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asvterias · 3 days

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𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝟥: 𝖮𝗎𝗋 𝖥𝖺𝗍𝖺𝗅 𝖥𝗅𝖺𝗐𝗌

the cast // series masterlist

chap. 1 || chap. 2 || chap. 3 || chap. 4 || chap. 5

word count: 4.5k+

tag list: @s0r0ws @starvviss @kjisbae17 @lov3rgiiirl @starless-nightz @random-girls-loves

author’s note: anyways, i hope you liked this chapter! please don’t be a silent reader and interact within the chapter. also, i hoped you cried immensely because that was the ideal intention of this chapter; to make it as depressing as it could possibly get (for now 😉)

ꪆৎ ˚⋅ ➴ ᡣ𐭩 ྀིྀ ꪆৎ ˚⋅ ➴ ᡣ𐭩 ྀིྀ

‼️ DISCLAIMER FOR THIS CHAPTER ‼️

Main Characters Deaths, Just An Overall Sad Chapter & Angsty Ending

ꪆৎ ˚⋅ ➴ ᡣ𐭩 ྀིྀ ꪆৎ ˚⋅ ➴ ᡣ𐭩 ྀིྀ

Everyone’s huddled up in the car with your parents in the front seats and the children in the back. You hated the middle seat so you told Grover to get comfortable there, for the greater good, and you sat on the left side, right behind your mother.

Right now, Grover is updating you and Percy about everything demigod-related.

“My job has been to guide you to this moment. It’s always an emotional rollercoaster for young demigods, so providing a support system is really–“

“Who are you?” Percy interrupts him.

Grover stared blankly at your brother, “I’m Grover. I’m your best friend and–“

“What are you?” The blonde recorrects.

“That is a very good question,” You chirped up, “I would like to revisit my previous question.”

“No, Y/N, let it go!”

“I’m asking the important questions here!”

“Irrelevant questions!”

“To answer your question, Y/N, no, I was born like this,”

“You sure? You know parents tend to lie a lot too,”

“I’m fully aware of adult tendencies to lie frequently, but I was born like this. I’m serious.”

He removes his tam, revealing two small goat horns. “I’m a satyr, and I’m your protector, both of you.”

“You’re our protector?” Your brother asked rhetorically.

“If I hadn’t gotten you kicked out of school, you’d never have survived the night. And what’s chasing us now would have found you there easily.”

“Oh, because that’s so comforting to hear.” You cross your arms.

Percy turns his head to the car window and Grover looks dejected at the action.

“I’m sorry.” Grover breathes out, sincerity laced in his tone, “Usually, I can sense danger coming a mile away, but this time…Well none of us saw Dodds’ coming.

“So you knew about that…creature?” You inquired, gaining Percy’s attention back onto his friend.

“That thing that Dodds turned into, you saw it happen? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I saw some of it.”

“What part did you see? Where she flung me across the sky or when she attacked Percy?”

“Well, yes and no. The Mist kept her hidden even from us until it was too late.”

“I think I have a concussion from that,” You wince at the memory, holding the back of your head. “Besides, what the hell is Mist?!”

“The Mist is a veil that hides the magical world from the human world. My legs, Dodds’ wings, Even Dodds’ absence, but it isn’t supposed to hide things from me. That never happens. Something more powerful is at work here.”

“Maybe we’re the power sources.” You shrugged.

“Yeah, right,” Percy scoffs.

“The sooner we get you two to camp, the better off you’re–“

“Camp?! Who’s going to camp?!” You backtracked.

With a baffled expression, Grover turned to your parents, completely unimpressed by their timing, “You told them about camp, right?”

“We were getting there!” Your parents shouted simultaneously at Grover.

Grover nods his head, leaning back into the seat.

“Camp is a sanctuary for half-bloods. A safe space where you can learn who you are and what the world is like on the other side of the Mist.”

“Wait, hold up this an actual summer camp with mosquitoes and other dangerous animals lurking in the woods?!” You deadpanned. “Nah, you can keep that, I’m not going.”

“You don’t have a choice.” Your mom states.

“Uh, it’s not far, actually, just a little way past the bend up there.” Grover directs your mother.

“Mom, what else haven’t we talked about?” Your mother, Sally stayed quiet, anxiously glimpsing at her son. “What else haven’t you told us?”

“There are more secrets?!”

“Oh, there’s more like you wouldn’t believe, sweetie.” Jessica grins.

“Jess, that’s not helping whatsoever!” Sally exclaims.

“Sorry, it just slipped out of my mouth.”

“And you wonder why Y/N is a mini you.”

A flash of blinding light appears from mid-sky and disposes of a creature, which instantly starts running on all fours, chasing after the speeding car.

“Is that the Minotaur?!”

“Holy shit!” You and your mom said simultaneously in bewilderment.

“Once the attacks start, they never let up. Okay? Dodds was just the beginning.”

“Then who’s the freaking ending?! Because I’m ready to slain as many monsters as necessary.”

“He is next. He- he is brutal, he is relentless–“

“He’s still wearing underpants.”

“Out of all things, you could have noticed, Percy, you chose that?! Us trying not to die should be your main priority, not if the Minotaur is playing goddamn dress up!”

Percy and Grover kept their eyes on the large bulky monster.

“It’s gone!” Percy shouts, astonished.

“Gone?! Gone where?! I hoped it vanished back to wherever it came from!”

“Like it’s ever that easy!”

Then, the Minotaur’s loud footsteps and rough grunts halted and it almost calmed everyone’s racing heart rates.

“I think it’s gone for good now.”

Until it reappeared, now gaining up on the speeding car, The Minotaur ran up closer to the car front, beside Sally’s car door, aiming for severe damage.

“You just had to say something, didn’t you?!”

“How was I supposed to know that would happen?!”

“Because you jinxed us!”

“Don’t blame me because I’m stating the obvious!”

“I will push you out of this car!”

“Do it! I dare you!”

“Little Blondie, don’t tempt me with a good time!”

“Who are you calling Little?!”

“Someone who hasn’t had their growth spurt yet.”

“Hey, I’m still developing!” Percy gasps.

“Yeah, just very, very slowly.”

“Can we sacrifice Y/N to The Minotaur?”

“Oh please, you don’t have the balls to do it anyways,” You scoffed, “Besides, you need me. I’m always saving your dumbass, you can’t get rid of me!”

“Stop! Nobody is going to push anyone out of this car!”

“He started it–“

“No, I didn’t you, liar–“

“That’s it! Don’t make me come back there! I don’t care who started it, just know that it's ending!”

“Is there any more insight you’d like to add, Grover?” Sally calmly questions, acting like her children and wife didn’t have a screaming match a few seconds ago. Your family was truly a chaotic mess whenever they wanted, dismissing the matter as if impending death wasn’t lingering over their shoulders.

“Yes, I do.”

“Then, go right ahead,”

“The Mythomagic cards were training. Everything has been training for what’s still ahead of you.”

“What’s ahead of us?!”

“Kids…”

“I’m actually 24,” Grover confesses quickly, causing two heads to turn in unexpectancy.

You and Percy shared the same shocked expression, “Wait? What?”

“Hold on, please.”

The Minotaur roars loudly.

“Moonlight…listen to me.” your mom looks at you through the mirror as your gaze hesitantly meets hers. “You and Percy are forbidden children, monsters are going to attack you every day, this camp can protect you both.”

“Why can’t you and Sally come with us then?” you bargained with her, tears forming in your eyes. You couldn’t imagine, much less experience your life without your mother and Sally. The same women who nurtured you since you were babies and taught you everything you knew. You refused to give up on them, everything they did was to protect and love you, and now it was your turn.

Sally starts to talk, eyes stuck on the road, “We humans are not allowed there. Only demigods like you two.”

“But we don’t wanna leave you two.” Percy persisted.

“You’re our moms.”

“You’re gonna have to, that Minotaur isn’t gonna stop until he kills both of you.”

All of a sudden, a collision hit the car with enough brute force to send the car off the road and everything went black. It was all so quick, the collision, the swiveling of the car and landing on the side of the road, far from bypassers to rescue.

The rain pattering against the car turned into a heavy rainpour as everyone in the car, hanging upside down with the seat belt anchoring them, remained still, all unconscious.

After a while, the dulling pain in your head sharply woke you up, being the first to recover from the crash. Holding your head in pain as you slowly opened your eyes, feeling the blood trickle from your head, surveying your surroundings as you saw Percy and Grover still unconscious. Quickly unbuckling your seatbelt, you got out of your seat, repeating the same action to your younger brothers.

One by one, you carefully got everyone from the car as they began to wake up. A growl from the distance urges you to move faster as you help your other mother, Sally, get out of the damaged car.

Sally, Percy, and Grover were recovering, standing on their feet, checking for any injuries and your mom was the last one who needed rescuing.

“Mom…” you shake her but her body is motionless as the tears well up in your eyes.

You felt Sally’s arm pushing you back, sending you into Percy’s and Grover’s embrace as you nervously observed.

“Come on, come on, Jess…” Sally murmurs, kneeling down, searching for a pulse. “You gotta survive, we have children together, we can’t lose you right now.”

“Is she okay?” Percy chirps up, deciding to speak for you.

You found everything incomprehensible around you, your senses became deafening and a high-pitched ringing in your head matched the loud heart beating in your chest.

When Sally stayed silent, it only worsened your anxiety, “Mom, is she okay?!” Percy speaks again, adding some base in his voice yet his tone slightly wavers.

“She has a fading pulse…” Sally whispers, sparing a sad glance at you and quickly turning back to Jessica, “It’s decreasing rapidly,”

Dropping to the muddy slippery ground on your knees, tears quickly filling the brim of your eyes, threatening to fall as you moved closer to her.

“Mommy…” you cradle her face into your chest, saddened by her face, eyes closed as blood trickles down her forehead.

“We can revive her, right!” Your voice cracks, whipping your head to Sally, “Tell me we can revive her!”

“Y/N…” Sally sighs deeply, trying to contain her tears. You turn around, looking down at your mother, resting on your lap, body motionless yet her face looks peaceful.

“No! We- I can save her. We can do heart-to-heart compressions,” you shake your head, starting to do heart-to-heart compressions. “Why isn’t she waking up? Mommy, this isn’t funny anymore now, you have to wake up and help us. Please I can’t do this without you, I can’t do this whole new demigod thing without you.” your voice was dry, as you leaned down, blowing air into her mouth, hoping for a miracle to occur.

You didn’t truly believe in miracles, but for your mother, you’d start believing it. Right now, you would do whatever it took to bring her back even if it meant wishing on the impossible.

“We didn’t do plenty of things yet, I wanted you and Sally to meet my first girlfriend, attend my graduation, be there when I move out and eventually get married, and get grandkids from Percy because we both know I’m not going through that torture.”

Your senses became intensely heightened, catching onto Grover’s whisper to Sally, ignoring him as you spoke up.

“I refuse to leave her alone, she isn’t dead, just having some problems waking up and getting a pulse back.” You were in extreme denial, “Come on, mum, you focus on her face, giving her air and I’ll do her chest,” you beckoned Sally forward.

“Sweetheart…she’s already….gone.”

“She’s my mom and Percy’s mom, your wife. She wasn’t supposed to die this early. If all you’re gonna do is stand there and be useless, don’t bother talking to me.” It wasn’t intentional to snap at your other mother, but your emotions were driving you crazy and brazen.

“You’re the sun to my moon, Mommy, I can’t shine when you’re not there with me. Y-you promised me, you pinky promised that we were all going to survive, but you lied. Why did you lie to me?” You sobbed. Despite being physically exhausted, you weren’t giving up on trying to revive your mom, she would have never given up on you so you would stop trying until you had something, anything; a pulse, a gasp, her eyes shooting up. “Remember…” You weakly asked, holding onto the moon-shaped necklace on your neck, staring at your mom’s sun-shaped necklace.

The sky crackled with slight thunder as the rain poured down heavier. Finally understanding the meaning of your nickname, you sobbed desperately until the broken cracks of your voice gave out.

There was no sunshine without her moonlight, always them being in a pair, nothing without the other. Sadly, you lost your sunshine, darkening your moonlight to its deepest depths, harvesting it into something vengeful and heartless. Something that even scared you to a certain extent, like this was another new side flourishing because of the horrible circumstances.

You rested your mom on the ground, ignoring the cold rainpour.

“She’s gone…” Sally cries, grabbing your arm and pushing you into her body for a hug. You cried into the hug, tightening your grip as your wails echoed throughout the forest. Maybe this was all a nightmare, where you’d wake up and relax in reality. This was the time that your mom needed to wake you up and reassure you that she was right there, staying with you and protecting you.

Your chest clenched against your rib cage, devastation wracked throughout your entire body as the tears relentlessly spilled out.

“But she- she can’t be gone!” You hiccup, eyes glossing over with fresh tears, feeling another arm snuggle around your side.

“I know, sweetheart. I’m so sorry,” she caressed your face.

