprised you how much you like it. Poe pulled away long enough to reach onto the nightstand and grab a condom. He tore the package open and you took it from his hand.

“Let me,” you said softly. You pumped his cock gently, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the tip and licking the pre-cum off your lips as you rolled the condom down the length. Poe thought he could’ve cum right on the spot. He pushed you back and lined his cock up with your entrance. He looked up at you, checking to make sure you were still good. You nodded and he sunk into you slowly, the both of you moaning as your back began to arch. He pulled out nearly all the way, the head of his cock remaining in side you and pushed in again at a slower pace, the month apart making you need a minute to adjust to his impressive size.

“Poe—god, so—“ A big swing of his hips silenced you, a victorious grin on his face. He grabbed your thighs, wrapping them around his waist and thrust into you. Your back arched when he hit that particular spot inside of you, the one that made the coil inside you start to tighten.

He sat back on his knees, scooping you up and hauling you into his lap. Your arms went around his neck to steady yourself as he rocked up into you and you caught a glimpse of a tattoo on the back of his shoulder. The new angle made him drive even deeper into you and when you rolled against his hips, the moan you released was downright pornographic. His large hands grabbed your ass, his fingers digging into your cheeks as he bounced you in his lap.

“You feel so good.” Poe’s mouth latched onto your breast, sucking marks onto the skin while his tongue flicked over your nipple.

“Fuck, Poe—I’m close—“

Poe increased your pace on his cock, slamming into you to bring you your release. Your eyes nearly rolled back into your head.

“Poe—“

“Look at me,” Poe grasped your hair, keeping your head in place. You opened your eyes. His eyes held a look of determination. “That’s it sweetheart, cum.”

You came apart in his arms, ecstasy taking over you and your moan sinful as your fingers tugged his hair. Poe tipped you back onto the mattress, grunting as he came. His thrusts slowed as you both rode out your highs, your bodies glistening with sweat as he collapsed on top of you. He was heavy on you, but it kept you grounded when you felt like your body was going to levitate. Your legs were twitching with pleasure as Poe rolled off of you. He caught his breath before getting up to discard the condom. When he came back, he slipped his boxers on and picked up his t-shirt, making no effort to put any more clothes back on. He pulled you up by your hand and slipped the t-shirt over your head. Your heart fluttered at the tenderness of the action. He was making sure you were comfortable since the blankets were bunched up and wrinkled underneath you and you had noenergy to move beneath them. You flopped back down on the bed and Poe lay next to you, looking at you with a lazy smile on his face.

“I think you nearly killed me this time.” You said, still attempting to catch your breath. Poe laughed, his eyes crinkling at the edges. He knew just as well as you that this time was hookup was different and much more preferred. While it was just as quick and deliciously filthy as it was in the alleyway, you both had more time to get to know each other’s bodies and what made the other tick, which you took full advantage of. “I meant to ask you, why are we at a hotel?”

“I may or may not have locked my keys in my apartment when I was rushing to get Beebs out.”

You laughed loudly, the smile never leaving your face as he told you the full story. At the end of it, you joked with him, telling him it was going to become your mission to steal his adorable dog. He then asked about your holiday and you asked about his. The conversation was easy and effortless, like you were friends; friends who had just fucked each other’s brains out, but friends nonetheless. You heard your phone ring a few times, but couldn’t find yourself to go find it. Talking with Poe was much more interesting than anything anyone on the other end could say. The conversation turned to the current semester, how things were going from both a student’s and professor’s point of view, and then it turned to Halloween.

“So, I’m curious,” you said, rolling onto your side and resting your head on your outstretched arm. “You were awfully quick to seduce me at the bar—“

“You were quick to say yes.”

“How long had you been thinking about this?”

“Awhile.” He answered, shrugging his shoulders when you raised your eyebrows. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“How many times have you thought about fucking me?”

The directness of the way he spoke was making you hot, making you wet and your thighs sticky with arousal. You hummed thoughtfully, trying to decide if you wanted to tell him just how long you had thought about him. Poe seemed to notice your hesitation and gave you a suggestive look.

“Tell me,” His voice was soft but demanding as his fingers playing with the hem of his t-shirt as he inched closer.

You stretched your other arm above your head, your movements cat-like as you stretched. His eyes followed and settled briefly on your chest.

“Probably like once a week since the first day of your class.” You admitted with a flirty smile. Poe rolled over onto you, stretching his body along yours and holding your wrists above your head with one of his hands. The other traced the curve of your breast, gently playing with your nipple. He rolled his hips against yours.

“Is that so?”

You arched your eyebrow, giving him a look that dared him to do something about it. He leaned down, his lips brushing over yours, when your phone started going off for the third time.

“Oh my god.” You were annoyed, both at the person trying to call you and yourself for not turning your phone on silent. Poe got off of you and grabbed your phone, handing it to you. You huffed in annoyance when you saw your sister’s name.

“Hello?” You pressed your finger against Poe’s lips, urging him to keep quiet. He gently bit the top of your finger before sucking it into his mouth. You clenched your thighs together.

“So get this, Chris forgot to tell me—“

Whatever she was saying about her husband, you didn’t hear. You were too focused on Poe, who had pushed his shirt up and started tracing your tattoo with his tongue. He then moved down and lifted your leg, settling it over his shoulder, and without warning licked a strip from your slit to your clit, making you gasp.

“You ok?”

You squirmed under Poe and he laid his arm across the lower part of your stomach to keep you in place. He’d proven to be good with his mouth, but this was an entirely different kind of pleasure.

“Yeah, just ran into the corner of a table.” You felt Poe smile against you and bit your lip to keep from crying out. He inserted two fingers into you, curling them in succession with every flick of his tongue against your clit.

“Short notice, I know, but do you want to do happy hour tonight? Say, 7 o’clock at Coakley’s?”

You glanced at the clock on the nightstand, seeing it read 5:30. Between the sex and the conversation, you had been there for hours without realizing it.

“Sure, sounds—“ You pulled the phone away from your mouth, biting your lip to silence a whimper as Poe worked you towards your orgasm. “Sounds good.”

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, fine, that table just really hurt.” You tugged his hair with your free hand and he eased off, removing his fingers just as you were teetering on the edge. You whined at the loss of contact as he nibbled at the skin of your inner thighs. “I’ll see you at 7.”

You made sure you were disconnected before throwing your phone aside and moaning loudly as Poe delved his tongue into your pussy like a man starved. He was quick to bring you back to the brink of orgasm. Your legs trembled against him as you came hard,the pleasure overtaking you and making you lose all train of thought. Poe withdrew his fingers, running them through his mouth and collecting the rest of your juices. He kissed your sensitive folds once more before crawling back up your body, licking his lips as he did.

“That was so cruel.” You said breathlessly, but the smile on your face showed you didn’t mean it one bit. You swiped your thumb on his chin, collecting what remained of your juices and sucking it into your mouth. He pressed his lips to yours, his tongue slipping into your mouth and letting you taste more of yourself.

“You have to get going.” He muttered as he pulled away, lifting himself off of you and pulling you up.

“I do.” You frowned, reluctantly getting off the bed. Your legs were still shaky with instability. “I feel like I’m always slipping out on you. But I can’t go to drinks with my sister smelling like I just spent the last couple hours having sex.”

You gathered up your clothes, making sure you were leaving nothing behind. You looked in the mirror above the dresser, trying to make your hair look somewhat presentable and making sure the hickeys you told Poe not to leave were completely covered.

“I’m being serious, you know.” You said, putting your underwear on. They were still damp and it made you tingle with the memory. “I’m going to steal your dog.”

“I don’t know about stealing him, but you’ll meet him when we do this again.”

You looked over your shoulder as you buttoned your jeans.

“Yeah? Again?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Good.” You slipped your jacket on and walked towards him. “Because this is a lot of fun.”

Poe stood from the bed and slipped his hand into your hair, pulling you into one last kiss. It was softer than the ones you’d previously shared. He pulled away and whispered ‘bye’ against your lips, pecking them once more before releasing you. You grabbed your purse and left with a wave and a wink.

He made you absolutely giddy. If someone had told you that you were going to have a sexual relationship with your professor, you would’ve laughed in his or her face. What made it so great for you was how natural your chemistry was. It was good, lighthearted, sexy fun, something that both of you craved during stressful times.

For the first time in awhile, you couldn’t wait to get back to school.

#poe dameron smut #poe dameron #poe dameron x y/n #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #smut #poe dameron fanfiction #poe dameron modern au #poe dameron one shot #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x reader insert

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the-blind-assassin-12 · 3 years

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Resol’nare - Part Four

A/N: Making jokes in tense situations is my coping mechanism and it is also Navina’s. And neither of us are funny under pressure. We sure do try though.

*this story will regularly be using words in Mando’a. for a good list of references click here.*

Summary: With Navina and Firo off to hit an abandoned Imperial base on Nevarro in hopes of scoring a hot new ride that won’t litter bolts all over the galaxy like the Flare will, and Mando responding to Cara’s holo about a beskar sighting, the stage is set for an introduction to remember... and hopefully not a bloody one.

Warnings: talk of death, violence, weapons, language

Word Count: 4.8k

Nevarro.

“You sure about this, Nav?” Firo peered through a pair of binocs, turning a dial on the side to zoom in. He had them pointed at the fenced off facility that they had cased out shortly after landing on the volcanic planet. Abandoned by the Empire twice now, the base, carved into the side of a cliff out past the lava flats, had still not been addressed by the New Republic. Although it was clear from their cursory recon that the place had taken some recent damage, it appeared as though it still housed plenty of small ships and speeders.

The plan had originally been to fly in on the Flare, Firo’s current ship, and set down on the landing pad. They’d discussed it first in the caves on Yavin, Firo sharing the location of the base and what limited information he had heard from a fellow smuggler over a game of Sabacc. Rumored to have no security detail, not even droids, they had figured that it would be an easy job. Load up the Flare and another small ship with a few speeders that they could sell on the black market, then split up, Firo in his ship and Navina in the one previously owned by the Empire. The goal was to be in and out and off of the planet so quickly that even if there were cameras or sensors on the base, they’d be long gone before anyone could turn up to stop them. And that had seemed completely feasible. Until now.

Plans have never really been my thing anyway. “I’m sure.” Besides, this might actually work out to my benefit...

Pulling the lenses away from his eyes, he turned to face her. “Even though the Marshal is-”

“Since when has a Marshal ever stopped us, Firo?” She shot him her cockiest smirk, casually crossing her ankles as she leaned her palm against the Flare’s hull. “Since when has-” Her friend gritted his teeth and tried to stop her, but it was too late. The panel she’d chosen to press her weight into gave under pressure, the metal creaking as it dented inwards sending Navina off balance. “Woah!” Firo sucked air through his teeth as he reached out to help her catch herself, but she brushed him off with a huff that he knew she had to work hard not to allow to turn into a laugh. “Alright, on an unrelated note, you need to have that looked at.” She pointed at the flimsy piece that upon closer inspection she realized had been poorly soldered on in an attempt to reinforce a previous repair. Shaking her head, she looked up at the ship and then back at Firo. “I can’t believe I got on this thing and flew here with you.”

“Hey!” He tried to keep a straight face too, but a snicker threatened to turn into a full blown snort if he didn’t let it out. “Alright, yeah, she needs some work.” That’s the understatement of the century. “Still beats taking a commuter shuttle though, Harsa,” he teased, knowing that she had had to put up with a series of shuttle transfers to get to Yavin from Coruscant, and that it was her least favorite way to travel the galaxy.

“Not if she falls apart the second you make the jump to hyperspace,” she teased back. He couldn’t come up with anything quickly enough, so she steered the conversation back to the task at hand. “But as I was saying, we’ve always been able to get around the Marshals we’ve come across. We’ll just have to... “ She shrugged. “Improvise.” With that, she turned and headed around the back of the ship to climb the ramp. Taking a large step up as the ramp no longer opened all the way, she sighed. This ship is a kriffing disaster.

“Improvise?” Firo followed her around and hoisted himself up onto the ramp as she started rifling through her bag to gather what she would need. He crossed his arms and tilted his head, watching as she pulled two comm links from an inner compartment.

Navina blew into one of them, then tapped the receiving end to make sure it was still in working order. “Yeah,” she said, tossing it to him with a grin. He snatched it out of the air and tucked it into the front pocket of his pants. “Improvise.” She checked the second comm link, giving it a shake for good measure before hiding it away under her shawl.

Firo waited for her to look back up at him to respond. “We are pretty good at that.”

“Good? Who’s better?” She asked with a wink, turning back to her bag to dig out her armor. “Remember that time on Onderon?” She pulled out a purple painted shoulder pauldron, untwisting the leather straps that were used to keep it in place. “When we-”

“Nav?” He cut her off then, walking completely through the doorway to stand in front of her, and she knew instantly that he was concerned. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and set the second pauldron on top of the first one, the durasteel clinking softly. With a sigh, he went on, green-gold eyes narrowing briefly and his lips turning down into a slight frown. “I know there’s... something you’re not telling me.”

She stiffened, a sudden wave of guilt making her wince. He’s right. There was a lot she hadn’t told him, and while she had reasoned that the less he knew about some of her plans the safer he’d be, she also knew better than to think that he wouldn’t be able to tell when she was being withholding. He knows me better than anyone, of course he knows that I’m… that something’s… “Firo, I-”

“Look,” he placed a hand on her shoulder, gently turning her the rest of the way so that he could look straight at her as he spoke. “I didn’t want to say anything on Yavin, because I know that,” his forehead furrowed and he swallowed as he dropped his arm back to his side. “I know... what time of the year it is. I know that,” he shook his head and dropped his chin. “I know you were hoping that…dank farrik.”

He knew that she was hoping that this would be the year that she would be reunited with her father and the little one. Navina’s mother was gone, that was a fact, but the rest of her family was a mystery. He knew that she only allowed herself those three days to hope that they were still alive, because the last time that they had seen each other they had agreed on a designated time each year that they would return to Yavin 4, the last place they had called home, if it were safe for them to do so. She and her mother had missed the first few years, the need to stay hidden keeping them from being able to make the trip. At that time her parents were still able to at least transmit the occasional holo, and while she wanted nothing more than to be able to see her father and the child that she affectionately called verd’ika, she understood, even then, that their hiding was necessary. This is the Way. She could remember thinking it even then, could hear her own small voice repeating the words back to her mother, the two of them tucking their hopes away for another year.

Twenty three years later, she was still packing and unpacking that hope, the thing riddled with creases and worn thin along the folds. She knew that the odds weren’t good that her family was still alive, or if they were, that they hadn’t been captured or separated. Regardless, every year she gave herself three days to air that hope, to go home and wait for them to join her there. But this year was no different from the last one. They’re- she squeezed her eyes shut against the word. No. She wouldn’t even think the word until she had confirmation.

Ni partayli, gar darasuum. I remember you, so you are eternal. As the phrase played in her head, she reached under the cowl of her shawl for the pendant around her neck, squeezing it until she could feel the tusks digging into her palm and then running her finger around the rim of one carved eye, nail scratching against the hard, faceted stone that had been set inside. I remember.

And she had been remembering so much lately, the flashes from the night they had fled Concordia coming much more clearly than ever before. It made no sense to her that she would suddenly be able to recall clips of dialogue or images of faces with increasing ease as more time passed, but for the last few months that had been the case. And then when Firo had found her father’s kal, it had been too simple to give in to the time-worn hope, too tempting to see it as a sign. But it had obviously been there the whole time, she told herself, despite the fact that it wasn’t obvious at all.

She hadn’t told Firo about the increased power or frequency with which the amethyst tinted memories were coming to her, but that wasn’t all she was keeping from him, and it was the second omission that she truly felt guilty about. He was extremely gracious in granting her whatever level of secrecy or privacy she wanted or needed when it came to her family and the closure that she longed for there. While he knew she didn’t truly consider herself to be a Mandalorian as she’d never sworn the Creed or been fitted for her own armor, he understood that she still held fast to the traditions and beliefs that she was raised on; that her clan - her aliit, one of the few Mando’a words that Firo had picked up through the years, and one that Navina thought was appropriate for him, always looking at him as a brother of sorts - was bonded together indelibly, and that she’d never turn her back on that bond.

The guilt she felt was in no way related to her family or Yavin or her memories. It was in regards to what she’d heard in the lower levels of Coruscant, the city under the city at the center of the galaxy. A rumor, but one she’d been chasing for a long time, had caught her attention, and she couldn’t let it go until she’d seen it through, and it was for that reason that she was insistent upon going through with their plan to hit the abandoned base. Yes, she needed a ship. Firo could do with a new one, too, honestly. But she also needed to know if what she’d heard was true- that the Darksaber had changed hands once more… but that it had once more eluded both of the women who sought it most fiercely, herself, so that she could destroy it, and Bo-Katan of House Kryze, the radical who at one point plotted to overthrow her own sister for the Mandalorian throne. And if it is true, if it’s no longer in Imperial hands… I need to know who has it now.

While she didn’t know the exact location of it, Navina knew that there had been, until recently, a Mandalorian covert here on Nevarro. She had no idea how large their numbers were, only that there had been a very violent standoff with the Imperial remnant who’s base she and Firo were about to loot. But the most interesting part of the rumors that she had collected in her travels from the Core Worlds to the Outer Rim, was that the New Republic’s Marshal stationed there had been linked to a Mandalorian- to the Mandalorian that the Imps had been targeting. So when she saw the woman with the badge pinned to her belt and the heavy blaster rifle she carried with absolute confidence, it had the exact opposite effect that that sort of deterrent would have on anyone else. I need to know. She sighed, binging one hand up to her forehead and pushing it back over her scalp. She grabbed the base of her long, thick braid and followed it down to the end, pulling it as she looked back up at her friend. But he needs to know, too.

“Firo, it’s…”

“It’s about that damn saber, isn’t it?” He raised one eyebrow in a high arch, and her stunned silence paired with the stupefied expression she knew she was wearing answered for her. “Yeah,�� he nodded. “I know. You get…” he squinted at her, “you act differently when you have a lead on something about your family or that kriffing sword.”

“Firo,” she reached for his arms, her hands cuffing around his biceps to emphasize how important this was to her. “That kriffing sword is what-”

Bending his elbows, he grabbed her hands and pulled them down, not angrily but forcefully, holding her wrists as he spoke. “I know. I know what you… how you feel about it and about what it stands for and… and the part it played in…” He clamped his eyes shut then, but before he did she noticed how prominent the golden flecks in them were. He’s nervous. Of the two of them, Firo was absolutely more likely to worry when it came to her safety. She flinched, knowing that she had given him plenty of reasons to throughout the span of their friendship. The scrapes that he typically got himself into were almost always easy enough to weasel him out of with a little careful negotiation or a generous bribe. The spots she found herself in however, usually resulted in drawn blasters and blades. He let out a breath and released his grip on her wrists. “Nav, I just need to know you’re not gonna get yourself killed.”

She clicked her tongue, trying to lighten the mood. “Come on, Firo, I’m a hard woman to kill. I have the-”

“The scars to prove it,” he finished the second part of her sentence in unison with her, rolling his eyes. “I know. I’m trying to be serious here, Harsa.”

“I know.” She said it quietly, blinking up at him as his hard frown softened. “I’m sorry, Firo, I should have told you what I was…” she shook her head, the end of her braid bouncing behind her. “I should have told you that I knew about…” she groaned, leaning forward until her forehead met his chest.

To her surprise she felt it rumble as he chuckled. Huh? He’s… laughing? She picked her head up, a confused look on her face. “Apologizing is really rough for you, isn’t it?”

With that she let out a laugh of her own. “Only with you though, isn’t that strange?” She winked at him, swatting at his stomach.

“Very strange indeed,” he agreed, intercepting her swat and pushing her hand away. “Alright. So we’re improvising. What have you got so far?”

Her grin climbed her cheeks then, and she laid out her new plot. “Not going to get myself killed, Firo. Just captured.”

Less than an hour later they were prepped and ready to put their backup plan into action. Navina removed her gray shawl, strapping her purple chestplate and pauldrons to the black flak vest she wore over her short sleeved black top. Next she wrapped her wrists in padded black fabric and slid the vambraces over them. The left one was utterly useless in terms of weaponry; it appeared as though at one point it was equipped with whistling birds, but the mechanism had been damaged by the previous owner and now its only use was protection. But it’s beskar, so it’s worth wearing. The right one still had a functioning flamethrower, though it was low on fuel, and a grappling line, though it had snared the last time she tried to deploy it so she made a mental note not to count on it cooperating this time either. Holstering her blaster on her thigh, she took her father’s beskar kal from her bag, attaching the sheath she had made for it on the trip to Nevarro to her belt. The last piece of armor she donned was her mother’s helmet, the traditional “T” shaped visor smashed along the eyeline, but the modulator and audio features still in working order.

“Well look at you, Nav, you look like a real live Mando if I ever saw one.” You haven’t, bantha brain. “I like the,” he grasped his right wrist with his left hand, a quizzical look coming over his face as he tried to search for the right word. “Those things.”

Firo had armed himself as well, a pair of blasters on his hips, a small knife in his boot, and a handful of different blaster cartridges on his bandolier that he could switch out for different effects if necessary. Navina felt a knot twist in her stomach though as she remarked not for the first time that he wore no armor at all, nothing to protect him but his speed if triggers were pulled down there. We’ve got to change that if this is the type of thing we’re going to be doing.

“Alright,” she let out a breath and locked her eyes with his through her broken visor. “Last chance to back out. This is my thing, you don’t have to be involved if you-”

“Would you knock it off already?” He tapped the side of her helmet softly, the action causing her to snort as she recalled the first time he’d bopped her on the head while she was wearing the beskar helmet, and how he had nearly broken his hand. “You ready?” She nodded. I am. “Okay. Let’s go get you captured I guess.” Grumbling under his breath about how he had a feeling that he was going to regret this, he walked down the ramp, hopping off the edge where it dangled a foot or two from the ground. She followed on his heels, smiling to herself.

Since they were changing the plan, they were no longer flying the Flare down to the base’s landing pad, as only one of them- Firo- would be flying out. Instead they left the dilapidated ship where it was and headed for the entrance furthest from where the Marshal and the man she had with her were stationed. Navina would hold them off, distracting them while Firo made his way up to the landing pad to make off with a ship, and then hopefully, after she found out what she needed to know and got herself out of whatever lockup situation the New Republic’s Marshals instituted on Nevarro, she’d rendezvous with him here where the Flare was waiting, and they would head for some place where they could lay low for a week or two. They had their comm links in case they needed to contact one another after they separated. But Navina had a good feeling about how this was going to go. She kept that to herself though, sure that Firo would have some snarky comment about how her good feelings were almost always bad portents.

As they neared the edge of the cliff face that had been providing them cover, Navina reached out and stopped Firo in his tracks. “Promise me you’ll bail if I tell you to.”

“Uh oh,” he joked. “You have a good feeling, don’t you?”

“Firo,” she groaned. “I mean it. Promise me if I tell you to leave you will. I-”

“I promise, Nav.” He acquiesced then, giving the tail of her braid a slight tug where it stuck out from the bottom of her helmet. “Now, let’s go.”

She nodded, and with that, they split, both heading off in different directions- Firo towards the secondary entrance that they’d found on their initial recon mission a few days back, and Navina straight towards the waiting Marshal. She glanced back over her shoulder as she reached the last of the small boulders she was darting between for cover, and seeing Firo’s boots disappear through the door, she took a deep breath and ran.

“What’s the town to do with the law this far out on the flats?” Navina projected her voice over the empty space as she rounded the corner, making for where she knew the two temporary sentinels were waiting.

But the second she got close, a third figure stepped into view, one that halted her in her tracks. Dank. Farrik. She raised her hands, palms facing outwards, as the sharp end of a long beskad stopped just shy of her helmet. Holding it was the most imposing Mandalorian she had ever laid eyes on. The man wasn’t much taller than she was, but the stance he took, the way that he held his body and his weapon would have been enough for her to know that he was a formidable fighter. On top of that, he was covered head to toe in beskar armor more pure and pristine than she knew to exist. The sword in his gloved hand was just the first that she noticed of what she now realized were many weapons- a blaster, spear, and vibroblade all visible, plus whatever devices he had installed on his vambraces. And that’s just what I can see. A Mandalorian like this one was liable to have at least four more weapons concealed. A Mando like this is a weapon.

The Marshal and the the older man that had been waiting with her- as bait, Navina realized too late- stepped up behind the Mandalorian, the woman speaking. “You got this from here, Mando? I’m gonna go check out what her friend is up to inside.” Navina scowled at the woman who gave her a condescending look before the man answered.

“Sure. I can take care of her. Take Karga with you.” He hadn’t turned away from Navina, and he hadn’t lowered his weapon. His voice, though modulated through his helmet, sounded calm and even, and she knew that while it likely offered some of his prey a false sense of comfort, she knew better. The Marshal and the other man didn’t hesitate to do as he said, the woman telling him to call for her if she needed him. He won’t, Navina fumed at her retreating figure.

Neither of them said anything until the other two were out of sight, and all Navina could do was hope that Firo was running through the base at top speed. He just needs to get off of the pad, get out of here and then he’s-

“Are you a Mandalorian?” He asked the question as he slid the end of his blade up onto the curve of the armor on her left shoulder, the beskar sword scraping a long divot into the top layer of painted durasteel with a sharp shing.

She let her eyes flick down to where the blade sat without moving her head, hands still in front of her. Stall. Give Firo more time to get out. The blade had only cut through the outer shell of her pauldron, but he had barely used any force at all and she knew she had to answer carefully because one wrong word or uncalculated move would cost her more than the time needed to repair her armor. He’ll chop my arm clean off with that thing. “That depends on who you ask,” she raised her eyes back up to where his would be if she could see them, noticing a sculpted signet in the shape of a mudhorn on his own shoulder piece.

“I’m asking you,” he answered, tone shedding some of its evenness as with the quick turn of his wrist the blade slipped between her pauldron and flak vest, slicing it off in one fluid motion. “And I want an answer. Are you a Mandalorian? Did you swear the Creed?”

Loud bangs coming from the landing pad above them told her that Firo was almost home free. Just a few more seconds. “I was never given the chance to. My clan was attacked when I was a child.” Honesty seemed the best course of action at this point. Though she was a skilled fighter, Navina knew when she was outmatched and outgunned.

“Your armor,” he nodded his head in her direction then, the first move he’d made that hadn’t been to slice her pauldron to pieces. “How did you come by it if it wasn’t made for you?”

“Took the pauldrons and chest piece from a trooper,” she stated, though she knew that was the least of his cares. “These?” she raised her wrists up higher, “these I stole from a back ally trader. You want ‘em? They’re yours.” He nodded again, and she mirrored the gesture, glancing up to the pad as the rumbling sound of thrusters preparing to take off told her that Firo was going to make it out safely. Good. That’s all that… all that matters. She slowly pulled the vambraces from her wrists, tossing them at the Mandalorian’s feet. “They’re busted and they don’t fit, so by all means.”

“Your helmet.” He demanded.

“Now that I will not be parting with,” she told him, trying to muster up all of the evenness that she could.

“It looks like pure beskar.” It wasn’t a question.

“It is. It’s the only piece of pure beskar I own, aside from,” she pointed to her belt with one hand, the other still suspended in the air between them. He nodded his approval for her to pull the kal from the sheath. “Aside from this.” Holding the dagger out for him to see, she brought it slowly up to his beskad and clanged them together, the sound ringing out and making it clear to both of them that both blades were entirely pure. “And I won’t be giving you either of them, Mando.” Sheathing her kal again, she brought that same hand up to her chest, digging under the flimsy armor and pulling out her mother’s mythosaur necklace. “They belonged to my parents, and if you want them you’re going to have to kill me.”

At the sight of the pendant he lowered his weapon and cocked his head to the side. “The Mythosaur… but what is, why is there…”

Navina looked down at the pendant in her hand then, the stone visible in its eyes seeming to glow a fierce shade of purple. She sucked in a breath as she brought her other hand up to cover it, thinking that it was just the harsh Nevarro sun that was causing it to shine more brightly than it ever had before. But when shaded by her other palm the purple light seemed only to shine brighter. “It’s never… it’s never done that before, never so…”

Just then a comm link clicked in the Mandalorian’s pocket, and he pulled it out, pressing the button on the side. “Cara,” he spoke the woman’s name.

“The other one got away with a ship and a few speeders. You good down there?”

Navina felt a fleeting relief as she heard that Firo was off the base and that he’d even managed to make it profitable for himself. The Mandalorian stared at her for long seconds before answering, holding the communicator in his fist close to his helmet. “I’m taking this one back with me.” With that, he switched off the communicator and put it back in his pocket, unhooking a set of binders from his hip. “I can put these on you and you can follow me,” he offered, “Or,” he looked down at the blaster on his hip. “I can set that to stun and-”

Navina shoved her wrists in his direction. “Clap ‘em on then,” she sighed and he did, securing them so smoothly she was sure he’d done it hundreds of times at least. “Where uh… where are we going?”

Sheathing his sword on his belt, he looked straight at her and answered. “No questions.” He bent down and picked up the discarded vambraces, then started walking in the opposite direction. When she didn’t follow right away, he reached for his blaster. “I’m not sure when the last time I used the stun setting was,” he said, hand poised over his weapon. “Not sure if it still works.” Looking back over his shoulder at her, he finished the threat. “Don’t make me test it on you.”

“This is the Way,” she responded reluctantly.

With that he started walking again, Navina following closely behind in silence.

Nope. Plans are not my thing.

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from the tags! :)

tags: @something-tofightfor @alraedesigns @pheedraws @valkblue @malionnes @gollyderek

#resol’nare #the mandalorian fanfic #mando fanfic #din djarin #mando #the mandalorian fic #the mandalorian #din djarin x oc #mando x oc #sw fanfic #oc: navina harsa #oc: firostian ottabok #beskad vs kal #oof tough draw nav #this is the way #cara dune #greef karga #anyway cara dune is a great character who was portrayed by a shitbag so that's where i stand on that #bo-katan

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osita-iza · 4 years

Text

The Way I Need

Zen x Reader

Genre: Angst (cheating)

Word Count: 1.8k

You wake up not to a breakfast or sunshine. But to a phone call and countless articles detailing Zen’s affair with a costar.

The phone on your nightstand vibrated against the wood; the sound taking over over the silent room. You groaned as you woke up. You reached to your side, and your hand grasped the small device. Looking at the screen, you saw a call from Jaehee coming in.

You hit answer without hesitation, pulling the blanket back over you as you pressed the phone against your ear. "Hey."

"Hi, MC. I wanted to check on you as soon as I heard the news," Jaehee immediately begin rambling, "I just... I can't believe Zen would do something like this. I really thought he had settled down. I am so sorr-"

Your voice croaked. "What are you talking about?"

She was silent for a few moments. "Did you not see the news?"

"I just woke up when you called me," you said. Your voice was tired, but a burst of nausea exploded in your body when she mentioned Zen.

"I... An actress Zen is working with came out and said that she had an affair with him," she mumbled. Afraid to say the words herself. "There's video and voice recordings as proof,"

Your breathing froze. The static from the other side of the phone kept going, and you wished that sound would freeze too.

"Is it online?" you asked.

"Yes, but I really don't think you should read it right now-"

"I'll call you back."

You weren't sure if she tried to say anything else, if she did, you didn't hear it. Your hands immediately went to your phone's search engine typing in:

Hyun Ryu

Multiple articles detailing the events between the two popped up, covering the entire first page. You recognized the actress' name in the headlines. She had played a side character in his last play, and she was the romantic lead with him in the one he was in now. You had met her. You remembered telling Zen how she was like an sweet angel to you during the short conversation you had with her. He had told you that if she was an angel, you were a goddess. You remembered how you giggled and told him to shut up. He had thrown an arm around you and pressed kisses all over your face, saying he could never shut up, because it was the truth. His usually intense eyes had softened as you stared at each other, and he mumbled a soft 'I love you' as he kissed you.

You finally clicked one of the links, skimming the contents. All of the evidence lined up with the behavior you noticed from him. It was like everything clicked; it made sense now. All of those questions and concerns you had were now answered.

After staring at your phone for what felt like hours, you stood up. You dialed a phone number and hit speaker. The dial tone filled up the room as you grabbed a duffel bag and pulled open the drawers. "MC. I'm surprised you called me. Are you alright?" Jumin's deep and stoic voice calmed you down.

"I'm gonna go to a hotel for a while," you said, grabbing the folded clothes and placing them in the bag, "But my car's in the shop-"

"I can send Driver Kim over if you need me too."

Your stared at your phone for a moment. That was what you were gonna ask him, but you were grateful that he offered. "I would really appreciate that."

There was a shuffling of papers from the other side of the line. "He should be there in approximately half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes," he continued.

You froze, catching sight of one of Zen's t-shirts. It was one of his older shirts, never wearing it out in public. He hadn't made any protests when you started wearing it to sleep when you slept over, back before you moved in. When you moved in, he not so subtly added the t-shirt to your pajama drawer.

"MC?" Jumin's voice snapped you back to reality, away from the cotton fabric that somehow was still infused with his cologne.

"Sorry," you said, slamming the drawer shut, "Half an hour sounds fine. Thank you so much, Jumin. I appreciate it,"

"Of course." It was silent for a few moments as you zipped the duffel bag close. "I hope you feel better soon. You deserve better than a man like that."

You shut your eyes to prevent any tears falling. It was the same thing that you were telling yourself, but it felt so nice to hear him say it. To hear someone who knew you personally and cared about you to remind you. "Thanks."

There was a knock from his side of the line. Jumin sighed, "I have a meeting to go to. Message or call me if you need anything,"

"I will. Thank you again," you said before the call went dead. With your bag and phone in hand, you went to the front of the apartment. You dropped the duffel bag next to the table as you sat down at the kitchen table.

You opened up your phone again; the headlines staring back at you. You hit the link the article that you had read earlier. This time, you skipped the article, going straight for the comments.

The comment section was something that you had stopped checking ever since your relationship with Zen had become public. It was a harsh lesson. One that had made you insecure for months. Hell, some of his fans had created insecurities over qualities that you didn't even know you had. The internet saw everything, even the things you didn't.

The first time you had told Zen that you were insecure, he had pulled you into his arms and reminded you that you were the most beautiful person he had ever seen. That being with you was the best decision he had ever made. That he wouldn't trade you for anyone else in the world.

You clicked your tongue as you thought of that memory. He did trade you for someone else.

There must have been some masochistic urge in you in order for you to read the comments on an article like this. You were prepared for the comments saying you were ugly. That Zen had stepped up with her. That of course he was going to cheat on you, had you ever looked in a mirror before?

However, those comments were the minority. Most people were defending you, saying that Zen's cheating was inexcusable. That it was ridiculous for him to keep this up. Some of them were quotes from the audio clips that you weren't able to bring yourself to listen to.

A bitter part of you was satisfied by that. That they weren't defending him. You had given him everything you could give, even if it wasn't healthy. Meanwhile, Zen had given everything to his acting and fans. It felt nice that you both lost something. Even if you knew that his career would rebound, he had lost some of that fanbase for at least a day.

The door opened, and your eyes shot to the person walking in. Zen's eyes were wide as he stared at you. He slowly stepped to the chair at the table across from you, sitting down. Zen wasn't sure what to say; he could feel the waves of anger and pain coming off of you as you stared at him.

"So I'm guessing you saw the articles?" He gave a weak attempt at a smile.

You clenched your fists, trying to keep them still. "Yeah, I read the articles."

"I'm sorry," he said, "I don't have any excuses or explanations I just... I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you,"

You scoffed, tears shining. "I would hate to see what you do when you are trying to hurt someone." Zen opened his mouth before he shut it. He had nothing to say. You gulped in an attempt to get rid of the burn in your throat.

"How can I- Is there anything I can do to make it better?" Zen begged. He reached across for your hands, but you pulled away. "Please, I'm sorry."

"I knew."

He raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"You were staying later than you had ever stayed before. The director, one you've worked so many shows with by now, was suddenly asking you for meetings-" You let out a pathetic laugh, shaking your head. "-Deep in my gut, I knew you were seeing someone else. I knew it the whole time. I almost looked through your messages, but I was too scared of being right,"

Zen's eyes were shining with tears as he leaned forward. "What can I do?"

"Do you realize how many times I cried here while you were off fucking some girl?" You snapped at him. Tears were running down your face freely, but it didn't dilute the venom that was building up in your mouth. "Like hell you think you can just come in here and apologize and expect everything to be fine!"

“I know it won’t be fine, but I-” Zen dropped his head into his hands.

“So many people told me that you would do this, and I sat there and defended you,” you sighed, “And you went and proved them right,”

“I don’t want to lose you,” Zen pleaded.

There was a loud knock on the door. You shot out of your chair to answer it. Driver Kim gave you a polite smile, which you returned. You turned to grab your duffel bag. As soon as your hands grasped the handle, Zen grabbed your arm, trying to pull you closer. "Please, stay. We can fix this."

"There's nothing to fix," you argued, yanking your arm out of his grip.

He followed you, catching sight of Driver Kim. "Wait? Did you really call Jumin Han for help?" he asked, a glare taking over.

The anger that had been residing in your gut took over your whole body as he looked at you with an accusatory gaze. "Are you really jealous right now?" You asked, the volume of your voice raising with every word. "What? You scared I'm gonna cheat?"

"MC," Zen sighed, "Please let me make it up to you. I can be better,"

You stared at him for a moment. He was pleading with you, not to do anything other than stay. You were sure that he would treat you like royalty for a while. But that was it: a while. It wouldn’t be permanent. You did think that some part of him loved you- wanted to care for you. He wouldn't be crying like this if he didn't.

But you couldn't believe that he loved you fully. You couldn't believe that he loved and cared for you to the same extent you loved and cared for him. His love wasn't strong enough to care for you in the way you needed. If he did, his love wasn't pure. His love wasn't strong enough for him to make you a priority.

"I tried so hard for you. I tried so hard to deal with the late rehearsals, and you working out all the time, and when we had to pinch pennies because you didn't have a show lined up." The words were pouring out before you could stop them. You licked your lips and sent him a feeble smile. "I'm tired. I'm too tired to try anymore,"

Zen grabbed your hand and squeezed it. "I love you," he pleaded.

"Not in the way I need," you mumbled.

And with that, you shut the door.

#mystic messenger imagines #mystic messenger imagine #mystic messenger headcanons #hyun ryu imagine

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rantingwriter · 3 years

Text

Scarred (Hawks x Reader)

Trigger warning: There is a brief scene of mild torture(?) due to a villain attack and some mentions of blood. Please proceed with caution.

Synopsis: You get attacked by the Hero Killer stain and in the aftermath a feathered friend comes to your aid.

Heroes always look so glamorous. You save the day, everyone loves you, and you get paid. Simple, right? That’s what the media loved to show the public, civilians and aspiring heroes alike. When in reality…it’s never that simple…People lose their lives, children are left alone, and lives are ruined nearly every day. Not just by villains, but reckless heroes and nature just giving us a vibe check. When you officially became a sidekick, you made it your mission to not just save a person in the moment. You vowed to ensure they would be able to move on. Now, you are standing in front of the first safe house for people who survived disaster.

“[Hero name], How do you feel now that your big project is officially complete?!” A reporter calls out to you as you marvel at the new building.

“Who said I was done?” You flash a big smile; you can’t hide the glee you feel that your dreams are getting put into motion. The media clamors over themselves to get a picture or statement and while the attention is nice, you don’t want to take away from the reason you did this. “I plan to open so many more of these shelters for those who are forced to rebuild their lives after a disaster. I wanted a safe place for men, women, and children to go and find comfort until their lives can get back on track.”

“What if people abuse the system?!” You snap your head to face the reporter who asked such a question. Others pause in their actions as they wait to hear your answer. “What’s to stop people from just staying in the shelter forever?”

“My shelter is not just for housing, it offers therapy, guidance, and even provides opportunity for those who struggle to find work. People need time to heal and I intend to provide them the tools to do so.” This shuts the man down and everyone is pushing forward to try and get more information. “If you wish to learn more, the website is up and there is always a link available on the page of my agency.”

“You heard them, no more questions!” One of your side kicks suddenly appears and helps pave a way through the crowd. You leave the ceremony and rush back to the agency to get the work day officially started. A couple of your hero friends requested your assistance in the ongoing investigation on the recent attacks supposedly done by the Hero Killer Stain. You get in touch with them and agree on a meeting place, leaving the confines of your agency with a swift goodbye to your sidekicks. You take in a deep breath and appreciate the nice weather as you run to meet with the others. Your quirk isn’t very useful in a fight, but you’ve lost count of the amount of people you’ve been able to save and protect in disasters and big fights. This is a big reason why you often jump at the chance to pair up with other heroes who are more fighting types.

As you continue to hurry towards your destination, you notice some civilians check over their shoulders in a very obvious manner, before scurrying into an alleyway a couple blocks ahead of you. You slow your steps as you approach the entrance and listen closely to confirm your budding suspicions. “You got the goods?”

“Of course I’ve got them, don’t flash that shit around here! We are still in the open!” You peer around the corner and count out the amount of shady dealers involved.

“6? I’m grossly outnumbered…the others should be at the rendezvous now. If I’m quick, I can grab them and come back to put a stop to this.” You take a slight detour to avoid their line of sight and go down a different alleyway. You round a corner and feel a sharp pain hit you shoulder. You don’t have time to react as a second impact sends you to the ground.

“Heroes like you make me positively sick,” your body freezes completely as a growling voice speaks near your ear. “You claim to care about those around you and even open up shelters for the aftermath of villains…yet you turn tail and run when given an opportunity to prevent a crime.” You can’t move, it’s like you’ve been paralyzed completely. “I wasn’t planning to kill today, but I think I’ll make an exception for trash like you.” You feel the need throw up with the amount of fear in your body. The knife in your shoulder gets yanked out and immediately dragged slowly down your back just left of your spine. You can’t even find it in you to scream from all the pain. Your uniform quickly soaks in the blood and turns the material dark. It’s a sick miracle that you’re still conscious. He starts to cut wildly and at random all along your back and limbs, you try to move even an inch, but you are truly paralyzed. You start to disassociate from the situation, try to calm yourself and think of a means to escape this. You are immediately brought back when he jams the blade into your side. You finally find your voice as you cry out loudly in pain, he quickly covers your mouth to prevent any more screams. “Damn that wasn’t deep enough, let’s try that again.” He grabs a fresh blade from his arsenal when a familiar figure drop kicks the killer off of you. It’s the heroes you were trying to meet with. They must have heard that last scream. Two of them fight the Hero killer away as a third party looms over you, feathers fluttering around you.

“Don’t worry kid, I got you,” Hawks effortlessly lifts you off the cold ground. The blood loss catches up to you and your consciousness fades to black.

When you wake, you can tell you are in a hospital. You feel like shit and it’s as if your body is on fire. You are also nauseous, though you doubt there is anything in your stomach to lose at the moment. You can hear some rustling and what feels like a gloved hand taking yours. You try to will your eyes back open, but you end up going back into the void for a bit longer. You aren’t sure how long you are left floating in that endless sea of black, but when you do finally wake fully it’s just as dark outside. At least now, you feel a little less like death.

You try to move your fingers, your right hand is feeling a bit numb and your left is in something. You feel incredibly stiff and in all honestly it's hard to move. You manage to get your head up and find someone holding your left hand. It’s hard to tell who until you blink away the blurriness and find it’s Stain. You feel panic overcome your heavy body and try your hardest to move, it’s hopeless. Right as his knife flashes before your eyes, you wake up and start fighting against the doctors trying to help you. “Please calm down, you are not in danger!” Your quirk nearly activates when you finally realize Stain is not there. You relax a little and your heart monitor stops freaking out, they check your vitals and inform you that Recovery Girl paid a visit to repay you for all your nonmedical visits to her office during school to bring flowers to brighten up the room.

They release you from the hospital the next day with some bandages still wrapped around your arms and underneath your shirt. You are in civilian clothes now and poor hair was butchered from the frenzy in the alley and the doctors trying to operate. You don’t really have a hair stylist and the only person you know who is decent with shorter hair is Best Jeanist. You call him up and he happily accepts the challenge to fix your hair. You don’t know if everyone knows about the attack, or if they managed to put Stain away. You feel a surge of fear jolt through you and the hairs on the back of your neck raise at the mere thought of his name. You flag a cab and reach the agency of Best Jeanist in no time. He meets you at the door and is quick to get started on fixing the gross state of your locks.

“Did they do anything for you while you were comatose?” He looks disgusted as he starts clipping away some tangles that are too far gone.

“I’ve been wondering the same thing…” You watch in the mirror as he cuts your hair to the shortest length it’s ever been.

“When I heard the Hero Killer attacked you, I honestly couldn’t believe it. You have always embodied the essence of a hero, why would he target you?” You tell him the events prior to the attack, “that doesn’t make you any less of a hero. You recognized your weak points and made the best decision in the moment.” You feel a slight pain in your stomach at the word weak.

“Yeah…” He finishes up his handy work and lets you loose. “How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing, you’ve been through a lot. Go home and get some rest and we’ll call it even.” He smiles with his eyes and you thank him for his help. You go to your apartment and text your hero friends that you are out of the hospital and would be taking it easy for the time being. They all send some form of support and words of comfort as you go to shower. Before you enter the shower, you inspect the damage on your back in the mirror. Thanks to recovery girl, your back doesn’t resemble that of an old cutting board. There is one long scar from where he dragged his knife down the length of your back, one from where his knife entered your shoulder and one on your side from where he attempted to complete a finishing blow. As you wash you body and feel the scarred tissue, you feel sick. Your mind floods with the memories of the attack, the residual fear is enough to make your body tremble. You nearly drop to your knees when you hear a strange thud come from the other room. The residual fear morphs into sheer terror. Did the hero killer find you? You leave the water running and exit the shower quietly. You wrap your towel tightly around your figure and grab something hefty to throw at the possible intruder. As you open your bathroom door, you can hear someone rummaging through something. You squeeze the object in your hand, run out of the bathroom, and chuck it at the intruder.

“Ah!” You watch as a bunch of feathers explode out and knock the object away. “Uh…hi?”

“Hawks?!” The feathers part to reveal the winged hero holding some of your leftover chicken. “When…What?!”

He chuckles sheepishly, “Sorry about that kid, I wanted to check on you and since you were in the shower and I was hungry…” You sigh, mostly in relief, and shake your head. “Nice towel.” You are reminded of your current ‘attire’ and run back to the bathroom to finish your shower. You get dressed in your pajamas and return to the kitchen drying your hair out. “Feel better?”

“I guess,” You snagged a piece of the leftovers he pulled out and sat on a barstool. Hawks has been friends with you for a couple of years, you’ve worked together a few times in the past, but this is the first time he has been over to your apartment. “How did you find-”

“How did I find this place? I saw you walking home from work once while on patrol.” He shrugs as if it was a common occurrence. “Don’t worry, I know you value your privacy. No one knows I’m here.”

“You sure?” You nibble the chicken slowly; your appetite was lacking despite being out for a few days.

“Positive, why?”

“Just checking.” You put the food down and stare at it.

“Kid-” You gave him a look reminding him you didn’t like being called that. “you need to eat more than that.”

“I’m not hungry.”

He clearly doesn’t believe you, but he doesn’t push it. He instead drops an overnight bag on the floor and goes to look for your spare bedding for the couch. “Hope you don’t mind, but I need a place to crash for a few days while my house gets fumigated. Guess some bugs hitched a ride in my wings and while I was out for a long assignment they took over. I would’ve asked, but you were kind of unconscious and everyone else already turned me down.”

“I don’t mind, just pick up after yourself and keep your feathers out of my stuff.” You put the chicken away and go into your room to get some sleep, but you find it impossible to relax. You keep seeing the hero killer silhouette in your window, watching…waiting…you give up after an hour, grab a notebook, and just try to work up a plan when you get back to work. If you get back to work.

After another hour, your door opens to reveal your new temporary roommate in sweatpants and no shirt. “Hey, what are you doing awake?” He saunters in and plops onto the edge of the bed.

“Couldn’t sleep, got a lot on my mind.”

“Still having nightmares?” You raise a brow at him, silently asking him to explain. “In the hospital you were mumbling in your sleep.”

“You visited me in the hospital?”

“Yeah, a lot of people came by. We were worried about you.” That was comforting, “you didn’t answer my question.”

You sigh and fidget with your pen, “yeah, I’ve been having nightmares…it’s like I can see him watching me…waiting for me to let my guard down and finish the job…” You feel your body tremble. You can still see the malice in his eyes as if he was in front of you. A soft, feathery touch brushes your arm as the winged hero moves closer to you. He removes your book from your grasp, tosses it onto your bed side table and wraps one arm around your shoulders, pulling you to him. “I hate feeling so weak,” repressed tears fall as the man holds you close.

“It’s okay to feel scared, no one expects you to bounce back immediately.”

“Bullshit, we both know people expect us to be unshakable and charge into everything head on.” He scoffs, “am I wrong?”

“Just because people expect you to be brave doesn’t make your fear any less real.” He shifts to wrap his other arm loosely around your waist. He half pulls you into his lap as you start to calm down. “It’s okay to lean on people.”

“I lean on people all the time…if anything I should be working harder to stand on my own.”

“You do realize part of your appeal is how well you support other heroes,” he pulls his phone up and shows article after article talking about how adaptable you are and how great it is to see such teamwork nowadays. “You don’t have to stand alone; I think we forget that there is strength in numbers.”

You find some solace in what he said, “I didn’t say I wanted to stand alone…” You can feel the vibration in his chest as he chuckles.

“I know, but you know what I mean.” He rests his cheek on the top of your head. “I’m trying to not so subtly tell you to lean on me from time to time.”

You feel your cheeks grow warm, “I…I suppose I could do that.” He flops over and shifts the two of you so he is a big spoon and you are a little spoon.

“Get some rest hummingbird, I won’t let that bastard near you.”

“Hummingbird?”

“I’ve been wanting to use that one since you hum while you work, but I enjoyed the look you made when I called you kid.” You lightly elbow him and chuckle. “Seriously though, get some rest…we both need it.” You let your eyes slide shut and it was surprisingly comforting to have his arms around you. Maybe you’ll invite him to be your permanent roommate.

#reader insert #one shot #hawks x reader #keigo x reader #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #pro hero hawks #keigo takami #hawks #angsty fluff #trigger warning

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spectralscathath · 4 years

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Stories are Truer Than the Truth

Fair Game Week, Day 3: Family/Weapons

Lámfada, they called him. For his skill with the spear. He was skilled in all he tried his hand at, a warrior, a leader, a god king. And then there was Memory, or perhaps Mind, for the all-seeing crow, who flew around the world every day to bring knowledge to a different god king.

But the pieces fit, somehow. A hero and an omen, a fisherman and a scarecrow, Lugh and Muninn.

Clover and Qrow.

Ao3 link

“Where did you learn close combat like that?” Qrow looked up at Clover’s question, sitting just against the wall of the main training room as he sharpened Harbinger. He noticed that Kingfisher had been extended to the pole’s full length, resting casually over one of Clover’s shoulders.

“My partner in school. He was a hand-to-hand specialist. He taught all of us.” Summer had mandated it, that they’d all learn how to fight in each other’s styles in case weapons got switched around in a fight.

Since she was the one who always dropped her weapon at least once a fight without fail, he could see why.

“Was that Tai?” Clover tilted his head. ‘You’ve mentioned him. Before. Your nieces’ father?”

“That’s the one.” Qrow set Harbinger aside and stretched out, hooking his hands behind his head as he leaned against the wall. “He’s still in Patch, teaches at Signal. They need him there.” Qrow could have really used him here, though. Taiyang was his best friend, and even calling him that felt like he was underplaying their bond. They’d been through a hundred hells together.

“From what I’ve picked up, he sounds like a good man.”

“He is.” Tai, Ruby, and Yang were the only family Qrow had left, and he’d protect them. “How about you, who was your partner in Atlas?”

Clover chuckled and sat down beside Qrow, resting Kingfisher beside Harbinger. “You’ll never believe it.”

“Try me,” Qrow dared.

“Robyn Hill.” Clover pulled out his horseshoe and spun it on his fingers.

Crow snorted with laughter before he looked at Clover and saw that he wasn’t kidding. “Holy shit, really?”

“Would you believe that we were best friends?” Clover smiled wryly.

Qrow considered it for a minute. “You did seem like you knew each other, personally.”

“Team TRCH,” Clover pronounced it ‘torch’. “I think we were pretty cool. Robyn and I are the only ones who are still active, though. Teale disappeared years ago and Hibernus gave up on being a Huntsman.”

“Sounds similar to STRQ.” Summer disappeared, Raven quit. Tai had to step back and focus on their girls. “Teams rarely stay together after graduation.” He had a feeling team RWBY would learn that eventually. Once they were older.

“I can think of one, but that’s not my story to tell.” Clover tossed his horseshoe in the air and caught it again.

Qrow watched him play with the lucky charm and switched his gaze to the man himself. “But you do have some stories that are yours.”

Clover quirked a brow at him. “I’ll bet you do too.”

“I got plenty of stories in here,” Qrow tapped his temple. “Hard to keep ‘em all straight, sometimes.”

Clover’s eyes gleamed like chips of malachite. “We could trade.”

“Or you could fight me for them.” Qrow suggested, with a joking roll of his shoulders. Truthfully, he was interested in sparring Clover. He wanted to see how he fought. Fighting styles could tell him more about a person than anything else, sometimes.

Clover grabbed Kingfisher and stood up. “You’re on, Qrow.”

Qrow arched his back to pop out the clicks before he stood up, carrying Harbinger with a languid grace. “By your leave, Shamrock.”

Kingfisher’s hook was already in motion, rocketing towards Qrow’s face as the fishing pole followed the line of Clover’s cast. His shoulders and back had twisted into the movement, his stance grounded but light.

Qrow deflected it with Harbinger’s blade, his own stance nearly weightless on the ground as he held back from one of the reckless charges he would have had in his youth, taking a moment to go over what he knew.