“What kind of demigod I am, if I was blessed with all these supernatural powers, can’t even save my Mom from death? What kind of daughter am I to just stand by and watch her own mother die? I don’t want this demigod life anymore, please take it all away if it means my mother is coming back, to me, to home. I’m so fucking tired and I just wanna go home! Home is wherever the four of us are!”

“Don’t you ever say that again, you did everything you could, your perseverance is one of your strongest qualities that Jessica adored very much. She wouldn’t want you to doubt yourself like this nor would I,” Sally reassures you, resting a thumb on your cheek, “Our beautiful daughter, she’s so proud of you, I want you to know that.”

Your eyes were puffy and red from tears as you listened to your mother’s words of encouragement and reassurance.

Much to your dismay, another loud roar broke the semi-family grievance, reminding them of the harsh reality.

“We have to go now!” Grover hastily urges.

“I’m not leaving my mom here like this,” you point to her still figure on the ground.

“We won’t, I promise you, sweetie. I’ll give her a proper burial, but right now we have to go!” Her tone was urgent as she quickly scanned the dark forest with the illumination from the car light.

You hurriedly rushed towards your mother’s still figure on the muddy ground, leaning down.

“Goodbye, Mom,” you whisper hoarsely, kissing her forehead for the last time. You stared down at her neck, gazing at the sunlight necklace she wore yanked it off, and shoved the meaningful jewelry into your back pocket. Your heart broke again, realizing she can’t respond, despite being in extreme denial.

Percy struggled to plant you on your feet as Sally walked over to Grover.

“Grover, I am entrusting you to protect my children, my only son and only daughter.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Jackson, Percy, and Y/N will be totally safe at camp–“

“Swear it.” She commands.

“What’s happening?”

“Swear it, Grover! Keep my children safe from anyone or anything that comes for them, that wants to harm them, that looks at them in the wrong way. Do you understand me?”

“I swear!” Grover persists, with determination and sincerity in his voice.

Sally nods at the boy, venturing over to you and Percy.

“I gotta go now,”

“Go? What do you mean go? Y/N stop her from going on this suicide mission,” He stares at you, waiting for a response. The first time you didn’t respond to your brother’s words caught him off guard, knowing you’ll always be his first defender.

The boy winces seeing your shaken body and red puffy eyes. It didn’t take a genius to know that you were still traumatized from witnessing your mom’s death. Seeing this sad broken-hearted face of yours, devastated Percy beyond any words to ease the pain. All those times, you’d reassured and defended him countless times, and yet he was speechless about how to comfort you right now. He felt like such a horrible brother to you.

“Your sister isn’t in charge, I am and what I say goes!”

“But–“

“This is no buts! You’re gonna be brave now. Remember what I taught you, remember the stories I told you. Especially the stories, they will tell–“

“No way! Mom, I’m not leaving you, not like how we left Mother stranded and alone to die.”

“Perseus!” She snapped, tired of his persistent attempts, cupping his face, “Listen to me! You…are not broken. You are singular. You’re a miracle and you are my son. Hold fast, brave the storm.”

“And Y/N,” She caresses your face, her saddened expression increasing at your blank eyes, “You are not neglected in this family, you’re just as important. You are one of a kind, my beautiful baby girl. You are my daughter and I don’t ever want you to forget that.”

Those words melted in your heart and words rambled from you without hesitation, the guilt of everything came crashing down.

“I’m so sorry, mother, for not being able to protect any of us. I failed at what I was best at.”

“You’re a kid, be a kid, stop worrying if you’re not going to save everyone. That’s too much of a heavy burden on yourself, it’s not good for your mentality. Live life, get a girlfriend and don’t force yourself to grow up too fast because you'll regret it. Let me tell you something unfair; you can’t save everyone all the time. I love you two so much,”

“We love you too.”

Just like that, The Minotaur had the worst timing of moments erupting with a loud search roar.

“We need to move!”

“Give me your coat.”

“Why?” Percy asks but removes his coat anyway, “What are you gonna do?”

“He smells half-blood, that’s what he’s tracking, yeah?”

“That’s right.”

Sally grabs the coat from her blonde son, “So if he smells you in two directions at once, maybe I can confuse him, buy us both a little time to get away.”

“Mom, please don’t…we can’t afford to lose another parent on the same night.” Percy pleads, stepping forward, gesturing to you, “Y/N is one of the strongest people I know, and a few hours into this demigod madness, she’s broken, possibly going to recover from trauma at the camp where we’re supposed to rediscover our true potential for a man who wasn’t even here our whole lives.” He whispers, a string of desperation in his voice, “You can’t do this to us…please don’t do this to us. You’re all we have left.”

“Hey! It’ll be okay.” She reassures the blonde boy with a weak smile, “Y/N bounces back, she always does. For the first time, she needs you more than you need her right now, so be her anchor for right now, and don’t ever let go.”

Another yell echoes throughout the forest and trees falling down a few feet away meant the Minotaur was getting unbelievably closer. Your heart raced in your chest, once you saw the bulky overgrown monster, standing on its hind feet, intimidating everyone who bore witness.

Sally wastes no time, giving Percy a forehead kiss and then moving over to repeat the same action with you.

“Go now!” She shoves you away into Percy’s and Grover’s arms, now facing the Minotaur as the trio escapes into the rainy forest night.

Her plan for using Percy’s coat as bait to seemingly distract him and draw him away from the two demigods was successfully executed.

After maintaining some far distance from your mother, Sally, and the Minotaur, the trio still kept on running, nobody turning back. Until a loud roar reverberated across the forest broke your concentration on getting to safety and intensified your worries for your mother. You stopped running, turning around as your heart hammered inside your chest, the adrenaline pumping.

Despite being miles away, you and Percy viewed the fight, flinching when the monster knocked your mother down with its horns.

The Minotaur held in its hand, lifting up something in the air…someone more life-like…that’s someone who was your mother, Sally! You gasped and shoved at the revelation, wondering about your mother’s fate and you continued to watch the heartbreaking scene. Your body wasn’t acting upon cooperation with your mind, telling you to run away before it gets you next or attempting to save your mother. Having already lost one parent was devastating as it is, and losing your other parent would cause a lifetime of trauma for you.

Your heart clenched in fear as Sally struggles to escape from his grasp.

You felt Percy’s scared face hide into the fabric of your cotton shirt, clenching onto the shirt as he squeezed his eyes as tightly as possible.

For the last time, your mother, Sally looked over at you, stretching out a hand, guiding you out to safety, content you’ll be fine. Just like that, she closed her eyes, slowly disintegrating into gold ashes. Huh, that was weird. Humans don’t shrivel up and fade into ashes like that. That definitely was magic.

It was quiet, the rain pattering over you was now a background noise as you struggled to process the incident.

You gulped down the harsh lump in your throat. “It’s…mother’s gone, too…” You informed Percy, tone hoarse as he slowly pulled away from your body.

He looked ahead again, seeing nothing, Sally wasn’t there and the Minotaur was staring into nothing, seemingly distracted.

“Where did she go? What happened to her?”

“…She disappeared into gold ashes.” You whispered slowly, trying to comprehend your mother’s demise in your mind. Once again, your vision becomes blurry and the tears start to form at the loss of yet another parent. “It looked so unrealistic,”

After that Percy began to speak, but your focus wasn’t even directed on him, but rather at that charging furious Minotaur, hungry for more blood.

The pain and suffering became a dangerous mix of anger and hatred directed at the Minotaur.

Grover’s statements fall on deaf ears, partially drowned out by the heavy rainfall. “Y/N and Percy come on, we’re almost there.” you glance at your blonde brother who holds the same on his face.

‘So what happens when the protector is unable to protect? Do they give up instant hope and cower in shame? Or do they fight back, willingly seeking a second chance to redeem themselves? Whether you make a change or just be a bystander like others? This time the answer to that is simple, mourn your losses later and avenge them now. For all you can do right now is fight on the battlefield, because this is no place to cry and admit defeat.

No, you refused to give up hope and you weren’t going down without a fight. This monster had already taken your worlds away, so you had nobody else to lose.

Grabbing the pen from your pocket, holding it out, and witnessing it transform into a golden sword at will. The fight with the Minotaur was brutal and intense, alongside the heavy downpour of rain that attempted to slow down the intensity of this fight. Despite double-teaming the monster, he resisted surrender, determined to win and kill you both. Surprisingly, you gained the agility to climb onto his back while Percy distracted him.

Somehow, you gained the ultimate advantage with the lighting sword in your hand and stabbed the monster in its eye, ignoring his roar of pain. If anything, its pain only further encouraged you to continue.

Too full of adrenaline, you grab his two horns, gripping them and pulling them out with your utmost strength. A new sudden strength you just obtained. Gasping in shock was quickly outlived when your sword slipped out of your hand and dropped onto the muddy ground, disappearing from your eyesight. Stumbling onto his feet, inflicted by the pain, you groaned, gripping the monster by his rough skin as he attempted to shake you off.

“Percy the sword!” You yelled at him. Your brother throws the sword upwards as you catch the weapon.

You stab the monster in the neck, wincing at his loud screeches, but continue to stab his neck. Once the monster was deemed weak enough, you sliced the sword right through his neck, seizing the opportunity of successfully killing it. To be certain of killing that wretched monster, you deactached its horn from its head with your uppermost strength, then using it to pierce its own eye, another terrifying wail leaves its mouth.

This was all this stupid monster’s fault. If it hadn’t chased after you or slammed itself into the car, your mom would be alive. If it didn’t have such a bloodthirst for demigods, Sally, your mother would still be alive. Alive. Alive. Alive. You just wished your moms were alive, to see you mature into such a courageous daughter to avenge their deaths.

Soon enough, the monster staggered on its feet and its body began to disintegrate into black dust before your eyes.

“Y/N!” The voice becomes disoriented as you stumble on the ground, two arms catching you as you faint, everything fading away into a black abyss.

ꪆৎ ˚⋅ ➴ ᡣ𐭩 ྀིྀ ꪆৎ ˚⋅ ➴ ᡣ𐭩 ྀིྀ

“Is she okay?”

“Did she do it alone?”

“Is the blonde boy, okay too?

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yeah, he’s okay.”

Grasping onto your fading eyesight, there were four shadowy figures above you, all their voices sounded childish except the girl’s voice which sounded very mature.

“They must be the ones.”

“Hush, Annabeth.”

“They’re waking. Everyone give them some space, please.”

Obeying the command, the four unknown kids gave the siblings some space, revealing a half-man with the…bottom of a horse. Okay, it’s finally official, you’ve completely lost it!

“Welcome to camp, Percy Jackson and Y/N Matthews. We’ve been expecting you two.”

Oh my god! Who are these people?! What in the absolute fuck is going on?! This demigod shit is not cut out for me.

ꪆৎ ˚⋅ ➴ ᡣ𐭩 ྀིྀ ꪆৎ ˚⋅ ➴ ᡣ𐭩 ྀིྀ

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#her pretty girl series #dior goodjohn #clarisse la rue #clarisse la rue x reader #clarisse la rue x fem!reader #clarisse la rue x black!reader #clarisse la rue x black!fem!reader #clarisse la rue series

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whatswrongwithblue · 3 days

Text

The Fire in the Sin

Chapter 7 - Ashes in My Wake

Word count: 7,622. Read on AO3. Series Masterlist. <- Previous Chapter.

Summary: Alastor meets the woman he will someday marry, but instead of recognizing that he is smitten, his first instinct is to try and take her soul.

Series Summary:

Present Day chapters – Alastor has been missing 7 years. No one knows what happened or where he went – not even his wife Mina, who has been searching for him. One day he shows back up and seems to expect a happy reunion with her but he won’t say where he has been. With the promise of eventually giving her both answers and revenge for the last 7 years, she decides to play along with his games, but she can’t pretend to be happy about any of it.

Prequel chapters – Mina, an Irish immigrant to America, dies a violent death in 1917. She spends the first decades in Hell making a life for herself, working as a torturer for Abaddon, enforcing the one major law of Hell; Sinners can’t leave. And then she meets and falls for Alastor. They live blissfully together for decades, until one day, he just vanishes.

Chapter 7 - Ashes in My Wake

Pride Ring

1952

Alastor just loved Cannibal Town.

It was such a charming little village and the people here were so cheery and well mannered. They would have eaten him alive and raw had he not been a powerful Overlord and good friends with Rosie, but since he wasn’t on the menu, he was always treated like an honored guest.

He was at one of the outdoor cafes, enjoying a dinner of rare venison steak, cooked in butter and human marrow. Rosie still refused to tell even him how she supplied her town with real human flesh - he was certain she was breaking several of laws that kept Sinners stuck there in Pride Ring - but it was one of the few things he couldn’t get himself here in Hell. He had always wondered, if he had ventured into the world of cannibalism while he was alive if he would have had an appetite for it then, or if was just a feature of his demon form. It was one of his greatest regrets from his killing years and the worst part of it, he simply had not thought of it. Rosie had truly broadened his horizons . . . once they had stopped trying to kill each other.

Alastor was a man of detail; he noticed everything. His mother had loved that about him for it meant he kept a straight room and always complimented her on a new piece of clothing or hairstyle. His father had no patience for it and would often beat him as a small child when Alastor would quickly get overwhelmed in a new place with too many new things for his young mind to process. But here in Hell, it was his most valuable talent. Nothing slipped past him, and it always gave him an upper hand in a game of wits.

All this meaning, he noticed the black-haired feline beauty walk past him on the sidewalk right away.

She was clearly not one of Rosie’s contracted souls; everything about her dress and style stood out from the other cannibals, and yet she walked among them as if she belonged. The stranger even stopped and hugged a couple women who approached her on the sidewalk, greeting them like old friends, and the trio walked into the small bar and lounge that was across the street.

That bar was one of Alastor’s most frequented locations and he had never seen that woman before. She wasn’t an Overlord, and she wasn’t a Cannibal, so how the hell was she walking around these streets and not being torn to pieces?

He kept an eye on the entrance of the lounge to make sure she hadn’t made an exit as he finished his meal and then made his way across the street, suddenly in the mood for some top shelf scotch.

“Alastor!” Rosie greeted him from her place at the bar. She pulled him in for a hug before he took a seat next to her, “Ugh, I’m so glad I bumped into you here. You wouldn’t believe the week I had. So many more souls are showing up around here these days. I guess cannibalism became a bit of a fad in Japan during that last great war ‘up top’ and some of these guys don’t even speak English! I think they wound up in the wrong afterlife and what’s a girl to do?!”

She tossed back the last of her cocktail and waved the bartender down for more. It was a bit out of character to see Rosie so ruffled in public, but Alastor supposed they all had their bad days.

“Have you tried shipping them off to the Doomsday District? They haven’t had a cult massacre send souls their way in quite a while and language barriers aren’t such an issue down there. The imagery . . . speaks for itself,” Alastor said with a chuckle.

The bartender set their drinks down and Rosie lifted hers in a cheer.

“You, my friend, are priceless. What a splendid idea!” Rosie took a more ladylike sip of her martini this time but then immediately became animated again when something caught her eye from the far side of the lounge.

The cat demon dressed in black and orange was sitting down at a table with the two women she had met on the street, deeply engrossed in an apparently hilarious conversation.

“Mina! Is that you, dear?!” Rosie said, and waved when she immediately caught the woman’s attention.

The woman smiled and excused herself from her group and came over to the bar to get immediately crushed into one of Rosie’s vice-like hugs.

“I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to stop by lately. Work's just been unbelievable,” the woman said, the slightest bit of an accent coming through in her speech.

“Oh, trust me, I know the life of a working woman. Put in an all-day shift and you still gotta go home and cook and clean, can you believe it! Ah, where are my manners?!” Rosie said, and turned in her barstool so she no longer had her back turned to Alastor.

“Mina, meet Alastor, one of my dearest friends. Most people know him as the Radio Demon, but around here, we just call him by his first name. Alastor, this is Mina. She’s just about my most loyal customer. She’s got a wicked appetite for men’s hearts, the little minx, and she knows which shop has the freshest ones,” Rosie said with a wink at Mina.

“The Radio Demon?” Mina asked, and her eyes darted back and forth between Alastor and Rosie. She smiled well, but he could see how nervous she suddenly was.

“So, you’ve heard of me?” he asked.

“Who hasn’t?” she said simply, no longer smiling.

“You must have quite an interesting tale to tell yourself if you’re around these parts, but it’s funny because I’ve never heard of you.”

“Oh, well, lucky me then,” she said, holding his narrowing gaze. Irish, the accent was definitely Irish.

“Oh, Alastor, stop it,” Rosie said, and playfully smacked his chest with the back of her hand, “she pays my Emporium quite a lot of money, don’t chase her away. And she’s one of Abaddon’s, and even you don’t want them breathing down your neck, they’re awfully protective of their own.”

Mina raised an eyebrow, looking a bit more confident then.

“My apologies,” Alastor said, “I didn’t mean to come across as anything but a gentleman. I was simply curious, it’s not every day I see an unfamiliar face around here.”

“I come here quite often,” she said, and it almost sounded like a challenge.

“So do I.”

“Then I suppose I won’t be unfamiliar for long.”

“I wouldn’t want your luck to run out.”

“Oh Mylanta!” Rosie interjected, standing up between them, “I should have known better than to put the two of you boneheads in a room together. Mina, I’ve had just the shittiest week, would you be a dear and play one of your songs for us?” Alastor almost laughed into his glass when he saw how uncomfortable that question made this Mina character suddenly seem. “Not to worry, one of your regular songs will do just fine. Honestly, honey, this place could just use a bit of extra liveliness tonight.”

Neither of them knew it at the time, but Mina’s decision to give in to Rosie’s request, smile an almost flirtatious smile at Alastor, and adjust her attitude, was a major turning point in both of their lives. Had she continued to mouth off, or worse, refuse Rosie and return to her group of friends, Alastor would have eventually lost interest in her.

“That would be alright, I suppose. And I hear the gentleman in our presence prefers jazz?”

“Oh ho! You really have heard of me!” he said pleasantly.

“Just enough to know to play it safe around you,” Mina said and turned away, heading for the piano in the corner of the lounge.

Well, Alastor couldn’t help but smile a little wider when his ego was stroked like that.

___

Her song had been . . . entrancing, to say the least. When prompted as to what Rosie had meant by one of Mina’s “regular” songs, the leader of Cannibal Town had informed him of the secret talent Mina possessed of controlling others with her singing but assured him, that was not what had happened that night.

“You’ll know it if you ever hear it. But no, I’m afraid that was just her normal singing voice. Why?”

“No reason,” he had quickly replied.

“You’re interested in her!” Rosie gasped in over dramatic surprise.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he huffed.

“Oh not like that,” Rose said, “you want her power for yourself. And of course you do, who wouldn’t! But believe me, Alastor, it’ll be a waste of your time. You offer that girl a deal and it’ll just offend her.”

“Then I’ll just have to figure out a brilliant plan to convince her,” he said, eyes flashing to radio dials as he turned away.

He studied her for weeks during his down time, figuring out where her usual hang outs were and lingering in the shadows, trying to gather as much information about her as possible while going unnoticed. The kind of deals that were irrefusable were always the most personal, so he had to figure out what made this woman tick.

It was infuriating how little she left The Pit; Abaddon’s little protected neighborhood of Pride Ring where no one, not even Overlords like himself, could even get into without an invitation. Mina also seemed to make a point of being as inconspicuous as possible. She was beautiful but only if one took the time to really look at her; otherwise, she seemed completely average. Nothing about her features was striking enough to catch a casual onlooker and she clearly used that to her advantage.

He purposefully sent one of his leashed pets after her one night on her walk back home. She had been alone and looking as vulnerable as any soul in Hell possibly could. Alastor felt ridiculous but from the rooftop above where he could see the whole show, he held his large ears down flat just in case she used her voice as a defense. He didn’t doubt Rosie’s description of how powerful this girl was for an average Sinner and didn’t want to find himself jumping from the rooftop against his will.

The monstrous remains of the soul he owned launched itself at Mina’s back and she jumped out of the way with impressively quick reflexes and then morphed into a very large, grotesque beast that vaguely resembled a jaguar, ripped the soul in half with a bite and well placed dig of her massive claws, and then left it on the sidewalk still squirming as she turned back into her more human-like form and continued walking.

Alastor dropped his hands from his ears in shock; a feeling he hadn’t felt in more years than he could recall.

Whatever he used to convince Mina to sell her soul to him, it wouldn’t likely be for his protection.

It seemed to him that he would have to get much closer to this girl if he was to figure her out.

After several more visits to the lounge in Cannibal Town, he finally saw her there again. Not that he was going there specifically to find her, it was already his favorite place for a drink, but it did give him another reason to go there at the end of the day.

To his great advantage, she was sitting at a table alone, reading.

Honestly, who brought a book to a bar?

He didn’t go to her right away, instead taking the time to order a glass of whiskey neat for himself and then asked the bartender for Mina’s usual, which turned out to be a nauseously sweet effervescent red blend wine.

When he set it down in front of her and took his seat across the small table from her, she frowned at him.

“I’m waiting for someone.”

“Is it a date?” he asked, already suspecting the answer. He had been stalking her for weeks and knew there was no one special in her life and figured it was a sore subject for her as it was with most single women.

“Would you leave me alone if I said that it was?”

He smiled. “No.”

She slammed her book shut. “What do you want?”

“You are defensive. Have I done something to offend you?”

“You mean other than simply being who you are?” she asked and when he simply continued to smile instead of responding, she sighed. “No.”

“And what is wrong with being who I am?” he asked.

“Do you think I’m stupid? You’re literally the most powerful Overlord I can name, and you expect me to think you’re talking to me because you want to be friends?”

“That is quite the compliment and backhanded insult all in one sentence. I’ll have you know; I am perfectly capable of having friends.”

“Anyone you don’t make deals with?” she asked.

“You know, you were being much more pleasant with me when we last parted.”

“Answer the question.”

“Of course, there are people I don’t make deals with. Although, you shouldn’t say ‘make deals with’ as if it’s some unsavory dirty business. Deals can be quite beneficial to both parties,” he paused, taking a sip of his whiskey, “take Rosie for example. We have been friends for years and I’ve never made a deal with her, but I would be honored to if the situation ever required it. “

Mina pondered his words for a moment, running a nail up and down her wine stem.

“I’ve spent my years here in Hell avoiding people like you.”

Alastor leaned forward. “Again, what’s so bad about me?”

Mina looked at him like he’d just made the worst joke she’d ever heard. “You have a radio station with nothing but screams of the souls you’re tearing to pieces.”

He smiled and tilted his head. “I find it funny that offends you, seeing as how you get paid to torture. Tell me, what’s the longest number of years someone has been flayed across your rack? Five? Ten? What’s the record for how many times someone has had to completely respawn because you took things a little too far? And then you come here, laugh with friends, sing your songs, and otherwise live a normal, enjoyable life. So maybe, you’re not afraid of what I’ll do to you. Maybe you’re just afraid of how much you and I have in common.”

Mina looked shocked, even a bit angry, but her pupils had practically turned to saucers and the fair skin around her neck had flushed a little and not from her wine. He had struck a nerve, but he suddenly realized she was also very attracted to him, which would give him a wonderful advantage over her going forward.

“Do you usually ask women out with such bizarre speeches?”

Alastor’s smile turned into a wicked grin. “How about we start with me asking you for a dance?”

“How about a deal first?” she said, and he raised his brows in obvious interest. “I’ll ask you one question and if I like the answer, then I’ll dance with you.”

“Ha! You’ll have to try harder than that to scare me off. Ask away,” he said, leaning back in his seat.

“Dickens or Austen?”

He frowned in confusion.

“Charles Dickens or Jane Austen,” she clarified, “who do you prefer?”

Alastor thought silently for a moment before standing up. His eyes flashed a brighter red as he offered her his hand.

“Mary Shelley.”

Mina smiled in satisfaction and took his hand, following him to the dance floor.

___

After a few outings with him, Mina had to admit, she was really starting to like Alastor. It wasn’t clear yet if he was romantically pursuing her or if they were just friends; everything between them had been platonic so far, but secretly Mina began to hope for more. There weren’t many in her circle of friends that had crossed his path, but no one could remember a time when The Radio Demon had a companion on his arm; but it did appear that Alastor was telling the truth when he said he had friends.

Rosie seemed to be the Overlord that he was closest to, but she had been witness to a cordial conversation between him and Zestial. He spoke fondly of a few of the souls he owned, as if they were more his wards under his protection than they were his slaves to do his bidding. Wherever they went, Alastor was courteous to all of their servers and was a generous tipper. He shared her rather macabre sense of humor, was charismatic, chivalrous, and just plain sweet to her.

And he was so good looking. Mina had desired plenty of men before but had spent her time in Hell purposefully single after a lifetime of being repeatedly sexually dissatisfied and put off by all of her suitors rather bad behavior. Even during the few times of year when her feline body went through its hormonal cycle and sent her into heat, she got through it by pleasuring herself and taking out her frustration through her work. But being around Alastor made that little coil inside her heat up in ways it hadn’t in decades. Everything about him, from the static effect of his voice, to his odd perpetual smile, his smell, the way he dressed, his strange haircut and two-toned locked, the little antlers and red ears atop his head . . .

When he had lost his temper on a crass demon on the street who said something lewd to Mina, those antlers had grown, his eyes had glowed green, and Alastor had ripped the demon apart with shadow tentacles that suddenly came out of nowhere . . . Mina didn’t stand a chance. That man fulfilled all her fantasies, even ones she wasn’t aware she had until she met him.

Beyond her physical attraction to him, they really did seem to have a lot in common. And where they weren’t the same, their differences complimented each other well. They both enjoyed drinking but never pushed themselves past a good buzz, and where she enjoyed a sweet wine, he like straight liquor. Their palette for meat was exactly the same, but she liked her savory paired with something sweet when Alastor enjoyed something spicier. They spoke often of how they abhorred violence just for the sake of violence but reveled in it when used with purpose.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” he said on one of her rare mornings off work, and they had decided to meet up for coffee, “But I’m fairly certain that ‘Mina’ is not a common name in Ireland.”