Kingfisher was best at range, where that fishing line and hook could give Clover complete control of the fight. He had no doubt Clover could fight in close, but that just made it fun.

Qrow smirked and attacked, charging in as he watched Clover reel the line back in. The faint scrape of metal on the ground told him to jump, just barely dodging the hook before it could clip his heels and catch his ankle. His shoes barely touched the ground for a moment before he pulled from his scythe footwork and spun into an overhead blow, forcing Clover onto the defensive.

Their weapons clanged, Qrow continuing the momentum of his spin with a heel kick to Clover’s thigh. “First hit to me. First story to you.”

Clover grinned at him as he let go of Kingfisher with one hand, quickly tossing a punch. Qrow darted back, unlocking the blades. He didn’t go far, immediately bringing his sword around for a side strike.

Clover parried, using the fishing rod as a spear. “My mother’s name is Uzume Ebi. My dad, Ciaran, took her last name when he moved to Argus. We moved to Mantle when I was eleven to be with my grandfather, Balor.”

Qrow nodded and spun again, aiming for the other side. “Any siblings?”

“Heather, younger sister. She’s a brat.” Clover had a fond look in his eye that didn’t diminish the way he switched his grip on Kingfisher, using the harpoon function to stab at Qrow’s solar plexus.

It hit him, a glancing blow but a hit nonetheless. Qrow stepped back and started circling Clover, the other man matching his steps as he gestured at Qrow with his free hand.

Qrow smirked and tossed Harbinger in the air to switch hands, showing off as he slicked his hair back out of his face. “Raven and I were communally raised.” He wasn’t getting into the bandit shit. “In Mistral. Looks like you and me got the same roots.”

Clover grinned and loosened Kingfisher’s hook. “Guess so.”

Qrow’s eyes gleamed before he attacked, deciding now that they’d had a small taste of what the other could do, it was time to kick it up a notch like real Huntsmen. His sword slashed with sweeping arcs, forcing Clover to either dodge or block blows that could cut through stone pillars.

Each attack flowed into the next before Clover found his footing and ducked under one sweep, Kingfisher’s hooking around Qrow’s ankle at the same moment he smashed the blunt end up under Qrow’s jaw.

Qrow turned his fall into a flip, landing once on his hand in a move that wasn’t exactly his favourite as he kicked up, forcing the fishing line to extend out with him. He got back onto his feet and grabbed the razor wire, hooking his leg around it a few times before he forcibly stomped and sharply slid his foot back. The sudden yank pulled Clover forward and right into Qrow’s cross.

Clover grabbed his hand before he could retract it and threw Qrow over his shoulder, where Qrow tossed Harbinger so he could land on the blade’s hilt, standing upright on his perch.

Clover pulled Kingfisher’s line back in. “How about we save the rest of the stories for after the fight?”

Qrow backflipped off his sword and landed neatly on his feet, cape fluttering behind him as he lifted his blade from the ground. “Deal.” Harbinger’s gears creaked as he shot a round at Clover, the other Huntsman deflecting it.

Clover set his stance and Kingfisher’s hook flicked out, the wire looping at it. Qrow shot it out of the air and transformed, flying above Clover before he reverted mid-twirl, bringing the sword down in an aerial attack.

Clover got Kingfisher’s pole up between them before he headbutted Qrow in the face, Qrow’s free hand reaching down to grab the fishing pole and flip himself over Clover’s head. He hit the ground behind Clover and tossed him with all his strength, returning the throw from before and following it up with another downwards cut.

Clover rolled out of the way and got to his feet, aiming for another jab with Kingfisher. Qrow grabbed it and yanked Clover closer, hitting his gut with the hilt of his weapon. Clover stumbled back, leaving Qrow to close the distance with another slashing spin.

Clover got up an arm, blocking the hit entirely on his own aura. Qrow darted back from whatever answering attack would be coming his way, dodging a somewhat feral strike from Kingfisher.

Qrow gave him a look to make sure they weren’t pushing it too hard, Clover giving him a confident smile that Qrow rolled his eyes at. Cocky bastard.

Clover moved like he was about to cast Kingfisher’s line at him again, before his hand slipped to his belt and instead that dratted horseshoe of his was flying towards Qrow’s nose. He caught it in his hand and got his sword up in a block just in time to prevent Clover from whacking him with the pole.

He considered his options for a moment before he tossed the horseshoe back at Clover’s face.

Clover moved his head to the side to dodge with a laugh, the metal charm hitting the ground behind him as he strained against Qrow’s defence. Qrow let him for a moment, pushing back just as hard, before he transformed and flew under Clover’s arm, aiming for another sky hit.

Call it his bad luck or Clover’s good luck, but the fishing pole made it there right before Harbinger would have landed a blow, Qrow’s feet hitting the ground as Clover faced him.

Clover’s boot shot up right before Qrow could break the blade lock, catching Qrow right in the stomach with enough force to send him flying. He got back up, readying Harbinger’s shotgun.

Clover tossed Kingfisher up out of his hand, only by a few inches, just enough to switch his grip and find the balance point of the harpoon form. Within a moment his arm was up, arching past his shoulder, his entire body flowing with the throw as he turned his weapon into a spear.

Kingfisher sailed right by Qrow’s ribs, catching his cape and ripping it backwards until it hit the wall, tugging Qrow along from the force of the hit. His back hit the wall and he looked down at the weapon tucked neatly between his arm and his side, his heart thudding in his chest as he noticed it had grazed the fabric of his shirt, tearing down to the white undershirt.

He swallowed and looked up as Clover walked up, hand landing firmly on Kingfisher’s pole as he got a little closer then was necessary, grinning self-assuredly. Qrow gave him a matching smug smirk. “Nice throw.”

“Thanks. I’d say that move was pure skill.” He placed his left hand on the wall beside Qrow’s head, just close enough that Qrow could see flecks of gold and emerald green in those teal irises. Harbinger went slack in Qrow’s grasp, the end of the blade tapping the ground as his adam’s apple bobbed in his throat..

“I’d believe it.” Clover had moved like the spear was second nature to him. “So I guess I owe you a story now, Shamrock.”

“Fair’s fair. We’ll trade.” Clover yanked Kingfisher back out of the wall with a heft of his shoulders, eyes glittering like gemstones as the harpoon slid carefully between Qrow’s arm and torso.

Qrow caught a flicker of deviousness in those eyes before Clover masked it with concern. “I didn’t catch you, did I?”

Qrow glanced down at the sliced fabric of his shirt , aura preventing any actual injury. Pretty close shave there. He reached for it on instinct before Clover’s hand rested over it, making him practically jump in surprise at the warmth the other man radiated.

“Sorry about that,” Clover patted his side in apology, not sounding sorry at all.

Qrow scoffed, grabbing Clover’s wrist before he pulled away. “How concussed are you?”

Clover chuckled at that, his laugh rumbling from his chest like honey over gravel. “You’ll have to do better than that to take me down. Maybe I’ll let you have another try later.”

Qrow quirked a brow in interest. “Now that’s a rematch I wouldn’t mind.”

These are not literal constructs so much as imaginative recreations- Mr Ibis.

#Fair Game #fairgameweek2020 #Clover Ebi #Qrow Branwen #rwby #my writings #I love writing fight scenes so goddamn much

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vee-angel · 4 years

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Talynn’s Edge (Part 2)

(Just reposted the first part of this story with the corresponding illustration. This section will have a pretty significant amount of blood and violence, both sexual and non-sexual. And just an FYI, this part is not a stand-alone story by any means. If you want to understand what’s going on, I recommend reading the first part, and if you want to understand what’s going on well, I recommend reading the first part, and watching “Sonnie’s Edge” from the Love, Death + Robots anthology series on Netflix. If you want to completely understand, than do all that, and also read the short story by Peter F. Hamilton.)

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Something was different about the vibes tonight. Me and the rest of Sonnie’s Predators had seen plenty of fight nights, but this was the fight night. Khanivore vs. Hellcat. Me vs…. her.

Seems like a pair of woman beastie baiters going head to head was a bigger draw than I’d thought. Traffic is shit in the cities anyway, but the sludge of vehicles and bodies round the arena made it so the old twenty-wheeler’s cab had to slog inch by inch before we could unload Khanivore’s pod.

Hadn’t seen Talynn since that night months ago in the shitty spunk-stained hotel room. Fight promoters had set everything up. Closest thing we’d got to talking was signing the same fight contract. Still, she’d been in my head more than I’d have liked.

I felt ready, though. Near half a thousand dead rabbits made sure of that. Gotten to the point Khanivore had the muscle memory to spear a frantic hare running full clip near a hundred-percent of the time. Her bone-blade tentacles should make quick work of Hellcat even with its ungodly speed.

Wondered if Talynn still remembered the agreement we made that night. Winner gets to have their way with the loser. Ain’t exactly any way I’d have to pay up if I lose, but if I win, I wouldn’t mind a good shag. Honestly, I’d got a bit obsessive as of late, and needed the release.

I’d scouted the set-up a couple weeks before. Arena was bigger than the last one, but same basic set-up. Fight-pit dropped into the floor with rows and rows of people packed like sardines. Pit was the biggest one I’d seen so far, made room to maneuver, also meant her beastie had room to pick up speed.

After we finally got unloaded and took care of pre-fight business, we waited for the ring-master to start talking me up so I could make my entrance. Heard the clamor of the crowd before taking a step out into the open with Wes and Ivrina on either side. The Sonnie’s Predators fans jumped to their feet and went wild. My fans, I was the one putting it all on the line after all. God it felt good. I was the champion, and I wasn’t about to let some yankee cunt take that away from me.

Announcer kept on with peppy hyperbolic fanfare as I settled down in my signature zen pose at the edge of the pit. They could pretend they was excited because we were both undefeated, but really it was just that both pilots had tits for the first time.

Finally saw Talynn walking out from the other side of the arena. My heart beat a little faster and I couldn’t tell if it was because I still fancied her a bit or because the psychotic twat scared me a little. Honestly, probably a bit of both.

“Fuckin’ Hell, do you suppose that’s real?” Wes asked

“Fake stuff don’t clot like that.” Ivrina said back.

For half a second I wasn’t sure what they was talking about. Then I saw it. I mistook her for wearin that same shiny red skin-suit I’d seen her in last time, but it wasn’t that. It was blood.

Fuckin’ perfect outfit to intimidate, I figure. Ain’t nothing gonna scare the shit out of somebody quite like walking out naked smeared with gore. Her face was different, too. No babydoll grin, just this death scowl pointed right in my direction. Whole affair gave her this look like some kinda Aztek deity you could summon if you knifed out enough living people’s hearts as tribute.

She was taking this one serious, I figure. Ain’t no point in going the whole nine to intimidate unless you’re scared yourself. She didn’t think this up last minute. Maybe over this last stretch this fight had been running through my head more times than it ought to, but now I knew. I’d gotten into her brain-space, too.

“You ready, Sonnie?” Ivrina’s voice came real gentle from the side. She didn’t want to fuck my concentration. I didn’t even look at her or Wes, just gave a quick nod staring straight ahead. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

“A’right, booting the Affinity Link… Now.”

There was a brief flash where I was falling through a thick ocean of pitch black, but my brain did quick work making sense of the sensorium coming through my body... Khanivore’s body. My eyes opened to the sight of the pod freshly opened and I stepped out on freakish strong thighs.

I heard the announcer saying my name and dashed out into the fight-pit. I moved quick, but not too quick. Didn’t want to telegraph how fast I’d become.

Hellcat got announced then. The black beast stalked out slow and confident-like. Didn’t make any fancy display like the first time I saw. She wanted to save all its energy for ripping limb from limb and then fucking the dead, bloody stumps.

This is when fear kicked in; locked in a pit with nothing between me and this prickly murderbeast that wanted nothing more than to kill me. This is when it got real. My survival instincts start screaming at me and I became primality incarnate. My body tensed, bone blades poised to strike, legs ready to dodge. This was it.

The fight lights went on.

Nothing.

Hellcat stared, quiet menace rising off it like smoke. Didn’t strike, didn’t lunge.

It started to move, real slow like. Tense steps around the edge of the pit like it was circling prey. I did the same; wasn’t about to let it flank me. I couldn’t let my guard down. I’d seen how fast it was. Talynn wasn’t going to let me survive a mis-step.

We’d gone around a full three-sixty with careful slow steps, staring one another down. The crowd had gone quiet, too; just waiting. Was this her strategy? Wear out my patience, wait for a mistake? A reckless move? Not gonna happen. She can take as many moments as she likes, and I’ll savor every one. Because if I fuck up, I won’t be having any moments ever again.

I kept my nerves steady, If anyone was going to be reckless it’d be her. . . and she was. She kept on going round, but she was moving farther from the edge. She had her eyes locked on and couldn’t help but get closer. She may have been fast, but I still had murderous tentacular range. The spiny hyaenodon was inching dangerous close to the point where I could hit it before it could attack me.

Few more steps and the fucker’d be just within my attack radius. Decided to let it get a hair closer just to make sure…

By the time the crowd gasped, I had two bone-tipped tentacles buried near half a meter into the side of Hellcat’s neck. With two more vipering straight into a spot behind its shoulder.

Couldn’t have been more than a third of a second it took to get all four blades embedded in its flesh, and I wasn’t lettin go easy.

Turns out Hellcat didn’t plan on letting go either. Fuckin beastie rolled toward me, wrapping my tendril arms around itself and aerating them with hundreds of jagged porcupine quills. It near pulled itself close enough to start ripping and gashing with claws and teeth when I whipped it across the pit with a sickening velcro sound of spines ripping out of its back.

Hellcat hit the wall hard but made a quick recovery. Blood from its wounds had already stopped flowing. It felt like it left a couple of kilos worth of needles in each one of my bone-blade tentacle arms. That was going to slow me down. I shouldn’t have thrown it; I’d panicked. Fuck!

The beastie gathered its footing then rocketed straight across the pit. I tried spearing it, but I was too slow with the shredded muscles. I felt those diamond hard shark teeth clamp into my thigh and rip through a chunk of armor and flesh before dodging back to the far side of the pit.

I’d seen this before when it fought Minogore. Now that Talynn had relieved me of my best weapon, it was back to typical strategy. Hellcat was going to rip off little bits of me until there was too little left to fight back when it went in for the kill. Shit!!

I wasn’t gonna go out that way, couldn’t let it happen. Had to stay calm, strategize. Hellcat was digging in its feet for another rush. Just as it took off I speared the floor between me and it. The appendages might have been too slow to attack, but I could use them as a barrier. And stuck full of needles as they were, they’d be too nasty to bite through. Hellcat veered off and spun around looking damn near offended that I wouldn’t just lay down and die.

I stayed low and kept on with the same strategy. I was fighting defensive now, putting thorny tentacle arms between me and the beastie every time it lunged. A couple cycles in of this and I learned I could direct the fucker left or right as I pleased. Started using this to my advantage and swiped off a good few chunks of its back legs with clawed fingers.

For a minute I thought I was getting the upper hand, but then the little beastie got around the tentacular cage I’d been keeping myself in and nipped off a good bit of shin. Told myself I wouldn’t let it happen again. But then... it did happen again. And again. And again.

What the fuck was going on! I had a good strategy, but then it seemed like Hellcat somehow managed to get even faster. I got this sick feeling when it dawned on me. It wasn’t faster… I was slower. Why!? Khanivore had enough oxygenated blood to fight for an hour at least. It wasn’t near that long, yet. I’d barely lost a drop of blood. There was no goddamn reason I should be fatiguing just now! Did the team miss something after the last fight? Did Wes or Ivrina fuck something up in Khanivore’s pod?!?

Not now, survive first, kick their arses later. It wasn’t time for thinking or clever strategies no more. This was time to not die; to go for full berzerk primality!

Enemy was readying its footing for a death-blow. My thoughts had all collapsed into a single brutal directive: Kill.

Hellcat lunged, I lunged straight back at it. Clawed fingers shoved straight down its gullet as I tackled the fucker to the ground. Serrated shark teeth crunched my right hand straight off while my left was carving out its eye. I yanked the mutilated limb from its maw and put the beastie in a headlock with the stump. I felt every remaining spine it had digging into my guts, but I didn’t give the tiniest fuck. I was going to rip this cunt apart!

The beast thrashed about as the claws of my left hand ripped through its gut, yanking out bones and ribs before frantically scooping out every bit of meat and organ I could reach at through its soft underbelly. It kept thrashing about in a panic way longer than most, a testament to Talynn’s bioengineering prowess. But I could feel the life draining on account of my savage evisceration.

I had won. Hellcat was dying.

I dropped the scooped-out fiend to the floor of the pit to let it make it’s death-rattle before finally going limp.

I heard Talynn shriek as her Affinity link to Hellcat died. The blood-clad beauty wasn’t intimidating anymore. I saw her eyes filled with terror and hands shaking as she rushed forward. Look on her face actually made me feel bad for her.

The girl actually continued forward, making this panicked climb into the fight pit. Just kept repeating, “No, no, no, please no.” in this hysterical, teary voice. The drop into the pit was a good three meters, even from hanging. Looked like she cracked an ankle the way she limped over to Hellcat’s side.

She went prostrate next to her dead monster, face a mess of tears and snot, and started doing these great big heaving sobs as she laid her hand on its face. Whole thing was fucking tragic.

I had just enough strength to raise a bloodied arm in triumph, but the crowd wasn’t quite as thrilled as it should have been. The bloody crying girl really fucked the vibe. Couldn’t worry about it now; Khanivore needed to get back to her pod, and fast.

I hobbled back down the corridor on half-eaten legs and felt a relief when the pod sealed. Now that I was animating a human body again, I could appreciate the fight I’d just had and won. There was times I worried I was over-preparing for this one bought, but now I knew she was everything I was expecting her to be. Talynn was batshit, but fucking brilliant as a baiter.

I remembered our deal about winner fucks the loser, but by the look on her face out there, figured I ought to give her some time. I headed backstage and we opened up a nice expensive bottle we got just for this particular win. Had a toast to no more fucking rabbit stew.