She gave him a beaming smile then, very pleased with his observation. “You are the first person to ever call me out on that. Even people who knew my birth name never questioned it.”

“What was so wrong with your given name?”

“Margarette,” she said with disgust, “It’s an English name. A colonizer’s name. You have to understand, I was born just in time to see the last bit of my ancestors’ culture nearly wiped out. They were starving us and wiping out our language. You couldn’t be citizens without being baptized and no priest would baptize a child in Ireland if they had a name like Saoirse or Aine. And then ironically, when I came to America, they wanted me to be more Irish. More ‘exotic.’ My manager asked me to come up with a new name for myself and it’s been my own little private joke ever since because I just thought Mina sounded pretty, and I’m pretty sure it’s German. Not that anyone in America knew the difference.”

Alastor laughed, seemingly taking a lot of enjoyment in the perverse beauty of her chosen name. From that day forward, he used her name as much as possible, and stopped calling her by his usual terms of endearment like “dear” or “darling” as often.

Their life stories were another thing that they had in common. Not identical but they gave them a better understanding of each other.

He had grown up in a world immersed in Creole culture and the inevitable racism from the upper class that appropriated it while also condemning it. Once he was an adult, he had to stick to his roots in secret, and used his white-passing privilege to make his way in the world of entertainment. He simultaneously had felt like he was getting away with a sick joke while also ashamed, as if he were betraying his mother somehow. He had tried to make up for it all by using his nuevo riche money to dote on her until her sudden death. When the Great Depression hit, and life for his and his mother’s people only got harder as those left on top continued to exploit them, he had stopped bothering to hold back his darker desires and instead focused his blood lust on the upper-class white demographic he hated the most.

“My favorite part, besides the actual killing of course, was reporting on myself. I had come up with the name ‘The Bayou Killer,’ I thought it had a nice ring to it,” he had said as he told his life story, “but other media sources also started calling me the ‘Equal Opportunity Killer.’ I guess it sounded better than pointing out that being wealthy and of the right color didn’t save you from being hacked to pieces.”

Mina mentally added being violently opposed to xenophobia and racism to her quickly expanding list of things that made Alastor perfect for her. It excited her, but also filled her with trepidation.

She had lost herself and her freewill to relationships before and had to kill to get out of them. And Alastor would always be more powerful and dangerous than she was, so she still had to tread carefully around her feelings for him. But damn, if she wasn’t falling hard and fast.

After several meet ups for drinks or food, Alastor finally asked her to accompany him to a far more intimate location.

They were on a walk together through the park she had come to on her first night in Hell. The black lake still smelled as awful as it did then, but Mina had returned here several times since that first evening and had grown accustomed to it. She still loved the strange and dark plants and the demonic wildlife that was never in short supply here.

Alastor carried his cane behind his back as they walked, not offering Mina a hand or arm to hold onto, but he did make a point of walking close to her side.

He had steered the conversation in a different direction than usual, filling her in on some of the current political ongoings in Hell. She tried to act interested, nodding along at what seemed to be appropriate moments, but the topic had a hard time keeping her attention. Mina was just beginning to tune it out completely when the name Goetia caught her attention.

She was fascinated by the tales of their magic and knowledge of the universe but with her misgivings about the more powerful figures in Hell, had never had the opportunity to get to know one of them before.

“You know some of the Goetia family?” she asked.

“And I’ve killed some of them, too,” he laughed. “Most of them are pompous fools but a couple of them aren’t terrible to converse with. Get them on the subject of their magic and they can’t help but show off. It can be very informative. One of the lower ranking ones resides here in Pride Ring and is throwing a party next week, but I’m not sure if it’s worth going.”

“I would love to go,” Mina said quickly and then felt a little embarrassed. She sounded like a desperate schoolgirl. “I just mean, if I ever could. You know how I feel about politicians, but they just seem so fascinating. And they know so much, I mean, they were there for the building of the pyramids, the Library of Alexandria, the fall of Rome . . . It would just be . . . sorry,” she trailed off with a sigh, “I’m rambling.”

“Don’t apologize, Mina, I adore how passionate you are about your interests. In fact, I suppose the party wouldn’t be so drab if I had company as wonderful as your own.”

“Really?” she asked, no longer trying to hold back her excitement.

“Of course! I’d be happy to have you as my plus one. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask for a small favor in return?”

Blinded by her joy and affection for him, Mina happily asked him what he had in mind.

“Would you sing for me, if I ever needed you to?”

“You don’t mean a normal song, do you?” she asked.

“No, though those are truly wonderful. No, I do mean use your power to help me out, if I ever found myself in a bind,” he clarified and suddenly the mood had shifted, ever so subtly.

Mina paused, carefully considering her next words. “Alastor, if you really ever needed me, you know I’d do my best to be there for you.”

His smile widened, going unnaturally from one end of his face to the other. He held out his hand as if to shake hers, and a halo of green light surrounded it. “Care to make it a deal, then?”

Mina stepped back as if slapped. Suddenly all her attraction to this man was replaced by alarm and dread.

Alastor caught the distressed look on her face and closed his hand, the green light around him extinguishing as he quickly took on his usual appearance.

“It’s just a little thing, Mina, no need to get upset.”

“Sorry, I tend to get upset when I’ve realized just how stupid I’ve been,” she snapped back.

“Oh darling, don’t be dramatic. I wasn’t asking for your soul,” he said, and she hated the way he was brushing off her concern.

“Not this time, but eventually you would, wouldn’t you?” she said, and Alastor stood straighter at her words as if she had caught him in the act of something nefarious and Mina’s heart broke as she realized that’s exactly what had happened. “So, this whole thing between us was just a plan to get me to trust you?”

God, it was embarrassing how sad she sounded.

Alastor tilted his head in his usual display of uncertainty. “I’m not sure what you mean, I thought we’ve had quite a lovely time of it lately.”

“And it was all just an act, wasn’t it? You’ve been exactly what I’ve wanted so that when the time came, you thought I’d be dumb enough to make a deal with you. Well, congratulations, you really were convincing there for a while, I really believed you cared for me. But this isn’t happening, Alastor. There’s nothing you could ever do to make me accept a deal.”

He walked around her, his hands once again behind him. “Don’t be so certain of that, Mina. Everyone wants something eventually. Even I do. And I do care for you. Those are the reasons why I’m making the deal with you. I could benefit from your abilities, and I trust you enough to keep your end of the bargain.”

“Then why make a binding deal if you trust me? I would have helped you, even if you hadn’t offered me something in return.”

“That’s just the way I work, darling,” he said with a sneer, “I thought you knew that.”

“I should have,” she said, “I really should have. But this is over now, Alastor. I’m going home.”

Mina hadn’t earned her right to portals yet, so she had a long way to go before she got home. She had to walk for a while to get out of the park and constantly checked over her shoulder to make sure Alastor wasn’t following her. Even still, she knew about his ability to hide in the shadows and didn’t feel certain she was actually safe and alone until she was out of the park and able to get a cab.

Once home, she pulled off her clothes and wrapped herself under the covers, doing her best to ignore the silent tears that dampened the pillow beneath her.

___

Alastor fumed on his way out of the park. He was not used to being denied what he was after, and he was definitely not used to making mistakes. The degree in which he had underestimated Mina’s desire for freedom was embarrassing. He had been so certain that he had his claws in her. She had been so clearly infatuated with him that he assumed he could get away with even more than what he had presented her with; he had been playing it safe and it still backfired on him.

It was just a simple deal and she had acted like he’d killed her puppy in front of her.

He lashed out at another demon who was out for an evening stroll. The man was behind him, keeping an awkward pace with him, his shoes were squeaking, and he was just too close to Alastor. Without turning to look, his shadows sprung out from his back and grabbed hold of the oblivious walker, wrapping him up in tentacles, and throwing him into a thick group of trees. Alastor heard the scream and then the squelch of the man’s body being impaled and sighed in satisfaction. Now he could think clearly without distraction.

He had been playing nice with Mina. She was enjoyable to be around; honestly everything about her he had found to be quite pleasant. Over the weeks they had spent together, he had really come to care a bit for her. And despite her initial misgivings about the darker side of his nature, Alastor hadn’t missed how she looked at him when he displayed his power. She liked it. So he never had any intention of allowing harm to come to her, he just wanted to own her power for himself. He could have done far worse to her, and she didn’t appreciate that.

Normally he enjoyed causing fear in people; especially if it was an overdramatic display. If some poor soul recognized him on the street and took off running and screaming, even if Alastor had no malicious intentions towards them in that moment, he usually found some enjoyment in it. Even when they had first met, he had enjoyed the little glimpses of fear in Mina’s eyes whenever his attention was on her.

That night, however, it deeply bothered Alastor how much Mina had been repulsed by his offer. She had looked at him like he had betrayed her.

He couldn’t understand why it had upset her so much and he really didn’t understand why it upset him that she was upset.

Once he was back in his tower and calmed down, he began to formulate a plan. Convincing Mina was not going to happen, so he was going to have to trick her. Force her. But once he had the deal made and her soul was his, she would see that it wasn’t as awful as she believed. He wanted her power at his disposal which meant keeping her alive and well. It was just getting them to that point that would be tricky, but he now realized he was going to have to be cruel to be kind.

___

After a couple weeks of setting things into motion, the opportunity presented itself while Mina was out shopping with a couple of her friends from work. Alastor kept an eye on them as they had dinner, stopped in a little boutique, then a bookstore, and then finally settled into the right outdoor lounge patio and ordered drinks.

Though they had never been there together before, Mina had mentioned it as one of her friend’s favorite places, and since she had been making a point to avoid Cannibal Town since his mishap with her, Alastor figured she would come here sooner or later. So, he had made sure to plant someone who owed him a favor as a server there, with the express intent of that demon slipping something into the drinks there.

He thought date rape drugs were sleezy and desperate, but he wasn’t above cheating to get his way in a deal, and he needed not only Mina, but her friends, and everyone else in that bar to be a lot more helpless than usual if things were to go his way. No one would feel the effects until they tried to use their power.

Then he needed the chaos to begin.

A fight, very much orchestrated by himself, broke out on the inside of the lounge. At first, Mina and her friends only watched in mild amusement as the brawl got larger. Before long though, it got out of hand, because Alastor’s shadow had slunk behind the bar and set the entire shelves of liquor on fire.

There were a few unlucky souls that got trampled inside and burned, but most of them were able to escape, and the sudden surge of people coming out from within the bar pushed everyone from the patio and onto the street, and separated Mina from her friends.

It was complete disorder and even when the crowd was able to break up a bit, Mina couldn’t relocate her companions. They were living in an age before cell phones, which are so handy in emergency situations. Also, coincidentally, Alastor had his shadow grab them and transport them into a couple of locked rooms in buildings nearby. They would get out, eventually. Once the drugs wore off and they were able to use their powers again.

Mina seemed cool and collected in contrast to what was left of the crowd still running about in the streets, though she was obviously looking around for the women she had arrived with. Alastor watched in amusement as she became more irritated with the demons that were losing themselves in their panic. With the distance between them and the noise of the crowd, he couldn’t hear her voice, but at one point she had pulled herself against the wall of the building across the street from the bar, and it was evident in the movement of her mouth that she was singing, likely trying to calm the crowd into order. Even from his high vantage point, Alastor could see the growing look of concern on Mina’s face as realization dawned on her. Her power bound; she was suddenly as vulnerable as she was when she was alive.

His wicked smile broadened, as the green glow of his own magic poured from his mouth and eyes, and he sent the burst of energy towards the flames of the building. They burst forth from what was left of the windows and doorways, crawling along the street below and licking up the walls of the adjacent buildings.

From the green flames came his little army; the tiny remains of the souls of Overlords past. They were small and weak without his command, but when directed they could tear a body apart like demonic puranas. This perfect hell storm of fire and demons spread through the street, devouring dozens as it went, and then chased the fleeing form of Mina into a dead end.

To her credit, she had made it quite a way away before she ran out of the options. She had tried every outlet there was to get to a more open area, but the flames had always gotten there before her, blocking her way.

He had her caught in a narrow alleyway, surrounded on three sides by several stories of tall brick that she couldn’t scale without access to her full demon form. Flames consumed her only exit. She looked skeptically at the wall of fire that paused just there, caging her in.

Alastor formed from shadow behind her, watching as she stared into the flames, her body backlit by the unnatural green glow. He was impressed at how in control of her feelings she seemed to be, even in this dire situation he had built around her.

“I can hold it back for a little while, but eventually,” he said, as the flames moved forward another couple feet, “those flames will make their way in here.”

Mina didn’t jump at the sound of his voice, nor did she show any signs of fear. Instead, her shoulders slumped, and when she turned to face him, she just looked tired. It was once again not the reaction Alastor had been expecting.

“What did you do to me?” she asked in a small voice.

“Why, I did nothing! But, it would seem as if someone slipped something into the drinks at that bar. How unfortunate for the patrons there tonight.”

Mina reached out to slash at him, but he turned to shadow just as her claws made contact with his arm. He reappeared a few feet away from her, a tear in his jacket sleeve. He admired the damage with a grin.

“My, you are fast.”

“Fuck you, Alastor.”

“Now is that anyway to speak to someone who is offering to save your life?”

The flames jumped closer again and Alastor could feel the blistering heat of them, but Mina kept her back turned to the fire, keeping an eye on him instead.

“Make your offer,” Mina challenged.

“Had you accepted my offer the other night, I would have been satisfied with just having access to your powers. For a while, at least,” he winked at her but then his smile grew far more sinister, “but I’m afraid you’ve insulted me and I can’t stand for that. So now the stakes are higher. Give me your soul and you’ll come to no harm. Refuse, and well . . .”

The flames roared up above the height of the buildings surrounding them and the moving hoard of hungry demons could be seen dancing within the fire, waiting to tear their next victim apart.

“That’s not angelic fire,” she said after studying it for a moment, implying it wouldn’t permanently kill her.

“No,” Alastor agreed, anger showing through his features, making his smile look even more crazed than before, “but it burns slower than most. And when it’s done consuming you, you’ll end up like one of those-“ he gestured to the small black and white figures and their gnashing teeth, “-hardly anything left of you but a hungry, insatiable shell. I’d rather keep you just the way you are now, but it’s your choice, my dear.”

Mina said nothing, just stared at him for moment, making eye contact in a way that made Alastor feel completely stripped and bare beneath her gaze. He hated it, and nearly ended it there. His antlers grew heavy on his head, and he felt his shadow expand around him, ready to reach forward and tear her apart.

Instead, he reached out his hand.

“Choose me, Mina. It’ll be far less painful.”

He knew he looked every bit the monster he was in that moment, but he was over playing the gracious gentleman with her. Let her see what her choices really were and the position she had put them both in.

“I’d rather die,” Mina said and turned, walking directly towards the fire.

Alastor froze, eyes widening in surprise. Surely, she was trying to call his bluff, no one was that crazy, not even here in Hell. Mina had heard enough tales of his to know he wasn’t kidding, had spent more than thirty years perfecting her own craft with torture, she had to know what kind of torment she was choosing.

And then the flames touched her skirt and Alastor realized almost too late, that she had meant every word she had ever said to him. She would rather die, be burned, have her soul torn to pieces, and have nothing left of her identity, than to knowingly give up her free will.

He also realized all this at the same moment he figured out that he would never be able to let anything like that happen to her.

The flames touched her at the same moment his shadow grabbed her from behind, snuffing out the fire before it could hurt her, and the two of them disappeared from the alleyway a second before it became completely engulfed in burning green.

Alastor had never traveled so far in his shadow form and had never moved another soul by it for more than second, but it took several minutes for them to reach the park and the entire time he could feel her soul against his. Trying to scratch at him, claw at him, push him away, desperate to break free by any means. But she had no power, especially not in this form, where he always had complete control.

He deposited them on a vacant grassy lawn, purposefully dropping her on her backside while he stood towering above her, still in his full-antlered fury.

“You’re insane!” he spat out at her and was alarmed to find he was panting for air. The trip across the city carrying her by shadow had utterly exhausted him and he had to pause to catch his breath, feeling his body return to its normal height and shape as he did so.

Mina stood and every ounce of outrage she had been holding back in that alleyway broke free.

“I’m insane?! You just set fire to an entire city block and burned dozens of people alive because I hurt your feelings by saying ‘no?!’”

She once again tried to leap at him and he once again dodged her attack by dissolving into shadow, but only just barely.

Mina screamed and growled in frustration at her helplessness as she watched him reappear several yards away.

“Fucking men! You’re all the fucking same!”

That struck a nerve, but Alastor remained silent, smiling all the while Mina continued with her rampage.

She picked up a sizeable rock and hurled it at him, missing him by a few feet.

“Misogynistic piece of shit! You think you’re a better man than others because you don’t use women the same way they do, but you still use us! You can’t appreciate anything unless you own it!” She picked up another stone and threw it, this time getting a little closer to her mark. Mina took a deep sigh and steadied herself. “Well it stops with me. You can hurt me, kill me, threaten my friends, throw everything you’ve got at me, Radio Demon. You’ll. Never. Own. Me.”

Alastor continued to observe her, meeting her eyes, completely and utterly at a loss at what to do next.

“Oh, you fucker, do something!” she screamed, “don’t just stare at me! Hurt me, tear to me pieces, c’mon! You’re the big, bad Overlord, so fucking act like it! Get it over with!”

“Are you crying?” he asked, not as a jab at her, but in honest confusion.

Mina wiped her face with a sharp motion of her sleeved arm, having been too distracted by her tantrum to notice.

“Fuck you,” she spat, “I’ve never been so fucking angry in my life, of course I’m crying!”

She turned away from him to hide her face and for a second, he felt the need to go to her. He took a step forward before he caught himself.

This was not what he had wanted. He thought he had been so willing to punish her for turning him down but when push came to shove, he hadn’t been able to follow through. Now she was hurt, if only emotionally, and it was all his fault and he hated it.

He started laughing.

Mina turned back around, looking at him like he had grown a second head.

“Stop it,” she said, and it made him laugh harder. She thought he was laughing at her and it made the whole situation even funnier.

“Stop it!” she repeated and marched towards him.

He sat down in the grass, elbows on his knees, and put a hand to his head as he continued to lose his mind.

He was so fucked.

Mina pulled up short, put off from her approach by how completely insane he looked.

“Jaysus, you have completely lost it,” she whispered, and took a couple tentative steps away from the Overlord having a mental breakdown in front of her.

“Oh,” Alastor sighed as he began to regain control of himself. Still chuckling, but no longer lost in his laughing fit, he stood, dusting off the front of his pants and straightened his bow tie. “What an entertaining evening we have had.”

Mina remained silent.

“You are free to go, my dear.”

“Am I supposed to believe that?” she asked.

“I don’t really care if you ‘believe’ me or not, but please . . . leave,” he huffed.

He no longer felt like laughing or smiling, though the latter he couldn’t stop. What he wanted most of all was to put as much distance between himself and this sudden source of weakness of his as possible.

“You’re just going to let me go? After all that? Why?” she demanded.

Alastor sighed.

“It seems I’ve changed my mind. And I never want to see you again.”

@saccharine-nectarine, @inuhalfdemon

#hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #alastor fanfiction #alastor #alastor x oc #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel fanfiction #alastor fic #alastor fanfic #alastor x reader #alastor the radio demon #the radio demon #alastor hazbin #hazbin hotel alastor #the fire in the sin

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system-of-a-feather · 2 days

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is there anything you wish youd known about DID-specific therapy before you started? sorry if thats weird or vague, i just finally have a therapist that treats DID and im both nervous and relieved about it, so i guess im just wondering if you have advice as someone who has made so much progress with your own DID

God yeah there is a lot honestly. Like there are a lot of general rules of thumb that I've seen get mentioned here that I can say are usually really good things I found to be mostly true in my experience like

Persecutors are frequently demonized and they can be INCREDIBLY hard to work with, but they are incredibly important, often are parts that are capable of having the most growth and tend to add the most to the system once you figure out a good way to communicate and work with them; that said, don't push anything you aren't capable of handling, if they are being too much, safety first; just remember that they're probably some of the best allies you can have should you make things work with them; there is little stronger bonds - both between parts and as a whole - formed when you can befriend and trust someone / the part of you that you've always hated / avoided. Loving persecutors is self love and self love is important for healing

While keeping track of your parts can be helpful, try not to obsess and fixate on trying to find all the parts and figure out when and where everyone came from. It can become overwhelming (especially if you have a lot of parts), you might find parts and things you aren't ready to deal with if you try to look too hard, and it can take away from the important processing, bonding, communication, and present issues you might be facing as a whole

Its okay to relapse on maladaptive behaviors, especially if it keeps you safe and/or from relapsing or starting potentially more risky / dangerous / harmful maladaptive behaviors. Two steps forward, one step back, it's still progress so try not to be hard on yourself. Struggling and fumbling is part of recovery, you aren't bad, or wrong, or uniquely "broken" or anything for struggling through recovery. Recovery is just fucking hard and engaging with it at all is a really amazing and powerful thing.

Integration =/= Fusion. Integration is just improving and increasing the communication, connectivity, and fluidity of information and coordination of parts. Integration is inherent in any form of DID treatment.

On top of that, I think some of the ones I don't see talked about as much would be...

Splitting, while often assumed to be a negative thing and a result of trauma (true and sometimes!), can be very healing when you look at it from a larger lens. This isn't to say that you should want to split or seek to make new alters as a coping mechanism, because I'd probably say in most situations that is probably not healthy. This is more so saying that if your brain wants to / needs to / does split, its okay to just let it happen. Trying to actively prevent splits can cause a lot of emotional / trauma overwhelm and risk crisis states and honestly, sometimes its easier to deal with two (or more) contained and stable parts than it is to deal with one complex and unstable part. Likewise, sometimes it is easier to be two (or more) contained stable parts than it is to exist as one complex and unstable part. Splitting sometimes - and often is - a mechanism to maintain stability and keep life for all parts within a relative "window of tolerance" that you can function in. Splitting isn't a moral failure or a recovery failure or anything special. Splitting is just part of the journey of recovery and a lot of people split after they start recovery cause it can be a pretty hard thing to go through. You aren't alone if this happens and it is just part of the process and journey.

Similar to that and something that we've been talking on this blog a lot and trying to spread...

Fusion does not have to be a final thing. Fusion does not have to be a huge and notable event. Fusion can last anywhere from a few minutes, to a few hours, to a few months, to forever depending on what works for you. If a fusion isn't working for you or isn't sticking, your brain will likely re-split and if it doesn't, you can always actively try to undo it and we've done it multiple times pretty successfully. Fusion ALSO isn't anything special, it's something that just happens. Fusion and splitting are two sides of the same coin and really aren't anything as permanent or anything that carries any inherent value to it beyond what it means to you as an individual / whole.

And probably one of the things that I was the most astonished by

You don't actually have to process all your trauma to be at a place with your DID where you are considered to be "in remission" or to even reach functional multiplicity / final fusion. A lot of the meat of DID-focused therapy and recovery and improvement to life is not as much in the trauma processing as much as it is in the stabilization period; that is just to say, the main meat of growth, recovery, and improvement is found by working with your parts to establish an internal support system, internal trust with one another, and deeply getting to know each of the parts. Of course, trauma processing will happen along the way, but you can get EXTREMELY far with recovery simplly by focusing on the stability of the system, how you each support and communicate and coordinate with one another, and dealing with the trauma topics that come up in the immediate present. A good way to think about it is that the stabilization period is essentially creating a strong foundation and a strong base so that you feel secure and confident navigating basic day to day life with a lot of internal love and support and the trust that you and your parts can support eachother through a SHIT ton of stuff. If you can develop an internal relationship with your parts and your system that is very strong and built on trust and care, then dealing with trauma and adversities become WAY easier. Thus it can be a lot easier to postpone any heavy trauma processing that is not actively relevant and actively necessary to help improve internal relationships until AFTER you have a stronger and more secure realtionship with your parts. Thus I would suggest focusing on the present issues, the things parts are feeling and experiencing in the moment, and addressing those rather than trying to uncover every secret and trauma that you may or may not remember. If the trauma is something you are ready to deal with and it's relevant, your brain will bring it up when the time is right. Trust your brain thats protected you thus far and kept you alive thus far to let you know things when you are ready to know it, but also don't be afraid to ask parts for help if it does share more than you are ready. That's just to say - Don't Dig for information you don't want to know, but if something comes up that you don't feel equipt to deal with, its completely okay to seek internal or external help to try leave it behind. Again, especially early on, the focus should be on stabilization rather than trauma processing.

And just a little small one about online spaces and what not, but try not to worry too much abotu whether your experiences with the disorder align with others, or if you look "fake" or what not. A lot of recovery will look like things people who don't know better would think is "impossible with DID" and online spaces tend to be a place where a false image of what things "should" look like is kind of developed. Whatever you experience is what you experience and is inherently a real and true experience. Don't try to force yourself to fit into the expectation and boxes of others as it will often slow down your progress.

#alter: riku #alter: fei #feathers speaks #didrecovery #actuallydid #dissociative identity disorder #advice #ask #asks #recovery advice

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dontbesoweirdkira · 1 day

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Could you write a possessive flavored yandere Erron black?

“Sweetheart…where are you hidin’? I know you’re here. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

A/N: yes sirrrrr. I’m sorry I realized I got a little bit distracted while writing and didn’t follow the request exactlyyyy…oopsies. I’ve never written Erron so I do hope he’s in character enough. Thank you so much for requesting. I hope you enjoy. Just request again if you want a specific scenario.

Warnings: Yandere/toxic themes, kidnapping, talks of murder, threats, obsession

Requests: open 24/7

Masterlist

Being tracked down by a bounty hunter-cowboy was definitely not on this year's bingo card.

You had no clue you were putting yourself in the middle of something far greater than anything you could imagine. That a little celebratory trip down to the local pub would turn into you hiding for your life.