Then something happened. Wes poured a shot and slid it over to me, but the glass shattered on the floor before I’d even raised my hand to catch it. It was the same feeling I’d had out in the pit…. I was getting slower. Wasn’t a problem with Khanivore’s body… problem was the brain inside it.

“Somethin’s wrong.” I told them. “It was like this out in the pit. My reflexes was getting slower right near the end. Still getting slower now. She did something to Khanivore, something that’s fucking up my brain.”

The team rushed to the pod. Wes hooked up the interface and checked some measurements and data I didn’t quite understand. Started looking real panicked. Came back to tell us something about something was wrong with the nervous system.

“Cheatin’ fucking cunt.” Ivrina said. “I’ll bet her beastie’s got some kinda neurotoxin on those goddamn spines.”

“And Khanivore ain’t got no filter organs; the pod can do the basic stuff but it wasn’t meant to contend with poison.” I was pissed off. Talynn meant to kill my beastie even though she’d lost. Only she didn’t know it was my brain inside of her. I pounded a fist on Khanivore’s pod. “She’s gonna tell me how to fix this, even if I have to beat it out of her.” I stormed out headin straight for the opposing team’s green room. The team called something after me about saying they was going to keep trying to see what they could do. They seemed shaken. I couldn’t blame them. I was too.

Made my way through the under-halls to the sound of spectators filing out above me, eventually burst in on Talynn sitting in the dark staring at the empty pod, knees hugged up to her chest.

“Talynn,” she cringed a bit hearing my voice, but didn’t turn around. Seeing her look so defeated drained the anger right out of me. Probably a good thing, too. I had to speak gentle. Ten seconds ago, I’d planned to go all fire and intimidation, but antagonizing her wouldn’t do any good. “Hey… I’m sorry about your beastie, but I got to talk to you. Something’s wrong with Khanivore, she’s still dying even in the pod. We got to thinking it might of been your Hellcat. Those spines got poison on ‘em, don’t they?”

There was a long pause, “Venom.” Talynn corrected in this little sotto voice.

“Yeah, all right. Go to admit, I never would have thought to do that.” I felt like a damn hostage negotiator, and come to think of it, I kinda was, “But the fight’s over now, so I need you to fix it. Give me the antidote or tell me what I got to do so Khanivore doesn’t die.”

“Why the fuck should I?” Talynn snarled all sudden-like, finally turning to face me. She stood, limping forward angrily and got right up in front of me. Olfactory presence almost made me wretch; drenched in rotted blood made her smell like a mass grave. “Hellcat died! You killed her! Why shouldn’t you have to watch your own precious Khanivore fade away?? Maybe then you can know what you did to me!”

“I won’t know anything! I’ll be fuckin’ dead!” I paused to steady myself. Talynn gave this narrowed eyed look of suspicious incomprehension. Fuck, I had to tell her. “I ain’t in here, not anymore.” I poked a finger aggressive at my temple, “This body’s just animated by a bioware processor stuck on top of a spine. My real brain’s getting rotted away by your fuckin venom right now. If Khanivore dies, I die.”

Talynn took a step back in stupefaction. She just stared for a moment like she was trying to figure out whether to take me serious or not. I didn’t even see her hand reach back to grab the three kilo wrench that’d been set down next to the pod. Not until she whipped it around and cracked open the side of my head with it.

“Fuckin’ hell!!!” My hand went to my temple, which was several centimeters sunken in now. For a second, my thoughts flashed that she was crazy, then I realized why she’d done it. If I was lying, she figured I deserved to be killed, and if I wasn’t, she wanted proof.

I guessed that one side of my skull looked like a Jack-O-Lantern left out ‘til July, so the fact that I was still standing there glaring at her should be proof enough that there wasn’t anything neurologically essential inside my skull.

Talynn looked wide eyed for a moment, “You’re… that’s fucking insane.” was all she said. Thought I saw a flash of a smile for a second as she turned around and rushed toward a big trunk. Yanked out a big handful of hypodermic syringes full up with some amber liquid. She handed some of them to me. “Three should be enough for Khanivore. I need to keep a couple as a backup in case one of my team pricks themselves while they’re...” she just trailed off, not wanting to say ‘handling Hellcat’s corpse.’

I rushed back without a word, and near crashed into Ivrina halfway. She came to look for me, worried that I’d collapsed or something. And honestly, I was feeling like my ability to control equilibrium was fading fast. I ended up handing the syringes to her while she told me just sit down on this grimy wooden bench in the hall.

My heart was pounding, for the next few minutes I sat there doing mental exercises and seeing how well I could touch my fingers to one another. Not that well, it was seeming. But after about ten minutes, my thoughts seemed to settle down, I felt like my brain was doing a proper job animating my body through Affinity again. The antidote worked.

For a while I sat there thinking about what if Talynn was right about me being the crazy one. She at least had the good sense not to get into the pit herself; except she did just that after her beastie died. Maybe the two of us were psychotic. Maybe that’s how come I didn’t feel mad at her no more. I didn’t just fancy her cuz she was pretty, maybe I like that she’s the only one I’d met who’s just as fuckin’ mental as I was.

Barely noticed the man walking up on me until he’d sat on the rotted wooden bench next to me. I recognized him as one of Talynn’s crew, older than the rest. Had this way about him like he was some detective from a noir style American film. Tough as nails type who’s been too jaded to care about rules no more.

I pulled my hood farther to hide the shattered skull, but he didn’t look in my direction, just stared straight ahead as he lit up a cigarette and started talking at me.

“I want to tell you a story.” His voice was deep and dark, full of gravel and gravitas. “Once upon a time there was a little girl named Tara-Lynn. She ended up in the care of the state at a young age. Parents abandoned her, or maybe they got themselves killed. Doesn’t really matter.” He paused to take a draw at the crackling ciggie.

“One day a couple comes along and decides that they’d like little Tara-Lynn to join their happy little family.” he continues, “Except she finds out it’s not so happy. Her new mommy and daddy expect her to pay back the adoption fees with interest. What’s little Tara-Lynn to do? Well… mommy and daddy thought of that, too. It seems they knew some men who’d pay them a lot of money for some time with little Tara-Lynn. You know the type of things men pay to do with little girls?” he paused to take another drag, “Yeah, I hear you know a little about that.”

Sitting there listening, I felt a sick bit of bile boiling up in my gut. Felt like I should say something, but he kept on before I had a chance.

“Story doesn’t end there. One night the police were called to Tara-Lynn’s house after a neighbor complained about a smell like a dead animal coming from the premises. Cops got inside to find mommy and daddy stabbed to death in their bed and little Tara-Lynn still clutching a bloody kitchen knife. Dried blood caked onto her pink pajamas. “Little girl went into custody, mommy and daddy went to the morgue. She said she didn’t do it, and for a while, they believed her. Medical examiner said there was no way a ten-year-old could have committed such a beastly crime. They were stabbed so many times, he stopped counting wounds after two hundred… each. “When they asked little Tara-Lynn what happened, she told them that an angel had come to rescue her. An angel named Talynn. After a few months visiting with a shrink, they finally got it figured out. She told them what they were doing to her, and she got a diagnosis. Split personality.”

“Jesus fuck...” the words came from my mouth an awed whisper.

“Talynn,” he ploughed on, “isn’t a person. And she’s definitely no angel. Closer to a demon. And demons don’t just sit quietly and wait when there’s nothing to do. Tara-Lynn may have escaped mommy and daddy, but she ended up with a new monster; one that lives inside of her.”

My mind flashed back to that night with her naked body across the motel room mattress. I remembered seeing all the scars that looked self-inflicted. It made sense now, Talynn had been hurting her. Wheels in my head turned, before things finally clicked into place, “That’s why she does it, then” I interrupt the man before he has a chance to keep talking, “She had a beastie livin’ in her head her whole life, then finds out she can just custom make a suit for the monster inside, then stick it in a pit an’ let it do what it does best.”

Man took a final puff on the cancer stick then stood up to snuff it under a cracked leather boot. “Except you killed the suit, broke the cage. And now the monster is pissed off.”

I took his meaning that he was frightened that with Hellcat dead, Talynn’s demon was going to go back to hurting her to get its jollies. Maybe even hurting others. “Ay!” I called after him as he started walking away, “the fuck you want me to do about it?”

* * *

I spent half a week giving the situation a good thinking over before I got around to calling Talynn. Normally I wouldn’t give a rat-shit about anybody, but something bout her story made me want to be helpful like. Maybe it was because I felt responsible on account of I killed her beastie. Maybe it was because she’d really been raped and brutalized while I was going round lying about it. Maybe I was just randy for her, I don’t fuckin’ know.

Anyway, I’d come up with this plan, right? If Talynn had this demon living in her head that might end up on a killer rampage unless it had somewhere to focus its hate, I was gonna give it something to focus on. A bit of tough love is what she needed, I figure.

I rang her up, half expecting her to back out of the arrangement we had, due to I would have been dead if she’d won. She sounded downtrodden still, but also seemed eager for a bit of distraction and self-destruction.

I had her show up at the shit-hole warehouse that served as the home-base for Sonnie’s Predators. A good half the team lived there, but I threw them a few quid and told them to find someplace else to be for the night.

Khanivore was in her pod at the far side of the big room. She wasn’t terribly visible, since I’d turned out all the lights except for the big one over the training ring that clicks on with a big, dramatic snap. The circle we had laid out in the middle was roughly the size of a fight-pit, and used primarily for training and testing. Could still get a whiff of old rabbit’s blood if you was paying attention. Outside the ring was a few bits of machinery, but mostly some big crates filled with jugs of intravenous nutrient juice, and a few tanks of preservative fluid for when she needs her pod re-filled with fresh stuff. There was one big box with biohazard stickers all over it that had Khanivore’s excreta inside it.

I paced around a bit, half nervous, half excited. Then I hear a knock at the big metal door. I click the button that loudly rattles the huge metal warehouse door up. I see Talynn standing there; she hadn’t bothered to dress up for our ‘date’ by the look of it. She had this ragged sweater on, and even defeated as she looked, there was still a spark of fire in her eyes. She stepped inside and I clicked the door motors to put the door closed again.

“Welcome to the HQ.” I said with a flourish of my arms that was maybe I bit more smug than it had to be. Her eyes stayed locked on me.

“If you’re going to fuck me, just get on with it.” she said. I could tell it was Tara-Lynn speaking. The voice was little, and a bit scared. It wasn’t the big, bad beastie that lived in her head.

“I got a question for you.” she didn’t react. “When I made that deal with you. About the winner gets to have their way with the loser. Which one of you was I talking to?” ‘

Her face flashed a snarl for just a moment when she realized somebody told me about her bisected psyche. She took a few seconds to turn it over in her mind, “What’s it matter?”

“Matters ‘cuz I think that big, bad Talynn made a bet, and is here expecting little Tara-Lynn to pay up since she lost. So I got a new idea.” I toss her over a pair of those old fighting gloves they used in caged MMA matches. “Double or nothing. You and me, nothing lab-grown. If I win, I get to have my way with Talynn. I ain’t got no interest in bullying a crying, little victim; but a hard bitch who carves up pedos… that’s something that’ll hold my interest.”

She looked down at the floor, worried like. Then in an instant all the worry drained away and these inferno-hot eyes shot up to meet with mine. “And if I win, you’ll submit to me?” She growled the words as she stalked forward at me with these slow, menacing panther steps. A little grin formed at the side of my mouth as I saw the beast I faced in the pit a few days ago appear in front of me in human form.

“That’s the way of it, yeah.” The night was lookin like it’d shape up to be my own private carnival of depravity.

A few rips of velco had our fighting gloves on. I popped off my shoes so I was down to just the threadbare wife-beater and my capris. Talynn had a few more layers to get down to an appropriate amount of covering. Yank wasn’t acclimated to the London chill.

It’d been a good few years since I’d been in a proper scrap using the body I was in now. Last time was in my teen years when this little twat and her friend jumped me calling me a slut and saying I’d fucked her boyfriend. Had her in a solid ground-and-pound position when the friend glassed me in the side of the head with a bottle she’d hidden in her backpack. Probably still have the scar on my cheek from it, but nowadays it’s blended in with the mess of mutilation my face has become.

Talynn steps inside the taped off area that served as our make-shift pit. She starts circling real careful the way she did in her beastie form. I wasn’t having none of that bullshit, so I charge straight in stabbing and elbow into her left tit. She tries to grab on but loses her balance.

She’s on the ground and I start putting some kicks on her. One of her lips splits open pretty good before she sinks her teeth into one of my toes with this feral little-girl growl. I can’t get it dislodged even when she starts coiling the rest of her limbs around my leg. A couple good jerks and thrashes got me off my feet crashing onto the cement. She twists around and drives her heel straight up into my cunt a couple times.

Don’t rightly know how, but somehow I grappled her around until I had her under me, face down. That hair-glue she puts in her mohawk let me get a good grip on it even though there wasn’t much to grab. I said to her that she better admit defeat or I’d bash her face right open here and now on the rock floor. She says “Eat shit” and I bash her face a couple times so as to let her know I ain’t joking. She gets angry-quiet and doesn’t say anything for a while. Too long for my liking so I collide her face with the cement once more. Finally she admits that I’d won.

I take a minute to catch my breath. This fight went quick but I had to admit that Talynn had this brutal ferality that got me good and randy. She kept glaring at me as I chained her wrists strappado style up to this overhead winch that ran on a track the length of the warehouse. I gave her enough slack that she could kneel down without her shoulders coming dislocated, but not much more than that.

I fade into the shade round the edges of the room for a minute to grab some of what I’d gathered in pre-planning. I stuck a good sharp straight razor in my pocket and picked up this novelty camera I’d gotten a few years back. It was supposed to look like one of them old nineteen hundreds ones that print out the pictures as you take them.

I clicked off a few piccies and tossed the print-outs on the floor in front of her. Her face looked venomous at me as she realized her private humiliation was gonna be saved for posterity. I hang the insta-camera from my belt and got to work with the razor. I made a real show of turning her outfit into garbage.

I take a few more images of her naked body, making sure to get some real nice close ups of the intimate bits. Then I got to examining her real close, like she was a piece of meat. I figured neither of us put any time limit on things, so I didn’t have no need to be expedient.

Talynn didn’t resist, but she wasn’t really cooperating neither. Took a solid kick in the calf-meat to get her to put her legs apart. “You’re 0 for 2, beastie.” I whisper to her as I stand behind her and run my fingers from her cunt up over her arsehole.

“Ain’t so tough without a half-tonne of claws and teeth to slip in to, yeah?” She stood still just glaring off into the distance. I got up real close behind her and yanked her arse back against my hips. Put my arm around her waist and bend forward real close, so I was talking into her ear. “Tell me what it felt like when I was ripping your guts out.” Her teeth clenched so hard, I’m surprised she didn’t crack one.

“Staying quiet, eh? Maybe you need a reminder.” I put her in a headlock just the way I did in the ring, shoulders twisted to just near popping. I press the straight edge to her chest and slide it down between her tits, just hard enough to let out some drops of ruby red, but not so deep that she’d need more than a few stitches to patch her up. Carved a ragged line almost all the way down to her cunt hair.

I hold her close as I whip out the insta-cam and flash a pic of us cheek to cheek. I see she’s got this look of sick disbelief in her eyes. The polaroid falls to the floor to stain with the drippies of blood slowly hanging out her torso.

I walk around real slow to get right in front of her. Her eyes was all fury and fear and fuck-yous. “You still with me, beastie?” I asked her. The carnal hate was my answer, it was still Talynn I was talking to. “Good, wouldn’t want you to miss anything.” I took her chin in my hand and hold up the straight-edge, “You remember the night we met? When you said about my scars that they was ‘love-letters written in flesh’ and asked if I get wet when I look at them. I’ll give you a chance to find out yourself.” I leaned in to kiss her lips real gentle, then I pulled back just far enough that I could see her eyes as I gashed one half of a Chelsea smile into the meat of her cheek. She started whimpering and her eyes filled up before angry tears started streaming down and mixing in with the blood.

I kept hold of her chin as I sliced the other cheek to match, a big red grin carved from the edges of her mouth more than halfway to her ears. I had this twinge of guilt, chopping up her face the way I was. Maybe I was going too far; then again, scars didn’t need to be permanent these days. Hell, I couldn’t go half a week without some twat telling me about a plastic surgeon that could make my face baby-smooth with the newest laser treatment. This bitch could afford it, anyway.

That was the agreement anyway, right? I won, so I get to do whatever gets my jollies. And seeing her here, helpless, crying, bleeding; fuck that gets me off. Best to keep going then.

A sort of artistry took over me, I didn’t want to randomly slice her up like some street-tough. I took my time; smooth, clean incisions all across her skin. Pretty red lines organized aesthetically across her light-tan flesh. I got caught up in myself, and all her screaming and crying turned into background noise, couldn’t even have guessed how much time had passed.

I finally came back to my senses when I took a step back to admire. I caught Talynn’s eye and slowly felt the reality that my canvas was a living person who’d been suffering the torments of Hell this whole time. Something about this felt like being in the fight pit again, yet different. Smell of blood, struggle of mortal fear, but this was quieter, meditative; almost loving in a way. I’d always been the fury and fire type, but I was beginning to see why serial killers who snatched women off the street and take them out slow did it that way. Except Talynn would be walking away tonight.

I almost forgot to take a few more pictures. She was dripping with so much blood, it brought me back to the way she walked out on fight-night. Except she wasn't full of menace any longer. She just looked… pathetic, defeated. Couldn’t let what little sliver of conscience I had left get in the way of the job I had to do. That beastie in her head needed a purpose, prey to obsess on; I was gonna make sure that was me.

“I’m… sorry.”

It came out in this little mouse voice that was so small I wasn’t sure if I’d heard anything. “You say something?” I shot back at her.

“I’m sorry!” She heaved it out through weepy sighs. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry, please just let me go. You win! You’re better than me! I’ve learned my lesson!”

I just stare at her for a good long second. “That what you think this is? I’m teaching you a lesson on account of I’m just a cunt who doesn’t like to be challenged?” She looked confused and fearful, I give her this real arrogant grin back. “Nah, it’s just the opposite, mate. I want you coming for me. See, I been winning so many times in a row now that I’m starting to lose the fear.” I get real up to her face and whisper the next bit, “I can’t have that, beastie. Fear is what gives me my edge. You gave it back to me fresh in our battle… I ain’t ready to let that go yet.”