“Sweetheart…where are you hidin’? I know you’re here. Come out, come out, wherever you are.” A deep husky, southern voice taunted

You remained stiff, curled into a tight ball, silently praying for a way out of this nightmare.

How could you be so damn stupid. How did you not notice something off about the man? Why didn’t the alarm bells go off for you the second he walked in? And why were you just now putting the pieces together ?

~~~

From the way he had dressed to the way the atmosphere changed from the second he walked in…you were so oblivious.

Tipsy and blissful you had thought his outfit was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Unknowingly, you thought he was a part of one of the larp groups in the area. gleefully, you struck up a conversation with the fella.

“You know, you are one, if not the coolest motherfucker I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I wish I had a cowboy hat like that.”

Amused, the man had decided to take a seat next to you and indulge in the conversation.

“Well a mighty thank you, princess. You know you are one, if not the prettiest woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Names’ Erron, what brings someone like you to a place like this?”

“Haha I’m y/n and thank you! I’m here to celebrate a bonus I finally got from my boss. I’ve been hounding her about it for months and I’m so happy to finally get it,. Times been rough, y’know?”

“Oh don’t I know it, baby doll.”

From there you guys chatted it up, flirted back and forth, and shared a few drinks. Not even realizing the staleness of the rest of the Pub.

Everyone, except for you, seemed to know exactly who Erron was. They recognized that man wasn’t just here to socialize, he was there to collect.

~~~

You had found the perfect hiding space, just under the performance stage, behind the small curtains.

Luckily, no one noticed you crawling over to it, seemingly not even the cowboy. Everyone was far too busy with their own business to care about you in the heat of the moment.

It kept you safe enough from all the commotion that went down, just moments earlier, protecting you from all the stray bullets that unfortunately caught a few others.

The cowboy had a hefty bounty to collect if he successfully killed the man he was after…which also happened to be a frequent patron of the pub.

The man that everyone turned their heads to look at when he arrived, the man that turned Erron Black from a fun-loving conversationalist to a bloodthirsty monster.

You could hear the heavy thudding of his thick metal boots, treading the wooden floor as he tried to find you.

“I’m so sorry about all that, doll. Erron had some business to take care of…I hope you understand.” He had tried to make his voice sweet to make you feel safe enough to come out. Like he hadn’t just murdered the entire bar.

The sound of chairs and tables being thrown, and cabinets being searched sent a sharp fear down your throat and into your stomach.

You couldn’t see it but you could hear just how erratic he was becoming searching for you.

“I know you’re a little frightened but don’t worry I’m not gunna hurt ya darlin’…I think we have something special going on. Wouldn’t ya’ agree?”

Erron wasn’t leaving that place without you. You’ve charmed the dangerous cowboy enough to win him over so like hell he would leave you here! He’s not done with you just yet. Besides you’ve seen too much, either way he’d still have to find you to kill you.

“You looked mighty fine tonight…why don’t ya say’, we go back to my place. Not like there’s any other men here to take you home…”

You could hear his boots pick up pace on the hard wood as he walked over to the bar before they stopped. Clinking of a glass could be heard before the pouring of a drink.

“Come on pretty please.” The irritation in his voice began to rise, his patience with you wavering

Erron usually isn’t this patient, and for a moment he’d thought about just setting the place ablaze and just letting you die like that. But Erron knew if he did, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself for a while. Something about you just couldn’t escape his mind. He needed to see that precious little face again.

A deep sigh filled the air before it became completely silent. It lasted quite some time, far longer than just a beat. Nearly ten minutes had passed and curiosity started to get the better of you.

What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t of left. Not that silently at least. You hadn’t heard a single sound, not even the sound of him drinking…was he just sitting there?

You wanted to get a good look, maybe he was distracted enough to sneak past?

Carefully, you leaned forward enough to grab a little bit of the curtain that lined the front of the platform, gently pushing it aside…only enough to see him. He sat haphazardly on the bar stool, with one leg planted on the ground to keep his balance and the other placed on the leg rest. His head face downwards and his hat hung low, shadowing his face and in his hands he still held the glass he earlier had drank from.

As if he could feel the gentle wind of the curtain being moved, Erron suddenly shattered the glass he was holding, causing it to catch you off guard and send you falling forward onto the cold, hardwood floor.

The cowboy released a chilling chuckle, one just as violent and twisted as he was.

You had fell right into his trap, there wasn’t any time to escape or run and hide again before he was removing that curtain and pulling you out from under the stage

“Darlin’, my job is catching people. You really thought that I wouldn’t find you? Truthfully, I knew exactly where you were the whole time. I just wanted to see if you’d come out for me if I’d ask~.”

“P-please…let me go. I-I didn’t do anything to you please—“ you squirmed tremendously as you tried your best to free your limbs from his grasp.

He shook his head and tsk’ed

“I would’ve let you go if you’d been good for me…you made me wait so long for you. Love is patient, I however, am not.”

“I’m so sorry-I was sca—“

“Shh it’s okay. I’ll teach ya how to reaaal be obedient.”

“Are you going to kill me..please—I don’t wanna die. I’m sorry please—.“

He let out another chilling laugh, this time a bit more dry.

“Oh i'm not going to kill you…I like you enough not to.—�� taking out and unwind I the rope from his hip, he continued

“You’re comin’ with me, Y/N. You’re gunna my new lil’ pet.”

#erron black #yandere mortal kombat #Yandere Erron black #erron black x reader #headcanon #oneshot #mortal kombat x reader #yandere imagines #yandere headcanons #mortal kombat 11 #mk11 #mk fandom #Erron black mk 11 #yandere liu kang #yandere johnny cage #yandere raiden

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chronosdawn · 2 days

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I thought that Zhongli x accountant Reader would be a fun dynamic to explore so here we are. Enjoy!

GN!reader, no content warnings apply.

Word count: 1.8k

You read over the numbers once. Then a second time, followed by a third as your mind tried to make sense of the sheer amount of zeros on the page.

"He spent how much on a vase?" Your voice came out as a shrill cry, the paper in your hand crumpling with the force of your grip. With your free hand, you flicked through the files on your desk, looking for any indication that the purchase of the overpriced porcelain related in any way to the services the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor provided, only to come up short.

"I'm going to kill him," you muttered to yourself as you rose from your chair, forcefully shoving it back under your desk and stomping over to the door of your office. Your expression must have been suitably murderous as Meng—the new employee—practically leapt out of your way as you stormed down the corridor to Zhongli's office. You took a deep, steadying breath before knocking on the door—three loud raps against the antique wood.

"Please come in," a deep voice said, and that was all the invitation you needed to step inside, shutting the door firmly behind you.

Zhongli was seated at his desk, impeccably dressed in a fine suit as always, a tea set laid out before him.

"Mister Zhongli," you greeted through gritted teeth.

"Ah," Zhongli said your name and you pointedly ignored how nice it sounded in his low baritone. He didn't appear at all ruffled by your sudden visit, even though you knew he had to be well aware of the conversation you were about to have. After all, you might be in a slightly better mood if this were the first time something like this had happened; alas your sympathies for the man had shriveled up sometime around the fourth occasion you’d barged your way into his office and that was many expensive knickknacks ago. “What can I do for you? Would you care to join me for a cup of tea?” he asked, gesturing to the faintly steaming pot on his desk.

“No, I would not. What I would like is to know what, precisely, the reason for this purchase was?” You thrust the sheet of paper at him, and he carefully took it from you, smoothing the page out between his fingers.

He took a moment to read over the contents before replying, “the vase this receipt is for is one of a kind produced using a mix of techniques developed in Liyue and Inazuma. I felt it would have been a pity not to purchase such a rare and exquisite item.”

“And where,” you said, pinching the bridge of your nose between your thumb and forefinger, “is this exquisite vase now?

“It is displayed carefully in my home. If you’re interested in viewing it, I would be more than happy to—” You held up a hand, effectively cutting him off.

“Splendid as I’m sure it is, I’m not interested in seeing the vase. The point I was trying to make is that though this purchase was made using the palor’s funds, the item in question was bought solely for your personal use. A matter that we have already discussed, frequently.”

Zhongli set the paper down, clasping his hands together and resting his forearms against the careful intricately carved wood of his desk—the stark opposite of the utilitarian but sensibly priced furnishings you kept in your own office.

“I believe if you look through the contract I have with the Director, it clearly states—”

“I am more than aware of what is written in that contract Mister Zhongli, you’ve quoted it at me often enough. While I do not think it was written with such elaborate purchases in mind, I realize that it is too late to alter the wording now. I am, however, starting to wonder if you are entirely oblivious to the trouble you’re causing for me or if you simply do not care.”

He blinked at you slowly and you had to fight against the urge to grab him by the lapels and shake him until some of the palor’s missing mora fell out.

“I must admit, I was not aware my actions have been causing you distress.”

“How could you—” you bit your tongue before you could say something inappropriately rude, although you’d dare even Hu Tao to argue with you for it after all the financial issues the consultant she hired has caused. “Look, you understand that while the parlor provides a vital service to Liyue, it is also a business, yes?”

“Naturally, I am more than familiar with the parlor’s history, it was part of why the director was interested in my services.”

“And you are also aware then, that the point of a business is to make mora. Something that proves rather difficult when one of the employees insists on making needlessly expensive purchases. While the Director may be in charge of things overall, I am the one who has to make sure that we have enough mora to pay off our expenses, including the wages of our other staff—most of whom have families to feed—without grossly overcharging grieving relatives of the deceased. And all of that is without taking into account whatever wild marketing schemes Hu Tao decides to throw in my general direction. With all of those things in mind, Mister Zhongli, do you finally see why I can not afford for you to repeatedly purchase items that cost hundreds of thousands of mora and yet do not contribute to general operations of the parlor?”

There was a brief pause as Zhongli picked up his tea and took a careful sip before setting the cup back upon his desk. “I see, it seems I must apologize to you. I hope you realize it was never my intention to make your job more difficult for you, if anything I have always respected your diligence and attention to detail. I doubt the Director could find a finer accountant than yourself.”

The sudden flattery set you off-kilter, and you found yourself clearing your throat in an effort to regain your composure. “I appreciate that while it is not included as part of your contract, I think it would be best for all involved if we were to perhaps draw up a separate budget for you, such that I will no longer have to deal with any unexpected outgoings and that you will not have to deal with me marching into your office on a near weekly basis.”

“Yes, if it would ease the burden on you then I believe I will be amenable to such an arrangement. Although, I feel I should perhaps point out that I do not mind you visiting me during our work hours. You are more than welcome to stop by whenever I am in my office,” he said with a small smile and suddenly it was your turn to simply blink at him.

“Right, yes well I er… I’ll draw something up in the next couple of days and drop by to have you confirm you’re happy with it. May I?” You gestured to the receipt currently located beneath his gloved hands.

“Of course,” he replied, unclasping his fingers and handing you the sheet of paper, the cool leather of his gloves brushing against your skin.

“I’ll um.. I’ll leave you to your tea.” You turned to make your exit, only to pause when Zhongli called out your name.

“I meant what I said about offering you an apology, although I fear words alone may not be sufficient given the number of difficulties I seem to have caused for you.”

“It's…” You don’t want to tell him it’s alright, not after the multiple sleepless nights you’ve spent having to reportion the parlor’s budget to account for his spur of the moment purchases. “As long as you can stick to whatever agreement we draw up, that will more than suffice.”

“How about dinner?”

“I’m sorry?” The piece of paper in your hand slipped from your fingers in your surprise and you were forced to hastily retrieve it from the well-polished floor.

“How would you feel about me taking you out for a meal, both as an apology and an expression of gratitude for your careful management of the parlor’s funds allowing me to enjoy my current lifestyle? I’ll take care of all of the associated expenses.”

You wonder for a moment if this is some sort of joke but, for whatever his financial faults, Zhongli doesn’t seem like the type and his expression is entirely serious, his amber eyes watching your reaction carefully.

“When you say you’ll take care of the expenses, you don’t mean…”

“I assure you, I have no intention of sending any charges to the parlor, it would make for a poor apology were I to do so.”

“Ah, that’s um—well…” You found yourself fidgeting awkwardly under his gaze. “It’s kind of you to offer but you really don’t have to.”

“I insist, it was careless of me not to consider how my actions may be affecting you despite your large number of visits to my office on the matter.” Chewing on your bottom lip, you mulled over the offer, torn. On one hand, five minutes ago you were ready to try to bash the man over the head with his very own stupidly expensive vase, on the other, if you made some sort of peace with him then hopefully he’d be more inclined to agree to whatever budget you drew up, not to mention the free food involved.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to clear the air a little,” you said finally, avoiding making eye contact with him.

“Good, do you have any other commitments any evening this week?”

“Not this week, no.”

“Then I shall make the appropriate arrangements and let you know once I have.” If Zhongli’s expression was anything to go by, he seemed rather pleased by this turn of events while you simply floundered, more than a little baffled as to what had just happened.

“Oh okay, well I’ll see you later then I guess?”

“Indeed, I shall look forward to it.” You nodded faintly and stepped out of his office without another word, pausing once you were sure the door was shut behind you, playing the events of the past couple of minutes over again in your mind.

Hang on, did he just—

You cut the thought off before it could go any further. It was just his form of an apology, you told yourself, no need to get worked up over it, or any of the complements he’d paid you. He probably only said them because there were likely not many other accountants who would have put up with his nonsense for this long. With an audible sigh, you set off down the corridor back to your own office, resolving to put your most-definitely-not-a-date with Zhongli out of your mind for now.

It was in fact a date that Childe ended up paying for lol

You can find more Zhongli fics (along with some others), over on my masterlist. Thanks for reading :)

#zhongli x reader #genshin impact x reader #gn!reader #genshin x reader #not currently planning to do a part 2 of this I just think it's a fun little dynamic

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t4tstarrailing · 1 day

Text

harpy aventurine headcanons

@c00kieguy and his aven boss form thigh art got me thinking about my harpy aventurine hcs again, which actually evolved from a conversation about fucking boss form aven

contains mostly sfw but does discuss his ruts. i'm mosy yapping to get my thoughts out before I get into the finer details of my harpy!aven smut. dividers by cafekitsune

side note: while gender is not explicitly mentioned, I do write aventurine with exclusively male and gender neutral partners. so this is more leaning towards mlm/nblm content than anything. it's also not necessarily x reader or ship content, moreso just general headcanons, but there are references to his partner. also if you want to bitch and complain about how I write aven as being and make him chubby with estrogen tits, go argue with a wall I really do not care

aventurine's harpy form is the result of him using his cornerstone, giving him some.... unusual birdlike qualities. he isn't a full harpy a majority of the time, only at specific moments does he actually fully shift into a harpy (eg. rut, danger). most of the time, he just has small, soft feathers on his neck and chest that puff out rather animatedly. he gets the occasional peacock tail feathers growing from his scalp, forming a sort of underlayer of sorts for his hair. they usually get to about shoulder blade length before being shed.

harpy aventurine stands at about 7'6", mostly being legs but he does bulk up a bit. his human body remains mostly the same, chubby with soft tits from his low dose estrogen, but it is covered in short, soft dull, downy blue-green feathers. his legs are strong and thick, a royal blue-green shade with yellow talons that replace his feet. it's the same for his arms in that regard, covered in royal blue-green downy feathers and ending in hands turned yellow talons. there's a few longer feathers that grow from his biceps, but nothing that would allow him to fly. his feathers end at about mid chest, turning back into his usually rosey copper skin.

due to his low dose estrogen, he grows the occasional brown feathers and his plumage tends to not be as stand out as most male peacocks. but it is still impressive, regardless.

he can't hide his emotions anymore. at all. bit embarrassed? throat and chest feathers are puffed up. angry? whatever plumage he has at that time is puffing up defensively. he's already a naturally expressive guy, but his new feathers make it oh so much worse. it's bad when topaz decides to tease him playfully

he's picked up some bird like noises too, mostly cooing and squawking when he's surprised. his coo is very soft and hard to hear, mostly coming out when he's tired and waiting for his partner to go to bed. it's also a self-soothing thing for him, cooing when he happens to get especially stressed or anxious about something.

aven picked up a weird habit following the transformation. now instead of going to bed when he's tired, he'll sometimes just sit up straight and puff out his neck and chest feathers and doze off that way, cooing the entire time. this is mostly done when he's waiting for his partner to go to bed, or he's trying to fight off sleep for some reason or another.

he's also taken up a bad habit of nesting and being especially protective of his partner. whether it's from his experience in penacony or the bird like qualities, it's honestly hard to tell. but his bed will frequently consist of the softest blankets and some piece of clothing that his partner smells like.

self care has always been important for him, but it is especially important now. even though he doesn't have talons in his usual day to day life, he still gets scale like growths on his hands and feet. moisturizer is a big deal for him, constantly keeping his on hand to use whenever. if he itches, he tends to bleed. if his partner is comfortable handling it, he'll have them take care of his scratches as a form of sort of quiet love and devotion.

please cup his face and give him behind the ear scratches. he'll melt into a puddle of soft cooes and fall asleep immediately.

harpy aventurine though.... that's a whole different beast, literally.

all of his birdlike behaviors are magnified by like 100x. get ready for an especially clingy and overprotective aventurine.

because he's usually in his harpy form for his rut, he does not want his partner to leave him for longer than like five minutes. working from home? you've got this big ass harpy hanging over your shoulder or forcing you back into the "nest" he's made for you (it's something of a pillow fort with comforters). ordering something? please apologize to the terrified pizza delivery guy because your boyfriend is glaring at him over your shoulder.

also, ruts usually mean that he's kicking the AC down as much as possible. it's genuinely to keep him from overheating and being too irritable, but it does serve as a good excuse to keep his partner in bed as much as possible.

remember how i said that he's 7'6"? yeah good luck getting out from underneath him when he decides it's nap time and your chest is the best place to sleep. will take up his partner's entire bed happily.

massive thighs in his harpy form. likes to perch somewhat creepily as well... has fallen off the back of the sofa a couple of times while getting used to it

his eyes glow. it's more noticable at night or in the dark ofc, but they've always got this somewhat predatorial glow to them.

coming out of his rut is not a fun experience for him, especially if he fucked to get out of it. he'll be down and out for the entire day, sleeping in his bed. he's especially delicate during this time, needing quite a bit of reassurance from his partner. and while his bedding may be destroyed or dirty, he refuses to change them until he's completely out of his rut headspace.

the other Stonehearts are keeping a close eye on him, mostly to observe any possible changes they may face if using their own cornerstone. it's not unusual for his partner to get a semi serious, semi joking "hey, he hasn't killed or tried to kill anyone yet, right?"

oh and cloaca. won't expand too much here since I'm keeping it as sfw as possible, but harpy aventurine's got a cloaca

#—the snake writes #hsr aventurine #aventurine hsr #hsr aventurine x reader #hsr x reader #reader insert #x reader #gender neutral reader

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lulublack90 · 2 days

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Prompt 19 - Twenty-Four Hours to Live

@wolfstarmicrofic May 19, word count 977

CW- Blood, Open Wounds, Threats to life

“Get your affairs in order because this time tomorrow, cub, my boys will be coming for you. And you won’t be leaving wherever it is we track you down to.” Fenrir had hissed at him as he clutched the wound in his stomach, blood slowly dripping onto the gravel beneath their feet.

Remus had stood straight backed, a look of defiance on his face. He disapparated, leaving the bleeding wolf behind.

Fenrir had been after him for years. He’d wanted him to join his pack at one point, but now he wanted him dead and Remus had just given him the excuse he needed to send his pack after him, not that Fenrir needed an excuse.

Remus had no doubt that the pack would catch up with him if he tried to run. There was no hiding from Fenrir’s savage wolves. He was going to face them head on and take as many with them as he could.

He stared at Sirius, sleeping soundly in their bed. He stopped thinking about the future, concentrating on the now and leaving Sirius with a few good memories of him. They’d be clashing lately and Remus didn’t want to leave it like that.

He walked around to his side of the bed and got in. He stroked a finger over Sirius’s cheek with a feather light touch. His boyfriend shuffled under the covers. He did it again, this time trailing his finger along his jaw. Sirius’s eyes snapped open, his pupils growing large and very round at the seductive look on Remus’s face. They spent the next few hours tangled amongst the bedsheets. Sirius never asked what had brought it on.

Remus woke early, Sirius still sleeping, his body draped across Remus’s. He placed a sweet kiss amongst Sirius’s curls and carefully removed himself from their tangled limbs. He fancied having his favourite breakfast. A full Scottish breakfast with all the trimmings. He was just plating up when Sirius emerged from their bedroom, the smell of the cooking meats too enticing.

They sat in comfortable silence at the kitchen table, the only sounds were the moans that slipped from their lips as they devoured their food.

“Can we go to the bookshop today? Remus asked Sirius as he took his plate from him and dumped them in the sink. He wanted to do all his favourite things one last time.

“If you want,” Sirius replied, looking at him with a strange expression. “We could go look in the music shop next door after as well,” Sirius added. Remus nodded in agreement.

“Perfect,” He said. “I’ll hop in the shower, and then we can go.” He smiled as he headed towards the bathroom. He leaned his head backwards as he passed the door frame. “Wanna join me?”

By the time they got out of the house it was past noon. Remus rushed Sirius through the busy streets, wanting to have as much time amongst the books he loved before he ran out of time.

It smelled just the same as always in the muggle bookshop he frequented. Binding glue and fresh unread pages. He wanted to read them all. He ran his hands over a few tomes and pulled a promising one off the shelf. It was short. He thumbed through the pages. He could probably read it by this evening. He put it back on its shelf. He wanted to spend as much time with Sirius and his friends, and hiding his face in a book wouldn’t let that happen.

“Can we go see Lily and James after we go next door?” He asked as he picked up another book.

“Okay,” Sirius replied, his eyes narrowed as he carefully watched Remus.

They didn’t stay long in the bookshop and spent even less time in the music shop. Sirius bought a couple of new vinyls and that was it. They walked towards an alley and apparated to the Potter's house. Remus grinned at the familiar path to the front door, lined with a rainbow of flowers.

James greeted them, enveloping Sirius in a bone-crushing hug. He was gentler with Remus, but still squeezed hard.

They followed him inside to find Lily waiting for them in the sitting room with a tray full of tea and other goodies.

It was the best day Remus could remember having in a long time. He felt he’d spent his last hours well. The only thing he regretted was leaving Sirius alone.

The time neared when the pack would arrive. He made his excuses to Sirius, James and Lily, pretending he wanted to go for a walk. He apparated to a meadow and waited.

The pack didn’t take long to arrive. There were more than Remus had anticipated; at least thirty. He raised his wand, ready to fight.

“Don’t think that silly stick will help you, Lupin. You know what’s about to happen. Don’t struggle and we’ll make it quick. You harm any of my pack, and I’ll personally make sure your death is dragged out over days.” Daniel, Fenrir’s second in command sneered at him. Remus cast a slicing charm, the same one he’d used on Fenrir when he’d cornered him last night and watched the wolf drop to his knees, gasping. “Get him!” Daniel roared, and the remaining wolves surged forward.

Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!” Sirius, James, Lily, Mary, Marlene, Dorcas and the Prewett twins apparated beside him, making the pack pause. All had their wands raised.

“How did you know?” Remus croaked out, grateful that Sirius had come to his rescue.

“You left the bookshop without buying a single book.” Sirius said simply. “So I put a tracking spell on you,”

Together they made quick work of the pack.

“I’ve got you, Moony. Always have, always will.” Sirius said boldly, wrapping his arms around him and taking him home.

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rockingbytheseaside · 9 hours

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I just read 'a boy named heretic' and it was really great cuz I can see little zandik being obsessed of his favourite researchers. And Imagine after creating his segments, little segments being so obsessed with you that they start their days with reading your researchs or treating your researchs like a religious book maybe even the older segments still do that. they would have memorised everything by now and that would be so funny like little segments make a mistake when they are talking about your researchs and older ones go like 'no no it goes like this and this' I can definitely see that happening.

Thank you for reading my brainrot over your fic and even though i just discovered you I love your writing style and your art is amazing so thank you for blessing us

Thank you so much! I try to write fics and tropes because I also struggle with Harbinger brainrot. Sometimes I draw and sometimes I gotta write. So I hope I won't disappoint with this one (｡•́︿•̀｡)

✦ You learn that Dottore taught his little segment about your old research too

(tw: none, pure fluff)

In the days of old, a young boy named Zandik was infatuated by you.

You were there, in the photos of the Akademiya’s best, A brilliant alumna. Meanwhile, he was still a mere student, looking up at you with eager ruby eyes. The distance between you two, not just in seniority, but in intellect and knowledge looked like an insurmountable ocean for little Zandik.

He read all your published works, theses, or even miscellaneous essays. You were one of the few who dared to explore risque topics, often researching the fallen technology of your homeland, Khaenri’ah. Your works became his mantra, as the young trainee Dastur frequently stayed at night reading and memorizing your written words.

How he longed to stand by your side. To bask in the glow of your wisdom, and hopefully, one day stand beside you in these photos of The Akademiya’s best. The thought of being your equal on that wall is a fantasy that once consumed him during many sleepless nights.

But alas, his name was not in the records beside you. Instead, it was in the records of exiled students.

The expulsion was a bitter pill to swallow for Zandik, yet it became a blessing in disguise. It allowed him to break free from the constraints of the Akademiya and truly delve into the depths of his research; to walk where you walked. With this liberating and newfound freedom, The Fatui heightened his abilities. They provided him with the resources and tools, and in return, he shared the fruits of his labor with them. But the Fatui were not the focus of his pursuits - you were.

The little boy who once admired you from afar is no more. Now, a Fatui Harbinger stood before you, a man who has grown and shaped himself in your shadow. So here you were, in Dottore’s lab quietly musing. That was the story of your unceremonious reunion with The Doctor, whom you didn’t even know was after you. However, you didn’t mind it. You even met one of his many segments.