She hung there from her wrists, heaving and wheezing and bloodied. Then all of a sudden she got grave-quiet, her head raised up to face me. Her gaze impacted me in a way that made my skin to ice. There was that babydoll grin again, “I should have known I couldn’t manipulate you. You’re just like me, aren’t you?” Her voice was rock-steady and psychopath calm, “That’s why it has to be me. I have to be the one to kill you, Sonnie.” I could tell soon as the words left her mouth that there wasn’t one molecule of bluff in them. Fuck, even like this, she had moments where she could still be absolutely terrifying; the fear elates me as the goosebumps on my skin start to smooth out.

“You want to do me in? I’ll give you a chance right here.” I toss the straight-edge to her feet amidst a pile of bloodied photo-prints and then stick the key to the cuffs into her hand. I start walking into the darkness round the edges of the warehouse, and make a show of tapping the side of my head and saying, “Case you’d forgotten, I ain’t in here.”

Wish I’d seen the look on her face, but I was busy starting up the automated protocol to shut down the Affinity link without a handler. Countdown started and I quick got into meditative pose so as I wouldn’t crack my skull open once motor control shut down. I felt that familiar sense of falling through darkness before the world faded in around me.

My pod was already opening. Khanivore’s muscles felt insane-strong. This body wasn’t fully repaired yet, but new pieces were in place. The replacement for the hand that Hellcat bit off felt like I had to concentrate real hard to get it to move; nerves grafts must not have taken full hold yet. My bone-blade tentacles had to be scrapped outright after what she did to them. Just as well, we’d been talking about an upgrade anyway. New set-up had five instead of four, and this was the first time I’d gotten to feel them. Put in more specialization, too, but they were still too fresh to really get a sense of that yet. With only the base muscle-structure implanted, my tentacular glory was blunt and unarmored. In fact, all five were still foetal soft.

Even so, I’d have to be careful. Last time I’d done this sort of thing was when Khanovire was turning Dicko and his Spetsnaz girl to mincemeat. Was the first time I’d felt what Khanivore’s body could do against human flesh; it was like a child manipulating this wet, cracking bit of playdough.

I saw Talynn in the light. She’d gotten her wristlocks undone and she had picked up the razor. She held it in two shaking hands in front of her in this defensive pose as I came into the light. She did this quick back and forth glance between the ten-centimeter hunk of metal in her hands, and the towering three-meters tall death-beast approaching her. She throws the blade to the floor with an echoing clatter and dashes fast toward the warehouse controls. Her feet slip on her own slick blood for a few steps before she can get traction, but that’s enough. I’d have laughed if I could, half a minute ago she was thinking she’d seize control of the situation, and now here she was practically shittin’ herself with mortal fear.

One powerful bound and a couple of steps puts me between Talynn and the door. A tentacle lashed out faster than even I expected and had her constricted round the waist and pulled off the floor. I take a moment, and ease off; a firm twitch and I could turn her torso into something looks like a used up tube of toothpaste.

I take my time walking her back into the light, I was going to need it for this. Khanivore didn’t have the best fine-touch pressure nerves, so I’d have to do a lot of this by sight. Talynn kept looking up at me, convinced she was about to die. I figured I best let her know my intentions. Two more tentacles coiled around her bloodied ankles and slowly pulled them apart ‘til she was about two thirds to a full split. Look on her face was distress as she realized her imminant rape, but not so much agony as to make me think I’d dislocated a leg on accident. And my grip on her waist left her enough room to breathe, though not too deeply it looked like.

I lifted her up and the last two foetal tentacles lined up ready to go inside her, each of them thicker than the fists she was using to pound and flail helplessly against me. The way she screeched when I violated my way into her arse and cunt holes made me think I’d ripped my way in. The trickle of blood from her shitter said I was right. Kept a careful eye on the depth, even blunted, my tentacles were strong enough to rip their way well into her ribcage.

Suddenly I understand why Talynn gave her beastie a cock all full of nerve endings. I wanted to feel this; the clenching and thrashing as I raped my way into her. I wished I could feel every twitch, every weeping heave from inside of her body. I wanted to milk every ounce of divine pleasure from her torment and humiliation. Too bad Khanivore wasn’t built with the pleasure nerves for that sort of thing. Tearful screams came like music one after another as I thrust in and out of her.

It was beauty, pure and simple. A naked girl, ruby droplets still gently streaming from my cold steel artistry. Her expression spoke of equal parts shame and agony. It was so gorgeous I wanted to weep right then and there from the sheer resplendence. I want her to feel this, I want her to remember this always.

A few minutes of thrusting in and out of her tiny little body; then it seemed like something in her mind broke. The crying subsided, and she just got this look on her face like she wasn’t there anymore. I got a flash in my head of what this must have looked like, felt like. A monster, towering over her, raping it’s way into her with no regard for what it was doing to her. Christ, I’d taken it too far. I was making her re-live the way those pedo fucks had treated her when she was little. Part of me felt a bit sick with what I’d done. I decide to let her go and place her gently on the floor. I climb back into the pod and the A.I. program I rigged up knew to put Khanivore back in storage and put me back in human form.

I took a quick few seconds to collect myself. A part of me wanted to apologize, say I got carried away, but then that’d negate the entirety of what I was trying to do. If I wanted that psychological tumor laser-focused on me, I’d have to make sure it thinks I’m really that heartless.

Talynn just laid there panting. Seemed like the trauma left her in a state just before catatonic. I take a few last photo print-outs for posterity and then I tell her to get up. Had to repeat it a few times before she climbed shaking up to her feet. I grab the back of her neck and guide her to the big, rattling service door. I punch the button and the big slab of corrugated sheet metal starts curling up to the ceiling.

I push her out onto the asphalt, and the polluted, icy breeze of outdoors needles its way into her open wounds and gaping nethers. She gasps and seems shook out of her thousand-yard-stare. She moves her hands like she’s ashamed of being naked out in the open. She blinks a few times before her blue eyes point in my direction. She speaks quiet at me; not threatening or boasting, just meditative calm like she was making an oath, “I’m going to kill you, Sonnie.”

I hit the door-close and the big metal wall begins to inch its way down between us.

“You’ll have your shot.” I say it with this smug look right before the door makes us lose sight of each other.

I walk off into the warehouse and tell myself I did a good thing. I got the monster in her head obsessed on me so it wasn’t gonna be hurting anybody else. A deep down part of me knows that’s just horseshit. I liked hurting her, I liked raping her; I wanted her to know that I was better than her, stronger. And if next time I face her in the fight pit, it ends up being my last time, than a broken little girl gets to have justice. And that ain’t so bad, is it?

* * *

“Everyone out.” I dismiss the team calmly. This is a sacred moment. I need to commune with the new body I’d made for Talynn. Our own body still pains us from what Sonnie did. The scars still ache and itch even after all these months. I could have them removed; two, three treatments at most. But it wouldn’t matter. The pain of knowing that Sonnie is still alive after what she did to me is worse than any of the slings and arrows that could befall my mortal flesh.

We worked tirelessly, we needed a new body, a better vessel. We were too confident last time and Sonnie destroyed us. My avenging angel was trapped without a body of her own. How could she do this to my champion, to my love??

It didn’t matter now, her new body was finally finished. It had been so crowded in here with both of us. But now my white knight would finally get to put on her new armor.

I lowered the lights to a few lumens above pure blackness. Talynn would need time for her new senses to all properly synergize with one another, and with the bioware processor; it’s best not to overwhelm the senses right away.

I press a few buttons and the Affinity Link is active. I take a deep breath as I feel the pod open. Heavy footsteps thud against the cement hard enough to rattle the walls of the building.

She’s moving slowly on all fours, this arrangement of anatomy would take some getting used to. I felt her moving toward me slowly through the darkness.

A glint in the darkness catches my eye a foot or so in front of my face, her smooth, diamond-hard teeth. I blink a few times as my eyes adjust to the darkness, and I smile as the obsidian hide of her head comes into view. I reach up to caress her neck as her other two heads slowly begin to appear in the darkness.

“Welcome back, precious.”

#talynnsedge

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stormquill · 5 years

Text

Misconduct, Ch. 11 [Soldier 76/Reader]

You have an extremely inappropriate crush on your commanding officer. Maybe if you work hard enough, you’ll stop having feelings.

[ AO3 Link ]

Author's Notes: Collaboration with @antiloquist. Follow the blog @ http://miss-conduct.tumblr.com/

Chapter Notes: look man it's been a solid year and a half i don't really have anything to say for myself lmao

The dead of night gave you plenty of cover as you kept perched atop your roof, overlooking the harbour.

Several days of recon had pointed to the indication that Amélie would be prepped for transport tonight, smuggled aboard one of the many ships bound for the Atlantic the following morning. However, some last-minute digging had uncovered Amélie herself—safe and sound in suspended animation—hidden away in a repair dock on the opposite side of the harbour.

You and 76 had the upper hand for three simple reasons: first, you were aware of the trap waiting for you at the harbour; second, you knew the real location of your target; and third, they weren’t expecting your Commander to be approaching the situation with backup.

76 was advancing towards the repair docks at that very moment. All you had to do was sit tight and pay attention to their presence at the harbour, in case there were any additional circumstances you hadn’t accounted for.

Surprisingly, getting out was the easy part.

The dropship was already in-range. Your handheld evacuation devices—the ones you’d developed with Winston to make your technology more portable—would transport its wearers to the main evac apparatus, installed safely on-board. One of the major flaws of the new tech was that, like its outdated, bulkier version, all nodes had to be activated at once, and once they were activated, it took several hours for them to recharge.

There were three devices in total—one with you, two with 76—and as soon as he confirmed that he’d affixed one to Amélie, you would activate the devices and transport all three of you onto the dropship.

Wait for 76’s confirmation. Hit a button.

“Easy,” you reassured yourself.

You were so tired.

Maybe it was a good thing, you thought. The unholy mess of stress and exhaustion numbed your fear and steadied the grasp on your rifle. At the same time, however, it dulled your senses, making you feel unreactive, and slow. As much as you didn’t want to dwell on the idea, you couldn’t wait to be rid of this mission.

You didn’t tell him that, of course.

Your Commander had glanced down at you before you parted ways, the glaring light of his visor back to the familiar cherry red that suited him most. When you held his gaze, a sinking feeling dropped heavy in your gut, with the inescapable anxiety of absolutely everything going wrong. You’d completed enough training and gone on enough missions throughout your lifetime to be able to control these last-minute fears, but within that moment, you couldn’t shake them off as easily as normal.

“Nothing reckless,” was all you said, “we promised.”

He nodded.

You felt stupid for thinking it at a moment like this, but you wanted to nestle against him again until your raging nerves ebbed to a crawl, until his scent was all you needed as reassurance that everything would be alright.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before you realized you were holding your breath.

“Good luck out there,” you settled on.

“You, too.”

And that was the last you saw of him.

Sudden noises drew you from the memory.

A box truck pulled into the streets below, near one of the boats docked along the harbour. Once they killed the engine, four men rushed out of the vehicle and rounded towards the back of it, hoisting the rear door and prepping to transport something out.

“Athena,” you whispered, voice still feeling too loud in the chill of the early morning. “How many heat signatures in the back of the truck?”

“Calculating...” The female tone was cool and even in your ear. “Detecting six additional heat signatures in the back of the vehicle.”

Four in sight, six in hiding.

Hissing urgent commands at one another, the four visible agents worked together to ease a massive crate from the truck onto a large metal dolly.

“And how many signatures that crate?” you asked.

“Zero.”

As expected, you thought. The crate was a decoy. They were expecting 76 to muscle his way in—and maybe, if you weren’t here, that’s exactly what he would’ve done, only to be met with an empty container and an ambush.

...you both should’ve been gone by now.

You touched the communication device clipped to your ear. “Commander, do you read me? Do we have an ETA on evac? Over.”

The silence sent your mind racing.

“Athena, can I get a status report on the Commander?”

“Vital signs: stable. Communications online. Evacuation node two is prepared for activation. Evacuation node three is prepared for activation.”

Then why the hell wasn’t he responding?

The answer was obvious—he must have encountered enemy interference, either en route or at site. However, the agents below were still maneuvering the decoy cargo towards their ship docked at the harbour, meaning neither them nor the ambush in hiding had been notified of the compromise.

That meant you could still buy him time.

“Commander,” you started, “assume contingency 32B. If I do not receive orders within five minutes, we abort without payload. Athena?”

“Understood. Initiating contingency 32B.”

A split-second later, several cracks shattered the air like fireworks, as every hidden camera your Commander had planted in the immediate area self-destructed.

Neighborhood dogs began barking. Windows of nearby apartment complexes lit with newly woken civilians. The agents below surrounded the dolly, drawing their own guns in response.

Amidst the sudden confusion, you balanced your rifle along the edge of the rooftop, charged your shot to maximum power, and fired at the ship—another crash echoed through the harbour as you blew a hole in the ship’s main hull. The damage wasn’t enough to sink it, but it was enough to keep it from disembarking—more importantly, it was enough to get their attention.

The hidden agents were already piling out of the back of the box truck, while those guarding the dolly shouted and pointed towards your rooftop. Though the shot had given away your position, you immediately lined up another, this time aiming for the vehicle’s engine. The explosion tore through the air louder than any disruption that had come before it. You ducked for cover just before automatic fire began spraying in your direction.

The self-destructing cameras had woken up half the neighborhood, so French authorities would be on their way. You made yourself out to be someone making a play for the fake cargo, which would buy 76 a few extra minutes. And you’d crippled the agents’ ground transportation, meaning they couldn’t fall back to your Commander’s current position, even if they were called to retreat.

Rifle slung around your shoulder, you fell back. You could already hear the heavy footfalls of enemy agents scrambling up your fire escape; you headed for the opposite side, instead, using your grappling equipment to hook onto the roof’s edge and scale down the side of the building.

Three agents were standing guard at the bottom of the fire escape.

You hit the ground running.

Enemy fire sent your heart rattling inside your chest like a bell in a cage, but you kept focused. You’d studied the layouts of these alleys a hundred times over, and outmaneuvering the enemy was child’s play—but the knowledge of what was behind every corner did nothing to ease the sound of their bullets ricocheting as they missed, blasting off bits of brick and concrete around you.

Behind this dumpster. Through this door. Right turn. Left turn. Right turn. Right.

You couldn’t let yourself get hurt again. Not after last time.

“Payload secured,” came the voice you were waiting for, like music to your ears. “Requesting evac.”

“Copy.”

And you hit the button.

Teleportation felt like being yanked by a set of wires tied to your ribcage—it always left you feeling disoriented and unsteady on your feet, even as you made solid contact with the floor of the dropship.

The sight of the unconscious woman jarred you to your senses. Though she was unarmed and barely out of stasis, you weren’t about to underestimate the lethality of a known Talon agent held in such high regard.

Falling over yourself with urgency, you rushed over to the side of her unmoving form. You lifted her body, bridal-style, to the small holding chamber in the back of the dropship, and sat her upright.

You sealed the door shut, and stumbled backwards with the shock of what you’d just done.

You did it.

You rescued her.

As your adrenaline-fueled haste died down, the electric excitement vibrating within your chest replaced itself with a cold, harrowing realization—that the dropship was far too quiet, far too empty around you.

You knew what was behind you before you bothered turning around.

A spent evacuation node sat on the floor where your Commander should have been standing.

“Athena,” you near-whispered, voice weak, “status report?”

“Vital signs: unstable. Communications offline. Evacuation node two, offline. Evacuation node three, offline.”

You took a deep, shaky breath.

You knew what you had to do.

To say you hadn’t planned for this was a lie.

Of course you’d planned for it—you’d planned every iteration of every possibility of any combination of the three of you becoming compromised. The contingency of this scenario was clear: neither one of you would leave without the other. Surely, he’d know that.

Surely, he knew you were coming.

All three of your evacuation nodes were spent, which meant you would have to get him out the good old-fashioned way. The question gnawing at you remained: what could have happened that necessitated him removing the transportation device from himself? The node was an instant get-out-of-jail-free card, one which hadn’t been damaged or malfunctioning at time of transport, so why would he ever take it off?

You didn’t have much time to wonder.

Athena dropped you off as close as she could to your Commander’s last known coordinates on the dry docks.

If your positions were switched, you had little doubt 76 would’ve come after you, guns blazing, regardless of enemy numbers or positioning, but you couldn’t afford the same bravado. If you were too heavily outnumbered, trying to get him out on your own would be nothing short of suicide. For 76 to have been taken down, you expected to be faced with an army.

But the dry docks were barren when you arrived. Almost serene.

There were no signs of recent activity in the area, let alone of a recent fight. Aside from 76’s signal pinging you from across the docks, Athena confirmed there were no other heat signatures in the immediate area.

Had he been abducted, maybe? Taken to a secondary location without his tech?

You shook your head, doing your best to parse contingency from paranoia. You were approaching the cargo ship where Amélie’s body was being held mere minutes earlier—unfamiliar enemy territory—and you needed to pay attention.

Readying your weapon, you ascended the set of metal stairs along the side of the ship; already, your footsteps sounded far too loud.

The large, open deck of the cargo vessel was crowded with storage units—massive, rectangular metal boxes of identical shapes and sizes stacked on top of each other like multi-coloured building blocks. As you approached 76’s signal, you kept your steps light and your wits about you, checking your corners while keeping your back pressed to solid surfaces. The deck was dark, claustrophobic, terrible grounds for a fight—if it weren’t for Athena’s confirmation there were no other living souls on-board, you wouldn’t have stepped foot in here without backup.

The pinging in your ear grew more rapid as 76’s signal became stronger on your radar.

To your right, an open storage unit containing the now-empty stasis machine, still running, casting an ice-blue light across the deck and illuminating the scene before you.

Several toppled cargo units crowded the area, all of which were heavily damaged with massive dents and bullet holes. The path of destruction led to the rear-most area of the deck.

A splash of blood was illuminated brilliantly against the dark surface of the ship, awash in the stasis machine’s ice-blue glow, as if it were under blacklight. Another spatter, smeared along the side of a storage container. Several drips along the metal flooring, rounding the corner of another open unit nearby...

You checked your corners before checking inside.

Inside the open storage container sat the form of a man in the glow of his own cherry red visor, hunched over with a hand pressed to his thigh, a pool of his own blood seeping beneath him.

“Don’t,” 76 croaked, sounding weaker than you’d ever heard him, “it’s a trap—”

Reflexes kicking in, you raised your weapon and did a swift 180, aim landing on the head of the other man standing behind you.

And you fired.

You thought you missed, at first—your laser burned a hole in the storage unit behind him—but you realized your shot had gone through him, as the man’s entire body morphed into a cloud of black vapour before your charge made contact.

This didn’t make any sense. There wasn’t anyone else alive on this ship.

You’d checked.

“Athena?” you whispered.

“Target possesses no heat signature. Target possesses no pulse.”

The insinuation of her words sent your mind reeling.

You had no contingencies for this.

The swirling cloud solidified into being once more. Hooded and broad-shouldered, the man towered before you, the sharp edges of his bone-white mask glinting in the blue light. His gloved hands—every finger clawed with a sharp silver talon—carried a mammoth pair of black shotguns you could’ve easily mistaken for cinder blocks. He was black leather and red adornments. He was dread and absolute foreboding.

The partner in more ways than one.

The one he cared about finding.

And Gabriel Reyes laughed at you, his voice as ethereal as the rest of him. “You’re late.”

You blurted out the only words that came to mind. “What the fuck?”

“...eloquent.”

As much as you were trembling, you didn’t lower your gun. “You’re here to kill us, then?”

“And if I am?”

“Anything happens to either us, Amélie is dead,” you snapped. Your voice was much steadier than you were. “The dropship is already en route to headquarters—if we don’t both check in within the hour, it’s set to self-destruct.”

“That so?” His claws readjusted their grip on his shotguns. “How were you planning on getting out of here?”

“Dunno.” You swallowed, hard. “Didn’t think that far ahead.”

He made an amused noise, low in his throat. “It’s been a while since you’ve had someone so willing to die for you, Jack.”

...Jack?

Attention faltering, your blood turned to ice beneath your skin. Pieces of the puzzle were jamming themselves into place, violently, all at once, and as the big picture revealed itself to you, you felt more and more like a complete fucking idiot for not having seen it earlier.

As if reading your mind, Gabriel tilted his head to the side.

“Oh my god,” he chuckled, darkly. “You didn’t know.”

You stood there, facing each other—his guns still at his side, yours still pointed at his head. If your Commander was Jack Morrison, that meant the Gabriel Reyes in front of you wasn’t just any Gabriel Reyes—this was the Gabriel Reyes, ex-commander of Blackwatch, public scapegoat for the first fall.

You suddenly found yourself in the company of men who were killed in an explosion nearly a decade ago and you no longer knew what was real.

“Congratulations, Jack,” said Gabriel. “You managed to find the one person on the planet who bought into the world’s worst-kept secret.”

“Leave them out of this,” snarled the voice behind you. “Your fight is with me.”

“Oh, but this is so much bigger than you and I. Why shouldn’t your new lackey come along for the ride?”

Your desire for an explanation outweighed your caution. “I thought you died, Commander Reyes.”

You could tell the use of his name gave him pause.

“He did,” he replied. “It’s ‘Reaper,’ now. Or did he leave that part out, too?”

Your breath caught in your chest. So not only was Gabriel Reyes still alive, but it was the true identity of the infamous terrorist you’d only ever heard rumours of. The ghost of the battlefield, the shadow of death, the one rumoured to steal the very souls of his victims until their bodies were nothing but dried husks—here he was, standing before you, dismantling your worldview one word at a time.

And yet, you didn’t want him to stop talking.

You lowered your rifle by an inch or two, just enough to better meet his gaze. “What did Commander Morrison do to you?”

He sneered beneath his mask. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would.”

Though you continued aiming at him, Reaper still had not yet raised his weapons against you. He seemed to consider you for a moment—your quivering hands, your unblinking gaze, your steadfast positioning in the face of common instinct screaming at you to run. The sounds of your Commander’s laboured breathing seemed to do little to break your resolve.

Were you really so curious?

Reaper took a few steps forward, his footfalls heavy against the ship deck.

“War is a game,” he said. “A game you can’t win if you’re the only side playing by the rules. But Jack was never one to get his hands dirty. That’s where I came in.”

He continued his approach. The closer he came, the less you could move.

“You’ll do what they ask. You’ll do what is needed. Then they’ll orchestrate your downfall, and deny they had anything to do with you.”

He was inches away from you, now.

He smelled like a battlefield—like death and decay, like earth and gunfire.

“There will always be war,” he continued, “and there will always be people they need to do their dirty work. People just like you.”

“I haven’t—”

“You’ve taken Lacroix. You already are.”

Though you managed to keep your rifle raised, your subconscious had already surrendered, knowing full well you posed no semblance of a threat to this anomaly of an undead man who could dissipate at will.

Slowly, carefully, he pushed the aim of your rifle off to the side, as if he were drawing a curtain in his way.

He closed the distance between you by pressing the tip of his shotgun beneath your chin, tilting your head up until you were gazing into the black sockets of his mask.

You hear your Commander’s voice call out one of your names. You can’t tell which one.

“Remember, when you leave this place.” His gravelled voice was low and deliberate. “Every breath you take is air I’ve let you swallow. Your every heartbeat is a gift from me. From this moment on, you are living on time I’ve allowed you to borrow. And I will be back to collect my dues.”

You barely registered the next words that left you. “I’ll be waiting.”

To your surprise, Reaper laughed. “You don’t deserve them, Jack.”

To your surprise, 76 responded. “I know.”

And Reaper was gone, dark plumes of smoke vanishing into thin air.

Once again, you didn’t have time to wonder.

You immediately unslung your rifle and yanked your jacket off, rushing to 76’s side, the floor of the storage unit scraping hard against your knees.

“...Reader.”

You reached for the side of his belt and pulled out the Biotic Field canister yourself, slamming it onto the ground and activating it. Reaper had prevented him from using it, you figured, in order to have 76’s unstable vital readings lure you here faster.

“Reader.”

You bundled your jacket and helped him apply more pressure to his thigh to stop the shotgun wound’s bleeding. The blood loss had made him several shades too pale, you noticed, but the flow already seemed to be easing as the biotic yellow glow knit his insides back together. It wasn’t going to be a complete recovery, but it would be enough to keep him stable until you reached headquarters.

A gloved hand brushed your bangs out of your face and tucked your hair behind your ear.

You looked up to meet the light of his visor.

“Hey,” he offered, sounding almost playful.

“Hi,” you said back, still feeling numb.

“I know asking if you’re okay is a stupid question, but I’m asking it anyway.”

“I’m...compartmentalizing.” You took a sharp breath. “We’re not safe, yet. We need to get out of here.”

“Mm. How are we getting out of here?”

“Dropship’s on standby. Should be here in a few minutes.”

“I thought you said the dropship left.”

“I lied.”

With your jacket soaked through with blood, the fabric as a whole became easier to twist around; you wrapped the wet jacket firmly around his thigh, tying the sleeves into a tight knot to keep the makeshift tourniquet in place. He reacted little to the pain—he must have been exhausted.

“You took off the evac node,” you said, dully. “You took off the evac node to go after Reaper.”

You didn’t need to see the look on his face when his silence already spoke volumes.

“We promised.”

“...I’m sorry.”

“Nothing reckless.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You promised.”

“I know.”

As hard as you willed against it, tears stung the corners of your eyes as you tried to look down to hide them, down at the rapidly blurring vision of your hands covered in his blood. The memory of you turning the corner and finding him sitting here, bleeding to death, rewound and replayed in your mind’s eye. What if he was hurt just a little worse?

What if you got here just a little too late?

“You promised.” Your cracking voice gave your tears away. “But you don’t give a shit about dying, do you?”

“Not until I met you.”

“Don’t give me that.” Your chest felt tight. “Not after what you just pulled. We could’ve gotten killed—Commander, I almost lost you—”

His hands reached for you, moving up to hold the sides of your face, and your words died in your throat. You could feel the blood in his gloves pressing against your cheeks—everything around you smelled like it now, smelled like him now, like regen and blood and leather—but he leaned his forehead to yours, and the warmth of his skin steadied you.

You’d never felt him tremble, before.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he breathed, and the way his voice broke on the words shook you to your core. “I’m sorry.”

The sound of his faltering only made you break worse. Your shoulders shaking, tears still streaming down your face, you held your hands against his, keeping them pressed against you—he was holding onto you as if he needed you to anchor him in place, as if you were the only thing on this earth keeping him tethered to it.

For the briefest of moments, he touches your lips to where his would be.

He passes out against your shoulder before you can register what happened.

And your dropship arrives.

#soldier 76 #soldier 76 x reader #overwatch oc #overwatch fic #misconduct

103 notes · View notes

mx-requests-forum · 5 years

Text

[Fulfilled] Voted Most Likely... (Chapter Two)

Prompt: KiHo + highschool AU + bad boy wonho + cool nerd kihyun//couple goals

Fulfilled by Mod Ree

Words: 2781 (so far~)

AO3 Link

“You really should start looking at colleges, hyung,” Kihyun nags, glancing between Hyunwoo and his own boyfriend. “I’ve already picked out my top five, and I’m only a junior! What’ll happen if you two graduate without even thinking of life after you walk across that stage to get that empty envelope?? Absolutely nothing, that’s what.”

“Aiiish,” Hyungwon complains, pressing an index finger to each of his temples. “Please, either of you just name a random school to shut him up… Please .” Hyunwoo chuckles at his boyfriend’s sour expression, rubbing a consoling circle along the younger’s back. Hoseok laughs along with them, though he remains silent. He doesn’t have the heart to tell the boy that he doesn’t really want to go to college. It’s too expensive, and with his utter lack of extracurriculars, there’s no way he’d get any scholarships. It’d just be a big waste of resources, as what he wants to do for a living doesn’t even require a degree.

“I guess we’ll just have to figure out a list for you this weekend~” Kihyun concludes, winking at Hoseok as he speaks. Hoseok gives the younger a knowing smirk, blatantly ignoring the blush on his own cheeks.

“Jesus,” Minhyuk bemoans, sticking his tongue out in disgust. “You’d think that got you hot or something… No wonder you’re such a hardass for schoolwork.” Kihyun’s sweet gaze immediately turns vicious, and he whirls about to glare at his same-age friend as the tips of his ears blare red.

“Just because I want my boyfriend to succeed in life doesn’t mean I have a work fetish, Minhyuk-ah!!” he outright shouts, earning a handful of curious glances his way. Changkyun snickers under his breath, nudging Jooheon amusedly while the older snickers breathily. Hyungwon only rolls his eyes, hopping off the table and stalking off. Hyunwoo calmly follows after like a well-trained pup, carrying their bags as they go.

“Well…” Minhyuk cackles, his raspy tones echoing through the air, “at first I was just joking, but you were just way too defensive!!! Youuu have a work kiiink~” Minhyuk sings tauntingly, poking Kihyun’s shoulder with both his index fingers. Kihyun pushes his same-age friend away from him, straightening his own glasses as he tries to calm down.

Hoseok watches the whole thing bemusedly. He shakes his head, glancing around casually at the other students milling about. He freezes, though, at seeing a grimly familiar sign on the far wall. He pales, gulping thickly.

Not again.

“... Hoseok?”

He glances back to Kihyun, his heartbeat slowing with the memory of that symbol seared into his eyes. The symbol of a tiger’s tail wrapped around a knife, blood dripping from its blade.

Hoseok blinks, trying to shake the image from his mind. He pushes on a smile, shaking his head.

“Sorry,” he mutters, chuckling breathily. “I just got distracted. What were we saying…?” Kihyun purses his lips, clearly skeptical. It doesn’t surprise the older. After all, Kihyun’s always been able to tell when Hoseok is lying.

“Colleges,” Kihyun finally answers, his tone clipped short as he looks to his home-packed lunch. “I was asking if you at least wanted knew what your major will be.” Hoseok feels Minhyuk’s confused glance on him, though he doesn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he looks back towards the far window, where he’d seen the symbol pushed against the wall, but it isn’t there anymore.

Typical. They never leave evidence of themselves out long enough to be seen by anyone they don’t want to see.

“Uh… yeah, yeah,” Hoseok mutters in response, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. He tilts his head to the side, the sight of his sweet, perfect boyfriend washing away the sudden fear that had entrapped his heart for that singular moment. “I have some ideas, but I haven’t decided yet.” Kihyun sighs, rolling his eyes and starting to nag him about how he’d be so lost without the younger.

Hoseok hums, unable to keep from faintly agreeing. The conversation flutters on, and Hoseok lets it fully distract him from his own worries. Maybe he’d only thought he saw what he did… Maybe it was just a trick of the light, a hallucination brought on by working too hard… That kind of stuff can happen, right? He’s pretty sure he’s heard of that kind of thing before.

After school that day, Hoseok goes directly to his mother’s cafe. Kihyun’s with him, and he’s pretty sure his mother’s smile brightens tenfold just at seeing the younger boy.

“Hi, Ms. Lee,” Kihyun greets with a respectful bow, though the woman immediately catapults herself from behind the counter to greet them both with a warm embrace.

“It’s been so long, Kihyunnie!” she says, her voice so overfilled with joy. “You shouldn’t be such a stranger! I told you, our home is your home.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I’ve been pretty swamped with school lately… I promise to come by more often!” He says it so sweetly, his signature ear-to-ear grin at full-force on his face. Hoseok feels his love for the younger grow at least twenty times stronger just seeing it.

“Aah,” Hoseok’s mother says, straightening up and setting her hands on her hips, “could you get our tteoki to focus more on his schoolwork? He barely ever does homework on his own, and by now I don’t even know if he’s going to get into a good university!”

“Moooommmm,” Hoseok whines, his cheeks shifting from their typical pale pallor to a deep scarlet. His mother coos, pulling at Hoseok’s cheek before turning on her heel.

“I’ll leave you two to it,” she says, gesturing towards their usual table in the corner. “Just holler if you need anything.”

“Thank you!” Kihyun calls after her, already going towards the table. He slings his bag off his shoulder and sets it in one of the free chairs, opening it to pull out his Master Notebook. He clicks his pen, flipping the pages until he finds the one he’s looking for. “Now, about this project we have in chemistry—“

“The only chemistry I know is the kind we have for each other~” Hoseok teases, scooting his chair closer to Kihyun on instinct. Kihyun rolls his eyes, hitting Hoseok’s shoulder playfully as he straightens his glasses.

“Keep this up, and I’ll just cancel on our anniversary date next week,” Kihyun teases back. Hoseok’s impish grin immediately falls, instead replaced by a frown through which the world’s most lamented groan falls.

“Nooooooo,” Hoseok pouts, reaching over to pull Kihyun into a tight embrace to sway him around a bit. “You can’t do that to me, Kihyunnie~!! It’ll just break my heart!!!” Kihyun sighs loudly, though he’s completely relaxed against the older’s chest. Hoseok stills, feeling all too comfortable with Kihyun this close. He deflates in his seat a bit, burying his nose in Kihyun’s soft pink hair and inhaling deeply. His heartbeat picks up ever so slightly, just enough to give him the butterflies. He doesn’t understand how he can still get butterflies for his boyfriend after nearly a year of dating, but he figures it’s just because it’s Kihyun.

His perfect, sweet, adorable, feisty, pesky, naggy, beautiful Kihyunnie…

The image he’d seen back in the courtyard flashes against the backs of his eyelids, and he freezes. He tries to explain it away, not see it as it truly is, but it’s hard to deny the truth.

“Hoseokkie?” Kihyun asks, pulling back to stare up into his eyes. Hoseok glances down at him, forcing yet another easygoing smile.

“I-It’s nothing…” he says shyly, not looking at Kihyun’s eyes. He can never lie to Kihyun, especially not when looking into his star-like eyes. Kihyun watches him skeptically, though after a moment he let’s it drop. He fully pulls away, though, pointedly keeping his gaze on his notebook as he starts to talk. He goes on into the original topic, class, and starts listing off possibly topics they can talk about during their presentation. Hoseok interjects where he can, saying he can’t talk about that because he didn’t pay attention during that unit, or that he thinks he remembers this so they could maybe do it.

Neither discuss the lie, though it hangs over them like a fog, oppressing their underlying joy and squashing any attempts at humor or fun during their work. Kihyun leaves as soon as they get done, claiming he has to get home to help his mom with dinner, and Hoseok only accepts the excuse.

There’s no reason for him to call Kihyun out on a lie, after all, not when he’s guilty of doing the same.

#fulfilled request #update #fulfilled prompt #monsta x #monsta x fanfiction #high school au #kiho #lee hoseok #shin hoseok #yoo kihyun #bad boy wonho #nerd kihyun #fluff #angst

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terra-writes · 6 years

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Paladin’s reactions to seeing their s/o kill for the first time (Part 1)

Can you please and thank you write Voltron HCs about the paladins reacting to seeing their s/o kill for the first time? I suck ass at requesting - @writing-yj

I’m so sorry for how long this took. I’ve just gotten so busy but I feel bad for not posting anything here so I hope you all enjoy this and I’ll get around to the other two requests I have soon I promise! I made these really long because these took so long for me to do and I promise to add Matt in as well as a bonus. He and Allura’s (Yes I know she’s a Paladin) will be added in an additional post just so I can get these ones out for the sake of getting something out. I’ll add a link to the others on this post when I’m able to get around to them! <3

I also can’t help but feel like I fucked up with Pidge’s and Hunk’s but these needed to get out

Warnings: Violence, mentions of blood. I’m not really sure what else to mention I do go into detail with how the kill was done

Possible spoilers below for new fans (covers stuff through season 4 I think), read with caution!