What you didn’t expect is… a little child in his lab.

A boy, looking awfully similar to little Zandik, no older than 8 years old. He gawked back at you, with his ruby-red eyes and you felt a sense of deja vu. You kneeled in front of him, catching a glimpse of a book in the child’s arms:

“Um, hello, little one. What is that book you’re reading?”

The child cast his gaze to the floor timidly, revealing the worn-out book he was concealing behind his back. He held it tightly with his little hands, speaking in a small but avid voice:

“It’s your work… Your name is right here!”

You blinked in surprise. It indeed had your name on it. The title was one of your research papers that you honestly forgot about. But what was even more surprising is why would an 8-year-old child read some old academic papers.

“Oh, it is? But isn’t it a little… boring or difficult for you to read?”

“No, I love it! I can even recite it if you want!”

When Prime Dottore entered and spotted you talking to the eager younger clone he smirked. It seems you finally met his youngest segment, and your bafflement was expected.

Dottore assured you that his segments, especially the younger Zandik, cannot contain their excitement at the mere mention of your name. They speak of you with a reverence that borders on idolatry, and they often ask Dottore about any copies of your published studies.

It seems even the segments have inherited his admiration for you.

And the youngest segment, the 8-year-old child? They are absolutely enamored with your work. Every day, they ask about you and patiently anticipate any new information about your next visit to the lab. They even have a small collection of your books on their shelf, reading them diligently and trying to understand the complexity of your ideas. It was a bewildering sight, but the youngest segment enjoyed your academic essays as his bedtime stories.

“Dottore, listen. Did you make this boy memorize my thesis instead of reading fairy tales or something? Isn’t this a little… complicated for a child?” - you asked, picking up the little segment into your arms.

“Nonsense my dear. Instead of fairy tales and nursery rhymes, a prodigy must start early by instilling a desire for knowledge. You can test it for yourself.” - Dottore explained, turning to the young child - “Recite the passage about energy infusion, paragraph 2.”

“Okay! Ahem… ‘In the realm of Khaenri'ahn technology, we find a profound example of the interconnectedness between opposites. The use of advanced energy systems combines the power of light and electricity and as according to the data numbers of…”

Oh boy. These are big words for an 8-year-old. You don’t even remember the exact words of your 400-year-old thesis; that thing is ancient! You didn’t have the heart to tell them both that this thesis was written during an all-nighter rush. You did not feel nostalgic remembering your stress over deadlines.

“Little one?” - You smiled at the boy in your arms and pointed at Dottore “Promise you won’t grow up like this big meanie here. He's annoying”

“Heehee, okay!” - The tiny Zandik gently hugged your neck. The clone's innocent presence contrasts starkly with Il Dottore's imposing frown. What you failed to notice, however, was the young segment sticking his tongue out at Dottore's jealousy while you hugged the child unawarely.

#genshin impact #gender neutral reader #dottore x reader #il dottore x reader #dottore x reader fluff #slight yandere #zandik #dottore #il dottore #genshin headcanons #genshin impact fatui #fatui harbingers #dottore segments #genshin x reader #genshin impact fanfics #pure fluff

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girlfromflor · 2 days

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atsumu and his infatuation with stoic!reader - part 2

wc: 2301 | tw: swear words, mentions of princess as a nickname for reader, but mostly is gn!reader | a/n: this is much longer than i expected

to say atsumu was whipped was an understatement. he was completely in love with you, absolutely unaware of everything else, no thoughts in his pretty head other than you, you, you. everyone could tell. he would always follow you around, even if it was just with his eyes. he would often offer to do whatever it was that you needed “do you need help?”, “don’t you want me to do that for you?”, “are you sure you don’t need anything?”. he would be the nicest guy ever with you, but totally rude with whoever tried to bug you – or hit on you for that matter.

one day you were leaving class a bit late to practice and accidently bumped into an older boy on the way out. atsumu, who was waiting for you at the end of the hallway – as usual –, only watched, waiting to see if you would need any assistance. the guy was ready to throw a bitter remark, but before he even said anything you started “i’m sorry, you were standing in front of the door, there wasn’t much i could do”.

atsumu smiled, thinking he was so lucky you were so direct. he never really had any trouble reading your actions towards others – because when it came to you two he never really knew if he did understand right. but then he heard the dude’s reply, “couldn’t you at least ask for me to move? are you this disrespectful to your elders?” and his blood boiled. who was that guy to call you out like that? you didn’t react, though. with a blank expression, you talked very briefly and calmly, bothered that you had to prolong the dialogue when you should be heading to practice. “couldn’t you not stand in the way? and i am respectful to my elders, but only to the ones that deserve it, anyway.” and then you left, turned on your heels and went to astumu’s direction, knowing he would be there even if that meant he’d be late too.

“i should’ve told him that–” he started, face burning up at the way someone could feel so comfortable being a dick with an angel like you. but you stopped him, holding his wrist with your right hand only to hook your fingers in his bracelet – the one he never stopped using since the day he received it, the one you gave him. you both kept walking towards the gym, your fingers on his bracelet as you said “thank you, for waiting for me” with your face serene, something he doesn’t usually see. then he understood, that stupid guy was not worth stressing about. he replied with a small laugh, much more at ease now that you all but wiped his anger with just a simple gesture of gratitude. “sure. anytime, love.”

as for the days you guys were off school, he could not bear to have no news from you, so he often sent a message or two only to be sure nothing happened and that you were fine. but you were such a dry texter, frequently replying with hand emojis and abbreviated words. he often waited for you two to be together to tell you things he was excited about, that way he wouldn’t misunderstand your words. although, there was one day. one where he felt such an excruciating longing after spending what felt like weeks without seeing you – you had skipped friday classes and it was sunday already, which meant almost three days away from you and it was just too much.

so he grabbed his phone, his lock screen wallpaper making him smile – a photo he took of you when you fell asleep at the bus on your way back home after winning a game – as he unlocked it and looked for your number in his contact list. as soon as he found it he clicked the call button, a much sincere “hi! i missed you, love” falling from his lips when he was greeted with your soft, low voice. you were caught off guard, not expecting him to be so blunt like this. you flustered and covered your face with your free hand, forgetting that he couldn’t see you, replying with a muttered “uh, i didn’t expect you to say it like that” as always a straightforward princess, he thought. but then you finished with “i missed you too, but we're gonna see each other tomorrow anyway, right?”

he saw stars, your sentence hitting him so hard he had to take a deep breath to recompose himself. smiling ear to ear, eyes sparkling with this new found version of you, he tried to get more – always the eager one. “did you, huh? guess i can’t skip class now” he laughed at the teasing and you just braced yourself for what was to come, because you knew he wasn't finished “how could i ever deny that, especially now that i know you’ve been missing me, princess”.

you giggled, thinking he’s so endearing when he wants, always bringing you a much peaceful and warm feeling whenever he said things like that. you thought you could do what you always did – point out that he was too affectionate for no reason, maybe say “you would know everything about that, right?”. but you felt too good for that, the “anonymity” of the phone call giving you enough courage to say what you really wanted. your voice sounded much more like a whisper – but he was too focused to miss anything – when you said “you better. three days are enough, don’t really want to stay another day away from you”.

he could almost see the pout forming in your lips as you finished your sentence and he could not believe that you were acting lovingly towards him. why? does it mean you feel the same as he does? or were you just being polite? did you even know what that did to him? he wanted to stay in this moment forever, he wanted to hear you say it over and over again. god, it was so unfair. why’d you have to be so goddamn perfect? “why are you so perfect? i don't know how to deal with it”.

“welcome to the club, then” you whispered and atsumu was really starting to think the boys convinced you to prank him. you were even coping with his corniness. “could i be any other way? i have to get even with you somehow, right?” you blurted, mindlessly. and he lost it. he was way too down for you for this to be okay. he dropped dead in his bed, eyes glassy thinking about what that meant. what it all meant. “why do you do this to me?” he voiced out, sounding weak and in much need for a hug. but you’ve had enough, “why do you do the things you do to me? i don’t know if you know what it is, but it’s mutual, you know?” you said. sounding much more calmer than you actually were, you swore it was getting on your nerves. you knew it was time to be honest with him. you’ve been so infatuated with the boy but never managed to demonstrate just right.

after that, your call was just like any other conversation you guys had – except atsumu was extra happy this time. when you guys met the next day, he couldn’t hide his smile if his life depended on it. you guys talked like you always did, walked like you always did, but the feeling of fulfillment never left. and that made you think it was never not-romantic. you were never just friends, but how would it be now? it wasn’t until almost a whole month after your convo that you finally got your answer.

afternoons at miya’s household were a very common, very nice thing between the inarizaki boys. they would often have sleepovers and game nights when there were no classes and everything was so light that time passed by almost too quickly. when you finally accepted to be part of the movie nights it was only because atsumu had tenderly caressed your face, asking very softly – very persuasively – for you to be there, he said he really needed you to go. so you went. knowing full well that he had taken advantage of a new found weakness of yours – his furrowed brows and pouting lips as he asks something to you and you could never deny his pretty pouting lips.

as you got there, atsumu greeted you with a tight hug before any of the boys could see you, thinking maybe you wouldn’t be too comfortable with pda – but mostly because he knew neither of you would hear the end of it. then he walked you in and as you took your shoes off you saw osamu standing by the couch offering his spot while waiting for you to join them. but you denied, a bit shy – which was atypical of you – as you walked past him and sat down the closest you could to atsumu.

everyone eyed you two, atsumu could already feel his cheeks growing kind of hot as aran started “well, look at you getting comfy”. you gave him a tight lipped smile, surprisingly not feeling shy at all anymore as you replied bluntly “nothing wrong with that, right?” then you turned to atsumu, hand resting on his knee, voice just a bit softer than the first time you spoke, “right?”. he laughed, a truehearted sound and it melted you. for a moment you let go of any restraints, your eyes glued on his as he smiled at you. you felt your heart so warm, your body was floating at the sudden realization that he was just as translucent with his feeling as you were with your bluntness. his arms came to rest on your shoulders as his hand shoved your face on his chest, ruffling your hair lovingly “yeah. right, love”. you could only smile, feeling truthfully happy with the interaction and the boys decided to not comment on it, even as they saw the brush of atsumu’s lips on your forehead – a quick kiss being pressed there as he squeezed you lightly on his embrace – and your eyes sparkling, face just as calm and receptive, like they never saw before.

and that went pretty well for the night, you both on your own moment. sometimes making comments about the movie, sometimes complaining about the boys chit-chatting during it. but it came to an end and you had to go home. atsumu guided you to the front door, eyes dancing on your figure as he looked at you through his lashes and you knew something was about to come “thanks for coming, love. it was much nicer with you here, you know”. you nodded slowly, body swaying awkwardly as you asked “are you going to kiss me?”, your voice sincere and calm, your eyes low and your lips slightly pouting.

atsumu thought he couldn’t be happier, finally having the opportunity to feel this close to you. finally able to see your true colors. “do you want that?” he asked, lips forming an inevitable smirk, eyes flicking to your lips quickly before returning to yours. you stopped mid-track, the butterflies in your stomach making you remember the very first time you felt this – when you first met atsumu. your mind was racing, your eyes failed to maintain eye contact and fell on his lips, coincidentally right when he decided to wet them a bit – which he often does when feeling nervous. you flustered even harder, nervously looking back at his eyes only to get lost again. you did your hardest to remember what it was that he asked, but nothing came to mind and “huh?” was all that left your mouth. he absolutely adored you, growing excited by the minute he repeated with a smile “do you want it? a kiss?” and that’s all that took for you to snap back to the moment, you brows furrowing as you said “are you for real?” he tilted his head to the side, smiling harder. “yes…” you muttered, “i want a kiss”.

he slowly grabbed your waist, eyes never leaving yours as he felt your hands on his shoulders and then on his neck. it took a lifetime for him to touch your lips with his own, but when he did, time felt like it stopped totally. the kiss was soft, calm and reassuring, both of you putting all your feelings in it. when his tongue dragged on yours slowly you felt like there was no floor touching your feet. you got closer to him, fingers running through his locks as your chests pressed together. atsumu was losing his mind, a soft sound leaving him as he felt you reward all his actions and advances with only one kiss. and he would never forget it. the urge to squeeze your waits overcame him. he did just that, hand caressing your hip as you guys broke apart, panting from the lack of air.

“i wanted to do that for so long, love…” he said, his arms hugged your waist and you kept yours around his neck. “since we met.” you replied, his brows shooting up in confusion but you didn’t let him ask as you continued “i wanted to do that since we met…”. and he embraced you even harder, with all he could. his mind blank only you, you, you replaying over and over. he drought in your scent, with his face in your neck he whispered “i think don’t think i will ever have the strength to let you go” and you knew he wasn’t only talking about the hug you shared but it was okay, because you felt the same “i don’t think i will either”.

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #atsumu x reader #atsumu and his infatuation with stoic!reader #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fic #atsumu miya x reader #miya atsumu #this is shitty #i'm sorry

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