Shiro:

Shiro would probably be the most okay with it

He’s a soldier first

And I see him as being a realist

Even though most of what you had been fighting were robotic sentries, there were actual living Galra on all those ships you guys blew up on a regular basis

All of you were fighting in a war, and so Shiro knew it was inevitable

You had been on a mission with the Paladins

There was a supply outpost the Blades had tipped you guys on

Your job was to set the charges while the Paladins provided cover

The mission was going smooth, and you guys hadn’t run into much trouble

That luck turned when you were all making your escape

This base wasn’t going down without a fight, and the Commander of the base ordered everyone to try and take you guys down with them

The team was pinned, and you did your best to help clear a path back to the lions

You were the only one to notice the Galra officer running up behind Shiro

He had a broken piece of pipe in his hands, and Shiro was too preoccupied with the other Glara in front of him to notice the other one gunning for his exposed back

Without thinking you rushed forward, grappling with the officer just before he could plunge the jagged end into your boyfriend

The officer was a lot stronger than you had anticipated, and threw you to the ground

You landed next to the discarded pipe, and just as the officer was launching at you to finish the job, you used your position and his momentum to drive the metal through his heart

Shiro had caught the scuffle from the corner of his eye

He had tried to go to your aid but he wasn’t fast enough to get there before you were forced to end it

He wouldn’t mention it until after the mission was over, knowing that everyone’s first priority had to be getting back to the lions

He would be quick to remind anyone of that if any of the other Paladin’s had noticed and tried to mention it however

Once everyone was back at the Castle safe and sound and checked for injuries, he would pull you aside

Even though Shiro understood that killing was necessary in war, he knew that others wouldn’t always have that same outlook

He would be there to provide comfort if you needed it

He wouldn’t be overbearing with it, but he would make sure you felt safe and secure with him

He would assure you that he would always protect you and that he’ll do his best so you’re never put in a situation like that again

If you weren’t really bothered by the ordeal, he would still try and provide some comfort, but it wouldn’t be like it was if you were really affected by it

Killing for the first time still affects everyone to some degree

Regardless, he would make an effort to be more diligent going forward

Even though he wasn’t bothered by the act itself so to speak, he still didn’t want to leave you in situations when that was necessary if he could help it

Keith:

He would be understanding like Shiro, but it would be a complete shock to him when it first happens

You were assisting Keith on a mission with the Blades

Keith didn’t want you to go at first

He knew how dangerous Blade of Marmora missions could get

And that if it came down to it, the others would leave you behind if saving you meant putting the mission at risk

That was precisely why you wanted to go though

Because if it was dangerous for you, it was dangerous for him too

And you would do anything to keep him safe, just like he would for you

But when he realized there was no convincing you to stay, he reluctantly allowed you to come with

Deep down he was touched that you cared so much about him to want to protect him

Just like he did with you

Things were going fine at first

It was on your way out that things went downhill

Sentries had spotted one of your group just before they could get into cover

With the alarm sounded, it was looking to be a tough fight to get back to the shuttle bay

Your group was currently pinned with Galra firing at you from both directions

You were able to hold you own

But it was quickly becoming apparent that your group was getting overwhelmed

That was when your hand brushed the grenade at your belt

You had forgotten about it until now

It was something Keith had given you before you boarded the cruiser, saying that he just wanted to make sure you had enough equipment to keep yourself safe just in case he wasn’t with you

You threw the grenade at the sentries, and with a new opening your group wasted no time in taking advantage of it

You were almost at he shuttle bay when you became pinned by another group of sentries

This time however, there were several Galra officers and the commander mixed in with them

Your group fought as hard as they could, and slowly but surely, you guys were able to whittle down the enemy numbers

You shot down another sentry and turned to Keith, only for your eyes to widen in horror

He was locked blade to blade with on of the other officers, and the Galra Commander was aiming his gun right at Keith’s head

No one else was available to assist him, and it was clear Keith was unable to do anything about it even if he noticed

So without thinking you reacted

You charged with your own weapon drawn, and tackled the Galra to the ground, your knife plunged deep into his throat

You pulled the blade sideways, opening up his throat before pulling it out and stabbing him in his heart

It was when the warm liquid hit your hands that you realized what you had done

Keith had seen the whole thing and he was quick to finish dispatching the Galra he was fighting and run over to you

“He was going to shoot you and everyone else was busy so I just-“

He would shush you and tell you that you two would talk about it later once the mission was over

Neither of you would say anything else until you got back to base and showered

The he would pull you aside and ask if you were okay

If you weren’t, he would do his best to comfort you, even though it was painfully awkward since he wasn’t so good with it, but you didn’t mind, it helped to know that he cared enough to try

He would also blame himself for exposing you to such a situation where you had to take a life

Not that he would ever let it show directly

If you were okay after it, he would not and pull you in for a hug, saying that he was glad you were okay

In both scenarios he would mumble a quiet and embarrassed “Thank you” for saving him

Pidge:

Pidge would probably take this the least well

Because I headcanon her as never having personally killed a living Galra while not in her lion

I don’t really count the one episode where Rover dies, Pidge wasn’t directly responsible for that

Like when fighting with the other Paladins on the ground she only ever makes killing blows on sentries since they aren’t living

And leaves the living Galra soldiers to her team members

Because she’s still just a child and she can pretend that when she takes down a cruiser that there weren’t any living soldiers on there and that it was only sentries or that they all made it to escape pods

So when the two of you were on a mission with the team

You were assigned to the control room with Pidge

You were to guard her in case anything tried to get in while Pidge was busy hacking into the facilities’ network to assist the rest of the team and download information

So far there had only been one or two sentries that had tried to enter the room

Most of the fighting seemed to be focused on where the rest of the team was located

You weren’t too worried, they were more than capable of handling themselves

Especially with Pidge providing tech support

You had let your guard drop for a brief moment

Just enough to spare a quick glance at Pidge

But that’s all it took for one of the Galra to make it into the room

They were alone, so it’s likely that they didn’t think anyone would be in here, and that they thought they could help turn the tide against the intruders by using the facilities defenses against them

They seemed just as surprised to see you two there as you guys were to see them

All three of you froze for a brief moment, before the Galra soldier went for their weapon

The two of you aimed at each other, but not pulling the trigger

You didn’t really register the pause from the other Galra soldier at the time, so you opened fire, your inexperience making you squeeze your eyes shut as you just held the trigger down and let the bullets fly

It was only a combination of Pidge calling your name, and the clip running out that made you open your eyes again

You really wished you hadn’t

The Galra soldier was indeed dead but…

It wasn’t pretty

Almost all of the shots you fired had hit their mark, and the soldier’s entire torso was almost unrecognizable

It made you sick just looking at it, but you also couldn’t look away, you were still in shock

You were only able to move when your mind finally caught up to what was going on

They had hesitated

You felt your stomach churn at that memory

They had drawn first, but you were the one to open fire

You took one step forward, ignoring Pidge next to you

You took another, and then another one after that, walking towards the dead soldier with each step

You had to know

You had to know why

You finally reached the body and pulled off the helmet covering their face

You were taken aback by how young they looked

It only made you feel even worse

On some level you were surprised you could even recognize what Galra youth looked like

But there was no denying it in the face of the dead soldier in front of you

They had hesitated because they were still practically a child

Just like you and Pidge

The thought of the Galra Empire employing soldiers so young brought it home to you

Pidge kept trying to call out to you until you heard her gasp and fall silent

She had managed to walk up behind you and had seen their face as well

You kept wondering if you could have ended things without bloodshed had you waited

You could tell that Pidge was thinking the same thing

The two of you were very quiet for the rest of the mission and the whole ride back to the castle

Which was worrying to the rest of the team, as it was very out of character for the two of you

Things didn’t get much better for you two after that

Pidge almost seemed scared of you, like she was finally realizing what fighting in a war really meant

Even though she cared about you, all she could picture was how you ripped apart that soldier with your weapon whenever she looked at you

It was Shiro who finally stepped in after noticing that the two of you weren’t working through things on your own, and needed a little guidance

He sat down with each of you in private to talk things through one on one, offering whatever help he could in that moment, and then he had the two of you sit down together in the same room

None of you were allowed to leave until you reached a solution for your current predicament

It took a long time, but eventually you two were able to get past the whole ordeal

Pidge still didn’t like the idea of having to kill others, and neither did you, but now the two of you knew that you could lean on each other when things got bad

And if you couldn’t get past it on your own, Shiro was always willing to step in and help

Lance:

He would freak out

Like You ArE hIs PrECIoUS S/O HOW COULD YOU

This boy just loves you so much

He treats you like a queen okay?

He knows how nasty war can be

But he just can’t stand the thought of you killing someone

He should be the one to bear that burden in your relationship not you

It had happened while you were taking out an outpost on the fringes of the Glara empire

It was supposed to be a light, easy mission, just enough for you to get a little real-world training in so you could start helping out on some of the more difficult missions the Paladins faced

The base wasn’t heavily staffed and had only meager defenses

So infiltration team was only you, Lance, and Pidge in the Green Lion while the others waited behind in the castle as backup just in case the base was able to send a distress call before you could shut it down

Between Lance’s sniper shots, and Pidge’s hacking, you three had gotten into the control room quick and silent without tripping a single alarm

The room was mostly empty when you had entered, likely meaning the commanding officer had stepped out for a short moment

All that remained were sentries which the three of you quickly incapacitated

Pidge was able to shut down all security in the facility, and you and Lance made your through the doors at Pidge’s suggestion, having found something of interest within while she was looking through their data while she remained behind to finish what she needed to do

Just as your luck would have it, that just happened to be where most of the base’s Galra personnel happened to be, both sentry and living

You let of a surprised shriek as you entered the room, quickly ducking back to take cover on either side of the doorway

You focused on the sentries nearest to you while Lance radioed the Castle for backup since there were too many or just you and Lance to take on, even if Pidge was able to make it down to help you

You felt better when you heard that the other Paladins were on their way

You and Lance were able to keep the Galra from advancing on your position just fine, but it was proving difficult

Eventually, with the other Paladin’s help, you were able to take out or tie up any remaining Galra forces

You stayed behind with Hunk and Lance to guard the captured Galra while Shiro, Keith and Pidge after rejoining the group went to check out what it was they were guarding

What you guys didn’t know, was that whoever checked the captured Galra for weapons forgot to check one, and that one of them was currently cutting through his bindings

Time moved in slow motion from that point on

None of you were expecting one of the Galra to suddenly spring up, and grab for a discarded gun nearby

You could see Lance and Hunk start to draw their weapons up, but you were faster, as you already had your weapon pointed close to his position

You fired before the soldier could even aim his weapon, and he crumpled to the ground with a loud thump

The others came rushing back at the sound of a gunshot, but it was already over

The soldier was already dead on the ground with a single gunshot to his head

Shiro and the others thought it was Lance until he started to freak out

He was frantic as he checked you over, even though you all knew that there was only one shot fired during the whole incident

By you

He would keep going back and forth between asking if you were okay, and yelling at you for killing the Galra soldier, saying that you should have let one of them take the shot instead

You just stood there like a deer in headlights, unable to get a word in and feeling overwhelmed by Lance’s reaction

Eventually it took Shiro using his Dad Voice™ to get Lance to quiet down

Later on back in his room on the ship, he would pull you close and apologize for his reaction earlier

You two would have a long talk about the incident, and he would explain that he doesn’t want you to have to be the one to kill other people because yes Galra are also people they just grew up under a shitty Emperor

You would explain your side, and the talk would be surprisingly civil and calm considering his reaction earlier

Whatever the outcome may have been from that talk, or how you felt about the act of killing another living being, Lance would hold you even closer from then on, and shower you with even more love than before

It was sweet, but sometimes it could be too much

And anytime you were on a mission together after that, Lance would kill anything near you before you had to be forced into a situation where you had to take a life ever again

And he was very good at that job

He was the team’s sharpshooter for a reason

All you ever managed to bring down were sentries, if Lance even let one of those get too close to you, and even though it could be a little annoying at times, you knew it was just because he cared so much about you

Hunk:

He would definitely freak out like Lance, but to a lesser degree

He would freak out, but he would be much quieter about it

He’s mostly fretting over you, making sure you’re okay

Also blaming himself the whole time like Lance

He was a Paladin of Voltron, sworn defender of the universe

Yet he couldn’t even protect you from all the killing and violence that was happening all around them

You were with the team on a mission

The castle had picked up the destress signal of a small squad of rebel fighters

They had come under fire from a lone Galra cruiser and wile their small group had been able to escape, a few of their ships had sustained damage and they were stranded until it could be fixed

Cue Hunk and Pidge to the rescue

And you

You weren’t as skilled an engineer as Hunk, but you had picked up a little bit of it here and there

A little more so after the two of you got together

You knew enough to do basic repairs, and with Hunk there to talk you through the more complicated ones, you were confident in your ability to help out

To say the rebels were happy to see The Castle of Lions and Voltron pull up would be an understatement

Apparently, they had been stranded longer than you guys had first thought

To add to the pressure, they were carrying vital intelligence of Galra operations to their headquarters

That’s why the Galra cruiser had fired upon them so fervently

They didn’t appreciate their secrets being taken by enemy hands

Who knew?

When Allura offered to load them onto the ship and escort them the rest of the way, they had refused much to her confusion

They said that their headquarters was well hidden, and while they appreciated the offer the Castle or one of the Lions would draw too much attention

That’s why they were in four small ships that were quick and easy to maneuver

Lucky for you guys, most of the damage was eternal and looked a lot worse than it really was

Of the four ships, only two required basic hull repair, while one needed a fix for a few of its systems

The last ship took the most damage, requiring both repairs to the hull as well as rewiring and full replacements for most of its systems

You were surprised that it had managed to make it this far at all and that only one or two members of the crew had been lost

Hunk dedicated himself to the ship that needed the most help with Pidge, while you focused on fixing the two ships with hull breeches along with a rebel engineer

The rebels had done their best to fix what they could on their own, but there were in the middle of nowhere with limited supplies

You and the other engineer were helping Pidge and Hunk wrap up the ship with the most damage on it after finishing the other two, when a Galra cruiser showed up

Turns out it was the same ship who attached them the first time after the rebels had infiltrated and took the information off of it

You guess they were still salty about it

Salty enough to bring several more cruisers as backup, which did not bode well for all of you

Hunk and Pidge were quick to head back to the Castle and launch with the rest of the paladins to go and fight the oncoming cruisers and fighters

You were asked to stay behind and help finish repairing the last ship

The plan was for the Lions and the Castle to provide cover/a distraction while you got the last ship working, then for Allura to open a wormhole for the rebels to go through that was near their headquarters, but far away enough to avoid suspicion

After that the plan was for Hunk to quick swing by and pick you up before Allura opened a wormhole for the rest of you to go through and escape

You were nervous of course, for multiple reasons

You and the rest of the rebels were left completely open on the moon they had landed on while you made repairs of which was at a difficulty you had never attempted before let alone by yourself all the while your boyfriend was out there in the midst of the fire acting as bait

Your hands were trembling before you even knew it

However you noticeably relaxed when you heard Hunk’s voice over the comm link

He was doing his best to talk you through it, and just hearing his voice and knowing that as long as you could hear him, it meant that he was okay was enough to calm your nerves and shaking enough to let you spring into action

It was slow going, even with the help from Hunk and the Rebel engineer

Some of the systems were badly damaged and some required far more time and parts than what you two currently had at your disposal

Most of what you ended up doing was configuring workarounds that would only hold for a certain amount of time before failing again

It wasn’t meant to be pretty, it was meant to hold until they got back to where they could get it properly fixed

However even though Coran and the Paladins were doing their best to keep the Galra away from you, some ships still managed to get through and land, and several sentries and soldiers were making their way towards you

Luckily for you guys, the Rebels had the foresight to land in an easily-defendable outcropping and one of the rebels went around distributing weapons to everyone and taking up cover

You were surprised when he handed you a gun, but took it anyway, hoping you wouldn’t have to use it

You wished you hadn’t jinxed yourself

The rebels put up a good fight, laying waste to any Glara who got close enough for them to shoot at before they had a chance to fire

You had finished the repairs, and the Rebels were starting to load into the ships, still providing covering fire

Hunk was on his way, but there was still going to be a brief amount of time where you had to hold the position on your own

The rebel soldier who had initially handed you the gum shook his head when you had tried to give it back, saying that you needed it more than they did

You reluctantly nodded, and watched with anxiety as the four ships took off and made their way to the castle where Allura had retuned to open up a wormhole

You could see Hunk’s Lion approaching in the distance, but it would be more than a few ticks still before he got there

And there were still plenty of Galra between you and him who were very close to your position

You took a shaky breath, and readied your weapon, popping in and out of cover to take shots at the advancing sentries that got too close for comfort

It wasn’t long before their sheer numbers overwhelmed you, pushing you further and further back into your cover

Just before they could completely overwhelm you, Hunk landed with his lion, firing upon the Galra and cutting a path from you to him

You got up to run, but before you took more than a few steps, another Galra stepped in your path

This one wasn’t a sentry, but an actual Galran Soldier

You didn’t give yourself much time to think about your next set of actions

You just knew that you were almost out of ammo, and that this lone Galra was the only thing between you dying right here, and being safe and secure on the Castle with Hunk once again

So you charged, which clearly caught the soldier off-guard, not that you noticed anyway

You slammed the end of your rifle into their face, sending them sprawling on the ground before turning your weapon around and firing the last few shots into the exposed sections of their armor, putting them down for good

You ditched your weapon after that, knowing that you wouldn’t be He saw the whole thing, but didn’t start freaking out until you guys were on your way back to the ship

He kept asking if you were okay and checking you for injuries

You got lucky with only a few scratches, no bullets managed to hit you

But that didn’t stop Hunk from blaming himself for the whole ordeal

Like Lance, he believes that he should be the one to bear the burden of taking another’s life your relationship

He just wants to keep you safe

To him you’re just too good and too pure to have to do something as dark as that, even if it’s for a good reason and even though you’re all fighting in a war

Regardless of whether the act of killing bothered you or not, Hunk would still act the same

As soon as you guys returned to the Castle, he would be making you your favorite foods, or at least the space equivalent

since we all know that comfort food is a thing and you just had to deal with a lot

He’s also an amazing chef so there’s no complaints from you

Also expect lots of reassurance and cuddling

More so than normal

He just really cares about you and needs you to know that he’ll do his best to keep you safe from the darker aspects of this war from now on

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